MrBiffo

EARLY ACCESS-ISH: BYAMPOD Ep104

Sorry this is coming to you late. There'll be a bonus episode along shortly by way of an apology. 

We're continuing with the songs from Happiness Is The Road Volume 1, with Essence and Wrapped Up In Time. After settling down following early attempts to come up with a title for a Meat Loaf podcast, we talk in depth about being present in the now, grief, and nothing less than the meaning of life...

It might be one of our most open and emotionally honest episodes to date. <...

EXCLUSIVE: Q&A - PART 2

Here's a Patreon exclusive for all of you: part 2 of what will doubtless end up being an epic Q&A. 

We've been a little behind schedule this week (we lost two days to filming, as we shot the Tripadvisor video twice as we didn't like the first version... weirdly, the same thing happened with the UK Tripadvisor video), so BYAMPOD will be a bit late, but we WILL have a Writer's Club and BYAMPOD bonus with you Monday, barring disasters.

Anyhow, have a good weekend, you lot, a...

UPPER TIERS EXCLUSIVE: TRIPADVISOR USA OUTTAKES

Hello, my upper tier loves. Here are 24 minutes of outtakes from this week's Tripadvisor video.

Apologies for spoiling the magic, but the first few minutes offers several painful attempts at the Third Bird intro! Thought you'd like to see it.

There are several full segments here, including a number of reviews we didn't feature in the main video. 

Coming later today... the second part of the epic Q&A that we started last week. 

EARLY ACCESS DIGI - NEW YORK CITY: HELLHOLE!

New video! New video!

Having done so with British tourist attractions... this week, Sanja and I take a look at some of the one star reviews on Tripadvisor of New York's top tourist sites; Times Square, the Empire State Building, Broadway, the NYC subway - and more...! How have these places upset so many visitors - and what does any of it have to do with Third Bird - the new owner of Sesame Street...?

UPPER TIERS EXCLUSIVE: Q&A OUTTAKES

Hello gang. Here are some outtakes from last week's Q&A, talking about my mum's hairdresser, family stress, a Digi Christmas single, and other things...

Coming soon... brand new Third Bird!

EARLY ACCESS: BYAMPOD Ep 103 - Happiness Is The Road Part 2

In this episode, we finally begin to delve into Volume One of Marillion's Happiness Is The Road, discussing the album's conception, its creation, and the first two tracks -  Dreamy Street and This Train Is My Life. 

Could this be Marillion's most underrated album?

Have a good weekend, everyone.

SLIGHTLY EARLY ACCESS: HOW ARE WE COPING? - Q&A

Get ready, as this is an epic one. Watch it in parts, or get comfy and settle down for the long haul... but be ready, because things do get emotional. 

In this special Q&A, Sanja and I answer questions about the future of the channel, creativity, why 2022 has been one of the worst years of our life - and our plans for next year.

Please be aware that this episode contains discussion about mental health, and grief.

The next part of this Q&A will be Patreon exclusi...

NEW BYAMPOD, NEW VIDEO, NEW MUSIC

Hello gang.

There IS a BYAMPOD on the way - though Sanja is a bit behind with her Happiness Is The Road notes, so we may not record until the weekend. You'll have it before Monday though.

There's also a video coming your way tonight. I know Friday evening isn't our usual slot, but the Musk song went up yesterday, and we've been running behind. However... it's an extra, extra long one, so you might want to make an evening of it, or split it up. It's basically part one of answering ...

ELON!

Just in case you've not seen it...

We've got an epic video on the way hopefully tomorrow... We recorded for two hours earlier. Looks like the Q&A will be a multi-part thing...

LAST CALL

We're going to be recording the Q&A in the next hour or so... so, this is your last call for questions if you have any. Can literally be about anything. We'll answer 'em!

Paul

BITS AND BOBS

Hello gang. There will be a Digi this week that you'll see, even if it doesn't go public. Got a bit caught up with some other stuff, so we're running a bit late with things this week. And I'm sort of waiting on the genius that is Chris Jerden Cooke to finish some music for it...

Also imminent will be the Q&A. And a Writer's Club (because the one we recorded last week... didn't record; our audio recorder seems to be playing up). And a BYAMPOD of course.

