# Marty Wilde: The Rock & Roll Pioneer Who Helped Shape Music History

An episode of [Tony Mantor's : Almost Live..... Nashville](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1751194045), 7 Jul 2026, 29 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c41d385f-64b2-4514-9415-b4d50130ce01/70966a05-ac02-4ebd-89c0-b4d5016989bc/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=d1742151-672b-4e4d-997b-b4d50130ce0c

Show Notes Rock & roll pioneer Marty Wilde joins Tony Mantor for a remarkable conversation about being at the birth of modern rock music and building a career that has lasted more than six decades. Inspired by the arrival of Bill Haley & His Comets and "Rock Around the Clock," Marty shares how one song changed the course of his life and launched him into the emerging world of rock & roll. From those early days to writing timeless hits and producing music for future generations, his passion for creating has never faded. The conversation explores songwriting, studio creativity, the evolution of recording technology, and why the emotional connection behind a song will always matter more than chart positions. Marty also reflects on writing iconic songs for his daughter Kim Wilde, including the international hit Kids in America, his love of rockabilly music, and his decision to return to his musical roots with a brand-new album. In This Episode • Discovering rock & roll through "Rock Around the Clock" • The early days of rock music in Great Britain • Learning from American rock and blues artists • The importance of finding your own musical identity • Producing music with authenticity instead of perfection • Writing timeless songs that connect emotionally • Creating hits like "Kids in America" and "Cambodia" • Why demos sometimes capture the best performances • Returning to classic rockabilly with a fresh modern sound • The creative process behind songwriting and studio production • Why music remains his greatest inspiration after more than 60 years Throughout the conversation, Marty offers thoughtful insights into creativity, longevity, and the pursuit of making music that stands the test of time. His love for songwriting and recording remains as strong today as when he first stepped into the studio. Whether you're a lifelong fan of classic rock & roll or a songwriter looking for inspiration, this episode is filled with stories, wisdom, and a deep appreciation for the power of music. Be sure to follow Almost Live Nashville for more exclusive conversations with the artists, songwriters, and creators who have shaped the soundtrack of our lives. INTRO/OUTRO Music: T. Wild Mantor Music BMI See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:14] Speaker 1: My career in the entertainment industry has enabled me to
[0:17] Speaker 1: work with a diverse range of talent. Through my years
[0:20] Speaker 1: of experience, I've recognized two essential aspects. Industry professionals, whether
[0:26] Speaker 1: famous stars, or behind the scenes staff have fascinating stories
[0:31] Speaker 1: to tell. Secondly, audiences are eager to listen to these stories,
[0:36] Speaker 1: which offer a glimpse into their lives and the evolution
[0:39] Speaker 1: of their life stories. This podcast aims to share these narratives,
[0:43] Speaker 1: providing information on how they evolve into their chosen career.
[0:47] Speaker 1: We will delve into their journey to stardom, discuss their
[0:50] Speaker 1: struggles and successes, and hear from people who helped.
[0:53] Speaker 2: Them achieve their goals.
[0:55] Speaker 1: Get ready for intriguing behind-the-scenes stories and insights into the
[0:59] Speaker 1: fascinating world of entertainment. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to
[1:05] Speaker 1: Almost Live Nashville. If you haven't already, take a quick
[1:09] Speaker 1: second to tap the follow button. It really helps the
[1:11] Speaker 1: show reach more people who love music and entertainment. Thanks
[1:14] Speaker 1: for being here. Joining us today is Marty Wilde. He
[1:18] Speaker 1: isn't just a part of music history, he helped create it.
[1:21] Speaker 3: When rock and roll.
[1:22] Speaker 1: Was still finding his footing, he was right there in
[1:25] Speaker 1: the middle of it, helping shape what it would become.
[1:27] Speaker 1: What makes this conversation meaningful isn't just his success, it's
[1:31] Speaker 1: his perspective in living through it. The highs, the changes,
[1:35] Speaker 1: and the evolution of music. Thanks for joining us today.
[1:38] Speaker 2: My pleasure.
[1:39] Speaker 1: Let's start this conversation by telling our listeners what you're
[1:42] Speaker 1: currently up to.
[1:43] Speaker 2: Well, most of the time I spend, I'm either writing
[1:47] Speaker 2: songs or I do shows or I've got a new
[1:51] Speaker 2: album to plug, which is obviously a new album, which
[1:54] Speaker 2: is a rock and roll album. I've gone back to
[1:56] Speaker 2: what I started to do many, many years ago. And
[1:59] Speaker 2: that's it really. It's an album which I'm very happy with.
[2:02] Speaker 2: So normally I'm not very happy with my product. I'm
[2:06] Speaker 2: fairly happy with this one.
[2:07] Speaker 1: When you think back to your early days in rock
[2:09] Speaker 1: and roll, what did it feel like being part of
[2:11] Speaker 1: something so new and so misunderstood at the time.
[2:14] Speaker 2: I think it was great. I mean, for me, it
[2:17] Speaker 2: was probably the biggest musical journey I'll ever take. I mean,
[2:21] Speaker 2: to come from what had gone before in Great Britain,
[2:24] Speaker 2: it was all big band stuff or very old-fashioned orchestras
[2:28] Speaker 2: to make that jump ginormously. And in actual fact, you
[2:32] Speaker 2: analyze it, it wasn't something that was technically incredible. It
[2:36] Speaker 2: was just a rhythm. It was just a simple, basic rhythm.
[2:40] Speaker 3: Right.
