Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Inside the
Speaker 1: Studio on iHeart Radio. My name's Jordan run Talk. But
Speaker 1: enough about me. You know my guest today. You love
Speaker 1: my guest today. I promise you'd listen to his music
Speaker 1: many times over the years, whether you wanted to or not.
Speaker 1: I mean that the nicest possible way. Let me explain.
Speaker 1: His indomitable soul pop classic Never Gonna Give You Up
Speaker 1: famously received the new lease on life in the two thousands,
Speaker 1: when it became one of the most famous viral videos
Speaker 1: in history. Yes, I'm talking about the prank that dares
Speaker 1: not speak its name. The song was a number one
Speaker 1: single from the smash album Whenever You Need Somebody, which
Speaker 1: has gone quadruple platinum since its release thanks to songs
Speaker 1: like the title track, Together Forever, another number one, the
Speaker 1: top ten hit It Would Take a Strong Man, and
Speaker 1: of course, the Rick Rolling anthem. Now he's gearing up
Speaker 1: to release an expanded thirty fifth anniversary version, featuring a
Speaker 1: number of remixes and also reimagined versions of several tracks
Speaker 1: alternate universe versions he calls him, including a surprisingly moving
Speaker 1: piano a ballad version of Never Gonna Give You Up,
Speaker 1: He's also hitting the road this summer with some big
Speaker 1: name friends as part of the Mixtape US Arena Tour.
Speaker 1: He's doing fifty seven nights alongside new Kids on the Block,
Speaker 1: Salt and Pepper and then Vogue. He's got a busy
Speaker 1: few months ahead of him, and I'm gratefully took the
Speaker 1: time to stop by. I'm so happy to welcome Mr
Speaker 1: Rick Astley. UM, you have a new Delexe greatly expanded
Speaker 1: edition of Whenever You Need Somebody Do out in time
Speaker 1: for the thirty fifth anniversary, and it features a number
Speaker 1: of remixes and reimagined versions of a selection of tracts.
Speaker 1: You call them alternate Universe versions, which I really love. UM.
Speaker 1: Never gonna give you up as a piano ballad together
Speaker 1: forever as like a jazz standard. I just think it's
Speaker 1: so cool. What let you to decide to give these
Speaker 1: songs a makeover? UM? To be honest, I have some
Speaker 1: friends in the UK um in a band called Take That,
Speaker 1: and I went on tour with them a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, and and other people obviously have kind of
Speaker 1: reloked to their old songs, and obviously your fans want
Speaker 1: you to play them live the way that they were
Speaker 1: because they want their memories and all the rest of it.
Speaker 1: But sometimes it's nice just to kind of fiddle around
Speaker 1: with them a little bit. And it was just a
Speaker 1: nice experience, to be honest. I mean, I've been singing
Speaker 1: you know, never going to Give You Up Together forever
Speaker 1: since nine seven, and it's been kind of nice to
Speaker 1: sort of really look at them. And don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: I still when it comes to gigging, I understand that,
Speaker 1: like I said, people want to hear the original versions,
Speaker 1: but I kind of feel that every now and again
Speaker 1: you can slip something in when no one's looking and
Speaker 1: kind of just turn it upside down, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, And it's quite a nice thing to do.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, like I say, those songs are
Speaker 1: pretty old, some of them, you know, So it's it's
Speaker 1: it's I still enjoy singing them live, obviously, but it's
Speaker 1: I think when I listened to them now, sometimes I
Speaker 1: kind of think, how would we do that today? You know?
Speaker 1: So yeah, Oh, it's I love the way it's sung
Speaker 1: on these two because I mean, obviously, as you say,
Speaker 1: the originals are classics, but by stripping some of the production,
Speaker 1: it's almost like more of the emotion comes to the
Speaker 1: forward too. I think it's so cool. Yeah, I also
Speaker 1: think as well. I was a kid when I did
Speaker 1: those vocals, a kid. I was plenty one when I
Speaker 1: did those vocals. And I do think that I'm probably
Speaker 1: a better singer than I was back then. I kind
Speaker 1: of have had some life, you know, I've been through
Speaker 1: some emotion in my life. You know, we have a
Speaker 1: daughter who at years old now, can you believe um?
Speaker 1: And lots of things that come and go through anybody's life,
Speaker 1: whether you know it or you don't. As a singer,
Speaker 1: you kind of somehow draw on that and somehow kind
Speaker 1: of filter it into the way you sing. I think,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, there's more If I sing
Speaker 1: certain lines now, they mean more to me. And even
Speaker 1: even a song light never going to give you up
Speaker 1: when I sing that to an audience. Now, I really
Speaker 1: appreciate it more than I did when I was having
Speaker 1: a hit with it, you know, because it's been part
Speaker 1: of my DNA for thirty something years, and so it's
Speaker 1: just a totally different feeling, to be honest, it really is.
Speaker 1: And but it's a good feeling. It's nice, you know.
