Episode Transcript
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the app today.
0:13
I've run into Alfiebo several
0:16
times. Oh, I sound like Wogan.
0:18
I didn't mean to. Oh,
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easy mother. Several times
0:23
over the years, at
0:25
a café in St. Margaret's where we both
0:28
seemed to congregate. As
0:30
I recall, and we touch on this briefly
0:32
in the interview, he was living in
0:34
a flat that belonged to Pete Townsend. Anyway,
0:37
we'll have to talk about that the next time. He
0:40
was full of beans, mixed
0:43
up with the taxis.
0:43
He was 20 minutes late,
0:45
but it didn't matter. I didn't hold
0:48
it against him. We talk about
0:50
all sorts, working with the nightmare
0:53
that is Michael Ball. I wouldn't
0:56
wish it on anyone. As
0:59
well as somebody in the room laughing, that's good. Always
1:01
a good sign. Working
1:04
in Las Vegas, standing on the spot
1:06
that Elvis stood on before joining
1:08
the stage. And his remarkable
1:11
story of how he began
1:13
in the business. A proper
1:15
kind of rags to riches Hollywood
1:17
biopic when he's polishing
1:19
cars and somebody hears
1:22
him singing and says, hey kid,
1:24
you got talent. You ought to pursue that. This
1:27
was in Blackpool, so he wouldn't have sounded
1:29
like that. Please sit back. Please
1:32
relax. Please put down
1:34
your prejudices and enjoy
1:36
Brydon and Alfiebo.
1:46
Hey everybody. Welcome to
1:48
the show, Alfiebo. Thank you so much,
1:51
Rob. There's not many people I can do that with.
1:53
You need a surname that rhymes.
1:57
If I ever get Michael Caine,
1:59
I'll say here we go.
1:59
go again, Michael Caine, but it wouldn't
2:02
make sense because I've never interviewed him before. Right,
2:04
right. Okay. And just before, while
2:06
we were getting ready to start, Alfie,
2:08
you just said to me, you're going to be
2:10
getting your own podcast together. What?
2:13
Yeah, I'm trying to get a little
2:15
podcast together, interviewing some opera
2:17
singers, how they got started, what training
2:20
they go through, what hobbies they have,
2:23
what would they rather be doing in their lives, you
2:25
know, that sort of thing, you know. Are there many
2:27
opera podcasts? I don't think
2:29
so.
2:30
So, well, and I tell you what, get in there
2:32
because when you said I
2:35
was going to say, yeah, because the world needs
2:37
another podcast, which is how
2:40
I felt, you know, about this. I mean,
2:42
it's interesting, isn't it? Because I was thinking, you know, when
2:45
I got approached through this, I was thinking, oh, everybody's
2:47
doing podcasts. But that must be how
2:49
people felt when television started. Yeah, I mean,
2:52
you know, the amount of chat shows that came out in
2:54
the day. So I don't
2:56
think it's anything to
2:58
be ashamed of or worried about, you know. I'm
3:01
trying not to be ashamed of it. Have you heard
3:03
it? Have you heard this podcast?
3:05
I haven't. I'm here to help you out a little
3:08
bit, Rob, you know. But,
3:10
you know, I think this is the way obviously the world is going.
3:13
You know, it's where interviews are going. To hell
3:15
in a hand cart, I believe, is the phrase
3:17
you're looking for. Okay, there
3:19
you go. You took the words out of my mouth. It's
3:22
great to see you. You look at you. Are
3:24
you working out? I do
3:26
work out. I've literally just started
3:29
CrossFit. Is that training angry? It's
3:32
really upset angry, yeah. But
3:36
it's like functional workouts. So
3:38
you're doing a lot of strength training mixed with cardio
3:40
as well. So you do like the ski yurg,
3:43
you do
3:43
the rowa mixed with like
3:45
Dumbo Press or whatever it is. And it's
3:48
a real heart. You know, it gets
3:50
the heart going. It's a real workout. So and
3:53
I'm loving it right now because
3:55
he's starting me off slow. But
3:57
I used to work out quite a lot. I used to go to the gym.
3:59
him
4:01
four or five times a week and I
4:03
know you did as well. What do you mean
4:05
did? Sorry and I know you
4:07
you you walk past it occasionally. Well
4:09
that's worse. Well I know you they
4:12
sell water. Wow unbelievable.
4:15
I'm being
4:17
roasted by Alfie Bow. Whoa whoa
4:19
whoa if there's any roasting I think it'll
4:21
be the other way around. Unbelievable.
4:25
Look I'm trying to sit, I'm trying to explain.
4:27
My chest actually can.
4:35
We always talk
4:37
about age on this podcast. How old are you? I'll
4:39
be 50 in about four weeks
4:42
time. Oh the beginning of the end. Exactly. Oh
4:45
I'm serious. Yeah yeah 50
4:47
man. 50 is the top of the roller
4:49
coaster. Is it? You can have fun going down the other
4:51
side but you're going down. All right okay
4:55
well I'm sure I'll catch up at some
4:57
point. I tell you what's going to happen you're going to really
4:59
get into training but your body
5:02
is going to fight against it because you're going to get
5:04
little aches, little, I mean this right shoulder
5:06
for me now. I'm getting it now. It's
5:09
happening already. Well is this true?
5:11
You've got to be so careful. You've got to change your
5:13
training. You've got to get more stretching in
5:16
more of a kind of Pilates yoga
5:18
thing because you've got to stay fit because
5:20
you're going on tour aren't you? I'm going
5:22
on tour. I'll be around the whole
5:24
of the UK and Ireland and
5:27
that takes me through until October
5:29
17th. I
5:31
think we end in Dublin. And
5:33
that'll be a good one. Dublin's
5:36
a good place for a last show. The audience
5:38
is in Dublin. They're wild. Yeah absolutely
5:41
wild. Belfast and Dublin. Yeah they
5:43
go crazy. Well Dan you just didn't let
5:45
the bell fire. I didn't like
5:47
that. What a smart guy. And I'm playing cardish
5:50
and clander now as well. Terrible audience. Oh
5:54
well shorting says go on then make me laugh.
5:57
There you go. Go on sing move me move me.
