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That's All Right 50 years of Rock ‘n’ Roll
with Alvin Lee and Scotty Moore
Interview by Robert
Silverstein
It was fifty years ago-on July 4, 1954 in Memphis, Tennessee
to be exact-that guitarist Scotty Moore met a budding singer
named Elvis Presley. The very next day, on July 5th 1954,
Scotty and Elvis-with Bill Black on bass and Sun Records
founder Sam Phillips in attendance-recorded “That’s All
Right” and the rest is rock ‘n’ roll history. |
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Celebrating 50 years since the first Sun Sessions and the
birth of rock ‘n’ roll, RCA Records has released Elvis At
Sun-a nineteen track 2004 CD containing some of the great
tracks Elvis made with Scotty Moore and Bill Black at Sun
including “That’s All Right”. Coinciding with Elvis At
Sun, RCA has also released Memphis Celebrates 50 Years Of Rock
‘N’ Roll, a 21 track CD combining a range of early Sun
classics from Elvis, Scotty & Bill, Carl Perkins, Johnny
Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis. Flash forward 50 years,
from 1954 to 2004, and the release of a new recording
celebrating the glory days of ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll.
Released on Rainman Records, Alvin Lee In Tennessee features
British blues-rock guitar icon Alvin Lee joined in a musical
reunion with original Elvis band members Scotty Moore and
drummer D.J. Fontana. Showcasing Alvin’s songs and vocals—with
key contributions from Scotty and D.J.—Alvin Lee In
Tennessee merges the finest elements of ‘50s rockabilly with
the blues-rock power Lee successfully brought to bear with his
‘60s band Ten Years After. Honoring the 50th anniversary of
rock ‘n’ roll and the 2004 release of Alvin Lee In
Tennessee, 20th Century Guitar and mwe3.com music editor
Robert Silverstein spoke to both Scotty Moore and Alvin Lee in
early June 2004 on a range of topics. Scotty spoke about
recording with Elvis at Sun Records, Alvin’s CD and the 2004
DVD reissue of the Elvis ‘68 Comeback Special. One of the
original architects of ‘60s British blues-rock, Alvin Lee
was eager to point out how influential Scotty and D.J. Fontana
were during the making of Alvin Lee In Tennessee while also
sharing musical memories of Ten Years After, the ‘69
Woodstock festival and much more.
RS: Hi Alvin, how are you doing?
AL: I’m doing fine, thank you!
RS: You’re living in Spain?
AL: That’s right.
RS: Do you still spend time back
in England anymore?
AL: Oh yeah, I just did a huge tour in England. Well, huge
for me anyway. (laughter)
RS: Spain has a rich guitar
tradition.
AL: I know, the flamenco guitar is fantastic.
RS: I heard you were supposed to
come over to the States for some shows this June but they got
canceled because of work visa problems?
AL: Yeah that’s right. I went to the American embassy for
me work visa and it didn’t pan out. My name wasn’t on the
list. It’s getting tough these days.
RS: I spoke to Arnie Goodman and
he said it’s a sign of the times.
AL: Oh, yeah. I like Arnie. How’s he doin’? I haven’t
spoke to Arnie Goodman for years!
RS: He’s Mr. Blues Expert.
AL: Well, he always has been, yeah. (laughter)
RS: He’s a nice guy...
AL: He’s great, yeah...
RS: You’re going on to tour in
Italy and Sweden next summer?
AL: That’s right, yeah. I did this seven week tour of the
United Kingdom with Edgar Winter and Tony McPhee, which was
great. I haven’t done it in while and it’s actually got me
back into playing regularly again which is great.
RS: You finished the UK tour with
Edgar Winter on May 27 at the Royal Albert Hall? That’s an
amazing place...must have been a great show.
AL: That was a great night actually. It was a great end to
the tour. We had a good time. We had a good party afterwards
too! (laughter)
RS: Starting off asking some
questions about the 2004 release of Alvin Lee In Tennessee,
can you reflect back to when you were 14 and you joined the
Elvis Presley fan club in order to get pictures of Scotty
Moore and his guitars.
AL: That’s right, yeah. I don’t know what it was. I was
just starting to pick up the guitar and fool around with it
and I’d taken a few chords lessons. I’d been brought up on
blues. My father was an avid blues collector and he had a 78
collection of some very ethnic chain gang songs and Big Bill
Broonzy and the like so I was brought up on that music. I
started off playing a clarinet when I was 12. And I heard
Charlie Christian playing with Benny Goodman and thought, ‘that’s
more what I’d like to do’, so I swapped the clarinet for a
guitar. And till I heard Chuck Berry I was kind of pretty much
into jazz chords and things. I used to listen to Barney Kessel
and Django Reinhardt and early George Benson. But I first
heard Chuck Berry and I thought, ‘this is the blues all
rolled into rock and roll as well.’ I loved the way Chuck
Berry played two notes at a time when he solos. And of course,
the other great guitarist was Scotty Moore. The “Heartbreak
Hotel” solo was the first one I ever heard. And the second
“Hound Dog” solo, which is a classic till this day. And
just his talent and his style and the way he made things work.
