And now here they are, Nick and Sue on Chatterbox.
When the stars talk, they talk to Nick and Sue.
to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue and
Nick, and today our special guest is Jill Saywood
of Shack Attack. We're Chatterbox giving you
all you need to know about musical entertainment.
Oh yeah! Chatterbox, the best interviews with
Nick and Sue. Chatterbox, the best news And now
on Chatterbox UK, we're just lucky to welcome
back Jill Sayward of Shack Attack. Jill, welcome.
How are you? Hello, Jill. Oh, I'm fine, thank
you. I'm boiling hot. I'm down in Sardinia where
I live. most of the time and we are boiling I
know the weather's awful because I'm just preparing
to fly back to the weather report and to be depressing
ah yes yeah I think we hit 20 something a few
days running so that must have been our summer
that was it it's probably all gone now Right,
speaking to you at the moment, Joel, you're right.
It's a very, very busy time for you guys, isn't
it? I know that because we've got our own tickets
to the Chequameed Theatre, and it's coincided
on July 27th, but... You've just got so much
on, so tell us a bit about what's remaining of
the tour, and I think you're adding to it all
the time, but yeah. It's in every day there's
something going on there. Now you say Chequameed,
tomorrow I'm heading back for a gig in Somerton,
the Somerton Festival, so it's sort of like a
Woodstock type thing, which is two dates plugged
out really, but Chequameed is the next one after
that, which is actually one of our favourite
theatres. There's something about that place,
really nice, and of course we have a lot of people
that you to come and see us down at the Pizza
Jazz in Maidstone and that closed down so it
seems like we've got a whole posse of hardcore
fans coming to check and meet and obviously you're
two of them. Yes absolutely and it's the first
time I've seen you since earlier it must be over
40 years ago it would be yeah and I saw you at
Hastings Pier I saw you What, with Shack Attack
or the previous band? With Shack Attack, yeah,
saw you on Shack Attack on Hastings Pier, when
it was the old ballroom on the pier and it was
quite a big venue that was, but long gone. But
I saw you there, yes, I did see you there, so
there we go. You know, that's really strange
because a fan has sent me, I don't think it's
you, photos, we did a photo call outside of the
actual pavilion, so it was with Jackie Ball was
in the band and that, and we were all, it was
about 14, you know. one of our first photo sessions
outside on the pier. Oh, brilliant. I think I
looked about 14 at the time as well, so don't
worry. It's brilliant. So it's great to see that
Shack Attack are still as busy as ever, really.
Looking at some of the gigs that are coming up,
I mean, we've got, you're going to Birmingham,
Macclesfield, Pizza Express Jazz Club, which
you do quite a bit, I think, and Soho. Just looking
down, yeah. Worthing, another one there. Absolutely
and I see further down you you're there it looks
like three days running in November November
7th eighth night Wow I think people say when
we're talking to the fans after the gig, why
do we set out so quickly? What is it about this
place? And I think we turn it into a bit like
a private party. Each show is private, so you
kind of check attacks. private party where we
have a lot of fun together and I think you know
it's such a small venue people are so in your
face it literally is like being in your own living
room I think it comes across as that now yeah
since since we spoke last time I think we were
heading to the end of lockdown and you know you
were desperate to get gigging again which I can
totally understand and touring and so on but
More recently you have brought out a new album
which is a few months back. Tell us about the
new album and what, if people haven't listened
to it yet or bought it yet, what can they expect
from it? Well that was an interesting album to
make. We seemed to explode with new material.
Everyone was sort of getting down and writing
initially and it just seemed that everything
was turning out really good so we decided, we
sent to the record company and said we have an
awful lot of material here, do you want to edit
etc and they said no, no, no, go with it. And
so the album is packed with about 14 songs and
they've gone there but the core of it was just
taking into consideration the state of the world,
the future of the world, kids, wars, the whole
thing, but on a positive note, and imagining
that something's looking down on us, the eyes
of the world, it was all a bit earth, wind and
fire. And of course JVC returned the compliment
by designing an album cover that's very similar
to that sort of vibe. So it suited the concept
and now the graphics suit it. It's a lovely cover,
the best cover we've ever had really. And also
it's the biggest sale so far of our sort of last
20, 30 years. So it's looking good. Wonderful.
