WEBVTT - Howard Jones 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.400 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:17.000 My guest today is Howard Jones. How are good to 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:19.880 be talking with you? Well, thank you so much, Bob. 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:24.840 It's very nice to be talking with you. Okay, people 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.560 can't see this, but you're wearing a sweater that says 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:31.800 nine thirty. What's that about? Um? Well, I I recently 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:36.199 played the nine thirty Club in Washington and I've been 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:38.800 wanting to play there for so long. They for some 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.440 reason could never get me fit me in um and 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:44.279 so I wanted to get some and they gave us 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.000 some merch at the end of the night. So it's 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:51.479 a really comfy one. So are you the type of 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.080 person who you know? Bill Wyman was the Stalls, was 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:56.960 a famous collector. He's still with us, but he sold 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.600 some of his stuff. Do you keep all them? Because 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:03.760 you know, promoters are legendary for giving gifts to performers. 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:06.959 You still have all that stuff? Um? No? I mean 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:11.080 this was a very special thing for me because I 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.280 normally I don't I wouldn't take any kind of merch 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:17.119 from the gig, but I just thought it was very cool. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.640 It's black and I've always wanted to play there, and 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:25.959 everybody asked me what that means. So actually there was 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.160 one of the few venues where well they actually did 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:34.240 a baby merch and one of our one of our 0:01:34.280 --> 0:01:36.800 crew members has recently had a young baby and my 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:41.920 wife Jan bought some baby merch that we got some 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:46.840 pictures back today with the nine thirty logo on it. Okay, 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:49.480 so how extensive is your merch that you sell at 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:54.360 a gig. Well, we always like to sell music because 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:57.800 you know, that's the most important thing to me. So 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.880 so they'll always be like the you c d s 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:05.360 and vinyl if we've got it, um and uh, you know, 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.320 a couple of great T shirts, but it's really important 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:11.680 to have the music there. And uh do you personally 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:13.919 choose the T shirt or as somebody else do that? 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:18.360 And no, no, I get I do get involved. And yeah, 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.520 we we we always spend a lot of time working 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:23.000 on you know, what the designs are going to be. 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:24.880 Are they going to be related to the album or 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:29.320 to the live show or or just an abstract you 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.280 know design. So yeah, we spend we spent a lot 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.799 of time. So if I go to the gig, I've 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:37.680 seen you, but not recently. I saw you at the 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:39.960 House of Blues in l A. I believe it was 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:44.639 about twenty years ago, but um, yeah, I don't remember 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:47.480 the merge there. But if I go to your gig today, 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:49.400 are you going to be at the merge table? Am 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.960 I going to get to meet you? No? Do we do? 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:55.920 We do a meet and greet before the show. Now. 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.560 I used to go out to the table, but I 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:04.080 found it difficult because it was lovely meeting the fans, 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:06.240 but there was quite a lot of drunk people and 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:10.400 they were trying to grab me. So my view has 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:12.840 been like, it's much nicer to have some sort of 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:17.480 dignified greeting with people and be able to spend some 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:20.440 time with them and chat properly. So we do that 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:24.320 before the shows. Yeah, so you have these meet and greets, 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:29.440 do you tend to know personally you're hardcore fans. I 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.080 do recognize quite a few of them, Yes, and it's 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:36.320 it's it's very it's lovely actually too to catch up 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:38.800 with them, and you know, have this history that goes 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.400 back you know, maybe you know thirty or forty years now. 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:45.680 I don't know all of them, but they you know, 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.160 they will um, they will make themselves known to me. 