Bad Idea Social Club
Episodes
78 episodes
AB: Make Them Move
AB (DJ, creative) sits down with Aaron McCall to talk about confidence, rejection, and how your sense of self evolves as you move through new experiences. He gets into music as both expression and connection, the push and pull of reading a room...
Joel Hoekstra: Bite and Sound
Joel Hoekstra (cook, musician, owner of Meyer Music) hosts Aaron McCall for dinner as they discuss creativity, instinct, and finding room to breathe inside the things that matter most. He gets into the connection between food and music, how gro...
Hannah Berry: Do Something About It
Hannah Berry (artist, founder of Lions & Rabbits) sits down with Aaron McCall to talk about community, creativity, and the work happening between the cracks. She gets into turning art into real community impact, building something without a...
Ryan Wasson: Another Round
Ahead of Season 7 on April 14, Aaron McCall and Joe Matteson sit down to show off the studio space, talk through what’s changing, and shake the rust off a bit. They get into the shift to video, what it’s doing to the energy of the show, how thi...
Amy Carroll: The Problem
Amy Carroll (photographer, artist) sits down with Aaron McCall to talk about identity, ego, and the long process of figuring out who you actually are. She gets into building a career that looks good on the outside but feels empty, learning how ...
BONUS: Took Long Enough
Ahead of Season 7 on April 14, Aaron McCall and Joe Matteson sit down to show off the studio space, talk through what’s changing, and shake the rust off a bit. They get into the shift to video, what it’s doing to the energy of the show, how thi...
Creative Mornings GR: Growth is a Team Sport
Aaron McCall moderates a Creative Mornings Grand Rapids panel discussion on “Growth,” recorded at the Grand Rapids Civic Theatre with more than 200 people in attendance. Joined by Ian Labardee, Bailey Sell, Hannah Berry, and Leigh Ann Cobb, the...
Courtney Lauer: The Hurry and the Harm
Courtney Lauer (graphic designer, artist) shares her story with Aaron McCall and talks about survival, control, and the strength it takes to turn pain into something honest. She opens up about surviving and processing trauma, rebuilding identit...
Jacob Betts: Once a Vagrant
Jacob Betts (singer-songwriter, The American Hotel System) joins Aaron McCall to talk about creativity as something to hold onto when life unravels, how grief reshapes how we see purpose, and what it means to rebuild belief in people when every...
Casey Lambert: The Other F Word
Casey Lambert (independent pro wrestler, marketing director) joins Aaron McCall to talk about life in and out of the ring, how strength and vulnerability feed off each other, and how connection shows up everywhere from the crowd to your opponen...
Joy Rhine: Unhinged and Feral
Joy Rhine (visual designer, photographer) sits down with Aaron McCall to talk about keeping creativity in your life without letting it become your whole identity. She opens up about being people-first in a screen-first industry, why she’d rathe...
Mack Garrison: Everything in Motion
Mack Garrison (motion designer, co-founder of Dash Studio) joins Aaron McCall to talk about ADHD as both a curse and a creative advantage, building a studio rooted in empathy over ego, and what happens when you decide burnout isn’t a badge of h...
Scott Katsufrakus: Castles and Sirens
Scott Katsufrakis (founder of Flying House Threads, firefighter) joins Aaron McCall to talk creative entrepreneurship at the edge of whimsy and weight. They dig into building a Disney-inspired, punk-leaning apparel brand while working life-and-...
Taylor Matteson: Beautifully Odd
Taylor Matteson (painter, experimenter) shares her story with Aaron McCall and discusses following creativity wherever it leads: painting, sculpture, and adding teeth to thrifted objects. She opens up about growing up shy in a loud, creative ho...
Ray Anne Barker: Noise and Stillness
Ray Ann Barker (painter, photographer, model, content creator) talks with Aaron McCall about anxiety as the root of her creativity, finding ground through photography and abstract painting, and how turning perfectionism on its head opened new d...
Colin Russell: Oops, All Murals
Colin Russell (artist, muralist, Ghost Town) talks with Aaron McCall about moving from years in coffee to a life in art, stumbling into murals, and building a world in black and white. His work is bold, playful, and unsettling all at once—creep...
Virginia Anzengruber: That's Not Funny
To kick off Season 6, Virginia Anzengruber (comedian, filmmaker, writer) joins Aaron McCall for a conversation about grief, comedy, and what it takes to keep creating when life gets heavy. She talks about loss, writing scripts that hold both hu...
BONUS: Social Media is a Lie
This time, we’re talking about the mess of being online. From LiveJournal drama to influencer marketing and the existential weight of Instagram captions, we dig into what makes social media feel necessary, fake, addictive, useful, and totally e...
BONUS: Starting Over
This time, it’s just the three of us—Aaron, Joe, and Amber. No guest, no plan, just vibes and a theme: starting over. From lost files and ruined shoots to quitting jobs and creative resets, we get into the mess and momentum of starting...
Jenny Hearns: Ghost of a Ghost
Jenny Hearns (artist, graphic designer) talks with Aaron McCall about creative identity, chronic illness, and what happens when your body hits pause before your mind is ready. They get into creepy-cute aesthetics, the pressure to stay visible, ...
Craig Horky: Dusty Old Man
Craig Horky (illustrator, graphic designer) shares his story with Aaron McCall and talks about analog habits, unexpected upheaval, and the tension between making a living and making something that lasts. They cover brush pens, weird gigs, creat...
Mitch Ermatinger: Where the Wild Things Sour
Mitch Ermatinger (brewer/founder, Speciation Artisan Ales) talks with Aaron McCall about building a life around wild beer—then no longer being able to drink it. They get into the art and...
Rae Lang: Outsider
Rae Lang (artist, Woosah Outfitters & Outside Coffee Co.) talks with Aaron McCall about carving a life that’s slower, wilder, and closer to the woods. They get into Rae’s evolution as an art...
Scott Millington: Real AF
Scott Millington (photographer) has always had an eye for real-life moments—and in photography, he found the language to document them. Scott sits down with Aaron McCall to talk about how the camera gave him purpose, community, and a way to sho...
