Singsongers: Recent Episodes
Starburns Audio
Singsongers is a songwriting-focused interview show hosted by writer/Starburns Industries founder Dino Stamatopoulos. The description we have for the show is:
Dino has no business writing music, except for the fact that he loves doing it. Hear him interview singer songwriters and learn about their processes, like where do they get their ideas and how important is it to really to learn how to bar chords on a guitar?
Live from The Library bar in NYC, Nils talks to Dino about polishing turds, Xmas songs, outer space songs, and his band Future Folk. Find his music here: https://futurefolk.com/
Skull Juice merges into Singsongers, exit Dana and Tish and enter Kali Kazoo, up from the gutterpunk scene and no longer sounding like Bob Dylan, but often using the banality of things around her to add meaning to her work. Plus more!
Before we get into the music, a brief summary of sex - and isn't that the real music? No, probably not. Moon Zappa sits down to talk about Valley Girl, a harsh music review she receieved, and some of her old musical adventures.
Vomiter or Cole Miner, which type of Singsonger are you? "Sometimes, I'm of the mind if you write some music, the music tells you what the song is about." Inara George joins Dino to talk Christmas, covers, writing with a partner - and a "partner." Listen to her brand new single, Young Adult, here: https://soundcloud.com/imgeorge-1/young-adult-3
Damon Gentry gets in the Christmas spirit with Dino, but only for the first song, and it's a dark one. "At lot of times, honestly, I start with the first line of the song." Our theme this morning is that everything fades, everything dies. But it's all in good fun and Damon has more songs to play.
It's time to write some songs. Dana Snyder on slide whistle. Tish on a nearby chair. Together they help Dino finally get started on his Sorry About Everything songs... or do they? It's almost like a continaution of this week's Skull Juice, but all about music and slightly about Joe Pesci.
"I learned guitar in high school, but I think piano." Paul Janeway talks about deep Southern Baptist, Alabama, writing on piano, breaking the Tiny Desk during his Tiny Desk concert, those nerds playing horns, writing a specific song (recipe, city, or phone number?), and more.
"Songwriting. How do you do it?" Dino asks Ashi Dala, half of HOTT MTT. Writing can be frightening, so bring a partner.
"... right now I have four or five songs fully completed, but need the melodic, lyrical attention [which] takes me the longest." Danny Tamberelli joins to talk about writing on bass and intertwining that with guitar, his band Jounce, exploding drummers, working with Iggy Pop, and more.
Find his music and touring schedule here: https://jounce.org/
Rob and Dan, 25 years, over 300 songs, trying to write together, trying to break the rules they learned, starting to fuck with each other’s lyrics. They talk about their influences, what happens to the songs you wrote with someone who left, making eye contact with bandmates. You can find their music here: https://www.facebook.com/TheCwords/
The songwriter gets all the credit, but in the background the other band members add their own parts, working the melodies, finding the counter melodies, and building the song with each new take. Dino, Ron, and Church take five cracks at Sorry About Everything’s “I’m Up Here,” with Ron adding to it each time. “This story will continue to be updated.” Bob and Ron's Record Club here: https://www.dahl.com/bob-and-ron/ David Singer And The Sweet Science here: https://davidsinger.bandcamp.com/
Emerging from a coal mine of singsonging, Jenny O tells Dino about a nightmare of writing, seasons of melodic ideas, the process of writing her song ‘Lazy Jane,’ and more and more. Now, remember: it’s all about the vowel.
Sometimes all you need is a beach chair in your backyard and the sun, shining down like the light of God, and the song writes itself. Psychedelic Cumbia Punks, Thee Commons bring a guitar riff, then a melody, and away they go. Find their music here: http://www.theecommons.com/
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Every now and then Dino has a question about rhyming… Leslie Stevens has answers. The constraint of having to rhyme improves her poetry, she says. “Things will emerge…” Try a different chord or - even - instrument if you get stuck. “Every instrument can give you a jumping off point that’s totally new.” She plays a couple of songs and nearly writes one with Dino. Find her music at her website: http://lesliestevensusa.com/
Egocentric and self-hating? Is that what makes a good songwriter? Polish something up and take a shit on it, says Tim Kasher. Find the right way and put in the ugly chord. Dino and Tim consider the right and the rough and whether one knows what’s a hit.
