June 18, 2024 • 24 mins
Join your host @thebuzzknight on this Takin A Walk episode with British singer-songwriter Ian Hunter. Ian is known for his work leading the classic band Mott the Hoople along with making great solo music throughout his career.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk. I'll just got a pune like Cat
Longs and wherever I'd been in one die it was
on the answiam machine A the way to the swim
Go yeah, how'd your fox are going all the tour?
And I was like, whoa, you get the chills with
a Beatles or your own swim machine? And so it
was go ahead. It was good.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Fuck.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast with your host
Buzz Night. Buzz gets the inside scoop from musicians who've
created the soundtrack of our lives. On this episode, a
British icon who created music history with Mata Hoopa. Singer,
songwriter and guitarist Ian Hunter is next on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Ian Hunter, Welcome to a virtual edition. We're going to
take a walk down memory lane here on the Taking
a Walk Podcast and we're going to talk about Defiance
Part two and many other things. But thank you for being.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
On, sir. Oh yeah, very welcome. I said, pro pluck.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Did you know you're never alone with a schizophrenic?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
That was Ronson's title he found out a toilet war?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Is that right?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I had to give him half a track to get
that title. Yeah, I gave it to Rafa just Another Night,
which was a song.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
On my album Another Great One.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, yeah, he was he was going to make another record.
He said no, no, I'm people in this and I'm like, no,
I've got out that I've got to have that. So
in the end we came to an agreement.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It's wonderful. What inspired you to pursue a career in music,
and tell me about the earliest influences. Ian Oh, I was.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
I was right right at the beginning, you know, Fast
Domeno fifty four, Elvis and A. That album was what fifteen,
and then I heard Joni Lewis. It was crazy, you know.
We were living in the country that I had just
come off rushing books that Second World War, and it
was pretty you know, boring, and people were looking for excitement,
(01:59):
and all of a sudden, a little Richard Chuck Berry
and all this stuff coming out of the States, and
we were like, well, this is just something, you know,
And I was a fan, you know, it was jukeboxes
and stuff like that. I never thought i'd have it
be in bands or anything like that. I just I
was just a huge fan a rock and all music.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
When did you know though, that this was going to
be a career.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I really didn't. I mean I sort of going semi
pro bands around Northamplton. I was a bass player and
somehow grew wound up in London. It's very difficult to
get into London in those days because everything was twice
as expensive, you know, and if you're coming from a
factory and the sticks, you know, an orange course. So
(02:49):
Shilanan started sixpence. It's very hard to get into London,
so it took a long time. Now wound up with
a guy called thirty fingers late. It was kind of
the English quittal of Jerry Lay. And with fed I went,
you know, with the German clubs, and I started to
think more like a musician than I found. You know,
(03:11):
I thought maybe I could make a living out of us,
and that's how it sort of came into being, you know,
over a few years.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I can you share a bit about your songwriting process.
How do you typically approach the crafting of a brand
new song?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I think every right to well, it's hard to say.
Sometimes it's it's it's kind of like a comedian. Somebody
says something and you pick up on it where nobody
else does. Sometimes it comes and out of it you
wake up with it and the morning, you know, I
can't really explain it to you. It's, uh, that's why
(03:50):
a lot of people don't want songs and some do.
It's kind of like comedians, you know, they get the
jokes other people don't.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
It is being in a certain zone though, to have
that creative process. Is that right?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I don't know, because it kind of grew on me.
You know. When I joined Mark, I wasn't even the songwriter.
They they add Mikee Alison Pete Wats and they were
the songwriters, but Pete was more concerned with models of
the time. So I mean the way we used to
reheard this, they would get there about three in the afternoon.
I was there ten in the morning because I was
(04:23):
trying to all these instruments and st and as I
tried these instruments, so started coming, you know, And I
tried a man in front of the band and some
sometimes they fed yeah, and sometimes they said no. And
slowly I sort of became this Meg Raelson and I
became the song wise in that band.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
You know, throughout your entire career you've been part of
different bands and collaborations. Tell me how difficult that times
it can be to navigate the dynamics of working with
all different types of musicians.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
You just with me, it had to be exciting, it
had to be people are like, well, I had to
be crazy and Ma was crazy. I did like them.
