CAUTIONARY TALES with Jason Pettigrew: Recent Episodes
Alternative Press Magazine
You want to have a career in music, but someone else is getting the money. AltPress editor in chief Jason Pettigrew engages with rockers of all kinds to learn how they navigated the treacherous waters of the music industry to end up with smooth sailing or swimming back to shore. You'll laugh, you might cry, you may end up matriculating after all.
Drum maestro Frank Zummo has been the engine room for everyone from the Start to Mötley Crüe to Dead By Sunrise to Krewella to Sum 41 and a bunch of points in between. The Street Drum Corps founder regales Jason Pettigrew about his early days in the business; his fruitless major-label deal; the epic drum moment with Adrian Young and Josh Dun at the 2017 APMAS; and how now more than ever, drummers should be considered athletes. He also found one (just one) of Pettigrew's drummer jokes funny.
From his mirthful neurosis, pop hooks and best-ever hair, Justin Courtney Pierre is positively unforgettable. On Cautionary Tales, Jason Pettigrew asks him one question and gets the answers to five more in return. From getting fat to losing weight, French New Wave Film, and why he won't talk to you after shows, Pierre's future doesn't freak him out but it does fascinate him.
As guitarist for From First To Last, Matt Good helped usher in a new era in underground metalcore. As a producer, he's managing expectations and kicking ass...
Helmet's Page Hamilton is a world class guitarist, a ‘90s alt-rock titan and a music lifer. He may very well be the only person who has played shows with Nirvana and the upstarts on Warped Tour. Here he's throwing some real talk (and a little shade), but that's only because he hates anything that gets in the way of his love of music.
Senses Fail's Buddy Nielsen describes his band as "a sinking ship for the past 10 years," but he can't imagine doing anything else—except for maybe waiting for Fronzilla to come out of his tour bus.
The straightedge super-shredder of choice for Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie has shared stages and studios with more music legends than you can name. But how many rockers can you list who have walked away from massive record deals to go play in someone's band? And he survived five years with Manson!
Chris #2 from Anti-Flag has all the feels from glad (hilarious encounters with music-biz folks), sad (the struggles of new bands) and mad (the state of America). You'll laugh, wonder, perhaps even feel better about where punk rock is going...
Electro-rock crooner/entrepreneur William Control and his lieutenant Kenneth Fletcher discuss the money they've lost and the bucks they've made living that DIY life. And they're calling out some of your favorite bands in the process...
This week, the Maine's John O'Callaghan recounts his band's journey from indie dudes to would-be major-label casualties to CEOs of their own destiny.
Thursday's Geoff Rickly discusses tales of dealing with indie labels, sacrificing a career to maintain ideals, mentoring My Chemical Romance and enduring the sea changes of contemporary punk culture.