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Few
can match Tony's vocal he-wail, tempered with a touch of sophistication
as he wraps his larynx around the soundtrack to a pencil skirted
pubescence. Gold, True and on to Through The Barricades. Mr Hadley,
we thank you!
After twenty years the group broke up amidst nasty counter-claims
and court cases, but he chooses not dwell on recent spats and instead
remains proud of Spandau's legacy while now concentrating on developing
his solo career.
BBC
Online Liverpool spoke to Tony prior to his appearance at The Liverpool
Academy...
Win
tickets! We have a two places on the guestlist for his gig at
The Liverpool Academy (Student's Union) on Friday 6th December,
if you email
us with the name of any other Spandau Ballet member.
Please include a daytime contact telephone number. Hurry!
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I've
heard tell of a big Tony Hadley assault in the New Year...
is that correct?
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| "Yeah,
we're gonna do a thirty-five, thirty-six date tour of the
UK or something like that. It’s going be the biggest tour
I've ever done. Right now I’ve begun recording a new album,
Lobsters & Limousines, which will be finished in the New Year.
The first single will be After All This Time which will be
from the TV series Down to Earth with Pauline Quirke and Warren
Clarke. It's all ticking on quite well. " |
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Having
already experienced the giddy heights of fame, do you still
have any ambitions left to achieve?
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| "Yeah,
absolutely! Obviously I was famous with Spandau Ballet so
I know what success tastes like. First and foremost I love
music. I love playing, performing, writing and recording in
the studio. There seems to be a mindset that thinks once you
have supposedly had your time, you should then give it up
and retire. But I think that if you love music and you're
doing it for the right reasons, why should you? I love what
I do. I’ve had some success abroad and some success in the
UK to date, but I really want to reach the dizzy heights as
a solo artist. It takes time. Over the years I’ve been really
working hard and the new material is getting really well received,
so of course I’m very pleased about that. " |
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Obviously
there is no escaping the success of your classic songs,
but at this stage are they a curse or a blessing?
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| "Oh
they're a blessing, absolutely. If it wasn't for Spandau,
despite all the court cases and shenanigans and bad feelings
that exist between us now, when it was good it was fantastic.
And I’d be a bloody fool if I was to deny my past. I don’t
even think about it. I detach myself from what's gone on the
past few years, and when I sing True and Gold and Through
the Barricades, I certainly don’t sing them through gritted
teeth. That’s what the fans have come for. You just hope they're
going to respond to the new material in between and go, ‘Oh
yeah, I really like the new stuff as well!’ And that’s what
seems to be happening now. It would be a bit like Frank Sinatra
not singing My Way. I don’t want to leave people disappointed,
I want people to have a good time. And obviously they want
to hear Tony Hadley sing some of those classic songs. I don’t
have a problem with that at all." |
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Where's
the strangest place you've ever performed?
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| "I
guess it would be when we’ve performed for the troops. We’ve
done Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, The Falklands, Northern Ireland.
It was in Northern Ireland that we played in a camp that was
completely bomb proof and mortar proof - apart from the area
that we were playing in. The IRA had just happened to lob
a mortar bomb over the wall the week before which fortunately
didn’t explode. For us to play there they despatched helicopter
gun ships, and there were two or three hundred troops on the
streets and everything - just for us play to about two hundred
troops. " |
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How
do you feel about influencing the current generation, now
that Spandau are considered among the forefathers of popular
dance anthems?
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| "Its
weird. I did a gig the other day and there were loads of 18,
19 year old kids, and they were singing along. They knew the
words to every song. It's always a bit worrying when some
dishy young blonde bird who is 18 says (adopts mock northern
accent),' I think your luvverly, I love you'(slurring). I
realise I could be her dad, very easily. Same age as my son.
But I do a job I happen to love it and I get paid for it.
But listen - I don't take it all too seriously." |
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Can
you recall any one moment of total 80s decadence when you
may have thought wow, it can't get any better?
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| "There
were so many, that’s the problem. We were always travelling
in Helicopters and Lear Jets. I was allowed to fly one on
a couple of occasions. I didn’t have a licence, I just did
it for the crack didn’t I? But the old private jets with the
champagne buckets on hand.. .that was pretty excessive. " |
END
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