The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells speaks to Kim Carr about their upcoming UK tour.
When you recorded 12 Stops And Home did you ever imagine playing the album in full on tour all these years later?
"When we recorded it we didn't think it was necessarily going to be a record. We were a bunch of lads working in a shed to create the kind of music we wanted to create because we were doing what musicians do. I don't think we were the most ambitious people in the world. We were just artistically ambitious, so we didn't really think about it. We've had a career very much based on: 'Do the work, see what happens'."
Maybe that's been the secret to your success, not putting too much pressure on yourselves?
"I've learned this in all the different fields of creative stuff. You focus on the material and all the rest will sort itself out. Hopefully. I think we might have had in the back of our minds dreams of mega stardom, that comes when you're a young artist. You have dreams of all sorts of stuff - complete fantasies. It's not to say you never thought it was going to happen you just have a sense that there's this little dream that you hold. I don't think anyone doesn't have that. It's a universal thing. As whether how much of that we thought was actually going to happen, I don't know. We just kept making the music."
The music has resonated with people and stood the test of time. It must take you back to certain points in your life when you hear the album again...
"It's been very emotional actually. We re-issued the album and in doing that we wanted to re-master it and create a double vinyl version of it and a re-mastered CD and add a load of extra content that we didn't have, that was never released before. It meant going back through an archive of stuff. That was emotional because it brought back a lot of memories. Things we'd all forgotten suddenly leap up from an old interview or a picture or an old demo that never even made it as far as the record. You listen to it and, wow it brings you right back to that time. That pure innocent time pre-fame and pre-success and all of that."
When you launched 12 Stops there was a press trip to Paris. Do you remember that?
"Those were the days when the record label put a record out they really went for it!"
Did you feel like a pop star when the album came out or was there another defining moment?
"There are several moments of where archetypal rock star things happened. Because they never feel how you expected them to feel you're often left going: 'Oh, OK, so that happened. I don't feel any different'. You feel like the same person and have all the same insecurities and things that follow you around that you expect to disappear as soon as you become 'successful'. They're still there."
Like what?
"Normal human insecurities. You look at a rock star and think: 'This person is completely free of any self-consciousness or whatever' but actually the truth is you're not. You're still the same person, you've just got a lot more attention. That doesn't make it easier, in fact sometimes makes it a lot harder."
What have been your career highlights?
"There were moments like when we played Wembley Stadium. We played Wembley Stadium a couple of times. A Princess Diana tribute concert, where we were playing to a full stadium, singing your music back to you is powerful and almost surreal. The rest of it you can be cynical about. You can be cynical about record companies spending a lot of money on you because that happens all the time. Even radio play you can be quite cynical about: 'OK, I'm on the playlist now but will I be tomorrow?' There's certain things like when you do your first Top Of The Pops that they can never take away. For our generation that was the thing - one day you'll be on Top Of The Pops. Someone messaged me to say: 'I've just heard your music in the cafe in EastEnders' or 'You're a question on some quiz'. That's the real stuff that's exciting. You're part of culture for a minute. The great thing about 12 Stops From Home is that it hasn't gone away. The songs still get played on the radio. There's certain songs that've managed to maintain their mark on an era, as in they will always represent 2006/2007 to certain people. That might be for someone whose 2006 was being driven to ice skating on a Wednesday night by their mum and that's the song they would have in the car, so that will always represent that for them. Or a certain holiday or first snog, all that stuff. When you've got a record that was played a lot you're aware when people speak to you when they're older that it meant something to them - a moment in time. It's nice to be able to go back to that and celebrate it. It doesn't really feel like 'our' record. It feels like a record that we get to go and play."
Which are your favourite tracks to perform live?
"There's four No 1 radio records on that album. They're the ones we always continue to play live. Four of them were hits at the time then a fifth - Rose - that ended up being a hit later on. Although our second album had already come out because nobody did a campaign with it it ended up getting re-released. I think Rose is probably my favourite song on the record, even though that was never a hit when it first came out. It found it's way a little bit later on. Sometimes songs do that. It ends up on a movie and people end up discovering it like the underdog which had made it through and eventually been recognised. Look at Hallelujah. It has an extraordinary history of many people recording it and never doing anything then suddenly the timing is right and a song rides to the top."