They liked me because I was like, I wasn't the
hare of of Matthia, you know. Uh, but we got
it okay, And then every bad ever since, it's always
(05:20):
been this has got to be fun. This has got
to be calaraderie. This hasn't got to be I'm not.
I can't take sitting on the bulbs listening to it
being we just did. It's just the excitement, the illiginal
excitement I felt with Jerry Lee and those people. I
guess that's what I was looking for, you know. And
then Mark, they they wound up creating that kind of
(05:43):
excitement too, you know. And the places that got crazy
without yots and stuff, and they were good guiands, not
bad ones.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Do you ever remember one of those shows that sticks
in your head because, oh yeah, either because of the
fan reaction or something. But did something went awry?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Brother? The Mot fans weren't kind of like Mott fans,
and that was it. It was like a tide that
followed you all over, you know, and when they would
go anywhere you went. And I can remember gigs there
where they were all on stage and they were all singing.
And then we tried to make a live valabum and
that was a disaster because everybody go on the stage
and the cables went. But they were kind of I
(06:26):
remember Newcastle, Yeah, they had Newcastle. They brought dogs out,
which was not a kind of thing to do because
they thought it was a nasty riot, you know what
I mean. And it wasn't it. It was a happy role.
It's just fun and that was what we were kind
of aiming at at that time, just having a great time.
(06:48):
There wasn't much money involved. It was just having a
great time.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
You know. One of the things I've always loved about
you and your music. You incorporate, you know, different elements
of different stuffle, some some rock, maybe there's folks somewhere
in their glam rock. How do you balance diverse influence
as well being true to you know, what your unique
(07:12):
sound is.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well, what happened was I somehow haven't wound up as
a singer, which I wasn't, you know, I was a
base star maybe I'll just sing harmonism and stuff. It's
in move, you know. Guy Stevens was like looking for
me to get off the piano and get in the
middle of the stage and sing and around that same
(07:34):
time like everybody else there. Bob Bob Dylan affected me
a lot, you know, And so I started doing that
phase sort of singing, which is what non singing to do.
Jack is an amazing facing. Dylan is a past master,
and I just kind of copied Dylan for a couple
of years until until it got silly, you know. So
(07:57):
I started off to you know, you develop your own
thing out of that.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I love Bob got silly. What happened?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
No, No, And it was just well I had Bob Dylan.
I'm English guy. I don't know what he's talking about,
but he's right, it's absolutely right. Well how he's doing
it is right. And Suddy Bonner was another one, uh yeah,
study and Shure he was another one. He couldn't say
him that great, but he came Acrooss. He got big
(08:28):
number one. You know, I got you bathed stuff like that.
I thought, that's the that's the word I'm going to
have to go, you know, because I'm not for watches.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
You know, I mean your lyrics touch on the themes
of rebellion and society and personal experiences. So going back
to Bob Dylan, uh for a second. He obviously had
some impact as he wrote about rebellion as well.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Right, it wasn't so much that it was it was
the way he was singing. I was English, so therefore
I didn't really understand a lot of what he was
talking about. You know, probably just still don't. But it
was just right. It was just so right, you know,
and I you know, I copped off him. Actually, you know,
(09:16):
you developed into your own thing. I guess most singers,
you know, they start off with some they get it influenced.
Everybody gets influenced initially, you know, and then you sort
of wade through it and come out yourself eventually.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Did you ever have the opportunity to run into Bob
and tell him about the impact that he made on you.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, I've met him a couple of times. I mean, oh,
you know what I mean, Sorry, but he's great. He's
really nice. I mean, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Did you get the cold fish handshake? Oh?
Speaker 1 (09:49):
It's good a while, but he does stand the street
in h in the village one night, Ma. You know
one form the I wouldn't want on the pavement. He
knew we were Robin Start I remember at the time
said on Bob's new album, he's trying to sound like
Mark the Hooper. So it was all fun, you know,
(10:10):
it's all you know, just for fun.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Can you tell me about the first time that you
met David Bowie.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah, it was Guilford Civic Hall, a gig just outside London,
and what had happened was we split up. We've been
in gas tank since Switzerland for Either records and we
didn't like them. There were two recke so we decided
this is or not. We haven't had a hit record.
