Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain joins Royal Marines Band ahead of music show

The News, Portsmouth

The Royal Marines Band is performing at the Royal Albert Hall this weekend for the Mountbatten Festival of Music.

Transcript

00:00 I'm Lieutenant Colonel Q Williams, I'm the Principal Director of Music Royal Marines.

00:04 Brilliant, so tell me about the practicing and how it's all been going ahead of the performance

00:08 this weekend. Yeah so we're here in HMS Temeraire in the heart of Portsmouth and we've been rehearsing

00:15 for the 2024 Manbatten Festival of Music since Sunday, so we've had two really long days and

00:21 we're just at the start of our third Portsmouth day. The show is a variety performance, there's

00:28 kind of rock, pop and theatre, some classical stuff, some ceremonial stuff and some special

00:33 guests. It's a really complicated show because there's lots of technical elements involved,

00:38 we're showing some video, we've got dancers, singers, all kinds of things like that, so

00:43 part of the rehearsal process is about the musicians getting their parts right, but you

00:48 know at the end of it it's just the kind of logistical challenges around putting a complicated

00:52 show together. It's been going really well, we haven't had any really big hitches so far,

00:58 but some of the music's really challenging so there's been quite a lot of you know just kind

01:02 of repetitive practice, getting everybody really used to it and also it's massed bands in the Royal

01:07 Marines, so we've got about 100 musicians on stage which is more than a regular size Royal Marines

01:14 band and it takes the players a little bit of time to adjust to that setting with so many people in

01:20 such a big space. It's going well. So do you think it's going to be a huge success? I certainly hope

01:26 it's going to be a success, I think so. Mountbuster Music's been going for 52 years, it sells out

01:32 every year, we've got a very loyal following, they really appreciate the variety and diversity

01:37 of the performances that we give and I think this year is going to be a big hit, real success.

01:42 My name's Major Andy Gregory, I am the SO2 Training Plans Future in the Training Management

01:48 Group but in a former life a few years ago I was actually a Royal Marines Band Officer,

01:54 being the Director of Music of the Scotland Band, the Portsmouth Band and the CTCRN Band in

01:58 Limston in my time. Brilliant, so I understand this is your last performance? Yeah that's right,

02:02 so I retire later this year in October and I'll have done 34 years by then which is

02:10 quite a long time. So tell me a little bit about your time. So yeah, I joined up in 1990 from

02:18 I used to play in a brass band in Yorkshire, the Hebden Bridge Junior Band as a corner player,

02:23 and joined up on clarinet and violin learning at Deel and then I've been in various bands,

02:28 the Mariner Chief Fleet Band in London, down in Portsmouth, the Pretending Royal Naval College,

02:37 Scotland, you know a lot of the bands and then as a Director of Music as I say, being lucky enough

02:42 to take charge of three bands, the Scotland Band, the Portsmouth Band, the Royal Band and the

02:46 Limston Band and through that time just it's been sort of many, many trips, some really memorable

02:53 commitments so yeah, it's been really good fun. What is your favourite instrument? Violin, so I

02:59 joined as a clarinet and violin player and learned the violin from the age of 16 but a bit late in

03:05 life but yeah, I love the violin. I should have started playing when I was four but missed the

03:09 opportunity. What will you miss about doing these performances? I think it's working with such fine

03:17 musicians, you know, their response as a conductor is unbelievable, they're so keen to make really

03:25 good music and as you know, anybody that's fortunate enough to go to the concert, they

03:29 realise it is a world-class standard and that is just amazing and getting to perform in some of the

03:34 fantastic venues. But one of the key things about the service life is just the camaraderie of the

03:39 people you're with, you know, spent my whole career pretty much with them and it's just been a real

03:45 joy to meet a lot of fantastic personalities and really world-class musicians. Hi, so I'm

03:51 musician Beth McGregor and I'm at the Bournemouth Band of Plymouth. So I understand this is your

03:57 first performance? Yes, it's my first one so I passed out of training in summer and this is my

04:01 first MFM actually so I'm very excited. Yeah, I was going to say how do you feel? Are you prepared?

04:07 I'm feeling very apprehensive but I'm more excited than anything, I'm really excited because the

04:11 Royal Albert Hall is just an amazing venue and it will be one of the best experiences I've had.

04:16 So tell me how long you've had a passion for music? Ever since I was really young, so I've

04:21 been singing since I was little. I play guitar and piano but singing has always been the main

04:26 thing. That's your main love, brilliant. And do you think it's going to go well? I hope so,

04:32 yeah I'm sure it'll be amazing. The rehearsals have gone so well and the band sound amazing

04:36 and the choir so hopefully it'll be a really good show. Nico, tell me how the collaboration

04:43 came about with the Mass Band of the Royal Marines? Well, in 2020, the year that we don't talk about,

04:53 it was the 50th anniversary of the Mountbatten Festival and I was in attendance as a guest of

04:59 BDC and it just came about that I think Phil was running the orchestra, Phil Cudgeon I think his

05:10 name was, anyway the people that I met there at the event they said oh it'd be nice to,

05:18 because it was the Prodigy, excuse me, did the halftime after the interval and I was absolutely

05:25 amazed at it. I thought there's these guys playing Prodigy, it's brilliant. So that was where the

05:30 idea came about and they said well what would you like to do next year? I was very honoured and

05:36 humbled and I immediately agreed. How have rehearsals been going? Rehearsals have been

05:42 great. Sunday was a bit of a, how do I say it, very nervous. I really, you know, because of

05:51 you know my circumstances, my right hand doesn't work very well so I was very super nervous about

05:59 that. We got through the rehearsals really well and then it was of course time to come in yesterday

06:05 with the full orchestra and my goodness, the north wind does blow right behind me. It was just,

06:11 it blew me away. You know the power and the sound of these great musicians and a 100 piece orchestra

06:19 jamming mate and it was just a joy to behold. I wanted to actually stop and listen to them you

06:24 know but can't do that. It's been wonderful.

06:27 them.

06:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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