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The Crushed Monocle Podcast is a show where Jon and Coop talk about stuff. ALL the stuff! Music, movies, shows, life, or whatever. Naturally, they will mispronounce names, poke fun at themselves, and never fail to profess their love for the 1995 masterpiece, Showgirls. Doesn’t that excite you? Sure it does! This is why it’s essential that you subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you consume fine podcasts. This is the Crushed Monocle Podcast: Episode 25 – The Ballad of 1998!
It might be hard to believe but this is the 25th episode of the Crushed Monocle Podcast! To celebrate 25 episodes, Jon and Coop are taking a look at 1998. Exactly 25 years ago!
After the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (see Episode 2) changed the way America listened to music, the industry was on a road to recovery. But with the growing pains behind it (see Episode 12) what exactly constitutes as business as usual? The answer was categorizing with purpose! Hip-Hop became Pop, Pop became an actual genre, and Rock was all but irrelevant. However, that wasn’t the whole story. Out from the ashes of questionable record deals and buried sophomore albums came a new genre. Born of angst, discord, baggy jeans, and chunky riffs was the rise of Nu-Metal. Ugh.
Thankfully all wasn’t lost In fact, Jon and Coop realize a lot of the stuff they hated in 1998 has actually held up pretty well.
As they celebrate 25 episodes into the podcast (and still not mastering the art of introductions), Jon and Coop discuss a wide variety of topics such as:
- Were you team Monica or team Brandy?
- How was “Flagpole Sitta” a hit but not Head Trip In Every Key?
- Charlize Theron was worth running your battery down for.
- TRL proved pop culture belonged to teenage girls and for good reason.
- The Coca-Cola Card was VIP for 15-year-olds.
- Was it really fair to call the Deftones, Nu-Metal?
- Just when you thought Ska couldn’t get any worse, it gave birth to the Big Band revival.
Most importantly, Jon and Coop realize that since Viagra became a thing and “Too Close” from Next was the biggest hit, 1998 was officially the year of the awkward boner!
Do these topics interest you? Well, you’ve stuck it out with the show for 25 episodes, so that has to count for something! Please don’t forget to subscribe, like, and share The Crushed Monocle Podcast in your favorite format. So, kick back, sip on a beverage (purchased by flashing the Coke Card), and enjoy Jon and Coop talking about stuff. ALL the stuff (of 1998)
Resources: Haunt | These Beasts | Jessie Ware | Tunic | Hum | Superdrag | Closing Time | One Week | Ghetto Superstar | Get What You Give | Cat Power | Ray Of Light | Lauryn Hill | Deftones | Korn | Engel | Dragula | Sex & Candy | Zoot Suit Riot | Jump Jive & Wail | Time Of Your Life | Iris | Creed | Paranoid | Air | Beastie Boys | Barbarlla | Bittersweet Symphony | From Your Mouth | Armageddon | Godzilla | Mighty Joe Young | Slayer |
If you enjoy what you hear and would like to support this podcast, please consider donating to the Crushed Monocle Tip Jar (you don’t even have to stop swearing!)
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The Hostile Redemption is one of the Pop-Punk bands keeping the scene alive in Houston, Texas. Although they gained some traction as a cover band, their original music is what made them a band worth giving a listen too. Last month, following the release of The Hostile Redemption’s debut EP Reflections I got the chance to talk with lead singer Blake Hill. We talked about the inspiration behind Reflections, who inspired the songs “Bait and Tackle” and “B.U.M.E.R”, and My Chemical Romance’s reunion.
How did The Hostile Redemption come about?
I played in an old band years before and left some of that content on YouTube. One of my two guitar players found it and reached out to me and pestered me for a couple of years to start a band with him. I finally gave in after about two years of endless “hey man we should start a band! We’re not getting any younger”. I figured let’s see where it goes! We found a drummer [Jacob] and he was really good and decided to start writing our own songs. It worked out a lot better than I anticipated that it would!
