Listen Now

I am stoked to be talking to two amazing Melbourne based singer songwriters in the shapes of Katie Bates and Rose Zita Falko. Oceans of gratitude to my producer Derek Myers of Castaway Studios and the generous support of Luxe Country.

Mikki Michelle refers to herself as a Stripping Songstress. You may be more familiar with the term Burlesque Artist. Either way she's our first dancer as a guest on the show and we had a most excellent chat!As well as being a singer/cabaret performer she's also the director and founder of Cabaret Abnormal, which has been running in Canada and Australia since 2016.Cabaret Abnormal present Riot Circus at 24 Moons in Northcote on the 29th November. Featuring Mikki Miichelle herself as well as Miss Burlesque Australia 2019 Bettie Bombshell! Also starring O Nyx, Izzy Bellissima, Aleksandra the Great, Cat Scurvy and Stage kitten: Penny DropsTickets available here!

What a blast to chat with Abdulrahman Hammoud.Poet, teacher and founder of The Dirty Thirty Writing Challenge and editor/compiler of The Dirty Thirty Anthology.You can purchase the Dirty Thirty Volume 2 Anthology right here! Thank you so much to my producer Derek Myers and Castaway Studios. And to my generous supporter Luxe Country.Whelan... out.

More Than A Whelan goes live once again at the glorious Merri Creek Tavern. Featuring special guests Maggie Alley, Natasha Johanna, Gabriela Georges, Jessica At Birth and Mitch Power! Please note because I'm a dickhead I accidentally introduced Gabriela by the wrong name surname on stage. Apologies Gabriela!

Peter Bakowski was one the first poets I ever met. So it was an absolute joy to talk to him about all things poetry in the Castaway Studios. To keep up on Peter's work please visit here.

Peter Drew is one the most iconic artists in Australia, he has a new book out through Black Inc called Poster Boy, he's the first street artist we've had as a guest on the show and it was an absolute joy to talk to him.You may not immediately know his name but chances are high that if you live in a major Australian city then you've probably seen his work.

For the very first time More Than A Whelan is presented as a live show for the Melbourne Writers Festival. With special guests Hannah Blackburn, Natalie Jeffreys, Aurelia St Clair and Justin Bernasconi. Plus the debut performance of Crystal Veins.The first Sad is Rad event took place at the Merri Creek Tavern in May this year. Have a listen to Episode 28 if you want to experience the birth of Sad is Rad. It was a hell of show featuring Jaymee Leyana, Amarina Waters, Ben Mastwyk, Patrick Wilson, Poppy Sloan, Caitlin Saunders and Ben Pobjie. I loved the experience so much I pitched the concept of the show as a possible event at the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival and I was stoked they thought it would be a perfect fit.So on Sunday 8th September More Than A Whelan made its debut at the Melbourne Writers Festival only a year after the podcast was started!Sad is Rad was the theme of this show, an exploration of the theme of melancholy through music, poetry/storytelling and comedy. Our first performer for the show was Hannah Blackburn. I came across Hannah's single Did You Always Know earlier this year and it absolutely floored me. I still think it's one of the best singles of 2019. So I was so happy that she performed both that song and another song called I Want To Love You. And make sure you check out her new single Tiny Car which is being launched on November 2nd in Melbourne at Nighthawks.Next up we had wonderful writer Natalie Jeffreys, winner of the 2018 Melbourne Spoken Word Prize. It was after seeing her perform the poem The Purity of Sadness that I decided she would be perfect for this bill. And make sure you check out her side hustle Puddledog Productions where you can specially commission her to write a song!Following Natalie I welcomed incredible comedian and meme queen the wonderful Aurelia St Clair. Aurelia is currently presenting her new show Woke at the Sydney Fringe Comedy Festival. Subsequent states and the rest of the world to come! Keep an eye out for this brilliant show. I closed the show by presenting the debut live performance of Crystal Veins. Crystal Veins is a collaboration between myself and musician Justin Bernasconi. The collaboration was born from the very first More Than Whelan live show when I spontaneously asked Justin if he would mind improvising with me on stage as I read a poem. It went so spectacularly well that we decided to continue working together and thus Crystal Veins was born. We performed three pieces. Don't Drink The Heavy Fog, Stay Gold and I Am. For the last two pieces again the incredible Justin Bernasconi completely improvised on the spot. Crystal Veins are working on recording their debut album to be released later this year. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to keep informed of its release. I have to make special thanks to Allegra Hartford Davis, who supplied the prompt Spring: new beginnings . I rudely forgot to give her a shout out on stage, what a jerk! Allegra is our muse of the week! I am filled with gratitude for the Melbourne Writers Festival for granting this opportunity to More Than A Whelan.As always eternal thanks to Castaway Studios, without whom this podcast would not exist.And a big smooch to our generous supporter Luxe Country and to Brendan Bonsack for taking such glorious pics of the event. Check out our More Than a Whelan Facebook or Instagram to see further documentation of the event. Please consider leaving us a review on Itunes if you enjoyed this show as it helps immensely to grow our audience. Whelan, out. 

