Mind your Ps and Qs - it's Radio Podrophenia

That's 'P' for Podrophenia and 'Q' for the 17th edition of the Podrophonic Alphabet: Queen, Quintessence, Quicksilver Messenger Service and the Quantic Soul Orchestra - NONE of which will be featuring on this month's playlist. 

So who are the Qs getting a run out in the July Podrophenia? Tune in from 9pm (Southend time) at Radio Novalujon for the full reveal. But we will be bringing you - glam/electro covers, homo-erotic-jazz-disco, Hungarian Funk, a quintet and a quarteto

We may even be joined by a special guest from 8 Rounds Rapid, and will be updating you on all the latest #Whereswoodcock news

Glasgow

Atlantic Ocean

Malmö

Eight Rounds Rapid new single 'Writeabout' - out August the 9th, The first release on Podrophenia Records

Behold, boys, girls and inbetweeners: as in three week's time. Friday August the 9th. Eight Rounds Rapid release their first seven inch single. A limited edition run - and our debut recording on the Podrophenia label. So what do you need to know ahead of the ninth.....

Who are Eight Rounds Rapid
Southend's rising stars and estuary bred rock ‘n’ rollers, filtering Dr Feelgood Thames-Delta grooves through post-punk punch and new wave clout.

Where might I have seen 8RR 
Supporting Wilko Johnson on his Farewell Tour,
Supporting Thee Faction.
At Podrophenia live nights

Where might I have heard 8RR 
Previous single (Channel Swimmer) was played by…….
Mark Radcliffe (6Music and Radio 2)
Gary Crowley (BBC Radio London)
Radio Podrophenia


What do I need to know about the single. 
It's a limited edition 7" vinyl release - and the only format that Writeabout will ever be available on. The flip side Steve is long-haul live crowd pleaser and fan favourite.


When can I get hold of a copy
August the 9th. The Writeabout/Steve launch night is a free 8RR gig at Southend's most Rock 'n' roll local - The Railway Hotel. With support from The Tuppenny Bunters


What label is it on
Podrophenia Records- after five years as a radio show/podcast - with exclusive appearances from The Dandy Warols, Cornershop, Marco Pirroni - and endorsement from David Bowie - Podrophenia branches out into a new format. A record Label

You can get an advance earful of Steve in this vid. Now you know where, when and how to get yourself a copy - come on down on the Ninth of August.. IN FACT SIGN UP BELOW IF YOU'RE THINKING OF BOUNCING DOWN

Eight Rounds Rapid/Tupenny Bunters/Podrophenia - at The Railway

 

Village Greenery 2013: VG Tips - but who are the special guests?

Hurrah and hats aloft for Metal's 2013 Village Green Festival. And what a compendium of mixed-mediums and musical doings are in store for Saturday's seaside shindiggery..

From out-of-towners: The Skints, Skinny Lister, DB Cohen  and the mighty Mika Bomb



To local heroes: David Woodcock, Plantman, White Devil's Cause, the Lucky Strikes.
and The Wobbly Lamps with Zoë Howe on drums



To Lieghterati style music and movement: Middle Age Spread, Sundown Arts and Old Trunk… 

Concluding the day on the main stage is a mystery special guest - but who? The whispers are rattling about town like washers in a charity box with names from Wilko to Bowie being bounced abou

The full fat programme of events is viewable here , downloadable as a PDF. Or keep in touch via Twitter.

Although, this year's event is still all for free it's ticketed via wristband - which I believe are all gone, excepting a limited amount released on the day for early birds, and available on the gate...

Thumb through the the Village Green previous back issues here - or review the 2012 highlights in HD below....

Radio Podrophenia - Summer Holidays

Ahoy Shipmates - for the June edition of Radio Podrophenia, while Dave Jazzy Dawson was on his travels - Piley and myself had a Novalujon vacation and were piped aboard Southend's newest and nattiest station Shipful of Bombs for a one off special, with Kate Johnston keeping us on course..

