Alvin Lee - Still On The Road to Freedom
Interviews 2012
Alvin's newest CD, Still On the Road to Freedom
has been released on Rainman Records in the
USA and in Europe on Repertoire Records.
We've printed a few of Alvin's most recent
interviews discussing Still On
the Road to
Freedom ...but please remember
to visit the
websites of the interviewers.
And don't forget
to catch some of the reviews.
Vintage Rock
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The Alvin Lee Interview
By Shawn Perry
Discussion about guitar heroes from the 1960s
typically revolves around Jimi Hendrix, Eric
Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, with an occasional
shout-out to Pete Townshend, Duane Allman
and Jerry Garcia. Of course, there were many
other able-bodied guitarists from the era
who could swing with the best of them. One
man who regularly topped the polls and still
commands a hefty penance of reverence is
Alvin Lee.
As the guitarist, voice, songwriter and focal
point of Ten Years After, Lee’s furious
playing propped up by a no-nonsense, semi-rockabilly
approach was key to the band’s live
performances. Nowhere is this more apparent
than by the 10-minute scene from the Woodstock
movie featuring Lee and TYA blazing through
“I’m Going Home.” By the
time the band made its way to the mainstream,
Lee had decided to switch gears and make
his first solo album (with Mylon LeFevre)
boosting a title that more or less summed
up his feelings at the time — On The Road To Freedom.
In the years since, Alvin Lee has not become
a superstar solo act, but he’s cranked
out over a dozen albums of varying styles
and disciplines, and worked with people like
George Harrison, Mylon LeFevre, Ron Wood,
Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana. His 2012 release,
Still On The Road To Freedom, is simply, as he told me during the following
interview, a reassertion of his independence,
making “free music for the soul.”
At 67, living comfortably in Spain, playing
as fluidly and furiously as ever —
Alvin Lee is on a road to freedom most certainly
paved with gold.
Hi Alvin. It’s great to be speaking
with you today. How’s it
going?
I’m doing fine. Thank you very much.
How is it in Spain today?
Oh, it’s warm as usual. Pretty much
like California. Where are you exactly?
I'm in Long Beach, California.
Great. I only ask because I was talking to
a guy yesterday for about 20 minutes, and
he said, “Well, if you’re ever
Detroit‛&” And I said, “Oh,
you’re in Detroit?” And we went
on for another half an hour, talking about
Detroit. That’s a rock ‘n roll
city. Long Beach Arena‛&I remember
it well...
I saw you there in the late 70s with Ten
Years Later.
Oh yeah? Cool.
So, let’s get into Still On The Road To Freedom, the sequel to your 1973 album, On The Road To Freedom.
It’s not really a sequel. It's just
the title track. I wrote the title song,
"Still On The Road To Freedom.”
It's not meant to be a sequel. I think someone
said that in the anecdote. It doesn’t
matter. It’s an extension‛&no,
it’s not even that (laughs). The only
link is the freedom to write music I want.
On The Road To Freedom was about that, and Still On The Road To Freedom is about that too.
You don’t have the same musicians as
the first one. You have bassist
Pete Pritchard,
drummer Richard Newman, and keyboardist
Tim
Hinkley, who played on the first
one.
That’s right. Tim has playing keyboards
with me for years since ’72. In fact,
me and Tim had a band together called the
Gits — with Tim, me, Ian Wallace on
the drums and Mel Collins on the sax. We
didn’t actually do any touring; we
just recorded, played and had fun.
You’re covering a lot of ground and
different styles on the new record
–
blues, country, rock, even a
little world.
Well, you could call it that. I prefer to
call it Spanish-influenced melodies.
Tell me how you came to write the title track.
I always liked the first solo album. It was
a bit of a landmark being my first solo album.
So I thought I’d write a song about
still being on the road to freedom. And I
go back and see the same guy there 40 years
ago. It’s the same rhythm as the original
song. That’s the main connection really.
And of course, freedom, as I said earlier.
I mean, freedom is a very relative thing
— it depends of where your situation
is in life. We’re always searching
freedom, but it’s not always the same
freedom you’re searching for.
Song of the Red Rock Mountain” is a
Spanish-influenced instrumental
you made
up on the spot while testing
a microphone.
I assume you were also playing
your guitar
at the time.“
That’s the one I was talking about
when you said “world music.”
I was in the studio, waiting for my tech
to come around and I’d bought a new
microphone. So I just plugged it in and thought
I’d check it out. I started to play
anything that came to my mind, and that beautiful
little song came up. I like it when that
happens. We just put it down in around 10
minutes, wondering, “Where did that
come from?” And it’s not premeditated.
Sometimes it’s like you grab it out
of the ether. You just reach up and, “Oh,
there’s a song. Let’s pull that
one down.”
You have “Love Like A Man 2,”
a remake of “Love like
A Man,”
which you recorded with Ten Years
After on
the band’s 1970 album Cricklewood
Green.
What prompted you to redo that
one?
I was just toying around with this cool rhythm,
kind of an R&B rhythm, an oldie, along
the lines of Smiley Lewis, “I Hear
You Knocking.” And I thinking I like
this rhythm, what can I put to it. And that
just kind of came up. I didn’t think
much of it at first actually, but as I worked
on it, it got better. So it’s on the
album.
Going back to 1973, On The Road To Freedom certainly showed a different side of the
Alvin Lee people knew with Ten
Years After.
Was that your intention?
Yeah, absolutely, that was 100 percent my
intention. I needed to make a change and
get away from what I thought at the time
was us repeating ourselves over and over
again. It’s funny because even the
lady who runs my website, she’s a big
fan. When she first got On The Road To Freedom, she gave it away because she was expecting
something like Ten Years After. Quite a few
people felt like that, but strangely enough
over the years that particular album has
probably sold more than any of the other
ones. It’s a long seller (laughs).
And you had Mylon LeFevre on it. Do you still
talk to him?
I do, yeah. He’s actually a minister
who runs a ministry out of Texas now. He’s
just written a book, which includes some
of the wild times we had.
Did you ask him to be on the new record?
I thought about it, but he’s living
an entirely different life. He doesn’t
actually sing anymore. He’s dedicated
himself to this church.
How about some of the other people who appeared
on the original? Mick Fleetwood?
Ron Wood?
No, there wasn’t a plan to do that.
It probably would have been a good idea,
but it was never my intention to make another
On The Road To Freedom. Just kind of nodding to the original On The Road To Freedom and saying I’m still on it. It’s
all different stuff. It’s not supposed
to be the same as On The Road To Freedom. It’s free music for the soul.
I read you actually got to know George Harrison
when Mylon brought him to your
house to make
the record.
I’d met George before. We’d met
quite a few times and had a few jam sessions.
