Explore every episode of the podcast Don't Call It Nothing

Join host Lance Uehara Davis on the final Don't Call It Nothing podcast. We finish our four-part look at Mark Lanegan and the Screaming Trees in the 1990s. This time we hit the final two years of the decade—1998-99—as the Trees sputter to the finish line and Lanegan cleans himself up and releases a solid, if flawed effort (Scraps At Midnight) and a stone-cold masterpiece (I'll Take Care Of You). Thank you friends for your support along the way. It's been a helluva ride.

See ya on the flippety flop, LD

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Join Mark Lanegan and the Screaming Trees in 1994, run ragged from the road and poor lifestyle choices. That said, we're treated to a solid Lanegan effort from that year (Whiskey From The Holy Ghost), followed by collaborations with Mad Season and Mike Watt, pay tribute to Willie Nelson and Jim Reeves, and embrace the Trees' heroically flawed swan song (Dust).

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Don't Call It Nothing continues its tribute to the Screaming Trees and the late Mark Lanegan by reviewing the years 1990-93. The decade began with Lanegan releasing his solo debut, The Winding Sheet, with help from Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana. Both Conner brothers released records in 1990 through New Alliance Records, a subsidiary of SST that began life as an outlet for D Boon and Mike Watt of the Minutemen. In 1991, the Trees released their major label debut and final album with original drummer Mark Pickerel, Uncle Anesthesia. Barrett Martin then replaced Pickerel in time to record the band's masterpiece, 1992's Sweet Oblivion. We end the episode in 1993 as Mark Lanegan joins The Walkabouts for a soulful walk through the Charlie Rich catalog.

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Don't Call It Nothing pays tribute to the late Mark Lanegan by discussing the Screaming Trees in the 1980s. Everyone, even all-time greats, has to start somewhere and this episode tracks the Trees early years, when they went from faithful sons of Nuggets, Sabbath, and The Stooges to masters of melodic acid rock.

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Don't Call It Nothing gets personal as I talk about my maternal grandparents, Okinawa, plantations, and the Korean concept of han. I also discuss John Lee, aMiniature, the Casbah, and healthy competition in the mid-'90s San Diego scene. 

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Welcome to Part 2 of my song-for-song interpretation of Exile On Main St where I provide my explanations for each selection. I wanted to think about the album differently, as if its 18 songs were 18 individual ideas that influenced thousands of future bands in sometimes not so obvious ways. Instead of the Black Crowes, Pearl Jam, and White Stripes, we get You Am I, Wilco, and Maria McKee.

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I spent over three years writing and editing Don't Call It Nothing: The Lost History of '90s Roots, Rap & Rock 'n' Roll and the book is now available to you for the low, low cost of free! The book is part autobiography, part biography, part social history, and all music history. It’s an excellent reference tool for the best American music of the decade, largely driven underground in favor of terrible grunge, emo, Britpop, nu metal, and rap rock.

And as a reward (punishment?) for finishing his damn book, LD created a song-for-song interpretation of Exile On Main St. 18 songs that individually match the aesthetic of the 18 songs on Exile. Oh, and to add a level of difficulty, most of the songs are from the 1990s — this makes sense given this podcast — and even the 3-4 that were recorded in the 2000s are by bands who began in the ‘90s. Enjoy!

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Don't Call It Nothing returns to Pinkpop '93 to pay tribute to The Jayhawks and Bettie Serveert, two bands who should've been bigger, but America hates nice things. At least they left us a ton of great music, so tune in to get the bird.

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An extended discussion of Thelonious Monster's "Colorblind" and how John Carpenter's The Thing is an allegory for white supremacy . Also, is it possible that the events in "Colorblind" intersect with my life?

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This was originally the first bonus episode for Don't Call It Nothing family members. But, given that it's the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it seemed like an appropriate time to release the episode into the wild. I discuss my mom growing up in Hawaii during World War 2 and her subsequent assimilation in southern California.

Much love and aloha, LD

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Don't Call It Nothing Podcast #16 revisits Pinkpop 1993 to discuss first Lester Butler and The Red Devils and then Bob Forrest and Thelonious Monster. The former delivered a great performance, the latter delivered a disastrous performance, but both singers were stuck in similar death spirals. An intense episode that confronts addiction, ego, materialism, racism, and the thin line between life and death. There's one kind favor I ask of you. See that my grave is kept clean.

