‘Right now I want comfort music like Supertramp and Elton John. I loved Gary’s duet with Cliff’
GUY GARVEY is about as far from Sir Cliff Richard on the musical spectrum as it’s possible to get but, says the Elbow singer, during lockdown everyone is rocking their inner Cliff. “Right now all us musicians are like Sir Cliff at Wimbledon: ‘Let’s do a song right here, give me a mic!’” laughs Guy, referring to the electric moment during a particularly long rain delay at Wimbledon in 1996 when the crooner and tennis fan entertained crowds on Centre Court with an impromptu a cappella performance.
Sir Cliff has come up in conversation because Guy has been invited to do a duet by Gary Barlow as part of the Take That singer’s online series, Crooner Sessions. Despite Elbow’s indie music credibility, Guy was delighted to accept the offer.
“When we’re all fine and healthy, you get bitchy and picky about what you listen to and what you watch,” says Guy.
“People get into day-long conversations about what’s good. But, in this pandemic, you take off your snobby hat and realise the resonance all good music has. Right now, I want chicken soup comfort music like Supertramp and Elton John. I loved Gary’s duet with Cliff Richard on Crooner Sessions.”
Guy’s equivalent of that Wimbledon performance is playing live, but separately, with his band via the video conferencing app Zoom.
Elbow – famed for their smash hit One Day Like This which became the quasi anthem of the London 2012 Olympics where they performed live, as well as the song of choice for weddings (and funerals) – are trying to cheer up the 100,000 fans who should be watching them play a sell-out UK tour, now sadly postponed until the autumn.
It is the second time in a row band has been hit by global events after the Beast From The East snowstorms shut down their 2017 gigs.
“It’s getting on for six years that we’ve not seen some of our oldest, truest fans,” Guy says with a sigh, and then perks up adding. “And I’m missing my idiot bandmates!”
To compensate, Elbow have released Live At The Ritz: An Acoustic Performance, which was recorded at the relatively small – but iconic – 1,500-capacity Manchester club when they launched their album Giants Of All Sizes last year.
Guy hopes it’ll give fans a reminder of the power of live music, saying: “We had no idea the recording would be this timely. But people can put their headphones on and remember what a live gig feels like for 45 minutes, including the audience’s response.”
To liven up proceedings, Guy has been wearing ever more flamboyant shirts in the the homemade videos, one of which was given to him by his famous mother-in-law, film star Dame Diana Rigg.
Guy, 45, who is married to Diana’s actress daughter Rachael Stirling, reveals: “In the first of the videos, I wore my dressing gown. I thought it made me look like Ben Kenobi from Star Wars, but a friend messaged me to say, ‘Put a shirt on, man!’
“Ever since? Man, have shirt on. They’re just going to get louder. My mother-in-law bought me a belter the other day for the videos which has got an entire sunset on it. It’s so loud you might not be able to look directly at it with the human eye.”
As well as fronting Elbow, Guy is known to fans of Peter Kay’s smash BBC One sitcom Car Share as Kayleigh’s motorbikeobsessed brother-inlaw Steve. And there is more TV in store for Guy who has been finishing off two soundtracks during lockdown.
He’s written nine new songs for the Apple TV sitcom Trying, starring Rafe Spall and Diana Pozharskaya which is streaming at the moment.
He is also writing the soundtrack for Doctor Foster writer Mike Bartlett’s new BBC One drama Life, which stars his wife Rachael – the acclaimed star of ITV drama The Bletchley Circle – opposite Peter Davison and Imelda Staunton. “It’s a stunning series,” Guy says. “I thought Doctor Foster was great, but Life is easily as good if not better. And, no, I’m not just saying that because Rach is in it.” Lifelong friends, Elbow’s credentials speak for themselves.
TI been putting
aHE MANCHESTER band won the Brit Award for Best British Group in 2009, having won the Mercury Music Prize the year before and are the recipients of three Ivor Novello Awards. After years as a cult band, they smashed into mainstream success
FAMILY AFFAIR: Guy with Rachael; and his wife with her mother, Dame Diana Rigg in 2008 with
Like This.
Guy, who also hosts a weekly show on BBC Radio 6 Music, recognises he’s more privileged than most during the pandemic, living in a lovely home in south London with Rachael, 42, and three-yearold son Jack.
But he’s the first to admit that he and Rachael weren’t ideally suited to coping in a crisis. “An actor and a musician together, keeping a routine is never going to be the most obvious situation,” says Guy
“We’re quite good at a routine now, though, because we have to be for our son. We centre our day around Jack: when he gets up, goes to sleep, has his nap.That’s what rules the roost.”
Guy is the sixth of seven children and his younger brother, actor Marcus
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