WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Nick Lowe 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.920 Previously on Quest Left Supreme with Johnny Maher, I'm going 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:06.920 down this Nicolo rabbit hole. I'm about to interview Nicolo 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:10.240 for Quels. I heard in some interview that you're a 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:12.560 fan of his, and I was just wondering where you 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:14.160 caught onto that scene. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:19.960 All musicians, certainly of a certain age, all regarding Nick 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.320 Lowe as a great man, a great musician. And when 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:25.759 I said earlier, when I was talking to Quest of 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.479 about I left school t at fifteen to be in 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:30.560 a band with adults. That was to go to Nicklo's 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:35.600 house and make demos for Elvis Costello's manager. That was 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:37.760 the first recording studio I was ever in, and I 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:39.879 was I think maybe he was in fourteen. 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.120 Jake Rivieira, Yeah, Jake. 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:45.640 Riviera called me one day when I came home from school. 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:47.080 I was still in my school uniform. 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:49.080 I thought it was one of my piles playing at 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.320 Frank one of my other piles had sent in a 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.520 tape of my band to Jake Riviera and. 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:57.440 He liked it for Stiff Records. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:00.240 Yeah, nothing came of it, but it was a a 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.640 big experience for me because I'd never been in a 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.280 recording studio and I was in Nick Lowe's house. 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:07.960 While we were there, Nick Lowe came. 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:09.360 Back from an American tour. 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.160 I didn't meet him, but I saw him. I saw 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:18.000 his cowboy boots wobbling up the stairs up to his 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:25.119 bedroom honestly, very very unsteadily, and then heard a crash, 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:25.679 and then no. 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:27.000 One saw him for a few days. 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.160 But I then worked with him because Behind her first 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.200 single was produced by Nick low the first Pretender single, 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:35.759 and because you knew I was a fan of Nick 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.160 Low When we went in the studio to do the 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:41.000 only recording that I did with the Pretenders, we got 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.840 Nick Low to produce it. So I eventually got to 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:46.640 work with Nick low on a couple of songs and 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:50.480 we did it in one take, and Nick was like, hey, listen, 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.720 I know my reputation is that I just say one take, 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:56.360 but really the first take was the take, and we 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:58.600 did it about four times and then he was right, 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:00.320 one takes. 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:02.640 Yeah, it's cool, great. 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:04.640 Man, awesome, thanks for sharing that. 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:10.000 And now Sugar Steve's one on one interview with Nick Lowe, 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:11.840 is it two? 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:13.959 Is the music too? Hours? Just as you were watching, 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.800 I was listening to one of the most incredible, simply 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:20.280 insane in nineteen seventy eight and every live version the 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:24.440 Power of So it goes like upon it. You have 0:02:24.520 --> 0:02:29.200 many nicknames. In fact, nick is your name. But how 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:32.639 did you get the nickname the Basher? You're not Sir Basher. 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:36.480 At this point, No, no, no, a rise, Sir Basher. 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.440 That was doctor feel Good used to call me Basha. 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.880 And because my dad was in the Air Force. The 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.960 popular sort of story is that all the Air Force 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.000 guys used to have these rather silly nicknames, you know, 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.880 Biffo and Befo's bought it and you know that sort 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.560 of thing. And because my dad was in the Air Force, 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:02.240 that was then my nickname. But most people think it's 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:04.640 because at the time. In one interview when I was 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:09.320 producing records, I said to the interview when I was 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:15.239 asked about my technique, suppose technique that I had, I said, well, 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:17.760 what I do is I tend to bash it down 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.399 and tart it up later. Tarting it up means sort 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.280 of prettying it up, you know, you know, record it 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:27.880 quickly and then you get a good feel, you know, 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.799 on the on the music. Then you put the hand 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.840 colaps as you say, and back in vocals and because 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.920 the feel is the important thing. But I used the 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:42.840 word bash it down and people thought that's where Basha 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:43.280 came from. 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.360 I always thought it was bashing on the drums and 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:49.280 the beast and oh a loud punk sound. So your 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.160 new album, I want to highlight this because it's great 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:53.839 that there's a new album coming out from you, which 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.920 comes out September thirteenth. Indoor Safari so so interesting the 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:01.000 story behind this album where where you're able to tour 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:03.760 a set of songs and then record the album once 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.160 you've worked them out on the road. It seems like 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:08.760 that's part of what happened here. And also some of 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:11.480 them were recorded previously as well, and you re recorded 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.120 them or added things. Is that right? 