Interview for Radio X

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Read interview on Radio X

From paulmccartney.com, January 11, 2019

The promotional duties for the album release were getting into full swing and he had a succession of visitors to his studio in Sussex over a two-day period. They included a cover interview for Mojo magazine, Sunday Times Culture, a GQ cover story, an appearance for the CBS show 60 Minutes and chats with Radio X, BBC Radio 6 Music and the website DIY (the first interview from this campaign to appear). 

Stuart Bell, Paul McCartney’s publicist

Sir Paul McCartney has revealed how some of his worst gigs were in his early Beatle days… and that he often risked life and limb playing with the band.

Speaking to Radio X’s Gordon Smart, the former Beatle recalled that the legendary Liverpool venue The Cavern was a risky place to play.

He explained: “The early days tend to be the worst… In the Cavern, the condensation from the sweat from people would get into the amps.

“We didn’t get electrocuted, we never even knew about that! You just used to lick your finger and hit the mike quick! And if you didn’t get a belt, you’d probably be alright.”

But the star – who has just released a brand new double A-side called I Don’t Know and Come On To Me to celebrate his 76th birthday – admitted that his most embarrassing moment at a gig came in 2010.

He revealed: “We played the Apollo in New York, the great, great Apollo and we were so chuffed because it’s like a sacred place to us.

“We were doing a tribute, a song called Hitch Hike, which is a Marvin Gaye song. It’s going great – all these famous people in the audience – there’s Keith Richards, there’s Howard Stern, there’s Tony Bennett… Chris Rock…t here’s like millions of people there and suddenly there’s this almighty noise!”

Paul explained that the show was interrupted by a horrible noise from the PA. “The guy on the monitors was panicking,” he went on. “At this great gig that we really wanted to go well, there’s this unholy noise so I had to cover. And I was just chatting to the audience ‘hey, good to see Tony Bennett’s here, come on up here Tony – you can sing!’”