Rocker: Any future plans for more Spandau Ballet touring or recording?
Tony: Whether or not we’ll even go out on tour again I don’t know. It was only ever gonna be a one off. It ended up extending and going from October 2009 to June 2010. We had a fantastic time.
Rocker: You have also toured with in a show billed Tony Hadley vs. Martin Fry (of ABC) who is the better singer?
Tony: Oh god, it’s two entirely different singers. What is interesting is although we were all part of this “New Romantic” thing, every singer in the bands – whether it was ABC, Duran Duran, Ultravox, Human League,… – had a distinctive voice. You can’t compare my voice to his. It’s entirely different.
Rocker: Then how about if you and Martin Fry got into a fight, who would win?
Tony: Oh I would. (Laughs) I come from a rougher neighborhood!
Rocker: Any truth to the rumor that you are working with Barry Gibb?
Tony: I was in Miami and I met him. A friend of a friend introduced us. So I went round his house to have a cup of tea, as you tend to do when you’re English. We had a chat about music. So we’re going to get together, me and Barry and his son Ashley. I’ve just got to find the time to spend a week in Miami. It’s great when you meet a hero like that.
Rocker: Do you miss the 80’s?
Tony: I’m not a nostalgic person. I never look back at the videos and go “Wow!” When I make an album – solo, Spandau, whatever – I make it, check the mix then I move on.
Rocker: You mentioned rappers sampling “True.” What did you think about the first time you heard the PM Dawn song “Set Adrift On Memory Bliss?”
Tony: I thought it was great. People get freaked about the whole thing of sampling.
When someone says, “Oh you’ve taken the original beautiful record and ruined it by sampling it!” Oh shut up! It’s rubbish. I think if someone samples your record it’s a compliment. I don’t see it as an offense. “True” is a great song. PM Dawn came along, sampled it and made another great song out of it. I say as many people as possible. If they want to sample it they can sample it. Because it keeps the whole thing alive, which is what you want.
Rocker: Why is “True” such a timeless song?
Tony: It’s a real kinda white soul record. We recorded it in the Bahamas and I remember we were all kinda laid back and chill. It’s got a sort of laid back feel. For some reason it just connects with people. I didn’t think it was a single. I don’t think anyone in the band thought it was a single at first. Radio picked up on it. It just connected. They’ve used it in films. I can’t tell you how many times people have come up to me and said, “Tony thanks for that.” Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on the “Right Side” with the wife or girlfriend while playing that record. It’s THE wedding song. The first dance song. It’s up there with “Every Breath You Take” as one of those classic love songs, and thank god!
Rocker: Spandau Ballet had a lot of female fans. Ever have any of them go to great lengths to meet you?
Tony: The nuttiest thing is when we were playing the Liverpool Empire. We were two floors up in the dressing room and Liverpool girls are really crazy. There are about five, maybe six hundred screaming fourteen and fifteen year old girls, going completely bananas. We’ve done the show, we’re having drinks in the dressing rooms two floors up and suddenly there is bang bang bang on the window. What the hell? We open the window and there were two female fans, one behind the other that had shimmied up the drainpipe. We went, “Jesus Christ get in here!” If they had fallen they would have died. We signed all their things and sent them on their way. That was probably the most dedicated, stupid thing I’ve ever known fans to do. But they got to meet the band! (Laughs)
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