The Toadcast - The Weekly Podcast From Song, By Toad

Well the Funkcast was probably about as gentle a 'tell me about this genre' podcast as you're likely to get.  This, on the other hand, is not gentle.  I suppose it was never likely to be - there's only so gentle an introduction you can give to this kind of music. Basically, I was becoming increasingly curious about the number of alt-folkies I know who come from heavy metal backgrounds.  Loads of my friends here who I know because we all listen to indie rock or alternative folk or all sorts of things inbetween seem to have been really into metal when they were young.  This doesn't entirely make sense to me because I see very little connection between the two kinds of music, and for so many people to have made that transition it must be a strong connection. Then, of course, it turns out that loads of people whose music I listen to - alt-folk, once again - also grew up listening to metal.  The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie and, more locally, Dan from Withered Hand and Neil from Meur