Welcome And Meet Soul Duo

Alicea 0:03

Hello everyone. I'm Alicea.

Nathan 0:25

I'm Nathan.

Sonia 0:26

I'm Sonia.

Paul 0:28

And I'm Paul.

Alicea 0:29

Welcome to episode 244 of Adventures and Mouse Capades. Well, grab your cruise beverage of choice and get comfy in your favorite lounge because today we are chatting with one of Disney Cruise Line's most beloved musical acts. They are talented, they're entertaining, they're from two different continents, and somehow they've managed to turn all of that into one amazing musical journey. It is our pleasure to welcome Paul and Sonia from Soul Duo to Adventures and Mouscapades.

Nathan 0:55

Welcome, guys.

Paul 0:56

Thank you so much.

Sonia 0:58

Thank you very much, guys. We're so happy to be here.

Nathan 1:01

Yeah, and uh this is our our we were just talking before we hit record. This is our first international podcast. We are on three continents here this morning.

Paul 1:09

Amazing.

Nathan 1:10

Uh we're outside Seattle. Paul, you're in the UK. Sonia, you're home in Colombia.

Sonia 1:15

Yeah.

Nathan 1:16

I love it.

Paul 1:17

If you're in the UK, I think everyone presumes you're in England. Whereas I, of course, I'm in Wales. Yeah. Which is which is much greener and much nicer, but it has been on fire a lot recently.

Nathan 1:27

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, that whole um the climate thing is it's doing a thing. It's

Paul 1:34

it certainly is. It certainly is.

Nathan 1:37

Well, for listeners who may not have sailed with you before, who are Paul and Sonia?

Paul 1:43

Well, we are the legendary soul duo, of course. Uh known throughout the uh seven seas as the finest duo ever to uh come from Wales and Columbia.

Nathan 1:53

Yes.

Paul 1:57

I would think. We we are um yeah, we we're a duo, we're both musicians, we both sing, we both play a little bit. Sonia's better than me, but um, I play guitar and piano and uh and a few other things. She plays like uh I don't know, 15 instruments or something ridiculous. Um yeah, she's the she's the talented one who who went to school, and I'm the uh lazy one who played football the whole time. Uh by football, obviously. Yes, that's true.

Nathan 2:24

The real one.

Alicea 2:25

The real football.

Paul 2:26

Yeah.

Alicea 2:28

Well, give us the soul duo origin story.

Paul 2:32

So we were working together, uh uh inadvertently working together on uh a Norwegian ship. So I was in a Beatles tribute band, and Sonia was in a Latin trio, and they used to play sort of out by the pool and you know that kind of thing. And we used to pretty much ignore them. And um

Sonia 2:52

that's true. That is true.

Paul 2:55

And then yeah, we decided that we would um have a uh a trumpet player and a couple of saxophone players come and play with us every week. We were doing sort of more of the the later Beatles kind of stuff, Sergeant Pepper onwards, and it really suited having you know the brass section. So that's that's really how we kind of got to know each other. Um and and yeah, what what else, babe?

Sonia 3:17

Well, that's I I every every time we talk about this, um I I never told him this before, but uh not never, but when we actually met and we started going out, etc.

Nathan 3:30

Yeah.

Sonia 3:30

But so that was it. So we were rehearsing for the show, whatever, and I was really excited, but then I heard him singing when we were doing the show, and I was like, Oh my god. So yeah, I was already in love when I didn't know what his name was or anything.

Paul 3:49

So it's so easy.

Sonia 3:52

It happens all the time.

Nathan 3:56

Well, for both of you, you've kind of fell into being um you know your musicians either by intent or on the side from your you know football career, uh, there, Paul. Like, was there was there a moment when you realized being a musician could be more than just a hobby or a side gig?

Sonia 4:17

Well, for me, it's always been my life. So everyone in my family, we're all musicians, my my parents, my siblings, everyone. So the only one who who didn't only study music was my big sister, she's a doctor. But when I finished school, I was already studying, as Paul said, many instruments, many music styles.

The Origin Story Onboard

Sonia 4:40

And when I finished, my mom said, right, okay, so we need to make sure you have a future, you don't struggle, as we have done as musicians.

Nathan 4:50

Yeah.

Sonia 4:51

So I was already thinking, right, what do I like? Not much really apart from playing my instrument. So that was a no-brainer for me. I I was always playing music, I was always doing loads of things with music, and I was like, this is it. So I never really thought more than five minutes what to do apart from music.

Paul 5:16

Yeah, similar thing, really. I um I sort of joined a band. As soon as I left school, I started a band with a friend. Um, and uh and it went from there. We played mainly, we we played some covers, but it was mainly original songs that that me and him would write. And then uh he went away to university, so I joined a different band, and uh the couple of guys in there were already kind of songwriting and whatever. So, and they were a little bit older than me. And at that age, when you're sort of 18, someone who's 22 or 23 or 25, they feel like you know they're in charge, you know, they're the bosses and they're in charge. So I kind of took a back seat in the songwriting. But we played original music for a long time, um, sort of, you know, going around the country, going down to London to play and doing a lot of universities around the country and things like that. Um, but then you kind of gradually realize it if you if you're not necessarily going to make it, you know, if you're playing the wrong music at the wrong time, that's we could play, we could write songs, we could play, but there's always that where you need to be in the right pigeonhole at the right time. Um we never were, we were we weren't quite right. So you kind of realize that you've got to start playing other people's songs if you want to actually get by being a musician. Yeah, so we ended up, you know, we did a lot of weddings and stuff like that, and um, so yeah, went from there reading. I've done different things. I always a huge fan of the Beatles, and that's how I ended up doing this Beatles kind of tribute things, which I was doing on the weekend um on Friday night. So that was interesting. I got my old John Lennon wig out and my guitar and my suits, and uh yeah, so um it's always nice to brush off the wig and you know, give it that.

Nathan 6:58

Um I'm um I'm sad we missed that set on board. I mean, we've sailed with you guys several times, and I've never seen the wig. I'm I feel like we've really missed out on life here.

Paul 7:08

I I didn't actually take the wig. We did do a full Beatles show on Disney, but I never took the wig. It was uh I thought it was a step too far. Yeah,

Alicea 7:19

just getting into character.

Paul 7:20

Yeah, yeah. Well, and Sonia refused to wear hers, so yeah.

Alicea 7:27

Who were your biggest musical influences growing up?

Sonia 7:30

Oof. You go first because I have to think about.

Paul 7:34

Well, definitely the Beatles. Um I discovered the Beatles when I was pretty young, and I asked my mum, did we have any Beatles records? And she said, Yes, they're all in the in the cupboard. Underneath the record player, there was a cupboard and it had loads of records in. I'd never really looked in there because they were mum and dad's records. And uh I put my hand in, and the first thing I found was the first Beatles album, which was uh called Please Please Me. That was from 1963. So I I took it out and I played it and played it and played it and played it and played it. I just played it endlessly. I completely scratched it to death. Um, just like every other Beatles album that was in the cupboard, they were all there in perfect unplayed condition, and I basically ruined them because I was just too young to I was probably 12 or something, and then when I was 13 or 14, I started to buy my own records. I realized what a poor choice I had made by destroying my mum and so I and then I looked more closely at them, and it turns out they were all um they were all factory sample albums because my dad was a music journalist, so they were all very rare copies, and like ruined them all.

Sonia 8:41

Yeah.

Nathan 8:42

Yeah. My dad had a heck of a collection uh of of albums. He was a jazz musician back in the early 60s, and uh he had first pressings from you know Miles and like all these folks. And I remember growing up, he had this amazing, amazing hi-fi system, and I was absolutely not allowed to touch any of it.

Sonia 9:09

Now now we know there is a reason, right?

Paul 9:12

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I wish I'd been told. Yeah, I mean the Beatles have always always been there, but then you get to, you know, you get to sort of 13 or 14, and what what kind of is in the charts kind of grabs you at that at that stage, or some of it does. And I was always into sort of indie guitar music. I love the Smiths. Um, there's a band called The House Martins, they were a British band. I loved them, everything but the girl, all of this kind of maybe a bit, some of it maybe not that cheery, but uh I loved it. That that must have been the frame of mind I was in at the time. Uh

Alicea 9:50

emo teenager,

Paul 9:51

exactly. Exactly.

Sonia 9:53

You really like that still.

Paul 9:55

I do, I love it still, I love it still. If I wasn't talking to you, I'd be sat crying on the sofa.

Sonia 10:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listening to the smiths.

Paul 10:04

Yeah.

Nathan 10:05

All right, Sonia. You've had enough time, you've put this off long enough. Your musical influences.