6:00
Or in North Wales, go on then, move me. Move
6:02
on. No, I don't think you're very good at all. I
6:05
did the Ice Steadford in Clangolan.
6:08
In where? Clang... Okay.
6:11
Where? In this place with a real weird name.
6:13
Try it again. Clang... Clangoklyn.
6:16
That's good. Is that right? Yeah.
6:19
Okay. You started off saying Clangagolan. Clangagolan.
6:22
Clangoklyn. And it was great. It
6:24
was wonderful. I stood there on stage, and it's a huge
6:26
stage, huge auditorium. Four and a half
6:28
thousand people. And
6:32
at the front row, there was this woman going
6:34
crazy. She was dancing away to all my music.
6:36
We were doing this big Queen medley, and
6:39
she was rocking out. She must have
6:41
been 88 and 89, 90s or something
6:43
like that. It was like,
6:46
that was so good to see people,
6:48
a woman like that, just really connecting with that rock
6:51
music. So you're going to be touring. Now, what's
6:53
the setup on your tour? I
6:56
know you tour with Michael Ball. We'll
6:59
come on to Michael, inevitably.
7:02
But let's delay this long as we can. When
7:05
you tour, how many
7:07
musicians, what's the size of the touring
7:10
party? How does it work? Well, you know,
7:12
these days it's nice to try and keep
7:14
it as small as possible. So you
7:16
can keep more of the money. You can go on holiday after
7:18
that. Yeah, exactly. And
7:20
I have an amazing
7:23
band, five musicians, five rock
7:25
players, that are so versatile
7:27
in their playing. They can
7:30
definitely rock out. They can connect
7:32
with the musical theatre, and they can even
7:35
cross to the classical repertoire
7:38
that I do. So you've got it down to five
7:40
people. Five people and two backing
7:42
singers. And they're
7:44
amazing. BVs. Wonderful. Yeah.
7:48
And they're great. They're going to be up front, and I should be behind,
7:50
to be honest. You see that documentary?
7:52
That wasn't me. And who was that? That
7:54
wasn't me. That was the playback. Yeah. All
7:58
right. We've done. We've done almost... hundred
8:00
podcasts right you wouldn't think
8:02
so. Have
8:06
a train going past that. Have you
8:09
seen the documentary 25 feet from
8:11
stardom? 20 feet from stardom. That
8:14
extra five feet they'd be out the door.
8:17
All about backing singers. Yeah and it's
8:19
awesome it really is cool I mean when
8:21
you look at some of the old interviews of
8:24
the lady that came in to the studio
8:26
in the middle of the night to record Give
8:29
Me Shelter from the Rolling Stones and choosing
8:31
like a night dress and oh
8:33
my goodness and yet when you listen to those vocals
8:35
you won't you'd never replace that you'd never get
8:37
anything. It's a fascinating thing because
8:40
you started this by saying I got these
8:42
backing vocalists and they should be up front
8:44
rather than me and I think the
8:47
documentary people should look it up 20 feet
8:49
from stardom all about these backing singers who
8:52
are incredible and some of them have
8:54
tried to be the front man
8:56
or front woman front person and
8:58
it hasn't worked out I think some of them have
9:01
always been happy in the background but it raises
9:03
that interesting question the
9:06
x-factor what is it
9:08
I do by which I don't mean that show I mean
9:10
the quality what is it that makes that person
9:13
sometimes not technically often
9:16
not technically as good a singer
9:18
as these people behind but they've got something. Do
9:20
you know what I think it is is
9:23
if I can try
9:25
and put it into a nutshell I think it's
9:27
about being able to accept
9:30
and make mistakes as
9:33
a lead as a front man as
9:35
a front singer and going with it and sometimes
9:40
making a mistake for the for the sheer hell of
9:42
it you know to sort of show
9:44
to shake things up a bit yeah to disconnect
9:46
from the audience to sort of drop that
9:48
barrier from the audience flight
9:51
the imperfection yeah you
9:53
know and it's about not being perfect
9:56
it's about taking that risk
9:58
to try something different. Whereas
10:01
all my musicians are so well rehearsed
10:04
and so in their lane that they know exactly
10:06
what they want to play, how they want to play it,
10:09
where they want to play it. Singers know the
10:11
harmonies inside out. Trying
10:14
to get them to shake themselves out of that
10:16
and give themselves confidence to take
10:19
a risk can be hard.
10:21
But when you are playing Jean
10:24
Valjean, which you have done, how
10:26
many times have you done that? In lane
10:28
Zaraab, how many times? Probably over 500
10:31
times at least, something like
10:33
that. On Broadway and in the
10:36
West End, probably even more than that when I think about
10:38
it. Yeah, I thought you were gonna say more than 500. Yeah,
10:41
I mean I've did two runs in the West End.
10:43
No, sorry, I did four runs in the
10:45
West End and then a run on Broadway. Yeah, so I've done
10:47
a fair few. I mean I've done
10:51
it twice. Oh no, I did 12 times. Have
10:54
you been experimenting with the dosage again
10:57
now? When you're in that
10:59
sort of a show, to what
11:02
degree have you got to keep it perfect
11:05
every night? Because that's different, isn't it? Yeah, it
11:07
is. You are playing
11:10
by the book. You are sort of directed
11:13
to move in a certain area. You
11:15
are told to sing the
11:18
score. We've heard this so many times
11:20
from people that have done musicals. We
11:23
had Rees-Sheer Smith on talking about being in the
11:25
producers and the
11:28
stage is divided into sections. Is
11:30
that the same for Les Mis? You should be in six,
11:32
you were in four or you turned your
11:35
head. I mean is it that particular? With
11:37
Les Mis it wasn't that particular, but
11:40
in the, I did a musical called Fine
11:42
in Neverland and that was, the stage
11:44
was mapped out like that and that for
11:46
me is a bit too controlling. I think you
11:48
have to have an element of freedom to
11:52
be able to play
11:54
with the boundaries and push it a little
11:56
bit. I suppose the challenge there is how can I, how can I, how can I, how can I, how
11:58
can I, how can I, how can I, can I put in a flourish
12:01
within these boundaries? How can I
12:04
respect what they want and
12:06
yet still not just be a robot?
