Send us a text

Luke stops by the show to discuss his musical journey, which started at the age of 7, how the pandemic changed his life, a separate identity from being a singer/musician, and more.

****

Luke Marzec’s life has always been about music. He picked up the violin aged 7, the sax at 10 and the piano soon after. At just 11, his natural talent earned him a place at the prestigious Royal College of Music (RCM) Junior Department. In fact, most of Luke’s childhood was spent either in the practice room or on stage. By the time he graduated high school, he had led countless classical and jazz bands, ensembles and orchestras - professionally, at school, RCM, and at the national level.

He formed his first band at York University and spent most of his early 20s playing sax in various jazz, psychedelic, indie, and brass bands in the north. He gained a scholarship to Trinity Conservatoire’s Master’s course in 2016, but after a full term of shredding, decided to focus on his career as a solo artist. In 2018, he released his EP Chances, which received critical acclaim.

Over the next couple of years, Luke released two more EPs and gained writing and production experience, doing the rounds co-writing with artists in the UK such as Maverick Sabre, VC Pines, Benjamin Francis Leftwich and Jazzanova. He featured on Johannes Brecht’s “Voicing Something” which was remixed by Adriatique. His Spotify page now has more than 15 million listens.

Today, Luke is one-third of London’s experimental modular synth-jazz group Lazy H and the Loose Cables, in which he plays the tenor sax and synthesizer. The trio have gigged with London’s Kinkajous, Mark Cake, Alabaster DePlume, Plumm and FlamingGods, and they released their first album Rotary Perception with Nottingham-based label Running Circles earlier this year. The avant-garde jazz album takes listeners through psychedelic and tender soundscapes, perfect for sci-fi film scores. He also hosts Headroom – one of the city’s most exciting jam sessions which showcases some of the capital’s best jazz and electronic instrumentalists and producers.

Covid instigated a new period for the artist when he moved into a 44-foot narrowboat. Living life as a water traveler, Luke spent a lot of time in the countryside in relative solitude, before moving to Devon and setting up a new studio. After months in lockdown, this frenetic new period led to a prolific stream of writing and recording.

Despite Marzec’s writing and collaborating prowess, he is most at ease on stage where everything is simplest, where decision making is easiest and where he feels most alive. After the first note is played, the rest is as if he was watching himself perform; as if his spirit floats to another realm to observe his body. During his performances, the rugged growl of his voice in brilliant contrast to the soft notes he plays on the keys allows him to connect with his audience in moments of sheer bliss and unity.

In 2025 Luke will take up residence at one of the city’s newest micro-venues while touring across Europe to promote his new album, debut album Something Good Out Of Nothing.

*****

If you would like to contact the show about being a guest, please email us at Dauna@bettertopodcast.com

Upcoming guests can be found: https://dmneedom.com/upcoming-guest

Follow us on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_d.m.needom/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedom

Intro and Outro music compliments of Fast Suzi

©2025 Better To...Podcast with D. M. Needom

Support the show

Send us a text

Leonard Goldberg stops by the show to discuss his latest release, A Scandalous Affair, from his Daughter of Sherlock Holmes mystery series. We also discuss how his research career led him to become a writer. We talk about his process and more.

****

Leonard Goldberg is an internationally bestselling author of the Joanna Blalock series of medical thrillers. His novels, acclaimed by critics as well as fellow authors, have been translated into a dozen languages and sold more than a million copies worldwide. Leonard Goldberg is himself a consulting physician affiliated with the UCLA Medical Center, where he holds an appointment as Clinical Professor of Medicine. A highly sought-after expert witness in medical malpractice trials, he is board-certified in internal medicine, hematology, and rheumatology, and has published over a hundred scientific studies in peer-reviewed journals.

Leonard Goldberg's writing career began with a clinical interest in blood disorders. While involved in a research project at UCLA, he encountered a most unusual blood type. The patient's red blood cells were O-Rh null, indicating they were totally deficient in A, B, and Rh factors and could be administered to virtually anyone without fear of a transfusion reaction. In essence, the patient was the proverbial "universal" blood donor. This finding spurred the idea for a story in which an individual was born without a tissue type, making that person's organs transplantable into anyone without worry of rejection. His first novel, TRANSPLANT, revolved around a young woman who is discovered to be a universal organ donor and is hounded by a wealthy, powerful man in desperate need of a new kidney. The book quickly went through multiple printings and was optioned by a major Hollywood studio.

The Daughter of Sherlock mystery series, including Leonard's newest title, A SCANDALOUS AFFAIR (Pegasus Crime; Available now; ISBN-13: 9781639368358), follows Irene Adler and Sherlock's daughter years after Holmes has passed away, as she joins Dr. Watson's son in solving cases, using her quick wit and remarkable observations to carry on her father's legacy.