[2:41] Speaker 2: And the offbeat, which I love, well, the very first
[2:44] Speaker 2: time I heard it, which was in the shape of
[2:48] Speaker 2: Rock Around the Clock with Bill Haley. Yeah, right. That
[2:51] Speaker 2: kind of... That was the thing that fused me with
[2:56] Speaker 2: me to rock and roll. I just love the rhythm.
[2:58] Speaker 2: And I had an amateur group at the time that
[3:00] Speaker 2: were playing guitar music, but not rock and roll. And
[3:03] Speaker 2: it's called Skiffle, which was like folk music. So I
[3:07] Speaker 2: said to the boys, the boys of the band, I said,
[3:09] Speaker 2: I've heard this track. I said, rock around the clock.
[3:12] Speaker 2: I said, that's it. No more folk music. I said,
[3:15] Speaker 2: we're in for rock and roll all the way. And
[3:18] Speaker 2: that's how it started.
[3:19] Speaker 1: So when you made that shift, it was a pretty
[3:21] Speaker 1: big change from what you were doing. What did the
[3:24] Speaker 1: people around you think at that time?
[3:27] Speaker 2: I don't know, really. I suppose they would have worried.
[3:30] Speaker 2: I remember one of the people around me was the
[3:32] Speaker 2: guy that employed me. And he was in London, in
[3:36] Speaker 2: Rude Lane, Covent Garden. And he said, well, I hosted
[3:41] Speaker 2: for two weeks of money, severance pay. And he said,
[3:46] Speaker 2: what are you going to do then? So I said,
[3:48] Speaker 2: I've got two weeks work in a cabaret. What do
[3:51] Speaker 2: you say? What are you going to sing? I said, well,
[3:53] Speaker 2: I'm going to sing rock and roll. And he said, well,
[3:56] Speaker 2: have you thought about it? You know, you think you're
[3:58] Speaker 2: leaving a good job and all that. All the usual things.
[4:01] Speaker 2: And anyway, it works out OK for me. So that's
[4:04] Speaker 2: how it starts.
[4:05] Speaker 1: Was that the moment you felt this could really be something?
[4:09] Speaker 1: Or did you still feel like it was a phase
[4:11] Speaker 1: until you could navigate yourself through it and see a
[4:14] Speaker 1: little more success?
[4:15] Speaker 2: No, I never had any second doubts. Once I heard
[4:19] Speaker 2: rock and roll and I started to sing it, there
[4:21] Speaker 2: were no second doubts. I knew exactly what I wanted
[4:24] Speaker 2: to do and exactly where I was going to go.
[4:26] Speaker 2: But like all things, you know, you need good luck.
[4:30] Speaker 2: And I had good luck. My manager was Tommy Steele's manager,
[4:32] Speaker 2: who was the first rock and roll star in Great Britain.
[4:35] Speaker 2: You know, I had the manager once. He signed me up.
[4:38] Speaker 2: I knew for a fact I stood a damn good chance.
[4:40] Speaker 2: To be honest with you, I didn't even think too
[4:42] Speaker 2: much about it.
[4:43] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[4:43] Speaker 2: Just breezed ahead and did it. I was just fortunate
[4:46] Speaker 2: that it worked out.
[4:47] Speaker 1: You were influenced by Rock Around the Clock and early
[4:50] Speaker 1: American rock and roll sound. How did you turn that
[4:53] Speaker 1: into your own style while still staying true to the
[4:57] Speaker 1: roots of what you wanted to do?
[4:59] Speaker 2: Well, I don't know, really. I mean, you know, we
[5:01] Speaker 2: had to imitate and we had to learn fast because,
[5:04] Speaker 2: you know, I said earlier to someone today, people like
[5:08] Speaker 2: in America, like people like Elvis, for example, and a
[5:11] Speaker 2: lot of the black artists, they were living it. They
[5:13] Speaker 2: were in it. They were, you know, Beale Street was
[5:15] Speaker 2: just around the corner for some of those guys and, um,
[5:19] Speaker 2: You know, the black influence, the church music and all that.
[5:22] Speaker 2: We in Great Britain, all we had was just big
[5:24] Speaker 2: bands like the Ted Heath Orchestra was a big orchestra.
[5:28] Speaker 2: Billy Cotton Band Show that came on. They were all
[5:31] Speaker 2: big bands. And so, you know, that kind of influence,
[5:35] Speaker 2: it took us time. It took a long time. Sure.
[5:38] Speaker 2: I mean, people like the Beatles, that was different. They
[5:41] Speaker 2: came later. They had much more time to, you know,
[5:44] Speaker 2: integrate with this kind of thing. But I didn't.
[5:46] Speaker 1: Right.
[5:47] Speaker 2: You know, I had to learn really fast. The thing
[5:49] Speaker 2: that helped me immeasurably was the man that used to
[5:53] Speaker 2: sell the records, he had a record shop, and I
[5:55] Speaker 2: used to go there to order my latest release. Now,
[5:58] Speaker 2: I'd moved from Frankie Lane and Guy Mitchell to suddenly
[6:02] Speaker 2: move to Elvis was a big change. He said to
[6:05] Speaker 2: me one day... I bought Elvis Presley's RCA version of
[6:09] Speaker 2: Hound Dog and Don't Be Cruel. He said, have you
[6:13] Speaker 2: heard the original of this song, Hound Dog? So I said, no,
[6:17] Speaker 2: is there original? He said, yeah, of course there is. Yeah,
[6:19] Speaker 2: he said, there is. I said, oh, he said there's
[6:21] Speaker 2: a black version. That was the original version, he said.
