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John Simm on 'Jo Whiley' - interview from 1999
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00:00Hi there, I'm Joe Wiley, back with another edition of the show that proves it's good to talk.
00:05Joining me tonight are my special guests, Tom, hello.
00:07Hello.
00:07And Desiree.
00:08Hiya.
00:09And John.
00:09Hiya.
00:10Thanks for coming on.
00:14He was having this phone sex, you know.
00:17As he did.
00:18Yeah, calling.
00:18As he did in a tuba truck.
00:19And I don't know whether he actually told these girls that he was calling who it was,
00:23but they found out that it was him.
00:26So now, you know, if you do something like that at the spur of the moment, you know,
00:30if you get drunk or something and you do, it's not something that you want to go on.
00:34But he went on the Larry King show, I think it was, to try and justify this.
00:38Oh, no.
00:39Yeah, he said, I'm a red-blooded man, you know, and if I want to call, you know, and my
00:44wife is not.
00:45And he was going through some trouble with his wife, I think, at the time.
00:48So he tried to justify.
00:50I mean, if it had happened to me, which I have never done, you know, call somebody that
00:55you don't even know what they look like on the other end of the phone.
00:57He said, by the way, I'm Tom Jones.
00:58Yeah, but I mean, if you happen to do that, it's nothing, it's not a thing that you want
01:02to go and brag about.
01:04Okay.
01:04I'd never believe you anyway if you did that.
01:05By the way, I'm Tom Jones.
01:06Yeah, I'm the Queen of Shiva.
01:09All part of the fantasy.
01:11John, is it possible to combine acting and having a musical career as well?
01:15Because you've got a band, Magic Alex.
01:16Yeah.
01:16You were just recently touring with Echo and the Bunnymen.
01:19Yeah.
01:19Well, yeah, it all depends on the band or, you know, what you're actually like as a performer
01:24because you can only get so far on name with some, you know, from something else.
01:27If you're an actor, you can only get so far, you know, like Keanu Reeves, really dodgy
01:31bollocks band he's got, you know.
01:33And it pulls up at the end because you just think, well, they're crap.
01:36No, they are.
01:37You know, they're terrible.
01:39You think, well, they're rubbish, so they're not going to, you know.
01:41But if you're confident in the music and it just speaks for itself at the end, you know.
01:47At the end of the day, I stand at the back of the stage and look down and play my
01:49guitar
01:50and it's a different, totally different thing.
01:52Does it, which is more scary for you?
01:54Oh, the music.
01:55But then again, I've done it since, you know, since I was nine.
01:58We used to do the clubs.
02:00I used to do the clubs with my dad doing, you know, covers of Green Green Grass of Home
02:03and all that.
02:04You and your dad, what were you doing?
02:06Well, we had a double act, man.
02:07It was great.
02:08We were called Us Two, U.S. Two.
02:10Us Two.
02:11Yeah.
02:11And we got Mr. We played, where was it, some football club one week and they mispronounced
02:17it in the paper the week before and it said U2 Friday.
02:20And so all these people turned up with U2 to go.
02:22It was terrible.
02:23And we were doing the shadows and the eagles.
02:26Bring Boney O.
02:27It was terrible.
02:28But I think you can combine it, you know.
02:30But the acting is the thing that you can naturally do and the singing, or I mean,
02:33the being in the band actually is quite frightening for you being on stage.
02:36I only find it frightening being in front of all these people as myself, you know.
02:39I could never do what you do.
02:42I'm petrified.
02:43I can pretend to be somebody else quite easily.
02:48John, he's being billed at the moment to be the biggest global star since Michael Jackson.
02:52Not in your bedroom.
02:53Well, no.
02:54No, not in your bedroom, your house.
02:56I think it's a female thing.
02:57It's not a male thing.
02:58No, I'll tell you, I heard that song on MTV.
03:03About a week ago.
03:04And I was out of the room and I didn't know who it was.
03:06I didn't see him.
03:07And I thought, great chorus.
03:09So when he went up into the chorus, I thought, yeah, great chorus.
03:11Yeah, yeah.
03:11So I sort of thought, yeah, it's just quite funky, you know.
03:14Then I watched him and I, I don't know.
03:15I don't know.
03:16Cheese on toast.
03:17No.
03:17Cheese on toast.
03:18He's young.
03:19I think he's just having a good time.
03:20I mean, to me, it's just a little too choreographed.
03:23Do you think there's a danger of being watered down just to kind of, you know,
03:26yes, it's Latino, but it's a bit kind of, you know, we're going to make it more accessible,
03:29so we'll water it down a bit.
03:30At the Grammys, Madonna spotted Ricky Martin.
03:32That's right.
03:34It didn't surprise me when I heard that headline.
03:36You got straight for him.
03:37I mean, she's a bit of an ego, isn't she?
03:39Oh, God.
03:40A falcon when it comes to stuff like that, so, hey.
03:43But he's very, I mean, I just enjoyed it, you know, enjoyed him.
03:46He's actually, he's not an overnight sensation.
03:48He's been working, what, for 15 years.
03:50He was in the boy band that you mentioned earlier on,
03:52and also he was in the General Hospital, the daytime soap in America.
03:56Oh, yeah.
03:56So, I mean, if you make it on television, is it kind of, does it pave the way for stardom?
