Hitmakers

WE'RE BACK BABY! Our first of 2021 and features none other than NATE MORTON from the HOUSE BAND on THE VOICE!!⁠ Nate grew up banging on pots and pans, idolizing Animal from the Muppets. Through studies at Berklee and a move to LA, he's played with loads of people whose names you know. And while his current gig brings him to your living room every week, he says he's still 4 years old banging on pots and pans up there.⁠ Of course, that belies his incredible ability and musicianship as a player (we get into that too - for a couple of guys who claim to know nothing about technique, it does get a little nerdy). We talk about lessons learned from the great Ian Froman at Berklee, why he decided not to be a concert pianist, "what's his secret" for landing gigs and much more. Great dude and incredibly patient with our technical difficulties.⁠ We know you'll enjoy this one. Listen now or download it for later!!!!!!!⁠

Looks like we made it! Our final episode of 2020 is an interview with none other than BRENDAN BUCKLEY! He’s a touring/recording freelance drummer based in Los Angeles, California. You may know him from his work with Perry Farrell, Shakira, Tegan and Sara, many others. Originally from New Jersey, he started drumming the way many of us do - seeing a drumkit and thinking “that thing looks so cool! i want to do that!” So he picked up a few beats from MTV and taught himself to play them on the drums at school during his lunch breaks. He subsequently declared that he was a drummer when he got to high school. This led to some pretty intense musical studies, which led to the University of Miami, which led to a decade of living and playing there. He decided on his 30th birthday that he had to move somewhere, which wound up being LA, and he’s been there (though not for more than a month at a time until now) ever since. Tune in to hear all about it. If you’re a drummer, this is an amazing episode full of goodies for you

Clare rips the kit (and the glock) with Halifax indie-pop superstars Hillsburn. Before dropping out of Humber, moving back home and joining a touring+recording band, she'd been considering a career in chemistry. She even applied for a job at a place that made cymbal cleaner. But as everybody knows, music is a much more stable path (hehe) and here we are! Tune in to hear us reminisce about our band-geek days, trash talk Toronto, discuss the proper pronunciation of "glockenspiel" and so much more.

Tyler is a session drummer in Los Angeles, California. He was raised on top 40 and classic rock in Sacramento, but it was a Blink-182 show in the early 00s that changed his life. Since then, he's toured the world as a backline tech for artists like Usher, Demi Lovato, the Chainsmokers and Anderson .Paak. He's drummed with Charlie Puth, Noah Cyrus, Kiiara and many more. He's played Coachella, Rock in Rio, Ellen, The Tonight Show. How does one land those gigs? What's he doing now that touring is on hold? Tune in to find out all about it.

We finally did it! People have been saying “you should get Loel on the show” since we started this thing. For listeners on the East coast (maybe Canada in general), this man needs no introduction. For those who don't know, Loel is the drummer for WINTERSLEEP. he has also worked with acts like HOLY F*CK, COLD SPECKS, MATT MAYS, CONTRIVED, THE HOLY SHROUD and more. These days he’s living the quarantine life on the shores of Nova Scotia. We discuss his own musical beginnings, the evolution of his main project, and the current state of music making - things like "how awkward are livestreams" and like “what kind of mics are you using on your kit?")

Sean Winchester is a Los Angeles studio & touring drummer with credits including Everclear, Buckcherry, Smash Mouth, Strung Out, Giants of Rome, Josh Todd and the Conflict, and more. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Sean currently spends most of his time working out of his North Hollywood studio Wolf Den Recording. We talked about music school, the current state of gigging, the current state of the music industry (vs the HEYDAY! by which we obviously mean THE 90s!!!), listening, improvisation, ADHD, recording remote sessions, and much, much more.

Tucker Rule has been in the game for a minute. A hardcore kid from New Jersey who discovered underground music via skateboarding, he formed the band Thursday with his friends in order to open shows in a basement (it should be noted that these shows were headlined by bands like Saves The Day, At The Drive-In and Hot Water Music). DIY touring led to a surprise hit on MTV and the band blew up, only to get lost in the kind of major label shuffle familiar to anyone who’s followed punk rock since the 90s. Thursday went on indefinite hiatus in 2011; he toured with UK boy band The Wanted and filled in with acts like My Chemical Romance and Yellowcard. Thursday’s been back at it recently. He’s also a new dad. Tune in to hear all about it. More info at learndrums.ca

How does a kid from Houston, TX become the drummer for a legendary California punk band that’s been around longer than he’s been alive? What’s it like winning the Guitar Center drum-off? These and other questions answered as we chat with Isaias Gil! Originally from Acapulco, Mexico, Isaias has been working as a session drummer in Houston since his teens. He’s been in Modern Drummer, recorded for Macy Gray and performed with David Lee Roth(!!) He’s also a nice, positive, down-to-earth dude who’s serious about the craft and doesn’t take any of it for granted. More info at learndrums.ca

"Timothy Crofts is a true 21st Century pianist. His main focus is improvisation and world music aesthetics. In performance, Timothy explores the full sonic capabilities of the acoustic piano through extended techniques and a wide range of piano preparations. He is able to coax a variety of colour and extreme dynamic contract through employing traditional and non-traditional techniques in tandem." That's what his bio says. Tim is also a professor at Dalhousie University and co-director of SuddenlyLISTEN in Halifax. The layperson would probably call what he does "avant-garde" or "experimental" music. As you'll hear, though, he's interested in all types of music as well as its social/cultural context. We talk about the art-school origins of a lot of popular music, going deep into whatever you're learning, his own start as an 80s guitar guy, and more.

