Karel Fialka

This edition of the Chatterbox Redux podcast is brought to you in association with the Strong Coffee Company. More from them in a bit. Chatterbox. When the stars talk, they talk to Nick and Sue. Welcome back to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue and Nick and today our special guest is Carol Fialca This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment. Chatterbox, the best interviews

with Nick and Sue. Chatterbox, the best news Now on Chatterbooks UK, we're just lucky enough to welcome Carol Fialke. Carol, how are you? Welcome. Hello, Carol. Hi, hi, both of you. I'm fine, thank you. Nice to talk with you. And thanks for coming on Chatterbox. Fantastic. Right, Carol, I see that you had your first hit here in 1980, but how did you actually get there? I mean, was it a musical home? Was it at school? How did it come about to get in the charts in the first

place? Same thing as most other people, I guess. A bit of luck. You know, I did not come from a musical home. I was into pop music all my life. But pop music, when I was a kid, meant everything. As I said, it ran the gamut from Petula Clarke to Johnny and the Hurricanes or Little Richard, because those were the people who were around at the time. So you just took whatever you got. And I picked up a lot of musical influences because I was born abroad and lived abroad for the first

15 years of my life. both in India and Africa, Pakistan. So, you know, all that sort of filtered through one way or another, I guess. But curious enough, I had my... When I finished school, I actually... I went to film school. That's really what I wanted to do, was to make films in London. And when I left film school... Well, in those days, the film industry was still high bound by the unions. And so you couldn't get a job in the film industry unless you had a union card.

You couldn't get a union card unless you had a job in the film industry. One of those things, you know. And so I was lucky enough to get a... job doing what's called release scripting because I can speak in a bit of French and stuff so there's a lady called May Harris who had an office on

Wardall Street and she release scripted. In other words when you got a foreign movie that needed to be translated into English you did the English translation and typed in the subtitles over the subtitles or vice versa because obviously in every language you know you say look In English you say, I'm going out of the door. In another language you say, the door I'm going out of. So you don't want to give the gamer win. Anyway, so that's what I was into. And then some friends

of mine started the band. And I got involved as a lyric writer, also to be frank. As it turned out, my lyrics were totally unnecessary because basically they wrote great lyrics themselves anyway. But they had an element of success and Pete Townsend very kindly lent us his studio workshop flat at the end of Wardle Street, top floor. He lent it to us as a writing room so we used to go up there and hang out and do things. I think that came through track records if I

can remember. Oh yes, I remember, yes. Yeah, either Chris Stamp or the other guy. I've forgotten that. I was quite keen on my friend's band, which was called Dreamland Express. Anyway, yeah, so that was it really. Then there was a sort of hiatus for a few years where I did other things until somewhere around the mid -70s and came back from... I came back from summer in Spain, mostly in Ibiza. Sounds like I was having a great time, but, you know, when you're young, things

sort of happen. Sure. And I was really a bit of a loose end. There were two friends who quite specifically said, look, Carl, you know, you're so into music and you, you know, by this time, at this stage, I was writing my own songs. And they said, you know, you should just do your songs, record them and, you know, try and get some action. And so I did. One of those guys was the original drummer for Motorhead, a guy

called Lucas Fox. And there was a guy who worked with a friend of mine from Scotland from a long time ago, Michael Mike Smith, who worked with a merchandising company that sold gear at gigs and things. So that's how that came about, really. That's cool. I went around, I found one little four -track studio and I recorded a version of one of the first songs I'd written, a song called Armband. I talked about my ideas about it and the guy who, the engineer in the studio, I liked.

I mean, you know, frankly his ideas now, because everything's so much more complicated and complex and sophisticated now. In those days, if you had a kazoo, it felt like a synthesizer almost. That's a joke, by the way. You got a laugh. Oh yes, you did. Did you get a slight one there?

I promise you. Yeah. Anyway, so yeah, so I followed up on band and I wanted to record properly And found the money to access a an eight track studio out in somebody's garage in Hounslow and Recorded this version of armband out there With since because I'd gotten into since by this time I I'd been I'd been coming back from I'd been out in the country. I'd been working out there some stuff and I was coming back into around Christmas time to meet up or just after Christmas to meet

up with my girlfriend who was in London. Yeah. And this absolutely stunning girl got onto the train with a wonderful dog and I just had to go and say hello and talk to them. And it turned out that she was a lady French girl called Miquette Giraudy who was the girlfriend of a guitarist called Steve Hillage who played in Gone. He had a couple of bands of his own. Curious enough, a fellow who'd worked for me said before that

he used to rate Steve really highly. He said for him, Steve was the most cosmic guitarist after Hendrix. It's pretty good. Anyway, you know, we started talking, Miquet, and Trane, you know, asked what she did, and she said, I played synthesizer with this band, and I said, oh, I've seen the name synthesizer, and said, I'd quite like to know a bit more about it. And she said, well, tonight we are going to see, to meet her at Ms. Midori, and why don't you

join us? So, by the way, please excuse my accent, and Miquet, if you ever hear this. Please really excuse my accent because you speak far more winningly than I do with your French accent. Anyway, so I went along and it was quite fascinating because they could really point out to me all the things that the synths were doing. And so this is all about a year, 18 months before I started recording

