Elvis Tribute Artist World Tour: "Every time we go to Glasgow, they're the best audiences"

The show, inspired by new Baz Luhrmann movie EPiC, with footage of Elvis Presley in Concert, the world-leading tribute artists will be at the SEC Armadillo on Tuesday 19 May: “he greatest Elvis concert experience available anywhere in the world today.For the first time ever we are delighted to announce not one but two 1970’s jumpsuit headliners in the shape of 2017 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist World Champion, Gordon Hendricks, and star of the World Famous Elvis Show, Chris Connor, as we pay homage to the cinematic release of EPiC by Baz Luhrman. We are also thrilled to welcome back the youngest ever Elvis tribute World Champion Moses Snow, direct from the USA along with the youngest ever European Elvis Tribute Champion, Arron Walker, performing his recreation of the 1968 Comeback.

Ahead of the show, we spoke to Gordon Hendricks.

Do you remember the first time you heard Elvis Presley's music?

Oh, absolutely. I grew up in a family of 11 sisters, and that was tough enough as it was. I was the youngest of the family, and they were just all crazy Elvis fans. So the first time I heard Elvis was probably when I was about three years old, and then that's all we had in our house, Elvis Music. I didn't know there was anything else until I was about 11 years old. So that was it, really. It was kind of stuck in me.

The enduring appeal of Elvis Presley's music and the show, he started off in the 1950s, hen you think about that, the gap in time and the fact that this music still resonates with people, why is it that these songs are still part of the culture?

I just think Elvis had something really magical, not like any other superstar we've had since. And from day one, in ‘56 when he came out, he just shook the whole industry. He was bringing different types of music to the forefront that you couldn't really touch if you were in that era. A lot of the music that I listened to way back was a lot of the early 50s stuff. And I remember it being so raw, but it was dynamic too. It just sticks in your mind and you really can't get away from it. Once you've listened to Elvis, I don't care who you are, nce you've absorbed that little bit of Elvis, then it is like an addiction. And I think that's the thing now. Even now today, it still amazes me that people are still flocking to cinemas to see Elvis on screen.

And he's been gone a long time, but I just think it's fascinating. I went to see the movie Epic a few months back, and I was just blown away because we kind of saw something different. That's the thing about Elvis. There's always something different. There's always something new. There's always something exciting coming up. I think that's what keeps the memory of Elvis alive. Plus the fans obviously do. They just love anything that's brand new or just a tiny microsecond of a clip that's new. We get excited about it. That's how we work. I remember sitting in the cinema and I saw this backstage footage that I'd never seen before, and I've seen a lot of footage of Elvis. But when I saw that, I kind of jumped up at the seat. I was like, "Oh my God, look at that."

It was incredible. And I think that's the magic of Elvis.”

This show that you're bringing to Glasgow, tell me a bit about what the experience is on the night.

Well, the show is basically based around the movie, the Epic movie. So we go from the ‘50s right the way through Elvis's career to The Latter Years and the Latter Years, by the way, unfortunately, that's how it is for me now. But the show is so special. It just adds so much to it. It's just got a magical presence to that show. I mean, there's a lot of shows on the road. There's a lot of Elvis shows on the road, but this particular one, it really brings the essence of Elvis onto the stage. And I think that's the difference. That's what separates it from everything else.

We’ve written about when Elvis visited Prestwick Airport, it was a thrilling experience for the Scottish fans who had the chance to meet him.

That really sticks in my mind because in 2011, I was asked to go and open up a section of Presswick Airport. So I went up with some friends of mine and my manager, and they'd hired this private jet. So I'm dressed as Elvis and I'm on this jet and we're going around the airport and we got off. And as we're getting off and we're walking down the steps, I've still got the photographs today. It was incredible. They had fans there waiting, recreating the moment. And we came off the plane and the original photographer was there who took all the pictures of Elvis at Presswick. And he was standing there taking my picture and all this. And then we went into the airport and we did a big show that night and it was fabulous. But yeah, walking in Elvis's footsteps at Prestwick.

It's quite special that he only came to Scotland, really. He didn't come to England. He just came to Scotland to Prestwick. And I think that's fascinating. And there is pictures of him in the airport and sitting there waiting. I was like, oh, that's incredible. He actually came here. It's crazy.

Your enthusiasm for Elvis, how has this become your career and where has it taken you?

Well, for me, it started way back when I was really, really young. I'd be singing songs in the house. I applied for Stars and Their Eyes on TV in 2005 and I won the whole show and I had record votes on there, which I was really proud of. And then the producer came to me from the TV show and he said, "Maybe you could earn a living out of this. " I said, "Maybe I could. I never thought about it before."

I got a manager and then I started entering different competitions because this is how kind of naive I was in the early days. I didn't think anybody else did it. I just thought, oh, it's just me doing this. And then when I found out that there is an actual Elvis world, I thought, wow, and you've got to step into that.

I started going into the competitions flying across to Canada and the US. And I've been all over the world now. I mean, I've done four tours of Australia, I've done all the US, Canada. So it has took me to places. And I do feel really lucky the fact that, I mean, all I'm doing is going on stage and singing Elvis' songs and it's taking me all around the world and I've seen places that I would never, ever dreamt of. So it's just pretty incredible.

Elvis, through different eras of his career, there were comebacks, there was reinventions, there was times when he had to deal with music changing and moving away from him, but he found a way to chart that course. How much of it do you think was the machine around Elvis or how much was he responsible for creating the vision, the image of Elvis?

I think in the early days when Elvis came out, it was a different world then. The music business was a completely different world then. So nowadays, you kind of expect your artists now to write the songs and write their lyrics and write the story of their life really, and that's what you're listening to. But with Elvis, it was different because everybody wanted Elvis to sing their songs. So it was crazy for him. He had the best pick, the best bunch of songs.

He never really had to write anything because it was all done for him. So the hit songs that come out, and I always remember a funny story, and this will make you laugh. I was doing a show in London and I was on stage, and if you see Elvis on stage, he'll do Runaway and Bridge Over Troubled Waters. And so I was doing these songs, and this lady stood up in the audience and the place was packed, and she stood up with an Elvis T-shirt on.

And she said, "Can you sing an Elvis song?" And I said, "What?" And she went, "Sweet Caroline isn't an Elvis song. Bridge over Trouble Water isn't an Elvis song." I said, "Yeah, but Elvis sang them." I'm having this argument with her in front of all these people while I was dressed as Elvis.

The thing is with Elvis, he's such a magical entertainer, just anything he'd touch turned to gold. Some of the songs that are originally written by the original artists, I mean, you just classed them as Elvis songs because he made them his own. I think that's really, really unique, especially in the music business.

Glasgow has always had a relationship with rock and roll, with Elvis, with American music in general. It's a town that is enthusiastic about its music. Bringing a show like this to Glasgow audience, does that give an added element? Because you will get a very warm and animated welcome, Gordon.

Well, we always do. Every time we go to Glasgow, they're the best audiences. I don't know why. They just are. I remember doing a show and it really took me aback. The first time I went to Glasgow was at the Royal Concert Hall. I was there a few years back and I thought, "Wow, what a beautiful venue." And the audience were just amazing, but what really got me was that they're so vocal. I just couldn't believe how vocal they were. I remember this guy standing up and he just shouted, "I love The King." We're really excited about coming to Glasgow because it is a different atmosphere. And I mean, they love a night out, they love a party, so it's going to be pretty incredible.

Elvis Tribute Artist World Tour is at the SEC Armadillo on Tuesday 19 May.