PODCAST · music
The Hustle
by Jon Lamoreaux
Every artist has a story. Whether big or small, they‘ve all seen the ups and downs and worked hard to maintain careers in music. We chat with some of the most interesting legacy artists in pop music and go in depth on their careers, how they feel about them, what it‘s like being a ”rock star” and also hear their best stories. If you‘re a music junkie you will love these long form conversations with beloved figures from your life.
Episodes
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Episode 596 - Danny Klein of the J. Geils Band and Gary Trainer and Roy Stein of New Math/Jet Black Berries
We have a twofer this week for the deepest of music lovers. First up is Danny Klein, bassist for the incredible J. Geils Band. Legend is they were one of the greatest live bands of all time and were finally starting to have huge hits in the early 80s when lead singer Peter Wolf left for a solo...
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Book Club - Austin McCoy author of Living in a D.A.I.S.Y. Age: The Music, Culture, and World De La Soul Made
Out of the gate, De La Soul changed the rules of hip-hop with their revolutionary debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising. The D.A.I.S.Y. Age was just starting to blossom when Trugoy, Posdnuos, and Mace (with the help of producer Prince Paul), began deconstructing the movement they had just started....
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Episode 595 - Colin Moulding of XTC
Colin Moulding's contributions to the great XTC were crucial to making that band what they were. Andy Partridge's leadership, personality and songwriting was the main driver, but Colin had a bigger pop sensibility and is responsible for some of the band's most enduring radio songs like "Making...
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Episode 594 - David Gamson of Scritti Politti
Musician David Gamson was just a guy who really liked r&b. His love for the genre compelled him to write songs, produce artists, and make music that pushed the boundaries of what it could be. Nowhere is this more obvious than when he worked with Green Gartside on Scritti Politti's second album,...
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Episode 593 - Joey Tempest of Europe/Kevin Martin of Candlebox
When you're given the chance to talk with Joey Tempest for a few minutes you take it! Europe just released another strong album last week called Come This Madness and are about to hit the road (mainly in Europe at first) so he chats with us briefly about it all. Then, we settle in with Kevin…
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Book Club - Pat Gilbert author of Passion is a Fashion: The Real Story of the Clash
The Clash were labeled "the only band that mattered," but why? Yes, Joe, Mick, Paul and Topper represented an anti-authoritarian stance, but what was at the core of their rebelion? Author and insider Pat Gilbert joins us to discuss his book Passion is a Fashion that is probably the most detailed...
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Bonus - Mick Wall Returns
The inimitable Mick Wall returns to shoot the shit with us this week. Topics include: Motley, GnR, Jimi, Kalodner, Duran Duran, Simple Minds, Billy Squier, never-ending farewell tours, concerts in general, books, podcasts and anything else we (he mostly) could think of. We had a blast!
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Episode 592 - Gary Numan
This week it's the legendary Gary Numan! Spenwood Books is at it again with the recent publication of Gary Numan - A People's History. The hook for the book is that it tells Gary's story through the words and memories of "Numanoids" who bought the albums, saw him in concert, met him, and have...
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Episode 591 - Wesley Stace aka John Wesley Harding
Whether he goes by his long running stage name, John Wesley Harding, or his often used real one, Wesley Stace has built an unexpected career over 40+ years. He starts out like a storyteller in song form, politically minded and with a busker's spirit, but that has evolved over the years to include...
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Episode 590 - Dennis Drew and Steven Gustafson of 10,000 Maniacs
This week we welcome Dennis Drew and Steven Gustafson of 10,000 Maniacs. It hasn't been easy for this excellent band. They got off to a slow start, but broke through on their magical third album In My Tribe with enduring singles like "What's the Matter Here" and "Like the Weather". But after a...
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Book Club - Brad Tolinski & Chris Gill authors of Blow By Blow: The Jeff Beck Story
For our latest Book Club we're welcoming authors Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill of the fantastic new book, Blow By Blow: The Jeff Beck Story. Admittedly, I've always respected Jeff more than enjoyed him, so to help with this conversation I invited the biggest Beck fan I know, Brad Page, host of the...
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Episode 589 - Lou Gramm of Foreigner/Solo
Lou Gramm has been one of rock's greatest voices for 54 years. Foreigner's finally in the Hall of Fame and he's celebrating an amazing legacy with a deserved farewell tour happening now and a new solo album called Released. The album is made up of stray songs from his heyday that were unfinished...
