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Sending Signals

Matt Royal

A show about music and creativity.

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20 episodes
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Avg 41 min
English

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S7 · E8
Yesterday · 46 min
Nicole Atkins
This episode I’m joined by singer-songwriter Nicole Atkins, who’s about to release her 7th solo album “Drama” which was produced Wilco’s Pat Sansone, and features a duet with Chris Isaak, amongst other collaborators. The album is being released on Friday 18th September on Isaak’s Sun Records imprint, Wicked Game Records. Nicole grew up on the Jersey shore, in Neptune City, but now lives in Nashville, where the album was recorded. It continues her journey to “write modern songs that could be par
S7 · E7
August 18 · 41 min
Steve Rothery (Marillion)
This episode I’m very pleased to be joined once again by Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery, for his third appearance on the show. We had a lot to discuss, primarily the release this month of his joint album with Steve Hackett, “The Roaring Waves”, which is out next Friday, and you’ll hear a little bit of it during the episode. When we spoke, Marillion were about to play at Pompeii, so we discussed that, as well as the next Marillion album, finally due next year. As you may know, I’ve been a
S7 · E6
July 28 · 24 min
Martha Reeves (Martha and the Vandellas)
Hailing, of course, from Detroit, Martha Reeves is best known for fronting Motown group Martha and the Vandellas. When we spoke, she was about to turn 85 years old. In 1957 she joined a group called the Del-Phis, and by the early 60s was singing jazz and blues standards in clubs around Detroit. She ended up working as a secretary at Motown and soon found herself in front of the microphone. “Heat Wave” was the first million seller for the Vandellas, and various hit singles followed, including the
S7 · E5
June 30 · 1 hr 1 min
Haircut 100(th) Episode! (with Nick Heyward & Blair Cunningham)
100 episodes baby! This episode, I’m joined by Nick Heyward and Blair Cunningham of Haircut 100, very appropriately for my 100th episode. The band are back, with their first studio album since 1982’s masterpiece, “Pelican West”, that’s not counting a 1984 album they made without Nick. The new album is called “Boxing The Compass” and it is sensational. I caught them play a tour warm-up recently and they are on incredible form in that department too. Nick Heyward is from Beckenham, and started pl
S7 · E4
June 10 · 29 min
Geoff Downes (Yes/Asia/The Buggles)
Geoff Downes has quite the musical CV. Shooting to fame with The Buggles, then joining Yes alongside Trevor Horn for their 1980 “Drama” album, he then had massive success alongside Yes member Steve Howe with the supergroup Asia. He rejoined Yes in 2011 where he remains to this day. Geoff joined me from his home in Wales for a career-spanning conversation discussing songs by The Buggles, Asia, and the epic Countermovement from the new Yes album “Aurora”. Please forgive the sound quality on this
S7 · E3
May 27 · 25 min
Lawrence Payton Jr. (The Four Tops)
The Four Tops formed in Detroit in 1953, originally named The Four Aims. They’re a cornerstone of American pop music and helped propel the Motown label to international recognition. Although ostensibly a soul vocal group, I find the band interesting in how broad they were stylistically and in the variety of material they adopted. The current incarnation of The Four Tops are touring this year with The Temptations. They’re hitting the UK this summer, with a run that includes a date at the Royal Al
S7 · E2
April 16 · 33 min
Charlie McCoy on Dylan, Elvis, and Cash
Charlie McCoy has an incredible musical CV to look back on. His relationship with Bob Dylan began when he was asked, at rather short notice, to join the session for “Desolation Row”. He went on to assemble the core band when Dylan decamped to Nashville to record his masterpiece “Blonde On Blonde”. He went on to play on “John Wesley Harding” and “Nashville Skyline” too. Add to that, the many sessions he did for Elvis Presley, the work with Johnny Cash, and countless other sessions, you have a mu
S7 · E1
March 17 · 36 min
James Graham (The Twilight Sad)
The Twilight Sad are a Scottish indie rock band, currently consisting of Andy MacFarlane and frontman James Graham who joins me this episode to discuss their new album “It’s The Long Goodbye”. It’s an appropriate title, as the album documents the loss of James’ mother to a 9 year battle with dementia. On top of this James has been battling serious mental health challenges. It’s a heartbreaking record at times, but also cathartic and energetic. I was really grateful for James’ candour and brave
S6 · E14
Dec 9, 2025 · 51 min
The Making of “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” w/ Pamela Martin (Editor)
This episode I am joined by two-time Academy Award nominee, film editor Pamela Martin. She edited the recent Springsteen biopic “Deliver Me From Nowhere”. The film was directed Scott Cooper, adapted from Warren Zanes’ book documenting the making of Springsteen’s stark classic “Nebraska”. Pam has worked on movies including King Richard, Little Miss Sunshine, Battle Of The Sexes, Free State Of Jones, Hitchcock, and many more. If you’re listening to this as a Springsteen fan I think you’ll find i
S6 · E13
Oct 28, 2025 · 47 min
Jason Narducy on R.E.M, Grohl, Bob Mould & more!
In February 2025 at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia, something incredible happened. Jason Narducy, alongside actor Michael Shannon, were out touring their R.E.M. tribute project, where they perform early albums in full, alongside deep cuts from the back catalogue, when all 4 original members of R.E.M joined them to perform a version of “Pretty Persuasion”. Over the past couple of years various configurations of band members had performed with them, but having all 4 at once was clearly a hist
