Latest / Behind The Village Podcast / Building a David Bowie Experience: Behind the Scenes of The Bowie Lives Show | Michael Bell

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Building a David Bowie Experience: Behind the Scenes of The Bowie Lives Show | Michael Bell · Behind The Village Podcast

• 0:00
  I always wanted to come out with the red shoes
• 0:02
  on. And of course I never, you know, I would
• 0:06
  never make the, the, uh, the call, you know,
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  like I'd be running out on stage and my soft
• 0:12
  feet or something and, you know, sit on the stage
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  singing and putting my shoes on. So, you know,
• 0:17
  those kinds of things, you really gotta, you
• 0:20
  gotta time them out and you gotta make sure everybody's
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  got a lot of time, nobody's depressed. And, and
• 0:24
  again, Depending on the theater, sometimes the
• 0:27
  green room or the dressing rooms are pretty far
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  from the stage. You're listening to the Behind
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  the Village podcast. Our guest today is Michael
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  Bell from the Bowie Lives. Welcome to the show,
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  Michael. It is very nice to actually meet you
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  and get to know you because I've actually done
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  quite a bit of research on... um you know i was
• 0:53
  looking you up when i knew that i was going to
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  be doing this and uh it's very interesting to
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  see uh david bowie impersonator i don't know
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  about impersonator is it thank you very much
• 1:05
  actually yeah i don't i don't think of myself
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  as an impersonator i'm i'm uh the show is just
• 1:12
  really a tribute to bowie it's my tribute to
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  bowie that's right um which you know features
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  me an iconic blue suit or two and some you know
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  that sort of thing but I don't wear the costumes
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  and I don't I don't present the show as as if
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  I am Bowie I present the show as if I'm a huge
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  Bowie fan which of course I have been my whole
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  life super cool yeah so tell us a little bit
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  about that like why how did you end up I guess
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  being a tribute you know for for David Bowie
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  uh well he passed and so i'd been i'd been singing
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  bowie my entire life he was a guy that as a young
• 1:55
  performer in my teens really shaped me um not
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  only you know the wide breadth of his music but
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  also fashion and just you know life experience
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  and getting out there and doing it and working
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  hard that sort of thing and uh i had a i had
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  a show in the 80s i was actually an original
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  artist recording artist and then while we were
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  kind of waiting for the record deal to come down
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  my agent suggested that i do a bowie tribute
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  which at the time uh there was just a handful
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  of tributes the blushing brides doing the rolling
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  stones they were out there tony springer doing
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  hendrix i mean this is going back into the 80s
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  that's how long these guys have been up to it
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  right so uh i put a show together it was very
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  heady i did all the costumes i did eight different
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  costume changes and Went into the studio and
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  recorded all the backtracks and had actors and
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  dancers instead of a band. And I just kind of
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  went over everybody's head, including my own,
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  you know, and I hated it. So I spent years putting
• 2:57
  it together, it seemed, and then crashed it all
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  in about eight months. And I vowed never to be
• 3:05
  an impersonator like that again. And then I came
• 3:11
  off the road for 30 years and got into the business
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  from the back end. I was working in media and
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  promotions. And then after he passed, I came
• 3:21
  back out about 10 years ago singing Buble and
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  Sinatra into the theatres and jazz clubs in Toronto
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  because I wanted to come back out and take another
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  run at doing it professionally. And now that
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  my kids were grown and gone and all that kind
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  of stuff, and my wife had to... opportunity to
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  travel whenever we want and we're retired that
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  sort of thing so it made a you know it was a
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  good idea to put a kind of a traveling business
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  together so i started out that way and then uh
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  of course david passed and everybody that i knew
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  that knew me from the old days and they were
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  saying oh man you really should be doing this
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  and um michael beauclair has been my musical
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  director on and off for 30 years he was really
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  adamant about it and I said, well, listen, I
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  wasn't up with the idea really. I couldn't imagine
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  me like doing the impersonator thing again. I
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  had to kind of rethink what, you know, how could
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  I do this? And Michael put this, I said, if you
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  put a band together, I'll come to a rehearsal
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  and we'll see how it goes. And he put, you know,
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  we had Chuck Daly from My Mother Earth in the
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  band and Sandor Schweisberg from, you know, Johnny
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  Orlando's band. matt laggan from the shuffle
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  demons in the band like it was just an all -star
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  band and it killed it right out of the gate first
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  rehearsal we just all looked at each other said
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  well this is ready to book so i had to kind of
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  you know think about how i was going to present
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  it without seeming opportunistic and also uh
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  you know trying to develop a show that people
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  could see right away what the guy meant to me
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  as opposed to This was just another guy I was
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  doing kind of in the same way. I don't try to
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  imitate. I'm back out doing Buble and I don't
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  try to imitate Buble. I just love the material.
