Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville
Tony Mantor talks with entertainment industry people in the U.S. and internationally that have made a mark for themselves.
Conversations with those behind the scenes people that help them achieve their success along with up and coming entertainers as well.
Stories that give a deeper understanding on what it takes to achieve success in the entertainment industry.
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Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville
The Musical Journey of Mike Batt
Mike Batt shares his fascinating journey from writing Wombles hits to collaborating with Justin Haywood of the Moody Blues on their new orchestral cover of "Like in a Northern Town."
His career spans decades of evolution as a songwriter, producer, composer, and arranger working with everyone from Art Garfunkel to the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Collaborated with Justin Haywood on a new recording using the London Philharmonic Orchestra
• First gained fame writing songs for The Wombles television show after negotiating for character rights instead of a one-time payment
• Wrote Art Garfunkel's hit "Bright Eyes" and has worked with numerous other artists
• Balances classical orchestral influences with contemporary music in his compositions
• Currently working on a symphonic project he calls "Symphony No. 9"
• Released his memoir titled "The Closest Thing to Crazy" about his music career and adventures
Visit mikebatt.com for more information about Mike's projects and to purchase signed copies of his memoir.
My career in the entertainment industry has enabled me to work with a diverse range of talent. Through my years of experience, I've recognized two essential aspects. Industry professionals, whether famous stars or behind-the-scenes staff, have fascinating stories to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these stories, which offer a glimpse into their lives and the evolution of their life stories. This podcast aims to share these narratives, providing information on how they evolve into their chosen career. We will delve into their journey to stardom, discuss their struggles and successes and hear from people who helped them achieve their goals. Get ready for intriguing behind-the-scenes stories and insights into the fascinating world of entertainment. World of entertainment. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville.
Speaker 1:Joining us today is Mike Batt, singer, songwriter, producer, composer, arranger. He has done so many things in this music business. He was the songwriter behind the Wombles hits, art Garfunkel's hit song Bright Eyes, and the list is just too long to tell. He's here to talk about his career and his latest endeavor that he recorded with Justin Haywood of the Moody Blues with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He has a great story to tell and we're happy to have him here. Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2:I'm delighted to be asked.
Speaker 1:Well, it's my pleasure to have you. My understanding is you and Justin Haywood have got together to create a new project.
Speaker 2:Indeed, we did a project in the was it the 80s, late 80s? It must have been about, I think it was 89, where we went into the studio at Abbey Road and we did an album called Classic Blue. The idea was no rhythm section, just a symphony orchestra and Justin's voice with me kind of backup vocals, and we did a couple of versions.
Speaker 1:Oh nice.
Speaker 2:It went very well and became one of these well-known solo albums and all these years we've been friends and so recently we just said, hey, that was fun, why don't we do some more? So we went into the studio with the same orchestra, the London Philharmonic.
Speaker 1:That sounds like a great project.
Speaker 2:Of course, all different players. They've all probably moved on and younger players have come through. We went to their own hall, henry Wood Hall, and we took a mobile unit. I did three arrangements, three new ones, and I conducted, justin took the tracks back to where he lives in Europe and I joined him and then we put the vocals on and I left. He mixed it. So that's the long version of have we Got A New Project? Long answer.
Speaker 1:That's all right. So I understand on the song that he sang the verses and then you sang on the chorus. Is that correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had intended it to be a Justin Solo project, but it just turned out that I sang the chorus, because it's a big block of harmonies, effectively that kind of African chant.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And so it, you know, turned out. In the end. Justin said hey look, you're singing on this as much as I am. Why don't we just put it out as a duo, almost.
Speaker 1:Nice, so you've been friends for a long time. How did it feel to get back in the studio and do some more music and collaborate with him on the new project?
Speaker 2:Well, it was great. It was particularly great because we just trust each other. We work together. In fact, the first time we actually worked together was when I did my project just called the Hunting of the Snark, based on a Lewis Carroll nonsense poem, which is called the Hunting of the Snark based on a Lewis Carroll nonsense poem. To promote it, I did an Albert Hall concert and there was a character on the album. It was kind of a concept in the way that, say, war of the Worlds is a concept.
