Four Idle Hands

This episode is a record store day 2024 special. We run through what its all about, how the day works, what amazing vinyls will be released and how to get them online if you cant make the day.

We also get first favourite vinyls from Echo Machines Gary Moore and Rick McMurray from Ash.

We also have some sport chat and review of Queen B Beyonce new album and the latest from Khrungbin.

Echo Machine are back with a new album, "Accidental Euphoria" , the follow up to 2020's Instant Transmissions, is out on Friday 15th March and we catch up with lead singer Gary Moore to talk about the album, touring with Placebo and much more.

Also on the pod Aberdeen FC chat, Bucks Fizz, review of Nadine Shah new album.

Thanks for listening.

We are back for Episode 53 Don't mention Taylor (we mentioned it once but we think we got away with it).

In this episode we cover the first two weekends of the Six Nations, that big sporting event in USA (plus some Taylor chat) . Also gig reviews of Depeche Mode and The 1975, the Glasgow Film Festival and an Irish album special with reviews of Conchur White, The Sprints, New Dad and Problem Patterns. The live return of AC/DC gets a mentioned as we worry about gig prices. So a packed show , thanks for listening.

We are back for 2024 and to kick things off we chat to the fantastic Moving Pictures UK who are the UK's premier Rush tribute band. We caught up with them before there second night at the Lemon Tree. They are on tour throughout 2024 so catch them if you can, there show is brilliant with over 2 1/2 hours of Rush Classics, we also review the show. Also reviewed is the recent gig by British Lion, who are Steve Harris of Iron Maiden fame side project.

Lots more chat so enjoy the episode.

This weeks special guest is Stuart Bailie who is a journalist, author and broadcaster based in Northern Ireland. He was the founder and first CEO of the Oh Yeah Centre which is Belfast's dedicated music hub. He has worked as a Freelance writer, reviewer and columnist for the likes of the NME, Mojo, Q, Uncut, Vox, The Times, The Sunday Times, Hot Press, Belfast Telegraph.

The reason for our chat was the publication of Stuarts new book " Terri Hooley: Seventy-Five Revolutions".

The book documents the story of Terri Hooley and the Good Vibrations record label which put Northern Ireland on the punk map with the likes of Rudi, Outcasts and of course the Undertones. Its a beautiful book which is highly recommended for all music fans .

You can buy a copy from Stuarts bandcamp page.

We also discuss recent news and our night out at the SAY awards in Stirling, enjoy.

This is our 50th episode which is fantastic, thanks for listening.

A great interview this week with Lloyd Cole who came to Aberdeen as part of his On Pain tour , he was such a gent giving us time at his Hotel. The day extended into the evening when he got in touch asking us to man his merch stall at the event.

Catch him on tour if you can.

We also round up the Rugby World Cup and Irelands tragic exit.

This week we have a fantastic chat with Rick McMurray , drummer with Northern Ireland finest Ash, as they are on the cusp of releasing their 8th studio album "Race The Night". We talk through the album, recording , sleeve design, video, promotional activities, gigs in Omagh and Ricks side project Burned as Witches. The new album is an absolute gem and this chat is the perfect accompaniment to it and we will have a full review next episode.

We also run through the weekends Rugby World Cup results.

This episode we focus on one topic only, The Rugby World Cup 2023 in France.

Our guest to discuss all aspects of the tournament is Rúaidhrí O'Connor, The Irish Independents Chief Rugby Correspondent.

Lots of topics covered from the seedings, Owen Farrell, Scotland, Ireland and loads more, enjoy.

Not going to Glastonbury? Neither are we, but we have been to Primavera!

Primavera expert John Skelton joins us to review this year’s event in Barcelona & Porto and gives us a handy guide to going to the daddy of continental music festivals.

If you’re needing a bit of encouragement to take the plunge just listen to this for some tips!

Enjoy!

