My friend Joe Healey chats about what makes Blood on the Motorway by DJ Shadow his favourite song. Limewire, Sampling, iTunes Libraries, formative years and funerals.  Quotes: "Alchemy, but at the same time unbelievably accessible" "that possibility always intrigued me" "please take it on an mp3 or on your phone to my funeral" "i was trying to complete music" "you could suddenly just get them at your fingertips"

This week we hear from my good friend David Casey. David and I were in the folk rock’n’roll band Ogre Melodies together. His song choice is Night of the Pencils by Tubelord. He talks about 6th form college, meeting new people, meeting his wife and forming friendships he holds dear to this day. Key Quotes It’s where I met my wife. I met the two people who gave speeches at my wedding. Holy shit there are so many amazing people where I live. It felt like every week I was meeting somebody else who was really funny or nice or interesting. You could go see them for £5 cover! The intimacy is so palpable. Tubelord actually broke up the week we started making music together. When you make music, especially when you’re young, you’re like if im gonna do this, I’m gonna make it my life and I wanna be really successful and I want to play gigs forever A cool thing about the world is you get - if you’re lucky - you get to be around it for a very long time Quote that didnt make the edit, but honourable mention:  "I like math. I like rock"

My friend Jamie Nicholson-Ruther's song choice is Tribute by Tenacious D Jamie takes us on a journey from childhood to "modern day Jamie" through the lens of his relationship with the song Tribute. Key Quotes and thats when karaoke truly became a big part of my life Down at Yates Karaoke, Bar and Grill The best medicine is laughter (as well as drugs and antibiotics and things) Its the only song that has travelled with me through my life Its become part of my persona A crowd of Italians in an Irish bar in Rome at 3am Music wasn't something I grew up with I didn't really understand why everyone loved music so much.

I met Sophie Bellamy on a beach in Da Nang, central Vietnam in early 2020. Turns out you can go half-way round the world and still meet legends from Yorkshire. We ended up staying in Vietnam together and going on many adventures. Including scuba diving, motorbike riding and a near death experience in a cable car. All your classic spy activities. Sophie is a co-founder of the Normal Bodies Art Project. Their aim is to create a diverse gallery of paintings and stories where everyone feels normal, worthy, and seen. Key Quotes Some editing needs to happen there When he left me I was in love with him. I think sometimes we can underestimate the pain of a break up but I now listen to with entirely different ears It is entirely possible to be happier than you ever imagined you could be. Whatever your situation is you can find something gorgeous in it.

Stefan Filby has a warm, natural friendliness. He is a Youth Worker, currently living in London, passionate about politics and making the world a better place. His song choice is the wonderful Sadie, by Joanna Newsom. Stefan discusses Joanna Newsom, living in Brighton, and working through difficult feelings of growing up, and moving onto a different phase in your life. I really enjoyed chatting to Stefan. We chatted for a good long while and obviously only some of that can make it into the c.10 minutes I have set for this podcast format.  Stefan helps organise an autonomous youth club, called Nomadic Youth London. It is based in New Cross, London at The Field Social Centre.  Here's some quotes from the episode: But, essentially its quite easy to understand that Sadie is her dog…! There was an exodus of… people… giving up that lifestyle So I eventually moved back home to my parents I remember going to see Joanna Newsom at the Brighton Dome with Rosie. Before the first note’s even finished ringing out, you know what that song is. We need to get a drink, we need to talk about this.

Kat Smith is a brilliant, kind and extremely adventurous friend I got to know while in Vietnam in 2020/21, and more recently in Albania 2022. She is a serial expat and the founder of A Way Abroad. A Way Abroad focuses on connecting women around the globe, while sharing information about jobs abroad and lifestyles in different cities. Her song choice is “Build Me Up Buttercup” by the Foundations. “When I was 18, I was supposed to be going to university… and then……” “I tried getting off the plane, that’s how nervous I was” “That trip kinda changed everything for me” “Have you ever been to Atlanta Airport??” IG: @a_wayabroad

Harrison Howarth is one of my closest and oldest friends. His song choice is the live video of Givers feat. Theophilius London playing “Words” Harrison talks about why this song is so important to him; how it influenced the band we started 10 years ago, and where the song takes him back to. “The album version is fine, but that specific version of that song is killer” “It feels very relevant to a time that feels like a year ago, but was more like six” “It a really meaningful track to me because it gave me the freedom to be part of our band in a bigger way than i would have been otherwise”

Raf Tudela is an inspiration. He is an amazing musician, designer and artist His song choice is “Adam’s Song” by Blink 182 (Listen on YouTube) NB Adam’s Song is widely interpreted as a song about suicide and depression. Raf talks about growing up in Colombia, learning English, and falling in love with Rock Music. “You know that English is not my first language, right? That means at some point i did not speak English” “In Bogota, there was one radio station that played music in English. One. And it was a Rock Station…” “And then Adam’s Song comes on and for some reason it made me feel sad; and i was confused, because up until then music did not have that effect on me” Raf's IG: @soy_raf

Holly Close is the love of my life. Her song choice is Shine by Take That (link to YouTube) Holly talks about her Mum, seeing Take That at Wembley, and a terrifying cliff hanger in Australian Soap Opera Neighbours. “Whenever it would come on in the car, my mum would always say “this is about you, you dont know that you’re great, you need to know that you can shine” “There was an episode of Neighbours where I went into hysterics because a paint can dropped on somebody’s head and I thought they were gonna die… I was inconsolable for days.” “It comes on the radio quite a lot… and I’d always be like “Oh no! Mum! Don’t sing it to me!”, but really now I’m like “oh mum, thank you!”” Intro Music: Robots & Aliens by Joel Cummins Outro Music: Looping Ascent by Joel Cummins

Jon-Henry or “Lamby” is another of my closest friends. His song choice for this week is American Pie by Don Maclean (link to YouTube) Jon-Henry talks about hanging out and chatting with his dad, karaoke, and driving over the Yorkshire Moors “It would just be me and my dad - and he would play it pretty much every day”. “That moment when you turn and you look at each other, and you’re like, “ah! we’re having the same thought clearly”” “It’s my Karaoke song; which is incredibly annoying, cos its 8 minutes long and the ending is the chorus about 5 times” “When i was that young, i never really knew the meaning behind the song…” Intro Music: Robots & Aliens by Joel Cummins Outro Music: Looping Ascent by Joel Cummins