0:02

This is a Global Player original

0:04

podcast.

0:06

This is Take That Everybody, This Life, the podcast

0:09

where we're counting down to the release of

0:11

our brand new album, This Life.

0:14

We're a little over a week away, we'll

0:16

be uncovering forgotten memories, turning

0:18

back the clock thanks to some familiar faces

0:21

and telling our stories in our own words.

0:30

Hi everybody,

0:30

I'm Gary. I'm

0:32

Mark. And I'm Howard. I'm

0:34

so glad that Mark really has. It's

0:37

out of your system. It's out of your system. I

0:39

feel the space. You think there's a pause? There's

0:41

an uncomfortable pause. There's a space, there's like

0:43

a pause that I'm learning to live with.

0:46

It's just that you've done it for so long. You

0:48

just expect to hear it. It's a good pause. Okay,

0:50

everyone. I'm going to start with a date

0:53

as we always do with these episodes.

0:56

And all you've got to do is guess what was happening

0:58

on that date. We haven't done very well. I don't think

1:00

we've got one right. We've done terrible. I mean,

1:03

terrible. But we're getting closer to

1:05

where, like present day

1:07

now. So hopefully we'll... You think?

1:10

You think? I felt like I started easy,

1:12

but this is a tricky one. So

1:14

let's test you both with this. Does

1:17

anyone remember what happened

1:19

on the 28th of November, 2014?

1:23

Oh, 2014.

1:28

Think about what time of year that is. Yeah.

1:32

Time of year. That's like

1:34

a release of something. There you go,

1:36

Christmas time. So I was...

1:39

When he said November at first, when

1:41

he said 2014, I was thinking, well, maybe

1:43

that's when Jason left the band.

1:46

But I'm guessing he must have left before then.

1:49

So November sounds like a release

1:51

of something. And November is probably

1:53

too late for a single release. So it'd

1:56

have to be an album. He's right. It's

1:58

three album. Three.

1:59

Well done. Well done. Alan

2:02

Donald, he got it. It

2:05

took us five episodes but we got

2:07

the idea in the end. It is, it was

2:09

the release of our album Three

2:12

which was the first album that we

2:14

made as a trio. Yeah. And

2:16

it was a funny album, wasn't it? Because when

2:18

we started making that particular record

2:21

we actually still didn't know if Jay was

2:23

going to come back or not. I mean he'd not really give

2:25

us any indication that he was

2:27

coming back but we were kind of making

2:29

it not knowing whether he was coming back or

2:32

not. We were writing without knowing

2:34

what was going on really. Yeah, I

2:36

think we were probably allowing

2:39

space in case he changed his mind.

2:41

I think that was probably in many ways

2:44

what we were sort of thinking. And probably

2:46

songwriting wise as well and where

2:48

we were going with the record. We'd

2:50

spent a little bit of time together. I

2:53

remember us all going to Los Angeles

2:55

and we rented this house. I don't know,

2:58

Jason was using it like the real health

3:01

kind of guru amongst us. Years

3:04

ago. But it was the first time we'd been out on our

3:06

own without the health guru. Without

3:09

the guru? Without the guru. And I remember

3:12

one of you two decided, okay, I'm going

3:14

to have to step up here and be the health

3:16

guru. And somebody was making shakes

3:19

every morning with spinach and eggs

3:22

and somebody was taking on

3:25

that, okay, I'm going to feed these well

3:27

with spinach and avocado and lemons

3:29

and you like shakes as well. Yeah,

3:32

I don't know if that was the tour but I might

3:34

have been a later tour where I was making you little

3:37

smoothies in the morning. You've got to tell everybody

3:39

what are actually in those shakes. I remember

3:41

the first day I said to you, what's in

3:44

that? Cabri-scream egg. I didn't tell you

3:46

this. Oh, don't worry. This is great.

3:48

And you know what? I

3:52

really cannot remember but obviously it included

3:54

a very vital ingredient

3:56

which was a protein powder because

3:58

obviously it was being untold. our muscles

4:02

need protein. So we were doing that

4:04

at this house in LA. I

4:06

do, my one memory of the three

4:09

album is, and this seems to

4:11

be a bit of a theme for us, is that these

4:13

days came early. I remember you coming

4:16

in with these days. Yes. Which

4:18

wasn't called these days when you came in. No. But

4:21

it was a version of the, Yes. Which just,

4:23

I mean we both looked at each other, didn't we? And

4:26

we were like, what the hell? That was

4:28

actually in his studio. We

4:30

were listening through some stuff that he'd done, and

4:33

he played this little bit of a song, and he skipped past

4:35

it, and went, so we had to go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

4:37

whoa. Yeah, yeah. Just go, whoa, whoa, whoa,

4:40

whoa, go back to that song. Did you know that Dave, a little

4:42

bit? And yeah, and that's where he came in with these days.

4:44

I remember we went out to Los Angeles and

4:46

recorded it with a producer we hadn't worked

4:48

with before. Do you remember who that was? Greg Kirsten.

