This week we’re all about rockers and their movies. After Scott engages in some hemming and hawing over the threat of competing “pseudo-narrative” concert films, the guys welcome rock and roll movie director Dimitri Coats to the show to talk about his new OFF! flick: FREE LSD. We touch on the upcoming final OFF! shows and his first band Burning Bri…

Some have claimed that Freud thought the Irish were impervious to therapy. While we may never know if he actually said that — we know for goddamn sure that John Haggerty is impervious to any of Scott’s lines of questioning. But that’s okay. Like all great heroes, John’s stoicism belies a heart of gold beating with generosity, fairness, and a firm b…

This week on LIFERS we’re getting schooled on goth, punk, the ‘80s club scene, Diamanda Galas — shit, we’re getting schooled on EVERYTHING! We must be talking to Chicago legend DJ Scary Lady Sarah. Sarah just celebrated her 36th year as a professional DJ and producer of the longest running goth event in North America: NOCTURNA. Take that, whippersn…

Angela Mullenhour’s voice is like a force of nature. And nature is kinda scary. Luckily, her band Sybris is the sort of band that can keep up with that force — loud, bold, and capable of summoning up hurricane squalls of melodic noise. After an extended haitus, the beloved Chicago band is back with their long-awaited third record “Gold On Hold” (se…

It’s great to have an old friend on the show — and this week we’ve got Jonny Polonsky. Lucky you. This is a great episode where we talk to the great singer-songwriter-studio rat about moving to and prospering in LA, growing up as a backstage-teenaged Chicago presence, bossing around Rick Rubin, Mark Lanegan, playing on a Neil Diamond session, being…

Unleashed in the East! Gabe and Ben talk to Scott and Justine while they’re doing laundry in a hotel in Osaka before making their way to Monkey Island. Confused? You won’t be after you hear this episode featuring Japanese metal bars, overconfident deer, Hear ’N Aid, Bali belly, Japanese toilets, Louise Stratten, rainy neon umbrella nights, Facebook…

Scott is supposed to be on vacation in Bali, but Gabe and Ben are relentless. So they dragged him out of bed from half a world away to record this goddamn podcast! This week the guys talk about fine Balinese cinema, spice-averse Australians, Brittany Grinder, cat poop coffee, Steve Albini’s love of Costco, Susan Backlinie, Roger Corman, “One Handsh…

On another edition of the QUITTERS Podcast: Tim Edwards used to be Local H’s booking agent until he decided enough was enough and he walked away from the entire industry. What would drive a person to throw away the good fortune to be working with Scott? Well, if there’s an answer — good luck trying to get it out of him. On our shortest interview ev…

When the LIFERS Podcast moved offices and we needed movers — we wanted real movers, real service… real rock and roll. So we called the guys at REAL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MOVERS. These guys delivered rock solid service. If you’re planning a move —residential, commercial, whatever— you gotta call the REAL ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MOVERS. Plus their boss man used to pla…

Behold the quintessential lifer in these matters: Scott McCaughey. Now this podcast is getting somewhere. Scott was a king of Seattle before it was cool while his band Young Fresh Fellows were roaming the untested wilds of the ‘80s college-rock countryside. This led to now-mythical tours with The Replacements and a crucial and long-standing musical…

It’s legend time again around here at the LIFERS podcast. Of all the bands to emerge from the punk explosion of the late ‘70s, few were as adept at fusing melody and fury in quite the same way that the great Stiff Little Fingers were. Seminal in every way, SLF would go on to influence Naked Raygun, Green Day, and pretty much every punk band that ev…

Twin-Cities ex-pat, L.A. transplant, and Local H’s album cover go-to guy in the ‘00s — Kii Arens joins us on the show this week. But as you’ll hear, all is not smooth and bump-free in podcasting land. Nevertheless, we managed to talk with our ol’ pal about huge boy bands in the UK, singing on KISS records, opening up for DIO as a mime, Jack The Rap…

Around here at the LIFERS Podcast — we kinda HATE April Fool’s Day. And now you people are gonna hear about it! PLUS: Taco Bell, “Rampage”, a mini-round of WHAT’S THE BEST: Lemonheads, Japanese “Alias” bootlegs, Un-punk Gabe, River vs. Rivers, Joe Flaherty, The Wisconsin Film Festival, “Tuff Turf” vs. Tuff TERFs, dumbbells, and we may or may not be…

Doni Blair is the kind of lifer that isn’t content to just sit around between tours and wait for the call. He likes to get his ass kicked. Literally. You probably know him as the bass playing dynamo in The Toadies — but an ever growing number of people know Doni as a practitioner, instructor, and advocate of martial arts training. In fact, he wrote…

It's been a bit of a rough week over in LIFERS podcast land. Ben had unexpected oral surgery, Scott had to unexpectedly travel, and Gabe is still unexpectedly living in Florida. But don't fear, faithful listener. A few weeks back we played a mighty fun round of What's The Best with Bruce Lamont, and this snowy blowy day in the midwest seems as good…

