11-24-25 - Playdio DAY ONE - Bands 17-21 - MOURNING STAR - THOMAS JAMES BAND - DOUBLEBLIND - AN AWFUL MESS - APOSTATE

Summary

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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.

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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]

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[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.

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[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.

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[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.

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[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.

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[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]

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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]

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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)

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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.

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Transcript

[Dick Toledo]

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[Brett Vesely]

Hey, it's Brett Vesely and I'm here with Byron from MMP Guns. Look Byron, I have a friend wanting to sell some guns he inherited. What's the best way for him to do that?

[Byron]

Brett, the last thing you want to do is sell the gun to someone who can't legally own one. Tell him not to put himself at risk and come into M and P Guns where he'll get a fair offer and he can rest easy knowing it's not getting into the wrong hands.

[Brett Vesely]

Okay, but what if he lives out of state?

[Byron]

Easy legalgunbuyer.com and he can do it all online. It's really that simple.

[Brett Vesely]

There you have it. MMP Guns or legalgunbuyer.com the safe and legal way to sell your fire arms. It's Brett Vesely from Homebridge. Morning sickness. Now. I've always been the kind of guy that takes care of my own lawn. That's until I found Divine Design Landscaping. These guys aren't your typical mow and blow landscaping company. They do amazing work. And it's just what I needed to finally throw on the towel and let the experts take over. If you've been unhappy with your landscaping or sick of trying to do it yourself, well, it's time to get a hold of Divine Design Landscaping. These guys handle everything. Lawn care, irrigation, tree work, low voltage lighting, 3D designs. Get a free quote@divinedesign lawn care.com that's divinedesignlawncare.com you're listening to the HMS podcast brought to you by mmpguns.com your most trusted online marketplace for firearms, ammunition and accessories.

[John Holmberg]

It's John Holmberg here from the morning Cygnus and it's time to talk about TVs Doug Hopkins of my home group and Doug hopkins.com boy, that team at Doug Hopkins office is amazing. Not only will Doug Hopkins buy your home for cash as is and get that Deal done lickety split. His team is unbelievable. So if you've got a place that needs a ton of work, Doug will help you out by making that cash offer as is. Or he'll list your place. If it's already perfect, all you have to do is start the process online@doug hopkins.com or grab the phone and sing.

[Dick Toledo]

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[John Holmberg]

Still stream morning sickness online at 98kupd.com Moscow all right. Is that legal that I'm doing that? Adding Moscow to the legal id?

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Sure.

[John Holmberg]

If it's me, it gets a deal. I mean, legally, it's. I don't know, man. You guys are all asking us now. This one says if I were an NFL team owner, I'd leave a game early to catch those last three bands. That's exactly if you weren't listening to the opening of the show. I saw Michael Bidwell at the rah Rah room 15 minutes before the Suns game started, which was about 17 minutes after the Cardinals game ended. And somewhere another he was already@the matchup.com Center America West Arena center center of Matchups Footprint Mortgage match. That's right. So I've started the wild speculation earlier in the show that I think Bill Bidwell is going to sell the team, or at least is interested in selling the team to the Ishbia brothers. Michael Bidwell, I said Bill again. Well, to me he's just Bill's Chunk of Bill. Chunk of Bill's a great band name, but bottom line is the owner of the Cardinals is standing there at the Sun's game 15 minutes after an overtime game had ended, and there's no way he got there without leaving early. No other. No other owner in football would get away with that. Nobody pays attention to the card.

[Unidentified Male Commentator]

Go let you in on something.

[John Holmberg]

What's that?

[Unidentified Male Commentator]

He's the gorilla.

[John Holmberg]

Oh, my God. You knew this the whole time? You bastard. They made the poor gorilla walk on his hands all the way down the stairs the other night. That's just mean. What is this guy willing to risk for entertainment?

[Brett Vesely]

Anyway, we had a suggestion from Dave. He said if you guys have time, can you guys play the top three songs at the end of the show? Maybe.

