Welcome, Emma Bunton.

Good morning! [claps]

Hooray Emma, you're the one.

[Emma Laughs]

You're not having so much...ehh...

Fun...

...I'll leave it there. First of all, congratulations. Rumba went well for you?

Oh it did, yeah. It was great, which was lovely.

Do you get nervous? Like umm... because I was... I was thinking "yeah well..." 'Cos at the end of the day it's about your performance. All the contracts...

Absolutely.

...all the writers, all the vocal, the getting... she's here, the limo, the thing man...

Yeah.

"By the way Em', there's your mic"...

You're on... [laughs]

Oh, oh this bit? Ahh, yeah.

I get so nervous before I go on. I think because people forget that you're obviously going on stage to entertain people...

Yeah.

And you want them to enjoy it.

That's right, and no one likes to stiff.

Ohh!

And ahh...particulary in front of a big crowd, and a big gig...

Exactly.

And as you've got a million journalists circling you like, you know... ten hungry Timberwolves.

Absolutely, so really you're not just thinking about, you know, the pitching right and singing live and, you know, you want to entertain...

Right.

...and make sure they have a good time. So yeah, I do get very nervous.

Does it carry too much stress on you at times, do you think...you...

Oh no, I think 'cos the...

...or what do you do to unwind prior to the gig? What do you do to get over that... nerves?

Oh well... I'm actually quite lucky 'cos I can easily switch off. I love, kind of movies. I love having my own time, reading books, you know... beds. I love my bed time! [Laughs]

Sloth. Sloth Creature.

Absolutely. [Laughs]

My wife hits uhh... every single night she says "I love you"...

Awww...

And ahh... tragically it's not to me. [Emma laughs] It's to the bed.

Exactly.

She goes "I love bed", and I go, "Don't you though?". You know, that's terrific to hear but a little but this way?

Your her second love, I'm afraid.

That's it. Yeah...

No, yeah I do really... [laughs]

Third, if you count Cary Grant.

Exactly. No, I... Yeah, so I enjoy my time and I'm quite... switch off quite well.

What about the tension prior to the gig? How do you ease that off? Or do you let that build and just release it on stage?

I think you kind of have to let it build, you can't fight it too much. I mean I love a good cup of tea - very English, but, you know... good cup of tea.

Yeah, well Australian too.

I spend time with my band and we go through the songs and so...

Is there a prayer? Oh Lord... please not let me...

No, there's not actually. We do the Hokey Pokey.

Oh, the Hokey Pokey?

We do the Hokey Pokey!

It's like an English prayer, isn't it?

It is, it's like we just go mad and have a bit of a laugh.

Yeah, you're a bit of a pearly queen.

I am.

In another life. [Laughs]

I definately, definately am. [Laughs]

People listening to this are going, "You're what?"

"What are those?" Yeah. [Laughing]

Hey Emma, I wanna grill you like cheese on toast... Ahh, but not right now. First I'm gonna do this.

Ok...

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Emma, I read somewhere that this album inspired you to learn and play guitar, is that true? Is it just one of those things?

Absolutely, yeah. I've always wanted to learn the guitar and the one thing I would say to kids is, "Please learn early". It's so much easier.

That's right. Were you an air guitarist up until this moment? Have you done a bit of air guitar?

Absolutely, yeah I'm very much...

People can't see but she's actually going through the cords...

Yeah. [Laughing]

..On air guitar, which not a lot of air guitarists do now days.

Trying. No, but that's something that I'd love to learn, and I am also a real motown girl. I was bought up with motown music. So I feel that the album's got a lot of soul in there as well.

Yeah. Sorry, I just had an image. 'Cos again, reading your bio, you and your Mum are into motown which is, as it should be.

Yeah.

And I imagine working though a bit of the steps in the kitchen with wooden spoons.

Absolutely [laughing]. The whole, you know... the finger going and yeah. me and my Mum love dancing.

Yeah. Syncronised dancers. So does this mean once you've had a couple, once you've stepped up to the karaoke mic, that's what we're likely to hear you belt out? "2...3...4... Baby love, my baby love..." [Stubbs sings in a slured, drunken voice]

Absolutely, that's the song that I sing!

See... I just knew that.

Actually I sang that track umm... on the Spice Girl tour on my own. I did a solo slot in there, and I sang "Baby Love". So... you got it down to a T.

As you would. That's a bit spooky.

That's very spooky. [Laughs]

Now, as you have done. You've written lots on the album, but not all. You've picked a couple of covers. One of which was the Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians track "What I Am"...

