Joe Bonamassa Archive Interview:Sloe Gin 2007

Interview with Joe Bonamassa
5th September 2007

Sloe Gin is the seventh album from Blues rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa. Over the last seven years Joe has built up an enviable reputation as a live performer and his albums have also sold in increasingly higher numbers. Sloe Gin is produced by Kevin Shirley who has in the past worked with the likes of Aerosmith, The Black Crowes and Led Zeppelin. While the album breaks new ground for Joe it still retains that Joe Bonnamassa feel we have grown to know and love over the previous albums and seven years worth of live work. Joe spoke to Jon Kirkman whilst in the middle of an American tour in Florida. Joe talked about the new album and also his love for Progressive rock and his plans for his English tour early in 2008.

He started off by talking excitedly about how the album Sloe Gin is his best performing album so far hitting the American top fifty within just a few weeks of release

Jon Kirkman Your new album Sloe Gin has just been released and gone straight into the album charts. This must please you a great deal.

Joe Bonamassa Oh yeah, I am tremendously shocked, we debuted on the American album charts; I mean it was like the biggest debut we had ever had so I am not used to all this attention for an album (laughs). But really I am just glad that people enjoy it you know.

JK What was it like working with Kevin Shirley? He does after all have a great track record having worked with people like Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes, Aerosmith and Joe Satriani.

JB Oh yeah, Kevin is great, he takes the music further than I would even if I had had a million years to work on it. His outlook on things comes from such a very worldly place that he is able to take the music and do something really cool with it without making it sound as though it is over produced. It is like a fine line but he knows exactly how to push the boundaries without going over the edge.

JK Having heard most of your previous albums I think Sloe Gin has the edge, would you put that down to the production because at the end of the day it is still a Joe Bonamassa record. Kevin Shirley hasn’t changed your sound particularly.

JB No, you’re right; it just has a different quality to it. It is a bit edgier and is a riskier album. I think the albums we did before were a little safer. The fact that we have songs on this album that don’t necessarily have a guitar solo is in my little world a big risk. So I am really happy that people enjoy the album so much. There are some people of course who say, “Oh you don’t play as much guitar any more, you are getting old and slowing up” (laughs) I mean, do I have to be the two verse and twenty minute guitar solos kind of guy – is this my fate? (Laughs).

JK Well let’s face it there is always going to be elements of any fan base who will find cause to complain. This is your seventh album and perhaps for people who were around when your first album came out, come of these fans may resent your getting successful because you are not their little secret any more.

JB Well yeah that is the kind of thing I am talking about: I have always been this kind of underground cult hero to some people. The strange thing is they help you out and they join your street team and help promote you and they go beyond the call of duty. They are just amazing fans, but them some of these fans prefer to see me in a club rather than a 2000-seat theatre.

JK I don’t see the problem with what you are doing and how your career has built because surely the aim is to have as many people as possible into what you do? Perhaps at some point you could still do the clubs, let’s face it the Rolling Stones are a good example of this. The biggest band in the world playing stadiums and every now and again they will play a few club dates.

JB Yeah, they like to break it up. They actually played a place in New Haven we like to play not so long ago which is a 500-seat club. We do that as well, mostly on this tour it has been theatres but we have a couple of gigs coming up in a 240-seat room and it is cool.

JK How much of this album has made it into the live set?

JB About five songs, which is a lot because we only do about 13 or 14 songs in a live set?

JK There is a question I have to ask you about your live set. That is, why do you play music from Yes in your set? I can understand some of the other covers say from Jethro Tull but Yes seem a world away from that kind of thing.

JB Well, for me it is kind of well; I do the Yes stuff because I am a big fan of progressive rock; I mean we actually do Genesis stuff now. We have kind of retired the Yes stuff. We have been doing Los Endos in the live set. But really I am just a huge prog rock fan so I try to find little snippets if prog that I can throw in that kind of make sense. I know some of it is a little bit out there (Laughs) but it is a bit like I know there are fans out there like my dad who are blues fans but still went out to see bands like Yes and Genesis and went to see the Allman Brothers and Deep Purple and bands like that, really just music fans. I think they all get it eventually.

JK So when you and the band come to the UK in early 2008 we can perhaps expect Los Endos then?

JB (laughs) Yes but we might be doing Selling England By The Pound as well (Laughs).

JK Well I will look forward to that but the thing about your covers is that you don’t always do them as straight covers you always turn them inside out and make them your own, which makes for a better tribute I think.

JB Well thanks. That is the whole point of doing a cover. I mean of guys doing verbatim covers but that doesn’t make any sense to me. You are not making the song your own and you are not beating the original version. If you can’t beat the original version at least try to make it your own and do something interesting with it.

JK You are currently on the road in America and are due to hit the UK in early 2008. What are the plans for the live show? Will we get in the UK pretty much the same as the American fans are getting or will you mix it up a bit?

