speaker-1: So here we are on another episode of A Square Peg in a Round Hole and I'd like to welcome my colleague and friend, Andy Maycock. Welcome Andy. Hello.
speaker-0: Hello.
speaker-1: Andy is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and he is a professional double bass player, a conductor. and has over 35 years experience across musical theatre, orchestral performance and instrumental vocal education. He toured in A Phantom of the Opera, Disney's Beauty of the Beast, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, She Loves Me, Salad Days. He was part of the London Film Orchestra, Graff Orchestra of England and Sounds Familiar. He is also conducted and he has also been a pub landlord and rescues greyhounds. There are square pegs aplenty.
speaker-0: So Thank you so much. It's great to see you. You know, we've been friends for a long, long time.
speaker-1: We have, yes, we do have a few anecdotes as well, which I'm sure you'll be delighted to share. So we're gonna start right at the beginning. Was it a given that you would become a musician? I mean, who steered you in that direction?
speaker-0: No, it certainly wasn't. I come from a very sort of working class background. I was fortunate to go to Brox Hill Primary School where we had the most amazing deputy head, Mrs. Paul, who was absolutely music mad. And I think I remember I was five, six years old, and everybody had the chance to play an instrument, you know. It was in the good old days where she'd sort of bring along a trolley and you'd grab an instrument to play. And I started on the clarinet. You know, I wasn't very good. and then I remember one day I went into to school and she said Andy Maycock, we bought a double bass, she said, and you're the tallest in the school, so you're gonna play it. And so that's what happened, you know. So I this huge instrument. You know, when I was six years old and I started playing it and do you know what? It felt right. It just felt right.
speaker-1: connected with it straight away.
speaker-0: Straight away. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember I'll go home to my mum and dad and saying, I'm learning a musical instrument at school. And I said, and and of course the teacher had said to me, You've got to do at least 20 minutes practice a day. I mean, could you imagine saying that now? and my mum said, Okay, if you're gonna learn an instrument, then you'll do 20 minutes practice a day. But you know what? I actually did file more than twenty minutes a day 'cause I loved it so much.
speaker-1: That's very good.
speaker-0: I remember the great Eric Pinkett who started the Leish School of Music. I was rehears I was practicing in the school library at Brox Hill Primary School and I had no idea who this guy was. And he walked through and I was just practicing, you know, I was seven years old, I think six or seven years old. And he tapped me on the shoulder and he went, Junior Orchestra, Saturday mornings, starting next week That's how it all happened. That's how it all
speaker-1: Do you think you were a natural? Do you think you were a naturally musical?
speaker-0: Yeah. I never had to work. It came very, very easily.
speaker-1: The thing is that not having to work, that not having to work has its disadvantages though, doesn't it?
speaker-0: Surely it does, but I d no, it came very naturally. I didn't I didn't find you know, obviously when it came to technical stuff I had to do some work, but being a musician playing came very easily. Very easily indeed. Yeah.
speaker-1: Who was your most influential music teacher?
speaker-0: Mrs. Paul. In fact, I can tell you a little bit of story. Was that so fast forward forty years and I was playing I I got asked to play at North Kilworth Hotel and I was playing for their Christmas concert and we started and someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, are you Andy Maycock that went to Prox Hill Primary School. And I said, Yeah. And she said, and he said to me, Beatrice Poole is sitting behind you. And I was like, my God. So this is the person that started me on this journey. And she saw that evening me as a professional musician. So she's, yeah, it was quite crazy. And after I'd finished playing, I couldn't wait. I kept thinking about it all the time. And I thought, I've got to go and say, I've got to speak to her. And went up to me and she stood up and I It's all your bloody fault. This is happened.
speaker-1: So I'm now intrigued, the gap between you learning to play the instrument and becoming professional. Did you have to take a proper job before you embarked on your professional career by going to music college? Did you feel shoehorned into doing a proper job?
speaker-0: No, I didn't 'cause I j I sort of went through the Leicester School of Music and which in in those days was an amazing thing. My my my parents could never have afforded to pay for music lessons. You know. Yeah. And so I had three lessons. the orchestras on a Saturday mornings, we were busting, that was all free. and so I went through that system until I got to about seventeen, eighteen. And then I auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music and got in. So I went straight into the Royal Academy of Music. And then what I did do when I got there was get a job at the barbecue. so I needed to get some money together. And I chose the barbecue because you got dinner before you saw. So it was a double whammy, you know. But no, I didn't get a job. I mean I I did bar jobs and stuff like that. But no, I went straight into the Royal Academy and then went straight through yeah.
speaker-1: Did you enjoy the Royal Academy?
speaker-0: No.
speaker-1: Okay, you have mentioned that to me. Why? Okay.
speaker-0: It was a huge mistake. It was a huge mistake. i it was a world that I didn't know or understand. I knew I was talented, I knew I was very good at what I did. The first day I got there and there was this like dreadful meet people with a cup of tea and a rich tea biscuit and I thought I had nothing in common with these people at all. I didn't even know what they were talking about. Everything was different. You know, this wasn't I wasn't used to this. And i it's quite interesting because I thought at the time I've got to get out of here and I couldn't. Because my parents were so proud and I how could I let them down? How to
speaker-1: Do you think at that time the gap between being in your situation and going to the Royal Academy, it's like, you meet this what considered to be elitist. Did it feel elitist when you
speaker-0: I was just literally, you know, d a square pegging around hole. I mean I was I d I was out of my depth. I knew I could play. There was no doubt about that. But it was the whole social scene that was wrong. I didn't understand how these people talk. I didn't it was just anathema to me. I just I just found it so very, very difficult. And I really wanted to leave the first day I got there. So I mean Saying that, I mean, I did get a lot out of it. I had some great tuition. You know, I had great experience. Could I have done that privately without going to that? Yeah, one thing I will say is that the Royal saying that you've gone to the Royal Academy of Music opened doors. It and it still does. You know, so there is that, but no, I made a it wasn't the right place for me. And also, really importantly. Although I was a good classical musician, that's not what I wanted to do. I love musical theatre. And you g if you're going back to when I went, which was in '84, there my goodness me, there wasn't a musical theatre course, there wasn't a jazz course. There was opera orchestra, symphony orchestra, that's all you had. And you couldn't go anywhere else. And yeah, I remember I won a a burs through to sing The Dream of Drontias. huge choral work by Elgar. And only in the ensemble. And and it was a huge thing. It was Dame Janet Baker, Robert Tears, Stephen Varko as a soloist. And I had to ask permission from the Academy to do that. And it said in the programme I was mortified, it Andy Bacock appears. By kind permission of Sir David Lumsden from the Royal Academy of Music.
speaker-1: Really?
speaker-0: That's how bl that's how focused it was.
speaker-1: So it's so much like you belonged to them.
speaker-0: Yeah yeah one hundred percent. More than hundred percent. That's quite interesting. So when I auditioned at the academy, I auditioned as a double bass player and I needed a second study. Well I played the piano, but also I sang. And I sang, and then they sent me for a first audition first study as a singer. So it's all a bit confusing. And so basically I was accepted at the academy as a joint first study. So I studied double bass and singing. And piano was my second study. So I was quite fortunate. I mean, it was quite unusual in those days to get a joint first study.
