1 00:00:00,234 --> 00:00:10,762 I'm just blessed to work with a lot of these people and that some bloke that didn't get any qualifications at school, didn't do any formal musical education. 2 00:00:10,762 --> 00:00:14,365 I've blagged my way through all these years and I'm still getting away with it. 3 00:00:23,646 --> 00:00:27,197 Hello and welcome to the Keyboard Chronicles, a podcast for keyboard players. 4 00:00:27,197 --> 00:00:33,269 I'm your host, David Holloway, and I'm pumped to be back here for part two of our interview with Toby Chapman. 5 00:00:33,269 --> 00:00:37,890 For those of you that have listened to part one, you're in for a treat as well with part two. 6 00:00:37,890 --> 00:00:41,221 We continue the discussion throughout Toby's career. 7 00:00:41,221 --> 00:00:47,583 Toby gives some good advice to younger players, chooses his desert island discs and a whole bunch more. 8 00:00:47,583 --> 00:00:49,933 So yeah, lots to enjoy in this second part as well. 9 00:00:49,933 --> 00:00:52,374 And I'll talk to you at the end of the show. 10 00:01:02,568 --> 00:01:07,975 This is where it's so difficult with someone that's had as an amazing career as you have Toby. 11 00:01:07,975 --> 00:01:13,702 I mean, I'm acutely aware we're sort of coming up to where I barely scratched the surface and there are a number of others. 12 00:01:13,702 --> 00:01:19,719 So if you don't mind, I'm going to go a little bit scattershot across a whole range of iconic artists you've worked with. 13 00:01:19,719 --> 00:01:22,782 Let's just talk, while we're still in 80s mode, Paul Young. 14 00:01:23,380 --> 00:01:25,172 Yeah, Paul Young, did. 15 00:01:25,172 --> 00:01:27,684 We did a few little TV shows and a few things. 16 00:01:27,684 --> 00:01:29,455 That was Post Spandale. 17 00:01:30,616 --> 00:01:32,227 Yeah, that was a great experience. 18 00:01:32,227 --> 00:01:33,679 He's such a lovely guy. 19 00:01:33,679 --> 00:01:37,392 um And yeah, we just did some TV stuff. 20 00:01:37,392 --> 00:01:42,726 yeah, it's just I've never really toured with him, but we did done quite a lot of stuff. 21 00:01:42,726 --> 00:01:43,216 we did. 22 00:01:43,216 --> 00:01:47,550 I mean, I suppose just scooting across the rest of it. 23 00:01:48,231 --> 00:01:52,654 I then saw where did I go after that? 24 00:01:52,654 --> 00:01:55,215 I'm just looking at what I've written down here. 25 00:01:55,215 --> 00:01:57,775 I was the MD for D-Ream. 26 00:01:59,116 --> 00:02:02,587 Yep, did a lot of, did a few tours with them. 27 00:02:02,587 --> 00:02:12,960 And then I met up with Paul Carrack, who's um sort of, I call him the UK version of Michael McDonald really, know. 28 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:16,941 Yeah, fantastic voice, fantastic keyboard player and writer. 29 00:02:17,141 --> 00:02:21,612 And I got to do some extra keyboards with him. 30 00:02:21,966 --> 00:02:26,866 on some dates and I actually ended up co-producing an album with him as well. 31 00:02:26,866 --> 00:02:35,546 Well the other thing was then I went on to I saw Co-MD did keyboards for a band called Aqua in the middle 90s. 32 00:02:35,546 --> 00:02:36,238 Yes. 33 00:02:36,238 --> 00:02:36,958 Oh, okay. 34 00:02:36,958 --> 00:02:37,518 All right. 35 00:02:37,518 --> 00:02:37,858 We've got it. 36 00:02:37,858 --> 00:02:38,838 I'm going to stop you there. 37 00:02:38,838 --> 00:02:40,398 We've got to talk aqua. 38 00:02:40,398 --> 00:02:40,798 All right. 39 00:02:40,798 --> 00:02:42,978 So that's something that's really different. 40 00:02:42,978 --> 00:02:45,398 And obviously they were iconic in the 90s. 41 00:02:45,398 --> 00:02:48,430 tell us, yeah, tell us a little bit in depth, if you don't mind. 42 00:02:48,430 --> 00:02:54,590 good friend of mine, Gary Wallace, who is an amazing drummer, percussionist. 43 00:02:54,590 --> 00:03:00,490 You know, he did all those Pink Floyd tours and did the early Nick Kershaw stuff. 44 00:03:01,590 --> 00:03:09,770 We worked an awful lot together and he, I think, I don't know, obviously somebody contacted him. 45 00:03:09,770 --> 00:03:11,850 They wanted to do some shows. 46 00:03:11,990 --> 00:03:15,410 I mean, they're still big to this day over there, you know what mean? 47 00:03:15,670 --> 00:03:17,990 And it was all in Scandinavia. 48 00:03:18,318 --> 00:03:20,358 But yeah, so they just said, look, we want to go out. 49 00:03:20,358 --> 00:03:24,238 We want to do like the green tour, which is quite a big tour in Denmark. 50 00:03:24,778 --> 00:03:31,078 They have a massive like 20,000 seater gigs. 51 00:03:32,358 --> 00:03:42,298 so yeah, Gary and I were involved in just programming it up, getting it to sound like the original record because we thought that's what it should be. 52 00:03:42,798 --> 00:03:48,502 you know, I mean, I remember there was one song that she wasn't happy to sing if she didn't have to. 53 00:03:48,502 --> 00:03:57,769 I can't remember why, but I remember we were still using Akai S1100s or whatever they were at the time, 3000 XLs or whatever. 54 00:03:57,950 --> 00:04:10,739 But I had to put a whole vocal in, is all, know, anybody who's listened to it knows about keyboards, it just has a trigger point and God help it there's any spikes in anything. 55 00:04:11,060 --> 00:04:14,923 And once you start it, you can't really stop it because it was a freewheeling thing. 56 00:04:16,064 --> 00:04:18,594 I mean, it was with a sequencer and all of that. 57 00:04:18,594 --> 00:04:23,128 But it was, no, they were fun times actually. 58 00:04:23,128 --> 00:04:23,858 She's crazy. 59 00:04:23,858 --> 00:04:25,280 She's such a crazy one. 60 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:28,862 And then I can't remember the other guy's name now. 61 00:04:28,883 --> 00:04:29,913 Let's go, Barbra. 