We've been guying a couple of years. And so Pete
(10:39):
watched the bass player rang up David to a gig
because David was at that time forming his band, and
David said, well you were in Mark you know, and
Peter said, no, we've split it, and then David said,
well you can't do that, you know. It turned out
that David liked the band and a lot, and so
he came to see us at Guildford. That was the
first night I met him and I wound up in
(11:00):
a limo with him afterwards, and Angie and Andie whispered
to me in the back of the limo, he's it
took him four hours to get ready.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And then from then on we're still on my Island
records and we're just doing a tour and flowers in
the dressing room every night, and these people from Ireland,
you know, Johnny Gloo, Alec Rosley, they would going, what
were the need flowers forevery night? You know, But what
was happening was the beginning of you know, our time
with Columbia and the Fleece and David you know, did.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
He offer you Suffragette City? Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah? You know, we'd had a couple of singles out
and we they've been on the BBC and they haven't
been hits. Well, when you have a couple of singles
that they missed, from then on in, you're not going
to be on the BBC unless it's something extremely special.
And we were writing good stuff, but we knew that
bib wouldn't and stuff that sitting was good, but we
knew they wouldn't play it. It wasn't good enough. So
(12:05):
then he sits down and an office said waiting the
straight and plies all the young duos to it was
an acoustic guitar, and that was a whole different kettle
of fish. You know. That was we can do this
thiscom beat.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
You you know, I have chills just thinking about that moment.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, I remember sitting there thinking, one, I can sing it,
you know because subs bluesy stuff I'm not good at
the first thing was I knew I could sing it,
And the second plane was isn't it? And you know
it's kind of Nat being behind it hit before it's
even recorded. It's just a song and so strong.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And what's amazing about it, Ian is how it has
stood the test of time.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, I was still talking about it and Mark did
a great nobody. You know, we improved it. We didn't
just sit and do it, you know, we improved upon it.
And he was there and he was helping out and
to doing what David did. You know, he taught us
a lot, you know, because we didn't really know much
about the studio with Geystein, our previous producers. David knew
(13:10):
how to work the room, you know, you know, they're
the buttons.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
What do you think of how he constantly reinvented himself
and has that inspired your reinvention as you have reinvented
through your career.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
No, No, I think David was a performance artist who
played the part of a rock and wall singer and
did it extremely well. And I funk whatever you want
to talk about the stages he went through. He was
a performance artist. That's that's where he came from. Lends again,
stuff like that. So he was you know, he had
(13:51):
that role for that while you know what I know,
the ziggy Wolf, and then he went out to other things.
I think the Foice was mold and the Elvis. You know,
Defrace's idol was Colonel Tom Parker. But Flores was telling
you was Johnson was a diver's mona, and I think
(14:12):
that's what that's what Defrase wanted. And you want to
dive it to be Elvis too.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
You know, we're living in a divided society obviously, yet
I'm constantly amazed at how music is this one thing
people can generally agree upon. Do you agree with that
fact in the world today that that's really the one
thing people can agree on?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Football? There's a coom football. I see football, You know
what I mean? Two teams. Yep, somebody's gonna win, someone's
going to lose. I'm sixty thousand people who don't really
know that much about it, right, just waving about it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah, But as we moved to talk about Defiance Part two,
what's your take on the rest of the world.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
We're in a bit of a mess, you know. I
try to avoid it on part one. I can't call
up with me on part two, however, you know, we're
living in a hysterical country, so hopefully it won't turn
out as bad as everybody predicts. I just have an
opinion like everybody else. I try to not be the
(15:26):
didactic and all that kind of stuff, but sometimes it leaks.
And this albs a bit dense, you know. It's a
bit dense something in the first one, and I think
the next one will be a a little lighter. This
one's pretty political.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Can you talk about some of the folks that you
collaborated with in both Defiance Part one and Part two?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah? Sure, who?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Well how about Jeff beck for starters?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Well, you know, I was Johnny Depp. John was working
with Jeff Nor Johnston a little while now, and he
likes what I do, so he said, you know, I'm
over here with Jeffedy, woman and do something with Jeff.
