The Horse’s Mouth
February 1, 2018
Ooooooer Wullie: Wishing us the best.
Shaggy: Thank you for hanging in there.
Dave Davis (our CA friend!) on who makes the better albums me or Dave. Dunno – haven’t hear his.
Pasquale is wishing us all the best.
Danny G: ‘Best advice anyone gave you?’ Nothing comes to mind. ‘Most beautiful place you’ve ever seen?’ In between the Alps, Venice, and Rome. ‘Best fast food city?’ Don’t eat that stuff. ‘Fastest you went – beside a plane?’ Me and youngest son, Jess, pushed a Merc one night! ‘Are you better at playing instruments now – or then?’ Now. ‘Do you practice a lot?’ I never practice – it comes with the writing.
Colin Thayer says Great Yarmouth had a lot of Mott live dates way back when. I don’t remember – it’s all a blur!
Anthony P. saw Brian May in a bookshop in Liverpool and felt like asking if Boh Rhapsody had its roots in Marionette – same key with certain breaks that sound like it, the feel etc. ‘What is your take on that, Ian?’ I don’t think there was any intentional nicking going on. I remember Fred telling me ‘Bohemian’ was just a bunch of bits he had, so he strung them all together.
Jeffrey is sending us best wishes.
Mark F: ‘Do you know 10cc?’ No, but I agree – good band.
John Caswell: No plans for Chicago; see you in Boston.
Paul Johnson: ‘Do you plan to tour in 2018?’ Not really; The Rant Band did a lot in 2017. Might pop up here ‘n’ there.
G. Mick Smith: ‘Any way I can get in touch with Campbell Devine? He is usually the wordsmith about you and I am writing your musical biography. Thanks!’ Well, the thing is – he’s updating his biography so I’m not sure you’d get on that well!
Wayne Deacon: ‘Any way you can make more of your shows downloadable? It’s been 8 years since a live show was available to purchase.’ I’m not really up on this. I know Andy York is working on a live album of the tour I did with him and Dave Rowe – more of that later.
John Dalton: ‘What was it like to work with David Sanborn?’ Are you a fan of classic jazz artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, etc… ?’ Working with Sanborn was a fabulous experience. He was quite enthusiastic because at that time people would haul him in to play over a couple of chords and then nick what he played and turn it into a song. He’d started charging a lot of money because of this. However, he charge me sing scale because he could see that the songs were already written. I actually had to get him back, because one thing was a little amiss. He said, ‘play it to me’ – we played it and he fell on the floor in mock self-loathing – then went out and completely blew me away (and he never charged for that redo). To me he’s like Jimi Hendrix (I know he’s not supposed to be, but when he plays rock – that’s who he reminds me of for some reason). His playing gives me the chills.
No, I’m not a jazz freak. I’ve listened to it – I know the stories – I’ve seen the documentaries and respect – but it doesn’t get me off.
Cliffane Baker: I have a super cool reverse glass painting of you on stage – guitar in one hand – bottle in the other – drum set and gold foil curtains in the background. It appears professionally made. Any idea what this is?’ None whatsoever!
Roddy McClean saying how ‘Big Mouth’ patched up a difficult situation. Glad to have been of some assistance.
Matt Nojonen: I never auditioned for UH – they sent me albums with the tracks ticked off they were going to do and I wasn’t keen. No reflection on them; different neck of the woods.
Joe S says two year old Lilly is a fan. She call me EE-HO – which is ok by me as I’ve been called a lot worse.
Jack Frost asks if I’m a Dylan fan? Been a Bob fan since my 20’s – everybody knows that!
Tony: Play ‘Rose’ live!! You never know – I just might.
Tony Grist: ‘Read an article recently where Michael Schenker said he had a chance to join your band, but turned you down. Care to share the story and do you remember when?’ I have no memory of this. He’s a great player, but I don’t recall ever offering him a gig. He’s got his own thing going.
Anthony S: ‘A band you could work with?’ The Rant Band is fine by me. Always loved Petty’s Band (rest his soul) and Levon Helm’s band (rest his soul). Never got to play with Leon Russell either (rest his soul).
Richard Coopen: If it’s for charity – just do it!! Best to S.B.M.
Steve Baratta says the Clay Center in Charleston, WV is a great venue. Any thoughts on a new album?’ Thoughts – yes. Results – no.
Steve Meyer: ‘Apparently the ‘new’ Hereford FC are considering a ‘music festival’ at Edgar Street this coming season. The last one there was when they were Hereford United FC on 30th August 1971 when you know who played there.’ I remember two things about that gig. One was the tickets weren’t going fast enough, so Stan Tippins went round every pub saying ‘he’d heard’ Mick Jagger was showing up. After that, it sold satisfactorily. The other one was Mick Ralphs’ granddad telling me we had to go on at 6 sharp because he didn’t want to be late for his dinner. He was 95.
