Take That’s Gary Barlow stops by Kfm Mornings to chat all about Take That’s world tour, his wine brand, and why he loves Cape Town.
This show aired on 8 March 2024.
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Oh my goodness uh look what the cat brought in if it isn’t like this is the modernday John lenen this is the second coming of The Beatles that’s big take that with a second Beatles not our words you know it was uh brought out when you came out
That you guys were beyond what a boy group boy band is well they’re now A A Man Band a man band a middleaged man band we take that as a compliment the boy band comment these days we encourage it but we are a man ban for sure now yeah yeah Gary
B lovely take that well that was a wonderful intro thank you so much well you know what Gary um when you got here from the airport I’m sure it was a little bit different getting into a car because I’ve heard that when you land at
Heath and you go home you crowd surf all the way home yeah we we are we’re very lucky and also it’s not just that uh that people still follow us around is that we’ve we started in 1990 and a lot of our audience have just followed us all the
Way through they’re so faithful all over the world as well we’re we’re so happy that even after all these years 34 years later we’re still able to go out and play tours and see people it’s we feel very lucky but now from from teenagers having their posters uh on on their
Walls um you know young girls 1 16 15 16 17 now is it divorces with three kids you’ve gone for the negative angle there but I’m going to level it up uh that they uh yeah they’re a little older now um but the interesting thing is is whether they’re divorced or not they
Bring their kids with them now and they bring their parents with them now which obviously they didn’t do back in the day so it’s a very very much a family environment when you come to one of our shows and you know what and it it it is
Exactly that because I find with my kids I’m playing when we in the car I’m playing my music and they love my music right you know so they on now when when those bands come out so they’re coming to take that obviously that’s great you know apologize now for me they know all
The words to Beck for good oh great oh I still remember when that song came out oh my gosh there was no bigger song in the world for perhaps 2 years hey yeah it was it was very special times um and and I think for us
You know one of the things we take pleasuring is that we always include all the old music as well as some of the new music as well we try and keep make sure everybody goes home happy because do fans come up to you and say Gary just
Play the old stuff man you know this new stuff I don’t know about it and then when they come to you and say that what do you respond with yeah do you know what we we we are about I think to get to that point at the moment our audience
Still like the new stuff but but I know from from from the older artists I know they say oh it’s depressing you play the new one and everyone goes to the toilet so I know it’s coming coming it’s fine it’s part of a career’s journey but
But it’s just not here just yet yes we may be about 2 months away from it well you’ve had uh record numbers of number ones albums number ones songs number ones you smashed every record like you were breaking your own records at a time is it different now touring than when
You were crowd surfing from the airport to the stadium now it’s perhaps a little bit more relaxed and a little bit more mature MH um do you enjoy it more now could you enjoy it back in the crazy times yeah the crazy times were the ’90s for us um it’s when
It was really at it sort of his hysteria Peak um fainting fainting teenagers that was us fainting yeah but it was it was pretty full on everywhere we went and uh we didn’t really have much of a life outside of it um and so I think actually
By the end of it we kind of resented a bit it it sounds ungrateful but I think we’d done it for six years and it had just been Absolut 150% all consuming and it was all consuming and we all wanted a life and
So we did we went off and and uh we we had some time and it was about 9 10 years before we all came back together again um but and one thing we didn’t expect was when we got back together was that all the audience that were there to
Start with were still there and they brought some mates with them as well and uh and so this second period I would definitely tell you that we enjoy it a lot more now and I actually think bringing you right up to date these shows the the more important to us than
They’ve ever been is because we feel so you know most most bands get four or five years and that’s it we are still here and we’re so happy to be here and having a great time and you know in that time as well as the media lik to do they
Always like to have a a rival you know so uh from your side across the Atlantic it was the um Backstreet Boys versus um insinc there was that rival there was the Green Day Offspring insinc yeah and who was your rival because I always used
To say it was East 177 yeah the for the first couple of years it was was um yeah they as we were coming out the blocks there was a few bands actually it was all the managers trying to because was a the ’90s was the 90s was a period
Where lots of labels would create bands and make the music and the Stars unlike now I think I think feel like new artists nowadays they make their own careers breaking through on their own yeah yeah and labels come later but back in the90s we had a whole plethora of
Boone um West life no they were a little bit later they were take that E7 there was another another band oh um Worlds Apart these all these bands yeah we never knew them they never have made it this far they act they actually in again it the period was they realized they
Weren’t doing very well in the UK so they shipped them to Germany and they they lived in German and it became big in Germany it’s a funny it was a funny time for music and how seriously did you guys at that time take the media making a noise about these rivalries cuz
