Joseph Lee Jackson - Being Freddie Mercury

Joseph Lee Jackson is probably one of, if not, the longest Tribute band called Mercury and to have met Roger Taylor and Brian May. He also become quite close to the family as he always invited Freddie's mum and sister to the gigs when they were in town (Nottingham).

His story tells of a young boy who falls in to the role by accident really and 27 years later, is still feeling the same buzz as when he first started as a cocky boy and matured into a true professional.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to Banks Bad Got, the podcast where we dive into the entertainment world. Not just the red carpet and glitter, but the panic, the tears, the questionable career choices, and the author thinking moments too for talking to real people with real dreams. Surviving the highs, the lows, and the cable identity crisis along the way. So grab your popcorn. This is gonna be fun. What we have got is we've got a young man that decided to get on board the tribute band style became pretty mercury and went from 150 people in a stadium, or in a room I could say, right up to 40 to 50,000 people in a stadium in Liverpool. Welcome to the show, Josie Fleet Jackson.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Hi, this is Joseph Lee Jackson, and I play Freddie Mercury in the Queen Tribute band Mercury.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

I cannot believe we've got Joseph Jackson in the house. Believe me, how long's it been since uh I saw you?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Um I don't know, it's been a good few years, hasn't it? It has been a good few years. Ten, is it?

SPEAKER_00 1:29

We see each other in passing. Yeah, in passing. Yeah. Yeah. I think that the biggest thing for me was um when I employed you in my shop.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

My sport shop, do you remember?

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Yeah, yeah, what was it?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Take out, time out. Time out.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Yeah, time out. Yeah, that was good fun, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

And that was you and Chris Wright being little shits, because while I was away, what were you doing?

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Oh well, supposedly selling stock, but um we didn't have the um the location was the problem of the uh of the shop, wasn't it? So it was quiet. Very quiet, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

But what did you do to make up your time? I can't remember. I can't you play fucking cricket with all the gear. That's what you were doing, playing cricket in the shop.

SPEAKER_01 2:16

Yeah, well, you've got to try the goods out, haven't you, before you sell them? Try before you buy, sort of thing, you know.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Oh, I don't. No, the good old days. But let's just go back. So, what what we want to try to find out in the program is you know how you got into the business. So, where where where did it all come from?

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Um so originally, um you know, going back to the very, very beginning sort of thing. Um, my my granddad was part of you know amateur product sighting, and I um I think I went as a probably a four or five year old to the palace. Yeah, yeah. So my grandad uh he joined in the 70s. Um and I went with me my nan and we went to see whatever show it was. I think it was either something like Camelot or Oklahoma, and I was just absolutely mesmerised. I was mesmerised with everything what my grandad did anyway. Um you know, he was really big into his music, uh, all all genres of music. Performing uh is into sports as well, very good sports athlete. Um so we went to the Palace Theatre, uh, we saw this show, and uh, you know, the whole building itself, you know, the walk in. This was the old palace as well, before it got renovated, and uh you know to walk in, and the you know, the they've still got the chandeliers there and everything, and it just took my breath away. It was absolutely fantastic, and I was just mesmerised with it, and um, so I think that uh seeing my grandad in the show, being in this uh this fantastic building, you know, seeing that many people on stage, um, you know, big orchestra, stuff like that. Um, watching the Muppet Show got me into the uh what's getting me into you know the business or wanting to be involved with something like that. Well as animal or something. Yeah, probably yeah, animal, yeah. You know, I mean even then I I think um you know sort of four or five-year-old walking into because you know, watching the Muppet Show, it was like going to the Palace Theatre, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Don't don't I can't I can't even imagine it. I mean the thing with the palace way back then was it was very elegant, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Uh I I mean there's there's things what I remember, I remember the chandeliers, I can remember like the old balcony, yeah. Um and I was just um taken away, blown by blown away blown away by it all. It was just fantastic. And obviously, as a four-year-old, five-year-old, however old I was, um, it made a massive impression on me. Um, and they used I think at the time, or some years, they used to do two two shows a year. And um so you know, you you go down to the palace, and you know, there'd be an April show and then an October show. And um it was just it was just absolutely fantastic. I loved it.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

But back in them days, it was very structured, wasn't it? So, what I'm talking about there is yeah, it was more like a professional show, yeah, yeah, very much so. Everybody involved ran with a professional outlook on it.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah, um, I mean my granddad, I know um when that when they did Camelot, um say he made these like staffs with fleur de lease on and different um um signatures, you know, from you know from that time, you know, because obviously it was set in what I don't know four or five hundred years ago. So he he was quite involved with it. Um so he was doing production work? No, he'd be on stage, it'd be in the chorus, um, and then they'll they'll need certain props making for the show. And I remember you know, it it he made a uh a fire, an old-fashioned coal fire for when they did My Fair Lady. Um he did certain things for when they did Oklahoma, when they did uh Yeoman of the Guard saying he'd make all these you know shields and different things, um, and obviously he'd bring them home and well do them from home, and um so you know, watching him sort of over time not only you know rehearsing um the harmonies and and the lyrics and all that sort of thing, because he would he'd always be singing, but it would be making these different props and things like that as well. So, you know, not that I was involved, but I'd see these sort of things grow and well it's a learn habits, innit?

SPEAKER_00 7:04

And learn behavior. I mean, that's there sort of come from. All right, okay, so we're we're at four and five. Um you went back to the palace though when you were a kid yourself, didn't you? And played on the stage. What was that about?

