The StageLeft Podcast

Ralph Rolle joins Chris Simpson to discuss his unique open-hand drum technique, walks us through the Grammy's tribute to David Bowie with Lady Gaga (which without Ralph's genius almost ended us a disaster), working with Nile Rogers and Prince and.... cookies. #chic #davidbowie #ladygaga

After 8 years, we’ve finally done a live episode! We are joined by Polly Money, Gabi King and John Waugh (touring band with The 1975) in front of a live audience of BIMM students, recorded in London just before the European leg of The 1975s most recent tour. The interview begins with a 30mins interview with Chris, then then band jammed three songs of The 1975 with BIMM students (“ If You’re Too Sh...

The Oscar shortlisted composer Erran Baron Cohen joins us to dig deep into how the music industry has shaped him as a person, plus breaks down the creative process of writing music for the Borat movies, Da Ali G show, The Infidel (with David Baddiel), being signed to Miles Copeland III's label, and having Snoop Dogg, Elton John, Sting, Bono & Chris Martin perform on his original 'Dove of Peace...

Jess Greenfield of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds talks openly about some troubling experiences within the industry that took place over ten years ago, the treatment she received for post-natal depression, how NGHFB bandmates model how to best support parents separated from children when touring, and what needs to change in the music industry. Useful resources for those impacted by the topics...

Currently, an artist would need 62million streams on Spotify to break even on a £25k budget. This needs to change and our guest today Tom Gray is leading that change. Tom is Chair of the prestigious Ivor Novello’s, and founding member of Gomez, and is doing more to try to change the music industry than most, through his Broken Records campaign which was backed by The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney...

Liz Hanks is currently performing onstage with Pulp and James, and is the go to cellist for Liam Gallagher, Richard Hawley and Self Esteem. Hear about all these experiences, what needs to change in the music industry and the creation of new album 'Land' on our new episode. Enjoy!

Imagine being an incredible singer- songwriter but finding time be in Game of Thrones and play Andrea Bocelli in "The Music of Silence." What a career Toby Sebastian is having, hear how he tackles deciding setlists, what the music industry could learn from the film industry and how he walks the tightrope between feeling under from over rehearsed.  Toby also currently is appearing with Kate Nash in...

"All the heads of every major label or big indie labels should be made to resign." This episode was supposed to discuss Kate's new film Coffee Wars, but we began by touching upon the issues within the music industry that emerging artists need to navigate (such as being stolen from, a lack of inclusive design for women and how to identify trusted people) and we NEVER. LOOKED. BACK. Within lies Kate...

Arguably our most important episode to date. Bastille and Elton John backing vocalist Bim explains how the music industry has not been built for women, from the design of touring patterns to tour buses facilities, and covers what needs to change. We pick up this conversation in future episodes with Kate Nash and Liam Gallagher cellist Liz Hanks. We also are joined by Bastian Hues to ask questions...

Imagine knowing you are about to perform live to a billion people watching the Royal Wedding. Bim, singer with Bastille and Elton John, walks us step by step of every thought process of how to perform under the greatest of pressure, when coordinating 'Stand by Me' at Harry & Megan's wedding, plus discusses playing MTV Unplugged as vocalist with Bastille and how to best get legal representation...

Today we discuss creativity with the mind of Dr Tucan Taylor Michaels, drummer & producer with international banging tune-makers Superorganism, one of the most ingenious, innovative, inventive, experimental and original bands of recent times, often using extremely random objects as instruments as a back drop to colourful pop perfection. We also explore playing their first ever show on Later wi...

“The sign of any good musician is the amount of sh*t jobs they've had." Ivor Novello and Grammy winning producer Fraser T Smith (Future Utopia) takes a deep dive with us into the navigating the tightrope between commerce and art from his time as a co-songwriter and producer with Adele, Stormzy, and Dave. Thank you to Kate Thornton & Denise Welch for making this episode exist. Produced and host...

