MAY 2019 | ISSUE #<strong>79</strong> 22 May 2019.indd 22 16/04/2019 17:58
FEATURE MAY APRIL 2019 MAY 2019 | ISSUE 2019 | ISSUE #<strong>79</strong> | ISSUE | #78 NILE #<strong>79</strong>| BANANARAMA RODGERS SOMEONE DOESN’T HAVE THE THEORY BUT HAS A COMPUTER THEY CAN STILL BE HEARD. That’s exactly correct, I sort of think about it this way, if a person is in the room with a musical instrument, and they just have the desire to get something out of it, they’ll pick it up and start to figure something out – it may not be the traditional approach to that particular instrument but they will get something out of it because music does something to us. It creates a feeling inside of us that’s – you know, maybe I’m overly romantic – but it creates a feeling inside of us that’s so magical that once you experience that thing, and if it does that to you, you can’t help but want to keep doing it and keep doing it and then you get better and get better and next thing you know you wind up being a complete virtuoso and you go ‘oh my god, how do you have that guitar tuned?’ completely weird. Like, Ricky [Wilson], who was the main songwriter with the B-52s all those years ago with those weird tunings and stuff and you can only play those songs with those tunings! WITH YOUR ‘IT’S ABOUT TIME’ ALBUM; YOU CHAMPIONED SUCH A WEALTH OF BRITISH TALENT ON THERE FROM NAO TO EMELI SANDÉ AND CRAIG DAVID. AM I RIGHT IN SAYING THAT THAT ‘IT’S ABOUT TIME’ WAS CHAPTER ONE, AND YOU’RE WORKING ON A CHAPTER TWO TO ESSENTIALLY BRING IN THE NEW ERA OF CHIC? Yes. You have it exactly correct and also the fact that I am spending so much time at Abbey Road; that’s become sort of my new home base and I felt I wanted to paint a musical picture that’s a more accurate reflection of my current life. At first, I started out with a different concept, but I love working with these people and its just great. IS IT FAIR TO SAY THAT THE MUSIC OF BRITAIN IS GOING TO GET REFLECTED IN THE NEXT ALBUM AS A LOT OF IT WILL BE RECORDED HERE? You know, who knows what I’m going to be doing, but it has to on some level because I have already created some stuff that’s great! At least the music feels great to me. And also, what the Dua sessions have taught me, it’s re-taught me again how much fun we have when we just walk into the studio as a band, as Chic rhythm section and just go in and play. FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER BEEN TO A LIVE CHIC SHOW, WHAT CAN THEY EXPECT AND WHAT CAN THEY LOOK FORWARD TO WHEN THEY COME AND SEE YOU? I would just say, we really believe in having fun. Good times and happiness. What people have told us, not that we can’t control this, but people tell us that the happiness seems to last. In other words, after the show is over you’re still happy the next day! You’re still thinking about ‘man we had a blast last week’. I see on social media sometimes, people say things like ‘my feet are still hurting from 2 weeks ago when I went dancing to CHIC all night.’ For me, at my age, having done so much music and have an audience really appreciate it, it blows me away. Honestly, at the time we did it we were just hoping to get a record in the charts and you’re hoping to get penetration into the market place and you’re hoping to get what we call a ‘hit record’, but you have no idea if it’s going to last. To me, I mean we were in the studio the other day with Rudimental and we were just laughing and joking and I said ‘you know what’s funny; I don’t think there’s anywhere I can go on the planet where I can’t go ‘1,2, aaaah’ and then they go ‘freak out’’. It’s the funniest thing. Every country. Tickets will be on sale at 8am on Thursday 31st January via thejockeyclublive.co.uk, with a presale available to customers at 12pm on Tuesday 29th January. Tickets are priced starting at £29 adult / £15 child (under 18). Please note child tickets are limited. All T&C’s are available on newmarket. 23 May 2019.indd 23 16/04/2019 17:58