Are there many better ways to start 2019 than by listening to music of one of the world’s most recognisable rock bands & doing so in one of the world’s most iconic architectural buildings? January 3rd & 4th sees Adelaide’s Zep Boys along with a 30-piece orchestra, gracing the stage of the Sydney Opera House to perform 20 hits from the Led Zeppelin songbook. Fronted by the insanely charismatic Vince Contarino, Led Zeppelin Masters Live along with The Black Dog Orchestra, return to Sydney for the 4th year running, before heading to the UK in April for a 10-show tour, which ends at the fabled Hammersmith Odeon, currently named the Eventim Apollo. The tour then takes a small leap over to Europe for 6 more dates, before returning home to Australian shores. The Rockpit managed to chat to an extremely excited Vince about playing at The Opera House, how they got to work with orchestras and where his love for music all began…
Vince: Sean, how are you mate? My last interview of the day so we don’t have a time constraints… and you know what I’m like when I get going! [laughs]
Sean: [laughs] I’m great thanks Vince. Well, that’s good because we have loads to talk about. You sound in fine spirits already and the tour hasn’t even started.
Vince: You know, you’re a long time dead Sean, so you might as well enjoy every moment.
Sean: Looking through the tour dates you guys look like you’re going to have a blast.
Vince: You’re talking about the UK dates?
Sean: All of them…Sydney, the UK and then on to Europe… pretty full on. And what better way to kick off 2019, playing two nights at Sydney Opera House.
Vince: Unbelievable. This is our 4th year running and has the excitement withered? Not one bit mate. If anything, the appreciation is amplified and it makes us want to improve the show – how can we get this bit better? How can we highlight this part of the orchestra or this player? Can we lift or improve an intro to a song? We are challenged all the time and we love it. You generate your own energy in shows like this.
Sean: And doing it in one of the most instantly recognisable buildings in the world, The Sydney Opera House!
Vince: I know. Man, I’ve been touring this country for 40 years but I sit in the dressing room at the Opera House, which I have to say is bigger than my house [laughs]. There’s a grand piano that sits underneath the window, which overlooks the harbour bridge and all the boats are passing by and I’m like, “Get the fuck outta here!” It’s just a wonderful experience and honour.
Sean: So, taking you back to when it all started for The Zep Boys in 1986, could you ever have imagined you would be on the brink of a 4th year back there with the full orchestra?
Vince: No, no, no way man. Never in our dreams could we have thought it would ever happen, more so because our show was never an Opera House type gig. If you’d asked me would we even work with an orchestra, I would have said it would never happen. If I’d ever thought that, I’d have slapped myself around [laughs]. But you know what… it’s happened.
Sean: Sadly I can’t get there this year so you’re going to have to line up a 5th year in a row for 2020…
Vince: Sean, if I had my way we’d be looking at 10 years in a row. We started doing this with the orchestra back in 2005 so we’ve been doing it a long time.
Sean: So where did the idea of the orchestra come about?
Vince: So around 2002 or 2003 we were touring New Zealand – we were going town to town by road because the drives between gigs weren’t that long. Driving around through the South Island was just visions of unbelievable splendour – mountain ranges with snow-capped peaks, blue skies, massive trees, little creeks and rivers…it felt like we were in a fairy-tale. It was the time of The Lord of the Rings so all that was going down. We were driving through areas where they had filmed it – stunning. And it just suddenly hit us – what would the Zeppelin music sound like with an orchestra? Warwick (Cheatle) our bass player had connections with the Minister of Arts for contact with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and I spoke managed to chat to a promoter and he said, “Vince if you want me to make this happen, I can”, so we attacked it two ways. I was up in Queensland in a one man play, doing a bit of theatre and the promoter Mario Maiolo rings me up and says, “We’re looking at two dates in July 2005” and I’m asking him what he was talking about. He said, “For those orchestra gigs Vince, remember?” And I couldn’t really comprehend what he’s on about. Mario is a pretty straight down the line kinda guy and he says, “Do you want to do the gigs or not?” [laughs]. I was just in a bit of shock that it was actually coming together… so that’s really how it all got started.
