Author: aly

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Mark Kermode on Private Passions BBC Radio 3

Mark Kermode on Private Passions

Broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 14/09/2025

Mark Kermode began reviewing films 40 years ago, and has established himself as one of our most foremost critics, both in print and on air. He co-presents Screenshot on Radio 4 and the podcast Kermode and Mayo’s Take, with his long-term collaborator Simon Mayo.
He’s said he goes to every screening hoping it will be the next Citizen Kane – but he’s also renowned for his energetic rants against the films he finds most disappointing.
Music is another lifelong love – and for nearly 30 years he’s played double bass in The Dodge Brothers, a skiffle band who have also performed live soundtracks for silent movies.
And film music is the subject of his most recent book, Mark Kermode’s Surround Sound, examining the complex relationship between what we hear and what we see.
Mark’s music includes Mica Levi, Strauss and Jelly Roll Morton.

Introduction…

The Dodge Brothers, Neil Brand & Washboard Sam…

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The Dodge Brothers ‘Mystery Train’

The Dodge Brothers backstage at The Cavern Liverpool warming up with ‘Mystery Train’ before playing for the premiere of Brian Epstein Biopic ‘Midas Man’ on 29 October 2024.

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The Dodge Brothers Autumn Tour dates

Come see The Dodge Brothers in a town near you…

20 OCT London Pizza Express Live Holborn

23 OCT Cambridge Junction

06 NOV York Theatre Royal ‘Beggars of Life’ with live accompaniment from The Dodge Brothers & Neil Brand for Aesthetica Film Festival

07 NOV York ‘Mark Kermode in conversation with Jenny Nelson’ for Aesthetica Film Festival (not all The Dodge Brothers but Mark will be heading over to The Basement straight after this to play)

07 NOV York Basement (City Screen Picture House Cinema) with special guest support from DAN DONNELLY (The Levellers)

27 NOV Norwich Arts Centre

05 DEC New Forest Forest Arts (tickets almost gone!)

06 DEC New Forest Forest Arts (tickets almost gone!)

Get tickets from the venue links above

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York

The Dodge Brothers play YORK for the first time on

Friday 7th November 2025 at The Basement at City Screen Picture House

The Dodge Brothers | York Tickets

This show immediately follows Mark Kermode’s talk at York Theatre Royal
(and The Dodge Brothers & Neil Brand’s accompniment to ‘Beggars of Life’ on 6th November) both for Aesthetica Film Festival 2025

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New Single ‘Rock Island Line (as featured in the movie Midas Man)’

THE DODGE BROTHERS ‘Rock Island Line’
(as featured in the movie Midas Man)
Available on all streaming platforms from 07 October 2024
Midas Man available on Prime Video UK from 30 October 2024

As far as influential records go, Lonnie Donegan’s ‘Rock Island Line’ is hard to beat. The anthem of the British skiffle movement caught the popular imagination of an entire generation of teenagers. It also inspired many of the household names we know today including Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page and of course, The Beatles.

‘Rock Island Line’ was a firm favourite amongst The Quarrymen. On 6th July 1957 it was included in the group’s set for their performance at St Peter’s Church garden fete. It was at this show that John Lennon met Paul McCartney for the first time, who within just a few short months would join the band.

In their version, The Dodge Brothers show the early influences of The Beatles by recording ‘Rock Island Line’ as it would have been recorded in 1953 (live, in one take with no overdubs and no headphones). This was produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Steve Levine in Liverpool.

The Dodge Brothers & the Brian Epstein movie MIDAS MAN

“The Dodge Brothers are unique. And incorporating the buzz of their live performance into our film was vital, musically and historically. Their authentic early American rock/skiffle sound was what inspired the young Beatles. Lonnie Donegan was a big hero to John and Paul. To have The Dodge Brothers play Rock Island Line Live at The Cavern prior to our Beatles arriving on stage is massively significant. It literally represents the moment when rock ‘n’ roll stole the stage and the spotlight away from skiffle.

It’s an important moment in the history of rock ’n’ roll music. And watching The Dodge Brothers recreate it was a thrill. And better still, we’ve captured the moment as a single. Listening to it will time-travel you back to 1961. And The Cavern.

Who knows? Maybe skiffle is about to reclaim its crown!”

– TREVOR BEATTIE (Producer of Midas Man)

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Finland here we come

The Midnight Sun Film Festival will be held for the 39th time on June 12-16. The traditional silent film concerts will be held on three festival nights this time around.

The Dodge Brothers and Neil Brand accompany FW Murnau's 1930 'City Girl'
The Dodge Brothers and Neil Brand accompany FW Murnau’s 1930 ‘City Girl’

On Sodankylä’s Friday night (14 June 2024), the audience will be dazzled by masterful F.W. Murnau’s City Girl (1930), which completed the director’s Hollywood career, which began with the classic Sunrise (1927). The film will be accompanied by the music of pianist Neil Brand, whose career in music for silent films has lasted for nearly 40 years, and the band The Dodge Brothers from the United Kingdom. In Murnau’s work, the romance between a Chicago waitress and a young farmer takes us to the wheat fields of Oregon, where the Americana-tinged bluegrass music of The Dodge Brothers with their banjos and washboards fits perfectly. One of the members of the band is Mark Kermode, one of the most famous film critics in his country, who will also host a Masterclass in Sodankylä.