4:51

Greg Kirsten. Yeah. Who had done a lot

4:53

of the Lily Allen stuff. And

4:55

Ellie Goulding. Ellie Goulding. Great

4:58

producer. Just done Liam Gallagher,

5:00

I think, as well. Had he? He'd done

5:02

like a, you couldn't pick his style because

5:05

he's done so many different

5:07

things. I remember in. Maybe Beck. Beck,

5:09

yeah. Beck, that's right. He's actually a

5:11

jazzer. Is he? An amazing

5:14

jazz musician. And he also did

5:16

Paul McCartney's latest record. After

5:18

he did all the. Later on, yeah, yeah. He worked

5:20

his way up to that. Yeah. Paul

5:22

McCartney, who'd I reckon have thought I've got to have him.

5:25

Yeah. I do remember on

5:27

that, it was on that same trip, wasn't it? That we

5:29

were in a studio, Henson Studios

5:31

in LA, which is where we recorded with John

5:34

Shanks years ago. And we were in

5:36

there and there was a knock on the door and it was Paul McCartney

5:38

who came in to see us. Do you remember that? Very

5:40

exactly, yeah. With Greg Kirsten.

5:43

And Spike Stent. Wow. He

5:45

was the engineer on the set. These are all people

5:47

who've worked on our, in fact, Spike is

5:49

a mixer and he mixed one of

5:51

our early, the very first record he mixed

5:54

for us was Once You've Tasted Love. In 1991.

5:58

Really? Yeah, I remember going in the studio. after

6:00

the KLF wasn't it? Yeah, he did

6:02

all KLF and we love KLF. So Spike's

6:07

mixed our records for years and years

6:09

and so he was there with Greg who we just made

6:11

these days and a few other songs with and

6:14

Paul McCartney. It was just great wasn't it?

6:16

And you know I mean for me personally

6:18

the three album was a very it was quite

6:21

it was probably the most

6:24

scary album release as

6:27

in because we decided that we wanted to go

6:29

as a three without Jason. We made that

6:31

decision but all

6:34

in all it was a you know it was an amazing

6:36

process to do and we

6:39

toured with the trio for the first time. Yeah. And

6:41

someone that remembers it very well

6:44

is the lovely Ella Henderson.

6:47

Oh my word she toured with us. She did.

6:50

And there she is on the video.

6:54

I sorted it out and everything. Well done.

6:56

Hi boys. It's Ella.

6:58

I'm here in Devon right now at a festival.

7:01

I'm just about to know today. It's freezing

7:03

and it's meant to be the summer.

7:06

I just wanted to first of all send my love.

7:08

It's been a while and I absolutely love you boys.

7:11

You guys were like my three amazing

7:13

home calls when we went off to work together.

7:15

And I think back to the fact that Gary

7:17

was a judge on it from the magazine. And

7:20

I never had a gig when I

7:22

walked up to the stage

7:24

and I said, you know, he has

7:26

a picture of what's

7:29

on these things and I said, believe my share.

7:31

And you rolled your eyes and put your head in your hand. And

7:33

I was like, oh God here we go. She

7:35

did some kind of like old club classic rendition.

7:38

I didn't, I stripped it

7:40

down and we did it on the piano. And

7:42

I guess the rest of history. So that was a very crucial

7:44

part of my whole career and it kind of blew

7:46

up from there for me. You

7:48

always have my back. You're giving me amazing advice

7:51

on stage and I love to name two

7:53

of them especially behind the scenes. And

7:56

then obviously a year after I

7:58

heard success was over and my record was over. you guys

8:00

are going on tour, please go to the opportunity

8:02

to go on tour with you and that is just a memory

8:04

that I'll never forget. It was my first ever

8:07

arena tour and it was so

8:09

much fun. I got to learn so much along

8:11

the way but having you voice guide me

8:13

through it was incredible and yeah it

8:15

was just like going on tour with family. It was really

8:18

really amazing for me and but

8:20

it's been too long. I want to see you soon. I'm

8:22

sending lots of love and hope you can catch it soon.

8:25

Oh fantastic.

8:28

Oh gorgeous. I didn't know that was her

8:30

first tour. She was so good. I actually

8:32

didn't know that. Well, I mean she was a

8:34

natural wad of all these. She

8:37

sang with the world on that show that I knew

8:39

she'd been in. I remember thinking wow. She's

8:42

absolutely amazing and all the so, you

8:45

know, just lovely. Yes,

8:47

you just want to be around her. Yeah, just a super

8:50

talent and yeah, she's

8:53

doing great. Doing great. Making great. Just

8:55

amazing. Thank you, Alan.

8:57

Nice to see you. That's brilliant. Glad to know we taught you

8:59

everything, you know. Yeah, yeah.

9:12

It was a funny time and the one thing

9:14

that I know we touched on this a little bit in

9:17

past episodes, but you know, we

9:19

all remember different points, but I want

9:22

very poignant bits stuck with me. I

9:24

remember when we had sat with Jason,

9:26

it was quite clear. He'd made his mind

9:29

up and you know as like, I

9:31

don't know, maybe we were 46

9:33

or whatever at the time. I realized

9:36

I can't sit here and

9:39

try and talk him right. He made his mind

9:41

up and so he

9:43

then said I want to write the fans and say thanks

9:45

for all the years and stuff. And I think what

9:48

we did then, I don't even

9:50

remember this, but we literally sat

9:52

for the next two days and monitored all

9:55

the social media and had

9:57

some people help us do that. Yeah, that's right.

