Chip off the old block - Norman Watt-Roy talks about the launch of his solo career

PA: Faith and Grace is your first solo album, I suppose the obvious question is “why so long?”

NW-R: I had a couple of instrumental pieces I wanted to record and Gilad [Atzmon, the saxophone player with the Blockheads] is an amazing producer so I asked him to come in the studio and help me with it, which he did.

He started saying to me after that “Why don’t you do some more and make a CD?” So I started doing it and then unfortunately my wife died quite suddenly, so it kind of sat in the studio for a couple of years, until I got pulled out of my misery, and then I carried on and finished it. And I’m really pleased I did now.

PA: How would you describe the album?

NW-R: It’s kind of across the board of everything I’ve done. My taste in music is quite varied. I’ve played with lots of different types of bands, so I thought I’ll play everything I’m kind of known for. That’s what I like doing.

PA: So it’s a summary of your career?

NW-R: Kind of yeah. It tells my story in a funny sort of way, yeah.

There are some great songs on the album. [Dr Feelgood’s] Roxette for instance. That’s probably a candidate for best song in the world do you think?

I love Wilko’s songs. I wanted to cover one of his songs and I wanted to cover one of Ian Dury’s songs. I’ve always liked Billericay Dickey. And with Roxette I was lucky enough to get Wilko to come and sing it as well. Even better.

PA: Are the new recordings in a different style to the originals?

NW-R: They are different interpretations, my kind of versions. On Roxette I’ve just used organ, bass and drums, and Wilko, and added horns as well, so it’s got a totally different feel to the way I play it with Wilko. And I also got him to do his story, his little verbal thing on the front. We used to do that live a long time ago.

PA: Tell us about that.

NW-R: He tells a story about a girl he used to know – before we go into the actual song Roxette. We used to play it like that live. Then for some reason he stopped doing it and we just used to play the song. So when I recorded it I said to him “I want to have that story on it as well”. So he said “OK”, which was quite nice.

PA: Have you played to Half Moon before?

NW-R: Many many times with Wilko. Back in the old days we did it once a month. We did it hundreds of times.

PA: Is it a venue you enjoy playing?

NW-R: Oh yeah. It’s a great atmosphere and a really good size and everything. I really like that gig. It’s one of the last of the live gigs that have been going since God knows how long.

PA: Have you played much around the Wandsworth/Wimbledon area?

NW-R: Wilko and me did Wimbledon Theatre a couple of times, on a few tours. One with Gary Moore, and a long time ago with Peter Green. And we also played the Worcester Park Tavern quite a lot.

PA: Would you describe being in the Blockheads as a lot of fun, or was Ian a bit of a handful?

NW-R: It was amazing. Nothing but great memories. There were some funny times and some really scary times [laughs]. We were young and we were all enjoying it. And we still do. The Blockheads are still going. We’ve got a new album out as well, which comes out next month, in November. We still love it and still get a kick out of playing all our old songs. We’ve grown up as players and find new things to do with them [the songs].

PA: What’s your favourite Ian story?

NW-R: Wow, there are so many. Ian was a character. You loved him and hated him at times. But then we were all like that in the band. We were like brothers on the road. For that length of time, six years, seven years on the road, you really lived out of each others’ pockets.

If I think back to some of the crazy things, like Ian throwing one of his artificial legs off the Sydney Harbour Bridge! We were doing a tour of Australia and he’d ordered a new caliper for his leg, and it wasn’t ready in time, so he had to use the old one.

We started the tour with his old one which was really giving him a bit of pain and the clip on it was broken, so sometimes it would just suddenly “go” while he walking, so he was having a lot of problems.

And then a week into the tour his new leg arrived and we had a big drink-up on a boat and then went on Sydney Harbour Bridge and threw the old one off. There’s a great photo of the leg flying through the air [laughs].

PA: Where did you first meet him? What were your first impressions?

NW-R: We met in a studio in Wimbledon. Me and Charlie [Charles, Blockheads’ drummer] went down and met Chas [Jankel, Blockheads’ guitarist] and Ian with a view to playing together.

And we just hit it off straight away. And we started playing. We demo-ed New Boots and Panties that week and then went in the studio the following week and recorded it.

His lyrics totally blew me away. I picked up a lyric and it was Billericay Dickey. And Clever Trevor. And I thought “this is something else”.

He was talking to me, sitting at the table, and until then, he hadn’t got up. I said: “Ian, I’ll just ask you, your head looks so big for your body, what’s going on!” [laughs]. And he said: “It’s because I’ve got polio” and he took his T-shirt off and said “look”. And I said: “Oh right, I get it now.”

But he was fantastic. He always said: “There’s nothing wrong with my head. I might be physically handicapped, but that’s it.” And there wasn’t. My God, he was a genius really.

PA: Is it right that the last Blockheads’ gig at the London Palladium?

NW-R: Yes. It was one of Ian’s dreams. He always wanted to play the London Palladium on a Sunday night. And that was his last gig with us. We did Sunday night at the London Palladium. We had Kirsty MacColl supporting us. And a magician! Ian wanted the magician because it was Sunday night at the London Palladium. That was in February 2000.

