We delve into New Worlds of Moorcock influenced music with the other-worldly Dungeon Synth of The Artist Called Elric, and the powerful METAL!!! of Corum, two faces of the Eternal Champion.
Gerard Arthur Connelly returns and gets his poor boots wet, with all new atmos and score by @nand_soundtrax
As 2021 continues in much the same vein as 2020, but somehow worse, there is some good news.
We closed out the last show, the birthday special, with the mellifluous tones of SÖNUS and their track The Eternal Champion from the album Worlds Undreamed Of. For the nimble fingered, there is a limited run of 100 cds available on Bandcamp.
The new year is upon us and… without much further ado… it feels much like 2020.
Here in the UK we’ve entered another full lockdown and have been awarded the nickname Plague Island. Meanwhile our cousins across the pond once again have some 24 hour election coverage to get stuck into (and I must confess I’m keenly following developments as I type this). Therefore I expect that here at Derry & Toms we will be confined to remote recording for at least another three months. We’ve had some practice now though and are getting a bit better at it as we go.
In better news, our fellow traveller Jim successfully kickstarted Urish’s Horde: The Guide to Elric Collectibles. Jim assures me that us UK folks (and anyone else outside the US) will be able to pick this up via online retailing once its published. I can’t wait to get my mits on it!Meanwhile, I’ve continued to play around with The Journal of Gerard Arthur Connelly and have Chapter 8 recorded and 9 written. Try as I might to do 160 pages in three days, a la the man, the reality is a bit more creaky and painstaking. Still, it’s good fun and a nice distraction from the ongoing barrage of bad news. Even more exciting (for me at least) is the collaboration I’ve just undertaken with a very old friend of mine from my salad days. Way back in the mists of time I collaborated a little with a couple of friends on some electronic music and, 28 years after we last spoke, we reconnected on twitter and had a good natter. One of the outcomes is that, compared to previous episodes, Chapter 8 has had a polish and the Journal now benefits from an entirely original score. More will be revealed soon.
Finally, as we’re racking up the chapters, I’ve decided to have another play around and compile the Journal into a series of chapbooks. I’m working on volume one right now. If it works out Chaos Engineers and Jugaderos will get PDFs and Patron Demons will receive a hardcopy. This is a work in progress for now, but watch this space.
Right, that’s it from me for now.
Take care, stay safe, and I’ll see you soon… on the moonbeam roads.
It’s December 18th 2020, Michael Moorcock and Phil share a birthday AGAIN (weird right?) and, with the help of some friends, we celebrate a great day and take a look at Mike’s Sherlock Holmes story, The Adventure of the Dorset Street Lodger.
In addition we consider the broad appeal of Moorcock and how it crosses some boundaries that in this strange day and age are often extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and we get to showcase some great music c/o SÖNUS.
Christmas in the Dreaming Garden of Imrryr (AKA Hull) by Neil Burton
Hey there pards,
We’re three days out from the second Breakfast in the Ruins Birthday Special and we have a bumper show in store. As is now tradition, Phil and I will partake of booze and vittels, read our chosen story and record our bit on the day before I upload it at some indeterminate point, so long as it happens on the 18th.
Meanwhile a couple of fun facts.
Since putting the podcast on YouTube earlier in the year, it’s been very quiet in terms of views. Not unsurprising given that YT is a visual platform so not the best for podcasting, but I only put it on there because I was interested in how the process worked and it made it easier for my Mam to listen. Weirdly though (or perhaps not so weirdly), in the 40 days since I posted the Halloween show on The Rats, it’s had four times as many hits and minutes listened than every other episode combined! Obviously there’s some mileage in talking James Herbert some more. In terms of podbean analytics though it’s been a good performer, but not exceptional.
On the subject of podcast analytics though, the second fun fact is that this week we passed 10,000 downloads!
I didn’t realise at first, but when I put the first two episodes out I used Veteran of the Psychic Wars by Blue Oyster Cult as the opening music. After I was tipped off by someone on twitter that it could become an issue further down the line I made the decision to re-edit and re-upload the files with the now familiar Giantkind opening and closing music (thanks Loz & Neil). As a result the couple of hundred or son downloads up until that point disappeared from the analytics. Yesterday I saw that the count for the current roster was up to 9815. I did some counting on my fingers and the penny dropped.
Over 10k!!!
