The Horse’s Mouth
5 December 2020
And so it goes………
Liz Krin: ‘So how did your first election as a U.S. citizen feel?’ Well – I’m Anglo/Scottish; I grew up with elections lasting six weeks and free, equal access on TV. Hysteria seems to be a profitable business over here. Fear sells better than sex -should be the other way ’round.
Matt Gordon: ‘What are your thoughts on the ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’? None really – that’s a while ago.
Jim Patterson: ‘So the story at this link says you and John Lennon were at a Devo show and had an encounter with them after the show. Apparently, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo said it in an interview with Marc Maron on the WTF podcast. Is this a story true?’ I have no recollection of it.
Stephen Watson: ‘Would you consider doing an audio book of the ‘Diary’? If they paid me – yes!!
Mark F: ‘I’m watching ‘Curse of Oak Island,’ ‘Gold Rush,’ ‘Below Deck,’ + ‘Expedition Unknown’ with Josh Gates amongst others. Do you watch any of these shows?’ Nope. Watching, ‘Spiral’ (Netflix) at the moment – if you like it – there’s a lot of them.
Stephen DOC Watson: ‘Did Overend audition for Free before Andy Frazer?’ There was a rumour, but I can’t substantiate. We never talked about it to my knowledge.
Dru: ‘Do you enjoy playing the part of the Horse’s Mouth??’ When I get the bit between my teeth (groan!).
Pasquale: ‘Nice to see you’re keeping the flag flying Mr. P.
Tim Byrnes: Cheers, Tim
Oystein: ”The Outsider’ is one of those….I just sat down with the chord sequence and the words came to me.
Ralph Johnson: I have some Gibsons, but I usually play Martins these days in the U.S. I leave a Gibson in the UK for those tours. For songs with a little more ‘bite’ I have a few ‘Rainsongs’. They never go out of tune!
Wayne Laverack – a van.
John Dalton: I always hated Bond – it’s so populist and obvious and middle of the road – but Sean Connery was great – and Scottish too!! R.I.P.
John Swanner: I could care less about amps. They just plug me in and off we go. I like balls – that’s about it. On the Ringo tour I was offered four different companies. We A-B’d them, and I chose Gibson. The sound guy preferred Marshall. We used Gibson.
Fat Wally: ‘Who should be the next host of ‘Jeopardy’?’ Dunno – somebody with a brain and no ego?
Bob Boyle: Do you know any details of a 1969 formed Welsh band called ‘Man’? I know they were loosely associated with Hawkwind in 1972.’ ‘Man’ was a Welsh band fronted by Deke Leonard. We knew them. Deke got up with Mott a couple of times. Nice guys.
Neil McCormack: ‘Any particular reason Pete Watts didn’t take part in any of the ‘Ballad of Mott Film?’ Pete wasn’t fond of media at all. However, if you did find him – held talk your head off for hours. He liked the Steve McQueen image – but he wasn’t really like that in person. Stubborn as a mule, but everybody loved Pete.
Indiana: ‘Ever watch ‘The Simpsons’? I never watch stuff everybody watches. Don’t know why; I just don’t.
Philip Lewry: Tried to buy the R + R Sweepstakes Volume Two with a pre-order. They don’t ship to Australia!’ Sounds odd, I’ll ask Trudi to check it out.
Tony Schultz: ‘Biden declared winner a few hours ago – yay!’ Not a big fan – but it could be worse!!
James Zemba: ‘How long did it take you to sign the 500 copies?’ A couple of hours, maybe. Try the box set – that was 2,500!! ‘Have you read the book?’ Yeah – It’s great for the memories. Some of it I just don’t remember – I don’t know how Campbell does it!
Matt Nojonen: It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. We (or at least us older chaps) have been through worse. It’s all pretty stupid – we know the outcome.
Graeme Walker: It’s never easy; We’ve had a few.
Alan in Portlandia: On the differences between English and American recording techniques. I would have said early on America had it by miles because they were into music. In England the engineers were more like technicians – witness the problems with Fink Floyd and the Beatles (oh no – we can’t do that, mate!). But by the time Mott was around things had evened up. We had Bill Price – an English legend. In the U.S. I had Bob Clearmountain – another legend. You didn’t need producers with these guys. Nowadays you’ve got the universal Pro Tools.
Craig Nevitt: ‘What was your reaction when you first heard ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Rumour has it Freddie was heavily influenced by ‘Marionette’ Anything to share?’ Well – they did open for us quite a lot early on and they did use to watch us from the side of the stage because we were mates. Later on I remember being invited down to Trident while they were mixing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Buff and I went down. They blasted it at us full volume and it was quite bewildering that close up. They’d been in there three days straight – was this right – was that right – we couldn’t venture an opinion – there was so much of it!! And there you go – history!!! Whether he was influenced by ‘Marionette’ or not, we’ll never know. We talked quite a lot at that time, and it was never mentioned. Who knows.
Colin Powell: Yup – that 200 quid saved my ass!
Patrick Cairns: On about Nicol Williams (who was the first to cover a song I wrote). It seems he was quite the lad!! Apparently, he was playing the ghost of John Barrymore in ‘I Hate Hamlet’ on Broadway and took to ‘accidently’ stabbing his hated co-star with a prop sword. Patrick worked in an English Restaurant on 46th and 11th at the. Time and served him cognac pre-show. Says he was a really nice guy. Goodho! (Patrick also served Keith Richard fish ‘n’ chips once upon a time!)