And I was just inspired by that. I never actually copied these
guys. I used to copy their style but not their notes. You know
what I mean? So I would play in their style...it’s what
kicked me off. D.J. Fontana too...who I think, still is one of
the greatest drummers in the world.
RS: Can you recall the first time
you met Scotty Moore and how that evolved into the making of
Alvin Lee In Tennessee?
AL: I first met Scott, I was in Nashville as a fan in 1995.
And somebody took me round to meet him. I got my photograph
taken with him and got his autograph. All the fan stuff, y’know?
Asked him all the fan questions and we kind of struck up there
but it wasn’t until four years later, 1999 it was that
Scotty was launching his guitar for Gibson, the Scotty Moore
model. And it was a jam on stage at the AIR studios in London.
They invited me down and I got up and did a medley of Elvis
songs with Scotty and D.J. I just loved it. I mean it was
great. It was magic and I thought, ‘I’ve got to take this
further.’ So I asked Scotty, ‘Any chance getting you guys
in the studio sometime?’, and he said ‘sure thing.’ So
the idea was born there and then.
RS: It’s interesting that some
of those early Elvis sides like “That’s All Right” didn’t
even have drums on it!
AL: No drums. The very early first sessions had no drums at
all, yeah.
RS: What was it about Scotty Moore’s
early rock and roll guitar style with Elvis that intrigued you
most?
AL: It was a mixture of...he played melodies for solos
rather than kind of noodling. I play from the hip generally. I
play kind of stuff all over the place. But I’ve always
admired guitarists, people like George Harrison too, they can
construct a solo which is singable. But Scotty would do that
too whilst exploring interesting runs and he had a little bit
of jazz stuff going there, which is quite unique really.
RS: What did you think of Elvis as
a guitarist?
AL: Didn’t think of him as a guitar player. A damn good
singer. (laughter) One thing I thought when I went to play
with Scotty at that jam, I said, ‘well look, I don’t want
to be up there as Elvis for the night, y’know? ‘Cause that’s
a tough act to follow and I can’t fill his blue suede shoes.’
He said, ‘oh, no...just get up and have a bit of fun.’ And
that was basically what it was about. But for the recording, I
wanted to record original songs. I went over to Nashville. I
had, I think twenty seven songs and I even had a stash of
about fifteen songs...all Elvis like “Shake, Rattle &
Roll”, in case my songs didn’t work. But fortunately I
didn’t have to use those. I went over to record for three
weeks and in two days we got down eleven tracks. So, I had a
lot of time to spare. Those guys are very good and know what
they’re doing in the studio. They go for the feel and the
groove in the pocket. It was beautiful.
RS: You’ve called D.J. Fontana
the best drummer in the world. How cool is that to have two
key Elvis band members backing you up on the Alvin Lee In
Tennessee album?
AL: (laughter) I know. It was great. I was still like a fan
when I got there. You know what I mean? In Scotty’s studio,
he’s got pictures of him with Elvis, trophies and gold
guitars...stuff all around. I mean, like a school boys dream.
It took me back to being a school boy. I felt like a young kid,
but they made me feel like one of the boys, which is a great
compliment. They could have kind of treated me like an upstart
but they made feel really at home and like one of the boys,
which was great.
RS: Interestingly, you’ve said
about making the Alvin Lee In Tennessee that ‘it was time to
put the roll back in rock and roll’.
AL: That’s right! It’s been missing for a long time.
The English style of rock music came from rock ‘n’ roll
but it was always kind of done with kind of more aggression
and more adrenaline. And of course the English rock music
turned into the stadium rock, which became louder and even
turned into heavy metal. So the ‘roll’ in rock ‘n’
roll, which D.J. Fontana is the master of, kind of got lost
somewhere. And I thought it was possibly the best bit, ‘cause
it’s the swing, it’s the groove, it’s the finesse. And
when you hear those old Elvis records, which you think are
really loud and raucous...they’re not so loud and raucous.
In fact, they’re steady. They’ve just got that swing
groove which makes them rock...and roll.
RS: Scotty only played guitar on a
couple tracks, but you’ve said he kind of masterminded the
sessions.