12:08
I think as long as it doesn't affect your
12:11
colleagues performance, as long as it doesn't interfere
12:14
with what they're doing, then you
12:16
can push it a little bit. And I did. I used to,
12:18
we used to push
12:21
the confrontation with Shaver
12:24
further and further every single night,
12:26
it would get harder and harder. And then the director said,
12:28
guys, come back on stage a little bit, you know,
12:31
or even the singing, you know, you'd hold a note
12:33
for longer. You'd sing
12:36
it quieter, you'd sing it louder, you'd
12:38
do a different gesture on a certain phrase that
12:40
you didn't do the night before. And it's important
12:43
to play around like that and to take risks. And
12:45
so. But there's a balancing act,
12:47
isn't there? Because essentially what you're doing
12:50
there is you're changing it to keep it
12:52
interesting for you. Yeah.
12:55
And it's a bit like when you go to see your
12:57
favorite pop singer and they've
12:59
got some new arrangement of one of
13:01
their great songs. Yeah. And
13:03
I'm sure it's wonderful for them because it feels
13:06
for them now like it used to feel. But
13:08
so often the audience are going, this
13:10
isn't the rhythm. This isn't, you know, it's,
13:13
I think it's, it's an interesting balancing
13:16
act. It is, it is. And I know you have to
13:18
sort of, I mean, the, the
13:21
most important thing is to get the emotion
13:24
across that you're portraying, to tell
13:26
the story, to make sure that the audience
13:29
go away on a high, knowing
13:32
what that whole musical was about, you know,
13:34
and it's as long as you're doing that.
13:36
And as long as you're ticking that box, then keeping
13:39
it interesting for yourself is not such a
13:41
bad thing. It's as long as it doesn't
13:44
detract from the intention of
13:46
the show is. Now,
13:56
then I didn't know that
13:58
your full name. name is
14:01
Alfred Giovanni
14:04
Roncachelli or Cacelli?
14:07
Roncalli. Roncalli. Oh,
14:09
sorry, it's the Roncalli. I was
14:11
thinking of Carly Simon. It's the Roncalli. It's
14:14
somebody else. Alfred Giovanni
14:17
Roncalli Bowe. Oh, that's
14:19
right. An opera singer,
14:21
you're many things, but one of the things you are is
14:23
an opera singer. Don't you have been
14:26
better off going with my Giovanni
14:29
Roncalli? It's so funny. Rather
14:31
than Alfie Bowe. It's funny as shit. What
14:34
the hell is going on? Right,
14:36
I'm turning that off. I don't care. Let
14:42
me, let's hope it's not the carbon monoxide
14:44
alarm. Did
14:48
you ever think if I'm
14:50
going to go into the world of opera,
14:52
Giovanni Roncalli might be better? I
14:55
did at one point, but
14:58
then I felt like I might
15:00
obviously be portraying myself to be Italian,
15:02
but Paolo Nittini doesn't mind.
15:04
I mean, he's... Paolo Nittini. Hey,
15:07
I do an impression of Paolo Nittini.
15:10
I rarely do it. Would you like to hear it? Go on
15:12
then. Paolo Nittini, the famous,
15:14
wonderful Scottish singer-songwriter. Ready?
15:18
Here it is. Whoa.
15:18
What do you
15:21
think?
15:23
What do you think? Well, that's what he does.
15:26
Yeah. Yeah? Yeah,
15:29
that was great. Yeah, that was a good one. I feel you don't
15:31
really like it. I think you're disappointed. I was right. No,
15:33
the third time it's getting better. Because
15:37
that's what he does. Almost
15:39
every song. Take these
15:42
fight-head arms and let me hold you. He
15:44
does. Thank you. He just
15:46
hit me now. Yes, he does. Are you a hard audience,
15:49
are you? You
15:52
come in and you start roasting me, then you do one-liners,
15:54
and I do this great impression of Paolo
15:56
Nittini, and you hit the blank. Oh,
16:00
there we go. It's coming back again. And
16:02
what else would you like to ask me, Rob? Tell
16:07
me about your beginnings, because I always remember
16:10
hearing you on something
16:12
like Desert Island Discs. You've done
16:15
that. The story
16:17
of how you got into singing
16:20
for people that haven't heard it is a remarkable
16:23
one. Well, that Desert Island Discs was quite
16:27
an interview in itself. My
16:29
story is basically that I used to work
16:31
in a car factory in Blackpool and I
16:34
was singing in amateur shows, singing
16:37
around the factory to entertain myself and my colleagues
16:39
and a guy overheard me in the factory who
16:42
recommended that I come down to London to
16:44
audition for an opera company
16:46
called the Doily Car. Have you heard it? Yes,
16:49
I have. Gilbert and Sullivan. Have you heard
16:51
of them? I didn't know. Do you think I am
16:53
some Philistine? Well, yeah, I do,
16:55
Rob. OK, thank you. Well,
16:59
Doily Car came down, sang for them,
17:01
got taken on. And for a full
17:03
year, I went on tour with them before I went to. That's
17:05
before you went to because then you went to study,
17:08
didn't you? Yeah, I had I auditioned
17:10
for two things. One was Phantom
17:12
to do the cover role of Raoul in
17:14
Phantom. And the
17:17
other thing was the Royal College of Music. And
17:19
I thought, you know, I'm going to go to college and
17:22
learn how it works, you know, learn how how
17:24
I'm creating this sound. And
17:26
I'm glad I did because
17:28
it was the longevity it took me into opera
17:31
and then got me, you know,
17:34
I'm able to sort of work use my technique
17:36
to sing lots of different things. But
17:39
that that Desert
17:41
Island Discs interview
17:44
was was very interesting. I said,
17:46
Kirstie asked me, she said, so
17:49
do you ever go to the opera? Do
17:51
you ever go to watch an opera or to the theatre?
17:54
And I said, do you know what? To
17:57
be honest, I don't because.
