Sending Signals

It seems like a good time to take a deep dive into Best Picture nominee, and more importantly, my favourite film of 2023, “Past Lives”. This episode I’m joined by the film’s Assistant Director Ben Kahn to discuss his personal impact on the film, creating the remarkable chemistry between the cast, evoking an older digital landscape, and the profound effect the movie is having on people.

Hope you enjoy! 

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This Friday, March 1st Bruce Hornsby releases a new album in collaboration with chamber ensemble yMusic. The record is entitled “Deep Sea Vents”. It straddles the line between contemporary songwriting and modern classical, and the album has an aquatic theme with all the songs dealing with the ocean, or at least water in some way. The album is emblematic of much of Hornsby’s career in that it veers from the strange to the beautiful to the funny to the challenging. He doesn’t like the easy route.

If you know anything about Bruce’s career you’ll know his mid-80s smash “The Way It Is”, released by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, a powerful piece of social commentary inspired by his life growing up in Virginia, and featuring two piano solos. It’s a song that’s hung around, being sampled by rappers like 2Pac and Polo G. Bruce seems to have a conflicted relationship with the song. He often stills play it live but in a re-worked way, and he seems keen to be seen as a forward-thinking artist, not wishing to be defined by the past.

He was a live member of the Grateful Dead in the early 90s playing over a hundred shows with them. In recent years, he’s collaborated often with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and you’ll see like the likes of Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig or The Staves or Blake Mills pop up on his album credits.

I was a big admirer of his 2019 album “Absolutely Zero” which is well worth your time. Bruce was fantastic company when we spoke, and I hope you enjoy our chat!

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Welcome. My guest this episode is artist and photographer Lynn Goldsmith.

Her career as a photographer has brought her into the orbit of rock n roll legends like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, and notably Bruce Springsteen with whom she had a romantic relationship in the 70s as he was still working his way up, with his blistering live shows, and the relentlessly determined creative drive which produced the album Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Her document of this era forms the basis of a new coffee table book published by Taschen entitled “Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Darkness on the Edge of Town”.

She’s had an incredible life: working with Elektra Records in the late 60s, co-managing Grand Funk Railroad in the early 70s, and releasing music under the name of Will Powers in the early 80s.

She’s also worked in other mediums of art and her photographs have graced album and magazine covers.

Lynn joined me from Nashville to talk about her new book and her career in general. We had a great chat. Hope you enjoy it. 
 

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I’m listening! Hopefully you are too, as this week is incredibly fun. I’m joined by “Frasier” writer and consulting producer Bob Daily.

Bob was on the writing staff for several seasons of the original run of “Frasier” and he’s back on board for the new revival series out now on Paramount+. If you’re at all interested in how TV shows like this get made, you’re going to find this fascinating. We dig into the world of show development, writers rooms, table reads, and more.

Bob is very articulate about his craft but incredibly personable too, and I had a blast hanging with him. Let me know what you think!

This will likely be the last show of the year, but I’ve already got things in the pipeline for next year, so I’ll be back soon. Thanks so much for listening. If you want to help the show, please keep listening, leave a nice review or rating, tell your friends about the show, and/or follow me on the socials; it’s all appreciated.

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Hey. It’s a special one this week. Juliana Hatfield is a singer-songwriter based in Massachusetts. She was a member of the Lemonheads in the early 90s, as well as bands like Blake Babies in the late 80s and Some Girls in the early 00s. She’s made albums with Matthew Caws from Nada Surf and Paul Westerberg from The Replacements. She’s also released around 20 albums under her own name, sometimes as the Juliana Hatfield Three. Although a prolific songwriter, in recent years she occasionally releases an album of covers by a specific artist. Her latest one, “Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO”, follows her albums of songs by Olivia Newton John and The Police. Being a big ELO fan myself, it seemed like a great time to talk with her. She had a particular rough time in the press in the 90s and he experience with working with a major label has clearly left it’s scars. Stick with this one, after a lot of ELO geek talk we go deep. It was genuinely one of my favourite conversations I’ve had for the show. Sometimes you have a guest where you feel you’re really chasing down some kind of epiphany. I’m not sure we reached one, but you decide.
 

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This week I’m joined by drummer Chester Thompson. Chester is perhaps best known for his live work with Genesis and Phil Collins, but he has also worked with Frank Zappa, Weather Report, The Bee Gees, and The Pointer Sisters. He has a new jazz album out called “Wake-Up Call” and he joins me from Nashville to discuss it’s “genesis” (see what I did there?). Anyway, Chester schools me in the ways of jazz, talks about his career, and indulges my Genesis fan-boy questions. Hope you enjoy.
 

