Video
April 2, 2006. At midday on the stage of a
disused, half-wrecked theatre at the back of Alexandra Palace, next to the
ice-skating rink, are two men who look very slightly like the Pet Shop Boys.
They are dressed in one-piece orange body suits and appear to be attempting
a clumsy recreation of the "Can you forgive her?" video. There
is a giant fake ostrich egg with them, and they are pushed across the dry
stage in a poorly-constructed boat, as cameras film them.
"It's an absolute masterpiece," declares Neil Tennant, when they
stop. He is standing halfway back on the theatre floor, close to the wall
where a stack of mannequins have been
unceremoniously piled. "It's already fantastic. That's enough, really:'
The two men onstage wave. The shorter, in the Chris Lowe role, is Matt Lucas;
the taller, in the Neil Tennant role, is David Walliams. The idea for the
video is, Neil says, that, "They've kidnapped us and are forcing us
to watch Pet Shop Boys: The Musical:'
Neil and Chris have known Matt and David
- now two of Britain's most famous comedians and actors because of their
show Little Britain
- for many years. Famously, when they performed the song "Liberation"
on Top Of The Pops in 1993, they got chatting to this tall, strange man
in the front row of the audience between takes. (Literally remembers well
them talking about him when they went back to their dressing room.) In 1996
when they went on Ant and Dec's TV show, they were surprised to find the
same man working as a writer on the show - David Walliams, and from then
on they kept bumping into him around town and became friends. They were
later told that Matt had also been at Top Of The Pops - he had enjoyed a
separate early fame of his own on the Reeves & Mortimer spoof quiz show
Shooting Stars, and had also appeared in the video for Fat Les's "Vindaloo".
And they both were regulars at Pet Shop Boys events. David suggested a while
back that they'd like them to be in one of the Pet Shop Boys videos, and
they'd agreed that would be good, but were still a little surprised to read
in The Sun towards the end of last year that they were going to be in the
next Pet Shop Boys video. Still, says Neil, "We thought 'I'm with Stupid'
would be the song for them, because it suggested humour. So after they'd
announced that they were doing it, we asked them if they would like to do
it." Once that was agreed, they needed an idea. They considered having
David and Matt play Tony Blair and George Bush at one point, in keeping
with the song's political satire, but they decided against it. This idea
was Matt's.
Matt and David film the scene a couple more times. As they do so the song
that is playing, of course, is not "Can you forgive
her?" but "I'm with Stupid".
"The important thing when you come to a video shoot," says Neil,
"is: what does the track sound like?" He's pleased. "The
track sounds great." He remarks that he has also just been told that
it is number 9 on the Croatian national radio chart. "We're doing two
Croatian interviews," he says, "and our first ever Bulgarian interview:'
In the car park there is a caravan for Neil, Chris, Matt and David to
relax in between shots and to change clothes. Chris is yet to arrive,
but Neil, David and Matt retire to discuss pressing issues of the day.
"We saw the Will Young video today," says Matt. "It's very
good."
"What's he done?" asks Neil.
"Blue Pete,<' says Matt.
"He's camping it up a lot' notes David.
"Did you see the Top Gun one?" says Neil. "I'm astonished
how the record company spend so much money making them an event:'
"I just think they should have gone for a good lace wig, rather than
an acrylic thing," says Matt.
They discuss whether it's strange that Will Young should be recreating
Blue Peter eras which he is too young to have watched.
"People often have nostalgia for something they weren't around for,"
says David.
"I had an argument with a friend about whether John Noakes had a
hairy chest," says Neil. "I got the Blue Peter annual, and there
he was, diving into a pool, and he did have a hairy chest:' He nods. "But
we never liked Peter Purves."
"Did you ever go on Jim'll Fix It?" Matt asks him. "Did
anyone want to meet you?"
"No," says Neil, answering the first question, if not the second.
They are called back into the theatre. A few minutes later, Chris sweeps
in and takes in the scene.
"There's a lot going on in here' he says.
"Chris, it looks fantastic," says Neil.
"Well, that's a relief, isn't it?" says Chris.
