Sending Signals

On February 27th 2023 Ben Kweller received the worst phone call imaginable. His 16 year old son Dorian had died in a car accident. An oncoming truck had veered into Dorian’s lane and a downed tree had gone through his windscreen as he swerved over. Dorian himself was a budding musician, releasing music under the name Zev, and had been due to tour with his father later that year. Ben has been incredibly open about the tragedy, and turned the tour into somewhat of a tribute to his son. Out of the devastation of the past two years has come a new album from Ben entitled “Cover The Mirrors”. It features guests appearances from the likes of Waxahatchee, The Flaming Lips, and MJ Lenderman. You’ll hear some clips from it during our conversation. Ben’s debut album 2002’s “Sha Sha” meant a lot to me, and I was keen to ask about the song “Falling” which I love dearly. That album also features the song “Lizzy”, a song about his girlfriend at the time. Lizzy married Ben in 2003, and it really made me smile that she was handling his PR when we set this up. I’m really grateful to Ben for talking to me at such a sensitive time, and for trusting me with this episode. He joins me from his home in Texas. He was such lovely company and I hope you find this conversation inspiring in some way. Please come and find me on Instagram at Sending Signals podcast and check out ever growing back catalogue of episodes where you can find my conversations with members of REM, The National, E Street Band, Genesis, The Police, Beach Boys and loads more. Finally, if you can leave a good star rating with your podcast provider I would really appreciate it. Thanks so much to Ben and Lizzy. Instagram: @sendingsignalspodcast Ben Kweller on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7bhMBjjQhgPX0q9S4Ajncn?si=iK7SVY8uSPCK-9sL19sHng Zev on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/66Nj7lUkbFw7ICIamxWvTY?si=KzM5jWW6RNKQdHBZa_of-g 

Tom Sheehan was born in Camberwell, South London. He was an in-house photographer for CBS Records in the 70s, and went on to be the chief photographer for Melody Maker. He enjoyed long-term working relationships with the likes of REM, The Cure, Manic Street Preachers, and Oasis, the subject of a new book of Tom’s work entitled “Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994-2002”. I had a great time chatting with Tom about his life and work, and I hope you enjoy it too.

Nels Cline was born in California in January 1956. He started played guitar at the age of 12 and his early career is fairly jazz-based, before stretching into other directions. He has played guitar for Wilco, one of my favourite bands in the world, since 2004. He has a new solo album out on Blue Note Records entitled “Consentrik Quartet”, featuring Ingrid Laubrock on saxophone, Tom Rainey on drums, and Chris Lightcap on double bass. It’s a really excellent album and I was thrilled Nels agreed to come on the show. We take a dive into “Consentrik Quartet”, but of course we also discuss his life with Wilco and beyond. I had a great time on this, and I hope you enjoy.

Wolfgang Flür was born in Frankfurt in 1947 but moved to Düsseldorf in the early ‘50s, which has been home ever since. As a young man he played in the band The Sprits Of Sound, and studied to be an architect, hoping to get into interior design. Wolfgang joined Kraftwerk in 1973 and plays on one of the most remarkable album runs in pop music history; “Autobahn”, “Radioactivity”, “Trans Europe Express”, “The Man Machine”, and “Computer World”. He left the band in the mid-80’s and his relationship with his former bandleader Ralf Hütter has been somewhat acrimonious over the past few decades. Wolfgang has just released a new record entitled “Times”, which you’ll hear clips from during our conversation. The album features collaborations from Peter Hook (formally of Joy Division and New Order of course), and Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter. The day before the interview I was informed that Wolfgang’s musical partner Peter Duggal would be sitting in on the call too. Peter is a musician and producer based in Hebden Bridge, and is very amenable company. This was a fun chat. Wolfgang is really funny and interesting. It probably goes without saying that I absolutely love Kraftwerk, and although I sensed it would not be wise to focus on them too much, it’s still a thrill to have them represented on the podcast.   Instagram: @sendingsignalspodcast

Wendy James is tied up with some of my earlier memories of music. She fronted the band Transvision Vamp, who were hard to ignore in the late 80s. Songs like “I Want Your Love” and “Baby I Don’t Care” were pretty big hits over here. Transvision Vamp split in the early 90s and since then Wendy has persuaded various solo projects. Interestingly her first solo album “Now Ain’t The Time For Your Tears” was written by Elvis Costello, sometimes alongside Caitlin O’Riordan from the Pogues. These days Wendy is basically a cottage industry, self releasing albums and embracing direct engagement with her fanbase. She recently released an album entitled “The Shape Of History” and you’ll hear clips from that throughout our conversation.

