Lena McFrison's band The Loyal Cheaters will be playing with Will's band in Astoria Queens on November 2nd the last day of their US tour. Before that they sit down to talk about discovering Punk Rock and putting on shows in a small town in Italy. the logistics of planning a tour of the USA as an international DIY act, Their upcoming show at The Fes…

Goalkeeper guitarist Marc Juliano returns to the show ahead of the band's new ep Pins and Needles during their tour with Calling All Captains. He talks to Will about their newest single Black Hole, the heavier direction that they are taking musically and lyrically on the new ep, his current live set up and the bands current tour opening for Calling…

Larry Spahn recently celebrated two milestone anniversaries of his pop punk band On Hiatus, and his hardcore punk band But, Pyrite. He talks to Will about growing up in Queens, New York, how started by playing bass cause a friend told him he needed a bassist, his degree in history, the inspiration for the brutal riffs and goofy lyrics of But, Pyrit…

A lot has changed since the last time Aaron Barkstrom was on the show. He has a new band Suburban Surf Club and a new ep titled Something Higher. He talks to Will about their summer concert schedules, The collaborative writing process of the new ep, his deep dive into listening to The Grateful Dead and Surf Rock and how these diverse influences com…

Mike and Rob's band The Challenged have been a part of their lives and the NYC music scene for 20 years. They tell Will about the DIY and house show scene in Brooklyn, sharing the stage with punk rock legends, learning how to record all of their own music, songwriting and how the band is critical part of their emotional and physical well being. Lis…

On Hiatus vocalist/bassist Tom Lee Rose is dedicated to building up the punk rock scene in Des Moines, Iowa, and continuing the band throught van tours and incrediable loss. He talks to Will about the band's recent tour, the music scene in Iowa, the music that drew him to bass guitar, self recording the band's newest ep One More Day, and the small …

Precursor guitarist Stuart Mckillop says the bands music is a product of their surroundings and the angst that you discover when you get older. He talks to Will about the band's new album Thick & Thin, working with the bands lead vocalist on song rewrites, the recording and engineering of the album, the punk scene in Vancouver, BC of the late 90s e…

Pat Condon graduated college just as Covid descended on the world, but it only slightly delayed his plans of moving in NYC. He talks to Will about growing up in rural upstate New York, playing in cover bands, working at a rental car place solo, how the first interation of the band came together before Will joined, Skip Lag's new single Rhode Island…

Musician Dani Nash splits her time between being an in-demand touring drummer for some of Canada's top artists with her own career as a singer-songwriter. She talk to Will about the writing process for her new singles Ordinary Love and Anything at All, how being a drummer first influences her songwriting process, Madonna's influence on her when she…

Creating music is crucial to who Tony Lovato is as a person and he has done that with Mest for nearly 30 years. He talks to Will about Mest's recent Japan tour, finding a dream guitar in Tokyo, Chicagos legendary DIY punk venue Fireside Bowl, his relationship with John Feldmann, what he learned about songwriting from making four records with John, …

Writer and comedian Chloe Hawker started comedy as a release valve from attending Harvard Law School. She talks to Will about growing up in Colorado at high altitude, the musical rent, theories on the legal system and international relations, sketch comedy, writing, and finding The Peoples Improv Theater before moving to NYC. Chloe's website: https…

Emily Bones joins the show ahead of the release of her band The Anti-Queens second album Disenchanted. She talks to Will about growing up going to concerts in Toronto Canada with the help of cool parents, the city's formative DIY venues, touring America in a van, her growth as a songwriter over the course of the band, and plans for touring in the f…

Comedian and writer Erin Gonyeau is She talks to Will about interning at Disney World, growing up in Connecticut, attending college for dramatic acting, discovering sketch comedy, the basics of sketch writing, and her shows at The People's Improv Theater the newer Your Father and I, and the extremely popular Love is Live. Erin's linktree: https://l…

Comedian Jake Otero has structured his life around stand up comedy. He talks to Will about growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico pre and post Breaking Bad, the cities up and coming stand up scene anchored by Dry Head Comedy Club, getting sober at a young age, discovering stand up comedy, working with National Headliners, and he and Will share their…

Jason Lamb spent years grinding on the Canadian Comedy Scene in a fashion that parallels the band which is the subject of his new book NoMeansNo: From Obscurity to Oblivion: An Oral History. He talks to Will about the uniquely original punk scene that developed in his hometown of Victoria, British Columbia, his introduction to NoMeansNo, the Canadi…