Your music is really good!
You enjoy [Reflections] then?
Yeah, Like I was saying earlier my top song is probably still “B.U.M.E.R” right now. I listened to Reflections again and I liked “Bait [and Tackle].”
“Bait and Tackle”! You want to hear a little fun fact? “Bait and Tackle” and “B.U.M.E.R” are actually about the same girl! She inspired a lot of moves back then, since I was eleven years old. That relationship did not work out during any of the many tries we given it, but I have to thank her for giving me the inspiration she did. Bait and Tackle are probably – in my own personal songs that I’ve written – my top five.
That’s great. It’s always great that from the bad you can still get inspiration.
Yes ma’am. I think the bad things that happen to us make the best songs.
Totally, right with you on that!
How has the reception to your Ep, Reflections, been so far?
I have not heard one thing bad about the [Reflections] so far, which I was very pleasantly surprised to hear. [The songs] “B.U.M.E.R” and “Runaway” have been on Spotify and Apple Music for almost a year for “B.U.M.E.R” and over a year for “Runaway” when we released Reflections. Now all five of the songs on Reflections have gotten more plays than those two singles together. It’s wild to me! We’ve replaced our closing song “Runaway” with “Sins” now and it’s wild the amount of people that came out to our release party. It was amazing and I’m still living off of that high!
It’s always cool to when your first playing [new music] how people perceive it!
Exactly! When someone is actually enjoying what I’m doing and that’s the coolest thing ever!
What is your favorite song to play live?
My favorite song to play live is probably “Sins” from the [Reflections] and “B.U.M.E.R”. “B.U.M.E.R” is so easy for people to sing along with the chorus and I get to hold my mic out to them and hear them sing out my own lyrics that I made was just, you know, the euphoria that comes from that feeling is just unexplainable. Then “Sins”, I’ve been working hard on learning how to do screaming vocals for about six years. And I didn’t get to tell my band members that I was trying that, so I randomly decided to it during “Sins”, the screaming line during the second to last verse. And being able to do that live and watch the people’s reactions is really cool. So you’ll hear a bit more of those screams, not in every song, but a little bit more presently in our follow up to Reflections.
What music inspired the sound of your band?
We all have different artist that inspire us individually. Blink 182, Yellowcard, and I would honestly say The Cure were my main influences. Jose, our lead guitar player is very heavily influenced by Green Day and the more punker of the Pop Punk I listen to. Our drummer Jacob is a big fan of the newer Pop Punk music, like State Champs and Mayday Parade. Our other guitar player Adrian, he likes Simple Plan, Blink-182, Yellowcard, the older Pop-Punk artist and Kevin, our bass player, he probably has the widest range out of all of us. His favorite band is American Football, but he also likes Blink-182, Green Day and Taking Back Sunday. When we put it all together it makes a cool sound I think!
What are your future plans for the band?
We started writing again! We’re working on a song called “Beautiful and Blue”, which is probably the heaviest song we’ve ever written both musically and lyrically.
Any plans to play or tour outside of the Houston area?
I would love to! We played in Austin [Texas] once last year. I would love to get back to Austin, it has an awesome vibe. We don’t have anything set in stone; I hope that that changes in the near future. If anybody wants to give us a chance, just let us know!
My Chemical Romance Reunion – here for it? Yay or nay?
Oh my God, yes! The best show that I have ever seen in my life was in September 2011. Co-headlined by My Chemical Romance and Blink 182 with Tom DeLonge. I have not ever seen a better show than that, My Chemical Romance blew me away with their performance. I fell in love with their song “Summertime” that I had never heard, and I still listen to that song every day. When they got back together, I was literally screaming and jumping up and down. The band is learning the song “I’m Not Okay” and “Helena” right now, we’re supposed to go over that for the first time tomorrow at band practice. If My Chemical Romance by any chance see’s this interview and wants to have a random opener, we are so down for the job!
