[00:00:00] Go on. Here we go. You're gonna interview me like Parkinson. Really. Just tell me, he's like, that's much better. Just, yeah, okay, you can carry on. Have you written down stuff on you? Better not, I'd rather not read it, yeah, yeah. Salute. It's just he loves doing the instruction of what you like, because it doesn't come naturally so he's my first day, I watch you like. What are you gonna do? I'll just start seeing it. I'll show you.
[00:00:30] Ha ha. Sorry. Welcome to the B2B Business Club Podcast. My guest today, Andy Bennett, a musician. Rocking on star. So Andy, before we get into your story, would you also just give us a brief introduction to yourself, who you are? A user studio? I'm Andy Bennett. I've got a sore throat, so I've got a bored sweet moment. Sorry, not very polite.
[00:00:58] What you just said, I'm a musician. I don't do much else really. Little as possible this year, you know. So, start again next year. From day one, was that what you wanted to do? Was there nothing else, was there no plan? No, I really enjoyed playing the guitar. I never wanted to be a singer. I personally don't want that. Sorry. I never wanted to be a singer, but I kind of just fell into that one. Not that I do much now anyway.
[00:01:27] Certainly not tonight. Yeah. I'm just smart. Yeah, but I always wanted to play a gig. I just like bands and Top of the Pops and all that, which is a shame because it's not there anymore. I was having this exact conversation the weekend. I was showing my daughter some Top of the Pops in the 90s. I said, you never understand now. Taylor Swift would have been on this every week. Yeah. But yeah, it was more Kerry that was like pretty much every week on the Top of the Pops. He said, yeah, but he's none of that. He said, there's no way for the kids to go and watch. I got these, the hits this week.
[00:01:54] I suppose there's a decline in TV though anyway, isn't there? It's all Netflix and Amazon and all that now, isn't it? Buy Fire Stick and away you go. We talked about it before. I mean, it's just what you want now. You take quite solid chunks of whatever you want and choose and stuff. But yeah, I think there's something today topical about people with TV licenses. Is that enough? Yeah, people aren't paying them all. Yeah. Well, it's only for the BBC.
[00:02:22] And I mean, my tell you, I don't have an aerial in it. I can't get the BBC. But yeah, everything's bite-sized chunks these days like you're saying. I prefer that to be honest. Before bed scrolling through YouTube shorts. You know, I love it. I love all those little clips. And then if there's something interesting, you can dig into that person that you saw on there. You know what I mean?
[00:02:46] I've found so many different comedians and musicians and artists just from YouTube shorts. There's a young girl band called Dear Matrona. They're nothing there based in North Carolina. And they're great, really good. I mean, they've got a big following now. Look, they were just busking on the street when I saw them first. You know, now they're playing like that, yeah. You can go down the rabbit hole then, can't you? Don't you see that? One of the venues come here and listen to Joe Rogan.
[00:03:15] At least you can have that on all the cars, kind of going back here on Spotify. And that's what we've put our thing. It's taken over from radio, isn't it? Podcasts and stuff. I mean, the Joe Rogan one, that one with Tarantino on him. Who wouldn't want to listen to that? Exactly. Tarantino. I mean, not over. It's great. Yeah, dude, it's good. It's good. Because they get into it by about, because it's something like about three hours or something. Yeah. And that's a cool in-depth discussion. Yeah. It's not just in and out, is it? No, no.
[00:03:45] It's great. Yeah, mate. So tell us about your journey then, how you got into bands. I know you started early, early into instruments of Redham, C and Note. Well, I grew up next door but one to Steve Kladock, who was obviously Ocean Colossein and Weller. And he was just really cool with me. I was only a top, really. I was like, I don't know, eight or something.
[00:04:12] And he agreed to teach me how to play the guitar on a Monday night. So I went around there and he taught me a bit for about a year or so. Just as he formed Ocean Colossein, you know, when I think I was still having lessons when they formed. It was probably about 11 then, as well. And then I just, he was that cool, like, about things and stuff. And, like, took the time to show me stuff and get me interested.
[00:04:41] You know, not many, certainly not many people 10 years older would do that. Do you know what I mean? It's just, he really turned me on to that kind of music as well. Invested in you. He did, yeah. He did it with other people as well. He's like the Pied Piper. That was kind of peak indie era as well. Was it kind of 90s to early 2000s? Well, this is even before them, because they formed in 89.
