Andy Kyriacou: Modern Romance, 80s Pop Stardom, and the Stories Behind the Music

Show Notes

Drummer and founding driving force behind Modern Romance, Andy Kyriacou, joins Tony Mantor for an entertaining and revealing conversation about the rise of one of Britain's most recognizable pop bands and the journey that has kept the music alive for more than four decades.

Andy shares the incredible story of joining Modern Romance just as the band faced its final opportunity with its record label, the creative idea that helped launch "Everybody Salsa" into the charts, and how grassroots promotion transformed their career into international success.

The conversation also explores life on the road during the 1980s, the realities behind fame and financial struggles, reforming the band years later, and why audiences still connect with the music today.

Andy also discusses writing his upcoming autobiography, drawing from personal diaries kept throughout the band's early years, offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of pop music's most memorable eras.

In This Episode

• Joining Modern Romance at a pivotal moment
• The story behind "Everybody Salsa" and the band's breakthrough
• How creative promotion helped launch a chart-topping career
• Performing on Top of the Pops and reaching international audiences
• The realities of touring and life behind the spotlight
• Why success didn't always mean financial security
• Reforming Modern Romance for a new generation of fans
• Writing an autobiography using decades-old personal diaries
• The importance of audience connection during live performances
• Preserving the legacy of 1980s music while continuing to create

Andy offers an honest and humorous look at the music business, sharing stories of perseverance, creativity, and the enduring power of songs that continue to bring people together across generations.

Whether you're a lifelong fan of 80s pop or fascinated by the stories behind legendary bands, this episode is packed with unforgettable memories and valuable insight into a remarkable career.

Be sure to follow Almost Live Nashville for more exclusive conversations with the artists, musicians, and entertainers who helped shape the soundtrack of our lives. 

Music Bed: T. Wild

Mantor Music BMI

Transcript

Welcome And A Big Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Almost Live Nashville. If you haven't already, take a quick second to tap the follow button. It really helps the show reach more people who love music and entertainment. Thanks for being here. Joining us today is Andy Kiriaku. He helped create the soundtrack for some of the most unforgettable years in pop music. What makes his story remarkable isn't just music, it's longevity. After helping build one of Britain's iconic pop acts of the 1980s, he helped bring the band back to life, introducing modern romance to a whole new generation while continuing to perform and evolve as an artist. Today we're going beyond the hits. We're talking about the early days, the rise to success, what it was really like navigating the music industry, and what keeps passion alive after decades in entertainment. Thanks for joining us today.

Premier League Joy And Small Talk

SPEAKER_04 0:54

My pleasure. I'm actually in celebratory mood as well. Well, that's definitely good to hear. My team won the Premier League with the Premier League champions as from last night. So I'm running around going, Yeah, it's great. It's only been 22 years since we last won it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

So after such a long time, it's always nice to feel that victory for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:13

Yeah, it's great. It's great. It's like winning the Super Bowl for me. Yeah, it's our Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

Yeah, exactly. That's a great thing to have. So let's start it out with giving us an update on what you're up to lately.

Building A Memoir From Photos

SPEAKER_04 1:24

One of the things I've got to start doing very, very, very soon, because you can see on that table. Yeah. A whole pile of books. They're all photograph albums. And I have finished my book, which is a biography of my life with modern romance, humble beginnings from a Greek Cypriot background, everything's you know, joining a band that's touring the world. And I finished it, but now got to the part where I've got to pick some photographs. Sure. And they are thousands versus scan them. That's the bit that's going to take time scanning them, get a friend of mine to manipulate and crop them if they need to be cropped, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

And then choose which ones I'm actually going to use. Because obviously I can't use thousands in a book. I've got to use 25, 30.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Right.

SPEAKER_04 2:05

But then I want to be really choosy because I have some great pictures of the band then, some great pictures of the band now. Um, people that I've met, that I've had photos taken with, who are well-known people, so it'd be nice to have them in the book as a nice touch. Sure. So I've got to choose, and that's going to be the next hardest thing. So sitting there going through them and going, well, you know, the one with I won't use the one with Elvis, I'll use the one with the Beatles, for example. It's the modern day equivalent. So many people, and I've got to try and use them tastefully because I don't want it to be a whole bunch of pictures of me with other people because that's not really a history of the band or my life. Right. Yes, I've met all these people, but in passing, hello, hey, you, let's say we're at the same geek, let's have dinner together.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Right.

