Paul Van Valkenburgh of TubeFreeks shares music business survival lessons

Mark Winters: From Aerospace Engineer to 107-Date Tour

Episode 019 – Mark Winters | MAKE // BREAK Mark Winters is a Texas-based singer-songwriter, poet, and former aerospace engineer who traded rocket science for rock with a positive vibe. Since his 2019 debut Slipstream, he's released four albums, built a loyal fanbase of over 36K monthly Spotify listeners, and launched his own label, Bernoulli Records. Now midway through a 107-date Good Vibes Highway Tour across the US and Canada, Mark is doing it all independently: writing, booking, touring, and looking forward to sharing some extra protons while out on the road. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK, he unpacks what it means to start a music career later in life, the unglamorous systems behind sustainable DIY touring, and why positivity is a strategy, not a cliché. Building your own systems like Mark? THE V1LLAG3 is the room where you show the work. ↓ link at the bottom. 👀 What you'll hear * Hear how Mark Winters left aerospace engineering to chase the music business and build Bernoulli Records from scratch * Learn the Instagram discipline host Lance Marwood and Mark dissect for organic growth without follow-for-follow gimmicks * Unpack the booking timeline, venue myths, and community-first systems behind a 107-date Good Vibes Highway run * Steal the two-week sprint method Mark uses to A/B test reels and find his highest converting content * Wrestle with AI, AGI, and what it means to be human alongside a former rocket scientist turned songwriter * Decide when ambition becomes hobby and how to know whether to push, pivot, or step away 🕰️ Chapters 00:00 Meet Mark Winters and Bernoulli Records 01:24 Booking a 107-date DIY tour 02:42 Industry illusions vs the reality of artist development 06:43 Why venues don't deliver community 08:13 Email capture and converting cover gigs to fans 10:24 Picking Instagram as the home base 14:45 The brutal discipline of judging your own content 16:15 Two-week sprint method for testing reels 25:39 The physics of positivity 30:00 AI, AGI, and what it means to be human 39:23 When to push, pivot, or quit 49:05 Good Vibes Highway Tour close 🔗 Guest Links https://markwintersmusic.com [https://markwintersmusic.com] https://www.instagram.com/markwintersmusic/ [https://www.instagram.com/markwintersmusic/] https://www.tiktok.com/@markwintersmusic [https://www.tiktok.com/@markwintersmusic] https://www.youtube.com/c/markwintersmusic [https://www.youtube.com/c/markwintersmusic] 🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20 [https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20] https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish [https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish] https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish [https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish] 🏘️ THE V1LLAG3 // the paid community from your host The room I built because I couldn't find it. The first readers your work has been waiting for. Wed Live 90min with Lance & Chris. 7 frameworks V13 uses with $1,500–$3,000/mo retainer clients. Bio, EPK, profile & website teardowns. Founding 50: $49/mo locked for life · [38 spots left] $79 Standard after. Full refund if your 4th Wednesday hasn't earned it. JOIN HERE [https://www.skool.com/v13-7161] 🔗 V13 Media Links https://v13.net [https://v13.net] Subscribe for new MAKE // BREAK episodes and drop a comment about your own home-base platform versus your discovery channels. #MakeBreak #Winters #DIYTouring

Samantha Willman: Truth, Poetry, and the Love It Demands

Episode 018 – Samantha Willman | MAKE // BREAK Samantha Willman is a Canadian writer, designer, and editor based in Montréal. She co-founded and co-edits Romanticon, a Substack literary magazine dedicated to neo-romanticism and new sincerity, alongside Anthony Galluzzo, Paul Franz, and Matthew Gasda. She also publishes Marbl, a personal newsletter exploring intimacy, symbolism, and the interior life. Her 2016 book Behind The First One was published through the Canadian Academy in Rome. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK, Samantha unpacks why irony culture has hollowed out creative life, how she built a thriving 60-person poetry reading series from nothing, and why approaching truth with love (not optimization) is the real survival strategy for artists. Looking for this kind of insight and care for your own work? THE V1LLAG3 is the room where you show the work. ↓ link at the bottom. 👀 What you'll hear * Why writing poetry in Rome unlocked a felt sense of truth she couldn't access through logic alone * How the new sincerity movement pushes back against layers of ironic artifice in online culture * Building a 60-person poetry reading community from scratch with zero formal plan * The case for keeping a day job so you can approach your art from love instead of desperation * How Rilke wrote two masterworks in weeks and what that says about creative production vs. productivity * Why philosophia means love of truth — and why that changes everything about how artists create 🕰️ Chapters 00:00 Introduction and how Lance discovered Samantha 03:00 Why poetry is hard to recommend and harder to consume 05:16 Writing poetry in Rome and the birth of creative instinct 08:59 Charles Taylor, intrinsic rightness, and felt truth 10:33 Favourite poets: Plath, Octavio Paz, Wallace Stevens 14:17 Neo-romanticism and new sincerity explained 19:17 Irony culture, meme politics, and the Vice magazine pipeline 22:41 Argumentation vs. dialogue — methods of thinking 30:00 Building Romanticon's live reading community 37:34 Why the Enlightenment was top-down and Romanticism is not 42:22 The starving artist myth and creating from a place of health 45:16 Rilke, the Sonnets to Orpheus, and creative production in bursts 🔗 Guest Links https://romanticon.substack.com [https://romanticon.substack.com] https://marbl.substack.com [https://marbl.substack.com] https://instagram.com/sam.willman [https://instagram.com/sam.willman] https://x.com/samanthawillman [https://x.com/samanthawillman] 🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20 [https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20] https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish [https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish] https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish [https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish] 🏘️ THE V1LLAG3 // the paid community from your hostThe room I built because I couldn’t find it; the first honest take your work has been waiting for. Wed Live 90min with Lance & Chris. 7 frameworks V13 uses with $1,500–$3,000/mo retainer clients. Bio, EPK, profile & website teardowns.Founding 50: $49/mo locked for life · 38 spots left. $79 Standard after. Full refund if your 4th Wednesday hasn't earned it.→ https://www.skool.com/v13-7161 [https://www.skool.com/v13-7161] 🔗 V13 Media Links https://v13.net [https://v13.net] Subscribe and tell us in the comments: do you think sincerity is the real counterculture right now? [Contains occasional explicit language.] #MakeBreak #SamanthaWillman #NewSincerity