10:00

all of the fact, not just like two of

10:02

them, like all of our audience

10:04

were like, do not, you've got to carry on, you've

10:06

got to carry on. And I think it

10:08

was that really that made us go, right, come on,

10:11

let's get back in the studio, let's

10:13

finish this album and let's at

10:15

least see how this could be. Because

10:18

we didn't know, did we? No, we didn't. We didn't know

10:20

who it was going to be, how it was going to sound

10:22

or look at that point. And I remember going

10:24

back into the studio the next week and we really

10:26

went for it because we were under

10:29

time constraints then at that point. We had to

10:31

get it ready quick. And

10:33

we don't, we usually have lots of time

10:36

to be prepped and all the rest of it. We finished

10:38

the single off, we did a video, great

10:41

video around it. And I

10:43

think it ended up being actually

10:46

a farewell to Jay in a lovely, happy

10:49

piece of music talking

10:52

about the past and

10:54

how the times we've had have been brilliant

10:57

and let's live for them every day,

10:59

remembering them. It just

11:02

seemed like the perfect piece of music

11:04

really. And then of course we toured and

11:06

it was, I mean, it's one of my favourites.

11:08

I know you keep saying that. It really was. It

11:11

really was. What's your memories, how was that

11:13

for? Well, I think, you know, when you do an album like

11:15

that with, and there's one member missing, you

11:17

know, you have to weigh

11:20

the old situation up, don't you? As far

11:22

as when you do go on tour with it, not

11:24

only have you got one person missing, we've

11:27

also got one person missing from the voice, from

11:29

the singing of it as well. So there's

11:32

a lot of that to get in your

11:34

head and how do we do this? And

11:36

yeah, and you know, as much as,

11:38

you know, Jason's voice was missing and Jason's

11:41

presence on that stage was missing, we

11:44

got through it and we worked it out and we went

11:46

forward with it. And I believe

11:48

it was a successful tour

11:51

and it was a great album

11:53

with three voices on, rather than four

11:55

voices. But it worked.

11:58

We made it work and we had to make it work.

13:54

idea

14:00

I remember the first drawings of the bike a

14:03

flying bike and I saw all their

14:05

eyes roll from the production team flying

14:08

ball yeah flying bike and then

14:10

come these pictures little

14:12

side car and the little bit

14:14

the front seat on the back the smoke coming

14:17

out the back little prop movie

14:19

yeah and I remember the first day

14:21

down at our where we rehearsed in London

14:24

the bike was on the stage bikes on the

14:26

stage get back the next day they've

14:28

got the ropes on the bike the five

14:30

ropes are on the bike ropes on the back okay

14:33

next day right ready for the take that to sit

14:35

on the bike now we've got on the bike and Kim who's

14:37

been on

14:41

the last episode he was stood

14:43

there waiting I could see everybody waiting

14:46

to see his liftoff for the first time

14:48

and this bike just pulled up didn't it and

14:50

we were all just like we did

14:54

when I come down doing that sound I think

14:56

we did want to come down there they'll

14:59

get going round and round we kept taking

15:01

this round and we were like oh

15:03

my god we're gonna be flying over the top

15:05

of the audience yeah and I must

15:07

say on a nightly basis we did a

15:09

lot of shows up with that tour I

15:12

just couldn't wait for that bit every night I was

15:14

literally smiling looking forward

15:17

and it never broke down actually

15:20

it was you stay all free

15:23

wasn't it and yeah because it was like a metal

15:26

wire that went round which has obviously been able

15:28

to hold the weight he had like a little in

15:30

the sidecar I'd like a little steering wheel

15:33

inside did we sneak into it

15:35

did you know we got into it yeah and then

15:38

we were sat there all of a sudden yeah yeah and then there's

15:40

like this little metal wheel that's really

15:43

still it though right no no it did

15:45

no no what I mean it didn't stay like

15:47

if I was to stay that way it was gonna go that way because

15:49

of why I was going directly ahead but

15:51

what it did was as the wire was turning

15:54

you have to guide that steering

15:56

wheel round that corner because otherwise it

15:59

would have started going and

16:01

it would have been more of a restrain. Oh

16:03

you'd have sort of been going like that. It would have

16:06

been smooth. He took it very seriously. I mean because

16:08

he would have been, as we were going round that way

16:10

at that angle, we always had to face forward. So

16:13

it could have been that if he didn't turn it, we would have

16:15

been facing that way whilst we were going

16:17

like that, you know what I mean? So always had to be

16:19

in the direction. When did you do that? He was very

16:21

serious. He had a serious face in it. Oh

16:23

wow. Only a few things on it. How about

16:25

car as well? Only he could have done that. Oh

16:28

absolutely, isn't it? Well,

16:30

I think we could have. It's all practice, it's all practice in

16:32

it. Yeah, yeah, that was

16:33

fun.

