Stereo Embers: The Podcast

“Sparkle Up” Raised in Cork, Sean O'Hagan got his start with the beloved Irish indie outfit Microdisney in 1980. Microdisney put out five marvelous albums in eluding The Clock Comes Down the Stairs and Crooked Mile, before calling it a day in 1988. Two years later O’Hagan put out the High Llamas solo album and then he put together a band of the same name. Atmospheric, harmonic, melodic and rife with texture and nuance, the work of the High Llamas summons the musical complexity of everyone from Brian Wilson to Ennio Morricone. Therese’s even a dash of XTC in there. The High Llamas' brand of summer psychedelia summons the surf, the summer the joy and isolation of island life and the complex contrasts of any coastal city where high rises and blindingly beautiful beaches occupy the same space. The High Llamas have put out ten stellar records, including Gideon Gaye, Hawaii, Santa Barbara, and Here Come the Rattling Trees, and you would think that would keep O’Hagan busy enough, but his CV proves otherwise. He’s collaborated with everyone from Will Oldham to Cornelius and not only was he a member of Stererolab in the early '90s, he’s appeared on many of their albums. A producer, a gifted guitarist, and a real sonic architect, O’Hagan is intuitive, instinctive and blessed with the kind of musical aptitude that ranks him among the very best. www.highllamas.com www.bombshellradio.com