speaker-1: You're sort of like a lot of square pegs, but multi-talented all in one go.
speaker-0: Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. Triple
speaker-1: triple threat.
speaker-0: yeah, thinking what am I gonna do, where am I going? Yeah, I d I knew I didn't want to be at the academy. I knew that I wasn't a good enough singer to make it as a soloist. I knew I was a good bass player, but but it nothing seemed sort of quite right.
speaker-1: did you get into the West End? Because that's where you are happy. That's your happy place. How did you end up there?
speaker-0: This is a great story. so I graduated in eighteen eight, I think it was, and I got a job in a working men's club in Leicester. I needed the you know, I needed to make some money, you know, so I was working in the bar. And this is absolutely true. This is an absolute true story. I had a phone call and no mobiles. No mob mobiles. No
speaker-1: I remember those days.
speaker-0: payphone. And the boss came up and said to me, Andy, you've got a phone call. And I said, anyway, so took the phone call, and this guy at the end of the phone said, Hello, Andy, my name's Gavin Bryars. Now, Gavin Bryars is quite a well-known composer, lives in Leicester and whatever. And I went, well, hello. And he said, I understand that you play the dual bass. He said, and I'm the fixer at the Les A Market Theatre. So I said, Okay. He said, I like I need a bass player for a show in ninety eight called The Snowman And he said, Would you be interested? And I thought, Well God almighty hold on. I spent four years training classically. What am I gonna So I said, Can I get back to you? So I said, Yeah, absolutely. So I rang my teacher up, this is absolutely true and I said, Rodney, I said, I've been offered a job. He said, it's fantastic, what is it? I said, I've been offered to play double bass in a show called The Snowman And he went, I haven't taught you for four years to play in a bloody show You're gonna be an orchestral musician. And I said, Yeah, okay. Anyway, so I rang Gabby and Bryce back and said, What's the money? And he told me, and I said, I'll be there on Monday. And you know what? This sort of links into loads of things you were probably gonna ask me, but the first day of rehearsal at the Haymarket was so important to me I had come home. I was in the
speaker-1: Yeah, did you meet your tribe?
speaker-0: It was just the right place to be. I knew I belonged there. Yeah. And I had the most happy seven, eight years of my entire career at that theatre. It was incredibly important. And it was such the it was so much the right thing to do. It was great. I loved every minute of it.
speaker-1: We're coming round to talk about the musical theatre again in a minute, but I want to go into how you became a pub landlord as well, because when did that happen?
speaker-0: That sort of happened
speaker-1: Is that after or before? I remember. After. well after. OK, well.
speaker-0: Well twenty we're going back we're going to twenty sixteen, twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen. And that was
speaker-1: So you were still on the West End at that point, weren't you?
speaker-0: I was just about. I saw sentence I from it.
speaker-1: Well, we'll go back. We'll come back to the pub landlord, right? So you're now working in musical theatre. So how did you end up from the Haymarket in the West End?
speaker-0: Okay, so I work with an MD called Robert Scott and we did Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the Haymarket and we got on really, well. And See, what was strange about me was that I was classically trained working in theatre. So I had a really good Boeing technique. I could play really good arco stuff, as they call it. So my Boeing was really good. Not usual in the West End. or any musical theatre thing. So anyway, so Robert did Seven Brothers, Seven Brothers. Then he asked me to go up to Liverpool to do Annie. You know, The Sun Will Come Out. Yeah. and that's another story. and then he rang me and I was actually driving, I remember I was on the M1. And he said, I've got a show in the West End called She Loves Me. And not the Beatles. You know, this is you know, She Loves Me. it was based on a a sh a play called The Perfumery on the Corner or something. And he said, I really want you to do it. And I said, my God. Okay. So this was I I can't even remember what it was now. And so I said, yeah. And again, I mean when the fixer rang me and told me what it was all about and what the money was, and I was like, my goodness me. And again, you know, I thought, Mike, this is me. This is just what I this is what I want to do. And it was incredible, it was an incredible experience. And so we had Ruthie Henschel playing Amelia, we had John Gordon Sinclair, Robert DeKaiser, and then of course Barry James, who
speaker-1: Of course.
speaker-0: eventually became my partner.
speaker-1: Yeah, we're going to get to him in a few minutes because obviously the legend. So you're in that and then you were in company as well with Sheila Gish.
speaker-0: my god. Yeah. Yeah. To be fair, I dept that. I dept that. But I did a lot of depping on that show. I mean that I think you came to see it, didn't you?
speaker-1: I did come and see it when you were playing, yes.
speaker-0: Was one of the most amazing things. Yeah. And you can still see that on BBC iPlayer. You can still see it.
speaker-1: I know, I know you can. Well worth a watch, Adrian Lester. Fantastic,
speaker-0: my god.
speaker-1: absolutely fantastic production. So let's go back to Barry then. How did you meet Barry?
speaker-0: I know Barry Anche loves me. You know, it was a very strange sort of situation. although I sort of sort of come out, if you like. I said, I ain't got a partner, and I was just, you know, just mincing along. And I Robert said to me, he said, There's somebody in the company that really likes you and he'd like to go out for a drink with you. And I said, you know. And so I used have a pint at the interval and stuff and and this chap kept appear keep appearing, you know. I thought what he keeps appearing for and then one day I said, you're Barry, you're in the show. He Yeah. He said that yeah, he said, Would you like to go out for a drink? And I said, Well, that'd be nice. Would you like to go for a meal as well? I said, Yeah, okay. And we sort of just really hit it off. And there's there's a a sad part of this because I was incredibly close to my grandfather, incredibly close. And sadly, he died. And I was doing the show and my mum rang me and said, I've got some really terrible news and I knew, you know. And I completely broke down, I lost it totally. And as I lost it, Barry literally walked out of the stage door. And we weren't together at this point. and he said to me, he said, Are you okay? And I said, Yeah and we were at the Savoy Theatre and he walked, we both walked from the Savoy to Chiswick that night. And he was just there for me and he was just amazing, supportive, and Yeah, and we sort of fell in love then really.
speaker-1: How many years have you been together?
speaker-0: thirty six.
speaker-1: That's incredible. That's brilliant. Did it change your, did it change you coming out? I mean, how hard was it to come out?
speaker-0: Incredibly incredibly hard. I mean I'd known I mean I I'd I'd been out with girls and I had really good relationships with girls. But I knew that things weren't right, something didn't feel right. But you know, you've got to remember we're going back to a time that was incredibly homophobic. Yeah. I used to sit and with my dad, you know, and Larry Grayson had come on and he'd go, fucking puff. Turn that puff off. You know, I was sitting there thinking, ooh. the problem is, you see, as a gay man, God, I bloody love Danny LaRoo and, you know, Larry Grayson, Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, you know, all the Barbers Rice. You know, and of course Dad would go, hooking pool, Cooking Aquiz. And that was really, really hard. I couldn't challenge that. I could but it's a generation thing. And I never ever actually came out to my parents. Ever. Yeah. No.
