0:00:29 > 0:00:32CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:00:33 > 0:00:35Check it out!
0:00:35 > 0:00:38MUSIC PLAYS
0:00:38 > 0:00:43Silibil n' Brains, yo! Going out to all the rejects!
0:00:43 > 0:00:45Grab your helmets!
0:00:45 > 0:00:49RAPS: Before you bump it Nod your ahead to this
0:00:49 > 0:00:51Our illness is your medicine
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Pump it up till the speaker blows.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57Silibil, Brains - we both met in the same skate scenes,
0:00:57 > 0:01:01punk rock scenes and hip-hop scenes just back in the day.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05We basically started to join forces together and take over the planet.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09'They were really so far ahead of the game.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12'I've never seen anything like it. I thought they were going to be huge.'
0:01:12 > 0:01:15'Our travels have taken us to the UK, California, Asia -
0:01:15 > 0:01:17'all the places, really.
0:01:17 > 0:01:18'Ended up back in London,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21'did one show and there was record company people there,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24'they offered us a record deal and we needed money for booze'
0:01:24 > 0:01:26so we thought, "Take the deal, let the good times roll."
0:01:26 > 0:01:29RAPS: Always beamed out of this world Like space bees
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Make machine guns out of mics And blast you like the A-Team...
0:01:31 > 0:01:34It was like having two early Eminems
0:01:34 > 0:01:37and they're from America, that means they're amazing!
0:01:37 > 0:01:39RAPS: Typical low lives
0:01:39 > 0:01:41Crash in your pad And jack you with your own knife...
0:01:41 > 0:01:43'They were very young, they were dynamic.'
0:01:43 > 0:01:47My plan was to use the Sony system to take them to the world.
0:01:47 > 0:01:48RAPS: But I don't care I'm a master
0:01:48 > 0:01:51I'm like a plastic surgeon I'm always staring at breasts...
0:01:51 > 0:01:52I mean, I thought of the Beastie Boys.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54RAPS: ..I pulled my pubes through my nipples
0:01:54 > 0:01:56Put some hair on my chest...
0:02:06 > 0:02:08RAPS: Before you bump it Nod your ahead to this
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Inject these lethal flows...
0:02:10 > 0:02:11Ladies and gentlemen,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14please put your hands together for Silibil n' Brains.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16It seems that your music is going to be huge here in the UK
0:02:16 > 0:02:18- and in the US.- Let's hope.- Yes.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20'They had nothing but total and utter confidence
0:02:20 > 0:02:21'in everything that they were doing.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25'They were now with one of the biggest record labels in the world.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27'What would possibly stand in their way
0:02:27 > 0:02:29'and stop them from becoming huge?'
0:02:29 > 0:02:31So, where are you guys from?
0:02:31 > 0:02:33- Planet Zordon.- Really? I could tell.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35We were abducted by aliens when we were kids
0:02:35 > 0:02:37and been travelling around the solar system ever since then.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39But what about really?
0:02:54 > 0:02:56'I'm Gavin Bain, I'm not Brains McLoud,'
0:02:56 > 0:02:58I'm not American, I'm Scottish.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00I've never been in America.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04'You know, everyone lies, everyone is lying,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08'it's just what you're lying for.'
0:03:08 > 0:03:11'They had an idea to cheat the system.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15'The moment they woke up in the morning they had to be American -
0:03:15 > 0:03:18'and to girls they met, and to friends they made.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20'Greatest actors I've ever come across.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22'You know, and they're full-on Scots.'
0:03:22 > 0:03:25'We just created a monster.'
0:03:26 > 0:03:30There's so much lies about the lies, about the lies.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35Why can't you just tell the truth now? And that's what I want to do.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13I was 18 when I met Gav and within months we were making music.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27'We, kind of, brushed past each other at the front gate of Dundee College'
0:04:27 > 0:04:30'and he was just standing outside with headphones on.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33'I just thought, "That guy's, like, the epitome of cool."'
0:04:33 > 0:04:34He just made the most bizarre entrance.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36It was something like out of a film,
0:04:36 > 0:04:38when someone would fall into a classroom,
0:04:38 > 0:04:41like, "Oh, my God, sorry, I'm late." And everyone would be like, "Who the hell is this guy?"
0:04:42 > 0:04:44That's how...that was my first impression of Gav.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47The only seat that was available was next to Bill.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49I remember him, like, you know,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51looking at me and being like, "Oh, fuck," you know?
0:04:51 > 0:04:53I think he had a Tupac T-shirt on.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Straightaway I knew, "Oh, this guy must be into hip-hop."
0:04:56 > 0:04:59'We liked all the same rap groups, metal bands
0:04:59 > 0:05:03'and we liked all the same comedians, same comedy shows.'
0:05:03 > 0:05:04'From day one we were a comedy duo.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07'We were always together and we were always getting into trouble,
0:05:07 > 0:05:09'we were always having a laugh.'
0:05:09 > 0:05:12'It sounds like it was love at first sight.'
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Ha-ha-ha. I mean...
0:05:15 > 0:05:18..I don't know about "love" at first sight!
0:05:18 > 0:05:20'I felt like I'd known him all my life.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22'We were best friends, we were brothers.'
0:05:22 > 0:05:24It was a bromance!
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Yeah, he was a good-looking cat as well.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31'He just walked past girls and just, like, a look
0:05:31 > 0:05:33'and they would stop, and then he'd start talking to them.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35'I'd never seen that in my life.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38'It felt like he was always trying to press people's buttons.'
0:05:38 > 0:05:41You know, I'm, kind of, naturally a shy guy
0:05:41 > 0:05:44and he just exuded confidence.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Full of confidence, full of bullshit!
0:05:49 > 0:05:51'Alcoholic!'
0:05:51 > 0:05:53'What's up, girls?'
0:05:53 > 0:05:57'We met in the local nightclub in Arbroath.
0:05:57 > 0:05:58'I was still at school.'
0:06:00 > 0:06:02'How do you explain what charisma is?'
0:06:02 > 0:06:05He's like a light, I suppose, and people just come to him
0:06:05 > 0:06:08because he's fun, he's good to be around.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11I'm a realist, through and through
0:06:11 > 0:06:14and I think that's what Billy needs because otherwise he would be...
0:06:14 > 0:06:19He's like a balloon, you'd have to hold on to him to keep him steady!
0:06:19 > 0:06:22HE TALKS GIBBERISH
0:06:29 > 0:06:32'We were both really good at rapping.'
0:06:32 > 0:06:34Then we started thinking we should try and write our own songs.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36RAPS:
0:06:46 > 0:06:48We worked so well together.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51You know, that was enough to cement it in my head
0:06:51 > 0:06:54that this is a path, for sure.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56RAPS:
0:06:59 > 0:07:02I mean, from the first show, this hunger just came.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04Every chance we get we'd record songs,
0:07:04 > 0:07:06we'd write songs, we'd record them.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09We brought in Oskar. He's just a great friend of ours.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12We had great lyrics so we brought him into make up three of us.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15- RAPS:- Feel the strain and tension My brain's a weapon
0:07:15 > 0:07:18A mention of my name could inflame the tamest session
0:07:18 > 0:07:21A reclaimed possession The world's in my clutches
0:07:21 > 0:07:24I bring heat to the mic and burn any fuck who touches.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27So, that's, like, just one little verse.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31RAPS:
0:07:39 > 0:07:42Billy was the, sort of, entertainer and, kind of,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44hyping the crowd up, and Gav was, like, this evil genius
0:07:45 > 0:07:48behind the whole thing, and I just wanted to get my lyrics across.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50RAPS:
0:07:57 > 0:08:00Gavin was almost quite militant.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04He was the driving force behind everything that we did.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09Effectively forcing us to record and write music.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14He was completely and utterly in charge.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16'I got addicted to production.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18'I fell in love with beat machines
0:08:18 > 0:08:21'and just the technical side of it was really addictive to me.'
0:08:21 > 0:08:25We'd sit and read thesauruses, we'd read dictionaries,
0:08:25 > 0:08:27we built our word banks up.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30We were confident in our music, we were confident in our lyrics.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33At that time, we were naive enough to believe that
0:08:33 > 0:08:34that's what mattered in music,
0:08:34 > 0:08:38was the talent of the actual music itself,
0:08:38 > 0:08:43and the lyrics, and the writing. And, obviously, that wasn't the case.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49# Come gather in my long Scottish wind
0:08:50 > 0:08:55# Belt out your blackest poems as the sea around you sings
0:08:55 > 0:08:57# When that drone takes to the air
0:08:57 > 0:09:00# A single note to raise my hair
0:09:00 > 0:09:02# Carry songs beyond my lungs
0:09:02 > 0:09:05# Cold Scottish wind. #
0:09:05 > 0:09:08I grew up in Arbroath with dreams of leaving.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12It's the same as any small town anywhere in the world.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16It's the kind of town that you grow up to move away from.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Especially if you're creative. There's no creative scene.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25The idea was always to get in a band and move away.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33You know the story about us auditioning for the record label,
0:09:33 > 0:09:34down in London?
0:09:42 > 0:09:44This banner popped up on a website
0:09:44 > 0:09:46and it said, "Are you the next Eminem?"
0:09:46 > 0:09:49"Are you the next Eminem? Are you the next Usher?"
0:09:49 > 0:09:51At the time, in our heads, we were it.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58We took the 13-hour bus journey down and we were quite confident.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01We were like, "Yeah, we've got something really original."
0:10:01 > 0:10:03RAPS: In comes the one with the tongue sharp as thorns
0:10:03 > 0:10:06An art of scorn, my style's immaculately bastard born.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20'When we arrived at the audition
0:10:20 > 0:10:24'I realised we were drowning Eminems in a sea of Ushers
0:10:24 > 0:10:27'as everyone else was pimped out in this hip-hop gear.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30'So we stood out.'
0:10:36 > 0:10:39I was used to rapping in little pubs and clubs,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42nothing with that much importance or attention.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50And it was three A&Rs, but you would probably say judges now.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54You know, this was before X Factor.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56They looked up and they were, kind of, "Hmm."
0:10:56 > 0:10:59And as soon as we started saying, "Oh, we're B Production,"
0:10:59 > 0:11:02talking in a Scottish accent the vibe just changed horribly.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04They were, like, squinting their eyes, like, "Hmm."
0:11:04 > 0:11:07Looking at each other like...
0:11:07 > 0:11:09RAPS: Rappers having no fun are no-one
0:11:09 > 0:11:11They're probably coming out more overdone
0:11:11 > 0:11:12Posh spice and David Beckham's son...
0:11:12 > 0:11:15We could tell that they weren't taking us seriously.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18There was a couple of people we could see, kind of, laughing.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21We could see people smiling, but it wasn't a smile as in, "Wow, this is fantastic,"
0:11:21 > 0:11:23it was a smile as in, "What the hell is this?"
