The Stormcock Community

92:04 minutes (84.33 MB)
Welcome to the 28th Roy Harper podcast. This episode we have news about the new Roy Harper website, including downloads. Also part two of a two part interview with Mark Bishop. We also have listener feedback and some music. Enjoy, and please leave comments in the podcast section of the forums at www.stormcock.net.

Shownotes are available at my blog.

If you want to subscribe to the podcast, there is a feed. Click on the icon below.
Subscribe

In this episode:

Intro (Background music: Blackpool from Sophisticated Beggar)

News: all about the new website, blog, shop and downloads

These Last Days from The BBC Tapes, Volume V

An interview with Mark Bishop (Marko) part 2 of 2. More about Mark can be found at http://www.gold.ac.uk/computing/staff/m-bishop/ - congratulations on the Professorship, Mark!

The Fourth World from Death Or Glory...?

Listener Feedback, including a voicemail!

Credits and Links

Advertisement from Jugula

Please note that music used in the podcast is copyrighted and used with permission.
For all your Roy Harper music needs visit http://www.royharper.com
Incidental music is from Apple's Garageband and Logic Express library and is free to use

To give feedback on the podcast please contact me podcast [at] stormcock [dot] net or call 01223 850282 (+44 1223 850282) to leave messages.

The Roy Harper websites at royharper.com and royharper.co.uk have been overhauled. Tracy Harper sent out an announcement about it yesterday. I don't anything further to add to this since I have been heavily involved in the effort - Paul.

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Hello everyone, Hope you've all been keeping well. We know It's been very quiet for the last little while but we have a bit of news...

We've updated the website! Many many thanks to Paul Davison for all of his help and patience over the last... year or so. It's been a long time coming and I've relied on him heavily!!

At first glance you might not notice much difference as we've worked hard to maintain the original design. The main difference is that we now offer full album downloads in MP3 and FLAC formats. There are a few albums now available for download that have been unavailable for some time. There are a couple of albums that remain unavailable but those will be up in MP3 and FLAC formats in the next couple of weeks as soon as they've had a general remaster... 'In Between Every Line' and 'Harper 1970-1975':

http://www.royharper.co.uk/magento/downloads.html

The other thing is that we have integrated the old diary pages into a proper blog format:

http://www.royharper.co.uk/blog/

If you're into Facebook there is also an official Roy Harper page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roy-Harper/141407956471

We've tested everything as much as we can but there is likely to be something that we haven't run up against. Please let us know if you have any problems with ordering or in viewing anything. email on info [at] royharper [dot] co [dot] uk.

Something that you do need to know is that your login details for the old shop will no longer work. You'll have to create a new account if you would like to take advantage of some of the new shop features such as purchasing downloads, creating a wishlist, and viewing your order status. Some options won't be available until you login. Your newsletter subscription has not changed. You do not need to re-subscribe.

Finally, Gavin Moore's new album 'Tonnta' is now available in our 'Other Artists' category. Some of you will know Gavin from his opening sets at the 100 Club shows in London and at the 'Debarras' shows here in Clonakilty. There are a few sample tracks to listen to and links for more information here:

http://www.royharper.co.uk/magento/other-artists/tonnta.html

So, that's it for now for news. Again, please let us know if you have any problems with the website. We'll be keen to fix any issues ASAP!

The Magpie Index is a new single-screen high-definition video art-work by artist Richard Grayson, focusing on legendary singer-songwriter Roy Harper.

Opening at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea 16th January 2010 as part of a five-year retrospective on the work of Richard Grayson.

The exhibition continues until 14th March 2010.

In The Magpie Index Roy Harper delivers a series of monologues to camera. Each section addresses a different aspect of his work, his philosophy and history, covering the counter culture; religion and superstition; ornithology; nature and the environment; political engagement and the end of politics as well as Harper’s experiences in the music world and the importance of changing light bulbs.

More information

As part of the Offset creative conference’s ‘In Conversation’ events, Harry Pearce will be on stage in conversation with music legend Roy Harper. Their talk “Flashes From the Archive of Oblivion” will cover their 28 years of friendship and collaboration on many of Harper’s records. This will include anecdotal stories behind the records and about the designs themselves.

Roy Harper is an English rock/folk singer-songwriter/guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid-1960s. Harper has admitted being influenced by many forms of music, ranging from Miles Davis to Indian Raga to Stravinsky. His earliest musical influences were American blues musicians Lead Belly, Josh White and Big Bill Broonzy, and folk musician Woody Guthrie. His career and influence have been respected by many musicians including Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, Pete Townsend of The Who, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd, and more recently Californian harpist Joanna Newsom. Harper is also known for his guest lead vocals on Pink Floyd’s song “Have a Cigar.”

Among Harry’s previous work with Roy Harper is his sleeve design for the reissue of The BBC Tapes, sessions for the BBC recorded between 1969 and 1978.

The talk will take place on Friday 6th November at Dublin’s Offset three-day creative gathering.

Find out more at http://pentagram.com/en/new/harry-pearce/

91:07 minutes (83.45 MB)
Welcome to the 27th Roy Harper podcast. This episode we have an archive radio interview with Roy and Nick Harper from 1994, from Radio Scotland. Also part one of a two part interview with Mark Bishop. We also have the A-Z of Harper ('Z' this month), listener feedback, more radio snippets, and some music. Enjoy, and please leave comments in the podcast section of the forums at www.stormcock.net.

Shownotes are available at my blog.

