LOCK DOWN TRACKS WITH PODCAST PRESENTER GRAHAM FALK

Today’s lockdown tracks are selected by podcast guru and Methven Netflix antagoniser, Graham Falk.

I’m expecting some diverse sounds to be picked today.

Yes, I’ve always liked a really wide range of music, quite eclectic.

Has that always been true?

Yes, I think it has. My Dad had an amazing taste in music and so, when I was little, he would listen to loads of vinyl. Punk mainly. Sex Pistols and Angelic Upstarts I remember really clearly. But then he loved buying vinyl. He had boxes and boxes of it and I think your tastes develop as you listen to more and more different types of music. He played Phil Collins, Level 42, right across the board. I’ve never really liked them as a band but, he played The Joshua Tree, the U2 album, quite often and that’s an amazing piece of music. I certainly learned a lot from him about music and the fact you can like different things.

And how about buying music yourself?

My first two albums prove that, actually. Very different from each other and from what I tend to listen to now! First was Millennium, the Back Street Boys album, and the second was Significant Other by Limp Bizkit. These days they’re probably quite shameful purchases but I’m not ashamed! It’s the start of the journey. If it hadn’t been for acts like Limp Bizkit I wouldn’t be listening to what I listen to now.

A gateway band?

Yes. Them and people like Lincoln Park. And Back Street Boys are just of a time. Catchy. Any pop you play from any time that is catchy is worth a listen. If I’d been a bit older it would have been New Kids, any younger it might have been Brittany.

What else were you up to back then?

I really liked the mid 90s TV shows like Buffy and Charmed. The theme to Charmed was How Soon Is Now performed by Love Spit Love. I remember my Dad telling me it was a Smiths’ song and that got me into finding out loads of stuff about Morrissey. When you’re growing up in Southwick, finding out it was OK to like reading and feeling a bit different from others was revolutionary. I got into reading. Oscar Wilde first from Morrissey’s love of him and then Douglas Coupland. A fabulous author. And, from there, I got into writing myself and performing.

And how about concerts? Do you go to many concerts?

Yes loads. I love live music. I got into a band called Brand New. They’d just released an album called The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me and they played Newcastle Academy. It was when the album was still fresh and you listen to nothing else and then, to go and see them was perfect. And different from the performances on the album, slight differences that made it even better somehow. And then I saw Bjork on the Cornucopia tour. She was incredible. Very different from Brand New! A massive show and performance. The whole thing from her bringing on an Iceland chanting choir before she performed to the lighting show to her own performance. Amazing. I sat there in awe for 2 hours.

What gets you up out of your chair? Are you a dancer?

Not at all. I’m not a big dancer unless you count in the house dancing around in my pants! There was one night in Glasgow where I went into a club and the DJ was playing 80s banger after 80s banger. That night was different. I danced for hours! Head over Heels By Tears For Fears, Love Will Tear Us Apart, one after another after another. I danced that night!

And if we could let you out for one night at the moment where would you go?

I haven’t seen my girlfriend in 6 weeks so I’d definitely want to do something with her. I’m a big fan of independent films and cinema so probably go to the Tyneside Cinema and, if it’s my night, I’d get them to show Mandy. It’s a Nicolas Cage film. Yeah, I’d pick that.

And moving onto football. Where does music come into you matchdays?

Well, truth be told it comes in at the same time as Buckfast! I used to travel down from Glasgow for the matches on the train. Glasgow to Edinburgh, then Newcastle then Sunderland so it would start with calm (a bit like the Buckfast). Bjork maybe. Or I might listen to OK Computer and get my head sorted. Get the week behind me and then from about Berwick I’d pick it up a bit and get into match mood. Then it’d get heavier until I get to town and have some beers with friends before crossing the bridge.

And what is the best walk out music in football?

Going back to my Dad, he was a big one for travelling to see football matches. We saw Ajax v Feyenoord when I was really young and then, in 2000, he got tickets to see Lazio v Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. An amazing place to go and watch football, a real passion in the atmosphere and it started to build up with a DJ on the middle of the pitch with big screens. One of him DJing and the other music videos that he was playing. It was absolutely packed and the players were about to come out and he played the Chemical Brothers, Hey Boy Hey Girl and it was pumping. The whole ground lifted. For me, I’d have that over something like Dance of the Knights so, credit where it’s due, whoever got that added into the Stadium of Light play list, I love it.

Well, it’s not my favourite, but I’m certainly looking forward to hearing it inside the ground again. Thanks for chatting. Keep well.