Tomin ja Ramin Karimloon haastis, Tomin Blackbird-cover, kiertueartikkeleita...

"Interview: Tom Fletcher and Ramin Karimloo
The singing stars talk nudity, weddings and forward fans over lunch at Kettner's.
WHO said rock ’n’ roll and stage musicals don’t make great companions?
You’d never believe it, but McFly’s founding member and key songwriter Tom Fletcher and West End star Ramin Karimloo, best known from Les Misérables and The Phantom Of The Opera, are best buddies – and are even threatening to make some music together one of these days!
‘I’m a huge musical theatre fan, and it’s part of my upbringing,’ says 26-year-old Tom, who reminds us that he took the lead role in Oliver! when he was ten years old.
‘So when I first bumped into Ramin a few years ago, I had to get some tickets to see him in Love Never Dies, and then we went out for a meal. That’s where our friendship kicked off.’
As for Olivier-nominated Ramin, who was born in Iran but grew up in Canada, there’s clearly a rock ’n’ roller waiting to come out from behind the grandeur of his stately stage roles.
‘My favourite band of all time is Canadian rock group the Tragically Hip – and Tom and I have been working on a song together, so watch this space!’ says the 33-year-old heart-throb, whose self-titled debut album is released next week.
After the album comes Ramin’s UK tour as a solo artist, so he might well be taking tips about life on the road from Tom, who’s currently in the midst of McFly’s national tour himself.
And after that, there’s another little event to keep Tom busy – his long-awaited wedding to fiancée Giovanna Falcone, which will be covered exclusively in the pages of OK! this May.
Both very busy guys, then – so imagine our delight when we nailed them down for a lads’ lunch at glamorous Soho brasserie Kettner’s, one of London’s oldest restaurants and just a stone’s throw from the Queen’s Theatre, Ramin’s recent home as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, where he was mobbed by screaming fans at the stage
door every night…

How do you two know each other?
Ramin: My wife Amanda was going to Peter Andre’s concert, and she sat beside McFly in Nando’s nearby.
She was taking three teenage girls and they wanted a photo, so Amanda went over to the guys and said she was really sorry to do this, and she knew what it was like because her husband is in the business.
They asked: ‘Who is he?’ and she said: ‘He’s the Phantom in Love Never Dies.’
And Tom went: ‘Your husband’s Ramin?’ He knew me!
So she sorted him out some tickets, and before the show he came backstage to my dressing room, we started jamming, and we’ve carried on ever since.
Tom: I’m a huge musical theatre fan, so I’d already seen Ramin perform a few times.
I went to theatre school, it’s my background.
I’d always wanted to be in musical theatre as a kid, and I played guitar since I was five, but I never really imagined myself being in a band.

Might the two of you actually do something musical together?
Ramin: We’ve got half a song written and it’s actually pretty catchy.
The thing about Tom is that he’s a good actor and he’s got a great voice – so he’d make a great Marius in Les Misérables now!
I think it’s his turn to do something in the West End. I’d love us to finish our song, but I’d also love to do a show with him.
It would be weird for him to be Marius and me to be Jean Valjean. I’d have to carry him around the stage – but he looks light enough!


Tom, your wedding in May isn’t far
away now. How much are you and your fiancée Giovanna looking forward to
 tying the knot?
We can’t wait. We’re in the final stages of planning it and we’re very excited.
I’ve had moments of mild panic – we’ve been planning it for so long, and then you realise it’s only a matter of weeks away, as opposed to months!
I’ve been with my fiancée for nine years now, so the fact that we’re finally getting married is really brilliant. I just can’t wait for it to happen.


Will it be a big wedding?
It’s turning into quite a big bash. I’m in charge of entertainment, which is the last thing to be organised, typically!
We’ll have a band there – not officially McFly – but I’m sure, once everybody’s had a few glasses of champagne, and with some guitars and drums there, there’s not much doubt we’ll do something – especially Danny [Jones], you won’t be able to stop him from getting up on stage!

Do you think married life will change you?
Probably not. We’ve been living together for five years now, and we’ve been together through the whole period of McFly, so it kind of feels we’re married already.
I can’t wait to have kids – eventually!
I’m looking forward to the day when the whole band has kids – and we have a separate kids’ bus to take them around on tour. A nursery bus!

