Podcast
The Strange Brew - artist stories behind the greatest music ever recorded
Hosted by Jason Barnard · EN
Rock music from the mid 60s onwards - podcasts, features and much more
33episodes
Episodes
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Otis Williams – The Temptations
4d ago00:24:56Tap to summarizeOtis Williams discusses over six decades of The Temptations and their upcoming UK tour. Williams talks about moving from Texas to Detroit as a kid, catching Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers at the Fox Theater, and getting spotted by Berry Gordy at a record hop. He remembers the strings going onto ‘My Girl’ in 1964 and knowing straight away it would be a hit, a hunch confirmed by telegrams from The Beatles, The Supremes and Berry Gordy. He looks back on their first UK dates in the mid-60s on the Tamla Motown package tour and how hits were chosen at Motown. There’s also a look at the shift to psychedelic soul with ‘Cloud Nine’ in 1968, plus his thoughts on keeping the group together through nearly thirty line-up changes. Further information The Temptations Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Dion, Bettye LaVette, Steve Cropper, PP Arnold This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Otis Williams – The Temptations appeared first on The Strange Brew .
Transcribe →Anthony Phillips, Genesis, A Life In Music
1w ago01:27:07Tap to summarizeAnthony Phillips, founding Genesis guitarist, joins Jason Barnard to talk about the formation of Genesis, his departure, and his latest album, Gemini – Pieces For Piano. He traces the Genesis story back to Charterhouse and the summer of 1967, when he first heard a 12-string guitar. Peter Gabriel’s theatrical stage persona came about through necessity, filling dead time while Phillips and Mike Rutherford fought with temperamental instruments. The jump from From Genesis To Revelation to Trespass has always looked abrupt; Phillips explains it simply: he and Rutherford spent the eight months between recording and release writing constantly, with ‘Dusk,’ ‘White Mountain’ and ‘Stagnation’ sketched out before the debut had even flopped. Then there’s the stage fright. Not ordinary nerves but sudden mid-performance blanks that came on after glandular fever. He was eighteen and never told anyone. There’s also a brief exchange with Nick Drake, playing the same indifferent university crowds. When Drake learned Phillips had written ‘Let Us Now Make Love,’ he said one word back: “Dangerous.” The conversation also covers his classical studies, the troubled release of The Geese and the Ghost, and writing the title track of Gemini. Further information Anthony Phillips website, Gemini – Pieces For Piano Podcasts also available: Anthony Phillips (2019), Tony Banks (2024), Tony Banks (2019), Steve Hackett (2022), Steve Hackett (2020), Bill Bruford, Chester Thompson This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi The post Anthony Phillips, Genesis, A Life In Music appeared first on The Strange Brew .
Transcribe →John Leckie on Be Bop Deluxe and the Making of Sunburst Finish
2w ago01:07:37Tap to summarizeJohn Leckie is one of British rock’s greatest producers, who started out as a tape operator at Abbey Road in 1970, thrown immediately into sessions for George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band. This interview, conducted live at The CAT Club in September 2025, focuses on Sunburst Finish, the Be Bop Deluxe album that gave Leckie his first official production credit, and covers both the making of the album and his creative partnership with Bill Nelson. Additionally, Leckie gives a first-hand account of Syd Barrett’s unannounced appearance during the Wish You Were Here sessions, an encounter he stumbled into while raiding Pink Floyd’s beer fridge, only for Roger Waters to stop the tape and ask who the stranger standing next to him was. The Q&A session draws out further stories about working with The La’s, the Stone Roses’ debut, and how XTC – who idolised Bill Nelson, led Leckie to leave EMI and go independent. Further information Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Bill Nelson – Be Bop Deluxe, Rob Chapman on Syd Barrett, Ken Scott on The Beatles, Bowie, Alan Parsons This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi The post John Leckie on Be Bop Deluxe and the Making of Sunburst Finish appeared first on The Strange Brew .
Transcribe →John Helliwell – Supertramp
4w ago00:31:38Tap to summarizeJohn Helliwell of Supertramp returns to talk about Crime of the Century, the newly restored 1975 concert film shot at Hammersmith Odeon, and the years in which the band went from complete obscurity to one of the biggest acts in the world. He discusses the creative relationship between Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, and how the tensions between them eventually broke the classic line-up apart. Helliwell also covers life after Supertramp, and what it means to keep performing as you get older. Further information Supertramp – Crime Of The Century: In Concert At Hammersmith Odeon – 1975 John Helliwell website Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: John Helliwell – 2019, Leslie Mandoki, Ken Scott, Jeff Wayne This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Google apps and all usual platforms The post John Helliwell – Supertramp appeared first on The Strange Brew .
Transcribe →Boz Boorer – The Polecats to Morrissey
May 2200:30:54Tap to summarizeBoz Boorer talks about his life in music, from his earliest memories of Marc Bolan and T. Rex to punk shows in London in the late 70s, The Polecats, and eventually decades on the road and in the studio with Morrissey. Boz talks about touring with Dave Edmunds, working alongside Tony Visconti, Mick Ronson and Steve Lillywhite, and the stories behind some of Morrissey’s most beloved songs: ‘Jack The Ripper’, ‘Speedway’, ‘Scandinavia’, ‘Istanbul’ and ‘I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris’ among them. He gets into the making of Your Arsenal and Vauxhall and I, the stage invasions on those early tours, and why recording a chainsaw made perfect sense for ‘Speedway’. There’s also his recent collaborations with Paul Roland and Andy Ellison, digging through old archive tapes, and life running a record shop in Portugal. Further information bozboorer.com Morrissey Reimagined I Was A Teenage Zombie…& Other Children’s Party Favourites by Paul Roland, Andy Ellison & Boz Boorer Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Andy Ellison, Paul Roland, Mark Nevin, Kevin Armstrong, Morrissey – the music that shaped his life This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Boz Boorer – The Polecats to Morrissey appeared first on The Strange Brew .