But him being a famous Beatle and me being
a bit shy, I would never have dreamed of
asking him to come and play on an album.
It would have been a bit cheeky, really.
He’s got millions of fans. But Mylon
didn’t mind (laughs). He went over
and said, “Oh George, we want you to
play on the album.” Of course, George
was a musician and he didn’t think
twice about it. So he came.
The funny story is about the song “So
Sad,” which George wrote. Mylon said
to George, “I’d really like to
do one of your songs on this album.”
And George said, “Well, I’ve
done thousands of songs. I have the Beatles
songs and songs on my solo albums you could
do.” And Mylon, very cleverly, said,
“George, you played them so well. I
need to do one you haven’t done yet.”
And George said, “I’ve got this
one song I’ve been working on, which
I think might be a hit.” And Mylon
said, “I’ll take it!” (laughs)
That night, I finished building the studio
and actually, I was a bit late with that.
I had the whole band down and I had them
all putting up acoustic panels in the studio
to finish it off. When we finally finished,
Mylon, “Well, where do all the musicians
hang out?” And I said, “Speakeasy.”
So he put his zoot suit on and went down
to Speakeasy and came back three hours later
and said, “I got us a band, man.”
You obviously struck a chord with George
because you two recorded several
songs together.
Do you have a favorite you did
with him?
Yeah, “The Bluest Blues.” The
first guitar solo is George and it’s
really beautiful‛&one of the best
slide guitar solos I’ve ever heard.
I said, “I got this one that needs
a bit slide on it George.” and he said,
“I’ll be right over.” And
he played this beautiful, melodic solo. George
doesn’t jam like me. I’m a jammer,
I fire from the hip. But George writes a
song when he does a solo, he writes a tune
that becomes the solo. So he had this beautiful
melody and a really nice touch. It kind of
put me on the spot because I had to come
up with something to match it. I think I
did pretty good.
Back in the day, you were often cited as
one of the fastest guitar player
around.
Most definitely up there with
Jeff Beck,
Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
Do you hear
your influence in any of the
guitarists that
have come along since then? ;
Yeah, quite a bit actually‛&the
odd licks. That’s a compliment in a
way. I don’t mind that at all.
You listen to someone like Eddie Van Halen,
and you think he must have been
listening
to Alvin Lee.
I don’t know who he was listening to
(laughs). When I first heard Eddie Van Halen,
he was the one responsible for getting me
to start practicing again. I first heard
Eddie do a solo, and I thought, “Whoa‛&I
better get my guitar out and start practicing.”
You have a song on the new record called
“Back in ’69,”
and I wanted
to ask you about a particular
Sunday in 1969
when you played this gig in upstate
New York.
Where’s that?
This little gig called Woodstock.
Yeah, that was a nice little gig..
I understand you had technical problems,
but when it came to “I’m
Going
Home,” everything sort
of fell in place
and they were able to film the
performance.
That’s right. We just went right on
after the rain storm. There was a lot of
humidity in the air and all the guitars went
madly out of tune and we actually had to
stop. The song was “Good Mornin’
Little School Girl” and I had to stop
it and say, “Sorry‛&excuse
me‛&I want to get us in tune here.”
At that point, it was looking like a disaster.
But as you see from the movie, we manage
to get back on course.
Did you have any idea that that would be
a game changer for you?
Well, nothing happened for a year. We continued
to play the Fillmore and the Boston Tea Party‛&two
to three-thousand seaters. It wasn’t
until the movie came out that suddenly we
found ourselves playing Houston Coliseums
and Madison Square Gardens.
I was watching the Blu-ray last night and
relived your Woodstock performance.
And when
you’re done, you pick up
a watermelon.
Where on earth did that watermelon
come from?
It just sort of rolled on. I didn’t
see where it came from. It just rolled onto
the stage. I don’t know why or what
was going through my mind. I just casually
threw my guitar into the drum kit and picked
up this watermelon (laughs). At all the gigs
after the movie came out — we were
playing big festivals and stuff like that
— and (during) the last number, about
200 watermelons were all bobbing away in
the audience. And by the end of the last
number, the whole stage is covered in watermelon
(laughs).
You obviously had great success with Ten
Years After, and have played
off and on with
the other guys over the years.
Do you foresee
a time when you might play with
them again?
It’s not really likely. We tried it
a few times. And it usually ended in —
what shall I say — discontent (laughs).
We put the band together again in 1990 and
did a world tour, and we’ve done it
two or three times since then. It’s
a bit like going on tour with four ex-wives.
It’s great at first, but then you have
one little bitch and then everyone’s
going, “There you go again. This is
the trouble with you.” All the baggage
comes out, you know.
Outside of Ten Years After, you have played
with some of the greatest musicians
on the
planet. There were all the guys
on your first
album — Steve Winwood,
Jim Capaldi,
Boz Burrell, Ron Wood, and George
Harrison.
And then in 2004, you got together
with Scotty
Moore and D.J. Fontana (members
of Elvis
Presley’s original backing
band) and
made Alvin Lee in Tennessee.
That must have
been a great experience.
It was fantastic. Scotty and D.J. were playing
in London, promoting a new album or something.
Every guitarist I know got invites. Gary
Moore was there. We had a jam session and
I was first up. I did this medley of Elvis
hits. It was great fun. I went back to being
like 14, 15-years-old when I was listening
to those records. Suddenly, there was those
guys playing behind me and it gave me such
a buzz. I said, “Is there any chance
I can get you guys in the studio and make
an album?” And they said, “Yeah,
sure.”
So I went off and wrote some appropriate
songs. I called up Scotty and said, “I’ve
got some songs ready — and where would
you like to record?” And he said, “Well,
we’ll record at my place,” which
was fantastic. I couldn’t have wished
anything more. He has a house with a built-in
studio. Actually, it’s a studio with
an adjoining kitchen and bedroom. He’s
got all his Elvis memorabilia there and all
his great guitars. I was like a kid in a
sweet shop.
Did they tell you any secrets about Elvis?
Tell you any good stories?
Oh yeah. There were a lot of great stories.
You guys did “I’m Going Home,”
which is really fantastic. How
did you like
revisiting that one?
That was fun. Pete (Pritchard) the bass player‛&it
wasn’t on the plan, but Pete said,
“Let’s do 'Going Home,' it'll
be great.” And I said, “Ok, we’ll
give it a shot.” And we played it once,
and it was fantastic. D.J. Fontana might
not be the cleverest drummer, he might not
be doing all the drum fills, but he’s
got such a rhythm going. He’s like
a train behind you. He just pushes you along.
Not too fast, not too slow. He’s got
the beat, he’s got the pocket.
So getting back to you Still On The Road To Freedom, do you have any plans to play some shows
or do a tour behind it?
