From Abba covers to Voyage success

Janette Williams says it was a "surreal experience" playing Abba's songs in front of composer Benny Andersson

When Janette Williams auditioned for the Abba Voyage band, she was shocked to come face to face with the legendary Swedish group's very own Benny Andersson.

The 40-year-old drummer from Wootton by Woodstock, Oxfordshire, says it was a "surreal experience" playing the songs in front of their composer.

"In that moment you just feel like nothing will ever matter as much as my playing right now… but I loved every second," she tells the BBC.

She now plays as part of the band during the London spectacular that features digital versions of the group.

It features ground-breaking new technology that recreates the sight of Abba in their 1970s prime.

To create the spectacle, the band performed in motion capture suits for five weeks, with 160 cameras scanning their body movements and facial expressions.

Ms Williams plays as part of the live band that backs the group every night.

"Nothing will ever matter as much as my playing right now," the drummer thought during her audition for Andersson (pictured left)

She has played in many bands and shows, including Fame and Six - the musical about the wives of Henry VIII. She has also performed at Abbey Road and Glastonbury.

But she says she still feels the "enormity" of the moment during her Abba Voyage audition.

"Especially knowing Abba as a band and growing up with them, it felt surreal but also just incredible," she explains.

When she was told her audition for the role was a success and she had got the job, she says she "laughed and cried and just jumped around".

"Every emotion you could feel, I was feeling in that moment," she says.

"It was just beautiful. It was just amazing."

The concert features ground-breaking new technology that recreates the sight of Abba in their 1970s prime

Describing her subsequent work on Abba Voyage, she says she "can’t really ever call it work - it’s a dream job".

She says: "I never say that I’m going to work, I just say I’m going to play a show. It’s a wonderful place to work."

Ms Williams parents were also performers and played as a duo at working men's clubs.

"They used to gig Abba songs while my mum was pregnant with me so I was onstage, listening and kind of dancing along to Abba," she says.

Janette started teaching drums from the age of 15

Her first time performing the songs herself, was drumming on stage with the family band, which included her parents and younger brother and sister.

She says: "I was probably 14 to 15 maybe when we started playing gigs. We did Mamma Mia and Super Trouper and Take A Chance on Me."

She had her pick of musical instruments lying around the house but in the end it was the drums that called to her.

"When I first sat on the drum kit I just thought, 'This is home. This feels like what I should be doing'.

"It just felt quite natural."

The group performed in motion capture suits for five weeks to create their avatars

Ms Williams achieved Grade 8 on drums at the age of 15, and also learned how to teach them.

At the same time she studied law, but when she ultimately chose to turn away from that career to become a professional musician she admits her parents "loved it".

"They couldn’t have been more supportive," she says.

Ms Williams says she has more or less fulfilled all her ambitions now.

"Abba is so iconic, I feel like you couldn’t go further than Abba," she explains

But quickly adds: "The Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury is certainly a bucket list sort of gig to play, and if that was with Abba, then that would be more than iconic."