Trevor Newnham - Bassist with The Illegal Eagles

Mark: 0:02

Hi, I'm Mark, and welcome to Talk to the Band, the podcast that is passionate about contemporary music. Our guest this week is a UK bass player and vocalist. His performance and recording credits include Sir Cliff Richard, Dr. Hook, Mary Wilson's Supremes, The Foundations, Jimmy James and The Vagabonds, and many more. He's also played on West End and Touring shows such as Mamma Mia, Grease, and Dancing in the Street, but he's probably best known as the bass guitarist and vocalist with the Illegal Eagles. A warm welcome to Trevor Newnham. Hi, Trevor, welcome to the show.

Trevor Newnham: 0:41

Thank you for having me. Nice to be here.

Mark: 0:44

Born and raised in Hornchurch Essex, Trev started playing drums while at secondary school, because his best friend John had a drum kit and a music room in his garden. John soon tired of Trev denting his heads so he suggested he learn bass guitar so they could both form a band together. When his parents bought him a Marlin Sidewinder bass and a Laney Linebacker amp, Trev the bass player was born and the neighbours were annoyed.

Trevor Newnham: 1:07

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

Mark: 1:09

I love that, how true is that?

Trevor Newnham: 1:11

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

Mark: 1:24

Really?

Trevor Newnham: 1:24

Yeah, I used to copy from him in the music lesson because he was clever, he was having proper drum lessons with Bob Armstrong and his dad was a builder, so he built him a studio bit like the one we're sitting in now. And it was great, used to go around there all the time. And, I'd go let's have a go on your kit, I've been watching you, I know what I'm doing now, let's have a go. And I did, and I did some kind of awful Tom fill and dented his heads and he went "You're not playing it!". But the video he showed me was Level 42.

Mark: 1:52

Yep.

Trevor Newnham: 1:52

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

Mark: 1:55

Yes.

Trevor Newnham: 1:55

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

Mark: 2:02

So he set the bar low for you?

Trevor Newnham: 2:04

Yeah, exactly that. I thought oh there's nothing to it! I borrowed the school bass which was horrible. It was a Hondo which, I saw another one in a music shop and had to buy it for 60 quid and I didn't even have a strap, I had a bit a bit of string that I found. I used to have welts on my shoulder from the old thing. My dad bought me that Marlin Sidewinder and that was it. Funnily enough, I found a picture of me, John and the keyboard player Neil Godfrey who was in that school band, doing our first gig when we were 15, in, McDonald's in Dagenham. But yeah, our first gig was McDonald's and John's dad had to get his tools out the van and unbolt the toadstools in the kids area, so we could set our gear up. It's a true story. We got paid in a Big Mac meal, and had to pay for the milkshake, we had to pay to upgrade. Our second gig was a Chinese restaurant.

Mark: 2:48

Was it?

Trevor Newnham: 2:49

It's a true story yeah.

Mark: 2:50

How old were you then?

Trevor Newnham: 2:51

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

Mark: 2:58

So did you already, at that stage, have an inkling that you wanted to do music?

Trevor Newnham: 3:02

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

Mark: 3:04

Right

Trevor Newnham: 3:04

I was football crazy. And then when I got a bass and got kind of, into Level 42 and then Toto and then other stuff afterwards, I thought that's its, Football's gone, I don't want to do that anymore Dad, I want to be a musician.

Mark: 3:15

How was your Dad about that.

Trevor Newnham: 3:17

Eh? Oh, Blimey was the cleaned up version of what he said. You know what, he was great about it. Because when I finished Sixth form college after being there for two years, I said "That's it, I just want to 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: 3:33

Yeah.

Trevor Newnham: 3:33

So he said find a course. So I was doing some voluntary stuff in the Arts Council for Havering and helping out with some events, and a woman there Chris Cole, she kind of helped me get into Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design. Where I did arts administration. So that was cool, kind of learning how to write contracts and set up events.

Mark: 3:53

Yeah.

Trevor Newnham: 3:53

And that was fantastic, so I went and did that for a few years in Bournemouth. 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 then joined pub bands.

Mark: 4:03

Yeah

Trevor Newnham: 4:03

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

Mark: 4:09

Yeah, yes very well.

Trevor Newnham: 4:10

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

Mark: 4:30

Yeah

Trevor Newnham: 4:31

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

Mark: 4:56

So where did it go from there?