Matt Nojonen: I think John’s slipping a bit. His odds on pick lost the election.
RP: Regarding live streaming. ‘Would the Ranters and I ever do it?’ Nah. But, having said that, watch the Bowie/Garson tribute on January 8th (David’s birthday).
Dave Pilkington: (i) Brian Johnson’s problems are with his ears; mine are in my nerves. (ii) It was lovely working with Glan Matlock. Intelligent bloke and true to himself.
Sydney Williams: ‘What inspired ‘All American Alien Boy’?’ Dunno – It started out as a jam with Ronno and Jaco Pastorius. I’d just moved to the US; I guess I was full of first impressions.
Jerome Preisler: Cheers!
Rick Goward: Re: Michael Palin/Max Wall. Michael Palin wasn’t doing Max a favor. Max was huge when we were growing up in England and Max was different and very, very funny. I’m sure Max was one of Michael Palin’s idols – I know he was one of mine. He famously got banned for’lewdness’ by the BBC and his personal life was a mess, but I found him to be a brilliant, sad, tortured soul. He loved Rock ‘n’ Roll. He would come and watch the sound checks – sitting in the front row! He’d have been in his 60’s which was old back then. His favourite band was The Who!
Steve Moxy: Cheers, Steve.
Connor Riley Peters: ‘What was your first impression of Queen?’ I just thought – great! On a personal level – Fred was hilarious – Roger was fun – Brian was thoughtful and kind and John just grinned and kept his head down. We had new guys to have fun with!! That’s what I thought.
John Lane: ‘Your favourite Mott album and favourite Hunter album.’ Dunno.
Paul Rivers: I’m not that internet minded. We talk. I get the ‘DiBrizzi Report’ once a week. DiBrizzi talks to everybody so I rely on him for updates. Mastro’s forever ‘coming up next week’. Covid rears its ugly head and so we go.
Ron Cory: ‘How’s the tinnitus doing?’ Boring!
Stephen Straker says I shook his hand in 1987 and he hasn’t washed it since. Neither have I, Steve, neither have I!
Mike Costanzo: ‘Ever been approached by anyone in regards to acting in a movie?’ I think I have, but there’s a vast difference between being asked and actually doing it.
Andy: ‘Merry Christmas to you and yours!’ Same to you. ‘Are you friends with Gary Brooker?’ Nope. I’ve met him to say hello, but that’s it. Am I a fan of Procol Harem? Can’t say I am, but ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ is major historical – right up there.
Ian Clydesdale: ‘Did Mott get asked to do Live Aid?’ I don’t think we were functioning at that time.
Ed Musiak: ‘Favourite song you write?’ Dunno.
Peter Jordan: ‘I see Jesse Malin around from time to time – he’s a true believer. I heard he’s been working throughout this mess.’ Good for him!!
Freddy Miller: Writing a song is a mystery. I guess it’s magic – like comedians waking up with good jokes – sometimes great ones. All ideas come from somewhere and we’re not allowed to know why.
Jon: It’s about the same.
Hoosier: ‘Ted Nugent?’ I remember Ronno and me opened for him once and we were ‘deprived’ of an encore. He did come into the dressing room for a chat – he seemed ok. Who knew?
Peter Clendenning: I honestly don’t know what made the most.
Dave Griffiths MBE moaning about info on the internet. I know- I’m old enough to see people re-inventing history all over the place!
Lionel Avery: Maybe works for some – not for me.
Bill Milks: ‘Love, ‘Wash Us Away’ – it’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years.’ I remember it being a straight rocker and Micky Curry changed it into a shuffle and improved the song tremendously.
Kevin Shannon: Thanks, Kevin
Max S: ‘What was your mindset during the making of ‘Boy’?’ Well it was the first solo album so I guess I was pretty positive – Ronno was on form. It’s a long time ago, now.
Mike Flanagan: ‘God ain’t jive’ do you believe in a higher power?’ Well, something’s going on.
Larry Woodside: Cheers, Larry
Norm’s son is Ian (after moi) says he’s a trooper! Hey, Ian!
Glenn Metsch-Ampel: Too personal. Thanks, anyway.
Rolf: ‘Looking forward to Norway gigs.’ I love Norway.
Wade: Same to you, mate.
Rick Graves: Cheers, Rick.
Col Spikings: ‘Oct 1997 – Cleethorpes Winter Gardens – who was in that band?’ Can’t remember – look it up!
Wesley Beech: We knew the Dolls – they opened for us a few times – good bunch of lads. David’s a real character – fearless and the loudest singer I’ve heard. Bowie wasn’t at the Forum show. I remember we first met Todd Rundgren backstage. Buff was a huge fan – made his night.
Keith Nickless: Well, the hairy bit seemed to be going out of style (at least in our minds) and Ronno and Susie encouraged us to dress down a bit. Trudi was against the shorter hair. It was kind of drastic. Took a bit of getting used to!! I think we went back to ‘normal’ later on.
And that is that.
Happy Christmas and New Year (under the circumstances). Stay well.
IH
Your very own Horse’s Mouth xxx
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