Ever wondered who's the mastermind behind the global hit 'Rock Me Amadeus'? Join us as we sit down with award-winning songwriter and producer, Rob Bolland, who's left an enduring imprint on the music scene and sold over 67 million records worldwide. Get ready to traverse through Rob's enthralling career journey, from his youth in South Africa to his fascination for movies that shaped his songwriting style, leading to his work being featured in numerous films and television series.
Let's take a walk down memory lane with Rob as he shares insights about the making of 'Rock Me Amadeus', its cultural impact, and the reactions it garnered. Tune in to hear about the exciting upcoming Falco musical, and Rob’s experience working with a German creative team to bring the musical to life. Rob’s love for music is not confined to crafting hits; he also shares memorable music moments from his life, including his first concert experience and how Handel's music has influenced his creative journey.
Finally, we'll delve into the world of contemporary music as we discuss the cultural phenomena around artists like Taylor Swift and the Beatles. Rob shares invaluable insights on the journey to success in the music industry and why it's important to enjoy the ride. We'll also explore Rob's love for 1980s rock music and the influence of Francis Ford Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now' on his album 'Domino Theory'. It's a riveting chat, full of inspiring anecdotes, wit, and of course, music! So, get your headphones ready to tune into this episode of Music Junkies.
Watch the full episode on YouTube
Check out the Playlist on Spotify
Follow us Everywhere
Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes!
We always have a new episode every Monday at 1 pm
Please share our page with your friends!
Rock on
Ever wondered who's the mastermind behind the global hit 'Rock Me Amadeus'? Join us as we sit down with award-winning songwriter and producer, Rob Bolland, who's left an enduring imprint on the music scene and sold over 67 million records worldwide. Get ready to traverse through Rob's enthralling career journey, from his youth in South Africa to his fascination for movies that shaped his songwriting style, leading to his work being featured in numerous films and television series.
Let's take a walk down memory lane with Rob as he shares insights about the making of 'Rock Me Amadeus', its cultural impact, and the reactions it garnered. Tune in to hear about the exciting upcoming Falco musical, and Rob’s experience working with a German creative team to bring the musical to life. Rob’s love for music is not confined to crafting hits; he also shares memorable music moments from his life, including his first concert experience and how Handel's music has influenced his creative journey.
Finally, we'll delve into the world of contemporary music as we discuss the cultural phenomena around artists like Taylor Swift and the Beatles. Rob shares invaluable insights on the journey to success in the music industry and why it's important to enjoy the ride. We'll also explore Rob's love for 1980s rock music and the influence of Francis Ford Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now' on his album 'Domino Theory'. It's a riveting chat, full of inspiring anecdotes, wit, and of course, music! So, get your headphones ready to tune into this episode of Music Junkies.
Watch the full episode on YouTube
Check out the Playlist on Spotify
Follow us Everywhere
Make sure to HIT that LIKE BUTTON and SUBSCRIBE to our Channel to be notified of new episodes!
We always have a new episode every Monday at 1 pm
Please share our page with your friends!
Rock on
Welcome everyone to music junkies, a podcast about people sharing extraordinary stories about how music has impacted their lives. Welcome everyone to music junkies. I'm your host, annette Smith, and our guest today I'm so excited is award-winning songwriter and producer. He sold over 67 million records worldwide. Unreal has written and produced songs for Falco, status quo, samantha Fox, barclay, roger Chapman, john Logan and so many more. He was born in Port Elizabeth my middle name is Elizabeth, which is really good From South Africa, started composing songs at an early age. He's extremely passionate and dedicated. His fascination for movies has had a great impact on his writing. He wrote status quo. Hit the army. Now Falco, rock me on my deals, as everyone knows, is a great hit. Smash hit US billboard, international smash hit. Rob wrote songs specifically for the artists for Falco he is. His work has been featured in numerous films, television series such as Netflix, stranger things, adventure land, disney's bedtime stories, family guy and the Simpsons. He is a legend in the industry. Please welcome Rob, who lent the show. Welcome Rob, I'm so excited.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's awesome, you are so welcome.
Speaker 1:So, before I get started and kind of diving deep in your playlist, what? Because you've had so much success and have wrote so many songs? What was your experience putting your playlist together for me today?
Speaker 2:Well, that was. That was kind of nice because I went back to my youth and but but then I noticed that I had about 16 songs about, you know, from my youth. Okay, we have to scale up a bit towards my, my age now and it was, it was very nice and it's very hard to choose, to select those songs. I mean it's for everybody. It's a brilliant, your favorite song? I mean each day or each moment of the day it'll be different song and the same same goes to me.
Speaker 1:I think it's interesting that you said you know. So many people that I interviewed do have. I think music is just born in our youth Like. It's almost like when we think of songs we go back to that time and then it's so hard to like oh, what did I listen to my 20s? What did I listen to my 30s? But I feel like most people's playlist is that 13 to 18 time.
Speaker 2:And, as you mentioned, because for me it's it's a bit more towards my younger even I was. I was Well, from the first moment I think I was five or six I was really crazy about music, especially pop music and and the, the list, the charts. So well, I was born in South Africa, went to Holland, so it was a bit moving around the family, but they essentially landed in South Africa when I was around six and then there was a weekly broadcast of the. In South Africa they had the spring book radio, you know that's the national, then television, and I was. You know, I wrote everything down and which, which, which. So I was. It's a lot, very long answer to a very. You have to cut me off 30 times because I keep going.
Speaker 1:No, I love it, it's good.
Speaker 2:So so, so it was hard putting it together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah, I have always been asked hey, annette, when are you going to get interviewed? And I like, oh my God, like to come. Like I find my guests coming up with 10 songs is amazing, like I find it so hard, I have, you know, I just I continue to add and those songs bring up a memory, or it's so crazy and I'm so inspired that my guests can actually come up with 10 songs, because I don't know if I could do.
Speaker 2:It's a very good formula because you get people to go to go to work and to have fun doing this fun preparing the list. And I see on my list, I see on my list that I have, you say, 10 songs, but I think I have about 20 on my list here. I don't even know which I can use. You ready, yeah.
Speaker 1:So how did this even come into fruition?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it's nice as you start with this song, because it's also, I mean, the people don't know me. I mean in Europe, you know musicians and people follow the charts, know who I am, but but in Canada or the US they don't know me. They know, may know, this song, so it's good to start off with this one. So there's also kind of an introduction to your viewers and listeners. Do you have only viewers or you don't have listeners? Yeah, I was, I was, I was already a son of. Just a short summary of what I where it came from.
Speaker 2:So, having traveled, you know, following my father around the globe, my mother could never find him, so we had to go from. It's literally true, you know, we tried to sell. So we went in South Africa, for instance, we went to, I think, six different schools because we were always chasing the guy who was, who was, who was gone with the checkered her. So that's, that's my youth going from city to city and from town to town, and in South Africa, in Germany and in Holland. So, but then eventually we landed in Holland and when I was 16 and I had a duo with my brother, ferdy, who was 15 at the time, we had our first hit then and from then on we decided, okay, music we did.