18:00
I find it boring and I
18:02
literally said that, you know, I said I find it,
18:05
and it was the truth, I do find it boring to go
18:07
to the opera to watch a show, I'd rather
18:09
be on stage doing
18:11
it than sat there because
18:14
I can't relax. I'm like looking at the guy
18:16
who's playing the role I'd play and I've been thinking,
18:19
oh I want to do that, oh that sounds good, I'd
18:21
sing that a little bit different, I want to be up there and
18:24
it's hard, you know, even when I've been
18:26
invited to go and watch the new cast of Les
18:28
Mis and watching the guy that's playing
18:30
Jean Vargent, it's like, okay, oh
18:32
no, he's doing that alright, that's good, but I'd do
18:34
it like this and I'd do it like that, and we're all individuals
18:37
so we're all gonna do it differently, but
18:40
I got roasted the following
18:42
day in the press, Alfie Beaux
18:44
finds opera, says opera is boring and
18:46
blah blah blah and all that, and
18:49
you know, so it was, but it was fine, it was
18:51
alright. See if you'd gone with the other name, Giovanni
18:53
Roncacalli expresses disappointment
18:56
in modern opera, and we
18:58
all agree, Roncacalli has hit the nail on the head
19:00
again, classic Giovanni. You
19:08
don't know this guy that heard you singing,
19:10
I read that you tried to figure
19:12
out who that guy was, but you don't know. No,
19:14
well I knew he hasn't come forward
19:16
and made himself known. He was probably
19:20
in his,
19:21
I don't know, 60s,
19:22
70s. So he's dead now. Okay,
19:25
that's what you're saying, isn't it? Thoughts with the
19:27
family. It wasn't where I was gonna go, but yeah.
19:29
I was clear what you were saying, you know, I know you were saying that
19:31
he was dead, with that classic Roncacalli
19:34
abruptness. And I wasn't even singing any
19:36
Queen either, it was just... What were you singing? What
19:38
year you sing? I was singing the Rolling Stones song
19:41
actually, I was singing Honky Tonk
19:43
Woman. And he
19:45
was like, and he thought, that sounds
19:47
good, you got some good notes in there mate, I think
19:49
you could do something. But were you going... No,
19:53
I wasn't doing that.
20:01
I was just singing it in the pop
20:03
style that I had been doing. If you were singing that
20:06
sort of thing, how come you then went down and
20:08
auditioned for Doyly Carves? Well, I
20:11
was taking part in lots
20:14
of amateur operatics. So
20:17
I was taking part in operatic
20:20
productions like Carmen
20:23
and Il Trovatore, and then I did a production
20:25
of West Side Story. Who were you playing that?
20:28
I played Tony. Of course you did. I did
20:30
the role of Tony, but I wasn't initially cast
20:32
as Tony. I was in the chorus. But
20:35
the company, the guys
20:37
in the company, had
20:40
complained the fact that they hadn't been given the chance
20:42
to audition for the main roles. So
20:45
the head piano player,
20:47
the head musician, MD said, everybody
20:51
come in the room. All the guys come in the room. I'm just going to
20:53
listen to you all at once, sing
20:55
this song, Maria, from West
20:57
Side Story. Just all sing it in unison,
20:59
and then I'll decide who's going to play the role.
21:02
So we all had to stand there. So there
21:04
wasn't a Tony already cast? Yeah, there was.
21:07
And who was the guy that was already cast? He was just the one... It
21:09
was a local singer, a
21:11
local amateur star. So he's going, hang on a minute. Whoa,
21:14
whoa, whoa. He hadn't turned up for that rehearsal,
21:16
and he was also about 55 years
21:18
old. You can't
21:21
be Tony if you're 55. This
21:24
is an amateur production. But
21:26
I don't care if it's amateur. You can't Tony
21:29
if you're 55. I mean, it's supposed to be 19.
21:32
You could imagine that. I think I could
21:34
still get away with it. Don't you? So
21:38
that was the thing. It was like they
21:41
were all annoyed that they hadn't had the chance
21:43
to audition. So we stood in this. So how many of
21:45
you then stood there? Probably about 12 of us. 12 of
21:47
you. Singing Maria together. Singing Maria
21:50
all in one. And there's two... In
21:53
the middle of the song, there's two
21:56
ways of singing the sort
21:58
of bridge section. You
22:00
can either keep repeating
22:02
the name Maria Maria
22:05
Maria Maria Maria
22:08
Maria Maria Maria
22:12
or you can do what I was about to do
22:14
there or hit this top note
22:16
Maria
22:19
Maria and I hit it because that was the only
22:21
version that I knew so
22:24
it was like Was that the Jose Carreras version
22:26
from the Bernstein recording? Exactly, so
22:29
that's what I'd learnt the piece from And
22:31
you did that? And I did that Oh well goodbye
22:34
the other 11 losers So by the time
22:36
I'd finished singing that note everyone else
22:38
had stopped singing and I'd carried on singing,
22:40
I was in a world of my own and
22:42
the MD said
22:44
can I have a little word with you? And
22:47
that was it and I got the role of Tony And at that point the
22:50
original Tony comes in late with his coffee and goes Maria
22:52
how's going on? No, no, no, no, let me
22:54
have a go Maria,
22:59
Maria Oh
23:01
my word So
23:05
from that I got a lot of advice to
23:08
avoid the original Tony To
23:13
take it professionally Don't walk home
23:15
alone, look over your shoulder, check
23:17
your back Exactly So
23:20
then you play Tony I play Tony
23:23
When you're doing it then and you're
23:25
hitting that note every night the
23:28
audiences must have gone Wow
23:30
It was a good moment, it was a real
23:35
light turning on moment for me every single
23:37
time I performed that Because it just gave
23:39
me the energy
23:42
to
23:43
pursue this goal of getting
23:45
into the business So I would do
23:47
something every single day, I would write a
23:49
letter and put it in the post box to
23:52
an agent Or go and ask
23:55
if I could sing at a working men's
23:57
club in Blackpool or something like that
24:00
in a singing competition. There
24:03
was a big singing competition in the
24:06
talk of the coast in Blackpool at the Viking
24:08
Hotel and I
24:10
took part in that every single week, went down
24:13
there and performed West Side Story,
24:15
all these musical theatre songs and some
24:17
pop songs and it was a real
24:19
good training. Presumably
24:21
you won every week, did you? No, I
24:23
actually came second. Who was beating
24:25
you then? There was this young pop singer, this
24:28
girl, I can't
24:30
remember her name. Did she go
24:32
on to success? She was
24:34
called Celine Dion, I think. Who
24:41
was beating you? I don't know actually, I can't remember
24:43
her name, but she did very well. She was a pop
24:46
singer but she was on that sort of
24:48
classic, that working
24:50
men's circuit, the cabaret circuit already
24:52
in Blackpool. I see, okay. And
24:56
that wasn't my world but I tried to get
24:58
into it and try to do
25:01
a little bit of that. Gary Barlow was on that circuit, wasn't
25:03
he? He
25:06
played, he used to perform
25:09
at the talk of the coast as well.
