Mark still in love with music
4:41pm Wednesday 20th January 2010 in News Exclusive By Kat Dibbits
Back on stage: Mark Radcliffe
MARK Radcliffe’s Bolton lilt has become one of the best-loved voices on the radio.
Since his early days on the Radio Five show Hit The North, which he described as more like a “hobby” than a real job, through to his current Radio Two show with fellow northerner Stuart Maconie, he has been a champion of new music and quirky humour.
But there was a shock towards the end of our conversation when he revealed that last year, after nearly 20 years on BBC radio, he had considered quitting as a presenter.
“I toyed with the idea of giving it up as a full time thing and doing something behind the scenes,” he said. “We all have our little wobbles.”
Happily the 51-year-old decided he wasn’t quite ready to give it all up yet.
And if he did, he certainly wouldn’t expect it to make the headlines, unlike his fellow BBC stalwart Jonathan Ross, whose decision not to renew his contract lead the news bulletins.
“Christ almighty, it’s not that important, surely,” he says, half laughing, half angry.
He says the BBC’s decision to move staff up to Salford will mean that programmes can be commissioned in Manchester without “having to ask London for permission,” which can only be a good thing, although there could be fewer new job opportunities than were previously thought as Londoners who initially refused to move up North realise the financial implications of not doing so during the recession could be dire.
For Mark, presenting has always come second in his affections to actually playing music. At the end of this month, he will be appearing in Bury with his latest band, The Big Figures.
The decision not be a full-time professional musician was an easy one though, he says.
“I wasn’t any good. No-one wanted me.”
Despite this his bands have gathered something of a cult following. The Shirehorses, the comedy group he formed with former presenting pal Marc Riley became a staple of the duo’s Radio One show. And The Family Mahone, the folk band with whom he drums and sings, have been gigging regularly for 12 years.
With The Big Figures he has moved back to the front of the stage, from where he can chat to the audience and leave the heavy lifting to the other band members.
And of course, there’s the pretty ladies in the audience.
“Well, as an international playboy DJ I’m used to that,” he quips. “As I was saying to Tom Jones the other day, you can get a bit fed up of it.”
Inspired by R&B band Dr Feelgood, Mark formed The Big Figures with his friend of 30 years P J Walmsley.
“It’s sort of a new band, but it’s in a way an old band,” he says. “The lead guitarist is a very old friend — we found ourselves living together at University, we loved music and played in a lot of bands together.
“A year ago we decided we weren’t seeing enough of each other and the only way to see more of each other was to form a band together.”
It sees Mark back on vocal duties, backed up by Walmsley, “Go-go” Johnny Jobson on harmonica, Cameron Sweetnam on bass and Andy Hyams on drums.
“Strangely, sometimes I like to sit at the back behind the drums and be quiet,” he admits. “If you’re at the front you’re the one talking to people. Even though it looks like rampant egomania, I’ve been disappointed by a lot of bands when they don’t talk to the audience.”
A musical career seemed inevitable for the young Mark. His father was a classical music buff who wrote a column for the Bolton Evening News, while his mother was a keen pianist.
“The piano was always there to mess about on,” he says.
After showing his talent for drumming early by turning washing up bowls into a drumkit and playing along to Top of the Pops, Mark’s parents bought him a Ringo Starr snare drum.
“Whenever you hit it you were hitting Ringo Starr in the face,” he says. “It was a bit odd.”
Not to be put off by these symbolic assaults on a drumming hero, Mark’s preoccupation with music grew.
“I always had a guitar and pretty soon it became an overriding obsession of mine — I would read the music papers, listen to John Peel and go to all the record shops in Bolton, there used to be loads.
“Saturday afternoons we used to go to Harker and Howarth’s and look at all the instruments you couldn’t afford and then see if you could scrape together the money for a record.”
He played his first gig at Lostock Tennis Club when he was 14 with the Berlin Airlift, who are now talking about reforming to play their first gig in 35 years at Rivington Barn, a regular haunt for the band.
Mark says his desire to be in a band was inspired by the Monkees.
“They made being in a band look like you were just a gang of mates who wore matching shirts and went places in a car to have adventures — and that’s exactly how it turned out.
“I do think one day I’d like to drop dead behind a drumkit in a little jazz club. Hopefully not soon, though.”
• Mark Radcliffe and the Big Figures will play the Met, in Bury, on Saturday, January 30. To book, visit themet.biz or ring 0161 761 2216.