[John Holmberg]

We, during that commercial break just played Witness Protection again and people are asking where to get it. I don't know.

[Brett Vesely]

I got a SoundCloud link.

[John Holmberg]

Oh, you're putting it up on our Facebook.

[Brett Vesely]

I will.

[John Holmberg]

That was great. I'm not kidding when I say that that's one of my favorite songs I've heard in a long time. Metallica Avenge Sevenfold. Anything else comes out new? That one got me. Maybe I'm overstating it for myself. It might wear thin. But I loved that song Breath of Poison. Great stuff. And then we had Stuart from Mad TV pop in and he's. He's the one that's gonna write. Management really just have people on to make fun of them. No, we don't. We had you on to make fun of you. You did that. You could be a wonderful person. But stop that thinking that you're involved in this. It's like bringing a left handed mitt to a tryout at a baseball game. Like I'm right, I throw left handed, but I got a left handed mitt. So I'm gonna use it for both.

[Dick Toledo]

Jim Abbott's one of my.

[John Holmberg]

It's like a guy going, I'm gonna win this pool tournament. What is that? It's my broom. You play with the broom. I ain't got a stick that. You're not supposed to enter this tournament. Morningstar. Wasn't that a band in the 80s?

[Dick Toledo]

Gangstar?

[John Holmberg]

Wasn't Morningstar banned in the 80s? Yeah, it was. Yeah.

[Unidentified Male Commentator]

Oh, Midnight Star.

[John Holmberg]

Midnight Star. You're right. That's what I'm thinking of. All right. Morning Star is different. And they spell it out of the natty. Yeah, they spell it sad, sadness, Morning M O U R N, Mornings. Like All Stars says it formed in September of 2023. Mixing thoughtful melodic hooks and heart rending Heartrend Heart trending Courses. Is that a word? Heart trending? It's not hard heart, it's heart trending. It says brutally heavy riffs reminiscent of the golden era. Of thrash. Morningstar is not limited to one genre. We create songs that get stuck in your head, deep with emotions and filled with power. This is our goal and that is our sound. Video for Imperfect is set to be released in January. Thanks, Casey. Casey has submitted his band, Morningstar. The song is called Imperfect. Let's see what they've got. And a nice little run here. We've been in a nice run, gang. Here's Imperfect from morning star. It's 98.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Sa. You did not. All I see is imperfect All I know is all. Familiar faces Drinking away from me and now we meet again. Just like baby. Sam.

[John Holmberg]

Oh, come on. That is Morningstar Imperfect. And. Yeah, that one had me lost me had me lost me had me lost. Yeah, that's. I guess I would say get a producer behind that one and make it less. It's meandering. It's a little sloppy.

[Brett Vesely]

Great riff.

[John Holmberg]

Great riff.

[Brett Vesely]

Yeah.

[John Holmberg]

Pretty good song, actually. There's certain parts. When it lost me, it lost me a lot.

[Unidentified Male Commentator]

They just went for too much.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah, there's too much going on. Simplify that thing. And I think it's. I think you got a good one. And I did. I thought in the beginning, like, something was wrong with the vocal production. Maybe it was just me. I have to listen again. But it's not a little screwed up. And again, in this day and age, no reason for bad production. None. None. You should have no production issues. And, you know, use AI. Say, how is this? Clean this up for us. It's a tool. It's no different than Pro Tools or editing or a mix or a sample or anything else. We have to pay for that, Then pay for it.

[Dick Toledo]

Pay for Pro Tools. You have to pay for everything.

[John Holmberg]

That song is almost something. So I'm gonna give that thing a. I'll go six. I want to go higher, but I.

[Brett Vesely]

Go six A five for the riff.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Okay.

[John Holmberg]

You didn't like the rest of it.