So good to have a chin wag with two time Austin Poetry Slam Champion Bill Moran on his sixth visit to Australia.Bill starts of the show with a powerful poem called Fortis Collum Hymnus from his brand new chapbook titled Dragged Into Heaven By The Hair.Bill also reads another work from his chapbook, a poem called Saint Nikolas Challenges Senator Marco Rubio To A Fist Fight. One of the themes of the poem is around gun control. This was eerie timing as it was only a couple of days later when two mass shootings occured in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. Nine people were killed in the Dayton shooting and twenty-two in the El Paso shooting.I read a poem inspired by the prompt boxes, boxes, boxes by Stephanie Robinson. Thank you Steph!My poem is called There Are No Words Anymore.Bill reads a poem untitled written especially for the show inspired by a visual prompt by Mileta Rien. Thanks Mileta!Bill performs another poem called Dream Funeral

So damn pleased to have our very first international guest in the Castaway Studios, Arielle Cottingham, the Texas born 2016 Australian Poetry Slam Champion. Arielle is an Afro-Latina poet, performance artist, and dancer. She began performing spoken word in 2014 while studying at the University of Melbourne. In September 2015, she began a career as a full-time working performance poet, as well as creative producer of Slamalamadingdong. She published a chapbook in 2016, The Tarantist's Soapbox. Her first full book of poetry Black and Ropy was published in July 2017 with Pitt St. Poetry.

Thrilled to have a chat with poet/performer and Bondi royalty Adam Gibson (The Ark-Ark Birds, Modern Giant, The Aerial Maps) at the Coogee Bay Hotel. I want to start by apologising to all the residents of Coogee Bay for pronouncing Coogee incorrectly. Thank you Adam for bringing that to my attention. And thank you Adam for reminding me of the incredible history of Selina's, the band venue at the very hotel we recorded this episode at. Selina's has hosted Nirvana, Midnight Oil, INXS and many other legends of music by Australian and international. I found the link to the D Generation skit of Melbourne themed songs that Adam spoke of! You can listen to Adam's 'Angie Hart' track right here. Years later Going Down Swinging would commision Angie Hart to write and perform a response to Adam's piece. You can read the story of that here.Adam performs a poem on the show called The Shark. You can hear the recorded version of this with this band The Aerial Maps right here.Oceans of gratitude as always to my producer Derek Myers of Castaway Studios. And to my very generous supporter Luxe Country. Visit our online store at Luxe Country to purchase yourself some sweet More Than A Whelan merch.Also in breaking news our amazing More Than A Whelan logo is now available on a tshirt! Please visit this link to grab yourself the hottest look for summer.And lastly I just want to remind you that More Than A Whelan is coming to the Melbourne Writers Festival! I am so thrilled about this, tickets are available from here right now!

So good to have novelist, poet and performer Paul Mitchell in the Castaway Studios for a chat. Paul's short fiction collection, Dodging the Bull (Wakefield Press) was published in 2007 and was part of the 2008 The Age State Library Summer Read. He has also published three collections of poetry, Minorphysics (IP, 2003), Awake Despite the Hour (Five Islands Press, 2007) and Standard Variation (Walleah Press, 2014). And his novel We Are Family was published in 2016.I start the show performing a very old piece of mine from 1995 called Coughing Up Ink, originally published in Verandah.Paul and I have a chat about My Coffin Lid, My Shield, a recorded collaboration with Simon Mason and his upcoming performance of this album on August 4th at the Night Heron.I finish the show by performing a poem inspired by the creative prompt 'the sound of animals snoring' by Annie Molenaar. Thank you Annie for the prompt!Annie Molenaar is also behind the brand new magazine from Unholy Matrimony callled UM, in which I have a new piece of writing. Out now!

