60 Minutes or less - A podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast

They said it couldn't be done - ’60 Minutes or less’, the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast, returns for its eighth episode! Off the back of our last episode with Steven Hodson of USA Nails, we continue on with noise-rock frontmen with a chat featuring Alex Edkins, guitarist and choice shouter in gnarly power trio METZ!Formed in Ontario, Canada, METZ have been wrecking heads for fifteen plus years, with five studio albums now under their collective belts. Their latest, ‘Up On Gravity Hill’ was released just under a fortnight ago in April 2024 via Sub Pop Records. It’s a treat to have a new METZ record in our lives, particularly as we were so enamoured with their previous album, ‘Atlas Vending’ and - well - pretty much everything they put out there.On top of killer records, the trio are killer merch-men and always have some swish clobber available to wear upon your person. On top of keeping an eye out for new releases from them, we’re always keen beans for whatever rad long sleeve they’ve got coming out. It’s something which we got into when I spoke with Alex over zoom in mid-April, a few days away from releasing their new record. It’s a big chat with a total dude - I think you’ll dig it.If you like what you hear, rate us five stars, tell your loved ones and share ’60 Minutes or less’ on the internet. You could even print off transcripts and leave them lying about your local library. The choice is yours. Enjoy!

Here we are then - the seventh episode of ’60 Minutes or less’, the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast. What a peach too - a bumper chat with Steven Hodson, guitarist and vocalist in gnarly quartet USA Nails.Having formed around 2013, we’ve been following USA Nails for pretty much the life of Birthday Cake for Breakfast. I still fondly recall their appearance at ArcTanGent Festival almost a decade ago and a slot on the lineup early on in the day. Their raucous half hour set separated the strong from the weak willed and after a night on the pale ales and who knows what else the night before, some couldn’t hack their full-on noise rock and made a swift exit.Following a blistering appearance at the festival, we’ve since had the pleasure of interviewing USA Nails a number of times over the years and have caught them live in the flesh whenever possible. Their appearance at the festival was around the time of releasing their second album ‘No Pleasure’ and in March 2024, USA Nails released their latest album ‘Feel Worse’ - their sixth full length release and their first for big boy new label One Little Independent Records, home to Bjork amongst others.A decade into band-life, USA Nails have a combined rap sheet that includes histories with bands such as Kong, Oceansize, Death Pedals, Silent Front, Wasted Death, The Eurosuite and many, many more. Recorded over zoom, we went deep into the recording process of their new record. I personally can’t get enough of USA Nails and their latest record is yet another winner in their solid back catalogue. 

Finally - a world class sports star on '60 Minutes or less', the new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast! For our sixth episode, we welcome royalty - the only guest thus far with an OBE, former world number one in snooker, Steve Davis.Amassing 71 major titles over his playing career, Davis remains one of the world’s best-known snooker players. Not content with such a glittering career though, Davis shifted gears dramatically when he retired, moving into the world of music, first as a DJ and radio host, then as one third of The Utopia Strong, trading in his snooker cue for a modular synth.As you can imagine, Steve didn’t come on to talk snooker, nor did he come on to talk about his brief appearance on TV show 'The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret', rather The Utopia Strong have just released a new record - ‘The BBC Sessions’. Capturing a live session the trio recorded at Maida Vale for Marc Riley’s BBC Radio 6 Music show in September 2022, the record - with its brilliant old school cover - is out now via tastemakers Rocket Recordings.I first met Steve on a night out in Manchester with local lot Trojan Horse almost a decade ago, drinking beers of varying percentages. Not long after that night, I somehow soon appeared on his radio show, The Interesting Alternative Show. Regardless of his credentials, it really didn’t seem that big of a deal having him pop round to our flat in Whalley Range in his lovely motor to record the show, because Steve was so affable and down to earth. Something which I’m sure you’ll hear yourself from our most recent chat.Just a heads up, we had a few audio issues with this one - not the fault of Steve, mind you. Nothing major, but there were some niggles. Such is the joy of recording over Zoom. Anyhoo, enjoy!  

Off the back of the first four '60 Minutes or less' episodes - featuring guests Joe Casey (Protomartyr), Paul Hanley (The Fall), Philip Frobos (Omni) and Jonathan Higgs (Everything Everything) - it's a trip to present our fifth episode, featuring Peter Brewis!A North East musician of note, alongside brother David, Peter is the other half of the brilliant Field Music. He’s also released a solo record as The Week That Was (which recently celebrated a 15 year anniversary) and collaborative albums with Paul Smith and Sarah Hayes.In October 2023, Peter released ‘Blowdry Colossus’ - a solo album of mostly-instrumental wonky synth-pop, influenced by the likes of Yellow Magic Orchestra. ‘Blowdry Colossus’ was the first solo outing from Peter since The Week That Was in 2008, though as with that album, brother David played on both records.The recording of this actually took place back in late 2023 - ahead of a sold out show at The Castle Hotel in Manchester, I caught up with Peter in the glamorous backstage area to talk about his latest solo record and new Field Music material. If you had Peter discussing making a metal album on your podcast bingo card, you’ve won a prize!As ever, if you like what you hear, give us a rating, tell your loved ones and share on the internet (or maybe even print off transcripts and hand them out in the street). Enjoy!

Episode four of ’60 Minutes or less’ - A new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast - is a peach it must be said. We're particularly stoked to say that our guest this time around is Jonathan Higgs, vocalist, guitarist and more in Everything Everything.Art-rockers with a knack for hitting you in the feels one minute and getting you up on your feet dancing the next, alongside Dutch Uncles, Everything Everything have been one of our favourite Northern institutions over the past decade or so, an outfit we’ve been lucky enough to catch live in venues both vast and intimate over the years and whose records we can never get enough of.Over the course of fifteen plus years together, the band have had five albums reach the Top 10 in the UK charts. At the start of March 2024, Everything Everything release their seventh album, ‘Mountainhead’, featuring the single ‘Cold Reactor’, their biggest radio hit to date. Is a Top 10 position on the cards this time around? I have personally been hammering their new record, so I’d certainly think so.A week before Everything Everything were due to launch ‘Mountainhead’ at Stockport Plaza, I caught up with Jonathan over zoom to talk about the new record, utilising AI and bothering the charts with Taylor Swift. Full context - the entire chat was recorded whilst Jonathan was wearing a little chef hat emoji atop his head. Grab a copy of ‘Mountainhead’ this week and be sure to let us know what you think of the pod!

It's the third episode of ’60 Minutes or less’ - A new podcast from Birthday Cake For Breakfast - and we're on a roll! For episode three, it’s a delight to say that our guest this time around is Philip Frobos, bassist and vocalist in Atlanta, Georgia, trio Omni!We've been hooked on Omni having first caught them in Manchester in early 2017 with much missed local lot DUDS. Mainly a writing partnership between Philip and guitarist Frankie Broyles, Omni have a knack for penning cucumber cool post-punk numbers that are super infectious. The band released their first two records on Trouble In Mind Records - ‘Deluxe’ in 2016 and ‘Multi - Task’ a year later - before signing with Sub Pop in 2019 for the release of their third album, ‘Networker’.In February 2024, Omni will release ‘Souvenir’, their fourth album and second for Sub Pop. Ahead of its release, I caught up with Philip over zoom on a Friday - morning there, afternoon here - to discuss the record, as well as Nancy and Lee, Jonathan Richman, UK venue highlights and taking on drummer Chris Yonker full time.