Episode 018 – Samantha Willman | MAKE // BREAK

Samantha Willman is a Canadian writer, designer, and editor based in Montréal. She co-founded and co-edits Romanticon, a Substack literary magazine dedicated to neo-romanticism and new sincerity, alongside Anthony Galluzzo, Paul Franz, and Matthew Gasda. She also publishes Marbl, a personal newsletter exploring intimacy, symbolism, and the interior life. Her 2016 book Behind The First One was published through the Canadian Academy in Rome. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK, Samantha unpacks why irony culture has hollowed out creative life, how she built a thriving 60-person poetry reading series from nothing, and why approaching truth with love (not optimization) is the real survival strategy for artists.

👀 What you'll hear

• Why writing poetry in Rome unlocked a felt sense of truth she couldn't access through logic alone
• How the new sincerity movement pushes back against layers of ironic artifice in online culture
• Building a 60-person poetry reading community from scratch with zero formal plan
• The case for keeping a day job so you can approach your art from love instead of desperation
• How Rilke wrote two masterworks in weeks and what that says about creative production vs. productivity
• Why philosophia means love of truth — and why that changes everything about how artists create

🕰️ Chapters

00:00 Introduction and how Lance discovered Samantha

03:00 Why poetry is hard to recommend and harder to consume

05:16 Writing poetry in Rome and the birth of creative instinct

08:59 Charles Taylor, intrinsic rightness, and felt truth

10:33 Favourite poets: Plath, Octavio Paz, Wallace Stevens

14:17 Neo-romanticism and new sincerity explained

19:17 Irony culture, meme politics, and the Vice magazine pipeline

22:41 Argumentation vs. dialogue — methods of thinking

30:00 Building Romanticon's live reading community

37:34 Why the Enlightenment was top-down and Romanticism is not

42:22 The starving artist myth and creating from a place of health

45:16 Rilke, the Sonnets to Orpheus, and creative production in bursts

🔗 Guest Links

https://romanticon.substack.com

https://marbl.substack.com

https://instagram.com/sam.willman

https://x.com/samanthawillman

🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links

https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20

https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish

https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish

🔗 V13 Media Links

https://v13.net

Subscribe and tell us in the comments: do you think sincerity is the real counterculture right now?

[Contains occasional explicit language.]

#MakeBreak #SamanthaWillman #NewSincerity

Episode 017 – Peter Mahoney | MAKE // BREAK

Peter Mahoney is a Toronto-based guitarist, recording engineer, and DJ rooted in the city's punk and hardcore underground. As guitarist for Workers Comp (who deliberately pulled their music from streaming in favour of Bandcamp) and a collaborator in UNWELL alongside Cursed/Burning Love/SECT vocalist Chris Colohan, Peter has spent two decades navigating pay-to-play scams, revolving lineups, and the real cost of making loud, fast music on your own terms. He also runs House of Trash, offering affordable recording and mixing to DIY bands. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK, Peter opens up about losing bassist Nick, rebuilding through grief, rejecting social media pressure, and why community built on genuine friendship outlasts every trend.

👀 What you'll hear

• Discover how Peter identified pay-to-play scams and industry gatekeepers as a teenager in Toronto
• Learn why Workers Comp pulled their music from streaming and what they use instead
• Hear the gut-wrenching story of losing bassist Nick and deciding to keep the band alive
• Explore what community really looks like when you strip away the buzzwords and trend-chasers
• Find out why Peter built House of Trash to record bands affordably on his own terms
• Understand the internal resistance artists face when social media becomes a second unpaid job

🕰️ Chapters

00:00 Cold open: the real cost of playing music

00:51 Single Release Playbook promo

01:15 Meet Peter Mahoney — guitarist, engineer, cat dad

05:31 Early illusions about the music industry

09:42 Pay-to-play shows and industry scams in Toronto

13:21 Joining the wrong bands and learning to say no

19:28 Building community and finding the right people

25:27 Defining success on your own terms

33:34 The shit sandwich: social media and self-promotion

43:37 Leaving Spotify and the case for Bandcamp

51:53 Recording at House of Trash and learning to engineer

58:04 Losing Nick and pivoting through grief

1:06:15 Shameless plugs, upcoming shows, and final wisdom

🔗 Guest Links

https://youreentitledtoworkerscomp.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/workerscompband/

https://unvvell.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/house.of_trash/

https://www.instagram.com/vernaltrash/

🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links

https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20

https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish

https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish

🔗 V13 Media Links

https://v13.net

Subscribe and drop a comment: when have you had to pivot instead of quit in your own creative life?

[Explicit language throughout.]

#MakeBreak #Mahoney #DIYPunk

Episode 016 – Paul Thomas Van Valkenburgh | MAKE // BREAK

Paul Van Valkenburgh is the vocalist and frontman of hard rock and groove-metal outfit TubeFreeks. On MAKE // BREAK with host Lance Marwood, he breaks down the music business realities of keeping a long-running band alive: the early “make” spark, the “break” moments of lineup shifts and stalled momentum, and the habits that rebuild trust. Paul shares how writing during recovery from major surgery reshaped his confidence, why vocal coaching levelled up his delivery, and how delegation protects both the work and the people. He also previews the next chapter, including the upcoming single “Flower” and the album Canvas, co-written with Clint Lowery (Sevendust).

👀 What you’ll hear

• Trace the moment TubeFreeks stopped being a project and became a real band
• Break down how a lineup collapse killed momentum, and what rebuilt it
• Learn why coaches and co-writers raised standards without flattening Paul’s voice completely
• Hear an in-house vocal recording process that avoids clock pressure and fixes phrasing fast
• Steal the anti-Franken-song veto rule that keeps great ideas from getting overworked
• Get the scoop on Flower and Canvas, and what a big 2026 slot means

🕰️ Chapters

00:00 TubeFreeks origin and the MAKE // BREAK frame

00:33 Make moment and the first riffs that made it feel real

05:19 Switching from drums to frontman mindset

08:06 Band chemistry, no-drama lineups, and why personnel is everything

15:32 Momentum collapse, touring stops, and rebuilding after a lineup split

24:34 Health crisis, recovery writing, and confidence after The Dry Tide

31:38 Delegation, coaches, and co-writing with Clint Lowery

39:15 In-house studio workflow and vocal takes without clock pressure

43:50 Vocal writing: cadence, phonics, and chasing cool

51:37 Lyric risk, emotion, and the God hear me out chorus decision

56:01 Franken-effing a song and the veto rule that protects great ideas

1:03:16 New single Flower, album Canvas, and opening for Black Stone Cherry

🔗 Guest Links

https://tubefreeks.com/

https://www.instagram.com/tubefreeksrocks/

https://www.youtube.com/user/Tubefreeks

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4gCE3tYHEDORDZLDQdimlp

🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links

https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20

https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish

https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish

🔗 V13 Media Links

https://v13.net

Subscribe, and comment: would you use the band-veto rule, or does it kill songs?

[Mild profanity]

#MakeBreak #TubeFreeks #MusicBusiness