Low Profile with Markly Morrison

After moving to D.C. in 1985, then 16-year-old Craig Wedren helped shape Shudder To Think into a standout act within the Dischord Records scene, evolving from a raw hardcore-adjacent sound into a complex style that eventually earned the respect of Ian MacKaye. The band pivoted to Epic Records in 1994 during the big alt-rock boom, releasing the sonic anomoly Pony Express Record before facing label pressure to produce more commercial hits for their follow-up, 50,000 B.C., which would be the group’s final studio album to date. Following their 1998 split, Wedren built a prolific career in film and television scoring, but the group reunited in 2025 to record new material. Despite a 20-year hiatus from their signature style, their collective muscle memory remained intact, allowing them to integrate modern digital tools with the foundational creative energy that defined their early years. Shudder To Think’s latest single, “Thirst Walk,” is out now on Dischord records. I spoke with Craig Wedren from his home studio in Los Angeles.
Low Profile is supported by you via flexible monthly or one-time donations at patreon.com/lowprofile
Low Profile also receive in-kind support from San Francisco Street Bakery, Old School Pizzeria, Three Magnets Brewing Company, Schwartz's Deli and Rainy Day Records, all of them are from Olympia. If you like this show, tell them Markly sent you next time you visit.
You can follow Shudder To Think on instagram:
@shuddertothinkofficial
You can also follow my guest, Craig Wedren, on IG:
@craigwedren
Fun fact: I based the papercut for this episode on his profile pic

More episodes coming soon.

Next time: Danish pop icon Anne-Tina, interviewed by guest host Ashley Eriksson of LAKE

Musician Kento Oiwa interviewed by Markly Morrison for the Olympia Music History Project.

Formed in the mid-1990s by Japanese immigrants Kento Oiwa and Michiko Swiggs, IQU was a group unlike anything folks in Olympia–or anyplace else, for that matter–had ever witnessed.. 

I spoke to Kento in a hotel room on an assignment from the Olympia Music History Project, where this interview was first published. Beyond his involvement in IQU, Kento was also an active DJ and event organizer in the Olympia music scene throughout the 1990s. As you will hear, he’s a killer theremin player too.

Kento also helped organize the storied Yo Yo A Gogo festivals that filled downtown Olympia with people from all over the world, including friends from Japan like the Bloodthirsty Butchers and Copass Grinderz. This episode has been gussied up with some tasty music clips for your enjoyment. If you like, you can read the full transcript and dig a little deeper into this story–and other stories connected to it–at olympiamusichistory.org

Swamp Dogg is coming to Olympia this weekend 7/13/2025! First, he'll be performing at Scherler Sundays, it's a free show that starts at 3pm. After that, Olympia Film Society will be hosting a free 8pm screening of the new documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted at the Capitol Theater in Downtown Oly. No reservations required, all totally free! More info about the show can be found at freemusicolympia.org

This is my 2020 interview with Jerry Williams, better known as Swamp Dogg. It was really fun to hear his wild stories again. Enjoy, and hopefully see you this Sunday!

Today, instead of your usual Low Profile programming, I’m sharing an interview I conducted with Pat Maley in 2023 for the Olympia Music History Project.  The whole transcript is available at olympiamusichistory.org . Pat and I are discussing the history of Yo Yo Recordings, a studio and record label that he ran from the 1980s to 2006, recording hundreds of touring and local artists.  Inspired by the International Pop Underground Convention in 1991, Pat Maley, Michelle Noel, Kento Oiwa, Pat Castaldo and Ed Varga started YoYo A Go Go, an independent music festival that ran for 5 or 6 days in a row.  There were four YoYo A Go Go festivals between 1994 and 2001, and all the people I just mentioned will be getting together for a panel discussion to reminisce, reflect and celebrate these events through collective storytelling and slides. This event is called “That Summer Feeling: Thirty Years of YoYo A Go Go” and it’s happening next Friday, April 18th 2025 at 4pm at The Evergreen State College, in the COM 1 Recital Hall. No tickets or reservations are needed, this event will be open to the public. Here’s my conversation with Pat.

Illustration by Jack Habegger

When I first developed an interest in rough-around-the-edges cumbia music, a friend (thanks Matt!) introduced me to the music of Dick El Demasiado, purveyor of “cumbias lunaticas.” Over the years I’ve managed to glean a bit more about him, then I recently saw a documentary about him called Dick Verdult: It Is True, But Not Here. I learned Dick El Demasiado the musician is a mere sliver of what Dick Verdult the artist has to offer. His culture-jamming tendencies are a reflection of his culturally scattered upbringing- born in the Netherlands, raised all over Europe and South America, and currently living in the Spanish town of Calanda. When Arrington de Dionyso and I spoke to him last November, he was at home in Spain. Dick discusses the music that spoke to him in his youth, moving 20 times in his first 20 years, writing ugly poetry, creating music alone vs with a group, having an audience in a notorious street gang, that signature skeleton costume, and his definition of cultural distortion.

Gratitude to Jack Habegger for all the the portraits you've seen this season! Such strong work.

Want to hear the show more often? Be a part of the movement! Whenever I have enough money to cover a full work day sourced from supporters like you [at Patreon.com/lowprofile ] I will work on a new episode. I am currently taping season 10 for release in 2025, but in the meantime I have some fun stuff on the table- unpublished interviews with Gastr Del Sol, Elf Power, Dollar Country host Franklin Fantini and DJ Screw biographer Lance Scott Walker, plus live episodes from Scherler Sundays 2024 with interviews and performances from Chris Cohen, Mirah, Michael Hurley, Danbert Nobacon of Chumbawamba, Little Wings, Jonny Kosmo, Lori Goldston and Oh, Rose.

If your want to listen to more oral history from some pretty radical musicians, scope olympiamusichistory.org and dig around. I'm the audio editor and there are over 30 hours of interviews currently available on the website. We're in the middle of recording new interviews, so expect another 10 or so interviews early this summer!

Scherler Sundays is returning to downtown Olympia, WA every Sunday in July and August at 3pm. See a curated afternoon of bands and solo artists, plus live interview tapings for Low Profile. Catch artists you’ve heard on this show- Swamp Dogg, Stephen Steinbrink, Soul-Junk, and LAKE- plus other incredible acts like Pearl and The Oysters, Wut, Afrocop, Winehouse, Sunbathe, plus an extended throwback showcase curated by the Olympia Music History Project, and the return of Michael Hurley!

Get your tickets NOWHERE. All you have to do is show up. See you there!
For more information, visit freemusicolympia.org