On this Six-Pack episode, Lee McCormack of the Tramps Like Us Podcast and BJ Kramp of the Rock And/Or Roll podcast join Eric Miller of Pods & Sods to cry tough, out on the streets to make our dreams happen. Actually, we’re skipping past the dirty talk and the thorny roses to dig a little deeper into the Poison catalog. We’re each bringing two picks, some memories, some opinions, and some laughs. Are we just another word in your pay-ay-yage?
So sit back and discover or rediscover the kinda punky, kinda glammy, definitely hair-metaly glory of Poison.
On this Six-Pack episode, Pat Francis of the Rock Solid Podcast and BJ Kramp of the Rock And/Or Roll podcast join Eric Miller of Pods & Sods to enlighten him on the work of Nick Lowe. Pat and BJ are both bringing three picks covering the Nick’s long and storied career. We get into Nick’s work as a producer, his brilliance as a songwriter, the instant timelessness to some of his songs, his craftsmanship in the studio, and so much more.
So sit back and discover or rediscover the brilliance of Nick Lowe.
We’ve got the flock in for Dokken! We’re taking stock in Dokken! We’re talkin’ Dokken! We’re talking the building blockins of Dokken!
On this Six-Pack episode, Richie Wagner of Audiobiography and BJ Kramp of Rock and/or Roll join Eric Miller of Pods & Sods to assemble a six pack of Dokken gems. We each bring two Dokken songs covering the gamut – some hits, some personal favorites, and some deep cuts. We also share some personal memories of how we got into the band, what are their strengths, whatever happened to Richie’s friend Scott that cut off Unchain The Night on Richie’s taped copy of Under Lock and Key, and a bit more. Not a ton of research, not a ton of pontificating, just a few friends enjoying a tight little playlist of classics… from Dokken.
Considered by many to be Billy Squier’s return to form record, Hear & Now is unquestionably a fan favorite. After a few years of Rock Me Tonight video fallout and a slightly less than stellar commercial performance with 1986’s Enough Is Enough, Billy returned in full force with an incredible collection of riff-laden, rock-pop hits, sweeping ballads, and a few deep cuts that continued his unique style of “articulate rock.” But did it hit? Why or why not?
And while we’re asking questions – what is the connection between this record and the film Deliverance? Between this record at The Waitresses’ Christmas Wrapping?!? Listen to find out as we continue our Songs of The Knight: A Billy Squier Retrospective series.
Joined by podcast friends Jon Lamoreaux of The Hustle Podcast and BJ Kramp of the Rock And/Or Roll Podcast, Eric and his co-hosts go in-depth and track by track with Billy’s sixth album. Warning: we do go off the rails a bit in the episode following a story Jon shares about his early discovery of, well, this record among other things. But we also continue our thoughtful deep analysis of this record, which is one of our collective favorites. Finally we wrap this episode with Eric’s personal ranking of Billy Squier’s entire discography.
What do you do to follow up a disastrous video that, although charted quite successfully, negatively impacted your career trajectory? How about when you’re stuck between label pressure in a changing landscape of hair metal and keyboard oriented rock? Well, if you’re Billy Squier you toil away on an album until you come up with Enough Is Enough. In this episode of the sidecast series, Songs of The Knight: A Billy Squier Retrospective, we take a detailed look at 1986’s Enough Is Enough. Joined by podcast friends Jon Lamoreaux of The Hustle Podcast and BJ Kramp of the Rock And/Or Roll Podcast, Eric and his co-hosts go in-depth and track by track with Billy’s fifth album. We get into the featured duet with Freddie Mercury, Love Is The Hero, the co-write he did with Freddie Lady With A Tenor Sax, our thoughts on the album cover, the fine art of singing Whoo-hooo, what challenges did Billy face at this time in his career, his guitar playing, his singing, his adventurous songwriting, and much more. Finally we wrap this episode in the series with Jon’s personal ranking of Billy Squier’s discography.
How do you follow up two landmark albums like Don’t Say No and Emotions In Motion? Well, I suppose you scramble and get stuck with Jim Steinman as a producer, you write some solid songs, make an appearance on SNL, and get stellar guests like Brian May for starters. In the process, you end up with your highest charting single, Rock Me Tonite. Except, there’s that video. Did the Rock Me Tonite video destroy Billy’s career? You may be surprised by our discussion..
