W INTERVIEW
L
AN INTERVIEW WITH
THE CHRISTIANS
The Christians are a musical ensemble from Liverpool who had
the highest selling debut album of any artist at Island Records
and international chart hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Their first five singles all made the Top 40 in Britain, and their
debut album The Christians (1987) entered the UK Albums
Chart at number 2. It eventually sold over a million copies.
Here Wirral Life talk to Garry Christian in an exclusive
interview, ahead of their performance at the Wirral Life Ball on
Thursday 25th July.
We literally cannot wait for you to play at the Wirral Life Ball in
July - what can we expect?
The usual non stop hits and in between banter from me! I’ve been
playing with this band set up for over 12 years now so without
sounding big headed we’re pretty ‘tight’ and have been told our live
versions are as good as playing the CD.
You are well known for your amazing gigs, in fact, you've been
described by Chris Evans as being the best gig he's ever been to.
Do you prefer touring or being in the studio?
To be honest I feel very at home on stage – being in the studio takes
time/tweaks and different mixes – I prefer things to be ‘instant’ and
the crowds who come to see us are usually really great to be around
– so appreciative – who wouldn’t get a buzz out of that?
You grew up in Liverpool in the 1960's, were you and your
brothers always musical?
Yes we were always singing and learned very early on to harmonise
with each other – we were pretty keen on The Temptations and
used to be all the different members of the band (when you come
from a family of 13 you have someone to do every harmony). Sam
Cooke was a huge influence as was Marvin Gaye, The Beatles,
Dylan, Stevie Wonder...
How did it all begin? What would you say was your lucky break?
We were pretty renowned around Liverpool for being the family of
boys that did great harmonies – me and my brothers Roger, Denny,
Russell, Vic – we were always in some band or another, but it was
when we got together with Henry Priestman (from Its Immaterial)
and recorded some songs which we sent to a few record labels –
they all came back saying ‘no you need to work harder guys we can’t
hear a single’ ... except for Island Records who came back saying
Yes. We had 7 hit singles off the debut album The Christians and it
still remains Islands top selling album from any debut artist even all
these 32 years later – pretty impressive!
Your first five singles were all in the top 40 that must have felt
staggering for you?
We were never big headed – we just enjoyed the ride and we believed
our songs were great and people say my voice made them ... so we
were just happy and very proud to have made an album that was
socially aware in the midst of an artistically embarrassing decade of
‘Stock Aitken and Waterman’ dross – we stood out. People say that
the two albums that were played in every cool household were ‘The
Christians’ and ‘The Colour of Spring’ Talk Talk … I’ll take that.
You released two very memorable charity singles with 'Harvest
for the World' in 1988 and 'Ferry Across the Mersey' in aid of
the Hillsborough Families in 1989. Why do you think we're still
talking about them now?
Well things haven’t got much better have they – in fact they’re worse
– I mean WHEN IS THERE GONNA BE A HARVEST FOR THE
WORLD? This was a song which we did for Unicef all those years
back and the children are still starving???? Even the Isley Brothers
gave their blessing for that as they loved our version.
As for the Hillsborough families tribute – well – we don’t need to
say anymore… all these years later and we STILL haven’t done those
96 justice – there’s still people out there who know they are guilty of
murder and justice will one day be done – it was an honour to sing
the lead vocals alongside Paul McCartney and Holly… It’s the least
we could have done for those lost… I still keep in contact with the
families – Jenni & Trevor Hicks (whose beautiful daughters were
lost and were Christians fans) and with Margeret Aspinall – we
wrote a song only 2 years ago 'Big Red Sky' dedicated to the same
cause – it’s a favourite at all our gigs.
You've stood the test of time - what do you feel has been key to
that?
Our songs mean something... they’re about real people and feelings
and injustice – people turn up to our gigs thinking ‘Oh yeah I used
to like them’ and they leave in a bubble of emotion and nostalgia
– every one of our songs seems to really hit people hard – some of
our fans come to 20 or 30 gigs a year – we’re lucky – people really
seem to love us.
What else is coming up in 2019 for The Christians?
We’re as busy as ever – my wife and Manager Emma likes to keep
me as busy as possible because she knows deep down I'm happiest
when I'm on stage. We’re also in my garden studio writing some
cracking tunes about things that really matter – like losing our
high streets to the internet and losing our children to the crap fake
world that is ‘Social Media’... we gotta stop this haven’t we? One of
our songs starts ‘it aint my fault the bees are dying as long as my
instagram followers are flying’. Sums up what's happening today –
the world has lost the plot.
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