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

Episode 015 – Eric Peterson | MAKE // BREAK

Eric Peterson is the founding guitarist and primary songwriter of Bay Area thrash legends Testament, a band that’s spent more than four decades pushing heavy music forward while peers have fallen away. With Testament’s fourteenth album Para Bellum, he’s still co-producing, evolving the band’s sound, and keeping the riffs sharper than players half his age. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK, Eric sits down with host Lance Marwood to unpack the real cost of that longevity: the grind of touring and airports, staying physically ready for extreme music, protecting creativity in an AI era, and why horror films, cult novels, and personal taste still shape everything he writes.

👀 What you’ll hear

• Unpack how Eric turned flyering, bar gigs and bad jobs into a four decade thrash career
• Explore why Para Bellum still feels like a first album and how Testament keep evolving
• Dig into riff writing, flow states and what separates a cool idea from a career song
• Break down the ugliest parts of touring, airport purgatory and staying physically ready for stage intensity
• Debate AI, taste and keeping music human, plus horror movies, cult fiction and weird reading recs

🕰️ Chapters

00:00 Intro, Testament overview and setting up Para Bellum

01:15 Make or break moments, legacy decisions and early DIY grind

03:30 Old school flyering and networking vs today’s digital promotion

06:45 Ageing, health and playing extreme thrash into your 50s

09:30 Touring realities, airport lines, boredom and burnout on the road

14:30 Writing Para Bellum while chasing the feeling of the first records

20:20 Taste, identity and how horror and cult films feed Eric’s imagination

28:45 Books on the road, Master and Margarita and other strange reading recs

32:30 Riff writing, flow state jams, Logic demos and editing with the band

37:30 Surviving industry shifts from tape trading to streaming, algorithms and AI

44:20 Legacy, repeating yourself without cloning old riffs, and ACDC as a model

48:40 Honest advice for bedroom players learning Testament riffs on YouTube

🔗 Guest Links

https://www.testamentlegions.com/site/

https://linktr.ee/TestamentLegions

https://www.instagram.com/ericpetersonofficial/

http://www.enterthedragonlord.com/

🔗 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 for more MAKE // BREAK conversations and drop a comment on how AI should shape metal’s future

(explicit language)

#MakeBreak #EricPeterson #Testament

Episode 014 – Kelsey Dower | MAKE // BREAK

Kelsey Maree Dower is a symphonic metal vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist whose cinematic writing style turns orchestration into front-line storytelling. Best known for her single “Rage” and the concept-driven album project Rebirth, she builds massive arrangements with a DIY, self-composed precision that still hits emotionally. She’s also a featured vocalist and co-writer on Björn Hofer’s In the Shadow symphonic metal trilogy through B-Track Records. In Episode 014 of MAKE // BREAK with host Lance Marwood, Kelsey digs into the real work behind ambitious music: MIDI composition, mixing battles between strings and guitars, creative control, and navigating the music business as an autistic artist.

👀 What you’ll hear

• Trace her path from piano prodigy to symphonic metal songwriter with a clear creative compass

• Learn why orchestral parts feel easy, and why guitars and drums still challenge the mix

• Hear how collaboration stays open while protecting vision and keeping creative control intact

• Reframe ambition when your genre is niche, expensive, and hard for algorithms to surface

• Unpack the myth of getting signed young and the practical planning that replaced it

• Break down Rage, cathartic anger, and how growls became a new tool in her voice

🕰️ Chapters
00:00 Symphonic metal origin story and why it finally clicked

02:49 First metal exposure, emotional catharsis, Within Temptation moment

05:44 Moving childhood, Carnegie Hall, opening for Clay Aiken

08:09 Piano and vocals foundation, ear training, early performance discipline

09:40 MIDI composition workflow, Ableton-style arranging, finding the spark

11:58 Production challenge: orchestra width vs guitars, drums, and mixing presence

14:51 Collaboration mindset, creative control, and working through disagreements

17:35 Ambition in niche genres, costs of scale, algorithm invisibility

22:52 Inspiration vs showing up, building ideas over time without forcing it

26:50 Music industry myth: getting signed young, budgeting, planning, side jobs

30:54 Autism, gatekeepers, reading intent, navigating predatory dynamics

38:46 Rage single inspiration, bullying, catharsis, learning growls

42:58 Rebirth album arc: build-up, catharsis, post-release aftermath

🔗 Guest Links
https://promo.v13.net/2025/11/kelsey-dower/
https://www.instagram.com/kelsey_music2024/
https://www.youtube.com/@kelsey_music2024
https://open.spotify.com/artist/23z1Xwhfvf5B0zVQyzlCdu

🔗 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 for more MAKE // BREAK, and comment: when has anger fuelled your best creative work?

[Minor audio dropouts in the early minutes]

#MakeBreak #KelseyDower #MusicBusiness

Episode 013 – Scot Little Bihlman | MAKE // BREAK

Scot “Little” Bihlman is an Emmy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and SAG-AFTRA actor, best known as the drummer/vocalist in Grinder Blues alongside dUg Pinnick (King’s X). In Episode 013 of MAKE // BREAK with host Lance Marwood, he unpacks what it takes to last: choosing quality of life over noise, staying present through drumming and motorcycle riding, and protecting your creative identity in a culture obsessed with imitation. Little also gets real about touring pressure, the seductive comfort of sideman work, and why technique only matters if it serves the song, as he builds toward his next chapter under Little Bihlman.