And so he sent him two tracks and Jeff flighted
(16:15):
on both of them. You know, he played on the
third Rail on part two and it was Jeff. I
mean it was like for me, he was in the sixties. God,
you know, we came through in the seventies, so we
looked up to those guys, you know, like the Beatles
and the Stones and the whole you know, So to
abject back on your album for me is a personal win,
(16:37):
no matter what. Plus he played great, and plus sometimes
he would do things and then he would not let
him go because he didn't think his performance was good Enunfortunately,
on both tracks he was fired. He passed them, you know,
he okayed And his lawyer said, the third Rail, which
is on Part two, is the last thing he ever did.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Not this Wire's manager.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yeah, how about Robin Xander, Well, I've known.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Them for a long time on them off Big here
and there, you know, Rake and Lobbin, so great guys
and the proper Block Wi Woe, you know, and it's
a privilege. But a lot of these baby, it's all privilege,
you know, what Stone Temple, those guys and such gentleman
you know, and intelligence, and you've got to send the
(17:26):
right kind of material to the right kind of people.
Is it in the area, you know what I mean?
Like Mike Campbell, you know, it was perfect for him
and ring Go on Bed of Roses on the first
you know you do that check was one seventeen and
I'm sitting there with Andy York I said necessary to
ring Go for fun, you know, and Ringo was like,
if I like the song, I'll do it. If if
(17:47):
I don't like the song, I WoT And then four
days later we got it back and it was done,
you know. And Mike Campbell then takes it and makes
it even better, you know, as he does with everything.
It's still great. It's good. It's been a great fun.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
And you you were part of Ringo Star's all star
band at one point.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Right, Yeah, we went out, we did a tour.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Who was part of that.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Group at that time, The Color of the Lions, Sheila
Shila A was on the drums. Sheila started to make
him do a drum solo. That was fun.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Well, but I want to ask the question differently about that,
So tell me about your connection with Ringo Star and
ultimately playing with him in the All Star band.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I just got a phone. I came home from wherever
i'd been one day and it was on the answer
machine all the way to this Ringo you know, I
had your Fox are going on the tour and I
was like, whoa you get the chills one the Beatles
or your answering machine. And so I went and it
was great. It was good fun. Greg Like, I'll be
(18:52):
kind of fans with Greg Lake on that tour. He
was my mate. You know, he's a lovely blood. Greg Blake,
the great player, you know, King Crimson and then the LP,
the LP, I want to his keee on the Pink
Crimins were amazing. We are opened for them early on
and Martin, they were they were frightening.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Tell me about the period of time when Queen had
first come to the States and Queen and Mott toward
what are your memories of that early period.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Well, they was a great father because I became It
became one big band, you know, and Fred being Fred
was hilarious. He walk up and down back state going
why don't these city baskelets get it?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Fred, it's going to take a couple of times on
this is a big country, you know it it'd taken
that long. But they were characters, all of them.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
I really like those guys. And I still talked of
Bride and Rodger, you know, but but Er we're got
our different continents, but I still talk to him and
they're still ruddling. It's normal chaps.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So I love it.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
It was like a nice band on the road when
they when they were opening for us, you know, and
then we got a Washington, Washington. Yeah, we were staying
in that Nixon hotel. What was the White I don't know, Oh,
water Gate, Yeah, we were starting at the Watergate. I
was Brian came down with something bad. They had to
(20:19):
get him on and playing quick, and so that was
the end of it. But we've done a British tour
and then we were halfway through the American tour and
that's when they.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Had to go.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
And I don't think about candles or somebody like that
came in and that for but they went through the
roof really quick.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Tread was so out lageous something fun. But I have
to say they were they were watching us every night
because I don't think they'd quite got those stage thing together,
they got their music together. But well they'll tell you themselves.
They were watching something to night.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Are you considering going out on an acoustic tour?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Oh, Mike, you know, no, No. Wheny of my age,
you know, things come up. You have to be careful
what you're doing. It's in the works, you know, to
cancel off once because of sickness in the family. And
I do have tonightiss, which a lot of people have
on car used to it, but there's no real cure
(21:17):
for it. And if I commit it and then can't
do it, and a lot of travelers get very upset
with you, you know, because it's expensive. Bad days you
get out of the plane. If I'm playing New York,
they'll come from England. I want them to put them
through that, you know, that's a hotel at the affairs
and then the gig itself. I want to make sure
(21:38):
that I'm absolutely fit before I go for it. Yeah,
and it would be acoustic, you know, Q and acoustic, and.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
There'd be one other mandatory aspect. I'm sure it would
have to be fun for you.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Oh, it would be fun. I got that figured. This
isn't going to be a serious play a bit inside
from nineteen forty eight. There's not going to be like
that at all. I want to have fun.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Do you have any advice that you'd give to aspiring
musicians looking to carve their own path out in the industry.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Well, Dylan said to me, you know what I like
about you? And I said what he said, you hang in,
And all these years later that would be my value.
