The Horse’s Mouth
March 3, 2018
Y’ know – if they’d stop showing those pharma ‘ask your doctor’ ads every night – prime time – (must cost a fortune), maybe the drug companies could lower their prices.
I can’t stand them – always mute them or change the channel – join me!!
Dennis Lee wants ‘Dead Man Walkin’ in the Baltimore/ D.C. area.
Chris Hetherington: ‘Two quickies: Are you aware of ‘Celebration of Bowie’ at Irving Plaza? (yup). ‘Are you aware of Led Zep celebration at Carnegie Hall?’ (yup).
John Dalton: ‘Would you consider a true solo album comprised of stripped down versions of your songs ala Springsteen? I love the Rant Band, but would also like to hear you alone!’ The reason why I’ve never done this is because I love the camaraderie of the band – especially this one. That’s not to say I would rule it out – it’s all down to the material.
Paul Essary: ‘ ‘Girl From the Office’ is a great song – true story?’ Yup.
Ian Edmundson: Ever shared a stage with my other faves – Cheap Trick – and Justin Currie (of Del Amitri)? Dunno about Justin Currie but Cheap Trick and I are old mates. Great band – lovely people.
Hunter Tremayne: Congratulations!!! Hunter is an actor and his latest film, ‘The Bookshop’ just won Best Film at the Goya Awards – Spanish Oscars). ‘Every time I’m on set I play lots of your stuff and everyone’s favourite is ‘All American Alien Boy’ ‘. We’ll watch out for it. Your in good company, I’m a huge Bill Nighy fan; an actor who knew how to play a rocker!
Marc E. F. ‘Capsule review of Rory Gallagher.’ Met him in Ireland around 1967 (I was with Freddie Fingers Lee) – they supported us! He had a trio – ‘Taste’. Lovely bloke – great musician.
Seth: ‘How did you meet Andy York?’ I wasn’t doing much and Steve Holley was on at me to do something. He took me down to this benefit show in NYC in the afternoon and Andy was playing and singing a Stones song with two other guys and I thought – that guy’s got the lot. It took a while – he was touring a lot, but we eventually met up and started doing stuff.
Tamara Guo: ‘When My Mind’s Gone’ is guess, is about me.
Jeff lives in Ottawa and his wife surprised him by flying the family to Boston for his 60th. Hope you enjoyed it – we did.
Danny G: I added ‘Flowers’ and ‘Man Overboard’ back in for some reason.
Dennis ‘was Chicago recorded?’ Don’t think so.
Puxstacany Phil: Watch out for the re-publication of ‘Diary’ this summer by Omni. Guess who’s up the front end.
Hal enjoyed the interview in David Bowie’s Glamour Fanzine and says it’s a top notch publication. Good. Hal is ‘slowly’ working his way through the box set.
Francis L: ‘A lot of buzz about the Queen movie. Wouldn’t ‘Diary’ make a fine film – Johnny Depp could play you!!’ Jeez – he’d have to spend plenty of time in makeup for that one!
John Caswell: ‘We loved the Boston Winery. The sound and your voice was amazing (thanks to Paul Bevan). Thanks for ‘Don’t Let Go’ – brought tears to my wife and I.’ Sorry I got the names mixed up, but I remembered to do the song!
Alan in Portlandia: Bill was doing Roxy at Air? Bill was doing us in Air – Roxy were in 1 and we were in 2. I remember seeing Bolan jamming with Roxy one night. I forget who was doing Roxy. Bill Price is an unsung hero. He did everybody – when we went in in the mornings, he’d play us stuff he’d done the night before. In the end I said, ‘Bill – you’re putting us off with all this great stuff – so he stopped doing it! I remember Pete hitting Luther over the head with a tray to get a certain sound; it was the lid of a Smith’s crisp tin (they had tins in the days when crisps were crisps). Pete’s smashing it over Luther’s head and Luther’s saying, ‘harder Pete – do it harder!’ Never worked with Chris Thomas. Of course there should be a Guy Steven’s movie. Richard E. Grant could be Guy.
Daniel: Wishing me well.
Tony: ‘ ‘Foxy Foxy’? – I live in hope.’ Dunno about that.
Shinobu Kokubun: Mott the Hoople wonderful. Japan, please.
Rockin Martin: ‘OK we’ve been hammerin’ ya! Ian Hunter to tour down under??? Time to ramp it up a bit. How about Mott the Hoople?’
Susan Palmer: There’s a blast from the past. We’re OK – how are you?
Brit Fan: ‘What’s all this sit about retiring. Many people young and old are out there just for the band. This was created by you and you have a responsibility there. Rock on brother, until you feel you can’t!’
Matt Nojonen: ‘I recently watched a very nice bio/doc about Mick Ronson. It appears he was badly screwed for his work with Bowie. It seemed ugly for Bowie to grab star money knowing his band were making peanuts. Maybe he didn’t know – is that the way the game is/was played?’ Dunno, really – did David know the band deal – he may have done, but really this would be Tony Defries’ neck of the woods. In those early days, David was probably making peanuts too. So much was spent on making them ‘look’ bigger than they actually were. Also, there were secrecy clauses in the band’s deal so they couldn’t very well discuss it with anybody other than Defries. Lady Ga Ga’s the modern equivalent – you go into a huge amount off debt hoping it will pay off some day in the end. With David and with GaGa – it did.
