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Radio ORLA – “London Bridge” Hour Two – George Matlock with Basia and Danny White
Basia – Dobry wieczor, witam, tu mowi Basia, serdecznie pozdrawiam wszystkich słuchaczy Radio Orla. Krysia translates: Good evening, hello, it's Basia speaking, my warmest greetings to all Radio Orla listeners. George Matlock – Hello, Good evening and welcome, you’re listening to Radio ORLA fm, Anglo Polish radio, I’m George Matlock. And I am very delighted to say that Basia Trzetrzelewska has kept her promise (Basia laughing in background) and she’s decided to join us here in the studio in London and not only, also, from Matt Bianco and many other musical connections – also here in the studio, to give more than backing vocals I’m sure, is the one and the only, the in-imitate-able Danny White. Danny – Dzien dobry George – “Dzien dobry“? How many Polish words do you actually say? Danny – Hmm, I haven’t counted. I can count to ten, I can say “I’m very hungry”… George – This is your great opportunity to prove us wrong. Danny – Oh no! Jestem bardzo glodny George – That’s good – that means “I am very hungry” Basia – Danny has a café, not too far away from his house, where there are a few Polish waitresses and I think he practices specially for them just to make them smile. George – How about that? You actually own a café? (Basia laughs) Danny – No, no, no, no, no, no…. (all talk over each other) George – Oh – you’re just a regular… Basia – He’s just a regular… Danny – It’s just around the corner… George – Okay. Fantastic. Well, we’re delighted that you were able to join us here for London Bridge Special , it’s an extra show we’ve been putting on today and it’s also ahead of the promotion for your new album. Which we’re awfully excited to have a copy of, two copies of – and we’re going to be finding out in moment which question Basia’s chosen from a very large number that we’ve received. I’ve actually had to sort of go through this and select, uh, y’know sort of streamline it a little bit and short list it a little bit. Because, otherwise, we’d be here forever just reading them all back and having Basia choose. I think it’s only fair to her that she got a fair number to choose from. So what we’ve decided to do is the first question that Basia decides to answer will receive a signed (I hope), a signed copy of your new album, which is called “It’s That Girl Again”. Okay – so, what we’re going to do first is we’re going to play as a little teaser, one of the songs, the song which is the first single I believe from the album, to start the show with that. And the song is called “A Gift”. And of course, everybody knows the song we started with, because that was of course, “Promises”. So, without any further ado, here we go, this is your new song, “A Gift”.
George – Taken from the new album by Basia, that song is called, “A Gift”. And we have an answer, in a way, because we have already one question which has been chosen by Basia Trzetrzelewska for the opening question from the fans. Remember, we’ve had a lot of you write in and I can only say how delighted I personally am that there has been such a fantastic response from your fans. And you have , clearly, a lot of them out there. Basia – Yes it’s nice. George – So once again, thank you very much everyone for having written in and if tonight you don’t hear your question, all I can say is a big, big thank you for making it, us, be able to sort of, consider your questions and thank you for sending them in. So the question that we’ve got to start with, that Basia’s chosen, comes from Joe – Joe from Charleston, (Hums the Charleston) Bap, bap and all that - in South Carolina, United States of America. Joe if you are listening, you’re going to need to get in touch with us or we’re going to need to email you. We’ve got your email address so don’t worry to get your details for this CD. But here’s the question first of all, and it nicely ties into the song we’ve just heard, “A Gift”. The question from Joe is: “ ‘A Gift’ is a beautiful new song on your latest album, can you tell us more about the inspiration for it?” Basia – Well, “A Gift” was a song written at the very very end of our recording of this album. It is actually the very last song we came up with – and we thought that we ‘don’t need any more songs’ – we had I think, by that time, 14 songs. So we felt, that’s it, that’s enough. But then Danny came up with this beautiful line, which brass plays here, and he started to develop this idea more and more. And finally he played it to me – and he gave me instruction (laughs) that I should really come up with something - for once – something very emotional, something that will sort of grab my heart and listeners too. And I thought, I noticed that all the songs I had written for this album, the lyrics, at least, were written about – mostly about – other people. A couple maybe, referred to me. But most of them are stories of people I know. So I just thought, that for once, I should maybe write a song that is really personal - and make it completely public – and say thank you for being loved and express how often that we take for granted people we are with. Very often, we just assume that they always will be there and of course, that is not necessarily the case. So, I just thought that this was a good opportunity to say thank you and say how grateful I am that I can always rely on that person who’s with me. And I think it worked, because it seemed to work – it worked on that person. Which is really good! He’s very thrilled about this song, so, I hope that other people can sense the kind of real feelings behind it. George – So, who, if we can ask (Basia laughs)…who is the inspiration then for the song? Basia – Well, I’m sure that our fans, who’ve stuck with us through all these years – they’re quite well aware that my partner is one of our musicians in the band, who also plays with other groups. His name is Kevin and he plays trumpet and we’ve been together for eighteen years now. George – Fantastic! – okay, well I’m going to say Joe, if you’re listening in, do drop us another email with