Wonderful. Good news, isn't it? Very good news.
Just out of interest, the presence line -up of
Shack Attack, are you all original members from
when you had the first hit? I'm trying to think
now. Are you all original members there? Well,
yeah, good point because we are now, the four
of us have been joined by our original guitarist,
Keith Winter. our old guitarist Alan Womow unfortunately
died last year very suddenly with a heart attack
and we didn't know what on earth to do but it
so happens that Keith who was struck down with
a mystery nerve illness way back in 33 odd years
ago was repairing very quickly nerves were coming
back he's playing again so we sort of said do
you think you'd be would you like to come back
on the road with us after all these years and
he said yes try and stop me and of course he's
come on board again and he's taken the band to
a whole new level i think that's why we're so
busy because the gigs have been really well you'll
see yourself when you come to a gig but he's
added another dimension and of course as we stand
on stage it's the complete complete line up again
original yes well i'm sorry to hear about uh
uh his passing but keith is the yeah uh yeah
i i'm thrilled to see that you've got sort of
keith back on board Yeah, he's superb, honestly.
And he's great visually too, so I've got somebody
else to pick on on stage. Well, you're the boss.
OK, now I also get the impression from Shack
Attack is you basically never stopped working.
I think it was only the lockdown that really
slowed you up because basically you... We say
you're touring at the moment, but... Technically
I don't think you ever really stop do you I mean
somebody rings up once a gig here and a gig there
I think you you tend to book it in and off you
go. I think is that right? Yeah, it's pretty
heavy going. That's why we can't stand this revival
tag. We don't need to be revived. We haven't
gone anywhere. We've been on the road since 1980.
That's good. I like it. I like that. Yeah, absolutely.
So anyway, we turned up, Sue and I turned up
to East Grinstead on Saturday 27th and I'm assuming
or I'm hoping that we're going to have some of
the classics that we know from the charts but
also be greeted with something from the uh new
album and new material is that what we will get
that's right yeah yeah you'll get the classic
all of them uh you can't possibly leave them
out it's two 45 um slots so they'll be there
for you but there are tracks from some more obscure
albums and um all tracks possibly from the new
album sure brilliant I remember I mean we've
done the the history of shack attack twice before
once on chatterbox and once on the live station
and I remember my favorite bit from that well
I like the way you got the name but my favorite
bit I gotta say is When you told me that you
were session music musicians on those old top
the pops albums I think it's brilliant. I like
it. Yeah albums we were on roger and myself and
niger was on cables as well back then uh yeah
dill didn't do so many dill did show up for quite
a few tracks but yeah this the hardcore was chuck
attack we were session players and we were all
on there working our butts off that's how we
started you know but yet roger was nearly on
every track and i any any of the female vocals
but me i was everybody The more diverse the better.
Kate Bush was my speciality. They didn't mention
the artist. There were a lot of big names. I
took over from her doing her job at the Mecca,
but she did some of the early albums with the
same band that I was in. So yeah, we were there
for a bit. But as I say, there are definitely,
if you put in Jill Sayward's Top of the Pops
albums, you'll get the whole lot of boys. Some
of them are just awful. Well, I can remember
somebody on one of the albums doing the Smurfs,
oh my god. I know that wasn't you. No, that's
a nice little touch. After all these years, I
didn't know. So there you go. The first album
I ever bought with Jill Sayward on was Top of
the Pops' album and her doing Wordering Heights.
And I've gone 46 years without knowing. You said
there's girls on the front with their shoes hanging
out. I didn't get around to that. No, I didn't
think so. It's fine, Joe. This is Nick and Sue
with Chatterbox, giving you all you need to know
about musical entertainment Chatterbox, Chatterbox,
Chatterbox, Chatterbox As UK venues go, there's
one venue that gets it completely right, and
that is The Stables in Milton Keynes, in Wimbledon.
You know, that's owned by Cleo Lane and Dankworth.
