Erik talks about what he's been up to and what the plan is with the podcast.

Episode 0 - May 12, 2021

Our guest for this episode is Pamela Maurer. Pamela is a musician, multimedia artist and designer who writes and performs with her group Baby Money and The Down Payments. Pamela spent the last year working on and releasing "HLDAY MAGIK" a visual album produced remotely with a team of people spread out across the country. We talk through the process of creating HLDAY MAGIK, holding up personally and as a creative person during the pandemic and what the new landscape as a musician, artist, and performer looks like as we move forward into a new time.

MUSIC 4 YR EARS

Episode 01 - Pamela Maurer

A conversation between Mel Flowers, one of our main curators and bassist for The Secret Lives and Tides Cult; and Sarah Neczwid, audio engineer, drummer, and host of Hello, I am Human podcast.

Episode 3: A Conversation with Mel Flowers and Sarah Neczwid

Our guest for this episode is composer and drummer Bret Figura. 
Bret currently drums in the surf/rockabilly instrumental group, The Real Gone, and with Dan Dougherty. During the pandemic Bret started composing his own music.  He's just released his third compilation Shut In Sounds III: The Righteousness of Spring. We chat with Bret about putting this amazing compilation with 16 different vocalists together.

Shut In Sounds III: The Righteousness of Spring

Episode 4: Bret Figura

This episode is a bittersweet and tragic tale of lost and found, closure and discovery revolving around a pair musicians from the Chicago Music Scene. In the 1980's vocalist and bassist Lorna Donley and guitarist  David Thomas, previously of the art-punk quartet DA!, formed the Veil. We talk with David on what happened with the Veil, Eric's experience in finding the Veil's music decades later, and working with David to put out the music after Lorna's tragic death in 2013.

Time Stands Still

Episode 5 - David Thomas and Eric Clements - Lorna Donley and the Veil

Interview with Danielle Sines from Impulsive Hearts and featured tracks from "Cry All The Time". Discussions on returning to live performance, how a band changes over the course of the pandemic, working with youth in a mentorship role, and giving back to a music community.

Cry All The Time

Episode 6 - Danielle Sines

This episode is a discussion with Tom Maslowski; musician, teacher and promoter from Chicago's south suburbs. We talk about common threads with our work within the scene along with some of our shared connections, Tom's projects, along with  life as a music teacher during the pandemic and supporting our local scenes.  Featuring music by Colonel Chloroform, John Condron and the Old Gang Orchestra along with End Transmission

Episode 7: Tom Maslowski

The theme for this episode was a conversation around metal and beer. Chatting with Mik Dempsey around his experiences with getting into music, performance and what ultimately led him to brewing.

Episode 8: Mik Dempsey

Premiere and Preview of tracks from the upcoming release "Speed of Dreams" by Fierce Atmospheres. Chatting with vocalist Taran de Pablos about the creative process behind writing and recording the album and working with famed producer Andy LaRoque

Episode 9: Taran de Pablos from Fierce Atmospheres

Preview of select tracks from Nora Marks release "Opt Out". Erik chats with Michael, Matt, and Robbie about the band's creative process, evolution and upcoming plans.

Opt Out

Episode 10: Nora Marks

In this episode Erik chats with photographer Katia Jackson, a Chicago-based photographer who helps document our local scene. Katia also spent the better part of the pandemic in 2020 taking her lens to the street documenting the civil unrest. We also talk about Katia's experiences at the recent Riotfest, working with other photographers in the area and reflections on a rapidly changing post-pandemic world.

Music by Tamari T & Thee Elektra Company, The Kreutzer Sonata, and Rosaries.

Episode 11: Katia Jackson

Erik chats with Matt from Matt Derda and the High Watts about their new releases, getting back into playing after the pandemic, using social media challenges and rewards with building a fan base.  Erik and Matt also compare notes on the craft of storytelling and art of improvisation as a performer. The latest single "Moonshine" is also featured in the episode.