[6:24] Speaker 2: He said, it's Mama Mae Thornton. I said, I've never
[6:26] Speaker 2: heard of her. He said, well, I haven't listened to this.
[6:28] Speaker 2: So I listened, and of course, it was rock and roll,
[6:30] Speaker 2: but it was a sort of much more bluesy. And
[6:34] Speaker 2: that was it. And from then on in, when I
[6:36] Speaker 2: used to go in and buy my records, he'd say, well,
[6:39] Speaker 2: you know, he said, we've got some wonderful new records
[6:42] Speaker 2: have just come in. So I would be listening to
[6:44] Speaker 2: quite a lot of black music. So for a white
[6:46] Speaker 2: guy in Great Britain in 1950s, you know, like 57,
[6:50] Speaker 2: quite a lucky step for me to have that influence.
[6:53] Speaker 1: You mentioned earlier that you didn't like some of your
[6:55] Speaker 1: earlier recordings in the studio. What was it exactly that
[6:59] Speaker 1: you didn't like?
[7:00] Speaker 2: I didn't like the fact that we couldn't... I wanted
[7:02] Speaker 2: to use my own group, my own band, my own musicians,
[7:06] Speaker 2: guys that I was playing with. And the record company
[7:10] Speaker 2: at that point felt that they wouldn't have been good
[7:13] Speaker 2: enough to play on records. I suppose maybe... It would
[7:16] Speaker 2: have taken time, you know, extra time, because time was
[7:19] Speaker 2: always the factor in those days. You know, maybe they thought,
[7:21] Speaker 2: you know, it wouldn't work. But eventually, of course, I
[7:24] Speaker 2: got my own way. But it was, you know, way
[7:26] Speaker 2: into my career before I could get my own sound.
[7:29] Speaker 1: You've had a lot of longevity that many artists just
[7:32] Speaker 1: don't get. What do you think allowed you to stay
[7:34] Speaker 1: relevant where others just simply faded away?
[7:37] Speaker 2: I think just love of music. Even to this day,
[7:40] Speaker 2: I will move on to listen to the latest top
[7:44] Speaker 2: 20 in America. Well, for a guy of 86 who's
[7:48] Speaker 2: nearly 87 to do that, it's most unusual. That is
[7:51] Speaker 2: most unusual. Yeah. But I love music. I just love sounds.
[7:56] Speaker 2: I love synthesizers, guitars. I love everything to do with
[8:00] Speaker 2: music and anything that makes a noise. So that's what
[8:02] Speaker 2: keeps me on my toes. I just adore music. And
[8:05] Speaker 2: I love classical music too. So it's not just confined to,
[8:08] Speaker 2: you know, to pop music.
[8:10] Speaker 1: As you grew as an artist, did those other influences
[8:14] Speaker 1: like classical and some of the other styles you just
[8:17] Speaker 1: mentioned find their way into your music?
[8:19] Speaker 3: Did you see that it.
[8:20] Speaker 1: Changed your style a bit But yet you were still
[8:23] Speaker 1: keeping your identity?
[8:24] Speaker 2: With me, yeah, to a certain extent, but much more so,
[8:28] Speaker 2: I couldn't do that so much with my own career.
[8:30] Speaker 2: I used to do my own arrangements. I used to
[8:32] Speaker 2: make the arrangements, although I have no musical knowledge, but
[8:36] Speaker 2: I have feel and I have ideas. So I used to,
[8:39] Speaker 2: you know, take control or try to take control of
[8:42] Speaker 2: an awful lot of work that I did. But later on,
[8:45] Speaker 2: when my daughter's career began, Kids in America, for example,
[8:49] Speaker 2: the very end of the Kids in America, there was
[8:52] Speaker 2: just his synthesizers banging away. And I wanted to get
[8:55] Speaker 2: a French horn sound. I said to the guy on
[8:57] Speaker 2: the synths, I said, get me up a French horn sound.
[8:59] Speaker 2: So they got up a French horn sound, and we
[9:02] Speaker 2: put that into the very end of the records. Little
[9:04] Speaker 2: things like that played a part. Those influences did play
[9:07] Speaker 2: a part, but eventually, much more with my daughter's career.
[9:10] Speaker 1: Now, you just brought up your daughter. You've had such
[9:13] Speaker 1: a career that has influenced so many people, the next generation,
[9:17] Speaker 1: as they.
[9:18] Speaker 3: Say, and your own family. When you reflect on.
[9:21] Speaker 1: Your legacy, artists you've influenced, people your music has touched,
[9:25] Speaker 1: What does that mean to you personally?
[9:27] Speaker 2: I don't know, really. I don't, you know, you don't know.
[9:31] Speaker 2: It's probably like you, you know, maybe someone else either.
[9:34] Speaker 2: So you just don't know. I mean, you're just happy
[9:37] Speaker 2: or you just love what you're doing and you do it.
[9:39] Speaker 2: You know, sometimes it doesn't work out. Sometimes it does,
[9:43] Speaker 2: you know. Yeah, you just go ahead and do it.
[9:45] Speaker 2: I mean, as simple as that.
[9:47] Speaker 1: Did you ever find yourself drifting toward what was shifting
[9:50] Speaker 1: with the trends? You had to step back and say,
[9:53] Speaker 1: you know, I need to get back to my original
[9:55] Speaker 1: sound and my roots.