I’m hoping to. There’s no plans
as such yet. I don’t actually tour
anymore in the old sense of like doing 12
weeks on the road. I’m more likely
to show up at the odd festival. That’s
the kind of thing I like to do. There’s
always a good chance of that. I like to do
open air festivals these days. It’s
just a nice vibe to look up and see the sky.
It’s much better than being inside.
You don’t have the acoustics to battle
against.
When was the last time you played here in
the States?
That would be 1999. It would have been the
Woodstock anniversary gig at Bethel Woods.
“I’d Love To Change The World”
has a certain relevance in these
trying times.
Always. It’s never lost its relevance
actually. It’s harder to change it.
Every year, it gets harder and harder.
Would you still love to change the world?
Well, that’s the point of the song:
I’d love to change the
world, but I
don’t know what to do and
I’ll
leave it up to you. I’m
just saying
the world does need changing.
I’d love
to do it, but I haven’t
got the talent.
I don’t think I’m
a world changer
(laughs).
Musoscribe with Bill Kopp
Off the Road Yet On the Road: A Talk with
Alvin Lee,
Guitarist Alvin Lee first rose
to international
prominence with his band Ten
Years After.
The band's performance of I'm
Going Home
is a highlight of both the Woodstock
film
and the accompanying soundtrack.
The band
enjoyed a number of hits - most
notably 1971's
I'd Love to Change the World.
In 1973 Lee
stepped out for a solo album,
On the Road
to Freedom. He has remained active
since
leaving TYA, with a relatively
consistent
string of solo albums. His latest
record
bears echoes of his first solo
release, and
showcases his mastery of a wide
array of
styles. Recently, Alvin spoke
with me from
his home in Spain. - bk
Bill Kopp: The first thing I notice when
listening to Still On the Road
to Freedom
is perhaps the most obvious,
but it's also
remarkable: Your voice. Your
singing voice
as heard on this new album: it
doesn't sound
a bit different from the way
you sounded
on I'd Love to Change the World
or I'm Going
Home, forty years ago. Do you
do anything
to keep your voice in shape?
Alvin Lee: No. I'm afraid I haven't
any secrets
to divulge about that. That's
just the way
it is; genetics, probably.
BK: There's always been a strong early rock
'nroll/rockabilly sensibility
to your original songs. I'm a Lucky Man, on
the new record, for example,
could easily
be a cover from 1957.
AL: It almost could have been
recorded in
1957. I tried to get the authentic
sound
on that one; I was quite pleased
with it.
BK: On songs like that, do you
set out to
write in a particular style,
or do you just
write a song first and then apply
a particular
style to it?
AL: The style generally comes
along with
the song. That one has pretty
much of a rock'n'roll,
"Whole Lotta Shakin" rhythm.
So I get the
rhythm going, and then I think,
"What am
I going to say in this one?"
BK: One of the trends that I notice among
many artists who came to prominence
in the
60s and 70s is a tendency to
- how can I
put it - stop rocking. One can
go too far
in one direction or another:
you could get
all acoustic and mellow, or you
could rock
out 100% of the time and come
off a bit ridiculous.
AL: That's always been the dilemma,
hasn't
it? That's why I did Still On
the Road to
Freedom, because I'm right in
the middle,
between the two.
BK: You balance the two extremes nicely on
this record. You have contemplative,
acoustic
tracks like "Walk On, Walk
Tall,"
but they sit nicely alongside
the rockers.
Was that mix, that variety, by
design?
AL: I've always been keen to
not be obsessed,
to not get stuck with styles.
Because I like
so many different styles of music.
I like
things by Chet Atkins, Scotty
Moore, Chuck
Berry, Django Reinhardt, Wes
Montgomery.
All those guys have been an influence.
BK: On 2009's Saguitar, the cover art shows
that iconic Gibson that's become
so closely
associated with you. Do you still
use the
ES, and - besides acoustic guitars
- what
other guitars do you use?
AL: I don't use that one, any
more. Which
is quite sad: unfortunately,
it's locked
up in a vault. Ever since somebody
offered
me half a million dollars for
it! I wrote
in the song "Once There Was a
Time" [on Ten
Years After's 1971 LP A Space
in Time] that
I'd never sell my guitar. And
I've kept to
that one.
I've got several guitars. Gibson
made an
anniversary replica of the Woodstock
guitar;
they made a hundred hand-built
ones, and
then they put it into production.
There's
quite a few kicking about. But
I like to
use off-the-shelf guitars; if
anything happens
to one, you can replace it easily.
Some of the bands I've seen,
they take fifteen
guitars on the road. A hundred
thousand quid
worth of guitars onstage; it's
madness. It's
all very well, but I prefer to
play just
one guitar, and try to make it
do as many
things as I can.
BK: What sort of gigs are you doing in support
of the new album?
AL: I did a gig about a month
ago in Holland,
at a festival. It was really
great; the Dutch
people are really cool. The festival
had
a huge arts section, with paintings,
dancers.
A lot of stuff going on. Before
that, I was
busy finishing the album, so
I hadn't had
a gig - and the band hadn't played
together
– in eight months. And of course
at a festival,
there's no sound check; there
are bands playing
all day. So went onstage cold,
not having
played for eight months, and
then we actually
played one of the best gigs in
any of our
lives!
I think that's because, when
you play every
night, you can start to go into
"auto." The
thing is to play as much as you
can, but
to still enjoy it. And of course
in the 1970s,
Woodstock having been a big deal,
I was playing
five, six, seven nights a week.
You do that,
and you can start becoming a
traveling jukebox:
stand us up, plug us in, and
we'll blast
out the same old set.
Bill Kopp: The title and cover art of your
new album Still On the Road to
Freedom overtly
reference your 1973 collaboration
with Mylon
LeFevre. Beyond the text and
visuals, what
is the connection between the
two records?
Alvin Lee: There's not really
a connection.
The only connection is that in
1972 I wrote
the words to "On the Road
to Freedom,"
and what I'm saying now is that
I’m still
on that road. I still haven't
got there.
There’s only that one song that's
relevant
[to the old record]. The rest
of the album
is new music, the sort of things
that comes
out as my music today. I'm not
trying to
do a sequel, a follow-up.
BK: If someone asked me to describe
the music
on Still On the Road to Freedom
by applying
a single genre label to it, I
couldn't do
it. There's country rock, blues,
Bo Diddley
style rock, quiet acoustic numbers,
on and
on. Do you think that - in an
ironic way
- that the end of the record
industry as
we used to know it has meant
that artists
are free to follow their muse
where it takes
them, rather than being expected
(or required)
to turn in twelve songs in a
single style?
AL: It's a nice thought, but
actually no.
To get that freedom- and I went
for it in
1973 - I was giving up a lot.
I was giving
up the road to fame and fortune.