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:16.640 That is quite right. Yeah. We didn't have any plans 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.920 to record at all when we first got together. We 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:23.600 got together to do Christmas shows in fact, and we 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.320 didn't know whether it would work, you know, or be 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:30.400 a success for the collaboration. But it turned out we 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.680 really enjoyed it, and as time went on and we 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:37.320 saw the audiences grow, it became apparent that it would 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.320 be well, it'd be a good idea to have some 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:43.120 sort of recording for sale on the merch table. We 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.960 had no ambitions really beyond that. And I suppose we 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:51.160 could have knocked out an EP of covers, you know, 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:54.800 just three or four covers, but it didn't seem to 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:58.679 be much fun in that, you know. And I'd started 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:04.200 writing songs with this collaboration in mind. But the problem 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.919 we ran into was with this simple, simple music, it 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.599 only really comes together and gets a life after it's 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.120 been played in front of an audience. Then it gets 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:18.000 a personality and gets cool. But just going into studio 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.920 and knocking out a song, even a simple one, is well, 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:23.920 you can be done, you know, but it doesn't really 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:27.599 sort of fly, you know. But anyway, we did our best. 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.080 The other thing is a recording studio. So we're sitting 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:32.880 in this lovely room here, which you can as soon 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.160 as I walked in. You know, this is a familiar 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.240 to me, the place like this. They're becoming rarer and 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:43.000 rarer and rarer. And yes, we're sitting in this lovely studio. 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.920 And even though with our group we've got a sort 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:50.359 of modern sensibility about the way we want to present ourselves, 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.040 you know, as being grown ups, you know, but playing 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:57.840 this young people's music or young people for our generation. Anyway, 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:03.159 it's got a retro it's a retro vehicle for these songs. 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.719 And so that means you need a room like this 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:09.280 really for us all to play live in because it's 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:11.400 not the sort of music you can do piecemeal, you know, 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:14.200 like most records have made on computers now they do 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.000 the components are put down one at one at a time. 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:20.440 And with this sort of music we do it. You can't. 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.160 It doesn't work like that doesn't sound any good. You know. 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.240 He's got he's got to be played live, and you 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:30.599 need a room like this. Well, unfortunately most studios aren't. 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.960 They've all gone like this, have all gone, and most 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:38.560 pop music is made in little rooms with maybe two rooms, 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:41.120 one with a with a computer in and the other 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:44.760 one with a kidd of drums and some sort of keyboard. 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:47.719 And that's fair enough. But that's how we made these 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.320 these records because we'd have to we'd have to book 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:53.839 a studio in one of the cities we were visiting 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:55.919 on our tour, you know, because I live in London, 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:59.719 they live in the United States, and we never knew 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.280 what you going to get, but we'd cram into the 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:04.240 little room with the kid of drums in it and 0:07:04.279 --> 0:07:07.920 the synthesizer, you know, and do our best to play 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:11.600 these things. But so when yep Rock suggested that we 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.400 put these three four track CDs that we put on 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.360 the merch table, when they when they suggested that we 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:24.480 made a compilation album, I could see the wisdom in that. 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:28.600 But I've really thought we should revisit the tunes because 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.360 they were they were good tunes, and and I'm not 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.520 prolific enough to be able to just throw them away, 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.680 you know, and and come up with a brand spanking 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:42.080 new bunch. So I thought we should re record some 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:44.720 of these things. So it's almost like we released the 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.320 demos before the before the album. 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:49.800 But how'd you end up making the whole thing sounds 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:53.160 so cohesive, it doesn't sound like it was recorded in 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:54.400 various this or that. 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:58.640 I'm so glad that you asked ask me that Steve 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:02.200 that is down to the Great Alex Hole, who is 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.720 someone I've ad move for a while. He's engineered and 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:09.920 produced some of my favorite records. He's got a studio 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.480 in Chicago, and he oversaw the re recording and plus 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:15.800 the new tune we did. I don't know, two or 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.760 three new tunes as well. It's down to him that 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.320 he gave all these tracks that were recorded over three 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:23.200 years this cohesive sound. 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.640 Secret weapon, I assume is those strait jackets for this record. 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:29.680 I mean, yeah, there seems to be a real love 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:33.560 affair between you and that band, a mutual admiration type thing. 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.920 They do instrumental versions of your songs. You give them 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:39.320 a little mini set in the middle of your live 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.199 show to do their thing. It's an incredible match really 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:47.240 musically and texturally. I've seen your show with them a 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.000 number of times and it puts me in a trance, 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.680 Like I get hypnotized watching them do their thing. They're 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:57.560 like a machine, but they're human, and there's this preciseness 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.920 to it all. But there's also this loess to it all, 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.560 which I assume is the best of well, exactly what 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.120 you're looking for in a backing band. 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.160 Yeah, I as I say, I didn't know it was 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:11.600 going to work. You know, it wasn't something i'd been 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:13.920 because I've known them for a long time, you know, 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:18.360 before we started working together, and I always thought they 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.600 were great, you know, But I didn't know that this 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:25.000 was going to happen, this strange thing where where the 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:27.199 two of us create a third element. 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.640 You know, it works so well because they're doing their 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.680 thing and then there you are sort of floating on 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.680 top of it all with your vocal and your acoustic guitar, 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:37.040 and it works. 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:40.640 When we started, we had to start somewhere, of course, 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:44.080 and when we did our first show, we played at 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:48.480 First Avenue, that club in Minneapolis, and the club owners 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:51.400 allowed us to rehearse there, you know, for a couple 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:56.160 of days before our first show in the club, which 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:58.240 is very nice of them. And so we had to 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.000 start somewhere, you know, and you sent them a list 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:03.400 of songs I thought were good work along with the 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.680 Christmas songs. What you were doing, you know, some of 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.520 my catalog tunes, and bless their hearts, you know, they'd 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.280 learnt up the records as best they could, although there 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:17.400 are keyboards on a lot of my tunes, my early tunes, 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.439 and they've done the best look to learn up the records. 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:26.559 And that really lasted for about twenty minutes or something 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:30.400 before we mutually agreed that we'll forget about that and 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.320 just make it up ourselves, you know, and just do 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:35.520 the song as if it was, We're hearing it for 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.840 the first time, and that's when it started getting in gear. 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.600 It's a regular Nickel album because all the songs are good. 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:45.400 I've been leaning into Blue on Blue. You've been playing 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.520 that as part of the live set as well. Trombone 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:51.520 is my favorite. It's one of those songs where it's like, ah, 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:54.679 this dude just went and wrote a song called trombone, 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:57.360 you know, one of those things like how did nobody 0:10:57.360 --> 0:10:59.680 think of that? Yet? Of course there's no trombone in 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.800 the song. I believe there's two versions, yeah, one with 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.280 one that out. I don't know, but I'm a huge 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:09.079 Roy Orbison fan. Was he any influence on you in 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:10.560 your life or on that song at all? 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:16.080 Actually, what I sort of thought I was channeling was 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:20.240 Neil Diamond on that because it's sort of a trombone 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.679 come play your song, so it seemed. 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.760 To I mean, I heard Nick Lowe, but that climactic ending. 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:31.760 Yeah, I guess, I guess. So, yes, I can't quite 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:33.640 do it, you know exactly. 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:35.920 You hit the Nick low version of that at the end. 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.160 The first time I saw you or met you was 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:50.960 at David Letterman taping in two thousand and eight. I 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.000 think it must have been a Thursday when a show 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:56.280 does two shows. They were camera blocking or sound checking 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:58.360 both music acts that they were going to have to 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:00.839 record that day. And turns out one was the Roots 0:12:00.840 --> 0:12:04.600 and one was you, and you were probably promoting. At 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.200 my age, I was on stage with the Roots setting 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:09.679 mics or whatever, and I look out to the audience. 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.560 One person sitting in the audience, Nick Lowe. You know 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:14.920 how a fan thinks this is my chance. 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:14.960 You know. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:21.199 So I walk out there and I mutter something completely 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:25.040 incoherent about the Bay City Rollers and have no idea 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:28.080 what you said, and I walked away. The second time 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.720 I met you was at the Tonight show in twenty 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:34.760 twelve promoting this Old Magic, and you came into the 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.080 Roots rehearsal room and you signed a few records for me, 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:43.200 and I muttered something incoherent about the Bay City Rollers. 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.600 More recently, backstage at a Costello show in twenty twenty 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:53.680 three last year, saw you backstage and muttered something incoherent 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:57.120 to you about the Bay City Rollers. So I am 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:01.400 a huge Bay City Rollers fan from back in the day, 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.360 and you have this connection to them, and I want 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:08.640 you to tell the story of b C Rollers We 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:11.959 Love You and what that was all about. And then 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:16.160 I have sort of a production follow up question about 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:17.160 it about all that. 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:19.760 Oh well, I hope this isn't going to sort of 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:23.040 burst your bubble, you know, because I'm not not a 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:24.840 particular Yes. 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.400 You are, I know you are. I'm here to get 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.800 you to admit it. That's what this is about. A. Yeah. 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:34.640 Well, after the group I was in, Brinsley Schwartz split up, 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:37.920 I was a bit of a loose end in terms 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:41.160 of what to do because by this time I'd fallen 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:46.679 in with a guy called Jake Riviera, who was managed 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.719 another band that we were friends, that Brinsleys were friends with. 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.680 And I started hanging out with Jake more and more, 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.960 and I'd stay stay over asleep on his couch, you know, 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:01.079 and in his slightly grubby flat in South Kin, and 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:05.000 we both could feel something was coming over the hill, 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.319 you know. We knew that something was up. 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.719 It was like nineteen seventy six, yeah. 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:13.480 Seventy five, maybe seventy five, seventy six. We could sort 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:15.400 of feel it. And we had friends in New York 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:18.679 as well who were feeling the same way. What it 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:22.280 was was, this was the Punk Explosion, which came from 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:26.480 New York. Really, I mean London did something else with it, 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:29.760 you know. But we could feel this change in the air, 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.400 and Jake started managing me and he couldn't get he 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:36.520 couldn't really get any anyone interested in me. So I 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:40.080 could get a record deal. I was still with a 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:44.000 United Artist then that's the Brinsley's label, and I sort 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:46.600 of had to get out of my contract with United 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.440 Artists in order to do something out go somewhere else. 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.880 And I thought what I should do is to make 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:56.000 a really terrible record and say that this is the 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.240 direction I want to go in, you know. So they 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.320 say all that we can't do that. So I came 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:04.560 up with this idea of doing this fan record for 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:09.240 the basity Rollers. I'm really sorry, Steve. I got to 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:11.880 tell you this, man, because I'm sorry. What I have 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:20.440 to tell you after this, Well, I came up with 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:25.560 this basicity Rollers, we love you, and I got a 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:30.520 few a few cats into to do the do the record, 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:36.000 and we got some the local kids school into to 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:40.520 sing in the chorus and handed it into United Artists 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:44.800 and instead of them saying that, oh well, thanks very much, Nick, goodbye, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:50.800 they thought it was really good. Yes they did, and 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.240 so they you know, they wouldn't let they wouldn't let 0:15:53.240 --> 0:15:56.720 me go. Allegedly they released it in Japan where the 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.320 where the basically Rollers were really big and and it 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.840 was quite a successful record. But I don't know how 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:03.480 true that is. 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.160 Okay, Well, this was the first song you ever produced. 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.120 I think it probably was, actually yeah. 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:13.520 Okay, So that being said, the production style that you 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.360 did in this novelty song, or however you want to 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:19.720 qualify it, you did a great job, first of all, 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:21.640 of making it sound like a basic a roller song, 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:25.640 as well as in the a later song called Rollers Show. Yeah, 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:27.840 what I'm asking you is, do you feel in the 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.840 making of that record that you might have stumbled upon 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:35.520 something that helped to create your later production style or 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.840 the production style for a rock pile or for your 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.440 first couple solo albums. Let's say, did you find some 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.280 secret in there in the engineering or in the production 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:49.320 that maybe you liked, maybe in the arrangements. So my 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.920 question is was there anything you discovered that you carried 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.040 over into your regular productions. 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:59.840 It's a great question, you know, I've never thought about that, 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.560 but there I think there is some there sort of 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.120 was because I was really. 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:13.520 Gotcha. We're all about gotcha journalism. 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:23.680 So it took me a long time to become friends 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:28.479 with Dave Edmonds. He was always was a real loaner, 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:33.720 you know, and when I eventually got his attention, he 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:36.960 let me sit in in the studio and he was recording. 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.720 I loved his records, you know, and he used to 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.639 do everything himself, and he would invite me into the 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.920 studio really as a as an audience, you know, of 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.080 one so and he wouldn't talk to me much, but 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:51.560 I'd sit there and watch him, and then it's a 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:54.000 bit by bit, you know. He'd get me to go 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:56.000 and scratch a mic to see if it was on, 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:58.640 you know, or drop him in. You know. He used 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.080 to showed me how to drop in his guitar and 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:04.400 he was doing guitar parts sitting at the desk, you know, 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.600 and then eventually go out and do a handclap, you know, 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.480 or go and sing a harmony. And bit by bit 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.080 we started doing it together in a way. But I 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.200 was very much the second class citizen, you know. He 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:20.520 did it all. But I watched him very carefully, and 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:23.960 he was fantastic in the studio, so you could do 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:29.600 this with analog equipment, as you definitely know that you 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:34.320 can make an analog recording equipment do stuff that it 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:37.199 doesn't It shouldn't really be made to do which you 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.840 can't do on digital. Maybe you can, but I sound 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:43.919 it just protests in the most horrible way. You know, 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:47.840 it does not, whereas analog stuff doesn't. And he was 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.160 so great at playing the desk, you know, making the desk, 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.640 mistreating it in some cases are the best sounds. Yeah, 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:56.560 he was a great influence on me. So when I 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.280 went to this studio to do that basically Rollers for 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:02.840 a start off, it was where all the London reggae 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.040 records were made, and that guy who engineered it was 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:09.399 the guy who engineered all these reggae records. So it 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:12.120 had a pretty cool sound. You know, the studio did 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:15.439 have a pretty cool sound, and I was also in 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.800 my bid to imitate the basicity Rollers for the purposes 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:23.360 of that record. You know that some of their signature tropes. 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:27.800 You know, there was a style of British pop records 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:31.080 at the time, music that I didn't really like. It 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.359 was all the top ten stuff all had this sort 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.840 of sound and I was trying to imitate it. I 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:38.760 tried it out to see if I could do it 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.359 in the studio for this record, to see if I 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:43.720 could do a sort of mash up of the reggae 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:47.960 engineer with this basically roller sort of sheen, you know, 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.919 which it was the wrong studio to accomplish that, but 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:54.640 it was a little suggestion of it really. But then 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.720 I think in the future I started to get interested 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:03.719 in doing anarchics, writing songs which were slightly unusual in 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.640 some way, but trying to put a sheme of respectability 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:10.480 on them, like this kind of corny pop sound, you know, 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:12.960 or my version of it. Anyway, I was trying to 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:16.080 be imitated. I didn't know really how to do it, 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.639 but I've never I've never thought of it. Do you 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:20.720 ask me that question? 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:23.560 Well, I mean, you can do corny things as as 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:25.399 long as you do them in a cool way sort of. 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:28.560 Yeah, So so you go, you know, what the hell 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:29.719 is this kind of music? 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:30.480 Right? 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:32.480 And well, what the hell kind of music was it? 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:32.639 You know? 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:34.439 The basically roles they seem to be doing their own 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:35.760 version of like a retro thing. 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.200 I think that was their producers, you know, I think 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:40.280 I think they did what they were told, you know, not. 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:42.960 Writing to be honest with you basic roles. We love 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:45.760 You does sound like a novelty song, but Roller Show 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.480 sounds like just a kick ass song, especially the way 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:52.359 it was recorded. But since you segued a little bit 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:56.080 into Dave Edmonds, you must be considered one of your 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:59.760 musical soul meats. But I wanted just for a second 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.359 Terry Williams and Billy Bremner. Can you please tell us 0:21:04.400 --> 0:21:07.399 a little bit more about the lesson two of that band, 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:10.920 Billy Bremner on guitar and vocals and Terry Williams on drums. 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:12.360 Yes, with pleasure. 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:12.760 Yeah. 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.439 They By the sort of mid nineteen seventies, Dave and 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:22.000 I had become more equal, actual friends. You know, I 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:26.760 wasn't just this kid who went and tea boy tea boy, 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.280 Yeah exactly. Yeah, So we were more friends and we 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.600 used to you know, I was sort of effectively out 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:37.400 of work really, but we used to and Dave lived 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:40.560 in North London. But in between us was this pub 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:44.679 called the Churchill on Church Street, Kensington. Maybe some of 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:47.000 your listeners will know it's quite a well known pub 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:51.000 and we used to meet there just about every evening 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:56.360