the Wikkid podcast
church upbringing gone wrong, depression... and music
About the show
Being raised in a strict fundamentalist Christian group in the 1980s can cause some very predictable problems. Depression can be a Christian teenager's most constant companion despite church promises to the contrary. Dark humour, and even darker music, can help. This podcast is centered around the songs I wrote to deal back then, and what happened when I then picked away at recording workable versions of them for decades.
contact me with questions and comments at [email protected] or on Twitter @WikkidPerson
the Wikkid podcast on social media
Episodes
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Episode 33: Just A Kid
February 2nd, 2022 | Season 3 | 2 hrs 21 mins
angel desantis, bible, children of god, christianity, cults, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, therapeutic
Kids these days! Having your perspectives and concerns invalidated in a church circle if you were in your 20s, hadn't got married and had kids. Have modern kids been coddled? (yes). Can we do anything about that? (probably not.) The importance of bike rides. Boredom as the mother of invention, and if there's insufficient boredom?
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Episode 34: Get 'Em Out
February 16th, 2022 | Season 3 | 1 hr 35 mins
angel desantis, bible, children of god, christianity, cults, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, jay semko, john douglas, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, the northern pikes, therapeutic
Is evil a thing? Are some people, and do some people do, evil? (What did John Douglas, the man who invented the profiling of serial killers for the FBI think?) When you realize your fear and disgust, respect and acceptance responses are programmed into you.
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Episode 35: Please Come With Us
March 2nd, 2022 | Season 3 | 2 hrs 28 mins
angel desantis, bible, children of god, christianity, cults, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, therapeutic
Getting the boot or walking away from one's birth culture. Doesn't matter whether you're fundamentalist Christian, Orthodox Jewish, Muslim, Sikh or Mormon... it's quite the mind effword. A bunch of stories, including people who were excommunicated and shunned for being gay. An elaborate music collaboration manages to get the song done two hours before the podcast airs...
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Episode 36: Why Not?
March 16th, 2022 | Season 3 | 2 hrs 26 mins
bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, jay semko, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, the northern pikes, therapeutic
What's it like to experience suicidal ideation? Many people do. Finding a good answer to the question "Why not?" Why does writing and singing and recording about dark thoughts help them go away? Everyone needs to deal with death in some form, from time to time. What works? Jay Semko of The Northern Pikes and I go over songs he's written that tell "a pretty dark story, but with a happy tune." Where was all the bliss supposed to come from, in Christianity? Troy reveals his favourite jokey stuff I've recorded. I record George playing drums in my living room. Singing into the corner of a room. I strum guitars with a razorblade for a pick.
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Episode 37: Disappointed
March 30th, 2022 | Season 3 | 1 hr 53 mins
bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, jay semko, kim carson, like a motorcycle, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, the northern pikes, therapeutic
What makes you really feel alive? What makes you feel like you're sleepwalking through a living death? The importance of play. What works when you feel like crap? Where does inspiration come from?
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Episode 38: Friday Night
April 13th, 2022 | Season 3 | 1 hr 48 mins
bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, jay semko, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, the northern pikes, therapeutic
If you had a chance to sit down of an evening and have a chat with the residents of a community graveyard, what would you ask them? The Guy Code. GenXers sorry to get everything we always wanted. People who will move heaven and earth to avoid having conversations that need to be had.
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Episode 39: Beware the Cripple (part 1)
April 27th, 2022 | Season 3 | 2 hrs 25 mins
angel desantis, bible, children of god, christianity, cults, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, therapeutic
It's pretty hard to talk to people when they've got you cast in a different story from the one you feel you're living. Religious groups that split up family relationships. Trying to interact with family and friends from a group that's kicked you out of it. The difference between getting kicked out and leaving voluntarily.
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Episode 40: Beware the Cripple (part 2)
May 11th, 2022 | Season 3 | 1 hr 48 mins
bible, christianity, depression, exclusive brethren, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, therapeutic
Recording cello. With fireworks. An in-depth interview with John, raised in the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, the extremist offshoot of my own birth culture, which I have no real trouble calling an outright cult. Also much insight into the Mormon experience, from Natalie. South Park. Emailed drums. Spiritual cripples looking to hobble everyone nearby.
