Episode 418: Jesse Sublett Returns!

hello friends! i hope life is treating you well. things are good here. i got to play at an xtc tribute/SIMS benefit on friday night at strange brew lounge side. there was an amazingly well-rehearsed house band led by my pal jon green. there was a host of awesome singers that got up and threw down on the song they sang. i sang a song by the xtc alter-ego band, the dukes of stratosphear called, "collideascope". it was a very special night and i was honored to be a part of it. i played a benefit for big brothers and big sisters with skyrocket in houston on saturday. i actually did the intro for this show in my hotel room between soundcheck and the show. i hope you like it.my guest for episode 418 is musician/author/artist/actor and one of the coolest guys i know, jesse sublett! jesse has a fantastic new non-fiction book out called, "1960's austin gangsters: crime that rocked the capital". the book is about austin's seedy underworld and follows austin's notorious overton gang and all of the outrageous crimes and wild characters in their orbit. it's a fascinating story that takes you through brothels in south austin, bank robbing tours through small towns in the south and midwest, darrel k. royal's u.t. football program, the "dixie mafia", bugged jails and crooked sheriffs and much, much more. go to jesse's website for yourself! i loved this book and in our conversation, jesse takes us deeper into the lives of some of austin's most nefarious and colorful characters. i hope you enjoy this conversation as much as i did. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 415: Live at The Townsend w/ Kathy Valentine, Emily Bell, Amy Edwards and Miles Zuniga

hello friends! welcome to episode 415: live at the townsend with our guests, kathy valentine, emily bell, amy edwards and miles zuniga! this episode was recorded in front of a live audience on wednesday, sept. 9th. i have great conversations with all of the artists and we have a great group conversation about where we think things are going in the music world. the show was recorded by our friends at werd media labs. i had a blast talking to these great artists. i'm sure you will too. let's get down! ciao! -jg

Episode 413: January May

hello friends! i hope you've had a great week! i have had a pretty eventful and busy week. not all has been awesome, but what in life is awesome all the time? i want to thank the townsend, werd media labs, my guests and everyone who made it out to our live podcast on wednesday. it was a pretty interesting show. people got into it. it wasn't as funny as live ones tend to be, but i've gotten a couple of emails telling me how informative and deep it was. so, look for that next week. if you're in houston tonight, 9/11/15, skyrocket will be playing at the continental club at around 10 pm. come out and party down with us!my guests for episode 413 are k.g., matthew and adam. otherwise known as the pop band, january may! these kids moved here from missouri last year when they released their debut full-length album, trouble made. they have had no problem putting themselves out there and when they have, it's really paid off. they've won grants, gotten to record and perform at full sail university after winning one of their contests and they have teamed up with the women's clothing company, belk to help promote the band and offset expenses so they can stay on the road. these guys have a clear head and they really handle themselves ell in this business. they're also, very sweet and a great hang. i hope you enjoy getting to know january may as much as i did. let's get down! ciao! -jg

Episode 412: Three Bones

hello there friends! i hope you all had a great labor day weekend and you're on your way to an easy four-day week. i've had a good labor day weekend. i played shows, went to shows, went to the mall, cleaned out my closet and did a podcast with aly tadros. eventful! not a lot of "normal" labor day weekend stuff, but i don't lead a "normal" life. hey gang! we have a live podcast tomorrow, wednesday, sept. 9th at the townsend from 8-10 pm. my guests will be kathy valentine, miles zuniga, amy edwards and emily bell! there is no cover for this event and you can find out all about it here.my guests for episode 412 are dalt and victoria from the lo-fi/soul band, three bones! their new album, haven't you heard comes out today and they're celebrating with a record release show with special guests, tele novella and ringo deathstar at the chicon collective. it's brought to you by solistice live and you can find out more about it here. dalt and victoria came by lat week and we had a fantastic conversation. i had a great time getting to know three bones. i'm sure you will too. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 407: Penelope Spheeris & Anna Fox / The Peterson Brothers

