This month on The Allender Calendar I'm talking to the fantastic stand-up comedian Celya AB about Crushing, the 2019 album by Julia Jacklin. We had a great chat about music in general, and vulnerability in performance, specifically relating to Celya's last show Of All People.

Through the course of our conversation we ask the big questions like: Are people adicted to vulnerability cigarettes? Should we move Christmas? And what's the best brown noise playlist to listen to on a plane?

Celya is taking her new show We Must Stop Meeting Like This on tour around the UK later this year. Dates are on her website:

https://www.celya-ab.com/

'Body' by Julia Jacklin:

https://youtu.be/ktvJ2PiBgtQ?si=oZI51zwoF-c721M8

I play an Allender Band tune at the end of the show which you can stream/download here:

https://robinallender.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-grip-of-light

If you want to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee!

https://buymeacoffee.com/robinallender

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month on The Allender Calendar I chat to the Northern Irish writer Wendy Erskine about her 2025 novel The Benefactors.

The novel's central incident is the sexual assault of a teenage girl, Misty, at a party. The novel follows Misty, the boys involved in the assault, and their families – and also expands out to include countless other voices, some of whom are linked to the story and some who aren't. This polyphonic approach both deepens our understanding of the central characters and captures how gossip spreads through the community.

The Benefactors is Wendy's first novel. She has previously published two outstanding collections of short stories: Sweet Home (2018) and Dance Move (2022).

Wendy also guested on Your Own Personal Beatles back in 2021:

https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/wendy-erskines-personal-beatles/id1523996711?i=1000542363739

If you want to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/robinallender

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month on The Allender Calendar, I'm chatting to the author Ben Pester about his debut novel The Expansion Project. Part corporate satire, part Lynchian dreamscape, The Expansion Project explores loss, parenthood, grief, and the ways in which identity and meaning are being distorted as technology takes over our lives. It's also very funny!

We talked about balancing creativity with a day job, finding joy and humour in office work, and some key influences (including Gormenghast and The Unconsoled).

You can buy The Expansion Project here:

https://granta.com/products/the-expansion-project/

And Ben's fantastic collection of short stories Am I in the Right Place? is available here:

https://www.boilerhouse.press/product-page/am-i-in-the-right-place-by-ben-pester

If you want to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/robinallender

Interview in The London Magazine:

https://thelondonmagazine.org/interview-the-expansion-project-an-interview-with-ben-pester/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month on The Allender Calendar I'm joined by the comedian Pierre Novellie to discuss his 2024 book Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things?: A Comedian's Guide to Autism. It's a brilliant, and very funny, book which taught me so much about the condition. We discuss the misunderstandings and misconceptions surrounding autism, as well as Pierre's own experience of his diagnosis (following a heckle at a stand-up gig), and how it helped him to make sense of the way he experiences and interacts with the world.

Find out more about Pierre here:

https://www.pierrenovellie.com/

And you can follow him on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/pierrenovellie

And Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/pierrenovellie.bsky.social

And you can listen to Pierre's interview with John Robins on the How Do You Cope? podcast here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/pierre-novellie-i-wasnt-able-to-get-what-i-wanted-out/id1793829037?i=1000711833374

If you want to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/robinallender

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month on The Allender Calendar, I speak to the fabulous Bristol-based musician Emily Breeze, whose lipstick-smeared and glitter-drenched album Rats in Paradise is one of my favourites of the year. And Emily very kindly gave me permission to include snippets from the album in the episode!

We talk about the songwriting process, Emily's day job teaching at BIMM (the British and Irish Modern Music Institute) in Bristol, and about her literary and musical influences. We also frequently get sidetracked and end up chatting about queuing in pubs and the concept of Alan Partridge narrating Joyce's Ulysses.

Please check out Emily's album here:

https://sugarshackrecords.bandcamp.com/album/rats-in-paradise

And you can follow her on Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/emilybreeze66/?hl=en

Emily is playing a few shows in December:

6 Dec: The Prince Albert - Stroud

7 Dec: Burdall's Yard - Bath

13 Dec: The Old Pint Pot - Salford

Also, I'm playing at The Prince Albert in Stroud on 5 December if you fancy coming down!