“Hard To Get" My fascination with Starclub is kind of like one of those people who has a fascination with an unsolved murder. You put the pieces together and none of them make sense. You had this British band made up of schoolboy friends who knew each other since they were 11. They signed the biggest deal for a debut album in the history of anyone on the roster of Island Records (U2, Bob Marley). With “Hard To Get” they released a scorcher of a single that was the perfect embodiment of the manic pop thrill and a few weeks later their album hit shelves. So: you’ve got a great band, a great debut album, a charismatic and handsome frontman--what could go wrong? Well, in many ways, everything did. Starclub had their triumphs, but ultimately, their major label deal sucked the life out of the band and hastened their premature demise. For the '90s and the better part of the oughts, I was utterly lost about why this band hadn’t taken over the world. In fact, at one point in the early '90s I said to my friends that Starclub were going to take over the world. Spoiler alert: they didn’t and it made no sense. Until now. Singer Owen Vyse has been a regular guest on the podcast, but this is the first time that he and Starclub bassist Julian Taylor have appeared together to talk about what went right and what went wrong with their career. This is an unflinching, unvarnished and very real chat. Strap in. www.owenvyse.bandcamp.com www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Good Clean Fun" Bonnie Hayes moved to San Francisco from the San Joaquin Valley in the early '70s and it didn’t take long for her to establish herself as a commanding musical presence. Her new wave band The Punts became Wild Combo, and they signed with Slash and put out the Good Clean Fun Record. Slash was about as cool as it got—they had Fear, The Germs, The Gun Club and The Blasters and Hayes was for sure one of the cool kids. Her song "Girls Like Me" was used in Valley Girl—and behind her Brand New Girl EP, she and the Wild Combo toured with Huey Lewis, whose guitarist was also Bonnie’s brother Chris. Hayes finished the decade by being a part of Belinda Carlisle's band for her world tour and then Bonnie Raitt, in 1989 recorded two of her songs—"Love Letter" and "Have a Heart” for her massive Nick of Time album. In 1991 she was a part of Billy Idol’s band for the almost two year Cradle of Love tour and along the way, her songs were recorded by Cher, Bette Midler, Natalie Cole, Adam Ant, Robert Cray and David Crosby. Not too shabby. She put a few more albums out, including Empty Sky and Love in the Ruins, and she taught at the Berklee College of Music, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, the REO Songwriting Retreat outside of Vancouver B.C, the ASCAP workshop in Los Angeles and at the WCS Conference at Foothill College. In 2013, Hayes became chair of the songwriting department at Berklee in Boston. A compelling and dynamic singer and an intuitive and brilliant songwriter, Bonnie Hayes is a fascinating and very cool person. In this conversation she talks to Alex about the physics of songwriting, her love of Liz Phair and why she decided to leave Berklee and then why she changed her mind and went back. Bonnie Hayes and the Wild Combo’s Good Clean Fun has been remastered with 11 bonus tracks. www.blixa.com www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“A Castle For A Song” It’s hard to explain how profoundly important Miles Copeland has been to modern music. Put it this way: without him, a lot of your favorite bands wouldn’t have been your favorite bands because you never would have known they were bands in the first place. Copeland’s I.R.S. Records brought R.E.M., Fine Young Cannibals, The Cramps, The English Beat, The Go-Go’s and The Bangles to the masses and along the way he managed The Police, Squeeze, Wishbone Ash and Sting. Copeland’s new autobiography Two Steps Forward, One Step Back chronicles his nearly 50 year career as a music executive and, as you can imagine, it’s an extraordinary read. From having a father who co-founded the CIA to a brother who played drums for the biggest band in the world, to being raised during his formative years in the Middle East, the London-born Miles Copeland has lived quite a life. In this in-depth conversation he talks to Alex about…well, about everything: Jools Holland, R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen and Concrete Blonde. He also talks about his writing retreats in France and he explains why music always comes second and image is always first. www.jawbonepress.com www.performingartsinternational.com/cia www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Stereo Embers The Podcast on Twitter: @emberseditor Stereo Embers The Podcast on Instagram: @emberspodcast Stereo Embers The Podcast email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Rip Tides And Clean Horizons" With his band New Model Army, Justin Sullivan has put out 15 fabulous albums, including such legendary efforts like 1986’s The Ghost Of Cain, 1993’s The Love Of Hopeless Causes and 2019’s From Here. Formed in West Yorkshire in 1980, New Model Army have turned out a bit like The Fall—hard to categorize, defiantly original and boasting a revolving door of so many members, we could do a podcast on their personnel, alone. Back in the '80s New Model Army were one of those bands that everyone liked and every group claimed. Goths, mods, metalhead and college rock kids all thought New Model Army were in their camp, but the fact was, New Model Army were in everyone’s camp. They were versatile that way—and part of that versatility was the way that they stretched the intersectionality of their own music—there were bits of metal and punk and goth and folk in their musical attack and that was what led to their widespread appeal. Career highlights? Oh, they’ve got those. John Peel loved them, they bumped the Smiths from the top slot on the indie charts in ’84, they played the Reading Festival and even opened a gig for Bowie. Sullivan’s new solo album—only his second one overall—is called Surrounded and it’s a stirring effort, filled with introspective Viking ballads and plaintive musings on human nature. He plays with depth and finesse and has quietly turned in one of the best records of 2021. In this chat, Sullivan talks to Alex about how he feels about birthdays and band anniversaries, traveling in the Middle East and why the lockdown made everyone a more extreme version of themselves. www.newmodelarmy.org www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Twitter: @emberseditor IG: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Pull It Out Of The Bag” So, Salt Ashes has been on the show before and I asked her to come back because I love talking to her. She’s charming, witty, honest and she’s one of those people that just feels familiar to me. And I think it won’t be long before her music is familiar to a very big audience. The London-based singers' work is inventive, artistic, bold, and thrilling. A ravishing blend of synth pop and electro bliss with overtones that range from goth to new wave, the music of Salt Ashes is riveting and alive. In this illuminating conversation, Salt Ashes talks about her frustrations with social media, how she handles bumps in the road and why in the music business the music is always second. Her new single is "Too Many Times" and she’s got an album coming out this Fall. So get ready. www.saltashes.com www.instagram.com/saltashes www.facebook.com/SaltAshes www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers The Podcast: Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast

“American Canyon” The Jenny Thing are back. Although it’s been 20+ years since the Bay Area band have put out a record, they have returned more potent than ever. Formed on the campus of U.C. Berkeley, The Jenny Thing’s brand of catchy New Wave and carefully crafted indie rock made them fan favorites in the Bay Area in the early ‘90s. The band’s original lineup finds them on their brand new fourth album American Canyon, playing with muscle and heart. The hooks are big, the bass is funky and the synths are popping and as a result, American Canyon brings to mind U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind and Rubyhorse’s Rise. Singer Matt Easton talks to Alex about being a fellow Bay Area native, why the album sounds like wide open spaces and how all those years ago he managed to be in a band and in college at the same time…. The Jenny Thing: Matt Easton, vocals Shyam Rao, guitars Ehren Becker, bass Mike Phillips, drums www.thejennything.com www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Alex on Twitter: @emberseditor Alex on Instagram: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