Trevor Newnham: 4:58

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

Mark: 5:11

Yeah

Trevor Newnham: 5:12

We went right, what are we going to do? So we're going to cobble a PA togther. Terry Short didn't want to do it on drums so, me, and the keyboard player Steve got another guitarist, another drummer in. Formed another band called Second Nature, for the only reason we had that name is because he already had 200 posters printed from an old band that never did anything. (laugh). We managed to claw some gigs back in, and me and Steve took over the vocal duties really badly at the start, but that was how I learned to sing.

Mark: 5:36

Yeah

Trevor Newnham: 5:36

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

Mark: 5:52

Right

Trevor Newnham: 5:52

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

Mark: 5:54

So how old were you when you start playing with The Foundations?

Trevor Newnham: 5:57

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

Mark: 6:01

Yeah

Trevor Newnham: 6:01

Yeah, and Clem the singer made me step forward on, on the first gig. It was on The Pride of Bilbao, that, boat that goes across, and then of a weekend it only goes to Calais, it does the booze cruise thing. And so we were on that for about three 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 the restaurants and stuff, it was fantastic, really good, getting paid in food again you see. And then, on the gig he said "Ladies and gentlemen, you gonna meet my new bass player". Even though I was only depping, and then he made me stand forward and "He's gonna do the splits". (laugh) Oh man! And that was my first lesson in always be wary of the singer.

Mark: 6:38

Yeah

Trevor Newnham: 6:39

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

Mark: 6:41

Mm mm.

Trevor Newnham: 6:43

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

Mark: 6:53

Absolutely. I was looking down the list of some of the people you've played with. You've got Mary Wilson's Supremes. Did that come about because of The Foundations?

Trevor Newnham: 7:01

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

Mark: 7:08

Oh Okay

Trevor Newnham: 7:08

And I was depping for the bass player.

Mark: 7:10

So how did you get into that?

Trevor Newnham: 7:11

The drummer put me forward. It was another local boy funny enough who lives around the corner, Lee Morris, he's a great drummer. He was doing a lot of shows, he put me forward for it. So I went in and depped for the guy, and he never paid me, but, I got the tour out of 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 Anniversary party, they flew us out to Berlin to do that, with the whole show and it was fantastic. And then someone came around, giving us parts, sheet music. You know? Yeah, cheers, what's this? And they went, well you're backing, Mary from the Supremes. We went "what?" (Laughing) No one told us, because they knew that if they told us, we'd ask to be paid for it.

Mark: 7:51

Yeah.

Trevor Newnham: 7:52

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 minutes later, we, we were backing her.

Mark: 7:58

Can you sight read?

Trevor Newnham: 7:59

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 like the other guys that went to music college and, or listened at school very much either. I was just too busy into kind of how good, how cool my bass looked, when I looked in the mirror, and playing the funkiest tunes that I could find. So, I had to kind of do it afterwards, which was a tough thing. And that's one thing I'd say to all young musicians now, is, get your head in the reading.

Mark: 8:25

Cliff Richard., so what did you do with Cliff Richard?

Trevor Newnham: 8:28

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

Mark: 8:35

Oh Okay.

Trevor Newnham: 8:35

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

Mark: 8:45

It was proper rock and roll.

Trevor Newnham: 8:46

You say yes though don't you?

Mark: 8:47

Of course you do.

Trevor Newnham: 8:47

So I said yes, and, the parts came through, about a week before. And they said right, get your head around the parts. You can have them on stage, but they've got to be low. Where's your gear? We're going to take your gear, we'll set it all up for you. I thought, Oh this is nice. And then just as, the driver was pulling away, he went "It's going to be live on Sky Sports!" Sorry, I didn't hear you. It sounded like you said it's gonna be live on Sky Sports. He went "Yeah, see ya!". And he went, so I had a week to kind of sweat, and just got my nut down, got my head in the tunes and got it sorted. And then it was at the National Indoor arena, what he used to do once a year, he'd get 10,000 of his top fans in the National Indoor Arena. Tennis Court in the middle. Played tennis with Celebs all day. And then in the evening, just do like a, short gig, and it was all on Sky Sports or Sky Sports 3 or something like that, and it went out on Boxing Day. And it was amazing. And Cliff came in for 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 thought Oh no, here we go, he don't even know he's got a dep. And then he went around and said hello to his band and he was really lovely. He come over and said "Hello Trev, how are you? I've heard a lot about you". And I could have said no you're lying because I know you just asked him my name. But he was absolutely lovely.

