Episode 80 – Ratschitte Industries

Ratschitte Industries are one of those Startup Ventures that I simply could not ignore. Whilst I’m not really one for promoting a product or service on The Andy Social Podcast, I was extremely impressed and inspired by the hard work that both Toemas and Gerdan have been investing themselves into their three projects, The Roll Reverser, Knob to Handle and their current product, The Fadget Spanner.

Like any Entrepreneurial Startup, Ratschitte Industries have had their challenges cutting through the noise to get attention in the public domain, however with a number of yet-to-be-announced products in the pipeline and the current buzz around The Fadget Spanner, the future looks bright for both Toemas and Gerdan.

I recently caught up with the guys at their workshop in Melbourne (which appears to be really establishing itself as the Silicon Valley of the Asia/Pacific Region) to chat about their beginnings, inspiration behind their passion for their business and what the future holds for their venture.

Someday down the track I would personally love to be a Startup Investor and with people like Toemas and Gerdan doing incredible things with Ratschitte Industries, I can’t wait to do my part to help great minds change the world for the better.

 

Show notes

Pledge to Ratschitte Industries’ latest crowd funding Kickstarter project, The Fadget Spanner.
Ratschitte Industries – Facebook | YouTube |

 

 

Episode 79 – Chris Maric (Maric Media)

Chris Maric of Maric Media has been supporting Australian and International bands with promotion, publicity and artist relations for close to two decades. Chris has directly helped LORD with many of our previous album campaigns and is one of the most sort after publicity gurus in the country.

I’ve been wanting to catch up with Chris for quite some time to chat shop, however the main focus on this occasion was to chat about his upcoming charity bike ride, Heavy Metal Truants. Created by Rod Smallwood of Iron Maiden and Alexander Milas (ex-Metal Hammer), the ride begins in London and riders travel 275km ending their trip at the world famous Download Festival.

Heavy Metal Truants raises money for three charities that support the lives of young children, Nordoff Robbins, Teenage Cancer Trust, and Childline. Chris and Carl from Heavy Magazine are in the process of raising £2,600.00 and I want to help them reach their goal!

In addition to the charity ride, Chris and I chat metal (of course!), Maric Media, Australian tourists, Sydney music scene and much more. We crammed a bit in!

Please reach out to Chris and be sure to follow him and Carl on their ride in June.

 

Show notes

Donate to Chris and Carl’s fundraiser HERE.
Maric Media – Main Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Spotify |
Heavy Metal Truants – Main website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram |
Download Metal Festival
Hellfest Metal Festival
Copenhell Metal Festival
Dark Mofo

Episode 78 – Louis Rando (Depravity, The Furor and…

Arguably one of Australia’s greatest extreme drummers, Louis Rando (Depravity, The Furor and Impiety) has been a part of the metal scene in Australia and South East Asia for well over two decades. Well known not only for being the drummer and vocalist of The Furor, Louis has also become a highly sort after session musician for countless bands . Check out a list of some of them, HERE.

Louis and I recently caught up after playing together at the Hammersonic Festival in Jakarta Indonesia to chat metal, touring and playing drums. We also touched on his early beginnings discovering Morbid Angel, as well as the various opportunities to work with international bands such as Dubai’s Nervecell and Singapore’s Impiety, who Louis is now a permanent member of.

Louis lives and breathes music, doing whatever it takes to continue playing as often as possible, including branching into drum teaching. Be sure to hit him up if you want some lessons.

I’ve included some cool videos below of Louis drumming in the studio, on tour with Impiety as well as a some fan footage of Depravity playing at the Hammersonic Festival in 2017. Check out his YouTube channel for more videos and be sure to share them around to anyone into extreme metal and drumming.

Show notes

Contact Louis via Facebook and YouTube

Support Luis by supporting the band he’s a part of.

Depravity on Facebook, Bandcamp
The Furor on Facebook, Bandcamp
Impiety on Facebook and YouTube

Hammersonic Festival in Jakarta
Dubai Desert Rock Festival in Dubai
Nervecell on Facebook

Episode 77 – David Gertler (The Australian Podcast Awards)

David Gertler is the Founder and brains behind The Australian Podcast awards. The awards held it’s inaugural event in Sydney, 1 April 2017. David has spent the last 1 to 2 years creating the concept and building a model that not only celebrates the amazing work that Australian Podcaster’s do, but also to help push the platform long term in this country.

I caught up with David at his home in Sydney to reflect on the debut night of the podcast awards, how the concept came together, our mutual admiration for Australian Podcasts and his takeaways for 2018 and beyond.

Having attended the awards this year myself, it was great to get David’s thoughts on how it went and his hopes for the podcast platform and Cast Away long term.

If you’re an Aussie Podcaster, be sure to head to the Cast Away official website and register your show for the next awards.

I hope to see you all at the awards for some beers next year!

 

Show notes

Reach out to David on Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin
The Cast Away Australian Podcast Awards – Official Website | Facebook | Twitter  | Linkedin
Check out the 2017 Australian Podcast Winners HERE.

 

Episode 76 – James Lopes (Arc Shot Media)

James Lopes has been running his own business Arc Shot Media for several years now after breaking free of his old 9 to 5 job. Since then James has been involved closely with LORD to shoot our music videos and has from there broken into the corporate world.

James is a self-made man and has learnt it all on the go. With years of experience in music and corporate video landing him as one of the more sort after video production businesses in Sydney.

