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Every artist has a story. Whether big or small, they‘ve all seen the ups and downs and worked hard to maintain careers in music. We chat with some of the most interesting legacy artists in pop music and go in depth on their careers, how they feel about them, what it‘s like being a ”rock star” and also hear their best stories. If you‘re a music junkie you will love these long form conversations with beloved figures from your life.
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Have we come back around to Hootie & the Blowfish yet? They went from fun, good-time band, to hugely popular, to overexposed, to punching bag, back to fun, good-time band. Today, they've settled into a nice level of fame where the band successfully tours when they feel like it and the guys each do their own projects during the downtime. Guitarist Mark Bryan joins us this week to discuss it all, especially how it affected him and his family. We also get into a lot of his solo work, which is super strong and deserves a wider audience, as well as that post peak period when the band was still churning out great music, but to a smaller audience. It's been quite a ride with a lot of ups and downs, but Mark still takes it all in stride. Enjoy!
www.hootie.com
www.markbryanmusic.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Jim Peterik has the power to create a whole band for every musical impulse he ever has. Survivor is mostly in the rear view, but his original band The Ides of March still get together to perform for special occasions. He has a country band called The Stormchasers. He has a smooth jazz band called Lifeforce. He has a rock band called Pride of Lions. And he has World Stage, which is him collaborating with his musical friends like Jason Scheff, Don Barnes, Kevin Cronin and many more. Each of these continue to release new music with World Stage's Roots & Shoots Vol. 1 dropping most recently. Jim and I discuss these as well as his many collaborations over the years like Dennis DeYoung, the Beach Boys, Cheap Trick and more. He even breaks into song a couple times! Enjoy!
www.jimpeterik.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Not only did the mighty Midnight Oil bless the world with their incredible music, they also educated us on the plight of Australian people and politics which ended up informing many of us and how we see the world. Guitarist and primary songwriter Jim Moginie recently released a memoir called The Silver River which tells the band's story, but, even more impressively, tells his personal journey as someone who was adopted at a young age and found his birth parents later in life. That story is really at the heart of this excellent book. We also talk about that powerful music, the pressure he felt to produce hits, saying goodbye, his writing process, and much much more. We are so lucky to hear from anyone in the Oil's camp. Enjoy!
www.jimmoginie.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
For this week we welcome author, podcast host and private investigator (!) Darren Paltrowitz to discuss his book DLR Book. Capturing the real David Lee Roth, while also separating the real guy from the mythology he's worked hard to create is no easy task, but Darren does his best. David Carruth joins co-hosts this episode as we dissect DLR's Hollywood ambitions, his solo efforts, his radio hosting gigs, and much much more. He's surely one of the greatest entertainers ever, and one of the most confusing characters. Enjoy!
www.backbeatbooks.com/books/9781493072521
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Jon was invited to hang with his good friends Haydn and Bee of the INXS : Access All Areas podcast recently to discuss our love of Australian music, the rich history, and, of course, our mutual love of INXS. Any fan of this band needs to know this great podcast is out there if they don't already. Every member has appeared on there, it's a wealth of valuable knowledge. Jon tells some stories you've heard before and some you haven't, but enjoy either way!
www.inxsaccessallareas.podbean.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Can you believe another year has gone by? We can't! Who would have ever thought 9 years The Hustle would become what it has. As usual, we always celebrate this day with a very special guest and this year is no different. This week we welcome the wonderful Nick Laird-Clowes of the Dream Academy! The band snuck up on everyone in 1985 with the seminal and wholly unique "Life in a Northern Town". Those who were there will never forget it. They followed that up with two more equally excellent albums before calling it quits, but Nick has never sat still. After forging a friendship with Dave Gilmour, he's collaborated with him on many projects and continues to compose his own music. They recently released a fantastic 7-disc box set called Religion, Revolution and Railways that has everything you could ever want. Nick's enthusiasm will burst through your speakers!
www.nicklairdclowes.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
For this Deep Dive we welcome back John Parr to discuss his underappreciated album from 1992, Man With a Vision. By this point in his career, John was all alone with no major label support and litigation making it hard to get heard. He self-produced this album and it's an excellent slab of peak AOR goodness, even though it's from the early 90s. John gives us the full story and I hope you'll all seek out this beauty for yourselves. Enjoy!
