Mar 20, 2023
The next 3 episodes are inter-related and create an arc that has become something I had not necessarily intended. The original premise and core of the episodes is to take songs from one of my favorite lesser known bands of the last 15 years and revealing what I feel are influences on the band. These influences include some of the biggest bands in the last 50 years.
This episode starts with a project that I've been working on ever since the beginning of Covid. The first song we discuss may seem to not be related to the overall discussion and its placement becomes evident eventually. It was a last minute inclusion that ended up changing the overall narrative of Part 1 and Part 2.
In researching the artist Wilder Woods and the band Needtobreathe it led me to the Texas band the Toadies. This started the discussion about the search for a higher plane/higher power.
We finally get to the core artist after about 18 minutes, the Nashville indie rock band Manic Bloom. On their website they term themselves "Epic Melodic Rock" and the moniker is a good one. They put out three records (An EP and two albums) between 2008-15. This band commanded my personal chart between 2009 and 2016 with nine #1's, two #2's and 5 more songs making my top 15.
By comparing their music to well-known bands we get into some background on those bands. The first of those bands had my favorite song of all-time for a period of time from the mid-90's to the mid-2000's. We talk about Eastern philosophy, where energy comes, an 80's-style guitar solo from and an iconic album from the '70's (one one of favorites of the era).