Loss and Inspiration from India

I added one more podcast to the giant podcast bin Now you have plucked that podcast out and started listening I took my microphone and found some human folk Recorded all the noises while we spoke I'm a man I want you to enjoy this, that's the plan Hey, how you doing, Podcats? It's Adam Buxton here. I'm with my best dog friend, Rosie. We're out for a walk in the Norfolk countryside on this quite cold but bright blustery day in the latter half of April 2026. It's looking very beautiful out here. Spring is definitely sprung. Is it? Well it's spranging. And the blossom is out. Everything's looking very lush and Beautiful. Like you, if you don't mind me saying. I'm sorry it's been a while since the last podcast. But I've been working unusually hard, I would say, on a new six part comedy series for Audible. It's called SuccessPod. And it's now nearly finished. And will hopefully be available sometime in May, I think. I'll let you know when we have an exact date. It's a mixture of new nuggets of conversation with some of my favourite previous guests from this podcast. As well as some conversations with Rosie, right, Rosie? Oh yes, most certainly. As well as sketches all around the theme of what success looks like for a middle aged guy who listens to a lot of podcasts, but isn't on social media and is occasionally concerned that he is becoming totally irrelevant. Not based on me, obviously. I've also been dusting off my Bug David Bowie special, as it is the tenth anniversary of his death. And in June and July this year I'll be performing it in a special enhanced form, like with some added visual elements to take advantage of the technology at the amazing lightroom. Immersive projection based exhibition space. in King's Cross and those shows are going to be taking place as part of the Lightrooms Bowie Nights season, which runs from May to September this year. And includes a series of events celebrating Bowie's life and work, with the centerpiece being a new film made specially for the Lightroom called You Are Not Alone. Blurb says, with 11 meter tall projected visuals and newly mastered immersive audio, You are Not Alone features iconic performance footage, rarely heard interviews and never before seen material. I'm gonna see a preview this week. Very excited. I'm only doing four performances of the Bug Bowie special, one in June and three in early July. So book now. There's a link in the description. And of course, don't forget, I'll be playing music shows with the Adam Buxton Band in May. Just a couple of weeks away. So if you haven't already, get your tickets now. It's gonna be a fun time. I'm really looking forward to those shows. Links also in the description. Busy description today. Okay, Guerillas. This was a good waffle session with musician Damon Albarn and artist and illustrator Jamie Hewlett, which took place shortly before the release of the Gorillas album The Mountain. The band's ninth since their debut, Demon Days, in 2001. Guerillas were then and continue to be a project conceived as a way to bring together artists who might not otherwise ever meet to make music with Damon. Unified behind Jamie Hewlett's illustrations and animations of the four fictional band members of Guerillas. That is lead vocalist and keyboardist Two D, guitarist Noodle, bassist Murdoch, and drummer Russell Hobbs. The Guerrilla's Mountain Tour kicked off on March the twentieth, in Manchester, and it wraps up at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on june the twentieth. Gonna try and get along to that one. There will be support there from Argentine rapper and singer Trueno and Sparks no less. They are two of the guest artists who appear on the new album alongside Idols, Johnny Ma, Black Thought, Indian music legend Asher Bosley, andushka Shankar, Gruff Reese, and in posthumous vocal form using hitherto unheard recordings from previous Guerillas sessions, Dennis Hopper, Mark E Smith of the Fall, Bobby Womack, and other non living legends to chime with the album's theme of making peace with mortality. My conversation with Damon and Jamie, neither of whom I had properly met before, was recorded in the downstairs control room of Damon's Studio 13 recording complex in West London towards the end of January this year, 2026. And as you'll hear, it was a conversational fun house. At times thoughtful and deep, delivered in the lovely smoky vocal tones of Alban and Hewlett. But it was also occasionally quite childish. And even Chippy, albeit in an enjoyable way, I hope you'll agree. When we'd finished recording, I was treated to a short tour of the studios, a little of which you'll hear as a short bonus at the end of the main conversation. And Damon correctly assumed that I would be impressed by various items of gear he had amassed that once belonged to Florian Schneider, one of the founders of German Electronic Music Pioneers craft work. All in all, I was made to feel thoroughly welcome. for a good old fashioned no-holds barred indiscreet ramble fest. And it began with me setting up my mics, wondering what to expect while my backup recorder was running and telling Damon and Jamie about my cycle ride. from East London that day, during which I had listened, not for the first time, to the new Gorillas album and had been, in every sense, transported. It's a really lovely record. Back at the end for a bit more of a catch up, but right now. with Jamie Hewlett and Damon Alban. Here we go. A Bravo chat, we'll focus first on this, then concentrate on that, come on, let's do the fat, and have a brable chat, post on your conversation, comes at on your talking as Yeah. you cycled? I cycled from Brick Lane and uh it's the exact length of your new record. Oh okay. Fifty something minutes, really. And how was it listening to the mountain while d dodging London traffic. It was good actually, it centered me. Because um It's very stressful rush hour traffic on a bike, especially as biking now is totally lawless. Well and also when it's wet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Although I got lucky with the weather it didn't actually rain on me. No, but it's the the leaves then. Right, okay. And also people don't seem to know on the toe path. Left or right. Yeah. Oh fuck it drives for me, man. If I see if I see a tourist coming in the run I'm going to keep on the left hand side. Hmm. I'm not going to I'm going to run you down. You don't move. Do you use your bell? I haven't got a bell. Ah, you need a bell. I've got a very piercing bell. I don't have a helmet, a bell, or lights. Fucking hell. Never happened. Is that an ethical choice? Why? Because um I don't subscribe to I don't like I don't clean my yoga mat after yoga. Why is that? Because I just think it's fucking uh Yes. That's part of modern life is rubbish, you know, which is an old And it's sort of saying of mine. Yeah, sure. Um It's just no one cleaned their mats before before Covid. Uh-huh. And now it's just sort of arbitrary fucking Detergent everywhere. Great for detergent producers. But also just systematically devaluing our our immune system. But I would argue that helmets are a different uh are doing a different job. Should I tell you the problem of helmets? We're on helmets uh on bikes J. Aware if you don't wear a helmet. You're really aware. Way more aware. Your spatial balance is better. Um no headphone. I mean you were doing the worst thing is listening to music on a Well you see, I argue exactly what you argue with the helmets. I argue that Listening to music. Mm. But I do find that it sort of blocks things out in a useful way. I don't get too d I get more centered and I can concentrate. And also it's like the most enjoyable. No, it's great. I love it. It's thing ever. Sure, from a safety point of view. If you're wearing a helmet And you're listening to music, you're it's like you're saying. Well yeah, it's like it's like yeah it's yeah. I don't know. I don't know. No, look, I'm on shaky ground. I know that it's frowned upon to have headphones in while you're cycling. Well no, everyone does. I mean Yeah. But I do stop at the lights. I'm I try, it's I'm not saying I stop at every single one. I never stop at light. Do you not? You never lock your bike up either, do you? Uh not so much, no. I park wherever I like. Yeah. You're living the dream. Yeah, I don't care. I don't have a telephone. I have no social media. You know, I