speaker-1: Didn't you? Okay.
speaker-0: I mean ironically, my dad loved Barry, adored him. But he was my friend. He was my mate.
speaker-1: It might have been easier for him just to think of it like that and not think of it as any...
speaker-0: 100% it was. And I always say to people, you should have been honest. Well, actually, no. Coming out to my parents would have made my relationship better with them, I'd have done it. And I knew it wouldn't. I knew it'd have made it worse. And also it actually in one way it's none of their business. I think one strives for acceptance, doesn't one? You know, you think you should accept it. And Although it was a struggle for me, I knew it wouldn't have made my relationship any better with my parents. It made it worse. Interestingly, my granddad knew. But then again, you know, he used to dress up as Shirley Bassie and give it large at the Working Men's Club. So you it was with his seven inside.
speaker-1: think you've touched on something there. You don't have to be accepted by everyone. And when you're older and wiser, it doesn't really bother me that I'm not accepted by everyone.
speaker-0: Absolutely. You know, you th you do think you sit there thinking you know, we're going back to a different time. You know, I think homosexuality was illegal until what was it, seventy something? You know, and I was a child of the sixties. And it it was all very, very difficult, you know, and you sort of you hid things that you had to hide.
speaker-1: I agree.
speaker-0: I mean, there's so many gay men that of a certain age that are married and then for a reason.
speaker-1: Yeah. That's
speaker-0: You know.
speaker-1: I mean, do you think things are better now?
speaker-0: I think they're getting worse again. Hmm. If I'm honest. I really just You know, there's still prejudice. Of course there is in anything, whether you're black, white, yellow, whatever. But it's really sort of quite difficult. i it it's really quite hard. I worry about the amount of homophobia there is still. I worry about I don't know, things that happen and you think this is this can't be right in this day and age, you know. I all all I've ever wanted to do is just get on with my life. I've never jumped on a float with spandex on waving a rainbow flag. Yeah. Yeah, I that's not what I'm about. I mean and people want to do that, that's fine. Yeah. I just want to get on with my life. I don't want to, you know, interview with anybody else, just let me just get on with it.
speaker-1: I think how you express yourself is a personal choice. How you exercise your creativity. Fascinating. Well, let's move on to, so you're on the West End and then How did you end up being a pub landlord?
speaker-0: Okay, so that was I had a music shop in Sandy, in Bedfordshire where I lived. the lease came up and we decided that we wouldn't renew the lease. So the shop next door came up and I opened a sweet shop.
speaker-1: I didn't know that!
speaker-0: that's a good job.
speaker-1: You opened a sweet shop!
speaker-0: Yeah, sweeties yeah, Andy's sweeties of Sandy. And it was great. It was lovely. And it it it sort of married into the fact that Barry was playing Grandpa Joe in Charlotte and Chocolate Factory. So we did lots of public publicity about that and all the rest of it. Anyhow. So I I ran that for about two or three years and then I sort of started to think about what could I do to do something which would help Barry in the fact that he wouldn't have to work all the time, you know, to do stuff. And I went into a a pub that was for sale and I liked it and ill advisedly I bought it.
speaker-1: Okay, ill-advisedly, it was a big...
speaker-0: it's a huge mistake. It's the worst thing I've ever done. Yeah.
speaker-1: Do you look at it as a mistake even now or can you not?
speaker-0: Okay. we b
speaker-1: What happened?
speaker-0: went bankrupt. Hmm. We lost everything. Yeah. So we we had it for a year. I'd invested everything we had and it went as belly up as it could go belly up.
speaker-1: Can I mention that you, when I've been on tour with you and knowing you as like, you do like a drink or you did like a drink.
speaker-0: Surely.
speaker-1: And I think this is a cautionary tale that I think is worth saying. You liked rather a lot of drink at one point.
speaker-0: Becker just asked me.
speaker-1: You basically, drank too much. What happened?
speaker-0: Alcoholic.
speaker-1: Okay.
speaker-0: Alcoholic, yeah. I absolute hands up. Absolute alcoholic. Yeah. and that was going on when I was playing. I mean not when I not when I was playing, but before, after, whatever.
speaker-1: Well, I feel, can I interject there as a friend? I've known you for a long time. I've toured with you when you're drinking. Well, nobody could drink as much as you. But we were younger and I think we were very naive because none of us stopped you and said, really, Andy, that bottle of Southern comfort that you've just downed in the last couple of hours, That's probably a little bit too much. And I think if anything is going to come of this interview, I hope somebody listens to it. And if they've got a friend who they think is drinking too much, they probably are. And maybe they should just tentatively ask them because we might have saved you a little
speaker-0: But it won't make any difference. It won't make any difference. Because unless the person wants to stop, doesn't matter what you say or anyone. I mean, I'll tell you what happened to me, and I'm quite open about this. I lost my mum in July the first, twenty twenty. And I was still drinking, but I hit it really big time. it was incredible. I was hiding booze all over the house. Bottle of vodka in the slow cooker. Outrageous. you know, I mean it went on and on and on. However, I got worse and worse and worse. And I actually made the decision one night. I ha I said to Barry Barry said to He said, You're killing yourself. And I said, I know. And I almost wanted to. And I found it really hard to s cope without my mum and what with what was going on. Anyhow, so my legs had swollen to epic proportions. I remember I was sitting in the garden and I got a hose pipe. I was trying to cool my legs down. I mean it's comedy really. and I actually didn't have the breath to walk from the garden to the house. And I actually rang nine one one nine nine nine actually not one one and said, I need some help now. And they came and I was blued and tuzed in. And I basically had a heart failure. So I was in hospital for quite a long time and the consultant said to me, he said, okay, Miss Maycock, so this is where we're at. And he said, You'll be dead in three months' time if you carry on like this. So I said, Okay. And I stopped.
speaker-1: Yes, okay.
speaker-0: But I was hospital for a long time.
speaker-1: How did you feel after you dried out a little bit? Did it hit home what you'd done? No.
speaker-0: Not really. I didn't feel any indifferent. If I'm honest, I really didn't.
speaker-1: Did you not? Did you not crave the alcohol?
speaker-0: No. Never missed it. I'll just stop.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: I literally just stopped. And people say, you know, we could have this treatment, you can have these drugs. I just said to him, I said, Okay, I'll stop. And I didn't drink for five years.
speaker-1: That was the time.
speaker-0: Again. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-1: Are you able to control it now?
speaker-0: No. Absolutely, yeah, because it's it I n I it I control it, it doesn't control me.
speaker-1: I I want to say that if you work in the theatre, from my experience of it, if you are an addictive person, and some people are born addictive persons, you know, they are. It's a twilight world, isn't it? Your whole day is geared up to that evening performance or the matinee evening. So your whole day is geared up You go on stage or you're playing your instruments, your adrenaline's pumping away, you finish the show at half past 10 and you have to wind down. What do you do? You go in the bar and you have
speaker-0: Have a curry and then go to a casino. Of course that's what you do. Yeah. That's what I did. That's that's what we all did. Hmm. You know, there was there was nobody I can think of that used to go out and go, I'll have a diet coke. You know, it just wasn't it didn't happen. It didn't happen. And it's quite interesting, you know, I when I was conducting and I did a lot of conducting in the end, one thing I didn't do was ever drink on a matinee day. Ever. No. But when I was asked to conduct, say something like Phantom or Beauty and the Beast or whatever at the and I they used to say, could you do Wednesday night or Saturday night? I used to dread it. I used to hate it because I knew the entire band had been out after the first show on Wednesday, and they'd be absolutely arsehole in the evening. And it was a train crash.
