Steve Cradock on Ocean Colour Scene, Mod hair & the ghost of Ronnie Lane

Steve Cradock on Ocean Colour Scene, Mod hair & the ghost of Ronnie Lane

Author: Mark Ellen, David Hepworth and Alex Gold January 16, 2026 Duration: 28:09

Steve Cradock’s touring with Ocean Colour Scene in 2026 and in his own show, Travellers Tunes, with his wife and son Steve – “we’re like the Von Trapps!” This highly original night involves them “living like gypsies in the spirit of Ronnie Lane”. He looks back here, from his psychedelic Mod-shrine converted garage in Totnes, at the first shows he ever saw and played, which touches on …

 

…seeing UB40 at Birmingham Odeon, aged 13 – “I was bruised for days”

 

… an after-school Duran Duran video shoot

 

… “three 45-minute sets a night”: doing J Geils Band and Lennon covers pre-Bingo in working men’s clubs, aged 15

 

… playing Scooter Rallies in Gorleston-on-Sea in pilled-up homage to the Purple Hearts, the Jam and Secret Affair

 

… the imperishable sound of the early Small Faces – “the tone, the feedback, Plonk smashing his bass”

 

… an intense love of Northern Soul, Soft Cell, the Pretenders, Costello and the La’s

 

… the Stones Roses, “the most important show I ever saw – the hair, the clothes, the songs, the guitars”

 

 … supporting Oasis at Knebworth

 

… “musicians’ books bore me”

 

…. three days in a pub with Chris Evans and regrets about “the double-edged sword” of the Riverboat Song on TGI Friday

 

… and Paul Weller with love beads

 

Buy Steve Cradock tickets here: https://www.stevecradock.com/tour/


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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: 100

Word In Your Ear
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