This is the written interview Carlos tweeted at Focus.com
Submitted by Carys Jones on Sun, 11/25/2012 - 12:23
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Il DivoSébastien Izambard, Carlos Marín, David Miller and Urs Bühler are Il Divo.

They are four incredibly talented vocalists with charismatic personalities and classic good looks. Between them, they have broken numerous records and they have sold over 25 million records. The public’s love affair with them, shows no sign of stopping.

Il Divo took some time out of their busy schedule to catch up with us ahead of the release of their Greatest Hits album, which is out on Monday.

Lovely to meet you all! How are you doing today?

D: Yes, we’re all good, thanks!

Have you got a busy day of interviews ahead, to promote your latest album?

D: We have half a day of interviews. We’re only seeing the important and special people today!

Ha-ha! So your Greatest Hits album will be released on Monday, are you excited about that?

S: Oh, I thought it was out today, no really, it’s out Monday? OK, I don’t even know what day it is! As you can see, it’s going to be a comedy sketch this morning! Ha-ha.

D: We’re excited!

S: It’s a selection of our best songs, so it’s a Greatest Hits album. It was obvious from when we toured with the world which songs were really working and we kind of made a list. There are also four new tracks on the album. I think there are eighteen songs on the Greatest Hits. We have My Heart Will Go On, from the Titanic and I Will Always Love You, from The Bodyguard etc on there. It’s a nice thing to do for the fans and also it’s good for people who might not have heard of Il Divo.

What are your favourite songs on the album?

C: I Can’t Help Falling in Love, by Elvis Presley.

D: Favourite songs? I’ll be honest, I really like the new songs, because the body of work that we’ve done to this point have really stood the test of time you know, but I’m very much interested in what comes next and what’s fresh and so we added these songs into the Greatest Hits. These are songs that we’ve been paying attention to the fans over the years you know, they say you should do this song etc and these songs are kind of an acknowledgement of what they have been saying to us and these songs fit in perfectly. They could really have fitted in on any of our other albums, but at the same time, they’re new and they’re fresh.

How much input do you get into what goes onto the album, is there much choice, do you have a big say in the songs that end up on there?

C: For example in the Greatest Hits, we only put four new tracks on the album, such as: I Will Always Love You. That was one that we proposed to go on there. Sometimes, if we propose something and there’s a disagreement, we go off to a studio and record it and show it how it works back and so that’s how we do it.

Do you feel any pressure with the release of each album, to sell the records, or are you more relaxed, knowing that you have a large and loyal fan-base?

U: It is a bit different I think, because it’s a Greatest Hits album. I think a Greatest Hits album is bought a bit differently from other albums, it’s either the hardcore fans, who want to buy everything of the group, or it’s more about people who haven’t previously bought an album, but have heard who we are and think I’ve heard a lot about them for the past few years and I’d like to get something and the Greatest Hits is where you get the essence of a group, even though it’s been over nine years. I mean, that’s the way that I buy albums as well, there are groups who I love their music and other groups which I kind of like and buy their album and have been really taken by it, that I go out to discover their other albums too, or buy future albums. I think it’s a good step into a band that way. It’s also interesting too, as Greatest Hits albums are popular in certain countries, but other countries don’t buy Greatest Hits albums. We’ve got certain expectations and we hope that people will like the new songs that we’ve recorded, but you can’t really compare it to what we’ve done before.

What happens after an album is released, do you wait until the end of the week to see how it’s done and celebrate if it sells well?

U: Ha-ha, well I think we normally find out by 2:00pm on a Monday that it’s released as to how well it’s gone.

D: Typically, a Greatest Hits album is kind of a slow burner. It’s not one of those things that really, necessarily really goes straight to number one, because it is mainly material that we’ve already done and for most people who know our body of work, it’s out there, they’ve heard it before and they’ve seen our performances on previous years of being on TV shows, so it’s not quite the same clamber to get it as soon as it is released. But that being said, we have been told that in Japan, (it was released a week earlier there), on the first day of sales, it’s already gone to number one. That was very exciting.

That's fantastic news. You’re going on tour with Katherine Jenkins next year around the UK and Europe, how do you feel about that? Excited?

All: Yeah!

Have you met Katherine Jenkins before, do you know her well?

