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PODCAST

Caropop

There may be nothing more inspiring and entertaining than relaxed, candid conversations among creative people. Mark Caro, a relentlessly curious journalist and on-stage interviewer, loves digging into the creative process with artists and drawing out surprising stories that illuminate the work that has become part of our lives. The Caropopcast is for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the music, movies, food and culture that they love.

music music interviews

All Episodes

76:13

Ryan Smith

Caropop ·

2022/04/14

Nashville-based mastering engineer Ryan Smith works on high-profile vinyl releases such as recent albums by Adele and Taylor Swift, but he’s become renowned for the fantastic-sounding reissues he has mastered. As a member of the Vinyl Me, Please record club, I have become happily familiar with the phrase “AAA Lacquers Cut From The Original Analog Tapes by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound.” In this illuminating conversation, Smith discusses his approach to an optimal recording, the level of detail

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55:03

Terry Chambers

Caropop ·

2022/04/07

Drummer Terry Chambers was the motor that powered XTC through its first five albums before frontman Andy Partridge broke down and abruptly ended the band’s touring days. Chambers left soon afterward, moved to Australia and was away from music for three decades—in part trying to pay off the massive debt from that cancelled tour. Yet recently he moved back to Swindon, England, and teamed with XTC songwriter/bassist Colin Moulding on a new band, TC&I. When Moulding pulled the plug on that project,

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69:42

Robbie Fulks

Caropop ·

2022/03/31

Whether you consider him country, bluegrass, folk or rock, Robbie Fulks is one of our greatest songwriters and an awfully talented guitarist and singer as well. He can be satirical and biting but also can pierce your heart, as the penetrating character studies on his albums Gone Away Backward and the Grammy-nominated Upland Stories have done. Having long lived in Chicago, Robbie moved to Los Angeles a few years ago. Why would he do that? He also talks about his writing process—does he write when he

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88:16

Sam Phillips

Caropop ·

2022/03/24

Some songs you enjoy in the background while others take up residence in your bones. Sam Phillips’ music is in the latter category. She was Christian pop artist Leslie Phillips until she outgrew those constraints and, as Sam, began releasing such transcendent songs as “Holding On to the Earth” and “I Need Love” and wonderful albums such as the spirited The Indescribable Wow, the tour de force Martinis and Bikinis and the intimate Fan Dance. What threat did she make to get released from her Christian

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97:13

Colin Blunstone

Caropop ·

2022/03/17

Colin Blunstone has one of the sweetest, most distinct voices in rock, yet his band, the Zombies, has a bizarre history. It broke through with “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No,” then went three years before the release of its second album, the masterful Odessey and Oracle. By then the Zombies had split, and when “Time of the Season” became a hit almost a year later, fake versions of the band, including one featuring members of a soon-to-be-famous group, toured the U.S. Now Blunstone and

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76:12

Stevie Van Zandt

Caropop ·

2022/03/10

He’s been known as Miami Steve, Little Steven and Steve/Steven/Stevie Van Zandt. He’s been Bruce Springsteen’s and Tony Soprano’s No. 2 guy, the artistic force behind Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, the leader of his own Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul and the star of Netflix’s Lilyhammer. He united rockers and rappers to battle South African apartheid with “Sun City,” oversees three satellite radio stations and a record label, wrote the memoir Unrequited Infatuations and he wishes

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71:37

Jon Langford

Caropop ·

2022/03/03

The Mekons, the Waco Brothers, Four Lost Souls, the Pine Valley Cosmonauts—those are just some of Jon Langford’s bands, and he’s an accomplished visual artist to boot. Since moving to Chicago from England almost 30 years ago, Langford has become one of the city’s greatest assets, and during the pandemic he has performed constantly in support of small clubs and other good causes. He recalls the influence of reggae and country music on the early British punk scene, how the Mekons never were in a riot

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92:52

Jody Stephens

Caropop ·

2022/02/24

When singer-songwriter Alex Chilton and drummer Jody Stephens played their first Big Star concert in almost 20 years in 1993, Stephens said it was the first time the band had performed before a paying audience that actually knew their songs. This soulful Memphis power-pop group’s initial three albums—#1 Record, Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers—barely were heard upon release but now stand as all-time greats. Stephens, the original lineup’s sole survivor and one of rock’s good guys, recalls the

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67:39

Kevin Gray

Caropop ·

2022/02/17

If you pay close attention to the vinyl world, you know the name of Kevin Gray. He’s been mastering recordings since the early 1970s, and his name is on some of the best-sounding reissues being released, including albums by Blue Note jazz artists, Aretha Franklin, T-Rex, the Kinks, John Prine and a much-sought-after version of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. What distinguishes his work from other mastering engineers, such as previous Caropop guest Bernie Grundman? Does a great master require

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111:12

Victor Krummenacher

Caropop ·

2022/02/10

Camper Van Beethoven bassist Victor Krummenacher is a standout player in a standout band that was peaking when it imploded. This former Wired art director has a journalist’s eye for detail as he recalls how this inventive group sprung from a shambling Southern California scene, covered miles of stylistic ground, recorded songs such as “Take the Skinheads Bowling” and "Pictures of Matchstick Men” (a radio-ready cover the label ordered up for Key Lime Pie) but could not sustain the happy energy of its

