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10 Questions with ... Rick Astley
November 19, 2019
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1. You've had an action packed 2019. How would you break down your year?
Pretty good. It's been pretty busy but I'm not complaining. It's kind of crazy to be honest. I think this time of year, the autumn leaves are falling and all that business. And you guys are thinking about Thanksgiving and we're thinking about Christmas and all the rest of it. We're just kind of straight in the middle of a promo thing at the moment because I've got this album out and everything. So, it's just a funny time of the year because you've got one eye on the end of the year and you've got one eye on what you're actually doing.
2. Congrats on releasing this new album. What made you decide to put this kind of a re-imagined collection together now?
To be honest it was partly that in the U.K. we've had a very different story than anywhere else. We've had two albums, one of which was a number one album that went platinum, and then the one after that was top 10. I kind of made both those records in my garage and I made that first record just for fun.
I literally just made it for me because I was turning 50 and I thought it'd be a nice way to celebrate that for myself--and to give me mum a copy. I just put it on the internet for a few fans and then it just...I don't know, BMG my old record label was interested and ta-da before you knew it, they said, "look, we really think we can get this going."
3. What's your live show like these days?
When I go out now and play, if I go out and play like an hour and a half, hour and 40 minutes set, half the songs are new songs, half the songs are old songs. And people do not go to the bathroom when we do the new songs.
I felt like if we're going to do it, we can't just put the songs together and just say that's it. Because they're already on the internet. They're everywhere--on YouTube, Spotify, anywhere you care to look. So I just said, "look, we need to do something else."
4. The new arrangement of "Never Gonna Give You Up" is beautiful and intimate. It's different, but you're also paying respect and homage to what it was.
Thank you! I mean I wanted to make sure that the melody stayed, because obviously whatever key it's in and however dark it gets, people want to be able to sing along to it if they know it. So that was really important. But I just wanted to show it in a totally different light because I think, to be honest, it's a better song than people think it is. I think that's true of "Together Forever" as well. I think when you listen to the old version with the full on 80's production, you can sometimes get swamped in the production a little bit rather than is the song any good.
I've played that song with the Foo Fighters as well. Even their crazy out-there version kind of works. So I think that's the mark of a good song. If you can play it in totally different ways and it still kind of stands up, then that's got to be a good sign.
5. What perspective have you gained on music and this crazy business while you took your break and what wisdom did you bring to it?
To be honest with you, my name might have some fame attached to it and some of the old songs, but I don't really feel that I'm famous anymore. You know what I mean? It's a weird thing to be honest and it's a kind of a weird conversation to have anyway. But I go about my daily life, even when we're doing a gig, I can play sometimes in a smaller venue for maybe hundreds or a thousand people, sometimes it's many, many thousands of people. And it doesn't seem to matter where and when we do that, the day after or that night, I can go to the bar and have a glass of wine and usually not really think about it and just get on with it.
6. Talk about the internet and social media. What has it been like being able to reach out and connect with your fans through that platform this time around?
I think that's one of the things that, like I say, can drive anybody a bit crazy on both sides of the fence. But I also think it's pretty amazing that you can just literally pick up your phone and say something to the people who follow you, and they know it's from you because it's you saying it. I mean don't get me wrong, we have a team, we have a company and a professional team who handle all my posts because I'm an idiot and I do it at the wrong time of day and I'm 53 for God's sakes. I shouldn't be in charge of a phone.
7. You left the spotlight to focus on your family and raising your daughter. So what does she think about your career today and what does she think about your music?
Like any daughter out there, she's really proud of me and she tells me so. She comes to gigs but she will also come backstage afterwards and say, "Dad, don't do that again." And for instance, every now and again I'll, let's say sing one of my old songs and I'm kind of, I wouldn't do it with "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Together Forever" and the bigger ones, but let's say I've got an old song that was a top 10 in Europe or something, I'll sometimes just mash up one of my old songs with a song from Rihanna. Do you know what I mean? Do something that, which in the moment of a live gig, is okay. It's just having a bit of fun. But if your daughter is there, then it's probably a bit different for her, do you know what I mean? And she's like, "Dad, don't do that again."
8. How excited are you to be heading to Australia, Japan and then New Zealand for the first time next year?
Absolutely, yeah. Which is crazy. I have no idea why I never got to New Zealand but it just didn't happen. But yeah, it's funny because a bit like America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, there's a slightly different thing that goes on when you can actually speak the local language. And British people are terrible. I'm sure Americans aren't great at it either but British people are terrible about learning a language. And so it's always a bit easier. It's not too easy when you get to Japan, to be honest, but it's always a bit easier when you go somewhere like that because obviously we've got a lot in common anyway, but we certainly do language-wise. And also it's just kind of funky just to be at the other end of the world, you know what I mean? It's literally, for us, it's about as far as you can possibly go. And that's always a bit of a special thing I think. Just to think how the hell did I get here?! I'm looking forward to that big time.
9. Any plans for a US tour anytime soon?
No, well we don't have an actual plan at the moment for America. I always kind of spring that up in meetings when it's talked about. We've done a couple of little tours in America in the last few years. I think the last proper gig we did in Los Angeles was at the ACE Theater in Downtown. It's amazing. I was absolutely blown away by that theater. We all were. It's gorgeous. Because obviously Downtown has had its fair share of ups and downs and everything, and it's incredible really. That place has been there since 1927 I think. So yeah, I'm always up for playing in America to be honest. I always had a good time there so I'm sure we'll be putting something in at some point.
10. If you could go back in time and tell 21-year-old Rick Astley anything, what would it be?
Oh my God. Interesting. I think I'd say have more fun if I'm honest. I think partly what happened, I mean obviously "Never Gonna Give You UP" was amazing for me because it was number one in so many different countries, including America obviously. Kind of the Holy Grail for a lot of non-Americans. And it was like, I think in a way, it worked in reverse with me. Instead of me becoming the massive ego and the kind of like, "I'm it. I am the new thing." It made me almost go the other way and sort of go, "Oh my God." It made me clam up a little bit, I think, to be honest. Because I think partly because when a song, and it's your first song as well, goes around the world before you do and you kind of follow it around the world it's a weird experience. Because you go to places and we're talking about the 80's and MTV was massive at that time. So everybody knows who you are. And you don't even know how to spell Mississippi never mind ever seen it.
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