0:11:26 > 0:11:29We were like, "What's with the fucking laughter?!"
0:11:29 > 0:11:34One of them referred to us as the Rapping Proclaimers.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36It sounds like you're the Rapping Proclaimers.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42It was just horrifying to hear someone
0:11:42 > 0:11:45just destroy it in a second, all because of where we were from.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48This was completely alien to them.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53They're like, "Right, so, Scottish rap?" And we were like, "Yeah."
0:11:53 > 0:11:57And it was, they were just like, "No, no, that's not going to work."
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Didn't enjoy that 13-hour bus journey back.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08They were really cocky and I was just heartbroken.
0:12:08 > 0:12:09I couldn't even talk.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13It was just like an absolute journey from hell.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15We were really, really hurt.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Confidence was smashed. It was all doom and gloom.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23What are we going to do? We need to change our lives.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25We need to change everything we're doing.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30All we wanted to do was be the next big thing.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34As a group it was just, it felt like it was the end.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42For me and Gav, I think it made us stronger.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47It made us determined to prove the people wrong.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49A big part of me wanted revenge.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51I wanted to show these people,
0:12:51 > 0:12:56"How dare they tell me, after the hours I put in, how dare they say
0:12:56 > 0:12:57"that this isn't good?"
0:12:59 > 0:13:04He was so absolute hell bent on making it.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07And that's what we set out to do, so we wrote new tunes
0:13:07 > 0:13:10and we stepped up a gear. Everything was better.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14The lyrics were better, the music was better, our performance was better.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18We wanted to get some shows in London to prove these guys wrong.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21So we started phoning and we ended up saying,
0:13:21 > 0:13:25"Hi, we're rappers from Scotland, can you..." And it was like...hang up.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29So we tried again, "Hiya, we're a hip-hop group from Dundee..."
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Dooo! No-one was interested.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36"Oh, sorry, guys, it's not what we're looking for."
0:13:36 > 0:13:40We felt like we were back in the audition in London again.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43It was my turn to phone, and for a complete joke
0:13:43 > 0:13:49and to, sort of, pick our spirits up I spoke in an American accent.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52PHONE RINGING
0:13:52 > 0:13:54I just said, "Hey, we're from California,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58"we're coming to London to try and get a show," and people were like,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02"Oh, wow, can you send us any of your music?" And we were like...
0:14:02 > 0:14:04"What? Like, really?"
0:14:05 > 0:14:08So, we did it again, we tried and we were like, "Hi, we're from California
0:14:08 > 0:14:12"and we'd love to send you guys our demo." And, "Oh, yeah, send us it.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15"This is great, we're really interested."
0:14:15 > 0:14:17It, kind of, felt like...but...
0:14:17 > 0:14:22It's the same music, it's the same thing so why would you be interested?
0:14:22 > 0:14:25That was shocking. That was just like, OK, this has got nothing
0:14:25 > 0:14:29to do with how good we are, this has got nothing to do with talent.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33If you want to get on a label, then you just have to be marketable.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47With the whole rapping Proclaimers thing and people laughing at us
0:14:47 > 0:14:50still ringing in our ears, we knew we had to make a big change.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Gav turned to me and said,
0:14:55 > 0:14:58"I think I'm going to become American." So I sort of laughed
0:14:58 > 0:15:01and went, "Oh, yeah, OK." And he went...he went,
0:15:01 > 0:15:05"No, seriously, I think I'm going to move to London.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09I'm going to tell them that I'm an American rapper from California.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14We'll put these fake accents on, we'll go down,
0:15:14 > 0:15:15con the music world and then,
0:15:15 > 0:15:19"Pow!" Come clean on Jonathan Ross and, woo-hoo, we're heroes, you know?
0:15:20 > 0:15:24You can say that out loud, but it doesn't sound, you know, real.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29And I was like, "Listen, man, this is only going to work if you're American."
0:15:29 > 0:15:32You know, you can't turn up and say, "I'm Scottish.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37"Oh, by the way listen to me rap in this incredible thick Californian accent."
0:15:37 > 0:15:40He was like, "Yeah, you're right.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43"I'm just going to completely redesign myself."
0:15:45 > 0:15:50From that point forward, just started talking with an American accent
0:15:50 > 0:15:55and installing the idea deep into, like,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58his subconscious that he was American.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01You got the light I'm a pyrotechnic
0:16:01 > 0:16:05Damn it, I can't get from A to B Because I'm dyslexic.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08We were just the little guys that had a point to prove.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11We had, like, a nation to stand up for.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14The plan was to genuinely become superstars.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24It wasn't really something that I wanted to do, though.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29I felt like I wouldn't feel right about where I've come from
0:16:29 > 0:16:33and my family. There wouldn't be any integrity there for me.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36It would feel shallow and false.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40They say your works do no songs That are straight from the heart
0:16:40 > 0:16:42But I'd rather create a pack That didn't know where to start...
0:16:42 > 0:16:47Out of spite, we decided to develop these characters
0:16:47 > 0:16:50and that's when Silibil n' Brains were really born.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01We re-recorded our songs in American accents,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04we spoke to each other every minute of every day in American.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06We decided we had to be these characters now.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Silibil, Brains, we both met in the same skate scenes,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14punk rock scenes and hip-hop scenes just back in the day.
0:17:14 > 0:17:15- Two LMCs.- Yeah.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17'The back story had to be perfected.'
0:17:17 > 0:17:20We were from San Jacinto, in California.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24We got these layouts from off the net,
0:17:24 > 0:17:26downloads of the street names and stuff,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29so be started memorising areas that we could have went.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33And then our story just kind of grew from there.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38The accent had to be unquestionably American.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41We have to do our own stunts, which is
0:17:41 > 0:17:43probably why he won't see any skateboarding in our videos.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Oh!
0:17:46 > 0:17:47Silibil stuck with me.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50I think about syllables when I'm writing
0:17:50 > 0:17:52and, obviously, my name is Billy, so silly Bill, Silibil.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54It was just a play on words.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57Brains McLoud just felt like a comic book character
0:17:57 > 0:18:00and then you put Silibil and Brains together. It was like,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03you know, Pinky and the Brain. So it was like a comic book or cartoon.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07You know, villains and heroes, you know? Great double act.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09Like Itchy and Scratchy come to life.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Tom and Jerry, Beavis & Butthead. It was... It was easy.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20We looked like two extras from Jackass.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22American skating kids, that's what we looked like.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25We had baggy jeans, skate T-shirts.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30My character was like Jim Carrey mixed with the rapper Redman.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35Bit of Michael J Fox, David Schwimmer, but then I liked them
0:18:35 > 0:18:38as, like, my speaking voice and how I would speak to people.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Bill was like Chris Tucker and Chris Rock mixed with, like, ODB.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45So we were able to become characters that you'd see on TV.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47Dave!
0:18:47 > 0:18:50The problem was that we spent so much time on the accents
0:18:50 > 0:18:54and getting the look, and how we would act perfect,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57we didn't do any research into, like, American culture.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00What grade...what grade did we finish school in?
0:19:00 > 0:19:02What is a grade?
0:19:02 > 0:19:05All we knew was these kind of stereotypes
0:19:05 > 0:19:06that we'd seen on music videos
0:19:06 > 0:19:10and we were just perpetuating black rapper stereotypes.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12It was just constant,
0:19:12 > 0:19:17"perfect the character, perfect the character, perfect the character."
0:19:17 > 0:19:20We were talking in American, but to girlfriends and stuff,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23we were having sex with an American accent.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Definitely, my girlfriend at the time thought that was weird.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Masturbating in an American accent.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31The only way we were not going to get caught
0:19:32 > 0:19:35was if we could really believe in these characters.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37Like any actor taking on a role, that's what we did.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40This was going to be the biggest role we'd ever play.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49On the bus to London, it kind of started to slowly sink in.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Like, "Holy shit, we're doing this!"
0:19:56 > 0:19:58OK, so what's it going to really take?
0:20:00 > 0:20:03OK, so we need to get in the door. We need to cause a buzz.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07How can we get into this group of people that run the music industry?
0:20:07 > 0:20:10How can we convince them that we're other people?
0:20:10 > 0:20:14We are demons that are here to take over this industry.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19I just couldn't understand how they could think
0:20:19 > 0:20:21that they could carry it off.
0:20:21 > 0:20:22You can't live a lie.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27I'd just moved to a little studio flat,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30which was pretty much just a living room. It was tiny.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Having, you know, just one person in that place was just crowded
0:20:34 > 0:20:36and then having the two boys...
0:20:37 > 0:20:39..it didn't really work, but I put up with it
0:20:39 > 0:20:42because I had to for my brother.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55We had £360 between us, £250 between us.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Bill's last wage, my dole cheque.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02I had absolutely nothing at that point. I was in £6,000 debt as well.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06They had a focus and they had a mission. That was it.
0:21:06 > 0:21:07They went and did it.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10PHONE RINGS
0:21:10 > 0:21:12One person actually offered us a show and said,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15"If you guys want to play, we've got a slot."
0:21:24 > 0:21:26Guys, girls, everyone just getting naked, changing.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29No-one cares, they're so focused on, "I've got to be this pop act,
0:21:29 > 0:21:31"got to get this record deal tonight, you know?"
0:21:31 > 0:21:35And we were just, like, laughing and like, staring at tits!
0:21:38 > 0:21:41We were just there to kind of blow everyone away.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44Just before we went on, there was four guys, R&B group,
0:21:44 > 0:21:46you know, singing harmonies.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50We walked out on stage and the crowd were looking at us.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56We said, "Hey, we're Silibil n' Brains, we're from California, let's go!"
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Oh, oh, oh, look who's coming through
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Best get out the way This is Tongue Kung Fu
0:22:01 > 0:22:04We just grew We punched through
0:22:04 > 0:22:07All we hit is bricks and beer And touch fools.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09From the moment we said, "We're from California," that was it.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12We had the crowd. And we really had the crowd.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Already a force in the burglary
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Cos I take it too far Like Michael Jackson in surgery...
0:22:17 > 0:22:21We came to the bit where we paused in between a song and I went,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24"It's a shame your mum isn't here tonight cos she's so...blah, blah."
0:22:35 > 0:22:37It was like we were battling each other
0:22:37 > 0:22:39and the crowd were going crazy, everybody was loving it
0:22:39 > 0:22:42because, to them, we were just making this up on the spot.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02When we came off stage, we were just completely high, buzzing,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05"Oh, my God, you know, oh, wow, that was great!" You know?
0:23:05 > 0:23:09We'd taken three steps off the side of the stage...
0:23:09 > 0:23:10And someone stopped us.
0:23:12 > 0:23:13You know, and he was like,
0:23:13 > 0:23:18"Yo!" He was like dressed all gangsta, like, you know, A&R.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20Huge guy, London accent and he said,
0:23:20 > 0:23:22"Oh, my God, you guys are amazing.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25"Where are you from?" And without thinking we just went,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28"Oh, we're from California."