[00:05:08] So by 90, it took them a long time to have a hit. I mean, they had little bits on telly in there. Yeah. And then their big hit came in, I think it was 96, something like that. With the David Court Train, Riverboat Song, You Got It Bad, those kind of things. That mostly Shoals album came out. And, you know, it sold well. And it, what's the word? I, you know, flung them into the mainstream, which was great.
[00:05:38] And then the following album was Marching Already, which then they did an arena tour. And that's when I, I played with them a couple of times before that on the song in there. And then that's when I, my band went on tour with them. We were called Sergeant. And we toured for six weeks doing arenas like Wembley Arena and the NEC here in town. Yeah. And, yeah, great. High opening, very cool.
[00:06:07] And they let me play a couple of shows. Was it as black and roll as you thought it would be? It was good. Everybody was young and, you know, just go to a tiny beach shoes and getting up to mischief like you would, you know. Yeah. We've all been that age. There was nothing, nothing. There might be more of it, but that's, you know. Yeah, yeah. But we moved. But, and that was great. And then that would be 98, 1998 when they did that tour.
[00:06:35] And then I didn't see him for a couple of years. And then in 2003, Damon left the band, the bass player. And they got Dan Seeley in to play bass. And I came along to do second guitar. And, uh. I think it was a symphony hall or somewhere in town.
[00:07:05] And, um. And Steve was there. And they bumped into each other. And he said, here's my number. Make sure Andy give me a call. Or he got my number or something like that. And said, do you want to come down and play? They had a gig to do. Just one gig, a one off. Which I'd done before, you know. But this was at the Albert Hall. And it was, uh. Doing three songs of Ronnie Lane. Do you know Ronnie Lane from The Faces and this one? Probably. And it was such a fantastic experience, you know, to do that. And after that, they kept Dan and I on.
[00:07:36] And we stayed for the next ten years or something. So it was literally, do you mind just popping down and just helping us? We got this little, uh. Yeah. You got to roll up all. But it worked. It sounded good. We were a good sounding band, you know. And, uh. Yeah, it lasted a good ten years. Was the Sargent an indie band? Sargent was an indie band. They changed their name into The Elements. And we released one album with Acid Jazz. But it's not very acid jazzy. No. It's a bit soft, rocky. Yeah. Actually, I listened to it not long ago.
[00:08:05] And the songs, some of the songs are alright. They're just, the play-ins a bit. I was still in my 20s, though. Yeah. Still young. Old enough to know better, that. Yeah. So what was the, some of the highlights? I'm jumping in. But what were some of the highlights of the ten years? Well, the Albert Hall. Playing it again. We did the Albert Hall again. For the 21st anniversary of the band being, you know. It started in 2010. 18, 19, yeah.
[00:08:34] 2010. And we did the Albert Hall, which was just a whole show. Where's your ability and stuff. And the previous album before, prior to playing the Albert Hall, was an album called Saturday. Which I think it did really well commercially. I think critically it was alright. Because it's not a bad album, but it had a song on it called Old Pair of Jeans, which I wrote with a mate of mine. And Simon sings it on the record. But at the Albert Hall, I got to sing it, which was great.
[00:09:03] So I got to sing one of my songs at the Albert Hall. And that's a highlight. And I mean, it's great. And you're over talking about how old? Well, do you know what? It looks massive, doesn't it? But it's not. It's only about 6,000. I mean, the NEC is 15,000. That way. But it's just a prestigious place. Still 6,000. Yeah. Well, we did a lot. We played Hyde Park. I don't know who played.
[00:09:33] Yeah. So we were one of the support acts there. We did... For the Hoop. Yeah. I think so. I didn't stay and watch, to be honest with you. So we did the Isle of Wight Festival. We did loads of festivals and stuff everywhere. Japan. Fuji Rock. That's good. We did that twice. And yeah. Well, I mean, they probably did me loads of times, but... Yeah. While I was there. But yeah, loads of things like that, you know.
[00:10:03] That's amazing. That was class. I've turned to Ed, I don't know. I thought he's a... Yeah, but he's good. That's fine. So playing those big venues. Is there any venues from Ingerang, Birmingham, the Midlands when you were starting out? Well, the Jugga Vale really was the main one, which is... It's the buildings there, but it's a... I think it's a restaurant now. They're all gone in there? Yeah. But there are some new venues coming. Right. So I'll go back.