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.559 You know, they've written something to me on Twitter or 0:03:52.600 --> 0:03:54.600 something like that. You know, people can eat you know, 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:57.680 they can get holding me through email if they try 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:03.040 hard enough. And I try and do one reply a day. Um, 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.480 because I can't reply to all of them, but I 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:10.320 choose one and at least one person is happy. You 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:16.400 know how many people reach out in a day? Um? Well, 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:21.719 because I don't reply all the time, I probably get 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:26.320 about four or five emails a day. Yeah, and I 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:28.440 assume they have to be pretty good sleuth. I mean, 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:32.720 your email address is not that readily available, correct, Yeah, 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.719 that's right. They have to work out. That's a kid. 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.360 Let's let's go back to the point of vinyl. If 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:44.640 I go to a gig, you you mentioned the vinyl 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:46.600 may or may not be always available. Do you have 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:51.160 vinyl from every album or do you have specialized product 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.880 for the tour? What do you got? Um? Well, usually 0:04:55.520 --> 0:05:02.320 the tour is is associated with an album, but not always. Um. 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.000 You know, vinyl is so hard to get made now, 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:07.479 so there's usually this big lag. You know that the 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:11.080 CDs are really quick to make, but everybody wants final 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.680 so it's taking us like six or seven months to 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:20.680 actually get the vinyl done. I was very skeptical about 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.279 releasing it on violent. I thought, I thought, we've got, 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:25.920 you know, got away from that, you know, a medium 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:30.279 that's that's got built in noise, you know. I I 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:32.159 it's not the way that I meant it to be 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:35.600 when I'm working in the studio. However, I have become 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:40.440 a convert to this sound and there's something about vinyl. 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.160 It's very hard to sort of put your finger on it, 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.480 but it's it's you know, it's got a great sound. 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:52.000 It's not the sound that we originally we're hearing when 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.800 we mix the record, but it's got another sort of 0:05:54.920 --> 0:06:00.680 level of I don't know, nostalgic associated with it that 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.080 really I think it's nice on the ear. I think 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.120 it's something to do with the the sound waves being 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:10.919 rounded off by the process of making the vinyl. So 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:14.480 I've become a convert. And now we do vinyl for everything. 0:06:14.520 --> 0:06:20.200 And you know, Cherry Red handle my early catalog and 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.960 they're constantly putting out vinyl to go with things that 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.360 people have never been able to get on viol and 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.760 they absolutely love it. So you know, got to go 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:34.280 with the fans. That's what they want. Okay, what kind 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:39.360 of mic are you using there? I'm using an appert microphone. 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.039 But the reaon I mentioned is I'm usually the identical mic. 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.360 I could just see. How did you end up with 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.320 the Hide mic club? Well, you know, I've been a 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:55.279 I've been a friend of Bob Clear Mountains for thirty 0:06:55.320 --> 0:07:00.320 five years and Betty, of course I've known her for 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:05.159 even longer, and she runs the company. And so I 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.200 got this nice little present one day, which and I 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.200 think it's a great sounding mike, isn't it. It's unbelievable. 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:17.400 The analog compression is one of the great features. Yeah, wonderful. Okay, 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:19.760 let's go back to the vinyl thing for a second. 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:25.840 So you cut digitally, now, how far back in the 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:29.960 beginning we're gonna like the humans lib was that kind 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:36.560 of analager digital? Now that was recorded onto multi track analog? 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:43.560 Although you know we were using UM sampling you know, well, 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:45.680 I say primitive, but I mean it was. It was 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.560 good quality, but it was it only had like a 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.280 maximum of nine seconds that you could you could you 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:57.400 could um you could actually sample. So so although we 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:02.840 were recording to analog, we were using UM. You know, 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.800 it's sort of up to nine second seconds of sampling, 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:09.920 which was good for like snare drum samples, based drum 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:14.120 samples and sometimes a bit of vocal stuff to fly 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:18.240 around you know, the tape. But yeah, it was it 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:23.040 