Mark: 9:58

But the fact he even come over and, he didn't have to do that did he?

Trevor Newnham: 10:00

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

Mark: 10:15

(Laughing)

Trevor Newnham: 10:16

Sorry about the impression. (both laughing). And everyone went "Yeah, yeah, it sounds 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 oh no, and he turned around and said "Only joking. Sounds great". (Laughs) I looked at the drummer as if to you didn't say that. He kind of looked back as if to say yeah, I'm telling everyone. (laughing). He was cool as a cucumber. Cool.

Mark: 10:42

Yeah?

Trevor Newnham: 10:42

Pitch Perfect as well. Really good.

Mark: 10:45

So, you've got Dr. Hook down as well?

Trevor Newnham: 10:48

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

Mark: 11:09

No

Trevor Newnham: 11:09

He said Dr. Hook, the proper lead singer of Dr Hook. Not the one with the eye patch, the one that does all the singing. Dr Hook and Bread, were the albums that my, that I remember my dad having out, all the time on the old thing where you used to lift the glass up and put the LP on. And I thought Dad's gonna love this. So I went fantastic, that's proper songs. He says "Yeah", so I thought nothing of it and put the phone down. Literally an hour later, the phone rang, and it was John Marr, who was the MD of Thriller Live in the West End. Who met again, through Dancing in the Streets. 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 player and a backing vocal, that they needed. And because I sing BVs pretty strong, well they said "Well Trevor will do both". That's why I got the call. Also I'd like to think I'm quite funky on the bass as well. (laugh) But let's be honest, anyone else could have done it, but I got the call because of that. I said "Yeah, cool. Where is it" thinking it's just gonna be like, the usual kind of UK theatres or something. He said, well we've got a month in Australia, and then you come back for a couple of months, and then we've got three weeks in New Zealand, and then there's a couple of European festivals.

Mark: 12:12

Very nice.

Trevor Newnham: 12:13

I went Yes, I'm in.

Mark: 12:15

That must have been pretty awesome?

Trevor Newnham: 12:16

It was amazing. Because the songs are great. And Dennis Locorriere, if anyone doesn't know Dennis and Dr Hook, the whole back catalogue, go and check it out, because he sings now, exactly as he as he did then. And there's a song called 'Sylvia's Mother'. He sounds so fragile on the record, and he recreates that every night. And I used to be standing on stage going "He, he sounds so fragile, his voice is gonna break" and it never does, it's just full of emotion,.it was amazing. But then you got the flip side when you got the latest stuff like 'Sexy Eyes' and 'When you're in love with a beautiful woman' and that kind of thing.

Mark: 12:51

Yeah, that's how I come across them.

Trevor Newnham: 12:53

Yeah.

Mark: 12:53

Yeah

Trevor Newnham: 12:53

The more pop-y stuff?

Mark: 12:54

Yeah, 'Cover of the'....

Trevor Newnham: 12:56

'Cover of a Rolling Stone'

Mark: 12:57

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

Trevor Newnham: 12:59

(Laugh) That was it, that was the opening. We used to go on and rock out to that and then he'd come on. It is one of those bands that you go "Oh they did this! Oh this one as well". It's just incredible. 'Better Love Next Time Baby' was the was the one for me. It's a great song, great BVs on it, because there were four or five of us on stage singing BVs, so the vocals were close. But the bass is so groovy on that, that's my favourite song and he was wicked. He was great. And we got looked after, do you know what I mean?

Mark: 13:22

Yeah I can imagine. They're another one of those bands that never got the success that they were due really

Trevor Newnham: 13:26

No, well they were, they were a bar band. And they started out just kind of playing rock stuff, he's a great storyteller on stage as well, he's a fantastic storyteller. He was telling this great story when they were in a bar and they playing, they were just jamming whatever it was. 'Freebird' or something like that, going on for like 20 minutes. And, some guy come up with a nose, kind of folded over his face and tattoos 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 the road with Kiss and Alice Cooper, supporting them. But he remembers saying that, Kiss and Alice Cooper had planes. So they'd finish their set.

Mark: 14:08

Yeah

Trevor Newnham: 14:08

And then they'd party, and then they'd fall asleep on their jet, and then wake up in the next town. And he said, we finished our set, and all we had was a rental car. So we had to just say goodnight. Get in the car and drive like crazy. He said, and most of the time we made the next show. It's fantastic. 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?