The road
to freedom was for my health,
anyway.
But record companies today, if
you sign with
a big record company, they practically
own
the artist. They tell them where
to go, what
TV [shows] to do. It's actually
worse than
it's ever been. But of course
there are more
bands playing on a smaller level.
They have
record companies that will pretty
much put
something out if they like it.
They're not
dealing in hits any more. And
they're not
spending $200,000 on promotion.
So, yes and no. There is more
freedom for
bands to record; it's something
I've always
fought for. The record company
comes and
says, "We want an album
that's the same
as the last one," and I
say, "Tough.
I'm gonna send you one that I
like. And I
hope you like it. If not, don't
release it."
BK: When I was a kid, I often heard the label
"fastest guitar in the west"
applied
to you. I don't remember now
where I heard
that. But while you don't always
do so, you
can play really fast, like on
the new track
"Back in '69." Back
in the day,
do you think that there was an
expectation
- when people came to see and
hear you with
Ten Years After - that you'd
have to play
like that? To show just that
one side of
your talent, the flash side?
AL: To a degree, that was a part
of the freedom
I was searching for, too. They
used to call
me Captain Speedfingers, too;
I didn't take
all that seriously. There were
and are many
faster guitarists than me. People
like John
McLaughlin and Django Reinhardt:
unbelievably
nimble. But with me, I think
it's because
of the way I play. Light and
shade. I'll
play it cool, and then I'll hit
some rocket
riffs. And that makes the rocket
riffs sound
more effective.
I've been to see some great guitarists
-
I won't mention any names - who
clearly must
practice twelve hours a day.
But after ten
minutes, you've heard everything
they've
got.
BK: On Saguitar you played most of the instruments
yourself. On this latest, you
still do a
lot of the work, but you have
brought in
players for most tracks. How
do you think
that changed the nature of the
music?
AL: I think the new one has a
more realistic
feel. On Saguitar, I was "concocting"
a real
feel. I used computer drums and
did play
most of the instruments myself.
I have always
had a fascination with Les Paul,
the way
he used to overdub his guitar
fifty times.
So it was partly that: trying
to see how
real a sound I could get by myself,
making
it on the computer. And I think
it was pretty
good; I spent a lot of time and
effort to
get the right feel, to capture
that interplay
of the various instruments. On
the new album
I've got Pete Pritchard on the
bass, and
Richard Newman on drums. So it's
got more
of a live feel to it.
BK: Are there any plans at all
for some North
American dates in support of
Still On the
Road to Freedom?
AL: None planned as of yet, but
I'll play
anywhere someone wants me. It's
hard, though.
You''ve got to get visas, air
tickets. It's
a big deal. You can't just pop
over and do
one gig. That's what I do in
Europe, though:
I do a festival on a Saturday
night - or
any night, basically - and keep
my hand in
that way. But those tours of
five or six
nights a week, I'm not up for
that any more.
It kills off the fun of making
music. Touring
with a rock 'n' roll band becomes
boring,
and then you've got a big problem
on your
hands. I never really wanted
to be a rock
star...
...Actually, I don't want to
lie. When I
was really young, I wanted to
be a big star
and make lots of money. But it
seems that
the reality doesn't ever quite
match up to
the dream. Once you get there,
it's not just
about having fun. It's a lot
of responsibility,
and a lot of pressure. That builds
up on
you, and sometimes you turn to
drink and
drugs. And those don’t make things
any easier.
BK: Your discography notes that you "do
not play with the band currently
recording
as Ten Years After." Is
this one of
those situations where ownership
of the band
name is contested, or is it something
else,
something more cordial?
AL: Well, it could have been
cordial. But
I was really not happy with what
they did.
It was behind my back, and all
very sneaky.
But those guys spent as much
time on the
road all those years ago as I
did, so they
have some right to do it. I just
wish they
had called it something else,
like Ten Years
After II, or something like that.
BK: Maybe Forty Years After…
AL: I think that's what it is
now, isn't
it?!
Guitar Afficianado
August 20th, 2012
By Damian Fanelli
From a guitarist's perspective,
the 1970
Woodstock film, which documents
the highs
and lows of the August 1969 Woodstock
Festival,
has several highlights.
There's Jimi Hendrix's immortal
take on "The
Star-Spangled Banner"; a
lengthy, mind-blowing
performance by newcomers Santana;
and Pete
Townshend's high-flying Gibson
SG acrobatics
with The Who, to name just a
few.
But for a full-on blues-rocking experience,
there's no beating Ten Years
After's adrenaline-fueled
reading of "I'm Going Home."
The
performance, an intense nod to
vintage blues
and '50s rock and roll, featured
the lightning-fast
fretwork of Ten Years After frontman
Alvin
Lee.
"The solo on the movie sounds
pretty rough
to me these days," Lee told Guitar
Aficionado
late last week. "But it had the
energy, and
that was what Ten Years After
were all about
at the time."
The performance made stars out
of the British
band, which led to more festivals,
a label
change and their biggest hit,
1971's "I'd
Love to Change the World."
Although
the band still tours, they do
it without
Lee, who has found happiness
as a solo artist,
carefully choosing a handful
of festival
performances per year.
Lee is releasing a new studio
album, Still
On the Road to Freedom, August
27 via Rainman
Records. The title is a reference
to his
1973 album with Mylon LeFevre,
On the Road
to Freedom.
Lee recently took some time to
discuss his
new album and his gear over the
years, including
his famous Woodstock-era "Big
Red"
ES-335.
GUITAR AFICIONADO: How often
do you pick
up a guitar and play these days?
Pretty much every day. I write
and record
all the time; it's my hobby and
my passion.
I have a Spanish gut-strung guitar,
a Dobro
resonator and a Line 6 Variax
hanging on
the wall, and they all get played
regularly.
The new Variax is very impressive.
Your new album covers a lot of
ground, revisiting
the past, looking to the future
and offering
a myriad of different sounds.
Was that intentional?
It kind of evolved from luck
and circumstance,
as if it were trying to get out
on its own.
I originally had 33 songs to
choose from.
As they developed and evolved,
I picked out
the ones that showed the most
promise. As
I continued to work on them,
I realized they
pretty much went through most
of my musical
influences and styles over the
years, so
from then on it became a time-warp
concept.
What gear did you use on the new album?
Mainly a Gibbo [Gibson] ES-335
and a Martin
acoustic. I used a Wal bass and
a Gretch
baritone guitar for bass, as
well as Pete
Pritchard's Music Man and a doghouse
double
bass called Charlie Boy.
Amp-wise, I used a Wem 15 Dominator
and a
very old Yamaha I bought from
Mick Abrahams.
I also used the original Pod,
which is better
than the new ones, as a pre-amp
into a Fender
Champ and Mustang. Plus Guitar
Rig and Amplitude
and too many others to mention.
