Trevor Newnham - Bassist with The Illegal Eagles - Talk to the Band

Episode Transcript
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Mark (00:02):
Hi, I'm Mark, and welcome to Talk to the Band, the podcast
that is passionate aboutcontemporary music. Our guest
this week is a UK bass playerand vocalist. His performance
and recording credits includeSir Cliff Richard, Dr. Hook,
Mary Wilson's Supremes, TheFoundations, Jimmy James and The
Vagabonds, and many more. He'salso played on West End and

(00:25):
Touring shows such as Mamma Mia,Grease, and Dancing in the
Street, but he's probably bestknown as the bass guitarist and
vocalist with the IllegalEagles. A warm welcome to Trevor
Newnham.
Hi, Trevor, welcome to the show.

Trevor Newnham (00:41):
Thank you for having me. Nice to be here.

Mark (00:44):
Born and raised in Hornchurch Essex, Trev started
playing drums while at secondaryschool, because his best friend
John had a drum kit and a musicroom in his garden. John soon
tired of Trev denting his headsso he suggested he learn bass
guitar so they could both form aband together. When his parents
bought him a Marlin Sidewinderbass and a Laney Linebacker amp,
Trev the bass player was bornand the neighbours were annoyed.

Yes, that is true. It's all true.

Mark (01:09):
I love that, how true is that?

It is completely true. Sadly, we lost my mate
John in, in early part of thisyear in January, in fact it was
December, but I've got a pair ofhis sticks in there. Yeah, we
managed to play together all theway through our careers.

Mark (01:24):
Really?

Yeah, I used to copy from him in the music
lesson because he was clever, hewas having proper drum lessons
with Bob Armstrong and his dadwas a builder, so he built him a
studio bit like the one we'resitting in now. And it was
great, used to go around thereall the time. And, I'd go let's
have a go on your kit, I've beenwatching you, I know what I'm
doing now, let's have a go. AndI did, and I did some kind of

(01:45):
awful Tom fill and dented hisheads and he went "You're not
playing it!". But the video heshowed me was Level 42.

Mark (01:52):
Yep.

So it was Mark King with a bass right under his
chin.

Mark (01:55):
Yes.

With a bit of tape around his thumb, slapping
it. And he said "You do that.
I'll play drums and we can beLevel 42".

Mark (02:02):
So he set the bar low for you?

Yeah, exactly that. I thought oh there's
nothing to it! I borrowed theschool bass which was horrible.
It was a Hondo which, I sawanother one in a music shop and
had to buy it for 60 quid and Ididn't even have a strap, I had
a bit a bit of string that Ifound. I used to have welts on
my shoulder from the old thing.
My dad bought me that MarlinSidewinder and that was it.
Funnily enough, I found apicture of me, John and the

(02:24):
keyboard player Neil Godfrey whowas in that school band, doing
our first gig when we were 15,in, McDonald's in Dagenham. But
yeah, our first gig wasMcDonald's and John's dad had to
get his tools out the van andunbolt the toadstools in the
kids area, so we could set ourgear up. It's a true story. We
got paid in a Big Mac meal, andhad to pay for the milkshake, we
had to pay to upgrade. Oursecond gig was a Chinese

(02:47):
restaurant.

Mark (02:48):
Was it?

It's a true story yeah.

Mark (02:50):
How old were you then?

I was 15 when we did our first one, and then was
Sixth form college., so I wasabout 17, 16/17 Yeah.

Mark (02:58):
So did you already, at that stage, have an inkling that
you wanted to do music?

Before I picked up music I wanted to be a
football player.

Mark (03:04):
Right

I was football crazy. And then when I got a
bass and got kind of, into Level42 and then Toto and then other
stuff afterwards, I thoughtthat's its, Football's gone, I
don't want to do that anymoreDad, I want to be a musician.

Mark (03:15):
How was your Dad about that.

Eh? Oh, Blimey was the cleaned up version of
what he said. You know what, hewas great about it. Because when
I finished Sixth form collegeafter being there for two years,
I said "That's it, I just wantto go, and try and be a
musician". He said "Well one"he said "You don't really know
enough about music", he said"and two, I want you to have
something to fall back on".

Mark (03:33):
Yeah.

