I had the incredible experience of talking with Lovehammers' singer Marty Casey, bassist Dino Kourelis and drummer Bobby Kourelis in their practice studio in Chicago recently.  Unfortunately, guitarist Billy Sawilchik wasn't there because he had the flu.  I brought some beer and we just kind of hung out and chatted.  They shared some funny stories about the early days of the band including some pretty wild parties.  You can tell how down to earth these guys are and it's also obvious they work really hard at their craft and have no egos. 

After bringing them onstage on several occasions it finally dawned on me to ask them if I said their band name correctly - turns out I never did.  Oops!  That was my very first question, too. 

Thanks to John Gaskill from Pawnstar Productions for helping record this episode.

Happy Holidays!

Aimee Mann has an album of Christmas songs called "One More Drifter In The Snow" (you'll hear a snippet or two) and is back for her annual holiday tour.  We chat about that, the record industry, even the fact that she sometimes cooks a goose for Christmas.  This phone interview was originally done for The Chicago Music Guide - this is the extended version.

Marty Casey & Lovehammers have a great rockin' holiday song, "Merry Christmas (All Year Long)" - you'll hear a snippet, then a fun conversation with Marty, Dino & Bobby from Lovehammers.  Marty Casey is doing a short solo acoustic tour right now - you'll hear why in our conversation.  This is just a "tease" for the full-on Lovehammers episode of Cara's Basement that is coming in the near future!