00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Now, what
00:05 a pleasure this morning to be speaking to Paul McCartney, well, very, very nearly, the
00:10 bootleg Beatles, Steve White. Now, what a time. You're playing Brighton very soon, coming
00:15 to Brighton Centre in the middle of December, but what a time to be involved with anything
00:19 Beatles-ish. And the fascinating thing is, you've had to learn the new single, haven't
00:24 you?
00:25 The new single, I mean, who would have thought? 2023, good grief. Yes, we've had to learn
00:31 the new single and it's been amazing to actually, you know, it's not like learning a new song,
00:42 let's say, that you've never done before. You're actually learning a brand new song
00:46 that no one has really heard and no one's really played.
00:51 And the fabulous thing for you is it's a song that underlines just how brilliant a bass
00:55 player Paul McCartney is, doesn't it?
00:58 Absolutely. Yes, I have to say that whilst the bass track within the actual recording
01:04 is quite sort of hidden within the mix, when you delve into it and find out what Paul's
01:12 doing, it's just incredible. You know, his zest for bass playing hasn't faltered in all
01:20 these years, you know, he was quite experimentalist in the early days and nothing's changed. It's
01:27 very flamboyant and all over.
01:29 Well, he's been playing interesting stuff with the Rolling Stones just recently on the
01:32 new album, hasn't he?
01:33 He certainly has, yeah, yeah. It's kind of like a fuzz bass or something.
01:36 That's right, yeah, yeah. But the point is, whatever Paul does, I mean, it's slightly
01:41 more remarkable that you do it too, given that you are not naturally left-handed, are
01:45 you?
01:46 No, I'm not. No, I'm a naturally right-handed guitar player.
01:49 So how on earth do you learn to play left-handed? It sounds like an absolute impossibility.
01:55 Yeah, a lot of perseverance. Yeah, I just, I had to learn. It's kind of a long story
02:03 as to why I sort of...
02:04 Well, you had to look right, didn't you?
02:07 Yeah, yeah. Of course, the Beatles...
02:08 It's the shape of the Beatles, isn't it?
02:10 Basically, it's the shape. The Beatles make a shape and unless that bass is going the
02:14 other way, and you can have the suits and the instruments and the boots and all that
02:20 stuff that you can just buy off a shelf. But if you don't have that bass going the opposite
02:25 way, it just looks all wrong. So I had to learn. And I remember being so excited at
02:34 the prospect of trying to take on this feat. And I borrowed a guitar, strung it left-handed,
02:41 and that's where it just all fell to pieces. I couldn't hold a plectrum in the opposite
02:46 hand. I couldn't get the strap over my head. I couldn't. I just, it was like beginning
02:51 again. It like my hands just turned to feet and they just wouldn't work. They wouldn't
02:56 talk together. You know, I was plucking one string and fretting the other string and it
03:01 was all over the place. It was horrendous. And it took me, it took me three months of
03:05 real sort of dedication and blisters, sore fingers.
03:11 - Can it ever seem natural?
03:15 - It does now, but it didn't then. I mean, gosh, you know, I was very, very crude and
03:19 basic after the three months. But I kept, I kept doing, trying to do things left-handed.
03:24 So, you know, I'd try and make a sandwich and cut the bread with my left hand and stir
03:29 a cup of tea with the left hand, you know, to try and gain control of this hand. Because
03:34 as you know, you know, when you're, you're lesser dominant hand, it might as well belong
03:37 to somebody else. So, so I kept doing that, persevered. And then of course, you know,
03:44 many years down the line, it never feels quite natural. It always feels much more natural
03:52 playing right-handed as it does left-handed. And the way I would describe that is when
03:57 I'm playing left-handed, it's like lacing up your work boots. And then when I pick a
04:04 guitar right-handed, it's like putting your slippers on. So, you know, it's a lot more
04:10 comfortable. So that's the way I would describe it.
04:13 - And you've got a lovely run of gigs coming up as we head towards Christmas. And this
04:16 is just off the back of a tour to Australia. And we were saying this, there's probably
04:20 nowhere really that The Beatles didn't actually conquer and aren't still conquering, are they?
04:25 - No, absolutely. I mean, yeah, we're literally sort of three days back from Australia. So
04:30 we're all a little bit, little bit jet lagged and jaded and stuff, but you know, a couple
04:35 of days rest and then we'll be, we'll be hitting the ground running, you know, and yeah, we
04:40 can't wait. And this is, to be fair, the December tour is our, it's our favorite tour. You know,
04:48 spirits are so high because of the time of year and everyone's in a festive mood. And
04:53 that just really kind of spurs everything on. You know, we get a real buzz from that
04:57 when the crowd are on fire, we're on fire, you know, so.
05:01 - And you're in a lovely run of things at the moment, aren't you? Because as we're saying,
05:04 for the next seven years, you've got a 60th anniversary every year, haven't you, for The
05:08 Beatles?
05:09 - Absolutely, yeah. So every, every, every other, well, every year we have another 60th
05:14 anniversary of the next album in line. So, I mean, this last year we did, we did a big
05:21 nod to the Please Please Me album. So this year there's a, you know, there's a, there's
05:25 a sizable nod to, with The Beatles without giving too much away.
05:29 - You know, ticking them off one by one. Five Starways doing the whole journey anyway.
05:34 - Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah, that's, that's what we're trying to do, you know, and I'm
05:38 sure, I'm sure there's, there's fans out there that, you know, they have their iconic album
05:43 that they love, you know. I mean, me, myself, I'd find it very difficult to choose between
05:49 any of them, but I know, you know, people prefer, oh, I prefer Revolver, or I prefer
05:55 Elvis Presley, or Sgt Pepper for me, or The Abbey Road, you know. But for me, it's, they're
06:00 all the same. So hopefully, you know, there's fans that come to the show that have a massive
06:06 loving for, with The Beatles. They'll, they'll get the biggest kick, I would imagine.
06:11 - Fantastic. Well, congratulations on mastering the new single, and good luck on that winter
06:16 tour. Really lovely to speak to you, Steve. Thank you ever so much. Really appreciate
06:20 it.
06:21 - My pleasure. Lovely chatting with you.
06:22 - Thank you.
06:23 - Thank you.
06:23 Thank you.
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