Talkhouse Podcast

On the latest episode of Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That, Nick Dawson sits down with Goran Stolevski, the Macedonian-Australian writer-director whose films You Won’t Be Alone, Of An Age and Housekeeping for Beginners are arguably the best first three features by any filmmaker in recent memory.

Over the course of a strikingly frank conversation, Stolevski talks about why writing a shitty script is a quicker road to filmmaking success, why he won’t be making Monopoly: The Movie, his revisionist take on Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, why the apocalypse will not feature anyone who looks like Pedro Pascal, why he wishes he didn’t want to make movies, and much more.

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That now has a Substack, so head there to check out all of our past episodes, plus subscribe to get access to exclusive audio and video content!

Hey Talkhouse listeners, it's Josh Modell. Instead of a new episode this week, we're resurfacing a great one from a few years back between Blondshell and Maya Hawke. Blondshell, aka Sabrina Teitelbaum, released a new song recently and she's about to hit the road for a big tour. Maya Hawke is an actor who just signed on to star in the upcoming Netflix show The God of the Woods and she makes great records as well. Check it out!

—Josh Modell, Host of the Talkhouse Podcast 

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got two performers who’ve got friends in common, and became fast friends themselves while recording this chat: Maya Hawke and Sabrina Teitelbaum.

Maya Hawke is best known for her day job as an actor, most visibly in a little show called Stranger Things, and she was also in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the new Wes Anderson movie, Asteroid City. But as you’ll hear in this chat, she might be most excited by a side path as a singer and songwriter. Hawke has released two understated but fantastic albums so far, and she’s basically finished another. The vibe is sort of indie-folk, sort of floating and ambient but lyrically really engaging. She’s worked with some cool folks to realize her musical vision, including Christian Lee Hutson, who’s the “Christian” referenced in this conversation, just so you know. ⁠Check out⁠ a “Sweet Tooth” from Hawke’s 2022 album Moss right here.

Sabrina Teitelbaum just released her debut album under the name Blondshell, and it’s one of the best of 2023 so far. She describes it in this conversation as an emergency album—meaning a bunch of songs that she felt almost desperate to write, record, and unleash on the world. It’s direct and angry in spots, but also darkly funny and completely unafraid. She’s toured with the likes of Horsegirl and Porridge Radio, which might give some indication of what you’re in for. Or I could just play you Blondshell’s opus, “Salad,” right here. ⁠Check it out⁠.

These two have a fantastic conversation, and just in case it’s not clear from the context, they’re both good friends with the singer Samia, and each has contributed to a Samia covers series called Honey Reimagained. Blondshell did a song called “Charm You,” which is available now. Elsewhere in this chat, they talk about Hawke’s playing “body air guitar,” the weird emotional hit you get when a tour is finished, and the difficulties of stage banter. Enjoy.

0:00 Intro

3:20: Start of Conversation

3:21: On mutual friends and covering songs

4:58: On “perceived vulnerability” and perspectives in their songwriting

9:08: On sad songs, music you can play for friends, and “Olympus”

10:57: On the writing and jazz experiences that inspired Maya’s music

12:48: On the physicality of performing, feeling the music, and performance art

14:41: On playing live, post-tour loneliness, and active vs. passive time

20:06: On maintaining friendships

21:17: On Maya’s latest record

22:54: On onstage banter, scripting shows, and keeping shows fresh

25:53: On finishing a record and learning from the experience

27:43: On music serving as a snapshot of an artists’ life

28:26: On promoting music creatively and authentically, and social media

33:19: On the songwriting process, and tv show narratives’ influences on our experiences

38:40: On being inspired by friendships

42:13: On Maya titling her album “Moss”

43:40: On writing about past pain, and trying to balance it with joy

Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Sabrina Teiltelbaum and Maya Hawke for chatting.

If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great stuff at ⁠Talkhouse.com⁠. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more. Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠.

On the latest episode of Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That, Nick Dawson sits down with one of the greatest living documentary filmmakers, Kirsten Johnson, the director of Cameraperson and Dick Johnson is Dead.

