{"id":114,"date":"2006-12-07T09:07:55","date_gmt":"2006-12-07T08:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/archives\/114"},"modified":"2006-12-07T09:07:55","modified_gmt":"2006-12-07T08:07:55","slug":"alison-wheeler-the-story-of-a-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/archives\/114","title":{"rendered":"Alison Wheeler – The Story of a Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Taken from BASE magazine – Interview by\u00c2\u00a0Danny Brogan<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been seventeen years since former Housemartins, Paul Heaton, and Dave Hemingway formed The Beautiful South, and thirteen albums later, they remain one of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most popular bands. The line up might have changed slightly over the years, but the Hull based band continue to produce contemporary, contagious classics.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span>In 2003, the band recruited its latest vocalist and currently only female member, in the shape of Alison Wheeler. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dave Hemmingway was recording a solo album. I was in a gospel choir, and three of us got asked to do a session for backing vocals for his album,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He took me to one side and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI really like your voice. I think it would suit The Beautiful South, would you like me to recommend you?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Which obviously I responded with \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcerm, let me think about this\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d laughs Wheeler.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span>The singer didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hear anything for another year, and subsequently began to forget about any dreams of performing with the band, when out of the blue, Heaton called her up. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I presumed it was pretty dead in the water. I now know that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how the music world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s timetable works \u00e2\u20ac\u201c nothing is urgent. So a year later I heard from Paul, who said he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d heard my voice, and that I should come up and meet the band. Having lost two vocalists before, he wanted to make sure that I got on with the boys, and then to take it from there.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span>Having recently completed a whistle stop tour of the States, playing nine dates in sixteen days, it seems Wheeler has been well and truly accepted as one of the boys. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They started off minding their P\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Q\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, but that soon went out of the window, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m now a token lad. A ladette in the true sense of the word, especially when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m on the road with them.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span>Talking to Wheeler, who had a baby back in February, it becomes evident that whilst keeping her feet very much on the ground, she is enjoying the ride, particularly when it comes to touring. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was a bit weird to go on the road and leave her [Wheeler\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daughter] behind, but live performances are what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all about. I just hope the guys have got a few more years left in them because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just ready to do as much as I can,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she adds before breaking into her infectious laugh.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span>Performance wise, she says she gets a kick from playing crowd favourites \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcPerfect Ten\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcRotterdam\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcDon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Marry Her\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, but says one of her favourite Beautiful South tracks is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcMediterranean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, a song that was never actually released as a single. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a beautiful atmospheric track.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span>This last summer saw Wheeler achieve a life long ambition, by playing live on <\/span>Top of the Pop<\/span>s. Unfortunately it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite how Wheeler had imagined it being. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always been a big fan since I was a kid. I was so chuffed to be in the studio doing <\/span>Top of the Pop<\/span>s. But then I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it when someone said \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcYou know there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no audience\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d states Wheeler, trying her hardest to conceal her disappointment. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Apparently there was some council controversy about noise. It was the one-week in the entire history of <\/span>Top of the Pops <\/span>that they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t allowed an audience. So I got to do <\/span>Top of the Pop<\/span>s, but they had to invite employees of the BBC office to come and be the audience. I think I had all the accountants in front of me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she giggles.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font>\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span>Although <\/span>Top of the Pops <\/span>may be no more, Wheeler is hoping for the chance to continue playing live with the rest of the guys for some time yet, although she concedes that it is somewhat out of her hands. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty much Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s baby, so if anything happens with the band it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretty much his decision. Paul\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already writing new material so I hope that means there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another album in the line.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/font>\u00c2\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Wheeler will be joined by many more in hoping that The Beautiful South, will be around for at least another seventeen years.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taken from BASE magazine – Interview by\u00c2\u00a0Danny Brogan\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been seventeen years since former Housemartins, Paul Heaton, and Dave Hemingway formed The Beautiful South, and thirteen albums later, they remain one of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most popular bands. The line up might have changed slightly over the years, but the Hull based band continue to produce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/suitablemouth.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}