Sonia 10:11

Right. So, as I said, my parents are musicians and they are both uh traditional uh musicians. So Colombian music, Latin American in general, and um historically, I think Mexico has been a massive influence in the whole continent, North and Central and South America. So I've always listened to really, really, really old Latin American music. And when I was in school, I loved classical music. So I could mention lots of Latin Americans, uh, however, they are too many. Uh and and two classical, Bach and Chopin uh absolutely martyred me for many, many, many years, and only afterwards I was interested in in jazz, and then when we met with Paul, it was really funny because when we started talking, he was like uh the Beatles. And it was like, Yeah. Um yeah, like really, I never actually listened to music in English,

Nathan 11:17

right

Sonia 11:18

But it wasn't a thing here in my family, it was me for some my my my taste. I I always listened to classical jazz, Latin American, and when he met my sisters, they actually were talking about the same music, they knew what he was talking about, and blah blah blah. And he was like, You're the only weird one. Because I didn't know I he was he would tell me, you know, uh talk to me about songs and Michael Jackson. Of course I know Michael Jackson, but the names of the songs, yes, uh this one sounds familiar, and it was really funny, very, very different backgrounds, yeah.

Nathan 11:56

Oh, yeah. So you have this whole array of music to pull from, and then you guys start, you know, uh performing together and you're putting together these sets. How do you decide what songs

Influences From Beatles To Latin

Nathan 12:10

make it into a soul duo show, into a set?

Paul 12:14

It's yeah, I think we when we started with Disney, they would say to us, you have to do a lot of pop music, you have to do a lot of top 40 stuff. And we we very quickly re well, I I very quickly realized, first of all, if you don't enjoy playing it, you're not gonna look like you're enjoying playing it. That's the first thing. So and people know people can see when something's sort of real and when when it's not, and also nobody else liked it either. So the people that come and the people that would come and sit and listen to us were not teenagers, it was either little kids who are not listening anyway, they don't care what you play, or it was generally

Sonia 12:55

danced to anything,

Paul 12:55

yeah, they'll dance to anything, or generally more grandparents, because the parents would be, you know, off doing this, that, and the other and not really listening. The grandparents were always the ones that were more interested in sitting there, having a quiet drink and listening to the music. So then, you know, I said, We need to start playing some more classic kind of stuff, you know, 70s, 80s, 60s, even. Um, yeah, so we we ended up putting together sort of rock and roll sets, 60s sets, um ABBA and Carpenter's set, the Beatles obviously.

Sonia 13:25

That's how the Beatles came. Uh-huh.

Paul 13:27

Yeah. Um, so yeah, pretty quickly I realized that if we kept playing top 40 stuff, nobody is really interested. And those songs come and go so quickly.

Alicea 13:37

They do.

Sonia 13:38

Exactly. And it was like, you know, it was like walking from the disco that was playing the same music that we were being asked to play. So it was like, you know, not nothing different, you know.

Paul 13:51

Yeah. No, exactly. When we started, there were always two duos when we started, and we would sometimes walk along deck three or whatever it was, and you'd have the song in the disco, then you'd have the duo in the atrium playing the same song, then you'd have us playing the same song, and it was like this is this is not right.

Sonia 14:11

Yeah.

Nathan 14:11

Right. Was Disney okay with did they figure out that there needed to be that variety going on on board?

Sonia 14:18

As as some would say, yeah but no.

Paul 14:21

Yeah, but no, yeah.

Nathan 14:22

Okay.

Paul 14:22

Well, the the people on the the that you know, like the cruise director, assistant cruise director, those kind of people that were in charge of us at the time, they can see what works and what doesn't. The people that work short side who have a say in what you play, they can't see the reaction of an audience. They're just going off a bit of paper. So they really they tell the ship to tell us what to play. The ship tells us what to play, we ignore them and play what we want, and everybody's happy.

Nathan 14:53

Perfect.

Sonia 14:54

See, by Paul's orders. And I was like, actually, this is working. So yeah.

Nathan 15:00

Yeah, that's amazing.

Paul 15:01

Yeah, that's that's pretty much the way it works. And you you do there is sometimes um how do I describe this? The I think the the the people on board, you know, the the people higher up in the entertainment department definitely have more of an idea what's supposed to be going on than the people shore side who like to sort of get involved and uh and put their their threpence halfpenny in. That's a that's an old that's an old British term that I've just made up. Um so yeah, it's it's um it yeah, it it it became pretty easy to be fair. They would tell us there were certain things that we shouldn't play because of maybe what's going on in the news or you know that kind of stuff. But apart from that, we were pretty much left to our own devices musically, which was great. It that it worked much better because also you we used to sort of do a set and we'd show up and we'd do a set, and then you realize pretty quickly that that set may not work at that time. So it's a lot easier to look at the room, judge what the people are into and what they like, which I'm pretty good at. And so we would start changing the set. So from what, eight years ago, we we never really did, unless it was a Beatles or a 60s or something, if it was just a set, we never ever had a set list. We just literally made it up as we went along, looking at the audience, seeing what we thought they'd like. And I think that worked better, and also you get a little bit more um spontaneity when that happens.

Nathan 16:33

Yeah, sure.

Paul 16:34

So, and somebody might ask for something, and and there were obviously certain things we didn't know at all, a lot of stuff from America from the 70s and 60s that I wouldn't know because growing up in the UK. Um but apart from that, we normally try and play something. If we had some idea of it, we'd actually try and give it a go. And even if you didn't play it properly, people are like, wow, that's amazing, you know. So

Sonia 16:59

really appreciative, yeah.

Paul 17:00

Yeah, they're

Nathan 17:01

sure,

Paul 17:01

yeah.

Sonia 17:03

So I talking about that, it that didn't last by the way, that didn't last a minute. The fact that we have uh that we had a set list. Right because luckily he realized pretty quickly, and it was really stressful because we were like, this is not working. So I don't know if you realized if you the the last few times that you saw us, that's why I was looking for a picture, because we have this all of the set names, and that's why they are like so generic. Like, you know, singers and songwriters and smooth sounds and songs by the city, and you know, because okay, show up and we'll see.

Nathan 17:37

Right, yeah.

Sonia 17:38

We'll try to get you involved, and you know, because we noticed if we say uh nine 90s and it was too early or too late, or or there or as Paul says, um, just older people that are really not into the nineties, so so that's why we were just like making things happen and that's actually how we at the beginning we didn't have almost at all any Latin music or any jazz. So that's how it became a thing as well. We were like actually all of Latin people, you know. So we we we made sure for the for the 730 set, for example, always to have something Latin, like really upbeat, and something that even people who don't speak Spanish will are familiar with.

Nathan 18:26

Yeah.

Sonia 18:26

And same, and same if it was earlier or later, but something Latin, always, and there were some someone always, always, always, who would know the song, and so that's how everything came together.

Nathan 18:39

Yeah, I have I have a playlist that I love throwing on, I think it's Spotify. It's called Cuban Cigar Lounge, and I have no idea what any of those people are singing about, but it's amazing music.

Sonia 18:52

Right? Yeah, yeah.

Alicea 18:55

Have you ever added songs because cruise guests keep requesting them?

Sonia 19:00

Yeah. So every time we we someone says, Oh, you know which one would sound really good with your voice, or which one you should play, or or I love this one, or blah blah blah blah blah. I always download it, I always take note of it and I listen to it. I have to listen to some songs a few times because at the beginning you're like, um, no. Or you know, that wouldn't work with us, or things like that. So we give it time, listen to it a few times, apart from oh yeah, that's the same song someone asked us, and you know, so eventually, if it's not someone we've seen once and never again, and this is a song that the artist is not well known, and we're not sure it's gonna sound good with our arrangement or something like that. We're like, eh, no.

Nathan 19:52

Yeah,

Sonia 19:52

so yeah, we give it time, we think about it, we keep listening to people, and depending on that, we'll we'll work on it.

Paul 19:59

There are quite a few that we've that we have learned though over the time. And there was one that uh, for instance, um, there was uh a couple we met, and they got in touch with us and asked us to record a version of a song for them to use as their first dance at their wedding, which was which was really nice. Yeah. So that was really, really nice.

Sonia 20:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Paul 20:21

So we've done a few things like that.

Alicea 20:22

That's awesome.

Nathan 20:23

Are there songs that you secretly love performing every night that you always want to work into your sets?

Sonia 20:29

Yes. So depending on uh if we have like, for example, a lot of people and we know it doesn't really work, we we just get on with it and we don't mind not playing it.

Nathan 20:42

Yeah.

Sonia 20:42

But for example, atrium, 9 45, 10 p.m. and we're like on our own, apart from the guest service, guest services guys, and the people who are just living everything clean and stuff. We're like, yeah, you know what? I wanna and we actually not only did this the song I like to sing, but I I I I asked him, could you please sing this for me? And you know, we just we just learned with time to make a thing to make the most of every situation. If we have loads of people, we just give everything, and we end up dead after that set, but we love it.

Nathan 21:20

Yeah,

Sonia 21:20

and as well as there's absolutely no one, what do you want to do, what do you wanna hear, what do you wanna practice. So, yeah, there are different different things that we always like to do when we're on our on our own, and we're like, oh yes, I love this.

Paul 21:37

You know, it's it's but quite often that will actually get people to stop as well. So people who are wandering around deck four, deck five, or whatever, they'll suddenly stop and go, Oh, that's quite good. And um, and then you sometimes build up a crowd. That's how sometimes we've had these accidental huge Latin parties in the atrium. We've done that a few times because I'll spot somebody and I'll be like, Sonia, I think they're Latin. Let's just do you know one song or whatever. And then all of a sudden their family appears and then and then another five people and then they're going crazy and everyone's dancing and singing. And yeah. So you think what's what was going to be a completely empty set turns into a big party, which is which is really nice. And it means I get a break because I don't sing any of the Latin songs.