There’s the hoopla outside of you know the band itself were you paying any attention to it well I don’t I don’t want to at all say that we Rose above it but we Rose above no no no the the thing the the one thing that we always had
That I felt we were different from other bands is that I came from a really musical background I I played my first show when I was 11 um I’m a not the best keyboard player but I’m a fairly good keyboard player musician can read music
Did all my exams and music for me was the reason I was in this band it was my bit I brought to it and it and because we wrote our own music it made us different from the other groups and I think it made the audience care about it
A bit more and that’s possibly the reason they’re still here with us now is because the music so ingrained and means so much to them um that’s just my take I think it’s it’s it’s I think it goes further than that where you’re selling yourself short uh the music stands the
Test of time because it wasn’t bubblegum pop you know um most of your repertoire you can play on radio now it doesn’t stand out oh this is an old song It’s a song that could be contemporary well thank you you sound like my mom so but but you started um performing
In in clubs when you were 15 yes and and I I can I also started performing in clubs when I was 15 as a DJ right but I used to play the songs for the strippers so I played in a strip club that was where I started wow don’t ask how he
Managed to get that gig yes so I I used to play the three songs for the strippers and then I would go to school the next day yes you know so that was my start so I was wondering was your start um where did you at 15 where were you
Playing it was actually younger than that I got a job in a in a um like a bar when I was 11 so I’ve been playing for like a year um but what used to happen was my dad used to bring the neighbors into my bedroom and I’d play songs play
Them something the end of the song they they’d be clapping and my dad would say you you if you can do that you’ll always have a job and so he took me to this uh like a like a like a working men’s club we call them back home um cheat beer you
Know Bingo yeah you know that sort of thing and uh and they put me on stage and I was up there for three hours and and they said I’ll come back next week and and suddenly two an 11y old yeah and and so over 11 1213 it got to the point
I was playing Thursday night Friday night Saturday night Sunday night and and so so this was a Swit shop this is how we did it back then and we didn’t feel any guilt I was having a great time I just loved playing music so
Much so by the time I joined the band at 19 I done thousands of gigs I had lots of experience so so I was the only one who’ done that at that point so I could help everybody else get up to speed you know let’s do a show let’s let’s put
This songs in this order cuz that order works there were things I came and had learned ahead of it and I was so glad of having those years out of the spotlight where I was starting to write starting to learn I didn’t have any of the pressure of being being in the charts
And famous it was just me with music and they are the most they’re the years I often draw back on things I learned from those years they were my real learning years and do you get like um um you know we always look at whatever field you’re
In you look at the the experienced older people you’ve been there and done that as as your mentors might if you can phone up the person and ask for a bit of advice do you ever get calls from the likes of the Harry Styles as the one
Directions and the new boy bands coming up saying hey Gary Uncle Gary um do you know what this this is happening could you give me some advice well you know what I’m going to drop a name here now just because we’re amongst friends but my mentor through the ’90s
Was Elton John wow and he was such an amazing friend I talk about it a lot because and it’s not just me he is a great light for a lot of people um he’s someone who really cares about people and he’s also someone who um is aware of
You know we’re in a business where you don’t explain and you don’t complain you just we’re so lucky to do what we do you don’t talk about it unless you’re amongst people who are doing it as well and he is just a great advocate for getting artists who are struggling
Artists who have problems with drink or he is really someone who cares for musicians and songwriters and he helped me a lot through those that 10 years through the 90s um and so at this point I don’t have any anyone who’s come to me yet but um but often if we’re in TV
Stations or we’re meeting other artists the very first thing we talk about is not music it’s usually how’s the work home balance how does that work how’s your wife a bit different now so yeah yeah so if you got elton’s number in your phone like you could
Phone him now if you wanted uh if I have my phone on me yes really wow who else have you got on your phone well there’s a few few good ones he some indas too I’m sure imagine just being just casually picking up the phone and phoning sir
Elon John now you you haven’t been kned as yet with the with the sir title but you’ve got an OB I have got an OB so what comes is it an MBE then an OB and then a Knighthood no there isn’t that isn’t the order they’re for different
Things the MBA is for a um I’m trying of think it’s something to do with Charities right um and then the OB I I um organized a concert for the Queen’s Jubilee uh it was a 2ye I mean it was it was a very interesting time sort of 2010
Uh it was me with the BBC putting on a night of music for the queen and I had to meet her every month wow and get things signed off artist she wanted uh the where the stage was going to be it was it was surreal it was a real
