Episode 547: DD Dagger a.k.a. Allyson Lipkin

Hello friends! I hope you all had a good weekend. I'm doing well. I've been working on a lot of busy work today. It's not super-fun but it leaves you woth a feeling of accomplishment when you finish... and that's pretty good. Right? I urge any of you musicians that live in Austin to come out to a panel I'm moderating tomorrow, Wednesday December 7th at at St. Elmo Sounstage from 7-9 pm. The Austin Music Foundation presents "Hit The Road Jack(ie): Touring Deconstructed" a panel on planning and managing go to austinmusicfoundation.org for more info.
My guest for episode 547 is multi-instrumentalist art-rocker, DD Dagger a.k.a. Allyson Lipkin! Allyson is releasing her brilliant new album, The Lone Wolf Meets The Underdog on December 17th. She's also having a release party on Sat. Dec 17th at Dozen Street. Go to dddagger.com for more info on the show and where to get the album. We sat down about a month ago and had a fantastic conversation about writing a "divorce album", making The Lone Wolf Meets The Underdog, playing with Los Coast, Fastball, Danger Cakes and others, staying sane through making art and much, much more! I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Let's get down!
Ciao! -jg

Episode 538: Bootblacks / Liste Noire

Hello friends! I you're all doing well. Things are good here. I'm rehearsing some with my band, Ladyband Johnson for our show this Friday 11/4 at The Continental Club here in Austin. We go on at 11 pm. Come out and say hi. Other than that, tonight (Tuesday 11/1) I'll be doing some hosting duties at the TuneCore and Austin Music Foundation at Emo's. Come have a drink, hear about the many services TuneCore has to offer to better serve local artists, and catch sets by Austin-based artists, Migrant Kids and Keeper! Here's the Facebook event page 
My guests for episode 538 are Brooklyn based synth-rockers, Bootblacks and French synth wave band, Liste Noire! Both bands have new albums out and just toured Europe together and are currently on the road in America. Go to Bootblacks.net and Listenoire.tv to check out their music and find out if they're coming to a town near you. Nico from Liste Noire and Panther from Bootblacks join me via Skype and we have a great conversation about drum machines and sythesizers, touring Europe vs. America, living in a post-modern era as an artist, Mr. T for president, 80's sax solos and much more! I hope you enjoy getting to know Panther and Nico as much as I did. Let's get down!
ciao! -jg

Episode 520: Kady Rain Returns!

Hello friends! Welcome to the last days of summer 2016. Labor day weekend is upon us. I hope you have fabulous plans to close out the summer. I don't really have plans. Does anyone have a boat they want to take on? I'm playing with Skyrocket on Friday at Cedar Street Courtyard in Austin and Saturday, we'll be at Mercer Street Dance Hall in Dripping Springs. Come out and start your Labor Day weekend off with some sweet jams provided me and my pals.
Kady Rain and Ben Bazzrea return to the show for episode 520! Their new awesome e.p., "All I Ever Wanted" came out last Friday! You can find it on itunes, Spotify and of course at kadyrain.com. They'll be playing at The 36th Annual Fall Pecan Street Festival on Sunday Sept. 25th at 7pm go to pecanstreetfestival.org for a complete listing of bands and times. Kady, Ben and I have a great conversation about writing songs, making "All I Ever Wanted", the state of pop music in Austin and the world, making it work as a couple and musical partners, lava lamps and much, much more! I hope you enjoy our conversation. I sure did. Let's get down!
Ciao! -jg

Episode 517: Money Chicha

Hello friends! I hope you're all surviving the end of summer heat and floods. It's crazy out there, right?
I got to see Alice Cooper on Sunday night! I was amazing. I want to thank my friend, AJ Vallejo for inviting me. I had a blast seeing AJ's band, BANG before the Alice show. It was a great night all around. Alice's show is an onslaught of costume changes, snakes, giant frankenstein monsters and heavy metal. Plus, he's super old and still rocking like a champ. it was inspiring.
My Guest for episode 517 is Greg Gonzalez, the bass player from Money Chicha, Brownout and the Grammy winning, Grupo Fantasma! Money Chicha has a fantastic new album out, Echo En Mexico. I've been a fan of Money Chicha for a few years now and I've gotten to see them a few times during their residency at The Continental Club Gallery here in Austin and i'm a big fan. Greg and i have a conversation about balancing, touring and making music with three high-profile bands, growing up in Laredo, teaching composition, making Echo En Mexico, the history of Chicha music, playing with Prince and much, much more. i hope you enjoy getting to know Greg. I sure did. Let's get down!
Ciao! jg

Episode 495: Charlie Faye and The Fayettes

hello people! i hope you're all doing well. it seems like it hasn't stopped raining for like a month here in austin. there's flash flooding, you can't go swimming, when it stops raining and the sun comes out, the outside world becomes a steam sauna... it's really kinda gross. i'm playing a couple of shows with skyrocket this weekend and i'm really glad they're both inside shows. speaking of which, we'll be playing at the mercer street dance hall in dripping springs on friday, june 3rd and at the continental club in houston on saturday, june 4th. if you live in those towns are interested, you can find out more about us at skyrockettheband.com
singer/songwriter, charlie faye returns to the show for episode 495! she has a new musical project, a new band and a new album with a fresh take on the 60's girl group sound and look. the self-titled, charlie faye & the fayettes comes out next friday, june 10th. the first single "sweet little messages" is already getting great reviews and has charted on the americana music charts. the core of the group is charlie and her two amazing back-up singers, akina adderly and betty soo, but just like the great girl group records of the sixties, charlie faye & the fayettes is a who's who of amazing studio musicians, including members of elvis costello and the attractions, jellyfish, lone justice and more. go to charliefayeandthefayettes.com to find out where they're playing and how to get the album. i hope you enjoy my conversation with charlie faye. i sure did. let's get down!
ciao! -jg

