Natalie - Interview Transcripts - Rove Live

Part one of a series of interviews with Natalie Bassingthwaighte and James Ash in which they talk about their time touring the UK and the Rogue's upcoming releases..

You guys have been touring overseas with Girls Aloud recently, how’s the show thing going?

James: We had some amazing shows…
Natalie: Yeah [laughs], yes.
James: But, people say to me what was it like and I’ve said it’s like being in the big brother house because we were in a little van driving up and down the M1…
Natalie: I keep thinking that you’re pretending to have an accent … like [imitates a rough London accent] …
James: Yeah, that’s what … yeah [to self] drop the pommie accent please for God’s sake it’s not working for you … not even doing it very well. Erm, but it was like being in the big brother house because there were cameras everywhere and we were in an enclosed space but unlike the big brother house …
Natalie: Where were the cameras?
James: Well…
Natalie: On the bus?
James: Yea, we were photographing each other. I was videoing everything.
Natalie: Yeah it was pretty intense [laughs]
James: I have got house and hours of footage of Nat…
Natalie: He does…
James: … Asleep with her little pillow at the back of the car and Cam telling me to turn the bloody camera off, it’s brilliant, I might put some of that on the website.
Natalie: Actually the response was really great, the audience on [laughs as James grabs some of the sandwich she is nibbling]. I’m sorry that we’re eating we’re a little hungry.
James: [Looks at the camera] We’re all friends here aren’t we.
Natalie: Are you looking in the camera or [points to the off screen interviewer]?
James: Oh yea I’m looking at the camera [pointing at the camera] I’m looking at you. Erm, yeah the response was brilliant and we got to play…
Natalie: Er Yea, we got to play, feels like so long ago already.
James: I know, but you see as an Englishman myself I’ve never even been to Manchester.
Natalie: [In an English accent] Are you and Englishman…
James: Yeah.
Natalie: Yeah.
James: Never been to Manchester.
Natalie: Oh, Manchester was the best, it was about 15,000 people.
James: Yeah, the biggest arena in the UK possible even Europe.
Natalie: And the show was awesome.
James: Yeah.
Natalie: I remember that. G-A-Y was also one we did, one of the biggest gay nightclubs ... hence the spelling [laughs]
James: Yeah … so big they have to put a space between each letter.
Natalie: No but people like Madonna and Sting and Christina Aguilera and every fabulous person…
James: Everyone is there and we’ve got a wonderful shot of Nat and I and Cam outside of the Estoria on Charring Cross road in London with our name up there, but unfortunately our hair and makeup and best friend Brad erm, took it from the other side of the street and … you can’t see a thing.
Natalie: [Laughs]
James: Great fun, we had loads of fun in England, and Ireland and we played at the point as well and you know my very good friend Damien Lease he and I are like that [crosses fingers], he’s a lovely bloke Damien I’ve met him a couple of times and he’s a gentleman, and he said that the point is the place to play in Dublin and he gave me a few little tips…
Natalie: Oh Dublin was the best as well. Dublin, Manchester, Wembley and G-A-Y were my favourite places
James: We got to look around Dublin [to Natalie] and you went on a horse and cart ride, remember through the streets.
Natalie: Yeah.

Did you get to meet any of your UK fans?

James: Yeah.
Natalie: Yeah.
Natalie: Some of the girls actually … was it the first show … yeah they came up after, this is quite bad actually, but they came back after we’d been on and we were the support and apparently they waited backstage for us and they were all dressed up in Rougie style outfits and we came back and were like you’re gonna miss the show and they were like “Oh we don’t care we’re not here to see them we’re only here to see you”.
James: That’s right and I remember in Cardiff, in Wales, as well there was about five people waiting out there to see, I thought to see the Girls, and we came and they were waving, but they hung around after the show and they were great.
Natalie: Yup.
James: We actually caught up with a lot of our fans, we caught up with some in Ireland as well…
Natalie: Yeah [waves at the camera] hi guys.
James: In Northern Ireland, I remember in Belfast, the gig we did there, so we actually did and we were all really blown away. It was funny to see because we all thought that people would just know Voodoo Child but they knew the words to some of them.
Natalie: Yea it was weird, it was great.

What were some of the biggest tracks that people went off too?

Natalie: Compared to Girls Aloud, we were quite heavy, you know the sound of our band compared to theirs, theirs was such much poppier than ours. We’re not the heaviest band in the world but you know compared to them we sounded heavy, so when In Love Again come on I think the audience, especially as there were a lot of little girls in the audience too, it went down a treat.
James: It was great, yea, but in Love again yea it did work really well and you know I had a few moments on stage there where you try and record it in your mind and in fact the very last show we did In Love Again I actually took my video camera on stage and filmed the crowed.
Natalie: People were really accommodating over there because, like James said, we didn’t know whether they would like it or love it or know any of the songs. We knew that they’d know Voodoo Child and they were waving their sticks around and they really got involved in our show I think, like the whole half an hour, we went on for ages but they really got into every song and became a part of it and then got on their feet at the end for Voodoo Child and that was really cool, for a support act again we got a bit of a surprise, it was nice.