Stereo Embers: The Podcast

“Precious Time" The Sheffield born Paul Carrack’s voice is one of the worlds great superpowers. Carrack got his start at 19 playing keyboards in Warm Dust for a handful of albums. From there, he formed ACE who had the massive international hit "How Long." After they broke up in 1977 he played with Frankie Miller and joined Roxy Music as their keyboardist. He put out a solo album in 1980, then joined Squeeze who had a rather massive hit with “Tempted" that featured Carrack on lead vocals. Around the same time he had a band called Noise to Go with Nick Lowe. That band became Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit who not only put out two albums, they were John Hiatt’s backing band for Side Two of his Riding With The King record. Carrack did session work for the Pretenders and The Smiths for their debut album then he joined Mike and the Mechanics, logged a few seismic hits with them—you know, "The Living Years" and "Silent Running." He became a member of Roger Waters’ touring band, put out another solo record, had a hit with "Don’t Shed A Tear"—then formed a band with Rupert Hine, rejoined Squeeze for the Some Fantastic Place record, had a song he co-wrote with Don Felder and Timothy B Schmitt of The Eagles covered by the Eagles and that track ended up being the most played song in the United States in 1995. Carrack kept up his solo career, but still had time to join Ringo Starr’s All Star Band, collaborate with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and join Eric Clapton’s band. Over the years he’s also played with Simply Red, BB King, Elton John and the list goes on and on. There’s actually a great BBCFour documentary about Paul called "The Man With The Golden Voice.” Paul’s new album One On One is his 18th solo album and it’s fabulous. A stirring collection that’s about as soulfully precise as it gets, Carrack’s voice is filled with a timeless blend of warmth and groove and this album proves that time can’t touch him. He sounds as effortless and as affecting as ever. It’s yet another winning entry into a pretty flawless discography. In this conversation, Carrack talks to Alex about staying creative during a pandemic, what he learned about leading his own band from watching Clapton, and why his son think he’s cool for playing on The Smiths’ debut. He also talks about his new album, wanting to make a country record, and how Elvis Costello had the idea for him to sing “Tempted.” www.paulcarrack.net www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Stereo Embers: Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Full Grown” The California-born singer/songwriter Gregory Ackerman’s marvelous new album Still Waiting Still is shimmering with delicacy and strength. Buoyed by shadowy backbeats, sneaky melodies and Ackerman’s inimitable and unforgettable delivery, sonically Still Waiting Still falls somewhere between the work of Nick Drake and Elliott Smith. The album is as breezy as it is riveting–it’s a brilliant meditation on the quotidian life and its daily comforts and disruptions. Ackerman’s work is intimate and confiding and played with the kind of commanding interior strength that gives it an instantly timeless quality. It's a rich and seamless collection of woebegone West Coast loneliness that perfectly contrasts the sunrises and sunsets of Southern California with the corresponding highs and lows of the human heart. Woven through the waves of subtlety, the quietly rushing choruses and harmonic intricacy is a true sense of optimism—that things will get dark, sure, but that darkness will lift and let’s face it: we live for that lifting. In this conversation Gregory talks to Alex about handling self-doubt, transcending the fear of being judged and the never-ending pursuit of making art. www.gregoryackermanmusic.com Instagram: @ackermon www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com www.stereoembersmagazine.com Stereo Embers: Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast EMAIL: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Tales From The Terramar” The San Diego born C. Gibbs sounds like the surf. But not the sunny part--the deep, dark part. The part that twists through fathoms and moves with a silent, but potent current under the waves. The singer-songwriter’s music is a dreamy blend of California darkness and coastal soul. With a delivery that falls somewhere between Nick Cave and Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost, Gibbs is a mesmerizing talent. His CV has quietly gotten pretty crammed, playing with both Foetus and Modern English, fronting his own band the Morning Glories and forming the chamber rock outfit Lucinda Black Bear. Since the late 90s he’s put out close to 15 solo albums, all of them fantastic. From 