Transcribe →Mark Webber – Pulp
May 1801:19:17Tap to summarizeMark Webber has been with Pulp for so long that his story and the group’s are almost the same thing. He started out as a teenager in Chesterfield with a fanzine called Cosmic Pig, booked Pulp at the local Conservative Club in 1986, became their tour manager with his dad’s old briefcase, and eventually found himself on stage with a Stylophone. Jason Barnard takes him through it all: the years of playing to twenty people outside Sheffield, the last minute Glastonbury headline, the Brit Awards controversy, recording Different Class,This Is Hardcore, Scott Walker producing We Love Life, and the chilly end in Rotherham in December 2002. Then there’s the return. The 2023 shows that were supposed to be just fourteen nights, More recorded in three weeks on a tight budget, and Mark’s daughter finally getting to see him play. Recorded live at The CAT Club on 23 October 2025. The audio is recovered and a bit muddy, but worth the effort. Further information I’m With Pulp, Are You? – Soft Cover welovepulp.info Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Nick Banks – Pulp, Bee Gees’ Main Course with Bob Stanley, The Making of The Human League’s Dare, Stephen Street – producer, Artmagic: Richard Oakes of Suede and Sean McGhee This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi The post Mark Webber – Pulp appeared first on The Strange Brew .
Transcribe →Michael Weston King
May 1601:37:13Tap to summarizeSinger-songwriter Michael Weston King picks tracks from across his career, a conversation bookended by his new solo album Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore, shaped by the Southport attacks of summer 2024 and the loss of his granddaughter, Bebe. King recalls Fragile Friends, who put out singles through Probe Records in early 80s Liverpool. After their split he found country music and formed The Good Sons, touring and recording with Townes Van Zandt. Solo albums followed, including collaborations with Jackie Leven, and with Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson. With his wife Lou Dalgleish he formed My Darling Clementine, enjoying critical success, their most recent project recording Elvis Costello songs with Steve Nieve.
Transcribe →Dan Penn
May 900:59:05Tap to summarizeHe wrote some of the greatest songs in American music, Dark End of the Street, Do Right Woman, I’m Your Puppet, and now, at 84, Dan Penn is back with an excellent new album, Smoke Filled Room. Penn got his first chart record while still a junior in high school, went on to produce The Box Tops, was in the room when Otis Redding recorded You Left the Water Running, and co-wrote Do Right Woman over a guitar in Chips Moman’s front room, only to watch Aretha Franklin walk out of the Muscle Shoals session, before Jerry Wexler finished it in New York. And that falsetto at the end of the James Carr recording of Dark End of the Street? That was him too. He still performs, occasionally writes, and picks up the phone to Jason Barnard. Further information Dan Penn – Smoke Filled Room Support The Strange Brew Dan Penn podcast tracks Podcasts also available: Steve Cropper, John Paul White, Bettye LaVette, John Mayall, Rita Coolidge This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Dan Penn appeared first on The Strange Brew .
Transcribe →Gary Talley – The Box Tops
May 800:35:01Tap to summarizeGary Talley was 19 when The Box Tops scored a number one hit with ‘The Letter.’ Alex Chilton was 16, had been up all night before the session, and came from the kind of household where that sort of thing wasn’t questioned. What followed was two and a half years of relentless touring, five albums, and a management which took advantage of them. Talley talks about growing up in Memphis during the birth of rock and roll, the story behind some of pop’s most enduring records, and what it’s like keeping The Box Tops on the road more than six decades on. Further information boxtops.com garytalley.com Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Al Jardine – The Beach Boys, Daryl Hooper – The Seeds, Richard Orange – Zuider Zee, Richie Furay – Buffalo Springfield, Larry Tamblyn – The Standells This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi The post Gary Talley – The Box Tops appeared first on The Strange Brew .
Transcribe →Strawberry Studios Forever
May 201:10:17Tap to summarizeIn a market town seven miles south-east of Manchester, a recording studio opened above a shop in 1968 that became one of the most significant facilities in British music history. Strawberry Recording Studios in Stockport was where 10cc built their sound, where Paul McCartney brought Wings to record his brother Mike’s album, where Neil Sedaka revived his career, and where Joy Division and The Smiths made their early recordings. For a long time, much of this went unremarked. Peter Tattersall, the studio’s co-founder, and Peter Wadsworth, a music historian at the University of Manchester, discuss the history of Strawberry Studios. The soundproofing, Tattersall mentions, was worked out from books borrowed from Stockport Library. That detail tells you all you need to know. Further information strawberrynorth.co.uk Strawberry Studios Forever: Strawberry Studios, 10cc and the Birth of Manchester Music by Peter Tattersall with Peter Wadsworth is available in all good book shops Strawberry Studios Forever podcast tracks Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Eric Stewart – Part 1, Eric Stewart – Part 2, Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley, Harvey Lisberg, Mike McGear McCartney, Keith Hopwood – Herman’s Hermits This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi The post Strawberry Studios Forever appeared first on The Strange Brew .
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