Test Match Special - View from the Boundary – Giles Martin

Episode Date: June 3, 2023

Jonathan Agnew is joined by the Grammy award winning music producer Giles Martin to share stories of working with the likes of Elton John and remixing the Beatles albums originally produced by his father Sir George Martin.

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And our view from the boundary guest links the two. He's a big cricket fan, award-winning music producer who's worked with the likes of Elton John, Kate Bush, Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, and many, many more. But it's perhaps no surprise that some of his most well-known work has been remixing editions of famous albums from the Beatles, like Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band, The White Album, and let it be, because Giles Martin is the son of Sir George Martin,

the Beatles producer, often referred, of course, to the fifth Beatle. Giles, it's lovely to have you here. I don't know whether you mind being sort of introducing. but by your father all the time. No, listen, he was a great man and he was a cricket fan as well and so, no, of course, it's like it's funny, you know,

people say to me, what's it like being the son of George Martin? I just go, well, I have no idea what it's like not to be the son of George Martin, so I don't really know. That's actually a very good answer. Very good answer. It took me a while. Well, that's good. Now, what about, I mean, let's start with cricket, shall we? Because, you know, here you are, HQ, I mean, you've been to Lords before,

or you come. Yeah, I've come to Lords many times, yeah. It's just a, it's just a wonderful place. it's just wonderful to see the incredible sort of beauty of the clinical green amongst all the buildings and it's such an iconic place and it's sort of you walk into lords and you walk through and you sort of breathe out you know the the business of london seems to disappear a little bit so it just a magical place yes and i mentioned the two landmarks that have avid rode us around the corner they they should be linked really shouldn't they i mean they're iconic in their own world Yeah, we were just talking off here.

I think there should be more of a closer lick. We should do an ambriere breakfast for the... Wouldn't that be great? I think that's a... I think, you know, it's that... We're so close to each other. And it's such a... They're such iconic places.

And now, I mean, they have nothing in common as far as history goes, but they are such iconic landmarks in London. And many will walk down it coming here. I mean, you two, presumably... How do you feel when you walk down? down Abbey Road. I always, you know, I, I, I, um, whenever I sort of cross the zebra crossing, it's actually the most dangerous zebra crossing the world.

It's not quite sure whether you should be stopping or not. You know, it's like, you know, I generally take out a few fans going to Abbey Road every morning. But it's, it's, you know, someone asked me yesterday, she said, you can never can take it for granted. To do what you love for a living and to go to something like Abbey Road and do it, you just have to go, you know, this isn't really a job. And so every morning when you go there, it's such a magical place. and it's not a museum, you know, there's constant, you know, we had, we had, you know, the studio's

booked fully every day where it's films or artists recorded in there. It's every day there's something going on there. And do you always walk the zebra crossing regardless of what side of the road you are? As I say, I'm privileged to be able to drive there, so I generally run people over on the zebra crossing. And then, and then the funny thing is, the thing that happens to me is I'm not, I'm not famous, but people kind of know who I am. And so, and so people, I have to get out, you have to open, they always close the gates for tourists. So I get out of my car open the gates and someone go, hi, Giles, how are you? And I always think it's someone I know.

And I go, I'm very well, how are you? And they go, no, I don't know you. I go, I'm totally sorry, but it's a wonderful place to, it's a wonderful place to go to. Yes. And it's still thriving, as you said. I mean, is it thriving particularly because it's a really good studio or is it thriving because of the history of the place? No, I mean, it's a good question. People want to go there.

There's a thing about studios where, um, they're like I mean I've always said people like they're like teapots they should never be cleaned up because the walls are literally flooded with music you know from elephist gerald to pink floyd to the beetles to glen miller to radio head to queen have you know have all worked at abbey road and you just go people want to go there because they want to capture that magic of course you have to be quite good to be able to make a good sound i mean that's the most important thing but the walls themselves studio two is the iconic place where you know sergeant peppers and darks the moon was made. It's the room, you walk into the room and it sounds incredible. It sounds incredible. It's

