The Strange Brew - artist stories behind the greatest music ever recorded

Gerry McAvoy thought Rory Gallagher and his brother Donal were just supporting a couple of fellow Irishmen when they came to see Deep Joy play in London. He realised eventually that Rory may have been sizing up him and the drummer as a rhythm section. Gerry was 19 when he joined, and he played with Rory until 1991. He tells Jason Barnard about being called back to the studio at half past one in the morning after a gig, Roger Glover objecting to the band’s beer before sessions on Calling Card, and, in his telling, Rory going back to a three-piece after seeing the Sex Pistols in San Francisco. He also explains why nobody in Band of Friends tries to play Rory’s solos note for note.

This is a new edit of a 2022 interview reinstated under the Second Brew series.

Further information

Band of Friends

Gerry McAvoy podcast tracks

Support The Strange Brew

Podcasts also available: Dónal Gallagher, Jimmy Webb, Martin Barre – Jethro Tull – live in conversation, John Steel on 60 years of The Animals

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

The post Gerry McAvoy on Rory Gallagher appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Dónal Gallagher knew Rory better than anyone, as his brother and a close companion throughout his career. In Edged in Blue: A Rock ’n’ Roll Odyssey with Rory Gallagher, he draws on a lifetime of memories, from their childhood in Ireland and Rory’s years with Taste to his solo career, the night he went to Rotterdam to audition for the Rolling Stones, and the punishing schedule that took its toll on his health. Dónal talks to Jason Barnard about the man behind the guitar, Rory’s career highlights and his place in Irish music and rock history.

Further information

Edged in Blue: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Odyssey with Rory Gallagher

Support The Strange Brew

Podcasts also available: Michael Schenker, Pete Briquette – The Boomtown Rats, Steve Howe on Dylan, Hendrix & YES, Marquee: The Story of the World’s Greatest Music Venue

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

The post Dónal Gallagher on Rory Gallagher appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent of The Zombies join Jason Barnard ahead of the Begin Here Festival in St. Albans, which starts on Friday 30 October. It will be Rod’s first time playing live in over two years.

They also look back at meeting at 15, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame night, how She’s Not There came together, and George Harrison’s verdict on Juke Box Jury. Colin gives details of Continue Here, out on 31 October on Beechwood Park Records, and a fourth archive collection planned to capture the end of The Zombies and beginning of Colin Blunstone and Argent’s music.

Further information

Begin Here Festival

Support The Strange Brew

Podcasts also available: Chris White – The Zombies – Inside The Vaults, Hugh Grundy – The Zombies, Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, Russ Ballard

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

The post Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Doctor and the Medics had one of the unlikeliest number ones of the 1980s thanks in part to an ambulance their record company sent to Radio 1 and then it spent the next forty years refusing to disappear. Jason Barnard talks to frontman Doctor, Reverend Dr. Clive Jackson, about new album The Optimal Mystic and about pretty much everything else: the A&R man who wrecked Andy Partridge’s snare sound on Miracle of the Age, writing lyrics for The Damned, the failed Welsh snail farm, and getting left off Liverpool’s number one list and putting that right.

Further information

This episode features early mixes of ‘Forever and Ever’ and ‘Dancing In My Hand’ from new album The Optimal Mystic. It is free to mailing-list subscribers via doctorandthemedics.com

Support The Strange Brew

Podcasts also available: John Leckie on XTC and The Dukes of Stratosphear, Matt Piucci – Rain Parade, The Vapors, Paul Cook – Sex Pistols

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

The post Doctor and the Medics appeared first on The Strange Brew .

The Residents don’t give interviews, so when they have something to say, Homer Flynn says it for them. He is their art director, their spokesperson and part of the Cryptic Corporation that has looked after them since 1976. Eskimo is currently on the road. The 1979 album, with its invented vocals and wind treated as seriously as music, reaches the stage this autumn with inflatable icebergs, projections and five new songs.

Homer tells me how a 20-minute slot at a San Francisco event grew into a full production. He explains why the first costume idea, a giant silver Christmas ornament with a top hat, was talked out of existence by costume makers, and how the eyeball that replaced it became The Residents’ symbol. We also get into the Mole Show and the Emulator sampler, the Freak Show comic and CD-ROM, the 100 archive boxes Hardy Fox kept, and The Lonely Wound, the new Residents album Homer says is in its final stages.

Further information

The Residents website, Eskimo Live

Support The Strange Brew

Podcasts also available: Wolfgang Flür – Kraftwerk, Robin Scott – M, Rat Scabies (The Damned) and Chris Constantinou (Adam Ant), Tim Arnold and Kevin Godley

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

The post Homer Flynn – The Residents appeared first on The Strange Brew .