29 Over Me to Sleep The Machines to He Arrived By Helicopter: The Shiny Hostel, Gibbs’ work is always compelling and marvelous. His new album falls perfectly into that category. Tales From The Terramar is one of 2021’s very best. A stirring collection that showcases Gibbs’ gifts as a songwriter, Tales From The Terramar is about the ocean, about going home, and it’s about the juxtaposition between the industrial and the natural world. Gibbs sings with precision and finesse and his compositions are the perfect example of how subtlety can be absolutely riveting. In this chat, Gibbs and Alex talk about his foray into the major label world, carving out time to be creative and what it was like to return to San Diego with a young family. C Gibbs On Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/c-gibbs/288726840 Bandcamp: https://cgibbs.bandcamp.com/track/tales-from-the-terramar www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“We’re Trying Our Best” It’s hard for us to think of a more charming pop band than Sweet Nobody. The Long Beach quartet's new album We’re Trying our Best is the follow up to their debut Loud Songs For Quiet people and it’s a confident step forward that proves this is band to keep your eye on, Filled with infectious hooks, rushing, spry melodies, prowling bass lines, a touch of surf guitar and heartbeat perfect drum fills, the music of Sweet Nobody is at once familiar and intimate. So much so that when you hear their songs, you feel like you already know them. The key is the voice of Joy Deyo—her sonorous delivery is smooth and steady and she knows how to take the corners in a pop song and glide around them with dexterity and ease. Life has not been easy for Joy in the past few years and she talks about that at great length in this interview—the bliss of pop music and the physically taxing task of living with daily chronic pain are two dominating elements in her life and she speaks about that combination. We’re Trying Our Best is a stone cold pop wonder. It’s spry and fast and thoughtful and smart and the lyrics are diaristic and personal, but at the same time decidedly universal and inviting. Pain is personal, of course, but it’s also omnipresent and it includes every living person on this planet. And let’s face it—we’re all trying our best to get through it, aren’t we? In this chat, Deyo talks to Alex about living with Ehlers-Dalos Syndrome, what it’s like being in a band with ones’ spouse and how she made the move from Minnesota to California. https://sweet-nobody.bandcamp.com/track/five-star-diary https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/support-groups/ www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers: Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast EMAIL: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“When I Hear The Music” Indira May has the kind of voice that will bring you to your knees. Self-possessed, sonorous and imbued with the kind of phrasing that’s so emotionally precise it almost feels supernatural, May is a revelation. Her new EP Simpler Things is a ravishing blend of trip-hop, jazz and indie soul—trust us: it's a straight up stunner and one listen makes it clear that for this artist the sky is indeed the limit. And, Indira’s got her own music and production company called Trash Films and Music and her company is really one to watch. Yes, she’s learned by having cool parents and paying attention to their work ethic and their grace, but Indira is now making her own mark on the music world and setting examples of her own. Now a while back we had her dad Tim May on the program—Tim was in a band in the '80s called The Righteous Boys that signed with CBS, and after that band ended he went on to become a filmmaker, making documentaries for the BBC’s multi-award winning arts strand Arena. There his subjects included Paul McCartney and folk legend, Ewan MacColl; He runs Strange Films and Music with his wife, the writer and director Karen Stowe—they produce films for agencies, brands and companies. And they make documentaries. Their latest is You Can’t Go Back, which is a fabulous movie about Del Amitri and if you think Tim sounds busy, he is. His band Aliens are set to release their brilliant new album and we could go on and on about Aliens because we love them, but there’s so much Aliens news happening, we’ll revisit it on a future show. In this chat, Indira talks to us about her vision for Trash Films And Music, growing up feeling supported in her music by her parents and how she triumphed over adversity to film the winning video for the EP’s first single, “When I Hear The Music.” www.trashfilmsandmusic..com www.strangefilmsandmusic.com www.bombshellradio.com Stereo Embers Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Fretted