200 – Andy Junk (Holy Shit!, The Fragments, Chinese Telephones)
My First Band Podcast
This week's guest — the 200th and final My First Band guest! — is the incomparable Andy Junk. These days, you can see Junk on stage as a member of Holy Shit! and Chinese Telephones, taking photos at a ton of concerts in Milwaukee and beyond, and spreading Lakefront Brewery's sales territory to faraway lands. Before he was in two long-running and respected bands, Junk was a teen starting his musical journey in unknown projects based in the tiny Wisconsin towns of Winneconne and Omro. Prior to his Milwaukee move, Junk was also an instrumental part of the once-mighty Green Bay punk scene as a...
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199 – Ian Olvera (Daydream Retrievers, The Sleepwalkers, Wire & Vice)
My First Band Podcast
This week's guest is Ian Olvera, whose work can be heard in a variety of ways. Beyond being a current member of Blueheels and the bandleader of Daydream Retrievers, Olvera has helped record and mix music from a wide variety of other musicians at Wire & Vice and Mystery Room Mastering (and on his own), and he's been a live sound engineer for a bunch of Milwaukee venues and some very well-known artists. Before he was doing any of that, Olvera was teaching himself guitar, recording himself with a Fisher Price microphone and making friends in the Green Bay music scene. A day before heading out to...
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198 – Mark Waldoch (The Celebrated Workingman, Hallelujah Ward)
My First Band Podcast
This week's guest is Mark Waldoch, a Milwaukee mainstay who has been a prominent part of the city's music scene for more than 25 years. Over that quarter-century span, the multi-instrumentalist and owner of Brew City's most booming voice has released outstanding material with The Celebrated Workingman, under his own name and with his current Hallelujah Ward project. Along the way, he's contributed harmonies and horns to a wide variety of songs by other local musicians and he's been relied upon to be a go-to local opener for an incredible list of touring acts coming through town. Oh, and he's...
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197 – Julia Blair (Dusk, Holy Sheboygan!, Crutch of Memory)
My First Band Podcast
This week's guest is Julia Blair. In addition to being a member of two long-running and accomplished Wisconsin bands in the form of Dusk and Holy Sheboygan!, Blair released her excellent debut solo album earlier this year. Between putting out that album (and touring in support of it), Blair and her Holy Sheboygan! bandmates released the band's fifth full-length this year, and Dusk also recorded an album that will come out sometime in 2023. While she has a lot of interesting things happening these days, her artistic backstory is quite compelling as well. Shortly after returning home from a run...
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196 – Jamie Jones (All-4-One)
My First Band Podcast
As a founding member of All-4-One, Jamie Jones has been an integral part of Platinum-selling releases that feature some of the biggest R&B hits of all time. He's toured all over the planet, performed for world leaders, won a Grammy Award, spent months atop the Billboard charts and had a song on the soundtrack of an animated Disney feature. Though he's still an active member of All-4-One, Jones has also managed an impressive solo career and has found success behind the scenes with The Heavyweights production company. Before he was part of renditions of hit songs like "I Swear" and "I Can...
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195 – Gold Steps
My First Band Podcast
This week's guests are Gold Steps singer Liz Mauritz and guitarist Zach Duarte. Though the band is currently making a name for itself in Milwaukee with frequent shows, garnering loads of listeners on streaming sites and winning over new fans on a nightly basis during its ambitious tours, the up-and-coming "alt-pop-hyphenated-punk band" actually got its start in Austin. After a few years and a couple hundred shows in and around the musically vibrant Texas capital, Mauritz and Duarte — who are married, by the way — moved back to Mauritz's home state and set their sights on the Milwaukee...
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194 – Jeff Meilander (Seven Days of Samsara, Spitalfield, Redwall)
My First Band Podcast
You might not know who Jeff Meilander is, but you're likely aware of his work. As the owner, founder and jack of all trades at Redwall Screen Printing, Meilander's company has made merchandise for professional sports franchises, multinational corporations and countless bands and brands from all over the country. Currently, Redwall calls a 100,000-square-foot building in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, its home. However, Meilander's super successful screen printing business actually started in the basement of his then-apartment on Milwaukee's East Side ... and his personal musical history has a lot to do...
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193 – Charlie Parr
My First Band Podcast
This week's guest is Charlie Parr. Over the course of his 30-year career, the Duluth-based guitarist and singer has released more than a dozen albums, played thousands of shows all over the U.S. and beyond, opened for legends like B.B. King and Doc Watson, and has remained thoroughly captivated by the guitar the entire time. Along the way, he's performed at massive festivals and in empty bars (and everywhere in between), built a more-than-respectable fan base, and has made friends all over the globe by way of his tireless touring. Prior to setting out on yet another tour, Parr spoke with My...
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192 – Chris No. 2 (Anti Flag)
My First Band Podcast
This week's guest is Chris Barker, who you probably know better as "Chris No. 2." The longtime Anti Flag bassist has been an integral member of the iconic and important Pittsburgh punk band since late 1998. Over that span, he's played on some influential albums, performed all over the planet and helped spread activist ethos to generations of listeners throughout the world. With a new album on the way (Lies They Tell Our Children, out Jan. 6!), The General Strike recently being reissued on Side One Dummy and a bunch of shows on the horizon, Chris No. 2 has a lot of modern happenings to discuss....
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191 – Josh Berwanger (The Anniversary, Berwanger, Gemini Parks)
My First Band Podcast
Over the last quarter century, Josh Berwanger‘s work has taken many different forms. After his time in accomplished early aughts emo outfit The Anniversary was through, the Kansas-based songwriter dabbled in alt-country with The Only Children, ventured in the direction of indie rock with his Berwanger project and joined forces with members of The Get Up Kids and The Gadjits to form Radar State. Along the way, he even stepped completely away from music for seven years to coach girls high school basketball. Most recently, Berwanger has embarked on a “genre-blending” aural endeavor called...
info_outlineMidwestern rock and roll fans rejoice because this week's guest is the great Allen Epley. You likely know Epley as the vocalist and guitarist of Shiner and The Life And Times, as the host of the Third Gear Scratch podcast, and as a member of BirdHands and the backing band of the Chicago Blue Man Group. He's up to a lot at the moment, including a Shiner tour (and the upcoming vinyl re-release of the band's entire catalog via Spartan Records) and writing a new The Life And Times record.
Between the busy modern happenings and his decades of amazing artistic experiences, Epley had a lot to talk about when he took some time to speak with My First Band host Tyler Maas recently. After catching up on contemporary events, Epley talked about growing up in a musical family in Louisville, starting a cover band in college, the early days and significant moments from his decades in Shiner, shifting focus with The Life And Times, and why missing out on major label opportunities was a blessing in disguise.
My First Band is sponsored by Mystery Room Mastering and Lakefront Brewery. The show is edited by Jared Blohm. You can listen to My First Band on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and wherever else you get podcasts. You can also listen to rebroadcasts of previous My First Band episodes on WMSE every Wednesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. CST. Music used in this episode comes courtesy of Devils Teeth ("The Junction Street Eight Tigers") and Shiner ("In The End").