Natalie Duncan on Later with Jools Holland

IT was terrifying. I don’t mind admitting that I was really scared, really nervous about the whole thing. I was panicking for two days. We were supposed to turn up at the studio at 5pm and right up until then I couldn’t talk to anyone.

I was just drinking honey. I was in a honey bubble. A bubble of paranoia and fear.

When we got there at 5pm we did a soundcheck and had make-up done. Even the soundcheck was nerve-wracking for me.

I did meet Jools Holland in a corridor before the show and he said he liked my album and that he was going to play it on his Radio 2 show. Which was really nice.

The room itself is much smaller than it looks on telly. Everyone is so much closer together than you think but that was actually less intimidating. I’m not sure why. There did seem to be a bit of a family vibe and everyone was quite supportive of each other.

The Beach Boys were really friendly, especially Mike Love. He was hilarious. He kept talking to me throughout the whole filming, just talking away about how I should sing Etta James.

And he was very disparaging about Public Image Ltd, which I found hilarious. But that really put me at ease.

If everyone had loads of attitude or was really distant it would have been a lot more nerve-wracking for me.

I spoke to The xx briefly just to tell them I liked their stuff. I didn’t speak to Muse. I could have done but I’m a bit shy anyway so I wasn’t going to just walk over to them and say “Hey Muse, great gig guys”.

We started filming at 8pm and that’s what you’ll see on BBC2 tonight. I did Sky Is Falling for that.

For the live show that was seen on Tuesday night I did Devil In Me - you’ll see that again tonight. The Friday show is basically a repeat of the live show plus extras.

I don’t think Sky Is Falling went as well as Devil In Me because I was a lot more nervous doing that.

For the live show it was hard to sit there and wait while I watched the Beach Boys, PiL, The xx and Muse perform before it was my turn. But I think it would have been worse if I was first. I remember thinking “please not me, please not me...” when he started the show.

In a way everyone else warmed things up before it was my turn. The way I look at it is that the Beach Boys, Muse and PiL were my support acts.

I was at my mum’s the next day and that’s when I watched it back for the first time on iPlayer. Some of the close-ups weren’t very good but I didn’t hate it and that’s always a good sign.

I didn’t see anything that stood out to me as a mistake.

I find it quite weird watching myself anyway but it was nice to watch it back.

I really did enjoy the whole experience. Even though I was quite nervous and found it quite overwhelming, it was exciting.

Natalie Duncan’s debut album Devil In Me is out now. For more about her go to natalieduncan.com.

THePETEBOX

April 2012

How did you get started in music?

I started learning and played piano from being a kid, then upon discovering Nirvana picked up a guitar and started writing songs. I started playing the drums to be in a band with my brother John (also a member of Swimming) when I was about 15.

Where did the beatboxing come in?

I learnt about the concept from my cousin who had a few beatbox moves down but it was when I heard Rahzel that I realised beatboxing could be deeply skilful and musical. I was quite obsessive about it. I was fascinated by the mechanics of it and endeavoured to learn and create arrangements and shows focussing on beatboxing from then on.

But these days it isn’t just beatboxing is it as you use guitars and a loop pedal?

Making sounds wasn’t enough I guess and I wanted to turn what I was doing into music. That’s when I got the loop pedal. That saved my relationship with beatboxing because I was getting bored with it. I record and loop beatboxing to create the bed of the tracks, then I will sing lines over the top and sometimes add a guitar if it suits. I'm trying to create the kind of arrangements a band would. I record a full spectrum of sounds with my voice into my loop pedal, including basslines, brass sections, synth lines, textures and beats. Then I place perhaps more focus on the melodies that define and drive the tracks.

You’ve played Glastonbury, Bestival and V, toured with Diversity, played shows with Jay Sean and Foreign Beggars... any highlights?

I’m proud to have been part of all those shows but there's nothing quite like playing to an audience that's just there for you, so I'd say a few of the bigger festival appearances I've had have been highlights for me. Reading 2009 and V Festival 2011 were perhaps the highlights. I've also preformed at and seen the Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Monaco Grand Prix. That was pretty nuts.

