The BrooklynVegan Show: A Podcast About Music

Norman Brannon (Texas Is The Reason, ’Anti-Matter’ zine)

Norman Brannon of Texas Is The Reason, New End Original, Shelter, and more (and currently touring guitarist for Thursday) recently relanched his legendary '90s hardcore fanzine Anti-Matter as a Substack, and we invited him on the BrooklynVegan podcast to talk more about the relaunch, and why it made sense to bring it back today. The conversation took all kinds of interesting twists and turns, and I think if you're into any type of hardcore then and/or now, it's very worth listening to what Norman had to say.
 
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The BrooklynVegan Show is brought to you in part by DistroKid, a service for musicians that allows you to easily upload your music to all major streaming platforms. You can get 30% off of your first year's membership by signing up at distrokid.com/vip/brooklynvegan. 
 
Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Pool Kids

The latest episode of the BrooklynVegan Podcast is an interview with Florida emo/math rock band Pool Kids. We caught up with the band in the midst of their headlining tour in continued support of their breakthrough 2022 self-titled sophomore LP, which just celebrated its one-year anniversary this month, and also surrounding the release of their new split EP with their hardcore alter-egos POOL. We called them up while they were in the van and running late to their San Francisco show, so we had to weather a few minor technical difficulties caused by cell phone service, but we ended up having a great chat during which the band reflected on their breakout year, discussed the new EP, dove into their 2017 formation and backstory, and much more.
 
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The BrooklynVegan podcast is brought to you in part by DistroKid, a service for musicians that allows you to easily upload your music to all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and more. DistroKid allows you to do automatic revenue splits, so collaborators and co-writers can get paid too, it provides you with an artist page that links to your music on all streaming services, it allows you to add lyrics, credits, and liner notes, and more. You can get 30% off of your first year’s membership by signing up at distrokid.com/vip/brooklynvegan.
 
Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Chris Payne on 2000s emo book ’Where Are Your Boys Tonight?’

The latest guest on the BrooklynVegan podcast is writer and author Chris Payne in celebration of his new book Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo’s Mainstream Explosion, 1999-2008, out now on Dey Street Books. We talked about how growing up in NJ during the 2000s emo boom and pursuing a career in music journalism, including a seven-year stint as a staff writer at Billboard, pushed Chris towards writing this book, and we also dove into some key moments of his book and just chatted a lot about 2000s emo. If you're into emo at all, I highly recommend reading Chris' book, which ranges from in-depth reflections on crucial underground moments like the last Silent Majority show before their breakup to a detailed look at the height of the Fall Out Boy / My Chemical Romance craze. Pick up the book here.
 
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The BrooklynVegan Show is brought to you in part by DistroKid, a service for musicians that allows you to easily upload your music to all major streaming platforms. You can get 30% off of your first year's membership by signing up at http://distrokid.com/vip/brooklynvegan.
Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Adam McIlwee on Wicca Phase, Tigers Jaw, Lil Peep & more

The latest guest on the BrooklynVegan podcast is Adam McIlwee of Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, who's also a former/founding member of Tigers Jaw, co-founder of GothBoiClique, member of Pay For Pain, and more. Adam joins us to discuss the new self-titled Wicca Phase album that's out now on Run For Cover. He discusses influences behind the album like Fairport Convention, The Pentangle, '90s dance music, and several non-musical influences; talks working with guest vocalist Zola Jesus and co-producer Ben Greenberg of Uniform; and more. We also get into a career-spanning chat, ranging from his early days coming up in the Scranton, PA punk scene to working with Lil Peep in GothBoiClique and much more.
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The BrooklynVegan Show is brought to you in part by DistroKid, a service for musicians that allows you to easily upload your music to all major streaming platforms. You can get 30% off of your first year's membership by signing up at http://distrokid.com/vip/brooklynvegan.
Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Sammy Ciaramitaro (Drain, Gulch)

Sammy Ciaramitaro, vocalist of Santa Cruz hardcore band Drain (and drummer of the now-defunct Gulch), joins us on the BrooklynVegan podcast in anticipation of Drain's sophomore album and first for Epitaph, Living Proof. It's a great album that expands upon the hardcore punk energy, thrash/groove metal riffs, and California warmth of their 2020 debut LP on Revelation Records, California Cursed, widening the band's sonic palette to include things like a rap interlude and a clean-vocal Descendents cover, and some of Sammy's most impactful lyricism yet.
On the podcast, we dig into the new album and talk about Drain's upcoming tour with Drug Church, Gel, MSPAINT, Magnitude, Restraining Order, Combust, Gumm, Torena, and Outta Pocket (varying by date). We also discuss the hardcore scene pre-pandemic vs post-pandemic, being a hardcore band in the post-Turnstile era, gatekeeping, some of Sammy's formative experiences in hardcore, his time in Gulch, his love of the Grateful Dead and Drain's multiple homages to that band, and much more. And at the end, Sammy names five current hardcore bands he thinks any new hardcore fan should know.
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The BrooklynVegan Show is brought to you in part by DistroKid, a service for musicians that allows you to easily upload your music to all major streaming platforms. You can get 30% off of your first year's membership by signing up at http://distrokid.com/vip/brooklynvegan.
Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Braid (Bob Nanna & Chris Broach)

Today's episode is an interview with Bob Nanna and Chris Broach of the massively influential '90s emo band Braid, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of their classic 1998 album 'Frame & Canvas.' Bob and Chris discuss their own separate musical upbringings, their early days in the Chicago area scene, landing on the classic Braid sound, recording 'Frame & Canvas' with one of their musical heroes, J. Robbins of Jawbox, the emo explosion of the 2000s, the emo revival of the 2010s, and much more.
 
