The Horse’s Mouth
May 9, 2015
From 80 below to 80 above. H.M. at your disposal (or for disposal thereof!).
John Humenn: ‘Saw you at the Town Crier in Pawling – do you plan to do the new venue in Beacon?’ Not at the moment.
Steve: ‘Any chance of Montreal and did MTH tour with ‘Slade’?’ Not touring at the moment (writing); there’s always a chance we’ll do Montreal. We did gig with Slade a few times – although we never toured with them.
Jeffrey is telling me about the weather.
Tom McGarry: ‘How’s the writing going?’ I never like to say it’s going well, because then fate steps in and pulls the curtain down. ‘Love the new format of the web page.’ Thanks be to Justin, our webmaster.
Rick: ‘Short, funny story – back in the mid 90’s – I was in my late 30’s – and had just got a new boss. Good guy – funny, I walked in a meeting and he says, ‘everybody’s already answered – if you were alone on a desert island what item would you want with you?’ Without hesitation I answered ‘I.H. – ‘Schizophrenic’. Everyone laughed and my legacy was set as a quick witted, funny guy – ‘course I was serious. Thanks, Mr. Hunter….Rick.’ Braver man than me!
Randall: ‘On ‘The Metal’ Joe Elliott – when asked to name major rock/metal bands named MTH quite lose to the top.’ Joe loves MTH – has done forever. Mott weren’t really metal though – Metal came later.
Craig: ‘What’s in your car cd player at the moment?’ Good question. There is a CD player in the Mini, but I never get round to using it. I must put some CDs in the car – anything’s better than Rush Limbaugh.
OooooorWullie: ‘Any chance of any Festival this year?’ You know I don’t think I’m Festival Fodder. I’ve never liked doing them. The money is OK – although I did turn down the ‘large’ one for the meagerly stipend offered – standard apparently – probably their ‘policy’. Well, it’s their policy – not mine!’
Carlo Matthews likes ‘All of the Good Ones are Taken’ and I’m glad he does. I’m not fond of it myself.
Steiber: ‘Detroit?’ I’m not touring this year.
Eoghan Lyng: ‘As an arranger par excellence – what did Mick Ronson contribute that made your songs into great records?’ Precisely that – great arranging AND guitar playing.
Liz: ‘Hope your knee is getting better Trudi (it is). Wow, what a show at the Sheldon! People are still talking about it. Looking forward to the new CD.’ RELAX!! Take it easy for a while.
Susanne: ‘Followed you for years – every album x’ Ta.
Phil Huband: ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ was to be on ‘Alien Boy’ but when we ran it passed Gene Kelly and he understood the reasoning, but didn’t want his song associated with a song about rape. Later on, after he died, I guess the label thought it was ok to put it back on. As far as ‘drugs being beneficial in writing’ goes – they are no different to a bottle of this or that. If you didn’t do drugs or booze – on the odd occasion you did = you might get an idea – enthused by this you might do drugs and booze more often. Bad move. This doesn’t work. It’s kind of like the new wonder slimming pill.
Bob Dwyer is bringing some high school friends to the Winery. ‘Any chance of ‘Boy’? We shall see. ‘It’s a sin you’re not in the Hall of Fame.’ Could be a sin – could be a compliment.
Gary: ‘Did Bowie offer MTH ‘Drive in Saturday’? and what were the reasons for not going with it?’ The way I remember it – I had a great arrangement of the song and we were going to do it, but then he changed his mind. The way he remembers it, he wanted us to do it, but we wouldn’t do it. A third reason might be Defries told David one thing – and us another.
Chris Hetherington: ‘Any good Keith/Stones recollections?’ None that I can write about publicly. ‘Can you play ‘Rest In Peace’ at the Winery?’ We’ll see.