Experience but that’s what I got my OB for and it was a great concert by the way good so what does that afford you it was a just a title like you put that on the CV oh no no it gets you absolutely nothing the keys to no City no nothing
At all not even like um 10% off at Tesco no do you know what those Awards I I believe are for parents my mom was so proud she came with me yeah she came with me and got all dressed up and we went out for lunch afterwards it’s just
For the moms I think and the dads and uh you haven’t uh bought a soccer team yet that seems to be the new thing I hear this I’m a massive football fan big Liverpool fan we were at the game on Sunday at Wembley oh nice so you saw the
Celebrations we did we were there celebrating with our team uh but no no no I’m trying to what I’m trying my next thing in life is that I’m 53 now um but my next thing in life is everything smaller so you know we’ve we’ve got quite a big family house smaller smaller
Smaller get rid of the kids smaller smaller um but also trying to fill my week with things that I just love doing and get rid of the crap I don’t want to do you know that’s what I’m trying to do now I I read I read something about you
Let’s uh oh no but you you at one point you wanted to leave the band because you wanted to be a ufologist oh no that’s Robbie the UFOs is that Robbie Robie that’s Robbie is that Robbie yeah yeah well they put it down to you yeah yeah
Yeah we often get blamed for things he does no that’s Robie and he is so into it if you get him on the subject it’s a long night oh man yeah yeah I mean I I I want to tip toe into to this one but I saw the Robbie documentary MH and then
You know Robbie even came out afterwards and said that they pushed them into a corner for the dialogue and The Narrative of the way they wanted it to go like there was all this conflict yeah um do did you you want to shed any light
On that or would you rather not well I mean it’s ve it’s very public um I mean I watched the the well I did I I watched the bits I was in in the Robbie documentary they were very good um but um it we’ve had our moments in
Time where we weren’t talking to each other and um and you know luckily for us we got to end this the story got a happy ended because we all did a record together in 2010 we went on tour together for and I speak to him most
Days if I’m honest he’s one of my clo all all the guys you you you’ll meet two of them Howard and Mark you know our band is now me Mark and Howard these are the best people you’re ever going to meet they’ve been my brothers since 1990
I’ve known them for longer than I’ve known my wife I mean we’re just we’re just having the best time touring around the world singing songs and having a having a great time that’s that’s our life at the moment because I know there’s always that question in the
British media oh you’re back on tour where’s Robbie is he is he not yeah that used to be it’s not so much nowadays I mean we’ve we’ve been we’ve been as a threepiece now for 10 years since we’ve done four tours as a three piece this has been the longest
Version of take that actually really yeah we had five in the 90s for five years and then we had four for four years in the 9s Robbie for a record and then we’ve been a three since but it’s the same as West life I mean we saw
Westl they were here in South Africa a little while ago so they came as the they were a five and then they were a four and then they to and now the one guy like just today has dropped out so now they back to a three the guy I
Forget what his name is but there one that looks like a young uh Prince William when I see him I is it is it Nikki Nikki is it Nikki yeah I think so the blonde yes yeah yeah the your last T sold out like very quickly so thank you
For coming to South Africa so that we have an opportunity to it’s a pleasure pleas to see you guys on stage uh you know it’s so exciting that you are coming to us and obviously you’ve been in this business for 34 years is there a point where you are going to say oh
Traveling around the world singing these songs I’ve had enough I want to just like you said make my life smaller and just be with my wife and live happily ever after or do you think you’re going to do this until the day you die oh I I
Hope so I mean in my heart right now um and I don’t know what I don’t know something’s changed changed in the last few years for me is that I think we’ve all with what’s gone on in the world in the last five years sure um I think we
All value peace and quiet and sort of a place a place of quiet time quiet time but so but for me you know my phone’s dinging donging all day long people want this they want that when I go on stage every night I put my inar monitors inh and
I’m going to sing now for two hours and I might be in a room with people going crazy but it’s going to be the most peaceful two hours of my day and there’s something like church like about that experience of just you audience doing your art your expression and it’s just
Wonderful why would I not want to do that I love hearing it from a musician’s perspective cuz that’s what we feel like when we go to shows right we are transported to another world and it’s like addictive we want to go to another one and another one and we want to know that
You you want to be here it’s not just uh going through the motions you know yeah yeah yeah yeah but it’s it’s incredible def not that look we you you hear now in um uh way before the tour which is uh October 22 here in Cape Town um but
You’re doing other things now I mean I don’t know if you were aware but your country uh England votes Cape Town as the number one city in the world for the past seven years in a row yeah not not London not Manchester yeah not Liverpool
Not norch we love it here we love it here for many reasons um and and I I can I’ve sat with British people on the plane and and they all say the same thing great food sunshine and people who actually want want you to be in their
Country yeah cuz you got to remember we we live next to France so uh it’s beautiful for us to come here you know to sleep just get on and sleep we live next to France oh the French hate us there no secret not even love hater they hate
