This week Jamie was interviewed by Steve Saville from Forest FM to talk about the debut Sounds of the 60s show at Verwood Hub.
Being on the radio really helps us to continue and spread the word of our shows as we need to sell about 75 % of the tickets to cover our costs.
Here is the transcrpit of the interview
Steve:
This is Steve Savile on Forest FM.
There’s a great show coming to the Verwood Hub on Friday 18 September. It’s The Zoots, performing their Sounds of the Sixties show.
Step back in time and experience the unforgettable sounds of the swinging 60s. Join them for a spectacular show packed with classic hits from one of music’s most iconic decades.
On the line to tell us all about it is Jamie Goddard.
Hi, Jamie. How are you?
Jamie:
Hi! Brilliant, thank you very much for having me on Forest FM. It’s great to be here.
Steve:
You’re very welcome.
We’re looking forward to you coming to the Verwood Hub. It’s a great venue. Have you been there before?
Jamie:
No, it’s our first time.
Tickets are doing really well, but there are still a few left. If anyone wants to come along, we’ve got a great show in store.
We’ve got 69 songs from the 60s in the show.
Steve:
Sixty-nine songs?
Jamie:
In two hours!
Steve:
Wow! That’s a lot of songs.
And it’s not just the music. You’ve got the costumes, the vibrant visuals and everything else as well, haven’t you?
Jamie:
Yes. We’ve put together a video show as well.
We’ve performed all around the world, and it’s a great show. We really enjoy doing it and it’s a lot of fun.
We’ve got a great band too, including a couple of younger members. We’re all quite young, I suppose, but our drummer is 22 and you can’t take your eyes off him!
Steve:
Of course, some of the band weren’t around in the 60s!
I’m getting on a bit, and I was a young lad in the 60s. I remember all these fantastic bands coming out, starting with The Beatles and The Beach Boys, and all those incredible songs.
It was an amazing decade, wasn’t it? In my opinion, it has to be one of the greatest decades in music.
Jamie:
There were so many really good bands and so many great songs.
They’re songs that people of all ages are still listening to today, which is fantastic.
Steve:
Quite often, younger people listen to their parents’ music and get hooked on it.
The 60s was such an innovative period.
Jamie:
Absolutely.
We get quite a lot of young people at our concerts because people bring their children and grandchildren.
That’s how I got into 60s music myself. My parents were married in 1969, so there were Beatles, Rolling Stones and Kinks records in the house. That’s how I discovered it.
Steve:
So will you be doing some Beatles and Stones?
Jamie:
Absolutely!
Steve:
Tell us what we can expect from the show. Who’s going to be on stage?
Jamie:
There are five of us in the band.
We’ve got Harriet Lowther, our female vocalist and percussionist. As I mentioned, we’ve got Charlie Gregory on drums, who’s 22.
Then there are two guitarists — myself and Pete Emery — and Neil Hopkins on bass.
We all take turns singing, and we swap things around a little bit during the show.
There’s an acoustic section too, and there’s lots of banter. We try to keep the whole thing light and fun.
Steve:
Having a female vocalist is important too, isn’t it? Otherwise you couldn’t really cover artists such as Cilla Black or Helen Shapiro.
Jamie:
Yes. It was something we added when we started doing more theatre shows.
We brought in a female singer and percussionist, and it gives us much more variety.
It’s also great visually because you can have different costumes. Harriet has some fantastic outfits, including the go-go boots.
Steve:
These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ — that’s a good one!
Jamie:
Yes, that’s almost a signature tune for Harriet. We definitely do that one.
The 60s is such a great decade that it’s incredibly difficult to choose the songs.
Steve:
You could be on stage for six hours and still miss some of the best songs of the decade.
Jamie:
Absolutely!
Steve:
You sing and play as well. What instruments do you play?
Jamie:
I mainly play 12-string guitar and acoustic guitar.
I started The Zoots in 2009, and since then we’ve travelled to 44 countries and performed more than 1,500 shows.
I’ve been incredibly lucky to travel all over the world with The Zoots, playing predominantly 60s music.
Steve:
They love 60s music in Europe, especially places such as Germany, the Netherlands and France, don’t they?
Jamie:
Absolutely — and Belgium as well.
It’s also very popular in America, particularly the whole British Invasion era: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who and bands like the Dave Clark Five.
Steve:
Oh, the Dave Clark Five! I remember sitting there pretending to play along on the drums.
Glad All Over, Catch Us If You Can, Bits and Pieces — some great records.
Have you ever been to China?
Jamie:
No, but apparently my music has been used in China as part of the national curriculum.
Unfortunately, I haven’t made any money from it!
But China is somewhere I’d really like to visit. It’s just finding the time.
Sometimes you get asked to perform in unusual places. We were once offered a gig in the Falkland Islands, but it was going to take about four days for us to do one day’s work, so we couldn’t make it fit with the schedule.
I remember asking, “How are we going to get all our equipment there?”
And they said, “You can drive your van straight onto the plane.”
Steve:
Wow! An RAF transport plane?
Jamie:
Yes. They’d strap the whole thing down.
Steve:
That would have been really cool!
Jamie:
It would!
Sometimes you get offered these amazing opportunities, but if you’re already busy, it can be difficult to make them work with the rest of the schedule.
Steve:
The show is on Friday 18 September at the Verwood Hub, starting at 7:30pm.
How can people get tickets?
Jamie:
You can go to thezoots.com, or you can get them through the Verwood Hub box office.
Steve:
And I believe you can also buy them online through the Verwood Hub website.
Jamie:
Yes, absolutely.
We generally point people towards thezoots.com because all of our dates are listed there.
If you can’t make this particular show, we have plenty of others coming up.
We’re also playing The Regent in Christchurch on 4 December, and we’ve got lots of other shows around the area.
Steve:
Excellent.
We’re really looking forward to you coming down.
We love our 60s music here on Forest FM too, so shall we finish with These Boots Are Made for Walkin’?
Jamie:
Absolutely. That’s a good one.
Steve:
Jamie, thanks very much for having a chat with us, and good luck with the show at the Verwood Hub on Friday 18 September.
Jamie:
Thank you so much, and thanks for having me on Forest FM.
[“These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” plays]