hello friends! i hope you're all finding yourselves enjoying your summer. i am. it just cooled off a bit which is nice. i have a great show for you guys today! a double-header, if you will. fist up i have legendary director, penelope spheeris and her daughter/ business partner, anna fox. you might know penelope from the big hollywood movies like "wayne's world" and "black sheep", but you might also know her from her "decline of western civilization" parts 1-3 documentaries. i came up watching part 1: the punk years and part 2: the metal years and loved them. the austin film society is presenting a ver special screening of all three parts plus, penelope's 1983 film, "suburbia" at the marchesa theater on friday, august 28th and saturday, august 29th. penelope and anna will be on hand for a "q & a" after the movies. tickets and more info on the event are available at https://www.austinfilm.org/decline so we have a great phone conversation where we find out what happened to the bands, odin and london from part 2: the metal years, why paul stanley was in bed with three girls during his interview and much more. if you want to own the new decline of western civilization box set, go here shout! factory.my second guests for episode 407 are austin's new generation of blues musicians, the peterson brothers! glenn and alex peterson stopped by to talk to me about their debut, self-titled album that came out earlier this month, being professional working musicians by night and high-school students by day, keeping their weekly continental club residency (mondays @ 6:30 fresh), where they want to take the blues and much, much more. i really enjoyed getting to know these fine, young, talented gentlemen. i'm sure you will too. find out more about the peterson brothers at petersonbrothersband.com let's get down!ciao! -jg  

Episode 404: Girl Pilot

hello friends! i hope you're managing out there in this insane heat. maybe you're in a body of water or just inside with the air conditioning running. either way, i hope you're staying cool. i'm writing this the day before it comes out and i'm about to go play a show outside... ick. i'm thinking about playing shows like this in my bathing suit. is that unprofessional? 104 degrees is too hot. i'm going to stop by target and get myself a fan. if you;re in houston tonight, friday august 14th skyrocket will be playing at the house of blues bronze peacock room. come out and say hi. also, if you;re in austin tomorrow, saturday 8/15 skyrocket is doing an extremely rare show at the hole in the wall. i'm sure there will be a low cover. come out and see us where we started out. my guests for episode 404 are austin's own, girl pilot! you might know their leader, sahara smith. she put out an album a few years ago called myth of the heart that was executive produced by t-bone burnett and she ended up making appearances on tv shows including david letterman. anyway, after that experience, sahara went back to the drawing board and realized she wanted a band and that band is girl pilot. so i met lauren mike and sahara from the band at the werd company podcast studio and we had a fantastic conversation about where they've been and where they're headed. i hope you enjoy getting to know girl pilot. i sure did. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 403: Ocean Of Stars

hello friends! i hope you're all braving the extreme heat that is upon us. i'm doing well. just working on some music, booking a live podcast for sept. 9th (details coming soon), prepping for 3 podcasts i'm doing tomorrow etc. so, i listened to the american top 50 chart on spotify this morning while i was running. i probably heard about 15 to 20 songs on shuffle. i wasn't very moved by anything which made me kind of sad. then i realized that there is so much non-mainstream music out there, so much of it comes through this show. i'm really lucky to be in the position to have so much music coming through and getting turned on to so much stuff. it gives me hope. go find some new music. it feels good.my guest for episode 403 is ocean of stars leader, danny grochow! this is danny's second time on the show. he was on a couple of years ago talking about some solo material he was releasing and now he's back with with a new e.p. from his band, ocean of stars. danny is a great guy who is out there playing bass and guitar as a sideman but still makes the time to write, record and perform his original instrumental-prog-rock. we have a great conversation about four track cassette recording, the rpm challenge, finding musicians, writing complex instrumental music, answering want ads and much, much more. i i hope you enjoy our conversation. i sure did. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 401: Continental Drift

