Music Maps Podcast

Join us for a live conversation linked to the recent release of ACR:NYC - Live at Hurrah 1980, with A Certain Ratio, director Merrill Aldighieri - moderated by Dave Haslam. 45 years after A Certain Ratio’s first performance in the US (at Hurrah, NYC in September 1980) the band premiere a film of the performance. The Hurrah performance took place on 12 Sept, just before the band took to the studio...

Join us to hear all about Pulp with Mark Webber - Mark found his way into the band by way of running the fan club (Pulp People) before eventually joining full time in 1995. Mark's wonderful new book 'I'm With Pulp Are You' traces the band's history in forensic detail via the many bits of Pulp ephemera Mark collected over the years. We hear about his initial Pulp fandom, getting to know the band lo...

Join us to round out 2025 by travelling back 30 years to 1995 with writer Anna Doble.  Among much more we discuss the battle of Britpop with Blur v Oasis, the disappearance of Richie Edwards & the return of the Manic Street Preachers, the emergence of Supergrass, the joy of making tapes, our favourites from 1995, Pulp headlining Glastonbury, Oasis playing Earls Court, queuing up for gig t...

This week we are joined by music writer Paul Morley to guide us through the early years of David Bowie - from his early life in Brixton & Bromley through to his formative experiences in Soho, his early bands & his original desire to be a saxophone player.  We find out what led to his rebranding of himself from David Jones into the David Bowie the world came to know.  After meetin...

This week we welcome Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie to talk us through the history of the band - starting in Glasgow in the early 1980s following in the footsteps of the success of the Sound Of Young Scotland on Postcard Records. She bands first releases appear to significant fanfare after Melody Maker featured the band on the cover before they’ve released anything - bit their debut on Chrysali...

The story of the Beach Boys begins in Hawthorne, California in the late 1950s as the band come together led by Brian Wilson, originally as The Pendletones & Dennis Wilson suggests they focus on surfing themed material.  They sign with Capitol Records in 1961 & soon have chart success with Surfin’ Safari, Surfin’ USA & Surfer Girl.  There is also more introspective material ap...

Join us to discuss a music book classic ‘I’m With The Band - Confessions of a Groupie’ with Pamela Des Barres.  Pamela’s first touchstone in music was the Beatles & she became on obsessive Beatlemaniac after the Fab Four arrive on US soil in early 1964.  The following year she met Captain Beefheart & it opened up a new world to her on the Sunset Strip in LA.  Before long she...

Join us & writer Mark Blake to hear about the formation & early years of Pink Floyd - from their beginnings in Cambridge, ultimately relocating to London where the band gets going. Syd Barrett's songwriting develops quickly & before long the band are playing iconic gigs & 'happenings' at UFO, the Marquee & the Roundhouse. Joe Boyd produces debut single Arnold Layne but is repla...

This week we are joined by Ride bassist Steve Queralt to discuss his new album Swallow - which is out now on Sonic Cathedral featuring contributions from Emma Anderson (Lush) & Verity Susman (Memorials). We also delve into the history of Ride starting in Oxford in the late 1980s where Steve met Andy Bell & Mark Gardner at college, even making a recording of Freedom by George Michael with A...

This week we travel back 20 years to 2005 with writer Paul Vallely to hear about Live 8, the G8 summit, Bob Geldof & Bono & more. So it starts in 1997 with the landslide general election win for Tony Blair & New Labour. The government will ultimately be sympathetic to the issues of debt & aid which come to the fore eight years later with the huge gig in Hyde Park in London the week...

We are joined by Peter Jesperson as he tells us about his time spent with R.E.M. & his role in Twin Tone Records in the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. We also squeeze in a couple of stories about his time around Alex Chilton & the 1993 Big Star reunion. Peter's career began importing records into Minneapolis from the UK at legendary record store Oar Folk, specifically the first relea...

This week we get to talk about one of the best music books of recent years Revolutionary Spirit by Paul Simpson. Paul was born in Liverpool but grew up in Lancashire alongside future members of Echo & the Bunnymen - Les Patterson & Will Sergeant. After relocating back to Merseyside Paul was frequented legendary Liverpool venue Eric's & became a founder member of The Teardrop Explodes a...