Armband. Anyway, that's where the synth thing really took hold with me and I got really into it because it seemed to me like it was a huge possibility with new sounds and things, you know. So it was a combination of synths and also punk was happening and punk was great because punk was very liberating and you could do things, felt you could do things with two or three chords.

Whereas prior to that, frankly, and I was really into some quite sophisticated music, and also high production values, but prior to that I was beginning to feel that you needed a PhD in music before you could pick up a guitar. So punk liberated me. It just said, you know, just go and do it. So punk and my two friends were the starting point. So that was that, and then I did the eight

-track version of Arnband. and took that around a few record companies as everybody does just got rejected or as most people do just got rejected time after time and I thought well this is you know I think you guys are wrong because I think the track is good and so being willful I decided to go the self -publishing route and And press it up myself ahead of your time then weren't you really it's done a lot now, but you went ahead of your time But anyway, sorry Carol carry

on that's right. Well, there's a lot of people doing the same sort of thing, but you know press it up under redship records and So that locally and sent it out to a couple of radio stations and then John Peele picked it up and played it a couple of times and it achieves some some success when I say something decent enough success over in Europe and Holland and Belgium places. It's a period in the, you know, in the top 20 of the indie singles of the year. And then I had the

great... And this is the Ice Havage, is that right? No, this is Arnband. Oh, carry on. Wow, carry on. No, this is Arnband. This is a 70, I can't remember, 78 maybe somewhere around there. Fascinating. Wow, carry on. Anyway, yes, so I had the great pleasure of coming back and finding some A &R men from record companies that had rejected the track parked outside my flat in Redcliffe Gardens in Earl's Court and wanting

to sign me. But by this stage it was too late because by then I'd signed up to a DJ called Charlie Gillett. I liked Charlie's radio shows in Radio London on Sundays a lot. It was a great radio show and I didn't go to him looking for any deal. I went to him looking for advice because I figured he might be helpful. As it turned out, that time his main thing was world music and more specifically also Dire Straits. because

Dark Straits hadn't happened at that stage. But by the by, Charlie decided that he'd like to sign me to his record label. It's called Oval Records, which had a few other people who were quite interesting on. So I signed to Charlie, and he financed a more sophisticated version of Armband in a 16 -track studio. And we went and did that, but he didn't like the... he didn't like the sophistication of the end result of that and so you know because Charlie was really

into at that stage. We're taking a quick break to talk about the fuel behind today's episode. If you're like me, coffee isn't just a morning ritual, it's a necessity. But let's be honest, the traditional coffee cycle usually ends up in a mid afternoon crash. or those caffeine jitters that actually make it harder to focus. That's why I'm so excited to share that this show is brought to you in association with the Strong

Coffee Company. Coffee has a long history as a traditional medicinal tool and for centuries it's been revered for its ability to sharpen the mind and provide the metabolic sparks needed to conquer the day. The Strong Coffee Company has taken that ancient wisdom and supercharged it for the modern professional. They offer premium instant brands that actually taste like a high -end barista pour but with a nutritional profile

that reads like a wellness retreat. The Black Instant brand, this is their flagship, and it's a robust, smooth, fair -trade roast packed with 15 grams of grass -fed protein and 5 grams of MCTs. It's not just an energy boost, it's an actual fuel for your muscles and brain. They've solved the jitters problem by enriching their coffee with 250 milligrams of adaptogens, including ashwagyonda, and L -Thanine you get the alertness you want with a calming focused clarity that

helps you stay productive without the edge. The black instant blend is my thing but if latte is your thing well the Strong Coffee Company's latte is to die for. What I love most is that they don't just cut corners We're talking organic ingredients and a deep commitment to eco -friendly sustainable practices. It's coffee you can feel

good about for your body and the planet. Whether you're looking for a better sleep, mental clarity, or just a more convenient way to get your protein in, strong coffee is the healthy alternative that doesn't sacrifice flavor. We want you to experience this revolution in your daily routine. So we've teamed up with a strong coffee company to get you their highest exclusive discount. You can get 20 % off your entire order. Yes, 20 % is guaranteed off your order. by using the

code CBUKRDUX. Just head to thestrongcoffeecompany .com or simply go to the show notes below and click on the link there. That's CBUKRDUX to guarantee your 20 % discount. By buying this product, you're not only supporting the companies that work with us, or just supporting the channel, you're also joining the Chatterbox community's commitment to the environment. One percent of all commissions are donated to the Stripe Climate Program to