your address. You’ve just won a fabulous CD, and I know Basia will sign it with your name on it. So how about that – fantastic! Now Basia, yes, when we met, and I know it is a good number of years now, we were talking many wonderful stories and there was a lot of trivia in the show. Tonight we don’t have time for that, well, actually we do – (Basia laughs)- there’s always time for a bit of trivia . But I remember distinctly one of the funniest things that happened on that program, that we did – about four or five years ago – was something that didn’t actually get recorded, didn’t actually get on air. It happened in the studio, there was this remarkable moment where Danny and Basia sitting down and getting involved in the show and really enjoying themselves – and then suddenly Kevin walks in and he joins us. Do you remember this, Danny? Danny – Yes I do. Basia – Yes, of course (laughs) George - And he sort of joined us, and we had this nice little tea set, and it was rather quaint, little bit of sort of old English, a bit of bone china or whatever it was. It was a good tea set actually. And funnily enough, just doing this program, he was enjoying a cup of tea and then he started look at the cup and he looked under the base of the cup. I said something (not on air) like “Kevin, is everything all right over there?”. And he said, “Yeah this is the same tea set that we, me and Basia got back in Poland.” Basia – Really? Oh that piece I don’t remember. George – I almost felt tempted to say “that IS your tea set…” Basia – Oh I see - ah, yes! I know which one it is now…because obviously we’ve got one that is quite kind of elaborate tea set. It was a present from a friend, Polish friend, and it’s got this huge set – and I couldn’t really keep it in England, because there’s already any space for it here. So, my house in Poland is quite big, so we transported it back to Poland where it came from really. Now I know, it’s got lots of pink in it. George – That’s right, lots of pink, very floral. Well, you’ll notice that today, to avoid any embarrassment to you, we’ve decided to get you a very much, a regimental Stalinist inspired set. Basia – I like it, it’s a nice set right here. (laughs) George – And that’s a great plug for you-know-who, yes? No expense spared on this occasion, there is, a credit crunch of course … Basia – But the tea was very good. George – That’s amazing. I’m glad you enjoyed the tea. Angie made the tea, bless her. Danny - I thought you were offering biscuits, credit crunch... George – Did you like your macaroon, by the way? Danny – It was very nice, yes George - Would you like another one? Danny – I would yeah, actually… (sounds of paper rattling in studio) George – This is all happening on live radio …in fact, please do, help yourself, they’re all different flavors, all different colors – go on Basia, you’ll have one as well. Basia - Let’s have it later, otherwise it will be very noisy on the mike… George – Well that’s something I’m sure that your fans haven’t heard, in a radio interview, is Basia munching. What does Basia sound like when she’s munching? Now that is a trivial question, right, ok. Well, let’s move on, and we’re going to play some more music, I think, in fact, we’re going to play a little bit of music in the background, we’re going to play various songs from your solo career but of course, people also know you from the band Matt Bianco. (Basia agreeing) Things alternate, when we met last time, you just released a new album, which was Matt Bianco as well. There was a little bit of music, a little of lyrics in Polish on there on one of the songs as well (starts humming “The Wrong Side of the Street”)… Basia – Oh yes, of course! That’s right, “The Wrong Side of the Street” George – That’s it! I love that song! Basia – Really? That’s one of my most favorite, I think, from this album, I only sing backing vocals there but at the very end, I sing one kind of chorus in Polish. Which I thought, suited the mood of the song – it would also be very good in French, but I don’t speak French that well, so I just decided to sing it in Polish. Because it had a little bit of an atmosphere, kind of European, fifties films, noir. George – Yeah, that’s true. Basia – So now, uh, that I really like it. Often when I come to Poland, I hear it on the radio. One of the radio stations obviously likes the song, because I hear it quite often. It’s a good song. George – Super! Well we play it here as well. Just so we won’t be behind anyone on that. Just to ask as well, if I may, on your new album, do you sing anything in Polish on here? Basia - Yes, there is at least once, I usually always put a sentence, a verse, a chorus somewhere in Polish on every record. But on this album, actually, there is a whole song in Polish. George – I think I know which one it is. Number 12? (George and Basia laugh) Basia – Obviously! Because it’s got a Polish title, a few people in the world are probably confused, well what’s it all about. I just thought it would nice to let people know that I’m Polish, and I sing also in Polish, I can sing also in Polish. But this song was actually written mainly for my friends in Poland, who are famous for their worrying (Laughs) - Poles are always like that. George – That’s true. Basia - So I just thought that this song should really make them realize how much they have to be grateful for and how that life is not that bad, y’know? And the most important thing is just our kids are happy and healthy and if they laugh everything is okay. That’s why this song is called “Amelki’s Laughter”, because she is smart - she laughs at the end of the song. She’s only one-year old at that time when we were recording, now she’s two. So, that’s it – “Amelki Smiech”. George – Okay great, excellent. That’s absolutely right, Amelki Smiech. Now of course, you could have confused everyone by having lyrics on another song which was in English, but the lyrics in Polish and you could have had English lyrics for “Amelki Smiech” . I’m just thinking, in English, that’s going to be tricky, because the way the Brits will actually read it, they’ll probably say “Ameltki