Speaker 2:We never said allowed, let's make music our career or let's make. But we just did it and we left school and in those days it was still quite kind of looked found upon. If you leave school before you know, maybe even now, and we just just got growing and we had four or five years ago and it started to rain a bit, and then we thought, okay, we have to do something else. And so we started writing for other people and trying to get our songs, because we wrote a message amount of songs and we were only allowed to release one every so so few months, you know. So and then, and then in the in the late 80s and beginning of late 70s and beginning of the 80s, and there was but I'll get to that later because it's not, it's not a sanity maybe also, but that I put a couple of my own songs in there but, just to, to, to let the viewer, listener know who you're talking to.
Speaker 2:You know, and and they can make up their mind is this is shit, or or in studio, but, but, but, okay, this song. There's a yearly music convention in media in in in France, france 10 French called the medium, and I was asked at the medium by a guy who had falco under his wing under his wing and he did the a and r for him. So the artist, salco, was existing, already, had European hits with the jack on the side and the commissar was done by after the fire, I think, in in in English and was also hitting in the states and Canada. So so he came to me and said Well, what do you think? I've got the dog Salco, and he had with the commissar. I say I love the commissar with one of my favorite records because I also did in Germany. So I had this thing of okay, combining German and English was something that I already intended to do, but not so I thought this and then I went home. So what, that was on a Wednesday.
Speaker 2:I went home on Thursday and went straight to the movies, the theater, and I saw the movie on the days. It's so easy. I saw the movie on the days by Miller's foreman and I thought it was great. But I thought, sitting there I thought, well, there's a crazy guy you know, they're on the silver screen and they're crazy guy which I just got the the kind of a mission to look for a song for him. And this is too easy. Falco is also crazy. So I combined the two and the next day I wrote Rockman, but they is wow. And then I made a demo and then I sent it to horse pork there is a guy who managed him then and then to Falco, and reaction I got back was no, can I say the effort?
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, no fucking way, you know, because he said this is, are you crazy? Do you think so? Because he's from Vienna, in Austria. He said you don't. Are you serious? Do you think I will sing a song about Amadeus, about a book, and raise Mozart? But, and I will be rolling, you have these. I've never been to Vienna. You see these, these chocolate balls that work Mozart, google, and you can buy them in any, any second store there. You know, it's, it's all over the place. And he said I will not be rolling through the streets of Vienna as a Mozart ball, you know, like a motor ball, so so, so that was that. So he had rejected the song and eventually, month later, we convinced him, more or less forced him to, with his manager to try and record the song, and that was the version which came out in Europe and later made a remix, and then other elements were in the American and Canadian version.
Speaker 1:So what did you think when this the song started climbing the charts? Did he start believing you more?
Speaker 2:That's. That's that's interesting. When it was in Germany and Europe, because it was a hit all over Europe, I mean he thought that was okay because he could tour more, more, more with more elaborate designs and stage designs and musicians, and. But when it came to the US which was right In the beginning, in the first quarter of the of the next year, because it was turned down three times by radio and he said so. So at one time radio and records that was a magazine in them. You had that trade magazine in the US.
Speaker 2:And then they, they, a and m, which, which was the label which was on, and Jerry most personally the end of a and m personally had took on ad. He said I have got to succeed. I'll take on an ad in radio records and the, the. The ad was as follows stop the killing of earnest, innocent German dance records. And that was great. And and after that you got the new version with with, with things and new stuff into it and and which, which was the American hit. And when it was in the American, when he hit number one in America, he said he had a breakdown. He said, well, this, this is, my career is over. Now this is the happiest time of my life. Anyway, it should be also that for you to know this.
Speaker 2:But, but. But he said no, tony, you know, he was a real optimistic. He said you're only going downhill from out from here, so downhill, so. So that was his real thought, his real emotion at that time. And he just left the party and and and cried somewhere, not tears, tears of joy, but yeah yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:I would think that he'd be so excited about that.
Speaker 2:You think that he couldn't?
Speaker 1:top it. Do you think like I'm not going to be?
Speaker 2:able to tell you that that's what he said, and, and, and he also recognized, of course, that it I'm, I'm, I'm, I love novelty songs. You know, that's why we'll get to another song, maybe with and I love, I love, I love pop songs, which are, you know, I love, I love, or have this more or less I love, natural, I mean a playing band, bands playing, I love that as well, but also this side where people say, well, it's too commercial or, you know, like sugar, sugar or those kind of songs.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So or or, or yummy, yummy, yummy or whatever. And I put what memories was in this in this category, and if you see where it's being used in, as you said, you know, like in the Simpsons, it's, it's. They have a special Dr Zayas, Dr Zayas, Dr Zayas. You know, it's incredibly funny, I think. And there was also in Family Guy, oh, yeah, yeah, Okay. Well, we get to that, maybe because I am, I'm a, I have a. The last year I've been ill but working, and they had this, this, this great, this great thing in in Family Guy, which had, which said you saw this little thing on the floor and it sang I'm a tumor, I'm a tumor. I thought it was very fitting for the occasion. So, okay, but that's.
Speaker 1:So it sounds like.
Speaker 2:I'm talking too much yeah that's okay, I like that.
Speaker 1:You talk a lot. So now you create this song, he becomes a hit. You're loving it and then years and years and years go by and now you're creating this. Rockmeo. Modelo is musical now.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah, yeah, that's, that's it has. It has more. There has been musicals about, about Salko in Europe before, predominantly in in Germany and in Austria, but this is a very big musical. It's got the massive, the most people on stage you can which was allowed and and and and massive musical arrangements Rockmeo, modelo sounds, sounds extremely good in this new spread up and arrangement and costumes.
Speaker 2:The song, I mean and and it's about his life, it's about the life of Falco, which, because he was a real, you can't imagine it. I can't imagine even in Holland, because people in Holland don't even know what happened in Austria. But but at the time he died, falco died when he collided with a bus in the Dominican Republic. That's five in the morning or six in the morning, I think. Then there was a huge funeral in Vienna with 10,000 people and it was live transmission on the television and you know it was treated like royalty, you know it was a and so. So that is why this musical also has this, this massive, because in this form for people living in Austria but also Germany, it will also go to Germany and to, I think, both in China, even South Korea. So there's a lot of interest in the musical. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Did you? Is this something that you thought of long time ago, that you wanted to do, and now it's coming into fruition? Or was it just like how you wrote the song, like, get up one day we're going?
Speaker 2:to do this.
Speaker 1:This is what we're going to do.
Speaker 2:A good question, because because the other musicals I mentioned, which were also about Falco also there was also a movie, you know, but but they never took rock memorandum title. It was always that's Falco musical, you know, the Falco musical, or Falco meets Amadeus, which is also very lame title, I think, and and but this is called rock memorandum and that's exactly, you know, as a picturative.
Speaker 2:You know, already, when I, when I, not when I wrote about the answer became a hit, I thought well, that's a great title to put on a, you know a great thing, or whatever and but but the guys who actually I picked this idea years ago to a guy of the of the company which eventually started this this home musical and wrote the musical, and then I was called in as well as my brother. We were called into creatively as creative consultants with that was our title, but actually it was in practices was us being there and for a long time and taking this and this and he would never need that and but the song sounds more. You know all kinds of directions we could give, so I was very satisfied with, with what we could do there and the end result.