62 00:04:29,913 --> 00:04:30,354 Yeah. 63 00:04:30,354 --> 00:04:32,910 I was calling Hen. 64 00:04:32,910 --> 00:04:39,170 I mean, as you know, Toby, they're extremely popular in Europe. 65 00:04:39,170 --> 00:04:49,430 I mean, in other areas, they are best known for Barbie Girl, but they had a string, even in Australia, they had a string of hits and you know, even that back to the 80s song only 66 00:04:49,430 --> 00:04:50,470 a handful of years ago. 67 00:04:50,470 --> 00:04:55,030 Like it's amazing stuff to how long their career has run. 68 00:04:56,534 --> 00:05:03,753 Cern Rasted, who's one of the sort of masterminds behind it, because they had a studio. 69 00:05:04,074 --> 00:05:16,174 They were doing, I think one of reasons why we met with them, because they had a studio off the Woolworth Road, which is in the middle of London, you know, it's a real old London 70 00:05:16,174 --> 00:05:17,234 area. 71 00:05:17,374 --> 00:05:20,714 Not Cockney traditionally, but it's that sort of area. 72 00:05:21,414 --> 00:05:24,094 One I was familiar with, and they hired a studio there. 73 00:05:24,094 --> 00:05:25,382 So we went. 74 00:05:26,735 --> 00:05:30,837 We went and worked in there and did the rehearsals and all of that. 75 00:05:30,837 --> 00:05:33,719 But he was, yeah, he's great. 76 00:05:33,899 --> 00:05:42,884 the partner, I can't remember the other guy, but the main, what I'd call the main protagonist behind it was Søren and the other guy. 77 00:05:42,964 --> 00:05:45,826 Søren was great at the lyrics and the cheeky tunes. 78 00:05:45,826 --> 00:05:47,187 Well, they were both great. 79 00:05:47,187 --> 00:05:49,048 They were fantastic. 80 00:05:49,048 --> 00:05:49,678 Absolutely. 81 00:05:49,678 --> 00:05:53,304 mean, Søren and I ended up doing an album. 82 00:05:53,304 --> 00:06:04,123 for what was the first Pop Stars record in, whenever that would have been, mid 90s, a guy called Yawn. 83 00:06:04,304 --> 00:06:12,071 And so we co-wrote and produced that and that went straight number one over there. 84 00:06:12,071 --> 00:06:13,022 So yeah, that was that. 85 00:06:13,022 --> 00:06:20,468 then I kind of, after that, was, we did some gigs with somebody you may very well know, Tina Arena. 86 00:06:21,399 --> 00:06:22,592 Absolutely. 87 00:06:23,028 --> 00:06:24,172 And what a great name. 88 00:06:24,172 --> 00:06:27,400 If you can have a surname that sounds great. 89 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,910 Yeah, mean, you don't call yourself, like, know, Tina Working Men's Club, do you? 90 00:06:35,484 --> 00:06:36,894 That's true. 91 00:06:36,894 --> 00:06:48,491 so for the sake of non-UK, well, for the sake of non-European, because I Tina's had a good career in Europe, but for the sake of American and Canadian, is Tina Arenda is an iconic 92 00:06:48,511 --> 00:06:56,196 Italian heritage Australian born artist that had huge success in Australia and then migrated to Europe and had an enormous career over there. 93 00:06:56,196 --> 00:07:00,110 So yeah, she certainly revered here and elsewhere. 94 00:07:00,110 --> 00:07:11,010 amazing when it came up I'd always liked that hit in the early 90s I'm in Chains and I know she's a great singer and I always thought oh you know that's real talent and when 95 00:07:11,010 --> 00:07:24,670 Gary and I got a chance to work with her we did we were actually flying over the private plane to do where the in Monaco where they obviously do the the f1 we had our own little 96 00:07:24,670 --> 00:07:29,574 boat or what am I talking about you know it was a 97 00:07:29,678 --> 00:07:33,958 very luxurious boat should we call it, a yacht I think is the term I'm looking for. 98 00:07:34,298 --> 00:07:45,738 And I, there was one song both myself and the bass player we had to duet, he had to duet one and I had to duet another one and this one was not an easy song to sing. 99 00:07:46,178 --> 00:07:57,578 It was Antonio Bandero's, I can't remember what it was called but anyway. 100 00:07:58,418 --> 00:07:59,248 Thanks to Gary. 101 00:07:59,248 --> 00:08:02,179 He said I said that you're seeing that with her and I'm out cheers. 102 00:08:02,179 --> 00:08:10,041 Yeah, you know so anyway rehearsals I started doing I said Tina by the way, I said I'll be better off behind the piano. 103 00:08:10,041 --> 00:08:25,405 I don't know what stand up the front business, you know shit Fuck you are she said, you know, I don't know if you know her but There was no she said she said fuck that you're 104 00:08:25,405 --> 00:08:28,436 coming down the front to sing with me whether you like it or not 105 00:08:28,810 --> 00:08:35,993 And so of course we went down, we went and did it and it was just a 45 minute set. 106 00:08:35,993 --> 00:08:43,096 And there was big names in the audience, know, there's me, this bloke claiming he can't tune, you know. 107 00:08:43,216 --> 00:08:50,059 So he came to it, she announced me and I walked down, you know, and of course I've never really done all that, you know. 108 00:08:50,099 --> 00:08:56,552 So she immediately holds my hand and she says, Toby's going to do it with me on this song. 109 00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:02,084 So we did do that to track because it was one of those ones, it's one of those massive sort of Disney things. 110 00:09:02,084 --> 00:09:04,773 There's no point in trying to replicate that. 111 00:09:04,773 --> 00:09:07,399 And obviously I couldn't play the keyboard. 112 00:09:07,399 --> 00:09:09,680 you know, and it was keyboard orientated. 