Your cover of the Pixies’ Where Is My Mind? has had more than 1.8m hits on YouTube. How did that happen?

I recorded my version of it at the start of last year not really thinking too much about it. Simon Ellis filmed it in his kitchen and I uploaded it thinking it might get a few views. I saw it as a one-off but then it went mega viral and amassed half a million views in two weeks. A few famous people started posting about but the best thing that happened really was when the Pixies themselves posted in on Facebook, Twitter and their own their website. The thought that they've not only seen it but endorsed it blew my mind. The Pixies and Nirvana were the reason I started creating music. The success of the video sparked the whole idea to make a live, studio, video album.

And that is Future Loops, your debut album. Does it feel like it’s been a long time coming?

I guess so because I've been making music for a while now. Although it's actually only taken about six months to make it.

Unlike a regular album release, you’ve recorded each track in one take on video, filmed by BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Simon Ellis. Why do it that way?

There have been a lot of beatbox albums but they don't seem to capture the experience that people get from seeing beatboxing live. Making it a live, studio, video album was the best way I could think of to do that. You can see exactly what I'm recording, looping and playing live, so you know exactly what's going on. The fact that it's live I think keeps that point of interest that beatboxing carries. It's also a documentary of the exact takes that make the record. The listener can witness the moments that make up the record as they occur.

Why Simon Ellis?

A lot of your readers will know of his amazing, award winning film-making abilities. I knew he would really think about the visual side of things and he’s created a totally immersive experience. The look and style of each video is not only beautifully done but actually evolves and develops with the music.

Is there a particular style on the album?

I'm not too sure! It is a beatbox album but I'd say style-wise it's more of an indie album. I play my guitar a lot and some of the tracks have more soulful toplines. Some of them delve further into the more classic dance driven beatboxing and some have jazz type brass sections.

Are there other covers on there apart from Where Is My Mind?

I've done it half and half. I'm known for my reinterpretation of songs live and wanted to take that further onto my record so there are covers of Nirvana, Crystal Castles and The Beach Boys. I also wanted to put some of my tracks on there.

Will Future Loops be available as a regular CD and download?

You can get the physical CD/DVD or download it through iTunes and all other digital stores.

You are launching Futureloops tonight at Nottingham Contemporary. Tell me more...

We're presenting a screening of the album. The idea is the audience will see and hear the album as intended - projected onto a big screen and played through good, loud speakers. No-one's made an album in this way and we wanted to make an event around the whole idea of the album itself.

What's next for you?

I go on a tour to promote the album starting on May 29, including the Dot to Dot festival on Sunday June 3. I’ll be playing a few cool festivals over the summer, working on some new material with Swimming and then starting on a second album.

THePETEBOX and Simon Ellis present Future Loops at

Nottingham Contemporary tonight from 7.30pm to 1am. The screening takes place in The Space from 8pm, followed by an aftershow party in the Cafe Bar featuring Si Tew and DJ Joff. Tickets are £8 or £15 with a copy of the CD/DVD album, available from the gallery, from gigantic.com orthepetebox.com/futureloops.

Brian Wilson interview

May 2002

WELL, you can’t blame me for asking. In the late sixties Brian Wilson was off his trolley on booze and barbiturates so he won’t remember what he was up to. So it is possible... “Daddy?”

“What?,” he shoots back, lounging in his palatial Los Angeles home while I sweat at my less-than-palatial West Bridgford terrace. I’m sweating because: a) This is Brian Wilson, he of the Beach Boys, the most successful group ever to come out of the US, the man responsible for Pet Sounds, a bona fide living legend, etc, etc. And b) my joke about us being related is falling flat. It doesn’t help that there is a slight time delay across the Atlantic and that his protective manager is listening in on the conversation, at times talking over us. In short, this is hard work.

“My name is Wilson,” I stress, now sounding like an imbecile. “Is there any chance we’re related?” “I doubt it, no,” laughs Wilson senior, who turns 60 next month. “What kinda name is Wilson? What nationality is that?” I explain it’s Scottish and there’s actually a Wilson tartan. “Oh, OK, well that’s good,” he politely replies, probably wondering if someone has slipped something in his tea.