[9:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, I did that just recently. I've been making for
[10:00] Speaker 2: the last, oh my God, certainly the last couple of years,
[10:04] Speaker 2: I've been using, just be using click track, click tracks
[10:08] Speaker 2: and adding the bass on or get someone in to
[10:11] Speaker 2: play bass, bring in the string section, bring in the
[10:13] Speaker 2: computer string section later on. I was getting tired of
[10:16] Speaker 2: it because it was so computerized. There was nothing, something
[10:19] Speaker 2: so unnatural about it in a way. Although I've got
[10:22] Speaker 2: used to that, prevalent everywhere these days. But I said that,
[10:26] Speaker 2: you know, to my wife, I'm getting a bit tired
[10:28] Speaker 2: of all this. She said, why don't you sing some
[10:29] Speaker 2: rock and roll and do what you were doing originally?
[10:32] Speaker 2: So I thought, right, okay. And it stayed with me.
[10:35] Speaker 2: And I thought, well, if I do it, I couldn't
[10:37] Speaker 2: go back singing Blue Suede Shoes and all the old
[10:40] Speaker 2: rock and roll tracks all over again. You know, I
[10:42] Speaker 2: want to try and get some different kind of writing
[10:45] Speaker 2: and fuse that together. with the rockabilly and the bass
[10:49] Speaker 2: and do the whole thing. And so that's what I
[10:51] Speaker 2: did with this latest album of mine. I used a rockabilly,
[10:55] Speaker 2: a great rockabilly guitarist called Daryl Hyam, and he's played
[10:58] Speaker 2: with Imelda May and Jeff Beck and people like that
[11:01] Speaker 2: in this country. And we worked together almost as a
[11:05] Speaker 2: team to do the backings, and it was terrific. It's
[11:08] Speaker 2: got such a lovely live feel about it.
[11:10] Speaker 1: Yeah, there's nothing better than someone who really feels the music.
[11:14] Speaker 1: Versus someone just trying to overthink it and make everything
[11:17] Speaker 1: so structured.
[11:18] Speaker 2: Yes, that's right. I mean, you would have seen that
[11:21] Speaker 2: with Glen Campbell. I mean, he's a phenomenal guitarist, you know. So, yeah.
[11:25] Speaker 2: I love his work, by the way. I always loved
[11:28] Speaker 2: Glen Campbell's work. Yeah.
[11:30] Speaker 1: He was a great singer, a great guitar player, an
[11:33] Speaker 1: overall great musician.
[11:36] Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
[11:36] Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
[11:37] Speaker 2: Wasn't he on the Beach Boys?
[11:39] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[11:39] Speaker 2: Did he do some of the Beach Boys?
[11:40] Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
[11:41] Speaker 2: Oh, my God, yeah. Well, you had to be good
[11:43] Speaker 2: to play with those guys.
[11:45] Speaker 1: Yeah, he played with so many people. He had such
[11:48] Speaker 1: a great career.
[11:49] Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
[11:52] Speaker 1: Now, speaking of success and careers, how do you look
[11:55] Speaker 1: at success now in your career compared to when you
[11:59] Speaker 1: first started? How have you seen that dynamic change?
[12:02] Speaker 2: I look at things. I think I probably look at
[12:04] Speaker 2: things the same way as I did many years ago.
[12:08] Speaker 2: Nothing was ever good enough. I always wanted more. I
[12:10] Speaker 2: always wanted to be better. you know, the next thing
[12:13] Speaker 2: would be better. And that's always what you are. I
[12:15] Speaker 2: guess that's what we all aim for.
[12:16] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[12:17] Speaker 2: And I've always felt that way. You know, obviously you
[12:20] Speaker 2: want to do the best. And also you want people
[12:22] Speaker 2: to like it and to hear it, you know, and
[12:25] Speaker 2: to be part of it. Well, you know, making records,
[12:27] Speaker 2: it's an extension of you in the end and you
[12:30] Speaker 2: put your heart and soul into it and you just
[12:32] Speaker 2: hope it touches someone's emotions out there in that great
[12:36] Speaker 2: big public, you know. If it does, that's... That's the
[12:38] Speaker 2: way I view it, and I still want that. I
[12:40] Speaker 2: want that with people, and I want that to happen
[12:43] Speaker 2: if possible.
[12:44] Speaker 1: How have the highs of being in the spotlight and
[12:47] Speaker 1: the quieter in-between moments worked together to shape your journey
[12:51] Speaker 1: as an artist?
[12:52] Speaker 2: To the quieter times, you mean, in my career?
[12:56] Speaker 1: Not meaning that things slow down for you, but in
[12:59] Speaker 1: your first part of your career when you're in the 20s,
[13:01] Speaker 1: things are going 100 miles an hour. You've got to
[13:03] Speaker 1: be here, you've got to be there. everybody's tugging at you.
[13:07] Speaker 1: Then as you get used to it, it seems like
[13:10] Speaker 1: it's quieting down a little bit. You get a better
[13:12] Speaker 1: sense of what you need to do. How did all
[13:15] Speaker 1: those things interact with each other so that you could
[13:18] Speaker 1: take and continue to move forward?
[13:21] Speaker 2: Well, that's a hard question in a way, I think.
[13:23] Speaker 2: I mean, I've always really been things of, obviously, you
[13:28] Speaker 2: learn more as time goes on. You're learning about music
[13:32] Speaker 2: and you're learning about so many things, just shortcuts. And
[13:34] Speaker 2: in actual fact, a lot of these are shortcuts. So
[13:37] Speaker 2: maybe I've learned shortcuts. And what not to do. What
[13:40] Speaker 2: not to do is one of the important things to learn.
