INTERVIEW: Hot Chocolate's Patrick Olive chats about the band and his love of performing

Gearing up for their headline spot at the one-day music festival is a band whose success has spanned almost half a century, Hot Chocolate.

They have played gigs all over the world, including one for Charles and Diana at their pre-wedding reception in Buckingham Palace in 1981, and were the first British band to play in the USSR.

The band, which first formed in Brixton in 1968, still love to perform to the crowds as much as ever.

You would have to have lived under a rock for the past 40 years not to have heard of their smash hit You Sexy Thing. The hit single reached the top 10 in the UK charts in three consecutive decades – the seventies, eighties and nineties.

Originally released as a B-side track, America first latched on to the tune, said bass player Patrick Olive.

“It was a tongue in cheek idea for a song,” he said. “Thank God people have become more broadminded now. To mention anything about sex in those days was taboo.

“The reaction has not faltered at all, especially if we play around young people.”

In years gone by they used to play university gigs and said the crowd would go wild for it, he said.

“They used to go absolutely bonkers. You couldn’t stop them from getting on stage and doing what The Full Monty did,” he said.

Patrick, who has been with the band since it formed, said he is ‘very much’ looking forward to Let’s Rock The Moor and loves being up on stage.

“You just can’t beat it,” he said.

“It is nice that our people are recognising the band for its good music.

“It is nice to be performing on your home ground and showing the people that it is not wise to disregard a good thing!

“Make sure you bring yourself out and have a really good day.”

The band’s first big break came after they recorded a reggae cover of John Lennon’s Give Peace A Chance.

“We were very lucky to have got the start up we did,” said Patrick.

“Someone knew someone who had a recording studio.

“We went and did a reggae version of it and then it was taken down to the Apple office and they quite liked the song.”

The then lead singer Errol Brown, who died on Wednesday, changed the lyrics but permission was still needed from Lennon before it was released.

Luckily he liked it and the track was release on the Apple label in 1969.

Since then, the group has had a number of hit singles and has seen several changes to its line-up.

The most recent of these was the arrival of Kennie Simon on vocals in 2010.

Patrick spoke about how the music has changed over the years.

“The music is more powerful now,” he said.

“It is the same music and lyrics but we make it more danceable. We up the beat to get people into the groove.”

Let’s Rock The Moor is at Marsh Meadow, Cookham, on Saturday, May 16. Visit www.letsrockthemoor.com for the full line-up and tickets.