So he said find a course. So I was doing some
voluntary stuff in the ArtsCouncil for Havering and helping
out with some events, and awoman there Chris Cole, she kind
of helped me get intoBournemouth and Poole College of
Art and Design. Where I did artsadministration. So that was
cool, kind of learning how towrite contracts and set up
events.

Mark (03:53):
Yeah.

And that was fantastic, so I went and did
that for a few years inBournemouth. Come back with a
HND, and then said right dad,can I do it now and he said go
on then. So that was it and thenjoined pub bands.

Mark (04:03):
Yeah

I joined a band called, well they were
originally called Power Pack.
And you probably know TerryNewman from Basildon Studios?

Mark (04:09):
Yeah, yes very well.

Terry was the guitarist, Steve Oakly was the
keyboard player, and, TerryShort was the drummer. We used
to do all the local gigs, and itwas called School Dinners. So we
used do the, Wickford WorkingMen's Club, Vange and Pitsea.
Dagenham. Dagenham Working Men'sClub was my first gig with them.
And I remember it, because itwas a really high stage, and
it's back in the days when youcan smoke

Mark (04:30):
Yeah

In the venues.
It was because the stage was sohigh, there was like this cloud
of smoke, but the cloud wasjust kind of, (laugh) below my
head, so I could see above itand you can see anything. And
the kids used to frisbee beermats at the stage, and you
couldn't see them coming andthey'd just come out this cloud
and just hit you on the side ofthe head, it's fantastic. Until
Terry caught one, one night, andall the dads went oh really, and
all of a sudden we got pelted.

(04:54):
That was my introduction to paidgigs.

Mark (04:56):
So where did it go from there?

Did that for a while and then Terry went off to
do something else, and he waskind of the lead singer and the
guitarist, and the band leader.
And he owned the PA, So we werelike.. do you know what I mean?
It's not like losing an arm,it's like losing an arm and a
leg.

Mark (05:11):
Yeah

We went right, what are we going to do? So
we're going to cobble a PAtogther. Terry Short didn't want
to do it on drums so, me, andthe keyboard player Steve got
another guitarist, anotherdrummer in. Formed another band
called Second Nature, for theonly reason we had that name is
because he already had 200posters printed from an old band
that never did anything.
(laugh). We managed to claw somegigs back in, and me and Steve
took over the vocal dutiesreally badly at the start, but

(05:33):
that was how I learned to sing.

Mark (05:36):
Yeah

So we carried on doing that, and then for the
next few years, just carried onplaying pubs. Branched out to a
few more British Legions. Wentinto, a bit more into the East
End. Oh we went miles mate, allover the place. And then, I met
someone who put me forward for aband called The Foundations.

Mark (05:52):
Right

And I did some deps with them and then...

Mark (05:54):
So how old were you when you start playing with The
Foundations?

When I started playing with The Foundations I
must have been 21, yes stillyoung and very green.

Mark (06:01):
Yeah

Yeah, and Clem the singer made me step forward
on, on the first gig. It was onThe Pride of Bilbao, that, boat
that goes across, and then of aweekend it only goes to Calais,
it does the booze cruise thing.
And so we were on that for aboutthree days. And I thought it was
fantastic, had my own cabin and,not that it was much to look at,
a pass for all then therestaurants and stuff, it was
fantastic, really good, gettingpaid in food again you see. And
then, on the gig he said "Ladiesand gentlemen, you gonna meet my

(06:25):
new bass player". Even though Iwas only depping, and then he
made me stand forward and "He'sgonna do the splits". (laugh) Oh
man! And that was my firstlesson in always be wary of the
singer.

Mark (06:38):
Yeah

Always be wary of anyone who's got a
microphone.

Mark (06:41):
Mm mm.

But that was great, I was, I was young, and I
was getting on planes, and Iwas, I was travelling all about
the place, playing great songsas well. So it was great, with
some nice players, and, you knowhow it is? One thing leads to
another.

Mark (06:53):
Absolutely. I was looking down the list of some of the
people you've played with.
You've got Mary Wilson'sSupremes. Did that come about
because of The Foundations?

No that came about because, I did a show,
that was in the West End calledDancing in the Streets, 2006.

Mark (07:08):
Oh Okay

And I was depping for the bass player.

