By Hayley Dyer
HAYLEY'S COMPANION GUIDE TO EPISODE 4: MUSIC SAVED MY LIFE POD
Hey guys! Oh Em Gee. Full Disclosure. Life has been busy lately. We actually recorded this episode back in SEPTEMBER. On Labor Day MORNING. So life got busy and it took a while for us to get around to editing and honestly I wouldn’t even be telling you this but we’re a little new to this and we definitely let the cat out of the bag on the podcast. Lesson learned – I will not be mentioning any holidays or specific dates on the pod from now on… OKAY cool. Let’s talk music.
In Episode Four we discuss two bands that have been around for quite some time. Perhaps you have a favorite among the two – Arcade Fire and The War on Drugs. Both bands were coming to our hometown on the SAME NIGHT and for months we’ve been bringing up the question “WHICH BAND ARE YOU GONNA PICK TO GO SEE?!” So we thought it was only fitting to talk about them on the pod. Just several weeks earlier, Texas was hit really hard by Hurricane Harvey and we were also in the mindset of being concerned about friends and family and we had been hearing horror stories about the flooding down in Houston, so this is where our hearts and minds were centered at the time as well. [Side note – it’s been extra cool to see how people have come together to support each other during this horrible event. Proof that maybe the world isn’t ending quite so soon.]
Adam Granduciel, lead singer of The War on Drugs (photo credit: Shawn Brackbil/VICE)
Alrighty, where should we start? We started with The War on Drugs’ new album, A Deeper Understanding (which has just received a nomination for a Grammy in the Best Rock Album category!). I love that lead singer Adam Granduciel got his stage name from a little joke with his French teacher. SO FUCKING CUTE. (You’ve got to listen to the episode to get the full story…)
Something special for your ears: The War on Drugs’ cover of the Grateful Dead’s "Touch of Grey"
Win Butler of Arcade Fire – Named the 2016 MVP of the NBA All Star Celebrity Game – CHECK OUT THAT WINGSPAN, Y’ALL(photo credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS / Chris Young)
Next we discussed Arcade Fire’s 2010 The Suburbs album. Full disclosure – I don’t think I could call myself a fan of Arcade Fire until Reflektor came out in 2013. I just didn’t like their sound or get what they were all about at first. Now I love them and even love some things that I used to hate. So anyways, The Suburbs was partially inspired by Win and Will Butler’s formative years in The Woodlands, Texas, which is awesome and crazy because everybody knows that Win Butler is a hardcore Canadian.
As we were signing off, I shared a sad memory of never finishing the film Race For Your Life Charlie Brown! Just wanted to update you that I got it from the library and am going to finally see the ending this week so you can breathe easy!
APPENDIX:
Joanna Newsom’s "On A Good Day"
99% Invisible Podcast episode that touches on The Woodlands