Tlb guest interview desert island disc style

I've got round to reading this awfully late. Just wanted to say kudos to Dan for his Max

 

Yorkshirecampers - big mwah!

Seth Lakeman is a god. That is all.

 

1 -- What got you into late bays .
Strange really, my nieghbour got a t3/25 high top, ugly i thought..any after i saw him tinkering, and packing a few times. it began to atract my attention. and to be honest i woke up one sunday mornning,
think i must of been dreanming of my late brother inlaw and all the vw's he has ever owned. from beetles to campers to panel vans he converted.
i said to suz do you fancy a camper.... blank look came back,,, she was on her laptop and there was ashow on at stamford hall,that day so up and off we went to explore the idea.

2 - what is the first song you would have on your desert island and why .

The 1st song .. long john baldry...Let The Heartaches Begin/ Annabella
this prob becuase of the happy times i had living at the crown hotel in market drayton,
3 - do you regard yourself as a lifelong vw fanatic or are you just going through a phase in your life .
No im a novice on the vw scene, noo noo being my only 1st vw. but i believe im here to stay.. i've always tinkered with cars when i learnt to drive, and now found the passion again.

4. next song choice and why
Next im going for David essex gonna make you a star, this one mainly from my young teenage years when i had hair lol, and the school disco's we used to have a dinner time session which was good.
5 - What do you do for a living at the moment .
At the moment im back at the place where i did my apprenticeship back then it was RollsRoyce, being hard of hearing and not having abny idea what to do when i leave school i thought an appreniceship is the best option.
so got myself an interview got some bus fare money and the rest was history.
at the moment im doing what i did when i came out of my time making aerospace companants mainly on manual lathes and surface grinders,
6 Third and last song choice here .
well for this one i'm gonna pick Abba the winner takes it all.
mainly because they have been sucessful thru the 80's and lots of changes thru the eighties for me maried for the 1st time and divorce for the 1st time.and my mom dying in 89,
enjoyed going to a few concerts seeing rainbow utravox spandau ballet, and queen.
7 - Do you frequent vw shows and if so which one do you enjoy the most , if not , do you intend to visit a show in the near future and which one .
Well ive enjoyed most shows mainly enjoy the camping ones... one i'm gonna go to hopefully is elemental.
after dubb freeze, elemental will be a bit costly in fuel, but why not,
the local shows to me are booked diva dubs and rods shrewbury very local, a good show, and down the A5 camperjam. enjoyed the bus stop over this was my 1st ever camping show , it collieded with my 50thbirthday weekend on my 2nd time there which was good.
and bus types may get an airing of camping this time...
8 - Could you ever see yourself making a living from your vw passion .
Only if i won the lottery, i think enjoying the scene is compleatly different from working it. mind you trading at shows i think would be good.
9 - what one single camping item could you not do without in your van
now your asking a can/bottle opener...

 

Thank you for the invite Malc (poptop2)

The guest

nedfaux .

question

1 -- What got you into late bays .

If im totally honest I was looking for a pre 60 split panel van and had been for a year before and bay just fell in to my lap for a very good price and after finding out how solid it is I just had to keep it.

2 - what is the first song you would have on your desert island and why .

Joy Division - Atmosphere

I cant imagine I would be in the best of moods having been stranded on the island and this would be a good on whilst I had my sulk

3 - do you regard yourself as a lifelong vw fanatic or are you just going through a phase in your life .

Na I think Im a life long fanatic Iv always had something VW and have not missed a bugjam since 1994

4 next song choice and why

The Cure - Pictures Of You

This song reminds me of my girlfriend and happy times.

5 - What do you do for a living at the moment .

Well at the moment I work from a busy little office thats joined to my home on Hayburner magazine and do 2-3 days a week at Rapid Rodent Racing doing restoration work on air cooled VW's. Both are the best jobs I could ever have dreamed of doing. I could not be happier in my work.

6 Third and last song choice here .

Portishead - Roads

I just love it.

7 - Do you frequent vw shows and if so which one do you enjoy the most , if not , do you intend to visit a show in the near future and which one .

Yes I do my girlfriend owns the splitty shaped bouncy castle so I generally get dragged around most of the big shows. I used to do autojumble through the summer and that took me to most of them as well . I did 23 show last summer

8 - Could you ever see yourself making a living from your vw passion .