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  So I, you know, it's kind of a selfish pleasure.
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  So I started singing it again. And I'm out doing
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  a talking heads thing where I'm David Byrne.
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  And that's also a selfish pleasure, but there
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  I'm really trying to be David Byrne. Like I'm
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  trying to make you think you're seeing, you know,
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  a 60 year old David Byrne, big gray suit, the
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  whole deal. But the Bowie thing is really close
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  to my heart. So it had to be a very different
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  show. And it's ended up developing into quite
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  a happening where we involve local performers
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  and we get the audience involved and up on stage.
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  And, you know, we have a huge merch offering
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  we call the Bowie Bazaar, which is all collectibles,
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  like real, like some really rare Bowie collectibles.
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  And then, you know, stuff, teas and all that
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  kind of stuff, too. And we parade out the costumes
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  now with actresses and dancers. So we have people
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  working the show. The season that's coming up
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  this fall is different than the last season.
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  Last season, we had two dancers and we were doing
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  big dance routines. This season, the show, and
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  again, in the spirit of Bo, we'd always change
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  it up. So when people have seen us in Orillia,
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  because we played Orillia about six years ago,
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  five years ago. um pre -covered and so anybody
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  who's thinking to themselves oh i've seen the
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  show you know they can feel uh confident in the
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  fact that if they come to the show it'll be a
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  brand new experience for them it's the same material
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  of course because it's bowie you know there's
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  some new songs added but there's new costumes
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  and and new theater and new multimedia and uh
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  and new happenings every time i'm not sure who
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  we do uh under pressure in every show and we
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  pull a local Annie Lennox from the market every
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  time. And we haven't, we haven't chosen Aurelius
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  yet. I'm not even sure if the call's gone out
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  yet, but that's another great way that we find
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  like, you know, a local female pub singer and
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  we task her, we have the costume. They always,
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  they always turn out amazing, you know, like
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  it's, and the audience of course goes wild because
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  there's like the local. Of course. They see every
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  Saturday at the pub gig or whatever it is, you
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  know? So, so yeah. So there's like a long winded
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  explanation of why this isn't me being a Bowie
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  impersonator. Yeah. Yeah. No, a tribute for sure.
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  A hundred percent. Absolutely. A tribute. Yeah.
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  So you've been, you mentioned you've been singing
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  for a very long time. Was that your first, I
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  don't want to say first love, but is that kind
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  of what you. When you were younger, that's what
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  you wanted to do was sing kind of thing? Yeah,
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  it's all I've ever done. I mean, when I left
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  the business, I immediately went into, I published
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  an entertainment magazine for 30 years. I organized
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  and helped promote a number of different festivals.
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  I worked with young bands from the ground up
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  to get them kind of the next rung of the ladder
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  all the time. I always, I stayed in the business.
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  I just didn't have, you know, a family. I had
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  a family with young daughters at the time. And
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  you just can't have both in the business unless
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  you're making scads of cash. Like if you're making
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  bank and you can, you know, have a nanny or,
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  you know, a tutor on the bus and all that kind
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  of stuff. Even then, it's not necessarily destined
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  to last that relationship. So I put my deal on
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  hold and always thought, you know. after 30 years
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  when the kids were grown, gone and, you know,
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  successful and have families of their own, I
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  would go back out. And so here I am with too
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  many shows. I'm looking at a list. I got so much
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  new material to learn in the next month. It's
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  crazy. So, but yeah, you know, go hard, go hard
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  or go home as they say at my age. Well, why not?
