Internation Community Radio, 3rd April 97
Interviewed By David Wang
D.W.: Good evening and welcoming you to another edition of Youth Nightline right here on ICRT the station of the stars....(info on how to fax or phone questions etc)
D.W.: A big hello to our international listeners via the internet as well, everybody's looking forward to the Gary Barlow interview and we're going to get him on the show as soon as he gets into the hotel room. He has had a busy day and you'll find out more what Gary Barlow has been doing here in Taiwan... (breaks off to interview a reporter in Taiwanese - sorry, I'm not *that* good!)
D.W.: So, Gary Barlow is in the hotel room and he's going to call us later on in just a few seconds... (News stories, time stalling waiting for Gary to phone-in!)
D.W.: Ladies and Gentlemen let's welcome Gary Barlow. Hi Gary!
G.B.: Good evening.
D.W.: Good evening to you, nice to have you on the show again. Remember the first time you were in ICRT studios, that's about 4 years ago, on a very, very, cold winter day.
G.B.: Yeah I do!
D.W.: And how is everything now?
G.B.: Everything's fine. I'm in my hotelroom at the moment. I'm in the toilet. No, I'm not really (laughing)
D.W.: (laughing) Understand you had a very, very interesting and very, very fulfilling day here?
G.B.:Brilliant day, I had a brilliant day today, yeah. We did like a press conference earlier, I've just got back from Tower Records, now. (Voice in the background talks to him) Sorry, Rose Records, not Tower Records, delete that! Rose Records! 'Cause she's a lovely woman. And it's been fantastic. We've met loads of fans, signed loads of pictures, albums. Oh it's been unbelivable.
D.W.: How's your solo career doing so far?
G.B.: Pardon?
D.W.: How's your solo career doing so far?
G.B.: Well it seems to be ok here! Yeah, there's loads of fans at the airport, and ya know photographers and camera crews. A lot of business it was fantastic!
D.W.: Once again our special guest is Gary Owen (*Gary Owen* ??!!) Former lead singer for the band Take That...do you have any information from the rest of the members. Do you guys get together every now and then?
G.B.: You know we still see each other all the time. Yeah.
D.W.: Tell us about your forthcoming album Open Road - what's it gonna be like and what can people expect from this forthcoming album?
G.B.: Well you know, I like to think of the next album - my first album - as the album we nearly made as the band Take That. You know, it's where I wanted to take the band next really, instead we split up, so I knew the idea for my first solo album. You know, it's got a lot of pop tunes on it, .....tempo, all sorts of stuff. Have you heard the new single Love Won't Wait?
D.W.: Oh yes! We actually, we were the station that premiered your song.
G.B.: Oh fantastic! Fantastic. So you've had a bit of an idea of the flavour of the album by listening to that. I understand that Forever Love was a big hit here?
D.W.: Yes! It is. Forever Love. Let's see, you're gonna be here for how long?
G.B.: I'm gonna be here tomorrow and we leave Saturday morning.
D.W.: Well, so it's pretty much a quick in and out thing?
G.B.: Yeah, it is really.
D.W.: Are you getting tired from the trip?
G.B.: No. I'm fine. It always helps when you have a lot of interest in a country. If you arrive and nobody's interested then it's a little tiring but here it's been all go! All the time! There's been interest from lots of people - we've done some great interviews. So you know, everyone's kept me going. It's been great!
D.W.: This is Gary Barlow and he's on the radio with us, and you're gonna be here for a little while so we're going to try to have as much fun as possible.
G.B.: Definitely!
D.W.: You're here in Taiwan, and then after Taiwan you're going where?
G.B.: Well I'm going home. I've been in Japan, I went to Korea, and now this is the last visit.
D.W.: And you know the conversation on the radio with us tonight can also be heard elsewhere on the internet at www.icrt.com.tw. We didn't know about this until we surfed on your homepage and a lot of people - they're listening to this program.
G.B.: Fantastic! I've seen that as well - It's quite good isn't it?
D.W.: And we're very honoured and very pleased to have you as our special guest.
G.B.: Oh - I'm honoured to be your guest.
D.W.: So what else are you going to be doing aside from doing music. Are you interested in branching your career perhaps into movies or some other endeavours?
G.B.: You know, with movies, I love to do soundtracks and you know, a song for a movie. But you know I can't act at all!
D.W.: You know that for sure?!
G.B.: Oh definitely! I'm a terrible actor! Believe me. I couldn't even get a part in Neighbours.
D.W.: Do you know what though? When you're doing your music videos that's pretty much like acting, isn't it?
G.B.: I suppose so, yeah, I suppose so. But it's very different with talking on screen. With music I'm most comfortable to do music. And because I'm comfortable doing it, it makes me confident. And I know that being (? Gary rambles here!!) completely new, it's somewhere I've never gone into before - though if I've done it from a young age, like I did music I'd probably be interested in it. But I'm not really interested at all. I love to go to the cinema though. Don't you?
D.W.: Yes!
G.B.: Yeah, I love going to the cinema. A big bucket of popcorn, sat on the back row. It's fantastic.