SPEAKER_04 2:47

So then beyond that, I don't see them again. So I've got to be choosy if I'm going to do anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

How hard was it for you to write this book? You've got all these stories and experiences from your life and career, but I've noticed something myself. When people ask me specific questions about things I've done, I can answer them because the question brings those memories back. So, how did you put all these memories together to create this book?

The Diary That Preserved The 80s

SPEAKER_04 3:11

Um, there are some outstanding stories which are the kind of things you never forget, and they're the things you talk about after dinner, and so guess what happened to us once? And people laughed at hilarious things.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Right.

SPEAKER_04 3:21

But the reason I'm able to recall most of it, most of it I wouldn't remember because it kind of one blurs into another, it's a toy, you loads of things happen.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Right.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

But the reason I can remember everything so well and so precisely is because I kept a diary during the 80s. Oh, nice. Um, so I used to keep this diary and studiously write into it, you know, did a gig at Sand So today, met, yeah, bumped into Elton John's cat, whatever, you know. Right. Um, and just make a little note. Uh, met this lady of the night, we whatever we went off and did whatever. Yeah, it's all little entries. But then when you get that years and years later, it really does, it opens up your mind, and you remember that night exactly. But if it wasn't for those prompts in me, you wouldn't remember half of it because one night blends into another. But when you've got that to keep everything apart and keep it compartmentalized, this was this night, that was that night, this happened this night, and I've got dates, I've got times, I've got everything's all in there.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Nice.

SPEAKER_04 4:18

So I kept the diary from 81, early 81. I started, yeah, but no, late 1980, I started keeping the diary and stopped doing it in 19, stopped keeping it in 1985, I think. Um, halfway through the year, I've got an entry that says, I had decided I can no longer be bothered with a diary. So this is my last entry over and out kind of thing. And that was it. Never wrote another thing again. But after that, I got married, so you you can't forget getting married, whether it's good or bad. You can't forget what you got married, you had children, so all those things are from memory, as are all the things that happened in the intervening years, yeah, with being in modern romance, then reforming it and doing it all over again. All those things are from memory.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:06

The stuff from the 80s is from the books. The books were invaluable, yeah. Because they bring up stuff that it's 40 years ago. I'm never gonna remember that.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Right, exactly.

How He Plays Hits Today

SPEAKER_01 5:16

So are you performing now?

SPEAKER_04 5:18

Yeah, yeah, we're still doing um all the lots of 80s nights and well, they call them retro nights, right? And festivals, and you know, people say to me, you know, do you play things like best cheese of our longest and everybody's sounds like? Well, if we didn't, we'd be lynched because that's what we're there for, right? And we're not the sort of band to even even the smaller kids, I wouldn't go there and say, 'Well, these are all the tracks off our new album.' Because I've seen so many people, so many artists who are fantastic, and then they'll go out and say, Tonight we're playing our new album. And people feel a bit aggrieved because we came here because you became famous playing this group of songs, yeah, and you didn't play any of them. You played this new group of songs that we don't know, and they're alien to us. And they do people walk away thinking, well, I feel a bit cheated, you know. Yeah. So I don't want to do that with anyone. So I make sure I might introduce one or two new songs. Sure. Yeah, new, you know, new new songs that were just released, here it is, but I'd always play with the old ones because they're the ones that made us.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

That's definitely a good way of thinking for

Joining Modern Romance By Chance

SPEAKER_01 6:22

sure. When you first started Modern Romance, was it just kind of an off-the-cuff thing that you did for the time? And then after it started going, did you think that maybe this thing could last and it would be listening to your music decades later?

SPEAKER_04 6:37

Right. Well, firstly, I was actually the irony is you said when you started this thing, I was actually the last person to join Modern Romance of the Modern Romance that everyone knows.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 6:51

So I was the last person they they had a drummer and they got rid of him and got me.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 6:56

