They say that necessity is the mother of invention. As a student of the First World War, I can see the wisdom in that statement. It applies here in the podcasting world too, where I’ve been wrestling with the necessity of producing content while still being out there on the road as a working drummer. It’s tough trying to coordinate interviews with people when you’re travelling, but as the show must go on, I needed to invent some way of creating episodes on the go.
Enter the Roadisode – our catchy title for episodes from the road.
While I can’t easily schedule interviews with guests while I’m on tour, I am fortunate enough to travel with some great and insightful people. Roadisodes are me talking with those people, most likely over a bottle of wine and in some strange hotel room somewhere out in the world. Hamburg, Germany. Sliedrecht, Netherlands. In this case, Summerside, PEI, Canada. I’m delighted that the first tourmate of mine to appear on a Roadisode is the great Ken The Zen, with whom I have played in several bands over the past five years or so.
Roadisodes aren’t interviews. They’re conversations in the purest sense. They’re two or more people gathered around microphones just talking about things. Music. Movies. Life. Love. They’re friends telling stories. They’re bandmates riffing on tunes, playing shows, sampling wine, being on the road. They’re my invention in responses to a necessity and I think they’ll be some of the best episodes I produce.
You might as well get used to Ken The Zen. He’s likely to be a part of most roadisodes, at least over the next little while, and he’s a very unique personality. He toned it down a bit for his first podcast appearance, but we’ll just see how loose he gets as the wheel keeps turning.
I started playing with Ken probably five years ago in Carly Thomas’s band. I knew him by reputation as Sarah Smith’s bass player and one of the top guys in our scene. At the time it was intimidating to see if I could hang with someone at his level. It turns out I could, and we’ve since played in a bunch of acts together, at least briefly – Lindsey & The Lonelies, Moondog Uproar, The 3, the Ken the Zen and Johnny Strange Duo, and, of course, the Sarah Smith Band. I’ve learned a lot from him about how to be a pro, how to take life as it comes, and how reduce this ego of mine.
Ken’s a goofball and a wise man. He’s a great friend and it’s my privilege to share a bit of his story with you via this podcast episode. Join us for a great conversation about Alice Cooper, KISS, Star Wars, Batman, Honeymoon Suite, Tommyrot, Hiroshima Hearts, The Joys, our favourite live albums, the first records we ever purchased, the music of our youth, and Sarah Smith herself, among many topics.
If you have questions you want us to answer on these roadisodes, or on any other episodes, feel free to send them my way!
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