Hater and we love France which is weird you know yeah but there’s that old joke that I used to hear in the pubs all the time when a French person walked in from the guy you know the guy that rocks up at the pub at
11:00 in the morning yeah and he says to the French this was like a standard thing yeah you’d be talking German if it wasn’t for us yeah neighbors I guess neighbors yeah so so look as you already uh stated you you love your it’s not your first time
Here in Cape Town is it no I think it’s I was trying to count this up yesterday I think it’s like seven seven times how do you just slip in and slip out under the radar nobody knows seven times a substantial are you checking in under Mickey Mouse or something because we
Know when you guys arrive yeah yeah I can be sneaky yeah yeah I can keep a low profile uh my family we’ve we we love the beaches we love like you know like I just said we we we uh we we really love coming to a place that’s full of culture
And lots of things to do hikes and safaris and oh my goodness it’s yeah we love it cuz I saw um we did a uh we took the show to London last the year before last and we were out of the Virgin Radio complex and uh I went to meet grahe
Norton mhm he was doing the show and then he said yeah I’ve got a I’ve got a house in Cape Town and he gave me the road he says I’m there every December no one has ever seen Graham Norton in Cape Town and he said he’s had the house here
For like 15 years wow wow so I don’t know how you guys do it yeah yeah yeah you got to keep your eyes peeled yeah Graham’s one of our favorite DJ a one of our biggest DJs yeah yeah um and of course we know him we go on his show all the time
He fantastic one of the best and he’s got good taste so I’m not surprised he’s here well maybe you should ring him up and say gra can I stay at your place yeah yeah so so let’s just touch on on the TV show that you’re doing but this is for
ITV it is um so we’ll get it eventually um but you are doing cuz you’ve got your own wine they say wine brand yeah so this is you Source wines and then put them under your label is that accurate so this this is just the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my
Life this this started in lockdown I’m a big fan of wine are you taking Simon s and calling it boo wine listen oh you made it in your garage didn’t you it’s worse than that it’s worse so so we I had an idea as we all did in lockdown I’ve got an
Idea um wouldn’t it be great to have like my my own wine with my name on it you know we’ll print like a hundred up and give it to my mates for Christmas you know be brilliant this so we started this company two years ago we’ve sold our millionth bottle just before
Christmas so we originally started uh with the interest of organic affordable sustainable wine so we went to Spain apparently you have to use affordable now you can’t say cheap afford yeah you have to say affordable that’s right cheap sound value for money yeah yeah cheap comes in a box because I
Want I mean what I’ve tried to do with this um this wine thing is to use my experience of travel to bring it to my audience but I want them to be able to afford it I don’t want for just for a few people um and so we we went Gang
Busters on that first round and and then we looked further a field and thought South Africa um let’s have a look we found some amazing sovn Blanc here um and so we sell that and it’s now selling the Spanish wine 3 to one so we’re back
Cuz we need more so that’s why it’s the worst decision you’ve ever made it’s not the worst decision it it was it was the whole business was a complete mistake sure complete mistake and you just sold your millionth bottle what what what a good having a
Great time doing that yeah it’s a lot of fun okay so so the TV show you are doing a whole um tour of the the wine forms sure what are the other elements in the TV show well there’s two things because um I love to travel and and like you say
Us Brits we do love South Africa you know I’m not quite convinced we know what good South African wine is and so one of the messages I want to take home is that for anyone who loves wine of course we know what Australian wine tastes like we know what New Zealand
Wine tastes like we know what Argentinian wine tastes like but I want you all the best kept secrets please try this try this and and you know ask people talk about it it’s just never quite caught on in our country it’s funny that you say that I used to when I lived in
The UK I used to work in a pub MH and they had all the wines they had the show French wine Californian Australia New Zealand South African and we were like oh South Africa this wine we’ll push this nobody used to pick it it’s it’s experi and it’s PE and it’s consumers
Having the confidence to go can I try just try I want to try a little bit like just and they go with a lot of people once they try something that they like they usually drink it forever so it’s like that’s my little message I want to
Try and take home is guys this is great give it a chance well for the guys in uh Liverpool you might want to try uh tussis no don’t listen to him go get some T it comes in a out Liverpool going it comes in a box it’s
Like a 5 lit it’s got a plastic spout this sounds terrible try that maybe they all land okay listen I won’t be doing that Gary bow thank you it’s a it’s a dream come true it’s wonderful to speak to you and uh the next time we see you
You’ll be in your kit jumping up on a stage at uh Grand Arena Grand West wow as we scream and shout for take that yeah lovely 22 October please come as my guests please if you have time please come and good luck for the Euro summer I
Know you guys are doing a run of shows that side well the thing is we needed a warm up a few warm-up gigs before we come to South Africa so I think we’ve got about 80 we get fantastic g b thank you FM mornings with that your lips and you
1 Comment
Great interview ❤❤❤