Trevor Newnham: 14:30

Yeah, it would be rude not to.

Mark: 14:33

21 plus years they've been going?

Trevor Newnham: 14:35

22 plus this year. Yeah. Yeah, Phil Aldridge was the original Drummer, he had a studio called Nightflyers Studios in Southend. And him and a few of the other guys went to see, The Eagles do their 'Hell Freezes Over' tour when they reunited because The Eagles broke up for 14 years didn't they? They didn't break up, they said they had a holiday for 14 years. They got back together and they come over and did Wembley and he went saw that and went, every song's a winner. It's like you said about Dr. Hook, every song's a winner. And you go "Oh that one, oh that one, oh that one!" and he said to a few mates, we need to get back together and just play this stuff. So they did. They started doing local clubs and stuff like that and, and then theatres and, it's been going ever since.

Mark: 15:12

So when did you join?

Trevor Newnham: 15:14

I think four years ago. Yeah, it got to the point where, Dr Hook wanted me to go out again, and do another chunk of the Timeless World Tour. And then Al Vosper, guitarist friend of mine said, look, this gig's coming up. You'd be great for it because you sing and you play bass. And it was just, it's just one of those things where, I love to do Hook, but they've only got like 30 shows, although they're lovely and they're all over the world. And the Illegals had, more work, and it was close at home, I didn't really want to be away from the family anymore because Rocco was like one at a time. Just approaching one. And it's the Eagles man, great songs. And it's, it's funny because I was jumping from one base and BV gig straight into another. But the other thing with the Illegals, I get to sing a couple of lead vocals on it as well, so it was more of a challenge. Do you know what? Every member of the Illegal Eagles has been an absolute monster player and/or singer. But I think the chemistry of the bunch that are together now, it's just fantastic. Because it's never boring on stage. And people always say "Do you get bored playing the same songs every night?" And I say, well one, it's The Eagles, no! And two, these guys are amazing, and they'll just do something slightly different, not getting away from the tracks, but just something slightly different or, grin in a different place, and it's just, it's just a great chemistry between the whole band, it's fantastic to be part of that.

Mark: 16:37

Is there the temptation ever to, tweak things a little bit?

Trevor Newnham: 16:40

You know what? There there was in the early days, and I even, again, voiced the idea "Why don't we segue a couple of the songs together? And it's like, no, let's just do it like The Eagles do. And one thing for me, it's not a taxing Bass part that gig, but it's a taxing vocal part to slot your harmony in. And it's just really interesting, because we all go on stage trying to get it right, where a lot of bands, especially tribute bands, kind of may just put a check shirt on and go right we're The Eagles and then just bash through the tunes. We don't, we're trying to recreate it, accurately. So we try not to put anything in, unless we've heard a live version somewhere, live in Monserrat or something, that only 30 people attended. Oh he did a different base lick there, that's going in tomorrow night. Like The Eagles and Stevie Wonder, why would anyone trying and change that, or embellish that? Because it's The Eagles and Stevie Wonder

Mark: 17:31

Well talking of Stevie Wonder. Last time I met you, you were down Basildon Studios, and you were getting your Stevie Wonder show togther.

Trevor Newnham: 17:38

Yeah, I was producing the show together.

Mark: 17:40

So what's happened with that?

Trevor Newnham: 17:41

It was fantastic, we did a few shows with that. A few theatres, they were really well attended, it went down really well. It was kind of a testbed really, the first few dates, and we were looking at tour for 2020 and we had theatres in the book and then this hit (Covid 19), so it got shelved. That was Lee Morris, who's a drummer I've mentioned before that lives around the corner. It was kind of thing for us, because we had another show called 'Queen's of Country' which was good.

Mark: 18:03

That's with your wife Sarah, isn't it?

Trevor Newnham: 18:04

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

Mark: 18:11

Yeah.

Trevor Newnham: 18:12

We thought, what would be easy to sell, we kinda went through the list, and then we both looked at each other and went "Stevie!" And then we went "But we need to find something that we want to play as well.....Stevie!" That was it! And then that, we then just made a list of all of the Stevie tunes and went "How do we get that into two hours? What do you leave out of a Stevie gig?" So it was then a case of whittling it down. And even from the first rehearsals just playing through those tunes was like, "Stevie!"! It's wicked! It's really good! So for a while I was juggling The 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 their lifetime. What would it be and why?