113 00:09:09,821 --> 00:09:14,325 So I just remember she always said to me, she turned, she turned one side to me, whispering in my ear. 114 00:09:14,325 --> 00:09:18,688 She said, look, just make out you fucking love me. 115 00:09:22,852 --> 00:09:24,846 So of course I had to sing with her and. 116 00:09:24,846 --> 00:09:29,066 you know, look into her eyes and all this, you know, but it's a pity. 117 00:09:29,066 --> 00:09:36,306 I'd love to have seen, I mean, people weren't filming so much in those days, but I'd love to, I'd love to have seen how that looked. 118 00:09:36,306 --> 00:09:39,186 I'd have, it'd have been funny. 119 00:09:39,566 --> 00:09:40,646 But moving on. 120 00:09:40,750 --> 00:09:45,582 was about to say, yeah, I was about to say I'll be searching for video of that Toby, but it sounds like that. 121 00:09:45,582 --> 00:09:48,502 If you do find it, I'd love to see it. 122 00:09:49,022 --> 00:09:55,322 After that, I went on to produce two or three share songs. 123 00:09:55,322 --> 00:09:57,162 Yeah, over at her house. 124 00:09:57,162 --> 00:10:03,362 It was just after the album where she'd had that big resurgence with Do You Believe in Life? 125 00:10:03,842 --> 00:10:14,142 So we went over, one of the teams of producers that went over there and basically, in those days it was quite hard to do because we had to hire Pro Tools, Wigs and all of that. 126 00:10:14,142 --> 00:10:15,598 And we set it up in her... 127 00:10:15,598 --> 00:10:22,361 She had a place on Malibu, so we set up these uh systems in one of the guest bedrooms. 128 00:10:22,862 --> 00:10:32,928 And I remember it was funny trying to truncate this a little bit, but we had to do tie lines all to the next guest bedroom where she was gonna sing. 129 00:10:32,928 --> 00:10:36,570 And we'd done the vast majority of the track work in London at Metropolis. 130 00:10:36,750 --> 00:10:39,391 So we went, we came there. 131 00:10:40,538 --> 00:10:42,433 So we had a lot of it there. 132 00:10:42,918 --> 00:10:44,206 I remember she said, 133 00:10:44,206 --> 00:10:47,926 She said, tell me, you come and conduct me? 134 00:10:48,426 --> 00:10:51,646 I said, Cher, I don't do any of that nonsense. 135 00:10:51,646 --> 00:10:56,486 I said, you know, I'm a programmer, you know, I'm a player a bit, I can do a bit of this and that, but I don't conduct. 136 00:10:56,486 --> 00:11:00,106 She said, I don't care, just throw your fucking arms around a bit, you know what I mean? 137 00:11:00,106 --> 00:11:01,586 Which is what I did. 138 00:11:01,766 --> 00:11:06,806 And I just doing this in front of her, you know, I'm thinking, fucking hell, this is Cher. 139 00:11:06,806 --> 00:11:10,786 This is some no good bloke from Southeast London, do you know what I mean? 140 00:11:10,786 --> 00:11:12,334 How did this ever happen? 141 00:11:12,334 --> 00:11:14,894 So then I got in front of Sharon, I'm waving my hands. 142 00:11:14,894 --> 00:11:16,034 She said, really helps. 143 00:11:16,034 --> 00:11:17,094 It really helps. 144 00:11:17,694 --> 00:11:21,294 So that was quite an amazing experience. 145 00:11:22,234 --> 00:11:27,234 And then going on after that, we did all the girl and boy bands. 146 00:11:28,294 --> 00:11:34,534 I did Gary Barlow, I MD'd him for a little bit, just after Take That broke out for the first time. 147 00:11:34,534 --> 00:11:39,814 And then we did like Atomic Kitten, Westlife, Boyzone, Balloon. 148 00:11:39,814 --> 00:11:42,178 We were like the house band for all of those. 149 00:11:42,178 --> 00:11:52,390 things and we were running track for a lot of that was very track based stuff we were using Tascam 16 tracks that's the way you did it in those days and they were they were 150 00:11:52,390 --> 00:12:02,631 pretty reliable do you know what I mean I mean these days I probably used I still like that simatic thing actually which seems to work quite well but that's how we ran all that 151 00:12:02,631 --> 00:12:03,402 so 152 00:12:03,426 --> 00:12:06,849 Look, that's amazing Toby to say the least. 153 00:12:06,849 --> 00:12:08,800 Some of those stories are absolutely incredible. 154 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:13,434 So I can't let you go without talking about another three artists. 155 00:12:13,434 --> 00:12:15,656 Let's start with Sir Tom Jones. 156 00:12:15,656 --> 00:12:20,279 Again, we've had the privilege of having Patty Milner on in the last couple of years. 157 00:12:20,279 --> 00:12:21,690 Sir Tom's current keyboard player. 158 00:12:21,690 --> 00:12:23,882 Just tell us about working with Tom. 159 00:12:24,910 --> 00:12:38,410 Once again, that was an opportunity I got via Gary Wallace, who had MD'd him in the early 90s when Tom had his sort of comeback, if you like. 160 00:12:39,370 --> 00:12:43,230 And then I think he lost touch with that area a bit. 161 00:12:43,230 --> 00:12:53,490 then I think it was one of these shows we were doing with Blue, Atomic Kitten or whatever, and Tom was coming on to do it. 162 00:12:53,490 --> 00:12:55,020 And I think 163 00:12:55,020 --> 00:13:00,212 We were kind of, Gary and I were emding the whole thing together. 164 00:13:01,514 --> 00:13:05,815 so we, Tom came on and he came into rehearsals. 165 00:13:06,556 --> 00:13:09,758 I did the six bomb and not usual, whatever it was, you know. 166 00:13:09,838 --> 00:13:21,414 And then, then his son, who's his manager, Mark, he said, look, we want to, we want to do a proper English European turnout, which ended up being the whole world. 167 00:13:21,414 --> 00:13:23,705 Cause he had a band over there as well. 168 00:13:23,886 --> 00:13:25,186 But I think, 169 00:13:25,420 --> 00:13:33,714 that band, not to diss them, but I think it got a little bit cocktail bar, a little bit kind cabaret. 