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Yeah, well that was that was great. That was so I went to the Grove School and um we we did um the first show really was Bugsy Malone. And that I mean I was probably 12 or 13 then when we did that. Still, you know, each year going to the palace, um, going to see different sort of shows, you know. So you know, I'd go and see the uh operatic shows, I'd go and see pants mimes, the gang shows, um, and the other thing was um we'd go with my granddad, I'd go and see my granddad loved Gilbert and Sullivan, so we'd probably go to Nottingham or Lincoln. Um, you know, giving me um uh I was like a sponge, I could you know absorbing all this different types of music and performance. Um when we used to go on holiday as well, we'd go and see shows, you know, the comedy, you know, Blackpool. So you're gonna see the shows.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

You know, see some of the you know the uh the comedians of the time. Um remember seeing Mick Miller once, he was absolutely fantastic. Um now then, now then you want the book of the blue book now.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Come on, come on, come on, tell them now. What do you want? You want the blue book? You want the blue book?

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Oh, you naughty people, you yeah, you know, so seeing all that time you know, uh of you know diff different things, you know, and I was a sponge. Anyway, we we I um I went to the grove, we did books of my own, um, and it just it was it was like uh I don't know what you you would say it was, but it just grew and grew, yeah. You know, and any time I could you know spend at the palace or be involved with anything like that, uh you know, performing. I just wanted to be there, you know, and and get involved with it.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

But I mean, within your family, because I'll take it you live with your granddad, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

So all that time, yeah. Um so nan and granddad um at the uh my mum was at home until she got married, yeah, and my mum's sister. Um I think I was about eight or nine, my mum got married, and we sort of moved to uh to Fondon. Yeah, but I was always backwards and forwards from my mum's house to uh to you know nan and grandad.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

So would you say you were immersed in song?

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah, pretty much so, yeah. You know, it was um it was a big thing. The other thing was as well, um my nan was involved with the operating society as well, not on stage, but she used to um sell programs, she'd look after the patrons, lounged throughout the weeks, so it was um you know, we we were brought up with it, you know. Yeah, and it was a good old days though, weren't they? Uh it was fantastic, yeah. It was fantastic, and you know, um seeing some of the old the um uh stars, you know, Jean Robbo, who can you know can't find Robbo, you know, she was always on the front line. Chris Grand, you know, Wendy Turk, Ken Turk, yeah, all these people. Um they were the local socialites, weren't they? Yeah, I guess so.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah, I mean, way way back then, um I did a bit of um when I did the research on the Palace Theatre, their names were coming up regularly, you know what I mean? They were the people in the town that people looked up to meant to see, yeah, yeah, quite possibly.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

So I did Bugsy Malone. Um did you play?

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Can you remember?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Yeah, Fizzy, the the the cleaning guy, and all he wants to do is dance, dance and sing, and I can't dance for Toffee. Um so um I had one song in the show, fantastic, fantastic part. Um I did the the cleaner and I sang the song, and they got like most of these school shows, there's always probably about a hundred kids too many. Yeah, yeah. So uh they had about eight kids dancing around me, so they they took they did the dancing and I just just did the song and swear because that was under uh uh Miss Morgan, wasn't it? Uh no, who was it? It would have been a teacher called Mike Lucas. You remember Mike? I remember Mike, yeah, I know I didn't realise. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

On new stages, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Yeah, it was Mike was yeah, yeah, it was one of one of us. That's what I was when I came up in the 90s. Yeah, a new stager. Alright, good. So we've got we've got the school bit out of the way, so we've kept that going. Yep. Now, talk to me about the community pantomime.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Well, where do you start with that? So, um I wasn't very good at school. Um, then time I went to school was there a surprise there or not? Well, I didn't have time. I was didn't have time for school, I was too busy. Doing what? Well to help out on uh on farms and stuff like that. So really yeah, you know, June, July time. It's busy um hay haymaking, is it? Well you need to. Are you serious?

SPEAKER_00 12:20

You went out and did all that stuff? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Potato picking, October, September, October.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

You know, doing all that sort of um malaki. It was good fun, I enjoyed it. It's good, it's great.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Did the school used to ring up and say, Leah, Lee, are you joining us?

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the um what was her name? Kate Kate Ladder Lada, something like that. And the Trinity, she came down uh a field. Uh we ran off. We ran off.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

We ran off. Running across who was with you then?

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah, John O. Sharp, John O. Rowe, uh lads from the Grove, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So um no, it was interesting, it was good, you know. But um, so I I did books my own, yeah, and then um a big, big influence on me was a guy called Ray Dix, uh, who was head of drama at The Grove, and he asked me to audition for the Community Pantomia. And Ray used to direct the Community Pantomia and um Ray Semple, he was with writing them out. What was the what was the the so yeah operating society new stages? Yeah was it the palace theatre company or something like that? Oh I don't know. So anyway 20 years before my time um I I joined them as well through Ray, did a few parts um and um yeah Ray was absolutely fantastic. Um I can't remember what year was the first pantomime that I did. I can't remember it being Sleeping Beauty, but um yeah, it struck some bright friendships and we keep in touch with people, you know. But what what parts did you play? Do you remember? Um so yeah, first couple of years I did um chorus and then I did a dog playing target. Which was great. I enjoyed that. That was a good that was a good good part. Um and then back into the chorus and then got to about I don't know, 16, 17. I think one of the main parts was the year that um came. That was in the 90s. You did you I did do a Daniel that was the first the first one? Yeah what show was that?