Hearing the album from start to finish is going to be a different experience for your fans. What can they expect from this tour?
"I think because the era of the album has been dead for so long it's a way for us to re-gain that thing we used to have as artists. That ability to create a shape and flow between the songs. When we made our first album we even imagined it as a vinyl so it had a point where you'd flip the disc and act two was about to begin, giving it a rhythm and being really geeky about it. When we made 12 Stops From Home it had this story to it. It wasn't quite a concept album but it had a sense of flow which was really natural to it. Because people don't listen to music in that way anymore, I can see why it's becoming a trend for live stuff. We do care about the sequencing of albums. To be able to play 12 Stops From Home in it's original sequence it gives the whole experience something which people don't get anymore. People don't listen to an album from top to bottom quite as much as they used to. Actually it makes you write differently. There was a point where the album was starting to die and record labels wanted you to put all your hits at the top. The rest of it felt like content. We never did that. Love It When You Call is track eight on the album. For us it was about creating a piece of work in its entirety. Now it gives us the chance to experience that as it was always meant to be. People don't really listen to albums as a whole and I can see why artists do it (put their hits at the top) but we live that golden moment."
It's a shame there's a whole generation who won't listen to music in that way anymore.
"Maybe there's a resurgence with vinyl, with people putting a record on and enjoying a whole piece of work. There are certain artists who will always make albums and be albums artists. They will always create amazing records that play from top to bottom, whether they're jazz, soul, rock or pop artists. There's certain artists whose natural art form is the album. They grew up listening to LPs and know how to construct one and don't have a bunch of singles at the top and a load of filler. It could be a beautiful art form in it's own right. A lot of pop artists still have respect for that."
Kylie Minogue has proven that last week with her new album Golden going straight to No 1 and defying critics who thought she might be past her peak...
"She's created something really pop with a really strong concept as well. 100% that's been really successful because I think people want that still. There will also albums be certain artists who just put stuff out, get it on Spotify, get loads of hits and if it rises to the top then they'll put out what they call mix tapes. It's un-committal that's what it is. There's less pressure on it I suppose than calling it an album. There's always been artists banging out amazing songs and they don't need to do albums, or don't want to. Maybe that's not what they grew up with. Maybe they grew up with compilations so they don't have the sense of an album in them. Neither way is better than the other, they're just different."
Which other artists have you become friends with along the way?
"We're friends with a lot of the old-school people. We're such geeks. Rich (bassist) and Sophie (Ellis-Bextor, his wife) know everyone, because they're really well connected human beings. They hang around with Gary Kemp. Recently I went to lunch with John from Duran Duran in LA and it was amazing. It was because he came to see my musical, which was brilliant. Weird connections get made all the time. We've always been mates with Squeeze. Beverley Knight is a good mate of mine. I think she's an extraordinary singer. I've sung with her many times. I'm kind of in love with her basically. I think most gay men are. She's such a diva and gorgeous. Then there's people we've worked with over the years. We've been able to sing with lots of extraordinary artists. We're doing Chris Evan's Car Fest in summer and I think Gary (Kemp) is going to come and sing with us. There will be some special guests coming to sing with us. We do that regularly and like having other artists come sing with us. I'm s*** at name dropping. I should be better.
"My first ever interview was with Elton John for Interview magazine. He interviewed me himself. He was completely lovely. I was always a huge fan. I grew up in a LGBT activist's family, so I was raised in the scene. As far as LGBT pioneer/heroes go, the stuff that Elton's done for the HIV/AIDS foundation with his work has been extraordinary to watch. I think he's brilliant. To be interviewed by him I was beyond nervous. I said all the wrong things I'm sure."
He is retiring this year. Are you going to go and see him?
"100% absolutely. I've got to figure out which show I can get to. I'll be there."
I'm sure he'll continue to put out records...
"I don't think he's one to stop. I have that dream every now and then where I'll take a couple of years off. I tried to do that with the band before this and ended up doing a musical. I'm not very good at resting."
If you're a creative person you can't turn it on and off.