JB We have got some shows to play in America them we have six and half weeks off which is a long break for us. In those six and a half weeks we are going to try to put together a new show. Then we kick off again in 2008 in England. So the English audiences will be the first to hear the new show. Hopefully it will be good.

JK Well the album is doing great both sides of the Atlantic. After seven years you really seem on your way and it is great to see the way your career has developed.

JB The last three or four years have been very busy for me.

JK We look forward to catching you in 2008 in the UK. It is great that the album is doing well. I am sure there are a whole lot more Joe Bonamassa fans that will be coming to the gigs in the New Year.

JB Thanks Jon. See you and the rest of the English fans in early 2008.


Joe went on to bigger and better things with the album Sloe Gin and also further albums including The Ballad of John Henry, Black Rock and Dust Bowl. He has also formed a band, Black Country Communion which features Joe alongside Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian. The band have released two albums to date Black Country and 2

© Jon Kirkman 2007 and 2011

INTERVIEW WITH IAN McLAGAN:
6 NOVEMBER 2000

Ian McLagan and the Bump Band were on tour in the UK to promote the album Best of British. The following interview took place just after the gig at The Neptune Theatre, Liverpool on 6 November 2000.Jon Kirkman:

Hi Mac, how’re you doing?

Ian McLagan: I’m doing very well thanks. It’s lovely to see ya and nice to be here in Liverpool.

JK: We were talking earlier and I think I said the last time I saw you was with The Faces. Is this the first time you’ve been back since the early seventies?

IM: Oh no, no. I’ve played here with The Everly Brothers in ’85 and let me think, Billy Bragg a number of times at The Royal Court. In fact we’re coming back here in December. Who else, let me think….well probably nobody else. But you know you can’t keep a good man down, you can’t keep me away from you.

JK: The gig tonight was great.

IM: Thank you.

JK: It was a nice mixture of new stuff and obviously some of the older favourites from The Faces and the Small Faces. How do you actually choose which Faces songs and Small Faces songs to do, because you are spoilt for choice really, aren’t you?

IM: Well, no. It’s simple; if I wrote or co-wrote one of them, like You’re So Rude or Cindy then obviously I want to do it because it means something more to me. I would love to do Stay With Me but I can’t sing that high. And I do All Or Nothing most nights but that’s not easy to sing either. I kind of have a little prayer to Steve, “Help me out Steve, for Christ’s sake.”

JK: You’ll have to get the pliers out!

IM: (Laughs) Yeah! Thanks! But see another one I’d like to do is Tin Soldier, cos that’s one of my favourite songs but I tried and there’s just so much going on vocally and keyboard-wise, that it’s not possible. Actually we’ve just started doing Get Yourself Together, which I think sounds great. Paul Weller said, “Do you ever do Get Yourself Together?” and I said, “I don’t even remember it, mate,” and he couldn’t’ believe it. But you know back then you’d cut ten songs and one would be the single and you’d never play the others ever again you know. And then you’d be onto the next ten songs. So I finally thought, ‘Well, I must give it a listen,’ and when I heard it I thought, ‘Yeah, we could twist that around and make it ours,’ which I think we do.

JK: We’re going to get a little contentious here and you can answer it if you want to, but the Small Faces were, if we’re honest here, like a lot of bands, taken to the cleaners, weren’t they?

IM: We attracted thieves like… flies on shit. How nice of me to be so blunt.

JK: Blunt but to the point.

IM: Well, the fact is we got conned out of lot of money, but it didn’t mean we didn’t’ have any fun and we didn’t stop being creative all through that. It was something that was out of our control and we didn’t know anything about lawyers and accountants and our management and record companies were quite happy to keep it that way. I liken the music business to being filthy. It’s a filthy business, it really is, and I hope these boy bands, mind you, none of them have got any talent, but I just hope they’re making some money.


JK: I’m sure they are

IM: They’re not even writing the songs or playing on the records though.

JK: The thing with The Small Faces was that it wasn’t just once, it was twice. First of all you were with Decca and you weren’t happy with what went on there. They were sticking out records you weren’t happy with and then you went to immediate and I suppose The Small Faces’ collapse coincided with the collapse of Immediate, didn’t it?

IM: Yeah. Immediate – great idea for the company. They wanted us to record and they were happy to stir our creative juices and we worked with Billy Nicholls, we worked with PP Arnold and things were kind of interesting there until we realised we weren’t making any money. They were not giving us our money, they were not paying us. But anyway we get paid for some of that stuff now, so Ronnie and Steve scream at me from their graves, “Sort it out Mac and Kenney”, and we do what we can, for the widows and for ourselves.

JK: It must still be incredibly frustrating though, if you go into a CD shop or a record shop and see all these albums and go, “Hang on, I haven’t been paid for this!”