AL: Oh yeah. Well he put the band together to start with. He
got Willie Rainsford on the keyboards. I didn’t know Willie
before then and he was perfect for the job. And the bass
player, he brought in Pete Pritchard. He’s actually from
London. And I just used him on my last tour. He’s great. He
plays double bass and he plays electric bass as well. And
Scotty brought him in from England so I figured he must be
good, ‘cause (laughter) there’s a hundred bass players in
Nashville! But this guy, he’s kind of brought up on Bill
Black. And he know all Bill Black licks and he can slap the
bass just like that. He’s great too. He’s a great
character. We put about four tracks down in the studio and
Pete turned to D.J. and said, ‘hey D.J., you’re pretty
good at this, have you ever thought of taking it up for a
living!’ (laughter)
RS: Pete at one time played with
Chuck Berry and even Bill Haley.
AL: That’s right. He’s an English stand up bass player
and he knows every American rock and roll star who’s come
over here. He used to get the gig.
RS: You’ve said that nothing
comes close to your ‘Big Red’ Gibson 335. Did you mostly
use the 335 on the Alvin Lee In Tennessee CD?
AL: No, I didn’t use that one. Actually (laughter), I
borrowed a guitar in Nashville. (laughter) I figured taking a
guitar to Nashville is like taking, what we say, coals to
Newcastle. I suppose you’d say, taking sand to the desert.
Also, I got fed up with carrying guitars on airplanes these
days. It’s great if you can pick up a guitar and play it. I
mean, it’s a bit risky really. When I do my touring and
stuff I take my own guitar but it’s great when you can pick
up one. And in Nashville, the guy at Valley Arts Guitars...he’s
got about six hundred Gibsons and just said, ‘help yourself’.
RS: So which guitars did you use
on the album?
AL: It was a 335 type of guitar. It was a sunburst version.
It was a prototype of a different pick-up situation, but it
was pretty much a 335. I’m playing it on the album cover,
you can see it so...the brown version.
RS: So you still have your
original 335?
AL: Yeah, unfortunately that’s got so valuable, I can’t
play it anymore, which is very sad. I mean the last thing I
ever wanted was to have a guitar stuck in a vault somewhere.
Some guy offered half a million dollars for it last year,
which kind of makes me want to not take it on an airplane and
not leave it in the back of a van. You know what I mean? I
turned it down because I wrote this song once called, “There
Once Was A Time”...an old Ten Year After song (with) ‘I’d
never sell my guitar because that would be a sin’. It’s
not the money, I mean it’s a great guitar. The sad thing is,
I’m not playing it. I just don’t take it on the road. If
it got broken or stolen I’d be...devastated.
RS: Are there any other vintage
electrics or archtops you’re using on the CD?
AL: I always use a 335 when I’m getting serious. I’ve
got a nice Strat that I fool around with. I’ve got a
Steinberger which I use for sessions. I’m jamming alot. We
have these jam afternoons over in Morbello. Boz Burrell lives
out here, Bad Company bass player. And Trevor Marais, he’s
got a studio here, which is where I actually mixed the album.
He used to play with a band called The Peddlers in England and
he went on to run professional studios all his life. He’s a
drummer, he’s a great drummer so we have these jam sessions
over there. In fact, I take this Steinberger and I take this
tiny little box, called Pandora’s Box and plug it straight
into the desk and it’s great, it’s great for jams. It’s
a toy but it’s great. You can get damn close to...it’s
like having about fifty amplifiers with you. So I enjoy
mucking around with that. I’m doing another project with
Trevor ‘cause I think I can see Africa from where I am here.
So we go over to Africa and we’re recording with a load of
African drums. So it’s going to be like heavy rock guitar,
full distorted rock guitar with stacks of Marshalls and stacks
of African drummers. It’s going to be a jungle-rock fusion.
(laughter) It sounded very good. We’ve done a few runs, a
few tests on it. It sounded great. ‘Cause it lets me get
back to my mad guitar style. ‘Cause the style I play with
Scotty on the In Tennessee, I’m kinda playing...when you
play with D.J. Fontana and Scotty Moore, you play tidy, you
know what I mean? And of course with the jungle drum project,
then I just go mad. Just attack the guitar with fervor. I
think I need to do that. That’s the next thing I want to do.
(laughter)
RS: So that style you’re playing
with Scotty you call ‘keeping it in the pocket’... can you
expound on the definition of that musicians term?