Writer and comedian Jason Saenz's new solo show the Wheel World recounts his experience of becoming paralyzed, and his experience of trying to adapt to a world that does not consider wheelchair users. He talks to Will about his experience performing at New Faces at Just For Laughs Montreal, starting improv in Washington DC, working as Steve Harvey'…

It's Christmas day which means it's time for Paul Cohen of Backdoor BBQ and Will to talk the year of Pop Punk. From a year of amazing tours, long anticipated reunions, amazing new bands, and excellent new records from established bands. There is a lot of great music in 2023 to talk about! Will and Paul's 2023 Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/play…

Guitarist Matthew Jenkins and Drummer Brandon Ossont of the Scranton, PA emo band The Maguas sit down with Will to discuss the writing and recording of their new album Settled, what they learned working with producer Nik Bruzzese of Man Overboard, the one song they could not master as a cover band, the role of the drummer in the song writing proces…

This week for the Holiday season enjoy an interview from my 2nd Podcast the Hallmark Aftershow Podcast. My Wife and I interviewed author Richard Wagner about his new children's book Needles the Forgotten Christmas Tree. Get your copy today https://needlesthechristmastree.com/ Follow Richard: https://www.instagram.com/richardwagnerauthor/…

Will's long time friend Kevin Froleiks set a goal for 2023 to record 4 music albums in 4 genres and he completes this goal with his just released 90's rock influenced album We Have Your Son, But Please Take Him Back under his moniker Goodbye Charlemagne. He talks to Will about the influences behind this album, the tools he uses for recording electr…

Lily Giannoni is the process of building an extensive body of work in acting, sketch and screen writing. She talk to Will about growing up in small town New York, studying screenwriting, auditioning in New York City, writing and acting in short films, sketch comedy and the community around The Pit NYC, Her love of Ska music and what she wants to cr…

Vinnie Fiorello (Less Than Jake, The Inevitables, Fueled By Ramen Records) returns to Between Awesome and Disaster to discuss the opening of The Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas. He talks to Will about how Fat Mike brought him into the project, curating a museum that encapsulates 50 years of punk rock history, why Las Vegas is the perfection location …

Lunachicks guitarist Gina Volpe combines a lifetimes worth of musical influences into her new single Drink Me and upcoming new album. She talks to Will about growing up in New York City, playing shows at CBGB's as a teenager, working in the studio with Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon from Sonic Youth, Fat Mike from NOFX, playing shows with the Ramone…

Comedian Matt Ziegler is in the middle of his dream as a performer in New York City. He talks to Will about the recent Sketchfest at The Pit in New York City. Growing up between Florida and Columbia, working in Radio, how he got to NYC, Sketch Comedy, his group Febster and where he hopes to go next in comedy. Matt on Instagram: https://www.instagra…

It's 2023 and Leo and Will's Favorite band has put out a new album. Leo Quinn returns to the podcast to breakdown track by track Blink 182's new album One More Time. Will's Website: www.awesomedisaster.com Podcast Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/between-awesome-and-disaster Get exclusive music and videos at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/awes…

Ray Harkins from 2019

Matt Pezza of All Systems Go returns with the bands drummer Joe Codispoti after a summer that saw the band experience and overcome a tragic loss. The talk to Will about the writing and recording of the band's newest single The Lowdown, working with producer Gary Cioni, how the song took on added meaning, and the alarming number of emails one has to…

Jake Flores from 2019

My chat with Schaffer the Darklord from 2018

Comedian Gianmarco Soresi from 2018

Comedian Gia Doxey and Will are former high school theater kids who made good on their plans to move to NYC and make art. She talks to Will about growing up conservative in Florida, musical theater, moving to New York City, how close she got to her dream of working at 30 rock, her love of sketch comedy, stand up comedy and her podcast about the mus…

Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon continues to push himself as a songwriter on the band's first album in nine years History Books. He talks to Will about the bounty of creativity and great bands he saw in the New Jersey basement scene of the later 90s, performing at open mics as a solo artist, smaller cities and towns that surprised him on the …

Comedian FreddyG and Will share the comedian trait of learning about a subject and then learning everything about said subject. Freddy tells Will about growing up in Queens, attending Jewish school, finding improv as an escape from his day job and then later stand up, the NYC open mic scene, getting millions of views on TikTok, current day politics…

