The Royal Basement is a musical and conversational podcast based out of Seattle, Washington. Newest two episodes are published here; the rest are archived on TheRoyalBasement.com. 

Episode Archive:
1. Robb MacLean (Limbeck/The Young Dudes)
2. John Cobb (my best friend)
3. Chris Murphy (Sloan)
4. John Nguyen (The Believe It Or Nots/The Times)
5. John Davis (Superdrag/The Lees of Memory)
6. Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals/Gorillaz/Neon Neon)
7. Chris Porterfield (Field Report/DeYarmond Edison)
8. Alex Robert (Black Whales)
9. Eric Slick (Dr. Dog)
10. Soft Sleep (Members of The Lonely Forest, Globes, Cumulus, Death Cab for Cutie)
11. Trapper & Tanner Schoepp (Trapper Schoepp & The Shades)
12. The Dodos
13. TBA

The Royal Basement is the squirmy little lovechild of Greg Franklin, designer/musician/writer/cat wrangler/raconteur. (Here's the part where I shift uncomfortably from third person to first person references.) I started creating zines when I was in high school. In the early/mid-90's in Olathe, Kansas, zines were the best outlet imaginable for a fidgety kid who loved music and art and was trying to figure out a way to express how my still-forming grey matter was reacting to the music I was getting exposed to through other zines and, eventually, the Internet in its infancy. Since those early days of late nights with scissors, glue sticks, and a limited Kinko's budget, I've taken that nervous energy and divided it as a freelance graphic designer (Kentucky Chrome), as a former college radio DJ for KJHK (Lawrence, KS), as a musician in a bunch of different projects, and as a freelance music writer for various publications (Seattle Weekly, The Pitch, The Village Voice).

The Royal Basement is an attempt to corral all of those interests into something a bit less sporadic and a bit more cohesive. I'm personally excited to share an unfiltered view of my musical discoveries/rediscoveries, as well as having conversations with folks about their musical experiences, the tools they create with, and hopefully showing off some sketches/progress of the songs I'm working on for my own material along the way. If you're interested in chatting, please drop me a line. 

This site is an open letter to music and the joy it has brought me in my life. I hope the words and thoughts contained herein bring you some of that same joy. Cheers. 

Wishes Twist is the solo project of me, Dave E. Martin. I’ve been actively playing in Seattle band’s since the mid 90’s. I started off playing keyboards in the “Orchestral Rock”  band, Bugs In Amber and pop/rock band Slender Means. I currently play keys in the psych rock band Black Whales and bass in the pop/rock band, Trances. 
    I’ve been writing my own songs since I was a teen, in the early 90’s but only started my own band, Ghost Pains back in 2012. After Ghost Pains broke up I continued writing and started another band, Histamines, which broke up shortly after we released one 5 song ep in 2018. We only played two shows but continued writing until breaking up in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic sucked me dry of any motivation for writing new material. 
     Which brings us to 2022/23. Coming out of a major writing rut and possible depression I’m finally having more inspiration and ideas for music. Wishes Twist reflects that inspiration. For now this SoundCloud page has old Ghost Pains songs on it but will eventually only be my demos. It’s a labour of love…stay tuned. 

-DM

The Royal Firecrackers consist of a man from Kansas City who currently lives in Seattle, WA and works as a graphic designer and writer and dad. Debut LP "American Royal" currently being mixed in Bloomington, Indiana by Mike Bridavsky at Russian Recording and released sometime in 2024. These songs sound good on headphones or old speakers with big ol' woofers. Tell your friends about this music.  

CURRENT MUSICAL PROJECTS:
THE ROYAL FIRECRACKERS--You're listening to it now. All songs written and recorded by Greg Franklin in a basement in Seattle, WA with the engineering/mixing/instrumentation help of David Gaume, Robert Cheek, Eric Padgett, Michael Stover and Chris Littlefield. 

Playing guitar in the psych/pop band BLACK WHALES. New album dropping in 2024: https://blackwhales.bandcamp.com

Drums/Guitar/Bass in the most haunted band in Seattle that isn't Candlebox, the mighty PARTY DUNGEON: https://partydungeonusa.bandcamp.com

And working with my dear friend Greg Welker (aka SUNDAY GRIP, aka ISH THE FIST) on some sweet, sweet jams that may see the light of day sometime. There are some demos of that stuff here. 

PAST ROCK RESUME:
GHOST PAINS * SONNY VOTOLATO * LIGHTFEET * THE SYNTHONY * JACKIE CAROL * JETENDERPAUL * THE BELIEVE IT OR NOTS * EWOK GRINDER * LADYFRIEND * THE HILLARY STEP *

Photography by Morgan Miller.

Band Practice is following