So for this show, right, actually, I know Stephen laughed actually when I sent him the text,
then maybe we do a song, then he's like, ha ha ha. I said, why is this guy laughing? Okay.
He guessed the song. Oh, it's got to be something Elvis obviously.
No, no, it's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. Fly me to the moon.
Oh, fly me to the moon. Well, I haven't sung for two months, so don't ask me to sing today.
Okay. I mean, Stephen asked me on Thursday, he said, hey, you know Jenny Unwell,
you think you can come and cover? I said, I haven't sung since about the 10th of December.
I'm very funny about my voice. I always work my voice out.
I understand. Very, very dramatically, like a week in advance.
Believe me, I'm a bathroom singer. Yeah. I've heard you sing. You can sing.
And I could get to you guys. We're all coughing now. We're all a bit scared.
No, no, if you don't want to. Why do you talk about singing?
We'll talk about singing. Do your panic.
We are, we are better than you. Interview over.
Interview over. We don't believe this.
I don't believe I'm hearing this in the both of you.
No, but it's quite funny. So many people must think we just rock up and sing. Of course we don't.
You have to work on your voice. Yeah, you got to warm up.
Are you recording or? No. Yeah, of course. We're always recording, man.
Oh, is it? Oh Jesus. That's okay.
But he's got no, what do you call that? Filters.
Yeah. No filters.
Fart that. Fart that. No filters.
So I can swear then. It's good for you then.
Hey, you know, none of you said that. I had someone who visited yesterday and told me, Chris,
you know, I've asked, because she's got quite a good business network and I'm out there looking
for advertisers and sponsors, right? And she said, I asked two persons, you know, two business
owners and they came back and they said, no, it sure is too vulgar. It really would not give our
brand a good look. I said, what the fuck's wrong with you? It's not going to get better with us
three. That's for sure. I think if you had any sponsors, I think she's bloody lost them all.
You know, my reply is very simple, man. If today Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen,
right, is going to open up for advertising and sponsorship for cheap. You'd jump at it,
wouldn't you? It's very true actually. Yeah. So I love Golden actually. I'm a big fan of Golden.
You are? Who? Gordon. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The way he said Gordon. I said Gordon again. Gordon.
No, I'm a big, I'm a really big fan of him. I tell you, British accents, man, British accents.
How do you say it the first time? Gordon. I heard Gordon. Gordon. Gordon. You're not a Brummie, are
you? No. Bloody hell, no. OK, so what do you guys think? You want to do the song or not? No.
Can I be honest? I literally have not, I have not used my voice in two months. I've got two guys here.
You sing, then Stephen will follow. I have about a 10, ask you guys how are you going to do this shit,
man? Have you heard this voice? Do I sound like I want to sing? I've been at the bar for five days
in a row. OK, OK, OK, I'll tell you what. A magic word, sing. He goes. Yeah, anyway, everything can
be post-produced. Everything can be post-produced. Panic stricken. If we sound like shit, yeah, I'm
not going to put it on. Don't lie. If we sound like shit, it's going to go on the cutting floor.
I'm going to do you guys that favor, OK? Fuck that, I'm going to do them that favor. He's panicking.
I'm drinking wine, we're all coughing. Welcome to the world of singing. OK, OK, we just give it a
shot. We fucked it up. And I'm telling you, I'm not in good shape, too. I burned my vocal cords a
couple of weeks ago. Wow. Yeah, yeah, because I came back so sick and I project out vomited. Oh,
my God. And then I sneezed and I have this stupid habit of doing this. Oh, yeah, I do that too,
and the pressure. It's bad for you. I also do the same thing, you know, it's not good for you. Yeah,
it's not. And I tell you, I'm not in good shape, you know. So let's all fuck up together, OK?
This is going to be brilliant. OK, let's just give it a shot, for shits and giggles, man.
This is more than shits and giggles.
It's only 5 meters. It's not like a heavy song.
No, but our favorite song. Is there a story behind that song? When you say that it's a song
we love, but something went wrong with that song, is there? No, it's Stephen saying that as kind of
a joke, because the one song that everybody was, especially back in the early, you know,
Bellini Room place. Bellini Room, yeah. Everybody used to say, every piece of paper.
It's flying to the moon. And he used to say, yeah, fly me to the moon. And like that.
As if to say, fucking hell, not again.
And we still say now, is that the reason why you laugh?
Seven fly me to the moons on one night. Oh my God. Really?
So we just played it. Yeah. Oh, did you?
Even if we didn't, he used to pretend that we just did. There are some songs, actually,
that I've never got tired of singing. Swae, I still never get tired of singing.
Okay. There's some songs you don't get tired of singing. They're like your signature tunes,
but flying to the moon is one of the ones I just think, oh, again.
You know something, man? I honestly, honest to God, I didn't know.
You know now. Now I know. When I picked that song.
Give me two more glasses of water, I'll tell you even more.
Oh, boy. Can you believe this? Okay.
Okay. Let's give it a shot. Let's give it a shot. I'll start off again.
Sounds like a doctor's surgery.
Okay. Okay. Okay. So much.
Okay. Let's cue this up. Let's cue this up. Let's really just mess this up.
Let's mess this up. Let's mess this up. Okay. Let's play.
Oh, fuck you know. Turn up the music a little. Yeah. I cannot hear.
Yeah. I don't say something else.
Don't kiss it.
Oh,
it's been a couple of months. Sounds like the believe big band.
Yeah. All right. Yeah. Pretty good.
It's kind of cool. You could have warned me I was singing today.
I didn't want to tell you.
I would have done a runner. Come on, Chris. Take it, baby.
Be true.
Okay. That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.
It wasn't as bad. Man, I really fuck it up. I can still sing. That's good.
You got the right key. Yeah. Thank God for that. That was a start. That was pretty nice.
It was funny though. It's funny at the beginning.
You have my permission to put it up. Yeah. Thank you very much.
We can get away with that one, I think.
This is my tribute to the two of you guys. And this episode is called Epic Bromance with Rob
Collins and Stephen Francis. Chris, can I tell you something, which is so random?
Right. I landed in Singapore this very day in 2007.
Really? February the 9th.
Really? I've never forgotten the date.
I've never forgotten the date. So actually, this is the first day I met you 18 years ago.
18th anniversary, man. Happy anniversary, guys.
Can you fucking believe this shit? And I'm going to tell you a story about how I met him.
He fucking hated me as well. Yeah. I'll tell you the story in a while.
Okay. We can swear, right? Because I'm swearing a lot.
You can swear. I just want to tell you about the cameras. I should have told you earlier,
but never mind my fucking recording. That one right there, that's all three of us.
That one is the two of you. That one is me. Okay? Right. There we go.
As long as you cut it all together later so we look gorgeous, I don't care.
So 18 years ago, you guys met. Literally.
I just need to, I want to find out from you, Rob,
what prompted you to come to Singapore 18 years ago today?
It was super random because I had had stuff online and I've been doing stuff in the UK,
and I used to play in all the pub circuits and all the bars and the clamps. And I'd work with
some of the guys from Big Country. I mean, you might not even remember that band.
Big Country is the band that played the song Big Country. Of course I remember.
Mark Brasicki and Josh Phillips had written some songs for me.
My manager had put all these things together and I had these kinds of things online.
And Stephen and I think it was Misha, right? No, Imelda.
Oh, Imelda. Imelda Paulo.
They were kind of online. She was the entertainment manager.
Yeah. Right. I was music director.
They've been scanning online. Yeah, we were looking for foreign artists
to fit the bill of Michael Buble. It was supposed to be a Buble thing.