[Brett Vesely]

Just like you said, it just got messy.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah, it got a little messy. All right, next one is Thomas James Band. I like the name Tom James. Thomas James Band. The bio says nothing. Song is called Stone Cold Killer. Band members are Tom Forsey, AKA Thomas James. Just be Thomas James, man. The B member of the band because they listed him abcde. Tom depoy, known as Tommy D. Jeremy Rogers plays the drums. Christopher Marshall plays Key Sex and Vox and Michael Morris's bass and vocals as well. Song is called a Stone Cold Killer. It's on Apple, Spotify, Amazon. Band is called the Thomas James Band. And they're ready to go number 18 for day one of Palladio, which by the way was kicking us in the balls for an hour. And then for the last hour or so. Can we say Brett?

[Brett Vesely]

Yeah Absolute life.

[John Holmberg]

So let's say the Thomas James Band puts one on us now. What do you say boy Stone cold killer. Let's keep the streak moving forward we're doing all right it's 98k upd on.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

The side of the road really know where to begin sorry that she ever let it get this far but we got to know if you're still in now are you still still. Johnny's a staring through her boat friend left long ago having the skills doing bail is a will said something I think you should know I'll give you.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Some eyes like a long time ago oh my God I was here before you you say you leave your heart on the side of the road and pick it up when you know you got to be so cool if on.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

The bottom time you do a stone.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Cold killing machine it does in your veins you can justify the ends bound of me make him see what you are. Morning sickness hear the words you say.

[Dick Toledo]

Sometimes I mean who talks like that?

[John Holmberg]

It's John Holbert here. Time to talk about TV's Doug Hopkins of my home group and Doug Hopkins.com I just sat down with TV's Doug Hopkins. We did some TV commercials while we're watching football so you get to see me sit next to Doug and somehow or another make Doug look pretty. And I'm happy to do it too. I bought and sold houses using Doug Hopkins. So I've been through the process and he's the real deal. He is not going to cancel or change the game with fine print contingencies. Simple cash offer and the deal is done. Start the process online@doug hopkins.com or grab the phone and sing.

[Dick Toledo]

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[Unidentified Male Singer]

In the front one in the to get away car counting all the money in the world wouldn't justify things going far so we'll give you some.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Eyes I got a long time ago.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

What got I was hearing from you he said it leave your heart on.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

The side of the road and pick.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

It up when you go through you.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Know you got to be stone cold.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

Dip on the body time you do.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

A stone cold kill him machine your veins you can justify the answer under me they can see that you are. I give you some fast I got a long time ago oh my God I was here wait for you you sending me your heart outside of the road back it up when you say. You live for the part of the times you do a stone cold killing machine with thousands your veins you can justify the answer for me and can see what you are star.

[John Holmberg]

What is going on with Pleydeo? God damn it. This is not bad. This is. There's another one that kind of had me dance, tapping my toes. Kevin Falcone, father of yogi, says the Cult meets Guns N Roses. What was the one you had just a second ago?

[Brett Vesely]

Oh yeah. It's like Freddie Mercury and Aerosmith had a gayer baby from Travis.

[John Holmberg]

The run of real music is over and the gay is back. Gayer than two boys kissing. You guys are just dying to make gay jokes.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

This.

[John Holmberg]

That was not that bad. So there have been good bands all along in Phoenix. Where have they been hiding? Brady, you called this while we were playing it. Craig agrees. He goes, that's Huey Lewis in the news. Brady off the air said, put a harmonica in this. That song's begging for a harmonica. I liked it a lot.

[Dick Toledo]

Yeah.

[John Holmberg]

Thomas James Band. I thought that was catchy and I kind of found myself. It's nothing revolutionary, but that was kind of the fun of it. It's just kind of a driving rock song. What is happening? I want to hear more. I do. This song's gayer than aids. You guys just want to make the jokes.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Yeah.

[John Holmberg]

You're constantly saying, john, it's the greatest time to be alive. And you must be correct because this is the least sucking Plato has ever been. You weren't listening earlier.

[Brett Vesely]

Thanks for just tuning in.

