My First Band Podcast Milwaukee Record

This week's guest — the 200th and final My First Band guest! — is the incomparable Andy Junk. These days, you can see Junk on stage as a member of Holy Shit! and Chinese Telephones, taking photos at a ton of concerts in Milwaukee and beyond, and spreading Lakefront Brewery's sales territory to faraway lands. Before he was in two long-running and respected bands, Junk was a teen starting his musical journey in unknown projects based in the tiny Wisconsin towns of Winneconne and Omro. Prior to his Milwaukee move, Junk was also an instrumental part of the once-mighty Green Bay punk scene as a member of The Fragments, an employee at the legendary Concert Cafe and a booker/resident of a short-lived house venue.
Before returning to Green Bay for a concert at Lyric Room this weekend and heading back to Japan for another Holy Shit! tour in March, Junk stopped by Milwaukee Record headquarters to chat with My First Band host Tyler Maas about those recent developments, the forthcoming Chinese Telephones release, his musical start, his formative years in Titletown, basement show-related troubles with the law, relocating to Milwaukee, tricking an AOL music site into covering his band, and much more. Oh, and they talked about his honorary Lakefront beer, My Turn: Junk, and the unique reason it made headlines a few years ago.
My First Band is sponsored by Mystery Room Mastering and Lakefront Brewery. The show is edited by Jared Blohm. You can listen to My First Band on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and wherever else you get podcasts. You can also listen to rebroadcasts of previous My First Band episodes on WMSE every Wednesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. CST. Music used in this episode comes courtesy of Devils Teeth ("The Junction Street Eight Tigers") and Holy Shit! ("Ban Me"). Thanks to everyone who listened to this show, sponsored episodes, helped us book guests and took the time to be interviewed. It was a pleasure doing My First Band for close to four years!

This week's guest is Ian Olvera, whose work can be heard in a variety of ways. Beyond being a current member of Blueheels and the bandleader of Daydream Retrievers, Olvera has helped record and mix music from a wide variety of other musicians at Wire & Vice and Mystery Room Mastering (and on his own), and he's been a live sound engineer for a bunch of Milwaukee venues and some very well-known artists. Before he was doing any of that, Olvera was teaching himself guitar, recording himself with a Fisher Price microphone and making friends in the Green Bay music scene.
A day before heading out to Europe for a month to serve as a touring sound technician for Lucinda Williams, Olvera met up with My First Band host Tyler Maas at Milwaukee Record headquarters to talk about being on the road with a music legend, recent solo shows he played, and some recording projects he's taken on lately. Of course, the conversation also focused on his musical start. Olvera talked about being influenced by his dad's records, playing shows in Titletown as a highschooler, starting The Sleepwalkers while studying recording at UW-Oshkosh, moving to Milwaukee and getting more creative opportunities, and some surreal experiences from his varied career in music.
My First Band is sponsored by Mystery Room Mastering and Lakefront Brewery. The show is edited by Jared Blohm. You can listen to My First Band on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and wherever else you get podcasts. You can also listen to rebroadcasts of previous My First Band episodes on WMSE every Wednesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. CST. Music used in this episode comes courtesy of Devils Teeth ("The Junction Street Eight Tigers") and Daydream Retrievers ("Living Hell").

This week's guest is Mark Waldoch, a Milwaukee mainstay who has been a prominent part of the city's music scene for more than 25 years. Over that quarter-century span, the multi-instrumentalist and owner of Brew City's most booming voice has released outstanding material with The Celebrated Workingman, under his own name and with his current Hallelujah Ward project. Along the way, he's contributed harmonies and horns to a wide variety of songs by other local musicians and he's been relied upon to be a go-to local opener for an incredible list of touring acts coming through town. Oh, and he's also a major part of Milwaukee's holiday music tradition with an array of Christmastime concerts most years.
Earlier this week, Waldoch made a long-overdue stop (our bad!) at the My First Band studio, where he talked to host Tyler Maas about all of the above, as well as his upcoming yuletide show at The Cooperage, his amazing and arduous life story, and many memories from his lengthy tenure in the local scene. As Waldoch looked back on his artistic origin, he also treated listeners to anecdotes about touring the U.S. and Europe with Volcano Choir, working at the iconic Atomic Records store, and playing with the likes of Bright Eyes and Interpol before they became worldwide sensations. There's also an incredible and cathartic tale about the time he quit a particularly bad service industry job!
My First Band is sponsored by Mystery Room Mastering and Lakefront Brewery. The show is edited by Jared Blohm. You can listen to My First Band on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and wherever else you get podcasts. You can also listen to rebroadcasts of previous My First Band episodes on WMSE every Wednesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. CST. Music used in this episode comes courtesy of Devils Teeth ("The Junction Street Eight Tigers") and Hallelujah Ward ("86,000").