S: We’ve met her a few times on the same TV shows, or we’ve been on the same performances that she’s been on. So we came across each other, but never really had the chance to get to know each other and actually when we decided it would be a good idea to go together on tour for the Greatest Hits album in Europe with her, we realised that it would be good to do something a little bit different as well. Having a guest, someone you can share the stage with, especially after the experience we had with Barbra Streisand and that we’ve seen that it’s really something that works well. Sharing the stage with her and having a female voice is a great thing to have and it makes it very entertaining for us and for our audience.

So you haven’t picked up tips whilst you’ve been around these divas that we read about? Do you now feel the need to go around and order some scented candles etc?

(They all burst out laughing, very loudly!)

D: Do we look like the scented candles sort? (They all continue laughing).

Ha-ha! Well, you never know, they can make a room smell nice!

C: The good thing with us, is that we are really normal guys. We don’t go around demanding too many crazy things in our dressing room. For example, I always ask for diet coke, because that’s the only thing I drink, I don’t drink alcohol and we have bottles of water and we have some bananas and red bull, fruits etc.

How do the crowds differ from each place/country that you perform in? Do you notice that if you go to your home countries that the fans are even more passionate?

D: Oh yeah, I think the biggest difference when we go from country to country is seeing how the demographic of the audience changes. When we’re in the UK, there’s a generalised female crowd who come to see us. But when we go over to Korea, it’s a much younger audience that comes to see the show and when we go to certain other countries it’s more family orientated environment. For example, in the US we see people bringing their boyfriend or their husbands, or vice-cersa, the husbands taking their lady out to a concert and you see a lot of children showing up as well. I think over the years we start to see these kids who have grown up with our songs and know all the lyrics and I find it very enjoyable to go from place to place and see how each culture is vastly different. I mean the difference between the Japanese culture and the UK is like chalk and cheese, it’s so very different, but they embrace it in their own way and show their appreciation in a difference way, but we’ve been embraced by almost every country that we’ve been to and it’s such a huge gift.

What do you think has been the secret of your success, in comparison to bands of a similar ilk to yourselves?

U: If you look at us, we are four different guys from different cultural and musical backgrounds and we are four very different personalities, we’ve got four different voices and actually this makes for a very rich mix and we are all very, very passionate about the music that we’re making. We’ve all made music for all our lives, that’s what we live for and we try to get all this together in one song, in one piece of music. Especially in the beginning, there wasn’t a lot of understanding there, which makes the whole thing more interesting, because you actually have so much influences and so much richness and the way in which you can take the best from here and from there and I think that just makes for something which is totally different and there’s nothing else like it out there. All the other bands who are four guys in suits who sing exactly the same repertoire and pride themselves that they have known each other since childhood, I don’t think it’s an advantage in that case, it’s actually on the contrary.

D: Whilst that all exists, I also think that the four of us are always committed to doing what’s best for the song, what’s best for the music and not what’s necessarily best for our egos and I think that common ground and really putting our hearts into that arena just elevates the tracks.

Are there any people around at the moment who you think it would be interesting to collaborate with, or anyone that we wouldn’t expect to see or hear you sing with?

S: There are many people out there that would be really good to perform with, Bjork for instance would be a good idea, Eminem, the Foo Fighters, I don’t know – there are so many. Any type of extreme bands would actually be good to perform with

Do you think you could go on a rock and roll tour with them?

S: Why not! I think it would be a really good mix to work with someone who is totally the opposite of what we’re doing, maybe Beyonce.

C: How about Shakira, or maybe AC/DC? (He says, scanning the walls of the Sony office, which are adorned with artists who have gold discs up on the walls, and everyone laughs)

D: Pink, Pink would be really good!

You have travelled and performed all around the world with Il Divo. What has been the favourite place that you have visited and why?

C: I would say, for myself – Latin America and other Spanish countries, but I would also say Japan. I just love Japan, it’s somewhere special for me, I don’t know what it is, maybe the respect that they have for us and it keeps growing more and more, it’s unbelievable. Also for me, the UK is special, because we were born here as a group.

Does Britain feel like home to you now?

C: Yeah, it’s home!

Did you find it a bit strange at first, when you initially moved over here, did living in Britain take some getting used to?

S: It’s totally different. Even though it’s only across the Channel, there are so many different accents of English here in the UK. This morning we were on the Lorraine show and I remember eight years ago, she asked me a question and I was like what, what? (Laughs). I couldn’t understand a word and nowadays, I can only understand half of it, but it’s a lot better. (Laughs). I remember watching Little Britain on the TV and I totally got it and it all made sense. It takes a while I think, to get into the humour etc. I love England though, I’ve been living here for nine years.