25:11
He did a one man show in the West Side Story.
25:13
I saw it, it was excellent. And he talked
25:15
about that, where he was used to going
25:17
to sing Phantom. Well I was singing West
25:20
Side Story, you know. Were
25:22
you ever on the same bill? No, I remember
25:24
seeing his name up there though, yeah, I remember seeing
25:26
him on there. But it's
25:29
cool to know that we had that sort of
25:33
start, you know, and he obviously
25:35
did better than me.
25:37
Well, I mean, you know,
25:40
doing pretty well. I'm all right, I'm not too bad.
25:43
It's going quite well, it's going very well
25:45
from where I'm standing. It's going
25:47
very well, thank you. So you go, you
25:50
join Doylicart, I don't know if you've ever
25:52
heard of them, but Gilbert and Sullivan, yeah,
25:54
like Claire and Ella again, naturally. That's
25:58
one for the over. over 95. We
26:01
had his album. You
26:04
do that and then after a year
26:06
with that and then you go and
26:08
study Royal College of Music. Give
26:10
me encapsulate what
26:13
you learned about the voice there.
26:17
Yeah man it was four
26:19
years intense singing.
26:23
I learned how to,
26:25
you know,
26:27
the biggest lesson I had to learn was
26:30
how to sing quietly and
26:33
to control my voice on certain
26:35
volumes and dynamics. I
26:38
learned languages. I learned
26:41
styles of classical music. Made
26:46
big operas. Started to perform
26:48
operas in the theatre
26:51
in the school. Got
26:55
jobs as well on the outside of college
26:57
doing work. So it was a real
27:00
acting lessons. It was a real
27:04
influx of information I was getting.
27:06
What about the technicalities of where
27:08
in the mouth you place the sound for
27:10
different, whether it's an E, an R and all
27:13
those different things. Talk us
27:15
through the geography of the mouth for different notes.
27:17
Well I mean I'm a natural
27:19
singer so singing sort of it comes
27:22
naturally to me anyway in a way but
27:24
you can modify vowels to
27:27
make a note sound
27:29
clearer and brighter. So if you have to
27:33
sing like for
27:35
example an E vowel, you
27:37
know, which is very bright,
27:41
you know. I always
27:43
put like, I try
27:46
and add an element of E to it. So it's,
27:51
I mean I could give you an example. Please do. I
27:53
was hoping you would. Let
27:56
me see, so if I have to sing
27:59
um let's see
28:02
well
28:02
it may be an f vowel
28:05
so i'm singing an f f is not a vowel
28:07
no f oh sorry and it goes
28:17
that's very wide
28:20
but if i wanted to make it a
28:22
bit more round i'd
28:24
put a bit more um f in
28:26
it or r in it so it's a
28:30
bit
28:35
and it's
28:37
a bit of a bigger and rounder and
28:39
warmer sound than just having the air in that's
28:44
very that's very impressive Alfie i want
28:46
to shake your hand oh cheers thank you that's
28:49
lovely thank you thank you you've
28:51
not warmed up today no i haven't i've just
28:53
literally rolled out of bed when did you last perform
28:56
singing publicly uh i would
28:58
that would have been hang on let me get this right
29:01
clang gothlin but how long how long
29:03
about a week ago right so since then
29:06
what have you done with your voice have you done
29:08
have you been doing exercises um
29:10
not really no that's your voice
29:14
without it is it is 10 to midday
29:16
yeah right and the
29:18
last time you performed wow so are
29:20
you in are you in a place now because
29:23
you perform so much that your voice is
29:26
just it's there pretty much yeah
29:28
my my voice i think the age that i am
29:30
right now my voice is slotted
29:33
into a nice little pocket
29:35
where i can rely on it but
29:38
i can't take it for granted no i still
29:41
have to maintain that's better than being able
29:43
to take it for granted i can take it for granted
29:46
but i can't rely on it please
29:59
that is that sort of thing Obviously
30:01
I want to be singing until I'm 52,
30:05
at least for another couple of years. But
30:08
look at Tom Jones. Where is he?
30:10
No, he's not. Is he coming? Sorry,
30:12
I'm in the wrong room. He's delivered my avocado. Avocado?
30:15
Avocado. Waitrose. Waitrose,
30:18
that's the one. Yeah, thank you. There
30:20
in the end. I remember years ago saying to
30:22
Bryn Tervell, how often do you do your voice
30:24
exercises? Well,
30:33
never. Exactly. Why? He
30:35
goes, well, I'm always singing. Yeah. So he's
30:37
always there. You're always singing around the house. You're
30:41
singing along to the song. I play guitar,
30:43
so I'll get the guitar out and sing
30:46
along to that or whatever. You do bar chords. I
30:48
can do a few bar chords. Do
30:51
you annoy me? No, I can't. I can just open
30:53
chords. Do you play guitar? Then what
30:55
guitar have you got? A musical guitar. A musical
30:58
one, right. No, I've got a few, actually. I don't want to come
31:00
over and layer it clapped. Well,
31:03
isn't it Martin O'Farrell? I
31:09
think it's a Yamaha, but I've
31:11
got a nice one that's, I
31:13
can never remember the damn names. I've
31:16
got an electric one that I never... Yeah. I've got
31:18
a bar chords that are hard to
31:20
do. I know I used
31:22
to struggle with that. But once you can do them,
31:24
it opens up a whole world of sound,
31:27
isn't it? So basically what I do
31:29
if I'm learning a song, I'll just play
31:31
that song up and down the neck. I'm
31:34
just doing bar chords. But
31:36
it's interesting. But I mean, yeah, I sing around the house.