help remove CO2 from the atmosphere. This is Nick and Sue with Chatterbox, giving you all you need to know about musical entertainment. And I was then signed up by a label called Blueprint, which was part of PRT, which had been Pi records

and tapes. But they were trying to break into the viable market because Pi really... was pretty much apart from people apart from some outstanding bands like the kinks etc it's pretty much started being uh middle of the road entertained by petunia clark or literoso any of those people you know absolutely yeah yeah so blueprint i was signed to blueprint and uh uh the armband i went into studio down in battle um near battle in sussex oh we're near there Sorry, I said we're near

there. We're in Hastings. How are you? Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's cool. I wonder where you were I should have asked sorry I cut that when I'm talking over you anyway, don't worry, but I Just sounds like it. I'm telling you stuff carry on Thank you. So you should because you know conversations are two -way street. Otherwise, it's just it's just in judges Anyway, yeah, so

we were done. We went down to Parkgate studio battle it was which I believe shortly after that was bought by Paul McCartney as his own studio that at that time it was still being built pretty much being built we had you know the the live room so has joined us etc in it which is why I won the tracks on the album had features singing soul because Derek The joiner said, I can play the singing saw. And we were doing an experimental track and said, right, Derek, you can go in there

and make your saw sing. And it's there, you know, it's his bending saw going, ooh, rolled like a theremin. So, yeah, we recorded that album there. And while I was doing that, Armband got released the 16 track, which Blueprint had inherited from. Charlie Gillett was released, and nothing much happened with it, but in those days also, you needed to get quite a lot of backing from your record company, and I don't think they committed themselves to the backing of it. I know I started

filming what would now be called a video. I filmed a clip to go with it, which really just involved an e -dress and some kind of... trendy urban gear running around a demolition site in East London, waving a Sten gun. But I saw some of the rushes, but I never saw a finished one of, you know, so I don't know if it was ever finished. Yeah, so that was that. And then the second single, by the time we finished recording the album, it was quite obvious that the eyes of it was

going to be the single. yeah and so that was released in the second single and uh i have to say that uh you know the first time i uh the first my first hearing of that on radio i was on radio one and i was coming in from driving in from south london i was coming down brxton's hill you know you know the corrugated iron citrine vans remember the ones i do yeah i do yeah I was in the passenger seat with my feet up on the dashboard and then as we were coming down,

we were actually heading up towards Marble Arch to the record company, and along came... I said, wow, what a buzz that was. That was amazing. Just hearing your record on national radio for the first time, it was just very exciting. Absolutely.

you know so that was it how that went with that and uh well you got in the charts with it as well of course yes that's right uh i you know i mean it's curious situation there uh i don't know how much you want to get into this sort of thing but type of pipe pie has been sick tie records uh pie records or prt as it was uh was I can't remember which one, there were two showbiz brothers, there was Bernard Delfonta and his brother, and I can't remember who had which one,

but one of them owned Pi Records, or PRT to be more accurate, and that branch, and the other one owned the film studios. The one that owned the film studios had invested virtually all his money in something. Call raise the Titanic which actually sank his company Irony at its best.

Yeah But in the meantime, unfortunately my promotion budget for the eyes of it was withdrawn and unbelievably withdrawn On the week of doing top of the pops which you know, frankly, you know, it's ridiculous now people I'm sure we don't know about promotion these days because everything's available all

over the place. Yeah through so many ways of dissemination but in those days, you know promotion meant that basically records were in shops and they were taken to shops and You know, they would hopefully be put up front so that when you went in with your 50 pence or whatever it was pocket money to spend on a single it was one of the first things that would catch your eye and You know the thing is with anything whatever it is doesn't make any difference if it's yeah Music

muesli or politicians you can't buy what you're

not sold if it ain't in front of you. You can't buy it So anyway, that was that was it with the eyes of it didn't didn't really go any further and then there was a third single with PRT which was an abbreviated version of a sort of reggae Reggae ish very electronic reggae track called a file in forget and they've been so music concrete sounding so it sounds terribly grand, but you know just an amalgam of of office sounds which was put into the middle as a long section that

was taken out to shorten to make the make phone forget more punchy and that was released but frankly that was just a formality because at exactly that time that was being released it was no more than within the release schedule and as it was being released PRT was folding as a company you know It was quite interesting watching a record company folding from the inside,

you know? So that's that, that takes you up to the eyes of it, or that version of the eyes of it, which unfortunately you can't hear that anymore, because anybody who goes to Spotify, which is the way most people seem to hear things, they only get the version which is done for a later album. you know 10 years later or whatever it was that came out that had A Matthew on it and that was a recording in a wholly different way and I have to say that the early eyes of it is