Buble thing, yeah. Right.
It's our big band. Where?
St. James. In the Bellini Room.
Right. Right.
So it just, it was really random. And this is really true because my parents don't live
there anymore, they're back in the UK. But I was going down to visit them in France
and I had a Blackberry. I mean, fucking hell, we're really going back in time.
Blackberry. Oh, man. And I'm in the back of the car going down
and I got this message. Oh, we'd like you to come to Singapore. I was like, what the fuck?
How did you feel? How did you feel about that? Learning that people, someone said you're going
to want to come. Can I be really honest with you?
Yeah, please. I was so daunted and scared and I was
shitting myself. Why?
Because I'd been online and I'd looked at St. James. I didn't know much about Dennis Fu,
but then when I, you know, you could Google and things.
Right. I mean, you could scan some stuff.
I'd seen things on YouTube. I'd seen things about him and I just thought,
I don't think I'm fucking worthy to work with these guys, man. I mean, I was really
crapping myself. No joke. I was really scared.
Really? I was so scared.
And just that three months away from home, because it was supposed to be three months,
which is now 18 years. Three months turned into 18 years.
That completely changed my life, but I was really scared.
The first day of rehearsal, he fucked me up.
Yeah, I did. What happened?
Because he was bloody late. Five minutes late, I was just downstairs
preparing all the scores. I was just so nervous.
He complained to the management. Yeah.
Where's your music director? How come he's not here?
Did this sound like a scared man? Yeah.
I said, this motherfucker wants to fuck around with me, huh?
I said, oh, you wait and see. I gave him hell, boy.
Yeah, he did. He was so horrible to me. I hated him. For the first month that we knew
each other, I fucking hated him. Yeah.
Really? I hated him as well.
Okay. And now could you imagine the pair?
And now look at the pair of us. No joke, that is really true.
Because I've never been so far. I mean, obviously I played in America and I'd done this,
but I'd never been away on such a massive thing as St. James was.
I think a lot of people, especially younger people now, that never were part of St. James,
I never saw it, I never witnessed it, have no bloody clue how massive that thing was.
You got to give it to Dennis on that one. You got to give it to the foo on that one.
I mean, I always say that. I think you guys are going to agree with me.
I know Dennis. He was, he'd been on my previous podcast twice.
Oh, really? Yeah.
Yeah. Great guy. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I hope he's up for it.
Yeah. Yeah. And he's a great guy. You know, he came with Jenny, his missus.
And wow, the stories. I was going to say the stories were going forever.
Remarkable bloody stories. He was in the press yesterday. Did you see?
Was he? Yeah. There was a thing about nightlife and how 3,000 places have just closed down in
Singapore. Did they get him the quote? Because I think they're referring to this one. Kai,
can you put that one up? You're referring to this article.
This one. This is the one. He's in there. Right.
He's in there. And so is Mogan from Pub Crawl. So one of my first bars, my first bar was in Boat
Key. So I used to have the Pub Crawl guys. So I know there were so many names in that thing
yesterday. I read the article that I knew these people, which is so weird for me because,
yeah, obviously this is the first person I met 18 years later. I'm doing F&B and stuff like that
as well. You know, so usually you brought it up because as you can see, I've actually prepped
that article to appear. Right. And you brought it up, just brought it up. It was amazing actually.
And since you brought that up, well, the reason why I have that there is because I want to ask
you guys, I mean, we all know, and I just cannot imagine 18 years ago was Boyle Room and St. James
Power Station, the Bellini Room and all that. It's so long ago. It doesn't seem that long ago anyway.
And, you know, yeah, yeah, vibrant. And even before that, Dennis, Dennis is a king. Well,
I think Steven's the one to answer this one because he's been doing this a lot more than me
in Singapore, you know. Before that was Devil's Bar. Devil's Bar. The Europa group. Yeah. And I
mean, those were the years that people like me, we were enjoying it. The bands, the Filipino
explosion in Singapore. Right. And really it forced, I'm saying it boldly and I said it before
on this show, it forced a lot of our local musos to also step up because the pinnoys were coming
and they were great. Right. And it was a good thing. And Nightlife was so vibrant. Yeah. You
know, so amazingly vibrant. And I was smitten by all of that, you know. And to me guys like you guys
and to have met and also meeting soon, you know, a lot of people that I looked up to when I was
younger, people who were quite influential for me, it all stemmed from guys like Dennis and what he's
done, you know. And I think in my opinion, he's top notch in my book. Well, you got to think,
sorry, you got to think, you just mentioned that article. And even after all the years,
when was the last time Dennis actually operated in space or anything? He's retired anyway. He's
been retired for ages, but still they go back to the Oracle to ask his opinion on stuff. So that
shows you how influential he is as a person. And every time I see that name, I just think, well,
he was my boss. It makes me think bloody hell. I learned so much from him. You know, you use that
term Oracle, man. I think that's so suitable for him. Yeah. It's so appropriate. Really, if you
think about obviously Stephen known him for God knows how long. I've known him for 18 years. Don't
know how long Stephen's known him. Yeah. You know, probably 118 years. So what's missing?
What's missing in Singapore's nightlife today, you guys? What do you think?
Say it, just say it, man. I mean, the crowd has lessened a little bit, you know, all the,
all the crowds that used to follow us, they don't go out no more. Yeah. We have parties at home or
they have families. I retired. I gave up drinking, whatever, you know. So now it's a new trend.
You know, it's a new batch of people, right? And they only party like once, twice a month.
Right. Not like before. It can come party every, every night. So do you think it's a cultural thing?
You think it's a cultural thing or do you think it's a matter of question of cost? I was just
going to say, I actually think one of the biggest things is the bloody cost. Yeah. Of course it's
just ridiculous as that article itself says. Yeah. Even for myself, obviously I'm at my own
bar. Okay. So I don't have to spend money at my bar because it's my bar. So I drink for free, right?
So I drink for free, but going home, I tell you what my taxi was last night, $64 to go home.
Holy crap. I mean, of course I did the premier one. Otherwise I'll be sitting there for 20 minutes
waiting for a plane to go home, right? But even if it wasn't $64, it's going to be 40 bucks. So if I
go to my bar five days a week, that's four, eight, 12, 16, it's $200 a week just to take a taxi home.
So times that by a month, that's two, four, six, it's $800 a month. So from the consumer's perspective,
what you're saying is that from the consumer's perspective, it is about cost for them in terms
of transportation, in terms of costs of cover charge, the cost of the booze they buy. I think
a lot of places do they still do cover charges. Not much. I think a lot of people have dropped
the cover charge. I don't know. I don't party anymore. Well, there you go. You should answer
a bloody question. Why don't you go? I don't go out because, okay, I tell you frankly, I don't,
not that I don't want to, I would love to. Hang on. Let me qualify this. No, no, no, no, no, no,
really, really, really. I'm not saving my ass. I mean, I really don't give a fuck. I'll see things
the way it is. I'll call a spade a spade, you know, so don't worry about that. You'll get everything
cleaned out for me. First, today, what started a couple of years ago, and I realized that in
this country, we're only seeing where bands are concerned, two piece, three pieces. Where's the
money involved? Oh yeah. No, no, I understand. I understand that. So because bar owners, club owners,
but I never forgive the hotels for this kind of, for this shit, because they've got money. Yeah.
Yeah. And it's the P and L they're looking at, you know, but bar owners, you know, I can understand
you bring in two piece, three piece. And you know, people like me, we grew up with five piece,
at least on average, five piece, we get a five piece band. We get big sound. You've got to think,
I think Steven and I, I don't know if there's a record, but I reckon in probably all of
Singapore history, I reckon we had the biggest band. Oh yeah. Really? How big was that?
