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Rock's Backpages

By: Barney Hoskyns Mark Pringle Jasper Murison-Bowie
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  • Summary

  • Tales from the world's largest archive of music journalism: entertaining interviews with luminaries such as Neil Tennant, Billy Bragg, Pamela Des Barres, Gary Kemp, Vashti Bunyan, Midge Ure, Nick Hornby and Robyn Hitchcock. Thoughtful and informative conversations about all aspects of popular music history, interspersed with clips from exclusive audio interviews that date back to the mid-'60s. The RBP podcast is hosted by Barney Hoskyns and Mark Pringle and co-hosted & produced by Jasper Murison-Bowie. We're a proud part of Pantheon — the podcast network for music lovers.
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Episodes
  • E175: Steffan Chirazi on Metallica + Jack Casady audio + John Sinclair

    E175: Steffan Chirazi on Metallica + Jack Casady audio + John Sinclair
    Apr 15 2024
    In this episode we welcome the splendid Steffan Chirazi to RBP Towers and ask him about his career as a metal/hard rock specialist and his long association with the mighty Metallica. We hear about our guest's lucky break as a 15-year-old Motörhead maniac when the band's frontman Lemmy gave up three hours to Steffan during the sessions for 1983's Another Perfect Day – and became a dear friend for life. Steffan then recounts how he got his foot in the door at Sounds and its enduring HM spinoff Kerrang!. The first of many interviews with Metallica led to Steffan moving to San Francisco, where the band's bassist Cliff Burton showed him around town – only to die, tragically, in a car crash just months later. Clips from Barney's 1996 audio interview with Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield prompt a conversation about our guest's close involvement with the thrashmeisters and his eventual stewardship of their in-house mag-turned-website So What! Following the metallic section of the episode we return to the older San Francisco of Haight-Ashbury and its '60s summer(s) of druggy love. Clips from Gene Sculatti and Davin Seay's 1984 audio interview with Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna bassist Jack Casady – about to turn 80 as we record this episode – give us the chance to ask Steffan about the days of the Grateful Dead and their many hirsute friends. From there we switch to the rather different environment that was late '60s Detroit, paying tribute to poet, political firebrand and MC5 manager John Sinclair. We circle back to Steffan's post-Kerrang! career and hear about his 1999 encounter with David Bowie before Jasper talks us out with his thoughts on newly-added library pieces about LL Cool J and Eels. Many thanks to special guest Steffan Chirazi. Find him on Patreon at patreon.com/steffyspurs and read the Metallica magazine So What! at metallica.com. Listen to the official Metallica podcast at https://metallica.lnk.to/TheMetallicaReport. Pieces discussed: Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister: The Man Behind the Myth, Metallica: Thrash on Delivery, Metallica audio, Jefferson Airplane's Jack Casady audio, Portrait of the Artist: David Bowie, LL Cool J: Time Traveller and Eels: Shootenanny!.
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    1 hr and 22 mins
  • E174: Sean O'Hagan on Microdisney + The High Llamas + The Beach Boys

    E174: Sean O'Hagan on Microdisney + The High Llamas + The Beach Boys
    Apr 2 2024
    In this episode we welcome revered High Llamas leader (and arranger to the hip and the mighty) Sean O'Hagan to Hammersmith and ask him about his life and times from Microdisney to new album Hey Panda. We hear about Sean's Luton childhood, his family's move back to Ireland, and his 1980 encounter with the late Cathal Coughlan — the Corkonian with whom he formed the brave and brilliant Microdisney. Their path through '80s pop via Rough Trade and Virgin, and their eventual unravelling at the end of the decade, is discussed with reference to the new BBC documentary The Clock Comes Down the Stairs. The birth of the High Llamas involves RBP's own Mark Pringle, who recalls his production work on the 1992 EP Apricots (a.k.a. Santa Barbara). The influence of Brian Wilson on the sound and aesthetic of 1994's Gideon Gaye and 1996's Hawaii leads to Sean's reminiscences of meeting the Beach Boys and (almost) producing them. A side story involves his amusing memories of backing another cult L.A. genius, Love's Arthur Lee, in London. After we've heard clips from Mike Quigley's 1969 audio interview with Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston, we return to the arc of the Llamas' story and ask Sean about the influence of contemporary R&B on the Llamas' Hey Panda. Finally, Mark and Jasper talk us out with quotes from the pieces they've most enjoyed adding to the RBP library over the preceding fortnight. Many thanks to special guest Sean O'Hagan. The High Llamas new album, Hey Panda, is out now; visit highllamas.com or your local record shop to get your hands on it. Pieces discussed: The High Llamas: You Can Call Me Alpaca, The High Llamas: Lo-fi Heaven, The High Llamas: A Different Breed, An Improbable History: Microdisney Interviewed, The Beach Boys audio, Ted Nugent Unleashes His Little Ball of Fire, Leonard Bernstein: Lenny's song and dance in Vienna, Lounging with Mr Williams, So why exactly does David Gray have this effect on women? and Terence Trent D'Arby: Neither Fish Nor Flesh.
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    1 hr and 34 mins
  • E173: Ira Robbins on Trouser Press + Anglophilia + Nick Lowe audio

    E173: Ira Robbins on Trouser Press + Anglophilia + Nick Lowe audio
    Mar 18 2024
    In this episode we welcome long-time RBP contributor Ira Robbins as he celebrates the 50th anniversary of the launch of his beloved Trouser Press. Ira tells us about the musical Anglophilia that began for him with the Beatles but surged with the 1968 release of The Who Sell Out. He then recounts the beginning of his friendship with schoolmate Dave Schulps and explains how it led to a shared obsession with the British music press. The story of the 1974 launch of Anglophile fanzine Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press, in partnership with the late Karen Rose, is accompanied by quotes from a 2001 interview Ira gave to RockCritics.com. He talks about the years that followed the dropping of the "Trans-Oceanic" prefix, and about some of the contributors – more than a few female – who made Trouser Press such essential '70s reading. After playing a clip from a 1975 audio interview Ira did with Cockney Rebel's late frontman Steve Harley – who died after this episode was recorded – we turn our attention to his more recent encounter with the rather more genial Nick Lowe. Clips from this 2007 conversation prompt a general appreciation of the Jesus of Cool's career from Kippington Lodge to Little Village via Elvis Costello and Johnny Cash. After we've paid tribute to the departed Eric Carmen – with our guest disputing that (the) Raspberries were authentically "power pop" – Mark talks us out with quotes from the pieces he's most enjoyed adding to the RBP library over the preceding fortnight. Many thanks to special guest Ira Robbins. Zip It Up! The Best of Trouser Press Magazine 1974–1984 is published by Trouser Press Books and available now via trouserpressbooks.com. Pieces discussed: Ira Robbins articles, The Story behind Trouser Press, Ira interviewed on RockCritics.com, Steve Harley audio, The New Wave Washes Out, Nick Lowe audio, Eric Carmen: Rock's Rejuvenated Raspberry, World Party, Charlie Watts, Was (Not Was), Rhythm and Blues and Kiss.
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    57 mins
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