was human slop and dream interaction actually were recorded onto 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:27.640 onto multi track tape. Okay, a little bit slower. Okay, 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:30.040 why is there? You know we have analog tape that 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.880 runs you know, fifteen or thirty i p s. When 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.440 you say you can only use nine seconds, explain a 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.920 little deeper what you mean. Yeah, well, it was the 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:46.440 it was the very early days of digital sampling. So 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:49.800 so this was before you know, you had like Aki 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.760 sound samplers and fair lights and things like that. So 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.679 in the studio we had a box I'm trying to 0:08:55.720 --> 0:09:00.800 remember the name of it now, and Rupert Hine and 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:06.760 Steve Taylor were you know, early adopters of of this 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.840 of this of this technology, and so they could root 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.800 anything that was being recorded on a desk through to 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:19.480 the sample. And so for instance, you know, I would 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.640 run my drum machines. But we we thought, well we'd 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:26.600 like a better a better snare sound, or a better 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:29.480 bass drum sound, and so we would be able to 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:36.960 trigger this this sampler, um, you know from my drum machine, 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.960 uh inputs to to actually get you a better sound 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:44.680 through it? Or does that does that sound? Does that 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.320 make sense? Well? I think that about for the amateur 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:51.160 one can understand a fifties sevent But let's go back 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.200 to the beginning. So when did you start to play 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:58.680 a musical instrument? Um? Well, I started around with seven. 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:04.440 My My parents were Welsh. They both spoke Welsh and 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:07.280 so in Wales. You know, they grew up in Wales 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:12.000 and everyone sings and everyone is interested in music. So 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:16.240 it was really important for them to for for for 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:18.480 their kids to be able to play an instrument. And 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:22.520 I was the firstborn and so you know, they got 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:26.319 me piano lessons when I was seven. Um. I absolutely 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:28.840 hated it at the beginning. I didn't have a very 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:33.360 inspiring teacher, but they encouraged me to keep going and 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.480 I sort of, you know, ground away at it. I 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:41.160 got to nine years old and my mother always used 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.839 to have the radio on. So at nine years old, 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.960 I I heard this song that I'd seen on TV 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.600 as well, um, and it was the winner of the 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:52.720 Eurovision Song Contests. It was a song called Puppet on 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.280 a String by Sandy Shaw, and I heard it on 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:57.200 the radio and I went to the piano and I 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:00.520 worked out the tune and how to harm anize it, 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.400 and I thought, and that was like this massive turning 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.000 point for me, um that you know, oh, I can 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.320 hear tunes and I can bring them to the piano 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.600 and start, you know, playing playing them and trying to 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:15.440 get the chords right as well. So so from that 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:22.600 moment on, I was very obsessed, unhealthily obsessed person with 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.240 the piano. And you couldn't keep me away from it. 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.280 And you know, I should have spent a lot more 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:30.600 time out playing football with my friends and stuff like that, 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:34.160 but I was in there banging away on the piano. 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:36.480 But of course, you know, I guess it paid off 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:40.320 in the end. It certainly did. But let's okay, you're 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:45.199 playing the piano. It's an analog instrument, and you came 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:49.800 of age with all these digital innovations, etcetera. When did 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:54.080 you start experimenting with since and drum machines, ettera. And 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:58.840 what was the interpiration? Yeah, well, there's a few things. 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:00.880 And when I when I think back, I mean the 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:04.720 first band I was in It was a band called Warrior, 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.560 and this was when I was still at school, and 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:10.240 the drummer in the band was a bit of a 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:15.360 a kind of electronics whiz, and he actually made me 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:20.760 a synthesizer from from a kit that they had um 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:23.520 they'd had in an electronics magazine. I can't remember the 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.240 name of it, but he actually made me a one 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:31.320 oscillators synthesizer that I could play, you know, in the band. 