Pat Arnold has had quite a life. Born in 1946 she grew up in LA, and was in an abusive marriage with two kids while still a teenager. In 1965 she got a chance to audition for Ike and Tina Turner’s band as an “Ikette”. She got the gig and left her children in the care of her parents. This eventually took her to London where she fell into the orbit of The Rolling Stones, and she decided to stay behind there to establish herself as a solo artist, signing to Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s label Immediate Records, home of the Small Faces, members of whom ended up writing songs for her and backing her on some of her recordings. She also toured with them, and is the backing vocalist on Itchycoo Park and Tin Soldier, two of their biggest hits. She had hits under her own name too, including her recordings of Angel Of The Morning and The First Cut Is The Deepest. She also recorded with Rod Stewart. In the 70s she appeared on recordings by the likes of Nick Drake, Graham Nash, and Nils Lofgren. She toured with Eric Clapton and recorded with Barry Gibb although most of these recordings remained unreleased for decades. She sadly lost a daughter in a car accident in the mid-70s, and along with not being able to further her career as a solo artist, she seems to view this as somewhat of a lost decade. As well as being cast in Starlight Express, the 80s saw her work with Steel Pulse, The Beatmasters and Roger Waters, as well appearing on Peter Gabriel’s smash hit Sledgehammer. She first came into my orbit in the late 90s through her collaboration with Ocean Colour Scene, and the early 2000s saw her tour extensively with Roger Waters. In recent years she finally completed the album she started with Barry Gibb and Eric Clapton decades earlier, as well as a brand new studio album recorded and produced by former podcast guest Steve Craddock of Ocean Colour Scene and Paul Weller fame. She has a new career spanning box set entitled “Soul Survivor - A Life In Song” and I had a fantastic time talking to Pat about her life and career. Instagram: @sendingsignalspodcast

Nadia Reid is a singer-songwriter born and raised in New Zealand, before recently relocating to Manchester. She’s just released her fourth album “Enter Now Brightness”. We take a deep dive into the album, and our conversation ends up encompassing motherhood, relocation, generational trauma, faith; it goes to some deep places. I really hope you enjoy it. Instagram: @sendingsignalspodcast

You know how every now and then, an album comes along that just gets into your bones, and it’s hard to describe just how grateful you are it exists? (If you don’t know that feeling, I’m sorry, but keep searching for it). Tamara Lindeman working as The Weather Station has make two such records I feel that way about; 2019’s “Ignorance” and 2025’s “Humanhood”, released on January 17th. “Humanhood” is a brave, striking and beautiful piece of work that just keeps on giving back, the more you mine it. It’s not designed for casual listening; the level of nuance involved, the little interludes between songs, and it’s lyrical themes of self-identity in crisis, set against grander concerns about the environment and the post-truth era we find ourselves in, deserve your full attention. It’s the sort of album where a different moment or detail might hit your each time you go back to it. It can’t imagine it being topped this year. Our conversation takes in everything from depersonalisation disorder and OCD, to taking photos of the sky, unrealistic roles for teenagers and in movies, Canadian rock-band Our Lady Peace, and quietly making the greatest album of 2025. Let me know what you think on Instagram @sendingsignalspodcast

I first heard The National 17 years ago this month I think, and I fell in love instantly. They’ve continued to be one of my favourite bands, and it’s been great to see them ascend to new heights of popularity and pursue interesting creative directions in the band and outside. Guitarist Aaron Dessner is now a key producer and co-writer for the likes of Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams. His twin brother Bryce Dessner is a composer whose orchestral and chamber compositions have been commissioned by the LA Philharmonic, Edinburgh International Festival and Kronos Quartet amongst others, and he’s collaborated with the likes of Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Paul Simon, Sufjan Stevens and many more. Frontman Matt Berninger has become one of the most compelling rock frontman of the 21st century with his often darkly funny, self-deprecating lyrics, and gangly, physical stage presence. Drummer Bryan Devendorf is one of the most distinctive drummers operating in rock today. Which leaves my guest this episode, bassist Scott Devendorf. I feel like Scott is the member of the band I knew least about. Obviously I’ve seen him onstage many times anchoring the band, but I was intrigued to see how the interview would go, and was pleased to discover Scott was excellent company. The National have just released a new live album entitled “Rome” which was recorded this past June in, well Rome obviously. It does a pretty good job of capturing the catharsis and sometimes chaos of a National show. I thought it was an interesting decision to focus on one particular show rather than compile tracks from across the tour. I was curious how they would handle the situations where Matt goes walkabout with the microphone, climbing into the crowd and getting mobbed with fans singing their heads off. Scott had a lot to say about these decisions, and about The National as a live act in general. He was really generous with his time. I only found out this interview was happening less than 24 hours before it took place, so it was quite a whirlwind getting it prepped and organised. I again had some technical issues so I’ve mostly just used the zoom feed but it sounds fine. To have The National represented on the podcast really means a lot. This will be the last episode of the year, and what a way to go out.

It’s a busy one. My guests this episode are Sunderland’s David and Peter Brewis, known collectively as Field Music, and Walter Schreifels of New York post-hardcore rockers Rival Schools. You may remember David Brewis from Field Music has been on the podcast before. I’ve been a fan of the band since 2007’s magnificent “Tones Of Town” album. Depending on how you count it, “Limits Of Language” is their 9th, 10th, or 11th studio album, in addition to numerous side projects and offshoots. However you count it, “Limits Of Language” is a very fine album, and as usual, deserves a much wider audience than they tend to get, despite a bizarre and wonderful endorsement from Prince on his Twitter feed in 2015. It was lovely to have both Brewis brothers together on the show. Rival Schools are a New York part-time supergroup made up members of 80s and 90s hardcore bands, not a scene I’m into really, but the band’s two albums, 2001’s “United By Fate” and 2011’s “Pedals” are really melodic and accessible, even for more of an indie-rock kid like me. The band are celebrating their 25th anniversary and have been reissuing their back catalogue on vinyl. Walter caught up me from a room on tour in Minneapolis, and I was impressed with the thoughtfulness and depth of some of his answers. Enjoy! Instagram: @sendingsignalspodcast