Whilst it may just be numbers, that feels like a pretty significant milestone to me, so thank you all for your support!
We’ve had a productive couple of months recently, and the output has been higher than normal thanks to a couple of very gracious new guests making themselves accessible.
In the new year we’ll be concluding our look at the Knight of the Swords with Loz, Tash and I will be investigating a potential ‘one shit book’, we’ll take another look at Moorcock and music with another brand new guest and Hussein and I will conclude The Final Programme with Phase Three (setting a new record for taking four and a half, or more, hours and around a year to talk about a 160 odd page book).
The recent fast pace may relax a bit as my day job goes high intensity for a while thanks to the bizarre political situation here in the UK, but it’s been great to have you along for the ride and I hope you can stick with us.
And finally, thanks to our Patron Demon Sir Neil of Burton for the amazing bespoke card. It’s fucking amazing!
Stay safe pards, and a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Team Ruins.
On our first purely music focused show we talk Hawkwind with biographer and writer Ian Abrahams. We also muse on how notice boards on launderette walls can produce great results.
Also, Loz calls in to Derry & Toms to drink some traditionally stupid beers and reminisce about the days of yore, sleeping dogs and the Giantkind track Breakfast in the Ruins.
After getting caught between worlds and never managing to quite hook it up, through a radio link between Earths 2 and 5 we finally get it together to discuss Moorcock with comics luminary and 2000AD Script Droid KEK-W!
We talk Moorcock, comics, Dark Judges, music and the disturbingly beautiful art of Dave Kendall.
I continue to learn regarding online recording, with mixed results.
Gerard Arthur Connelly gets his slippers wet.
As discussed on the show Jim’s Kickstarter for Urish’s Horde – The Guide to Elric Collectibles is here.
Loz returns as we head up to the Roof Garden to ruminate over Corum’s endless jawing with a slightly dubious sorceror in The Knight of the Swords Book Two.
Multiple varieties of pants are considered along with a couple of actually palatable beers. Progress I say!
Meanwhile, Gerard Arthur Connelly and co reach Grevenburg.
In any other normal year, right about now we would be on our annual expedition to the quieter parts of Scotland, wandering around in the drizzle, engaging in some open-air therapy, visiting our favourite whiskey spots to test drams and hot cheese scones, and consuming my own body weight in lorne sausage. I say mine only because Phil is too unsophisticated to appreciate it. Or deep fried scotch pies.
Pffft.
But no, the plague continues to rampage and arrived literally next door to us last weekend. After coming down with symptoms in the week we went along for a test a couple of days back and how very dystopian it all feels. A university car park converted into a one way system and blokes in G4S jackets (which because of my history suggests security/prisons) barking orders at people, shouting “DON’T OPEN YOUR WINDOWS”. The first fella asked us if we were prepared to administer our own tests so, as nurses, we said yes and drove on to Station Two (a little security hut and gazebo).
After the second fella strapped two test kits to my wing mirror then retreated we were directed to Station Three (a parking bay) where a third fella shouted instructions at us through the window.
Shortly after this I was suddenly thinking of an old, schmaltzy and by moderns standards a bit weird cartoon called Love is…
Love is… laughing hysterically at your partner as she raucously gags and weeps trying to deep throat a swab for 20 seconds!
Fortunately I was able to return the favour as at my turn I proceeded to engage in exactly the same gagging and coughing, plus a sudden bout of uncontrollable sneezing, which she naturally found hugely satisfying.
What a palaver.
Anyway, the tests came back negative (SO HURRAH) but we’re still down with some bloody ‘normal’ bug (so hurrooh).
Meanwhile, Loz and I have done our homework for The Knight of the Swords Part Two and will be recording over the next few days. Hussein has got the taste for this online recording shiz and is gearing up with new kit for The Final Programme Phase Three and Phil and I have selected a book for a Halloween spesh that we’ll bang out next weekend.
Also Tash and I have settled on a subject for a new and occasional foray into… ONE SHIT BOOKS! Tash coined the phrase back in The Jewel in the Skull Part Three and we’re gonna run with it. Stand by to hear our rum-soaked musings upon DANNUS and the DARK STRAITS OF REGLATHIUM.
Coming to you in one fifth of an Ium or something (it’s been a couple of mygs since I looked at the glossary).
Breakfast in the Ruins Podcast 