Chalk, Brighton Wednesday 2 September 2026 What happens when a respected actor and a veteran Chicago musician take on the mantle of giving the world access to the back catalogue of one of the most beloved bands of the last forty years (and more than a decade after they split)? First, some back story... Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy have been collaborating on these niche cover / tribute shows for quite a few years now. It started with one-off shows in Chicago covering the

I.R.S. is a record label that has interested me for a long time; well since I started to get into R.E.M. in the late 80s and saw that until recently, they had been on that label. The name interested me - I knew enough about the USA to know that there was some government association with this initialism. Before we dive a little bit into the labels history and some of the key bands that were a part of it (we will focus on the original version of it, rather than the time since 2

Well, it's been a few months, but it was high time to roll out another bunch of top cover versions for you. They might not be originals, but that shouldn't detract from the quality. So, for our seventh selection of covers, we have ten great alternate takes on older tunes - and this time, we cover a wealth of genres, from classic pop, indie and alt-rock, through country and garage punk. As ever, there should be something in here for everyone.... 1. Echo & The Bunnymen: People

The Garage, Highbury, London - Saturday 23 August 2025 Is this a covers band or tribute act, or something greater than that? The fact...

Last week saw us embark on operation 'distract our daughter from exam results day'* - with a trip to the cinema. I hadn't set foot in a...

This day forty years ago (10 June 1985), was a transitional day for one of America's rapidly developing and emerging key bands, as its...

It used to be assumed that decent cover versions were few and far between - but the fact that we are now on to our fifth set of covers,...

Last night, the four original members of R.E.M. were back together one more time, receiving their induction into the Songwriter's Hall of...

After focusing on my favourite drummers a few months back, this time it is all about the bass. The bass player is often the hardest...

Yes, it's time for another playlist, and this time we are off to mainland Europe. Here we have ten more interesting (well, eleven...

Most songs written have fallen into one theme or another - there have been songs about love, day and night, good and bad, life and...

It's the end of April, post number 193, and the second anniversary of this site. Incredibly, in that time, over 450 people have visited...

For this playlist it's time to delve back into the cupboard of cover versions. We all know there are plenty of terrible and mediocre...

It is often written that bands who put out a critically well received debut album, then face the daunting prospect of the 'dreaded second...

Don't fret if you are an American reading this - we are not doing ten songs about the US taxman! This is I.R.S. Records, founded in 1979...

On this day in 1958, Michael Edward Mills was born in Orange County, California. He would go on to be the bass player in perhaps one of...

So, everyone's gone through a period where they really wished they could drum in a rock band; where they've been sitting in a pub and...

With a family member currently visiting us from the Lone Star State - what better time to pull together another great playlist for you....

The mood in the Birds That Are Blue camp is still requiring an uplift. So we will continue with our theme of playlists by the decade -...

For this geographically themed playlist, we are going, somewhat topically, given that it is the current centre of US political focus - to...