AL: That’s right and I’ve adopted it for this album. I’m
not going to follow that style from here on in. That’s what
I’ve pretty much always done on most of the albums that I’ve
recorded. I play in the kind of the style of the year as it
were. My own style is between blues and rock. Early on, I
suppose I was a blues player with heavy metal leanings. I’ve
always been trying to push the boundaries a bit and kind of
get out of being ordinary and average. Not that there’s
anything wrong with that. B.B. King is good enough or Freddie
King is good enough, so who needs two of them. I figure I
should do something which comes from within me.
RS: Early Ten Years After albums
like SHHH! and Cricklewood Green were ahead of their time.
AL: I thought so too! (laughter) They were great days. It
was the time for breaking barriers in those days. I mean, if
you made an album without breaking a few barriers then it was
passe, wasn’t it? I’ve got this anthology album out, it’s
called Alvin Lee Anthology and I did this interview which the
guy used for the liner notes. I don’t know if you heard that
one ‘cause it’s a good mixture of all the stuff I’ve
done over thirty years. It might only be out in Europe at the
moment. I think it’s due to be released in America this year,
come to think of it. In the interview I said, ‘those were
the days when we thought we were changing the world’, and I
went on to say, and I’d forgotten I said this and when I
read it I cracked up. I went on to say, ‘in fact we did
change the world back in those days, the only thing is, it
changed back again while no one was looking.’ And it’s
kinda true, y’know? It’s like...all that, the underground,
which was so great, I loved being part of the underground. We
used to play Electric Factory and The Boston Tea Party and The
Fillmores. Those kind of gigs with light shows and kind of
very stoned audiences. And it was called music for heads in
those days and it was called underground. And the early days
of underground you know you’d do a show with a rock band, a
poet and a string quartet or something. And it was really kind
of arty. That was a great involvement. It was very bohemian
and I really enjoyed being part of that. And that kind of
evolved into what later became the peace generation I suppose.
RS: Before the ‘70s malaise?
Sort of before punk and soon after MTV.
AL: It all kind of went inwards rather, didn’t it? That
was the thing.
RS: But some of the music you were
making with Ten Years After back then...I call it baroque
blues or something.
AL: That’s an interesting description, yeah.
RS: The lead off track on the In
Tennessee album, “Let’s Boogie” kicks off the CD in
style with it’s Berry meets Elvis bounce. It sort of sets a
solid tone for the album.
AL: Yeah, I like that one, yeah. That was the obvious
direction because, I mean to me, that jump-jive stuff is where
rock ‘n’ roll comes from. And I think that’s what D.J.
and Scotty were listening to when they were learning. This is
what’s great about music, ‘cause every time you find an
innovator of music, you find out what he was listening to. And
rock ‘n’ roll goes back to the early 40’s, or even
earlier but if you go to the jump-jive bands in Harlem in the
‘40s? They’re playing rock ‘n’ roll. With a lot of
swing.
RS: The song “Tell Me Why” has
a cool kind of Ten Years After feel.
AL: It does have a little bit, doesn’t it? It’s
interesting you should notice that.
RS: Scotty played on only a couple
of songs....
AL: He only played on the two...he had this ear problem. He
actually went totally deaf in one ear, which was quite
devastating and he was very worried if he was going to mess
things up so he sat out on the others. But his input was
phenomenal though. I mean, just him being there...he’s a
lovely man, a wonderful guy. He’s been there and done
everything I can think of.
RS: Another highlight on the new
album featuring Scotty, “Let’s Get It On” was
reminiscent of the spirit of some of your work with George
Harrison. Is that a valid comparison?
AL: I wouldn’t have actually thought of that myself.
George didn’t do much boogie-woogie stuff. He was more of a
chord man and a melodic man. When you get that anthology album,
there’s “The Bluest Blues” on there, which is one of
George’s best guitar solos ever. He plays this slide guitar
solo, which just sends shivers down your spine. And he’s
great for that. He’s just got the feel and the touch and the
sensitivity. And he keeps me in line too, ‘cause if I start
to overplay, and then George comes in and he plays in such
sweet, pure tones. And he brings me back down again to being
melodic. That’s one of my favorite tracks of all time, “The
Bluest Blues”.
RS: Can you remember the first
time you met George?
AL: I met him through Mylon LeFevre. Mylon came over to
record my first solo album in ‘72, which was On The Road To
Freedom. Mylon came over, in fact Mylon came on a Ten Years
After tour. We used to hang out together and write songs after
the gigs and things and became kind of rock and roll buddies
on the road. Then he came over to England and we wrote some
more. And then I built my first studio, Space Studios, in
England and Mylon said, ‘I’m going to go out and get us a
band now!’, ‘cause the studio was finished. He said, ‘where
do all the musicians hang out?’ And I said, ‘at the
Speakeasy in London I think.’ And Mylon went off. (laughter)
And he came back about four hours later with George Harrison,
Stevie Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Ronnie Wood...(laughter) He said,
‘man, I’ve got us a band!’ (laughter)
RS: Not a bad start!