IM: I buy them all. I go into these places and if it’s a bootleg – I don’t mind people buying bootlegs - but if it’s a record company bootleg, in other words if it’s a company that should be paying us, I throw it in some other area so no one’s going to buy it. You’ve got to do your little bit you know (Laughs). That’s my way of giving (laughs).

JK: When The Small Faces folded, Steve Marriott left; he went on and formed Humble Pie. At one point there was the chance that you might have joined Humble Pie, didn’t Peter Frampton ask you?

IM: Yeah. And I went down there and had a little play, and didn’t like it. Nah, it wasn’t for me (laughs). That was definitely a good move not to be part of Humble Pie.

JK: Well, obviously it was, because out of the split of The Small Faces, Humble Pie were very successful but The Faces were too. But initially it wasn’t the case. I think I read in one of the books that record companies saw The Faces as being the leftovers of two very successful bands, which sounds a bit unfair.

IM: No no, they didn’t think that at all. They didn’t want us to change the name from Small Faces, they saw the potential in the band very much. They paid us a lot of money to sign, but they demanded that we keep the name: The Small Faces and we fought that. But they said in America people only know The Small Faces for Itchycoo Park. So we said alright we’ll go along with it. And we went along with it but we got them to change the name so they took the Small off for the English release. Same album though. That’s why people come up to me and say Hey, Small Faces toured the States, you said they didn’t Well they didn’t. It was The Faces, you know what I mean.

JK: The Faces as you said, in America always seemed to do very well. You did very well in England after a while but a lot of people say The Faces hit their stride with the third album, A Nod’s As Good As A Wink. I actually disagree because I think the first album was pretty good as well.

IM: I think they were all pretty good but the third and fourth albums were the best. They were the reasons, that’s what we were building up to you know. Definitely Nod’s As Good As A Wink, and Ooh-La-La were the albums we were meant to make but the others were OK. I’m not so keen on Long Player - there’s some good stuff on it but I’m not so keen on some of it.

JK: I remember Ooh-La-La and there was a bit of a stink in the music press because Rod came out and said he didn’t like it. But I guess that happens with bands, doesn’t it?

IM: No it doesn’t happen to bands, it happens to people who don’t know what the hell is going on. The joke is that album went straight to number one, right. Twenty-five years later he cut the track Ooh-La-La. He phoned me up and said “’Ere Mac, I’ve cut Ooh-La-La.” I said, “’Ave ya? You’re twenty five years too bleep late! Ronnie Lane don’t get a penny of that now,” I said, “He’s dead, you idiot!” And that was our little conversation about that. He hated Ooh-La-La – you know why? Cos it was great. He looks back now and sees the magic in it. There’s some great songs on there, “Glad And Sorry”…. you know, Oh man it was a great album.

JK: About eighteen months or two years after that The Faces split. Was it really that inevitable?

IM: Yeah, I mean Ronnie Wood was being courted to join The Stones. Rod felt he was upstaged. He hated the fact that Woody was going to join The Stones, so he said the band quit, the band broke up. We didn’t break up, Rod left and then of course, what did Woody do? He joined The Stones.

JK: Do you think one of the reasons why The Faces haven’t got back together is because Rod’s scared of having to go back into that band mentality after being a big solo artists for so long?

IM: Rod can’t handle it mate. He can’t rock ‘n’ roll (laughs). I’ll tell you what; Rod wishes. But see his management are just protecting him from a situation where they’ll have to take only a fifth of the money. They don’t want that.

JK: But he keeps talking about it – “Oh, we’ve got to get The Faces back together,” and to put it bluntly, he does sod all about it.

IM: You know why he talks about it? Because it creates an interest in the fans who wish he would, you know. I know loads of people who would cross the street to see The Faces, but would never bother to see Rod, but would cross the street to see The Faces together and I know loads of people who don’t like The Stones or wouldn’t bother to see Woody but would like to see Woody play with Rod and me.

JK: I’ve got to be honest, I’m in the former camp there, I wouldn’t’ cross the road to see Rod these days, but for The Faces I would probably travel half way round the world.

IM; Me too! That’s my feeling (laughs). No that’s right, that’s right.

JK: It’s great to have you back in Liverpool, but you’re going to be back again soon, aren’t you, with Billy Bragg.

IM: December the sixteenth. That’s a nice little plug.

JK: One final thing I’ve got to ask you, I believe there are some Faces projects on the go, in terms of CD’s? There’s going to be a boxed set, isn’t there?

IM: Well, me and Ronnie are working separately and together on what will probably be a three CD boxed set of The Faces that Rhino are doing. They did such a good job with the last thing that I worked on with them (Good boys while they’re asleep). It’ll be every single - every A-side, every B-side, album track, everything that was ever recorded that we released. Plus some live stuff that will **** all over the live album that came out.

JK: It’s got to be better than Overtures and Beginners.