On "Listen to Your Radio
Station,"
I used the Metalizer pedal Leslie
West gave
me. It's quite radical and has
to be tamed,
as the slightest finger twitch
comes blasting
through the amp. Leslie came
up to me at
the Night of the Guitars sound
check and
said, "Alvin, you're a damn
fine guitarist,
but you're not loud enough."
He then
proceeded to give me loudness
lessons. I
like Leslie's playing. He has
excellent rock
and roll phrasing.
What is some of your more prized gear, the
things you’'d rush to save from
a fire, for
instance?
My Martin acoustic. I bought
it in New York
in 1970, and the guy gave me
a receipt for
$150 for the customs. I walked
into the "something
to declare" channel and
showed the guy
the receipt. He opened the case
and said,
"A Martin guitar with Grover
machine
heads for $150?" I had only
found the
musical instrument expert customs
man.
Four hours later, I walked out
with my Martin
having paid a fine, a penalty
and having
had to buy it back. Ever since
then, I’'ve
used the "nothing to declare"
channel.
On the album opener, the title track, you
can immediately tell it’'s Alvin
Lee on guitar
- not just because of your note
choices but
also your sound. How would you
say your sound
has evolved over the years? Are
you still
using that Woodstock ES-335?
I've still got the original Woodstock
335,
but, sadly, I don't use it these
days as
it has become too valuable. She's
now in
a vault since some loony offered
me half
a million dollars for her.
Sound-wise, I never use pedal
effects on
stage and seldom in the studio.
I prefer
to get my overload sustain from
having the
Marshall cranked up high, then
by turning
the guitar down to 5 or 6, you
get a nice
clean jazz sound. The crunch
comes in around
7 or 8. What else do you need?
How involved were you in the creation of
Gibson's Custom "Big Red"
Alvin
Lee ES-335?
That all came about because of
Pat Foley
at Gibson. He asked me if I’d
be interested,
and I said of course, it’s a
great compliment.
So he came over to England to
photograph
and measure Big Red, and Gibson
pretty much
took it from there. I had no
involvement
until I got the first prototype.
Then I made
a few changes, which resulted
in my getting
several more prototypes. Now
I’ve got a whole
bunch of them — a gaggle of Gibsons.
Who were your favorite guitarists
when you
were growing up?
My favorite country blues player
was Big
Bill Broonzy. City blues was
Freddie King,
but I liked them all — Muddy
Waters, John
Lee Hooker, Ralph Willis, Lonnie
Johnson,
Brownie McGhee and the three
Kings, B.B.,
Albert and Freddie. Jazz-wise,
I listened
to Django, Barney Kessel and
Wes Montgomery.
Charlie Christian, Benny Goodman’s
guitarist,
was a great influence on my swing
phrasing.
My all-time favorite rock and
roll players
were Scotty Moore, Chuck Berry
and Franny
Beecher, and I listened to the
country playing
of Merle Travis.
Did you admire the other great
fast bluesman
of the time, Johnny Winter?
Strangely enough, I wasn't into
fast guitarists.
I preferred Peter Green's subtle
touch. I
saw him with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
at the Marquee Club in London
and was very
impressed. He was the only guitarist
I've
ever seen to turn the volume
control on his
guitar down during a solo.
What kind of delay/reverb, amp and overdrive
did you use on the solo on "I'd
Love
to Change the World"?
As far as I remember, it was
a Wem Dominator
used as a pre-amp into the old
Marshalls.
I had the Wem 15-Watt power amp
padded down
to guitar input level. The echo
was an EMT
plate.
The first time I saw the Woodstock film,
I was completely knocked out
by Ten Years
After's performance of "I'Going
Home."I
remember thinking I'd never seen
a blues/rock
guitarist play that fast before,
at least
in the context of 1969. And then
there was
the intensity of the band. It
was a bit chaotic
yet completely hemmed in by a
rock-solid
beat. Where did that come from?
You’re obviously a man of very
good taste!
Seriously, though, I never really
tried to
play fast. It kind of developed
from the
adrenalin rush of the hundreds
of gigs I
did long before Woodstock. They
called me
"Captain Speedfingers"
and such,
but I didn't take it seriously.
There were
many guitarists faster than me
- Django,
Barney Kessel, John McLaughlin
and Joe Pass
to name a few.
The solo on the movie sounds
pretty rough
to me these days, but it had
the energy,
and that was what Ten Years After
were all
about at the time. However, I
often wonder
what would have happened if they
had used
"ICant Keep From Crying"
in the
movie instead of" I'm Going
Home."
Anything else you'd like to add?
Rush out and buy Still On the
Road to Freedom!
Huffngton Post
A Conversation With Alvin Lee
Mike Ragogna: Hello Mr. Alvin
Lee, guitar
god from Ten Years After and
your own solo
career. You've got a new album,
Still On
the Road to Freedom, the title
being a play
off of one of your classic albums.
But first,
how're you?
Alvin Lee: I'm fine. How are
you?
MR: Dandy. And no, you're not
part of Canned
Heat. (laughs)
AL: No, but that's okay, they're
a great
band. We used to play with them
in the early
sixties in Golden Gate Park,
and they came
to England and they were good
buddies of
mine.
MR: Right. Remember any of those
old shows?
AL: I can remember Golden Gate
Park because
it was a free concert. It was
really cool
in the height of the sixties
and all that.
I went back to The Bear's house
one time
and he had this great collection
of '78 records
and we spent the whole evening
listening
to the John Lee Hooker, Muddy
Waters, and
Big Bill Broonzy and the likes.
I really
got along well with those guys.
I stayed
in touch with Fito the drummer.
He is one
of the best shuffle drummers
in the business.
MR: Alvin, who are some of your
heroes, the
people who inspired you?
AL: I was really lucky, my dad
was an early
inspiration. He was an avid music
collector
of ethnic music. He had things
like an album
called Murderous Home, which
was prison work
songs. He also brought Bill Broonzy
back
to the house one time after he
played a gig
in Nottingham. Big Bill was a
big influence
on me. Once when I was 12 years
old, I sold
my clarinet and bought a guitar
the next
day. Big Bill, Ralph Lewis, Lonnie
Johnson,
Ledbelly, Muddy Waters, Brownie
McGhee, Freddy
King...I liked all those guys.
I also liked
the jazz side of Johnny Christian,
Wes Montgomery,
Barney Kessel, Django (Reinhardt).
And, of
course, rock 'n' roll. Scotty
Moore is my
big favorite. Chuck Berry. Also,
a bit of
country I used to listen to like
Chet Atkins
and Merle Travis. They were all
influences.
There are probably a lot of others,
really.