John Dalton: ‘As an elder statesman (?) have you found discrimination to be a widespread problem you must constantly fight against? It seems to me that artists with a proven track record should be afforded greater respect from the industry.’ I’m not really qualified to answer this as I habitually avoid ‘the industry’ as if it were the plague. I’ve got my people and we don’t have any problems. I think you’re referring to the ‘money’ music industry in which I have no interest. It’s a stupid and demeaning area and I don’t need it anymore. Phew!
Antje Averweg: ‘We are still missing tour dates in Germany.’ So am I mate, so am I.
Jeffrey: ‘Nice professional web site re-tool. Looks good! Saw a request for your presence in Germany. Where? Essen, of course – you set a performance standard there that is tough to eclipse!!’ I played Essen?
Ron: ‘Fan forever – any chance in 15/15?’ More of a chance in ’16.
Dave Waltham: ‘Any dates in sunny England (particularly middle). Do you miss the old place….we certainly miss you…’ Awe shucks – now I want to, but I can’t for a while.
Dave Griffiths (MBE) ‘October in NY?’ I don’t think so, sorry.
Margaret Finch: Congratulations to Sam!
Robert Schaad: ‘How about taking a whack at Bowie’s ‘Move On’ from the ‘Lodger’ album. It’s essentially ‘Dudes’ backwards!’ I’ll have a google.
Ian Mack: ‘I’m sure there were more commercially attractive city names than Cleveland for ‘Cleveland Rocks’ – obviously you picked a winner, but did you consider others?’ No,no,no – Cleveland picked me!! It couldn’t have been anywhere else. At that time Cleveland was the rock town bar none.
Janey Todd says I look cute in running shoes.
Par: ‘My best friend died last Thursday after struggling with cancer for years. He was a big fan of yours and often said he wanted you to sing at his funeral. Now it’s for real. Is there a chance? Friday, 8th of May – Orebro, Sweden!’ My condolences to all and yourself.
Gerand Murphy: ‘Fan of you and Mott since way back. Any chance of Australia? Love ‘President’ Listening to ‘Mother’ as I type.’ It’s all finances and a promoter offering us shows that will cover expenses and a bit more.
Tom Crolly: ‘Did you ever sing the whole song when you sang ‘American Pie’?’ I didn’t know the rest of it.
Paul Doucette: ‘Any videos of the Roxy that resulted in ‘Welcome to the Club’? (That is by far one of the greatest live albums ever – if not THE best!) I would love to see video from those shows.’ Wouldn’t think so. The place was packed every night – where would you have put those big old cameras.
Robert is bringing his son to Sellersville – ‘Good Parenting”. I remember a time when it wasn’t!
Keith Nickless: Haven’t a clue.
Steve from Tulsa: Never played with Jim Keltner, but boy, is he amazing! Great version on Jerry Lee’s last album – ‘Promised Land’. I think Jim Keltner produced and played.
Jeffrey is wishing Edward Shirley God’s speed. Edward’s riding around England raising money for Alzheimers in honour of Buff. Hearing some great things about the research recently. Some say they actually reverse it! C’mon Buff!!
Martyn Jones: ‘I live in Oswestry, Shropshire where you were born and would love to get a plaque put up in the house where you lived or maybe a street named after you.’ I’ve no idea of the street or the house. It was just before WWII and very chaotic. My mother came from Wellington, Freda, Mary (Potts) Patterson; my Dad was Scottish, but for some reason I always thought he played for Oswestry F.C. The story goes that he had a trial for Man U, but broke a leg before he could try out.’ [Ian was born at 6 York Street, Oswestry -Trudi]
Danny G keeps calling me Counrtyman for some reason – often.
Jerry Holt: ‘No question – big thanks for ‘Wild Bunch’. I wrote my dissertation on Sam Pekinpah some year ago and got to know him well enough to tell you he would have loved that song. You nailed his classic film.’ See – that’s it right there. That’s why I do it.
Glenn Taylor: ‘Ever been to New Zealand?’ It’s beautiful I know – and you have sheep – but it’s so very far. Who knows?
