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We Came From Celluloid

We Came From Celluloid

By: Nicky P
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 At the intersection of music and movies, there is a band from Ohio. These are their conversations on life, music, and more.2025 Music Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Paul Thomas Anderson, My Christmas Horror Binge, and A Song About Carrie | We Came From Celluloid 007

    Paul Thomas Anderson, My Christmas Horror Binge, and A Song About Carrie | We Came From Celluloid 007
    Nov 7 2025
    Welcome back to We Came From Celluloid, the podcast that exists at the nexus of music, film, and middle-aged dudes who still believe they can make it. I'm Nicky P, here with Brian Pritchard - a man of a certain age who's about to go see Paul Thomas Anderson's new film in IMAX. And yes, I'm pushing the "dad band" thing just to drive it home. This week kicks off with Brian heading to see One Battle After Another, the new PTA movie that everyone's calling one of the best of the year. We get into what it means when a filmmaker has earned enough credibility that you just show up without needing to be sold. Spoiler: that's the level we're all chasing. But then things get weird. As they always do. What We Cover: Why Paul Thomas Anderson gets automatic credibility (and who else deserves it) My annual horror movie binge and the writeups I'm still catching up on from last year The X trilogy: Why Maxine worked better than the art-piece prequels Christmas horror movies: the good, the terrible, and the absolutely unwatchable Christmas Bloody Christmas and why killer robot Santa makes no goddamn sense How the technology exists for indie filmmaking but the distribution model is broken Kevin Smith's Clerks as proof that dialogue can overcome amateur everything else Horror's incredible forgiveness for low-budget films (when they have good ideas) The psychology of watching your heroes age and still create Our recent Puma Thurman show - the most poppy set we've ever played Why we're still waiting on the final version of "Stay Gold Pony Boy" to promote LaVonte's return to the band and how personnel changes affect performance energy The comfort level required to take creative risks on stage Delusional self-belief: the essential ingredient for any creative career Why staying polite might be holding us back from accomplishing shit The decade of obscurity that precedes every "overnight success" How Vola went from 50 people to 500 people by just keeping at it Tour strategies, targeted ads, and why digital marketing actually matters The lost episode concept: musical movie reviews Novelty songs, Weird Al's legacy, and why there's room for what we're doing SPONTANEOUS SONGWRITING SESSION: We write a song about Carrie in real-time Stephen King's wife's influence on the story (it's really about a girl's first period) Sissy Spacek's heartbreaking performance that never gets enough credit The universal horror of watching a child try to please an awful parent The Real Talk: Look, we're not touring professionals. We're not selling out venues. We're middle-aged dudes with day jobs who happen to be really fucking good at what we do. And you know what? That requires a level of delusional self-belief that most sane people don't have. Brian and I have been doing this since we were 14 or 15 - professionally speaking. We've been telling ourselves for 10 years that we'll monetize this skill. We haven't cracked that nut yet, but we also haven't worked that hard at it. We follow ideas, we create, we perform, and we wait for the tools we need to actually be ready. Sometimes that's frustrating as hell. But it's also the only way anything good ever gets made. Creative Process Deep Dive - Writing "Carrie" in Real-Time: One of the coolest moments in this episode is when Brian literally reaches behind him, grabs a random DVD (which happens to be De Palma with Rebecca Romijn's Femme Fatale on the cover), and we settle on Carrie as our spontaneous songwriting subject. We craft phrases like: "The blood, it drips, the hair is thick, you're walking away from me" "You know too much, we know too much, and I can't bear to let you go" "Taking it to the neighbors, asking them for their change" "The big man doesn't know my name, while the little man screams and taunts me" This is what we do. We take literal moments from films - Carrie's mom going door-to-door, the principal mispronouncing her name, the bully on the bike - and we twist them into something that works as both movie reference AND universal human experience. Key Moment - The Horror Movie Defense: I go off this episode about why horror movies are the absolute best genre for storytelling. Carrie is literally about a girl having her first period, being scared and confused, with a mother who makes everything worse. They took that very real, universal female experience and made it TERRIFYING. They raised the stakes to supernatural levels while keeping the emotional truth intact. That's what great horror does. And that's why slasher movies ruined everything - they pushed out all the thinky horror movies that actually had something to say. Bottom Line: We played a great show. Levente was back. Our chemistry was fire. -- We're waiting on final mixes. -- We're writing songs about Stephen King's menstruation metaphor. And we're still convinced - delusionally, perhaps - that this whole thing is going somewhere. Thanks for hanging out with us. Go listen ...
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    42 mins
  • Christian Bale's Career, John Candy's Legacy, and Why Disney Kids Dominate Hollywood: We Came From Celluloid 006

