Witchpolice Radio

Country music purist Sean Burns is set to release his excellent new record, ‘Better Off In Time & Other Songs For The Dance Floor’, on Sept. 18, so he popped back onto the podcast to talk about it! Tune in for our chat about deep-diving into hyper-specific country subgenres, the trajectory of the Sean Burns sound, what he’s learned from his day job playing bass with Corb Lund, and much more. Need more Sean in your life? Hear his previous appearances on the podcast: episode #460 (Feb. 2020), #572 (March 2021), and #833 (Oct. 2023).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

They were a last-minute addition to Sunday's Propagandhi bill at the Burton Cummings Theatre (see all of you there!), and now they’re a last-minute addition to my podcast schedule: it’s OP-ED! I sat down with Tarek (vocals) and Jay (guitar) to talk about the big gig, and how it mirrors their first-ever performance, the way Tarek’s lived experience as a Palestinian refugee informs the band’s music and message (and how that message will expand with future songs), the upcoming vinyl release of their debut album, and much more.Note: We had a bit of an audio issue in the first few minutes of the conversation, but the quality clears up considerably after that.Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

Eight-piece party funk outfit The Remedies are recognizing 10 years since the band’s first release with a new album celebrating that history. Here's my chat with the group's frontman about the importance of staying friends with your bandmates, Manitoba festivals, blending synth-pop, Latin vibes, and horn-driven funk… and much more!I flubbed the timing on this one, so even though we're talking about the album ('Ten Years' Time') as coming out imminently, it was actually released a couple days ago, so check it out now wherever you get music!Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

I recently saw Until Defeat at a show at the Handsome Daughter and really enjoyed their set, so we set up this interview, which is now available to insert directly into yer earholes!Tune in for our conversation about defining (sort of, let’s just go with ‘LOUD’) the band’s sound, finding inroads into the local music scene, the physicality of live performances vs recording, and much more!Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

This episode features a fun conversation with local Afrofusion artist Whealo! We talk about his new three-song ‘Unlearn’ EP, Winnipeg’s cultural and musical diversity, prioritizing lyrics, and more!Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

…so by complete fluke, I’ve had two episodes with singer/songwriter/engineer/man-about-town Paul Hodgert that were released on the exact same day in different years. We decided to (deliberately) go for the trifecta this time and completely mess up my release schedule to make it happen. There's a legit reason Paul's back on the show, though: we talk about his work restoring the lost-for-30-years record by DUD (feat. members of the Bonaduces, I-Spy and the Weakerthans), its upcoming release on vinyl, and the potential for his One Friday Music label to remix/remaster/reissue more out-of-print (or never-heard) Winnipeg gems in future. He has the technology. Need to hear more from Paul? Check him out on episode #920 (Aug. 2024) and #996 (Aug. 2025), as well as a special livestream he did from my dining room on episode #960 (Dec. 2024).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival is well underway, and well-known local purveyor of musical comedy J. Williamez is hitting stages with his Mr. Loopy Pants project! Tune in for a fun conversation about the one-man (plus a possibly alive loop pedal) multimedia show, why he’s so proud of this project, toxic positivity vs. heckling, music videos, and much more! Need more loopiness? Check out the J. Williamez interview on episode #622 back in 2021.Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

We interrupt your regularly-scheduled programming with an episode from the vault, featuring the first appearance of (now sadly defunct) Winnipeg punks Union Stockyards on the show, way back on episode #079!  For those unfamiliar with the archival episodes -- when I moved all of my episodes from one hosting provider to another, years ago, I accidentally missed the inclusion of a couple dozen episodes from 2013-14. They're not currently on the feed if you're scrolling through the episodes on Apple Podcasts/Spotify/whatever. I've been slowwwwwly re-releasing these over the past few years, and here's another.  Here's what we said about this one back in 2014: Four guests join us in the basement this week as Winnipeg punks Union Stockyards hang out to talk the “hairstyle” theme. We reminisce on the good old days of the local scene and talk about their new EP (which is available free on Bandcamp), “Tracks.” Need some more Stockyards in your life? Check out episodes #147 (Sept. 2015), #199 (Sept. 2016), and #211 (Dec. 2016), plus hear guitarist Ryan Nash on episodes #237 (June 2017) and #434 (Nov. 2019), and frontman Tony Beaudoin on #382 (May 2019). Tony also guest-hosted a handful of episodes back in the day! Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

