Episode 71 - The Saxophone Song Man - Exclusive Interview with Alan Skidmore

Seán gives a suitable wintry introduction to this short chat between Darrell and Paul Simmons of design team Timorous Beasties about his recent work on Kate's illustrated vinyl version of 50 Words For Snow - The Polar Edition. Look out for even more conversation between Darrell and Paul about their work with Kate over the last decade in the new year. 

Paul and Darrell from Bush Telegraph reminisce over their first reactions to Kate's videos and film work from her 1980 album 'Never For Ever'. Ultimately, Kate created stunning visuals for 50% of the album, and they were so different to anything else that was around at that time. We also get to hear Kate and Paddy's own words from the Kate Bush Club newsletters about the making of 'Breathing', 'Delius' and 'Army Dreamers'. Paul (who lives in the UK) and Darrell (who now lives in the States) also banter about their trips together to the record shops and reactions to the artwork and photos from each 'Never For Ever' single.      

In this new episode of the Kate Bush Fan Podcast, Seán talks to Leah Kardos, author of the new book about Hounds of Love which is part of the acclaimed 33⅓ book series which examine key albums from music history. Leah is a musician, a senior lecturer in music at Kingston University in London, co-founder of that university's Visconti Studio (with producer Tony Visconti) and is also author of Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie. A very enjoyable chat in which she discusses what made her pitch Kate's fifth studio album to the book publishers, her experience of writing the book as we emerged from a pandemic, the challenges of producing a smaller sized book like this and why it was important to her to emphasise Kate's pioneering production work and barrier-breaking career achievements. I highly recommend this excellent little book as the perfect Christmas stocking filler for the Kate Bush fan in your life!

In this minisode Darrell from Bush Telegraph chats with Alan Skidmore, the saxophonist on Kate's 1975 'The Saxophone Song', recorded when she was only 16. Alan talks about his recording session and briefly meeting the young Cathy in the studio. Alan, known as Skid in the jazz world, has had a prolific career working with all the jazz greats. His amazing playing is not only highlighted on Kate's song in the podcast, but we also get to hear another phenomenal track he plays on.

Seán is joined in Dublin by Irish songwriter and musician SJ McArdle to have an enjoyable in-depth discussion on how Kate's love of Irish music and deep connection with the country of Ireland has infused so much of her work throughout her career. We discuss Kate's Irish family connections, the famous Irish traditional musicians who Kate has worked with down the years, in particular the great Donal Lunny, and chew over the Irishness inherent in recordings like Army Dreamers, Night of the Swallow, Jig of Life, The Sensual World, Mná na hÉireann and many more! Archive clips featuring Kate, Del, John Carder Bush and Donal Lunny help to illustrate this fascinating and enduring aspect of Kate's work.  Listen to the wonderful work of Seán's guest SJ McArdle at his Bandcamp page here:  https://sjmcardle.bandcamp.com/ More from SJ McArdle at his official site: https://sjmcardle.com/  

Bush Telegraph have an exclusive interview with Stewart Avon Arnold, Kate’s longtime dance collaborator. Stewart chats with Paul and Darrell about his first experience with Kate on the Tour of Life in 1979, where he and Gary Hurst danced with Kate for many of her songs from ‘The Kick Inside’, ‘Lionheart’ and ‘Never For Ever’. Stewart’s work with Kate spanned many years and albums, right through to ‘Rubberband Girl’ on ‘The Line, the Cross and the Curve’. His reminiscences of his special collaborations with her are wonderful to listen to, and there are a new things to discover about Kate’s catalogue of visual work. We also get to hear about his work on videos such as ‘Breathing’, ‘Sat In Your Lap’ and ‘Love and Anger’.

Seán hosts a shorter mini episode all about Kate’s beautiful and unexpected short animation, Little Shrew! Apologies for the sound quality on this one - I was away from usual set up! With thanks to Tristan for production support!

Seán celebrates 10 years since Kate's incredible Before The Dawn concerts by introducing audio memories sent in by fans from all over the world who were lucky enough to attend.

Paul and Darrell talk all things related to Kate's videos. They reminisce about the first time they saw these videos, glued to their TV sets, hoping that she would appear. What were their first impressions and what set Kate apart from other artists promoting their music at that time? They still stand the test of time today. Let's delve in to the years of 1978 and 1979 to start off this series.

Paul and Darrell interview the iconic dancer and choreographer, Anthony van Laast. Anthony was the choreographer for the Tour of Life in 1979, after having featured opposite Kate in the 'Hammer Horror' video and European TV appearances. His incredible work with Kate on tour, and subsequent work on the BBC 'Kate Show' are discussed in this interview, including his work on the making of 'The Wedding List' film. Anthony has been the leading choreographer on many movies and stage works, including 'Mamma Mia' and the Royal Variety performances. What was it like to work with Kate, as well as other icons, including Meryl Streep, Cher and Barry Humphries, to name a few. Tune in and find out on the latest Bush Telegraph podcast...