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Oh gosh. Well it wouldn't have been Dick Wittington. Do you know I can't remember?

SPEAKER_01 14:55

But anyway, we I did this part. We played again. Um we played together anyway.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

Oh my god, um what was it?

SPEAKER_01 15:02

I was uh Freckles. Freckles. Yeah, yeah. Freckles.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Doomy doomy, doomy do me.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

I can remember the song he's yeah, yeah, we had lots of like. So yeah, so and then for about two or three years that I was still involved, because I think I left sort of like when I was a teenager. Yeah, yeah, my late teens. Um, did like I normally used to get the the daff sort of roles, you know, which the comedy roles, wasn't it? Yeah, what you just um kind of tell the story and have a bit of banter with the uh yeah with the audience, that sort of thing, you know. Yeah, so um, yeah, so I mean that was good fun.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

But that was that was singing, wasn't it? I mean, because you were you were a good little singer there. Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

I think so.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Well you never got anything thrown at you, did you?

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Well no, but I still couldn't dance.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

No, no, you're right. But like you say, I mean it's a because what I'm leading up to with this, yeah, is you've moved on to play a superstar.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yeah, yeah, you could say.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Freddie Move. No, no, we need to say it because I mean the old boy was a superstar. Or he was, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you see, you say he was, but in a parallel type dimension, yeah, you're playing Freddie. Yeah, you are singing.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

I can close my eyes. I remember coming to an actual gig and thinking, fuck me, he's dead. Close my eyes. No, he's not, he's on stage. It was just incredible. So let's talk about how you actually got into being Freddie.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

Yeah, well, that was strange. I mean, at the time I was now living in Leicester, and I was um I used to go down to London two or three times a week for auditions, you know, open auditions for numerous shows, whether it be a show, a touring show, or even a cruise show. So was you doing it professionally then?

SPEAKER_00 16:58

What the all your auditions and everything else, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I at the time I was working at the same time as well. I was I was working, I was um uh courier working for a company. I was working at the Haymarket Theatre um behind the bar, I was doing stuff backstage as well. Um and in between that, yeah, I was going down to London for for open call auditions.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

And let me just ask you this, right? Because people and people nowadays do things totally different. Just talk me through that process, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Well, uh what the auditions, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Well, the auditions but actually getting them as well. Where did you go?

SPEAKER_01 17:38

Yeah, so well no, so what it was, it was the stage newspaper, what used to come out on a Thursday. Um, and so you'd buy it on a Thursday, you'd get to the back pages, and it would tell you where the auditions were the following week, um, you know, for what show, what company, what um whatever job basically. And um, so you know, I'd I'd get the um the paper, I'd look at the the auditions. Um sometimes it used to be on a Sunday, so that was a free day, so that was great. Travel down to London. Um as much as some of the jobs were way out of my league, it was experience, and you was meeting other people. Sure, yeah. Um, and they'd say, Oh, have you heard about so-and-so audition? Have you heard this, that, and the other? And you, you know, we were going down there you know, week in, week out for months at a time. Um, you you know, you'd meet up with um you know, different you see the same faces exactly, yeah, yeah. Um, so it was nice, it was like sort of you, you know, you'd go down, you meet these people, go for a drink afterwards, it's like your own community, wouldn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and um it was good fun, and then it was if anything, it was a really good experience. I can remember going down once and it was for Beauty and the Beast, and it was a fabulous um experience because it was actually held on the the Dominion stage. Oh wow, yeah. So um, you know, my claim to fame. I've been I've been on two or three, I think three West End stages, and the Dominion is one of them, and they had this audition. And at the time, so this would probably have been before the band, so maybe '96, '97. Um they said um the advert, right, you know, casting for uh Beauty and the Beast uh bring a song what shows your range off and all this. So went down on Sunday afternoon. Um there was probably about 30 lads there. 150 girls, and um all the guys basically sang. It was at the time there'd be about three or four songs, what everybody would sing. But it'd be something either from Lamies, um, something from Phantom, um what else was the other one? I can't remember the other song now, but um basically all the lads used to sing the same song. Oh Aspects of Love Changes Everything, Michael Walting. And none of us got a look in because they basically what they wanted was a Disney song, but they didn't put that in the um in the ad. Right, right. So all these lads um go down, get on stage, give the pianist the music, you could just see the faces the direct. So you actually took docks down, didn't you? Yeah, took docks down, yeah. Um you'd you'd go on stage, um you'd sing in front of your so there'd be either six of you, you'd sing your piece, and it'd be like, next, next, next, thank you. And sometimes you'd you'd you'd get through about probably three or four notes, and they knew if you was trying to um that happened a few times, but um there was a time when I auditioned four what was it now?

unknown 21:06

I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

It was Dr. Doolittle. Um Plan Eliza, were you? No, that's my fallade, isn't it? Is it is it no what's Finn? Yeah. Dr. Doolittle. Dr. Doodle. Well, he was in the one I can walk, I can talk. No, it's not that show. Harrison, wasn't it? Yeah, Rex Harrison. What's um he played the characters?

SPEAKER_00 21:28

He played it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

No, but Rex Harrison played the I Speak to the Animals. What's that? Yeah, that's it. Doodle. Is it Dr. Doodle? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, okay, yeah. So so is that a show. And um I I got to a certain I sang about three or four notes, and the guy said, right, yeah, we'll see you next week. So I had to go back down to London for a um a movement audition. And um it's gonna be interesting. I've got no chance, no, yeah. I've got no chance.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

What part did they want you to play?