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  Right. What was that decision like at the time
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  when, you know, was it, did it feel. like you
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  mentioned did it feel kind of like that was just
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  naturally what needed to happen was to take that
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  step back at the time was it did you wrestle
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  with it a bit more you know in terms of of leaving
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  the business of the performing end of the business
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  when you had kids yeah yeah well of course you
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  know it's it's every you know what's the what's
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  the joke you know the saddest place in the world
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  is somebody's guitar store you know or it's just
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  filled with dudes you know If the coach had just
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  put me in. Yeah, of course. Anybody who's been
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  in the business knows when you're in it, it's
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  all you want. My old manager used to say to me,
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  he goes, you'll make it if you go to bed a rock
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  star, wake up a rock star, and be a rock star
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  all day long. What was the last? No, it was go
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  to bed and dream about being a rock star. The
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  point was there is nothing else in your life.
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  If you want to make it, there is no other distraction.
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  Of course, I met my distraction and decided it
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  was a good time. I thought I'll be young enough
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  when it's all said and done to get back out there.
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  If I stay in good shape and take care of myself
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  and all that kind of stuff, I'll be able to go
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  back out. and do it again yeah and that's amazing
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  just knowing that you know everything that you
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  were taught as well the idea that you need to
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  be that laser focus and have that much uh i guess
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  uh willpower to see it through right to say after
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  30 years like like after you retired and everything
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  to be like you know what i want to do this like
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  i want to come back i have the ability i have
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  the energy you know i think that's um That's
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  pretty awesome, right? To be able to try and
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  still achieve that dream that you had. Well,
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  as parents ourselves in the throes of young children,
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  it gives me hope. I know. That there's a light
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  at the end of the tunnel. There's a light at
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  the end of the tunnel. Just make sure that they're
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  well off enough that they don't end up back on
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  your couch. That's the trick. The return of the
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  children, yeah. And that's when they're young.
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  That's what I say. And it's cheaper on the front
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  end than it is on the back end. What can the
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  audience or what people that are interested in
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  going on a 10 -year show, what can you potentially
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  tell us that they can expect for the Aurelia
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  show in September? Yeah, well, it's, you know,
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  our shows are real happening. So we have, you
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  know, local folks that join in the show. Uh,
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  we have the big Bowie Bazaar up front, which
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  is all the collectibles and, um, the show itself.
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  We, we go from the beginning to the end and we
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  do it all in order and all the hits that you
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  would expect. I mean, there's a few we missed
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  just because it's, you know, would end up being
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  a three and a half hour show if we try to get
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  everything in. Yeah. Long career. Yeah. Yeah.
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  Long career time hits. Right. So. You know, often
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  what we'll do from season to season is we'll
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  take one song and put another song in from the
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  same period or another period. So we're constantly
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  moving the tunes around. This year is definitely
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  a different vibe than last year or two years
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  ago. We have Jacqueline Sierra, who is our model
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  slash actress this year, modeling all the costumes.
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  There's a bit more theater involved in terms
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  of storyline and things of that nature going
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  on. There's not a ton of that, but we kind of
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  put it into it to justify why we're bringing
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  different costumes out and what's actually going
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  on. All the hits, the band's cooking. We'll already
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  be a few dates into it. we'll be all warmed up
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  to the show and ready to go. Yeah. We're looking
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  forward to all the Bowie fans returning. That's
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  for sure. And folks who don't know that they're
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  Bowie fans yet and believe being Bowie fans.
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  Yeah, absolutely. So what can we expect, I guess,
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  from you in the future? What is it that you are
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  hoping for, you know, as you keep expanding or
• 13:55
  exploring or expanding the show, what can we,
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  what are you hoping for? Well, I'm slowly trying
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  to work it into a bit of theatre. So it's not
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  just a tribute show that you just sit and watch,
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  but, you know, has some timeline and some narrative
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  through it so that, you know, it's more entertaining
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  and it'll also bring other fans into the show.
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  I think that maybe just more theatre folks that
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  aren't necessarily just wanting to go see rock
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  concerts all the time. So this kind of... bridges
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  that gap. And, you know, eventually as the show
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  builds and we add more multimedia and more costumes,
• 14:35
  more extras and things of that nature, I would
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  love to see somebody like Mirvish pick it up
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  just the way they told the Queen story and the
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  Tina Turner story. There's a number of shows
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  that have been built around performers who are
• 14:48
  no longer with us. So I'm kind of putting it
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  into market that way. So I hope that I can get
• 14:54
  their attention and eventually approach them
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  and say, We've had great success in the theaters.