Performance poet Caitlin Saunders joins me under the disco ball in Castaway Studios for a chat about imaginary friends, favourite words and poetry! Check out the video for My Honest Poem, which was a year in the making! Produced by Rat Race Visual Media.Many thanks to Jaymee Leyana for providing the creative prompt 'Make-up Remover and Maccas' which inspired my poem this week and became title. Both Jaymee and Caitlin were special guests at the More Than A Whelan live show at Merri Creek Tavern, dedicated to the theme of melancholy. You can also see more of Jaymee's work on her Instagram page. Also many thanks to Cameron Semmens for the prompt 'Intergalactic Elephants' and Kim Jeffs for the prompt 'Frost Fractals.'Make-up Remover and MaccasJust under the lip of a freeway overpass on Eastlink there resides a Catalogue Spiritghost. Catalogue spiritghosts or Catagods as they referred to in the biz, place themselves in high traffic areas for humans and they watch and catalogue their daily toils. And the end of the day they collect their notes and report back to their superiors by riding an interstellar elephant back to an undisclosed location. This particular Catagod has a name unpronounceable by the human tongue, so we'll just call him Ralph. Ralph has the power of knowing every single action moment of a person's like with just one glance into their eyes. He records their struggles into a tiny star and once his bag of stars is full he knocks off for the day. On this day, an automobile passes by that catches his eye and then he catches her eye in his mind. She's getting by as well as she can. She has been destroyed but now she is rebuilding. Heavy scaffolding surrounds the construction site of her soul. Behind the scaffolding something remarkable is happening. There is an ocean of love in her heart. This ocean is always there. It replenishes itself on a daily basis. Love is her preferred method of communication. Love of friends. Love of family. Love of words. Love of speech. She photographs the sky as a form of meditation. In the sky there is everything and nothing. She shares the sky. She is generous with her findings. Sometimes when the sky falls, she falls too in solidarity with its descent. And the night turns blue and pink and purple. And she swims through the colours like an Esther Williams bath bomb and when she comes up for air the colours are gone. That's the price the night takes from you sometime. The ferryman always demands a fee. And in the morning all that's left on the shore of her bedcovers is crumpled empty bag of maccas and the makeup remover she forgot to apply before she fell asleep. And she yawns and stretches and she steps from her bed to draw the curtains open and fractal frost covers the leaves of the trees as punctuation marks and the light of the day pours into her like orange juice into a glass and she turns and looks for her camera. Ralph the catagod pauses and reflects upon the life contained in the star within his palm and he says to himself 'this will do'. And he whistles for his interstellar elephant that dutifully appears for the long ride back to an undisclosed location to report this important news to his superior.By Sean M Whelan Inspired by creative prompts from Jaymee Leyana, Cameron Semmens and Kim Jeffs.Whelan and Stealin'For Whelan and Stealin' both Caitlin and I read the work of the wonderful [Sabrina Benaim] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabrina_Benaim). Caitlin read First Date and I read The Loneliest Sweet Potato.We finished the show discussing an hilarious incident that occurred in my life as DJ HOT WHEELS which has spurred this range of merch.And don't forget More Than A Whelan will be appearing at this years Melbourne Writers Festival!! We will be presenting at special live show called Sad Is Rad, celebrating all things melancholy through music, comedy and poetry at the Toff In Town on Sunday 8th Sept 2:30. grab your tickets here now before they're all gone!

Brendan Bonsack is a poet, musician, photographer and film maker. It was a pleasure to talk to him about all those things and more. Brendan is also on the committee for Melbourne Spoken Word who are launching their Spoken Word and Poetry Festival on July 12th. Get around it! We're very lucky to hear some music from Brendan on the show and you can hear a lot more of his music right here. https://brendanbonsack.com/albums/ His work is also available on Apple Music and Spotify, but if you're going to stream music then use Apple because they pay a MUCH higher rate to musicians. FACT.Links referred to in the show.http://movingpoems.com/ http://accidentalbedfellows.com/ https://www.3cr.org.au/spoken-word

What a blast to talk to singer/songwriter/musician Moogy Morgan. Also our first full band session in Castaway Studios! She's joined by Venom on drums and Steve Hadley on bass.LINKS https://www.reverbnation.com/moogyreverbnationThe Imajinary Friends - Bandcamp https://theimajinaryfriends.bandcamp.com/

So great to go mobile and visit musicians Cat Canteri and Justin Bernasconi at their beautiful house in Reservoir, Victoria.LINKS https://www.mountainkingmusic.net/*this episode was intended to be released earlier but was delayed due to some tech problems on my behalf. I am filled with joy to finally it out to the world. It's a real good one! - Sean M Whelan.

