Dave Balfe remembers the Teardrops, Blur and a very big house in the country

Dave Balfe remembers the Teardrops, Blur and a very big house in the country

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold June 12, 2026 Duration: 51:46

Dave Balfe was a key player in late ‘70s Liverpool, joined Big In Japan and the Teardrop Explodes, co-founded Zoo Records and, later, Food who signed and launched Blur. It’s fascinating to hear how he’s adapted to promoting music now with his new band Late Transmissions. We talk to him here about the landmarks moments that mapped out his life, among them …

 

… growing up in the Wirral and its patchouli-scented record shops

 

… seeing Wings and Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour in Liverpool

 

… how it felt to be immortalised in Blur’s Country House

 

… what he learnt making AI pop videos

 

… when your teenage band “goes punk”

 

… breaking and entering Rumbelows in pursuit of a synthesiser

 

… the curious link between Blur and JD Salinger in the days “they were all Kurt Weill and discordant”

 

… the Runaways at Erics – “I wasn’t entirely there for the music”  

 

… Big In Japan with Bill Drummond, Budgie, Ian Brodie and Jayne Casey

 

.. is AI like the arrival of synthesisers: “this is not proper music?”

 

… “the old gag, innovation is not pastiching bands that have already been pastiched”

 

… and Mark’s interview with him 47 years ago.

 

Lightning Never Strikes Twice video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhV02AcvQQ0

The Heart Wants What It Wants video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGvEWvS1ekk

I’m Done With London video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmUnP4b4GjQ

 

Order the Late Transmissions album here: https://musicsaves.co.uk/product/theheartwantswhatitwants/

Help us to keep The Longest Continuous Conversation In Rock'n'Roll going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear


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There’s a particular kind of conversation about music that happens between friends who’ve spent a lifetime immersed in it-not as distant critics, but as participants in the culture. That’s the atmosphere you’ll find in Word In Your Ear, a podcast from Mark Ellen, David Hepworth, and Alex Gold. With a collective eighty years of writing and broadcasting for titles like Smash Hits and Mojo, and shows from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" to VH-1, they don’t just recount history; they unpack the stories behind it with the ease of a shared laugh. This podcast grew naturally from their work on the late, great magazine The Word, where they began recording over thirteen years ago, building a dedicated following who found something genuinely special in the mix. Each episode weaves together music, commentary, history, and interviews, moving seamlessly from deep-dive analysis of a seminal album to a frank chat with a surprising guest, all delivered with the warmth and wit of a late-night chat. It feels less like a formal show and more like you’ve been invited to pull up a chair in a room where the anecdotes are plentiful and the expertise is worn lightly. The result is a consistently engaging listen that treats music not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing part of our lives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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