0:23:28 > 0:23:29It felt like the room froze.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33It felt like the world stopped and we were able to think... "What did...?
0:23:33 > 0:23:35"Did we just say that?"
0:23:41 > 0:23:45That was the defining moment. There was no turning back.
0:23:48 > 0:23:49And he gave us his business card
0:23:49 > 0:23:51and it was Chris Rock from Island Records.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55If you meet someone who's into hip-hop, you know straightaway.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59I have a massive collection of trainers, I buy vinyl records,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02I listen to music all the time, I wear these crazy glasses
0:24:02 > 0:24:04and every one thinks, "My, God, what are they?"
0:24:04 > 0:24:06And that's the hip-hop culture.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Authenticity within hip-hop is pretty much that.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12You've got to live and breathe it. Silibil n' Brains were hip-hop.
0:24:13 > 0:24:14It was hilarious.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17They had clever enough lyrics and flow
0:24:17 > 0:24:20to actually impress people like me.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22It was, "I love you guys, I absolutely love it.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24"I want to make it happen." He wrote down a list of names
0:24:24 > 0:24:26and said, "I want you to check these guys out.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29"Tell them Chris Rock from Island Records has seen you guys
0:24:29 > 0:24:32and wants to sign you guys." He goes, "I just need someone
0:24:32 > 0:24:34"to represent you guys as management."
0:24:34 > 0:24:36I'd made an industry contact.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40First show in London, first trip as Silibil n' Brains.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43Same songs as what we had in Scottish.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46We were just like, "This is going to work," you know?
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Our confidence just ballooned at that point.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00I guess it's luck. I mean, it's luck but we made that luck happen,
0:25:00 > 0:25:02you know? We made our own luck.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11We worked out, like, a method.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13We would say, "OK, so, don't ever talk over each other.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16"One of us is to cover, one leads."
0:25:16 > 0:25:19If I'm leading, Bill will sit there listening to every single thing
0:25:19 > 0:25:21this guy's saying back and figuring where he's going with it.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25So, I'm not thinking about what... I'm just trying to get his head
0:25:25 > 0:25:27away from asking us about our story, our past.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29Because we weren't ready for that yet.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35Just worked on staying in character all the time.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37My sister must've thought we were crazy because we always spoke
0:25:38 > 0:25:39in an American accent with her as well.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44- Oh, my God...- Fucking A, man! Fucking A! That guy rocks, man.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47I'll tell you that. That guy rocks.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50They didn't want to get out of their personas
0:25:50 > 0:25:54out of their acting, in case it would slip back into,
0:25:54 > 0:25:56kind of, a bit of a Scottish
0:25:56 > 0:25:59and they couldn't let the twang get in there.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02They had honed it so well...
0:26:03 > 0:26:07They sounded like they were born in America, raised in America.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12It was like a little bit of a dream...
0:26:12 > 0:26:14but I was always worried that he would just get
0:26:14 > 0:26:18so deep into it that he wouldn't know who he was really
0:26:18 > 0:26:20because they do have that in them, both of them.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25They get so involved and so deep into what they're doing that they...
0:26:25 > 0:26:30they don't know the line between reality and, you know, the acting.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41We felt Americans were slightly cockier and slightly louder
0:26:41 > 0:26:43so our characters became that.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50Jonathan Shalit was, and still is,
0:26:50 > 0:26:54one of the most powerful managers in the music business.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58With managers, it's to do with
0:26:58 > 0:27:01not what you know most of the time, it's who you know.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Ultimately I'm looking for that X factor
0:27:04 > 0:27:09and you can't quantify what that hidden gem of that person is.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12It's just something that jumps out at you. It could be...
0:27:12 > 0:27:14It could be anything.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17You can't quantify what is going to make someone succeed.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19They've got a degree of magic about them.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24What I remember is two dynamic young people with a massive amount
0:27:24 > 0:27:27of energy bounding into the office like young puppies.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31RAPS: Yo, me and Sili been having this drinking contest
0:27:31 > 0:27:34Six months later and my head is full of cobwebs...
0:27:34 > 0:27:37He didn't get it. He knew he didn't need to get it.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40He knew that if JD gave him the nod, then that was cool.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46The moment we walked into Jonathan Shalit's office, they were on us.
0:27:46 > 0:27:49They couldn't believe their luck in stumbling across these two
0:27:49 > 0:27:51crazy Americans who were just wild.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54I think he's seen us as a package,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57which was perfect cos that's what we wanted to be.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59We didn't just want to be two rappers making music,
0:28:00 > 0:28:01we wanted to venture off into film.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05We wanted to have our own TV shows, we wanted to be everywhere.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07My plan was to first of all get the record deal.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10No-one else was doing what they were doing at that time.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14It seemed, to us, people who could electrify British clubs,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17nightclubs and radio stations up and down the country.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20I said, like, "Jonathan, we're not getting out of bed
0:28:20 > 0:28:22"for anything less than 65,000."
0:28:23 > 0:28:27He was like, "All right, cool. OK, 70."
0:28:27 > 0:28:31I'm, like, looking at Bill like, "Fuck." You know, 70 grand!
0:28:41 > 0:28:45It was all happening faster than our emotions could catch up.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02They'd just come back from America and they had no money
0:29:02 > 0:29:04so we gave them financial advances.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07They put us up in a house in London,
0:29:07 > 0:29:10we got money every month in our bank account,
0:29:10 > 0:29:12all studio costs were paid for.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14We paid for them to have a place to rehearse,
0:29:15 > 0:29:18we paid people to be in a band for them, we paid for instruments.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20Basically, financially supported them completely
0:29:20 > 0:29:25so they could concentrate without worrying on developing their music.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27'Did you have any qualms about taking his money?'
0:29:32 > 0:29:33No.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38- No. - LAUGHS
0:29:38 > 0:29:41First goal achieved, we're making music, were getting paid
0:29:41 > 0:29:45to do fuck all but make music. You know, that's the life.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48And now all we needed Jonathan to do was to go back to Island Records,
0:29:48 > 0:29:50sign the deal and we had a record deal.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53But Jonathan had other ideas.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59He knew that if there was interest from Island, there would be
0:29:59 > 0:30:03interest elsewhere, so he began to pimp us to the other labels.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05Just creating this insane buzz.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07I think Chris Rock was probably a little bit pissed off
0:30:07 > 0:30:10because they thought it was just going to happen.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12Essentially, your manager is looking for the best deal.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15Everyone is trying to get in because you know,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18as a management company, you're going to get your little 20%
0:30:18 > 0:30:21which, if they sell millions of records is a large amount of money.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25So, all the time, there is a lot of back-stabbing, cut-throating.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28A lot of talking, people whispering in people's ears,
0:30:28 > 0:30:29that's the music business.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33What you do is you book a rehearsal room with a light and sound system
0:30:33 > 0:30:35and you create a mini stage,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38and then invite the record label down for a private performance.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49It's a very cold environment because there's no cheering
0:30:49 > 0:30:51and clapping, and whooping, like in a concert,
0:30:51 > 0:30:53so it's very hard for the act to be dynamic
0:30:53 > 0:30:55because they've got to perform to nothing.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58They perform to no reaction apart from a...
0:31:00 > 0:31:03THEY RAP
0:31:05 > 0:31:08Sony were really the front runners, Sony US.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11Senior members of Sony flew in specially for the them
0:31:11 > 0:31:12when they heard the music.
0:31:13 > 0:31:14We did a little showcase for them.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16THEY RAP
0:31:19 > 0:31:23APPLAUSE
0:31:39 > 0:31:43He was just full of questions, like, "Why are you over here?"
0:31:43 > 0:31:46You know, like, "When are your visas going to run out?"
0:31:46 > 0:31:49And stuff like that, you know, "Why aren't you doing this back home?"
0:31:49 > 0:31:51"Let's go." You know, he was really into it
0:31:51 > 0:31:53and it seems like he really wanted to make it happen.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15We were just really worried that, you know,
0:32:16 > 0:32:18how do we go back to America? How do we get into America now?
0:32:19 > 0:32:21We'd be found out as soon as we got to Customs
0:32:21 > 0:32:24and we don't have American passports.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26So we thought that was too tricky,
0:32:26 > 0:32:29so I think Bill made up something on the phone to Shalit about,
0:32:29 > 0:32:32"No, we can't work with that guy," like, "He came on to me."
0:32:34 > 0:32:36Yeah, we just sabotaged that one.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38So now we're turning down record deals.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44That just kind of kick-started the Sony UK deal happening,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47so if the US weren't going to have this, Sony still wanted it.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50They loved the music we had, they were going to pay for us
0:32:50 > 0:32:54to go back into the studio, work with different producers
0:32:54 > 0:32:56and get our first single, get it ready,
0:32:56 > 0:32:57get it printed up and get it out.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04We believed, if we got found out,
0:33:04 > 0:33:06that we'd have to pay all the money back.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09Well, obviously, we couldn't take it to a lawyer and say,
0:33:09 > 0:33:10"This is what we're doing."
0:33:10 > 0:33:14We didn't know if it was, you know, if we'd go to jail for fraud.
0:33:19 > 0:33:25Friday 13 April, 2004, we signed to Sony.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Two singles and an album, essentially.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34So that's, like, I think, 50 grand and then,
0:33:34 > 0:33:36when the album's ready, 100,000.
0:33:47 > 0:33:48You don't think, like, it's going to work.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50You know deep down you've got the talent
0:33:50 > 0:33:53and you've got the drive to do it, but you can't imagine that
0:33:53 > 0:33:57things are just going to, bam, bam, bam, then go, and go.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01It got real at that point. It got really real.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07People over the world...
0:34:07 > 0:34:09Every minute of every day,
0:34:09 > 0:34:13are dreaming of signing a major record deal with their music and...
0:34:13 > 0:34:14We'd just done that.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18We never really got into the music for the glitz and the glam,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21and all that fame and celebrity stuff.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23For us, it's always been about keeping it real
0:34:23 > 0:34:25and just having a good time,
0:34:25 > 0:34:27travelling around with friends, rocking out venues,
0:34:27 > 0:34:31- skating around the world and... - Groupies.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33No, I mean, seriously, we're down-to-earth guys,
0:34:33 > 0:34:36we like to stay grounded, keeping it real
0:34:36 > 0:34:38and all that kind of stuff...
0:34:39 > 0:34:41- What is this?- It's champagne!
0:34:41 > 0:34:43It's not Cristal? Get it out of here!
0:34:43 > 0:34:48- Sorry.- Stop breathing on me, you're giving me a chill in my neck. Jesus!
0:35:03 > 0:35:06The next stage was just pure fun for us.