śmieć” (mispronounces the Polish) or “śmieć” (Basia laughs) and we know what “śmieć” means in Polish Basia – Yes…it’s “Rubbish” (laughs) George – Exactly - we don’t want to say “Amelki’s Rubbish” Basia – Oh no, no…. George – That would be almost a contradiction in terms, but a very positive song and Basia – Yeah… George – Do we need it? My goodness, there’s a credit crisis on us, global economic problems, and everything… Basia – Also what’s different on this song, is that usually on every album, I record all my backing vocals myself – on this album, I think only Kevin helped me. Mostly Kevin helped me with some backing vocals, really low harmonies. But on this song, “Amelki Smiech”, we actually recorded my Polish friends in Poland, I came home once, and gathered them around the table - sort of stopped them from eating (laughs) and drinking. I just told them this tune and I recorded their backing vocals. So it was like I think twelve of my friends are singing backing vocals on this tune. George – Super stuff – how did you choose those people to do the singing? Basia – You know, the thing is… George – You didn’t do a talent show, you didn’t do one of these “Pop Idols”? Basia – (laughs) I didn’t have to… I didn’t have to really audition anybody, because I know this crowd – every time when we have a party, there’s always like two hours into the party, there’s always singing. They always sing, and they all have fantastic voices, there’s a couple of them have very very strong voices – actually there are two brothers and they stick out from these backing vocals. There are a couple of them who maybe should not be on this…but…(laughs) George – (Laughs) But they blend in well with the other ten… Basia – But we’ve managed to kind of hide them a little. But I wanted everyone to be there, that group that normally gets together when I go there (to Poland). George – Fantastic – so with the great power of technology, you can actually suppress certain voices – isn’t that wonderful? Basia – It wasn’t that easy, they all recorded at the same time, so really, it wasn’t that easy. But uh, somehow, if you take the music out, you can actually hear there are some really “off” voices, but when’s all blended with the backing track, it’s just lost somewhere. George – Absolutely amazing – so did you have to get them plastered first before they actually sang? Basia – No! I actually didn’t let them eat and I didn’t let them drink. Because I knew there was going to be trouble – that is why at the very end, there is sort of – after we finish singing – there’s one of my friends, (laughs) actually you can hear it very well – in Polish, she says: “when are we going to eat finally?” Because she was by that time, starving, I think I kept them maybe for three hours, because I wanted to record properly. So I did many takes, finally they were so hungry, they ate ravenously at the table afterwards. George – Fantastic. Basia – And then the funny thing is, I have to tell you the story, because probably even Danny doesn’t know it. That after they had this food, and there was lots of food and drinking and stuff – I tried again, I thought maybe now they’ll know this tune very well – maybe we should record it again, and it was so terrible! But because after you eat, the singing goes out the window. George – Wow. We’ll be finding out lots more revelations that Danny didn’t know about Basia from Basia in the course of this hour. What we’re going to do now though is, play you a song, I’d like if we may to dedicate this to the fans, because although they can listen to it through the internet – everywhere around the world which is fantastic since they are everywhere around the world, there’s a song that I think really goes out to them, really screams out to them – “London, Warsaw, or New York” (Basia agrees). So let’s hear a little bit of that, just to remind everyone, if anyone would like to, you can call in, we’re on air, we’re live at the moment so make the most of it. Call us on 44 for the UK, 208 998 6630 if you’d like to talk to Basia.
George – Wow how about that – take a bow indeed. Basia Trzetrzelewska, there and “London, Warsaw or New York”. Oh you probably remember that gig very well. Basia – Oh yes, it was actually a whole two weeks of gigs. Because we recorded this album on Broadway. But we recorded only the last two nights for this show, for this record.
George - And we’re going to be playing a few Basia songs in the background to keep the atmosphere going – keep the party spirit. Talking of which, we’ve actually got somebody on Skype, who’s written in, somebody named Andrzej – during the program, he’s just said in Polish, in his Polish. He’s written: "Wszystkiego dobrego dla Basi, zagrajcie cos a może Basia cos na zywo zaspiewa?" (Translated: "All the best to Basia, play something or maybe Basia would sing something live?")
Basia – (laughs) George – Looks like somebody wants a bit of acappela. Basia – Oh yeah. I’m sure…(laughs) George – We’ve got another half an hour to think that one through. Haven’t we? Basia – Can you imagine – you know Danny, I think you could sing something light for us? Danny – Maybe… maybe not. (Basia laughs) George – Well you’re a really piano man, aren’t you Danny? Danny – I’m a real piano man. George – How about vocals and stuff? Do you like the singing bits? Danny – Uh..no. Basia – But you know he does sing. George – He does sing. Basia – He does sing - he recorded a song once, “3am Blues” it was called. George - “3am Blues”? Basia – Yes. Danny – I think it’s good to know one’s limitations. Basia – Please, that’s why I don’t play piano and he doesn’t sing. Danny - That’s why it works so well. Basia - That’s why it works so well. (laughing) George – Ok, let’s move on then through the questions. Because we have quite a few of them here, and the fans are probably thinking, “all this trivia is lovely – but what about our questions?”. So here is one from someone called “Modony” in France, and Modony – I don’t know if that’s a ladies name or a boy’s name – but here is the question to both of you, someone remembered that you are here as well Danny and that is fabulous.
