This episode’s guest is DJ, music historian, and curator, DJ Amir Abdullah. Known for his On Track mixtapes with DJ Kon, Amir currently run his own record label, 180-Proof (founded in 2011), which owns the exclusive rights to release Strata Records’ influential back catalog and unreleased sessions. This is a re-issue of an interview I did with DJ Amir back in December 2018 for the Fresh is the Word Podcast that would fit well as a Renaissance Soul episode. During our conversation, we talked about Amir’s roots in music, his collaborations with DJ Kon and the On Track mixtapes, becoming a music ..read more

For this episode of Renaissance Soul, I’m joined by Dave Stephens, founding member and vocalist of the Troy, Michigan metalcore band We Came As Romans, as we talk about their debut album To Plant A Seed. Originally released on November 3, 2009 via Equal Vision Records, a deluxe edition of the album was released on January 18, 2011 which includes one bonus track and a DVD titled To Plant a DVD. In covering this monumental debut album, we talk about the beginnings of the band through their early touring and their two EPs, Dreams and Demonstrations, both self released in 2008 before getting signe ..read more

For this episode of Renaissance Soul, I’m joined by singer-songwriter, musician, actress, and Detroit rock pioneer and legend Suzi Quatro to talk about her new album The Devil In Me, released on March 26, 2021 via Steamhammer / SPV. Now at the age of 70 with 54 years in the music game, Suzi Quatro helped kicked down the doors for the women who wanted to rock! The Devil In Me is the second time she collaborated with her son Richard Tuckey after 2019’s No Control, a decision made after both their touring schedules were cancelled due to the pandemic. As you will hear, Suzi Quatro has a poetic min ..read more

For this episode of Renaissance Soul, I’m joined by Chloë Drallos to talk about her debut full-length album DOOMPOP under the moniker of Zilched. Based on the grunge influences of her teens like Nirvana and Jesus and Mary Chain, this new face of Detroit’s rock scene hits it out of the park with DOOMPOP, a collection of dark and melancholy songs that’s dips into the psyche of the young singer/songwriter during those formative years approaching inevitable adulthood. Together, we go through each track talking about the stories behind them, along with life before writing DOOMPOP, and the making of ..read more

For this episode of Renaissance Soul, I’m joined by indie singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, and all around jack of all music trades, Fred Thomas, band leader of Saturday Looks Good To Me as we talk about their 2003 album All Your Summer Songs. Coming from the Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor area, Fred Thomas’ contributions to the Michigan music scene are just as prevalent in Detroit. With a couple local releases for Saturday Looks Good To Me in 2000, All Your Summer Songs was the first real album for this project of Thomas’ – released via Polyvinyl Record Company in 2003. While many of us have a pla ..read more

For this episode of Renaissance Soul, we go back in time with legendary jazz clarinet player and saxophonist and co-founder of Detroit’s Tribe collective, Wendell Harrison. Back in the end of 2019, the London-based Strut Records released Hometown: Detroit Sessions 1990 - 2014, the first compilation bringing together the modern era recordings of Tribe, Detroit’s acclaimed independent jazz collective. Tribe began as a musical ensemble in 1971 co-founded by saxophonist Wendell Harrison and trombonist Phil Ranelin that soon expanded into a broad amalgam including a live collective and independent ..read more

For this episode, we are joined by Detroit hip-hop artist T. Calmese, member of the creative counter-culture collective The Black Opera, and his debut album Time and Time Again. Formerly known as Illite of the Subterraneous Crew (OneBeLo et al), Detroit native emcee T. Calmese has released several solo mixtapes, as well as collaborative albums with fellow Michigan emcees Octane (currently known as Ro Spit) and Vaughan T (of Athletic Mic League). After taking an extended break from making music, the feeling never fully left T. Calmese and a few years ago, he started to pick up the pen again in ..read more

For this episode, your host Kelly “K-Fresh” Frazier is joined by Hobey Echlin, bassist of the early 90s Detroit shoegaze band Majesty Crush. They were an anomaly in the Detroit music scene as they were compared to bands with the shoegaze sound that typically comes from the UK, but they were oddly connected to so much within the city of Detroit. They were surrounded by other artists who also didn’t fit in any creative box while their lush, dreamy sounds along with the colorful members of the bands (especially vocalist David Stroughter) made them memorable around the city. But it was the passion ..read more

For this episode, your host Kelly “K-Fresh” Frazier is joined by Eric Lauder, guitarist of the Detroit thrash/death metal band Plague Years, as we talk about their debut full-length album Circle of Darkness released September 18th 2020 via Entertainment One (or eOne). While the idea of the band has technically been around for about a decade now, Plague Years only started to make it more of a serious band within the past few years with the release of two EPs, 2017’s self-titled EP and 2018’s Unholy Infestation EP. Eric shares with us the origins of the band, how they got signed to eOne, along w ..read more

For this episode, your host Kelly “K-Fresh” Frazier is joined by Parker Bengry and Chris Williams, just two guys known as The Messenger Birds. The Detroit alternative rockers released their debut album Everything Has To Fall Apart Eventually on October 7th, 2020. We go into the origins of the band as both guys, who have long been close friends, found themselves in countless other bands before finally coming together in 2015 to form this duo. We also go on a track-by-track breakdown of Everything Has To Fall Apart Eventually along with discuss their videos, the album artwork, and having Third M ..read more