Anyone Can Play Guitar

Hello and welcome to episode 177 of the ACPG Podcast.

This week Ben is in Newcastle and zooming with Matthew Murphy of The Wombats and Love Fame Tragedy who is in LA.

Ben and Murph talk about his second album from his side project Love, Fame, Tragedy. We talk about writing for this project and The Wombats, talk about the heritage of great scouse bands (there’s a few), playing live, living in LA, and much more.

Even for a writer beloved by his fans for being so frank and open about his romantic failings, tempestuous marriage and issues with drugs and depression, Life Is A Killer is Murph’s truest and most lyrically raw album to date, documenting one of the most difficult years of his life. As the now sober songwriter navigates his way through balancing life as a new father of two and touring the world with The Wombats, he explores the mental struggles of managing family life amid self-destructive excess. Written in between London and LA, Murph enlisted the help of producers Jacknife Lee (U2, The Killers) and Mark Crew (Bastille, Rag N Bone Man, The Wombats) to push his sonic boundaries further than ever, with new sounds and even voice notes from his wife Akemi.

As singer, guitarist and primary songwriter of The Wombats, Murph has sold over a million albums, garnered nearly 2 billion streams, and, in 2022 secured his first ever UK #1 album with the acclaimed Fix Yourself, Not The World.

Thank you to Murph, Charlie and Murph’s dog for coming on and support with this episode.

See you very soon for season six.

Hello and welcome to episode 176 of the ACPG podcast.

This episode is the last interview of the series. But don’t worry we will be back for a new series and our much loved outro episode.

In this episode Ben is zooming with J Willgoose, Esq of the fantastic Public Service Broadcasting.

The talk about PSB’s new live album, approaching playing live, writing new albums, and more.

A celebration of the power of radio written in recognition of the centenary of the BBC, This New Noise saw the band joining forces with the 88 piece BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jules Buckley. A standout performance from 2022’s BBC Proms, it received 5*s in The Telegraph who called it “a resonant, timely and ultimately touching show”. Founder member J. Willgoose, Esq. remixed the concert from scratch, bringing out even more depth and texture from a multi-layered performance and showing it in a new light.

This New Noise is the second time Public Service Broadcasting have been commissioned for the BBC Proms. In 2019 the band performed an orchestral arrangement of their 2015 studio album The Race for Space with The Multi-Story Orchestra to mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned mission to the Moon.

Thank you to J Willgoose, Esq, Jodie, and Elliott for their support with this episode.

Hello and welcome to episode 175 of the ACPG Podcast.

This week Ben is zooming with Poppy from the wonderful Girl Ray. We talk about their new album Prestige (the non concept, concept album, my words not theirs).

Prestige is a fictional night club where we follow the band on a night out. And a good time is had by all.

We speak about the new album, touring, and watching the crowds get bigger.

Thank you to Poppy, Jodie, and Elliott for the support with this episode.

See you next time for the last interview of the series.

Hello and welcome to episode 174 of the ACPG Podcast.

This week Ben is zooming with Finnish Musician Jaakko Eino Kalevi who was in Athens, Greece at the time of speaking.

They had a great conversation about Jaakko's ninth album, Chaos Magic. They also spoke about the writing process, playing live and having a career in music.

Thank you to Jaako for his time and Stasi for setting up the interview.

Catch s next time when Ben is talking to Poppy from the band Girl Ray.

Hello and welcome to episode 173 of the ACPG Podcast.

This week Ben is zooming with the delightful Willie J Healey. They talk about his new album Bunny, touring with the Arctic Monkeys and Jamie T, working with Yala records and more.

Thank you to Jay for setting up the interview. And thank you to Willie for his time and rearranging time for a clash in Ben's diary.

We have a special artist in Willie and, as I mention, new album ‘Bunny’ is something of a new dawn for him. Recorded in NYC with producer Loren Humphrey (Florence + The Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Lana Del Rey) he stepped out of his comfort zone, pushed himself to be more honest with what he wanted to do, and ultimately discovered that there was a freedom to be found in embracing that honesty. There is a maturity and warmth to the songs here, whether he’s pondering the cost of ambition (‘Dreams’) or revisiting themes of love (‘Sure Feels Good’), contentment (‘Woke Up Smiling’) and appreciation (‘Thank You’). It’s the sound of Willie at the happiest he’s been in a while, and I think this comes from being able to strike a perfect balance between determination to create what he wants, and knowing when to accept that – whatever style of album he makes – it will always have signposts to the parts of himself that he can’t change. 

Sliding into new musical territory, he welcomes hypnotic grooves, gospel harmonies and brass flourishes to support his own organic, understated falsetto. Fusing soul, rock and R&B, ‘Bunny’ is Willie J Healey waking up a dormant side of his musical world and rolling with it. 

Hello and welcome to episode 172 of the ACPG Podcast.

After a little mid season break we are back with a short run of episodes to finish off season five.

This week Ben is zooming with Becca Mancari (they/them) who is based Nashville. We talk about Becca's third album 'Let Hand'. Which we discover has a lot of sonic hugs. A new phrase for both of us but we like it.

We also cover playing live, song writing, new kits, and so much more.

Thank you to Becca, Jodie, and Elliot for their support with this episode.