Speaker 1:So how do you always like curious, because, obviously, being a writer, like, do you, did you just see it? Like, how do you see something and then get, like you know, 900 people to like create that for you? Like, are you a perfectionist? Are you like, no, hey, I need more velvet. I, this isn't going to work. I like, are you that kind of?
Speaker 2:I am that kind of person, but, but, but that's mostly in studio, apart from the fact that I also want to be involved in this video. But but okay, I have a certain opinion and I'm not, I'm not afraid to to, to, to, to, to tell, tell when it's about a song or when it's about production, I'm very strict and very, very driven. But in this case, you know, because there is a different person writes. Actually, two German people wrote this musical for an Austrian guy, so that's, or one wrote it and the other directed it, and and, but, but they were welcoming every idea that that that I had, and every so so that was, that was very, and also, and also using a lot of the stuff. And that was nice, and more than nice it was, it was very energy draining, and. But the nice thing I forget to mention is that, because it has been, this is over, and this, this, this amount of time between when it first came out the song, and now and now being a musical, is that when, when I was still working with soccer, my son was born and he and, and and, so it was recording with me at the time and he went to the, he came to the to the hospital.
Speaker 2:My son was a day old, he had his eyes open and so so, but then he had a. He was in full gear, in full falco gear, with the sunglasses, so so he was you're trying to be the star entering the hospital, but in Holland he wasn't that famous and nobody gave it. You know the shit of a, who's this guy you know. But okay, let it into the room and and. But he took with him for my son, justin, and later hosin, you know, tiny, later hosin, you know, which was very yeah and and I thought it was very sweet. So so he still has the later hosin and and now this guy, you know he took the later hosin we brought later before actually composed two of the songs for this musical. With me to new songs.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Very nice. So it says my name is Rob and my last name ballin, and Rob ballin and Justin didn't ballin. So that's you know that's a nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So now are you going to come into North America with this musical, do you think?
Speaker 2:I don't think so. I think I think for that it has to be. It has the, it has the great reality of a real musical musical I might have seen earlier on the on the West End or in the West End or in on Broadway, but but it doesn't. Of course the subject matter is too limited for for America to do it there. But I but I think you know, if it goes to China and people or Japan also is interested in Germany, and if that's, that's, that's a huge, I would be very pleased.
Speaker 1:But I'm pleased as it is, you know you're proud of like kind of seeing your vision and then it coming to fruition like is it everything that you wanted it to be and also also, fortunately, which are, which, I must say, my brother and I are even depicted in the musical, you know.
Speaker 2:So you see two guys standing there, and because my brother and I worked with him separately, but but for him, so my brother produced, so I wrote Rocking in the days, he wrote, for instance, coming home, which was a big hit in Germany and in German speaking countries.
Speaker 2:So, and I wrote the Anna Carling and he wrote, you know. So it was a, but having having seen looking at yourself, looking absolutely different from from the way you looked at that thing, but they had these two leather jackets on, and so we're going to produce fellow like with the Dutch accent, you know, which I didn't recognize myself in at all. So but the fact that we're in the musical, you know, depicted there was also very, that's one of the even I mean, I have to laugh when I see that, of course, but but I found it very strange that everybody laughs at that point. But it's like we're going to pick you up and make, you know, because the reason, the reason for for the whole, for the whole request, you know, to, to, to us to produce something. And so it's like, you know, because he had an album which had chilled enormously in before that and they said Well, it's either, either either dismiss their contract or you get different producers. So there was this, there was this new thing, and it worked.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a story, All right. Next song Scott modern jam.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, yeah, yeah, and I already the beat was very enticing and and know, I've taken the beat and I'm, as I said, maybe I'm working together with my son now, who is, who is also doing some engineering stuff for me and and I didn't put the beat on the loop and already, without you know, travis coming in, but but I think it's a great. It's a great great record. That's what I was going to say.
Speaker 1:And also, yeah, oh, I was going to say what was it like working with your brother, like you've worked with your brother your whole life.
Speaker 2:That's true. That's true, I've worked with my brother, but, but that's exactly the reason I mean. Well, I mean he's 18 months younger than I am, so so when he, when he was born, I thought, okay, who's that you know? And it's, and I had to, let's say, I had to get into school when we were young and and do this, for my brother's name is 30, this for 30, and taking there and taking this.
Speaker 2:So that was the, that was the, the, the relationship that we had. Okay, we had each other as friends, and as only friends, because we moved a lot. So that was the reason why we stuck together, very, very but but then he, when he was 15, he got, he got married her, but eventually he did, but with a famous girl singer in in in Netherlands, in Holland, and she and, and and he moved out and left me alone with my mother and and didn't appreciate that much. So so, but that's that. And since then we've worked apart, except for one song and which was a hit in, in a very big hit in jury and very controversial song Jeannie, but okay, but, but but the person that we've always done things separately. So so now we're, so we always in these phases of not talking to each other, talking to each other.
Speaker 2:So there was also a premiere of this musical which you referred to. You know there was a line, you know, at the end you have to Everybody bows, and so so I, my son, stood net and should actually because he's co composer to you so and my both, at the farm and absolutely as far as you can get from me, and that's that. That, basically, you know, represents how we, how we feel about each other now.
Speaker 1:so it's crazy Was your like when you were growing up? Did your mom listen to a lot of music? Like where did this writing? Like what kind of music did your mom listen to when you were growing up?
Speaker 2:Okay, music, but especially for a scenario and and also pop songs. She would say you had this song and she would say, yeah, the song with the heart. You know that. And we, when he was still at home, my brother and I would sit in the kitchen and play every song she wanted, you know, yeah, so, and then and then some of our own songs. It developed out of that. So she was really the, the, the, you know, and she didn't say you have to get said the same as her, but she was like everything you do is wonderful, absolutely, absolutely. So she's very, very difficult in that, in that sense that she didn't try to, you know, say, well, you have to get a real job, and then you know you hear these stories.
Speaker 2:No, no, none of this for her. No, she was actually. She was actually the one where we, when we got this first single out, when, in 1972, she was actually one who called the producer of a television program yeah, only had to television stations, stations, thank you. And she called the and this, this show was, was the most viewed and the talk show and she, she called, she called, she called director and she said my two sons is made a record and okay, so we're in the show and that made you know, was the kickstart to our career. So that's yeah.
Speaker 1:So the first time you heard your song on the radio, do you remember like where you were?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, at home, and it was, and it wasn't played by, and that was, that was to be, the blueprint for what happened afterwards. And we heard on radio North Sea that what you had you have between Holland and England, there were ships flying there and they were transmitting, you know some, some to England and some to Holland. We heard on radio North Sea, okay, also, one of the one of the ships line there, and, but on the English, with English DJ. So the transmission was geared towards England and that's the first time we heard the song and and but. But it was to be. We were never appreciated in Holland the way we were in other countries, because only number one was. We had a massive amount of number ones in other countries in Europe, but not in Holland, you know. So, so, so, so, but that was actually very good, because the non acceptance, you know, in Holland meant that we had to look outside of Holland for, you know, for, for, well, to make a living.
Speaker 1:That's the most elementary, yeah, yeah, basic thing to so did they call you and say, hey, your song is going to be on the radio at 3.30?. Did they do that or you're just you have no idea?
