Teenage Wasteland

Songwriter, musician and raconteur, Fiach Moriarty, delivers a fantastic Teenage Wasteland - from learning the fiddle in school, growing up in a house with classical music, Irish folk records and early rock and roll to having the doors blown off by Nirvana.

In addition to detailing the creative process on his album Liberties, a record rooted in Dublin's past and his own family history, Fiach shares what it was like to join Horslips, the band that invented Celtic Rock.

On this episode of Teenage Wasteland, we’re diving into the story of a songwriter whose work helped define some of the most elegant, emotionally direct songs of late-’80s British pop - Mark Nevin of Fairground Attraction.

The band won BRIT Awards, topped the charts, and seemed poised for a long career at the top. And then, just as quickly, they were gone.

But Mark Nevin’s story didn’t end there. He went on to become one of the most respected songwriters in British music, working with artists like Morrissey, David Bowie, Ringo Starr, Sandie Shaw and many others.

However this is Teenage Wasteland — the place where we go back to the beginning.

We’ll be talking about Mark’s teenage years - picking up his first guitar, watching the Moon Landing unfold on television while discovering The Beatles, seeing Bowie perform Starman on TV, cutting his teeth in working men’s clubs, and eventually making the leap to London.

One of the great survivors of Rock & Roll, Eamonn Dowd, delivers a blasting Teenage Wasteland, from his teenage years in the County Mayo through to student days in early-80s Galway and the formation of this early bands - The Vibration Squad, New Testament and The Swinging Swine.

On the eve of their UK & European Tour, Them Flying Monkeys deliver a swift but superb Teenage Wasteland, covering growing up in Sintra right through the release of their most recent album, Best Behaviour.

Joe Rooney - comedian, writer, broadcaster, and former frontman of Irish band Guernica - delivers a brilliant Teenage Wasteland across schooldays in County Meath, the 1980s Dublin music scene; and his early comedy career, including landing his iconic role in Fr. Ted.

Pete Holidai - the guitarist, tone-architect, and street-level romantic behind The Radiators from Space, the band thattook a grey late-70s Dublin and lit it neon with TV Tube Heart and Ghostown - delivers an illuminating Teenage Wasteland across Bolan & Bowie, London & Dublin.

Duglas T. Stewart, head buck cat of BMX Bandits, delivers an enchanting Teenage Wasteland across the teenage years that shaped his sincerity, his songwriting, and the Bellshill scene that changed indie music.

Duglas opens up about creativity, vulnerability, friendship, and the power of staying soft in a hard world; in a warm, nostalgic and emotionally rich conversation from one of Scotland’s most beloved musical outsiders.

On the promotional trail, for her seventh studio album, Pale Bloom and subsequent European & UK Tour, Lucy Kruger, head buck cat of Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys, delivers a fascinating Teenage Wasteland about growing up in Johannesburg.

A multi-instrumentalist and songwriter - back in the mid-80s, Ger Eaton's first band Premonition were signed to EMI. Later, Ger formed psychedelic outfit Las Vegas Basement; was a member of Les Marionettes and The Carnival Brothers and is currently a member of Irish music royalty The Pale. He delivers an intriguing Teenage Wasteland and chats about his debut solo album Season Changes.

Writer, poet, mental health advocate and proud Cork man Daragh Fleming delivers an enriching Teenage Wasteland across poets Derek Mahon, Seamus Heaney, Frank O'Hara; Hip-Hop & AC/DC; the art that is basketball and chats about his recent book - A Brief Inhalation.