4 Music


Duo’s tale told on the big stage


Follow us on Twitter @Argus_The Guide Friday, April 17, 2015


Pop rock band from the 1980s set to hit the stage


The Simon & Garfunkel Story


FOLLOWING it’s West End suc- cess in February, The Simon and Garfunkel Story is current- ly the biggest touring theatre show, as it celebrates the lives and career of a folk/rock duo. Featuring


award-winning


leading man Dean Elliott (Bud- dy Holly in Buddy – The Musi- cal), The Simon and Garfunkel Story takes you back through the 1960s. It tells the story of both Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel from their humble beginnings right through to their massive suc- cess, dramatic break-up and finishing with a stunning rec- reation of the 1981 Central Park reformation concert. Catch the show at St David’s


Hall on Friday, April 17. Call 02920 878444 for ticket details.


ALBUM: The Blow Monkeys are playing Cardiff this weekend


Hitting the road again


SHOW: The Overtones


AFTER three consecutive Top 5 albums, 750,000 sales and three sold-out headline tours, The Overtones continue to reboot classic sounds for contempo- rary audiences. February 9 saw the release of their fourth col- lection Sweet Soul Music. Sweet Soul Music is a trib-


ute to doo-wop and soul pio- neers such as The Drifters, Al Green, Marvin Gaye and The Temptations – artists that The Overtones grew up listening to and who have influenced them throughout their career. Their next UK and Ireland


tour will commence this sum- mer and features a date at Car- diff’s St David’s Hall on Tues- day, July 7. Tickets are available to buy


from gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.


Interview


TO SUPPORT the release of their new album If Not Now, When?, The Blow Monkeys will play Car- diff Globe this Sunday as part of their current UK tour. Synonymous with the interna-


tional hit songs from the 1980s Digging Your Scene and It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way, the Blow Monkeys split in 1990 before reforming in 2007. They released their tenth al-


bum If Not Now, When? on April 6, which is their fourth long-play- er since the reunion and have released a new single from the album entitled OK, Have It Your Way. Andy Howells recently chatted


to Blow Monkeys vocalist Robert Howard AKA Dr Robert.


Were you from a music back- ground? Not really, there wasn’t a lot of


professional musicianship in my family but there was a lot of mu- sic in my house. I had two older sisters and they went through the whole 60s thing. I was ex- posed to a lot of music.


How did you get into the music industry? I caught the bug when I was


young. I guess the first thing I did was busking. I lived in Aus- tralia as a teenager and grew up in the generation that was turned on by punk, although not a fac- tor in our music, that was the be- ginnings of making me want to


ANDYHOWELLS chats to RobertHoward of The Blow Monkeys ahead of their Cardiff showthisweekend


be a musician.


You formed The Blow Monkeys in 1982. I met Neville, the saxophone


player and we gradually built up the group over the next cou- ple of years. We struggled re- ally hard to get gigs because I didn’t know anyone in the in- dustry but we had fans straight away and with a combination of playing and song writing we just ploughed our own furrow. We weren’t part of a movement or anything when it all started but in the end that’s what put us in good stead.


What was it like when you got your first taste of success with Digging Your Scene? It was lovely.It put more pres-


sure on us, but it was pressure that we wanted. That was a game changer for us and another big thing was it opened doors for us internationally. We hadn’t really played abroad very much and as we had a hit in America that re- ally changed things for us.


You went on to collaborate with Kym Mazelle (Wait!) and Curtis Mayfield (Celebrate, The Day after You), what was that like? I was a massive fan of Curtis


Mayfield and it was areal honour to work and play with him and do


some gigs with him as well. With Kym that was a house thing but we found it took off.


The Blow Monkeys went their separate way in the early 90s, did you all remain friends? There was no nastiness, court cases or anything. We were friends and just decided to stop. Seventeen years later, all our kids had grown up and we just wanted to be a group again. There was no question about it really but we wanted to make new music. Obviously when we


play live we play the old songs as well and mix it up but I don’t want to go on a 80s nostalgia trip, it isn’t about that. It’s all about making new records, ob- viously a different level to what we’ve done before but at the same time being really enjoy- able. I still think we’re moving forward and the new record, If Not Now, When? is new territory.


Can you tell us about your Cardiff Globe show? We’ll be mixing it up playing songs from 1982 up until now.


Are there any songs you enjoy performing live? We have a song called Choice


which I enjoy doing and the new single Okay, Have It Your Way, I’m looking forward to doing that live.


Finally, how did you become known as Dr Robert? It’s one of those things when


you are young and you’ve got to have a name. I just used Dr Robert. I’ve got no reason for it.


For tickets to see The Blow


Monkeys live visit globecardiff- music.com. Find out the latest news on The


Blow Monkeys via their official website theblowmonkeys.com.


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