[00:10:32] The Flapper and Firkin was a good one that we used to play. And then we crossed over and kind of started doing... Because when we played the Flapper and the Jugg, we'd just do our own stuff that we'd written. I'm not talking Archicillocina. I'm talking Sargent really. And then we were all working jobs. You know what I mean? Like little part-time jobs that Sargent did. And we thought...
[00:10:58] I started just doing little acoustic gigs on my own, playing 20 Flight Rock, Wadey Cochran, for an hour. And it's the only song I knew. I've learned a couple more since then. But I started out doing like a couple of covers, but quirky covers, covers that I actually really did like. I still do covers I really do like. It's just my tastes have changed and I listen to Yacht Rock these days. What's Yacht Rock? What's Yacht Rock? Yeah.
[00:11:27] Have you never heard of... Miami Vice soundtrack would be... You know, like... Yacht. I don't like Yacht. I'm not keen on Yacht Hammer, but I do listen to things like Toto, Rye. Yeah. Journey would be Yacht Rock, I would have thought. You know, the early 80s. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What were your influences going on then? Oh, well, I got into Buddy Holly really young. I liked Michael Jackson. The Beatles are the biggest... I mean, I just went nuts over them.
[00:11:55] And I was a perfect age as well because the anthologies came out. I don't know if you remember that. The Beatles anthologies. And that was just like... Because then your mates get into it. Yeah. And they're like, oh, I used to piss out of you for liking the Beatles. Nah. You know, everybody likes the Beatles now, right? You've always been cool. Oh, I was fucking always cool. I remember that. Or was it? Still not cool. Yeah, and then that number one album I made, didn't it? And then that, so it went...
[00:12:25] Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I have that. That's great. But new venues, there's some new venues which is great. And there's one in Acox Green called The Gig. And that's like proper little thing. It opened the other week. It was from a fantastic little place. Perfect. Like the jug of ale kind of thing. That size-ish. Yeah. And then there's another one that's just really cool, but it's more mod. Well, they have all sorts of bands on there, I'm sure. But they're more moddy. And that's really cool.
[00:12:55] And that's in Sturtsley. That's called The 515 Club. Have you heard of any of these? Yeah, it's a lot of pretty cool plays. I mean... No, it's... So yeah, I used to Kings Norton. There's one up there, Kings Norton as well. Well, they used to stamp out from you then, The 515 Club. What, are you talking about the little bike shot, Chaz Manns? No, no. That's very cool too. The bike shot. There's one brought by the BP Garage. Oh yeah, the song, the Tower of Zones. Tower of Zones, yeah. I've only been there once. Mm-hmm. But that's really cool.
[00:13:25] Yeah, that's like real, that's like a celery kind of... It's like a celery, but... I mean, it's like a very kind of... Yeah. I quite liked it actually. I went to see Sissy Stone there. I'd never... Unbelievably, I'd never heard of until I went to see her there. And she's great. And... Important to have these venues, isn't it? The lot you were talking about, the flat room folk and that's... Is that still there? Yeah. See, I don't even come into Birmingham. I've made a trip specially for you too. I've seen it on the border still. I've seen it on the border still. It's still there.
[00:13:55] The flat bike? Well, is it... It must still have bands on it. I mean, it was big for that. Yeah. So it's only the jug's gone. I mean, there's little... The sunflower hounds used to have bands on it, but it's that moves? I don't know. Yeah, I've... It's not there anyway, I think so. Really? No, then. But there's... Yeah, there's gotta be a need for them, hasn't there? Because that's how... But do you find there's been a shift in people coming to you because now they're a new generation or not really? Because when we were... Excuse me.
[00:14:23] ...16, 17, 18, 19, that used to be, we'd go into some flat lounge or again, doing this, or again to the Tower Song. We're gonna watch a band and we're off to the live. I don't know. I don't know. People... My daughter plays these days. Does she? And she's out and people come and watch the things... I don't know if there's another mic or whatever, but I got a bit of video the other day. And it was her. And I thought, wow, there's people there. That's great.
[00:15:17] Yeah. I think it was a couple of times. Yeah. Massively. Yeah. There's a time when P.P. Arnold was... Do you remember her? The first cut is the deepest shit. And she was doing a radio, I think it was radio, one live lounge session. And our band was meant to be... I shit myself and I did. Backed out of it. Yeah. Not good. Sorry about that. But comfort you asked, son. I just... Yeah. Just...