0:35:06 > 0:35:07It was incredible, every morning,
0:35:07 > 0:35:10waking up, hitting the studio, making tracks.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12That, for me, is incredible.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15After the studio, we'd go to an event, get drunk, get wasted,
0:35:16 > 0:35:19go back to the studio, in the morning, start again.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23It was a marketeer's wet dream.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25I just couldn't see how it would fail.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28The key aim was, it sounds silly,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30but really, was to take over the world.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34It was infectious and you did kind of get wrapped up in it yourself.
0:35:39 > 0:35:41And it's very easy after spending time with them
0:35:41 > 0:35:44to think "we could do this, we could take over the world."
0:35:44 > 0:35:46We will be the biggest band.
0:35:53 > 0:35:55We gave people too much to think about.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58We needed them not to ask certain questions, so...
0:35:58 > 0:36:00If the conversation ever got into anything serious,
0:36:00 > 0:36:02we'd throw the head on tangents.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04So, yes, it was always manic.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09Going to celebrity parties, going to gigs, VIP at shows,
0:36:09 > 0:36:12we were almost living as these superstar celebrities,
0:36:12 > 0:36:14but without having that success behind us.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23We started just enjoying stuff far too much, you know,
0:36:23 > 0:36:27a couple of 21/22-year-olds just having the time of our lives, you know?
0:36:29 > 0:36:31Silibil n' Brains like to drink and like to party,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34so I think most of the money I gave them went down their throats.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40Young single guys living in London, a bit of money in their pockets,
0:36:40 > 0:36:41they had a lot of fun.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52'I was thinking to myself, fuck, this Brains character is really working.'
0:36:55 > 0:36:57Fell in love with being Brains.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Got me a shit-load of money, that clearly
0:37:00 > 0:37:05I wasn't able to get. He got me the attraction from all sorts of women.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07Now it was just women all over us
0:37:07 > 0:37:09and some of my girlfriends have been some of the hottest people
0:37:09 > 0:37:11I have ever seen in my life.
0:37:12 > 0:37:14Gav could never have done any of that.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17But they weren't even there for Brains.
0:37:17 > 0:37:21They were there for the hope of being around someone who was famous
0:37:21 > 0:37:22and maybe they'd get famous.
0:37:33 > 0:37:35Difficult being apart.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37Difficult wondering what he was up to.
0:37:37 > 0:37:43Difficult knowing that he wanted this fame and I didn't.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48It wasn't till I went down to London and he said to me,
0:37:48 > 0:37:51"You do know I'm going to have to speak American to everybody?"
0:37:51 > 0:37:54I was like, "Oh, OK."
0:37:54 > 0:37:57That's when I think it dawned, when I was actually there,
0:37:57 > 0:38:00cos till then it was kind of a bit of a...fantasy world
0:38:00 > 0:38:02that I was going to be part of.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04He would obviously not speak American to me
0:38:04 > 0:38:06when we were on our own.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15What was that like, going out with him?
0:38:15 > 0:38:17Mortifying.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19Embarrassing.
0:38:19 > 0:38:22I am, like, the most honest, straight,
0:38:22 > 0:38:24up and down the line person.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27At that point, we had been together quite a long time anyway,
0:38:27 > 0:38:32so he knew that, and I often asked myself, "Where is this going?"
0:38:33 > 0:38:36I never thought Billy didn't love me.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38I just always wondered if...
0:38:38 > 0:38:40The music was more important.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51They lived round the corner.
0:38:51 > 0:38:52After my band split up
0:38:52 > 0:38:54I didn't really go out much actually,
0:38:54 > 0:38:57I was sort of just locked up in my, you know, house.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00And people would come round. And they came round.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06They played me a DVD of their band.
0:39:07 > 0:39:11Tired of waking up in the morning, next to some old lady thinking
0:39:11 > 0:39:15"where did these handcuffs come from? Why am I in leather hot pants, huh?"
0:39:15 > 0:39:17- Watch your ankle. - Yeah, it's a sore one.- It's weaker.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23When Busted was quite influential, we had millions of fans.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26People were losing their minds.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30Like a chemical reaction, that once it happens, you can't reverse it.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35Seeing my own band go from, you know, nothing,
0:39:35 > 0:39:37to the success that we achieved,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41I really believed that they had a chance to be really big.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44It was just very obvious to me.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46I sort of became a fan, actually.
0:39:46 > 0:39:47Here I am.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Part of the appeal and the fun. They had a video camera.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56They were always making little movies of themselves.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00This was in the early days of kind of all the modern technology.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05Their ideas were so, like, foreign.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07And these guys were out...
0:40:07 > 0:40:10shooting their own stuff, like, running around London.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13making skits, editing them, putting on their website.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15No-one else was doing stuff like that.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18- First day of the tour. - We got here.- We arrived.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22'Now all bands have a YouTube channel, they have content,
0:40:22 > 0:40:23'an on-the-road diary.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26'Everyone has to do it, it's part of your marketing campaign.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29'You know, what became bread and butter for the industry,
0:40:29 > 0:40:31'they were, kind of, out there doing themselves.'
0:40:33 > 0:40:35I didn't get the high score. That sucks!
0:40:35 > 0:40:38A lot of what is de rigueur and a lot of what I do every day
0:40:38 > 0:40:41I did for the first time with Silibil n' Brains.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45We just had this huge team of people
0:40:45 > 0:40:48that were dealing with everything that we wanted to do.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52Talking ourselves up and spreading rumours about ourselves,
0:40:52 > 0:40:55and just trying to build the brand of Silibil n' Brains.
0:40:55 > 0:40:56CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:40:56 > 0:41:01Put your hands up! Put your hands up! Put your hands up! Put your hands up!
0:41:01 > 0:41:04Put your hands up! Put your hands UP!
0:41:24 > 0:41:27'You could see that Gavin was the brains behind everything,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30'not to take anything away from Billy
0:41:30 > 0:41:35but Gavin ate, slept, drank, breathed everything about the band.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37He didn't stop for one minute.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40I would lose myself in finding out about production
0:41:40 > 0:41:44and all that beautiful stuff whereas Bill just worked on it,
0:41:44 > 0:41:48like, his rhymes and the entertainment side of it.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52'He was probably more interested in it for the fact that it would get us fame.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56'It's a road for us to just have just great times all the time.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58'You know, have the fun of famous people.'
0:42:10 > 0:42:12I was on a table at the front of the Brits.
0:42:12 > 0:42:16I was there with Jonathan Shalit Jamelia, and a few other people,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19and I'd joked about Billy in the day
0:42:19 > 0:42:22because he's asked me if I could get him in and I said,
0:42:22 > 0:42:24"Look, I'm really sorry, I don't have a ticket.
0:42:24 > 0:42:25"They're £1,000 each."
0:42:25 > 0:42:27"See if you can get in yourself." And that was it.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30We blagged our way into a lot of things
0:42:30 > 0:42:34but Gavin didn't feel confident we could blag our way into the BRIT Awards so he refused to go with me.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36And I see that almost as a challenge.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45I said I was the Jamelia stylist.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49- PHONE BEEPING - At some point during the night I got a text from Billy.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01I went out to the bar and there he was backstage,
0:43:01 > 0:43:03just hanging out with all the bands.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07For Billy to have bluffed his way past all the security guards,
0:43:07 > 0:43:08right to the centre, was genius.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13I mean, I was drinking shots after shots at the bar with Green Day
0:43:13 > 0:43:17talking about punk music, talking about skating,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20talking about California - as a Scottish guy -
0:43:20 > 0:43:22and no-one questioned it.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25Daniel Bedingfield was someone I spent a lot of time with backstage
0:43:25 > 0:43:28because, like, we were just drinking and we just got on really well,
0:43:28 > 0:43:29and had a laugh.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34Someone had said, "Have you met Silibil, he's from California, he's a rapper?"
0:43:34 > 0:43:37He was sitting there and he went, "Are you from California?", and I was like, "Yeah."
0:43:37 > 0:43:40And he said, "I thought you were Scottish."
0:43:40 > 0:43:42And when he said that, like, there was a split second
0:43:42 > 0:43:46when my heart stopped and everything just disappeared, and I just thought,
0:43:46 > 0:43:49"Have I just been speaking Scottish? Have I not...? Did I tell him...?"
0:43:49 > 0:43:51Cos I'd been drinking quite a lot and I was thinking,
0:43:51 > 0:43:54"Maybe for the last half an hour I've just been speaking Scottish."
0:43:54 > 0:43:57And there was just this panic where, "How do I get out of this?"
0:43:57 > 0:44:00In an instant I just congratulated him and I said,
0:44:00 > 0:44:01"Oh, thanks so much." I said,
0:44:01 > 0:44:04"I've been living in California for years and been travelling around,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08"and that's why I've got a strange accent. A lot of people think I'm Canadian."
0:44:11 > 0:44:14'I never seen Gav again until the next morning.'
0:44:14 > 0:44:16ROCK MUSIC PLAYING
0:44:19 > 0:44:22'I think Gav was quite angry at the fact that I'd done it
0:44:22 > 0:44:25'and I don't know if he was angry because I'd gone to the BRIT Awards and he hadn't done
0:44:25 > 0:44:28or because I'd, in front of our friends almost,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31I'd, sort of, shown him, "Yeah, we can do it."
0:44:33 > 0:44:35I had an incredible night.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39Absolutely one of the most memorable nights I think I had in London.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44To see him standing there chatting away with Kelly Osbourne.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47You know, in his suit with his, kind of, blonde hair
0:44:47 > 0:44:48going this way and that way.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50It was like, yeah, it was like...
0:44:50 > 0:44:55You are one of them and that's why you do deserve to succeed.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02I suppose part of me was jealous.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04What you don't see you're worried about, aren't you?
0:45:04 > 0:45:08When he's not answering his phone cos he's at the BRIT Awards you're thinking,
0:45:08 > 0:45:10"Where the hell are you? Why are you not picking up?"
0:45:10 > 0:45:13He phones later and he's like, "Sorry, I was at the BRIT Awards and..."
0:45:13 > 0:45:15"What do you mean, you at the BRIT awards?!"
0:45:17 > 0:45:19Our lives are like polar opposites
0:45:19 > 0:45:22and can something like that actually work?
0:45:28 > 0:45:31I'd been out of touch with Gav for over a year, actually.
0:45:31 > 0:45:33I hadn't spoken to him.
0:45:33 > 0:45:34Rang him out of the blue
0:45:34 > 0:45:38and he'd been speaking with an American accent so much
0:45:38 > 0:45:43that it was almost impossible for him to talk to me in a Scottish accent.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46That's when he started to tell me that they'd been signed
0:45:46 > 0:45:49and that they had this massive, like, publishing deal.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54There was a studio in Brixton that they were recording at free of charge, whenever they wanted,
0:45:54 > 0:45:59and I was just, like, "Fuck, this is insane!"
