This podcast is only temporary – Details, episodes & analysis

In which Belfast songwriter Andy White tells the story of writing Self-isolation, opening track from Side 2 of his latest album Good Luck I Hope You Make It. 

The story so far? It's a few days before St Patrick's Day 2020. Things are locking down in Ireland and Italy. Not so much in Australia, where huge sporting events are taking place, and the UK, where the government is talking about 'herd immunity'. That's where today's episode starts.

As ever, Andy dives into the recording session to show how many elements go into making the song, and the episode ends with a version you haven't heard before.

Thanks for listening, we appreciate your support, and please subscribe if you haven't already. Exclusive outlets to download or buy the album are below, plus the LP is on Amazon in the UK. 

See you next time!

Podcast art: Sebastian White

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

There is a lot going on in this week's episode of Irish songwriter Andy White's journey through the writing and recording of his latest album Good Luck I Hope You Make It. Andy starts out by telling the story of the mystery missing track, Every Day is Like Today, which includes a poetry slam (that's a competition at a poetry venue or bar where anyone who puts their name can get up and read). The poets reading their work aren't very good … and that's the point … but this leads in a roundabout way to the next song on the album.

Andy talks about poets whose work is written to be read, and who influenced him to write. John Cooper Clarke, and the Liverpool poet Brian Patten who read poems in Andy's English class one Belfast afternoon. Nick Cave's book written on airplane sick bags, Brand New Ancients by Kae Tempest, Yeats, Ode to Autumn—it is early March, the start of autumn in the southern hemisphere, where Andy is writing. He decides to write a song that cycles round the seasons, starting with the line "I will write a book of poems" and employing a James Joyce strategy to ensure the lyrics mirror the seasons.

Thanks for listening and please share and subscribe wherever you find your podcasts. If this is your first time, there are two other series to catch up on. Good luck we hope you make it!

Podcast art by Sebastian White

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

In this episode Andy turns his attention to Everything Twice, the fourth song he and Tim Finn wrote for the 'AT' album. The three previous songs had worked – the two chums were doing it again, and that was how the songs started. You can do it twice.

You'll hear how the song started with one phrase and a method songwriters use for jotting down a melody. Then a variety of increasingly crazed story lines before coming back to the original one. Doing it again, in Melbourne and Auckland.

If you are interested in Molly Bloom, there is a cute video guide to Ulysses here. 'You Know My Name Look Up The Number' is here.

As ever, you will hear early demos of the songs with alternative lyrics and a beautiful vocals-only recording of the song. At the end of the episode there is the final version  they sent to John Leckie to mix.

Please share and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you next week!

Everything Twice by Finn/White
Played and recorded by Andy and Tim in Melbourne and Auckland
Podcast artwork by Sebastian White

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

Three tracks into the AT album and Andy steps up with a song that started in a similar way to I Decided to Fly from Altitude.  This time, Tim and he go back and forward writing a song about their parents, although some of it ends up being about a certain Irish mongrel.

The latest dive into the AT master tapes reveals Bundle of their Dreams' relationship to Seventeen and uncovers the secrets of the dreaded Melodica.  But most of all, that writing around a theme close to your heart is a good thing to do.

You'll hear demo versions of the song as a work-in-progress and the bundle they sent to John Leckie to mix. Plus Andy's toy piano. The only unanswered question is—why does he have a  toy piano? 

Please share and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Enjoy the ride and see you next week!

Bundle of their Dreams by Finn/White
Played and recorded by Andy and Tim in Melbourne and Auckland
Sebastian White on drums

I Decided to Fly by Finn/Ó Maonlaí/White
Played and recorded by ALT in Melbourne
Podcast artwork by Sebastian White

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

After The Sea Holds the Memory, Andy and Tim started writing Three Sheep Grazing straight away. It started after a conversation with a friend about the village green and globalisation. Find out more in this second episode of the new series and hear the mysterious and marvellous  musical elements that contribute to one of the lads' favourite songs on the 'AT' album.

Andy mentions two Oliver Postgate TV series he watched when he was a child (and perhaps more recently) Camberwick Green and Trumpton. Radiohead used Trumpton as the basis for the Burn the Witch video. The instrument that started the string arrangement is the Mellotron.

After you listen, do check out the video of Three Sheep Grazing. Directed by Sebastian White and animated by Kai Higham it is the cutest clip ever made. Can you spot the starfish? 

