On this episode of The Paul Weller Fan Podcast, I am joined by music journalist Adrian Thrills.
Adrian was an early champion of The Jam, becoming a fan of the band from 1976 – pre-Polydor record deal – seeing them at the 100 Club, upstairs at Ronnie Scotts, The Marquee, Red Cow in Hammersmith and at many more gigs…
Together with his friend, Shane McGowan, Adrian did one of the very first interviews with the band for own 48 Thrills fanzine (One of the original punk fanzines that launched in ’76).
As a friend, and journalist, he became part of the inner-circle, even joining the band on the road with gigs in Dunstable, Crawley, Malvern, Falkirk and Barrow-in-Furnesss…
Adrian spent the 1980s at NME, where he continued to feature and review The Jam, even conducting one of the final interviews with Paul before the split at the end of 1982.
Look closely at the rear sleeve for live album Dig the New Breed for a brilliant shout-out too!
“A brief six years , sweaty frantic Red Cow residency, 1st week 50 people, 2nd week 100, by the fourth week. A queue around the block! SWITCH the marquee with Shane, Claudio and Adrian dancing on stage to the confusion of the usual Marquee hippies!”
In more recent years, Adrian has been a music writer for The Daily Mail and he’s reviewed plenty of Paul Weller albums in his time there.
He also created sleeve notes on The Very Best of The Jam, The Jam Live at the BBC and the Hit Parade boxset in 2006.
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EP166 – Adrian Thrills – Music Journalist shares his experiences of The Jam and Paul Weller from 1976 to Solo… – Paul Weller Fan Podcast : Desperately Seeking Paul
If any of you have any other scans of 48 Thrills or Adrian’s interviews / reviews / articles on The Jam from NME / Zig Zag etc then please do get in touch.
48 Thrills – Issue 3 – March 1977 – The Jam
48 Thrills was one of the original punk fanzines, created by Adrian Thrills.
Issue 2 featured an early interview with The Jam
Issue 3 features news of In The City (their first single) and a wonderful live review! (See below)
The Jam – Live at the BBC / The Very Best of
Paul Weller – Hit Parade
Adrian wrote sleeve notes for The Very Best of The Jam in 1997, The Jam at the BBC in 2002 and Hit Parade in 2006.
May 2012 – Sonik Kicks
Modfather gets over his mid-life crisis to make a great pop album
May 2015 – Saturns Pattern
September 2017 – Album of the Week – A Kind Revolution
“A diverse and superbly realised set of songs…”
September 2018 – True Meanings
July 2020 – On Sunset
Paul Weller finds his groove again: The Modfather’s new album On Sunset is a soulful tour de force
May 2021 – Fat Pop
How Paul Weller found wellness through Pop!.
Adrian Thrills – A Few Random thoughts on the C86 era…
Adrian was one of the journalists responsible for the now iconic C86 tape.
Excellent episode with Adrian. Full of detail, insight and humility (maybe the Daily Mail can’t be all bad?). For once I felt the episode could have been extended. Adrian was particularly interesting on 22 Dreams and Paul’s more recent work.
I know its not your format but I think an occasional episode discussing a single album (original version; outtakes; artwork; notabe live performances) will be much appreciated.
Your links to Adrian’s various reviews are appreciated. All this must be keeping you very busy. Thank you for your huge efforts.