www.johnparr.net
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
The short but solid trajectory of the Undertones' career reflects the arc of popular British music during the same time. Starting off in Derry Ireland as punks with an ear for melodies in the late 70s and ending up about five years later exploring sophisti-pop is a map of what was in style in the UK. If the band wasn't so good at both genres you might accuse them of selling out, but, in truth, they're just excellent at making catchy songs. The band split up in the early 80s and lead singer Feargal Sharkey went solo before leaving music altogether. We're joined this week by bassist and songwriter Michael Bradley. He went to work for the BBC before retiring and now tours occasionally with the other guys (minus Feargal) even releasing new music. He discusses some of the classic tunes he wrote, his approach to the band now, having John Peel as a fan, and much more. They're honestly one of the greatest ever.
www.theundertones.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Grammy winning engineer/producer Tom Lord-Alge has been behind some major music the last 40 years. He starts out in NYC under the tutelage of his brother Chris and breaks big working on Steve Winwood's Back in the High Life album. Over the years he's engineered dozens of gigantic hits including albums by Blink-182, Pink, Weezer, Marilyn Manson and Korn. We don't talk about any of those though (to Tom's surprise). Instead we get into Simple Minds, Live, Manic Street Preachers, OMD, REO Speedwagon, INXS, Hanson, Peter Gabriel, Earth Wind and Fire, Dave Matthews and a bunch of others surprises along the way. Tom is a riot, you're going to love this.
www.tomlord-alge.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Bassist Neil Stubenhaus was a key member of that pool of exceptional talent in LA in the 70s and 80s that were first calls to play on the great albums made during the era. Neil stood shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Nathan East, Lee Sklar and Pino Palladino (among many) to make good music even better. Included on his resume are people like Billy Joel, Lionel Richie, Al Jarreau, Anita Baker, Rod Stewart, Barbra Steisand, the Temptations and tons of others. In fact, we both had nothing else going on so we talked for 3 hours about these and dozens of others. For the last couple decades he's mainly lent his talents to movie soundtracks which is an entirely separate conversation. Strap in and enjoy a masterclass in being good at your instrument. Enjoy!
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Mike Post is probably the most successful composer of the last half century. He literally wrote the themes to hundreds of TV shows from the early 70s until now. In fact, there's a good chance that during the heyday, almost every person on earth heard his work at least once a week. That's astounding. You could argue that shows like NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Magnum P.I., Rockford Files, White Shadow, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and tons more wouldn't be what they are without him. He recently took a big risk and composed an original piece called Message of the Mountains & Echoes of the Delta that he's really proud of. It merges Americana and Classical in a way that's never been done before. We discuss all of this as well growing up with Jim Gordon, being a part of the Wrecking Crew, and producing the ill-fated Van Halen 3 album. He's "the luckiest guy you'll ever meet". Enjoy!
www.mike-post.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Imagine being one of the architects of one of the biggest albums in rock history. It's like winning the lottery. As we know from the Fleetwood Mac story, what was happening behind the scenes on Rumours was as juicy and tasty as the music they were making. Witness to all of it was the great Ken Caillat! He went on to co-produce with Richard Dashut Tusk and Mirage as well before parting ways and parlaying that success into starting several music businesses over the years. Then, his daughter Colbie's massive success has provided an incredible second chapter no one would have predicted. We get into the nitty gritty on this one - the drama, the fights, the business, and the music. Enjoy!
www.artistmax.org
www.marshmellowskies.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
This week, Jesus Jones embarks on their first US tour in 30 years! It's short, just a few shows over a couple of weeks, but it's, hopefully, the beginning of restoring a relationship with the states that will grow in the near future. Since lead singer Mike Edwards was on the show a few years ago, we are joined this time by keyboardist (and band manager) Iain Baker to not only explain the circumstances of the tour, but deep dive their 1991 breakthru Doubt while he's at it. We learn what influenced hits like "International Bright Young Thing", "Real Real Real" and, of course, "Right Here Right Now". He also gives his passionate feelings about everyone from Milli Vanilli to Michael Hutchence. It's a blast and even emotional in some parts. Enjoy!
www.jesusjones.com
This week we get to hear from acclaimed songwriter Dean Pitchford! After 45 years of near consistent success, Dean will finally be inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year, which is just another line on his impressive resume. He won an Oscar for writing "Fame" for Irene Cara and achieved the absolute peak with Footloose. He not only wrote the screenplay, but every song on the soundtrack and collected a couple Grammys in the process. He tried again a few years later with the movie Sing, but it was less successful and his thoughts on why are fascinating. Along the way there have been collaborations with Roger Daltrey ("Quicksilver Lightning"), Cher ("After All"), Peter Allen ("The Boy From Oz"), Kenny Loggins ("Don't Fight It"), writing the Solid Gold theme song, and tons more. He's just about the nicest man you'll ever meet and we're super lucky to hear from him. Enjoy!
www.deanpitchford.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Our guest this week is multi-Grammy winning producer Russ Titelman. Russ has been deeply rooted in the music business since the 60s as a producer, an engineer, a songwriter, and even a session guitarist. His midas touch has benefitted legendary artists like Paul Simon, Chaka Khan, James Taylor, Cyndi Lauper, Brian Wilson, Rickie Lee Jones, and won Grammys for Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton. In this conversation we hit on all of that and more including how songs like "Higher Love", "Tears in Heaven", "Ain't Nobody" and tons more came to be. We're lucky to spend so much valuable time with a luminary like Russ. Enjoy!