you know much better. Just seeing if we've got it somewhere. Yeah, that's cool. Now one thing I'd I have seen Carol is Hold on her you're being like I've seen you being referred to as the street poet of the 1980s is that an official title or You know, is it something a record company's made up because that's quite a nice title Street Poet of the 1980s Well, I was... I had the temerity to regard myself as a poet, and the record company pretty much hung that title over me. I was pretty

good, but, you know... Street was a... Well, I guess it still is in many levels. It's a very... a fashionable word to give you credibility. At that stage, poetry had no credibility. Poetry these days has a whole lot of different cachet

which it didn't have in those days. absolutely yeah yeah with the various people are doing anyway yeah so that was it street street poet of 1980s but um 30 years later i like it though i like it we would keep that or 40 even for goodness sake 40 caro stop adding the years on i honestly i honestly don't know because you know i i genuinely Genuinely don't know. I mean, you know you I should know since today's my birthday and now

I think about it. Yes, I do know The rest of the rest of time like everybody else and still think that you're 18. Oh Well, yeah, I feel like that till I get out of bed then that's the end of that, you know, okay I ate some pains in places. You don't know you had till then. Yeah I think Leonard Cohen says in one of his songs, you know, I ache in the places that I used to play. Indeed, indeed. The good news is, Carol, we do, in the library, got a good library here, we do have

the Ice Havit. So how about that? That's good, isn't it? That's fantastic. Is that on Blueprint? It is the Blueprint version. It is. So that's quite good, really, isn't it? That's fantastic. Honestly, I think that's wonderful. Thank you. I'm so pleased you got that. I'll send it to you. There you go. You got it, haven't you? No, no, I've got it. Oh, you have a copy anyway.

Perfect. Yeah, I just mean that if anybody searches for it online, they're just shifted to Spotify, where they hear the one from the human animal.

album which was a you know i mean most probably suffered a bit from being a little bit too too brightly in the late 80s oh nick and sue we're taking a quick break to talk about the fuel behind today's episode if you're like me coffee isn't just a morning ritual it's a necessity but let's be honest the traditional coffee cycle usually ends up in a mid -afternoon crash or those caffeine jitters that actually make it harder to focus That's why I'm so excited to share that this

show is brought to you in association with the Strong Coffee Company. Coffee has a long history as a traditional medicinal tool and for centuries it's been revered for its ability to sharpen the mind and provide the metabolic sparks needed to conquer the day. The Strong Coffee Company has taken that ancient wisdom and supercharged it for the modern professional. They offer premium instant brands that actually taste like a high -end barista pour but with a nutritional profile

that reads like a wellness retreat. The Black Instant brand, this is their flagship, and it's a robust, smooth, fair -trade roast packed with 15 grams of grass -fed protein and 5 grams of MCTs. It's not just an energy boost, it's an actual fuel for your muscles and brain. They've solved the jitters problem by enriching their coffee with 250 milligrams of adaptogens, including ashwagyonda, and L -Thanine you get the alertness you want with a calming focused clarity that

helps you stay productive without the edge. The black instant blend is my thing but if latte is your thing well the Strong Coffee Company's latte is to die for. What I love most is that they don't just cut corners We're talking organic ingredients and a deep commitment to eco -friendly sustainable practices. It's coffee you can feel

good about for your body and the planet. Whether you're looking for a better sleep, mental clarity, or just a more convenient way to get your protein in, Strong Coffee is the healthy alternative that doesn't sacrifice flavor. We want you to experience this revolution in your daily routine. So we've teamed up with the Strong Coffee Company to get you their highest exclusive discount. You can get 20 % off your entire order. Yes, 20 % is guaranteed off your order. by using the

code CBUKRDUX. Just head to thestrongcoffeecompany .com or simply go to the show notes below and click on the link there. That's CBUKRDUX to guarantee your 20 % discount. By buying this product, you're not only supporting the companies that work with us, or just supporting the channel, you're also joining the Chatterbox community's commitment to the environment. 1 % of all commissions are donated to the Stripe Climate Program to help remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Got a release

I can see, a single release, 1984. Eat, drink, dance, relax. What inspired that one? I was doing a lot of writing when my friend Dean at that stage, an American guy, came over who curious enough to be in a protege while he was over in the States. a fellow called Kim Foley, who you may or may not have heard of, but who's quite the character on the West Coast. One of the resident Mad Men musical gurus, a bit like Phil Spector,

but not as successful. So Dean came over because he was madly in love with British pop. I'd met him when he was playing with him and Tom Dolby were the keyboard players, which got, I guess, Leonard Lubbich in the first instance. And then after that, Joan Armatrading. So we did a bit of writing and we just got into the song Eat, Drink, Dance, Relax. And to be frank with you,