Yeah. And Bellini, we've got nine piece. Oh, great. Just the band,
schooling singers. Yeah. Plus three singers. Then Bellini Grande. Bellini Grande is 33.
Musicians, singers and dancers. So big band. Yeah. Wow. So you can think that's why I mentioned
Dennis. Wow. Talk about big balls to pull out something like that. You're talking about paying
40 people a night. Orchestra. Yeah. We had an orchestra. I mean, who has an orchestra every
night? You're such a lucky man, you know, because you sang at that big band, right? I mean, we opened,
everybody remembers Bellini Grande. Actually, they don't really remember Grande that much.
They remember Shanghai Dolly, but you've got to think before at Shanghai Dolly, we were the
buggers that opened. There's one, there's one something I've yet to check off my bucket list,
you know, singing of a big band. Oh, I've always wanted to do that. We should do it. We should do
it. We should arrange it. Those things are so rare to be able to do. In fact, I still do now
because there's the summertime's big band and the other one, Thompson's, right? I still,
I still sing. I'm the lead singer for summertime. So I still get to do that. Well, it's such a
lovely thing. I've seen, I've watched summertime once they were on one of my shows and they were
the band for one of my gigs. It was years ago. This is a guy named Dale. Dale used to, used to
come and play in the horn section with us every now and then when he was younger, before all the
other businesses and everything else he's done as well. Yeah. But Dale used to come and sing.
Well, there's something I have yet to check off my bucket list. So there's something I really want
to do sooner or later. But anyway, coming back to the topic. So for the consumer, it's cost.
For the bar owner and the club owner, it's also cost. So everything has got to do with the demise.
I can dare say demise of our night scene is cost. Can we just boil it down to that? And then coming
back to wait to my justification. Even for club owners, you know, it's all budget. Yeah. Cut down.
That's why you see two piece, three piece. Because of it. And even the hotel I'm working at, you know,
you know, Dow by Dorset. Yeah. Yeah. You know, now we've got three piece. Last year was just two
piece, two night. And now we cut down to one night a week, but three piece. You know what I'm saying?
It's just like, it's to balance up. But you know what's interesting now that you said this,
what's interesting is you know, Mel's place. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, the guys are playing there all
the time. Right. All the guys from Tanglin Club. I keep seeing them all the time. So Leonard, that's right. Leonard Daly and
Gerard and sometimes Jeff Fonseca. They performed there, I think Friday nights. Yeah. Thursday night
would be supernova. A bunch of young, you know, compared to us there. What do you mean compared to us?
I'm only 12. Different Thursdays. And GMT with Sean. Yeah. I work with them a lot because I do some stuff
at Tanglin as well every now and then. So they play on Saturdays. We're playing Tanglin Club this week actually.
Ah, okay. So see, that's the thing. I'll come to that later. The country clubs, the recreational clubs.
So Mel's place, I'm going to say this on there. Eurasian, right? I have never been. No, it's over here.
I don't know where it is actually. It's in Katong. Just at the corner. Near Lorong Sanji in Katong.
So I will tell you this because I'm a Katong boy, so I will tell you. You say Eurasian community, right?
Actually, yes, you're right. But mostly the people who used to party every weekend at 57 Chevy.
Oh. They had to close down. Right. Because it was unblocked. Yeah. Right. And it was sad because it
was really a great community. And I was there. I'm there with my wife every Friday night, you know.
Partying, drinking, partying. Not to boost it, like dead, but we're really having a great fun time.
Band was great because Dad Sife played there. The late Jerry LaChica played there with Chicago.
Right. And it was great music, man. Great DJs, great music. Great company. People were great.
And it's safe. Everyone knows each other. So that group of people, the customers, you now find them
at Mel's place. Why? You see, this is where I'm saying this because I want to make a point.
You're not taking me out of retirement, are you?
There's no way I'm singing six days a week again. You can shove that one.
Do it once a week would be quite nice, isn't it? Once a week I don't mind, but six days.
But the point is that when Mel's place, they were really quiet. Business was really quiet for me.
A long time. Until somebody had the bright idea of let's try a band. Now I can tell you this much,
because last week I was there, right? So they got the band in and then the crowd grew. Then they
started Thursday night, we have band. Friday night we have bands. Saturday night we have a band.
All different bands. Last Friday when I was there, they just changed the sound systems to accommodate
for a band. So they're prepared to spend the money on it.
So because something's working, right? And the place is packed. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, packed.
Doesn't matter whether... So they got a hi-hats for Wednesday night.
Yeah, when are we coming? I just said I wasn't going back to work.
So, but then it just shows, right, that if you've got good bands playing, people come.
But I think you've just kind of picked the nail on the head there, is that it's good bands.
And I'm not saying that all places that have other bands are there, not good bands. I'm not
picking between bands. I'm not saying this one's crap and this one's good. But if you've got bands
that really can perform and they've got a following and they can do something, like Sean is great.
That's life is great. I've seen these guys, you know, these aren't young boys as well, you know.
Their life is not young. Sean's bloody two years older than me.
Don't tell them that.
No, but you know what I'm saying, right. But wow, they can put on a show, man. And people come for
the show. Old school, I think. Old is gold. You've got to look at some of the young ones now.
Yeah, they're great musicians. They've probably been to Berkeley and studied.
But they don't have followers.
They don't have followers. And you know, my biggest...
That's most important today.
And what's my biggest bugbear? What's my bloody biggest fucking thing that I hate the most
about a singer on stage? Fucking iPads. Oh, God.
You and I can really have a long conversation about that.
The moment you have a bloody iPad there and you're reading the lyrics, you're not...
You're interacting with the audience.
It's a waste of bloody time. You might as well sit at home and sing KTV to yourself.
Yeah, right. I agree. I hate that shit.
That's one of the things that really fucks me off, actually. So, there's a 50 year old...
But thank goodness I'm on the keyboard.
You can cheat.
You can cheat. It's like I'm reading the score.
Yeah, you can cheat.
No, no, no. They're not lyrics. They're not...
It's not lyrics. It's scores.
Scores.
I mean, you've got to think... Don't get me wrong. Yeah.
Basket.
You've got to think, you know, all these big stadium shows and everybody,
you think they don't read lyrics. Of course they do. They've teleprompter.
Yeah, teleprompters on the ground.
But they have them enough away so you can glance if you need it.
But they're not bloody standing in your face.
This is references. This is only for references.
It's just to click your memory just in case, but not bloody standing.
When we do stadium shows, we have teleprompters.
Yeah.
You know, say, fuck, the song, I just learned it. I need the lyrics. Don't worry.
Or you know the funniest thing I do. He always says to me, bloody hell, man, you're old.
He says that to me a lot. Anyway, bloody hell, you're old.
You know what I do? I get a piece of paper. I put it in the printer.
I print it out and I stick it on the floor in front of the monitor.
So no one's ever going to see. I can look at the floor. No one ever going to notice.
But there's no bloody way I'm having a night.
I've done that before too.
You don't know now.
Yes. Shit. I've been lying for all these years.
I've done that before too, man. On the floor monitors, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I did that before.
I said, shit's a new song. Shit's a new song.
And then you print out the font and make sure it's larger.
Especially for me because I'm blind as a butt.
You know, I thought I was alone, man, in this shit, man.
No, no, no. I do exactly the same.
Thanks for the confession.
I don't mind. I don't mind confessing I'm old.
I'm 50 in three weeks. I cannot believe I'm 50 in three weeks.
You're not old. You're still young compared to me.