If you haven't dipped into this clever and compelling series yet, trust the recommendation of New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen, who says, "Fans of Sherlock Holmes will be thrilled to meet his fearless and brilliant daughter, Joanna."

Leonard Goldberg celebrates Sherlock's enduring legacy and understands why readers and viewers continue to be captivated by it today.

*****

If you would like to contact the show about being a guest, please email us at Dauna@bettertopodcast.com

Upcoming guests can be found: https://dmneedom.com/upcoming-guest

Follow us on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_d.m.needom/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedom

Intro and Outro music compliments of Fast Suzi

©2025 Better To...Podcast with D. M. Needom

Support the show

Send us a text

Eef Barzelay stops by the show to discuss his latest release, 'Oh Smokey', as well as life, death, and so much more.

*****

Eef Barzelay of CLEM SNIDE, some what cheekily. For Eef, the intersection of hope and resignation is the genesis of his tenth album OH SMOKEY

and a focal point of his upcoming tour. “I know fans like the older songs and the covers I've done, so it's really an ever-evolving mishmash... based on my blood sugar level and or deeply-rooted childhood traumas.”

Clem Snide has been aiming to include unique locations in an effort to bring music back to his fans for a much more intimate and tangible experience. “I like to sing in unexpected places whenever I can,” he explains, “Mennonite churches, abandoned hospitals, houseboats taking on water...I've done 'em all!” These spec shows aren’t usually private affairs. In fact, they’re open to fans everywhere, travel, of course, permitting. “Mostly though I play living rooms,” he clarifies. “Just sign the mailing list and I'll come to your house!”

His new album Oh Smokey, has been called “a gorgeous listen with lots of food for thought” by Americana UK, this album finds Eef combining forces with producer and devout Clem Snide fan Josh Kaufman(Bonny Light Horseman, Craig Finn, Hiss Golden Messenger) for a pastoral exploration of the human condition and finding hope when you’re knee deep in existential mud. (Of note, the previous album, 2020’s Forever Just Beyond was produced by fellow devout Clem Snide fan, Scot Avett of Avett Brothers).

“It's a collection of songs I've had for some years now,” he describes. “The inspiration was more just getting to work with Josh Kaufman and keeping the dream alive.” Written during a pivotal and highly - emotionally charged point in his life, the origins of Oh Smokey saw Eef going through a painful divorce, his life thrown into upheaval with his move out of Nashville, and parting ways with his longtime manager. “There's, for sure, a soon-to-be-divorced energy in some of the themes,” he continues. “But mostly, I like to think of the songs as clumsy, well-meaning attempts at prayer by a lapsed Atheist raised by godless Jews.”

Contemplative and meditative, Eef and band’s need for melodic lushness is never lost. From the stunning and jaunty acoustic opener, “Free” (“’Free’ plays around with the idea of a post- death reunification with our eternal selves”) to the sensitive strums of “Air Show Disaster ” to the electric guitar roll of the regret-fueled “Smokey” that feels almost like an outtake from Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, Oh Smokey is a deeply personal album that explores his current worldview.

*****

If you would like to contact the show about being a guest, please email us at Dauna@bettertopodcast.com

Upcoming guests can be found: https://dmneedom.com/upcoming-guest

Follow us on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_d.m.needom/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedom

Intro and Outro music compliments of Fast Suzi

©2025 Better To...Podcast with D. M. Needom

Support the show

Send us a text

Vox of the Chameleons stops by to discuss his long career, his evolution, their new record, the world, and more.

*****

Having released their first studio recordings in over 20 years in 2024 (Where Are You? of new material and Tomorrow Remember Yesterday which consisted of re-recorded archival tracks), Chameleons have been gearing up the release of their upcoming album Arctic Moon later 2025 which will be their first studio full-length since 2001’s Why Call It Anything. He explains, "It's quite different from anything Chameleons has done before, and I know this will probably polarize the legacy audience, but we're quite excited about how it's developing. I think the songwriting is much more mature in a lot of ways, which is to be expected, I suppose, given our age, but I, for one, really believe we're taking the band forward, and I'm quite excited about it."

Not planning on playing too much from the new album (“we don’t really want the songs spoiling on such platforms as YouTube until the record is actually out”), the new album will undoubtedly be embraced by old and new fans alike. “Our approach to making the music hasn’t changed,” Vox hints, “although having found a regular producer in Christophe Bride at Oxygene has helped our development tremendously. His studio in Manchester, UK, is a great environment to work in. We feel our sound is fresher and more contemporary, which seems to resonate very strongly with our younger audience that are turning out to see us in such great numbers.”

