Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley join Sodajerker to discuss the band’s new record Do Not Dare To Dream and the working methods that have kept the songs coming for more than three decades. The guys explain why nobody in the band second-guesses anyone else’s idea and how a keyboard found in a studio cupboard can end up defining a record. They also talk about capturing fragments on their phones, booking the studio to set a deadline, and the discipline of calling a record finished and moving on to the next one.
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A big thank you to Rolling Stone for including us in its list of the best songwriting pods! Honoured to be amongst such first-rate company, and apparently we’re the longest-running of the bunch.
Ah yes, we remember when the podcast-industrial complex was all just fields…
You can find the article here.
This bonus episode of the podcast was recorded live on 4 September 2026 as part of the Sodajerker Songwriting Lab at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Our special guests were two-time Ivor Novello winner Sacha Skarbek (Adele, James Blunt, Miley Cyrus) and songwriter, producer and session musician Ben Parker (Paolo Nutini, Paul Weller, Sons of Town Hall). Together, they are co-founders of the Skarbek Songwriting Academy.
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Chaka Khan joins Simon and Brian to discuss her new album Chakzilla, a dance-pop record co-written with Sia and Greg Kurstin, and named after the Godzilla films she grew up loving. Chaka also looks back on classic hits like ‘I’m Every Woman’ and ‘Through the Fire’, writing poetry for Rufus and Prince, receiving ‘Ain’t Nobody’ fully formed from David “Hawk” Wolinski, and lying at Anthony Jackson’s feet to study his bass playing.
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On Friday September 4th 2026, we held the inaugural Sodajerker Songwriting Lab at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Sacha Skarbek and Ben Parker of the Skarbek Songwriting Academy. What a time we had!
We welcomed a bunch of fantastic writers who fully embraced the experience and gave so generously of their time and talents. Sacha and Ben set an excellent brief, organised our writers into groups and shared their expertise throughout the day so that everyone felt supported.
By late afternoon, as if by magic, a fresh batch of songs existed in the world and (with considerable bravery) were performed in the round. A wonderful and deeply inspiring thing to witness.
We’re so grateful to everyone for their time, talent and enthusiasm, and we hope to do it again soon.
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Brandon Flowers of The Killers joins Sodajerker to discuss his new solo album Thrasher, a country record cut live at Nashville’s RCA Studio A. Brandon explains how the album returns him to the music his father raised him on, and the lessons that still underpin his fighting spirit today. He also discusses how U2 informed ‘Mr. Brightside’, what he learned about pre-choruses from Oasis, and writing on the piano Elton John sent to his house.
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We’re utterly dumbstruck by the news of Glen Hansard’s death. We spoke with Glen only a few months ago, having wanted him on the show for years.
As an interviewee, he was warm, engaging, articulate, and wise, and his passion for the craft of songwriting was tangible – none of which will come as any surprise to those familiar with the man and his work. Above all else, what shone through was his essential goodness.
Sodajerker On Songwriting, Episode 316 with Glen Hansard
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Friday 4 September 2026 · Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Calling all songwriters! The Sodajerker Songwriting Lab is a one-day songwriting workshop at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and our special guests are Sacha Skarbek and Ben Parker.
Sacha is an Ivor Novello-winning and Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer whose songs have been recorded by Adele, James Blunt, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey. Ben is an acclaimed songwriter, producer and session musician with more than 25 years in the industry: one half of the transatlantic folk duo Sons of Town Hall, a million-selling author of music instruction books, and co-founder with Sacha of the Skarbek Songwriting Academy.
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Our friends at The Swan Song Project have launched a new campaign called Gift a Song, and we wanted to share it with you. Founded by musician Ben Slack in 2017, the Swan Song Project helps people facing terminal illness or bereavement to write and professionally record an original song. It’s one of our favourite charities, and a beautiful example of what songwriting can do beyond the charts.
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On this very special episode, the legendary Phil Collins joins Sodajerker to mark the 45th anniversary of his solo debut Face Value, which arrives as a deluxe reissue in September. Phil explains how songs like ‘In the Air Tonight’ grew out of “mucking about” in his home studio, and why intuition counts for more in his writing than formal technique. He also discusses writing with Genesis, working with Brian Eno, Lamont Dozier, and the Earth, Wind & Fire horns, and creating the Oscar-winning ‘You’ll Be in My Heart’ for Disney’s Tarzan.
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Singer-songwriter and producer Beth Orton joins Simon and Brian for a conversation about the writing of her latest record The Ground Above. Beth shares how she turns instinctive first ideas into finished songs, the independence that came with producing her own records, and the influence of two formative relationships: her early collaborations with William Orbit and her guitar lessons with Bert Jansch.
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Songwriter and producer Linda Perry discusses Let It Die Here, her first solo album in over 25 years, and its accompanying documentary, which offers a candid look at her life and creative process. Linda explains the ways that grief and the loss of her mother are bound up in the work, the role of vulnerability in songwriting, and what she’s looking for when she collaborates with an artist in the studio.
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Episode 324 – Teenage FanclubOctober 30, 2026
Sodajerker in Rolling Stone’s list of best podcasts about songwritingOctober 19, 2026
Bonus: Sacha Skarbek and Ben Parker at the Sodajerker Songwriting Lab (Live)October 2, 2026
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