This podcast is only temporary

The new series of This podcast is only temporary tells the story of the writing and recording of Rave on Andy White, released on 10 October 1986.

Episode 4 is all about Reality Row. Andy is brainstorming how it came together and this involves more on the lost counties of Ulster, how to play country bass, the immanence of nuclear war in the mid-80s, Thatcher, Reagan, Spitting Image, Bob Dylan, T.S. Eliot and the Crown Bar. 

He tells the story of the Reality Row video directed by Charles McDougall and you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/NL_oqlh-5jo?si=YbvKOZmCMuuvQHev

You can see Caramel Crunch's designs on Andy's Instagram here:
https://www.instagram.com/andyohyeah

The band show mentioned is in the Black Box, Belfast, 10 January, 2027. It will be announced this Friday here and it would be great if you could come.

"I hope you are enjoying this series. There are digressions. There are mistakes. I am not leaning on that Stop sign. I am bluffing about Venn diagrams. There are diversions. Roadblocks, checkpoints and, all the time, the enchanted way on which Rave on happened. In my head, in that field and, in the case of Reality Row, a wild borderline town.

AW 19 October 2026.

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The white vinyl version of Rave on is available on Andy's Bandcamp or from Last Night From Glasgow: 

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/andy-white-rave-on

 Podcast artwork: Sebi White

The new series of This podcast is only temporary tells the story of the writing and recording of Rave on Andy White, released on 10 October 1986.

In the third episode Andy tells the story of what he calls "sort of love songs that might not be love songs and are pretending not to be love songs but really are",  Vision of You, Tuesday Apocalypse #13, I Will Wait and Rembrandt Hat. Though mostly Vision of You.

It's a freewheeling journey as we hear about an 80s remix, a river in summer, Alice in Wonderland, fairytales & a sampled saxophone band, as well as Andy's thoughts on two manifestations of a song, 

"There is the song that lives in the air, grows and changes and often repeats itself in your life while simultaneously having its own life and going off to become friends with other people – and then there is the recording of the song which is a snapshot of the song at that time and in that place. This one gets to live on an album forever, travelling the world to turn up in more places than the writer could ever imagine. And when people write and tell you their stories about the song, it gets even more interesting. Oh, and then there's the Liverpool boat ...

Thanks for coming down the road and onto the ferry with me in this series. There will be another next week, see you then."

AW 12 October 2026

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The white vinyl version of Rave on is available on Andy's Bandcamp or from Last Night From Glasgow: 

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/andy-white-rave-on

 Podcast artwork: Sebi White

The new series of This podcast is only temporary tells the story of the writing and recording of Rave on Andy White, released on 10 October 1986.

"The stream of consciousness continues, starting off on Great Victoria Street again and this time talking about first albums and origin stories. A lot of bands meet at school or they live in the next street. Rod McVey and I met in the school band and yes he lived in the next street. 

I was on spoken word, bass and drum machine but soon an acoustic guitar flew out of a window and we were off. The poems turned into songs and this was the Religious Persuasion EP, the first four songs that started the Rave on recording sessions. 

If you'd like to see Randalstown there's a tiny bit in the Religious Persuasion video:
https://youtu.be/nZCO0W05nCU?si=_QJNet52t7X7sDgE

BBC Northern Ireland took me to where the acoustic guitar flew out of a window: https://youtu.be/1JDq0F2Pwqk?si=EblFIn6shXF7n0nO

I'll try to tell you who was there and some of the background to the sessions. We were recording an album in the era of Duran Duran. Thatcher was in Number 10. We were using 80s gear but we didn't want it to be an 80s pop record. We were recording in a field in County Antrim not a West London studio with the record company calling in to say hi. Now listen on & thanks for being here."

AW 5 October 2026

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The white vinyl version of Rave on is available on Andy's Bandcamp or from Last Night From Glasgow: 

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/andy-white-rave-on

 Podcast artwork: Sebi White

The new series of This podcast is only temporary tells the story of the writing and recording of Rave on Andy White, released on 10 October 1986.

"Early this year I was asked to come in to the BBC in Belfast to record an interview about Rave on. I got off the train at Botanic, put on my headphones and found the album online. Turned the volume to maximum and pressed play. Wow. We made this?

It was raining as I crossed Botanic Avenue with its same-as-it-ever-was tombstone charity-shop chic & new-style international fast-food glamour. The rain got harder as the chorus to The Soldier's Sash started with the kids voices yelling "wheee" and I dodged the lights, jay-walking Shaftesbury Square where the stone angels have been relocated and past where the Good Vibrations record store used to be.

Reaching the BBC I stood on Ormeau Avenue listening to the sound of us leaning on the tape machine at the end of The Soldier's Sash and then Vision of You starting up. Thought I needed to tell you the story of how this album came together. 