Long cited as a hugely influential act, having inspired the likes of Verve, Oasis, White Lies, The Slow Readers Club, Interpol, The Killers and Editors, among countless others and known for their transformative musical catalog and intense and emotionally charged live performances, Chameleons have created a legacy that extends beyond their four studio albums. Following their debut single "In Shreds" in 1982, the band released three seminal albums: the widely acclaimed Script of the Bridge (1983), cited by many sources as a masterpiece way ahead of its time, and its follow-up, What Does Anything Mean? Basically!' (1984), Strange Times (1986), and Why Call It Anything? (2001).

Their unique sound quickly captivated the public through their mix of melancholic yet energetic and powerful tunes, hypnotic, ethereal riffs, and the potent, timeless lyrical style. Chameleons are considered one of the most influential guitar bands of the 80s and 90s, contributing substantially to the post-punk, shoegaze, and indie scenes. They are often regarded as one of the most underrated bands ever to emerge from Manchester, England.

Chameleons are Reg Smithies (guitar), Vox (bass, vocals, lyrics), Stephen Rice (guitar), Danny Ashberry (keyboards), and Todd Demma (drums).

******

If you would like to contact the show about being a guest, please email us at Dauna@bettertopodcast.com

Upcoming guests can be found: https://dmneedom.com/upcoming-guest

Follow us on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_d.m.needom/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedom

Intro and Outro music compliments of Fast Suzi

©2025 Better To...Podcast with D. M. Needom

Support the show

Send us a text

Pete stops by the show to discuss The Dandy Warhols, Studio vs performing, when he learned guitar, and more.

****

Following a triumphant 2024 with the release of their overwhelmingly critic-hailed twelfth studio album ROCKMAKER featuring Frank Black, Slash, and Debbie Harry, a packed-to-the-gills national tour, and a completely sold out West Coast 30th Anniversary-as-a-band string of dates, Portland’s iconoclastic and always surprising alt-rock band THE DANDY WARHOLS are returning to the road for a handful of East Coast shows that kick off on May 9th at Asbury Park, NJ’s Stone Pony and wrap with a handful of NYC dates at Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge.

Included in the dates is an intimate, acoustic-ish late afternoon performance on Saturday, May 17th at the sexy Two Fifteen Lounge in NYC’s Public Hotel, preceding their show the same evening at Bowery Ballroom. Loose and loungey, the cozy event will allow fans to sip signature cocktails and rub elbows with the band (and get autographs and pics too!) before and after a very special and rare stripped down performance.

Following last fall’s revved-up and greased banger, “The Summer of Hate'' which Q Magazine called “buzz-heavy, raw punk” and Post-Punk.com “a dark-rock manifesto, fueled by gritty guitars and fuzzed-out vocals with a supple, sexy rhythm,” the new single opens the gates for the release of their twelfth album ROCKMAKER. Always experimenting and pushing the boundaries of their own creativity (their previous album Tafelmuzik Means More When You're Alone was a three-and-a-half-hour exploration of what The AU Report characterized as a “soundtrack that would typically score a mid-16th century banquet”), this album delves deeper into minor guitar chords that often characterize post-punk, deep metal, or even goth.

Sometimes we have a very focused idea of what we want,” Taylor-Taylor says. “It’s generally what we want somebody else to make but since they never do, we have to. It has a very specific sound. There aren’t a lot of heavy guitar records currently coming out that we like, so that was the impetus for ROCKMAKER.”

******

If you would like to contact the show about being a guest, please email us at Dauna@bettertopodcast.com

Upcoming guests can be found: https://dmneedom.com/upcoming-guest

Follow us on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_d.m.needom/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedom

Intro and Outro music compliments of Fast Suzi

©2025 Better To...Podcast with D. M. Needom

Support the show

Send us a text

Neville Keighley a.k.a. Belouis Some stops by the show, and we step back in time. We talk about touring with Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Queen. The spicy video for Imagination and more.

*******

Belouis Some (real name Neville Keighley), singer-songwriter from London, released his first album Some People in 1985 on Capitol EMI Records. After initial recording in London, the album was produced in New York by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero. Carlos Alomar arranged and played on the tracks and brought together a lineup that included Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson (Chic), Carmine Rojas, Robin Clark, Chester Kamen, and Guy Fletcher (Dire Straits). The album contained the worldwide hit singles Imagination and Some People with the video for Imagination, directed by Storm Thorgerson, causing controversy as it contained full nudity.

In 1985, Belouis Some was sponsored by Swatch in North America and opened for Frankie Goes To Hollywood on their US tour. The Some People video was also simultaneously running as a nationwide Swatch TV commercial. In 1986, Belouis Some headlined the “Swatch Live” show at the Beacon Theatre in New York.

In 1986, Belouis Some supported Queen on their “Magic” stadium tour, including opening the famous Knebworth concert, one of the largest concerts ever held in the UK and Freddie Mercury’s last ever live performance with Queen.

The Belouis Some song Round Round, produced by Bernard Edwards, was included in the 1986 John Hughes movie Pretty In Pink, the platinum-selling soundtrack album is on Rolling Stone magazine’s “25 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time”.

