Sending Signals

The past 3 decades have brought their share of ups and downs for Feeder. They’ve enjoyed 11 top ten albums, and various hit singles, but had to weather the tragic loss of drummer Jon Lee in January 2…

Steve Rothery is a founding member of one of my all time favourite bands, Marillion.

Despite various personnel changes in the early years of the band, Marillion have maintained a stable line-up for t…

This summer sees the release of an expanded edition of Richard Hawley’s breakthrough masterpiece “Coles Corner” with an accompanying tour. Richard joins me for an epic chat about the making the recor…

On February 27th 2023 Ben Kweller received the worst phone call imaginable. His 16 year old son Dorian had died in a car accident. An oncoming truck had veered into Dorian’s lane and a downed tree ha…

Tom Sheehan was born in Camberwell, South London. He was an in-house photographer for CBS Records in the 70s, and went on to be the chief photographer for Melody Maker. He enjoyed long-term working r…

Nels Cline was born in California in January 1956. He started played guitar at the age of 12 and his early career is fairly jazz-based, before stretching into other directions.

He has played guitar f…

Wolfgang Flür was born in Frankfurt in 1947 but moved to Düsseldorf in the early ‘50s, which has been home ever since. As a young man he played in the band The Sprits Of Sound, and studied to be an a…

Wendy James is tied up with some of my earlier memories of music. She fronted the band Transvision Vamp, who were hard to ignore in the late 80s. Songs like “I Want Your Love” and “Baby I Don’t Care”…

Pat Arnold has had quite a life. Born in 1946 she grew up in LA, and was in an abusive marriage with two kids while still a teenager. In 1965 she got a chance to audition for Ike and Tina Turner’s ba…

Nadia Reid is a singer-songwriter born and raised in New Zealand, before recently relocating to Manchester. She’s just released her fourth album “Enter Now Brightness”. We take a deep dive into the a…

You know how every now and then, an album comes along that just gets into your bones, and it’s hard to describe just how grateful you are it exists? (If you don’t know that feeling, I’m sorry, but ke…

I first heard The National 17 years ago this month I think, and I fell in love instantly. They’ve continued to be one of my favourite bands, and it’s been great to see them ascend to new heights of p…

It’s a busy one. My guests this episode are Sunderland’s David and Peter Brewis, known collectively as Field Music, and Walter Schreifels of New York post-hardcore rockers Rival Schools.

You may reme…

So, actually quite a personal episode for me this week. When I was 16 years old I started a media GNVQ at a local college, and during the first year there was a week allocated for work experience, so…

Phil Manzanera has had a remarkable life. Best known as the lead guitarist in Roxy Music, he’s also worked as a writer, producer and/or performer with the likes of David Gilmour, Steve Winwood, Nico,…

Released on the 9th June 1978, “Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds” went on to sell an estimated 15 million copies. As you likely know, the album features an adaptation of H.G. Wel…

The last time Genesis keyboard player extraordinaire Tony Banks came on the show was a few years ago, and we discussed a box set of his solo albums. Since then there has been a final Genesis tour, “T…

Gemma Hayes is a singer-songwriter from Ireland, and after a 10 year gap she is about to release her 7th album “Blind Faith” and, spoiler alert, it’s really, really good.

We discuss the album’s long …

Steve Howe is a guitarist best known for his work with Yes, who of course are a cornerstone of progressive rock. The albums “Close To The Edge”, “Fragile”, and “The Yes Album” are essential listening…

What to say about REM? It might actually be hard for teenagers today, or even 20-somethings, to appreciate how big R.E.M. were in the 90s. For a while, even when they were reinventing themselves, or …