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The Strange Brew - artist stories behind the greatest music ever recorded: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Jason Barnard
Rock music from the mid 60s onwards - podcasts, features and much more
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- 6 days ago1h 41m
Strawberry Alarm Clock
George Bunnell, Mark Weitz, Howie Anderson, Gene Gunnels and Randy Seol discuss the history of Strawberry Alarm Clock. They cover the writing and recording of their 1967 number one single Incense and Peppermints, reuniting and making their new album, Where’s One? Sixty years on they continue to release new material that carries the sound and spirit of the psychedelic era. Further information Strawberry Alarm Clock website Big Stir Records Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Russ Giguere – The Association, Michelle Phillips – The Mamas & The Papas, Michael Fennelly – The Millennium, Crabby Appleton, Mark Andes – Spirit, Heart This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Strawberry Alarm Clock appeared first on The Strange Brew .
- 1 weeks ago1h 4m
Ron Griffiths – The Iveys/Badfinger
The Iveys came together in Swansea in the early 1960s, with Ron Griffiths on bass alongside guitarist Pete Ham. Bill Collins took over as manager, and it was during their residency at the Marquee that Beatles aide Mal Evans caught their set and carried a demo tape to Apple. Live tapes, and dozens of demos have since been unearthed from the Golders Green house where they wrote and rehearsed. Ray Davies also took an interest and recorded a handful of their songs. Tony Visconti also produced, including Ron’s ‘Dear Angie.’ For Badfinger’s ‘Come and Get It’ Paul McCartney read an interview where Ron complained the group got nothing from The Beatles, turned up at Golders Green with a demo, and told them to copy it exactly, no changes, this is the hit. At Abbey Road with McCartney producing, it was Ron who broke the rule with a Hendrix style bass run at the end of the take. McCartney kept it in. Not long after, a domestic row over late night noise waking his baby got Ron dropped from the group, right on the cusp of its biggest success. The tapes and demos have kept surfacing, and he’s now back on lead vocals for ‘Take Good Care of My Baby’ on the new album Just Look Inside The Cover – Songs of Pete Ham. Further information Support The Strange Brew Ron Griffiths podcast tracks Podcasts also available: Bob Jackson – Badfinger, Joey Molland – Badfinger, The Beatles and Apple, Tony Waddington, Almost Beatles Songs This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Ron Griffiths – The Iveys/Badfinger appeared first on The Strange Brew .
- 2 weeks ago1h 26m
Steve Tilston
Steve Tilston joins Jason Barnard for a tour through six decades of songwriting, picking thirteen tracks from across his career and talking through the stories behind them. Along the way he covers his early days on the London folk circuit, the frustrating experience of his second album on Transatlantic Records, and the decision to put out a record himself in 1976 when very few people were doing it. He also talks about the famous John Lennon letter, written by Lennon in 1971 after Tilston mused in a ZigZag magazine interview that fame and fortune might damage his songwriting, never delivered, and not seen by Tilston until decades later. The story eventually inspired the 2015 Hollywood film Danny Collins, with Al Pacino in the lead role. Plus collaborations with John Renbourn and Maggie Boyle, and his Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Original Song. Further information stevetilston.com / Bandcamp Steve Tilston podcast tracks Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Ashley Hutchings, Terry Reid, Tom Paxton, Martin Carthy, Peggy Seeger, Nick Drake: The Life This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Steve Tilston appeared first on The Strange Brew .
- 3 weeks ago34 min
Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles
Philip Norman returns to talk about Mr. Moonlight, his first book devoted entirely to Brian Epstein, and what emerges from decades of Beatles research focused through a single lens is a portrait more complex than the one most people think they know. Norman reveals the extraordinary story of how the Kray twins plotted to exploit Brian’s gambling addiction and seize control of The Beatles, the antisemitism and homophobia Brian faced even at the peak of his success, and new evidence around the circumstances of his death that raises serious questions about the official verdict. Philip also covers areas that too often gets overlooked: Brian’s family history, his time in the army and at drama school, his instinct for a hit record, and the way he shielded The Beatles from a fame that might otherwise have consumed them. The question Norman keeps returning to is the one that still stings: why, given everything he did, does Brian Epstein undervalued? Further information Philip Norman — Mr. Moonlight: Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Philip Norman on the Beatles, Philip Norman on John Lennon, Ray Ennis – The Swinging Blue Jeans, Mike McCartney’s Early Liverpool This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Brian Epstein and the Making of the Beatles appeared first on The Strange Brew .