[13:43] Speaker 2: is what not to do. Yes. So many of them
[13:46] Speaker 2: do it. You know, they just do it. I mean,
[13:49] Speaker 2: I try to, I mean, song-wise, you know, I try
[13:51] Speaker 2: titles to me are very important. And I learned that
[13:54] Speaker 2: from just trying to think what I did learn it from.
[13:56] Speaker 2: But title is the most important thing. And then the
[13:59] Speaker 2: subject matter and, You know, people like Paul Simon, you know,
[14:02] Speaker 2: I learned from Paul from years back when he first started.
[14:06] Speaker 2: I used to listen to Paul and he shaped my career.
[14:09] Speaker 2: And also I think, yeah, I think I still have
[14:13] Speaker 2: that kind of, I want to get things done. I
[14:15] Speaker 2: don't want things hanging around. I don't want to spend
[14:18] Speaker 2: months and months, you know, like some A & R
[14:21] Speaker 2: people can do. I like to get things done, get
[14:24] Speaker 2: things done, move on from that. Right. I know that.
[14:28] Speaker 2: Some people go in and remix, remix. You've got to
[14:30] Speaker 2: watch out for that. You know, you really have. You
[14:33] Speaker 2: can make some terrible mistakes by remix and remix. And sometimes,
[14:37] Speaker 2: very often, when I've been doing demos and things, the
[14:42] Speaker 2: demo was really probably better than the record in a way.
[14:45] Speaker 2: The energy on the feel of it.
[14:48] Speaker 3: Yeah, I've seen that.
[14:50] Speaker 1: When you look at your music, what's one of the
[14:52] Speaker 1: songs that you're most proud of?
[14:54] Speaker 2: Oh, two. Two songs. Jessamine. It was a ballad I wrote.
[14:59] Speaker 2: Another track for Kim's career, which was Cambodia. And Cambodia
[15:03] Speaker 2: was a massive European. It wouldn't have hit in America because,
[15:08] Speaker 2: you know, Vietnam and that whole bit wasn't too much
[15:11] Speaker 2: of it. I think it left a nasty taste in
[15:13] Speaker 2: their mouth. So it wasn't going to be there. But
[15:16] Speaker 2: it was obviously in France. France had connections with Cambodia.
[15:20] Speaker 2: But the lyric content was, it was a pop song.
[15:24] Speaker 2: It was very poppy, instantly commercial. It's been a hit
[15:27] Speaker 2: several times with different people and, you know, still earning
[15:31] Speaker 2: us a load of money now. And it's still one
[15:33] Speaker 2: of the most popular European songs. But the song itself,
[15:36] Speaker 2: the lyric I had in my head was about a
[15:39] Speaker 2: guy that was flying a clandestine operations in an aircraft.
[15:44] Speaker 2: You know, he was flying, I presume it was for
[15:46] Speaker 2: the American government or I imagine someone at the CIA
[15:49] Speaker 2: going across to Cambodia and eventually getting killed. So it's
[15:53] Speaker 2: really weird to mix those two. So that song I
[15:56] Speaker 2: am particularly, and Jasmine, I like, because Cambodia to me
[16:00] Speaker 2: meant something. And so did Jasmine, because Jasmine was just
[16:03] Speaker 2: an emotional song. A simple song, but a lot of
[16:07] Speaker 2: truth in it.
[16:08] Speaker 1: Over the years, there are always going to be those
[16:10] Speaker 1: people that will give you their opinions. They will tell
[16:13] Speaker 1: you what they think. Out of all that, you have
[16:16] Speaker 1: to sift through what's good for you, what's not good
[16:18] Speaker 1: for you. What's some of the best advice you probably
[16:21] Speaker 1: ever received, whether you used it or not?
[16:24] Speaker 2: Wow. In a human sense, in a personal sense, my
[16:29] Speaker 2: wife says, don't tolerate fools. Because I used to, you know,
[16:32] Speaker 2: people would come up to me and they say, I
[16:35] Speaker 2: would just like to say, and they would be rabbiting
[16:38] Speaker 2: on and rabbiting on. And I, because I didn't want
[16:40] Speaker 2: to be rude, I used to stand there and listen.
[16:42] Speaker 2: And my wife observed my trend to do this in
[16:45] Speaker 2: my life.
[16:46] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[16:46] Speaker 2: And she said, don't tolerate fools. And also, I don't know,
[16:49] Speaker 2: I think I've also learned with songs, the most important thing,
[16:54] Speaker 2: it's not always how big it's sold or sells. It's
[16:58] Speaker 2: what's in it. What's fundamental thing in it.
[17:01] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[17:02] Speaker 2: Well, you know, you know, you make sometimes, you might
[17:05] Speaker 2: have made a record that didn't sell as big, but
[17:07] Speaker 2: it was just as good and probably better than some
[17:09] Speaker 2: of the other things. That often happens, you know.
[17:11] Speaker 3: It does.
[17:12] Speaker 2: So I've learned to have, I'm trying, I'm still trying
[17:14] Speaker 2: to learn to have patience with that thing. It's like
[17:17] Speaker 2: this album, this album that I've made, it may not
[17:20] Speaker 2: be the biggest seller. I don't know yet because it's
[17:22] Speaker 2: not released yet. And with a single, I'm not sure
[17:25] Speaker 2: about the single, how big a hit it will be.
[17:27] Speaker 2: But I know it's one of the best things I
[17:29] Speaker 2: could have done. I've learned that over the years. Have patience.
[17:32] Speaker 1: With this album you're doing, what are some of the
[17:35] Speaker 1: things that you're really liking about what you're creating? And
[17:38] Speaker 1: when did it all come together for you so you
[17:40] Speaker 1: could sit back and say, you know, I like this?