[00:15:47] I was absolutely... I shit myself. Yeah. That's the truth of it. Mm. That's it. You never heard that. You're never... You're never heard that. I Greg think that I underprivile it. And to be fair, when you see musicians playing, you're just assuming that they're made of solid armour and everything. Okay, where's he adding solid up? How does it always look so flawless? Well, a lot of them are really good. Yeah. Especially... Yeah. I mean, Steve Prado is just... I think he's brilliant. Yeah.
[00:16:16] A really thoughtful player. I mean, he doesn't play what you... What everybody else would play. He plays, you know, very melodically and very good. What do you think about the Oasis, really? Oh, it's great. I don't think I'll get to see him there. How much are the tickets? Five frames, a pint of a piece of one. Have you got a wham? Okay. I'll see if I'm getting guested. That was on. They won't remember me. They won't remember me. Yeah. He won't want to see me. He's very low. You got to say that as well. He won't remember me. He won't remember me.
[00:16:47] But Liam, we supported in Steve's solo band. He had a... Steve did about three albums and toured them and got to support BDI. You know, after Rob Ace, it was BDI. Excuse me. And so we went to Germany and all sorts of places. I don't know how many times you've supported them actually. Maybe only a couple of times, who knows. But I saw him again at the Fuji Rock Festival.
[00:17:18] And yeah. It's not. It doesn't belong down with that H, does it? Liam, I'm looking forward to seeing the footage that they... Why they... Yeah. I want to see who's in the... Do you know who's in the band yet? It's the ritual on, isn't it? Is it? Bonehead. Bonehead's been confirmed. Right. Okay. That's cool. Yeah. Because he looks better now than he ever looked. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got a goat... Yeah, he's got like... Yeah, he's a court... Do you want to buy a Cortina? Yeah.
[00:17:49] Man after all... I don't think that's Tony Kelly or his name who's getting by the back there. Tony Carroll. Well he... No. Well who's the drummer then? Is it Alan White? Or is it Zach Stark? Or is it Chris Sharrock? I don't know. It'd be Chris Sharrock. Because he's in Knowles back now. Yeah, my bird. And he was the last... Zach Stark is class, I don't know. Yeah, man. He looks really cool. He had a... Yeah. He had a... So... Was there any fallout with the lads?
[00:18:17] Could you just get a call like next week and go, ah, we're gigging and we need you to step in and you'd just be like, oh, okay. Oh no, I wouldn't... They wouldn't ask me. They wouldn't want me playing for them again, I'm sure. But I'd still speak to the lads. I saw Oscar not long ago. I was in Sanh, so October 2015 was it with you and Salah. Okay. Was it? Yeah, yeah. Allegedly. Oh, you're... You Wikipedia... Does it? No Wikipedia. Okay. But, um... But 2015.
[00:18:47] So obviously you wrote a song, aren't you? Obviously, Salman sung it for us, you called Sam. Oh, well, Beijing's, yeah. Yeah. So then at what point you were saying you didn't want to be a singer? Oh, I was already singing in Sargent by that time. It was just early on. Yeah. By about 20 or something, you're fronting the band because you can't get staffed. So is that where... Have you got the itch that you can't scrap, Sam being in a band, playing a guitar in a band where you're not singing, you're not front and centre?
[00:19:19] Maybe I think, yeah. Must have had a big head, obviously. Yeah, big ego. Massive head. Especially guitars. It's all about me. Yeah. It's guitar players. It's you, isn't it? Spotlight on you. Especially when you're writing songs. How easy or how hard is it to collaborate songwriting when you're in a band but you're not a singer? Uh... Well, I used to just write the songs anyway.
[00:19:43] And then a couple of the singers that we had before would like finish off lyrics or maybe think of another chord to go there and that. But, uh... I really generally write on my own. Is that what you asked? I just completely went off on a space. Yeah, no. No, that's... It's, um... How easy is it to write a song as opposed to, it's like collaborating or you write a song that someone wants to input into it then? Is it... Uh, it depends who it is, doesn't it, as well? But, um...
[00:20:11] Um, I don't write much anymore, to be honest. Did you watch that? Did it all start to enter? Which one? Get Back or... Yeah. Something for about four or five hours. Yeah. So we're doing the trying to get... Yeah, man. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but I could watch that for ages. I could watch that for ages. It's like Goose Pimples or like... It says, I thought you did a good job, man, with all the footage that he had. Absolutely. It's so different from the Michael Lindsay Hobb version of Let It Be, which I've got as well. I still like that as well.