sometimes I don't even really w wipe my bum properly. Oh God, here we go. Going from helmets to your shitty bum. No, it's not all the time, but I'm saying you know what I mean. I'm never letting I'm never letting someone will do it for you. I I I I I just don't allow many of the conventions that slow the the day down to get in my way. Ever. And you've constructed a life that accommodates that way of living. Yes. Within certain parameters I can do what the fuck I like. I I have the sort of taste and interest of of someone like maybe in their early twenties who lose a ponchon for secondhand things. So with my fiscal position I'm equivalent to a kind of student billionaire. So, you know, I've never wanted fancy cars or anything. And uh you know. But we're s we are like that, both of us really are. Quite a fancy car though. Yeah, I mean I'm not saying that anyway. No. We don't have we don't take it. I have one I I've got a G fashion. That's not a fancy car. And jewellery and ever purchased. I live in Devon, so I have to travel a lot. I can't cycle down to Devon. We haven't recorded that view. All that stuff, yeah, that's going in. The stuff about you not wiping your bum and doing what you want. That's gold. This is what the fans want to know. That's what you want from a rock star. I don't say I don't I it's m it's more of the principle of the thing. If I'm in a hurry, I won't waste extra time doing something that I'm not necessary to do at that moment. Sure. And also it should be noted that while you're not stopping at lights, you're not menacing pedestrians. Oh no, not at all. Oh no, no, no, I'm not. I i if there's people I'm not gonna run someone over. Yeah. No no no I'm not like that. I'm not aggressive at all. I just get on with it. Yeah. You know? Jamie's got a uh a a patient knowing expression on his face. Is that fair to say? Yeah, patient all knowing expression on his face. Well, especially where you're concerned. You got up on an interesting side of the bed this morning. Same sign as my beds against the wall. This is a warning which should be considered pressing. In this next bit there is something you may find distressing. You can hear the sound of someone eating, you can hear the sound of someone eating, you can hear the sound of someone eating, someone eating, someone eating Lunch, no chomp, yark slack numbers. Choo smile yucker. I've been googling traits of Ares people. Oh you're not Ares, are you? I don't really subscribe to all that stuff. I didn't either. I'm a Gemini. Well I'm a Gemini. You're a Gemini. What's that? You're not subscribing to it if you can't make your mind up, can you? That's true actually, yeah. There you go. See. I mean the thing is that they do have the ring of truth a lot of the We're not reading that shit. But but there are similarities in people determined by the year they're born and the time of year they're born. Similarities enough that you can It's very simple. And because of our relationships to other masses of atoms like planets and stars. There's movement all the time. So depending on what time of the year and the position of everything within the cosmos There's a difference. Subtle. But there. So it's irrefutable that the time of year you're born has some effect on the outcome, I think. Have you always been cosmic like that? Yes. I've never really appreciated that. He's a pagan. Uh huh. It comes through a lot more in Gorilla's stuff than it did in Blur songs, for example. Although there was a cosmic element, obviously, to songs like Universal and there was sort of cosmic references. Strange news from another star. Well, exactly. Anyway Damon, you've chosen to eat grapes. That is something that I get so much shit from podcast listeners. Yeah, but they go absolutely nuts. Like if I say something incredibly racist, that's fine. But if people have I'll do a British one. It's the sloshing and the juicy chewing They're not particularly good grapes. If people eat on podcasts, you get immediately cancelled in the podcast. What about when people smoke on podcasts? Smoke away. Smoke it up. I intend to. Would you s are you gonna smoke in this room? Yeah. This is his studio. We can do what the fuck we want here. Yes. Bomb wiping, no helmets. Smoking. Great. I was just having a laugh of trust thing that is the Yoga Mat. Covered in a thick layer of grime. I can't believe all of that stuff. That's not Next time I go to a yoga class, everyone's gonna look at me because they will listen to your fucking podcast and they know that I don't do that. I'm gonna be exiled from the y the yoga community. You do sweat a lot when you do yoga. Not that much. I'm just kind of yeah creating an even more vulgar picture of you. It's nice. It's very earthy and sexy. Yeah. All of these things need to be clarified. Yeah. Before Covid people did not clean their yoga mats. Okay. So why did I clean them now? I agree with you, everyone's got to be a little bit of a I think I did clean I cleaned Mats, exercise mats like periodically. If they start to periodically is different, but like it leans the other way then. I think that things become oversterile and I think it's not good for people to have all that A detergent on their hands all the time, you know? Well, you know, we were raised in the seventies when, you know we were kids in the seventies when you'd eat mud or eat mud or fall out of a tree or I'm one year younger than you guys. I was born in June sixty nine. Oh, okay. So you're a sixties kid. Yeah, yeah. Just got in there. Best decades ever, right? Kid in the seventies, teenager in the eighties. Yeah. Yeah. Young person in the nineties. upbringing that I had in lots of ways, but yeah, very privileged to be a carefree kid in the eighties. Especially nowadays. I look back and it just seems like a dream. Out on your bike all day. Well I was out on my bike in the seventies in East London. Right. Seventy six, summer of seventy six. Which we all remember. Mm-hmm. Queen pulled down her next. In the summer of seventy six. She licked her bum and said yum yum. That was all nineteen seventy six. It's the kind of thing I was doing and still do. Didn't she suffocate the ants as well? No, no, no, no. What do you do if you want to go a poo in an English country. Suffocate the ants. Oh, good old days. Yeah. So you were painting a picture though of cycling around on your chopper. I no I didn't have a chopper I' not nothing nothing so kind of mainstream as that. Yeah, the penny farthing. Hand me down. Were you cycling around, Jamie? Oh my god, all I did was cyc on my grifter. I had a grifter. Yeah. My brother had a chopper. His family were more middle class than mine, I think. 'cause I never had anything like that. Being class shamed very early. My family were butchers. Yeah, but probably butchers aren't more than art teachers. Possibly. High end butchers. But they were violent, Damon. They were they were notorious. They were violent people. I mean I got my slipper, the ruler, and a cane. Like from your parents or teachers? No, not from my parents. No from teachers. Which teacher gave you the slipper, the home economics. No, it was actually I got the wet lettuce. I got my yeah, I got my slipper at uh primary school and the cane. I got the cane. I got the cane on my hand. What did you get the cane for? And and and bunking off school. Cane for smoking. And playing truant. Going down to the graveyard all day and hanging out and uh sniffing Tip X thinner. Oh in the graveyard. Yeah. And I got the cane to twice on my hand and one on the back of my legs. Damon, what did you get beaten for? Um Firstly I used to put my hand up to every question, whether I knew it or not. Uhhuh. Just to be a dick. I mean a dick. No, it wasn't a reasoning in my head at the time, but With hindsight, that's what was happening. That probably was what was happening. But I d you know, to be fair, I did know uh at least half the questions right most of the time. No, about half. Half. But that that wasn't uh enough for it not to be kind of considered Idiot behaviour. And uh I don't know, um just wasn't very popular at school. In fact I was popular as I was actually really popular at school in Leightonstone. And then my parents moved to uh rural Essex and From that point onwards I was considered a complete outsider. I suppose it didn't really help that the first week I went to a new primary school, 'cause I I moved there when I was ten, so