S2: 17 - Billy Liar Returns for Part 2(.5) and Talks About Living in Berlin, Touring with a Live Band, Writing a Play, Collaborating with Freddy Fudd Pucker and Creative Discipline

Sometimes you feel like you have unfinished business after an interview ends. That’s kinda how I felt the last time I interviewed Billy, even though it was almost 50 minutes long. People and their situations change, and Billy has done a whole bunch of stuff since our last interview, including immigrating to Berlin, which I hear is a lovely place.I enjoy it when podcasters interview the same person multiple times, particularly when it takes place over a number of years. If you’re lucky, and it’s someone the interviewer has hit it off with in the past, it feels like two old friends reconnecting. I also feel it often demonstrates the way both the host and the guest have changed over the years.This year, despite living in Berlin, Billy is doing a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I’ve kept in touch with him since our first chat, and as a result we’ve actually become friends, so this interview is also something of a catch up. With him being out the country and me always somehow being busy whenever he is in the country, I thought it was about damn time we talk about all the cool shit he’s been doing.Including his most recent tour, which is when I conducted this interview. We talk about it throughout this episode, but this is the first time Billy has played with a full band in a number of years, and it was the first time I’d ever seen him with a full band. It was pretty spectacular. His backing band were also the main support on the tour, and those guys (Empty Lungs, a powertrio from Belfast) were absolute heroes for pulling double duty every night of their European and UK tours.Billy’s got a new album coming out next year, and I can tell you for a goddamn fact that, based on the show I saw him play after this interview, it’s gonna be a cracker.A wee note about the recording – I recorded this in my car (!) and without headphones, so you’re gonna hear some traffic noise. I don’t think it’s too distracting though, and the interview is nice and clear anyway!I hope you enjoy it.

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