Question and answer interviews

10 Questions for Singer/Pianist Joe Stilgoe

10 QUESTIONS FOR JOE STILGOE The pianist / songwriter on his lockdown hit "Stilgoe in the Shed"

Joe Stilgoe learned 250 new songs for the 67 episodes of "Stilgoe in the Shed"

Singer/pianist/songwriter/entertainer Joe Stilgoe responded remarkably rapidly to the new circumstances of March 2020. Even before the first nationwide lockdown was declared, he had started doing a series of daily performances on YouTube: “Stilgoe In The Shed”.

theartsdesk Q&A: Mick Talbot of The Style Council

THEARTSDESK Q&A: MICK TALBOT The keyboard don discusses the ups and downs of life in The Style Council

The keyboard don discusses the very Eighties ups and downs of life in The Style Council

Following the break-up of The Jam in 1982, Mick Talbot (b 1958) was chosen by Paul Weller as his sparring partner in a new band, The Style Council. Talbot, a keyboard player from south London, had flourished amid the late-Seventies Mod revival, initially in the Merton Parkas, with his brother Danny, but also in The Chords, and even appearing on a couple of The Jam’s records.

Filmmaker Bassam Tariq: 'Great cinema doesn't need to be perfect - embrace the imperfections'

FILMMAKER BASSAM TARIQ 'Great cinema doesn't need to be perfect - embrace the imperfections'

Director of 'Mogul Mowgli' discusses taking risks, and the differences between the British- and American-Asian experience

After Bassam Tariq's feature debut These Birds Walk was released at SXSW 2013, things seemed to slow down. The documentary about a runaway boy in Pakistan garnered strong reviews, but soon Tariq was working in a New York butchers pondering his career. However, the film did catch the eye of someone: Hollywood star Riz Ahmed.

10 Questions for Poet and Critic Rebecca Tamás

10 QUESTIONS FOR POET AND CRITIC REBECCA TAMAS On 'Strangers' and the urgent interconnectedness of the human and non-human

On 'Strangers' and the urgent interconnectedness of the human and non-human

Strangers: Essays on the Human and Nonhuman is a powerful invitation to rethink, to doubt and to engage. Beginning among the Diggers’ tilled earth in 1649 and the eco-socialist "watermelon" juices that soil still stirs, the book makes an urgent argument for recognising our uneasy intimacy with the nonhuman.

theartsdesk Q&A: Sally Anne Gross and Dr George Musgrave, authors of 'Can Music Make You Sick?'

Q&A: SALLY ANNE GROSS, DR GEORGE MUSGRAVE The authors of incisive new study 'Can Music Make You Sick?'

On World Mental Health Day we meet the authors of an incisive new study of music and musicians

Today is World Mental Health Day and of course that means an awful lot of hugs and homilies, thoughts and prayers, deep-breathing exercises and it’s-good-to-talk platitudes from people speaking from positions of immense privilege – ranging from the well-meaning to outright grifters.

theartsdesk Q&A: musician Kevin Rowland - 'it was painful to be misunderstood and misinterpreted'

KEVIN ROWLAND Q&A 'It was painful to be misunderstood and misinterpreted'

To coincide with its reissue, the Dexys Midnight Runners lynchpin considers his solo album ‘My Beauty’

“Whoargh! Steady lads!” Under that headline, NME reported that Kevin Rowland had “announced his return to the music scene with a bizarre national poster campaign depicting him in make-up and women’s clothing whilst hitching up his skirt to show his pants.”

'I loved being a dresser': Sir Ronald Harwood, Oscar-winning writer, dies at 85

SIR RONALD HARWOOD DIES AT 85 'I loved being a dresser'

A memorial interview with the playwright and scriptwriter who enjoyed a remarkable Indian summer

Ronald Harwood, who has died at the age of 85, was best known for his play about tending to the needs of the larger-than-life actor-manager Donald Wolfit. The Dresser, adapted by Harwood, went on to become a great film success starring Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney.

theartsdesk Q&A: author Katharina Volckmer

THEARTSDESK Q&A: KATHARINA VOLCKMER The first-time novelist on her deeply funny, subversive new book

Interview with the first-time novelist on her deeply funny, subversive new novel

Katharina Volckmer’s début novel The Appointment follows one woman as she vents her frustrations, confusions and regrets to her doctor during a lengthy appointment in London. Ranging through ideas from sex to Nazism, religion to technology, this novel provides a panorama of modern life via the deeply personal journey of its narrator, and frames the highs and lows of human existence with vibrancy and humour. Volckmer offers a refreshing view on many themes that are traditionally approached with the utmost trepidation.

Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui: 'The disability community is the world community'

THE DISABILITY COMMUNITY IS THE WORLD COMMUNITY Interview with the men behind Netflix's new Paralympic documentary 'Rising Phoenix'

Interview with the men behind Netflix's new Paralympic documentary 'Rising Phoenix'

In 2018, directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui burst onto the documentary scene with McQueen, a visually stunning study of British fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Acclaim and offers followed, but no-one could have predicted the subject of their second feature.

theartsdesk Q&A: Record label New Heavy Sounds

NEW HEAVY SOUNDS Q&A Co-founder Ged Murphy on Britain's most original heavy rock independent label

Co-founder Ged Murphy sheds light on the world of Britain's most original heavy rock independent

New Heavy Sounds is one of Britain’s most exciting and undersung labels. Founded in 2011, they have consistently released music that boasts innovation, imagination and a strong female presence. The added sweetener is that this comes attached to sheer guitar-slingin’ power of the kind heavy rockers, from the 1970s to the present, have always relished.