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The one where chatted with Hannah, but failed to offer her a brew or a toasted teacake. Talk about packing a lot into the last decade or so. Hannah started her journey as a singer-songwriter trying to build an audience through busking in the centre of her hometown of Leeds. This is where we pick up the story and then follow it through early attempts at content creation, going viral and working out...

The one where Ant & Alister banged on about Marillion. Actually not just Marillion, they got quite excited about Richard Hawley as well. Despite his youthful Clooney-esque (his description) good looks, Alister has been building guitars for well over 25 years. Known mostly for acoustic instruments he pioneered models with aged finishes and has built guitars for a who's who of artists including...

The one where Jason took one for the team and headed to Wales to record a 9-42 face to face. Rob Williams is guitar repairer & luthier who like to do everything by hand. From an early age he became fascinated with dismantling all manner of stuff to understand how things are designed, and more importantly how they can be improved. Rob explains how this fascination translated to guitars and the...

You might recall we chatted to Bernard back at the beginning of August, but we weren't able to bring you the whole conversation due to fact that he talked about an upcoming event that turned out to be under a press embargo. Well, Bernard has been back in touch to let us know we are now good to publish the entire conversation, and as such we decided to get it to you as soon as possible. The first p...

The one where we hooked up with the Head Tabby himself. There was a lot to pack into Episode 43 as the back story to Feline Guitars is quite an epic, fortunately, Jonathan (who runs Feline) is a seasoned pro and he took us through the journey with the kind of assuredness you want from somebody who is about to administer a fret dress to your pride and joy. The story takes in YOP schemes, furniture...

The one where we get an insight into the back-story of one of the oldest Musical Instrument brands in the UK. Rotosound was founded in the late fifties by James How, in this episode we talk to his son (and current Chairman) Jason How about the slightly unusual journey that led his dad to start making strings, and in turn to John Entwistle of the Who knocking on the factory door. It's a fascinating...

The one where we talked sci-fi with Matt Oram of Fidelity Guitars. You may not have heard of Fidelity Guitars, and you can be forgiven for that because they haven't been around for all that long. But they are some of the most individual, & breath-taking designs we have ever seen. So it was great when Matt agreed to come on the podcast and take us through the story so far. And of course, as the...

The one where we talked football and music with Bernard Butler. Bernard is a musician, songwriter and record producer. He came to prominence as the guitarist & co-writer of the mercury award-winning band Suede. He left Suede in 1994, working with David McAlmont before releasing the critically acclaimed solo album People Move On. Since then he has worked on a plethora of projects & collabor...

The one where Chris dropped in and helped us out of a jam. It would be easy to be a little bit envious of Chris. Possibly because his youthful looks means he regularly gets ID-checked even though he has just turned thirty, but mainly because (like many of us) he decided at an early age that he just wanted to be a musician and then he only went and bloody did it. We talked about his YouTube channel...

The one where we tried to keep up with Kyle Gass. And in all honesty, I don't think we managed it. You may not be familiar with Kyle, but you will have heard of one of his projects, the mighty power-duo Tenacious D that he fronts with creative partner Jack Black. Kyle is a bit of an enigma, he is an accomplished actor, comic and musician and has been involved in numerous projects so when we got th...

The one where Jason nattered to Chris, whilst Ant went out for Tapas. Of course that hadn't been the plan, but what with one thing (Ants birthdays having been during lockdown) and another (Chris leaving his mobile upstairs) it was left to Jason to pose the questions. And what an entertaining & informative chat it turned out to be. So settle down we a family size bag of potato-based snacks and...

The one where we chatted to Ginger, his manager Jane & his dog Maggie. Ginger is a guitarist, singer and songwriter and boy has he packed a lot into his musical career. He is perhaps best known for his work with The Wildhearts, but he has been involved in a plethora of other projects and is prodigious in musical output. We started off talking about his new band, Ginger & the Sinners before...

The one where we chatted to Neil Ivison, because Neil is Ivison Guitars. It starts with Status Quo, and that is about as good a place to start as any. Neil guides us through his early career as a Guitar Tech, a journey that took him from one end of the rock'n'roll hierarchy to the other. But when home-life beckoned it was the purchase of his dream guitar that would be the unlikely catalyst to a ne...