Yes...

Which is a great track. What was your reason for choosing that one?

Well actually...

'Cos you can write, so why did you choose that one to cover?

Well actually I got asked to actually just be ahh... do a vocal appearance on that track. It was actually another band called "Tin Tin Out" from England who asked me to do some vocals on it. And I love the track, and I was very... you know, I felt very comfortable with it and umm, so I went and did a vocal appearance on one of their tracks. So they actually picked that track, but I... I mean I love it. I think it's a classic.

Spookily, it suits your album. It's not like, "What's this doing in here?"

"What's this doing here?" Yeah [laughing].

"Smoke on the water? This doesn't feel right!"

Definately, and I think that was really nice as well 'cos the band were like, "will you try this song?" And it was kind of the stuff I'd already been writing, and I thought that was... you know, they kind of picked up on what kind of music I would be doing anyway, so it was good.

Emma, I've gotta talk to you about so much more and I feel there's a lot about me you need to know.

I think so too, I mean... you've told me nothing about you!

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I'm sitting here casually with Emma Bunton as you do, and we're just chatting about stuff...

[laughing] and Stuff.

So you leave Australia, you rocket back to Britain?

Yes.

Ok.

Yeah.

And then what?

Well I've got a new single out in Britain at Christmas. Umm, a track called "We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight", and umm... it's a real kind of fun... It's been remixed actually from the album.

That's your country ho-down mix, that one.

Yeah that's...

The one you don't talk about much.

That's the one.

[Stubbs does some sort of singing sound]

No, it's quite disco-y and... [laughs]

I knew there was dance. I knew you were doing a dance mix of it. I knew that.

Absolutely. You have to do a dance mix. And...

Yeah. Just wasn't sure of the style.

Right. No, it's very disco. Kind of that, you know? The pointing in the air.

For those again without visual receptors, she is dancing classic Saturday night fever... up and down.

Sorry, I'm dancing away. Yep, that one.

Also, I saw a little bit of "It's the best disco in town".

[Both Emma and Stubbs start singing "It's the best disco in town.]

Oh yeah. Right, that's the one two.

So after Christmas... tours? Or... you get to put your feet up?

After Christmas... No, after Christmas I'm gonna be starting to rehearse because I'm touring the UK and Europe umm... around March and then hopefully coming over here very soon after that.

Woah! So it's a lot of stuff, really?

...will be nice. It's a lot of stuff but this one thing I've been looking forward to is obviously doing the album live, out there to my fans, doing a tour. So that's the one thing I've been looking forward to.

Are you daunted my that? What's it gonna look like? Different to what you've done before?

I wanted to be... I wanted it to be very visual but it... kind of like a party, but also, you know, I really hope that I'll be playing guitar by then and be able to do some accoustic...

Are you mental? You're gonna step out in front of everyone and play guitar?

I'm gonna try.

[In shock] What are you gonna play?

I am gonna try.

One of those... de-ding... de-ding, de-ding, de-ding de...

I am gonna try.

"Wait, I can get this... -ding!"

I think that's as far as I'll be going...yeah.

Oh, yeah!

[Laughs] No, I really, really would love to try and do umm... "Take My Breath Away" accoustically, umm... one track.

Yes, so would I but I'm not gonna do it in five months in front of 50,000 people.

No, I've... but I've been, I've been learning for a while now. So, fingers crossed.

Oh, ok. Alright. Man, I'm sorry I panicked. I mean, I might have been a little harsh there but I was panicking for you there.

[Laughing] No, fingers crossed. You never know. I mean, I might not by then but I'm hoping to.

I've talked you out of it now, haven't I?

Yeah, you have. I'm not doing it now. I'm just gonna dance [Laughs].

Yeah! "I think I wanna dance now" [In a Tom Jones voice]. Get Tom Jones in for that part.

I'll get him in, yeah. And I'll get someone else to play guitar! [Laughs]

Emma, thanks very much. It's been great chatting to you. I do appreciate it.

Ohh, thank you for having me and thank you for everyone's support. It's been amazing. And all my fans, thank you so much.

There's been a thumbs up as well.

There's been a thumbs up, definately.

You're very much a gesture woman, aren't you?

I am! I use my hands a lot! [laughing].

Despite the fact it's the wireless. Look I admire that and a big "thumbs up" right back at you, good buddy!

Thumbs up! Thank you! [laughing]

--This interview was transcribed by Melissa C--