“...what comes out of that mental state is - twisted.” Richard Edwards talks about working through illness and coming out creative on the other side. What else does he want to be asked about? Rhyming?! His daughter joins to sing a song of her own. A family of Singsongers. See his music video for “Moonwrapped” (made by Starburns Industries): https://vimeo.com/216259285 And find his latest album, Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset here: https://www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com/products/lemon-cotton-candy-sunset
“Writing is planning out a conversation.” John ‘Jughead’ Pierson and Dino get frustrated with words, but push through. That’s why we’re here. Mix up your strumming, use your other writing projects to help your songwriting, and a good chorus can be tough, but it helps.
Let the open chords control the song. Jesse Hughes and Jorma Vik from Eagles Of Death Metal join Dino to talk writing collaboratively (benevolent dictators), staying horny (jacking on), writing for others and more and more. Feel the audience out, folks.
Writing drunk, Dino can relate. Writing backward too. Conspiracies, other podcasts, starting his own label, getting emotional, improvisation, Dino and Church get into it all and more with Rikky.
Writing about your kids may not always be interesting, but they do affect your songs. Eleni Mandell sits down with Dino to talk about writing after having kids, music that just falls out, her favorite writers, and whether Dino should be working harder on his songs. Find her music at: http://elenimandell.com/
Honus Honus hates writing songs and call his process “completely inefficient,” so Dino is fascinated to figure out how Ryan Kattner creates music. They get into the repetition of writing, cannibalizing one song into another, the musicality of words, and more.
Storyteller and singsonger Steve Poltz opens with “Ballin’ On A Wednesday” before he and Dino talk about wrangling an audience, how a random interaction turns into a song, and Church joins to sing Steve’s and Jewel’s huge hit, “You Were Meant For Me.” Stay tuned. Steve plays a lot and talks about his amazing history. This one goes deep.
Steve & Dino: https://ibb.co/cGLsAv Steve and Jewel’s drug bust which lead to them writing “You Were Meant For Me”: https://ibb.co/nnh5Vv
Andras Jones join Dino to write a song on the spot, talk about working with his muse Andy Dick, how he takes criticism, and then he plays some originals. Check out his music tarot site: http://radio8ball.com/
Sitting in and strumming along, Patrick Park enters Singsongers. He helps Dino with some picking and they get into Patrick’s history, early songs, fatherly influence, beginning the writing process, and how song-writing has changed. His new single “Five Alarm” is available at https://www.patrickpark.net/ and follow his facebook at https://www.facebook.com/patrickparkmusic/
Fresh from Portland, Makenzie Mizell talks about collaborative writing, touring, and on how outside forces influence her writing, for better or worse. Then she and Dino trade off on the guitar. Find more of her music at https://www.makenziemizell.com.
Dino’s back, again with the barre chords, and sits down to ask Colleen Green about different types of chords, is he more folky knowing less?, growing up writing, her process and more, as Dino asks for some advice on a song he’s writing and explains why George Harrison got cancer. Colleen released her first album, Milo Goes To Compton, in 2011 and her third, I Want To Grow Up, in 2015. That year she was voted “Best Solo Artist” by the readers of LA Weekly. Find her music here: http://hardlyart.com/colleengreen.html
Dino and Dean, the Godfather Of Dream Pop, talk about writing in the rain, cowboy music, Dean’s history, the importance of mistakes, and more as Dean holds the guitar and sometimes strums along. Dean helped form Galaxie 500 in 1987, releasing three albums and the song “Tugboat.” He later helped found the bands Luna and Dean & Britta. He released his last solo album, self titled Dean Wareham in 2014. You can find more of his work at http://deanwareham.com/
Britta Phillips and Dino sit down after some drinks to talk about lyrics and inflection and her 30 plus year career in music and acting. She sang as Jem on the 1980s TV show, voiced characters for Moral Orel and Trent (Dino’s Trent!) and lastly, but certainly not leastly, she’s half of the band Dean & Britta and a member of Luna. She released a solo album in 2016, titled Luck or Magic. Find more from Britta at her website: http://brittaphillips.com/
Jonny joins Dino to talk about his career and help Dino figure out how to write as they play a few songs back and forth. Jonny’s first solo album, Hi My Name Is Jonny, was released to rave reviews in 1996. Since then has worked with Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond, among others, and released six more solo albums. His most recent one, The Otherside Of Midnight, was released 2015. Find more of his music at https://www.jonnypolonsky.com/.
Robbie sits down with Dino to talk song writing and, in the process, critiques one of Dino’s new songs. Robbie has released thirteen albums over his thirty-plus year career. His 2016 album, Upland Stories, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Folk Album and the song “Alabama at Night,” was nominated for a Grammy for Best American Roots Song. Find more from Robbie at his website: http://www.robbiefulks.com/