May 28, 2012 – Ribs ‘n’ Blues Festival, Raalte, Holland
Alvin Lee, Pete Pritchard and Richard Newman play their last show together… released on CD the following year.
(C) Peter Mand
(C) Brigitte Scholz
(C) Peter Mand
(C) Brigitte Scholz
(C) Brigitte Scholz
(C) Peter Mand
(C) Brigitte Scholz
(C) Peter Mand
(C) Peter Mand
(C) Brigitte Scholz
Evi’s memories of the last show
While working on the release of ‘The Last Show’ I have been thinking back, remembering more and more details about the show in Raalte and the whole trip.
As usual, Alvin and I flew in the day before, a Sunday, as it was Pentecost and the Monday a holiday in many European countries. We stayed in a hotel in Amsterdam and had a quiet meal, sitting at a table on the pavement and looking at people strolling in the balmy evening air or whizzing past on their bicycles.
The band was not able to travel the day before due to other engagements and had to catch a nine o’clock flight from London, which meant for some of them to get up as early as 4am! The minibus picking them up from Amsterdam airport stops by the hotel so Alvin and I can hop on. Chatting during the 2 hour journey to Raalte we manage to catch up with everything that has happened over the last nine months since the previous gig.
By the time we arrive in Raalte bands are already playing on both stages, which means there is no chance to do a sound check. Nevertheless Steve our sound-man needs to familiarise himself with the available equipment and make sure the backline is working ok. Rich has to build his drum kit and Pete check out if the supplied double bass had been correctly strung with the required nylon strings and tune it. There’s no need for Alvin to hang around backstage and get bothered by questions and autograph requests, so he decides to stay in the hotel room, put a new set of strings on his stage guitar and get himself ready for an early show. He likes to arrive in the dressing room ideally 15 minutes before going on stage, just enough time to give the guitar a final tune and change into his stage outfit – although you wouldn’t notice much of a difference to his normal street clothes! Just something he could take off afterwards as it all would be sweat soaked. Pete and Rich are still in their travelling clothes as they had expected to get back to the hotel and change during the afternoon, but as the whole town appeared to be at the festival the journey would have been taking too long through congested back roads, so they decided to go on as they were. Pete now regrets that, as the check shirt and old jeans would have not been his choice to wear for what turned out to become such a memorable show. Rich had the opportunity to be sorry about it straight after the show as his shirt was sopping wet and no spare t-shirt could be found for him backstage!
When we arrive at the venue we are both very pleased to see Gerry McAvoy still backstage after the earlier show with his ‘Band of Friends’. Gerry was Rory Gallagher’s bass player for many years, another guitarist I’m a big fan of. Alvin toured the US in the mid-90’s with Gerry and his then band ‘Nine Below Zero’. We became very well acquainted spending these weeks together on the road – which also happened to be my first tour on another continent! We have the chance to talk for a few minutes and get introduced to his band mates who we hadn’t met before, notably Ted McKenna who was Rory’s drummer in the early days.
The stage is located in a big circus tent with ‘standing only’ on the main floor and there appears to be a balcony upstairs with seats. The changeover on stage is done with efficiency, expertly directed by Steve who is responsible to plug in Alvin’s transmitter and amp with the usual settings. Also to mike up the speakers and the drum kit. Steve asks Alvin in the dressing room to give him a twang through the Marshalls to hear if the guitar is hooked up correctly, then heads through the audience to the front-of-house mixing desk. The festival’s conferencier introduces the band in Dutch, then Pete walks up to the mic and says ‘Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the legendary Alvin Lee’. The band launches into ‘Rock & Roll Music to the World’; the traditional opener for many of Alvin’s shows. The band concentrates on getting the monitor levels correctly adjusted so they can hear what they play through the on-stage speakers pointing at them. Steve gets the sound for the audience sorted in record time – and still manages to have by the end of the song a very respectable mix for the recording of the show he is running on the side. Usually he would record the show onto minidisc for Alvin to listen back home and analyse his playing. This time he uses a Zoom H4n handheld recorder and records in a different format – how lucky is that for us now! This seems quite ironic when I think about it, as these recording devices are usually the choice of people in the audience to bootleg a show illegally. The advantage in this case is that the audio is recorded on two stereo tracks, one direct line-in from the desk and the other through the recorder’s built-in microphones.
The sound -and to a lesser degree the playing- on R&RMTTW was not considered good enough for a release when Alvin heard it and therefore it is not included on the CD. ‘Hear Me Calling’, which followed, gains momentum after the first half minute or so, and ‘Can’t Keep from Crying’ still manages to capture me completely when listening. Pieter Kentrop, a loyal fan who travelled to most of Alvin’s shows over the last ten years, describes the show quite comprehensively in the liner notes featured in the CD booklet, so I won’t go into too much detail, especially as I often get distracted with things to take care of backstage. In ‘Writing You a Letter’ Alvin comes off stage during the drum solo to tune up and relate anything that he cannot communicate to me while on stage. On this occasion I don’t remember anything that needed fixing, so the second part of the show shapes up to be more relaxed for me. Another personal highlight is as always ‘Slow Blues in C’.