[00:20:41] It was showing that just them being angry with each other. Yeah, yeah. But... But they are so young and they're a piece in the mail. Yeah. But they were really good mates, aren't they? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was great. Ah, The Beatles. Yeah. They're just the best. Was it similar to... Did you used to have like little sessions with the lats and kind of say, oh, we need... What about that? You used to, what about this? And then used to kind of get... Always... No, we never did. I never did that with them.
[00:21:08] We might have gone through a couple of times in the studio. Actually, the first album, the first recorded album I did with them, there was a little bit of that. But I was so nervous because I was like older brothers and, you know, really looked up to them and still do, you know. And so I was a bit shy or nervous and a bit, you know, wide-eyed and trying not to show it. But, you know, I'm sure it was all over my face.
[00:21:38] But... I should... Yeah. How are you doing for Easter to all? Or how easy it is at all? Do you know, it would be easy now for me. But at the time, it wasn't that easy for me. But that's another reason. So, just going to see you, we spoke back briefly. You've been clean for a while now and oh yeah. And was it very much rock and roll and there was things that were going to... It was just... No, just... I'm not... I'm one of those people that just shouldn't drink.
[00:22:07] I've been told it all my life. Like my mum... My mum would go, you know, it's in the family, you shouldn't drink. She wouldn't quite say it like that. But, er... I go, no, I'm alright. As we all do. I'm alright, you know. Have a couple. This and that or whatever. I should just drink water. Mmm. Is it your hand-in-hand on soar and your rock and roll? Well, you think it does. And some people I can see and they're having a great time.
[00:22:37] And people are laughing at them and it's funny and it's nice. I think I got like that switch that... I can sound a bit... I need to be honest with you. Sorry. Bit of a... Bit of a dick, you know. You can edit that, right? Yeah, yeah, I like that. Yeah. Yeah, but you ever get to a point, it's like Gems are the Greeks, someone like a Jeffrey, and I'm telling you what's in the past. Yeah. Yeah. Could be. Could be. Straight to a few furry wolves.
[00:23:07] Oh, euphemism. Was there a moment where you just, where you thought, oh, that's it, I'm not, I'm not friends? We do? With drink and we drug. Oh, sorry. Yeah. Mine's away again. Sorry. I'm not on drugs either. Right. Just a bit. Just spacing out. Yeah, yeah. Cold and flu, something. Yeah. Yeah. God, I have... That's what it is, isn't it? See, that affects me now more than ever.
[00:23:39] Yeah, well, I was falling out of love with it for the last 10 years, you know, I've been doing it, nailing it for 15 years. Hardcore, 10 years, so 20 years of 25 without the, you know, but 20 years of just a bad habit, you know what I mean? Awful. And now you realise, and I'm good. I'd never do it again. I'm not fussed by it. It's good. So going back to the solo stuff, so we've met... Put all that out.
[00:24:08] No, that's nice. That's nice. That's nice to say, you've done that and now you're at the other side, I think. How you feel? I'll send this over to you before we call them through our accent. But we met, did we say eight years ago? Hole in the road. Right, I'm fucking hell. I was like, come on. We used to have a tight nail crown, didn't we? Right, but... Which, where is that? Biggibus. Yes, right, it was Ambulion. Is that all it was eight years ago?
[00:24:37] I don't know why. Was it? Was it? Was I hate you? Were we over the... Yeah, because I used to do anything there, didn't I, of course? Used to end up... Did we not do the custard factory? That's right. Was that on a Sunday? Is that where you met me? Was it with Kalik? Yeah. Yeah? Yeah, yeah. He's a top fella, I think. Yeah. Have you had him on? No. He used to get Kalik on. Is that a band? Oh, he's great. He's still a band. I think he's got a venue right by his house that he's booking up. Yeah.
[00:25:07] So, yeah, so you... He's got some stories. He used to do the open mic. Yeah, do the open mic. Yeah, do the open mic. Yeah, was it an open mic? Did you... Or just a session he kind of... Yeah, coming on. Eight years or so. It's good. It's been fascinating. I can't remember yesterday. Yeah, you know what? That's COVID as well, isn't it? There's three years that just... Gone? Nothing Mike said yet. That was six years ago. That was four years ago. Yeah, excuse me. It lifted three years out of it. It was lost, didn't it? What did you do during COVID? Eating some? I had a fat lot.