Danny - We do and I’ve spent most of my life working with you. Basia – So do I Danny - So I couldn’t imagine it, no – why would I want to? Basia – Awww… George – Isn’t that lovely? Isn’t that beautiful? Danny - If I know what’s good for me Basia – (laughs) You tried once, to, when I had this long break between the records, and Danny did try to work with someone else Danny – But they lost it too…(mumbles…) Basia – He realized how hard it to get a good partnership going. Well, I think if I didn’t work with Danny, I wouldn’t be working at all. Because, I don’t know, for me, it’s not the easiest job. Danny –Working with me? (laughs) Basia – Working in music. You know, I think you know, you not only inspire me my darling but also encourage me to work. His faith in me, in my kind of so-called talent, causes the fact that I actually write and I sing. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t remember anyone who be so encouraging in telling me to write and try to make records. So if I had not met Danny, I don’t think would have had any career happening in music – no , definitely not on that scale. He’s definitely a motor – pushes, motivates me. George – He’s gone red in the face, but you can’t tell from where you are sitting. Don’t adjust your radio sets just yet. Danny – But I think when you come across people you can work with, and it clicks with, and you know you come up with good things – it is really very rare to find people like that. Basia - Yes it is. It is. George – Creativity is difficult in itself. Danny – It is difficult to look for things like that. Basia – For example, we were talking about Kevin, he’s a musician, he also writes, and it seems natural that because he is my boyfriend that I should really write and work with him. But I haven’t got the same musical understanding as I have with Danny. We seem to… we are not the best friends (laughs) let’s be honest… George – There was a shove, for those who cannot see on radio, there was a shove from the lady towards the man… (“New Day for You” now playing in background) Basia – (Laughs) But…I’m not completely serious. But you know, music really is something that really ties us very closely – and we have much more in common musically the two of us than anyone else in the world, I think. I mean, when he comes up with an idea, it’s really, I don’t remember ever not liking it, or very often moved by it to tears. Danny – I can remember one occasion. Basia – There’s only one song! It’s only one…you wouldn’t believe that he really remembers, but it was only one song – what was it? Danny – It was “Brave New Hope” Basia – No, “New Day for You?”…”Brave New Hope?”- Oh yeah “Brave New Hope!” Danny -“Brave New Hope” Basia – Ah, “Brave New Hope” because I came up with this song, and Danny tried to.. Danny -..interpret it. Basia - Interpret it. Sort of by... Danny – ...recording it. Basia – Yes recording it, you tell the story, Danny – By recording a backing track, and I think you had gone away. So I thought I would get this song ready for when you got back, you got back, I played the song for you and you started crying…. Basia – (Laughing)…it was terrible! Danny – I had missed, missed something… Basia – Because you know, if you write a song in your head, you kind of hear it, then I only described it to Danny and he tried to sort of record it, and it didn’t work out as well as I expected. George – So he wasn’t telepathic? Basia – No it wasn’t. But I remember when he came up with the chord progression for “New Day for You” – I also thought it was quite boring. Danny – Oh yeah. Basia – Exactly and then, when I heard only these chords, I thought nothing was exciting. But when I found the lyric that went with it, and we started to work on it – now it’s one of my most favorite songs. So here we go, that’s it. Danny – Because I often come up with stuff, that I think is fairly average – and I contemplate it for you just in case – then it captures your imagination. Then you kind of apply your side to it and then it sort of adds a touch of magic. Basia – Yes exactly! Danny very often comes up to me and shows me some musical idea, and he says, “I don’t know if this is any good”. And I get incredibly excited, and I’m like, “No, no we can do something with this!” And it just sort of grows you know? I add a little bit, and then Danny adds a little bit, then the pyramid grows taller and taller. Danny –I think having two of us is very important, because when I come up with an idea, and you’re trying to develop it, you play it over and over and over and you get bored with it and then you start to get insecure about it. Basia –Yes, that’s right. Danny – And if it wasn’t for you being able to play it to someone else…. Basia – Yes… Danny – It would probably never see the light of the day. Basia - Exactly, “sorry, this is getting very boring”… George - This is a very interesting answer, this is almost like watching you actually watch you interplay for creating a song. It’s almost like a song is being born here. Basia – But that is exactly how it works. George – Fantastic! Basia – Because, you know, we don’t work together – we don’t sit at home and write… Danny – Oh we do, but we spend probably four-fifth’s alone…and then a fifth together Basia – That’s true. We see each other, I don’t know, sort of every week or every other week. And then we sit together for a few hours, then we go home and again work separately. We have only those meetings where we exchange what we have done… George – Executive meetings? Yeah, fantastic – a little bit like Elton John and Bernie Taupin – they work mostly apart, then somehow it all comes together. Basia - If only Bernie Taupin sang, that’ll be exactly like that. George – He does though, he does… Basia – Oh yes, he does! George – The Farm Dogs…the Farm Dogs band… Basia - Actually, you’re right, I did come across it…I was actually surprised that he was…sorry, we’re exactly like them! (Laughing) George – Exactly, fantastic. Now talking on about albums, I think you’ve almost answered Ken Drew’s question. But I’m going to ask it anyway, just in case you want to take it into a slightly different direction. He’s actually asking a couple of things: “Do you feel it is more difficult to produce an album today than it was when you made your first album?” Okay, that’s the first question. Basia – Yes. George- And the second one is: “Due to the economic situation in the world, is it difficult –“ he’s always talking about difficult things isn’t he? “-is difficult given the current economic situation globally, to put together a world tour? Or are you going to focus on selected areas of the world?” UK, US, Japan is what he suggests.