Please share and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Enjoy the ride and see you next week!

Three Sheep Grazing by Finn/White
Played and recorded by Andy and Tim in Melbourne and Auckland
Strings by Jonathan Dreyfus
Podcast artwork by Sebastian White

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

The podcast is back! This is the first episode of Series 2 which looks at Andy White and Tim Finn's 'AT' album song by song. Andy has dug out their original writing demos plus some of the emails that whizzed back and forwards across the Tasman Sea between the two pals. 

This week you'll hear what inspired Andy and Tim to get writing and how this first song came into being – an interview their ALT band mate Liam did with a Dun Laoghaire magazine, a couple of poems, and how they dragged Brian into the studio from the betting club down the road to finish the initial recording. 

During each episode you'll hear each song several times in different ways but not as many times as we did (or John). Why? Because it is fun and this winter is very very cold. If you subscribe wherever you find your podcasts you will get an episode each week, as if by magic.

The Sea Holds the Memory by Finn/White
Played and recorded by Andy and Tim in Melbourne and Auckland
Podcast artwork by Sebastian White

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

In the final episode of the series, Andy takes a look at the last song he wrote for This garden is only temporary, but didn't make it to the album's final running order.

"Sometimes the last song you write for an album makes sense of the whole album and jumps straight into the running order, but in this case I was happy that nothing would make sense of the questions that were being asked on the record. This is where I started from…"

Mysterious! As is The Answers to the Questions.

Thanks for your support during the first (?) series. Make sure to catch up with any episodes you may have missed, and go to Andy's Bandcamp to download this song. 

This podcast is only temporary. Thanks for listening. 

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

This week's penultimate episode is all about the bass and includes an official bass warning. Often hiding behind everything else, this one is all about the bass. Andy's looking at Bass Priority, a track that didn't make it onto his latest album This garden is only temporary and talking about the sequencing of an album. How important this is, and suggesting some ways you could go about it.

There are digressions on vulnerability in your playing style, leaving some musical ideas for another time, how the order tracks are recorded isn't necessarily the order you find them on the final version of the album, and things to think about if you're putting songs together for an album that will come out on vinyl.

On the way he mentions Seventeen Seconds and Hello, as well as his own albums Rave on Andy White and Garageband. 

In this episode, the track is instrumental. The words were the last to arrive but turned out to be the start of his next album. In October 2023 Andy released the completed version of Bass Priority on Bandcamp. Take a listen to find out what happened next.

This is the penultimate episode of the first series. As ever, please share and subscribe. 

See you next week.

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

This episode starts off thinking it is going to be a short one but Andy gets his guitar out to take you through Shine a Light, the last track he's looking at on his latest album This garden is only temporary and discovers how even the simplest song can contain hidden complexities.  Some of these remain hidden after he tries to explain the chords (thanks to friend and mentor Joe Bennett for starting him off on this journey of explanation!)

On the way he refers to The Lyre of Orpheus, The Faces, My Perfect Cousin, his own songs Get Back Home, Between a Man and a Woman and the album Destination Beautiful, in particular The Government of Love. 

It's been quite a ride through the album and the final episode next week should have two special guests, Steve who mixed and co-produced, and Kent who played drums. 

If you're new to the series it's never too late to share and subscribe! Thanks for all your support.

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com

This week a special guest drops in to the podcast, freelance designer Sebastian White. Sebastian has designed Andy's albums since 2014, and after chatting about granola for a bit, father and son discuss the process of conceptualising and realising the artwork for This garden is only temporary.  They find the process is remarkably similar to that involved in writing and recording the songs, on the way talking about collecting ideas, balance, conceptual art, favourite album covers and psychological stepping stones. There is at least one Tale from a Rock'n'roll Childhood and Amy the goat contributes to the conversation several times.

Visual artists they discuss are Mark Rothko and Gerhard Richter. The interview with Courtney Barnett is here and the album covers they mention are The Next Day, Dark Side of the Moon, Electric Warrior, Out There, Yeezus and The Life of Pablo.

If you haven't got a physical copy of the album you can see the artwork on Bandcamp (click the small icons) or Andy's Instagram. 

Please share and subscribe and thanks for your support.

Andy's albums are available on Bandcamp or www.andywhite.com