I've played a little classical,
too. Segovia,
as well. All around influences.
MR: When you're playing live
or recording
new projects, do you ever find
yourself whipping
out a classical guitar or doing
more jazz?
AL: I do little vignettes of
it between the
numbers. I play a little bit
of "Cry
Me A River" and country
ho-down thing,
like a Merle Travis kind of thing.
I just
kind of throw those in for fun.
I don't actually
do any jazz songs as such in
the sense that
I keep nodding my head and playing
intro
bits like that. (laughs)
MR: Let's talk about the new
album, Still
on the Road to Freedom. In order
to have
context, is it best to talk a
tiny bit about
the original, On the Road to
Freedom?
AL: It's not as much a sequel.
It's a new
album. The word "freedom"
came
out of the one song. I wrote
that one song,
"Still on the Road to Freedom,"
so that became the theme for
the album, and
then I thought it would be cool
to have a
cover that looks a bit like the
original
and let people know I'm still
on the road
to freedom. It's always been
something I've
been searching for--freedom.
It's a very
relative thing. It means different
things
to different people. Musical
freedom has
always been very strong for me,
something
to strive for, to be able to
play the music
you enjoy playing rather than
playing music
that other people want to hear,
which I find
rather shallow and unrewarding.
So I make
albums I like and I put them
out and hope
other people like them and that's
a kind
of freedom in itself.
MR: Given you're talking to me
at KRUU, the
Midwest's only solar-powered
radio station--had
to throw that in--I especially
like "Listen
to Your Radio Station."
(laughs)
AL: Thought you might like that
one. "It's
the coolest music across the
nation, all
good stuff and all for free,
it must be cool
if they're playing me."
It's something
I have a feeling on. These days,
lots of
people have iPods and tend to
be listening
to their favorite music but it's
the same
music over and over again. I
strongly encourage
listening to the radio to hear
something
you haven't heard before. It's
a very healthy
thing to do. It's strange, unless
you reload
your iPods every couple of weeks,
you're
listening to and recycling the
same music
all of the time. I'm serious.
Listen to your
radio station. One thing that
does annoy
me with radio stations, I hear
something
and think, "Oh this is good,
who is
this?" And I wait for the
end of the
record, they give the station
ID and the
time. I know that, but they don't
tell me
who the artist is. I find that
quite annoying.
MR: At our radio station, we
do announce,
plus you can see all of the titles
online.
AL: God bless the digital age.
Must be a
cool radio station.
MR: Indeed, sir! Let's get the
story on "Song
of the Red Rock Mountain,"
like what
inspired you to write it?
AL: I'm actually getting good
feedback on
that one. It's off the wall.
It's not rock
'n' roll by any means; it has
a Spanish flavor.
Strangely enough, I was sitting
in the studio
waiting for my tech to come and
I had to
sort out some wiring or something,
so I thought
to test this new microphone.
I stuck the
microphone up, picked up my Martin
guitar
and, basically, it practically
came out instantly.
I got that little rhythm going
and the very
simple tune. "That was quite
nice,"
I thought. Then I thought maybe
I'd go back
to it and try to do it properly.
I went back
to it about twenty times and
it never got
better than that first time.
It's one of
those magic moments.
MR: Where does your creativity
come from?
AL: I don't know. That's the
beauty of creativity.
It comes from the ether. I like
to think,
sometimes, it's like I haven't
written it,
it's more like I just reached
up and grabbed
it from somewhere. That song,
"Song
of the Red Rock Mountain,"
is one of
them. I recorded it and thought,
"Where
did that come from?"
MR: And there's "Back in
'69."
AL: "Back in '69" was
kind of a
Bo Diddley rhythm I had that
worked out with
the band as a backing track.
I wasn't happy
with the words, they were too
ordinary. It
was like, "My baby been
done left me
and left me waiting at the station."
So I looked through my book of
poems and
that actually was a poem I wrote
just to
fit the song perfectly, back
in '69.
MR: Now for those Ten Years After
stories.
AL: It was great. The sixties
were a great
period. I love the early days
of Ten Years
After playing around the clubs
in London.
I remember we first came to America,
it was
about 1968. We visited Haight-Ashbury
and
everywhere. I was actually really
into America.
I loved James Dean and American
cars and
American music, so I was really
thrilled
to get there. Great memories
up until, strangely
enough... A lot of people say
the Woodstock
movie made Ten Years After. But
actually,
it was the beginning of the end
for me because
we stopped playing clubs like
The Fillmore
East and The Fillmore West, The
Grande Ballroom
and The Boston Tea Party, those
really cool,
kind of rock 'n' roll gigs with
two or three-thousand
people. After the movie came
out--not after
the concert but after the movie
came out--suddenly,
we were catapulted to Madison
Square Garden,
Sam Houston Coliseum and hockey
arenas, the
worst places to play in the world.
They were
just dreadful places to play.
The fun came
out of it for me there, and I
realized I
didn't want to be a rock star,
I wanted to
be a working musician. So that's
one of the
roads to freedom I took right
there and then.
MR: Nicely said.
AL: At first, it was great. The
band went
for eight years, and it was a
great band
and I really enjoyed it. But
there comes
a time to move on and do other
things.
MR: One other part of your history
is that
you were in The Jaybirds, of
course. The
Jaybirds were in that same circuit
The Beatles
were in.
AL: We played The Star Club in
Hamburg. That
was quite a trip. I just turned
17 years
old and found myself in the land
of sex,
drugs, rock 'n' roll, prostitutes,
and gangsters.
It was a crash course in rock
'n' roll, I'll
tell ya.
MR: Has much changed since then?
AL: In Hamburg? Well, a lot actually.
They
have different prostitutes and
gangsters,
but they're all still there.
MR: Let's get back to your solo
career. You've
had a few solo albums and some
wonderful
guests on those projects such
as George Harrison.
You guys were pals?
AL: Yes, George was a good friend.
I was
a very lucky guy. I knew him
and I used to
hang out with George quite a
lot. We were
very good after hours friends,
you know.
He would make serious music and
I'd make
serious music and when all those
guys had
gone home, we'd get together
and just have
fun playing nonsense and playing
whatever
we felt like. He had his studio
all set up
with all of this amazing gear
and equipment.
We'd go in and try to get it
working and
have a lot of fun. (laughs) George
was a
musician; he liked to play, just
like anybody.
So one time, I asked, "Any
chance of
a slide guitar on this song?"
He said,
"I'll be right over."
MR: Nice.
AL: Good man.
MR: One of your more beloved
tracks is "The
Bluest Blues," that a popular
reviewer
called, "The most perfect
blues song
ever recorded."
AL: That's very nice. I kind
of think B.B.
King's "The Thrill is Gone"
is
a little ahead of that, but I
appreciate
the gesture.
