Episode Transcript
[00:00:13] Speaker A: We get Spotlight with BJ Swinghammer.
Is that his real name? Yes, it is.
Yeah.
We get Spotlight with BJ Swinghammer.
Is that his real name? Yes, it is.
Yeah.
DJ Weekend Spotlight.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: All right. Hey, what's going on? Hey. Hello. Hello.
Is this thing on? Of course it's on. I just turned it on. How's everybody doing? Happy Thursday. Welcome to another episode of Unsigned 518's Weekend Spotlight. I'm your host, BJ Swinghammer. And yes, that is my real name.
God damn it.
Welcome. Welcome to another episode. And also, if you're looking for me, I am on Instagram as Weekend Spotlight. WKND Spotlight. So weekend with no ease and going right into it. Listen, I hope that a goodly amount of people listening to this right now were able to make it to single cut for their final show of their venue. You know, like I. Like I was saying last episode, you know, it's still going. They're just taking the space and putting more into it to make more beer and to be more successful. So that's great for them. But also they got rid of like one of my favorite venues, if not my favorite venue. And that sucks my ass. But you know what, it happens sometimes you just have to get your ass sucked or suck ass or. I don't know where I'm going with this. Anyways, it was an amazing night. You know, everybody was just all in on it. You know, there was some sad moments and there was some retrospective stuff and people were looking back and going, oh, I'm gonna miss this and that's gonna happen. But overall it was an amazing night. Lots of positivity, people enjoying each other, people enjoying the music so much. And it's easy to do with the bands that they had, you know, and it was just, it was a lot of fun. I am so happy. I went.
I know more than a few people who, you know, really had to work some stuff around to get there to enjoy it. And they did and they enjoyed it. And you know, I met some new friends.
I got to see some people I haven't seen in a bit.
Yeah, it was an awful lot of fun. So to everybody that missed it, I'm so sorry. You probably tried your best. It didn't happen, but it was amazing and that's good. And for the people that went there, can you believe the suckers that couldn't make it? Hahaha. I'm kidding.
No, it was great. I. I love it. And I'm going to miss the single cut north venue immensely.
But as far as seeing People I haven't seen in a while.
There is a gentleman out there called Carm Grasso who is amazing and amazing on guitarist and just makes amazing music. And he. He plays the guitar in such a fashion where you're kind of looking at him going, holy shit. Did he just do that? How the. Did he do that? But yeah, he does that. He did that, and he was gonna continue doing it, and it was great. To Carmen, if you're listening to this, it was great seeing you, man. We didn't talk a lot, but we got to talk some.
And, you know, I'm always. I'm always jazzed when you show up to something, and Single Cut was the thing to show up to, certainly.
So. And, you know, we talked, and I said, hey, man, can I put you on the spotlight? And he's like, yeah, thanks. And I'm like, thank you.
So, you know, I gave him the usual.
And I give everybody, like, what. What do you want featured? What do you want of yours featured, you know, on a podcast?
And so he chose rationalize off his 2025 album Seeds of Doubt. That just came out not too long ago.
So let's. Let's get into it. So this is Rationalize from Carm Grass.
All right, that was Rational lies off the 2025 album Seed of Doubt from Karm Grasso.
And he's got a lot going on. Like, he. You really don't see him kicking around shows that much because he has just got.
[00:07:41] Speaker C: He.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: He moves around, he plays all over the place, and definitely somebody to take note of and listen to as much of the stuff that he puts out as you can. And it's varied, and it's wonderful, and I'm so happy that I got to put him on the podcast. That makes me.
That fills. Fills my cup, so to speak. And what also filled my cup on Saturday was meeting the people from the band Durio. So I believe they're from New York City. And if I'm. If I'm wrong, feel free to send me a message, guys, and be like, hey, asshole, we're not from New York City. But I'm pretty sure they are.
And that was like, you know, the. The evening was filled with, like, the greatest hits of people that have played at Single Cut.
And one band really broke it up. I had never heard of or seen anything regarding Durio.
And they just showed up, and their sweaters, you know, they had, like, the ugly sweater thing going on. Most of them were actually weren't that ugly. They were quite nice, and they just blew everybody Away with their music.
It was.
It just calmed everybody out. You know, people were just like in this, you know, that fervor of just like, ah.
And all of a sudden, everyone's just entranced by the music these guys were putting out. And I made it a point to just, you know, make sure I caught him aside after. After they were done. Let's go. Thank you so much.
You guys are amazing. And, you know, we. We talked a little bit here and there. And once again, you know, just like. Just like harm, they were like, yeah, we'd love to be on, you know, your podcast. We're trying to get up to upstate more and so definitely look for these guys when you're kicking on. So it's durio D U R I E U X is how they're spelled. So check them out on, you know, whatever. Whatever you streaming music. They are there, I'm pretty sure.