IM: You know what I found when I was writing the book. All the Rage by the way, it’s in your local stores. When I was writing the book I found an invite to a party the same night as we played the Palladium. This party where Bob Dylan came. I wrote about it in the book. Anyway, we played the gig then we went to a party ‘til two, maybe two thirty in the morning. Then we went into the studio and mixed tracks, I mean, how sane can we have been?

JK: I was just disappointed, having seen The Faces live, it was like – I’ll be honest with you – I’ve got better bootlegs.

IM: So have I! I’ve got the same bootlegs as you have. Also Rhino are keen to put some bootlegs out too.

JK: Rhino Handmade – I’ve seen stuff like that.

IM: They’ll be pristine copies though.

JK: Well, as long as the B-side to Cindy comes out, Skewif Mend The Fuse. Great track.

IM: That’s on it, definitely. All those instrumentals. I mean, we actually considered putting out an album of instrumentals while Rod was in the band, but funnily enough, he didn’t think it was a good idea. But I’ve got some great vocal tracks of Rod so we’ll get that stuff on there. That’s a project we’re working on whenever I get a minute. Rhino send me CD’s and I go through them. There’s a version of Had Me A Real Good Time that you’re going to go crazy for.

JK: I can’t wait.

IM: There’s a rap from Ronnie Lane, you wait ‘til you hear that, it’s very funny.

JK: Well, as I’ve said, it’s great to have you back in Liverpool, we’ll see you December the sixteenth with Billy Bragg at the Royal Court, seats available at the theatre even as we speak!

IM: Yeah. I hope they shut those doors, it’s very cold on stage there, did you know that?

JK: I do actually, I’ve been on that stage, and it is very cold.

IM: It’s moider! Well, I’ll see you then.

JK: You definitely will Mac, it’s been a great pleasure.

IM: One last message, I’m, really looking forward to having a drink, so I’ll have one now.

JK: You have one on me, mate.

IM: OK (laughs), all the best.

And with that, Ian went back to the hotel for a well-earned drink. Never let it be said that I come between a man and his liquid refreshment.

The Boxed set that Ian was talking about was eventually titled Five Guys Walk Into A bar and was a four disc set and was released in July 2004. More recently the faces (Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones, Ronnie Wood) re formed not with Rod Stewart however but former Simply Red vocalist Mick Hucknall and former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock filling the bassist slot formerly occupied by Ronnie lane




© Jon Kirkman May 2000 and 2011

Tony Visconti Archive Interview: Born To Booge

Interview With Tony Visconti
Born To Boogie

Over thirty years on from its original theatrical release Born To Boogie has been readied for release on DVD. This DVD release however is no ordinary archive release. Born To Boogie was filmed at the height of Marc Bolan's success in the UK and perfectly captures what the press had dubbed 'T.Rextasy'.

The film is based around a concert that took place at the Then Wembley Empire Pool in London and also features some fantasy sequences including a jam session that also features Ringo Starr and Elton John. Ringo Starr directed the film for the Beatles film company Apple Films and at the time Ringo dubbed Marc the logical successor to the Beatles crown.
Much work has gone into the DVD not least the sound of the DVD which has been overseen by Tony Visconti who as well as being the producer for most of Marc's career also recorded the audio for the concert and studio sequences of the film. Tony oversaw the new mix and restoration of the audio soundtrack and also produced a new 5.1 surround mix fro this DVD.

Jon Kirkman was lucky enough to speak with Tony Visconti recently about the restoration of the film and also how he felt listening to the soundtrack over thirty years later



Jon Kirkman

What was it like listening back to the recordings made for Born To Boogie after over thirty years was it a pleasant experience or perhaps daunting

Tony Visconti

It was mostly a pleasant experience. Having remixed three David Bowie live albums in the past two years has given me great insight for cleaning up the old master tapes and getting maximum impact with modern technology. So I was extremely eager to have a second chance at mixing this film. But I wasn’t expecting the emotional impact it had on me. The mixes were sounding so alive and matched with the videos we were mixing to, I often forgot that Marc was no longer with us, and then I remembered and it felt like a bummer. The surround sound versions really made me feel like this filmed concert was last week. At times it felt like Marc was in the room. But there were two others in that film who are no longer with us either, Steve Currie and Mickey Finn. We used to be so tight in the studio, joking around and working like dogs to get it right. So, I mixed this film with mixed emotions.

JK
What were the technical difficulties with bringing the audio up to scratch using modern technology? Was it an easy job?

TV
The most tedious part was listening to each instrument and vocal, track by track, and cleaning them up. What I mean by that is sometimes the level would jump for no reason at all (maybe I got the jitters when I recorded it over 30 years ago in the mobile) or maybe Marc didn’t like his guitar level and he would just whack it up very quickly. These things were very difficult to control 30 years ago, but not today. When Marc was not singing there was a load of audio junk on his vocal tracks. We carefully drew volume lines to bring that track down, not completely out, when he wasn’t singing. Then there were hums, crackles, feedback etc., some were left in for the rock and roll quotient, but very annoying ones were removed. When all this was done, then I settled down to mix the songs in a very traditional manner. Full credit is due to my Pro Tools man, Mario McNulty, for doing the very hard job of meticulously cleaning up the audio.