Speaker 1: You think that the best singers have a touch of
Speaker 1: the actor in them to be able to dial that in,
Speaker 1: like on the day on the stage when you've got
Speaker 1: to the song. Yeah, I don't the way I talk,
Speaker 1: I don't sing, you know what I mean. I didn't
Speaker 1: grow up. I didn't grow up on an island in
Speaker 1: between America and the UK to have this quasi sort
Speaker 1: of American action when I sing. It's just all the
Speaker 1: guys that taught me to sing. Um. Most of them
Speaker 1: would say anyway, sang with an American heart and an
Speaker 1: American soul and a bit of American r and being them,
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean? And so therefore that
Speaker 1: that's what most British singers do. We kind of, like
Speaker 1: I said, whether we know it or not, or whether
Speaker 1: we like to admit it or not, we've stolen something
Speaker 1: from American music. And you've done it in reverse because
Speaker 1: we gave you the Beatles and David Bowie and on
Speaker 1: and on, so you've done it in reverse as well.
Speaker 1: But I think that's more from I think that's more
Speaker 1: from a musical sense than it is a vocal sense,
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean? I think I think
Speaker 1: the world has stolen from America in terms of how
Speaker 1: to sing vocals on on a on a modern date,
Speaker 1: let's say last seventy years of like what we call
Speaker 1: modern music. You know, that's and I think that comes
Speaker 1: a lot from gospel, It comes a lot from the country,
Speaker 1: It comes a lot from you know, those those kind
Speaker 1: of genres of music that obviously are American, you know,
Speaker 1: oh absolutely. I mean you have such a look like
Speaker 1: a Philly soul voice in a way to her motown
Speaker 1: tambla motown me. Who are some of the people that
Speaker 1: made you want to sing when you were first getting
Speaker 1: in the music as a kid. I guess, I guess.
Speaker 1: I'm the youngest of four kids, and my sister James
Speaker 1: ten years older than me. She won't thank me for that,
Speaker 1: but there you go. Jane Um she played everything, to
Speaker 1: be honest, She loved all kinds of everything. And she
Speaker 1: took me to some gigs in Manchester, which is the closest,
Speaker 1: biggest town to where I grew up. Um so the
Speaker 1: first band I think I saw um properly a real gig.
Speaker 1: I was about ten years old, and she took me
Speaker 1: to see Super Trump and Super Trump obviously, you know
Speaker 1: amazing songwriters. Eight Live band and everything. It blew me away.
Speaker 1: I was just like, I just couldn't even I just
Speaker 1: didn't know what world had entered kind of thing. But
Speaker 1: she also loved so she loved like a lot of
Speaker 1: progressive rock. Funny enough, she loved like the early Genesis
Speaker 1: and even deeper than that into progressive rock. But she
Speaker 1: loved the Beatles, She loved David Bowie. But she also
Speaker 1: loved Marvin Kae, Stevie Wonder, and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of those things. And she loved Motown as well. And
Speaker 1: I think a lot of those things. The melody of
Speaker 1: what Motown always had. And I think someone like let's
Speaker 1: say Stevie Wonder. I mean, that guy can sing the
Speaker 1: birds out of the trees, but melodically he always did
Speaker 1: things that you you you wanted to sing along with him,
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean. He's one of the
Speaker 1: most he's one of the greatest artists that's ever lived.
Speaker 1: I think he's one of the most amazing songwriters as well.
Speaker 1: But the way he sang, you can't help yourself but
Speaker 1: sing along, do you know what I mean? He sort
Speaker 1: of brings it out of you. And yeah, so so
Speaker 1: I guess I heard a lot of records and my
Speaker 1: two brothers as well. You know, I was the youngest,
Speaker 1: like I said, so they force fed me all kinds
Speaker 1: of music. But I think I think somehow also when
Speaker 1: I was when I was really young, I was in
Speaker 1: the church choir. I mean it wasn't a gospel choir obviously, um,
Speaker 1: but the thing of singing with other people, I think
Speaker 1: as well. I've always kind of really liked and when
Speaker 1: I'm doing gigs and I kind of work with the
Speaker 1: girls that we have in our band and what I've
Speaker 1: you in terms of vocals and stuff. It's one of
Speaker 1: my favorite things. And we have a song called Pry
Speaker 1: for Help, and the girls at the end kind of
Speaker 1: emulate what the choir we're doing in terms of ad
Speaker 1: libs and stuff, and it's one of my favorite moments.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to keep going, you know, I want
Speaker 1: to be around other singers. It's just I think it's
Speaker 1: an instinctive thing. When the human sings, it just draws
Speaker 1: me in. You know. So I heard a story, I
Speaker 1: don't know if this is true, that when We're Never
Speaker 1: Going to Give You Up first came out before the
Speaker 1: video came out, and there was just the picture of
Speaker 1: you on the record sleeve. Some listeners were like, this,
Speaker 1: this can't be a twenty one year old kid. This
Speaker 1: has got to be forty five year old guy from Detroit.
Speaker 1: I mean, of course, of course, and a lot of
Speaker 1: people definitely mentioned that, and I found that, I mean obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, you know, Bill with us,
Speaker 1: all the guys from Motown, um latter day, like James
Speaker 1: Ingram as well and Luther Andrews and all those guys
Speaker 1: taught me to sing. Michael McDonald was one of my
Speaker 1: favorite singers. They didn't know where they were teaching me.
Speaker 1: They didn't know they were teaching half the world to sing,
Speaker 1: but they were because we all we all copied them. Um.