"What you'd like is to be able to do that without any sense of pressure. But a bit of ambition creeps in and it becomes work again and before you know it you're running around like a crazy person thinking: 'I'm supposed to be taking time off'."
Congratulations on the on-going success of your musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie. What are the plans next for it? Would you like to take it to Broadway or elsewhere?
"I would love to take it there. I'd love to take it around the world. I'd love to do productions everywhere because I've had such fun making it and creating it. The audiences are loving it so I'm thrilled about it. I think there's probably about a million hoops you have to jump through before it gets as far as that. It's a miracle we made it to the West End. On paper we're a very niche story about a very niche town. It's a very specific part of Sheffield where it's set, Parson Cross. It's a specific character and story but what's happened is the masses have connected with it. Maybe it's because it's so specific, they believe it. There's no general touch. The general gay character or anything. There ethnicity so people believe it and you care. When you care you have an experience with the theatre which can be thrilling. I'm so delighted about how well it's going and looking forward to doing more in theatre generally. I love doing it."
Have you got other scripts your working on?
"Yes. Jamie took four years to happen, which is apparently very quick so who knows when something might happen."
What about new music from The Feeling?
"We did this gig recently at the Apollo theatre to announce working with the band again. It was like we hadn't stepped away. It was the first time we'd played some of those songs in years - some of them 10-12 years. Part of it was like stepping into an old pair of shoes, so comfortable. There's so much you can still do with this band of musicians. We've grown up together and learned together so much that I think there will always be another Feeling record on the way, unless something drastic happens."
Do you have any superstitions as a band?
"No. We're all massively skeptical human beings. It's normal banter, which I can imagine is entirely impenetrable to anyone who doesn't know us. We'd be talking so much s*** and no-one would understand a word we were saying because we've obviously been working and living together for too long now. You have that thing among your mates - and the guys in the band are more than mates. We've been working together some of us for 23 years now. We were 16 when we met."
No arguments ever?
"Not really. Nothing tends to be major issues really. That's why we've lasted - we all get on. We all know what each other is good at and can bring to the party so we slot into our roles and it works really well. That's not to say I couldn't suddenly turn into a massive diva and start kicking off. Actually when I do get my diva on, which happens sometimes, they know it and see it coming and know how to deal with me."
What happens when you go into Dan the diva?
"It's the stress of being the frontman. I'm not a natural frontman. I'm happy to do that, happy to take the reigns but I'd be much happier if someone hid the mic and I could stand at the side and sing backing vocals and do the harmonies. I don't hate it but it doesn't come super naturally to me being the lead singer. I don't mind doing the talking bit between the songs. I'm not nervous about that. But sometimes being the one everyone is looking at all the times becomes stressful. When it gets stressful sometimes I start to lash out a little bit every now and then. Often it's slightly tongue-in-cheek but the lash out needs to happen. The boys knows it's tongue-in-cheek but everyone else is like: 'What's going on?'. It doesn't happen often but every so often I'll kick off about a stupid thing. When everyone was watching Tantrums and Tiaras, the Elton documentary, and going: 'It's awful'. I was laughing. I found him charming, hilarious and gorgeous because I can see where that comes from. It doesn't come from a desire to be mean, it comes from that stress when you don't want to be in the limelight in the centre of things and have everyone look at you all the time. If you don't want that you lash out in weird ways sometimes. I could see that completely in that documentary so when I met him I wasn't scared or anything. I was just in awe. I thought he came across as completely brilliant in that documentary. There's passion and all that stuff."
What's the craziest thing you've requested on your rider?
"Our rider at one point was absolutely mental - and it wasn't us. Our tour manager and crew kept putting new things on the rider. Nobody would ever take anything off the rider. There was a new guitar tech who decided he wanted something so he stuck it on the rider and didn't tell us. It got to a point where we looked at it once and realised it was costing us a fortune. Often the band have to pay for the rider - it comes out of your fee. We looked at it and were like: 'What is all this stuff?'. All this crew we weren't even working with anymore had ordered weird stuff - crazy amounts of sweets and stuff. We learned that after a story came out in The Sun. Someone leaked a story about our rider and it was about how many towels we used. That was a slow news day clearly."
The Feeling play Birmingham Town Hall on Mon 22 October.