Sonia 22:17

Yeah, exactly.

Alicea 22:20

Are there any songs that you are relieved that nobody requests?

Paul 22:25

There are a few that we always say no to. One is Sweet Caroline.

Sonia 22:32

That he's always said that's where the line is.

Nathan 22:36

That's the line.

Paul 22:38

Yeah, there's that. There's a few, obviously, people walk past and shout free bird.

Sonia 22:46

Sometimes seriously, sometimes

Paul 22:48

that's true. Yeah. Normally joking, but sometimes seriously. So um, but yeah, I don't uh I may have heard free bird twice in my whole life, so I I yeah, I really don't know it very well. It wasn't a big thing over here. Nobody nobody shouts free bird at you in the pub.

Nathan 23:04

Right. Right

Paul 23:06

they shout other things that I can't say, but they don't shout out.

Nathan 23:12

How how do you organize all of the all of the songs that you have in your songbook? Because I like I guess a couple questions. Like, how big is your songbook? And then how do you keep it straight? And I will admit here and now, and I will I have said this to anybody who ever asks. Like, I know a lot of songs. Alicea and I are both musicians. I'm a drummer. Uh Alicea played uh trombone, we both sing. But like I have hundreds, if not thousands, of songs in my head that I know. And then there's the list of names and artists, and they're not cross-referenced. So if somebody says a name and an artist, I'm like, how does that go? And it may be like the biggest song ever, and I I don't have it linked. How do you do that?

Paul 23:59

Uh

Building Sets For Real Audiences

Paul 24:00

I I mean, four sets a night, six nights a week helps. Yeah, because you, I mean, you've got to to a certain extent. I I sometimes we'll forget about a song entirely, and and six months later I'll see it on a list and I'll be like, why did we stop doing that? You know, but otherwise I do because we use we generally use iTunes, just use iTunes to play everything because you can have it, as long as it's not ticked, it doesn't carry on into the next song, etc. etc. You can EQ it, whatever. So we generally use iTunes, and then of course you can make a list. So I can have a Beatles set one, set two, sixties set, 90s set, whatever it is. So we can go into there, we know generally then we've got Latin as well and everything else, so it's easy to go and find the songs. There are some, especially the Latin songs, that Sonia will decide to do after three years that I haven't played. But I'm quite lucky in that that my brain kind of tends to remember where the chord sequence goes. So it doesn't necessarily remember the song so well, but as soon as it's started, if I've got the right key, I can then sort of like, oh yes, I know. Yeah, this goes there or this goes there. Yeah. So and that's I quite enjoy that because it's quite a challenge. You know, you if you're playing the same songs all the time, you just know them inside out, you don't even think about it. So sometimes it's quite nice to have that scary moment where you think, uh-oh, I don't know this very well. But it'll be fine.

Sonia 25:25

That is true. I want to say that his memory is absolutely absurd. There is there are a few people, not many, but a few people with this memory, this musical memory, and one of them is my dad. He's absolutely ridiculous as well. He will remember chords, melodies, names, dates, all sorts of things, and you're like, when was the last time you played this? And Paul is the same, he will remember everything. And I have to, I have to, I'm not the same. I'm not the same, and I'm guessing it's because I read music and I sometimes you rely on it. And also, uh uh I'll tell you about it later, but my insecurities have always like sometimes uh what do you call how would you say that taking the best of me?

Paul 26:13

Get on top of it, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sonia 26:16

So sometimes I'm like, I don't remember if, as he said, if he decides after two years, you know what? Or or or when we're almost on our own and he says, just follow me. Now I'm like, I'll follow you, yeah. But before I was like, oh my god, no. But yeah, his musical memory is ridiculous. Keys, chords, everything. He's amazing.

Nathan 26:40

And then Paul, you mentioned you use iTunes, so you have some backing tracks that have some drums and I'm guessing like bass or something like that going on. Yeah. So you've got like a chord progression going through, right?

Paul 26:52

Exactly. So we can we can some of the tracks we do ourselves on the on the computer. Um, some we'll find, you know, or Sonia will do them, yeah. Sonia will do them. They're not very good and they've always got too much bass on them, but apart from that, true story. Uh but um, and then and then we'll find stuff, you know, on on YouTube that people have recorded and uploaded or whatever. And also now we've found this this um uh I use uh what's it called? Uh Logic Pro on my on my laptop. No, Logic Pro. I Logic Pro, I was gonna talk about first. So um on there you can take a song and it will split it into each part of the song. So it'll split the drums, the bass, the piano, the guitars, the vocals. So you can, in essence, we we actually haven't done it, but you can, in essence, use the original song, remove the vocal, remove the guitar and the piano, and then you could you literally use whatever the eagles recorded or whatever, you know, the Beatles, whatever it is.

Sonia 27:58

Yeah,

Paul 27:59

so that I think that's the way forward because the quality then is so good. Because that you know, the recordings have had thousands and thousands of pounds, stroke dollars, stroke uh billions and billions of Colombian pesos spent on them. Um, so yeah, that that's that's definitely a a a way forward. Although we we quite enjoy doing the stuff without tracks, you know, just us two playing,

Nathan 28:23

yeah,

Paul 28:23

more on a more of an acoustic y thing as well. It depends. So the seven 7.30 sets were always the time when the kids would be dancing, and you know, so you do all the up tempo kind of stuff, but 9 30, 10 30, you know, when there's only three people there and two of them are on their phones and one of them's asleep. Um so so you then you can play more sort of laid-back acoustic stuff, which is really, really nice. You can play a lot of the stuff you know you love yourself rather than sort of trying to play sort of crowd pleasers or whatever. And there are always people who appreciate good music, they don't have to know it to say, Well, that's a great song. Who's that by? You know, so we got that quite often. We play sort of sort of uh less famous things from the UK, for instance, you know, some of the bands that I liked. And um, people a lot of people will either come up and say, Wow, I can't believe I've just heard that on Disney, or what you know, what was that? I'll have to look them up, kind of thing. So that's quite nice when that happens.

Nathan 29:19

How do you remember lyrics? That would be that would be my downfall. Like, I'd be okay like with roadmap of a song and chord progressions and stuff like that, but lyrics I would just be lost.

Sonia 29:30

We always have them there, we always make sure they are there.

Nathan 29:33

Okay.

Sonia 29:34

But most of the time we actually do know them. As Paul said, doing four four sets six nights a week helps.

Alicea 29:42

Yeah, just learn them. Yep.

Sonia 29:43

Um, but we always have them there just in case. Most like 99.9 of the songs are on the iPad just in case. Uh I do get uh and Paul will don't make fun of me. I do get distracted a bit sometimes. So that's why I need the lyrics right there.

Nathan 30:04

Yeah. What do you use on the iPad? What like what is there an app that you have that that uh has all the charts in it?

Paul 30:11

There are apps.

Sonia 30:13

We used to have like proper apps, the same as we we tried a few apps to play music and we never got along with them. Same on the iPads. We we we we had like specific performer apps for that, and we were like, I can't really, I don't like it. I don't like the fact that you need to do this to get into the song or double click on that, and you're like, I don't have the time.

Nathan 30:35

Yeah.

Sonia 30:35

So we just use like the normal notes apps on on um I I've got a a tablet and Paul has the iPad. So we have different apps that it's basically the same PDFs and just I work on everything and and put everything together. I used to do Paul likes just putting the first lines of everything because he re will remember the rest. I'm like, no. There will be a night that I am completely gone. For example, the final week of every contract, my brain is already, oh yeah, I'm going to eat plantain cake, and I'm gonna do this, and you know, I'm already thinking of food and resting and home. So my brain is gone. For example, by then I will lead the whole thing lyrics, chords, everything.

Nathan 31:21

Yeah, yeah. We use um uh an app called Fourscore, and it's basically you just throw PDFs in it, and it it just keeps your whole library. And I love it because uh we'll use like the Apple Pencil, and we could make notes and stuff like that on there, and they just stay. It's perfect, it's super helpful.

Sonia 31:39

So helpful, yeah.

Paul 31:40

Yeah, and um as Sonia mentioned before, we also have this thing called iReal Pro, which is it's sort of more of a jazzy-based um program, but okay, you can on there people just upload the the stuff, and then you can change the key, the tempo, the style, and it's mainly jazzy kind of stuff. There are pop songs, but you could do, let's say, you could do yesterday as a bossa nova, or you could it it's so yeah, you can change whatever you want. It's really good. You can take the drums out if you want to, you can take the piano out so Sonia's playing the piano parts,

Sonia 32:15

bass out,

Paul 32:16

yeah. The bass out. So it's it's really, really good. And it's it's so cheap. I think it's like $15 or something. And it's so good by that.

Sonia 32:23

I guess downloading with people, you know, you look for what you're you're interested in, and he's really cool.

Paul 32:29

Yeah, yeah, it's really good.

Alicea 32:31

Crowdsource.

Paul 32:31

Yeah, really good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Get someone else to do the work.

Alicea 32:36

Exactly. That's that's the way to do it, right? How did you first get connected with Disney Cruise Line?

