A straight white cis male on a podcast?
No, don’t worry, I’m not starting a podcast. I want to share a couple of great chats I had recently, now available for the pleasure of your hungry ears.
Who Art Thou?
I sat down with the lovely Barra of Who Art Thou? to have a broad-ranging chat that ended up focussing on Lionel Richie a lot more than either of us expected.
Aaron sets such a great conversational tone that makes it super easy to slip into a friendly and open chat - every time I’ve been lucky enough to be on his show, I end up forgetting we’re recording. So if I ever end up in music jail over some terrible opinions, I predict it’ll be caused by an interview with Barra.
Post-Burnout
Myself and Aaron from Post-Burnout had a great conversation about new songs and songwriting and the effects of Long Covid on my recording process.
I’ve had a few experiences with Aaron now and I just love talking with someone who is not only passionate and knowledgeable about music but also has a strong curiosity about how songs are put together. Not only does that curiosity lead to him probing fascinating areas that I usually don’t get to talk about but it also manifests in a deep knowledge of the songs of mine he’s been listening to.
Small artists like me don’t usually get the chance to talk with people who have an encyclopaedic knowledge of our material. Usually we’re talking with journalists, podcasters, bloggers and music fans who know a couple of songs and have an interest in our general vibe. Aaron always surprises me by knowing the songs and asking deep questions about them. It means it’s always an absolute pleasure to talk with him and I also end up learning things about my own process that I never thought about before
What’s great about getting opportunities to talk to people like Barra and Aaron is that it reminds me how passionate independent music fans are. I always think of the reasons I started writing music and playing gigs - it was out of a deep abiding love of music and how it makes me feel to discover small artists and see them grow. But a scene (or industry) isn’t just made by the artists. It’s made by the fans and the people who help promote and give platforms to artists so they can be heard by new people in new contexts. Aaron and Barra are great examples of that.
A massive thanks to the guys for having me on their respective shows. I heartily recommend taking a listen to their back catalogues in general - always really interesting interviews and some amazing artists in there.