Episode 12: Matt Derda

Erik chats with Mark and Ryan from Black Sites about their newest release "Untrue". Much of the conversation focuses on the work and processes behind writing, recording, and producing the album during the pandemic along with future plans for the band.

Episode 13: Black Sites

Erik chats with bassist, composer, and visual artist Evan Lacksmer about his artistic sensibilities, creative processes as a musician, Evan's background, history in the Chicago music scene, and how he developed his unique style of playing. During the episode Evan previews three brand new tracks from his latest project.

Episode 14: Evan Lacksmer

In this episode, Erik chats with Alexi Front, founder of Scorched Tundra, a heavy music festival that takes place annually here in Chicago and Gothenburg Sweden since 2011. 
Alexi has a long history in the music industry, working as a music journalist, in PR, and most notably founding the independent label Pivotal Rockordings Record Label in 2004. The label specializes in sharing and syndication of a variety of death metal music from Sweden.   
Alexi is also a fellow podcaster and produces Heavy Hops, a weekly interview format podcast focusing on innovators, creators and insiders in the music and beverage industry related to heavy music and beer. Alexi is also a life-long resident of Chicago.

We discuss a number of different things related to the art and craft of podcasting, the undertakings and values for curating an international music festival along with different ways of looking at experiencing new music post-pandemic in different contexts. 
The music featured in this episode is "Clearing the Sand" by Huntsmen and "Twist Ending" by Annihilus

Photo: Therese Rasmusson

Episode 15: Alexi Front

In this episode, Erik chats with multi-instrumentalist Joe Rauen, who also is an instrument maker with a penchant for visual art.
They talk through Joe’s passion and process for creating unique instruments along with his transformative experiences at Berklee College of Music in Boston and his current journey studying Indian music with Saraswathi Ranganathan. A few selections from his upcoming album featuring some of his instruments are featured during the episode.

Episode 16: Joe Rauen

A discussion around the various intersections of mental health and music with singer/songwriter and mental health advocate Bryan Joseph Kuhn

Tracks:
Working On Myself - Bryan Joseph Kuhn
Right The Ship - Bryan Joseph Kuhn
Marionette - Bryan Joseph Kuhn
Moodswings - Beneath the Stares

Episode 17: Mental Health Special Episode with Bryan Joseph Kuhn

In this episode Erik chats with Robert Mayfield of the progressive rock group Spooky Boo on their latest release, dealing with the effects of COVID, the importance of rap and metal in music education, and the finer points of jazz and classical guitar.  They also geek poetic on The Mars Volta. 

Featured tracks by Spooky Boo:

Familiar
Waiting Room
The Incident

Episode 18: Robert Mayfield of Spooky Boo

Cosmic Bull is a brand new project from vocalist, songwriter and scene veteran Mark Vickery, 
Vickery's deep vocal stylings were featured while he served as guest vocalist for Chicago acid jazz pioneers Liquid Soul before fronting a loose collective who would become the acid jazz/trip hop juggernaut Sumo, who took over Liquid Souls residency at Elbo Room during their heyday and then went on to gig around the area for many years before calling it quits in the mid-2000s.

Mark started writing new music of a different sort during the lockdown of 2020, releasing it under the name of Cosmic Bull. For his latest release he collaborated with former Sumo colleague and notable saxophonist Paul von Mertens, also of Poi Dog Pondering fame, along with scene vet drummer Kevin O'Donnell and Scott Tallarida at his Trigger Chicago studio.

Cosmic Bull's 27x2 EP was released last March. 

In this episode Erik and Mark discuss what Mark has been up to since coming out of his hiatus with Cosmic Bull and the creative process behind getting the EP together, along with the changes in the music industry over the last 20 years.

Featured Tracks:

Joe Namath Moment
Unless You Know People
The Sweet Art of Holding On

Episode 30: Mark Vickery | Cosmic Bull

Chicago-based quintet Polarizer creates "loud, spacey, and epic rock" combining heavy walls of sound with echo-laden, introspective passages and progressive-rock sensibilities.
In November 2021 they self-released "Love from the Underground" as sort of a culmination of a decades worth of work and a document of material with their latest lineup.

