Joe Hermes (2nd Interview)

And now here they are, Nick and Sue on Chatterbox. When the stars talk, they talk to Nick and Sue.

And welcome back to the Chatterbox Redux Podcast with me Nick and today my guest is Joe Hermes. We're Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment. Oh, yeah! Chatterbox, the best interviews with Nick and Sue. Chatterbox, the best news. And now on Chatterbox, we're just lucky enough to welcome back Joe Hermes. Joe, welcome. How are you, sir? Great, Nick. How have you been, my friend? All good. All good. We chatted

not that long before Christmas. So I know that the regular listeners on all the stations will know exactly who you are, which is wonderful. And we had some exciting news, which we're now right in that period now. And that is, of course, the Boy's Life Tour. Yeah. it's uh sort of and there's a lot of dates there so um if you haven't had the opportunity yourself to uh go around and see the uk you certainly have now haven't you no corners unturned it is uh quite the tour

Yeah, it's looking good, it's looking good. Tell me, what's the most exciting bit about the tour to you? Is it different parts of the UK or is it the music side or a whole load of it? All of it. I think coming back after being here in November, it feels comfortable, feels familiar. And then of course, on the music side, Uh, I was a bit nervous, you know, jumping on a, on a tour, like with boys life, but the contrast between the styles, I think works really well.

You know, the audience has been super receptive of it. And it was a bit of a gamble on my, on my part, but I thought, you know, um, let's give this a whirl. Cause I did want to see more of the UK. And I knew they, they, uh, they had great crowds and, um, the figures have been just, just beautiful, amazing. dream come true. I play, I play dive bars and you know, some couple theaters back home, but nothing, nothing like you guys

have here. So it's just, it's been amazing. Yeah, I think I mean obviously everything's on a much smaller scale here in the UK is much more condensed we say But of course something you may notice I don't know you have it in the States because there's a lot of these sort of Municipal theaters where you may have a thousand seat theater, which is run by the local council They have that just so that the I mean a thousand towns in the country have this my town has it and it's a theatre that's

basically it's owned or run did or leased out or rented out by the local council just to provide like live entertainment for that town there's not these have been going back over a hundred years or more and still going and you'll see a lot of these or you've seen a lot of these places on the tour it's quite incredible you think wow the council do that for their people but yeah you know Blown me away. I'm you answered it for me because I'm sitting there going like

wow like You just you don't expect it. You don't we don't have anything like that We've got a few old theaters and stuff in the in the states, but they don't support them like they are here I mean the the like you said the city's involved and just I mean it's And they're beautiful. They're well -maintained and the staffs. I mean every every single staff has just been Everybody's happy to do what they're doing, and it just makes it that much more enjoyable. And a lot of them

are decent sizes. A lot of them do have a thousand

seats, two thousand seats, some of them. Some are bigger, but you know, if you go to proper theatres, I'm going to talk about these municipal type theatres that are... run by the councils which is amazing we we we are lucky to have them we don't realize at the time it's easy to moan but you know it's easy to moan about the council and you start thinking about things like that they do that just for a live live entertainment venue which is good because you get some quite

big names come around you know it's not just it gives the people in those towns that chance to see somebody but they wouldn't have the opportunity to see otherwise so a lot of that over here so yeah yeah but Then again, you've got a lot of older venues as well. I thought you were going to Eastbourne. Was it the... Which one? I think it was when you were going to Eastbourne. Was it the Congress or was it the Royal Hippodrome? Either way, they're both theatres, musical theatres

that I'm talking about. Yeah, which is wonderful.

Yeah, so... Something about Boy's Life, I don't know, because we speak to quite a lot of their people that support them, and generally, It seems to be like sure can cheese the and they do it must do it for a reason it's worked really well with you and No one's not gone down well with them. So Obviously, they're good. They're good

at what they do. They've been doing it for a long time one way or another When when you got the call you think you sure, you know, okay obviously they They knew it would work somehow Come to find out Brian McFadden. I think he's a he's a he's a big country fan and He's a the boys have been great. I mean they've been super supportive and Yeah, I was a little I I had to think about it as you guys would say over here That It was a gamble. And I thought, you know what, let's

go for it and see what happens. Cause I didn't want to see more of the countryside. And I knew that the theaters were, were pretty awesome. Just from what I had seen in the, in, you know, online and I'm like, but it's paying off. I think, I mean, they've been, like I said, the, the fans have been great. They've been very accepting. And you know, they, I come out on stage and they're

like, well, who the heck is this guy? You know, and by the end of it, uh we're all just having a hooting good time so they're all there dancing they're all there doing whatever they do to join in so yeah yeah live for you as well and obviously you lift the boys life when they take over the stage so yeah yeah my job is to get them get them ready right yeah well there you go and let's talk about again about um doing some more concerts of Joe Hermes by himself. How's that looking

