This episode was first released on May 4th, 2026. It was so good connecting with Erik again after so many years. We hope you enjoy the chat!

Erik Parker has been a lot of things; guitarist, vocalist, live sound engineer, recording producer, guitar teacher, Nirvana tribute act, Satanic gospel cabaret performer, and teenage busker in the Frankston Mall. He joins us to talk about what a music career actually looks like when the work keeps shifting and expanding: the burnout, the reinvention, the collaborations you have to book before the beer is finished, and why he had to learn to get nervous again.

It's also a reunion - Erik was one of Lyndon's guitar students about 30 years ago - so there's a warmth and honesty here that goes deeper than the usual career chat. We cover grief, performance anxiety, the wedding gig where Erik refused to learn a Snow Patrol song (and then absolutely had to learn it), and the night his LPG gas tank fell off his car on the Calder Freeway, closing the freeway and ending a run of Adelaide gigs before they'd even begun.

You might want to listen if:

• You’re a working musician trying to figure out how to sustain a career without burning out

• You need someone to tell you it’s okay to still be figuring it out

• You’ve ever had a gas tank fall off your car on the Western Ring Road!

Find Erik Parker on Instagram

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Pain In The Arts is a weekly podcast about the reality of creative life. Hosted by Breallyn and Lyndon Wesley. One of them never knows the topic until recording begins.

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Theme music by Lyndon Wesley

Produced on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country.

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