X-Ray Spex Review, Punk Rock News and Album Reviews

On this episode of the Banned Biographies podcast, Tom gives a recap of the reactions to last month's Stiff Little Fingers documentary, the first documentary episode in about six months! A change to the normal running of things is proposed so that Tom keeps in touch with new music after a year of brilliant album, EP and single releases, most of which passed him by. So, Tom looks back at some of them - as many as he's gone back to listen to, anyway - from the baffling resurrection of Nu Metal to the great punk, indie, ska and rock music that came out in the last 12 months. Please do get in touch via the social links below to let us know what your favourite albums and track were in 2021 and what you're looking forward to in 2022. Also, if you are in a band or make music, we'd love to showcase you on these episodes and don't worry, as you'll hear from Tom's list, this is a judgement free zone! Please do reach out to Banned Biographies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or by email as well as leaving those ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts, but more than anything else take care and stay safe. Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: bannedbiographies@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 Jan 202216min

Founded in Belfast in 1977 out of the ashes of a heavy metal covers band, Stiff Little Fingers and their manager, Gordon Ogilvie, wrote hard-hitting, scathing songs about The Troubles in Northern Ireland. This was in stark contrast to their contemporaries like The Undertones who chose to ignore The Troubles to sing about teenage angst and chocolate bars. Stiff Little Fingers was championed by the legendary John Peel and released the iconic Inflammable Material album, which became the first independently released album to chart in the UK, reaching number 14 and achieving silver-selling status. The band changed its style over the next two albums which lost them a lot of fans and, due to the popularity of synthesiser-based pop music over guitar-driven bands in the 1980s, Stiff Little Fingers broke up in 1983. A cynical, money-spinning reunion tour in 1987 saw the band enjoy better attended shows than ever and so they decided to give it another go. To this day Stiff Little Fingers continues to tour the world as well as recording and releasing albums - the latest of which became the band's first number one on the BBC Rock Albums Chart.  Join me as I tell the (somewhat expletive filled) story of a 45-year-old band that is arguably more popular now than ever! Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: bannedbiographies@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 Jan 20222h 17min

On this episode of the Banned Biographies Podcast, Tom has a brief recap of the reactions to the interview with Gizz Butt from last month's episode and lets you know which band the next documentary will be able when he finally releases it in December. There's no main episode this month, mainly due to the fact that I've been playing gigs around the country this month with Sham 69 as well as onboarding new clients over the last couple of months which has made me busier than ever. Instead I tell a few stories from travelling round the country and let you know of the gigs the band has lined up for 2022 and what I'm trying to sort out for the podcast as well. It's an exciting time right now and I hope you guys are as excited for what lies ahead as I am. Make sure to keep an eye on social media and your podcast feed for announcements of what's coming up next as and when I post them. Thanks once more to Gizz Butt for his time and his guitar playing on the last episode and also. be sure to check out my appearance on the Free With This Months Issue Podcast where hosts Colin, Ian and I dissect a free CD from the cover of a Kerrang! Magazine from back in 2003! Please do reach out to Banned Biographies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or by email as well as leaving those ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts, but more than anything else take care and stay safe. Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: bannedbiographies@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

26 Nov 202135min

On this special interview episode of the Banned Biographies podcast, Tom chats with Gizz Butt, lead guitarist and singer with the band Janus Stark. Gizz has also played in a number of bands including The Prodigy, English Dogs, Steve Ignorant of Crass’s live band, The Fields of the Nephilim, The Destructors, Sabbat and a whole lot more, including a couple of appearances on stage with Foo Fighters. Gizz was really generous with his time and we cover a lot of ground and he even plays a few songs live including a version of The Prodigy’s Fuel My Fire which never made the final edit. I also manage to point out something fishy on his Wikipedia which causes a lot of laughter but also opens up the more sensitive side of this life-long punk rocker. Make sure to visit www.janusstark.co.uk or www.gizzbutt.com or find them on all the social media platforms. And, if you like what you hear of Gizz’s playing (and why wouldn’t you?), you can go to www.patreon.com/GizzButt, to gain access to loads of songs, pictures and videos from all his bands right back to his first school band when he was 12! Once again, my sincerest thanks to Gizz for his time, for being such a brilliant guy to talk to and for all his wise words, which anyone thinking of starting a band, as well as anyone who has been in bands for years, should take on board. Thanks for listening, stay safe and take care. Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: bannedbiographies@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Okt 20211h 45min

Your host, Tom Austin-Morgan returns to talk about what’s been going on since the mammoth Permanent Record Podcast and Banned Biographies crossover podcast was released last month where they reviewed and dissected U2's iconic 1987 album The Joshua Tree and what you can expect from this months’ episode. I’ll also be talking about my experience at Skamouth Festival, which was my first gig in Sham 69. Firstly, I’d like to thank Brian and Sarah again for allowing me to stich four of their episodes together and put it out on my feed. I wasn’t expecting big download numbers, because the episode was 8 hours long, and because they’d already been published individually by Permanent Record Podcast. However, it’s quickly become one of the most downloaded Banned Biographies episodes that isn’t a documentary, so I’d like to thank you all for downloading it and – hopefully – listening all the way through. If you enjoyed what you heard you really should subscribe to the Permanent Record Podcast and let Brian and Sarah know you found out about them through Banned Biographies. I played my first gig with Sham 69 on Sunday 2nd October and I cover the whole weekend in some detail on this episode. Luckily, I survived being chucked in the deep end and will be playing with Sham 69 at four more gigs across the country in November: Saturday 6th November, The Snig, Widnes (tickets from seetickets) Saturday 13th November, New Cross Inn, London (tickets from New Cross Inn) Thursday 18th November, The Old Courts, Wigan (tickets from eventbrite) Friday 19th November, The Bunkhouse, Swansea (tickets from The Bunkhouse) I'd love to see some of you listeners at these gigs, do come up and say hello if you come along. Please do reach out to Banned Biographies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or by email as well as leaving those ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts, but more than anything else take care and stay safe. Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: bannedbiographies@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