Scott has a lot of friends who are also great songwriters. But none of them are geniuses. Except for Kevin Tihista. This week we finally welcome the legendary singer-songwriter to the show. We talk to Kevin about his musical influences, growing up in Santa Cruz, being an extra in “The Lost Boys”, playing bass for Triplefastaction, the difficult tra…

Scott’s “solo” band —Scott Lucas & The Married Men— is actually a fairly large and open ended collective of Chicago music scene veterans and dyed in the wool lifers (it’s also a close-knit family of friends, but we’ll get to that). The list of bands that the members of The Married Men have been in (and continue to be in) could make up its own podca…

When word got out in 1982 that Wax Trax Records was looking for a house photographer, Bobby Talamine stepped up to answer the call. And he’s never looked back. Still out there photographing and championing bands he loves, you can spot Bobby in the pit of just about any show in Chicago (large or small) — looking to get the shot. On this episode we t…

Bruce Lamont is a lifer’s lifer and a true embodiment of the fabled midwestern work ethic. His band Yakuza is celebrating its 25th year this Sunday at Thalia Hall with a show that will surely feature selections from their latest (and greatest?) album SUTRA. But that’s not all that Bruce has cooking — and Yakuza is far from his only band/project. Oh…

If you grew up anywhere near Chicago, the history of JAM Productions is probably a mirror image to your own history as a concert goer. Founded over 50 years ago (and still independent and going strong), JAM has done more to shape the live music landscape in Chicago than just about any entity we can think of. In the late ‘80s and straight out of col…

We couldn’t book a guest so Scott got drunk, Ben got high, and Gabe sold a bunch of Superbowl squares.بقلم The LIFERS Podcast

This week on The QUITTERS Podcast: The last time we had Freda Love Smith on the show it was to celebrate/lament her decision to retire from a long and illustrious drumming career. Turns out that was just the tip of the quitting iceberg. In her terrific new book I QUIT EVERYTHING, Freda chronicles her year of furiously and very un-quietly quitting e…

You could call Jack Douglas the world’s greatest living producer and you probably wouldn’t get a whole lotta blowback from people who obsess about these things. Jack has produced seminal records for everyone from Cheap Trick to Aerosmith to Patti Smith to John freakin’ Lennon (he also produced a record for Local H, but we don’t need to get into tha…

To the list of perfect and fully formed debut records — a list that includes “Nevermind The Bollocks”, “Murmur" and the first Ramones album — one has to include Electric Six’s “Fire”. 20 years and just about as many albums later, Electric Six and Tyler Spencer (aka Dick Valentine) are still going nuclear as Tyler joins us on a (getting into the) ja…

The LIFERS Podcast is STILL on stage! Night two at Gman Tavern in Chicago was (impossibly) even more drunken and uproarious than night one at Gman Tavern. This could’ve been due to Scott’s general exhaustion, the crowd’s general rowdiness or Figdish being locked in a basement for two hours — but the smart money is on Gabe’s Frank Booth performance.…

The LIFERS Podcast is back on stage! We started 2024 off right/wrong with a special LIVE New Year’s hangover party at the Gman Tavern in Chicago (it was Kelly Wey’s idea). Was it a success? Well… mostly. After talking about Gabe’s horrific performance as Jambi from Pee Wee’s Playhouse (and witnessing Gabe’s horriFIED performance as Richard Roma fro…

Another year gone by — another LIFERS Podcast wrap up. The year in rear-view includes Rick Ness, Rick Froberg, Walter Schriefels, Tommy Stinson, Kyle Kinane, Brendan Kelly, Pat Healy, Allen Epley, and apparently no women! God, we suck.بقلم The LIFERS Podcast

Brendan Kelly and his excellent punk-rock combo The Lawrence Arms have been waging a war on Christmas at various Chicago venues for 9 years now. Just a couple of weeks ago, their beloved and annual anti-Yuletide concerts lovingly dubbed “War On X-mas” sold out two nights at The Metro. So we figured Brendan would be the perfect guy to drop by and ve…

From a Holiday Inn outside of Rochester: It’s the return of the Road Report! Hang out with us.بقلم The LIFERS Podcast

There are all kinds of lifers. There’s the lifer that starts a band and then spends their life playing in that band. And that’s great. Then there’s the lifer that starts a band, watches that band fall apart, returns to the hometown scene that made him (in this case the wonderful and influential town of Champaign, Illinois), and then dedicates his l…

This week on the podcast: We can’t stop the plugs! One of our favorite music writer lifers —Michael Tedder!— joins us to talk about his new(ish) book “Top Eight: How MySpace Changed Music” (published by Chicago Review Press, by the way). We also argue/chat about his old(er) articles, Boston (the town not the band), Harvey Danger, the Oughts, Jann W…

Bored teenagers start bands. That’s about as ambitious as they usually get. But Jess Margera and his buddies in West Chester didn’t just decide to start a band — they started a media empire. CKY (the band) went hand in hand with “CKY” the video series — a bestselling string of pre-viral DVDs (and VHSs) that featured skateboarding, proto-Jackass pra…

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! On this special mini-edition of The LIFERS Podcast we discuss the greatest Thanksgiving TV episode of all time: Episode 7 of WKRP IN CINCINNATI — “Turkeys Away”. Oh, the humanity.بقلم The LIFERS Podcast

