This Little Light

Cadence13 and Parallel
This Little Light

Hosted by Flea, founding member and bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, This Little Light is a podcast about falling in love with music. Flea interviews musical guests from all genres to discuss the teachers who guided them, the influences that inspired them, and how the lessons they learned as young musicians have shaped their creativity, resilience, and careers. Guests range from legends to rising stars, and include Rick Rubin, Patti Smith, Thundercat Margo Price, and Cynthia Erivo. The podcast is produced by Cadence13 and Parallel, with proceeds benefiting the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a Los Angeles-based non-profit that Flea co-founded in 2001.

  1. 15/06/2023

    Earl Sweatshirt

    Earl Sweatshirt’s music education and evolution, from 1. Growing up in Chicago, lying on his family’s Persian rug listening to jazz, African horns, and gospel music → 2. Being a dad now, watching his son learn rhythm → 3. Learning saxophone in elementary school → 4. Starting writing rap at 16 and also listening to music like Dr. Dre’s ‘Chronic 2001’ and Lil Wayne’s ‘Money on My Mind’ → 5. Visiting his dad in South Africa and starting to write music in earnest in his spare time → 6. Finding inspiration in J. Dilla’s book, Dilla Time. Earl Sweatshirt is the virtuosic byproduct of Los Angeles’ fertile ground where hip hop sowed its seeds and historic cultural movements were born. The prodigiously-gifted writer, lyricist and producer grew from a zeitgeist of which contemporary collectives in hip hop today are predicated. And while most movements are fleeting as soon as they arrive, Earl pushed forward, documented his growth and self-discovery on record and cemented himself as one of the foremost culturally relevant MC’s in the game, one who never strayed away too far from his Los Angeles beat-scene roots. His debut album Doris arrived in 2013 and introduced the world to a more realized vision from him than his seminal mixtape Earl that was released three years prior when he was just 16-years-old. He followed Doris with the critically-lauded I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside in 2015, further exploring the depth of his technical dexterity with more swagger than prior releases. Three years later, he released Some Rap Songs in 2018, the tightly wrought album that found a more self-aware and mature Earl in his reflection of being in the public eye since a teenager, coupled with the reconciliation of the death of his father. Enter Feet of Clay, the conceptual 2019 project that continues the written narrative of Earl’s life in today’s societal landscape and world-view in real-time. Fast forward to 2022; Earl returned to the scene with critically acclaimed, SICK! Follow Silverlake Conservatory of Music at @silverlake_conservatory  For more information on Parallel, visit parallel.la Follow Cadence13 at @cadence13 Follow Earl Sweatshirt at @soapmanwun Follow Flea at @flea333 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    51 min
  2. 08/06/2023

    Tenacious D

    Tenacious D’s music education and evolution, from 1. Kyle learning to play the flute, and Jack learning piano → 2. Jack meeting his creative hero, Bobby McFerrin, and being inspired to think of his voice as his instrument → 3. Tenacious D being encouraged by Harry Shearer at an early concert → 4. Building a creative process based in acting. Jack Black and Kyle Gass make up the Greatest Band in the World: Tenacious D. The band had a variety series on HBO that aired in 1999. Their self-titled album was released in the fall of 2001 and has since been certified Platinum. The duo completed their first feature film together - Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny - which was released in November, 2006. The album Rize of the Fenix followed in 2012, receiving a GRAMMY nomination for Best Comedy Album. In 2014, Tenacious D won a GRAMMY Award in the category of Best Metal Performance for their cover of Ronnie James Dio’s “The Last In Line.” On November 2, 2018, Tenacious D released Tenacious D in Post-Apocalypto – an animated film, with each frame hand-drawn by Black and every character voiced by Black and Gass. Alongside the film, the band also dropped the album Post-Apocalypto, which acted as the soundtrack to the series, and a graphic novel in 2020. In 2021 and 2022, the duo released a series of cover songs whose proceeds went to a number of charities, putting their own spin on The Beatles, The Who, and the camp classic “The Time Warp.” They also launched their own fiber bars line in conjunction with NuGo Nutrition called Tenacious D Fiber d’Lish. Up next was the Audible Original Words + Music | Vol. 29 | Tenacious D’s The Road To Redunktion, featuring 30 years of never-before-heard archival audio, and bringing to life every anecdote with a docu-quality that places listeners right then and there. Tenacious D continues to sell out massive shows across the world, which should come as no surprise for the Greatest Band That Ever Played on Planet Earth.   Follow Silverlake Conservatory of Music at @silverlake_conservatory  For more information on Parallel, visit parallel.la Follow Cadence13 at @cadence13 Follow Tenacious D at @tenaciousd Follow Flea at @flea333 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    54 min
  3. 01/06/2023