[17:43] Speaker 2: Well, I had this idea about sound with rock and roll.
[17:46] Speaker 2: And I wanted to go back. I wanted to do rock.
[17:49] Speaker 2: Dave Edmonds did it with Girls Talk, the Elvis Costello track. Yeah.
[17:54] Speaker 2: And I like the way, suddenly, an Elvis Costello song,
[17:57] Speaker 2: which was very different in some ways, the way the
[17:59] Speaker 2: original version by Elvis Costello, Dave Edmonds made it into
[18:03] Speaker 2: rock and roll. And I thought, well, wow. You know,
[18:05] Speaker 2: if you can do that, if you can have that
[18:07] Speaker 2: kind of rock and roll feel about it, something in
[18:10] Speaker 2: the future that you're doing, then do it. And I've
[18:12] Speaker 2: tried on this album to do it. We tried it.
[18:14] Speaker 2: One of the tracks, We Can't Stand Losing You by Sting.
[18:17] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[18:18] Speaker 2: We took that song and some of the people that
[18:21] Speaker 2: are Sting fans, I know one particular Sting fan who
[18:25] Speaker 2: said he can't take it at all because I changed
[18:27] Speaker 2: the chord sequence slightly. Well, a lot actually. We took
[18:31] Speaker 2: it away from being reggae with this beat, but it works.
[18:36] Speaker 2: It absolutely works. Where The Sting thinks that, I don't know.
[18:40] Speaker 2: So that was making the album. We did a few
[18:43] Speaker 2: of the old-fashioned rock and roll tracks, but that was
[18:45] Speaker 2: just really just to bring everybody into all the old
[18:49] Speaker 2: timers as well together. A new kind of approach to
[18:53] Speaker 2: some of the tracks. I was on this track, Let's
[18:55] Speaker 2: Rock This Place has got it. It has, yeah, it's
[18:57] Speaker 2: got rock and roll feel about it, but it also
[18:59] Speaker 2: has got a sort of, not modern, but it's got
[19:02] Speaker 2: a different edge to it. And that's what I wanted
[19:05] Speaker 2: to bring to rock and roll.
[19:06] Speaker 1: Now, how has it felt being back in the studio again,
[19:09] Speaker 1: working on this latest project of yours? The studio, of course,
[19:13] Speaker 1: is a lot different than doing live performances. So how
[19:16] Speaker 1: has it felt to be back in the studio creating
[19:18] Speaker 1: this project that is turning out so well in your mind?
[19:22] Speaker 2: I love the studio work. I adore studio work. Yeah.
[19:25] Speaker 2: I can't do it all the time because I don't
[19:27] Speaker 2: know if you're the same as me. I need sometimes
[19:29] Speaker 2: a break in between numbers. You know, in other words,
[19:32] Speaker 2: you know, I'll go in the studio like Monday, then
[19:35] Speaker 2: listen on Wednesday, then go back on Friday. Yeah. I
[19:39] Speaker 2: just love being in the studio. I love creating things
[19:42] Speaker 2: and the sounds fascinate me. And I think you've got
[19:45] Speaker 2: to be very open with sounds. I look around here
[19:48] Speaker 2: and I've got a banjo. I've got a four string bass,
[19:51] Speaker 2: fretless bass, which I love. I love the fretless sound. Yeah.
[19:54] Speaker 2: It took me a long time being an ignoramus to
[19:57] Speaker 2: realize that it was being used. I remember the first
[20:00] Speaker 2: time I ever heard it was in a Paul Simon track. Mrs. Robinson.
[20:04] Speaker 2: I think they use it on Mrs. Robinson. Yeah. Yeah.
[20:06] Speaker 2: And that was the first time. That's a great sound. Anyway,
[20:11] Speaker 2: I've got one of those and I've got a banjo.
[20:13] Speaker 2: I've got a ukulele. I've got a mandolin. I love
[20:16] Speaker 2: the mandolin sound. Yeah. If you can use those different
[20:19] Speaker 2: instruments sometimes, well, they're not different, but, you know, if
[20:21] Speaker 2: you use a mixture sometimes, get that banjo notation-wise. Yeah.
[20:26] Speaker 2: Suddenly you've got a whole new sound. You know, you've
[20:28] Speaker 2: got something that no one else is using or thought
[20:31] Speaker 2: of using.
[20:31] Speaker 3: Absolutely.
[20:33] Speaker 2: Well, you know.
[20:33] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[20:34] Speaker 1: Now, you just brought something up that I think is
[20:36] Speaker 1: absolutely spot on. Taking a little time in between so
[20:40] Speaker 1: that you can come back to the studio with fresh ears. Yeah.
[20:44] Speaker 3: Have you had this happen? And I'm sure you have.
[20:46] Speaker 3: Maybe even on this latest project.
[20:48] Speaker 1: You listen to something, you work all day on it,
[20:50] Speaker 1: you walk away from the studio going, yeah, this sounds
[20:52] Speaker 1: really good.
[20:53] Speaker 2: Then.
[20:54] Speaker 1: All of a sudden, you come back a couple of
[20:56] Speaker 1: days later and you go, oh, I've got to change this.
[20:58] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[20:59] Speaker 1: When you do that, do you follow through with the
[21:01] Speaker 1: changes or do you just say, you know, maybe I'm
[21:04] Speaker 1: overanalyzing this?
[21:05] Speaker 2: No, I never think of overanalyzing. I just do it.
[21:08] Speaker 3: Yeah, me too.