Okay! We’re doing this. Whether Ben likes it or not. On the eve of the 30th anniversary of their major label debut —DOOKIE— we try and pin down the best (WHAT’STHEBEST?!?) Green Day song. Ben bitches and moans, Gabe waxes rhapsodic about the band’s glory days on Lookout! while Scott defends the move to Reprise, and returning guest panelist Steve “S…

This week it’s EVERYBODY’s favorite: Freddy Herrera! Former bassist of The Exies —and currently Art Alexakis’ right-hand man in Everclear— Freddy is the kind of guy you always want in the room with you. Positive, funny, and the kind of musician that will always make your band sound better. Which makes him the perfect guy to help us figure out the W…

Meet Jonathan Hertzberg. After years of working for companies like IFC Films and Kino-Lorber, he decided to start Fun City Editions — a boutique home video label that specializes in re-issuing overlooked movies from the ‘70s and ‘80s on a stellar roster of collectible Blu-Ray releases. It’s a totally DIY operation that he runs out of his home in Ne…

This is the one you’ve been screaming for! On this final episode of our Halloween-obsessed October, we’re all about the movies. Specifically—horror movies (no shit?). And since the Music Box Theater has been terrorizing Chicago all month with their “Bride of Music Box of Horrors” series (not to mention last weekend’s infamous, annual and SOLD OUT 2…

On another special Halloween-centric episode we enlist our ol’ pal —and host and creator of the CAR CON CARNE podcast— James VanOsdol to help us with a “What’s The Best?!?” featuring our favorite movie monsters, psychos, and villains (oh, my!). PLUS!: Gabe Rodriguez’s TV Corner.بقلم The LIFERS Podcast

This week the podcast is in league with Satan as we draft our good buddies Mike Lustig and Steve Reidell to help us pick THE BEST devil songs to listen to during the Halloween season. PLUS: More Halloween horror movie picks, the Satanic Temple of Illinois, and Ben remixes episode #138.بقلم The LIFERS Podcast

A remixed and remastered version of our Best of Misfits episode.بقلم The LIFERS Podcast

Horror business abounds on an episode that Gabe has waited almost 3 years for: Episode #138! — featuring a feisty round of “What’s The Best?!?” where we invite Herb Rosen from Liar’s Club to help us pick our favorite Misfits songs. We also have viewing picks for your Halloween movie parties, a WHOLE lotta smack talking, and Herb ruins his sister’s …

Not all talent buyers are nice guys. To be honest, it’s a profession that seems to attract more than its fair share of bastards. But that’s not the case with our good buddy Marc Solheim — who went from being a welcome fixture on the Milwaukee concert scene to being a big-cheese booker for Chicago’s own Riot Fest without ever losing an ounce of his …

The guys had a busy week and so decided to delay the recording of this week's podcast and do it LIVE on Friday afternoon, over Gabe's lunch hour. Here's how the cookie crumbled...بقلم The LIFERS Podcast

Why this episode, you ask? Well, it’s back to school time again, so we forced our good friend (and “mystical-teen-noir” auteur) Jennifer Reeder to remain on the show to talk about our favorite high school movies (plus we had that whole Iron Maiden vs. Replacements nonsense to finish). Teen movie classics were chosen, teen movie classics were omitte…

Chicago-based filmmaker Jennifer Reeder makes movies that are personal, handmade, and too disturbing for Gabe to watch. This week we talk to the “mystical-teen-noir” auteur about her new film PERPETRATOR (currently streaming on Shudder) and the Jennifer Reeder Universe. PLUS: High School horror, creepy paintings, attending the Art Institute of Chic…

Still not sure what a LIFER is? Consider the case of Steve Berlin. He’s a musician, a producer, and a member of one of America’s greatest rock and roll bands: Los Lobos. The guy lives and breathes music and has a list of credits longer than a gibbon’s arm. The stuff that he’s done that we DIDN’T talk about on this episode could fill three OTHER epi…

In August of 2023, three Chicago residents disappeared in the woods near Elkhorn, Wisconsin while recording a podcast... A week later their recordings were found.بقلم The LIFERS Podcast

Our Rick Ness cup runneth over! Dr. Ness graces us with his presence for a second week as we:1. Pick our favorite Figdish songs.2. Pump him for information and stories about those songs.3. Force Rick to pick his favorite Billy Joel songs. There’s also some stuff in here about Pink Floyd, Menudo Kiss covers, and stoned porn stars. You’re welcome.#bl…

Rick Ness is the Indiana Jones of UW-Madison. Sure, he might seem like a mild mannered teacher of 18th and 19th century transatlantic literature — but, actually, he’s one of the dudes from Chicago legends Figdish! On this episode, we talk to THAT dude about the ‘Dish’s forthcoming sorta-new third record (Rick will explain), after-parties at Club Sh…

Scott’s dropping names again. After last Sunday’s 40th anniversary performance of REM’s “Murmur” (among other things) by Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy & “friends” at the Metro — Scott is lit up and bubbling over with memories of meeting Mike Mills, singing with Mike Mills, and hanging out and drinking with Mike Mills. We invited Jason (Narducy not…