Long Way to the Top

Welcome to this special edition of Long Way to the Top, The Police Diaries. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Stewart Copeland two weeks ago, one of five exclusive interviews in the world. What do you ask someone who started the one of biggest bands in the world? Besides chatting about his new book, The Police Diaries, I had the opportunity to ask Stewart why the Police walked away from ever...

With over 19 albums and 35 years in the business, Joe Satriani has been nominated for 15 Grammys. He's had over 10 million albums sold and he was inspired to play guitar after the passing of Jimi Hendrix. Joe Satriani taught guitar to Kirk Hammett from Metallica, David Bryson from Counting Crows, and most famously, Steve Vai. With a fascination for space and comic books, most notably Marvel's Silv...

Today's guest, John Karabi started his music career in 1989 as the frontman of the Scream and then in 1992, some may say that the stars aligned as he was made the lead singer of one of the biggest bands in hard rock, Motley Crue, replacing Vince Neil for a period of four years. Since then this rock journeyman has collaborated with some of the biggest hard rock bands around including Ratt, Brides o...

Our guest on Long Way to the Top today is known world wide as the rock brain of the universe, Glenn A Baker. There wouldn’t be many artists that he hasn’t toured with, shared a meal with or some backstage banter, so when I bounced the idea of doing a Rolling Stones special to celebrate their life and the release of their new album Hackney Diamonds, if you can’t get hold of Mick or Keith, then ther...

The Dirty Strangers are possibly the most famous band you have never heard of. Described by Louder Sound as Fast Times, Famous Friends and Filthy Rock and Roll, the lead singer Alan Clayton has toked with Bob Marley, performed with Bobby keys and partied with Keith Richards. They are straight forward rock and roll, equal parts Chuck Berry, Otis Reeding and a bottle of Jack Daniels. The Dirty Stran...

Today's guest, Ed Kuepper, co-founded one of the first punk bands in Australia...dare I say the first. The Saints, were one of the foremost influential punk rock groups in the world. According to, Bob Geldof, rock music in the seventies were changed by three bands, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and the Saints. In the late seventies, he changed direction and dabbled with some rock soul and avant jaz...

This week’s guest is an artist who was christened by Sid Vicious after a big night out with a title deserved of a legendary reggae artist, yet his music has been described as a fusion of post punk, performance poetry and sound landscapes. Jah Wobble, born John Wardle, was the one time bass player of Public Image Limited with John Lydon, worked with artists like U2’s The Edge, Brian Eno, Can , Mini...

Today on the show, we dive back into an interview I did with my Bad Boys Co-Host Andrew Hackett. We chat with Gary Stringer from Reef, a band that created one of the most iconic songs in history. Reef had a massive hit with Place Your Hands on, a video that became an MTV favourite and history of studio albums that established the Glastonbury band as a Rock favourite around the world. When we spoke...

This episode's guest is Tony Butler, the original bass player for 80’s Scottish rock outfit Big Country. Tony has worked with artists like, Pete Townsend, Roger Daltry, The Pretenders and Chrissie Hynde even asked him to join The Pretenders at one stage. It is his bass playing you hear on Back on the Chain Gang. In the time since Big Country, Tony Butler has released a book - Then Came the Great D...

In 2019, Paul Mitchell began working on an album with a bunch of musicians and then Covid hit and lockdowns happened around the world. What was a planned album turned into some collaborations, some humorous and some serious. They gained the attention of musician management guru, Ian Grant, who suggested a project to help musicians who were struggling due to lockdowns. That was the beginning of wha...

This week on my show The Long Lunch, I had the privilege of being joined in the studio by Shane Howard of Goanna and his daughter Niamh. A champion of environmental and indigenous issues, Shane was in town to share an intimate acoustic concert. As a prelude, he shared a few songs including the latest single takayna. Although it was being broadcast across the North East of Tasmania, our little chat...

Back in the early 80’s they were Dexy’s Midnight Runners and now known as just Dexys,  Over a billion worldwide streams, three top 10 albums in the UK, two number 1 singles, a Brit Award and a multi-platinum selling album  Too-Rye-Ay . And now they have come home with their new album The Feminine Divine. Since the early days of Searching for the Young Soul Rebels and Too Rye Ay through to now ther...

