Paul Weller Fan Podcast

In this conversation, recorded for my book, legendary music manager, producer, and author Simon Napier-Bell takes us inside the creation of NOMIS Studios, the state-of-the-art Hammersmith rehearsal complex he built out of a Victorian dairy with two-foot-thick concrete walls. Originally created to give top-tier acts a luxurious, soundproof, and private space to hone their live craft, NOMIS quickly...

In this episode, legendary photographer Tom Sheehan shares a personal narrative that spans the arc of Paul Weller’s career, from The Jam’s charged early days right through to Weller’s solo renaissance - we take a journey through images found in his acclaimed book AIM HIGH: Paul Weller in Photographs 1978–2015 . Tom’s first encounter with Weller was as a CBS staff photographer at that infamous 1977...

In this episode, Paul Dowling - director of marketing at Go! Discs in the early ‘90s - tells the story of how he helped Paul Weller find a new home and a fresh start after The Style Council and Polydor rejected him. A teenage Jam fan who witnessed the band’s energy first-hand, Paul started work in an indie record shop job before moving in marketing within the record industry and then landing at Go...

In this conversation, John Reed - music journalist, a former Research Editor of Record Collector magazine, Director of Catalogue at Cherry Red, and author of Paul Weller: My Ever Changing Moods - takes us on a journey through the many stages of Weller’s remarkable career. Growing up entrenched in the Mod revival and drawn into The Jam’s world as a teenager, John became the “kid at school who liked...

In this conversation, Jun Sato - International A&R at Pony Canyon, Japan - shares the remarkable story of how he helped get Paul Weller’s solo career off the ground when everyone else had written him off. In the early 1990s, as the UK industry dismissed Weller as an ‘80s has-been, Jun trusted his own taste, his love of British blue-eyed soul, and a very special demo cassette that landed on his...

In this conversation for my book, Richard Ogden - former Head of International Marketing and later Managing Director at Polydor Records - shares the inside track on the extraordinary career of Paul Weller from a label perspective. Already immersed in the music industry when The Jam exploded in 1977, Richard’s role took off in the early '80s, working directly with Polydor’s most important acts as t...

In this conversation for my book, John Lewis - respected music journalist and critic - shares a fan’s journey that became a professional one. He recalls being a teenager during The Jam’s “imperial phase,” with a mod next-door neighbour and a copy of Snap! on repeat, and traces his path to writing in-depth features, retrospectives, and Q&As for Uncut , Time Out , the Metro , and more. Over the...

In this episode, recorded for my book, Jim Cook shares his inside perspective from his years as Head of A&R at Polydor Records (1975-1984) during one of British music’s most exciting eras. As the man who signed The Jam and oversaw their rise, Jim reflects on the real-life stories behind the deals, the challenges of the music business in the punk and new wave era, and what it was like to work a...

In this episode, Erica Echenberg , one of the pioneering female photographers of the UK punk explosion, joins the podcast to share vivid memories from the very heart of late ‘70s London. Starting in 1976, Erica was everywhere - camera in hand at legendary venues like the Roxy and the Nashville, capturing the wild energy of acts like The Damned, Generation X, and, crucially, an emerging band called...

Craig McLean joins the podcast to share his reflections on interviewing Paul Weller across several pivotal moments, offering an insider’s look at a music icon through the eyes of a veteran journalist. With bylines for The Face, The Word, The Observer , and The Telegrap h, Craig has had rare, in-depth access to Weller - riding tour buses, joining late-night escapades, and catching candid conversati...

This podcast episode is living proof that sometimes your teenage music heroes really do come full circle. Richard Engler grew up in Manchester, a diehard Jam fan who could recite Paul Weller’s lyrics and remember the row and seat number of his first gig. Fast forward a couple of decades, and Richard found himself working directly with Weller as Marketing Director at V2 Records - helping to steer t...

Jamie Telford joins the podcast to take us behind the scenes of The Jam’s frenetic final days. As a Scottish musician brought in on keyboards for their last run of shows and the farewell single 'Beat Surrender,' Jamie experienced firsthand the thrill of playing with one of the UK’s biggest bands just as internal tensions and creative restlessness threatened to pull them apart. He shares candid sto...

Detail Magazine - Guest Editor, Paul Weller ... the full story from Claire Mahoney. In this special episode, we explore Paul Weller’s personal take on modernism. If you’ve followed this podcast from the beginning, you’ll know it started back in 2020 with one simple ambition: to interview Paul Weller. That ambition became Desperately Seeking Paul, and after 180 episodes, we finally reached that goa...

