READY FOR SOLO SUCCESS
After seven years with Mike + The Mechanics, Andrew Roachford is all set to go it alone again this autumn, as MALCOLM WYATT discovered...
Know the name but struggling to place the backcatalogue? Well, today’s interviewee’s biggest hits came in the ‘80s and ‘90s, most simply as Roachford. His big UK smash was Cuddly Toy, a top-five in early ‘89, and seven more top-40 singles followed.
And Andrew Roachford has been busy ever since with his own band, solo, and Mike + The Mechanics.
To catch him live is to be convinced by his stagecraft, yet early on he was a reluctant front-man, still seeing himself primarily as a musician, despite that wonderful, soulful voice.
It was his uncle, Barbados-born sax player Bill Roachford – known well by Ronnie Scott, ‘a bit of a legend in muso circles and rightly so’ – who encouraged him to make his mark.
“I started as a piano player. My uncle brought the rest out of me, hearing me sing in a bedroom, saying, ‘We’ve got to get you singing out there’.
“Singing was very personal, like being naked. In front of an audience was an absolute nightmare. But he pushed and pushed, eventually settling the nerves a little.
“When I got signed the record company came to the first gig and were horrified – I was surrounded by keyboards. You couldn’t see me! They said, ‘Can you at least take away one keyboard?’
“They had to literally wean me off them. To this day I’d still say singing’s just part of it, an extension of the music.”
At 52, he seems to have been around forever, from a teenage stint as session player for The Clash, getting to know Joe Strummer – who would have been 65 this year – well.
“A lovely guy, very intelligent, bighearted, really felt what he was singing about and meant it. He really was a working-class hero, never going for all that pop-star status.
“Last time I saw him was at Glastonbury with The Mescaleros, inviting me to this campfire gathering. I turned it down – getting cold at the end of the evening. I wish I’d gone. That was the last time I saw him.
“We really connected and he helped when I was still finding myself, telling me, ‘If I sang like you I wouldn’t be in this band!’ That was his humour.”
By 1988 Roachford were supporting Terence Trent D’Arby and The Christians, a seven-album deal with Columbia following, becoming the label’s biggest-selling UK act for 10 years. Solo and further band LPs followed, then in 2010 Andrew and Tim Howar replaced Paul Carrack and former Sad Café front-man Paul Young as co-vocalists with Mike + The Mechanics.
At home in London between dates and work on his latest LP, we talked about new album Encore, giving classic songs the Roachford touch.
“It’s my take on songs I’ve loved and thought it would be interesting to put a twist on. Brought up with improvisation culture, I like to move things around. I don’t think I’ve done two gigs exactly the same.”
Encore sees Andrew’s band capture the kind of powerful performance he has a reputation for, including Bill Withers, Sly and the Family Stone and even Red Hot Chili Peppers covers.
“This showcases some of the songs that have fired me up over the years to become a performer and bring the magic in every show I play.
“When I listen to the great music I grew up with, like Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together, I hear simplicity in the set and what it does to you, how it moves you. It’s important that music has an emotional impact.
“It’s essentially soul. The originals are perfect, so you have to take that somewhere. It’s my nature to explore where they can go.
“With some Al Green songs I thought his were originals. Similarly, when I heard Jimi Hendrix’s Hey Joe I assumed it was his. When Marvin Gaye sang I Heard it Through the Grapevine it was the same.”
Andrew’s looking forward to his headline UK tour, saying ‘it’s a great buzz when you connect with a crowd. There’s nothing like it.’ Meanwhile, his association with Mike + The Mechanics continues.
“It’s going from strength to strength. We’re out next month around Europe for an extensive tour, then I come back to do my tour. The new Mechanics album, Let Me Fly, is going down really well.
“When Paul Young passed away, they carried on with just Paul Carrack, but after a while the energy had gone, Mike wanted to take a break and Paul wanted to pursue a solo career. Years later, Mike started again but wanted someone to co-write, finish songs and sing them. My name came up, having bumped into each other over the years.
“I wasn’t sure it would work, but we got in the studio, and within 10 minutes it started to happen. Tim and I clicked straight away. We’ve a great synergy together.
“He has this amazing ‘full of rock’ voice, mine’s more old school r’n’b. People didn’t really know what to expect. You could feel that in the au-
dience. But then they started to get their heads around it.
“Now I see a wider cross-section at my shows. And afterwards I generally get, ‘We didn’t expect that!’”
There must be times when you have to explain it’s not just about Cuddly Toy, great as that is?
“People who have come to my gigs don’t really come just for that. But when it gets played again or is on a film, the old crowd come back, working out what I’ll do as well as Cuddly Toy and Family Man.
“Then they realise they’ve missed so much. At some point I feel I should revisit and maybe re-record some songs. Core fans want more people to hear those, frustrated on my behalf.”
Singing was like being naked in front of an audience, it was an absolute nightmare
I like to move things around. I don’t think I’ve done two gigs exactly the same