170 00:13:34,075 --> 00:13:40,098 And his son is very, very good at reinventing him and making current, you know what I mean? 171 00:13:40,318 --> 00:13:50,604 So his brief to us was, look, we're going to do the hits, but we want them to sound like the original records, but how they would be done now. 172 00:13:50,844 --> 00:13:52,345 So which is what we duly took on. 173 00:13:52,345 --> 00:13:54,516 I mean, I remember one of the ones we did. 174 00:13:55,525 --> 00:14:06,486 was Thunderball which I don't know if you know the song but it was it one of the Bond things from about 1967 obviously with John Barry um he told me a story about that how he 175 00:14:06,486 --> 00:14:16,846 said well he said you know it was that big high note at the end and uh he said he said when you when you go for that note he said just don't end it sorry about the terrible 176 00:14:16,846 --> 00:14:19,202 impression um 177 00:14:19,202 --> 00:14:20,496 That's a good Welsh accent. 178 00:14:20,496 --> 00:14:21,382 uh 179 00:14:21,733 --> 00:14:32,314 So he went for this big note and apparently he says I just ran out of steam at the end of it and I just keeled over and he said if you listen close to the records you can hear 180 00:14:32,314 --> 00:14:42,854 thunderbolt where he just I mean he holds the note for a fair bit then it fades out you know what I mean and yeah that was funny but anyway one of the things we did we had the 181 00:14:42,854 --> 00:14:49,594 basic drums bass two keyboard players and a guitar and we had a three part horn section 182 00:14:49,986 --> 00:14:51,987 So that's got lot of horns and strings on it. 183 00:14:52,128 --> 00:15:04,001 So we decided what would be great is if I basically made a whole remake of the track from the original John Barry thing, which is, it's amazing when you look in, what I call when 184 00:15:04,001 --> 00:15:13,422 you look inside these records, you know, I feel like I'm standing in the middle of the record and I can, there's that part going on, oh, there's that, this, that and the other. 185 00:15:13,482 --> 00:15:19,468 And we did, we did a, I think it was for the Oscars or something in London and they said, 186 00:15:19,468 --> 00:15:24,581 we want you to, because there was something to do with James Bond, we want Tom to come and sing now. 187 00:15:24,581 --> 00:15:33,986 And they said, if we could make it sound live, but mime it, we said, that's fine, because a lot of it's on track and we'll just do a take of it. 188 00:15:33,986 --> 00:15:36,988 uh We had some, might we track of it somewhere. 189 00:15:36,988 --> 00:15:38,299 So Tom just mime to it. 190 00:15:38,299 --> 00:15:47,372 But when you watch it with the track, because I had extra horns tracked up, I had all these beautiful high strings and it... 191 00:15:47,372 --> 00:15:50,943 You know, lot of people said that sounds amazing what you've done. 192 00:15:50,943 --> 00:15:56,929 It really captured the record, but sounding more high-fi, I suppose, you know what I mean? 193 00:15:56,949 --> 00:16:02,838 But no, working with Tom basically, mean, he's legendary, he's proper legend, isn't he? 194 00:16:02,838 --> 00:16:10,740 know, I mean, the amount of times, because people were telling me what he was like about stories, you know, he loves telling stories. 195 00:16:10,940 --> 00:16:13,772 And of course, a lot of the time when you're on tour, 196 00:16:13,838 --> 00:16:19,418 you come back, if you maybe you've had an evening off, know, or a travel day, whatever they call it, and you go, let's go and have some dinner. 197 00:16:19,418 --> 00:16:24,158 So go and have some dinner, maybe a little worse for a few shandies or two. 198 00:16:24,158 --> 00:16:31,018 You come in and there's always, you always go and look in the bar, because Tom really wouldn't go out of the hotel because it was easy for him. 199 00:16:31,338 --> 00:16:37,658 And I remember going, I mean this shows, it must be a few years ago, going in and I'm looking around to see who's in the bar. 200 00:16:37,658 --> 00:16:39,718 And I'm going, oh fuck, Tom's in the bar. 201 00:16:39,718 --> 00:16:42,318 This is by the time I've done a few nights with him. 202 00:16:43,502 --> 00:16:45,802 And I'm thinking, I just want to have an early night. 203 00:16:45,802 --> 00:16:47,782 And there's a little plume of smoke comes out. 204 00:16:47,782 --> 00:16:51,322 goes, I Chapman, where do you think you're going? 205 00:16:52,122 --> 00:16:57,422 so I went, Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, 206 00:17:12,096 --> 00:17:16,389 I had enough but they couldn't take any more enjoyment if you know what I mean. 207 00:17:16,490 --> 00:17:21,179 And he said, Tommy, instead I'll have another bottle of champagne before I go to bed. 208 00:17:21,179 --> 00:17:23,195 I mean this is four o'clock in the morning. 209 00:17:23,195 --> 00:17:29,120 So I listened to all the stories and he was listening to my stories of how I started out and they're very similar. 210 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:40,489 I mean obviously just a good decade or two apart but very similar stories and he's just such a fucking lovely guy and fuck can he sing. 211 00:17:40,494 --> 00:17:45,894 And that's what, and that's what I wanted to ask you about Toby, you know, being in the presence of that voice. 212 00:17:45,894 --> 00:17:54,634 And I mean, I had the privilege of seeing him a year ago or so, I mean, at age 84, still hitting some amazing notes like his voice. 213 00:17:54,634 --> 00:18:00,674 Uh, and I don't mean this in a patronizing way for his age because 84 is not an insignificant age. 214 00:18:00,674 --> 00:18:02,814 His voice is still incredible. 215 00:18:02,814 --> 00:18:04,098 what's it like? 216 00:18:04,098 --> 00:18:11,221 been in the presence of that voice and how do you need to adjust how you play or interact with that based on the power of that voice? 