MIS talks exclusively to Bass Legend Bedders about the Christmas tour, NW5, 2007 and that Moustache!1. Madness went to the edge of the universe and beyond with this Christmas tour.
What wonderous sights did you see?
Well, the rain of Glasgow was a wonderous sight! But every grey Glasgow cloud has a silver lining – we went to see The Pogues on our night off there. To hear 'Fairytale of New York', at Christmas, with the crowd singing every word was very rousing and very emotional.
The night after, at our gig, we had our 'Official Piper' turn up. His name was John and he wanted to pipe us on to the stage. Well you can't let a man in a kilt down, so he came on for the encore and did a fantastic version of 'Flower of Scotland'. Crowd went bananas...
Lee's dive from the stage, in Bournemouth, was also special. How does he still do that? And having Jerry Dammers around was brilliant – especially when Chris would get him to sing old Rod Stewart songs.
2. What's been your favourite song to play on this tour?
'Our House' always brings the house down.
3. We loved hearing NW5, many fans took this track to heart quickly. What's it like on stage playing a new track for the first time and does it change over the length of a tour?
As you might know, the old memory is not what it used to be so it wouldn't be giving any trade secrets away to say that I had to rely on a few bits of paper to remind me of the chords and the order of NW5! The giveaway is if you see me and Chris looking down a lot! Yes, the song did go through a few minor changes, as we went along. Mainly just to make it a bit better for a live audience.
4. Can you tell us anything at this stage about the new album and possible future plans for next year?
Well, there are a few tracks recorded but not finished. I took a bit of a break at the start of 2006 so I'm not on all of them. Like NW5, I might re-record the bass, at a later date. But there are plans to record a few more in the next couple of months. As for the future: well, keep June free.
5. What has been the greatest moment about having Chrissy Boy back on guitar during this tour?
Seeing the old boy put his guitar behind his head and wringing it's neck during Grey Day.
6. How long did it take you to grow that moustache we saw you sporting on the tour video screen during "It Must be Love" and where has it escaped to now?
Well, the moustache was flown in from Portugal. I had a surrogate (a Portuguese fisherman, actually) grow it for me. It was kept on ice and then a team of moustache dressers implanted it. After the video it was retired to stud and hopefully will be producing babies goatees for a long time to come.
7. Have Madness any plans yet for 7 minutes past 7pm on 7.07.2007 which is now just 7 months away?
Several.
Best wishes, Mark
The moustache can be viewed in full-on action by going to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwxTkaOuWW8
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