The Who Cares Anyway Podcast: Recent Episodes
Will York
A new podcast series from the makers (uh, maker) of The Who Cares Anyway Podcast.
Interviews with musicians and artists from around the world on making music in the digital age, Metal, electronic, experimental, and gray areas in between. Available wherever you get your podcasts and at fatalstrategies.substack.com
Music credits:
- Blind Idiot God, "747"
- Terminal Sound System, "Gridlike"
- Dreams of the Drowned, "Midnattskogen Sorte Kjerne"
- Zweizz & Joey Hopkins, "No Clue"
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whocaresanywaysf.substack.com
Suzi Skates was one of the main people I had in mind when I added the phrase "other creative figures" to the official description for this podcast ("series of interviews with musicians, writers, artists, and other creative figures on topics related to the book Who Cares Anyway....").
Granted, she moved to SF to study painting, and she did play in a couple of bands, but she made her name (quite literally) as Suzi Skates, messenger on wheels and one-of-a-kind punk-era celebrity.
Here, she recounts her move to San Francisco (where she enrolled at the Art Institute in early 1977), the origins of the Suzi Skates concept, her memories of a couple of legendary/infamous punk-era dwellings (1183 Howard and the American Can Company building), and her eventual move to New York City—where, among other things, she sang for a band called Aurora Bora (along with former Plasmatics bassist Chosei Funahara) and even played bass in an early version of Raging Slab (sic).
Show notes, liinks, photos, and music credits: https://whocaresanywaysf.wordpress.com/2023/08/31/wca-podcast-ep-12-suzi-skates/
As a drummer, Phil Franklin has been a key member of bands including Caroliner, Faxed Head, and Sunburned Hand of the Man. As a singer-songwriter, he heads up Franklin's Mint, whose most recent album, Temporary,, was recorded in Australia (where Phil moved in 2019) with help from Mr. Bungle's Danny Heifetz. In this interview, we touch on all of the above, along with Mr. Franklin's memories of touring Japan, his thoughts on the New Weird America moniker, and his days in the late '80s groups Egg and the Dukes o' Pop alongside eventual Presidents of the United States of America frontman Chris Ballew.
Links, show notes, and music credits: https://whocaresanywaysf.wordpress.com/2023/07/24/wca-podcast-ep-11-phil-franklin
The multi-talented Peter Conheim is our guest on Episode 10 of the podcast. We cover a veritable potpourri of topics, including his memories of the early '90s Oakland warehouse scene from which Mono Pause (and Conheim's own Electro Motive label) was spawned; his film restoration work on such underground classics as Deaf Punk and In the Red (both included in the excellent Ears, Eyes and Throats collection); his thoughts on seeing, hearing, and eventually joining the Mutants; his reasons for leaving Negativland; and his recollections of early 2000s San Francisco in the wake of the dot-com boom and bust.
In this episode, I speak with Patty Stirling, writer and co-founder (along with editor-in-chief Katherine Spielman) of the zine Puncture. We talk about her initial experiences with the Bay Area punk/hardcore zine, her involvement with Puncture; her impressions of Toiling Midgets, Black Humor, Mark Pauline/Survival Research Laboratories, and Courtney Love (among others); her memories of various San Francisco music venues; and her travels to Australia and other far-flung locales from the late '80s onward.
Show notes, links, and music credits: https://whocaresanywaysf.wordpress.com/2023/06/22/wca-podcast-ep-9-patty-stirling-puncture-zine/
A veteran of the early Mabuhay Gardens and Deaf Club-era punk scenes, bassist Denny DeGorio takes us on a wild ride from Vallejo to SF, from Winterland to the Mab, from joining the Offs to moonlighting in the Belfast Cowboys to touring with former Jefferson Airplane (and Hot Tuna) guitarist Jorma Kaukonen -- and then finally from SF to Austin, Texas, where he moved in 1981 and still resides today.
Show notes, links, and music credits: https://whocaresanywaysf.wordpress.com/2023/06/09/the-wca-podcast-ep-8-denny-degorio/