Musical Youth
It’s been such a joy and a privilege to steer these two projects to the point where, today, we can finally announce them. ‘Mash Down Birmingham: The Early Recordings of Musical Youth’ and ‘Natrus’ are available to pre-order from today. Also available will also be two ten-inch dub plates with artwork exclusive to these releases featuring songs from each of the records. Together with the brilliant award-winning radio producer Laura Druce, I’ve also made a two-part podcast called ‘Mash Down Birmingham: The Musical Youth Story’ – part one of which is available here. Although Musical Youth weren’t together all that long, their story is one that covers a twenty year period, beginning in Kingston in 1965 and culminating in Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch. I’ll also be popping up on Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour today at 1pm talking about these releases.
Kirsty Wark
In this very special episode, Pete Paphides meets Newsnight’s Kirsty Wark as she ponders the influence of David Bowie’s ‘Kooks’ on her own parenting style, looks back on her recent infamous encounter with Bobby Gillespie and also reveals exactly what Margaret Thatcher said to her after their infamously bruising encounter.
The Raincoats
Forty years after the release of their phenomenal debut album, Pete Paphides meets Gina Birch and Ana da Silva from incalculably influential post-punk legends, The Raincoats.
Tanita Tikaram
To mark the release of her career-spanning anthology To Drink The Rainbow, Tanita Tikaram talks to Pete Paphides about her fascination with the female voice and guides him through 12 vocal performances that continue to inspire her.
Stephen Duffy & Stephen Street
To mark the release of Stephen Duffy’s acclaimed 1997 masterpiece I Love My Friends on Needle Mythology Records, Pete Paphides meets Stephen along with the record’s producer Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur).
Sarathy Korwar
Sarathy Korwar talks to Pete Paphides about the explosive synergy of influences that inform his brilliant new album, to be released on July 26th. Inspired by Indian classical music, Sufi devotionals, modern jazz and the nascent rap scenes of Mumbai and New Delhi, More Arriving is one of the most thrilling records of 2019, drawing on a range of guest artists to create a frequently breathtaking sonic document of these febrile times.
Ian Broudie (Part 1)
In the first part of an extensive career-spanning interview with Pete Paphides, Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie talks about his years as a key player in the Liverpool post-punk scene, first as a member of Big In Japan (alongside Holly Johnson, Bill Drummond & Budgie) and Care (with Paul Simpson) – and then as producer to the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen and The Pale Fountains. In Part 2, Ian goes on to talk about his “pop star” years with the Lightning Seeds and his beautiful 2004 solo album Tales Told – the joint first release on the new Needle Mythology label, out on May 31, 2019.
Ian Broudie
(Part 2)
In the second part of this career-spanning interview, Ian talks about his years with the Lightning Seeds: the journey from Pure –a song he didn’t even intend to be released – to a string of chart successes such as Sense, Life of Riley, Lucky You, Marvellous, Sugar Coated Iceberg and, of course, Three Lions. He also talks about the years spent regrouping after his skirmish with pop stardom: his beautiful 2004 solo album Tales Told and the circumstances which prompted its creation, and his role in the emergence of kindred Liverpudlian spirits The Coral.
Neil Hannon
Ahead of The Divine Comedy’s excellent new album Office Politics, Neil Hannon reflects upon the breakthrough success of his group’s 1996 album Casanova and also revisits a formative release from his childhood, The Human League’s Dare!
Fran Healy
For the second Needle Mythology podcast, Fran Healy from Travis talks to Pete Paphides about his group’s massively successful second album The Man Who and also about the album that had a formative influence on his own songwriting, Joni Mitchell’s Blue.
Paddy McAloon
This interview with Prefab Sprout’s Paddy McAloon is the first of a new series of interviews in which Pete Paphides talks about beautiful records, usually but not always with the people who made them.