What do you hope The Hostile Redemption will add to the music scene?
We hope to be the band that makes someone’s day better by listening to our music and hope our experiences will show people they’re not alone. We hope to bring unity to the music scene: The Hostile Redemption redeeming what it truly means to be united through music. We’ve got a song for everyone to relate to.
The Hostile Redemption music can be streamed here, bought here, and stalked here!
The interview has been edited for clarity and longevity.
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Today’s guest is Branson Reese, who writes, makes comics and is the dungeon master of the uncommonly hilarious Dungeons and Dragons podcast “Rude Tales of Magic“.
On today’s episode, I ask the following questions:
- What’s the best emo/emo-skewing pop-punk albums for the worst day of your life, the best day of your life and the most average day of your life?
- There’s been a scientific breakthrough! You can put your dog’s personality into any animal (and for the sake of this hypothetical, claws, teeth, etc will be filed down to the point where they couldn’t accidentally hurt you). What animal do you infuse with your dog’s personality, and why would this be the raddest choice?
- Marvel, DC and Image Comics all come to you, hoping you’ll take over the writing/illustrating of one of their superhero series. They’re all offering you a ton of money, and you get to pick the entire direction without any interference. What superhero comic series do you take over? Give me the elevator pitch for the direction and style of this run.
- A telephone rings from the kitchen. You follow the sound and find a phone that hadn’t been there before, but you pick it up because curiosity overtakes you. As soon as you say, “Hello?” a wormhole sucks you into a parallel universe that is nearly identical to your universe — there’s even another you there, living your exact same life. The wormhole dropped you right outside your residence with no shoes, phone, jacket or wallet, and on the other side of kitchen window, Other Branson fixes a sandwich.You know for a fact that you cannot go back to your own world because a scientist walks up to you and says, “Hey Branson. Cool device, huh? It’ll take me 70 years to make another so you can go back home. I hope you can hold tight until then.”
You have 70 years to waste in this parallel universe. What’s your plan to survive? And what sandwich was Other Branson probably making?
- Swan Boy just joined your D&D group. What is his character’s class, name, character alignment and general approach to the game? How fun or unfun would he be to play with in your party?
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Today’s guest is David Young, who creates the audio comedic drama “Me, My Demon and I“. He’s an audio drama triple threat (producing, writing and acting).
On today’s episode, I ask the following questions:
- What audio fiction podcast have you enjoyed the most the past month or so?
- You die in an especially horrific manner. That sucks, but thankfully a team of scientists upload your brain into a computer. Now they want to design a transformer body for you and stick your digital mind in that body. What is your hidden “non-robot” form and what faction in the transformer wars do you join?
- You get to make a fiction podcast for any already existing videogame, movie, book, or TV IP with complete creative freedom. What IP do you choose to make, what’s the premise of the podcast and what does this do to expand (or purposefully destroy?) that IP’s universe?
- You slip on your favorite sneakers, and they pinch your feet in the strangest, most uncomfortable places. As soon as you get used to the discomfort, the pinched spot moves. And all day, you find yourself walking to places you had no intention of visiting. When you try to take your shoes off at the end of the day, they bite you.This is when it occurs to you that, just maybe, a demon has possessed your shoes? It feeds on your suffering, but don’t worry, it can’t kill you because this is a symbiotic relationship here. What three places do your possessed shoes take you that would be the most torture? And what’s your one favorite place your shoes bring you so you can briefly experience pure joy as a reminder of what is good in the world, making the torture hit even harder?
- You have to live the rest of your life as an NPC in a ruthlessly complex JRPG. What’s your NPC’s (brief) backstory, what side-quest do you give the hero of the game and what’s the reward for completing the quest?
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Today’s guest is Andrew Godfrey, who is the frontman for Transylvania Stud. Godfrey was kind enough to answer my questions despite taking part in a longer, more legit interview on our site earlier this week.