And this one is their. It's one. I don't know if they're. I think it's their newest single. I think it's their newest single that just came out this year. And this one is best for you.
[00:09:56] Speaker A: I used to have big dreams? But now they're in the back seat? Cause life just gets in the way? Impulsiveness helps me feel free? But then I spend all my money?
The cycle gets vicious? My friends get worried and ask me? Are you addicted to stress?
Do you like when life is a mess?
Why is the weight of the world? The ways of your chest?
All you addicted to stress?
Do you think the mic is a mess?
How do you get m.
For the best?
It's a work no play?
But somehow I just wasted a day?
Avoiding responsibilities and claiming that life just gets in the way?
Impulsiveness keeps me busy? But I never finish the dipping? My friends get nervous? They know I'm hurt? And then they ask me?
Will you find what's best for you?
What's meant for you?
Are you, are you, are you ridiculous?
Do you reckon life is a mess?
Why is the weight of the world always on your chest for you? If it's a mess how do you.
Stop for the best?
You found what's best for you?
What's best for you just won't hold you down?
You'll find what's best for you and what's meant for you?
Cuz CU won hold you down?
You will fight what's best for you?
What's best for you?
Cuz c won't hold you down?
You will find what's best for you?
What's best for you.
[00:12:31] Speaker B: All right? That was best for you. The newest single coming from Durio in New York City.
And like, was I wrong? Is that not amazing? Just keep. Like, seriously, just deep dive into these guys. There's so much to listen to and it's. It's incredible. They're incredible.
And so now we're gonna go. We're heading for Saturday. Saturday is no fun. In Troy at 7pm you have the Ye Olde Pip Pip annual holiday show.
And it starts at 7pm but I'm pretty sure the lineup. It goes until. So it goes. It's on Saturday. I'm pretty sure it goes. It's like Monday or Tuesday because there's just so many bands playing. You've got the ams. You've got Pony and the Pancake. You've got Cooper's Hawk, Electric Turtle, Huntress wizard, who, by the way, is doing an album release.
So good luck on that. And I'm sure it's gonna be. I haven't listened to it, but I'm going to when I can.
Hell, yeah. Always. Love you guys. Huntress Wizards. Awesome.
Los Espos.
Haley. Haley Moley, Nathan Meltz and the House of Tomorrow.
And the Bell curves and, you know, I love the bell curves and. Yeah, I love the bell curves and I've been doing the bell curves a lot because they're so much fun to listen to.
But I decided to, out of this lineup, do Haley Moly.
And this is Amy.
[00:14:23] Speaker A: The touch of your hair on my sleeve.
Kind of unnerving.
So undeserving me.
The glinting ocean thrills my eyes.
You indulge the notion that I'm wise.
These moments are perfect.
I try to be servant.
The sense of all with each surprise.
It makes my life worth it.
I wanna deserve it.
Won't you stay?
[00:18:17] Speaker B: All right. That was Amy, which is the 2023 single coming from Haley Moly. And I think, you know what? No Fun's gonna be packed to the rafters. I'm sure on Saturday. It's.
It's such a great lineup. Holy. I'm not gonna be able to go because I've got the kids and we have a lot going on with that. But to anybody that does go, feel free to shoot me a message and let me know how it went, because it's. It sounds like it's gonna be a goddamn amazing night.
And speaking of goddamn amazing, it is. For. It is time for our segment with our band show. So our band show, doing some of the best work and some of the most important work for musicians in the 518. They, you know, take a band that you love or a band that you've never heard of or have yet to hear of and they give them just a rock star treatment and just, you know, they do, they do this great live thing which is awesome. And they also just master and mix the hell out of the show and it just makes them sounds like such rock stars. It is so much fun to listen to. It's so much fun to watch.
So yeah, we'd like to check in with them every week whenever possible. So guys, what is going on with our band show this week?
[00:19:30] Speaker C: Thank you BJ and welcome in to our band show. Patrick W. Huber here, producer and director of an amazing team of recording artists that aims to film musicians in the Hudson Valley area and beyond.
The holidays are upon us and we're going to share some music from another amazing artist doing great things in our local community. The lot in 2023, John Newhall committed to his musical ambition by releasing a series of singles all over his social media channels.
After thousands of streams and numerous live performances, Newhall recognized that he was navigating this journey alone as he teamed up with his fellow musicians. They formed what is now known as the Lots.
Recently, an official music video in Julia made by John showed up on my YouTube feed.
Got me thinking of their performance on our show earlier this year. Specifically their Allman Brothers cover that featured guitarist Sean Rogers delivering a fiery solo that doesn't hold anything back.
