http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06s6vzb
Below is a transcript I have done of the interview as overseas Collaborators cannot always listen and BBC iplayer only keeps programmes for a limited amount of time!! Enjoy!!
Michael is interviewed by Matt Johnson, they have met a few times before so its a nice informal chat!! However when Matt tries to speak to Michael via his mobile he can't get hold of him!! So the interview starts with;
MJ: Hello Michael!
MA: Hello...sorry about that, I was in a soft play area with my nephew!
MJ: I don't believe you!
MA: I can show you pictures!
MJ: So how are you? Have you had a nice Christmas? (this interview takes place on 30th Dec)
MA: Great yeah...I mean Christmas is a time for family getting together and we've actually had some time off, we do have a New Year's Eve gig which will be exciting but its been great to have a few days off!
MJ: Yea its great to spend time with your family. Where did you spend it?
MA: At my Mum's, we had everyone there, I think on Christmas Day there were ten of us and on Boxing Day eighteen I think! Lots of people to feed!
MJ: No arguments? Did everything go smoothly?
MA: Yeah no arguments. I was in charge of all the games so....one thing that was really funny was that my Mum and Dad brought these face masks of the Collabro boys and gave them out to all my family, I came downstairs and there they all were, I didn't think I would be spending Christmas with the boys but then I was!
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| Here's Michael's family with the Collabro masks!! |
MJ: So do you do like a secret Santa with the other Collabro boys?
MA: Yeah, we did a secret Santa, I think on the 20th December, everyone got each other a little gift!
MJ: What did you get?
MA: It's funny as you start to realise what everyone thinks of the other in the group! So I brought Jamie a bottle opener as he likes to drink a lot of wine! (laughs) I got given a chocolate teapot from Richard because I eat too much chocolate!
MJ: Because you are about as useful as one?
MA: Yeah exactly! Apparently its a special one that you can actually have hot chocolate in and then it still pours and doesn't melt, then you can eat the chocolate afterwards!
MJ: That is the dream!
| Yeah they do actually exist! |
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| This might be the same one!! |
MJ: So tell us about that gig on New Year's Eve.
MA: It's a family that absolutely love Collabro and asked us to come and sing for them. So it's gonna be really exciting, really intimate, really nice to be singing and celebrating New Year's Eve with other families and people enjoying Collabro all year round!
MJ: So me with my show biz hat on thinks its in Dubai, your being flown out by some rich family to perform in front of like three people!
MA: (laughs) No...it's in Surrey!
MJ: So it's gone fantastically well, congratulations by the way!
MA: Thank you,
MJ: It's really well deserved, all you guys are lovely guys, I've met you on numerous occasions at different Simon Cowell parties and what not and you've done very well. What's next for you guys?
MA: Actually, the next trip is the big one to America, we're touring the East Coast so Boston, New York and Pennsylvania. It's great to that tickets are selling out when we've only been over there once before and so we've got such a great fan base and our US Collabro team are doing a great job. We're there for just over ten days. And when we get back we've got our UK tour from 23rd Feb to 3rd April, it's 34 dates so it's gonna be pretty intense!
MJ: Michael, the big questions is are you coming to Wales because the Strictly Tour doesn't!?
MA: Of course! On my Birthday!
MJ: Oh really!
MA: In Llandudno
MJ: That's a fantastic year planned out for you guys!
MA: Yeah and come the summer who knows what we'll be doing, hopefully back to America or a third album, we just can't wait to keep on going and hopefully seeing you at more Simon Cowell shin digs! (laughs),
MJ: When we announced you would be coming on we got Tweets from all over the world, New Zealand, Australia, America you have a world wide fan base!
MA: Yeah and these are places we really want to go! Like we were number 4 in the charts and we'd never even been there, that's pretty exciting!
We've been to Japan four times now and we absolutely love it, it like a home from home and we're really greateful to all the fans. Actually the Japanese fans are amazing, turning up at the airport! So we turn up after a long flight, feeling a little worse for wear and there are hundreds of fans wanting our picture so we always try to put on a big smile!
MJ: I remember talking to Richard about that trip to Japan as we both took part in Rugby Aid, he's a wonderful guy and a fantastic player, he won the game for us!
MA: He absolutely loves it, we weren't able to come and see him but we were watching on TV, I had my whole family watching!
| Here is Richard (on the keft) taking part in Rugby Aid! |
MJ: What happened in Japan?
MA: Oh, he got left in Japan! Basically, he put his passport in a suit jacket rather than his own personal one or his hand luggage. So the group suits were packed in a separate case. He overslept on the day we were leaving so we all went ahead and the group cases had gone ahead and onto the plane so there was nothing we could do!
MJ: He said it was just me on my own in Japan so what could I do? I just had to make a holiday of it! I just loved his attitude!
MA: Yeah, we were at home and it was raining in England and we thought hang on a minute! (laughs)
MJ: You must have a great time you lads you always seem that you are a tight knit group of lads and just having a laugh and you're not taking anything for granted!
MA: Absolutely, that's what's amazing, like we all just keep each other grounded and actually what's really interesting is once we've done a show and you think we need some time to chill out and maybe sleep in the van or whatever, we're still up chatting, discussing songs, singing harmonies, playing games and the fun never stops really!
MJ: I think that's what the public really like about you....you're genuinely nice guys!
MA: We are learning new songs for our tour so don't think you're just gonna see the same songs, there's new stuff, mash ups...
MJ: Great...and thank you! So we're going to end this by playing 'All of Me'
MA: Thank you!!!
The segment ends with Collabro's cover of 'All of Me'
