The StageLeft Podcast

“Music itself is the goal, not notoriety”. “What Freddie had, and what I never had, was the clear understanding of needing to entertain.” A unique insight again on the new episode of The StageLeft Podcast, where lead singer of Smile, Tim Staffell, discusses being schoolmates with Freddie Mercury, starting a band with Roger Taylor & Brian May, supporting Jimi Hendrix & Syd Barrett's Pink Fl...

What a privilege to be invited the the house of Queen Keyboardist for 35 years – Spike Edney, to discuss lip reading Freddie Mercury at Live Aid to ensure he played in time due to the lack of onstage monitors, the intricacies of choosing set lists, playing Trivial Pursuit with Freddie Mercury, his thoughts on the prospect of playing a Hologram concert, and fun tales with his jaw dropping live act...

We were recently asked by Jamie Nicholls to be a guest on the excellent Chasing the Sun podcast, where we discussed our favourite stories from the past 4 years travelling up and down the UK and travelling across Europe to produce the show. Enjoy this bonus episode!

Possibly one of the most jawdropping episodes of StageLeft to date - we discuss rehearsing with MJ just hours before his passing, Leaving Neverland, being Musical Director for Earth, Wind & Fire and so, so much more. Killer episode.

Part 2 with Jamie Moses is here, where he discusses being taught how to drink a bottle of beer 'Shotgun' by Ed Sheeran, how to navigate round out of tune strings mid-song, shares a suggestion as to why we've not all seen John Deacon in a while, what it was like sharing a stage with Nelson Mandela, and how Bob Geldof stitched him up at Checkpoint Charlie. 

Jamie Moses has had simply such an incredible career we cannot fit it all into one episode! Hear him talk about sharing a mic with Paul McCartney, lending Keith Richards his guitar (that i am playing in the pic above!), playing with Brian May, Freddie Mercury, and touring with Guns N Roses.  Part 2 will be out next week!

Awesome stories ahoy from our friend Jim Sharrock - who tells us how Uncle Chris (Sharrock) helped his development, what it was like playing to 35,000 people at Hyde Park last year, meeting Louis Theroux, playing Sports Personality of the Year, we discuss how Ringo was a pinoneering drummer, Ian Broudie & all.things.liverpool.

Jessica Greenfield of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds is our guest on this new episode of The StageLeft Podcast - hear her talk about singing on new Noel songs, reveal the origins of the lyrics to some of her most honest of songs, discuss what it's like playing Oasis songs to 70,000 people and hear us jam! Jessica will be returning to our StageLeft Nights events, where she will play a set to ju...

Mark E. Smith close friend and collaborator Ed Blaney is on the new episode of The StageLeft Podcast, who reflects on Mark's recent passing, recording new material in Berlin, selling parts of the dance floor to the Hacienda during hard times, and passes on advice to those entering the music industry from his experience managing The Fall.

A Day in the Life of RAK studios with engineer Isabel Gracefield! We get lots of great insight from Isabel on working with some of the most high profile names in music, and gives great tips to those aspiring to be either side of the desk!

Ian Broudie has not only written timeless classics in his career, but has played a pivotal role in the embryonic stages of Echo and the Bunnymen, The Zutons & The Coral.  Ian takes a deep dive into analysing songwriting processes, discusses 'You'll Never Walk Alone' influenced writing 'Three Lions', details how Chris Sharrock and Zak Starkey's drum style differ and tells us what his new record...

Ahead of our new 90min interview with Ian Broudie of The Lightning Seeds being released Monday morning, here's a snippet of Ian Broudie discussing writing 'Three Lions'…

The gifted poet & singer songwriter Louisa from She Drew The Gun talks us through track by track of their new album 'Revolution of Mind', discusses supporting The Coral, how essay writing enhanced songwriting processes, the benefits of working to deadlines, production techniques, and the approach to writing the modern anthem 'Poem' and new singles 'Resister' & 'Something For The Pain'.

