Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - S10 Ep 3: Kylie Minogue
Episode Date: September 30, 2020This is big. This is huge!!!!!The one and only ultimate pop princess and style icon arrived in Clapham, followed by paparazzi on a hump day. Kylie was the first concert I ever went too and we nam...ed our guinea pigs after her (and Jason) so who can blame me for the fangirl situation! Kylie tells us all about her upbringing in Australia and her journey to fame, where Charlene's famous overalls are now & how she’ll only have a questionable half sized cup of tea. As if we couldn’t love her anymore, she arrived with a special delivery of her delicious wines @kylieminoguewines - We should be so lucky!! Listen to Kylie's new single Magic out now x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm nervous.
Are you darling? Is it because you haven't got gold shorts on?
No, it's because this person was my first ever concert when I must have been what?
I think you were about six?
Nine.
No, I was definitely younger.
Eight.
Definitely younger.
No, you were about eight.
Because I remember the outfit. It was a turquoise outfit with a hat. Yeah, pantaloons. Eight. Definitely younger. No, you were about eight. Because I remember the outfit.
It was a turquoise outfit with a hat.
Yeah, pantaloons.
Pantaloons from Henny's.
Was it Henny's?
Yeah.
You took us in a limousine to Kylie Minogue concert.
It was Docklands and we went in a limo from Tower Bridge.
And when we got there, we had really good seats, but we weren't actually...
No, we didn't, Mum.
We did, darling. You were just little and you said,
but I thought we were going to see her because it was just too far away.
You actually wanted to be on the stage.
I remember it so well and thinking she probably was waving at me
when I was probably with tens of thousands of people.
But we've loved Kylie in this house forever.
Well, I watched her when I was pregnant.
I believe that the Neighbours theme tune was My White Noise.
It probably was, darling.
And I wonder how much we go on about being fans.
I think it's okay.
You think?
Yeah.
I mean, I'm a big fan now.
She's someone that's timeless.
And I believe she's done the disco album now.
Yeah, it's called Kylie
Minogue disco and it's really good is it yeah it's kind of got lots of like French influence
you can hear a little bit of kind of love to love you baby in there and daft punk and it's very good
I mean style icon pop princess I think she's not a princess anymore I feel like she's a queen it's like Dolly
Parton Kylie Minogue Madonna she's well she's that caliber yeah you don't have to say her last name
and everyone yes what have we made tonight mum I'm doing halibut cooked in butter and olive oil
pan fried um butter beans which actually smell a bit strong at the moment with salsa verde
and then i've done spinach italian way with i've cooked italian about well i've cooked it first
i've squeezed all the water out and now i'm what's happening jesse peter my manager's just
had a call from kylie's manager Apparently she's got paparazzi following her
and we don't know where she lives,
so she must just have this all the time.
Which sounds horrendous.
I know how she feels.
Do you want to go outside and go and tell me to piss off?
Oh, Jesus, it's all kicking off!
Kylie. Yes? Kylie yes you've just come in landed in the old flower bed well you didn't land in there you gracefully exited your your car um did a stunt roll yeah avoided the pats and you're in yeah I'm
in thanks for being here thanks for having me me. I've been really looking forward to this.
So excited.
Honestly, this is, and I'm just going to get it out of the way.
I'm going to get it out of the way.
You were my first ever concert.
No way.
We got a limo to your concert.
Wait, I don't know which bit's more outrageous.
You got a limo?
We had a limo, new H&M outfits, and you were tiny couldn't see you but i swear to
god you waved at me in blue kiss um i think it was when it was at the docklands and it was yeah
it was at docklands what year i mean it must have been around obviously before my growth spurt
about 1992 93 i think it was earlier. 91 maybe.
91.
91, yeah.
Oh my God, that's awesome.
I know.
And I'm just going to get also out of the way.
We had the best t-shirts from Blackpool,
which had you and a love heart on the,
I think you were at the top,
and Jason was at the bottom.
And it was especially for you.
Pirate merch.
Amazing.
It was amazing though.
And I've tried to find that shit on eBay
because it was so freaking good.
It's hard to find, yeah.
But yeah, you're here.
We're going to feed you
and we're going to drink your wine.
We just got sent the whole shipment.
Truckloads of it.
Yeah.
Amazing.
When did you become a,
is it a vintner?
Well, not really.
It's something that I had this fantasy, like I started drinking more rosé
as a lot of people did in the last few years.
And I was like, oh, God, I'd love to have a rosé.
I am just, this is a journey to learn about wine,
and it's been really fascinating so far, working with a great team.
I said, I'm just warning you, I'm going to ask lots of really idiotic questions,
dumb questions.
And, you know, the greatest response to that, which they gave us is there's no such thing.
Just ask anything.
So, yeah, the main thing was I really like this team, small team, like three people.
Historically, all they've done is work in wine, got out of the big corporations, started their own company.
They said, if we can't have dinner with people we don't want to work
with them i was like i like that and just i went on about quality you can't just put my name on
something and that's just not going to work so yeah we worked really well together and
i'm learning where is the vineyard uh in france yeah but by the end of the year, we'll have an Australian Chardonnay
and early next year an Australian Pinot Noir.
So, yeah, start of French, which is a little strange as an Aussie,
but we've got Aussie coming.
You're laughing because, I mean, Australia's got excellent –
I mean, I remember I did a festival there and I can't –
I'll never forget the Adelaide wine that I drunk.