MR: There's your project Alvin
Lee in Tennessee
from back in 2004. How did it
come about?
AL: Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana
came out
over to England. They were playing
a launching
of an album gig at Air Studios
in London.
They invited me to come down
and have a jam,
and I wasn't going to miss that
one because
Scotty is the boy for me. I got
up there,
I did a rock 'n' roll medley,
"Blue
Suede Shoes," "Rip
it Up"
and "Hound Dog." It
was just great.
What particularly thilled me
was D.J. Fontana
playing behind me. I turned around
and I
said, "Let's start with
'Rip It Up,'"
and they all sat there. And I
said, "C'mon,
ch-ch-ch-ch-ch..." D.J.
said, "Oh,
yeah!" and he started playing
that intro.
That's because D.J. started it!
It was great
just hearing that music, those
drum fills
and those rhythms that I cut
my teeth on
all those years ago, and there
I was playing
with these guys. Afterwards,
I said, "Any
chance to get you guys in a studio
to make
an album together?" They
said, "Yeah,
love to." So I shot off
and started
writing songs for that project.
MR: I think I have a sense of
what the word
"freedom" means to
you. It's the
freedom to express yourself creatively,
isn't
it.
AL: That's right. Yes, that pretty
much pours
it in the bucket.
MR: Alvin, what information or
advice might
you have for new artists?
AL: New artists? Actually, these
days, my
advice is to throw away your
PlayStation
and pick up an instrument. I'm
a bit of a
PlayStation junkie myself, but
had I had
a PlayStation or a computer as
a teenager,
I probably would have never played
guitar.
If you put the time into playing
an instrument
that you put into playing on
your PlayStation,
you could be playing in a band
within a year,
and that, it seems to me, is
a much better
way to go.
MR: That's wonderful advice.
The same might
be applied to spending time on
Facebook?
AL: Yes, absolutely. And surfing
the old
net and all that. There are many
things like
that these days. I was lucky
when I was younger.
There were only records, that
was it. Records
and films were the only thing.
Records were
so big. You'd buy a record, you'd
go home,
you'd treasure it and play it
again and again.
It's kind of a bit sad these
days that it's
almost like a disposable thing.
My advice
is lock up your PlayStation and
pick up your
guitar.
MR: People seem to be moving
from thing to
thing so quickly, maybe searching
for that
instant gratification.
AL: Yeah, it's getting faster
and faster,
isn't it?
MR: Yeah, no savoring. Some last
words on
your new album. It basically
was recorded
with Pete Pritchard and Richard
Newman.
AL: Yes, and I have Tim Hinkley
on keyboards.
He's been with me for many years.
He was
on the original On Road to Freedom
album
and with me on my second In Flight
album.
He is one of my favorite keyboard
players.
He's in Nashville now. He came
over from
Nashville to play on the album,
which was
pretty cool.
MR: The way you recorded Still
on the Road
to Freedom, was it you all playing
together
with just a little overdubbing
later?
AL: Some of it was that. Some
of it was just
me and Richard on the drums.
On some of the
songs, I find it great just to
play with
the drummer because then you
can change the
chords as you go. You can stick
in a chorus
when you feel one is due and
stuff like that.
So I did quite a lot, just about
half, with
just the drums and me, and had
Pete put the
bass in afterwards. But some
of the more
rock-y ones, they were pretty
much live.
MR: You'll be touring, right?
AL: Yep. Hopefully. I'll play
anywhere that
will have me. I won't be doing
any 10-week
tours these days. I love to play,
but I'm
just not into that mad kind of
traveling
anymore. I've done a few million
miles already.
MR: Alvin, you are a guitar hero
to many,
many people. Are you aware of
that?
AL: Well, kind of. I don't necessarily
believe
it. I've got my heroes and other
people have
their heroes. I consider myself
a pretty
cool guitarist but not really
anything especially
brilliant. But that's not for
me to say.
If other people like it, that's
great, and
I thank them very much.
MR: Beautifully said. Alvin,
thank you so
much for the time, this was special.
AL: Thank you very much, Mike,
I enjoyed
it. Keep on pumping those watts.
Rocksquare
Interview: Alvin Lee talks about
his new
album, Ten Years After, and how
he’d still
love to change the world
At age 67, guitarist Alvin Lee still has
faster fingers than a pickpocket. For an
example of Lee’s dexterity, listen
to the title track of his new album, Still on the Road to Freedom. Over the space of four minutes, the guitarist’s
fingers hopscotch across the fretboard for
several exciting, blues-based solos in which
he shows off his formidable technique of
stinging vibrato, wailing bends, and nimble
pull-ons and pull-offs.
But then, Lee always was a fleet-fingered
fellow. When the Nottingham-born guitarist
founded Ten Years After during the British
Blues Boom of the mid 1960s, his virtuosity
was remarked on even back then. Yet, when
modern rock writers recall that halcyon era,
they sometimes neglect to mention Lee’s
name alongside the likes of Jimmy Page, Eric
Clapton, Jeff Beck and Peter Green. The sleeve
notes to Still on the Road to Freedom offer one possible explanation for why that
is. “In 1972 after Woodstock had catapulted
Ten Years After into the Rock Arenas, I decided
to take the road to freedom rather than the
road to fame and fortune,” writes Lee.
It was a courageous move. Between 1968 and
1974, the blues-rock band released popular
albums such as Undead, Stonedhenge and Cricklewood Green and scored hits such as “I’d
Love to Change the World,” “Hear
Me Calling,” “Love Like a Man,”
and I’m Going Home” (the latter
immortalized during the band’s star-making
performance at Woodstock). But Lee was less
than enamored by record company pressures
and the more pop-oriented direction the band
was pursuing. In 1973, Lee stepped away from
his day job to collaborate with southern
gospel singer Mylon LeFevre for a country-rock
record On the Road to Freedom, an album that featured guest players such
as George Harrison, Ron Wood, Mick Fleetwood,
Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood. On the Road to Freedom heralded the end for Ten Years After, though
the band did release Positive Vibrations in 1974 and, later, during one of its handful
of short-lived reunions with Lee, it attempted
a comeback album in 1989 titled About Time. (Since 2003, the remainder of Ten Years
After has continued to record and tour without
Lee.)
Following his tenure in Ten Years After,
Alvin Lee has released over 20 albums, most
notably Zoom, I Hear You Rockin’ (a.k.a. 1994) and Alvin Lee live in Tennessee, a 2004 recording that included a guest
appearance by Scotty Moore, the guitarist
whose work with Elvis Presley inspired Lee
to become a musician. (Ten Years After was
established in 1966, a decade after Elvis’s
breakthrough—hence the band’s
name.)