Imagine recording ABBA songs with the actual members of ABBA 😲 Dom John discusses playing on the Grammy nominated album ABBA Voyage, as well as playing each night at the jawdropping ABBA Voyage live experience that has to be seen to be believed. We also discuss supporting Liam Gallagher,  Miles Kane's melting guitar pedals and what Lars Ulrich thinks the future of live performance might look like...

Whatever you’re going through right now, you can contact Music Minds Matter on 0808 802 8008. Is there enough mental health related resource within the music industry to support artists mental health?  Music Industry Coaching founder and Mental Health First Aid instructor Stephen Daltrey joins us to explore the answers to that question, plus provides tangible resources for musicians.  Stephen's fa...

Hans Zimmer drummer and all round percussion prodigy Lucy Landymore joins us to discuss; - How Hans Zimmer overcame his self-publicised stage fright. - How the drum solo on Dune was recorded. - The tension between following dreams and being in an overdraft as a upcoming artist! - Which leadership style gets the best out of Lucy, and which works best for Lucy when leading big bands. - Recording a l...

"Working with new artists is a bit like speed dating. You may have only just met them and very quickly they are baring quite personal things." Toby from The Temper Trap analyses production techiques he has experienced and used, including Arctic Monkeys producer Jim Abbiss' tempo maps, that the Temper Trap use live, plus we discuss supporting The Rolling Stones and explore how the quantity of creat...

Florence & the Machine, Goldfrapp and Birdy keyboardist Hazel Mills joins us to discuss.... how meditation and The Alexander Technique helps performance at high profile shows such as the Hollywood Bowl. how to decide an edit is complete and shouldn’t be touched again. Having an onstage persona to overcome being a natural introvert in a performance setting. And loads more! We are also joined by...

All you good good people, listen to Mike Heaton of Embrace discuss big career defining choices, playing Royal Albert Hall the week of being dropped from their label and their brilliant new album "How To Be A Person Like Other People", which is out now! "Every band who've made it have had to work their ****  off to get there..." Hosted by Chris Simpson Produced by Bastian Hues

Episode 100 is upon us. Thanks to each of you for joining us on this journey.  Today, we have Dave Hemingway of The Beautiful South, The Housemartins and his new project Sunbirds. Dave sang lead on "Song for Whoever", "A Little Time" and "Build". Sunbirds play a number of UK dates in June if you can get along, they're new stuff is catchy as ****. Check it out. To those who have listened to all 100...

Imagine playing Pink Floyd songs with an actual member of Pink Floyd. Lee Harris is living his dream from one of his formative gigs, aged 7. Lee discusses playing onstage with each of Nick Mason, Dave Gilmour and Roger Waters, talks through how to approach a pivotal career meeting with someone you idolise and pays tribute to former Blockheads bandmate Derek Hussey. Advice:-  "Musicians shouldn't b...

Helping Happy Mondays reform  ✅ Being produced by Guigsy (Oasis) ✅ Playing live with Bonehead ✅ Recording with Andy Rourke ✅ Collaborating with Howard Marks ✅ All this and more on our new episode with Kav Sandhu! Hosted by Chris Simpson Produced by Bastian Hues

Dr. Jon Stewart of Sleeper and The Wedding Present discusses the band reforming and we do a deep dive in his new book Dylan, Lennon, Marx & God.  We also explore how touring differs now compared to the 90s, the rare experience of writing a dual-biography and the future of copyrighting music. Hosted by Chris Simpson Produced by Bastian Hues

"No time spent being creative is ever wasted." Rob Coombes of Supergrass gives a rare interview reflecting on 25 years playing with Gaz, Danny and Mickey. We cover gig prep, supporting Foo Fighters and Oasis, the Supergrass break up, creativity practice and Rob even plays us his iconic intro to 'Mary'.

"I've lost some wonderful people through my coping mechanisms." Part 2 of 2.

Songsmith Bill Ryder-Jones opens up about his approach to his art in a staggering pair of episodes. Former guitarist of The Coral and collaborator of Arctic Monkeys, BRJ discusses his demons and hopes in a manner as captivating as his music. A genius.