Mark (07:10):
So how did you get into that?

The drummer put me forward. It was another local
boy funny enough who livesaround the corner, Lee Morris,
he's a great drummer. He wasdoing a lot of shows, he put me
forward for it. So I went in anddepped for the guy, and he never
paid me, but, I got the tour outof it. So the show was in the
West End and it went on UK tour,and I got the UK tour. And, we
did the Motown 50th Anniversaryparty, they flew us out to

(07:33):
Berlin to do that, with thewhole show and it was fantastic.
And then someone came around,giving us parts, sheet music.
You know? Yeah, cheers, what'sthis? And they went, well you're
backing, Mary from the Supremes.
We went "what?" (Laughing) Noone told us, because they knew
that if they told us, we'd askto be paid for it.

Mark (07:51):
Yeah.

And so they just left it to the last minute, and
then her MD came around and said"There you go, there's your
parts" and then 10 minuteslater, we, we were backing her.

Mark (07:58):
Can you sight read?

It wasn't so good then, but that was one of
the catalysts for me going"Right, I've got to knuckle
down and do this". I wasn't likethe other guys that went to
music college and, or listenedat school very much either. I
was just too busy into kind ofhow good, how cool my bass
looked, when I looked in themirror, and playing the funkiest
tunes that I could find. So, Ihad to kind of do it afterwards,

(08:20):
which was a tough thing. Andthat's one thing I'd say to all
young musicians now, is, getyour head in the reading.

Mark (08:25):
Cliff Richard., so what did you do with Cliff Richard?

I did a dep for Steve Stroud, the bass player,
and it was the Cliff RichardTennis Classic 2005.

Mark (08:35):
Oh Okay.

I had a day off from The Foundation's tour, so I
said yeah I'll do it, I can fitit in. And we were like, the
night before we were in Devon orsomething like that, and this
was at Birmingham, then I had togo back down to Cornwall, it was
a nightmare.

Mark (08:45):
It was proper rock and roll.

You say yes though don't you?

Mark (08:47):
Of course you do.

So I said yes, and, the parts came through,
about a week before. And theysaid right, get your head around
the parts. You can have them onstage, but they've got to be
low. Where's your gear? We'regoing to take your gear, we'll
set it all up for you. Ithought, Oh this is nice. And
then just as, the driver waspulling away, he went "It's
going to be live on Sky Sports!"Sorry, I didn't hear you. It

(09:09):
sounded like you said it's gonnabe live on Sky Sports. He went
"Yeah, see ya!". And he went, soI had a week to kind of sweat,
and just got my nut down, got myhead in the tunes and got it
sorted. And then it was at theNational Indoor arena, what he
used to do once a year, he'd get10,000 of his top fans in the
National Indoor Arena. TennisCourt in the middle. Played
tennis with Celebs all day. Andthen in the evening, just do

(09:30):
like a, short gig, and it wasall on Sky Sports or Sky Sports
3 or something like that, and itwent out on Boxing Day. And it
was amazing. And Cliff came infor the soundcheck, and he
obviously didn't know who I was,and he went over to his MD, and
he went "Who's that?" I thoughtOh no, here we go, he don't even
know he's got a dep. And then hewent around and said hello to
his band and he was reallylovely. He come over and said

(09:51):
"Hello Trev, how are you? I'veheard a lot about you". And I
could have said no you're lyingbecause I know you just asked
him my name. But he wasabsolutely lovely.

Mark (09:58):
But the fact he even come over and, he didn't have to do
that did he?

It was wicked.
He was really cool and he wasreally settling and, because
it's a big gig for someone tojust walk in to with no
rehearsal, And then hesoundchecked, he doesn't like
soundchecking a lot, so we didlike half a tune and turned
around and said "Okay, soundsgreat guys. Everyone happy?
Sounds great".

Mark (10:15):
(Laughing)

Sorry about the impression. (both laughing). And
everyone went "Yeah, yeah, itsounds cool". He said "What
about youTrev? You happy?" Yeah,I'm happy. He went "Are you
sure? It sounds pretty average".
(pause) I just remember going ohno, and he turned around and
said "Only joking. Soundsgreat". (Laughs) I looked at the
drummer as if to you didn't saythat. He kind of looked back as

(10:36):
if to say yeah, I'm tellingeveryone. (laughing). He was
cool as a cucumber. Cool.