Skip to today. Recording this first episode I tried to set the scene. It's Ireland and there is history involved. It's Belfast, so everything is even more complicated. Knowing I may have got facts wrong I finished recording and phoned Dad who told me to check the news. Right there in 2026. A protest about an Orange march. A stand-off. Plus ça change. Fasten your seatbelts for the Rave on ride and, always, thanks for coming." 

AW 27 September 2026

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The white vinyl version of Rave on is available on Andy's Bandcamp or from Last Night From Glasgow: 

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/andy-white-rave-on

 Podcast artwork: Sebi White

Andy White is back to tell us the story of the writing and recording of his debut album Rave on. 40 years since its first release and the songs still smash their way out of the speakers in as unavoidable a manner as possible. This was the 1980s, the Troubles in Northern Ireland nearing the end of their second decade and Stock Aitken and Waterman and 'Rio' providing the soundtrack for Thatcher's Britain. 

Cue Rave on Andy White, recorded in a field in County Antrim. On the cover, the Belfast songwriter sat on the back seat of a Volkswagen Beetle with an acoustic guitar on his knees. It looked like a Bob Dylan album and sounded like nothing else sounded like at the time. It was rocking, intense, punk, folk and country. It was Irish but it was Northern Irish.

This is the sixth series of This podcast is only temporary and Episode 1 is published on Monday September 28.

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The white vinyl version of Rave on is available on Andy's Bandcamp or from Last Night From Glasgow: 

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/andy-white-rave-on

 Podcast artwork: Sebi White

This is the season finale. Or is it? Something of a cliffhanger from Andy as he wraps up the story of the writing and recording of his 1994 classic album 'Destination Beautiful' by taking us through Learning to Cry, I Couldn't Leave You and – yes – The Government of Love. Side Two of the album is a very personal story and ends up with a roll call and a celebration. 

Andy also lets us know that he has a new poetry book out this June, in time for his appearance at the Belfast Book Festival. Here, he will be in conversation with Northern Irish writer Lucy Caldwell as well as launching the book at a reading in the Seamus Heaney Centre. He then heads south to read at Chapters Bookstore in Dublin for the June edition of The Write Stuff, and to Sellers and Newel in Toronto and the Ironwood in Calgary.

Andy will be playing a solo performance of the album on his YouTube Channel in the next couple of weeks. To get an invite to the premiere, just subscribe to the channel and we will write when the date is settled.

For the record, on the record are: Rod McVey - keyboards, Mudd Wallace - electric guitar, Brendan McGarrity - drums, Dave Early - percussion. Rod and Andy produced, Mudd engineered at Homestead Studios, Randalstown. 

If you have enjoyed the series, please share, and subscribe wherever you find your podcasts. Andy writes,

"Special thanks to Sebastian for the artwork, Ian and all at LNFG in Glasgow for reissuing the LP, and my tiny but much-loved band of friends & listeners who write in every week with words of encouragement (and reminding me I need to put the next one out). You are all life members of only government that means anything at all. Thank you!"

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The white vinyl version of Rave on is available on Andy's Bandcamp or from Last Night From Glasgow: 

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/andy-white-rave-on

 Podcast artwork: Sebi White

In Episode 7 Andy starts off by talking about connections between his poems and songs and how (and why) the lyrics of some songs start off as poems, or lines or sections from poems. His first book of poetry The Music of What Happens was published in 1999, and in it you can find poems directly linked to songs on Destination Beautiful. Looking for Friends is one, and he goes on to talk about Ciao Baby, which is another. 

The poems he reads sections from are: 'Home', 'I'm in love with this city', 'The street symphony of Napoli', and 'Christmas in Italy'. The album with readings and live band performances recorded at Real World (and released at the same time as The Music of What Happens) is Speechless. 

Andy touches on many subjects including metaphor and simile (is this what one of his classes is like?) and rock'n'roll stories of the Italian tour on which he wrote Ciao Baby. It's a fun episode, and he plays tracks from the recently released first LP edition of Destination Beautiful. The version of Ciao Baby you hear in the intro and outro of this series is from the 5-track EP of unreleased and hard-to-find mixes available through Glasgow company LNFG.

Finally, he reveals why poetry is on his mind – his latest book will be published at the start of June – and promises to update us with details before the end of the series.

If you've listened to Series 1–4, welcome back. If you are a newcomer to the podcast, do check out previous episodes in which Andy goes track by track through his most recently released albums, telling stories about the songs and playing unreleased studio mixes that you will only find here. 

Happy listening and see you next week for what may be the final episode. We can never tell how many songs AW is going to get through until he sends us the recording!

As always, if you are enjoying the series, please share, and subscribe wherever you find your podcasts. 