Paul 32:46

On the ship that we met on, which was a Norwegian epic, our cruise director, when we both joined, we both basically joined the same day, I think, didn't we? And we left the same day, which was very weird. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. But um, our cruise director on there is called Karen, and um she then left the she she stopped being a cruise director and she became an agent. So I was in still in touch with her on Facebook. I was a friend with her on Facebook. We didn't talk very often, I didn't really know her that well, but uh when Sonia, so Sonia came to study in the UK, she came to Wales and she did a master's degree in jazz. Uh so when she and we were playing together there on the weekend, so we thought,

Requests, Crowd Energy, And Hard Nos

Paul 33:30

okay, what what's you know, what do we do next? What's the plan? She got her master's and um we said, well, why don't we just

Sonia 33:37

and my debt?

Paul 33:38

Yes. Yeah. So we thought, why don't we see if we can go to see, you know, just do a duo thing together on a ship or something and see what happens. So I messaged Karen and she replied, Oh, of course I remember you guys, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Disney will love you. That's the first thing she said. And literally, two weeks later, we've got the gig. Oh, wow. Wow. Yeah.

Alicea 34:00

I think what was the audition process like for that?

Nathan 34:04

It sounds like there wasn't one.

Paul 34:05

It was minimal. We actually had a gig. We had a gig at a uh at a holiday park by the seaside in Wales. And we got there early, uh, took a took cameras with us, and we said, Do you mind if we used a room? There was nobody in there. We said, Can we use the room to make a video? And they said, Yeah, of course, carry on. So we set our PA up and everything. Um, got the lights working, which were the most ridiculous lights you've ever seen. We were sort of doing whether it wasn't know how to set them. So it was uh if it was a ballad or it was a rock song, it was the same crazy flashing lights. And so

Nathan 34:41

you're musicians, you're not lighting designers,

Paul 34:43

no exactly. So so so we finished that the video. We thought, yeah, that's okay. I mean, looking back on it now, it was not okay. But we so we sent it to our agent and she said, um, she she said, yes, they love it, but they'd like to see a couple more modern songs because we were doing some older kind of stuff. So we basically had nowhere to do it. We we'd only got we wanted to get it back as soon as possible. So we actually went round to a friend's house and recorded in their kitchen against like the backdrop of a sort of uh a window covered in a drape or whatever. And um,

Sonia 35:21

yeah, yeah, yeah.

Paul 35:22

And Sonia sang. What did you sing? Oh, raw, Katy Perry. Yeah, yeah, and you look quite cool. She had like a beanie hat on, and she was sort of giving it a listen.

Sonia 35:34

So I had my whole thing and it was gonna get changed with my dress, and everyone was like, it doesn't really apply. Just wear your hat and just stay like that. I was like and

Paul 35:43

you look super cool.

Sonia 35:44

That's what we did.

Paul 35:45

Oh, I know. I sang happy. I did happy by uh yeah, because uh happy and it was yeah, fairly yeah, I didn't know the song at all, so I'd got the words like on a bit of paper, and you can see me looking at the camera and then looking at the words, looking at the camera, looking at the words. It was it was terrible, it was pretty bad. So uh, but we we got the gig.

Nathan 36:08

That's awesome. How long ago was that?

Paul 36:11

2014.

Sonia 36:12

Oh, it was November 2014.

Paul 36:14

Oh, yeah, November 2014 we recorded it, yeah. Wow, yeah, wow. I was young then, younger, not young, younger.

Alicea 36:24

Yeah. Did you know what to expect before your first contract?

Paul 36:29

No, not at all. I kind of presumed it was I presumed it was gonna be a bit like you know, the ship that we met on, for instance, which was pretty much flat out party, you know, everything everything open until 4 a.m. You could go and get food at 2 a.m., no problem in the bar. And uh, you know, we were presuming, because we knew no better, that that it would be the same as every other ship. But then you get there and everyone's in bed by 11 and you know you exactly, yeah, exactly. I mean, literally the ship is

Sonia 37:02

that was basically yeah, that was basically our joke for many years. We were like, right, Mickey doesn't want you to be out after 11, so let's wrap up, you know.

Alicea 37:14

The kids they gotta get the kids to bed. Yeah, that's it, yeah.

Nathan 37:17

That was often my parent that my parents have have cruised with us a few times, and that's uh and they've cruised on some other ships as well, and that's always the complaint out of my dad is like this place just dies at like 10 or 11 o'clock. Like, what's going on?

Paul 37:31

Nothing is going on.

Alicea 37:33

Yep, yeah, what does a typical week look like for Soul Duo on a Disney ship?

Sonia 37:40

Ooh, it depends. So it was absolutely flat out if we were in Europe, for example. Up at seven or before, go and explore even the places we've been to because we love Europe. We love Europe. So depending on where we were, take the train somewhere, do this, do that, obviously enjoy some food, um, come back, get ready, play, and repeat. That was it. If we were in the Caribbean, because we've been there many times, it it changes because um we would get up, have coffee. Oh, that's the first thing. I don't I can't look at anyone in the eye or hear listen to anyone before coffee. So that's always been our ritual, which I love.

Paul 38:31

Her ritual.

Sonia 38:32

Go to the gym.

Paul 38:34

Her ritual.

Sonia 38:35

Yeah, you yours is uh tea. Um go to the gym, go for lunch, and the afternoon it always depended on when in the contract we were. So if it was if it was early in the contract, we were always like I I was always uh working on new songs and saying, okay, we're gonna learn this, we're gonna learn that, we're gonna this is for you to learn, and blah blah blah. Uh if it was later in the contract, depending on our voices, it would be mostly instrumentals that we would learn or or you know, something new for us as well, not to have it too even though we have hundreds of songs, you just don't want to play the same every time. So all the time we were learning new stuff, and at the end of a contract, absolutely nothing in the afternoon. We're like see you in the set.

Alicea 39:32

How many sets are you usually playing?

Sonia 39:36

Four.

Alicea 39:37

Okay. Okay.

Sonia 39:38

Yeah. So that's reason why we were generally four. It was three before COVID.

Songbook Systems And Backing Tracks

Sonia 39:45

It was mostly four after COVID.

Alicea 39:47

Okay.

Sonia 39:48

So uh so um that's another reason why. So there are two reasons why we started working on a lot of jazz. Well, three. I always wanted to.

Nathan 39:59

That's the most important reason.

Sonia 40:01

Yeah. But Paul was like, uh, that's not gonna work. The best excuse for me was that um now we were playing in soul cat, so that was the jazz, you know, pain and blah blah blah. So and also at the end of a contract, you're like, okay, I don't wanna I wanna be ready for 730 and for the specific sets we have Beatles, 90s, whatever. So that's how jazz came also to be one of our sets every day. So if it was especially at the end of the contract, we were like, right, instrumental. You know, take a rest.

Alicea 40:40

How how long are the how long are the contracts usually?

Sonia 40:45

They used to be really long when we started. No, I mean really long for your voice. Otherwise, it's really not compared to other companies, compared to other positions that are six, eight months.

Nathan 40:57

Right.

Sonia 40:58

We used to do normally four and a half months.

Nathan 41:03

Okay.

Sonia 41:04

The most was six in one contract, right?

Paul 41:08

Yeah, uh, was it did we do a six month contract?

Sonia 41:10

Yeah. Uh only a couple times when they said I we need you for me to do that. And there was one that we actually did like seven and a half.

Nathan 41:20

Whoa.

Sonia 41:21

Yeah, that was a lot. But it was it it was um accidental because they do so we weren't supposed to go to Europe with the magic in 2017. Sorry. And and we were like, once again, it escaped us, you know, and we were like so really, really wanted to go to Europe. But by that time, it also depended as well in uh what is that called seniority. So it was always the same duos, and we were like, We're too new, we're too new. Oh well. And then the duo that were replacing us, the singer had a really, really an awful thing with his throat.

Alicea 42:02

Nodules or something else.

Sonia 42:04

Yeah. It was overuse and he was already bleeding, and it was a whole thing. He needed therapy, and blah blah blah. It was awful. It was awful.

Alicea 42:11

Oh goodness.

Sonia 42:12

Uh however, we had to replace them and go to Europe and stay a little bit. We were like, yay!

Nathan 42:19

Oh no.

Sonia 42:21

So we by that time we had completed our contract, then we did like a month or something longer, a month and a half, by which time we were supposed to have vacation and go to the fantasy. So what they did was like uh don't you mind and we were like, no, we don't mind going to Europe. I mean we don't mind working. Yeah. So they actually um we got off in um

Paul 42:53

Copenhagen.

Sonia 42:54

Copenhagen. We had a night in Copenhagen and we were like, oh, this is great. And then they sent us directly to Orlando. We stayed five days, and then they picked us up to to join the fantasy for another like three months. So that was a really, really long contract.

Alicea 43:12

Oh my god,

Paul 43:12

we had like but that little break in Orlando was great because they put us in a hotel, they gave us vouchers for food and everything. So yeah, it was really, really nice.

Sonia 43:22

Went to the parks, of course.

Paul 43:24

Of course.

