Interview about New Years Eve in Seaton with Nigel Tant from Devon Air

Nigel Tant 0:01 Now, what are you doing on New Year’s Eve? Because there’s a great gig at Seton at the Gateway featuring wonderful band, the Zoots, that’s yet this New Year’s Eve, and we’ll give you all the gig details a little bit later on. I’m thrilled to say that I’ve got Lee, singer with the zoots on the phone to talk to us. Jamie Goddard, welcome to Devon air radio. Thanks

James Goddard 0:24 very much for having me. Nigel, great to be on, great to be here. Great to be breathing.

Nigel Tant 0:28 Great to be anywhere. As Keith Richards often says, it’s great to it’s great to talk to you now. The zoots, I’ve seen the name of the band off and on, because I’ve been doing the gig guide for a long, long time. And, you know, the name crops up. And I know, I sort of know what you do, but tell us about the zoots. I find

James Goddard 0:50 I was talking to my Dad the other day, because my Dad used to be, he used to be a musician in this in the 60s and 70s, until he buried his drum kit in the garden. Because I was a second child, he sort of gave it up. But he was telling me that when we first came up with the band name, he actually thought of the name The Suits, and the agent he was talking to, misheard it as Zoots. And that’s how we came up with the name. But we’ve been going since 2009 and we’ve, we’ve been all over the world, been really lucky to been to over 35 countries, and we’ve been doing the theatre circuit in this country for round about eight or nine years, something like that. So we’ve had a good journey and and it’s just brilliant to I just really enjoyed doing the retro music and the memories it brings back,

Nigel Tant 1:50 Sure now, I mean, I respect people would have, would have picked up from, from what you just said, that you’re, you’re a young man, so you didn’t live through this and the repertoire of the zoos. I know you can you do different shows, don’t you, but I think the main one you were certainly historically, was the 60s, wasn’t it?

James Goddard 2:07 Yeah, certainly that. And that’s how we started off, because I’d always played in bands since I left school, and I was in a in a group called Jamie in the first class, and we, we were doing really, really well, and we were sort of a school theme group. And then an agent that we used to work for said, I think that if you could put a 60s show together, we could organize you a tour. So that was in two we started doing that in 2009 so I’ve always been into 60s music, because that’s kind of the music that my Dad, my Mum and Dad had in the house, had all seven inch singles and the LPs and things like the Kinks, The Beatles, the Stones and the Who. That’s just what we had in the house. So that’s what my Dad listened to. So that’s how I got into 60s music.

Nigel Tant 2:57 I imagine your I imagine your Dad’s about similar age to me, by the sounds of things, I mean, I was a teenager in the 60s, so I grew up with all this stuff in real time, you know. And it does always amaze me. I’ve said this a few times to people that how the fascination with the music of the 60s carries on and garners new and younger fans, despite the fact you don’t really hear it on the radio anymore.

James Goddard 3:25 It’s funny, as you say that, because I feel that it’s it’s good for stations like Devonair, because obviously you can pay that music and more people of a certain age are tuning in. But yeah, it is. It is disappointing. But also I feel that since they’ve stopped playing on the radio, it’s there’s certainly seems like there’s more interest generally in sort of music we play. And even what is amazing about it is that we kind of try and choose songs that the young people would know as well. But it’s amazing that that music that’s, you know, from 60 years ago, is still, is still relevant. It’s still, you know, the Beatles had a number one record last year and and so did the stones, because they’re still relevant, and they’re still to young people as well. And there’s something about the magic of those that music and those songs that keeps I don’t think we’ll be listening to many songs made in 2024 in, say, five years time.

Nigel Tant 4:31 No, it is extraordinary. As I say. I often ponder on this that, you know, in the 60s, I wasn’t listening to 60 year old music from before the First World War. You know, it’s that sort of age now, and I have to sort it brings me up short to think how long it’s it’s been, yeah, well, I think it You’re right. I back in 2012 we went to see the Beach Boys on their final tour, their 50th Anniversary Tour. Was there, and I took my son, who he. Is now just 40, and he loved it. I mean, he grew up like you. I think hearing this stuff around the house because I play being into my music. I play a lot of music, and they grew up with that, but now they still love all that music, but also more modern music as well. So you’ve got this huge hinterland now of music, which which young people can enjoy and listen to, which we didn’t have we were sort of, I was gonna say, make it up as we went along. But in the 60s, there’s something, there was something new every week, every month, that the pace of change was so huge. Nostalgia wasn’t a thing then, but it is definitely, of course, yeah.

