Paul Weller Fan Podcast

I know... I can't believe it either! Kenny Wheeler has joined The Paul Weller Fan Podcast. What an absolute honour. A man who has been part of the Weller team for over 40 years now. First credited on album sleeve notes with The Jam on the Sound Affects LP (Special thanks to Ken for playing pool) - Kenny has been a constant with Paul from 1978 with The Jam to The Style Council and Weller solo - mov...

My latest special guest is British Soul Singer / Legend - Steve Ellis. As lead singer with the 1960’s chart-topping Mod-Soul outfit Love Affair, Steve’s vocals had the kind of powerhouse range that made you sit up and notice. We'll hear stories from across his career along with performances with Paul Weller, and their great friendship (Steve talks about Paul being like a Brother to him, Paul says...

My latest guest is the multi-award-winning writer and director, Sonja Phillips. Based in London and Los Angeles, her work encompasses short drama, documentaries, as well as a variety of commercial and promo films, working on large and small screen, and covering a diverse range of subjects, from the natural world to fashion. Back in 1995, with Paul Weller back at the top of the charts with the Stan...

This episode was a massive thrill to record as I'm joined by Andy Crofts - a who has been part of the Paul Weller band since 2008!. Musician, singer-songwriter, photographer, he's got a weekly radio show, he's a record label boss, heck he's even made music videos for Paul and created an outstanding Weller film-documentary called One. Andy is also the founding member of the fabulous indie-band The...

Episode 66 hears from the fabulous David Lines - writer and creator of the brilliant book - Modfather - My Life with Paul Weller When David first heard This is the Modern World  by The Jam, it sparked off a love affair that continues to this day. Paul Weller became the blueprint for David's life, and he followed his music and his style with the fervour of a truly devoted fan - to the bemusement of...

My latest guest is Peter Wilson - Record Producer, Recording Engineer, Arranger, Tutor and Lecturer. Pete has producer credits on plenty of songs towards the end of The Jam's career including Funeral Pyre, Absolute Beginners, Town Called Malice, Beat Surrender and their final album The Gift. He also arranged strings on The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had To Swallow). When Paul Weller&nbs...

My guest in this episode is the world-class musician, griot (praise singer), composer, djembe master, virtuoso and pioneer -  Seckou Keita - he's a rarity, seated in tradition whilst constantly pushing the boundaries of his art. A true master of the kora - a 22 stringed West African harp - Seckou, from Southern Senegal, was a childhood prodigy, born of a line of griots and kings. Seckou has graced...

In this episode, I am joined by Broadcaster & Journalist - John Wilson It's amazing to hear so many passionate stories of his love of The Jam (thanks Aunt Liz!) - it's an out-pouring of emotions, memories and envy inducing tales from a master story-teller! As one of the regular presenters of Front Row - the Radio 4 arts programme, John specialised in music-related interviews for the programme with...

My latest guest is life-long Weller fan Jon Abnett. Known as Mr Jam - he has contributed to the band's boxset releases and designed for some great band related books over the years including Thick As Thieves, In The Crowd and The Jam Unseen. His new book is From the Floorboards Up! A unique fans’ perspective photographic book following the icon that is Paul Weller. All the photos in this new book...

In this episode, we hear from Neil 'Twink' Tinnings. Commissioned by The Jam to be their official photographer in 1981, he not only captured them on stage, but also their life out of the public eye. To quote the band "Twink was the ideal photographer for The Jam. For him, it was more than just a job. His passion for the music and the whole vibe of that period made for a perfect working relationshi...

Declan O'Rourke has been a favourite of mine since hearing a recommendation from Paul Weller for the song Galileo (Someone Like You) and the debut album, Since Kyabram back in 2004. In our chat, we dig in to some incredible stories behind his songs and process from the move to Australia as a young man to his return to Ireland aged 24 and how he landed in the middle of a fiercely creative music sce...

In this episode I am joined by three Paul Weller Super-fans - collectively known as The Jam Tarts. Jane Griffiths, Jackie Pearce and Rachel Phillips ( AKA Lady P ) have a shared love of Paul's music and plenty of stories to tell from their discovery of the songs, to live performance, band meetings, Weller family connections and social media madness! You'll find them hanging out in the Weller of Wo...

My guest this week is journalist and author Dylan Jones OBE who served as editor of the UK version of men's fashion and lifestyle magazine GQ from 1999-2021 - interviewing Paul Weller on many occasions. He created the annual GQ Men of the Year awards - which Paul won in 2018 and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to the publishing and...

