Liverpool Empire Theatre

There's so many scratch nights and live gigs that you can go to, like improv, and there's so, so much there.

It's the home of the Liverpool Empire.

theater which is like a huge theater it's like a one of the big touring theaters um and that's where i did youth theater so i used to perform on that stage as part of my youth theater which is like a proper you know a really unique experience to be able to perform in such a huge theater at such a young age and um definitely helped me a lot um but yeah like we performed a lot in um all just like the local venues um there's so many amazing things that that go on in liverpool And, yeah, it's especially for, like, new plays as well.

So, ooh, this one's on my alley.

it's disgusting, isn't it?

But what's really nice, though, is we are on the third floor of the Liverpool Empire, talking to Theo UK Rose, because he's currently in the bodyguard, which is currently at the Empire.

How are you?

I'm good, thanks.

November 6th, Sheffield.

November 13th and 14th, the Liverpool Empire.

November 19th, York.

November 27th, Manchester.

I do want to talk to you about the new album, but for listeners who aren't familiar with your work, would you take us back briefly to 1991 and how it came about that you played in the indie rock band Pelly?

Well, I always wanted to be a musician in a band since I'd seen the jam when I was a kid at Liverpool Empire.

And all of that was just building and building until we actually finally got a record deal with Polygram in 1991.

And then I was inspired by the Waterboys' Fisherman's Blues album.

on how he found his way into writing for the stage.

Growing up in Liverpool, I'd had virtually no contact with the world of the theatre, bar the annual trip to the Panto at the Liverpool Empire, organised by my dad's factory, where he spray-painted tractors for a living.

I was the proverbial bright boy at primary school in the late 70s, when bright working-class boys and girls were encouraged to sit the entrance exam for grammar school, I found myself at the all-boys St Francis Xavier's College, where the educational selection continued.

As I'd shown a facility for languages, I was informed I had been volunteered to study ancient Greek alongside the mandatory Latin.

But I was working 2,000, two and a half ...

The Liverpool Empire, 2,555 seats.

How do I know? I filled it.

[laughs] Flipping heck.

They were massive.

They were getting paid ridiculous, sickening amounts of money to do panto at the Liverpool Empire.

Yeah.

Like, ridiculous.

And I remember in my head thinking, I'm not quite sure we're ready for that yet.

And you said, it's at the Liverpool Empire.

And I thought, oh, can't miss that opportunity for them again.

Just goes back to, if there's something going, I'll make sure they're in.

Yeah, AJ Jones.

Yeah, as a major dance.

So we were at one of your shows that you were putting on at the Liverpool Empire and there was another teacher, I won't name her, bless her, she's lovely, but there was another teacher who didn't know that Adam was one of my best friends.

Yeah.