0:45:59 > 0:46:04So I ended up going down to visit them and it was just a completely surreal situation.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06Hey, no interview.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23The thing that was most shocking
0:46:23 > 0:46:26was that they'd completely fooled all these people.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29They were convinced that they were American.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40A massive part of the hip-hop industry is how credible you are.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43You know, they talk about people being real
0:46:43 > 0:46:46and people being fake, and they were genuinely fake.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05Everybody was giving them tons and tons of respect.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08Just being really sycophantic
0:47:08 > 0:47:12and they were running off to the shops for them.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15Gav and Billy are making all these demands.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17I did not fucking ask for blue ones!
0:47:17 > 0:47:20CLATTERING
0:47:20 > 0:47:24One of the things which was kind of odd, that I remember
0:47:24 > 0:47:28so vividly about the studio, like, they had this really,
0:47:28 > 0:47:31really pristine laminate flooring
0:47:32 > 0:47:36and I just remember thinking back to all the scenarios that we'd
0:47:36 > 0:47:40been in when we tried to record and we have these, sort of,
0:47:40 > 0:47:43really shitty, kind of, carpets.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47Although it sounds really silly, even just not standing
0:47:47 > 0:47:52on a shitty carpet, for me, was quite a big step up for them.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59They'd changed completely, personality wise.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02They'd amplified it so much
0:48:02 > 0:48:06and so over-exaggerated everything that they were doing to the point
0:48:06 > 0:48:10where it was actually quite hard work sometimes to hang out with them.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13HE SINGS IN A HIGH-PITCHED VOICE
0:48:13 > 0:48:15PEOPLE LAUGHING
0:48:18 > 0:48:21We're just drinking! We're just drinking!
0:48:21 > 0:48:23What's wrong with gays? That's what I say.
0:48:24 > 0:48:27'We didn't care who was watching us, we didn't care who'd seen us.'
0:48:27 > 0:48:30We were the most loudest, obnoxious people you could probably ever meet in London
0:48:30 > 0:48:32and, literally, we felt invincible.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36We had to be very careful who we brought into our circle of lies.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39Maybe four or five people really knew.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41Everyone who came in had to lie our lie.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46At this point, London wasn't here.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49It was just our little bubble of friendship.
0:48:53 > 0:48:54GLASS SMASHING
0:48:54 > 0:48:55THEY ALL LAUGH
0:49:01 > 0:49:05'The characters, they had a licence to do whatever they wanted to do.'
0:49:06 > 0:49:08Inside, we kind of knew that it was fine,
0:49:08 > 0:49:10we could get away with it because we were just these wild guys.
0:49:11 > 0:49:12That's what everyone expects.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15And it became that. It became people expected it.
0:49:15 > 0:49:17Come here. Come here.
0:49:17 > 0:49:19I need a piss.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43There was always a notion in the back of my head
0:49:43 > 0:49:47that I, kind of, felt like it would all just unravel.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12That was the kind of routine, really.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16Every night would end with, like, a massive fight. We were just stupid.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34When you're playing characters 24/7, you start to become them.
0:50:38 > 0:50:39You know, my mum would call me on the phone.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42I'd, like, miss the call and not be able to speak to her.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44We didn't want to break character.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49After a while it really...really grates at you.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54- Did you get the beer? - Yeah, I got one, dude.
0:50:54 > 0:50:55Stella?!
0:50:55 > 0:50:58Dude, you know what happens when we drink Stella.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Before long you've went, like, 18 days again, on the trot
0:51:01 > 0:51:04drinking and you're completely hung over every day,
0:51:04 > 0:51:06and you're putting on weight, and you feel like crap.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12'It's just so easy, you know?'
0:51:19 > 0:51:22And the time is 5.54.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25I don't know what the fuck is going on. Am I fucking time travelling?
0:51:25 > 0:51:27Am I fucking living the dream? Am I fucking already dead?
0:51:27 > 0:51:29Am I frozen? What the fuck?
0:51:30 > 0:51:35I guess I'm just here... Me and, just me and my drink.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39The tour manager's still sleeping. Everybody's sleeping. (Not me!)
0:51:39 > 0:51:42I'm a fucking mess. Maybe I should sleep? That's the fucking problem.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44I should sleep more instead of drinking and staying up.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52We're lying 24/7. You go home at 12 o'clock at night, you're not going to sleep, are you?
0:51:52 > 0:51:55The whole day is going to run through, "What did I say today?"
0:51:55 > 0:51:58But I'm just worried, worried, worried, worried.
0:52:00 > 0:52:05Gav started to have a lot of psychological problems.
0:52:07 > 0:52:12He has quite powerful hallucinations when he goes to sleep
0:52:12 > 0:52:16where he experiences terrifying, vivid nightmares.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21I see a demon in my sleep. The "night crusher".
0:52:21 > 0:52:24It's like an incubus, a demon that you see in the corner of the room.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27You freeze, you can't move, you try screaming, you can't,
0:52:27 > 0:52:31and you feel the incubus, the demon, is squeezing your neck.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41We completely had forgot, at one point, that we were Scottish.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43To the point that I created such a good lie
0:52:43 > 0:52:46where I could actually see where I'd been.
0:52:46 > 0:52:48You know, see where I'd lived in my head.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52So I was definitely going a little cuckoo.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57It's just really hard to remember what your plan is.
0:52:59 > 0:53:00CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:53:00 > 0:53:03Please, put your hands together for Silibil n' Brains!
0:53:03 > 0:53:07CHEERING AND APPLAUSE What's up? What's up? What's up?
0:53:07 > 0:53:11- Shut up!- Thanks for coming on, guys. - You guys are great.- Shut up!- OK, OK.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15- Boys, you are spanking new music. - Spanking.- New.
0:53:15 > 0:53:17How would you describe your sound?
0:53:17 > 0:53:19- Spanking!- Spankingly new!
0:53:19 > 0:53:21Spankingly new.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23Comedy, humour, excellent.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25Well, you did a performance for us,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27to try and drag this back from the edge of despair,
0:53:28 > 0:53:30Your Mums, is what it was called.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33- Well, it wasn't called My Mums. - Just Your Mums.- Your Mums.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36- Mums in general.- Don't bring my mum into! Not on my own show!- Oh, OK.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39Let's take a look at it. It's very entertaining.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41RAPS: That's your mums
0:53:41 > 0:53:44I was in luck when she didn't know that she is my fantasy
0:53:44 > 0:53:46That's your mums
0:53:46 > 0:53:50I gots to have her She's all I wanted, she's all I need
0:53:50 > 0:53:51That's your mums...
0:53:51 > 0:53:55'We got invited to be part of 2004's, like, the next big thing.
0:53:56 > 0:53:57MTV's brand-new music.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00- RAPS:- She takes pills but you can't cure ugly...
0:54:00 > 0:54:05'Other acts that were with us were Kasabian, Bloc Party,
0:54:05 > 0:54:06'Natasha Bedingfield.'
0:54:06 > 0:54:08There was bands that just absolutely blew up
0:54:08 > 0:54:11and, obviously, we thought we were all going to be in the same boat.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13We all thought we were all going together.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15So, is that's what we going to hear most of the album?
0:54:15 > 0:54:17Mostly material that is taken from...
0:54:17 > 0:54:21No, the rest of the stuff's all love songs and boring music.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26'Dave is trying to ask us stuff and we're just throwing him curveballs.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28'We're swerving his questions, you know?
0:54:28 > 0:54:30'We're getting out what we want out of the interview.'
0:54:30 > 0:54:32- Right, you drop it.- Check it.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34- RAPS:- They say violence sells Well, how about this?
0:54:34 > 0:54:38I'll smack myself in the face with a porcupine wrapped around my fist
0:54:38 > 0:54:41- I throw a grenade in the toilet As he sat down on it.- What?
0:54:41 > 0:54:43It's not over till the fat lady sings
0:54:43 > 0:54:45- but let's leave Dave's mum out of this.- Oh!
0:54:45 > 0:54:46CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:54:46 > 0:54:48- I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Dave. - That's good, man.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50- We're friends!- That's OK.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53'Also, while we were doing that, we were also listening.
0:54:53 > 0:54:55'That is the art of telling great lies - listening.'
0:54:55 > 0:54:59So, now, reading about you - UK, US, where are you guys from?
0:54:59 > 0:55:01Planet Zordon.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03- Really, I can tell.- We were abducted by aliens when we were kids
0:55:04 > 0:55:06and been travelling around the solar system ever since then.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08But what about really because, you know, it seems
0:55:09 > 0:55:11that your music is going to be huge here in the UK and in the US?
0:55:11 > 0:55:14- Let's hope.- Yes.- Do you think that's because you've been brought up...
0:55:14 > 0:55:17Mothers everywhere will be buying it.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19Er, ladies and gentlemen, please, put your hands together,
0:55:19 > 0:55:20Silibil n' Brains.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24- Boys, good luck, it's been a pleasure meeting you.- And you too.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26'There was an awful lot of people up here
0:55:26 > 0:55:29'had seen them being interviewed on TV.'
0:55:29 > 0:55:31Why are they American now?
0:55:31 > 0:55:35You know, they weren't American. You know, word travels fast.
0:55:35 > 0:55:39Music scene chatrooms were all lighting up, like,
0:55:39 > 0:55:42"I know those guys. I went to school with Billy in Arbroath,"
0:55:42 > 0:55:45and, "I got in a fight with Gav in a chip shop in Dundee.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49Those guys are fake." So, we were like, "Shit, like, how do we...?"
0:55:49 > 0:55:52We sat there trying to, you know, contact administrators
0:55:52 > 0:55:54and trying to get posts taken off, and deleted,
0:55:54 > 0:55:56and we were just thinking, "OK, there's someone at SONY
0:55:56 > 0:55:59"sitting there going through all the negative press," and, "Oh, what's this?"
0:56:00 > 0:56:04You know, Google search Silibil n' Brains, and it comes up, you know, they're fake.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06'So, did it come up?'
0:56:06 > 0:56:09- No, it didn't. No-one was doing those searches. - HE LAUGHS
0:56:13 > 0:56:15'Then we were really worried about it.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19'Everything just, like, wow, this is, this is a really bad plan.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23'A part of the plan was that we were just going to get in,
0:56:23 > 0:56:24'make a record and then release the record,'
0:56:24 > 0:56:28and then come clean but release schedules don't work like that.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31That's the side of the game we didn't really know that much about.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34Like, you can't just release music like that.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37You know, you have to do six weeks of press, radio, TV.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42'The constant worry and the constant stressing
0:56:42 > 0:56:44'that someone's going to catch us out here...'
0:56:46 > 0:56:49..someone's going to tell the world who we really are.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57ORGAN MUSIC PLAYING
0:56:57 > 0:56:59Say cheese.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12'We always said we weren't going to get engaged just to be engaged.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15'We were going to get engaged because you wanted to get married.'