AL: No, it was pretty good, yeah. Mylon was good at that.
He was hustling everbody. He said, ‘man, I just love your
music.’ He hustled George into... George had this
song...Mylon said, ‘any of your songs we could do George, on
this album?’ And George said, ‘there’s a lot of good
songs on the albums, why don’t you do one of those?’ Mylon
said, ‘George, you do them so good, I would never try and
follow you. We need a song you haven’t recorded yet.’ (laughter)
So George said, ‘there’s this song called “So Sad”,
which I’ve been working on and I think it could be a hit
actually.’ Mylon said, ‘I’ll take it!’ (laughter) It
was all down to Mylon actually. He kind of got me in touch
with George originally. Having a guy from Atlanta, Georgia in
the Oxfordshire countryside was quite a trip. You take him
round anywhere and as soon as he started talking, people just
fell in love with his accent.
RS: You recorded a remake of the
Lennon-composed Beatles song “I Want You” (She’s So
Heavy)
AL: That’s right.
RS: And George played on it. How
cool is that?
AL: That was very cool. Yeah. He played slide on that. And
he told me, I didn’t realize it, he played that with his
fingers when he started on the original Beatles version by
bending the notes, which sounds like a slide guitar. That was
great yeah. That one and “Yer Blues” I think are two of
the Beatles tracks which really rock.
RS: “Yer Blues” almost sounds
like it could be a Ten Years After song.
AL: Yeah, it’s kind of more my style. That’s the kind
of Beatles that I like. Strange enough, when The Beatles came
out I wasn’t a big fan, I’ll tell you why. ‘Cause I was
going around doing Eddie Cochran and Chuck Berry songs in the
early ‘60s and then when The Beatles came out people said,
‘oh, I like that “Roll Over Beethoven, that Beatles song
you did.’ (laughter) I just said, ‘that’s not a Beatles
song!’ I suppose to my mind in the early days, The Beatles
were considered a bit of a hype-y pop band, suits and haircuts
and everything else. I was more into the blues and being a
musician.
RS: The Beatles turned me on to
Chuck Berry who was a few years before my time.
AL: That’s right. First time I went to America...I told
you my father brought me up on Muddy Waters and Big Bill
Broonzy, so when I first went to America I assumed that
everybody in America would be aware of Muddy Waters and Big
Bill Broonzy and I was amazed to find they weren’t. It was
like their own musical heritage. They were into Jefferson
Airplane and Woody Guthrie but the blues seemed to get left
behind somewhere. So in fact, The Beatles did do a big favor,
and The Rolling Stones for that matter of bringing awareness
back to those guys.
RS: Especially in the early days.
It was great hearing George singing “Roll Over Beethoven”
AL: (laughter) He had his own little version of that, didn’t
he?
RS: It’s the 35th anniversary
this summer of Woodstock.
AL: Is it? f
RS: 35 years ago, the Summer of
‘69 was a huge turning point for you and Ten Years After.
The band released Shhh!, which next to Cricklewood Green is my
favorite TYA album. In 1969 TYA played Woodstock. How’s your
memory of the ‘69 Woodstock festival?
AL: It’s pretty....I’ve pieced it back together! (laughter)
It was a very special event but at the time nobody really was
sure about that. The first realization of it being anything
other than another date on the list was when we were told we
couldn’t drive into the festival site ‘cause the roads
were all blocked and it had been declared a national disaster
on the radio and we had to take a helicopter in. And to me, I
thought ‘well, this is going to be interesting.’ (laughter)
And it certainly was. Flying over the audience, a very strong
smell of marijuana wafting through the roter-blades, was a
good way to start the day! And had it been running to plan,
which is wasn’t, we’d have probably just flown in and
played and gone again and been none the wiser but as it
happened we got there and had to wait a long time and then the
rain came down just as we were about to play. So, nobody could
go on stage ‘cause there were electric sparks jumping around
and they wouldn’t let anyone play so I said, ‘C’mon, let’s
play! If we get struck by lightning, think how many records we’ll
sell.’ At that age, who cared? (laughter) We couldn’t play
so I went out into the audience. I went out for a walk around
the whole site. Went round the lake and I kind of joined in
with the audience as it were. Nobody knew I was anybody in
particular. I looked like just another freak. They were
inviting me to have food with them and smoke drugs with them
and everything. Anything that was going, was shared. It was a
great vibe. So I got into the actual other side of it. ‘Cause
backstage, although it was supposed to be three days of peace
and love, there was quite a bit of jostling and managers there
saying, ‘I want my band on next’, all this stuff. And in
fact, when I came back, (laughter) from my trek, Country Joe
had set up his gear and had rushed on stage before me, so that
they didn’t have to go after Ten Years After, which was kind
of funny. So it was even a longer delay. I actually went out
into the audience to get some cigarettes. Backstage had run
out of cigarettes. So I thought, ‘I’ll go and blag some.’