Workers Comp's Peter Mahoney on Surviving the DIY Scene

Episode 017 – Peter Mahoney | MAKE // BREAK Peter Mahoney is a Toronto-based guitarist, recording engineer, and DJ rooted in the city's punk and hardcore underground. As guitarist for Workers Comp (who deliberately pulled their music from streaming in favour of Bandcamp) and a collaborator in UNWELL alongside Cursed/Burning Love/SECT vocalist Chris Colohan, Peter has spent two decades navigating pay-to-play scams, revolving lineups, and the real cost of making loud, fast music on your own terms. He also runs House of Trash, offering affordable recording and mixing to DIY bands. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK, Peter opens up about losing bassist Nick, rebuilding through grief, rejecting social media pressure, and why community built on genuine friendship outlasts every trend. 👀 What you'll hear * Discover how Peter identified pay-to-play scams and industry gatekeepers as a teenager in Toronto * Learn why Workers Comp pulled their music from streaming and what they use instead * Hear the gut-wrenching story of losing bassist Nick and deciding to keep the band alive * Explore what community really looks like when you strip away the buzzwords and trend-chasers * Find out why Peter built House of Trash to record bands affordably on his own terms * Understand the internal resistance artists face when social media becomes a second unpaid job 🕰️ Chapters 00:00 Cold open: the real cost of playing music 00:51 Single Release Playbook promo 01:15 Meet Peter Mahoney — guitarist, engineer, cat dad 05:31 Early illusions about the music industry 09:42 Pay-to-play shows and industry scams in Toronto 13:21 Joining the wrong bands and learning to say no 19:28 Building community and finding the right people 25:27 Defining success on your own terms 33:34 The shit sandwich: social media and self-promotion 43:37 Leaving Spotify and the case for Bandcamp 51:53 Recording at House of Trash and learning to engineer 58:04 Losing Nick and pivoting through grief 1:06:15 Shameless plugs, upcoming shows, and final wisdom 🔗 Guest Links https://youreentitledtoworkerscomp.bandcamp.com/ [https://youreentitledtoworkerscomp.bandcamp.com/] https://www.instagram.com/workerscompband/ [https://www.instagram.com/workerscompband/] https://unvvell.bandcamp.com/ [https://unvvell.bandcamp.com/] https://www.instagram.com/house.of_trash/ [https://www.instagram.com/house.of_trash/] https://www.instagram.com/vernaltrash/ [https://www.instagram.com/vernaltrash/] 🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20 [https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20] https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish [https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish] https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish [https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish] 🔗 V13 Media Links https://v13.net [https://v13.net] Subscribe and drop a comment: when have you had to pivot instead of quit in your own creative life? [Explicit language throughout.] #MakeBreak #Mahoney #DIYPunk