speaker-1: Does that happen now?
speaker-0: Probably not so much.
speaker-1: No.
speaker-0: But in when I did it, definitely that
speaker-1: I think that was that time because I think things are different now. think people are more savvy and more in control of their...
speaker-0: I remember things, Rebecca, when little theatre when we used I used to have a beer and a fag when we were rehearsing.
speaker-1: yeah.
speaker-0: You know it was said.
speaker-1: Unfortunately in the 70s, being late 60s, 70s children, all our parents smoked. So I was smoking my dad's dockers at 11.
speaker-0: Yeah. We're seventies kids. It's a very interesting
speaker-1: It is really interesting and the theatre when we were performing in the interval we would say are you going for a fag? Because we're going to stand on the stairs we all stood on the stairs no health and safety stood on the stairs with the one little ashtray at the top of the stairs there'd be about 10 or 11 of us all smoking but we'd all be passing you know we're passing
speaker-0: Good story. I remember when I was at Gartree High School in Oby and there was the most amazing Engl English teacher called Donald Ball. And he used to smoke during we did a show called Trial by Jury, you Gilbert Sullivan thing. And he there he was I can see him now. In Gartery High School, smoking, if you don't mind, during the rehearsals. We were what I was twelve or thirteen.
speaker-1: No, my infant school teacher, my infant school teacher, Mrs. Thomas, when I was four years old, she pulled my tights up in the playground and she got a woodbine sticking out the side of her mouth. So there you go. Anybody listening to this, be grateful you weren't born in the 70s.
speaker-0: But do you know what we had a great time in the seventies? Do you know what we did?
speaker-1: We were very, very special.
speaker-0: We certainly were.
speaker-1: You know, did Latchkey Kids and all that, definitely. I mean, moving on, I want to talk about the Greyhounds, because you love Greyhounds, don't you?
speaker-0: I'm slightly obsessed. Mm.
speaker-1: But when did you start rescuing greyhounds?
speaker-0: my goodness me, about fifteen years ago. Right. I wanted a dog. I was I I'm desperate to have a dog and I went to God Manchester. It's got I forget what the great the rescue centre was. And I'd researched and all the research you know and thought, well shall I have a Vimarana? Shall I have a doodle? And I went to this rescue centre and I went to this Loads and loads cages and there were these three greyhounds and there were two right at the front and at the back there was one that was all shaky and so I I knelt down and I said, Come on, come on. And his name was Woody. And I said to the rest of the people, I said, I want take him for a walk. She said, Well, nobody wants to take him for a walk. I said, Well, I do, and why does anyone take him for a walk? Well he's black and people don't like black greyhounds. I said, Well I do. Anyway, so I took him for a walk and I was heartbroken at the end of it 'cause I had to send him back. 'Cause I th you know, I said I wanted him, but I had to pull a put him back and I said, I want him. I'm gonna have him. And anyway, so they came to do house check and yeah, you're okay, you can have this greyhound. So I went to fetch him. about two weeks later. my god, how excited was I. And we we had a great time together. He w he was just the most amazing dog. Sadly, he was quite sickly and we lost him after about five years, I think he was. And I said, I will never have another greyhound as long as I live. Anyway, so a friend of mine, Claire, said I want a greyhound. So I said, okay So there was a a kennel called Whitting Whittingham Kennels and I said, Okay, I'll take you down there. And on the way down there, Barry said, We're not having another one. We're not having another one. You're not having another one. I said, We're not having another one. I'm bringing Claire down to anyhow. So we went into the kennels and then this beautiful creature jumped up at me, known as Boo, who's actually asleep on the mat here now. And Barry said, You can have her, aren't you? I said, Yeah. And so I got the other one. Yes.
speaker-1: What is it about greyhounds that are so special?
speaker-0: I think that they I think people think they're not affectionate, they think they're not cuddly, they're not and they are just the most perfect dog. Especially if you don't like walking. Because let me tell you something. They don't want to walk. If you want a dog that wants long walks, a greyhound ain't for you. I'll take her where I live now, there's I call it the cornfields. I'll take her up there tonight and she will go like the wind for thirty seconds. And then the head goes down. Wanna come home.
speaker-1: I know how that feels.
speaker-0: but they're incredibly affectionate and no, I love them to bits. Yeah.
speaker-1: What is on the cards for you now?
speaker-0: my goodness me. Well I'm you know, I'm now instrumental and vocal tuition manager for Less Year Music, which is a job that I really love. I've got a few plans, I've got a few ideas. You know, d let's see what happens. Let's see what happens.
speaker-1: you Do you feel the age that you are now? You've acquired more wisdom than you ever could have hoped for.
speaker-0: One thousand percent. I don't feel any different to when we used to meet in Leicester forty years ago.
speaker-1: No, I don't. I do and I don't. I think I'm better. I think I'm more confident in myself.
speaker-0: I think I'm in a better place than I was then. So
speaker-1: I mean, if you were looking at your life, what are the turning points in your life? Give me three
speaker-0: Let's hear market theatre.
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: She loves me, Savoy. And then I would say conducting Beauty and the Beast Disney B the the proper Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
speaker-1: Why was that?
speaker-0: Because Barry was playing Cogsworth and it's the only time we've ever worked together where I was actually conducting him and I could tell him what to do. musical theatre was what I was all about and I'll always be about. And I remember doing Beauty and the Beast. It was a most amazing show. And Barry, of course, was the original Cogsworth in London, but it came over from Broadway. And so I conducted it and it it was just special. It was so, so special. So that yeah, that'd be really important point. Yeah, but there's there's loads of shows that I've done that have led on to stuff. You know, when I was made the associate conductor of Phantom, that was a big deal.
speaker-1: You've some great moments. You've had a really illustrious career really, haven't you?
speaker-0: With it I suppose when you talk about it like this, I suppose I have, you know. I remember when I did Chitty Ban Bank at the Palladium and I conducted that and I thought I've really sort of got to where I want to be now. I can't really go any further. I've done what I wanted to do. But when you say that, I think you're actually probably right. But at the time you don't think that, do you just I'm a working muse. I'm a working muso. It's a job. Job it's a job.
speaker-1: Well, I think we have got a lot more we could talk about because I know we do need a whole podcast based on anecdotes. and that will be a very special one. But we're going to end it there now, Andy, If you could say something to your younger self, your seven-year-old double bass playing self, if you could whisper in that boy's ear, what would you say?
speaker-0: Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself and go for what you believe in. Go for it. And don't let anybody tell you you can't do it
speaker-1: Amazing. Thank you so much, Andy. It's been a pleasure as always. Thank you.
speaker-0: Take care.
