Explore every episode of the podcast Going Off Track

Master chef and Texas Is The Reason bassist, Scott Winegard got with us this week to talk about music in the kitchen, food, ghost stories galore and upcoming stuff for TITR.

Scott's stuff

The absolutely amazing, talented singer songwriter, Nicole Atkins joins us for a really fun, funny, informative and truly off-track conversation. From punking "Weird Al" Yankovic to getting locked in the Beacon Theater bathroom by a ghost, it's a great ride.

Nicole on the web

This week we're digging back into the archives to revisit a great chat with Chris Shiflett, guitarist for a little band called The Foo Fighters (via No Use For A Name and let's not forget Me First and the Gimme Gimmes!)

Everybody loves Rusty! It's impossible not to. The H2O guitarist has lived a life of adventure and we get a chance to talk about a lot it here - from the early days, building a halfpipe in the band house and possibly inspiring Fugazi?, barely surviving getting shot to touring the world with his heroes, this episode goes off track in all the right ways.

Rancid drummer and The Used founder Branden Steineckert grew up in Utah between a steel plant and a prison — chased by cops for skateboarding  and then later having to call them to his home for domestic abuse. (They were useless.) Now he gets to play drums in one of the world's best punk bands! This is a deep, fun, upbeat conversation with one of music's most resilient dudes.

This week’s guest is Johnny Whitney, frontman of the all-star band Evil Island, whose members come from Johnny’s former band The Blood Brothers, as well as Glassjaw and …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. Johnny tells us how he got Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto to appear on their new record—and what an incredible experience that was. He also talks about growing up in Seattle just as Nirvana was breaking through, and how that moment shaped his own interest in music.

Ensign frontman, Tim Shaw tells us tales of learning the ropes with Sick of It All, getting his ass kicked at a Discharge show and being healed of road-douchery by Rancid. Of course he and Benny also get into a lot of reminiscing about CBGB and the New Jersey scene.

This week we dip back to 2022 for a really intelligent conversation with Hot Water Music bassist, Jason Black. A bunch of ska talk, Metallica, New Jersey... enjoy.

This week we're going all the way back to 2014 to revisit this wonderful chat we had with the hilarious stand-up comedian, actress, writer, and producer, Nikki Glaser. Long-time listeners of the show should be entertained to hear original hosts, Steven and Jonah conversing along with Benny.

Check Nikki's website for tour-dates and more

Here is a FUN episode - the always great, Tucker Rule, drummer for Thursday, L.S. Dunes, Frank Iero and the Future Violents...  - Put two drummers together and what do you get? Well, in this case it's a really insightful, funny conversation that is classic G.O.T. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Tucker's Linktree

This week we reach back to the dark depths of Covid to revisit a wonderful interview with Frank Turner that certainly brightened our day in April of 2020.

Check Frank's upcoming tour schedule of Europe and North America

Oh what a great convo we've got for you this week - Mike Olender fronted Endeavor, Disembodied, Burnt by the Sun, For The Love Of, River Black... and guess what? - more than one of those are back! Some great stories from the past but we didn't get bogged down there. He's got a lot going on today and a lot of wonderful ideas about hardcore, faith, politics and humanity. There is also the insane van-fire story from his very first tour.

Equal Vision Records is a label with awesome vision, as evidenced by the many of our recent guests who call it home. So after great talks with Quicksand, The Flatliners, Sparta, and I Am The Avalanche, to name just a few, we decided to go right to the man in charge, Label Manager Dan Sandshaw. He gets right into it, telling us how hardcore shows in his native Connecticut 'changed his worldview.' He gives us insight into a label that has had real integrity and a wonderful artist roster throughout its history.

Equal Vision Records weblinks

Author and music journalist, Andrew Sacher joins us to talk about indie bands, ska bands, classic rock and of course emo, the subject of his new book, "Emo Revival: Community, DIY, and Rebirth in Post-Hardcore and Emo (2008-2018)".

Andrew on the web

Pre-order "Emo Revival"

Detroit in the house this week with Rich and Ryan, massive-dynamic rhythm section of The Suicide Machines. Snow tricks, Bourgeois Filth, drunk at Punk in Drublic... and what about being too broke to tour with the Foo Fighters? It's another off track classic. 

This week we introduce a new special episode: the first, "Brain Edition with Doc & The Wizard". Two specialists in what's between the ears - both studied professors of psychology, get real with Benny on the mind of the musician (and everybody else). Both are music lovers and rich souls with knowledge to offer. Enjoy.

Minor Threat, Bad Religion, Dag Nasty, Junkyard - there's so many more bands that Brian Baker, guitarist (and bassist) extraordinaire has started or shined in. The boy is still rocking hard and grinding out that SOUND! We're on track and off track and all over with this one. Come hear the legend.