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Well basically it was just like the ensemble at starters, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Okay, right.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

So um, yeah, you you'd audition, and um anyway, I I got uh people who was any good at dancing, they got shown to the left, I got shown to the right. So um so that that happened several times because my movement skills were were non-existent.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

So uh it's interesting you say that because when you're out on stage, I mean we know Freddie Mercury and we're talking about, yeah, he he never did a a lot of anything, but the movement that he did have was almost like it was choreographed because he was led by the music. Yeah, that's right. You pick that up, haven't you?

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So so you know, going back to to the band when we started. So in the when did you start the banding? So I auditioned in 1998. I was uh the last of about 40 people auditioned for the role of Freddie.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Oh my god, right. And um let me just stop you there, right? So how did that come about then?

SPEAKER_01 23:02

What so again, so again, um uh it was an adverting stage, and I thought I never thought I'd be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Oh right.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

So I thought I'd just go for the laugh, really. It's an audition, again, it's experience. And I um I was still living in Leicester, the band was in Mansfield. Um, so I got an audition this particular evening or day, whatever it was, and it was a good excuse to, you know, if I'm over in Mansfield, pop over to Newark as well. Right. So I auditioned, I did about half a dozen songs, which I sort of knew. Um Glenn. And over Freddie songs, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. All Queen songs, yeah. So the the day before the audition, I bought this um The Greatest Hits music book of Queen. And um funny enough, the year Freddie died, 1991, I was in your working at your shop. And I bought the Greatest Hits uh on cassette.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a bit spooky. Weird, isn't it? Yeah, and that night, that night of um uh that it passed, they ITV put a um uh as a memorial. Yeah, yeah. A live concert on, and I videoed it. Videoed it. So going back going forward uh seven years, yeah. They the day before the audition, I bought this music book, blah blah blah. And um I auditioned, uh, had a chat with Glenn and Pat, our drummer, and they heard something there, and then several weeks later, um I got a recall or went for you know the recall audition. So um, and so they wanted me to have a look around, um, you know, a few more songs um and then just see what my kind of stage presents were. So this cassette, what I'd re what I'd never watched, um never watched it at all. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, you know, if there's anything half decent, you know, regarding sort of performing or live, uh, I'd I'd record it. And I'd never I'd no, you know, up until that that date, I'd I'd never um watched it. So I remembered I've got this uh you know, got this second audition who wants to see me do a bit of movement. So um, you know, I watched this and sort of like learnt the mannerisms, the moves, and you know, kind of like Freddie's stage persona. So um the uh the second audition that was just out of uh that was between me and this other guy, and then they offered me the role. And at the same time, uh I'd got an audition uh no, I got a pantomime uh based down in Eastbourne. So um I took this video cassette with me. Yeah, uh took the um the Greatest Tips cassette, because it was a cassette, you didn't know what many CDs about then. Um and every when we used to do the pantomime, every sound check, um I'd go through Glenn Radio, give me some backing tracks of you know the arrangements and we was gonna perform it. Um I would go through uh like the sound check, I'd I'd say to our sound engineer, put this particular track on today, and then I'd sort of like yeah, learn the songs, the arrangements, uh, through sound check. So I did panto for like two months, it was a touring pantomime. So, you know, probably rehearse or do a sound check maybe two or three times uh a day. Do you think they thought it was a bit weird that you were doing Freddie songs instead of songs from the show? No, I mean the the sound engineer who's um you know we're still good friends now, um he he was um he was great, he'd just let me do whatever I wanted to do, and obviously they understood that when the Panther finished I was to uh carry on the um you know this this this role of as Freddie, so to speak. So um, so that's that's sort of like got me in in good stead. Um and then during that time I I came home uh or came over to Mansfield. We had a couple of auditions for agents um to get us on the scene basically, and you know, for audition for for work. Um around about that time was the Yates' Wine Lodges, what what um used to have entertainment midweek? So I we auditioned for this agent, um, and then I mean the band started properly in 1999, but um it put us in good stead for um you know the work the Yates' wine lodges when we officially started.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

So did you do um did you get out of there and uh you know for the agents, you know, just show them what you could do?

SPEAKER_01 27:56

Yeah, yeah. So basically it would be like a 15-minute performance or the band. So um um most Sundays I'd I'd travel back to Mansfield, I'm still living in Leicester, and I'd go through the songs and everything with Glenn, he'd play in his studio, and we'd go through the the songs and uh the harmonies as well, because obviously you know there's quite a lot of harmony stuff in Queens music, and um so can you actually read music? Can't read music, I've got a rough idea of you know whether it's needs to be up and down sort of thing. Yeah, um so I would so we'd go that it he'd play like the the uh harmony lines um you know for some of the big souls, yeah. Um and I'd I'd learn them, I'd take them home, he'd record them for me, and then I'd go back and listen to them. And then the auditions process. I think we did a probably about I don't know, probably half a dozen, maybe. Um, you know, we'd we'd go to a venue um and obviously we'd set up the equipment, yeah, get in costume. This is all the band, yeah, and then do the the audition, you know, and it'd be like a 15-minute audition. Um, sometimes it was like for a soul agent, or it would be for say like the Yates' wine lodges, they'd have managers come to the auditions um you know from all around the country. So yeah, like book them or book this and basically like a showcase sort of thing.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

Um, and that's how it started. And then um fast forward to it'd be about sort of I don't know, February, March time of 1999, when we first uh when we started professionally, yeah, you know, getting paid for gigs properly. Um we found out that uh uh an agent promoter type guy from Mallorca was was wanting a queen tribute, and um he flew over from Majorca and it was probably our official first gig, really, you know, paid gig. Yeah. Um and he signed us up on the spot that night. Really saw, yeah. And that that was really good because so originally wanted us out there for six months, but um the the guys in the band, they've got families, couldn't commit for six months, so we ended up going for three months.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

Um what in one in one stretch?

