MAKE // BREAK, a Survival Guide for Creatives, Hosted by Lance Marwood

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MAKE // BREAK is a creative industry podcast for artists who want the truth, not the pitch. Hosted by Lance Marwood and presented by Lowkey Hellish, his imprint at V13 Press. Each episode is a long-form conversation with musicians, songwriters, producers, and industry veterans about what actually works in a post-development industry (touring, streaming, content, community) and what it costs (burnout, ego, identity, obscurity). Make art. Break algorithms.

  1. 4d ago

    Labels Want Sure Things. Nobody Is Coming to Save You.

    Episode 031 – Nobody Is Coming to Save You | MAKE // BREAK​ Labels sign the finished package. Nobody's buying potential anymore. Labels want sure things. They're a profit-making exercise, the majors, and what they do is capitalize off of something that already exists. A major wants to cash in. They don't want to invest in. You have artists that do it all and there's no label coming to greet them. The artist who's waiting around thinks that somebody's gonna come and save them. If your answer to the question of is somebody coming to save me is yes, then I have really terrible news for you. They're not. No one is coming to save you. Stop waiting. Start creating. In this episode: • Labels want sure things: a major wants to cash in, they don't want to invest in • The TikTok-era artists who blew up, went mega viral, and then just wouldn't stick • Artists that do it all and there's no label coming to greet them • If life needs to be some sort of cinematic scene, you're gonna get disappointed every single time • Every endeavour has a shit sandwich, and for musicians there's more stuff that sucks than most industries • The easiest, fastest way to get towards being present is to be grateful — → Listen on all platforms: https://pod.link/1831627966 → Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBRjKMVTI9g9dYHn-G1Eib-LfKLZso6_ → Follow: https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish → V13 Media: https://v13.net → V13 Store: https://v13.store → The Cherale (horror novella): https://a.co/d/1SZhhwS → Newsletters: https://v13.net/newsletter/ Contains explicit language. Subscribe and leave a review if this one helped you.

  2. Nov 3

    Ezra Vancil: Stop Chasing Streams and Let the Art Change You

    Ezra Vancil is a Texas Americana songwriter who signed his first record deal at nineteen and spent the next twenty years learning what it cost. Sober since 40, he now runs Near Home Records and is finishing Morning & Midnight: a double album, a book of poetry and a body of artwork made during the sessions. On MAKE // BREAK, Ezra and Lance Marwood get into the label manipulation that followed him from his teens into his forties, the house concerts and community that kept him afloat, making records with his daughter, and why music became a by-product of his life rather than the goal. In this episode: • Getting signed at 19 and the label manipulation that followed him into his forties • Paying the bills through crowdfunding, busking, house concerts and community • Ezra's two-part test for knowing when a record is finished • Music as a by-product of life, and why that tripled his output • Making records with his daughter Cozi, and the two rules that made it work Guest links: → https://ezravancil.com → https://youtube.com/@ezravancil — → Listen on all platforms: https://pod.link/1831627966 → Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBRjKMVTI9g9dYHn-G1Eib-LfKLZso6_ → Follow: https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish → V13 Media: https://v13.net → V13 Store: https://v13.store → The Cherale (horror novella): https://a.co/d/1SZhhwS → Newsletters: https://v13.net/newsletter/ Follow MAKE // BREAK wherever you listen, and leave a review if Ezra's "moves me, nothing annoys me" test helped you.

  3. Oct 20

    Joel Gale Turned Down Amazon and Built a Career on Word of Mouth

    Joel Gale is a Toronto commercial photographer and the owner of Joel Gale Imaging, shooting corporate headshots, events, product work and video since 2016, alongside the musician portraits, album covers and live shows he started with. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK with host Lance Marwood, Joel traces the distance between the studio career his photography program promised and the $200-a-day product shoots he actually got, the pandemic pivot to headshots that became his bread and butter, the Amazon job he turned down, and a decade of work built entirely on word of mouth. A frank look at surviving as an independent freelancer when budgets keep dropping and AI keeps coming. In this episode: • The studio dream vs nine-hour days shooting products on white for $200 • Losing a part-time contract and being thrown into full-time freelance with no plan • The pandemic pivot to corporate headshots, and how a 200-person shoot day runs • Turning down Amazon twice, and the clients he keeps out of his portfolio • Ten years of work with zero self-promotion, a near-bankruptcy in 2024 and a best year in 2025 • Why both of them think community is where creative work goes next Guest links: → https://www.joelgaleimaging.com → https://www.instagram.com/joelgale.imaging/ — → Listen on all platforms: https://pod.link/1831627966 → Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBRjKMVTI9g9dYHn-G1Eib-LfKLZso6_ → Follow: https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish → V13 Media: https://v13.net → V13 Store: https://v13.store → The Cherale (horror novella): https://a.co/d/1SZhhwS → Newsletters: https://v13.net/newsletter/ Contains explicit language. Subscribe and leave a review if this one helped you.