When I joined, I was unaware at the time because I just I just met them at this club. They just finished playing at this club, and I just went over to have a friendly chat and you know, and say to the drummer, Well, I've just left my band. So if you know any drummers, any bands that are looking for a drummer, I'm available, give them my number. And he said, Yeah, yeah, give me your number and I'll pass it around. Unbeknownst to me, they were looking to get rid of him. Obviously, I didn't know this. So he gave them my number and said, If we need a percussionist, and they said, Okay, they rang me up to go and play percussion with them. But before that actually materialized, they rang me back and said, Actually, we've done some research on you. We know which band you played for before, and it's a great band, we know everyone loved it. So, on that basis, because you were the drummer of that band, we'd like to ask you ask you to join our band, Modern Romance. And at the time they were unknowns, nobody knew them from Fred down the road. Yeah, and I said, Well, you've got a drummer, that's who I gave my number to. And they said, Yeah, we'll we're getting rid of him anyway. And I was put in a position where they they said, Look, it's up to you. He's going, we can either give the job to you or someone else, but you're here and you're payable and you're suitable for what we want, and we'd like you to join.

SPEAKER_03 8:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:05

I I just thought it made sense because I thought I thought if I don't take it, someone else will. So why the hell not, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

So after joining the band, what were some of the challenges that you faced right away?

A Label Deal With No Guarantees

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Well, the challenges were we've got kids coming up, bunch of songs. You've got two days to learn them.

SPEAKER_03 8:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

And to learn every little thing and every little every little syncopation and every little thing that's going on. But you know what? That wasn't a problem. I'm quite good at learning stuff that way. I'm quite a quick learner, and that wasn't a problem. What not so much was a problem, but what threw me later is I did have a rehearsal with them because obviously I had to hear the songs being played because giving me a tape of what they've done or what they've done in the studio is completely different to what they do live on stage or different live arrangements, different endings, people come in at different places. So we had a rehearsal, and we're having this rehearsal, and there was a break at one point where we'd get a cup of tea or whatever, have a little break, and two of the guys were talking talking, and I overheard the magic words at the time, record company. Excuse me. So did I hear you just mention? And they said, Oh, yeah, we've got we've got a deal with Warner Brothers. Now, this is huge, yes. You know, everyone wants to be in a band that's signed to a label. I've just joined a band that assigned to a label, but I had no idea. So I mean, immediately I was wow, this is fantastic, you know. And then they carried on speaking while I'm sitting there in my head thinking, wow, this is amazing. I've joined a band with a deal. And they said, Oh, yes, we've already released two records, and they were flops, absolutely bond, nothing. And the record company had told us that we've got one more go at it, and if we don't uh have any degree of success, they're going to drop us from the label. So I went from up here to down there very quickly because I realized they've already had two flops. Chances are they're gonna have a third flop. Along the line, I heard the two songs that they'd released. One which was actually a very, very good song. Once I joined them, we were doing gigs, we played it live at every gig, right up until the very end. Every gig we played this song. Great song, I loved it. But the other song they released, which was the first one they ever released, I would say the worst record I've heard.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

Honestly, it I heard it and I thought, what is this drivel? What you know, and then add on to that by saying, This is a record we're going through. You need to learn this because this is a song we're going to release as our third single. Bear in mind, I mean, you don't know this, you're is this new information to you now. But the bands I was in before Modern Romance were all very jazzy, bluesy, funky, very you know, right? And then all of a sudden, I'm in this band that's playing. I didn't realize how poppy this song would be. And it was a song called Everybody Souter. And I remember sitting thinking, oh my god, is this your third attempt? That's it. We're we're dead, we're dead in the water. I wouldn't release this. It's too, it's far too popular, far, you know. Forgetting the fact that this is a pop band, right? I'm being very kind of musical about it and very sort of up myself, thinking, oh no, no, we want something with more you know drummings and more more bit more fusion, bit of jazz fusion thrown in. And but no, this is not what I've joined. And at the time I fell to recognise it, you know. I now look back and think that song's great because it put us in the position that we were in.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Yeah, that was your big breakthrough.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

Absolutely, but I couldn't see at the time. I joined them and we had these we had this song that we were touting around as yeah, the new single. But the irony is you said to me when you started this, when I joined them and they uh had these two flops, and then you know, this single was out, and we were not getting we were not getting much in the in the in by way of radio play.