Plus, I promised we'd ha...

SLIGHTLY EARLY ACCESS: BYAMPOD Ep 102 - Happiness is The Road Part 1

Sorry again that this is late. Should be some bonus stuff coming later this week. And a Writer's Club pod coming for some of you imminently.

We start an epic look at Marillion's 15th album, Happiness Is The Road, with an analysis of the album's launch - and the band's controversial decision to put it out for free on peer-to-peer sites ahead of the physical release. Noses were put out of joint... but did Marillion have any other choice, and were fans right to react as they did?

EXCLUSIVE: DELETED SCENE - AND A QUICK EXPLANATION

Morning, you lot. If you're wondering where BYAMPOD is... we didn't get a chance to record it, so it'll be with you a bit late. Most likely Monday, when we'll also have a bonus ep for you to make up for it being late. And the overdue Writer's Club. I've got something specific in mind for that.

We will also be doing the Patreon-only Q&A, and Biffo's Brain on Thursday Night, hopefully. 

We ran out of time to get everything done this week, basically. Tough week, for a variet...

SHOCKING HALLOWEEN QUIZ! Q&A QUESTIONS STILL NEEDED!

Hello, gang.

Here's this week's video. Sorry it wasn't up earlier for you - but some of you will have seen most of it on Twitch on Monday. It's just the last half an hour or so of the stream - which was the electrocution Halloween Quiz, and Gannon's failure of a ghost game. And some smashing pumpkins. 

If you can tolerate the stream-quality picture and sound, it's worth watching for a very drunk Eli being electrocuted repeatedly. 

I've cleaned up the sound and pict...

Q&A QUESTIONS NEEDED FOR DIGI and BYAMPOD!

Hello, you lot. Thank you for sticking by us for another month. 

This week's BYAMPOD will be the first part of our HITR coverage, there'll be a Writer's Club, and Digi will be an edited version of last night's live stream with Cheapshow, with some extra bells and whistles thrown in. 

It won't be the entire thing - as *somebody* had set the gain on the mic too high in the first half of the stream, so the sound is way too peak-y. We got it sorted eventually though.

W...

EXCLUSIVE: BYAMPOD BONUS

GAH!!!! TECHNOLOGY SUCKS.

We recorded an episode for you - as well as a Writer's Club - and, as we explain in this episode... the SD must've corrupted, or something, and we lost everything.

Consequently, we're going to skip a week of the regular podcast, and record Writer's Club next week, but in the meantime - here's a bonus episode about the 2015 Marillion Weekend.

Have a good weekend, everyone. 

UPPER TIERS EXCLUSIVE: HALLOWBEAN BEHIND-THE-SCENES

The filming of most Digi videos must appear pretty shambolic to anyone looking on.

It’s sort of baked into our process now; we start with a loose idea of a structure, we have some elements we want to fit in along the way, sometimes we’ll know how we want it to end, and there’ll be some props that we know we’ll feature… but between those points it’s pretty much improvised.

It’s why I was so lucky to find Sanja, and get to collaborate with Paul and Eli, for whom that w...

EARLY ACCESS: DIGITISER HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

It's here! We stay overnight in the haunted sweet shop owned by YouTuber Dan Does Craft, and are joined by Paul Gannon and Eli Silverman from Cheapshow.   Unfortunately, they summon a demon - or should that be... Beanmon?

Coming soon: 46 minutes of outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage!

Sleep well.

SLIGHTLY EARLY ACCESS: BYAMPOD ep101 - INTERVIEW WITH SILMARILLION FOUNDING MEMBER NEIL COCKLE!

Sorry this wasn't earlier - you know why.

But anyway, this week, we have an exclusive interview with keyboard wiz Neil Cockle - founding member of Silmarillion, and current member of The Mighty Bard. Neil talks about his time in the band, and some secrets about those very early days. If things had gone another way, Marillion might have had a very different name...

Also, we self-indulgently read out some letters telling us how great we are.

ONWARDS

Hi all. Just because I know a few of you were concerned... my mum's fine. Between Sanja and I were were up the hospital almost 10 hours yesterday, while she drained a potassium IV and had tests. I finally got back about half eleven, by the time I'd brought her home and put her to bed. 

