The JamBase Podcast: The Mother Hips’ Tim Bluhm & Greg Loiacono

Episode 105 of The JamBase Podcast, a partner of the Osiris Media Network, features the return of The Mother Hips‘ Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono. JamBase’s Scott Bernstein talked to the pair, who are joined in the band by John Hofer and Brian Rashap, about their new album, Glowing Lantern, which arrives via Blue Rose on December 3. Bernstein spoke with the co-founding members of The Mother Hips from their respective homes in California’s Marin County over a video call in October that took place shortly after the band’s Hipnic festival. Tim and Greg shared their experiences at the return of the event which was moved from 2020 due to the pandemic and detailed their roles in the festival as well as that of organizers Folk Yeah. Bluhm and Loiacono, who along with Hofer discussed “The Art Of The Setlist” in a 2018 The JamBase Podcast episode, went on to recall how they forged a friendship and working relationship with Blue Rose founder Joe Poletto. Blue Rose issued all of The Mother Hips studio albums on vinyl over the past year in celebration of the band’s 30th anniversary. The duo spoke about the challenge of securing the rights to some of the early records and how much they enjoyed listening to their old LPs. Greg revealed those listening sessions helped inspire the material on Glowing Lantern. Talk then turned to A Hot Lunch With The Mother Hips, a mini-documentary captured in 1992 that was never released until JamBase premiered the film this past March. From there, the discussion focused on Glowing Lantern, starting with the decision to have Tim and Greg co-produce the album. The guys went on to discuss how The Mother Hips recorded the album live at Oakland’s 25th Street Recording facility before adding overdubs at Bluhm’s home studio and why they like that approach. Additionally, Tim and Greg spoke about musicians who contributed to Glowing Lantern, including keyboardist Adam MacDougall. Bluhm and Loiacono then dove into their creative process and how they wrote a number of songs collaboratively. The pair also explained the decision to include a cover (David Wiffen’s “I Don’t Want To Drive You Away”) on a Mother Hips album for the first time. Greg and Tim revealed how they discovered the song on an Anne Murray cassette purchased at a truck stop. Finally, the musicians talked about the band’s upcoming holiday run at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall on December 17 – 19. Stream Episode 105 of The JamBase Podcast via all major podcast services including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Google Podcast.