In this episode, Erik chats with vocalist and lyricist Taylor Brennan and guitarist Ian Palmer about the creation of the album, the lineup changes, getting through the pandemic and the changes that becoming a parent brings to a musician.


Featured tracks:

Metronome
Le Drame De Os
Eventually you get caught
One for One

Episode 31: Ian and Taylor from Polarizer

Dust Biters are a four-piece dirty rock outfit from Chicago that you only wear on nights that call for cheap beer and whiskey chasers. Dust Biters is the music they play on the fast rides with height limits at the county fair - taboo and macabre subject matter trojan-horsed with D beats and guitar leads. The band formed in 2019 months before the pandemic hit and have used the last two years to write, record, play shows, and begin cultivating a community of like-minded musicians and visual artists. Last year we released a single and an EP and will be releasing our debut full-length record on August 12, engineered and produced by Alex Lackner - guitarist of Lazarus A.D. (Metal Blade) and producer and engineer of Repentance’s latest release, “Volume I-Reborn”.

Parallel with the album release, They have a collaboration beer with Metal Monkey Brewing and a burger with Kuma's Corner in the works.

In this episode, the band sits down with Erik Oldman to talk about what it is like being a Covid band, navigating the music industry landscape, how we network and cultivate collaborative relationships while learning to balance life, work, and art. 

Featured Tracks: 

Pray For Me
Progeny
Lushed Up
Dear Evil

Episode 32: Dust Biters

In this episode Erik Oldman chats with producer, engineer and Chicago punk scene veteran Chris DeQuick about what he's been up to since the on set of the pandemic, his background and experiences in recording music and highlighting some of the work he's helped record. 

Featured Tracks:
Old Identities - The Damn Tracks
Evil Men - Torch The Hive
Sundowning - The Damn Tracks

Episode 33: Chris DeQuick

Colin Peterik is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer from Chicago, IL. His songwriting style, drawing from pop, psychedelic rock, hip-hop and soul influences, is eclectic. Expertly produced and featuring powerful vocals, his music is infused with infectious hooks, strong melodies and poignant lyrics.

In this episode Erik Oldman chats with Colin about creative process and background of his latest release "Everything and Nothing"; The Jam Lab, his full-service production facility; what it's like growing up as the son of Jim Peterik, founding member of Ides of March and Survivor, and what he's up to for the Fall of 2022.

Featured Tracks:
Smile
Everything and Nothing
Michiana
My Secrets
Cocaine Nights

Episode 34: Colin Peterik

Unto the Earth is a four piece metal band out of Chicago, straddling the lines between stoner, desert, doom, and sludge, with shoegaze and heavy psych influences. Formed in 2019, they have embarked on a musical odyssey that combines driving drums, melodic basslines, layered guitars, and evocative lyrics, while paying tribute to the influences of their youth. 

Erik Oldman chats with bassist and vocalist Simeon and guitarists Yosh and Jed about the collective creative process around their debuit full-length "The Dawning", how the band came together and what they have coming up for this year as part of the release plan.

Featured Tracks:
It's a Good Day To Die
Awake the Elders
Demons of Demolition
Strange Riders

Episode 35: Unto the Earth

Idol Throne is a Power-thrash metal quintet from Northwest Indiana with strong progressive tendencies. 

[FFO: Crescent Shield, Destiny's End, Jag Panzer, Helstar, Fates Warning]

In this episode Erik Oldman chats with guitarists Jason Schultz, Martin Bowman and vocalist Jake Quintanilla about the band's formation and the process for creating their full-length release "The Sibylline Age" (Stormspell Records)

Featured Tracks:
Unholy Warrior
Raven's Blade
White Wolf

Episode 36: Jason, Martin, and Jake from Idol Throne

Like most musicians operating under the new normal, Mark Lofgren (The Luck of Eden Hall, The Thin Cherries) has been spending time in his home studio crafting intimate recordings. Black Moon Book II, an album of exquisite bedroom pop that touches on relationships, memory, isolation and, most explicitly, the healing power of hope and love, is the follow -up to his Black Moon Book released in 2020 and his 2014 solo debut, The Past Perfect.
In this episode Erik and Mark have a pretty wide-ranging conversation around pets, family, studio work, coping with the pandemic, work-life balance in the tech/creative space while diving into the creative process behind making of Black Moon Book II.