Still on the Road to Freedom, released August 28, isn’t exactly
a sequel to On the Road to Freedom. Though the album touches on that album’s
country blues on “Save My Stuff,”
the new record’s 11 tracks are truly
diverse and reflect Lee’s wide-ranging
musical interests. It spans from the flamenco-tinged
instrumental “Song of the Red Rock
Mountain,” to the traditional ’50s
rock ’n’ roll of “I’m
a Lucky Man,” to the funk of “Rock
You,” to the 21st century techno-blues of “Listen to
Your Radio Station.” Much of the album
will appeal to fans of Mark Knopfler and
J.J. Cale. On songs such as “Midnight
Creeper” and “Nice and Easy,”
Lee’s sweet-twang guitar sashays gently
to the shuffling grooves of bassist Pete
Pritchard and drummer Richard Newman. Still on the Road to Freedom also includes a vibrant remake of Ten Years
After’s “Love Like a Man,”
during which Lee plays several fluid guitar
solos that will leave listeners foaming at
the mouth.
In the sleeve notes, Lee accounts for the
record’s diversity by explaining that
he had 33 songs to choose from. “I
am never sure which direction my music is
going to take,” writes Lee, “but
I do know that to be worthwhile it has to
be a natural progression. It has to evolve
freely. For me it has to be instinctual and
not commercially premeditated.”
Rock Square contacted the guitarist via email to ask
him about Still on the Road to Freedom, his career with Ten Years After, and how
he’d love to change the world by bringing
back the values of 1969.
Still on the Road to Freedom is striking for its wide stylistic diversity—how did the record shape up that way?
As the 33 songs I had written developed and
evolved, I picked out the ones that showed
the most promise. As I continued to work
on them, I realized that they pretty much
went through most of my musical influences
and styles over the years.
So the time warp concept just appeared out
of the blue with no premeditated plan.
Still on the Road to Freedom is a very disciplined record in that it
clocks in at 42 minutes—almost vinyl length—rather than the sprawling length of 80 minutes
of so many CD albums. Given that
you had
33 songs written, was it difficult
to stick
to the discipline of releasing
a succinct
album rather than cramming as
many of those
33 songs onto a CD?
For me the CD has a beginning a middle and
two ends and works as an entity from start
to finish. I never even timed it until it
was finished, it just seemed the right length.
Guess I was born to make vinyls.
Elvis and early rock ‘n’ roll
was such a big inspiration for
you. Both
“I’m a Lucky Man”
and “Down
Line Rock” revisit that
sound—who were the guitarists who most influenced
you early on and which of today’s
players
do you most admire?
Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, John Lee
Hooker, Ralph Willis, Lonnie Johnson, Brownie
McGhee and the three Kings—B.B., Albert
and Freddy. Jazz wise, I listened to Django
Rheinhardt, Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel,
and Wes Montgomery and a bit of Segovia’s
classical and Juan Serrano’s Flamenco
on the side. I listened to the country playing
of Merle Travis and Shit Hotkins [Chet Atkins],
and for Rock and Roll it was Scotty Moore,
Chuck Berry and Franny Beecher.
These days I like to listen to J.J. Cale,
the king of laid back, and Mark Knopfler—he
has a unique style. Tommy Emmanuel, who has
obviously been practicing far too much and
there’s a new guy Jeff Aitchison, who
is doing amazing things on the acoustic guitar.
Stanley Jordan deserves a mention, he has
an amazing style which is more related to
keyboards than guitar and I also like George
Benson’s jazz work, but not the muzak
for swinging secretaries. Check out Billie’s
Bounce with Billy Cobham on drums and Herbie
Hancock on piano.
“Listen to Your Radio Station”
has a surprisingly contemporary
edge with
its drum loop sample by the late,
great King
Crimson drummer Ian Wallace—where did you find that loop and did the
song evolve out it?
This is a kind of cross between blues and
hip hop. Blues-hop or Hip Blues if you will.
The original recording was done to a click
track, and I later found Ian’s drum
rhythm which fitted perfectly. Myself, Ian
Wallace, Boz Burrell ,Tim Hinkley and Mel
Collins had a jamming band we called “The
Gits.” This was from one of the many
jams we did between ’71 & ’75
The album was recorded in Spain—is that why the improvised “Song of
the Red Rock Mountain”
has that Latin
classical guitar sound to it?
That tune is another one that just came out
of the blue. It has a Flamenco leaning as
I have been studying Flamenco guitar.
“Nice and Easy” has a laid-back, J.J.
Cale sort of shuffle to it was Cale an overt influence on the song?
Yes, I was definitely in Bradley’s
Barn mode when I recorded this.
What’s the lyrical message of “Back
in 69” about?
What happened to Peace & Love?
You’ve roped in the great keyboardist
Tim Hinkley on the album. What
makes him
your go-to guy for keyboards
since the early
1970s?
He is the best, he has the right feel for
me and he does not play too many notes. It’s
all about understanding the groove and he
understands and understates.
What inspired you to re-record “Love
Like a Man” for this album?
I liked the rhythm and the song fitted, just
jumped out of my head.
Are there other Ten Years After songs you
look back on and wish you could
re-record
them with today’s recording
techniques
and production?
I haven’t really thought about it but
it’s a definite maybe for the future.
“Working on the Road” springs
to mind. I’ve always liked the line,
“I’ve seen the world and it’s
seen me/ In a strange kind of way I guess
I’m free.”
In the liner notes, you wrote that you “decided
to take the road to freedom rather
than the
road to fame and fortune.” Have
you encountered any bumps in
your journey
down the road?
There are many bumps holes, forks and snakes
on the road to freedom but freedom is a relative
thing and it means different things to different
people depending on the circumstances. Think
of your own form of freedom and how to achieve
it, and you will find there are a lot of
sacrifices to make which are not easy. But
it’s worth it if you follow your instincts
and find the flow.
When you parted ways with Ten Years After
almost a decade ago, was that
because of
your journey down that road—and what’s your assessment of the band’s
legacy?
I actually parted with TYA in 1975. There
were a few reformation gigs which did not
add up to much. Any legacy that exists for
me, is on the recordings between 1967 and
the release of the Woodstock movie in 1970.
After that the spark was lost when it all
got too corporate and commercial.
To the best of my knowledge, Ten Years After
never performed its biggest hit,
“I’d
Love to Change the World,”
in concert.
Why was that?
It’s a great recording but it’s
no fun to play live, it’s too restricting.
Duplicating songs live has never been something
I wanted to do.
There are songs I like to listen to, songs
I enjoy creating and recording and songs
I like to play live. The live songs must
have room to expand and evolve….and
be fun.
Finally, do you reckon Spinal Tap ripped
off Ten Years After’s Stonedhenge?
No, I was never into the mysticism of the
henge, I just liked the “stoned”
part.