Mark (10:42):
Yeah?

Pitch Perfect as well. Really good.

Mark (10:45):
So, you've got Dr. Hook down as well?

Yeah. That was great. Well, I, I got a call
from a, a drummer mate of mineAcker Yates who did Dancing in
the Streets in the West End.
Great drummer, fabulous drummerand we've done loads of stuff
together over the years. And hephoned me up and said "Just to
give you a heads up. You mightget a call, because a couple of
us have put your name forward".
I said what is it? He went it'sDennis Locorriere. And the name
didn't mean anything to me,probably don't mean anything to

(11:09):
you?

Mark (11:09):
No

He said Dr.
Hook, the proper lead singer ofDr Hook. Not the one with the
eye patch, the one that does allthe singing. Dr Hook and Bread,
were the albums that my, that Iremember my dad having out, all
the time on the old thing whereyou used to lift the glass up
and put the LP on. And I thoughtDad's gonna love this. So I went
fantastic, that's proper songs.
He says "Yeah", so I thoughtnothing of it and put the phone
down. Literally an hour later,the phone rang, and it was John

(11:31):
Marr, who was the MD of ThrillerLive in the West End. Who met
again, through Dancing in theStreets. He said "Alright Trev,
do you want to do it?" I went"I'd love to do it". And now, a
million other bass players,would have got that call ahead
of me. But it was a bass playerand a backing vocal, that they
needed. And because I sing BVspretty strong, well they said
"Well Trevor will do both".
That's why I got the call. AlsoI'd like to think I'm quite

(11:53):
funky on the bass as well.
(laugh) But let's be honest,anyone else could have done it,
but I got the call because ofthat. I said "Yeah, cool. Where
is it" thinking it's just gonnabe like, the usual kind of UK
theatres or something. He said,well we've got a month in
Australia, and then you comeback for a couple of months, and
then we've got three weeks inNew Zealand, and then there's a
couple of European festivals.

Mark (12:12):
Very nice.

I went Yes, I'm in.

Mark (12:15):
That must have been pretty awesome?

It was amazing.
Because the songs are great. AndDennis Locorriere, if anyone
doesn't know Dennis and Dr Hook,the whole back catalogue, go and
check it out, because he singsnow, exactly as he as he did
then. And there's a song called'Sylvia's Mother'. He sounds so
fragile on the record, and herecreates that every night. And
I used to be standing on stagegoing "He, he sounds so fragile,

(12:38):
his voice is gonna break" and itnever does, it's just full of
emotion,.it was amazing. Butthen you got the flip side when
you got the latest stuff like'Sexy Eyes' and 'When you're in
love with a beautiful woman' andthat kind of thing.

Mark (12:51):
Yeah, that's how I come across them.

Yeah.

Mark (12:53):
Yeah

The more pop-y stuff?

Mark (12:54):
Yeah, 'Cover of the'....

'Cover of a Rolling Stone'

Mark (12:57):
Yeah, and 'You make more pants want to get up and dance'.
(laugh)

(Laugh) That was it, that was the opening. We
used to go on and rock out tothat and then he'd come on. It
is one of those bands that yougo "Oh they did this! Oh this
one as well". It's justincredible. 'Better Love Next
Time Baby' was the was the onefor me. It's a great song, great
BVs on it, because there werefour or five of us on stage
singing BVs, so the vocals wereclose. But the bass is so groovy
on that, that's my favouritesong and he was wicked. He was

(13:21):
great. And we got looked after,do you know what I mean?

Mark (13:22):
Yeah I can imagine.
They're another one of thosebands that never got the success
that they were due really

No, well they were, they were a bar band. And
they started out just kind ofplaying rock stuff, he's a great
storyteller on stage as well,he's a fantastic storyteller. He
was telling this great storywhen they were in a bar and they
playing, they were just jammingwhatever it was. 'Freebird' or
something like that, going onfor like 20 minutes. And, some
guy come up with a nose, kind offolded over his face and tattoos

(13:48):
on his head and stuff like that,and said "Do you know any
country music boy?" And he says"Yes, we do now" (laugh), and
they just pulled it out of bag,and then they got, got a deal,
and then they're, they're on theroad with Kiss and Alice Cooper,
supporting them. But heremembers saying that, Kiss and
Alice Cooper had planes. Sothey'd finish their set.