On this day in 2020 - we had fucking MILO AUKERMAN from THE DESCENDENTS on the show! So while none of us want to go back to those lockdown days, we DO want to hear Milo again talk about science and PUNK ROCK!

Everyone loves The Bouncing Souls and who bounces more than Greg Attonito lead singer for New Jersey's most beloved punk rock band? You can bet there's some NJ in here but we go all over the place, discovering what a great athlete Greg once was and discussing how the presence and power of a song performed can become it's own entity.

Souls on the web

The hardest working man in hardcore, Walter Schreifels joins us this week to get into it! Quicksand, Rival Schools, Gorilla Biscuits, CIV, Youth of Today... these are all Walter's babies and now fully grown, most of them are still going! We get real deep into the essence of hardcore as well as the 90's scramble by major labels to tap into the underground scene of that era. But lets's start off with Walter Cronkite - so off track.

The amazing Mike Huguenor is so many things to music: virtuoso singer/songwriter with his own bands, Shinobu and Hard Girls, guitarist for Jeff Rosenstock, and now author with "Elvis Is Dead, I'm Still Alive: The Story of Asian Man Records"... the list goes on but you know what? He's also a really nice guy, with a lot of awesome stories and we are off-track from the get-go with this one.

All things Mike on the web

Julia Steiner of Ratboys is a true rock & roll Road Warrior. Taking her front-person position seriously, she definitely leads by example. We talk about her band philosophy, chair therapy, Pittsburgh football and one of the best Epic Fails we've heard so far.

Ratboys on the web

Got a double feature this week with Dave Hause (The Loved Ones) and Tom May (The Menzingers). Both very good friends of the show and we loved having them back to hear about how Dave's brother Tim was born while he was at Lollapalooza seeing Rage Against the Machine. We figure out that Tom is a Rancid super-fan and he drops the big one - Menzingers' 20th anniversary coming up!

We go on a real journey this episode with At The Drive-In and Sparta founder, Jim Ward. From his frontier family roots, arriving in Texas via covered wagon up thru his discovery of the outside world during early tours, to the pitfalls of grand success. Along the way we find out about his favorite pedals and that he's an "aggressive sleeper".

Sparta online

This week we've got professional music and surf journalist, Jon Coen telling us how 7 Seconds succeeded where the hippies failed. He's also straight edge and a surfer himself and... he lives on a real island off the coast of New Jersey!   Good stuff. 

Jon Coen online

So much fun this week with Vinnie Caruana of The Movielife Life and I AM THE AVALANCHE. From the heaviness of writing about his close friend's passing to playing in a Seaweed cover band, it gets real and it gets surreal - like 100% the BEST ghost story we've had to date!

The ever dynamic frontman for The Academy Is..., William Beckett joins us from the land of John Hughes to talk about wrestling, still not meeting Chris Carrabba, and of course - our pending Dave Mathews dance party! He also counts Warped Tours and reveals his most Epic Fail on stage and nerd alert... we do a LOT of Game of Thrones but hey, we're both G.O.T.!

The Academy Is... website

The HUGELY influential Dan Yemin of Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Paint It Black and now, Bitter Branches, got real with us this week! Don't worry, you'll hear plenty of what helped put him where he is today but we also go off-track with plenty of psychology talk (his other specialty), New Jersey hip-hop... even a little Yiddish lesson.

Listen to Bitter Branches' new music

The Flatliners drummer, Paul Ramirez joins us from Toronto to discuss Canadian bagels, lobster, the danger of horses and Soundgarden. There's also praise for Jersey Pizza, Taco Bell and ringey snare sounds. We also discuss why he's always the designated driver at border-crossings.

American professional wrestler, manager of The Hurt Syndicate, the one and only  Montel Vontavious Porter (aka Hassan Hamid Assad) joins us to talk about bad choices, good recoveries, meeting Zac Blair of Rise Against when Zac was still in his high school band, Japanese steak, Sasquatch, living in Hakeem Olajuwon's house... there is so much good stuff here, you've just got to listen.

MVP's Linktree

MVP's amazing TedX

Augusta Koch of Gladie joins us this week to discuss growing up in the Poconos (snowboarder), moving to Colorado with a bunch of skater-boys (didn't work out), Action Park, Catholic school and how the best songs are always borderline corny. There's also rockabilly whippitters and having The Menzingers as your neighbors in Philly. Yeah, it's a good one.

Everybody loves Walter. We live in the same neighborhood so I see him all the time but he's hard to miss - the guy won't slow down... Quicksand, Gorilla Biscuits - all still vital, hell Rival Schools just played a run of shows this week in South America! So why not revisit this vintage episode (almost 10 years old?!?) when Benny was still cutting his host-teeth? Enjoy.

Ever since we recorded this episode, back in 2018 with Justin Brannan, (founding member of NYHC band, Indecision), his political star has been on the rise. Now, he's on the brink of becoming NYC Comptroller where he would oversee the largest municipal budget in the country. Of course we're talking pizza and conspiracy theories in this episode but listen thru to the outro where we essentially endorse him for president.

