The Fantastival Podcast

It’s #158 of The Fantastival Podcast and it’s time to bring Olympian, Champione, the Fighting Fit, musician, singer, songwriter, former drummer & co-songwriter in Gene, ladies and gentlemen, you know who it is, the one and only, Matt James… Matt is on fine form as we talk all about his musical tastes and memories from childhood to present day, his first experience on drums, working in Our Price Le...

Give me some love, give me some skin, as something is going on for The Fantastival Podcast #157 as it’s double trouble A frontman and esteemed record producer Jason Perry, along with A bassist Richard Trigg are our guest for this an episode of epicness… Jase and Rich are on great form as we have a great chat with them as for starters they both talk about their early musical memories, a gig changin...

ALL YOU TWENTY FOUR HOUR PARTY PEOPLE… The Fantastival Podcast is finally back with #156 and it a privilege to be joined by photographer, one of the ladies behind the band Sister Lovers, it can only be the awesome, Debbie Ellis. Debbie is on fine form and has many a great story as she talks all about her love of music from an early age from hearing a tune in her dads car to present day, her memori...

Get on our primetime entertainment offering as joining us for the next instalment of The Fantastival Podcast #155 is frontman of the brilliant Pet Needs, the one & only Johnny Marriott… This is a great time to catch up with Johnny who is on top form as he talks about one of his first music memories never revealed before, doing his music GCSE’s and learning piano, working in a record shop at 15, hi...

It’s quite a Thunderstatement this week as joining us for The Fantastival Podcast #154 is lead guitarist Cammy & bassist Lewis from one of Steve’s favourite bands, his boys, the wonderful Arcade State. Cammy & Lewis are a great laugh and are on top form as they talk about their early music experiences with Rage, 2Pac & Rab, how they started playing their instruments to first bands and now at the p...

Callin’ All for a very special announcement that joining us for The Fantastival Podcast #153 is none other that one of Steve’s musical idols, one of the greatest singer songwriters out there, frontman of Cast, bassist of The La’s, the only and only, Mr John Power… It was always an ambition to get John on The Fantastival Podcast and he’s in fine(time) form as he talks about his excitement for upcom...

We’re back on The Groovy Train (after Keith Mullin took us there for #72) at The Fantastival Podcast as joining us for #152 is singer, songwriter and frontman of The Farm, the wonderful Peter Hooton joining me… Peter is on fine form as we have a great conversation which starts with him talking about singing ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story as a youngster at family gatherings, to his life in music,...

Oh yeah, Rick is taking us over, and oh yeah, it’s the sound of your new year as The Fantastival Podcast returns in 2024 with with a bang as joining us for #151 we have Mr Rick McMurray, drummer from the brilliant Ash… Rick talks about his life (less ordinary) in music from early memories to present day, how he started drumming, the story of Ash from meeting Tim and Mark to their superb recent alb...

WE THREE KINGS OF #MURDEREDSONGOFTHEDAY…👑👑👑 It’s time for the final Fantastival Podcast of 2023 and our Christmas Special as #150 is here with the forefathers of #murderedsongoftheday as it’s a triple header for this big one as Stevie T, James Houston and Leon Snotsky are our guests to wave goodbye to this year in style.🔥 The gents talk all about #murderedsongoftheday from the beginning of the...

We are buying our way into Christmas and the new year season with the penultimate Fantastival Podcast of 2023 with #149 and joining Steve is a man of many talents, DJ, Presenter, Contributor, Columnist, Author as well, it’s the one and only Rob Fiddaman. This is one packed episode as Rob talks about collecting film memorabilia from an early age, moving into music memorabilia before opening his Bri...

It’s a celebration on The Fantastival Podcast #148 and we’re delighted to have Stephen Brown, the man behind the Record Citizens label as our guest as 2023 continues to fly by… Stephen is on fine form as he joins us all the way from Canada to talk all about his love of music from an early age, his passion for collecting vinyl, how he managed to set up his Record Citizens label, releasing the first...

How the devil you doing one and all… For The Fantastival Podcast #147 it’s a delight to have one of our favourite musical finds of 2023, the unapologetic king of Indie Rock / Pop, the one & only Sam Scherdel join us. We have a great chat about Sam’s musical tastes and memories, his brilliant voice, tunes so far including the awesome ‘Brave Mistake’, ‘Balloon’ and ‘Retro’, many a great story includ...

