Four Idle Hands

This week we have a fantastic interview with Graeme Thomson about his new history of Simple Minds " Themes For Great Cities". As Ian Rankin has said "This book is a a deep and thrilling dive into some of the greatest musical minds to have come out of Scotland in modern times" 

It tracks Simple Minds from their earliest days in the pubs and clubs of Glasgow to having the world at their feet in a little under a decade. Its a real must for all Simple MInds fans.

Graeme was a great guest and we also covered his work with Kate Bush and Mark Hollis.

We also have the usual chat and reviews, hope you enjoy it.

We are back this week with an interview with Pierce Turner. Pierce is an Irish singer songwriter currently based in New York. His new album "Terrible Good" is available now on Storysound records. 

Turner’s description of Terrible Good,  is crystal clear. “It is my first real electric guitar album,” he says, adding “it’s an album with a New York edge.” Electric guitars definitely are central to Terrible Good, arising from his collaboration with guitarist/producer Gerry Leonard (David Bowie, Rufus Wainwright, Suzanne Vega). These fellow Irish expats (who met years ago when Leonard mixed sound at a club where Turner often played) are both fans of Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Television, and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac. While this shared affinity might seep into a song on occasion, Turner shares that “I like to learn from the past, but not imitate it – to take it somewhere else while using every lesson learned.”

We had such a great chat with Pierce, a true gent.

Also in this weeks episode we cover Russia, the sad death of Mark Lanegan, Six Nations and review of Terrible Good and Leon Bridges new album Texas Moon. Hope you enjoy it.

The Four Idle hands podcast is 2 years old this week, we have had loads of great guests on over the last 2 years and this week is no different. This week we talk to Benjamin Francis Leftwhich about his new album To Carry A Whale about going back on tour after a long break.

We also have our usual blether on the weeks news, review of new single from Aberdeen's Katie Mackie and the Greatest Hits compilation from the Divine Comedy, enjoy

On the eve of the Six Nations this week we talk to Irish rugby legend Willie Anderson about his new book "Crossing the Line" which was covers his both his Rugby career and Personal life. The Irish Times called it a "raw, uncompromising, sometimes brutal and always passionate; a perfect distillation of Anderson the player and Anderson the man".

Willie played 27 times for Ireland between 1984 and 1990 before going on to coach at Leinster and Scotland. 

We also discuss the evolution of the modern game and have a preview of this weekends opening six nations fixtures. He was a fantastic guest so we hope you enjoy the chat.

This week we are joined by Rick McMurray , drummer with Northern Ireland band Ash. Rick was a great guest and we covered a wide range of topics from the early days in Downpatrick, playing at the Good Friday agreement gig all the way up to drumming at home in lockdown. 

Also on this weeks episode we cover some odd news stories from Ireland, Space X impending collision with the moon, the sad passing of Meatloaf, celebrity spats with Taylor and Damon and a review of the new album from Yard Act, enjoy.

The term legend is often over used but this week podcast guest is a true legend in every sense of the word. To talk about the upcoming tour we chat to JJ Burnel of the Stranglers . Formed in 1974 the band have had 24 top 40 hits and 18 top 40 albums. Tracks like Peaches, No More Heroes, Hanging Around and Golden Brown are so instantly recognizable and still get regular airplay. They are on tour to promote there  album Dark Matters which features Dave Greenfield who sadly passed away in May 2020. We hope you enjoy the chat with JJ. We also run through the news of the day and have a review of Kenneth Branagh's new movie Belfast

Happy New Year Podsters, Four Idle Hands are back with our first episode of 2022. On this weeks episode we cover a wide range of topics from Current state of the pandemic, Bojo, Phil Lynott with a review of "A song for for while I'm away", selling your publishing rights, top selling albums of 2022,  review of the  the Radiohead Playstation app for KID A AMNESIA and some telly reviews. Enjoy.

After a summer break we are back with the first episode of season 2. This week we discuss the current status of the country , Petrol shortage, The Newcastle takeover by the Saudis, Scotland success, album reviews of Public Service Broadcasting, Whipping Boy and King Gizzard. Live reviews are back with reviews of the Undertones, True North, Nick Cave, Damon Albarn and a heads up on what else is coming gig wise. To end we have a review of the new James Bond and the team discuss our favourite Bonds and Bond movies and of course who could be the next Bond, enjoy.

This week we have a Euro 2020 special, we discuss the start of the delayed tournament with a focus on the England v Scotland game. To help us with this we have a very special guest. We where lucky to be joined by the host of Absolute Radios Rock n Roll football and the  voice behind Spitting Image,  England uber fan Matt Forde joins us to chat about the crucial group game at Wembley.

Welcome to the 25th Four Idle Hands podcast and this week we celebrate our Silver Jubilee with a return of Guitar Tech Bob Munro who chats about his return to gigging at the Blossoms recent gig at Sefton Park in Liverpool. Also on the menu is Scottish Elections, David Cameron, The Middle East, Man City and reviews of both Van Weezer and Paul Weller's new records. And finally we weed out the bent coppers on the Line of Duty finale and a review of Nomadland, enjoy.