Speaker 2:No, we were just no, we knew that it was delivered to them and that they were not negative about the you know promoter activity, and so we were waiting every evening and one evening it came on. That's a moment you won't forget. Also, you know, also hearing the other moments, which was, which I already talked about was the number one when we heard that Rocking on Bass was going to be going from four in billboard to number one. So that was a massive, massive party.
Speaker 1:you know, it's a yeah yeah, did you buy your mom anything special. When you so-called made it Like, did you think, oh, if I make you know, or if I, if this goes to number one, or like I want to go and buy mom something was? Did you have those kind of thoughts? Or you wanted to treat somebody?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that's a nice question because, well, we actually got to live. We had to live off what the government paid us because there was no father at work. We didn't. You have this. I don't know I'm lost the equivalent of that in America, but it's welfare or something you know which yeah.
Speaker 2:And so it was always, you know, okay, this and this, but we were used to that, you know, we used to living that way. So once we got the first hit, you know we were especially from performing live. We got more money than we, you know, and for us it was. And then it became even more and more, with a lot of ups and downs, like every artist has, or most people, but eventually, but the first part is very crucial because that made us go from welfare, let's say, to getting to do things, and we were also in that first phase of our career. They wanted to make Electra, had wanted to get us the label Electra. They wanted to get us the American scientists that welcome to the convention in. We have a convention of W, of WEA, artists, that this person's combination and it was, and I think Simon was the D there, and so this was a real, good, real thing. And also the heads of certain labels would be there and they said, well, come. But we never went anywhere.
Speaker 2:From that moment on that we got these invitations. That was to London. It was a very nice setup, big hotel rooms and each, but also my mom. So we took our mom everywhere. We went to Japan with her. We went to.
Speaker 2:She was very, very, very happy, she was very. She had. Her hands were like this, you know, from rheumatism, I don't know if you know. Yeah, okay, I thought this, I think, and so she couldn't really do anything or anything else or do anything anymore with her hands. But she was eager to fly and to go to Japan and wherever you know she went to. She went to Yugoslavia with us for a song festival or wherever you know. So that was nice and that's something which we could give her. And we still remained in that same small flat in the apartment in the in the Hague in Holland, because we actually liked it there and we were. So I was so much, you know, out of the. You know I was not a big fan, but literally. So that was very nice. And until her death, of course, we could still maintain her, get her into a better place to live, but she always lived not not more than I think, 10 minutes away from where I was, you know. So, so we could always, yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's cool because a lot of people, when they kind of hit that stardom, you know, they always think me, me, me, me, me, like you know, and then it's really nice to give back.
Speaker 1:I'm a big believer in giving back, so I love that you your mom all over the place and she got to see kind of you know most of the world, which is really cool to be able to do, and then she probably felt so proud like watching you guys and you know like it would be weird. Like you know, you're a father and I'm a mother and you know you watch your son and all these people and you're probably just like this is so crazy, like this is really cool to watch. You know, look, at the way, yeah, that would be.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm experiencing now, exactly that, but, but, but, but. But. Uh, when you, when you asked me a question, uh, what did you? Did you give her something? The most would say, yeah, she got the car she always wanted, but she couldn't drive. Of course, I'm just this is a disclaimer here because, okay, okay, she could have got in the car, but she couldn't drive. So, yeah, she never got to the Bentley or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, All right next song.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the first song, yeah.
Speaker 1:What a beautiful song.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, did you know it already.
Speaker 1:I've never heard of it. No, okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's by Handel and it was used in the, in the, in the movie Barry Lyndon uh, sandy Kubrick's movie, and that's why I first heard it and it's used as a kind of a theme, you know, throughout the movie. But when I first heard it, I was so, I was so impressed, you know, and sitting in the theater and with I didn't write a song about that, but it was, this was so impressive. That's why I put it on my list, because it's one of my favorite pieces of music and and, uh, I started because of that. I started, you know, looking more to classical composers and and seeing what they, what they did, and, and, you know, getting to know them. But Handel is one of my favorites and this, this piece in particular.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Beautiful. So obviously I'm assuming you've been to lots of concerts, seen lots of artists, who has been like a con, like what was your very first concert that you went to.
Speaker 2:Um, I okay, Uh, good question, I did good question. Uh, that was in in, uh, in the Hague where I lived. Then it was the Bee Gees.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:And they were, yeah, and they were still in their period before uh, because this is in the seventies, I'm talking about uh, and they were um, playing in the Haltzershall. They you know that doesn't exist anymore, but they but, but they performed. This was really special, I mean, in hindsight, with the full orchestra, because they had these uh, you know, I've got to get a message to you. Uh, you know these or, or, or, or or or or, orchestral uh, uh arrangements, you know, and they wanted to To do that, oh, sorry To uh, to duplicate that um, uh on stage and and they managed to do that. So so I was, I was so impressed by that, yeah.
Speaker 1:Do you have? Oh, yeah, and sorry, go on.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, I I wanted because I mentioned my son, or you mentioned earlier the first concert my son went to. That wasn't about to them, and he, uh, I got him a hat and he put it on and he and he was about I don't know, must have been six, five, I don't know, maybe because I had him on my shoulders. I know the whole concert, so it wasn't that little, but it was God books and and and and so it's. So I thought the first concert and you still, you still a fan, you know, because of it and and it's also a nice reference because he didn't, you know he didn't, venture into into country for music, but but that's medium, but that also, uh, it was such an experience with with, you know, graph books on his peak and speak, you know it was just want to mention it.
Speaker 1:I like it. I think, um and I don't know this, correct me if I'm wrong but when I listen to music I may not know everything about the artist or all of that kind of stuff, but what I pick out is just parts of the songs that I'm like oh, that was really cool that they put that in there. That was really cool that they did that. When you listen to music or you see an artist, are you more not really worried about the song, but how they kind of placed everything together, like do you listen to music like that or do you just hear the song?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just, it's a good question, because I Sometimes, uh, if I like a song very much and I try not to duplicate it, but, well, to duplicate it, but putting my own twist to it, you know. Then you say, well, what makes this song so special? You know, I had this with the with the, um, uh, glass animals in the song. I tend to remember the title, but, but, but you can hear the song over and over again and not being able to determine what makes this song, you know, I mean a song like, as it was by Harry Styles, for instance.
Speaker 2:Now you see this song in the church, it's there forever, you know, and you have this with, with Justin as a day, john, chicago, it was also a very long, very long run in the in a billboard, half one hundred, so so, and that's a song which I can't put my finger on, where the, where the verse starts and the chorus ends, and I think that's really brilliant, and he could only do it once, of course. So, so, and I'm not also got you. You know the, you know the. You know the. You know what's with the song again, um, oh, I saw my list. Okay, good.
Speaker 1:Do you remember, do you remember the first um like cassette or LP you ever bought, like with your own money?
Speaker 2:Yep, it was starting to tap. It's only hot club then. Oh, no, no, the first, I mean the first, I'm sorry. The first single I bought was in South Africa. I was kind of waiting by the kinks. So this is for the, for the older listeners, and it was because it had. I was motivated. Also, I love the song and the record. But my father used to promise to come, you know, every other Sunday. So I waited on a specific point where I could see, you know in where, where the car was coming from, if he would arrive, and I sometimes just had the whole Sunday there and he would come. Okay, well, that's that. So it was kind of a kind of, let's say, sort of sort of sort of treatment for me or kind of. It made it more, more of an experience in which I could handle. You know, I couldn't understand why he would promise something, and so, with his record, every time I listen to his record, every time I hear it again, I just think back to that moment.