Speaker 2:The character on it sung by Art Garfunkel. He couldn't make it for the concert so Justin and I were friends so I said hey, justin, why don't you come and sing artie's part? So that happened. That was in 1987, yeah, so that does place our thing a couple of years later. And, uh, he sang it really well, it's actually available for anyone who wants to look at it. Uh, they only have to look at youtube and google the hunting of the snark and the Mine Aid, as in Mike Batt, and it'll pop up. They can see the whole show and Justin singing the part. The character's called the Butcher, anyway. So I think he enjoyed working with the orchestra and standing in front of the orchestra and working, and that's why he did the first album.
Speaker 1:That seems to be just a little bit different take than what he's used to doing with the Moody Blues.
Speaker 2:Well, it was in one way. It was in one way and it wasn't in the other because obviously Justin's completely used to working with orchestras. Right, the Days of Future Past was, interestingly, the tracks. Justin's always I've seen him point this out in interviews that he's done the tracks that the band played on Days of Future Past, the Moody Blues, they're not actually with an orchestra. The orchestra on them is provided by a Mellotron Right. Peter Knight, the arranger, arranged kind of interstitial pieces that carried them on and joined the tracks together. So it was quite an unusual concept. But they were recorded separately, I think the same studio, but different times. You're right, it's a slightly different thing from being the Moody Blues, because the Moody Blues is basically a rhythm-based band. Yes, Sometimes with orchestral supplement.
Speaker 1:Yes, and the great thing is, when you put all these people together in the studio, you've got it all charted out and they're working on it. They, when you put all these people together in the studio, you've got it all charted out and they're working on it. They put in their emotions and how they perform with their instrument. You come out sometimes with a sound that is just better than what you'd hoped for.
Speaker 2:That's right it does. And this track Like in a Northern Town that we just recorded. Well, we recorded it about a year ago. Actually it had been a hit in England 30 years ago, something like that 35 years ago, I can't remember exactly and I had remembered I loved it. Another odd thing that happened with me being quite active as an artist, particularly back then, I had a lot of phone calls from people saying oh Mike, I love your new hit like in a northern town. It wasn't me at all. It was actually a band called Dream Academy and that band had one massive hit which actually was big in the States. It was number two or number one on the Hot 100.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember that song.
Speaker 2:And they did a few more records. They didn't have a very long life as a band. They split up, went their own separate ways and it was pretty because they were. They were great and that song was great, written by somebody called Nick Laird-Klaus and Gilbert I can't remember the second name, I'm afraid, so I hope he's not listening that's not a problem but yeah, that's where it came from so what was it like when you went in the studio?
Speaker 1:there have been many times when you go in the studio, you've got all the musicians there and then everything just goes really well, but something happens that just takes it to that next level. Did anything like that happen to you on this song?
Speaker 2:Well, actually I'm going to say no, because the way this was done is the way I did quite a lot of things. But I understand that process and that feeling that you described, that process that you just described, and it's exciting when that happens, when the record builds into something you didn't expect. But when you go into the studio with an orchestra, you're not going to add a guitar solo, you're not going to add any rhythm stuff to it afterwards. You haven't pre-recorded any rhythm to a click beforehand, just an orchestral performance. You have to have a pretty good idea of what it's going to sound like. I mean, that's my job as the conductor and arranger of it to do that. And also you only have three hours to record three songs, so you just go. Let's do the first one.
Speaker 2:We spent the longest amount of time on the first song, which was not. This song actually wasn't the the one we released. In fact, we've entered into a pact not to tell anybody what the other songs are. Okay, one of the other ones was the favorite and we spent I don't know two hours on it, and then we got this one down in two takes. The other one, the third song, was more of a personal one for justin. That again literally just took a couple of takes. Then we were out there, of course the vocals and two takes. The other one the third song, was more of a personal one for Justin. That again literally just took a couple of takes. Then we were out there, of course the vocals. Yeah, they make a difference, big, big difference. In this case, obviously, justin's singing on it just transformed it from being an orchestral backing track into a phenomenal vocal performance.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're 100% correct there. The first one is always the longest. The musicians have to get settled in, get into the groove, then, once they are, usually it's just smooth going from there yeah, and everyone relaxes after that first once in the can as well yes, yes, exactly. I've had opportunities to work with musicians from the national symphony same there. So it happens with the best of them.