Speaker 1: But I think for someone to say that I sounded
Speaker 1: like a middle aged soul singer was a bit weird
Speaker 1: to me because when I looked in the mirror, I
Speaker 1: look like an eleven year old kid from the north
Speaker 1: of England, you know what I mean. So I think
Speaker 1: that's the best compliment though, of course, of course it's
Speaker 1: a huge compliment, but it's also I actually think it's
Speaker 1: one of the secret ingredients why that track worked, because
Speaker 1: when people did see the video, they were so freaked
Speaker 1: out because they might have heard the song on the radio.
Speaker 1: That that was almost part of the charm of it.
Speaker 1: It's like that, dude, you know what I mean? So so, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think that's the other that's the That's
Speaker 1: the other thing is that obviously we have the Internet,
Speaker 1: we have YouTube, we have you know, so anybody can
Speaker 1: see anything now. Well, back then you had to go
Speaker 1: and watch videos on MTV, and MTV was such an
Speaker 1: influential thing. It it was such a massive thing for
Speaker 1: an artist to get on MTV because you knew that
Speaker 1: on a on a certainly on an American basis, but
Speaker 1: on a worldwide basis. You know, you add not just
Speaker 1: your song, but kind of your representation of what you were,
Speaker 1: what was supposed to be and what you know. That
Speaker 1: was a huge hoututube thing. So but I think I think,
Speaker 1: I mean my videos my word, man, when I see
Speaker 1: my videos now, it's really hard for me to watch them.
Speaker 1: If I'm honest, I can giggle at them. I can
Speaker 1: giggle at them, but it's really hard, yeah, because I'm like,
Speaker 1: who is that guy? What the hell is he doing?
Speaker 1: You know? If it's really weird? Yeah, it is. Do
Speaker 1: you have any memories of from from shooting the video.
Speaker 1: I mean, the main thing I've been talking about that
Speaker 1: recently actually quite a bit. The main thing is that
Speaker 1: I think people when they look at the raincoat still
Speaker 1: still like a stripy t shirt by the way, but
Speaker 1: when they look at their own coat, um, and the
Speaker 1: turtleneck and that, you know, I think people think that
Speaker 1: was all styled. There was no styling whatsoever. I just
Speaker 1: wrote about with clothes in it. And it was the
Speaker 1: middle of summer when we shot. It was actually a
Speaker 1: hot day for once in England, in London, and they
Speaker 1: just kind of staid, look, stand in front of that
Speaker 1: chain link fence and do what you do. And I
Speaker 1: was terrified, so I put my sunglasses on so nobody
Speaker 1: could actually you know, just hit behind the sunglasses and
Speaker 1: shuffle around a bit and you know, pretended to sing
Speaker 1: the song. And but if you think about it, today,
Speaker 1: everyone is used to being filmed because whatever you're doing
Speaker 1: and wherever you go, I'm sure you've got several cameras
Speaker 1: in the studio all the time with you what you know,
Speaker 1: but also when you're you know, doing whatever you're doing.
Speaker 1: In terms of any kind of media these days, whether
Speaker 1: it's radio, whether it is actually a TV. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: the TV cameras, but there's also half a dozen other
Speaker 1: cameras filming the cameras filming. You know, everything is filmed.
Speaker 1: So and for younger people all now they just grow up,
Speaker 1: you know, TikTok, Instagram, whatever, it's just film and stuff constantly.
Speaker 1: We didn't do that. My generation didn't do that. Nobody
Speaker 1: had a video camera. First time I saw a video camera,
Speaker 1: it's like I've gone to the moon or something. It
Speaker 1: was like space technology. You know, somebody's walking around with
Speaker 1: something that you can film, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It was like So to go and be in front
Speaker 1: of the film crew to make a video was terrifying.
Speaker 1: It was absolutely terrifying. And the other crazy thing is
Speaker 1: there was no way of seeing what it looked like.
Speaker 1: You just shut it on film, and then a week
Speaker 1: or so later you went and looked at the edit
Speaker 1: of it. Nobody could film it. Just think about that
Speaker 1: for a second. Nobody could film it and go, Okay,
Speaker 1: did we get the shot right? Is this right? What
Speaker 1: does Rick look like? You know, should he really be
Speaker 1: wearing that rain? Cool? There was none of that, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? It was just it's just you
Speaker 1: film it, you put it in the can, and a
Speaker 1: week later you're gonna see the edit. That was the
Speaker 1: way it was. This begs the question do you still
Speaker 1: have the rein code? No? It actually its well disappeared.
Speaker 1: I saw it disappear. I went to do one of
Speaker 1: one of the first first outdoor radio events that I
Speaker 1: did was in Belfast in Northern Ireland, and I was
Speaker 1: chanting to this guy who's a really big TV and
Speaker 1: radio presenter and has been for a long time, but
Speaker 1: you know, he was working there at the time, and
Speaker 1: I had the rain coat on, and all these kids
Speaker 1: just started getting close from clos from close until we
Speaker 1: kind of both got mobbed really um and then someone
Speaker 1: thought it's one of these kids, thought I'm having that coat.
Speaker 1: So we just started it just basically just started pulling up.