16:47

Did any of you two

16:48

ever imagine that

16:51

our music was going to be

16:53

part of a musical? I

16:57

mean, when you go back to

16:59

the early 90s and then you think, you

17:02

just don't know, do you? No. No idea. No.

17:05

We talked about it and the interesting

17:07

thing, at that time I'd done a musical

17:10

and it was so hard. It

17:13

was so tricky. If

17:15

you were to look at the statistics of musicals

17:18

that start that someone has an idea they

17:20

start it that never get on a stage,

17:23

it's frightening. Yeah. I

17:26

don't know, 99 out of 100 musicals, they start, they

17:30

workshop it and no one ever

17:32

sees it. So then for the point

17:34

of it being made and actually getting on a

17:36

stage, it just felt like, oh, it's

17:38

just so hard. Yeah. We

17:41

went off, didn't we? And Tim Firth

17:43

got involved and they did

17:46

a little workshop for us. We didn't really

17:48

know what we were going to see. Do

17:50

you remember that little place in Camden? Wow. That

17:53

was a really emotional time watching that. They'd

17:56

had a week or something, or five

17:58

days to rehearse this piece. I

18:00

don't think it was the full story was it? No, it wasn't

18:03

the shortened version of the full story. It

18:05

was a shortened version but the fact that

18:08

they put the music with

18:11

it as they were acting out and the fact that they were

18:13

acting out raw in front of us,

18:16

it was so organic,

18:20

it was so natural and it

18:22

was very emotional. Well we were saying it was the

18:24

first time we got to see our songs,

18:27

it was the first time we heard our songs

18:29

us not being on the other side. So sat

18:31

in a chair watching people sing the songs

18:34

and to this story that Tim had so

18:36

beautifully crafted. And

18:38

they had beautiful

18:40

voices. The women and the girls. Yeah,

18:43

the story that was going on there. And

18:45

even though it wasn't our story, it was kind

18:47

of was. It was the same feeling

18:49

as our story. It was such

18:52

a beautiful thing. So to watch that and

18:54

I don't think that happens either. I think

18:57

what often happens with musicals is that someone

18:59

has an idea, they workshop

19:01

it like that and then it changes

19:03

a million times. Even

19:05

the title changes this, that. But

19:08

that felt like it was sort of that's

19:12

it. Just let's make it a bit longer, polish

19:15

it up, put that out. I

19:17

don't know if you can remember that first night

19:20

we watched it in front of an audience.

19:23

So this is probably two years later now.

19:25

Yeah. We watched

19:27

it. It wasn't the Apollo, it was the palace

19:29

I think. Back in Manchester. We

19:31

opened it in Manchester. But what we did

19:34

was they got a box for

19:36

us at the side and we

19:38

snuck into it. We got on our

19:40

hands and knees and got into this box. And

19:43

we actually sat with our back to

19:45

the stage and watched the audience.

19:49

And it

19:52

was so beautiful. And it was such

19:55

a success, wasn't it, when it tore the first

19:57

time round. And now it's

19:59

on tour again. Yeah, it's out there

20:01

and it's doing really well and we get on

20:04

social media you get so many pictures of people

20:07

at the table that musical, you know all

20:09

celebrating all singing and everybody

20:12

coming out and enjoying themselves and what what

20:14

an amazing experience and

20:17

and it was all down to the

20:19

amazing Tim Firth and Here

20:22

we are We

20:24

have a message where you were going

20:26

with it Clips us today.

20:29

I heard him liking it. I'm actually following

20:31

the cards Here

20:35

we go Hello everybody. It's

20:37

Tim Firth one of the first times that I

20:39

met all three

20:41

of you in the same room Was that

20:43

very strange day? I don't know if you remember it in

20:46

Kilburn Kilburn not in

20:48

the theater And it was the first time

20:51

that we ever had an audience or a reading

20:53

of The band which was to become

20:55

greatest days and of course you were that

20:58

audience It was the first time me in a sense that

21:00

the band was the audience and it

21:02

was the first thing that we really

21:04

realized What we were

21:07

dealing with with greatest days Which was

21:09

of course where the band were the audience

21:11

really where the band were not the main players

21:14

in the story that it was all about the songs and

21:17

The importance of the songs and those moments

21:19

are really rare because I suppose in a way it's

21:21

a bit like writing a

21:23

song and You

21:25

have a very special

21:27

short brief time when it's just

21:29

you You on it and you've written

21:31

it and you know, it may be that this song

21:34

goes on to become owned

21:36

by everybody who hears it and a joint

21:40

possession but for those rare Few

21:43

moments. It's just you in

21:46

the room and that time in Kilburn

21:48

It was just us and a musical

21:50

that was going to become, you know a story

21:52

of

21:53

Importance of the songs and the importance of the band

21:55

to the fans and it was all about the fans and

21:57

sitting there with with the band

21:59

being

22:00

the audience, that was quite a rare one.