217 00:18:11,342 --> 00:18:25,962 The only thing, cause my affiliation with him, I mean, I do the odd gig once the bloom room, I basically, think around 2012, 13, I started working with another guy, Alfie Bose. 218 00:18:26,802 --> 00:18:34,022 He's quite a big sort of singer from basically the West End stuff and all that. 219 00:18:34,022 --> 00:18:41,206 Anyway, I'm digressing, but when I worked with him at that period, when we did actually going back to Thunderball, which was 220 00:18:41,206 --> 00:18:46,219 It's originally in B flat minor and he took it down to A flat minor to give himself half a chance. 221 00:18:46,219 --> 00:18:50,131 you know, a top, you know, A flat is not a small feat. 222 00:18:50,131 --> 00:18:55,374 I even by as he says, I think I was a tenor, but he says I'm a low baritone now. 223 00:18:55,374 --> 00:18:55,925 You know what I mean? 224 00:18:55,925 --> 00:19:03,219 Cause it, cause people get mixed up with, you know, tenor just means the timbre of your voice. 225 00:19:03,219 --> 00:19:09,132 doesn't mean what you can have high baritones, but they've just got deeper voices. 226 00:19:09,853 --> 00:19:14,134 which he definitely has, he's got that little thing that's come through. 227 00:19:14,134 --> 00:19:23,454 But I always remember when he used to, he'd be singing it along and where I was not far away from him, he'd turn round to me and he'd go, he'd sing the thunder bow! 228 00:19:23,934 --> 00:19:30,194 And then when it finished, nearly nine times out of ten, he'd turn round to me go, thug fuck for that. 229 00:19:30,194 --> 00:19:34,854 David, I've seen him, I saw him this year and you're right, he's 84, 85. 230 00:19:36,374 --> 00:19:38,254 Yeah, I mean, and it's... 231 00:19:38,254 --> 00:19:47,834 I mean, it's that typical thing, the vibrato's got a little bit wide and all of that sort of thing, but it doesn't matter, he's still there, he's still the cheeky chappy from 232 00:19:47,834 --> 00:19:49,514 Wales, you know what I mean? 233 00:19:49,514 --> 00:19:56,314 He's still got a great personality on stage, he can still do it on stage, I mean, he has to sit down, he's had to have two hip replacements. 234 00:19:56,314 --> 00:20:00,394 The man is of a certain age, as you rightly point out, you know, but you know what? 235 00:20:00,994 --> 00:20:07,814 He'll do that until he can't do it, I, you know, long may carry on is what I say, you 236 00:20:08,736 --> 00:20:09,628 Exactly. 237 00:20:09,628 --> 00:20:16,342 And in no way making a comparison, but someone that's kept it going for decades as well as Belinda Carlisle. 238 00:20:16,524 --> 00:20:19,670 So tell us a little bit about your sort of involvement with her. 239 00:20:19,938 --> 00:20:29,422 Well, hers actually started off, I would say around 94, 96, going back to there actually, because we got a show together. 240 00:20:29,862 --> 00:20:31,683 Once again, this is me and Gary, think. 241 00:20:31,683 --> 00:20:44,088 We got a show together and the bass player we got was now Tom's bass player, guy called Dave Bronze, who's played with Clapton, everybody, know, great, a lovely guy. 242 00:20:44,088 --> 00:20:45,148 I've known him for years. 243 00:20:45,148 --> 00:20:48,329 uh He came and played bass. 244 00:20:49,644 --> 00:20:58,831 James Nisbett who was still a guitarist with her now and her MD but I think at the time I don't think it was an MD particularly I think we were all just like in it together you 245 00:20:58,831 --> 00:21:13,792 know we all knew what we're doing we didn't need to have anybody guiding us so yeah we did this show it was a one-off show in Bermuda of all places so we went and did that and she 246 00:21:13,792 --> 00:21:17,122 was great you know what it is with Belinda she's I mean 247 00:21:17,122 --> 00:21:20,144 devastatingly beautiful as well, has to be said. 248 00:21:20,284 --> 00:21:24,768 Even now, she's mid-60s, she looks amazing, absolutely amazing. 249 00:21:24,768 --> 00:21:26,769 But you know what's always great? 250 00:21:26,769 --> 00:21:31,893 was, because I quite liked some of those soft rock, West Coast records. 251 00:21:31,893 --> 00:21:39,678 I think what made, rather than it be, you know, REO Speed Foreign or whatever you want to call it, you know what I mean? 252 00:21:39,678 --> 00:21:44,942 Rather than it be one of those sort of kind of bands, she came from the go-go, you know, they were, they were 253 00:21:44,942 --> 00:21:47,442 punk outfit really or post-punk. 254 00:21:47,882 --> 00:21:52,322 So she wasn't that sort of traditional style of singer really. 255 00:21:52,342 --> 00:22:06,222 She had her own thing going and the fact of having that very different voice over that sort of quite lush backdrop I think's amazing and she's you know like I was talking about 256 00:22:06,222 --> 00:22:12,398 when we did the Billboard shows in Japan we've done a few times 257 00:22:12,398 --> 00:22:23,598 you it's not a small feat it's it's an hour an hour 20 twice in one evening and she came over she said oh my god I don't know I hope I can do this because I've got a cold yeah 258 00:22:23,598 --> 00:22:32,478 well I tell you what she did it she was amazing and then you took about my story she's got some incredible stories I could tell you yeah oh dear 259 00:22:33,260 --> 00:22:33,742 I love it. 260 00:22:33,742 --> 00:22:35,114 No, thank you. 261 00:22:35,578 --> 00:22:40,793 definitely last, sorry, definitely not least, but one of our last ones, ABC. 262 00:22:41,454 --> 00:22:42,914 ABC, yeah. 263 00:22:42,914 --> 00:22:48,274 That was another one I was really, you know, chuffed to be asked to do that. 264 00:22:48,274 --> 00:22:51,654 was, I remember, I don't know what I'd been doing. 265 00:22:51,954 --> 00:23:05,274 Oh, I know, because it was that we had a, like there was a comeback tour of Spandau Ballet in 2014-15, which took all of that time, which was, which by the way, was great to go 266 00:23:05,274 --> 00:23:05,654 back. 267 00:23:05,654 --> 00:23:08,326 And we did a bigger tour than we probably did back in the day. 268 00:23:09,110 --> 00:23:13,633 of things you're a lot calmer then, but it was great to go back and reminisce about it as well. 269 00:23:14,275 --> 00:23:14,945 That sort of thing. 