And Moaning” The British-born Andy Summers started loading up his musical CV at the age of 16 when, inspired by seeing Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie live in London, the young guitarist set out on the road and the road welcomed him warmly. After a few years playing live in local clubs, he moved to London and helped form Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band. From there, Summers joined Soft Machine and toured the U.S. for a few months, then joined the Animals for one record, 1968’s Love Is. He took a break from the rock and roll lifestyle to study classical guitar fat Cal State Northridge. After graduation, he moved back to London, played with Kevin Coyne, Joan Armatrading, Neil Sedaka, and Keven Ayers. Summers joined the Police in 1977 and Summers life was, putting it mildly, never the same. The Police put out five albums, sold 80 million of them, won six Grammys, toured the world and at one point in 1983 they were arguably the biggest band on the planet. They went on hiatus in '86, came back 22 years later for a massively successful tour, then officially called it a day in August of 2008. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees remain one of the most successful bands of all time. As for Summers, he never stopped working. He’s put out close to 15 solo albums, collaborated on record with with Robert Fripp, John Etheridge, Toni Childs, Carly Simon and Sting, did the soundtracks for The Wild Life and Down and Out In Beverly Hills, put out several books of photography, and published a fabulous autobiography called One Train Later. Andy’s new book Fretted And Moaning is a fabulous collection of short stories where the main character, common denominator, thematic through-line, hero and villain is the guitar. Filled with the ego-driven, the confident, the unconfident, the winners, the losers, the girls, the boys, the hopes, the dreams, the disappointments, the hilarious and the tragic, Fretted and Moaning is written with the kind of narrative velocity that will make you finish it in one sitting. It’s hilarious, it’s hopeful, it’s sad, it’s comforting and it’s alive with aspiration, inspiration and heart. It also showcases Summers’ brilliant ear for dialect and dizzying narrative control. In this discursive and engaging chat, the legendary musician talks to Alex about his new book, and they veer effortlessly off course to chat about Kraftwerk, reggae and reading The Odyssey…. https://andysummersbook.com https://rocket88books.com/products/fretted-and-moaning-signature-edition https://www.andysummers.com www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com STEREO EMBERS THE PODCAST Twitter: @emberspodcast Instagram: @emberseditor

"Heart Shaped Scars" The Scottish born Dot Allison made her initial splash in music fronting the indie dance band One Dove. They only put out one record—-1993’s Morning Dove White—but if you were a band that was only going to put one record out, Morning Dove White would be the perfect choice. A dizzying blend of hypnotic electronica and pulsing melodic pop, Morning Dove White is an undeniable classic. From there, Allison launched her solo career, putting out the wondrous album Afterglow in 1999. Since then, she’s put out several solo efforts, including We Are Science, Exaltation of Larks and her brand new one, which is also her first in 12 years, Heart Shaped Scars. Along the way she's collaborated with everyone from Paul Weller to Pete Doherty to Scott Walker to Kevin Shields. A sonorous collection of hypnotic indie folk that’s punctuated by dreamy and dedicated melodies, Heart Shaped Scars is one of the most stirring and quietly riveting collections of the year. Filled with lyrics that are informed by botany, philosophy, and the organic behavior of the natural world, its an album that’s intricate, and personal, yet also decidedly universal. Perhaps Allison’s botanist father planted the seeds for her interest in the behaviors of the natural world and perhaps her musician mother inspired her to pursue music. Those wouldn’t be illogical conclusions. But that only scratches the surface of the area Alison is exploring on this record. A Whitmanic approach to the natural world has found her digging in to what makes things connect both consciously and unconsciously. When Whitman writes "For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you," that’s what she’s after. Connection. Awareness. The living intelligence of the natural world that provides patterns and templates that stretch from the past to the un-lived future. This conversation is pure joy and it addresses connectivity, collaboration and....leaf blowers.... www.dotallison.com https://sarecordings.com/artist/166560-dot-allison www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Stereo