"Motherhood, Butterflies And American Quilt" We're so happy to welcome back Paula Cole to the podcast. The Massachusetts-born singer/songwriter is one of our favorite guests and in this chat she talks about maternal responsibility, baby butterflies and her fabulous new album American Quilt. The Grammy Award-winning musician is about to head back on the road to support American Quilt and she discusses what that experience feels like as we crawl slowly out of pandemic restrictions. A singer of tremendous muscle and grace, Cole is a riveting and stirring performer and she talks about what it means to hit the road at this stage of her 30+year career. A conversation about nurturing, Joni Mitchell and aging parents, Paula Cole's return to Stereo Embers The Podcast is thoughtful, funny and deeply moving. www.paulacole.com www.alexgreenonline.com www.bombshellradio.com Alex on Twitter: @emberseditor Alex on Instagram: @emberspodcast Alex's email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Beast Of Eden” Our guest today on the program is a real artist. The Jersey born J Hacha De Zola is hard to categorize—he’s wholly original and unlike anything out there today. A feral blend of David Johansen, Screaming Lord Sutch and Nick Cave,over the course of his five album career, J Hacha Zola has delivered some of the most captivating, fascinating and utterly infectious music around. Like a junkyard DaVinci, Hacha De Zola has demonstrated that he knows how to take rusty horns, scrap metal saxophones, guttered guitars and battered drums and turn them into pure gold. And that gold not only sparkles under the moonlight, it was spun by a dark figure lurking in the alley and prowling through the abandoned avenues of a city that everyone knows but is too afraid to name. Filled with ragged melodies, rabid rhythms and corruptive carnival stomp, the music of J Hacha De Zola is the real deal. It’s spellbindingly brilliant in every turn. The enigmatic singer’s new album East Of Eden is a startling departure from his previous work. East of Eden is an aching collection of dark and dreamy doo-wop, street soul and urban R&B. It’s J Hacha De Zola in his most unvarnished and purest iteration. Or is it? Yes, it is, but this guy is a moving artistic target—you never know where he’s going to go next. In this conversation Hacha and Alex talk about having an alter ego, keeping his artistic identity a secret from his family and what it’s like being in touch with his shadow self... www.jhachadezola.bandcamp.com www.fanaticpromotion.com www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com

“Reason To Live” Well, if you're looking for the kings of the indie rock grand slam, it’s a short list. But Lou Barlow is on it. The Ohio-born Barlow has Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, the folk Implosion and his solo career on his CV and that’s only a partial list that doesn’t include Sentridoh and Deep Wound. Yes, Lou Barlow has been a major part of major bands that were all groundbreaking and game changers in terms of sound, recording approach and aesthetic. He’s been on legendary labels like SST, Homestead , Sub Pop, Merge and Domino and he’s one of the most recognizable and adored indie rock dudes of all time. So yes, Barlow is a founding member of three groundbreaking indie rock outfits and his solo career has yielded several remarkable albums, including his fabulous new one Reason To Live. A songwriter of startling depth, introspection and pinpoint emotional accuracy, Lou Barlow is, to put it simply, one of the best we’ve got. Over the course of his career, he’s collaborated with Mike Watt, Stephen Merritt, Dale Crover of the Melvins and Belgian musician Rudy Trouve’ He’s both vulnerable and brave his work redolent with intimacy, observational wisdom and longing. Reason To Live might very well be his best work yet. Managing to be both layered and spare, this album is filled with breezy acoustic numbers, rolling pop jangles and textured indie rock that’s catchy, memorable and moving. In this conversation Lou talks to Alex about eating dinner with strangers, walking the financial tightrope, writing again with John Davis of The Folk Implosion and why it was so hard to ask J. Mascis for a drumbeat….