For this episode that has taken over a year to materialize, we sit down with Justin Mank to discuss his various (and varied!) musical outputs as well as his direct influence on the St. Louis scene.

Like so many of the guests on this show, you can hear about the trajectory and the various interests that were floating around while Not Waving But Drowning was during their span leading up to their dissolution, their time away, and their eventual official reunion culminating in two new songs.

Fast forward to the present and you'll discover Justin's love for ambient and the freedom he has when constructing sonic landscapes with Two Hands | One Engine.

He is truly a talented and creative musician and this was a really fun conversation.

The two songs used in this episode are both by Two Hands | One Engine:

Rescind - "The Mind Wanders" Album

Taste the Mood - Stand Alone Single

Get all his links right here:

https://linktr.ee/justintmank

https://www.instagram.com/nwbdstl/

https://www.facebook.com/NWBDSTL

https://nwbdstl.bandcamp.com/

We bring Josh aka Joey Angel back for the back-half of our conversation where he and I did a deep dive into everything that made Crossed Keys' "Saviors" such an amazing album.

Since that was their first full release as a band, the conversation also digs into the origins of Crossed Keys and how they came to be.

If you're like me and you're at all curious about the meaning behind some of these songs or want to just listen to Josh's explanation of some of the lyrics, this is definitely a conversation for you. It's weird that so often on my side of the screen it seems that the album almost came together effortlessly but there is so much that goes into writing and recording and releasing and touring and everything that makes Crossed Keys the band that they are and Saviors the release that it is. And we're all exceptionally lucky that the band is still going strong and is showing no signs of losing steam.

Here is a curated playlist of every single song that Josh had a hand in:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7lFZ9nE77KSM2kvRriCncK?si=pK1i8IFFRxqnzGZ_o7SxEA&pi=5sfhSuLoSgmFb

You can preorder his new Philapino shirt design here:

https://philapino.bigcartel.com/

And all things Crossed Keys here:

https://crossedkeys.bandcamp.com/

Including the new single here:

https://crossedkeys.bandcamp.com/track/lucky-stars

We sit down with Joshua Alvarez to discuss growing up in Jersey, the move to Philadelphia, his upbringing, and what got him into music.

I wasn't at all expecting the direction of this conversation and it was fun, informative, and amusing all at the same time. Joshua has some amazing stories and his time as a bassist especially was intriguing.

Either way, sit back and listen to the man behind one of the best voices in the scene as he shares stories that you won't see coming.

The two songs taken from this episode are the new newest Crossed Keys songs:

"Notebooks (Hope For the Hopeless)" taken from The Fest 22 Compilation which you can purchase here:

https://selltheheartrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fest-22-comp

"Lucky Stars" which is their new standalone single you can purchase here:

https://crossedkeys.bandcamp.com/track/lucky-stars

Thumbnail photo credit ⁨@ROUNDWALL⁩