Featured Tracks:

Waxing Crescent
We Don't Leave The Yard
Waning Crescent

More at markalanlofgren.bandcamp.com

Episode 37: Mark Lofgren

Al Rose is a Chicago-based singer-songwriter and musician with a unique and powerful vision which has helped drive his work as originally co-leader of Buffalo Trout, to his years spent as a solo performer and also leading his current band, featuring a roster of top-shelf musicians, The Transcendos. Al's latest release and eighth album, Again the Beginner is a set of 13 good and true songs which features some of his best work musically combined with some of the most nervy and scathing set of lyrics he’s yet composed. It’s a heartening and bracing experience; one man’s attempt to come to terms with modern times and that broken feeling many folks today feel in the pit of their stomach. The stakes couldn’t be higher: this is your life; our time is running short, and every personal crisis seems tied to an accumulating sense of public dread. After all, a lot has happened since Rose dropped his last album in 2016, a resurgence of authoritarian encroachment, COVID-19, and unstinting attacks on democracy at home and abroad.

Featured Tracks:
Don't Know Why
Shooting Straight
Sign on the Doorpost
Said & Done
Dignity & Grace

Episode 38: Al Rose

Trey Elder has worn many hats since arriving in Chicago, ranging from sound engineer at the infamous Double Door, Head of Sales & Consulting at Intelligentsia Coffee, American whiskey connoisseur and educator, and Operations Manager of Jerry’s restaurants  While at Jerry’s, Elder booked an eclectic array of music 7 nights a week for several years, organized many craft beer and spirits focused dinners and events, as well as oversaw all PR and marketing. 

In 2019, Elder launched Quiet Pterodactyl, a non-profit that creates experiences, enjoyment, education, and entry into arts and music. In his “spare time”, Elder has created music in various original projects, as well as booked/promoted local and national touring acts at venues all over Chicago.

Elder is a member of the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, and currently serves on planning committees with the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce on Chicago’s north side.

In this episode we dive into Trey's history with involvement with various facets into Chicago's music community along with the history of Quiet Pterodactyl and his work during the pandemic to help both artists and venues.


Featured Tracks:

Miirrors: Sinistry
Moritat: Weapons
Neptune's Core: Turning Red

Episode 39: Trey Elder

Blackmarket Democracy    Fragile
Black4	Rob Roy
Dead Town Revival    Under the Gun
Faith In The Fallen	    Diabolical
Death and Memphis	Hey You
My My My	Bleeding from Tigers on the Dance Floor
Johnny Automatic	She Said
Seasonal Men's Wear	Theme Song for a Quarter-Life Crisis
Punch Cabbie	   Repress
ladies of leisure	 UDS2: Liquid Maze 
Bottle Kids	Don't Throw Bottles... Ever 
Scars Of Armageddon	Our Dying Day
Hero Monster Zero	 Stepping on Me
Butchered	NINETOFIVE
Chaometry	Zyeteeth
Turbovamps	Blackout
Psycho Sister	Skeleton
Wrecked	Enemy
Another Black Hour	 Perfect Machine
Bill Ura Dik	Chinese Takeout
Dead on TV	Creeper
The Jetbirds	Give em hell johnny
The Ridgelands	Daggers Down Anti Hero
False Hope Fades	Wake Up