This pod we are glad to speak again to Cold Years as they are about to embark on a load of dates around Europe with Billy Talent, Frank Turner and various festivals around Europe. Also in this episode we lay bare the facts about the consumption of Potatoes around Europe, Title deciders , Roger Waters, Reviews of Dead Kennedys live and albums from the National and Def Leppard. Thanks for listening.

This week we have one topic only - Record Store Day 2023 which is on Saturday 22nd April. We will be at Chameleon Records in Holburn HiFi so we run through the "rules of the day" and then delve into the huge volume of tiles released on the day. Enjoy and hope you get what you are after!.

This week we talk too Derrick Thomson who is working with the our Union Street organisation who are a community led organisation, chaired by Bob Keiller, whose mission is to re-energise the Granite Mile and bring business and people back to the heart of our City. They are looking for volunteers and your ideas to restore Union Street back to the vibrant hub it once was. You can volunteer via the website www.ourunionstreet.com.

Also in this weeks episode we discuss a couple of arresting moments (Trump and Murrell), Michael reviews the Eels at Barrowlands and much more.

This episode we have a fantastic guest, friend of the show Aberdeen's Bob Munro. Bob has just finished a world tour as Guitar Tech working for Rina Sawayama on her Hold the Girl tour. Over the course of the last year Bob has travelled from the UK to Europe, The USA, Australia, New Zealand and onto Japan working with Rinas guitarist Emily Rosenfield. And a highlight of this was that over the Oscars weekend Rina played at Elton Johns oscar party! This event was a fund raiser for Eltons aids foundation with over 1000 guest turning up. Rina herself dueted at the event with Elton on the 2021 track Chosen Family that they recorded together.

Bob is most discreet about the event but a fascinating listen. Bob has also turned his hand to events and along with his pal Scott Dee will be hosting the Xlerator event at the Tunnels in Aberdeen on 31st March. Playing at the event will Aberdeen bands The Capollos, Vansleep, Marc Culley and Scott himself.

Also on the menu is the usual chat on the SNP/Boris/Antonie Conte/the Grand Slam win for Ireland and review of U2 "new" Songs of Surrender. Have a listen and enjoy.

The centerpiece of this weeks episode is a chat with ex Scotland Rugby International Chris Cusiter. Hailing from Aberdeen Chris has 70 Scotland caps and was part of the Lions touring team for New Zealand in 2005. After a club career that included spells with Glasgow Warriors, Perpignan and Sale Sharks Chris then headed off to California with his family to start a Whiskey retail business.  He kindly joined us from his home in LA to talk about his career, Scotland's six nations hopes and life in the US.

We also discuss the end of the Sturgeon era, Ukraine, Brewdog AGM plans and reviews of Inhalers new album, Weyes Blood live in Glasgow and Neil Forsyth's new drama Gold, Enjoy!

So not only is this our 40th episode we have also reached our 3rd anniversary of the Four Idle Hands Pod. The Boys are solo this week with a packed episode where we discuss the musical anniversaries of Def Leppard Pyromania (40), Kate Bush The Kick Inside (45), Sport chat with the Six Nations kicking off and City heading to League two :-).

We also tear into Songs of Surrender the "new" project from the Bono Boys, reviews of James Yorkston live , Gaz Coombs new, Thin Lizzy's new 8 cd box set of Live and Dangerous and we even throw in some movie reviews. Thanks for listening.

This episode we talk to genuine rock legends ANVIL before there show in Bournemouth (in a venue called the Anvil !). We chat to Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner about everything from early shows at Donnington, Movie Success and the new album "Impact is Imminent" . These guys really have stood the test of time since there debut album in 1981.  Also on our Halloween show we talk about the Horror Show that is the UK government, Mercury and SAY Awards, review of the Banshees of Inisherin and the Aberdeen comedy festival. We also choose our favourite Horror movies and Halloween themed songs, enjoy.

We have Steven Milne back on this week to talk about the new Little Kicks album "People Need Love" which is out now, and damn good it is too.  Also in this episode is a review of  the True North Festival and George Ezra at the P&J Live. In the news section we have Truss/Kwarteng banter, Gas pipeline sabotage and Roger Waters first farewell tour chat, enjoy

Good to be back after a Summer Break.  In this episode we have a feature interview with Steven Milne of Aberdeen Performing Arts all about the return of the True North festival which kicks off in Aberdeen on 22nd September. 