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:33.319 And so I was like, what, wow, this is amazing. 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:37.520 And I'd seen Keith Emerson at the Island White Festival 0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:40.680 in nineteen seventy when I was I was too young 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.600 to be there, but I managed to call my parents 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:49.680 into letting me go and saw Emerson with his huge 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:53.600 Moog modula and the sounds that were coming out of it. 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:57.480 It's just absolutely blew my mind. And I kind of 0:12:57.679 --> 0:12:59.599 that was it. Really, that was the turning point. I 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:03.199 think I wanted to be involved in this new way 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:07.800 of making sounds and this exciting way of of generating sound, 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:11.360 you know, and being a keyboard player that was gonna, 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:16.160 you know what, I could eventually start to afford anything 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:19.800 resembling what Keith had um, you know, I would be 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:22.200 i'd be there. I used to hang out at the 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:27.320 local Hammond Organ's shop in high Wycomb on on a 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:31.640 Saturday afternoon and sort of go in there and they 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.560 kindly let me mess around on the on the Hammonds 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:36.880 and so that was a huge thing for me. I 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:41.400 couldn't possibly afford one of those instruments, so my my 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:47.319 parents got me a Larry Heritage um which which they 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:52.440 got on HP and then we borrowed a Leslie from 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:56.800 the drummers parents house and we used to take it 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.600 round to gigs. Can you imagine this beautiful piece of 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.439 burning so that's meant to be in the home and 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:06.559 we carted it around, you know, all these horrible little 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:08.480 gigs that we that we were playing at the time. 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:13.560 But yeah, so that was me and my obsession with keyboards. Really. Okay, 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:17.120 let's go back, so at age seven you start playing 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.560 the piano. How old are you when you get infected 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.080 by the cnd Shaw song? I think I was. I 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.880 was nine or eleven or something like that around that time, yeah, 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.120 I think. And then when did you start playing in 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:35.120 being to start working with people live? Yeah, um, well 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:39.000 I think I played in my very first band. I 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.840 was in Canada because my parents had emigrated to Canada 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:47.080 twice in fact, and they came back twice. So the 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.000 second time we were out there, I was at high 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.480 school and I was invited to be in a band 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:56.120 and they got hold of a fox Continental for me 0:14:56.240 --> 0:15:00.080 to play, and I played some covers like how So 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.040 the Rising Sun by the Animals and just one or 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:06.600 two gigs before my parents decided to move back to 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:10.720 the UK. So, um, it was really that that. That 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:14.400 was the first time I ever sort of played with with, 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:18.880 you know, other electric musicians. Okay, just hold one second there. 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.440 How did they know that you played? Were you like 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:26.560 known as the piano guy? Well, yeah, that's a good, 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:31.800 good question. I during lunchtimes, during my lunch break at 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.600 the high school, I used to get used to go 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:36.640 into one of the classrooms where they had a piano 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:40.840 and start playing, you know, because that's my thing, and 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:43.960 an audience would gather around and that's how they got 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:46.800 to know. Um, it became a bit of a thing 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:54.480 and you would play. Did you also sing at the time. No, 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.360 I didn't sing at the time because I never thought 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.360 of myself as a singer, although I sang as a 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:05.680 child and my parents were both singers, not professionally even 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:10.920 you know, because they loved singing. Um. There was always 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:14.360 music and I used to we used to do Beach 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.880 Boys covers my my brothers and I had three brothers 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.520 and we used to do that, you know, do our 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:23.800 best with it with with Beach Boys harmonies when we 0:16:23.800 --> 0:16:27.640 were really young, when we didn't have any instruments. Um. 