C: The weather, the weather is fantastic. That has changed a lot in nine years. It’s sunnier, I mean look today, it’s a beautiful sunny day. (Laughs).

A lot of people that come over to Britain sometimes say that they have found the British to be a bit eccentric and quirky, have you found that?

C: No, I don’t think so really.

D: I think that we’ve been lucky enough to have travelled to so many countries over the years and we’ve seen so many different kinds of eccentricities that they no longer seem like eccentricities anymore! They seem like that is what happens here, that’s what happens there, in that country. I don’t think we’re caught off guard so much anymore!

You’ll be busy plugging you new album over the next month or so, have you got much time off over Christmas?

U: Well, Christmas is actually the first time that we’ve had any time off since last January We get just about a month.

What does 2013 have in store for Il Divo?

D: Well, you know that we’re not going to make it to 2013. The world ends on the 31st of December 2012, which is the end of the Mayan calendar – it’s all over.

(Everyone laughs-out-loud)

S: The Greatest Hits tour will be in March/April will take a bit of time and we’ve got a lot of plans, but it’s hard to reveal at this point, until we put them in place. Right now, we’re just working on putting things together and seeing how things plan out.

D: We are looking at an album at the end of 2013 though, that’s our intention.

With Eminem and Foo Fighters on there?

(All laugh).

S: That would be great.

C: We can even have you on there if you want, you can be on the album!

Well, as it happens, I do sing in a ladies choir, who are based in London and we’re called Cor Merched Cymry Llundain!

All: Ahh, you sing!

C: Well, there you go. You never know, we could do that!

Il Divo's new album 'The Greatest Hits' is released on Monday 26th November 2012.

Il Divo Lorraine ITV1 22-11-2012

Il Divo - The Classical Fab Four Go From Strength To Strength

"There are so many things to do in London, and it’s the best city in the world. It’s just the weather that’s sometimes difficult!" - Sebastien Izambard

After working solidly for the last 10 months you'd think the boys from Il Divo would take some time off. Not the case! London Calling's Tom Hunter got the chance to catch up with Sebastien Izambard on a rare day off. He told us all about the greatest hits album, the upcoming tour and getting to work with Katherine Jenkins...

London Calling: So you’ve got a new tour planned for the coming months, haven’t you?

Sebastien Izambard: Yeah, apart from promoting the greatest hits album as well, but the tour is the next exciting step. We’ve worked for the last 10 months and been around the world so we thought that the greatest hits could be exposed to various countries and we thought that it would also be nice to change a bit of the formula by inviting Katherine Jenkins to perform with us - something a bit sexy! She’s very nice, beautiful and sings very well.

LC: Are you trying to tell us that the four of you aren’t sexy enough?

Seb: No I’m not saying that, but we definitely don’t have a woman’s voice so we thought it would be nice to have a few duets with her, just to do something different. People always do that with their tours, it’s nice to mix. We did that with Barbra Streisand and it worked so well. We shared the stage with her and sang our songs and sang some duets and it was a great thing, so we thought it would be nice to do it again.

LC: That sounds really good. What can fans expect from the new tour then? Have you worked on the classics and done some good stuff with Katherine too?

Seb: Well we haven’t yet, because she’s about to promote her album as well, so we have to catch up at some point, sit down and just figure out what songs we’re going to do. We haven’t really talked about it but we just know that our voices are going to work perfectly. We did a TV special for ITV together so we’ve already sung two songs together and that actually went very well.

LC: You’ve just mentioned that you’ve done this massive 10 months travelling all over the place and you’ve obviously got a huge fan base. We’ve read comments on your Facebook page from fans and there’s lots of hearts and love there! Are your fans different in different parts of the world?

Seb: Oh yes, absolutely. In terms of culture if you go from the UK to South America to America it’s different of course and that’s what we like; it gives us such diversity. We have tremendous, huge fun around the world and our fans are so respectful, they’re so loyal to us. Japanese people would travel the world to come and see you, it’s amazing, and we always have to pinch ourselves to realise that we’re so lucky and everything is going so well.

LC: Now we have to ask, with such a fantastic fan base like that are they mainly friendly or are there a few strange fans out there in the world?

