The Sonic Road Podcast

The Sonic Road is the definitive rock podcast — in-depth interviews with the musicians, producers and label heads keeping stoner rock, heavy psych, grunge and independent music alive. Host Beau goes deep on studio secrets, touring life and the records that matter. No clickbait, no drama — just honest talk about authentic heavy music. Guests: Dave Krusen (Pearl Jam), Jay Buchanan (Rival Sons), Ewan Currie (The Sheepdogs), Ben Berdous (Slomosa). For fans of stoner rock, heavy psych, doom metal and desert rock — Black Sabbath to Kyuss to Elder.Listen: https://linktr.ee/thesonicroad

The Sonic Road Podcast is a music podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 59 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts The Sonic Road Podcast, a music show with 59 episodes published.

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  Episode #39

  Moon Destroys on New Album "Omni," Zach Amster & Going Heavier | Juan Montoya & Evan Diprima | Ep. 39

  Aug 19, 20261h 2m

  Juan Montoya (ex-Torche) and Evan Diprima (ex-Royal Thunder) of Moon Destroys join The Sonic Road Podcast to talk about the band's new album Omni, out September 4th on Blues Funeral Recordings, and the new chapter that came with adding Zach Amster of Abrams on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. In this episode: How meeting Zach Amster on the road in 2025 changed everything, and why Omni is shorter, catchier, and more immediate than She Walks by Moonlight. The origins of Moon Destroys, the debut EP with guests Troy Sanders, Paul Masvidal and Bryan Richie, the breakout 2025 run touring with Elder, Dozer and The Sword, and signing with Blues Funeral Recordings after connecting with Jadd Shickler. The making of the record — the Type O Negative and Nine Inch Nails textures on "My Eyes," keeping it DIY with Evan recording in-house, Mario Quintero of Spotlights on the mix and master, and the analog, less-is-more approach. Plus the state of the heavy underground in 2026, why albums beat singles, the venue merch-cut problem, and the upcoming US tour with The Well — including a Cleveland stop at the Beachland Ballroom where the band plans to play Omni nearly in full. Order Omni: moondestroys.bandcamp.com/album/omni Moon Destroys on Blues Funeral: bluesfuneral.com The Sonic Road Podcast: thesonicroad.com | @thesonicroad on all platforms

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  Episode #38

  Materializer on Going Heavy, DIY Touring & "As the Body Flies" | Nashville Heavy Psych Duo | Ep. 38

  Aug 5, 202647 min

  Chris and Conner Poole — the two brothers behind Nashville DIY heavy psych duo Materializer — join The Sonic Road Podcast to talk about their debut album As the Body Flies, out October 2nd on Bandcamp. Materializer is the next chapter after nearly nine years as The Swell Fellas. This episode traces the whole arc — from playing Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath covers in Ocean City, Maryland bars, to booking DIY tours in a 1991 Chevy van, to the move to Nashville in 2020 after Ben McLeod of All Them Witches invited them out to record. It's also the first episode with Becky Franzel officially co-hosting, making a duo interviewing a duo the right way to kick things off. In this episode: How Materializer built a genuinely heavy sound as a two-piece, running a pair of '70s Silverface Fender Twin Reverbs with sub-octave low end, all analog, mostly in drop C. The writing and recording of As the Body Flies — tracked at their home studio with drums cut at Gnome Recording and mixed by Ben McLeod — and where the album title comes from, pulled from a lyric at the end of the second track, "Walking Home." What watching bands like All Them Witches, King Buffalo, YOB and Cave In up close taught them about leveling up, the state of the Nashville underground in 2026, phone-bagging shows and the fight for presence in a room, why they chose the name Materializer, the reality of running a fully DIY band on night-shift jobs and endless emails, and the freedom and uncertainty of starting something new after nine years in one project. If you care about DIY heavy music, analog tone, van life on the road, and bands doing it entirely on their own terms, this one is for you. Materializer: materializerband.com | materializer.bandcamp.com | @materializerofficial The Sonic Road Podcast: thesonicroad.com | @thesonicroad on all platforms

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  Episode #37

  Ep. 37: Becky Franzel Joins The Sonic Road Podcast as Co-Host

  Jul 29, 202627 min

  Becky Franzel officially joins The Sonic Road Podcast as co-host, and she and host Beau open up about what led to this new chapter. They talk about building a real community around music conversations, the shift from Zoom interviews to in-person recording, and how Becky's ties to Milwaukee's rock scene will bring fresh stories to the show. It's the start of a new era for this stoner rock, heavy psych, and independent music podcast. Website: https://www.thesonicroad.com YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thesonicroad Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesonicroad ✖️ X: https://x.com/thesonicroad Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Sonic-Road-Podcast-61572482309190/ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sonic-road-podcast/id1796040439

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  Episode #36

  Ticket Prices Up 41%: John Gist on Ticketmaster, Live Nation & Planet Desert Rock Weekend