Daniel Kohn, co-author of Tearing Down the Orange Curtain - How Punk Rock Brought Orange County to the World joins us to talk about Social Distortion, No Doubt, Offspring and The Vandals. We also go off-track on subjects like sports and how to beat the gambling apps.

Murder by Death frontman, Adam Turla checks in with us while waiting for the vinyl pressing of their latest release. He's also about to embark on the bands' twilight tour! We touch on that but then of course we go off track... way.

Murder by Death on the web

Writer and poet (and seriously, a bunch of cool other stuff), Hanif Abdurraqib has been on tour for the last year supporting his latest book, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension. So yeah, Benny does get him to talk a lot of hoops but this man is an engaging genius on so many subjects and it's a wonderful talk.

Hanif's website - go there now.

Here's a wild ride for 'ya! Two for the price of one - brothers Dave and Tim Hause join us for a nice long chat about... everything! On and off track we go, from TV shows to the funniest musicians and our very first, live BREAKING NEWS! It's deep, it's funny, it's very informative.

Sing Us Home Festival website

Texas Is The Reason we've got Chris Daly on this week, their co-founder and dynamic drummer. He talks about getting his start, seeing NYHC bands "wearing these weird beads" leading him to dabble in the Krishnacore scene and eventually starting Texas... who are back! He also reveals how many lollipops he's consumed in his life. Check it.

Minus The Bear is back! So we sat down for a chat with their bassist extraordinaire, Cory Murchy. From just how good it feels being back with the band to water rights, hunting and high-desert fun, this one def goes off-track. Episode word of the week: Respect.

Check out Cory's art on his website

This Will Destroy You and You, Infinite guitarist, Jeremy Galindo goes way off track with us this week. UFO's, ghosts, video games, basketball... Brad Pitt! But don't worry true fans, the whole middle of the pod gets into Jeremy's amazing musical journey, from first bands to latest projects - it's all here!

We got our skank on for this week's guest - Mike Sosinski, the singer of ska-punk band, Kill Lincoln and owner of Bad Times Records. We talk about his first show (Bosstones), first skank (Mustard Plug), first band... and we even touch on the famous cafe wars of central Jersey. Classic GOT episode.

We continue last week's conversation with the legendary Skid Row, bassist Rachel Bolan, getting into his songwriting inspiration, a really good ghost story, and Alice Cooper winning a staring contest with his cat.

From the legendary Skid Row, bassist Rachel Bolan sits down with Benny (in the flesh!) to talk about his music origins, from seeing KISS for the first time and taking up bass so he could be Gene Simmons, to jumping from the club straight into the arena, opening for Bon Jovi. It's a truly lovely, fun conversation that we know you're going to enjoy.

Musician, producer, author, college professor, keyboard/accordion player for The Hold Steady, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Against Me!, Guignol... Franz Nicolay has so much under his belt that it's almost impossible to go off track with him. But we do. From growing up in the sticks to health hacks like waiting until your German tour to get your teeth fixed, this one is all information that you need to know. Fun journey, come along.

Franz's website

120 Minutes host, DJ, music lover and author, Matt Pinfield continues the conversation from last week. We hear about flying on U2's private plane, seeing Queen with Thin Lizzy and surviving a teenage brain aneurysm, against all odds.

Matt's website

The walking, talking encyclopedia of music himself is with us this week - the always amazing Matt Pinfield. He knows everything about music and has seen almost every cool band but in true form we get off-track and in-Jersey in this fun, informative episode. From baby Moby to 911 in that non-stop, classic voice.

Matt's website

Tour manager for The Gaslight Anthem, Taylor Brown joins us for another 'Road Dogs' episode. He discusses the blessed 'day off' on the road, East Coast vs West Coast wildfires, the joy of spreadsheets and that Prague show. You should also know that this Renaissance man designs and builds mid-century modern furniture.

The delightful Karina Rykman, bassist, songwriter, jam-specialist, joins us this week to talk about the spiritual essence of jam-rock, running around Manhattan with a guitar at 13, her love of music (and specifically, Slayer). She reveals the Rolls-Royce of elevators and invites Benny to her parents' for brunch.

Karina's website

Josh Johnson is deservedly blowing up right now! As correspondent on Comedy Central’s, The Daily Show as well as his hilarious standup and podcast, so we thought it was a good time to revisit the chat we had with him a while back...

Josh's website

This week with got to chat with delightful Canadian rocker, Stefan Babcock, lead singer of PUP, maybe our favorite band from up yonder? He talked about growing up punk in a family full of scientists, best Toronto bands, Rivers Cuomo's songwriting techniques and a lot about Stefan's own process and philosophies. It was a lot of fun.