Speaker 1: Because I was live on the radio and I've never
Speaker 1: really done a lot of this before. I thought, look,
Speaker 1: I turned around and kind of like shove him or
Speaker 1: pot whatever before not doing the rain court is just
Speaker 1: sailing across this sea of like a thousand kids in
Speaker 1: this like town square in Belfast, and I'm just going,
Speaker 1: that's my I bought that coat man, that's not a
Speaker 1: present in the back up company. That's mine. And so
Speaker 1: that was it. I never saw it again, but I
Speaker 1: do see it occasionally. Um. You know, obviously people come
Speaker 1: to gigs very now and again wearing a rain coat,
Speaker 1: so I do see it again every now and again.
Speaker 1: But the original one, I don't know where that is.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there they go. Well, we should put out
Speaker 1: a call. Okay, I'm gonna give the end of this broadcast,
Speaker 1: will put out the address for my heart. No questions
Speaker 1: are send the rain cut back. We'll get it to Rick. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we get We'll go Indiana Jones on him. We'll they
Speaker 1: well sit this out. The phrase, you know, overnight sensation
Speaker 1: gets tossed around quite a bit, but I mean, you
Speaker 1: really did go from touring you know, pubs in Birmingham
Speaker 1: to uh Wembley fairly quickly. Right, How did you come
Speaker 1: up with that? I guess the one thing that happened
Speaker 1: with myself was that it did happen so for quick
Speaker 1: especially with that first song, never going to give You
Speaker 1: a Bit. Went from me doing kind of like like
Speaker 1: some radio promotion up and down the country and stuff.
Speaker 1: We hadn't even made a video of the week that
Speaker 1: it went to number one, and back in those days,
Speaker 1: you didn't go into the chart number one. It took
Speaker 1: by five or six weeks to get there, especially with
Speaker 1: a new artist, And so it was kind of a
Speaker 1: bit weird, if I'm honest, And I never really caught
Speaker 1: up with myself even I don't think, you know. I
Speaker 1: always felt like I just left the room and I
Speaker 1: was entering the room from from another door, if you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So my career was like five
Speaker 1: paces in front of me, and it was it was
Speaker 1: really weird. And really, I mean, listen, a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: I got to do some amazing things and see some
Speaker 1: amazing things and being some great places and all the
Speaker 1: rest of it. But it was pretty weird. And I
Speaker 1: think I would have loved to have just paused it
Speaker 1: for a second, to just take a breath and look around,
Speaker 1: but there wasn't really time for that. That's what happens
Speaker 1: in pot music very often. It's like boom and that's it,
Speaker 1: you know. Um. And also because I was kind of
Speaker 1: on my own, really, I traveled with somebody who was great.
Speaker 1: It looked after me and everything. But I mean the
Speaker 1: end of the day, I'm the one you know, in
Speaker 1: the picture and that and that. So I had a
Speaker 1: really good time and everything. But when I look at
Speaker 1: certain artists today who you know, have been massive, like
Speaker 1: let's say that I don't know, Justin Bieber or someone
Speaker 1: like that, who's who's who it was? He was a
Speaker 1: lot younger than I was, by the way. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was a kid. He literally was a kid. But
Speaker 1: you look at someone like that career, he's absolutely globally massive,
Speaker 1: and it's his name at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: and it's it's it stops with him, do you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? I do kind of think sometimes the
Speaker 1: pressure that people have got today is a lot more
Speaker 1: than I had, because obviously they've got the Internet, and
Speaker 1: like I say, every clown has got a camera in
Speaker 1: the pocket, you know, having been to the bathroom, right
Speaker 1: to the men's room. I'm stood in the men's room,
Speaker 1: so you know what I'm doing in there, right, and
Speaker 1: someone takes the phone. Someone takes the phone, and I'm going,
Speaker 1: what the what are you? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And they're looking at me as if I'm being weird
Speaker 1: about it, right, So, so what he goes through, I
Speaker 1: don't know, you know, maybe maybe he never goes in
Speaker 1: a bathroom, you know, without security. Maybe maybe he doesn't,
Speaker 1: I don't know, but you know, it's kind of I
Speaker 1: think that. I think I think the generation of this
Speaker 1: last ten years fifteen is, since you know, the technology
Speaker 1: we have today and the social media we have, I
Speaker 1: think it's gotta be tougher for them. I mean, I
Speaker 1: I had a pretty fun time, to be honest, because
Speaker 1: you know, I could I could kind of like have
Speaker 1: moments of you know, getting drunk without anybody noticing and
Speaker 1: doing hanging out with my friends. And there wasn't a
Speaker 1: lot of that obviously, but you know, it wasn't the
Speaker 1: same as it is today. So um, like I said,
Speaker 1: I wish, I wish I could have been Actually, I
Speaker 1: wish I could have grabbed it a bit more and
Speaker 1: been in the center of it. And I kind of
Speaker 1: felt it was happening into this other dude five steps
Speaker 1: in front of me, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: That's what it felt like a lot of the time.