Well, age is lateral.
You're going to be 50, right? You're still 49, right?
You're still going to be four in front of you in front of your age, right?
I'm going to be 55 in April, man.
Fucking hell. There's no hope. I'd give up now.
I'm not quitting, man. I'm not quitting, man.
I'm still going to go on as long as I can, man.
Doing shit like this.
Yeah, I mean, I enjoy this. I really do.
Anyway, I was telling you just now.
How many subscribers you have now?
Like coming close to 70,000.
Wow.
God, there's 70,000 people who's going to be listening to me and you.
They must be bloody bored.
Just under 10.
Say, shit, I need more subscribers.
Come on, come on.
Today is 70,000. Congratulations.
Pretty soon we'll be hitting 70,000. Pretty soon.
Yeah. In the next couple of days, we will hit 70,000.
Wow.
For sure.
Well done.
It's probably going to be 65,000 now that they've heard us sing fucking Fly Me To The Moon.
It's gone that way.
But the audience is not just local. The audience would be
from Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore.
Oh, wow. That's cool.
Yeah. So it's regional.
Hello to all those places.
You've probably never heard of me, but anyway.
Elvis.
Yeah, you've heard of Elvis though.
Hey man, Elvis, man. I mean, what can we do without it?
If not for Elvis, we wouldn't have a job.
No, that's true actually.
That is true, man. Music wouldn't be what it is.
You know I played at Grey Sands twice.
I hate you.
1997 and 2002.
Really?
Yeah.
Wow.
Wow. You and I are going to do some Elvis together.
Yeah. Yeah.
No, I still have this massive fascination with Elvis.
When I was really young, it was really huge.
You know, you go through phases of people
and Elvis was one that I was just really demented about.
Right.
And I think there's a lot of his character that I think I've nicked a bit.
I mean, I think all musicians do.
We all laugh about the Rod Stewart thing.
I nicked the bloody this out of that.
I think all musicians, you steal something from somewhere else.
We mirror people.
Yeah, you mirror people because you admire them
or there's something you watch and you think, oh, that's really cool.
And then by accident, you end up kind of doing that yourself.
Yeah.
But Elvis was really one of the first ones I just saw.
I just never seen anything like it.
And that career, so many people really,
they failed to understand that Elvis was 42 when he died.
Yeah. Yeah.
And a 20 year career, in which case in Hollywood,
he was the biggest paid star.
I mean, it's just the things are de-menting about what he achieved in 20 years.
Yeah, crazy.
It's quite mental.
A lot of people, they don't see that.
I think a lot of youngsters nowadays, because, oh, it's old person's music.
They won't research that person.
There's so much to learn about old accents.
The biggest influence I've got, I mean, where singing is concerned.
I know it's me, but you don't have to tell me again.
It would have been you if you were 65 today.
Don't add another 15 years, please.
If someone older than you cannot possibly be doing it.
Okay. No, actually he's on Elvis as well, because a lot of people don't know this.
I got influenced by him when I was about seven.
And at 10, I broke my voice deliberately.
I went so hard on working on trying to sound like the guy as a kid, right?
I remember when I was in primary one or two, when I got on stage
for the first time in my life and I sang, I discovered I'm tone freaking deaf.
And you know kids can be mean, right?
And back then in 1977, you know kids, you get really teased, really insulted.
And I told myself never again would that happen.
I'll either run away from this or do something about it, right?
So I loved Elvis, so I just kept practicing his songs.
By the time I was 10, I broke my voice.
Then I could do Heartbreak Hotel.
Then I could do I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.
And it went on from there.
And then in 95, then TCS, now Media Corp came and called me.
And they did a feature on me on the Channel 8 program, Chen Lin Zha Zhi.
There are two features, one on something else.
I can't remember what, but on me it was an entire full day filming.
Came to my home, was in my car filming, me driving.
Then eventually doing a show.
Driving at 10 years old?
No, no, 1995.
Oh, sorry.
Keep up boss, keep up.
He's getting on a bit, I know.
All of a sudden you've got your timelines all warped.
And I'm the one drinking the wine.
Yeah, I'm wondering about that too, man.
We haven't asked him his age yet.
Official secret.
And you know, and then after I did the feature on me, right?
And all the Elvis shows that are coming in.
Yeah, very, very, very massive influence Elvis was.
And there's no way I can say that.
Question, because this is an interesting one.
Yeah.
Your favorite Elvis song.
Because that's, I mean, there's so many.
You really want to know, huh?
You, you, you.
Yeah, I would like to know.
You won't believe this.
Go on, shock me.
Don't Cry Daddy.
Oh, Don't Cry Daddy is a great song.
That's my favorite Elvis song.
So can I tell you something really that you'll just probably want to punch me?
Okay, what?
Okay, so in, I think it was, I think it was the first time I went.
So I think it was 97.
At the Memphis pyramid.
Yep.
That was the first time they ever did the hologram of Elvis with the original band.
Okay.
And I was there as part of that thing to do the thing.
And that's one of the ones that he sung with Lisa Marie Presley.
So she sang live and he did the thing.
Yeah.
It was the original 70s band and everything else.
Right.
And I saw that at the Memphis pyramid in, I hate you.
I told you, can I hate me?
Yeah.
Amazing.
And because it was the, they isolated his vocal.
It's the first time anybody had done this thing.
They isolated his vocal.
So all of the original bands played and his vocal was isolated from recordings that they
had and other people sang along live.
But as if he was still alive in the, it was kind of the most incredible thing I've ever seen.
I'm going to move us away from Elvis a bit because I want to ask Stephen this question.
Yeah, go ahead.
I know for a fact, okay, the first time I saw you, I hope my memory serves me correctly.
But did you ever play in this bar in Novatel Orchid Inn called Cheers?
Cheers?
No.
Yeah.
I can't remember.
Not that I can recall.
I don't think so.
No.
Okay.
But I remember there was a keyboard player who sang that everyone calls boy.
That's him.
That's me.
Yeah.
But not in Cheers, I don't think.
Maybe I can't remember the place I saw you.
Yeah.
Maybe I couldn't remember.
Back to Elvis again.
And there was a long time ago.
I think that was in the early nineties, probably.
Oh.
Yeah.
And why do people call you boy?
Because I'm the youngest in the family.
But I started real young.
Outside of your family.
I started at the age of 11.
Yeah.
But outside of your family, people call you boy.
People who knows me since young all call me boy.
Yeah.
It's weird.
I always call him boss because I didn't know him.
Yeah.
Then the other side of people that I've also encountered besides Rob.
I always call him boss.
It's very weird.
Colin Young calls you boss.
I don't know.
Quite a number of people call you boss as well.
Because I give them jobs.
Yeah.
Because he's always fucking bossing me about.
Okay.
And okay.
So you guys came together exactly today 18 years ago.
It's amazing.
I know that's really weird.
I remember when you told me the date.
I remember thinking, you know, you can't be serious.
And then the taxi on the way here.
No, no.
It was him.
Yeah.
It's so weird that you.
So weird.
Yeah.
Well, it just so happened to be.
Yeah.
Exactly.
I didn't buy 4D today.
Okay.
So you guys came together exactly today.
Okay.
So 18 years ago.
And then for the last past 18 years, man.
What I'm saying, the two of you are like the epic bromance.
You know.
Everyone always says that.
But it's kind of true.
I must be honest.
It's kind of true.
From two people that bloody hated each other.
It's quite ridiculous that we love each other to death.
Let's continue the story from there.
Because the chemistry of we both working together is so strong.
Yeah.
That, you know, we know what's going to come next.
Whether it's a song or what we're going to say.
