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John Earls
Writing for Classic Pop since our first issue, John has been to Adam Ant’s house, sworn at by Bob Geldof, touched Johnny Marr’s favourite guitar, interviewed Richard Coles on his vicarage bed and serenaded with Last Christmas by Shirlie Kemp. John first specialised in writing about music as editor of Teletext’s Planet Sound music column from 2000-09 and now writes about pop for a range of magazines and national newspapers. A Luton Town fan, John also writes about football. His bucket list interviews for the magazine are Grace Jones, Kylie, Siouxsie Sioux and Andrew Ridgeley.
What started out as a possible electronic side-project soon became Pet Shops Boys: Electric… By John Earls According to Neil Tennant, Pet Shop Boys have twice written the perfect pop…
Erasure Interview: Turn On The Bright Lights
It’s nearly four decades since Erasure’s debut single Who Needs Love Like That, but Andy Bell and Vince Clarke sound as youthful as ever on their latest studio album, the…
Adam And The Ants: Inside The Court Of Prince Charming
1981 saw Adam And The Ants becoming the biggest band in Britain. Merrick – aka drummer/producer Chris Hughes – tells Classic Pop of life inside the Ants during their rapid…
Interview With Gary Numan: Emergency On Planet Earth
In our interview with Gary Numan, the synth-pop visionary tells Classic Pop of writing about global catastrophe during a pandemic, the struggles to sustain his career rebirth and the truth…
Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside interview
One of pop’s most elusive collectives, Scritti Politti didn’t play live for 26 years and have released just five albums since forming in 1977. In this Green Gartside interview he…
Adam Ant Albums – The Complete Guide
From punk to mature acoustic moods via funk and visionary pop, the nine official (and one unreleased) Adam Ant albums have been a wonderful ride… By John Earls Adam Ant…
Sparks: Brothers Of Invention
We delve into the Classic Pop archives for this 2020 interview with Russell and Ron Mael, as they talked about their then-latest album, A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip… For a…
Street Fighting Men: Simple Minds interview
With Simple Minds’ 1989 album Street Fighting Years getting the reissue treatment and a new studio LP harking back to their dancey roots taking shape, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill tell John Earls about…
Gabrielle: “I was strong enough not to chase fame”
Over 25 years after Dreams made Gabrielle a phenomenon, she remains one of the finest pop singers Britain has produced. We spoke to her in 2020… “Oh my God, I LOVE…
The Police interview with Stewart Copeland and Hugh Padgham
Making Liam and Noel Gallagher look like The Chuckle Brothers, The Police were pop’s most famous brawlers, somehow making five iconic albums despite the hatred. They still loathed each other…