Trevor Newnham: 19:04

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

Mark: 19:21

Nice plug! (both laughing)

Trevor Newnham: 19:24

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

Mark: 19:29

Wow. Value for money.

Trevor Newnham: 19:30

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?

Trevor Newnham: 19:36

Available from IllegalEagles.com

Mark: 19:40

He's such a pro!. (Both laughing) What artists and albums are you currently listening to?

Trevor Newnham: 19:46

Oh, there's a band that Christian Phillips, the lead guitarist and vocalist in the Illegal Eagles put me on to, the Brothers Landreth. And I think the album's called 'Let it Lie'. It's just fantastic. Just a great kind of, straight down the middle, kind of rock and roll-y, swampy, bluesy, funky band. But, Joey Landreth's a monster guitarist, monster guitarist. So check out the Brothers Landreth

Mark: 20:12

Name a musician who has had a profound effect on you, and tell us why?

Trevor Newnham: 20:18

You know what? There's, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go local, and I'm gonna go overall. Local guy, we mentioned him earlier, Terry Newman, was the first kind of pub band that I got in, because he kind of took me under his wing because I could play slap stuff, but I was green as you like. I knew Level 42. And when I went to audition at his house, he says "Right, what do you know?" I said "Level 42". "So what else do you know?" "Johnny be Goode". "So what else do you know?" I went "More Level 42 or Johnny be Goode again, or one Roachford song" which I sang. And he said "No, no, you'll be alright, you'll be alright". And he saw something in me, and so he said "Alright, okay, you're cool." So next thing I know, I've got like three or four gigs a weekend, and I was coming back from from college. And he was really cool, he used to kind of pull me to one side and go "Go listen to this, go listen to that". And he'd pass me like a Michael McDonald album or a live Steely Dan tape or, it was something every time. "You'd sing this great, aw this would really suit your voice, listen to these harmonies", 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. But he didn't do it in a kind of condescending way on stage. Do you know what I mean? On stage, he would kind of look at you as an equal, but offstage he really kind of helped shape me so, and I, I think I've told Terry that he did a lot for me, but hopefully he'll listen to this?

Mark: 21:33

I'm sure he will

Trevor Newnham: 21:34

You never really know. But the overall, is Mark King from Level 42, because I learned to play base by listening to Mark King. And I was an absolute freak for Level 42. I bought a Westone Thunder bass because it was symmetrical in shape, like his Alembic, but about two and a half grand cheaper. And I used to walk around, with with tape around my thumb like he did as well. And I had a Saturday job in Romford, in a sport shop called Ted Ditchburns. And outside in that part of the market was the Antiques Market, and there was a second hand record stall. And I used 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". He said "Unless you don't mind cassette?" And we're going back to 1989 now, so I say "No, no, casette's fine". He said "Are you interested in any live stuff at all?" I went "Yeah". He said "Live stuff, that's kind of not on the market?" "Yeah!" And he bent down and he lifted up this bread crate, and he knew someone, who was in the crew for their tour. And there was, they were recording every night, on the road, just a desk recording, so it wasn't mixing anything. So there it was, it was like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and I went and got a sub on my wages and went "How much will that get me?" He said "You'll get a week and a half". And so I literally got that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I got a week and a half consecutively, and listened to every tape, and you can hear slight differences in solos, you can hear the bum notes and stuff like that. And I learnt it all., and that was how I learnt to play bass. And it was only after when I joined, Terry Newman, he said you got to 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 starting out. What advice would you give to your younger self then?

