Queen City Sounds Podcast – Page 3 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E16: Willie Nile

Willie Nile is a a New York-based singer-songwriter and guitarist who released his twenty-first album The Great Yellow Light on June 20, 2025 on CD, 12” LP, digital download and streaming via River House Records. Nile moved to NYC in the early 80s in time to catch the early and classic days of the city’s punk scene and by the time of the release of his 1980 debut album the musicians on the record included Jay Dee Daugherty (Patti Smith Group) and Fred Smith (Television). Then as now Nile’s uplifting songs struck a chord with his literary turns of phrase and the spirited delivery. That debut record was released on Arista Records after Nile met Clive Davis and that same year Willie Nile foud himself joining The Who on their 1980 summer tour. But following the release of his 1981 album Golden Down Nile’s career was stalled by legal problems and he didn’t return to the music world until later in the decade. Nile became a bit of a songwriter’s songwriter and had a fan in Bruce Springsteen who invited him to share the stage with the E Street Band in 2003 at Giants Stadium and Shea Stadium. Interestingly enough, though, Nile really his his stride as an artist from 2009 onward when he seemed more prolific than his entire earlier career with highly acclaimed albums along the way. The new record is brimming with passion and compassion and striking for Nile’s charismatic delivery.

Listen to our interview with Willie Nile on Bandcamp and follow his exploits at the links below.

willienile.com

Willie Nile on Facebook

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E15: Robert Scheffler

Robert Scheffler, photo by John Matthews

Robert Scheffler is a New York City-based singer-songwriter who released his third full length studio album Truce on June 26, 2025 for digital download, streaming and limited edition CD. Scheffler was a regular in downtown NYC clubs Mercury Lounge, Arlene’s Grocery and the Bitter End including shows with his band A Million Pieces. But the time came when Scheffler took up a job as a research editor and writer for a national magazine. Eventually the lure of songwriting pulled Scheffler back into the world of music but like many a songwriter he had to figure out what he would have to say in a crowded milieu with thousands of artists vying for attention. Without a band the challenge was even greater. But Scheffler found his inspiration in part when filing through his old CD collection and stumbled upon a promo disc for Warren Zevon’s Life’ll Kill Ya given out at the record release party. He tried Zevon’s workmanlike approach to songwriting but once he abandoned that more methodical approach the songs came together. The new album is about people navigating agreements between each other, socially and in their relationships with the world. The record also explores in poetic fashion loss of friends and of hope and the pain of connections coming apart. The music has a folk and Americana flavor but of the vibrant yet pastoral variety with immediacy and a spirit of intimacy like Scheffler is hooked into universal human experiences.

Listen to our interview with Robert Scheffler on Bandcamp and follow the artist at the links below.

robertschefflermusic.com

Robert Scheffler on Instagram

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E13: Meatwound

Florida’s Meatwound came into being circa 2014. Threading together strands of hardcore, noise and sludge rock, Meatwound’s mutant sound is a little like what might be described as psychedelic noise power violence with caustic vocals and seething guitar work driven by almost mechanistic rhythms. The group’s new album Macho (out now on Threat Collection) reveals a band that seems to be tearing in all directions with its sharp-edged sonics and a left field sensibility in fusing heavy and aggressive music. The cover in its bright and dark pink is a send-up of the concept of “macho” and the songs are infused with a sense of humor and the absurd. With titles like “Frank Stallone,” “Obese Variants,” “Pig, Tu” and “Barking Dog As Plot Device” it’s clear that Meatwound while making music that can be taken seriously don’t take themselves too seriously as artists. Think something like Killing Joke doing a collaborative album with Napalm Death.

Listen to our interview with Meatwound vocalist Daniel Wallace on Bandcamp and follow the band at the links below.