Speaker 1:So did you ever connect with your father later on, or were you constantly just chasing him?
Speaker 2:Okay. Well, that's also a good question, because when I told you about okay this is a short answer when we got the contract and he released the first single in Holland, we didn't know where he was, you know. So all of a sudden he calls and comes by. So he was in Holland all the time, but he comes by and says, okay, from now on I'm your manager. Okay, so we. You know. So the second single is released shortly after and then we are allowed to make an album and he's the manager. Now, all of a sudden, you know, which gave a certain well, a statue.
Speaker 2:You know this sort of this, this, and then we didn't have our because we were in Holland. You have to be 18 to drive. So we did. We both didn't have our driver's license yet. So he would drive us to a meeting with an arranger for the storms. So we went to from there to Hilfsum, which is in the middle of Holland, and when we arrived in Hilfsum there's a slide bend in the road there where you can park the car. So he parked the car there and he was, I mean, apart from being like an asshole, you know, I mean not acknowledging us, just only when there's something to gain. Then then he. So he was always.
Speaker 2:But what I liked him for was that he was a very humoristic guy. He had a good sense of humor, with good jokes not jokes, but remarks. So that's the side I liked about him. And then he started in the car. So he parked the car, my brother sitting in front, I'm sitting in the back, and he goes like, oh, okay, and and. And we start laughing, of course, because we think, well, that's, that's okay. The same doing is is a thing again you know, and yeah, and this is a different way.
Speaker 2:But okay, and then all of a sudden it was nothing and that was there was how he died. So I ran to the hospital, which was nearby. My brother stayed with him and they pronounced him dead in the hospital, but he was already dead in the car. So so, so I think, I think there's a, there's a sort of a. It is sort of a thing woven in here. You know where you can be too. This is not a right word, but you can be too. You know, taking advantage of a certain situation and getting. You know, I didn't, I didn't think that when he was, when we buried him, but but but there is this. You know it's. It's not the way to to treat your, your, your, your wife and your children, you know no it's like karma happened really fast for him.
Speaker 2:Karma, thank you, that's the way that was. Come on, come on, yeah, please do. I love it. I'm floating off.
Speaker 1:I love it. That's so crazy. What a crazy start.
Speaker 2:It is, it is. It's a crazy story. It's a crazy story, yeah, yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:All right. Next song.
Speaker 2:Ah, one of my favorites. Remember when you ran away and I got on my knees and begged you not to leave because I go berserk. Well, you left me in.
Speaker 1:They come to take me away, geez I haven't heard about it in a long time. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, I, I, I.
Speaker 2:I, I that's one of my all time favorite records, but two things I love it when it came out, I love it, I love it now, and I love it when I die or when I'm dead, because I will have this paid up my funeral. So so those are the. But also because later I I thought okay, what are they doing? They just have this drum pattern, they have this voice, which is which they speed up at the end, and there's actually no instruments. There's no, there's no. There is a chorus, it comes everywhere, but it's all all, all, just just it's. It's one of the first rap records, you know. I mean it's not, it's not in time, but but it's within time. So that I think, with, with the, with the limitations of what they use, and the and the enormous hit it became because it was so witty. So I have a great respect for the man who did that. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's such a creative song. Is there? Obviously you're a movie buff, you like lots of movies. Is there a soundtrack to a movie that you absolutely love?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that's Well, like the whole. I mean, sandy Huberty uses music really well, but I seem to. Oh well, it was, I think, a movie with Kate Blanchett. I love the soundtrack to that, but more it would have to be American graffiti, for instance, which I didn't. I wasn't part of the 50s and that movie made me you know me and a lot of other people you know love the 50s music. But also what I thought was when a song you know like in almost famous, where the whole bus starts singing you know, tiny dancer you know, and at such a moment and you think, whoa, and this wasn't a hit at the time, but I'm always thinking about what it?
Speaker 2:you know. Okay, I'll get it. It was number one.
Speaker 2:No, but this wasn't the song which was and that's Cameron Crowe who's so good at that you know using and some of the times that my music has been used in movies, sometimes better than other times. But listening to, well, especially classical music, the use of that or minimal music also, I love that as well. In movies Like Spanish Fasci. I was really blown away by it. You know, I saw it in London, you know, without drugs or whatever, but I felt like I had taken whatever. You know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that you said tiny dancer, because I remember that movie because of that song. You know that song. When they sang that song it was almost like I don't know what happened. It was like we've seen that movie, haven't heard that song for a long time. Then listen to that song. Then that song anytime we were around our friends, we played it and we'd all sing it. And then we were on a catamaran for our wedding and it was dead quiet. Like it was dead quiet. This song comes on and it was just like the whole entire wedding that was on the catamaran just enjoyed the ocean and we all sang that song. I was just like but it's one of those songs that it's like people know it and it's like we can just sing it together. You know, friends, whatever's going on in our life, I love music like that. That's why I love music.
Speaker 1:But I think it's powerful that you can do that to people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's but how your wedding was on a catamaran. That's how you pronounce it. Yeah, the next day we went after the wedding.
Speaker 1:We took the wedding party, everybody out on a camera around the next day and we were listening to music, but it was just, all of a sudden, it was just dead quiet.
Speaker 1:And then that song came on and it was just like I don't know. It was just so peaceful to have everybody sing that song together. Like it was just I don't know. It was like it was crazy, like it was just a feeling like, oh my God, we're all 35 people are all singing this song together. We're all friends, we're all together and this is just a song that everybody knows and we can belt it out.
Speaker 1:I just thought that was such. It's so crazy that music can do that. I like Quentin Tarantino for that too, like the music that he puts in his movies, or a lot of the music I've never, ever heard before, and I'm like his taste must be like a collective all over the place that I love watching his movies, just because I want to know what kind of music he's going to put in the movie.
Speaker 2:Very good, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. Also, I have this, Okay, I have this same feeling. Well, I have two things to say about Quentin Tarantino. So the first thing which, when you mentioned Quentin Tarantino, I'm sorry was that the George Baker song.
Speaker 1:Little Greenberg, Little Greenberg yeah.
Speaker 2:So Little Greenberg, I know this guy, you know Hans Baunsch, george Baker, and it was a hit, not a message hit in America. So it's also one of those things that he has left on. But this guy has. He's now in his 80s and he's almost, and he's working just on the back of that song. He got this whole new lease on life. You know, in Holland he absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I also worked with Dick Dale for a session, and Dick Dale is a guy who's also, who does the intertube Public fiction. I mean, I think yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but in the last Tarantino movie there's one song which did the same for me Well, not quite the same but on a different level which I just on listening to, which was you know what's one time in Hollywood it was 1230, by Mamma and Papa. You know where I went out to this young girl, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, and it's. You feel this vibe, I mean I've not been that of been to at a couple of times, but when I hear that song, I see it in front of me. You know the whole lower panion stuff, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that music can do that.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I love that song yeah.