So like telepathy.
Yeah.
A little bit.
It's kind of weird.
Yeah.
You know, everything just fits in together.
It's amazing.
Everyone says that.
Maybe Mel Ferdinand told me almost the same thing.
That he and his brother, right, Joe.
Yeah.
And there's also like telepathy, you know, when they perform on stage.
So you two guys have actually managed to grow that chemistry.
I think the funny thing is, and you'll probably see this when you watch this back.
Or I don't know how you edit things or whatever you do.
It's the way that we bounce off each other.
Yeah.
It's very strange.
We've got a very similar sense of humor.
He's also got quite a dark sense of humor.
Sometimes he says things.
I say to him, fucking hell boss, you can't say that.
You know, it was the things I would want to say and think, shit Rob, don't do that.
And he'll be the one that would do it.
So as time went by.
I look at him like that.
As time went by, as time went by, you guys hate each other, but as time went by, what happened?
How do you, what happened to make that, that, that, that whole thing?
He won't remember.
Yeah.
He won't remember, but I will remember because I will never, ever forget this moment because
it's the moment that changed my.
He is.
My, my.
Right.
No, I can see tears in your eyes.
I'm only crying because my wine's running out.
Can I get a top up?
That's a good idea.
Like I say, we've got this seriously dark sense of humor between each other.
I really don't believe this man.
To get me wine.
To get you more wine.
Oh my God.
No, but this is really, really, really, really, really completely true.
I was sitting, do you remember downstairs from the entrance to Movida?
There used to be the outside bar thing.
I can't remember what it was.
It's like beer corner or something like that.
I can't remember the bloody name.
And we just finished the night.
I think it was a Saturday or something.
It had been a really busy one.
And I think we'd had a really good night in Bellini Room itself.
It had been busy.
Boss had been in, Dennis had been in, Andrew had been in, everyone saying, wow, this is great.
And I remember you coming down to me and you, I was sitting there.
I was sitting there having a beer, which is very new.
I don't even drink beer anymore.
I drink wine though.
Thank you.
I was sitting there and I remember you coming up behind me in a nice fashion, not horrible fashion,
and saying to me, hey man, you don't want to get drunk.
There's a lot of wine.
You just need a goldfish in that bowl.
I remember I always do his accent.
Hey man, hey man.
I remember coming up behind me and saying, hey man, tonight really good.
Just wanted to tell you, you'll find the garden.
And then he walked off and I just thought, oh, I guess we're going to be friends now then.
Literally, and I've never forgotten that.
But you said you finally got it.
You meant basically that he was not up to your standard.
I wasn't, but to be fair, I must be honest, I think I don't think I was up to his standard
when I first started.
I'd be really truthfully honest.
Because you know why, he's a foreigner, right?
Yeah.
And he doesn't know the local taste.
I didn't get it.
I didn't know.
I didn't write our local taste.
I said, you have to speak slower because nobody fucking understand what the word you're saying.
Because you speak saying, yeah.
You can imagine.
You're like, what the fuck?
It's like, I said, you got to slow down.
Speak slowly, make sure everybody understands you and look at them and what you're talking
to them and stuff like that.
Okay.
But I learned so much.
If he hadn't have done it, I wouldn't have learned.
And I think that's something funny between the pair of us.
I think we both broke each other's balls at some point, but between the pair of us, we
understood that it was for my good actually to listen to what he was trying to teach me.
Right.
You know, and you should always learn.
You learn something every day.
Connect with the crowd.
Oh my God.
After that, we had a full house almost every night.
Every night.
It was amazing.
Only Sunday because we were close.
And I was at Tangjong Beach.
It wasn't even called that then.
Yeah.
I was pissed on the beach.
So Rob, the Singapore audience then, from what you've experienced in the UK and elsewhere
that you perform, how do you compare or describe the difference between the two?
The international audience versus the Singapore audience.
That's a tough one.
I think sometimes the Singapore audience is very difficult to engage because they are slightly
a bit more reserved.
Numb nuts.
Yes.
We're a bit reserved, but the moment you catch that reservation, it all changes.
It all changes.
And sometimes you've got to not be afraid to go out and just be a bloody idiot.
I know that sounds stupid because if you just stand there and just do your thing,
everyone's like...
But if you really engage over the top, then everybody really jumps in and enjoys it.
I mean, the things we used to do...
Even come down and PR with them and stuff like that.
It gets you closer to them.
They feel like, oh, you're a friend already.
Let's go and see him again tomorrow.
Interesting man, comparing notes.
He's our friend already.
I'm comparing notes because same thing.
I think so many singers now, they sing, they do their thing.
They, like you say, sometimes two piece.
Sit one corner.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
Sing, sing, sing, bugger off.
Yeah.
No, I mean, you can imagine in our day, what Dennis used to say to us all the time.
Activate, activate.
Activate, get your bloody ass out there.
Yeah.
You've got to think.
I was drunk every night.
I was drunk nearly every night.
Literally it nearly fucking killed me for five years.
Plus he's drinking my drink.
Yeah, you're up.
Yeah.
There you go.
You do it.
Yeah.
No joke, seriously.
There were not, I mean, there were times I used to go, I'm just...
I tell you one of the funniest stories.
One of the funniest...
You know, the auto barriers.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Car park barriers.
The car park.
There was one Sunday, I think it was, I woke up and thought,
fuck, what's hit me on the head?
I had a cut.
And I couldn't work out.
I thought, have I been in a fight?
No, I don't remember.
I just didn't remember anything.
Then about two weeks later, I was walking through,
saw the bar and thought, shit, I remember it hit me on the head.
I was so drunk, the damn thing hit me and I didn't realize.
Honestly, we would start drinking at bloody nine o'clock and finish drinking.
I used to finish in Dragon Fight Five.
Oh man, and every night.
Every night.
Yeah, because we finished our set, our last set.
It's amazing, I look so good, really.
It's amazing.
8 a.m. in the morning, can you imagine?
And after that, we go for supper and something.
Right, right.
But today, we don't see that anymore.
There's that type of fun.
The Chinese clubs don't close that late.
Wait, come on, I mean, to me, it's like,
you don't have to booze to be a great performer anyway to get people going.
I don't.
No, you're wrong.
He needs to booze.
I do, actually.
To lose an up.
Some people do.
I can't.
That's why I don't drink.
I perform.
Neither do I.
I still, to this day, have a mint stage fright.
So he'll drink before he goes on stage.
Rob Collins, stage fright.
Since...
So now you know his secret, right?
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Kai, Kai, play that video, please.
Play the video.
You talk about stage fright for fuck's sake.
What am I doing there?
Is that me drinking the drinks?
What is this jazz by the Beach Boys?
You sound good, man.
Is that me?
What am I doing?
Oh, that's a bit easy.
You're gonna kid, man.
Oh, no.
Oh, that's Bond there behind you.
You sound good, boss.
Steven Lewis?
Let's get on it, baby.
Party Song, and ac?
The best that we make burn with mood.
dib, dib, dib, dib.
Stage fright, yeah, right.
Web
Go on, Rob.
I'm probably a little bit pissed.
It's Otis Lee beating around him.
Belly dancer.
Beer bottle,
Where did you find the dance?
Hip hop
Where did you find this?
Some others I've seen, none of them been me
None of them get crossed, right on their boss
They knew what to do, found nobody else
Gave me that thrill with all your butts, all about a skull
And how to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you
Do you have stage fright Stephen?
No, unless it's a real huge big show
I've never seen him stage fright, he takes it all in stride
He doesn't really care, he puts his things and he's ready and off he goes
You know me, I'm pacing around like...