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
In 1989 when Australian rock bands like Midnight Oil and INXS were screaming up the charts in the US, you'd think the easiest thing in the world would be to present one more and let them continue the streak. Such was not the story of Boom Crash Opera. Despite getting some airplay for "Onion Skin" off their second album, These Here Are Crazy Times, and despite having material just as strong as their peers, it didn't happen and BCO never got their just due (except back home where they remain a draw). Guitarist and primary songwriter Peter Farnan joins us this week to detail the whole story and discuss his wonderful solo career. What's surreal about all of this is that Peter is a fan of the show, making this a mutual appreciation society meeting! Enjoy and please dig into some BCO. It's killer!
www.boomcrashopera.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
The Dandy Warhols have been around for 30 years. That can't be right! In the 90s they seemed like hedonistic little hippies and now, they still are, but the rest of the world has caught up with them. On the 15th, the band releases ROCKMAKER, their first fully guitar-driven album in a while (maybe ever) and they embark on a US tour this week. Zia McCabe joins us to talk about the new album, how the band writes songs (fans know their albums are gloriously all over the place), what it's like having David Bowie, Duran Duran, Slash and other huge names as supporters, her proud stance as a nudist, and a ton more. The Dandies have projected and lived by their life philosophy since day one. In a world where so many things change, it's nice to know you can rely on their version of unpredictability. Enjoy!
www.dandywarhols.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
These days, guitarist Nigel Bennett is as much an entrepreneur as he is a punk rocker. I'll explain. Nigel's career began in the 70s when he was hired to join The Members who were mixing punk, pop and reggae in unique ways. They're probably best remembered by their 1982 hit "Working Girl". The band didn't last long and Nigel bummed around until he was hired by the Vibrators in 1990, where he remains today. During the pandemic, the rest of the Vibrators called it quits, leaving Nigel to carry on and now he's remarried, moved to the states, and is wholly focused on building the Vibrators back up. He still puts out new music and tours mixing songs from his entire history. It's a fascinating story we don't hear that often. There are also stories involving Iggy Pop, Steve Lillywhite and more. Enjoy!
www.vibratorsv2.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
Author Joel Selvin returns to the show to discuss his new book on one of the greatest and most complicated drummers in rock history, Jim Gordon. The list of songs made better by Jim's talent is endless - "Good Vibrations", "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", "Wichita Lineman", "Apache" and hundreds of others. He was also the drummer in Derek and the Dominoes and co-wrote "Layla". Unfortunately, Jim was overwhelmed by demons from schizophrenia most of his life and murdered his mother in 1983 confining him to prison for the rest of his life (he died in 2023). Joel paints a sympathetic portrait of a man overcome by voices that ultimately did him in. It's one of the best music books you'll ever read.
www.joelselvin.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
The amazing Mike Scott returns to the podcast to go deep on the Waterboys' 1985 masterpiece This is the Sea. This benchmark album has been released in a massive 6-disc deluxe edition that includes almost 100 tracks, many of which have never been heard before, and a hardback book all of which tells the story of the album's creation. Mike takes us track by track through the original album, the contributions from other band members and where his head was at back then. If any classic album deserves the deluxe treatment, it's this one. We're honored to hear a part of that story.
www.mikescottwaterboys.com
www.patreon.com/thehustlepod
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Fantastic. I've been obsessed with Hunters/ Mark Seymour since about 1988 and since I live in Canada, he has always seemed a bit inaccessible. You asked him a lot of the kind of questions I would have liked to ask! I might have to listen again.
Great show!
Best podcast for hearing from some lesser known musical geniuses and some not so lesser known. Love it!!
brilliant insight into the reality of being in a criminally underrated band. love Embrace.
The Hustle Podcast great! The Host, Jon, gets the best stories from guests. This is definitely one of my favorite podcasts.
Great interviews with guests that you don't normally get to hear from.
Great show
Eddie and The Tide were great
Great show buddy