He says how nice North London seemed on his way up here. "Oooh, satellite
navigation was a good buy," he adds.
Matt and David come over to say hello.
"It's very good of you to do this on your day off," says Chris.
David holds out his hand. "Big fan," he says, earnestly.
"Thirty quid is 30 quid," shrugs Matt.
This leads them to discuss the things people say when you meet them. Neil
mentions that he was recently introduced to the legendary - or perhaps
even notorious - movie impresario Harvey Weinstein who said, "Loved
your work on Crying Game".
"Did you produce that for George?" asks Matt.
Neil nods. "That was the moment when I thought George had got over
the bad review in Smash Hits in 1982. And for a while he did. But not
for long."
"What did you say?" asks Matt.
"I said he sounded a bit like David Sylvian," says Neil. He
explains that it wasn't just that. "I hated their first album."
When they go back outside, they are shown something quite remarkable about
this Winnebago. In its boot it has a Smart car.
"We must have that on tour," says Chris.
Back in the theatre, the Pet Shop Boys stand
by a stuffed ostrich and watch the proceedings.
It's quite a production.
"Well, I see where the money's gone," says Chris. "I've
never seen as many people at work on a video shoot. It's a proper video,
this."
"It's a video video' says Neil. "They're very good as us. I
wonder if they'd like to do Top Of The Pops. It'd be great if they were
us." A pause. "Of course a certain proportion of people wouldn't
realise:'
"You know we're going to be here till three in the morning,"
Chris predicts.
"Absolutely," says Neil.
"We can go ice-skating while we're waiting," says Chris.
Dave Dorrell suggests that they come into town with him and have lunch
at The Ivy.
"We've time for that, and dinner at The Ivy, probably," says
Chris.
But of course they stay. There's catering here, anyway. Chris orders the
chicken, ham and leek pie, and Neil opts for the soy cod and stir-fry
vegetables.
"This whole area," says Neil, "reminds me of being at North
London Polytechnic. My girlfriend Caroline lived close to here, on Alexandra
Park Road."
In the next
scene, Matt stabs the keyboard with a single finger, but only after David
- who is wearing ugly false teeth - has prompted him with a nudge.
"It's too cruel," laughs Chris.
"We'll have to sue ourselves for libel," Neil suggests.
"What's great is;' says Chris, "isn't the orange jumpsuit what
people wear in mental institutions? Or was it on chain gangs?"
David Walliams swans over.
"It's a bit of fun, isn't it?" he says in a camp voice.
"People are going to watch it and think, 'oooh, Chris has put on
weight' ," says Matt.
"Pet Shop Boys Gormiess, the new album," says Neil. "Maybe
that'll be the new video compilation, Gormiess."
Back in the Winnebago, David asks about
the summer touring plans and Neil says, "I was thinking of having
a huge open air gig on the day of the World Cup Final for people who hate
football:' He tells David that the fashion designer Hedi Slimane has become
a fan of Little Britain.
"When Imeethim;' says David,"I just think he's thinking, 'you're
not thin enough for my clothes'
Meanwhile Chris asks the video production people if they can send someone
to fetch some chocolate. More specifically, he wants an Easter Egg: "A
proper Easter Egg with chocolate buttons on the inside." He suggests
that maybe they should get a few, just in case. A runner is sent in the
Smart car.
Matt asks a question.
"Do you read your reviews?" he says.
"Yeah;' says Chris. "I don't go out of my way to:'
They discuss the debates that were had over the choice of first single
from Fundamental. The British record company had decided that it should
be "Minimal", whereas Neil and Chris had always assumed it would
probably be "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show". It was the German
record company who were immediately keen on "I'm with Stupid".
"What's the last single you had which crossed over?" asks David.
"'Go West';' says Neil.
Someone comes to take pudding orders. Both Little Britainers plump for
Bakewell tart, Chris selects the bread and butter pudding, and Neil wants
nothing.
The discussion moves on to the faults of the contemporary musical.
"Oliver!;' says Neil, by way of contrast, "every song is between
excellence and genius. But when we went to see Les Mis is 1986 or 1987
we hated it. We left after 20 minutes. And we left because it was crap."