It is truly a pleasure to welcome Donovan to Music Maps - a true legend of the 60s. His book The Hurdy Gurdy Man is available on Penguin. We start with his early life in Glasgow in the 1950s & the family relocate to Hatfield in Hertfordshire when Donovan was a teenager. His early influences included Buddy Holly, Hank Williams & Jack Kerouac. After a trip to Southend on Sea with the blue ro...

This week we travel back to the 1950's & 60's to hear all about one of the most influential acts of all time The Everly Brothers with biographer Barry Mazor. Don & Phil's Dad Ike was a musician & the brothers are already playing live & on the radio as children. They sign with Cadence Records in 1956 & record the iconic Bye Bye Love at their very first session. The record sells...

This week we discover the history of The Raincoats - formed by Gina Birch & Ana De Silva in 1977 after they meet at Hornsey Art College in London. The Sex Pistols & The Slits are influences on the burgeoning band & they end up signing to Rough Trade. The classic all female lineup debuts at Acklam Hall in London in January of 1979 & debut single Fairytale In The Supermarket is follo...

Join us for a LIVE episode with Lawrence, Will Hodgkinson & Sian Pattenden to discuss STREET LEVEL SUPERSTAR - one of the best music books of all time.  We retrace Lawrence’s career from Felt & Denim to Mozart Estate & through to the present day.  It takes anything from 5 to 40 hours to prepare each episode of Music Maps - if you’d like to make a contribution to help us cover...

Join us & take a trip to Essex as we focus in on the early years of Blur with drummer Dave Rowntree. His new photograph book is called No One You Know: Early Blur Photos. We begin in Colchester where a young Dave meets future Blur guitarist Graham Coxon on the local music scene. Graham later invites Dave to a mate's gig at local venue the Colchester Arts Centre, that mate turns out to be Damon...

This week we travel north of the border to talk about the history of the Bay City Rollers, one of a handful of British bands to have a number 1 single in the UK & the US.  Stuart ‘Woody’ Wood is our guest & he tells us about going the band after working as a roadie for them first. Once officially a member Woody joins the band, who are without a hit for a few years at this point tourin...

This week we have a world exclusive - we are the first podcast to discuss Freddie Mercury's recently discovered diaries/notebooks with biographer Lesley-Ann Jones. You may have seen it reported in the press that Freddie Mercury left 17 volumes of notebooks to a daughter hardly anyone knew existed - we find a bit more out about these diaries which amount to 500,000 words in length & make up sev...

In May 1980 an unknown Paul Westerberg walked into Oar Folk Records in Minneapolis & handed Peter Jesperson a demo tape. When Peter eventually got round to playing it he was bowled over by what he heard & asked to come & see them play live. All does not go to plan as the band are thrown out of the venue as Peter arrives at the venue. He later falls into becoming their manager & cre...

Join us this week on Music Maps as we dive into the world of metal with Randy Blythe, the frontman of Lamb of God. Hear about his journey from a small-town punk rocker to global success. Randy tells us about the early years of Lamb Of God, when they all worked day jobs in addition to the band, through to signing for Epic Records in 2004. We also hear about Lamb Of God's recent participation in the...

Maybe I'm Amazed - A Story of Love & Connection in 10 Songs is one of the music books of the year it tells the story of how writer John Harris connects with his autistic son James via the music of The Clash, The Velvet Underground, The Beatles, Kraftwerk, Ian Hunter, Magazine, The Band, Wire, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Oasis, Amy Winehouse & more. We hear how music was woven into the fabric of...

We go back to the sixties this week as we welcome Tom McGuinness to tell us about his various number 1s as a member of Manfred Mann.  A chance meeting with a young Eric Clapton at the Station Hotel in Richmond led to them forming The Roosters, it fizzles out but the are both briefly involved in another band, Casey Jones & the Engineers.  Eric drifts off to the Yardbirds shortly after...

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us as we welcome our local Member of Parliament here in Walthamstow, Stella Creasy to Music Maps by way of Manchester & Colchester.  Stella grew up in Manchester where she loved the Stone Roses & her Mum taught A Guy Called Gerald at school. As a teenager she was unexpectedly uprooted to the suburbs in Colchester where she discovered a local band by the name of Blur.  She te...