In this episode, Charles sits down with TJ Horn, a Boston-area drummer who has played with several bands \u2014 most notably the critically acclaimed Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys. Beyond his drumming career, TJ is a passionate live music fan who set a personal record in 2025 by attending 75 concerts in a single year. He’s also known in certain Boston circles for his live readings of erotic fan fiction. It’s a wide-ranging conversation about music, performance, and what it means to love live shows.<\/p>\n
TJ traces his passion for live music back to a 1994 Depeche Mode concert at the Blockbuster Pavilion in Glen Helen, California \u2014 a show his uncle brought him and his family to when he was just 12 years old. That night sparked a lifelong obsession. That same year, his uncle also took him to Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, and the legendary Lollapalooza ’94 \u2014 where TJ saw the Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, L7, and a then-unknown Green Day, just weeks before they exploded in popularity. Over the years, TJ has accumulated remarkable concert stories: chatting with Fred Durst for 40 minutes at Ozzfest while watching Tool, seeing Porno for Pyros perform a surprise acoustic set on a walkway at Lollapalooza ’95, and stumbling upon a tiny 40-person Touch\u00e9 Amor\u00e9 show after standing in the snow for a wristband. His 75-show year in 2025 came about naturally \u2014 fueled by a wide network of friends with different musical tastes, a work schedule that freed up his evenings, and a simple philosophy of saying yes when a cheap ticket or a spare invite came along.<\/p>\n
On the music-making side, TJ is a self-taught drummer who got his start playing along to Green Day and the Ramones in his bedroom as a military kid who had just moved to Boston. He’s gone on to play with bands spanning punk, hardcore, and art-rock, including The Martyrs and a rock opera project featuring Amy Winehouse’s saxophonist and members of The Replacements. His longest creative relationship has been with Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys \u2014 a theatrical “steam crunk” band known for elaborate costumes, steampunk conventions, annual RPM Challenge albums, and now an upcoming horror sci-fi film directed by Walter himself. TJ also speaks fondly of the erotic fan fiction readings that made him unexpectedly famous in Boston’s burlesque and cosplay scene \u2014 a side gig that started with dramatic readings of bad dating app messages and turned into a crowd-favorite variety act. For more from TJ, find him on Instagram at @tjbrokenproton.<\/p>\n
BANDS:<\/strong> A Tribe Called Quest, Amy Winehouse, Beastie Boys, The Boredoms, Boy’s Life, The Breeders, Bridgit Calls Me Baby, Coal Chamber, Converge, Cyndi Lauper, Deftones, Depeche Mode, Dropbear, Eagles of Death Metal, Elastica, Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, Face to Face, Fight, George Clinton, Green Day, Hole, Jack White, Jay-Z, L7, Lady Gaga, Less Than Jake, Letters to Cleo, Limp Bizkit, Metallica, Ministry, Mot\u00f6rhead, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Nick Cave, Nine Inch Nails, Ozzy Osbourne, Porno for Pyros, Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Replacements, Rosal\u00eda, Salt-N-Pepa, sapling, Sex Pistols, Smashing Pumpkins, Shonen Knife, Soulfly, Stellastar, Stereolab, Suicidal Tendencies, The Killers, Tool, Touch\u00e9 Amor\u00e9, Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys.<\/p>\n VENUES:<\/strong> Blockbuster Pavilion (Glen Helen, CA), Boston Garden, The Middle East (Boston), San Diego State University’s Aztec Bowl.<\/p>\n LINKS:<\/strong><\/p>\n TJ Instagram:<\/strong> @tjbrokenproton.<\/p>\n Walter Sickert movie “Ashwire”:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.fangoria.com\/ashwire-trailer\/<\/a><\/p>\n PATREON:<\/strong> Please help us defer the cost of producing this podcast by making a donation on Patreon.<\/p>\n WEBSITE – BECOME A GUEST:<\/strong> Visit the Seeing Them Live website and click on the link to fill out a form so we can consider you as a guest on the show.<\/p>\n INSTAGRAM:<\/strong> FACEBOOK:<\/strong> Charles welcomes Boston-area drummer and avid live music fan TJ Horn (Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys), who set a personal record by attending 75 concerts in 2025. TJ recounts formative early shows including Depeche Mode in 1994 (his first concert and lifelong favorite band), Metallica, and Lollapalooza \u201994, plus later highlights like Rosal\u00eda in Boston and a DIY punk turning point seeing Face to Face. He shares a surprising Ozzfest story where Fred Durst sat beside him to watch Tool, and other intimate-show memories including Touch\u00e9 Amor\u00e9 at a tiny VFW and seeing The Killers open at The Middle East. TJ discusses being a mostly self-taught drummer, a 2012 documentary by filmmaker Mike Pecci, Walter Sickert\u2019s RPM Challenge albums and \u201csteam crunk\u201d theatrics, and his live stage readings of erotic fan fiction at burlesque and nerd-culture events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_regular_price":[],"currency_symbol":[],"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/cdn.simplecast.com\/media\/audio\/transcoded\/a17b18b8-1140-472d-bc9d-8b7d74cad39a\/6fba452e-d913-428f-890c-05100e781825\/episodes\/audio\/group\/e3f6409c-e81b-4279-97b8-268509855d2d\/group-item\/fefbb62e-f931-4ac2-880c-7b5ecf17697f\/128_default_tc.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:45:39","filesize":"41.81M","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":""},"tags":[],"series":[69],"class_list":["post-4114","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","series-seeing-them-live"],"post_slider_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","post_slider_layout_landscape_large":"","post_slider_layout_portrait_large":"","post_slider_layout_square_large":"","post_slider_layout_landscape":"","post_slider_layout_portrait":"","post_slider_layout_square":"","full":""},"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/seeingthemlive.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"https:\/\/seeingthemlive.com\/podcast-download\/4114\/s04-e13-tj-horn-encounters-fred-durst-at-ozzfest","player_link":"https:\/\/seeingthemlive.com\/podcast-player\/4114\/s04-e13-tj-horn-encounters-fred-durst-at-ozzfest","audio_player":"https:\/\/seeingthemlive.com\/podcast-player\/4114\/s04-e13-tj-horn-encounters-fred-durst-at-ozzfest<\/a>","episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/seeing-them-live\/id1666439746","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/feed\/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9FcDlfN2pGVQ","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/0N5twIpQAhq7Zg4VTNUHly","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/seeingthemlive.com\/feed\/podcast\/seeing-them-live","embedCode":"
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https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61550090670708<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S04.E13 – TJ Horn Encounters Fred Durst at Ozzfest<\/a><\/blockquote>