Pop star teachers aim for Christmas charts – then Eurovision glory
York teachers Robin Parmiter and Ian Wilson first came to prominence as pop duo Disco Mister when Bring It Home became a fans’ favourite during the World Cup.
With backing from the likes of Clare Balding and Jack Whitehall the song endured longer than the England team in the tournament to become Amazon’s most downloaded World Cup 2014 song.
Now the pair want to follow in the footsteps of Slade and Wizzard with their Christmas offering, Everybody Dance (Happy Christmas).
And that’s not all. The pair have also recorded and submitted a song for Eurovision.
A Christmas classic
“We want people to celebrate and party with us, and what bigger party is there than Christmas time?” Ian told YorkMix.
“It’s a big challenge trying to ignore the clichés and create something new for Christmas, so we’ve focussed on making a song that gets people dancing and gets them even more excited for the holidays.”
Like Bring It Home the festive song will raise money for two charities.
“It’s reminding everybody of the magic of the season,” said Robin. “It’s the best time of year when family and friends get together to dance, drink and be merry.
“That’s exactly what we wanted to capture, a little snapshot of the party side of the holiday season.”
“It will be distributed through Band Crusade, just like Bring It Home. We’re planning on having a pre-sale period and then releasing it on the week leading up to Christmas No. 1 weekend to give us the best chance of charting again. It will be available on iTunes, Amazon and all major digital retailers.”
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Disco Mister have now recorded the video for Everybody Dance with Karl Elwell, who directed their previous videos, and they plan to release it in time for the song to compete for the coveted Christmas number one.
“We’ve had a taste of the charts, and we want more,” said Ian, who works with Robin at Huntington School. “We had such fantastic support with Bring It Home, so we’re hoping for much wider support for the Christmas number, maybe even worldwide!
Robin agreed. “Our biggest hope is that the song joins the club of Christmas classics and gets on Christmas party playlists for evermore. Our music videos are a huge part of Disco Mister, so we’re hoping for another viral hit on YouTube.”
Better than X Factor
The song will no doubt be up against the single from the X Factor winner (not to mention Band Aid 30).
But Disco Mister take heart from the fact that the public have rebelled against the Simon Cowell bandwagon in recent years.
“The famous Rage Against The Machine campaign for Christmas number one a few years ago lost its edge when you realised that the song is owned by the label that Simon Cowell works for,” says Ian.
“Nevertheless, it was a big message from the public. You can’t get much more independent than Disco Mister, so if people truly want to shake up this year’s Christmas charts then they should buy our single in December!”
Next stop… Eurovision!
Before they wrote their Christmas song, the duo found time to write and record their entry for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.
“We said, perhaps a bit tongue in cheek, as Bring It Home went viral, that the next step is Eurovision,” Robin explained.
“We joked if we could get a smash hit England song, a Christmas number one and then represent the UK in Eurovision then we’d have a had a pretty good music career and we’d then hang up our microphones!”
They have submitted a video with their song Magical to the BBC and must wait to find out if it makes the Song For Europe shortlist.
Although they can’t share the song yet, Ian gave us a few clues. “It’s like David Bowie mixed with The Prodigy.
“It’s a journey about a leap of faith, and about how magical love really is. It’s perfect for Eurovision.
“A performance video was needed to enter the audition, so we’ve backed up the mystical story by dressing as rock ’n’ roll Shakespearian gents, surrounded by books, and rocking out.”
What are their favourite Eurovision songs? “The two things I think of whenever I hear Eurovision are Lordi and Diva by Dana International,” said Ian.
“Diva is nice and catchy, and Lordi’s performance will surely never be forgotten.”
For Robin it’s “Abba’s Waterloo. Massive tune.”