  Jul 21, 20261h 1m

  Concert ticket prices are up 41% since 2019, tours are getting canceled across the country, and unsold seats are showing up on Ticketmaster maps everywhere. John Gist — founder of Vegas Rock Revolution and creator of Planet Desert Rock Weekend — is building the opposite of all that. John spent years running marketing departments for Marriott and Wyndham before leaving the corporate world to promote heavy rock in Las Vegas. Seven years in, Planet Desert Rock Weekend has become one of the most carefully curated independent heavy rock festivals in the United States. In this episode: Pollstar data shows the average concert ticket went from about $96 in 2019 to nearly $136 by 2024. John breaks down where that money actually goes, how Ticketmaster and Live Nation operate, the role artist management plays, and why bands get blamed for prices they don't set. Why fewer companies controlling more of the industry is a problem, why marketing spend separates bands who sell tickets from bands who play to twenty people, and what "blue dot fever" says about the current touring market. The philosophy behind Planet Desert Rock Weekend: one stage, no overlapping sets, twenty minutes between bands, full 45 to 60 minute sets, and evening-only shows so people can enjoy Las Vegas during the day. John supplies the backline for international bands, obsesses over sound quality, and books at The Usual Place near Fremont Street so fans can walk from their hotel. Also covered: losing tens of thousands of dollars on the second edition in 2019 and rebuilding from scratch at volume three with John Garcia and Nebula, growing up on Circus and Hit Parader magazines, hearing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the first time from a cover band at a fraternity house, Kyuss in 1993, why Las Vegas has never had a real stoner rock culture, and his years co-hosting the Doomed & Stoned Show with Billy Goate and Bucky Brown. Planet Desert Rock Weekend VII runs January 28–31, 2027 at The Usual Place in Las Vegas — 21 bands from 9 countries over four evenings, including Greenleaf's exclusive West Coast show, Howling Giant playing their side of the Ripple Music split with Sergeant Thunderhoof for the first time ever, plus Sasquatch, Mothership, Black Rainbows, Cowboys & Aliens, Carousel and The Cold Stares. Tickets on Eventbrite. Vegas Rock Revolution: vegasrockrevolution.net | vegasrockrevolution.com | @vegasrockrevolution The Sonic Road Podcast: thesonicroad.com | @thesonicroad on all platforms

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  Episode #35

  Jadd Shickler on Building Blues Funeral, Magnetic Eye Records & 30 Years in Heavy Music | EP.35

  Jul 7, 20261h 8m

  Jadd Shickler — founder of Blues Funeral Recordings, director of Magnetic Eye Records, and lead vocalist of Blue Heron — joins The Sonic Road Podcast for a career-spanning conversation about a life in heavy music that goes all the way back to the beginning of the stoner rock scene. Jadd has been shaping the heavy underground for nearly thirty years. In this episode he walks through the entire journey — from taping songs off the radio as a kid in 1984 and discovering the world of underground music through his older brother's mixtapes, to the grunge era, to founding the All That's Heavy online store in 1997 around a Kyuss bootleg and a dedicated landline phone in a house full of roommates. From there the conversation moves through the founding of MeteorCity Records — one of the first labels dedicated to stoner rock — the genre-defining Welcome to MeteorCity compilation, and the early demos that fell into their laps from a teenage Peder from Lowrider, Tommi from Dozer, and the New Jersey bands Solace and The Atomic Bitchwax. Jadd also tells the story of starting his own band in reverse order — filling in for Maryland doom band Iron Man on three weeks' notice in 2000, having never sung live before. The second half digs into the modern era — selling MeteorCity, stepping away from music for years, returning through writing before joining Magnetic Eye Records, and eventually founding Blues Funeral Recordings in 2018. Jadd breaks down the origin of the PostWax vinyl subscription series, the two-year pursuit of Elder that he finally closed with a SoundCloud audio message, the Mark Lanegan collaboration on the Domkraft record, and what a day in the life of running two labels actually looks like in 2026. He also gets candid about the business side that most labels won't discuss — transparency, delivering honest sales statements to bands, why "that which is measured improves," how Elder got burned before coming back to work with him, and why it's so easy to take advantage of artists who just want to make music. Plus: the Clutch story from a 2003 European tour, the health of the scene in 2026, why there are more bands than ever but attention is harder to earn, the younger fans showing up to Slomosa and Corrosion of Conformity shows, and balancing Blue Heron with running two labels. This is a deep one for anyone who cares about the heavy underground, the business of independent music, or the story of how the stoner rock scene actually got built — told by someone who was there from the start. 🔔 SUBSCRIBE to The Sonic Road Podcast: thesonicroad.com | linktr.ee/thesonicroad 📲 FOLLOW THE SONIC ROAD PODCAST: @thesonicroad on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook & X thesonicroad.com 📲 FOLLOW BLUES FUNERAL RECORDINGS: bluesfuneral.com | @blues.funeral 📲 FOLLOW MAGNETIC EYE RECORDS: merhq.net | @magneticeyerecords 📲 FOLLOW BLUE HERON: blueheronabq.bandcamp.com | @blueheronabq

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