One blessing was the two mics I placed over the audience during the concert. By putting them in the rear speakers in surround you get the feel and size of the auditorium. The realism is staggering.

JK
What are your main memories of the filming of the concert sequences for Born To Boogie?

TV
It was chaotic. The cameras were getting all the preferential treatment and I was fighting to get sound balances. In the first concert, which was more or less a rehearsal but featured in the bonus CD, there was buzz on the bass amp and the roadies pulled all of my cables out so I was left without a bass for a couple of minutes. I screamed bloody murder that it wasn’t to happen again in the second concert. There was poor security backstage. Only the Beatles roadie, Mal Evans, was supposed to get the band from the stage door to the limos. He was petrified, not having seen girls this vicious in the Beatles days. They wanted to tear Marc’s clothes off him and pull his hair out. I helped Mal by putting my arms around him and Marc and we shuffled Marc to the waiting vehicle. We were punched, kicked and pulled, and Marc did lose some hair, but we got him out of there.

JK
Likewise with the studio sessions such as the jam with Elton and Ringo what are your overriding memories of those sessions?

TV
For some reason I wasn’t at the recording. I can’t remember why, but I was probably producing another record. A lot of these scenes were decided to be shot the day before. I did, however, do the overdubs, even sang on the backing vocals for that session and I mixed it for the film. Even the Mad Hatters Tea Party scene was decided to be shot the next day and I had to travel 200 miles from South Wales to be in that scene. I’m the conductor of the string quartet and I hand Marc his guitar before he sits down to play.

JK
At the time Marc Bolan was literally the biggest star in the country. What was Marc like to work with during those hectic years? He seemed to be incredibly prolific and creative.

TV
He was very prolific. I remember for Tanx we recorded 17 songs in three days at a studio in France. All the overdubs were done too. Back in London I added the strings and other session men and mixed them.

At the peak of T.Rextasy Marc was all puffed out like a peacock, strutting his stuff and more than a little arrogant. Sometimes it was difficult to turn the public persona off in the studio and we were all victims of his sharp insults. But in the studio he was also that superstar that he was on stage and he’d jump and perform as if in front of a huge audience. That spirit was caught on tape, affecting the other members of the band.

JK
What were the reasons for your split with Marc a few years later and did you ever think you would work with him again.

TV
It was quite a long relationship for a producer and artist. But I could no longer have an influence on him. It was clearly time to move to the next creative level, write and record a kind of “Tommy” which we had made demos of. This was The Children Of Rarn epic. But he kept delaying it saying ‘one more album for the kids’ when the press and everyone else was saying ‘this formula is old.’ Marc was losing his audience but he wouldn’t admit it. I really tried to change things be he was still in that instant hit single mind set.

We met up a few years later and there were signs that we could get back together again. After the last TV show, he and David Bowie went to my studio, where we made Scary Monsters. (I was in another country working.) Marc said to my engineer, “I’d love to work here.”

JK
Here we are over thirty years on from Born To Boogie and Marc Bolan is still incredibly popular why do you think that is

TV
Marc has become a classic icon now, like Judy Garland, Elvis and John Lennon. He was sharper than anyone in his time and he knew it. He turned heads and cause a minor revolution in British pop. I’ve witnessed it, I was a part of it, but I can’t tell you what makes an icon of an artist. There seems to be a little to a lot of T.Rex in most groups since.

JK
I realise this is perhaps a strange question but had Marc not died in 1977 what do you think he would be doing now and if it was writing and recording could you see yourself working with him

TV
Maybe we would be working. After a long off period I’m back with David Bowie again. I really can’t say if Marc would’ve progressed or would get stale. He was very smart, so maybe he would’ve spent time reinventing himself, but his life was cut short before that happened. He certainly had a lot of great songs left in him, and he could’ve written and directed films, that were in him too. He and Ringo were equal partners in scripting Born To Boogie.

JK
Looking and listening to the finished film and forthcoming soundtrack CD what are your final thoughts on the way the film and CD have turned out

TV
Oh, far better than I ever thought. Full marks go to Mark Allen, Mark Roberts and Stewart Read, the team that found all the right parts, film and audio, and re-editing to make this possible. The DVD is vibrant and a quantum leap from the previously available VHS version.

JK
Finally what was the experience like re visiting the past like this? Was it a good experience or perhaps sad? And was there any question that it would be you that worked on these recordings.

TV
This was a great experience. I heard it through the T.Rex grapevine that this was going to happen and when I opened an e-mail from Mark Roberts asking me if I’d like to be a part of it I was totally elated. I didn’t have to ask, I was invited. I can’t tell you how pleasurable it was to work with the Sanctuary team on this project.


