The past 3 decades have brought their share of ups and downs for Feeder. They’ve enjoyed 11 top ten albums, and various hit singles, but had to weather the tragic loss of drummer Jon Lee in January 2002. It was against this backdrop that frontman Grant Nicholas returned to studio alongside bassist Taka Hirose to produce Feeder’s most poignant and life-affirming album “Comfort In Sound”. The album is getting reissue this month, and they will be undertaking a UK tour, playing the album in full for the first time. It’s a rare look back for the band, who have released 4 new albums in the last decade including a double album “Black/Red” which came out last year. Grant was a guest on the podcast a few years back, and I’m really grateful he was willing to come back on. Instagram: @sendingsignalspodcast
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Steve Rothery (Marillion)
Steve Rothery is a founding member of one of my all time favourite bands, Marillion. Despite various personnel changes in the early years of the band, Marillion have maintained a stable line-up for the past 36 years. One of the keys to their ongoing unity is surely their tolerance for band members to indulge in side-projects, and Rothery is about to release an album under the name Bioscope, in collaboration with current Tangerine Dream bandleader Thorsten Quaeschning. The album is called “Gento” and features Elbow drummer Alex Reeves behind the kit. I was pleased to welcome Steve back onto the podcast to discuss the new project, as well getting an update on the new Marillion album, and a chat about the 30th anniversary of one of their finest albums “Afraid Of Sunlight”. Instagram: @sendingsignalspodcast
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Richard Hawley on “Coles Corner” 20th Anniversary
This summer sees the release of an expanded edition of Richard Hawley’s breakthrough masterpiece “Coles Corner” with an accompanying tour. Richard joins me for an epic chat about the making the record, his family history, his prodigious session work, the closing of the beloved Sheffield Leadmill, and working (remotely) with Hank Marvin. Enjoy. Find me on Instagram @sendingsignalspodcastVisit richardhawley.co.uk for tour dates and reissue information.
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Ben Kweller
On February 27th 2023 Ben Kweller received the worst phone call imaginable. His 16 year old son Dorian had died in a car accident. An oncoming truck had veered into Dorian’s lane and a downed tree had gone through his windscreen as he swerved over. Dorian himself was a budding musician, releasing music under the name Zev, and had been due to tour with his father later that year. Ben has been incredibly open about the tragedy, and turned the tour into somewhat of a tribute to his son. Out of the devastation of the past two years has come a new album from Ben entitled “Cover The Mirrors”. It features guests appearances from the likes of Waxahatchee, The Flaming Lips, and MJ Lenderman. You’ll hear some clips from it during our conversation. Ben’s debut album 2002’s “Sha Sha” meant a lot to me, and I was keen to ask about the song “Falling” which I love dearly. That album also features the song “Lizzy”, a song about his girlfriend at the time. Lizzy married Ben in 2003, and it really made me smile that she was handling his PR when we set this up. I’m really grateful to Ben for talking to me at such a sensitive time, and for trusting me with this episode. He joins me from his home in Texas. He was such lovely company and I hope you find this conversation inspiring in some way. Please come and find me on Instagram at Sending Signals podcast and check out ever growing back catalogue of episodes where you can find my conversations with members of REM, The National, E Street Band, Genesis, The Police, Beach Boys and loads more. Finally, if you can leave a good star rating with your podcast provider I would really appreciate it. Thanks so much to Ben and Lizzy. Instagram: @sendingsignalspodcast Ben Kweller on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7bhMBjjQhgPX0q9S4Ajncn?si=iK7SVY8uSPCK-9sL19sHng Zev on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/66Nj7lUkbFw7ICIamxWvTY?si=KzM5jWW6RNKQdHBZa_of-g
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Photographer Tom Sheehan on Oasis, Weller, Springsteen and more.
Tom Sheehan was born in Camberwell, South London. He was an in-house photographer for CBS Records in the 70s, and went on to be the chief photographer for Melody Maker. He enjoyed long-term working relationships with the likes of REM, The Cure, Manic Street Preachers, and Oasis, the subject of a new book of Tom’s work entitled “Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994-2002”. I had a great time chatting with Tom about his life and work, and I hope you enjoy it too.
UK