In addition we have chat on the latest news on new PM, The Queen, Four Idles various trips to Europe for some gigs, the return of Bloodlands on BBC, Prequal series House of the Dragon and the Rings of Power and a review of Pink Floyds Animal "remix". Enjoy!

What an episode we have for you with not one but two guests. First up we have Alan Stevens aka "The Media Coach" who is on to review the Abba voyage show at the Abba arena in London's Olympic park. Alan was one of the first to experience the Abbatars in concert and we discuss if this is the future of live gigs. 

Our second guest is Stuart Charleton who came on to review the new Kendrick Lamar album and all things Fierce Beer, including the new premises and plans for the future. 

Also on the menu in this crammed episode is the Platinum Jubilee, a review of Nuart, the return of Aberdeen's The Little Kicks with a new single and video along and live reviews of The Smile, Jeff Beck (with added Johnny Depp) and Kasabian.

Enjoy!

This episodes centerpiece is an interview with Monte A Melnick who was the Tour Manager for The Ramones for over 2200 shows from 1974 to 1996. Its a fascinating chat with Monte about his early days playing in bands with Tommy in NYC, his work as Tour Manager for the Ramones and much more.  He has documented this journey in his Book "On the Road with The Ramones which you can find on Amazon.

Also in this episode we have reviews of new albums from Arcade Fire, Fontaines DC and Envy of None plus live Reviews on Simple Mind's, War On Drugs and the Divine Comedy.

Plus all the usual news and chat, enjoy and Gabba Gabba Hey

This week we have a fantastic interview with Graeme Thomson about his new history of Simple Minds " Themes For Great Cities". As Ian Rankin has said "This book is a a deep and thrilling dive into some of the greatest musical minds to have come out of Scotland in modern times" 

It tracks Simple Minds from their earliest days in the pubs and clubs of Glasgow to having the world at their feet in a little under a decade. Its a real must for all Simple MInds fans.

Graeme was a great guest and we also covered his work with Kate Bush and Mark Hollis.

We also have the usual chat and reviews, hope you enjoy it.

We are back this week with an interview with Pierce Turner. Pierce is an Irish singer songwriter currently based in New York. His new album "Terrible Good" is available now on Storysound records. 

Turner’s description of Terrible Good,  is crystal clear. “It is my first real electric guitar album,” he says, adding “it’s an album with a New York edge.” Electric guitars definitely are central to Terrible Good, arising from his collaboration with guitarist/producer Gerry Leonard (David Bowie, Rufus Wainwright, Suzanne Vega). These fellow Irish expats (who met years ago when Leonard mixed sound at a club where Turner often played) are both fans of Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Television, and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac. While this shared affinity might seep into a song on occasion, Turner shares that “I like to learn from the past, but not imitate it – to take it somewhere else while using every lesson learned.”

We had such a great chat with Pierce, a true gent.

Also in this weeks episode we cover Russia, the sad death of Mark Lanegan, Six Nations and review of Terrible Good and Leon Bridges new album Texas Moon. Hope you enjoy it.

The Four Idle hands podcast is 2 years old this week, we have had loads of great guests on over the last 2 years and this week is no different. This week we talk to Benjamin Francis Leftwhich about his new album To Carry A Whale about going back on tour after a long break.

We also have our usual blether on the weeks news, review of new single from Aberdeen's Katie Mackie and the Greatest Hits compilation from the Divine Comedy, enjoy

On the eve of the Six Nations this week we talk to Irish rugby legend Willie Anderson about his new book "Crossing the Line" which was covers his both his Rugby career and Personal life. The Irish Times called it a "raw, uncompromising, sometimes brutal and always passionate; a perfect distillation of Anderson the player and Anderson the man".