You hang in. It's another business where success comes quickly
or easily, I guess, like a lot of other things,
you know, and there's a lot of ups, there's a
lot of downs, and you just have to keep going.
(22:31):
And that's what's inside you to that extent, you know,
you just have to hang in. And so the phone
a n.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Used to approach the days where you yearn to learn
something brand new.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Oh yeah, that's my whole time. Yeah, I mean, I'm
already on the next once it's started. Stumbach. That's it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Is there anything you'd like to learn that you haven't learned?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Oh yeah, sure, I'm out of factories. I'm not a genius.
The stuff I don't know is enormous. But then again,
ye know, I'll join the club.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Are there some people that you'd like to collaborate with
that you have not collaborated with.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
You know, loads of people, my heroes like Chuck Berry
and Little Richard and Jerry Lee. I wouldn't want to
work with Jerry Day. It was difficult. I remember Hi
playing the Ritz in New York and his bound didn't
even go to the dressing room. They got off the
front of the stage and mingled with the audience. I
(23:34):
wouldn't have wanted to be part of loud.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
And how about any new music you've discovered by maybe
artists we haven't heard of that you'd like to bring
to our attention.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Oh, I'll do that, buzz I never did. I'll just write,
you know, stuff that comes into my hands. I've been
doing this for a world fifteen years or something. If
you're in a nice queen factory for fifty years, you
en up a nice green I mean, y'all, ye do it?
Sit out? I light wating songs and you know the
ex hopefully is going to be different. That's my flob.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Congratulations Ian on Defiance Part two, and it's so great
to have taken a walk down memory lane with you,
and thank you for all the great music that you
continue to give us sir oh yeah, very welcome buzz
and thanks for being on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Thanks for having me, body, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk. I'll just got a pune like Cat
Longs and wherever I'd been in one die it was
on the answiam machine A the way to the swim
Go yeah, how'd your fox are going all the tour?
And I was like, whoa, you get the chills with
a Beatles or your own swim machine? And so it
was go ahead. It was good.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Fuck.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast with your host
Buzz Night. Buzz gets the inside scoop from musicians who've
created the soundtrack of our lives. On this episode, a
British icon who created music history with Mata Hoopa. Singer,
songwriter and guitarist Ian Hunter is next on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Ian Hunter, Welcome to a virtual edition. We're going to
take a walk down memory lane here on the Taking
a Walk Podcast and we're going to talk about Defiance
Part two and many other things. But thank you for being.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
On, sir. Oh yeah, very welcome. I said, pro pluck.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Did you know you're never alone with a schizophrenic?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
That was Ronson's title he found out a toilet war?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Is that right?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I had to give him half a track to get
that title. Yeah, I gave it to Rafa just Another Night,
which was a song.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
On my album Another Great One.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yeah, yeah, he was he was going to make another record.
He said no, no, I'm people in this and I'm like, no,
I've got out that I've got to have that. So
in the end we came to an agreement.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It's wonderful. What inspired you to pursue a career in music,
and tell me about the earliest influences. Ian Oh, I was.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
I was right right at the beginning, you know, Fast
Domeno fifty four, Elvis and A. That album was what fifteen,
and then I heard Joni Lewis. It was crazy, you know.
We were living in the country that I had just
come off rushing books that Second World War, and it
was pretty you know, boring, and people were looking for excitement,
(01:59):
and all of a sudden, a little Richard Chuck Berry
and all this stuff coming out of the States, and
we were like, well, this is just something, you know,
And I was a fan, you know, it was jukeboxes
and stuff like that. I never thought i'd have it
be in bands or anything like that. I just I
was just a huge fan a rock and all music.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
When did you know though, that this was going to
be a career.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I really didn't. I mean I sort of going semi
pro bands around Northamplton. I was a bass player and
somehow grew wound up in London. It's very difficult to
get into London in those days because everything was twice
as expensive, you know, and if you're coming from a
factory and the sticks, you know, an orange course. So
(02:49):
Shilanan started sixpence. It's very hard to get into London,
so it took a long time. Now wound up with
a guy called thirty fingers late. It was kind of
the English quittal of Jerry Lay. And with fed I went,
you know, with the German clubs, and I started to
think more like a musician than I found. You know,
(03:11):
I thought maybe I could make a living out of us,
and that's how it sort of came into being, you know,
over a few years.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
I can you share a bit about your songwriting process.