On rehearsing Airbag "...I picked up the sleigh bells and played through the whole tune. They all laughed because it was the first time they'd heard it right through." Radiohead's second live drummer Clive Deamer is this week's guest on The StageLeft Podcast. What an honour! 90mins in depth about all things Radiohead, his unique onstage set up, how Tai Chi helps his technique, Thom Yorke's vocal w...

Devastating news broke on Saturday that Chas Hodges of Chas & Dave passed away, aged 74. Chas appeared twice on The StageLeft Podcast in November 2015. I remember thinking I couldn't believe it that Chas agreed to come on. We had to record it twice, as I messed up the recording the first time round. Chas was an absolute gent about the whole thing and gave up another 45mins of his time to talk...

“We're not the sort of band that would go to cue. The more we discovered it made them look stupid, the more we did it.” Woody Woodgate of Madness was cited by John Lennon in his final interview 2 days before his passing as an up and coming drummer who impressed. 40 odd years in the industry later and Woody tells us all about creating a 4.5 earthquake on the Richter scale, watching Oasis split from...

Suede guitarist Richard Oakes and producer/programmer and all round encyclopaedia of music Sean McGhee are guests on the new episode of The StageLeft Podcast. Together they are Artmagic. Their new album is out now, and it's good. It's very, good. We discuss a lot - from unique Bjork production techniques, programming Britney Spears, to Richard deconstructing how he wrote that classic Suede tune -...

"I watch her from onstage and think she can lead a revolution at that moment." Jack Petruzzelli joins us from Brooklyn to discuss how he coordinated the impossible - a one take performance of the Abbey Road Side 2 Medley as The Fab Faux, something even The Beatles themselves never quite managed! We also hear about the recording processes and live experiences with the enigmatic Rufus Wainwright and...

Double Grammy winning Saxophonist Bob Reynolds joins us for the new episode. Bob discusses in detail the collaborative process when working with John Mayer, unheard recordings, his new album Quartet and gives vital advice to young musicians....

Some Might Say, Rockin' Chair & For What It's Worth. Just 3 of the songs you'll hear Liam Gallagher's insanely talented keyboardist play on the new episode of The StageLeft Podcast.  We discuss all things Liam, what makes Steve Cropper unique, we get tremendous advice for young musicians directly quoted from a book on Christian's piano and hear all about The Cigar King... #liamgallagher #asyou...

On this special episode of The StageLeft Podcast ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week, we welcome Psychotherapist & former Babyshambles writer and drummer, Adam Ficek.  As well as an impressive solo output as ‘Roses Kings Castles’, touring the world as a celebrated DJ, Adam now works to support those in the music industry through Music and Mind, which is established to provide support, therap...

We are delighted to welcome Liam Gallagher’s drummer, Dan McDougall, to The StageLeft Podcast. Dan paints an interesting picture on being the first person to collaborate on the demos for Liam Gallagher’s platinum selling album – As You Were. He discusses in detail his and Liam’s unique relationship, the early rehearsals, and Liam’s reaction on hearing Dan’s favourite record of all time; ‘…he took...

How fascinating it was for us to deconstruct the songwriting process of the Ivor Novello winning and Golden Globe nominated songwriter Ian Dench in the new episode of The StageLeft Podcast. Great tales from EMF (including the composition of the International Super-Hit 'Unbelievable') are followed by an in depth analysis on modern songwriting techniques that saw Ian collaborate with Beyonce on 5 so...

Ahead of the release of the new episode, here's a snippet of the Ivor Novello winning songwriter Ian Dench on working with Beyonce. Bish, Bash, Bosh.

The enigmatic, multi-talented, and all round good guy Stewart Lee is this episode’s very special guest. As he is currently touring his show Content Provider throughout the UK, it is a great privilege to welcome him to the show. Hands down the most critically acclaimed British comedian of his generation, Stewart Lee is also a BAFTA award winner, and part owner of four Laurence Olivier awards for hi...