It was an exciting prospect, an interview on BBC Radio Manchester.
In student days, I’d moonlighted on Manchester’s Piccadilly Radio, volunteering my time on a Sunday evening show (The Last Radio Programme – with Tony the Greek) that played fantastic indie music and had musicians dropping into the studio to play a few songs. I remember making coffee for Pete Shelley (The Buzzcocks), but my personal favourite was The Daintees. Must’ve been those lovely Geordie accents.
It was a windy Monday afternoon, July 31st and I was at Media City, on the site of the old docklands, in Salford Quays, and a short walk from my college stamping ground. I was there to meet the host, Becky Want, to talk about my Australian story and my year of writing.
She generously gave me a full ten minutes of air time, and after we’d chatted she played the track, Left, by The Fish John West Reject, a single that brings back memories of those thrashabilly days on the dancefloor. Yee-ha! It was amazing to finally hear those Tasmanian boys on British radio. It’s only taken a couple of decades. (When I’ve converted the audio, I’ll add a link here, for anyone that wants to listen to it.)
There have been some incredible coincidences and serendipitous moments while I’ve been writing this story; and I know I keep using that phrase, but really. This one happened a few days before my interview with Becky, when I phoned the BBC studios. A random person picked up the phone – a guy called Ewan. He just happened to be there. It turned out that he’d been in Australia in the 90’s, and well, yes, he’d even been to a few Fish gigs in Melbourne, and actually, yes, he knew the band too. He’s still in touch with Graham, the drummer.
How can that not blow your mind?
Angela J Dawson 