Hello and welcome to episode 171 of the ACPG podcast.

This week Ben is zooming with Los Angeles where he spoke with Nick and Kelsey of the fantastic Local Natives.

Now, I (Ben) have been a massive fan of Local Natives since their debut album Gorilla Manor and especially the songs Sun Hands and Airplanes. So it was great to talk to them about that but also the release of their new album Time Waits For No One. We spoke about the new album, record release parties, and touring, and more.

The album was preceded at the tail-end of last year by the swaggering psychedelia-tinged indie-pop of ‘Just Before the Morning’ which jumped up to the B-list at 6Music, as well as seeing them doing an LA residency back in December that saw them joined on the stage by contemporaries including Best Coast, Darkside and Miya Folick. The past year or so has also seen them hit up Jimmy Kimmel twice, one of which saw them joined by Sharon Van Etten for their collaborative track ‘Lemon’, while they also headed out on a sold-out US tour last summer as well as stop-offs at Lollapalooza, Outsidelands and a bunch more staples of the US festival circuit. The band are also celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their commercial breakthrough Hummingbird album this year, which feels ripe for revisiting (it is still a total knockout).

This new set finds the band linking with Grammy-winning producer John Congleton (Death Cab, Sharon Van Etten, St. Vincent) for a run of sessions across a number of historic LA studios that birthed a set of songs rooted in metamorphosis: taking in newfound fatherhood, periods of isolation, loss and identity crisis. Through it all though, the band were reminded that the constants are the people you love and - in their case - their fellow bandmates. While the album’s title Time Will Wait For No One has its ominous undertones, the sentiment at the core of the album is that your loved ones will.

Can’t recommend spending a bit of headphone time with the new record enough if you get a moment, the production on it is glorious - something they’ve really honed over the four albums to date that have seen them quietly become one of the most consistently acclaimed bands of the last decade (not a single album below a 75 on Metacritic).

Thank you to Nick and Kelsey, and Alex and Vanessa for all their help with this episode.

Hello and welcome to episode 170 of the ACPG podcast.

This week Ben zooms with Hugh and Danny of the band Gengahr. Ben caught them in the middle of an instore tour. Or Instoring if you will. Just after the release of their fourth album Red Sun Titans.

They spoke about the new album, the production, touring and so much more.

‘Red Sun Titans’ is an album that sets Gengahr on an exciting new trajectory. Having passed through the happy-to-be-here phase of debut album ‘A Dream Outside’ [2015] and traversed the baggage of adversity and tragedy that underpinned ‘Where Wildness Grows’ [2018] and ‘Sanctuary’ [2020], ‘Red Sun Titan’s sees the band wrestle free from those energies to set sail anew, in what frontman Felix Bushe says is all about “dreaming of where you could go from here.”

Entering the studio with Matt Glasbey (alt-J, Coldplay) producing and mixing - with executive production by Charlie Andrew (Wolf Alice, London Grammar, Bloc Party, alt-J) – the band saw a chance to revisit the origins of where their creativity came from. The album developed out of self-analysis and resultingly is one of two distinct sides: one a naive counterpart longing to exist in a simpler state, and another about checking your ego and coming to terms with great loss. ‘Red Sun Titans’ sits at that crossroads where the past is still in view and to be learned from, but the future is there for the taking. It’s the ambitious, unrestrained and widescreen statement Gengahr have always threatened to make.

Thank you to Hugh and danny for talking to us. And to Jay for sorting out the time and space.

See you next week for Local Natives.

Hello and welcome to episode 169 of the ACPG Podcast.

This week Ben is zooming, and nearly getting locked in work, with Freddie Cowan from Freddie and the Scenarios, and formally of The Vaccines.

Ben and Freddie spoke about his debut solo album Answer Machine, touring, new directions, and a bit about The Vaccines.

Freddie Cowan created Freddie & The Scenarios with the help of some of the best in Mexico City’s incredible music scene, whilst also reuniting with Vaccines’ original drummer Pete Robertson, recently more known for his production work with Beabadoobee, Nasty Cherry, Crawlers; The Vaccines’ keyboardist Tim Lanham, Laura Marling’s bassist Nick Pini, iconic Japanese guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei (Kill Bill), and producer Ethan Johns (Paul McCartney, Kings Of Leon, Ryan Adams) on percussion.

Thank you to Freddie and Terry for support with this episode.

Hello and welcome to episode 168 of the ACPG Podcast.

This week Ben is zooming with the one of the most relaxed men in music, JW Francis. Ben in Newcastle and JW in Paris, they spoke about this new album, touring, walking, and self-created tours. Which sounds amazing.

Indie-rock, jangle, slacker, bedroom pop and softly-whirring psych combine to build his 'Dream House' - the foundations held in earthy human emotion, with a roof in the clouds. Across 12 quirky, technicolour sonic vignettes, JW Francis showcases every side of his wholesome 3D approach to guitar pop.

When JW isn’t writing songs about his own life or off-kilter imagery, he writes about other people – most notably around February when he writes valentines songs on his fans’ behalf. 'Dream House' is in fact built around this collection of glorious tracks written for other people.  

Thank you JW for zooming with us and thank you to Thom for setting up the interview.

See you next week for Frankie Cowan of Frankie and Scenarios and The Vaccines.