Stand Free and Be What You Are as this week Turnbull Smith, guitarist from the excellent band Skylights is up for The Fantastival Podcast #146… Turnbull is on great form for all you Outlaws and Enemies as he talks all about his love of music from early memories to getting his first guitar, to the amazing story of Skylights with many highs and lows including connections with Leeds United, Aberdeen...

This week it’s a pleasure to introduce the legend, all the way from Blackpool, that is Scott Egnor, as our guest on The Fantastival Podcast #145 as one of our biggest supporters finally gets his chance in the hot seat, and boy does he take it… It’s Happy Hour and this episode is a Perfect 10 as we have a great chat as Scott has plenty of great stories to tell as he recounts his musical memories, t...

Get out from nowhere and on with The Fantastival Podcast #144 as we have John, Brandon and Ted from The Height, as control is lost in this one as the youngsters go crazy and rip the rules to shreds… From One To Another the boys talk about their influences, how they all got into playing music, their fantastic tunes to date and latest single ‘I Know There’s More’, the recently released physical EP,...

It’s time to Metamorph into the Golden Sky and get Out Of Sight for The Fantastival Podcast as for #143 we welcome the wonderful singer, songwriter, dreamer, believer, it’s Michael Robert Murphy… Press play as Michael talks about all things music from his early memories and early bands through to The Wicked Whispers and their success before we hear about his brilliant ‘Metamorph’ EP (which is abou...

Wake up, go towards the light and find the answer within along with The Fantastival Podcast #142 as we have a real treat for you in this episode singer, songwriter, psychologist and author, from The Boo Radleys, it’s Dr Simon ‘Sice’ Rowbottom… We find the answer within to all the questions you might have about Dr Sice as he talks early music memories, getting into music and the importance of Top O...

It’s time to light up the sky with some magic as we are all in and welcome Matt Wilson, guitarist from the awesome Apollo Junction on The Fantastival Podcast #141… Shout from the rooftops as Matt talks all about Apollo Junction, the amazing story of meeting bass player Ben, their history with their first 2 albums, the excitement of releasing upcoming record ‘Here We Are’ on Friday 20th October, al...

They say never go back, but with The Heavy North about to release their highly anticipated second album ‘Delta Shakedown’ it’s only fair to get the remaining members of the band on (following Jose, Kenny and Ste’s appearance in #96 in July 2022) as Andy Horrocks, Jack Birch and Mark Rice are our guests for The Fantastival Podcast #140… We’re here to satisfy you with the voices of the drums (Mark),...

We’re getting back into The Fantastival Podcast swing of things now as we return with #139, joined by the wonderful, Iain Key… Iain is on fine form as we look back on his days of managing Northside, his music memories and tastes, getting into writing for Louder Than War over lockdown, going on to host the brilliant ‘Indie Brunch’ on Louder Than War radio, going to gigs with his son, aswell as also...

We’ve cracked it with this one as the brilliant Laurie Wright is our guest on #138 of The Fantastival Podcast as we are heading to easy street… Rock n Roll certainly isn’t dead as Laurie talks about his debut album ‘Get On The End Of It’ (one of the albums of the year), his musical memories, musical journey, his openness and honesty about addiction, his upcoming headline date at The Camden Underwo...

The Fantastival Podcast is finally back after a long summer away and what a way to return as the legend that is singer, songwriter, guitarist, the one and only Miki Berenyi is our guest for #137… This is an awesome chat with Miki who talks all things music including her early memories, going to gigs across London from an early age, her time in Lush, the recent releases of Spooky, Split and Lovelif...

HEY JOE… before The Fantastival Podcast breaks for the summer it’s time for one more and this week its an honour and a privilege to announce that for #136 we have joining us the genre hopping storyteller, it can only be, Mr Joe Peacock. Joe talks about all things music including his early memories at home, the influence of his music journalist father, starting his musical life on the drums, gettin...

We love to bring you the best guests on The Fantastival Podcast and for #135 it’s no different as we have the inventor, the forefather, the overlord, the man who started it all with the hashtag #murderedsongoftheday, we have the amazing Stevie T…🎶🎸🎸 Listen to Steve talk about learning the guitar, putting it down and then picking it back up again during lockdown, how and why he created the now f...

‘I don’t believe in the word ‘guilty pleasure’, there are just pleasures. These are my favourite 5 acts and it will be hit after hit!’ The man needs no introduction, so The Fantastival Podcast presents to you for #134, the one and only Maz Ataie… So after 15 years Steve and Maz finally catch up for a special episode as Mr Ataie talks all about his love of music, melodies, great songs, tells us abo...