Wonder Junkie Podcast - Pete Bailey

Welcome to episode 18 of the Wonder Junkie Podcast ft Frank Carter. Delighted to have Frank on the podcast, he’s someone I’ve bumped into over the years and done the odd festival interview with here n there but never had a chance to speak properly until now. From his new album Modern Ruin to Gallows, Pure Love, living in New York, coming back to London and Tattooing, this is Frank being very open and honest.

Welcome to episode 17 of the Wonder Junkie Podcast featuring Mars One candidate Sue Ann Pien. Sue is 1 of the 100 candidates for the Mars One Mission, she is also an accomplished actor having appeared in films such as Hellraiser Revelations, Everlasting and is also in the running to become National Geographic‘s Digital Correspondent, you can go help her on that journey by liking her video, which you can find here - http://assignmentexplorer.com/video/794 So Mars One is an organisation that has proposed to land the first humans on Mars and establish a permanent human colony there by 2032. The mission is surrounded by criticism and controversy and when I had ESA astrophysicist Dr. Matt Taylor as my guest in EP01, he too had very large doubts about the mission. The primary issues the Mars One Mission faces is technology and funding but it’s made good progress on that front, having recently begun trading publicly and raising £6 million in funding. Despite the challenges Mars One faces, in many ways it has already succeeded even if it doesn’t complete its mission, and its done this by raising awareness and pushing scientific scrutiny on such a mission. Indeed, just by the application process alone, its drastically changed Sue’s life which you’ll hear more about in the podcast...

Welcome to episode 16 of The Wonder Junkie Podcast, in this episode, we're doing Netflix recommendations with regular film / TV guest Ted Bennett. What you'll hear in this episode: • Why you need to get past the first 1-2 episodes when checking out The Ranch. • If you wanna watch something that doesn't require much attention, you need to watch It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. • Would it have been better if Sons Of Anarchy wrapped it up at Season 3? • Did Homeland take their eye off the ball in terms of world events? And Mandy Patinkin's thoughts on the show. • If you enjoy bittersweet comedy then you have to check out Californication • Where the hell is National Treasure 3?!?! • The fantastic story behind I Am David and how it highlights the brutalities of communism. • Alan Partridge is always worth your time. • How The Crown is more of a reflection of Winston Churchill's second term as prime minister than a story about the royal family.

Welcome to episode 15 of The Wonder Junkie Podcast featuring Kyle Gass and his band! So I somehow managed to corner Kyle just after their European tour and "Grill him like a cheese sandwich" about music, films, comedy and Tenacious D but thankfully his band mates John Konesky and Mike Bray came in to save Kyle from the grilling.

Welcome to episode 14 of the Wonder Junkie Podcast featuring heavy metal marine biologist, The Blowfish. It's safe to say there isn't a huge supply of heavy metal scientists, so I was delighted when I was introduced to The Blowfish and get him on the podcast. His passion for marine biology, environmental issues, and heavy metal shines through so much in this podcast. From apocalypse by Jellyfish to why Sharks are so intrinsically important to "Planet Wet" and his favourite metal bands, we pretty much covered all the basis so I hope you enjoy!

Welcome to episode 13 of the Wonder Junkie Podcast featuring Johnny Doom from Kerrang! Radio. It’s safe to say that if I hadn’t have met Johnny, I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today. Back in 2009, I hosted my own radio show “Metalheadz” on Calon FM and was lucky enough to attend Download Festival with a media pass where I got to interview bands and bug as many people in the music industry as possible for a job. Luckily, Johnny didn’t get too annoyed by my bugging and gave me a foot onto the ladder into Q and Kerrang! Radio and it all progressed from there. So there was a lot to catch up on as I hadn’t seen Johnny since Download Festival (this year) but I wanted to get the back story on Johnny as there’s a whole heap of stories I’ve heard over the years that I’d imagine have never made it to the airwaves… Johnny explained how came upon the name “Johnny Doom” through the band Doom, who John Peel was a great champion of. He also clarified whether or not the Doom logo was ripped off by the now famous game / movie. As with most careers in the music industry, Johnny’s is full of ups and downs and he talked about how he worked as a production runner in the 90’s after departing Doom, driving Slayer to McDonald's and delivering KFC to Amy Winehouse… never doubt the glamor of the music industry. Amazingly, after twelve years Johnny is still with Kerrang! Radio today, he currently presents evenings Mon-Fri 7-10pm and talked about how Kerrang! Radio got started, how he got involved with the station, reaching 1.4 million listeners and where the station is at now. Outside of radio, Johnny has recently delved into the world of TV with his new now show AMP’d on Big Centre TV, so we talked about that and how he finds being a radio presenter on TV. If you follow Johnny on social, you’ve probably had that “I’m not sure if he’s being serious or not” moment and Johnny happily, admits he’s a massive troll but is trying to not get too sucked into the world of social. But in those moments where Johnny is being serious, you can tell it’s sincere as we talked about him growing up in the Thatcher years, the polarization of politics, how Jeremy Corbyn has refreshed politics and if he would ever consider properly getting involved in politics. We also spoke about how fatherhood has changed his life and his outlook on the world, why he still loves Birmingham and thought’s on Phil Anselmo's white power outburst. Johnny is, without a doubt, one of the most down to earth guys you’ll meet in the music industry, I’ve always found that refreshing as you find yourself dealing with people’s egos. He might take the piss out of you on social, but he’d be the first person you’d wanna have a beer with down the pub or at a gig. I hope he gets another twelve years on Kerrang! Radio as we need people who don’t take themselves too seriously on air and I’m sure this won’t be our only chat in the years to come.

