Dave Bartram Q&A - 23rd September 2000
Anthony Aduhene from Nottingham says:
Why did you never release "Chain Gang" as a single? It is, I believe, still the best song you ever did. I am a bit biased because Romeo was a big hero to me as a wee lad and I have always assumed it was him doing the bass on that record. It is still today my favourite song of all time.
DB: Anthony - As I recall there was some talk of releasing Chain Gang as a single, but the band had a policy at the time of not releasing album tracks as singles, we recorded Heartbeat just after the Step 2 album more specifically as a single.
Ian James from Benfleet,Essex asks:
Why do the band enter stage to the sound of the Dambusters?
DB: We have always loved The Dambusters theme as it is patriotic and very rousing, amusingly we have also used it over in Germany!
Peter Tustain from Banbury has a couple of questions:
Which band member wrote "You Are Love"?
DB: You Are Love was written by my good self - glad you like it! [See footnote 1]
Why was the album "The One and Only" released abroad but never in the UK?
DB: The One & Only album has never been released in this country due to a contractual dispute with the company who originally put it out in the rest of Europe!
A great question from Steve Jacks of Worthing:
At Worthing Assembly Hall a few years back, I heard the group doing a soundcheck and they did a couple of Eagles numbers ('Hotel California' and 'Lyin' Eyes' I think they were). I have never heard the group sound so good or heard anybody sing these songs so well. Was this just a thing they do for fun or are they ever intending to put this into their show?
DB: Steve - We often play all kinds of different things during soundchecks, just for our own amusement really - although Hotel California is a particular favourite. However I can't see us ever doing them in our set, as they are not really the style that the band is known for!
And a couple from myself:
Why did SWW (and other bands for that matter) have to re-record songs before playing them on Top of the Pops? I have noticed your versions of 'Heartbeat' and 'Daddy Gees' to name two are different to the originals.
DB: Up until the mid 80's there was a Musicians Union stipulation that all tracks for TV shows had to be re-recorded, it was crazy as what took about 2 days to record had to be redone in 3 hours. It was largely down to the efforts of Pete Townsend from The Who, when he petitioned the MU with great support and eventually they saw the error of their ways!
What is the procedure if a TV company wants to repeat a programme on television that you appear in? Do they have to contact all the members (and former members) to get your permission beforehand?
DB: TV repeats are part of the original agreement with TV companies, there are so many repeats allowed for, normally 3 at a lower rate than the original. On occasions if repeats are excessive a new agreement is made with the makers of the programme in question.
Were you disappointed/surprised when Red Star only just got into the top 20 in the album charts, especially as it had all of your 1977 successful singles on? Or did the sales total not justify the position?
DB: I suppose the chart position of Red Star was a little disappointing, however the sales were still pretty healthy, which perhaps was not reflected in the chart. In fact our biggest cause to gripe was the chart position of the single 'Blue Moon', which peaked at 32, it in fact had outsold 3 top 10 records at that time, the reason being that we had not sold enough copies in the selected 300 Gallup shops from which the chart was compiled! [See footnote 2]