Four Idle Hands

Echo Machine are back with a new album, "Accidental Euphoria" , the follow up to 2020's Instant Transmissions, is out on Friday 15th March and we catch up with lead singer Gary Moore to talk about the album, touring with Placebo and much more. Also on the pod Aberdeen FC chat, Bucks Fizz, review of Nadine Shah new album. Thanks for listening.

We are back for Episode 53 Don't mention Taylor (we mentioned it once but we think we got away with it). In this episode we cover the first two weekends of the Six Nations, that big sporting event in USA (plus some Taylor chat) . Also gig reviews of Depeche Mode and The 1975, the Glasgow Film Festival and an Irish album special with reviews of Conchur White, The Sprints, New Dad and Problem Pa...

We are back for 2024 and to kick things off we chat to the fantastic Moving Pictures UK who are the UK's premier Rush tribute band. We caught up with them before there second night at the Lemon Tree. They are on tour throughout 2024 so catch them if you can, there show is brilliant with over 2 1/2 hours of Rush Classics, we also review the show. Also reviewed is the recent gig by British Lion,...

This weeks special guest is Stuart Bailie who is a journalist, author and broadcaster based in Northern Ireland. He was the founder and first CEO of the Oh Yeah Centre which is Belfast's dedicated music hub. He has worked as a Freelance writer, reviewer and columnist for the likes of the NME, Mojo, Q, Uncut, Vox, The Times, The Sunday Times, Hot Press, Belfast Telegraph. The reason for our cha...

This is our 50th episode which is fantastic, thanks for listening. A great interview this week with Lloyd Cole who came to Aberdeen as part of his On Pain tour , he was such a gent giving us time at his Hotel. The day extended into the evening when he got in touch asking us to man his merch stall at the event. Catch him on tour if you can. We also round up the Rugby World Cup and Irelands tragic e...

This week we have a fantastic chat with Rick McMurray , drummer with Northern Ireland finest Ash, as they are on the cusp of releasing their 8th studio album "Race The Night". We talk through the album, recording , sleeve design, video, promotional activities, gigs in Omagh and Ricks side project Burned as Witches. The new album is an absolute gem and this chat is the perfect accompanime...

This episode we focus on one topic only, The Rugby World Cup 2023 in France. Our guest to discuss all aspects of the tournament is Rúaidhrí O'Connor, The Irish Independents Chief Rugby Correspondent. Lots of topics covered from the seedings, Owen Farrell, Scotland, Ireland and loads more, enjoy.

This weeks big interview is with Yann Tiersen. Yann is a French musician and composer whose musical career varies from studio recordings, musical collaboration and film soundtracks. His music incorporates a large variety of classical and contemporary instruments, primarily the electric guitar, the piano, synthesisers, and the violin, but he also includes instruments such as the melodica, xylophone...

Not going to Glastonbury? Neither are we, but we have been to Primavera! Primavera expert John Skelton joins us to review this year’s event in Barcelona & Porto and gives us a handy guide to going to the daddy of continental music festivals. If you’re needing a bit of encouragement to take the plunge just listen to this for some tips! Enjoy!

This pod we are glad to speak again to Cold Years as they are about to embark on a load of dates around Europe with Billy Talent, Frank Turner and various festivals around Europe. Also in this episode we lay bare the facts about the consumption of Potatoes around Europe, Title deciders , Roger Waters, Reviews of Dead Kennedys live and albums from the National and Def Leppard. Thanks for listening.

This week we have one topic only - Record Store Day 2023 which is on Saturday 22nd April. We will be at Chameleon Records in Holburn HiFi so we run through the "rules of the day" and then delve into the huge volume of tiles released on the day. Enjoy and hope you get what you are after!.

This week we talk too Derrick Thomson who is working with the our Union Street organisation who are a community led organisation, chaired by Bob Keiller, whose mission is to re-energise the Granite Mile and bring business and people back to the heart of our City. They are looking for volunteers and your ideas to restore Union Street back to the vibrant hub it once was. You can volunteer via the we...

This episode we have a fantastic guest, friend of the show Aberdeen's Bob Munro. Bob has just finished a world tour as Guitar Tech working for Rina Sawayama on her Hold the Girl tour. Over the course of the last year Bob has travelled from the UK to Europe, The USA, Australia, New Zealand and onto Japan working with Rinas guitarist Emily Rosenfield. And a highlight of this was that over the Os...

