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A Face For Pirate Radio
Cool Britannia Bill Nighy speaks to us about music and The Boat That Rocked, just released on DVD and Blu-ray.
Bill Nighy, aside from being one of Britain's most versatile and well-respected actors, seems like the ultimate cool uncle that every rock ‘n' roll loving teenager would love to have. A huge fan of The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, it's no surprise that Nighy is perfectly cast in Richard Curtis' new comedy, The Boat That Rocked.
"I think that it is kind of majorly important," Nighy says of the importance of music in his own life. "The best way of measuring it is to imagine a world without it. And that is a really kind of untenable situation. I listen to music all the time. It gives me as much pleasure as nearly anything."
Tapping into this love for music, Nighy plays the character of Quentin in The Boat That Rocked. Set in the late sixties, the film follows a group of rogue DJs operating a pirate radio station from a ship off the coast of the UK, and evading the strict censorship and regulatory bodies of British radio by broadcasting from international waters.
Nighy says that his own memories of the real pirate radio days are not unlike those depicted in the movie. "I was at school at the beginning of it, and I did - like the kid in the movie - wait until my parents had gone to bed and then I would tune in on a low level and I would listen to all the new music. It was great to be young and fresh when it was occurring. I loved it. When they [pirate radio stations] were made illegal it was even better because then you were part of some outlaw enterprise. Just tuning in gave you outlaw status."
Experiencing this radical musical revolution first-hand, Nighy is appreciative of his fictional character and colleagues, and their efforts to change radio in Britain forever. "It was as important as the movie suggests. You went from your mum and dad's music - men in suits and ladies in evening dresses, singing about the moon - to Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar and The Who and all the black American soul music. It was a real kind of violent change, which I don't think will ever happen again."
Unsurprisingly, Nighy says that he didn't base his character on anyone in particular, nor did he do any research for the role, although he does admit that his character was somewhat of an interesting one. "To be my age in 1967 - culturally speaking - puts you in quite an odd position. You almost certainly fought in the Second World War, and then some time later you end up running a rock ‘n' roll radio station and wearing lots of chiffon. So it is a very interesting position to be in."
Nighy is most enthusiastic when speaking about his favourite songs on the film's soundtrack, and discusses his taste with a level of knowledge and musical appreciation that can only be gained by being a diehard fan of the classics. "One of them, and I bought it when it came out," he says, when asked to name a few of his top picks, "was ‘I Can See For Miles' by The Who, which is not one that I think that they do in performance too much. But it is over-looked; it's a great single! Also at the beginning of the movie we were all given iPods with suggested playlists for the fictional DJs, and one of the tracks that I had forgotten entirely - which I think is just beautiful - is ‘Stone Free' by Jimi Hendrix. It is such a cool record and I don't know how it slipped through my memory."
Despite his own musical passion, he stresses that even new music over the years has its rightful place in the hearts and minds of fans everywhere. "Every generation needs their own brand. It's got to be fresh and it's got to be new and it has got to be the single expression of their experience. It can't be anything that went before."
The Boat That Rocked is available now to own on DVD & Blu-ray