  4. Sep 22

    John Penman on Anxiety, Imposter Syndrome and Doing It Anyway

    John Penman, drummer for Detroit hard rock band Armada Lodge, took a pay cut on purpose — leaving restaurant management to stock shelves so every spare thought could go to the band. On MAKE // BREAK, he tells Lance Marwood how the trade works: affirmations on the bathroom mirror, a rolling whiteboard planning Armada Lodge six months out, section-testing songs with ads until the data humbles you, and RuneScape as nervous-system maintenance. It's the most practical systems conversation the show has aired — and it only exists because Penman sent a cold email and refused to treat silence as a no. In this episode: The deliberate pay cut: stocking shelves to buy back brain space for the bandAffirmations, bedtimes and a rolling six-month whiteboardSection-testing songs with ads — and getting humbled by the dataAnxiety, imposter syndrome and not letting the horse into the cityA self-booked tour and the cold email that made this episode existGuest links: → https://open.spotify.com/artist/3TTblhnGaob5EH1umVfK27 → https://www.instagram.com/jnpnmn/ — → Listen on all platforms: https://pod.link/1831627966 → Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBRjKMVTI9g9dYHn-G1Eib-LfKLZso6_ → Follow: https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish → V13 Media: https://v13.net → V13 Store: https://v13.store → The Cherale (horror novella): https://a.co/d/1SZhhwS → V13 newsletters: https://v13.net/newsletter/ Subscribe — and then send the cold email you've been sitting on. Silence isn't a no.

  5. Sep 15

    Streaming Can Wait: Jonny Hetherington on How Art of Dying Is Betting On Their Fans

    Jonny Hetherington is keeping Art of Dying's new album off streaming entirely — vinyl, CD, and digital download only. Two decades, eight albums, a Warner deal through Disturbed, and 200 million streams later, the frontman tells Lance Marwood on MAKE // BREAK exactly why: the maths that never recoups, the 1,000-stream rule that pays new artists nothing, the AI clog, and the analog revival pulling fans back to owning music. It's the clearest case this show has captured for going direct-to-fan — plus the $12,000 Suburban story every band signing a major deal should hear first. In this episode: Two decades in: busking, Disturbed, Warner, and 200 million streamsKeeping the new album off streaming — vinyl, CD, digital download onlyThe 1,000-stream rule and the maths that never recoupsAI artwork fatigue and spotting fake bands in secondsBandcamp, the analog revival, and direct-to-fan done rightGuest links: → https://artofdyingmusic.com → https://artofdying.bandcamp.com/ — → Listen on all platforms: https://pod.link/1831627966 → Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBRjKMVTI9g9dYHn-G1Eib-LfKLZso6_ → Follow: https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish → V13 Media: https://v13.net → V13 Store: https://v13.store → The Cherale (horror novella): https://a.co/d/1SZhhwS → V13 newsletters: https://v13.net/newsletter/ Subscribe — and then go buy an album straight from a band you love. That's the whole model.