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Episode 588 - John Kalodner
John Kalodner, famous for his long beard, white suit and magic ears, is one of the most famous and influential non-musicians in music history. He's the famous A&R man that brought us groups like Foreigner, Asia and Survivor and guided the rebirth of legends like Aerosmith, Whitesnake, Journey and...
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Episode 587 - Barry Eastmond
You may not know the name Barry Eastmond, but chances are good if you were paying attention to r&b hits in the 80s that you know a bunch of his songs. He started out as a session keyboardist playing with greats like Change and Starpoint, but his big breakthrough was when he penned "You Are My…
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Episode 586 - Gary Daly of China Crisis
Gary Daly of China Crisis joins us this week to discuss the band's wild history. They began as an artier synthpop band - not quite as hooky as Human League, but not as adventurous as Japan. On their third album they began working with off-and-on collaborator Walter Becker of Steely Dan and they...
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Episode 585 - Darryl Jenifer of Bad Brains
This week is a punk rock legend. As Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer says in here, their band was a "revolutionary act". Having four black men perform hardcore punk mixed with reggae at that time in America's musical history was completely unheard of. Their impact was felt deeply by bands that...
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Episode 584 - Donna Lewis
For most of us, singer/songwriter Donna Lewis appeared out of nowhere in 1996 when her smash hit "I Love You Always Forever" got to #2 on the charts and seemed to never go away. What was strange is she kind of disappeared almost as fast, with further singles and albums not making the same impact....
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Book Club - Richard Houghton and Iain Key authors of It's Time The Tale Were Told: A People's History of the Smiths
There is a new series of books released the last couple years that tell the story of a band we all love from the perspective of the fans. Hundreds of stories have been crowdsourced from true obsessives to tell a biography you don't hear as often. This time we welcome Richard Houghton and Iain Key...
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Episode 583 - Robin Beck
Robin Beck could have been one of the top AOR singers of her era. She had the looks, the voice, the songs - the whole package. But, she was so successful in the jingle world she never really wanted it that much. She did have success anyway, including a massive global hit with "First Time" which,...
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Episode 582 - Bryan Holmes of The Producers
You won't find a list of "bands that should have been huge" that doesn't include The Producers. Their debut album from 1981 stood perfectly at the crossroads of power pop and new wave and should have birthed multiple hits. They even performed at the very first MTV's Rockin' Eve. Unfortunately, it...
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Episode 581 - Mick MacNeil of Simple Minds
We love talking about Simple Minds around here. Their road has been diverse, rocky, drama-filled, and also wonderful. One of the key members was founding keyboardist Mick MacNeil. His revolutionary playing was a huge part of the fabric of those game-changing early albums. After 1989's Street...
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Episode 580 - Swamp Dogg
In his nearly 84 years on earth, Swamp Dogg has seen some stuff. He was born Jerry Williams and recorded under that name before taking on the Swamp Dogg persona in 1970 as a way to better express himself and his unique view of the world. He's been a legend ever since. Over his long career he's...
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Episode 579 - Marcus Lillington of Breathe
Breathe were one of the leaders of that sophistopop movement in the late 80s and scored five big hits over two albums for their work, including the enduring ballads "Hands to Heaven" and "How Can I Fall". Unfortunately, after those two albums they disappeared and have never been heard from again,...
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Episode 578 - Steve Smith of Dirty Vegas/Squeeze
Dirty Vegas were shot out of a cannon in 2002 when their song "Days Go By" was selected by Mitsubishi to soundtrack their new ad campaign. The song was everywhere and suddenly there was a culture shift with artists and their music as it relates to advertising. This gave Steve Smith from the band…
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Episode 577 - Tasmin Archer
When "Sleeping Satellite" hit the airwaves in 1992, it announced a new unique talent in Tasmin Archer that seemed to be going far. Little did we know that we'd only hear from her sporadically over the next 34 years. The usual label politics slowed the follow up album and after that she found it...
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Episode 576 - Robert Margouleff
It's difficult to summarize Robert Margouleff's career in a nutshell. He's a musical innovator thanks to him and his musical partner Malcolm Cecil's invention of a sort of synthesizer they dubbed Tonto's Expanding Headband. Tonto caught the ear of Stevie Wonder, who brought the guy's onboard to...
