The Downbeat

My guests on The Downbeat podcast this week are Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds and Lewis de Jong of ALIEN WEAPONRY.Alien Weaponry are a groove metal band from New Zealand, and their music and lyrics heavily reflect all three members’ Māori ancestry. This episode digs into said ancestry with conversations about Tā moko (traditional Māori tattoos) as well as the Haka, a ceremonial Māori dance that the band performs on stage. We also discuss their new album Te Ra, meeting your idols, working with Randy Blythe, and touring with Gojira. A truly educational episode 2.5 hour episode… and I could have done 2.5 more.

My guest on the podcast this week is Matt Garstka, drummer, educator, amateur arm-wrestler and 1/3 of arguable the most progressive band on planet earth. We talk about his recent distal bicep tear and his recovery, as well as the use of AI in music, musical competition, and my recent drum lesson with him

My guests on the podcast this week are Flo and Kevin of LANDMVRKS. We talk About the struggles around making their new album ‘The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been’, as well as Flo’s battle with anxiety, the importance of their role in France’s burgeoning metal scene, US ‘cuisine’…and graffiti

My guests on the Downbeat Podcast this week are Colter Cuthbertson and Mike Sugars - the dual vocalists of self proclaimed SPINKICK DEATHCORE band Psycho-Frame. In many ways an underground supergroup, Psycho-Frame make hilariously heavy music and their debut LP Salvation Laughs In The Face Of A Grieving Mother easily made it’s way into my top 5 of 2025. We talk about everything around the band- from its formation to the album itself, as well as their aesthetic, splitting lyric writing duties and the influence of anime, video games and politics on said lyrics. Many laughs were laughed

My guest on the podcast this week is Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood. Acclaimed guitarist and producer whose credits include Animals as Leaders, Periphery and Sleep Token. Nolly is also the co-founder of GGD - a hugely successful plugin company that went from being two friends with a mutual love of capturing drum tones to a household name in the world of music production. We talk in depth about the origin and ethos of GGD, his career as musician and producer, and of course the development of MY new plugin on their platform: One Kit Wonder: The Downbeat. He’s a very nice and successful man