[21:09] Speaker 2: Oh, good. Yeah, well, I think it's probably a natural
[21:12] Speaker 2: thing we all do. But, you know, sometimes I listen
[21:14] Speaker 2: and I think, hold on a minute. That bass is
[21:17] Speaker 2: just not quite, it isn't quite right. The tone isn't right. Yeah.
[21:21] Speaker 2: Or the string sound, you know, the synth strings. Because
[21:23] Speaker 2: I work with a guy who's a classical writer. He's
[21:26] Speaker 2: a brilliant, brilliant pianist. He makes a load of computer work,
[21:30] Speaker 2: but he works in writing classical music for some of
[21:34] Speaker 2: the big companies that can't afford the big orchestras. And,
[21:37] Speaker 2: of course, I use him. And, of course, you know,
[21:39] Speaker 2: some of the things he shows me, you know, I
[21:41] Speaker 2: just open my mouth open and you work with geniuses
[21:44] Speaker 2: like that. Right. And I imagine it was a bit
[21:46] Speaker 2: like working with Brian Wilson or even Glen Campbell, you know,
[21:49] Speaker 2: Glen Campbell, you know, that kind of talent. Yeah. I've
[21:52] Speaker 2: used him throughout for the last 20, 30 years, 40 years,
[21:56] Speaker 2: and he's just brilliant. He's the technical knowledge. He's got
[21:59] Speaker 2: so much that I haven't got. You know, I say
[22:01] Speaker 2: to him, analyze, you know, think of this. What do
[22:03] Speaker 2: you think? And then we work together for the arrangement.
[22:06] Speaker 2: normally for the final arrangement. And I think sometimes, sometimes
[22:10] Speaker 2: I think we can over, overreach ourselves. We just try
[22:13] Speaker 2: too damn hard to get a mix when it was
[22:16] Speaker 2: there all, as we say earlier on, it was there
[22:18] Speaker 2: all the time. It was there all the time.
[22:20] Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
[22:22] Speaker 1: What would you like to tell the fans and some
[22:24] Speaker 1: of those that are just connecting with you on what
[22:27] Speaker 1: they can expect from your new CD? Then I'd like
[22:30] Speaker 1: a follow-up of if someone finds your music 10, 15
[22:34] Speaker 1: years from now, what do you hope that they get
[22:37] Speaker 1: from it?
[22:37] Speaker 2: Well, I hope with this new... album that a lot
[22:42] Speaker 2: of the rockabilly boys, and there's many, many, many of
[22:45] Speaker 2: them around the world.
[22:46] Speaker 3: There is.
[22:47] Speaker 2: They listen to some of these tracks and say, yeah,
[22:50] Speaker 2: maybe I'd like to work with contemporary writers. I want
[22:53] Speaker 2: to keep my rockabilly sound. Sure. And I want to
[22:56] Speaker 2: keep that energy. But I want to work with maybe
[22:58] Speaker 2: a contestant. I'd like that. And I'd like... I don't know.
[23:01] Speaker 2: I think I just want people to remember some of
[23:04] Speaker 2: my songs like Jezzamine and like Kids in America. And
[23:09] Speaker 2: because that was just a sort of a sign, you know,
[23:11] Speaker 2: it was something that happened in the 80s and that
[23:14] Speaker 2: was a style of the 80s. So I just hope
[23:16] Speaker 2: that they hear it. Like I listen to classical music
[23:21] Speaker 2: and some people don't listen very much to classical music.
[23:24] Speaker 2: I listen to quite a lot and I keep discovering
[23:27] Speaker 2: new classical composers. Yeah. Yeah. And I get such a thrill.
[23:31] Speaker 2: There was a series which was on our television in
[23:34] Speaker 2: Great Britain called Victoria. Okay. And it was about Queen Victoria.
[23:39] Speaker 2: It was a wonderful series. The music for that, it
[23:43] Speaker 2: was just called Victoria. I discovered it, but obviously while
[23:46] Speaker 2: I was watching the program, when I got in to
[23:48] Speaker 2: listen to the music that was written, I was just...
[23:51] Speaker 2: gobsmacked i love it so much i hope somebody one
[23:54] Speaker 2: day might get one of my tracks and say i
[23:56] Speaker 2: can see where his head was and i really you
[23:58] Speaker 2: know what i'm saying yeah.
[24:00] Speaker 1: So oh yeah absolutely like you said earlier there is
[24:04] Speaker 1: nothing better than having that song that you just love
[24:08] Speaker 1: how it turned out no matter what it does on
[24:11] Speaker 1: sales charts or anything.
[24:13] Speaker 2: Oh yeah it is i mean it's creating art isn't
[24:15] Speaker 2: it in a way yeah I'm not meaning to sound arrogant,
[24:19] Speaker 2: but it is creating an art and, you know, it's
[24:21] Speaker 2: an art form.
[24:23] Speaker 3: It is.
[24:23] Speaker 2: You know, it's a bit like the cover of the
[24:25] Speaker 2: EP that you're making or the album. That's as important as, well,
[24:29] Speaker 2: that's an art form and so is the music. Yeah.
[24:31] Speaker 2: So is the design that you put into it, you know.
[24:34] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[24:34] Speaker 1: And what you brought up was an integral part of
[24:37] Speaker 1: what that artwork was when it was on that album
[24:41] Speaker 1: and it was vinyl. That was the album cover. And
[24:43] Speaker 1: now that we're streaming it, We've lost a lot of that.
[24:46] Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree. I agree. AI, that's changing things as well.
[24:51] Speaker 3: It is.