just a magical thing. So people want to go there and capture that sound. And also we, you know, we have obviously the best of the old technology, which is, which is still used. microphones from 1948 to 1955 are the most commonly used microphones to, you know, obviously modern techniques, which I work on. Yes, yes. Let's just stay with cricket a moment. I mean, did you play? I did, yeah. I did. I was very keen. I was much keen than that was actually any good. I was very lucky. I grew up in a lot of Montserrat in the Caribbean, which is my father built a studios in Montserrat where the police and Elton John and the Running Stones actually recorded. And I used to play beach cricket, but I mean, you know, I'd play at a prep school and then I'd go out to Montserrat and the speeds of bowling

were dramatically different. It would be even on the beat. It was incredible. And I always saw myself and I said, you know, I guess the nice age one ashes were sort of iconic for me. And But I was a big Gower fan. I had one of those gray nickels double-scoop bats. It was like my pride possession. But I was more like Chris Taverey. I mean, no one could get... I just was the most boring batsman on earth.

I mean, it's like, maybe I'll trick one down to third man. That was it. I've got into teams because I, you know, because I could hold, you know... Not get out, that's important. I know, but it was not what I know who I want to be. And then bowling, you know, I'm tall. I'm six four, I guess. I, you know, I'd run up to the crease.

And it would come out about 50 miles now. You know, it was like, why is it? Actually, my manager, for my birthday, treated me to Nett down here. We did the speed gun. Oh. And I was still cracking 58 miles an hour on my boss. It's just, it's just, I know,

I've always said to people, you know, trying to avoid what you're bad at, but I didn't. You know, and I love cricket. I love the pace of it. And, you know, I, you know, I also love, I'm, I, it goes against being in this, however. I love IPL, actually.

I do, I know, it's a, it's a, it's, but that's all right. It's like enjoying a different type of music, Yeah, it is, it is. It's, you know, and I just, I just think anything, it's the same with music, anything gets kids passionate and involved in something. That's the, off their phones and playing a game

or off their phones and playing music is great. Poor old Monserat, incident. I mean, it's, did the studios survive? The studios, no, the studios didn't survive. The island, we do actually, we actually were selling cricket gear out there at one stage. It has a cricket pitch. The island got really badly affected by the volcano.

Half the island got destroyed, if you like. But the island's still going. I mean, it's just, it was tough what happened to Montserrat. It really was. Why did he choose Montserrat as a studio boat? I think my dad was slightly, you know, was slightly mad. I think it was the answer. It wasn't a great investment.

He didn't. I think he wanted somewhere that wasn't touristy. Montserra has black sand beaches and was, you know, really unspoiled. And bands could go there. I mean, as a kid, I remember we had this crazy thing, because I'd spend a lot of time there. Basically, I was at a boarding school, I'd leave board of school, and got in a plane and got a Montserrat.

And I remember Lou Reed was there very early on, and he complained you couldn't get the New York Times. You know, bands would, people would go mad there. They would go absolutely mad. Elton did, I think, three albums there. And they would just sort of close themselves off from the rest of the world. Dias Straits to Brothers' Arms there, for example.

Yeah, I mean, I mean, it was, you know, Earthwood and Fire. I remember having, you know, you'd have dinner and dinner with Earth and Fire every night. So there's nothing else to do, because everyone has dinner together, all the same house. It was an amazing, growing up was an amazing thing.

It was, you know, it's not, I mean, to be honest, it was better for us. Myself and I have a brilliant sister, Lucy, we'd spend, we'd be so much happier when bands weren't there because we could use the swimming pool and stuff like that, you know. It's a lot of people going,

wasn't incredible having Paul McCarland? Not really, because we couldn't use the swimming pool. Yeah. It sounds like extraordinary childhood. I mean, it really does. And your dad, was he into cricket as well? You know, he did like cricket. We did a, he loved the idea. My dad, my dad wasn't a great sportsman,

but he loved the idea of being a good sportsman. Because he did, you know, his background was he went to, actually used to park bicycles at the Arsenal Stadium. You know, he was born in 926, so that was been in the late 30s, I guess, pre-war. But then he joined, you know, he had to sign up for the war, so he didn't really get into sport. It wasn't that much. But he loved the idea of sport and used to be an avid cricket,