Then they talk about the photos in this week's tabloids purporting to
be of Whitney Houston's private crack den.
"It was so sad, those pictures;' says Chris.
"It was horrible," Neil agrees.
"It was so untidy," says Chris.
David and Matt go to film an interview about Neil and Chris for the forthcoming
Channel 4 documentary.
"We're going to go and slag you off;' David assures them.
"How long have you been together?" Matt asks.
"Twenty-five years;' says Neil.
"I might add ten years to that;' says Matt.
"You don't mind, do you?"
As they walk across the car park, David shouts back, "Don't eat all
the Easter Eggs when they come."
Neil has calamitously lost his mobile phone in the week by leaving it
in a taxi - losing not just numbers but loads of song ideas - and asks
to go through Chris's phone address book to copy out some numbers. Patiently,
he begins to do so. "That's a good trio, isn't it?" he mutters
when he reaches the Ds. "David Furnish, David Walker, David Walliams..."
(Later Neil will tell David of how, over Christmas, his phone was stolen
temporarily by his nieces specifically because they wanted to find David
Walliams phone number.)
In the theatre, Literally walks by just as David and Matt are finishing
their TV interview.
..... the greatest pop act of the last twenty years," says David.
Matt pauses. "Almost as good as Erasure." As he gets up he starts
singing~ from "Electricity"~ "it's the greatest show with
the best effects..."
Back in the Winnebago Matt tells them what he has just said.
"You bitch' says Neil.
"We'll cut that ouC' says Chris.
They need to change now into their yellow (Matt) and blue (David) "Go
West" jumpsuits, though for a while David wanders between costumes
in his black underwear. "Just wandering around in my pants, slightly
enjoying it' he says.
"Yours is more comfy than mine," says Matt, once the outfits
are eventually on. "Mine's all sticky."
As everyone walks out into the open air, a fan rushes up, breathless at
the sight of Matt and David.
"What are you doing?" he asks.
"We're filming a pop video for them," says Matt, gesturing at
Neil and Chris.
"Erasure," David explains.
Matt's mother
now turns up, along with a
journalist called Boyd Hilton who usually works for Heat magazine but
is currently writing a book about David and Matt and has been following
them on their mammoth Little Britain tour. Matt asks his mother about
the idea Neil has just suggested which the Pet Shop Boys came up with
in the studio the other day
- doing a World Cup record sung by all the Little Britain characters to
the tune of "Go West"~ its chorus being the football chant "we're
shit and we know we are". (They thought of it because they'd read
in a tabloid that Matt and David were planning to do a World Cup song
with them though, like so many things in such tabloids, this turns out
to be another random fiction.)
"Is it too rude?" Matt asks his mother. "Is 'shit' too
rude?" echoes David. "It's a shame, but yeah," says Matt's
mother.
"It'd be better doing 'two-nil to the Arsenal'. That'd be much better.
Why does it have to be when they're doing badly? Why can't it be when
they're doing well?"
"You wrote that," Matt points out to Neil and Chris, talking
about the specific melody on their version of "Go West". "The
Village People sang a different tune." He sings the two versions.
"Did we?" asks Neil. "I only listened to it once."
They discuss the surprising use of a swearword in the real non-radio version
of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful". (When Matt's mother says
the word in question, Matt looks shocked and says that he has never heard
her say it before.)
"We've never had a swearword in a song, I don't think$' says Neil.
"One, Chris won't let me."
Matt asks about the swearing in Sex Pistols songs - Neil is able to quote
the relevant texts in detail - and David mentions Philip Larkin and starts
quoting some of his less restrained lines.
"It's incredible," he says, of the poetry rather than the obscenities.
"It's all so bleak' says Neil.
David mentions that he recently gave a friend some Philip Larkin poetry,
and also some Bob Dylan lyrics with particular songs marked:
"Idiot Wind", "You're A Big Girl Now", "Love
Sick", "Make You Feel My Love". This prompts Chris to recall
the trip he and Neil made to see Bob Dylan at the Brixton Academy late
last year. "He sings on one note," Chris complains. "But
I think we stayed longer than we thought we would. He's very charismatic."