How do you typically approach the crafting of a brand
new song?
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I think every right to well, it's hard to say.
Sometimes it's it's it's kind of like a comedian. Somebody
says something and you pick up on it where nobody
else does. Sometimes it comes and out of it you
wake up with it and the morning, you know, I
can't really explain it to you. It's, uh, that's why
(03:50):
a lot of people don't want songs and some do.
It's kind of like comedians, you know, they get the
jokes other people don't.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
It is being in a certain zone though, to have
that creative process. Is that right?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I don't know, because it kind of grew on me.
You know. When I joined Mark, I wasn't even the songwriter.
They they add Mikee Alison Pete Wats and they were
the songwriters, but Pete was more concerned with models of
the time. So I mean the way we used to
reheard this, they would get there about three in the afternoon.
I was there ten in the morning because I was
(04:23):
trying to all these instruments and st and as I
tried these instruments, so started coming, you know, And I
tried a man in front of the band and some
sometimes they fed yeah, and sometimes they said no. And
slowly I sort of became this Meg Raelson and I
became the song wise in that band.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
You know, throughout your entire career you've been part of
different bands and collaborations. Tell me how difficult that times
it can be to navigate the dynamics of working with
all different types of musicians.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
You just with me, it had to be exciting, it
had to be people are like, well, I had to
be crazy and Ma was crazy. I did like them.
They liked me because I was like, I wasn't the
hare of of Matthia, you know. Uh, but we got
it okay, And then every bad ever since, it's always
(05:20):
been this has got to be fun. This has got
to be calaraderie. This hasn't got to be I'm not.
I can't take sitting on the bulbs listening to it
being we just did. It's just the excitement, the illiginal
excitement I felt with Jerry Lee and those people. I
guess that's what I was looking for, you know. And
then Mark, they they wound up creating that kind of
(05:43):
excitement too, you know. And the places that got crazy
without yots and stuff, and they were good guiands, not
bad ones.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Do you ever remember one of those shows that sticks
in your head because, oh yeah, either because of the
fan reaction or something. But did something went awry?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Brother? The Mot fans weren't kind of like Mott fans,
and that was it. It was like a tide that
followed you all over, you know, and when they would
go anywhere you went. And I can remember gigs there
where they were all on stage and they were all singing.
And then we tried to make a live valabum and
that was a disaster because everybody go on the stage
and the cables went. But they were kind of I
(06:26):
remember Newcastle, Yeah, they had Newcastle. They brought dogs out,
which was not a kind of thing to do because
they thought it was a nasty riot, you know what
I mean. And it wasn't it. It was a happy role.
It's just fun and that was what we were kind
of aiming at at that time, just having a great time.
(06:48):
There wasn't much money involved. It was just having a
great time.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
You know. One of the things I've always loved about
you and your music. You incorporate, you know, different elements
of different stuffle, some some rock, maybe there's folks somewhere
in their glam rock. How do you balance diverse influence
as well being true to you know, what your unique
(07:12):
sound is.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well, what happened was I somehow haven't wound up as
a singer, which I wasn't, you know, I was a
base star maybe I'll just sing harmonism and stuff. It's
in move, you know. Guy Stevens was like looking for
me to get off the piano and get in the
middle of the stage and sing and around that same
(07:34):
time like everybody else there. Bob Bob Dylan affected me
a lot, you know, And so I started doing that
phase sort of singing, which is what non singing to do.
Jack is an amazing facing. Dylan is a past master,
and I just kind of copied Dylan for a couple
of years until until it got silly, you know. So
(07:57):
I started off to you know, you develop your own
thing out of that.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I love Bob got silly. What happened?
Speaker 1 (08:06):
No, No, And it was just well I had Bob Dylan.
I'm English guy. I don't know what he's talking about,
but he's right, it's absolutely right. Well how he's doing
it is right. And Suddy Bonner was another one, uh yeah,
study and Shure he was another one. He couldn't say
him that great, but he came Acrooss. He got big
(08:28):
number one. You know, I got you bathed stuff like that.