Where are you from?
You're from Melbourne?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the Pinot Noir will be from Yarra Valley, which is in Victoria.
And the Chardonnay is from Western Australia,
which is another wine that's represented by this team I'm working with, Benchmark.
So how's things promoting?
I mean, you've done it a few times, but like.
Not like this.
Yeah.
It's just starting to feel more real now, like album promo.
First single, I literally was like, well, I know it's out there.
And you know when it becomes real, like one of your friends will say,
hey, I just heard your song on the radio.
My sister called me from Australia and the back of a car coming home
from work is like, it's on the radio right now, and then it becomes real.
But not flying around like a maniac, not doing,
traipsing around to do all the usual stuff, yeah, it felt quite odd.
Nice not traipsing around doing all the stuff?
Kind of nice, yeah, kind of nice.
I mean, it would be nicer to be able to go to Australia
and see my family and all that. Can you, you can't go at the moment? You can go, it would be nicer to be able to go to Australia and see my family and all that.
You can't go at the moment.
You can go.
It just requires quarantine and everything's just so uncertain.
And my family, they're in Melbourne,
which has had a six-week stage four lockdown,
which is looking like they're slowly going to come out of that.
Growing up in Melbourne, who was doing the cooking in your house?
Mum. Good cook? Mostly, yeah mostly yeah yeah she's a great cook i think it was pretty standard when you've got three kids to feed all
day every day um and my dad worked quite long hours so it'd be fairly basic fair but in the last
i want to say 15 even 20 years she's pretty like she's making you know sushi
rolls or i don't know they might they get obsessed with something currently my mom and dad are
obsessed with pippies which is that's what i said what's a pippi it's like a little like a little
clam but it's from new zealand i had to look it up so you do like a pippi vongole i guess they do
i mean it kind of chucks it all
in then you of course you'll say that was great what was what was in that oh just you know list
of basic ingredients and then it'll be kind of 15 minutes oh and i put ah yes see didn't mention
that bit that's always an extra bit my brother's a good cook my sister's a good cook i have been the family joke pretty much always but i've changed in the last couple of years i do cook
what do you cook pretty easy things i my go-to would be baked fish throw the fish vegetables all
in so easy tasty and my boyfriend's a good cook so that's that's one of the things we like to do
together so do you think you become a cook to please him because it is the way to a man's heart
no not no not to please him but it was just something that we we did he liked his food yeah
and he is he's good he's good cook so i just joined in and also he was quite um maybe this
this is cunning actually he's like no you do it and then
i said i don't know what i'm doing so just don't think about it just do it so kind of building up
my confidence with just doing it throw it in what do you taste bud saying like they're saying this
okay do it it's a lovely thing to do together i send him out to do the big shop though so you've
been locked down together obviously
Not initially but then when we were able to
I'm really gasping for this wine now
Do you think like
Kylie would you ever put an ice cube in it?
Yes
Okay fine so we can do that because it's not fully chilled
but this is, which one are we trying?
The Cote de Provence
I'm sorry for people that are really down with the Cote de Provence, what do you I'm sorry for people that are really down with the
Cote de Provence what do you call it oh CDP it's like CDP but my boyfriend and I will say
shall we open a bottle of the KM yeah we'll open the KM what's the KM just the KM you know
not that we're you know we don't drink other wine and actually i'm not a big drinker i normally wait
this is this is a school night and we're having some wine but um you know just like enough um
have you been quite cold okay good but so do we need the ice cube or not i don't think so okay
so danny's a good cook yes my sister's the one who keeps saying, where's the WhatsApp group for the recipes?
She is in deep.
She could have her own podcast, her own TV show about what's.
She's just that.
She just knows stuff.
She has reference.
Are they real birds?
Yeah, they're birds.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
Are they parakeets?
No.
It's not a magpie.
That's a very pretty sounding bird.
Tells me this is a magpie.
No.
No, wouldn't it be blackbirds singing in the dead of night?
Maybe it's a blackbird.
Okay, well, it's dark now.
Maybe it's the blackbird.
Cheers.
All right, hold on.
Oh, sorry, I thought you'd poured.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Thank you for making this dream happen
Was it quite nerve wracking
Bringing out the wine
Oh my god
Or did it just feel fun
It's really good
It's delicious
It's really good
It's not going to need to stay in the fridge long
For long
I just wanted to handle it sensitively because of the timing
and a lot of people going through tough times and it didn't seem like...
Last year we would have had a launch and a party and, you know,
frivolous kind of thing, but it was just this year.
It was on my birthday in May.
So we did a soft
launch and just let it have its own like people just get to know it so this one came out maybe a
month ago so we've had kind of no i've seen it on instagram particularly with my um my gay friends
yeah they're really they are loving and they are big supporters And it's so cute to see all the pictures of them, you know,
either home alone having a meal or, you know,
with their bubble friend or in the park, whatever.
It's really nice.
When did you realise you had a huge LGBTQ following?
Was it from the beginning or is it kind of...
It was almost from the beginning.
It may have been from the beginning, but I...
Maybe 1990, something like that.
And I was in Sydney working because I'm not from Sydney.
And we were passing by the main kind of Oxford Street where the most famous gay clubs are.
And someone said, oh, there's a Kylie night on tonight.
And I'd never even heard of such a thing.
I thought, what?
Like I'm 20 years old or 21 years old.
