Saturday 9 September 2017

KBPS Interview: The Fizz

The unmistakable sound of Bucks Fizz – now known as The Fizz – is not only back, but in the zeitgeist. With their first new album in over three decades, 2017 brings back their signature sound updated, with a cannon of radio friendly hits, written and produced by legendary maestro Mike Stock.

A history of pop music would be incomplete without The Fizz. The band were formed in the early 1980s and went on to represent the United Kingdom at the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest in Ireland. It is part of pop music folklore that they won it in spectacular fashion. Bucks Fizz were launched to become a global phenomenon.

We got the chance to speak to Jay Aston from the band and began by asking her to describe the new single!
It’s kind of pop; it’s a bit like what we used to do but it’s obviously got a bit more of a now sound. It’s a mid-tempo happy tune, and being a British band, dancing in the rain is quite appropriate!



You’re back with your first new album in three decades; what was it like to get back together to record it?
Really good. We’ve been working on and off for years but we haven’t done a new album. Certainly we haven’t done anything with the likes of Mike Stock for a long, long time. It’s been really good working with him. He knows what he wants. He’s a real pro.

Your new album is out on the 22nd September. How does the album sound compared to your earlier work – you say it’s more of a modern sound?
Yes. Back in the day it was tape and analogue and it’s now all digital, but he’s tried to capture the Fizz thing with the vocals and some of the old drum sounds, in fact more so than I thought he would. And it kind of works. It’s a good album and there’s some really great songs on there, and we’re already talking to him about a second one. We’re all very happy with the result.

How has the reaction been to Dancing in the Rain so far?
It’s been very good. We’ve only just done the video, which is circulating from yesterday, and it’s been playlisted on Radio 2. It’s good! It’s gone down very, very well.

Can you give us a flavour of the video and what it was like to record?
We did a video back in 1982 for ‘If You Can’t Stand the Heat’ which was a top ten for us, and it’s a bit similar to that video. It’s a behind the scenes look at us meeting up, rehearsing and performing it. It’s almost like a documentary of watching us rehearse.

Was that fun to put together?
It was good fun! It was us doing our Fizzy thing!

You have a tour throughout the autumn; how are preparations going?
Very well! We’ve got one of the most intense schedules since around 1982 coming up. I wouldn’t say I’m chilling today as I’ve been really busy but I’m trying to get a bit of a rest in before it goes crazy!



Could you give us a flavour of what they can expect from you live?
It’ll be all our big hits. There’ll be about 10-15 songs of our top ten hits, three number ones, a bit of skirt ripping! We do a bit of an 80s medley, and of course all the key new songs that are possibly singles as well off the album. There’ll be lots of productions, lots of lights, and costume changes. We put on a good show!

Do you have a personal favourite song to perform?
I like ‘Land of Make Believe’ because it turned us into something other than a Eurovision band. It was our biggest selling single and number one for three weeks in the UK, and sold about two million copies very quickly!

Finally do you have any big ambitions for the next months?
I think we’d just like to keep going; just keep progressing, keep recording, and keep gigging, and see where it takes us. It’s just great to be doing it. Bigger, better, faster, more would be good!

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