watcher but he did we did play in a um a father's versus son's match and he bought all the gear he had the perfect whites he bought everything he would look to mac he was a good looking man my dad he looked immaculate and he opened the batting and i opened the bowling on the very first ball i bowled it to him and he hit it back to me and i caught it with my left hand and i and i it was one of those instinctive catches you stick your hand out and it hits the and he went giles you absolute I'm not sure I can say it on air and he said something and I and then he chased me with his bat down the

down the pitch slipped fell over and ripped his trousers and it was one of those moments he just go and you know what he it wasn't like it was I didn't do anything out of the spirit of the game but he never forgave me for it just for those things you know and I think that was the last time to play cricket he was actually chairman of the busket cricket club which is a

village near us so yeah he uh and so yeah he know he loved it he loved the and I think he he claimed to him to bass ball even though he's actually passed on before basball but he couldn't understand he could be watching a one day match and kind of why can't they score this fast

in test match cricket? Oh right. So he'd approve of the change. Absolutely, yeah. Do you approve of it? Have you seen much of... I have. You know, I love it.

It's funny. I was telling someone the other day. I got back. I was doing a bunch of press and I was wearing a suit and a waistcoat and I took my jacket off and I went to IKEA and twice in IKEA people last minute

I worked and I could, you know, where things were. I thought, well, this is a bit of a come down. I got home, and it was just one of the great... I can't really... I think it was Edspersen where Bearstow was going like. Oh, yes. And I thought, I've got a moment here.

So I took my suit off and sat in a little sort of terrace area in London, on a kitchen chair with my iPad, in my boxer shorts. I opened a beer and thought, this is perfect. And my cleaner arrived, it was like, he has really let himself go. This is the ultimate. He is, he has reached desperate times. But that's the thing about cricket, you do, you know, it makes you do weird things. It does.

You stop the car and you, you know, you remember where you were. I remember exactly where I was sitting when one of, both of them's heading the innings where he hit a six and he wasn't even looking at the ball. Yeah. And he hit two six and that innings. So you remember all these things. One went into the ice cream stall, I think. Yeah.

But that was, that game's obviously stuck with you. It's funny about Mike Brearley on yesterday, actually. Who, of course, you know, sort of mastermind. He knows more about cricket than me. Yes, but it's funny how that, because that, I'll say to him, whatever happens, that test match will always be, it'll always be in the top five, point it? It doesn't matter which country you support or anything else.

In terms of test matches ever played, heading the 81, it's always going to be. Yeah, absolutely. And the same as Stokes and things. I remember trying to rush back, I was driving some, and Stokes was... In 19. Yeah, yeah.

And I was just like, I just heard it on the radio. And it's that, it's that, you know, it was you. It was you know, it's that, you know, I actually know you really, really well. They've never been before. But it's that, it's that, you know, it's so, and you, and it's like a language, you know, you try and explain to other people, and it doesn't matter, they don't understand. No.

You try to explain how, how, how it, it relaxes, you know. It's, it's a great relaxing. And it works so well on the radio, doesn't it? It really does. I mean, you can get into people's minds a bit. But it is like, it's the communication and, well, company and some, you know, cases, but I think for those dramatic moments, just the sound, and I often hear back again that Stokes moment when he hit those winning runs aheadingly, and the roar of the crowd is

something that, where it just transports people, you and your car, I mean, you were there for that fleeting moment. It does, and it's so, you know, it's like, listen to critics, like reading a book opposed to watching the film in a way, and you do, I mean, people say to me, and it's funny, I was asked by a car company that I don't. day to go and do their sound of their car. And they ask me what I listen to in cars. And I'm going, well, that's special. Obviously, I didn't say that.

I have to sort of say, you know, oh, well, these are the great tracks I listen to. Because I spend my live listening to music. I'll listen to, I'll be working and listen to ten. I don't listen to. You know, it's not as I go, let me hear some tunes. And you want that conversation. It's such great company.