for later in the year? Yeah, well, I've got a couple tours this spring and I know they're working on stuff for for this fall right now. So we had some we had some dates in May that we were working on, but I think those aren't working out right now just because of the other tour that I'm heading out on right after this, which goes through Germany and it has comes back to the UK for a few dates and then ends in the Netherlands and that's more

of a rock tour. So yeah, we're interested. I'm very interested to see where it goes after this show. Sure, I did notice you had some European dates in. Right, tell us about this new single. Tell us all about that. I've just been listening

to it, but let's hear it from you. How you're pushing it and how you'd like, I mean, obviously they're all going to hear it, but how, before I play it to them, what would they, what would you, if you described to somebody you didn't have the means to play it to them, how would you describe it? So the song's called That Country High and It's a little outside the box of what I normally do. Of course, this tour was the right

tour for this song. It's got some of the pop elements, it's got some R &B elements in it,

as well as the country thing. And the song generally is just about going, you know, I grew up in a small country town in Illinois, and our idea of a good time was heading out, you know, somebody's pasture and, you know, I'll buy their barn having campfires bonfires whatever and you know being in the city a lot now when I head back to the country you get this this natural like feeling of it's just fresh air it's relaxing and kind of invigorates you in a way that the big city

doesn't I mean they both have their own thing but that country high is just about that it's about going out Into the countryside and having a good time with your friends or your mates as you guys would say and just just You know having a fun sing -along. It's it's a light -hearted song. It's it's definitely On the spectrum on one side of what I do but this was the right tour to bring this this song out because It is fun and it gets the gets people singing and dancing.

It's it's It's been it's been going over. Well chill. That's brilliant I'm just looking through. Well, one thing I did notice listening to the single, the tone of your voice sound deeper than normal and lower than normal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm I'm actually a bass. So when I get done, I'm talking down here. Right. But I'm actually a bass and most of my stuff has been written

in more of a baritone range. And This was one of those where we my producer was like all right go ahead and go ahead and let it let it down a little bit and That's where you're that's where you're hearing that come out which I? enjoy especially doing it towards the end of the set you know because It's a much more comfortable spot for

for my voice. You know like the rock stuff I'm usually pushing that upper upper end of my my range a lot and Yeah, so that's I was pretty happy when they let when my producer let me sing this one. This is Nick and Sue with Cheddar Box giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment. Cheddar Box Cheddar Box Cheddar Box Cheddar Box It takes two to tango And Tutu present a radio show So here's Nick and Sue Your

musical duo Okay, let's have a look. So there's a venue here jumping out at me on Thursday the 5th of March You'll know when you're there The Plaza Stockport, it's an old don't you ever played

there before you know anything about it? The Plaza Stockport is an old 1930s art deco cinema original never got knocked into multi screens it's just it got boarded up for decades and then the locals saved it and you step out on that stage and you'll be stepping out in this night and it is the two tiers the balcony the stalls and because it is just basically it's not really greater Manchester it's the next county but you imagine it being part of the outside of Manchester

it's close enough to Manchester for Manchester to go to put it that way and you're in for a great night there and it's a great atmosphere but you'll be stepping out into the 1930s when you step out on that stage you think wow this venue it's just something quite it's unique you won't ever forget this one the Plaza Stockport yeah so 5th of March One of these has been like that, and everybody keeps telling me they keep getting better, and I'm like... The Eastbourne

one you're at is the 12th of March. That's the Congress Theatre. That's quite a modern one. It's only about 15 miles up the road from us, and very modern. That's one of the council theatres, and it is, yeah. That Eastbourne you'll love, it's three theatres all side by side and they're all run by the council, but they all do different

things. One's the Winter Garden, one's the Devonshire Park Theatre which does, it's more of a Victorian theatre which does all these old plays and the Agatha Christie mysteries and things, and then you've got the Congress which is the one that does the concerts. So yeah, three literally on

one road next to each other, you think. wow you could be in the west end but you're in eastbourne there you go so hopefully you get a chance to see some of these places because eastbourne's got a lovely seafront and that so yeah eastbourne on the 12th of march so the congress theatre yeah that's a nice that's a nice modern venue that one just looking at these venues you've got some great places so and there's a thing we noted before you are you know when i looked

at all the dates at the beginning you you are you know literally are in the four corners if you like of the country did i remember do i remember you went to ireland or northern ireland was was that was that on did you have one over there They have those in April. Those are two shows at the very end that I can't do, unfortunately. And I heard that's what I keep hearing. Yeah, we've got to head back to the States and retool