James Goddard 5:37 And because, I think because in that time as well, because it was such a new thing, the records were so much more important. They were a really, really big deal. So there was more onus on actually owning that single, because you had, didn’t have the choice of radio stations that you do nowadays, or listening to music on the internet, you can essentially listen to anything, but before you only have what you had or what your friend had. So it sort of mean. It seemed to mean a lot more. And when, when we’re doing the shows, it’s really amazing, because how many memories it brings back for people, and how it energizes people. I think it’s the one thing I enjoy about doing the older music the most is how it invigorates people and energizes them in a positive way in it, and they’re sort of so over George and to meet do the meet and greet after the show. So we play it seated. I often just walk around the audiences. Lovely place at Seaton gateway, because there’s like a dance floor, which is also fantastic, because there’s not many places that people can go out and dance. You know, if you’re over 50, where do you go to have a dance? What I love about that particular venue as well, which is going to be great on on New Year’s Eve, because people can have a dance and it’s in a safe environment, and listening to some retro music that everyone will know, even the young people know it, but without even realising, sure,

Nigel Tant 7:10 sure, it’s sort of in the DNA. Now I think let’s, let’s hear one of your tracks. Now, you’re kind enough to send me some zoot tracks. We’ll play them all. But what? What should we play? Just as an introduction, then we’ll talk some more obviously after this. But play a good one. Okay, I thought they were all good. You pick one. You know the three you sent me

James Goddard 7:38 California, dreaming. Okay, well, because as I look outside my window, love to be able to see, yeah, a bit of sunshine.
Nigel Tant 7:49 Yeah, it’s and actually, it’s an absolute he wrote. John Phillips wrote this at this sort of time of year about missing the sunshine. So it’s absolutely ideal. I think. Good, good. Good pick, Jamie.

CALIFORNIA DREAMING by THE ZOOTS plays

So I’m talking to Jamie Goddard, lead singer and guitar player. Of course, with the zoots, we didn’t really talk about the membership of the band, did we? Jamie? Who else is in the band?

James Goddard 8:12 It also didn’t mention that I was, I’m a lead kazoo player.
Nigel Tant 8:16 Well, that that’s probably because I didn’t know that Jamie on the website. Go on. Who else have you got in the band?
James Goddard 8:26 Well, we’ve got Harriet Lowther. She’s also a very famous artist made by Harriet. She’s the female singer/ percussionist/ jumps around a lot on stage. And then we’ve got Adam Woodhouse. He’s from the Wild Wild West Midlands. He’s our lead guitarist, but he lives in Wild Wild West Wiltshire now. And we’ve got Neil Hopkins on bass guitar. And we use a couple of different drummers, but basically, if they’re named Simon, they can play drums. So we got, we’ve got three drummers called Simon.

Nigel Tant 9:04 It’s a prerequisite, a prerequisite for being a drummer in the zoo. Yeah.

James Goddard 9:08 And what’s nice about all of the guys, it takes a long time to find the right people, but I’ve known them all for 10 years or so. It’s quite hard to find the right people and and sometimes what happens is, when you’re touring, it doesn’t always suit people’s lifestyles. So sometimes, like my dad had to give up touring when I was born, where he felt that that was the right thing to do. So I know we’ve lost a few people along the way. Yeah, the guys at the moment, good bunch, good bunch. What I like to do is get people that are better than me to make me look better,

Nigel Tant 9:46 so they do the heavy lifting.

