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Here's part two of my chat with Mike Gent.

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The Figgs have been one of my favorite bands ever since 1994 when their major label debut Low-Fi at Society High was released. They're marking their 25th anniversary (which official happens in August) with today's release of a brand new double album The Day Gravity Stopped. The 20 songs (five per side on the vinyl) are a great summation of all the band's strengths--there's uptempo power pop, moody acoustic based tracks, a couple hints of twang and even some ukelele! (I suggest you go TheFiggs.net to buy it now!) 

Last month when the band was in New York for a couple of shows I sat down with singer-guitarist Mike Gent to talk about the new album, what it takes to last 25 years in a band, how one acoustic guitar can have a huge impact on a musician, and for a few laughs. Part 2 is right above this post. Download both today!

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More great ladies of the 90s in the second part of this podcast.

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This is first podcast we've done inspired by a Twitter conversation:


So, that's what we did. My Party Like It's 1999 co-founders Allison and Melanie, along with our song consultant Susan, chat about ladies that made the 90s rock.

Part 2 comes your way tomorrow. And don't forget the next Party Like It's 1999 is Friday at the Bell House!

 

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Jason and I discuss more songs that he put on the iPod Shuffle for his son Joshua. And, of course, we throw a couple of Figgs songs on there.

I was first exposed to Jason Fry's writing back in 2005 with the launch of the Faith and Fear in Flushing blog. Each day Jason and his friend Greg Prince came up with a wholly original take on that day's Mets game. (I looked forward to each new entry the next morning in a season that was a whole bunch of fun to witness.) In January 2006 Jason wrote a piece called "Songs of Shea" where he wanted the powers that be to play some new songs at the ballpark. I about spit my drink out when he happened to mention The Figgs' "Daylight Strong." I emailed him through the site and from there our friendship was born.

Jason has done a lot of other great non-Mets related writing. He's penned a bunch of Star Wars books and wrote one of the most widely cited music articles of the past decade (about yelling "Freebird" at concerts) during his stint at the Wall Street Journal. Jason's currently keeping an eye on the world wide leader in sports as a member of Poynter's ESPN ombudsman team.

His latest freelance piece is what inspired this podcast. "About a Boy and a (Temporarily) Secret Chord" is on GoodMenProject.com, and I suggest reading it before listening to the podcast. In it, Jason talks about the decisions that went into loading up an iPod shuffle for his nine year-old son Joshua. I asked Jason to come in and talk about 12 of the 900 songs he put on that shuffle. I never thought I'd say this here, but if you're a parent, this is the one RT20 podcast to download.

(Look for part 2 next Wednesday.)

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In part two of my talk with Pete Donnelly, we talk about The Figgs' upcoming 25th anniversary and five albums that changed his life.

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I feel like I should write something serious and important to introduce this podcast, like “this is the podcast I’ve waited three years to record” or “here’s a guy whose music has changed my life” or “man, that was a really hot studio the day we recorded this.” I’m probably better off saying that Pete Donnelly is the singer-bassist in The Figgs, the band I have seen more than any other in my life. And my love for them is only eclipsed by my love for Neil Young and The Beatles. So yeah, I was a bit nervous when Pete and I set up a time (Boxing Day!) to record this podcast. There really was no reason for me to be nervous, as I’ve been friends with Pete for over a decade now and have spent some quality (and not-so-quality) with him in a truck and a van traveling to gigs where I was selling merch and carrying gear for the band. No matter. I was still thinking I needed a beer before we spoke.

 

The reason Pete and I finally got together to record a podcast is his new solo album, When You Come Home. It was released in December (just in time to make the 2011 RT 20 Album list) and features such guests as late NRBQ drummer Tom Ardolino, Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner and Pete’s Figgs bandmate Mike Gent. In part one of the podcast we talk about why it was time to make a solo album, his upcoming six week residency at Milkboy Philadelphia and his stint in the new version of NRBQ. In part two (coming next Thursday) we’ll talk about plans for The Figgs 25th anniversary and five albums that changed his life.

 

And here’s a visual preview, the first single from When You Come Home, “Can’t Talk at All”:

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First you read this year's RT 20 list. Now you can hear all about it!

It was a hell of a time completing the RT 20 this year. So why not complain about it via song?

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