    Cory Henry

    Cory Henry’s music education and evolution, from 1. Watching his mom perform as choir director and lead musician at his church in Brooklyn and eventually playing with the choir by age five → 2. In high school joining the jazz band and going to the Village Underground open mic nights for soul and gospel music → 3. Expanding his taste beyond gospel to include hip hop → 4. Playing with Snarky Puppy and living a scrappy existence; doing it for the love, not the money. Simply put Cory Henry is a GRAMMY Award winning artist, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, all around keyboard master and is the future of music! In 2021, Cory’s album Something to Say was nominated at the 2022 GRAMMY Awards for Best Progressive R&B Album and he was nominated as a producer on Eric Bellinger’s New Light. In 2022, Cory won his first Latin GRAMMY Award for Album of the Year for his work on Rosalía's album Motomami. At the 2023 GRAMMY Awards, Cory has been nominated for his new album Operation Funk for Best Progressive R&B Album and Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album on Rosalía's album Motomami. Other Cory Henry collaborations include: Imagine Dragons, Smino, Lucky Daye, and many more. Cory was previously a member of Snarky Puppy, and during his time in the band he garnered three GRAMMY Awards with the band! Most recently, Operation Funk, Cory’s latest masterpiece, has garnered attention from fans all over the world as he delivered sold out shows in Israel, Spain, Amsterdam, Australia, and throughout the United States along with playing most of the major music festivals.  Follow Silverlake Conservatory of Music at @silverlake_conservatory  For more information on Parallel, visit parallel.la Follow Cadence13 at @cadence13 Follow Cory Henry at @coryhenry Follow Flea at @flea333 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    40 min
  4. 25/05/2023

    Stewart Copeland

    Stewart Copeland’s music education and evolution, from 1. Growing up in Cairo and Beirut, and starting to play trombone at age seven, inspired by his dad, who was a trumpet player → 2. Moving on to drums at age 10 → 3. Seeing his crush dance to his band’s music and realizing its power → 4. Crawling around on the floor on his mom’s Persian rug, and realizing that the complex patterns were exactly what music was all about for him, a mix of wildness and order in a strange tension. → 5. Going to boarding school in the UK, and realizing the power of music in church → 6. His musical influences of both reggae and Baladi rhythm → 7. Managing conflict in The Police, and finding the value in band therapy. Recruiting Sting and Andy Summers in 1977, Stewart Copeland is renowned as the founder of The Police, a band that became a defining force in rock music from the ‘80s through to the present day. His career includes the sale of more than 60 million records worldwide, and numerous awards, including five GRAMMY awards. Stewart has now spent more than three decades at the forefront of contemporary music as a rock star and acclaimed film composer, as well as in the disparate worlds of opera, ballet, and world and chamber music. Follow Silverlake Conservatory of Music at @silverlake_conservatory  For more information on Parallel, visit parallel.la Follow Cadence13 at @cadence13 Follow Stewart Copeland at @stewart_copeland Follow Flea at @flea333 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    52 min
  5. 18/05/2023