I have no idea. I mean, that came out in career records, which was sort of a... I guess, you know, you've got his disco label, and nothing against disco labels because I'm really into disco, but I really can't remember how it got to Carrera because I can only assume the Dean must have had something to do with it, but I have no idea how it got there. And also, 1983

I think it was. You've also got songwriting and production credits for other people and among them is of course Cliff Richard who you worked with in 1983. So there's that other side to your career as well, which I think many probably weren't aware of. Yeah, that was another song that was co -written with Dean. That was good. The arrangement of that is, I think, LSO or the LPO, London Symphony

Orchestra. But the arrangement pretty much follows our synth arrangement, which we recorded the... demo on a four -track Porta Studio down in the basement of Chrysalis and Colin Blunstone from the Zombies came along and very kindly did a demo vocal and so you know the arrangement's pretty much there and Cliff's version as well, it's Cliff's voice obviously and it has its own character and does its own thing but you know follows the melody very strongly so that was

good. Well, that's a pretty nice accolade to add to your CV or your career, whichever we wish to describe it. Now, obviously, 1987 comes, and hey, Matthew. I read somewhere, hey, Matthew was actually, it's a real story and he was your stepson, is that right? Well, he's my stepson as much as not, you know, he's stepson, but Matthew is my son as far as I'm concerned, you know And yeah, I did I wrote it I had Curious enough.

Hey Matthew was another song which rather like armband I mean I actually had hey Matthew exactly as it is and finished Sitting in my pocket for about a year and a half and being being rejected by record companies Saying it's just not good enough something you're not right with this and Then the suddenly out of the blue two companies Got interested one was a guy called Derek Green who used to run A &M and it's set up his own A &M in Britain and set up his own label and

He was keen he was tossing up between hey Matthew and lab you see free What was that song? Something inside the strong. And he opted for Labby, I guess, partly because he'd worked with Labby before on A &M. And also frankly, because at that time I smoked very heavily and I just chain -smoked in his lovely flat and it probably stank. I just don't want to work with this guy. I don't

know, but that's as good a reason as any. Anyway, so it didn't go with A &M, but at the same time, Miles Copeland, who'd been the police manager, and obviously, as you know, the police were with A &M as well, so it seemed a good A &M orientation, saying Miles had heard the track, and he said,

hey, Carol, that's a hit. He wanted it. And basically, at that stage, 15, 18 months down the line with this... track burning in my pocket uh must go with this you know it's at this stage let's not beat around the bush let's go with the only game in town let's go that's how i went this and that was good you know i i you know i i'm people say a lot of different things about miles but i mean i actually you know i call i call it miles partly because he created his own record company and

his tour and you know he's an enthusiast which is a lot of people in the music business aren't

particularly enthusiasts. I get that and of course um Hey Matthew as a song it is absolutely amazing but when one gets played as well doesn't it we get we get requested a lot on the 80 show and other shows don't we um this stuff has been featured about three times in four shows or something it's quite good uh now with Hey Matthew Probably soon hasn't even realized this the actual and it sounds amazing and you've perfected it but not so did you know so that Hey, Matthew only

had synthesizer and a drum machine on it. There's no other instruments. Really? Yeah, isn't that right Carol? Yeah, very few parts. Yeah, and it sounds amazing doesn't it you hit perfect? So you did very very very very well with that one I'll send you a PDF of the track sheet. I don't know if tracksheets mean an individual see her. Oh few parts are actually on there too to make it work That would be absolutely amazing. Thank you as soon as before we move on Sue's

got a question or two, haven't you? What was it like doing the video to the song because the video is amazing? Oh, yes. Yeah It was good fun. The idea was obviously to make it like a home thing. That actually was Miles' house in London

at the time. Not mine, I'm sad to say. I suppose from Matthew's point of view, the best thing about doing the video was that, because he was heavily into Ninja Turtles and all that at the time, the best thing about doing the video was that for us and for the crew, there was a never -ending supply of pizzas. Oh yeah, turtles and pizzas, of course! Very good. The the lady in in the video is Jenny who's my wife and Matthew's

mother as well. So it was a real family affair Yeah, what's Matthew doing now if we can ask yeah, please Yeah, no, no fine. No Matt Matt's a father she's got two great kids one is just coming to the end of the terrible twos. It's a boy. Coming to the four rising five. In fact, it should be five in a couple of weeks time. And he's turned out to be, frankly, you know, hats off. He's an amazing father. I mean, frankly, I wish I'd been as good a father to our children

as he's to them. He's amazing. He's just got all the kind of patience that you really need to have with kids. He had a change of direction in his life and he moved from what he was doing. He got deeply involved. He realized that what he liked to do was to actually work with his hands. He did a course of restoration of antique furniture in a college up here. College is the wrong thing. It's a school. He's now an expert in... restoring antique furniture. Brilliant.