22:03

That was quite a rare one. Oh, you

22:06

just needed to go up well. The talent is

22:08

so fair. I think you've picked

22:10

up a little bit. I think

22:12

you've learned from hanging with Tim. I've definitely

22:14

learned. I've definitely learned. Oh,

22:17

he's asking me to do it. I mean, I

22:19

go back a long way with Tim. I met Tim

22:21

when I was 15, when I did

22:23

a TV show called The Song for Christmas. It

22:25

was a massive thing. Oh, wow, yeah. And...

22:30

Don't play a clip of that, producers. Thank

22:32

you. Go on, please. But I've known

22:34

him for years and years, and

22:36

to see his love for stage,

22:40

being twined with mine and our story

22:42

has been great dreams for me. Oh,

22:44

he's so talented. And like you say, we're

22:47

on our third cast now with that

22:49

musical, and it's been a movie.

22:52

It's worth it. You know,

22:54

and it's just like we went to the movie premiere

22:56

this year, didn't we? We were stood on that red carpet

22:59

thinking, what the hell is going on here?

23:01

And the bizarre things that come round the corner, it's

23:03

like, well, you just never imagine

23:05

your musical, then all of a sudden there's

23:08

a film made about it. And it's like,

23:10

what is next? Is there anything next? And

23:13

you just don't know, do you? Yeah. There

23:15

was some surprises around the corner. It's been, I

23:17

think one of the lovely things for

23:19

us as a band, and maybe it's from the type of band

23:22

that we are, is there's been these

23:24

things that come along and we were

23:26

just like, oh, didn't expect that.

23:28

A little surprise. You know, little surprises,

23:30

whether that's performing with

23:33

somebody or in a certain country,

23:35

or, you know, I always, I come back

23:38

to, I guess in many ways, our

23:40

lives have been shaped by the

23:42

journey of this band and

23:44

the journey that we've sort of followed

23:47

it. Where's it going this

23:49

week? Oh, it's going into the theater. It's going

23:51

into a movie. We turned up in Greece, in Athens,

23:55

to be in a movie about that, sit on the

23:57

bus because I know that's how they were coming up. I'm

24:00

a little cameo performance in the film

24:02

and it's... All two hours of filming in about

24:04

five seconds. Yeah, could have been longer,

24:06

could have been honest, but a lot better. But it

24:08

has, it's been a wonderful journey.

24:11

It was a funny time, because we had all that going

24:13

on, but meanwhile, you know, the

24:16

one thing we always gravitate

24:19

back towards is new music. Yeah. And

24:22

I think Wonderland was being very

24:24

quietly... The writing was over a

24:26

longer period than a three that Wonderland

24:29

was. It was a longer period and a nice

24:31

period. I remember it being a very

24:33

exciting album to write

24:36

for. And actually, again, one

24:38

of my favourite tours, because we did something

24:40

different with Wonderland. We moved from

24:42

the end of the stage and went

24:44

in the very centre. Yeah. And

24:47

in the round, they call it, don't they? Got dizzy

24:49

a few times. Didn't know which way I was facing

24:51

at certain times. It was a wonderful tour.

24:53

Oh, what an experience to do something

24:56

like that, to get into that. Because

24:58

you knew you were there for... Once you got on

25:00

that stage, you were there for, like, two hours.

25:02

You couldn't get off, you know. I think we went under

25:05

once. But the whole thing was sort

25:07

of built around us rotating and

25:10

trying to do something different. And it really, really

25:12

was a special time.

25:15

Yeah, I think we did everything possible. You could

25:17

do in the round as well, didn't we? We went... Every

25:20

extreme down left. Yeah,

25:23

we tried it all. I mean, we go all

25:26

out, don't we? We all guns blazing. But the reality

25:28

is, is that, you know, because we've got

25:31

amazing fans, they would have just been happy

25:33

with us just being in that centre bit there

25:36

and just singing the songs. But, you

25:38

know, we can't help ourselves, can we? No,

25:40

we can't help ourselves. You can't. And

25:42

with the title, like, Wonderland, we

25:44

wanted to do something different. We

25:47

wanted to do something a little bit more

25:49

special and go on a journey. And I think

25:51

we managed to... Remember, we had a flying carpet.

25:54

Oh, yeah, that's right, yeah, yeah. That's

25:56

the beginning. The eye. I

25:58

remember when he turned up in the studio. We were in Soho,

26:01

London, to play, I can't remember the name

26:03

of the instrument that it was. I'm not going

26:05

to try because I'll get it wrong. It

26:08

wasn't a sit down, but it was an

26:10

amazing thing. Maybe

26:13

something that sounds... But I could become pretty

26:15

wrong. Just sitting, listening to him play

26:18

that and sitting in the studio,

26:20

the opening of the album and building

26:22

up the opening of the tour, it was like, wow,

26:25

we're really trying different

26:27

things here and it was an interesting...

26:30

Talking of tours, when was... I just came

26:32

into my head as we were thinking of the round. When

26:35

was the last time your wife, Dawn,

26:38

was one of the dancers on the tour? Was

26:40

it 2003? No, she didn't do three. She retired,

26:43

wasn't it? She announced her retirement. It was all the news.

