The Modernist Society

The Modernist Society

The Modernist Society began as a DJ night in Chicago, became an debaucherous salon in DC, and comes to you now as a podcast wherever you happen to be. Each month, hosts Jason Mojica and Eric Ottens bring you intimate conversations with practitioners of the high and low arts, replete with all of the esoteric digression you've come to expect from the medium. themodernistsociety.substack.com

Episodes

February 19, 2025 48 mins

In this episode, Eric interviews John Roy, currently of Smoke and Mirrors Soundsystem. John Roy started off as one of the younger members of Gangbusters, an early 90's ska band featured on California Skaquake along with a hit list of bands that went on to define the early era of the American take on the genre such as Hepcat, Jump With Joey, Let's Go Bowling, and even No Doubt. He also played in Unsteady, another ska band that impre...

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In this episode, we are joined by the host with the most, Trace Crutchfield. You may remember him from the Coronavirus Potluck episode of The Modernist Society back in 2020, but you more likely remember him as one of VICE’s most beloved on-camera correspondents in the company’s earliest forays into video (think classic Vice Guide to Travel pieces like Screwed in Houston orBolivian Marching Powder. Yes, he was the guy you saw indulg...

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May 16, 2024 70 mins

We dive into the world of Chicago pizza, the perils of small business ownership, family drama, family trauma, and what constitutes a good tip for a delivery driver with Johnny Berger, author of a zine on these very topics called Jake's Pizza: 40 Years in the Pizza Business, and Other Stories. Jake's Pizza also happens to be the name of the pizza joint that Johnny's family ran in Franklin Park, Illinois for 57 years befo...

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March 28, 2024 56 mins

In this episode, Eric goes rogue and interviews a band from WAY after the 1970s, otherwise known as "now." Noah and Reza from the Uni Boys talk about their band, plans, cleaning products, records, and other topics. 


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Uni Boys


The Lemon Twigs


Billy Tibbals Band



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December 9, 2022 27 mins

This episode we take you to one of the most unique places on earth - Poor Cow.


You may know the owner from such hit bands as Teengenerate, American Soul Spiders, The Tweezers, and Firestarter. If you’re interested, skip the shinkansen and don’t feel bad about temples. The Modernist Society Podcast validates that Poor Cow is not only a legitimate part of Japanese culture, but is The Real Temple...

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January 11, 2022 55 mins
We chat with Robert Whiting, author of Chrysanthemum and the Bat, You Gotta Have Wa,
Tokyo Underworld and Tokyo Junkie. Robert moved to Tokyo in 1962 as part of the U.S. Occupational Forces and has lived there on and off ever since. He believes Tokyo may current the best city on Earth, and his enthusiasm is infectious. But it wasn't always that way. Robert talks us through his early days in a city still rife with black markets ...

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April 30, 2021 61 mins
We catch up with Bayard Winthrop. He’s the founder and CEO of American Giant, a San Francisco-based clothing company that specializes in a) making stuff really well, and b) making it in the USA. American Giant has been going for about 10 years now, but before that Bayard ran Chrome, Freeboard, Atlas Snowshoe, and in the heady days of the dot com boom, was the President and CEO of WebChat, which was a big online community that was a...

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February 1, 2021 65 mins
We hang out with Jeff Pezzati, singer of Chicago punk legends Naked Raygun and talk about all of the things: AC/DC, UFO, Big Black, comic books, Philip Jose Farmer, HVAC, Condor, and the forthcoming Naked Raygun studio album.


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We spend a delightful afternoon day drinking and playing our favorite holiday songs with founder of the OG Washinngton DC chapter of The Modernnist Society, Daryle Macoicha (AKA DJ D-Mac). Obscure tracks played and discussed! Arguments had! Digressions... digressed! This is how all Zoom meetings should be.


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December 10, 2020 58 mins
We talk with Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired magazine, former publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Catalogs, and co-founder of the Hackers’ Conference. Instead of talking to Kevin about AI, AR, or any of the other technological forces that are shaping our future, we take him back to 1988 to revisit one of his lesser-known books: Signal: Communications Tools for the Information Age. It’s a big, paperback, counter cultural handbook...

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October 18, 2020 61 mins
We tune in Tokyo and talk to Mike Rogers, lead singer of 1970s LA punk band The Rotters and host of the aptly named Mike Rogers Show. Mike is also running JIFF–the Japan Indies Film Festival Online–which is the first online film festival in Japanese history and takes place Nov. 16 and 17, 2020. It’s The Modernist Society trifecta of Japan, punk, and expat living. Enjoy!


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August 29, 2020 20 mins
We talk to The Phantom Creeper and Dom Nation of legendary masked Chicago rock band, The Goblins. Will their secret identities finally be revealed? To be honest... no. But you'll want to tune in for this short but sweet chat with these American icons.


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July 15, 2020 54 mins
We talk to a couple of Chicago countercultural heroes: Jake Austen and Joe Losurdo. Jake is best known for his long-running Roctober zine and Chic-a-gogo public access program. Joe is a hardcore legend, having sung and played bass for Life Sentence in the late 80s and with his frankly his wife Cristina runs Regressive Films, which brought us the wonderful documentary on the first wave of Chicago punk titled “You Weren’t There.”

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June 1, 2020 50 mins
We talk with Michael Bradley of The Undertones about what it's like being in ONE OF THE BEST BANDS EVER, what Bono did for Ireland, and that time they covered a Skrewdriver song. Michael is also the host of The Mickey Bradley Record Show on BBC Radio Ulster, and the author of Teenage Kicks: My Life as an Undertone.


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May 5, 2020 70 mins
In episode ATE of The Modernist Society, we talk about cooking with puns, punk rock, and post coronavirus food culture with recipe zinester Frank Davis of Bushwick Grill Club.

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April 2, 2020 127 mins
It's an all-star cast in this special episode in which we ring up past Modernist Society guests and other folks around the world to talk about how the coronavirus pandemic is shaking out where they live and what lies ahead. Also... they help us pick songs for an accompanying playlist. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll kiss five bucks goodbye.

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Tim Kinsella and Jenny Pulse of Good F**k (Chicago)
Trace ...
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March 3, 2020 81 mins
Our guest this time is Shane Bugbee: artist, writer, publisher, provocateur, and all-around hustler. Shane is one of the most prolific makers of things we know and he drops by Eric's place to talk about The Joys of Satanism, Bill Ayers' quinoa collection, getting "jumped in" to underground culture in Chicago, publishing Mike Diana, watching Ministry do drugs, and making art to stay alive.

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December 16, 2019 59 mins
We talk about records that sound like they're broken, hangover cures, booking your own f****n' life, the creative wellspring that is the desert, and musical firsts with Tim Kinsella and Jenny Pulse of the totally accessible electronic rock duo, GOOD F**K.

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November 19, 2019 72 mins
We talk zines and DIY everything with Steven Svymbersky, founder of the OG Quimby's Queer Store in Chicago and current proprietor of Quimby's Bookstore NYC.

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October 31, 2019 72 mins
We talk about Anna's adventures in China, North Korea, Japan and beyond. Oh, and of course... juggalos.

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