Holmberg's Morning Sickness – Playdio DAY ONE (Bands 17-21)

Date: November 24, 2025
Hosts: John Holmberg, Brady Bogen, Brett Vesely, Dick Toledo
Main Theme:
The podcast features Day One of Playdio 2025, a battle of local bands where listeners and the show's hosts judge a parade of Arizona rock acts. This segment covers bands 17 through 21: Mourning Star, Thomas James Band, DoubleBlind, An Awful Mess, and Apostate. Hosts deliver irreverent, rapid-fire commentary, mixing musical critique, banter, and plenty of edgy humor as they score each entry live.

Key Segments & Discussion Points

[03:13] – Playdio Momentum & Setup

• John Holmberg sets the scene, noting how much fun the day’s bands have been, joking about owners leaving games early, local music's improvement, and highlighting a surge in quality entries this year.
• Energetic mood among the hosts, joking about the abrupt improvement in submissions:

  “What is going on with Playdio? God damn it. This is not bad.” — John Holmberg [16:45]

[06:04] – Mourning Star – "Imperfect"

• Band Background: Formed Sept 2023, touting “heart-rending choruses” and “brutally heavy riffs.” Song: "Imperfect."
• Immediate reaction:

  “That one had me, lost me, had me, lost. … It’s meandering. It’s a little sloppy.” — John Holmberg [10:00]

• Production Critique:

  “No reason for bad production. None. You should have no production issues … use AI, say, ‘How is this? Clean this up for us.’”

• Scores:
  • John: 6 (“That song is almost something. I want to go higher, but…” [11:04])
  • Brett: 6 for the song, “a 5 for the riff.” [11:13]
• Consensus: Good musicianship, but unfocused. Production needs tightening.

[12:18] – Thomas James Band – "Stone Cold Killer"

• Band Background: Roots rock/retro vibes. Song: "Stone Cold Killer."
• Musical References:
  • Cult meets Guns N Roses (listener), Freddie Mercury and Aerosmith had a gayer baby (Travis), Huey Lewis and the News (off-air, Brady), Black Crows, Jet (listener).
• Host Reactions:

  “I thought that was catchy and … kind of found myself. It’s nothing revolutionary, but that was kind of the fun of it … just kind of a driving rock song.” — John Holmberg [17:33] “Just turned on the radio and thought it was a real song.” — Brett Vesely [18:43]

• Critiques: Some listeners struggled with song clarity, “Is he speaking English? I can’t understand a word he’s singing.” — Kyle [18:02]
• Scores:
  • John: 7 (“I want to give it more, but … Seven’s good.” [19:39])
  • Brett: 8 [19:45]
• Consensus: Infectious, radio-ready, could use a harmonica.

[20:04] – DoubleBlind – "Window out of Here"

• Band Background: Lady-fronted alt-rock. Track: "Window out of Here."
• Host Reactions:

  “It sounded local. … It wasn’t bad, but it sounded local.” — John Holmberg [23:09] “DoubleBlind, you’re fine. But it’s… the songwriting’s the problem there. … It just wasn’t a very good song.” — John Holmberg [24:51]

• Production Issues:
  • “Terrible production. The song was very muddy.” — John Holmberg [23:50]
  • “How do you guys get gayer versions of Bush on the radio?” — Brett Vesely [24:01]
• Listener texts: South Park reference (“Did I just listen to Steamy Nicks?”), Wayne’s World/Cassandra vocal jokes, “If I were a chick from Sedona…"
• Scores:
  • John: 4 (dropped after ‘Cassandra’ comparison) [24:21]
  • Brett: 5
• Consensus: Decent musicianship, but overly formulaic and uninspired.

[26:13] – An Awful Mess – "Better Off Without You"

• Band Background: Alternative rock with “pop to heavy metal” influences. Song tackles trauma/abusive relationships.
• Host & Listener Insights:
  • “Very much Stacey’s Mom … Kind of marketable. There’s a market for that?” — John Holmberg [29:37]
  • "Lincoln Twink. 80 to 182.” (listener mash-up joke) [29:41]
  • "Blinkin Park’s pretty good.” — John Holmberg [30:17]
  • “A Treyu light?” — John Holmberg [30:32]
• Production Critique:
  • “Very tinny. … Didn’t have any balls. It was good, though.” — Dick Toledo/John Holmberg [31:23]
• Scores:
  • Brady: 5
  • John: 6 ("They get a better producer … I think they’d be good.” [30:51])
• Consensus: Adequate performance and songwriting, needs depth and heavier production to stand out.

[32:01] – Apostate – "Active Shooter Mass Casualties"

• Band Background: Shock-value industrial/experimental rock, styled after Nine Inch Nails/Satanic imagery.
• Intro Reaction (reading lyrics):

  “Comes this giant talentless douche ready to blow the nipples off of lady boys everywhere. Inspired by family annihilation, Ozempic, and that anal abscess I had in 2017 that I swear spoke to me about Satan.” — John Holmberg [32:23]

• Reaction after play:

  “That was not good apostate. … It is very Feldmany. … That was not good apostate. Man, we were on fire there for a second.” — John Holmberg [35:30] “It’s not even good enough to be gay when he tells you it’s Nine Inch Nails but he only pulls out three.” — Tyler/John Holmberg [36:01]

• Scores:
  • Brett: 1 [36:02]
  • John: 1
• Consensus: The “wall” of quality—funny in concept but flat and amateurish. “Just a bad song.” — John Holmberg [36:05]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Playdio improvement:

  “This is the least sucking Playdio has ever been.” — John Holmberg [17:51]

• On song catchiness:

  “Just turned on the radio and thought it was a real song.” — Brett Vesely [18:43]

• On production standards:

  “In this day and age, no reason for bad production. … Use AI, say, ‘How is this? Clean this up for us.’ It’s a tool.” — John Holmberg [10:25]

• On DoubleBlind’s vocal:

  “Did I just listen to Steamy Nicks?” — Listener via John Holmberg [24:10]

• On point when Playdio ‘hits a wall’:

  “I said, let’s go till we hit a wall. And those guys are like, Kool Aid … Kool Aid man hit it and said I’m not getting through this.” — John Holmberg [34:35]

Host Ratings and Playdio Mini-Leaderboard

• Mourning Star: 6 / 6 (needs focus, better production, good riff)
• Thomas James Band: 7 / 8 (catchy, retro, radio-ready)
• DoubleBlind: 4 / 5 (decent musicians, ‘local band’ flaws, poor production)
• An Awful Mess: 6 / 5 (solid, MySpace-era, thin sound)
• Apostate: 1 / 1 (shock for shock’s sake, incoherent)

Episode Tone & Takeaway

The atmosphere is playful, sometimes rowdy, brutally honest, and distinctly unfiltered. While there’s plenty of humor (often edgy or borderline), the hosts provide genuine candid feedback, celebrate the surprising lift in local band quality, and are eager to promote those acts they see as rotation-ready. By the end, it’s clear Playdio 2025 Day One exceeded their expectations—at least until that final “wall.”

For a full Playdio experience: Listen to the band performances between critiques for best context.