That's nice. Well that is a very good career isn't it Sue? You've got another one I think. No, it's a comment. When the children go up he can actually show them in the video that he was a child in that song. Absolutely, absolutely.

Have you done any of the questions? There's an Italian man who runs a a website in the company and plays music, sort of like DJ, and I had to do an online interview with him, and as he said, you know, you must tell, I'm not going to do an accent, all right, I'm not going to do an accent, he said you must tell Matthew, he's one of the few people who's actually got a home video as a chart -topping video. I was going to say one last question before we move on and I'm intrigued

by this. When Matthew says his favourite TV shows and what he wants to be when he grows up, did he have input in that or was that already in the song when he wrote it? No, 50 -50. Oh, wonderful. That's nice. I like it. We did a lot of that recording, you know, I mean, literally at home in the basics of it. But just finally, because we can get off, hey, Matthew, but, you know, interesting, there were a couple of points. One is that it had a very different viewpoint, perceived

differently. in Europe as opposed to Britain. In essence, in Britain a lot of it was the A team, the A team, and in Europe a lot of it was I hope, I hope, which is quite interesting as a sort of thing. Okay, okay. You know, where different nations come to a thing from. Interesting, wonderful. I wasn't aware of that, no. So it's great to actually know the story behind that because that is a classic and it's in its time. Nick and Sue. We're taking a quick break to talk

about the fuel behind today's episode. If you're like me, coffee isn't just a morning ritual, it's a necessity. But let's be honest, the traditional coffee cycle usually ends up in a mid afternoon crash. or those caffeine jitters that actually make it harder to focus. That's why I'm so excited to share that this show has brought you an association

with The Strong Coffee Company. Coffee has a long history as a traditional medicinal tool and for centuries it's been revered for its ability to sharpen the mind and provide the metabolic sparks needed to conquer the day. The Strong Coffee Company has taken that ancient wisdom and supercharged it for the modern professional. They offer premium instant brands that actually taste like a high -end barista pour but with a nutritional profile that reads like a wellness

retreat. The Black Instant brand, this is their flagship, and it's a robust, smooth, fair -trade roast packed with 15 grams of grass -fed protein and 5 grams of MCTs. It's not just an energy boost, it's an actual fuel for your muscles and brain. They've solved the jitters problem by enriching their coffee with 250 milligrams of adaptogens, including ashwagyonda, and L -Thanine you get the alertness you want with a calming focused clarity that helps you stay productive

without the edge. The black instant blend is my thing but if latte is your thing well the Strong Coffee Company's latte is to die for. What I love most is that they don't just cut corners we're talking organic ingredients and a deep commitment to eco -friendly sustainable practices. It's coffee you can feel good about

for your body and the planet. Whether you're looking for a better sleep, mental clarity, or just a more convenient way to get your protein in, strong coffee is the healthy alternative that doesn't sacrifice flavor. We want you to experience this revolution in your daily routine. So we've teamed up with the Strong Coffee Company to get you their highest exclusive discount. You can get 20 % off your entire order. Yes, 20 % is guaranteed off your order by using the

code CBUKRDUX. just head to thestrongcoffeecompany .com or simply go to the show notes below and click on the link there. That's C -B -U -K -R -D -U -X to guarantee your 20 % discount. By buying this product, you're not only supporting the companies that work with us, or just supporting the channel, you're also joining the Chatterbox community's commitment to the environment. One percent of all commissions are donated to the Stripe Climate Program to help remove CO2 from

the atmosphere. Shutterbox! Shutterbox! Shutterbox! Shutterbox! And right, move on to... There was a remix of Eat, Drink, Dance, Relax in 1988, I believe, and you be the judge as well. Yeah, that's right. Well, the remix, curious enough, again, because I'd written a song with Dean, him and I went down to Saunton Heath somewhere, I think it was, a studio down in Saunton Heath

in South London to do the remix. And we booked it for whatever day it was, and we got up to get down there, and we met up, and traveling down from... I think I was living in Fulham at the time and he was living in North London and we were traveling down in a cab and it was like

a war zone because everything was uprooted. The night before had been the night of the hurricane so all the trees were down as you went through the parks and as we came to a junction somewhere south end of Wandsworth or south end of Clapham or something like that in our cab, somebody t -burned us, and a car came to slap into the side of us on the way down to the remix. Luckily enough, you know, it was an Fx4, you know, there's really

solid black London cabs. So the car came off worse, and we were okay, and so was our synth, which we were taking down for a couple of bits, overdubs and things. And we did the mix down there. Wonderful. And now it's that. That's great, absolutely great. Now, you've remained in the music industry as I see and I'm just scrolling down here. The things I saw and what else have we got here? Yeah, October 2007, the name of the album is Booker's Shade. Yeah, Booker's Shade.