[24:52] Speaker 2: People are using that now. I'll tell you what I
[24:54] Speaker 2: did see. One of my friends has just come back
[24:56] Speaker 2: from Paris and he went to the Louvre to see
[24:59] Speaker 2: the Mona Lisa. And he's got a picture of it there.
[25:02] Speaker 2: He took with his phone and it's very, very good lens.
[25:06] Speaker 2: And I marveled at it. You know, I just absolutely
[25:09] Speaker 2: marveled at it. Yeah. the look and I could see
[25:11] Speaker 2: now what you know although I wasn't there in Paris
[25:14] Speaker 2: he said it was amazing you know people just stood
[25:16] Speaker 2: there transfixed you know looking at this wonderful piece of
[25:19] Speaker 2: art you know yeah yeah It was lovely.
[25:22] Speaker 1: Yeah, there are definitely a lot of things that were
[25:24] Speaker 1: behind the scenes that are totally lost now. The one
[25:28] Speaker 1: good thing, though, you go in the studio, you put
[25:30] Speaker 1: your heart and soul into it. And then when you're
[25:33] Speaker 1: mixing it, you mix it so that you fall in
[25:35] Speaker 1: love with it. And you're still putting out the same
[25:38] Speaker 1: music and the integrity that you always have.
[25:41] Speaker 2: Absolutely. The thing is when, same for you, you sound
[25:45] Speaker 2: exactly the same as me. You do your best. You
[25:47] Speaker 2: do your level best to make it great. And also,
[25:50] Speaker 2: you know, there's that great inspiration you get from people like,
[25:53] Speaker 2: I know I say it again, from people like Glenn,
[25:56] Speaker 2: from the Beach Boys, all those, whoever you're working with,
[25:58] Speaker 2: that kind of talent. Yeah. They inspire you. You know
[26:02] Speaker 2: you've got to do the very best for them, you know.
[26:05] Speaker 2: They do. So much of Glenn Campbell's work I love,
[26:08] Speaker 2: and I love some of the Jimmy Webb orchestrations. Yeah.
[26:12] Speaker 2: Quite amazing, quite stunning, and still sound great to this
[26:15] Speaker 2: very day.
[26:16] Speaker 1: Yeah, music is the world language, and it can take
[26:19] Speaker 1: you back five minutes, five days, or 50 years ago.
[26:22] Speaker 3: Music is just a great thing.
[26:24] Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean, I say to everyone, you know,
[26:26] Speaker 2: I have no religion. I'm not an atheist, but I
[26:28] Speaker 2: don't have a religion at all. I just want music.
[26:32] Speaker 2: Music is my sole inspiration my whole life. Right. Obviously,
[26:35] Speaker 2: family and things like that, but it's on a personal level.
[26:38] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[26:38] Speaker 2: I don't have a religion, but I have music. I'm
[26:40] Speaker 2: happier with that. Thank you.
[26:43] Speaker 1: You've had a great career, done a lot of great things.
[26:46] Speaker 1: You should be really proud of everything you have accomplished
[26:50] Speaker 1: and what you are still doing today.
[26:52] Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I don't give it a great deal
[26:56] Speaker 2: of thought. The only thing I was, there was one song.
[26:59] Speaker 2: We have a chart here called the Heritage Charts.
[27:02] Speaker 3: I'm familiar with that.
[27:03] Speaker 2: Yeah, and I had, it was about three years ago now,
[27:07] Speaker 2: and I wrote a song called Two Eyes Streaming, and
[27:10] Speaker 2: it went to number one, much to my great surprise. Yeah.
[27:13] Speaker 2: He went to number one. I was so proud of that.
[27:16] Speaker 2: The fact that I could have written a hit way,
[27:18] Speaker 2: way back, which I did. My first hit was back
[27:20] Speaker 2: in 1950, I think just around about early 59. And
[27:24] Speaker 2: then to be able to do that when I was
[27:26] Speaker 2: 82 years of age, I was proud of that.
[27:29] Speaker 3: As you should be.
[27:30] Speaker 2: That's the only time I ever got conceited.
[27:32] Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with that.
[27:36] Speaker 1: You have to take pride in everything that you've done.
[27:39] Speaker 1: You deserve that little pat on the back for what
[27:41] Speaker 1: you're doing, what you're continuing to do. You're putting a
[27:44] Speaker 1: lot of hard work into it and a lot of effort,
[27:47] Speaker 1: and it takes that in order to make great music.
[27:50] Speaker 2: Yeah, there is, Tony. Absolutely right. You're right.
[27:53] Speaker 1: Well, this has been a pleasure. I really appreciate you
[27:55] Speaker 1: taking the time to join us today.
[27:57] Speaker 2: Oh, it's been my pleasure, Tony. It's lovely to be
[28:01] Speaker 2: talking to someone who's doing and working exactly the same
[28:04] Speaker 2: as I work by the sound of it, which is,
[28:06] Speaker 2: you know, when we work on sounds and all the
[28:08] Speaker 2: things we do, You've been all through the highs and
[28:11] Speaker 2: lows that I have. It's like, yeah, it's just like
[28:15] Speaker 2: we're working together. So we were working together on a track.
[28:19] Speaker 2: Lovely to talk to you. We both speak the same language,
[28:21] Speaker 2: I think, in many, many ways. Thank you, Tony.
[28:23] Speaker 3: It's been my pleasure. Thanks again.
[28:36] Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us today. We hope you enjoyed the show.
[28:41] Speaker 1: This has been a Tony Mantor production. For more information,
[28:45] Speaker 1: contact media at platomusic.com.

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