This week I had the honour of chatting with two music legends! Leo Sayer , who is music icon with Top 10 hits throughout the decades and songs that have influenced generations of musicians and fans. And Ian Grant who managed Big Country and was responsible for bringing AC/DC to England in the mid-seventies. Please be aware that Ian is currently battling Parkinson's Disease so he may be a little ha...

In the late 70’s Paul Cashmere began working in radio, one week before the passing of Elvis. Little did he know that he was about to embark on a track that would see him speaking with some of the greatest rock artists of our time. There is very few artists Paul hasn’t spoken with and even less who don’t know Paul by reputation as one of Australia’s most foremost authorities in music. From tv appea...

Dave Fishwick, became the subject of a documentary in 2012 when he decided to stick the middle finger up at the banks and start his own bank in the little town of Burnley. And what other name could he call it than the Bank of Dave. It was a David and Goliath story that nearly finished before it got started as the old established banks tried their hardest to stop it. But what makes this story even...

My guest this week is Marcella Detroit originally known as Marcy Levy, the co-writer of the 1977 Eric Clapton hit Lay Down Sally. She has sung and songwritten for Aretha Franklin, Burt Bacharach, Belinda Carlisle and a host of others. Marcy had a successful career in the duo Shakespeares Sister with ex Bananarama member Siobhan Fahey. Two Top 10 albums, Sacred Heart and Hormonally Yours and a numb...

My next guest is one of the founding members of the biggest rock band of the 80’s according to Classic Rock Magazine. Dire Straits has sold up to 120 million records, received Grammys, brit awards and MTV Awards and also helped fashion the MTV generation.  John Illsley, Bass Guitarist for Dire Straits was one of the four brothers and friends, I guess you could call them brothers in arms that decid...

Labelled a punk band when they formed in 1974, The Stranglers were experimental right from the start with a bit of art rock, new wave and goth for good measure, 23 UK Top 40 singles, 19 UK Top 40 albums, over nearly 5 decades. The Stranglers are one of the longest surviving bands to come out of the punk scene in the UK, having just released their latest album Dark Matters and at the time of this r...

Josh Phillips is a rock keyboardist and composer who has worded with Procol Harum until the disbanded last year. He has written and performed with Big Country, Leo Sayer, Pete Townsend, Midge Ure, Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney. I spoke with Josh because he has just finished working on a project with rock  manager Ian Grant to bring awareness to Parkinson’s Disease. The new song, headl...

In 1986, four front girls and four must guys got together and formed a band for a party. They had charisma, sex appeal and we knew most of them from shows like Sons and Daughters, Sweet and Sour and Neighbours. The band became The Chantoozies and they took 80’s Australian pop by storm and radio couldn’t get enough of them. With a string of hits like Witch Queen, Love the One Your With and Wanna Be...

Cheap Trick have been around since 1973 and saw their first debut album released in 1977. They have influenced bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins. With hits like I Want you To Want me, Dream Police, The Flame, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016 and in 2022, Cheap Trick graced shores of the Land down under as part of the Under The Southern Stars tour. I was lucky enough to have...

Rickie Lee Jones has been proclaimed as The Duchess of Cool, 2 Grammy Awards, a Rolling Stone Cover and a photoshoot with rock photographer Annie Leibovitz. In the 70's she told us that Chuck E was in Love and then gave Australia one of the biggest gifts of all time…The Horses. Rickie has a brand new album called Pieces of Treasure and she joins us on this episode of Long Way to the Top. Hit plus...

In 1980 a fresh face and fresh voice hit our TV screens as the new announcer to compliment Molly on Countdown. And who can forget his weekly National Top 10 countdown which established him as the music authority in Australia. Gavin Wood. With various other TV appearances on shows like Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Gavin also established himself as a announcer on 3XY and the famous Fox FM in Melbourne. Jo...

This episode's guest is considered Oz Rock royalty. He was frontman for one of our most successful bands of the 80’s Australia crawl and then James Reyne embarked his own solo career. James is everything we have come to expect in our classic rock artists. His music has become a staple on any 80’s playlist and during the 80’s more than 1 million Aussie crawl albums were sold. I spoke to him just be...

Of all the interviews I have done so far, these guys were my favourite. We literally had every member of the latest lineup of Jefferson Starship on screen and it was complete pandemonium. Everyone except drummer Donny Baldwin who was having trouble connecting. Every now and then you will hear Donny jump on and ask where we all are. It was the most fun, spontaneous and funniest interview ever. It i...