OK, I'm back for some more Reporting Back. They should turn this into some sort of "Making of the DVD" thing, it's long enough... Chapter 4: Friday morning - with Chris and Sarah. The first interview of day 2 was a double-header, speaking to Sarah and Chris in the conservatory at the back of a bar in Glasgow's West End, just down the road from the old Grosvenor Café. (It was actually really nice for me to se all these places for the first time, since I'd not been to Glasgow before). The four of us were seated round a table in the back; it seemed the best way of getting me in the same frame as the others, I'm way too tall to do interviews standing up... This was the one I enjoyed most; it was more like a chat than an interview. As always, most of the talk revolved around the band's history and future. The way they all talked about the Brazil concerts really made me wish I'd been there... We were starting to repeat questions from the day before, but the answers were still interesting. We talked about their hopes for the new album. We talked about Northern Soul. We talked about how they had all changed over the years (apparently Mick's ever-changing hairdo is the most noticeable thing!). We talked about Chris and his bucket (he doesn't drink quite as much at gigs these days...). The time went really quickly actually, it was over before we knew it; I could happily have sat there chatting all day. Oh, the hardships of being a media whore. Chapter 5: Friday early afternoon - with Stevie. After a lunch-break, we must have spent a good quarter of an hour waiting patiently for Stevie to turn up while he was standing on the opposite corner of the road junction waiting for us. Having finally realised that we were standing less than ten metres from his car, we started getting set up for the interview. For this one, Stevie was going to drive us around Glasgow, while the two reporters Sarah & I sat in the back of his car asking questions; with Jim filming us all from the front seat and Blair directing from next to us in the back. Personally I found it harder to have a conversation, partly because Stevie had to concentrate on driving (even if we were just going up and down a quiet street down by the docks for most of the time!) but more because we couldn't really see his face except a bit in the rear-view mirror; having said that, Blair thought it was the interview which worked best, and he knows what he's talking about far more than I do! Now, Stevie loves his music. He likes nothing more than playing a gig. His repertoire is responsible for most of the cover versions done at gigs. As the band's resident axe-wielder, he seems to prefer the more up-tempo numbers to play; and he was as bemused as anyone about being labelled 'twee'. Of course, there were the usual questions about the band's history and future, since that was the main point of the interviews; again, Stevie thought the future of the band was rosier now than it had been for a few years. And no, he's not planning on leaving the band and going solo just yet... Having made it safely back without crashing (despite Stevie turning round to answer questions from time to time...), we piled out of the car, got the life back in our legs (well I did at least - it's not easy being tall and sitting behind another tall person in the car for an hour!) and headed off to pick up the remaining two band members. Chapter 6: Friday late afternoon - with Mick and Bob. It had been a gorgeous day in Glasgow. Bright and sunny, and hardly a cloud in the sky. So what better place to do the final interview than in Kelvingrove Park? Well, somewhere warm would have been a nice start, but still... Sitting round a picnic bench, huddling up in our coats, hands cradling a polystyrene cup of tea, the four of us looked more like homeless people than anything else. When you see the footage, you'll be able to tell how far through the interview it was by how red my ears are at the time. We managed to fit all the usual subjects into the interview before it was decided to call a halt because Bobby's teeth could be heard chattering in the microphone. And to think, Katrina had decided to go back to the office instead of hanging around for the afternoon to watch... Aside from asking about the same stuff as in the other interviews, it was interesting to hear how Mick and Bobby found it joining the band halfway through, so-to-speak. Mick talked about having to change his attitude from being the bloke who came into the studio and cheered things up, to being someone expected to give input into the decisions. Bob talked about the process being made easier because he had known the entire band for five years beforehand. Once we had enough footage, we returned to the car to defrost, and then headed off to the pub. Chapter 7: Friday early evening. Filming done, time to relax. First up, a few drinks with Mick, Bobby, Blair, Jim, and Katrina who rejoined us (and is still convinced I'm an alcoholic, can't imagine why...). I'll leave it to you to guess which person at the table had just purchased the best of Toto on CD, because it's really not that interesting. The conversation went from credible alternative music (well, Kylie Minogue and Tatu to be honest) to the politics of the anti-war march to the wonderful sport of korfball. Only about half an hour late, we decided to make a move to get to the restaurant for a meal. The dining party consisted of me and Sarah, Stuart M, Katrina, Jim and Blair (despite his other half cooking a Valentine's meal for him back home... Hope he didn't get into trouble...). We were the only people in the restaurant not there as a couple, either long-term couples or the blatantly-obvious first date going on on one of the tables. So it was only natural that the conversation was mostly about relationships; it sounded more like a group therapy session at times! There was a bit of chat about music, and Camera Obscura in particular; and a bit more about the peace demo (incidentally, on Saturday night I finally found someone who thinks we should be going to war with Iraq - it's taken me several months...). I wish I could have joined Stuart, Katrina and the others on the march, but sadly I had to be back in Nottingham on Saturday afternoon. Oh, and incidentally, the food was delicious. Chapter 8: Friday evening - at the Camera Obscura gig. So, four of us piled into a taxi to head round to Stuart's Church Hall to see the show. After a discussion on the way there about which karaoke songs each of us had sung / would want to sing, and a quick stop in the off-licence, we arrived just in time to see the first act, a man whose name I've forgotten but who sounded eerily like Elvis Costello (which is no bad thing). Lucy has already given a round-up of who was there (I never met half of you, but still...); I'll just say that the atmosphere was really friendly and everyone had a good time. Camera Obscura themselves played mostly good new songs, with a couple of classics thrown in for good measure. And just when I was crying out for them to let rip with an up-tempo number, they did at the end, and people literally started dancing in the aisles. They've got a lot better since last time I saw them a couple of years ago (which obviously is all thanks to the addition of Carey on the keyboards). Once the gig was over, we stayed behind for a little while chatting with the various members of B&S who were present (most of them!). (At this point I should apologise to Katrina for making her wait while I chatted to Sarah for a minute or two!) Anyway, it was time to go, so I said my goodbyes, and Stuart drove us back to our hotel, where I was asleep within seconds of lying down. I had to come back on Saturday morning, which was a real shame; everyone was so nice and friendly and I could have talked to them for hours more. The band aren't superstars, they're just normal, lovely people who happen to be a lot more talented than me. I can't think of any way they could have been more welcoming, open and friendly. So huge thanks to the band, the director and cameraman, to Katrina, to the person who came round with room service while we were interviewing Stuart for not kicking us out of the hotel... I'm already looking forward to how it will all turn out; it's going to be good (especially since most bits won't have me in them). In the meantime, it's been a fun experience that I'll never forget. Big Stu +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list mail sinister@missprint.org. To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to majordomo@missprint.org. WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister +-+ "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper +-+ +-+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+ +-+ "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000 +-+ +-+ "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000 +-+ +-+ "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001 +-+ +-+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +-+ +-+ Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut! +-+ +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+