I do a lot of driving. It's wonderful. Can you work to cricket commentary? I mean, the word sort of, the words just kind of flow over. There's a very, it's funny,

and I should, I could say this now, actually, because it's okay, because my career's been, I'm on, I'm on the wane, but I,

but it's gone up since then. I, my first breakthrough, Bozali was doing a, a New Zealand soprano scene called Haley, Haley Western Rock. Oh,

that was one of the great album. Yeah. And who painted the moon black? That's right. Oh, I love that song. So, so, so, but it was during,

I think, the 2009 or 2005. It was the Ash's series, an Ashley's series. And I mixed a lot of her record. And I have a surround set up in my studios. And I'd put the cricket in the back speakers. And I got to master one track off the album. And I was at Metropolis, Susan Chiswick. And the guy said, I can hear something. And on one of the tracks, there was your commentary on the, on the, on this beautiful sort of classical recording. Tell me you've kept it on there. Well, no, I, you know what, I was made to take it off. It was a little bit embarrassing, especially.

So that's that, but that was the last time I've actually, I've done that. Yeah, I promise you. Any, anyone else? Oh, I saw, that album was amazing. Yeah, I bumped into her. She's still singing. She lives in London, actually. Is she?

She was such a lovely girl. She was only 15, 16 when I was working with that. Is that right? Her voice. She's wonderful, yeah. That's very beautiful. The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. He's smashed right into the World Trade Center.

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but a bit of a link really. I mean, as I was saying earlier on, I think to Michael, it's hard for kids with famous fathers, isn't it? I mean, often the boy or the girls goes off in completely different directions just to kind of make the break and not have the pressure, I suppose, also of following foot. steps like that. It is hard. People, is it, it is really hard. It also gives you opportunity that other people don't have. So you can't go, oh, poor me. You know, it's like, I've done anyone that, you know, here's the son of George Martin remixing Sergeant Pepper. People go, I wonder how you got that job. You're, you know, you're, you're, you're aware of that. Yes. Um, what it does do is, it,

you have to weather the focus it brings. And the focus it brings is, is you're either, you're either doing this because you couldn't get another job or your dad made you do it or you're the second coming and you're a genius and so when you're bad you're completely useless if you do something relatively good people think you're amazing and it's somewhere between the two you can sort of be slightly slightly average and it's weathering that

but I was lucky my father absolutely did not want me to do the music for a living he was like you know and I learned to we talked about I bought a ukulele because I'm small to me to hide from him I play the guitar but I play the ukulek as you know being one of the great guitarists of all time

developing I'll be in Abbey Road in about 18 months You will this is why this whole interview was set up It was more of a sort of working on the Aga's double album I know that And I'm looking forward to it But the The process was

Is that he absolutely You know And I But then what happened was I did have some success I've sort of got single the week and enemy doing a band And then he sort of

losing his hearing and he needed and he didn't want to tell anyone he was losing his hearing that's a great story in montserrat he was recording the band ultravox you're on the van ultra box and the bass player came out of the studios and said to him how's it going in there george and my dad held up his plate and said two boiled eggs and my dad thought what'd you have for breakfast what'd you have for lunch and he was he started going very deaf and so he i became his ears and almost like and it's a lot of people knew that that was the case so he'd be sort of a actually i was about 16 when I first started doing it. I remember doing a thing.

We did a thing with Pete Townsend in New York, and he knew what was going on. And other people just thought I was some rat that I was just meant to be at school. So I was his ears, and then I trained through that. So you're explaining, to be his ears? We would sit by a piano, because he would lose his hearing in different places.

And he'd play the piano and tell me what notes he could no longer hear. It would disappear. The base of the top end of the piano would disappear. So he wouldn't be able to have strings and symbols, and I'd have a musical score, and because he was doing a lot of orchestration and I'd be able to listen to what he was trying to listen

what he couldn't hear. It was amazing and it was amazing very bonding and then we did a project called Love which is a Beatles my first exposed to Beatles. I was just after Haley and I really didn't want to do cross over classical music for the rest of my life and the Beatles had agreed to a show with Certus Lay

and I met Neil Aspinall and I said listen I think I can create a sound bed with the Beatles tapes and I went through all of the Beatles recordings with my dad and it was just an incredible bonding experience it was it was wonderful when we became incredibly close yes I can I can believe that

and I mean is your musical taste the same as your dad I mean it's a quite personal thing isn't it no because I was a guitar player so I wanted to be Steve Ray Vaughan and then you know when I was 12 and 13 and I realized I wasn't going to be that

and so I was into like a lot of guitar bands and my dad was not a guitar player you know my father was you know wasn't a classical and baroque music it was his

the strange thing about but you know the strange thing about his career is that he signed the Beatles because he was had a parlor phone and he needed to find

someone to beat Cliff Richard in the shadows and when he signed the Beatles he was trying to work out which one was Cliff he really was he said this he goes is John Cliff or is Paul Cliff

what's which and he realized oh my God there's and there's George as well, you know. And that really was at the beginning of the Beatles. Was that really? Yeah, and he was doing, but they didn't want to side with him because he was the comedy producer. He, he, you know, my godfather was Spike Milligan, for example.

