|
giving in to be good at your job, so it was only really when we started getting managed by Miles Copeland and Simon Watson, who said to us,“ You know, you should get good at this job. You should really try to get good at this job.” And until then, we’ d been fighting.
IE: I would really have liked being present
at the early band meeting where( founding member) Martyn Ware came in and announced,“ Everyone, I’ ve got an idea. We shall no longer call ourselves Meat Whistle. We shall now be … The Future!” PO: Well, I wasn’ t really part of Meat Whistle. I hadn’ t gotten the. Confidence to think that I was ever going to be able to act. So I just stood at the back and watched them.
IE: Speaking of belated use of your catalog in soundtracks like Industry, what are some weird places where your material has popped up? PO: All sorts of places, soundtracks, and elsewhere. I’ m from the Midlands in England, and people are quite pompous about the accent. And they did an advert with“ Don’ t You Want Me” with a Birmingham accent, and that was quite strange. I liked it because I like the accent. But that was a little bit of an odd one.
|
IE: What about exotic places where you were surprised to hear your songs? Like, say, Nome, Alaska?
PO: We have never played Alaska. We did a stopover in Alaska, I think, going to Japan. But there’ s been Istanbul, places like that, where you walk into a cafe and someone’ s playing the song.
IE: The rock and roll hook for me went in back in’ 77, when I hand-wrote, in cursive, a rave review of ELO’ s then-new Out of the Blue album, placed on the entertainment editor’ s desk of my college newspaper, since everyone was out of the office. I arrived at school the next day to find it printed, word for word, in the paper with my byline. A week later, I was out on assignment, interviewing bands like Nazareth, The Ramones, Angel, Saxon, and Little Feat. And I was off and running, and I never stopped to look back for the past 49 years. When did the hook sink in for you? PO: Well, yeah. I think we were changed the night we saw Roxy Music. But we didn’ t know what we were doing. We knew we didn’ t want to just go for a job, and one night at the university, Roxy Music turned up and did a free show before they’ d released any records. And we walked in
|
and looked up at these five really tall guys, with platform shoes with stack heels, wearing sequins and makeup, when NO men wore makeup. And, well, the world changed at that moment, and the next day I went out and started painting my eyebrows.
IE: People always ask me who my favorite interview was, and the answer is easy— Bowie, three incredible times. But you have a personal connection to Bowie, too, right? And an Iggy connection, too, including a cover of their song“ Nightclubbing”? PO: Yes. We loved Iggy. Iggy WASA punk to us, so it was fairly scary to go on a tour with him. It was … uhh … Unpredictable. You never quite knew who was gonna be there. The show the next night— who was gonna be in the band, who was gonna be in the hospital. We had no money. We were touring for nothing, right through Europe, and it was just fantastic. But very scary. I’ m a shy guy, you know, and you’ ve got the bounciest, most extroverted, but brilliant guy in front of you. And it’ s very scary. We didn’ t do the tour where David Bowie played piano— we were on the one right after.
IE: How many times have you met Bowie? He just showed up at one of your early gigs, but I’ m not sure if he met you at that point. PO: I think he turned up at three. And you know, we were all pretty impressed. But my main aim in life is to be cool, before anything else. So I sort of went and talked to his girlfriend instead of him.
|
IE: How productive have you been lately? And how do you spend your time at 70? PO: Well, somehow I started going out with someone new when I was 68, so I spend a lot of time going between my house and her house, which is a little bit strange. But she’ s very interesting. She’ s a Research Fellow working on Alzheimer’ s, so she’ s smart and worth talking to.
IE: I see what you’ re doing here. You’ re planning for your old age! PO: Exactly! While we both sit, watching the TV, trying to remember who that actor was.
IE: Are you writing still? PO: I’ m always doing little things, but then not really knowing what to do with them. I need a producer, and I don’ t know how to find a producer.
IE: How did you survive the pandemic, by the way? PO: Just spending a lot of time trying to make sure I got my avocados! And I don’ t even particularly like mashed avocados— I prefer them sliced to guacamole. But I don’ t eat meat anymore. I still eat fish, but I have to do lot of new vegetables. And artichokes are really good.
Appearing 6 / 23 with Soft Cell and Alison Moyet at the Chicago Theatre, Chicago.
-Tom Lanham
|
10 illinoisentertainer. com april; 2026 |