Dan is a saxophonist, composer and educator. He has been recognised nationally for his work in jazz and commercial music both as an educator and practitioner.

He’s possibly the busiest musician in Southampton - alongside composing and performing, he is a lecturer in Jazz & Popular Music at the University of Southampton, leads Saints Brass a tutor for the NYJC and runs the pioneering youth jazz organisation, SYJO.

He popped into the Podcast Lodge to chat to Karl and Aidan about his beginnings as a musician, working with Mark Hill (Artful Dodger) and Craig David, arranging for Band of Skulls and much more besides.

We’re also treated to a stunning exclusive track from his upcoming album and an unreleased Band of Skulls track, recorded live with an orchestra!

Dan’s Website

Band Of Skulls - Himalayan

To support the podcast further, you can buy Karl and Aidan a coffee HERE.

Neil and Aidan go way back, over 25 years in fact, which made them both feel older than they would like to admit!

He popped into the podcast lodge to tell Karl and Aidan about his life as a musician, educator and workshop leader. He has appeared in blockbuster movies with his viola and treated the podcast hosts to a track that he wrote for Paul Smith and Voces8 which was quite frankly stunning.

The new Red Hot Chili Pepper album is discussed of course, as well as many enlightening and amusing stories from his many and varied experiences across his career.

Find Neil HERE

Reflections, his album with Paul Smith and Voces8 can be found on Spotify HERE

Buy Karl and Aidan a coffee HERE

Watch this episode on YouTube HERE:

Dirk Lance is the bassist for East of June and former bass player for Incubus. He started playing bass in high school, where he met Brandon Boyd, Mike Einziger and José Pasillas. The four of them bonded over Phish, Primus, Red Hot Chili Peppers and formed Incubus.

Dirk zoomed into the podcast from his home in California to chat to Karl and Aidan about his introduction to music and the bass. He offers a wealth of experience and knowledge from his 30 years in the music business including touring, recording, songwriting and navigating the ‘business’ of music. 

Check out Dirk’s new band East of June HERE

And listen to them on Spotify HERE

Buy Karl and Aidan a coffee HERE

Not only is this episode the podcast’s 20th, but is also our three year anniversary!

Rather than bring a guest in, Karl and Aidan take the opportunity to catch up on how their lives have changed since January 2019, and have a very jolly time showing each other artists and tracks from their current ‘Good Stuff’ Spotify playlists.

HERE is a link to the Spotify playlist of the six songs played, and HERE is a link to the live video of ADHD.

Buy Aidan and Karl a coffee HERE

Karl and Aidan first met Billy at Hanger Farm, where he filmed and streamed their live performance with the band Caroline’s Capuchin. We quickly discovered that Billy has an infectious passion for videography, alongside a wealth of expertise and stories of his adventures behind the camera.

Billy has wanted to be a filmmaker since the age of 12, and the story of his career so far is one of dedication to the craft. He talks to Karl about his approach to creating films, the differences between audio and visual formats and how they complement each other and how Billy manages to avoid GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).

Check out Inline AV HERE

And see his team’s handiwork with Caroline’s Capuchin HERE. 

Buy Aidan and Karl a coffee HERE

Richard Hilton is one of the keyboard players for Chic, and has worked with Nile Rodgers for over 30 years. Besides Nile, the list of artists he has worked with is quite incredible, including David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Elton John.

Richard joined Karl and Aidan from the USA over Zoom to talk about his career, including how he got his first paid gig aged 15, worked on Hollywood blockbuster movies and travelling the world, performing with Chic.

Click HERE to find out more about Richard at his website, and click HERE to see him play live with Nile Rodgers and Chic at Glastonbury Festival. 

Buy Aidan and Karl a coffee HERE. 

*** There are some sound issues in which Karl & Aidan sound slightly less polished than usual, but this only lasts a few minutes so bear with us! ***

Phil Griffiths joins Aidan and Karl for episode 17. As well as joining Aidan in a Chic tribute band, Phil has an impressive resume as an educator, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer.

We chat to Phil about his time spent as a music teacher and his approach to music education. The discussion moves on to his time studying performance in both the UK and USA before listening to a track from his solo album ‘Cave’

Do you remember Welephant? If so, let us know on our Instagram page

Find Phil at www.philgriffithscreative.co.uk

Find Phil’s album Cave on Spotify

Buy Karl and Aidan a coffee HERE!

If you live on the south coast of the UK and are a fan of live music, you have almost definitely heard of Davey Jones’ Locker, the incredibly fun and talented band from Southampton. Founder member and bassist Davey joins Karl and Aidan in the lodge to talk about the philosophy of cover bands, how the band started and his own story as a bassist.

Inevitably, with three bass players of a certain age in the same room at the same time, the conversation moves onto the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Aidan treats Karl and Davey to a quiz that he described as ‘quite easy’. (Spoiler: it wasn’t). The quiz even includes two questions from Ben Townsend of Universally Speaking, the Red Hot Chili Peppers podcast!

Find Davey at:

www.facebook.com/DaveyJonesLockerBand

www.facebook.com/bearduk

Check out Universally Speaking, the Red Hot Chili Peppers Podcast at:

www.bentownsendmusic.net/rhcp-podcast

Episode 15 takes Karl and Aidan on a field trip to singer Amba Tremain's front room. Amba was the winner of ITV's 'This is Your Moment' in 2001, and the last 20 years have seen her become a vocal coach, session vocalist, youth worker and much more. 

Karl and Aidan talk to Amba about how she started to sing, her musical education and journey through to performing with Boy George and being awarded a gold disc by the BPI for her contribution to Eva Cassidy's album ‘Somewhere’. 

Amba also describes her approach to vocal mentoring and tuition, and gives us a sneak peek at her songwriting process with a candid demo of an unreleased song!

You can find out more about Amba at:

www.ambatremainmusic.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ambatremainofficial

Instagram: www.instagram.com/ambatremainofficial

This episode brings Chris Nichols to the podcast lodge, to chat about all things folk and fiddle related with Karl and Aidan. There is a lot more to folk music than meets the eye, and the discussion covers festivals, the difference between a Jig and a Reel and how Chris’s life led him to being one of the most active and talented folk fiddle players in the south of England.

You can find Chris at:

www.chrisnichols.co.uk

www.threepennybit.com

www.folkactive.org.uk/education/youth-ensemble