SPEAKER_01 30:19

Yeah, so we'd gone sort of like June, middle of June till middle of September.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Six nights a week, yeah, touring all round Mallorca. Oh right. And that was phenomenal, it was brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

And and with regards to that agent, what did he do? Did he he pay for your gigs, uh your your sleeping accommodation?

SPEAKER_01 30:38

Absolutely everything. So we had we had um yeah, so we had sort of like three apartments. Um we had we had to drive over there, take our equipment.

SPEAKER_02 30:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

So we had three apartments, uh, so digs, food. Um yeah, it was all looked after. What was the money like? Um that I can't remember. I mean the money over here wasn't very good, I think. No, right. You'd be lucky if you got about five or six hundred quid a night, maybe. What what for the the group? For the band, yeah. Oh my gosh, how many of you in the band? So there's five on stage, and um we used to take a uh a roadie as well. So six was it's not a lot of money, is it? Not really. But um the the Mjorkin thing, it was great because so we started officially in the March, so I gave us March, April, May. Yeah, three or four months where we'll be working, and some nights in this country we'd be working four or five nights a week. Everything from like the Yates' wine lodges, yeah, the odd private party, to your working men's clubs. Right. There was a lot of working men's clubs back you know 27 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

I bet you've been up and down the country on the working men's clubs. All over, yeah. Yeah, um that might that that must have been um exciting just to be in in that you know part of the world, you know, with the working men's clubs.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Yeah, it's strange. I mean, you know, it it seems like a foreign place now because you know, right forward 27, 28 years now, there's hardly any of these venues about now, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:15

Um but when you when you look back, you know, at the uh all the old groups and everything else, that was their stomping ground.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 32:22

That's where they did their apprenticeships, really.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

That's right, yeah. Um, and it was good. And every night for us um that we we gigged was a rehearsal, you know, because we'd learn new songs. Right. We've been uh obviously the music was there. Um and we'd um you know, each week we'd try and learn a new song, and then um we'd put it in the set, the second set, when everybody's had a few drinks, yeah. Right. You know, they they don't know any different sort of thing. So um so yeah, that that was that was it was a lot of hard work, yeah. Um yeah, because we we travel, I mean, you know, just to get a gig, just to get on the circuit, you know, one night we might be in Newcastle, the next night uh we'd be in Devon or Cornwall or somewhere, and then the next night after that we'd be in Liverpool. Right, so this this is what I can never understand about that, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:18

And that is you got an agent, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Well they think they work for Thomas Cook, I think. Right, yeah, right. But at the time, you see, um we we were happy to do it because we needed to get funds in there.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

So we did that for about three or four months, and then come June, we went out to Mallorca for three months. So it was out of the country, yeah. And we was um quite a big thing, start or building into a big thing. Yeah. We want to book Mercury, but they're not here, they're out of the country, but you can book them September, October, November, December, and they'll come back into the country. So our manager uh he had three months where he didn't have to find his work, so it took a bit of uh uh workload off his back, yeah, but he was saying you can have them in the winter. So we did that for three years, and it was absolutely phenomenal. You know, we put the played um you know, up and down the country, come June, September, out of the country. New York was hard work though. I mean, we were gigging six nights a week, yeah, a lot, on it. And and we'd do anything from a small pub, which maybe hell hold 150 people, to festivals, and some of the biggest festivals played to like 25,000 people.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Shut up!

SPEAKER_01 34:38

So sort of like August.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

But what what oh that's just blown my mind, and this was played to Spanish people as well.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

But that's like I mean, you must have felt like Freddie, 25,000 people going out there and opening your mouth and then going, ah yeah, it was strange because a lot of the time, so we was playing, we'd be support act to like a famous Spanish band.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

Not an English band. So we so um we there was um you know a few famous bands what would fly over, um, and you you get to the gig, you'd be setting up getting ready for sound check, and there'd be like fans there, you know, with uh you know their t-shirts on, you thinking, I think this is gonna be hard work tonight. But the great thing is with queen music, it's so universal. Right, right. So we was we obviously we're lucky that everybody knows Queen Song, so um at sometimes we used to go down as well as the like the the the big famous Spanish act. Yeah, even so, I can remember once we did one show, big festival, and um the the the the band what was headlining they were pissed off with us because we we stormed it. They wouldn't let us in the dressing room to get our gear out.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Oh what what were they like no you're not coming in? Yeah, something like that, yeah. Yeah, but in Spanish, yeah, yeah. Normally you find it's no you're not coming in. Oh, Folkowski.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

But anyway, but yeah, that was good fun. It was really, it was fantastic. Right. Um so we did that for three summer seasons.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

And that's it put you on a high though.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

Yeah, brilliant, yeah. Yeah, I mean fantastic, yeah, it was good, you know. And I I mean, I was young then, I was only like what, 23, 24. So you were buzzing. Oh, it's fantastic, yeah. It was great. But some of these festivals probably didn't go on stage till about four o'clock in the morning. Oh so the next day you're playing uh wherever, yeah, you've got to be at the venue at five o'clock in the afternoon to set up and sound shape and do it all again. So that um that was doing that for three months, six nights a week. What was the downside to all that though? Uh the time I don't think there was a downside. No. Downside was probably coming back here. Coming to England. Yeah. Because you know, um we met so many you know, people on holiday, so they weren't a good time, you know.