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Breathe deep the gathering gloom. This episode I welcome back John Lodge of The Moody Blues to the show!

John has recently released his re-working of The Moody Blues 1967 opus “Days Of Future Passed”. I think it’s fair to wonder whether it’s a good idea when artist take on projects like this, and I want to ask John about the possible disconnect between fan expectations and artist perspectives. I was also naturally curious about the current state of relationships between John and his former bandleader Justin Heywood.

John was really good company and I had a great time talking with him. Hope you enjoy it too!

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Waddup? I’m joined this episode by Jonathan Higgs from the excellent Everything Everything. The band are from Manchester and formed in 2007. They’ve so far released 6 albums, 2 of which were nominated for the Mercury Music Award. They’ve also had 5 Ivor Novello nominations.

Their most recent album 2022s “Raw Data Feel” saw the band experiment with the use of AI to create the album artwork as well as some of the lyrics for the album. Mark Hanslip, a researcher from the Unversity of York, helped Higgs develop an AI bot named Kevin which was fed 4 sources of information: LinkedIn’s terms and conditions, the classic poem Beowulf, 400,000 posts from controversial message board 4chan, and the sayings of the Confucius. The generated results were poured through and compiled into useable material. Jonathan has generally preferred to keep secret which lyrics are his and which were generated by AI, which accounts for about 5% of the albums lyrics.

The band’s debut album 2010s “Man Alive” is about to get a deluxe reissue. It’s an album I really like, so it was a great opportunity to speak to Jonathan. Hope you enjoy it.

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Welcome. Dave Pegg is the longest serving member of Fairport Convention. Fairport are one of those bands who are a subculture unto themselves. They were formed in 1967 with Dave joining the band in 1969. Fairport split in 1979 but reformed in 1985 and have been active since then.

They’re still a very hardworking touring band here in the UK. They came through my hometown of Southend earlier this year and I saw my first Fairport show. Frankly, I was shocked how good it was.

The band on record tend to be a bit defined by a run of albums they did in the late 60s when Richard Thompson and the late Sandy Denny were in the band. I think a bit of line-up snobbery had contributed to my not having seen them sooner, but alongside Dave, the band still features founding member Simon Nicol. Multi-instrumentalists Ric Sanders and Chris Leslie have been in the band since 1985 and 1996 respectively. The tour I caught them on also saw them reunite with drummer Dave Mattacks who originally joined in 1969 and has had several spells in the band.  

A big part of the Fairport culture is their annual music festival Cropredy which is taking place in August this year, so we discuss preparations for this year’s event.

In addition to Fairport Convention, Dave played with Jethro Tull for a long time, as well as working with Nick Drake on his wonderful “Bryter Later” album.

Hope you enjoy our conversation.
 

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Good dawning to thee, friends. My guest this episode tv producer and Daria co-creator Susie Lewis.

Susie Lewis was an intern at MTV when she began working on the show Beavis and Butthead. That show featured a sardonic character names Daria, and feeling that MTV needed more content for girls, Susie was drafted in alongside Glenn Eichler to create a spin-off series called Daria.

Daria is not just a great animated series, it’s a great TV series, full stop. It still stands up really well. It’s smart and funny and warmly evocative of the late 90s and millennium era in which it was made.

It’s one of my all-time favourite shows, so I was delighted Susie was willing to come on the show. She was lovely company, as you’ll hear.

Thanks for listening.
 

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Hullo! This week I’m joined by Dougie Payne of Travis. He was lovely company. Travis have recently been revisiting their 2001 album “The Invisible Band” with a series of live shows, reissues, and a live album. It’s a fascinating era to talk about, as the band had found themselves thrust into the spotlight after the unexpected runaway success of previous album “The Man Who”. I was in my late teens in this era, so it was interesting for me to reminisce on that time period too. I hope you enjoy. 

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Listen up! Andy McCluskey is the frontman of Merseyside electronic legends Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark or OMD as they’re often known.

OMD was formed in 1978 out of the ashes of another band The ID, to which I have a little family connection, which you’ll hear about in the episode.

Their 1980 song Ebola Gay earned them widespread popularity throughout Europe, and their 1981 album “Architecture and Morality” which would sell over 4 million copies and spawn hit singles like “Souvenir” and “Maid of New Orleans”.

Their follow-up album “Dazzle Ships” has just turned 40 years old, and it’s history is somewhat complicated. The album embraced sound collage and shortwave radio recordings. It’s an album about technology and the Cold War. It sold just a fraction of it’s predecessor, but it seems to have enjoyed a reappraisal over the years. It was possibly just ahead of it’s time, and maybe it subverted expectations too. We get into it in the interview.