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Bonus - Phil Collen and Simon Laffey of Manraze
In this fantastic Bonus episode, Phil Collen and Simon Laffey of Manraze join us to discuss their brand new career-spanning box set, Lock, Stock & Barrel. Phil and Simon's friendship goes back over 40 years to the glam rock band Girl. Then Def Leppard recruited Phil and you know how that went....
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Episode 575 - Vaden Todd Lewis of Toadies
We've seen this movie before. Band comes out hot with their debut, have hits, sell millions of records, and then record a follow-up the label says isn't good enough so it gets shelved for a while and all that momentum stalls and never comes back. Fort Worth's Toadies lived it, After Rubberneck…
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Book Club - Paul Rees author of Raised On Radio: The AOR Glory Years
Our Book Club this time features author Paul Rees who has recently written one of the most enjoyable rock books of recent memory - Raised on Radio: The AOR Glory Years. Even though he's a Brit, Paul was the perfect guy to author this oral history of one of America's most unique musical genres.…
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Episode 574 - Greg Norton of Husker Du/Ultrabomb
Bassist Greg Norton was the George Harrison of the mighty Husker Du. While alpha's Bob Mould and Grant Hart competed for album space and song excellence, Greg remained a loyal soldier in the background playing his part well. When the band broke up in the late 80s, he changed careers and became a...
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Happy 11th Birthday to us with Todd Rundgren
We celebrate our 11th (!) birthday in usual fashion - by bringing on someone a little extra special. This year they're a lot extra special. This year we're featuring the great Todd Rundgren! Todd is about to go out on the Damned If I Do tour next month, hitting Europe in August. Todd and I…
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Episode 572 - Stephen Mallinder of Cabaret Voltaire
We've been featuring a lot of artists lately that earned their bona fides pushing the boundaries of what electronic music could do. Well, few did it as ruthlessly as Cabaret Voltaire. From their beginning in the late 70s making "music" that's more creative sounds than tuneful songs, to their...
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Episode 571 - Richard Barbieri of Japan/Porcupine Tree/Solo
Richard Barbieri has been pushing the boundaries of synth-based music for almost 50 years. Japan may have originally been lumped in with the likes of Duran Duran and Ultravox, but they evolved in a way few bands outside of Talk Talk could even understand. After they ended and Richard evolved even...
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Episode 570 - Gary Marks
How to describe Gary Marks? Deep vinyl junkies might know him for the three albums he released in the 70s that fused jazz and folk in a fresh way that no one had heard before or since. He quickly chose to move on and came back a few years later recording pop rock music very much like you would…
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Episode 569 - Colin Newman (Wire) and Malka Spiegel (Minimal Compact) of Immersion
Even though Wire are considered one of the most important post-punk bands ever, it's actually been a long time since they played in that genre. The band quickly evolved over a couple albums to incorporate more dance beats and front man Colin Newman has been in that groove ever since. In the 80s…
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Episode 568 - Mitch Easter
One could argue that the sound of American indie rock and power pop was shaped by Mitch Easter. Of course, he produced those early REM albums that are practically canon now, but his own music with Let's Active and his partnership with the likes of Scott Miller (Game Theory, Loud Family) and the...
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Episode 567 - Prairie Prince of The Tubes/Todd Rundgren/Chris Isaak
We love the Tubes around here so we're breaking one of our rules of not dipping into bands we've already covered on the show. There's a very good reason for this. Drummer Prairie Prince is a lot more than the Tubes' drummer. His long and storied career includes Todd Rundgren, Chris Isaak, Brian...
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Episode 566 - Brian Vollmer of Helix
Helix front man Brian Vollmer has been bringing the rock for over 50 years. From humble Canadian beginnings, Helix have managed to keep the metal moving through trends, periods of indifference, super highs ("Rock You") and low lows (deaths). His commitment to rock has never wavered. Recently, the...
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Episode 565 - Michael "Kidd Funkadelic" Hampton of Parliament/Funkadelic
There have been few creative bursts of the modern era more epic than George Clinton's in the 70s. He had so many songs in his brain he had to keep creating bands or producing artists to get them all out. One of his key players during this furtive time was guitarist Michael Hampton. "The Kidd"...