Especially when you're in front, if I'm not on the keyboard, yes I get a little bit
So if anyone would ask two music veterans, how do you get past that?
I fucking hate that word
Even though it's true
Two music oldies
It gets better, I used to like you
I mean, it's a nice term man, veterans, it shows a lot, it speaks a lot
It's all a character there
It just makes me feel bloody ancient
Mind you I am fucking ancient so it's okay
You're the youngest amongst the three of us seated here, mate
Let me remind you
But anyway, again, what do you think, what's the magic behind getting past all that?
You do eventually get past it as you get on with the performance
The age bit, the stage fright thing
Stage fright for me is always a drink, it's always been
I have a couple of glasses of wine and I'm ready
Do a couple of songs and just get warmed up
You know what I'm like, he knows me so well
Always my first two songs is probably really, I can say it right, wanky
It's probably not the best, I'm probably still a bit nervous trying to find out the sound and everything
But song number three, that's it
And then two hours later it's trying to get me up stage because I'm enjoying myself
We've been actually talking for a bit, haven't we?
I'm enjoying myself and you've got one so it's great
And I can see the rest of the bottle there so it's cheering up
I'm just going to scroll down to almost at the bottom of my set here
Rob, if you could give your younger self one piece of advice
Fuck you now
Don't swear so much
Don't drink
What would it be?
No, I can't do that one
If I could give my younger self some advice, what would it be?
Yeah
Maybe don't be so afraid of yourself
What do you mean?
I think there's a lot within me that I don't realise
Okay
And I think a lot of other people see that and I don't see it
I'm always a very anxious person, he knows this
I'm very anxious, I'm the biggest worry in the world
Like the great Ivan Lim, what does Ivan always say to me?
In the mortal words of Mother Mary
Let it be, that's what Ivan says to me all the time
He says, well you stop fucking worrying about everything
Because I am that type, I am a very anxious person
You know people say is the glass half empty, the glass half full or whatever
I always see it as half empty when sometimes it's really full
And then there's days that I'm really quite buoyant and I look and just think
Why have you achieved so much man?
You just don't realise
But I'm forever
Yeah, I mean this Friday coming
I'm singing five sets on Friday, I'm doing Asia Square and then with you at Tanglin
So I'm already anxious about that
Which is just so stupid because it's something that I've been doing for so long
So if I could teach myself something
Maybe have a bit more confidence in myself
Okay, it's so surprising man
I think that shocks a lot of people actually
Because they're everybody to everybody else
I'm like what?
Surprises me
I'm so, no not at all
Inside I'm like a little kid hiding in a corner
Wow
Basically we are humble people
Yeah
Do you ever take yourself seriously?
I never take myself seriously
Really
The amount of times I've been on a beach somewhere and people walk up to me and say
You're that guy that sings in Singapore
I'm like oh yeah, hi
And my mum always says to me
Fucking everywhere we go you bump into somebody you know
But I never take it seriously
It's just a job isn't it? Really
You and me and just go here and dance
Hey, you're that guy right?
Yeah, I just have a laugh with it
Never take it seriously
The moment you take it so seriously
I think it's your biggest downfall as well
Because you end up acting like a bloody prick
Yeah
Ego gets as large as a barn door
Can't be doing with that one
Yeah
How about you Stephen?
What advice would you give your younger self man?
Younger self?
Stay young
I've been in this business for over 50 years
Yeah
50
Not that old
I'm 54 this year
I'm 64 this year
Well I'm 64
Are you really 64 this year?
No
Are you really?
I still am young man
Fucking hell I better start working out
I mean how many gigs we got left
I'll have to replace you
So yeah I'm 64
You know
Started at 12
So you can imagine how many years I've been in business already
That's mental
Are you really 64?
I mean professionally
Yeah
What advice would you give anything?
It doesn't have to be professional
What would you have done?
Would you have done anything differently man?
Couldn't see myself doing anything else because you know
I'm born in the music family
Right
My dad was a musician
My brothers
My sister
You know
So everything is all just music in the house you know
Right
My brothers rehearsed in the house
My sister rehearsed
Myself
My father said hey listen to this song
Practice
You know
So just play
A lot of people don't realise that Stephen plays drums
He orchestrates
He reads music
He writes music
He plays piano
He does this
He does so much
A lot of people just think he plays piano and sings a bit
But fucking hell he does everything
Yeah
I remember that photo that I was playing drums when I was eight
Right
I started playing the drums
And I said to myself I sing
How am I going to accompany myself?
Like Phil Collins
Yeah
You need a band with you all the time right?
Yeah
So I picked up the guitar and said hey not bad
I could play and sing
Actually I've never asked you how did you find your voice?
I mean I know you love Stevie Wonder
We always laugh about that one but there must be other people
Why do you laugh about that?
No because
We've got Stevie Wonder
No nothing I'm not saying that
But it's like because they say Stephen and he sings like Stevie Wonder songs so nice
And he has this very unique tone of voice
Yeah his tone is very unique
His tone of voice
My first song that my father
Throwed the song to me and said listen to this song and see if you can sing this song
It was Solomon King
Oh wow
She Wears My Ring
It was my first ever song
I put the record on and just sing along with it
She wears my ring da da da da
You know
And then there was Neil Reed
Remember Neil Reed?
Yeah
British singer
You know such
Do you know Neil Reed?
No
You're too young to know
Well thanks
What you trying to say is I'm bloody old then
No because Neil Reed is an English
Yeah
He's a little young boy you know
And then from there we grew up and then we got the Jackson 5
Right
Michael Jackson that's how I get
Oh you used to always sing Ben
Yeah
That's how the Motown stuff came to mind
Do some Ben do some Ben boss
Do some Ben
Do you remember the key?
And the two of us
Not in that key anymore
Ben
The Motown and the soul stuff came to me you know
And then came you know there was Stevie Wonder
I said wow you know
So that's how it all got started
But it seems that when you pick up an instrument
You seem to be able to just play it straight away
Yeah
Is it?
Basically yes
Really?
