The James Kennedy Podcast

Dr Rowan Hooper is an evolutionary biologist, journalist, author and the editor of the New Scientist podcast. Here we chat about his new book, 'Togetherness' and how Symbiosis made our world. Rowan explains how Symbiosis drives evolution and maintains our ecosystems, we chat about Darwin and Dawkins and how their work has been misused, fascinating facts about Lichen, the gut microbiome, mycelium,...

Dr. Joseph Jebelli is a British neuroscientist and author known for his work on Alzheimer’s disease, human brain evolution, and the importance of cognitive rest. He earned his PhD in neuroscience from University College London and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Washington, Seattle. Here we chat about his book, The Brain at Rest and the long list of benefits to our memory...

Robben Ford is a legendary Blues, Jazz and Rock guitarist, considered to be one of the greatest guitarists of the 20th century. Throughout his 50 year career he has played with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Kiss alongside his own groups and solo work. We chat about Robben's incredible career and he shares wisdom on life, musicianship, staying inspired, the music indust...

Paul Gilbert is widely considered to be one of the best guitarists of all time. He found global success in the bands Mr Big and Racer X and has released or featured on countless recordings since. We chat about his latest solo album, 'WROC', how he stays inspired and challenged, his thoughts on the music industry, advice for young musicians, his desert island guitar pedals and why you should always...

George Bell is a writer, co-founder of the popular online community for men's issues 'JACK' and the author of a brand new book, 'BE A MAN ABOUT IT - BUILDING A HEALTHIER IDEA OF MASCULINITY'. We chat about Georges personal journey with mental health, therapy and treatment and we discuss issues around modern masculinity, men's mental health and some possible paths forward. George can be found at: h...

Professor Mark Galeotti is a historian, lecturer, a prolific writer and one of the worlds leading experts on Russia, security and organised crime. We chat about his latest book, 'Homo Criminalis - How Crime Organises Our World' and Mark explains how organised crime runs through our everyday life, our political systems, our economy and may even have been the foundation to our governments and monarc...

Mark Thomas is a stand up comedian, author, playwright and political activist from the UK. He was the host of the legendary TV show, 'The Mark Thomas Comedy Product' where he mixed stand up comedy with political reporting and used pranks, stunts and undercover work to expose government and corporate crimes around the world. He is a prominent and much respected figure amongst UK political activists...

Dr Susan Hawley is an anti-corruption expert who has researched and campaigned against the UK's role in facilitating global corruption for over 20 years. Working formerly at Corruption Watch, she is now the Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption. Here she explains the different ways that corruption affects our governments, why it's gotten worse, what we can do about it and more. Spotlight o...

Lewis Nielsen is the anti-fascist officer at the UK Stand Up To Racism campaign. We chat about the upcoming 'We Demand Change' summit in London this March 29th featuring Jeremy Corbyn, Owen Jones, Yanis Varoufakis, Andrew Feinstein and many others. We also discuss the rise of the Far Right, inequality and how we can build a new mass movement of resistance. Stand Up To Racism are at: https://standu...

Toby Sebastian is a singer-songwriter and actor known for his roles in Game of Thrones, the Music of Silence, Trading Paint and Perfect Match. Here we chat about his brand new album, 'Eyes Light Up', being an independent artist, the music industry, Hollywood, songwriting and what's next. Toby can be followed at : www.instagram.com/tobysebastian1 Support the podcast at : https://www.paypal.com/payp...

Ginger Wildheart is a prolific songwriter, singer and musician known mostly as the frontman of The Wildhearts. We chat about their latest album 'Satanic Rites of The Wildhearts', Ginger's recovery and spiritual transformation, mental health, his songwriting process, the music industry and living in The Now. 'Satanic Rites of The Wildhearts' is out on March 7th. Ginger can be followed at : www.inst...

George Monbiot is a renowned journalist, author and activist working mostly on environmental, political and social issues. He writes a regular column in the Guardian and has published many books including Regenesis, Captive State, Feral and many more. Here, we chat about his latest book with Peter Hutchinson, 'The Invisible Doctrine', neoliberalism, capitalism, human nature, oligarchy, democracy a...

See the video on Youtube! Steven Donziger is a lawyer and environmental rights defender who successfully represented victims of oil dumping in Ecuador by oil company Chevron and paid the price with an unprecedented retaliation by Big Oil, which included being sued for 60 billion dollars, spending 3 years under House Arrest, 6 months in prison and the loss of his right to work and travel, still to...

