Podcasts - The Strange Brew

Still blooming after all these years, Daryl Hooper, organ grinder-in-chief and musical engine of The Seeds, proves that garage rock’s wild heart never really stopped beating. Hooper unpacks the band’s origin myth, from cranked-up early gigs, songwriting with Sky Saxon, to their Nuggets legacy. He reminisces on swapping sets with Hendrix, conjuring ‘Mr. Farmer’, and riding ‘Pushin’ Too Hard’ from underground curiosity to garage smash. And as it turns out, The Seeds aren’t just a memory, they’re gearing up for an August 2025 UK tour. What they always were, and what they somehow still are: too much, too soon, and somehow still just right.

The Seeds – August 2025 UK tour

Daryl Hooper podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: David Freiberg, Jorma Kaukonen, Michelle Philips, Russ Giguere

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all usual platforms

If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi

The post Daryl Hooper – The Seeds appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Mike McCartney never meant to form a pop group, he was too busy cutting hair and cutting up with poets in 1960s Liverpool. But out of the chaos emerged the Scaffold: a riot of verse, vaudeville, and very British irreverence. McCartney charts the oddball origins of the trio to a surprise hit in ‘Thank You Very Much’ (yes, the Queen Mother did like it). With his trademark wit, McCartney recalls being booted and re-signed by EMI, singing under George Martin’s wing, and crossing creative paths with everyone from Brian Epstein, Spike Milligan to Michael Palin. He laments lost tapes, celebrates a new box set, and tips his hat to the Bonzos, who he lobbed in the direction of his brother Paul for the Magical Mystery Tour.

Scaffold weren’t toe tapping Merseybeat fodder, but they weren’t trying to be. They were something stranger, sillier, and, in McCartney’s telling, just as essential.

Scaffold: A Box Of Scaffold, 5CD/1DVD Box Set

Podcast: Drink a drink a drink with Mike McCartney

Podcasts also available: Mike McCartney’s Early Liverpool, Mike McGear McCartney

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all usual platforms

If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi

The post Mike McCartney’s Box of Scaffold appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Kate Bush’s Never for Ever album didn’t just mark her ascendancy, it broadcasted her metamorphosis into a true auteur of pop maximalism. In this freewheeling conversation at the CAT Club, guitarist Brian Bath and factotum-roadie-soundman Andrew Bryant, veterans of Bush’s inner sanctum, unpack the making of the album with pub-banter warmth and the kind of firsthand fuzziness that can only come from living it. They revisit smoky barn rehearsals, Abbey Road sessions, and the alchemy of a group and an artist caught between bar-band exuberance and studio-bred innovation. You can feel the last gasp of the earthy KT Bush Band era before synths, drum machines, and a lonelier sort of perfectionism set in.

Recorded in March 2022 at The CAT Club

ktbushband.com

Inside Never For Ever podcast tracks (demos and live tracks)

Podcasts also available: Kate Bush – Her Life and Music, Brian Bath – The KT Bush Band, The Making of The Human League’s Dare

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all usual platforms

If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi

The post Inside Kate Bush’s Never For Ever appeared first on The Strange Brew .

David Freiberg, has a résumé that reads like a syllabus in West Coast rock history. In this podcast, he recalls his journey from folkie roots to Quicksilver Messenger Service, then to Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Still clocking in at 86, Freiberg is singing, playing, and helping steer a band that’s lasted longer than most marriages. He talks about post-Kantner camaraderie and the endurance of a group that once soundtracked revolutions, and now soundtracks festivals. Fifty years in, they’re writing again.

Jefferson Starship website

David Freiberg podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Jorma Kaukonen, Michelle Philips, Henry Diltz, Richie Furay

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all usual platforms

If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi

The post David Freiberg – Jefferson Starship appeared first on The Strange Brew .

