I first interviewed Alan when he came to Brighton in May 06, so when I heard he was coming over to the UK again with his band 'Waiting Room', I couldn't wait to meet him again. This time, me and my friend Ruth met him before his gig at Event II in Brighton and talked about kilts, Neighbours Spoof Songs and 'Oodles and Noodles'!

Ruth - Last time you played in Brighton you played at Walkabout, now you’re in a big club, are you generally playing bigger venues this tour? Has the demand for tickets been bigger?

Alan - We played Walkabout last time, but this is a fantastic big venue and we are playing bigger venues on this particular tour, and the demand for tickets has certainly been much greater. Unfortunately, last time we were in Brighton, the place we were playing at, the manager went away and didn’t bother to put any posters up or hand any handbills out, but we still had 600 people turn up at the gig, so I’m hoping we’ll get a solid response tonight too.

Jess – Last time I interviewed you, you mentioned that you wanted to play in Edinburgh and you have this tour; how did you find it?

Alan – It was massive, probably one of the biggest gigs that we’ve ever done, and the response was enormous. I was there for three and a half hours after the gig signing autographs and photos, so it was a sensational night. We played St. Andrew’s day, and so to celebrate I wore a kilt!

Jess – Did you get to do any touristy things when you were there?

Alan – Not a thing!

Ruth – We’ve been there a couple of times and went on the ghost tours.

Alan – Yeah, I’ve heard of those but unfortunately I never get to do any touristy stuff ever!

Ruth – There’s a band in Australia called ‘The Karl Kennedy Affair’, they write songs influenced by your character on Neighbours. Have you heard of them and do you find it strange when people pick up on your character like that?

Alan – Yeah, I have heard of them, and they’re terrific, I’ve actually corresponded with them by email, they’re great guys but I haven’t ever seen them play unfortunately. There’s also another terrific band that you can find called ‘Flat 29’, who wrote a Neighbours rap which is hysterically funny. I bumped into the boys the other day and they gave me their CD.

Jess – In Neighbours you play in ‘Oodles and Noodles’ with Ned, who writes the songs and lyrics?

Alan – They’re written by a guy called Chris Pettifer who is in charge of all the music for Neighbours, but I occasionally make some adjustments to the chords.

Jess – Is he the one who writes Dr Karl’s music?

Alan – Yeah, he does. He mixes all the music, creates all the music for Neighbours, he’s in charge of everything.

Jess – Have you ever played in a children’s band?

Alan – No, it’s a great honour! I’m considering getting Oodles and Noodles to tour the world!

Ruth – I’d go and see them!

Alan – Yeah, we’ll do a crèche tour!

Ruth – What is Stefan Dennis (Paul on Neighbours) like in real life? And would you like to play a really evil character like him?

Alan – He’s an absolute sweetheart. And every time I’ve ever done a panto, I’ve only played evil characters! His is a great character, and he plays it with great, delicious relish, and with a little subtlety as well, he’s a terrific guy though, he’s nothing like Paul at all!

Jess – You recently came to London to film Neighbours episodes with Jackie Woodburne (Susan) and Natalie Bassingthwaighte (Izzy), how did it differ to coming over with your band and did you get to do any of the tourist things then?

Alan – I did, actually, that time. I went to a couple of West End shows and we were shooting all over the town, we went up in the London Eye to do some filming, and we had the cabin all to ourselves which was fabulous. I know London reasonably well now so I went to the Tate gallery and wondered around renewed by acquaintance with St. Paul’s Cathedral, but that was about as much time as I had to do things.

Ruth – What are your favourite songs to play and will there be any Christmas inspired songs tonight?

Alan – There are no Christmas songs tonight, but some of my favourite songs that we’ve put in. We’ve got Foo Fighters, ‘Best of You’ which I love, we’re doing ‘Na na na na naa’ from Kaiser Chiefs, a few of our own, I’ve written a new spoof song that we’ll try out tonight for the first time, I always do a little spoof song about Neighbours. The thing I love doing most in the set is the big Queen finish, ‘We are the Champions’ into ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’.

Jess – Are you going to do ‘Livin’ On a Prayer’?

Alan – We are, actually! We’ve put it back into the set for tonight.

Jess – Have you had any particular highlights of 2006?

Alan – Well, what can be a bigger highlight than touring the UK twice? Plus coming over to do Neighbours, plus I’ll be coming back on the first of January to do ‘Soapstar Superstar’ for ITV, so I’ve been in the UK, goodness me, over the year, for about 11 or 12 weeks in the UK, so that’s a big highlight for me.

Ruth – What are your plans music-wise for next year?

Alan – Next year we’re working on a live album, I’ve been writing some new songs while I’ve been here, and the idea is to record them live so they will have their feel, and just continue to promote the music through the website, hopefully tour the UK again about this time next year, and have lots of holidays with my kids because they haven’t seen me!

I'd like to say a big thanks to Alan for taking the time to see us, especially as he very busy and running late! For more info, check out www.alanfletcher.net