Artist Interviews Podcasts

A good artist interview can change what you hear in a record by catching the moment someone nearly changed it. On Rolling Stone Music Now, Les Claypool and Sean Lennon talk about the Delirium. One of them recalls a one-take solo the other wanted to redo; the answer was no, because the job was "capturing this glorious moment." You will not hear that take the same way again.

Harmonious World is the calmest room here. Hilary Seabrook lets Tom Ollendorff explain why one long-form tune probably took him longer to write than any other. He had ideas from a band tour in Asia and thinks he chiselled the piece down weeks before the session and made a small structural change as late as the morning of recording. In Chatting about ‘Filin’ with Melissa Aldana, the saxophonist says she transcribes and practises every day.

Casual Swim gets at taste through equipment. Fatboy Slim describes playing bass in an indie pop band while loving soul, gospel and ska he felt was not his to make, until the drum machine and sampler arrived. His first drum machine was an 808, bought because they were the cheapest.

Now Hear This Entertainment is plainer and more practical. In NHTE 603 Gretchen Peters, host Bruce Wawrzyniak gives a credentialed introduction early on. He then draws out how "Independence Day" took her about a year and a half to finish, and why she says she is not a co-writer. Her view of teaching songwriting is the line to keep: "you can illuminate certain places along the path. You can turn some lights on." The Songwriting & Production page is the natural next stop.

Life-story interviews depend on what a guest chooses to share. In AJ McLean Talks New Solo Album, Backstreet Boys Biggest Hits, Sphere Shows and Sobriety, a 91-minute Zach Sang Show conversation, McLean traces his struggles with drugs and alcohol to low self-esteem. He also describes a youth spent travelling instead of attending school in person. The same show finds craft in small decisions: Zayn says Malay heard his "new Bradford crooner thing" and urged him to lean into the accent.

On It's Not A Phase, Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory describes going from recording guitar tracks to a heart scan and back. He frames his treatment as a matter of control and quality of life. Rolling Stone Music Now has range, too. John Popper announces that he will begin with a correction for Wikipedia about his marriage. Missy Elliott, asked for the century's best song, declines: "if an artist answers that, you know how many fans of other artists will be after me?"

The hip-hop shows trade the desk for the hang. Drink Champs, with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN, is loud, but its Beatnuts throwback yields real history. A member remembers having a notebook line, "It's off the hook this year," before Pun finished the chorus. On The Bootleg Kev Podcast, Raq Baby explains that he released a song the day before he was locked up, then missed being outside while it went viral. The same 33-minute episode wanders into Chicago chicken and Atlanta wings, which is the price of the ease.

Some shows exist because a scene needs one. On Chord Progression Podcast: The Gateway to New Rock and Metal Music, Kevin talks sound and business with bands. Logan of Scarlett O'Hara waves off Reddit purists: "So we're South Texas metalcore." VCTMS question venues taking a cut of merch sales. Japan Nick's Rock and Metal Pandemonium is direct. In the Heterochrome interview, the band describe how hard it was to look like a metalhead in public in Iran, and one member recalls being told what not to wear before a show.

HiddenTracks takes its Dead Wrong interview through rapid-fire picks, including one member calling the Beatles overrated. The Independent & Emerging Artists page is a natural next stop, and the Music Interviews guide and the Music category guide map the wider field.