Rachael Fraser hears about the rock and roll lifestyle of Ian Wilson from 70s and 80s band Sad Café as they reunite for their first tour in 25 years – including a night in Southampton.
As we talked on the phone, me in my cosy Sarisbury Green office, and Ian Wilson in the back garden of his home in Stockton Heath feeding the birds, he endeared me to his life as a musician and spoke passionately of performing with the newly reformed Sad Café.
Ian will join long-time members Dave Irving, Ashley Mulford and Des Tong, as well as new members Steve Whalley on guitar and vocals, Sue Quin on vocals and Simon Waggott on keyboards and vocals.
Despite being a tad anxious for the first tour in a quarter of a century, the 61-year-old cannot wait to play their songs to their life-long fans when they call in to The Brook in Southampton next Friday (November 9).
Sad Café
“I’m excited and nervous – in that order,” says Ian. “I’m really enjoying it, the rehearsals have been fab and hanging out with the guys again is something that I haven’t done for a long time.
“Everybody has got older for sure, but we’ve still got that bond. We did a lot together. Living on a bus in the United States together for three and a half months, you really get to know people.”
Their classic hits include Everyday Hurts, My Oh My, Strange Little Girl, Black Rose and I’m in Love Again along with the big US hits La-Di-Da and Run Home Girl.
Now the band has reunited and the tour will include songs from the album “Paul Young – Chronicles” which marked the passing of their original lead singer – who also sang with Mike and the Mechanics – by completing recordings that he had been working on when he was taken ill and after he died from a heart attack in 2000.
Paul Young who died in 2000
After the band split Ian tells me he performed sessions and was a backing vocalist for anyone who needed him. When Dave suggested the reform, Ian was nervous, but got involved after missing the buzz and after considering successful collaborations in bands after the death of the lead singer.
“If we try to do it like we did before with Paul, I think it would sound like a tribute band,” he says. “We don’t want to do that. Everybody’s grown a lot older, and hopefully wiser, over the years and it’s bound to change the way we approach the music. I think we’re more relaxed about it these days.
“We all checked our egos in the cloakroom… but not really ,” he laughs. “To say that would be a lie. You’ve got to have an ego to be in this business because you want people to love you and applaud and to generally make you feel good.
“It’s instant reaction. If they don’t like it they don’t applaud. And if they do like it, they totally go nuts.
“I think we’re getting a lot of interest because we DON’T have the same line up we had because of Paul’s death, which was a terrible shock to everybody.”
On hearing of Paul’s death Ian thought it was a joke, but was stunned when he heard it was true.
He says: “It was difficult and we did a memorial gig for Paul’s family with members of Mike and the Mechanics. Roger Taylor from Queen was there and a whole host of stars. That was a lump in the throat time.
“The strange thing is Paul left a load of tapes in his studio and his widow just locked the studio and then after about five years she went down to have a look and she found all these tapes. A mutual friend of ours was given the tapes and made an album out of it, called Chronicles.
“I was on two of the tracks singing backing vocals and playing acoustic guitar and singing with Paul. That was hard. It was very, very difficult because we were kind of joined at the hip vocally.
“It took me a good half hour to settle down because it was spooky. In a good way it was spooky, not in a bad way. But it was a very emotional session.”
Describing Paul as a “fantastic” singer, Ian was initially wary of reforming the band without him. But by slightly altering the tunes to cater for the missing member, Ian was grateful for being persuaded.
“I think they turned me round really,” he says. “Now I thank them because I’m really enjoying what we’re doing and I can’t wait to put it on stage and see the reaction.
“If we do well, reaction-wise, then next year we’ve been offered several festivals playing to big crowds.
“I don’t consider it as a pension fund, but I’m still glad I’m working in my 60s.
“A few years ago, my son, who lives in Southsea, phoned me up one day and said you’re going to be a granddad. That kind of takes the rock and roll edge off of it.”
Not only is he looking forward to playing at The Brook and excited to catch up with his son in Southsea, he is determined to get some new musical ‘knick-knacks’ for his collection of almost 100, which includes an oboe-type instrument from Turkey that, Ian says, causes a racket when played.
And what type of atmosphere is he hoping the band will generate in Southampton? “Hysteria! Absolute hysteria,” he laughs.
“The fans’ reaction has been fantastic, literally amazing. We’ve had emails and Facebook comments and lots of excitement.
“A lot of the messages on Facebook are from old fans who used to follow us around all over the place, so it’s going to be nice to see them. They were teenage girls at the time and I suppose most of them will be married with children.
“One has an idea of how one wants it to sound and you get the right people in to make that come about. It’s all very organic in a band. It’s beautiful when a lovely harmony arises, when say four people are singing, and you rise on it, it actually sends goose pimples and the hairs on the back of your neck stick out because it’s just a beautiful thing.”
See Sad Café at The Brook. For tickets and more details visit www.the-brook.com.