26:45

It was a beautiful world. I think

26:50

it was beautiful world because I knew

26:52

she'd nearly had enough because she'd done the comeback

26:55

tour with us in 2006. And

26:58

then on Beautiful World, she looked

27:00

at the list of dates and she went, yeah,

27:03

I'm going to miss Europe. I'm not going to bother with that.

27:05

I was like, what are you doing? I was like, what are you doing?

27:07

I'm going to miss Europe. She said, no,

27:10

that's going to be a mess. What are

27:12

you talking about? Q, Howard

27:14

Bursley's long. It

27:17

was a total, it really was.

27:20

We were hanging by a thread. Of course, she

27:22

swans in as we get back to Birmingham. He

27:24

comes back. Normal business was in here. They'd

27:26

been chatting to each other. And we had

27:28

a great time. But

27:31

that was it. She'd had enough. Okay,

27:33

so, Wonderland. Yeah, we made two records. Quite close

27:35

together. Quite close together. Yeah.

28:00

which was 30 years. Yeah. How

28:03

did Stuart get involved? I'll

28:05

ask the question. And when did we decide

28:07

this, we were going to make it like it's a concert?

28:09

Cause that was quite a thing. Stuart

28:12

basically took all the songs and put

28:14

them all together. If I back up one

28:16

year. So just to explain

28:18

to people, it's an interesting one this, cause

28:20

I don't believe it's probably apparent

28:22

anymore. But when we do our record deals,

28:25

within our record deals, is

28:28

the right for the record label. And

28:31

it's in our contract that we have to do greatest

28:33

hits. Yeah. Because it would

28:35

mark the end of a period of a body

28:37

of music. Yes. And we

28:40

always, I think we pushed it back two

28:42

or three times. Yeah. Saying, oh, we'll

28:44

do another studio album. Because for artists,

28:48

we always want to go forward. We don't want to go

28:50

back. We want to go forward. And I think

28:52

our friend who runs the label,

28:55

David Joseph, we met

28:57

way back in 1992 when we

28:59

were first on BMG. He was

29:01

running the label and came to us and said, I know,

29:04

I know you don't want to do a greatest

29:06

hit, but I've got an idea. And

29:08

he played as that album, the Love

29:11

Beatles album. Oh yeah. And it was basically

29:13

the Beatles songs, but

29:16

almost kind of remixed, but not

29:18

remixed so you don't know them. Or they're trying to

29:20

sound like you're 19 again. Yeah.

29:23

And it was a very complex and a clever sort of storytelling

29:26

way. Yeah. So I think

29:28

what happened was we decided, okay, well,

29:30

we'll have a go at it. We'll give it two weeks. See

29:33

how we feel. Yeah. The

29:35

usual. The usual. We'll see how we

29:37

feel. Little bit, I don't know if Howard

29:39

knew, but he'd gone off and started

29:41

some music. And so we'd gone to LA

29:43

with an idea of talking to Stuart about

29:46

can we get like a concept, do

29:50

some orchestral versions of some of the

29:52

songs, but make it so when you press play,

29:55

the music doesn't stop from the beginning

29:57

to the end. Yeah. Meanwhile, Howard

29:59

sat in the. He's playing these little clips

30:01

of music and every now and again that

30:03

could see Stuart's head going. What's that? What's

30:05

that? Little did he know but

30:08

he'd written all the Intoludes.

30:11

Yeah, because we used about three or

30:13

four of those. Yeah, that's right Yeah, and

30:15

then we used as little bridges. So

30:17

now we're getting interested. Oh, yeah Like

30:20

a real flowing album from Trapped to Trauma.

30:23

Yeah, and then you know, I remember one one

30:25

at one part We got Rob's original vocal

30:28

off everything changed. Yes Yes And then

30:30

we sat in room and we changed the track

30:32

chords change the cars the groove

30:34

It knew back it is starting to get out

30:36

to put new out on it and the one thing

30:39

I loved which in preparation

30:41

for one day the masking we had

30:44

me and my Engineer

30:46

Ryan we it's been

30:48

like a hobby to us. So again to explain

30:50

to everybody listening so when

30:53

you finish an album your The

30:56

tracks you've made whether

30:58

they were real to real or they're on a just

31:00

a disc nowadays They go off

31:02

to a vault which is usually

31:05

somewhere in Reading or somewhere Where

31:07

they keep all the masters for all

31:10

the artists who are on that label So

31:12

we went on a hunt to find

31:15

all our masters from the 90s Wow,

31:17

which I won't reveal

31:19

the label but they never keep them properly

31:22

these late right for the amount of You

31:25

know, they're so priceless these things

31:27

only one of them that we found them

31:29

and they were in disrepair and so

31:31

we're scared All

31:37

the catalog in wasn't right there

31:39

was cassettes in boxes that shouldn't have been

31:41

in but what happened with our Very

31:43

early 90s so like could it be magic

31:46

million love songs? It only takes

31:48

a minute go They were on these multi

31:50

tracks which a great big do a lot of text

31:53

in track You know those big tape things

31:56

and so when they were in a state of disrepair

31:59

full of doors some out of Thrilla every

32:01

time you touch them there's smoke everywhere.

