- Feb 3, 2024
- LitBits
- 0
New blog post by Jonny – discussions in this thread, please
---
Over the years, I slung my guitar in many bands, and although not exactly an international rock star, I have had the good fortune to play on a few minor tours in and around various European countries.
Back in the mid-nineties just such an opportunity arose. A ten-date jaunt around Belgium and Holland.
We completed the Holland shows and were in the tour bus en route to Ghent – for tour bus read beaten up old Ford Minibus; lest you get the wrong idea of a luxury state-of-the-art highly impressive mega-wagon you might see parked out the back of Wembley Arena.
Mind you, it did have aeroplane seats, though. Liberated from a decommissioned Ryanair plane languishing in a scrap yard somewhere near Luton. So we were sort of living the dream. You may have guessed by now that we were easily pleased.
Anyway, word went round we’d been booked for an appearance on Belgian radio. Well, clearly news of our fame had spread across the border after triumphantly knocking Dutch audiences bendy. Real fame beckoned. This was it. All that hard slog and living in squalor had finally paid off. Headlining world tours were but a few months away…
Erm… not quite.
A rep from of the radio station met us when we arrived in Ghent. He treated us like royalty, and when we’d been fed and watered, took us to a theatre somewhere in the town. That was odd, and what was also strange was the host of elderly people milling around the foyer. Although buoyed by our success of having cracked it, we thought nothing much more about it.
A smiling guy wearing headphones came up and shook our hands to tell us: “No, we didn’t need to set up our gear as we weren’t actually going to be playing any music.” But more peculiar still was that we were actually at a recording of a radio soap opera. WTaF? A show that turned out to be an episode of Belgium’s equivalent of The Archers.
Now, for those who don’t know about this show, The Archers is a long-running radio soap opera in the UK. For some people, it’s still a national institution to this day.
It seems one of the main characters in the Belgian version ran a hotel. The episode being recorded was to commemorate some milestone in the show’s history and they were doing a live recording for superfans to let them see the stars and just how the magic happened.
The script had a scene (and don’t ask me why) where a British rock band was to check in to the hotel. It soon became apparent we were to be that rock band. The producers wanted authentic British voices to provide some background hubbub in authentic accents. Yep, we were to be extras. Or supporting artists as they are now known. How on earth the show’s producers even knew of our existence, let alone that we were in town provided no end of bafflement then… fast forward thirty years and still does to this day.
Reality slowly set in. So, not the big time after all. But with egos now concertinaed around our ankles, feeling woefully crestfallen and miffed, nevertheless, and in the good old “in for a penny, in for a pound” spirit, we agreed to do it for a laugh. Which, and to our credit, we did by quoting lines from Spinal Tap sotto voce so as not to be so obvious. After all, it was show business and we were very definitely in the business of show.
The radio station’s sound guys and producer seemed happy enough with our efforts and it was smiles all round. Job done.
Then, and just when I thought it was all over the producer ambled up and said to me. “Hey, you are Irish man? Yes?”
I admitted it.
He then asked if I knew how to make Irish Stew. Suppressing the urge to do a double take, I said that I did. I had long since acquired the secret of my mother’s legendary recipe and would often make it. Still, the producer’s question made little or no sense, but a day that had been pretty surreal already had just morphed into a day that was completely batshit bonkers.
“Can you please wait?” the producer said. Then went off for a confab with some other bloke. This bloke turned out to be the show’s JR, Grant Mitchell or some such equivalent character. After a few moments, the producer came back to me.
“Would you be able to tell (gestures towards main character bloke) how to make Irish Stew properly, as part of the recording?”
Never having been a shrinking violet and in those days, always game for a laugh, I said something along the lines of, “Yeah. sure. Might be a giggle.”
Producer bloke explained that in a later part of the episode, the hotel was to serve the band Irish Stew (yeah, yeah. I know. Now look here, this honestly happened to me, but even as I write it I’m shaking my head in disbelief).
“So can you tell Grant / JR what he served wasn’t proper stew and then tell him here’s how you make it,” he continued.
Twenty minutes later I ambled onto the theatre stage. Sitting in the stalls was a surprisingly large number of the previously mentioned elderly people. Seems the show was very popular with the older demographic. The aforementioned superfans.
I crossed to where Grant / JR stood and proceeded in my best Al Pacino method acting technique to berate him over his hopeless culinary prowess and shortcomings. Before setting set him straight on how to make proper Irish Stew.
I can still see the look in his eyes to this day as I gave it to him straight. My mum would’ve been proud. He was as confused and as bewildered as I was. As I still am. However, when I had finished my speech, he laughed loudly, slapped me warmly on the back, and shook my hand. The oldies applauded with no small amount of enthusiasm, and everyone seemed happy.
Now, I look back on that day from time and ask myself if I ever had a crazier day in my time in music? Nope. But one thing I took out of it. My co-star asked me had I ever acted before. I told him I hadn’t. “It was very good,” he smiled. Maybe I’d end up getting an award. I didn’t.
My abiding regret is this was in the pre-Internet age, so I wasn’t able to get a copy of the episode for posterity. I would loved to have heard it.