We did have more gigs lined up at the end of March, or beginning of April. So he was having a month off. And the plan was in April to come back and do some more. But unfortunately he died on the 27th.

PA: How did you hear about his death?

NW-R: It was either [Blockhead] Micky Gallagher, or Sophie [Tilson, Dury’s second wife], rung me and said: “He’s gone.” But we knew it was coming.

PA: Did you see the film about him starring Andy Serkis?

NW-R: I did. And Andy did a fantastic job. But [for the film] to go out under Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll most people thought it was going to be about Ian on the road with the band. Which I would have liked it to have been. But it was a drama about Ian’s personal life.

There were a few things that didn’t sit well with me. [Dury’s girlfriend] Denise was kind of referred to as the groupie. Denise was around for a long time with Ian. And Ian and his wife had kind of, you know, split up by then.

When everyone left that film they kind of saw Ian... it was like, a bit dark. I would have wanted them to come away realising what a great lyricist he was and how many great songs he left that have now become classics.

PA: Regarding your recent gigs with Wilko, does it feel more special now going on stage now that he has had terminal cancer diagnosed?

NW-R: Yes. Recently someone said to me “You’ve been in the business a long time, you’ve played with so many people, is there anyone you still dream of playing with?” and I said: “Yeah, Wilko next year.” He's amazed he’s still feeling OK at the moment, because he was told at Christmas six to eight months [to live]. And this is now the 10th month and he’s still feeling OK.

PA: From what I’ve read in interviews recently he seems to be taking it with quite a lot of humour.

NW-R: Yeah, he’s an amazing guy. He was saying to me last week “I’m a bit past my sell-by date now, surely!”. But he thought, rather than sit around and do nothing he’d rather carry on doing what he loves.

PA: Do you get a lump in your throat when you’re up there playing with him?

NW-R: I’m wondering “is this the last one?” And after every one I’m saying “I hope there’s another one”. And so far, touch wood, there has been.

PA: With the solo work, who is in your current band?

NW-R: I’ve got Asaf Sirkis on drums. Frank Harrison on keyboards. And Gilad on sax. And me on bass. It’s basically a four-piece. But there’ll be occasionally guests turning up [for the live shows]. In fact Wilko has said if he still feels OK he wants to come on some of the gigs as well. So that’ll be great.

PA: So he might be down at the Half Moon?

NW-R: I’m hoping so yeah. It’s only the second week of the tour, it’s not that far away, so I’ll definitely get him down there.

In the live set I’m doing, as well as the album, I’m doing a few Blockheads’ songs and a few Wilko songs. Only they are different interpretations with this band. Some are semi instrumental and things like that.

PA: So it’s a more jazzy feel to the songs?

NW-R: That’s my influence. The people who come and see me with Wilko and the Blockheads know I love jazz. I dabble in it.

PA: Is it true you played on the Frankie Goes to Hollywood song Relax?

NW-R: That’s right yeah. [Producer] Trevor Horn asked me and Charlie to come down. He had one song he wanted to do.

Funnily enough I’d met Holly [Johnson] about three weeks earlier. Him and Paul [Rutherford] were offered to come down to London by Trevor Horn but without the band.

So he was saying “What do you think we should do?” and I said well if he brings the band down he’s going to have to keep the band in the studio for a week. With session guys you’ll do it in a day.

And then a few weeks later I got a call from Trevor on a Saturday morning saying could I get down to ZTT and bring Charlie. So we went down there and Holly and Paul were sitting there. And it was Relax. And we actually did Two Tribes as well that afternoon.

All the playing was sampled into Trevor’s Fairlight synthesizer.

PA: How did you originally choose the bass as an instrument?

NW-R: I started out as a rhythm guitarist when I was 11 or 12. Me and my brother had a little band, a school band. One of my brother’s friends had just left school and had got a job so he was earning a wage. My brother said to him “If you buy the bass and amp in the music shop in the town centre you can join our band”.

So the next day he came to the rehearsal with the bass and the amp. But the only thing my brother forgot to ask him was whether he could play or not. So he joined the band and he couldn’t play.

So I gave him some very simple lines on the bass to practise, and so he went home. And a week later he came back and he threw the bass down and said “I’m leaving the band, you can keep the bass”. And he had huge blisters on his fingers [laughs].

I wanted to move on to something other than rhythm guitar so I started playing bass.

PA: Do you still love performing?

NW-R: Oh yeah, it’s a joy. I mean, what a way to make a living, let’s be honest. I’ve been round the world so many times. I wouldn’t have been able to afford to go to these places. I get taken there, looked after, and paid. All because you can play an instrument. It’s fantastic.

Norman Watt-Roy; Half Moon, Putney; Thursday, October 24; 8pm; visit halfmoon.co.uk or call 020 8780 9383 for ticket information.

For more from Norman Watt-Roy see this week’s Wandsworth Guardian (October 17).