32:04

They used to bake them. They'd put them in the

32:06

oven, bake them, bake them, but

32:09

not so they singed, but so they'd

32:11

bring them back to life. So the

32:13

tape would become malleable again instead

32:15

of all talked and

32:18

then they'd put it back on the the

32:20

the stave and they'd play it and

32:22

then as quickly as they can put it to digital

32:25

straight away. Wow. That's where we found

32:27

all. I never knew that. I never knew that. There

32:29

was only one we never found and

32:31

that was the Rapinoe Brothers of Could It

32:33

Be Magic? And we never found that but

32:36

we had Rob's vocal for me in Levine's

32:38

original Could It Be Magic? Yeah. Which

32:40

was like the Donna Summer version, the high energy

32:42

version. So what we did was we went

32:45

back to the Rapinoe, this is far too long

32:47

I know everybody. We know

32:49

all this anyway but you know he just reminded

32:52

us of it. It's cool but I'm going to ask you

32:54

a few. We went back to the Rapinoe

32:56

Brothers who were in Italy

32:59

and said listen guys, the multi-tracks,

33:01

they're nowhere tell us what

33:04

you used and they went through the

33:06

list of gear, what patches they were and

33:08

we went on eBay and bought them. Wow.

33:10

And reprogrammed them.

33:12

There was one bit we didn't have and

33:14

it was a loop that they put in the

33:17

record. We were trying to listen to it

33:19

in mono, in stereo, split the files

33:21

up. We were like what is that loop

33:23

and they said oh well we could explain it

33:26

to you. It's us hitting a teaspoon on

33:28

a table. They'd made

33:30

it themselves. It was all about digga digga digga digga digga digga digga

33:32

digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga digga. No, it was

33:34

like if you listen to Could It Be Magic,

33:36

their Motown version, there's like a shaker

33:39

chk chk chk chk. It's like a funny groove.

33:41

They'd degraded it all and they'd added like tins

33:44

and stuff off the kitchen table on it. That

33:46

was the loop for Could It Be Magic? So

33:48

we made it all again and Stuart

33:51

didn't use any of it.

33:55

After all that, I think

33:57

what we did was a great addition to

33:59

the

33:59

Odyssey album, we

34:02

all brought a track in each thing, we added three

34:04

brand new tracks. We did. Which is, mine was

34:06

spin, what was yours Mark? Everlasting. Love

34:09

Everlasting. In fact,

34:12

and out of our heads, but Love Everlasting.

34:14

Great song. And I think one of the most

34:16

riskiest things we ever did on

34:18

that, which I think personally,

34:21

Pray, making the original,

34:24

the 90s version of Pray, and

34:26

taking it to a slow, groovy

34:29

Pray where we did this amazing performance.

34:31

You remember live. Sign language, wasn't it?

34:34

Lovely. We learned sign language. Well,

34:36

I can't get it wrong. But

34:39

how special

34:41

was that? It was amazing. To be doing that. And

34:44

us and the cast that we had on the Odyssey

34:46

tour, which was an

34:48

amazing piece of apparatus. I remember

34:51

the first time we saw that, it was similar to progress

34:53

when that stood up. I remember, I

34:56

got in a car that, and drove it to

34:58

somewhere like Wigan or something, into

35:00

this old hangar type thing

35:02

and saw them building. The sphere. The

35:05

sphere. Yeah, because it had screens

35:07

all the way around. The sphere was amazing. Make

35:10

it do that. And it was so

35:12

exciting, but yes, Pray was a number

35:14

where. So then we played the record

35:16

and started to finish using footage. We found, Stewart

35:19

found old footage of us. He'd

35:22

find bits, he'd put things, like he

35:24

made them. It became fun, didn't it? It became really

35:26

good. It was usually gratuitous,

35:29

making a greatest hit. Put this

35:31

one there. Yeah. It was like a new record,

35:34

didn't it? It felt like a new record. It was a great

35:36

concept. Yeah. I remember the performance

35:38

of Pray. I mean, I think I was actually

35:40

cross-eyed by the end of it, because whenever

35:43

I'd forget the moves, I was like, I'll look at one of the

35:45

dancers and the other eye was that way. I was

35:47

like, I can't remember these moves.

35:50

To the end. Oh, it was so emotional. It

35:52

was hard. It was amazing. I had to do it.

35:54

It felt really, really special, because

35:57

that song that we'd been dancing like

35:59

this. and spinning around and

36:02

choreograph. Then every word meant

36:05

something. You

36:07

know, instead of going, it was like

36:09

we were singing, we were signing the words.

36:12

And interesting as well because we did

36:14

know, I mean, none of us knew what

36:16

was gonna happen the year after because

36:18

this was 2019, we were on tour with

36:20

that. And it was a long, extensive

36:23

tour. You know, our audience

36:25

came out in droves. It was a beautiful

36:28

tour. And we knew, because

36:30

we'd all chatted, that we were gonna have a little bit of a break,

36:33

didn't we? We didn't know we were gonna have

36:35

as long a break as we've had. But

36:38

we knew we were in for a little break. And

36:40

I kind of made it more special that

36:43

I knew, okay, this is the end

36:45

of an era, really, for us. And

36:47

we saw the greatest hits, I think, is the end of an

36:49

era. That's celebrating all that work we've done.

