The Kate Bush Fan Podcast

In the third and final part of Seán's wonderful chat with guitarist and musician, Brian Bath, they discuss more of his memories of playing on Kate's 1979 tour, his work on the Kate BBC TV Special, his deep involvement in the recording of the Never For Ever album, co-starring in the videos for Breathing and Army Dreamers, playing on The Dreaming album and starring in the video for There Goes A Tenner, and working on the Hounds of Love album once again with Kate. Incredible to listen to him, Seán was pinching himself!

In Part Two of Seán's three-part conversation with the legendary guitarist and songwriter, Brian Bath, he discusses being there for Kate's stunning debut with Wuthering Heights, leading her band for TV appearances, working on demos and helping build her first demo studio at the farm, playing on the Lionheart album and the incredible experience of playing guitar on the 1979 Lionheart tour! We also hear a couple of excerpts from never-before-heard acoustic demos. Such an honour to have spoken to the lovely Brian Bath, once again!

In this episode of the Kate Bush Fan Podcast, Seán introduces Darrell's chat with Pat Martin, bass guitarist with British band Unicorn. Because of his close association with Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd, he was asked to play for the young Cathy Bush’s first ever recording at the age of fifteen in 1973. Pat can be heard on ‘Passing Through Air’ from this session which was released as a B-side to ‘Army Dreamers’ in 1980. The late, Ricky Hopper is also discussed. It was through him that Kate’s music was heard in the first place, championing her relentlessly. We get to hear how Pat was invited to this session at Gilmour’s house, and his fond remembrances of the young and shy Cathy. He knew there was something very special and that here was an artist, sure and confident about her craft. We also get to hear wonderful stories about Pat’s involvement with Unicorn, and the amazing artists they worked with, including Patti Smith, Fleetwood Mac and Linda Rondstadt among many otters. Unicorn’s song 'Ooh Mother' was recently played in the USA TV drama ‘Paradise’. It has resulted in the song being streamed 115k times on Spotify. It’s worth a listen.

Seán introduces an exclusive interview between Darrell Babidge and Govert de Roos. Dutch photographer, Govert de Roos was Kate's European photographer. Many of the photos that were taken of Kate in 1978 and were posted on many a bedroom wall were taken by Govert. In this interview we get a glimpse into his work with Kate Bush, as well as the rock and pop stars of the 70's and 80's. We also find out more about his work during the Efteling Special in Amsterdam and taking photos of Kate's Tour of Life concert there. Other artists he worked with include Grace Jones, Queen, ABBA, Debbie Harry, Tina Turner, Prince and many more. In this interview we hear about some of his work with these other great artists. We also get to hear a great story about when he was 15 years old, sneaking into the Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam with a fake ID and taking the iconic photos of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. We hope you enjoy this chat with Govert de Roos.

Seán gives a suitable wintry introduction to this short chat between Darrell and Paul Simmons of design team Timorous Beasties about his recent work on Kate's illustrated vinyl version of 50 Words For Snow - The Polar Edition. Look out for even more conversation between Darrell and Paul about their work with Kate over the last decade in the new year.

Paul and Darrell from Bush Telegraph reminisce over their first reactions to Kate's videos and film work from her 1980 album 'Never For Ever'. Ultimately, Kate created stunning visuals for 50% of the album, and they were so different to anything else that was around at that time. We also get to hear Kate and Paddy's own words from the Kate Bush Club newsletters about the making of 'Breathing', 'Delius' and 'Army Dreamers'. Paul (who lives in the UK) and Darrell (who now lives in the States) also banter about their trips together to the record shops and reactions to the artwork and photos from each 'Never For Ever' single.

In this new episode of the Kate Bush Fan Podcast, Seán talks to Leah Kardos, author of the new book about Hounds of Love which is part of the acclaimed 33⅓ book series which examine key albums from music history. Leah is a musician, a senior lecturer in music at Kingston University in London, co-founder of that university's Visconti Studio (with producer Tony Visconti) and is also author of Blackstar Theory: The Last Works of David Bowie. A very enjoyable chat in which she discusses what made her pitch Kate's fifth studio album to the book publishers, her experience of writing the book as we emerged from a pandemic, the challenges of producing a smaller sized book like this and why it was important to her to emphasise Kate's pioneering production work and barrier-breaking career achievements. I highly recommend this excellent little book as the perfect Christmas stocking filler for the Kate Bush fan in your life!

In this minisode Darrell from Bush Telegraph chats with Alan Skidmore, the saxophonist on Kate's 1975 'The Saxophone Song', recorded when she was only 16. Alan talks about his recording session and briefly meeting the young Cathy in the studio. Alan, known as Skid in the jazz world, has had a prolific career working with all the jazz greats. His amazing playing is not only highlighted on Kate's song in the podcast, but we also get to hear another phenomenal track he plays on.

Seán is joined in Dublin by Irish songwriter and musician SJ McArdle to have an enjoyable in-depth discussion on how Kate's love of Irish music and deep connection with the country of Ireland has infused so much of her work throughout her career. We discuss Kate's Irish family connections, the famous Irish traditional musicians who Kate has worked with down the years, in particular the great Donal Lunny, and chew over the Irishness inherent in recordings like Army Dreamers, Night of the Swallow, Jig of Life, The Sensual World, Mná na hÉireann and many more! Archive clips featuring Kate, Del, John Carder Bush and Donal Lunny help to illustrate this fascinating and enduring aspect of Kate's work. Listen to the wonderful work of Seán's guest SJ McArdle at his Bandcamp page here: https://sjmcardle.bandcamp.com/ More from SJ McArdle at his official site: https://sjmcardle.com/

Bush Telegraph have an exclusive interview with Stewart Avon Arnold, Kate’s longtime dance collaborator. Stewart chats with Paul and Darrell about his first experience with Kate on the Tour of Life in 1979, where he and Gary Hurst danced with Kate for many of her songs from ‘The Kick Inside’, ‘Lionheart’ and ‘Never For Ever’. Stewart’s work with Kate spanned many years and albums, right through to ‘Rubberband Girl’ on ‘The Line, the Cross and the Curve’. His reminiscences of his special collaborations with her are wonderful to listen to, and there are a new things to discover about Kate’s catalogue of visual work. We also get to hear about his work on videos such as ‘Breathing’, ‘Sat In Your Lap’ and ‘Love and Anger’.

