About this episode

Kevin Rowland discusses his life, music career, and the new version of Dexys in this insightful interview.

We first saw Kevin in ‘77 wearing jodhpurs onstage with his art-punk band the Killjoys! He’s formed a new version of Dexys, made an album, starts a tour in October, and looks back here at central moments in his life, some recent ones so huge and affecting “that I put them to music” and they’ll be performed as a drama in the first half of these upcoming theatre shows. This touches - in vivid detail - on bands that inspired him, repaired relationships, a health crisis, what it took to be a singer in the first place and what’s requires now to put the show back on the road, along with …   … memories of music before the Beatles   … playing Jim Reeves and Ricky Nelson in a social club band in 1975 “after the bingo”   … the touching shift of power in his relationship with his 102 year-old father: “he was like a child again, he needed me”   … Roxy Music on Top Of The Pops, “I couldn’t believe you could be avant garde AND commercial”   … life on the Top Rank circuit supporting the Specials: “you learnt not to play at an audience but play for them”    … making Searching For The Young Soul Rebels in ten days with producer Pete Wingfield dancing in the…

Topics covered

• music history
• personal reflection
• band dynamics
• health challenges
• family relationships
• creative process

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