A profoundly satisfying chat with wonderful poet/performer and founder of Inside Voices, Poppy Sloan. Inside Voices is a new monthly poetry open mic event, with a great emphasis on inclusion, held at the Merri Creek Tavern in Northcote. It's held on the last Tuesday of every month.

Please continue to provide creative prompts. You can email them to seanmwhelan@gmail.com .. or use Instagram https://www.instagram.com/morethanawhelan/ A CASTAWAY STUDIOS PRODUCTIONSo good to chat with poet/performer/analyst Farah Beaini about death, life and everything in between! I start the show with a poem called I Can't Believe I Set Myself On Fire For This, recently published at Cordite Poetry Review for a Monster themed edition, edited by Nathan Curnow.I finished the show by making up a poem on the spot dedicated to my father Ronald Charles Whelan.Some links to topics spoken of during the show.Melbourne Spoken Word - your one stop shop for all things spoken word in Melbourne. https://melbournespokenword.com/Keep up with Fridays with Farah at her professional Facebook page. And stay informed of all of Farah's future performances. https://www.facebook.com/farahbeaini/MORE THAN A WHELAN MERCH STORE https://www.luxecountry.store/whelanMORE THAN A WHELAN TO APPEAR AT INDIEPODFEST 2019 https://www.pozible.com/project/indiepodfest-2019/ Very excited to announce that the next live show of More Than A Whelan will be on Saturday 13th July, 7pm as part of the Indiepodfest 2019. You can pre-purchase tickets to the show and support the running of the festival with all sorts of rewards through their Indiepodfest 2019.

A CASTAWAY STUDIOS PRODUCTION A live podcast recording at Merri Creek Tavern on the theme of Melancholy. So excited to present our second live show at Merri Creek Tavern with a cavalcade of special guests. They are in order of appearance: writer Jaymee Leyana, musician Amarina Waters, musicians Ben Mastwyk and Patrick Wilson, writer/performer Poppy Sloan, spoken word superstar Caitlin Saunders and comedian/writer Ben Pobjie. I finished the show with a poem written especially for the event and was accompanied with live improvisation by Ben Mastwyk and Patrick Wilson. Special thanks to my generous supporters in Castaway Studios and Luxe Country and to Merri Creek Tavern. This is the poem I wrote especially for this event. Sad is Rad It's always been a comfort. It's always been the thing to hang on to. An emotion is better than feeling nothing at all. It carried me through high school. If Melancholy is the pilot, then music is the plane that transports it. The Cure, The Smiths, Joy Division, Leonard Cohen, Sinead O'Connor, Nick Cave, Patsy Cline, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. They saved my very soul. It carried me beyond high school. Into shitty employment. Into working at the printing factory directly across the road. 8 hours standing at the end of a printing press, catching the output, putting it into boxes, over and over again. Looking at words on paper, words on paper, words on paper. And thinking, hey, I could do that. I like words, I like feelings, I like the indescribable tangibility between the two. I could do something with this weight, this heavy heavy heart. And I started putting my own words on paper. Machine Gun River. A novel I never finished about a ritualistic break up by a river bed that's being pelted with run, like machine gun fire. It was dark and stupidly emo, like me. It was to end in blood and catastrophe, except I never finished it. So that's a least one murder I prevented from happening in the 80's. It carried me through break ups. And if I'm really honest. It may have even propelled me towards breakups. A certain yearning, towards what Kurt Cobain described as 'I miss the comfort in being sad.' But melancholy can be dangerous too. Melancholy can be a gateway drug. A gateway drug to the dark side. Where the goldness of sadness rusts. And it's always a temptation to drift. But if you don't. Melancholy can be a gentle fuel. A slow burning yellow fire. A certain longing towards a certain desire to be okay with being alone. And that's not always bad. Because sometimes Sad is rad. Very excited to announce that the next live show of More Than A Whelan will be on Saturday 13th July, 7pm as part of the Indiepodfest 2019. You can pre-purchase tickets to the show and support the running of the festival with all sorts of rewards through their Indiepodfest 2019.