After OMD fell apart Andy masterminded 90’s pop sensations Atomic Kitten, becoming a principal songwriter alongside former OMD band mate Stuart Kershaw. Andy’s profession relationship with band dissolved around their second album, but it strikes me as a somewhat surprising career path, and I was interested to hear Andy’s thoughts on that too.

OMD reformed in 2006 and are a continuing concern. Their last album, the well-received “The Punishment of Luxury” came out in 2017, and Andy updates me with progress on the follow-up in our interview.

Enjoy!
 

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Sorry it’s been a while. Delighted to have Robert Forster as my guest this episode. Robert Forster is an Australian singer-songwriter, raised in Brisbane, where he currently resides. He’s perhaps best known as one of the co-founders and leaders of indie-rock royalty The Go-betweens. The Go-betweens were formed in 1977 and had an initial run that lasted until 1989, before a reunion run from 2000 until 2006 when co frontman Grant McLennan died of a heart attack aged just 48.

As well as a run of solo albums, Robert also ventured into musical journalism writing for Australian magazine The Monthly and sister publication The Saturday Paper. Some of his writings were collated together in the book The 10 Rules of Rock n Roll.

On February 3rd 2023 Robert releases his 8th studio album The Candle and the Flame. The album was created during an incredibly difficult time for Robert and his family. His wife Karin, who plays violin on Robert’s albums, had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and playing music in the evenings along with their son Louis was a much needed escape from the ravages of chemotherapy. You would imagine from looking at some of the lyrics, that this situation influenced Robert’s songwriting on this album, but remarkably, just one song, She’s A Fighter, was writing after Karin’s diagnosis.

Robert was fantastic company and had a lot to say. I really hope you enjoy our conversation.
 

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Listen up! This week we take a trip to St. Petersburg to speak to shoegaze merchants Blankenberge whose latest album “Everything” is very good indeed.

Also,  Steve Hackett returns again! We discuss his forthcoming “Foxtrot at 50” tour, progress on the next album, and of course, Jack Hawkins. Enjoy!

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Friends, Romans, Countryman! Join me this week as I hang out with Bernard Butler. We discuss topics ranging from walking the Estuary coast, to being branded “difficult to work with”, and why you potentially shouldn’t buy his new reissue*.

Bernard was fantastic company and had a lot to say about being an artist; he was engaged, honest, and forthcoming.  Hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think!

*please await context before making such a decision ;)

PS: Apparently the release date for the “People Move On” reissue has been pushed back by a couple of weeks due to production issues, so I may mention a now incorrect date in the episode.

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Top of the morning. Thought I’d try something different. Here’s myself and my friend Jason Booth, from the band Last Tourist, discussing our favourite music of 2021. I’m largely insufferable throughout but Jason is very nice, and you get to hear a Last Tourist song at the end of the show! Normal service will resume shortly.

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lasttouristband.bandcamp.com 

It’s the last episode of the current series, and I’m joined by David Gedge frontman and only constant member of indie-rockers, and John Peel favourites, The Wedding Present. We talk about David’s plan to release a new 7” single every month in 2022, a project The Wedding Present pulled off back in 1992. We also talk about taking third album “Seamonsters” back on the road, working with Steve Albini, writing songs as you get older, and more!

My other guest is author Jon Miles, who has just released his fun debut novel “The Ice Scream Factory”, aimed at junior/middle-schoolers. We talk about what it takes to write your first book, and Jon also reads a section of the book for the episode.

“The Ice Scream Factory” by Jon Miles is available to order exclusively from Amazon.

Thanks for listening this series. It’s been quite a ride.

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How’s it goin’? This week I’m joined with Roddy Woomble. Idlewild are about to make their 25th anniversary with a tour and the first vinyl release of their 4th album “Warnings/Promises”. Roddy tells me about his approach to writing lyrics, the metamorphosis this band underwent around the time of “Warnings/Promises”, and what it’s like to be the support act for a huge band.

Also on the show, rising blues guitarist Danny Bryant tells me about his new album “The Rage To Survive”, how you create a unique identity as a guitarist, and whether it’s ever limiting to work within a specific musical form.

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Come on in. This episode I’m joined by the delightful Midge Ure. We had a great conversation encompassing his forthcoming “Voice and Visions” tour, the 3 (three!!!) albums he has in the works, his new photography book “In A Picture Frame”, his radio show for Scala Radio, his friendship Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott, and more. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
 

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I’ve been expecting you. This week The Connells are releasing their first proper new album in 23 years! The record is called “Steadman’s Wake” and it’s a triumphant return. I’m joined by previous guest Mike Connell, along with frontman Doug MacMillan, as they guide us track-by-track through the album. Boy did we have fun. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

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