My special guest this week is Hannah Peel - composer, artist, musician, arranger, producer, late night broadcaster and synth-pop pioneer! Not only is her own work an inspiring and ambitious blend of projects that will blow your musical mind but she also added her orchestration skills to Paul Weller's incredible recent albums True Meanings, On Sunset and Fat Pop. PLUS who can forget those incredibl...

My latest special guest is the multi talented flutist and Sax player Jacko Peake. Dive in for stories of a love of The Jam to playing with Paul in the final days of The Style Council and the early 90s with The Paul Weller Movement to that incredible first solo album through to Wild Wood and playing live at various points over the years since then with Studio 150 and As Is Now. It was a lovely surp...

My special guest in this episode is musician / singer-songwriter Sam Brown! Sam has enjoyed huge international success as a solo artist since crashing the Top 10 with her song 'Stop' in the late 80s.  She's worked with some of the world's biggest music stars including Deep Purple, Gary Moore, George Harrison, Small Faces, Nick Cave and Tina Turner. Sam performed with Paul Weller at the Ronnie Lane...

My latest guest is author Shaun Hand - the man behind the book - Pop Arts Poems - The Music of The Jam We learn about a lifetime's love affair with the band - kicking off in his teens in 1991 via their Greatest Hits LP. We take a trip through their albums as Shaun shares memories of tracing their evolution song-by-song - from pre-Polydor compositions to the classics that we know and love. Along th...

My latest guest is Steve Brookes - co-founder of The Jam with his childhood best mate Paul Weller. We talk about those early days of The Jam - writing songs, recording demos and gigging around Surrey. We find out why he left the band in September 1975 and took a long break from music and performing before his return in 2008. We chat about Steve's approach to music, his friendship with Paul and the...

My latest guest is film-maker Chris Green - writer and director of The Pebble and the Boy. Inspired by the Paul Weller album track, the film will be released in cinemas nationwide from Friday August 27, and available On Demand later in the year. The story of a boy, his Dad's ashes, a Lambretta scooter and a journey from Manchester to Brighton, the spiritual home of the Mods. The film features trac...

My latest guest Aziz Ibrahim is another true delight - a creator of sound scapes, visionary sounds and guitar magic like very few people on this planet. Founder of the ‘Desi GuitR’ & the ‘Asian Blues’ - Aziz is known for his role & work as lead guitarist for Simply Red, The Stone Roses and several internationally acclaimed bands and artists including Ian Brown, Paul Weller, Steven Wilson, Asia, Re...

This week I am joined by a hardcore Paul Weller Fan who is so crazy about the live experience that he has created a new initiative called Love Weller Live. Steve Wheatley's first gig was 24 November 1979 - where The Jam had such a massive positive impact that he was hooked. Over 150 gigs later - The Jam, The Style Council and Paul Weller Solo - and that never-ending feeling of anticipation for the...

My latest guest is the magnificent singer-songwriter (and now published author!) Kathryn Williams. Kathryn has released eleven full-length albums under her own name (and more with various side-projects) since her debut LP, Dog Leap Stairs , was released in 1999. A massive Paul Weller fan herself - Kathryn's songs have also been called out by Paul as favourites over the years - with him picking the...

My guest on this episode is Surrey Broadcaster / Legend - Peter Gordon AKA PG PG shares stories of a massive impact on his youth from The Jam - a shared love of the local area with the band - and stories of spending time with Paul, Bruce and Rick over the years for interviews, live gigs, unveilings and special friendships too. A permanent fixture on radio in the Surrey area for over 30 years, PG i...

My latest guest is known by Paul Weller as The General. Steve Trigg - Professional Trumpet Player, Performer, Arranger, Composer and Producer. We kick off with his love of The Jam and dive in to stories with Stone Foundation and playing with Paul at the Royal Albert Hall and on the Forest Tour 2019. Steve wrote, played and arranged the horn section on Paul Weller's Mother Ethiopia EP along with tr...

My guest is one of the UK’s finest, high-profile bass players, Dave Swift. He joined Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra in 1991 and his career, which expands beyond three decades, boasts a musician’s portfolio that seconds no other - playing with an array of renowned artists, from George Benson and Chaka Khan to Adele, BB King, Hall & Oates, Noel Gallagher, Paul McCartney and Paul Si...