- Jun 26, 20261h 20m
Martin Barre – live in conversation
Martin Barre is already playing when the evening begins. Recorded live at The CAT Club in December 2025, this is Barre in conversation with Jason Barnard. Hendrix turns up, and Jimmy Page, and a French chateau that put Jethro Tull in the bathroom for a week. So does a Grammy, won at home because the record label wouldn’t pay for flights. He also talks about his autobiography – wrote it four times. The first version was, by his own description, full of scores to settle. But he took all of it out. Further information martinbarre.com Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Martin Barre – 50 Years of Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson, Greg Spawton – Big Big Train, Dave Pegg – Fairport Convention This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Martin Barre – live in conversation appeared first on The Strange Brew .
- Jun 19, 202624 min
Otis Williams – The Temptations
Otis Williams discusses over six decades of The Temptations and their upcoming UK tour. Williams talks about moving from Texas to Detroit as a kid, catching Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers at the Fox Theater, and getting spotted by Berry Gordy at a record hop. He remembers the strings going onto ‘My Girl’ in 1964 and knowing straight away it would be a hit, a hunch confirmed by telegrams from The Beatles, The Supremes and Berry Gordy. He looks back on their first UK dates in the mid-60s on the Tamla Motown package tour and how hits were chosen at Motown. There’s also a look at the shift to psychedelic soul with ‘Cloud Nine’ in 1968, plus his thoughts on keeping the group together through nearly thirty line-up changes. Further information The Temptations Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Dion, Bettye LaVette, Steve Cropper, PP Arnold This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms The post Otis Williams – The Temptations appeared first on The Strange Brew .
- Jun 13, 20261h 27m
Anthony Phillips, Genesis, A Life In Music
Anthony Phillips, founding Genesis guitarist, joins Jason Barnard to talk about the formation of Genesis, his departure, and his latest album, Gemini – Pieces For Piano. He traces the Genesis story back to Charterhouse and the summer of 1967, when he first heard a 12-string guitar. Peter Gabriel’s theatrical stage persona came about through necessity, filling dead time while Phillips and Mike Rutherford fought with temperamental instruments. The jump from From Genesis To Revelation to Trespass has always looked abrupt; Phillips explains it simply: he and Rutherford spent the eight months between recording and release writing constantly, with ‘Dusk,’ ‘White Mountain’ and ‘Stagnation’ sketched out before the debut had even flopped. Then there’s the stage fright. Not ordinary nerves but sudden mid-performance blanks that came on after glandular fever. He was eighteen and never told anyone. There’s also a brief exchange with Nick Drake, playing the same indifferent university crowds. When Drake learned Phillips had written ‘Let Us Now Make Love,’ he said one word back: “Dangerous.” The conversation also covers his classical studies, the troubled release of The Geese and the Ghost, and writing the title track of Gemini. Further information Anthony Phillips website, Gemini – Pieces For Piano Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Anthony Phillips (2019), Tony Banks (2024), Tony Banks (2019), Steve Hackett (2022), Steve Hackett (2020), Bill Bruford, Chester Thompson This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi The post Anthony Phillips, Genesis, A Life In Music appeared first on The Strange Brew .
- Jun 5, 20261h 7m
John Leckie on Be Bop Deluxe and the Making of Sunburst Finish
John Leckie is one of British rock’s greatest producers, who started out as a tape operator at Abbey Road in 1970, thrown immediately into sessions for George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band. This interview, conducted live at The CAT Club in September 2025, focuses on Sunburst Finish, the Be Bop Deluxe album that gave Leckie his first official production credit, and covers both the making of the album and his creative partnership with Bill Nelson. Additionally, Leckie gives a first-hand account of Syd Barrett’s unannounced appearance during the Wish You Were Here sessions, an encounter he stumbled into while raiding Pink Floyd’s beer fridge, only for Roger Waters to stop the tape and ask who the stranger standing next to him was. The Q&A session draws out further stories about working with The La’s, the Stone Roses’ debut, and how XTC – who idolised Bill Nelson, led Leckie to leave EMI and go independent. Further information Support The Strange Brew Podcasts also available: Bill Nelson – Be Bop Deluxe, Rob Chapman on Syd Barrett, Ken Scott on The Beatles, Bowie, Alan Parsons This podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google apps and all usual platforms If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi The post John Leckie on Be Bop Deluxe and the Making of Sunburst Finish appeared first on The Strange Brew .
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Rock music from the mid 60s onwards - podcasts, features and much more
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