During our interview with the band, Sean discussed where his fast paced guitar skills come from.
[00:20:45] Speaker D: I think it was my aunt, she got me this acoustic guitar and I had no idea how to use it and I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I was like what is this thing? It just makes a bunch of sounds when you hit it. It's so cool. I'm just gonna keep strumming. It probably annoyed my family so much that night but over time the more I like hang out with my my father especially he'd show me bands like the Allman Brothers. I One Way Out I used to think was a heavy metal song and like I then I got put onto Iron Maiden like the Trooper. So I definitely over time just like learning more music and stuff. I just got attracted to it more and more and just will go into inspirations later. But like he totally opened my world to just like whatever was put in front of me and I just thought everything was amazing. I took a lot from the solos in those bands. Like I was obsessed with their solos. Like I just Couldn't believe it. Every song was something new and it was totally mind blowing.
I feel like I'm.
And this is, I'm, I guess on my own critique, but I feel like I'm starting to get more of a Dickey Betts tone and I'm really trying to hone in on that because, like, he's just the man.
So I feel like I take a lot from the Allman Brothers solos and I take a lot from just inspiration wise. Maybe not musically as much anymore, but I. I used to be Metallica's like biggest fan. Like, like I would like watch their live concerts, the movie they came out with like four hour concerts. I would just sit down on my ipod touch and just like watch that all day.
You were some kind of monster fan. I was, I was just some kind of monster fan. I'm a huge St Anger fan. Like, I love all of it. I even like load and reload. Like it's great. Like, I love all their stuff and any long car ride, Metallica documentary, like a Van Halen documentary, any of that stuff. I would watch that stuff when I was a kid and I'd feel like sick to my stomach because I'd be like, if I'm not doing this when I'm older, like, what am I doing? That was my only thought.
[00:22:49] Speaker C: Sean isn't the only one with impressive skills in the band. Joe dazzles on the drums with some acrobatic moves with those sticks. If you have a chance to catch this group in person at a show, you should take it. The energy they bring to the table might just be second to none.
Additionally, Newhall is really good at what he does online, not just with promoting the band's music, but but the Big Blue Therapy Crew, a podcast focused on the fans of the New York Giants.
This is a very active group of young professionals worth following, and we want to recognize and spotlight them for you. That is why we choose Southbound, an Amond Brothers cover. Performed Iva Lot live on our band show.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: Sam. Lord, I'm so bound Lord, coming home to you.
Got that awesome feeling Some people call it blue I've been working every night driving every day oh, I've been working every night shopping on it.
You better tell your other man now Baby, sweet love is on the way.
Oh Lord, I'm sad Love is on the way.
Sam.
Baby, as soon as I hit that door Going to make it up to you. Doing all the things I should have done before oh Lord, I'm stop out.
Got that awesome fear so deep look all the food.
Oh man.
[00:28:25] Speaker C: Another amazing performance.
I hope you'll check out all the full videos of this week's spotlighted artist on our YouTube channel. And check out some clips from all our past guests on the Instagram, both at our band show.
Also, for a catalog of all our sessions, check out our website, rbandshow.com this time of year is about spreading cheer and joy as much as we can.
I hope we're successful in doing that by sharing the talent appearing on our show with the on sign 518 audience.
I know we're just some folks on the other side of your podcast, but if you're a musician listening to this, I'd love to hear some of your holiday cheer expressed in music music. Post a holiday inspired jam on Instagram and tag our bancho. I'd love to repost this.
Anyway, that's all the music I had to share with you this week. Bj, back to you.
[00:29:26] Speaker B: All right, guys, thank you so much. That was outstanding. Thank you.
Once again, that was our band show doing the Lord's work for music in the local area. I'm not a religious man, but that's the only way I know how to put that. And don't forget you, you can find them on Facebook, Instagram, our bandshow.com I like personally to go to YouTube and just look them up and see what they've been up to and just check it all out. It's like once you start, it's tough not to get a few acts into it and then just kind of keep going back to it. So I'll warn you of that right now. And also speaking of now, Metroland, now it's time for the hot singles in your area. It's a list compiled by T.J. foster of ERA, who puts out, who choose just some great music, great music. He reviews them, he puts them out. It's, it's a great list and I love it so much. This month though, TJ had an extra, extra, extra lot on his plate and he decided to tap the ever present omnipresent Andy Scullin to do the reviews for this month for the hot singles in your area.
And this week I decided to go with Zero Blue Bloom because I had never, I'd never heard of them.
And now that I have, you know, once again I'm just gonna listen to them more and more, which I guess is the point of all this.
So this is off the new album, clearly.
And this is false dichotomy.
[00:30:55] Speaker A: What a fire it was.