D.W.: Here we have some other Chinese delicasies as well like (? sorry there's the language barrier again!) to go along with it.
G.B.: What, to eat at the cinema?
D.W.: (Laughing). Yeah!
G.B.: Bloody hell! Fantastic!
D.W.: (time) ...we have Gary Barlow on the show with us, former lead singer of Take That. Do you think it's strange that some people still refer to you as the former lead singer of the very, very popular band Take That?
G.B.: Do you know what? I'm honoured to have been a member of Take That. They were the best 5 years of my life, being in the band. So I'll always celebrate them.
D.W.: Is there an opportunity that you guys might do a - um - you know on special occasions maybe going back together an doing a few songs?
G.B.: I think, you know, when time passes by a little bit more we'll definitely want to do that. You now we had a brilliant time with the band. And I'm sure one day we'll feel the need to, um, bring a little of that back to life again, and it'll be nice.
D.W.: Tell us what you miss about being a band member - when you were with Take That.
G.B.: I miss the company. Off the stage we had even a better laugh then we did on because we were such good friends - all of us! And when we get back together again it's like we talk we talk our language again all night. So you know, that's what I miss really. It made all the travelling seem very short. That's really the biggest difference.
D.W.: Were you surprised that you could be this well received aside from being a member of a very popular band, but as a solo artist?
G.B.: Sure.
D.W.: You're recognised everywhere, wherever you go!
G.B.: You know it's, it is a shock for me, thank god it's happened. Because I love my job. I love recording and writing and performing music. I love every minute of it and the fact that people have given me a chance to do it all again is brilliant.
D.W.: Now, when you write music, do you jot down the lyrics first or do you come up with the melody?
G.B.: No. Music comes first with me. It's really a quick process when I start with music. I can write the song in 10 minutes on the piano and then it may be, it could take me 2 days then to do the lyrics, because the lyrics always come last for me. It's the hardest thing.
D.W.: Why is it the hardest - when it comes to writing lyrics?
G.B.: Um. I don't know. I think it's because music is a completely different language. When somebody owns a language of music, it's very easy to express. I'm a very good musician so, you know, to get melodies to join together and to get chords to sound nice is easy for me. But when we're dealing with lyrics, you know, it's something...language is what we talk all day. I find it hard to find words and phrases that people haven't used before. You know? So that's, I think, why it takes me so long.
D.W.: Maybe you can describe the picture best of anybody else because you are in this business...tell us, when you were doing your solo album, you don't really have the help of other people like band members. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being on your own?
G.B.: Well, to be honest, the recording side of it isn't that much differenet because I used to spend all the time in the studio and it wasn't until the very late stages that the band members used to come in. So there's really not much different in the recording side of it. I think it's more when I'm doing interviews and live shows where I'm usually, you know the security side of it - it's brilliant to have 4 other people around you. It's great. You miss that now and again.
D.W.: ...whenever you're walking down the street you're always mobbed by a lot of people. Are you getting used to this?
G.B.: Um. We've had a long time to get used to it, you know, I don't mind it at all. Recognition for what you do is what we all want, isn't it?
D.W.: Umhm. And how do you maintain your own privacy? Can you walk freely on the streets in London? In England?
G.B.: I think you've got to be smart about it. There's places that you can go and places that you shouldn't go. And you learn the places where you're gonna get asked for autographs and chased down the street. You learn the places that that doesn't happen. And I hang out in the places where that doesn't happen.
D.W.: So you don't like wear a baseball cap or wear some sunglasses?
G.B.: No, no, not really. If I'm going to be recognized I wanna be looking me best! (Laughing)
D.W.: Um, good, good attitude. Positive attitude!
D.W.: Once again our special guest is Gary Barlow. He will be with us for a little while, can you spend some more time with us?
G.B.: Absolutely! Just take your time.
D.W.: (time) well I'll tell you what Gary, we're going to take a little time off here...Here's his song Love Won't Wait
(Love Won't Wait plays)
D.W.: Oh we aired the song a few days ago - and we have generated a lot of requests...Love Won't Wait by Gary Barlow....And still on the radio with us - Hi Gary! Thank you so much for holding on.
G.B.: That's all right!
D.W.: OK we're going to be taking some calls for Gary Barlow....(phone line doesn't work!!) We did jot down their questions
D.W.: (one listener asks) Where do you get aa your inspiration from?
G.B.: Do you know what? I gather inspiration all day all the way round the world. I had a two week tour of Asia and I've met people everyday, and I've gone to places and I've seen things I've never seen before and everyday I've been gathering inspiration for the next time I sit down at the piano to write music. Every day something inspires me, either writing lyrics, or to think of a mood for a record. You know I'm quite, um, I'm happy when I'm travelling round. I love to see countries, and I love to meet new people. So it's very inspiring for me.
D.W.: What's your feeling of this part of the world? Asia?
G.B.: I love it over here. It's fantastic. And you know, what I always find really encouraging is that whenever I'm interviewed they're really excellent questions, because back in the UK or in Europe, we're a very scandalous country. They always say things like, you know, who are you going out with at the moment?, and what have you spent the most money on at the moment? Always things, more intrusive things, rather than talking about music and writing songs. It's always nice, because they're really good questions. Really, sort of um, informative sort of things like that, you know. And that's good, because I'm sure that's what fans prefer to know about.