Even taking into account my own stupidity it is hard to get a conversation going. He’s not being rude, he just doesn’t say a lot, both physically and mentally slowed by past excesses — including alcoholism, drug addiction and mental health problems. Was he a victim of the time or was it a simple case of self-destruction? “I think it was something personal. I don’t relate to my family through alcohol. My wife doesn’t drink alcohol.” He blames himself? “Yes.”

Although he does accept that his father Murry, who originally managed the group, didn’t help his state of mind. Or his hearing — he is deaf in one ear, a result of a paternal smack round the head. Murry would later sell his son’s publishing company behind his back. “He was rather a domineering person,” says Brian. Not that he didn’t fight back. After one beating he defecated on a plate, slipped an overturned soup bowl on it and left it for his father at the dinner table.

Wilson has two grown-up children with his first wife and a four and five-year-old, both adopted, with his second wife. “I’m a good father. He was a bad father,” he insists. Wilson says he forgave his father “after time”, but didn’t attend his funeral in 1973.

The Beach Boys were brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, cousin Mike Love and school friend Al Jardine. Within two years of forming in 1961 they had huge hits, including California Girls, I Get Around and Surfin’ USA, that painted a picture of West Coast sun, fun and surfing. But a punishing schedule took its toll and by 1966 Brian had had two nervous breakdowns. He retired from performing with the group (and was replaced for a time by Glen Campbell), fell out with his father and discovered barbiturates. He would return to write and perform with the group several times but over the next two decades there were continual problems of addiction, court battles with band members and suicide attempts.

“The lowest point was about 20 years ago when I was hiding out in my bedroom,” says Wilson. “I went through a very low part of my life. A bottom of the bath tub kinda thing.” So what got him through? “My name. My willpower.” The problems didn’t stem his creativity and in 1966 The Beach Boys released Pet Sounds, mostly written and produced by Brian. In 1995 Mojo magazine conducted a survey among major musicans, songwriters and producers to find the greatest album of all time. Pet Sounds won.

Wilson had wanted to better The Beatles’ Rubber Soul. “I tried to but we didn’t. I don’t think so.” Though he adds: “But it’s just as good. It is the best album we have ever recorded.” So what is the greatest album of all time? “Sail Away by Randy Newman. Let It Be (The Beatles) and Phil Spector’s Christmas album. I don’t really listen to modern music. I play Phil Spector records.”

His latest album is a live version of Pet Sounds recorded at London’s Royal Festival Hall with an audience including the likes of Elvis Costello and Eric Clapton. It is the same show that comes to the Royal Concert Hall next Friday. The first half is Beach Boys hits, the second the Pet Sounds album track by track. “We wanted to keep the album alive. We thought people would like the live performances.” They did, but Wilson is used to praise from all quarters, often called a “legend” and “genius” in normally sober newspapers and magazines. “I don’t think genius but I think legend, yeah.” Why? “Because I’ve been around for almost 40 years. It’s a long time to be around and that’s why I’m called a legend.”

Many consider he is lucky to be alive. But these days Wilson is off the booze and keeping fit. “I run every day. I go to a park and run around the park, every day. I stopped drinking alcohol about three or four years ago. I feel a lot better since I stopped.”

Both his brothers are now dead: Dennis drowned in 1983, Carl from cancer in 1998. “It was fate,” he says. “My brothers were meant to die. I couldn’t handle it for a while but then I got used to it and started to handle it a little bit. But it was hard for me.”

Mike Love, who once sued Wilson for songwriting royalties and received $5m, is no friend, he says. “We don’t have a relationship now. It’s been that way for about five years.” He adds: “It’s just my new friends, not my old friends at all. We’re bad vibes for each other, we don’t get along. Our relationships burned out.”

Not having visited Nottingham before, how does he picture the city? “I just wonder where Liverpool is. I’ve never been to Liverpool.” Errrr, where is he going? As I sign off, it becomes less clear. “Thank you very much. I’ll see you backstage in London.”