Letellier, Manitoba’s Bankside Music Festival is a long-running summer event aimed at giving rock/punk/metal bands from the province (and beyond!) an opportunity to play on a festival stage.I sat down with Bankside mastermind Richard Houle to talk about the event’s DIY roots and this year’s stacked lineup (July 17-18), which includes a whole bunch of past Witchpolice interviewees, including the Bloodshots, One of Us, and Econoline Crush. Other local acts include apple peeler aficionados Toaster Bath, plus Leddwyn, Penny-Sleeve, Seventh String, Lost Planet Airmen, and Cory & the Convicts. Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

After years of changes, local alt-rock/dream-pop outfit Ozconscious is set to release a new full-length, ‘Nostalgia for the Moment’, at the Pyramid Cabaret on June 20 (that's tomorrow if you're listening the day this episode drops!) I sat down with frontman Tate Hiebert to talk about the record, different songwriting vunes, learning from busking and playing cover tunes (via Tater and the Tots), and much more! Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

Technical difficulties meant this one comes out a few days later than anticipated, but thanks for your patience.  Here's a fun conversation with singer-songwriter Masak about her 15-years-in-the-making, genre-diverse album ('Masak's Unassorted Flavors'), getting inspiration from her late friend and collaborator Kelly Fraser, coming back to Winnipeg after a few years in (very) rural Manitoba, and much more! Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop). Previous EpisodeFollow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

Long-running emo punks Screaming at Traffic recently dropped a new EP with the excellent title ‘Songs to Steal Copper Wire To’. I sat down with (co-) frontman Jacques Richer to talk about the record, the band not taking itself too seriously, regrouping after some time off, and a whole lot more! Need more SAT? Check out episodes #243 (Aug. 2017) and #416 (Sept. 2019), plus you can hear Jacques' previous appearances on the show as a member of Greek Riots on episodes #099 (Nov. 2014) and #132 (June 2015). Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

This one's jumping the queue because it's time sensitive. It’s the end of an era! Frequent Witchpolice interviewee (this will be his sixth appearance in the past decade) Ed Durocher and his merry psychedelic fusion big band Apollo Suns are calling it quits. Here's our conversation about the band’s last show (May 29 at the Park Theatre, see you all there), the realities of the music industry as an independent touring act, reclaiming time with family and community, and much more!Apollo Suns are (almost) dead. Long live Apollo Suns!Need more Apollo Suns in your life? Check out episodes #226 (April 2017), #375 (April 2019), #506 (July 2020), #645 (Dec. 2021), and #828 (Sept. 2023).Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

Winnipeg’s Strawberry Punch is a self-proclaimed 'all-femme queer indie/pop/twee/punk rock band' who just released a deadly debut record and has all kinds of cool shit on the horizon. Tune in for our chat about the origins of their (don’t call it a) supergroup, bouncing around swapping instruments from song to song, appealing to a very diverse crowd, and much more! Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

What the hell is going on here? It’s guest hosts Sean and Todd McGinity (of SeanGeek and Fastfret Podcast) giving me a bit of a break and interviewing two-thirds of alt-rawkers Crooked Ice for Witchpolice Radio! Tune in for their chat about the soon-to-be-released ‘DarkStars’ full-length (which was actually the previous name of their band) and much more!Fun fact: Crooked Ice's bassist (who doesn't appear on this episode) is also a local podcaster, hosting the show Head Full of Radio. He guest-hosted an episode of Witchpolice in 2024, featuring his bandmate James Debrecen talking about his production studio and solo project. Hear that on episode #939.Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!

The man, the myth, the legend… Greg Rekus is back on the show for his seventh appearance over the years!Tune in for my chat with the hardest-working man in folk-punk about playing a show with his heroes The Bonaduces (May 8, at the West End Cultural Centre, also feat. Mise en Scene), U.S. touring challenges, reintroducing ‘The Dude Abides’, and much more!Greg is a true Winnipeg original and one of a handful of local artists with carte blanche to appear on the podcast anytime he wants. Need more Rekus in your life? Check out episodes #930 (Sept. 2024), #718 (Aug. 2022), #584 (April 2021), #450 (Jan. 2020), #218 (Feb. 2017), and #056 (Jan. 2014). Huge thanks to everyone who supports the podcast on Patreon. You can help out for as little as a couple bucks a month if you like the show and want to throw some change in the guitar case! As always, if you like the podcast, please tell a friend or 20! Rate and review on your podcast player of choice! Word of mouth is still the main way Witchpolice Radio reaches new ears. Thanks for listening in the podcast's 13th year (and it will continue forever because I can't stop).Follow the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube! You can also support on Patreon... and do us a favour and leave a rating or review on your podcast player of choice. Thanks for listening!