JK
Many Thanks for talking to us at Rockahead today Tony

TV
My Pleasure, Jon.

Born To Boogie is released on DVD and CD on the 16th Of May.


Tony Visconti's Official Site
www.tonyvisconti.com
© Jon Kirkman 2005
Photo of Tony Visconti © Lori Baily

Asia In Asia Archive Interview With Geoff Downes

Asia In Asia
Interview with Geoff Downes 8 March 2001


During 1982 and most of 1983 Asia were about as big a rock band, in worldwide terms as you could be. Their first album ‘Asia’ went multi-platinum and spawned a number of hit singles. That the second album ‘Alpha’, released in mid-1983, would be following the same platinum trail was taken for granted. Not by the band, you understand, but by the band’s management and record company. And although by any other band’s standards, ‘Alpha’ would have been considered a massive success (remember the album reached the top 5 and the single ‘Don’t cry’ made the top 10) in comparison with the first album, ‘Alpha’ seemed at the time to be a bit of a let down.

The upshot of this was both management and record company came to the conclusion that a change was needed and that change would be John Wetton. This change duly happened following John’s last gig with Asia on September 10th at the Pine Knob venue in Detroit. In most cases this wouldn’t be a problem – get someone new in, rehearse with them, record a new album, no problems… Except Asia were booked to perform a concert at the Budokan in Japan, which would be broadcast worldwide on the satellite to about 20 million people. This was due to take place some two months after John Wetton’s departure.

Geoff Downes explains how they managed against the odds to pull it off.

.

Jon Kirkman: The second Asia album ‘Alpha’ was not the success Geffen had hoped for. Was this perhaps the root cause for John Wetton’s departure from the band?

Geoff Downes: Well I think that it didn’t help; the first album had been so successful. that anything less than that was considered to be a bit of a flop. But it was still Top 5 in America and the single went Top 10. But yeah, I think it started a little tremor at the record company because they were banking so much on it. And they’d invested a lot of money into it.

JK: The writing credits for the album were pretty much boxed off by yourself and John Wetton, weren’t they?

GD: Yeah, but I think that was part of the problem with the conflict between Steve and John because I don’t think John felt that Steve’s contributions on the first album were significant because obviously the singles that came off that first album were the ones that had been written between John and myself. And I think the record company didn’t really help there either because they wanted to see that writing combination pretty much across the board on the next album. So I think that was a combination factor. But it didn’t do anything to secure any good relations, particularly between John and Steve.

JK: Following the last live concert the band played with John Wetton, two months down the road, you’ve got this MTV live concert at the Budokan which was due to be seen by literally millions of people via satellite.

GD: Yeah, seen by millions and heard by millions. It was also satellite linked to all the radio stations in America as well, so it was a pretty big deal.

JK: A replacement was needed pretty quickly then. So whose idea was it that Greg Lake came aboard?

GD: I think it was Carl’s really. I think obviously it was a bit of a strange situation because the whole thing had been booked to do it because it was only 2 months to go before that situation with John erupted and the commitments had been made. I think the record company were also er… John Kalodner was fairly instrumental in suggesting Lake. Because obviously, they had similar backgrounds and in some respects similar sounding voices, certainly on the King Crimson era stuff, so I think that you know, Greg was a fairly obvious choice. But obviously it was a very difficult thing. We had a very intensive rehearsal period and a lot of the material that was much more in Wetton’s range; Lake had dropped a few semitones so we had to play all the material in different keys, which was difficult.

JK: Was the set list altered at all to accommodate Greg’s style, or did he just try and replicate what John Wetton had done before?

GD: No, I think we obviously felt that we had to play the main tunes like ‘Wildest Dreams’, ‘Heat of the Moment’, ‘Only Time Will Tell’ and ‘Sole Survivor’, that was pretty much etched in stone, that we’d have to do that stuff from the first album. It was a bit more flexible with the stuff we pulled in from ‘Alpha’ because… I think we did ‘Eye To Eye’ which was a song that was fairly obscure on the original album; I don’t think we’d actually done it live. But I think because of the register of it, it suited Greg’s voice more. So that was one that we sort of plucked up but aside from that, we only had to play for an hour so it meant that we could drop a fair amount of stuff.

JK: Looking at the cover of the subsequently released video and watching the video it seems to all intents and purposes that it was business as usual for Asia. But in reality, how tense was it for the band?

GD: It was incredibly tense. I remember thinking that I was nervous as hell before the actual show, because you have an hour on the satellite and that's it, you know, it goes blank. If there’s any problems or equipment had gone down, or Greg had forgotten his lines or whatever it was. If it had gone wrong, it would have been a disaster, because obviously people knew about the personnel change and they were waiting to see what this outfit was gonna be like and I think in retrospect, considering the amount of work Greg had to do, he did a pretty good job and it’s not an easy thing to do is it, just step into a band that had just had a massive selling album in America and step in and play to that many people.