0:57:15 > 0:57:18- 'How long did you plan your wedding for?- Only a year.'
0:57:18 > 0:57:21'It was kind of the next step, you know?
0:57:21 > 0:57:24'If you're not moving forward your stagnated and, I suppose,
0:57:24 > 0:57:27'we felt ready, in a lot of ways.'
0:57:27 > 0:57:29'Everyone in the industry knew I was getting married.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32'No-one questioned why I was marrying someone in Scotland.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36'No-one expected invites to the wedding, so it was fine,
0:57:36 > 0:57:37'we got away with it.'
0:57:39 > 0:57:42'We went to Verona for a week for our honeymoon,'
0:57:42 > 0:57:48and that's when it started being a bit more real, and thinking,
0:57:48 > 0:57:51"We can't really do this, living apart much longer."
0:57:54 > 0:57:56'It was always hard for Mary.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58'It was hard enough having our long-distance relationship
0:57:58 > 0:58:00'between Arbroath in London.'
0:58:00 > 0:58:03What happens if we do become these huge superstars
0:58:03 > 0:58:05and we're jet-setting all over the world?
0:58:08 > 0:58:12Once the kind of honeymoon period was over, if you like,
0:58:12 > 0:58:16sort of, cracks were starting to show in the friendship.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20Because they were living together and spending so much time together
0:58:20 > 0:58:23in the studio as well, on top of this whole charade,
0:58:23 > 0:58:27there was definitely an underlying feeling of frustration.
0:58:31 > 0:58:33We were best friends.
0:58:33 > 0:58:35I mean, we were like brothers and I guess that's what made it more
0:58:35 > 0:58:39upsetting, the fact that we allowed the divide to happen.
0:58:41 > 0:58:44It was like we were business partners, rather than friends.
0:58:44 > 0:58:48We just didn't talk about the things that mattered, I guess.
0:58:48 > 0:58:50We were too busy, well, when we were in London
0:58:50 > 0:58:55we were too busy worrying about a lot of other things.
0:58:55 > 0:59:00Got a phone call this morning saying, "Come and support D12,"
0:59:00 > 0:59:05which kind of wasn't... kind of wasn't scheduled.
0:59:05 > 0:59:07But...
0:59:09 > 0:59:12..nothing to worry about. We won't shit ourselves.
0:59:12 > 0:59:14Are you well?
0:59:14 > 0:59:17It was just lovely, just being able to ring the guys and say,
0:59:17 > 0:59:22"We're going to go and support D12 at the Brixton Academy."
0:59:22 > 0:59:25Explain what's happening.
0:59:43 > 0:59:45(Fucking... Come on.)
0:59:45 > 0:59:49'We were excited. We thought, "This is it. It doesn't get bigger than this."
0:59:49 > 0:59:53'They were huge at the time, we were going to be playing to thousands of people.'
0:59:53 > 0:59:55That's the stage.
0:59:55 > 0:59:57That's where the people will be.
0:59:57 > 0:59:59'As usual, something so exciting'
0:59:59 > 1:00:04was met by the fear of...the past.
1:00:04 > 1:00:08Wait a minute. We've been lying the whole time
1:00:08 > 1:00:10that we're friends with D12 and Eminem.
1:00:10 > 1:00:13That's the way we've came up from the States, and holy fuck.
1:00:19 > 1:00:22We were now in a situation where Del and whoever we were with
1:00:22 > 1:00:27were expecting us to meet up with our old friends D12 before the show.
1:00:27 > 1:00:29Who we'd never met in our life.
1:00:33 > 1:00:37I was led to believe at that point that they knew them.
1:00:37 > 1:00:39OK, so the first night of the show.
1:00:40 > 1:00:44We're performing at Brixton Academy, London. Stop it, stop it!
1:00:44 > 1:00:49We're performing at Brixton Academy, London, with D12. Whatever.
1:00:49 > 1:00:52So it's time to start warming up.
1:00:59 > 1:01:00RETCHING
1:01:04 > 1:01:07We were just going to sound check.
1:01:07 > 1:01:10D12 were on stage, we were standing at the side watching them.
1:01:10 > 1:01:11I just remember the look on Del's face,
1:01:12 > 1:01:14as if to say, "There's your guy!"
1:01:17 > 1:01:21Gavin and Billy both shout, "Yo, Proof, how you doing?"
1:01:25 > 1:01:29I just remember shaking hands with Proof and just being like, "Hey! How's it going?"
1:01:29 > 1:01:34- Like you would do in hip-hop. "Hey, man, how you doing?" - "High five, wassup, wassup?"
1:01:34 > 1:01:37Cuddled him and held on.
1:01:45 > 1:01:48One of those stories that we didn't need to tell,
1:01:48 > 1:01:50we didn't need to go that far. But we did.
1:01:52 > 1:01:55We'd always add arms and legs to this huge body of a story.
1:01:56 > 1:02:00I think he was addicted to lying.
1:02:01 > 1:02:03'I think he IS addicted to lying.'
1:02:07 > 1:02:10As a child, he had a full-on South African accent.
1:02:10 > 1:02:12Like, really really strong South African accent.
1:02:12 > 1:02:18When we left South Africa it was like a total shock to the system.
1:02:18 > 1:02:21Beautiful hot country, all our friends and everything,
1:02:21 > 1:02:24and we came to Scotland.
1:02:24 > 1:02:29It was cold, it was dull, it was dreary. It was pretty hard on him.
1:02:29 > 1:02:36We had to adjust our accents, and Gavin had to, he had to change it.
1:02:36 > 1:02:40My parents were speaking to each other in a Scottish accent,
1:02:40 > 1:02:42but then they would speak to any of their friends
1:02:42 > 1:02:46in South African accents. And that's what I learned to do.
1:02:47 > 1:02:50Taking what someone is doing and copying it to the absolute...
1:02:50 > 1:02:53If I lived with you for like a week,
1:02:53 > 1:02:56I'd probably start morphing into your voice. Mimicking.
1:02:57 > 1:02:59I'm phenomenal at mimicking.
1:02:59 > 1:03:04You think it's probably not that great, but I think it's quite cool.
1:03:05 > 1:03:08MUSIC PLAYS
1:03:26 > 1:03:28APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
1:03:34 > 1:03:37We decided that Losers was going to be the single.
1:03:37 > 1:03:38We were always the underdogs,
1:03:38 > 1:03:44and that was the song about the underdog sort of taking over.
1:03:44 > 1:03:46The record label and the management
1:03:46 > 1:03:49said, "Release it, this song is good. Let's make it a single."
1:03:49 > 1:03:51But Gavin is like a full-on perfectionist,
1:03:51 > 1:03:54so even if he doesn't like a slight beat or how he sounds on a song
1:03:54 > 1:03:56or how Billy sounds on a song,
1:03:56 > 1:03:59Gavin is willing to scrap the whole song and start from scratch.
1:04:01 > 1:04:03It was Gav's way or no way.
1:04:03 > 1:04:06Can you use the best one of them, and then I'll do another one?
1:04:06 > 1:04:09He is difficult to work with.
1:04:09 > 1:04:13Whenever I've recorded with him, he's been a nightmare to work with.
1:04:14 > 1:04:17- RAPS:- My mama knows, my papa knows
1:04:17 > 1:04:19Everybody knows we're just losers...
1:04:19 > 1:04:22They could have been famous ten times over
1:04:22 > 1:04:24if he'd just said yes to a few things.
1:04:24 > 1:04:28We missed our window to release the record, for sure.
1:04:29 > 1:04:32I suppose they couldn't really just release.
1:04:32 > 1:04:35Gavin was always kind of self-sabotaging himself really,
1:04:35 > 1:04:39because he was thinking, "If this releases, what's going to happen?
1:04:39 > 1:04:44"As soon as that does come out, it might end everything."
1:04:44 > 1:04:49- Do you think he stopped anything ever coming out?- Yeah.
1:04:49 > 1:04:52At that point, we weren't on the same tracks.
1:04:52 > 1:04:54Bill would have been happy if the first release went out.
1:04:55 > 1:04:57Whenever the release windows were, whatever the shape of the band,
1:04:58 > 1:05:01whatever with music sounded like, as long as he was able to rap
1:05:01 > 1:05:04and get famous he would be happy with that going out in any way.
1:05:16 > 1:05:20Sony merged with BMG and a lot of people got made redundant.
1:05:22 > 1:05:24The executive responsible for signing them
1:05:24 > 1:05:27was a victim of the merger process.
1:05:27 > 1:05:30If you're signed to a major record label and you haven't got
1:05:30 > 1:05:33allies who support you, it's very hard to progress.
1:05:33 > 1:05:36The label was sitting there looking at who makes money,
1:05:36 > 1:05:40who doesn't make money, and unfortunately at that point
1:05:40 > 1:05:43we hadn't been given the opportunity to make them money.
1:05:45 > 1:05:48This A&R came in, and he showed us complete disregard.
1:05:48 > 1:05:51He was just kind of, "Look, we're not going to get rid of you,
1:05:51 > 1:05:53"but we're not really sure about this."
1:05:53 > 1:05:56"Don't think you are believable," I think is what he said.
1:05:56 > 1:05:59I really just wanted to jump over the table and strangle him
1:05:59 > 1:06:02and scream in my Scottish accent in his ear, you know.
1:06:03 > 1:06:06We were then told that it was going to take about six months
1:06:06 > 1:06:08for all the paperwork to go through with this merger,
1:06:08 > 1:06:10which meant that we'd be on hold for another six months.
1:06:10 > 1:06:13Had we just went ahead and put the original version of Loser out
1:06:13 > 1:06:17it could already been out, and within that six months
1:06:17 > 1:06:19been on tour, or been releasing elsewhere in the world.
1:06:19 > 1:06:22But we were on hold now.
1:06:22 > 1:06:28It happens all the time, because these artists, they come along,
1:06:28 > 1:06:32and they're young and they've got a dream.
1:06:32 > 1:06:35And they're focused on the dream.
1:06:35 > 1:06:38And they always get fucked over on the business
1:06:38 > 1:06:40because they're not looking at the business,
1:06:40 > 1:06:42they're looking at the dream. While looking at the dream,
1:06:43 > 1:06:44this other guy is looking at the business.
1:06:44 > 1:06:46They're not looking at the business,
1:06:46 > 1:06:49so how can they know if they're getting fucked on the business?
1:06:52 > 1:06:56There is always a moment when you're developing creative people,
1:06:56 > 1:06:59if they don't have success before that moment passes,
1:06:59 > 1:07:01they often don't have success.
1:07:01 > 1:07:05Once someone at the top has told all the foot soldiers
1:07:05 > 1:07:08that that band is probably on its way out, the phone stops ringing.
1:07:08 > 1:07:12You can't get hold of people. And I remember thinking at the time,
1:07:12 > 1:07:16because I've gone through it before, "This feels like that time again."
