Steve’s Mix Tapes

My guest this week is Liam Fitzpatrick Liam hails from Birmingham, but now resides in Whitby and runs his own cafe, Beckett's . Like me, he has a background in education, and also like me is a fan of The Wedding Present and The Fall. He emailed me to say, “if ever you fancy another ordinary 'Joe Soap' on the show - just let me know”.  Well, I'm always delighted to have a music enthusiast on the sh...

My guest mixer this week is Steve Hill Steve is a journalist and author whose debut book, The Card , was nominated for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award.  His third book - out later this year - is called Friday Night Fever: Inside The Cult Of Half Man Half Biscuit .

My guest this week is Mark Hex Mark is an author and musician who describes himself as “Scottish bred, London exiled. Deep fried in Glasgow” who writes, according to his Amazon page , “stories for people who don't like books.” He has written a series of books about growing up in Ayrshire in the 90s, including Nae Burds, Here We Go, Decks of Ten and Exploding Cans and Utter Bams. He has also releas...

My guest this week is Pinko Fowler Pinko, a fellow friend of Sombrero Fallout , was - along with Brenda Kelly - the founder of Snub TV, a no-frills cable show captured 80s and 90s bands at their most bonkers . He was also a photographer / cameraman who worked on  live gigs and promos for Rough Trade bands such as the Smiths and the Go-Betweens. Apologies for the occasionally dubious sound quality...

My guest this week is Joanna Burnett Long-time listeners may recall that my very first episode was a mix of my own devising, and whilst many people were very kindly positive about my choice of tracks, one correspondent did point out that my mix was made up entirely of male artists. Suitably chastised, my next solo episode ( show #006 ) was a female-only list named after my critic - and I’m delight...

My guest this week is Emma Pollock Emma was a founder member of The Delgados , who were simply one of the very best bands of the late 90s / early 00s. As part of the band, she set up the label Chemikal Underground , which has released music by Mogwai and Arab Strap. She has also enjoyed a successful solo career, her latest album being Begging The Night To Take Hold . I met Emma in Cardiff last yea...

My guest this week is Lindsay Boothman Lindsay is the first guest to compile a mix tape entirely based on one genre (reggae/dub), and whilst she did cheat a little with the 'something new' category (just as my wife did) I thought her selections made for a fantastic mix. There was no way I was going to be able to make a Spotify playlist, and even a YouTube playlist was going to be a challenge - so...

My guest this week is Jon Sutton It's a small world... Jon originally contacted me with a “nerdy Wedding Present request” after seeing some of the TWP videos I'd uploaded to YouTube - and then it turned out he is acquainted professionally with star of episode #033 Gavin Morgan. Jon is a Chartered Psychologist and Head of Science Communication. In his spare time he has contributed live reviews, int...

My guest this week is Tony Harris My guest back in episode #055 was Paul Howarth, one half of the duo that produce the estimable Twilight Turntable podcast ( on which I appeared recently ) and I'm delighted to complete my TT set this week. Tony, who currently resides in Manila, has a background in advertising and has published a book about his experiences: Advertising: More Fun in the Philippines...

My guest this week is David Pisker I was introduced to David by previous guest Ian Forth of Sombrero Fallout fame, who recommended him as an 'absolute authority on underground Melbourne music.'  David - who describes himself as 'a music and film tragic' - is a DJ on Melbourne's PBS FM and has also had his photography featured in Clinton Walker’s seminal history of Australian Independent Music, Str...

My guest this week is Geoff Cox Geoff is a music lecturer and musician/composer himself, who you might remember was one of the multitude of Fall Online Forum guests on show #060 .  There was quite a lot of our chat for show #060 that I didn't get to use, so it was a pleasure to meet up again and discuss, amongst other things, what actually constitutes music, the art of dub, and the insidious effec...

My guest this week is Kilynn Lunsford Kilynn is a New Jersey based artist who has been recording experimental music and producing art that has been exhibited internationally for 25 years. A review of her most recent album, Promiscuous Genes, described it as “a mix of DIAMANDA GALAS, KATE BUSH, and The Munsters in the best way… as melodic and catchy as it is sinister and disturbing” I was put in to...

