Show Notes
On this special interview episode of the Banned Biographies podcast, Tom Austin-Morgan talks to the bassist of the Boston-based garage punk band Nervous Eaters, Brad Hallen. This episode largely deals with the new single, Wild Eyes, and upcoming album, Monsters & Angels, as well as about Brad’s life an career to this point, and boy has he had a career! He's played with so many bands and artists including Ministry, Iggy Pop, Elliot Easton (The Cars), Jane Wiedlin (The Go-Go's), Aimee Mann, Susan Tadeschi , Monster Mike Welch, Duke Robillard, Roomful of Blues and so many others. Formed in the mid-70's, the Nervous Eaters would eventually become the house band for the legendary Boston punk rock club The Rat, where they established themselves as a leading punk rock band in the Northeast, playing with a who's who of punk and new wave luminaries, including The Police, The Ramones, The Cars, Patti Smith, Dead Boys, Iggy Pop, The Stranglers, Go-Go's and many others. The band’s original drummer, the late Jeff Wilkinson, let the band rehearse in his family’s basement. “His mother, Florence, fed the band at these rehearsals. Band leader, Steve Cataldo explained: “We’d come up from the basement at different times to grab something to eat and she said, ‘Why don’t you all come up and sit down and have a meal? You’re such a bunch of nervous eaters.’ So, it stuck. It wasn’t the coolest name to hit the town, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. We had a good laugh over it and we loved Florence. We are the Nervous Eaters.” The band launched in the mid 1970’s and were a leading punk rock band in the Northeast. Home base: The black-walled, sticky-floored, basement club in Boston’s Kenmore Square - The Rat. The Eaters played snarling, self-deprecating lust-for-life blasts like Shit for Brains, Get Stuffed, Last Chance, Just Head, and I’m a Degenerate. Their first release a 45, on Rat Records, 1976, which gained local and national college airplay for their classic single - Loretta. The buzz built and their popularity grew. The Cars’ Ric Ocasek produced a demo tape which got the band signed to Elektra Records. They toured around the world - but the album stalled, going astray from the start with the wrong assigned label producer and a lack of follow-through. The original Eaters dissolved but came back in the mid- ‘80s with a new line-up. The reborn Eaters launched a salvo called HOT STEEL AND ACID in 1986, a far better disc (that sounded like the band), on the indie label Ace of Hearts. Producer Rick Harte captured the Eaters vicious, vintage punk sound and it went as far as a Boston indie could take it. The band has been revived a few times over the years with various line-ups. The current version of the Nervous Eaters formed in 2018 and includes three other Boston rock veterans, bassist Brad Hallen (who you’re about to learn all about), drummer David McLean (of Willie Alexander’s Boom Boom Band) and guitarist/vocalist Adam Sherman (of Private Lightning), and between them, they have recorded and/or toured with such artists as Ministry, Iggy Pop, Aimee Mann, Jane Wiedlin, Susan Tedeschi, Jimmie Vaughan, Lenny Kaye and many others. You can find Nervous Eaters at their website: nervouseaters.net, on Facebook and Instagram and you can find Brad Hallen at his website bradhallen.com This interview was made possible thanks to Peter Ferioli at Pantheon Podcasts and Mike Cubillos at Earshot Media and I’m incredibly grateful to them. Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: [email protected]
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More from Banned Biographies
Your host, Tom Austin-Morgan, is back on this episode of the Banned Biographies Podcast to let you know what's been going on and what you can expect on the next episode, which will be released next week. The news in this episode revolves around festival line up announcements, tour date announcements, new album announcements, . I review singles and EPs release by . Also, four major albums were released this month that I also reviewed: . Merch: https://my-store-cfdac5.creator-spring.com Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On this special interview episode of the Banned Biographies podcast, host Tom Austin-Morgan chats with Jason Potbelly, the co-lead vocalist, guitarist and driving force behind Washington-based punk band Potbelly. The band has been around and touring since 1995 and has built up quite the community by producing split EPs and compilation albums with a plethora of well-known and unsigned bands over the years as well as relentlessly touring around North America. In fact, they’ve released over 100 recordings over the years, so many that even Jason can’t remember the names of them all, as you’ll hear! Potbelly is finally coming to the UK this summer and I’ll be playing with them at their first show in London in July with my band Swampstomper (more details will follow once the full line up is confirmed and announced. Jason has so many stories from seeing the cream of the Seattle grunge scene play tiny venues and house parties in the 80s and 90s to insights about the political environment of the US and the crazy goings on in his area during covid, as well as booking tours and touring in the days before the internet when you had to use maps and phone books! You can find Potbelly by visiting PIG Records and on Facebook as well as on ReverbNation as well as the other streaming sites. If you search