Surrey’s Captain Maniac music podcaster still rocks at age 76, ‘Proudly a Nasty Canadian’
Published 5:30 am Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Colin Hartridge turns 76 this week and he’s still drumming up an audience with his Captain Maniac music podcast, more than 600 episodes in.
The longtime Surrey resident, drummer with Sparkling Apple and other bands years ago, records a monthly show with diverse themes.
The latest is a timely Proudly a Nasty Canadian episode (#621), which riffs on the Canada-U.S. trade war with two hours of songs by Burton Cummings, Guess Who, Sass Jordan, Amanda Marshall, Headstones and more.
Other recent episodes include Let There Be Drums (song titles focused on drums, drumming or percussion) and 2120 South Michigan Ave. (artists recorded for Chess Records).
More than a decade ago he began posting Captain Maniac shows on Mixcloud from his Guildford-area home.
“It’s all still in my head, all the memories of the concerts I’ve been to and bands I’ve seen and information about bands,” confirms Hartridge, a walking, talking encyclopedia of rock ‘n’ roll music.
The first concert he ever saw, as a 14-year-old in 1964, was The Beatles at Empire Stadium in Vancouver — a landmark event that led to a life of concert-going for Hartridge, who also saw Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Led Zeppelin and other greats over the years, thousands of concerts in all.
Months ago a computer crash forced him to take a break from the podcast, but he’s back at it now.
“I lost past shows and also a book I was writing, basically a memoir of my days with Sparkling Apple,” Hartridge lamented. “I was kind of discouraged by losing it all. I thought that I could put it all together again, but it’s a lot of work. I’ll just go without.”
While Captain Maniac shows run close to two hours, Hartridge spends more time creating them monthly, down from the weekly schedule he once kept.
“I don’t get any payment, it’s just for my own enjoyment,” he said. “Sometimes I look at all the shows I’ve done and think, ‘Oh, I’ve covered that subject already.’ I double-check that the theme hasn’t already played.
“As far as the music goes, I’ll search for songs either on YouTube or in my own collection, and I upload them to the show I’ve built. That’s what attracted me to Mixcloud because they pay for all the copyright on songs and take care of any restrictions.”
He’s earned listeners around the world.
“On Mixcloud I can talk to listeners, message them, and they’re from the United States, German, Australia, all over the world. I talk to people there and also on Facebook.”
Dating back to 2014, old episodes of The Captain Maniac Show are found on archive.org/details/@captain_maniac, with more recent shows on mixcloud.com/CaptManiac. Also check out Hartridge’s graphic design work on captainmaniacgraphics.wordpress.com, visit The Captain Maniac Show on Facebook.