Speaker 2:Brilliant yeah, was that like solo stuff?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a song that I recorded that had a full band. Then I wanted the texture of a symphony behind it, so I used different pieces from the Nashville Symphony to fill it all in. That's why I asked you if it went to another level, because with using these people, the way they put their feelings and emotions behind the strings of what they played, it took that song to a completely different level than we thought it would go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that happens if you've laid down a rhythm track and then you hear the orchestra coming on top.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's exactly what we did with that song.
Speaker 2:Obviously with me. It's a bridge I cross. I've already arranged the music. Sometimes I've arranged the rhythm and the strings, brass and woodwinds, so that you could record it, and sometimes we do all at the same time, which is thrilling when you do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're so right. There's no better feeling than that.
Speaker 2:You've got to have somewhere like Air Studios in London Air Studio no 1, where they have separation booths for the drums and guitars so you don't get drums all over your string microphones, that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you definitely don't want that instrument bleed on separate tracks.
Speaker 2:No, what you do want, funnily enough, is bleed from the brass and woodwinds onto your strings.
Speaker 1:Yes, that adds a great texture to it, for sure.
Speaker 2:Exactly to give you a nice fat sound.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Now. You've done a lot of great things. You've evolved over the years. You started out with a band and it was part of a TV show. Can you expand on that some?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I had my first hit when I was 23, which I thought was too old, because I came into the business when I was like 17, 18, desperate to learn, teach myself to orchestrate and produce, and I was writing songs. I got signed as an artist but I spent five years having a few near misses but not actually having a proper hit. And it was only when I was 22, 23 that the Wombles came along and it was just a job I was doing. You know, would I please write a TV theme? And I just said, why don't I write you a song? And then they said great, and how much would you like? You know, we'll offer you 200 pounds, and I could have really done with that 200 pounds, because I had tears in my jeans before it was fashionable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know that feeling sure.
Speaker 2:But I turned down the 200. I said, look, I'd much rather have the rights, the character rights, to make a band or just record. I didn't think I was even going to make a band Because I was so much in need of a hit financially. I worked very hard to make it a hit and that's why my first hit was wearing a very strange furry costume made by my mother, and I've been known as Mr Womble ever since, even though that was only two years of my life really. But it kind of got me on the road to being accepted as someone who can make a hit yeah, that's the big thing.
Speaker 1:Once you get that first hit record and people see that you can write and do things like that, the perception grows, you evolve and then things can just take off from that point moving forward indeed, and my biggest problem was then to get people to take me seriously.
Speaker 2:I mean oddly, to start with, I mean I signed to CBS Records with the Wombles. I couldn't get them to take the Wombles seriously, which is in itself almost an oxymoron. How can you take a Womble seriously? The whole point is that you don't, and a lot of people don't realize that you can be quite a serious musician but still have a sense of humor.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly.
Speaker 2:You know, I'm sure Mozart I'm not putting myself on his level, but I'm sure Mozart used to. If he'd had a gorilla outfit, I'm sure he would have worn it quite a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, look at the 60s, we had the Monkees and bands like that. Yeah, they were serious musicians, yet they were put together for a TV show band.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I mean, then I wanted to be something other than a bubblegum kind of artist. I actually did get the chance to do that in other countries where the one was weren't famous. So, for example, sadly I didn't break through in the states. But Germany, austria, switzerland, you know, holland, most of the European countries, I should say Australia, south Africa, a lot of places I was able as a non-womble. I think people looking back on it might call it prog rock, but I never called it that. I prog rock was happening at the time but I was kind of more. I just happened to was happening at the time, but I was kind of more. I just happened to use an orchestra because it was, I was in love with writing for the orchestra and it just happened to be that way that makes sense.
Speaker 1:So by doing that, did that allow you to use the orchestra in your music moving forward?
Speaker 2:yeah, well, I mean, I, I use a lot of orchestral. I put a lot of orchestra on the Wombles records. There were four albums, so about 50 songs. I had Fred Astaire one, we had Minuetto Allegretto, which was a piece of Mozart that I converted into a song. So I used the orchestra. It was my passion. Yeah, when I became a free agent, as it were, and I was no longer wearing my furry outfit, I could be Mike Batten, a songwriter, and I made an album called Schizophrenia, which did really well. I mean sold hundreds of thousands of albums all around those territories. I just mentioned Second album called Tarot Suite, about the tarot cards. I'm not into the occult, but I was extremely interested by it. You can be interested by it without being, you know, buying particularly into it. I did learn to sort of read the tarot cards, but just for fun really. I never claimed to have any particular psychic powers.