speaker-1: And you.
speaker-0: Hello.
speaker-1: Andy is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and he is a professional double bass player, a conductor. and has over 35 years experience across musical theatre, orchestral performance and instrumental vocal education. He toured in A Phantom of the Opera, Disney's Beauty of the Beast, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, She Loves Me, Salad Days. He was part of the London Film Orchestra, Graff Orchestra of England and Sounds Familiar. He is also conducted and he has also been a pub landlord and rescues greyhounds. There are square pegs aplenty.
speaker-0: So Thank you so much. It's great to see you. You know, we've been friends for a long, long time.
speaker-1: We have, yes, we do have a few anecdotes as well, which I'm sure you'll be delighted to share. So we're gonna start right at the beginning. Was it a given that you would become a musician? I mean, who steered you in that direction?
speaker-0: No, it certainly wasn't. I come from a very sort of working class background. I was fortunate to go to Brox Hill Primary School where we had the most amazing deputy head, Mrs. Paul, who was absolutely music mad. And I think I remember I was five, six years old, and everybody had the chance to play an instrument, you know. It was in the good old days where she'd sort of bring along a trolley and you'd grab an instrument to play. And I started on the clarinet. You know, I wasn't very good. and then I remember one day I went into to school and she said Andy Maycock, we bought a double bass, she said, and you're the tallest in the school, so you're gonna play it. And so that's what happened, you know. So I this huge instrument. You know, when I was six years old and I started playing it and do you know what? It felt right. It just felt right.
speaker-1: connected with it straight away.
speaker-0: Straight away. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. And I remember I'll go home to my mum and dad and saying, I'm learning a musical instrument at school. And I said, and and of course the teacher had said to me, You've got to do at least 20 minutes practice a day. I mean, could you imagine saying that now? and my mum said, Okay, if you're gonna learn an instrument, then you'll do 20 minutes practice a day. But you know what? I actually did file more than twenty minutes a day 'cause I loved it so much.
speaker-1: That's very good.
speaker-0: I remember the great Eric Pinkett who started the Leish School of Music. I was rehears I was practicing in the school library at Brox Hill Primary School and I had no idea who this guy was. And he walked through and I was just practicing, you know, I was seven years old, I think six or seven years old. And he tapped me on the shoulder and he went, Junior Orchestra, Saturday mornings, starting next week That's how it all happened. That's how it all
speaker-1: Do you think you were a natural? Do you think you were a naturally musical?
speaker-0: Yeah. I never had to work. It came very, very easily.
speaker-1: The thing is that not having to work, that not having to work has its disadvantages though, doesn't it?
speaker-0: Surely it does, but I d no, it came very naturally. I didn't I didn't find you know, obviously when it came to technical stuff I had to do some work, but being a musician playing came very easily. Very easily indeed. Yeah.
speaker-1: Who was your most influential music teacher?
speaker-0: Mrs. Paul. In fact, I can tell you a little bit of story. Was that so fast forward forty years and I was playing I I got asked to play at North Kilworth Hotel and I was playing for their Christmas concert and we started and someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, are you Andy Maycock that went to Prox Hill Primary School. And I said, Yeah. And she said, and he said to me, Beatrice Poole is sitting behind you. And I was like, my God. So this is the person that started me on this journey. And she saw that evening me as a professional musician. So she's, yeah, it was quite crazy. And after I'd finished playing, I couldn't wait. I kept thinking about it all the time. And I thought, I've got to go and say, I've got to speak to her. And went up to me and she stood up and I It's all your bloody fault. This is happened.
speaker-1: So I'm now intrigued, the gap between you learning to play the instrument and becoming professional. Did you have to take a proper job before you embarked on your professional career by going to music college? Did you feel shoehorned into doing a proper job?
speaker-0: No, I didn't 'cause I j I sort of went through the Leicester School of Music and which in in those days was an amazing thing. My my my parents could never have afforded to pay for music lessons. You know. Yeah. And so I had three lessons. the orchestras on a Saturday mornings, we were busting, that was all free. and so I went through that system until I got to about seventeen, eighteen. And then I auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music and got in. So I went straight into the Royal Academy of Music. And then what I did do when I got there was get a job at the barbecue. so I needed to get some money together. And I chose the barbecue because you got dinner before you saw. So it was a double whammy, you know. But no, I didn't get a job. I mean I I did bar jobs and stuff like that. But no, I went straight into the Royal Academy and then went straight through yeah.
speaker-1: Did you enjoy the Royal Academy?
speaker-0: No.
speaker-1: Okay, you have mentioned that to me. Why? Okay.
speaker-0: It was a huge mistake. It was a huge mistake. i it was a world that I didn't know or understand. I knew I was talented, I knew I was very good at what I did. The first day I got there and there was this like dreadful meet people with a cup of tea and a rich tea biscuit and I thought I had nothing in common with these people at all. I didn't even know what they were talking about. Everything was different. You know, this wasn't I wasn't used to this. And i it's quite interesting because I thought at the time I've got to get out of here and I couldn't. Because my parents were so proud and I how could I let them down? How to
speaker-1: Do you think at that time the gap between being in your situation and going to the Royal Academy, it's like, you meet this what considered to be elitist. Did it feel elitist when you
speaker-0: I was just literally, you know, d a square pegging around hole. I mean I was I d I was out of my depth. I knew I could play. There was no doubt about that. But it was the whole social scene that was wrong. I didn't understand how these people talk. I didn't it was just anathema to me. I just I just found it so very, very difficult. And I really wanted to leave the first day I got there. So I mean Saying that, I mean, I did get a lot out of it. I had some great tuition. You know, I had great experience. Could I have done that privately without going to that? Yeah, one thing I will say is that the Royal saying that you've gone to the Royal Academy of Music opened doors. It and it still does. You know, so there is that, but no, I made a it wasn't the right place for me. And also, really importantly. Although I was a good classical musician, that's not what I wanted to do. I love musical theatre. And you g if you're going back to when I went, which was in '84, there my goodness me, there wasn't a musical theatre course, there wasn't a jazz course. There was opera orchestra, symphony orchestra, that's all you had. And you couldn't go anywhere else. And yeah, I remember I won a a burs through to sing The Dream of Drontias. huge choral work by Elgar. And only in the ensemble. And and it was a huge thing. It was Dame Janet Baker, Robert Tears, Stephen Varko as a soloist. And I had to ask permission from the Academy to do that. And it said in the programme I was mortified, it Andy Bacock appears. By kind permission of Sir David Lumsden from the Royal Academy of Music.
speaker-1: Really?
speaker-0: That's how bl that's how focused it was.
speaker-1: So it's so much like you belonged to them.
speaker-0: Yeah yeah one hundred percent. More than hundred percent. That's quite interesting. So when I auditioned at the academy, I auditioned as a double bass player and I needed a second study. Well I played the piano, but also I sang. And I sang, and then they sent me for a first audition first study as a singer. So it's all a bit confusing. And so basically I was accepted at the academy as a joint first study. So I studied double bass and singing. And piano was my second study. So I was quite fortunate. I mean, it was quite unusual in those days to get a joint first study.
