The Strange Brew - artist stories behind the greatest music ever recorded

Jason Barnard
  • 4.5 (59)
  • Music Interviews
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Rock music from the mid 60s onwards - podcasts, features and much more

  1. 1d ago

    Junior Campbell – the Marmalade Years, Part One

    Junior Campbell was on his paper round when Heartbreak Hotel started playing inside a house, and he stopped to listen. On his fourteenth birthday in 1961, he met the members of a group called the Gaylords. Five years later they were Marmalade. In part one of this two-part conversation, Junior tells the Marmalade story from the start. ‘How I See the Rain’ gave them a chance to record one of their own songs, Jimi Hendrix’s admiration, and why ‘Lovin’ Things’ felt like the only option left. ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ was recorded overnight after a charter flight back from the north of England, and the band wore kilts on Top of the Pops to settle a bet. At Decca he had the independence he had been promised. He wrote the music and chorus of ‘Reflections of My Life’ the day before the first session. The episode ends with ‘Can You Help Me?,’ recorded just before he left and found in the Decca archive in the late 1990s. This is a new edit of a 2022 interview reinstated under the Second Brew series. Further information Junior Campbell – YouTube Junior Campbell Part 1 podcast tracks Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Alan Whitehead (Marmalade), Michael Snow, Steve Ellis (Love Affair), Allan Clarke – Hollies This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Junior Campbell – the Marmalade Years, Part One appeared first on The Strange Brew .

  2. 5d ago

    Johnny Echols of Love: Forever Changes at 60

    An AWOL soldier from Vietnam sat down in Love’s booth at a San Francisco club, placed his gun on the table and told a tale which became ‘A House Is Not a Motel’ for Arthur Lee. Love have reunited ahead of their 60th anniversary tour of Forever Changes in the UK in May 2027. They lived next to Frank Zappa in Laurel Canyon so they wanted to capture the whole decade in one place. It wasn’t all straightforward. Elektra said they couldn’t afford to do a double album. The Wrecking Crew didn’t sound like them and Neil Young turned up in the studio to try and produce them. They still managed to complete most of the album. David Angel did the orchestrations. His trumpet solo on ‘Alone Again Or’ was written as Johnny would play his guitar as a warm-up after lunch. Ken Forssi wrote ‘You Set the Scene’ from three different pieces. The photo on the back cover was irrelevant. Someone knocked over a vase and Arthur picked it up. The rest of the interview starts from the beginning. He played his classmates Harmony Sovereign guitar at Show and Tell. He had a school friend called Billy Preston. He couldn’t get into a gig with James Brown because he was too young. He had a pedal for a distorted bass and a tremolo box which made ‘Seven and Seven Is’ sound completely different. Why they signed to Elektra. How they split after Forever Changes. Why they reunited but it didn’t work. Why the track ‘Revelation’ doesn’t sound as good on the album as it does live. And the tour which will be going around the UK and other parts of mainland Europe. Further information Love With Johnny Echols Forever Changes 60th Anniversary 2027 UK Tour Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Johnny Echols – Love (2018 interview), Jorma Kaukonen – Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, Al Jardine – The Beach Boys, The American Sounds of 1967 This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Johnny Echols of Love: Forever Changes at 60 appeared first on The Strange Brew .

  3. Nov 6

    Colin Moulding

    Around 1989, as Colin Moulding remembers it, David Gilmour invited him down to the studio to play with Pink Floyd ahead of a world tour that would have taken the best part of a year. Colin thanked him and said no. Touring and writing do not mix for him, and he knew XTC had another album in them. That story arrives late. He explains how the title track of his new single Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England) began with a line he said to his granddaughter in the kitchen, and how b-side Something About the Boy came out of his wish to write a Bond theme. From there the conversation goes back through XTC: the Dukes of Stratosphear records with John Leckie, Skylarking with Todd Rundgren, and the packaging deduction that led to the strike. Colin says XTC was past its sell-by date by the time Wasp Star was finished. He also looks back on TC&I with Terry Chambers, which drew a live response so big he lost sleep for weeks, and on the two years he spent watching telly before Billy Sherwood called. He closes with Scatter Me, which he calls a gothic love song, and explains why he would rather release one song at a time than release an album. Further information Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England) Colin Moulding podcast tracks Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: John Leckie on XTC and The Dukes of Stratosphear, Terry Chambers, Colin Moulding, 2018 – Part 1, Colin Moulding, 2018 – Part 2, Dave Mattacks, Billy Sherwood This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Colin Moulding appeared first on The Strange Brew .