And, yes, I said that's happening at the Albury.
And I was like, let's go.
My manager said, I don't think you should.
Let's, you know, no, basically.
And that's the first time I kind of became aware of it being something did you go I didn't go I
have been to Kylie since and I'm the least Kylie of all the Kylie's it's hilarious yeah the best
example of that was maybe kind of mid-90s and I'd been to see the Lemon heads in melbourne there's a few me's and that was the uh you know
the the 1970s market grubby suede mini skirt that i wore was that confided me era it was around uh
no before that event before that curls a little macrame top like i've been to see the lemon heads
that were so cool and everything and we ended up at this gay bar because it was Kylie night
and there's pictures of it.
There's like four Kylies, like big Kylies,
and then me who just looks like I shouldn't be there
because there was none of the stuff.
These are drag queen Kylie.
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, they're amazing.
What I love about it is I never marketed towards that that
was just kind of normal to me maybe growing up in TV or there's always members of that community
around so it wasn't uh it was a shock to hear that because it just I mean it was brilliant
but yeah that's where it started and it's's been kind of an organic love affair ever since.
But were you acting and singing?
Did you go to stage school?
No.
So how did you and Danny both become involved in singing and performing?
I wish I could tell the kind of streamlined story of that.
So when I was 11, so my, i've got to count backwards 11 10 9 8
my sister went to a talent like a song and dance talent school i think i've got this the right
order you're trying to get the cat out he's driving me mad cat is like his off prince yeah
oh he knows it doesn't he yeah but he's become an attention seeker he's a bit of a star fucker
you know his name prince after prince all hail okay let me try and figure out this story so
the beginning i'm a bit blurry on but you know i wanted to be in abba at eight seven eight nine
year old there was grease grease lightning my brother and sister, we'd all do Grease Lightning in the front room. So I was a bit of a pop addict.
And actually to disco, that's when, so I was 10 in 78,
so playing Donna Summer record, my dad's Donna Summer record,
and the Bee Gees and ABBA, Chic and all of that kind of stuff.
So I did love music.
I didn't really think about acting and I was never in school plays
or anything. I just wasn't, I don acting and I was never in school plays or anything I wasn't
I just wasn't I don't think I was that showy kid but the family photos might say otherwise but like
being the clown in the front but um my mum had an acquaintance I'm not even sure if she was a
close friend but someone who worked in the casting department of a production company and they were looking for a young girl for this role, a TV role,
and asked if mum would bring my sister and I in.
We'd had no experience.
So, yeah, mum took us in and I got that role.
Which was?
I was 11 in a show called The Sullivans.
The Sullivans.
Yeah, I think that might have aired here.
I had no idea what I was doing but actually
the the weirder part is before they started filming that the same production company asked
if I could do one day's work on another series and Jason Donovan was my brother in that show
so we're both 11 that's when I first met Jasonovan and then didn't meet him until Neighbours,
which was years later. So I did these acting roles, just the two. I didn't do anything else
till I was 16 and just kind of mentioned to mum and dad, I'd really like to do that again. And
we still didn't know what to do, even though in the the interim my sister had become part of a show called
young talent time which is like mickey mouse club and so there's maybe 10 kids uh between the ages
of probably 8 to 16 you kind of got the flick when you're 16 so there's a kid singing and dancing
show so mom and dad knew a little bit about that but not about acting and anyway try to make a long story short I'm piping
up about this as I'm 16 maybe partly was seeing Dan doing her show and just feeling like oh I want
to do something even though I was crazy about music and I think one of my parents just called
the same production company and asked how do we go about this and it so happened that they were
casting for another show then so i auditioned for it dressed up as the character went for that role
and got that so i was 16 when you got charlene no this is before charlene so this was a show
called the henderson kids and i've heard of that yeah so it's about six months work so I had to do you know you have
your tutor and do your schooling so it was the end of my year 11 and then into the start of year 12
which you might know HSC from neighbors going to get my HSC and then they moved to Queensland
exactly and so anyway that's when the bug got me because there was a bunch of other kids on that
show um notably ben mendelsohn who's just such an epic epic actor and all around awesome he he was
in bloodline he was in florence's music video he am i i'm saying the right guy he is like you can't
not watch him when he's on the screen he He's incredible. He is phenomenal. So we go back.
We've just been friends all these years.
And it's like, we were 16.
We go, we've done okay, haven't we?
Didn't we do okay?
And, you know, we, as much as whatever both of us have achieved,
we're still kind of 16 when we're together.
It's really sweet.
Then I finished school, which was kind of difficult
after working on this TV show and I was like I
don't want to I don't want to finish and mom and dad were good they said you don't you don't have
to but it would be good if you could at least get your HSC so I passed by the skin of my teeth
because I'd had to drop down to four subjects and anyway got my HSC nothing from school sounded
appealing to me I just wanted to act and actually
had some singing lessons with a little bit of money i'd had so i'd go and have my singing lesson
on the weekend made a demo tape when i was 17 were they covers or yeah what covers did you do
you won't believe it it was i need to know and i found maybe not the original tape but a copy of the
tape and i'm so i played it once on this little like a vintage walkman i've got i'm scared to
play it again in case it just breaks i need to get it digitized i sound like like a little mouse
so it was dim all the lights by donna summer how on earth did i think i could sing these things
just once by quincy jones and Attitude by Patti LaBelle.
But they were mega kind of just not doable.