Danny – Well we love touring, we love to go and play our new songs as well as the old ones in front of people who want to listen to them. There’s no bigger thrill. And we’re hoping we’ll do that later in the summer or later in the year. But it is, and we’d love to go wherever we can, but it kind of depends on how the record does. It’s an expensive operation to take a lot of people from England and fly them all over the world and put them in hotels, and you know, it’s just tough. Especially at the moment. Basia – Yes, the promoters became very careful, very cautious. And once they would sort of throw that caution into the wind, and they would send us on tour - like there was a plan. Actually we were supposed to rehearse now, but it turns out that everybody is a bit worried now about anybody is going to come. And because of that, we have to wait for maybe for the results of sales. Danny – We are hoping that the record will do well enough to raise our profile and therefore we will be able to go on tour later. Basia – Yes. The first half of the question was is it more difficult to make a record nowadays. Well, I think, for us, it is much easier, than ever, only because technology is allowing us work at home. Danny – I think it is easier to make a record on a much smaller budget, now. Basia – That’s right, because we don’t have to pay for studio… Danny - But in terms of being creative, I don’t know if it’s any easier than before. Basia – Oh yeah, oh I see, so you think he meant… Danny – There’s two sides to it, there’s the technology. And the technology definitely does help you – but it can also mean you have a lot more control. Therefore you can take more time to get things right. Which arguably could not necessarily be a good thing, you know, the Beatles recorded “Sgt. Pepper” in how many months? Three months. It’s doesn’t necessarily come up with a better record. Basia – Yeah, but I found recording of this album very pleasant. Danny – It was enjoyable Basia – Enjoyable! Yes… Danny -It took us a long time didn’t it? Basia – But the fact that you don’t have this pressure of going to the studio and looking at the clock, you know, ticking. Danny – Because you can record it at home. Basia - Uh-huh – because you can record it at home. It makes a huge difference. Of course not everything was possible to be recorded at home because you know there is always big drums or piano, real grand piano – which we had to record in studio. And of course mixes in the proper studio, so we couldn’t record everything at home. But a lot of it, for example, my vocals was such, so relaxing this time, because I could take time and I could do them at whatever time of day or night I wanted to do it. Without worrying so, because I record alone. George – I do know that certainly it took a long time for it to get this album to come together, because I do remember bumping into Danny White at one of his brother Peter White’s gigs in London more than a year ago and saying, “Would you come in and talk to us on the show?” And Danny quite honestly said, “Well we’re still working on this album, when it’s done – we’ll definitely take that up.” And I’m delighted you have done so, it’s fantastic. Basia – We started to work on this album towards the end of 2005, when we got back from the tour. And we worked for 2006 and 2007, but really last year, our record, apart from “A Gift” was really finished. We waited for a release and for somebody’s interest - because our Sony contract expired. So we were sort of looking for somebody who would be interested in this record. And the recession started and people started to be very careful, and it took a while to – and finally when we found our record company who wanted to release it, they just scheduled it like seven months ahead! So finally we had a record company, but we lost a year really just waiting for a release. Danny – So we were also going to go in and mix it. And then I turned up on the day to mix it… Basia - First technical day of mixing. Danny – …and Dave Bascombe, who’s the guy who mixed it, was in hospital. He had heart bypass operation. George – Oh wow… Basia – It was very serious, he was open heart surgery and then it took a long time to recover… Danny –…and we wanted to work with him… Basia - …but we wanted to work with so, we waited. Because really, the mixing engineer is one of the most important people… Danny -... we just had a good relationship with him, he’s very reliable. Basia – Lovely boy. (laughs) Danny- Does the business . Basia – Does the business - good ears on him. George – Good ears, we like that. Well we’re going to play you a song, where, if people got good ears, they’ll be hearing you sing a little of Polish. We were talking about this song, this is from Matt Bianco, the last album in 2004, “The Wrong Side of The Street” – which as we mentioned earlier, a fabulous song, very up-tempo, let’s have a listen.
George – Good afternoon, I’m George Matlock, this is a London Bridge special. Here our guests in the studio, that I’m very delighted to remind you are Basia Trzetrzelewska and Danny White. (Basia cheering) Is that right, is that a good “Roo-Rah” there? It’ll pass, it’ll pass. So do you have any middle initials there by the way, Danny?