Willie played 27 times for Ireland between 1984 and 1990 before going on to coach at Leinster and Scotland. 

We also discuss the evolution of the modern game and have a preview of this weekends opening six nations fixtures. He was a fantastic guest so we hope you enjoy the chat.

This week we are joined by Rick McMurray , drummer with Northern Ireland band Ash. Rick was a great guest and we covered a wide range of topics from the early days in Downpatrick, playing at the Good Friday agreement gig all the way up to drumming at home in lockdown. 

Also on this weeks episode we cover some odd news stories from Ireland, Space X impending collision with the moon, the sad passing of Meatloaf, celebrity spats with Taylor and Damon and a review of the new album from Yard Act, enjoy.

The term legend is often over used but this week podcast guest is a true legend in every sense of the word. To talk about the upcoming tour we chat to JJ Burnel of the Stranglers . Formed in 1974 the band have had 24 top 40 hits and 18 top 40 albums. Tracks like Peaches, No More Heroes, Hanging Around and Golden Brown are so instantly recognizable and still get regular airplay. They are on tour to promote there  album Dark Matters which features Dave Greenfield who sadly passed away in May 2020. We hope you enjoy the chat with JJ. We also run through the news of the day and have a review of Kenneth Branagh's new movie Belfast

Happy New Year Podsters, Four Idle Hands are back with our first episode of 2022. On this weeks episode we cover a wide range of topics from Current state of the pandemic, Bojo, Phil Lynott with a review of "A song for for while I'm away", selling your publishing rights, top selling albums of 2022,  review of the  the Radiohead Playstation app for KID A AMNESIA and some telly reviews. Enjoy.

After a summer break we are back with the first episode of season 2. This week we discuss the current status of the country , Petrol shortage, The Newcastle takeover by the Saudis, Scotland success, album reviews of Public Service Broadcasting, Whipping Boy and King Gizzard. Live reviews are back with reviews of the Undertones, True North, Nick Cave, Damon Albarn and a heads up on what else is coming gig wise. To end we have a review of the new James Bond and the team discuss our favourite Bonds and Bond movies and of course who could be the next Bond, enjoy.

This week we have a Euro 2020 special, we discuss the start of the delayed tournament with a focus on the England v Scotland game. To help us with this we have a very special guest. We where lucky to be joined by the host of Absolute Radios Rock n Roll football and the  voice behind Spitting Image,  England uber fan Matt Forde joins us to chat about the crucial group game at Wembley.

Welcome to the 25th Four Idle Hands podcast and this week we celebrate our Silver Jubilee with a return of Guitar Tech Bob Munro who chats about his return to gigging at the Blossoms recent gig at Sefton Park in Liverpool. Also on the menu is Scottish Elections, David Cameron, The Middle East, Man City and reviews of both Van Weezer and Paul Weller's new records. And finally we weed out the bent coppers on the Line of Duty finale and a review of Nomadland, enjoy.

Welcome to episode 24 of the Four Idle Hands podcast. In this weeks episode  we take on the (not so) mighty European Super League, Scotland Unlocking , Tory Sleaze, Riots in NI, the sad passing of Jim Steinman and Les McKeown and we have an interview with Aberdeen band The temple Sons who have just released a new single "Nightmares Coming" which is available to stream all over the place.  And finally we run through the Record Store Day 2021 list and TC reviews the new album from Great Van Fleet "The Battle At Gardens Gate. Enjoy. 

The center piece of this weeks episode is a lovely conversation with Aberdeen singer/songwriter Katie Mackie. Katie has just released her new single Terricot Town which is available to stream in all the usual places. Also in this episode we have a smidgeon of chat about the Scottish election, 3 point turns in big boats, Uri Geller, Tea consumption, Vaccines (not the band). There is also a wee bit of footie talk, mainly about how the mighty Luxemburg overcame ROI. We have reviews of new albums from Arab Strap, Neil Young, Jane Weaver and The New Pagans. Line of Duty also gets a mention.  Hope you enjoy it.