31:39
I play along with myself and that
31:41
sounded awful, didn't it? I played
31:43
guitar. Alfie, I was going to let it slide
31:46
if you want to take us to the gutter. Sorry.
31:48
By pointing it out, then so be it. It's
31:53
more disappointing. On the one hand, he's got this
31:55
incredible voice and then...
31:58
Such a knob. Oh, I didn't hear that. The
32:04
singer Alfie Bowes, speaking earlier
32:06
today in London. Nicholas Wichel
32:08
is at the Palace Nick. Can
32:11
Michael Ball play the guitar? Not
32:14
as I know of. You have been propping him
32:20
up for so long. How did
32:22
that begin, that association with Michael? Well
32:24
you just lean against him.
32:28
It started when
32:31
we were in a production of Kismet
32:34
at the Colosseum in
32:36
town. When was that? Probably 11
32:40
years ago now, 11, 12 years ago. And it was
32:45
awful. It was
32:47
the worst production that had ever
32:50
graced a theatrical
32:52
stage in London in the world probably.
32:56
The director fell out
32:58
with a choreographer and so
33:01
the choreographer plotted these dances
33:03
and to get back at him, the
33:05
director basically got the male chorus
33:08
of English national opera to stand
33:10
in the straight line across
33:12
the front of the stage blocking what
33:15
was going on in the dancing. That
33:17
was a lovely working environment. It was
33:19
awful, it was terrible. And the director
33:22
left a
33:24
week before the show had finished being
33:26
plotted and directed. So me
33:29
and Michael teamed up and
33:32
finished off the show. We did the
33:36
run. It sold out because
33:39
people knew it was so bad. It
33:41
was like a producer. He then went
33:48
on after that to do a prom
33:51
at the Royal Albert Hall and asked me
33:53
if I would join him as his guest. And
33:57
I came on his show on the show. his
34:00
concert and we did our first duet
34:03
and it was the Pearl Fishers duet from
34:06
the opera Baibizet, Pearl Fishers. Remind
34:08
us of the melody. O fon
34:10
du t'omblous a paré
34:13
de fleux et oine fame
34:16
paré I can't remember the rest of the words but it's
34:19
a beautiful... O fon
34:21
du t'omblous
34:23
a paré de fleux et oine fame
34:26
paré So there you go, that's
34:28
a bit of it for you. Thank
34:34
you. We were singing that together and
34:36
Michael in the rehearsal sort
34:40
of like put on this mock operatic
34:43
voice thinking that that's what he had
34:45
to do because he was singing an opera operatic
34:47
song and it sounded
34:49
awful and I said to him I said what are
34:52
you doing and he said
34:53
so I'm singing operatically and I said well
34:56
you're not an opera singer and
34:58
he said no but I can do it and I went you
35:00
can't really. How did that go down? It
35:03
went all right because we're still working together
35:07
and I said just sing it as Michael Ball. Oh
35:09
cross the ball at your own risk. And
35:12
he did and it sounded great.
35:15
I forgot I was on his radio show once I could
35:17
go down well. Really? I was
35:19
meant to be on his show. Hi Michael we get on great
35:21
but I was meant to be interviewed on his radio
35:24
show. It was a Sunday morning and you're not in work
35:26
mode on a Sunday. No no no. I forgot all about
35:28
it my mobile was switched off. Yeah. I
35:32
ended up doing something I rushed into the car heading
35:34
to the studio we're doing some of it all the phone I got in
35:36
and I don't listen I wouldn't I wouldn't
35:38
have I mean you were 20 minutes late today but I was
35:41
I'm sorry I know. I'm
35:43
sorry Rob. So you're telling so you're telling Michael.
35:46
Yeah yeah and he's he's taking
35:48
it and and he's and because when he started
35:50
singing in that big grand
35:53
musical theater voice that he's
35:55
got it sounded
35:57
fabulous and it worked and so that was
35:59
really the. first time that we discovered
36:02
that
36:04
our voices worked well together.
36:07
But it can't just be the voices, it's got to be
36:09
the personalities because you toured together
36:12
now, you've had big hit albums, you've
36:14
got this Vegas album.
36:16
Yeah, yeah, we've got a Vegas
36:19
album, that was our last album. You
36:22
went over to Vegas. Yeah, we did. And
36:24
you put how many shows did you do there? Well I have a residency
36:27
there. So I was performing, but
36:29
me and Michael were... I didn't know you were at a Vegas residency.
36:31
These research notes, I really should read them. Alright.
36:35
A Vegas residency? I
36:37
have a Vegas residency, but not
36:40
only a Vegas residency, I have
36:42
it at the Westgate Casino, which
36:44
used to be the Hilton International, where
36:47
Elvis Presley used to perform. So
36:49
I get to use Elvis's dressing
36:51
room. You do not. Yeah, and I get...
36:54
What does that feel like? It's pretty
36:56
special, man. It really is, because you can
36:58
really sense the
37:00
environment and the feelings that he
37:03
was there and you
37:05
see all the old footage backstage, it
37:07
hasn't changed much. The dressing room's still the
37:09
same. And you can look at
37:12
that backstage footage of Elvis making his way
37:14
from his penthouse down. Yes, yes,
37:16
that's the way it is. That's
37:18
all in that, isn't it? Yeah, that's right. And
37:22
getting onto the stage. And
37:25
there's a backstage
37:28
in the wings. There's this
37:30
meter square
37:32
piece of flooring,
37:34
wooden floor from the original stage
37:36
that he performed on. And they
37:38
haven't touched it because that's where he used to stand
37:42
every single night before he went on stage
37:45
with his hand on a pillow, on a pillow.
37:49
And he used to say a little prayer, turn
37:52
around, and then was led to
37:54
the other side of the stage to come and make his entrance
37:56
on stage. And that was where he stood every
37:58
single night.
37:59
when
38:00
the performer goes to that little spot
38:03
and stands there and then goes under the hill.