speaker-1: You're sort of like a lot of square pegs, but multi-talented all in one go.
speaker-0: Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. Triple
speaker-1: triple threat.
speaker-0: yeah, thinking what am I gonna do, where am I going? Yeah, I d I knew I didn't want to be at the academy. I knew that I wasn't a good enough singer to make it as a soloist. I knew I was a good bass player, but but it nothing seemed sort of quite right.
speaker-1: did you get into the West End? Because that's where you are happy. That's your happy place. How did you end up there?
speaker-0: This is a great story. so I graduated in eighteen eight, I think it was, and I got a job in a working men's club in Leicester. I needed the you know, I needed to make some money, you know, so I was working in the bar. And this is absolutely true. This is an absolute true story. I had a phone call and no mobiles. No mob mobiles. No
speaker-1: I remember those days.
speaker-0: payphone. And the boss came up and said to me, Andy, you've got a phone call. And I said, anyway, so took the phone call, and this guy at the end of the phone said, Hello, Andy, my name's Gavin Bryars. Now, Gavin Bryars is quite a well-known composer, lives in Leicester and whatever. And I went, well, hello. And he said, I understand that you play the dual bass. He said, and I'm the fixer at the Les A Market Theatre. So I said, Okay. He said, I like I need a bass player for a show in ninety eight called The Snowman And he said, Would you be interested? And I thought, Well God almighty hold on. I spent four years training classically. What am I gonna So I said, Can I get back to you? So I said, Yeah, absolutely. So I rang my teacher up, this is absolutely true and I said, Rodney, I said, I've been offered a job. He said, it's fantastic, what is it? I said, I've been offered to play double bass in a show called The Snowman And he went, I haven't taught you for four years to play in a bloody show You're gonna be an orchestral musician. And I said, Yeah, okay. Anyway, so I rang Gabby and Bryce back and said, What's the money? And he told me, and I said, I'll be there on Monday. And you know what? This sort of links into loads of things you were probably gonna ask me, but the first day of rehearsal at the Haymarket was so important to me I had come home. I was in the
speaker-1: Yeah, did you meet your tribe?
speaker-0: It was just the right place to be. I knew I belonged there. Yeah. And I had the most happy seven, eight years of my entire career at that theatre. It was incredibly important. And it was such the it was so much the right thing to do. It was great. I loved every minute of it.
speaker-1: We're coming round to talk about the musical theatre again in a minute, but I want to go into how you became a pub landlord as well, because when did that happen?
speaker-0: That sort of happened
speaker-1: Is that after or before? I remember. After. well after. OK, well.
speaker-0: Well twenty we're going back we're going to twenty sixteen, twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen. And that was
speaker-1: So you were still on the West End at that point, weren't you?
speaker-0: I was just about. I saw sentence I from it.
speaker-1: Well, we'll go back. We'll come back to the pub landlord, right? So you're now working in musical theatre. So how did you end up from the Haymarket in the West End?
speaker-0: Okay, so I work with an MD called Robert Scott and we did Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the Haymarket and we got on really, well. And See, what was strange about me was that I was classically trained working in theatre. So I had a really good Boeing technique. I could play really good arco stuff, as they call it. So my Boeing was really good. Not usual in the West End. or any musical theatre thing. So anyway, so Robert did Seven Brothers, Seven Brothers. Then he asked me to go up to Liverpool to do Annie. You know, The Sun Will Come Out. Yeah. and that's another story. and then he rang me and I was actually driving, I remember I was on the M1. And he said, I've got a show in the West End called She Loves Me. And not the Beatles. You know, this is you know, She Loves Me. it was based on a a sh a play called The Perfumery on the Corner or something. And he said, I really want you to do it. And I said, my God. Okay. So this was I I can't even remember what it was now. And so I said, yeah. And again, I mean when the fixer rang me and told me what it was all about and what the money was, and I was like, my goodness me. And again, you know, I thought, Mike, this is me. This is just what I this is what I want to do. And it was incredible, it was an incredible experience. And so we had Ruthie Henschel playing Amelia, we had John Gordon Sinclair, Robert DeKaiser, and then of course Barry James, who
speaker-1: Of course.
speaker-0: eventually became my partner.
speaker-1: Yeah, we're going to get to him in a few minutes because obviously the legend. So you're in that and then you were in company as well with Sheila Gish.
speaker-0: my god. Yeah. Yeah. To be fair, I dept that. I dept that. But I did a lot of depping on that show. I mean that I think you came to see it, didn't you?
speaker-1: I did come and see it when you were playing, yes.
speaker-0: Was one of the most amazing things. Yeah. And you can still see that on BBC iPlayer. You can still see it.
speaker-1: I know, I know you can. Well worth a watch, Adrian Lester. Fantastic,
speaker-0: my god.
speaker-1: absolutely fantastic production. So let's go back to Barry then. How did you meet Barry?
speaker-0: I know Barry Anche loves me. You know, it was a very strange sort of situation. although I sort of sort of come out, if you like. I said, I ain't got a partner, and I was just, you know, just mincing along. And I Robert said to me, he said, There's somebody in the company that really likes you and he'd like to go out for a drink with you. And I said, you know. And so I used have a pint at the interval and stuff and and this chap kept appear keep appearing, you know. I thought what he keeps appearing for and then one day I said, you're Barry, you're in the show. He Yeah. He said that yeah, he said, Would you like to go out for a drink? And I said, Well, that'd be nice. Would you like to go for a meal as well? I said, Yeah, okay. And we sort of just really hit it off. And there's there's a a sad part of this because I was incredibly close to my grandfather, incredibly close. And sadly, he died. And I was doing the show and my mum rang me and said, I've got some really terrible news and I knew, you know. And I completely broke down, I lost it totally. And as I lost it, Barry literally walked out of the stage door. And we weren't together at this point. and he said to me, he said, Are you okay? And I said, Yeah and we were at the Savoy Theatre and he walked, we both walked from the Savoy to Chiswick that night. And he was just there for me and he was just amazing, supportive, and Yeah, and we sort of fell in love then really.
speaker-1: How many years have you been together?
speaker-0: thirty six.
speaker-1: That's incredible. That's brilliant. Did it change your, did it change you coming out? I mean, how hard was it to come out?
speaker-0: Incredibly incredibly hard. I mean I'd known I mean I I'd I'd been out with girls and I had really good relationships with girls. But I knew that things weren't right, something didn't feel right. But you know, you've got to remember we're going back to a time that was incredibly homophobic. Yeah. I used to sit and with my dad, you know, and Larry Grayson had come on and he'd go, fucking puff. Turn that puff off. You know, I was sitting there thinking, ooh. the problem is, you see, as a gay man, God, I bloody love Danny LaRoo and, you know, Larry Grayson, Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, you know, all the Barbers Rice. You know, and of course Dad would go, hooking pool, Cooking Aquiz. And that was really, really hard. I couldn't challenge that. I could but it's a generation thing. And I never ever actually came out to my parents. Ever. Yeah. No.
speaker-1: Didn't you? Okay.
speaker-0: I mean ironically, my dad loved Barry, adored him. But he was my friend. He was my mate.