I don’t know how many of you noticed it but Alvin starts actually singing the wrong song at the beginning of ‘I’m Gonna Make It’, realises this when getting to the chorus and slides -more or less smoothly- into the correct lyrics.
I don’t want to omit the little anecdote (also featured in the CD’s liner notes) where Alvin sees a sign held up in the audience and reads it out aloud: “will you sign my … tits … ?” followed by a little laugh and “I‘m sorry mate!” as it’s a guy holding it! Actually it spells tshirt and Dennis Ruesink sadly never got his autograph.
By the time the band plays ‘Woke up This Morning’ the stage manager approaches me and points out that according to a piece of paper pinned up backstage the curfew will be in ten minutes. This is contradictory to information received a few weeks earlier where Alvin had 75 minutes scheduled for his set. I try to defuse the situation by saying there are only two songs left in the set (failing to mention that they usually add up to over 20 minutes, plus at least one encore). Apparently somebody on the other side of the stage is also signing to the band because Alvin comments “… a guy saying here we got five minutes to go” … no way … The festival normally very strictly adheres to the curfew imposed by the town hall, but other than shutting down the sound system mid-song there is no stopping Alvin when he is having that much fun! Fortunately they don’t resort to such drastic action and even permit an encore – in for a penny, in for a pound. There isn’t much choice anyway with the audience yelling for more!
Alvin walks off stage with a big grin on his face, exhausted, exhilarated, and knowing to have given the audience his best that evening.
Back to the dressing room to change clothes and after a quick well deserved glass of red into the catering tent as we’re all starving. The event’s name ‘Ribs & Blues’ unfortunately doesn’t extend to the backstage food, not a rib in sight! Anyway, something resembling hot food fills the gaping hole in our bellies and we head back to the hotel in which mostly bands and crew are staying. In the courtyard there is a little acoustic jam happening but we’re only interested in dropping our bags and equipment in the room. A big table outside is already occupied by Gerry and band, so we sit down to enjoy the warm evening. We listen to everybody’s tour stories and contribute some of our own. The hours fly by and very unusual for Alvin as incredibly moderate drinker he enjoys himself nevertheless. I have no such restraint but the less said… Pete, Rich and Steve actually are beat – not very surprising after their early start – and very sensibly retreat after an hour, but the rest of us sit well into the dark. This evening’s conclusion is now a treasured memory for me.
Evi ‘helping’ Steve Rispin set up the stage
Roy Trakin’s Interview with Alvin Lee – July 2012
Last July, Roy Trakin sat down with Alvin Lee in conjunction with the release of his album Still on the Road to Freedom
Do you still play much live?
I still do a handful of European festivals each year just to keep my hand in and to stop me feeling like a retired accountant. I just performed at a Dutch festival.
For many you are indelibly remembered singing “I’m Going Home” 43 years ago at Woodstock. Have you gotten there?
I don’t think I ever will.
This album is kind of like the sequel to On the Road to Freedom.
When I first released that album, my fans were not happy. They kept saying, “This is not Alvin Lee, the hot guitarist from Ten Years After,” It wasn’t until much later, maybe ten years after, that people started saying, “Hey, this is a really good album.” It still is one my best-selling solo albums to date. It just keeps selling because it’s kind of timeless. It’s the same with this album. I’m not playing all hot-shot guitar all the way; I play more acoustic guitar, a little more tastefully, although I’m probably not the one that should be saying that.
You weren’t trying to be the fastest guitarist alive?
Being Captain Speedfingers, the fastest guitarist in the West, was never a title I encouraged. It’s better than some other things. I didn’t set out to be that. I just got excited and played a lot of notes. I remember doing the London sessions with Jerry Lee Lewis, did the first song, straight in, no rehearsal, I played the solo and he said, “Why do you play so fast, man?” And I said, “I can’t help it. I just get excited.” The second take, we did “Memphis, Tennessee,” and I did a real tasty guitar solo, and he said, “Now you’re talking. Now I hear you.” I’ve always had the two sides. I listen to everyone from Joe Pass to J.J. Cale, and there’s a vast difference in those two guitarists.
Tell me about “Nice and Easy.”
That was the first track we recorded. I actually wrote it almost three years ago. It definitely is a J.J. Cale influence. I like him because he plays so little… I actually put on a J.J. Cale CD the other day and played along with it, and when the solo came, vowed to try to play less notes than he would. Come the solo, I played around six notes and he’s only played two.