I try and make a living this year is very hard because the magazine is a new business and very unlikely to turn over any sort of profit for the first few issues so my income is part time. I hope that thing work out and I can some day be comfortable making a living from my passion only time will tell if I dont try and do this now I probably never will.

9 - what one single camping item could you not do without in your van

MMMMmm I travel very light I generally have more spares/tools than camping equipment. I guess it would have to be the little filter coffee bag thing's I dont really like instant coffee so I could not do with out them.

Now nominate the next guest from the tlb members list and your reason for nominating that person ( it may be polite to pm them first ).

 

Great song choices there Ned.

 

The guest: Sir Arthur (Dan) - invited by Mr Poptop2.

1 -- What got you into late bays.

A few doors down from my childhood home lived Frank & Shirley; a middle-aged couple with eight or nine labradors. We called them The Dog People. Every day from the mid Seventies to the late Eighties Frank (or Shirley) would herd the big yelping jumping slobbery mass into their jaffa bay window microbus and rattle off to Hainault Forest. You could hear the noise of a rather dub-a-dub-a-dub engine and happy barking all through the house. As the years went by the number of dogs became fewer and they traded the van for a Volvo. When I came back from University Frank had gone too and a few years ago so did Shirley.

Spool forward to June 2010 and I'm on my own, in a tent, at four in the morning with the roof pressed against my nose. It's my fourth Isle of Wight Festival and it's been bucketing down overnight. A small lake has formed on top of my pop-up tent which is now inadvertantly waterboarding me. I awoke to find a puddle on the inside too and spent most of my morning mopping up and drying out. I decided then that I was too old and too used to creature comforts to spend much more time in a tent and if I were to keep festivalling I'd need some other way of doing it. When I got home I said to my missus that next year I'm going to rent a campervan and told her how much they cost for a long weekend. "You might as well buy one for that money" she replied. We looked at each other and said "why not?". Four months later I got the train to Ashford, Kent, paid four grand for Belle (called Dale at the time) and drove a few times round a Wickes car park to get the feel of it before heading on to the motorway as a van owner.

2 - what is the first song you would have on your desert island and why .

I wasn't very into music as a kid and would invariably listen to what the family listened to. Mum loved Neil Diamond, Dad liked Manfred Mann and Alfie - my late grandfather - liked crooning. Matt Monro was a favourite, but a song I remember was Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin. It seemed so unusual - a song sung with increasingly great gusto about what seemed to be a serial killer. When I moved back home after college I found the original 1959 single in my Mum's collection and appropriated it when I finally got my own flat. It has since become my personal theme song. I've karoake-ed it more times than I can remember and according to audience reaction, I do it quite well. A few years ago I sang it in a bar in Vegas, thereby ticking one off the bucket list. I was even presented a framed copy of the score by my best mate a few birthdays ago.

Mack the Knife-Bobby Darin


3 - do you regard yourself as a lifelong vw fanatic or are you just going through a phase in your life .

I don't understand any type of fanatic to tell the truth. Actually that's not true - I perfectly understand them in sport (I'm a West Ham United season ticket holder since forever and following them is a huge part of my life), but not for products. Fanboys are beyond me. Why would anyone be so bothered about a company's product that they'd actively slag people off for owning something made by a rival? But that's not what you asked.
I do like a lot of VW's stuff though. The splitty is a beautiful icon. The bay is an ugly yet handsome utilitarian lump that I can't help but love. I had a Golf MkIII Cabriolet for six years and used to happily stare out of the window at it because it was so pretty. As a product of a Jewish family the origins of VW make me feel a bit uncomfortable and I can't ever see myself visiting der Fatherland to see the factory (or indeed anything else there). But I do now love the vans and probably always will.

4 next song choice and why

Something a bit different from Bobby Darin. Like I said, I wasn't into music as a kid and I found that this was a bit of a problem at University. By the time I left school I liked a few bands - REM, Pet Shop Boys, INXS, The Jam - but wasn't really into any sort of scene. Then, in the Summer of 1994 I was dragged along to an indie club in Seven Kings near Ilford. I knew some of the songs they were playing but not a lot of them. Then I heard a high pitched squeal, an engaging walking pace riff and then a man's voice. A voice that flicked on a switch in my mind. I didn't know who this rather pervy-sounding bloke was but I could tell he was as cool as feck. I imagined he was some seedy lounge singer that had somehow got himself a young audience and his song about tapping someone else's wife had become popular. Looking back, I was as right as I was wrong. But whatever, I had found a sound that spoke to me and by the time I went back to Uni I was a proper Adidas-wearing, NME-reading, Camden-attending Britpopper. It's Do You Remember the First Time by Pulp.

