Michael Bland (Soul Asylum, Prince)

Performance Anxiety

Today’s guest makes me feel like royalty. It’s drummer Michael Bland and he has worked with some of the best in the business. But before that, he played in school and found out he had perfect pitch! Finding that out helped solidify his decision to be a musician. But his parents weren’t exactly thrilled about the idea and pushed him to have a backup plan. That is, until Prince called the house looking for Michael. This started a trend of Michael being offered jobs on stage in the middle of jams. Michael was the drummer for The New Power Generation during a time where Prince was reinventing himself. But Prince isn’t the only high profile artist Michael has worked with. There’s Paul Westerberg, Chaka Khan, Maxwell, Nick Jonas, & Soul Asylum.

Michael relays some behind-the-scenes stories about Prince, Paisley Park, and The Paisley Park Power Trio, among other things. And that ties in to a new project he’s working on with long-time collaborator, Sonny Thompson called (Br)others. They have a single coming out and are playing a show with a lot of The New Power Generation. Check Michael out @michaelblandofficial & @brothersmusic2024 on Instagram. Check out Brothers Forlife on Facebook. And look for Soul Asylum on tour this summer with Our Lady Peace, Live, & Stone Temple Pilots. Look for us @PerformanceAnx on socials. Love us with the gift of coffee at ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. Or buy something with our logo at performanceanx.threadless.com. I had a wonderful time with Michael Bland on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Check it out.

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