Here Michael Auger chats to Signal radio host Paul Fairclough on his show which was broadcast Saturday 19th March. Host Paul talks to Michael over the phone while he is in their tour bus!
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| Smiley Michael! |
Here's a link to the page where you can listen to it!
The interview starts with host Paul Fairclough stating that Collabro are currently travelling to the next venue of their Act Two tour.
PF: I'm glad to say that we haven't got Jamie on the phone as Michael has taken the honours of speaking to us and if we had Jamie we would have to say 'tour' (in Jamie's accent) and not 'tour'.
MA: Yes you would.
PF: Because he's the only one out of the five of you that is really precious about the word 'tour' for some unexplained reason and every time you've been on it's developed into this full blown argument!
MA: Oh dear...PF: Over which version it actually is! Now is he in the van and is he asleep?
MA: He is in the van, he's got his headphones in at the moment so he won't know that we are talking about him!
(they laugh)
PF: So how is the journey going?
MA: Yeah its amazing, I mean funnily we were just in Gateshead up north so Jamie's accent did come out quite strongly there!
PF: Is that the same with all of you that when you end up...if it's near to your home that your accent becomes a lot stronger?
MA: I think so...I think for me and Richard being from down south I don't think our accent really changes but definitely for the northerners I think they get a bit more into it when they go up north.
PF: It's been beautifully choreographed this route as most tours tend to be (he runs through some of the venues). (He laughs).
MA: I thought there was a hint of sarcasm there!
PF: I guess it just fall as to whether you can get the venues on a particular day.
MA: Absolutely, I think what they do is do all the northern dates then suddenly a venue will say 'oh we've got a space' and they say 'oh go on then we'll squeeze it in'.
PF: So it's a bit of a trek from Cambridge to Stoke then back to Cardiff.
MA: Yeah but we love it, we've got an amazing van and we all get on so well, it's so strange, even more so than last year I think. Something like a tour really brings everyone together and we all just absolutely love singing live for our fans!
PF: So what's in the tour then?
MA: It's the Act Two tour so it's got everything from Act Two which is very exciting. It's got all the favourites from Stars our No One album, then we've got loads of new stuff too. We've tried to put in a few different types of music, we found that with going into Japan and America everybody loves a different style and want Collabro to try swing or up tempo numbers so we're trying to put that in there as well and see how they go down on tour. Then we've got special guest star Catriona Murray whose an amazing Soprano and we do Phantom of the Opera together and she just blows the whole audience away!
PF: And you've also got A J Brown with you as well.
MA: Yeah and he's an amazing support act, he writes all his own stuff, he's got some amazing tunes and we're all singing them backstage before we go on stage!
PF: He did Tom Jones for us last year at Betley Court Farm our concert in August so we know what he's capable of and a great act.
MA: Yeah yeah we met him at Betley too, I think we were on the following night. He's just a really great guy, he actually played the saxophone in stage with us because the boys surprised me for my in Llandudno in Wales.
PF: A cold night in Llandudno is nothing to be worried about...it's got one heck of a rake that stage, you feel like you are going to fall into the pit!
MA:Oh god I know! Well we have this amazing set with lots of stairs and a lift and everything and we were literally trying not to fall into the audience although I am sure they would have enjoyed it!
PF: So as you say you are trying all these new things as you don't want to get pigeon holed like people originally did saying 'oh they only do show tunes.'
MA: Exactly, I think obviously we've done a lot of show tune covers, pop crossover covers but we also want to enter our into maybe doing some of our own songs or like I said earlier swing and actually in Japan we recorded 'I Dreamed a Dream' in Japanese so we're even doing things in different languages now!
PF: How was it learning the Japanese?
MA: Oh we did it phonetically so we sort of cheated really but it sounds great. We actually won an award for it over there, their Gold Disc Award along with Sam Smith and Megan Trainer for the Best New Artist.
PF: I must admit years ago I talked to the Osmonds about their success in Japan and at the drop of a hat they can do their songs in Japanese, it's in there, you never forget it!
MA: I know, Richard actually made a joke on stage that we were going to sing it in Japanese and I always think can we actually do that one night!
PF: Or maybe just do a verse of it in Japanese and then go back to the English unless that totally messes your head around!
MA: Well I suggested this but the boys think it would be a bit confusing.
(they laugh)
PF: Well best of luck with the rest of the journey because you are only a few minutes away from the Regent now.
MA: Yeah we'll be sound checking soon, then into catering and then to the meet and greet as well so we meet all you lovely people.
PF: The kettle was on here but apparently you didn't have the time to experience the usual Signal coffee which as you know will assist your voice immensely this evening!
MA: Oh perfect of course we'll be there.
PF: Probably end up in the hospital if you'd had it to be honest!
MA: We'll stick to honey and water!
PF: We look forward to seeing you guys soon.
MA: Yeah...cheers, bye!
And this is where the interview ends!
Hope you enjoyed it!!
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