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Chuck Ragan

Fly fishing tour guide

Interviews / Don't Quit Your Day Job • April 14, 2025

How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene Point Blank looks at how musicians split their time, and how their careers influence their music (or how their music provides escape). In this edition, we caught up with Chuck Ragan, known as the gruffest voice of Hot Water Music and an impressive solo career. Besides music, Ragan is also a professional angler and fishing guide. Scene Point Blank: First, the basics. You are a fishing guide, is that your job title? Chuck Ragan: Yes. I’m a fly fishing guide and instructor. The vast majority of my trips are fly fishing but have always been set up to accommodate conventional anglers as well. Scene Point Blank: What does that mean in relation to your role at Cast Hope? Chuck Ragan: When I began guiding I started working with Cast Hope. I’d fallen in love with the cause and the mission of sharing the outdoors with youth and their mentors to help with awareness of our waterways and the importance of connecting with Mother Nature. Scene Point Blank: Do you guide people on rivers, primarily? Are you a boat captain as well? Chuck Ragan: I’m mostly working in rivers, yes, but also work in a number of our foothill lakes and reservoirs in Northern California. Some of the rivers I work are deemed navigable waters in which I have to have a merchant mariners credential, TWIC card and a … Read more

Retirement

Bike Shop

Interviews / Don't Quit Your Day Job • March 23, 2025

How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day … Read more

Sumu

Individual Coach

Interviews / Don't Quit Your Day Job • February 28, 2025

There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not … Read more

Peter Jesperson

Interviews • February 28, 2025

There is perhaps no bigger music fan than Peter Jesperson. His passion for music translated to jumping feet first and … Read more

Latest album reviews — browse all

Errth

Errth
Uncle Style Records (2025)

What makes a gruff vocal melodic punk band stand out? That's the question I'm asking myself as I listen to Errth's debut on repeat. I've been playing this record for probably a month straight and I dig it. It checks the heart-on-sleeve style I enjoy but I'm struggling to figure out why, exactly. I think on this, it's the tones … Read more

1186

Histeria
Drunken Sailor (2025)

If you read enough press releases, you start questioning if you even know what genre names mean. Post-punk has been one of the most abused terms of the past 2-3 years and it seems to mean wildly different things to different people. To me, it’s always meant an ear for angular guitars and noise atop more traditional song concepts. 1186 … Read more

Li Jianhong

Shuttle Raven of the Dream
Utech (2025)

Li Jianhong's philosophy surpasses the direct relationship of a musician with their instrument of choice. Instead, Li has advocated for Environment Improvisation, where the urge to create and improvise is established by the artist's surroundings. Looking at Li's website you can find numerous instances that inspired him to settle down and start improvising, drawing energy from the surroundings. The music … Read more

Deseos Primitivos

Lineas de Muerte
Shadowplay Records (2025)

Some reviews are written after years of listening to a band and knowing nearly everything about them. Sometimes I listen to a record on repeat for weeks before I even look up the correct song titles – Deseos Primitivos (Primitive Desires) is the latter. This promo came to SPB as literally a one sentence quote about the band and its … Read more

Additional album reviews

The Men

Buyer Beware
Fuzz Club Records (2025)

I wanna say the first time I heard Brooklyn NY’s The Men was back in 2010, ironically around the time I moved back to Vancouver, Canada from Brooklyn. I don’t … Read more

Detention

Dead Rock ‘N’ Rollers
Left For Dead Records (2024)

Life ain’t so easy in the detention home- Dead Boys. Emerging from the underbelly of Jersey, made up primarily of three brethren. Raised on rock and roll and sipping from … Read more

Nightfreak

Nightfreak
Big Neck Records (2024)

Semi-feral punk outfit NightFreak are back with a self-titled LP filled with breakneck riffs and 70s metal bombast. The Chicago group haven’t slowed down since 2022’s Speed Trials but they … Read more

Death By Unga Bunga

Raw Muscle Power
Jansen Records (2025)

I’m pretty sure I became aware of Mike Krol when The Whiffs posted about playing some shows with him. Krol is a bit of an anomaly. Not only is he … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Celebration Summer

A Little Less Numb
Den of Wax (2024)

I get a lot of music here at SPB and, unfortunately, my memory isn’t perfect. But I consider it a good sign when my first thought on hearing a new … Read more

Gus Baldwin & The Sketch

The Sketch
Permanent Teeth (2025)

When The Sketch opens, I find myself quickly thinking of “Got The Time” by Joe Jackson. For the most part, that comparison fades by the time the power chords kick … Read more

Chat Pile

Cool World
Flenser (2024)

The great American experiment has a wide range of experiences, but it tends to focus on the coasts. There are countless dystopian pieces of art, often culling from a Warriors-esque … Read more

The Anomalys

Down The Hole
Slovenly (2024)

If I have to give the elevator pitch, I’ll call The Anomalys garage rock with an ear for surf and psyche rock -- turned up to 11 and blasted through … Read more

News headlines — browse all

SPB premiere "Deeper" by Lookers

Posted in Videos on April 25, 2025

Lookers, of Rhode Island, release their new album Deeper today, and SPB is excited to premiere a video for the title track from their new album on Almost Ready Records. The band is equally mood, mysterious, seductive and somber, with influence that ranges from post-punk to pop. We asked vocalist … Read more

SPB stream: Righteous Propaganda/Mycelium Cloak

Posted in Records on April 1, 2025

Just released in February, SPB’s featured stream for the month of March is a fierce and heavy split LP between Illinois bands Righteous Propaganda and Mycelium Cloak, out now -- … Read more

Joliette muses on Mexico City

Posted in Records on April 26, 2025

Joliette, a post-hardcore band from Mexico City, just shared a new single today in advance of their next album, Pérdidas Variables, which releases on June 20 via Persistent Vision Records. … Read more

ButcherBird takes flight...or, perhaps, pummels

Posted in Records on April 25, 2025

New band ButcherBird has an EP out on May 30 via Drowning Sea God Records, Drought/Deluge. The label calls the band "extreme, proggy and punky with noises from pedals that … Read more

A "Long Dark" tune from Museum of Light

Posted in Bands on April 25, 2025

Museum of Light shared a standalone single recently, the song comes from the Diviner sessions, but didn't fit the mood of the album. The song notably features a spoken word … Read more

Now is the Season To Risk

Posted in Tours on April 25, 2025

Kansas City noise-rock band Season To Risk recently released 1-800-MELTDOWN for Record Store Day (Init Records), following that up immediately with a run of live dates in the central US. … Read more

Cleavers ask for you to "Give Me The Time" for their new LP

Posted in Records on April 25, 2025

Scottish punk band Cleavers will release their debut album, Bad Luck, You Can Make It Next Time, on July 11 via Grievous Angles on LP, cd, cassette, and digitally. The … Read more

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