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:31.440 So yeah, so I did sing any behind. It was 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:33.960 never on my radar to be the singer, you know. 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.880 That sort of came much later. Okay, let's go back 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.920 to the Beach Boys. Were you singing the Beach Boys 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:47.120 when you were in Wales? Yes, yes, you know. One 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:52.680 of the things about our childhood was that I don't 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.000 know what if the tradition is still there now, but 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:59.080 when we used to visit our grandparents and our uncles 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.560 and aunties, we it was kind of expected that you 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:05.040 would do you were, you would do a performance. You know, 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:07.720 they would usually have a piano, so I would play 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:11.879 the piano and then my brothers would join with me 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:16.240 and and sing harmonies together. So it was you know, 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.680 you kind of it was performing as a natural way 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:23.879 of life really, so I kind of think that's the 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:27.920 way it should be, really it. I love that organic, 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:31.879 the way that music is just part of life and 0:17:32.000 --> 0:17:35.480 you you learn how to sing, you learn how to play, 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.040 and then you go around to somebody's house and you 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:40.480 and you do it for them, you know. I mean 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:44.959 it's kind of got blown out of all proportion now, 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.679 you know, big stages and stadiums and things like that, 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.639 but that's that's the way it was originally. Well, you know, 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:54.880 you would just gathered together and listen to somebody play 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:59.040 or listen to somebody sing. Okay, were you a big 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:04.719 beach boy? You know? Um, I was at that age. 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:11.000 We we were. We were hearing the the um you know, 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:15.600 the surf era of the of the beach brobs. So 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:19.200 you know, on the beach we used to sing um 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.159 good vibrations. I don't think we were quite up to 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:26.480 up to doing that. But it was much later that 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:34.840 I in my life that I realized the genius uh 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.320 you know of other beach boys and I was, I was. 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:39.320 I was a late comer. I was a late coming 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.320 to it, but once I got there, I was like, 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:45.159 oh wow, this is just so great. Yeah, but what's it? 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:50.080 What's it like being in Wales listening to surf music. 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:52.159 I mean, I grew up in the East Coast of 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.359 American Connecticut and I would hear the songs from California. 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:57.920 Sounded like a dream. I wanted to go out there, 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:01.960 being the surfing culture. But you were in Whales. So 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:08.159 what were these songs meaning to you? Yeah, well, I 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:12.720 guess you know, it's not so far off really well, 0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:14.720 because well, as you know, you think, Wales is a 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:20.240 land of song and choirs are everywhere. I remember when 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.960 I was living in Cardiff, I went I used to 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:27.240 go to a local church where they had concerts on 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.840 and there would be like the Morriston Orpheous Choir there, 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:37.680 you know, hundred piece male voice choir singing, and it 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:40.960 just was just part of you know, I didn't you didn't. 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:42.960 I didn't think anything of it at the time. I 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:45.439 realized now how amazing that it was to have that 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:50.520 input into my life. Um, and you know, singing was 0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:52.960 was you know, if you go to a football match 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:58.560 or a rugby match, always the Welsh quiet um. You know, 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:02.280 crowds sing so beautifully. They're not only saying that, they 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:07.640 harmonized as well. It's a kind of natural ability and 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:11.800 so hearing the Beach Boys. Really, I guess was oh yeah, well, 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:13.919 you know that's them doing it. But you know in 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:18.199 the Sunshine in California. Okay, So you were born in 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:21.600 nineteen fifty five the Beatles hit in the UK and 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:26.480 sixty two in American sixty four. Were you conscious of 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:30.440 the arrival of the Beatles. Oh yeah, I absolutely was. 