Ross and Dan met once, briefly, a few years ago, and never saw each other again until they sat down for this conversation. This is one of those good, ol' fashioned musician nerd outs. They talk Peter Gabriel, Phish, and XTC. They also talk about Ross' extensive discography, including three full-length releases in 2015 alone, his days as part of Amos Lee's band (including a tour with Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello), and his desire to never stop writing songs.
Brian Walker plays under the name A Day Without Love, and talks with Dan about what it is to be one of the only young black men playing indie rock in a white-dominated DIY scene. It gets heavy, it gets real, and the two explore what the impact of race is in a seemingly all-inclusive art form. A Day Without Love’s newest LP, “Solace”, is out now on Sounds And Tones Records.
Dan brings another former band member on the show to catch up. Nicklas Hughes and Dan toured and played together for many years, and now Nick has a new solo album, 'Games', out very soon. They cover Nick’s growing up (which Dan kinda knew about), his songwriting and recording process for his new record (which Dan didn’t know about), and just sorta catch up on life things, as two old friends do. Fun fact: Nick is the first performer to have reverb applied to his voice. It weirds Dan out a bit.
First off, it's the 50th episode! Who would've thought? It's been a blast putting out 50 episodes, and here's to many more.
This week, we take you to Tattooed Mom's on South Street for our live show as part of the Philadelphia Podcast Fest. Dan talks to new friend Brian Erick of the band The Paper Jets, as well as co-host of the fantastic The Great Albums Podcast. Dan also catches up with show favorite Ben Hughes of the band Night Windows. It's a great night of conversation and acoustic performances.
Host of the "Everything Is Awesome" podcast, Kevin braves the heat, traffic and DNC madness to be in the cool, temperate underground studio to talk with Dan about his almost decade-long run as a podcaster. Dan and Kevin also have the longest conversation about wrestling in 25 O'Clock history. And Dave Matthews Band. The guys talk about their early love of radio and how it influenced them to eventually becoming podcasters, and their excitement for the upcoming Philadelphia Podcast Festival.
From Northeast Philly to Jersey to art school to finally putting together her live band, Emily Mineo's trajectory has been quite a ride. Dan talks to Emily about learning on her dad's Guild guitar, loving Springsteen before it was cool to love Springsteen again, and her love of the Philly scene, particularly Connie's Ric Rac. And her song, "Barbara Streisand" will get stuck in your head in a wonderful way. It's still stuck in Dan's.
Andrew and Dan talk Andrew's band, Shadowplay, their new album, "Almost Lifelike", and how their shift from a blues-rock band to something more adventurous and unique came about. Dan gets to namecheck some of his faves when talking with Andrew: Portishead, Drive Like Jehu, Fugazin, Mogwai, and many more as the two delve into the band's history, their recent work in the studio, and how a band keeps it fresh after nearly a decade together.
Tom plays drums for Modern Colour, Lou, writes and takes pictures for the Spirit Newspaper, and sleeps maybe sometimes. Dan and Tom have a spirited conversation about levels of success in music, managing your own band, Quest Love, Dan's rudimentary drum skills, and Tom's much, much better drum skills.
It's a truly unique conversation to have with someone who refers to their stage personae entirely in the third person. David Sweeny is Johnny Showcase, but Johnny is not David, at least not entirely. Blurring the lines is a main topic between David and Dan as they discuss the origin of the character, being both a piece of theater as well as an honest to goodness funk band, and how it's all about the live show experience in the end.
It was both strange and also incredibly fitting to have my best friend since youth/longest running musical collaborator James Hearne on the mic back in February. What was supposed to be a quick promo piece about his upcoming record became a full conversation about his move to the Hudson Valley of New York, how he's treating his new musical direction by fully embracing country music, and what it's like being your own boss after years and years of collaborating with others.
Dan thinks Abi Reimold's new record 'Wriggling' is an adventurous, challenging piece of work. It's a pretty uncomfortable record, both sonically as well as thematically. Abi talks about seeing herself as an artist but not as a musician, reading her own reviews, her love of photography, and a unique way to not actually do a real guitar solo. Plus, her live, stripped down solo performance is not to be missed. Also, Dan gives a heartfelt shout out to Gordon Downie of the Tragically Hip and his re cent news of illness.
Carolyn Lederach helps run Philadelphia's SoFar Sounds concert series, takes photos for countless music outlets, and is an important fixture to the Philly scene. Dan and Carolyn talk about being involved in the not-as-glamorous parts of the music world, wading through a 'dude-heavy' music industry, and how someone has to step up and tell a band what to do.