JK: Presumably then you were happy with the subsequent video and recording?

GD: Yeah! I think so. I think it gives a good insight into what went on there. What it probably doesn’t give an insight into is the amount of work that was obviously going on behind the scenes to make it happen. Once John had left, we had an enormous period of intense work to get not only the songs played in different keys but to get Greg conversant with the material. And bearing in mind we had this set date of whenever it was, December something or other 1983.

JK: Do you actually remember anything about the gig, or was it one of those situations where you just wanted to get your head down and get through it?

GD: Yeah, I can remember being more nervous than I’ve ever been in my life before (laughs) and I think really I just wanted by the end of it, I just wanted to get it over with. Funnily enough, we did actually have a fail safe, where we’d done a complete recording of the show as a sort of dummy run where we gave out free tickets the day before, where we wore the same clothes and everything like that. So that was running concurrently with the live satellite broadcast so if there had been any major technical problems they were capable of being able to actually switch to the pre recorded version.

JK: So there are actually two versions of ‘Asia in Asia’ in existence then?

GD: There would be, I mean, I don’t think that it would ever have been available, it might have got scrubbed or something once the original version was OK. But the one that you see and the one that you hear is definitely the original date that we did.

JK: Was Greg Lake ever thought of as being the permanent replacement for John Wetton or was it just a case of “we’ve got this gig, can you help us out of this hole that we’re in”?

GD: No. I think we thought that we’d see how it went and then take it further and I think that we tried a little bit of work afterwards. But it wasn’t’ really doing what I think Asia should have been doing and then I started working with John on some material outside of the camp, and that sort of precipitated his return I think, and by that time, Greg wasn’t really interested in it particularly. If you look at it really it wasn’t his band. It was never his band. He was more like a kind of a high paid session man for doing it in a way.

JK: How long after the gig was it decided then that Greg was going to go and John Wetton was going to return, because there was a certain amount of press speculation about it, and of course, when John did return, Steve Howe left.

GD: Yeah, well that was what eventually did happen. I think that we actually did have a period of time where we started working together as the four of us, the four original members and that went on for a while, and we did rehearsals and we actually cut a few demos, about half a dozen or so, but at the end of those John turned around and said “Look, you know, I can’t carry on working with Steve Howe in the proceedings”, so it was a case of, it was either one of them but not both at the same time. (Laughs)

JK: Some 18 years down the road, are you not curious as to what it might have been like, had the situation worked with Greg?

GD: Yeah, I did actually do some work as you know, with Greg at a later stage, and we worked together for about a year on an album of material, some of which came out on his own solo retrospective CD. And one of the songs came out on ‘Aqua’. So yeah! He’s a pretty likeable person to work with, but I think that we were being manipulated very heavily by the record company at this stage. You’ve got to realise that Asia was big business to them at this time and they weren’t really that interested in who was in the band, particularly as long as it was a “supergroup” that they could sell. I often do think that maybe it could have been something with Greg but it wasn’t just the John Wetton/Steve Howe problem, there was also the fact that Carl and Greg were not exactly “Seeing Eye to Eye” either. So it was a combination of things.

JK: How do you think that line-up stand against the original Asia or the current line-up of Asia? It was a one-off really, wasn’t it?

GD: Yeah, I think that it was enjoyable, but it was almost as if I felt we were each playing different roles. It didn’t feel to me specifically like a band, I think it was more, not going through the motions, because it sounded pretty good, and I think that we gave a good account of ourselves on the show, but I don’t know whether anyone’s heart was really in it, specifically to take it any further.

JK: The question is then did it feel like Asia?

GD: Oh yeah, it felt like Asia, to me it did. It felt pretty much like it did before. Obviously John wasn’t there, and I was the closest to John out of any of them. The thing is, because Asia was so big so quickly, we were all being carried along on the snowball. And you don’t really get chance to step out of it and look at it and think, “am I having a good time here or am I not?” Every day was just full of rehearsals, interviews, it was just solid, and you don’t ever really get time to step out of it and say “is this Asia or not Asia?” In the infamous works of Charlie Watts, when asked about playing with the Rolling Stones, he said, “Well you know, it’s a job innit?” (Laughs). It did seem a bit like that at times.

JK: So John came back, but left again in 1991 following the filming of Nottingham Live and some Russian dates you presumably thought, I’ve done this once before when John left and continued, so I guess it wasn’t too difficult to bring John Payne in and move it on again?

GD: Yeah, I think that’s a pretty wise observation, that the incoming Greg Lake set a precedent for Asia in the future, that nothing was actually etched in stone. Asia was in many ways I think bigger than the sum parts, and to me it’s always been about a sound and a type of music and in many ways I think that I would put that before anything of anyone’s individual contributions. I think that it’s a collective. I think you’re right to say that once we’d gone through a personnel change in the vocal department, the second time you do it, it’s not such a big switch for the overall sound of the group.

