Clutching at Crumbs - The Creativity in Isolation Podcast

A chance meeting with Junkyard Choir's Mark Woods in Croydon's premier pub-cum-live music venue, the Oval Tavern, uncovered several mutual acquaintances (including the editor of this episode), a love for a lot of the same music and, for me at least, an exciting new two-piece blues-tinged soul-rock band who could just as easily have slunk over from New Orleans in a smoky haze as driven up from Worthing. There's now nine in the hugely expanded line-up but they are sounding even better as well as bigger... this episode features three JC tracks and two solo efforts written and recorded by Mark over the past few weeks. Lockdown Blues indeed.Episode 19 produced and edited by Jason Jones

Well, this was a bit of a coup. 14 solo albums into his career Darden Smith, singer, songwriter, artist and creator of the brilliant Songwriting with Soldiers initiative, gives me an hour of his time to talk about his life in music, our mutual friend Mr Hewerdine, music as therapy and the perils of eating soup on a live podcast. No food was consumed or indeed ordered during this episode but you can hear birds singing beautifully outside Darden's studio window in Austin, Texas. This episode features four of my favourites from his 30+ year body of work.Episode 20 of 21 produced and edited by Jason Jones.

This was fun: a father and son at polar opposite points in their musical careers. Martin Brett, otherwise known as Brett Martini, bass player in 1980s/90 chart regulars Voice of the Beehive and the "semi-retired" I, Ludicrous talks about the golden age of punk, living with The Damned and still being considered the new boy in his current band despite joining in 2010; while his son Bert's musical adventure is only two singles old but is already garnering media coverage and industry interest. This episode produced and edited by Andy Hughes.

I first met Queer Jane's Vlado Nosal while judging him in a dancing competition at a Boo Hewerdine gig I'd just played at. Isn't that how everyone meets Slovakian indie musicians these days? In this episode Vlado talks about the release of his band's new album, Amen Dolores and about what Amen Dolores means, plus we touch on Teenage Fanclub, The Beach Boys, gigging in Slovakia and how he's been putting his time in lockdown to good use - plus you'll hear three songs off his beguiling new album.Episode produced and edited by Andy Hughes.

Boo Hewerdine has been one of my favourite solo artists for over 30 years. His canon of solo albums, collaborations with the likes of Eddi Reader, Chris Difford, Darden Smith and Brooks Williams and extraordinary history of writing songs for the likes of kd lang, Dan Whitehouse, Suggs, David McAlmont, Findlay Napier, Liz McLarnon, Hafdis Huld and latterly Europe, among a host of others, has made him one of the most well-respected songwriters the UK has ever produced. Fortunately he's also disarmingly funny and just a genuinely nice guy - just don't let him eat snacks near your favourite instrument. Episode 16 produced and edited by Stephen Potter.

The Viral Jukebox, the Facebook group set up to allow people to request performances of their favourite songs by complete strangers has been a huge success with versions of the Theme from Minder being played on a tack piano and Sweep from the Sooty Show attempting Roxanne sitting alongside extraordinary solo and full band renditions of rock and pop classics. Trish Augustine, a folk singer from New Brunswick, Canada, has been one of the most-liked performers with her beautiful, simple versions of Free Falling and Hallelujah and to cap it all she's the 15th guest on Clutching at Crumbs.Episode 15 produced and edited by Jason Jones

At the start of 2020 Ben Wood and his band The Bad Ideas decided to release one single a month, with an accompanying video, every month this year. Three months into it his grand plan could easily have been banjaxed by a global pandemic - but the Bad Ideas are made of stern stuff and they are nobly pushing on and April saw the release of the fourth instalment, Lead Me On. Ben talks about the motivation behind the ambitious idea, how he got a Sex Pistol involved and the inauspicious beginning of that relationship, almost being run over while making one of the videos and we also briefly touch upon our time together in The Hip Replacements UK. This episode features all four singles and our cover of the Tragically Hip;s beautiful The Dire Wolf and it was produced and edited by Andy Hughes, as featured in Episode 2. Nice.

Actor and producer Andreea Helen David talks to us about her acting life and how she's made a career out of playing characters from anywhere but her Romanian homeland, from Freddie Mercury biopics to oven ads. Andreea reads a frankly disturbing short story from a Romanian author we also briefly discuss her daughter's burgeoning podcast following (but not too much).

Drummer, guitarist, singer and songwriter Andy Thompson sets a trend by informing us where he's positioned his laptop while talking to us and it's a place that's far more glamorous than Clutching at Crumbs deserves. He talks about the far-from prolific output of his solo project Idiot Son, the process that led him to join London punk collective The Prods and his place in Danish indie folklore as he finds himself accidentally stranded on the borders of Rutland and Lincolnshire.Episode 12 produced and edited by Stephen Potter

The first and probably only Guinness Book of Records holder to appear in this series (Robert Wadlow is dead, isn't he) Andy Duke is one of the hardest-working musicians in the country, currently plying his bass-brandishing trade with "retro Sci-Fi Eurotrash" outfit Flesh Tetris but is perhaps better known for his time with The Buck Brothers,Top Buzzer, Cauldronated, The Duel and Bad Manners. Presenter of The Dukey Radio Show, Andy managed to find almost an hour to talk about his colourful career to date.Episode 11 produced and edited by Stephen Potter