He'll be performing on the “Lost 80s Live” tour of North America in the summer of 2025. Get your tickets and more info here: https://www.belouissome.com/

*******

If you would like to contact the show about being a guest, please email us at Dauna@bettertopodcast.com

Upcoming guests can be found: https://dmneedom.com/upcoming-guest

Follow us on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_d.m.needom/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedom

Intro and Outro music compliments of Fast Suzi

©2025 Better To...Podcast with D. M. Needom

Support the show

Send us a text

In this episode, Mark Waldoch stops by the show to discuss his new group, The Hallelujah Ward’s, and new album Everybody Swoons. We also talk about how sometimes having a brat moment got him recognized and more.

*****

Everybody in Milwaukee knows Mark Waldoch. Either they met him working at the legendary Atomic Records, behind a bar at one of Milwaukee’s leading cocktail locales, or most likely singing from the bottom of his heart to the top of his lungs for over the past 25 years.

A songwriter and multi-instrumentalist punk crooner with a raw, uniquely powerful voice, he has opened, guitar tech-ed, or performed with everyone from Arcade Fire, Justin Vernon’s Volcano Choir, Interpol, Sylvan Esso, Daniel Johnston, Bright Eyes. The list goes on and on and on.
Born to Indo-Trinidadian and Puerto Rican/Syrian immigrants in NYC, Waldoch and his brother were pulled by their mother from the big city to the deep Midwest as kids to escape an abusive father. His mother passed shortly after, and Waldoch was adopted by a Racine, Wisconsin family—out of the frying pan and into a John Hughes movie.
It’s no wonder that he gravitated toward something outside the mainstream, which he found, ironically, at a store called Mainstream Records. Love and infatuation came young, aimed at the likes of the Cure, Siouxsie, the Smiths, R.E.M., the Velvet Underground, and Love and Rockets. The list goes on and on.
Inspired by those things and led by a heart that’s always open, Waldoch has been creating songs to match his passion and perfectionism with his pen and his pedalboard. He’s played solo and in various bands over the years, but nothing quite scratched his lifelong itch until now—The Hallelujah Ward’s Everybody Swoons. With drummer Dan Didier (The Promise Ring, Maritime) and bassist Paul Hancock (Testa Rosa), Waldoch finally put the pieces into place. Some of the melodies and seeds of its songs have been simmering for 10 years; some came to life just as this trio did.
Waldoch’s powerful lyrics range from deeply personal to complete fiction, and the music they exist inside is similarly familiar yet new, with elements of indie-pop, shoegaze, even art-rock, and Brit pop.
Everybody Swoons will be out digitally and on limited-edition vinyl, out now via Foreign Leisure Records.

******

If you would like to contact the show about being a guest, please email us at Dauna@bettertopodcast.com

Upcoming guests can be found: https://dmneedom.com/upcoming-guest

Follow us on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_d.m.needom/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedom

Intro and Outro music compliments of Fast Suzi

©2025 Better To...Podcast with D. M. Needom

Support the show

Send us a text

Ian Dench of the band EMF stops by the show to discuss his upcoming tour, new music, the staying power of the song 'Unbelievable', and so much more, including working with Beyonce.

*******

EMF British dance-rock quintet, EMF formed in Cinderford, England, in October 1989. All five original members were veterans of the local music scene before founding EMF, whose name supposedly stood for “Epsom Mad Funkers" (although it was widely speculated that the initials instead represented "Ecstasy Mother Fuckers"). Within two months of formation, the group played its first gig; after unearthing a Casio sampler and sequencer in a local thrift shop, a light techno element was added to their rock-oriented sound.

Their debut album, SCHUBERT DIP, was released in May 1991. It was certified platinum (over a million copies sold) in the US in September 1991. It had reached a peak chart position of #3 in the UK and #12 in the US, as well as finishing the year at #57 overall.

By the end of 1991, their infectious debut single “Unbelievable” had conquered the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 in the UK. The single was certified gold (over 500,000 copies sold) in the US in May 1991. The song was in such heavy rotation for most of the year in America that it finished as the #6 single overall for the year.

The Chaos and the Beauty, their latest studio album, was released in 2024, and they are working on new music. announce

Starting June 14, 2025, you’ll be starting an 11-date West Coast tour with Space Hog. These are their first USA shows in 30 years.

Website: https://emf-theband.com/

Tickets: https://emf-theband.com/shows

*******

If you would like to contact the show about being a guest, please email us at Dauna@bettertopodcast.com

Upcoming guests can be found: https://dmneedom.com/upcoming-guest

Follow us on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_d.m.needom/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedom

Intro and Outro music compliments of Fast Suzi

©2025 Better To...Podcast with D. M. Needom

Support the show