1:07:18 > 1:07:22No-one will really say, "This isn't working. It's over."
1:07:25 > 1:07:27We'd write songs, write songs, write songs,
1:07:27 > 1:07:30but we couldn't get in to record the songs.
1:07:30 > 1:07:33So that period was very, very frustrating.
1:07:33 > 1:07:36There's only so long, especially when you're hungry to get out there
1:07:36 > 1:07:40with what you've got, that you can do that for.
1:07:40 > 1:07:43Bill had this relationship up in Scotland,
1:07:43 > 1:07:46and that was going well, whatever.
1:07:47 > 1:07:50We'd already been married half a year.
1:07:50 > 1:07:55Mary was pregnant with Brandon at the time,
1:07:55 > 1:07:57and we needed the security.
1:07:57 > 1:08:00This was going to be security, once this song comes out,
1:08:00 > 1:08:02and once everything is out, it's all going to blow up
1:08:02 > 1:08:06and we would be sorted. That was my attitude.
1:08:06 > 1:08:08So he was starting to ransom himself, like,
1:08:08 > 1:08:10"I don't know how much longer I can be around this any more.
1:08:10 > 1:08:12"I can't keep doing this forever."
1:08:12 > 1:08:15"You keep putting releases back, I can't be here."
1:08:15 > 1:08:18So it was like, "Well, you should be here as long as it takes
1:08:18 > 1:08:20"for this to happen, for this plan to work," you know?
1:08:23 > 1:08:26I realised how close we'd come to getting our music out,
1:08:26 > 1:08:28which is what we always wanted, was our music being out there.
1:08:30 > 1:08:34They were living a door apart from each other in the house,
1:08:34 > 1:08:36but they didn't speak for days at a time.
1:08:38 > 1:08:41I gave him a date, and said, "If nothing happens by this date,
1:08:41 > 1:08:42"then I'm leaving."
1:08:42 > 1:08:45The date came and gone and another date was put and another date,
1:08:45 > 1:08:47and I kept putting new dates on it.
1:08:47 > 1:08:51"OK, May. If nothing happens by May, that's it, I'm out of here."
1:08:51 > 1:08:53"June. If nothing happens by June, I'm out of here."
1:08:53 > 1:08:55It just went on and on for months
1:08:55 > 1:08:57until the point where I just thought, "Enough is enough."
1:09:03 > 1:09:06The lie drove me and Gav from best friends to hating each other.
1:09:08 > 1:09:10The war had become between us.
1:09:10 > 1:09:13The war with the industry was gone, it was a personal war.
1:09:13 > 1:09:16We fucking hated each other's characters.
1:09:16 > 1:09:18We had a really horrible fight,
1:09:18 > 1:09:20and I was like, "How the fuck can you leave?"
1:09:20 > 1:09:22He was like, "I'm going to be a dad."
1:09:22 > 1:09:24"How can you be a dad? You're an addict!"
1:09:24 > 1:09:27He was like, "You're an addict, you're on pills every five minutes
1:09:27 > 1:09:29"to stop you from sweating, to stop you going to sleep,
1:09:30 > 1:09:32"to help you go to sleep. You're a fucking addict.
1:09:32 > 1:09:34And I'm like, "But you're a fucking addict..."
1:09:35 > 1:09:38No-one has those fights if you're friends, you know?
1:09:38 > 1:09:41I think at that point you realise the friendship is over, kind of thing.
1:09:45 > 1:09:47We got up in the morning, me and Mary.
1:09:47 > 1:09:51We packed up the car, and we drove it back up to Scotland.
1:09:55 > 1:09:58I didn't want to walk away, I didn't want to leave.
1:09:58 > 1:10:02This was my dream since I was a small child.
1:10:04 > 1:10:06But I knew I had to.
1:10:09 > 1:10:11Just the way, at that point, he was talking about it,
1:10:11 > 1:10:13like he had no attachment to it.
1:10:13 > 1:10:15This wasn't a thing that we had gone through together,
1:10:15 > 1:10:18we hadn't just done all that. It was just, "I'm gone.
1:10:18 > 1:10:21"I can just get rid of this from my life in a second."
1:10:21 > 1:10:24That's the thing that drove me absolutely crazy.
1:10:26 > 1:10:28I felt like he'd came along on this plan
1:10:28 > 1:10:30which was good for as long as it suited him,
1:10:30 > 1:10:31and then once he had lost faith in it,
1:10:31 > 1:10:34screw everyone else that was a part of it, I'm offski.
1:10:35 > 1:10:40But I was the captain of the ship, so I had to go down swimming.
1:10:46 > 1:10:49He phoned me a couple of days after, because we had a big show to do.
1:10:49 > 1:10:52They were playing some festival, and if Billy didn't come back then
1:10:52 > 1:10:55he was going to destroy everything that was important to Billy.
1:10:55 > 1:10:58I think he was at breaking point, you know.
1:10:58 > 1:11:00He was angry and he wanted to hurt Billy
1:11:00 > 1:11:03the way Billy had obviously hurt him.
1:11:03 > 1:11:04By leaving.
1:11:04 > 1:11:07I think he realised that without Billy,
1:11:07 > 1:11:09there was no more Silibil 'n Brains.
1:11:10 > 1:11:12And I just told him straight I wasn't coming,
1:11:12 > 1:11:15I had no interest in coming and he was on his own now.
1:11:15 > 1:11:18I wasn't prepared to come back down, I wasn't putting up with it any more.
1:11:18 > 1:11:21"We'll speak soon." We never spoke soon.
1:11:31 > 1:11:32I didn't want to see him again,
1:11:32 > 1:11:35I didn't want to hear about his family, I didn't want to hear anything.
1:11:35 > 1:11:38I honestly didn't care if he was alive or dead.
1:11:44 > 1:11:49It felt like he'd left me for dead, so why should I care about him?
1:11:49 > 1:11:51Everything you've ever dreamed of,
1:11:51 > 1:11:53and then all of a sudden one of your best friends,
1:11:53 > 1:11:56who you've known forever and did all this with vanished and won't even talk to you.
1:11:56 > 1:11:59The rest of the boys have kind of disappeared that way,
1:11:59 > 1:12:01Charlotte and Jonathan stopped taking your phone calls,
1:12:01 > 1:12:04the label doesn't put you as a priority. I mean, he lost everything.
1:12:10 > 1:12:14Even Del, Del was struggling to take my phone calls, you know?
1:12:14 > 1:12:18Even Shalit was like, "You're a group", you know?
1:12:18 > 1:12:22"You're a group. You're a double act.
1:12:22 > 1:12:24"I don't deal with just one of you."
1:12:24 > 1:12:28I would have no interest in seeing Mick Jagger in concert on his own.
1:12:28 > 1:12:31I wouldn't be interested in seeing Keith Richards on his own.
1:12:31 > 1:12:34But together, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are amazing
1:12:34 > 1:12:37in the Rolling Stones. Same with Billy and Gavin.
1:12:37 > 1:12:41Together, they were brilliant. Separate, they were worthless.
1:12:46 > 1:12:50I was just left with bottles of Co-codamol,
1:12:50 > 1:12:52taking little snoots for a while.
1:12:52 > 1:12:55There is a period of those months that I literally have no memory of,
1:12:55 > 1:12:58because I was just in a kind of coma.
1:12:58 > 1:13:00Suspended animation.
1:13:04 > 1:13:06Two years of playing a role,
1:13:06 > 1:13:10acting like somebody else, can do that to anybody.
1:13:12 > 1:13:16Some points it was like, "Where does Gavin Bain begin
1:13:16 > 1:13:18"and where does Brains...?"
1:13:18 > 1:13:21It was just so strange.
1:13:22 > 1:13:24I don't think they realised
1:13:24 > 1:13:27how far they'd got themselves into these personas.
1:13:27 > 1:13:30And how hard it would be to get back out.
1:13:34 > 1:13:37I was sitting alone one night in a completely empty house.
1:13:37 > 1:13:39All the money had gone, spent.
1:13:39 > 1:13:43I was watching Muse on TV headline Reading.
1:13:43 > 1:13:46They were at the studio and we were brushing shoulders with them
1:13:46 > 1:13:48and there was a vibe around that time
1:13:48 > 1:13:50that we were going to be the next big thing.
1:13:50 > 1:13:54And it just hit me, like, we were on that same road, you know?
1:13:57 > 1:14:00I was just drinking, drinking and drinking.
1:14:00 > 1:14:04The ghosts of all these naked chicks running around, no more.
1:14:04 > 1:14:07Our poster still up on the wall. Fuck, you know?
1:14:07 > 1:14:10Now I'm that guy from that group that's no longer.
1:14:12 > 1:14:18I could always say it's us telling this lie, and now it was just me.
1:14:21 > 1:14:24I heard this really loud thump, and I thought, "What's that?"
1:14:24 > 1:14:26I went upstairs and I just heard
1:14:26 > 1:14:28the strangest sound that I've ever heard.
1:14:28 > 1:14:31And Gavin was, like, slumped in the bathroom,
1:14:31 > 1:14:34and I was like, "What are you doing? Are you drunk again?"
1:14:37 > 1:14:39It was horrible. It was...
1:14:41 > 1:14:43Everything just flashed before my eyes.
1:14:54 > 1:14:59I like to think that he didn't mean to take too many,
1:14:59 > 1:15:04that it was just, you know, he forgot how many he was taking.
1:15:04 > 1:15:07That's what I told the doctors, anyway.
1:15:08 > 1:15:10But, yeah, he just got so deep,
1:15:10 > 1:15:14so dark that he didn't want to stay around.
1:15:16 > 1:15:17It was just very hard.
1:15:28 > 1:15:31When we came back from London, I hated Gav.
1:15:31 > 1:15:36I didn't want to hear from him, I didn't want to talk to him.
1:15:36 > 1:15:39It was just the best feeling, to be away, to be free,
1:15:39 > 1:15:42and not have this pressure of having to keep the pretence going.
1:15:42 > 1:15:46It didn't take me a week, it didn't take me a month, it didn't take me
1:15:46 > 1:15:49a year to think, "I wish I was still doing that, this is so hard."
1:15:49 > 1:15:52It was literally door closed, move on, that was it.
1:15:56 > 1:15:58Scotland is a very proud nation.
1:15:58 > 1:16:01We're sort of a nation of almosts and maybes.
1:16:01 > 1:16:04I've always been proud of being Scottish,
1:16:04 > 1:16:06I am proud of being Scottish.
1:16:06 > 1:16:08That's essentially why we did it in the first place.
1:16:11 > 1:16:14I don't think you really appreciate growing up somewhere
1:16:14 > 1:16:17until you've actually left it, and then you want to come back to it.
1:16:21 > 1:16:24- What would you like? Cereal or egg or what? Or omelette?- Omelette.