I mean, that's what I was into, I guess.
But that's amazing, isn't it?
Because you've completely fulfilled that.
I mean, your new record is just going and it's kind of amazing.
There's a huge voice.
It's so foolish on my part.
And I cried in the studio.
I didn't know.
I was so scared.
I was spending my money to, you know, get these three,
get a tape of these three songs.
And the practical side of me was thinking this will help for acting.
So any actor is going to tell you, you know,
when they ask if you can water ski, mm-hmm, can you jump out of a,
yeah, mm-hmm, can yeah can you sing oh here's my
cassette so I was thinking it was like business but I did harbor that kind of bedroom dream of
being a pop singer I just didn't know that how to get into that path but you must you're a pop
singer that is a pop singer forever I mean you've not please tell me how that happens and how can i be able to do this
forever like you do keep going literally no but it's more than that carly the style the creative
the the songs the dancing the kind of generosity to your fans you've created this community that
are so devoted to you yeah and like your shows are pretty phenomenal yeah what's the venus
oh aphrodite aphrodite sorry aphrodite and that was crazy are you sometimes like shit i've bitten
off more than i can chew here when you're like high up in the sky or being picked up by oh i
there's not this is going to come out wrong it's about about saying there's not much I haven't ridden, but I have ridden many things.
The angel, the horse, you name it.
I've kind of done that in stupid heels and trying to sing at the same time.
It's the things that no one would imagine that are hard.
Yes, people generally know touring's gruelling and you can't have any
other fun because you can't even go and i'm presuming
you'd be the same like i see you at the bar like no i can't talk i just can't talk over
and trying to travel from a to b in heels doing your quick changes it's all that you can do to
try and get a sip of water in so it's just that stuff that i often think wow you really should
have just given yourself a bit of a break but it's exhilarating and it's addictive right and i have
missed it this year and i've just realized that because i toured a lot 2018 and 2019 but in general
i'm used to having this kind of low level low level of fairly consistent adrenaline that you're doing this or you're doing that or like peaking
and maxing out that you're touring and you're trying to sustain
that energy and, you know, reach those heights every night.
And to not have had that this year is something strange.
Don't want it to turn into the blues, you know,
because adrenaline is like that.
Yeah.
And it's the classic thing thing like post-tour
depression and you're kind of like well i did it i should feel great and it literally now i know
it takes two weeks your adrenal glands like look at this we're doing it every night we are pumped
and then you stop and they're just going like where does that energy go i wanted to know i mean this is more for me any any things
when you're wider that i should definitely have a mind or anything so boring um me too like you
know a kettle a coffee a coffee machine i like a good coffee okay like don't give me some crap
you're australian i'm from melbourne'm sorry. What is it about this coffee?
We are the worst.
We really are.
Is that why they invented baristas?
I think they did.
I'm not sure.
I don't know if they invented them, but it's a cultural job, isn't it?
Yes, very much.
Okay, right.
Tell me, how do you take your coffee?
I like what they call, in Australia, they now call it a piccolo latte italians are like
what are you talking about and there was that is nothing now there's a piccolo latte yeah or maybe
the short for it is piccolo then it's a tiny latte so you don't have to deal with all that milk you
get isn't that flat white isn't that a flat white which i thought was australian no i think it's a
bit different it's very similar now the baristas
are going to come after me going what are you talking about i thought flat white was invented
in australia yes yes and thank you australia for that yeah yeah i love that we don't don't
no cappuccino just yeah so this is my understanding the flat white and then piccolo latte is just
smaller the froth is not like a wet
froth it's more of a creamy froth but i think flat whites are creamy for yeah that's that's
basically imagine like kylie size coffee yeah that's what a piccolo latte is oh and the other
like that is the perfect size for me because it's just not too much but also you just that's
connecting with thinking about touring and riders and the the amount of times I now ask for, can I have half a cup of tea?
Half a cup?
When you're at work.
I genuinely want half a cup of tea because the full tea, I don't have time.
This sounds stupid.
I agree with you.
There's no time for it to cool down.
So by the time everything else, okay, do that.
Don't spill any.
I agree.
You get one sip of the tea but half a cup of tea solves the problems because it cools down faster i mean that's about as demanding as you are
kylie i mean that's i think you've been doing all right you've had such a huge long career with
probably so many memorable moments but is there one particular memorable meal that you've just been like,
what is going on?
I mean, I've had foods, like, you know, I'm, you know, a newbie to all this.
I am a foodie.
You can tell I get, you know, I get really excited about quite like simple things,
but just good things.
Yeah.
I've been to Portofino a few times and there's a restaurant there that's,
it's so picturesque.
It's like oh i recognize that
picture that's portofino with all the colored buildings and so there's it's very compact and
there's one little side little alley i think you can't drive a car it's a walking alley
and it's a langoustine restaurant it's called daobati i think think, from memory. Oh my God. Just stop.
It's, you know, they put the bib on you and you're, you just, I can't even.
I've probably been there four times, but I, you know, I dream of going back there.
And of course it's the secret recipe, but whatever they do, it's phenomenal.
So is it langoustine that you're having?
And it's just, they's just simply done with something?
It's a mystery.
Very juicy.
You know, you get involved.
It's all you're eating with your hands.
And there's some other small dishes,
but there's zero need for them to ever change that secret recipe.
We ask every guest this.
Dream meal.