[John Holmberg]

We had a nice comeback, but that's all it takes. Greg said, does the lead singer of that band have a speech impediment or down syndrome? Know Greg? He didn't sound like a Down syndrome. He did. He did do the whole rock band. I can't understand what you're saying thing Kyle says. Is he speaking English? I can't understand a word he's singing. Yeah, see, there's a lot of that. Oh, and then there's the. Daniel says. Hey, sorry to interrupt the whole thing this morning, but are there tickets to the show tonight at Copper Blues? The website says they're closed for construction. I haven't been to a show in years, but I want to see the three bands you've played. Me, too. And it's downtown, not Desert Ridge.

[Dick Toledo]

You got to be going downtown, not Desert.

[John Holmberg]

Desert Ridge is still working on their wall. Man, that was another good one. I like that.

[Brett Vesely]

Just turned on the radio and thought it was a real song.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah, exactly. Michael Rasmussen said, man, I fear that this means tomorrow's going to be a long day. Oh, yeah, it's like a. It's like a Hitting your stride in the middle of the season.

[Dick Toledo]

I will say, there's.

[John Holmberg]

Hey, there's people here.

[Dick Toledo]

How are you two gems tomorrow, at least.

[John Holmberg]

Okay, well, calm down.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Don't start.

[John Holmberg]

Don't taint the well.

[Brett Vesely]

Man, way to go.

[John Holmberg]

This one says, usually our tastes are very similar, John, but that singer sounded like he was gurgling horse seed. Ok, all right.

[Dick Toledo]

Just as you say that, there's two texts referring to Gummy Puddles.

[John Holmberg]

Tummy Puddles. Sing along at home.

[Brett Vesely]

I think that last song was played at the Double Deuce in Roadhouse.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah, this guy says Black Crows, Jet, that kind of thing. I actually like that song. I'm gonna give Thomas James.

[Dick Toledo]

Is that Dan Bickley's band?

[John Holmberg]

Maybe Bickley's got a good band. I'm gonna give that a seven. I want to give it more, but I. Seven's good.

[Brett Vesely]

I'm going eight.

[John Holmberg]

Eight for seven, seven for you. That still puts him in a good spot. Man, we've had a nice little run here. Double Blind. That's who we're looking at here. Double Blind is the next band. I don't know what's going on around here, but I'm enjoying this too much. This one said Stone Cold Killer. Is there a new Back to the Future coming out? That sounded like it could start the movie. It was very Huey Lewis. Double Blind just gives us. Oh, I've got a Lady Singer Brett, prepare yourselves.

[Brett Vesely]

But Kitty and Hobbs are good, so I can't.

[John Holmberg]

That's right. You never know. Double Blind song is called Window out of Here. Tresha Taylor does vocals. Roy Sandoval's on guitar. Alex Zimmer is guitar as well. Noah Pfeffer on bass and John Westcott on drums. There's just a picture of them. And then we play their song. Right. Okay, so we go with Double Blind, Window out of here. The lineup is when we're smacking double after double. Let's see if we get another one. Here's double blind. It's 98.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

Just a mark on the calendar. Two days almost another year gone by. Look at myself in the mirror My skin's older A little dry.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Will I.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

Keep falling down the stairs to nowhere it scared me, though I know, I know I've been here before.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Walk out.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

This door of the fair life through the window out of here Leave the all behind you and let the light of the future find you. Woke up this morning Try to remember the dream I had God, I wish I could make it happen and you got to give me s if you.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Care to make a change Give me.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

The strength of power to change my life now Happiness is all I feel no sorrow any Walk out the door of the Climb through the window out of here Leave the earth out behind.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

You and let the. Oh, the man's trendy. All right.

[John Holmberg]

The obvious joke and I wrote this down is. Yeah, Leave it to a woman to wreck a good time. We were on a roll. We were rolling along. And I wrote down. And somebody just put up a picture of Green Day.

[Brett Vesely]

Well, that elderly lesbian.