Pulp-Do You Remember The First Time

5 - What do you do for a living at the moment .

I run a one-man recruitment consultancy called Scoot Recruit. I've been in recruitment for graphic design for nearly fifteen years and following redundancy in 2009 decided to start up on my own. I have a converted summerhouse in the garden and from there I try to get talented people jobs - as well as buying camper parts from eBay.

6 Third and last song choice here .

I was very close to picking I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles, but as much as it means to me it's literally a loser's song about not quite achieving your dreams. Very apt for my football club and some fans do argue it's a reason why we've never been all that successful despite having a lot of fans and some very good players over the years.

In fáct I'm picking something because of the van. To pick up from the first answer; after the van annoying me from October to April in the freezing cold -with it's poor gear change, smell of petrol and horrible interior - last Spring the restoration began in order to be ready for IOW11. It hasn't really finished now and to my mind it's still nowhere near (is anyone's?), but it did finally have a stereo and speakers installed. I put together an SD card of music for the Festival and this was the first track on it - The Golden Age by the Asteroids Galaxy Tour. You'll recognise it from an advert (which is where I discovered it) but it joins together my twin loves of crooning and indie (and the odd bit of Scandi Pop too). I absolutely love driving my bus to this which is why so many of my journeys start with it and rolling off the ferry at Fishbourne with this blaring made me as happy as I can remember being.

The Golden Age

7 - Do you frequent vw shows and if so which one do you enjoy the most , if not , do you intend to visit a show in the near future and which one .

I've only done the one - last year's Elemental where my very unrestored bus was in the LB Line-up. Met some really lovely people but was surprised by the lack of friendliness from some. However I don't want to be negative on such a positive thread, so let's say I might give the shows another go sometime.

8 - Could you ever see yourself making a living from your vw passion .

God no. I can barely fill up the washer fluid without búggering something up! I wish I had the time and skill to do what most of you do. I read the resto threads and am so envious. The ironic thing for me is that where so many people do all their repairs, restorations and modifications themselves to save money, I would have to win the lottery and retire from work in order to have thetime to learn how to do all that stuff!

9 - what one single camping item could you not do without in your van

Gas bottle. Sausage sandwiches cannot be made without a fridge and a cooker. And I'm all about the sausage sandwiches.

Now nominate the next guest from the tlb members list and your reason for nominating that person ( it may be polite to pm them first ).

I'll nominate Martinsbus. A thoroughly nice chap. If he's not on here anymore then Lizzie Delilah, who is a thoroughly nice lady.

 

Ok, since we're now all ploughing in and I've got a few minutes to spare since my meeting never turned up...

The guest MadFrankie .

question

1 -- What got you into late bays .

Not sure really, I've always liked the outside life, camping, etc and have been to many a Glastonbury. There I've noticed the caravan crowd from afar until a few years ago when we hired a matorhome and my brother in law got a bay. I've always like the VW camper, the ethos etc and when I saw his I knew that was what I wanted to get. I had to convince the wife, which only took 5 years, but the option to either spend £1500 on renting a motorhome for the last Glastobury or putting it towards a US import swayed her.

2 - what is the first song you would have on your desert island and why .

Now, this is a hard one as I'm massively into music and found the Desert Island Discs thread hard to trim it down to 8 songs. The first one is RHCP and Give It Away.

I've been a lifelong RHCP fan, have all their albums, knew them before they were famous etc. I never really thought that this was one of their best songs but over the years I find myself realising that this is a perfect mix of what the RHCP are about. Hard drums from Chad, driving bass from Flea, silky guitar from John and pumped up lyrics from Anthony. I defy anyone to listen to this song and not come out of it energised.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away [Official Music Video]

3 - do you regard yourself as a lifelong vw fanatic or are you just going through a phase in your life .

Can't say I've been a lifelong VW fan and I can't say if it's a phase in my life or not until the phase ends. What I can say is I'm loving it at the moment, whatever it is.

