Update from Sophie

 

Hello Sophie, how are you?

 

I’m not too bad thank you. The weather’s horrible, but I’ve got the day to myself for the first timein ages, which is quite nice. Sonny’s got lots of social appointments today.

 

Really?

 

Yeah, he’s meeting this friend and that friend. But it means I’ve got no excuse not to do the things I’ve been putting off.

 

Maybe you deserve a day of chilling.

 

No, I don’t think I do. This French DJ guy has given me some tracks that he wants me to write over and they need to be done by the end of February, so today is a really good day to get started.

 

So you’ll listen to the track and then what?

 

Just try and write the top line melody and the words.

 

If it sounds happy do you have to make the lyrics happy?

 

Well, sometimes it can work quite well to put sad words on a cherry song. People like Abba, The Carpenters and The Cardigans were always quite good at that sort of thing. But first of all I’ll have to write the vocal melody. That’s the most important thing.

 

Does that involve a lot of la, la, la-ing?

 

Yes! I can confirm I will definitely be la-ing.

 

Do you find yourself la-ing other songs that already exist?

 

That can happen, but then probably every tune has been done before in a certain way. It’s the timing of the phrasing that makes all the difference.

 

So it’s the first time we’ve spoken in a little while. How as your Christmas?

 

It was really lovely., thanks. I was a a little bit spaced out on Christmas Day itself, though, having just come back from the Take That tour in Manchester. I left Manchester at about 10am on Christmas Eve with Richard and Sonny, then we went back home to London, chucked a load of stuff out the care and put a load of other stuff back in and then went down to Sussex where my dad is. So I was quite tired on Christmas Day.

 

Did you get any good presents?

 

I got lots of lovely things actually. Richard brought me a Chanel handbag which I was pretty overshelmed by.

 

You don’t own 20 of them already?

 

Not at all – this is my first designer handbag! I don’t normally covet that sort of thing, but the Chanel is so classic it doesn’t really go in and out of fashion, its just a permanent staple. I really like it.

 

And then you worked on New Year’s Eve.

 

I did. I was in Romania. It was fun, but the gig itself was the coldest show I’ve ever done in my whole life. I thought I was going to lose a finger or something. It was freezing!

 

Can you not wear gloves while you’re holding the microphone?

 

Well, I was supposed to, but my brother, who was drumming, didn’t have any gloves, so I gave him mine, because he obviously had to use his hands the whole time.

 

Did the cold affect your voice?

 

Not really. It was more that my body was shivering. It was properly cold. I was told there would be heaters on the stage, so I brought a little dress with me, but when I got there it was obvious that the heaters weren’t going to be enough, so I wore a version of what I’d been wearing on the plane. So I did have a dress on, but it was with thick tights and a big cardigan too!

 

Did you go out afterwards?

 

Yeah, we went to this massive club which holds about 4,000 people. It wasn’t a house club, though. They had a live band doing covers and go-go dancers. Then when the DJs came on they played things like Jive Bunny and Wham! and stuff. It was great fun.

 

Weren’t you DJing with Richard recently?

 

Yes, we did our first DJ set last Friday in Shepherd’s Bush, at a place called West Rocks. And we’ve got a couple more bookings coming up.

 

And your DJ name is Mr. & Mrs. Jones?

 

It is! I though it was quite good. And it’s accurate!

 

Are you available for weddings and birthday parties?

 

Potentially, yeah. I still can’t quite take it seriously, but it’s fun.

 

Do you do one record on, one record off?

 

Not literally, but it does tend to work out like that. Richard plays things like Rage Against The Machine and I’ll play things like Toni Basil. So its quite eclectic. I wasn’t sure about him playing Rage Against The Machine. Richard actually bumped into Sean Rowley from Guilty Pleasures a little while ago and he told him you should always play music for girls, because girls are the ones who dance. So I thought Rage Against The Machine might be a bad choice, but it went down probably the best out of the whole set. I’ve never seen anything like it. The place went mental.

 

Will you be setting up a website for Mr. & Mrs. Jones?

 

I think that’s the plan. Once we’ve done a few more, we’ll do a MySpace with photos and that kind of thing.

 

So, we should probably talk about the postponed gigs.

