Wet Wet Wet reveal career highlights ahead of massive UK tour

WET WET WET are one of Scotland’s most successful ever bands.

With record sales of more than 15 million and three number one singles, including mega-hit Love is All Around, the quartet from Clydebank lived the dream.

They’ve had their fair share of ups and downs over the years, but they’re gearing up for a massive UK tour in February and March that will include dates in Newcastle, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness from March 11 to 14.

Called The Big Picture Tour, it celebrates 21 years since the release of their number one album, Picture This, which will also be re-released in two deluxe formats.

Marti Pellow, Graeme Clark, Neil Mitchell and Tommy Cunningham sat down with iN10 to discuss their 10 favourite moments from the band’s career. “When we signed our first deal, the record company was a bit freaked out when we said we wanted Willie Mitchell, who recorded all the Memphis soul greats like Al Green, to produce our album.

“But a meeting was arranged for us in Memphis and when Graeme and I turned up, it was Bobby Womack who opened the door.

“Willie liked our demos and agreed to work with us, which was a dream come true and we kept in touch with him until the day he died.

“To hang out in places we knew Elvis had been and to record in Memphis was a rite of passage for us, although the album wasn’t released until 1988.”

Graeme Touring with Elton John and playing Madison Square Garden, 1988

“We’d just released our first album, Popped In Souled Out, and there seemed to be a lot of buzz around us.

“We played a Prince’s Trust gig at the Royal Albert Hall and Elton John was there. He came backstage, said he liked our album and asked if we’d like to join him on tour.

“Our jaws dropped when he left the room. We couldn’t believe it.

Sir Elton John performs at Madison Square Garden in New York City (Getty Images)

“We played Madison Square Garden on John Lennon’s birthday and Elton brought us out to do Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds with him.

“We wore kilts at that show we brought the house down when we came out in them and Elton didn’t mind much either!”

Marti Childline and first number one, 1988

“We were asked to do a song by the NME, which was producing a Sgt Pepper’s tribute album to benefit Childline.

“We recorded With A Little Help From My Friends, which was released as a double A-side with Billy Bragg.

“It was our first number one and we were in New York when we got the call. It was really special to us.

“Billy always jokes to us that it was thanks to him we got to number one.

“I remember playing a show in Belgium where we did the song with Joe Cocker and Ringo Starr that was a great moment. Thirty years on, we still work with Childline.”

Marti Playing the Mandela Show at Wembley Stadium, 1988

“Wishing I Was Lucky had come out and done well, so we managed to get on the bill at Wembley.

“All of these musicians we were fans of were there and I remember Tommy saying to Mark Knopfler that he was very nervous about playing in front of 60,000 people, to which Mark replied, ‘I better not mention the 85 million watching on TV then!’

Marti Pellow in 1988 (PA Images)

“It was so special just to be part of it and we had a great day.

“That was the biggest crowd we’d played to at that point and we later did some shows in South Africa where we got to meet Mandela’s daughters.”

Neil Goodnight Girl putting us back on top, 1992

“Our album, High on the Happy Side, had come out and the two singles hadn’t done well, so people were saying our bubble had burst.

“We took a chance and put out this song with no drums called Goodnight Girl it was the last throw of the dice from a record company about to say goodnight to us.

“It went in at number 30 and just climbed and climbed and got to number one, where it stayed for four weeks.

“The funny thing is, it was one of the last songs we recorded for the album and came together without us having to think about it. Maybe that’s the beauty of the song.”

Neil Love Is All Around, 1994

“We were recording Picture This when we got a request from the label to record a song for a movie, which was a first for us.

“The choice was Barry Manilow’s Can’t Smile Without You, Lovely Day by Bill Withers or The Troggs’ Love is All Around.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=h3gEkwhdXUE%E2%80%9CWe

thought we could put a Wets’ spin on the Troggs and we recorded it in a day. We intended to use it as a B-side, but word quickly came back from the record company and movie director that it was amazing and those plans changed.“Never could we have predicted what would happen next, which was of course 15 weeks at number one.”

Tommy The Wet Jet, 1995

“Prior to Love is All Around, we’d done lots of what we called the European Cheese Toastie tours, where we would play fairly small venues in the middle of Austria to 1,000 people while driving around in a Transit van.

“But that song took us to all areas of the world, so we had to charter our own jet, which we got painted specially. Only bands like U2 and Led Zeppelin had planes, yet here we were. There’s a picture of us all standing on the wing, looking delighted.

“The Wet Jet’s first stop was South Africa, to 26,000 people in Durban Cricket Ground, and then Australia, New Zealand, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur places we couldn’t find on a map!

“Japan was a real culture shock and Dubai was in its infancy at that point of what it’s become, with only a few hotels. It was a great experience.”

Graeme Elvis show in Memphis, 1994

“During that summer of 1995 when Love is All Around was out, everyone wanted access to us. We flew from Australia to LA to Memphis to play a special Elvis tribute show.

“Kris Kristofferson compered it and Bryan Adams, Elton John and INXS were also there, as were Scotty Moore and Elvis’ original band.

Marti Pellow and Neil Mitchell performing the Elvis Tribute (Redferns)

“We did It’s Now Or Never and it was great to be a part of that show, because without Elvis none of us would be here doing this.

“Marti and I both had our long hair at the time and we got a picture with Tony Bennett, who was looking slick while I looked like Thor! But it’s great to look back on.”

Tommy 10 Nights at the SECC, 1995

“We’d done the smaller hall but never the 10,000 capacity one.

“For the All Around And In The Crowd tour, we booked the big hall and when the tickets went on sale it quickly sold out.

“We added two more nights and the same thing happened and it kept happening until we reached 10.

“It’s a cliche but the Glasgow audience is something else. When we stepped out on to the stage, the sound was like a jumbo jet taking off.

“I had a tear in my eye and just thought, wow. We were homecoming boys, surrounded by everyone we loved and the reaction went deep into our souls.”

Graeme Return to the Top 10, 2008

“When we released Weightless in 2008, it had been more than 10 years since we’d had a big record.

“The business had changed beyond all recognition and we’d been told singles didn’t work anymore, but we put it out without a record company and were lucky enough for it to reach the Top 10.

“That was a big thing, especially later in our career, and it gave me hope there was still room for us.

“We took our name from a song by Scritti Politti, who’d taken a DIY approach in their early years.

“When we started we wrote to them asking how they did it and they wrote back, to my wee maw’s house, telling us how to press up records and who to take it to.

“Twenty-five years later, it came full circle.”