Talkhouse Podcast

I might overuse this word a little bit, but on this week’s episode we do have a true pair of legends in conversation on the Talkhouse Podcast this week: Maynard James Keenan and Daniel Ash.

Keenan is of course best known as the frontman for Tool, the dark, complex, heavy band he formed way back in 1990—but whose records come few and far between. Keenan is also the frontman for A Perfect Circle, but the reason for today’s chat is yet another band, Puscifer. This one started out almost as a solo outlet for Keenan’s weirdest ideas: There are comedic elements, and—fun fact—Puscifer actually sprung to life as part of a Mr. Show sketch. (Google it, it’s a good story.) But the band has evolved over the years into a steady trio that features Keenan alongside Carina Round and Mat Mitchell, and that more recently has explored Keenan’s most theatrical and straightforward impulses. It’s funny, weird, and heavy, and the brand new Puscifer album, Normal Isn’t, even nods sonically to UK post-punk bands like Killing Joke. Check out “Self Evident” right here.

The other half of today’s conversation is Daniel Ash, whose resume also includes a remarkable number of incredible bands, starting with Bauhaus, moving directly into Tones on Tail, and then heading for a long stretch into Love and Rockets, which reunited a couple of years ago for some very welcome shows. Ash’s guitar playing over the years has been quietly influential on a ton of players; you can hear his tone in a remarkable swath of bands. Last year, he released the first album by his latest outfit, Ashes & Diamonds. Called Ashes & Diamonds Are Forever, it’s unmistakably Ash’s voice and tone, though in some flashier dressing on occasion. It’s a lot of fun. Check out “Teenage Robots” right here.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Ash and Keenan talk about Keenan’s wine business—he was nice enough to send Ash some bottles in advance of this chat—as well as touring, making videos, and the seemingly inevitable future of AI. Ash thinks it’s going to be good, so even if he’s wrong, it’s nice to hear some optimism. Ash is also obsessed with motorcycles, leading Keenan to suggest an intervention. Enjoy.

Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Maynard James Keenan and Daniel Ash for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform and check out all the other great shows in our network. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by The Range. See you next time!

Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠.
Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more.
Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve paired up two songwriters who love to wander musically but whose recordings are tough to mistake for anyone else’s. It’s Luke Temple and Will Westerman.

Temple has been making incredible records at a pretty solid clip since around 2005, first making a real splash as part of a trio called Here We Go Magic, whose four-album catalog is legendary in certain circles. But Temple has also recorded fantastic records under his own name, under the alias Art Feynman, and, more recently, with Luke Temple and the Cascading Moms. That name is a little funny, kind of like his music—there’s humor but also a little bit of menace hiding underneath sounds that sometimes flirt with ‘70s soft-rock in the best ways. Check out “Echo Park Donut,” which is out this month on the new Cascading Moms record, Hungry Animal.

The other half of today’s chat, Will Westerman, invited Temple to play on his 2023 album An Inbuilt Fault, and as you’ll hear they sound eager to meet and perhaps work together again. Westerman has been releasing music under his last name since 2020, crafting subtly mellow records that reveal something more intense when you listen to his lyrics. The third and latest Westerman album, A Jackal’s Wedding, came out last fall, and it’s another evolution in his sound—it’s been compared to mellow greats like Talk Talk, Tindersticks, and Nick Drake, so if those names mean anything to you—and they should—give it a shot. Check out “Mosquito” from A Jackal’s Wedding right here.

This conversation between Temple and Westerman may have been the furthest geographically we’ve ever recorded: Temple was at home in Los Angeles and Westerman at home in Milan, where he recently moved after spending several years in Greece. These two talk about being recently married, about growing as artists and perhaps tricking yourself in the process, and about the very different places they now live. Enjoy.

0:00 – Intro
2:35 – Start of the chat
4:35 – On Los Angeles and gentrification in Echo Park
9:39 – Westerman on Milan, Greece, and learning new languages
13:20 – On Luke Temple's new album, Hungry Animal
19:50 – On tricking yourself to keep the creative process fresh
20:57 – On art and "the capitalist need to innovate"
24:50 – Comparing the musical heritage between the US and UK
28:25 – On the spirit of Jazz and Hip-Hop
30:38 – How technology caused the death of regionalism

Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Will Westerman and Luke Temple for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please check out both of their great new records, and please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by The Range. See you next time!

Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠.
Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more.
Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.

Subscribe to ⁠Jokermen. And support Jokermen on Patreon.

Ian catches up with Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear about their just-concluded 2025 tour, revisiting Yellow House, Veckatimest, and Shields, returning to the past with no sense of pressure, community vs. quality of life, solo artists vs. rock bands, the lasting reputation of Grizzly Bear, the GOAT Michael McDonald, and much more.

FOLLOW DANIEL ON INSTAGRAM

Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠.
Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more.
Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.

On the latest episode of the Talkhouse Podcast’s spin-off series, host Nick Dawson sits down with Saturday Night Live star Sarah Sherman, who’s just debuted her first-ever comedy special on HBO, Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh. In a lively, candid and very entertaining conversation, the two talk
about recurring nightmares, hypochondria, masochism, shit-talking people as a healthy form of expression, their thoughts on death, funerals and 12 step, how Ted Kaczynski was onto something …, SNL boss Lorne Michaels’ unfortunate habit of forcing his employees to be constantly sleep-deprived, and much, much more. For more filmmakers talking film and TV, visit Talkhouse at talkhouse.com/film. Subscribe now to stay in the loop on future episodes of the Talkhouse Podcast.

Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠.
Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more.
Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.

Host Josh Modell hands the mic off to these Talkhouse Podcast Network shows and asks: "What was your standout episode from this year? And tell us one thing you loved from 2025?"

0:49 – Josh Modell (Talkhouse Podcast)

1:50 – Craig Finn (That's How I Remember It)

3:46 – Jason P. Woodbury (Aquarium Drunkard's Transmissions)

5:18 – Dan Nordheim (Life of the Record)

5:58 – Matt Whyte (Sing for Science)

9:43 – Dylan Tupper Rupert (Music Person)