I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee

The Butthole Surfers didn't play the UK that often back in the day. And when they did, I missed them: damn that shit English Pennine weather! One of life's regrettable moments. So, 35 years later, the Butthole healing process continues and I finally get to talk to the legendary Pinkus from his home near Asheville, NC. And what a great chat we had and I'm pleased to report that I&apo...

Steve Hillage is one of music’s greats - a great musician, a great innovator, a great free thinker and great experimenter whose achievements and career is just one whole wall of inspiration for doing the things that excite you and on your own terms. It's a terrific conversation, talking about how family circumstances dictated that he spend a lot of his early childhood in his own company, the...

As I'm writing these show notes, I'm listening to The Minutemen's History Lesson Part 2 which opens with this wonderful line: "Our band could be your life". For me, this succinctly captures what Mike Watt is about and what music is about…... One day, way back when, a 13 year-old D. Boon jumped out of a tree and landed in front of Mike Watt. Looking him in the eye, he said...

The powerful precision, swing, rhythmic and melodic inventiveness of Sam Fogarino, drummer with the mighty Interpol , sets him apart from most drummers.  I feel truly privileged to have been able to talk to Sam ahead of Interpol's show at Primavera Barcelona and ahead of the release of Interpol's 7th studio album since the seminal Turn On The Bright Lights, called The Other Side of Make-...

Sub Pop Records is still the most totemic symbol of alternative music, 35 years after it was first formed by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle.  It’s roster over the years is like being a kid in a sweet shop – Mudhoney, Dwarves, Hole, J Mascis, Sleater-Kinney, The Mary Chain, Moor Mother, The Vaselines…..oh, and a band that never quite made it…..I think they were called Nirvana. I don&a...

Everybody should listen to Ron Gallo , not just because his music is so bloody exciting, eclectic and innovative, but also because his emotional intelligence is through the roof. As Ron has said himself, searching to find out who you truly are can mean some beautiful moments, but also some terribly dark moments. I love the fact that he sees the difficult stuff as opportunities and that feelings an...

Punk’s blast might have faded but its impact didn't. By 1978, a new guard was taking over, one that was meshing together exciting sounds and influences and creating exhilarating music for the open minded, for the outsiders and for the curious. The Bush Tetras have taken their own place in history and it's kinda fitting that they formed and created their art in NYC. They sounded and looke...

Hurricane G is the amazing singer of a band that is in this exciting renegade maelstrom that is happening in Austin, Texas. Böndbreakr are crossing over musical influences and styles bringing together punk rock, metal, thrash, hardcore with a dash of psychedelia and a lot of commentary that addresses the pain and grief that that society inflicts on marginalised communities, in particular on the li...

Two of my favourite things about this podcast:  1.     I get to meet some amazing artists, sometimes by design, sometimes by chance and really understand what makes them who they are 2.     I get to see how these artists have evolved over the years. Kid Moxie has been releasing music since around 2008 and her musical evolution is fascinating.  From the sweeter pop of her debut Selector, thru to 20...

By day, Sam Grant is responsible for producing some of the most intense, bone crunching yet life affirming riffs for Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs . Also by day (and probably also by night sometimes), he’s an artist and a producer who has built Blank Studios , a top recording facility in the North East of England. Talking about these kind of side hustles and projects is a big thing on I Wanna...

One positive thing that I’ve taken away from the past two years is how big a role music plays in creating strong human connections. And there’s not just the music, but the touring is especially important for just that physical connection. Artists meeting fans, fans meeting artists. Like-minded people brought together by the music, by what they have to say through that music. Common, strong bonds....

This episode with one of my fave humans is way overdue. Not only has Cammy Phillips got a fantastic outlook on life, she's an example for many of us who have faced the dilemma of trusting your instinct and taking a leap of faith: she acted on that wtf moment to make the transition from a part-time into a full-time musician. It's all there: taking a calculated risk, being confident and ha...

This is the sort of conversation that I love.  It's really beautiful to talk to Keith about how life has shaped who he is - the philosophy of being free from society's contract of who we are, freedom from the notion of "Me", being free to believe that everything is life, that it's OK to not really understand where we are going and how music has the power to unite us if we...

