Following on from our 6QQ with Brother Beyond earlier, we bring you UK pop duo Pepsi & Shirlie, who made a name for themselves as the backing vocalists for Wham! before moving to the front of the stage as artists in their own right. The duo will performing this August Bank Holiday weekend, 25-27 August, at Blackpool’s Headlands Arena, which will playto some of the world’s biggest musical stars for LIVEWIRE Festival, a new series of concerts.
EP: Hi ladies! We’re excited about the Livewire Festival coming up in August – what can fans expect from your performance?
P: We will be performing 3 songs from our first album which we hope the fans will know and love.
S: We just hope to awaken some good old 1980s memories for all those people who remember us and get everyone in the mood to have a great evening!
EP: If you could do your career all over again, what would you do differently and why?
P: There’s not much I would change other than that I would have loved to do have done another
P&S album.
S: Well, I could write an essay on this but basically bands nowadays can capitalise on so much more with social media and branding etc. It’s an incredibly powerful tool, which we had no access to in the 1980s and therefore we physically had to be in so many places as there was not the vast captured audience of Facebook, Instagram and twitter etc. I love the instant & creative outlet that it can give the artists and the immediate interaction with their fans too.
EP: What are been your fondest memories of your music career?
P: Fondest memories are being on tour with Wham! Travelling the world, like hotel gypsies. Shirlie and I spent lots of time together and there was lots of laughter, we had fun that really bonded us.
S: For me some of the Wham tours were great fun and discovering places that you had never been to, playing huge stadiums and of course Sunday evenings listening to your chart positions which was such a high when your records were climbing the charts.
EP: Do you have any advice for women wanting to get into the music industry these days?
P: I think the music industry is very different now because there are so many more outlets to share your music, social media for example. Don’t just wait to get a record deal, make the music and share it, be authentic and learn about the business you want to get into and don’t give up on the first NO!
S: My advice would be, try and write as much of your own material as you can, get a good production team and writers around you that you trust and create your own unique style and keep it as authentic to who you are as possible, that’s what makes an artist interesting.
EP: What question do you wish someone would ask you in an interview, but nobody ever does?
P: “If it should all end tomorrow what would you do”
S: What are you doing now?
Tickets Available here. Pricing as follows:
Full Weekend (general admission): £85
Friday 25th Aug – The Jacksons: General Admission £35 / Golden Circle £75 / VIP £200
Sat 26th Aug – Pete Waterman’s Hit Factory: General Admission £30 / Golden Circle £75 / VIP £150
Sun 27th Aug – Will Smith & DJ Jazzy Jeff: General Admission £30 / Golden Circle £75 / VIP £150