The theme is Summer/Holidays/Seaside - and we've a twelve track playlist picked and pulled together from all (well, mostly) listener picks - and a special guest appearance from Pellicci legend Jukebox Jimmy (above) - as well as an airing of Dave Woodcock's Blow Up debut single - Same Things... (as heard on Steve Lamcq, Radio London and XFM) as well as the exclusive reveal of Eight Rounds Rapid's second A side -  the flip of Writeabout...

Fill your waders with our Podrophonic Beano, as an mp3, via iTunes or stream on your mobile device here

Or listen in below.....

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Vive Le Bauhaus - that second Peter Murphy interview in full.....

So after two weeks of hair-tearing, hoop-jumping, faulty Macs, missed deadlines and infinitely patient PAs - Pal Pete finally came up with goods and popped his replies into my electronic inbox - at literally the 11th hour.

But *breathes and relaxes* it was worth the wait - as his answers are deliciously written and Peter is on perfect form relaying tales of a Catholic upbringing, what BBC engineers clad in lab-coats made of ver 'Haus at their first Beeb sessions - and, talk of his due-soon album produced by youth

It's all browsable in the latest issue Vive Le Rock - six pages of pale and interesting action with original eighties Rocky Horror Show. Alongside a spectacularly accurate take on Bauhaus from Louise Ann Oldroyd, and insights on the band and their cadaverous body of work from Cathi Unsworth, Syd Moore, Paul Tunkin and Tronik Youth...



You'll also find me contributing to the Guida interview and a couple reviews in the back pages: TV Smith and this Northern Soul comp with two related vids on the DVD - Function at the Junction, and The Way of the Crowd...

A Kick in the Skype. That First Pete Murphy interview in full.....

Two weeks of polite digital bustling and some shuffling of email exchanges between industry types, personal assistants and Vive Le Rockers have finally staked us a date for an interview with the high priest of Goth Rock and overlord of the ebony underworld - Peter Murphy. Featuring as part of a hefty retrospective in support the Bauhaus back catalogue, an overview of his solo years.and spotlighting his current '35 years of Bauhaus' tour,

The time-slot is sorted and 'Skype call' red-ringed on the calendar: Sunday 12th May, 7pm GMT

Someone in the know had advised me 'tread carefully he can a bit prickly'. A subtle check with his PA the day before - 'anything I should avoid' (alluding to his meth-based DUI arrest) gets me a 'No we're all good' reply.

So, Sunday 12th May, 7pm GMT. 'Skype call'

I'm settled in with three pages of deep-reaching, heavily researched questions. Dial up, click, connect - and we're away with the tomb-like tones of Peter Murphy a'rumbling from the laptop..........

ME: How's the tour going

PM: Are you calling from London

ME: No Southend

*connection drops - the Skype's gone out*

PM: - This will probably happen again. Oh I used to come there as a child. So....

*connection drops* ( he knows, you know)

ME: I was thinking, for some additional perspective on the piece - of bringing in noir/horror authors (Cathi Unsworth and Syd Moore both Bauhaus fans)  for their memories and experiences of the band

PM: Who's writing the piece you or them

ME: Oh, I am

PM *snapping* I am neither a horror nor a noir artist' - says the artist currently touring '35 years of Bauhaus' his debut single being Bela Lugosi's Dead, and star of the bite-night pics The Hunger and Twilight - I think we're done here

*Drops the call. Click. Gone* Time 7:05 GMT

A kick in the Skype. Press eject and give me the twerp
.
It could have been my imagination, a fault on the line perhaps, or even some rogue electronic crackle - but I'm almost certain I heard a crack of thunder, a puff of sulphur smoke and the manic flapping of bat wings as Count Murphy made his exit stage left?.

Either way, bagsy I get to review his new due-soon solo album please..

  

What The Folk - Micheal Chapman returns to Southend tonight

From postcards from Pellicci's to postcards from Southend and Scarborough

Rewind backawhiles, to January 2010... and you'll find me getting into a wide eyed (boy from freecloud) froth over Michael Chapman and the proto Bowie-tone colouring the sound of his 1970 album Fully Qualified Survivor - a tone brought to the FQS sessions by the recording debut of Mick Ronson..