Nathan 43:25

I love that. What are your speaking of Disney taking care of you, what are your accommodations like on board as like a performer like this? I'm uh like are you downstairs rowing in the you know, in the mornings with the other shoveling coal? Like, what is well or do you have like a a a normal guest room? Like, how does that work for you guys?

Paul 43:46

When we were new, we had bunk bed, cabin, downstairs, obviously. Sort of, you know, deck probably deck one, I think, we would normally on. Uh or or below deck one, so Minus one. Yeah. Um and but as we sort of stayed longer, we became a bit more uh you know, a bit a bit more not important, but you know, we just we'd been around for a little bit. And at that time, there were a couple of the ships that had guest cabins for for for musicians. So you had one cabin, which was a bunk bed cabin, and one guest cabin. So we'd then end up getting the guest cabin quite often, and which was really nice, be on deck two. It was sort of like maybe on the fantasy, right underneath was it the fantasy? No, the magic was right underneath the disco. So you'd hear boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. But you got used to that in two seconds, and it was great. The room was nice, it was an inside cabin, but it was a nice cabin, big size. Uh, and we could also have family then come and cruise with us. They could come and stay in the room, you know, on the extra beds and whatever. So, um, so that was always really, really nice. And if we weren't in one of those on the fantasy, there were two cabins, so we'd get one each, but they were basically almost a double give or take. So we'd actually live in one and keep all our stuff in the other one, and then we could have family come and cruise in the other cabin, which was great. So we could like get the suitcases out of the way, really, really nice. Yeah, really nice. So that worked out really well, and then on the but then we came back from COVID and everything had changed.

Alicea 45:24

Yeah,

Paul 45:24

the the guest cabins had gone, half of the musicians had gone, to be fair. They were probably I would say half the musicians on board after after um COVID than there were before. So they decided to get rid of the guitar player, they decided to get rid of um the other duo, so there was only ever one duo. Violinists went. Yeah, it was it it was weird. You you did we ended up sort of sometimes only having four musicians in total on board, which was wow, that's probably why we went to having to go to do four sets.

Sonia 45:56

Exactly.

Paul 45:57

Yeah, huh? Yeah. So that was um I think it kind of went from one extreme to the other. Probably at when we started, there probably may have been for small ships, maybe a musician too many or whatever, and then you went to having definitely not enough.

Alicea 46:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I remember we were we were on a cruise in 2020 um on the wonder. Yeah, and um what was that? That was March, wasn't it? Uh and I know like in the middle they were supposed to do a switchover for um some entertainment guests. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they couldn't do the change at all. No. So how was that?

Paul 46:44

It was we we really enjoyed that cruise, to be honest. Yeah, yeah, it was, it was brilliant. The outside world was going crazy, but in our little bubble on that ship, it was actually really, really nice. We got to know so many people on board. We we we sort of yeah, we we played a few a few sets that we would never have normally done. So I think we went and played with Bonghi up on the deck one night. Um and things like that that you wouldn't normally do, but they obviously they needed they needed as much entertainment as they could get. So yeah, uh, we really enjoyed it. We we we didn't enjoy the much on board afterwards, right?

Sonia 47:26

Yeah, but we were happy to to have to have some attention for our change.

Paul 47:31

Yeah, exactly.

Sonia 47:32

Everyone is going, you know, everyone is going from we always say, but that doesn't happen so much in long cruises and short cruises, which is what we've been doing lately, is you know, from from dinner to the show to the film to the game, blah blah and we just see everyone passing by.

Paul 47:49

Yes, yeah.

Sonia 47:49

So it's really cool to have a different show and to you know to have people there, and it's it's always great.

Nathan 47:55

Yes.

Paul 47:55

And we really enjoy getting to know people, so that's that's nice to just sit and talk to people for 10 minutes or whatever between sets and things like that. It's that's really nice.

Nathan 48:04

We we may have sat down with you guys uh once or twice or five times. Uh speaking of that Panama Canal cruise, you know, we kept having the the captain come on and make announcements of like, oh, the the world is falling apart in a different way now. And it was all sorts of different times of the day. We didn't realize it until I think it was, I think it was your last contract just uh doing the

Alicea 48:29

Marvel Day at Sea.

Nathan 48:30

The Marvel Day at Sea in February. Yeah. And they come on on Marvel Day and they start doing these off-time announcements, and it's like, you know, Spider-Man, please report back to the press room or stuff like that. But the first time it was like 11 or excuse me, 1.15 in the afternoon or something like that, and the announcement tones went off, and Alicea and I looked at each other like, oh no,

Alicea 48:54

what's happening?

Nathan 48:55

What's going on? And we're just like, we're now permanently scarred and triggered by the if it's if it's at noon and though or or like at like five o'clock or something like that, and those announcement tones going off, it's fine. We doesn't hit us at all. But if it's a weird time, random times oh yeah, but we thought something was wrong.

Paul 49:15

You expect to hear Captain Andy. Yeah, right, yeah.

Sonia 49:19

Yeah, it happened to us because we would be um maybe having dinner or whatever. You literally stopped walking, yeah, and you just like right. And you could like everyone was coming and going. As soon as that went, do, do, do, do, do, yeah. You're like, yeah,

Alicea 49:37

what's wrong? Yeah.

Sonia 49:38

Yeah.

Nathan 49:39

I torture myself because I have that as my uh voicemail tone.

Paul 49:43

Oh no.

Nathan 49:47

But you know what? I know when I get a voicemail because I hear that one. There you go. Yeah, yeah. So uh what are some of the hardest parts about working on the cruise ship and and having these contracts? Is is it you know being disconnected from home? Is it just you know, you you've talked a little bit about it can be you know straining on your voice. Like what's you know, it's not all glitz and glamour and showbiz uh on board, I'm sure.

Paul 50:14

No, it's not. No, I think I mean there's definitely being a way, you know, when you've got elderly my dad is 90 now, so uh, you know, you worry about what's going on at home. My brothers are a bit useless, so you know they're not seeing him as much as they should. And um, and yeah, you do worry about things like that. And then obviously, yeah, singing all the time, uh, crew food is well, I'll leave it to your imagination, but um that's that's actually the best way to lose weight. Exactly right. Yeah, there's only there's only so much soup made of bones that you can eat.

Nathan 50:58

So that's where the scraps go, is what I'm hearing.

Paul 51:00

Basically, yeah. Everything everything that the guests leave goes into one big pot. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, crew crew food is not the best. We're lucky because if we want to, we can go to deck nine or whichever, you know, whichever deck it is, deck ten, and we can have pizza or we can have burgers or whatever, but there's only so much of that you can take before you think, right? No, I can't do it. Yeah, yeah. The fantasy is actually quite good in in that respect because they have those like the grilled chicken up there, which is quite nice, and you know, stuff a bit more to choose from, but sort of on the magic where we spent a lot of the time, it's yeah, it's it's not ideal. I mean, we're we're we're very lucky as well. We we we realize how lucky we are to be able to go to deck nine and and and sit up there and eat our food. Most most crew members are not allowed to do that. Um we can be invited by guests, for instance, to go for food. You know, when they're if they're eating at eight o'clock and we don't have a set, they can say, Oh, do you want to come with us? Uh we have to put in a form and ask and whatever, but they'll generally they'll say yes, as long as it's not completely full, then they'll say, Yeah, of course. Um, we got to go to Palo every now and again. Um, so yeah, we're we're quite lucky in in that respect that we got to do all that stuff. Yeah, yeah. The I remember the first time we went to Palo, we were we were very excited, looking forward to it. I think we've been

Sonia 52:24

first contract.

Paul 52:25

Hadn't we been invited up by our by our boss?

Sonia 52:28

No, it was our first contract. We we found out we could go and we were like, we should go on our day off and celebrate this new chapter.

Paul 52:35

No, yeah, so we so we went up there and uh sat down, like nicely dressed and whatever, and uh we ordered and they said, Would you like a drink? Oh, yeah, that'd be nice. We'll have a glass of wine or something. So we had a glass. I don't drink much wine, but I thought it'd be nice to you know just to do it.

Sonia 52:54

They actually did say this is the wine list. And we went, Oh, like actually they did say that, not a drink as in you know, coke or anything. They actually mentioned the wine list, and we were new, so go on.

Paul 53:07

So so we we we thought, yeah, but a glass of wine with our meal, that'd be lovely. And then when we'd finished, we got we I think we got to go and see our boss because they had complained that we'd been drinking.

Sonia 53:22

Oh yeah, and we had no idea,

Paul 53:26

we had no idea, yeah,

Sonia 53:28

and we paid for it. We were like, give it anyway, give to us, you know.

Paul 53:32

Yeah, it's not like it was free and we weren't working, so um and I think we were adults by then, but uh anyway. Even then, yes, that was an interesting one, yeah. To to sort of I mean, we we sort of said, Well, we had no idea. We'd only been with the company a couple of months then, hadn't we? Not even, yeah. And our friends that we became really good friends with the duo that the guy had lost his voice, we became very good friends with them, their their English. And um, I don't know how far back you go. Do you remember Fine Wines? They played jazz, they played both played, he played trumpet, she played saxophone and this, that, and the other. And they played sort of old style, yeah, yeah. They played oldie style stuff. Um, but we became really good friends with them, and uh, and they'd been, and I think they'd had a drink, so we presumed that it was okay, but no, yeah, they just they just got away with it, and we didn't.