270 00:23:14,945 --> 00:23:17,357 Anyway, digressing again. 271 00:23:18,018 --> 00:23:20,550 It was after I did that, I'd sort been out the picture a bit. 272 00:23:20,550 --> 00:23:23,322 So I think there was a few months when I wasn't up too much. 273 00:23:23,322 --> 00:23:36,173 And I used to hang out at the Groucho Club in London, is like, not so much now, but it was a big place where all the kind of film, media, music people now to... 274 00:23:36,173 --> 00:23:37,996 uh 275 00:23:37,996 --> 00:23:40,988 take part in a sherry or two, know. 276 00:23:40,988 --> 00:23:46,051 And there was a friend of mine who was currently working with him. 277 00:23:46,672 --> 00:23:54,137 And he said, look, is it two keyboard players or one keyboard player? 278 00:23:54,258 --> 00:23:55,779 think it's two keyboard players. 279 00:23:55,779 --> 00:23:59,081 he said, look, we need someone to do the synth parts or something like that. 280 00:23:59,381 --> 00:24:01,182 And I said, I'd love to do it. 281 00:24:01,182 --> 00:24:04,225 I mean, I love those records because they're Trevor Horn records, aren't they? 282 00:24:04,225 --> 00:24:06,726 uh 283 00:24:06,798 --> 00:24:13,038 And it's no mean feat to take on the keyboard side of it as opposed to piano parts. 284 00:24:13,638 --> 00:24:16,298 Because a lot of it, I want to make it sound like the record, you know what I mean? 285 00:24:16,298 --> 00:24:19,718 Because some people go in and do these things half-heartedly. 286 00:24:19,878 --> 00:24:27,658 you know, it doesn't, you know, if they haven't got the budget to pay for me to do the time I want to spend on it, I'd like to get it done, do know what I mean? 287 00:24:27,658 --> 00:24:28,598 So I did do it. 288 00:24:28,598 --> 00:24:35,692 And it was good because it was at the time they'd just released the, what was that called? 289 00:24:35,692 --> 00:24:37,274 Lexicon of Love 2 290 00:24:38,167 --> 00:24:39,074 Yes. 291 00:24:39,298 --> 00:24:41,759 So they'd just done that and it was all promotion to do with that. 292 00:24:41,759 --> 00:24:44,220 So we were doing some fun things with that. 293 00:24:44,300 --> 00:24:46,241 And we did the Albert Hall. 294 00:24:46,381 --> 00:24:47,401 He still packs it. 295 00:24:47,401 --> 00:24:48,962 He's like Paul Heaton. 296 00:24:49,118 --> 00:24:50,333 I mean, Paul Heaton is ridiculous. 297 00:24:50,333 --> 00:24:54,958 He packs out 25,000 people in arenas and festivals. 298 00:24:54,958 --> 00:24:56,565 And I think the same with Martin. 299 00:24:56,565 --> 00:25:00,166 think, although I only really did that period with him. 300 00:25:00,747 --> 00:25:02,367 But he's another one. 301 00:25:02,388 --> 00:25:06,129 you know, dons his La-Me suit on and goes out. 302 00:25:06,129 --> 00:25:08,620 And because he's got such an individual voice. 303 00:25:10,087 --> 00:25:18,694 no one can sound like, um, Martin Fry, you know, and he's, yeah, he's, he's quite a personality. 304 00:25:18,694 --> 00:25:32,235 All in all, David, I, I, I'm just blessed to work with a lot of these people and the fact that some bloke that didn't get any, um, qualifications at school, didn't do any formal 305 00:25:32,235 --> 00:25:33,846 musical education. 306 00:25:33,847 --> 00:25:37,449 I've blagged my way through all these years and I'm still getting away with it. 307 00:25:38,412 --> 00:25:43,248 Yeah, look, I mean, there's way too much modesty in there, Toby, but I agree. 308 00:25:43,248 --> 00:25:44,889 mean, it must be- 309 00:25:45,176 --> 00:25:48,730 Sorry can I mention one person that's one of my favorites? 310 00:25:49,532 --> 00:25:52,456 One more mentioned him and he's had the pleasure of doing it. 311 00:25:52,456 --> 00:25:54,392 He's working with Rick Astley. 312 00:25:54,392 --> 00:25:56,326 Of course, yes, please. 313 00:25:56,326 --> 00:26:00,674 finally, again enough, we had John Moulon recently who talked about his. 314 00:26:02,158 --> 00:26:11,398 And so that was really fun because I think they got rid of a couple of people in the band that for some reason weren't working out. 315 00:26:11,398 --> 00:26:17,058 So they got another guitarist and then Simon Mary the drummer said, look, you'd be great for this. 316 00:26:17,058 --> 00:26:17,618 Do you want to do it? 317 00:26:17,618 --> 00:26:19,018 I said, of course, I'd love to do it. 318 00:26:19,018 --> 00:26:31,018 So I did a year with him and it was an amazing time because Rick's such a pro and he doesn't take it too seriously. 319 00:26:32,691 --> 00:26:37,785 It's like a bit of a stand up show really when he's on stage. 320 00:26:37,785 --> 00:26:39,576 But it's not just that. 321 00:26:39,576 --> 00:26:42,198 He's got a sense of humor and engages the audience. 322 00:26:42,198 --> 00:26:43,018 love him. 323 00:26:43,018 --> 00:26:50,794 But of course, he's got a good back catalog and people are buying every album he's done since the album 50 has gone straight to number one. 324 00:26:50,794 --> 00:26:56,748 And I just love him when he really looks after you in every way possible. 325 00:26:57,228 --> 00:27:00,020 And yeah, it just... 326 00:27:00,238 --> 00:27:01,598 I can't say enough about him. 327 00:27:01,598 --> 00:27:04,798 He's just one of the nicest guys and what an amazing talent. 328 00:27:04,798 --> 00:27:12,278 And he's, we did, we owned for him with Belinda at the beginning of last year. 329 00:27:12,558 --> 00:27:13,558 So we're all in the same tour. 330 00:27:13,558 --> 00:27:14,518 So it was great fun. 331 00:27:14,518 --> 00:27:17,038 was the two bands together and all of that. 332 00:27:17,038 --> 00:27:19,638 I mean, I wasn't doing it then. 333 00:27:20,338 --> 00:27:28,158 And, but I was still obviously doing Belinda and it was just great to what I mean, you know, packing out arenas against 16, 17,000 people. 