Classic Episode: Heartless Bastards
The Working Songwriter
Joe Pug
4.9 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode originally aired on April 28th, 2017. Erika Wennerstrom, the creative force behind Heartless Bastards, discusses growing up in Dayton Ohio, signing to Fat Possum Records, and her techniques for bringing a song to life.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | They say there's nothing new under the sun, and ain't that the truth. |
| 0:11.1 | The working songwriter has been on the air for over 10 years in about 300 episodes now. |
| 0:16.2 | As you've probably noticed, only the latest 100 published episodes are available in your podcast app and on |
| 0:22.7 | Spotify. So we're bringing back some of the gems from past years. Of course, if you want access |
| 0:28.9 | to every single episode of the show at any time, you can become a subscriber to the vault. |
| 0:33.8 | The vault is a private member's only section of my website at joepugmusic.com where you can access any episode of the vault. The vault is a private member's only section of my website at joepugmusic.com |
| 0:39.0 | where you can access any episode of the show for streaming and for download. In the meantime, |
| 0:45.0 | we're bringing back some classic episodes to the main feed. Is that a reason to not join the vault? |
| 0:51.1 | Of course not, because it means that our latest episodes will only get paywalled |
| 0:55.5 | all the sooner. Is this a relatively convoluted system? Of course it is, but such are the |
| 1:01.8 | trade-offs that the ever-changing media landscape leaves us to navigate. Thank you for being here. |
| 1:08.0 | It's always an honor that you listen to this show, and I hope that you enjoy some of these classic episodes. |
| 1:14.6 | Today's episode with Erica Wienerstrom of the Heartless Bastards was originally aired on April 28, 2017. |
| 1:22.6 | A brief scan of the headlines of that day remind us of when millennials were being shamed for buying avocado |
| 1:29.2 | toast, and fidget spinners were suddenly everywhere. |
| 1:33.2 | Simpler times, my friends. |
| 1:35.1 | I hope that you enjoy this classic episode. |
| 1:43.3 | My guest this month is Erica Wintersbrum, the creative force behind Heartless Bastards |
| 1:51.9 | and the only constant member of the band since its inception. |
| 1:57.1 | Originally from Dayton, Ohio, she dropped out of high school in her senior year and had a stint as the bass player for the art rock band, Sheez. |
| 2:06.0 | A few years later, she met Mike Lamping, who would become the band's bass player, and she relocated to Cincinnati. |
| 2:14.4 | Legend has it that the band got their name from one of those mega-touch trivia games at the end of a bar. |
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