FEATURING LABEL FOUNDER MARTIN MILLS PLUS GARY NUMAN, TIM BURGESS, BRIX SMITH, BILLY DUFFY, ROBERT FORSTER, DANIEL ASH & MANY MORE
Listen here: https://pod.link/1836129705
States of Independence is a new music podcast that explores the hidden histories of the world’s greatest independent record labels with the people that know them best – the founders who built them and artists who grew them.
Hosted by music journalist and podcast producer Rob Fitzpatrick, Season 1 goes deep into the story of one of the world’s leading record companies, and the last truly great punk-era independent label still in existence: Beggars Banquet. Two years in development, this is a huge story told over 13 episodes. It begins with the one person without whom none of this could have happened, the founder and chairman of the Beggars Group, Martin Mills.
States of Independence launches with episode one on September 11th, with guests Martin Mills, The Lurkers, and Gary Numan.
Beggars Banquet’s first superstar came in the form of Gary Numan, who gifted the label a number one single with ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ in 1979.
“With Gary, it felt like the Beatles,” says Mills, but success left the tiny label scrambling to learn on the job. “There definitely was no instruction manual.” Nor was there one for the 21 year-old Numan. “I thought it was gonna be more fun, I didn’t expect all the hostility that came with it… You know, people writing things about you as if you’ve just done the most evil thing.” That first brush with mega stardom would set the template for many of Beggars Banquets’ now iconic acts: The Cult, The Fall, The Go Betweens, The Charlatans, Peter Murphy, Bauhaus, Love And Rockets, Gene Loves Jezebel, Buffalo Tom, The Bolshoi and more – all of whom appear in States of Independence Season 1.
States of Independent host Rob got a job at the Beggars Banquet Records shop in Kingston, Surrey when he was 20 years old, calling it “the most incredible musical education”. He left in 1996, to make and write about music, but he’s always remained fascinated by – and, he’d be the first to admit, curiously emotionally attached – to the label.
Beggars Banquet began life as a West London record shop in 1974. ”We had 2000 pounds each,” says founder Martin Mills. “It got us a lease in Earl’s Court. It got us some stock. Steve [Webbon] knew how to buy new records. I knew how to buy old records, and Nick [Austin] knew how to bullshit.”
With the arrival of punk in 1976, their second shop, in Fulham, found its powerful remit. ‘“Suddenly it was all about going down to Red Cow and getting spat on,” says Mills.
In the spirit of punk rock opportunism, Mills and Austin launched the Beggars Banquet label with the debut release from The Lurkers – “a very good two-chord punk band. Though they learned a third chord eventually.”
Today, the Beggars Group of labels includes iconic imprints like 4AD, XL, Matador, Rough Trade and Young – a veritable indie empire. But this is a story marked by both triumph and turbulence, with the label staring down the barrel of extinction at multiple points during its five-decade history. Of The Cult, and their explosive run of 80s and 90s hit albums, Mills remembers: “They were the band that literally stopped the cheques from bouncing.”
Episode List
EP 1: Martin Mills, The Lurkers, Gary Numan [Launch Sept 11th]
EP 2: Martin Mills, Gary Numan, Peter Murphy (Bauhaus/Solo), John Rocca (Freeez) [Launch Sept 11th]
EP 3: Martin Mills, Billy Duffy, Aki Nawaz [Launch Sept 18th]
EP 4: Martin Mills, Jay Aston (Gene Love Jezebel) [Launch Sept 25th]
EP 4a: Michael Aston (Gene Love Jezebel) [Launch October 2nd]
EP 5: Martin Mills, Brix Smith (The Fall) [Launch Oct 9th]
EP 6: Martin Mills, Tim Burgess (The Charlatans) [Launch Oct 16th]
EP 7: Martin Mills, Lindy Morrison (The Go Betweens) [Launch Oct 23rd]
EP 7a: Robert Forster (The Go Betweens) [Launch Oct 30]
EP 8: David J (Bauhaus, Love And Rockets/Solo) & Daniel Ash (Bauhaus, Tones On Tail, Love And Rockets/Solo) [Launch November 6th]
EP 8a: David J (Bauhaus, Love And Rockets/Solo) & Daniel Ash (Bauhaus, Tones On Tail, Love And Rockets/Solo) [Launch November 13th]
EP 9: Martin Mills, Bill Janovitz (Buffalo Tom) Natasha Atlas (Transglobal Underground/Solo), Aki Nawaz (Southern Death Cult/Transglobal Underground/Fundamental Records) and Trevor Tanner (The Bolshoi) [Launch November 20th]
EP 10: Series Finale – with Martin Mills and more [Launch November 27th]
The Fat Angel Sings 