Song stories with the knobs turned up.
Chris DeMakes A Podcast is a song-by-song interview show built around the craft behind recognizable tracks. Recent episodes move from Lovejoy and Skid Row to Sondre Lerche, The Tubes, Grammy predictions, and occasional After Party detours.
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Chris DeMakes A Podcast is built for the moment when a familiar song stops being background music and starts sounding engineered, argued-over, and lived through. Each main episode takes one track and follows it into the room where it was written or recorded. The show is especially strong when the conversation gets specific. A chorus delay in Lovejoy’s “Scoundrels” becomes a way to talk about live-band production. A vocal hiccup turns into a small debate about instinct, taste, and bandmates asking for restraint. Rachel Bolan’s discussion of Skid Row’s “I Remember You” moves through lyrics, stereo guitars, power chords, and the way a post-chorus can bring a song down without draining it. Sondre Lerche’s “Bad Law” opens a different door, where a dance-pop song can suddenly break into noise that feels like anger finally getting a sound. The show likes those turns. It keeps one foot in music memory and the other in practical song analysis. There is room for chart context, Grammy predictions, and the occasional detour into After Party material. Some episodes are cleanly interview-driven. Others feel more like a hang between people who know too much about songs and are happy to chase a weird detail until it pays off. Throwback Thursday entries add an archive feel, pulling older conversations with artists such as Fee Waybill and Sondre Lerche back into the main feed. The pacing is brisk, but the best parts are patient with craft. It is not only about hits, though big songs get plenty of attention. The real appeal is hearing how a track’s choices, from fuzzy guitars to Motown-shaped dynamics, become part of why listeners remember it.
Made for: For music fans who like hooks, credits, band lore, and the practical craft behind recordings. It especially fits listeners who enjoy hearing artists explain why a specific lyric, riff, chorus, or studio decision worked.
What sets it apart: The show narrows the usual artist interview down to one song, then treats tiny arrangement choices as real story material. It balances fan-level enthusiasm with working-musician detail, so the conversations feel casual without staying shallow.
Chris DeMakes A Podcast, hosted by Chris DeMakes of the legendary punk rock band Less Than Jake, features guests who have written iconic songs, exploring their backstory, creation, inspiration, and significance. Each episode offers an in-depth exploration into a specific track from renowned artists, with guests providing untold stories and fascinating details. From chart-toppers to hidden gems across various genres and eras, the podcast offers a rich listening experience. Chris's passion for music and songwriting fuels engaging discussions on lyrics, melodies, production techniques, and cultural context. Combining informative storytelling, interviews, and analysis, the podcast appeals to mus…
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Close listening and artist conversations turn individual songs into clear, lively studies of writing, arrangement, and production.
Chris DeMakes treats a song as something that can be taken apart without draining it of feeling. Most conversations center on one track, with DeMakes and its creator moving through lyrics, arrangement, performance, and production.
Chris DeMakes catches the vocal hiccup you missed and asks the singer to explain it.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A focused account of how falsetto, full voice, and one key vocal choice shaped a hit.
Fee Waybill's look back at the Tubes' "She's a Beauty" works because it stays close to the mechanics of a hit. The writing and recording details give the episode its shape, especially the tension around how the high vocal part should land.
A close, lively listen to how Lovejoy make "Scoundrels" feel like a real band breaking loose.
Will Gold's conversation about Lovejoy's "Scoundrels" lands as a sharp, affectionate close listen to a band chasing something immediate and physical.
A dance-pop song's abrasive interruption becomes a focused study of release.
A conversation about "Bad Law" finds its focus in a blast of white noise that seems almost too abrasive for dance-pop, then asks why it works.
A focused, conversational breakdown of the writing and arrangement behind Skid Row's power ballad.
Rachel Bolin's look back at Skid Row's "I Remember You" works best when it holds two ideas at once: the song's reputation as a peak power ballad, and the more scattered feelings he and guitarist Dave the Snake Sabo had around it.
Howie Spangler revisits the image-making behind Ballyhoo!'s "Walk Away".
Ballyhoo!'s "Walk Away" gets a compact Throwback Thursday treatment that stays close to the craft behind the single. Howie Spangler walks through the writing and recording of the Daydreams track, while the host sets its September 2011 release against the pop culture around it,…
A Grammy preview that uses nine songwriting credits to ask how modern hits really get assembled.
The Song of the Year field is treated less as a coronation than as a songwriting puzzle, with Chris and his co-host moving through the eight nominated tracks and weighing what music industry voters are likely to reward.
Chris DeMakes hosts Howie Spangler, lead vocalist and guitarist of Ballyhoo!, to dissect their 2011 single 'Walk Away.' Spangler recounts writing the song while driving in 2010, with producer Greg Shields helping complete lyrics about a mutually toxic relationship.
Bad Bunny's 'DTMF,' Rosé and Bruno Mars's 'APT.,' and Kendrick Lamar and SZA's 'Luther' get the sharpest reactions as Chris DeMakes and Chris Fafalius preview the 68th Grammy Awards Song of the Year race.
A throwback episode featuring an interview with Jonathan Higgs about Everything Everything's song 'Cold Reactor' and their upcoming album 'Mountainhead'.
Chris and Matt discuss the possibility of getting Weird Al on their podcast while wrapping up the year.
Chris and Matt revisit the Thundred audience ranking by naming songs they believe deserved a place.
Chris Fafalios sits down with Fee Waybill, lead vocalist and songwriter for The Tubes, to unpack the 1983 hit "She's a Beauty" from Outside Inside.
Will Gold of Lovejoy discusses "Scoundrels," the tenth track on the band’s 2025 debut album One Simple Trick, while Chris DeMakes hears the song as immediate, real, and deliberately sparse.
Chris DeMakes and producer Chris Fafalios revisit Sondre Lerche’s 2022 discussion of “Bad Law,” a track from the 2014 album Please.
Rachel Bolan says Skid Row's "I Remember You" nearly stayed off the band's 1989 debut because he and Dave "the Snake" Sabo worried about adding another power ballad.
Chris Fafagli introduces a throwback episode from the Patreon-exclusive after party, encouraging listeners to support the show via Patreon and take a survey for a chance to win gift cards.
Chris and co-host discuss and predict the winner of the 68th Grammy Song of the Year award, analyzing each nominated song.
A sneak preview of a Patreon episode about the history of Santa Claus, with a call to support the show.
Mick Conroy discusses the story behind Modern English's hit song 'I Melt With You' in a Throwback Thursday interview.