Speaker 1: Do you have any moments though that's still I know
Speaker 1: you would like Robert Plant wanting to get a photo
Speaker 1: with you and stuff like that moment the hold on
Speaker 1: to that, really, I think that's that's one of the
Speaker 1: that's one of the craziest things about the fame side
Speaker 1: of things, because like the line Julia Roberts says, it
Speaker 1: isn't real, you know, and it isn't It actually isn't real,
Speaker 1: you know, when I'm at home putting the kettle on
Speaker 1: for what my wife, when I first thing in the morning.
Speaker 1: Fame is not real at that moment. It's only real
Speaker 1: when well, obviously, when somebody recognizes you. That's when it's
Speaker 1: real and it's real. It's not even when you're on stage.
Speaker 1: I don't think fame is real because I know you're famous.
Speaker 1: But I think fame is that weird thing when people
Speaker 1: it's almost that the height of it is when people
Speaker 1: aren't expecting you there and then see you that that's
Speaker 1: when it picks in it. Yeah, exactly. If you've bought
Speaker 1: a ticket to go and see a band, you get
Speaker 1: excited about it and everything. But the fame thing has
Speaker 1: sort of slightly gone for me a little bit because
Speaker 1: you're in the room with them doing what they do,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, and enjoying that and so yeah.
Speaker 1: But I mean, obviously that in that particular example of
Speaker 1: this thing, because I've I've said that about. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking Robert plant Is walking over to me, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, what, what what I've done wrong? I'm kind
Speaker 1: of looking at going like you know, um and and
Speaker 1: I think it was his nephew. Is something just it
Speaker 1: just you know, kind of like me. And he said, oh,
Speaker 1: could I get a quick photograph because I want to
Speaker 1: send it, you know, And and and again that would
Speaker 1: have been back in the days of like a real
Speaker 1: camera kind of thing, you know, that that you know,
Speaker 1: it wasn't like a you know, but I met a
Speaker 1: lot of people who, if I'm brutally honest, I would
Speaker 1: have thought wouldn't have even spoken to me because I
Speaker 1: was in a different genre of music, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Obviously I was I was pop, and I
Speaker 1: was I was pretty I'm not putting it down in
Speaker 1: any way, shape or form. I'm just sort of saying
Speaker 1: there are people that are what I call artists who
Speaker 1: have written songs that have stood the test of time,
Speaker 1: meant something lyrically when they wrote them and it still
Speaker 1: has that message today. And then there's people who make
Speaker 1: pop music, you know what I mean That there's sort
Speaker 1: of different, you know, and I think sometimes I've met
Speaker 1: people and I've been pretty shocked that they for one, no, no,
Speaker 1: I am, and kind of also been pretty kind of
Speaker 1: generous with the time. And you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: you kind of think they're almost like look the other
Speaker 1: way and hope that you know, I don't know, so
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of nice when people kind of
Speaker 1: do that. It's it sort of restores your faith into humanity,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, that they can be kind
Speaker 1: of normal as well, and you know, want to take
Speaker 1: a picture for the nephew, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So well, you you did take a step back for
Speaker 1: some time, something that I didn't realize into into looking
Speaker 1: into it during I think this time you sang on
Speaker 1: the Lion King soundtrack. I didn't realize that. How did
Speaker 1: that come to be? Um? When you say a sang
Speaker 1: on it? My voice is hidden in the background of it.
Speaker 1: Literally do I listened to it after I found that
Speaker 1: I can totally hear. Okay, Um, well, fully enough, I
Speaker 1: my wife, one of her best friends is married to
Speaker 1: Elton John's guitar player, So a guy called Davy Johnston
Speaker 1: who's a legend. He's one of the loveliest guys in rock.
Speaker 1: And roll. He's just he's the loveliest guy anyway, full stop. Um.
Speaker 1: So we used to sort of go and see Davy
Speaker 1: quite a bit, and obviously go to a lot of
Speaker 1: Elton gigs and stuff. And when they used to come
Speaker 1: to London to do a bit of recording, or they
Speaker 1: were going to be there for a couple of months
Speaker 1: doing recording and stuff, I got and see Davy sometimes
Speaker 1: and hang out and have a coffee and do whatever.
Speaker 1: And I went to the studio one day and um,
Speaker 1: they were doing the Lion King obviously, and and a
Speaker 1: guy called Gary Barler, who funnily enough is in Take
Speaker 1: That and he's really good friends with Elton as well. Um,
Speaker 1: and so there was a bunch of us there and
Speaker 1: then we're going to do background vocals and and Davy
Speaker 1: obviously was always done backgrounds with withouton. He's quite a
Speaker 1: signature part of that sound of the bvs and everything
Speaker 1: because they're just so great. Um, we just right, okay,
Speaker 1: So like four of us went in there, and Bob,
Speaker 1: who was the bass player in Elton, spanned as well.
Speaker 1: I think the four of us just kind of stood there. Um.
Speaker 1: I think Gary was actually leading it quite a bit
Speaker 1: because Obviously he knows a bit about singing with guys,
Speaker 1: you know, because he's been in a poet round for
Speaker 1: thirty years. And and yes, so we just did we did.
Speaker 1: We did the BBS on can You Feel a Love Tonight?
Speaker 1: And I think it was just that one song. Actually
Speaker 1: I can't remember, maybe a couple but anyway, um, and
Speaker 1: it was pretty amazing because obviously it's job, come on.
