Archives: Episode

Last month’s Banter with journalist, documentary maker, humorist and author Jon Ronson was packed to the rafters. Between books like Them: Adventures With Extremists and The Men Who Stare At Goats to great documentaries like Dr Paisley, I Presume and Crazy Rulers of the World, we’ve long been fans and admirers of his work. Jon talks at great length about Frank Sidebottom and the true story which inspired the forthcoming Frank film.

It’s time to head to west Kerry, with a Bantercast from our visit to Other Voices in Dingle last December. This time joining us fireside is Pat Leahy – the Sunday Business Post’s deputy editor and political editor. Pat is the author of two of the finest books about Ireland’s recent history, “Showtime” (2009) and this year’s “The Price of Power: Inside Ireland’s Crisis Coalition”.

One of the most enjoyable Banters we’ve conducted during our trips here, there and everywhere with Other Voices was this conversation with campaigner and activist Maeve O’Rourke. Recorded in London in April 2013, Maeve spoke to us about her work with  the Justice for the Magdalenes campaign, her interest in civil liberties and human rights and how she first got involved with campaigning.

Taken from the fourth installment in our Living for the City series, Banter was delighted to welcome Fr Peter McVerry for an indepth conversation on his life and work last January. The latest freeman of Dublin has been working with the city’s young homeless for more than 30 years. During this time he has campaigned tirelessly for the rights of these young people, opening a hostel for the young homeless in 1979. Our interview features Peter talking about how his early life, his move to Dublin, his anger at what he sees at neglect  of our fellow citizens and how he sees his role today.

It was a total honour to welcome cultural commentator, curator and all-round smart lad Paul Morley to Banter. Recorded at Other Voices in London in April 2013, Paul talked to us about David Bowie, longevity, pop careers, images, personas and the art of the cultural chameleon.

A music-related Bantercast this week with author Mark Yarm, who joined us during the Kilkenny Arts Festival last summer to talk about his book Everybody Loves Our Town. When it comes to the story of the Seattle grunge explosion, his fantastic oral history is one of the definitive reads on that fabled city and such bands as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Mudhoney and more. The Guardian called it “a Herculean work of interviewing and editing which gives everyone a voice, from the biggest stars to the lowliest foot soldiers”.

We revisit the Banter Salon at Other Voices from last December where Michael Moynihan joined us at the fireside of Foxy John’s pub in Dingle Co. Kerry. The Irish Examiner sports journalist is the author of the fascinating “GAAconomics” book about the secret life of money in the GAA. Like all great investigations, “GAAconomics” follows the money in hurling and Gaelic football to come up with an absorbing tale about our national games.

An interview with Irish-born author Eimear McBride taken from our trip to Kerry last December for the Banter Salon at Other Voices. Eimear is the author of the fantastic debut novel “A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing”. Written nine years ago, the novel was rejected by mainstream publishers and was eventually published by Galley Beggar Press in Norwich. Acclaimed by reviewers, it was the winner of the first ever Goldsmiths Prize for fiction as well as being shortlisted for the inaugural Folio Prize and the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction.

This Bantercast is taken from our very first trip to Kerry for the Banter Salon at Other Voices in December 2012. Poet Paul Muldoon joined us fireside for a chat about his life and his work, and read some excerpts from his book The Word On The Street: Rock Lyrics.

We came away from our trip to Dingle last December for Other Voices were a stack of great interviews and this may well be the pick of the crop. After a busy day of rehearsals and interviews, the mighty John Grant joined us in Foxy John’s to talk honestly and candidly about his life, his work and his ups and downs.

This Bantercast is taken from our very first trip to Derry for the Banter Salon at Other Voices in February 2013. Foreign correspondents Ed Vulliamy from The Observer and Mary Fitzgerald from The Irish Times joined us for a discussion on the role of war correspondents and roam from Mexico to Syria, from Libya to Egypt and everywhere in-between. It was without a shadow of a doubt one of the best Banters it has been my pleasure to oversee so I look forward to hearing what you make of it.

A bit of an exclusive, this Bantercast. It’s taken from our  trip to Kerry last December for the Banter Salon at Other Voices. Ahead of his performance at the Church of St James in Dingle, singer-songwriter David Gray joined us by the fire in Foxy John’s to talk to Jim Carroll about songwriting, creativity, fearlessness, success, failure, innovation and much more.

This Bantercast is taken from our very first trip to Kerry for the Banter Salon at Other Voices in December 2012. Historian and author Diarmaid Ferriter joined us for a conversation on the decade of centenaries about to unfold, as we wondered if our ancestors gathered under the gables of a pub a centenary ago realised what was coming down the line in 1912.

As regular Banter fans will know, we work with the amazing Other Voices TV show and music festival and have hosted sessions with them in Dingle, Derry and London. This is the first of many Bantercasts to be taken from those adventures and features Jim chatting to fellow Tipperary man and award-winning author Donal Ryan. The man behind two of the best Irish books of the last decade spoke to us about the art of writing, Russian gangsters, rural Ireland, language, his day job – and his prowess as an arm wrestler.

This Bantercast is from our trip to the Kilkenny Arts Festival last August and is an interview with Neil Hannon about his beginnings, the story behind The Divine Comedy, “My Lovely Horse”, the Duckworth Lewis Method and much more. The plan was to do a retrospective of Neil in 40 minutes or thereabouts so we managed to get in nearly everything.

This Bantercast is from our current Living in the City Series which looks at living, working and playing in the Irish capital. This episode, recorded in October 2013, looks at the Dublin property market, the two-track property game and if we’ve learned anything from the recent boom and bust.

Taking part are Ronan Lyons (economist at Daft.ie and Trinity College Dublin), Colette Browne (Irish Independent columnist), Karl Deeter (adviser and analyst at Irish Mortgage Brokers and Advisors.ie) and Dr Lorcan Sirr (lecturer in housing studies and urban economics at DIT).

The best Banters of any year often turn out to be the last Banters of the year when we rewind on the previous 12 months. The 2013 Review of the Year features views on the news stories, newsmakers heroes and villains of the year from Aine Lawlor (presenter of RTÉ Radio One’s News At One, RTÉ TV’s The Week In Politics and Facing Cancer), Alison Curtis (Today FM DJ and producer), Paddy Cosgrave (Web Summit, F.ounders) and Ciaran Walsh (managing editor Le Cool Dublin and co-founder Sweatshop). All you ever wanted to know about twerking, horse burgers, Pope Francis, the Anglo tapes, Martin O’Nell, selfies, hurling and much, much more.

Our very first Bantercast is an interview with the legendary Alan McGee. He recently dropped into Banter in Dublin’s Twisted Pepper for a chat about Creation Stories, his ace new autobiography. He talks about running the Creation Records label and working with Oasis, My Bloody Valentine, House Of Love, Primal Scream, Kevin Rowland, The Libertines, Jesus & Mary Chain and many more.