[John Holmberg]

I know that's what they said. All right, here's the problem with that. It wasn't bad, but it sounded local. And I think it's hard for what we just heard the last five or six songs that sounded better than local to hear local. Come back. And I heard local. I heard. You know, it's like when you see an artist who's going to stay in his area and you see somebody's like, that's magnificent. You know the difference. And I. We heard the difference. They're good. The lady can sing, but the song was very local. Band.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

Yeah.

[John Holmberg]

Yes. A to B, cut and paste. Kind of.

[Dick Toledo]

How do you listen to. To that production and think that you've nailed it? When Thomas Jane and just went before.

[Brett Vesely]

You, I didn't even hear.

[Unidentified Announcer]

Really.

[Dick Toledo]

It was vastly different.

[John Holmberg]

Terrible production.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Just.

[John Holmberg]

The song was very muddy.

[Dick Toledo]

It's so.

[John Holmberg]

A, B, C. It was just kind.

[Unidentified Male Commentator]

Of A real hook.

[Brett Vesely]

And the riff was welcome to or Teen Spirit.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah, that opening riff was standing.

[Brett Vesely]

How do you guys get gayer versions of Bush on the radio?

[Dick Toledo]

Like this.

[John Holmberg]

All right.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Right.

[John Holmberg]

The gay thing.

[Dick Toledo]

That's what this said too. Everything Zen ripoff.

[John Holmberg]

Okay. This is a good, very good south park reference. Did I just listen to Steamy Nicks? Steamy Nicks was a. A Stevie Nicks thing. It just sounded like she was farting the whole time.

[Brett Vesely]

Is that the chick from Wayne's World singing again?

[John Holmberg]

Oh, my God, that's perfect. Cassandra. That's Cassandra from. That's all right. You just made me drop it. A point. It's Cassandra. I gave it a four. And that has more to do with where it's placed after those. Because it made me realize, okay, we have a higher standard now. The bar got raised. The bar got raised. Oh, Brady. I'll give it a five. And again, you're not bad at what you do. Double blind. You're fine. But it's. I think you heard it.

[Brett Vesely]

Just work on it a little bit.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah, you're good at what you do. The songwriting's the problem there. It just wasn't a very good song this one has. Ryan says they have a career making commercials for Outback. They're gay is what I'm saying.

[Brett Vesely]

Jeff. Margaret said, I'd totally love this if I were a chick from Sedona.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah, that one had that kind of vibe. It just felt like your.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Your.

[John Holmberg]

Your aunt had a band and you're kind of liking it, but you have to. You have to go see them. But you're all very good at what you do.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Hear the words you say sometimes.

[Dick Toledo]

I mean, who talks like that?

[Unidentified Announcer]

98Kupd alright, HMS podcast time again to let you know where to go for some great comedy in the Valley this week. For the complete lineups and for tickets, go to standuplive.com desertridgeimprov.com and tempeimprov.com looking for the best football spot in town. Look no further than Hooters with wall to wall TVs, all the games and the best specials anywhere. We have you covered. Select Big Daddy beers starting at only $4 and the Hooties pick three for only $10 per person. It's a game changer. Honestly, where else can you go get two beers, an appetizer, two entrees and two additional non alcoholic drinks for under $30? Nowhere. So head to Hooters, your game day headquarters.

[John Holmberg]

Holmberg's morning sickness. All right, next one is called an Awful Mess Better off without you Better off without you says Good evening, this is Aaron from An Awful Mess here to submit Better off without you, the title track track of our brand new record for this year's Playdoh. An Awful Mess is an alternative rock band with influences ranging from pop to heavy metal and everything in between. Their latest record, better off without you. It's about overcoming trauma and abusive relationships. Fun. Find a way to move forward and break the chains of the past.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

All right.