Zach Cooper and Vic Dimotsis are King Garbage and they are making the soundtrack to a perfect night out well, mine anyway. Imagine a deserted city at 2am where Robert de Niro’s taxi drops you off at a door marked only by a single red light, you knock to get in, take the stairs down in a small basement where a group of friends are playing their impromptu improvised tunes, doffing their caps to Amer...

This is a deeply personal, honest and totally compelling story of identity, life and death, how we define success and having the courage to do what's right for yourself.  Looking back at a musician’s back catalogue is endlessly fascinating – well, for me it is! I like seeing the evolution – in style, tempo, lyrics, art. It makes me think about what was going on in their life to influence them...

I have a feeling that this year is going to be when you hear much, much more from Lemondaze .  Their latest EP Celestial Bodies is a kinda very apt description for their sound which is this intense reverbed, shimmering, thundering, psychedelic, spacey rock that’s got a bit of MBV, Slowdive, Mogwai and a twist of Savages. Isis de Chastelain is Lemondaze's singer and geetarist and we had such a...

Jordan Czamanski has been firmly producing music from the leftfield of electronica for over 20 years with collaborations as Juju and Jordash, Mountain High & many others. Part jazz, part acid, part ambient, part psychedelic, part intergalactic, part deep house, wholly experimental and wholly avant-garde which all goes to show that thankfully I have no idea how to label his music. He's a t...

This is a fabulous convo, digging into the importance of teaching and learning emotional intelligence from a young age to improve our lives and heal society, and talking about Sarah's relationships with their parents,  childhood experiences, self awareness, identity, empathy, and their life as a single parent, activist, musician and awesome human. Sarah formed their current band, Sarah Shook...

I first heard Emma Lee MC's own brand of hip hop just a few months ago and was blown away with her dynamic blend of poetry, emotionally intelligent, positional rhymes and minimalist beats. Old skool, yet futuristic hip hop. Right up my street. Wow, I enjoyed this episode so much. Just sit back and listen to the wisdom, empathy, warmth, humour and self awareness of such a wonderful human. Born...

Last year, EERA (Anna Lena Bruland), released her fabulous latest record, Speak….in her own words "a search for a balance in life, acknowledging myself, and being proud of who I am. To become braver and more confident, and stop questioning so much. Accept and move on instead. This album is more who I am.” In this episode, we talk about the emotions of looking back at, and performing, earlier...

Carol Hodge exemplifies what punk rock really means - empathy, self awareness, respect, humour, uniqueness, tolerance and understanding. This is a brilliant convo. I thoroughly enjoyed being enlightened with Carol's world view and experiences. There's something for everyone in here, especially those who have battled with life - that's pretty much all of us, right? To quote Carol: “A...

Calling all introverts with a passion and aspiration to create - this is for you. James Chapman is the creative wizard that is MAPS . He is producing some stunning, ambitious, symphonic soundscapes, inspired by melody and emotion and supported by his knowledge of and training in classical. It really is very powerful.  He’s also opened himself up to the worlds of remixes and reworks of artists such...

Ian Devaney is the lead singer of Nation of Language , the wonderful Brooklyn trio who are creating a modern day synth wave infused with 70’s and ‘80’s scapes. Their songs speak of personal experiences, vulnerability and humility. One thing that resonated with me before even speaking to Ian was their collective and individual resilience of mind to get through an incredibly uncertain music landscap...

Wow. Gordon Raphael! You're probably most familiar with Gordon through his work producing two timeless and hugely influential records in 2001 and 2003 for a band who re-captured the rock n roll romance and mythology - or is that reality?  - of New York City….. …..they are, of course, The Strokes. He’s also a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and performer who has released an amount of music t...

Agustina Ruiz plays keys in the magnificently retro slash futuristic, surfy, psychedelic cumbia band Los Bitchos .  Their debut album Let The Festivities Begin has just come out and a UK and Euro tour starts on 15th February 2022. Their music is a gloriously frenzied kaleidoscope of rhythms, percussion, guitars, synths and the wonderfully evocative keytar.  And no vocals. Agustina was doing some f...