Speaker 1:I think that's great. It's just another way of evolving and immersing yourself into something that's a little different, and from that you never know how it's going to change your attitude, how you may look at things, and it can definitely affect the music that you make because of it was sucked into classical music about the same time in 1962, by Schubert's Symphony, schubert's Ninth Symphony, which came in, you know, in a leaflet on a leaflet, through the door, one of those cheap record clubs.
Speaker 2:At the age of 12, I couldn't really even afford to join that, but I did so I was hit. I was just hit out of the park by that, and just as that was happening the Beatles started putting out singles Like hang on a minute, no, this is what I want to do. So I constantly had this symphonic side and the rock and roll side and I just always use it might even sound a bit pretentious, but it's like an artist's color palette. There is all those colors as you just described it. You have all those different ways, you can do something and I just like to use all of them. So if I fancy putting an oboe on the intro of a song, I will, if I don't, I won't. It's a bit like that, but you can turn a lot of people off.
Speaker 2:Let's say I want to do a serious classical piece, which I've done a few suites when I've done films like like a symphonic suite to Watch it Down, for example, after the song I wrote for Watch it Down, which was Bright Eyes, and that was number one for Art Garfunkel, which is probably why he agreed to be on my other album, the later one, which was the Hunting of the Snark. But we became friends and we trusted each other. I think that's a lot of. That's probably all well, most of what you need as an artist and producer. And I've kind of lost my place now. I can't remember what question I was answering, and it would be really good if you had forgotten as well. Certainly.
Speaker 1:That's okay. It's just conversation that we're having, so you covered a lot of good things there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it's out there in the ether somewhere Now. Hopefully, all your listeners will have forgotten the question as well.
Speaker 1:Well, the beauty of it is that you gave a good little story there and I think they're going to love it. So what are the plans for the future? Any more due West coming? What do you see coming?
Speaker 2:It's an unspoken thought about doing more with Justin. Of course we'd love to, but we probably would, in this case, need a record company to come along and say, look, we'll finance it, because you know, three songs is sort of doable, but doing a whole album, it's a big undertaking. And record companies really aren't chancing their arms these days because they're making plenty of money by sitting back and letting the streaming money come flowing in. And that people like me who make records that often do require orchestras and yeah, I can do a lot at home with samples and, uh, I'm in my little room now. If I just swing the screen you can see my.
Speaker 1:That's where I do my sort of basically working stuff out yeah, that's great equipment, so are you using it for anything new?
Speaker 2:I'm right in the middle of a symphonic project at the moment. In fact, I've even got a thing called on YouTube which I call Diary of a Symphony, and I've done three episodes so far. So anyone can dial up Mike Batt Diary of a Symphony episodes one, two and three, and I'm just preparing it. Really, I'm just about 30 bars into the first movement and I say in one of the episodes I've spent most of my life trying not to be pretentious, but now I've decided to throw in the towel and if you can't beat them, join them.
Speaker 2:I might as well have a moment of pretentiousness. It was all about whether you call it a symphony or not, because you know pretentiousness. It was all about whether you call it a symphony or not because if I just called it some name, like Reflections on a Frozen Piece of Glass or something, no one would have said anything. But I'm actually going to call it Symphony no 9, because I'm deciding not to write the first eight, because everyone's ninth symphony is always the best. So why waste time with the first eight is my jig on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. Great thought process yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, maybe I'll do number eight after I do number nine. Yeah, why not? Which might guarantee me a long life, because it means I've got to get to number one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like that Job security. So it sounds like you have a lot of good things planned, a lot of good things to do, and things seem to be going very well.
Speaker 2:Well, they're certainly busy, that's for sure. And to complete the question which I think I now remember, which was were we going to do more with Justin and me? The answer is that I would think it would be very strange, probably, if we didn't, but not how well this one does. I mean, it's been brilliantly received, but it's not what people are getting into the charts at the moment. You mean it's been brilliantly received, but it's not what people are getting into the charts at the moment. You know it's a very unique record, so let's hope there are lots of imaginative people out there who think, well, we don't care about that, we're just going to go and get it, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I get that. However, the difference between today and in the past with the labels is you don't need them as much because you get so many different platforms you can sell it off from, and even though the deep pockets aren't there to promote it. It's a completely different world socially. So with the spotify's and apple and all those platforms, people don't need to hear that song six times a day at radio to like it. They can find it, like it, download it that's right.
