“Arf Arf!” It’s Seal!
He was the tall bloke who sung on Adamski’s only No.1 hit “Killer”. He thrilled the world briefly with his “meaningful” facial scars, his spooky chest jewellery and his dangly hair accoutrements! And now he’s back with a super new single of his own called “Crazy”, a plasma ball, a cream cheese bagel and a chocolate dip, to tell TOM DOYLE all about his “slammin’” world!
REAL NAME: Sealhenry Samuel. I don’t know why my parents called me that. My grandparents are from Brazil and they’ve all got weird names, so it’s probably a common Brazilian name. When I was at primary school, they used to make fun out of my name, y’know ‘arf arf arf!’, but as I got older and bigger, they cut it out.
BORN: 19/2/63 in Paddington. It’s a pretty unmystical place to be born for someone who’s been labelled as a mystical person. Ha ha!
WHAT’S YOUR “PAD” LIKE? Slammin’. In a word, it’s just slammin’. It’s a one bedroom flat in West London, full of gadgets and hi-tech stuff. It’s all completely soundproofed and cut off from the neighbours. It’s like a love shack really. It’s really quiet and private. Do I live there on my own? Sometimes, just depending on what’s going on.
TO QUOTE YOUR LYRICS, WHY DO WE HAVE TO “GET A LITTLE BIT CRAZY” IF WE’RE TO SURVIVE? Well, y’know. I find that most of the people I talk to are just really tight-arsed about things. When I say you have to be crazy, I mean do things that other people may regard as crazy. Follow your instincts. Just basically going for it. I’m not telling people to go out and go mad. It’s about doing what you feel, not what people think you should do.
WOULD YOU EVER MAKE A PERVY VIDEO LIKE MADONNA? Yeah, but I wouldn’t pretend I was making love, I would do it. You get a better effect. I’m not convinced by Madonna. I would have got turned on more if there were shots of her really doing it. (!)
DO YOU “DO THE WEIGHTS”? Work out? No, I don’t actually. It’s a natural physique. Ha ha! I’m going to have to work out pretty soon because I’m getting pretty unfit. Bad habits? I’ve got loads of bad habits, none of which I’m going to tell you about. I’ve just been neglecting myself recently. Ideally, I’d like to swim every day, but not in this environment, somewhere like the Caribbean or Asia. There’s too much chlorine in the water in the swimming pools here. It makes my skin go funny.
TALKING OF WHICH, WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR WEIRD FACIAL MARKS? They just appeared over a period of about a year, about four years ago.
WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING SO TALL? It’s alright. I don’t find it difficult finding shoes or trousers or anything. I’m about 6'4". It’s good because you don’t run into so much hassle with people. You tend to be able to talk your way out of things as opposed to having to resort to physical violence. Not that I ever would because I’m not a violent person.
DID YOU HAVE A BIG ROW WITH ADAMSKI? No. I didn’t have a big row with Adamski, I had a row with someone at Adamski’s record company. I still see Adam all the time, we’re really good friends, but the papers blew the whole thing out of proportion. They’ve said some real cruel things about Adam, like he’s a drug addict and stuff, and I know him well and he’s anything but a drug addict. He’s a really nice, caring person.
1: MOST BELOVED FLOWER: Orchids. They’re just unusual and quite rare. I sometimes have them lying around the house, but really, I don’t spend much time at home, so to have plants or animals at home is a bit of a responsibility I can’t handle at the moment.
2: MOST ESSENTIAL KITCHEN APPLIANCE: It has to be my Hotpoint digital washing machine. It actually goes and gets the dirty underwear from under your bed, it’s so advanced! But I couldn’t bring it here, so I brought my coffee percolator instead. I love my coffee, and why settle for second best? Real coffee tastes like real coffee, and instant coffee tastes like a poor excuse for coffee.
3: MOST DESIRABLE SWEETIES: Those KP chocolate dips. I’m not really fond of sweets. I like them when I’m in bed watching the telly or something.
4: TASTIEST SANDWICH: Salmon and cream cheese bagels, with a side serving of scrambled eggs. I have it every Sunday afternoon between 12.00 and 2pm. It’s a ritual. Yeah, it’s a high cholesterol meal, but you only live once, don’t you? It’s one of the few vices I’ve got left. It’s very civilised.
5: MOST ATTRACTIVE PHOTO OF SOMEONE ELSE: I like this photo of the singer Joni Mitchell because she looks like a bird just about to take flight. I’ve got her CD “Hejira” here —
6: FAVOURITE POP STAR EVER: Jimi Hendrix. He was a funky dude with a guitar. He’s really trendy at the moment, so I was reluctant to say he was my favourite pop star because I’m not a trendy person. I’ve been into his music for years.
7: MOST CHERISHED CUDDLY TOY: A cuddly seal that Adamski bought for me. I’ve got a Scalextric set and a water pistol, but I like fluffy toys best. When you’re all alone you can cuddle up to them. He bought it from a service station for me when we were on tour. I thought it was sweet. He’s into cuddling toys as well.
8: MOST “DASHING” ITEM OF CLOTHING: It’s a cape, it’s not a jacket. I had it made for me. It’s my superhero cape. You’ve got to feel like a superhero when you wear it, otherwise you can’t handle the cape.
9:MOST “DAZZLING” ITEM OF JEWELLERY: The little silver dolphin in my hair. I’ve got lots of bits and pieces of silver in my hair. I’m dolphin friendly. I try not to eat tuna as much as I used to because, apparently, there’s sometimes bits of dolphin in it.
10: MOST AMAZING PAINTING: This is “Persistence Of Memory” by Salvador Dali. He was an eccentric who seemed to paint from his dreams. The paintings of his that I like most are the surreal ones. They blow my mind.
11: MOST PLAYABLE VIDEOS: Bladerunner (starring a younger Harrison Ford and the spooky bloke off the Guinness ads). It’s a really convincing science fiction movie. Well, it convinced me that I was in the future at least.
12: JUICIEST FRUIT: Melons, obviously. Continue »