Embers The Podcast on Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast EMAIL: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Meet Me On Another Day” From the mid-‘80s to about 1993, David Long used to front the Dublin band Into Paradise. Filled with moody rhythms, dark melodies and churning choruses, their work brought to mind that of Echo and the Bunnymen and The Sound. Sure enough, Adrian Borland of The Sound produced their second album Churchtown. Made up of David, Rachel Tighe, James Eadie and Ronan Clarke, Into Paradise were a spellbinding outfit whose songs were urgent and yearning. But they only put out two albums Under The Water and Churchtown and aside from a handful of great singles in the early 90s, that was that. In '96 Long and his childhood pal Shane O’Neil who fronted the band Blue In Heaven, teamed up for an album under the moniker Supernaut. The two friends had also been in bands together before, so working with each other was a natural thing. And then Long kind of stepped away for a bit. A bit being like 20 years or so. After a series of winning solo albums, he and O’Neil started writing and recording together in 2018 or so and that collaboration yielded loads of new material. So much so, in fact, that their new EP Far From Home is out now and their new album Moll and Zeiss is forthcoming. The new material is a nervy blend of The Go Betweens, The Triffids' Born Sandy Devotional and the Jesus and Mary Chain. It’s some of the most riveting work we've heard by anyone in years. And David Long? One of the nicest dudes around. You’re going to dig this chat. David Long Links: https://linktr.ee/DavidLong_ShaneONeill Www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Stereo Embers on Twitter: @emberseditor Instragram: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“Worth The Wait” The New Zealand poet John Allison once wrote: “In dividing the light, things are seen. And we notice ourselves.” That division of light and ensuing glimpse of ones true self is the perfect description of the work of one of Allison’s native New Zealanders, Elroy Finn. Finn’s debut solo album, simply titled Elroy, is a shimmering collection of sonorous indie pop that manages to be both spare and textured at the same time. Finn is a master of musical light division and his work is brimming with low-fi folk, thoughtful psychedelia, pure poetry, and a lot of heart. Finn is no stranger to the stage, having toured with Wild Nothing and his brother Liam, and as part of his dad’s band Crowded House. But in crafting the gentle song cycle of his album, Elroy Finn took a long look at himself and that kind of honest introspection yielded results that are both intimate and universal. The songs are bleached in sun, doused in surf and then coaxed into the clouds, where they hang as resplendent as stars. Catchy, bewitching and infectious in the most deviously subversive of ways, Elroy is a revelation—an artistic triumph that’s as charming as it is beguiling. www.grandphony.com www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Stereo Embers The Podcast: Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast Email: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com

“The Coronation” The Massachusetts-born Seth Glier is a musician who’s no stranger to the road, with a regular touring schedule that usually finds him playing close to 250 shows a year. But when lockdown locked into place in 2020, Glier found himself where we all found ourselves—at home. Watching the chaos outside while fostering stillness inside was the foundational element to the creation of his sixth album The Coronation. Built on the idea of reconciliation and repair, The Coronation is a stirring song cycle that’s filled with poetic precision and melodic smarts. With subject matter ranging from the death of John Prine to systemic inequality to a plea for gun control, The Coronation is a powerful and moving entry in Glier’s already winning discography. The Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter who has been praised by everyone from Paste to NPR, has shared the stage with folks like James Taylor, Mark Knopfler and Ani DiFranco The winner of five Independent Music Awards, Glier’s 2016 TedX talk focuses on the gifts and challenges of caregiving for a family member. An outspoken advocate for Autism Speaks, Glier is a musician, an activist and a a very impressive human being. In this chat Seth talks to Alex about what was life like OFF the road, why his brain functions well in chaos and how a little home construction ended up being unexpectedly moving. www.sethglier.com www.mpressrecords.com www.bombshellradio.com www.alexgreenonline.com Twitter: @emberseditor Instagram: @emberspodcast EMAIL: editor@stereoembersmagazine.com