Lil Jam Quest Podcast: Recent Episodes
Lil Jam Quest
Lil Jam Quest is a music-centric talk show hosted by Justin Heaverin and Sean Liljequist. Each episode they discuss their personal experiences in navigating the music world!
Hello friends! On episode 18 of Lil Jam Quest, Justin and I have our final guest of 2022, Colin Campbell! Colin is a multi-instrumentalist, primarily focusing on piano and organ, and is music director of the high-energy funk act, Southpaw Preachers.
It was incredible talking to Colin about multi-tasking various instruments in a live setting, his love/hate relationships with reading charts, and importance on feel and energy of playing music. He also talks to us about his influence of R&B, soul, and funk while living in Dallas, Texas. On this episode, we go head first on this deep-dive into the heart of music! It was a joy to have him on our podcast!
Here's a video of The Southpaw Preachers covering Jackson 5's " I Want You Back"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41HOheOUqQQ&ab_channel=TheSouthpawPreachers
Genuine Pt. 1 (as referenced in the episode!)
https://youtu.be/_RP3B2krt4Y
Happy Sunday! On episode 17 we wanted to do something a bit different, so we asked our lifelong friend and music lover, Kevin McDonald, to join the show! Kevin fronts the Portland pop-punk band, Soccer Babes, and has one of the best vinyl collections than anyone I know so who's better to talk to about their favorite albums EVER? We had a lot of fun on this one so grab your favorite beverage of choice and write down your favorites as well! If you've never heard any of these records, check them out on your preferred streaming platform!
Soccer Babes music:
https://soccerbabes.bandcamp.com/
Andres Valbuena is one of the most versatile drummers I've ever played with and I'm super happy he bugged me to be on episode #16 of Lil Jam Quest! The universe brought us together this summer on the Cassette Roulette show with John Cameron Mitchell and Amber Martin and we quickly realized we could talk about music for days. Andres currently tours with psych-soul sensation, Melt, and gigs with many many bands in the NYC area. On this episode, we talk about jam culture, the physicality of being a touring musician, great teachers, and more!
Check out some links:
Andres being himself!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg2jR4jL3Qb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Melt- Sour Candy (the viral video that started it all)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z133wUm-WZ0&ab_channel=Melt
Happy Halloween!! We decided to get spooky this week with a short, jam based episode.
Last week we discovered a way to jam, real time, over a zoom call. We decided to take this new found level up and improvise a spooky halloween jam, just for you!!
Hope you enjoy!!
On episode #14 of Lil Jam Quest Podcast we have our dear friend that's looking out for all artists, Kaitlin Gladney! Kaitlin is an artist manager, tour manager, photographer, and founder of Parallax Creative. After 6 years in Brooklyn, NY, she relocated to Nashville, TN, to continue building Parallax, a media & management company. Her photos have been used as album art by artists like Eric Hutchinson, Julien Baker, and Raye Zaragoza, and she manages artists including indie folk-pop duo Skout. She's toured in everything from a Subaru hatchback to a bus, photographed artists from Dispatch to Jimmy Eat World to Sofi Tukker (the girl has range), and is excited to keep building artists' careers and advocating for their art in the years to come!
- Parallax Creative: https://parallax-creative.com/
Skout Artwork:
https://open.spotify.com/track/1SN0Xkez6cdqZP7blPcbw8?si=Y2X15q3IR42a5WlCxN_Gag&nd=1
IG:
https://instagram.com/kaitlingladney_?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
-Silver tongues Shea stadium photos:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXDJmkqDtYa/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY%3D
This week's episode we have Nashville drummer, John Alvey! John talks to about his love for vintage cymbals, the balancing act of being a family man and also professional musician, and the pros and cons of being the "leader" in a band versus a supporting member. Very different perspectives of the two! We enjoyed this conversation so much, we could've easily had a few extra hours with John. Until next time, please enjoy some of his own music as well as projects he's played in by clicking the links below!
John's website: www.johnalveymusic.com
Melanie's website: www.melaniejoymusic.com
Instagram: @johnalveymusic
Youtube drumming playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWBwvmZi-e0&list=PLBwNVm5XJLc4DCz4kAYNX2iUz3I4Hbci-
On this special episode, Laura Vaulk and Connor Gladney share their journey in how they came to be the indie-folk powerhouse- Skout! Justin and I got a sneak peak of Skout's upcoming single " I Am Here" and we just couldn't help but talk about how amazing it is! Sorry for the tease, but it will be out in the real world so soon! Stay tuned until the end to hear Justin and I's new funk jam "Free Food"!
