About this episode

Fred Patterson discusses his work at the ARChive of Contemporary Music and his musical projects.

In this episode, we talk to Fred Patterson, aka Phast Phreddie, about his work at the ARChive of Contemporary Music, plus his own magazine Back Door Man and his band Thee Precisions. Beginning with his early musical life teaching classes with Don Waller at UCLA's Experimental College, we hear about how he named Back Door Man after a Howlin Wolf song and wanted to cover "hard core rock n roll". Phreddie remembers how different it was working with R. Meltzer compared to Lester Bangs, who both contributed to the mag. Next, we hear about where Thee Precisions got their name and how they were intended as a garage rhythm 'n' blues combo that might fit into south central L.A.'s rockabilly scene without doing rockabilly. After telling us about moving across the country to help set up a record shop in Albany, Phreddie then takes us back to the ARChive of Contemporary Music's original mission statement to collect two of every record and explains how they operate. Three clips from a 1977 Mary Wilson audio interview prompt Barney to wonder whether the Supremes are the greatest girl group of all time. To wrap things up, we pay tribute to Sly Dunbar of Sly & Robbie before Mark and Jasper talk…

People in this episode

Hosts: Barney Hoskyns, Mark Pringle, Jasper Murison-Bowie

Guest: Fred Patterson

Topics covered

• record collection
• music history
• garage rock
• interviews
• music archives

Keywords

• Phast Phreddie
• ARChive of Contemporary Music
• Back Door Man
• Thee Precisions
• music interviews

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ARChive of Contemporary Music, Back Door Man, Thee Precisions

Books & works: Back Door Man, Howlin Wolf, Mary Wilson, The Supremes, Isaac Hayes, De La Soul

Places: south central L.A., Albany

More episodes of Rock's Backpages

• E228: Maureen O'Grady on Rave + Pet Sounds + Miles Davis audio · May 26, 2026 · 1h 23m
• E227: An LGBTQ special with Barry Walters + a Grace Jones audio interview · May 11, 2026 · 1h 15m
• E225: Adele Bertei on New York's No Wave scene · March 30, 2026 · 1h 7m
• E224: Jimmy McDonough on Neil Young + Gary Stewart + Al Green audio · March 16, 2026 · 1h 5m
• E223: AOR Special with Paul Rees + Boston audio interview · March 2, 2026 · 1h 4m
• E222: Jeff Walker & Kim Gottlieb on Tom Waits + Gram Parsons · February 16, 2026 · 1h 18m

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Rock's Backpages podcast page.