mostly david ephgrave

Last night, we recorded the discussion that will form the meat* of our 'F' instalment of The McCartney McAlphabet . The episode's been in the offing since August, though we kept postponing it, though the will to record was always there. But despite the long hiatus, it was great to be back, although I don't think I played my A-Game - or should that be F? - tonight. I wasn't on form though the edit will reveal if this reads (and if there's a subject I can bluff whatever my mindset, it's Macca). But despite my rustiness, it left me keen to get back in the swing of recording more episodes. I've been in the creative doldrums since I returned from the Fringe and desperately want to break the mental logjam with some new activity, and the podcast is a good start. It's an excellent way to stretch my mental legs (by which I mean 'the legs of my brain' and not some weird limb spasm). It's also worth noting the lovely boost we had when we released ou...

Despite being a bassist for twenty-five years, and probably considering it my first instrument (though that's a bit of a fluid subject), I've only ever owned one bass guitar: my trusty Tanglewood replica of a violin bass. So I think I was entitled to upgrade to a real Hofner, which I finally did this week. Arty Hofner shot (as it's known in the trade). I approached this purchase with guilt and trepidation, as I do when I buy anything significant, despite paying in instalments and not being expensive for what it is. Surely I'm allowed a new bass every quarter-century? Particularly when it's literally* for work. And yet I can't shake the sense that I'm treating myself at a time when money's tight (and that's before today's massive fall in the pound's value on the stock market, which I probably triggered by buying it). However, I bought it to be better equipped next time some muso work comes up. While my old bass has done remarkably well conside...

Tonight, I watched Paul McCartney & Paul Muldoon discuss their new book 'The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present' with journalist Samira Ahmed at Royal Festival Hall. A picture from tonight’s show, courtesy of Macca’s Instagram.  While I've visited the iconic venue several times in the interim, the last show I saw there was Brian Wilson's live premiere of the lost Beach Boys album 'Smile' in 2004. Something about 1960s bassists clearly gets me out of the house. Tonight's show was very different but no less entertaining. Macca was engaging and happy to let the conversation flow where it went, which included the odd diversion from his stock responses. The chat was more Beatle-heavy than I'd have liked, but that's just me. And being a former member of the world's biggest band does tend to overshadow things. Tonight was the first show I've attended since the pandemic hit, besides September's Mostly Comedy obviously. I wore my mask on public trans...

My main focus for the past few days has been organising and promoting the on-sale dates for July's proposed return of Hitchin Mostly Comedy (provided the Delta COVID variant doesn't keep us on ice) and editing the second and third episodes of The McCartney McAlphabet. Unsurprisingly, sales for Mostly have been cautious. I suspect they'll pick up once we know the Government's plans for 21st June onwards, but even bearing that in mind, the low take-up is concerning. I worry our seventeen-month closure could play havoc with a momentum we may never get back. And while we're prepared for our return to be a slow build, there's only so much we can juggle low figures when the club's not a cheap thing to run, and one too many loss-leaders will spell closure for us. (What a happy cheery chap I am.) The podcast, however, is lots of fun. Our first two episodes are now up , with number three being edited and four at planning stages. I'm really happy with how the fir...

It's with no small fanfare - or at least with a faint anal parp - that the first episode of 'The McCartney McAlphabet' is out. I'm proud of it and am looking forward to doing more. The second episode's already in the can (not that there is a can) and needs editing, but it's good to at least have the show up and running instead of just a load of social media accounts with no product to push. And aside from a few syncing problems I had when I putting our conversation together, making it was an easy process. Recording our chat was fun and comes over well; as I've mentioned, the topic's not something I have to stretch to discuss and the whole thing's a labour of love. All that's left now is the hope people enjoy it. It's surprising how positive the online Beatles community have been. We've only had encouraging comments on the concept so far and I hope the content will live up to this. As with Doctor Who, I know that Beatles fans can be exact...

Yesterday, I found myself extolling the virtues of Macca's solo career to Mark Dolan on his drivetime show on talkRadio, after Royal Mail announced the imminent release of a set of post-Beatle McCartney themed stamps earlier that day. That's what happens when Paul Gambaccini has prior commitments. Chatting to Mark Dolan on talkRadio (06.05.21) It came about by chance after Mark dropped me a Twitter DM in the morning to see if I might be free to do it, having clocked the promotional posts for the McCartney McAlphabet this past few weeks. It just goes to show how you never know who's got their eye on you and will at least act as a spot of gentle promotion for the show. It also provided the ego boost of having Dolan bill me as a Beatles "Expert" which I'll happily accept in place of payment. Recording episode #1 with Clary Saddler. As for the podcast itself, I'm loving being a part of it. We've recorded the first two episodes now and I'm editing the f...

