Friday, February 13, 2015 Follow us on Twitter @Argus_The Guide ANDYHOWELLS chats to 10cc foundermember and songwriter GrahamGouldman


10cc heading to Cardiff on their celebration tour


SHEET MUSIC LIVE: Graham Gouldman (centre) with the current 10cc line-up. Pictures by Terry Bradford/Acephoto


AFTER the exceptional success of their festival shows in the summer of 2014, which included the 65,000-capacity Brit- ish Summer Time in Hyde Park and a 23-date UK theatre tour through October- November, the legendary 10cc are back with 19 major shows including a return to Cardiff’s St David’s Hall on February 17. The band will be celebrating the 40th


anniversary of their highly inventive and creative album Sheet Music, and as a special treat for fans, the band are to perform the whole album in its entirety, including the Top 10 hits The Wall Street Shuffle and Silly Love, with a special video contribution from 10cc co- founder Kevin Godley. The second half of the evening will feature all the usual 10cc classics, including Dreadlock Holiday, Rubber Bullets, I’m Not in Love, The Dean and I, and I’m Man- dy Fly Me, making these shows a must- see for old and new fans alike. Released in 1974 and produced by the


band, Sheet Music reached No 9 in the UK charts and entered the Top 100 in the US. Led by 10cc co-founder Gra- ham Gouldman, the current live band has been together for over a decade. Andy Howells recently chatted to Gra- ham about the tour.


How did you get into song writing? Out of necessity in a funny sort of way.


I sort of dabbled with song writing but the Beatles inspired me to take it more seriously and also the band I was in at the time wanted to make a record. We went to the usual sources to try and find material and couldn’t find anything and I thought ‘I’ll write something’ and I did.


What was it like when you got your first taste of success? Amazing, if you can imagine what it


was like for a 19 year old to write such a big hit for the Yardbirds For Your Love.


Was it difficult breaking into finding success as a musician? No. Things just happen. 10cc kind of


just happened. You just do your best and I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve been able to make a living as a song- writer and a musician as well.


Interview


Working with three other songwriters within 10cc in the form of Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Crème was there ever any trouble getting a satisfactory level of material on albums? We never had any problems with things


like that. In fact whoever wrote a song the others would adopt the songs as their own and try and make them better. In this tour we’re going to be perform- ing the Sheet Music album in its entirety and what’s interesting about that album is because I’ve obviously been listen- ing to it a lot and looking at the credits and everything is how we swapped writ- ing partners. I think that’s why it’s my favourite 10cc album and it seems to be the favourite of many other people as well. It’s never been performed live.


What’s it like revisiting the songs after all this time? I know the album is just slightly over


40 years old but I never think of their age. The fact is they’re great songs, they are interesting, they’ve got lots of things going on in them although it’s a chal- lenge to perform them the way I want to do them, its very satisfying.


What was it like reaching number one? We’ve been very lucky, we had three number ones with three different sing- ers which prove that the strength of the band was with all the members.


What was the inspiration of I’m Not in Love? We didn’t want to write a love song,


there are enough love songs in the world and I have to say Eric came up with the perfect title, kind of like an anti- love song, or is it?


Joe Brown recently covered I’m Not In Love on his ukulele album. He did and Diana Krall has done a


very good version of it. To be able to do it on a ukulele was quite a feat and it sounded good.


FRONTMAN: Graham Gouldman


Looking forward to the tour, there’s a contribution from Kevin Godley? A visual contribution, he’s going to be


performing one of the songs, a classic song from the Sheet Music album


Are you still in regular contact? Kevin and I have been in regular con-


tact over the years, we’ve never lost contact with one another. I originally wanted him to come on tour with us but that wasn’t possible but he said “I’ll make video contribution.” What it’s led on to, because of the way were going to present the show and Kevin’s appear- ance means that our whole visual side of


the show is going to be upgraded quite drastically.


Beyond the 10cc tour do you


have any other projects lined up? I’m doing Heart Full of Songs,


which is me and two other musi- cians in a sort of semi-acoustic evening. It’s much more intimate where I get to sing a lot of the songs I wrote pre 10cc and post 10cc and talk about the songs. For ticket information visit stda-


vidshallcardiff.co.uk or call 029 2087 8444


3 Music


Blues Band to return to city


NEWPORT SHOW: The Blues Band


THE legendary Blues Band are returning to The Riverfront, Newport, on Friday February 20, 7.30pm. More than 20 albums and 35 years have passed since 1979, when Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness expected a short shelf life for their idea of forming a pub band to ‘play the blues for beer money’. Pubs and beer money are a thing of the past. The Blues Band continue to be celebrated and have played to wildly appreciative au- diences around the globe. They’ve toured with Dire Straits and headlined at Glastonbury. Now they’ve added to their expanding catalogue of re- cordings with a brilliant new album, Few Short Lines. While staying committed to their au- thentic blues roots, their ability and craftsmanship enabled them to explore new directions and expand their creative repertoire. What makes them stand out from their peers is their historical under- standing of every diverse category of the blues.


&Collectors’ Fair MalvernFlea


Up to 400 inside &outside exhibitors. Sunday,15thFebruary Entrance: 7.30am-3.30pm - £4


ThreeCounties Showground, Worcs. WR13 6NW.


Tel: 01636 676531 www.b2bevents.info


HALF-TERM SPECTACULAR


FUN FAIR RISCA


COMMERCIAL STREET


MON 16th to SUN 22nd FEB


(inclusive)


open: DAILY 2.30pm -9pm NO ALCOHOL


ON-SITE SECURITY FUN FAIR


RISCA’S BIGGEST EVER


ALLOWEDON-SITE


MEGA THEME PARK RIDES


THIS IS A FAMILY FUN


FAIR SUITABLE FOR ALL FAMILY MEMBERS


NP116EE


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12