How did The Last Dinner Party become one of the UK’s biggest bands? Bassist Georgia Davies reflects on their sudden success and whirlwind tours: “Suddenly we were getting emails from managers, labels… and, weirdly, lawyers”
“I just wacked it off from the very beginning to the very end, but it turned out that the tape operator hadn’t pressed the ‘record’ button”: Elliott Randall on his blistering Steely Dan solo – and what Walter Becker and Donald Fagen were really like
“There’s no barrier to capturing a performance that’s happening on any instrument in any part of the space”: Inside Hot Chip’s London studio
“I said, ‘Dad, what you did with The Beatles was kind of amazing, wasn’t it?’ He looked at me and said, ‘Not as amazing as Brian Wilson’”: Giles Martin on the overwhelming talent of Brian Wilson
“She was a bit nervous at first. She just sat down and she sang. I directed her. I wanted her to improvise”: How Lana Del Rey collaborated with movie maker Baz Luhrmann to create one of her most hauntingly beautiful songs
“I guess it’s a real summer song – as soon as you play it, you know it’s going to kick off”: Ash’s Tim Wheeler tells us about the making of their most beloved song
“She entranced audiences and inspired untold numbers of blues-loving players from across the pond, like Eric Clapton and Keith Richards”: Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s epochal performance at an English train station paved the way for the blues-rock revolution
“I did have a couple of people saying, ‘You’re being so obsessive.’ But it had lost the magic, and so he said, ‘Do you know what to do?’ And I said ‘I do’”: How going back to her Korg M1 demo helped Donna Lewis to create one of the biggest US hits of 1996
“Analogue is better than digital, Behringer gear is garbage and your cheap-ass monitors are ruining your mixes”: 10 of the most enduring music tech myths busted
The Smiths held their label to ransom until Johnny Marr got this guitar: “As soon as I got that back to the hotel, I wrote Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now in about 10 minutes”
“If the house were on fire, it wouldn’t just be the one guitar I’d take – it would be the one possession I’d take. I love it that much”: Afghan Whigs’ Greg Dulli on the guitar he values most, and what links Jimmy Page and Prince
“The man shaving my balls didn’t tell me.” Robert Fripp says he’s still baffled by his bizarre hospital mystery
“For decades, he has given us unforgettable music.” Chris Spedding is battling lymphoma — and a GoFundMe has been launched to support the guitar legend
I’ve recorded everything from vocals to guitars with this unbelievably versatile mic – and it just plummeted to only $79. That’s so cheap I had to check the price twice
Peter Hook on Joy Division, New Order and the basslines that made him a legend: “How did I manage that?”
“You’re an unknown – then all of a sudden 10 million people have seen you”: How Sawyer Hill went from playing in Arkansas garage bands to touring arenas with Yungblud