You're about to go to a desert island where you know your food is
going to be minimal before you leave you have your last supper it's a starter a main and a pud
and a drink of choice jesus you can think about it for a bit i might have to think about that
i think a nice simple starter simple is great asparagus just grilled lemon salt and pepper oil that really
it's like it's not too much it just gets you going and you can do it at home okay fine yeah no no
anchovy butter nothing like that no simple although i do love anchovies me too okay fine so Me too. Okay, fine. So Maine, would you have those langoustines?
Would they be your last supper?
I mean, yes.
Yeah.
I tend just to eat way too many.
I just be real slovenly about it.
Yes.
Forget the bib.
And dessert?
I really like dark chocolate.
So maybe like something flourless, dark chocolate. I don't really like sweet sweets so maybe like something flowerless dark chocolate i don't really like
sweet sweet i fucked up i told mum to do a chocolate mousse and she said should i do a
flowerless chocolate cake and i said no don't fucking you're kidding me don't so you've got
a dark chocolate mousse that's good but perfect i have all the things it was gonna be a flowerless
fucking i could have bloody been your best friend after that. Maybe you could make one and I'll collect it another day.
Because I'm sure you make a mean flourless chocolate torte.
And then what's your drink?
I mean, would it be the old KM CDP?
Would it?
Or would it, you know...
Yes.
Yeah, obviously.
Yes, I'm hungry.
And I'm about to kind of drool over you too much
if I drink too much more of the CDP.
You have to go slowly, don't you?
I know so many people.
I did tell a few of my friends that you were coming round.
Mostly my gay friends.
Everyone loves you.
You're like the Dollyon um in that sense of you
you do no wrong oh i do but i nobody sees it you either like you're doing it very behind closed
but like do you have some regrets within your career or not yes yeah of course i do um to
name them you don't have to know no it's just it's quite difficult it's more like a little
bit here and a little bit there or kind of wish i hadn't done i wish i'd done that a lot of i wish
i'd done that differently i could have done that better why didn't i see what was happening but
it's so funny because from the outside it's like you are one of the most flawless pop stars that i
think we see so as an artist myself that's really um
encouraging and reassuring to hear because I see you you're having had this trajectory of like it's
just been fucking winner winner winner winner that everything well I do um you're a perfectionist
mostly yeah there's some areas where I can if I'm really on the fence about something, it can go either way.
I'm not sure how correct I am in saying that,
in thinking that in recent years or, you know, last, I don't know,
five, ten years or whatever, where I am more, you know,
I just don't let things slide.
But actually if I look back to some things from the past I think I've
always I've had the idea but I haven't always spoken up you know I'd love to know if you've
been in similar situations where there's just so much noise and especially when I was younger
like well you're the grown-up so I guess you know I don't know I'm new to all of this even though
it's really successful and uh but it was learning on the job
basically a lot of it I wonder yeah thank you it was a different time you were you are a woman
in music and I don't know you know I felt it where you almost have to feel apologetic if you disagree in a way.
And I don't know.
And that's in this time, you know, I think it gets easier
because I feel like maybe I am more confident now.
But you were doing this a while ago.
More knowledge and more certainty.
And I think it is, you know, thankfully,
it does feel like it's changing.
And I try to, I mean, I'm sure you get younger people on this show,
it'd be great to hear what they have to say about how they feel.
Not that they know what to compare it to as experience,
but what they've read about or what they've heard about.
But it does seem like the younger girls now have stronger voices.
I agree.
And that's amazing.
Yeah, I agree.
Okay, so then I have to ask because i feel like
a strong voice that we all kind of know of is pete waterman yeah and i i really want to know
what it was like working with him i think one of the reasons it worked well for me i didn't know
any different they were unashamedly and rightly so called the Hit Factory. And I came from being in a soap opera where you get your lines,
you say your lines, then you do the next scene and you do the next thing.
So it probably sounds so weird now to hear,
but I would have to be written out of neighbours
to get two weeks to travel from Australia to here.
They'd have to write Charlene.
She'd go to Brisbane or something.
So was it happening simultaneously?
There was a period where I was doing them both.
And then when that became too difficult, then I left Neighbours
and pursued music.
But, yeah, I think I didn't, I literally didn't know anything
about songwriting.
I barely knew anything about singing or performing.
It just kind of, it was like playing a character and just doing
what was asked of me.
I was going to say doing what I was told but I think it's more
what I think was required.
And in the kind of five years with them and me going from a 19-year-old
to early 20s, and just becoming curious
and wanting to be more involved and be in the room
and not be in the waiting room until they were ready.
You weren't even allowed.
Not in the beginning, no.
I think that's just the way it was.
Yeah, yeah.
So I think I learnt just from being around music
and performing the songs.
But, yeah, it was kind kind of it almost seems so crazy now
that I would I'd go in the studio any day I love it I love it I love it love it you go in and start
the day with nothing and then you've got something yeah you've made something it doesn't really feel
like a job does it it doesn't feel a job especially when you're just when it's working well or when
you're just throwing things at the wall and see what sticks
and you're genuinely with people you want to be with
and it's just, I don't know, it's like kind of flying or something.
You just, stuff's happening.
Then when you get to the kind of pointier end,
it starts to feel like work.
Like, okay, is this really any good?
Are we all crazy?
Thank you so much.
There's more salsa verde if you want.
Thank you, ma'am.
Oh, it's nice, ma'am.
