Welcome to episode 238 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T and Yeastie Boys

Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your Spotify library.

This episode is my conversation with Alec Bathgate. He was in the band The Enemy – they basically became Toy Love and then on to the duo Toy Love. All three of those groups feature Alec and Chris Knox. So in this conversation with talk about all of those musical projects and Alec’s solo records. He’s also just recently released a brand new solo album, Phantom Dots. So the chat begins and ends with some mention of this new instrumental record and some of Alec’s musical projects that are happening now or on his mind. We also talk a lot about his musical relationship with Chris Knox – because of its endurance across four decades and because it has been curtailed due to Knox suffering a stroke. When I email-interviewed Alec many years ago he wasn’t in the mood to make music.

It was, first up, just a great thrill to finally meet Bathgate. I’d seen him play a few times over the years, and have loved so much of the music he’s had a hand in but we’d never spoken in person. Also, he appears to be cleaning out his closet somewhat, sharing band pictures and personal photos and memories on Instagram and making music again.

I was in Christchurch fleetingly a month or so ago which is when this conversation took place.

It was great to speak to Alec – and after I turned the tape recorder off we spent another hour or longer talking about The Beach Boys, The Monkees, The Beatles, Split Enz, The Velvet Underground and more. Just two music obsessives chatting about music. It was a great day.

I hope you enjoy this conversation and do check out Phantom Dots. And look out for Bathgate’s earlier solo albums – hopefully arriving soon on vinyl.

Here now is episode 238 of Sweetman Podcast – my conversation with Alec Bathgate.

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