25 Okt 202112min

Hello and welcome back to Banned Biographies, Tom Austin-Morgan is back to talk about what’s been going on since the interview with James Cruttwell was released last month and what you can expect from this months’ episode. There’s quite a bit to tell you, so strap in! I thought it was interesting to hear about what James and I expected the end of the year to look like compared to how it actually is. For example, how long it would take people to return to feeling normal in everyday situations after lockdown was lifted. We were both looking forward to getting back to playing and attending gigs again, but worried that we might feel a bit uncomfortable in those environments again, or that it might take people a long time to feel comfortable in crowd environments. It turns out that a lot of people seem to have clicked back into their pre-covid ruts straight away, which I guess shouldn’t have been a surprise. But what has surprised me is that, having played a few gigs now with my own bands, I feel more excited to be at a gig again than I am anxious.  James and I have since met in real life and I’m glad to report he was just as easy to chat to and excitable as he was on the episode. I'm now the bass played for Sham 69! So, you can listen to how that happened on this episode. Also, Swampstomper is playing at the Hope and Anchor, Islington, London on Saturday 25th September 2021 supporting Janus Stark, whose front-man and guitarist, Gizz Butt, used to play live guitar for The Prodigy and appears on The Fat Of The Land. It’s going to be an amazing gig. If you’re able to come down, I’d highly advise it. Please do reach out to Banned Biographies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or by email as well as leaving those ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts, but more than anything else take care and stay safe. Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: bannedbiographies@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Sep 202110min

On this episode of Banned Biographies, Tom chats with James Cruttwell, bassist with The Gonads - a band fronted by broadcaster and author Garry Bushell - and The Furry Love Lickers. In the episode we also talk about him being in East End Badoes, another old school London-based Oi Punk band, but since this episode was recorded he no longer plays for them. We also talk quite a bit about lockdowns possibly being eased, which was something we were looking forward to in March or April when this episode was recorded. So, a lot of that is irrelevant now, but I kept it in because I found it interesting to look back at how we were feeling four or five months ago and how things have changed since. Because we found out that we have similar tastes in music we get very excited talking about bands we both love and because we're both from the same area we both get a bit 'Estuary'; dropping our 'Ts' and turning double 'Ls' into 'Ws', which is what happens when you get two Kent-based punk fans together! James is a great guy who has had some brilliant experiences playing in punk bands around Europe. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I had having it. Thanks for listening, stay safe and take care. Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: bannedbiographies@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 Aug 20211h 36min

Hello and welcome back to Banned Biographies. Your host, Tom Austin-Morgan, is back to let you know what’s been happening over the last month since the interview with Jack Pop, founder of Alcopop! Records, went out and what you can expect from the next episode. I got to play some gigs this past weekend with my covers band and Swampstomper . It was exhilarating to play live and loud in front of people again, and there are a couple more gigs this month too: one at Leo’s Red Lion in Gravesend on the 4th September and another supporting Janus Stark at the Hope and Anchor in Islington, London on the 25th September.  The third episode of my four-part guest spot on the Permanent Record Podcast has just been released, where I joined hosts Brian and Sarah to talk about the iconic U2 album, The Joshua Tree. In this one we discuss a bunch of the tracks in the middle of the album as well as a couple of videos for songs that none of us knew even existed. Permanent Record podcast is a great resource for anyone remotely interested in the minutiae of bands and albums, especially if you’re into synth-based music. Make sure you go and subscribe to Permanent Record Podcast on whatever podcast platform you use and go and follow them on Twitter , Facebook or at https://www.permanentrecordpodcast.com/. The interview with Jack Pop was hotly anticipated by a few people and I received some great feedback from listeners. The chat was a joy. It had been recorded a few months ago, so revisiting it for the edit was great fun. Jack’s such a lovely guy, his ability to weave a story is brilliant and his enthusiasm for music is infectious. I’ve found some really great bands on Alcopop!, most of which we mentioned in the episode itself, and I’m certainly a fan of the label now too. It’s been great to hear that you found the interview interesting and engaging. Jack himself has been responsive to all the comments the episode has received all over social media and has had some really nice things to say about me and the show as well. Thank you to all of you that got in touch. Please do reach out to Banned Biographies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or by email as well as leaving those ratings and reviews on Apple Podcasts, but more than anything else take care and stay safe. Contact Twitter: @BannedBiogs Facebook: @BannedBiographies Instagram: @bannedbiographies E-mail: bannedbiographies@gmail.com   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

23 Aug 20219min