Ed Sonsino is, in the politest sense of the phrase. what used to be described as a "gunslinger". But with a guitar. The seasoned axesmith is currently in four bands, including Guitar Gangsters and the Tara Rez Band, and in this episode he talks about missing touring and appearing in a video for a song he doesn't play on (alongside his dog, Mike). Episode includes three full songs from Guitar Gangsters, Tara Rez and his previous band The Roolettes.Episode 10 produced and edited by Jason Jones/All Things Mac

Magic on the radio. Yeah, we know... but by the time you read this the video version will have satisfied YouTube's admins and you can see this episode as well as hear it. Trust us, it's worth it. North Carolina-based magician Bryan Saint fooled Penn & Teller a couple of years ago and hasn't looked back since. His close-hand magic is quite extraordinarily slick, his timing impeccable, his routine peppered with one-liners and he also makes a living as a voice actor, something that will come as no surprise. Search for CLUTCHING AT CRUMBS BRYAN SAINT on YouTube in lieu of an actual link... and prepare to feel a fool, in a good way. Produced and edited by Nick Draper.

"The Colchester Cat Stevens"; "Electro-Folk Troubadour"... Kevin Pearce has just come off a six-month UK tour supporting Turin Brakes, a tour curtailed by the Coronavirus outbreak. Four albums into his career, Pearce's electro-tinged folk has been making waves and getting airplay for over a decade, being a particular favourite of BBC Radio 2's Janice Long with his heartfelt vocals and thought-provoking and socially conscious lyrics. 2020 promised to be a momentous year for a number of reasons... and it still will be. This show features two studio tracks and a live performance of a track from his fourth album, So On. Episode 9 produced and edited by Stephen Potter

Burning Codes' "conductor" Paul Archer and Clutching at Crumbs' Kevin Borras go back almost 16 year after a chance meeting a Snow Patrol gig at Brixton Academy. Well, not a meeting in the traditional sense as Kevin was there as a fan, Paul was a member of support band The Ghears. Paul formed Burning Codes after The Ghears came to an end and has now released six albums of motorik-inspired, often ethereal but powerful and emotive rock. Now relocated to his birthplace of Belfast, Paul has rebuilt the project and is using the lockdown to write several albums worth of new material. You'll hear tracks from three BC albums and a collaboration that miraculously traversed the vagaries of playing music over Zoom. Episode 7 produced and edited by Stephen Potter

Dan Donovan, aka The Dan The D, is a musician, photographer, artist and tutor who has released more than a dozen albums in a 30+ year career. His latest, Mojo del Rancho, was recorded at the legendary Rancho de la Luna studio in the Joshua Tree National Park in California. Owned by Mojave Lords guitarist Dave Catching, it's played host to the likes of Iggy Pop, Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss and Dan's gutteral blues (aided and abetted by Snow Patrol's Johnny Quinn on drums) caught the spirit of the records made there in the past. Dan talks to Kevin about his career, his art and yes, his mojo, embellished with four songs: two from the new album and two from previous incarnations Tribe of Dan and King Kool. Episode 6 produced and edited by Stephen Potter.

Musicians can't play live or even rehearse. Comedians and magicians can't perform... but what about authors? The prolific Roman Britain historian Dr Simon Elliott has used this unprecedented period of lockdown to finish his latest book, as he tells Kevin Borras. The pair have been friends since first working together in the late 1980s so forgive the reminiscing... you can see Simon in action on the More4 programme The Great British Dig - History in Your Back Garden, with Hugh Dennis.

DVATM, led by the mercurial Danny Valentine, a member of Lene Lovich's touring band, are a darkly melodic rock "collective" from Kingston upon Thames. Their 2018 album, the magnificent and maleficent The Darkest Days of the Empire, was seven years in the making but the band are using the current situation to their advantage and are targeting a 2021 release of its more upbeat follow up. Danny along with percussionist Dan Hydes spoke to Kevin from the safety of their own homes.

With the release of their memorably titled second EP Angry Shouty Middle Aged (Except Lewis) Bearded Noise, Peterborough indie punk four-piece Fuzz & The Felts should have been riding the crest of a wave, but the Coronavirus pandemic has forced them indoors for a rethink. Guitarist/vocalist Simon Bailey and bass player Stephen Potter talk about their musical journeys, inspirations, beards and hopes for a virus-free future. The band treat us to two live versions of tracks from the EP and are joined by Kevin for a Zoomtastic rendition of a Radiohead classic.... Episode 3 produced and edited by Stephen Potter and Paul Hutton

Andy Hughes is a 26-year old multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter with four solo albums under his belt that veer between Manic Street Preachersesque melodic rock, 70s-style prog and blistering metal, all underpinning Andy's unique vocals. As a working musician how is he getting by without the applause and the love of his audience, with his other project Phantom Heads and covers band Velocity also in enforced abatement? Episode 2 produced and edited by Jason Jones

Cambridgeshire-based hard rock band Bouquet of Dead Crows were all set to release their two part-album Hemispheres when the Coronavirus outbreak put paid to their plans - guitarist Neil Bruce and bass player Karen Gadd mask their disappointment, discuss their plans for the future and treat us to three tracks from Celestial, the first part of record... Episode 1 produced and edited by Nick Draper