Mark (14:08):
Yeah

And then they'd party, and then they'd fall
asleep on their jet, and thenwake up in the next town. And he
said, we finished our set, andall we had was a rental car. So
we had to just say goodnight.
Get in the car and drive likecrazy. He said, and most of the
time we made the next show. It'sfantastic. It's a real deal.
It's fantastic. Really good.

Mark (14:28):
We've got to talk about The Illegal Eagles, haven't we?

Yeah, it would be rude not to.

Mark (14:33):
21 plus years they've been going?

22 plus this year. Yeah. Yeah, Phil Aldridge
was the original Drummer, he hada studio called Nightflyers
Studios in Southend. And him anda few of the other guys went to
see, The Eagles do their 'HellFreezes Over' tour when they
reunited because The Eaglesbroke up for 14 years didn't
they? They didn't break up, theysaid they had a holiday for 14
years. They got back togetherand they come over and did
Wembley and he went saw that andwent, every song's a winner.

(14:57):
It's like you said about Dr.
Hook, every song's a winner. Andyou go "Oh that one, oh that
one, oh that one!" and he saidto a few mates, we need to get
back together and just play thisstuff. So they did. They started
doing local clubs and stuff likethat and, and then theatres and,
it's been going ever since.

Mark (15:12):
So when did you join?

I think four years ago. Yeah, it got to the
point where, Dr Hook wanted meto go out again, and do another
chunk of the Timeless WorldTour. And then Al Vosper,
guitarist friend of mine said,look, this gig's coming up.
You'd be great for it becauseyou sing and you play bass. And
it was just, it's just one ofthose things where, I love to do

(15:35):
Hook, but they've only got like30 shows, although they're
lovely and they're all over theworld. And the Illegals had,
more work, and it was close athome, I didn't really want to be
away from the family anymorebecause Rocco was like one at a
time. Just approaching one. Andit's the Eagles man, great
songs. And it's, it's funnybecause I was jumping from one

(15:56):
base and BV gig straight intoanother. But the other thing
with the Illegals, I get to singa couple of lead vocals on it as
well, so it was more of achallenge. Do you know what?
Every member of the IllegalEagles has been an absolute
monster player and/or singer.
But I think the chemistry of thebunch that are together now,
it's just fantastic. Becauseit's never boring on stage. And
people always say "Do you getbored playing the same songs

(16:17):
every night?" And I say, wellone, it's The Eagles, no! And
two, these guys are amazing, andthey'll just do something
slightly different, not gettingaway from the tracks, but just
something slightly different or,grin in a different place, and
it's just, it's just a greatchemistry between the whole
band, it's fantastic to be partof that.

Mark (16:37):
Is there the temptation ever to, tweak things a little
bit?

You know what?
There there was in the earlydays, and I even, again, voiced
the idea "Why don't we segue acouple of the songs together?
And it's like, no, let's just doit like The Eagles do. And one
thing for me, it's not a taxingBass part that gig, but it's a
taxing vocal part to slot yourharmony in. And it's just really
interesting, because we all goon stage trying to get it right,
where a lot of bands, especiallytribute bands, kind of may just

(17:03):
put a check shirt on and goright we're The Eagles and then
just bash through the tunes. Wedon't, we're trying to recreate
it, accurately. So we try not toput anything in, unless we've
heard a live version somewhere,live in Monserrat or something,
that only 30 people attended. Ohhe did a different base lick
there, that's going in tomorrownight. Like The Eagles and

(17:24):
Stevie Wonder, why would anyonetrying and change that, or
embellish that? Because it's TheEagles and Stevie Wonder

Mark (17:31):
Well talking of Stevie Wonder. Last time I met you, you
were down Basildon Studios, andyou were getting your Stevie
Wonder show togther.

Yeah, I was producing the show together.

Mark (17:40):
So what's happened with that?

It was fantastic, we did a few shows
with that. A few theatres, theywere really well attended, it
went down really well. It waskind of a testbed really, the
first few dates, and we werelooking at tour for 2020 and we
had theatres in the book andthen this hit (Covid 19), so it
got shelved. That was LeeMorris, who's a drummer I've
mentioned before that livesaround the corner. It was kind
of thing for us, because we hadanother show called 'Queen's of

(18:01):
Country' which was good.