1:16:27 > 1:16:30Brandon, yours is nearly ready. I hope you're sitting down nice.
1:16:30 > 1:16:35'Brandon is six and Travis is two.'
1:16:35 > 1:16:38Both going on 18, I think.
1:16:38 > 1:16:40I've just had it done, so it's still healing.
1:16:40 > 1:16:43That's actually Brandon's hand that I've got there.
1:16:43 > 1:16:45And then I got a link to go through it,
1:16:45 > 1:16:48like the "family first" thing goes all the way across.
1:16:49 > 1:16:51I don't want to go to school.
1:16:51 > 1:16:54- You don't want to school?- Why?
1:16:54 > 1:16:57'I'm a million miles away from what we did as Silibil n' Brains,
1:16:57 > 1:17:00'these kids running riot in London. I've grown up, you know,
1:17:00 > 1:17:04'and sometimes you have to let go of that and grow up.
1:17:04 > 1:17:05'Become yourself.'
1:17:06 > 1:17:09- How's it going? - Where you going?- The Bruce?
1:17:09 > 1:17:12- Got your pass?- I do, yeah.
1:17:12 > 1:17:16'I'm an equipment operator offshore, on a rig, in the oil industry.'
1:17:18 > 1:17:21He works in the North Sea. Gosh.
1:17:21 > 1:17:26It wasn't a dream, it was wanting to financially provide for a family.
1:17:33 > 1:17:35I don't think I could be any further away
1:17:35 > 1:17:37from the sort of music lifestyle that we had before.
1:17:37 > 1:17:39It's something completely different,
1:17:39 > 1:17:41something I'd never imagined me doing.
1:17:47 > 1:17:48Whatever happened in London
1:17:48 > 1:17:51I'm not actually that bothered about any more.
1:17:51 > 1:17:53It was so long ago.
1:17:53 > 1:17:57It's not going to change the way I feel about Billy. It's in the past.
1:17:58 > 1:18:02I don't need it any more in my life. I believe that Gavin does.
1:18:02 > 1:18:04He still chasing it, he still wants that.
1:18:08 > 1:18:12Silibil n' Brains had a crazy ride. I haven't left yet because
1:18:12 > 1:18:15I don't think I've achieved what my endgame was.
1:18:15 > 1:18:16I'm here until the endgame.
1:18:17 > 1:18:19HE RAPS
1:18:27 > 1:18:30'I don't need to have another MC next to me.
1:18:30 > 1:18:31'I can do this on my own.'
1:18:37 > 1:18:41Me being Brains McCloud only ended about six, seven months ago.
1:18:43 > 1:18:46If I was looking at Gavin Bain from Brains' eyes,
1:18:46 > 1:18:47I was a complete failure,
1:18:47 > 1:18:50why would I want to go and be a complete failure again?
1:18:50 > 1:18:52The industry is kind of closing down to me,
1:18:52 > 1:18:55but the social aspects were still there for that character.
1:18:55 > 1:18:59If anything, that's the only thing I kind of had at that point.
1:19:02 > 1:19:05One minute I'm hanging with big famous people, doing shows with D12,
1:19:05 > 1:19:09the next minute I'm on the dole in fucking Primrose Green in London.
1:19:10 > 1:19:13'I was just hanging out with girls, trying to get laid,
1:19:13 > 1:19:16'going out and getting wasted and fucked up.'
1:19:16 > 1:19:18Little bit tipsy! Sure!
1:19:18 > 1:19:21Everything I was doing was trying to validate who this character was.
1:19:22 > 1:19:27'My sister was always kind of like, "Why are you still Brains?" '
1:19:27 > 1:19:29Like, "Come back to being you."
1:19:33 > 1:19:35First gig back, I couldn't go on stage.
1:19:35 > 1:19:38I'd used the fact it was the kind of comeback
1:19:38 > 1:19:42of this "Brains", American rapper, to fill the venue.
1:19:42 > 1:19:44I felt like I couldn't move my legs.
1:19:46 > 1:19:51- I was like, "Who am I? Who do I go on stage as?" - APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
1:19:54 > 1:19:59I just said, "I'm Gavin Bain. I'm not Brains McCloud. I'm Scottish.
1:19:59 > 1:20:01"I've never been in America."
1:20:02 > 1:20:05It was the strangest reaction to a first song I've ever had
1:20:05 > 1:20:09from any crowd. It was just kind of like, "What did you say before?"
1:20:11 > 1:20:13I got hugged, I got slapped.
1:20:13 > 1:20:18I spoke to Dan Miller from Sony, and he was like, "you motherfucker".
1:20:19 > 1:20:21It was shocking at first.
1:20:21 > 1:20:24And then it kind of hit me, and I thought, that is fucking genius.
1:20:24 > 1:20:26Because they never dropped it once.
1:20:26 > 1:20:28And you know, you've no reason not to believe.
1:20:28 > 1:20:30There's still loads of people who don't know.
1:20:30 > 1:20:32Where are you from?
1:20:33 > 1:20:35You're lying.
1:20:35 > 1:20:37What would I do?
1:20:37 > 1:20:40If every time you met somebody you assumed they were lying,
1:20:40 > 1:20:41you'd go around in circles.
1:20:41 > 1:20:44I sat down on this big couch and Gavin was there,
1:20:45 > 1:20:48and he said, "I'm Scottish," in a Scottish accent.
1:20:50 > 1:20:55And it's weird, because right up until that point, I had no idea.
1:20:55 > 1:20:59And then I remember looking at him, hearing his words,
1:20:59 > 1:21:03it looks like Gavin, but it doesn't sound like Gavin.
1:21:03 > 1:21:06I kind of almost expect them still to talk in an American way,
1:21:06 > 1:21:08because they still look the same.
1:21:08 > 1:21:12It's not like they were wearing a mask or had prosthetics on.
1:21:12 > 1:21:14Want to sort of come on the biggest tour
1:21:14 > 1:21:16with the best band in the world?
1:21:16 > 1:21:20'I got a call on my mobile from a number I didn't recognise,'
1:21:20 > 1:21:22and it was Billy. And then to hear him
1:21:22 > 1:21:25talking in a Scottish accent as well was really quite weird.
1:21:26 > 1:21:29I had so much contact with them over that time and the accent never
1:21:29 > 1:21:33broke once, at any point, did they let on that they weren't American.
1:21:33 > 1:21:36At all. You know. Greatest actors I've ever come across.
1:21:38 > 1:21:41Two all intents and purposes, they destroyed themselves.
1:21:42 > 1:21:44They misguidedly thought that pretending to be American,
1:21:45 > 1:21:47not Scottish, would get them a record deal.
1:21:48 > 1:21:50But I think they got a record deal because they had great songs
1:21:50 > 1:21:53and were captivating personalities.
1:21:53 > 1:21:55I thought it was funny.
1:21:55 > 1:21:57I also thought, good luck to them.
1:21:57 > 1:22:00It sort of made the whole journey more amusing.
1:22:00 > 1:22:04They came from really boring, horrible lives,
1:22:04 > 1:22:08and the way you escape from that really boring, horrible life
1:22:08 > 1:22:10is become something you're not.
1:22:10 > 1:22:14They could sit in their small house in the corner of Scotland
1:22:14 > 1:22:18and see America in their bedrooms, and then created this dream.
1:22:18 > 1:22:20But all dreams come to an end. You wake up.
1:22:20 > 1:22:22MUSIC PLAYS
1:22:29 > 1:22:33I honestly feel I've learned more about myself in the last five years.
1:22:34 > 1:22:38Figured out what I'm truly capable of, how far I'll go,
1:22:38 > 1:22:41how high I'll get and how low I'll stoop to to get what I want.
1:22:42 > 1:22:44I know who I am now, you know?
1:22:51 > 1:22:53I've got no regrets about London.
1:22:53 > 1:22:56Your perception of "living the dream" changes.
1:22:57 > 1:23:01To this day, I still believe that I'm living the dream.
1:23:04 > 1:23:07I've done the whole dream chasing, and it's more like, I'd say,
1:23:07 > 1:23:09the dream is kind of chasing me.
1:23:10 > 1:23:14MUSIC: "Bay of Skaill" by The Magnetic North
1:23:16 > 1:23:20# It's all there
1:23:22 > 1:23:25# Shining up for the season
1:23:29 > 1:23:32# It's not why
1:23:38 > 1:23:41# It's all there... #
1:23:43 > 1:23:45They could have sold millions of CDs.
1:23:45 > 1:23:48I thought they'd have number ones.
1:23:48 > 1:23:50I thought they'd sell out arenas for concerts.
1:23:52 > 1:23:55People can say, "but what if you done that, what if you done this?
1:23:55 > 1:23:59"Where would you have been now?" I could have been anyone.
1:23:59 > 1:24:02This interview could have been done in Beverly Hills, you never know.
1:24:02 > 1:24:05I wouldn't take them back. It was a long time ago.
1:24:05 > 1:24:09Be too old now anyway. 31 and ugly, they are now.
1:24:13 > 1:24:15I miss him as a person.
1:24:15 > 1:24:17At the end of the day, there's two people in the world
1:24:17 > 1:24:20who have went through this, you know what I mean?
1:24:20 > 1:24:22There's only one person I can talk to
1:24:22 > 1:24:26that knows exactly what this was like, and that's Bill.
1:24:31 > 1:24:32Would you do it again?
1:24:34 > 1:24:36Hmm. Tough question.
1:24:36 > 1:24:38What did Bill say?
1:24:40 > 1:24:44# Every little thing I know
1:24:46 > 1:24:52# Every little thing I have
1:24:55 > 1:24:59# Sitting up by the Eyre
1:25:01 > 1:25:05# Sitting with tired eyes
1:25:08 > 1:25:13# Every little thing I have
1:25:15 > 1:25:19# Sitting up by the Eyre
1:25:23 > 1:25:28# Sitting with tired eyes. #
1:25:43 > 1:25:45- RAPS:- I'm takin' a break from the path I'm on
1:25:45 > 1:25:47Shit creek, paddle, gone
1:25:47 > 1:25:50Feel like my past's been blasted on with a massive atom bomb
1:25:50 > 1:25:52I'll be the freshest next best yes This is effortless
1:25:52 > 1:25:55Rappers that wanna challenge can hand me the damn death wishes
1:25:55 > 1:25:57Cos I been livin' in a John Niven imagery industry
1:25:57 > 1:25:59Bitterly killin' every single little bit of me
1:25:59 > 1:26:01Could've been the epitome of every kid with a dream
1:26:01 > 1:26:03But life is higgledy-piggledy Nothin' is what it seems
1:26:03 > 1:26:05To question my pedigree You just best to test and see
1:26:05 > 1:26:08I'm so nuts and nuts are allergic to me
1:26:08 > 1:26:10I know these swag rappers are just testing my sanity
1:26:10 > 1:26:13Shit, Sili had swag when it was just called personality.