The DIY PA Tour That Worked

SPEAKER_04 11:46

It's very hard to get radio play at any point the back then and now. That's right. And um, I had a friend who owned a club in the West End, a very good friend who he didn't he was he didn't own me, he was the D the in-house DJ, but he said to me, Um, oh yeah, he said, I've been told by Sansa, you've joined a new band now, you're not in this band you're in before. You joined an email. I said, Yeah, yeah, they're called Modern Romance. He said, He said, Why don't you bring them to the club to do a PA? And now I had no idea what a PA was. Okay, because in 1981, the idea of PAs was new, right? So I said, What's a PA? So it explains, you know, you come along, you lip sync to the single, you throw a few out, you sign a few graphs, and that's your PA, done with you. Everyone gets to know who you are. So I suggested it to the band. I said, you know, a friend of mine said we do this, and they said, Yeah, yeah, it sounded like a great idea. So we went along and we did it on a Saturday night. Phenomenal. The reaction was unlike anything I'd seen because we're not even playing, like we lip syncing, and everyone's sort of that great autographs. And can we have a single and can you autograph it for us? This is marvelous. But then we wanted to go on tour because we were a live band. Yeah, the record company, and I can't say I blame them, said that well, look, you've had two flop singles, we don't feel confident enough to pour loads of money into a project called Modern Romance, hoping that you're going to have success with the third single, You're on your own. We can't finance that. We financed two singles, nothing happened. So we were in this kind of limbo where we had this single, but no way of getting it promoting it. Yes, the radios were there, but right we need to we need to get it on the radio. How do we do that? I don't know how this idea is it's probably the most ingenious idea I've ever had, ever. I just sat down one night and thought, well, we can't go and tour because it's too expensive because you have to pay for roadies and trucking and and uh all the instruments have to be moved around and hotels for the roadies and the band and food, and it just becomes it's a real big thing. And then I suddenly thought, well, doing the PA the other night didn't cost us any money at all. We just turned up, sang a few songs, and left and got a few free drinks, which was marvelous. And we left. Why don't we do a tour of PAs? Yeah. So I suggested it, and everyone looked at me like I'd lost a plot until I explained. And basically, we ended up going in a limo or a couple of limos, sure, just the band, no equipment. The only thing we had were boxes of records in the boot, and we would go to do a club in, for example, Birmingham, do a club at 10, 10:30. 11. Do it. It's only a three-minute appearance, it's one single, and then you get off and sign a few things. And so if you got there at 10:30 and got on stage at 11, you were done by 11:30 because after your three minutes, you've got 20-25 minutes of signing, and then in the car and off to another club again in Birmingham, but a different club. Sure. So we did two or three in the night, stay the night, and then the next day go to Walburhampton, which is the neighboring town, and do three or four that and we did this all across the country and working our way down. And what happened was a lot of these clubs, their in-house DJ, also did the local radio station.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

Yes, that's true.

SPEAKER_04 14:50

Go in the next day and say, Had a band at the club last night where I played but turned up, guys called Modern Romance, they're fantastic. Listen to this, this is what they played, and they all started playing it. So Piccadilly Radio, all the different radio stations in Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool started playing the single. And in the end, we got to the point where the only two stations, or the only two really relevant stations that weren't playing it, were the BBC and Capitol Radio, with a big London station at the time. And in the end, they started playing it. Once they started playing it, people started buying it in their droves. Started it started pushing it up the charts. And of course, once you get once you break into the top 30, and the way top of the pops worked at the time, once you broke into the top 30, then you got invited to do top of the pops. So that was it. It was a snowball effect. Once we did top of the pops, more people started buying it, started climbing higher up the charts, and that was it. The start of a a career that's lasted.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Yeah, and I believe that you made it in top of the pops 13 times.

SPEAKER_04 15:52

Is it 13?

SPEAKER_01 15:53

I think so. 13 times. Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_04 15:55

And that's something with the teens, 13 or 50.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

With everything that you were doing, how did the record label change? Did they change at all? Did they help you out?

SPEAKER_04 16:04

Well, I I think I mean they were okay, they were good. They weren't horrible to us. I mean, they they helped us out in certain ways, but they didn't finance any tours. In the end, the tours were financing themselves because promoters were saying, I'll put you on tour, I'll set you up in this place, come and do some gigs here. Because the promoter knew, well, this band they're gonna sell, I'm gonna make money, they're gonna make money, people are gonna come to see them because they're well known and people do like them. And it kind of took on its own life after that. But the the company were helpful, the weapon company were very helpful, you know, where needed, they were great.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Now, with all this going on, eventually, I think you got to the point where everyone went their separate ways.

Fame Without Money And The Break

SPEAKER_01 16:42

How long did that last?