Vic Pyle: ‘New web design looking cool. Come back to Toronto.’ We’ll see. Web thanks to Justin.
Laarry Woodside: ‘Any West Coast dates soon?’ Nope. ‘Still got the Iron Cross’? Nope. But I have the Joe Elliott Iron Cross which is ten times better!
Otto Greenleaf: ‘Did Mott do ‘Ready For Love’ much before Mick joined Bad Co.?’ Probably at that time it was in the set. Mick’s dropped 45 octaves since then!
Jim Porter: ‘Just discovered ‘Vintage Trouble’. Have you heard of them?’ Not yet.
Stalle Tonning: Yes, looking forward to it.
McClenghan: ‘Although you were hardly a working man’s band, did you ever consider it ironic that you became adopted by the more pompous art college rock royalty inhabited by Bowie and Queen? ‘ To me, MTH were always a working class band. As with any successful situation you are going to be confronted with the masses eventually. I’m not a big fan of the masses. I like my audience; there’s a lot of audiences I don’t like. I know this sounds suicidal, but it’s true. Don’t tell anybody!!!
John Sadden: Yes – this was Dad. He told me this very story – and there was more to it. It was a potato field and they lay between the mounds for some considerable time – it might have been days. My father said you could hear them talking. Thanks for the info. (He must have been home on leave. I remember him all dressed up in his gear. Handsome man.)
Torbjorn Hano: ‘Hope it’s ok that we ‘Pale Russians’ have borrowed ‘Red Letter Day’ as a song title. Love that old song.’ Less of the old!
Suzy Q: Sounds nice. Who runs it?
Wolfgang Strzyz: I think this is one for Trudi, but it is very good – so get it somewhere. You can get it from the link on Ian’s website, or i-Tune, or have your record store friend order it from Proper Records – they are our distributor – Trudi
Ian Mack: ‘As someone who’s mastered both, how do you see the line between musical integrity and commercialism? And why do you revolt against pure business sense of the dollar when you played it that well?’ The short answer to this is I didn’t play it that well. I was screwed legally and royally – as were so many others who didn’t have accountants or lawyers in the family or could afford to retain either. Eventually, I got to the point where I could say no – and that was one beautiful day.
Kathy Machado: ‘Joe Elliott’s ‘Rock Icons’ was amazing since it featured you and MTH so much!! Will you ever come to Texas?’ We went further South on the last tour than I’ve been in ages and I really loved it. Hoping to broaden it next year.
Stuart Tichenor: ‘Ever play ‘Goin’ Through the Motions’ live? I’ve seen both you and BOC and I’ve never seen that song played. Who wrote what? The bridge sounds like you!’ It’s a song that dated – don’t know why – it just is. Sorry but I can’t remember how we wrote the main, but I do remember writing the bridge – so you’re right on that.
Sam Baird: ‘Paris or London?’ Not this year.
Kevin Keller: ‘Lucinda Williams – Americana, but lyrics deeply personal – like yours.’
Rick Graves: ‘Goin’ Thru the Motions’. Now that’s two mentions in one Horse’s Mouth!! As above.
John H wants ‘Central Park and West’ at the Bell House.
Elmer Rasmussen: I don’t do Meet ‘n’ Greets because I think it’s a scam. I’ll sometimes shake hands from the stage if it naturally happens. If you see me by chance – I’m easy to approach. I play music for you – that’s the deal.
Andy: ‘Long shot – ever meet Bobby Darin?’ That’s looooong. ‘In ‘Sea Diver’ is it ‘Write on My Son’ or ‘Ride on My Son’?’ I think it’s both.
Back to the basement – sorry to those I’ve missed.
IH
The Horse’s Mouth
P.S. Proper Records need more time with the 30 CD Box set. It’s been put back to 2016. They say they want it perfect.
If you would like to hear it “straight from the Horse’s Mouth”, you can Ask your question here.