They're a couple of Berlin DJs and they did... Bunch of things and one and one of the tracks that that they did a remix of oh There was a bit of a mashup of one of my tracks called things I saw which in fact was the b -side of hey Matthew and Gosh, I forgot what's the name of the there's a girl as well her and she she's very She's very minimal and you know I've got a name here. Akiko Kiyama. Yeah, that sounds about right to me. That's good enough. Yeah, that's fine. Thank

you. 2009 album called Film. By the way, I like what she does. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to dismiss her. I've listened to some other stuff and I really like what she does. Just obviously, you can't remember everything at the time. So sorry, Akiko. Not at all, we like getting things in the right order as we're jumping every note.

Absolutely perfect, not a problem. And then I've, with interest, you released an album called Film Noir, and guest artist, absolutely amazing, Tilda Swinton, well there's the name to get on the record, and also Paul Roberts' Sniffing the Tears. So yeah, I think getting Tilda was sort of like a... Going back to but not your film roots what what you wanted to be and what is that how film

noir came about? No, film noir certainly goes back to my film roots in a way as much The visual aspects of film noir, but as it says in the in the sleeve notes for the album You know, this is not sort of in the sort of dramatic Netherworld thing of film noir. This is more like the daily grind that people go through, which is a film noir itself, actually. Indeed, indeed. It's wonderful. The quotidian, I think, as it says. And, I mean,

Tilda happened, actually, just because... She and John Byrne, I think she was married to John Byrne, the Scottish artist who also wrote Tutti Frutti and all those other stage things. They have a couple of children together and she was living. She and John were renting a farmhouse that belonged to a friend of mine just outside of the village that I lived in up in the Highlands.

John was also showing some paintings at a local gallery up there and we met at a barbecue just across the road from me and down a little alley where she and John were very kindly being the cooks. I like a lot of what Tilda's voice does. I asked her if she'd come along and do it and she said sure and came by and did the thing and the praise I remember her saying, do you like that? Is that okay? And I said yes, great. She said you sure? Because I can put a bit more graphite

into it. I think there's enough graphite in it. And Paul actually goes back a long way because actually it was the band that Paul and Michael Nigel that I was theoretically going to be writing lyrics for in the very beginning of things. We were powers from the mid -60s. OK, so that was 2009. Now I know that singers, songwriters and musicians, they never really retire. So what have you been working on since 2009? There's got to be a project somewhere. There's no way

you're not doing anything. I know that. Well I've been in quite a few things I mean I suppose the most outstanding thing I suppose that has been readily available I got a contact online 2014 from some couple of guys who I didn't know at all on Gozo, which is a small island next to Malta, and asked if I'd like to come over and do some work with them. And it suited me pretty well, because I'd taken a year out in

2012. Jenny and I loaded up our old Hyman motorhome and spent a year cruising Spain, Portugal, and then Morocco. which is great. I obviously took a laptop with me to do some music and I also took a keyboard and a little battery operated amp because I thought I'd do some electro busking, quite fancy idea, whilst on road and that started working out quite well but we stopped off in Alicante and in the space of three weeks or two weeks, had the camper broken into twice and just

stopped a guy doing it the third time. And the first time it was broken into, unfortunately I lost a load of stuff, including a load of memory sticks which had the sequences for the stuff I was going to be busking in, so that disappeared. Anyway, so that was that, but then I went over to do this thing in Gozo and I found it quite interesting, particularly working with people

who had no idea how it was going to go. I contributed my share of the tracks, but I felt I'd done all I could do in the writing, playing and vocals. The idea was that they'd mix it up and bring it out as an EP. I can't remember my tracks. I'd left behind four maybe. But nothing really happened over the years, so I thought, you know... It was still bugging me and I'd be doing a load of work at home on other things and I thought well, okay I'm gonna go over and finish this

album off. So we rented out our house to pay for our time and went over to Gozo and I spent a year there finishing off the album doing a couple of other things which was quite interesting meeting some other people musically and frankly getting very getting very fit and healthy and you know doing a lot of a lot of swimming and exercise which is great and a lot and i have to say i needed to do all that because it did an awful lot of drinking as well i'm sure it

assisted with the project i have no doubt you know i need i need to i need to burn away the the residue very good i like that So that was an album called Peace V War. Basically, they were protest songs. Again, this partly came from the fact that we didn't know each other and I didn't want to write a selection of whatever love songs or things and I felt that the world was very serious. getting to a very serious place

at that time. And we certainly felt serious ass out there because most people here are talking about immigrants and things. What we had happening out there, certainly in 2015 by the time I got back there was suddenly Daesh was right there, just across the water in Libya. And we felt very exposed, I have to be honest with you, because it was only a couple of hours by fast rib. And a lot of people didn't enjoy it and rumours were right. So anyway, this was a protest album. Cool,