I had one more year of primary school. Um for some reason I got everyone in my year to come and watch me eat ladybirds. Oh What made you do that? Did that make you more or less popular? Less. Yeah. Yeah, really, they just fall in the world. Ladybird boys. And I played the violin. Oh dear. Arsoncross. Yeah, exactly. That explains your lovely red lips. Essex in the early eighties was not uh uh Don't eat ladybirds and don't play the violin. Ladybirds are so bitter in essence. Have you tried the ladybird? No, I don't want to eat them because just picking them up. No, I would never do that now, and I won't even kill a fly or a mosquito. I'm actually quite militant about that. Yes. We were talking about the fact that you're both Aries, the typical traits of the Aries, direct, sometimes blunt. Values honesty over tact. Protective of friends and loved ones, prefers passion and intensity to subtlety. Are all these Ringing bells? I mean, it depends on the context, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah. Does it say really, really, really, really great as well? Does it say really cool, fun, interesting, creative. It does say bold and energetic, confident and assertive, independent, courageous, enthusiastic. I mean, what's there not to like about Aries? Those are the core strengths, common challenges faced by your people. Impulsive, impatient, hot tempered, competitive, restless. So you said no to hot tempered. I'm not hot tempered. No. No, I I I keep my cool. Unless I'm really pushed. When was the last time you lost it? Well, I guess that would be if somebody was um messing with family members or people I loved or in intruding on my personal space. But I don't my father was very angry. He spent his whole life being angry. So I grew up with a lot of shouting in the house. So I don't really like Why was he angry? Well, because his mother was angry. It's kind of passed down into the next generation and I don't think he ever really thought about why or how to sort that out. So I was a little bit like him to begin with, and I got it out of my system really early because I just didn't want to repeat that. Yeah looking back on our fathers, I think you have to really take into account the fact that they were born either in the middle or at the end of the Second World War. I don't think people in this country have any understanding of the devastation of the second world war and how that formed people. You know, very different and um You know, this country is unrecognisable to that country now. I mean in some many very positive ways, but also, you know, I think the sense of entitlement people have now. It's kind of people but then looked and they just go, You are you've lost your mind. You know? What people expect as opposed to what they expect. And I think, you know, the dissonance of those sixty, seventy years is is hard really to over state. Over state, yeah. We us three grew up at a time in the late sixties. Where there were many parallels to things that are going on now. Lots of tumultuous things happen. But but I mean in East London there were still bomb sites that hadn't been fixed when I went in the early seventies. I think when we were at school we were taught duck and cover, nuclear war. Yeah. Then we became teenagers and the AIDS virus appeared and we were told lots of bullshit about that. Did that scare you? Well un until I realised that it was over exaggerated and the the information we were getting wasn't true. Well I don't know if it was over exaggerated. Then it was in IRA bombings, then it was uh Then it was uh IRA bombings came before AIDS. I'm just saying that from an early age up until probably in my thirties We lived in fear of something. There was always something we were supposed to be afraid of. I mean every generation does, but it was it w it was bombings, nuclear Nuclear war when you're ten years old at school being taught in assembly. Dark and cover is terrifying. That was her um Answer to that. Up until a point. So far she's been right. So far so good. You've got on with enjoying racing around on your bicycle in the park without the fear of that hanging over you like a dark cloud, you know? So that was good she said that to you. That anxiety has been magnified so acutely since social media. Oh god. No, but I d I honestly don't think we even understand how difficult it is for kids now. Do you guys have kids? Yes. Well our kids are grown up. Right. Are you aware of what their anxieties are in that way? Absolutely. Do they worry about war and things like that. I don't get the impression that mine do that much. They have other anxieties. They don't worry about war, they worry about other things. Yeah. They they're all creative and they worry about how they're supposed to fit in, find their place. I think when we were younger there were gaps. for us to slot ourselves into, you know, I could see where I should be and what I could do. But they're all very creative, our kids, but they're like, Where do we start? What do we do? How do we get into this? You know? We don't want to follow the same rules as, you know, we have a designer, a photographer, a documentary maker and a musician amongst our kids. But they're like They don't know how to get off the starting blocks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do they like being with you guys? Do they like being with their family? Uh I think so, yeah. Yeah. I just asked because much as I loved my parents, I didn't really want to hang out with them. Oh yeah. No, they hang out with us. Yeah, yeah, no. And I think a lot of people of our generation, when we were growing up in the eighties, you want to get out of the house, right? Yeah, we all got out very early. Yeah. It's not quite the same now. No, it's not. I mean we had the But that's also to do with the fact that, you know, when I came back to London um when I was eighteen there were squats. Yeah. I lived in squats for years. Did you? Yeah. Everyone lived in squats. It was brilliant. I certainly didn't live in squats, David. I lived in a nice cozy room. My point is young people could live in London. Sure. In a way that they can't now. They can't now. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, it's extremely expensive City London, so That's why, you know I live in France, but I have my apartment in London, which I kept, 'cause once you get a place in London you don't get rid of it. Both my sons were there for years. One's moved on but the other one's still there. Because where else is he gonna live? It's impossible to afford the rents. Yes. And you know, we are I hope all parents that love our kids, we want to protect them, we want them to be okay. But at the same time what you were saying before, Damon, about the grime and not avoiding the grime too much because you cut an important part of what it is to be alive out if you do that. How do you navigate that with your own children? How do you tread the line between protecting them from the worst and and just exposing them to things, the knocks, the things that they mean making it too easy for them. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm um Do you worry about might be a bit guilty of that. Um I I probably am a bit guilty about in some ways, but I also uh been very hard on my daughter as far as kind of culture and education and uh Stop listening to that terrible album. Is that the kind of No no no not at all. Not at all. Family holidays in North Korea. Okay, right. That kind of thing. Did you really go for a family holiday in North Korea? With my daughter, yeah. Really? I did, really. I've always travelled with him, so maybe my daughter's a bit more politically aware than a lot of people of her generation. I know that for a fact because she's always telling me how frustrated she is when she's No one seems to care what's happening. Yeah, yeah. It's definitely one thing we've done with our kids is they've traveled with us. So they've seen a lot of the world from an early age and now they go off and travel themselves. My son just got back from Chicago, he's making a documentary there, my other son's just been to Japan. They like to go and travel. They have that bug which I think is one of the best educations. Yeah, that's a massive privilege. It's amazing. Well it wasn't it wasn't a pr they're not flying first class. I mean they're just they're getting on a plane like anybody else can, but the the fact they have the bug to go and discover. and and see something new and get out of uh privileged, so there's no getting around it. But also I don't know how travel itself is gonna Change in the years coming with the climate crisis and how that has to change. Cycling. Mm. I I I I only got my licence w uh in my mid fifties because I was live started living down in Devon and just impossible. You can't you can't live in the middle of nowhere in Devon if you don't drive. And it's so hilly where I live that my b you know I mean, literally going to get a uh pint of milk is an hour and a half. On the bike. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But what a work. Damn is a bit like the fourth gump of the music scene. I don't see anything in what I just said that would bring that it's the cycling for thirty years. Oh yeah, but not in the one direction. No. It was a it was a weak comparison, but I felt we needed a joke at this point. Yeah, I mean this is a very long interesting philosophic position that Cannot be explained within an hour. Cars are terrible. I think we agree that cars I prefer trains by far. I prefer trains. Sleeper trains as well, good. Not so much in this country. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know. Trains and bikes. Let us mourn for a minute the old uh rolling stock of British Rail where the buffet had windows that you could pull down. The buffet car. The buffet car. The the fabric. That's slightly rose tinted spectacles, though. I mean British Rail back in the day was the butt of every single joke. Oh, as opposed to Because Yeah, of course it's not better now. You just can't be bothered to make the joke anymore because it's so ridiculous. But the trains never ran on time. I always thought I always thought What uh An extraordinary admission of failure mind the gap. Is it is like a mantra every morning the whole of the workforce in Britain. Mind the gap. Yes, uh mind the gap But what is the gap? It is the gap of failure all together now. The platform is badly designed. The platform is badly designed. As opposed to China Web Trains speed through stations with a millimeter gap. Here's some of the things that were happening when you guys were born. In March and April sixty eight. Damon you were March. Jamie you were April. April third. Yeah. So this is the time at the end of the sixties that really marked the end of the kind of peace and love Part of the sixties hippie dream. Meli Massacre happened in March sixty eight, Grosvenor Square anti Vietnam student protest. outside the embassy. You had the Paris um student protest, didn't you as well? Paris protests. That's a big one. Student protests in Germany and the US. They're protesting about all the same things that people are protesting about today. Wealth inequality. Enoch Powell Rivers of Blood speech, April sixty eight. Assassination of Martin Luther King April sixty eight. I mean can you imagine how scary the world looked at that point and how out of control everything was. Then we we go into the Cuba crisis. Culturally, Van Morrison was recording Astral Weeks. Mm. Damon's not fast. I mean hasn't uh Van Morrison just sang the same song for five. Come on. Solomon That is not a good Van Morrison impression. I'm glad he didn't sing that song over and over. What is that? That's not Van Morrison. I I think Morris Van Morrison has got some wonderful songs. Got some growling. Well there's a lot of things, but uh the limpest handshake of anyone I've ever met. Ever. Oh really? Yeah, just so non committal. That's a little airy's comment as well. If you give a limp handshake, the air is Pathetic. It's gonna be a strongest. Yeah. He's not known for his personal charm. No. No. Our ex manager used to manage Van No he didn't. Chris? No he didn't. Yes, he did. No he didn't. No he did. Yes he did. I think you're right he did. He told me he did. So was he lying? He managed uh John Cyle. And and Fin Lizzie. Ultra folks. I thought he did dead. Dead or alive. Dead or ali. I'm pretty sure he told me he did Van, and he told me he's not the nicest person in the world to look after because he's very, very grumpy. Yeah. Everyone knows that about Van. No, uh about Astral Weeks. Yeah, one Come on, there's more than one. Anyway, let's not get hung up on it. Name me a number one. Name you another good Van Morrison album. Are you joking? Moon Dance. Yeah. That's a song. No, it's an album. Is it? Yeah. It's a brilliant album. What other song has it got on it? Uh it's got brand new day. I'm a Van I love Van Morrison too. And he's never shook his hand. Okay. Living within music every day. And understanding the mechanics of music. I'll give you that. I find it quite rudimentary and consistently rudimentary. Are you bashing Van again? No, you brought him up. I'd never I would never have mentioned Van Morrison. Ever. You find Astral Weeks. Rudimentary. Somewhat, yeah. Fucking hell don't get into conversation. Because it's called astral weeks doesn't mean that it's complicated. There's free jazz all over that thing. Free jazz is not complicated. Do you know how uh have you ever played free jazz? No Right then. So you don't know. You're impressed by free jazz, aren't you? I'm impressed by that free jazz. Clearly, clearly you're impressed by the word jazz. I'm not Unimpressed by it. No, I loved jazz. Love jazz but you know, Felonious Monk. Now that's impressive jazz. That is good jazz. Yeah. I do love some of Fam Morris' songs. I just I just am not as big a fan as you are, and it's pro it is clearly Because he gave you a limp handshake. Later with Jules or something. Was it? Where was it? Where did you meet him? No, it wasn't later at Jules A. Well that's where people meet him. How would he know where it was? Where was it? The fact that you that you think that's Because they that's the genius of Jules. He gets them all together all the great. I love Jules Hodan, he's a lovely person. I love him. Uh who was it? Oh it was the fall that stipulated that if they went on later with Jules, part of their contract was Jules Holland was not allowed to play boogie woogie piano anywhere near them. Christmas cards. Did he? Yeah. Yeah. In fact, the only people I get Christmas card from who I've worked with are Elton John and the late Mark East Smith. I see to be fair, Paul Son and sent me a few over the years. Yeah. Uh what were you gonna say? Yeah we had a pretty good relationship with him. But I mean for all of the sort of stories of um Irascibility. Speaking of we we got on really well. We had a great time with him, and he was really cool. Which album was that one? Twenty ten. Plastic Beach, wasn't it? We only work in once. He was sitting right here. In the studio. Yeah. Yeah, I mean like the hardest person to convince to do something was Lou Reed. We went to off Union Square in New York in the studio and it was me, Damon and Remy, Remy Kabaka, who's the kind of the other third member of Guerrilla's. And Lou arrived and Damon said, Hey Lou, nice to meet you. This is when to introduce me and Lou said, You can fuck off. And then Jeremy and you can fuck off too. Literally. Yeah. So we fucked off to go and we left Damon alone. With Lou. we fucked off to do some shopping, you know. And by the time my little face in the window of the door And by the time we got back they'd done this song. But he was he was still a little bit he would never speak to me. And then I drew an image of him and then suddenly he started to be nicer to me. Next time I met him and then he wanted to meet the whole band. So he kind of he went from being ice cold to being very warm. Yeah, he's like a stone. In a nice way. He's a stone. Cold when you pick it up, you hold it close to you, warms up. That's lovely demon. Were you gonna tell me the rest of the s information about the stone as soon as you said it? No, I was looking to see if you understood that basic metaphor. No, I didn't. All I was getting was that's why you like Astral Weeds, 'cause it's you know 'cause I'm not lax metaphor. I feel a bit of Ares Gemini competition building here. But he's saying this because he clean he is such a fan. It's so perverse. I am perverse. Don't let him get under your skin. This is the hill that I'm dying on is defending Van Morris. That's not something I expected. I'm I I I'm I'm only I'm just being silly. Of course. Mark Smith has been resurrected on this record, though. Yeah, really. I mean truly. I mean he's gonna sort of Shrunken China Head and Peg leg slave traders and all these crazy visions that have been stored for fifteen years. On the mountain, they've just been in a delirious outpouring. Yeah. They've they've re emerged. Um which shows you that his mind and his visions were Acute. Those kind of lyrics give birth to incredible illustrations. You get lyrics like that, you can't really go wrong, can you? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no No. Behind you. Do you see that tape machine there? Yes. That comes from Elvis' studio. No way. Oh and you see that lamp over there. And and I've just got some of Florian stuff in here. Yeah, yeah. In the uh upper room there there's um craft work gear. Yeah. Craft work synthesizer from the case. And a typewriter with covering DNA. I've got Florian's typewriter. You've got a craft work synthesiser. Yeah. I just got it, yeah. I'll show you it later. I'd love to see it. Yeah. And when you play it, can you hear What songs they would have recorded with it. Bespoke. Wow. I suppose for some people they consider it to be a museum piece, but I really want to just play it and you know use it. Yeah. There's one button you press and it goes doom. If only. If only I ever bought dusting those keys to get some Rurian DNA. But you know, do you remember the Cassio Viel turn? Of course I do. So that was the But that was the first time. It was a f like a kid like me who's obsessed. We've synthesizers could for Christmas get a Casio VO tone. Just the the preset that they'd used on on that song. But trio, wasn't it? Suzuki omnichord, which I switched on and I got the beat for Clintis immediately. Yeah, it doesn't happen very often. I mean, maybe amongst the craft work synthesizers I've acquired that there's there's that moment again. But maybe not. Do you think that there's a song in every single new bit of gear? Yes. Yeah. That's why I've got so many symphysizers. I've got a lot now. Not as many as Jean Michel Jar, but I think by the time I'm Jean Michel's age, I will. Uh just outside of Paris on the Seine to record with him. And he has a huge kind of almost like a warehouse room next to the studio. filled with keyboards. Damon's face when he walked in there is, Oh my God. You're like a child in a sweet shot, but I mean I've got two buildings now full of keyboards. But you don't have as many as Jean. You can't compete on keyboards with Jean Michel Jarred. No one has as many as Jean Michel. I think I will have eventually his keyboard collection is extraordinary. And human being. Is he? Sean Michelle. How's he doing these days? Firm handshake. And he's still very busy. He's very Not enough free jazz on his records. That's the only thing I that's what I would say about Jean Michel's jar. It's all good. Yeah, that's fine, but no, no, I think I think free jazz is not the It's gonna be your next album. I would say twelve bar blues. Yeah. was more what the what I was alluding to. Well halfway through the podcast I think it's going really great. The conversation's flowing like it would between a geezer and his man. Hello geezer, I'm pleased to see you There's so much chemistry, it's like a science lab of talking I'm interested in what you said There's fun chat and there's deep chat, it's like Chris Evans is meeting Steven Hawking It's the AI question. Uh oh. Uh oh. How do you how are you guys accommodating that into your lives if you are We're not using it in our work at all. And in terms of does it worry us? I think we're in a lucky position that we're established. enough that people want to hear our version of gulers and not an AI version of Gouras. But if I was twenty years old, wanting to make a career as an artist, I would be stressing a little bit right now. But I think you know we we were talking the other day that we're doing C Ds for this album, which we haven't done for years because no one was buying CDs. And now they're very much back. Are they? Because kids are demanding a better sounding version of a record because streaming platforms condense music. So they've made that decision. They want to have C D. So I think like anything, you know, AI in terms of the entertainment industry, from music to art, will have a moment and then it will die off. Because people will want to see stuff made, hear and listen and see stuff made by people. And then maybe it'll be used for something more important, like medicine or the the stuff that maybe it should be used for. But in terms of creativity, I'm hoping. I'm concerned about it with medicine as much as I am with in the world of creativity, to be honest with you. I've just bought myself a three hundred C D random selector. I've got a lot of C Ds and I haven't really listened to them for many, many years. In fact I don't f really feel like I've listened to music in that kind of way. for over a decade because I just have I because I've never really embraced the digital world. I've never streamed anything. Oh really? No. Apart from kind of Netflix. Yeah. But you're not on Spotify? No. Okay. No. No I've never been on that. I I wouldn't know how to do that. And I'm not on Instagram, I'm not on X, I'm not on Facebook, I'm not on anything. So how do you listen to music then? Uh before you got your three hundred C D changer. Uh I just listen to it, you know. I mean I've got I've got a An old jukebox. Very retro. It is if everyone else stops doing it. Yeah, but I as you Oh come on. Enough you're not going to be not I'm not necessarily someone who you know is a slave to scandals. Sort of fashionable behaviour. Yeah. I was gonna ask you how the symbiosis of visual art and musical art Works. Is it a process that's changed a lot over the years with gorillas? It's quite it's quite a relaxed process, we just hang out together. So talk me through how this album came together then, for example. What's the first thing that happens with a project like this? This one's got quite a specific tail to it. It starts on November the twenty eighth. We were shooting the live action parts for the Silent Running video from the last album. And my wife was in Jaipur with her mother. They'd been there for a month and they were about to jump in taxis to the airport and come home. when my mother in law, Amo, is her name, had a massive stroke and was rushed to hospital and went into a coma. So four days later I was on a plane to Jaipur. Uh I was there from the fourth of December until I don't know, fifteenth of January, dealing with that, trying to get her home in a coma, which was not easy. Should have been having the most traumatic experience of my entire life, which I was, but at the same time I kind of really fell in love with Jai Poor. and the people and there was a lot of warmth and kindness and support and I just we would go off and have adventures in Jaipur and it was just incredible. So when we finally got back to England I saw Damon and said, We have to go to India to do something. because it's incredible. And then a year later we were in India having our first trip, which we travelled around and we explored and we worked with musicians and had a fantastic experience. And then in between trips, Damers father died And then my father died ten days later, which is the distance between when we were born. So by that point we were like, Okay, well, we know what this is about and we're better placed to deal with that kind of a subject than than India. And their take on death and and reincarnation as opposed to the way it we see it over here, which is some hope in a a hopeless situation. Yeah. You know, uh India is a very open book for that, you know. Many of the kind of ideas about reincarnation and the cosmos have find their origins in ancient Indian culture. Um and you use the word Indian it's a very broad church that it's I always find that's it because I say Africa, you know, India it's the same thing, there's so much particular Virunasi though, I mean it's like nothing can prepare you for Virunasi. Where about is Virunasi? It's on the Ganges. So if you're there, you have a whole different feeling about death and rebirth. It just sort of seems to be so Obvious. My experience of being in this hospital for this time was that people were were cry and sad about the fact that that person was They weren't gonna see that person anymore in that form, but also there was a celebration of the fact that they were coming back. But they won't see each other