  4. Nov 2

    Gerry McAvoy on Rory Gallagher

    Gerry McAvoy thought Rory Gallagher and his brother Donal were just supporting a couple of fellow Irishmen when they came to see Deep Joy play in London. He realised eventually that Rory may have been sizing up him and the drummer as a rhythm section. Gerry was 19 when he joined, and he played with Rory until 1991. He tells Jason Barnard about being called back to the studio at half past one in the morning after a gig, Roger Glover objecting to the band’s beer before sessions on Calling Card, and, in his telling, Rory going back to a three-piece after seeing the Sex Pistols in San Francisco. He also explains why nobody in Band of Friends tries to play Rory’s solos note for note. This is a new edit of a 2022 interview reinstated under the Second Brew series. Further information Band of Friends Gerry McAvoy podcast tracks Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Dónal Gallagher, Jimmy Webb, Martin Barre – Jethro Tull – live in conversation, John Steel on 60 years of The Animals This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Gerry McAvoy on Rory Gallagher appeared first on The Strange Brew .

  5. Oct 30

    Dónal Gallagher on Rory Gallagher

    Dónal Gallagher knew Rory better than anyone, as his brother and a close companion throughout his career. In Edged in Blue: A Rock ’n’ Roll Odyssey with Rory Gallagher, he draws on a lifetime of memories, from their childhood in Ireland and Rory’s years with Taste to his solo career, the night he went to Rotterdam to audition for the Rolling Stones, and the punishing schedule that took its toll on his health. Dónal talks to Jason Barnard about the man behind the guitar, Rory’s career highlights and his place in Irish music and rock history. Further information Edged in Blue: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Odyssey with Rory Gallagher Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Michael Schenker, Pete Briquette – The Boomtown Rats, Steve Howe on Dylan, Hendrix & YES, Marquee: The Story of the World’s Greatest Music Venue This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Dónal Gallagher on Rory Gallagher appeared first on The Strange Brew .

  6. Oct 27

    Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent

    Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent of The Zombies join Jason Barnard ahead of the Begin Here Festival in St. Albans, which starts on Friday 30 October. It will be Rod’s first time playing live in over two years. They also look back at meeting at 15, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame night, how She’s Not There came together, and George Harrison’s verdict on Juke Box Jury. Colin gives details of Continue Here, out on 31 October on Beechwood Park Records, and a fourth archive collection planned to capture the end of The Zombies and beginning of Colin Blunstone and Argent’s music. Further information Begin Here Festival Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Chris White – The Zombies – Inside The Vaults, Hugh Grundy – The Zombies, Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, Russ Ballard This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent appeared first on The Strange Brew .

  7. Oct 23

    Doctor and the Medics

    Doctor and the Medics had one of the unlikeliest number ones of the 1980s thanks in part to an ambulance their record company sent to Radio 1 and then it spent the next forty years refusing to disappear. Jason Barnard talks to frontman Doctor, Reverend Dr. Clive Jackson, about new album The Optimal Mystic and about pretty much everything else: the A&R man who wrecked Andy Partridge’s snare sound on Miracle of the Age, writing lyrics for The Damned, the failed Welsh snail farm, and getting left off Liverpool’s number one list and putting that right. Further information This episode features early mixes of ‘Forever and Ever’ and ‘Dancing In My Hand’ from new album The Optimal Mystic. It is free to mailing-list subscribers via doctorandthemedics.com Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: John Leckie on XTC and The Dukes of Stratosphear, Matt Piucci – Rain Parade, The Vapors, Paul Cook – Sex Pistols This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Doctor and the Medics appeared first on The Strange Brew .

  8. Oct 19

    Homer Flynn – The Residents

    The Residents don’t give interviews, so when they have something to say, Homer Flynn says it for them. He is their art director, their spokesperson and part of the Cryptic Corporation that has looked after them since 1976. Eskimo is currently on the road. The 1979 album, with its invented vocals and wind treated as seriously as music, reaches the stage this autumn with inflatable icebergs, projections and five new songs. Homer tells me how a 20-minute slot at a San Francisco event grew into a full production. He explains why the first costume idea, a giant silver Christmas ornament with a top hat, was talked out of existence by costume makers, and how the eyeball that replaced it became The Residents’ symbol. We also get into the Mole Show and the Emulator sampler, the Freak Show comic and CD-ROM, the 100 archive boxes Hardy Fox kept, and The Lonely Wound, the new Residents album Homer says is in its final stages. Further information The Residents website, Eskimo Live Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Wolfgang Flür – Kraftwerk, Robin Scott – M, Rat Scabies (The Damned) and Chris Constantinou (Adam Ant), Tim Arnold and Kevin Godley This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Homer Flynn – The Residents appeared first on The Strange Brew .

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Rock music from the mid 60s onwards - podcasts, features and much more

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