W L INTERVIEW
kind of started doubting it ! And then we were trying to put together a box set for the MCA years and trying to find material for it , we found an ’ Old Grey Whistle Test ’ from New Year ' s Eve 1984 , where I was playing Hammersmith Odeon , and the second half of the show was broadcast . Halfway through the show Richard Skinner comes on stage to introduce the live part of the show , and he comes out with that quote ! So , I don ' t know where he got it from , I don ' t know where or when Elton said it in the first place , but clearly Richard Skinner thought he ' d said it , so , it ' s good enough for me !
It ’ s also been 40 years since you performed at Live Aid ; do you remember much about that ?
I do yeah and unsurprisingly I ' m always getting asked about it . Because why wouldn ' t you ask me ? It was , you know a real privilege to have been there . It kind of summed up those 3 or 4 years really for me in that it was incredibly exciting but also incredibly stressful , terrifying and bewildering all at the same time . I spent the previous 18 months a little bit out of my depth most of the time . Just kind of swimming about in the deep end , just about keeping afloat and to be put in front of you know again , 80,000 people and 2 billion on the television and a handful of my heroes as well just sort of standing backstage , it was yeah , quite intimidating to say the least , and I do remember wondering how on earth my legs took me on stage that day . My brain was like no , I ’ m not going out there . Yeah , but I look at the video because obviously , it ' s all on YouTube and stuff , and I look at it , and I think I look pretty comfortable , you know . It looks alright , but I was utterly terrified . I think most people would be , but some people are just so used to operating in that kind of theatre , you know . I remember sitting in the Royal box , watching some of the acts come and go and Queen walked on stage , and I went alright , okay , fair do ’ s , that ’ s how you do it . But what a privilege to have been there hey !
Who are your favourite bands now ?
I don ’ t really listen to a lot of music . When I do , I revisit my old favourites ; Bowie , early Genesis with Peter Gabriel and a band called Gentle Giant . I ’ m a big fan of ‘ The 1975 ’ but nothing else new . I took my 14-year-old to ‘ Bludfest ’ created by YungBlud , he is a character , he has some great tunes . But because my parents were into classical music , I listened to a lot of that . When I ’ m in the car , Radio 3 , especially if I ’ m stuck in traffic ! I ’ ve been through so many different phases especially in my youth . I was a skinhead , fortunately there were no camera phones back then . I listened to reggae music being a skinhead , then Slade , Bowie , T-Rex and glam rock . Then it was Deep Purple , Led Zeplin , rock stuff and then some prog . I was in a jazz fusion band for a few years so listened to some of that . I don ’ t really have a thing , some of it good , some of it not , some of it moved me . But I do struggle with rap I have to say . Urban music is not for me , I ’ m not the target demographic am I . I do appreciate some of it , my son is into Eminem and that guy is a genius , incredibly talented . His wordplay and the multi rhythmic things he comes out with is extraordinary . A lot of modern rap is autotuned and you can ’ t hear what they are saying , I sound like my dad now … ‘ How am I meant to appreciate what they are singing about if I can ’ t hear what they are saying ’, is what my dad said to me about Deep Purple !
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