meatwound.com

Meatwound on Bandcamp

Meatwound on Instagram

Meatwound on Facebook

threatcollection.com

Threat Collection on Instagram

Threat Collection on Bandcamp

Threat Collection on TikTok

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E12: Knox Chandler

Knox Chandler, photo courtesy the artist

Knox Chandler made a name for himself as a musician with bands and artists like The Psychedelic Furs, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Cyndi Lauper. He also performed with, recorded, arranged and produced for REM, Depeche Mode, Grace Jones, Marianne Faithful, Natalie Merchant, Tricky, The Golden Palominos and others. He spent ten years living in Berlin, Germany where he developed a technique called “Soundribbons” in which iPads are used to process and manipulate guitar signals to produce uniquely evocative soundscapes often incorporating field recordings and interactive visuals for live performance. In Berlin Chandler also earned a post-graduate degree in education and served as the head of the guitar department at BIMM College. On May30, 2025 Chandler released his debut solo album The Sound. Rather than the usual type of musical album, it is a set of deep field ambient and otherwise cinematic mood music paired with a visual memoir in book form depicting his shift from urban to rural living where he currently resides in the New Haven, Connecticut area. The vividly rendered collection of images and paintings are served well by the methods Chandler used to process and craft the music and vice versa.

Listen to our interview with Knox Chandler on Bandcamp and connect with the artist at the links below.

knoxchandlermusic.com

Knox Chandler on Instagram

Knox Chandler on Facebook

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E11: Jeffery Broussard and The Nighttime Syndicate

Jeffery Broussard grew up in a musical family in Lafayette, Louisiana. His father Delton was an accomplished musician and his mother Ethel performed a cappella juré music in the home. The younger Broussard started playing drums in Delton Broussard and the Lawtell Playboys when he was eight years old but went on to play the accordion as his main instrument in his teens. Jeffery formed his own band Zydeco Force very much informed by the music he came up playing and the group while not a touring act released seven albums between 1990 and 2004. Broussard decided to create a more musically traditional band with his next project Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys in 2005. In 2025 the musician and singer released the debut album of his new outfit Jeffery Broussard and The Nighttime Syndicate. Bayou Moonlight released via Fairgrounds Records May 23 on 12” vinyl, digital download and for streaming. The new record reflects Broussard’s charismatic and vital performance style with vibrant and passionate delivery that has made him a Zydeco-nouveau start with an ear for taking the traditional forms and giving it a spirited form.

Listen to our interview with Jeffery Broussard on Bandcamp and follow him at the links below.

nighttime-syndicate.band

Jeffery Broussard and The Nighttime Syndicate on Instagram

Jeffery Broussard and The Nighttime Syndicate on Bandcamp

Jeffery Broussard and The Nighttime Syndicate on Fairground Records

Jeffery Broussard and The Nighttime Syndicate on Facebook

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E09: Charlie Kendall of METALSHOP

Charlie Kendall’s METALSHOP has re-launched in 1995. From 1984-1995 the original run of the syndicated radio program was a well-curated show that broadcast on more than 250 radio stations across the country. It featured interviews with heavy metal and hard rock musicians across a broad spectrum of fame and notoriety. The new weekly show incorporates original feature segments into its new content and will showcase new and classic music and interviews and presented with the same gritty accessibility that made the original show a true touchstone for that music. The new show can be heard online on demand on its Mixcloud account and on the air in select markets.

Listen to our interview with Charlie Kendall on Bandcamp and follow METALSHOP at the links below.

charliekendall.com

METALSHOP on Facebook

METALSHOP on YouTube

METALSHOP on Facebook

METALSHOP on Instagram

METALSHOP on Twitter

METALSHOP episodes on MIXCLOUD

METALSHOP Merch

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E08: MikelParis

MikelParis is perhaps best known these days as a keyboard player in the rock band O.A.R. but for many years he was also a cast member of the STOMP touring show as well as working with Pink, Train, The Dan Band and Jewel. All along MikelParis has developed his “GuitarDrumming” style of playing acoustic guitar. It combines his technique for playing piano, his honed sense of complex rhythms into a fluid and endlessly evolving sound that incorporates intuitive and expressive improvisation and songwriting acumen. His latest, and fourth, album GuitarDrumming 01 has the musician bringing in peers and friends like Vernon Reid (Living Colour), G. Love and Of Good Nature. The sound is richly varied and at times is reminiscent of 90s Peter Gabriel as the latter further integrated non-Western rhythms into his pop songcraft. The album released on March 28, 2025 on 12” vinyl, digital download and streaming services via ZP Records.

Listen to our interview with MikelParis on Bandcamp and follow him at mikelparis.com.