I think the butter beans with the salsa verde is a winner.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's good, right?
I just made contact with the butter beans and the salsa verde.
Really good.
I do feel like we have to shout out Mira Soda,
who's a Guardian columnist, a brilliant cook,
who does the vegan column and does amazing things.
And actually, it was my brother.
This isn't her recipe, but it was her suggestion that my brother's been doing, doing butter
beans with a salsa verde.
And I think it's a winner.
It's an absolute winner.
And a little bit of a reheat the next day with some other bits and bobs.
Yes. bit of a reheat the next day with some other bits and bobs yes can i just slightly throw it back and
congratulate you on your album oh my god yeah like uh yeah you can absolutely you can so so good thank you yeah thanks i mean i did jump for joy when kylie minogue put me on
her playlist yeah on spotify we should write together one day um yeah we should i would love
that when i made what's your pleasure there's the song the album the title track of the album
what's your pleasure yeah and when we made it i was like kylie this i kind of feel like i'm
pretending to be kylie minogue on this because like in my head i was trying to be debbie harry
and kylie minogue oh my god and then i was like kylie minogue you should take the second verse
she said why didn't you call me i don't know maybe i should have i don't know because you're
fucking kylie i only live over the river oh my god this God. This is great. We're going to go to Familia. We're going to go to the studio.
And I was stuck at home.
We're going to do Piccolo, Piccolino, Lattes.
This is great.
And I have my own studio.
Do you?
When I say studio, I mean, like, the five bits of kit that you need.
So I did most of my album, my vocals at home.
No.
You record yourself.
Oh, get an engineer in and then.
So, yeah, producer record yourself. Oh, get an engineer in and then... So, yeah, producer and engineer.
Well, normally the producer who is engineering
would remote access my designated laptop.
So there's no emails about to pop up or, you know, reminders or anything.
But in watching that, I started to learn how to, you know,
the basics of logic and now I can say, yeah, I'll get them to you later.
I even had to move the studio once the album was done.
I thought, this is a bit in the way here,
so let's get it to another zone.
Is it in your house?
Yeah.
It was lockdown.
I was home.
Yeah.
So what, did you finish your record in lockdown?
Completely, yeah.
So I started the album, started writing last year.
So Say Something and Magic were both,
so the first two singles were done last year.
Yeah.
Say Something was finished in lockdown, finished remotely with, you know,
fine tuning and getting kind of forensic about it.
And I think every other song that's on the album and the
and the deluxe maybe bar one or like one and a half were yeah we're done at home so it's kind
of a lockdown album in the sense that a lot a lot of it yeah um i think there's only one other
full song that was fully aside from mixing was done not in lockdown and as the sessions went on so
we'd start just zooms for just writing and then would go to remote controlling for recording
and i kind of joked i said i'm getting an engineer credit for this and once we got to the end i
realized i am giving myself an additional. Yeah, you fucking are.
I set all of this up.
I just realised I did do it.
Yeah, done right.
So, yeah, I've given myself a credit and I'm quite happy with that actually.
I'd be terrible for anyone else.
Like, hey, also people are now like, so you're a pro, you're a wizard.
Can I just stop you there?
I'm like, you know, grade two.
My prep school was garage band and I'm maybe grade two.
So I've got all of primary school and high school to go before I'm anything near a pro.
Speaking about grades.
Okay.
So I also had, just to add to my fanatic Kylie face, we had the VHS of you that was Kylie.
Was it like Kylie on the go
or something like that? It was Kylie and you were playing
the piano. I did
learn the piano when I was younger. Yeah and you had the most
amazing like Mozart-esque
sleeved, do you
remember it? It was a blouse, it was white
and it was very, and you were there at the
piano and you were like oh hey you didn't catch, oh sorry
I'm just playing something and we'd
watch it in this room and the tv used to be here and we'd watch it and you'd be
playing the piano and it was like with a lot of sleeve and i've always dreamed about this
blast that was probably like my my prince fantasy yes that would make sense it was like very yes i
remember i might have had oh this is really challenging me
now um maybe a little waistcoat like a vest with it yeah yeah with some embroidery yeah yeah yeah
from there and there and probably massive earrings we and you have curly hair yes yeah and and we
hannah got like an embroidered waistcoat yeah jesse thinks that the neighbor's theme tune was
her white noise
because when they were born, I'd listen to it,
I'd watch it when I was pregnant.
And then when they were born, we always had neighbours on.
So that was like, was that like with Des and Daphne?
Yeah.
I had the Daphne hair.
The half up, half down, and then the ponytail.
She had a lot of...
I used to do the Daphne hair. What did she die of we can't remember or in birth
it was the saddest episode we absolutely sobbed did she die in childbirth but des was left
nothing else on that des was desolate no des was desolate well it was on twice a day yeah it was on so you could then just
cry all over again yeah it's like the archers they did a repeat later this was desolate
and daphne's hair and i remember you used to i used to say to you how would you like your hair
and you say like daphne she managed to get a lot of looks out of very
car crash
short hair
oh god
she was a
she was a good woman Gaffney
yeah
was she a hairdresser
I don't know
she was an ex-stripper
that was the scandal
the scandal
and then
she worked in
she worked in the cafe
no the diner
she started the cafe
it was so scandalous
that was this cafe
from her
from her stripper money
I don't know
presumably
if that was part of her past.
But Guy Pearce was your best friend?
