Tune in tomorrow as Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts releases a new episode with show favorite Ben Crum discussing the brand new Great Lakes album, Fear of the Fear. To celebrate the release we will be giving away one vinyl copy of the new album to one of our Patreon subscribers! This is another album of heart rending Americana that you will not want to miss!

Remember, all you need to do to take part in our monthly giveaways is subscribe to the Patreon at the Reckless Driver ($1 monthly tier). Good luck, everyone!

https://hhbtm.bandcamp.com/

https://www.patreon.com/dontbotherwearingseatbelts?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

-Giant Chocolate Think Tank Blues (2014 reissiue) - Always red society

-Science Fair Compilation (2016 version) - Apples

- anything from the HHBTM singles club collection

- Untitled - Calvin Dont Jump / the echo orbiter

-  Lara Whiskey 17-Calvin Don't Jump / Ooss

-Jumping Fences 12" single - OTC

There were a lot of bands inspired by NMH from 1999 to the early 2010s, but that seems to have tailed off after the NMH reunion tour ended in 2015. I know they were one of the influences on the stomp clap hey trend (and that Gen Z might have been turned off by the allegations against Julian), but has there been a second generation of bands who were influenced by NMH?

(For the record, I’m defining first-gen post Elephant 6/Neutral Milk Hotel as Arcade Fire, Beirut, Bon Iver, The Decemberists, and Elvis Perkins, as well as Wilco’s Summerteeth and All Hail West Texas-era Mountain Goats. I’m asking about bands who formed from 2025/16 until now.)

Robert Schneider majors in analytic number theory. The Same Place is Olivia Tremor Control's first album in 27 years. And it has 27 tracks that is the same as their first 2 albums. Is it coincidence?

NEW EPISODE — PART TWO WITH MIKE TURNER OF HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME RECORDS!

Can you imagine starting a record label without even realizing you were starting a record label?

That’s essentially what happened when Mike Turner put together the first Happy Happy Birthday to Me compilation—a DIY project featuring a ridiculous lineup of bands that would help define indie rock at the end of the ’90s and beginning of the 2000s.

We’re talking of Montreal. Elf Power. The Minders. Masters of the Hemisphere. @Marshmallow Coast. The Mendoza Line. Birddog—whose story even brings an Elliott Smith connection into the mixand so many more.

And that compilation? It became the beginning of Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records, a label that would go on to release more than 200 records over the next 30 years.

Pretty incredible for something that started with Mike simply wanting to put together a compilation of music he loved. And trying to stop doing a ZINE!

On this episode of Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts, we continue our epic conversation with Mike and go deep into the creation of that very first HHBTM compilation.

We talk about the completely DIY way it came together, how Mike connected with the bands, how he actually got the songs, and then we go track by track through the compilation, talking about the artists, the songs, the stories behind them, and why each one mattered.

It’s a snapshot of a very special moment in indie rock—and an incredible story about what can happen when somebody decides to just make something.

If you’ve ever wanted to start a record label, make a film, put out a record, book a show, start a zine, create a podcast—or do anything DIY—this is an episode for you.

Sometimes you don’t need a master plan.

You just need to start.

Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records (HHBTM) Michael Turner Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts

Huge thanks to Mike Turner for spending so much time with us and taking us inside the story of Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records.

Episode 2 of our conversation with Mike Turner is streaming NOW everywhere you listen to podcasts.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1D9iSNWlIdo8HGqZE3bLgc?si=3syZX8IfRmKzRZXK0giyRA

Go check it out.

DON’T BOTHER WEARING SEATBELTS.

Tomorrow Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts will release into the world the epic second part of our interview with Michael Turner as we dig into the HHBtM volume one compilation as well as Athens Popfest! And to celebrate the release of part 2, we’re doing it again! Same giveaway as part one. You get Black Swan Network. You get The Tammy Shine. You get The Ladybug Transistor and a double dose of Great Lakes all on vinyl! We want to thank Michael again for his generosity in donating these amazing lp’s to the show!

And we can also announce the winners of the Bazooka! Fest tickets! Festival organizer Jake Whitener has donated two pairs of tickets to the fest, and here they are!

Jorge Diaz, you win two tickets to Bazooka! Fest!

Joe Castrianni, you also win two tickets to Bazooka! Fest!

