Podcasts
2019
EPISODE 66: Avant Gardeners
James is out of town recording this week so we spend this podcast on Garden Sessions and interviews with Maria Taylor, Cameron McGill, and Ryan Hamilton. You’re not going to want to miss this one. We talk about stuff. PS. Thanks to Courtney Barnett for the title assist.
EPISODE 65: Superstar Trek III The Search For Spock
In which we talk not a whit about Spock, Dr or Mr, and instead concentrate solely on Superstar’s brilliant 1988 release Palm Tree, which is either their masterpiece or…well, not, depending on whether you simply happen to think some other record is…or, I suppose, isn’t, as the case may be.
How do you feel about run-on sentences? I love them sometimes…but…well, not all the time.
EPISODE 64: Jesus Christ……Superstar!
We continue the epic tale of the Bellshill Glasgow kids we began in the “Teenage Superstars” episode by taking a deep dive into the music of one of my all-time faves: Joe McAlinden and his amazing band SUPERSTAR. This is music that’s completely out-of-print and unavailable. You can’t hear it on Spotify and it’s nearly impossible to find a copy of this album anywhere. There’s really only one place you can easily hear this music and that is RIGHT HERE.
Underwater Sunshine presents….SUPERSTAR!
It begins with a breathtaking version of “Bleed” and goes from there. In order to get in the mood for the release of more Garden Sessions, the Sunshine Boys finally release the long awaited Sesh and interview with Stew & The Negro Problem, pretty much Adam’s favorite band in existence. We talk some shit, they play some magic, and on top of that you get a little of the end of their Bowery Electric set and THEN…we rock a little Kasey Anderson for good measure. It don’t get any better than this. Get sum.
In which I follow a musical family tree so far up my own ass that flowers come out of my mouth. And then…we trace one of the coolest musical scenes ever all the way from Gran’s house to the stars.
It’s time. One last look at a few artists playing the Fest and then…here comes the Sun! This week we check out Fairhazel , Amy Vachal, Eric Hutchinson, Wild Pink, and…Cyndi Lauper.
In the next-to-Final week leading up to the Underwater Sunshine Festival April 5-6 at The Bowery Electric, the Sunshine Boyz take a look at the musical stylings of Ryan Hamilton, Hollis Brown, and Fort Gorgeous and then prepare to dive into the miasma of joy and electricity and alcohol that is UNDERWATER SUNSHINE!! Come join us in the sun!!!
In which the Underwater Sunshine Festival draws another week nearer and we dig into four more incredible bands traveling here to play from places like Pennsylvania and Ohio, from as close as Brooklyn here in NYC and as far away as Pullman in western Washington state, AKA the town that gave us Klay.
We go deep on a few more artists playing the Underwater Sunshine Festival in April, this time shining the spotlight West Coast, then East Coast, and finally North to our friendly neighbors across the border. They’re coming from all over to play this one! Why? Because flights are cheap, because we’re all kinds of cool, and because – apparently – nobody thought to build a wall above Michigan.
In which the boyz begin the march to the Underwater Sunshine Festival by playing some of their favorite new music, including a Brooklyn band, a Brooklyn boy, and a few once and future Outlaws.
In which James has a song he wants to play and I reveal some of the effects of Christian religious fervor on Jewish kids from Berkeley.
In which all good things come to an end and the boys talk it through.
In which the boys revisit 1971, a banner year for Rod & Woody. Not many people can make three albums in one year. Honestly, I have trouble keeping up with one album in three years.
It’s hard enough to make a great band. And it’s nearly impossible to make a great band which then makes a great record. So how the hell did Rod Stewart and Ron Wood manage to make TWO great bands together at the same time and THEN make nothing but KILLER albums with both of them.
In which the boys accidentally get off on a tangent and forget to ever come back. Plus…we release a new song just cuz we can’t think of anything else to say.