He was one of the gang, yeah.
And I worked with him three years ago.
We played husband and wife in this Australian comedy film
that's set in the 70s.
So, I mean, he looks really good with the tash
and the lamb chops and all of that.
Yeah, he looked good.
But that was hilarious. We didn't get to kiss oh
shame but do you see jason sometimes the last epic time i saw him was at hyde park
um i had a show there did you sing together yeah but even better than that we had a special
for you in the set and my BBs would sing his parts.
And because this was BBC Radio 2 Hyde Park concert going out live everywhere,
we had a choir as well.
And I texted Jason maybe the day before or two days before and said,
oh, hey, I've got this gig in Hyde Park.
Just let me know if you want to come along.
And so he let me know on the day.
He said, yeah, I'll be there. I'm just going gonna roll up on my bike i said great and so then when i got to hyde park and said to my team
like in my musical producer and and creative director said um so yeah jason's gonna be here
tonight and i said well uh are you going to ask him i said well i'm not going
to call him now because i happen to know he's cycling in i don't want to just like get nervous
and you know fall off or anything but he arrived and then i asked him i said you could you know
the easy answer is no i had that's totally fine it's just it's totally up to you you can sing a
bit you can sing nothing we can do a stupid dance.
And you can see the cogs turning over.
He's like, is that a guitar?
Like, what key is that in again?
And he started going, and it was great because I completely,
completely caught him off guard.
And he's such a good sport.
He said, oh, good job I didn't turn off my Lycra,
like my cycling Lycra. I have been another another entrance but literally i had friends who were
in the business they're not really phased by much but calling me crying just it was such
a moment so i'm really grateful to him for, you know, giving us that moment.
So I guess there will be plans to tour this because you are like a machine when you tour.
As and when we can and it's a viable thing and it's safe for everyone, sign me up.
My dream for this tour would be to perform in the round, which I've never really done,
have the world's biggest disco ball above and make it like just a big love fest it's got to get you got to get
close though that's the thing like that's the thing yeah you want people getting sweaty and
hugging and loving each other i know so we'll see it's obviously it's a bit of a pipe dream now and
i kind of always don't want to think about it too much it seems so sad what are you going to do when you're not touring what are you going to do next now the album's out right with
me get in the studio yeah i don't know garden oh kind of not very good you've grown any vegetables
i did try oh what did you try um i got some tomatoes which of course is like, you know, I don't think you can fail on that front.
Did you?
No, no, yeah.
I fucked up on the old tomatoes.
So, yeah, you can actually do that.
So there were courgettes that were happening, runner beans,
and, you know, it was just that the little things.
Like a friend gave me tiny seedlings that they'd started and said,
oh, see those bits of eggshell in there?
That's because you break the egg and keep the shell
and put your seed in there and the dirt in there.
Like all this stuff that because no one knew what to do with ourselves,
every day it was like, oh, it's a miracle.
Like there's this, you know, five millimetres of growth.
So I got quite into it and then I think the squirrel attacked everything
and that was that. I was going to ask is england your home forever
long pause there boyfriend of englishman he's a welshman well
nice people yeah um but he's been in been in London for almost 20 years, I guess.
There's just not going to be an Australian home.
Are you a British citizen?
I have a British passport and an Australian passport.
So you don't need to marry the Welshman to get.
I think Kylie's okay.
We'll keep her.
Okay.
I think some people forget I'm Australian, actually.
I think we think you belong to us.
Yeah, you adopted me.
That's a fact.
A lot of people feel like they, you know, I was part of the family.
I grew up in Neighbours.
I was in your lounge room or your kitchen twice a day.
That's what I think.
A teenager and then beyond that just kind of growing up in front of your eyes.
And I like people.
I like kindness.
I like, you know kindness I don't suffer
fools gladly
but I think if
kindness comes back to you
you were very
kind on the voice
I thought you were exceptionally kind
and nice
have you done a show like that?
no
it's quite hard quite hard like
the battles the blinds just went forever what was hard about it that you kind of the choosing people
and critiquing or yeah some of that because you you know you don't want to be people's dreams
and some people just don't have a voice i totally rate the show but and i said in my initial
part on that of time on that show i said i just have to say that as soon as that person turns
around it isn't just about the voice it just isn't you'll you know you see the shock on people
it's a it's a 12 year old girl it's a 65 year old man like it becomes about them and everything else
so yes the voice is what has to make you turn
um but yeah they're just long it's just that's just tv tv is long and by the time it's edited
it looks like you were there for kind of 35 minutes i think i subsisted on um you know
ready to eat protein snacks yeah because they wouldn't ruin it's just like there's no time
what happened to those gold shorts oh so well you know they were bought for 50p i know so that's the history
i don't really know what the history was before i got to know them but they are with pretty much
all of my costumes and performing things and memorabilia that I donated them to the Performing Arts Museum in Melbourne.
So if I hit tough times, I have nothing to sell.
No hot pants.
Charlene's overalls are in there.
All the showgirls stuff.
Charlene's overalls, Jess.
That's basically the only thing I took from Neighbours
was Charlene's overalls, which I would love to wear
because when you did, you'd film the OB scenes
so the outside broadcast scenes one week and then you'd match the studio scenes the next week so you
always one episode was spread over two weeks and Melbourne could be freezing freezing cold and
you're starting work at 6am so I've got in my Datsun driven to work learning my lines on the
way and so if I was wearing my overalls or Charlene's overalls, I could sneak some track pants or something underneath.