Change begins at home. Your faithful host and his younger brother (beloved MTL comic James Brown, known for his work with the iconic SQUAD LAUGHS) decided a few months ago to read a book on systemic racism and record a podcast talking about what they learned. They chose this one because it seemed to be circulating, they'd heard of it, seemed like a good starting point. This is not so much a book review as a wide-ranging discussion about these ideas, the system and our place in it.

The new DOG DAY album is out THIS FRIDAY (Aug 14)! The first one in 7 years! We sat down with KC and Meg from the band to talk drums (they're both drummers and multi-instrumentalists, with such acts as NOT YOU, DIAMONDTOWN, CENTURY EGG, GEMSTONES, BAD VIBRATIONS etc), astrology, touring in other countries and much more!!!

Paypal Visit? Papa'll Visit? Is The Pope on the show? Elon Musk? Your dad? You'll have to listen to find out. JK, Papal Visit are Pierre Cormier and Adam Mowery. A recording project that became a live band (with help from some of Saint John's heaviest hitters), they have a new single out called "Destroy the Hive." To these ears, the A-side sounds like Joy Division doing garage rock, while the B-side is like Mike O'Neill fronting The Smiths. We talk about the band's past and present, illegal teenage fun in Northern New Brunswick, good and bad band names, and much more.

Chad is the singer and songwriter from the band Kestrels. Their new album "Dream Or Don’t Dream" comes out THIS FRIDAY, July 10, 2020. If you miss the "alternative rock" people made in the 90s, you’ll dig Kestrels. J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr plays on the record. We talked about that, meeting Steve Albini, touring, recording, Eric Clapton, Myspace, buying $25 CDs, DOD guitar pedals, the creative process and so much more. As a fun bonus, this was recorded on July 6, 2019. What a time capsule!

Chris Murdoch has been drumming in the Halifax, Nova Scotia hardcore scene since the turn of the millennium. By his own count, he's been in about 20 bands. He's played with Envision, Outtacontroller and currently Souvenir, fronted Word On the Street, and recently authored "Black Dots: An Afropunk Primer", available via Pentagon Black, which you should buy right now because it's only $2 and all proceeds go to Black Lives Matter Solidarity Fund NS until the end of June. An instant classic episode.

Ben Hardy, PhD is an organizational psychologist and bestselling author. His blogs have been read by over 100 million people and are featured on Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, Cheddar, Big Think, and many others. He is a regular contributor to Inc. and Psychology Today and from 2015-2018, he was the #1 writer, in the world, on Medium.com. He's got a new book out called "Personality Isn't Permanent" and he stopped by (virtually of course, he's in Orlando) to talk about it. We talk about making a break from the past, designing the future and how it all applies to musicians.

What a world. If you need a break, here's over 2 hours of nothing really important. This episode was recorded way back on May 30th with Nova Scotian musicians, sweethearts and jokesters Corey Isenor and Liam Frier. Listen to the end for a live performance (not the one they attempted to do over live stream from different locations, that one is kinda cool but kinda weird. keep going). Check out Corey's music at https://coreyisenor.bandcamp.com/ (All 3 of us played on his most recent album, "Absinthe & Smoke". It's a bit of a who's who.) Check out Liam's music at https://liamfrier.bandcamp.com/ And Corey's photography at http://coreyjisenor.com/

We sat down with singer-songwriter, recording engineer and host's-younger-brother MICAH BROWN for a wide-ranging chat on bands, the east coast vs the big city and an exclusive live performance! (almost) ZERO TALK ABOUT COVID-19! ENJOY!!!

WE'RE BACK BABY! The Season 3 home opener is something a little different. HITMAKERS: AFTER DARK is our live TV show, happening every Saturday night at 11pm (Atlantic Daylight Time) until quarantine ends and we can go to shows again. For the kickoff episode, we sat down with Saint John singer-songwriter JASON OGDEN (also of the bands PENNY BLACKS, PAPAL VISIT and HOSPITAL GRADE) to discuss the Neil Young biography "Shakey," which we discovered via Instagram that we were both reading right now. Let us know what you think of the new format! Show info, social links and more at learndrums.ca.

(Please don't sue us, Allen Klein or Tom Scharpling) One for the true heads! Let's get (meta)physical! Where have we come from? Where are we going? We're going to borrow a descriptor from a Vice article about Metallica recording "Ride The Lightning" and tell you that this is a "wild ass" tale of how one man's career crossroads led him to the streets of Saint John. Season 2 is done! Binge the whole thing! Season 3 drops when it's good and ready! ✌️

LEAKED! A brand-new track from the Halifax shoegaze darlings' debut EP "Thin Veil", out later this week. Just call us Julian Assange, without all the... actually... don't. Instead, press play! Rock hard!