Amanda Krieg Thomas in an Emmy nominated Music Supervisor behind the soundtracks to Big Mouth, Pitch Perfect 2, American Horror Story, The Patient, The Jeffery Dahmer Story, The People vs OJ Simpson and many, many others. She is also the author of book, 'Thinking in Sync', a regular speaker at music conventions around the world and a former member of the Board of Directors for the Guild of Music S...

Jean-Ken Johnny is the singer and guitarist in the Japanese band, MAN WITH A MISSION. On this episode we chat about the bands recent US tour and upcoming European shows, the bands popularity in anime, the Japanese music scene, advice for new bands and what's next. MAN WITH A MISSION can be found at : www.mwamjapan.info Please subscribe to the podcast for more episodes every week! Support the podca...

Darick Robertson is an artist and comic book illustrator who has penned many iconic characters including Wolverine, Spiderman and Deadpool amongst many others as well as being the co-creator and original illustrator of the Amazon hit, 'The Boys' and the legendary 'Transmetropolitan'. In this extremely fun chat, Darick shares inside stories on the making of 'Transmetropolitan', working with Warren...

Kym Staton is a musician and documentary film maker from Australia who's latest movie 'The Trust Fall' charts the story of Julian Assange and the campaign against him in blistering detail. Here, we discuss Julian's recent release from Belmarsh Prison, stories from the making of the documentary, why this case is so important and how he got Roger Waters to narrate the voice-over for the film. Find y...

Zack Polanski is the Deputy Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. We chat about the Green Party's policies for the NHS, the cost of living crisis, energy, housing, immigration, tax, Universal Basic Income, the climate and much more. We also discuss the problems within the Labour Party, Israel and Gaza, the state of the country after 14 years of Tory rule and why we desperately need chang...

Mikey Doling is a guitarist, songwriter and producer known for playing in the bands Snot, Channel Zero, Soulfly and Woyote as well producing countless bands throughout his career. We chat about Mikey's thoughts on the music industry, the difference between the US and European rock music scenes, he shares inside stories about Channel Zero and Snot and we talk about his latest release and upcoming s...

Ryan Guldemond is the singer, guitarist and producer in the Canadian indie rock band, 'Mother Mother'. We chat about the band's latest album 'Grief Chapter', writers block, songwriting, staying true to your art, going viral on Tik Tok, AI, the music industry and their current world tour. Mother Mother can be followed at : www.instagram.com/mothermothermusic Please subscribe to the podcast for more...

Sarah Wilkinson is an British activist who began her career as a graphic designer and illustrator, before branching into journalism and editing. She has been a supporter of Palestine for 50 years, and a vocal pro-active campaigner since the First Intifada - here she speaks with me as an activist with Palestine Action, a direct action group campaigning for a free Palestine. We talk about Palestine...

Dr Matthew Alford is a lecturer in politics at Bath University, an author, documentary film maker and a leading authority on the governments relationship with Hollywood. In this episode we chat about how Chomsky's Propaganda Model applies to movie making in maintaining America's image both at home and around the world using real examples from movies such as Top Gun, American Sniper, Hulk, Independ...

Dr Dean Burnett is a neuro-scientist, a lecturer, a best selling author and a podcaster from South Wales. On this episode he chats with me about how the brain works, the role of emotions, neuroplasticity, social media, AI, evolution, the brains flaws, trauma, the interesting effect that music has on the brain, psychedelics and much more. A fascinating and fun conversation. Dean can be found a...

Mario Radetzky is the singer in the German band, 'Blackout Problems'. On this episode, we chat about their brand new album 'Riot', mixing the personal and political through their lyrics, self producing, touring the UK after Brexit, their insane tour with Enter Shikari and Fever 333...and service stations! Blackout Problems can be found at : https://www.blackoutproblems.com Please subscribe to the...

Srećko Horvat is a Croatian philosopher, author and political activist. Here we chat about the clashing empires of the USA, Russia and China, AI, Europe, Günther Anders, Yanis Varoufakis, Julian Assange, Jeremy Corbyn, immigration, the left, the climate crisis, Kafka, what he's doing with the ISSA school on the island of Vis...and his surprising background in punk rock and our mutual love of Rage...