Speaker 1:Gold turkey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fantastic, this is one of my Well, that's why it's on this Awesome favorite. Okay, john Lennon at his best, I think. Clebson on guitar at his best, I think, and he was on the floor and not too. He became a bit milder as the years went along. Also good, but not this. Ringo Starr on drums great, a great drummer, I think, because people tend to, you know, disregard his Well as a functional and as a great drive. That's also in this.
Speaker 2:I mean, I'm a former musician and the other one, klaus Forman.
Speaker 2:He is on the bass and I actually met Klaus Forman, let's say, just 10 years ago or something, and but I was so in awe of him that at first I said Mr Forman, and then now I say Klaus, you speak German, I'm German, and I say, well, of course you're German, you know, and but he's worked with Manfred Mann, he's worked with the classical band at the concert of Band of Death, he's a Cardi Simon, you know, at the beginning of your survey, and so so.
Speaker 2:So I just listened all evening, I listened to his stories and he actually that was the, that was a kind of a Well, that's what you get, what I thought, one of the best things you can get Okay, you get a lot of money writing a song which goes to number one in the stage, but getting this. It clips to that because he said well, you know what you've done with Falko, you know I'm German and I know what he said this song and that song and so he knew the albums and that was you know my stuff, you know I'm, so you know that's a great moment. So he's on the track as well and I love the track, yeah.
Speaker 1:Were you more of a Beatles fan or more of a Rolling Stones fan?
Speaker 2:Well, actually, in the beginning, both because I love the album, the Stones album we played continuously when we were in, you know, we told you about this up and down journey of South Africa and everything following. So once we were all in a trailer park, you know, and we had just a tiny record player and one of the two records I think we had was the Stones out of our heads and we played that, you know, because it was the only record we had, but great. But also in South Africa, I remember, because it's one of those moments, I was on the beach and then we lived in a hotel and it's very so. We were like from there to there and going back, and so there was a very nice hotel and we had to dress up for the evening every time. So, but I heard this from the hotel which was up on the. I was on the beach and the hotel was up there, so. But then I heard the sound and it turned out to be I want to hold your hand and I thought I've never heard anything like this before, you know.
Speaker 2:So from that moment on, I was a Beatles fan and at a certain point I had a collection with when I got the revenues from the Falco stuff but also from another song you're in the Army now which I wrote, which became a massive hit in a lot of countries. But so I had enough money to go to London, let's say weekly, and go to the South Abysses auction or to Christie's or, you know, bonham's and buy Beatles stuff which I wasn't able to buy when I was younger. You know it's a classic thing, you know. Then I got rid of it again later.
Speaker 2:But there was also a letter, if you're into Beatles things, and you had this court case where George Harrison had the song my Sweet Lord and then he got the court case from the writer of he's so Fine, or the writer of he's so Fine by the Chiffons claiming that he had stolen the melody, and in fact it was true. But this was our court case and in the end I think they got 50% of the I don't know how much. What it turned out to be, but I still in this. I bought a letter which George wrote to a fan when he was in 1964, and I saw it in the Teclar and he thought I have my magnifying glass and so he had his top five records listed there and at four it was. He's so Fine by the Chiffons so I thought this is yeah. And then you kind of you know the Teclar's work, and then I saw this for much more than I bought it for that particular reason. So that's nice, yeah.
Speaker 1:That's interesting because I just finished reading Keith Richards' memoirs. I guess you would call yeah. Great book. But in there it was kind of interesting because he said obviously, when they were, when they were becoming famous and the Beatles were becoming famous, they actually had conversations with each other and said we're going to release this song, so don't release a song this week. Then you release the next song next week, which is really cool.
Speaker 1:You wouldn't think that they would have conversations like that, but they were helping each other out to become successful instead of bashing heads which I'm sure they probably did too but to be able to help each other and to also have that kind of control, monopolize, the you know kind of the industry. Right, hey, you put out a record, you put out a song I'm going to put out a song that's unique.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I don't think you could find that in today's day and age right I think no, and the whole cultural thing that they also created, you know, and it was, yeah, it's really remarkable looking back on it, because what artist would that be? Now, I don't know. No, no, no, I mean a variety called the growth of, and also Taylor Swift, a cultural phenomenon, just seriously, yeah. And then I went to see the movie and I had in the back of my mind, you know, on Instagram you have these things coming stories, yeah, like beads or whatever. Yeah, yeah, thank you, I'm not good at that. Thank you for your help. But there you see a Richard Franklin thing, a reporter asking okay, okay, what do you think about and it's a synodial well, she's got a great voice, you know. What do you think about a new winehouse? Yeah, yeah, we like her. What do you think about Taylor Swift? Well, she's beautiful dresses, you know. So that's how.
Speaker 2:I went into the movie and I couldn't get that out of my head looking at the movie, which is very long but it's very impressive on the big screen and it grosses enormously, you know, in the US and I think maybe Canada too, so, and here too. So I respect most of all is her savvy on the business side and doing what she did with the albums. But that would be as close to a cultural phenomenon as it would get nowadays. You know, and yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't get it, but you're right, yeah, no, no, no, but I'm not one of those people who are, who still just lives in the 50s or in the 60s or in the 70s. You know, I hope to be a person who had moved on, but still have this, like you pointed out, you know this reverence for what happens. Then you know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Right next song. The song's called Born Free.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know if your listeners are, if you're born free I don't think so, but I'm very much into Born Free because the composer, john Barry, also the composer of well many moody songs, but especially his James Bond association, the best Bond songs. And I think and this is also sung by one of my favorites vocalist, matt Monroe, who was a friend of John Barry's and was like the UK answer to French Natra. But it's more than that for me. This is also part of my stay in South Africa as a kid and not even I can't even recall watching the movie, going to this movie. But this song has always, and it's always given me like, like a bit of old fashioned feeling like Born Free, you can do anything you know, like that, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Do you have somebody like, have you had somebody your whole life like encouraging you to write? Have you had kind of those mentors in your life? Or are you just driven and you're just going to go and do it?
Speaker 2:Well, that's a good question. The thing is that my drive for writing so many songs my brother wrote, let's say, maybe not as many, but it was not his not say you can do better or do the competition. That's what made between my brother and myself.
Speaker 2:That's what drove me you wanted to win and he wanted to win and he wanted to see how's the next thing, how's the next thing? And I don't want to put myself up there with the great ones, but I wrote, I read about it. I mean, I read about it and I thought, well, this is exactly how we got a lot. We learned a lot from McCarthy and Lenin. I have to do the right way around, because also, with life was okay. We always said the label always said Bolland and Bolland, you know. So that was our name and that was our chosen name. And but if the credits read you know it was one of my songs in the credits read Birdie and Rob Bolland. I would go straight to the and say, well, let's do that. So, but in this, in this case, with them, now I have, I do have someone who is, who is firing me on and who is getting your getting the last drop of energy out of me, and Justin Dylan. And and that's exactly the way how we co-composed the two songs for the South of musical, but also the way we are now in contact with with other styles of music.
Speaker 2:And he's, he's, he's on the, on the, on the back of well, well, my resurrection, so to speak. I've been out of, out of the, not been working for for, let's say, six or seven years because of when cancer stopped me. So so, going through this whole thing with, with, with the operations and with, with the radiation stuff and the chemo, I have not been able to work. I was just in, or either in the hospital or in a black room, in the dark room. So now that I'm out of the dark room, but, but, but, but, but still on the clock and they're not going to do anything anymore, because that's that's really starting everything. So it is.
