Hello and welcome to episode 177 of the ACPG Podcast.

This week Ben is in Newcastle and zooming with Matthew Murphy of The Wombats and Love Fame Tragedy who is in LA.

Ben and Murph talk about his second album from his side project Love, Fame, Tragedy. We talk about writing for this project and The Wombats, talk about the heritage of great scouse bands (there’s a few), playing live, living in LA, and much more.

Even for a writer beloved by his fans for being so frank and open about his romantic failings, tempestuous marriage and issues with drugs and depression, Life Is A Killer is Murph’s truest and most lyrically raw album to date, documenting one of the most difficult years of his life. As the now sober songwriter navigates his way through balancing life as a new father of two and touring the world with The Wombats, he explores the mental struggles of managing family life amid self-destructive excess. Written in between London and LA, Murph enlisted the help of producers Jacknife Lee (U2, The Killers) and Mark Crew (Bastille, Rag N Bone Man, The Wombats) to push his sonic boundaries further than ever, with new sounds and even voice notes from his wife Akemi.

As singer, guitarist and primary songwriter of The Wombats, Murph has sold over a million albums, garnered nearly 2 billion streams, and, in 2022 secured his first ever UK #1 album with the acclaimed Fix Yourself, Not The World.

Thank you to Murph, Charlie and Murph’s dog for coming on and support with this episode.

See you very soon for season six.

Hello and welcome to episode 176 of the ACPG podcast.

This episode is the last interview of the series. But don’t worry we will be back for a new series and our much loved outro episode.

In this episode Ben is zooming with J Willgoose, Esq of the fantastic Public Service Broadcasting.

The talk about PSB’s new live album, approaching playing live, writing new albums, and more.

A celebration of the power of radio written in recognition of the centenary of the BBC, This New Noise saw the band joining forces with the 88 piece BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jules Buckley. A standout performance from 2022’s BBC Proms, it received 5*s in The Telegraph who called it “a resonant, timely and ultimately touching show”. Founder member J. Willgoose, Esq. remixed the concert from scratch, bringing out even more depth and texture from a multi-layered performance and showing it in a new light.

This New Noise is the second time Public Service Broadcasting have been commissioned for the BBC Proms. In 2019 the band performed an orchestral arrangement of their 2015 studio album The Race for Space with The Multi-Story Orchestra to mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned mission to the Moon.

Thank you to J Willgoose, Esq, Jodie, and Elliott for their support with this episode.

Hello and welcome to episode 175 of the ACPG Podcast.

This week Ben is zooming with Poppy from the wonderful Girl Ray. We talk about their new album Prestige (the non concept, concept album, my words not theirs).

Prestige is a fictional night club where we follow the band on a night out. And a good time is had by all.

We speak about the new album, touring, and watching the crowds get bigger.

Thank you to Poppy, Jodie, and Elliott for the support with this episode.

See you next time for the last interview of the series.