The BrooklynVegan Show: A Podcast About Music

This episode of the BrooklynVegan podcast is an interview with John Nolan of Taking Back Sunday and Straylight Run! John reflects on Taking Back Sunday's landmark debut album 'Tell All Your Friends' (the #1 emo album of 2002, according to a new list we posted on BV) for its 20th anniversary, and he goes deep on Straylight Run, in celebration of the band's recent reunion shows. John also talks about various other projects, the next Taking Back Sunday album, the way his relationship to the oft-stigmatized genre of emo has changed over the years, and much more.

There's also a new 20th anniversary edition of 'Tell All Your Friends.' Pick it up on silver vinyl, CD, or cassette.

This interview originally aired on Vans Channel 66. Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Today's episode is an interview with Anthony Green! If you're unfamiliar, Anthony's been a lifer of post-hardcore and underground rock in general for over 20 years, having fronted the bands Circa Survive, Saosin, The Sound of Animals Fighting, and more, and he remains very busy. He's fresh off releasing his excellent new solo album Boom. Done., Circa Survive recently put out two great new EPs, Saosin have upcoming shows (and new music in the works!), and The Sound of Animals Fighting are plotting their return too. We talked about almost everything Anthony's been up to lately, and he also reflected on his early days, talked about some early influences, and looked at the way his own classic material has influenced new bands like SeeYouSpaceCowboy (who recently put out a Saosin cover). He also talked about writing lyrics that open up about mental health, and the ways even major artists like Kendrick Lamar are doing that, and he talked about the idea of achieving longevity as an artist, and discussed some other artists who have done so, like Deftones and (the just-broken-up) mewithoutYou. 

And just days after we recorded this episode, the news broke that Anthony's fronting the new supergroup L.S. Dunes, which also features members of Thursday, My Chemical Romance, and Coheed & Cambria.

Pianos Become the Teeth guitarist Michael York joins us for an episode ahead of the band's first album in over four and a half years, 'Drift,' which comes out 8/26 via Epitaph. Mike reminisces on Pianos Become the Teeth's early days, when they and their 'new wave of post-hardcore' peers were doing small DIY shows and tours, and building a new underground circuit of their own, before the bigger record labels and music publications started to take notice. He then gets into the moment that Pianos and many of their peers (like Touche Amore, La Dispute, and Defeater) signed to Epitaph, the steady rise that Pianos have been on since then, and how now they've become an influential band on a whole new generation.

Mike also discussed some of the musical influences and the use of analog tape loops that helped lead to the weirder, darker sound of the new album, making it with producer Kevin Bernsten (who also did their first two albums), and how the entire band relocated to Mike's uncle's cabin in the woods to make the album in seclusion.

Additionally, Mike talked about what an "actual dream (no pun intended)" it is to be touring with reunited screamo legends Jeromes Dream this year, he talked about the Baltimore scene that birthed PBTT (and everyone from Beach House to Future Islands to Turnstile to JPEGMAFIA), and other artists he's been inspired by over the years, like Bon Iver, Portishead, My Bloody Valentine, Flume, SOPHIE, and more.

Pick up 'Drift' on red vinyl in our store. Pianos Become the Teeth tour dates and tickets here.

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Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Mike Park (Skankin' Pickle, The Bruce Lee Band, The Chinkees, Asian Man Records) and the great newer ska band Catbite join us for a joint chat! If you're unfamiliar, Mike is a veteran and lifer of DIY, ska, punk, and indie rock, and remains prolific and consistently today, and he refers to Catbite as his favorite new ska band. The episode is in celebration of their new split 12" on Bad Time Records as part of the label's 'Wavebreaker' series, which brings together ska musicians from different generations. We talk about the new split, as well as the current ska scene, some ska history, why ska still gets a bit of a bad reputation (and why it shouldn't), the recent divisive AltPress article on The Interrupters, and much more.

We've also teamed up with them on an exclusive electric blue vinyl variant of the split, limited to just 100 copies and only available in our stores. Pre-order yours now while they last!

Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

All four members of LA ska-punk band The Interrupters join us for a chat as they welcome their new album 'In The Wild,' due 8/5 via Epitaph Records. It's the most personal and genre-defying album the band have written, with Aimee Interrupter opening up about struggles with mental health and abuse, and we discuss the intense therapeutic process that led to these songs being written, as well as the impact of COVID lockdown on the album, the various styles of music explored on it, its many cool guests (Hepcat, The Skints, Tim Armstrong of Rancid, Rhoda Dakar of The Bodysnatchers), and more. We also talk about the recent comeback of ska, the members' favorite ska bands of all time, the time members of The Interrupters backed Tim Armstrong and Jesse Michaels in an impromptu, semi-Operation Ivy reunion, recording vocal harmonies backstage at Citi Field while opening for Green Day, and much more.

Subscribe to The BrooklynVegan Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and stay tuned for more episodes. Also keep up with us 24/7 on BrooklynVegan.com where we constantly post music news, album reviews, live concert coverage and more, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Thursday's Geoff Rickly joins us for an 20th anniversary interview about the band's classic breakthrough album, 'Full Collapse.' Geoff also reflected on the entire history of the band, from their early days up through their initial breakup and then their 2010s reunion. He reflected on the early 2000s emo/post-hardcore boom that 'Full Collapse' helped kickstart, and the way the scene rose and fell and was later revived with a new generation of bands in the 2010s. He talked about other bands he's collaborated with, like My Chemical Romance and Touche Amore, and much more.

Thursday are playing 'Full Collapse' in full on tour this year, and Geoff's band No Devotion also have a new album due in September via Velocity Records.

The interview featured in this podcast episode originally aired on Vans Channel 66. Interview conducted by Andrew Sacher. Music and editing by Michael Silverstein.

Joyce Manor's Barry Johnson joins us on the first-ever episode of the new BrooklynVegan podcast. With their first two albums recently turning 10, Barry discusses the early 2010s emo scene that Joyce Manor got their start in (1:20) and his current relationship to their divisive sophomore album 'Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired' (11:10). He also discusses their new album '40 oz. to Fresno,' and how it was partially inspired by Barry digging through the band's vaults of old ideas and unreleased material during the pandemic (22:10), the parallels between 'Of All Things...' and the new record (25:50), the story behind how one of the new album's songs ("Secret Sisters") was actually a reworked version of another song on the album ("NBTSA") (27:15), working with producer Rob Schnapf and the parallels between Rob's work with Joyce Manor and his work with Saves The Day (30:04), and bringing in Motion City Soundtrack drummer Tony Thaxton for the new album (36:30). He talks about his relationship with ska (48:20) as well, and he tells the story of how Joyce Manor's new album was named after an auto-corrected text about Sublime (56:24).

Joyce Manor's new album '40 oz. to Fresno' officially drops June 10 via Epitaph, and you can get it on opaque pink vinyl in our shop. Joyce Manor are also touring this summer with Citizen, Prince Daddy & the Hyena, and PHONY. Dates here. 

Subscribe to The BrooklynVegan Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and stay tuned for more episodes. Also keep up with us 24/7 on BrooklynVegan.com where we constantly post music news, album reviews, live concert coverage and more, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.