On her way through Philadelphia on tour, Arsena and her band stop by to chat and play. Dan and Arsena talk touring, spirituality in art, doing it all yourself, and how she is a "six year-old musician" (the number of years she's been playing). Dan crams the full band down into the basement studio, and the result is impressive. Also, Dan pays his respects to Prince, remarking on his truly unique way of controlling his career himself.
It takes Dan and Avi most of the way through the conversation to figure out where they've met before, but they get there. Avi is an amazingly talented pianist/singer-songwriter, and he and Dan talk about choir teachers, 'Peter and the Wolf', using social media for good rather than evil, and how asking for what you want is always the way to go.
Bruno fronts his band Former Belle when he isn't playing guitar in the indie rock powerhouse Cruisr. With such a busy touring life, it was well worth it for Dan to sit down with Bruno and talk touring, loneliness, settling, and getting to work with the guys you looked up to growing up. At the end, Bruno plays a song off his new EP, "Foreign Bed", out on Randm Records.
Dan and Marcus met back in 2010, shared a stage one awesome night, and then never really saw each other again. Flash forward to now, and Marcus is in the chair for a long-awaited conversation. Dan and Marcus talk hip-hop, New York City, Philly, sampling, live bands, and the everlasting drive to make your art fun, fresh, and challenging.
WXPN and The Key are mainstays of Philadelphia music. It's only fitting that Dan sits down with The Key helmsman John Vettese for a chat about curating content on the internet, musical roots, and keeping an open mind amidst the onslaught of so much music. Also, Dan features a track from the forthcoming Dear Forbidden album, 'Glitter and Dissonance', so stay to the end!
Dan and Nik get right to it, talking famous frontmen, meeting your heroes, growing up amidst a ton of musical influence, and also a certain jam band. (It's Phish. They talk about Phish. It's gonna be okay.) Nik shares his journey from Jersey to NYC back to Philly, fronting two of the cities most entertaining bands.
Dan always knew Noelle as "the zombie piano girl", but that is only the surface. Noelle talks about her new production that combines theater, musical performance, and audience interaction. She talks about being an abuse survivor and how she's going to wave that flag for anyone afraid to put it out in the open. Mostly, they talk about how none of us really have it "together". Also, Dan rants about having his identity stolen, and congratulates the Philly music community for coming together to defeat a very restrictive piece of city legislation.
Dan finally gets Stephen Lorek from Shark Tape to sit still and chat, and it was worth the wait. They delve into the deep, dark recesses of what goes through your head as you're making a follow-up to a successful record, and how, in the end, it's all about playing music with your friends. Plus, Dan gives his farewell to David Bowie.
Happy New Year to all! Dan sits down with two Washington DC musicians, Ben Tufts and Jackie Francis, and the three of them have themselves a ball. The talk goes from the TV show "Psych" to how each of us has weird ways of thinking about music theory to cooking and everywhere else. And Jackie plays a track from her new album, "The Sea", available everywhere the Internet exists. So much fun is had.
A band may put on the performance of the night, but there's usually a person or two behind the night. Dan talks with one of those people, Jeremy Hebbel from Gable Music Ventures, a music event promoter out of Wilmington. They talk about what makes a great show, what all sides of the table can do to make it great, and how to keep things going even when life hands you little "challenges". Also, Dan plays a new track from Venice Sunlight's upcoming 2016 album, "Vs. The Swingers And The Saints". Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from 25 O'Clock! 2015 was great, 2016 will be even better.
Dan talks with Josh Kinney, editor and re-founder of the Philadelphia Evening post, dormant for 200 years. They talk about growing up bookish, a love of history, and how to meet your business partner on Tinder. Also, Dan plays a new track from Ben Hughes (Episode 12), off his newest and last album-a-month of 2015.
Sometimes the coolest folk aren't even in bands at all. Sometime they're in the Peace Corps. Dan talks to Melissa Eckstrom, who is currently stationed in Jamaica for two years of Peace Corps service. They talk about travel, service, endearing yourselves to the locals, and what you do once you actually get to where you're supposed to be. It ain't easy, it ain't always pretty, but it's great work and she's thrilled to be doing it. Also, music from Dann Pell at the end from his new album "Rose Blues".
Dan talks with singer-songwriter Matt Wheeler about the usual: origins, influences, songwriting process, etc. But they get into it deep as they explore why people need to label Christian music separately from other music, and what it means to weave your faith into songs that are meant for everyone to get something out of. Also, they both agree that marriage is hard, but also great. (Really edgy, guys.)