Podcaster

In March 2020 – the first week of Lockdown in the UK – I started a podcast. Didn’t every middle-aged man? Mine was about Madonna – an artist I had been a fan of since my teens. But it was more than just being about her, it was about her music and her songs and their recording techniques. Within a few weeks, I had created a handful of episodes that discussed the way the songs were recorded, the musicians and producers behind them, even the drum machines that were used. And guess what? People loved it. Each new episode gained thousands of followers, and I can only think that because we were in a time of austerity, and nostalgia had become a thing of the present.

So, Inside The Groove grew and grew. By the end of that first year, with aound 40 episodes made, I was not only able to reach thousands of people, but I was making a little bit of money from it. That’s a way to be motivated! The following year, the podcast was nominated for a Queerty award and I travelled to LA for the ceremony.

For the next three years, I churned out weekly episodes, but it was taking up too much time, and the subjects that could be covered were running out. By this time, I had enlisted Graphic Designer Peter Falloon and Fashion Photographer Jonathan Daniel Pryce – fans of the podcast – as contributors, and we held several events at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London.

My proudest moment was an event that discussed Madonna’s work fighting AIDS and the stigma around it. We raised £5000 for the National AIDS Trust.

But the podcast has never completely gone away. I’ve done the odd episode here and there and the occasional live event at the RVT. It will always be with me, and it’s something I’m incredibly proud of.

Listen to it wherever you enjoy your podcasts. Just search INSIDE THE GROOVE