again. So it was a a very different sort of attitude towards death and it kind of gave me a little bit of hope, or made me feel a little bit better about the whole thing. The possibility of me bumping into you are a million to one, but y good luck when in your new life and so not to to to see you like this again. Was that part of your kind of spiritual sense before that time? I've been interested in Indian culture through My parents since I was super young, really. I mean and I'm I'm not exaggerating here, I listened to Ravishanka before I listened to the Beatles. Because your parents were playing him. Yeah. Yeah. Have you seen the Monterey Pop film? Yeah. DA Pennebaker. Yeah that ends with that extraordinary Ravishankar performance. Yeah, I mean you know, and then the opportunities were of Anushka. Who is Anushka? Anushka Shankar, right, his daughter. Who's on this album. Who's on this record and uh is obviously in that lineage and grew up playing with her father felt very special to me. So these weird connections that weren't manufactured just sort of fell into place. And so this record ended up having this this element to it about what happens when you die. And uh How is that something we can believe in? What makes that possible in our imagination and our heart? Did you respond in similar ways after your dads died? Um we had different relationships with our dads. Right, okay. What was your dad like, Jamie? Um pretty tough. I didn't have a great relationship with him growing up at all. I think it got better later in life when he chilled out. But I've still felt like I had to uh give some kind of tribute to him in some way. Which is kind of within this album. But I'm kind of thinking beyond that now. I'm thinking about me. What's gonna happen to me. Yeah, well that's the freedom and other family members and friends and it's it's in the past now, and it's a moment. But it's that thing when as a man losing your father, you kind of you move up to that position, you become the patriarch and you don't have that well, I say safety net, I didn't really have the safety net, but you know what I mean by the the father figure's gone. So I guess the trip to India helped me with all of that. to you know to to I'm not afraid anymore. Yeah? Do you feel that? Yeah, I'm kind of living in the moment and enjoying each day as it comes and making the most out of every day and not really concerning myself with what's to come. So did you feel literally fearful before though? Did you feel like that was part of it No, it's just that thing you learn when you're young and then, you know, as you get older, that little voice in the back of your head that reminds you of that thing gets louder and louder. Yeah. But I'm not worrying about it at the moment. What was your dad like, Damon? Um complex. Uh I mean I I was usually kind of influenced by my dad's ideas. But my dad was a very interesting thinker. Was he a teacher? He was a teacher, he was a writer, he was a artist. An artist a kind of strange abstract mathematician. But I was very lucky both my parents were super creative and gave me um an irrepressible Creative itch. And confidence? Uh and confidence. I suppose. But I mean confidence is fantastic, but hard work is golden. I thought you were gonna slip into a line from blur. Confidence is a preference actually for your picture of what is known as You have a confidence that comes this is my interpretation of what someone like you is like. You have a confidence that comes from your abilities, your musical abilities. And that is a incredibly valuable bedrock that then informs the way you look at the world. Sure. So it's not it's not something that But you' honing it. Honing it, yeah. No, no, but but but But you see, I see it more of why have I wanted to do that every day, because I must love it, you know. And I do have the capacity to work hard at it. I'm very single minded when it comes to that. I you know, I Well you're evidently incredibly industrious and you can hear the work in a good way, that I'm not saying that it's over wrought your stuff, but listening to the mountain, there's so much care and detail and Yeah, I mean I can do other Stuff much more loose, you know. Um it's just gorillas in particular, because it is a kind of soundtrack to an ongoing cartoon. It's a different mindset, you know what I mean? I mean I'm playing, playing, playing, playing, playing, which I love doing as well, but it's not necessarily turns into records. Yes. You use an effect on your voice on a lot of gorilla's tracks. The two D effect. Yeah. But yeah, that's something I kind of it's a bit of a uh albatross that one for me. Because once I once I take that off, it's no longer two D, it's some it's me again, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. So Yeah, but it sounds nicer. Yeah, no, it's a thing. It's a thing and I said. Could you not take it off? Because I mean Some musicians stay away from any vocal effect because they feel it puts a barrier between them and the listener in some way. Um it's a world. Two D is a cartoon character. So you're staying faithful to him in that respect. Even though when you're writing the songs, are you thinking about the characters? It's your uh musical male blank, isn't it? Right. Yeah. So you become the character. Yeah, I mean I don't worry about that too much. It's like what would two D say here. Yeah, yeah. No, it's a much looser. Turgid very quickly if I was worrying about that, you know. I'm not a script writer. They're the reason we can experiment and do whatever we want, because they're the band. So behind them, we can literally do anything. There's nothing we can't experiment with, and nobody he can't collaborate with, or nowhere we can't travel to find ideas and inspiration. So it's total creative freedom which is Quite amazing to b to have that. And it has an audience, so we want more. So even lucky. Get Van Get him on the album. That'll be a great collab. You two bouncing off each other. Weak high fives. Chata, chata, chata, chata, chata. There's been uh a lot of stuff, gula stuff made in this studio over the years. Yeah. Many, many sessions. Yes, many, many, many sessions. Although this isn't the original carpet. When I left, they changed the carpet. Because of the blood stains. Blood stains of every stain. Every stain imaginable was on that floor. The grime from your yoga sessions. Who have you had in here then? Who haven't we had? Haven't we had? Marky Smith's been in here. Did you do Sean Ryder in here? No, that was in the That was in the last year. Yeah, people like Grace Jones. Grace Jones has she been in here. Been in here, she did the uh handstand Just there. Ag what, like hundred. Yeah. What's she like? She was in her mid to late sixties. She's incredible. What do you chat to Grace Jones about? Anything. It started in Jamaica that, didn't it? Then she came here. So we've been. In New York. Right, back in the Studio fifty four. Yes, yes. What was she saying about Trumple Stiltskin? Did she think that he was unfairly maligned? Uh she wasn't necessarily the biggest fan. No. Let's just leave it at that, shall we? He gets too much publicity. Yeah, let's not talk about it. Quite an involved dream about Trump. People do dream about my wife dreamt about him the other day. Yeah, and he was a really nice guy. I liked him in my dreams. He's everywhere, even in our dreams. Yes. You got along well with him in your dream, really. Now honestly it's weird. It's not like you. I actually found myself really going, Oh, quite a lot. Everybody who meets him not everybody, but people who meet him j often say he's he's good fun. He's nice to hang out with. That's the problem with the guy, is that he's He's got some sort of affability that really combined with power does a number on people. But anyway, yeah. David Bowie died ten years ago. Did you spend much time with him? A bit, yeah. Did you ever work on anything with him? We were gonna make a record together. That was his idea. Which I got obviously somewhat excited about. Um but it never happened. He started it it was supposed to start And then he was on a tour and it and it was doing very well and he said, Well I'm not gonna stop until the tour people don't want to come and see me. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Do you remember when we lived together we had an answering machine. Yes. And we had a lot of Messages from we had one from Pete Townsend. Hello Damon. It's Pete. We had one from Chrissy Hine and we had one from David Bowie. Do you remember? Yeah. Hello, Damon. It's David Bowie, yeah. And we never kept that tape, did we? I always remember an episode of the O Zone. Do you remember the O Zone? Yes. With Jane Middlemas and Jamie Thinkston? Yeah. Jamie Thinkston. Well, I mean we've got stories about any anyway anyone who was like in uh light entertainment in the nineties. Did you go nuts with Jamie Thinkston? And and the ones. And Anton Deck. And Anton Day. Yeah. And the spice girls. I think you made one of them cry, didn't you? Huh? You were so mean to them. We went out with meaning. The true story is we had an idea. We wanted to do like a read. Why do you say that, but I made someone cry because I was meaningful. I was there. We had an idea of remaking Derek and Clive with Ant and Deck. And we went to have dinner with them. We said, Get you in the studio, get a few drinks there. And they said, We love the idea, but we're off to Australia tomorrow 'cause we have a new TV program called I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. And we had a bit of a night with them. We ended up getting quite trashed. I seem to remember. But maybe it was somebody else. Maybe it but I remember a heated debate where somebody burst into tears. Maybe it wasn't one of the the the boys. Yes. Yes. Well Dick was much more together than Ant. And Ant stayed and hung out with us, and I think Dick was a bit upset the state and arrived and blamed it on us. Gone on the plane to Australia with what a hangover should get into a studio and record in the same way that Derek and Clive did. The same impulse that made us sing a cartoon bank could be a good idea, probably. I don't know. We were just we were trying to be subversive and they were kind of into the idea, but they said, look, we've been busy for a while. We'll get back to this maybe and then of course we never did because That program's been going for I don't know, twenty five years. Yeah, yeah. I mean it's something I would like to hear. I'd like to hear Ant and Deck doing people. No, because we have they were fun to hang out with, you know, they're just like the rest of us. They had a few drinks and it was fun. We had a fun night. Then there was the occasion where we Yeah. Love it. What would the spice girls do though? Those noises. Exactly. What would they do? It's it's intriguing, right? Yeah. To bring it back to Javis. You were quite rude about him in the Ozone in nineteen ninety five. I felt very indignant on his behalf. Was I having a go at Tin Machine? Uh I I did an impression of what you said. This is exactly what you said, but it's me doing an impression of you. Hang on, I want to hear your impression of Damon. To be honest with you, I don't think what he's doing now is particularly important. People who watch the Ozone don't even know who he is. That's very good impersonation at David. You've even got the little whistle at the end. I love the way you prepared that. That was in my audio book. Um Yeah I I mean there was something about the tip machine that was just particularly rubbish. Yeah. You know, I don't know what it was. But you know, compared to the mountain of Genius, I think, you know. But it's true. The ozone was sort of for kids. They didn't know who David Bowie was at that point. You know, the world of the internet didn't exist then. You couldn't just soar something, you know. So but everyone knows who David Bowie is now, and quite rightly, because and you know, massive massive, massive influence on me, you know? Um so I don't feel uh bad about saying that. But thanks for bringing it up then. Okay. Um reenacting it so superbly. Yeah. And of course Bowie's last statement. Yeah, it was heartbreaking. Yeah. What the f do you actually know what free jazz is? No. Because it's not that. Is it not? No. Does Donny McAnslin not play any free jazz? But free jazz is free jazz, it's where there's no chord structure, there's no destination, it's just f totally and utterly free. Everything else is not strictly free, jazz. It's considered and you know charted and To me, free jazz is just f scrunking like atonal. Yeah. I mean you could put it it free jazz is the same as free pop. Free class food. What's free pop? I'd like to hear some free pop. I can show you some later if you want to participate in it. Let's do some pretty pop. We've created a new genre. Hey, welcome back. So that was the main conversation there. Hope you enjoyed that. We had to vacate the control room where we were recording. We ran out of time. Someone else was booked in there after us. By the way, I've posted a couple of pictures from that day on my website. Case you're interested in seeing some uh gnarly old guys. I bought a hat for Damon with the word cool writ on the front. he very gamely posed with it. And by this point, at the end of that main conversation, I was uh beginning to relax. I had been quite nervous. I didn't know what to expect. Damon's reputation precedes him. And I wasn't sure. how the thing was gonna go. And it's always difficult when you're interviewing two people at the same time, especially if they have the kind of rapport that Damon and Jamie do, where they're talking over each other a little bit and having digs at each other every now and again. It's uh hard to navigate in the moment when you're recording. Also not that easy to mix when you're editing. But I felt like it was a really fun chat that we had had. And I was really pleased because I've got a huge amount of admiration for both Damon and Jamie. Yeah, Jamie was very nice about the podcast and he was talking to me about some of his favorite episodes. And that's where you join us here as I was packing up my stuff. And once again I had my dictaphone. Running to capture our conversation and then I took it along with me for a short tour of the studios with Damon. Here we go. Yeah, I listened to one of them which was very funny. He's always funny. Louis came to see us at Coverbox and he came back stage and we were very excited to meet him. We had a nice chat and then he announced that tomorrow I'm going to see Coldplay. And we were like, Get out of the dressing room. I I feel like I I stand up for Coldplay. I was fine. I was so impressed. I was so impressed by him at Glastonbury and his crow and his thing where he improvises songs. You don't look convinced. Have you seen him doing that? What do you mean improvises songs? He gets the cameraman to focus on someone in the audience. Yeah. And their face goes up on the jumbo trunk. And then he Well he did that, yeah. But he serenades the Oh Adam By the way, you've dropped your zip to the bottom. This is not as good as the stuff C Chris Martin was doing what was he doing. He was doing like Properly formed songs. I think Simon Pegg. Simon Pegg is a friend of mine and a friend of Chris Martin's, and he was there at that Glastonbury show and I said to Simon, Does he prep the songs beforehand? And Simon says no he doesn't. Well if Simon says But that he doesn't have chord sequences Yeah he might have chord sequences sure sure Have you seen um Marty Supreme Not yet Not yet but I mean I'm a massive table tennis person because I know you've boasted about beating Donald Glover at table tennis. Donald Glover I've never played Donald Glover Who did you get that from You told me that story Child is Cambino Oh yeah or Danny Glover Donald Glover yes. Anyone can beat Danny Glover is that 80 people. I fresh Tim. I freshed him at table tennis. I'm not answering that. I would like to play Tim. I would like to play Tim at the door. You would like to play Timothy Chalamage? Yeah. And I almost had a chance to uh well he was gonna come here and uh there are a couple of occasions I've very nearly played Drake, who claims he's really good as well. Uh-huh. I like I like that. I mean uh uh Les F uh no Rio Ferdinand Les Ferdinand, Rio Ferdinand. Frash me. But he's a like uh he was playing still playing for Manu then. He was like a top athlete. Yeah. Um but I think the best hip hop artist table tennis player. Well it's Kano but I can beat him. Kano. Yeah. But he's pretty good. And you're really good, aren't you? I'm I'm very street in my style. I'm uh you know, unorthodox. What does that mean? Are you like jumping up and down and going way back like they do in Mars? Yeah, I mean I d uh But you know all of those really good shots and they were all choreographed, they're not from open play. Mm-hmm. I did used to go to a club, Table Towns club in New York where there were a few kind of ex pros there who would humiliate. Yeah, yeah, we played light with a A spoon or something crash you. It's so humiliating. Do you like table tennis? Uh I can't play it. My my sons like it. Right. Yeah, yeah, they go. They really competitive. I mean you you can't not be if you like it. They've had big rows. Their their table tennis rows, my sons are like My Monopoly Rouse used to be with my sister. Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. Really quite bitter. Okay. Will you show me some of your gear. Walking down the red corridors. Uh What are these studios called? What about your bells? My bells bells. Yeah, I have one. Keyboard hook on Melancholy Hill but Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun 'cause there's only three notes. And I had them made uh they're like like sort of six thousand pounds each to get a uh I 'cause I was born in uh London hospital in the sound of bow bells. So I went to the Bow Bell Foundry, which had started in sixteen thirty or something like that. And they've still got all the old old tools. So I had these three amazing bells made, but I think there's that one of them's here. Um So you are an actual cockney. I'm a cockney, yeah. So when people were accusing you of being a Motney in the nineties, that must have really. Public school Which is ridiculous. I went to Stoneway Comprehensive, which believe me was a very average state school. Should I be following you? Yeah, please. Um So So when you come here to work you get to look in all of these cupboards which are just packed full of keyboards. Oh wow. Beautifully labelled. Beautifully labelled. There's a bit of Russian stuff left here, but I've got a lot of Russian sympathizers but most of them are in Devon at the moment. working on this score that I'm So I take different periods and different kind of sounds. The mood little fatty. Yes. The chroma polaris. Yeah. The NSONIC ASR ten number one. Yeah. The Tesco No, oh it's not Tesco, it's Tai Tescop. The Rhythm 6 Mark 700. The Cassiot. Oh lovely. Cassiot. And each of these you have recorded with? Yeah. And they're all different. They've all got a different story and a one of two. This is where when I'm in London I work. Up here. Hi guys. Hello. Adam Buxton is doing a podcast. Sorry to interrupt. Um now This is a keyboard from the craft work. Oh really? Yeah. Holy Moses. This thing. Yeah. Wow. Do you want to hear it? Yes, please. Okay. Let me stick it in a number. This is just red bridge to. Oh That sounds amazing. That's a base center keyboard. Yes please. Touch it. Touch it. Whoa, that guy, I like that guy. Yeah, that'd be great. That was a good thing. Anyway, fantastic. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Mind the gap, yes, I mind the gap. But what is the gap? It is the gap of failure. All together now. Hey, welcome back. That was Damon Albon and Jamie Hewlett of Guerillas. A reminder that their tour details are in the description. I think there's still some tickets left for that London show in June. Got a note here from Fact Checking Center that says Guerilla's X manager. Did not manage Van Morrison. Perhaps because his name is Chris Morrison. J'ai was thinking that perhaps he had managed Van. He used to manage Blur, Elastica, More Chiba, Midur, and John Cale, but not Van. Van if you're listening, hope you appreciate how hard I fought for you. And you're welcome on the podcast any time. You can sing some astral weeks, I'll do some free jazz. and you can slag off Damon. Thank you so much to Damon and Jamie for their hospitality and waffle skills. Speaking of live music, I do hope I get to see some of you at a few of the shows that we're doing. Me and the Adam Buxton Band, which includes various members of Metronomy. We kick off in Liverpool on the 1st of May. Then we go to Leeds, although I think that is sold out. Exeter, Cardiff, Bath, Brighton, Margate, Buxton, Manchester, Leicester. That's all in May. And then in June we play two nights in London, 23rd and 24th at Hoxton Hall. And we have support. For every show, as far as I'm aware. I'm very pleased to say we're being joined by up and coming musicians, Anna B. Savage, Clementine March, Bristol Band The Cindy's, and Talia Blee, or Talia Blay. Who describes herself as a rising North London based dysfunctional rapper and visual artist. They're all great. I've met Talia and Clementine before, but I'm looking forward to meeting Anna and the Cindy's. And just being in the world of live music. With of course some great inter song bands. And I'll be hanging out after the shows signing things if you want to get things signed. Selling a bit of much. You know, generally behaving like Uh music guy. Which Which has been my dream all my life. How have you been anyway, Podcats? Hope you've been doing okay. in quite extreme global circumstances. I haven't been too bad. Probably at the news a little bit too much. While I'm at my computer. But I've also been having a lot of fun doing success pod. Rosie is doing very well, although We had a bit of a wobble earlier this year, didn't we, Rosie? I was punished for wanting to get the most out of the day. Well, I mean you started waking up at five o'clock every morning and scratching at the bedroom door. And then when we'd let you out You didn't want to go for a pee or like you didn't seem to want anything. You just hang around outside the bedroom door and then start scratching again if we went to sleep. And so for that terrible crime I was forced to sleep in the kitchen. Which is where you used to sleep perfectly happily before things got all together too lax and you started sharing our bedroom. Well I no longer wish to sleep. kitchen. The kitchen's fine for afternoon sleep time on the sofa, but not for night time. Yeah I know, well you were yowling every night when we put you down there earlier this year. We were worried about you so I got some advice from a dog therapist. Okay. And she said that you would get used to it, but we had to be consistent. and not waver from the plan. But it was really tough because you obviously weren't enjoying it. And we felt bad about it. Rosie is straining at the lead. Because she uh Spotted some deer action and wants to go for a little run. Hang on a second, Rosie. Well there's no one around, so I'll let you off. Hang on. Anyway, my wife my wife reckon that one of the reasons Rosie was upset down in the kitchen was because she's now quite hard of hearing in her old age. Like maybe pretty much deaf. So I think she wants to just make sure that we're around, especially at night. So my wife brilliantly built a special rosy platform over on her side of the bed. Previously she had just been in a nice comfy dog box but a bit lower over in the corner of the room. Now she has a special my wife built platform over on her side of the bed. So that Rosie can lie. right there next to her at the same height as us. So my wife can depending on how she's feeling She can turn one way and snuggle with Rosie face to face or with the old guy on the other side. But it's done the trick. Rosie is no longer waking up at five AM and scratching at the door. She stays in her bed until we get up now. Anyway so that's Rosie News. Okay, that's it for this week's episode. Thank you so much once again to Damon and Jamie and the whole Guerillas team, especially Breed, for enabling the conversation to happen. Thank you very much to Seamus Murphy Mitchell for his invaluable production support. Thanks to Helen Green, she does the artwork for this podcast. Thanks to everybody at ACast who helps liaise with my sponsors and keeps the show on the road. But thanks, most of all, to you. Hey, thank you so much for coming back. I hope you enjoyed that. And if you would like to be kept more or less up to date with what I'm doing with my very occasional newsletters, then visit my website, scroll to the bottom of the front page, and sign up. There's a link to my website in the description of today's episode. How about a creepy spring hug? Come here. Oh yeah, spring fresh. Until next time, we share the same sonic space. Please go carefully. And if it's at all helpful, please bear in mind that I love you. Bye! Like subscribe, like and subscribe, Light and subscribe, like and subscribe, bumps on,