On today’s episode, I ask the following questions:
- The standard question — what album have you listened to most in the past month?
- You recently full-heartedly agreed with an Andrew WK tweet that stated, “Eating bowls of cereal at night = partying.” So let’s hear it. If you’re having a late night cereal party, what’s your cereal of choice? Defend your decision.
- In honor of Halloween, you gain the dark power to raise one dead musician from the grave and form a music duo. Who do you raise from the dead, why did you pick this person and what kind of music do y’all play together? (Keep in mind that while the person will be fully functioning and able to perform their musical duties, they will be in the current state of decay when they arose from the grave.)
- The Music God is unhappy with humankind and decides you must get rid of one of these instruments from all music: vocals, guitar, bass, drums, snyths, or piano. Everything except drums will now be replaced with kazoo. Drums will be replaced with someone kind of clapping along to the beat. This applies both to all future music and everything previously recorded. Now choose to get rid of/horrifically replace one.
- Last question is a spooky one. You get to choose one horror movie to get remade (assume the final product is slightly better than the original), but it’s up to you to soundtrack it exactly in the style of Transylvania Stud (although, can have more instrumental tracks since this is a soundtrack after all). What movie do you want to remake and how well would your band’s music fit the soundtrack?
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]]>With gratuitous displays of gore, gallons of blood spraying the audience, and more than enough metal to burn your local church to the ground, no other artist comes close to the blasphemous theatrics of GWAR!
With such an emphasis on showmanship, festivals clamor for the otherworldly chaos of GWAR.
Where else can you see foam latex caricatures of Caitlyn Jenner giving birth on stage or Donald Trump’s entrails ripped from his body and thrown in the audience? It’s a sight to behold and I’ve never been disappointed with the countless times I’ve seen them. As with Andrew WK and Taking Back Sunday, GWAR are unofficial mainstays at Chicago’s Riot Fest. Something about politically incorrect humor and various body fluids covering an audience just screams punk like nothing else.
After their sinfully satisfying set during Riot Fest’s metal day, I had the opportunity to catch up with bassist/vocalist Beefcake The Mighty and guitarist Balsac: The Jaws Of Death. Even though I’ve met a few members of GWAR at previous Riot Fests, I really didn’t know what to expect with an interview. Most importantly, I wondered how I was going to interview such vile characters and uphold my personal no swearing rule? I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I’ve never been one to turn down a challenge. I’m a Bearded Gentlemen journalist after all.
(Audio of the GWAR Interview Below.)
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Beefcake The Mighty: I really like that patch.
Oh, which one?
Beefcake: That one. points to Motorhead patch but just that one.
Well, I would totally give it to you but I don’t know how to un-sew.
Beefcake: I already have it. That’s why I like it. I don’t need another one. You can keep it with all the rest. The rest of them are stupid. points to John Davis pin Is that Jesus?
Of indie rock, yes! John Davis of The Lees of Memory.
Beefcake: Oh. fair enough. Is this your table?
Umm, it is now!
Beefcake: Alright then. Let’s plather! SHOOT THE ****!
Is there anyone currently on the Riot Fest roster, you’d like to beat up?
Balsac The Jaws Of Death: (laughs)
Beefcake: What the ****??? Probably.
Care to drop a name?
Beefcake: Nah, no really, there’s not. I mean, out of anybody I’d want to beat up…I don’t even know who’s here.
Right. I guess it’s not cool to put you on the spot anyway.
Beefcake: All I know is the band on our stage and the stage that’s next to us. AND THEY’RE ALL GREAT BLOKES!
Balsac: That’s like **** MARRY KILL out of Slayer, Rise Against, and uh… GWAR.
Beefcake: yeah. **** GWAR. I hate them. Oh wait, that’s my band. Ugh. I’m gonna stick with my original statement though. I hate them. They **** suck. Well, they suck now anyway.
In saying that, who would you wanna marry?