SPEAKER_02 37:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

Um we were having a good time, the weather was nice. You know, we'd um we'd go to a venue, but um, you know, earlier on in you know, earlier in the day, yeah, spend the day there by the pool. We got to know the um the people behind the bar who's working there, they'd look after us, free drinks, nice food. Set up five or six o'clock, go for something to eat, go on stage at nine o'clock. So um yeah, it was good. It made some fantastic friends. Yeah, yeah. Um, you know, I I go to Myorca last three or four years with as um me and my family have been to Mallorca. I catch up with a guy I met 27 years ago, and we probably messaged two or three times a month. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um he was a massive Queen fan. He's finally owned a restaurant next to the hotel where we used to play. He used to come and see us, and we struck a friendship up.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

And now to this day we're we're still friends, you know.

SPEAKER_00 38:01

Yes, yeah, yeah, let me just talk about um voice coaching, yeah. Because I mean, did it come naturally, you know, to to sound like Freddie?

SPEAKER_01 38:13

Um not really, no. When when I first auditioned, I've got the range, um, but I was very theatrical, very musical theatre. Cringe now, listening to it, very strict. Um, so that was the big help with doing the sound check, um, you know, rehearsing when I was doing the pantomime.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

So I could sort of get my voice, if you like, so to say, uh acclimatised to sing in Freddy.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Did you go to a voice coach?

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Not then, I didn't know. Um I um I just did mostly did it from home. Um just through your ear? Just by listening. Yeah, yeah, pretty much so, yeah. Wow. Um and it probably took about six months to probably get near Freddie's voice. The thing is, Freddie's voice, it's so demanding. Um every song is pretty high, right? And you don't get um uh there's no let up from it. Yeah. And how Freddie sang on stage is totally different than how he sang in um in the studio. So let's clarify that. Well, how do you mean? So in so maybe in the st uh the studio versions, he'd probably go to his falsetto, you know, to get some of them high notes. Oh and obviously it all depends what song it is, yeah. But quite early on into sort of um me do you know touring, I lost my falsetto range. Um Freddie, it used to happen to Freddie as well. So um instead of going having the option of you know going to the falsetto, it used to either go down um uh uh you know down a notch or he'd sing it full blast, you know, full on head-on. Yeah, yeah. And that's how I do it. You know, I I sing our performance is um amalgamation of sort of like Freddie's um stage voice, yeah, live voice, with the guys doing the harmonies and um you know playing of how the studio um versions were singing. So it works well, you know, it it does work well, but that was the only option I'd got because I'd say I couldn't escape to my falsetto, yeah. Um because there was nothing there, yeah. So I had to hit it, you know, front, yeah, how Freddie did it.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Which is incredible, isn't it? Because I mean, as I say, I I can remember going to the working men's club over at uh was it Kirkby? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were over there one night and you were you rung at something and you said, I'm I'm I'm here, and we went down there, and I remember seeing women holding pipe jugs and yeah, and then they'd finish it and smash it on the floor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was their voice. You know, they were fellas, they were at it, but then on stage was Freddie going at it, and you got to oh, there was there was one what is it? You can see I'm not a Freddie fan, um, as such, but you it was one of those ones real high long notes that you held, and the whole place. I I just watched the crowd, and they just all their drinks came down, all eyes were on you, and you went into it, and you held it, and you held it, and you and I'm thinking, yeah, breathe. Get off the note, you can breathe now, but you you'd obviously practised and practiced because this note just was so bloody long, it was like shut it doing.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

Because what you know, the main thing is, and um, you know, well, when we started, we wanted it to be um yeah, it's a tribute, but we wanted it to be bang on.

SPEAKER_00 42:04

So so when a bit more than a tribute, you're not um, it is yeah, listen, I don't care what anyone says, and I I've seen other tribute bands, yeah, you know, out of the way.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

We want it to be loyal to and faithful to obviously Queen and Freddie's legacy and um and everything else what goes with it, really. Um, and that's a big thing, you know, um that's a big sort of area where where Queen fans don't really get that. They'll they'll say they don't understand it. It's like what why is somebody dressing up like him? Why do they need to dress up? But you know, there's a lot of people who never got to see Freddie. Right. And this is the argument I have with Queen fans, or to to people who sort of diss tribute acts, you know, just say like Freddie, you know, the persona what he had on stage wasn't the the person he was off stage. No, right. It was a performance.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:03

And when we first when we first started, yeah, I I I thought, well, um I'm gonna be if I'm gonna do it, I want to take it on as if I'm taking on a a role. A role, you know. Do you think that leads back to your your your feelings? Oh, definitely, yeah, definitely. Yeah, so for the two hours, you know, obviously, yeah, you put the yellow jacket on or whatever costume, you know, you get into that role. Yeah. That character. He wasn't that person off stage. No, right. You know, he he invented this animal sort of thing, you know, yeah. What um pranced and sang and did all these wonderful things on on stage. So that's that's how I looked at it. Uh, you know, I don't think I'm Freddie Mercury. Um I think I'm Freddie Mercury on stage because that's the performance and role what I've taken on. Yeah, yeah. Obviously, I'm nothing like Freddie off stage. Um, you know, I can't afford to be. Yeah, I used to because. Because I always um you know I'm I'm not as um slim as Freddie was or anything like that. No. And um uh I know Freddie's sister, and um she we used used to always have a laugh saying that you know she I've got to keep off the pints. And Freddie, you know, he he used to I think he used his favourite drink was I don't know, crystal champagne or something. It's like well, I like a drink, but I can't force it.