Apple Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/skout/1344117765
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5cCZy6uIOD6sAqhfgJZq9T?si=x3_zHTLeTwePSV0afulsuQ
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/SkoutOutLoud
It all started out so simple... I just wanted to be a bass player and rock the f** world! That is definitely not the case for me hah. Nowadays, as independent artists, we're always looking to fill our calendar up with anything just to keep us engaged in our art. For us, it's gigging, songwriting, recording, collaborating with other artists, etc. so sometimes that can get a little chaotic if you're doing too many things at once. In this episode, Justin and I talk about our own balancing acts and how we deal with them.
This episode of Lil Jam Quest, we have a special guest, Adam Piddington, hanging out with us! Adam is an amazing songwriter/producer/collaborator who's work can be heard on such bands as It's Dog Eyes, Graduation, Mt. Fog, and more! We take a deep dive on what his process is like with producing new artists. We mention It's Dog Eyes latest EP a bunch on this episode, so click the link below if you want to hear what we're talking about!
https://dogeyes1.bandcamp.com/releases
I scream inside when I hear lyrics like LFO's "Summer Girls", "New Kids On The Block had a bunch of hits, Chinese food makes me sick". Lyrics make no sense! How did such a silly song become #3 on the Billboard charts? How was LFO contending with Cher and TLC? Why are my lyrics just sad-boy songs? How did I get so serious? This ridiculous song made me question everything in music!
In episode #9 of Lil Jam Quest, Justin and I laugh about some of the most absurd things we've heard in music from lyrics, comedic music, and more! We definitely don't take this one seriously...not at all... nope.
This is the first of probably many episodes about some of the gear we own and dream about! There's so many cool new sounds to make from synths, plugins, to pedals and more, but does having an overwhelming amount of gear matter? Check out this episode where we geek out on some of our favorite instruments to make music!
Who needs a reminder of why we play music? We definitely do! From social media to the Grammy's, we know it's easy to get caught up in the excess of the music "industry" so in this episode we talk about how we define success. Stay humble out there! <3
Our good friend and insanely talented piano player/producer, Noah Barker, is hanging with us on this episode. In late April, Noah just got back from tour with Paul Cherry, so we wanted to catch up with him and see what the road was like! Here's a little glimpse of what tour-life is like for artists that are headlining tours for the first time!
Here are some links to Noah's music and some of the bands he plays with:
Noisebody
https://noisebody.com/
Paul Cherry
https://paulcherry.bandcamp.com/album/back-on-the-music
Jerry Paper
https://jerrypaper.bandcamp.com/album/free-time
Friday the 13th is creepy! Face Huggers? No thanks! Sardaukar Chant? Yes, please! In this episode, we nerd out on some of our favorite sounds in movies. We even made our own scary soundscapes to share with you! Below is a link to a Spotify playlist so you can hear some of tracks we are talking about! I also added a YouTube link to the video mentioned in the episode.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3QPLD02Wt97Nhqt2oY5FnZ?si=4e37e6a137f04801
Michael Geiger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgwksUILRKY&t=105s
Music is everywhere! In this episode, we talk about music and context, finding the mood of the moment, and we even dig into the term "guilty pleasure". No shame here!
NYC photographer/artists, Nic Tinsley, joins us in talking about getting messy in the creative process to find the gold nugget at the end of the road. Go get lost! We also touch on the power of nostalgia in music and how important it is to be consistent with creating art.
One day, Justin and Sean decided to follow through on their idea to start a podcast where they discuss all-things-music. In the first episode of Lil Jam Quest Podcast, you'll get a little background on what's happening in each of their musical journeys and where it all started!
Topics discussed:
- How did we start playing music?
- What we're at now with music
This episode was recorded on 3/4/2022
All music on this podcast was written, performed, recorded, and mixed by Sean Liljequist and Justin Heaverin
In the digital age we're in, we have accessibility to more music from past and present than ever before. It's so incredible that someone's favorite song today could've been made decades, if not, centuries ago! With this kind of exposure to all types of music, how is music evolving? How do we describe a band's sound to someone that's never heard of? Do genres even matter anymore? In this episode, we do our best to dig to the bottom of this idea! We definitely needed more than 40min to explore more on this topic, but we hope you enjoy our musings of the subject <3