Speaker 2:It's exactly right. I think there are things about the modern world where so much choice is happening that people can get through and yet the main enemy is all the white noise or the background radiation of the thousands and millions of other people. And tracks are being put up and now let's, let's not even get all. I'll touch on, but let's not get into a deep one about ai, because that's just going to blow us out of the water if we're not careful yeah, I agree, although I don't believe people are going to fall in love with ai performances.
Speaker 1:But to touch on it lightly, I had a friend of mine that's a publisher here in nashville. A song was pitched to him. He listened to it then. Then he told the songwriter I kind of like the song. I do like the singer better, and the singer was AI.
Speaker 2:Really yeah, he should have just given him a name and said Fred Vince or something.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's true. Yeah, I think we're all a bit nervous about it. I'd like to think I did it early on about a year ago. I asked AI to write didn't tell them who I was, because they don't know when you dial up, do they? And I said can you write a song lyric in the style of Mike Batt about? And then I gave them a couple of subjects and they came back with utter piffle, as we would say in English. It kind of rhymed and it was kind of a bit like me, but it wasn't me, and so I'm hoping that that's about as near as they'll ever get.
Speaker 1:Yeah, me too. You know the way I look at it is, when you take the creativity out of it, you've lost the heart and the soul of the music.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that there's going to have to be some sort of label that we can put on our work that says I this on my own. You know didn't have um. This is not aided piece of music, you know. But while I'm on, by the way, I don't hope you won't mind if I mention I've got a book um out. I know that usually, um, when one goes on a chat, the tv chat show or a radio interview like this one has something to promote. And of course we're here to talk about the justin record. Justin and my record um life in a northern town. But I've just released my memoir for people who know me, as I'm not that known, particularly in the states, for example, oh, book, that's great to hear.
Speaker 1:You'd be surprised. Who knows you? You're known worldwide. Plus, I have a lot of listeners in the uk that will hear this too it's a of.
Speaker 2:It's a whole life story and it's about how I took my family around the world in a yacht. We went through the Panama Canal up to Los Angeles, then over to Sydney, so it circumnavigated the globe and anyway, the book it's all about my music adventures and so on, People I've worked with and Paul McCartney can make dinner and all that kind of stuff. Anyway, it's called the Closest Thing to Crazy.
Speaker 1:Nice title.
Speaker 2:I don't know whether it was. It's the title of a song I wrote for a lady called Katie Melua, who had a lot of hits over here on my label.
Speaker 1:Okay, can you tell us where we can find it?
Speaker 2:And so the Closest Thing to Crazy is I don't know whether you'd get it on Amazon over there. Probably it'd have to be amazoncouk, if anybody was curious.
Speaker 1:I'm sure a lot of them will be. Also, do you have a website where people can find you and get more information?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's nice of you to ask. Well, my website is mikebatcom and the bat is with two Ts, so M-I-K-E-e-b-a-t-tcom, and it's quite comprehensive. It's got a projects section that you click on and it gives you loads of stuff about the things I've done that's great to know.
Speaker 1:I'm sure a lot of people will check it out now. About your book will they be able to buy the book from your website as well?
Speaker 2:Well, actually we are offering signed copies from the website. Yes, hard copy, and it's actually about to come out in paperback. So if they can't, well, anyone can get it from MikeBatcom. I'm sure I know that Amazoncouk have got it, but whether they would have it in the States or I mean I've got quite a big following in, let's say, Germany, austria, switzerland. I don't even know whether it's on that Amazon. I never quite know how the Amazon are linked around the world, but hopefully anybody who's that interested might be able to find it.
Speaker 2:But, as you say, yeah ultimately, they just go on my website. We'll send them a copy.
Speaker 1:That's great to hear. So this has been great, Great conversation, great information. I really enjoyed this conversation and thanks for joining us today.
Speaker 2:You too, Tony. It's been really, really, really great.
Speaker 1:Yes, I've enjoyed it. Thanks again. Thanks for joining us today. We hope you enjoyed the show. This has been a Tony Mantor production. For more information, contact media at platomusiccom.