38:05
Elvis, give me strength. Exactly,
38:07
but it's so cool to stand on that stage
38:10
and do a tribute to Elvis. Which
38:13
songs do you do by Elvis? I do That's Alright
38:15
Mama, I do Cece Rider, Burning
38:17
Love, Suspicious
38:20
Minds, Viva Las Vegas, and
38:23
it's great. It's awesome. But what
38:25
about some of his bigger songs for your
38:27
voice? Why are you not doing If I Can Dream? I've
38:30
recorded that, that's on one of my albums, If
38:32
I Can Dream. But with this show, what
38:34
I wanted to do is I wanted to make
38:38
it more of a party vibe, more
38:40
of a vibrant party environment. And because
38:42
it's towards the end of the show as well. It's
38:46
actually the encore. So
38:49
I come back out and do this big medley, but just
38:51
leave everybody dancing down the aisles. But
38:54
playing a residency as opposed
38:56
to touring, I
38:58
can equate it with playing at the Edinburgh
39:00
Festival, which was a long time ago, but you're in the
39:02
same room every night. Every night. Everyone's
39:05
being in a theatre as well for a musical. You get
39:07
to know the sight lines, you get
39:09
to know the acoustics. And I'm guessing
39:12
that the sound system
39:14
is
39:15
state of the art. It's phenomenal.
39:18
It really is. I mean, it's definitely come
39:20
a long way since Elvis. But
39:24
the other sound is just outrageous. It's
39:26
huge. What do you use? Do
39:29
you have in-ears or wedges? I
39:32
have in-ears now because... Explain
39:34
what this is to people who've been too lazy
39:36
to find out. Well, in-ears,
39:39
back in the old days, you used to have these things called
39:42
wedges or monitors, which are
39:44
speakers at the front of the stage. Pointing
39:47
at the performer. So
39:50
the guitarist, the drummer would have one at his
39:52
side or the keyboard player would have
39:54
one at his side as well. And why would they have them? Because
39:57
they'd want to be able to listen to hear. what
40:00
everyone else in the band is playing because the
40:02
speakers you know when you go to a concert everything
40:04
is being thrown out front yeah yeah
40:08
but what happens with that
40:10
is that it starts to damage
40:12
your hearing you know pardon sorry
40:15
who yeah and
40:17
it starts see how it went with you thank you strangely
40:21
compliant damn you that did so
40:27
it starts to beat up your
40:29
ears really badly so what they invented was
40:32
what's known as in-ear monitors and
40:35
they're basically headphones you know that's about
40:38
it you have a little power pack at the back with
40:40
a volume button you plug yourself
40:42
in and then you add you have a monitor
40:44
engineer who would have done the
40:47
speakers at the front who
40:50
mixes everyone's sound so
40:53
everybody can actually have an individual
40:56
sound rather than just an overall sound
40:58
what they need to hear yeah and how much
41:00
of the room do they give you by
41:02
which i mean the audience yeah the room i i
41:05
actually ask for quite a lot of room you
41:07
know i like that ambient sound
41:09
you know i like to be able to hear the audience clap
41:11
i like to be able to or boo um and
41:13
like you know i like to hear them laugh
41:16
and and respond and all that sort of stuff and also
41:18
i like to hear the what the
41:21
voice is sounding like in the audience as well
41:24
um so sometimes i have like
41:26
my ears in and i'll just lift
41:29
up this left one because this ear is is is
41:31
better than that one you know um because
41:33
i am losing my hearing a little bit but
41:35
right and pardon sorry too yeah
41:38
thank you thank you you
41:41
shouldn't make fun of hearing loss no i know
41:44
i know well you know
41:46
if anybody watching or listening
41:48
to this is suffering from hearing loss
41:50
would they be listening would
41:52
they be listening so be trying
41:54
to be trying okay spec
41:57
savers do a very wide range
41:59
of hearing aids by the way I should just say that.
42:02
How do they help you see? We're
42:04
branching out at Specsavers. I'm
42:07
the voice selfie that's what I'm saying. Oh is that right? I
42:09
see okay. I've got to look after them. Got
42:11
you.
42:14
Where were we? I don't know. I have no idea. Yeah,
42:16
Indian monitors. I
42:19
sort of crack one out of my ear and
42:21
then I can hear the audience a bit better.
42:24
Couldn't they just give you that in the mix? They could
42:26
but even there's something different
42:29
about the monitor mix and the
42:31
live mix so I like to hear
42:33
both. Okay that's your solo show over
42:36
there but the album with
42:38
Michael, have you done
42:40
a run of those with Michael
42:43
or did you just do it for the album? Ball
42:45
and Bow Together in Vegas. That
42:48
would suggest you perform Together in Vegas
42:50
with him. It would, wouldn't it? Yeah,
42:52
did you? No. We did a live
42:55
from the trades descriptions agency
42:59
and I need to talk to you. That's terrible. What you did
43:01
a TV show out there. We did a TV show out there.
43:03
Right. We did in all
43:05
honesty, we did perform a couple of songs from
43:07
the album in certain locations but we
43:09
didn't do an actual show. But you
43:13
tour Britain with Michael.
43:15
You've done that several times. Who
43:18
has the upper hand in
43:20
deciding the set list?
43:23
The set list. We both... Oh
43:25
don't give me that. I know, I know, I know. Michael
43:27
does pressure me with certain
43:30
songs but I do. He wants
43:34
love changes everything in and he wants
43:36
one moment in time or step out of time. Every
43:39
single time love
43:41
changes everything. He says to me, will you sing?
43:43
This is one song, he says it to the audience,
43:45
one song that I've sung in every
43:48
concert ever that I've ever
43:50
performed. I have to do it in every concert
43:52
and I said well you must be sick of it by now. Can't
43:54
we change it up? And
43:56
he gets me to do it and you know he has
43:59
the big... big note. Yeah. Yeah.
44:01
I thought you're gonna ask me to do this. I'm gonna blow you
44:03
out of the water and I did the higher note
44:06
above it. So do you
44:08
do that every time now? Every time. And that's
44:10
become a bit and he doesn't mind. He's happy
44:13
to go along with that. He loves it. He loves it. And it
44:15
is, you know, he just likes the attention.
44:18
Yes. I haven't had
44:21
Michael on this. I don't know why. He'd love it.