  6. Sep 1

    Zandrew Sonnemaker and Jacob Riddle: Silent Film, Grindcore and Chaos

    Zandrew Sonnemaker and Jacob Riddle made a silent film in 48 hours — La Salope, The Funk's entry in the Montana 48 Hour Film Project. Filmmaker Zandrew directed, co-wrote, edited, and ran every piece of equipment; Detective Frog frontman Jacob co-wrote, took the lead role, and scored it with his grindcore side project Piss Fist (featuring a rubber chicken on lead vocals). They join Lance Marwood on MAKE // BREAK to talk drawing the one genre that made their $400 of new audio gear useless, casting actors the morning of the shoot, a finish fifteen seconds before deadline, and why you already have permission to make the thing. In this episode: Drawing silent film and the $400 of audio gear it made uselessSix locations, day-of casting and a fifteen-second finishPiss Fist, grindcore and a rubber chicken on vocalsDetective Frog's hiatus and Great Falls' quiet cultureYou already have permission — just do somethingGuest links: → https://www.detectivefrog.com → https://www.instagram.com/p0pezandy — → Listen on all platforms: https://pod.link/1831627966 → Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBRjKMVTI9g9dYHn-G1Eib-LfKLZso6_ → Follow: https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish → V13 Media: https://v13.net → V13 Store: https://v13.store → The Cherale (horror novella): https://a.co/d/1SZhhwS → V13 newsletters: https://v13.net/newsletter/ Subscribe, and then go make your own seven minutes of chaos — you already have permission.

  7. Aug 25

    How Little Ghosts Books Became a Horror Community Hub

    Chris Krawczyk founded Little Ghosts Books (Canada's first horror bookstore) and grew it into a press, a festival, and a travelling book fair. On MAKE // BREAK, Lance Marwood asks how a COVID-era reading catalogue became a Dundas West shop, why Little Ghosts reads every single submission (including 600-plus stories for a monster erotica anthology), and what it took to publish for three years with no arts funding. It's a conversation about burnout, reading slumps, paying artists, and why the horror community turned out warmer than comics ever was. Plus three graphic novels that will convert any horror reader. In this episode: From COVID comic-shop catalogue to Canada's first horror bookstoreBurnout, reading slumps and why paying artists breaks bothReading every submission — including 600-plus for a monster erotica anthologyThree years of self-funded publishing to reach arts-funding eligibilityGraphic novel recommendations and the warmth of the horror communityGuest links: → https://www.littleghostsbooks.com → https://www.instagram.com/littleghostsbooks — → Listen on all platforms: https://pod.link/1831627966 → Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBRjKMVTI9g9dYHn-G1Eib-LfKLZso6_ → Follow: https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish → V13 Media: https://v13.net → V13 Store: https://v13.store → The Cherale (horror novella): https://a.co/d/1SZhhwS → V13 newsletters: https://v13.net/newsletter/ Subscribe, and then go spend something at a local indie bookstore; Chris would tell you that's where the whole ecosystem starts.

  8. Aug 18

    Greg Amici: Sixteen Years Away From Music and the Comeback After

    Greg Amici is a singer-songwriter with one of music's stranger comeback arcs — fronting NYC's Big Honey until a vocal polyp ended it, then sixteen years of screenwriting and acting before his debut solo album Tragicomic arrived on Magic Door in 2025. He joins Lance Marwood on MAKE // BREAK to talk about the 1983 rejection letter that told him he'd make it, the surgery that turned out to be nothing after months of silence, why he hires people for what he can't do, and the freedom of making music with no expectations left. Dare to fail, control what you can, and if you can't not do it — keep going. In this episode: The 1983 rejection letter and the label-deal eraThe CMJ vocal polyp that ended Big HoneySixteen years of screenwriting, acting and bouncing in LAComing back with Tragicomic and no expectationsIndependence, control and daring to failGuest links: → https://www.gregamici.com → https://www.instagram.com/gregamicimusic — → Listen on all platforms: https://pod.link/1831627966 → Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUBRjKMVTI9g9dYHn-G1Eib-LfKLZso6_ → Follow: https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish → V13 Media: https://v13.net → V13 Store: https://v13.store → The Cherale (horror novella): https://a.co/d/1SZhhwS → V13 newsletters: https://v13.net/newsletter/ Subscribe, and if you like this one, pass it to the artist in your life who's been sitting on finished work. Greg would tell them to put it out.

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MAKE // BREAK is a creative industry podcast for artists who want the truth, not the pitch. Hosted by Lance Marwood and presented by Lowkey Hellish, his imprint at V13 Press. Each episode is a long-form conversation with musicians, songwriters, producers, and industry veterans about what actually works in a post-development industry (touring, streaming, content, community) and what it costs (burnout, ego, identity, obscurity). Make art. Break algorithms.

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