speaker-1: It might have been easier for him just to think of it like that and not think of it as any...
speaker-0: 100% it was. And I always say to people, you should have been honest. Well, actually, no. Coming out to my parents would have made my relationship better with them, I'd have done it. And I knew it wouldn't. I knew it'd have made it worse. And also it actually in one way it's none of their business. I think one strives for acceptance, doesn't one? You know, you think you should accept it. And Although it was a struggle for me, I knew it wouldn't have made my relationship any better with my parents. It made it worse. Interestingly, my granddad knew. But then again, you know, he used to dress up as Shirley Bassie and give it large at the Working Men's Club. So you it was with his seven inside.
speaker-1: think you've touched on something there. You don't have to be accepted by everyone. And when you're older and wiser, it doesn't really bother me that I'm not accepted by everyone.
speaker-0: Absolutely. You know, you th you do think you sit there thinking you know, we're going back to a different time. You know, I think homosexuality was illegal until what was it, seventy something? You know, and I was a child of the sixties. And it it was all very, very difficult, you know, and you sort of you hid things that you had to hide.
speaker-1: I agree.
speaker-0: I mean, there's so many gay men that of a certain age that are married and then for a reason.
speaker-1: Yeah. That's
speaker-0: You know.
speaker-1: I mean, do you think things are better now?
speaker-0: I think they're getting worse again. Hmm. If I'm honest. I really just You know, there's still prejudice. Of course there is in anything, whether you're black, white, yellow, whatever. But it's really sort of quite difficult. i it it's really quite hard. I worry about the amount of homophobia there is still. I worry about I don't know, things that happen and you think this is this can't be right in this day and age, you know. I all all I've ever wanted to do is just get on with my life. I've never jumped on a float with spandex on waving a rainbow flag. Yeah. Yeah, I that's not what I'm about. I mean and people want to do that, that's fine. Yeah. I just want to get on with my life. I don't want to, you know, interview with anybody else, just let me just get on with it.
speaker-1: I think how you express yourself is a personal choice. How you exercise your creativity. Fascinating. Well, let's move on to, so you're on the West End and then How did you end up being a pub landlord?
speaker-0: Okay, so that was I had a music shop in Sandy, in Bedfordshire where I lived. the lease came up and we decided that we wouldn't renew the lease. So the shop next door came up and I opened a sweet shop.
speaker-1: I didn't know that!
speaker-0: that's a good job.
speaker-1: You opened a sweet shop!
speaker-0: Yeah, sweeties yeah, Andy's sweeties of Sandy. And it was great. It was lovely. And it it it sort of married into the fact that Barry was playing Grandpa Joe in Charlotte and Chocolate Factory. So we did lots of public publicity about that and all the rest of it. Anyhow. So I I ran that for about two or three years and then I sort of started to think about what could I do to do something which would help Barry in the fact that he wouldn't have to work all the time, you know, to do stuff. And I went into a a pub that was for sale and I liked it and ill advisedly I bought it.
speaker-1: Okay, ill-advisedly, it was a big...
speaker-0: it's a huge mistake. It's the worst thing I've ever done. Yeah.
speaker-1: Do you look at it as a mistake even now or can you not?
speaker-0: Okay. we b
speaker-1: What happened?
speaker-0: went bankrupt. Hmm. We lost everything. Yeah. So we we had it for a year. I'd invested everything we had and it went as belly up as it could go belly up.
speaker-1: Can I mention that you, when I've been on tour with you and knowing you as like, you do like a drink or you did like a drink.
speaker-0: Surely.
speaker-1: And I think this is a cautionary tale that I think is worth saying. You liked rather a lot of drink at one point.
speaker-0: Becker just asked me.
speaker-1: You basically, drank too much. What happened?
speaker-0: Alcoholic.
speaker-1: Okay.
speaker-0: Alcoholic, yeah. I absolute hands up. Absolute alcoholic. Yeah. and that was going on when I was playing. I mean not when I not when I was playing, but before, after, whatever.
speaker-1: Well, I feel, can I interject there as a friend? I've known you for a long time. I've toured with you when you're drinking. Well, nobody could drink as much as you. But we were younger and I think we were very naive because none of us stopped you and said, really, Andy, that bottle of Southern comfort that you've just downed in the last couple of hours, That's probably a little bit too much. And I think if anything is going to come of this interview, I hope somebody listens to it. And if they've got a friend who they think is drinking too much, they probably are. And maybe they should just tentatively ask them because we might have saved you a little
speaker-0: But it won't make any difference. It won't make any difference. Because unless the person wants to stop, doesn't matter what you say or anyone. I mean, I'll tell you what happened to me, and I'm quite open about this. I lost my mum in July the first, twenty twenty. And I was still drinking, but I hit it really big time. it was incredible. I was hiding booze all over the house. Bottle of vodka in the slow cooker. Outrageous. you know, I mean it went on and on and on. However, I got worse and worse and worse. And I actually made the decision one night. I ha I said to Barry Barry said to He said, You're killing yourself. And I said, I know. And I almost wanted to. And I found it really hard to s cope without my mum and what with what was going on. Anyhow, so my legs had swollen to epic proportions. I remember I was sitting in the garden and I got a hose pipe. I was trying to cool my legs down. I mean it's comedy really. and I actually didn't have the breath to walk from the garden to the house. And I actually rang nine one one nine nine nine actually not one one and said, I need some help now. And they came and I was blued and tuzed in. And I basically had a heart failure. So I was in hospital for quite a long time and the consultant said to me, he said, okay, Miss Maycock, so this is where we're at. And he said, You'll be dead in three months' time if you carry on like this. So I said, Okay. And I stopped.
speaker-1: Yes, okay.
speaker-0: But I was hospital for a long time.
speaker-1: How did you feel after you dried out a little bit? Did it hit home what you'd done? No.
speaker-0: Not really. I didn't feel any indifferent. If I'm honest, I really didn't.
speaker-1: Did you not? Did you not crave the alcohol?
speaker-0: No. Never missed it. I'll just stop.
speaker-1: Yeah.
speaker-0: I literally just stopped. And people say, you know, we could have this treatment, you can have these drugs. I just said to him, I said, Okay, I'll stop. And I didn't drink for five years.
speaker-1: That was the time.
speaker-0: Again. Yeah. Yeah.
speaker-1: Are you able to control it now?
speaker-0: No. Absolutely, yeah, because it's it I n I it I control it, it doesn't control me.
speaker-1: I I want to say that if you work in the theatre, from my experience of it, if you are an addictive person, and some people are born addictive persons, you know, they are. It's a twilight world, isn't it? Your whole day is geared up to that evening performance or the matinee evening. So your whole day is geared up You go on stage or you're playing your instruments, your adrenaline's pumping away, you finish the show at half past 10 and you have to wind down. What do you do? You go in the bar and you have
speaker-0: Have a curry and then go to a casino. Of course that's what you do. Yeah. That's what I did. That's that's what we all did. Hmm. You know, there was there was nobody I can think of that used to go out and go, I'll have a diet coke. You know, it just wasn't it didn't happen. It didn't happen. And it's quite interesting, you know, I when I was conducting and I did a lot of conducting in the end, one thing I didn't do was ever drink on a matinee day. Ever. No. But when I was asked to conduct, say something like Phantom or Beauty and the Beast or whatever at the and I they used to say, could you do Wednesday night or Saturday night? I used to dread it. I used to hate it because I knew the entire band had been out after the first show on Wednesday, and they'd be absolutely arsehole in the evening. And it was a train crash.
