You just need to call me, Graeme
Former drummer holds out olive branch to his former bandmate over new line-up
Wet Wet Wet’s ex-drummer has promised to talk to the band’s only surviving member… if he makes the first move.
Tommy Cunningham promised to answer the phone should bassist Graeme Clark try to contact him.
He held out the olive branch after Clark revealed last week that the four original members of the band only talk through entertainment lawyers.
Cunningham, 59, told the Record: “Graeme could talk to me if he wanted to. He just needs to make the call.”
Clark, 58, plans to head out on tour with Wet Wet Wet under a new line-up in 2025.
The other original members, Cunningham, singer Marti Pellow and keyboard player Neil Mitchell quit the group years ago.
Cunningham admitted they are all circling the wagons over who controls the band’s legacy and royalties.
He said: “I couldn’t be in the band anymore because of the physicality of it. Neil, because I was leaving, simply said, ‘If Tommy is going then I think it’s time for me to leave as well’.
“So that left Graeme and we would never want to stop him from being a musician and being successful or doing gigs.
“So I said, ‘Wire in. Keep on going if you want’.
“I’m totally retired, enjoying my grown-up children, the wife and suburbia and waking up every single day in my own bed.
“In the meantime, Graeme is the only one who is keeping the legacy alive.
“But each of us still wants our name on the company even if we’re not on the tour posters.
“We want an arrangement like Queen have had since John Deacon left that band where you can have other members touring constantly but there are still meetings.
“We still want to have a vote and we want to have our say.”
He added: “As far as I’m concerned, there is no issue with Graeme using the name Wet Wet Wet to his heart’s content.
“I would never dream of stopping him from going out on stage and saying, ‘Good Evening Wembley’, just the same as I wouldn’t dream of trying to stop Marti who still advertises himself as the voice of Wet Wet Wet.
“I left because it was no longer the original members but I do hope one day the four of us can get back together.”
Admitting the Wets are all paying for legal advice, he said:
“It’s just that negotiation thing about making sure you don’t make a mistake for the future.
“The way these things work, a large legal document is gibberish to us.
“But there’s no animosity. There’s no fallout.”
Wet Wet Wet have sold more than 15million singles and albums to date, spending over 500 weeks in the UK charts.
At the height of their band’s success, only the removal of Love Is All Around from record stores prevented the hit from becoming the longest-running No1 single in British chart history.
Clark’s UK tour next year will see him team up with long-term Wets guitarist Graeme Duffin and former Liberty X singer Kevin Simm, who replaced Marti Pellow.
The dates include shows at Aberdeen’s P&J Live, Dundee Caird Hall, Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall and Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.
“There are difficulties we face with navigating that,” Clark said. “It’s all in the lap of lawyers at the moment, which is pretty difficult but I’ve made my case in terms of what I’m doing.
“I love this band so when everybody fell by the wayside, I decided to keep Wet Wet Wet going with Graeme Duffin and an amazing singer in Kevin.”
Cunningham added: “I don’t know why Graeme wants to worry about the cost of lawyers. They’re not expensive.
“There’s two members of Queen touring constantly. But there’s still someone else in the background too.
“If a Greatest Hits comes up, I’d like to contribute to what goes in it.
“If there’s any documentaries of those things, I still want to be an active voice for Wet Wet Wet’s legacy. “I can’t speak for Marti. “Neil is in agreement that staying as an advocate, having a voice and still having your name on the company is important even if it’s not on the poster.
“I hold out hope that one day in the future Wet Wet Wet can come back together as the four originals.
“But as for now, Graeme is allowed to go and do anything he wants.”
Graeme is allowed to go and do anything he wants tommy cunningham on graeme clark