Speaker 1: And also it was amazing because he was doing something
Speaker 1: quite different. He was kind of being himself as an artist,
Speaker 1: Elton John, but he was also writing songs to be
Speaker 1: basically in an animated movie, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And and it was like, how do you get that right? What? Where?
Speaker 1: Where's the where's the line of it being schmaltzy and
Speaker 1: sort of like this kid's movie or just writing a
Speaker 1: really great song, do you know what I mean? And
Speaker 1: you know, he's written quite a lot of great songs,
Speaker 1: so I'm sure you know, he was pretty comfortable and confident.
Speaker 1: But it's I was pretty impressed, is what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: because I think it's a hard line to navigate to
Speaker 1: do something that works on its own as just being
Speaker 1: a great song, but really works within that doing the
Speaker 1: job it's meant to do, do you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: which is there to you know, make the movie rise
Speaker 1: at wive And so it's a pretty amazing thing just
Speaker 1: to be there on the day, never mind singing it.
Speaker 1: And that, to be honest, is the only it's the
Speaker 1: only gold or platinum record we've ever hung up in
Speaker 1: the house because because it was in our daughter's real
Speaker 1: that's the only one. Yeah, because that's because I was
Speaker 1: in our daughter's bedroom because she loved obviously that movie
Speaker 1: and anything like that, and so it went up in
Speaker 1: her room. Yet, so well, hey, did YouTube send you
Speaker 1: a plaque for never Gonna give you up? Breaking a
Speaker 1: billion views? That astonishing? No, I'll have to get onto that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I need a plaque for that, of course I do.
Speaker 1: Um No, I mean, it's just crazy, and I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously I've been super lucky with that song. I can
Speaker 1: understand that a lot of artists would be freaked and
Speaker 1: they'd be upset because you know, the whole rick rolling
Speaker 1: thing and everything that's happened with that song. Some artists
Speaker 1: would probably balk at that and run a million miles.
Speaker 1: But I also think that the rick rolling thing started
Speaker 1: around two thousand and seven, I think, and I only
Speaker 1: just started around that time to think about and start
Speaker 1: doing a couple of gigs and stuff. So I think
Speaker 1: I might have done and gigs in Japan by then.
Speaker 1: Maybe I went. I used to get office to go
Speaker 1: and sing my old songs, and I just didn't do
Speaker 1: it for like ten or fifteen years. The only time
Speaker 1: I sung them was at friends weddings. That's the only
Speaker 1: time I did, right, And so I got this offer
Speaker 1: to go to Japan, and as usual, I was just
Speaker 1: saying thank you very much. I don't really do that anymore,
Speaker 1: but it's a lovely offer. Thank you. And my wife
Speaker 1: and our daughter is about fifteen at the time, kind
Speaker 1: of huddled together in the kitchen and then came over
Speaker 1: and sort of said, we're going. So we went to
Speaker 1: Pra because we knew we'd get looked after. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean. I mean, going to Japan or something
Speaker 1: is one thing, but doing it when you're doing gigs
Speaker 1: and everything, it's a totally different ball game. Because, you know,
Speaker 1: so we went out a family holiday and everything, and
Speaker 1: you know that song from around that moment and me
Speaker 1: digging again and what have you has just sort of
Speaker 1: taken on a life in the world of its own.
Speaker 1: So and obviously YouTube was in its infancy around two
Speaker 1: thousand and seven, I would imagine, but it's just become
Speaker 1: a well go to you know, and it's it's crazy
Speaker 1: to think about the Other thing is this, I've said
Speaker 1: this recently. Whoever said a billion of anything in the eighties?
Speaker 1: A million dollars? You know what I mean? It's like,
Speaker 1: who used the term a billion of anything? Right? And
Speaker 1: now it's just become part of everyday language, do you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? It's like, oh, you know this
Speaker 1: song stream three billion whatevers and this, you know, the thought,
Speaker 1: the thought of a billion of anything is weird. And
Speaker 1: so we're living in kind of strange times. If if
Speaker 1: you're young and that's what you used to then we're
Speaker 1: not that. They're just your times and that's what's normal.
Speaker 1: But for somebody at my age, you know, I'm in
Speaker 1: my fifties, it's kind of like, what the hell? You know?
Speaker 1: So it's pretty pretty amazing really to be part of
Speaker 1: a very small group of people who have had a
Speaker 1: billion streams of their song on YouTube. It's kind of
Speaker 1: not you know, I think it's something like twenty three
Speaker 1: videos from the pre Internet that I'm sure. I'm sure
Speaker 1: that's going to ramp up. You know, it will be
Speaker 1: a very really steep ramp I think there's going to
Speaker 1: be a lot of people doing that for sure, you know,
Speaker 1: because that's what the world does. It just sits on
Speaker 1: its phone looking at stuff, doesn't it, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? So you know, yeah, that you mentioned going
Speaker 1: to Japan. There is a great clip from I Think
Speaker 1: of You with the food Fighters doing barn stage. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've been to Japan a bunch of times actually,
Speaker 1: and I've had just some amazing experiences. They're just some
Speaker 1: crazy like I hadn't going back to that first time
Speaker 1: when we went on a family holiday, I literally had
Speaker 1: not sung Never, Never, Going to Give You Up Together
Speaker 1: Forever and any of those songs. I've never sung any
Speaker 1: of them for about fifteen years in front of an audience,
Speaker 1: a real audience with a band and the whole thing,
Speaker 1: you know, everything, And so that was just crazy. And
Speaker 1: and then obviously going to do that festival, which I
Speaker 1: was you know, I'm not I'm not embarrassed to admit this.
Speaker 1: I was lucky to get on that festival. It's a
Speaker 1: really really big thing, and it was like, you know,
Speaker 1: and I saw food fight as we're headlining. I was
Speaker 1: just thinking about me crazy whatever, but you know, great.
Speaker 1: So but then first night we didn't get to see
Speaker 1: them because it's in a soccer and it's in Tokyo
Speaker 1: and we just because of scheduling, we just couldn't get
Speaker 1: to do it. So the second night, I do done
Speaker 1: like it because it was the afternoon. So I've done
Speaker 1: my thing, so I'm done. So I'm jet like, like
Speaker 1: you wouldn't believe. I've had a couple of beers. I'm
Speaker 1: still at the side of the stage because those guys
Speaker 1: are amazing and they're really comfortable with having anybody just
Speaker 1: sit where they want and just let's get on and rock,
Speaker 1: you know. And so yeah, so I ended up being
Speaker 1: invited on stage. They'd already kind of jammed through, never
Speaker 1: going to give you up in their way, and I
Speaker 1: got invited onto the stage to sing it, and it
Speaker 1: was just just pure madness, you know. Um and but
Speaker 1: just as we all know, just one of the greatest,
Speaker 1: greatest bands ever, you know, so fantastic. We're speaking I
Speaker 1: think less than a week after the beyond tragic death
Speaker 1: of Taylor Harkers, do you have any memories of I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously I met them. I met a bunch of times
Speaker 1: and hung out with them, and and you know, I
Speaker 1: was invited to sing a couple of times with them, obviously,
Speaker 1: and you just I've got no words for it, to
Speaker 1: be honest. I mean, I just don't think there's any
Speaker 1: way of describing the emotion around that. I just think
Speaker 1: it's just it's actually, it's just too much, That's what
Speaker 1: it is. It's just and I can't you know, I
Speaker 1: just can't even put it into I can't even put
Speaker 1: it into thought really. And obviously it's not like it's
Speaker 1: not you know, it's not like I knew them super
Speaker 1: well or anything, but I just can't imagine. It's just, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just too much. Just it's just a beautiful, beautiful
Speaker 1: energy around a human being, you know, and it's just
Speaker 1: it's just too much to even think about it. Really. Well,
Speaker 1: you are about to hit the road very soon without
Speaker 1: a bunch of musical friends New Kids on the Block,
Speaker 1: Salt and Pepper and Vogue for the mixtape Rena fifty
Speaker 1: seven dates. That is that they would have said that
Speaker 1: first time I said, um, now, we we got this offer.
Speaker 1: I don't know when it was now, sometimes sometime ago,
Speaker 1: and and obviously you've just mentioned three artists there who
Speaker 1: have been absolutely massive, you know, on a worldwide basis.
Speaker 1: But I remember coming to America especially and always feeling
Speaker 1: a bit um. I don't have impostor syndrome exactly, but
Speaker 1: I think when you come to America you realize somehow
Speaker 1: how small Britain is, and even though you've been big there,
Speaker 1: and you might have been big in Europe, in different whatever,
Speaker 1: you come to American and you go, now, we're playing
Speaker 1: with the big boys, And um, I still have that
Speaker 1: feeling a little bit, if I'm honest, I do, because really, yeah,
Speaker 1: I do a little bit, because it's I think. I think.
Speaker 1: I think the music business in America has been a
Speaker 1: profession for a long time, and I think the rest
Speaker 1: of the world is slowly caught up. I think here
Speaker 1: black movies. You know, it's like, no, no, I work
Speaker 1: in movies, that's what. Yeah, But when you're going to
Speaker 1: get a real job, no, no, I work in movies.
Speaker 1: That's what you know. And I do. I think it's
Speaker 1: always been that way a little bit. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying I think from a creative point of view, a
Speaker 1: small country like Britain as way out punched itself, do
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, punched way above its way.
Speaker 1: But I just think, you know, those three bands that
Speaker 1: we've just mentioned, new kids, Salt and Pepper on Vogue,
Speaker 1: I remember looking at them on MTV and stuff and
Speaker 1: just sort of thinking, yeah, that's how you do it,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I'm not just building them
Speaker 1: up for the sake of it. I'm saying from a distance.
Speaker 1: I used to always sort of think because I don't know,
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't I think it's hard sometimes to
Speaker 1: really see yourself. I think because you're in you're in
Speaker 1: the bubble too much. You need to be outside of it.