Nathan 54:25

Yeah, so which ships have have you guys had contracts

Getting The Disney Gig

Nathan 54:30

on? Uh has it I I know the original four, so the magic, the the wonder, the dream, and the fantasy. Is there a rotation spot for kind of a musical duo on the wish class?

Sonia 54:42

No.

Nathan 54:42

Okay.

Sonia 54:43

No. So when the wish came out, that's when the bands started. So that's that's an uh the the thing that started with them. So so that's how we knew the duos are just for the classics, and the bands are just for the new ships. Okay eventually it became for the bigger ships because the bands started going on the fantasy and the dream, right?

Nathan 55:05

Oh, interesting.

Samantha 55:07

Disney Cruise Line introduced live bands on the Wish class ships like the Victorphonics, the Wishers, and the Scallywags. These events are venue-themed bands pull from a rotating pool of musicians as well as singers from the onboard entertainment cast, as opposed to a dedicated group that moves between ships like Paul and Sonia.

Paul 55:22

Yeah. So we started sort of slowly having our uh our usefulness dwindled, shall we say?

Nathan 55:29

Yeah.

Paul 55:29

Uh, because there would there was really only the the magic and the wonder that we could go to. We did go to the fantasy, didn't we? We did a contract on a fantasy not that long ago.

Sonia 55:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Paul 55:38

But they I don't think the band had quite started there then. Um so exactly. So yeah, that's it.

Sonia 55:44

We were basically replaced by the band. We got to know them.

Nathan 55:48

You're never going to be replaced by the band. Let's just be clear about that. We love the band, and we love you guys, but it's not a replacement, it's just a different thing.

Sonia 56:01

Okay, we'll make sure in the edition you you you you repeat that.

Nathan 56:06

Absolutely. For those that are listening, Ashley, when you're listening to this, sign these guys back. Yeah, yeah, get them back. It's fine. You can have more than one thing going on on the ship.

Alicea 56:22

I have to ask, do you have a favorite Disney ship?

Paul 56:26

Probably the magic because we've been there the most. And also, of course, the longer you spend on a certain ship, you get to know a lot of the crew. We've got a lot of friends. I mean, on each ship, we actually have quite a lot of friends. And they do move around a little bit, but the ones on the magic tend to stay on the magic. So we know a lot of people there that we're really, really friendly with, um, which we sort of yeah, we miss seeing. Um, but uh yeah, that I think probably the magic for me of any ship that goes to Europe, that's my favorite.

Sonia 57:01

Yeah. That's the winner.

Paul 57:03

Yeah, that's the winner. So

Alicea 57:05

that's your favorite itinerary, Europe.

Paul 57:07

Oh, definitely.

Sonia 57:08

Oh, yes, yeah,

Paul 57:09

definitely, yeah. I mean, there's always something to look forward to on in Europe.

Sonia 57:13

Even though the magic is, I think, our favorite. I remember we've only been once to the dream.

Alicea 57:20

Okay.

Sonia 57:20

But I remember we went to the dream after being on the magic, and we were like, oh, sorry, this cable doesn't work. And they would bring a new one.

Paul 57:29

Wow.

Sonia 57:30

A new cable on the ship.

Paul 57:32

A new case that didn't happen on the magic. We were like, oh, sorry, that's the only one. Right, so what do we do? Right.

Nathan 57:40

Well, you didn't bring your solder uh solder kit and no exactly. Do you have a favorite venue or like one that brought the most energy to play in?

Sonia 57:53

I think when we did the Beatles previous.

Nathan 57:56

Yeah.

Sonia 57:56

Depending on what cruise director we had, and it was actually generally uh Peter I can't remember his last name. Um but we always worked so well with him.

Samantha 58:08

Um I think they're talking about Peter Hofer from Switzerland.

Sonia 58:11

So we he every time we did the Beatles, uh he put us in um uh oh god the tube? The disco the tube uh on the fantasy or you know uh the district on the dream or the disco in um on the magic. What's the name?

Nathan 58:30

Oh the D Lounge?

Paul 58:32

Like the the one on deck three between where the piano player is and the atrium. Yes, oh Fathoms.

Sonia 58:41

So every time we play there, because it was a specific set, either Beatles or 60s or rock and roll, and we did ABA a couple times. Every time we played it, the sound is so good there. Yeah, much, much better. It also you know creates a a a better um ambience, and obviously being a specific set, people know what what they go for, and so I think because of everything, because of the energy and the sound, we love playing there.

Paul 59:11

Yeah, yeah, definitely. It makes a big difference when the sound is is is punchy and because we're so used to it being quiet, you know, in in um promenade well I call it promenade in Soul Cat Lounge, right? Um uh which was Promenade. It it those kind of rooms you can't really be very loud. And you do miss that sometimes. You miss having that punch to the music, you know, that that sort of captures people. Um, and and in those other rooms it was always a lot, a lot better. Um and you had a sound engineer as well.

Nathan 59:45

Yes, that makes a huge difference. I I play at this rate probably once a month or so at at church, and it's a it's a big open room, used to be a gym, and it's got a nice sound system, but like it just it is what it is, right? Yeah. And we played, this was years ago. We played a gig, I think it was at it was for a Microsoft thing that yeah, it was a local venue here in town, and it was they had this huge stage set up, and we were like the house band for a Microsoft, I think it was like legal and corporate affairs, uh like annual conference kind of thing. And they did this whole like talent show, blah, blah, blah. And we were the house band for it. And uh, we were back in the corner of the room, and there was this nice stage and drapes behind me on the on the drums, and all the subwoofers were right behind me for the run. And so every time I hit the kick, I could feel it. And it was the best sense. Just the oh I if I could relive that, I would oh yeah, that would that was amazing. That was amazing.

Paul 1:00:49

Yeah, it makes a huge difference. Uh, we did uh uh quite a few years ago now, but uh I I I don't know how it came about, but uh uh the Beatles band I was playing at the time, we got invited to do um what are they called, Boo? What's the name of that paint company?

Sonia 1:01:06

Sherwin Williams.

Paul 1:01:07

Oh, yeah, Sherwin Williams. They they flew us to Nashville and we played in the grand old Opry. Whoa, yeah, and we're doing a Beatles tribute, which was amazing. Yeah, they they picked us up in a in a limo from the airport and put us in a nice hotel, and then we went there. I kind of felt that was the day that my soul uh I gave up my soul because they rewritten some of the words to some of the songs to fit the paint industry.

Nathan 1:01:35

Oh no.

Paul 1:01:36

Yeah, I was like, oh no, this is too much. I've gone too far now.

Nathan 1:01:41

Perhaps I have sold out. Yeah, exactly. It's okay, this is fun.

Paul 1:01:45

And then I went even further and ended up at Disney Summer.

Nathan 1:01:53

Yeah, yeah. Do you have a favorite port that you guys used to visit? I'm assuming it's gonna be somewhere in Europe.

Paul 1:02:02

Probably. I mean, I love I I love Italy because of the the food alone. You know, you can go off, you you you walk five minutes from the ship, what whatever port you're in, and you'll find a fabulous pizza for five euros, six euros, and it's the best pizza you've ever had. So for me, that's pretty important. I mean, there are some other beautiful places that we've been to.

Sonia 1:02:27

Um nature, yeah.

Paul 1:02:31

Yeah, yeah. Iceland was we've done a couple of over the overnights in Iceland, and we actually rented a car one day with a couple of friends, and we drove, we did the whatever that it the fire circle or whatever it's called. The fire, yeah. So we did that, that was amazing. Um, and and when you're in Italy also, you you know, we'd sometimes get off at as soon as we dock, get off at 7:30, rent a car and drive up into Tuscany and go to these beautiful hilltop villages in Tuscany. That's just out of this world. It really is. It's it's amazing. But most of Europe, uh not not that the islands, you know, there's only so many times you can go to Nassau, for instance, right?

Nathan 1:03:10

Yes, I think we've hit that threshold.

Paul 1:03:12

Yes.

Nathan 1:03:12

Oh, long time to get long.

Paul 1:03:14

No, didn't take long. Um,

Sonia 1:03:16

you still wanted to get up. I'm like, what?

Paul 1:03:20

Yeah, well, I mean, every now and again, and uh yeah, we did find like a nice little cafe in Nassau, which was up to one point was almost impossible. But they they they built those new hotels, the Margaritaville one, I think. And next door to that is a really nice hotel, and there's a nice cafe in there, and you can walk on the right by the water. That's actually quite nice. So that improved it for me a lot. Although it's always expensive in the islands as well, it doesn't matter where you are, yeah, everything's expensive. Whereas in in you know, in Europe, you can go off and find a cheap coffee and a and a cake or you know, whatever a croissant or something.

Sonia 1:03:56

And you go places you take a train or a bus for two, three, five euros and go to Rome and you know. Yeah, you can't really do that in many places in in the Caribbean.

Alicea 1:04:08

Yeah, no, no, definitely no no trains.