You can pick up our exclusive clear, white & blue splatter vinyl variant of the original mix of 'Frame & Canvas' in the BrooklynVegan store at https://shop.brooklynvegan.com/products/braid-frame-canvas-lp-limited-edition-only-300-made-white-inside-clear-w-blue-splatter-vinyl. Catch Braid on tour this year.
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The BrooklynVegan Show is brought to you in part by DistroKid, a service for musicians that allows you to easily upload your music to all major streaming platforms. You can get 30% off of your first year's membership by signing up at http://distrokid.com/vip/brooklynvegan.
Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Fat Mike (NOFX)

Fat Mike joins us on The BrooklynVegan Show to discuss the new Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas that he spearheaded, NOFX's final tour, and more. He tells us about some of his favorite artifacts in the museum, how Green Day were initially uninterested but had a change of heart and lent the museum items like Billie Joe Armstrong's classic "Blue" guitar, explains why certain bands were left out of the museum, and more.
 
Fat Mike also discusses his new project Codefendants, talks about how he first got into punk, gives his take on what the true start of punk was, spoke about the NOFX song that he originally wrote for blink-182, weighed in rising concert ticket prices and Live Nation, and much more.
 
For more on the Punk Rock Museum, visit https://www.thepunkrockmuseum.com/. For NOFX tour dates, visit the Fat Wreck Chords website.
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The BrooklynVegan Show is brought to you in part by DistroKid, a service for musicians that allows you to easily upload your music to all major streaming platforms. You can get 30% off of your first year's membership by signing up at http://distrokid.com/vip/brooklynvegan.
Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Kat Moss (Scowl)

Our latest podcast episode is an interview with Kat Moss, vocalist of one of the best bands in hardcore right now, Scowl. Our conversation centers on Scowl's excellent new EP Psychic Dance Routine, which finds Scowl incorporating more clean vocals than ever before and channelling '90s alternative rock influences like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Hole, alongside their early hardcore influences like Negative Approach and Sheer Terror. We talk about working with producer Will Yip, Scowl's upcoming performance at Coachella, opening a recent Limp Bizkit tour, covering Fugazi at Sound & Fury, and much more.
Psychic Dance Routine drops April 7 via Flatspot Records. Pick up our exclusive color vinyl variant in the BV shop.
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The BrooklynVegan Show is brought to you in part by DistroKid, a service for musicians that allows you to easily upload your music to all major streaming platforms. You can get 30% off of your first year's membership by signing up at http://distrokid.com/vip/brooklynvegan.
Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Mike & Nate Kinsella (American Football, LIES)

Longtime collaborators (and cousins) Mike and Nate Kinsella have played together in Joan of Arc, the Cap'n Jazz reunion shows, and the current iteration of American Football; they've worked together on Mike's solo albums as Owen; and now they've got a collaborative album under the name LIES out March 31 via Polyvinyl Records. It finds them leaning into new wave-era influences like Depeche Mode, The Cure, Peter Gabriel, and more, and embracing synthesizers, electronic drums, and other aesthetic choices that fall outside of American Football's usual wheelhouse, without abandoning what's made Mike Kinsella such a distinct songwriter for the past 25 years. On this episode of the BrooklynVegan podcast, Mike and Nate discuss the new LIES album, realizing they were both into punk as kids at a family party, and discovering their chemistry on the 2003 Joan of Arc tour. They also discuss Steve Lamos leaving and rejoining American Football, that time Nate fell asleep at an Owen show, that time Mike threw himself a roast for his 40th birthday party, and much more.
We've also got an exclusive dark blue vinyl variant of the LIES album, limited to just 250 copies. Pre-order yours from the BrooklynVegan store while they last!
 
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The BrooklynVegan Show is brought to you in part by DistroKid, a service for musicians that allows you to easily upload your music to all major streaming platforms. You can get 30% off of your first year's membership by signing up at http://distrokid.com/vip/brooklynvegan.
 
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Theme music by Michael Silverstein.

Best Emo & Post-Hardcore Albums Turning 10 in 2023

We recently ran a list of 25 classic emo & post-hardcore albums turning 10 in 2023, and we dive even deeper into those albums on the new episode of the BrooklynVegan podcast. Joining us to discuss such classics as Touché Amoré's Is Survived By, Citizen's Youth, TWIABP's Whenever, If Ever, Foxing's The Albatross, Balance and Composure's The Things We Think We're Missing, and more is Drew Beringer of Chorus.fm (fka Absolute Punk), who documented so much of this scene in real time on AP.net back in the day. Come for the emo talk, stay for the tangent about Metallica's St. Anger.
 
See the full list at https://www.brooklynvegan.com/25-classic-emo-post-hardcore-albums-turning-10-in-2023/.
 
The BrooklynVegan Show is brought to you in part by DistroKid, a service for musicians that allows you to easily upload your music to all major streaming platforms. You can get 30% off of your first year's membership by signing up at http://distrokid.com/vip/brooklynvegan.
 
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Theme music by Michael Silverstein.