 

Yeah, let’s do it. It’s been really awkward. I had to postpone the tour, but I really didn’t want to. Every singer wants to go out there on the road with their band, it’s the most fun bit! We’ve all been looking forward to it and we’ve all got loads of ideas. But, it doesn’t make any sense for anyone to tour if you haven’t got a single out. So we’ve put it back until we do. It sounds like something taken really lightly, but it really isn’t.

 

Why has the single gone back?

 

Well, there was quite a lot of pressure on me to get it done before Christmas, but I wasn’t really comfortable with that. I was obviously really busy with the Take That tour and then having to come down to London to try and record amidst that felt like I was slightly compromising myself. Plus, I wasn’t 100% certain that we actually had the song. Maybe we do, but it all felt a bit like putting the cart before the horse to have the pressure to get the single in time for the tour, rather than doing the tour because you’ve got the single.

 

So what’s the latest with the single?

 

Well, I’m waiting to get the Freemasons track back any day. I did my vocals at the beginning of the year and I’m really happy with it. And there’s a couple of other things that might turn out to be really good. But it’s really important to me that I get it right.

 

But at the same time, you can presumably understand the fans’ frustration at the tour postponement?

 

Completely. That’s why I went on the site and posted a message about it, and why I asked if we could give away a free download. I felt awful. I go on the website all the time to have a look what people are saying and I can completely sympathise that it was incredibly frustrating to move the tour.

 

And the tour will definitely go ahead?

 

Yes, it is going to happen.

 

And you’re going to make it worth waiting for?

 

Absolutely! I think I’ll have a better tour and a better single because we’ve not rushed it. I don’t just want to sling any old thing out there.

 

In other recent news, you did ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’ a couple of weeks ago.

 

Yes, that was fun. I know Simon’s not everybody’s favourite, but I really like him. I think he’s funny and smart, so I was happy to do it. And it was quite strange, cos it was exactly ten years on from the only other time I’ve done it, when I was in theaudience.

 

To clarify, you were in theaudience, but on the panel and not in the audience.

 

Exactly! They film it for two and a half hours, but I haven’t actually watched it, because I don’t really like watching myself on telly, so I’m not sure which bits they used. But you always kick yourself for days afterwards when you suddenly think of funny things you should’ve said!

 

And you also did the hundreds and thousands pictures with Rankin last week.

 

Yes. That was something I couldn’t really pass us.

 

Were you literally naked under them? Or did you have underwear on?

 

yes, I didn’t actually get in naked, that would be ridiculous! I wouldn’t do that. I actually thought they were going to Photoshop the hundreds and thousands in, but then I got there and there was like a sandpit filled with them. I really liked Rankin, though. Actually, like the Buzzcocks thing, I did my first ever proper photoshoot with my band with Rankin, for Dazed and Confused. And this was the first time I’ve worked with him since. It seems like this is the year where I’ll do all the things I did ten years ago.

 

What else would that include?

 

The NME Brat Bus tour. But I don’t really fancy doing that again!

 

So what was this hundreds and thousands thing about?

 

It’s the National Children’s Society and they’re collecting childhood memories from all sorts of different people, from celebrities to people in shipping centres. It’s to do with the fact that the UK is apparently one of the worst places to grow up in the developed world. So they’re collecting hundreds and thousands of happy memories to remind people what a good childhood should be like.

 

And you sitting in a sandpit of hundreds and thousands was just a good way to draw attention to that?

 

Exactly. I did see that there was an angry letter from somewhere in the London Lite or something saying, “I don’t understand why having an apparently naked Sophie in hundreds and thousands illustrates childhood memories”. But I suppose it made for more of a talking point than me sitting there in a duffle coat!

 

Do you keep a scrapbook of photo shoots like that?

 

I don’t actively seek things out, but if I’ve got an article I tend to rip it out and keep it. Actually, we did some more straightforward portrait shots too and Rankin said they might go in his next book. So I’d probably get one of those if they were in there.

 

It must be nice to have all those pictures to look back on.

 

Definitely. I’ve been really lucky to work with some amazing photographers. I really feel like I’ve been really spoiled with it all.

 

And have you been finding hundreds and thousands in your hair ever since?

 

Well, I had a shower when I was there, so that washed most of them off. But when I was walking around the next day I felt like there was something in my shoe all day and, sure enough, I eventually discovered it was a hundred and thousand!

:lol: Shes hilarious :wub:

Although its a shame the single has been put back I'm satisfied by her reasons...it better be good after all this lol!