    Christian Bale's Career, John Candy's Legacy, and Why Disney Kids Dominate Hollywood: We Came From Celluloid 006
    Oct 26 2025
    Welcome back to We Came From Celluloid, where two pop culture nerds and band geeks sit at the apex of music & film and tackle issues like why losing Robert Redford hits differently than other celebrities. I'm Nicky P, here with Brian Pritchard, and this week we're processing the death of one of the last true movie stars while somehow ending up deep in John Candy territory. Look, Redford's death wasn't unexpected - the guy was in his late eighties, had an incredible career both in front of and behind the camera, and left a legacy that includes Sundance. But it's got us thinking about what it means to be a bridge between classic Hollywood and the modern era, and which actors today carry that same weight. What We Cover: Robert Redford's final performance in The Old Man and the Gun The weird synchronicity of watching Spy Game right before Redford died Passing of the torch movies that worked (and the ones that failed) Why The Score with Brando, De Niro, and Norton didn't live up to expectations The Snake Plissken franchise that never was (and who could replace Kurt Russell) Wyatt Russell and the DNA of movie stardom Walt Disney's mysterious final words: "Kurt Russell" Christian Bale's incredible career transformation from Disney kid to method actor chameleon John Candy - possibly the warmest human who ever existed Why Planes, Trains, and Automobiles still makes us cry Career Opportunities and the five-minute scene-stealing power of pure sweetness Home Alone and the art of owning a movie with minimal screen time SCTV legends and the comedy that shaped a generation Why John Candy accomplished as much in 43 years as some actors do in twice that time The Real Talk: Sometimes you start a podcast episode planning to discuss one Hollywood legend and end up on a completely different emotional journey. We began with Redford's sophisticated cool and ended up crying about John Candy's empathetic warmth. Both represent something we've lost in modern cinema - that ineffable quality that makes certain performers feel essential rather than replaceable. Deep Dive - Kurt Russell's Disney Mystery: Walt Disney's final written words were reportedly "Kurt Russell" along with some other TV project notes and the letters "CIA." Russell was a Disney kid actor at the time, and to this day, nobody knows exactly what Walt meant. Was he planning Russell's future? Was there a CIA connection? We don't know, and it's one of Hollywood's strangest unsolved mysteries. The John Candy Appreciation: Look, I might go so far as to say John Candy is my favorite human who ever existed. The guy died at 43 and left behind performances that are the foundation of a legacy that's hard to outmatch. From Uncle Buck to Home Alone to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, he brought an authenticity and warmth that transcended comedy. He wasn't acting - he was channeling who he genuinely was as a human being into every role. Career Longevity Discussion: We explore what it means to have staying power in Hollywood. Kurt Russell started as a Disney kid in the 1960s and is still working. Christian Bale went from child actor to one of the most respected method performers alive. These aren't accidents - they're artists who evolved while maintaining their core appeal. Key Moments: Brian's weird timing watching Spy Game before Redford's death Our debate about whether Wyatt Russell could carry the Snake Plissken franchise The Walt Disney deathbed mystery and what it tells us about Hollywood legacy Why Christian Bale's willingness to transform himself (sometimes unflattering) sets him apart My emotional breakdown discussing John Candy's performance in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles The five-minute Career Opportunities scene that captures everything perfect about Candy SCTV nostalgia and the comedy that shaped our sensibilities The Bottom Line: Some performers transcend their era and become permanent fixtures in our cultural memory. Robert Redford, Kurt Russell, Christian Bale, and John Candy all represent different aspects of what makes movie stardom special. Redford had the sophisticated cool, Russell has the everyman action hero appeal, Bale brings the transformative intensity, and Candy embodied pure human warmth. Modern Hollywood doesn't make stars like this anymore, and maybe that's why losing them hits so hard. Also Featured: Tangents about overlord, Thunderbolts, SCTV greatest hits packages from the library, Eugene Levy collaborations, Uncle Buck's threatening warmth, and why sometimes the best performances come from people just being themselves on camera. This episode is for anyone who's ever mourned an actor they never met but somehow felt like they knew. It's about the performers who define eras and the impossible task of replacing the irreplaceable. Subscribe, rate, and review We Came From Celluloid wherever you listen. Follow us on social media for behind-the-scenes content, movie recommendations, and more ...
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    36 mins
  • Dad Band Dynamics, Interview with the Vampire, and the Art of Dark Pop Songs | We Came From Celluloid 005