speaker-1: Does that happen now?
speaker-0: Probably not so much.
speaker-1: No.
speaker-0: But in when I did it, definitely that
speaker-1: I think that was that time because I think things are different now. think people are more savvy and more in control of their...
speaker-0: I remember things, Rebecca, when little theatre when we used I used to have a beer and a fag when we were rehearsing.
speaker-1: yeah.
speaker-0: You know it was said.
speaker-1: Unfortunately in the 70s, being late 60s, 70s children, all our parents smoked. So I was smoking my dad's dockers at 11.
speaker-0: Yeah. We're seventies kids. It's a very interesting
speaker-1: It is really interesting and the theatre when we were performing in the interval we would say are you going for a fag? Because we're going to stand on the stairs we all stood on the stairs no health and safety stood on the stairs with the one little ashtray at the top of the stairs there'd be about 10 or 11 of us all smoking but we'd all be passing you know we're passing
speaker-0: Good story. I remember when I was at Gartree High School in Oby and there was the most amazing Engl English teacher called Donald Ball. And he used to smoke during we did a show called Trial by Jury, you Gilbert Sullivan thing. And he there he was I can see him now. In Gartery High School, smoking, if you don't mind, during the rehearsals. We were what I was twelve or thirteen.
speaker-1: No, my infant school teacher, my infant school teacher, Mrs. Thomas, when I was four years old, she pulled my tights up in the playground and she got a woodbine sticking out the side of her mouth. So there you go. Anybody listening to this, be grateful you weren't born in the 70s.
speaker-0: But do you know what we had a great time in the seventies? Do you know what we did?
speaker-1: We were very, very special.
speaker-0: We certainly were.
speaker-1: You know, did Latchkey Kids and all that, definitely. I mean, moving on, I want to talk about the Greyhounds, because you love Greyhounds, don't you?
speaker-0: I'm slightly obsessed. Mm.
speaker-1: But when did you start rescuing greyhounds?
speaker-0: my goodness me, about fifteen years ago. Right. I wanted a dog. I was I I'm desperate to have a dog and I went to God Manchester. It's got I forget what the great the rescue centre was. And I'd researched and all the research you know and thought, well shall I have a Vimarana? Shall I have a doodle? And I went to this rescue centre and I went to this Loads and loads cages and there were these three greyhounds and there were two right at the front and at the back there was one that was all shaky and so I I knelt down and I said, Come on, come on. And his name was Woody. And I said to the rest of the people, I said, I want take him for a walk. She said, Well, nobody wants to take him for a walk. I said, Well, I do, and why does anyone take him for a walk? Well he's black and people don't like black greyhounds. I said, Well I do. Anyway, so I took him for a walk and I was heartbroken at the end of it 'cause I had to send him back. 'Cause I th you know, I said I wanted him, but I had to pull a put him back and I said, I want him. I'm gonna have him. And anyway, so they came to do house check and yeah, you're okay, you can have this greyhound. So I went to fetch him. about two weeks later. my god, how excited was I. And we we had a great time together. He w he was just the most amazing dog. Sadly, he was quite sickly and we lost him after about five years, I think he was. And I said, I will never have another greyhound as long as I live. Anyway, so a friend of mine, Claire, said I want a greyhound. So I said, okay So there was a a kennel called Whitting Whittingham Kennels and I said, Okay, I'll take you down there. And on the way down there, Barry said, We're not having another one. We're not having another one. You're not having another one. I said, We're not having another one. I'm bringing Claire down to anyhow. So we went into the kennels and then this beautiful creature jumped up at me, known as Boo, who's actually asleep on the mat here now. And Barry said, You can have her, aren't you? I said, Yeah. And so I got the other one. Yes.
speaker-1: What is it about greyhounds that are so special?
speaker-0: I think that they I think people think they're not affectionate, they think they're not cuddly, they're not and they are just the most perfect dog. Especially if you don't like walking. Because let me tell you something. They don't want to walk. If you want a dog that wants long walks, a greyhound ain't for you. I'll take her where I live now, there's I call it the cornfields. I'll take her up there tonight and she will go like the wind for thirty seconds. And then the head goes down. Wanna come home.
speaker-1: I know how that feels.
speaker-0: but they're incredibly affectionate and no, I love them to bits. Yeah.
speaker-1: What is on the cards for you now?
speaker-0: my goodness me. Well I'm you know, I'm now instrumental and vocal tuition manager for Less Year Music, which is a job that I really love. I've got a few plans, I've got a few ideas. You know, d let's see what happens. Let's see what happens.
speaker-1: you Do you feel the age that you are now? You've acquired more wisdom than you ever could have hoped for.
speaker-0: One thousand percent. I don't feel any different to when we used to meet in Leicester forty years ago.
speaker-1: No, I don't. I do and I don't. I think I'm better. I think I'm more confident in myself.
speaker-0: I think I'm in a better place than I was then. So
speaker-1: I mean, if you were looking at your life, what are the turning points in your life? Give me three
speaker-0: Let's hear market theatre.
speaker-1: Mm-hmm.
speaker-0: She loves me, Savoy. And then I would say conducting Beauty and the Beast Disney B the the proper Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
speaker-1: Why was that?
speaker-0: Because Barry was playing Cogsworth and it's the only time we've ever worked together where I was actually conducting him and I could tell him what to do. musical theatre was what I was all about and I'll always be about. And I remember doing Beauty and the Beast. It was a most amazing show. And Barry, of course, was the original Cogsworth in London, but it came over from Broadway. And so I conducted it and it it was just special. It was so, so special. So that yeah, that'd be really important point. Yeah, but there's there's loads of shows that I've done that have led on to stuff. You know, when I was made the associate conductor of Phantom, that was a big deal.
speaker-1: You've some great moments. You've had a really illustrious career really, haven't you?
speaker-0: With it I suppose when you talk about it like this, I suppose I have, you know. I remember when I did Chitty Ban Bank at the Palladium and I conducted that and I thought I've really sort of got to where I want to be now. I can't really go any further. I've done what I wanted to do. But when you say that, I think you're actually probably right. But at the time you don't think that, do you just I'm a working muse. I'm a working muso. It's a job. Job it's a job.
speaker-1: Well, I think we have got a lot more we could talk about because I know we do need a whole podcast based on anecdotes. and that will be a very special one. But we're going to end it there now, Andy, If you could say something to your younger self, your seven-year-old double bass playing self, if you could whisper in that boy's ear, what would you say?
speaker-0: Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself and go for what you believe in. Go for it. And don't let anybody tell you you can't do it
speaker-1: Amazing. Thank you so much, Andy. It's been a pleasure as always. Thank you.
speaker-0: Take care.
speaker-1: And you.
