In The Spotlight: Interviews

For the latest episode of In The Spotlight podcast, Bill Cummings is joined by Darren Hayman ( Hefner / New Starts / The French ). This week he starts a series of re-issues and releases with ‘The Violence’ (Expanded Edition) . They talk about the reissue o f The Violence and the parallels you can draw between 17th-century English Civil Wars and the East Anglian Witch Trials  and how it's still rel...

For the latest episode of In The Spotlight podcast, Bill Cummings is joined by music critic and journalist Mayer Nissim ( Digital Spy, Gold Radio, NME.com ), author of a career-spanning new biography Joy Division and New Order: Album by Album. They talk about their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination (their inclusion was confirmed this week), the formative years of Joy Division , the portrayal o...

  For the latest In The Spotlight podcast, Bill Cummings is joined by emerging artist Eaves Wilder , who releases her debut album Little Miss Sunshine on 17th April via Secretly Canadian. They talk about her songwriting, the new album, her recent single 'Hurricane Girl' , naturalistic imagery to express inner turmoil and the inspiration of grunge and Pearl Jam . As well as anxiety, ADHD and the tr...

For the latest In The Spotlight podcast, Bill Cummings is joined by Juanita Stein of Howling Bells , who release Strange Life, their first album in 12 years via Nude Records on the 13th of February. Stein talks about their new album and their new singles 'Unbroken' and 'Melbourne' . She also reflects on recording their "spiky" debut album in Liverpool with Ken Nelson, the very male music scene of...

For the latest episode of In The Spotlight, Bill Cummings is joined by Laura-Mary Carter, best known as one half of Blood Red Shoes . She recently released her debut solo album Bye Bye Jackie.    They talk about her first solo record, the personal experiences that inspired it, and the shift in sound for her solo work, including the influence of 50s rock n roll, country and vintage sounds, and the...

For the latest In the Spotlight podcast, Bill Cummings is joined by Gruffydd Owen : who is the owner and label manager at Libertino. They discuss Swigod, the new compilation celebrating a decade of Libertino, the founding of the label, and the key compilations, including releases on Ankst that shaped Gruff's formative music taste. Listen below. They also talk the ethos behind the label partly insp...

On the 17th of July 2025 at Cardiff Library and Hub there was a Open Space panel: featuring Author Neil Collins, writer and podcaster Bill Cummings editor of God Is In The TV Zine and hosted by Cardiff libraries Gordon Anderson. They discussed Neil's book, "International Velvet: How Wales Conquered the '90s Charts," which explores that era of Welsh music and what led up to it, as well as its lasti...

For the eighth episode of In The Spotlight, Bill Cummings is joined by Kaptin Barrett at a local cafe to talk about Hip Hop: A Welsh Story, a new exhibition he is a co-ordinator on.  It celebrates the evolution of the genre and art form in Wales, it launches on the 17th of July at the Museum of Wales in Cardiff find out more here. A promoter and DJ of over 20 years, Kaptin was Head of Music at Boo...

For the seventh episode of In The Spotlight Bill Cummings is joined by music journalist and author Liam Inscoe-Jones , he is a music and fiction writer who has written for The FADER, Crack, Clash, Rolling Stone, The Quietus and Line of Best Fit, and has appeared on BBC Radio 6.  His debut short story 'You Have Been Notified' was published in 2021. They discuss indepth his new book Songs in the Key...

For episode six of In The Spotlight , a new podcast where Bill Cummings gets to know the work of artists, figures and authors, Bill is joined by multi talented Welsh superstar Aleighcia Scott. They talk her first Welsh single 'Dod o’r Galon' – which recently made history as the first Welsh-language reggae song to reach number one on the iTunes Reggae Chart. Plus, her burgeoning broadcasting career...

For the latest episode of In The Spotlight, Bill Cummings is joined by Dylan Murphy Irish music journalist and presenter of a new podcast produced in association with The Tenth Man called I Was There .   It   tells the stories of iconic gigs in Ireland through the voices of the people who were there—journalists, photographers, promoters, and more.  The first episode  dives into Bob Marley's 1980 D...

For the latest episode of In the Spotlight podcast, Bill Cummings is joined by Sox from the London group, Tugboat Captain whose forthcoming fourth album, Dog Tale , is out on the 25th April.  They talk Tugboat Captain, their new album, inspirations, favourite dog breeds, AI music, Divine Comedy, music venues, producing music and more.  Following their critically acclaimed 2020 album Rut , Tugboat...

 For the latest episode of the In the Spotlight podcast, Bill Cummings is joined by Annie Dressner who recently released her new single ‘For The Thrill Of It ’ feat Kathryn Williams . They talk about how the song highlights misogyny in the music industry uniquely and how we should call it out. She also talks about working with Kathryn Williams, and working on a new album with artist and producer,...

 In The Spotlight, is a series of podcast interviews with artists and figures, where Bill Cummings finds out more about their lives and work. For the second episode, he is joined by Patrick Jones . Jones is a poet and playwright who has brought the struggles and contradictions of life in the Welsh Valleys to new audiences. He was voted the most innovative poet and playwright in the ‘Top 100 heroes...

For the debut episode of In The Spotlight a new series of podcast conversations, Bill Cummings is joined by Julia and Simon from The Indelicates . They chat about their seventh album AVENUE QANON a labyrinthine concept a record full of songs "about being old and sad and silly amid the bathetically surreal discourse of one of history's all-time stupidest decades." They talk about conspiracy theorie...