SPEAKER_00 44:25

You just drink prosecco.

SPEAKER_01 44:27

Oh, I do. I've made up for it in the last ten years. Me and my wife, because she likes to drink.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Now it's interesting that you mention uh Freddie's sister there, because you've also met a few other celebrity.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

Let me tell you that it was it was quite bizarre really. So um we've been probably touring about two or three years, and um every ro everybody around sort of Nottingham knew Freddy's mum and sister lived in Nottingham. And they came, his sister came up in the early 80s, um, and his mum came up in the late 80s, and um so everybody knew, everybody knew, but they respected their um their you know their privacy basically. About a year before um I went to their house, uh Freddie's sister's house, we did a show in New York, a one-off show. Um Roger Taylor was in the audience. Uh he was like a guest of honour. And Roger came backstage to us and uh spent half an hour with us just chit-chatting away. It was quite it was quite amazed about how much work we did, how long we've been touring, what we did, where we went, you know, that sort of thing. Yeah, moving forward, about a year or so, 18 months. Um I guess we were playing at Newark at the palace. Had this bright idea about inviting uh Freddy's sister and his mum. So I went to Freddie's sister's house on Mapletops and said, uh I'd like to speak to you about showbots coming to the area. Oh yeah, come in. And this was Freddie's brother-in-law. And um I gave him a flyer and his face just dropped. He was like shocked. He said, Uh, how do you know we're here? You know, and who we are. I said, Well, it's common knowledge. I said, I've just had the balls to uh come up and invite a gig, I shouldn't it actually. But uh I passed on the number, I told him that we'd played for uh Roger, you know, uh a year or so before then. And um he rang me up two days later and said, We'd like to take you up on the offer of the tickets to come and see you. And Freddie's mum is excited to come and see you, so that was it. Oh bless her. So um we did the show at Newark, really good night, and then they came backstage and we met them, the the band met them, and from so that was maybe about 2002, up until about maybe what 2014, maybe 2015. We had this lovely relationship with Freddie's mum. If we was ever playing in the area, um his mum and um Cash, Freddie's sister, came a few times. She f she found it quite strange actually. She did she, yeah. So um Freddie's brother-in-law, Rog, um, he used to um he used to bring Freddy's mum and um she it was also obviously a great privilege to have her um in the audience, but as much as she used to enjoy watching our performance, she used to love watching the audience enjoy her son's music music, you know, and um wow it it is phenomenal, phenomenal. Then several years later, uh we got asked by the family to uh perform in Feltham, um like a Hollywood star type thing, what they did for Freddie in the town centre. Um there was unveiling that, and Brian May was going to be there, and uh they said, Would you do an hour's performance before the unveiling? Said, yeah, we jumped at the chance, yeah. And then um uh we we um we was in uh like a uh an after-show sort of party after the unveiling with with Brian and and Freddie's family, which was fantastic. And I was in a little room, uh still in costume, it's like Freddie's mum, his sister, a cousin, Freddie's brother-in-law, and Brian May sat there, and we're talking. And at times it it um has to be surreal. Well it yeah, very, very strange, yeah. Because there was talking about the old days, you know, talking about the you know, uh Freddie loved this um this you know, this Hollywood star thing. And at times, because of the the stuff what they were saying, talking about reminiscing, um I I find I shouldn't have been there, but right, there wasn't a moment, and obviously I was that intrigued that I didn't want to leave because it was you know very a magic sort of like hour and a half sort of thing.

SPEAKER_00 49:17

I wonder if they actually thought you know you were playing Freddy, you know, not that you were Freddy, but to look at you in your costume and the full get up and everything else, they'd have gone or just been at ease, just talking about because you do, when you're up there and you're struttling your stuff and everything else, and you open your mouth. I hear and I see Freddie. I don't see the slim Freddie, I see the fat Freddy. Let's just make that point, right? But no, do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 49:51

I mean, yeah, that well, that was that's you know, like when we started, we we want to be obviously really faithful to um to Freddie and Queen. Um, and I think that's probably why, you know, 27 years later, that's why we're still here. It's still here. Is that long? It's been 20 seven years. Yeah, 27 years, been 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 50:11

Because I mean, there's been other groups that have come and gone, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

Yeah, I mean, the downside for I mean, we're obviously we're we're quite established now. Um, in the last probably five or six years um since the movie came out, there's every other band's now. There's a Queen Tribute band that what's out there. Um so is that making your life more difficult? Yeah, yeah, the business has changed since sort of like 2020, since COVID and that sort of thing. In what way? Um, well, it's changed, it changed, but so you know, going back to the early days, what we wanted to do, we wanted to, so we did all the fun pulps over the years. We used to do the buttlings, we used to do the Warner Holidays um festivals and stuff like that. But yeah, the aim was to take a show into theatre. And at the time when we first started, there was a bit of um, there was only a few sort of tribute bands on the circuit then bootleg Beatles, which had been going for years now, 40 plus years, was one of the big ones. And we wanted something on not necessarily that scale, but yeah, something uh of that type of show. And um a lot of theatres um you know, coming out of the country, there was like no, no, we have the beetle beatles, or there was a band called Magic, what used to do Queen. Um there was a band called The Royal Family, which was probably the first dress up sort of band, what used to do theatres. But the the theatre managers at the time they were they were very snobbish. Oh no, we don't need we don't need tribute bands, you're not um oh really at home gosh yeah, yeah, uh snobby about it. Yeah, yeah. And and as time's gone on, um you know, for a lot of theatres, they rely on uh tribute bands now. Do now, yeah. There's probably a too much tribute bands now in theatre, yeah. Um, but if it's paying people's wages and it's it's keeping places open, but it's also keeping people's memories alive.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

Exactly. For me, you know, as I say, I mean when I saw you, I never got to see Freddie because I was never in into his music. Um fortunately, I'm uh uh soul, R and B, black music, Motown type stuff, yeah. But when I came and I saw you, yeah, it was like oh my god, I've missed, I have definitely missed out.

