More than fifty years after Barclay James Harvest helped define a uniquely English strain of symphonic rock, John Lees remains its quietly determined heart. With John Lees’ Barclay James Harvest, he continues to balance grandeur with introspection. Their new album Relativity, revisits familiar terrain of love and the search for meaning, guided by the notion that time and emotion are intertwined. Lees reflects on the long road to completing Relativity, his formative years in Barclay James Harvest, nights recording at Abbey Road, playing John Lennon’s guitar, and why songs like Child of the Universe and Hymn still carry a plea for peace in a world that feels out of balance.

barclayjamesharvest.com

John Lees podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Wally Waller – The Pretty Things, John Lodge – The Moody Blues, Gary Brooker – Procol Harum, Ian Anderson – Jethro Tull, Steve Rothery – Marillion

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

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Archivist and producer Rob Caiger talks about the painstaking work behind Nice Records, the label dedicated to restoring classic recordings from the archives of Small Faces and Humble Pie. Caiger recalls discovering forgotten master tapes in Kenny Jones’s flight cases and explains how these finds have allowed albums like The Autumn Stone and As Safe As Yesterday Is to be heard as they were originally intended. He reflects on the creative energy of the late 1960s, the collapse of Immediate Records, and why physical records still matter in an age of streaming.

nicerecords.co.uk

Podcasts also available: Phill Brown on Small Faces’ Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake, Andrew Loog Oldham, PP Arnold, Billy Nicholls

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

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The post Nice and Immediate: Rob Caiger on Rescuing Small Faces and Humble Pie appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Judie Tzuke has always been slightly out of step with the story people wanted to tell about her. The industry tried to polish her into a pop star, but she was too honest, too much herself. When ‘Stay With Me Till Dawn’ hit in 1979, the press had her down as the glamorous new face of British songwriting, but in truth she was navigating personal tragedy. That contrast has never really left her work. Since then she’s written songs that feel both fragile and defiant, moving between intimacy and drama with an ease that is hers alone. Along the way there have been Elton John’s Rocket Records, Brian May turning up as a fan, Nigel Kennedy adding his bow, and more than a few albums that deserve the word “overlooked.”

For Judie, music has been therapy, armour and survival kit. Stage fright, harsh critics, illness; all of it has been folded back into the songs. In this podcast, Judie reflects on her remarkable life and imminent UK Tour with Beth Nielsen Chapman. We hear her near misses, the unexpected triumphs, and the quiet resilience that has kept her in music.

Judie Tzuke website

Judie Tsuke podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: John Rhino Edwards, Sam Brown, KT Tunstall, Kate Bush – Her Life and Music

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

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It’s Halloween night, 1975. A bunch of Irish lads are halfway through their first gig when Bob Geldof rubs out the band name on a blackboard and replaces it with something better: The Boomtown Rats. Half the set as The Nightlife Thugs, half as The Boomtown Rats. Fast-forward fifty years and I’m talking with Pete Briquette, the man who decided to pick up the bass at the first rehearsal and never looked back. We chat about the Rats’ brand-new anthology, their upcoming tour, and the realisation that their songs still pack a punch.

Pete remembers how ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ broke them internationally, the thrill of hearing ‘Rat Trap’ go to number one from a pub phone box in rural Ireland, and the slightly surreal feeling of being on stage at Live Aid. He also tips us off that there are 10–15 unreleased Rats tracks still waiting in the wings. Fifty years on, the Boomtown Rats still make audiences smile, jump around, and leave a venue buzzing. Not bad for a band that started out as an escape plan.

theboomtownratsofficial.com

Podcasts also available: Paul Rappaport, Clem Burke – Blondie, Eric Bell – Thin Lizzy, Will Sergeant – Echo & the Bunnymen, Martin Gordon – Sparks, Radio Stars

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

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Michael Schenker talks about new album Don’t Sell Your Soul, the second part of a trilogy that reclaims his story. Too many people think it all began with MSG in 1980, but Schenker is here to set the record straight, going back to his UFO years in the 70s when his riffs became the backbone of some of the greatest hard rock ever put to tape. He also explains why he walked away from the lure of working with Ozzy Osbourne, and why freedom and self-expression have always mattered more than money or fame. He describes why he rediscovered the songs from UFO’s classic live LP, Strangers in the Night, and the energy he chases when writing. This is Schenker reflecting on a lifetime of invention and the relentless pursuit of his own sound.

