Yesterday - I’m in a movie!

Yes!! I’m in the movie (and on the soundtrack) ‘Yesterday’ in cinemas NOW!

Getting older has made me want to write a lot more of everything down… especially those once in a lifetime moments. This is definitely one of those. Finally I can share with you from the odd scatterings of memories I jotted down as and when they happened. There’s always so much more to say than what we can fit into a tweet or an Insta post. So here goes...

In May 2018 I took part in what really was one of the biggest top secret adventures, which is now officially a reality! For a long time though I thought I had dreamt this whole thing up. It all happened so quickly whilst touring with The Magic Numbers. I was travelling back and forth from the road to London / Abbey Road Studios / Cardiff and a few other locations to do filming. To basically do what I love doing, rocking out on the bass playing music! I got this insane opportunity to play bass in a movie. WTF!! Oh and It keeps getting better!!

It all started with a phone call from a friend, an amazing singer songwriter/ producer called Adem who I met on one of Kathryn Williams’ song-writing retreats. He rang me up saying I’ve got something exciting to ask you. Things just got crazier and crazier by the second and it was such a whirlwind of spontaneous moments which I’ve been trying to compile together to share. (I know, I’m always a little slower than others with the updates on social media, sorry about that, it’s on my list of things to try and get better at)

We chatted some more and I then found out it was going to be none other than Danny Boyle, Richard Curtis’ movie and that Daniel Pemberton was going to be the composer. It was all just too good to be true!! This movie was no doubt going to be one of those all time classic films we will watch over and over and there lurking in the shadows will be me playing a small part in it.

The storyline (which I loved straight away) was based around the Beatles. I think I spent the whole time on the phone pacing up and down smiling, freaking out, couldn’t believe my luck. I was getting closer to those bass lines that I grew up with, those songs, I was going to get inside them. In my head in some shape or other I, would, be... Paul McCartney in a movie- haha! well you know what I mean!! :) Something like that.

Few days passed got the dates back and they landed right on the tour, clashed with everything. Told Romeo and the guys we just had to make them work, it was hard and a lot of them were almost impossible, but we did it… more about that stuff later.

Ok so… it was time to meet the gang, the rest of the band/cast… we called ourselves Jack’s Band (Himesh Patel’s character) the guys were great, such fun, and really amazing musicians Charlie, Xav & Oli they were already part of a band together called Itchy Teeth. (check em out, they’re really cool) We had a lot of fun together, joked around, took loads of pics on our phones and drank a lot of coffee. It was crazy really, very sureal, intense and nerve wrecking at times, coz we didn’t wanna fuck it up either!

We had a few days at Abbey Road Studios recording the tracks, for the soundtrack and the movie. This is where we worked closer with Daniel, Adem and the lead actor Himesh. It was really interesting being a part of this world. It was a real challenge to approach those songs as if I’d never heard them before and follow the direction from Daniel, who I was totally in awe with, he’d worked on so many great movies, he heard music differently. I learnt a lot in those few days, which is what I love about creating, being a musician, it’s never ending the different skills you can pick up along the way from people and random opportunities. Himesh was amazing too, he had never played guitar before but was nailing it, singing and playing like an absolute natural. It was so inspiring to watch, play with and be a part of.

We then started shooting the band scenes and one of the locations was this little place called, Wembley fucking Stadium, have you heard of it? I couldn’t believe it. I was just rocking out at a gig with the Numbers on tour then racing back to London to shoot the movie on stage at Wembley Stadium. I remember getting calls (whilst on my way) saying if I’m just a minute late I will be replaced, they will start shooting the movie without me… some other bass player was waiting in the wings to take my place, just like that. For those of you who know me - I am always late! So you could imagine how terrified I was… but if you look hard enough that girl dressed in black is me holding onto my bass tighter than ever before. The first taste of showbiz! Looking back now it’s kinda crazy actually, coz there’s no other way I would’ve like to be standing on that stage, other than terrified and fueled by adrenaline. Wembley baby let’s DO THIS!!!

Ok… So I should probably stop there… coz I’ll no doubt chew your ear off about it at the next gig over a few drinks. It was a moment I’ll never forget, an experience I’ll forever cherish and yet another attempt to see if my daughter will think I’m cool. She smiles when we see the buses go by with ‘Yesterday’ being advertised, “Mummy, it’s you!” We go again to see it on Saturday. Yes - Life sure is crazy. Thanks everyone and everything out there in the universe for making this actually happen. Thanks for listening to my ramblings... it’s nice to share them with you.

Here’s a few pictures:

Wembley Stadium in the early hours waiting for the sun to come up!

It's a wrap! Thank you very much goodnight.

Deliriously happy! Me and the guys in Jack's band!

Just a few pics here... will add some more for you if you’d like.

It’s really a great movie... go and see it!! I’m clearly proud of it and very happy they didn’t cut me out. haha!