Up Close And Personal With Blue's Ducan James
Can you remember the day you got signed? What was running through your mind?
Yeah, it was the 12th September - the day before my Grandmother’s birthday, god rest her soul. It was a really important day for me because I’d lost my Grandmother just six months before, and it was a very happy day because I’d been working for so long to try and get that lucrative record deal… and then I was actually in Virgin Records signing a bit of paper, and it was a sense of achievement because for the previous three years I was in other bands trying to make it. My Grandmother always used to say, “Duncan, you shouldn’t be doing this stupid job, you should be a doctor!”. And I used to say (smiling), “but I don’t want to be a doctor!”… And she would say “Well it’s better than that stupid profession you want to get in to!”. And it’s a shame that she never got to see me doing the whole Blue thing, but I believe that she’s with me… her and Grandpa looking down. So I’ve got to say thanks to them because they’ve helped me through this whole journey, and helped me sign that deal.
What were your first impressions on meeting the rest of the band?
Well I’d known all the boys before which was quite weird. I met Lee and Simon in an audition for another band when we all got down to the last ten. They were the same as they are now – Si was quite cool, quite quiet… Lee was like, “Alright mate? D’ya wanna game of pool?” And I remember playing a game of pool with Lee and thinking he was a geezer! I knew Anthony from the last band that I was in, just on the whole North London Jewish scene – I lived with a guy who was Jewish and was in my band… He used to go out to this place called the G-Spot in Golders Green, and Anthony used to be there with his dad and we used to sing Karaoke, so me and Ant became friends then. So to be in a band with all these people that I’d known before was very special, it was a good thing.
Can you tell us about the other auditions where you met Simon and Lee? What were they for?
They were for East/West records – they were putting together another band just after Another Level had split up. They wanted to do a new band like Another Level straight away… So that’s where I met Simon and Lee because we all got down to the last ten.
Did you have any idea that you’d be as big as you are?
No, I don’t think anyone has an idea of how successful they’re going to be. And it’s very hard these days to put out a single and make it work… but we came through at the right time – Five had just split up and I think timing in general was a key feature in the success of Blue. The fans helped a lot too; they supported us right from the start.
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