Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette
We feature a lot of community related content on Phoenix FM, with a great deal of promotion of local unsigned singers and bands, but sometimes it’s good to hear some of the old hands on air too.
In the last week alone we’ve featured a number of interviews from 70s and 80s pop stars, including Francis Rossi from Status Quo, Robin Campbell from UB40, Andy Bell from Erasure and Neil Arthur from Blancmange.
I myself was lucky recently to interview a punk legend, Jean-Jacques Burnel from the Stranglers. He has a fearsome reputation among journalists but perhaps community radio is more his thing as I found him to be extremely articulate, witty and charming.
All of these artists have new music or major tours out and have great stories to tell about what they’re up to now – content that wouldn’t get covered by Radio 1 or commercial radio.
And some of the tracks are pretty good too! I was never much of a fan of Status Quo’s chugging three chord blues, but Francis Rossi’s new single I Talk Too Much is a highly enjoyable Beatlesque singalong.
All of the interviews can be heard again at our website, phoenixfm.com.
* Lots of local content too coming up on air over the next seven days. Jane Malyon from The English Cream Tea Company will be chatting on Carmel Jane Talks Business, and Jo Druce and Martin Lawrence from F Barnes Solicitors will be talking about auction sales on Drive.
* There will also be live music in the studio from local band The Theme and singer Amy Lou.