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Episode 41: The Dingo Song
May 25th, 2022 | Season 3 | 1 hr 41 mins
bible, christianity, depression, dr. demento, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, therapeutic, weird al yankovic
They're everywhere. You want to do your day, and they want to pull you in, online or uptown, into some kind of lecture, sermon or talk. Putting on the full armour of God and then claiming to be as thin-skinned as the princess from The Princess and the Pea. Friends: The One Where Ross Does Something Problematic. The shameless use of describing one's self in "light" (vs. "dark") and "awakened" (vs. "still asleep") terms. Fellowship: it's all about coffee, somehow, isn't it? (I don't like coffee.) Do digital or organic chipmunks sing better?
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Episode 42: The Talking Dead
June 8th, 2022 | Season 3 | 2 hrs 27 mins
bible, christianity, depression, exclusive brethren, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, therapeutic
Church zombies. Staff meetings and other endless sermons. Melody, Ruth and Emilee talk about what made these unceasing dronings so tedious. Michael remembers what it was like to speak up in bible study, and talk about talking about talking about the bible. Johann talks about how staff meetings should be run. Kim talks about what being a preacher's daughter was like (spoilers: it sucked) and what her preacher dad was like as a dad (spoilers: he sucked). I talk about the difference between educating people and indoctrinating them. Kim uses bible passages to write a punk song. Excerpt from "The Grunge Song" by The Vestibules.
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Episode 43: Vultures in the Belfry
June 22nd, 2022 | Season 3 | 2 hrs 39 mins
bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, jay semko, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, the northern pikes, therapeutic
The entire host of Wikkid commenters weighs in about pointless arguments, and about whether they ever speak with, or listen to, people with whom they RILLY, RILLY disagree. Groupthink. George Carlin, Larry Norman and Faust are mentioned. Jam at George's new place. I get an electric piano. Jenny speaks Chinese for us. The huge, sprawling Death in Tiny Spoonfuls album is brought to an eerie, atmospheric close.
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Episode 44: I Just Might
October 12th, 2022 | Season 4 | 1 hr 21 mins
angry conversations with god, bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, marriage, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, romantic relationships, susan isaacs, therapeutic
For season 4 of The Wikkid Podcast, love is in the air, as things tend to be when they blow up. This episode explores that thing we tell young people that "there's someone for everyone," or in the Christian circles "the Lord has someone picked out for you to spend the rest of you life with." Author and actress Susan Isaacs (Angry Conversations With God) contributes to this season.
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Episode 45: Vacuuming
October 26th, 2022 | Season 4 | 1 hr 47 mins
bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, jay semko, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, the northern pikes, therapeutic
This week's episode is about divorce: people who've been through them, and people not allowed to have them because church, stuff like that. Some homes manage all the domestic drama and drywall damage without the divorce proceedings.
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Episode 46: Too Much For Marriage
November 9th, 2022 | Season 4 | 1 hr 26 mins
bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, louise perry, music, music production, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, therapeutic
This week’s episode takes a frank, uncomfortable look at the mechanics of sexual attraction and mate selection, particularly in church communities, and an equally frank, uncomfortable look at the mechanics of trying to have spirituality despite the objections of… well… religious people.
If you're 30 and you don't think you're ever going to have a bridal shower or any baby showers, can you just throw yourself a Spinster Party? Keren did... -
Episode 47: Stranger Lady
November 23rd, 2022 | Season 4 | 1 hr 57 mins
bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, louise perry, music, music production, neal brennan, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, susan isaacs, therapeutic
Flirting. With Christian girls? Can you win a woman's heart with a song? Michael Vedder shares some firsts, including first (church) girlfriend, and first dumping of a committed church girl so he could be free to get his feet dirty enough from walking around in the actual world to possibly need to wash them. Harold talks about how a man who was the only survivor of a car accident when he was five, and who grew up without a mother, grew up to be someone who goes around hugging and complimenting everyone he meets. Meghan talks more about being a "worldlie" having a secret relationship with a young Plymouth Brethren Christian Church guy.
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Episode 48: Nortel Love Song
December 7th, 2022 | Season 4 | 2 hrs 4 mins
bible, christianity, depression, fundamentalism, guitar, hell, home recording, louise perry, music, music production, neal brennan, parents, plymouth brethren, rapture, susan isaacs, therapeutic
Trying to date irreligious or only semi-religious women without getting kicked out of one's church. A song written for a high tech honey, which was fairly well received. I turn my guitar amp all the way up to three (its highest setting is six). Meghan spills the tea on her secret trysts with a member of the mysterious Plymouth Brethren Christian Church/Cult. Susan and Anson weight in on workplace romances. Evan views bible conference dating as a flawed social system. Michael talks about his first kiss, which occurred a couple of years after his first serious relationship.