44:24
He would love it. Michael, it's an invitation.
44:27
Come and get your own back whenever you want.
44:30
He's a great guy. And we
44:32
do discuss the set. Actually,
44:36
sorry, he meant he throws out
44:38
songs there. We don't discuss
44:40
it. I just say yes or no. Simple
44:43
as that. Just like, no, I can't do that. Yeah, Michael
44:46
is. Michael's a very nice guy
44:48
and very talented. I've seen him
44:51
in many, many shows and great company.
44:54
Is it fun touring?
44:56
Or you know, one of those double
44:59
items that just turns up at the venue because you because
45:01
you're busy and you've got your own things. Yeah. No,
45:03
you know what we I've
45:06
got to say, we have such
45:08
a wonderful rapport with each other. We
45:11
really do. We work well together. We're old
45:13
enough and ugly enough to
45:15
know what this business is like and how
45:18
we need to do a show and get
45:20
on with it and pull it together. And
45:22
you know, if one of us is feeling a bit low, we'll
45:25
boost each other up and that sort of thing. It's
45:27
great. It's a really cool double act. You know,
45:30
inevitably, there's moments where you when you
45:32
get tired and frustrated with each other a little
45:34
bit. But that's no, you would want
45:38
me to ask. When was the last time that happened?
45:41
When he wouldn't? Because I don't think he appreciates
45:43
you. It doesn't. No, he doesn't. I've heard him
45:45
saying, I mean, look,
45:48
I want to gossip. No,
45:50
I know the things he says about you.
45:52
Oh, my goodness me. A little
45:54
bit about.
45:57
No, no, it's little
45:59
things. Do you like it too? It's
46:02
alright. I've got to get people crying
46:04
on these podcasts. I'm getting over it now, it's fine.
46:07
So would you call it bullying? Because
46:11
bullying balls sounds good. We can go with
46:13
that in our... Oh my goodness.
46:16
Bullying bull. How I
46:18
ball, B-A-W-L, at
46:21
bullying balls says bow. Bow
46:23
balls at bullying balls. That'd
46:27
be great for our socials. If you couldn't say he bullies
46:29
you, it'd be a great help to us. Really? Okay. Michael
46:32
Bullies me all the time. He does. 100%. He
46:36
steals my punchlines. If I come up with a really
46:39
good joke, right? Does that happen?
46:42
Well, I mean, today's evidence
46:44
of that, isn't it? Really. I mean, to an extent.
46:47
To an extent. To an extent. Yeah.
46:49
Extents are interesting, aren't they? Yeah,
46:52
they are. But anyway, he
46:54
does. If I come up with a really good joke, this is the only
46:57
thing that does annoy me about him, is that he steals
46:59
my jokes. He steals my punchlines because
47:01
he can't create them himself. So
47:04
if you come up with a good line, he'll stick it in a bit earlier
47:06
in the show. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then I'm like stood
47:09
there like a melon later on thinking he heard
47:11
this. Michael
47:13
is Welsh, so I heartily
47:15
approve. Is he though? Is he? Well,
47:17
I know he doesn't sound Welsh, does he? Well, the thing is,
47:19
is whenever we're traveling around the country,
47:22
he sort of has like a connection
47:24
with everywhere he goes. Like Birmingham
47:27
or down south or Cornwall or wherever
47:29
in Wales. He's constantly
47:31
got this connection and then he tries to put
47:33
the accent on wherever he is. Oh
47:36
dear. And it's really not the house. The only
47:38
place he can't do it, he can't do a northern accent. Really?
47:42
Yeah, he can't fluff being in there in
47:45
Manchester. He can't get away with it. He's
47:47
in this revival of aspects of love at
47:50
the time of recording, playing the different, the
47:52
older old. Have you been to see it? I haven't yet. No,
47:54
no, no, I know. I know. I know. Wait
47:57
a minute. Michael Ball is back
47:59
in one of the shows. that launched him.
48:01
Did it launch him? That was the one. And
48:04
you've not been to see it? Well it's got Love
48:06
Changes Everything in it. Not by him?
48:10
Oh he does it on this. I think he does.
48:12
But he's a different character. Oh he's
48:14
bullied them. He's bullied
48:16
them into doing it. I
48:19
think so. I might be wrong. Aspects cast
48:22
in tears as bullying Gull
48:24
grabs his song. I
48:27
could see this coming says Beau. 50. I
48:32
don't know actually. I can't clarify
48:35
if that is true. But somebody did tell me that he sings
48:38
Love Changes Everything in the show. I haven't
48:40
been to see it. I was supposed to go to the opening
48:42
night but I was away in America. In Vegas.
48:46
How very convenient. I couldn't make
48:48
it. And since I got back I've
48:50
been working on my own album. And you've
48:52
been busy every single night
48:55
and matinee. I've heard
48:57
that Michael from I Know People Have Seen It.
48:59
They've told me Michael has seemed a bit subdued.
49:02
Subdued. A little bit hurt. That's
49:04
the word. Really? I've heard hurt. And people say well
49:07
why it's almost as if a close friend and
49:09
colleague has, not my words, stabbed
49:11
him in the back. She's like bullying
49:13
Brydon right now.
49:16
Clickbait. I
49:18
started out with this podcast with lofty ideals
49:21
of not going there but this is the way forward.
49:23
I slightly
49:25
thought to Alfie. Thanks for coming in. We haven't
49:27
even touched on Pete Townsend's
49:30
flat. Oh my goodness. We'll save
49:32
that for the next time. Another time man. Thank
49:34
you. Curious now, aren't you? Alfie
49:38
Beau has got to go. I have.
49:41
To do a show. Oh, oh, oh. There you
49:44
go. Cheers mate. Have a good
49:46
day. Thank you. Prime
49:55
members, yes you. You
49:57
can listen to Brydon and Early and free
50:00
on Amazon Music. Download the app
50:02
today. Bridenand
50:04
is produced by Talent Bank and
50:06
executive produced by Rob Briden. He
50:09
does such a vital job in collaboration
50:11
with Wundery. Don't forget to check
50:14
out our bite-size videocast
50:16
on YouTube.
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