If you want to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/robinallender

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month on The Allender Calendar I talk to the fabulous writer Rose Ruane. Rose has published two novels, Birding (2024), which was longlisted for the 2025 Women's Prize for Fiction, and This is Yesterday (2019). Rose writes brilliantly and insightfully about female relationships, the legacy of the 90s, and the ways in which we process trauma. If that all sounds a bit heavy, don't worry, she's also extremely funny and very engaging company. I particularly enjoyed our chat about the Manic Street Preachers and the ways in which their music has inspired her.

You can find out more about Rose in this interview:

https://leslietate.com/2023/05/29/rose-ruane-a-creative-life-story/

And you can follow her on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/regretteruane/?hl=en

And Bluesky:

https://bsky.app/profile/regretteruane.bsky.social

Also, I briefly mention Rage Against the Machine's radical reading list; you can find that here:

https://radicalreads.com/rage-against-the-machine-favorite-books/

If you want to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/robinallender

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the month's episode of The Allender Calendar I talk to the fantastic comedian Jordan Brookes.

2019 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner

Bleed:

https://youtu.be/z5O3PI9whAo?si=K9WSnV8YrJftiliy

I've Got Nothing:

https://youtu.be/myOoRrMIyO8?si=YbwPZl5-Ei8348lD

Body of Work:

https://youtu.be/D_yQ9eHQq70?si=tBDyQ_9MRJ2G4Fua

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month on The Allender Calendar I talk to the novelist Rebecca Watson about her books little scratch (2021) and I Will Crash (2024). We discuss whether Rebecca is an 'experimental' writer, or if her unique fragmentary style is really just the most effective and immediate way of communicating first person consciousness. We talk about how both novels deal with trauma, and how the way she writes is suited to this subject. Sounds a bit heavy, but we also have a good laugh and chat about the merits of Sally Rooney's Intermezzo among other things.

Rebecca's website is here:

https://www.rebeccawatson.co.uk/

And you can find her on Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/rebeccawhatsun/?hl=en

Great review of little scratch here:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/31/little-scratch-by-rebecca-watson-review-a-daringly-experimental-debut

And I Will Crash here:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/03/i-will-crash-by-rebecca-watson-review-a-unique-take-on-sibling-torment

All music featured in the podcast composed by me. You can listen here:

https://robinallender.bandcamp.com/

And if you want to support the podcast you can buy me a coffee here:

buymeacoffee.com/robinallender

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part 2 of my chat with comedian Elis James about the brilliant Welsh psychedelic folk band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.

Check out Rhodri Viney's latest EP here:

https://ratatosk.bandcamp.com/album/1

And here are a few of my favourite Gorky's moments on YouTube:

The Banana film with all the early music videos:

https://youtu.be/nYt4KApiPMw?si=lJHHzfY9g5PsrsD2

Lucy's Hamper:

https://youtu.be/nYt4KApiPMw?si=lJHHzfY9g5PsrsD2

Tears in Disguise:

https://youtu.be/F7iFA71q-gY?si=uIneMkpCszOQWTkW

If you want to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/robinallender

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month on The Allender Calendar I had the great pleasure of talking to the comedian and broadcaster Elis James about our favourite band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. Because Elis and I chatted for over two hours I've decided to release this episodes in two parts (both out today!). In Part 1, Elis and I talk about the beginnings of the group and how we first got into them. We then discuss how the band evolved to create the perfect blend of folk, psychedelia and rock on the brilliant run of EPs they released on Ankst between 1994 and 1996 (all collected on the highly recommended album 20). We also talk about what it was like for Elis growing up in Carmarthen (and attending the same school as Gorky's), and about Welsh language music in general.

The Gorky's Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/49120195877/

Gorky's Zygotic Archive on Instagram (run by Steve Tamburello):

https://www.instagram.com/gorkyszygoticarchive/

Gorky's and John Cale playing O, Caroline II:

https://youtu.be/jjgrw5oCs38?si=YcLWCOIDBgCS1uR0

If you want to support the podcast, you can buy me a coffee here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/robinallender

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.