You’ve never bowed to commercial or public pressure.
I don’t sit around and try to copy what’s popular now. That’s not a musician; that’s a pop star. For me, I have to like it. If I like it, and nobody else does, then I’m happy. If I like it and other people do, I’m even happier. But if I don’t like it, what’s the point? If you do a commercial track and it’s not a hit, then that’s really embarrassing. I just never played that game. I make an album I like and hope other people like it, too.
This album seems to express your own musical tastes, along with the roots and influences of your music, from down-home blues to ’50s rockabilly like “I’m a Lucky Man.”
Scotty Moore was my big hero in the early days. I remember joining the Elvis Presley fan club not because I was a fan of Elvis, because I wanted a picture of Scotty Moore with his guitar. This is my hobby, and I suppose it’s my career. But I don’t look at music that way. It’s just something I do. This is a homemade album. It’s me and my mates, who just happen to be the best musicians in the world. I work out of my home studio on the bottom floor and take my time doing it. Lots of experimenting. I wrote 33 tracks for this album, and had a great deal of trouble trying to bring them all along together. So I cut it down to the best 13.
Tell me about “Midnight Creeper.”
The midnight creeper used to visit my house and creep around… but I can’t tell you who it is.
How about the country blues and honking harp of “Save My Stuff”?
I was a big fan of Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee…that sort of thing.
“Walk On, Walk Tall” sounds like a nod to Johnny Cash.
That’s actually a personal song to a friend of mine, but it fits everybody. I was always keen on Chet Atkins and Merle Travis as guitarists… Reggie Young. They are all fantastic.
“Blues Got Me So Bad” is a delta stomper.
That’s a real down-home blues. My blues name is Deaf Lemon Lee.
“Song of the Red Rock Mountain” has a neat south of the border sound.
I was just testing a microphone, and that’s what came out of nowhere. I planed to try to do it again and make it better, but I never did. It was sort of a magic moment. It just came out like that. And I thought, “Where did that come from?” That’s what I like about writing songs. I’m just the medium. They seem to come from someplace else. You can’t always tell where they come from.
“Back in ‘69” has that Bo Diddley “Not Fade Away” beat to it.
Actually, the working title for that song was “Bo Did” for a long while, looking back on the ’60s ideals of peace and love. They’re not totally lost, but I think generally, when you look at the situation today, there’s not much peace and love around, is there? Not as much as there should be, anyway.
“Rock You” is funky.
I don’t say “all night long,” do I? It’s about rocking you with my guitar, but it never only means one thing, and people see different stuff. That’s what I like about music. That’s what makes it interesting.
“Down Line Rock” is a traditional rockabilly train song.
It’s great driving music, as long as there’s not a speeding cop around.
“Love Like a Man 2” is a new version of the classic song from Cricklewood Green. It’s a different treatment. There’s a chug-a-lugga rhythm to it, like New Orleans R&B player Smiley Lewis’ “I Hear You Knocking.”
Any regrets for the way your career has gone?
I had to turn away from playing those big venues. I was playing clubs like the Fillmores, the Aragon Ballroom, the Boston Tea Party, great specialized blues venues, to 3,000 people. They were the best gigs. After the Woodstock movie, I was playing the Houston Coliseum, and there was no comparison. Just keep your mouth shut, take the money and laugh all the way to the bank. But to me, that wasn’t right. Even then, I had to play what comes naturally. And it wasn’t happening. The music I played turned into arena rock. I didn’t care to play that music. A lot of it was the people around me. I found myself spending more time with lawyers and accountants. It was all going in the wrong direction for me. To get away from that, I was doing everything possible to numb my brain, which certainly wasn’t good for me. I’m anti-celebrity. I became a rock star and a celebrity and I hated it. It didn’t suit me. It was like pretending to be someone, like Elvis or Jerry Lee Lewis. It wasn’t me. I’m a musician. I lean towards blues, but I like rock and roll, country, funk, jazz… anything with a guitar in it. Hopefully, I’m getting pretty good at it by now. I don’t know. It’s up to other people to say, isn’t it?”
What’s in the future for you?
I’ll continue to put out albums until the day I die, and will continue to play the odd festivals. Rumors of my retirement are totally untrue. I’ll do my last gig when you come to my funeral, how about that?
Boomerocity’s Randy Patterson talking with Alvin Lee – August 2012
Still On The Road To Freedom
https://www.boomerocity.com/alvin-lee.html
It’s been forty-four years since the Alvin Lee and Ten Years After battalion of the British invasion of the U.S. took place. In fact, it was forty-three years ago this month that Mr. Lee and the band made their history-making six song performance at the Woodstock festival. It was there that he famously introduced the bands song, I’m Going Home, by saying, “I’m going home . . . by helicopter”.
