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	Interview with Alistair Griffin recorded 19th June 2004 in Castleton, North York Moors, prior to a gig at Jumpin' Jax, Middlesbrough, with Riccardi.
	Pete Bell: Tell us about how you started in music. Alistair Griffin: How I got started…... It was when I was at university that I properly started to write songs. I was actually doing Creative Writing ….. I did English, I was reading a lot ... PB: You did English and History, yeah? AG: English and History. I was reading a lot, and I was writing a lot, bits and pieces, the stuff at university, college paper, and bits like that. I was singing a bit, we had a little acoustic collective that we got together, and it just seemed a natural thing to do - sort of put the two together, and see what happens. Writing, part of the course there was Creative Writing, and I did quite well in it. And I was thinking about going down a completely non-musical writing route, if you know what I mean. I have done a few bits….. PB: Such as? AG: What I was doing at the time was comedy. Short stories….. and we did a little screenplay…. I actually did a ten minute short film. The woman who did the course was quite encouraging, she said, "You should do something with it." But I left it really, because music is all-consuming. Once you start you ... if you go down the trying to get a publishing deal route, you can spend the next years just doing that. PB: It's interesting that the things you were mentioning there were collective ventures in a sense, like a film script, or a magazine. (Yeah) What about just you, in your head. Poetry? Did you write any poetry? AG: Yeah, I did, bits and pieces. Funnily enough, although I did write poetry, I'd write things like after-dinner speeches …. And write … PB: Was that for an assessment? Was that something you were set? AG: No, it was literally - like locally …. it could be for the cricket team, we'd be putting something …. and for my mum, and stuff at college. You know, we'd done a revue, college revue, that kind of thing. People would come along and say, "Could you write us a poem or whatever about so-and-so, about this," or whatever. I did lots of things like that. Lots of entertainment-based things. PB: Quite disciplined, you need a certain discipline don't you, if you're writing ten minutes or whatever? AG: Yeah. When you write to order, you have to be ... PB: A three hundred word piece about da-da ... AG: Yeah, there was stuff like that of course. I'd write persuasive writing, stuff for a ten-minute film…. PB: So you're writing songs too, which became all-consuming you say, you're accompanying yourself on the guitar. Do you play any other instruments? AG: Very basic piano, I can play chords and stuff. I use that to write. PB: Blocking out chords and so on AG: Yeah. I wouldn't play a gig at the piano. PB: Acoustic band, you mentioned an acoustic band. Were you gigging with that band? AG: We just played round York. We started busking to be honest. PB: Did you? All of you? AG: There was me on guitar, another guy on guitar, and a girl on violin. She was a very good, very good violin player. Classically trained. We just went out and played covers on the streets to begin with. We always got a good response, we were encouraged, and we recorded a little demo of the songs, once I'd got five or six songs. Yeah, it was encouraging, people were saying, "Oh, that's nice." People are shocked - suddenly, "Oh, you play guitar, you can sing. Oh, and you've written some songs." PB: Did you gig at all? AG: We played in the Union, and I played a couple of acoustic gigs just round York. In wine bar sort of places. Like Harkers…. That sort of place. PB: What about computers, did you get into all of that? AG: Not at all. A couple of times I've tried, but I'm just not ….. I can't get my head round it. I'm a bit rubbish at Pro Tools and all that kind of ... PB: But you didn't get into sampling or laying down backing tracks for yourself? AG: Not at all, no. PB: It's always live. AG: I'm very untechnical. I didn't want to be bothered, to be honest. It drives me mad. PB: Reading the manuals takes forever. AG: Exactly. Leave it to someone else. I always have someone else who's good at that. ---------------------- PB: You seem ... the impression you get is you're very methodical in a sense. Did you plan a career, did you think, "Right, I'm serious about music, therefore I'll ..." you know? "I'll follow this route." AG: Methodical? God, I don't think anyone's ever called me methodical. I think, all I did, I got it into my head that this was what I wanted to do. And I'd spent a long time not really knowing. I'd gone down the media and teaching route, packed that in, did English ….. and I suppose it was a natural thing. My voice was kind of developing, and I was writing songs… and people were liking it, and I thought, being creative is what I like to do. Be it music or anything. I was really enjoying doing the gigs, and getting that kind of connection with people. So I just went for it. And I think my thing is that, I'm kind of quite driven. And once I was up for doing it, once I was into it, I just wouldn't give up. You know … anyone in music that gets anywhere, or doesn't get anywhere, there's a million knockbacks. I think the one thing about me is that…. you have to be tough about what you're doing. And you have to, have to, believe in what you're doing. Because a million people will tell you you're not going to get anywhere. PB: Yeah, you've got to be driven. Plus it's a mission. AG: It is a mission, yeah. Yeah. PB: So there was no career planning - "Okay, I'll do that, I'll get a management deal or …. I'll get a publishing deal….." and so on… Did you think at all about that? AG: Well, the first thing I did was look in 'The Stage', just to get a feel of what was happening in London. I was in York ... PB: Was this after you graduated? AG: It was literally the summer I graduated. And I looked in 'The Stage', there were a couple of things to audition for, one was a band that didn't know what they were going to do, it was like an r & b band when I turned up. They thought … It was nice .. they liked my singing, but I was stood there playing the guitar, and they were like, "Don't get that. No……. " But the other thing I recall was a band. I got in the band, and they were signed to a major record deal, and the deal was abroad, and so …. PB: Where were they based? AG: London. And that was about six months. But that was my initial first steps, so I was lucky and what have you. I got in this thing, I was in the music industry for a brief time, because it all came to an end, because they lost their deal. They were a band that was looking for a singer. They had a little bit of success, a bit of chart success. PB: I'd know them, would I? AG: No. Bit of ….. "Ultra" …. Actually, it was funny…I still know them now. I write with them now….Actually, they were quite a good band, but they never really took off. And it kind of ended. So I was kind of "in the business". I was in London, I was living in London, and that was my first foray into doing it. And I started writing more, and then I was round with guys who did have all the Pro Tools, who wanted me on the guitar, so it made a huge difference. So we were putting things down immediately, as opposed to hanging around, going to a studio and paying two hundred quid, not getting very far. So that was my first .….. but then - it ended. PB: Were you based in London by now? AG: Yeah, I was. And then after that, the next two years I was on and off in London, up in York where my sister lives, doing a job there, I was going up and down. PB: Was all of this just off the top of your own head, or did you look for advice, did you read books about the music biz, or did you seek out people? How did you do it other than read 'The Stage'? AG: I ….. I can't remember what I did after that! (laughs) I did try and get advice locally, but it was quite difficult. I was in York, and there was a guy who had something to do with a band, and had managed people in a band…. something to do with Power Station Records? I worked with a couple of people locally in York… a friend of mine was in a band, and he'd been close to a deal in the past and hadn't quite made it. So I asked him about rights and what to do… The plan was to make a decent demo and then take it round people, round publishers or record companies. It's such a long shot at that stage, when you haven't really got the material and you're putting it together… it was just feeling round. But I was lucky because again - I'd got some good material with these lads, it was well produced….. PB: To demo the sort of thing you could do, is that what you mean? AG: Yeah. And they were good enough. I also had some stuff that I was writing locally with Stuart, who I write with now still. He's from Billingham. And he had a band, they were on the Teesside scene, playing quite a lot. We worked together. My next step was getting a manager. So I took the demos we had, and sent them out, and we got quite a good response…… God. I've just remembered what happened next! … I answered an ad in 'The Times' of all things, for a vocalist, and it was in Germany, there were some … they'd had a hit in Germany. And I went out there, and they liked me, and we did a production deal. To make a thing. But it fell through when I got a manager, because it all got a bit political. And the manager was like, "Aah no, you don't want to do that." It was the best thing I could have done really, because they were going to make an album, and they were going to make a …. and it all got a bit ridiculous. And they were really nice people, these German guys. They ended up producing a Bryan Adams song, they turned it into a dance track, it was a massive world hit. "Heaven", they did "Heaven", DJ Sammy. DJ Sammy. That was very much dance music, but they do all kinds of styles. Absolutely massive. I know I've got a song on their album. It was number two in America, and number one here. It was a huge, huge hit. It made Bryan Adams a million pounds, not that he needs it. I got an offer with them, we did make some demos, so basically I was building up a bank of demos from different bits, one from Stu, one from the lads in Ultra in London, and then these German guys. And the German stuff was really quite good. I was then able to say, "Manager …… Do something with it." PB: So you found a manager first, rather than the publisher? AG: I did find a manger. PB: Was that by chance, or were you looking for a manager? AG: I was looking for a manager. That was one thing that people started saying - "You need a manager". So I started looking for one. And it's hard, it really is. It's hard to get a meeting with people. The thing that got me in the door was that I had a production deal going with these German guys, because it meant ... PB: Someone's taking you seriously…... AG: And there's a guy called Peter Veyer, who's one of the top guitarists in Germany, played on all kinds of stuff like Erasure in here, but in Germany he'll play on anything. And he was going to help me produce this stuff as well. He was a bit of a fan, he liked it. That was probably quite a good way to go, but it got cut short. I was a bit naive really, I should of stuck with those guys….. I'm still friends with them now but …. PB: What happened to the manager, are you still with this guy? AG: No, it ended. He just became clueless as to what was going on. And that was that. Then I spent another ….. I came back up north, I started working again with the German guys, doing actual dance music. PB: Were you? AG: Yeah. They were quite prolific, they had a scene there, the CD was very good. PB: You were putting vocal lines over the top? AG: Yeah. I worked with a couple of guys I was in a band with in York, and then I came back and had a band in York, doing covers at functions, also writing our own material. And the Germans, this guy said, "Well, why don't you write some dance stuff?" So we had a go, and it worked out pretty well. We wrote three or four songs that we got on this girl's album. It never did anything in particular, but she's doing another album now actually. It's complicated. PB: The guy from Billingham you met….. AG: Stuart Hannah. He's in a band called Skeet. PB: And you're still working with him? AG: Yeah, we still work together. He's in London now. PB: So, at some stage, you decided to apply to the Fame Academy thing? AG: Yeah. I actually applied twice. I went for the first one, and got my fingers burnt a bit. It got right down to the last couple of people, and they'd already told me I was in. But then I wasn't. And then subsequently I thought, "Well, if I got all that way last time, I'll go again the year after." PB: Did you? AG: Yeah. PB: What prompted you to apply the first time?
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