No Wristbands! We Drink For Free

Matt Walker has always wanted to play the drums. It was his first instrument and he took to it immediately. He's now made a wonderful career of it - playing in an amazing list of incredibly bands. …

Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot have been writing about Chicago and music for a long time. Greg was the rock music critic at the Chicago Tribune from 1990 to 2020. Jim spent 15 years as the music critic…

Hell Yeah, we got Brendan Kelly from The Lawrence Arms on the show!! Chicago Punk Legend! We go deep into the history with one of Mark's all-time favorites. Slapstick, The Broadways, The Falcon, t…

Stacey & Erik join us to talk over their plans for the fourth edition of fForest Fest in Morris, IL. They filled us in on the entire musical lineup, the move to two stages in 2025 and all the other …

Mario Cannamela (vocals & guitars) joins us to talk about his Chicago-based band Bottom Bracket. Originally formed in Springfield, IL, the band released their first EP Dreamland in 2017. Near the en…

Born in Memphis is 1974, Cory Branan has been releasing albums since The Hell You Say in 2002. He released three great records on Chicago's Bloodshot Records - Mutt, The No-Hit Wonder and Adios) and …

Matt Spiegel is a music guy. His bands have included Brother Brother (a 10-piece funk band with his brother Jon), Tributosaurus and Sonic45 (with Len Kasper) and has recorded a 3-song 7" with Steve…

Peter Jesperson has had an incredible career in music. Initially inspired by watching The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Peter took a job at legendary record store Oar Folkjokeopus in 1973…

Mike Maples started Liquid Mike in 2021. In that short time, the band has already put out five albums of songs - including their most recent one, Paul Bunyan's Slingshot. Hailing from Marquette, Mic…

Very excited to welcome Elizabeth Moen to the show! Originally from Iowa, she now calls Chicago home. Her self-titled first album was released in 2016 and her latest, Live at Lincoln Hall came out ea…

Ian Robinson has been performing as Black Guy Fawkes for almost ten years now. He joins us on the podcast to talk about his musical journey, meeting Frank Turner, his challenges as a black artist an…

It's our 50th episode! Time for a celebration!

We are very pleased to have Abby Monroe and Josh Dihle on the show for our 50th. Abby and Josh are the owners of Color Club, a Chicago venue that hosts …

John Mohr and Mike Greenlees have been playing music together for a long time. They first got together in Dekalb, Illinois at Northern Illinois University in 1983 with the band Blatant Dissent. In 1…

We are excited to have Dean Zelinsky on the show. While still in his teens, Dean founded his first guitar company, Dean Guitars, starting it from scratch. He talks to us about how a couple of trips…

Taylor Hales is the studio manager and recording & mixing engineer at the world-famous Electrical Audio recording studio. He also fills a bunch of other roles at the studio. We talked with Taylor a…

Brandon Lewis of Punkerton Records joins us for the latest After Hours episode. Brandon's record label is out of Ohio and supports a number of awesome punk rock bands. It's a labor of love for him …

Stacey Dee is a singer and guitar player in the California punk band Bad Cop / Bad Cop. She's also known affectionately as Stacy Fucking Dee because, well, she's a badass! She's been playing in pun…

Jon Snodgrass has a unique way of looking at life. He joins us on this episode and we talk about his philosophy about music, money, baseball and so much more. Jon has a lot of friends and sometimes…

Growing up in Mattoon, IL, Rick Sims (guitar, vocals) spent his early years drinking beer, smoking dope and practicing in the chicken shed in Sullivan, IL with his brother Brad (drums). Joined by Do…

Sean O'Keefe joins us for episode number 42. Growing up in Wilmette, IL, Sean dropped out of Columbia College in Chicago to record his friends' bands. We talk about how he came to produce Take This…