In this episode, Miles Leonard - a respected record executive, tastemaker, and lifelong music fan - shares rare insight into his years at the helm of Parlophone Records and his close working relationship with Paul Weller during the mid-2010s. Miles was Director of A&R between April 1995 and May 2003, before stepping up to chairman - a role he held until 2012 when he was made Chairman of Parlop...

In this episode, Sean O’Hagan - composer, producer, and frontman of The High Llamas - shares his perspective on working with Paul Weller, and explores the curiosity, eclecticism, and collaboration that continue to drive both musicians. As the arranger behind the lush strings of 'Sleep of the Serene' and 'By the Waters' on Paul’s celebrated  Sonik Kicks  album, Sean offers rare insights i...

In this episode, I’m joined by Roger Pilling , who offers an intimate window into Paul Weller’s formative years - sharing memories from their early friendship at Sheerwater School right through to the pivotal moments that would define Paul Weller’s life and career. As one of Paul’s earliest confidants, before The Jam and the limelight, Roger’s perspective brings to life the world Weller grew up in...

In this episode, recording and mixing engineer Joeri Saal shares a behind-the-scenes perspective on working with Paul Weller during the creation of the  Studio 150  and  As Is Now  albums - capturing the collaborative Amsterdam sessions and the transition to mixing Weller’s original material. Find podcast show notes and sign up for regular information at PaulWellerFanPodcast.co...

In this episode, Dutch jazz icon Benjamin Herman shares how his lifelong journey in music - and his creative outlook as a musician and bandleader - was profoundly shaped by working with Paul Weller. From contributing horns and arrangements on Weller’s  Studio 150  and  As Is Now  albums to joining his touring band, Benjamin describes how these collaborations and time spent on t...

In this episode, recorded for my book, Paul Lester -now editor of Record Collector and longtime music journalist - reflects on his career, his encounters with Paul Weller, and the makings of his celebrated Uncut Magazine cover story, ' Paul Weller: Up Close and Personal - Last Man Standing ' (December 1998). We discuss the enduring influence of meaningful, passionate music journalism. Paul Weller’...

In this episode, Acid Jazz records co-owner, Dean Rudland shares his lifelong musical journey and personal relationship with the world of Paul Weller From being pulled into music by The Beatles and The Jam, through finding his own identity in Mod, to eventually working with and around the Weller orbit, Dean gives an insider’s perspective on cultural movements - and Paul Weller’s unique gift for ma...

Percussionist Joe Beckett share his stories from inside a pivotal, often-overlooked chapter in Paul Weller’s career: the Paul Weller Movement. Joe recalls the unique circumstances that landed him in the band, from chance club gigs to a spontaneous audition at Solid Bond Studios, and the creative camaraderie that followed. He takes us on the road in 1990, from a packed Dingwalls debut surrounded by...

In this episode, music writer Chas De Whalley recalls discovering The Jam after a last-minute tip-off that led him to see them at the Nashville Rooms and review them for Sounds magazine. He reflects on the charged early gigs, their breakthrough shows at the The Roxy, and the fast-moving record deal with Polydor Records. Chas also shares memories of travelling with the band, visiting the Weller fam...

In this episode, I’m joined by acclaimed live film director Matt Askem , a creative force behind some of the most iconic concert films of the last 25 years. From capturing the raw intensity of Paul Weller on stage to working with global superstars like Adele, U2, Muse and Take That, Matt has spent decades translating live music into cinematic storytelling. We dive into the making of Weller’s 2000s...

In this episode, I’m joined by Roger Armstrong - co-founder of the legendary Rock On record shop and the Chiswick label - to talk about his unique vantage point on Paul Weller’s earliest days. Long before record deals, Roger knew Paul as a meticulous record buyer, hunting for Motown and soul 45s at his Soho Market stall. We explore the lost world of seven-inch singles, the importance of B-sides, a...

A journalist since 1988, Keith Cameron is currently a contributing editor at MOJO , with a career that’s taken him from Sounds and NME to bylines in the Guardian, The Times, Kerrang! and Q. In this episode, Keith talks about discovering The Jam in the punk era, growing up in the Highlands, and the lengths he went to just to get to gigs - finally seeing The Style Council at university. He gives an...