He was his best, and they were best men, I think, for each other. And so his, you know, he, the first band he ever worked with, really, were the Beatles. That's extraordinary, is it? And, I mean, he knew or not always told you, but he knew, and he knew straight away, this was. no no he didn't and he said quite publicly he said I didn't think they were very good but they were very nice people they were sort of people you wanted to you wanted to

actually I posted something a lovely thing with I'm not really a social media person him talking to my daughter Alice I've talked to Alice and Eva talking to Alice about why he signed the Beatles when she was five years old he basically I just thought they were terribly nice people and he didn't think they had any good songs

which they didn't they had Love Me Do and then please please me it was a bit of a dirge he said let's do it fast and that became number one and then they started writing these songs and they sort of grew together and so it was purely

and I think that's the key thing people don't realize is a lot of great things are based on love and relationships and compassion and empathy and not based on a business decision you know not based on I could make these guys a star

that wasn't the thought process no no and he only gave them a dead Abby Road it was like you know it was it come down for a day. And the first album they did they recorded them in a day. It's phenomenal. And I mean, did you know them well as young jazz running around? I mean, I don't know how old you'd have been when he started. Well, I was not alive when the you know and they broke up actually they um they they they, I was born in October

night, same day as John Lennon found me off on 6'9 and they were doing they'd just finished doing Abbey Road I think and my dad told John my son was born the same days and he goes now you know it's sort of, he said a-hole he's never turned out to be like, is what he's in the story said. So, but he was, but he was, but I didn't know him for, I met him once, I knew George a little bit, but I know Paul and Ringo very well now, because I work with them,

I've worked with them now for, um, on all his remixes and doing stuff. And do you just sit there in a studio together and do it all together? No, I'll, I'll go off and do it and then, and then that I'll sit with them and we've, and separately actually, we'll, we'll sit together in the studios and listen and play things it's amazing it's because paul wouldn't listen to sergeant pepper unless i made him

really you know and same with it's kind of history and it's gone and actually just recently i mixed um remixed uh you know red rose speedwear wings album i've just done live and let die actually in in spatial audio and all this and we'll sit together and listen to it but he's like we'll listen to it a beatles album and he'll go and it's it's such a for me it's such a wonder of experience because he'll go he'll go this is george you know he was, you know, he was really, really good or the amount of, you know, covering goes, you know, we were such a good

band. That's what said to me, he'll go, you know, we were and he'll go, you know, I remember this day, we were on fire this day. Well, that's the thing, is it? Because listening to music, like listening to cricket or whatever, it is that memory that comes with it, isn't it? And for him to listen to that, it must

take him back. It does, it does, and it's something, I think, and I notice it's my dad, actually, it takes a certain age, and Paul's still forward thinking, you know, he's still actually producing really good work and and he doesn't look back at all but there is your you know like like the bow wave of a of a boat as you're as you are through age going to slow down slightly it does catch up with you a little bit it does the wash does reach you and you suddenly realize this body of work you've done is amazing and and you can indulge yourself sometimes in it and