Mark (18:03):
That's with your wife Sarah, isn't it?

Yeah, Sarah was singing on that as well. And
that was kind of good fun, butwe kind of we shelvled that for
a bit, because it wasn't as easyto sell that.

Mark (18:11):
Yeah.

We thought, what would be easy to sell, we kinda
went through the list, and thenwe both looked at each other and
went "Stevie!" And then we went"But we need to find something
that we want to play aswell.....Stevie!" That was it!
And then that, we then just madea list of all of the Stevie
tunes and went "How do we getthat into two hours? What do you
leave out of a Stevie gig?" Soit was then a case of whittling

(18:33):
it down. And even from the firstrehearsals just playing through
those tunes was like, "Stevie!"!It's wicked! It's really good!
So for a while I was jugglingThe Eagles and Stevie, it's like
come on! It's fantastic.

Mark (18:48):
It's time for the final five. If you were to recommend
one album or song, old or new,that you feel everybody should
listen to at least once in theirlifetime. What would it be and
why?

We've already talked about Stevie, we've
already talked about Dr Hook.
So, any of those would come intothat bracket. Bread, I love
Bread. Steely Dan, love SteelyDan. But it's got to be the
latest Illegal Eagles album Ithink..

Mark (19:21):
Nice plug! (both laughing)

Yeah, because it's a double album but there's
also an accompanying DVD as wellthat you can buy as well.

Mark (19:29):
Wow. Value for money.

In case you want to know, it's called Illegal
Eagles Live and Symphonic,because it's the gig we had the
orchestra with us.

Mark (19:35):
Who would have known?

Available from IllegalEagles.com

Mark (19:40):
He's such a pro!. (Both laughing)
What artists and albums are youcurrently listening to?

Oh, there's a band that Christian Phillips,
the lead guitarist and vocalistin the Illegal Eagles put me on
to, the Brothers Landreth. And Ithink the album's called 'Let it
Lie'. It's just fantastic. Justa great kind of, straight down
the middle, kind of rock androll-y, swampy, bluesy, funky
band. But, Joey Landreth's amonster guitarist, monster

(20:09):
guitarist. So check out theBrothers Landreth

Mark (20:12):
Name a musician who has had a profound effect on you,
and tell us why?

You know what?
There's, I'm gonna go, I'm gonnago local, and I'm gonna go
overall. Local guy, we mentionedhim earlier, Terry Newman, was
the first kind of pub band thatI got in, because he kind of
took me under his wing because Icould play slap stuff, but I was
green as you like. I knew Level42. And when I went to audition
at his house, he says "Right,what do you know?" I said "Level

(20:39):
42". "So what else do you know?""Johnny be Goode". "So what else
do you know?" I went "More Level42 or Johnny be Goode again, or
one Roachford song" which Isang. And he said "No, no,
you'll be alright, you'll bealright". And he saw something
in me, and so he said "Alright,okay, you're cool." So next
thing I know, I've got likethree or four gigs a weekend,
and I was coming back from fromcollege. And he was really cool,

(21:00):
he used to kind of pull me toone side and go "Go listen to
this, go listen to that". Andhe'd pass me like a Michael
McDonald album or a live SteelyDan tape or, it was something
every time. "You'd sing thisgreat, aw this would really suit
your voice, listen to theseharmonies", and he really helped
shape me as a young musician.
And I think everyone needs,someone like that to kind of
take him under their wing. Buthe didn't do it in a kind of

(21:22):
condescending way on stage. Doyou know what I mean? On stage,
he would kind of look at you asan equal, but offstage he really
kind of helped shape me so, andI, I think I've told Terry that
he did a lot for me, buthopefully he'll listen to this?