334 00:27:28,330 --> 00:27:36,433 So, look, we're not done yet because we're going to get back to some questions about you. 335 00:27:36,433 --> 00:27:45,118 you know, let's say you have to do hard labour in this awful music business for another 20, 25 years, God forbid. 336 00:27:45,238 --> 00:27:47,879 Toby, what does the last 20 years of your career look like? 337 00:27:47,879 --> 00:27:53,682 What are your aspirations and what do you see happening over the next decade or two, if you decide to keep it up? 338 00:27:54,562 --> 00:27:58,705 Well, yeah, depends if anybody wants me anymore. 339 00:27:59,546 --> 00:28:02,789 It's, you know what, it's in the lap of the gods. 340 00:28:02,789 --> 00:28:05,882 I am not, I'm not one of those people. 341 00:28:05,882 --> 00:28:09,795 I'm not very, dare I say, proactive in it. 342 00:28:09,795 --> 00:28:18,903 I suppose I've been lucky enough to have had a checker career that's spanned several decades. 343 00:28:18,903 --> 00:28:23,336 And I like to think that I keep up. 344 00:28:23,406 --> 00:28:29,226 I don't keep up, but I just embrace new technology like we were speaking about and things like that. 345 00:28:29,226 --> 00:28:38,286 mean, some of it does, a couple of people now, some of these gigs, like Sam Smith and all that. 346 00:28:38,286 --> 00:28:40,666 I I see the keyboard setups they use. 347 00:28:40,766 --> 00:28:43,966 It's like, wow, what happens if that all breaks down? 348 00:28:43,966 --> 00:28:44,346 know what I mean? 349 00:28:44,346 --> 00:28:47,466 You can't just play bit of rock and roll piano, can you? 350 00:28:47,466 --> 00:28:49,946 But to ask you a question, I don't really know. 351 00:28:49,946 --> 00:28:50,786 think... 352 00:28:51,030 --> 00:29:02,854 I do a lot of additional programming for a lot of the sort of middle of the road acts that a friend of mine, Nick Patrick, he's sort of the producer, of executive producer on all of 353 00:29:02,854 --> 00:29:04,354 these albums. 354 00:29:05,054 --> 00:29:15,527 And of course he farms out a lot of work to people like myself who cover it, who say, we've got the basic tracks together, but what we need is some of what he calls my fairy 355 00:29:15,527 --> 00:29:16,998 dust on keyboards. 356 00:29:17,750 --> 00:29:20,381 And then he said, I think some of the guitars, didn't have time. 357 00:29:20,381 --> 00:29:23,752 Could you replace some of acoustic guitars? 358 00:29:24,352 --> 00:29:35,215 Could you, even if we don't use your harmonies, can you sing some harmonies so can, like Michael Ball, who I do a lot of albums for, I can sketch the parts out for him, you know? 359 00:29:36,596 --> 00:29:43,113 so I see, I kind of see that as where I'm going, I think. 360 00:29:43,113 --> 00:29:45,358 mean, I do think about... 361 00:29:45,568 --> 00:29:50,631 I've been thinking about maybe creating some content for YouTube and Instagram and all of that. 362 00:29:50,631 --> 00:30:01,667 I'm sort of thinking about it because I know that's, mean the young lot, know, the people in their 20s, I mean they have to rely on, you know, just having a YouTube channel and I 363 00:30:01,667 --> 00:30:10,211 mean some of these people I follow, I just think, my God, you're putting so much work into it and they're so well-aversed in business, you know what I mean? 364 00:30:10,211 --> 00:30:12,993 I think they get taught it, you we didn't get taught that. 365 00:30:15,118 --> 00:30:15,658 It... 366 00:30:15,658 --> 00:30:16,578 yeah. 367 00:30:16,578 --> 00:30:18,638 I haven't really got a... 368 00:30:18,638 --> 00:30:21,478 you know, a definitive answer to that question, but... 369 00:30:21,478 --> 00:30:22,338 No. 370 00:30:22,398 --> 00:30:23,218 I think it's cool. 371 00:30:23,218 --> 00:30:25,418 I'll just keep my fingers crossed, really. 372 00:30:25,676 --> 00:30:26,907 Yeah, no, good response. 373 00:30:26,907 --> 00:30:36,105 And it'd probably sink ways into my next question, although before I get onto it, if ever anyone should have a memoir, Toby, whether it's via a YouTube channel or actually as a 374 00:30:36,105 --> 00:30:37,627 book, it should be yours. 375 00:30:37,627 --> 00:30:43,252 But, so that's, you know, please do consider that sometime if you can do it without getting sued. 376 00:30:43,252 --> 00:30:46,425 Cause that's always the challenge with some of the most amazing stories. 377 00:30:46,425 --> 00:30:48,276 They can't be aired, but. 378 00:30:48,366 --> 00:30:54,586 I have been approached on a couple of occasions actually about that very thing while writing a memoir. 379 00:30:55,466 --> 00:31:04,826 And one guy I met, said, he said, we're looking at Sidemen like you, you know, so we'd be interested in looking into it. 380 00:31:05,146 --> 00:31:11,986 I mean, since I've lost contact with the guy, but he said, if you can put all the dirt in it, he said, I can pay you an allot of money, do you know what I mean? 381 00:31:11,986 --> 00:31:13,786 And I said, well, of course you can. 382 00:31:14,166 --> 00:31:16,610 But I can't put, you know. 383 00:31:16,610 --> 00:31:26,473 To answer your question, I'm working with a good friend of mine who's basically, I mean, could write it myself. 384 00:31:26,473 --> 00:31:40,698 I mean, obviously I'm inputting all the information, but a good friend of mine, Paul Wright, he's quite an erudite person and he's read a lot of biographies and he's sort of 385 00:31:40,698 --> 00:31:42,118 putting it together. 386 00:31:42,542 --> 00:31:44,053 And he's heard most of the stories. 