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  I mean, it would be great to be able to go into
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  a room, set up the scrims and all the lighting
• 15:08
  properly, and then do like a month run as opposed
• 15:11
  to always considering the show is how do we set
• 15:16
  it up? How do we tear it down? Do we have enough
• 15:19
  people to move the stuff in and out after every
• 15:21
  show, all the problems that come with being on
• 15:24
  the road? yeah at the end of it that's what i
• 15:28
  i mean that's my dream at the end is to be able
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  to set up even if if what we do is it gets to
• 15:35
  the uh so popular that we could go in and do
• 15:38
  two or three nights in a theater as as uh um
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  you know as theater does theater productions
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  do or they get you know better a longer run and
• 15:50
  it would again allow us to set the stage a lot
• 15:53
  better and concentrate more on the lighting educating
• 15:58
  and or a new light guy or you know figuring out
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  what lights are in what shows and theaters blah
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  blah blah so yeah that's kind of where i'd like
• 16:09
  to go with the show that's no doubt about that
• 16:12
  and then eventually yeah I didn't think about
• 16:16
  that. Just the idea of, you know, having to plan
• 16:20
  for like teardown and then putting it back up
• 16:22
  again. So it really changes the dynamic or what
• 16:24
  you can and cannot do for your shows. Right.
• 16:28
  So if you had a place where you could be there
• 16:30
  for a couple of days or 10 days or whatever,
• 16:32
  then it really changes the dynamic of what you
• 16:35
  could do. That would be a very interesting. Yeah,
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  it really does. And we play because we're playing
• 16:40
  different theaters all the time. They all have
• 16:42
  different size stages. So we can't really think,
• 16:45
  okay, this is how we're going to stage it. We're
• 16:48
  always having to adjust a little bit. And if
• 16:51
  the stage is big, then we all spread apart. And
• 16:53
  if the stage is small, we're all cramped together
• 16:55
  and that sort of thing. So, yeah, having one
• 16:58
  stage where we could actually plot out properly
• 17:01
  and put everybody's marks down would be really,
• 17:05
  you know, it would just add that last little
• 17:07
  bit to the show to make it super gropey. brand
• 17:12
  yeah yeah and for someone as iconic as david
• 17:15
  bowie as well right um i think it would be really
• 17:18
  cool to see like a bigger bigger production like
• 17:20
  you mentioned right uh somewhere uh yeah with
• 17:23
  all the bells and whistles yeah yeah i mean it's
• 17:25
  a big production as it is but it could you know
• 17:27
  things can always be better i'm one of those
• 17:29
  guys that's always trying to nudge shows ahead
• 17:31
  and uh you know make it into something bigger
• 17:36
  than the last time you saw it it's it's important
• 17:38
  to do that because you return into a market you
• 17:40
  know a couple of years later you don't want people
• 17:42
  thinking i've seen the same show you want to
• 17:45
  you want them to go in and say every time i see
• 17:47
  these people it's a different show it's got new
• 17:50
  gods new song so uh they're not apprehensive
• 17:55
  about going and buying a ticket to see it again
• 17:57
  yeah for sure awesome Well, that takes all the
• 18:05
  questions that we were kind of going through.
• 18:10
  I have one more question. I don't know if this
• 18:13
  is something that you could answer to or not,
• 18:14
  but, you know, we have more time, so why not?
• 18:18
  Can you walk us through your creative process
• 18:20
  when creating or when getting ready for the show?
• 18:27
  Like physically the day of the show or just how
• 18:30
  do I make a show? How do I build the show? Yeah,
• 18:33
  because you always do little changes or, you
• 18:35
  know, you add more theatrics, as you were saying,
• 18:38
  like this year is going to be a little bit more
• 18:40
  theatrical. So how do you kind of think about
• 18:43
  or see like, how do I improve this? How do I
• 18:46
  make this better? How do I make this, you know?