Yeah and I actually picked up the flute as well
I tried the trumpet
But I didn't like because it hurts my glans
You know blowing too hard
Oh shit no
He hates blowing too hard
I hate blowing too hard
That's his job on Saturday nights
You do a group blow job
I do a bad blow job then you
Oh boy
Not me
Oh boy
I got the flute
You can kiss goodbye to any sponsors and advertisers
Really you can kiss goodbye to making some money man
So there's flute and then the guitar
I said guitar okay but then the guitar hurts my fingers
You know the tip of my fingers
What the fuck
No I used to get that too actually
Yeah I say wow
So glans fingers
I said let's try the piano
So I loved the piano
And my auntie was a teacher
So I went to my auntie
Learned some classical stuff
Read music a little bit
And then I found classical is boring
You know and then I took my classical piece and jazzed it up
You know played into a pop style
Kind of like Vanessa Mae
Just all the classical stuff into pop stuff
So can I tell you something
You're gonna love this
My first producer that I ever worked with
Produced Vanessa Mae's stuff
Andy Hill
Oh yeah
My original manager in the UK is
His uncle is her uncle
Andy Hill
He produced Vanessa Mae's all of it
And Think Twice by Celine Dion and all the Bucks Viz staff
The great Andy Hill if anybody were
Andy if you're out there
Haven't seen you for a while
Oh wow amazing
So how come you could pick up an instrument
And just play it straight away
I think it's gifted
Yeah I know that
Thank you
I agree actually because he is very gifted
What's through your mind when you do that man
I mean I'm just trying to
I'm trying to feel that
Okay you see an instrument
You pick it up
And straight away you can play it
Because I've seen my brother's and his band mates play
You need to know
Anyone who would say for example
You started to hear the drums
Then after that maybe you went to keyboard
My brother plays drums
My eldest brother he plays drums
So from there just pick it up
Yeah I know this is it
Those days there's no YouTube
You can't learn from YouTube
Teach you which fingers which strings to play right
Yeah so everything is just self taught
I'm always amazed by people like that
You know like Stephen
You just pick something up and straight away
You could just manipulate the whole damn thing
Well I mean it's a God given talent isn't it
I find it very difficult to do anything like that
Literally apart from my voice
My musicality is bugger all
Can you read music
I mean I can read a small amount from piano lessons that I had
And guitar lessons that I had and stuff like that
But only a small amount
The only thing I was saying
He always says this to me and Ivan always says this thing
I've got a very good ear
So I can always tell
Yeah he's got a good pitch
I've got a really good pitch
You know I changed the key of his song
I said hmm that's not my key
And then I look again and say oh yeah shit
I forgot
So that one which is ridiculous
Because I've never had really any music stuff
But my ear is really good
No you just feel
You know once he's not comfortable in hitting the first note
Oh that's not my key
He knows straight away
Which is a weird thing because I've got no musicality
In theory in terms of him obviously
We're chalk and cheese
Yeah yeah chalk and cheese
But you make it work because you have gifts too
You can tell whether or not you're in pitch or not in pitch
Whether you're in key or not in key
So that's how it works
Obviously he's a great musician of everything else
I've got a good idea sometimes of what I'm doing
And actually I think I'm quite a good frontman
I think I'm still quite a good frontman
I'm pretty good at that one
That's one thing that I can pull off
That's quite an interesting thing
Frontman, frontman, frontman
Frontline man is not just singing, singing, singing
You've got to entertain the crowd
It's not the easiest job
I find that is the hardest thing
Sometimes get off the stage man
And get into the audience
Wow, you're just to be part of everybody else
It's quite a daunting thing
So for Steven, what's the one thing you're most worried about in the future?
Losing my voice
Oh yeah
Rob, you feel the same?
Most definitely
Losing my voice, losing my fingers
I haven't changed keys much
That much every now and then right?
Our range, as we go older, our range just drops
You know like half a key or something
Some songs is just like one tone down
Yeah, semi tone down
As we go older, we can't hit that high pitch like we used to
Yeah, it's strange man
You know when I was in my 20s right
Besides Elvis, I used to do, believe it or not
I used to do BJs
Oh wow
Alone
And I used to have this
Because I saw Gino, Gino Sunga, hi Gino
I saw his routine years ago and I copied that routine for private gigs
You know Endless Love right? Diana Ross
And I was a lot slimmer then, not yet
And you know I one side make up with wig, long wig
Oh bloody hell you used to do that
Yeah, I used to do left and right
Gino used to do
And I used to do Endless Love alone
And I could hit falsetto, it was like no one's business
I used to do tragedy, staying alive
I used to do all that, but guess what?
Effortlessly
Today, no way
I've lost my falsetto
I can't go there anymore man
You make me feel brand new, Sidus Dix
I used to do it like water, now no it's gone
Just can't do it anymore
One of the best singers of that song, I love that song
One of the best singers of that song is the great Mick Hucknall from Simply Red
Oh, Simply Red
Who does that song in full voice
Doesn't even use falsetto
Yeah, I mean that
Yeah, Simply Red, bloody hell
Mick Hucknall, Mick Hucknall
Man United fan, massive Man United fan
Yeah, sometimes he's in the box
We'll say Alex Ferguson
Oh really?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and Old Trafford
Yeah, Mick Hucknall
So yeah, you're right
I'm also afraid of losing my voice man, it terrifies me
It terrifies me
I don't know, I think in some ways it's some kind
It's sometimes a little bit nice that you are kind of getting a little bit older
That your voice changes a bit
When I saw Tom Jones last year, last March actually
Most of his stuff was some was original keys, a lot of it wasn't
But his voice, his presence and everything was just still so amazing to watch
And we saw Rod the week after, I mean I still love Rod
Does he sound the same as he did years ago? Of course he bloody doesn't
But he's 80 years old, does he put on a great show and does he still belt it out?
Elton John the same
Elton sounds a bit shouty now
It's a bit
It sounds a bit like that
It's not so much singing, it's more shouting a bit
But yeah, I guess your voice just, it's like your body isn't it
There's only so much you can look after it
Yeah, you're right
And it's scary and I agree
So what are you looking forward to in the future?
For both of you?
More gigs
Lots of sex
That's you
My sex life is over
Hi Emily
I've done that since I was 12
You mean you've been having sex since you were 12?
What are you talking about?
We are so not trustworthy to be on a podcast
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, this show is getting a bit out of hand man
I don't know, what are you looking forward to?
I tell you what I'm looking forward to with him
If I'm really honest
What I'm looking forward to with him is I still want to do a 50th birthday concert this year
Oh, wow
It's too late man
No, even if it's after my birthday, it's still my 50th year
I'd like to do that with Steven
I really would love to do that
If we can find a nice venue and a nice place
I've got a booking for the venue but it's a Sunday
Send me the invite
I don't think you want to do it
Send me the invite
It's got to be the right day at the right time
We can't seem to find the right thing
Okay, I'm going to say this again because in case it gets lost in this conversation
Send me the invite
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Of course, of course
Otherwise I'll play back this part over and over again
Of course, the invite is there
No, that's what I'd really like to do this year
And then
And you should, yeah
And again, advice is kind of being healthy and
Yeah, it's the most important
Because if you're not healthy, how are we going to go up and stitch?
Yeah, yeah
So you still want to continue doing this for as long as you can?
As long as I can, you know
As long as I can still stand and you know, voice still going
I know
As I say, Rod Stewart's playing Glastonbury this year
Yeah, man, Glastonbury
Wow, 81
Yeah, bloody Glastonbury
Tom Jones
Tom Jones is doing another world tour
Johnny Mattis
Yeah
87
Johnny Mattis
Have you seen his hair though?
What happened there?
Oh my God
What happened to his hair?
He's growing his hair out, it's all white
And he's so, oh you did see the video
Johnny Mattis
I need to send you the video
Can he still say?
Yeah, I can still see
Johnny Mattis, man
I mean, wow
And then you've got to think, one of my favourites of all time, I met him twice
And I saw him numerous times, the great Tony Bennett
Oh yeah
You know, is it two years since Tony passed? I think it's two years
Yeah, yeah
He was 94 and still performing almost to the end
And when he had Alzheimer's right there
He was amazing
Even without Alzheimer's
And the moment the piano starts playing, all that goes away
Yeah, just astounding
He was such a lovely man
When I met him here in Singapore, I've got a lovely picture with me and him
And I've got this little grey jacket on
And I walked in, he had the yellow jacket on
And the first thing he said to me was, wow, your jacket's much nicer than my jacket
Come and stand with me
And I was just like, Tony Bennett just spoke to me
I just want to pass out
What do you do when you meet people like that?
They're fucking legends to be fair
Legends, man
I mean, yeah, really, really, really
Come on, legends, man
I mean, Tony Bennett, Mike
That man is pipes, man
He's got pipes
I just cannot believe that I managed to meet him
American actors
I hate you
Even the American actors
I've got a few more going if you want
I've got a few stories
How long have you got?