David asks Neil about the outfit he wore at the Brits - a new Dior affair
from the forthcoming season's collection - and offers a very firm opinion
about neckwear. He thinks that there should be bow ties and real ties,
but nothing in between. Neil disagrees. "I like the fact that it
looks like a puritan preacher thing. Because bow ties always look a bit
waiter-y."
Then he mentions the protests during Condeleeza Rice's visit to northern
England, and they discuss how muted such protests are these days. Neil
notes how much the political environment has changed since he was a student
in the seventies, when even the Labour party was considered some kind
of right-wing sell-out. "When I was at North London Poly, if you
voted Labour you were considered a Nazi." He says that if someone
had spoken to him in 1976 he would have seemed as though he fitted in
with that kind of world view. "At the same time I used to read Evelyn
Waugh's books," he says. "That was just a completely different
part of my brain."
Boyd Hilton asks what people thought of the April Fool's story in The
Guardian, making-believe at great length that Chris Martin had signed
up to support David Cameron's Conservative party.
"I know someone who believed it," says Neil. (Chris says nothing
now, though earlier he had been laughing about it.). "I put our new
album cover art on our website, not realising it was April 1st,"
says Neil, "and in the comments they said, 'Come on, it's obviously
a joke, it's April 1st."'
Matt and David argue about whose orange shoes are whose - they both get
slightly insistent, even though the next shot is a close-up.
"That's how groups break up," Neil notes. "It isn't over
the royalties, it's over the plimsolls."
Matt and David are soon back, the shot done.
"We're whizzing through the scenes now, aren't we?" says Chris.
"Are you getting fed up?" Neil asks them.
"No, no, no, not at all' says David. "We just don't want to
be here too late:'
"We don't start getting filmed until you finish," Neil points
out.
"Our first video shoot lasted... what time?" asks Chris.
"Twenty-four hours," says Neil.
"That's illegal," Matt points out.
David asks whether they have got lots of unreleased songs they can put
on a boxed set in due course. They shake their heads. Pretty much everything
has been used in their deluxe reissues.
"We could always write some," Chris suggests. Some unreleased
1985 songs, some unreleased 1988 songs, and so on.
"I love the idea of that;' says Neil. "Do some with Stephen
Hague, some with Bobby
0..."
Back in the theatre, Matt and David are told that they have one more shot.
"Are they nearly done?" worries Chris. "They're going to
miss the dinner."
"That's probably not as much of a priority for them as it is for
you, Chris' says Neil.
At ten minutes past eight, the crew applaud. Matt and David are finished.
Nearly. One of the video crew runs up to David. "A slightly bizarre
request," he says. "I need to take a photo of the back of your
hand."
David acquiesces. "I get that a lot," he says.
(Presumably, it's for continuity purposes.)
"I wish we'd been in it with you somehow," says David. (They
have filmed no scenes together, though it will appear as though they are
communicating with each other in the video.) "I'd have liked to have
interacted with you."
"Next video," says Neil.
"'Numb'?" suggests David.
"We shouldn't really do 'Numb' as a comedy single, should we?"
wonders Chris.
"'Numb' would be a good second single," says David.
"I like 'A Little Respect' ," says Matt.
"That nearly went over my head," says Neil, projecting a slight
edge into his voice. "But it didn't."
The Little
Britain stars leave, the lamb curry
arrives and the Pet Shop Boys discuss fund-raising scandals in contemporary
politics.
"They're all a let down, the lot of them;' says Neil. "That's
what bugs me."
Time passes, and there is no sign of them being called to film their shot.
A man from the video eventually comes to visit them.
"You're not going to need us for a long time;' says Chris.
"I don't think so," he says, uneasily.
"That wasn't a question;' Neil explains to him, "that was a
statement."
They watch a bit of Frasier on the TV and discuss the pros and cons of
Zane Lowe, then flick over to VH2. The programme is called The Nation's
Greatest Lyricist.