for the next tour. So I had to pull off those last two dates, because there's a little gap there about 10 days. We fought, I fought it a lot to decide whether or not to do it. And I'm like, I'm just going to have to come back and do it again because there won't be the only time. And you know, the boy's life was really good

about it. They understood. And yeah, being a country rock guy, you know, be able to lean into the country stuff and then lean into my rock stuff and kind of just get out, get out and get exposed and Yeah, it's working. I'm just trying to hit on all cylinders right now. No, sure,

sure. And what they said about going back home. Well, what's next sort of recording? Well, just say if we were to have this chat, a chat in about six months time, what is it that you'd like to tell me that Joe Hermes is actually is up to or has been up to? What would you like to be

telling me? I'd just like to be telling you that we've gained a tremendous amount of fans this spring and not just in one genre or the other, but across the board and that we can, you know, that we've actually been making inroads and building something even more special than it is today. And that's really, that's all it is to me is just meeting one fan at a time, one venue. And I love what's interesting about this tour the

most. And I'm seeing it come is not only you know the there's a lot of there's a lot of ladies that go to these shows but it's the guys that come with the ladies that tend to latch on to Jerry and I went on our set like so we're getting yeah it's there you know some of them are like well you know my wife and my girlfriend wanted to come and I just you know I bought water tickets for Valentine's Day but you know and But something about that country rock thing that we do, you

know, it was just so if that keeps happening, I think we're going to I think we're going to be talking about really good things here in the next six months when we meet up again. Brilliant well looking forward to that. So let's make that happen. Shall we Joe? Yeah, let's do it. Yeah every successful turn over here and of course in Europe and when you get back home and every success, of course with the with the new single and Yeah, let's do some social media. What's

your websites? And how can people find you and what else have you got social media wise? Yeah.

Yeah. Well Joe Hermes music .com Joe Hermes music is my handle on all my social medias if you just type in joe hermes in google i'll come up it's hermes hermes hermes h -e -r -m -e -s um and i look forward to meeting you that's that's about all i can say sure and what's it like uh going to uh a small country but there's so many accents i mean you've got lots of accents in the usa it's a big area i mean So I'm here saying Hermes south accent you've already given three examples

there so what's it like so you don't know what your next interview he could have any old accent they'd be pronouncing it any old way but uh yeah so is that weird that you could be this next guy 60 miles up the road that sounds totally different to me well I think I think the more important thing than how they pronounce my name is uh me and me not stepping on a landmine like I've done, I misunderstood the Welsh accent. We have trouble with that, don't worry. And I

inadvertently called it an Irish accent. And I mean, you would have thought I just, oh my goodness. I'm like, I'm just a big dumb American. I was like, you know, I was begging for mercy because you would have thought I just ran over a dog and you know, I mean, so I have to learn. You guys have a lot of accents around here and

I have to learn. I got to learn it because I have a big problem of putting my foot in my mouth when I talk to people, you know, just trying to be friendly, making, you know, passing comments. I've learned. I've learned. All right, so we don't we don't talk religion. We don't talk politics and we don't talk football. And now we don't talk accents either. Yes. I think probably the at least she didn't accuse it of being a Scottish accent or something. Actually, I think I did.

Oh, okay. Because I went Irish and then she looked at me and then I said Scottish and then it was like death stares. So Scotland and Northern Ireland. you've got a 50 -50 chance of getting it right when it comes to religion, all right? But if you get it wrong, it could be badly right. No offense meant to any lovely people in both sides, but yeah, it could go badly wrong, so yeah. But it's worth avoiding if you're in certain places. I think I should zip it up when it comes to that.

Don't forget. We've got four countries and something a little much bigger than New York, so you know. Because it is four countries at the end of the day all in the UK, so yeah. And you know what though, that's what's so fun about it is because you can drive an hour or two down the road and it's a different world. And we're really, really enjoying it over here. That's brilliant as well. I'm glad. It's great having you over here as

well. And yeah, every success as I say. And yeah, let's have a catch up in six months and whenever you're back and you tell us the next stage of what's going on in life with Joe Hermes. It's

brilliant. So yeah, fantastic keeping up with you. Anyway, great chatting again and see you next time. All the best. Thank you, Nick. Cheers Jack. Take care mate. Bye bye. Bye. Bye. You've been listening to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with me, Nick. Thank my special guest who was Joe Hermes. Email address is nickelbum at myyahoo .com. Alternatively, our postal address is P .O. Box 26, the old Observer Building, Telford Road, St. Leonard's -on -Sea, East Sussex, England,

TM38 9LZ. We'd like to thank you for your company and look forward to welcoming you again for another Chatterbox and Redux podcast again soon. Take care, bye bye. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment. Oh yeah! Chatterbox!