Mark Knopfler BBC Breakfast 9th April 2024

John and S, okay Carol, thank you, thank you, thank you, legendary guitarist and singer Mark Noler has been making music for decades selling hundreds of millions of records in the process and now the former D Straits frontman is back with a new album full of his characteristic sounds. and playing Rifts with his feet, we'll have him here on the couch in just a moment to chat, but first let's remember some of the classics and here's his latest offering with the Su with the I'm swing, that's how you. do it, you play guitar on MTV, that doesn't work, that's how to do it, Money for Nothing CH free people don't use, play there more than once or twice, you had a regular spot, they were even advertising. name better than usual, you stay a little ahead of the game before the game are you on uh, we're on Mark join, just

mark

ed Hello, how are you Hello, it's a pleasure to be back, it's a pleasure to have you back here, It's a pleasure to be in Manchester again, I know I noticed that when Carol was doing our weather forecast you were keeping a very close eye on the North East, looking very closely at your home town, yes I know, I have a little app of the weather on my phone, you know, and I don't know if you do, but I use mine all the time, yeah, and there we are shining on you.

The British have always been interested in the weather, haven't they? Yes, yes, and I think sometimes we always have one of the places we love in our lives. that app, even if we don't necessarily live there, it's true, you're still musically rooted in the North East as your last work show, yeah, and I'll wonder if it's raining in Whitley Bay, you know, yeah, I will be, um, yeah, Well. I guess life includes some cities for me. It started in Glasgow when I was a bit down listening to the radio on the floor and like the BBC had something called 'Children's Favorites' to listen to with my mum and stuff like that, how about you? sit comfortably was yes, are you sitting comfortably?

Well, I am, but I remember well, yeah, and you're sitting comfortably, so I'll start and yeah, and I remember my mom telling me that she used to listen very carefully and I think that's what she was hearing. Both with words and with music, you know because I can still sing all the lyrics. I mean, if you take a song like Big Rock Candy Mountain, it was actually a hobo song, but I didn't know what. homeless I was, I couldn't even walk, but I liked it, you know, I like music and I think I think my love for the song SS started there and it's continued through the decades and it's still there now. with this latest piece of work that you're sharing with us this morning and which includes a reworking of perhaps one of your most famous pieces of music, tell us about it, well, it was a lovely experience that was just for the Teenage Cancer Trust and to share. with teenage cancer in America too, which was a nice share and someone suggested that we do an instrumental version, a new instrumental version of Going Home from the Local Hero soundtrack that we used to use to end the set and um. and then it got bigger and bigger and bigger and I don't know, I'm not sure how it happened, but I think Mike Reed might have had something to do with it, there were definitely some mischievous people behind it all, but look at these names and listen to the music, I mean, you're in the middle, but surrounded by all these glamorous attendees, everyone was fantastic, everyone who played was ridiculously good and, uh, there was one after another and I walked in. and Bruce Springstein would have sent in an article from the state, you know, and he would be there, where everyone would be involved.

Began. Pete Townson walked in the door because with teen cancer and teen cancer, you know, obviously, Rog's adultery has passed his life is involved in it and Pete's been involved in it too, so he came with a guitar and a amplifier and it started when Pete Townzen plays chords in your song, you know, they stay played and he is one of my favorite guitarists and then it was I think the next day Eric Clapton came and then David Gilmore was there and everyone had played the song beautifully one after another another one and I said to the guy, you know, because the guy is a trained recording engineer, so I mean, he's a guy. you work yeah Fletcher guy sorry yeah I had Strait D Fletcher guy so we go back 40 something years working together.

Gas and I said gas because that's why I call it gas. I said gas. This thing will be 20 million long if we're not careful um and you can edit it and you know, can you keep Ed? Can you and him, and bless him, you know he's a great editor and he kept working on it and maybe he had to. I had to duplicate some verses, but he did some great editing and we managed to fit it in, I think we all did, and there were some inspired interpretations from the crowd and even from Joe Brown, who, you know, I remember seeing outside Newcastle.

I remember seeing him at Newcastle Town Hall when I was a little kid and I was getting into rock and roll and Joe played a beautiful mandolin section on the tune, you know, and he's still exactly the same and it's so amazing that Joe no CH I. I think music just keeps you young, yeah yeah, it's interesting that you mentioned D directly, obviously he's a big part of your story and you guys still work together in different ways. Can I ask you the question that I know everyone asks you all the time? Is there any possibility? that they would perform together as D trits again, I don't think so, just because there are several reasons, one of them is that I built my own studio, which I really love to be in and I haven't.

I had a bad day there and it gave me the opportunity to try hard. I'm referring to this last album. I've done too many songs and I asked the management about it and they said: well, it's good, it's good to have These I mean, if you wanted one last, even just one last show, one last concert, people would pay a fortune, They would queue across the country to get in, they wouldn't be tempted, although they might be able to get you a job somewhere. I doubt he will accept 10. % come on, let's do it seriously, although you don't know, we would be useless no, I don't think so um no, it's always been like that.

I've always loved it. I love D Straits and I love doing all that, but what I wanted. What I had to do was just branch out and work with different musicians and have a bigger lineup, you know, the last time I had the band and that's the highlight for me and you have, yeah, I probably would have had about six or seven boys. you know, it would be bigger than a little four piece piece that was taken apart than when we had it and that was cool and I loved it. I had an absolute ball while it lasted until it got so big I don't know the names of all the Ries it was just getting big like a family uh it got so big we were actually skipping stages and that's what you get What to do when it reaches a certain scale, it's not the easiest thing, but the new album um, okay, we talked about going home and that's also going home in a way, isn't it?

Yeah, that's the thing about going home is like a circular moment, a circular moment for me, whose music has given me a lot, um. I should mention that Hank from the Shadows also appeared on the cancer album, the Teen Cancer album, and because he often came and joined us on stage when D rushed early because the Shadows recorded it too and that was always play, he's a great player, yeah, Ank is a great player, make no mistake about it and um, but yeah, well, everything's been wonderful, but yeah, what really happened to me recently is like four buses passing by the time and it wasn't like that.

I planned for the teen cancer record to happen with the album and then there was something else, Brian Johnson and I were playing around doing stuff on the movie and whatever else, so it's been busy, but it's good to be busy of course. It's thanks for letting us get on his busy bus, it's great to have you here, fantastic, thank you so much, whose new album, One Deep River, is out this Friday.