My guest this week is Bryan Thomas aka Buggy Jive A 'somewhat reclusive soul rock singer-songwriter', Bryan has been producing music under the Buggy Jive name since 2018. He has released seven albums, the latest of which is 2025's Icarus Ascending . I was introduced to Bryan's music by my good friend (and previous guest) Eric Smith, and so it seemed fitting that he should provide the intro to this...

My guest this week is Mat Riches Mat is another one of those people that I’ve known forever on music forums, etc. but have only met in person once (possibly twice) and that was a long time ago… so it’s a real pleasure to reconnect with him. He currently works in market research and as ITV’s (unofficial) poet-in-residence, blogs about poetry at Wear The Fox Hat and has published a collection of poe...

My guest this week is Joe Rolls Joe - who I was put in touch with by previous guest mixer Paul Howarth - is a drummer who currently plays in a pub rock covers band called Southside Five .

My guest mixer this week is Rachael Wood. A guitarist and composer with 20 years of live and recording experience. She has played with Sinead O’Connor and Skunk Anansie as well as being the musical director for Cirque du Soleil for 8 years. Most importantly - for me anyway, and I suspect most of my listeners - she is currently the guitarist in The Wedding Present.

My guest this week is Iain Key Iain is a music writer who’s written extensively for the website Louder Than War and has published a book about The Clash called All The Young Punks which Record Collector called ‘the perfect almanac for any Clash fan’. He also used to present the Saturday morning show Indie Brunch .

A compilation of ten different guest mixers this week... Something a bit different this week.  Once or twice every year, some of the members of the Fall Online Forum take part in 'Mix It Up',  where they swap anonymised playlists. One person hosts, distributing the mixes to the others; basically, you receive a mix for review where you don't know who the songs are by, what they're called, or who se...

Deb has played with Primal Scream, Tim Burgess and Thurston Moore, but is of course best known for playing bass in the legendary My Bloody Valentine.

My guest mixer this week is James Evans James is a music blogger from Twickenham, London. He is also a very patient man, as he sent me this some considerable time ago and has waited, uncomplainingly, while I got around to recording it. You can find his blog here: Embrace The Margin This is one of those where he sent the notes and I did the recording, so it's just my voice this week I'm afraid. I t...

My guest mixer this week is Derek Peplau Derek, who hails from Connecticut but currently lives in Boston, is another one of those people that I've known online for many years, but this was the first time we'd met (albeit via Zoom).  We first got to know each other via the Wedding Present online forum, and have always had a decent Venn diagram intersection, musically. It was a pleasure to finally m...

My guest mixer this week is Chris Rand Chris is the man behind the definitive Half Man Half Biscuit website: The Half Man Half Biscuit Lyrics Project . He is also a lover of  ‘event’ stadium rock, Ipswich Town, cinema and travel. He's pictured on the stevesmixtapes.com page with Nigel Blackwell, who he did try to get on the show; alas, to no avail, as you will hear...

My guest mixer this week is Paul Howarth Paul, along with Tony Harris (who will also produce a mix at some point, hopefully) presents the Twilight Turntable podcast - a show dedicated to the lost art of listening to whole albums. But he's not averse to the odd mix tape too...

My guest mixer this week is Paul Garratt Paul contacted me last September to say: "I realise that your podcast guests are becoming more well-known by the week but if you ever wanted a chat with someone you’ve never met who’s not a writer or a musician and has nothing to advertise then can I put my hand up?" And, of course, I was delighted to have him on, especially as he selected a particularly th...

My guest mixer this week is Jen Ferguson Jen, who lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, is one of those guests that I was meeting for the very first time when I interviewed her. The connection came about because I (and guest #035 Chris McAvoy ) shared a house with her husband James back in our university days.  It was my new year's resolution to get more female guests on the show, and Jen is only th...