The one where we talk about hand-crafted guitars from China. You could be forgiven for thinking that was a typing error, but its not and Eastman is a unique brand producing hand-crafted instruments in its workshop in China. We have a enlightening chat with Pepijn t'Hart, about his journey leading the Mandolin & Guitar division, the ethos of the company and what lies ahead for the brand. And in...

The one where we talk to Doug Sparkes of Auden Guitars It’s been quite a ride for Doug, not only is he the driving force behind Auden Guitars, but he has also taken ownership of another classic UK guitar brand in Gordon Smith. We had a great chat with Doug, as he took us through his guitar backstory and the clear ethos that underpins both of these cherished brands. Episode 33 Playlist Auden Websit...

The one where we talked football & rockabilly with Darrel Higham. It's a bit difficult to know where to start when describing Darrel. As a guitarist he has played in numerous bands, with the likes of Shakin’ Stevens & Imelda May. Worked on sessions for artists such as Chrissie Hynde & Robert Plant and appeared in the West End (and on tour) playing Eddie Cochran. He is a Gretsch endorse...

The one where Jason chatted to Paul Stanley. Yes, you did read that correctly, the Paul Stanley. Being a lifelong Kiss fan you can only imagine what it's been like since the possibility of talking to Paul was first mooted. Bless him, Jason did his best not to sound too much of a fanboy, and asked Paul about his new band Soul Station. The project explores Pauls love of R'n'B and Soul music and the...

The one where we stayed up late. to talk to Misha, stateside. It's also the one that could have gone on for hours as we had a whale of a time verbally-riffing with the Periphery guitarist about all manner of stuff, including Cricket, QAnon & Top Gear. We do find time to talk about Signature Guitars, working with Tim @ Bareknuckle Pickups and the less than fun parts of recording a Solo record....

The one where we got up early to talk to Tim Mills of Bare Knuckle Pickups. Now we could easily have chatted to Tim about his back story as a Session Player and his ten years (plus) as part of the Elkie Brooks band. But that (as they say) was just the start of it. When the time came to leave the touring life behind, Tim spotted an opportunity to revolutionise the way Pickups were designed, markete...

The one where we zoomed with Aziz Ibrahim. Talk about a career that's impossible to pigeon-hole. Aziz is a genuine one-off, not only because of the way he plays but also because of the variety of genres he has worked within over the last thirty-odd years. Every chapter of his story reveals another twist, another artist or band he has played with, or another landmark album he has played on. And yet...

The one where Jason tried not embarrass himself in front of one of his heroes. Bruce Kulick has had one hell of a musical career. For many he is best known as the lead guitarist in Kiss in the non make-up years of the eighties & nineties, but that is just a chapter of the story. Prior to joining Kiss he had toured with Meatloaf, BlackJack & Michael Bolton amongst others and since 2000 he h...

The one that got cancelled because of Covid... But that wasn't going to keep a good man down, and we finally got to have a catch-up with Joel in the first week of December. Now you might be thinking 'who the hell is Joel McIver?' but there is a very good chance you have read numerous things he has written, because prolific doesn't seem enough to describe his output. Take your pick from books on ar...

The second half of our conversation with the former Little Angel. We kind of picked up where we left out and talked about the future of music education, before getting onto the changes in the way that bands now fund music production & generate income. Oh, and then we talked about guitars for a bit. Episode 24 Playlist 9-42 Instagram 9-42 Twitter 9-42 Facebook 9-42 Youtube 9-42 Website ashortst...

The one where we talked to a former angel. Bruces career began as the guitarist in rock band Little Angels. Through the late 80’s and early 90’s, Little Angels achieved 11 top forty hit singles and 4 Top 20 albums – including a #1 with 1993’s much acclaimed ‘Jam’. Little Angels toured across the globe with Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Bryan Adams, ZZ Top and&n...

The one where we have a chinwag with Ross Bailey. Ross Bailey is a session guitarist and product demonstrator, and has worked in and around the music industry for the last 25 years. Over that time he has worked in retail, for the likes of Academy of Sound & Sound Control as well as for brands such as Line 6, Peavey & Yamaha. We take a meander through some of the highlights, including his i...