[John Holmberg]

Good message there. I suppose. It's called Better off without you. It's from An Awful Mess. Let's see what they've got. It's Palladio 2020.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

After everything I've given you're smiling with a match in battle brew it's all that looks not flat like me.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Act.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

Like we never met I don't want to be part of this I just want you forget Take me into the darkest part of your mind the darkest.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Part of your mind.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

Leave this all behind Leave this all.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Be.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

Thinking right now I'm thinking about how perfect my life was you can't break me down until in my mind I'm thinking about how perfect my life was before you came to break me down. Neither needle said it's about time for me to make a choice what I.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Won'T regret.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

Me into the darkest part.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Of your mind the darkest part of your mind.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

Leave this all behind Leave this all behind I'm thinking right now I'm thinking about how perfect my life was.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

What the is there to think about?

[Unidentified Male Commentator]

I think it's a few years later and I think they're better off being without Stacy's mom.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah. It's very much Stacy's mom. Kind of I marketable. There's a market for that?

[Brett Vesely]

Lincoln Twink. 80 to 182.

[John Holmberg]

You guys are celebrating the gay jokes too much. My Chemical Romance called. They said your band is gay. Dusty. Or that's from Kyle. Sorry. This band has MySpace era written all over it. Gayer. Bless the fall. Okay. I guess gay is gonna be what we call everything. Domestic violence. Do you hear this lead singer? No wonder she beats him. The audience can be real pricks. An awful mess.

[Brett Vesely]

I'm kind of digging Blinkin Park.

[John Holmberg]

Blinkin Park's pretty good. This one says it's like Nerf. Bullet for My Valentine. Lincoln Park. Wink.

[Brett Vesely]

I can already tell. The lead singer's pants are too tight.

[John Holmberg]

A fitting name. The Trauma is the Trauma. The song in reference to him being gay. What? That didn't make sense. A Trey. You light? Yeah.

[Dick Toledo]

Another day to remember Just another day.

[Brett Vesely]

To remember These guys would give shined down type speeches during a show.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah, I don't. So change your name to my Chemical Caster. What this band needs is more domestic violence. All right, that's enough of you. That's enough of you, Brady. You gave it a five, I'll give it a six, because I think they were. They're good at it. They weren't. You know, they get a better producer. I think they'd be good. They were like Brett pointed out, while we're starting, it's a real high end sound. You didn't have any depth to that 80s production.

[Dick Toledo]

Very tinny.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah. It didn't have any balls. It was good, though. I didn't think it was terrible. I don't. I wouldn't. I don't think you're gay.

[Brett Vesely]

Ish.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah, I didn't. I was pretty good. And again, that kind of sound is like. There's a. There's a space for it.

[Dick Toledo]

Yep. And you guys are festival around it.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah. Final one for today. We can keep going.

[Dick Toledo]

You can do whatever you want to do. I think it's your show.

[John Holmberg]

Oh, yeah. Got my name on it and stuff. Well, let's go until we hit a wall.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Okay.

[John Holmberg]

You know, let's go until something. Let's not break this streak. You don't walk away from a heater.

[Dick Toledo]

Look at the title of the next song.

[John Holmberg]

Okay. Apostate is Active Shooter Mass casualties. All right. I'm in song. Oh, geez, it's gonna cost me money. Apostate. Is that how you say that? Active Shooter Mass Casualties about. Oh, it's what it's about. From the depths of your mother's a hole. Oh, God.

[Brett Vesely]

Well, that wall might have just hit.

[John Holmberg]

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.

[Brett Vesely]

I was gonna run to the bathroom, but I'm gonna wait on this one.

[Dick Toledo]

I'm.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

And see.

[John Holmberg]

All right.

[Unidentified Male Commentator]

You're looking for that wall.

[John Holmberg]

Yeah, I think we might. I said let's go till we hit a wall. The streak's been good. We've had a lot of good bands. In a row, maybe. Oh, I got to go to day two already, don't I? It's not on my first page. There it is. Active Shooter, Mass casualty is the name of Apostate is the band. The song is. Got a terrible name. All right, let's see if this is the end of today or if we want to roll past it. All right, here we go. Apostle, it's 98.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

You speak of monkeys and evolution. You speak of a sinful fish. And I. I speak of a unique solution. Two little snaps are as good as dead. Cutting clean Witnesses good to stay marked by. Tiny little. The bed's rainy.