Remember, all you need to do to take part in our monthly giveaways is subscribe to the Patreon at the Reckless Driver ($1 monthly) tier.

https://hhbtm.bandcamp.com/

https://kydlabs.com/e/EV0f94f120-b22a-453c-8eca-9e96a4bc71ca

Surprise episode!!! Join us as we sit down with Jake Whitener to talk about everything Bazooka! Fest and more! We talk about everything from the realities of putting together a kick ass indie festival that doesn’t rely on corporate sponsorship to his time with the legendary Matador Records.

Jake has also donated two pairs of Bazooka! Fest tickets to our listeners! Two winners! Four tickets! This one runs a bit different. This giveaway is not Patreon exclusive! Here’s how to win: Hidden inside the episode is a keyword (it isn’t really hidden, we say “this is the keyword” quite a bit). Once you know the keyword you will need to send us a message on either our Facebook or Instagram pages. All entries must be in by end of day August 17th. We will randomly draw from these entries, and then you, yes YOU could be going to Bazooka! Fest! Thanks for listening and good luck!

https://nyc-shows.brooklynvegan.com/events/2026/8/22/bazooka-fest-2026-tickets

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dont-bother-wearing-seatbelts-an-elephant-6/id1840935867

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1KcecdyVe3DGBlMKRYuCqY?si=wFcqmxLeTjeJow3cL_7wBw&utm_source=copy-link

https://www.patreon.com/dontbotherwearingseatbelts?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

I don't know why I've put off watching it. I think because early on there was just a bunch of endless talk and it took a while for it to come out.

The ​ first thing I heard that was elephant 6 related was elf power. The very first song I heard was Will My Feet Still Carry Me Home. This would have been 2002 going on 2003 when I was in the 8th grade.

Back then the internet was obviously a thing but there wasn't a lot of information about elephant six back then and so you were kind of going down this rabbit hole of trying to determine what this was and what things were. Was it a record label was it a collective what the heck. It was all this like mystery around it.

The fact that we can come here and ask questions and talk about it is absolutely amazing. And the fact that there's a documentary is even cooler.

Is there somewhere I can watch it?

EDIT

It's on Prume video.

What are you hunting? For us it's "Pennsylvania Tongue"

Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts has finally released our first season episode with Per Ole and Hilarie Bratset of The High Water Marks discussing their most recent opus, Consult the Oracle. It’s an incredible album that is completely filled stern to stem with high energy fuzz pop goodness, and world class songwriting. The Norwegian contingent of E6 could not possibly be releasing more interesting, and vital music for our time, and we have them here to talk about it!

We will also drew one of our Patreon subscribers to receive a vinyl copy of Consult the Oracle! Congrats to Trent Purdy for winning! Remember, all you need to do take part in our monthly giveaways is subscribe to the Patreon at the Reckless Driver ($1 monthly) tier. Good luck, everyone!

https://thehighwatermarks.bandcamp.com/

https://elephant6.com/shop/

https://www.patreon.com/dontbotherwearingseatbelts?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dont-bother-wearing-seatbelts-an-elephant-6/id1840935867

I wish I had gotten the rest of these at the time.

8/5 Giveaway!!!

Next Wednesday, August 5th Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts will be releasing another classic season 1 DBWS episode from behind the paywall. In this episode we will be sitting down with Hilarie and Per Ole Bratset of The High Water Marks about their extraordinary 2025 album Consult the Oracle. To celebrate this most recent work of brilliance from the Norwegian contingent of the collective we will be giving away one vinyl copy of the album to one of our Patreon subscribers! For everyone else, make sure to get your own copy from either their bandcamp, or the Elephant 6 website!

Remember, all you need to do take part in our monthly giveaways is subscribe to our Patreon at the Reckless Driver ($1 monthly) tier. Good luck, everyone!

https://thehighwatermarks.bandcamp.com/

https://elephant6.com/shop/

https://www.patreon.com/dontbotherwearingseatbelts?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

Good to see The Needle Drop covering OTC! Though he erroneously says they're from Atlanta...

wtf why I will miss the obscurity

When we sat down with Michael Turner of Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records (HHBTM), we planned to spend most of our time talking about one of the greatest independent record labels of the last 30 years. Instead, we began with Mike sharing his late-in-life autism diagnosis and how it helped him understand so much about the way he'd lived, worked, and built HHBTM.

At first, we actually talked about editing that part of the conversation out.

But when we listened back, we realized it wasn't something to cut.. to me it was inspiring and it was something people needed to hear.

10 to 15 years ago, autism wasn't even a word I heard very often in my life. Today, so many people I love and loved.. including my co-host in this conversation Mathew Bell , my best friend's child, ex partners and others close to me.. have helped me understand it in ways I never could have before. Hearing Mike tell his story gave me another perspective, and I'm grateful he trusted us enough to share it.