Planning Clary Saddler's and my new Paul McCartney-themed podcast The McCartney McAlphabet (which we start recording tomorrow) is proving to be a pleasant distraction from the norm. Artwork for the podcast, using a picture I took myself, no less (back when Paul didn't have a face). It helps that it's a subject I've engrossed myself in for a good thirty years, so I'd like to think finding something to talk about shouldn't be too much of a stretch. That said, I'm still slightly worried that I haven't done enough homework. The fact two of us are doing it inevitably brings on a form of "Are we doing Christmas presents this year?"-style panic. What if she's done reams of nuanced research and all I've got is a post-it note with "He plays bass" written on it? I think it's something we need to start to find out what needs doing. Most importantly it should be fun. Just the thought of a new project is exciting. I haven't looked...

The preparatory work I've done this week for my forthcoming McCartney podcast has been a pleasant diversion from my problems and has given me a glimpse of something to enjoy in the months ahead. I'm looking forward to starting to record it. It will ultimately be a slight flex of my creative muscles that I could do with. I want to have fun with it and find a way out of the personal mire of the past two years. As well as sharing notes for the first few episodes with my Macca conspirator Clary Saddler, I've also finished editing the Isy Suttie instalment of Glyn's and my More Than Mostly Comedy Podcast, which I'd abandoned for a few months due to a technical problem with the audio files that I've since resolved on a clear head. And the outcome is an interesting and funny conversation. And once I've edited our interviews with Lucy Porter and Lynn Ruth Miller, I'll be up to date and ready to turn my head to all things Macca. Hopefully, it will act as a palate...

I chatted with a friend today about a Paul McCartney podcast we're planning. The idea's all part of my kick to get some new projects going this year with different people to re-energise myself creatively and keep myself busy. Too much of what I do feels like a trapped narrative full of fatigue and resentment. And I recognise you sometimes need to shake out the metaphorical dustsheets to make space for something new. I currently have three new podcast ideas I'm keen to get going, with two - one on Macca and one on narcissistic abuse - about topics important to me, albeit for different reasons. Like Glyn's and my More Than Mostly Comedy Podcast, you need a passion for a subject for it to bear fruit, plus the depth of knowledge my collaborators and I already have on the subjects will, in theory, make putting together something of substance pretty easy. And the McCartney one would be a labour of love full of positivity on a theme I'm very confident about, which is half ...

Finally, five years on from our last instalment interviewing Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee in a conference room at Hitchin's Sun Hotel before their set at The Market Theatre next door, we have a new episode of our More Than Mostly Comedy Podcast available. This time, the comedian and impressionist Kate Robbins and standup and star of Red Dwarf Norman Lovett were in the spotlight; almost literally, in that we interviewed them onstage during the second half of February's Mostly Comedy at Hitchin Town Hall. It just so happened this was the last show before the coronavirus lockdown prevented live performances from taking place and it already feels like an age ago. I look forward to when we can return for many reasons; not least because it was great to make what was usually my favourite point of the evening - the chance to interview such fascinating people - part of the show. And though this first attempt at chatting informally in front of an audience was a little nervewracking...

I've had this bonus track from Paul McCartney's most recent studio album Egypt Station as an earworm for much of the past few weeks whether I like it or not. Luckily, I do like it; it's typical quirky Macca of the type no-one else does and it's always great to hear; I like it when he fucks about to entertain himself not worrying what people think. And while albums like McCartney II - which this song's reminiscent of - contain some of his most questionable material of all time (*cough* Frozen Jap *cough*) it's still always good to see him experiment and entertain himself. Once again, it serves to reiterate how surprisingly left-field he can be when left to his own devices, something that doesn't match up with the boring cliche of the sentimental balladeer. It's probably why I loved his Fireman album Electric Arguments so much as it just bristled with invention. And okay, this song's just a silly throwaway, but I can't help but like it. It may...

The emotional weight of this lesser-known Beatles b-side far surpasses its familiarity. When summarising all of his songs many years later, John Lennon dismissed this as a poor man's rewrite of This Boy, but to say that is to do the number a massive discredit. I'd say it knocks that song out of the park, and where This Boy's a twee slice of early-Sixties' teenage doo-wop, Yes it Is is a mournful, adult reflection of frustration and loss; the suggestion it could be about John's mum (who died following a road accident when he was a teenager) is more than likely. Whatever you think of the song, the vocal performance is outstanding, with John, Paul and George's voices blending as no-one else could. How they managed to get such a wonderful sound while standing around one mic is extraordinary. This is even more striking when you consider how early in their recording career it was and is proof that talent can't be masked by primitive technology; I dread to th...

The last minute of this song features one of my favourite vocal performances of all time, rather inevitably from Paul McCartney. A lot of cliches fly around about Macca, much as they do about Lennon, and one of the most persistent is that of Paul as the ever-optimistic upbeat feller with his thumbs aloft. While it's fair to say he's most known for turning a positive spin on difficulty, there's as much of a sardonic pessimist or melancholic side to him as anyone else; take 'You Never Give Me Your Money', 'Too Many People', "Waterfalls' and "Travelling Light' as a few examples of the darker side of his artistic output bubbling to the surface. While, like anyone, there's a light and shade to McCartney's work, the song 'With a Little Luck' certainly plays into the optimistic camp, something which is matched perfectly by his vocal on it. I know it's anal in its specificity, but I'm particularly fond of how his voice ...

