The James McMahon Music Podcast

So there used to be this band called Doe . I loved them. Still love them, really. They had an album – they had a few, but this was my favourite – called Some Things Last Longer Than You . And then they split up. Gone before their time. But then the drummer, Jake Popyura - who I speak to for this episode today - went and did a new thing. They’re called Supermilk and they’ve got two albums now – 202...

So, my favourite band at the moment are Foxx Bodies . They’re a riot grrrly punk band from LA. Their singer is called Bella Vanek. She's super cool and wise and empathetic and smart. Her band's songs are about mental illness , and trauma and religion and… yeah, you understand why I like them now, right? Call it McMahoncore. (Trigger warning: there's a fair amount of conversation abo...

Okay – so here’s the bad news. Remember I was sniffling and spluttering on the last few episodes? It’s just cold I said. Nope. It was COVID. I’m on the back end of it now I think, but it’s been a nasty business. Probably best to wash your hands after you’ve listened to this episode. But here’s the good news! On this episode, I’m speaking to Steve Mason – formally of The Beta Band , formally of Kin...

I’m speaking to a bona fide rock legend on this episode – Zakk Wylde ! The man behind the six string for Ozzy fucking Osbourne as well as his own band, Black Label Society , which he also fronts. That band have a new record incoming, their 11th, on November 26th – it’s called Doom Crew Inc and it’s a bit of a gem actually. I probably like it more having spoken to Zakk – not in a ‘you’re a nice guy...

Knocked Loose , the American hardcore band from Oldham County, Kentucky, are one of a small number of rock bands who might genuinely claim to be the most exciting band on the planet. They’re one of the most interesting too. Hardcore might be the vessel they’ve chosen to music making, but it's not the ultimate destination. This has never been more apparent than throughout their ambitious new E...

Here’s a quick chat with one of my favourite singers in one of my favourite bands - well, a few of my favourite bands if you include Mariachi El Bronx and the much underrated The Drips . I’m speaking of course about Matt Caughthran from The Bronx. We talk about the LA band’s most recent record Bronx VI , what’s next for Mariachi, and how can I get hold of one of those amazing promotional Bronx oui...

This episode features a conversation with Blood Youth , from Harrogate, Yorkshire, and creators of Visions Of Another Hell , one of the best records I’ve heard in the metal genre in ages. In truth, I’ve liked everything they’ve brought forth – starting with their excellent 2017 debut Beyond Repair , but this - album three, out now on Rude Records - feels like a big step forward. More synth. More d...

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside – especially when that means having a chat with one Henry Cox , leader of increasingly chuggy Blackpool emo popsters Boston Manor . I’ve been a fan of that lot for ages now, and so it seemed like the perfect time to check in with the band on the eve of a return to live action in the USA for the first time since the world went absolutely fucking mental . The p...

You might call this episode something of a Halloween special – all I’m saying is do make sure you stick around right up to the end. And yeah, it was a delight to catch up with Ben Kowalewicz from Billy Talent – I think a really lovely, enriching chat transpired. We crammed a lot in - talking about the bands new-ish single, ‘ End of Me ’, which sees the band collaborate with Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo;...

If you’ve come to this episode expecting a conversation hung around Justin Pierre ’s new, forthcoming solo EP Ghost World   – his third so far this year, and out November 12th – then chances are you might be disappointed. Talking about that stuff with Justin was very much my intention, and yet a conversation between me and the sometime Motion City Soundtrack singer about topics much meatier, someh...

I’ve long considered Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes to be one of the most unrated and underappreciated bands in British indie. Formed waaaay back in 2004 by singer/guitarist Laura-Mary Carter and drummer Steven Ansell , their frenetic indie rock has only become more interesting over time. I have some good news – there’s a new Blood Red Shoes album coming imminently. It sounds like Nine Inch Nails ap...

Bit of a dream come true this – 40 minutes with Lee Ranaldo , guitarist in one of my absolute favourite bands, Sonic Youth . Sometimes I have to pinch myself, I really do. If you’d told me at 14 that one day I’d get to talk to a member of actual Sonic Youth about weird guitars , songwriting, Nirvana , Donald Trump, all sorts of stuff… well, I would probably ask, ‘who’s Donald Trump?’, but you get...