So good to have a chat with singer/songwriter Tom Dockray. Tom is very impressed with the furniture in Castaway Studios, which is a great start to any interview. Tom grew up in Lilydale, Tasmania and was once in a thrash metal band called 'Dead Fred's Left Head'.We're lucky to have Tom perform an original song right in the studio called 'Mean Mr Sun.'Then he follows that up with a song called 'Onions.'Sean performs a poem he wrote inspired by his Muse of the Week, Amy, who provided the prompt 'fingerprints.'Whelan and Stealin'Tom reads the lyrics to a John Prine song called 'That's the Way the World Goes Around.'And Sean reads a poem by a poet called Matthue Roth called Subway Birds.World of Whelan - wow!In June Sean will be participating in the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.Get your tickets now!Liner Notes Live presents The Blues Brothers - 14th JuneLiner Notes Live presents Ziggy Stardust - 15th JuneDon't forget that if you want to get yourself some sweet More Than A Whelan merch and be the coolest kid in town and provide some loving back to this show to help keep us on air then please visit our merch store supported by Luxe Country.And thank you as always to Castaways Studios, without whom, More Than A Whelan would not exist.Whelan, out.

This is a very unique episode recorded in a shipping container at Golden Plains music festival with Ben 'Tuffy' Lee. Plus a bonus poem from Emilie Zoey Baker recorded at Fairfield Boathouse.We start the conversation by talking about Tuffy's band The Dirty Bloods and what lead him to getting to the place where he would start his own band in his 40's.Many thanks to Ela Fornalska for being our MTAW Muse of the Week! Ela supplied the prompt 'Firsts', for which I wrote this poem.FIRSTS.My first kiss was at midnight on a boat shed deck on a Mornington Beach. She made me listen to Echo and the Bunnymen's 'Killing Moon' on her Walkman. The headphones dropped from my head as she kissed me into oblivion.My first taste of marijuana was from a bucket bong in a rock and roll St Kilda share house. A baptism of THC fire.My first punch I ever received was at 15 years old playing football for Beleura against Dromana. I tried to wrestle him away from a teammate who he was also punching and then he turned around and punched me directly in the face. It's true you really do see stars.My first sex was in a bedroom in Seaford while her mother baked cookies in the kitchen. To this day the smell of freshly baked cookies produces a Pavlovian tingle in my loins.My first time in a plane was flying to Mexico on a one way ticket with my girlfriend who I would marry three years later. We broke up 18 months later and divorced. She held my hand tightly as the plane took off.My first breakup was in the Melbourne Botanical Gardens on a clear bright sunny day. Which lead to the second and last time I was punched as she pummelled my chest with her fists while tears streamed down her face.My first record I ever owned was the Beach Boys Greatest Hits, a birthday present from my parents.My first record I ever bought with my own money was Pat Benatar live. Because I was in love with her and certain we would marry one day. Love is a battlefield.My first car was a 1965 Bottle Green Hillman Minx. I drove it all the way home from the sellers house with the hand brake still on and was terrified that I had ruined it. I hadn't. I also used to keep a bunch of plastic flowers spread across the dash board because I wanted to be Morrissey.My first has never been my first because everything has happened before and will happen again.For Whelan and Stealin' Tuffy reads some of the lyrics of And the Ass Said to the Angel: "Wanna' Play Kick to Kick?" and Fosters Car Boogie from TISM.I read a poem by Matt Cook called James Joyce, that I first heard on a CD called The United States of Poetry created by the amazing Bob Holman. You can see the film clip for James Joyce right here.Lastly we hear from the wonderful Emilie Zoey Baker with a bonus poem recorded by the river at Fairfield Boat House. Emilie's poem is inspired by the song Alphabet Aerobics by Blackalicious, especially Daniel Radcliffe's mindblowing cover of it on Jimmy Fallon.Thank you as always to our generous supporters Luxe Country and Castaway Studios.(Sean M) Whelan, out.