Get ready for a spiffy new episode of Only Three Lads!  It's Brett's birthday, so what better way to celebrate than with one of his favourite O3L-era topics, Britpop.  In this Be Here Now-sized episode (c'mon, you Britpop kids get it!), relive the records, stories, triumphs, tragedies, superstars and should-have-beens of the biggest British musical and cultural phenomenon of the '90s. 

This week, we've got two yangs to Uncle Gregg's yin, as our Third Lad is Paul Laird, author of the new book The Birth and Impact of Britpop: Mis-Shapes, Scenesters and Insatiable Ones.  Rather than simply rehashing familiar Britpop lore, or attempting an academic, exhaustive analysis at the scene, Laird weaves a compelling, personal tale of his Britpop experience.  It's a wonderful look at Britpop from a fan's eyes, exploring not only the bands who "made it," but some of the great bands that existed under the surface.  Whether you were actually there or not, you'll feel like you were.

Buy The Birth and Impact of Britpop from Amazon, other fine booksellers, or: Pen and Sword Books: The Birth and Impact of Britpop - Hardback (pen-and-sword.co.uk)

Our O3L Spotlight Artist of the Week is The Photocopies.  The Photocopies is the brainchild of Michigan based Londoner Sean Turner, who plays unapologetically old-school indie pop in the vein of the C86 scene of the mid-80s to early-90s.  We heard the great DJ Calc play a few tracks on his recent Tuesday night radio show on WRKC, and we were suitably blown away.  The Photocopies’ previous singles and b-sides have all been marvelously compiled on Greatest Hits Volume 1 & 2 and Et Cetera: B-sides and More, or get all three albums under the title of Pop Trivia.  Track after track of guitar pop brilliance fly by, and it's highly, highly recommended stuff.  From Greatest Hits Vol. 2, we play “Anywhere Without You.”

The Photocopies: https://thephotocopies.bandcamp.com

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