Seb: Well you always have an awkward one, even in your families, but I’d have to say that 95 per cent of our fans are very respectful of our lives and it’s how you set it up as well. I’ve got three children and the ladies know that they’re yours and they’ve always been so respectful of Renee, my wife and my children. There’s never been a problem, we set a boundary from day one and they love it. They send presents to Renee and my kids, it’s fantastic. I think we’re the luckiest men in the world; we have a lot of success and a huge fan base.

LC: Looking at the tour coming up, it’s obviously going to be a lot of work. Do you guys have any tips, techniques or tricks that you use to keep your performances fresh every night?

Seb: Yeah, we just go out thinking that it’s the last concert we’re ever going to do. We get a lot of rest, drink a lot of water, and drink wine before or after, ha ha! Before the gig I have a lot of water and off I go. I try not to get too stressed, because the stress can take away your ability to just enjoy the gig. I think it’s really important to give 100 per cent of yourself in terms of the concert because it could be your last, you never know.

LC: You’ve got some really big venues, places like the O2 in London, where you finish the tour, so how do you scale up for those really big performances over the more intimate shows?

Seb: Well it’s quite funny, because for me it’s actually easier to play in a big venue rather than a smaller venue. When we play at the Coliseum or other compact places it’s much harder because people are closer to you. In a big arena it’s not as personal as that and somehow you have a bit less pressure. But for me it’s really about making sure that wherever you are you make sure that people have a wonderful time. I try to avoid thinking about these sorts of things too much. The O2 is huge - it’s big, but for me it’s a little bit less scary in some way.

LC: Are there any special things you like to do when you’re not on the clock and performing in front of loads of people?

Seb: I’d be spending a lot of time with my kids, I take my little one who’s one-and-a-half years old to a class where he dances with other kids, I take my kids to school, so I spend a lot of time with my children, that’s important. We go to the park, Hyde Park, I like going out for lunch, there are so many things to do in London, and it’s the best city in the world. It’s just the weather that’s sometimes difficult! But I think that overall it’s a wonderful city. It’s great because you can go anywhere from London and enjoy all the different places in Europe. It’s so accessible and I’m not far from Heathrow - it’s a great city.

LC: What about some of the galleries and museums, do you get a chance to take the kids to see any culture?

Seb: Yeah, I’ve taken them to the museum that’s not far from the French embassy, because there’s children’s stuff there. We like taking them to arts and crafts things as well, but we haven’t done so much recently because I think they would trash it completely! One is four-and-a-half years old, so he’s not concentrated in that yet, but they love seeing dinosaurs and stuff. We try as much as we can, but it’s getting there.

LC: You obviously have your own musical style when you’re performing, but what do like in your personal life? Are there any particular genres or guilty pleasures that you relax to or listen to when there’s no-one else in the house?

Seb: I like pop rock - that’s what I listen to. My background is from the pop side - I listen to Coldplay, I’ve got the latest Muse album, and I think Muse are an amazing band. I listen to a band called Hurts; I listen to lots of music, anything from bossa nova to reggae, South American music. I just love music in general.

LC: So backstage in the dressing room you’re basically rocking out to Muse!

Seb: I drive the guys insane because I’m constantly listening to music. They’re like “oh my god, don’t you ever shut up!” and I’m always singing all the time, but I love it.

LC: You’ve obviously got a lot on, but what are your epic plans for the future?

Seb: Well the big, big step now is preparing the next record for next year and making sure that we’ve got something exceptional. We’ve just released the greatest hits and that’s a mark of a turn in our career and now we want to do something else. So that’s obviously something that’s really important to us and it’s a bit scary in a sense because we are going to have to surprise people with something else. But that’s a big, big step. So it’s how we’re going to make that step and how people will perceive it and if they’re going to like it.

LC: How many tuxedos do you guys get through in a year? You must have a high turnover!

Seb: Well we toured for 10 months and I think we only had one, then a spare one, so that’s two. I think it was probably three or four in total. There aren’t that many tuxedos, but when you do a promo there are a lot of them, but generally it’s not actually as bad as you may think.

LC: With that whole image it would be fantastic if you guys could do the theme for the next Bond movie or something. Have you ever thought about that kind of stuff?

Seb: Yeah, absolutely, especially when I heard Adele singing it, I think it would be great. It would be fantastic to be able to do that, a privilege, a dream actually.

For more information and tickets to the tour and how to buy the Greatest Hits album go to http://www.ildivo.com/uk/home

Read more at http://londoncalling.com/features/il-divo-the-classical-fab-four-go-from-strength-to-strength#jQ0KvMTsJshfIxbg.99