Mark (21:33):
I'm sure he will

You never really know. But the overall, is Mark
King from Level 42, because Ilearned to play base by
listening to Mark King. And Iwas an absolute freak for Level
42. I bought a Westone Thunderbass because it was symmetrical
in shape, like his Alembic, butabout two and a half grand
cheaper. And I used to walkaround, with with tape around my
thumb like he did as well. And Ihad a Saturday job in Romford,

(21:57):
in a sport shop called TedDitchburns. And outside in that
part of the market was theAntiques Market, and there was a
second hand record stall. And Iused to go out and say "Have you
got any Level 42?" And he'd say"Well, you bought it all last
week. You've got everything". Hesaid "Unless you don't mind
cassette?" And we're going backto 1989 now, so I say "No, no,
casette's fine". He said "Areyou interested in any live stuff

(22:18):
at all?" I went "Yeah". He said"Live stuff, that's kind of not
on the market?" "Yeah!" And hebent down and he lifted up this
bread crate, and he knewsomeone, who was in the crew for
their tour. And there was, theywere recording every night, on
the road, just a desk recording,so it wasn't mixing anything. So

(22:39):
there it was, it was likeMonday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, and I went andgot a sub on my wages and went
"How much will that get me?" Hesaid "You'll get a week and a
half". And so I literally gotthat Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, I got a weekand a half consecutively, and
listened to every tape, and youcan hear slight differences in
solos, you can hear the bumnotes and stuff like that. And I
learnt it all., and that was howI learnt to play bass. And it
was only after when I joined,Terry Newman, he said you got to

(23:01):
learn some new songs boy, yeah,you can't just do that, there is
a Mark King. So those two were,the kind of start for me.

Mark (23:09):
If it was possible for you to speak to your younger self,
when you were first startingout. What advice would you give
to your younger self then?

I love this question, and I, I use this a
lot with my students who arestruggling with confidence and,
and how they're playing, Anothertrick I do especially, with bass
students is, turn your bassupside down. And now try and
play that exercise, "Well it'supside down, I can't play
anything!" I say right, turn itback. See, yeah, you're actually
pretty good aren't you? That'swhat you were like when you
started. Now, that's what you'are now. And the other one I do

(23:38):
is, write to your, your youngerself. And I'd say, listen in
school, listen in school more,because we all go through school
thinking, unless you're one ofthe clever ones in the top set,
we all go through schoolthinking "I ain't going to use
any of this", and learn to readmusic. Learn to read music early
on. Because I didn't, and Ishied away from it because I was
scared of music and musictheory. And, and I wish I knew

(24:00):
that quicker. I didn't have theforesight to think, you're going
to, you're going to need to getyour head around this stuff
because, you're going to need itif you want to do this as a job.
I still thought being a musicianwas standing on the stage and
looking pretty. In hindsightnow, and talking to my younger
self, I'd say "Polish yourfootball boots" (laugh) because
they were horrendous and, andlisten, and learn to read. And

(24:25):
that's one thing I say to, toloads of kids. We had some, some
guest artists over, from theStates, a band called The Yellow
Jackets. They were playingRonnie Scott's and we were at
the academy, and I had a bit ofa budget and so I, I emailed
their manager, might have evenfaxed then, it might have been
faxed. I said "Look, they'replaying Ronnie's. Would they
come? I've seen they did a chatat the MI in New York or

(24:47):
wherever, or LA. Would they comeand do a chat with us?" And they
said yeah they'd do it for thisor whatever, and they just
wanted pocket money to do it. Sowe get them in. And I'm going
round to the students saying TheYellow Jackets are coming in,
and they're going "Who arethey?" They're expecting a load
of geezers to come in yellowcoats, I think, the yellow
jackets. I went "No, these arecool, and you might not get it
because you're a Rock 'n' Rolle,but you want to check this out

(25:08):
because these guys are serious."And there's Rus Ferrante on
keys, Jimmy Haslip on bass and,Bob Mintzer on sax, which is a
monster band, Marcus Baylor. Andthey, and they all came in and
they were nice as pie. And thenI remember I primed a couple of
students with questions, becauseI thought if they open it to
questions, and I've asked themto do that, I knew, I know
there's gonna be someone whogoes "What football team do you

(25:28):
support?", do you know what Imean? You're gonna get something
like that! So I primed a coupleof questions. One of them was
"Is it important to read music?"Because then, if the kids hear
it from someone else, ratherthan me and rest of the staff,
they might, they might go "Oh,actually, it's quite important".
And Russ Ferrante, the keysplayer, who is a monster
musician, said, "Yes, it'sreally important". He said, "Put

