I pulled up and into a meter bay right outside the front door of Granada, banged in a couple of coins and marched my band The Plastics, or two Plasticos to be exact up to reception.’Tony Michaelides and The Plastics here to see Tony Wilson…Thanks.’ The lady buzzed through to the studio and within a minute Carol, one of the ‘What’s on’ crew came through to meet us and take us down to studio. The show was just about to begin and we had about 20 minutes so I nipped them in to make up just for a quick polish and then we’d be right as rain, at least that’s what I thought. They both were fine looking specimens so I didn’t reckon they needed much of a ‘face repair.’….. I was lucky I wasn’t there with Steve Tyler or any number of road warriors,might have taken a tad longer! Everything was fairly rushed, obviously but all the time they were smiling and happy to be lead along by anxious little plugger man, notably me!
Tony was introducing a couple of items to camera and while we stood waiting in the wings we were informed that in two minutes they’d cut to a filmed item and that was our cue….we’d then be taken us on to the set for the interview and miked up. They looked very excited and were whispering to each other and giggling in what appeared mild Japanese flirtatious behavior.’Let’s go’ came the cry and on we danced.
The studio floor assistant clipped a couple of microphones on their lapels, Tony smiled at them, someone shouted ’30 seconds left’ then ’15’ and ‘go!’ I eased a sigh of relief, I knew ‘What’s on’ had the video because even in the mayhem I’d phoned ahead to check and as we were there on time no one need know how close we’d come to disaster. Tony voiced a link in to their current video, mentioned where the band would be playing and actually held up the sleeve of the single. Brilliant, much more of a plug for a relatively unknown act than I ever could have expected so I was more than happy. ‘ 30 seconds’ again came the cry, this time until the end of the video.’ ………’And action !’
Tony back announced the video made a mildly humorous comment, mentioned the forthcoming gig once more and The Plastics were on, LIVE ! ‘In the studio tonight I’m delighted to have singer Chica and guitarist Hajime from Japan’s latest sensation, The Plastics making their debut on UK television…..Welcome guys and thanks for popping in’. ‘Hello, Hi’ they uttered back through smiling, excitable grins and shiny white teeth’
‘ So what do you think of Manchester, have you had any time to look round yet?’ Tony spouted. There was a gap, probably 10 seconds , felt like an hour for me…they glanced at each other, Chica smiled and Hajime said ‘I like Beatle’ Pause, another gap, though not quite as long and Tony asked them a question about the album…..not a clue what, I just remember it was another question, another gap and again an even better smile from Chica. Hajime once again uttered ‘I like Beatle’ What the fuck, you like Beatle I was thinking…..who cares, what has that got to do with anything????
There was another gap, you couldn’t blame him but Tony expected something to follow on from ‘I like Beatle’ Nothing, not a soddin’ thing. He glanced over at me looking confused in the wings and like the complete pro he was said ‘Great video, let’s see a little more.’ ….and out from the director’s box they cut to the video……again???
We were the final item on the show so they played out with the video, Tony unclipped his microphone and headed straight towards me. ‘ Absolute classic!……..only you could bring a band in who couldn’t speak a word of fuckin’ English’
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May 24, 2011 - Posted in News By: tonym Tags: Granada TV, The Plastics, Tony Wilson