Crispian says the band was “like being in the Monkees” while people worked them to the bone.
1. THE MUSIC INDUSTRY PODCAST FROM RGM MAGAZINE speaks with Kula Shaker about the band’s career, the 1999 split, and the new album "Wormslayer."
2. Crispian Mills and Jay Darlington are the guests, and they speak as Kula Shaker members who lived through Britpop, band break-up, and reunion.
3. The episode asks how a band survives the music industry, stays independent, and returns with an eighth album.
4. Jay says looking back on music is mixed, with “fondness” for some parts and “without fondness” for others.
5. Crispian describes the industry as full of “sharks,” “toxic people,” and the cliches of money and exploitation.
6. Both men say the early Kula Shaker years felt surreal, especially when “Tattva” reached number four and moved about 100,000 copies.
7. They recall watching Oasis move from the Lomax to Knebworth and asking how Noel and Liam Gallagher handled that shift.
8. Jay says one highlight was getting Arthur Brown on live television with his head on fire for a performance of “Crazy World of Arthur Brown.”
9. He also remembers asking for “a load of cossacks” at the MTV Awards and finding them already rehearsing in their dressing room.
10. Crispian says the visual side of the band was often outside their control, with money being spent on things they did not think were good enough.
11. He compares that period to “being in the Monkees” and says they were kept too busy to control what was happening.
12. Crispian says he expected “a grown-up” to appear and make sense of the chaos, but later realized there were no grown-ups around.
13. He says the band survived by becoming “completely independent” and leaving “the madhouse.”
14. Jay says the late-1990s scene was full of excess, with “everyone was on cocaine” except, as he puts it, Kula Shaker.
15. He says the band had to “fight to stay sane” while hearing cocaine-fuelled talk in the toilets at their MTV show.
16. Both men describe live performances in places like Ulster Hall, New Orleans, and Leeds as the moments that made the struggle feel worth it.
17. Jay says the reunion felt like they had only left the room for a cup of tea, and Simon looked at him during rehearsal as if the band had never stopped.
18. The tone is jokey, self-aware, and slightly chaotic, with constant banter between the two guests and the host.
19. Fans of Britpop stories, Kula Shaker, and backstage music history.
20. Listeners wanting polished nostalgia without industry friction.