[00:25:37] I did... We bought barbecue. Because we had that... In 2020, we had that really nice summer, but you couldn't... You got barbecue in that summer? Yeah, that... Well, we went to... We queued... And... We got it on. I don't know what it is. But we got a barbecue and... You know, a big one. And we just spent the summer outdoors. And then 2021 came. It was another lockdown or whatever. And you got to get your jabs. And then I started doing a few gigs again because... You couldn't...
[00:26:06] You couldn't work if we didn't have injections and stuff. So, so... I was on with the island. The hospitality was the first one to go and the last one to open them. So, weren't we? Yeah. I'll do weddings and... Right, right. And gigs and stuff like that. And... Yeah. Just... With child file. Started quizzes and stuff and all that. I did online. Yeah, I did a... So, Facebook Live, wasn't it?
[00:26:35] That all started... I don't mean it. It probably started... I didn't know anything about it. I'm not on... I am on social media. But it's not me that's... I'm annoyed. Yeah. I don't probably write anything on there. Really. Um... But yeah. So, Facebook Live on a Friday night where I'd do... I'd sit in my front room and put a little PA speaker up so it got a bit of reverb throughout my voice out. I don't know. You get a few people watching. Yep. You know... I should do it again, but...
[00:27:04] Yeah, you don't know how little... The effort people made and what it meant to people at that time. You think? You meant to... Oh yeah. I used to do this and then you just think, Oh, it's a bit of a ball. It's two hours in the morning sort of like whizz out. And then when I've come out now, like, ah, what... I seen one of my mates, kids, about six months ago. And I was like a pop star soon. I was like, ah, I can't... Because I used to obviously be on the telly and stuff. And like, he used to be those... He's like half starstruck. Just like, ah, I can't... I remember my ads with me. There was nothing going on.
[00:27:34] So that little crumb of entertainment, you be kind of thing to the people who are watching it. Maybe if you only had five people watching you. You don't know what that done for those five people. Right. I didn't have that one. No, me neither. You're a fair to cry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, yeah. I'm like Dr. Fox. Mmm. Yeah. So what's your... What are you doing at the moment? Just doing some like little residency kind of gigs.
[00:28:00] Just at hotels and just in covers and stuff really. Just keeping my hand in one. You know, getting my head around things. And before, started to write down little things again. To maybe... In fact, I recorded it back in 2020. I recorded an album. It just didn't come out. It's all ready to go, but... Bullshit this is.
[00:28:28] I recorded it at John Rivers' place in Leamington Spa. Have you heard of it? It's called Woodbine Studios. No, he did... I love that balance. He did... Well, we did the Notion Colossine album there. We did the Elements album there. But his big thing was he did Ghost Town by The Specials. Yeah. Which is cool, isn't it? Yeah, so I did now. But I listen to it now and I think, Oh, I could do that better. But I couldn't have any...
[00:28:56] I couldn't have a band because we're... You had to... Obviously, I said, yes, I had to... I mean, I wanted to play everything myself as best I could. And it's okay. It's not like... So you can play every instrument? Well... After... I took time. I took my time. You know, but I had a go. You got a time. So I've been... So I think that the... So you're my fault and then piano. Well, I didn't take... I didn't play the piano.
[00:29:26] I got... I sent the tracks to a guy called Danny McCormack who played the piano. He plays for Roy Wood. He's just incredible. I'd recorded with him before. He did the piano on it. And that's another thing that COVID did. So musicians were thinking, how do you make... So session players, like really good drummers and things that have got like a practice kit at home and it's all mic'd up so they can practice. Well, they figured out that if you send them the tracks, they can lay drums down on...
[00:29:55] You know, so a lot of people, even drummers are working from home now. Yeah. But I didn't do that. I did actually play the drums, but... People are doing that. It's changing what I left. The world's changing, haven't it? Mmm. You just sit and do it all on Carrix Banner, and I can't just keep going for that. Yeah. Yeah, I don't keep... So would you go back into the studio and redo that with the band, I think?