Welcome to episode 12 of the Wonder Junkie Podcast featuring Chuck Billy of Testament. Anyone that knows me or has heard me on the radio over the years will know how much I love Testament, so, of course, I had to speak to Chuck when he was in town promoting the new album Brotherhood of the Snake. We talked about the new album and Chuck was very honest in that it was a difficult album to make and wouldn’t want to do it that way again but very happy with the outcome. I’ve listened to it myself and if you loved Dark Roots of Earth and The Formation of Damnation, you’ll love Brotherhood of the Snake. We didn’t just talk about the album, in fact, we talked about a lot of different things from Chucks Native American background to his battle with cancer, growing up in the bay area… and the time he turned down the opportunity to work with Gene Simmons because Gene thought “Metal was dead”, nice one Chuck. I’ve always thought that Testament has been one of thrash metal’s greatest underrated bands, how it was “The Big Four” and not “The Big Five” is beyond me. You won’t hear Chuck complain about this, though, from Dark Roots of Earth landing at number twelve on the Billboard 200 to sold-out shows and festivals around the world, this is truly Testament’s renaissance period and long may it continue.

Welcome to episode 11 of the Wonder Junkie Podcast featuring the host of the History Of Egypt Podcast Dominic Perry! The history of Egypt is something that continues to fascinate me. From their early beginnings to the construction of the pyramids and their eventual decline, it’s a subject matter I never seem to be able to step away from. Whilst I spend a lot of time working on Wonder Junkie, I also love to listen to other podcasts… Notable mentions to StarTalk Radio, Distraction Pieces with Scroobius Pip, Stuff You Should Know and of course The History Of Egypt with Dominic Perry. I was absolutely delighted when I found Dominic’s podcast as I had binged my way through the BBC’s output on Egypt (which is fantastic) but I still felt like I needed more. The way Dominic has broken down the history of Egypt is brilliant, breaking it down episode-by-episode and making it consumable to people like myself who have an interest in Egypt but don’t have time to study it properly. In the podcast we spoke about how Dominic began his journey into studying the history of Egypt, what he thinks will be discovered in relation to Tutankhamun / Queen Nefertiti’s tomb, why the Nubians have been under-studied and how the ancient Egyptian civilisation started to decline. I was lucky enough to visit Egypt last year as part of a tour group with the company, TopDeck. Whilst I would always recommend that you take every safety precaution needed when visiting Egypt, I would highly recommend visiting in this way, as my experience put simply was incredible. This was because not only did you feel safe, but you also had great local Egyptian guides on hand to point out the things you would otherwise overlook. You also don’t have to worry about food or transport as that’s all taken care of and you get to make some great friends along the journey. So it might sound cliché but Egypt truly is a magical place and you really can’t appreciate something like the Great Pyramid Of Giza or The Valley Of The Kings or sailing The Nile until you actually see and experience it. As Dominic says in the podcast “Slightly more than 50% of human history has involved the Egyptians” and there’s something I find so profound about that. The more and more I learn about the Egyptians, the more I feel I learn about human nature and ourselves. War, Economies, Cities, Monarchy… all of these things are still present today and by looking back to the Egyptians who have had the rule of the roost for most of human history thus far, there is a tremendous amount we can learn. I remember when I was in school there was a quote on the door of the history classroom that said, “History isn't just the past, it's our guide to the present and the future”. Whilst I certainly didn’t appreciate it at the time, as I look at the world around me today I think there is a great deal we can learn from history, not just in the mistakes we’ve made but the successes as well. The story of the ancient Egyptians is one that will be told for as long as we exist; obviously, with a history stretching over thousands of years that story could never be fully told in one podcast episode. But I hope you enjoy this podcast and discover some things along the way (I certainly did), thank you again to Dominic for being a guest on Wonder Junkie and if you enjoy this episode, a review on iTunes or Stitcher as always is greatly appreciated. To find out more and listen to the History Of Egypt Podcast, head to - http://www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com