Photo by Hans Eiskonen on Unsplash
---
Get the discussion going – post your thoughts & comments in the thread below…
For more posts by Jonny click here It’s only Rock ‘n’ Roll… well almost – Litopia
---
Over the years, I slung my guitar in many bands, and although not exactly an international rock star, I have had the good fortune to play on a few minor tours in and around various European countries.
Back in the mid-nineties just such an opportunity arose. A ten-date jaunt around Belgium and Holland.
We completed the Holland shows and were in the tour bus en route to Ghent – for tour bus read beaten up old Ford Minibus; lest you get the wrong idea of a luxury state-of-the-art highly impressive mega-wagon you might see parked out the back of Wembley Arena.
Mind you, it did have aeroplane seats, though. Liberated from a decommissioned Ryanair plane languishing in a scrap yard somewhere near Luton. So we were sort of living the dream. You may have guessed by now that we were easily pleased.
Anyway, word went round we’d been booked for an appearance on Belgian radio. Well, clearly news of our fame had spread across the border after triumphantly knocking Dutch audiences bendy. Real fame beckoned. This was it. All that hard slog and living in squalor had finally paid off. Headlining world tours were but a few months away…
Erm… not quite.
A rep from of the radio station met us when we arrived in Ghent. He treated us like royalty, and when we’d been fed and watered, took us to a theatre somewhere in the town. That was odd, and what was also strange was the host of elderly people milling around the foyer. Although buoyed by our success of having cracked it, we thought nothing much more about it.
A smiling guy wearing headphones came up and shook our hands to tell us: “No, we didn’t need to set up our gear as we weren’t actually going to be playing any music.” But more peculiar still was that we were actually at a recording of a radio soap opera. WTaF? A show that turned out to be an episode of Belgium’s equivalent of The Archers.
Now, for those who don’t know about this show, The Archers is a long-running radio soap opera in the UK. For some people, it’s still a national institution to this day.
It seems one of the main characters in the Belgian version ran a hotel. The episode being recorded was to commemorate some milestone in the show’s history and they were doing a live recording for superfans to let them see the stars and just how the magic happened.
The script had a scene (and don’t ask me why) where a British rock band was to check in to the hotel. It soon became apparent we were to be that rock band. The producers wanted authentic British voices to provide some background hubbub in authentic accents. Yep, we were to be extras. Or supporting artists as they are now known. How on earth the show’s producers even knew of our existence, let alone that we were in town provided no end of bafflement then… fast forward thirty years and still does to this day.
Reality slowly set in. So, not the big time after all. But with egos now concertinaed around our ankles, feeling woefully crestfallen and miffed, nevertheless, and in the good old “in for a penny, in for a pound” spirit, we agreed to do it for a laugh. Which, and to our credit, we did by quoting lines from Spinal Tap sotto voce so as not to be so obvious. After all, it was show business and we were very definitely in the business of show.
The radio station’s sound guys and producer seemed happy enough with our efforts and it was smiles all round. Job done.
Then, and just when I thought it was all over the producer ambled up and said to me. “Hey, you are Irish man? Yes?”
I admitted it.
He then asked if I knew how to make Irish Stew. Suppressing the urge to do a double take, I said that I did. I had long since acquired the secret of my mother’s legendary recipe and would often make it. Still, the producer’s question made little or no sense, but a day that had been pretty surreal already had just morphed into a day that was completely batshit bonkers.
“Can you please wait?” the producer said. Then went off for a confab with some other bloke. This bloke turned out to be the show’s JR, Grant Mitchell or some such equivalent character. After a few moments, the producer came back to me.
“Would you be able to tell (gestures towards main character bloke) how to make Irish Stew properly, as part of the recording?”
Never having been a shrinking violet and in those days, always game for a laugh, I said something along the lines of, “Yeah. sure. Might be a giggle.”
Producer bloke explained that in a later part of the episode, the hotel was to serve the band Irish Stew (yeah, yeah. I know. Now look here, this honestly happened to me, but even as I write it I’m shaking my head in disbelief).
“So can you tell Grant / JR what he served wasn’t proper stew and then tell him here’s how you make it,” he continued.
Twenty minutes later I ambled onto the theatre stage. Sitting in the stalls was a surprisingly large number of the previously mentioned elderly people. Seems the show was very popular with the older demographic. The aforementioned superfans.
I crossed to where Grant / JR stood and proceeded in my best Al Pacino method acting technique to berate him over his hopeless culinary prowess and shortcomings. Before setting set him straight on how to make proper Irish Stew.
I can still see the look in his eyes to this day as I gave it to him straight. My mum would’ve been proud. He was as confused and as bewildered as I was. As I still am. However, when I had finished my speech, he laughed loudly, slapped me warmly on the back, and shook my hand. The oldies applauded with no small amount of enthusiasm, and everyone seemed happy.
Now, I look back on that day from time and ask myself if I ever had a crazier day in my time in music? Nope. But one thing I took out of it. My co-star asked me had I ever acted before. I told him I hadn’t. “It was very good,” he smiled. Maybe I’d end up getting an award. I didn’t.
My abiding regret is this was in the pre-Internet age, so I wasn’t able to get a copy of the episode for posterity. I would loved to have heard it.
Photo by Hans Eiskonen on Unsplash
---
Get the discussion going – post your thoughts & comments in the thread below…
For more posts by Jonny click here It’s only Rock ‘n’ Roll… well almost – Litopia