Tom, now that your fellow McFly members Harry Judd, Dougie Poynter and Danny Jones have done reality
 TV shows, when are you going 
to be doing one?
I don’t know, I just don’t think I could cope with all that pressure.
Watching Harry on Strictly Come Dancing and seeing the pressure – he worked his a**e off on that, and he’s been touring with them, it’s a big commitment.
I’m so proud of Harry. We went to see the show the other night on tour in Cardiff.
I think if I ever got involved in a reality show, it would be on the judging side, and something music related.


Do you regret saying you’d agree to be photographed naked if Harry won Strictly? Whose idea was that?
Danny’s! He did it when Dougie won I’m A Celebrity – Get Me Out Of Here!. Then he said on Twitter, if Harry wins Strictly we’ll all do it.
I think I’m so used to being naked on magazine covers – there’s always a pic of us taking our kit off. Even my mum’s got used to it now.


Ramin, do you know the other McFly boys too?
I’ve got to know Danny and Dougie now – and Harry a little bit, but the last time I was hanging around with the band he was touring with Strictly.
What I like about the guys, and what a lot of people don’t realise, is that they’re a really good rock band.
They started off as kids but they’re men now, who write some great stuff.

Are your sons musical?
They’re just picking up the guitar now, and they sing all the time, but I don’t want to push them into that.


Are they fans of McFly?
They are massive fans of McFly – and then they met them. We went to Tom’s fiancée Giovanna’s birthday party, and there was Matt Willis and Dougie on the couch, so I said to the boys: ‘Do you want a photo with the two kings of the jungle?’

Tom, what’s your favourite McFly song?
There are too many! Some of the new ones – that’s the way it goes, I think.
All About You, of course, was such an amazing song for us, just because it was so big and it holds a special place for me.
Out of the last album, Shine A Light is the stand-out song for me.


Has Giovanna got a favourite McFly song?
All About You was written for Giovanna – it was my Valentine’s gift to her about six years ago.
I’d forgotten to give her a Valentine’s Day present and I was going over to her house quite late, because I still lived with the band then, so I swiftly wrote a song, which was All About You, and played it to her, and she thought it was amazing.
After that, Comic Relief got in touch with us and talked about doing a song for them, and I played them that and they loved it.

I never intended it to be a McFly song!"
OK! Magazine

"McFly's Tom Fletcher posts acoustic Blackbird cover
...and makes us all cry.
Oh Tom Fletcher you wiley vocal champion you.
The McFly maestro has posted a new video of himself singing a beautiful cover of Blackbird by The Beatles, and it's made us all go weak at the knees.
Obviously the moody-and-a-bit-sexy black and white helps with the intensity, but it's generally just a bloody brilliant cover, and we'd like to see him do some more please.
"
Sugar Scape

Linkkejä muihin artikkeleihin:
- "Ice-Watch F**K Me I’m Famous launch party with Cathy Guetta, Esmee Denters & McFly" - The Upcoming
- "David Guetta - Cathy Guetta Launches Ice-Watch Collection" - Contact Music
- "McFly consoled by gaming consoles" - The Sun

Ja tässä vielä erikseen kiertueartikkeleita ja -arvosteluita:
- "Crowd got everything they came for and more" - This is South Devon
- "McFly at Plymouth Pavilions, review by Clare Robinson" - This is Plymouth
- "McFly stop by on UK tour" - Cambridge News
- "Marvellous McFly" - The Young Journalist Academy


Dougien toisen vaatemalliston, Saint Kiddin, nettikaupan ja -sivun oli tarkoitus aueta viime viikon perjantaina, mutta sivusto kaatui heti muutaman minuutin jälkeen ihmisvyöryn takia. Nettisivun avaaminen on siis siirretty vielä tietämättömään ajankohtaan. *edit* Itseasiassa juuri huomasin, että nettisivu toimiikin jo! Voit katsella ja ostaa Saint Kiddin paitoja täältä. Mainittakoon vielä, että McFlyn on huhuttu menevän Yhdysvaltoihin kolmeksi viikoksi myöhemmin tänä vuonna. Tarkempaa tietoa julkaistaan myöhemmin. :)