hello friends!  hope you're all doing well and taking the last weeks of summer in stride. i'm trying to. i'm getting my shit together after a couple of whirlwind weeks of podcasts, shows, the beach, new york, connecticut and the 400th podcast... whew! i had a great time doing everything, but it was utterly exhausting. hey! if you live in austin or not, i'll be on 93.7 KLBJ tonight at 11. i'll be on "local licks" with loris lowe talking about the podcast and stuff. check it out at www.klbjfm.com. also, tomorrow, wednesday, august 5th, i will be moderating a panel for the austin music foundation's, "the music business is dead" panel. we'll be discussing the implications of the austin music census findings with a great panel of musicians and music business folks. you can find out more and rsvp here http://austinmusicfoundation.org/. come out and find out where this community is headed and what you can do to sustain a career in this day and age.my guests for episode 401 are jedidiah and david from the ten piece, afro beat/psych band, continental drift. these guys are about to release their debut ep in a few weeks. i had the pleasure of sitting down with these cats yesterday and chatting about west african music, what is psychedelic music, maintaining order in a 10-peice band, recording live, working out songs at shows and much, much more. these guys are amazing musicians with a great vision and i really enjoyed getting to know them. i'm sure you will too. let's get down!ciao! jg

Episode 399: Songs From The Podcast

hello friends! i hope you're all enjoyeing summer. when this comes out i'll be getting ready to leave galveston and return to austin for our live recording of episode 400 tomorrow, wednesday, july 29th from 8-10pm at the townsend! my guests will be, aj vallejo, jazz mills, suzanna choffel, nakia and justin elliott! come celebrate 400 episodes with us!welcome to episode 399: songs from the podcast. over the last year i've had well over 100 guests come by the apartment, talk to me at festival, meet me at werd podcast studios and even meeting at undisclosed locations, to talk about where they're at with their music life and music career. often times, these people are coming by during their "press assaults" promoting their latest album or single. sometimes i end up getting turned on to a new band, artist, album or song. in fact, it happens all the time. i love when a podcast is over and the artist's music stays with me and i become a fan. with well over 100 artists on the show over the last year, i got turned on a bunch of music. in this episode i included 15 songs that i loved. there so many more, that i started a playlist on spotify titled, "episode 399: songs from the podcast" you can find a link to it on our facebook page check it out there are a lot of songs on there. so, i get to play d.j. and spin tunes from shivery shakes, little brave, quiet company, billy harvey, migrant kids, the blue bonnets, bob schneider, phranchyze, dwight twilley, t.a.p.e.s., skinny lister, cautiontape, the wind + the wave, LEV and wild adriatic! hopefully, this mix sparks your interest in some of these bands and makes you check out the spotify playlist where you can check out even more music from the podcast. i hope you enjoy listening to this as much as i enjoyed making it. let's get down!ciao! -jg

Episode 396: Wonderbitch

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well. things are good here. i have shared custody of my dogs with my ex and she's leaving town today and i'm going to stay with my dogs for a whole week. i love it. i miss living with them, so this is a nice treat. i have to go in for a follow-up post-op appointment at the dentist. i'm pretty sure it'll all be fine. it feels fine. i have a big announcement. as you know, we are closing in on episode 400 and we're going to celebrate by having a live podcast recording! it will take place wednesday, july 29th from 8-10 pm at the townsend. my guests will be aj vallejo, suzanna choffel, jazz mills, nakia and justin elliott! here's a link to the facebook event page. if you live in austin, come celebrate with us.my guest for episode 396 is alex chod from the disco/psych/prog band, wonderbitch! i first heard about them from matt and lauren from solstice festival. so, i looked them up and was blown away by their ability to cross the lines of prog and dance pop. alex and i have a great conversation about everything college in indiana, expensive chords, the subtle magic of the DX7, how to be prog but not too prog, making "playing keyboards" sexy, finding like-minded bandmates, i learn what y.o.l.o. means, über driving and much, much more! their new single, "josanna" is available online now! i had a great time getting to know alex. i'm sure will too. let's get down!ciao! -jg