James Goddard 9:49 Yeah, exactly.
Nigel Tant 9:53 Now we sort of discussed 60s music in general. But what about the repertoire? How do you decide. I’ve got to play, because you’ve got an awful lot to choose from. And you, yeah,

James Goddard 10:04 it’s a really good point, actually, Nigel and and it takes a long time to know what songs work and in what order. And it is a tricky one, because it depends on the event as well. Because if we’re doing a theater show, you’ve got to sort of ease people in our New Year’s Eve show at Seton gateway, everyone’s going to be dancing from the start. So I kind of choose a different kind of set of songs to start with for that sort of thing, because when you’re doing a week, when we do our theater show, you can do things with like moves, so that people, if they sat on a chair, you can still see us do the shadows moves, or something like Apache, and it is a bit more of a visual aspect, whereas, if it’s a dance, but we’ve got the videos in the background, so you could either watch it. There’s so much to look at, because you’ve got the videos going on and the five members in the band. And we mix up this. I do most of the singing, but everyone takes it in turn to sing a song every so often, but yeah, I generally choose the songs and it’s, it is an art form, and I’m still learning all the time. I’m, I’m always tweaking it. I never keep it the same for that long, because it feels, you know, you’ve got to, have to keep the flow going. If it is a dinner, if it’s a dance, say, say that Seaton Gateway New Zealand gig, it will just be, I don’t think there’ll be a lot of chatting in between. Because whereas if you’re doing a theatre show, you can do more talking, and then you’ve got, actually got more scope then, because if there’s a if you do talking, you can then, you know, change the mood easier. Sure, I’m sure you know from doing that, like from DJing on the radio, is there are certain songs that seem to flow from one genre to the next, because that’s that’s certainly when we do our 70s show. That’s a real challenge, because there’s so many different types of music within the 70s. Yeah, it’s a real art and I guess
Nigel Tant 12:03 it’s interesting answer you gave it Jamie, because you referred to putting a playlist together for a radio show. I mean, I do the gig guide now, so it’s kind of prescripted In a sense, that I play music from who’s the sort of acts that were appearing live. But when I used to do my Sunday afternoon show, I would, I would have exactly the same issue as you have. You can’t do, you know, a handbrake turn from Rock and Roll to just, you know, to country or whatever, unless they absolutely do work together and there’s, oh, you’ve got a link or something like that, yeah. It’s not just the question of going there and playing the first thing you think of now, it’s an interesting point.

James Goddard 12:42 So yeah, handbrake turn is, is a good analogy, really.
Nigel Tant 12:47 Well it’s a big night out for people, isn’t it? You know, the music industry, if I can call it that, show business and entertainment, has gone through a rough patch for all sorts of reasons in recent years. You know, the pandemic, and then I know costs have risen and so on, and people are finding, you know, times have been tight for the audience. It’s very often a big event to go out and see a great band. And yeah, that’s a huge responsibility for you guys, isn’t it?
James Goddard 13:16 It certainly is. And I do sometimes feel that pressure. Just to give you example, we did a show in Wales recently, and we I sang Delilah by Tom Jones, and I was like, and I said to yours, I’m so I’m so nervous about singing this song to you, because that everyone in the audience, some of the best singers in the world, are from Wales. And when you go there, you hear people singing, you think I don’t know why, they just have a natural talent for it just seems that they do for whatever reason. But I was really nervous about singing that song, and it felt like a big responsibility to sing it the lovely people in South Wales, and it was just, but they were just, they sang along every they probably knew the song better than I did, but it’s the power of music, and I think it’s also teeing it up in a way, in a nice way, makes a big difference as well, because if you introduce the song in in a kind of way that makes people listen to it or or maybe feel the personality of the person singing the song. That kind of helps as well. And I guess it’s the same with radio, isn’t it? It’s just but I think that it does, going back to what you said about the because kind of older generation, it does feel like the older generation of, say, 50 plus, are kind of being forgotten about a little bit. It definitely feels like that and and when people come to the to the show shows and say this, because if I want to listen to this music on the radio, I’ve got to get up at five o’clock in the morning. And it does feel to me, it feels a bit naive. Because if I’m honest, I feel that people. Over a certain age know how to enjoy themselves more than than anyone else, because once you get to certain age, you don’t care what people think of you.
Nigel Tant 15:07 Oh, no, I think we should have some more music. I’d like to play your version of miseroo, which probably the title doesn’t mean a lot to a lot of people, but when they hear it, they’ll know it. Do you do this live? This one?
James Goddard 15:21 Yeah, it’s a song that we play quite a lot, and we’ve got some nice little moves to it, because the instrumental kind of, the instrumental music was very, very popular in the early 60s, obviously the shadows and, you know, got to have tail star, which was the first British number one in in America. So it was a really, really big deal and, and certainly at the early part of the 60s and and that. And then this particular song was originally done by Dick Dale, but it’s, but it’s, it’s a traditional song from the Middle East, melody of it, so it kind of, you’ve got this. It hits a lot of buttons. And then it was re released in the 1990s for and it was featured in the film, Tarantino film called Pulp Fiction with John Travolta. Yeah, John Travolta so yeah, for the song that we released then. So it’s, it’s a good one to do in in if you do any song besides stand by me, by Ben E King, it was re released, yeah, quite a few different times. So lots of different generations know have memories of that song, and they have good feelings about that song, and that’s what we try and do a lot. And there’s a few songs like that, Venus by shocking blue that was re released by Bananarama in the 80s. So, you know, a lot of people, sort of my age, would know that song as well as everyone that was there for the for the original version. So I kind of like those, those songs are really quite useful. Because if you’ve got somebody in the audience that’s bought their grandchild, they come along and they know that’s like all the songs we play. So it’s very special.