Paul 1:04:11

No, but of course, some of the pluses of the Caribbean are you can, you know, if you want to go snorkeling or something, it's just beautiful. The water is incredible. Yeah, um Cayman, the water's just fabulous. Um it's not like the Caribbean is terrible, it's just that you know, in the Caribbean, you do just go to the same places over and over again. Yeah, so it it kind of loses some of its sparkle after a after a while. Um, whereas you know, when you come to Europe, it it's not like you're there all the time, even if you've been to those places before, you want to go out and and adventure and look around and that kind of stuff. So Norway, of course, as well. Norway's just incredible, beautiful.

Nathan 1:04:57

Yeah.

Paul 1:04:57

Um so I'd say pretty much anywhere in Europe. I'm not sure what my favorite port in the Caribbean would be. That's a tricky one because there are a few nice ones. Some of the ones you don't visit more often. I guess that's the I guess that's the thing. Yeah, yeah, Curacao is really nice. That's true. Um, but I think we because we've been to um uh what's it called? Um oh god, I just had it in my head now I've forgotten it. Um, you know, Mexico, Cozumel. Yes. We've been to Cozumel hundreds of times, but I actually always like Cosumel. We always there's a nice cafe there where we go for breakfast. You know, you could go to the supermarket, you could drive around the island if you wanted to do something different or get a scooter or whatever. So yeah, I always enjoy Cosumel. And my my hairdresser is there. So he's very good. He's very good, but now we won't see him again, which is weird. I mean, you know, uh at some stage, hopefully we'll see him again. But uh right now, yeah, yeah. So I'm sure he's missing me. He's probably thinking of me right now. I'm sure he's probably.

Alicea 1:06:00

Probably yeah. When you look back at your time with Disney Cruise Line, what what are you most proud of?

Paul 1:06:10

I think for me, uh first of all, I'm probably most proud of Sonia for the the way that she changed as a person, not necessarily as a musician, but as a person in her confidence from when we started to now. Um she she used to be, you know, she was a she was uh a bit of a wallflower when we started, you know. She was she was sort of like a bit nervous and she she wouldn't speak, for instance, into the microphone. But by the time we'd finished, you know, she was talking more than I was. She was making terrible jokes like I would. Um it's true. Um, you can you would you like to tell them what you said on the on the mic?

Sonia 1:06:57

No, I wanna first I want to develop on that because I did work a lot on that. I uh as I said, I've always been a musician, but I've always been in the back. And I loved it. I loved being part of something that came together, but here is the singer, here is you know the center of what we're doing, but I was never the center. So when we we when we started as a duo, yes, I started singing, but I really wasn't that confident singing or being the center. So oh, he would tell me off, and he'd I need to tune my guitar, say something, and I was like, no, no, no idea what to say, don't ask me anything. So but I did work a lot, so I do I do feel the change, especially so when COVID started, it was actually my idea to do these live uh sessions from home.

Samantha 1:07:54

Paul and Sonia did several Facebook live broadcasts during the lockdowns in 2020, which were great fun and brought a bit of their onboard magic right into our living room.

Sonia 1:08:02

And thinking of okay, it might be five people, it might be eighty, we had great nights that we had when when we had more than a hundred people that for us is amazing. Um and it was like the fact that I don't know who's listening, who's judging, who likes it, who doesn't, and and I was like, you know, just do your thing, do it the best you can, come prepared, and blah blah blah. So that was a big thing for me to to let that go and just do what I loved. That was a massive thing, and that actually changed everything, as Paul said, for both of us. I was able to to to to communicate more, and you know, the banter was better because it wasn't just him talking. I was like, No, it was better because uh his humor, his British humor, is always like making fun of himself, making fun of me, making fun of something, or you know, being sarcastic. So if I didn't get back, it would be just awkward, right? Like this guy is making fun of her, and she's just there singing and bless her. Like, and actually, some people took it that way, and we were like, oh dear, no, that's not you know, that's not what we mean. So eventually when I was braver and I and I was actually worse than him, making fun of him, and you know,

Life Onboard After COVID Changes

Sonia 1:09:20

things like that, people actually loved it. So that's that's something that we got to build as well, and it's it's really fun because we play one song and then we talk for like 20 minutes, and people don't get bored. So it's quite cool.

Paul 1:09:34

I think getting to know people, getting to know not only other crew members and people from everywhere, but um getting to know and being friends with a lot of the guests over the years, that's been really, really, really nice. I'm quite proud of that because I I don't think, you know, I I I watch some of the bands and stuff, and they don't interact with anybody. They finish playing and they just go, you know, they go back to the crew room or they go to the crew bar or something. Uh but I always felt like we were good at sort of um trying to include make people feel included in the whole kind of thing. Um, and I think we did that quite well. We ended up doing it quite well, and Sonia was really good at it. She'd go and speak to people, and um, yeah, she was really good at it. She'd she she'd bore them to death, and then I'd come over and make them laugh. So that was good.

Sonia 1:10:24

Uh sure. Yeah.

Paul 1:10:27

But no, but no, we've got some really, really good friends from uh some guests that we've got to know really, really well. And um they're such such lovely people. I've always said when I was when I was growing up, I always feel like uh British people give Americans in general a bit of a bad a bit of a bad run. Um you've got a quite a bad reputation generally.

Nathan 1:10:50

That's fair.

Paul 1:10:51

But all the all the American people that that that we've met, I would say 99.9% of them the nicest people you'd ever wish to to get to know. Um yeah, I think as I've always said, if you don't talk about politics and religion, you're okay.

Nathan 1:11:07

Yeah.

Paul 1:11:08

100%. Yeah, yeah, everywhere.

Nathan 1:11:11

Is is there a Disney cruise moment that still gives you goosebumps when you think about it, or a guest interaction that that just always sticks with you in your heart?

Sonia 1:11:22

There was a time after COVID, and and then again, that last cruise when everything started in 2020.

Nathan 1:11:32

Yeah.

Sonia 1:11:32

And and the fact that we played in at home. So there was a moment when we we and we announced that we were back, and blah blah blah blah blah. Um we posted that we were gonna go back on this ship on this date, blah blah blah. And the first message we got was from one of our friends, and he said, You won't believe what just happened. We were in our garden, and as soon as I saw your post, I started looking for cruises. And I turned to show my wife, and she showed me her phone, and she was doing exactly the same to come and see us. So by the time they came on the ship, we well, not Paul, but the rest of us cried. And it was just such an amazing moment that you you know the the that's something uh I've learned as well with Disney and with our job and what with what we have done, that you have no idea what you do with a song. You're just doing what you do, and when you do it with your heart, you have no idea how you touch people. So so the fact that people were making a massive effort, even though everyone was was trying to be really careful, but as soon as we post something and people say, Hey, so we're coming to see you, or things like that. But that moment after COVID was a massive thing, was so special for us because the effort of coming to see us and so we're coming on this day, and they to this day people kept doing that. So we're coming on the ship. What do you need? Is there anything you want us to bring? And so so sweet because they knew during the first months of after COVID, we couldn't get off the ship, we couldn't like too many things, or bring things on the ship, and and they were like, What do you need? What do you want? And it's just amazing, amazing.

Nathan 1:13:27

Yeah, yeah. I remember we'd always track you. Uh we've been for several years bound by school schedules, and so it was hard to adjust. And I think we I can't remember if I knew y'all were gonna be on our cruise from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Galveston this past November.

Alicea 1:13:46

I don't think you did because we got on the ship and we were very excited to see, I think we were walking one day.

Nathan 1:13:53

We were in the midship elevators on the magic, and it was the the first evening, and we were going down the elevator and we saw y'all playing in the lobby. And I remember like jumping up and down and like tugging on Alicia's shoulder, like, it's Paul and Sonia, Soul Duo's here. It was so great. It was so great. And I think that was you had just gotten on that day, I think.

Sonia 1:14:17

Exactly.

Paul 1:14:17

I think that's right.

Sonia 1:14:18

That was our first cruise back. Yeah.

Nathan 1:14:20

And then we sailed again in February on the magic out of Galveston, and I think that was the end. Was that like the last?

Paul 1:14:27

That was getting towards the end, yeah. Was it the last week? When did we? I can't remember when we got off. Was it March or February?

Sonia 1:14:34

First of March.

Nathan 1:14:35

First of March. I think you had another couple weeks maybe after us. So um it was, I was just, I don't know, it's just always so special to to get to see you guys. Um, you know, we've we've talked a little bit around it. Um Disney's making some programming choices. Right now, we're not sure if and when you're gonna get back on the ships. We're gonna make some phone calls. This is gonna be the start of a movement to petition Disney to get you guys back. Like, what's next for the for the foreseeable future? Where is the Soul duo going?

Sonia 1:15:10

That's a very good question.

Paul 1:15:12

To the dogs.

Sonia 1:15:15

We're gonna go to the docks and go.

Paul 1:15:18

No, not the docks. The dog. The dogs, to the dogs.

Sonia 1:15:23

Oh, what's that? What's that?

Nathan 1:15:25

You're looking at the hitchhike on the dock.

Paul 1:15:28

I'm not doing that.

Sonia 1:15:31

They'll see the instruments and they'll have

Alicea 1:15:33

I guess that's an option too.

Paul 1:15:36

I mean, there are ways to earn money down the docks, but I'm not doing it. Uh now uh it's a good question. I I think we don't really know. It's a little bit up in the air. Um, Sonia would like to study again. She wants to do um music therapy.