Paul Van Valkenburgh of TubeFreeks shares music business survival lessons

Episode 016 – Paul Thomas Van Valkenburgh | MAKE // BREAK Paul Van Valkenburgh is the vocalist and frontman of hard rock and groove-metal outfit TubeFreeks. On MAKE // BREAK with host Lance Marwood, he breaks down the music business realities of keeping a long-running band alive: the early “make” spark, the “break” moments of lineup shifts and stalled momentum, and the habits that rebuild trust. Paul shares how writing during recovery from major surgery reshaped his confidence, why vocal coaching levelled up his delivery, and how delegation protects both the work and the people. He also previews the next chapter, including the upcoming single “Flower” and the album Canvas, co-written with Clint Lowery (Sevendust). 👀 What you’ll hear * Trace the moment TubeFreeks stopped being a project and became a real band * Break down how a lineup collapse killed momentum, and what rebuilt it * Learn why coaches and co-writers raised standards without flattening Paul’s voice completely * Hear an in-house vocal recording process that avoids clock pressure and fixes phrasing fast * Steal the anti-Franken-song veto rule that keeps great ideas from getting overworked * Get the scoop on Flower and Canvas, and what a big 2026 slot means 🕰️ Chapters 00:00 TubeFreeks origin and the MAKE // BREAK frame 00:33 Make moment and the first riffs that made it feel real 05:19 Switching from drums to frontman mindset 08:06 Band chemistry, no-drama lineups, and why personnel is everything 15:32 Momentum collapse, touring stops, and rebuilding after a lineup split 24:34 Health crisis, recovery writing, and confidence after The Dry Tide 31:38 Delegation, coaches, and co-writing with Clint Lowery 39:15 In-house studio workflow and vocal takes without clock pressure 43:50 Vocal writing: cadence, phonics, and chasing cool 51:37 Lyric risk, emotion, and the God hear me out chorus decision 56:01 Franken-effing a song and the veto rule that protects great ideas 1:03:16 New single Flower, album Canvas, and opening for Black Stone Cherry 🔗 Guest Links https://tubefreeks.com/ [https://tubefreeks.com/] https://www.instagram.com/tubefreeksrocks/ [https://www.instagram.com/tubefreeksrocks/] https://www.youtube.com/user/Tubefreeks [https://www.youtube.com/user/Tubefreeks] https://open.spotify.com/artist/4gCE3tYHEDORDZLDQdimlp [https://open.spotify.com/artist/4gCE3tYHEDORDZLDQdimlp] 🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20 [https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20] https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish [https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish] https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish [https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish] 🔗 V13 Media Links https://v13.net [https://v13.net] Subscribe, and comment: would you use the band-veto rule, or does it kill songs? [Mild profanity] #MakeBreak #TubeFreeks #MusicBusiness

Eric Peterson on Testament and 40 Years in Thrash

Episode 015 – Eric Peterson | MAKE // BREAK Eric Peterson is the founding guitarist and primary songwriter of Bay Area thrash legends Testament, a band that’s spent more than four decades pushing heavy music forward while peers have fallen away. With Testament’s fourteenth album Para Bellum, he’s still co-producing, evolving the band’s sound, and keeping the riffs sharper than players half his age. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK, Eric sits down with host Lance Marwood to unpack the real cost of that longevity: the grind of touring and airports, staying physically ready for extreme music, protecting creativity in an AI era, and why horror films, cult novels, and personal taste still shape everything he writes. 👀 What you’ll hear * Unpack how Eric turned flyering, bar gigs and bad jobs into a four decade thrash career * Explore why Para Bellum still feels like a first album and how Testament keep evolving * Dig into riff writing, flow states and what separates a cool idea from a career song * Break down the ugliest parts of touring, airport purgatory and staying physically ready for stage intensity * Debate AI, taste and keeping music human, plus horror movies, cult fiction and weird reading recs 🕰️ Chapters 00:00 Intro, Testament overview and setting up Para Bellum 01:15 Make or break moments, legacy decisions and early DIY grind 03:30 Old school flyering and networking vs today’s digital promotion 06:45 Ageing, health and playing extreme thrash into your 50s 09:30 Touring realities, airport lines, boredom and burnout on the road 14:30 Writing Para Bellum while chasing the feeling of the first records 20:20 Taste, identity and how horror and cult films feed Eric’s imagination 28:45 Books on the road, Master and Margarita and other strange reading recs 32:30 Riff writing, flow state jams, Logic demos and editing with the band 37:30 Surviving industry shifts from tape trading to streaming, algorithms and AI 44:20 Legacy, repeating yourself without cloning old riffs, and ACDC as a model 48:40 Honest advice for bedroom players learning Testament riffs on YouTube 🔗 Guest Links https://www.testamentlegions.com/site/ [https://www.testamentlegions.com/site/] https://linktr.ee/TestamentLegions [https://linktr.ee/TestamentLegions] https://www.instagram.com/ericpetersonofficial/ [https://www.instagram.com/ericpetersonofficial/] http://www.enterthedragonlord.com/ [http://www.enterthedragonlord.com/] 🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Links https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20 [https://open.spotify.com/show/5GDOUd909p7ir2W74M9teg?si=cbc7e01e13ba4a20] https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish [https://instagram.com/lowkeyhellish] https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish [https://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish] 🔗 V13 Media Links https://v13.net [https://v13.net] Subscribe for more MAKE // BREAK conversations and drop a comment on how AI should shape metal’s future (explicit language) #MakeBreak #EricPeterson #Testament