Go on, get more wine out
18, 19, they're all still performing
Yeah, amazing
The Asians, I don't know
People just can't seem to accept when we are too old
I don't know, hopefully it changes
But then you've got to look at Uncle Lewis
We should give Uncle Lewis a big
I'd love to
Hang on
Let me qualify again
I did ask him
I asked him last season to come on
First of all, he can't remember me
Which I find very sad
Ask him
And then he said
Don't know, Chris, my time is up
And talk to those who are younger
Lewis always says things like that
He's also somebody that doesn't take himself so seriously
Which I find so fucking ironic for somebody
I love Lewis's scatting
His scatting is brilliant
Oh my God, amazing
Scatting is ridiculous again
But yeah, I did ask him
Of course I asked him
I asked quite a number of guys
I'm not going to mention names though
But they just didn't want to
And they don't understand why
Yeah, but I think it's important
Lewis, because he's a little bit slow walking
Maybe you have to ask someone to go pick him up
Can I arrange for someone to go pick him up?
Things like that
He really outright didn't want to
And I could sense it straight away
He's quite a quiet person when it comes to those things
He doesn't always like the limelight
Which is quite funny for somebody that likes the limelight
The reason why I started a distribute show
And want to continue doing it
Is because I really think that it's sad
For musos that have done so much
For so little sometimes
For so many years especially
And be forgotten
I just feel it's sad
And I've asked quite some people
Like I said, some people I really would love to have on the show
But they just don't want to come on
And I don't get it
And I just feel that your name is going to come out again
It's got to be there somehow
And if I can do my little bit, my little part
I'll do it
It's super nice to be asked to do these things
But I think for me
I don't know how Stephen feels
But for me I think
Even if I wasn't remembered
The memories I have of myself
I will remember myself
So I'll be very proud of what I've done
Even if other people don't remember me
You and I have a connection somehow
You know why not?
Because that's my final question actually
But before I go to that
I'm good at this
It's really strange
This is like the third time you said something
That's connected to things I want to talk about
The two little boys
What the fuck's that?
Can we flash that on the screen please?
What's that?
Okay, so two little boys
Two little boys
It's very funny
I have to tell you the truth
And he's going to get a shout out now
So Kenneth Stu, the great funk band DJ
We had a business together
Our first bar that we opened in Boat Key
Kenneth and I still work together on different projects
And different things
And we've been mates forever
But he came up with the name from Ralph Harris
But this was before Ralph Harris got kind of arrested
For child molestation
So two little boys
And sometimes I say
Oh, two little boys
And people go
Oh, okay
But it's too late to change the bloody company name
But that's where it came from
Because it was me and Kenneth
So this business
This is a business for the bar
The bar business
So actually it's a concert thing
It runs entertainment
It runs stuff
And it runs obviously Torrethies
But it's also I bring in shows and entertainment acts
And all different things
So it's like a two prong thing
So two little boys are still in existence
Of course, yeah
Can we flash it out one more time please?
Okay people
This is the business that Rob Collins has
It's called Two Little Boys
Music and entertainment
I don't know why entertainment actually ended up with an S at the end
Entertainment
Is it plural?
Because there's more entertainment
I've got so much entertainment to give you
Come on dude
It's supposed to be singular
It's not plural man
It's entertainment
Not entertainment, it's the Brits
I was a mother-of-god man
My bloody language and I still fucked it up
And he's a Brit man
He got his English wrong
More one please, more one please
What you said just now Rob
What you said just now about being remembered, right?
Here's my final question
This is the final question, okay?
For the both of you
What's the one thing you like to be remembered for?
Bloody hell
You go first
Funny you mention that really
Isn't it weird man?
You know I started at a real early age
So people remember me from back then to now
I've always been very humble
I don't brag much
Stephen let me just put it another way okay?
No egos
What's going to be written on your epitaph on your
You know what I mean?
In Chinese you, I'm not going to say too much
But you know what I mean?
Bloody hell
Jesus Christ
Just sum it up man, just sum it up
Toya, Toya, Toya
I've been here since Singapore
You know what would you like to have on your epitaph?
You know what I mean?
Where people
Something that you want to be remembered for
Fuck the humility aside for a minute
Will you?
And just deep down in your heart
Stephen Lloyd Francis, great guy, great singer
Oh what a nice name, that's lovely
Don't I want to kiss you now?
That's great
Oh gosh
That's quite sweet
This bromance is getting too epic man
Too epic man
18 years
18 years at all
How about you Rob?
What epitaph do you see man?
He who drinks too much
He who got knocked by a car park barrier
I would say
Don't light a flame near here
In case I take the old building down
I don't know, nothing
It was fun
So you want it
That's what I'm saying
It was fun
That about
So basically
It was fun
So am I right to sum it up for you right?
It's going to be like
It's something like
Rob Collins is remembered for always having a great time
And always fun to be around with
Yeah that's quite a nice thing I guess
I'm not always sure I'm always fun to be around with
I could be a right boss at times
Just I think in theory it was fun
I mean I fundraise so much now for you know from the bar for Action for AIDS and Uga Chaka
And then I also sponsor all the stuff for Pangdemonium from the bar
You know I literally I try and give back as much as I can now from everything that I gained here in Singapore
Well awesome man
Yeah I really try and do that and I'm lucky to be in a position that I can do that
And I can use my name and I can use whatever I've done in the past to be able to do that
Three months to 18 years
Why?
Because Stephen's gorgeous
Do you know what? I set up a life by accident
I actually set up a life by accident
What would have been a quick trip and singing some songs with some great musicians became a way of life
And I love Singapore and I really cannot say anything different than that
You've been in Singapore for 18 years trying to get a PR and still haven't got it
Yeah still not even PR
I really don't understand whoever watching this
Hello if you're watching
Hello give this man a PR please
Please hello
You know he's been around for 18 years doing all the charity work
I reckon I've raised about 6 million or 20 million or something for charities or something
It's just the way it is
Give that man a PR and a tiger
No don't drink beer give me a red one
No but really I think that would be my thing
Always give back whatever you can get in here if you have the ability to give it back give it back because that's very important
Thank you very much man really I appreciate that man I mean it's really nice knowing that you know
Guys like you come here to work and then you really give back to at least Singapore you know I mean I really thank you for that
Really thanks so much man
Yeah my pleasure
Even though the fact that you haven't given me a PR
You took me in so it's only good that I give something back
Anyway guys I really appreciate you coming on the show
Thank you for inviting us
I really don't know how we're going to do you know how we're going to do any post production of this
We're not singing again are we
You might just want to keep it all
Just keep the whole lot it could be a very long conversation
I'm not going to keep it all but we were all over the place
All over the place in fact most of the things I have here were actually all got laid out
Oh really
In the course of this conversation
Wow that's so weird
It's really weird and that's why I'm saying it's really been kind of strange
Like I say when you put me and him in a room together you see how the atmosphere changes
I don't just see the bromance I feel the bromance man
You can feel it right I genuinely have so much love for them
Bring Rob along
Can I bring a partner along Rob I see we've got so much things to say
So you didn't bloody invite me first you can fuck off now
You've been drinking my wine bro
Yeah exactly I'm going to drink more of it now
Anyway thank you so much and it's my tribute to the two of you
Please continue doing what you do okay
We will
I hope so
Just continue doing what you do
Another 18 years well if Rod can do 80 that gives me a lot of energy
I'll only be 70 so it's okay
I wish you guys the best and thanks again for being on the show
Everyone you've been watching the Chris Hansen conversation
Well I hope you don't censor us though
You possibly might
It's been a fun conversation and if you're one of those that's really feeling yicky about this
You're not meant to be on my show
Till next time this is still season five
And we're going to continue with some more guests for the tribute series
So make sure you come back again next Friday
I'll see you again real soon bye bye