Q & A WITH DAVID WELLS

[Sugar Lips]

You've been on the show for several years now. Can you pick a favourite moment?
That's really difficult... I think from all of it, including Live, one of my favourite moments was Edinburgh, because it was the first one back in Scotland. The whole experience was great, not just the show, but also the people. The whole thing about Edinburgh is fantastic.

Do you have a favourite venue from the Edinburgh 'Live'?
Yeah, I think it was the Niddry Street Vaults, which wasn't the one with the demon circle thing in it, it was the other one; because I felt more like people had really, really lived and died there. I think it was raw. They were raw and real, the Niddry Street ones. Mary King's was polished up a bit, you know?

Yeah, I went down to those vaults. They are really creepy.
Very creepy.

But really fascinating as well, it's amazing.
Yeah, it's mad to think that people lived there, but then some of it was exposed - they built the city on top of it.

Would you have liked to have gone into the Castle?
I've been to Edinburgh Castle a few times, because I used to live in Edinburgh. I'm not quite so sure it would be as active as the vaults.

Did you ever get frightened by the experiences on the show? I suppose you have a slightly different perspective to everyone else.
I do get frightened. People always say, 'Well why do you get frightened? You can see them.' My answer to that is; here's the scenario: 'You're in a room; behind the door is an axe murderer. You can see he's there. Does that mean you're not frightened?' I've got every right to be frightened. I can see the buggers!

Well they do seem to get right into your face as well!
They do get right in my face. I do sometimes jump, and often it's because, you know when you work, doing the ironing or driving the car sometimes, you go in that space where you're conscious and you're doing stuff, but you're not... you're wondering really. Well that's the kind of space I go into when I work. I'm conscious that I'm moving around, I'm conscious of everyone around me, but there's another part of me that isn't there. And if a noise comes up, it shocks you out of it. It's like that moment when you jump when you're asleep, that's what it's like for me, because I get jolted out of my zone really.

When these axe murderers do present themselves to you, how do you see them? Do they look fully formed and full bodied?
Yeah they do, but remember I see them in my mind's eye, I don't physically see them in front of me like you see a chair. I see them in my head, but it's just as scary. Sometimes my head can be completely clear, and I'm thinking, 'Okay, is there anything here?' to myself, then suddenly, OOF! Right in my face!

Yeah, what really freaks me out about the show is when you say they're distorting themselves in front of you.
Yeah they do do that. They force their face into yours and go right through you. It's just an old trick to try and scare you. If I'm kind of aware of them right from the beginning it's water off a duck's back really. It's, 'Whatever. You're going to have to try harder.' If they catch me unawares, that's when I get scared.

Are you able to switch it on and off?
I do... I absolutely switch it on and off. If you did it all the time you'd go mental. I honestly believe that could be part of some people's problems, when they hear voices and think they have mental illness, that they're actually mediums. They're just never trained to switch it off. You have to switch it on and off. It's absolutely crucial you do that. You know, you have to log off at the end of the day. Don't we all?

Is there anything that people can do to develop those psychic abilities?
You can buy my book, 'Developing Your Psychic Skills' by David Wells! I always say to people if you want to develop good training, do it in a group situation because you get more from that than doing it one-one-one, or doing it just on your own. Get involved with other people. It's like driving a car. The first thing you learn when driving a car is how to stop it. It was actually the very first thing I learnt, was how to stop it.

Did you have a guru in that respect?
I had a teacher. She'd hate you for the term guru. I was very fortunate to have one of the greatest in the country: Jenny Shell's her name, and she taught me for nearly 12 years.

So when did you first realise that you had this gift?
I used to do it as a child, but then life took over, and you stop for a bit. It came back when I was in my early thirties, and I was ill. I'd been really seriously ill with pneumonia and it came back after that illness. Everything went really, really fast for me. Within a week I was training. I did it as a child, but when I was about 32 things started to happen again. I was getting all sorts of things in my room, and my house.

Have you ever regretted following that path, or are you happy to be doing that?
No, I never regretted following the path, but there are occasions when you wish it would go away sometimes and give me a holiday. The switching on and off works 99% of the time. There's a 1% where if something's really strong it will get through. And also, when you do open up, depending on where you are, we go to some pretty tricky places. You're opening up to God-knows-what. You're walking down a main street full of lunatics. That's essentially what you're doing. Or murderers, or whatever. These people don't die and suddenly become saints.

How do you deal with the sceptical approach to what you do?
I don't bother with them at all. I don't get involved in their forums. I don't get involved in their conversations. I just think that people have a habit of poo-pooing and bleating on, and never doing anything to prove it. It's easy to sit and judge, but it's tougher when you have to go through 12 years of training, and ask the same questions yourself. I pushed all the way, I didn't take anything for granted, and I certainly didn't believe anything until it was proven to me. But I got off my bottom and got on with the work.

What did those 12 years of training involve?
I trained in the Kabbalah: different to Madonna's. I followed the Western tradition, which involves tarot, astrology, past life regression, meditation, all those things; so I trained in that. But it's experiential, so you're learning spirituality through living your life. That's the big difference. My spirituality is about living my life. Living my life isn't about my spirituality.

You say you don't deal with the forums, but you do have this dedicated army of fans...
Well I don't really go on to the forums. I did a webchat for them last night. That's the sort of thing I do.

Well, how do you feel about that level of stardom?
Well, it's not quite Madonna! I really value the fact that it got to this. The website's fantastic. Emma, who runs it, is fantastic. It's full of really good information, great links, and what I really love about it is it's about self-development, it's not all about mediumship and hauntings. It's about all sorts of things. There's astrology, there's past life, there's all sorts of stuff on there. I also like that we don't bitch and moan about things, we just discuss stuff. There's a lot of bitching and moaning on forums on things, isn't there? As far as the Wells Angels go, I love the fact that I turn up at events in Nottingham or something, and there they are in the front row with their 'Wells Angels' T-shirts. Or I go to a book signing in Canterbury, and there's two Wells Angels taking pictures of everyone. I love it! I think it's great!

Do they also come along to the live shows?
Yeah, they come along to the live shows, sit there with their T-shirts on...

Does that add a layer of pressure to you that's already apparent because of being a live environment?
No, I don't think so. When we do a live it's different, you're absolutely right, because it's so fast. It's the quickest three hours of you life when we do the live shows. I can't believe it's over. You're just warming up really, and then it's a wrap, and you think, 'What?' But the Angels don't leave pressure in any shape or form, I'm just happy that they're there. But the live has a little bit of pressure, not so much because of what we do, but because we stop and do interactive, do adverts, and the pressure for me is to remember who I'm talking to and where we're at, because I could be mid-flow, and the floor manager will go, 'We're on a break', and I can't say that to a spirit, you know, she won't stop for anyone! So what I have to do, besides retain what they've said to me, while you're being shunted about... the pressure for me is to keep it going on a live show as much as anything.