Speaker 2:But it also gives me the freedom to do, you know, to do stuff which I've never done before, and that's where he comes in. So he's, he's already lined up about five productions with, with dance producers, which we are going to do vocal stuff for. He's also going to other other. So this is also. He said well, if you speak to him, make sure you mention it, because you never know who might be watching. And I'm open to, to, we're open because we work together now on this particular, in this particular moment in time. So so, but it's but, so we would like to work with with, with anybody who wants a pop song or whatever, and he's going to.
Speaker 2:Well, as I said in an interview the other day in for duck's paper and had the headline he's he's squeezing the last drop of energy out of me and that's exactly what he's doing, you know so. So also, you know, cannot do this going to do this interview with you in it. You know, cannot do it physically or whatever, or do it, do it, do it. That's good, you know, do anything. And also it's something you have never done before. Well, talk to you and you have a special way of perishing things, people, and the romance is also long, so you have to cut me off sooner.
Speaker 1:Well, I think I think we should interview Justin as well. I think that'd be fun too.
Speaker 2:That will be fun. Yeah, yeah let him know because, because he's less chaotic than me and he can, he can.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But that will, but that's a good idea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great idea. I love it All. Right next time.
Speaker 2:Yeah. All right so more, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:That's okay. I was just saying some more string quartets and I think it's awesome. I love like where your brain goes with this kind of stuff, right, and then you can go yeah. Sounds like you really love this type of music, but then you go and produce amazing pop songs. So it's so it's wild to me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'm still. I'm still looking to produce the perfect pop song. That is one of. That is the main question. But, but, but, but you're right, you're right, I love your, these other things to go to, but, for instance, but but I use it. I use that like with the sound here, with all the, all the samples, with the cut up conversations and and in a musical context, so so, like with circle.
Speaker 2:Just getting back to something which people might or might know, or might or someone's granddad might have heard, you know, in the in the 80s, which is Vienna calling, which was a single in the US, and I was a world by team, but it was the front in the US, on the back of the US, and I had this. It was a time where where people made, or musician made, producers made, a lot of 12 inch remixes. You really have Frank, because Hollywood had about 10 or 12 of the relax and you know it was remixed as a remix and I love that process because you could do the, you know all kinds of stuff with the song which you didn't, which you didn't think of before. So I did that with the local place, but I also did it with the Vienna calling. And then I, because I was in this, in this mode of what they do, with the song called Vienna calling, so I made the Vienna tourist version and it has all these.
Speaker 2:So you have a guy who narrates, who says, well, now we're going through to the, to the let's say the theater where for a couple of us at this one, for me and you, you hear people clapping and and that's the winner, sarah Knaven, you know those are the choir. So it's a kind of a the tourist mix and it became so an incredible amount of 12 inches because it was kind of an underground thing. So I mean, I was so happy to be connected to something underground which, because my, my, my, my workers overly pop and and you know not. So that's the show, that that's okay.
Speaker 1:I like it. I like it. All right, we're going to do another one of your songs. Captain Hudson and his crew, we hope you've had a pleasant flight with the airlines and that you're staying in Vienna. For the pleasant one, thank you. And, as Colin, another great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's exactly the version I was talking about. So so if you, if people will continue listening, then they would hear the guy saying so I, that's that's having fun in the studio and with all the sound and just using that, because getting the samples, you know, and working with samples then in the 80s was, was, was kind of new and and that's what I love.
Speaker 1:Do you have a fady favorite 80s rock band that you like a lot?
Speaker 2:Okay, good question. Why is I think so? But I would have to.
Speaker 1:I think you like a lot of the 80s hair bands that were.
Speaker 2:I remember the video mainly, but but I love the little stuff which which which was written by Desmond Child and we know when Bon Jovi, one of my favorite singles, I must say, and which I have two, two moments where which brought during concerts, which brought tears to my eyes when, when I saw them, I was a big fan. I love this work, but not a big, but when. Hungry heart, when he the first, you know, when the intro came in, you know I just started crying. I was so moved because it was so. And then having Mark Volman and and the other guy from from the turtles during the backup vocals, back vocals, you know, on the record, that record but also that performance of the song, that really I was really floored by that.
Speaker 1:Amazing performer like that's one thing I miss about concerts nowadays. I feel like they're not the same as how they were in the 80s. I'm going to see kiss, like on the 12th, and it's not. You know, I love kiss, but I'm really going to see the stage show. I'm really going to see like the pyros and them all dressed up and like be entertained. I feel like a lot of people just are not utilizing this stage to go and perform right exactly, yeah, yeah, I agree. All back Right.
Speaker 1:I agree I actually for 800 bucks a ticket like you better be jumping rope.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's amazing how, how expensive these things get, and even you know if it's a yeah, yeah, yeah, but. But you're right, I think there's a directness to and, and people say, well, that's retro and but there's this kind of a punch you know that shows that and and and a lot of records. You know I'm still thinking, okay, but I'll get back to that maybe.
Speaker 1:Yeah Right. Next song In the army now status quo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is a song which was part of a concept album which my brother and I did call Domino theory, and it was a sin. It was also a moke. Sin sometimes is played by someone else, by by a real, real maniac who had all these. This is this, this gear, but but it was out. It was well, predominantly my songs and this is also one of my songs which was an album track and I was made in the album.
Speaker 2:The room was made in 1980, I think, and and there was not a time to to release concept albums. You know that was something of the 70s, you know with the Genesis and with the costumes and with whatever you know, the prog rock thing and but but but still so. So I released, we released this and this song was in our version. In this version which is on this record, it was a hit, it was major. In Scandinavia was a gold platinum, five weeks number one, or in Sweden and Norway and also Greece and maybe a bit. But when five years later, an English band called status quo, who had one American hit, I think, pictures of magic men in the 60s, but they, but their style was was they've had, they've had the most top 40 hits in Britain in great business of all of all, ever so. So there were very, there were very big, and they chose to do this song in their, in their way, but it was very closely the original. There was a massive it. That was a massive it all over Europe, in, in Russia, in Israel, everywhere except the US and Canada, because I think the but I don't think that a and m, the company, the company which had bought this for securities, for the, for the US and some other territories, it was a subject matter, of course, because with I wrote this, this first song, that was the first song I wrote for this album and it was also that was I wrote this after seeing a pop list now by friends with Coppola, so a pop is now blew me away.
Speaker 2:I've seen that movie, I don't know how many times, but the first time I saw it was. So also there, the music is very, very important of record. You know a melody from from, from that period where, where they were in yeah, so, but, but, but, but, but. I thought there was a great thing to a great subject to write songs about. So that's what I did, though album is is about, or the feeling is a pop list now for me and and it was a so. So, as I said, it's, it's. It's either rock me on the days, it's. I think this is the song is. In terms of revenues, it's bigger than rock me on the days for me and people in all these countries, in Russia, they the band has played twice on the evening in Petersburg, in Israel, they, they, they, it's the everywhere except again, but I get it, I get it.