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E07: Best of 2024

This is the much belated year-end-best list that Brian Tallman and I have been doing since 2024 but these picks are of course for 2024. Not definitive, just a sampling that is manageable and it’s a deep dive in various recording situations so the sound will switch up some. Brian is an attentive music fan near my own age who still gets into new music with great enthusiasm and while we share a love of post-punk, shoegaze and some mainstream pop our tastes different enough that hopefully this conversation and selections are interesting. The Spotify playlists are linked below. I would prefer to use a different platform but it’s the one for now that is easy enough for listeners to plug into and hear all the songs without the need for a lot of formatting.

Best Shows of 2024 Playlist

Best Songs of 2024 Playlist

Best Albums of 2024 Playlist

Most Anticipated Albums of 2025 Playlist

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E06: Rubedo

Rubedo is a psychedelic prog and pop band from Denver. The trio is comprised of childhood friends Kyle Kramer, Alex Trujillo and Gregg Ziemba whose roots in the influence of alternative rock and art rock bands like The Mars Volta has meant Rubedo would never be trend hoppers and with an interest in concepts of alchemy and how that can inform how music can be made and functions, Rubedo has had a different kind of journey through, around and out of the Denver music scene. In the early 2010s they met R. Isaiah “Ikey” Owens, keyboard player for The Mars Volta and Jack White’s band and became friends and collaborators as he produced the albums Massa Confusa (2012) and Love Is The Answer (2013). Owens became a mentor to the band influencing their ethos, their already strong work ethic as artists and their drive to continue to put out worthwhile releases. Even with the tragic passing of Owens in 2014, Rubedo has continued their friend’s commitment to community and cultivating artistic vision. For a handful of years they were involved in running the influential DIY space Unit E which has since morphed into a record label that focuses on quality local releases including their 2025 album Citrinitas which started brewing in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and was written and recorded across sessions at R.A.R.E. Records in Winchester, TN (co-owned by Michael McDonald) with Michael Lee, Tayler Martin, Jeremy Mason and Charlie Powell. Additional engineering at The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, Colorado with Andrew Berlin, mixed by Matt Embree (Rx Bandits) at ICS in Long Beach, CA and mastering by Tyler Lindgren (The Milk Blossoms). It’s a record that reflects the band’s community and connections local and beyond and the album is co-release with Mash Down Babylon, Embree’s label. The album is typically both a touching and personal set of songs and those that are an incisive and poetic commentary on the times in which we find ourselves ravaged by the psychopathy of oligarchs, fascists and the ways in which we’re encouraged to isolate ourselves when the opposite is what is needed.

Listen to our interview with Rubedo on Bandcamp and follow the band at the links below. Rubedo releases Citrinitas on vinyl at a show at the Hi-Dive on Friday, June 27 with RAREBYRD$ and Redamancy.

rubedomusic.com

Rubedo on Facebook

Rubedo on Twitter

Queen City Sounds Podcast S5E05: Detention

Detention (back left is Kevin Shields), photo courtesy the artists

Kevin Shields enlisted in the Coast Guard when he was 17-years-old. But as fate would have it he was stationed in Alameda, California as he was growing tired of 70s rock and learned about punk. That post allowed him the time to go to Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco a few nights of week to witness firsthand the excitement of early West Coast punk acts Dead Kennedys, DOA and Black Flag among others. When he got back home to New Jersey in 1981 he had all the inspiration he needed to start his own band so he recruited his brothers and himself bought a bass that he would eventually learn to play. Their band Detention was a raucous and wiseacre bunch whose first show at Raritan Manor was hosted by Matt Pinfield when he had his first radio DJ stint at WRSU at Rutgers. The police busted the show. But the band went on to record several of its songs many of which were filled with an irreverent spirit but others with more than a touch of social consciousness. Detention put out a self-produced, self-titled album in 1985 before breaking up. But the band’s legacy continued in college radio and beyond up to now with the wonderfully humorous and tasteless “Dead Rock ‘n Rollers” single. Its cover art has been endlessly imitated and the song itself in the realm of “Take The Skinheads Bowling” as an underground classic. The single and choice cuts from the self-titled album as well as unreleased material was released on vinyl in 2024 as Dead Rock ‘n Rollers on Left For Dead Records.

Listen to our interview with Kevin Shields on Bandcamp and visit the Left For Dead Records for more information and to order the vinyl.

leftfordeadrecords.com