This week's guest is Julia Blair. In addition to being a member of two long-running and accomplished Wisconsin bands in the form of Dusk and Holy Sheboygan!, Blair released her excellent debut solo album earlier this year. Between putting out that album (and touring in support of it), Blair and her Holy Sheboygan! bandmates released the band's fifth full-length this year, and Dusk also recorded an album that will come out sometime in 2023. While she has a lot of interesting things happening these days, her artistic backstory is quite compelling as well.
Shortly after returning home from a run of November shows in the Midwest and on the West Coast, Blair chatted with My First Band host Tyler Maas about her big 2022, plans for the year to come and where it all started. Over the course of the conversation, Blair spoke about playing in an ensemble in high school that performed at weddings and other functions, studying vocal performance at Lawrence University, meeting some of her future Holy Sheboygan! cohorts in college and starting to play out together, the chain of events that found her joining Dusk, and overcoming her apprehensions to finally release a solo record.
My First Band is sponsored by Mystery Room Mastering and Lakefront Brewery. The show is edited by Jared Blohm. You can listen to My First Band on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and wherever else you get podcasts. You can also listen to rebroadcasts of previous My First Band episodes on WMSE every Wednesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. CST. Music used in this episode comes courtesy of Devils Teeth ("The Junction Street Eight Tigers") and Holy Sheboygan! ("Uncle Mike").

As a founding member of All-4-One, Jamie Jones has been an integral part of Platinum-selling releases that feature some of the biggest R&B hits of all time. He's toured all over the planet, performed for world leaders, won a Grammy Award, spent months atop the Billboard charts and had a song on the soundtrack of an animated Disney feature. Though he's still an active member of All-4-One, Jones has also managed an impressive solo career and has found success behind the scenes with The Heavyweights production company. Before he was part of renditions of hit songs like "I Swear" and "I Can Love You Like That," Jones was turning heads and building a reputation with his vocal performances in church.
Prior to setting out on tour with members of 98 Degrees and O-Town as part of "A Boy Band Christmas" (which comes to Potawatomi Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, Dec. 20), Jones spoke with My First Band host Tyler Maas about the format of the upcoming seasonal show, his recent solo output, his production work and what's to come. Of course, they also talked about his early artistic efforts, the formation of All-4-One, the group's rapid rise to worldwide consciousness, highlights from his accomplished career and unforgettable experiences he's had with the likes of Stevie Wonder and Prince.
My First Band is sponsored by Mystery Room Mastering and Lakefront Brewery. The show is edited by Jared Blohm. You can listen to My First Band on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and wherever else you get podcasts. You can also listen to rebroadcasts of previous My First Band episodes on WMSE every Wednesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. CST. Music used in this episode comes courtesy of Devils Teeth (“The Junction Street Eight Tigers”) and Jamie Jones ("All I Want").

This week's guests are Gold Steps singer Liz Mauritz and guitarist Zach Duarte. Though the band is currently making a name for itself in Milwaukee with frequent shows, garnering loads of listeners on streaming sites and winning over new fans on a nightly basis during its ambitious tours, the up-and-coming "alt-pop-hyphenated-punk band" actually got its start in Austin. After a few years and a couple hundred shows in and around the musically vibrant Texas capital, Mauritz and Duarte — who are married, by the way — moved back to Mauritz's home state and set their sights on the Milwaukee music scene.
Not long after getting back from Gold Steps' latest U.S. tour, Mauritz and Duarte met up with My First Band host Tyler Maas at Milwaukee Record headquarters to talk about the recent run of shows, the reception their great new EP (That Ain't It — out now on Revival Recordings!) and hitting the ground running in their new home base after close to two years of pandemic-prompted inactivity. Over the course of the conversation, Mauritz and Duarte talked about their brief stint in another band, what led to the start of Gold Steps, opportunities and obstacles they experienced in the competitive Austin music scene, the move to Milwaukee and plans for the future of the band. Along the way, Liz talked about her love of Lakefront Brewery, her employer and the beer sponsor of this very show!
My First Band is sponsored by Mystery Room Mastering and Lakefront Brewery. The show is edited by Jared Blohm. You can listen to My First Band on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and wherever else you get podcasts. You can also listen to rebroadcasts of previous My First Band episodes on WMSE every Wednesday from noon to 12:30 p.m. CST. Music used in this episode comes courtesy of Devils Teeth ("The Junction Street Eight Tigers") and Gold Steps ("Petty").