The result of some stealthy info-digging since first hearing FQS - reveals an entire web threading the Chapman-first/Bowie-later connection together, with a repertory of Chapman's accomplices and session men being absorbed into Bowie's orbit.  From 69 and Jon Kane covering Chapman's Soulful Lady (produced by Tony Visconti)  to Gus Dudgeon of Rainmaker and FQS (later of Space Oddity, MWSTW, Ziggy), Paul Buckmaster of Rainmaker and FQS ( also Space Oddity, unreleased Man Who Fell to Earth OST) to Chapman's drummer Richie Dharma later appearing on Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side - and of  course - Mick Ronson's The Rats (from Hull), becoming Bowie's Spiders (from Mars).

So what's the point of this see-saw style, name-spotting? Well, Chapman returns to Southend for an appearance as part of the 2013 Leigh Folk Festival, which I believe, is his first live outing in this area since playing two local gigs with Bowie in 1970...

The tickets are booked, the bikes have been readied for a cycle to the venue - and who knows I may even try and grab a quick natter with Pal Chapman to get his take on the push-me—pull-you tale.

If you haven't backtracked to the original Chappers/Ronson post - lend a quizical ear below

Click here for this year's full-folk breakdown

60 Minute Man: Jukebox Jimmy's postcard from Pellicci's.....

Artwork by Eleanor Crow  first found at the always excellent Spitalfields Life site

With the theme for our June edition of Radio Podrophenia being summer/holidays/seaside - Piley and I are having ourselves a staycation. As in, we're still banging about with the usual natter and chat this Thursday from 9, but are having a beano to Southend's newest radio station Shipful of Bombs, and asking our Podrophonic listening pals to choose the tracks and tunes.

Pitched into the playlist is a new to me treat, and hit in August 68 from Robert John - hand picked by Pellicci legend Jukebox Jimmy.



In fact, Jim has kindly recorded a 60 minute podcast pulling into play a stunning run of summer sounds from The Mamas and the papas to the Goffin and King songbook, and dropping in sixties soul and perfect seventies. pop

Fill your boots below. And then backtrack to the JBJ's exclusive musical overview here

Jukebox Jimmy - a Podrophonic Postcard from Pellicci's



And behold as Our Man in The North - John Medd, nips in for a nibble at London's most classic cafe..

For more recommend reading - try and earn yourself a spotter's badge. seeing who you can spy in this set of Pellicci portraits....

So, if you're free this Thursday at nine come and pipe yourselves aboard at Radio Podrophenia anchored up for one month only at Shipful of Bombs

Maybe just for the weekend, we could get out of Southend - take in a change of view...

So what's been bubbling up over at the House of Blow Up? Long haul PM favourites Baltic Fleet were on the bill for the opening night of Yoko Ono's Meltdown last Friday. Playing two sessions - an early ambient/downtempo drift from 6pm, with a bulkier, beatier, bruiser of a do at around 9:30

A rotation of roaring performances that pulled in a playlist from both albums and had Bloomberg describing the Baltics as 'the psychedelic mid-point between Joy Division and Daft Punk'

Personally, I can't wait to see them belting out their unique brand of electrickery to a field full of festival-heads bouncing about to those Baltic beats.

On Tuesday the 18th June - Dave Woodock a Southender you may have read about on this blog first (or perhaps heard on our Podrophenia outings) released his debut single Same Things on the Blow Up label. An absolute stomper of a song, which two years back was my intro to the Boy Wonder that is - Dave Woodcock. But don't just take my word for what a walloper of a tune it is - behold the review from swish-hipsters at Brandish who claim...

Same Things reinvents Brit Pop, but in a good way, a wonderful distillation of everything that is great about quirky English pop music.

Same Things can be downloaded for free right here (and listen out for the line where this blog heading is lifted from)



Hang on a mo' - who's this ol' schmoozer hanging off of Sean Lennon

Art Rocks

Doodle a red ring around next Monday! As, in the tradition of Mighty Marvel Team-Ups we unite the Pouch of Douglas and Podrophenia to bring you ..... Pouchophenia.

A mixed medium of drinking, dancing and doodling and one of many events gathering together to form the Leigh Art Trail -

Come on down for sketching, shaking. sipping and special guests at The Ship - it's all free...details and
doings are hereabouts