Episode 492: Los Coast

hello friends! i hope you all had a good weekend. i did. i played a high school graduation party in houston on friday. coincidentally, one of our guests today graduated from the same high school. anyway, the party was great the show was really fun. the young crowd had such a powerful energy that night that it really made us up our energy and it was on. we were locked in a thing with this young crowd and it wore me out. for the rest of the weekend i was tired and kinda out of it. also, here is a link to the event page for our episode 500 live recording on monday, june 20th at the townsend in austin, tx.
my guests for episode are trey privott and john courtney from the funk soul band, los coast! i met and saw these guys during sxsw when they played a showcase i was hosting. i thought they were a fantastic live band. so good in fact, they'll be playing at the acl festival this fall, they'll be playing the free press summe fest in houston on june 5th and they'll be playing c-boys heart & soul here in austin every thursday in june. i have a great conversation with trey and john about being a young band making some big strides. there's some real talent in this band plus, trey and john are really gracious and and a great hang. we even went to lunch afterwards. check out los coast at loscoast.com! let's get down!
ciao! -jg

Episode 482: Kady Rain

hello friends! floods are taking over today here in texas. houston has been hit hard and i hope all of our houston friends are safe and dry. i was in houston this weekend playing a couple of shows with skyrocket. i spent record store day there. i went to cactus music and sig's lagoon. i didn't get any "special releases", but i scored some good vinyl and got some gifts for folks. i hope you got to get out to some mom and pop record stores this weekend too. you can find my record store day pics at our facebook page.
my guests for episode 482 are pop music geniuses, kady rain and ben bazzrea! they have a brilliant new single dropping this week called, "can't save us" you can hear it at the end of the show. kady and ben stopped by a couple of weeks ago and we had a fantastic conversation about writing pop songs, how to be a pop band in austin, crazy parties when kady was my neighbor, internet trolls and much, much more!
you can hear their music and find out when they're playing by going to kadyrain.com. i hope enjoy getting to know kady and ben. i sure did. let's get down!
ciao! -jg

Episode 480: Calliope Musicals Return!

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well. i'm good. i'm getting ready to make a yummy cuban chicken recipe i found on pinterest a couple of weeks ago. it's pretty easy. you just get a rotisserie chicken, shred the breasts, marinate them in lime, lemon or any citrus you like for a couple of hours, fry it up with some onions until it's crispy then serve it with rice, black beans and sliced avocado. i'll let you know how it went on friday's show.
my guests for episode 480 are austin's own calliope musicals! they were on the show last fall and now they're back and their new album, time owes you nothing comes out this friday, april 15th and they're having a very special record release show on friday here in austin at central presbyterian church. go to calliopemusicals.com. we have a great conversation about sxsw, being black fret nominees, the evils of facebook, making time owes you nothing, keeping it up when you're playing two shows a day for a week and much, much more! i love these guys and i'm sure you will too. let's get down!
ciao! -jg

Episode 479: Eric Dingus Returns!

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well. i'm good. very tired. i played last night with my band, ladyband johnson at the townend here in austin. we had a great time. i wish we could have played longer. heading out to houston today to play some private events with skyrocket. looking forward to that. also, we'll be staying in my favorite hotel, so that's always a plus. i'm not sure you keep up with the cooking webseries i have with my old pal, aj vallejo, called, "cooking/drinking with johnny and aj". we made a crazy bloody mary last week with "bloody revolution" bloody mary mix and tito's vodka. well, both companies saw it and we have cases of both now. thanks to bloody revolution and tito's vodka! check out our show here .
my guest for episode 479 is producer/dj/beat maker/label owner, eric dingus. eric was on the show 3 years ago when he was 17 and making beats in his room for rappers. well, since then he's created a label called, dream sequence records, produced a song for drake, toured europe, the u.s. and canada dj-ing and much, much more. i had a great time catching up with this thoughtful, humble and extremely talented artist who is bringing a new sound to hip hop and electronic music. i hope you enjoy getting to know eric dingus again. i sure did. let's get down!
ciao! -jg

Episode 478: Wonderbitch Returns!

hello friends! i hope you're all doing well and enjoying the spring. i am. i was in las vegas this weekend playing a show with skyrocket. i don't get all vegas-y. i didn't gamble, i only had two drinks and i didn't freaky deaky with any prostitutes. a guy asked me if i was looking for "party favors"  while i was walking through the casino at my hotel. so at least i still look like i party even though i was just a nerd heading to his hotel room to do his podcast intro. quick plug. i'm playing some songs tomorrow with the bluebonnets at the townsend here in austin for my friend steven's birthday show. should be a good time.
my guests for episode 478 are austin's psychedelic, 80's dance band, wonderbitch! wonderbitch was on the show a few months ago when they were the austin music foundation's band of the month. now they're back with the worlds premier of their new single, "miracle drive" which drops later this week but you can hear it first on this show. they having a single release show saturday, april 9th here in austin at swan dive. you can find out where they're playing and hear their music by going to wonderbitch.com. we have a great conversation about recording their new song, "miracle drive", social media and how to "michael bay" your career, redefining their sound, finding the best 80's synth sounds and much, much more. i had a great time talking to these guys again. dig it! let's get down!
ciao! -jg