okay. And what can we expect from you next, Carol? I mean, how did you spend lockdown? Did your creative juices flow and what can we expect from you? I liked lockdown a lot in as much as I'd moved from the countryside to live in the centre of the city, so on one side that was bad because all the things you like and you want from the

city weren't available, i .e. there were no movies, there was no live music, there were no restaurants, there were no pubs, but on the other hand the city was fantastic, especially in the first months of lockdown when it was absolutely quiet and people were walking on the roads and none of us knew what was happening so you actually avoided people because you didn't want to breathe on

them or be breathed on. The downside, another downside though, was that I couldn't work face -to -face with anybody and people were talking about swapping files and things, but it's not the same thing. You know, you want to share the energy and the vibe as you're doing things, you know, so somebody plays or sings something, yeah that's great and let's work on that, rather than

having to wait. particularly if you're working with people who are on a different time scale to you, either they're in another country or they're working at night or during the day whilst you're working another way around. So that part I missed but it gave me a good chance to reassess a lot of what I've been doing and so basically the two things I've been doing, been focusing on, one of them started before lockdown, before

Covid struck. I've been working on a whole thing of reggae, the working title is Bent Reggae, because I've listened to a lot of reggae in my life and sort of been grooved with it. So I started doing these tracks, some of which were brand new, some of which were re -workings. The absolute point is, you know, I wasn't going to adopt a cod Jamaican accent or sing about Jah Rastafari because that's not who I am, you know. So I'm just a standard middle class white boy doing

reggae. But it's pretty good. I'm very pleased with it. Some of them got to be finished because I need to find a place that I can mix in. I don't trust. I like my work situation now as a working situation but for mixers I don't really trust and I don't like to mix on headphones. I know people listen to a lot of music on headphones but I like to hear I like to feel I like to feel stuff coming through the air you know. I get

that, totally, yeah, absolutely. So that's that, and then the other thing I've been doing quite specifically in terms of changing my mind about what I'm doing, what I've been up to, is that here's a birthday, which proves it. I've got an awful lot of unfinished stuff, and I really want to take some time, because obviously I'd like to earn some money, but equally, Money's never been a particular driving force in my life.

So I thought, well, if I can stick with it for another month or so, I want to finish off, or at least finish off as much as I'm going to finish off, because in some cases I'll never get the multi -track. tapes or recordings back so I'm just going to compile and go for best versions of demos and things I've done and just make a compilation of all my songs so that it's there for me to see and for my children to have as well if they're at all interested. That's cool.

That's sort of basically where I'm at. Fantastic. Fantastic, Carol. Yeah, absolutely. Sue, have you got any questions for Carol? Yes, Carol. Is there any plans for you to do an autobiography? Yeah. Uh, I don't have the time. No, it's okay. I really don't have the time. I'm trying to even write out a synopsis for what I want to get from my kids, because my kids, particularly my daughter, says, Luke, this is terrible. We don't know that much about you. We know you as daddy, but we

don't know so many aspects of your life. And I suppose it's true, both myself and Jenny. I mean, Jenny had a a really particularly interesting life as well. So, you know, she's been good enough to give them a synopsis, and Ed is a synopsis of what she's done, but I've got to do my own. But thanks, Sue. If I did write one, would you read it? Well, we would not only read it, we'd have you all for a chat about it as well. Oh,

thank you. There you go. And when you do complete something, you make sure that you send me a little message and we'll have a chat then. It's been absolutely fantastic, Carol. Now, you've got a website, which I shall let people know. It's carolfialca .com. So it's K -A -R -E -L. F -I -A -L -K -A, carrollfielke .com. And also, if you go on there, you can also see links to Carol's social media as well. One click away from them as well. And Carol, it's been absolutely wonderful.

I've enjoyed it. Thank you very much. And thank you for sharing some of your birthday with us as well. Thank you. Thank you both for inviting me on and I appreciate talking with you and also by the way that website is just going to be massively updated because it's still sitting back from.

from peace we were so that was you know it's five five years out of dating but still thanks for thanks for promoting it and if anybody goes to it try going again in a couple of months time and hopefully it'll be up and running in a in a decent and more relevant manner not not a problem and uh so is this full recording or not no i'm switching off that okay You've been listening to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue and Nick and today our special guest was Carol Fialca.

If you're interested in becoming a future guest on the Chatterbox Redux podcast, or the radio show Chatterbox UK, you're welcome to submit songs, books, or whatever it is you do, and send us a CV, synopsis, or press release. However, we receive several thousand such press releases every week, and it's impossible to reply to each one individually. Why not email us or leave a comment, because we'd love to know what you think

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and we catch you then. Bye bye. This is Nick and Sue with 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