S6 · E12
Sep 23, 2025 · 31 min
Steve Howe on Dylan, “Fragile” & more!
Always a pleasure to have Steve Howe on the podcast. The Yes guitarist joins me this time to discuss a couple of reissues from his solo back catalogue; “Natural Timbre” and “Portraits of Bob Dylan”. The former being an all acoustic record, and the latter being, as you may have inferred, a Dylan covers album. It was a nice excuse to talk about Dylan, and solo albums in general. I, of course, also take the opportunity to catch up on the things in the Yes camp, including their forthcoming tour pl
S6 · E11
Sep 2, 2025 · 38 min
Feeder’s Grant Nicholas on “Comfort In Sound”
The past 3 decades have brought their share of ups and downs for Feeder. They’ve enjoyed 11 top ten albums, and various hit singles, but had to weather the tragic loss of drummer Jon Lee in January 2002. It was against this backdrop that frontman Grant Nicholas returned to studio alongside bassist Taka Hirose to produce Feeder’s most poignant and life-affirming album “Comfort In Sound”. The album is getting reissue this month, and they will be undertaking a UK tour, playing the album in full for
S6 · E10
Aug 19, 2025 · 33 min
Steve Rothery (Marillion)
Steve Rothery is a founding member of one of my all time favourite bands, Marillion. Despite various personnel changes in the early years of the band, Marillion have maintained a stable line-up for the past 36 years. One of the keys to their ongoing unity is surely their tolerance for band members to indulge in side-projects, and Rothery is about to release an album under the name Bioscope, in collaboration with current Tangerine Dream bandleader Thorsten Quaeschning. The album is called “Ge
S6 · E9
Jul 29, 2025 · 54 min
Richard Hawley on “Coles Corner” 20th Anniversary
This summer sees the release of an expanded edition of Richard Hawley’s breakthrough masterpiece “Coles Corner” with an accompanying tour. Richard joins me for an epic chat about the making the record, his family history, his prodigious session work, the closing of the beloved Sheffield Leadmill, and working (remotely) with Hank Marvin. Enjoy. Find me on Instagram @sendingsignalspodcast
S6 · E8
Jun 17, 2025 · 45 min
Ben Kweller
On February 27th 2023 Ben Kweller received the worst phone call imaginable. His 16 year old son Dorian had died in a car accident. An oncoming truck had veered into Dorian’s lane and a downed tree had gone through his windscreen as he swerved over. Dorian himself was a budding musician, releasing music under the name Zev, and had been due to tour with his father later that year. Ben has been incredibly open about the tragedy, and turned the tour into somewhat of a tribute to his son. Out of
S6 · E7
May 28, 2025 · 44 min
Photographer Tom Sheehan on Oasis, Weller, Springsteen and more.
Tom Sheehan was born in Camberwell, South London. He was an in-house photographer for CBS Records in the 70s, and went on to be the chief photographer for Melody Maker. He enjoyed long-term working relationships with the likes of REM, The Cure, Manic Street Preachers, and Oasis, the subject of a new book of Tom’s work entitled “Roll With It: Oasis in Photographs 1994-2002”. I had a great time chatting with Tom about his life and work, and I hope you enjoy it too. Instagram: @sendingsignalspod
S6 · E6
Apr 29, 2025 · 53 min
Nels Cline (Wilco)
Nels Cline was born in California in January 1956. He started played guitar at the age of 12 and his early career is fairly jazz-based, before stretching into other directions. He has played guitar for Wilco, one of my favourite bands in the world, since 2004. He has a new solo album out on Blue Note Records entitled “Consentrik Quartet”, featuring Ingrid Laubrock on saxophone, Tom Rainey on drums, and Chris Lightcap on double bass. It’s a really excellent album and I was thrilled Nels agree
S6 · E5
Mar 25, 2025 · 43 min
Wolfgang Flür (Kraftwerk)
Wolfgang Flür was born in Frankfurt in 1947 but moved to Düsseldorf in the early ‘50s, which has been home ever since. As a young man he played in the band The Sprits Of Sound, and studied to be an architect, hoping to get into interior design. Wolfgang joined Kraftwerk in 1973 and plays on one of the most remarkable album runs in pop music history; “Autobahn”, “Radioactivity”, “Trans Europe Express”, “The Man Machine”, and “Computer World”. He left the band in the mid-80’s and his relationship
S6 · E4
Mar 11, 2025 · 37 min
Wendy James (Transvision Vamp)
Wendy James is tied up with some of my earlier memories of music. She fronted the band Transvision Vamp, who were hard to ignore in the late 80s. Songs like “I Want Your Love” and “Baby I Don’t Care” were pretty big hits over here. Transvision Vamp split in the early 90s and since then Wendy has persuaded various solo projects. Interestingly her first solo album “Now Ain’t The Time For Your Tears” was written by Elvis Costello, sometimes alongside Caitlin O’Riordan from the Pogues. These days
S6 · E3
Feb 25, 2025 · 39 min
P.P. Arnold
Pat Arnold has had quite a life. Born in 1946 she grew up in LA, and was in an abusive marriage with two kids while still a teenager. In 1965 she got a chance to audition for Ike and Tina Turner’s band as an “Ikette”. She got the gig and left her children in the care of her parents. This eventually took her to London where she fell into the orbit of The Rolling Stones, and she decided to stay behind there to establish herself as a solo artist, signing to Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s labe

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