It's a very special place because they designed
it for musicians and it provides everything that
most venues don't, which is a dressing room,
a toilet, a green room. everything is catered
for and the audience the auditorium is set out
in such a way everybody gets 100 % clear view
there's no restrictive view in nothing it's it's
a brilliant venue so it's stables but there are
so many that we actually enjoy being i mean the
pizza gigs they're a they're a drag to get to
for us and load in but actually being there's
a it's a nice feeling all week and i like check
and lead i like the small theatres personally
i like you know the dressing room and the whole
theatrical side of it so that's for me but anything
in the theater yeah we we like the checker mead
it's uh i mean it's uh i mean it's like a proper
theater is it with the circle and stalls it's
uh it's all there but uh yes it is a nice little
venue but we uh I won't let this stay out. We
had a bit of a sound issue with Marty Wilde,
didn't we? And then they had to do some... Yeah,
because I thought it was my ears, didn't I? And
I asked somebody, can you hear this problem?
And it was in the second hour they correctified
the sound issue. Well, I knew it was the guy
at the back and not Marty Wilde. And you kind
of... Do you say something? Don't you say something?
Then the couple next to us on the circle did
say something. So it was a matter of just altering
his voice. So we were on the circle. We had all
the drums deafening us. And all the volumes were
just wrong, but in our two, it was perfect. But
we are quite happy to be, we've seen the venue
now, and quite happy to be in the front row with
our eyesight. I can't wait for that front row.
So yeah, so we've worked out where we're going
to sit in the future. So we were lucky enough
to get a front row seat there. This might sound
a really dark question Jill, because I'm going
to say, what are your plans for the future? Between
now and this time next year, where would we find
Shack Attack saying July next year? Well the
gigs are ranking up completely, all you've got
to do is go to the website www .shackattack .com
Because you can see each day there's a different
show coming in. There's talk of Thailand, there's
talk of going back to Japan again. We're out
there every year. So you don't get much chance
to plan. It's all planned ahead for you because
things are coming in. But there is some great
news. We signed with a major record label called
JVC and they had the option. We had a three album
option. in which case the record company decides
whether they want you to re -sign or not. So
we've been with them for so many years, we're
thinking maybe this year they won't take up the
option and that'll be it. We'll just do our little
gigs in the UK and they've come back to our manager
and said no we'd like another album out Shack
Attack next year please. Oh my god, we've just
finished one. So we're holding off that to the
middle of next year. So the new album's starting
to be written sort of spring next year. but before
that they want to put out another compilation
of The Best Of, so that'll go out worldwide.
So there's a Best Of album coming out in the
new year, a new Best Of, and the new... That's
pretty good though, isn't it? Pretty good. So
basically working non -stop and I do think really
looking at this with perhaps status quo finishing
and not touring anymore and things like that
and they were called Britain's most hard -working
band I almost think looking at the way the gigs
you've done this year already what you've got
coming up. It's got to be Shack Attack hasn't
it? I think it's got to be Shack Attack to get
that title. Quite seriously as well, I mean you
never stop, it's amazing. I know, it really is
good. I think we moan sometimes about the build
up to the gig and once you get there and the
lights go off. Yeah, I'm sure I'm sure there
must be a real buzz when there's people you know
You see people's faces and the rounds of applause
and you're really making their evening with your
songs That's got to be a mega buzz for you. I'm
sure Yeah, when what you did give out the the
website, but I think I half talked over you So
we do the social media now Jill and the website
WWW dot shak attack dot com once again shak attack
dot com I am now going to click on that and you've
got everything anyone wants to know biography
gigs news archives and videos audio and also
In the top right hand corner there's further
social media. You've got the Twitter link or
X link as it is now and a Facebook link so people
can go to further social media by doing that.
Brilliant. Jill, it's been an absolute pleasure
chatting to you again. We will invite you to
talk about one of the albums or something that's
happening next year for sure. So we'll invite
you next year and have an update. And Jill Sayward,
it's been an absolute pleasure again. Thank you
so much. Thank you, Jill. Thank you. It's great
to speak to you both again. Thank you, Jill.
You take care. You've been listening to the Chatterbox
Redux podcast with Sue and Nick and today our
special guest was Jill Saywood of Shack Attack.
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Nick and twinkle the tuxedo cat thank you very
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Redux podcast in the meantime take care thank
you for your company And we catch them. Bye bye.
This is... Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving
you all you need to know about musical entertainment.
Oh yeah! Chatterbox, the best interviews with
Nick and Sue. Chatterbox, the best news.