Joined by podcast friends Jon Lamoreaux of The Hustle Podcast and BJ Kramp of the Rock And/Or Roll Podcast, Eric and his co-hosts go in-depth on these topics and take a track by track look at Billy’s 1984 Signs of Life album. How did Billy fit in with the wave of hard rock hitting the shelves in 1984? What the hell does the 1982 movie Night Shift have to do with any of this?!? Are you guys talking about the Best of The Counting Crows?!? Listen to find out.
How do you follow up such a landmark album as Don’t Say No? Find out as we continue our Billy Squier sidecast series, Songs of The Knight: A Billy Squier Retrospective, with our detailed look at 1982’s Emotion In Motion. Joined by podcast friends Jon Lamoreaux of The Hustle Podcast and BJ Kramp of the Rock And/Or Roll Podcast, Eric and his co-hosts go in-depth and track back track of Billy’s legendary record that featured massive radio hit Everybody Wants You and an iconic album cover by the great Andy Warhol. Some detours into 70s basketball, use of the word gerund, and Peter Gabriel as we meander off topic from time to time. Finally we wrap this episode in the series with Eric’s personal top ten list of Billy Squier songs. We hope you’ll follow us as we work through Billy’s entire discography!
This year Eric and Craig are joined in Nashville by Mister Brian Jacobs (father of Not Pete Ham Jacobs) for the second annual ROCK N POD EXPO! Enjoy a super jam packed four hour marathon with all of our friends:
Henning Mielke
Bakko (Cobras and Fire)
Lee McCormack (Tramps Like Us)
Randy W. Hall (That Dandy Classic Music Hour)
Andy Schaal
Craig Gass
Matt Porter (The KISS Room)
Brad Page (I’m In Love With That Song)
Courtney Cronin Dold (Pop!)
Gary Shaller (PODKISST)
Jon Lamoreaux (The Hustle)
Joey Haynie (Rock Strikes Ten)
Wally Norton (CGCM Podcast)
Jay Szczeblewski
Sonny Pooni (Growin’ Up Rock)
Brian Kramp (Rock and/or Roll)
Julian Gill (KISSFAQ)
Richie Wagner
Chris Czynszak (Decibel Geek)
Finishing off with a live bootleg recording of Honey Don’t featuring Mister Brian Jacobs on vocals, the smoldering Lee McCormack on vocals and guitar. the powerful and attractive Joe Polo on drums and team player Craig Smith on bass.
See ya next year in Nashville!
What is “articulate rock”? Find out as we continue our Billy Squier sidecast series, Songs of The Knight: A Billy Squier Retrospective. Today we’re taking at Billy’s breakout album from 1981, Don’t Say No. Joined by podcast friends Jon Lamoreaux of The Hustle Podcast and BJ Kramp of the Rock And/Or Roll Podcast, Eric and his co-hosts go in-depth and track back track of Billy’s legendary record that featured the massive radio hits In The Dark, Lonely Is The Night, My Kinda Lover (wait, or is it Lava??), and The Stroke. Some detours into John Lennon, Level 42 and Patton Oswalt as we meander off topic from time to time. Finally we wrap this episode in the series with BJ’s personal top ten list of Billy Squier songs. We hope you’ll follow us as we work through Billy’s entire discography!
Kicking off our Billy Squier sidecast series, Songs of The Knight: A Billy Squier Retrospective, we’re taking a look at Billy’s early life in music, his two A&M albums with Piper and his solo debut from 1979, Tale of The Tape. Joined by podcast friends Jon Lamoreaux of The Hustle Podcast and BJ Kramp of the Rock And/Or Roll Podcast, Eric and his co-hosts go in-depth on the details of these early records in Billy’s career, we share personal stories about getting into Billy’s music, what it means to us, we go off on more than one tangent (as three podcast guys are wont to do) involving Bill Aucoin, KISS, Escape Club, Queen, and even The Greenberry Woods, we share thoughts on particular tracks and how these first three albums are a harbinger for things to come in Billy’s discography. Finally we wrap this debut episode in the series with Jon’s personal top ten list of Billy Squier songs. We hope you’ll follow us as we work through Billy’s entire discography!