The Horse’s Mouth
January 1, 2016
New Year’s Day. Very nice holiday, although busy!!
Danny G was impressed by the touring aspect of things. I get great help.
John O’Rourke wants us to do the Winery in June. Too early to say, but it is fun.
Larry Woodside wants L.A. date. We’ll be working on them. Japan wants us back so it could be good for the routing.
Danny G: ‘All American Alien Boy’ came about at Bobby Colomby’s house over the Tappan Zee. Jaco was staying there and Ronno was around at the time and we jammed three chords for something to do. That eventually turned into the track.
Brent Coursey wants us to do Dayton instead of Cleveland.
Joe S: I first heard ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’ as a lad growing up in the U.K. It was a revelation. That would be the one track that sold me, and Jerry Lee’s arrogance and stage performances were unbeatable. For me – Jerry Lee, Little Richard and Chuck Berry said it all.
Laura Rizvi’s Dad is a huge fan – house covered in stuff! Going to Coventry. I don’t do ‘meet and greets’, but I sure hope I bump into him.
Chris H: ‘I recently saw a video of Ringo’s All Stars playing ‘Lucky Man’ with Greg Lake. You were there as well – how did you like working with Greg Lake?’ Greg was great to work with. We even discussed forming a band together, but it wouldn’t have worked. Greg’s a frustrated rocker!!
Tommy McGarry: ‘Favourite Christmas memory?’ Would have been 1945! I was living in Wellington (Shropshire) by then – up above my Grandad’s boot and shoe shop on Walker Street. My Dad wasn’t back from the war yet, but I’d always wanted a football – and there it was – under the tree!
Roy Messenger: I’ve no idea which country you’re in.
Chief William enjoys indigenous people’s songs.
Bruce Bergmann wants us to play in Helsinki.
John Ellsworth also wants my birthday at the Winery.
Fenella Cope’s husband is an avid fan – travels all over. He’s coming up to 60 and wants a card from me. Unfortunately, we don’t do cards, but Happy Birthday , Mr. Cope!! See you in Wrexham.
Brian Duffield wants some gigs in Scotland. If that happens, it will probably be in November. Still working on it. Everything closes down this time of the year.
Richie Cornachi: ‘What type of harmonicas do you use?’ Lee Oskar.
Jeffrey – regarding the weather – it’s been great round here so far.
Pjb: ‘What years does the box set cover?’ I guess it starts with the first solo album. It’s kind of – large.
Russell Patterson: ‘Just saw the awesome Jaco documentary. This may have already been addressed, but who’s idea was it to flesh out the phenomenal bass solo on ‘All American Alien Boy?’ It was my idea for him to do it – partly because nobody else had done it in my area and partly because if you’re working with one of the best bass players in the world (if not the best), it seems logical to feature him at some point. He was happily surprised when I suggested it and worked hard on it – going back to it several times during our time at Electric Lady. That’s him on lead guitar on ‘God Take One’. It was early days and he was in great shape at that time.
Chris: ‘I was wondering – when was the first time you heard one of your songs on the radio?’ The first time I remember hearing one of our songs on the radio was in the West Village in New York City. A guy on a bike had one of those little transistor radios in a leather case you could hang off the cross bar and ‘Half Moon Bay’ was playing loud and clear. The funniest one was Overend and me driving into London on the Westway listening to Emperor Roscoe’s round table. The played ‘All the Way From Memphis’ and Roscoe asked Tony Blackburn for his opinion. ‘What can I say, Our Tony replied, – If I had a party and wanted everybody to leave – I’d put this on!’ And he wonders why people don’t like him!
Terry Hines: ‘Mate – waiting for a tour of Australia – any chance?’ There’s always a chance. I know there’s a movement afoot to get me there. We’ll see.
Patrick (Detroit): ‘Eastown Theatre – ’71 or ’72 – got smacked by your piano!! No more orchestra pits for me. Stick to guitar my friend.’ Sorry about that; it was all a bit frantic back then.
Gerry Gardner: Another transplant wanting an Australian show. ‘Play somewhere on the Central Coast.’
Paul Parmiter: ‘Come to Charlottesville, VA!’ We’re trying!
Ooer Wullie: Don’t know ’til we’re there.
Tim: ‘Bought an old David Johansen record – ‘In Style’ – terrific album – underrated – produced by Mick Ronson. The best song on the album is ‘Flamingo Road’ an extraordinary, biting and powerful ballad. Turns out – you played piano on it. Do you remember much of the recording of the song? What do you think of Johanson?’ Too far back – I do remember the title ‘Flamingo Road – the song itself was beautiful. I’m a fan of David’s. He’s always been the real deal. 24 hours a day – Freddie Mercury was like that.
Pasquale: ‘Hope to catch you in Italy. Thanks or being my life OST since I was sixteen.’ Hey Pasquale – nice one!
John Dalton: ‘Did you ever have any dealings with Jimmy Iovine?’ Mick Ronson and I were in the Village Recorder in L.A. producing a band and Jimmy Iovine was next door doing Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac. He was also doing the Cars in NY and travelling back and forth. One day I asked, ‘How’s it going?’ and he said he was tired; ‘Stevie takes an hour to do her make up before she’s ready to record.’ I said, ‘You’re lucky – it takes Ronson two!’