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Book Club - Jim Sullivan author of Backstage & Beyond: 45 Years of Rock Chats and Rants
Former Boston Globe Music Critic and rock and roll lifer Jim Sullivan joins us this week to discuss his highly entertaining new books Backstage and Beyond. There are two volumes (or one "Complete" version that includes both and some extra chapters) that share his conversations with most of the...
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Episode 564 - Jason Stollsteimer of the Von Bondies
It was going so well. Detroit's Von Bondies exploded out of the same garage rock scene that birthed the White Stripes and many others. In fact, Jack White produced their first album, Lack of Communication, in 2002. Things really took off with their Jerry Harrison-produced follow up Pawn Shoppe...
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Panel - Cameron Crowe's The Uncool: A Memoir
Jon is joined by former guest Jackie Clary and our great friend Ryan Rauzon to discuss the recently released memoir by Cameron Crowe, The Uncool. We get into our history of fandom with Cameron, our thoughts on the book, on his career, the meaning of his "happysad" theory, rock journalism, and how...
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Episode 563 - John Power of Cast/the La's/Solo
Britain's Cast are enjoying quite the second chapter. The last few years have seen a creative burst that rivals, if not exceeds, their early work. The result of this is some of their best music including their latest album, Yeah Yeah Yeah produced by former guest Youth. This technicolor…
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Episode 562 - David Barbe of Sugar/Mercyland
The return of the great 90s power pop band Sugar has music lovers on the edge of their seats. So far there have been a couple new songs and some announced live dates, but where this could go remains to be seen. Bassist David Barbe joins us this week to discuss how this even came to be and what...
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Episode 561 - Geoff Downes of the Buggles/Asia/Yes
Geoff Downes has lent his keyboard wizardry to many of the biggest and best bands of the last 50 years. He was a trendsetting new-waver with the Buggles popularizing synth pop alongside Trevor Horn. Then they were famously recruited to join Yes, changing that band's sound for a decade. And, while...
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Promo Mode - John Cafferty on the new Beaver Brown Band album, Sound of Waves
Our buddy John Cafferty returns to the pod to discuss the new Beaver Brown Band album, Sound of Waves. You might remember John was on here a year or two ago when some new songs were finally released. Well, now there's a whole new album. We only had to wait about 36 years for this! John and I...
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Episode 560 - Steve Porcaro of Toto
The Porcaro family is rock royalty. They made everything they touched better from their incredible session work to the many Toto hits and Grammys. Steve Porcaro has recently released a new solo album called The Very Day that shows him cleaning house. Most of these songs have been sitting around...
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Book Club - Bill Kopp author of What's the Big Idea: 30 Great Concept Albums
Author Bill Kopp returns to the podcast to discuss his latest book, What's the Big Idea: 30 Great Concept Albums. The great thing about Bill's writing is that he often shines a light on music that is underappreciated. These 30 albums aren't the obvious ones, but completely worthy creations that...
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Episode 559 - Lenny Castro
Percussionist Lenny Castro has made a career out of being an ingredient that makes everything he touches better. He's been one of the most in-demand musicians of the last 50 years and was even an official member of Toto for many decades. Would classics like "Africa" and "Rosanna" be what they are...
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Episode 558 - Barry Adamson of Magazine/Solo
The musical mind of Barry Adamson was so cinematic he created soundtracks for movies that didn't exist. Until they did. He starts out with the essential post-punk band Magazine, who released some of the best albums the genre had to offer. He was restless though and after time in Visage and Nick...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Every artist has a story. Whether big or small, they‘ve all seen the ups and downs and worked hard to maintain careers in music. We chat with some of the most interesting legacy artists in pop music and go in depth on their careers, how they feel about them, what it‘s like being a ”rock star” and also hear their best stories. If you‘re a music junkie you will love these long form conversations with beloved figures from your life.
HOSTED BY
Jon Lamoreaux
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Hustle have?
The Hustle currently has 750 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Hustle about?
Every artist has a story. Whether big or small, they‘ve all seen the ups and downs and worked hard to maintain careers in music. We chat with some of the most interesting legacy artists in pop music and go in depth on their careers, how they feel about them, what it‘s like being a ”rock star” and...
How often does The Hustle release new episodes?
The Hustle releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 750 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to The Hustle?
You can listen to The Hustle on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Hustle?
The Hustle is created and hosted by Jon Lamoreaux.
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