I walked around there for two hours, came back with about
sixteen joints but no cigarettes. In fact, they had to drop
cigarettes in by helicopter. The only thing to smoke was grass.
(laughter) It was funny, dropping food, blankets and
cigarettes.
RS: Ten Years After played
Woodstock on that final Sunday with Hendrix, The Band and CSNY
on the bill too...
AL: I didn’t say that, and I’m not sure what day we
played. What day it was, I couldn’t tell you. It’s in a
book somewhere. (laughter)
RS: Did you get to see Hendrix
play there?
AL: No, he didn’t play till like six in the morning. So
had it been the same day, it would have been twelve hours
later. I got to see Country Joe...who else did I get to see? I
can’t remember. There was a lot of purple haze there.
Difficult to see through the purple haze. But I do remember my
walk out. I don’t remember much about playing but I
obviously had a good time. (laughter)
RS: It’s interesting to note
that the same summer of ‘69, before Woodstock, TYA became
one of the first rock bands to ever play the Newport Jazz
Festival.
AL: Yeah, that’s right. I think were the first band to
play rock music at the jazz festival. I met Miles Davis there.
He was a weirdo. I liked him.
RS: That confirms my belief that
Ten Years After were one of the first bands to combine jazz
influences.
AL: I think so...the Undead album was very jazzy all the
way through actually and that was the first live album of Ten
Years After. And when I’d recorded that I thought, ‘well
what on earth can we do now?’ ‘cause that’s what the
band does, that’s what it’s good at. That says it all. So
that’s why I decided to go into the kind of experimental
mode of Cricklewood Green. Well, Stonehenge I think was the
next one which was quiet psychedelic and experimental and
possibly drug influenced. (laughter) It was all cool then,
wasn’t it?... wait...I’ve been given a piece of paper here.
We played Woodstock on Sunday, the 17th of August.
RS: Newport and Woodstock, how
would you compare the two?
AL: There were tons of festivals around that year. I
remember I did the Texas Pop Festival, the Atlanta Peace
Festival...and to be honest, I thought they were actually
better than Woodstock as far as an organized gig went. I mean
Woodstock...having played Woodstock and moved on...the
helicopter flight and the fact that it was the largest number
of people was kind of cool but to be honest, you don’t
notice, you don’t count the people when you’re there. Any
crowd over fifty thousand is big. If it’s a hundred thousand,
two hundred, three hundred...you don’t really see that much
difference. It’s just that the sea of heads goes back a bit
further. You know what I mean? When you’re on stage, you
tend to relate to the people who you can see around you. At
least the faces. And the rest is like a mass that goes off in
the distance. So, it wasn’t that different. It was very
unorganized. It didn’t feel that big. And when we went on to
play, we carried on playing the same kind of underground gigs
for a year. It wasn’t until the movie came out that it made
all the difference. And the movie was the kind of hype and
that’s what caught people’s attention and band crossed
over to the other lot. (laughter) Woodstock/Newport I was keen
to be kind of the rebel. There’s enough jazz there already.
It’s funny, I’ve always found this about jazz
festivals...if you go on late in the evening, when they’ve
been listening to jazz all day. Boy, are the ready for some
blues and rock ‘n’ roll. ‘Cause sometimes the jazz gets
a bit too much. Jazz is good, jazz is interesting but often,
it doesn’t have that flow. The flow of a good blues, so I
think that audiences have been listening to jazz for three or
four hours are wide open for some blues and rock. So, that’s
what I did. Still works today.
RS: In 1988 you recorded a track
called “No Limit” for the Guitar Speak label headed up by
Miles Copeland.
AL: Oh, that’s right, yeah. It was my first trip into
kind of electric drums and computerized rhythm sections. That
was the forerunner of what was going to be an instrumental
album. It just never came together because I ended up in the
studio working with computers and to be honest after about
three months of that I kind of disappeared up my own rear end!
(laughter) It was fun but to me, it’s not like playing live
with a rhythm section. It’s kind of interesting. I did
similar stuff with the synth player from The Art Of Noise, J
J. Jeczalik. That was around the same time, doing lots of
instrumentals. It’s sitting around in the vaults of Space
Studios actually, I just never got around to finishing it.