Marty G: If you see me – say hello! I don’t bite!! Thanks for sticking with me all these years – I know it ain’t been easy at times!
Steve Karmazin: ‘Watching ‘American Music’ video on U-Tube. Reminded me of how much I loved ‘YUI Orta’. I think it is superb from the beginning o the end. What are your memories?’ It was recorded at the Power Station in NYC. The video was done in a mental institution in the U.K. Everybody was really nice. It’s not my favourite record, but bits of it are good. Gad you like it.
Peter Johnson: ‘I’m so impressed at your longevity and the relevance, honesty, and gutsiness of your writing – like Bob Dylan. Will you move into Sinatra stuff like Bob has done, or is rock n roll where it begins and ends with you? Looking forward to the next installment in the Hunter Journey.’ Blush! Well thank you for those kind words, Peter. I can’t see me doing Sinatra somehow, and the songs are still cropping up, so I’ll probably stick to what I do best. It gave me life – it would seem chary to desert it now.
Mark F: ‘Ever write a Christmas song?’ No, I haven’t – it would be nice to – but so far – nothing!
Sarah: Wow! Give your Mum my best!! Glad everything ‘s good. We were an item way back in our mid-teens. The song was about somebody else, but we did used to meet at Barker Street. I still remember her Dad! (He had a bullet hole.)
Nigel: ‘You’ve said in the past, it’s usually five years between albums. Have you ever written songs that lost their relevance and dropped them?’ Some songs do fall into gaps between albums. I guess you’ll hear some of them if you buy the 30 cd retrospective due to arrive in the new year on Proper Records. Mostly, what I dropped were simple and not up to par, but some were great – they just didn’t suit at the time.
Stuart Hide: You need to talk to Frank Riley, my agent, at High Road Touring. Sounds good!
Scott: ‘When was the bottle throwing incident in Detroit?’ Can’t remember – I remember what happened, but I don’t know the date.
Jim K: ‘If Trump asked to use ‘When I’m President’ in his campaign…..(asking for a friend).’ What’s the deal!
Andy Cowin: Already working here.
Bill Adair wants a new album. It’s done – just waiting for studio.
Matt Parish: ‘1) There’s a lot of fugazi top 10/25 classic albums out there. Do you consider ‘Mott’ a classic?’ 2) What solo records of yours do you consider a classic?’ I don’t think that way. I just hope whatever I’m doing comes out well. I always go in with the best of intentions – well – nearly always!
Kevin (Newcastle) is on the sick at the mo following knee surgery. He’s gone through the lot!!
Tripp Pair: Thanks.
Keith Nickless: ‘Do you have any fond memories of Lemmy? I’ve only seen two bass players louder than Pete Watts – Lemmy and John Entwhistle!’ First, let me say, before MTH, I played bass and I actually used to play ‘chords’ on it. Lemmy’s from the Midlands – we must have thought alike. Secondly, I was getting an award from Classic Rock and his band came over and had a chat – then a posh chap came over and asked me to meet Lemmy. He took me to the bar (where else) and there he was. I think he’d written a book and I think I’d read it so I said, ‘I really enjoyed your book.’ He snarled, ‘You wrote two!!’ Who was I to argue. R.I.P. warrior.
Sara: Thanks.
Wolfgang Strzyz: Do you pay all the musicians in the Rant Band the same fee when you’re on tour, or are there differences? Everybody is equal.
Michael Kelly Peach wants to use ‘Marionette’ lyrics in his book. Fine – go ahead. Good luck with it.
Dave Waltham: ‘ ‘Rain’ – was it really as bad as the song states?’ Actually – it was great. The town had a spirit then which maybe it’s lost. I had (and still have) some great mates – they’ve all moved out now. It’s definitely gone down hill from what they say. It was hard back then, but it was full of life – bands playing all over the place. We had nothing, but my mates were great (when I was on the right side of them!)
Bruce C Bergmann: ‘Thanks so much for ‘Boy’ and ‘AAAB’.’
George Saadi: ‘What motivated you to cover ‘Laugh At Me’ (Sonny Bono)?’ Great lyric – he wrote great stuff. Legit. I think he’d been Phil Spector’s tape op. ‘I Got You Babe’ – you can’t argue with that.
Matt Nojonen knows how to write poetry.
Rich Michi: This would be a good idea if I had a great memory, but it’s all a bit misty to me now.
John Caswell: Thanks.
Tim B: Thanks.
Dave Ramshaw: ‘Spending Christmas Eve in sunny Sharm el Sheikh – stuck. TV totally crap. Decided to stick dvd’s on and watched ‘Ballad of Mott’ followed by ‘Breaking Glass’.’ Hope it works out and you get out of there soon.
Shari Lee: Thanks!
Danny: Thanks.
And thanks to all of you who wished Trudi and me a very Merry etc. Soon be gearing up! Have a great 2016.
See you soon
IH
The Horse’s Mouth
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