Lana Ryma has been in music as a drummer, a venue owner, and now a lead vocalist with The Get Arounds. She talks to Will about the music scene in Canada, getting to tour with Blink-182, becoming a lead singer after years behind the drum kit, songwriting, advice for bands as a venue owner, and The Get Arounds debut full length I Wanna Live. Listen t…

Brandon Bujnowski makes music with his band Bedpan Fight, releases it with his label Knuckledown Records, and records it and others at his studio If and Only If Productions. He talks to Will about Blink- 182's recent Madison Square Garden show, his love of 90s melodic punk rock, growing up with a stand up comic mom, recording school, producing trap…

Chris Griggs' years of experience as a stand up comic and improvisor informs his approach as a teacher at The Peoples Improv Theater. He talks to Will about working to get passed at New York City Comedy Clubs, Improv comedy, his recent experiments in playing with the traditional forms of improv, acting and his approach to teaching improv to comics.…

Comedian Myq Kaplan is a brilliantly funny, and insightful comic with a command of language. He talks to Will from his hotel room in Minnesota about what makes the best comedy clubs the best comedy clubs, is masters degree in linguistics, how he got into stand up comedy, touring, performing material for crowds that don't agree with you politically …

Comedian Patrick Hastie returns to Between Awesome and Disaster after an eventful 5 years that includes several goals from his last appearance coming into existence. He talks to Will about how the Covid-19 pandemic affected him mentally, and his comedy career, the steps he took to improve his mental health, how he avoids online arguments about stan…

Rerelease of my chat with Frnd Crcl Drummer Aaron Smith from 2021

Rerelease of my chat with Zac Johnson of Frnd Crcl from 2021

Alex's band Brooklane got to play a single show before the Covid pandemic shut down live music. He talks to Will about growing up in North Dakota, how he found his love of singing, his beginnings in deathcore, writing the song Here to Stay and getting Jason Lancaster to do a guest vocal, and the bands new EP Stay Toxic. Brooklane on Instagram: http…

Comedian Brendan Fitzgibbon's interviews lifestyle coaches on his podcast Spiritual Asshole, and as of this moment is a comedy writer on strike. He talks to Will about the conditions that have lead to the current WGA strike and why it's important for the future of writing as a career option, moving to New York City from the Midwest, and then trying…

Chris Wrenn began what would become Bridge 9 Records as a teenager in New England, and has since but out over 300 records. He talks to Will about Deep Purple being is gateway into heavy guitar music, the New England Hardcore scene, how he started putting out seven inch splits with local bands, what Bridge 9 looks for in bands it works for, what ban…

Rerelease of Episode 2 with Drew Whitney Morgan from January 2016

Becca Burg finds that Improv comedy allows her to be in a flow state of Singular focus. She talks to Will about growing up and being exposed to Theater in Florida, studying Environmental Science, the North Atlantic Garbage patch, finding improv as an outlet from Work and studies, moving to New York City, discovering The Pit, directing sketch comedy…

Jameer Pond was away from the stage for a while, but it was a storytelling class that he happened into after a humiliating experience that happened on stage at his day job that lead him back to the stage. He talks to Will about growing up in Brooklyn, discovering sketch comedy, starting in stand up comedy, how he ended up pivoting to the storytelli…

Guitarist/ Vocalist Ryan Malott's love of both Bluegrass/ and punk rock is on display in his band 500 Miles to Memphis. He talks to Will about the writing of the songs Broken, Busted, Bloody, and All My Friends are Crazy, struggles with addiction both personally and in his family, how the classic album Sunshine in a shotglass allowed the band to pl…

Greg Norton's new band UltraBomb wrote and recorded their debut album Time To Burn in Berlin much faster then expected. He tells Will how the album came together in a matter of days, where he was mentally when he wrote the majority of the albums lyrics, how his approach to writing and bass has evolved since his time in Husker Du, Touring in 2023 co…

Comedian Rashad Bashir and Will met when they were very new comics and working as ushers at Radio City Music Hall. He talks to Will about growing up in New York City, performing comedy at talent shows and having it go well and not go well, his time in theater, finding stand up comedy, what he's learned about producing live comedy and the future. Ra…

Comedian Ariel Elias turned getting attacked by a heckler at a show it into an opportunity. She talks to Will about growing up Jewish in Lexington, Kentucky, discovering stand up comedy by listening to The Bob & Tom radio show, starting comedy in New Orleans, moving to New York City, performing outdoors in the first summer of the pandemic, how gett…