36:52

Here's the tour now to go and do a lap of honor

36:55

and say thanks very much. And we're gonna

36:57

have a little think now about what's next. And

36:59

do you remember who supported us on this tour? On

37:02

the Odyssey tour. The legend. Yeah,

37:04

the recast. What an amazing

37:06

thing that we got recastly because he was such

37:09

a gent. Oh, what a delight. What

37:11

a talented guy. So, so wonderful

37:14

to have around. Every

37:16

night he put gigs on after the gigs, wouldn't

37:18

he? He was full of energy. And

37:21

it made everybody feel absolutely amazing,

37:23

didn't it? I have a video. Oh, yeah, yeah.

37:25

Yeah, yeah. And he was coming. Oh.

37:30

Hey, recastly here. Dude.

37:31

Yeah. I just wanna

37:33

share a couple of moments about Techman. 2019, their

37:38

greatest hits tour. I was so excited

37:41

to do that tour. Seen them live a bunch of times.

37:43

Knew that they always put on a great show, put everything on

37:45

that stage. We arrive at production

37:47

rehearsals. There's a faulty Tom Speer in

37:49

front of us. I'm gonna picture that. That

37:52

is enormous. If you saw it, you know exactly what I mean.

37:54

So I'm thinking their crew are gonna be panicking. They're

37:57

gonna be running around. They're gonna be like, oh. The

38:00

first thing the crew said to us was, if

38:02

you need anything, let us know. We're gonna make it happen for

38:04

you. That's not what always happens on tours when

38:06

you're doing the opening slot. And that comes

38:10

from three guys. That comes from the guys at the

38:12

top. It comes from Howard, Mark and Gary. I'll

38:14

always remember that. And always have

38:17

fond memories of Howard doing

38:20

the rowing to the Gap

38:22

Band with the band and the crew. When we had a bit of a party

38:24

one night, Mark coming backstage

38:26

in a Rick Astley t-shirt seconds

38:29

before I was about to go

38:29

and say hello for the first gig. And

38:32

also to Gary sharing stories about family,

38:35

kids, all the rest of it. They're just

38:37

humans. They're just humans

38:39

with wonderful hearts and lots of talent.

38:42

They're lovely people. So that's my take,

38:44

that's Tony. Oh wow. Very

38:47

good. Oh my goodness. We're

38:51

blessed, aren't we? I mean, honestly,

38:53

I mean, we've met and worked

38:56

with some incredible

38:58

people. Inspiring people. Come

39:00

along at the right time and just made you go, wow. I

39:03

know. And he was great. I remember when we had

39:05

some of those little after parties after some of the shows

39:07

and he was on the drums. He

39:09

was singing live. This was after

39:11

the show, wasn't it? And he was entertaining

39:14

everybody, wasn't he? Such a talent man. Yeah,

39:16

we're very lucky. We are. The

39:18

other thing is that I get from Rick and

39:21

it's a thing to always remember this, especially

39:23

because we're busy and there's challenges.

39:27

To be enjoyed this. No one enjoys

39:29

it as much as them. That's very, very true.

39:32

Now his wife's his manager. And the two

39:34

of them, because me and my wife go out with them,

39:36

where their friends are, they

39:38

have a bloody good time. They

39:40

do. Yes. They do. I

39:43

met them in America. He was on a 58 day tour with new

39:45

kids on the block. Wow. I

39:48

was like, good God, 58. He said, we're going to every state.

39:50

He says, we're gonna have a great time. Wow. I

39:53

can tell you what restaurant we're going into. Dallas,

39:55

Louisiana. They're having a great

39:58

time. Driving themselves. of the

40:00

places. I thought you know what,

40:02

God bless them. They're getting the best

40:04

out of this. I'm

40:09

sad to say it's the end of the episode and

40:12

we only have one more to go which

40:14

means it's only one week to go

40:16

to our new album being released.

40:19

That's next time

40:20

on Take That This Life.

40:26

So make sure to subscribe to

40:28

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40:30

Player so you don't miss the

40:32

next episode. Download it from

40:35

the app store or go to globalplayer.com.

40:38

We'll see you then everybody as we keep

40:40

counting down to our brand new record

40:43

This Life which is out. Get ready

40:45

for it next week. We're take

40:48

one! That

40:52

was a Global Player Original Podcast.

40:55

This podcast was produced by Helen

40:57

Burke and Alexandra Ju joking with

40:59

executive producer by Chris James Our

41:02

Head of Podcasting, Comedy & Entertainment

41:04

is Chris Lander

41:06

Filming and video Production by Will Batchelor,

41:08

Matthew Sullivan & Samson Saladin We

41:12

hope to see you at Universal. Emma

41:14

Powell, Chris Dempsey and Nick, Annie &

41:17

Jeff at

41:17

21SOHO