Oh! Brother

This week on Oh! Brother, we were delighted to welcome musician and filmmaker Charlotte Bill to the show. Charlotte talks us through meeting Una Baines, playing flute and oboe on The Fall’s Extricate, and joining the band on stage at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. We also chat experimental music and filmmaking, touring with Nocturnal Emissions, London’s squat communities, the right to roam and her...

Music writer, consultant and friend of the show Daryl Easlea sits down with Paul and Steve to explain how a request for 500 words on a budget CD launched his sleevenotes career. His first subjects were Sergio Mendes and the exclamation-mark incarnation of Ultravox!, which is a respectable range by anybody’s standards. From his arrival at Record Collector to his enduring love of The Fall, Daryl ref...

Recorded live at Futures and Pasts, this special episode of Oh! Brother sees Paul and Steve joined on stage by the Poet Laureate himself, Simon Armitage. Simon looks back on discovering The Fall as a teenager, his early gigs, and what it is about Mark E. Smith's lyrics that has captivated so many writers. There's talk of poetry, songwriting and life as Poet Laureate, a few brief encounters...

This week Paul and Steve welcome Liverpool musician Barry Sutton, former Fall roadie and founder of Beatnik Hurricane. Barry recalls hearing Slates at 15, abandoning prog on the spot and beginning his long association with The Fall. He also covers the drum stands he may or may not have set up, his expulsion from school and his family's habit of setting off fire alarms. Paul and Steve also ask...

This week on Oh! Brother, we were thrilled to welcome Manchester music legend and Mercury Prize-winner Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) to the show. Damon talks us through his early days as a tape-op at Square One Studios in Bury, his years at print works and music college, and how hearing Springsteen and The Stranglers sparked his obsession with sound. We also hear the full story of how Mark E. Smit...

This week on Oh! Brother, we welcome BC Camplight — aka Brian Christinzio. Brian discusses discovering the piano as a child, beginning his career in Philadelphia and finding a new home in Manchester. He also recalls his unusual introduction to The Fall, reflects on his approach to recording and production, and prepares to reinterpret songs covered by the band for Futures and Pasts. Hope you enjoy!

This week on  Oh! Brother , we were delighted to welcome drummer and academic Kate Themen to the show. Kate talks us through being recruited by Julia Nagle to play three shows with The Fall in April 1998, rehearsing the material at short notice, and joining Mark E. Smith and Julia on stage at Dingwalls and Reading — where the unpredictable performances included a brief appearance from dancer Micha...

This week on Oh! Brother, we were delighted to welcome Rob Barbato to the show. Rob talks us through joining The Fall at short notice in 2006, learning the set on the fly, touring America, recording with Mark E. Smith in Los Angeles, and coming to Manchester for The Fall’s 30th-anniversary show at New Century Hall in 2006. We also chat about the creative freedom and unpredictability of working wit...

This week on Oh! Brother, we were delighted to welcome Erwin Blom to the show. Erwin takes us back to the late-70s Dutch punk scene and the formation of Eton Crop, talks about touring Holland and England, recording five Peel Sessions, and supporting The Fall — including memories of Amsterdam’s Paradiso, freezing nights in the van, and seeing Mark E. Smith halt The Fall mid-set. We also chat about...

This week on Oh! Brother, we were delighted to welcome Steve Diggle for a live episode covering his early life, the formation of Buzzcocks, and the first rush of punk in Manchester. We look back on 60s music, dead-end jobs, the Lesser Free Trade Hall, Spiral Scratch, Howard Devoto’s exit, and writing songs with Pete Shelley. Later on, audience questions bring in Manchester venues, B-sides, fashion...

This week, Tommy Crooks joins us to talk art school, painting, Provence, East Lothian, and the chance meeting with Mark E. Smith on Leith Walk that led, somehow, to The Fall. Along the way, we get into first hearing “Totally Wired”, Craig Scanlon’s exit, Lucy Rimmer’s letter, Brix’s last gig in Motherwell, rehearsals in Levenshulme, Jilly’s, Cardiff with Super Furry Animals, recording Levitate, th...

Joining us this week, the inimitable Jon Spencer. Jon talks us through Pussy Galore, Blues Explosion, Heavy Trash, working with Steve Albini, US punk networks, record shops, and his current band. We also get onto The Fall, Jon supporting them on the 1993 US tour, infamous gigs in Philadelphia, Reading and Connecticut, Brix, Mark E. Smith, Elena, bass amps, rockabilly, the Brix-era records, and imi...