Speaker 1: And I think especially as well, you know, listening to
Speaker 1: one Vogue vocals and stuff, it's something like I said
Speaker 1: at the beginning of this, it's always really, really really
Speaker 1: moved me when people can really sing UM. So that
Speaker 1: that in really looking forward to that. For one thing,
Speaker 1: I'm probably going to watch their set every single night,
Speaker 1: to be honest, fifty seven times UM. And obviously you
Speaker 1: know Salt and Pepper, they've got something monster Monster Tunes
Speaker 1: and it's so funny because you you say their name
Speaker 1: and everybody sings, you know, one of many songs back
Speaker 1: to you straight away. But also they do it even
Speaker 1: if they're like twelve years old, or if they're old
Speaker 1: enough to be around when the songs came out the
Speaker 1: first but you know what I mean, and it's I
Speaker 1: think that stands. They still the test of time, those
Speaker 1: songs really really well and new kids, it speaks for itself,
Speaker 1: you know. You know, I'm an invited guest on this
Speaker 1: massive arena tour, and like I said, you know, those
Speaker 1: guys were probably one of, if not the I think
Speaker 1: about first, but there were a boy band that exploded
Speaker 1: in such a way globally that it was just like
Speaker 1: what the hell is going on? You know, because we've
Speaker 1: seen band bands do it, but in terms of even boyband,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know what that term meant to be honest,
Speaker 1: I don't think I think that was like I didn't
Speaker 1: even realize what that meant. And and so I think
Speaker 1: they kind of carved out their own space sort of thing,
Speaker 1: you know. So yeah, so I think it's going to
Speaker 1: be I mean, I've looked at the you know, in
Speaker 1: terms of like the hits that those three and myself
Speaker 1: have had and I've kind of thought, you know, that's
Speaker 1: that's going to be quite a long gig, like and
Speaker 1: um yeah, So I, like I said, I'm I'm buzzed
Speaker 1: about it, and I kind of do feel not like
Speaker 1: an impostible I'm the one British guy and and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's going to be interesting. You know, I
Speaker 1: have done little tours in America and and I love it.
Speaker 1: And like I say, it's where a lot of the
Speaker 1: favorite music that kind of got me into music and
Speaker 1: taught me out to sing and allers. So it came
Speaker 1: from Um. So, I think it's going to be interesting
Speaker 1: to actually go and play in front of an audience
Speaker 1: that I used to seeing new kids for one thing,
Speaker 1: because obviously there's going to be a lot of their
Speaker 1: audience there, you know, that's kind of it's the mix tape.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, we're invited guests, you know,
Speaker 1: So it's gonna be amazing. I think. My last question
Speaker 1: before I let you go, you're you're known for performing
Speaker 1: Highway to Hell by A C D C d C
Speaker 1: at the end of some of your shows. Do you
Speaker 1: have any any surprises in the Settlers as tamarando. I
Speaker 1: think I'll be doing that on that No. I mean
Speaker 1: one of the things. I got started in a band
Speaker 1: at school, like a lot of people do. And I
Speaker 1: was playing drums when I started, but I used to
Speaker 1: sing a little bit because I always sung anyway in
Speaker 1: the choir and school plays and everything. So I used
Speaker 1: to sing police songs from the drums in the first
Speaker 1: band I was ever in second band I was in,
Speaker 1: used to drum and sing a little bit and stuff,
Speaker 1: and we used to murder various songs by various artists.
Speaker 1: But I love doing it. And the band that works
Speaker 1: with me all the time might have kind of live
Speaker 1: band and what have you very often, especially especially, and
Speaker 1: we all kind of know it's coming when we go,
Speaker 1: like let's say, to Asia. So we've done Singapore, Kuala Lump,
Speaker 1: but what on a run of gigs or what have you.
Speaker 1: We know we're getting on a plane home and it's
Speaker 1: going to be like twelve hours fourteen hours flight home.
Speaker 1: So we know the night before we're all going out
Speaker 1: big time. Right, So Julie and our tour manager is
Speaker 1: already looking for a bar that's got a set up,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Drums based all right, and
Speaker 1: we're in it. That's that, that's just happening. And I
Speaker 1: love it. I absolutely love it. And sometimes when we
Speaker 1: played festivals recently, we will go and find the secret
Speaker 1: stage and ask can we play like the Night before?
Speaker 1: You know, and they may be involved, but we never
Speaker 1: play my songs. We just go and play covers and
Speaker 1: I absolutely love it. And and that song in particular,
Speaker 1: and that album Highway to Hell is how I kind
Speaker 1: of taught myself to play drums. And listen, I'm not
Speaker 1: a great drummer, but I've got reasonable feeling stuff. And
Speaker 1: it's just one of the old time records to learn
Speaker 1: to play drums too. So even if you know, even
Speaker 1: if we've gone through a whole technological age of drums
Speaker 1: becoming a different thing in the way they recording, blah
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah, and go back to that record
Speaker 1: because if you want to, if you want to, if
Speaker 1: you want to try and feel something about playing the drums,
Speaker 1: go to the Highway to Help by a c DC
Speaker 1: that album because it's just phenomenal and that's the way
Speaker 1: everyone should learn to play drums as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 1: But there you go, hey man, Mr Rick Astley, you
Speaker 1: were the man. Thank you. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: your your time today and most importantly, your music. It's
Speaker 1: been such a joy talking to Thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: absolute pleasure. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside
Speaker 1: the Studio, a production of I Heart Radio. For more
Speaker 1: episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows, check
Speaker 1: out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite podcast.