Speaker 2:So, yes, these two Dutch, that's kids, that's white guys singing about a war, but you don't know anything about, you know, and but but but just my love for this movie, and this movie instructs me to, you know, to go do these songs. Well, I get it that it doesn't, it won't, it won't ever go, go, go, it won't float there, you know, it's just that. And I would be, you know, maybe as a, as a, as a, as a Dutch person, you know, would be saying well, what, what is a guy from, I don't know, what is. It still has to do with the second world war, it's so, it's so ingrained in. It has to do with all kinds of things which I don't know about, which I didn't feel, and so that's that, but, but, but. But it's still got me a great, for me, a great song.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what projects are you working on right now or projects that are coming out that you would like to share to the audience?
Speaker 2:Well, one is a musical which I'm writing with with my son, justin Dylan, and what it's about? Well, I wanted to say what it's about, because, because it's we're but, but, but it's just, you know, it is podcast, or what is it? We'll, we'll, we'll, we'll transcend your borders and it will, I think. Then I, then I don't think it's a good idea to mention the, the subject matter, so so, so, but, but, but it's going to be great. I think we have interest already from, you know, the guys that have set up the whole business structure for the whole Right and, as I said, working with outside people. Now, my son has lined up for me. It doesn't mean when I say lined up for me, it doesn't mean that I do nothing, you know, you know but but but, but, but, but.
Speaker 2:But. He is very, very well informed. In all these he does nothing but read, and so the the who's who and what's what. So we have these collaborations with five or six dancer producers lined up, and then some other in another territory, which which he's now exploring. We have three things, and then I'm with my own album and he's working on his own album, so so that's yeah.
Speaker 1:But how do you, how do you pick which artists to sing your song?
Speaker 2:Well, sometimes it's like just in Falco it's there was being offered, but you don't get those those. Well, we also wrote what we wrote so for Susie Cuatro for, but they were not. They were not the hits you know, and people know Susie Cuatro better from, I think, from happy days where she was at a role, but then then maybe in the US then then then her hits as a singer or as an artist, but but, but we were a massive amount of songs for, for across the whole, the whole. Well, someone we turned down Okay, that's interesting, I think she's from from, from Canada we were in such a, we were in such a, we had such a big.
Speaker 2:You know so many artists offered to us following, following the success of Rockman Medeus and the song in the Army Now, which was which was released, you know the covers in the Civil Tainty. So once we we had the three top positions in Germany with our songs, you know. So there was a kind of the, the messages of what song for this song for that. So, so what is the? We turned down in Sine Dillon and so that's. You know, in hindsight you say, how is that possible? You know it's possible because you were. So we're so busy with this, this, this. You know that's yeah.
Speaker 1:Do you have some songs? I'm assuming you probably have some songs that you really want to release, like you really want a certain singer to sing. Do you have like that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have one song like that and but not really because I want, I'm really, I'm really looking for writing specifically for for the moment and for an artist and then, because sometimes the first contact might be with an artist or with the management would be in June and you get to record, let's say, in January, but then the whole, the whole landscape has changed already, you know, might might have changed, but a good song is a good song, okay, but still, if it's to, you know, so, so so you always, I mean, but once I'm, once now I'm actually again that that brings back all these. Oh yeah, you have to do that and that and that's the order which, and you could write for that, but but but so we have this whole schedule on the ball, where, where we have the artists in in boxes, let's say, and we, well you know, change dates or change whatever you know. But that's interesting because I never thought, I never thought that I would be working at this level again, you know. So that's nice.
Speaker 1:All right, we're on your last song and I'm gonna pick it because I think are you ready to do things tonight that you never dreamed of Okay, let's go, let's go, let's go. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
Speaker 2:Oh, samantha Fox like Okay, yeah, well, that's that's. That's also one of the others we could offer it, and my brother wrote one song and I wrote the other song. Obviously, this is so I wrote that's why I wanted to play it.
Speaker 2:And this was. This was the hit in Europe, but in the States it was a dance, it, and it was one of the first. It was the beginning of the house, but that obviously it started in the US, but, but, but okay, so what we picked up as house in Europe, and then, and also the whole, the whole remix was done, you know, by by guys who are far more into that, but but, but the song and the artist was offered. So would you like to use the song for Samantha Fox? Absolutely, you know.
Speaker 2:But tonight's, well, the tiny story we had to record in England, so I sent the tape over and do songs, and then we had tapes and so we recorded at the battery studios in London and she was there with her father and it was there was a story in itself, because her father was was an alcoholic and he kept on drinking with his buddy in the studio. It was really embarrassing for her, but then she said, okay, now you have to leave, so that's that. So she was ready to sing and it took a while because she's not really a singer, but she's a great person. You know she has this, you know she knows that she, she's not the best thing in the world. And so so she takes. She knows you have to take time and what you hear on the record is her voice, my voice. You know I used to sing real girlish girlie, you know, girlie high, so but, but, but, but, but she was so good. So finally we have this on on tape, on tape, and we had specifically asked to bring my own engineer, because I worked with him very good and that's a really good working relationship.
Speaker 2:I want to, and we wanted to, do this as quick as possible, or as quick as possible, so the one she was really, she said, okay, let's listen to, let's listen to what I've just recorded, you know. So he pushes the button and or the nothing comes, and and so what's wrong? So, okay, turned out that he had erased her vocals by mistake, because it was, you know, this guy with you know, so, so, and then, and then, as a true artist, I think you know when people say, well, as a man, folks, you know she can't sing, or she can. You know, yes, you can sing, not that as good as you know, but but but what makes her good is what made her good.
Speaker 2:Then was an artist, you know, and she stood there and I said well, you know, you've heard it, you know your vocals are gone, you know, and they're not coming back in time, so so, so, this is so. You want to do it again? Right, I'll do it. Yeah, and she went straight into the studio and did them again. No, another couple of hours, so that's, I think that's great, you know? I mean, don't, don't go go yelling at people and just think, okay, that's we done.
Speaker 1:It's a problem, go solve it. Let's get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great attitude, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it. Well, thank you so much, rob, for joining us on Music Junkies today, but before I let you go, I have one last question. And from all of your adversity and growing up and life, what is some words of wisdom that you would like to leave our guests today?
Speaker 2:Okay, oh, okay. Well, you know, I mean I don't want to, I just bring it into into the conversation, you know earlier, but but because I'm, I'm now in, so three and a half years ago they said just six months in it, so I have three extra years already. So what I've learned in those years is that, you know, I was really, I was really and I still am a bit, you know, on top of things and and my way. But if you, if you can see your way and I still have my problem, but okay, but I'm slashing my own advice, okay, but but but try, try to see, try to see the end result and work around.
Speaker 2:You know, don't take that that many don't go through loops and try to get to the, to the target sooner than you know. Then you would, if you would have your way in everything, and it's also less. I'm talking to myself here, so, and I see myself in this room, please, so watch it. You know, thank you for for the lesson you gave me now, because this is more and more advice that I should say yeah, thank, you again.
Speaker 1:so much Great words of wisdom. I agree Right. Stop focusing on where you are presently. Right. Enjoy the journey, right. If you're persistent, you keep after. It's going to lead you to what you want to go and do. So stop focusing on the negative and just focus on the outcome that you want. So great words of wisdom. Appreciate you, like, follow, subscribe. You can stop this. If you all are social media right, we're gonna put you out there 10s and I just want to fly there to go see, rock me on my nails If you get into Europe.
Speaker 2:Let me know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Love that.