Well, my computer is sitting in a bin of rice cuz I spilled water on it at a gig yesterday trying to warm up and autograph CDs at the same time. THAT was not the best day of 2019 so far. That said…TODAY is an entirely different day and it brings with it the first Underwater Sunshine Podcast of the year! So THIS is going to be a truly GREAT day…albeit one without a computer (other than one that looks like it’s trying to commit suicide by stir fry).
2018
In which the boys take a deep dive into The Posies and splash around with Gigolo Aunts too!
Aug 22, 2018
In which I casually and confidently confuse the Bay State with the Bay State. It’s a club IN Massachusetts and a state NAMED Massachusetts. Forgive me all you Massholes out there.
Aug 14, 2018
In which the Sunshine Boys prove beyond a shadow of a doubt their unfaltering willingness to go to the well yet again with the gift that just keeps on giving: the background vocal thing!
Aug 7, 2018
In which the boys celebrate Adam’s “road trip” with an epic paean to travels and travails in song
Aug 1, 2018
In which our heroes dig deep into the hip-hop hit-making majesty of The Neptunes. Pharrell Williams & Chad Hugo rocketed out of VA Beach and changed the course of hip-hop and popular music forever. We dig it. You should too.
July 25, 2018
In which we really dig deep into some incredible music that just came out last week and start a rumor that I’m quitting the band after this tour by never once even mentioning the possibility.
July 17, 2018
In which the boys ponder the meaning of life while facing each other across a vast distance and – on the same day you read these words – Adam makes a cameo appearance (get it) on the world’s BIGGEST podcast…The Adam Carolla Show!!!
July 10, 2018
In which our heroes continue to examine the art of the background vocal and James realizes that not every bluff is a Bløf
July 3, 2018
In which a complete lack of imagination and/or moral fibre leads me to name a series of podcasts on background vocals after my breakfast. Seriously…but, if you look on the bright side, there’s nowhere to go but up from here. The next one will probably be called “Famous Last Words”
June 27, 2018
In which we celebrate today’s release of Handsome James Campion’s new book ACCIDENTALLY LIKE A MARTYR – THE TORTURED ART OF WARREN ZEVON. The long-awaited collection of essays arrives with great fanfare and pomp into the arms of a grateful nation. And we – here at the Underwater Sunshine Podcast – join them in a rousing “HUZZAH!”
June 19, 2018
In which our pal Rasheen Smith’s Instagram story ignites a Heatwave resurgence (not to mention an inability to decide between two ridiculously awesome podcast titles) and then we come out and endorse our dear old friend Tyson Meade for Congress in the great state of Oklahoma. Other than that, not much happens but we talk a lot about Joan’s and Joni’s and bid a very sad farewell to Scott Hutchinson.
June 12, 2018
In which, in the wake of the war and the devastation that followed, the boys reflect upon the journey and I secretly wonder how I would look in a cape. And then…we swing.
June 5, 2018
In which the boys just sit around and yap at each other about shit they love. Plus…why is nearly everyone named Rose? What aren’t they telling us?
May 29, 2018
In which a guest returns from the far reaches of the West and the boys explore their Sordid youth.
May 22, 2018
In which the 70’s come to a close, the center embraces the fringe, and 1980 begins with a terrible ending. Also…during a podcast dedicated entirely to punk, I somehow manage to mix up The Commodores and The Ohio Players and THEN confuse Afghan Wigs with Fine Young Cannibals.
May 15, 2018
Oh punkity punk punk punk. PUNK! Punk-O-Rama. Punkadelica. Polka Punk. Peppa Punk. Punk Rock Girl. Punky’s Dilemma. Punk Rock T-Shirt Melting. Judy! ….is A Punk. Also…..British people. And – if I’m being totally honest – I fell asleep and woke up and now my brain’s not working in the slightest.
May 8, 2018
In which New York City and the Bowery are still the center of the punk world but new bands are arriving every day from as far away as Cleveland and San Francisco. They’re popping up all over LA as well and it’s just the beginning because, across the pond in the UK….anarchy.
