Episode 47: Hillyboymania part one | All You Ever Think About Is Sparks

Hilly Boy is back! Monte Mallin and I have a nice, in-depth chat with one of Sparks' most celebrated drummers, Hilly Michaels! We cover lots of ground that was left unexplored from the last time we talked, back in 2021. For thousands - if not tens of thousands - of folks of their generation, Hilly's smash hit "Calling All Girls" was the very first video they saw on the fledgling MTV! Hearing Hilly talk about his career is like reading a SparkNotes (see what I did there?) version of The Entire History of Rock n Roll from 1969 to today. Some very auspicious figures get mentioned in the Hilly Boy saga, like: Ron Wood, Michael Bolton, Rupert Holmes, Liza Minelli, and of course, the late, great Marianne Faithfull. Shake It and Dance, Goddammit!

Be sure to check out Hilly's YouTube and Bandcamp pages!

Monte's Sparks-themed YouTube channel at: Monte Mallin - YouTube

And Paul Barrett's MetaSparks at: https://www.youtube.com/@MetaSparks

Drop me a line at podcastsparks@gmail.com

Comments (2)

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Yeah, it would be. Alas, I don’t think it’s very likely they’ll play together again; for one thing, they rarely revisit former band members for collabs (although there’s the Todd Rundgren thing). But I do like Hilly’s attitude about the Sparks experience. He knew the way they do business, and he knew he probably wouldn’t be around more than a couple of years.

Tuesday Mar 04, 2025

What a treasure to listen to. Wonderful to hear about his solo adventures, but also love how he speaks about Sparks. So much love for Ron and Russel. Would be awseome if somehow they can play music together again.

Tuesday Mar 04, 2025