Nathan 1:15:56

Oh, wow.

Paul 1:15:57

And um, yeah, so she'd really like to study that. It's just deciding when is the right time. Because obviously she'd have to come and well, she doesn't have to do it here, but it would make sense for her to do it here. Maybe we can do gigs at the same time and whatever, the same as when she was studying. So, but I think that's a decision she needs to make first, or you know, whether we stay on dry land for a little bit and see what we can do, or whether we go to a different company or or or what, uh, it's all a bit up in the air. So yeah, yeah, not not really sure.

Sonia 1:16:29

Yeah, it's actually been kind of a nice opener as well, because we've always talked about, as we were mentioning before, sharing more more time with family. But when you you're on a schedule, you're like, okay, let's do this, let's do this. And then when when things change, you're like, actually, this is great. I'm not rushed to wash everything and pack again, you know. We can make plans with your dad, we can make plans here in Colombia, and it's another thing that is amazing because uh uh unlike other times, because of how everything has I think we've grown as a duo and as a couple, and you know, with so many things to do, I think this time we would realize the um the possibilities are many, so that's the difference. More than stressed, we're like, right, now we need to decide what excites us the most and make a decision.

Nathan 1:17:30

Well, and Paul just moved over to uh a different window, and we have this beautiful view of the Wales countryside. So

Paul 1:17:37

exactly. I know, yeah, it's quite nice to be able to look out of the window every day and go, oh yeah, look at that. That's nice.

Sonia 1:17:45

Gorgeous. Apart from when it's really, really gray and cold, you're like

Paul 1:17:49

Yeah, which is all of the time, apart from this summer, of course, which has been crazy. But I I think it hasn't rained properly for two months or something. So we're actually the UK is really struggling for water. Um, the reservoirs are getting pretty low, so they need some proper rain. But they I think they said the other day it'll be

Favorite Ships, Ports, And Proud Moments

Paul 1:18:10

October until we get proper rain. Wow. But then they said it's gonna be torrential and it's gonna be flooding because the the ground's gonna be so dry that it won't suck up any of them.

Alicea 1:18:19

Yeah, yeah.

Nathan 1:18:21

Can't win.

Paul 1:18:22

I know. That's that's when Sonia gets back as well. So you'll get back just for the massive rainfall.

Nathan 1:18:29

Yay. Yeah. Well, it has been absolutely wonderful to catch up with the two of you. Uh we we can't wait. We will we're getting on the phone. We are we are you know going to be petitioning people uh to to get you guys back on the Disney ships. Uh and if not, you're just gonna have to do more Facebook Live uh concerts like you did back in 2020.

Paul 1:18:55

Thank you if we can work out, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I don't know how to plug everything back. Again, we have to make fun.

Nathan 1:19:02

Yeah. Uh like I said, it it's been so wonderful to to reconnect. Thank you for all of the years of magic and memories that you've given us and and thousands of other guests on Disney Cruise Line. You really are the heart of what makes Disney Cruise Line so magical for so many people. And uh it was it's just such a pleasure to be able to share your story with folks and thank you so much for time today.

Paul 1:19:32

Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much.

Alicea 1:19:35

How best can folks follow you?

Paul 1:19:38

Sonia's in charge of that. She'll answer the question.

Sonia 1:19:41

Okay. So both on Facebook and Instagram, we are Soul Duo Music. So that's the way to find us. Lately, we've been so into like so many things sharing time with family, doing our medical things, things that we never have time for. So lately we've been a bit quiet, but yeah, eventually we'll we'll get to a bit more present. And this is great, by the way. So thank you guys for your patience and for making things this work because we're so excited about this. So this way we'll reconnect with people as well, and and it's gonna be great. So Soul Duo Music, and hopefully, yeah, hopefully you'll

Nathan 1:20:21

we'll get you back on, and they're gonna have a whole new class of new smaller ships and there's gonna be more of them. Yeah, so that would be nice. There's gonna be lots of opportunities, and they will have brand new mic cables, I promise.

Paul 1:20:37

Right? They will bring the ones from the magic. Exactly.

Nathan 1:20:40

No, those are gonna be retired along with the magic.

Paul 1:20:43

Yeah, one of my one of my mic stands on the magic, it's generally the same. I mean, you're on the pan and you're like singing, and you're

Alicea 1:20:54

it fades, it falls, yep.

Nathan 1:20:57

Fun times. Well, thanks again, you two. It was such a pleasure to catch up.

Paul 1:21:01

Thank you so much.

Sonia 1:21:02

Thank you so much, both

Paul 1:21:03

all the best.

Nathan 1:21:04

Thank you.

Sonia 1:21:05

You too.

Nathan 1:21:06

A few moments later. Okay, dear listeners, it's time for story time with Sonia.

Sonia 1:21:12

Oh dear no. Okay, so I'll I'll have to start first with my my what? My excuse for it.

Nathan 1:21:20

Okay.

Sonia 1:21:22

Uh so at the end of a contract, and I just don't even want to generally we do get off, even if we don't get off in many places, always on Embark. Always uh, you know, buying you know, goodies and go for good internet and eat something nice. But it got to a point that not even then I wanted to get off and always getting up early, let's go. So I was always tired on Embark, always. So that's my first thing. But the second thing that was very, very surprising about this story is that a couple of people were that's actually the reason why we connected, why they came back to see us, even though we were like, we're gonna be kicked off this shit. This is it, this is it. I thought it was gonna be you, but it's me. So the thing is, so we started playing um early, which is 5 30 or 7, generally something jazzy, very very laid back, blah blah blah. I do my usual welcome to the beautiful Disney Magic, we're so do this and that, blah blah blah. But there were lots of kids, so it was more funky than than you know, swing or ballad or stuff. So I was very tired, and I said, Well, I meant to say, we just played a funky tune, but the letters actually got slapped, so I won't say what I said, but I said it on the microphone, and so I said it, and Paul just looked at me, and and someone just said, Yeah, on the microphone, it was like, no, no, no, no, no, and they were like, Yes, yes, you did, and I was like, and so the the next evening they actually came to talk to us and they said, you know, we came with all our family, we came with my parents, his parents, our children. We're not very Disney. We're like uh we like cruising, but we knew Disney was gonna be more family-oriented, not so party-oriented. Yeah, but then we came to see you. We were like, yeah, and that's the reason why they came to see us every night. So, you know, the things you think you're gonna be, you know, murdered for. It's so it's so funny because that's yeah, that was my my my time to shine, and that's how I did it.

Alicea 1:24:04

You never know what somebody needs.

Paul 1:24:06

No,

Sonia 1:24:07

exactly, you just don't know.

Paul 1:24:09

We kept going for like three days to go and tell the cruise director what what we'd accidentally done, and they were never there, so we just gave up and nobody ever said anything about it.

Sonia 1:24:18

So we were like, right, if no one comes on embark morning, we're safe. We're okay. And that's what happened. We were like, we're safe.

Alicea 1:24:27

You're safe.

Paul 1:24:29

It was funny. I think I said I said, I'm awfully sorry, but my wife doesn't speak very good English.

Sonia 1:24:39

I had to agree. I said, yes, yes, exactly.

Nathan 1:24:43

That was funny.

Paul 1:24:44

Paul 1:24:44

 

Paul 1:24:44

 

What’s Next Plus A Risky Mic Story

Paul 1:24:45

Well played. Well played. It's not often you can get away with saying that word on Disney. Right. Oh my goodness, no. Yes.

Nathan 1:24:54

I mean, you know, don't say fun on Disney.

Paul 1:24:58

No, exactly.

Nathan 1:24:58

That's what we're talking about.

Paul 1:24:59

Just in case. Yeah.

Nathan 1:25:00

Fun. We're talking about the word fun.

Alicea 1:25:03

Yeah,

Paul 1:25:03

yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly.

Nathan 1:25:06

Well, thank you for sharing that. That is absolutely making it back into the episode.

Sonia 1:25:12

Great.

Nathan 1:25:15

Oh my goodness, that episode went so long, and I am a hundred percent okay with that. Remember, fun. Yeah. The word of the day is fun.

Alicea 1:25:26

That's exactly what it was.

Nathan 1:25:28

Well, as we wrap up, a reminder that we are not affiliated with Disney or any of its subsidiaries. Everything you hear on this show is based on personal experiences, opinions, and questionable snack choices. We are, however, proudly affiliated with the word of the day, fun.

Alicea 1:25:43

Yes. And funkiness.

Nathan 1:25:46

And funkiness.

Alicea 1:25:47

Exactly. If you're planning a Disney vacation, we always recommend working with a travel advisor or reaching out to Disney directly to help make the magic happen. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please take a second to rate and review the show. It really does help other Disney fans find us.

Nathan 1:26:03

If you have a question, a topic suggestion, or a Disney story you'd love to share, please send us an email at podcast at our mousecapades.com.

Alicea 1:26:12

You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads at OurMousCapades, and on YouTube at OurMousCapades Pod. Don't forget to share us with your friends, your family, and Disney fans of all ages.

Nathan 1:26:22

Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back in your ears next week.

Paul 1:26:30

Paul 1:26:30