Seán hosts a shorter mini episode all about Kate’s beautiful and unexpected short animation, Little Shrew! Apologies for the sound quality on this one - I was away from usual set up! With thanks to Tristan for production support!

Seán celebrates 10 years since Kate's incredible Before The Dawn concerts by introducing audio memories sent in by fans from all over the world who were lucky enough to attend.

Paul and Darrell talk all things related to Kate's videos. They reminisce about the first time they saw these videos, glued to their TV sets, hoping that she would appear. What were their first impressions and what set Kate apart from other artists promoting their music at that time? They still stand the test of time today. Let's delve in to the years of 1978 and 1979 to start off this series.

Paul and Darrell interview the iconic dancer and choreographer, Anthony van Laast. Anthony was the choreographer for the Tour of Life in 1979, after having featured opposite Kate in the 'Hammer Horror' video and European TV appearances. His incredible work with Kate on tour, and subsequent work on the BBC 'Kate Show' are discussed in this interview, including his work on the making of 'The Wedding List' film. Anthony has been the leading choreographer on many movies and stage works, including 'Mamma Mia' and the Royal Variety performances. What was it like to work with Kate, as well as other icons, including Meryl Streep, Cher and Barry Humphries, to name a few. Tune in and find out on the latest Bush Telegraph podcast...

Paul in the UK, and Darrell in the USA, continue their album anniversary podcast chats and reminiscences. Paul and Darrell have been life-long fans of Kate, and from school friends to the present day, they have much to chat about. Here they discuss Kate's seventh album 'The Red Shoes', celebrating the 30th anniversary of this iconic album. We get to hear about their first responses to the album in 1993, and how they feel about it today. We also get to hear about Paul's experience of going to the film premiere of 'The Line, The Cross, And The Curve', Kate's visual companion to the album. Journal reviews are discussed and radio clips are played, bringing us right back to where it all started with this most personal of Kate's albums. That and whole lot more. Enjoy!

Darrell, co-host of Bush Telegraph had the rare opportunity of chatting with Andrew Powell, producer and arranger of Kate’s first two iconic albums, The Kick Inside and Lionheart. Listen in as they discuss the very first time Powell met Cathy Bush as a 16 year old, and the songs they eventually chose and recorded together. We also get to hear how Kate’s vocal and piano playing with a live orchestra for 'The Man With The Child In His Eyes' was recorded all in one take - still at this incredibly young age. Many new things are revealed and discussed. What David Bowie song did Kate cover when Powell worked with her in Japan? What songs did not get included on the published albums? And what was it like for Andrew Powell to hear 'Wuthering Heights' for the first time played by Kate in his flat? These questions and a whole lot more are revealed in this podcast with iconic producer, arranger, composer, conductor and musician, Andrew Powell.

A very special episode! Few people have more of an insight into Kate Bush's very earliest career and rise to fame than her bandmate and friend, the wonderful guitarist and songwriter, Brian Bath. In this episode of the Kate Bush Fan Podcast, Seán talks to Brian about his growing up in London in school bands with his friend Del Palmer, befriending and making music with a young Paddy Bush in 1970, visits to the Bush family home, forming bands with Vic King and Charlie Morgan and ultimately forming The KT Bush Band in 1977 with Del, Vic and Kate to briefly take the London pub and club scene by storm before Kate recorded her debut album! Historic stuff. And this is only Part One of our conversation! p.s. Listen out for some never-before-heard audio treats too.

In this new episode of the Kate Bush Fan Podcast Seán chats to Dave Cross from HomeGround about the upcoming Fish People reissue of Kate’s catalogue as she switches distribution to The State51 Conspiracy and how she has taken that opportunity to also release gorgeous independent record store colour vinyl editions of her albums, extraordinary new vinyl and wall art presentations of Hounds of Love, and more! We also discuss the new short film pieces Kate has written and directed, who she has been working with, why all this is happening now, and what nuggets we can glean from Kate’s lovingly reimagined new website. We round off with a brief chat about Kate’s induction last week into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – a busy episode! Thanks as ever to Dave for his knowledge on all things record industry (and on all things Kate Bush!)

Bush Telegraph EXCLUSIVE! Darrell interviews Gered Mankowitz, the prolific Rock and Roll photographer who worked with Kate Bush, as well as other music legends - The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and Marianne Faithfull, to name only a few. This is a deep dive into how Gered started his career (thanks in part to actor/comedian Peter Sellers!) and how he eventually worked with Kate on the iconic photos from The Kick Inside and Lionheart era. Every photo session is talked about in detail. The stunning album cover of Lionheart was his creation, and we get to hear interesting details that have never been revealed before. Paul and Darrell also reminisce about the heady days of 1978 and 1979 when these photos were first published and seen.

Today it was announced that Kate has finally been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so we catch up on this news and other recent exciting developments in the world of Kate Bush music - including her Fish People rebrand and new partnership with The state51 Conspiracy plus Seán discusses the new paperback edition of How To Be Invisible, Kate's recent award nominations and we remember the late guitarist, the brilliant Ian Bairnson.