(25:48):
it this way" he said, "I'm not agreat reader", and the rest of
the band looked at him, as if tosay "You're a monster reader"
and he kind of looked back as ifto say "Shut up, we're in front
of students". He went, "I'm notthe greatest reader. I'm
definitely the weakest reader inthe band. I auditioned for Chaka
Khan's gig, and I didn't get it,because I couldn't read the
parts". And everyone went"right", a load of people went
"Who's Chaka Khan?" (laugh) Butthose that got it, we're like

(26:09):
"Ah right ok", and then Jimmyhaslip leaned into his
microphone and went, "I got it".
(laugh) Fantastic. So yeah,learn to read music, listen, be
humble. I think I've donealright really, I've always kind
of played with a smile on myface. Because I've always been
really pleased, to get to thislevel and sustain it. It's a
dream to be able to make musicas my living. So I'm kind of

(26:29):
humble, but I see people aroundme sometimes, who aren't. And
also be aware of what's goneinto putting some of these gigs
and tours and shows on. Whenyou walk into a hotel room if
there's not a bottle of waterthere on ice waiting for you.
Don't moan and kick up a fuss.
Just think, someone's taken,it's been a lot of work to get
six guys on a plane to get tothis gig.

Mark (26:49):
Yeah.

Do you know what I mean? I think people take that
for granted sometimes.

Mark (26:53):
Of all the times over the years that you've performed. Can
you tell us the one gig or showthat is really memorable,
whether it's for good or badreasons?

I don't think I've had any horrendous ones, I
must have done. I mean. I'vebeen in pub bands and bar bands
when I, when I started playing.
And Sarah was talking about it,she had the same thing where it
kicks off right in front of you,in an East End boozer. But I
remember being in one band, assoon as we were playing, if it
kicked off, as soon as the firstpunche was thrown. We'd go,
'Everybody was Kung FuFighting". (both laugh) Straight

(27:23):
into that.

Mark (27:24):
Yeah

And it would defuse it. And if it didn't
defuse, we'd just be laughingour head off for the next hour
or so. So there's, there's thosekind of rough gigs.

Mark (27:30):
Yeah.

I think it was, it's probably Dr Hook, flying,
to the other side of the world,and playing some great shows.
And we played a place calledNapier, and because they had a
history of earthquakes, in the20s, they had these huge
earthquakes. So when theyrebuilt, a lot of the towns,
they only built them single ordouble stories. So this place
Napier, there's no littering,there's very little crime, and

(27:53):
there's not even a lot of peoplethere. They've got a lovely
theatre there, it was fantastic,everyone was lovely. You're
walking around and it's likeyou're on the set of 'Back to
the Future'. There's all theseArt Deco buildings everywhere,
all single level and these oldcars driving around. And I told
my dad about it, when I got homefrom tour and he went, "That was
your granddad's favourite place.
He was in the merchant navy. Andhis favourite place in the whole
world, was a little town calledNapier". And he said he only

(28:16):
ever told me, me and my Nan.
Well my Dad and my Nan. I didn'tknow.

Mark (28:22):
Incredible

And that was just a lovely show, so, for that
reason, I think that's one of, Imean that whole tour was great.
It's you know, it's been, I'vebeen really lucky to kind of,
fly, all sorts of places.

Mark (28:34):
Oh Trevor, it's been great. Thanks so much.

Thanks for coming over, man. Thanks. It's
been a pleasure.

Mark (28:39):
What I'm afraid that's all we've got time for today.
Trevor, thank you so much forbeing on the show. It's been a
pleasure. And of course a bigthank you to you, our listeners.
Our guest next week, is amusician who started out playing
guitar with Alison Moyet, beforejoining The Plan with Vince
Clarke, and then forming theband French Look, with Vince and
Martin gore from Depeche Mode.
He was later in a band calledFilm Noir, with Perry Bamonte

(28:59):
from The Cure. And then in 1982,he recorded the solo album 'The
Peter Pan Effect', whichfeatured the single 'The Face of
Dorian Grey'. If you'd like tofind out more, you're gonna have
to join us next week. Take care

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Trevor Newnham - Bassist with The Illegal Eagles

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Trevor Newnham - Bassist with The Illegal Eagles