387 00:31:44,053 --> 00:31:46,964 said, I might as well put them down, you know. 388 00:31:48,064 --> 00:31:51,345 So yeah, no, it is in the pipeline. 389 00:31:51,606 --> 00:31:55,647 I know he's been busy with other bits of work, but it will. 390 00:31:55,808 --> 00:32:00,069 I'd like to think by this time next year, we'd have something put together. 391 00:32:00,629 --> 00:32:01,910 So yes, no, definitely. 392 00:32:01,910 --> 00:32:05,321 I mean, I don't quite know how I would approach doing it on YouTube. 393 00:32:05,321 --> 00:32:08,713 It's something I actually spoke to my youngest daughter the other day. 394 00:32:08,713 --> 00:32:12,224 She said, how about putting something together with food? 395 00:32:12,687 --> 00:32:19,932 and your music because my hobby is cooking, which of course is an extension of this anyway, because it's all creative. 396 00:32:20,654 --> 00:32:23,896 And she says, maybe come up with something like that. 397 00:32:23,936 --> 00:32:26,078 It's just my brain's not wired in that way. 398 00:32:26,078 --> 00:32:27,419 Do you know what I mean? 399 00:32:27,419 --> 00:32:29,413 I'm waiting for the phone to ring. 400 00:32:29,413 --> 00:32:30,502 Do you know what I mean? 401 00:32:31,810 --> 00:32:32,800 Yeah, no. 402 00:32:38,926 --> 00:32:43,046 Toby, do need to ask you, you've talked about all the wonderful experiences you've had. 403 00:32:43,046 --> 00:32:50,822 Do you have any advice for young players entering the industry of how they do try and make a career in this challenging time? 404 00:35:49,634 --> 00:35:50,400 Good. 405 00:35:58,424 --> 00:35:59,656 No, amazing. 406 00:35:59,656 --> 00:36:03,760 And um our last question is the dreaded desert Island discs, Toby. 407 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:09,146 So five albums, if you had to call out five albums that are your favorites of all time, what would they be? 408 00:36:14,327 --> 00:36:15,154 nice. 409 00:36:19,128 --> 00:36:20,148 Beautiful. 410 00:36:28,460 --> 00:36:29,644 No, I see 411 00:36:37,198 --> 00:36:40,892 Okay, if you're happy, I'll just choose one, Toby, but yeah, Coldplay. 412 00:36:55,638 --> 00:36:56,618 Nice. 413 00:36:56,999 --> 00:36:58,200 Toby, that's amazing. 414 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:06,276 Look, uh in spite of us, you know, spending so much time together, I do feel like we're barely scratch the surface and I can't, you mentioned about fairy dust. 415 00:37:06,276 --> 00:37:15,933 I think you've sprinkled lots of fairy dust over many artists lives and it's not through just luck, like your main tang, it's through absolute talent. 416 00:37:15,933 --> 00:37:21,668 as you know, part of success is also the hang and you obviously would be an amazing guy to hang with as well. 417 00:37:21,668 --> 00:37:22,222 So. 418 00:37:22,222 --> 00:37:27,734 Yeah, it's been a real privilege speaking with you and we'll definitely keep in touch and hopefully see you down under at some stage. 419 00:38:06,670 --> 00:38:08,210 And there we have it. 420 00:38:08,210 --> 00:38:10,090 I hope you enjoyed that two-parter. 421 00:38:10,090 --> 00:38:10,950 I know I did. 422 00:38:10,950 --> 00:38:14,050 I think you can tell I had a hell of a time talking to Toby. 423 00:38:14,050 --> 00:38:19,270 What a guy and what a raconteur as far as his career and music more broadly. 424 00:38:19,370 --> 00:38:21,710 So yeah, huge thanks to Toby for his time again. 425 00:38:21,710 --> 00:38:24,590 And we do hope to see him in Australia again. 426 00:38:24,590 --> 00:38:26,390 We'd love to follow up. 427 00:38:26,390 --> 00:38:29,170 So a huge thanks to you as well for listening. 428 00:38:29,170 --> 00:38:30,230 And I do want to make it a side. 429 00:38:30,230 --> 00:38:33,102 In the show notes, you'll see that I do link 430 00:38:33,102 --> 00:38:35,573 uh to Paul Heaton and The Beautiful South. 431 00:38:35,573 --> 00:38:47,950 If you're unaware of either of those acts and we opened part one with it, The Beautiful South uh had just such an incredible career across five, six, seven albums. 432 00:38:47,950 --> 00:38:52,603 um It's just, yeah, I cannot recommend highly enough checking them out. 433 00:38:52,603 --> 00:38:59,196 I have a personal love for the album Choke, which was their second album from memory, but yeah, do check them out. 434 00:38:59,196 --> 00:39:02,400 But um Toby's influence there is obvious, but 435 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:04,001 across everything else we covered. 436 00:39:04,001 --> 00:39:05,732 Can't thank him enough for his time. 437 00:39:05,732 --> 00:39:09,804 um A huge shout out again to our gold and silver supporters. 438 00:39:09,804 --> 00:39:12,456 So the amazing Tammy Katcher from Tammy's Musical Studio. 439 00:39:12,456 --> 00:39:14,917 Thank you Tammy, as always, for your support. 440 00:39:14,917 --> 00:39:17,449 The brilliant Mike Wilcox at Midnight Mastering. 441 00:39:17,449 --> 00:39:24,470 If you do create your own music and you need someone to run their eye over it from a mixing and mastering viewpoint, Mike is the guy. 442 00:39:24,470 --> 00:39:26,704 I cannot recommend him highly enough. 443 00:39:26,704 --> 00:39:31,186 Dave Bryson, the team at the Keyboard Corner Forum as part of the musicplayer.com. 444 00:39:31,407 --> 00:39:32,587 Do check that out. 445 00:39:32,587 --> 00:39:34,829 a great place it is to hang. 446 00:39:34,829 --> 00:39:41,515 um And last but definitely not least, amazing Dewey Evans from the Sunnyland of Wales. 447 00:39:41,515 --> 00:39:43,676 Thank you Dewey for your ongoing support. 448 00:39:43,676 --> 00:39:44,787 It's hugely appreciated. 449 00:39:44,787 --> 00:39:47,219 Again, thank you for listening. 450 00:39:47,219 --> 00:39:51,082 We'll be back again in a week or two and until then keep on playing.