To draw my focus down the Star.
Followed sparks down the path Two and two our footprints passed between you and me it was a false dichotomy.
If I want to be free, gotta give up.
Sa.
Stays with me now.
As if gravity might work that way like if it wasn't for the Earth, we could.
Between you and me it was a false dichotomy.
If I wanna be free God, to give up a party.
Between you and me it was a.
If I want to be free gotta give up.
[00:33:51] Speaker B: All right, that was false dichotomy from Zero Bloom off the new album, clearly.
And you know, that is a great example of, of the kind of sound that the whole entire album. Album has. So definitely just go for it. Listen to it. You'll probably just end up listening to it start to finish, like I did.
So once again, you've been warned. You're gonna listen to the whole goddamn thing.
And, and, you know, the Metroland, don't forget the Metroland is a treasure trove of information about the goings on of the creatives in the 518. If you're, you know, if you're having a week or a day or a weekend and you're like, I don't know what the hell to do with it, there's too many options.
Metroland now will help you funnel those options into, into something that you can just build an entire day, week, weekend out of. So always check out the Metroland and just, you know, the Metro Land. You can also find them on Facebook, Instagram. TheMetroland.com of course, is my favorite one because there's so much on there. Don't say, once again, don't say I didn't warn you. This whole thing is just a bunch of warnings about all these great things happening, happening. And don't forget, also fiscal copies, the physical copies are back. You know, the. The Metroland was around and I loved it and I just, I used to love to read it all the time. And then it went away and I was like, this is.
And I kind of just said that for a few years and all of a sudden it was resurrected. So the Metro Land in its physical form is back.
So go and grab a copy of it from wherever it is, all over the place. Unless you can find. Find it. If you're listening to me, be like, hey, I can't find it. You know, it's not, it's not all over the place. Well, it's getting there.
And so go to the metroland.com, go to contact, reach out to somebody. They'll let you know the Closest place that has it. And if you're listening to this going, hey, Swinghammer, I want to start carrying the Metro land. Well, goddamn right you do. Why wouldn't you? It'd be ridiculous for you to not have a local business and carry the Metroland. It lets people know that you give a about your local reality region.
So you just go to the metroland.com, you scroll to the bottom, there's a whole thing right there. You click on here and you fill out the information and boom, you start getting the Metroland. It's quick, it's easy, it's simple, it's wonderful.
And you get to see all the hard work that people are putting into those pages. You know, you got the reviews, you have the people choosing, like, the music, and you have people choosing, you know, what, what the. They think are the best things going on as far as like movies or whatever it's to. Going. Going on. So there you go.
Metro and physical copies. And I've been trying to work on things to talk about for like an outro. You know, I have my intro, but I don't really have much of an outro yet.
So I'm still working on that. It's. It's incoming. There's. There's things going on. There's thought processes happening. I will have more robust things for the outro, but for right now, I will go with the. The old tried and true. Thank you so much for listening to me. Thank you so much for giving me a half hour, 40 minutes or so of your time every week to listen to me Babylon and blather about awesome local music happening in the area. I really appreciate it. I have fun doing it. I hope you have fun listening to it.
And I guess that's it. So just go out, go forth. Oh, and hold, hold on the. Am I talking about. Don't forget the other podcasts. There's other podcasts. I know people are like Schwing Hammer, the only, the only podcast on the planet. And I'm not the only podcast on the planet. As it was.
You've got two normal people with Angelina Valente. You've got unsigned 518, the main one with Andy Scullen, Mistress of None with Aaron Harks. You've got a few of them, so definitely check those out.
They're putting out new stuff all the time. Time. And there's so much fun to listen to.
And yeah, so there's that. Don't forget the other podcast. It's not just Swinghammer in the world swinging around, doing Swing Hammer.
All right? So listen, enjoy your weekend, all right?
Have as much fun as you can. Relax. But also go out and listen to some good music or see some good, like, you know, local flicks.
Enjoy yourselves. We all deserve, deserve it. And as usual, you stay cool. 518.
[00:38:05] Speaker A: I'm calling shotgun.
Where's the party tonight?
Let's take a ride with swinging. We're driving.
It's the weekend spotlight.
Get ready.
[00:38:29] Speaker C: The Weekend Spotlight is a production of.
[00:38:31] Speaker B: Unsigned 518 and part of the Metroland now network of podcasts.
[00:38:36] Speaker C: Unsigned 518's Weekend Spotlight is produced by.
[00:38:39] Speaker B: Andy Scullin and hosted by BJ Schwinghammer. Look for new episodes every week at.
[00:38:44] Speaker C: The metroland.com and everywhere you stream. Podcast.
[00:38:50] Speaker A: Sam.
