Only Three Lads - Classic Alternative Music Podcast

This week's Third Lad Wesley Stace (aka singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding) had dinner reservations to get to, which meant that we didn't get to play this absurdly fun O3L game with him - "The Dylan Dylemma".

But, hey, we're not ones to let a good game go to waste. Play along with our only contestant, Uncle Gregg, as he is challenged to guess which quote came from which famous Dylan - Nobel Prize winning, Rock n' Roll Hall Fame troubadour Bob Dylan; hard-drinking Welsh poet Dylan Thomas; or brooding Porsche owner Dylan McKay (as played by Luke Perry on the hit '90s TV show Beverly Hills 90210).

How well do YOU know your Dylans!?
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With over 1,500 covers of 350+ compositions by over 600 artists, Bob Dylanis is clearly one of the most frequently covered songwriters in music history. His material has been covered at some point by a wide range of rock, pop, folk, soul, blues, country, and jazz artists. For a folkie from Minnesota inspired by songs learned from Woody Guthrie to a rock legend, he has built a songbook that will surely be passed down as long as there are voices to sing and ears to listen.

Appropriately enough, our Third Lad is a prolific singer / songwriter who cribbed the stage name that he’s used throughout his career from one of Dylan’s iconic records. Since the late ‘80s, British born and raised Wesley Stace and his alter ego John Wesley Harding has strung together a remarkable and varied catalogue, from early records like 1989’s Here Comes The Groom and 1991’s The Name Above The Title that grabbed the attention of alternative radio and MTV to recent critical favorites like the Americana of 2017’s Wesley Stace’s John Wesley Harding and the elegance of 2021’s Late Style. His brand new album on Pravda Records, One Last Heist, is an organic, slinky, groovy affair - one that will surely thrill long time fans of Wesley’s clever narratives and exquisite songcraft, yet doesn’t quite sound like anything he’s ever done before. As if he wasn’t already a renaissance man, he’s also penned four novels and since 2009 has curated the recurring live variety show Wesley Stace’s Cabinet of Wonders at New York’s City Winery, featuring a few dropping assortment of his creative friends from the worlds of music, literature, and comedy.

Special thanks to Howard Wuelfing for his introduction and coordination.
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Explore the past, present, and future as we welcome the return of one of the most pivotal figures of alternative music, Robyn Hitchcock!

The past: We wax ecstatic about the best albums of 1968, the year that happens to be the launching point in Robyn's newly released second memoir, Stranded In The Future (Akashic Books).

The present: Stranded In The Future is a delightfully surreal self-portrait of the artist as a young man, from teenage obsessions through to the formation of his seminal band The Soft Boys. Fans of his first volume, 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left, will delight in how the story continues to unfold. But Robyn has not only turned in an exquisitely crafted page-turner in 2026, he also also released an exquisitely crafted new album, The Confuser, on Tiny Ghost Records. It's a record bearing all of the trademarks of classic Hitchcock - absurdist imagery, clever lyrical turns, sparkling pop melodies, and the perfect combination of jangle and groove.

The future: The lads contemplate the future of rock n' roll and the impact of artificial intelligence on art and life.

We are this thing.

Thanks to Holly Watson from Holly Watson PR for the coodination!
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Go ahead. Laugh and point as Brett struggles through pronunciations...because this week, we're taking on the Top 5 German Albums. Diese Alben sind sehr gut!

Fortunately, we are joined by the gloriously cinematic experimental duo hackedepicciotto - comprised of musical and life partners Alexander Hacke (formerly of German post-punk/industrial pioneers Einstürzende Neubauten) and multi-disciplinary artist Danielle DePicciotto. Their newly released 10th album, Lichtung (Mute Records), is a beautiful, expansive mix of electronics and organic instrumentation, with lyrics - for the first time in their discography - written entirely in German. As Alex and Danielle put it, "[Lichtung] means a clearing, a place in which you can suddenly see the light in a dark forest, a place to rest. As the world seems to be spinning ever more quickly into a place of madness, being in this quiet place helps us think about how to deal with it all.”

Put on your best tablecloth dress and listen to our picks, get swept up in the love story of Alex and Danielle, take in a history lesson or two, learn what the "ZZ Top Theory" is, and much, much more.

Special thanks to Howard Wuelfing from Howlin' Wuelf Media for the introduction and coordination.
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It's time for another in our series of label spotlights, as this week we turn our focus to Hoboken indie Bar/None Records, celebrating its 40th anniversary. Joining us is no better authority than the most omni-present figure in the label's history, Glenn Morrow! In 1986, Glenn's band Rage to Live became the first act signed to startup label Bar/None. Later that year, Glenn would become a partner with the label's founder Tom Prendergast and eventually sole proprietor - a post he held until earlier this year.

Even though he stepped away from his role at the label, his third opus with his current outfit Glenn Morrow's Cry For Help, Our Final Album - Vol. 1, is out now on (what else??) Bar/None Records. The album features 11 new songs and finds the band exploring a number of styles and moods that are sure to please long-time fans as well as newcomers.

During Bar/None's influential history, they have released pivotal records by They Might Be Giants, The Front Bottoms, Yo La Tengo, Freedy Johnston, Edwyn Collins, 10,000 Maniacs, Alex Chilton, The dB's, Ben Vaughn, The Feelies, of Montreal, Richard Hawley, and over 100 other arists. During this episode, we chat about our Top 5 albums from the Bar/None catalogue, catch a history lesson on the label, and get a glimpse of future releases.

Thanks to Howard Wuelfing from Howlin' Wuelf Media for the introduction and coordination.
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