John Corabi has spent decades stitching together a career from heart, with a voice weathered by years on the road. With the Dead Daisies’ latest album, he comes full circle with a record that is bluesier, and more rooted in the American dirt that raised him. In this frank conversation, Corabi opens up about the artists who lit the way, what his Motley Crüe years taught him, and what really matters once the volume drops.

thedeaddaisies.com

John Corabi podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Roger Earl – Foghat, Doug ‘Cosmo’ Clifford – Creedence Clearwater Revival, Zal Cleminson – The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all usual platforms

If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi

The post John Corabi – The Dead Daisies appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Derek Shulman and John Weathers never looked back, and maybe that’s why Gentle Giant’s music still stares you down, especially in the reimagined version of Playing the Fool. In this extensive conversation, Derek and John revisit their time in one of prog rock’s greatest groups with more laughter than lament, and a quiet sense, that they got it exactly right.

Gentle Giant: Playing The Fool, The Complete Live Experience (2025 Dan Bornemark Mix)

Podcasts also available: Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Steve Howe (2023), Tony Banks (2024)

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all usual platforms

If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi

The post Gentle Giant’s Derek Shulman and John Weathers appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Jon King reflects on his memoir, To Hell with Poverty, and the tumultuous birth of Gang of Four. King reflects on the curious dichotomy of his privileged schooling and working-class heritage, his fateful arrival in Leeds, and the catalytic jolt of a New York trip that sent him and Andy Gill hurtling toward musical revolution.

From the incendiary early gigs to their courtship by EMI and Warner Brothers, King dissects the group’s confrontational ethos, the razor-edged brilliance of Entertainment!, and the seismic impact of tracks like ‘Love Like Anthrax.’ Along the way, he tells us of their Top of the Pops skirmish, their uncompromising political stance, and what the future holds for Gang of Four’s final tour.

To Hell with Poverty!: A Class Act: Inside the Gang of Four

gangoffour7781.com

Jon King podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Andy Gill – Gang of Four, Steve Diggle – Buzzcocks, Rat Scabies – The Damned, Glen Matlock

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and all usual platforms

If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi

The post Jon King – Gang of Four appeared first on The Strange Brew .

The Primitives crashed into pop history with their 1988 anthem, and four decades later, Paul Court and Tracy Tracy are still making records with the same effortless cool. They recall their indie origins, highlights from their time in the spotlight, the bittersweet catalyst for their return, and how their second wave is better than ever. And as for ‘Crash’? It wasn’t just a breakthrough, it was a declaration that indie pop could be as sharp as it was sweet.

The Primitives

Let’s Go Round Again: Second Wave Singles & Rarities 2011-2025

The Primitives podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Clem Burke – Blondie, Lynval Golding – The Specials, Stephen Duffy – The Lilac Time, Kimberley Rew – The Soft Boys & Katrina and The Waves

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and all usual platforms

If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi

The post The Primitives appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Wolfgang Flür, Kraftwerk’s rhythm architect back when their beats still had human fingerprints, revisits his journey from sticks to circuits. He trades nostalgia for momentum, reflecting on his early days, his enduring bond with Emil Schult, and the evolution of his music from Kraftwerk to new album Times. A mechanical man with a pulse, then and now.

Wolfgang Flür – Times

Wolfgang Flür podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: The Making of The Human League’s Dare, Ian Burden – The Human League, Dave Ball – Soft Cell, Georg Kajanus – Sailor and DATA

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all usual platforms

If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi

The post Wolfgang Flür – Ex Kraftwerk appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Ashley Hutchings, the man who helped to write the British folk-rock playbook, hits 80, and instead of slowing down, he’s throwing a bash. The Million Dollar Bash, no less, at Birmingham Town Hall, pulling together a dream team of Fairport alumni, Albion veterans, and folk royalty. Enter Blair Dunlop, his son and a formidable talent in his own right, orchestrating events. In this podcast, we hit the big milestones, Fairport Convention’s folk-rock awakening, Liege & Lief, Steeleye Span, The Albion Band, Gloucester Docks, and Dylan calling him “Million Dollar Ash.”

Ashley Hutchings 80th Birthday Celebration, 18 April 2025

ashleyhutchings.com

Ashley Hutchings podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Dave Mattacks, Simon Nicol (2023), Martin Carthy, Dave Pegg, Chris Leslie

This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all usual platforms

If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi

The post Ashley Hutchings appeared first on The Strange Brew .