Sometimes an album lands in my inbox that just instantly strikes a chord and that was most definitely the case with “Turning Time” by The Exiles. It really is a fantastic album! When I read through the e-mail it became clear that “Turning Time” was actually a much-enhanced re-release of an album that first appeared in 1996 as “The Exiles” by Sean Manning & Paul Rafferty.
I was so intrigued that I arranged an interview with guitarist Sean Manning on Zoom on 11th August to talk about The Exiles and the album. Sean is an English guitarist who has also performed with Quiet Riot and Hurricane in the past. We had a great chat about The Exiles, the “re-release” of the album and Sean’s musical journey from his arrival in LA through to his decision to leave the music scene behind in the late 90’s after working with artists such as Kevin DuBrow, Kelly Hanson, Paul Shortino and Neil Giraldo.
You can listen to that interview with Sean on the Friday NI Rocks Show uploaded on 14th August - https://www.rockradioni.co.uk/hosts/ni-rocks-friday-rock-show
That Show is now on our MixCloud page - https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/interviews-with-tony-west-and-sean-manning-on-the-friday-ni-rocks-show-14th-aug-26/
It’ll be transcribed and posted here shortly.
It’s also available on the NI Rocks YouTube channel.
Read more: NI ROCKS Interview with SEAN MANNING from THE EXILES
I’ve been featuring tracks from American band Blacklist Union on the NI Rocks Shows for almost 15 years and it was great to see them be announced as support for Faster Pussycat on their European tour during September 2026. That tour includes a gig in The Empire in Belfast on 13th September.
Our friends at Kick Down The Door PR managed arranged for me to have a chat with Blacklist Union frontman Tony West via Zoom on 4th August. We talked about the band, the upcoming tour with Faster Pussycat, the collaboration with Lorraine Lewis from Femme Fatale, Tony’s side project The Savior Complex and much more.
The interview can be heard on the Friday NI Rocks Show uploaded on 14th August - https://www.rockradioni.co.uk/hosts/ni-rocks-friday-rock-show
That Show is now on our MixCloud page - https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/interviews-with-tony-west-and-sean-manning-on-the-friday-ni-rocks-show-14th-aug-26/
It has been transcribed so that you can read it below.
Read more: NI ROCKS Interview with TONY WEST from BLACKLIST UNION
Faster Pussycat is one of those bands whose name is synonymous with the Sunset Strip scene in L.A.; evidenced by their appearance in the iconic rockumentary “The Decline of Western Civilization Part 2 – The Metal Years” in the same year that their debut album was released in 1987.
Next month, frontman Taime Downe is bringing the band back to the UK for the first time in almost ten years and to Belfast for the first time since 2013. I was very fortunate to be able to have a chat with Taime via Zoom on 29th July. We focus on the tour, the recent history of the band and future plans.
You can hear that interview on the Friday NI Rocks Show on 7th August. Available from the On Demand Player -https://www.rockradioni.co.uk/hosts/ni-rocks-friday-rock-show
And on our MixCloud page - https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/taime-downe-interview-on-the-friday-ni-rocks-show-7th-aug-2026/
The interview can be read below.
The upcoming European tour stops in The Empire in Belfast on Sunday 13th September.
Read more: NI ROCKS Interview with TAIME DOWNE from FASTER PUSSYCAT
There are two NI Rocks Shows uploaded each week on Rock Radio NI. These are the playlists for those Shows for the month of July 2026 – all of which are still available from the On Demand Player. There are tracks by around 180 different artists on the Shows this month.
Playlists for June 2026 were published previously and those Shows are also still available via the On Demand Player - https://www.rockradioni.co.uk/news/rrni-updates/3961-ni-rocks-playlists-for-june-2026
There are also monthly Spotify playlists for the Friday NI Rocks Show which feature most of the tracks from each Show that month.
This month there were no new interviews, but the Lorraine Lewis interview from May is available on the website and I have an interview with Taime from Faster Pussycat recorded for the first show in August.
Previous interviews can be found here - http://www.rockradioni.co.uk/interviews.html and on the NI Rocks MixCloud page as well - https://www.mixcloud.com/NIRocks/ .