May 1, 2018
In which a basketball coach comes up to Adam after a game at The Garden to talk about Death and that changes everything. So the boys decide to spend the next month discussing it. In other words, how talking about Death and Vermont leads to talking about the birth…of punk.
April 24, 2018
In which our heroes spend a quiet afternoon talking about old friends and bands, the ones who left and the ones we left, and the ones who just found the dreams didn’t fit them any more, and left to find new ones that did. And we keep returning to a little town on the North Oconee River where, at least for me, the left of the dial was born.
April 17, 2018
In which our heroes explore the meaning of Love, the magnificent grandeur of a Soul Man, Sam and…Dave Godowsky, a Bryter haze of British sorrow, the incredible Travelogue of Vince Mendoza and Joni Mitchell, and the marvel that is Illinois. But first…something Wonderful.
April 10, 2018
In which our heroes prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can speak fluently in circles for hours at time. A happy journey that begins with Belle and Sebastian winds down through a magical valley of brass and strings and other up-your-ass things before finally stumbling to the semi-chilling conclusion that a life in music is sometimes a lot like asking to have a car dropped on your nuts….plus flutes!
April 3, 2018
The team-up we’ve all been waiting for! The Sunshine Boys meet the Monk of Steel! Yes, it’s Immerglück, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those off mortal men. Immerglück, who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands. And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice and the American way. And now another exciting episode in the adventures of Underwater Sunshine.
March 27, 2018
In which our heroes post the podcast late because Adam got caught up eating ramen and watching a Japanese movie about ramen called Tampopo which you should all immediately watch while eating ramen yourselves and forgot to write the summary until now. PS. We fixed the bootleg.
March 20, 2018
In which Adam and James discuss a particularly terrifying brand of stage fright, examine the fertile intersection of Black Funk and the Rolling Stones in the inspiration/information age, sneak a look at the effect the Crescent City and the Dirty South had on a British Island record, and finally bask in the afterglow of real royalty, remembering the son that set in the North Star state.
March 13, 2018
Our heroes explore the burden of expectations on art and reflect upon the irresistible oppression of hope on human beings. Eventually, after pondering the crushing weight of possibilities, they get really bummed out. They turn, first to drink and then to god before settling on pizza as the answer to life’s really important questions. They take a short pee break, talk about Paul Simon, and then each paint a masterpiece…but you can’t see that because this isn’t that kind of podcast
March 6, 2018
Our heroes discuss the upcoming release of James’ new book “Accidentally Like A Martyr: The Tortured Art of Warren Zevon”, talk about the difficult creative act of giving birth to a finished work, and reflect upon the up-and-down life of its complicated subject, the Excitable Boy himself, the troubadour of The Troubadour, the great Werewolf of Los Angeles: Warren William Zevon.
Feb. 27, 2018
In which Adam gets all excited about playing Mary Lou Lord and our heroes manage to accidentally find themselves spending an entire podcast talking endlessly about the one subject neither of them knows anything about…
Feb. 20, 2018
Finding themselves at a crossroads and facing a cataclysmic crisis of near-galactic proportions, our turgid titans of talk recall the halcyon history of The Outlaw Roadshow and look forward to the future of the Underwater Sunshine Festival without ever mentioning the fact that Adam just really wants to see BLACK PANTHER tonight. Excelsior! (Nuff said)
Feb. 13, 2018
In which, without the benefit of any good drugs (or a net), our heroes Adam & James trip the psychedelic wonderland oeuvre of the great British troubadour Robyn Hitchcock and reveal the shockingly soft and boyish origins of Underwater Sunshine itself.
Feb. 6, 2018
Adam & James talk about moving around in their childhoods, think a series of extremely deep and sensitive thoughts, and eventually listen to some freakishly good songs, including a disturbing number of versions of “The Little Drummer Boy”.
Jan. 30, 2018