for them look for the logo with the scary-looking cartoon pig! Banned Biographies Merch: https://my-store-cfdac5.creator-spring.com Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Your host, Tom Austin-Morgan, is back on this episode of the Banned Biographies Podcast to let you know what's been going on and what you can expect on the next episode, which will be released next week. The news in this episode revolves around festival line up announcements, tour date announcements and cancellations, new album announcements, Ex Anti-Flag frontman, Justin Geever being sued for sexual assault, Crass releasing a picture book, Kevin 'Geordie' Walker from Killing Joke passing away, GWAR making a new film in which they save Earth from destruction, Shane MacGowan passing away, Spotify changing their royalties structure to stop two thirds of the songs on the platform from making money, Dead Kennedy's debut album reaching Gold status in the US 43 year after its release, and Manny Martinez (an original member of Misfits) passing away. I review singles and EPs release by Feeder, Gogol Bordello and Bernard Sumner, Cherym, Alkaline Trio, IDLES, Green Day, Sum 41, The Cult and Pendulum. However, there was only on album I was keeping an eye on to review this month: Just Before The World Starts Burning by The Sleeping Souls, a.k.a. Frank Turner's backing band. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday period, and a Happy New Year! Merch: https://my-store-cfdac5.creator-spring.com Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This episode of the Banned Biographies podcast is a very special interview with Pete Trainor, a designer, product-innovator, author, strategist, applied data specialist, technologist, suicide prevention campaigner, and massive music fan. He talks all over the world on creative and social technologies, data, Ai and the physiological and psychological effects on their audiences. However, in 2023 he zigged when many would zag, and published his second book, ‘Calling All The Dreamers‘. The remarkable true story about a Britpop band called Electrasy who went crashing through the record industry, but were ultimately halted by technology and shifting human-behaviour. Pete got in contact with me a few months ago about the book and wondered if I’d like to read it with a view to arranging an interview with Electrasy. That will still happen in the future, but what struck me about the book was the level of fandom he has for this little known band from his home town of Yeovil and why he felt he needed to tell the story. For many of us I felt that this would be the perfect entry level to the Electrasy story and will certainly inform the direction of the interview with the band in the near future. In this conversation we not only talk about the book and the career of Electrasy, we also get into what drives fandom, life in provincial towns, the pros and cons of technology in life (let alone the music industry) and Pete’s role as a technologist and professional speaker, which goes deep. ‘Calling All The Dreamers’ is now available in paperback and Electrasy’s debut album, Beautiful Insane’ has been re-released using AI technology from the original studio demos from 1998. So be sure to visit electrasy.co.uk where you can buy Beautiful Insane, their other music, merch and Pete’s book 'Calling All The Dreamers', alternatively, you could visit Pete’s website trainor.fyi to buy any of his books, see some of his amazing work and watch his various talks, they’re well worth it. Contact Pete Trainor trainor.fyi Twitter: @petetrainor LinkedIn Banned Biographies Merch: https://my-store-cfdac5.creator-spring.com Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apologies for not releasing an episode last month, I’ve been putting the finishing touches to my new office as well as gigging and recording with my bands, so I didn’t have the time to get anything done, in fact I had to postpone a few interviews because of it all which is a reflection of how little time I’ve had. I'm back now though to let you know what's been going on and what you can expect on the next episode, which will be released next week. The news in this episode revolves around festival line up announcements, tour date announcements and cancellations, new album announcements, the controversy around the buy-out and subsequent lay-offs at Bandcamp, guitarist Jeff Schroeder quitting The Smashing Pumpkins, blink-182 playing a gig in a diner, Blondie's Chris Stein releasing an autobiography, Rat Scabies re-joining The Damned, and Shane MacGowan's ongoing health issues. Singles and EPs by Millie Manders and the Shut Up, Feeder, Cherym, The Sleeping Souls, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, IDLES, Alkaline Trio, Sleaford Mods, Sigrid, Bob Vylan, Grade 2, The Beatles, Deap Valley, Pendulum, and Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes are reviewed. Album reviews include: The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light by The Streets, Paint My Bedroom Black by Holly Humberstone, We Stand Against You by Mondo Generator, Be Lucky by Death Of Guitar Pop, Doom Loop by Dream Nails, Angst Music by Laurie Black, Hackney Diamonds by Rolling Stones, One More Time... by blink-182, Danse Macabre by Duran Duran, History Books by The Gaslight Anthem, 2RUFF, Vol. 1 by Chase & Status, and the sublime Theatre of the Absurd presents C'est La Vie by Madness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices