WEBVTT - Bonus Episode: Thomas Dolby Recalls Backing David Bowie at Live Aid While a Billion People Watched 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.240 Off the Record is a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:10.639 Hello and welcome to another bonus episode of Off the Record. 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:14.640 My name's Jordan Runtug. Thanks so much for listening. The 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.400 climax of our last chapter is David Bowie said it 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.640 live Aid in the summer of one of the most 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.759 iconic performances he ever gave. My guest today was alongside 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:27.480 him on the Live Aid stage and in the helicopter 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:30.800 on the nerve racking ride out to Wembley Stadium. His 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.839 name is Thomas Dolby and his time with Bowie is 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.400 just one entry on his extremely lengthy resume. On his 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:41.240 Twitter bio, he describes himself as a recovering synth enthusiast, 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.600 but even that barely scratches the surface. He's best known 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:48.960 as a technopop pioneer who helped defind the sound of 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:51.720 new wave with albums like The Golden Age of Wireless 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:55.000 and The Flat Earth the Ladder, which contains my favorite 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:59.800 song of his screen kiss. His immortal smash he Blinded 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:02.000 Me with Science, seemed to predict his move into the 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.920 burgeoning Silicon Valley text fere of the early nineties. His 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:10.440 company beat Nick developed innovative audio software for websites and 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.800 cell phone ring tones. In fact, at one point, beat 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:16.440 Nick technology was used in two thirds of the world's 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:20.039 cell phones. Between two thousand two and two thousand twelve, 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.160 he served as the musical director for TED conferences, and 0:01:23.240 --> 0:01:26.440 since then he's moved into teaching. Coming from a line 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:30.640 of Oxbridge professors, he considers this the family business. He's 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:34.320 presently on faculty at Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute, where he 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.120 heads up the Music for New Media program. Thomas or 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.160 Professor Dolby, I should say, was kind enough to share 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.720 his vast musical insights about David Bowie's work, and also 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.800 is truly mind blowing memories performing with Bowie at this 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:52.160 historic concert before nearly a billion people and they barely 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:57.720 even rehearsed. Well, I guess just to start as a 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.600 music fan growing up, especially one interested in sort of 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:04.120 technologically innovative sounds, what kind of impact did Bowie have 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:06.639 on you, even back starting with something like space artity 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:08.320 when he had the style phone. What were your first 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.600 musical impressions of him? I think probably you know the 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:16.320 age that I was. We were aware of glitter rock 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:21.919 before we really understood you know how how Bowie related 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:24.400 to it. Um. I mean, in fact, I think that 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.720 probably All the Young Dudes was the first Bowie song 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.280 that I heard, and What the Hoople was sort of 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:35.359 just another glitter rock band, you know at the time. Um, 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:40.240 but glitter was sort of was quite controversial. You know. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:43.560 I would have been, you know, thirteen, fourteen fifteen at 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:47.600 the time, and it was quite controversial because some of 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:51.280 my crowd sort of thought we took music more seriously 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:54.079 than that, you know. I mean there was also progressive 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:57.720 rock back then, you know, and we were a bit 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:01.440 dubious that somebody that will make up and had sort 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.679 of glittery clothes and high heels and stuff could make 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.160 serious music as well. So it was, you know, it 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:12.280 was more that the first impression was more the visual one, 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:16.320 the outrage, etcetera. And I think from there, I think 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.200 Space Oddity might have been the next thing that I 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:24.320 got into. But I only really, I think probably when 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:31.120 Ziggy Stardus first came out and his popular popularity suddenly skyrocketed. 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.720 It's only then that I went back and got into 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.080 Manage Sold the World and Hunky Dorry, and I think, 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.240 you know, I'm not quite sure of the Steepers. I 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:42.280 might have been aware of of, you know, some of 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:44.760 the you know more the hit songs of Hunky Dorry 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:47.560 like changes in life on Mars and things. I might 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.560 have been aware of them before Ziggy came out. But 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.280 you know, at that point it was it wasn't it 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.320 wasn't a genre to me. You know, I wouldn't have 0:03:55.400 --> 0:03:59.080 lumped him in with you know, Mark Boland and Sweet 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.280 Wizards and of those people. You know, I realized that 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.160 that he was somebody very special. And you know, the 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.480 first concerts that I saw of his were round about 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.880 that time, and I was in a crowd. You know, 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:17.080 I went to quite high end English schools and there 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.720 was a real music intelligentsia who would sit around in 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:25.400 coffee bars, smoking cigarettes and talking about music, you know, 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:29.440 for hours. And in those days, you would every time 0:04:29.440 --> 0:04:31.280 a new album came out, you didn't know about it 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:35.279 a couple of months in advance, and you read interviews, 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:37.680 and the day it came out, you'd run out and 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:40.440 spend all your pocket money on it, and you listen 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.080 to it back to back, you know, several times while 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:47.080 pouring over the lyrics and the credits and the album 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:50.000 cover and music was such a rare five thing in 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:53.880 those days compared to the way it is now that 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:57.680 it was really very special. When you know an artist 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:01.360 that you that you followed put out a new record, 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:03.960 it was a whole event. It's funny. My friends and 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.320 I were just talking about this why I'm thirty three, 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.520 and we were saying, we're probably the last age group 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:10.719 that remembers. And I grew up in a small town 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:12.880 in Massachusetts where there was one record store and not 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:15.840 a great selection, and it was it was so you 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:17.960 would just would kind of desperate for for anything. If 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.120 you couldn't find the record you wanted, you know, you 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.600 would get sort of the adjacent sound just because it was. 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:25.839 It was sort of all there was. And it's and 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:28.960 I as much as I envy um people who are 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.840 a little younger that kind of have access to a 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:35.320 whole recorded history out there at their fingertips, I you know, 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:37.240 I sort of I'm sad that they don't get to 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.640 feel that sense of the excitement, the building up, the 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:42.560 saving your money, you're going out there and you're bringing 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:44.720 it home, having a physical thing to hold and having 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:49.880 it be kind a funny way a full body experienced. Sure, Yeah, yeah, 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:51.800 I mean, you know, the other thing. So I went 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:53.960 to school in London and the other big deal for 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:58.440 us was that Virgin Records on Oxford Street was the first. 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.680 So so before there, I remember record stores where there 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:03.919 were little booths that you could go into. So you 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:07.200 request a certain record and they say Booth four and 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:09.880 you go in there and it's like a little booth 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.160 the size of a phone box, you know, surrounded by 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:16.000 sort of egg boxes and it would pipe it in 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.440 in the speakers and I remember that growing up. But 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.800 Virgin Records came out with so they were initially a 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:28.960 cut price mail order record store. Um, so you know, 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.000 you'd see a listing in the back of the magazine 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.919 you'd ordered something mail order from them, cut price. But 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:37.000 they opened their first door on Oxford Street in London, 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:40.440 and what was special about it was that they had 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:46.960 a row of aircraft seats, ironically considering where they a 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:51.320 row of aircraft seats and headphones and there they'd say, 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:52.919 you know, go to number four and you put on 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:59.480 headphones and listen and the you know, the I do 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:04.040 I remember spending a pound and a half on an album. 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:06.440 I think probably by the time, you know, by the 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:08.440 time we got to Zegn Stardust, it would have been 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:11.120 seven or eight pounds or something like that was the 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.560 price of an album. But that was a hell of 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:15.560 a lot of money. And you know, you've listened to 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:17.880 two or three albums, decide which one of them to 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:23.080 buy based on those listenings, and and you would you 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.600 would have the record sleeve in your lap while you're 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:27.720 listening to it, you know, and then you go home 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:29.840 with it in a plastic bag and you couldn't wait 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:31.320 to get it home and put it on your own 0:07:31.360 --> 0:07:35.520 record player and then usually listen to side one, side two, 0:07:35.640 --> 0:07:38.560 so one, you know, etcetera. And yeah, I mean a 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.480 group group of friends of mine, and you know, we 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:47.080 we would really study Bowie and each new phase that 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:51.280 he went through, and we would religiously read articles about 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:54.960 him and stuff, and you know, I mean he to 0:07:55.040 --> 0:07:57.560 be a follower of Bowie back then was it was 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:00.840 a very stimulating but also a challenge thing. I mean, 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:03.840 you know, he went through some phases that he didn't 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:06.440 necessarily agree with, you know, like when he came came 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.880 back from Berlin and he was like one of the 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:11.640 blood and stations in an open top car giving what 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:15.520 looked like a Nazi salute, and you know, there are 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.320 moments like that that were slightly sort of toe curling moments. 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:22.000 And then again, you know when when there was a 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.880 BBC documentary called Cracked Actor I don't know if he 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:27.080 came across that, and it was about the Thin White 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:30.440 Duke Tour, and he was such I mean, he was 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:34.000 a skeleton, you know at that point, and it was 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.280 very clear that there was sort of psychotic behavior going on, 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.760 which we thought was wonderful, of course, but you know 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:45.960 that there's this this one iconic shop where he's in 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.560 the back of a limo and he's got a carton 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:50.600 if I can't know if it's milk or orange juice, 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:52.560 and they said it, how does it feel to be 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.720 so successful in America? And he said, you know, there's 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.920 a fly in this carton of milk, and unlike that fly. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:04.640 I mean, it must have been difficult to me. Again, 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.480 even just you mentioned earlier about how initially he wasn't 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:11.199 somebody that you viewed as making, you know, in inverted 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:15.120 karmas serious music. Was there a moment when that shift occurred, 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:17.000 Like what did something like low do for you? Was 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:19.480 it was it powerful to see someone of his notoriety 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.640 using you know, electronic instruments in a in a meaningful 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:27.360 way in in part music. But I'd already made the shift, 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:31.160 I mean, you know, thinking back before that, I remember 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:35.719 seeing Starman on Top of the Pops um which am 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.760 I right in thinking that was the first single off 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:42.280 of Z Stardusta. I mean you could, you could look 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.200 it up. I mean that, I think that was probably 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.200 the first single. And so he was in full glitter gear, 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:50.360 you know, with his his his glitter suit undone to 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:54.840 his navel and he sort of draped himself around Mick 0:09:54.920 --> 0:10:00.160 Ronson in a rather homo erotic way. And in those days, 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.240 you know Top of the Pops the whole country watched it, 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:07.200 and something like three quarters of the adult population of 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:09.920 the UK watch Top of the Pops every Thursday night. 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.800 So if something dramatic happens, if there was a moment 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.559 on Top of the Pops, you knew that the whole 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:20.800 country was experiencing it almost simultaneously. And that was one 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.760 such moment. I mean, there'd never been anything as avert 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:27.240 as that, and it was just deeply shocking really, but 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.640 I think there were there were you know, there are 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:33.000 certain among the younger generations who were just you know, 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.560 whatever their own inclination was, they knew this was incredibly 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:43.319 rebellious and outrageous for men to be behaving like this. 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.800 And if you were a follower, if you're a disciple, 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:49.520 you felt like this was your people, you know, making 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:53.560 a stand. So to get from that to listening to 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:58.120 a musical artist from more of a sort of musicological standpoint, 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:01.319 you know. So so I went from that to listening 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.280 to listen to his records and you know, Vision records 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:07.840 in Oxford Street and pouring over the lyrics and stuff, 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.839 and I was, you know, I went from being a 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:15.280 sort of shops individual to being a student and disciple 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:20.800 really relatively quickly and through you know. So Ziggy was 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:26.400 really a watershed Aladdinsane was kind of Ziggy Part two, 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:29.679 but with a bit of a psychotic twist to it, 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:36.280 and had some amazing sort of dystopian futuristic bent to it, 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.400 as did Diamond Dogs, you know, songs like Sweet Thing 0:11:40.040 --> 0:11:42.320 was just seemed to be a whole like sci fi 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.880 movie sort of set in some dark, distant future. And 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.240 then I guess Young Americans was a bit of was 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:54.559 a bit puzzling because it was very clean cut by comparison, 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:59.880 and seemed to merge British pop. You know that all 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:05.120 has been a strong sort of soul flavor to British pop, 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:10.359 especially from the north, northern souls we would call it um. 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.920 But the idea of an artist sort of crossing over 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:20.640 color barriers like that and yet being clearly accepted and respected, 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:26.880 you know, by by the by American black musicians, M 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:32.360 was pretty mind blowing again, and I think for my 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:36.680 generation sort of opened up for us an interest in 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:40.480 in soul music, in in early funk and so on, 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:42.880 and then in Rapids. I mean, I don't know what 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:45.600 the distance was between these albums, but less than a year, 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.760 I would imagine. And suddenly now we hear that he's 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:53.320 gone to Berlin with Brian Eno and he's championing craft 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:58.120 Work and Kurt Vile, and it just you know that 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:04.199 the rate of x fluration and adventure, you know that 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:06.560 that he was going through personally as an artist at 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:11.000 that point, while being under intense pressure as a focus 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:15.160 of attention, you know, as a celebrity, was was just extraordinary. 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.680 I can't really think of another example of an artist 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:21.720 who was so much in the limelight, so much in 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:25.280 the thick of the celebrity thing, who still managed to 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:29.560 go on such a sort of artistic voyage with you know, 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:32.520 with his output and the way he was studying and 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:37.400 absorbing and sponging up these multicultural influences. I mean, it's 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:39.640 easier to do nowadays that you fly anywhere in the 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.640 world just by clicking a few buttons. But back in 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.320 those days, and he didn't even fly, right, he had 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:47.560 to get in the ship to go do this stuff. 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:52.240 You know, Well, you've had the supremely rare and special 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.160 experience of being someone who who was was a fan 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.760 and did follow him so closely to actually you know, 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:01.480 working with him and performing with him. How did meeting 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:04.679 him in the flesh meet with your expectations? They always say, 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:06.400 you know, you don't you don't meet your heroes. Was 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:10.960 that was that true in your kids? Um? Not? Actually 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:15.160 the contrary, I was. There was a side of me 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.400 that was slightly dreading it for that very reason, you know. 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.160 I mean, he'd been so important to me, and I 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:23.920 was slightly worried that the you know, it would burst 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:28.520 my bubble to actually meet him. But he says supremely rare. 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:31.040 I would think that most of the people you would 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.960 talk to that played with him or whatever had been fans. 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:36.560 You know, you might find something. You might talk to 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.120 Gail and she'd say, I've never heard of the guy, 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:41.760 but you know, but for the most part, you know, 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:45.240 we would have been fans. And so meeting somebody sort 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:48.840 of larger than life like that, it is a big 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.960 step in your in your personal voyage, and people respond 0:14:52.000 --> 0:14:54.560 to it in different ways. But the surprising thing to 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:59.680 me was that, you know, I was expecting the cracked actor, 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.480 you the guy in the back of the limo, but 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.200 the carton of milk, Yeah, in the carton of milk. 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:07.760 And in fact, he was a total gentleman. You know, 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:15.880 he's very sort of generous, effervescent, warmhearted, made you feel 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.960 like you were special, you know, that that you were 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.720 sort of you know, without making you feel like you 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.960 were being scrutinized or under a microscope. He just seemed 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:29.760 like somebody that appreciated talent, was interested in people. Um 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.560 you know, he was a seducer and he seduced me 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:37.360 along along with with countless others. Um. But I do remember, 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:40.800 I mean, I had really very few interactions with him, 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.640 to the extent that I could probably list them, you know, 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:48.360 if push Camebishops, like a couple of dozen interactions basically 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:52.120 would start to finish. And so I do remember them 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.400 very clearly individually, and I was amazed at the beginning, 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:59.840 how you know. The first conversation I ever had with 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.560 him was along these lines. It was, look, you know, Tom, 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:06.840 if I may call you Tom, I've been asked to 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:09.240 do this gig. It's in a couple of weeks. It's 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:12.440 a charity thing. It's it's going to be a big one. 0:16:12.480 --> 0:16:17.280 It's that Wembley Bob Geldof's organizing it. My band, my 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.880 regular touring bands are off doing other things in the States, 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:25.440 people like else Click and so on. I haven't got them, 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:27.680 and I haven't got much time either, because I'm shooting 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:31.640 this movie with George Lucas called Labyrinth, and I wonder 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:33.960 if you could help me put a band together out 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:37.280 of people that you know. So here Bowie had worked 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:41.080 with Kevin Armstrong and Matthew Seligman, who were sort of 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.800 two musicians that I worked with a lot, and I've 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:47.800 been friends with the years on Dancing in the Street 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:52.280 and absolute beginners. And it was then that it recommended 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.880 to Bowie, why don't you talk to Thomas because he's 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.400 a producer and he's got nose a lot of musicians 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:01.120 and he'd be a good person to to help pull 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:03.760 this together. So it's a boat. Had called them on 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:06.640 my recommendation. He was he was aware of my music 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.879 and seemed to like it, and he said, you know, 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.159 we haven't got very much time. I'd like Matthew and 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:17.119 Kevin to be involved, but can you help me, you know, 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:20.040 put together the rest of the musicians and if you 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:23.040 could sort of be, you know, in charge of rehearsing 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:24.840 them for me, because I'm only going to have a 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.760 few hours, you know, to rehearse with you. So I 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.840 sort of along those lines and I said, well, that's 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:34.080 an absolute dream. I'd love to do that, so would you. Oh, 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.040 that would be just wonderful, would be just great. And 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.159 of course that there's no money or anything. It's a 0:17:39.240 --> 0:17:43.600 charity thing. But he seemed to be genuinely bowled over 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:47.639 that a young generation of musicians would be willing to 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.760 drop whatever they're doing to play with him, put the 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.960 work in, do this charity gig for a good cause. 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:56.560 And and so on. You know, he see he seems 0:17:56.560 --> 0:18:00.720 to be genuinely delighted with that. And I remember hanging 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:02.600 up the phone and thinking, you know, I feel like 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.359 I just talked to John Gielgood or some sort of 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:09.480 classic you know, some classic English actor, not not the 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:22.639 cracked actor. At it sounds like David gave you an 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:25.240 awful lot of trust and freedom just in letting you 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:27.520 be the band leader. What was he like when you 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:30.560 were actually in the room and performing altogether? It sounds 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:33.520 like he was really generous and letting everyone be themselves 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:37.399 and not micromanaging everyone. Yeah, I mean that was very interesting. 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.359 And his his musicianship was very interesting because he always 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.000 played it down, you know, you would he wasn't a 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:47.439 muso in terms of talking about why he played a 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:51.119 Martin versus Gibson, and why he liked this tuning on 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:54.440 his strings and you know how he was influenced by 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:58.760 you know, he totally played that down, both his guitar 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:04.280 playing playing and slats playing as well. And he was 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:08.000 a capable musician, but he seemed to feel that it 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:14.680 would diminish his stature as a front man if if 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:18.520 he was viewed as as a sort of multi instrumentalist 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:21.960 or somebody that