The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells speaks to Kim Carr about their upcoming UK tour.
When you recorded 12 Stops And Home did you ever imagine playing the album in full on tour all these years later?
"When we recorded it we didn't think it was necessarily going to be a record. We were a bunch of lads working in a shed to create the kind of music we wanted to create because we were doing what musicians do. I don't think we were the most ambitious people in the world. We were just artistically ambitious, so we didn't really think about it. We've had a career very much based on: 'Do the work, see what happens'."
Maybe that's been the secret to your success, not putting too much pressure on yourselves?
"I've learned this in all the different fields of creative stuff. You focus on the material and all the rest will sort itself out. Hopefully. I think we might have had in the back of our minds dreams of mega stardom, that comes when you're a young artist. You have dreams of all sorts of stuff - complete fantasies. It's not to say you never thought it was going to happen you just have a sense that there's this little dream that you hold. I don't think anyone doesn't have that. It's a universal thing. As whether how much of that we thought was actually going to happen, I don't know. We just kept making the music."
The music has resonated with people and stood the test of time. It must take you back to certain points in your life when you hear the album again...
"It's been very emotional actually. We re-issued the album and in doing that we wanted to re-master it and create a double vinyl version of it and a re-mastered CD and add a load of extra content that we didn't have, that was never released before. It meant going back through an archive of stuff. That was emotional because it brought back a lot of memories. Things we'd all forgotten suddenly leap up from an old interview or a picture or an old demo that never even made it as far as the record. You listen to it and, wow it brings you right back to that time. That pure innocent time pre-fame and pre-success and all of that."
When you launched 12 Stops there was a press trip to Paris. Do you remember that?
"Those were the days when the record label put a record out they really went for it!"
Did you feel like a pop star when the album came out or was there another defining moment?
"There are several moments of where archetypal rock star things happened. Because they never feel how you expected them to feel you're often left going: 'Oh, OK, so that happened. I don't feel any different'. You feel like the same person and have all the same insecurities and things that follow you around that you expect to disappear as soon as you become 'successful'. They're still there."
Like what?
"Normal human insecurities. You look at a rock star and think: 'This person is completely free of any self-consciousness or whatever' but actually the truth is you're not. You're still the same person, you've just got a lot more attention. That doesn't make it easier, in fact sometimes makes it a lot harder."
What have been your career highlights?
"There were moments like when we played Wembley Stadium. We played Wembley Stadium a couple of times. A Princess Diana tribute concert, where we were playing to a full stadium, singing your music back to you is powerful and almost surreal. The rest of it you can be cynical about. You can be cynical about record companies spending a lot of money on you because that happens all the time. Even radio play you can be quite cynical about: 'OK, I'm on the playlist now but will I be tomorrow?' There's certain things like when you do your first Top Of The Pops that they can never take away. For our generation that was the thing - one day you'll be on Top Of The Pops. Someone messaged me to say: 'I've just heard your music in the cafe in EastEnders' or 'You're a question on some quiz'. That's the real stuff that's exciting. You're part of culture for a minute. The great thing about 12 Stops From Home is that it hasn't gone away. The songs still get played on the radio. There's certain songs that've managed to maintain their mark on an era, as in they will always represent 2006/2007 to certain people. That might be for someone whose 2006 was being driven to ice skating on a Wednesday night by their mum and that's the song they would have in the car, so that will always represent that for them. Or a certain holiday or first snog, all that stuff. When you've got a record that was played a lot you're aware when people speak to you when they're older that it meant something to them - a moment in time. It's nice to be able to go back to that and celebrate it. It doesn't really feel like 'our' record. It feels like a record that we get to go and play."
Which are your favourite tracks to perform live?
"There's four No 1 radio records on that album. They're the ones we always continue to play live. Four of them were hits at the time then a fifth - Rose - that ended up being a hit later on. Although our second album had already come out because nobody did a campaign with it it ended up getting re-released. I think Rose is probably my favourite song on the record, even though that was never a hit when it first came out. It found it's way a little bit later on. Sometimes songs do that. It ends up on a movie and people end up discovering it like the underdog which had made it through and eventually been recognised. Look at Hallelujah. It has an extraordinary history of many people recording it and never doing anything then suddenly the timing is right and a song rides to the top."