Danny – Oh… I do, yes. George – You do? Danny- Yes. Basia – Would you like to share with the world? George – Yes, would you like to share? Danny – Phillip… Phillip, is my middle name. Basia – I like it. Danny Phillip White. George – Very posh, very regal. Basia –Very nice. George – Basia, do you have any middle names? Basia – Oh yes! (Laughs) George – Oh yes – oh plenty! Basia – My siblings and I we got our middle names after our parents and grandparents. So I got my father’s name which is “Stansiwava” George - “Stansiwava” Basia - Which I thought was a terrible name. Once, I mentioned it to my singing teacher, and she said that it sounds “So royal – Stansiwava!!” So I changed my mind about my middle name, she is a famous teacher, she made me change my attitude about my middle name, now I think it’s great! (laughs) George – The great thing about Polish is that a lot of names are what I call unisex, there’s a male and female version of it. There’s isn’t such a big big problem, I suppose “George” especially in English that you going have to change. Basia – Yeah, but there is Georgina. George – There is Georgina. Basia – Yes Stansiwav, Stansiwava… George – You just add an “a”.. Basia – That’s right, Phillip – Phillippa, yes of course… Danny – Nigel, Nigella… George – Nigella, that’s right. Basia –That was, I think that was invented… George – That was invented. Basia - There was no Nigella before. Danny – I know… George - I think you’re right. Basia – I think Nigel was the very first one to call his daughter, Nigella… George – Indeed, indeed. Okay, we’ll go on to another question then, this is coming from Phil Jones in Saulford, that’s in the United Kingdom, and there’s quite a few things, let’s bunch it all together. He saying, um, well he actually you’ve pre-empted this one already. He asks about the songwriting process, which you’ve dutifully explained lovely, so thank you for that. Danny – Tea cup questions...(Basia laughs) George – Tea cup… and no questions about your hat. Danny – No George– You’re wearing a fetching hat Danny – Thank you. George – I love that hat. Basia – Yes, I love your hat. Shame, it’s radio… Danny – Shame it’s radio, right? George – Shame it’s radio, exactly! Basia – But if they come to the shows, George – Are you going to wear that on stage? Danny – Well as I said, I’m just kind of trying it out tonight. So we’ll see. George- You’re trying to see what kind of reaction you’re going to get from the audience? You seriously think that on radio, that it is the best place to try it out? Danny – Well you’re my audience, George. George – It’s very nice - it’s very smart. It works. Danny – Trust us. George - It reminds me of that band, The Specials. They used to wear things like that. Madness and Ska bands. Basia – Ska bands! Danny – Not with a feather. George- Not with a feather, got a feather in your cap, that’s true! “Does Basia come to Danny with idea or a subject matter?” Basia – Subject – I don’t think Danny cares very much what I sing about. When I, we only work on music together, then he kind of leaves me… Danny – Right, hurry up with the lyrics! Basia – Yes, write anything! But if I write something good, he always expresses his approval. And if I don’t think he has said he didn’t like something – I think he was so grateful that I write Danny - It’s such a relief to hear you sing on something. You could sing the yellow pages and… Basia - You have to admit that this album didn’t take that long… Danny – No…no… Basia – Faster than others… Danny- Yeah (laughs) George – It’s just that everybody else kept you waiting, right.
Basia – Well actually somebody wrote to me on Myspace, and begged me not to take such long breaks between records – all these, I think, all these breaks were justified. And there was a reason, for it. But seriously, I can’t wait to start do a second album. Our second – for me, we started again. I just want to do a new album. But really, first of all, I would like to go on tour. But if we don’t, then I can’t wait to sing, to record again, I told Danny, I’ve got three ideas already on the go. George- Okay, super. Danny -So we’re going to tour? Basia – But we’re going to tour. Let’s hope we will, we will - hopefully there’s some courageous promoters who don’t mind people who took so many years break. Danny – And decided to make their comeback during the global recession. Basia – Global recession, that’s right. George – Now tell us a little about the album itself, the new album, “It’s That Girl Again” – and we’re going to play another song towards the end of the show – “Amelki Smiech” definitely we’re going to play that tonight. Basia – Oh wonderful! George – But I want you first, if I may, this album is already on release is it in the United States and Japan – is that right? Basia/Danny – Yes. George – And in Poland, from the 17th of April.. wow. Basia –The 17th, yes George – Just over a week away Basia – A week? Ah, perfect, yes – no, I am looking forward to promoting it in Poland also because… George - You already are, on this program, you already are! Basia - …oh, here we go – already started! And I spoke to a few journalists on the phone which is nice, yeah it’ll be great to really open the album, and we hear that “A Gift” is played on the radio quite a bit. So that will be nice. George – Absolutely fantastic - you yourself Polish roots, Basia…and whereabouts were you born – can you tell the listeners? Basia - Can I remember? (Laughs) Yes I think… I was born in Poland, in the Jaworzno, which is a small sort of industrial town south of Poland, population of I think 100,000, I think since… George – You’ve just brought tears to the bodnice of your mare…that you know these statistics of population size (Basia laughing) , it’s wonderful. Basia –Well you see, when I lived there, it was a 100,000. Danny – When you left it was 9… (Basia laughing) Basia – Since Poland joined the EU, lots of combines and factories which polluted the air have closed down – and because of that, the people actually left the Jaworzno to sort of seek work somewhere else. So, the air is much cleaner, people notice fish in the stream which they’d never seen, birds in the forest that they haven’t seen for years. This is wonderful, but, yes, the town became a little bit poorer, as a result. Because you know, that was our huge, source of income – mining especially. Now I think there is only one coal mine left. And all the factories, chemical, they’re closed. That’s where it is, south of Poland between Katowice and Krakow that Jaworzno is. Very good position. George – Maybe we need to find something to replace the coal mines, because it is such a shame that you’ve got a trade-off between prosperity on one hand and environmental health on the other. Maybe set up a few recording studios down there or something? Basia – Yeah, well you know, the town is actually doing quite well, every time I go there, I notice new buildings and looks prettier and prettier. So obviously they are doing okay. I don’t know exactly what the source of that is, but obviously still the town is doing okay – I think there is lots of private initiative. Like in Hope Island, I can see the cars are better on the street and homes look better, beautiful homes people have nowadays. This is certainly shocking, especially for an ex-Communist country. But really, life is getting better there. George – Yeah, yeah. Danny, have you been to Poland? Do you have any likes or dislikes about the place? Danny – Yeah, we’ve been there many times now. Basia – But he’s hasn’t been there for many years. I think the last time Danny went there was when we were touring – it was 1994, that was really a long time ago. George – There were still Trabants on the road then. Basia – Yes, do you remember those? East German little cars… Danny –Yes. George – Scooter engine Basia – There was one of the cover of U2’s album, do you remember, Achtung something? George – “Achtung Baby” Basia – “Achtung Baby”, that’s right. Danny – The “Achtung Tree” Basia – You know, it was my first car! George – Is that right? You had a Trabant? Basia – Yes, I had a Trabant. George – What color was it? Basia – Blue… George – They were all blue, all light blue weren’t they – they were all sky blue color. Basia- It was a new car – and I bought it for my tour in Russia (laughs) George - Did you actually manage to go from Poland to Russia in that? Basia – Uh, no, no, no, no. I worked with a Polish group called Alibaki, there was six girls, and I was there on three tours, and I managed to save enough to get myself a little Trabant. It was my very first car, my gosh ! I am quite sentimental when I talk about it - because it was my own hard earned money. George – Well let’s get a little sentimental, I’m sure you’ll remember this one.