    Margo Price

    Margo Price’s music education and evolution, from 1. Growing up making plays for her sister and friends → 2. Buying herself her first guitar with her eighth grade graduation money → 3. Moving to Nashville and wanting to play a different kind of country music → 4. Pawning her wedding ring and selling her car to pay for recording at Sun Studios in Memphis, making the record, and then pitching it to every label and no interest for a year, until eventually Jack White’s Third Man Records picked it up → 5. Navigating political influences on country music → 6. Facing pain and learning how to channel it through her music. Margo Price has something to say but nothing to prove. In just three remarkable solo albums, the singer and songwriter has cemented herself as a force in American music and a generational talent. A deserving critical darling, she has never shied away from the sounds that move her, the pain that’s shaped her, or the topics that tick her off, like music industry double standards, the gender wage gap, or the plight of the American farmer (in 2021, she even joined the board of Farm Aid). While the last few years have seen remarkable moments of acclaim – a Best New Artist GRAMMY nomination, Americana Music Honors, a Saturday Night Live performance, and just about every outlet and critics’ year-end Best Of list – Price is still hungry. On her fourth full-length Strays, a clear-eyed mission statement delivered in blistering rock and roll, she’s taking on substance abuse, self-image, abortion rights, and orgasms. Musically extravagant but lyrically laser focused, the 10-song record tears into a broken world desperate for remedy. And who better to tell it? Price has been to the mountain and back, but finds herself, at long last, free. Feral. Stray. Follow Silverlake Conservatory of Music at @silverlake_conservatory  For more information on Parallel, visit parallel.la Follow Cadence13 at @cadence13 Follow Margo Price at @missmargoprice Follow Flea at @flea333 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    44 min
  6. 11/05/2023

    Rivers Cuomo

    Rivers Cuomo’s music education and evolution, from 1. Growing up on an ashram in rural Connecticut, mostly cut off from mainstream popular culture → 2. Making a new friend at age seven who introduced him to Kiss, and recording themselves listening, dancing, and singing along to it → 3. Being encouraged by a friend to join chorus and musical theater in eighth grade → 4. Starting a band in high school and being inspired by Amadeus to get into music theory → 5. Moving to LA with his progressive speed metal band, Avant Garde, and then founding Weezer shortly after → 6. His Vipassana meditation practice of 20 years, suggested to him by Rick Rubin in 2003, and now including two hours of meditation per day. Rivers Cuomo is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist, and songwriter of the GRAMMY Award winning rock band Weezer. He founded Weezer in 1992; the band’s self-titled debut album was released in 1994 to massive critical and commercial success. Following the multi-platinum album, Rivers enrolled at Harvard University where he studied before dropping out to record Weezer’s 1996 album Pinkerton. He would return to Harvard in 1997 as well as 2006, when he ultimately graduated with a degree in English. In addition to Weezer’s 15 studio albums and 20+ million album sales globally, Rivers has worked on several other projects including 2 solo albums, and a joint project with Scott Murphy titled Scott & Rivers. He’s also been a featured vocalist on songs with B.O.B., Avalanches, Steve Aoki, and more. His song “Backflip” is the theme song for Netflix’s Green Eggs & Ham animated series.  Follow Silverlake Conservatory of Music at @silverlake_conservatory  For more information on Parallel, visit parallel.la Follow Cadence13 at @cadence13 Follow Rivers Cuomo at @rivers_cuomo Follow Flea at @flea333 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    49 min

About

Hosted by Flea, founding member and bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, This Little Light is a podcast about falling in love with music. Flea interviews musical guests from all genres to discuss the teachers who guided them, the influences that inspired them, and how the lessons they learned as young musicians have shaped their creativity, resilience, and careers. Guests range from legends to rising stars, and include Rick Rubin, Patti Smith, Thundercat Margo Price, and Cynthia Erivo. The podcast is produced by Cadence13 and Parallel, with proceeds benefiting the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a Los Angeles-based non-profit that Flea co-founded in 2001.

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