Hearing the album from start to finish is going to be a different experience for your fans. What can they expect from this tour?
"I think because the era of the album has been dead for so long it's a way for us to re-gain that thing we used to have as artists. That ability to create a shape and flow between the songs. When we made our first album we even imagined it as a vinyl so it had a point where you'd flip the disc and act two was about to begin, giving it a rhythm and being really geeky about it. When we made 12 Stops From Home it had this story to it. It wasn't quite a concept album but it had a sense of flow which was really natural to it. Because people don't listen to music in that way anymore, I can see why it's becoming a trend for live stuff. We do care about the sequencing of albums. To be able to play 12 Stops From Home in it's original sequence it gives the whole experience something which people don't get anymore. People don't listen to an album from top to bottom quite as much as they used to. Actually it makes you write differently. There was a point where the album was starting to die and record labels wanted you to put all your hits at the top. The rest of it felt like content. We never did that. Love It When You Call is track eight on the album. For us it was about creating a piece of work in its entirety. Now it gives us the chance to experience that as it was always meant to be. People don't really listen to albums as a whole and I can see why artists do it (put their hits at the top) but we live that golden moment."
It's a shame there's a whole generation who won't listen to music in that way anymore.
"Maybe there's a resurgence with vinyl, with people putting a record on and enjoying a whole piece of work. There are certain artists who will always make albums and be albums artists. They will always create amazing records that play from top to bottom, whether they're jazz, soul, rock or pop artists. There's certain artists whose natural art form is the album. They grew up listening to LPs and know how to construct one and don't have a bunch of singles at the top and a load of filler. It could be a beautiful art form in it's own right. A lot of pop artists still have respect for that."
Kylie Minogue has proven that last week with her new album Golden going straight to No 1 and defying critics who thought she might be past her peak...
"She's created something really pop with a really strong concept as well. 100% that's been really successful because I think people want that still. There will also albums be certain artists who just put stuff out, get it on Spotify, get loads of hits and if it rises to the top then they'll put out what they call mix tapes. It's un-committal that's what it is. There's less pressure on it I suppose than calling it an album. There's always been artists banging out amazing songs and they don't need to do albums, or don't want to. Maybe that's not what they grew up with. Maybe they grew up with compilations so they don't have the sense of an album in them. Neither way is better than the other, they're just different."
Which other artists have you become friends with along the way?
"We're friends with a lot of the old-school people. We're such geeks. Rich (bassist) and Sophie (Ellis-Bextor, his wife) know everyone, because they're really well connected human beings. They hang around with Gary Kemp. Recently I went to lunch with John from Duran Duran in LA and it was amazing. It was because he came to see my musical, which was brilliant. Weird connections get made all the time. We've always been mates with Squeeze. Beverley Knight is a good mate of mine. I think she's an extraordinary singer. I've sung with her many times. I'm kind of in love with her basically. I think most gay men are. She's such a diva and gorgeous. Then there's people we've worked with over the years. We've been able to sing with lots of extraordinary artists. We're doing Chris Evan's Car Fest in summer and I think Gary (Kemp) is going to come and sing with us. There will be some special guests coming to sing with us. We do that regularly and like having other artists come sing with us. I'm s*** at name dropping. I should be better.
"My first ever interview was with Elton John for Interview magazine. He interviewed me himself. He was completely lovely. I was always a huge fan. I grew up in a LGBT activist's family, so I was raised in the scene. As far as LGBT pioneer/heroes go, the stuff that Elton's done for the HIV/AIDS foundation with his work has been extraordinary to watch. I think he's brilliant. To be interviewed by him I was beyond nervous. I said all the wrong things I'm sure."
He is retiring this year. Are you going to go and see him?
"100% absolutely. I've got to figure out which show I can get to. I'll be there."
I'm sure he'll continue to put out records...
"I don't think he's one to stop. I have that dream every now and then where I'll take a couple of years off. I tried to do that with the band before this and ended up doing a musical. I'm not very good at resting."
If you're a creative person you can't turn it on and off.
"What you'd like is to be able to do that without any sense of pressure. But a bit of ambition creeps in and it becomes work again and before you know it you're running around like a crazy person thinking: 'I'm supposed to be taking time off'."
