Do You Know How Many Bands There Are?

It's the last in this current series and I thought it would be good to introduce another new angle in the band world, the A&R. I chatted to legendary A&R man behind some genre defining signings including: Blur, Calvin Harris, Arctic Monkeys, Dave, White Stripes, Mark Ronson and many more and found out what it's like to sign someone, what do they all have in common and ask, have you ever signed anyone rubbish!?
The podcast will be back later on in the year...

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Coming Thursday 17th June

I virtually hung out with James Bay and we talked about pretty much everything. Was a lot of fun, i found out all about his journey from school bands to onstage with The Rolling Stones in in silver trousers in front of 80,000 people. It's a wild story (worth a listen just for the how he got signed bit). Enjoy...

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Coming Thursday 3rd June

What a great hour and a bit this was. I first met Stephen back in 2004 when we recorded I Predict A Riot during a test session. We went on to record quite a bit. We were buzzing to work with him cos he'd done Blur and The Smiths and Graham Coxon's solo stuff. There's a lot I didn't know about him though so it was brilliant to find out his whole journey from band member in his teens to producing The Smiths to starting a label to touring with Pete Doherty. There's a lot.

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Coming Thursday 20th May

Jin Jin is one of THE top songwriters in the world today. From working with Roll Deep, Skepta and Boy Better Know to number ones with Jess Glynne and Tinie Tempah. In this episode I find out everything about her journey from her Grandad's reggae store in Manchester to writing with Rihanna in Malibu.
A must episode for songwriters and anyone who wants to get into the music industry but doesn't have a clue how to do it!

Jin Jin's Songwriting Playlist
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www.jinsing.co.uk

Ryan from the legendary band, The Cribs.
I spent an hour on zoom with singer and guitarist Ryan Jarman a couple of weeks ago. He's been in Queens NY for the past few years and his neighbourhood was the epicentre of the pandemic there. We talk about Dave Grohl throwing them a lifeline, an incident with Slash (!) and The Cribs single handedly taking on the music industry and why they haven't done a gig in FOUR years.
I had a funny time!

Twitter: @ryanjamesjarman @thecribs
insta: @thecribs

Coming Thursday 22nd April

The Charlatans episode! I zoomed Tim Burgess and Mark Collins and found them in rehearsal (though Tim was in bed). We talk about key events in the life of the band and how that shaped them. I find out how they thought they'd be a one-album-wonder and 13 albums in, where do they find inspiration now?