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:32.560 I mean my mother listened to the radio all the time, 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:36.520 so that's what we were hearing all of that. Um, 0:20:36.560 --> 0:20:39.680 you know, coming through the radio, and the Beatles were 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:45.760 huge in our family and in my life. Um and 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:48.879 this you know, way before I could I had a 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:53.359 record player or I could afford to buy a record. Um, 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:57.760 you know, it was yeah, massive, massive influence. But but 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:01.080 all the all all those sixties contemporaries of the Beatles 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:04.480 as well, you know, Freddie and the Dreamers and the Tremolos, 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:09.560 and you know, I I'd be hearing it, you know, 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:13.000 constantly and getting very excited. And I'm so glad that 0:21:13.040 --> 0:21:16.280 my mother was a keen radio listener, you know, so 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:20.240 because we didn't have any other means of recorded music 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:24.080 in the house. Um, so coming through the radio was 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:34.320 a big deal. Okay, Needles just say, there was music 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:37.880 before the Beatles, but in the US was palpable. There 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.720 was a youth quake, as they put it. Everything blew up. 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:43.399 There was the Beatles, There was a British invasion and 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:48.720 ultimately the San Francisco scene in psychedelia, which uh UK 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:52.719 had a huge part of. There was traffic, etcetera. Was 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:55.320 that just music or could you feel that it was 0:21:55.480 --> 0:22:03.600 really a scene? Into what degree were you dedicated to it? Um? Well, 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:09.080 I I think I was probably too young to be 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.600 being able to acknowledge any kind of scene, you know 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:14.200 what I mean? You know that you don't have any 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:17.720 previous with it, you know, you don't you don't have 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:24.879 any historical references before that. And but it felt to 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:31.199 me like the Beatles were young men, you know, not 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:36.320 that much older than than you, that were like living 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:44.240 through history and reflecting the changes in society with their 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:47.399 music and with the clothes they wore, and the and 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:50.960 the films they made and the album artwork and the 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:54.159 clips that we used to see on you know on 0:22:54.200 --> 0:22:58.480 the TV um you know when they when they when 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:02.640 they recorded you know, what is all you need is love? 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:05.919 You know? I was remember watching it on the on 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:08.199 the TV Live as they were doing it, and it's like, 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:11.600 it's the most exciting thing you could ever imagine. So 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:16.560 it was. It was amazing actually when you think about it. 0:23:16.560 --> 0:23:20.160 When I think about it, to grow up with them 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:24.840 and and their development, and you know, the influence they 0:23:24.880 --> 0:23:28.159 had on me and my my schoolmates and everything like that, 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:32.200 you know, wearing loon pants and you know, going down 0:23:32.200 --> 0:23:35.639 to Carnival Street to buy clothes and you know, it 0:23:35.760 --> 0:23:41.040 was like it was so massive. Um. But you know, 0:23:41.119 --> 0:23:48.320 I guess looking back on it, you realize that massive impact. Um. 0:23:48.320 --> 0:23:50.160 At the time, you know, you don't really have any 0:23:50.600 --> 0:23:53.119 reference bot you just think, oh wow, music is the 0:23:53.160 --> 0:23:56.240 most exciting thing ever in the world, and these guys 0:23:56.240 --> 0:24:01.040 are the best at doing it. Um. You know. Well, 0:24:02.000 --> 0:24:04.160 you know, the funny thing is, if you're in the UK, 0:24:04.480 --> 0:24:08.880 people tend to look down on Liverpool, Lions and Scousers. 0:24:09.119 --> 0:24:12.639 What was that like? Was there any fascination with Liverpool, 0:24:12.680 --> 0:24:15.080 the fact that the ban came from there another band? 0:24:17.720 --> 0:24:21.040 You know, because I hadn't really traveled very much around 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:25.000 my own country. I mean, I've been to Canada twice 0:24:26.160 --> 0:24:27.879 and I think one of the one of the times 0:24:27.920 --> 0:24:30.360 we actually sailed from Liverpool, you know, because we went 0:24:30.440 --> 0:24:33.800 by boat. But I never sort of thought of it 0:24:33.840 --> 0:24:37.200 as geographic guard. Just always thought of it as they 0:24:37.240 --> 0:24:40.080 were in our country, they were of our country. I 0:24:40.119 --> 0:24:45.399 didn't even think about Liverpool or accents. It was just 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:54.240 you know, the the the British and yeah, you know, 0:24:55.280 --> 0:24:59.119 I didn't analyze it any further than that. Do you 0:24:59.160 --> 0:25:04.959 speak Welsh? I can? I can pronounce Welsh and I can. 0:25:05.400 --> 0:25:09.399 I can. I can read it and and and and 0:25:09.560 --> 0:25:12.920 pronounce it. I can sing in Welsh, but I don't 0:25:12.920 --> 0:25:17.680 know what I'm saying. My parents, my parents spoke Welsh 0:25:17.760 --> 0:25:21.639 at home, but they didn't teach us because they wanted 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:25.320 to keep a secret language. Actually that was one thing 0:25:25.359 --> 0:25:28.040 that was one payoff of it. But the main reason 0:25:28.280 --> 0:25:32.720 was they thought having to language with languages would be 0:25:33.000 --> 0:25:35.920 an impediment for us. And of course we know now 0:25:36.680 --> 0:25:39.040 it's really good to learn more than a language when 0:25:39.040 --> 0:25:44.600 you're young, but we they they held that back from us. Yeah. 0:25:44.920 --> 0:25:47.600