Interview on Radio Orange (Vienna), 09.10.2005

: 07 мая 2006

Interview on Radio Orange (Vienna), 09.10.2005

Christian ROLLY

— …I see cigarettes on your table. Is smoking a part of your life?

— It's a terrible part of my life, really. I'm always stopping smoking and starting again. I just stopped now for two weeks and started again yesterday, when I was at a gig. I'm always struggling with not smoking. It's not a good thing to smoke, I wouldn't advice anybody to start. I'm determined I'm going to stop before the next tour. So I keep stopping. Every time when I'm not doing something I stop. And I think: “Right! I keep stopped!” And then something happens and I'm with the band and then: “Oh, come on! That one…” But I want to conquer it eventually.

— Will there be a new sound with your new musicians?

— Well, I hope so. I mean that’s the idea of getting some new musicians. To try and have a fresh approach. But obviously there have to be certain types of sound that we keep. Because if we do some of the older stuff, it has to still sound like it’s supposed to sound. But definitely there will be different people playing and there will be different sounds, so it’s going to be a bit different. I’m looking forward to the idea of doing something new. It’s going to be fresh and hopefully it will be great. I haven’t started rehearsing yet, so I let you know later what it’s going to be like.

— Which is your latest CD release?

— Well, I’ve just finished a new CD now, a new album called “Million Miles”. I was trying to get it finished in time, to be released in October, but we are not going to have enough time for that. So that means it will be released in November, but that’s too late because it’s near Christmas. So we have to wait now until after Christmas. I’m going to try and get it released somehow like January 6th, which is like a week before the tour starts. So that will be the new album, and the tour that will be to promote the album. I’ll play some songs of this “Million Miles” album, some songs from older things and change the set. Maybe some different songs from the Smokie period which I don’t do now. Just change it around. That’s all something I have to work on, because up to now I’ve been busy doing other things and finishing the album. Now I’ve finished that, I can concentrate on what I’m doing next for the next tour.

— Could you imagine working with a singer or songwriter from a completely different musical background like Hiphop or Reggae?

— At the moment not really. At the moment I’m going through a period where I’m doing what I want to do. Just the music that I feel is right for me. So this album I just finished now has completely new songs, which I wrote. All the songs on this album. I produced myself and played most of the instruments myself. In fact all of them except for the drums. I did all the vocals, back vocals and everything. So I’ve decided now it’s time for me to do exactly what I feel is right for me.

— How many instruments are you able to play?

— Well, on this album I play the guitars, all the acoustic and electric guitars, bass and piano, string synthesizers and organ. So all the keyboards and all the guitars I played, and the bass. I did all the back vocals, too. The only thing I didn’t play is the drums.

— What range is your voice?

— I don’t know what the range is actually, but it’s kind of medium range. But I can sing quite high from doing harmonies, or low. I can sing quite a big range.

— Which was the most interesting work with other bands for you in the past?

— Which I worked with or just listened to?

— The bands you worked with. You did some songs with Suzi Quatro and other stars. What was the most interesting?

— My favourite person really working with is the producer Mike Chapman, who was a big inspiration for me. That was during that time when I did that Suzi Quatro record also. It’s more producers than musicians. I worked with lots of different musicians in studios. But Mike Chapman was the biggest sort of influence. So he would be the favourite person I’ve ever worked with.

— Do you produce other stars, too?

— Not now. I have done it before, but not recently. At the moment I’m concentrating on just doing me. It’s enough at the moment to do all the things I have to do. To write the songs and produce them and everything, just for me. It takes all the time I’ve got.

— Who did you produce? Is it a secret?

— No, I haven’t produced that many people. I made football records like the one with Kevin Keagan. I worked with Agnetha from ABBA and different people like “Heavy metall kids”. I can’t remember who. I recently produced a girl singer called Teri and did an album with her. It’s just things like that but nothing huge. I’ve never really got into producing as a full time job. I think you need to really concentrate your mind to do that, or have some spare time enough.

— What is a typical day of Chris Norman? When are you able to get up in the morning?

— It depends on what I’m doing. If I’m on tour it’s completely different to if I’m at home. When I’m in the studio I get up about nine o’clock in the morning and go for a walk or a run. Then I come back and have a quite easy morning, maybe have something to eat and then start in the studio by eleven. And then work from eleven to about eight or something like that. That’s like a typical day. Buf if I’m on tour it’s completely different, because it depends on what time you get finished on the show and on what time you go to bed. And then maybe I get up later than nine, at ten or eleven. It depends on what time I go to bed. But generally speaking when I’m not on tour a typical day would be to get up about ninish and then go to bed about one o’clock.

— How many different languages are you able to speak?

— English. I don’t really speak any languages. I have a little bit of German just because of being here. But not really enough to have conversations, because everybody I’ve ever met here speaks great English. And I speak a little bit of French.

— Vous parlez Francais aussi?

— Oui.

— What is the favourite colour of Chris Norman?

— I don’t really have a favourite colour, it depends on what it’s for. If it’s for certain clothes I might wear black. For cars I like silver or black. Simple colours. I don’t really like bright colours like bright reds or blues. If it’s blue, it’s got to be like a dull blue, like Denim sort of blue..

— Is the life hard for your family when you are on tour?

— It’s hard to be away from them for a long time. But then again I’m home for a long time, too. I always think if you work in a so called “normal” job, you go to work in the morning at eight and come back at six at night. And then you don’t have any time. Whereas with what I do is, I go away for a period of time and then I come home and I’m at home for a long period. So I’m at home like all day and every day then for a couple of weeks. So it works out.

— Last question: What is your personal message to all of your listeners?

— Well, my thing with people who like to listen to my music is – and for people who don’t as well – that they should come to see a show and maybe see what it’s all about . Because I think it’s a misconceived idea that what I do is always like “Living next door to Alice” or “Midnight Lady” or that kind of soft rock thing. Really it is a lot more rocky than that. So I think that for the people who already know that, it’s great and they should keep coming and buy the records. And for the people who don’t know, that they should come and see what it’s about and then maybe they will like to buy the records.

— Ok. Chris Norman, thanks for the interview.

— Thank you.

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