We caught up recently for a chat about how the last few years have looked for Arc Shot Media with his immersion into real estate video and ongoing changes in the video production world. We also reflect on the ‘day after’ he left his old job and earlier memories shooting videos with some of our closest friends.

Whilst James’ technical skills have helped him find success, his drive and personality (in my opinion) are infectious and have been key to what he continues to achieve. Enjoy this awesome conversation and be sure to reach out to James to say hi.

Show notes

Arc Shot Media – Main Website, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
Connect with James on Linkedin

Listen to Episode 3 of The Andy Social Podcast when I spoke with the late great Arnie Olbrich (Video for Lobo in Hell below which James assisted with filming under the former name Dusk Music Video Production)

 

Episode 75 – Marko Mustac (Actor, Comedy Performer, Writer…

An actor, comedy performer, writer and director, Marko Mustac is someone that I would class as a true ‘jack of all trades’.

For the past three decades, Marko has performed in, directed, devised and produced improvised comedy shows around Australia , and toured internationally. In addition to this, he was Artistic Director of Theatresports Australia for 4 years and until recently, the Artistic Director of Impro Australia.

New to Impro Comedy? Some of Marko’s shows include Impro Bzerko, Royal Rumble, Three Radicals, Pulp, Scenes From Communal Living, Oddfellows, as well as a series of Shakespearian-style comedies: Hamlet Improvised, The Unspeakable Mockbeth, Bard to the Bone & the Post-Haste Histories.

Marko has also had many years experience in television as a performer, writer & warm-up comedian. He is also a published writer and corporate video writer and director.

Got all that? Good!

Marko and I sat down over coffee at Bar Italia in Leichhardt, Sydney to talk about his freelance lifestyle, jack of all trade mentality, his more introvert beginnings (surprising to me!) and his willingness to get out his comfort zone and take on unexpected opportunities.

Show notes

Find Marko on Linkedin here.
Grab tickets to see Marko star in a comedy version of Romeo and Juliet at the Sydney Comedy Festival here.

 

Episode 74 – Danny Estrin (Voyager)

Let’s set the scene – 7:30am on a fresh Sunday morning in the heart of Perth. Coffee included and some weary eyes wondering why on earth we are out and about at this time.

Normally being up this early to meet up for a podcast (or really anything else for that matter) would be a stretch, however luckily for me Danny Estrin and Voyager were about to kick off a day-long video shoot for their upcoming album ‘Ghost Mile‘. Perfect timing!

Before kicking off, Danny and I fuelled up with some strong coffee and spoke about the upcoming album, the evolution of the band over the years, his background as a migrant to Australia in the early 90s (not knowing any English!), his work as an Immigration Lawyer and there’s even a hint of kvlt black metal added in to keep things exciting.

Please use the links below to reach out to Danny and also support Voyager by grabbing their new album ‘Ghost Mile‘ here.

Show notes

Purchase the new Voyager album ‘Ghost Mile’ HERE.
Check out Voyager on Main Website, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

 

 

 

Episode 73 – Brendon Capriotti and Ashley Large (Claim…

When someone offers you a pint of Hop Hog, you do NOT refuse. This ended up setting the tone for this week’s podcast with Brendon Capriotti and Ashley Large (aka Cabba & Ash) from the Perth metal band Claim the Throne and hosts of the Blodgecast.

We caught up at Fibber McGee’s in Leederville, Perth for several pints of Hop Hogs to talk all things metal, DIY band promo and management as well as all sorts of other dribble (mainly from me of course) on a sunny afternoon in the beer garden. It really can’t get much better than this.

Be sure to support Cabba and Ash by checking out their band Claim the Throne, their podcast The Blodgecast and Cabba’s podcast BandTools.

Show notes

Claim the Throne – Main website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Reverbnation, Bandcamp
Check out Cabba & Ash’s podcast The Blodgecast which is also on iTunes
Check out Cabba’s new podcast BandTools Podcast and also on iTunes

 

Episode 72 – John Stallwood (Nail Brewing)

John Stallwood is the Director and Head Brewer for Nail Brewing in Perth, Western Australia. John’s background in the craft beer world has spanned over 20 years and has built himself a reputation in the industry as not only a high quality and award winning brewer, but also a big supporter and influence of independent craft brewing in Western Australia.

I recently caught up with John at their brewery in Bassendean, Perth for a chat as well as a brew or two. We touched on the origins of the business, his early beginnings in the craft beer world, challenges he’s faced personally and professionally, as well as the future for Nail Brewing. This also includes their recent expansion with Feral Brewing which I got to see first hand and was blown away by the operation they’re running. Certainly bigger than my old home brew kits!

It was only a matter of time that I tracked down a brewer to have on the podcast, and what a great one to start with!

Be sure to ask your local pub or bottle shop for Nail Brewing Beer and spread the word! As a bit of a beer nut myself, John’s brews are top notch and deserve to reach more taste buds across the country!

Show notes

Nail Brewing – Official Website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Episode 71 – Alex Canion (Voyager)

 

Often referred to as my doppelgänger (well, when he had longer hair), Alex Canion is the bass player and legend of a human for Australian progressive prog metal band, Voyager.

On a recent trip to Perth I caught up with Alex in a suspicious looking car park location, late on a Friday night. We spoke about all things band, career changes, freelance work, cover gigs and his own future creative endeavours.

For those who are looking to escape the cubicle and take a risk to find more fulfilment and enjoyment, this might be episode for you!

Show notes

Purchase the Voyager album ‘Ghost Mile’ HERE.
Check out the band out on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.