Trevor Newnham: 23:16

I love this question, and I, I use this a lot with my students who are struggling with confidence and, and how they're playing, Another trick I do especially, with bass students is, turn your bass upside down. And now try and play that exercise, "Well it's upside down, I can't play anything!" I say right, turn it back. See, yeah, you're actually pretty good aren't you? That's what you were like when you started. Now, that's what you' are now. And the other one I do is, write to your, your younger self. And I'd say, listen in school, listen in school more, because we all go through school thinking, unless you're one of the clever ones in the top set, we all go through school thinking "I ain't going to use any of this", and learn to read music. Learn to read music early on. Because I didn't, and I shied away from it because I was scared of music and music theory. And, and I wish I knew that quicker. I didn't have the foresight to think, you're going to, you're going to need to get your head around this stuff because, you're going to need it if you want to do this as a job. I still thought being a musician was standing on the stage and looking pretty. In hindsight now, and talking to my younger self, I'd say "Polish your football boots" (laugh) because they were horrendous and, and listen, and learn to read. And that's one thing I say to, to loads of kids. We had some, some guest artists over, from the States, a band called The Yellow Jackets. They were playing Ronnie Scott's and we were at the academy, and I had a bit of a budget and so I, I emailed their manager, might have even faxed then, it might have been faxed. I said "Look, they're playing Ronnie's. Would they come? I've seen they did a chat at the MI in New York or wherever, or LA. Would they come and do a chat with us?" And they said yeah they'd do it for this or whatever, and they just wanted pocket money to do it. So we get them in. And I'm going round to the students saying The Yellow Jackets are coming in, and they're going "Who are they?" They're expecting a load of geezers to come in yellow coats, I think, the yellow jackets. I went "No, these are cool, and you might not get it because you're a Rock 'n' Rolle, but you want to check this out 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. And they, and they all came in and they were nice as pie. And then I remember I primed a couple of students with questions, because I thought if they open it to questions, and I've asked them to do that, I knew, I know there's gonna be someone who goes "What football team do you support?", do you know what I mean? You're gonna get something like that! So I primed a couple of questions. One of them was "Is it important to read music?" Because then, if the kids hear it from someone else, rather than me and rest of the staff, they might, they might go "Oh, actually, it's quite important". And Russ Ferrante, the keys player, who is a monster musician, said, "Yes, it's really important". He said, "Put it this way" he said, "I'm not a great reader", and the rest of the band looked at him, as if to say "You're a monster reader" and he kind of looked back as if to say "Shut up, we're in front of students". He went, "I'm not the greatest reader. I'm definitely the weakest reader in the 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) But those that got it, we're like "Ah right ok", and then Jimmy haslip leaned into his microphone and went, "I got it". (laugh) Fantastic. So yeah, learn to read music, listen, be humble. I think I've done alright really, I've always kind of played with a smile on my face. Because I've always been really pleased, to get to this level and sustain it. It's a dream to be able to make music as my living. So I'm kind of humble, but I see people around me sometimes, who aren't. And also be aware of what's gone into putting some of these gigs and tours and shows on. When you walk into a hotel room if there's not a bottle of water there 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 to this gig.

Mark: 26:49

Yeah.

Trevor Newnham: 26:49

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 show that is really memorable, whether it's for good or bad reasons?

Trevor Newnham: 27:01

I don't think I've had any horrendous ones, I must have done. I mean. I've been 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, as soon as we were playing, if it kicked off, as soon as the first punche was thrown. We'd go, 'Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting". (both laugh) Straight into that.

Mark: 27:24

Yeah

Trevor Newnham: 27:24

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

Mark: 27:30

Yeah.

Trevor Newnham: 27:31

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 called Napier, and because they had a history of earthquakes, in the 20s, they had these huge earthquakes. So when they rebuilt, a lot of the towns, they only built them single or double stories. So this place Napier, there's no littering, there's very little crime, and there's not even a lot of people there. They've got a lovely theatre there, it was fantastic, everyone was lovely. You're walking around and it's like you're on the set of 'Back to the Future'. There's all these Art Deco buildings everywhere, all single level and these old cars driving around. And I told my dad about it, when I got home from tour and he went, "That was your granddad's favourite place. He was in the merchant navy. And his favourite place in the whole world, was a little town called Napier". And he said he only ever told me, me and my Nan. Well my Dad and my Nan. I didn't know.

Mark: 28:22

Incredible

Trevor Newnham: 28:23

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

Mark: 28:34

Oh Trevor, it's been great. Thanks so much.

Trevor Newnham: 28:36

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 for being on the show. It's been a pleasure. And of course a big thank you to you, our listeners. Our guest next week, is a musician who started out playing guitar with Alison Moyet, before joining The Plan with Vince Clarke, and then forming the band French Look, with Vince and Martin gore from Depeche Mode. He was later in a band called Film Noir, with Perry Bamonte from The Cure. And then in 1982, he recorded the solo album 'The Peter Pan Effect', which featured the single 'The Face of Dorian Grey'. If you'd like to find out more, you're gonna have to join us next week. Take care