[00:30:21] I might redo it with a friend of mine who I play with Mondays, called Simon Foster. He's just a really good singer, player, great bass player, great guitar player. And I'll probably just do it with him, because I think between the two... You can cover it. We can cover it with all the basses, yeah? And I wouldn't necessarily record all of it. I'd just do a few of the songs again,
[00:30:49] because he's got some great songs as well. Maybe doing it. Who knows? I don't know. I'd buy it. Would you? Instantly buy it. Just from my... Just from me saying. Okay. That sounds good. He's incredible, Simon is, and he's never really had the platform to present himself, you know what I mean? And I hope that changes, because... I mean, we're the same age. But he's worked hard, and he's such a great guitar player, bass player, vocals. I've already said that, haven't I?
[00:31:19] I don't fancy him. Got a lovely voice. How easy is it made? Your music, eh? Speedmark. What's the pathway, Lodge? Back in the day, we dropped demos for a people's car wing done. Yeah, well there's none of that anymore. We just put it on YouTube, or Facebook. I don't know. I don't know. No one listens to me anyway. Put it on Spotify. You can put it on Spotify. I think you have to have a little distribution kind of thing. But there's platforms out there. You pay a subscription,
[00:31:48] but I don't know what it is. It could be 500 quid a year. It might be 50 quid a year. I couldn't tell you. What are you doing for this? Over here. It's about 90 quid a month. Okay. Five quid a month is distributed on Spotify. It's all random. Once you stop paying that, they just take it off to them. I don't know. Or is it just for the new? Just kind of doing it. Yeah, for now. Yeah, exactly. I think so. I think it's as black as ours, are you? Yeah. Well, that's how you do it then, isn't it? And then I suppose it's up to you to kind of go,
[00:32:18] listen to me. I'm fucking great. Yeah, but tell me yours is not Spotify. Yeah. Yeah. Is it? Yeah. Yeah, I know. Yeah. It's good. So what do you hope for the future? Do you want to do rock and roll? Or like headlining festivals again? I'm fucking going great. Hey. It's well old. No one wants to see me anymore. No one wants to see me anymore. I'm singing the monkeys down in the fucking hotel, aren't I? Would you go and-
[00:32:48] Would I what? Would you go and do festivals and go on the smaller stage and go solo? Sell it for the free viewers that we get? No one wants to see me. If you do want to see me however, book me and I'll come and play your festival. I do. I do do a few little festivals here and there. Is it plenty around the Midlands now as well, is it then? We're all the best- I've got to be honest. Don't fucking books mate. No. Oh, I did. That's a lie. I did do Noel festival. Noel? Exactly. Where, but where's that? Where's that? I don't know.
[00:33:18] No, he's like Noel. I don't know. It was interesting the part of him. Yeah, no. I don't know. Are they doing the concerts? Anything for them all? Jasper Alts doing it and all that? Is he? You were at people talking to their people. Yeah. Noel festival. Yeah, my friend went there. My friend. He was- He wouldn't book me either, Jasper. Will you, Jasper? Do you really see this? Yeah, I think so. Really? How you doing mate? I'll give you a call soon. Sorry I didn't know you. Yeah, I was in the series. Didn't you try to get him once? Just, can you shout out?
[00:33:47] He would say give us a shout out as well. We should have come together. The last time we came, it was with Jasper. We sat there. What was the football match? That's what it came with, you know, January. Yeah. Yeah, man. He's top and he- Yeah. That's what I did. That's the last tour I did was with Jasper doing, and his band, the stand up and rock thing. So you've got Beb Bevan on drums and the rest, all except Joy, who's the singer in Quill. Have you heard of Quill? Yeah. Yeah, so it's basically Quill's band, but not Joy.
[00:34:17] And they put me there. Brilliant. It was, it was great for me. Yeah. Yeah, I really, I loved it. Not so much for that. See, but Jasper on a, on WhatsApp then. I've dropped you all WhatsApp and say, what's going on to everyone? He's busy. He's always busy. That's brilliant, no. See, but they're getting crummy and Midlands-based people around. Yeah, well it's great with- It's a nice one to be involved in the club. Well, in Birmingham in general,
[00:34:46] because Steve Knight's got his studios over there. Excuse me. They're filming Peaky Blinders, aren't they? Or they filmed it, I don't know. But they finished. I don't know. There wasn't. It might take a while. That will take about nine months, won't it? But that's cool as anything. I ain't seen it yet. I can't wait. The studio at UB40s will move back in. Yeah. To Digberth, which is, so it's really happening. I went and watched them last week with Robin. We got some backstage stuff.