Toni: Some ‘Hoople’ songs (preferably ‘Pearl n Roy’ – ‘Marionette’ + ‘Alice’) plus ‘Sea Diver’ in the Mk II summer set please.
Big D: ‘Are Mott doing any other gigs apart from Spain? Also, any UK for Ian and the Rant Band in 2018?’ The Rant Band will be in full swing in 2019.
Ian Pearce: I think enough’s been said on that subject.
OoerWullie: Fabulous news – made my millennium!
Andrew Ward: Any possibility of Stavanger on next Norwegian trip?’ Sure – if it works out.
Greg: One of my greatest regrets was having written 4 or 5 hits for MTH, I waltzed into Tony Brainsby’s office (our publicist) and announce that I knew the formula for hit records. I’ve got a BIG mouth.
Bob Boyle: No idea. He apparently did not over enthuse about Mick. That may be been it.
Jo Rishton: ‘Ian – I joined a 40 piece choir playing piano – any tips – advice for nerves? I’m an organist – how do you deal with nerves?’ Short answer to this is you do it with nerves and after a while the nerves subside. It’s a drag, especially for a singer, because nerves constrict the throat. Obviously, a drink helps, but I’m not advising this with a 40 piece choir!! Stick it out – once you’re over the initial anxiety – you’ll be fine.
Jeffrey: Rick and Steff have been mates of ours for many years. Good people.
Sharman: No ‘Rant’ tour this year – perhaps next.
Seth: Watching Westminster – wondering if you have a dog and if so, what kind?’ Alsatians, labs, nothing in particular – all of them mutts. The last one, Saffy, was a big, loveable girl from the pound, but she left us when we were away and we just couldn’t take another one after that. We move around a lot and it’s not fair on the pet. Jesse’s cat is here at the moment as he was off working abroad. Cats are ok – but they’re not dogs.
Rick Graves: ‘Thanks for the mention and giving Betsy the glass of champagne. She enjoyed it and kept the glass. 36 shows and still going!’
Yucca Flats: ‘Great show at the Boston Winery.’ Thanks for coming.
Terry: ‘Hey Ian – anybody in particular influenced your style of ballad writing?’ Not really; a lot of the ballads are personal so you just focus on the person and hope for the best. Early on, Dylan was a huge influence, but that’s about it.
Anthony S: ‘Mr. H – love to you and your work. You answer my questions no matter how lame.’ So what’s the question?
Mike Costanzo: ‘David Oxtoby’s cover art on Overnight angels is remarkable. Any back story?’ Nothing that I can recall, but I agree with you – its great.
Joe Rogers: ‘Fan for over 40 years. Whenever I want to listen to real rock ‘n’ roll, I put on the vinyl of Mott the Hoople Live 1974 medley. There’s absolutely nothing better than that.’
Richard Flynn: Does the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame enter your thoughts?’ Only when you bring it up.
Ken Grady: ‘Just bought tickets for Ramblin Man!’
Mike Smith: Remind me later.
John Satterfield: Congrats on a great career and still keeping on! May you live as long as you enjoy life and enjoy life as long as you live.’ How nice, ta.
Doris Burtner: ‘Thanks for being one great hero. Are you just as happy in the U.S. as in the U.K.?’ They both seem to be up the spout at the moment, but what can one do?
Richard on ‘Foxy, Foxy’. I actually wrote this because I loved the Ronettes. Ronnie Spector’s voice was and is amazing. And, of course, we tried a bit of Phil Spector on the production side of things – it was an experiment. I’d say ¾ of the song is OK, but I blew it in the last quarter!!
Thore Henry: ‘Can we please have a Mott reunion concert in Norway, too?’ Dunno.
Anthony S: Aah, here’s a question! ‘Early in your career you covered a few Sonny Bono songs (well, one). Just curious – your fascination with Bono! ‘ Anybody who’s got an ‘I Got You Babe’ under his belt is alright with me.
Zak Mabie: ‘So many of your songs have given me hope – ‘Resurrection Mary’ should be in hymnal. I’m a 57 year old musician and engineer and you have been an important part of my life.’ Thanks.
Jim K: ‘Watched Benny Hill in a clip called ‘Minstrel Boy’ (1974) and he name drops ‘Memphis!’ Told you we wuz big!
Rusty Pickle (yet another alias): ‘Did Ariel Bender get his name from bending antennas? No, Mick Ralphs was the Ariel Bender, but we kept the name for Luther.
Jon Antalvari: ‘When are you coming to Cleveland again?’ Don’t know.
Margaret Finch: You just think of something that affects you strongly – could be anything – and you start playing around with it – there’s no specific rules involving creativity – you can’t learn it – it’s unique to you. I guess listening to stuff you like helps, but in the end – it’s just you.
Jon White: The Rant Band.
Tony: Not contractually possible.
Greg: Do any recordings – live or in the studio – exist with Mick Ronson and MTH?’ Try ‘Saturday Gigs’.
Tim: ‘Mott in the U.S.’? Wouldn’t bank on it.
Matt: Re: Ronno – here, here!!
Stephan Watson: ‘Please check out ‘Turn and Face the Strange’ – it’s an audio/visual appreciation of Mick Ronson. I went to see it – you could feel the love. Bobby Joyce sings Michael Picasso – it’s a brilliant performance.’
Larry Butti – maybe – FINALLY – ‘Now is the Time’!!!!
Sorry to those of you who didn’t get answers; I’m a bit under the weather.
Bye for now.
IH
The Horse’s Mouth
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