I think it's and to share that with someone like that for me is is is you know regardless of me doing any work for them it's just a great day out yeah can you explain the process i mean i you know you see photographs of the massive desks i mean i think the engineers one's next door to me here is complicated enough with a few favors that'd be way but they'll be way better than i am they should be doing it i mean look at the size of those things and the knobs and faders and i mean and and what material do you have do you literally have i mean a guitar riff or something that you yeah so so i mean first start if you look into my eyes i'm not very intelligent so it's not like complicated to work it for a start but it is um it's based on it we call it tracks so for instance

originally my father started recording direct to disc which was actually originally mono and steroids of one or two tracks two trackers you have headphones were left and right in yes and so the early Beatles recordings where one track was banned so everything is recorded into one track and then and that would be one fader if you like yes and then the voice is recorded another fader and then the only way can make up stairs put them into either headphones yes and so and then that's grown and then you have loads and load of faders or tracks on the desk

which is what you're talking about so it looks way and more complicated that each one does the same thing with the Beatles and it started really with this love project I did a long 20 years ago but then just after my father died sadly

of Sergeant Pepper they asked me whether I'd remix Sergeant Pepper and that means I take the original recordings they did the original it was four track but then they bounced with a number of four tracks so I had a number of tracks and basically re-bake the cake or remake the record again.

And I didn't want to do it. And I said to the Beatles, I said, I'll do, well, let's do three tracks to see whether it's any good because it might be, I might be making it worse. And they listen and they like them. So we did the album. And even then I thought my house would be burnt down, but people seemed to like it. And so we've now done, yeah, we've done four or five, I think, albums now. And every year they sort of come out.

And it's, and I've just, and now I get asked you, I've just literally just, finished doing pet sounds by the Beach Boys and then I develop a goat's head suit by the Rolling Stones and it's you know what it is

it may not be they may not be better but they do make people listen and we live in a world where so many people hear stuff without listening you know they don't sit and take time and go

and even if someone's going oh Charles Martin's completely destroyed my favourite album I'm going to go and listen to my favourite album again the music has a great power of making our minds it doesn't do you any harm

it is a great great elixia of things in the same way that test match special for up for people can be it's a great i know i agree i was listening to um the remixed uh let it be and the guitar solo in that and i and i didn't recognize it but is that the is that the original guitar solo i mean it's no it's interesting so let it be as a the let it be single this is where you this is where you get i go they let it be single let it be album of two different takes right and the guitar solo is different. So there's one guitar solo which is off the single

and one off the album. They're two different solo. So I have to respect the album. But they are original solos. They haven't got somebody in the studio. The whole thing is something originally. My house would definitely be burned down. I'd be burned down if I started going, you know, I think I might play the guitar and say George Harris on this one. No, they are. No, they are. They're different.

And that was, we did a process. We did, I did a film actually in lockdown, Peter Jackson called Get Back. Yes. Which was, which was amazing. Amazing working with him, actually. Incredible man. And we developed new technology from that where you could have guitar-based and drums onto one track and then separate them so that I can now put them in a room, for example.

Right. And it's AI, which is very scary, but it is quite incredible what you can do now. But music's so personal, isn't it? I mean, your taste will be completely different to mine or in ones who are sitting in the room here. And when you are remixing music like the Beatles, such a treasure, and it's your dad's stuff as well let's face it I mean how does all that work

do you have doubts do you think am I doing the right thing it's like being it's like you know what it's like it's like being Gollum from Lord of the Rings because you get asked to do this and he goes yes I could do this be wonderful and people go you're getting moving this it'd be terrible and tomorrow and you and you have that you do have this thing going on

constantly in your head and you know there has to be an arrogance like you know like being a like as you know as you know you can have doubts as a a bowler but you have to go I'm going to be I'm going to get this guy out. And the same way doing what I do, you have to have some arrogance

to go, I'm making the right decisions here. You know, like, we may have this, you all have different tastes, but my taste is better, you know, that sort of thing, you have to. And of course, with, you know, with the Beatles, Lesto, with Lesser other bands,

I do have them as well. And I knew my dad very well. So part of what I'm doing, and I do have the original records, the mono or the stereo to reference. So I have to, it's funny, I did revolver and pet sounds in one go, so it was like 19,

I was in 1966, six for a long time, I grew my hair and so, no. And you do, you kind of, you have to live that life and be empathetic to it. At the same time, I do have to make decisions based on what I think is the right thing to do. And where is sound going to go? I know you work for a well-known company that's people have in their homes. I know you brought you a box. They seem to have it not be late. But, but, but, but, but, but, the spatial sound you're working with. The spatial sound, yeah. What, what's, what's, what's interesting about that? And I've done this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this love album and love show at this Circular State experience within Vegas,

has 7,000 speakers in a room, so you're surrounded by... 7,000? 7,000 speakers, where each chair has a speaker in it. But we are, I think the thing is that we do listen in three dimensions. When we're talking to each other in the room, you have this three-dimensional feel. So if I can put a performance in your living one, that's going to be much more exciting than coming out of a little mono speaker. Absolutely.