Michael Schenker website

Podcasts also available: Herman Rarebell – Scorpions, Chris Slade – AC/DC, Eric Bell – Thin Lizzy, John Mayall

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Carlos Alomar reflects on a career that spans decades of innovation and collaboration. He speaks about his early years performing with Luther Vandross, and his crucial role in David Bowie’s mid-70s D.A.M Trio, alongside drummer Dennis Davis and bassist George Murray.

Alomar recounts the creation of ‘Fame’ with Bowie and John Lennon, and the unorthodox recording sessions that shaped the Berlin Trilogy under the guidance of Brian Eno. He also discusses his contributions to Iggy Pop’s albums from the same period, offering insight into a fertile and experimental phase in rock history.

Beyond his work with Bowie, Alomar outlines a wide-ranging career as a session guitarist for major artists and his interest in technology, which led to one of the first solo music projects. The conversation turns to his upcoming Back to Berlin tour, a live show dedicated to the legacy of the D.A.M Trio and Bowie’s creative peak in the late 1970s.

carlosalomar.com

Podcasts also available: Gerry Leonard, Mark Plati, Earl Slick, Kevin Armstrong, Tony Fox Sales, Ken Scott, Woody Woodmansey, John Cambridge, John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson

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

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Lesley-Ann Jones talks about her new book Love, Freddie: Freddie Mercury’s Secret Life and Love. Far from a conventional biography, the book is drawn from Freddie Mercury’s private notebooks and the perspective of his newly discovered daughter, revealing a side of the Queen frontman the world has never seen.

Lesley-Ann shares stories of Freddie’s childhood in Zanzibar and India, the trauma that shaped him, and his single-minded drive to succeed in music. She discusses the complexities of his relationship with Mary Austin, the hidden bond he had with his daughter, and how the flamboyant public persona of Freddie Mercury masked the spiritual, private man Freddie Bulsara.

lesleyannjones.com

Podcasts also available: Tim Staffell: Smile, Morgan Fisher, Ian Hunter, Phil Manzanera

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As Del Amitri’s frontman, Justin Currie steered a band that slipped between categories: too sharp to be lumped in with soft rock, too direct to be claimed by the indie underground. From the wry social commentary of Nothing Ever Happens to the breezy pop of Roll to Me, their songs remain lodged in the public imagination, even as the group resisted easy definition.

With the release of his memoir The Tremolo Diaries, Justin offers a frank portrait of life on the road, of ageing within an industry that rarely looks back, and of coming to terms with Parkinson’s disease – a condition he writes about with candour, humour and occasional exasperation. Far from the mythology of rock’n’roll excess, the book and this discussion captures the monotony, absurdity and quiet resilience of touring life, told through the perspective of a musician whose sharpness as a lyricist translates onto the page.

The Tremolo Diaries: Life on the Road and Other Diseases

Podcasts also available: KT Tunstall, Karl Wallinger, Steven Page, Stephen Duffy

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The Zombies bassist-turned-songwriter Chris White opens the vault on a lifetime of music that stretches far beyond Odessey and Oracle. Chris revisits his work with Duffy Power, the lost sessions that became Hellhound, and the vast family-run archive project known as The Chris White Experience. He shares stories of Argent, Michael Fennelly and Tim Renwick, as well as the little-heard 1990 Zombies reunion record New World. White reflects on songwriting as “a muscle” that has kept him creating for six decades, highlighting the craft of one of British pop’s great unsung architects.

Duffy Power – Hell Hound, The Chris White Experience, The Zombies

Chris White: Inside the Vaults podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Chris White (2019), Colin Blunstone (2015), Colin Blunstone (2021), Rod Argent, Hugh Grundy, Bob Henrit, Russ Ballard, Michael Fennelly

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The post Chris White: Inside the Vaults – From The Zombies and Beyond appeared first on The Strange Brew .

When Jimi Hendrix grabbed a bass and jammed with Tomorrow in 1967, a young Steve Howe was right there. Decades later, he is still chasing fresh sounds. Steve talks about the near miss that could have seen him play in Pink Floyd, the acoustic ideas that shaped his solo work, and what lies ahead for YES. He also digs into his reworking of Bob Dylan’s songs and the return of two essential solo albums, Portraits of Bob Dylan and Natural Timbre.

yesworld.com

Steve Howe podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Steve Howe (2023), Steve Howe (2019), Allan Clarke (2023), PP Arnold, Annie Haslam, Bill Bruford, Alan White, Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes, Tony Kaye, Rick Wakeman

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 Steve Howe: Dylan, Hendrix & YES appeared first on The Strange Brew .