This week on Oh! Brother, we’re joined by Paul Research of Scars. Paul talks Edinburgh punk, Fast Product, Horrorshow, touring with The Human League, and the making of Author! Author! There’s Fall chat too: Live at the Witch Trials, meeting Mark E. Smith and Kay Carroll, Martin Bramah’s guitar, and Marc Riley’s long-standing support for Scars. Hope you enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

This week on Oh! Brother, Paul and Steve are joined by Brian Turner. Brian talks about discovering The Fall in small-town Pennsylvania, catching the band live in the US, and how that fascination grew into radio specials, archive digging and sleeve-note work. There’s also chat about WFMU, East Village Radio, Yoko Ono, Eleni Poulou, Marc Riley, and the strange world of Fall live recordings and reiss...

Joining us this week on Oh! Brother, Manc music scribe Mick Middles. We dig into the DIY fanzine boom—spilling ink on buses, dodging bricks from Teds at the Electric Circus, writing for Sounds. Also: touring NY with New Order, plus writing books on Frank Sidebottom and Les Dawson, as well as writing with Mark, of course. Hope you enjoy! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Oh! Brother, we were delighted to present a live episode with Simon Wolstencroft, with Craig Scanlon joining later on, for a spirited look back at The Fall in 1994. Simon and the Hanleys revisit Middle Class Revolt, Peel sessions, a US tour, shifting line-ups, Brix’ return, Julia Nagle’s arrival, and the usual road-bound chaos. Later, Craig joins the conversation for audience question...

This week on Oh! Brother, we’re joined by David Gedge. David talks about growing up in Manchester, forming The Wedding Present in Leeds, John Peel’s early support, the band’s rise through the indie scene, the famous run of monthly singles, and working with Steve Albini. There’s plenty of Fall chat too, including first hearing Live at the Witch Trials, seeing the band in 1979, meeting Mark E. Smith...

This week on Oh! Brother, we were chuffed to have the one and only Spider Stacy on the pod. Spider takes us right back to the pre‑Pogues days (the New Bastards, Millwall Chainsaws, Burton Street squats), the Ramones at the Roundhouse encounter with Shane, and how those first “Irish rebel songs” gigs snowballed from Cabaret Futura to suddenly packed rooms. We also get into The Nips, Elvis Costello...

This week on Oh! Brother, we're delighted to welcome comedian and podcaster Adam Buxton. Adam discusses discovering The Fall as a student in the early 1990s, his memorable encounter with Mark E. Smith for television, and his reflections on that experience years later. We also chat about his career in radio, his long-running podcast, and his recent conversation with David Byrne. Hope you enjoy! Hos...

This week on Oh! Brother, we were delighted to welcome author, screenwriter and critic Nicholas Blincoe to the show. Nicholas talks us through discovering The Fall via Dragnet as a teenager in Rochdale, his early days in post-punk bands, and how a Factory Records hip-hop project with Greg Keeffe from Big Flame briefly put him on the other side of the microphone. We also chat about his novels shape...

This week on Oh! Brother, we were delighted to welcome producer and On‑U Sound founder Adrian Sherwood to the show. Adrian talks us through first meeting Mark E. Smith in Rough Trade, working with The Fall on Slates and later Extricate, and the studio tricks (and “anti‑production” ethos) that shaped those records. We also chat Prince Far I, John Peel, Tackhead and Lee “Scratch” Perry and hear abou...

This week on Oh! Brother, we were delighted to welcome actor, director and horror fan Dominic Brunt to the show. Best known as Paddy from Emmerdale, Dominic talks us through discovering The Fall via Mr Pharmacist, seeing them dozens of times over the years, and narrowly missing out on a couple of infamous gigs. We also chat welding and drama school, life on a long‑running soap, making low‑budget h...

This week on Oh! Brother, we were delighted to welcome Mark Reeder to the show. The Berlin-based producer talks us through his journey from Manchester to Berlin, putting on illegal gigs in the GDR, smuggling East German uniforms back to the West, and his encounters with The Fall along the way. We also discuss life behind the Wall, the collision of post‑punk and electronic music, and how those year...

This week on Oh! Brother, we are delighted to welcome Ian Broudie to the show. The Lightning Seeds frontman and renowned producer talks us through his early days in Big in Japan, his production work with the Bunnymen, The Coral, The Zutons and The Fall, and the unexpected path that led to one of the nation’s favourite football songs. Hope you enjoy! Follow us below: • Twitter: https://x.com/OhBrot...

Welcome back to Oh! Brother. This week we are delighted to be joined by the brilliant Paul Simpson - Liverpool legend, founder of The Wild Swans and original member of The Teardrop Explodes. From formative nights at Eric’s and early encounters with The Fall, to coming up with one of post-punk’s most poetic band names and introducing Julian Cope to Scott Walker. We chat about post‑punk tribes, unex...