If you want to subscribe to the podcast, there is a feed. Click on the icon below.
Subscribe

In this episode:

Intro (Background music: The Great Roy Harper by Adam Leonard)

Radio Scotland interview with Roy and Nick from 1994. Includes live versions of Commune and When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease. Please note that this is taken from a medium wave (AM) transmission so the audio quality is not brilliant.

An interview with Mark Bishop (Marko) part 1 of 2. More about Mark's course can be found at http://www.gold.ac.uk/computing/staff/m-bishop/

Short and Sweet, live version from the Stonehenge Festival. Official version on The Unknown Soldier

A-Z of Harper: 'Z' for ZenGem

ZenGem from Today Is Yesterday

Listener Feedback

Radio snippets: an interview with John Leckie by Johnny Walker, and Mike Harding introducing Francesca

Francesca from Flat Baroque and Berserk

Credits and Links

Waiting For Godot Part Zed from Death Or Glory?

Please note that music used in the podcast is copyrighted and used with permission.
For all your Roy Harper music needs visit http://www.royharper.com
The intro music is by Adam Leonard, see http://www.myspace.com/themessagetapes for info
Incidental music is from Apple's Garageband and Logic Express library and is free to use
Music played during the listener feedback section is by Solace. The track is "Sword Dance (Routine)" from the album "Rhythm Of The Dance". See http://www.magnatune.com/artists/solace for more info. Thanks to Magnatune for their very sensible licensing terms for non-commercial podcasters.

Nick Harper's charity page is at http://www.justgiving.com/nickharperkrocks/

To give feedback on the podcast please contact me podcast [at] stormcock [dot] net or call 01223 850282 (+44 1223 850282) to leave messages.

80:37 minutes (73.84 MB)
Welcome to the 26th Roy Harper podcast for September 2009. Warning: contains swearing. This episode we have an archive interview with Roy Harper from 1994, conducted by David Burnham. We also have the A-Z of Harper ('Y' this month), listener feedback, and some music. Enjoy, and please leave comments in the podcast section of the forums at www.stormcock.net.

Shownotes are available at my blog.

If you want to subscribe to the podcast, there is a feed. Click on the icon below.
Subscribe

In this episode:

Intro (Background music: Blue Stars by Matt Churchill)

Elizabeth from Jugula

An interview with Roy Harper from 1994 conducted by David Burnham

See http://www.terrascope.co.uk/MyBackPages/harper.html for the article.

MCP Blues from The BBC Tapes Volume 2

A-Z of Harper: 'Y' for You Don't Need Money

You Don't Need Money from Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith

Listener Feedback

Beyond the Door Charity Auction still underway: contact celtcoates [at] btinternet [dot] com with offers

Credits and Links

Please note that music used in the podcast is copyrighted and used with permission.
For all your Roy Harper music needs visit http://www.royharper.com
For all your Matt Churchill needs visit http://www.mattchurchill.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/mattchurchillmusic
Incidental music is from Apple's Garageband and Logic Express library and is free to use
Music played during the listener feedback section is by Solace. The tracks are "Djinn" and "Ashes To Phoenix". See http://www.magnatune.com/artists/solace for more info. Thanks to Magnatune for their very sensible licensing terms for non-commercial podcasters.

Nick Harper's charity page is at http://www.justgiving.com/nickharperkrocks/

To give feedback on the podcast please contact me podcast [at] stormcock [dot] net or call 01223 850282 (+44 1223 850282) to leave messages.

Roy is featured in "The Word" magazine as part of a feature on cult heroes.

Roy has put an unedited copy of his brief but excellent interview on his site at http://www.royharper.co.uk/shop/display_page.php?page=press/word_2009. It's eight questions and answers and I'm certain that some of the answers were not quite what the interviewer was expecting. Here's a snippet:

1. Why do you think you inspire such devotion?

I don't think that I properly realize that I have anyone devoted to me. There's something called Roy Harper, and then there's me, a person who seems to trundle along in a parallel universe to that narrative. In the times when I realize that the narrative may have devotees, it's tempered with a thought that there are a lot of people out there who may be in some way antipathetic. In other words, I think that Roy Harper divides opinion a lot. He's not really someone you can really treat as wallpaper. There's some very high class incidental music out there. Pink Floyd, and Coldplay immediately spring to mind. Moby and even Eminem on a lesser level. Stuff with a capability to be used as soothing or familiar background sound. Complimentary audio to a particular lifestyle, or to being played in the workplace at reasonably low volume. Things that might seem to suggest, but don't finally say very much other than they are very well produced high class music art. Often image is the key component. You could describe this as a way of writing in which any lyrical content is purely subject to the music or the image, and is actually ancillary, and often even incidental. The reason why this kind of music art is always going to be fashionable is that it doesn't disturb people, and it usually compliments the status quo. Which is great, I don't have anything against that, but it's not where I'm coming from, that is, me, the founder of Roy Harper. I'm coming from the same kind of place Woody Guthrie, Phil Ochs, Richard Fariña and Big Bill Broonzy came from, where a song can be a contentious point of view, often a bold a statement, or a strong opinion based on available empirical fact. Any and all of which can be loaded with emotion. Some people really get it, lots don't, people who can't be bothered to decipher meaning in lyrics think of me as purely esoteric, and there are billions who know nothing of me at all. One thing is for sure, I don't think I leave many who do.. sat on the fence. And Roy of course, well he's likely to carry on for quite a while after I've left. He's nothing I can actually stop now.. he's become a slight disturbance out there in cyberspace.