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

Rat Scabies needs little introduction as the thunderous drummer of The Damned. His collaborator in One Thousand Motels, Chris Constantinou, has had a career that has taken him from the studio with Chas Chandler, to the Live Aid stage at Wembley with Adam Ant, and into the recording booth with Sinéad O’Connor. Rat and Chris describe how they first met through The Mutants, a collaborative project that assembled an unlikely roll-call of rock veterans including Wilco Johnson, Wayne Kramer and Norman Watt-Roy. That project proved too unwieldy to tour so they stripped it back, formed a two-man core, and called it One Thousand Motels. The result was 2% Out of Sync, an album that has taken almost six years to find its way onto vinyl, and into listeners’ hands.

Further information

One Thousand Motels – 2% Out of Sync – vinyl

Rat Scabies and Chris Constantinou podcast tracks

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Podcasts also available: Rat Scabies, Paul Cook – Sex Pistols, Don Powell – Slade, Jim Lea – Slade Part 1, Jim Lea – Slade Part 2

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

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Jason Barnard is joined by music writer and artist Chris Wade to talk about The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. They discuss how the US tour ban pushed Ray Davies inward, the extraordinary run of Kinks singles, and what it means to preserve an England that probably never existed in the first place. Davies kept returning to the village green and its characters into the early 70s with the Preservation albums. The record’s influence spread slowly, and today it is treasured as one of the greatest British albums ever made.

Further information

Recorded at The CAT Club in July 2025

Chris Wade website

Podcasts also available: The Kinks 1940-71, Shel Talmy, Bob Henrit – The Kinks, Argent, The Roulettes, The Kinks – Strange Brew tribute, Philip Norman on the Beatles, Bee Gees’ Main Course with Bob Stanley

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

The post The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Andrew Sandoval talks about THE KINKS – ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT, The Day-By-Day Story Pt 1: 1940-1971, the new book he co-authored with the Doug Hinman. This is the most comprehensive record of the Kinks’ early career ever assembled. Andrew and Jason Barnard cover what it actually took to document The Kinks, from chasing down Shel Talmy’s original studio invoices (Pye Records kept almost no paperwork). They dig into Ray Davies’ songwriting arc, the commercial failure of Village Green Preservation Society and Arthur, the on-stage fight in Cardiff that nearly ended the band in 1965, and the years of visa problems that kept the Kinks out of America. There’s also a discussion of Ray’s unreleased material that were better than most bands’ released work, why Ray refused to release ‘Pictures in the Sand’ for decades, and how the Granada Television deal that funded Arthur eventually fell apart.

Further information

beatlandbooks.com

Podcasts also available: Shel Talmy, Bob Henrit – The Kinks, Argent, The Roulettes, The Kinks – Strange Brew tribute, Philip Norman on the Beatles, Bee Gees’ Main Course with Bob Stanley

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

The post The Kinks 1940 to 1971 appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Lou Gramm discusses his long-awaited album Released and how it brings unfinished songs back to life. Gramm also opens up about Foreigner’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the politics that delayed their recognition, and the emotional moment of finally taking the stage to accept the honour. The podcast explores the rekindling of his relationship with Mick Jones, overlooked Foreigner albums such as Mr. Moonlight and the short-lived Shadow King project, both of which Gramm believes deserve far greater attention.

Further information

Lou Gramm – Released

Lou Gramm podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Lou Gramm – 2022, Kelly Hansen – Foreigner, Michael Schenker, Bernie Marsden – Whitesnake, Mark Farner – Grand Funk Railroad, Barry Goudreau – Boston

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 Lou Gramm on Foreigner appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Tom Doyle digs into the remarkable, and surprisingly chaotic, story of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles decade. Tom’s book Man on the Run, reissued to coincide with the official documentary of the same name, charts McCartney’s journey from 1969 to 1981: from morning drinking on a Scottish farm to headlining Madison Square Garden. Tom covers Linda’s role in keeping Paul from the brink, the brotherly war-and-reconciliation with John Lennon, the near-collaboration that almost happened in New Orleans in 1975, Denny Laine’s loyal lieutenancy, the extraordinary circumstances behind Band on the Run, the rise and fall of Wings, and the moment John Lennon’s murder brought the freewheeling seventies era to a sudden stop.

Further information

Man on the Run and Ringo: A Fab Life by Tom Doyle are available now. (Ringo: A Fab Life, US release May 2026).

Podcasts also available: Denny Seiwell, Howie Casey – Paul McCartney and Wings, Mike McCartney’s Early Liverpool, Eric Stewart – 10cc/Paul McCartney, solo, Dave Mattacks

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 Man on the Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s appeared first on The Strange Brew .