Sean: The nicest thing about it is, talking to you even now, I can still hear that hunger in your voice & that giddy school kid type excitement even after all this time.
Vince: [laughs] I know, mate, we are so blessed.
Sean: You’ve taken the show over to the UK before, so does the audience differ much to the Australian crowds?
Vince: Everybody asks me what it’s like to tour the UK, what the audiences are like and everything… and I have to say to people ‘please don’t get offended because I want to tell you how I perceive it and give you a truthful answer, so don’t shoot me because I’m only answering your question’. The poms are great man… because they get it! We still have got a lot to learn. I’ll put it in a diplomatic way – They are exposed to more music over there, all the time. They have been for centuries. We can’t get all the acts that play over there to come over here – it’s just not financially possible. But audiences over there get to see these acts all the time – they get to see Andrea Bocelli one night and Motorhead the next and love it just as much. They are uninhibited as an audience too – they will laugh, they will cry, they will participate… they get it. Don’t get me wrong, we do here in Australia but we are just a bit more conservative.
Sean: I’ve seen it from both sides and I kind of get where you’re coming from saying that. The final night of the UK leg is at the legendary, and I don’t care what they call it now, it will always be the Hammersmith Odeon to me.
Vince: Oh man I know it’s great. I’m so excited to play there. And then I’m gonna hang around in London for a few days because I just want to soak it all up. I love the blues and I know London loves the blues, so hopefully I’ll be able to check out some fantastic artists that may be playing.
Sean: Obviously the costs of shipping a complete orchestra over to the UK must be mind-blowing so I’m guessing you use a UK based orchestra when your there?
Vince: Yeah, the UK is special in that respect – it’s the only place we take on the whole orchestra for all the shows. Here in Australia it’s just too expensive to take 35 people on the road with you everywhere you go. So in England, doing the ten shows, we will be playing together every night so we get tighter & tighter each show – I’m getting nostalgic just talking about it Sean. Those people in that orchestra, man we fall in love with them. They are so emotionally charged. They hug & kiss you, they talk about the music, they give you so much respect, and they celebrate you for who and what you are. So, to answer your question, that’s the only country where we work with the same orchestra for every show of the tour. And I think we may be taking the principle players from each section on the European leg too.
Sean: So do you get to run through the songs with each orchestra before the show, almost like a dress rehearsal?
Vince: Not really. Having worked in theatre and understanding how they use lighting to maximise the intensity of a set or using plots to tell a story, well I want a piece of that because it makes it better for the audience. One thing I cannot stand or will not put up with, absolutely no way, is doing the same show night after night after night. Scripted to move here, move there… no way. This is not a play – this is a rock band and we need to deliver that rock attitude to the audience and do it professionally & exquisitely but we don’t do it the same every night – not this band! So in the UK we will do one rehearsal only and off we go. And we have Warwick (Cheadle) who is also our musical director – mate, what a gun he is – he speaks their language, he can read all the notes and stuff on the paper, he understands the whole Zeppelin thing – the vocals, the drums, the guitar, the bass. Warwick is a brilliant musician and a monster bass player. And he’s so funny… and humble… and he’s from Manchester [laughs] and I’ve been lucky to work with him for 30 years. We are like husband and wife [laughs]… I’m the husband [laughs].
Sean: Probably an impossible question to answer but have you got a favourite Led Zeppelin song?
Vince: I really can’t answer that man, I really can’t. As a kid I loved the rockier stuff like Black Dog and The Immigrant Song and I still do. But as I got a little older and a bit more mature, songs like The Rain Song were everything to me. Then working with the orchestra, songs like Kashmir stand out. So it changes daily for me.
Sean: What is making the music of Zeppelin more prominent of late are bands like Greta Van Fleet who have tried to capture that sound with a bit of a modern twist.
Vince: I think it’s wonderful to see these young kids doing that with such conviction & passion. They are getting their due accolades and have had brilliant success already… but they do have their detractors believe you me. I think that’s really unfair to knock these young kids just because they are in a privileged position. They’ve got in that position because they can deliver the goods – yeah maybe there song writing is not quite up to the level of Led Zeppelin yet but, do you know what, if we support them & encourage them, imagine what they could be doing in 4, 5 or even 10 year’s time and that why it is worth supporting them. I want to do it from a selfish point of view because they are young and we can guide them and challenge them – get better, read more books, whatever it takes. They will find their way.