This special episode tells the untold story of Led Zep rehearsals in Banchory for the reunion gig at the O2. We have an exclusive interview with Hamish from Auchattie who had first hand experience of the goings on, enjoy.  

A celebration of St Patrick's day in music, food, bit of Sport. Best listened to with a Guinness (others beers are available). Slainte 

This week we have an interview with Xbox Social Marketing Manager Graeme Boyd about everything from Xbox to Aberdeen FC. Also on the Agenda is the Mars landing, lockdown update, The Tetris movie and review of new albums from The Hold Steady and Mogwai and the new BBC drama Bloodlands. We have an additional host with Marcus MacBeath joining to chat about gaming consoles and the possibility of not seeing The Who ever again.

The Boys are back with Season 2. This week we tackle the issues of the day from Snowmageddon, Weetabix new marketing campaign, Cats in zoom calls, the Six Nations and the upcoming Mogwai streaming gig.

We have an interview with Stina Tweedale from Honeyblood and album reviews from Foo Fighters, Weezer and Sleaford Mods.

Its nice to be back, enjoy.

This is the Christmas 2020 Four IIdle hands special. On this episode we take a look at the Tiers of joy provided by the new COVID rules around the UK,  Brexit, Footie and Rugby chat and we review the best albums/gigs/films and TV of the year. We also reveal our Hero and Dick of 2020.  Happy Christmas Podcast listeners.

The centerpiece of this episode is a chat with Colin Farquhar who is Head of Cinema Operations at Aberdeen's Belmont cinema.  We talk about getting the Belmont back open and the challenge of running a cinema in these difficult times. 

Other stuff on this episode includes Lockdown Tiers/Marcus Rashford, The Six Nations, US Election, Eddie Van Halen and Water on the Moon. We also have reviews of Bruce Springsteen's new album Letter to You and the new Gorillaz record Song Machine : Season One. Enjoy.

So this week our  interview is with Guiseppe Mandorlo  who is a System, Engineering and Operations Manager at the European Space Agency. Giuseppe talks to us about the successful Vega Small Spacecraft Mission Service rocket which recently launched which delivered 53 satellites into orbit. Its a fascinating chat about the innovative technology involved. We also talked about his favourite space movies.

Also on this weeks episode is more Trump, breaking international law, lockdown chat, the new Xbox, Taco Bell hits Aberdeen, Alan Partridge and a review of a review of the Idles new album. 

The Gang has got back together in person for this weeks packed episode. Topics include Lockdown, Leo Messi , Iron Maiden and Fishing, reviews of the Idles at Abbey Road and a round up up Record Store Day drop 1. 

The centerpiece is an interview with Aberdeen band Cold Years who have just released there debut album Paradise which is well worth a listen. We talk about being from Aberdeen, recording in Southampton and an upcoming real live gig in Germany.

Warning - this episode contains a higher degree of the F word than previous episodes so for those with an nervous disposition.. be prepared.

Enjoy

In this  episodes news we cover whats fair to say is a wide range of topics from the end of the Aberdeen lockdown, Jim Corr versus Jedward, Trump, Goth Bats, and Van Morrisons pseudo science. 

Record Store Day 2020 is this week and we discuss some of the key releases.

Biff Clyros streaming gig at Barrowlands gets a review as does their new album.

Other album reviews include Fontaines DC, James Dean Bradfield and Rival Consoles.

Hope you enjoy it and see you next time.

This week we discuss the closing of Q magazine, Kanyes bid for President, Ennio Morricone, UAE in Space, Review of Jarvis Cocker and the (Dixie) Chicks along with a live review of Fontaines DC.

Our main feature this week is an interview with Aberdeen based guitar technician Bob Munro. Bob has worked extensively with the likes of Miles Kane, Frank Carter and most recently Blossoms. We talk about how he got into the business, what life on the road is like, his favourite guitarists and what gear to look for if you are starting out on guitar. Bob like most crew is currently waiting for gigs to restart but in the meantime is working doing guitar tune ups/setups for anyone who cares to get in contact.

Enjoy.