SPEAKER_04 16:44

Two weeks. No joking. Um, yeah, I think it was it was 85.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 16:51

In the middle of 85, we were touring. And um, the one thing I will say, because people there are people that don't realize this, we were actually very, very successful, but made no money. Yeah, so it's that rock and roll swindle thing that went on in the 80s, we were part of that as well, right? So we were touring, and it was halfway through 85. And I said, Look, after this tour, I said, Um, I'm leaving the band. That's it, end of story. Because I was fed up with doing gigs, you know, going doing these fantastic shows in Singapore, here, there, everywhere, you know. Right. Italy one day, then leaving Italy to fly to to Norway to do three gigs there. And it was it's all fantastic. Don't get me wrong, it was absolutely brilliant. Um, I wouldn't change that aspect of it for the world. It kind of made me who I am today. I learnt a lot, it made me grow up a lot and appreciate people and cultures. But there's nothing worse than doing all of that and coming home and having empty pockets, yes, and people assuming that well, you've just come back from a tour, you must be loaded. Let's go out for dinner and celebrate. And you think can't actually afford to go out and celebrate because I've got no money.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Yeah, that's tough.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

You know, my close friends all all knew the situation.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Yes, perception is definitely different than reality, especially when you're coming off a tour.

SPEAKER_04 18:10

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I remember one night a girl coming up to me in a club where we'd just done a PA came out to ask for an autograph and I was signing with, and I'll never forget to turn around and she said to me, Cool, I bet you lot are loaded.

SPEAKER_03 18:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:24

And I thought, Well, little do you know. Right. You've probably got more money than I have. Well, you definitely have got more money than I have, because we were on 40 40 pounds a week, which was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 18:35

So, with all that happening, did you actually leave the band like you said you were going to do?

SPEAKER_04 18:40

I I did, I did. The tour finished and I left. And on the same night, our singer at the time um said, Well, if he's leaving at the end of the tour, I'm leaving as well. Then he left. And after that, the whole thing kind of fell apart a little bit. Yeah, the couple of them tried to keep it going for a short while and then they just didn't bother.

Freelance Drumming After The Split

SPEAKER_04 18:58

Uh and I just went off and I I kind of got into this niche market here in the UK where because I'm Greek Cypriot, I happened to fall in somewhere along the line with somebody who said, Oh, we need a drummer for a singer who's coming over from Greece, but a well-known singer, you know, the equivalent of you know, the Franks and Archers, those kind of singers, but the Greek versions, you know. Sure. Um, the Hula and Glacius is at the time of Greece.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Right.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

Once I did one or two, I was then doing quite a lot of them. And the band I was playing for were also being called as a band to support this artist. So when it comes over, we want you to play the music. So all these people would come over. And funny enough, just a little sideways step. My ex-mother-in-law, who I'm still close with, actually passed away about three weeks ago.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 19:48

The other night, my daughter was talking about when they did the tributes and everything at the funeral, which is coming up in six days' time. But she said, Um, oh, we've arranged all these Greek songs and even English songs that she used to hum and sing along to herself. And we've arranged all these songs, and they found this Greek song. Oh, yeah, she used to like this song. And they were trying to read the name of the person, but it's a long Greek name. And I said, Oh, what do you sound so? And they said, Yes, I played for him when he was touring England, you know, from Greece. And it just made me realize that God, I played for all these people, and I didn't at the time realize how significant that was because they are so big in in Greece and Cyprus. Yeah, because they've come to England, yeah, I'll go and play these people. But I looked back and I think, God, I played for some big names, and I didn't realize at the time what I was actually doing because I'd come from a big band, so I I didn't kind of look down upon it at all, but I just didn't realise the relevance of you know the significance of what I was doing. But that's what I was doing. I was doing that stuff. I also um somewhere along the line played a bit with Boy George. I did the couple of tracks in the studio. Um, I played for a guy. I don't know if you there's a guy called Craig McLaughlin who was on Neighbors.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:59

As he played Henry, I think.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 21:02

So he he carved out a little pop career for himself. And when he was in England, I was on the TV doing all the songs for him and the little bits he was doing. So I did that and I did various little bits. So basically, it was a freelance drumming kind of thing. Anyone who wanted me, I'd go right up, come along and I'll play.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

If I remember correctly, I believe the band split up about 85 or maybe 86.

Reviving Modern Romance In 1999

SPEAKER_04 21:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 21:23

Then you restarted the band in what 99? 99, yeah. 99. So, what led to you restarting the band once again?