Subscribers Choice 2015

Interview with Katie from Genotype
Tracks from Design Intent:
Amalthea
Trine
=======
Midwest Music Support Block:
Genotype  - Energon
So Called Saints - Trigger
So Called Saints - No Escape
Atlanta is Burning - A Wicked Thing To Say
Atlanta is Burning - Alive in Memories
===========
Rock in Chicago Sneak Preview Track:
Immortal Bird - Sycophant
===========
Interview with Mark from Trials
Tracks from This Ruined World:
Truth Defiled
Dont Believe the Word
Digging My Own Grave
==================
Interview with Cody and Rick from God Dementia
Tracks from Consuming the Delusional:
Dominance
Pests
Savage Saints



June 2015 Metal Showcase

Cohosted by Melissa DeGott
Interviews with Faces of the Bog and Pat Catalano

Track Listing:
Faces of the Bog - Drifter
Faces of the Bog - Moon
Psycho Sister - PunchBox
Jan King and Medicine Ball - Stung
White Knight Satellite - Satyr Sphinx
Psycho Sister - Sorrow
Jan King and Medicine Ball - Busted All The Time
The Shifties - What Could Be So Wrong
Mordatorium - The Abomination
Armored Assault - Call The Beast
Scars of Armageddon - Our Dying Day
Catalano - One More Time
Michael Riser - Urban Jungle
Veilside - Hypocrisy
Catalano - Gone to Sleep

Songs for Shelter 2015

Interview with Butchered
Track listing:
Butchered - It Doesnt Matter Anymore
Butchered - Cut Me Off
Butchered - I Can't Be Friends With You (Tom Park)
WASTE - Brick by Brick
WASTE - Broke
Overclocked - George Bush 2.0
Overclocked - Don't Trust the Radio
Side Action - Ate Your Face
Side Action - Space Booze
Evil Engine - Father
Prison City Brigade - We Are The Brigade
Limited Wisdom - Wolf Smack
C-Sides Cheap Wine
Death and Memphis - Always Nothing
Turnspit - Midsentence
Jolly Korea - From Breathless Back to Life
Lumberjerks - Garage Hopping
Brouhaha - Disestablishmententarianism
Kicking Brickley - Walking Crooked
Lights Over Bridgeport - True North
Still Alive - Pay Attention
The Bollweevils - Honesty Isn't So Simple
The Land Before Tim - Abducted
Ribbonhead - Longpig
80 Proof Preacher - Lazlo Holyfield
Back Alley Riot - Blue Collar Army
The Mizzerables - As I Am
Born on Jeffreys - Wanted it All

Wrecking Ball Showcase with Butchered

Erik Oldman interviews Jake and Connor from Seasonal Mens Wear/Brown Bear Records. 
Curated by Jake, Connor, and Ian from Wrecking Ball Production

Featuring music from
Seasonal Mens Wear
Chris Bomba
Demetri The Unfavorable
Electric Needle Room
Fossil Fuel
Friskie Morris & Friends (featuring Chris DeQuick)
Gypsy Charms
IM Cunj
Richardson Richardson
Seasonal Men's Wear
The Hannah Barbarians
The Dirty Heels
80 Proof Preacher
Claw Toe
The Kobanes
Mandatory Abortions
Modern Day Rippers
She Likes Todd
Shift
The Usuals
TV SLIME
Welfare Beer League
Voice of Addiction
Ribbonhead

Brown Bear Records/Seasonal Mens Wear/Wrecking Ball Production Feature

Our March Madness Podcast featuring an interview with Jason Jaros of Caster

Featuring music from:

Andy Metz
Assassination Squad
Back Alley Riot
Beat the Smart Kids
Beyond De-th
Bottle Kids
Bubbles Erotica
Butchered
Caster
Dana Lawrence
Run and Punch
Ditchwater
John San Juan
Johnny Automatic
Kalico Skies
Killing gods
Land Before Tim
Makeshift Tragedy
Menacerno
Of Wolves
On My Six
Pavlov3
Polarizer
Predator
Spinning Red
The Automatones
The Bribes
This Obsession

March Madness 2016 Featuring Caster

The Rock in Chicago Show features interviews with musicians, artists, and industry people in Chicago's music scene who are helping move the community forward as we navigate through getting out of the pandemic.

Popular tracks by Rock In Chicago Show