Leaned into that “underemployed middle-aged guy” life in 2021 with (what else) a podcast, “My Band Rocks,” about my 25-years-long dubious hobby of amateur musicianship, because I needed another project until I pick up more freelance work and/or I’m able to seek a full-time gig.
So, every Monday this year I’ve released a short (17-25 min), music-heavy @mybandrockspod “audiobiography” episode about each album I’ve been part of, through three amateur indie bands, a side project, and my own solo stuff.
Some people will say “meh, another useless self-centered podcast,” but I simply cannot be shamed when it comes to talking about my favorite, longtime, most-important-to-me hobby, and nobody else is gonna tell this story, so I have (and probably will again).
Anyway, it’s finished for now—Episode 12, today’s dispatch, is sort of a “season finale”—and if you want to hear them all, you can do that via your favorite podcast platform. There’s even a Spotify playlist for chronological order.
Like my other cumulative, long-term creative projects done during the past year, this may not fit on a résumé or impress a hiring manager, but I tend to reflexively share my projects, regardless of attention or success. Hear all 12 episodes, a brisk four hours in total, in chronological order via Bandcamp.
The Mojo Wire
EPISODE 1: TWELVE-BAR RUSE
A snappy 17 minutes about how The Mojo Wire built their 1997 debut demo album “Battery Acid Blues” using two of rock’s primary colors: blues and surf.
EPISODE 2: DON’T MIX YOUR DRINKS
This one’s about how The Mojo Wire stumbled into semi-psychedelic sophomore slump on “Rocket Fuel Malt Liquor” (1998), their sprawling and jumbled second demo album.
EPISODE 3: NO LIFEGUARD ON DUTY
Zap back to 1999 when, washed up and dried out, the Mojo Wire unplugs and flirts with minimalism on “Seaside Hamlet Skids,” but there’s still trouble in paradise.
EPISODE 4: THINGS FALL APART
Every defunct band has a document of their dissolution. For the Mojo Wire, that document is 2001’s “You’re On Your Own.”
Honey White
EPISODE 5: INSTANT GRATIFICATION
Honey White kick-starts their career with ease on 2002’s multifaceted “My Band Rocks!” E.P.
EPISODE 6: PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT
Honey White flexes some formidable gigging skills at their live shows in 2002 and 2003, documented on the 2009 compilation “Some Reassembly Required.”
EPISODE 7: FEELING GRAVITY’S PULL
This one covers Honey White’s 2005 full-length studio debut “How Far is the Fall,” aka “Welcome to the rest of your life, pal. Do not pass Go and do NOT quit your day job.”
EPISODE 8: FEW AND FAR BETWEEN
A sparse pool of gigs from 2004-2006 fueled Honey White’s weakest live album, “Saturated Songs” (2004), but also their strongest one, “Deluge and Drought” (2007).
Side Projects
EPISODE 9: THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE
How many wannabe authors record pseudonymous soundtracks for their mediocre self-published novels? I’m guessing just me, for “The Weapon of Young Gods” by Low Tide (2008).
EPISODE 10: DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK
When the original Mojo Wire reunited as Radblaster, and when Honey White reconvened too, we recorded it all for the Corridan and Hecho En Naranjastan EPs (both released in 2011).
EPISODE 11: RUSHING THE MIRACLE MAN
It took almost 20 years, but I finally barfed out a solo release: the ambient, bass-heavy Rotten Miracles EP (2015).
EPISODE 12: THE VOYAGE HOME
The Season 1 finale is about my “Shipping” E.P. (2020), which is both a spontaneous pandemic product and careful culmination of recent misadventures in the wider world of professional creativity.
