You can find a podcast dedicated to just about anything these days—cats, bad movies, Milwaukee—but one subject has gone curiously unexamined: drummers. Seriously, we can have 8,000 tedious hours of a gussied-up Dateline NBC episode but we can’t have an in-depth conversation with “Weird Al” drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz? That all changes with The Trap Set, a new weekly podcast from former Milwaukeean Joe Wong that “explores the lives of drummers and the passions that drive them.” In the first episode, Wong chats with Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty about his time with the legendary punk band, his early love of Parliament Funkedelic, and finding chunks of wood in a McDonald’s cherry pie. It’s pretty terrific.
“It’s rare to hear from the drummer either on-stage or off,” Wong says in a press release for the show, new episodes of which will be released every Wednesday. “But over the years I’ve noticed a lot of drummers had the best stories to tell and they weren’t being told. The Trap Set With Joe Wong will, hopefully, correct that.”
Wong, who currently lives in Los Angeles, is a former member of legendary Milwaukee band Akarso, and, along with Milwaukeean Didier Leplae, has composed music for numerous films and TV projects, including Adult Swim’s Superjail. Future Trap Set guests include Ndugu Chancler (Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Santana, Miles Davis, George Duke); Drumbo (Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band); and, yes, Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz.
Listen to the first episode here, and subscribe for free here.