I bet you didn't book to attend two screenings of a rare Wings film today to end up missing both. Because let's face it: that's the sort of behaviour that's reserved for me. What's frustrating was I was really looking forward to going until I ran out of time to leave for the first showing; I then booked for the second one on a whim to end up running out of time for that one too. The reason for my tardiness was, as ever, due to Mostly Comedy, when it suddenly became in our interest to get the Dr. John Cooper Clarke show on sale as soon as possible to line up with an advert for his tour in the Guardian Guide this weekend, which for some reason took forever to do. I also had to sort out a few things for my dad before a couple of doctors' appointments on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the race to get this all done before I caught the train to London snowballed in a stressful enough way for me to end up pulling the plug on my McCartney-based jolly; so it was that I m...

I’m still recovering from a late, stressful night on Sunday when I tried - and failed - to get home from a Paul McCartney gig at the O2. Thankfully, I had the foresight to book a hotel room in case I ran into trouble or things would have been far worse, which is stupid really, as it shouldn’t have been so difficult to get back (no pun intended), even on a Sunday; I checked the trains and tubes before going into town and there were options right up to 1:30am; I was so confident I’d be fine I switched my booking to a hotel closer to King’s Cross as I thought this would be more convenient if I got stuck, as one way or another I had to get to Stevenage the next morning for a hospital appointment; this change ended up being the fly in the ointment when I discovered on leaving the gig that it would be hard to get anywhere , let alone the other side of the river; it was as if the venue and the surrounding transport network hadn’t realised the 20,000+ people watching Mac...

It’s not every day you get to see half The Beatles jam onstage with a Rolling Stone, though in my case, I got to see this  yesterday. It was the undeniable icing on the cake to a typical (or atypical) three-hour Paul McCartney gig at the 02, marking the seventh time I’ve seen him live (if you don’t count the two times I briefly met him and the occasion I saw him looking out of the window of his Soho offices; I AM NOT A STALKER ). Every time I attend a Macca concert I can't help but wonder if it'll be my last, a thought that gains likelihood as the years roll by, but last night’s show certainly proved there’s plenty of energy in the old Moondog yet as he showed stamina that'd put most performers half his age to shame; and if he chooses to bring out Ringo for a Fabs’ rhythm section reunion rendition of ‘Get Back’ as an encore then who am I to argue? (The Rolling Stone, in case you were wondering, was Ronnie Wood.) While I enjoyed last night’s show, I s...

This evening, I treated myself to a from-the-beginning-to-the-end listen of the newly remixed fiftieth anniversary edition of the White Album (that no-one on the planet refers to by its real name ‘The Beatles’). Only the other day, it occurred to me why the band might have decided to make this specific record eponymously-titled; the album they released the year before was essentially put out under a pseudonym - Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - to give them freedom to step outside (love) of their perceived identity and try new ideas, so in that spirit, it makes sense that they’d want to make the album that followed, which was essentially back-to-basics (as far as any Beatles project was) - more firmly-rooted in their own brand again. That said, it’s a shame they couldn’t go with the working title ‘A Doll’s House’ (which was nabbed by the prog band Family) as that would have reflected the eclectic tracklist perfectly. One thing returning to the...

You’d think by now this wouldn’t surprise me, but listening to the season-four-opener of ‘Take it Away: The Complete Paul McCartney Archive Podcast’ (Ryan Brady and Chris Mercer’s impressively thorough Macca solo-career retrospective) only serves to underline how vastly underrated McCartney’s post-Beatles work is. (Excuse the hyperbole, but I didn’t get much sleep.) The topic of the episode is his 2005 album ‘Chaos & Creation in the Backyard’, which both Brady and Mercer admitted to not liking at first - which nearly had me climbing onto my fist-shaking soapbox - though it soon became clear how much they now hold the album in reverence. But why I did I react so defensively? Because while I know how frustrating it can be to be a McCartney fan - particularly when he rolls out the same tired, sanitized “John and I never came out of a writing session without a song” stories (and insists on playing gigs with a setlist that barely dips into ...

While I’m generally rather enamoured with Paul McCartney’s critically acclaimed new album Egypt Station (which is really very good) a song on it that touches me particularly and is an emotional listen is the beautiful Do it Now. What's struck me particularly about the album is the high level of songwriting on display across the board, and Do it Now’s one of the places when it’s most in evidence. Macca has mentioned in interviews how the title stems from a phrase his dad used to say as a positive encouragement, which instantly calls to mind the story about the genesis of the song Let it Be, when Paul had a dream in the midst of the Beatles' break-up where his mother (who he lost to cancer during his childhood) came to him and told him not to worry as everything would ultimately be okay. In many ways, Do it Now is like a companion piece to its hugely famous counterpart, but it still packs a punch. Some of the lyrics are particularly powerful ...