Four boys, one dream – to rule the world singing songs from the shows. And it’s worked! Collabro (Jamie, Matt, Tom and Michael) not only won Britain’s Got Talent back in 2014 but are gearing up for a new album, Home, and a second appearance at London’s glittering G-A-Y this Saturday.
Hi guys! So, are you excited about G-A-Y on Saturday?
Jamie: Really excited. We’ve done it before and everyone went mad so we’re really looking forward to it. When we did Let It Go it just went through the roof. And we’ve got a new album of songs that we’ve only ever really done in front of people at our showcase, so we’re excited about that. And a lot of the songs are more uptempo so I reckon that will work really well.
Had you ever been to G-A-Y as punters before?
Tom: Jamie had but it was the first time we’d ever been there.
What are you going to wear?
Tom: We’ve just been talking about that. We’re usually done up in suits and stuff but we’re thinking they might want to see a bit more at G-A-Y.
Just hot pants should do it.
Jamie: Yeah… I don’t think so somehow.
So have you ever been asked to wear anything racy?
Matt: We did a nude shoot for Attitude, which was really fun actually.
Jamie: The only thing is, we didn’t realise that the people in the building opposite could see us doing it through the windows.
Was that the first time you’d seen each other naked?
Michael: Yeah, it was actually.
So, who’s got the biggest cock?
Jamie: You have!
Are any of you gay because there always has to be a gay one?
Jamie: Yeah, it’s me. I’m the only one. It’s funny, when we won we realised that we hadn’t talked about how we were going to deal with it if we were asked, then a journalist asked us to line up in order of how many girls we’d had and I just said, ‘I think you’re barking up the wrong tree with that one and me, mate.’ And that was it.
And has that worked – one gay man with three straight lads?
Jamie: They’ve all been amazing. There’s been no atmosphere or anything. It really works.
But then, the sort of music from musicals you do, that must be a mostly gay man’s thing anyway, mustn’t it?
Tom: I think that’s the stereotype but there are a lot of straight men working in musicals. It’s not as gay a thing as you might think.
Your prize for winning Britain’s Got Talent was performing for the Queen. Was that a big deal or were you like, ‘Whatevs’?
Matt: It was actually Prince William and Kate, and we like to think we were also performing for Princess Charlotte as Kate was pregnant at the time.
Who else was on the bill?
Matt: Dame Shirley Bassey, Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Bette Midler…
And did you get to meet them?
Michael: A bit at the soundcheck before the show, and Ed Sheeran had the dressing room next to ours and he asked us in for some drinks, so we were in there chatting to him.
Jamie: My mum had a box opposite the Royal Box and when we all came on at the end she was waving at me like mad and we were next to Shirley Bassey and she saw her and started waving back.
Britain’s Got Talent always seems such a set up when you watch it. Were the judges really that surprised you were good?
Tom: It absolutely isn’t a set up. They had no idea what we were going to do when we got on.
How did you get together in the first place?
Jamie: I worked in a hospital, Matt worked as a kitchen salesman, Michael was in a petrol station and Tom
worked in a Japanese restaurant. We were all trying to audition for the West End and stuff but we all had different day jobs.
Tom: We were only together a month before we went on BGT but because we all had our day jobs we had in essence about a week’s worth of rehearsals to get it going. We wanted to do Bring Him Home but a few days before we sang through Stars and something clicked. We took a chance because it wasn’t that recognisable.
Who are the fans? Do you have a lot of middle-aged women throwing outsize knickers at you?
Matt: Our fan base is very varied. On our last tour in one venue we had a daughter, a mother and a grandmother from the same family.
Jamie: And obviously we do songs by people like
Barbra Streisand, so I think we have a decent following
of gay fans.
Are you going to get a bit flirty with the audience on Saturday then?
Jamie: Probably not. I’m not really the flirtiest of people on stage. And you can’t really sing Bring Him Home and then wink at the audience.
Collabro is at G-A-Y this Saturday 3rd March at Heaven, Under the Arches, off Villiers Street, Charing Cross, London, WC2N 6NG.
Entry is £3 with a wristband from G-A-Y Bar.
Collabro’s new album Home is released this Friday 3 March via iTunes and Amazon.
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