Beefcake: Huh?
Balsac: Ooh I know you wanna marry Rise Against. You love them. I saw you making kissy faces earlier…
Beefcake: Duurrrrrrrrr!!!! God!!!
Balsac: So does that mean you wanna **** Slayer? Like ‘**** Slayer!’? Is that what you’re saying? Hey, this guy over here is saying “**** Slayer!!”
various journalists and artists look over at us with shocked facials expressions
Beefcake: I dunno, I mean that Gary Holt guy is kinda cute! He’s a cool dude you know.
Balsac: Wait, that would mean you’d want to KILL Slayer. I got the question wrong.
Beefcake: Kill!? I’m gonna spank ‘em with my lips!
How about anybody else who isn’t here? Like maybe some pop star or something?
Beefcake: Yes.
Care to elaborate?
Beefcake: All of them. ****ing all of them. Just **** all of those mother ****ers with all their bullshit and their fucking bullshit. And their ****ing’ money, and ****ing record sales. Oh and their Awards, fancy clothes and their hot chicks… Goddammit!
Yeah. A lot of us writers at Bearded Gentlemen hate the Grammys. Would you ever perform on the Grammys?
Beefcake: Well if they offered us a lot of money or a little money. Or any kind of …Yes.
Balsac: We’ve been kicked out of the Grammys.
Beefcake: Yeah we were kicked out once, and barely invited the second time.
How did you get invited after being kicked out?
Beefcake: You know we were nominated for two Grammys.
Right!, Best Metal Performace for “S.F.W” and Best Longform Music Video for Phallus In Wonderland in 1993?
Balsac: Well, we showed up the first time then they threw us out.
Beefcake: We have lost less Grammys than Lamb Of God!
That’s quite impressive!
Beefcake: Of course, they’ve won a lot more than we have, but we have lost less than they’ve lost!
Are you saying you probably make better music than Lamb Of God?
Beefcake: Well, yeah. They taught us nothing that we know,
Where do you get all the blood for the live show?
Beefcake: Usually infants, some runaways, groupies…
Ah, groupies. Of course.
Beefcake: Flute groupies though. We get a lot of flute groupies but none of us play the flute! It’s really weird.
I’m sure if you wanted to, you could.
Beefcake: Yeah, if we had a flute, one of us could figure it out. But we don’t have a ****ing flute, *******!
Here at Bearded Gentlemen, we like to ask: in your opinion, what’s your Favorite, Overrated, and Underrated album?
Beefcake: From who?
Balsac: Like from anybody?
Beefcake: Most underrated would probably be anything from GWAR. Overrated? Anything by GWAR, and my favorite? Oh! Probably anything from GWAR!
Balsac: That’s a good answer!
Beefcake: You know who I really like? Being we’re in Chicago, ****ing Naked Raygun. That’s a good ****ing band. I like Naked Raygun. That’s all I’m gonna say about that. Send a free shirt to P.O. Box….
I just saw the dude from Naked Raygun perform a song with FEAR back in April. We wanna see Naked Raygun and GWAR perform together, and tour together.
Beefcake: Oh I’d be down for that.
Maybe we can make that happen with this article?
Beefcake: Cheap Trick. One of the most ****ing underrated bands in this country. That is a ****ing rock-solid rock n’ roll band who are still working constantly. But I still don’t think they’ve ever gotten what they ****ing deserve.
I also agree. What do you think about Danzig? Another one of my favorites.
Beefcake: I LOVE old Misfits!
Yeah, The real Misfits, not Graves-fits.
Beefcake: Yeah I mean you hear all this **** about Danzig, but I saw him one day when a Samhain show got canceled like 3 songs in. He went down to the van, opened the door, and handed everybody walking out the doors like ****ing t-shirts, records, and all kinds of swag. So I gotta give him props for that.
Would you ever record with Glenn Danzig?
Beefcake: If the money is right you know? And he knows what I’m saying. He knows the price point and how to get a hold of us!