cared a lot about the music. You know, 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:25.160 he I think wanted to give the impression the music 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.560 just flowed out of him. It was just an intuitive thing, 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.640 not something he ever studied. And I mean, I don't 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:34.240 very much he ever practice scales, you know, but I 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:39.080 mean he was he as capable musician, and certainly you know, 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.920 he could arrange for any instrument. But I think his 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:47.520 his gift really when working with a band was that 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:49.439 he would stand in the middle of the room and 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:54.080 just sort of exude, you know, sunshine and wonderfulness, and 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.359 he would you'd look at him and you'd want to 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:58.520 please him. You know, you'd want to play a part 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:02.520 that he would like that he would enjoy um. And 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:04.879 you know, he never got behind the keyboard with me 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:09.280 and showed me something that he was hearing. He would all, 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:12.280 you know, he would give you little hints and push 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:14.399 just prod you in a certain direction. But then there 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:17.399 was it would be my idea that came out and 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:19.800 he goes yes, you know, and then he would just 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.840 he sort of moved the band forward like that, and 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.679 he would occasionally say I'm not sure about that intro 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:28.720 and he'd leave it at that, and then you know, 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:30.640 the drummer would say, well what if I just started 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.840 with this film? All the guitarists would say, okay, I could, 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:35.760 I could play this chord to bring it in, and 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:40.119 the go yeah, that's much better. Um. So he was 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.960 the opposite of micromanager. Really. He was somebody that just 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:48.439 inspired you to be at your best. And you mentioned 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:51.560 he was only available to practice a handful of times. 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:53.840 Was that a concern at all for him? Was there 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:57.399 a sense of nervousness leading up to this? At what 0:20:57.440 --> 0:20:59.520 point did it become a parent that this wasn't just 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:01.840 a charity show, This was something that was, you know, 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:05.879 a very much bigger deal than that. Yeah. It was 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:12.200 actually three afternoons on consecutive weekdays for about three hours 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:15.600 each in a in a rehearsal room in West London. 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:18.679 Plus we we hadn't really had. That was those the 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:22.000 band rehearsals, and then he wanted to do some vocal rehearsals, 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:26.159 so we went to where he was shooting Labyrinth and 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:28.640 he had a trailer and that the people that were 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:31.760 going to be singing in the live thing. We just 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:36.359 sort of routine some backing vocals in his trailer and 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:40.280 that was it. And yes, it was a concern because 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:43.240 he kept changing his mind about what songs he wants 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:46.479 to do. In fact, at the beginning, when when we 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:49.399 first set up, he said, well, I I need to 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:53.120 promote my current single, which was Loving the Alien, and 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:55.320 I mean, you know, it's not a terrible song, but 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:58.360 it's not you know, wouldn't make his top twenty list 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:02.240 of all time classics. As we got closer to live aid, 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:06.960 I think he realized the magnitude of the show that 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:11.040 it wasn't just you know, some charity festival thing. It 0:22:11.160 --> 0:22:13.400 was going to be a global event and it would 0:22:13.440 --> 0:22:15.919 be sort of you know, I'm not sure if he 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:19.080 knew then that it would be sort of immortalized, you know, 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:23.040 that it would take on this sort of iconic status 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:25.640 like a woodstock or something like that. But I think 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:28.360 he realized after a while that it wasn't about promoting 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:32.119 your current single. It was it was about just pure 0:22:32.200 --> 0:22:35.080 pleasure for the audience, both the live audience and the 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:38.159 TV audience. And he was back to seduce. He was 0:22:38.240 --> 0:22:41.960 back in seduction mode again, you know, and he realized 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:46.320 that he had to pull out some sing along feel 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:49.840 good classics from sort of you know, from different eras, 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:52.479 and we had to knock him dead. You know, we 0:22:52.520 --> 0:22:55.439 were playing after Queen, who are a great live band, 0:22:55.720 --> 0:22:57.600 and he, like you said, he was putting a lot 0:22:57.600 --> 0:22:59.920 of trust in us because we were you know, we've 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:02.800 probably had an average age of about twenty four and 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:05.840