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

Boz Boorer talks about his life in music, from his earliest memories of Marc Bolan and T. Rex to punk shows in London in the late 70s, The Polecats, and eventually decades on the road and in the studio with Morrissey. Boz talks about touring with Dave Edmunds, working alongside Tony Visconti, Mick Ronson and Steve Lillywhite, and the stories behind some of Morrissey’s most beloved songs: ‘Jack The Ripper’, ‘Speedway’, ‘Scandinavia’, ‘Istanbul’ and ‘I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris’ among them. He gets into the making of Your Arsenal and Vauxhall and I, the stage invasions on those early tours, and why recording a chainsaw made perfect sense for ‘Speedway’. There’s also his recent collaborations with Paul Roland and Andy Ellison, digging through old archive tapes, and life running a record shop in Portugal.

Further information

bozboorer.com

Morrissey Reimagined

I Was A Teenage Zombie…& Other Children’s Party Favourites by Paul Roland, Andy Ellison & Boz Boorer

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Podcasts also available: Andy Ellison, Paul Roland, Mark Nevin, Kevin Armstrong, Morrissey – the music that shaped his life

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

The post Boz Boorer – The Polecats to Morrissey appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Mark Webber has been with Pulp for so long that his story and the group’s are almost the same thing. He started out as a teenager in Chesterfield with a fanzine called Cosmic Pig, booked Pulp at the local Conservative Club in 1986, became their tour manager with his dad’s old briefcase, and eventually found himself on stage with a Stylophone. Jason Barnard takes him through it all: the years of playing to twenty people outside Sheffield, the last minute Glastonbury headline, the Brit Awards controversy, recording Different Class,This Is Hardcore, Scott Walker producing We Love Life, and the chilly end in Rotherham in December 2002. Then there’s the return. The 2023 shows that were supposed to be just fourteen nights, More recorded in three weeks on a tight budget, and Mark’s daughter finally getting to see him play.

Recorded live at The CAT Club on 23 October 2025. The audio is recovered and a bit muddy, but worth the effort.

Further information

I’m With Pulp, Are You? – Soft Cover

welovepulp.info

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Podcasts also available: Nick Banks – Pulp, Bee Gees’ Main Course with Bob Stanley, The Making of The Human League’s Dare, Stephen Street – producer, Artmagic: Richard Oakes of Suede and Sean McGhee

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 Mark Webber – Pulp appeared first on The Strange Brew .

Singer-songwriter Michael Weston King picks tracks from across his career, a conversation bookended by his new solo album Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore, shaped by the Southport attacks of summer 2024 and the loss of his granddaughter, Bebe. King recalls Fragile Friends, who put out singles through Probe Records in early 80s Liverpool. After their split he found country music and formed The Good Sons, touring and recording with Townes Van Zandt. Solo albums followed, including collaborations with Jackie Leven, and with Chris Hillman and Herb Pederson. With his wife Lou Dalgleish he formed My Darling Clementine, enjoying critical success, their most recent project recording Elvis Costello songs with Steve Nieve.

He wrote some of the greatest songs in American music, Dark End of the Street, Do Right Woman, I’m Your Puppet, and now, at 84, Dan Penn is back with an excellent new album, Smoke Filled Room. Penn got his first chart record while still a junior in high school, went on to produce The Box Tops, was in the room when Otis Redding recorded You Left the Water Running, and co-wrote Do Right Woman over a guitar in Chips Moman’s front room, only to watch Aretha Franklin walk out of the Muscle Shoals session, before Jerry Wexler finished it in New York. And that falsetto at the end of the James Carr recording of Dark End of the Street? That was him too. He still performs, occasionally writes, and picks up the phone to Jason Barnard.

Further information

Dan Penn – Smoke Filled Room

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Dan Penn podcast tracks

Podcasts also available: Steve Cropper, John Paul White, Bettye LaVette, John Mayall, Rita Coolidge

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

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Gary Talley was 19 when The Box Tops scored a number one hit with ‘The Letter.’ Alex Chilton was 16, had been up all night before the session, and came from the kind of household where that sort of thing wasn’t questioned. What followed was two and a half years of relentless touring, five albums, and a management which took advantage of them. Talley talks about growing up in Memphis during the birth of rock and roll, the story behind some of pop’s most enduring records, and what it’s like keeping The Box Tops on the road more than six decades on.

Further information

boxtops.com

garytalley.com

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Podcasts also available: Al Jardine – The Beach Boys, Daryl Hooper – The Seeds, Richard Orange – Zuider Zee, Richie Furay – Buffalo Springfield, Larry Tamblyn – The Standells

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 Gary Talley – The Box Tops appeared first on The Strange Brew .