04:01I mean, this is...
04:02If you make it on TV, well, it's funny, you know, because I thought after the lights,
04:05when I did the tour with Deco and the Bunnymen,
04:07and I thought I'd get a lot of stick, you know, from people,
04:10don't give up the day job, lad, and all that.
04:12But nobody, nobody cared.
04:15Nobody cared.
04:15Maybe it's because I wasn't the singer, and I wasn't, I mean, he, obviously, is the singer.
04:20You know, he's me, and all that, but I'm not that out of your mind.
04:25Did people know who you were when they came to see the band?
04:27Yeah, I mean, they did.
04:28They sort of, you get a few people at the front sort of, like, staring and going,
04:31like, is it, is it?
04:33And I had a lot of people come up and say,
04:35oh, we didn't even realise it was you, nice one, you know.
04:37Nice Band and all that.
04:39Okay, so, Sexual Awakening.
04:40John, we'll start with you, if you'd like to share with us your story,
04:43that defining moment in the song.
04:46Okay, all right.
04:47It's by no means a sexy song, and it's quite uncool,
04:50but the one that reminds me of Sexual Awakenings was I was at school.
04:56I was in love with this girl called Melissa,
04:59and she was a year above me or below, I can't remember which one,
05:02but she was going out with this really hard geezer who was the cock of this girl,
05:04and no one should mess with her,
05:05but we all went on a school trip to France,
05:08and it was, it was Take On Me by A-ha.
05:12I just remember it so clearly,
05:14and it just, it reminds me of that trip to France,
05:17and we had a little kiss and a canoe.
05:18I was going to say, what, there must have been some kind of...
05:20Yeah, we sort of got in bed together with all our clothes on,
05:21and it was just incredible, incredible.
05:23As you do at the age of...
05:24Er, thirteen.
05:26Thirteen.
05:29John, where do you stand when it comes to Prince?
05:31You were getting quite excited about the music.
05:33You've just got to bow down to him and say,
05:35yeah, the guy's a genius, haven't you?
05:36No matter if you like him or you don't like his music or whatever,
05:38you know, he is, he is a brilliant musician.
05:42And what do you think about his mental stability,
05:44about his obsession with purple and the...
05:46Well, I think that's all part of the enigma that is Prince, you know?
05:49I think you need eccentricities in, you know, in pop music,
05:53as opposed to your idols, and, you know,
05:55I think it's all great, he can do what he wants.
05:57I think he's surpassed, you know, any expectation.
06:00I went to see him live.
06:02I took an ex-girlfriend for a birthday once.
06:04I think it was Love, Sexy Tour, I think.
06:06The thing that I never grasped when I listened to his records before,
06:09but when I saw him in live, he's an incredible guitarist.
06:12Right.
06:13Incredible guitarist.
06:13Yeah, you don't...
06:14Amazing.
06:14Oh, yeah, amazing stage person, yeah, you know...
06:18He's also dead sexy as well.
06:19Do you think that's a huge part of his appeal?
06:21Well, yeah, I guess.
06:22Did your ex-girlfriend think so?
06:24Yeah, she thought so, yeah.
06:26John, what about yourself?
06:28Did you...
06:28Yeah, look, I'm a massive fan of gamers.
06:30I think they're fantastic.
06:33I was saying before, it comes back to that whole thing
06:36about Kenny Rogers saying Britney Spears doesn't know
06:37what she's singing about, or, you know, she...
06:40This guy's, how old is he, 24, 3?
06:4225, yeah, whatever.
06:43And he's singing, like, Delta Blues, you know,
06:46John Lee Hooker, sort of big, style-y, gravelly voice,
06:50and it doesn't matter because he's brilliant at it, you know?
06:53I saw him live, and they all walked on stage,
06:56and there's, like, these five geeks, you know,
06:58and he opened his mouth, and I was just like, wow, man.
07:02I think they're fantastic.
07:03I think their album's fantastic.
07:05I think that song's fantastic, and I think the video's fantastic.
07:07It was very funny when they won the Mercury Music Prize.
07:09Yeah, it was great.
07:10And you could see all the tabloid journalists,
07:11and they were like, let me take a photo.
07:12And they just go, sorry, you're the band, you just won this.
07:14Oh, dear.
07:15And, you know, it's like, oh, there goes, I copy you.
07:17I've got nothing to say because they just don't look the part.
07:19Yeah, but it doesn't matter, does it?
07:20No, exactly.
07:21They recorded the first album on a four-track
07:23in the dad's garage, I think it was.
07:25Is that something that appeals to you,
07:26the fact that it's not dead manufactured?
07:28Oh, yeah, fantastic.
07:29I mean, it's all there.
07:30They're just letting the songs do the work, you know?
07:33This is quality.
07:34Listen to it.
07:35We don't need a big production number over the top of it.
07:37Brilliant, yeah.
07:37You know, I think you should be proud of awards that you receive.
07:41I'm just thinking, you know,
07:42you're Elvis Presley's favourite singer.
07:45That is more than any award.
07:47You know, you can live with that.
07:49That's the most excellent way to end the show, I think.
07:51Thank you very much all for being here.
07:52Tom, thank you.
07:54Desiree and John, cheers.
07:55Cheers.