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The white vinyl version of Rave on is available on Andy's Bandcamp or from Last Night From Glasgow: 

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/andy-white-rave-on

 Podcast artwork: Sebi White

Episode 6 of the new series of This podcast is only temporary and Andy finally gets round to keeping his promise to describe the writing and recording of more than one song from his 1994 album Destination Beautiful, recently release on vinyl for the first time by Glasgow company LNFG.

The first LP edition of Destination Beautiful is a bright explosion of positivity and comes in blue or yellow vinyl. We are talking Bluebell Blue or Daffodil Yellow. 

In this episode Andy manages to avoid telling the whole story of She Doesn't Want You Any More and He's Out There but does open up these intimate songs for us – and plays the guitar line from one and a previously unheard monitor mix of the other. The musicians he is talking about are Dave Early who played percussion on the album and Mudd Wallace who engineered and played electric guitar. 

If you've listened to Series 1–4, welcome back. If you are a newcomer to the podcast, do check out previous episodes in which Andy goes track by track through his most recently released albums, telling stories about the songs and playing unreleased studio mixes that you will only find here. 

Happy listening and see you next week for further adventures. If you are enjoying the series, please share, and subscribe wherever you find your podcasts. 

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The white vinyl version of Rave on is available on Andy's Bandcamp or from Last Night From Glasgow: 

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/andy-white-rave-on

 Podcast artwork: Sebi White

Episode 5 of the new series of This podcast is only temporary and Andy has reached the writing and recording of Punks Outside the Secret Police. It is just after the fall of the Wall, and involves adventures in Berlin and Czechoslovakia. The video Andy talks about, shot in Prague, is for Palaceful of Noise. 

Palaceful of Noise was the first single from Andy's previous album Out There and the story of the filming of the video, directed by Richie Smyth and produced by Fiona Whelan, is the story of Punks Outside the Secret Police, which appeared on Andy's 1994 album Destination Beautiful. 

Originally released on CD and cassette, Glasgow company LNFG have just released the first LP edition of Destination Beautiful. The album is a bright blue and yellow explosion of positivity and these are the vinyl colours from which you can choose.

In this episode Andy plays a previously unreleased mix of Punks Outside the Secret Police from the EP included in the "2 x vinyl" LNFG option and reveals how it differs from the album version. He also mentions some well-known-at-the-time Belfast graffiti – one included in his poem Up Down, starting "We will never ...", and another that said, enigmatically and ultimately inscrutably, "Sam Todd For God". The other video Andy tells you Richie directed was The Fly by U2.

If you've listened to Series 1–4, welcome back. If you are a newcomer to the podcast, do check out previous episodes in which Andy goes track by track through his most recently released albums, telling stories about the songs and playing unreleased studio mixes that you will only find here. 

Happy listening, see you next week for further adventures and, as Edge might say, don't stop.

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The white vinyl version of Rave on is available on Andy's Bandcamp or from Last Night From Glasgow: 

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/andy-white-rave-on

 Podcast artwork: Sebi White

In Episode 4 of the new series of This podcast is only temporary Andy tells us the story of the writing and recording of Many's the Time from Destination Beautiful, his classic 1994 album. 

It all starts with a knock on the door in Dún Laoghaire. Liam Ó Maonlaí has invited Tim Finn to stay. Andy answers and Tim and he kick off their friendship listening to a track and then ordering pints in a bar by the sea …

Originally released on CD and cassette, Glasgow company LNFG* have pressed up the first LP edition of Destination Beautiful and it's now on release. The album is a bright blue and yellow explosion of positivity and those are vinyl colours you can choose from - take your pick!

The other two versions of Many's the Time played in this episode are: the ALT version which wasn't on the 1995 album altitude but is included on the 2022 reissue here and was taken from the cassette Andy talks about here.

Tim's version mysteriously adds brackets and is called Many's the Time (In Dublin) you can find it here. Listen to how different the structure is in all three versions. - and on the original there is the whole "room at the inn" part at the end. There is also a live recording on the ALT album bootleg, the rarest of all CDs.

On Andy's version, Rod McVey plays keyboards (including that wonderful harmonium intro), Mudd Wallace is on electric guitar, and Brendan McGarrity on drums.

If you've listened to Series 1–4, welcome back. If you are a newcomer to the podcast, do check out previous episodes in which Andy goes track by track through his most recently released albums, telling stories about the songs and playing unreleased studio mixes that you will only find here. 

Please share and subscribe wherever you find your podcasts – and see you next week. For more than one song? Very possibly …

* Apart from Dancing Queen being referenced in the song, and ALT being named by their initials as ABBA were, what's the other reference to the poptastic Swedish combo in this episode (and all episodes this series)? 

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The white vinyl version of Rave on is available on Andy's Bandcamp or from Last Night From Glasgow: 

https://shop.lastnightfromglasgow.com/products/andy-white-rave-on

 Podcast artwork: Sebi White