Nigel Tant 17:14 Yeah, it’s a good point. A lot of music does has cropped up in film soundtracks all the time these days, and they’re very often of that era. It has to be said, right? Let’s listen to Miserlou and then we’ll just talk briefly about what’s going to happen to the Zoots in the next year or so.

MISERLOU the songs plays

So I’m talking to Jamie Goddard, lead singer and guitar player with that band. We’ve talked a lot about the band and the repertoire. Now we need to mention the dates you’re doing. Obviously, the one we’re particularly talking about today is coming up at the Gateway in Seaton. You can get on to well, you can go via the zoots website, or you can go to the Gateway theatre seat and go straight to their website, and you can book on there. It’s just 25 pounds. The party starts at 730 says the zoo is going to come on at 930 you’re going to be going on past midnight, aren’t you? I guess,
James Goddard 18:05 I think so past my bedtime.
Nigel Tant 18:10 It wouldn’t be much of wouldn’t be much of a new year show if you didn’t go on past midnight. But yeah, so go. I think it’s going to be a great, great night out. It’s New Year at the Gateway in Seaton with zoots. It’s Tuesday. Not that going to matter at that time of year, because you don’t know what time then what day of the week is doing Tuesday the 31st of December. Now, what about next year? Jamie, what you got lined up? I know you’re coming to the beehive in Honiton in March. James Goddard 18:38 Yeah, looking forward to that. And that’s it’s a special gig for me, just personally, because we used to go on holidays when when we were growing up, because my uncle used to live there, and he actually used to book gigs in the 70s. And he actually booked The Stranglers for a gig in hollyton, and he booked them, and then they had a big hit with golden brown, and they did the gig for him, even though at that point they’d sort of gone from being like a you know, group selling tickets for small halls to being like known all over the world. So yeah, Jonathan was somewhere that we used to go quite a lot of kids, so it is a special place for me, and, well, the whole area, really, in general, I really do feel that it’s kind of a second home the band from Wiltshire, but we do a lot of stuff in Devon.
Nigel Tant 19:33 Yeah I’ve seen you, as I said, I think right at the top of this interview, I’ve seen your, seen your name crop up on on gigs from from time to time, yeah, yeah. Have you been to, have you played at the beehive before?
James Goddard 19:45 Yeah we’ve did we brought our 80s show there. I think it was in 2022 there’s a great little place. And also, what we find is that we get fans coming. From all over the place, then have a nice weekend away, come and see a show. We’re very lucky to to have lots of really, really dedicated fans, and we’re going back to COVID. And it was, it was a real challenging time. What I started doing was gigs from my house in my garage, doing, kind of just singing at home. And it was a really good way of keeping going with the fan base and just and they sort of, it felt like they became my friends, really, because we it was difficult to chat to people I’d be playing the show. And it’s on YouTube. It’s on the suits YouTube page. So the reason I mentioned it is because I recently started doing it again, because a lot of the people that follow the group are of a certain age. So I thought it’s getting really cold and dark when I start doing this again, and it it’s just a really nice way of interacting with people that enjoy retro music, and it feels very special because all the they’re making friends at the show now. So a lot of people come from all over the place and meet up with the people that they’ve met on the online shows that I’ve been doing. It’s so such a wonderful kind of and then when you play to those people. So for example, last year, the New Year’s Eve, we had people come from Sussex. We had one couple that came all the way from Norfolk, some great support, supporters of us Andy. And then everyone met up for a drink and a meal before, before. And it’s just wonderful. And it feels like a very special environment, and I cannot recommend Seton gateway on news Eve enough. I just, it’s just such a wonderful atmosphere. And it’s, it is so hard to describe, but it’s just, it’s just a celebration. It’s just going to be a celebration of retro music. We’re doing 60s, 70s, and we’re going to finish off with an 80s show, but it’s just, it’s just all fun. You can have another dance. You can sit down all night if you want, and it’s 25 pound, which I know a lot is a lot of money, but I can promise everybody, it’s just a fantastic environment, and an environment that is, it’s a lot of fun. There’s lots of visuals going on in the background and replaying some great music.
Nigel Tant 22:22 Well I think when you look at some ticket prices these days, Jamie, I don’t think 25 pounds for a New Year’s Eve party with such a great band as the suits is excessive at all. I think it’s a I think that’s a real bargain. And well done to you for keeping the ticket prices very reasonable. I think so. Yeah, well done to you guys. James Goddard 22:43 Yeah, it is challenging, because the costs of everything going up all the time, just transport costs and stuff like that, and just cost of the crew now is is probably double what it was before COVID, and I kind of have to absorb that cost. I mean, I wouldn’t say I really do it for the money, but I just need to make sure that I can it’s not costing us money. But yeah, thanks for saying it. Nigel,

