Emerald City Electric with Meagan RoseEmerald City Electric with Meagan Rose
The Peace On Drugs
Aaron and Meagan talk through the story behind their band Emerald City Electric and the making of their debut album, from early gigs to studio struggles. They also touch on going “sober-ish” while still working in bars and keeping their creative spark alive.
1:24:14•18 Sept 2026
Emerald City Electric: Indie Dreams, Bar Gigs and Getting Sober‑ish
Episode Overview
- Original music can survive in a tourist-heavy, cover-driven bar scene by carving out a unique niche.
- Long-term projects like albums often face major setbacks from life events such as hurricanes and COVID, yet persistence keeps them alive.
- Recording in the right studio with the right engineer makes a huge difference in both sound and stress levels.
- Accepting imperfection in vocals and instrumentation helps create an honest, human-sounding record.
- Reducing or stopping alcohol while still living in a music and bar environment is possible, even if it starts as “sober-ish”.
“We’ve been sober for over two months now. Yes, we have. Sober-ish. I’ve been smoking weed and shit.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey and still keep creativity front and centre? This chat between Aaron Akulis and Meagan Rose is all about their band Emerald City Electric and the long, messy, joyful path to their debut album, *Under a Smiling Moon's Light*. You'll hear them talk honestly about grinding away at original music in a southwest Florida bar scene fuelled by “drunk tourists”, karaoke tracks and cover-band culture.
Aaron describes how he and Meagan decided to be “indie snobs”, forcing their favourite Shins, Radiohead and Iron & Wine tunes on crowds while slowly weaving in originals that eventually became album tracks. The episode spends plenty of time on the emotional rollercoaster of making a record: false starts in 2013, COVID wrecking band plans, Hurricane Ian destroying their home and studio, and then rebuilding everything – including the music.
As Aaron puts it, “We’ve been sober for over two months now. Yes, we have. Sober-ish. I’ve been smoking weed and shit.” That short line says a lot about the episode’s tone: candid, slightly cheeky, but clearly aware of how alcohol and drugs have shaped their lives as working musicians. There’s loads here about studio experiences too – from chaotic sessions with unreliable engineers to finally finding producer Caleb, who insists on real amps, human drums and imperfect-but-authentic performances.
Meagan opens up about the pressure of recording vocals under the microscope and how small words, like the single “forget”, took 20 takes to feel right. While this isn’t a step-by-step recovery story, it offers a raw glimpse into life as gigging musicians learning where alcohol fits (and doesn’t fit) in their creative lives. If you’re juggling sobriety, nightlife and your own artistic dreams, this behind-the-scenes album story might feel surprisingly familiar.
How do you keep chasing your art while changing your relationship with drinking?
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