For more info on GWAR, please visit GWAR.net
All photos by Judie Vegh of OyVegh Photography
For complete Riot Fest 2019 coverage, check out my full article HERE
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Today’s guest is Deezy Violet, who is a musician in the band Sad Baxter. You can find their albums in a variety of places.
On today’s episode, I ask the following questions:
- The standard question — what album have you listened to most in the past month?
- Your first ever concert was Britney Spears in 1999, which means you’re an expert on Spears. What Britney Spears song holds up best now that you’re an adult, and what song did you think banged at the time but is really pretty weak?
- One Game of Thrones character is going to magically spring from fiction and become your new friend and roommate. They have no concept they were not previously a real person in a real world, so this a real fish out of water situation for them. Which one Game of Thrones character would you pick and how well do you think this person would assimilate into our world?
- The President of Video Games comes up to you after a show, and they say, “We’ve run out of new ideas for video games. Can you help?” They then instruct you to pull out your phone and use predictive text to finish this sentence: “The hot new video game is about____.” What’s the new video game about, according to your phone’s predictive text, and what kind of game would it be?
- You and Alex get to start a side project with two other Nashville bands. You can take one or two members from each band (so your group would be 4-6 members). Who you taking, what musical devices is everyone playing and what kind of music do you play?
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Today’s guest is Eric Ayotte. He is a filmmaker and a musician. You can find all his stuff on his website, but specifically check out:
–His band and the band’s Facebook page
-The music videos he’s directed, which are great
On today’s episode, I ask the following questions:
- The standard question — what album have you listened to most in the past month?
- What’s the definitive music video?
- Aliens come to Earth and for some reason they knock on your door and tell you that you have a year to remake one feature film or they’ll blow up Earth. They’ll finance the whole thing, but you have to shoot it yourself, soundtrack it yourself and play one of the leads. What can I tell you, these aliens are weird. What movie do you pick and why?
- Last year, you wrote (and made the music video for) a Halloween Song called “Mr. Pumpkin” that might be one of my favorite Halloween tunes I’ve ever heard. Back in 2016, SNL aired its best skit in like a decade with their David S. Pumpkins joint, and that really blew up. I can keep going on about pumpkins, but it’s clear people relate to them hard. Why do you think people relate so much to pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns especially?
- A lot of your short film work is based off a prompts, and you’re great at it. So I’m going to put you on the spot here. Your prompt is dumbest superpower. Give me the elevator pitch for your short film based on this prompt. Bonus points if you can work in yet another Yahoo Search Engine joke, but I won’t tell an artist how to do his work.
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Today’s guest is Keith Pille. He does a whole lot of stuff, some of which includes:
-His band, The Awesome Boys.
-His Uncle Tupelo podcast, We’ve Been Had (on iTunes here).
-His mannnnnnny comics.
-His writing!
On today’s episode, I ask the following questions:
- What album have you listened to the most in the past month or so?
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You’re a pretty big Achewood fan, which makes you alright by me. If you had to pick one Achewood character to be your spirit animal, who would you pick and why would this character represent the essence that is you?
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Reel Big Fish are covering three songs, and these are the only three songs anyone on Earth will ever be able to listen to again. Lucky for us, you get to pick the songs. Which three are you picking?
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You’re a midwestern punk who draws cartoons, so I gotta assume you were involved in zines or at least interested. What was the zine scene like in the great state of Minnesota when you were growing up?
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Final question. Best Wilco song, worst Wilco song and most median Wilco song? (And as a bonus, the comic Keith mentions on the podcast is righttttt…… here.)
Remember to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or wherever, and please leave a five star review saying how much you dig the podcast. If you do that, we will become inseparable best friends, and I will be soul-bound to do whatever you ask me to do, no matter how terrible.
Please also subscribe to Keith’s podcast(s) because he’s a cool guy who deserves it.
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