4 next song choice and why

Next song is a personal choice, I've been very down the past few years really with many bad things happening one after the other, and at my lowest point I didn't want anyone to see how upset I was so I went out into my car and put the stereo on and this song came on. I'm not ashamed to say every lyric meant something to me and I cried like a baby. It totally hit every nerve in my body...

Coldplay - Fix You

Coldplay - Fix You

5 - What do you do for a living at the moment .

Good question. My title is Commercial Manager and I work for a company that import and distribute Belgian chocolate and confectionery. My role is anything media, marketing or online based. I also manager the direct despatch part of the business, so if you go onto quite a few of the well known flower or online catalogue sites and order chocolates, the order comes through to us and we pick, pack and despatch it to you on their behalf. Saves them worring about stock or warehousing food stuffs, we do it for them.

The good thing for me is that it's a very wide and varied role and I'm never doing the same thing for very long, the problem is that it's a very wide and varied role so trying to do it all generally unsupported is hard and most of it no one else understands or wants to understand so it's hard to convince the MD what the right thing to do is.

6 Third and last song choice here .

Final one, bringing the mood up a bit. I thought about Michael Jackson, Man in the Mirror, one of my all time favourite inspiration songs, but finally settled on this one.

Elbow - One Day Like This.

In my opinion one of the most perfectly crafted music songs ever written, the combination of all the different elements really builds to create an epic feel good song. It was also a good time at Glasto last year with them on stage and everyone, and I mean everyone, within earshot of the pyramid stage singing along.

It's funny really, looking back at the 3 songs I've chosen as my taste in music is much more rocky than this but it's interesting to see what songs come to the fore when you associate meaning to them...

Elbow - One Day Like This

7 - Do you frequent vw shows and if so which one do you enjoy the most , if not , do you intend to visit a show in the near future and which one .

No, in a word. Being a newbee I've not been to any shows. Mainly because my van doesn't work at the moment, it needs a full service and tune up and a working interior. I do plan to change that though, hopefully this year, not just to experience the VW shows but to meet some of you lovely people in person, oh and Rickyroo...

8 - Could you ever see yourself making a living from your vw passion .

I'd love to, I've got lots of great ideas for a business and know enough to make it work but knowing very little about the actual engine and mechanics of a VW might hamper that at present. You never know though, sometime maybe.

9 - what one single camping item could you not do without in your van

Comfy bed / duvet. I like my sleep...

 

Thanks for the invite.

The guest - bernjb56

question

1 -- What got you into late bays .

I have had a soft spot for VWs for years since I drove a mate's in the 80's but never really wanted one enough to pursue it. Have been through the born-again biker stage, the fast sports cars and big V8s. I had this dream of sitting in a campervan with a cup of coffee and a bacon sandwich after a walk in the country. So, after a few months of research I went down the 'rebuilt' Aussie import route and went to G'day Kombis near Oxford. We saw a stripped but resprayed banana yellow van in October 2010 and picked up the finished van about a year ago. Since then I have learnt that spending a lot of money still buys you a 40+ year old van with the day to day problems that you get. I am having a great time with TLB and I have rediscovered camping.

2 - what is the first song you would have on your desert island and why .

James Taylor - Fire and Rain

I love this guy - Fire and Rain was the first LP I ever bought in 1968 and I have been a fan ever since. Seen him so many times over the years - even in US. Still given me tingles down my spine when the first few bars ring out.

James Taylor - Fire and Rain (Beacon Theatre)

3 - do you regard yourself as a lifelong vw fanatic or are you just going through a phase in your life .

I've always liked the vans but not a fanatic by any means. At the moment I am having a great time and love going out and the response that we get from other people. I think this might be a long phase.

4 next song choice and why

The Godfather Theme

Jenny and I were dining by candllight in Toarmina in Sicily at a table on some steps leading up to a floodlit church and a group of musicians started to play this music - not quite like the video, but pretty good. Cheese and Port never tasted better.

Love theme from Godfather

5 - What do you do for a living at the moment .

We own a Pharmacy and have done for the last 23 years. I love it most of the time and it has given us a good living for something we like to do. The restraints on time are the biggest issue, as I'm sure anyone who runs their own business will agree.

