Side A of Sci‑Fidelity flips OH!CAST on its head as Cal finally takes the guest chair, opening up the first half of his life through the music that shaped him. Across ten tracks, this episode blends nostalgia, geek culture, Hebridean childhood memories, and the emotional beats behind the songs that carried him from early school days into his teens.

We begin in the late 80s with Iron Maiden’s The Evil That Men Do, the first album that made Cal realise music could be more than noise. It’s a vivid memory: his brother’s cassette, the infamous Eddie poster his mum hated, and a summer spent travelling back and forth to his gran’s temporary council house while renovations were underway. Cal describes being left in a hired van, rewinding the tape again and again, discovering themes, stories, and the lush soundscape that Somewhere in Time created. It’s the moment music became a world.

From there, we jump to the early 90s and the Friday Rock Show, where Soundgarden’s Outshined hit him like a freight train. He remembers hearing Chris Cornell’s voice for the first time, the raw emotion, the shift into grunge, and the feeling of being on the verge of his teens as new sounds arrived. While everyone around him was blasting rave and white lightning, Cal was quietly becoming a rock kid, discovering Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and the early stirrings of a scene that would define a generation.

Stone Temple Pilots follow, with Plush triggering memories of maths class tape swaps, Kerrang reviews, and long nights gaming on his beloved Amstrad. He talks Ocean Software, 8‑bit Batman, and the guests who later shaped OH!CAST — especially the “Scousers” who became some of the show’s most influential voices. It’s a snapshot of teenage life in the Hebrides: games, tapes, and the feeling of discovering something that wasn’t cool yet, but would become essential.

Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name marks the point where music and politics collided. Cal recalls the first election he truly remembers, the rise of Blair’s media‑slick New Labour, Britpop summers, and the strange way teenage rebellion attached itself to a song most adults still misunderstand. It’s a look at how politics shifted into image, how leaders became brands, and how music became part of that cultural moment.

Then comes Meat Loaf’s I’d Do Anything for Love, tied to one of Cal’s most dramatic memories: the legendary Hebridean snowstorm. He describes Christmas Eve turning into a blizzard within minutes, his dad returning home “like a snowman,” the power going out for days, peat fires boiling water nonstop, and the whole family taking baths every few hours just to manage the heat. With only a few batteries left in his stereo, Meat Loaf became the soundtrack to a freezing, unforgettable holiday.

Side A is a journey through childhood, early teens, and the songs that shaped Cal before adulthood. It’s Iron Maiden vans, grunge awakenings, Amstrad nights, political firsts, and snowstorms powered by Meat Loaf. It’s the story of how music becomes memory — and how memory becomes identity.

Side B continues the journey soon, picking up where the teenage years left off and diving into the next ten songs that carried Cal into adulthood, creativity, and the birth of OH!CAST.