    Dad Band Dynamics, Interview with the Vampire, and the Art of Dark Pop Songs | We Came From Celluloid 005
    Oct 4 2025
    Welcome back to We Came From Celluloid, the podcast where two middle-aged dads from Ohio prove that expensive hobbies can occasionally pay for themselves. I'm Nicky P, here with Brian Pritchard, and this week we're diving deep into what happens when Tom Cruise's Lestat starts whispering song ideas in your head. Look, I'm not gonna pretend we're not a dad band. We are absolutely a dad band. But we are a dad band that takes this shit seriously, has perfected our skills over decades, and occasionally gets paid to do our expensive hobby. Try getting people to pay you hundreds of dollars to watch you play golf, Kevin from accounting. What We Cover:
    • The psychology of being a middle-aged musician in business networking situations
    • How Brian's "1212" song concept got hijacked by Tom Cruise's Lestat
    • The dual vocal technique that's been haunting our performances
    • Why Interview with the Vampire's villain makes the perfect song narrator
    • The Jurassic Park song's real emotional origin story (spoiler: hospital waiting rooms)
    • How personal trauma becomes movie-themed lyrics
    • The art of hiding Easter eggs in music (including my planned "Nights in White Satin" sample)
    • Rosemary's Baby and the beauty of dark lyrics over happy music
    • Why collaborative songwriting is completely new territory for me
    The Real Talk: Sometimes the best songs come from the worst moments. Brian's Jurassic Park track started as him processing his sister's emergency room visit, channeling that anxiety and hope into something that sounds like an emo band I'd never admit to listening to. But that's the magic - taking genuine human emotion and filtering it through our ridiculous movie obsession until it becomes something both funny and heartbreaking. Creative Process Deep Dive: We get into the nuts and bolts of how we work together - Brian starts with musical concepts and emotional foundations, I come in with the grand lyrical direction. It's collaborative in a way I've never experienced before, and it's producing some of our most emotionally resonant work. Key Moments:
    • The moment Tom Cruise's Lestat invaded Brian's creative process
    • My confession about performing songs with zero actual lyrics for months
    • The parallel between Nicky's 12th birthday trauma and Brian's hospital anxiety
    • Why Mother Mother's "Wrecking Ball" is the perfect example of beautiful/dark songwriting
    • Brian considering repurposing drum tracks between songs
    Bottom Line: We're finding that the best art happens when you stop fighting the weird intersections between high emotion and ridiculous source material. Tom Cruise makes a great narrator for songs about temptation. Sam Neil's relationship anxiety translates perfectly to emo songwriting. And sometimes you need a vampire whispering in your ear to find the right attitude for a track. This episode is for anyone who's ever had to explain their creative process to golf-playing business associates, anyone who finds emotional truth in horror movies, and definitely anyone who loves discovering Easter eggs in music. Ready to argue about whether we're taking this dad band thing too seriously? Follow us everywhere and tell us we're wrong. We can take it.
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    36 mins
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