George – OK, that is beautiful, but we are running out of time today. That’s Alibaki of course, Kwiat jednej nocy - “A Flower of All Nights” – beautiful song and that’s you on there isn’t it? Basia – No, unfortunately I didn’t record that song. When I joined the band, that song had already been recorded. I did record things like “Dzien Sie Budzi” for example. But that was the reason I joined that band, because I loved the fact that they sang those harmonies and it such a very disciplined band – we ha d a fantastic musical director, who really trained us well and we practiced a lot. I think that because of that - that was the basis of my singing in harmonies now, I really got to love singing like that when I was in the band – so now, my biggest fun is to record harmonies, that is why I never use any other backing vocalists when I record. George – Fantastic, amazing. This is truly is, this was a great band. Are they still recording? Or are they still…? Basia – I think that occasionally they get together to record backing vocals for some other records, but I don’t think they tour any more. George – When did you actually join them? Basia – Oh once again I have to think about it now – um, I think 1970, I was a kid! I really was a kid, they taught me how to put makeup on, I think my first makeup was in this band. Because I joined the band when I think I was eighteen. Yes! Because I remember that I was celebrating my nineteenth birthday on the bus – we were travelling somewhere. And it really was a fantastic school, they had this one song, called (Polish) “Let’s Play in Green” – and it was a samba, it was kinda like a slow samba. And that song, when I joined the band, I was thrilled that they wanted me, because I was such a fan of this band. So, here we go, and we played in Warsaw, they all came to the show – and my musical director, Henryk Wojciechowski gave me this huge bunch of flowers from the audience – he came out of the audience and gave it to me while I was on stage. I recognized him and introduced him – people applauded such a great moment. And then the girls wrote me a little note and passed it backstage, really nice. George – So your favorite Alibaki song was? Basia – "Grajmy sobie w zielone" - Let's play in green - I don’t know if you even…. George – We’ll have to look for that, I don’t know if we’ve got it right now…we will have to look for that. Basia – I don’t think it was a huge hit, but it was one of those songs, with good quality that I liked. George –Fantastic, excellent, excellent. We’ve got a question from Poland, because we have to have something from Poland quite rightly, from Krysia she’s writing in, I don’t know where in Poland she is, but she sends her greetings from Poland. Basia- Thank you. George – And she says the following, she’s written in to say: ” If you had to name a few (let’s say three) songs of other artists that were really important and influenced you – what would these be?” she’s also said: “And what three of your songs do you consider the most important or favorite among your songs?” I think what they want is a very difficult one. Basia – Ok, I’ll choose the other songs and you choose ours Danny – Oh, shoot Basia – Ok, very quickly sprang to mind, that from 1970’s – 1980’s every song from Stevie Wonder would be on my list. But um, gosh, I mean for example, “It Knocks Me Off My Feet” by Stevie Wonder George – (starts humming the tune) Beautiful Basia – (singing) “I see us in the park…” I mean, that song… George – Don’t stop there! Basia - I don’t know, I just I love that song… “Songs From the Key of Life”, that was from his album, I love this album George – 1976… Basia – But, I think every musician loves this album, anyway, so that was one thing. So, second, strangely it would be “Until You Come Back To Me” - because it written by Stevie Wonder, but actually the version– Aretha Franklin’s version, I think, is monumental. George - (starts humming tune) Wonderful song. Basia – I did the cover of it, of course with Danny, on the “London Warsaw New York” album, but it was like a tribute to both of them – because we are fans of both of them. I think maybe third song, should be by Donald Fagen, because we love this album called “Nightfly” – Danny and I are huge fans of this album and there is this song called (singing) “Between the raindrops…”. How does that – what’s the title? Danny – “Walk Between the Raindrops”. Basia – “Walk Between the Raindrops” – that’s right! I mean that song, has got, if you listen to it, there is a connection even between Matt Bianco stuff and this record. I mean it’s very much kind of our style. George – I love the sound of that, a walk between the raindrops – I mean can you imagine just dodging raindrops? It’s a fantastic idea. Basia – (laughs) Yes, exactly, beautiful. I wish I’d thought about lyrics like that. George - It almost reminds me of something else which always amused me, a Harry Nilsson song, in 1972 – “Everybody’s Talkin” where he sings a great line, “I’m going where the weather suits my clothes”… Basia – Awww… George – …not where “My clothes suit the weather” – but “I’m going where the weather suits my clothes”. (Basia quotes with him) Isn’t that beautiful? Basia – What a great idea… George - I love it when people invert things like – it’s a greater thing, if used sparingly, it’s a fantastic effect in songwriting, isn’t it? Basia – Absolutely! Now I’m always sort of, my big ears, sticking out for some interesting phrases on what people say and yeah, because I have to unfortunately - I am left with writing words since Danny doesn’t want to help me… Danny – Well, you’ve got big ears, so….probably Basia – (laughs) Oh and which three songs of ours do you….? Danny – Oh! Toss us the CD’s… George – Ok, the CD’s, which one? The new one? Danny – I’m going to