Since those days, there have been many tours, bands and albums. How many albums? Alvin told me, “I honestly don’t know. Twenty or thirty, I guess.”
Whether it’s the 20th or the 30th, Lee’s soon-to-be-released album, Still On The Road To Freedom, delivers the same level of musical excellence that he did when first landed on our shores those many years ago. It was because of this album that I had the privilege and opportunity to ask Lee a few questions about the album and music in general. I found it especially interesting that the interview with this rock and roll icon marks the 100th interview for Boomerocity as well as the weekend of the 43rd anniversary of Woodstock. Neither was planned. It just happened that way.
I mentioned to Alvin that, in the liner notes he wrote that the thirteen songs were taken from a batch of 33 songs he had written since the release of his last album, Saguitar. I was curious as to what the decision-making process to cull out those great tunes from such a body of work that, undoubtedly, contained equally as great of work.
“It’s a process of evolution. As I work on each track, I will maybe try another vocal, another bass or guitar, maybe change the words – whatever I feel it needs. Some of the tracks improve as I do this, some don’t, and some are best left in their original form so as they evolve it becomes apparent which ones are going somewhere. Apart from having a good basic song that is saying something, I am looking for a rhythm or feel that inspires me to play interesting solos and fills.”
With so many albums under his belt, I asked Alvin how was this album different for him to record than his first album, Ten Years After, and what is easier and harder now.
“What’s easier now is I just do what I feel and don’t have to explain or justify to anybody what I’m trying to do. The only harder thing is deciding what it is I want to do. With Ten Years After, it was a story of lies, deceit, clashing egos, and backstabbing but you wouldn’t be interested in that.”
Artists can never (or won’t) pick a favorite song from their work. It’s always seen almost like a parent picking a favorite child. I knew that Lee couldn’t pick a favorite song from this album but I asked him if he were to pick one as a “calling card”, if you will, that would sell people on wanting to buy the whole album, which song would he pick?
“I suppose it would be the title track, but I don’t think there is any one track that represents the whole album. It’s all about variation and visiting my influences over the years.”
With a career that spans seven consecutive decades, Alvin has seen and weathered a lot of changes in the music industry. What have been the biggest changes, positive and negative, in the music business, which he has witnessed?
“From my perspective, I miss the major record companies from the good old days (late 60’s). They used to send limos for you and shower you with gifts and generally show you a good time. That was when there was lots of money flying around and everybody was happy. Also there was an element of adventure. It was all new and there were no rule book to follow. You had to make them up as you went along. “FM radio stations used to have one usually stoned out guy doing the whole thing and we would walk in and start playing our favorite records and rapping for hours. These days it’s got so corporate they have administrators and programmers and the DJs can’t even play what they want. It’s all about advertising and making money. Where is the groovy DJ who just plays good music?”
One question I’ve asked many veteran artists is: If you were made the music czar, what would you do to change the business, or would you? Lee’s answer didn’t surprise me in the least.
“To be honest, I have never been interested in the business side of music. To me, they just don’t mix. I’ve met with Clive Davis and Ahmet Ertegun and the further I am away from all that the better.”
With the wealth of accomplishments behind him, I wondered what hasn’t Alvin Lee done or accomplished yet that he still would like to do. His response was short and to the point.
“Go to south India and make an album in Chicago with local musicians.”
Lee has jammed with some of the biggest names in music history. I was curious if there was anyone who he hasn’t jammed with whom he wishes to.
“Not really, I’ve been very lucky and jammed with most of my heroes and great players. I’ve even jammed with Damon Hill. Chuck Berry is someone I’ve never jammed with but it’s often disappointing meeting your heroes and with Chuck it could be damn right dangerous. They said the same of Jerry Lee, but I got on with him real fine during the London sessions.”
As we were wrapping up our chat, I asked the Woodstock and rock and roll veteran what was up next for him this year and in the next few years.
“I’ve got a few festivals and I’m already writing new material for whatever my next project turns out to be. The songs will lead me in the right direction although I still don’t know where they come from.”
And the next the next five years?
“To continue surprising myself and to write the world’s greatest riff.”
I had time for one more question so I asked Alvin how he hopes to be remembered and what he hopes his legacy will be.
“Who knows? Who cares? I only hope somebody doesn’t make a cheesy movie of what they think was my life with Justin Bieber playing me as a young boy.”
Then, in an ever-so-slightly more serious tone, he added, “Remember me as a guitarist who raised a few eyebrows, that’s good enough.”
You can keep up with Alvin Lee as he “travels the road to freedom” by visiting his website, www.alvinlee.com.
Of course, you’ll want to be sure and catch Alvin live when he appears in your city so check his website often for tour updates.
Classic Rock Magazine — December 2012
