In this spooooooooky bonus episode of Muses, Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) take a trip into the underworld in the company of Charlie Covell - the creator of the Netflix series KAOS, a re-telling of Greek myths for which Dan wrote a song, Eurydice.

This interview was recorded before news broke that KAOS would not be returning to Netflix, but they still cover why Charlie wanted to retell this story and how they went about it - from casting to production design and, yes, how they used the music (and why, when they wanted an intense sadboi anthem, they turned to Dan). Emma gives us the tl;dr on the classic versions of these stories - including how Orpheus travelled into the underworld to rescue Eurydice - and Charlie tells us what they changed and what they kept.

Please remember that it's a hallowe'en special.

Cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in Liverpool.

Cover design by Chris Barker.

Episode artwork by Harriet Bruce.

Recorded at Plosive Studios.

Mixed by Miles Wheway.

Thanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingle.

Boo!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Emma Nagouse (You're Dead To Me) and Dan Smith (Bastille) are talk about the world's greatest-ever pirate: Zheng Yi Sao, who rose from working in a 'floating brothel' to controlling the South China Sea and China's salt trade, and the inspiration for Dan's song Zheng Yi Sao & Questions For Her which you cannot hear yet - it's not out until the album "&" is released on Friday - but there are clips all the way through this episode, so this is your first chance to hear this song.

They are joined by Doctor Leon Rocha, a former Senior Lecturer in Chinese History and Society at the University of Lincoln and a former Lecturer in Chinese Studies (History) at the University of Liverpool who offers an expert's view on how she did it, the world she was dealing with, and how she was able to walk away at the time of her choosing. We also discuss if Dan would rather be a cultist, a pirate or a bandit, and how much admin is involved in running a massive criminal empire.

You can find out more about all the people we're talking about in this series at ampersannd.bastillebastille.com.

Say hello at muses@leadmojo.co.uk.

Muses: An Ampersand Podcast is presented by Dan Smith and Emma Nagouse. It is produced by Emma Nagouse and Ed Morrish for Lead Mojo productions.

Cover photography by Bo Morgan, taken at the Walker Art Gallery, in Liverpool.

Cover design by Chris Barker.

Episode artwork by Harriet Bruce.

Recorded by Calvin Thornbarrow at Liverpool Podcast Studios.

Mixed by Miles Wheway.

Thanks to Dr. Melissa Gustin for arranging the location for the cover art, and to Moira Mack and Charlie Barnes for their help with the jingle.

Sources

• Antony, Robert J., ed. Elusive Pirates, Pervasive Smugglers. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010.
• Antony, Robert J. Unruly People. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2016.
• Murray, Dian H. Pirates of the South China Coast, 1790-1810. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1987.
• Wang, Wensheng. White Lotus Rebels and South China Pirates. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 2014.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.