[John Holmberg]

I feel like I've been stamped in the house. Got another reason I don't live in Ohio.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Good Christ.

[Unidentified Male Commentator]

Scared.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Hello.

[John Holmberg]

Wall Y brought that up. I said, let's go till we hit a wall. And those guys are like, Kool Aid.

[Brett Vesely]

Man said, hold, bear.

[John Holmberg]

Kool Aid man hit it and said, I'm not getting through this.

[Brett Vesely]

Robert Smith called and said, those guys are really gay.

[John Holmberg]

All right. This song is a prostate, not apostate. A prostate. I gave my 7 year old a kid or a kid a Casio keyboard for Christmas. And he wrote the same thing. First day. I didn't know Corey Feldman was trying to get into playdio.

[Unidentified Male Commentator]

Is Kip in the band?

[John Holmberg]

Another guy said, how did Feldman sneak into Palladio? It is very Feldmany. It was not good apostate. That was not good apostate. Man, we were on fire there for a second. Those are the worst. Satan. It's not even good enough to be gay when he tells you it's Nine Inch Nails. But he only pulls out three. I agree with that. Thank you, Tyler.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Three.

[Brett Vesely]

I'm a one.

[John Holmberg]

You're a one?

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Yeah.

[John Holmberg]

That was not good. It's just a bad song.

[Unidentified Male Commentator]

Can't end it on that.

[John Holmberg]

I don't want to be. Don't you start. Don't you start. But I don't want to get anybody who talks about, you know, active shooters angry. Do we keep going? Thanks. Trent Gazner.

[Brett Vesely]

When he tells you it's nine inches but only pulls out.

[John Holmberg]

I already said that one. Brett, what are you. You got Brady's ears?

[Unidentified Male Singer]

Yeah. Well.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

What?

[Brett Vesely]

I'm still. I'm still screwed up from that.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

All right.

[John Holmberg]

That got a grand total of six points. What do you say? Let's go out on a high note. Let's go until we. Let's go till we hit glass. We need to be vindicated. Yeah, that's that. We got time for that, Rich. Oh, we're good. Yeah.

[Unidentified Male Singer]

You?

[Dick Toledo]

I was just about to go check.

[John Holmberg]

I'll run. I'll run one here. I'll run right here. And then we'll be right. Then we'll play one more or two more.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

We'll see.

[John Holmberg]

We'll go until we're done. That's.

[Unidentified Female Singer]

Wow.

[John Holmberg]

WISER Words. It's 9:29. We're in the middle of Playdoh. Had a nice streak of about six in a row. I don't know that we've ever done that. That might be a record of really good ones. We're going to hand over a couple of these bands. Just say, larry, rotation. This is. They're ready to go now. Let's get it together, Plato. We'll keep going for a little bit. We're, we're way ahead of schedule, so this is good. It's Arizona's most powerful rock radio station. He said fully erect.

[Unidentified Announcer]

All right, HMS Podcast, time again to let you know where to go for some great comedy in the valley this week. All right, Josh Johnson and the Flowers tour is going to be downtown at Stand the Blythe, east side of the Tempe Improv. Tony Rock is performing. And up north of Desert Ridge Improv, you have Langston Kerman. And next week for the holidays, Dion Cole, Eric Griffin, and Greg Fitzsimmons are coming to town for the complete lineups and for tickets, go to standuplive.com desertridgeimprov.com.

[John Holmberg]

And tempeimprov.com hey, everybody, it's John Holmberg here from the morning sickness and you hear me all the time talking about my friends at Lost Our Home Pet Rescue. We do the pick of the litter and it's brought to you by our [e-mail] Every week I head over to Lost Our Home Pet Rescue and I meet a brand new beautiful animal that needs a home. The work they do at Lost Our Home is unbelievable. Not just your average pet shelter, that is for sure. They help people in a lot of situations. Look them up online lostourhome.org and check out everything we do at 98kupd.com in the pick of the litter section.