In a very personal conversation that draws on their shared history around death and their parents, the two talk about their mutual pursuit of connection, Johnson growing up in the shadow of an imminent apocalypse, the truly remarkable dream she had while shooting in Sudan, a great story about Stephen Colbert’s hands, the disappointing way in which she and a legendary artist have not been collaborating, and much more.

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That now has a Substack, so head there to check out all of our past episodes, plus subscribe to get access to exclusive audio and video content!

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got an absolute legend of the punk rock world in conversation with one of his band’s biggest fans—who also happens to play bass in one of the world’s most famous rock bands. It’s Joe Keithley and Duff McKagan.

Joe Keithley has been known for the vast majority of his life as Joey Shithead, singer and guitarist for the band D.O.A., which is coming up on its 50th year of existence. D.O.A. are absolute legends that have always existed on the margins—I don’t think they’d have it any other way—and who influenced and crossed paths with countless bands over the years. They’re credited with bringing the word “hardcore” into the punk lexicon with their album Hardcore ‘81, and guys like Billie Joe Armstrong and Kurt Cobain were vocal fans. Politics and activism have always been part of D.O.A.’s DNA, so it’s no surprise that Keithley decided to run for office in his native Burnaby, Canada. It was a surprise, even to him, that he actually won, and he’s been representing his area for nearly eight years. There’s a new documentary out now called Something Better Change that covers his life both as a musician and a politician, and it’s definitely worth your time. It even comes as a DVD extra in a new double-LP greatest hits collection called Take on the Tyrants: The Very Best of Punk Rock’s Most Enduring Band. Check out the trailer for the doc right here.

Duff McKagan is a lifelong D.O.A. fan; as you’ll hear in this chat, he was onto them super early, including attending a legendary hardcore festival in Canada. McKagan probably needs no introduction here: He’s the longtime bassist and founding member of Guns N' Roses, with whom he still tours—he Zooms into this chat having just landed in Poland for some gigs. But McKagan’s fascinating career and history goes well beyond GnR; he was part of the Seattle punk scene starting as a teen, and he’s been a member of more bands, big and small, than you can count. He’s also an accomplished writer whose autobiography is well worth a read and he’s got a string of solo albums and collaborations. He’s always busy, and he clearly loves music, as you’ll hear in this chat.

In addition to talking about his love for D.O.A., McKagan talks with Keithley here about the good old days of punk rock, diving deep on Black Flag in particular. They also chat about Keithley’s political career and his new venture as the face of a Canadian guitar company. It’s a fun, lively conversation—enjoy.

0:00 — Intro

2:40 — Start of Conversation

3:26 — On how D.O.A shaped Duff’s perspectives on music, and on receiving their album

4:47 — On traveling in Europe on tour, and cities with the best rock audiences

7:52 — On traveling through East and West Germany, and how fans got new music in East Germany

9:53 — On D.O.A’s documentary, Something Better Change, and the politics, music, and punk culture that inspired them both

14:05 — On the Vietnam War and its impacts on music

15:05 — On Joe’s political campaigns, door-knocking, and learning about diverse cultures

18:57 — On crossing borders on tour

22:12 — On local politics and aggressive campaign commercials

24:44 — On touring, and attending graduations

26:23 — On Joe’s new line of guitars

27:46 — On D.O.A’s influence on Duff, D.O.A’s early days, and meeting other punk musicians

Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Joe Keithley and Duff McKagan for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great stuff at Talkhouse.com. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more. Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.

On the latest episode Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That, Nick Dawson sits down with Charles Lane, the writer-director-actor behind the landmark indie film classic Sidewalk Stories. In a lively and frequently surprising conversation, Lane talks about such disparate subjects as how to make high-school love work (with some creative scheduling), being chased by street gangs and dinosaurs, how he copes with regret, his time as a pre-teen pyromaniac, the places one’s brain goes during a 12-minute (!) standing ovation at Cannes, becoming a Jehovah’s Witness as an act of teenage rebellion, and much more.

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That now has a Substack, so head there to check out all of our past episodes, plus subscribe to get access to exclusive audio and video content!