After a few aborted attempts, we finally managed to get Kevin McDermott into our virtual living room to record a Live Music & Me podcast.

Kevin is an integral part of Scotlands musical backstory and Glasgow's in particular - therefore it was great to get a feel for how his gigs were part of his musical development. As expected, we got numerous references to the famous Glasgow Apollo ( including the x-ray vision of their bouncers), learning the guitar to Rock Lobster, missing a Clash gig he had a ticket for, and enthusing about being lucky enough to seeing the greatest post punk band ever.

Kevin also threw in a Pete Shelley impersonation for good measure, a bit of gossip about David Byrne’s Dumbarton family - and we also got the first mention ever of Loch Lomond bear park. No, really…

What we didn’t get was a Live Album recommendation from Kevin - however he did recommend a live album we definitely SHOULDN’T own…And to finish we got a wee update on what Kevin’s up to at the moment ( he is very active which is good to hear) Even allowing for a bit of audio bounce, it was a very pleasurable experience.

Big thanks to Kevin - enjoy & stay safe

PS “ If you don’t like The Beatles, you don’t like breathing”

All good things must come to end, even a tribute to the legend that is Mr BowieAnd hopefully, out final podcast pays due respect. However, as per normal, at least 50% of the chat has minimal connection to the great man! We of course do discuss the Final ( Hunky v Zizzy). Plus the panel sharing their own personal fav Bowie tunes ( and Caroline sharing super cool signed merch). And a wee chat about potential future podcast material. To finish, our good friend Skin also gave us an acapella version of a Bowie classic from the winning album ( that wasn't meant to be apacella!) All in all, a perfect way to finish our Bowie chat. Huge thanks to Caroline, Colin and Skin - they are the icing on the dodgy cake! Until next time - enjoy and stay safe.

How much can we pack into a 30 minute music chat? The answer on this episode is...quite a lot! With Colin, Caroline & Skin in top form our chat content included

Bowie Quiz

Lou Reed and New York toilets ( no, really)

Mime dancing to Life On MarsSigned merch And of course, the panels

Final predictions

More importantly, we also took a moment to pay our respects to Brian McFie who had passed away just before our recording. A genuine legend, who will be sorely missed.

Until next time

So we have made it to episode 3 discussing all things Bowie! Thats a surprise, and even more so that we managed to get Colin, Caroline & Skin to all rejoin us again...We went with 2 Bowie trivia questions on this one ( with mixed results from the panel), plus Skin telling us which colours all the Bowie albums are, and reflections on how our rock star friends on X don't always agree, especially on Bowie albums. More importantly, we also did the live draw for the semi finals, and they are VERY tasty...Will we get to episode 4? Ask us this time next weekEnjoy & stay safe

Episode 2 is mainly a discussion about how the last 16 knock out round went ( panel had mixed views!). We also managed to squeeze in chat about taking photos in the 1970s, singing Bowie covers, the most expensive album cover ever (!) and how Cilla Black was such an inspiration to Bowie We also did a live draw for the last 8 - and 4 belting match ups they are As ever, thanks to Caroline, Skin & Colin Enjoy & stay safe

So we said we were taking the summer off....however with the great man 10 years gone now, we thought it would be nice to tip our hat to Bowie by chatting ( and voting) on his studio albums, and ultimately come up with the album that we collectively think is our favourite ( picking the ' best' one almost impossible!)

Episode 1 has our panel Caroline & Grahame talking with fondness about their favourite Bowie moments, has Grahame singing Paul Quinn singing Golden Years 4o odd years ago ( no, really) and the panel trying & failing to guess his 9 UK No 1 albums.

More importantly, we also did a live draw for the last 16 knockout round, with at least 2 heavyweight clashes drawn.Big thanks to Caroline & Grahame - lets see how this one goes...

Enjoy & stay safe

We actually grew up in the same town at roughly the same time as our guest on this episode - the singer/songwriter and virtuoso guitarist Marco Rossi. Therefore, apologies in advance if the chat gets a bit 'local' in places. Marco is very much his own man, and this comes across in his gig recollections. From a pre-schooler first gig at a local event watching a jazz legend, we pass through peak punk rock, a Beatle in Paris, and our first ever mention of pop-pysch rockers Gothic Chicken! Plus, we get a live album recommendation that we concur with 100%. And, of course, we manage to chat a fair bit about Kevin McDermott Orchestra ( including a personal message for Marco) This one was well overdue, and in turn we took our time making sure we covered all the bases ( its definitely a two coffee watch/listen). Marco was great company, as we are sure will agree. Enjoy and stay safe

Arguably saving the best till last, we recently spent around 30 minutes in the company of Mike Scott from The Waterboys. Our primary conversation was on Fisherman’s Blues, the album that came out on top of our Greatest Scottish Albums poll – and Mike was generous in both his recollections on making the record and some of the frustrations that it created for him.

However, with the benefit of almost 40 years of perspective, Mike is now rightly proud of what he and his fellow musicians achieved. Mike also gave us a couple of cracking stories connected to the album, including a world-famous producer cold-calling his Mum’s house in Ayr, and reminding anyone who needs reminding of his Scottish heritage.

Mike has been a big supporting of our polling and chat on X over the last few months, which has been appreciated by everyone connected to our music channel – and we are looking forward to the release of the Atlantic Rain album and the subsequent Fisherman’s Blues Revue Tour ( and we’re going too!)

See you on the other side

We were keen to  try and talk to some of artists involved in the making of some of the very best Scottish albums that make our final  ‘greatest’ list.

One of those albums was Rip It Up by Orange Juice (a semi-finalist, and we were therefore delighted to be joined by their (and many other great bands) guitarist, Malcolm Ross.

Malcolm talked with fondness about how exciting music wasaround that time and gave us some lovely recollections, including being in two great bands in the space of 12 hours, recording the album in Soho London surrounded by goths, and of course making it onto Top Of The Pops. (and that infamous 2nd appearance!)

We also collectively agreed that the album has aged verywell, and is fully deserving of the recognition it is now getting.

Big thanks to Malcolm and check out the album if you haven’tfor a while. It might surprise you.

Enjoy and stay safe

It was touch & go for a while there, however we now have a list of the 30 Greatest Scottish Albums, as voted on by our music friends on X. You may/may not agree with the albums on it or the order they are in, however we believe that it represents much of what makes Scottish music great. 

Therefore, on our final podcast we chat about the Final 30, and we compare this to a “Critics 30” that was put together in parallel. We also announced what the best albums cover art is, and the panel gave their own personal recommendation for a Scottish artist album that everyone should own a copy of. 

And, we also had a couple of initial ideas as to what our next podcast series subject matter might be ( it involves the M8 - no, really). 

We’ve had so much fun doing this one, and a personal thank you to Caroline, Colin ( and Donna) for adding both the glamour and the guile. 

See you all on the other side….