Welcome to episode 10 of the Wonder Junkie Podcast featuring James Monteith of Tesseract! I managed to catch up with James just before he set off to the US for the Gojira tour he’s now on with Tesseract and we had the unusual fortune of good weather! So you’ll hear the lovely ambience of London in the summertime. The first time I met James was around 2010 and at that time I was just a massive Tesseract fan, but as the years have passed by I’ve had the pleasure of chatting to James quite a few times and have been fortunate to create a friendship over those years. Aside from Tesseract, James also works for Hold tight PR and Basick Records, who do a tremendous job of breaking some of the most exciting new bands on the scene today. So there was a lot to catch up on and for those of you who don’t know, James also used to be in a nu metal band before Tesseract called 209, so I couldn’t resist having a natter about the recently announced Korn / Limp Bizkit tour and the effect nu metal had on the rock & metal scene. We also spoke about the importance of Gojira in today’s metal scene both musically and how their lyrics about climate change and saving the planet are a breath of fresh air for metal music. Whilst Tesseract has never veered into this area lyrically we did go into the inspiration of their lyrics around science and space travel. We agreed that after playing a gig on an igloo in Finland for Jägermeister Ice Cold Gig, the next challenge should be for them to be the first band to play on the moon! It would be an understatement to say that Tesseract has encountered a few bumps in the road along their career but upon release of their new EP “Errai”, the band has never been in a stronger position. I think this goes to show the value of persevering in the metal world, let's face it being in a successful metal band in 2016 is a hard fucking slog and even if you are successful it doesn’t mean you're making much coin either. I think James is a great example for metal musicians in 2016 that if you diversify your skill set, work really hard, keep at it and have an understanding wife! You can achieve success that will be long lasting and build up a very loyal fan base. I’m sure me and James will speak again down the line, make sure to check out their new EP below and I’ll see you at the Devin Townsend shows in March! As always, if you enjoyed this podcast and can spare a couple of minutes a review on iTunes or Stitcher is greatly appreciated.

Welcome to episode 09 of the Wonder Junkie Podcast featuring Grant Nicholas from Feeder! When I spoke to Grant he had already done 15 interviews with other radio stations and was running late so we were a bit pushed for time but managed to make it happen and come out with a really great chat. The last time I met Grant I was a 19-year-old student at Glyndwr University in Wrexham just getting to grips with how the music industry worked. I was lucky enough that Feeder had been booked to play at the university just as I started to do some live crewing. Not that I realised it at the time but that was a pretty important moment for me, as I quickly realised I’d never be a roadie (not with these skinny arms) but it did spur me on to keep working in the music industry. Fast-forward to today and I’ve worked in everything from live music venues to labels, PR and management until finally settling on radio. In that time Grant has continued to tour the world, gone on hiatus, released a solo album and come back with a cracking new Feeder album “All Bright Electric” coming out on October 7th. So there was a lot to talk about and I was particularly interested in Grant’s take of headlining Download Festival in 2005, a prospect you would struggle to see happening today. He also gave his thoughts on life in London, how growing up in Newport helped Feeder in the early days and how the video for their now classic “Just A Day” came about. If you ever meet Grant, what you’ll quickly realise is that he is extremely approachable, literally your mate down the pub shooting the breeze over a few pints. So I hope I can catch him again down the line as I think Feeder have been one of these bands who has been overlooked in terms of UK rock bands who broke through and made a massive difference to the musical landscape. Hopefully, it won’t be another 7 years until our next encounter but until then I hope you enjoy this episode with Grant and as always any feedback, reviews or suggestions for the podcast is greatly appreciated.

Pete Bailey speaks to Sky Sports F1 commentator Crofty about how he got into Formula 1, his love of radio and rock music, travelling the world and the recent takeover by Liberty Media.

Pete Bailey and Ted Bennett speak to actor and film director Matt Ross about the initial inspiration behind the story of Captain Fantastic, how difficult it was to cast child actors, how far Matt could live off the grid and if he'll be reappearing in American Horror Story?

Pete speaks to Blaine Harrison from Mystery Jets about how he originally started as a drummer, how the band got signed off the back of hosting island parties, his charity work with Attitude Is Everything and the cosmic themes behind their latest album "Curve Of The Earth"

Pete catches up with Sahil Makhija (Demonstealer) from Indian metal band Demonic Resurrection about what it was like to grow up in Mumbai, how his parents discovered western music which they passed onto him, his YouTube cooking channel "headbangers kitchen" and what it takes to cut through the noise of the internet to make your band succeed.

Pete speaks catches up with Hugh Evans (Moose) about growing up in Winnipeg, working for a variety of radio stations over the years, how he settled in the UK, his new children's book "The A-Z of Christmas" and why rock radio stations struggle to compete in the 21st Century.