6 Third and last song choice here .

Life's a Long Song - Jethro Tull

Just love this song - Jethro Tull were the first live band I saw at the age of 16 and this song has always been my favourite. Going to see the 40 year anniversay 'Thick as a Brick' tour soon.

Jethro Tull Life's a long song

7 - Do you frequent vw shows and if so which one do you enjoy the most , if not , do you intend to visit a show in the near future and which one . Looking forward to meeting as amny people as I can off TLB.

We went to Busfreeze for the day last year and met a few off here. Went to Winter camp for the day in Derbyshire just to say hallo. Going to Spring camp in Malham and Camperjam so far this year. Who knows after that ???

8 - Could you ever see yourself making a living from your vw passion .

No - not dedicated or skillful enough for that, but I have massive respect for people that do.

9 - what one single camping item could you not do without in your van

Kettle.

 

Malc invited me to this, don't know what all the hoorah is about

1 -- What got you into late bays .

Both sets of Grandparents had VW's when I was kid, campers, transporter vans, type 3 square and fast backs etc so they were always there. My first 'proper' car (I've had cars since I was a little kid) was Blue, the 2slider. I passed my test late as I was a bike freak so the bus was my first legal ride.

2 - what is the first song you would have on your desert island and why .

Down in Mexico - The Coasters. There's nothing better than pukka R&B

Down in Mexico

3 - do you regard yourself as a lifelong vw fanatic or are you just going through a phase in your life .

I'm a lifelong fan of 70's cars, VW's in particular

4 next song choice and why

Love Rescue Me - U2. It's a good soul song which is nice to sing along to

Love Rescue Me


5 - What do you do for a living at the moment .

I am Strategic Account Director for a Materials Testing company (Exova) I work in the Aerospace Division, so we do cool things like smash up aircraft parts so you peeps can safely go on your package holidays. My key accounts are Airbus, Boeing, Rolls-Royce etc

6 Third and last song choice here .

Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd. I defy anyone not to get into this song. It is awesome, I will be handed over into the next world with this song playing in the background. The most awesome guitar solo ever. I've rocked to this song since I was about 4 - it still brings the hairs up on the back of my neck

Lynyrd Skynyrd FreeBird [HQ] (LIVE) 1977

7 - Do you frequent vw shows and if so which one do you enjoy the most , if not , do you intend to visit a show in the near future and which one .

Sometimes. They're all a bit samey now though. Early 90's shows were the best

8 - Could you ever see yourself making a living from your vw passion .

I'm trying to! I doubt I could ever give up the day job though, I get paid too much

9 - what one single camping item could you not do without in your van

Bog roll

 

Pulp-Do You Remember The First Time

Thats a Great shout Sir Arthur, brings back some good memories

 

The guest (Paley) .

question

1 -- What got you into late bays .
Always liked them. In 1991 I split up with my girlfriend and moved to a flat in Idle (near Bradford) - A mate of a mate was selling a knackered '79 tintop so I went to look at it - I wasn't impressed but he was an aggressive (to say the least) salesman so I bought it. I ran it for a year then sold it to pay for my round the world trip (I got as far as Holland and oddly enough lost all motivation to go anywhere else)

2 - what is the first song you would have on your desert island and why .

Folk Song - Bongwater
My favourite song of all time

Folk Song

3 - do you regard yourself as a lifelong vw fanatic or are you just going through a phase in your life .

Not really. I just like them and enjoy them and very happy to be back into them and having one

4 next song choice and why

Cocteau Twins - Persephone
Cocteau Twins are a huge part of my life - they can do no wrong

Cocteau Twins - Persephone

5 - What do you do for a living at the moment .

Head of Software Development - I am the only one in the department but when you are as great as I am who needs others? ;D
insert answer

6 Third and last song choice here .

Dead Can Dance - Sanvean
Because it's the most beautiful thing ever

Dead Can Dance - Sanvean

7 - Do you frequent vw shows and if so which one do you enjoy the most , if not , do you intend to visit a show in the near future and which one .

Been to a couple now and loved every minute of them. Can't wait for the new show season to start

8 - Could you ever see yourself making a living from your vw passion .

I would love to but am mechanically inept

9 - what one single camping item could you not do without in your van

Beer

Now nominate the next guest from the tlb members list and your reason for nominating that person ( it may be polite to pm them first ).

 

Oops, didn't know about the nomination thang - I just thought, great, an opportunity to talk about myself. Soz