Crown Lands are a rock band consisting of vocalist and drummer Cody Bowles and Kevin Comeau (he does all the other stuff). They hail from Oshawa, Ontario and they’re a prog-cum-blues-cum-cosmic-space-rock group who recently released their fourth recording, White Buffalo , on Spinefarm/Universal. It’s a really good record, but an important one too, telling important stories of Cody’s first nations...

This is a fun episode – a conversation with Chris LoPorto from Keansburg, New Jersey emo pop heroes Can’t Swim . They’re a band I’ve really enjoyed the output of since their formation  back in 2015 – 2017’s Fail You Again was a record I played to death. 2018’s This Too Won’t Pass was a record I enjoyed greatly. But their new one, Change Of Plans – and there’s a title relevant to these strange time...

This summer - that would be 2021 - saw a British parliament ran enquiry into the economics of music streaming . It's unlikely you missed the results. For one thing, your favourite musicians were raging . The results were sobering, depressing, terrifying if you’re a professional musician, especially now that COVID has decimated the touring industry… and at the time of writing, have seen no leg...

I love Mogwai , so it was a pleasure to speak to Stuart Braithwaite for this sometimes feisty ( hey, I was a teenage Blur fan !), often illuminating episode of my music podcast. I did intend to ask the Mogwai guitarist and sometimes singer about the bands lucious tenth album, As The Love Continues , which was released in February this year, topped the UK album charts, and, earlier this month, saw...

I’m speaking to one of my favourite ever songwriters on this episode – it’s only bloody Mac McCaughan of Superchunk , Portastatic and – alongside bandmate Laura Ballance – the legendary Merge Records ! The reason we’re talking today is because Mac is due to release his very good – and surprisingly eclectic - second solo album The Sound Of Yourself on September 24th, but we cover loooooooads of gro...

Me and Anna Prior come from the same place; Doncaster – and we’ve zig zagged around each other for years. We know the same people, we like a lot of the same stuff, but I’ve never sat down and had a proper on the record conversation with her. Anna plays drums in Metronomy – she has done for over a decade – but in a welcome, but unlikely move she recently decided she’d like to make some songs of her...

So I interviewed Tom DeLonge , formally of Blink-182 and now Angels & Airwaves , for a magazine feature I’m doing. The latter have a new album due imminently. It's called Lifeforms and it’s very good - less proggy than they’ve been on their five albums prior, more pop, more punk. But Tom is also one of the most prominent names in ufology – his aerospace, science and entertainment company...

Are you looking for a 90 minute deep dive with an indie band spluttering about at the fag end of Britpop? A good band, one with a modicum of success, but one with a story that encapsulates the strangeness of the late 90’s British indie rock scene. A time where big money and corporate chaos butted heads with DIY and independent thinking. Taking in drug addled A&R, clueless major label marketing...

Welcome to Indie Heaven , the part of the James McMahon Music Podcast where I – that’ll be James McMahon – connect with the bands I adored as a sapling and ask… what happened next ? It’s a spin-off of sorts of my Indie Heaven website – you can find that at www.indieheaven.co.uk – and on this episode I’m speaking to Gareth Pring – but you can call him Rat – the guitarist in early 90’s indie punk he...

On this episode I'm speaking to a man who has been a constant throughout my entire existence as a music fan. Youth of Today , Gorilla Biscuits , Quicksand , Rival Schools – for over thrity years, Walter Schreifels has made music that I’ve both loved, and that has helped shape the way I’ve seen the world and how I’ve existed within it. Now in the third chapter of their existence, the New York...

It's been ages since I last spoke to Justine Jones , chief throat shredder in Woking’s Employed To Serve – which is a bit of an understatement really, ETS might just be the best home grown rock band to tread the boards of British music venues today. Justine is also the label boss at Church Road Records . I reckon it’s got to be almost two years since we last conversed, and… well, a lot has ha...

Everything about the music industry is weeeeeeeeeird . Music and industry are uneasy bedfellows. I mean, I like baked beans. But music isn’t all that much like baked beans, or it shouldn’t be anyway. Applying the same principles to the distribution of music as you might do canned goods jars with me – and there’s an element of that which has always sat uneasily with me with regards to my time as a...

Welcome to Indie Heaven , the part of the James McMahon Music Podcast where I – that’ll be James McMahon – connect with the bands I adored as a sapling and ask… what happened next ? It’s a spin-off of sorts of my Indie Heaven website – you can find that at www.indieheaven.co.uk – and on this episode I’m speaking to Sonya Madan and Glenn Johansson , Echobelly ’s ever constant singer and guitarist s...