RS: Does the new Alvin Lee
Anthology feature Ten Years After stuff?
AL: No, no it’s all my own personal stuff away from Ten
Years After.
RS: Any other huge guitar or jazz
influences?
AL: I could mention George Benson, Barney Kessel, Wes
Montgomery and of course, Django Reinhardt ‘cause I
originally learned to play rhythm, Django Reinhardt style.
That was when I was thirteen years old. ‘Cause that’s what
I love. I even used to think of my original band, the Jaybirds,
which was the forerunner of Ten Years After. And we used to do
like swing, Count Basie swing stuff and stuff like that for a
three piece band. And that was very intricate but it actually
works but alot of it is that vamping guitar which George
Benson does so well, and Charlie Christian. It’s a little
art to itself and it kind of disappeared after 1958. Vamping
disappeared. Alot of guitarists today, and there’s some
great, young guitarists around but they don’t put the time
in on the chords and the rhythm. And I think rhythm is very,
very important. I mean I enjoy playing rhythm guitar, or like
chop rhythms, as much as playing lead guitar. That’s where
it all comes from and you’ve got to hear that before you can
hear what notes you want to put in. Once you’ve got the
dynamics of those rhythms, then your solo work just takes off
in a world of it’s own. And I think the rhythm is very
important. I see alot of guitarists today, they play Eddie Van
Halen lick and then I say play the chord of F! (laughter) and
they sometimes struggle. Alot of motivation these days is to
become a rock star, which I’ve always found a bit sad
because...I was looking at some adverts in one of the guitar
mags and it said, ‘well, you’ve got the looks and you’ve
got the right guitar and the right clothes and now you need
the right sound’, which is totally wrong, I mean you need
the sound first. (laughter) That’s the way to go. I think
the motivation to be a musician is much wiser because it lasts
much longer. I’ve been a professional musician now for, must
be thirty five years now. And rock stars might last two or
three or four years and if you’re a serious musician you can
make a career of it. And it’s more rewarding. Actually the
stuff I’m going on to play now to me, this thing with Scotty,
the African drums...it’s much more rewarding musically. I’m
actually getting control of what I’m doing these days. I’m
actually really enjoying what I’m doing and enjoying trying
these projects and I have to make it a special project to keep
me interested. Obviously after how many albums...I don’t
know, twenty five albums? You get a bit jaded. I’m not going
to go into the studio and record another straight rock and
roll album. It’s got to have an angle for me. It’s got to
have an interest. It’s got to be a project which has
interest. And that’s what Scotty and D.J. did for me. ‘Cause
they took me right back to my roots and made what was
originally exciting to me to listen to, exciting to me to
play. And it’s a kind of a full circle. And I feel very
honored and I thank Scotty and D.J. for doing that.
Photo by Pete
Pritchard
RS: Too bad you didn’t film the
In Tennessee sessions.
AL: Not officially, no. Maybe a home movie of it, which is
great fun. But nothing official.
RS: Any archival CD DVD releases
planned?
AL: Alot of the old stuff comes out, but to be honest I
find that it’s fine for the fans and collectors but alot of
it is not that good. Alot of it is taken from old video tapes.
They remaster it on DVD and to my mind, I don’t know...I don’t
think it’s really worth it myself, some of those old things.
Some of ‘em are good, some of ‘em are not. It seems to me
there’s no quality control on it. People get hold on...old
TV shows I did in the ‘70s suddenly start turning up on DVD.
They’ve got no contracts to release that stuff on DVD. (laughter)
It gets done anyway. They do it and say, ‘okay, well sue us.’
And there’s no quality at all. No matter how bad it is, they’ll
put it out. So I’m not that keen. The DVD market to me
is...everybody’s cashing in on a wave at the moment and
there’s alot of crap coming out. I could have recorded the
Albert Hall live for DVD, but to be honest, when I do a gig to
me, what’s special about a gig is the notes I play, the
songs I do, the feels I have...they’re there for the moment
and they’re gone and that’s special y’know? And once I’m
aware that something’s being taped or recorded, it’s a
whole different ball game. You’re playing something that you’re
going to have to listen back to again and again. And so you
play more safe and you play with a different attitude. I don’t
like that to get between me and the audience. I like to play
to the audience. So I chose not to do that at the Albert Hall.
