Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner On Season Finale Of Major Label Debut Podcast

01-06-2025

(The Syndicate) The Major Label Debut podcast series today shares episode 6, the final episode of Season 1, featuring Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum discussing their 1988 album Hang Time. This episode follows on the heels of Brenda Sauter of The Feelies their 1988 album, Only Life - listen to all of Season 1 here.

Hosted by Graham Wright of Tokyo Police Club, and produced by John Paul Bullock and Josh Hook, the six episode first season explores what it means to plug into the corporate machine. Wright speaks with musicians, producers and industry insiders about the successes and sometimes colossal failures of major label debut albums.

Discussing the podcast, Wright notes, "Everybody knows that art and commerce are strange and uneasy bedfellows, but I'm intrigued by the specific ways that sharing that bed changes the art that comes out of it. People are happy to sh*t talk the business, which often deserves it, but it's way less common to hear artists actually wrangle with how their art has been transformed by the commercial necessities of being a working musician. The idea behind the podcast is to try and get into all that stuff. As well as just to talk to artists about how they write songs and make records. Before I was ever in a band, I was a humungous music fan, and I loved any opportunity to peak behind the curtain. Now that I've had a chance to walk around back there, I can never resist pulling the curtain back for my fellow obsessives."

Season One of Major Label Debut features discussions with producer Rob Schnapf on Elliott Smith's XO, Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket on their album Fear, Bob Mehr on his book Trouble Boys and The Replacements' Tim, Mark Arm and Steve Turner of Mudhoney on their album Piece of Cake, Brenda Sauter of The Feelies on Only Life, and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum on Hang Time.

In each episode Wright goes in depth about what happens when a band signs to a major label. Featuring candid conversations about the intersection of art and commerce. Stream the new episode below or via other major providers here