• 18:48
  Yeah, sure. Well, you know, often it's like looking
• 18:51
  at video of the season prior or, you know, on
• 18:57
  stage, you can really get a vibe for. where it
• 19:01
  kind of goes flat for a second. You know, like,
• 19:03
  okay, we've done, you know, we've pulled out
• 19:06
  songs that we may have really enjoyed playing,
• 19:09
  but you see the audience level just kind of come
• 19:11
  down a little bit because maybe they don't know
• 19:13
  that song as well. So there's always those kind
• 19:18
  of readjustments where you say, okay, maybe we
• 19:20
  should do that too. Let's find a new one to put
• 19:22
  in. Also, of course. um this year and last year
• 19:26
  for that matter we really looked at later material
• 19:28
  we were really front end heavy and so now we
• 19:31
  thought we need to fill in some of the stuff
• 19:33
  that it's not as popular but is way later in
• 19:37
  the career um things like this is not america
• 19:40
  or i think of you know what what the other where
• 19:45
  are we now for instance um yeah you know which
• 19:48
  weren't huge radio hits and lots of folks don't
• 19:51
  know though those tunes but it's definitely a
• 19:53
  substantial part of his catalog at the end of
• 19:57
  his career so we we move more of that stuff in
• 19:59
  and then of course it's always about um you know
• 20:03
  the timing you know how much when you've got
• 20:06
  actresses on stage doing costuming then how long
• 20:10
  does it take to get into that costume So you
• 20:12
  may have this idea, oh, it'd be great to do all
• 20:14
  these costumes back to back to back to back.
• 20:16
  But then you suddenly realize, no, they need
• 20:18
  two songs in between to get out of that makeup.
• 20:20
  It takes too long. They're not holograms, right?
• 20:27
  I'm usually on the backstage end of those costume
• 20:31
  changes going. Yeah, right. Yeah. And then there's
• 20:36
  the panic. I remember, you know, as a side story
• 20:39
  when I was a. young guy and i had my show in
• 20:41
  the 80s and i did i personally did eight costume
• 20:45
  changes so i would run out during and i was i
• 20:48
  was just layering everything basically and so
• 20:51
  uh you know there would be this moment whether
• 20:54
  it be a lead break or something and and i would
• 20:58
  you know run back to i had a little dressing
• 21:00
  room right at the side of the stage and i would
• 21:01
  run into this little curtained area and uh you
• 21:05
  know take one layer off and try to get ready
• 21:08
  for the next one and The problem I always had
• 21:11
  was I always wanted, during Let's Dance, I wore
• 21:15
  the yellow suit, put on the red shoes. I always
• 21:19
  wanted to come out with the red shoes on. And,
• 21:22
  of course, I never, you know, I would never make
• 21:25
  the call. You know, like I'd be running out on
• 21:30
  stage in my soft feet or something and, you know,
• 21:32
  sit on the edge of the stage singing and putting
• 21:34
  my shoes on. Those kind of things, you really
• 21:37
  got to time them out and you got to make sure
• 21:40
  everybody's got a lot of time, nobody's depressed.
• 21:42
  And again, depending on the theater, sometimes
• 21:45
  the green room or the dressing rooms are pretty
• 21:50
  far from the stage. Some rooms, I think they're
• 21:54
  really opera houses like that. I think theirs
• 21:56
  is down in the dungeon, yeah? like they've got
• 21:59
  yeah there's two levels so depending if you're
• 22:01
  on the main stage then uh yeah you're you're
• 22:04
  kind of down the stairs a bit and kind of you
• 22:06
  know you get a little lost in there if you don't
• 22:08
  know where you're going well exactly so you know
• 22:14
  you have to do a lot for the okay how long does
• 22:16
  it take to take a minute and a half or two minutes
• 22:18
  to to get from the stage back up to the to the
• 22:23
  uh dressing room and then make a change i mean
• 22:26
  i'm not doing that but uh our models are so so
• 22:30
  that's always a part of like how you how you
• 22:33
  uh schedule the show how how it's gonna roll
• 22:36
  out yeah so how do you adjust then when you go
• 22:39
  to a theater and you realize oh my god like we
• 22:41
  have to extend it for like a minute and a half
• 22:42
  because the you know the the dressing room is
• 22:45
  nowhere near us like how do you do you can't
• 22:48
  you can't like it's it's just set in stone there
• 22:51
  is no like take another lead or you know, let's
• 22:53
  throw a drum break here or something like that.
