Paul Carrack Talks About His Live Streaming Show From Leeds

Sheffield born Paul Carrack has had a varied career from the mid 1970’s with Ace and the classic song How Long to then later becoming a member of Squeeze, Mike and the Mechanics and latterly a successful solo career.

On Thursday 15th October there will be a streamed live concert from Leeds. I talked to Paul about the concert and his career to date.

Why did you chose to do the live streaming show from Leeds?
I’m sure I will get some stick for not doing the show in Sheffield instead of Leeds! Most of my band are from Sheffield but the road crew and equipment are stored in Wakefield so we had to get a venue that was close to everything. The venue is a beautiful looking room, it’s Victorian and should look good on the live stream. There will be 12 cameras shooting from all directions too. We played Leeds Town Hall on the tour before last one and the Victoria Room there is a fantastic venue.

Will it be a full set with all the favourites?
It will be a full set with a full production. It’s been a while obviously since we played a live gig so this is an opportunity to keep me and the band motivated and fresh.
We did 30 Theatre shows earlier this year, got to the London Palladium on 15th March then lockdown happened. We were supposed to go to Belgium, Holland, Germany and on to Australia, but of course that never happened so the live stream is to give the fans the opportunity to see the band live.
We could have done one of those acoustic sets from home, but everyone has been doing those and I wanted to do something fresh. It’s cost a fortune to put on but I’m sure it will be worth it. The band and I have not worked together for 6 months and I’m not sure after the concert when we will work together again with COVID.
The concert is a pay by view concert, details of how to access are on my website. You get a code sent to your phone and then you can watch the concert as many times as you want over a 24 hour period.

Have you used the time wisely during Lockdown?
I have definitely used the time wisely. Like everyone was anxious about what was going on. I have four grown up kids living around the rest of the country and have grandchildren too. I have spent a lot of time in the studio and found that therapeutic. We have a new studio album coming out in the New Year and there is a tour booked, but we don’t want to announce anything just yet as it might not go ahead with the COVID situation. I am quite fortunate as we live in a pleasant place, I have my studio, the garden.

There is an album coming out on 2nd October called Another Side - Classic Swing Songs, what is that all about?
It was done live for a TV show in Germany. There is a 30 piece band plus strings and they invited me as a guest singer. The show was broadcast in Germany and got rave reviews. The album is a live recording of the show.

Do you ever keep in touch with Mike Rutherford from Mike and the Mechanics?
We don’t keep in touch that much. There are 2 new singers now in the band and of course Mike is concentrating on Genesis now with the live gigs hopefully taking place next year. The last time I saw Mike was when we performed together for the first time in 10 years at a gig at the o2 in London to raise money for the Royal Marsden Children’s Hospital.

When you were growing up in Sheffield did you see a lot of bands at Sheffield City Hall?
Yeah, I saw loads - The Beatles who I saw twice, The Stones, Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison. I must have been 12 or 13 years old when I saw The Beatles, that was what got me interested in music.

You have a very loyal fanbase, why do you think that is?
I have never been away really, I am always working. I might not be on the television much but I have toured constantly. We have always had good support from Radio 2 which has helped, but a lot of people come to see the shows by word of mouth.

Not many people know that you have written songs for other artists too.
That’s right, they don’t. Diana Ross recorded Battlefield and The Eagles did Love Will Keep Us Alive. I have had a great career that’s been very varied. I didn’t fancy going into the steel mills or down the pit which could have happened to me.

You are a Sheffield Wednesday supporter, what do you think are the team’s chances this season?
It’s a bit of a nightmare really, we are starting on minus 12 though it would be good to be looking at getting in the play offs if we could, but the main aim is not to get relegated.

You live down in the south now, what do you miss about Yorkshire?
The Ale! Back in my youth it was all happening in London so you had to go there. Nowadays you can be anywhere in the world to make it in the music business. I met my wife in London and settled to the south. I am very family oriented and that’s our life now.

What have you got planned for the next few weeks?
The Leeds concert is the big one. Apart from doing the Gary Barlow session on line thing I have not done much of the on line concert thing. Eric Clapton’s wife does a charity called Turn Up For Recovery, it is for helping substance abusers and my son Jack and I are doing that:

https://turnupforrecovery.org/events/tufr-featured-artist-7/

Details of the Paul Carrack Leeds Live streaming concert on 15th October:
https://paulcarrack.net/