Nigel Tant 23:07 no, I wouldn’t say if I didn’t mean it. Either. Jamie, believe me, it’s been a lovely chat. We could talk forever about this is such a great subject for me, obviously being a music fan. So just a reminder, in case you didn’t pick up, that the suits are playing at the Gateway in Seaton on 31st of December, at the gate, as I say, at the gate, we can book. There’s a link on the zoots website. I can go straight to the gateway in Seton and buy your tickets there, 25 pounds each, and we’ll talk again, Jamie, sometime in the new year, before you come to Huntington. That’d be great. And then we can, yeah, then we’ve got the excuse to talk some more.
James Goddard 23:49 Thank you, Nigel, and thanks for your great work. I think it’s fantastic what you do for the radio station. It makes a difference to a lot of people.

Nigel Tant 23:57 Well, thank you. That’s That’s very kind of you to say that. Thanks very much indeed. Yeah, oh, that’s made me feel funny now. Thank you. I’ve got, yeah, I got one more track of yours to play. And we were talking about California earlier, and this is another, obviously a California based song from the Beach Boys. And, yeah, this has been a little bit of sunshine into these dull days weren’t it? Do you play much Beach Boys at all?
James Goddard 24:23 I love the Beach Boys. And when I was growing up, my dad used to play the Beach Boys in his car all the time, and he would sing all the different harmony parts of he was a great singer. Yeah, brings about a lot of memories. I just always loved the Beach Boys, but it is also one of the hard ones to replicate, because they’ve got, they’ve got four amazing singers, and they’re amazing singers, and Brian, Brian Wilson was so good at kind of directing it all and getting everyone to sing all those heavenly harmonies. But it is hard. Because, also because I love them so much I want it to be better than anything else any other song would do, because it kind of if means a lot to me. But you’ve also got to try and put on a performance as well. So yeah, I love the Beach Boys. Just brings back so many nice feelings and and they’ve got some such fantastic songs. But yeah, we do love the Beach Boys. Okay,
Nigel Tant 25:22 well, let’s play surfing USA. And once again, Jamie, it’s been great to talk to you. Thanks so much for joining us here, on down here, Radio. Thank you.
James Goddard 25:30 Thank you. Bye.