And then the next week in the studio, you could be cool.
So I loved my overalls.
That's a life hack.
And I love that Charlene was feisty and was kind of going against the grain.
Did you have to perm your hair?
No, that was my hair.
You're joking.
That is the most. You've got straight? No, that was my hair. You're joking. That is the most...
You've got straight hair.
I've got curly hair.
That's a Brazilian straight hair.
This is all sorts.
This is a bit of work.
I perm my hair to get...
Some body.
Yeah.
I wanted to know what you're missing.
I mean, you're not able to go to Australia at the moment.
Obviously, you're missing your family.
But what kind of food are you missing?
Because the food
there is my mum's food or you know when when we're all together and i never do as many dishes i mean
i because it's my brother and sister do most of the cooking or mum or whoever's there and who's
on dish patrol so it's like all i do is don't dishes. But someone's got to set the table.
Someone's got to, you know, do all of that.
So I'm kind of mood, ambience, setting and washing.
But, you know, barbecues at home, I hate to sound completely obvious,
but summer barbecue.
What is special about your family's barbecue?
Is there something that we…
It's just that it's a family barbecue.
Fair enough.
Kylie, dinner dinner party five guests
who are you inviting people who can actually attend oh this is dreamland who would be at
your perfect dinner paul newman oh my god yes can it just be paul newman sure why paul newman because he's gorgeous jessica oh my god he's the one okay yes so literally
kylie is not inviting anybody else having her and paul i love that um look i think everyone
wants marilyn at their dinner party no one's done that one actually yeah no were you a packed lunch
girl when you were at school yes i mean once in a while we could have some money for the tuck shop,
but that was just once in a while.
So what was in your lunch box?
It was usually a Stras sandwich.
Just a Stras sandwich?
Like Strasburg ham.
Well, like mixed.
I don't know how to describe it.
Maybe it's a bunch of meats together that look like a circle and then slide.
Like pre-sliced meat.
I need to know.
Well, I'm not sure if it was just ham.
Spam.
It wasn't spam.
Corned beef.
No.
Stras.
This is very interesting.
That's what I think it was called, strass.
Oh, thank you.
So, or a cheese sandwich.
Okay, fine.
But, you know, just white bread, butter.
Simples. Wheat bix in the morning. Wheat bix morning we call it wheat bix it's wheat a bix here wheat bix yeah every morning every strange australian
soon as i got home from school marmite or vegemite well we know oh kylie you're not even
of course do you still eat it do you like vegemite once in a while course it's vegemite take a passport away jesse of course do you still eat it
do you like vegemite once in a while yeah it's a feel-good thing but it's if you ever tried it on
i don't know if it would work as well as marmite but with um spaghetti and butter i haven't but
that would work is that excellent so if you're having vegemite on toast you have to have an
australian make it for you because you because everything has to be right.
Why? The ratios?
Yeah, your ratios and, you know, enough butter and then the Vegemite's just kind of got to skip over it.
That's how I like it anyway.
This is delicious.
Is it?
Yes.
Kylie Minogue, we've kept you for far too long.
Or not long enough.
You are the best.
It depends because I've had such a great time oh thank you will this um seal the deal when i tell you i forgot to tell you that we have a
guinea pig called kylie and a guinea pig called jason as well oh yeah forgot kylie and jason
we're gonna now uh break your kneecaps and you're gonna lie upstairs and you're going I thought I'd heard it all. I've now heard it all.
We're going to now break your kneecaps
and you're going to lie upstairs
and you're going to teach us these spinning around dance.
You're never going anywhere.
We are Kathy Bates.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for doing this.
I love you so much.
Thank you.
We love you.
It's been so special.
Good luck with the record.
And Lillian, thanks for the dinner.
It's been such a pleasure.
Remember, always chill it.
Always chill it.
Oh, okay.
That's never come out of my mouth before.
I like it though.
Maybe you should just have that as the tagline.
Always chill it. I love her.
And I'm really glad that I was able to spout all my...
Memories.
Memories.
And she will always think I was the biggest fan,
as opposed to Hannah, who didn't want to FaceTime.
Darling, I'm slightly worried.
What?
When you told her about your favourite T-shirt you bought in Blackpool yeah and she said oh bootleg yeah
also love Kylie asked to start at 6 30 I'm gonna be in bed by 10 um so thoughtful isn't she we
played one of her songs that I didn't get on the sampler that was one that she really wanted on
the record we And we danced.
We danced.
Actually, I've got video of it,
so you'll be able to enjoy that.
We danced, and she's lovely.
Magic is out now.
Go and listen to it.
And the album Disco is out on the 6th of November.
Her wine is out there.
Well, I think we've bought the whole lot here tonight.
I love it.
Anyway, thank you. Jessie, look at the cork.
It says Kylie on it.
And you know what? It's got a kiss. Like, X
marks the spot where you put the corkscrew in.
Cute. Thank you, Kylie.
Thank you for listening. Please email
us at info at
tablemannerspodcast.com. Let us
know if you have any similar Kylie
guinea pig stories. Darling, just
one thing I'd like to say. What?
I should be so lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky.
I should be so lucky in my...
Thank you for listening.
The music you've heard on Table Manners is by Peter Duffy and Pete Fraser.
Table Manners is produced by Alice Williams.