[00:35:16] With Robin. Robin's ace, isn't he? Do you know Matt, his son? Yeah. Matt and James. Matt and James. Matt and James. Yeah. Do you know Rob Orton? He comes down here all the time. But he's, he. I don't know. Well, he had the studio before, you know, with these, with the UBs, like some affiliation. He's a good guy. But yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing all that though. But on the drive in, it's like, looks nothing like. Liquor paint. Yeah. Oh, it's had a liquor paint.
[00:35:46] Love. It's a good man. I think people are, you know, people are coming back to the city and it's looking good. So, Emma. Great. Once the council get the fingers out, sort out the transport links and follow up on fulfilments to Mr. Waggonite and the three billion pound sports quarter, or bigy commencing bill, weren't it? Where wheels is, that's all going to be. Wheels. Okay. Is that? Yeah. I remember that. So what's going to be there?
[00:36:15] Three billion pounds. It's a quarter, big development for blues. It's a move. Yeah. All right. It's early up the road. Four years. It's, uh, towards where PMT was, isn't it? Yeah. Or to where PMT is as well as, you know. It's there, isn't it? Yeah. Okay. So there are new ground and everything. What's this going to be, you know? Must have any dull questions in there. Fucking hell, look at it. It's ace. I know. I know. Look at that. Look at that.
[00:36:46] That's a proper ground, that is. That's a proper ground, that is. But no, it's the same time. Shall we go? Oh, sure. Yeah, man. Thanks. So yeah, if you want to, if you want to rap, what are you, so, what are you plugging, plugging into the way then? No, not really. I'm in and around, you know. I'm around and about doing cabaret. So how do people find you and how? Um, well, when I put some stuff out there, I mean, I'm sure people, I don't know. We do it, I suppose. Yeah. I put Spotify and all that.
[00:37:16] Yeah, find it on Spotify and Facebook, I suppose, isn't it? And Instagram and X. It's on all of that, I think. But I don't know how much gets posted or how often, you know. You've got this really your hijack. She's my wife. She's what? Yeah, but she, yeah, she's my manager. She's, you know, of course. You didn't answer this morning. I was like, oh, I... I didn't answer this morning. Did you ring me? No, no, no. I just checked. Oh, I did? On WhatsApp? Yeah, yeah. WhatsApp that he did, doesn't it?
[00:37:47] I can't speak to the Wall Street manager. See if her... Yeah. You said, just speak to her. She'll make sure I'm there. She will make sure I was there. Yeah. Although, I did have an alert. I was really good today and the alert went off going, podcast burn. I was like, okay, got this. No worries. Got this. How do you find the work and pleasure balance? Well... Looking after you professionally? Yeah, apart from getting like... I keep getting these throat infections, which isn't very good. But other than that, I don't really do much to it.
[00:38:15] I've got not much to complain about. No. My family's great. You know, kids and my parents, everybody's... In good health. And so, I'm enjoying it. I don't really do much. You know, go out, play with guitars with Simon. Or go out on my own. Or fill in here and there, like I did last night. And... I'm just in and around and about at the moment. I'm like a bit in limbo. Yeah. Till I write some more stuff, we'll get that other stuff released.
[00:38:45] But it will... Well, that's it. Yeah, that's it. I never found writing, you know, nine to five anyway, or every week or whatever. But you do have a... A big, big surge of it. You know what I mean? It all comes at once, you've got to tell. Oh, it was. Yeah, it all comes and you're like... It's like you're not writing it really. Yeah. A block at three in the morning, just wake up like, I've got to get to say... And then if it's shit, you go, yeah. I didn't write that shit. Put it out.
[00:39:15] Put it out. You put it out. It wasn't me. Okay, let's just get it dry up. Thanks, Sam. It was great. It was your time, Jon. Thanks for having me. Great. Nice to see you again. Nice to see the ground like this one. It's ace. Hopefully. We'll see you at Headlines of Festival in 2025. We're like, yeah. That's where we had him on. Look, you won't speak to us. He's an old superstar. Give us a plug and maybe some people who put on festivals will... Get me on. Get me on. I don't mind being in the tent. All first on.
[00:39:49] Thanks a lot, mate. Cheers. Thanks so much, Jandaz. Cheers, mate. Yes, fellas. Brilliant.