"Marc!" exclaims Neil upon seeing Marc Bolan.
"Or is it Goldfrapp?" wonders Chris.
They watch on.
"How come our nation's greatest lyricist, sitting in this room, is
not nominated?" wonders Chris.
He sits in the make-up chair.
"I'm terrified Tony Blair is going to resign before 'I'm with Stupid'
comes out;' worries Neil. "Just like we were terrified Margaret Thatcher
was going to lose the 1987 election just before Actually came out, ruining
our album about Thatcherism, even while voting Labour."
He mentions that they've just recorded over 50 ringtones.
"To my mind they're the best ringtones ever done."
"And we've written three of them;' says Chris. (Three brand new pieces
of music, he
means, rather than based on existing songs.)
"The 'I'm with Stupid' one, just with brass, it's brilliant - it's
so annoying," says Neil. "It could give you a nervous breakdown."
Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall Pt 2" comes on the TV
and Chris insists on changing channel.
"Neil, it's your video;' he says. "You like this, don't you?"
"Oh, I love it' says Neil. It is Blink 182's video for "All
The Small Things". "This is when they were good. I love it when
they do the Backstreet Boys."
"I don't like this type of music though," Chris objects. "It
sounds like Busted."
The waiting continues.
"This is what happens when you make a film, isn't it?" says
Neil. "You stay in the Winnebago and you get cosy and slightly hysterical
and you get a slightly sleazy feeling because you've had make-up on all
day..."
They are supposed to be tied up and bound with ropes: David and Matt's
prisoners. Worrying about that might pass the time.
"I might suffer from claustrophobia," says Chris. "Have
you thought of that, Neil?"
"Yes," he says. "I'm already assuming I will be."
Chris laughs. "After all this, we won't be able to do it."
Neil sighs. "Oh, it's been a long day, hasn't it?"
"It has;' Chris agrees. "I feel like we've been here for days."
"It's always tiring, doing nothing," Neil points out.
At ten minutes past ten they are told, not for the first time, they must
wait 15 minutes more.
"They said that over 15 minutes ago," Chris objects. "I'm
leaving soon:' He answers a phone call. "We're still here... No,
we haven't done anything yet... I reckon we'll be here till
11..."
"Eleven?" queries Neil. "More like midnight."
Chris flicks through the channels some more until eventually - much more
than 15 minutes later - they are called to the set. Neil
puts on his top hat and checks himself in the mirror. "You know what
this hat is?" he realises. "It's Marc Bolan on the cover of
The Slider."
They take their seats, and ropes are coiled around them - as loosely as
possibly whilst still trying to give the impression that they are tightly-bound
and completely constricted. The director tries to convince them that they
should react in various animated ways to their predicament, but their
intuition is otherwise.
"I sort of think the Pet Shop Boys, being captured, would be indifferent;'
says Neil. "We'd be nonchalant."
The director asks whether, when asked, "Did you enjoy the show?",
they can look at each other and offer a reaction.
Neil looks at Chris. "That would be acting, wouldn't it?" he
says, as though there may be little they disapprove of more. "We
can try it."
It's decided that after they look at each other, Neil will yawn. The first
time they do it, he yawns exactly as he does in real life - the same kind
of real yawn seen on the Actually sleeve.
"Smaller yawn next time;' instructs the director.
"Is that not a small yawn?" Neil wonders. He does it a few times,
and they still suggest the yawn could be reduced. He tries to accommodate
them. Between takes he gives another huge, real yawn of his own and sings
to himself some Kraftwerk: "we're showroom dummies..."
"We give a lot, don't we?" sighs Chris.
They want to try something else, so now Neil reacts by kind of shrugging
with his face as he tips his head.
"I hope they don't feel they have to keep us here to justify the
cost;' says Chris.
They are wrapped by 1130pm, after a long day's hanging around and maybe
40 minutes on set.
"I notice we don't get a round of applause;' says Chris. He's not
too serious. "That wasn't too bad, was it?" he says in the Winnebago
as he grabs one of the spare Easter Eggs to take home. "Can't wait
to see it, actually."
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