SPEAKER_04 21:32

Um, because I saw that there were a few concerts happening of people saying, you know, let's go back to the 80s, and and 80s artists were performing in 1999. So it's obviously 20 odd years later.

SPEAKER_02 21:45

Right.

SPEAKER_04 21:45

And I realized the people who were listening to us in the 80s have probably gotten married, had children, now in their 20s and moved off, and they want to go out and they don't want to go and listen to Blur and No 80s, they're not interested, they want to hear. What they were listening to when they were young. Right. So, and I saw a few people like um Shalomar out there and uh bands like that, all 80s bands, and I thought, oh, this is interesting. So I got in touch with David James, who was the bass player at the time, and also he was the one of the co-founders of the band.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:18

Met up with him and I said, look, why don't we just reform the band and get going again? Because but reform it with maybe a couple of people that we want, because there were a couple of people in the band that we both didn't get on with. They were both not ideal, um, you know, it's character-wise. So I suggested to him, let's get the band together again. As a famous blues brother, let's get the band together again.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:39

But he said, because by now he was into management, you know, to 1999. He's managed, he actually managed Sinead O'Connor for a while. Okay. So he said, Um, I can't really see me ever going back on stage again, and not that's something I want to do.

SPEAKER_03 22:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:55

However, you, as one of the main members of the band who we never didn't have hits until you joined, so everyone knows you and the band as it was. He said, You've got as much right as anyone to go out there because he owned the name, he said, Look, I'll sign the name over to you. So you effectively become Modern Romance, yeah. And you go off into the blue yonder and do what you want to do with it. And I said, Lovely, thank you very much. And I've been doing it ever since. Dave and I have been very close friends since as well. I mean, we've been together three or four times a year, but we speak to each other regularly.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Are there any of the former members in it, or is it just you? No,

Why It Becomes A Solo Revival

SPEAKER_01 23:28

it's just me. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 23:29

I mean, I I can be quite brutal about this and say, other than John Dupre, I would have had in the band, but he'd gone on to uh writing film scores and stuff. So he wrote John Dupree was a trumpet player, and he wrote the music for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He wrote the music for um all the Monty Python films, yeah. Co-wrote a lot of it anyway. Um, and when I did speak to him, he said, and I said to him, Look, I'm recording a new album, I'm basically doing all the hits again, fresh with me singing them. Come and play trumpet. And he said, by the time I relearn to play trumpet to that standard, because he hadn't touched it for 40 years. Wow, 35 years. He said, By the time I relearn to play trumpet, he said, You'll have finished the album. He said, I haven't touched a trumpet in years. I would look at it and go say to myself, What exactly are you supposed to do with this? I would have had him in the band, but unfortunately, the the rest of the band were either lovely, lovely guys, but not great at their instruments, or great at their instruments, but not nice people, you know, it's not gonna work. Right. And that's being blatantly honest.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Once you restarted it, then you got out there performing.

New Crowds And Kids Singing Along

SPEAKER_01 24:33

What was the response like when they started seeing you doing your old hit songs?

SPEAKER_04 24:37

I mean, I I was I was gobsmacked because I thought, well, you know, is this gonna work? You know, you're always a bit, it's always a bit tripulation, and what's gonna happen? And um, and the response was amazing. I mean, people were just so feeding off of this 80s thing, and let's hear those songs again and singing along. And the thing is, even now, usually in a festival where you can get kids are allowed, but you see young kids, 11, 12, 13, and they're singing along to Besties of Our Lives and singing along to everybody's houses, and you think, how the hell do you know these words? The words to the verses, not the choruses, they've been listening to it because their parents were listening to it.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Right.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

Well, I like to use the term loosely, but they've been brainwashed into loving modern romance, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

20 years from now, someone picks up your records, they listen to it, they

What He Wants Music To Do

SPEAKER_01 25:24

like it. What do you hope they come away from after they've listened to your music?