Anyway. She's fine. Slight lung infection, and she's on antibiotics, but probably just knackered after an emotional week.

Right. Onwards!! 

Paul

DIGI & BYAMPOD UPDATE - PLUS STEVE HOGARTH VIDEO INTERVIEW

Well, we were poised to get back to a normal schedule, but because it never simply rains... earlier today - the day after my dad's funeral, for pity's sake - my mum was taken by ambulance to hospital.

Sanja's waiting up there with her now, giving us updates, while I wait to pick her up. They think it's *just* a chest infection, and that she's probably exhausted because of the stress of the past few days, but we're waiting to hear more. Regardless, she's very poorly. 

Suffice ...

NEW THEME - AND OTHER UPDATES!

Hello, you lot. Here's something a bit special. The musical genius that is Chris Jerden-Cooke very kindly did a brilliant cover of the BYAMPOD theme for us. Sadly, it arrived too late to make it into the 100th ep that I put up for all of you, but it'll be the outro for the podcast that goes up for the regular punters. It's rather special. I'm also going to be putting it on Bandcamp, with the proceeds going to Chris for his work. 

Also, just to give you a heads-up... we're not sure ...

EARLY ACCESS: BYAMPOD Ep 100 - Steve Hogarth Interview

EDIT: Apologies for the previous version which, weirdly, had my audio missing for a couple minutes. Fixed now!

They said it would never happen - yet in this special, extra long, 100th episode, BYAMPOD finally interviews Marillion lead singer Steve Hogarth! Find out what he really thinks of early Marillion, why he still feels like an outsider even after 33 years, and why he's already dreading writing the next Marillion album. As you'd expect, it's a searingly honest, open, emoti...

UPPER TIERS EXCLUSIVE: SCIENCE MUSEUM OUTTAKES

Get a load of this: it's ten whole minutes of outtakes from our trip to the Science Museum! 

BYAMPOD BONUS: Marillion Weekend 2013

It's Sanja's first Marillion Weekend! And we're discussing a messy, mouse-filled, night in Amsterdam, as well as the setlists...

EARLY ACCESS: THROWN OUT OF THE SCIENCE MUSEUM

New Digi! On a Monday! And I think you're going to like this one. 

On a visit to London's Science Museum, to visit the new Science Fiction exhibit, and see props from Doctor Who, Star Wars, Aliens - and more - we have the best day out ever... by getting themselves thrown out. Also: I accidentally learn stuff.

Coming later this week for the relevant tiers... outtakes, Writer's Club and Bonus BYAMPOD. There'll be a Biffo's Brain next week, but most likely to be Friday rather th...

SLIGHTLY EARLY ACCESS: BYAMPOD Ep 99 - The Road to Happiness

We tried something a bit different this week; a rare, Marillion-lite, in which we look the key events and music releases of 2008, in a bid to put the release of Happiness Is The Road into some sort of context. 

We're not totally sure it works as a format, but as a wander down memory lane it does it job. Also, we tease our big 100th episode, and discuss the messed-up way British people make fun of the things they love... including their favourite band...

Sorry this is late. Bu...

BORDERS OF WINTER: WHY I MADE IT

You no doubt know by now that I have a new album out today.

I know most of you aren’t here for that, but it’s the closest thing I have these days to a hobby. Since I first started dabbling in music creation at the start of the pandemic, I became hooked. I love it – the way you can create an emotional response from nothing.

I can’t sing, I can’t play an instrument, I can’t read music. But I do like to think I have a good ear. I know what I like, and what I like to liste...

WHASSAGOINGAWWWWN?

Hello, gang.

Just to say, due to unspecified and highly secret reasons related to the imminent 100th episode... BYAMPOD will be up a little late on Monday. We'll make the lack of early access up to you with a bonus episode next week. 

Writer's Club should be getting an exclusive blog post later today, and a new podcast ep on Monday.

Also, there will be a new blog post for everyone later, as my album came out today and I'm going to talk about it WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NO...

TOP TIERS EXCLUSIVE: FARM OUTTAKES

Hola, Upper Tiers chums. Here's another 15 minutes of farm nonsense. We shot another video today, at the Science Museum. And yes - the coat IS in it. And yes - we did get asked to leave...

Again.