Sean: So what was the last album you were listening to Vince?
Vince: I do love listening to albums in their entirety and the last one I listened to all the way through was ‘City to City’ by Gerry Rafferty. It’s his second studio album and it’s brilliant. It’s the one with ‘Baker Street’ and ‘Stealin’ Time’… yeah, all that sort of stuff. I love it.
Sean: Were you brought up in a musical environment at home?
Vince: Growing up, we weren’t that well off so we didn’t have record players or anything like that until I was about 12 years of age, so we only really had a radio to listen to. But there was always singing in the house because I come from an Italian family. My mum & dad were in the church choir so there would be 30 or 40 Italians singing at the top of their lungs… incredible energy, passion & power. So I kind of got a feel of that from there. I was always transfixed by the band when we were at weddings, watching & listening to them – and I loved the guitar. So I guess I was drawn to it naturally and music is something I’ve always loved. I love talking to kids about this too – I sometimes get invited to schools to talk about music. As a kid myself, I thought I was specially gifted and that I knew everything about music [laughs] like I was some kind of child protégé [laughs]… then I started a band at school and wrote some songs and I thought I was really good [laughs] – don’t get me wrong, I was never a bighead or anything. I just thought “this is what I do… this is my calling”. Then, when I joined a professional band I looked around and realised there were five people in the band and I was the dumbest one of the lot [laughs]… and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had to work, work, work at it but then I realised it’s not how good you are – it’s about always trying to improve your skills because that’s how we learn and we challenge ourselves. Communication is the most important thing. It’s a skill that I think can’t be taught – to communicate with a live audience is a natural quality.
Sean: I like to ask my restaurant question just to find out just who you would like to spend time with for a couple of hours from the music world, dead or alive…
Vince: Wow, I think I’d definitely want Paul McCartney. I would most certainly want Ray Charles there too…. My goodness me… the third one is tough… you know who I’d get? My old mate Stevie Marriott and I’ll tell you why. Because I love him, I learnt so much from him, he loved Paul McCartney & Ray Charles just as much as I do and I think Macca would love Stevie’s London vibe and his singing ability and Ray Charles would love him too – that would be fucking heaven!
Sean: Great guests. So I’m guessing you knew Steve?
Vince: Yeah I got to work with Stevie and we became great mates – he was a lovely man. He was an awesome guitar player, keyboard player, singer… what a powerhouse he was, God rest his soul – such fond memories man. I toured some shows supporting Canned Heat with an original band I had too. Promoters would get us because we had our own production so they could bring bands in from overseas and use us to support as well as use our production. So the guys from Canned Heat put me on to listening to Ray Charles and I never looked back.
Sean: It’s been such an interesting chat Vince. I’d like to end by asking, from all the songs ever written, what song would you like to be credited for?
Vince: That’s a pretty cool one…wow, what song would I choose? That’s so hard because there are so many good songs… a few that come to mind are ‘He Ain’t Heavy’ by The Hollies, ‘The Long and Winding Road’ by The Beatles, ‘Scenes from an Italian Restaurant’ by Billy Joel…I would have loved to have written any of those. I’m happy with those three.
Sean: It’s meant to be one song but as we are nearing Christmas I’m feeling generous so I’ll let you have them. Vince, thank you so much for your time and just want to wish you and the rest of the band all the best for 2019 and hope you’ll get over to WA in some shape or form musically during the year.
Vince: Definitely. It would be great to catch up for a glass or two of red. It’s been a real pleasure Sean.
Sean: Safe travels Vince.
TOUR DATES
Wednesday, January 3: Sydney Opera House
Thursday, January 4: Sydney Opera House
Friday, January 5: Sydney Opera House** NEW SHOW
Wednesday, January 10: Hamer Hall, Melbourne
SYDNEY TICKETS: www.sydneyoperahouse.com and www.ticketmaster.com.au
MELBOURNE TICKETS: www.artscentemelbourne.com.au and www.ticketmaster.com.au