👀 What you’ll hear

• Hear how four Emmys happened through timing, fit, and staying ready for the call
• Unpack why motorcycle riding and drumming force presence, and how that unlocks writing
• Learn the boundary he draws around tribute bands, authenticity, and scene culture
• Get a candid look at tour pressure, sideman perks, and the hidden costs of what’s next
• Compare technique to songwriting, and why songs are the only currency that lasts

🕰️ Chapters

00:00 Intro, Emmys, and the Little Bihlman pivot

01:29 Emmy awards and luck in film/TV placements

03:22 Finding your voice and honouring influences

06:52 Tribute bands, covers, and authenticity

09:16 Hollywood sets, Spider-Man, and staying grounded

13:42 LA vs Nashville quality of life for artists

17:43 Motorcycle meditation and staying in the now

24:08 Tour pressure and make-or-break moments

38:56 Sideman life vs solo career focus

45:24 Drumming book, teaching, and technique in service of songs

51:58 Link Wray, Audioslave, and music that moves the room

57:24 Heavy Head singles and the upcoming book

🔗 Guest Links

https://scotbihlman.com

https://instagram.com/littlebihlman

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2NNnYU4KcqqNMf1Qki92AP

https://youtube.com/channel/UCwJRSkgFax5H8XNsGRhQ0mA

🔗 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 for more, and comment: are you chasing chops or songs right now?

[Contains explicit language]

#MakeBreak #Bihlman #Touring

Episode 012 – Aaron Farrell | MAKE // BREAK

Welsh-born writer Aaron Farrell returns to MAKE // BREAK for a candid, high-signal conversation about discipline, identity, and creative survival. Author of The Lost and Found and the poetry collection Artbeat, The Ekphrastic Spastic, Aaron traces the path from lockdown essays and his “Violent Expression” column to an unflinching Barcelona manuscript, while reopening his work with V13. We get into stay-at-home parent realities, pandemic PPE and burnout, martial arts as a writing method, and why killing perfectionism is the only way forward. With Jung in one hand and Eastern philosophy in the other, Aaron makes a case for truthful prose, pragmatic publishing, and showing up when it’s hardest.

👀 What you’ll hear

• Trace the leap from lockdown columns to longform books without waiting for permission
• Compare discipline in martial arts to muscle memory in writing and creative practice
• Unpack honest fatherhood, neurodivergence, and why progress is jagged not linear
• Reframe perfectionism with pragmatic publishing habits you can start today
• Map the “violent expression” era to a new V13 chapter and concrete next steps

🕰️ Chapters
00:00 Cold open and return-guest banter

00:22 Who is Aaron Farrell now and why he’s back on MAKE // BREAK

03:05 Stay-at-home dad energy, sick kids, showing up anyway

05:22 PPE reality check and pandemic life in hospitals

08:31 Barcelona move, curfews, and starting over

12:18 Transmetropolitan, Spider Jerusalem, media cynicism

16:45 Violent Expression origin, truth-telling, culture shock

22:06 Self-publishing in lockdown, first books and columns

26:24 Beat of Barcelona draft, decadence and discipline

32:48 Style over fitting in, permission to write as yourself

40:03 Breaking down, autism context, rebuilding identity

55:43 Jung, sense vs nonsense, closing notes and next time

🔗 Guest Links

https://v13.net/tag/violent-expression

🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/makebreak
https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish
https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish

🔗 V13 Media

https://v13.net

Subscribe for more and drop a comment: do film or game scores help your writing focus?

(explicit language)

#MakeBreak #AaronFarrell #Writing

Episode 011 – Dave Fowler | MAKE // BREAK

Dave Fowler is a Nashville-based bassist, producer, and songwriter whose career spans work with icons like Dolly Parton, Dr. John, Cinderella, and Billy Ray Cyrus. A sought-after live and studio player, he’s also the co-founder of GET JOE Records, a producer at Fowler–Wells Productions, and the force behind Running With Giants, his mentorship and clinic platform for musicians. In this episode, Dave joins Lance to unpack the realities of a lifelong career in music—from the discipline behind professional performance to the humility that keeps great players in demand—and what it really takes to build both longevity and legacy in an ever-changing industry.

👀 What you’ll hear

• Tracing Dave Fowler’s roots from Southern gospel to touring with Dolly Parton and Dr. John

• The truth about persistence and why “not quitting” is the only real career plan

• Inside Nashville’s studio culture and how pros record songs they’ve never heard before

• The moment Dave nearly quit music — and what pulled him back

• Lessons from decades in the industry: humility, discipline, and creative adaptability

• A look ahead to Dave’s upcoming memoir and his mentorship platform Running With Giants

🕰️ Chapters
00:00 Welcome + intro to Dave Fowler
02:00 Finding bass and early church influences
06:30 What separates musicians who last from those who don’t
08:00 The myth of “making it” and the persistence mindset
11:20 Lessons to his younger self and Nashville’s evolution
14:30 Inside the studio: how pros build songs on the spot
18:00 The bass player’s role: when to lead vs. blend in
24:40 Make-or-break moments and personal resilience
28:00 The story behind Dave’s upcoming book
33:30 Running With Giants and mentoring new artists
37:00 GET JOE Records, new projects, and Texas success stories
39:30 Final reflections + closing thoughts

🔗 Guest Links
https://davefowler.com
https://www.instagram.com/davefowler1963
https://www.youtube.com/@davefowlerbass
https://www.facebook.com/davefowlerbass
https://x.com/davefonbass

🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links
https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/makebreak
https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish
https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish

🔗 V13 Media Links
https://v13.net

If this conversation hit home, subscribe and comment: what’s your definition of “making it” in music?

#MakeBreak #Fowler #MusicBusiness