Meet the man behind that MTR song.
Radio DJ and YouTube star
What is The Steve James Show?
It’s a show without a decent title. My first week in this time slot, I got everyone to send in a new title for the show.‑They were brilliant.‑Works of art.‑I lost ’em. So, The Steve James Show it is. Great for the ego.‑Tune in and you’ll likely catch a smart-arsed comment on the news of the day, the occasional fake announcement in between the real government announcements, advertisements for products that don’t exist but should… All those kinds of shenanigans. Oh, and fine, fine music.
Is it hard work?
Making jokes, looking for funky websites, drinking coffee, playing the Mark Ronson album? Yes. Very difficult.
What makes a good radio DJ?
Radio is very personal.‑You get very close to the listener.‑Whether you are reporting, interviewing, trying to be funny or introducing music, you are chatting to someone actually quite intimately. Be nice. And floss.
What song would you never play on your show?‑
Up, Up and Away in My Beautiful Balloon.‑A late ’60s/early ’70s song.‑It was all so very wrong.‑The song to this day makes me shiver.
What do you do on the job when you’re not on the air?
I input and programme the music schedules for the station and spend some time rehearsing my ad-libs. Also – a lot of coffee.
Ever been a club DJ?
Yeah. About 250 years ago. I worked in a couple of discos in the early ’80s before settling in at Rick’s Cafe in TST for a good five or six years, which was brilliant.‑We could play anything:‑rock, blues, reggae, jazz – the lot, until the teenagers came down asking for A Flock Of Seagulls and Billy Idol. Then I realised I wasn’t reeeally cut out to be a dance club DJ as such. I actually got nervous when people started to get up to dance! It meant the next song I played better be a good one or they’d be sitting down again!‑My life seemed to depend on my next choice of record. I’m a shy and sensitive Pisces, you know, I can’t deal with that kind of pressure every night!‑Ha! Radio was calling my name, so I could sit in a studio and not see the faces of the people I was pissing off. And so it was.
What kinds of music are you into?‑
My musical taste terrifies even me. If you were to blow the dust off my CD shelf at home you would see every Stevie Wonder album, a couple of Chili Peppers, Mark Ronson, strange electronic Japanese classical music, The Beatles… and yes… I do own a Cliff Richard album. Watcha gonna do? I would hate someone to take a peek at my Walkman… sorry… iPod... and see what I might be listening to at that moment. It would probably cause them to take a sharp intake of breath and walk briskly away.
So! The MTR Song. Did you really expect it to be so successful?
Absolutely not. Wow.‑I did think it would be funny. Goodness knows how the penny dropped on that one, but when I played it back to people it just made them laugh. Some local and overseas Chinese students picked up on it and sent it all over the world via email.‑Next thing, people are making their own videos for it and posting them up on YouTube. Hilarious.
How long did it take you to write it?
Actually, pretty quickly, in that I knew how I wanted to do it.‑I had been rehearsing it over and over in my head when riding on the MTR, so when I went into the studio I kind of knew how I was going to record it.‑Once the idea is buzzing, it goes
round and round in your head till it clicks into place and that’s it, get the studio
time.
How do you get the inspiration for all these songs?
I have this awfully annoying habit of hearing a song in almost anything.‑Really strange trait to have, I tell you, but then, when I got involved in radio, it started to make sense to work some of the ideas in.
Which is your favourite then?
Ooh, not sure.‑I must say the best part of the whole silly process is when the idea and the words occur to you, that can be fun. Especially now, I am doing more and more writing at home, therefore my wife and daughter are joining in sometimes and they come up with really funny lines and forced rhymes!‑For example, in the version I did of Rihanna’s Umbrella (my version was Lousy Umbrella), I had the line, “Some people use a rolled up magazine… I always find that so embarasseen!” My wife just sang it out in the background when I was trying to write it. You had to be there!
Got anything else in the works at
the moment?
Actually, my head hurts.‑There’s so much going on around us.‑HK news is just one big musical waiting to happen. And I have completely missed my chance for the Anson and Regina medley!‑Might have another chance at that next year, though (heh heh).‑
The Steve James Show is on RTHK Radio 3 weekdays 3-6pm and is streamed on www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/radio3/stevejames/ |