• 22:56
  Sometimes, you know, you have your clothes right
• 22:59
  side stage and just depending. Just roll with
• 23:02
  the punch. Yeah, you got to just jump off stage,
• 23:05
  jump into another outfit or something and then
• 23:07
  jump back on. But for the most part, we leave
• 23:10
  enough room, you know, two or three songs in
• 23:13
  between each time. And there isn't anything that's
• 23:16
  like crazy, crazy made up or anything to that
• 23:19
  nature. And that's always the problem. changes
• 23:22
  the clothing clothing um but the uh makeup can
• 23:28
  be difficult get on get off get on get off it's
• 23:33
  it's crazy makeup yeah awesome well i think that
• 23:40
  is all the questions that i have is there anything
• 23:42
  that we needed to talk about or anything that
• 23:46
  you wanted to add that maybe we didn't get to
• 23:48
  either in this version of our conversation or
• 23:50
  in the last one yeah the only the only thing
• 23:53
  i can think of is um talking about a little bit
• 23:57
  about bowie fest which i'm launching again in
• 24:00
  its third year since we're on so mind you uh
• 24:03
  at the only Bowie themed or Bowie inspired nightclub
• 24:08
  in the country as far as I know called Ground
• 24:11
  Control it's like a mini museum in itself we
• 24:16
  did it there last year we sell out the show it's
• 24:19
  about a 220 standing so it's not a huge room
• 24:25
  or anything and we have we'll bring guests on
• 24:29
  different singers come from different bowie tributes
• 24:33
  that are around the province that are doing other
• 24:35
  things you know people yeah who have sung bowie
• 24:38
  in the past or something of that nature we bring
• 24:40
  them up to do a tune too with the band um uh
• 24:44
  there's a big video dance this is all happening
• 24:48
  on saturday september 27th and there's a so we
• 24:53
  do like a an eight to ten ish show and then There's
• 24:58
  a big Bowie video dance party afterwards. That's
• 25:03
  so fun. Yeah, it's a good time. And we tell people,
• 25:07
  people come dressed up because it's Bowie Fest.
• 25:10
  So we're really trying to make it into a thing.
• 25:12
  And there's always some surprises, you know,
• 25:14
  people show up that you might not expect to show
• 25:17
  up and be furniture with us. And yeah, so that
• 25:22
  would be the only other pitch. We do that every
• 25:24
  year. We're in our third year and it keeps growing.
• 25:27
  We have more things going on often and the event
• 25:32
  tends to grow. So, yeah, that's probably the
• 25:36
  only other thing I mentioned. Yeah, and where
• 25:38
  can people find more info for BowieFest? Yeah,
• 25:42
  again, on our Facebook page. It's still in the
• 25:44
  same one? Okay. Yeah, there's links there. There's
• 25:47
  a BowieFest Canada website. It can be put at
• 25:49
  .ca, bowiefest .ca or something like that. Yeah.
• 25:56
  I mean, again, just Google this stuff and goodness
• 25:58
  for search engines, right? Yeah. Well, we'll
• 26:01
  add, we'll add a bunch of the information that
• 26:03
  you sent that you're, you talked about here on
• 26:05
  the show notes as well. So we'll, we'll probably
• 26:07
  do a link for Bowie Fest if we find like, you
• 26:09
  know, where people can go to and all that kind
• 26:11
  of stuff on top of the regular website for David
• 26:15
  Bowie lives. Yeah. Right. Right. Where can people
• 26:19
  find more information about the show or where
• 26:22
  can people go and get tickets? You can go to
• 26:24
  our website, which is thebowielift .com. And
• 26:28
  under appearances, it has links to all the tickets
• 26:32
  and all the shows. The Aurelia Opera House, obviously,
• 26:36
  you can go to their website, buy tickets online
• 26:39
  there. Imagine you can sashay up to the box office,
• 26:43
  get hard copies there as well. Yeah. And information
• 26:49
  on what we're doing and shows Facebook's probably
• 26:52
  the best place for us. And then we update it
• 26:54
  the most, you know, almost on a daily basis.
• 26:56
  So there are your handles there. Yeah. The Bowie
• 26:59
  lives. Okay. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you
• 27:04
  very much, Michael. And I think that was a great
• 27:07
  interview. Like I learned a lot and I'm really
• 27:10
  excited to actually go and just check out your
• 27:12
  show. Well, thank you for having me. Thank you
• 27:16
  for listening to the entire episode. All the
• 27:18
  links and info you heard in this conversation
• 27:19
  will be featured in the show notes on our website,
• 27:21
  villagermagazine .ca slash podcast. If you enjoyed
• 27:25
  this episode, consider subscribing to our channels
• 27:27
  like YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you're listening
• 27:30
  from so you never miss an episode. Thanks again,
• 27:32
  and I'll see you next time.