So here it is, a one–off really, of one of the biggest rock acts of the early 80’s. Only a fool would have dismissed a line-up like this and the potential was there for all to see, and hear on this CD. Could it have worked with Greg Lake? We will of course, never know. Of the members involved in this particular chapter of Asia’s history, Geoff Downes still writes, records and performs in the current Asia alongside vocalist/bassist John Payne, guitarist Guthrie Govan and drummer Chris Slade. John Wetton has a thriving solo career and has just released his latest solo album. Carl Palmer has formed a new band. Steve Howe is firmly back in Yes although has made guest appearances with Asia on occasion, and Greg Lake, following his departure from ELP, is working on solo projects.

(Update 2006) As of late spring 2006 the original line up of Asia re formed for a hugely successful tour of America and plan further dates in Europe and Japan towards the end of 2006 and into 2007.


©Jon Kirkman 2001 and 2011

The Straits UK Tour with "The Sound of Dire Straits

Following The Straits’ recent stunning debut show at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2011, Alan Clark, Phil Palmer and Chris White from Dire Straits will embark on an 11-date UK tour in October due to the overwhelming demand to hear the band’s much loved catalogue
of unforgettable songs. 24 Hour Box Office: 0844 811 0051. Book Online: www.gigsandtours.com.


The Straits’ upcoming ‘The Sound of Dire Straits’ UK tour includes 3original members and some of the top session players to form a powerful, driven, and compellinglive rock band not to be missed. The Straits will perform songs from the
classic albums ‘Dire Straits’ (1978), ‘Communiqué’ (1979), ‘Making Movies’
(1980), ‘Love Over Gold’ (1982), ‘Brothers In Arms’ (1985) and ‘On Every
Street’ (1991). Get ready for the seminal, atmospheric hits including ‘Sultans
of Swing’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Tunnel of Love’, ‘Private Investigations’,
‘Money for Nothing’, ‘Walk of Life’, and ‘Brothers in Arms’

The tour takes in Birmingham Symphony Hall (Oct 3), Glasgow Royal
Concert Hall (Oct 4), Newcastle City Hall (Oct 5), York Barbican (Oct 7),
Cardiff St Davids Hall (Oct 9), Bristol Colston Hall (Oct 10), London HMV
Hammersmith Apollo (Oct 12), Ipswich Regent (Oct 13), Nottingham Royal Concert
Hall (Oct 14), Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (Oct 16), and Manchester o2 Apollo
(Oct 17).

The band includes Phil Palmer (guitar), Chris White (sax), Terence Reis (lead
vocals, guitar), Alan Clark (keyboards), Steve Ferrone (drums), Mick Feat
(bass) and Jamie Squire (keyboards).

Jon Anderson Talking Survival With Classic Rock Radio's Jon Kirkman

Exclusive interview feature with Jon Anderson on CRR. Jon Kirkman talks to Jon Anderson about his latest album Survival and Other Stories and plays tracks from the album.

Thursday 14th July 11am/8pm
Friday 15th July 4am

and repeated

Saturday 16th July at 11am/8pm
Sunday 17th July 4am.

All times UK Time
http://www.classicrockradio.eu

Music Theory for Beginners – App for iPad

Music Theory for Beginners – App for iPad

Released by Musicroom.com – The leading producer of music-related iPhone Apps

At £2.99

For all you musical experts a new app for iPad "Music Theory For Beginners" will be right up your street. The App is realistically priced to encourage sales and at less than Three quid it is a bargain of giant proportions. Check out what people are saying about it!

“Amazing app. The lessons are simple yet very effective and each lesson is followed by an interactive quiz. Well worth £2.99. I spent £50 on books and learned more from this app.” 5 Star Customer review

See the app in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDYS-qu75So

Music Theory for Beginners App for iPad is the ultimate resource for anyone trying to get to grips with music theory.

Created by Musicroom, whose Apps are already being used by ½ million musicians worldwide, this newly launched Music Theory for Beginners App has been constructed and tested by accomplished musicians and theorists, and designed in a way that makes learning fun.

Split into 22 lessons that cover all the major theory topics from reading notes and rhythm to basic harmony, exclusive lessons provide the user with all the information they need in order to take on the interactive quiz.

The App includes several interactive controls that make learning to read and play music fun and easy.
Take on the Music Theory App quiz and get your achievement badge for each topic in turn. Once you've earned your badge for that topic, progress onto the next lesson until you're a true theory master.

The App contains over 2,000 questions of varying difficulty to test the users’ knowledge. Music Theory for Beginners is the most comprehensive music theory tool available in the App Store.
See it on iTunes

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/music-theory-for-beginners/id435161137?mt=8

See more Apps from Musicroom visit

www.musicroom.com/iphone