And so that's really compelling and interesting for me. So the pet sound thing I just did is in spaced audio, so with the right equipment and I get involved in that side as well. It's amazing to be able to go, I'm literally in the studios with the band. And I think that...

Because the sound is literally just going to. It doesn't have to be all around you. It just has to be in a sort of sound field in front of you because that's how we listen. And, you know, what we do, what I do with the Beatles stuff is I put Ringo back into studio two and record him again. And you can...

And it's about, you know what, it's about trying to connect people with, you know, it's trying to put some in the same space. And then, you know, you can listen to something on AM radio with a person you love, and it can be a song you love it. And it'll sound way better than it would do in my amazing room because you love it. So I'm with that as well. But if you can connect people with great art, then you should do. And do feel that what you're doing, again, going after Beatles,

but, I mean, is it attracting new fans? I mean, modern listeners to the Beatles. Well, apparently it is. This whole sort of spatial audio world and you can't control that. I mean, you know, I'll be, you know, in the car of my daughter Eva and she'll go, have you heard this band at it?

They're called Fleet with Mac. And you go, yeah. And, you know, you heard the change. You've got the middle bit. She goes, this could be really good as an introduction to a television program. You know what? It was used in a Formula One thing.

She goes, all right. But it is, I think, you know, music doesn't get old. That's the thing. Music, we just get old around music. So, you know, the Beatles, Paul McCartney was 24 when he sang yesterday. He's always 24 seeing yesterday.

Yes. You know, and if I can make... Even the new version, as it were. Even more so, because if I can peel back the layers and he's 24 in a room singing yesterday to you, you'll have more of a contact with him. It's time travel, and it can be amazing. Yeah.

I've mentioned Rocket Man, for instance, you're involved in that. I mean, these films, I watched, I was on a plane other day and watched Elvis. Yeah. Which I loved. God, it was good. and you really you are drawn into the main lead characters

aren't you? You really believe they are then. That's another thing which is fun because I work with Taryn Edgerton who's a good mate and we're a good mate now because we spent so long together trying to work at how to be Elton

and I know Elton pretty well and so they gave me all the tapes and you look at the footage and it's all to do with you know every one of us in the same way that sportsmen have their own quirks and the way they deliver a ball

or the way they'd hit a cover drive It's the same thing with singers. They all have their own rhythm to the way they sing. And so with Taran, we spent a long time look at the way. And then I remember the first day, Dexter Fletcher, who directed, who's brilliant. The first day, there was a scene doing Crocodile Rock, and I was looking at, I said, Dex, we can't shoot.

There's something weird. I was looking at Taryn. I went, oh, my God, Taryn, straight back. Because Elton plays with a straight back. He's like a classical pianist when he plays. Most pianists play slightly hunched, but Elton. And it's those quirks you need to get, so it's fascinating. Yeah, and how early on do you have to get that?

Because actually people have to buy into the fact that that's Elton, John, and they know it isn't. Yeah, you have to do it. You have to. And you know what? The funny thing is you never know whether you're going to get away with it. It's the same with it. It's the same with anything we do. It's like, you know, you mix Sergeant Peppers, are am I going to get away with it?

That's part of the thing. Making Rocket Man, you know, Taran, myself, Taryn and Dexter, we're thinking we hope to people and people believed he was Elton. Because, you know, and he's a great actor, Taran. But it's that, you just have to try and go for him. that's flown isn't it that was a great fun that's gone so ridiculous quickly I've got a thousand more things I could say to

you but thank you for coming and this opening the door into that amazing world that you've enjoyed and the success that you've been to follow a famous father is not easy and he clearly didn't it

he was a great man but thank you thank you very much stop endlessly scrolling to find your next listen Let back-to-back sounds do the work. Non-stop listening, however you're feeling. Like laugh yourself smart. This made it seem like I'd sent a mafia-style message to my ex-girlfriend's mum,

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