D.W.: Well Gary, thanks for the appreciation of this part of the world!
G.B.: Do you think that, um, the Taiwanese fans will like Love Won't Wait?
D.W.: Yes! We've had a lot of requests for this. Tons of them too.
G.B.: Great.
D.W.: You know what, I think when your album's due out here it's gonna be great.
G.B.: Good, good.
D.W.: : It'll be shooting up the Taiwan Top 20 Chart.
G.B.: Oh smashing. You know we're really hoping to try to get back here before the end of the year. Because we want to um - we're doing a World Tour in 1998, so obviously Taiwan will be a priority to come and do a tour date at, so you know we hope to definitely include it on the tour.
D.W.: So are we hearing that might be doing a concert here in Taiwan sometime next year.
G.B.: Next Spring.
D.W.: Next Spring? That's a year from right now.
G.B.: I know it seems like a long time but this year is going to be very heavy promotion for me. The album's being released in every country, including America, so I've got a lot of promotional trips to do. And you know, I don't want to rush it too fast, just want to get the album out and get comfortable and I'll be feeling better about going and touring live.
D.W.: (a listener asked) Forever Love, that song became number one just about eveywhere it was released last year. And it was on the Taiwan Top 20 for two consecutive months...
G.B.: Wow!
D.W.: and of course it was also a number one here on the Taiwan Top 20. Where did you get that song? How does that become a reality?
G.B.: I wrote Forever Love when I split up with the band. It's really a celebration of the love and the friendship that I experienced in the last 6 years. We were all very close and we were very close to the people around us as well. We had a great team. And I wanted to come up with a song that I could have never have done with Take That. So I just thought I wanna show people my 3 talents, that's singing, writing and playing the piano. And I think it comes across really well, it seemed to be well received by most countries in the world. And I believe it was well received here so I think it was a success, that record.
D.W.: (a listener asked) Do you still reminisce of the good times with Take That?
G.B.: All the time. All the time. We had so many great times. We did some brilliant tours as well - We never toured in Taiwan...there were some really beuatiful memories that we'll never forget, and that's why I wrote the song Never Forget. There that's a title for you!
D.W.: Of course you guys were in Taiwan the first time we interviewed you on the radio, but you never toured as a group... (time) Can you stay with us a little bit longer?
G.B.: Of course! (commercials)
D.W.: OK we're back here on ICRT and our special guest is Gary Barlow former lead singer of Take That and now he is doing very, very, tremendously well in his solo career and he's here in Taiwan for a very, very short promotion and boy - the press conference, and also tell us tomorrow, what's gonna happen tomorrow?
(Problem at radio station - they lost Gary!)
D.W.: Why don't we go to the music here? And this, also from Gary Barlow's latest. It's called Always.
(Always plays)
D.W.: It's Always...and Gary Barlow on the radio...and it's so nice to have you on the show Gary.
G.B.: Yeah. It's nice to be back! I've put some more money in the phone this time! (Laughing)
D.W.: I accidentally disconnected a line here - but anyway it's nice to have you back on the line here.
G.B.: Never put DJs in charge of buttons! It's a real mistake.
D.W.: That's exactly what happened tonight! Well, I tell you what we have some more questions here, but we're having some problems with the phone line here, we've already jotted down the questions from the listeners....What's your impressions of Taiwan so far? A couple of trips out to this country, can you make a comparison?
G.B.: Well we've seen the hotel and the airport - and that's about it! But you know I think the best way to learn about a country is to meet the people. Everyone's been so nice to me up to now, so you know, I'm obviously in a very nice place.
D.W.: Are you getting used to the passion of our fans here in this country?
G.B.: Definitely! I tell you what I've noticed, I've been to Korea and Japan, but there are some beautiful girls in Taiwan! Oh yeah!
D.W.: So maybe you want to stay a couple of days longer?
G.B.: Think I might have to stay a week (wee?) longer!
D.W.: Question number three, Your future plan for the forseeable future, a couple of years down the road.
G.B.: I've just finished my first album and really I'd like to follow it up quite closely with another album. Just to get two albums away to really establish me as a solo artist. And them, um, you know, who knows? I'll probably do another tour after that, and you know, my ultimate dream, when I don't want to be an artist anymore is to produce other artists. To write and produce for other singers. I really get a lot of enjoyment out of doing that.
D.W.: Gary do you have any favourite sports heros?
G.B.: Sport heros? We've got a good boxer called Frank Bruno - do you know him?
D.W.: Not very familiar.
G.B.: Is boxing not really big in Taiwan?
D.W.: It's a little niche market.
G.B.: OK. (Laughing) Um - Let me think. What about Bruce Lee, I like him. (transmission gumbled)
D.W.: Well thank you so much for taking your time and being with us on the radio.
G.B.: Oh you're very welcome.
D.W.: It's been a blast.
G.B.: I hope next time I can come into the station.
D.W.: Yes, we're looking forward to that moment too.......See you tomorrow at the live performance.
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