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Camp Black Dog was the nickname given to Route 1 Recording, a studio that doubled as the headquarters of Black Dog Records. For about a week in the summer of ’98, Marah, Blue Mountain, John Stirratt (Laurie’s brother and bassist in Wilco), Tyler Keith (singer and guitarist for my beloved Neckbones), and a low-key multi-instrumentalist named Noah Saterstrom all essentially camped out in this studio located in a patch of woods just south of Highway 84, an hour and a half west of Hattiesburg and closer to New Orleans than Oxford. The musicians jammed, smoked, drank, told stories, experimented, wrote some new songs, recorded some old songs that didn’t fit in other projects, and ultimately emerged with a 10-track collaboration called Camp Black Dog Presents Rock & Roll Summer Camp '98.

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UPDATE: This was originally linking to last week's episode, so I re-rendered, re-uploaded, and rechecked all the cables and tubes. I think we're good. Sorry about that.

Don't Call It Nothing Podcast #14 remembers Soul Asylum's 1990 album And The Horse They Rode In On, Dave Pirner and Dan Murphy as an acoustic duo, and the limbo that followed the release of Horse.

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Don't Call It Nothing Podcast #13 goes deep in the 1999 weeds with the Compulsive Gamblers, Mark Linkous (aka Sparklehorse), Blue Mountain, and the Damnations.

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Don't Call It Nothing Podcast #12 now live! We're diving into 1998 hip hop with OutKast, Del The Funky Homosapien, and Ras Kass.

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Don't Call It Nothing Episode 11 now live! We're diving into 1997 with The Neckbones, Geraldine Fibbers, and Muffs, with special love sent out into the universe for the late, great Kim Shattuck.

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Don't Call It Nothing Episode 10 now live! The thrilling conclusion of our journey into 1996 alt.country includes Wilco, The V-Roys, Iris DeMent, Bottle Rockets, The Gourds, The Original Bloodstained Five, and Slobberbone.

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Don't Call It Nothing Episode 9 now live! Today's pod is the first of two parts about alt.country in 1996. Artists covered include Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, Blue Mountain, Backsliders, Son Volt, Derailers, Old 97s, Joel R. L. Phelps, and the Scud Mountain Boys. We also put Ryan Adams in a headlock, so that's fun.

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UPDATE: I replaced the original file because I inadvertently muted a couple different music tracks. Therein lies the problem with DIY. Sometimes Y can't get out of his own gotdang way lol.

Don't Call It Nothing Episode 8 now live! We're headed to Oklahoma City to catch up with the Flaming Lips and their 1995 masterpiece Clouds Taste Metallic. We celebrate the short-lived Steven Drozd/Ronald Jones era, take a side jaunt to In A Priest Driven Ambulance, and unfortunately, have to reckon with one of the country's worst terrorist attacks.

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Don't Call It Nothing Episode 6 now live! We revisit 1993, the year Uncle Tupelo released the best rock album *and* best country album and did so facing up to the juggernaut that was suburban minivan country rock a la Garth Brooks and The Eagles. 

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Don't Call It Nothing Episode 5 now live! We revisit 1992 by paying homage to one of the unsung heroes of the year (let alone decade), Kathleen Hanna. We dive into the documentary about her life and career, The Punk Singer, revisit Bikini Kill, take a trip to 1995 Alabama to learn about British punks Huggy Bear (it'll make sense once you listen), and even have time to embrace the "budget rock" of The Mummies.

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Don't Call It Nothing Episode 4 now live! We visit the infamous year punk broke – or got broken, depending on your perspective – 1991. We learn that Mudhoney is better than the Stooges, Paul Westerberg is better than Bob Dylan, and pogo with the Sleez Sisters.

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Welcome to Don't Call It Nothing, the podcast dedicated to the lost history of '90s roots, rap, and rock 'n' roll, I’m your host Lance Davis and today we dip our toe into the first year of the decade, 1990. We visit the Burro Room in Chico, California, where three formative punk bands play: Fugazi, Scream, and the Bedlam Rovers.

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Host Lance Davis reads the final few paragraphs of his as yet unpublished book, Don’t Call It Nothing: The Lost History of ‘90s Roots, Rap & Rock ‘n’ Roll, a tribute to the pre-cellphone, mostly pre-internet world of college radio, independent record stores, small clubs, zines, flyers on telephone poles, and simple word of mouth.

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Host Lance Davis explains that the podcast is based on his new and as yet unpublished book, Don’t Call It Nothing: The Lost History of ‘90s Roots, Rap & Rock ‘n’ Roll. This 900+ page reference tome is a celebration of the decade's best music, much of which was nearly invisible to the American public.

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