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77:45

Amy Landecker

Caropop ·

2022/02/03

Amy Landecker is a working actor of many talents. She was Sarah Pfefferman on the Emmy-winning series Transparent, plays detective Nancy Costello on the Showtime series Your Honor and made an indelible impression as the heavy-lidded Mrs. Samsky in the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man. She has done tons of voiceover work and is skilled in “Primitive Sound Emanation”—an extremely loud monkey screech YOU WILL HEAR in this conversation. She also discusses the script she's writing, how COVID recently hit her

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52:10

Steve Albini, Pt. 2

Caropop ·

2022/01/27

In Part 2 of our Caropop conversation, we dive into the most famous album that Steve Albini produced, Nirvana’s In Utero. Which version does he consider to be definitive? Why does he think the controversy over his mixes, with the two singles remixed by Scott Litt, was overblown and reflects a misunderstanding of how musicians think? How did he feel about creating a new In Utero mix with the surviving band members 20 years later? Also: Do fellow producers resent him for not taking artist royalties

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54:52

Steve Albini, Pt. 1

Caropop ·

2022/01/20

Steve Albini raised his profile while recording Nirvana, the Pixies, the Breeders, P.J. Harvey and more, but he never became part of the rock machine. He works only on analog equipment, refuses to accept producer royalties and takes pride in remaining accessible to a wide variety of artists. Part 1 of this Caropop conversation takes place at his Chicago recording studio, Electrical Audio, as he discusses analog vs. digital technology, whether the digital revolution has been more of a blessing or

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117:58

Dave Gregory

Caropop ·

2022/01/13

When Dave Gregory joined XTC in 1979, he transformed the band through his muscular, melodic guitar playing, occasional keyboards and, on "1000 Umbrellas," a string arrangement. Gregory always found ways to elevate singer-guitarist Andy Partridge’s and bassist Colin Moulding’s tuneful songs, such as “Generals and Majors” and “Senses Working Overtime.” But Gregory, frustrated by Partridge’s controlling ways, quit in 1999, and the band hasn’t released new material in more than 20 years. Although all

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86:48

Ethan Russell

Caropop ·

2022/01/06

He photographed the Beatles during the Get Back project and in their final photo session. He shot the Rolling Stones during their peak years and was airlifted out of Altamont Speedway with them. He provided the indelible images for Who’s Next and other album covers. Ethan Russell was a young man from San Francisco who moved to London and became a rock ‘n’ roll photographer before that was considered a profession. He bonded with John Lennon yet kept his distance from subjects because his job was to

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57:29

Shel Talmy

Caropop ·

2021/12/30

Chicago-born producer Shel Talmy and the Kinks revolutionized rock with the distorted-guitar attack of “You Really Got Me,” so impressing Pete Townshend that the Who leader wrote “I Can’t Explain” as a Kinks-like song to lure Talmy to produce them too. Talmy did, starting with “My Generation,” and also produced the Easybeats (“Friday on My Mind”), the Creation (“Making Time”) and a young David Bowie while continuing with the Kinks. Now living in Los Angeles, Talmy has tales to tell about all of

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70:24

Sally Timms

Caropop ·

2021/12/23

Mekons concerts are dancing-in-the-face-of-the-apocalypse parties, and at their center is Sally Timms. Her beautiful, pure voice is way better than what you’d expect from a post-punk, country-tinged, what-have-you band, and, as she explains here, she feels duty-bound to spread joy from the stage, especially when times are dark. Typically quick-witted and thoughtful, she discusses the Mekons’ early days in Leeds, England, and their unique, enduring creative process; her longtime friendship with the

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107:51

Carrie Nahabedian

Caropop ·

2021/12/16

Carrie Nahabedian is a trailblazing, Michelin-starred chef, a mentor to many and a great talker. She offers an unvarnished look into what it’s like to run a high-end restaurant (Brindille) during a pandemic. Which has hit harder, staffing or supply-chain issues? Why are women leaving the hospitality industry? Why won’t she charge extra on New Year’s Eve or Valentine’s Day? Why does she hate tented dining in the winter? What’s it like to work with family? What notes do they keep about guest behavior

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71:33

Steve Dawson

Caropop ·

2021/12/09

Not only does Steve Dawson continue to be one of Chicago’s most talented and well-liked singers and songwriters—whether solo or with Funeral Bonsai Wedding or Dolly Varden—but he also has inspired countless other musicians through his innovative songwriting classes at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music. His new album At the Bottom of a Canyon in the Branches of a Tree is one of his best. In our book Take It to the Bridge: Unlocking the Great Songs Inside You, Steve and I have a dialogue about

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96:56

Bernie Grundman

Caropop ·

2021/12/02

Bernie Grundman is a legendary mastering engineer, but what is mastering, and why do people look for “BG” in the dead wax of vinyl albums? He has mastered some of the greatest, and greatest sounding, recordings of all time, including Joni Mitchell's Blue, Steely Dan’s Aja, Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall and Thriller, Prince’s classic run and OutKast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. He’s an enthusiastic talker as he discusses working with these famous artists, what he thinks of vinyl vs. CDs, and which

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208 results

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