Congratulations on the on-going success of your musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie. What are the plans next for it? Would you like to take it to Broadway or elsewhere?
"I would love to take it there. I'd love to take it around the world. I'd love to do productions everywhere because I've had such fun making it and creating it. The audiences are loving it so I'm thrilled about it. I think there's probably about a million hoops you have to jump through before it gets as far as that. It's a miracle we made it to the West End. On paper we're a very niche story about a very niche town. It's a very specific part of Sheffield where it's set, Parson Cross. It's a specific character and story but what's happened is the masses have connected with it. Maybe it's because it's so specific, they believe it. There's no general touch. The general gay character or anything. There ethnicity so people believe it and you care. When you care you have an experience with the theatre which can be thrilling. I'm so delighted about how well it's going and looking forward to doing more in theatre generally. I love doing it."
Have you got other scripts your working on?
"Yes. Jamie took four years to happen, which is apparently very quick so who knows when something might happen."
What about new music from The Feeling?
"We did this gig recently at the Apollo theatre to announce working with the band again. It was like we hadn't stepped away. It was the first time we'd played some of those songs in years - some of them 10-12 years. Part of it was like stepping into an old pair of shoes, so comfortable. There's so much you can still do with this band of musicians. We've grown up together and learned together so much that I think there will always be another Feeling record on the way, unless something drastic happens."
Do you have any superstitions as a band?
"No. We're all massively skeptical human beings. It's normal banter, which I can imagine is entirely impenetrable to anyone who doesn't know us. We'd be talking so much s*** and no-one would understand a word we were saying because we've obviously been working and living together for too long now. You have that thing among your mates - and the guys in the band are more than mates. We've been working together some of us for 23 years now. We were 16 when we met."
No arguments ever?
"Not really. Nothing tends to be major issues really. That's why we've lasted - we all get on. We all know what each other is good at and can bring to the party so we slot into our roles and it works really well. That's not to say I couldn't suddenly turn into a massive diva and start kicking off. Actually when I do get my diva on, which happens sometimes, they know it and see it coming and know how to deal with me."
What happens when you go into Dan the diva?
"It's the stress of being the frontman. I'm not a natural frontman. I'm happy to do that, happy to take the reigns but I'd be much happier if someone hid the mic and I could stand at the side and sing backing vocals and do the harmonies. I don't hate it but it doesn't come super naturally to me being the lead singer. I don't mind doing the talking bit between the songs. I'm not nervous about that. But sometimes being the one everyone is looking at all the times becomes stressful. When it gets stressful sometimes I start to lash out a little bit every now and then. Often it's slightly tongue-in-cheek but the lash out needs to happen. The boys knows it's tongue-in-cheek but everyone else is like: 'What's going on?'. It doesn't happen often but every so often I'll kick off about a stupid thing. When everyone was watching Tantrums and Tiaras, the Elton documentary, and going: 'It's awful'. I was laughing. I found him charming, hilarious and gorgeous because I can see where that comes from. It doesn't come from a desire to be mean, it comes from that stress when you don't want to be in the limelight in the centre of things and have everyone look at you all the time. If you don't want that you lash out in weird ways sometimes. I could see that completely in that documentary so when I met him I wasn't scared or anything. I was just in awe. I thought he came across as completely brilliant in that documentary. There's passion and all that stuff."
What's the craziest thing you've requested on your rider?
"Our rider at one point was absolutely mental - and it wasn't us. Our tour manager and crew kept putting new things on the rider. Nobody would ever take anything off the rider. There was a new guitar tech who decided he wanted something so he stuck it on the rider and didn't tell us. It got to a point where we looked at it once and realised it was costing us a fortune. Often the band have to pay for the rider - it comes out of your fee. We looked at it and were like: 'What is all this stuff?'. All this crew we weren't even working with anymore had ordered weird stuff - crazy amounts of sweets and stuff. We learned that after a story came out in The Sun. Someone leaked a story about our rider and it was about how many towels we used. That was a slow news day clearly."
The Feeling play Birmingham Town Hall on Mon 22 October.
Tickets can be bought HERE