"Opeth and Scissor Sisters are fans of mine": comedian Bill Bailey talks Mastodon, Ghost and why he'd love to have a nerdy conversation with Prince
Bill Bailey has never been shy about his love of metal. From offering his own surrealist takes on the genre in his comedy routines, to tangoing to Metallica’s Enter Sandman on primetime BBC show Strictly Come Dancing – which he ultimately won in 2020 – Bill has been an avowed champion of heavy throughout his near-30-year career.
With a new tour on the horizon for 2024, we thrust the multi-instrumentalist and comedic genius under the spotlight and grilled him with your questions…
What’s your favourite concept album?
@DrFenentuse, Twitter/X
“I may have mentioned this before, but I love Leviathan by Mastodon. It’s massive! You don’t really get concept albums on this scale anymore, people just don’t seem to do it, but there’s something unrestrainedly brilliant about Leviathan. The fact that it’s based on Moby-Dick – if you needed to base a story on anything, you couldn’t pick better really than this classic work of literature, this epic tale of a man and a white whale. Come on, that’s about as concept as you could get!”
Will you ever do a follow-up to the In Metal album [from 2011]?
Elliot Leaver, Facebook
“Oh yeah! That’s a good point actually, I was thinking about it the other day while I was archiving a load of old stuff. There’s a whole bunch of new songs I’ve written that would suit the metal treatment. When that album was made, it was very much a response to Sonisphere and in my head there could be another metal one, or another style completely. There might be a rock one, or blues, but there’s definitely some more metal versions of songs, so when I accumulate enough of them I think there may well be another In Metal release. I’d love to do a follow-up.”
Hammer: What was it like, recording a ‘proper’ album?
“It was so much fun! We did it in a studio down in Wandsworth, with these amazing old microphones with the brilliant ambience of the studio. I really loved the production job on it, so full of these rich sounds, and I’d be well up for another release like it. Maybe at the end of this tour, when I’ve got all the songs up and running, I can do a demo and see what we can do about it.”
What’s the most interesting animal you’ve ever kept?
Marie Sayce, email
“We’ve got a pair of three-banded armadillos that we’ve been looking after, because they were rescued from a centre that couldn’t look after them. They’ve just had a baby and it’s the most extraordinary thing. They’re incredible things; they roll up into this perfect ball where the nose slots in with the tail and it’s almost beautifully geometric in its symmetry. They’ve got tiny little furry legs underneath them, like armoured woodlice.
They’re so strange, every time I look at them they’re like little aliens. The shell is so hard, so tough and durable, but there’s a floppy underbelly side to them. They’re endlessly fascinating, and when the females get pregnant, if the conditions aren’t right they can even pause the birthing process until environmental conditions are more suitable. Amazing creatures. People need more armadillo knowledge.”
Who’s the most famous person you’ve met?
Amy Price, email
“The Who’s bassist John Entwistle came up to me once after a gig, many moons ago. I was coming out of a club and he was going in, but he’d just got out of this car and he just stood and stared at me. Then he just poked me in the chest and said one of my punchlines back to me. I was like, ‘Oh, erm, brilliant – thank you very much!’ And he laughed and said, ‘Brilliant!’ then tottered off. You never know who’s listening. I think a lot of comedians listen to music and a lot of musicians listen to comedy. That’s just the way it works.”
Have you met many bands who are fans of your comedy?
Joel Heath, Email
“Yeah, definitely! Generally, it’s happened when I’ve been at festivals like Sonisphere, but I’ve met people of all different genres. I was in Nashville for Bonnaroo [Music & Arts Festival] years ago, and there were two bands who told me they were really big fans of my work. One was Opeth and the other was Scissor Sisters, which was a bit of a curveball!
I hadn’t expected it, but it happens a lot. With a lot of metal bands there is a big crossover between it and the world of comedy. The kind of people who would go to see a metal band are the kind of people who’ll go see comedy; it’s a big Venn diagram. I’ve noticed it a lot over the years.”
What artist or piece of music made you want to create music?
Matt List, Facebook
“When I was a kid I listened to all sorts of things. The bands I was in at school would play stuff by The Kinks, any big, epic stuff we could find, and replicate the sounds that we heard. I remember listening to the real ambitious stuff like Rick Wakeman, Blue ?yster Cult, Rainbow… As well as metal bands of the time and stuff like Mot?rhead. Music that could get the blood pumping, or was otherwise musically complex.
At the same time, I was listening to a lot of jazz too. My grandad was a big fan of jazz, so some of his albums like Oscar Peterson – this brilliant, dazzling pianist – would find their way to me. I had all sorts of things that I listened to. Punk came up while I was a teenager, so I’d be listening to Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Undertones, Buzzcocks… that raw energy that makes you want to get up and perform.”
Do you listen to more modern metal, or just the classics?
@TheSentinel909, Twitter/X
“Oh, I listen to all sorts of things! I still do listen to a lot of the classics, but I’m always discovering new albums. At the moment, I’m listening to Ghost’s Phantomime [EP], which is great – a massive nod to the classics and it sounds like classic rock with a modern interpretation. I love the artwork. I’m a big fan of that pagan thing, the ancient stuff, so it’s a mix of the two.”
How many different instruments can you play?
@Lauren Holford, Facebook
“Lots of keyboard-type things. Piano, organ, synthesiser… quite a lot of them. A lot of guitar-type things too – guitars, mandolins, mandolas… There’s quite a lot! I’ve started to learn lots of percussion too, so we’re into the dozens. Two or three dozen, but I’m going to randomly say 34. Maybe I’m underselling myself there! Those are the ones I’m proficient in, but there’s a lot more I dabble with.”
Hammer: What’s your favourite?
“It’s very hard to say. Piano was the first instrument I learned, so is always one I return to. I guess the one I love playing most, especially in my stage shows, is the mandola. Only because the mandola has got a lower register and a deeper sound to the mandolin and also works as a solo instrument, so I can play it with kick drums and make an unholy racket.”
If you could meet one metal or rock icon that’s no longer alive, who would it be and what would you talk about?
Kai Woodward, Facebook
“Prince! Because he also played so many instruments and apparently used to have all of his songs programmed into a keyboard. My conversation would be quite a nerdy one about programming and multi-instrumentalism.”
Do you miss Never Mind The Buzzcocks?
Pete Worth, email
“I do miss it, it was great fun, some of the best I’ve had on television. It was genuinely anarchic and recordings could go on for, like, two-and-a-half hours sometimes. There was also lots of drama, rows, people walking out… it was brilliant!”
Hammer: Who were your favourite – and least favourite – guests?
“My favourite guests were generally the ones who were the greatest artists, the most successful. Legends like [Jamaican music icon] Jimmy Cliff, who was a fantastic guest. But some of the bands who had more to prove could be great too. They were less comfortable. They were the ones who would demand things and then freak out when they got on the panel.
We had [DJ] Brandon Block, and he was basically paralysed with fear! I found out that was because at the BRITs somebody told him he’d won an award. He got up to get the award and he hadn’t, but went on like, ‘Wahey!’ He’d become a national embarrassment and it must have been playing on his mind that we were going to rip into him.
[Motown star] Martha Reeves was my favourite guest, she was amazing. Everyone told me she was a bit of a diva, but she was nothing like it – we pretended to be in a jug band together! I was playing an imaginary jug and she’d got the imaginary skiffle bass. It’s perhaps my favourite TV moment ever.”
Bill Bailey's Thoughtifier UK tour starts in Derby February 12. Tickets can be found at www.billbailey.co.uk