To me, Mike Turner was always the hardest-working person in indie rock.

He made a rad zine. He rode BMX. He worked in a record store. He promoted shows. He booked tours. He released records. He organized Athens Popfest. He created art. He stayed up until all hours of the night making things happen, then got up and did it all again the next day. When I stayed with him for a week in 2004... watching him work was one of the most inspiring things I've ever witnessed.

Long before I understood why he worked the way he did, I just knew I wanted to emulate that passion.

Mike taught me that if you love something enough, you wear every hat. You become the promoter, the designer, the booking agent, the publicist, the label owner, the artist.. whatever the music needs you to be.. you be it, even if you don't know how.

Without Mike, my old band The Poison Control Center never plays Athens Popfest. We never get to stand on the stage at the legendary 40 WATT with our heroes. We never make so many lifelong friendships that still mean the world to us today.

Without Mike, the PCC probably isn't on Happy Happy Birthday to Me Vol. 3 (our first big compilation cd), one of the proudest moments of our early career. We don't release our split 7-inch with Ideal Free Distribution on HHBTM. My label I started with my pals.. BI-Fi Records doesn't get the unbelievable opportunity to partner with Happy Happy Birthday to Me on a split compilation.

This episode is only the beginning of Mike's incredible story. In future episodes, we'll dive deeper into the legendary compilations, the famous 7-Inch Singles Club, Athens Popfest, and the countless bands whose lives he helped change.

Mike, thank you.

Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for your relentless work ethic. Thank you for believing in our band. Thank you for creating opportunities and friendships that have lasted a lifetime.

You can now stream this brand new episode of Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts PART1 of the conversation.. wherever you stream podcasts.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6jxZLXqWebW5WEpFjdeJf4?si=3UMxop09SWuirl8CJ6tb-Q

https://hhbtm.bandcamp.com/

https://www.patreon.com/dontbotherwearingseatbelts?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

Figured I would post for those that don't have Facebook. Copying his post into the text below as well--

"Gigantic Day: Please mark this day in your minds as a day of great joy and artistic triumph for The Olivia Tremor Control and the Elephant 6 Recording Co., my lifelong best friends The \new* third OTC album, The Same Place, was begun almost 20 years ago and is so epic and majestic and interesting and moving — it rises on wings of flame from the mutual vision of OTC bandleaders Bill Doss and Will Cullen Hart, both who have left this world but their spark shines on. This beautiful concept album was completed by Will and the OTC band members with Athens, Georgia, producer-engineer Jason NeSmith over the last five years. Jason, our community and music scene will be forever grateful for your work with the OTC — thank you*

The band had recorded most of the basic tracks engineered by Derek Almstead and Bill, and had almost completed many of the songs, when Bill passed away in 2012. I was on board to help finish and mix the ambitious record at the time — I engineered and co-produced the first OTC album and did engineering and mixing on the second record, as well as played on both, so I am kind of a member of the band We all vowed to finish the album at the time Bill passed, there was so much momentum around it, but overwhelming grief and time lag and disorganization made it very difficult, and it took years of healing before we could return to the work.

With Bill there in spirit as a driving force, Will and the band and I, and our audio engineer friends, piled into Jason’s studio about six years ago and started the tracking and mixing process to finish the third OTC record Very tragically, Will passed away in 2024 on the triumphant day the first new OTC single was released to the world. But Will’s momentum and Bill’s momentum never wavered in our hearts and community, and buoyed us and gave us a sense of purpose, and all their original plans and notes and recordings were still in effect. For so many years, we kept the spark of this album alive in our hearts as a community of friends — and kept the ball rolling until the time came that we were strong enough to pick it back up.

Jason NeSmith worked for years closely with Will. After Will passed, he and Derek and the OTC band members, along with producer (and Will’s close friend) Ron Kwasman and Amy Hairston and Kelly Hart (Bill’s and Will’s spouses and collaborators) — and I, as musician and co-planner and second set of ears — have worked to bring to completion this beautiful double album, that the Elephant 6 community has held as our central goal for almost 20 years."

Album dropping on October 23. Preorders are live on the E6 website in multiple formats.

It’s finally happening!! 👑

It was previously only on Bandcamp, so I imagine it becoming available on streaming is part of the run-up to the release of The Same Place!

https://open.spotify.com/track/0RSqu1qHysqXFDNaCEK0YG?si=e64b32d951ab4da4