The centerpiece of this weeks episode is a chat with ex Scotland Rugby International Chris Cusiter. Hailing from Aberdeen Chris has 70 Scotland caps and was part of the Lions touring team for New Zealand in 2005. After a club career that included spells with Glasgow Warriors, Perpignan and Sale Sharks Chris then headed off to California with his family to start a Whiskey retail business.  He...

So not only is this our 40th episode we have also reached our 3rd anniversary of the Four Idle Hands Pod. The Boys are solo this week with a packed episode where we discuss the musical anniversaries of Def Leppard Pyromania (40), Kate Bush The Kick Inside (45), Sport chat with the Six Nations kicking off and City heading to League two :-). We also tear into Songs of Surrender the "new" project fro...

This episode we talk to genuine rock legends ANVIL before there show in Bournemouth (in a venue called the Anvil !). We chat to Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner about everything from early shows at Donnington, Movie Success and the new album "Impact is Imminent" . These guys really have stood the test of time since there debut album in 1981.  Also on our Halloween show we talk about the Ho...

We have Steven Milne back on this week to talk about the new Little Kicks album "People Need Love" which is out now, and damn good it is too.  Also in this episode is a review of  the True North Festival and George Ezra at the P&J Live. In the news section we have Truss/Kwarteng banter, Gas pipeline sabotage and Roger Waters first farewell tour chat, enjoy

Good to be back after a Summer Break.  In this episode we have a feature interview with Steven Milne of Aberdeen Performing Arts all about the return of the True North festival which kicks off in Aberdeen on 22nd September.  In addition we have chat on the latest news on new PM, The Queen, Four Idles various trips to Europe for some gigs, the return of Bloodlands on BBC, Prequal series H...

What an episode we have for you with not one but two guests. First up we have Alan Stevens aka "The Media Coach" who is on to review the Abba voyage show at the Abba arena in London's Olympic park. Alan was one of the first to experience the Abbatars in concert and we discuss if this is the future of live gigs.  Our second guest is Stuart Charleton who came on to review the new Kendrick Lamar...

This episodes centerpiece is an interview with Monte A Melnick who was the Tour Manager for The Ramones for over 2200 shows from 1974 to 1996. Its a fascinating chat with Monte about his early days playing in bands with Tommy in NYC, his work as Tour Manager for the Ramones and much more.  He has documented this journey in his Book "On the Road with The Ramones which you can find on Amazon. A...

This week we have a fantastic interview with Graeme Thomson about his new history of Simple Minds " Themes For Great Cities". As Ian Rankin has said "This book is a a deep and thrilling dive into some of the greatest musical minds to have come out of Scotland in modern times"  It tracks Simple Minds from their earliest days in the pubs and clubs of Glasgow to having the world at their feet in...

We are back this week with an interview with Pierce Turner. Pierce is an Irish singer songwriter currently based in New York. His new album "Terrible Good" is available now on Storysound records.  Turner’s description of Terrible Good ,  is crystal clear. “It is my first real electric guitar album,” he says, adding “it’s an album with a New York edge.” Electric guitars definitely are cen...

The Four Idle hands podcast is 2 years old this week, we have had loads of great guests on over the last 2 years and this week is no different. This week we talk to Benjamin Francis Leftwhich about his new album To Carry A Whale about going back on tour after a long break. We also have our usual blether on the weeks news, review of new single from Aberdeen's Katie Mackie and the Greatest Hits comp...

On the eve of the Six Nations this week we talk to Irish rugby legend Willie Anderson about his new book "Crossing the Line" which was covers his both his Rugby career and Personal life. The Irish Times called it a "raw, uncompromising, sometimes brutal and always passionate; a perfect distillation of Anderson the player and Anderson the man". Willie played 27 times for Ireland between 1984 and 19...

This week we are joined by Rick McMurray , drummer with Northern Ireland band Ash. Rick was a great guest and we covered a wide range of topics from the early days in Downpatrick, playing at the Good Friday agreement gig all the way up to drumming at home in lockdown.  Also on this weeks episode we cover some odd news stories from Ireland, Space X impending collision with the moon, the sad pa...