SPEAKER_01 52:41

Yeah, the good thing is with Queen, and then it and it's like the Beatles as well, and and Abba and um you know, like Elvis Presley sort of stuff, it's it's music that we've all grown up with.

SPEAKER_00 52:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's all relatable, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:54

In in the in the respect of you know, I can remember you know, before starting the band, that we'd you know, you you'd you'd go on a journey somewhere and there'd be a queen song on or uh an abba song, you know, or Beatles, whatever. So it a lot of the music, it's it's like it's music what we've grown up with.

SPEAKER_00 53:18

Yeah. Before we end this session, there's a couple of things I want to ask you. Um people that are coming into the industry, yeah, really need to know what this industry is about. Because it's not all roses, is it?

SPEAKER_01 53:31

No, I mean, and that on the way down, actually, um, you know, before thinking about it, performers are quite robust people because you you know, like you say, you you go to audition after audition, and you've got to be a strong character because um I say there's a lot of nosed you know in this job. Um so you've got you've you've got to be really strong-willed and you know, keep believing in yourself, really, I think, you know, just to um to accept it. And I uh as I said, um when I used to go down for the auditions, you you know, you you can all always learn something, you know. Um and I think any performer, you know, even now, 27 years on, you know, there might be some nights I might sing or phrase something differently, and I think, oh I've only been doing it 27 years, and I've I've learned how to make this easier to sing or put this across.

SPEAKER_00 54:40

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:40

So you never stop learning, you know. Um and I think the other thing is as well, be a sponge, you know, in the respect of you know, take as much experience and different um things of performing in to enhance your performance.

SPEAKER_00 54:58

Yeah. Do you if anyone's ever criticized you, have you thought, oh, do you know what they've got a point there?

SPEAKER_01 55:04

Um the the biggest criticism um and let's face it now, as good as um, you know, your Facebook, Twitter, and um Instagram are how you know how good they are. You're always gonna get a keyboard warrior. You know, um we get them, we're queen, you know, die our queen fans. Um and it's like they'll say, Oh, you're just trying to make a fast book. No, it's not really, it's it's a career that you've got. I or all I say is, well, would you slag off you know, it's like somebody like Mozart. So a violinist playing Mozart, isn't he supposed to isn't he allowed to play that music? Um so that that that's the way I looked at it. Um you're always gonna get criticism and everything, everybody picks fault with everybody everybody and everything nowadays.

SPEAKER_00 56:01

Um, you know, let them get up there on stage and do it and put themselves on the front line and put themselves through and the 27 years of traveling and you know living away from your family and and all that type of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

And you know, as a singer, um if you're having a bad night, there's there's it's a bloody lonely place. Because the rest of the guys, yeah, you've got you know, guys around you, but they can't bail you out. You know, if you're the front man, you've you've got to do it, and it can be a lonely place. The other thing is as well, um, you know, again, with uh performers, is you might be having a really shit day. But when you go on that stage, you've got to make that forget about all those problems what you've got at home. Yeah. And you want the audience to forget about their problems for for two hours, you want them to have a good time. So again, you're quite you know performers are quite um I'm trying to think of the word. Come on, Steve, give us a word, give us a word. Um I want you to dig deep now. Oh god, you'd be digging, I'm be digging in all day.

SPEAKER_00 57:06

No, no, okay, so resilient, resilient, resilient may be, but let's let's just go back, yeah. If you'd have been in school instead of being in fields, picking potatoes, you'd know this vocabulary. That's all I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

Quite quite possibly, quite possibly. But you you know is resilient, yeah. So so you you know, to go from uh no next, see the next time sort of, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, um, to um you know having your own problems and then put going on stage and putting on that big smile, that yeah, resilient, brave. I don't know, it's um and have you ever done that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a performer in you know, isn't it? And you you've got to forget about that. Um it just shows you what you know what performers are.

SPEAKER_00 57:55

Well, look, I I've got to say thank you very much because I know you've got to get off to a gig. Um there if if I had to give you one piece of advice, right, with regards to Freddie. I know, leave your glasses on, right? You don't need to take them off. No, no, I'm not gonna say loose button because you've got everything, everything is rounded, yeah, beautifully. But take this, yeah, because this is what you need. Get your teeth sorted, get them big bucky jobs in there. The money, the town, and everything else looking at you because you've got perfect teeth at the moment. It's like that's not Freddie. I know that's not Freddy. Lee, thank you very much in the chair by Gustave. 27 years of Freddie Mercury. What an achievement. And you know what? His voice is still as fresh as it was back then. The guy's amazing. But listen to what he said, you know what I mean? It wasn't easy, it was hard to wait for three months at a time. Come back from Europe and it played away. Life was away. Anyway, let's do that. Next week.