SPEAKER_04 25:28

I'm hoping they come away with and think, well, this band gave a lot of people pleasure in in a way that so a lot of people think music is something to write you're gonna write about politics and the world and this and that. No, there are writers and people doing that already and reporters doing documentaries. I don't need to hear it in a song format. One song may be here than everywhere, but when people make their whole career about writing these songs, and I'd like to think that listen to our stuff and say, Well, if nothing else, these bands were a release for everybody from all the nonsense in the world that there was going on at the time. People could go somewhere, listen to this music, let their hair down, dance, enjoy themselves, and go home happy. We never take ourselves seriously. Oh, you know, we're a band, and yeah, we are a band, and we're very fortunate in what we're doing, and we're very fortunate that we're able to give people the pleasure. And one of my main things, I try to get them to sing along with us. So it's a joint venture. It's not just me singing to them, I sing with them. I invite them to sing it onto the choruses, I give them a whole verse of themselves and let them sing, and then we'll come back in. For me, that's where the pleasure comes in for me because I see them enjoying themselves and I see them taking part.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Yeah, that's always nice when you get audience interaction. You know they're not there just to listen, they're there to be really part of the show, and it feels like they are part of the show.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Absolutely. I look at them as people talk about when you go to a soccer game and the crowd, because you get 11 aside, and the crowd of the 12th band.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 26:55

I look at them as almost like a member of the band, they're the other member of the band, and I get them joining in singing because we feed off of that as well. Sure, sure.

Favorite Songs Band Politics And Vinyl

SPEAKER_04 27:03

We see that and we we okay, we're elevated because we know we're doing our job, we're doing well.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Out of all the songs you've recorded, and it doesn't have to be a song that you've released, what is one of your favorite songs that for one reason or another, it just means a lot to you?

SPEAKER_04 27:20

Um, it would probably have to be the ones that I've recorded in recent years that I've written as well. When you've got a song that you've written, it obviously will have more meaning.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Right.

SPEAKER_04 27:32

Um so it would be either Marie or Yaya, but there was one in the 80s called Blame My Jealousy that I was particularly proud of. It was a quite different song for us at the time. In actual fact, it was earmarked to be a single, and then because of band politics, it was reduced to the B side, and the B side became the A side. And even then, the record company, someone actually asked me from the record company, said, Can I ask you a question? What's that? Why did you change your minds and decide to have this as the B side and that as the A side? Because they said it would have worked much better the other way around. And I said, Well, what can I say? Band politics. That's all I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Yeah, I have seen so many times that a band or a label will put a song on the B side, and the B side is actually a better song than the A side. The beauty back then, if the A side wasn't working, could always flip it over and promote the B side. Because with today, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_04 28:26

Yep, yeah, because it's the same product, you're just changing the way that you're pushing it.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Exactly. Yeah, a lot of people don't realize that was a very big thing back in the 60s, 70s, and of course the 80s. It was kind of a cool thing they did back then. Because now, with the digital sound, it's completely different.

SPEAKER_04 28:43

Yeah. I was gonna say we've lost a lot of things because of the digital digital age.

SPEAKER_01 28:47

We have I truly love the analog sound.

SPEAKER_04 28:50

Oh, my record player sits there and I play, I use it all the time.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

I really love the sound of that needle hitting that vinyl.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

Yeah, but yet they're still making records as well now. Yes, records records are on the on on the rise all over.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

You can't beat analog sound. So, what's the schedule looking like? Are you

Touring Plans And Real Priorities

SPEAKER_01 29:08

traveling a lot this summer?

SPEAKER_04 29:09

Um, mostly traveling in the UK, the stuff we're doing. I had just come back from a week in Madeira, but that was uh a little break. But we will have stuff, we've got stuff in the pipeline uh for next year and traveling abroad and stuff. So it's actually quite good that I didn't have to go abroad this year because I had a lot of stuff to do at home. We've had a funeral, we've had my partner was in hospital for five weeks with pancreatic cancer, so um I wouldn't have gone anywhere with it. But anyway, fortunately, she came out uh okay, and good. Uh she'll be fine, she just needs time to recover, but she's getting stronger every day. That's great.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

That's good to hear.

SPEAKER_04 29:42

It wouldn't have been nice to be traveling the world and trying to find out and say, Well, you know, is a person I care about still alive. Right. I'd rather just be here and look after her.

SPEAKER_01 29:51

So priorities.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

Yep, that's right.

Thanks Follow And Contact Details

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Well, this has been great. I really appreciate you taking the time to join us today.

SPEAKER_04 29:58

My absolute pleasure. It's good to be here.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Yes, my pleasure as well. Thanks again. Thanks for spending your time with us today. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. Contact us at media at plateau music.com. Thanks for being part of our journey.