Dave King: Ellen Folley’s album (Night Out) sold around 700,000 copies at that time – mainly due to Holland where she had two huge hits – One went to #1 and the other to #3.
Martin Sheard: ‘At the moment, I’m reading Steve Jones’ book ‘Tales from a Sex Pistol’. In the book he says he nicked a guitar from the lead guitarist from one of his favourite bands and never got to make amends for it – Ariel Bender?’ Ronno and me were touring the U.S. and Steve was opening for us. About half way through the tour Mick said to me that Steve used to nick stuff (he mentioned Bowie and Roxy) but he wouldn’t nick from us because he liked us! True or lore – who knows. Anyway we escaped unscathed!
Ed: ‘Cincinnati!!’ We’ll see.
Dennis Coffey: We were actually experimenting with a keyboard that Stevie Wonder was using at that time. Pete Oxendale was our keyboardist at that time. All around great guy and now Britain’s top musicologist.
Tripp Pair: ‘Over the holidays I’ve watched a lot of documentaries on mainly musical groups I’ve enjoyed over the years. I’d love to see one about you and your career. Has any one approached you in a serious way about doing one (yes). Would you be interested (all depends). Do you enjoy watching documentaries?’ I’ve had people wanting to do it, but they have get financing and that’s where it gets sticky. I’m not a household name, nor wish to be one. Mott had a great documentary out – that’ll do. The Beeb always wants to do something, but they don’t know exactly what!
Neil Broadley: ‘Did you enjoy the Welly in Hull? Only downside is the 10 pm curfew!’ Sure, it was fine.
Mal Walker: ‘Melbourne’ – Join the club!
Mike Costanzo: ‘Ever consider posting a tour diary of the past year or so?’ I do these things – they’re littered round the house. I’ll dig ’em out if the right offer comes along. ‘I’m 56 and I often wonder how you do it!’ I’m lucky. ‘After touring the world, do you often get the itch to travel once it’s over?’ No – I hate traveling. Traveling stinks nowadays.
Pat: ‘Was the song ‘It Ain’t Easy When You Fall’ written about someone in particular?’ Yup.
Whaites just got back from another ‘Giants of Rock’ weekend at Butlins. Do you think you’ll do it again?’ All depends on the business.
Tom McGarry: The short answer to this is if I was only able to tour repeating all of the old songs from way back when – I’d pack it in. Everybody is different – some people like doing it – I don’t.
Oystein: ‘Wonderful box set; magnificent ‘Fingers Crossed’ and still the best gigs out there. Why not include ‘Salvation’ in the set?’ I probably will at some point, but we had enough slow ones in the set already. People get bored if you do too many slow songs. I get it.
Anthony P ‘Just caught ‘Ronno’ on NetFlix. Very informative, learned much about him I didn’t know. Mostly skipped over his year with you. No offence, you weren’t in Bowie’s realm – but his work with you was just as important.’ Mick and David were phenomenal together – they represented an age and still do. Mick and me? We just played rock ‘n’ roll and had a great time doing it.
Mike Sosna wants us to go back to Raleigh-Durham.
Bill Bennett: ‘ ‘All American Alien Boy’ is one of the greatest songs I have heard.’ T.
Bruce Shedden: ‘Songs DO make a difference in peoples lives ‘ ‘Win It All’ helped me thru a rough period.’ Glad it worked out.
Bob Boyle: ‘Is the waitress in All of the Good Ones Are Taken’ Trudi? Nope. ‘Where was the location of the room with the candles?’ An old mansion building near 14th and Second Avenue in New York City. I think the diner was somewhere in Brooklyn, NY.
‘What in God’s name is ‘Just Another Night’ all about then?’ An uncomfortable night in the Indianapolis city jail.
John Boiselle: ‘Who are Billy (Biddy) and Barry from the song ‘Rain’? Mates from Northampton.
Matt: Thank you for whenever I get it!
Philly Bob: Nothing scheduled for the U.S. this year at the moment – so enjoy Boston!
Tim: ‘Ever had the opportunity to work with Jeff Beck?’ Nope.
Anthony S: Do you live in the States?’ One of ’em.
Mr. H: Merch is not my thing.
Jeff Scott: ‘See Def Leppard will be touring with Journey this summer. I think the Rant Band would make a great triple bill.’ You do, do you.
Hal: ‘Totally enjoyed reading your interview in the new issue of the David Bowie Glamour fanzine. This is a top notch, beautiful publication and your presence only made it better. Are there any Mott recordings/demos of ‘Drive in Saturday’?’ Not that I remember. ‘Looking forward to Boston. Do something from ‘Dirty Laundry’ – very underrated album.’
Dennis Lee: Please put ‘Dead Man Walking’ back in the set next time you’re in the Baltimore/Washington area.’ We’ll see – there are a lot of slow ones, and you can only do so many before people nod off!
That’s it kids!
See you at the Boston City Winery next week.
IH
The Horse’s Mouth
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