2019 Interview Tracker – Sodajerker is BRILLIANT

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I listened to the Sodajerker interview podcast in a hotel bedroom in Santiago, and it was an absolute treat. The link (for anyone who hasn’t yet found it) is below. Simon and Brian are sympathetic and engaging interviewers, and just as in 2013 this one sits up there with Pete Paphides as the best of the bunch.

I previously noted that Toru Watanabe’s telephone interview formed the basis of the Japanese sleeve notes for “I trawl”; I now have these scanned and ready for translation in due course. It appears this has also appeared in the latest edition of the Japanese “Record Collector” magazine, which I will investigate. For those who don’t know him, he is THE MAN for Prefab Sprout in Japan, having hosted the 1999 event in Tokyo, and interviewed Paddy many times, probably most notably on the same trip.  Watanabe explains in a tweet that the CD insert is 14 pages long and contains most of the call.

Still waiting for Hotpress, and rumours of another coming in the German Intro Magazine.

Upcoming Interviews:

• Toma Tommaso, Billboard Italy (unknown date)
• Pat Carty for Hot Press, January 15th (due to appear in Feb).
• Rumoured – Intro Magazine, Germany
• Toru Watanabe, Record Collector (interviewed Jan 10th, probably the same as the Japanese “I Trawl” sleeve notes.

Already available Interviews:

• Francois Gorin, Telerama (French)
• Olivier Nuc, Le Figaro (Paywalled)
• AFP, Nicolas Pratviel and Fiachra Gibbons, several newspapers including Malay Mail and Borneo Post.
• Danny Eccleston, Mojo February 2019 (available now in the magazine)
• Chris Roberts, Record Collector January 2019 (available now online)
• Carlos P. de Ziriza Interviewed Paddy on January 15th 2019, and the results appeared in:
  • A Punt Radio, Territori Sonor (Catalan), January 24th 2019. Paddy Segment is about 12 minutes long, from 1hr01mins.
  • MondoSonoro Website. January 24th 2019. Translates quite well from Spanish using Google website translate. Note that the interview wasn’t published for “Efe Eme” as originally thought.
• Tony Clayton-Lea in the Irish Times 26th January. Interview took place January 15th, 2019
• Erik Valebrokk, via Blog. Via Dagbladet Norway, available behind a paywall online in Norwegian.
• Jordi Bianciotto, Rockdelux Magazine, February 2019
• John Earls, Classic Pop magazine #49, out 31st Jan. Interview took place on the 29th November during Paddy’s press day in Kensington.
• Juan Manuel Freire, El Periodico, Feb 12th
• Patrik Forshage, Nöjesguiden, Feb 16th
• Olivier Lamm, La Liberation, Feb 18th
• Rock and Folk, March Edition, Jerome Soligny.
• Pete Paphides, Podcast, Recorded 29th November
• Toru Watanabe, sleeve notes to the Japanese CD release of “I Trawl”. Interview took place January 10th. May also appear in the Japanese Record Collector magazine for March.
• March 25th, Robert Ham, Paste Magazine. Interview took place January 30th. According to Robert, the online version is pretty much the whole conversation
• April 2nd (published) Ron Hart, Billboard USA. Interview from early Feb.
• W/C April 1st, Sodajerker (recorded Feb 1st)
• Simon Logan interviews Martin McAloon, BBC Radio Newcastle, April 1st 2019

• Chris Hawkins, BBC6 Music, Paddy on his hometown. Recorded Feb 9th, Broadcast March 11th

• Radcliffe and Maconie, BBC 6Music, Feb 9th. A derived piece was published in Waitrose free “Weekend” newspaper, 28th Feb

• Simon Logan, BBC Radio Newcastle, Feb 7th.

• Laurence Cook, BBC Radio Scotland, 6th Feb. Recorded 31st Jan.

• Stephen Smith, BBC Newsnight, 4th Feb (recorded 31st Jan)

• Eleri Sion, BBC Radio Wales, 4th Feb

• Andy Jackson. Wave105, 1st Feb. Use this official link unless geoblocked

• Robert Elms, BBC Radio London, 1st Feb

• Caroline Fleck, Downtown Radio,31st January, available below

• Nicola Stanbridge, Radio 4 (Recorded December 3rd), available below.

 

Some Extracts from the Dagbladet interview:

“Perhaps Sony will also release a box set of rarities. There are many B-sides that aren’t available anywhere, in addition to the first two Prefab Sprout singles. Besides, I have a lot of old demos. The only problem is that they are in a huge aluminium box that my mixing desk is on, and I can’t remove it until I finish the new album. It’s like they’re in jail”, says a cheerful Paddy.

On “Femmes Mythologiques”:

“The idea for the album came from thinking of John Lennon and how he has changed from being a talented boy from Liverpool to a mythical figure in just over 50 years. What transformation has he undergone in such a short time? And how much did our images of other figures – including Eve in the Garden of Eden – have changed over the centuries and millennia?”

On unfinished albums:

“… One is “Electrical Storm” that was finished and I had started recording. It was in 2010, and perversely enough – for various reasons – it became easier for me to create “Crimson / Red” from scratch than to finish a record that was almost finished.”