Vagrant Records: 25 Years On The Street

Listening to Pryor chum it up with some of the awesome musicians from this era is worth it alone, but hearing some of the stories of how the records were made is really where it’s at.

If you're a fan of any of the bands interviewed, their genre of music, or just learning wild stories from touring and interesting logistics behind the music industry you'll love this podcast. I accidentally binged all 8 episodes of the podcast within the first week of finding out about it through Senses Fail sharing they were on an episode, and that included taking breaks to listen to multiple full records from some of the bands in between...only to discover I'd have to wait weeks for the next episode. Then even knowing that I should savor Senses Fail Part 2 when it came out I still listened to the full episode immediately at 1:30am. It is such an enjoyable experience to hear members of all the different bands tell stories from the early parts of their careers and some of the behind the scenes aspects of making the records and touring. They even have a podcast exclusive story from Alkaline Trio about their touring wardrobe. As someone who only fell in love with the genre through Senses Fail in the last 5 years the podcast has also been a great way to discover more bands to fall in love with. Matt Pryor does a fantastic job hosting the episodes and perfectly balancing the interview aspect with the conversation.

As far as oral histories go, this is an enjoyable listen thus far. There’s a humor and reverence you can hear through the conversations that allows you to get invested in this story of a label and bands that meant so much to us.

Beyond looking in the mirror or perhaps seeing your kids grow, nothing makes you feel older than to listen to a retrospective of a time you THINK wasn't that long ago, only to realize it was 20 + years ago. This label and TGUK in general were prominent and important to me as a young kid. Now as an older dude in his 40’s, it’s great to hear the stories behind the music without filters and to relive the feelings without being overly nostalgic or cloying.