It’s kind of a shame we didn’t get that gig on, ‘cause
it was really good, but I’m kind of a purist when it comes
to gigs. I just want the gig for the gig’s sake. I don’t
want the audience to have to sit there watching these guys
with cameras squabbling around, the little guy following him
holding the cable. That, to me is a bit of an insult to the
audience. Also, when I play, as I say, I want to play live and
it’s there for the moment. And I hate these bootlegs. You go
and do a show and you think, ‘that was great’ and then a
bootleg of it turns up and it’s not meant to listen to. It’s
a show, an experience that you actually are at. It’s the
audio of it only. It doesn’t usually work as well.
RS: So Arnie says you’re
planning to come back to the East Coast?
AL: Oh yeah, I intend to move all over the States, when I
get
there.
RS: Who’s in your band right
now?
AL: Well, I’ve got this band I work with, which is
Richard Newman on drums, which Tony Newman’s son. He’s a
drummer in Nashville now but originally was with Sounds
Incorporated in England. And of course Pete Pritchard on the
bass, who was on the Scotty album. But I was going to play
with The Blasters when I came to L.A. but that was just for
these three club dates, just a little kind of adventure rather
than a tour. I like The Blasters, they’re a good band.
RS: Yeah, I can’t wait to speak
with Scotty about the album.
AL: It’d be nice to tie in Scotty’s comments with mine
about the album. Because I’m really proud of this album. To
me, it’s a rhythm section thing and I just love it as it is.
It’s natural, it’s pure it’s kind of minimalism and that’s
what I wanted to do.
RS: And it couldn’t have come at
a better time, with the 50th Anniversary of rock and roll.
AL: (laughter) I hadn’t even thought about that! It just
took me that long to get it together! (laughter) It’s full
circle for me, ‘cause I’m back to my roots and kiss the
ground I started on. And as I say, I really loved every minute
of it.
RS: Scotty is one of the unsung
heroes of rock and roll.
AL: Absolutely. Personally I think the Elvis Presley fans
base should give him a million quid for every guitar solo he
ever recorded. I think those guitar solos were as important as
the songs. More important, some of them. Everybody’s done
“Rip It Up” and everybody’s done “Shake, Rattle &
Roll” but nobody’d done solos like that in them except
Scotty. And if he never does anything else, that’s good
enough for me! (laughter)
RS: I guess the main thing is to
keep it varied because you’ve done so many great things over
the years.
AL: It’s a matter of getting yourself motivated and
excited. If somebody says, ‘let’s go make an album. I’ve
got a few songs’, I think ‘no, not really’ (laughter)
but if somebody says, let’s go to Peru and put a band
together, I’ll go ‘Now, you’re talking!’ It’s kind
of getting yourself motivated. Getting to put my flamenco
guitar down and go and do some real work!
RS: The flamenco thing still
sounds interesting.
AL: There’s alot of that happening here actually. It’s
strange enough that flamenco players can’t play...I mean, I
saw a flamenco band try and play blues the other night and it
was pitiful! It’s weird, they can’t do it. It’s strange,
isn’t it? They’ve got all that passion and all that
feeling in their fingers for flamenco but when they put their
acoustic guitars down and picked up the electrics (laughter)
they played this dreadful blues. Sounded like a pop band.
RS: Actually I just wrote liner
notes for a new DVD that’s coming out from The Moody Blues.
AL: Oh, yeah. I remember, I used to do lots of gigs with
The Moodies, around the ‘70s, yeah...
RS: ‘Cause you guys were on the
same label, Deram.
AL: That’s right Deram, yeah.
RS: I was always interested in how
Ten Years After got signed to Deram.
AL: It was just our very first record deal. I think it was
actually Decca we were talking to. Decca had London Records,
Deram Records...just kind of names within the Decca label. It
was the first major record company that offered us a contract.
It was very early days in those days. Those days, your first
record deal, they said, ‘you want to sign a record contract?’
we said, ‘Yes!’ They said, ‘wait a minute, we haven’t
told you what the deal is yet’, we said, ‘it doesn’t
matter!’ (laughter) ‘It’ doesn’t matter, we just wanna
get our record out.’ I think we were getting about six
percent of the take on the earliest thing, but it got a bit
better later on. The Stones and John Mayall were on London
Records, weren’t they? In America. But then again, so was
Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones and...Mantovani! (laughter)
RS: And also David Bowie was on
Deram in the early days.
AL: That’s right, yeah.
RS: And also Cat Stevens...
AL: It’s funny, at Decca...and Deram Records...they kept
having Mantovani months and things like that. And all the guys
that worked at the record company, they were all in an older
age bracket. We were like these young, rebellious, upstarts
coming in making strange records and they didn’t know quite
what to make of us...till they started to move a few units,
then they liked it. (laughter)
Pete Pritchard, Willie Rainsford, D.J. Fontana, Alvin Lee, Gail and Scotty April 2003
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