choose my three favorite from the new album: “A Gift”… Basia – Yeah, that’s your favorite? Danny – Well, you know, I’ve got to find something haven’t I? Basia - You have to mean it! Danny – I think, there’s “A Gift”, “There’s a Tear” and….”Blame it on the Summer”. I’ll say that. George – Fantastic – a lot of fans enjoyed that last one, ”Blame it on the Summer”. They love that. Basia – Yeah, it is actually released as a single in America for us. But, I would agree with you, but “It’s That Girl Again” – it‘s funny, only ballads we chose, mostly ballads. But yes, these songs are special, especially “It’s That Girl Again” I have a particular… “Two Islands”, I love, and “There’s a Tear”- that would be my three. George - Its funny how in different regions, different songs get chosen for, you know, to be the single. Basia – You know, ”Blame it on the Summer” lends itself perfectly to jazz stations, which is why the smooth jazz stations chose ”Blame it on the Summer”. But if, when the time comes to choose a single for the so-called “AC” stations – which is Adult Contemporary stations – I think the plan was to release “A Gift” in America. It all depends on what format the radio. George – And in Poland, “A Gift” that is the song there. Basia - Yes, yes I’ve heard that a couple of stations started to play it quite a lot, and its on their charts, I think, on Radio Trojka - Radio 3 and Radio Zlote Przeboje - which is Golden Hits. George – That’s right. Basia – My friend Marek Niedzwiecki he’s uh… George – He’s our friend as well. He’s actually good pals with our producer here actually … Basia – Oh is he? Oh fantastic… Danny – We mean, we really didn’t choose “A Gift” did we? We kinda gave it to him, and… Basia – No, because we, I gave him a CD once, with all the songs – because as I had told you, we thought we had had finished the album. And then, we wrote that “A Gift”, and Danny MP3’d him that song because that was the only song he didn’t hear – and he loved it. And he decided to play it, then other DJ’s started to ask for the song, and he kept sending it to other stations. And now it’s started to be played a little bit more, so great – I mean they don’t have the CD yet. George – Yes, it’s a good song Basia – I think Marek got it, because he got it from the Japanese import. George - Oh ok, clever Basia – Because he sent me an email, saying, “Oh, I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” Like some from friend of a friend got it from Japan then to America, and from America to send it to him. So funny, he is. Danny – I think with iTunes, I think you can get this album on iTunes in Europe, but it’s not Eastern Europe is it? Basia – I’m not too sure… Danny – I’m not sure you can get it in Poland… George – Well in Poland they will have the opportunity of getting the real thing, because this is available from next week – around the seventeenth of April. That which leads me on to my final question today, as we have run out of time unfortunately, to ask about: “Why is it that in Britain it is available on iTunes, but its not available in the shops? What’s the reason for that?” Some of the fans have been asking. Danny – Because we couldn’t find anyone to release it yet. Simple as that. Basia – You see we don’t have…. Danny – This time, sorry, we would have loved to have had a global release, but it’s… Basia – …we signed separate deals with separate countries. And from England, at the moment, we really don’t have enough interest… George – Ok, well if somebody would kindly pick up the phone, you know the number here, now let’s get going… Danny – We plan to make the album… Basia - …available… Danny – CD, available from our website, probably in about a month, or sometime in May, so people can…um.. Basia – …Buy it. (laughs) Danny – Buy it via the website. That’s what we’re hoping, so it’s a kind of cottage industry. Basia – For example, we’ve heard. That one of our fans, lovely Marcus I think is his name, from Holland. I mean, he’s from Holland, and the album wasn’t released in Europe yet, so he got his copy, also from Japan. So you know, people are very enterprising, when they want something, they will find a way of importing it or getting it from iTunes from somewhere. So really, we very much appreciate that, that they try so hard, oh! George - And they do, and they do and they’ve got it! Ok, look, you know, it’s been fantastic to have you both in the studio today… Basia – Thank you very much George, it was very nice, George – I’m only sorry we’ve only got the one hour today, but maybe, in the near future, we can somehow entice you to sort of come back… Basia – Absolutely! Of course… George – And we’ll have some more …fantastic! Danny - Just show us your macaroons… Basia – (laughs) George – And we’ll have another tea set… Basia – So I will have to invite Kevin… George – Yeah , absolutely – Basia – …he’s on tour so. George - …he’s on tour at the moment, well, he’s very welcome, as you well know – a delight. And please do pass on our best wishes to Kevin. Basia – Well, thank you, I will, I’ll speak to him tonight. George – Super stuff. We’re going to play out then with the song that we promised we would, this is from the new album, the new album is ”It’s That Girl Again”. The song is called “Amelki Smiech” – we heard all about that song earlier from Basia – so we’re not going to let’s not going to waste any further time – let’s hear it right now. And thank you very much for joining us. Basia – Thank you, George, thank you so much, it was a pleasure. Danny – Yes, thank you. George – And also thank you to all your wonderful, and very well informed fans for sending in the questions today. Basia – Excellent, thank you very much fans. (giggles) George - Have a great Easter as well. Basia - Oh you too, happy Easter! (“Amelki Smiech” plays) |