TOPLOADER shot to fame in the late 90s with their Dancing in the Moonlight cover and over the past two and a half decades, they have performed all over the world boasting gigs with the likes of Coldplay, Robbie Williams and Bon Jovi.
The band recently announced it is hitting the road this year on a twelve-date tour around the UK.
Frontman, Joe Washbourn took some time from planning the group’s 25th Anniversary tour and spoke to editor, Paul Gibson about the plans and the band’s love of Eastbourne.
You’ve announced twelve dates for a comeback tour in April and May this year to celebrate 25 years of making music, how are the plans going?
It’s been a little while since we’ve done a tour as such — it’s been a good few years. We’re always busy out and about during the summer doing lots of festivals and things like that, but I think the opportunity of going out and celebrating, unbelievably 25 years since our first album, is just mental.
It was a real opportunity to go out and tour again and play some of the songs from the album that maybe we haven’t played for many years, I’m really excited about the idea of being able to go out and share it again with people that loved it the first time around and people that maybe didn’t know it.
You still have a huge fan base in Eastbourne — do you find those fans still follow you on tour, or are you finding new fans along the way?
Absolutely, the joy of music streaming now means everything’s so accessible. So, we really find it’s very much across the board.
In Eastbourne, where we all started, a lot of that first album was written in our bedsits and the student flats in the town. We sort of managed to go out and be a proper band so grew our fanbase from proper face-to-face gigs.
But, the success of something like Dancing in the Moonlight, means the album is now being listened to by lots of different people. I mean, that song, in particular, has gone through the generations.
I know from even my daughter’s generation, that they all know that song, which is a great little advert for everything else that we’ve done since.
How did that song come about? Obviously, it’s a cover of the 1972 hit by Kelly’s Band Boffalongo, but what made you decide to pick up on that?
It’s funny, back in the day, I used to have this big elaborate story of how it was my Mum’s favourite song. She’s a Motown fan and she always used to do the Hoovering to it, but basically, it came down to when were working with an America producer. There was a lot of pop in the charts and as we’d gone past the Brit Pop thing, it was quite difficult for an Indie band to break into. So, we had this idea for this song, which was a big hit in the ’70s in the States, and it was a real sliding door moment, but we nearly didn’t do it.
We just did a version of it one day in the studio and the vocal really suited my voice and it just turned out, as it turned out. It’s one of those songs that spreads a lot of joy to a lot of people and we’re really proud of it.
Twenty-five years on — do you ever get bored of singing Dancing in the Moonlight?
There was a little period in the middle, when we took a breather in the mid-2000s, but like all bands after a certain while, you start to appreciate the big songs you’ve got, but these days, it pretty much sings itself really. So, we never get bored of singing it, we just always look for new ways to perform it live and do it justice on stage and get people involved.
That’s what a lot of the sets are about these days, getting everyone involved and making sure everyone feels immersed in what you’re doing and goes home having had a great time.
As we both lived in Eastbourne in the same era, I’m going to remind you of some of the hottest places we went to and I want to hear your memories of them.
TJ’s — Yeah, 100 per cent. I remember all the bouncers there André and Danny Berry and all those guys. I remember a little bit later on down the line, when we got a record, we used to be able to skip the queue, which was when we really knew we had arrived!
Atlantis? — Yeah, We played in there with I think was Cast, but I wasn’t much of a punter there as I wasn’t really a ‘boogier’, but we did played there. Atlantis was a big part of the scene of growing up in Eastbourne, so, I remember it well.
Counting House? — I frequented there quite a lot. The back garden in the summer in those days was amazing. plastic chairs came out, so I was there quite a lot at that point — we all were. We had a flat up in Bedford Grove, where I lived with Dan Hipgrave, the guitar player, where we wrote some of the songs for the album. So, the Counting House was just down the road; that was our local really.
Do you get back to Eastbourne much these days?
I still have a lot of friends and family there, so I get down as much as I can and see the town — it’s lovely to come back.
It’s interesting to see how the town has changed. Obviously, in the late 90s, it was kind of a different town altogether really, it has got an awful lot bigger now.
I still love being near the sea, and that’s where the dream of being in a band came about — looking out to see and thinking what is out there for us and that’s something about living by the sea that does that.
You’re touring in April and May, how did you select the venues because they’re quite small compared to the traditional stadiums?
It’s very much trying to cover as most of the UK as we can and sort of reconnect with people that love that album and want to come and hear some of the maybe deeper cuts that we don’t play at festival sets and things like that.
In February, we’re supporting James Blunt on his Back to Bedlam 20th Anniversary Tour, so we’re going to some of these bigger places then. But, it would have been nice to come down south, but maybe later in the year, we can work out something for Eastbourne.
I was going to ask you why Eastbourne isn’t on your tour list — but you have played here quite recently right?
Yeah, over the years, we’ve played a number of gigs in the town, we did the Bandstand a few years ago, but, it’s just one of those things, when a tour gets put together by a promoter, you kind of just go with it.
We did a lovely Festival out near Arlington Reservoir last year which was absolutely lovely. It was just really nice to be back in East Sussex, and you know, get friends and family to come along. It’s a buzzing scene down there which is good.
You mentioned James Blunt earlier, but you’ve also played with some huge names over the years. What’s been the highlight of your 25-year career?
It’s really difficult to say as we all still love playing live, but over the years, we’ve done the old Wembley Stadium with Bon Jovi, been out on big tours with Robbie. In the early days, we got to go on tour with Paul Weller which was incredible.
We feel very comfortable doing what we’re doing now, so, I think the highlight is that we’re still able to do it really. I think that’s something we’re very appreciative of and will continue to be.
So, what does the future hold? Another 25 years?
If you had said to me when we started in 1997 that we would still be gigging 25 years later — I would have laughed at you and thought I’d be an ‘old man’ by then!
But, all the time we love doing it, I don’t see anything changing. I think this year, we’re going to be getting in the studio and recording a new album, so that’s exciting.
For me, it’s always about moving forward and doing new stuff. Obviously, people come to hear some of the music they know and love, but as a band, producing new material is a big part of it. I think all the time we’re writing and love playing live, I can’t see any reason to end it.
For information on the band’s forthcoming tour and tickets, visit www.toploaderofficial.com.