I thought, that's the that's the word I'm going to
have to go, you know, because I'm not for watches.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
You know, I mean your lyrics touch on the themes
of rebellion and society and personal experiences. So going back
to Bob Dylan, uh for a second. He obviously had
some impact as he wrote about rebellion as well.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Right, it wasn't so much that it was it was
the way he was singing. I was English, so therefore
I didn't really understand a lot of what he was
talking about. You know, probably just still don't. But it
was just right. It was just so right, you know,
and I you know, I copped off him. Actually, you know,
(09:16):
you developed into your own thing. I guess most singers,
you know, they start off with some they get it influenced.
Everybody gets influenced initially, you know, and then you sort
of wade through it and come out yourself eventually.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Did you ever have the opportunity to run into Bob
and tell him about the impact that he made on you.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, I've met him a couple of times. I mean, oh,
you know what I mean, Sorry, but he's great. He's
really nice. I mean, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Did you get the cold fish handshake? Oh?
Speaker 1 (09:49):
It's good a while, but he does stand the street
in h in the village one night, Ma. You know
one form the I wouldn't want on the pavement. He
knew we were Robin Start I remember at the time
said on Bob's new album, he's trying to sound like
Mark the Hooper. So it was all fun, you know,
(10:10):
it's all you know, just for fun.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Can you tell me about the first time that you
met David Bowie.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah, it was Guilford Civic Hall, a gig just outside London,
and what had happened was we split up. We've been
in gas tank since Switzerland for Either records and we
didn't like them. There were two recke so we decided
this is or not. We haven't had a hit record.
We've been guying a couple of years. And so Pete
(10:39):
watched the bass player rang up David to a gig
because David was at that time forming his band, and
David said, well you were in Mark you know, and
Peter said, no, we've split it, and then David said,
well you can't do that, you know. It turned out
that David liked the band and a lot, and so
he came to see us at Guildford. That was the
first night I met him and I wound up in
(11:00):
a limo with him afterwards, and Angie and Andie whispered
to me in the back of the limo, he's it
took him four hours to get ready.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
And then from then on we're still on my Island
records and we're just doing a tour and flowers in
the dressing room every night, and these people from Ireland,
you know, Johnny Gloo, Alec Rosley, they would going, what
were the need flowers forevery night? You know, But what
was happening was the beginning of you know, our time
with Columbia and the Fleece and David you know, did.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
He offer you Suffragette City? Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah? You know, we'd had a couple of singles out
and we they've been on the BBC and they haven't
been hits. Well, when you have a couple of singles
that they missed, from then on in, you're not going
to be on the BBC unless it's something extremely special.
And we were writing good stuff, but we knew that
bib wouldn't and stuff that sitting was good, but we
knew they wouldn't play it. It wasn't good enough. So
(12:05):
then he sits down and an office said waiting the
straight and plies all the young duos to it was
an acoustic guitar, and that was a whole different kettle
of fish. You know. That was we can do this
thiscom beat.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
You you know, I have chills just thinking about that moment.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Yeah, I remember sitting there thinking, one, I can sing it,
you know because subs bluesy stuff I'm not good at
the first thing was I knew I could sing it,
And the second plane was isn't it? And you know
it's kind of Nat being behind it hit before it's
even recorded. It's just a song and so strong.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And what's amazing about it, Ian is how it has
stood the test of time.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, I was still talking about it and Mark did
a great nobody. You know, we improved it. We didn't
just sit and do it, you know, we improved upon it.
And he was there and he was helping out and
to doing what David did. You know, he taught us
a lot, you know, because we didn't really know much
about the studio with Geystein, our previous producers. David knew
(13:10):
how to work the room, you know, you know, they're
the buttons.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
What do you think of how he constantly reinvented himself
and has that inspired your reinvention as you have reinvented
through your career.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
No, No, I think David was a performance artist who
played the part of a rock and wall singer and
did it extremely well. And I funk whatever you want
to talk about the stages he went through. He was
a performance artist. That's that's where he came from. Lends again,
stuff like that. So he was you know, he had
(13:51):
that role for that while you know what I know,
the ziggy Wolf, and then he went out to other things.
I think the Foice was mold and the Elvis. You know,
Defrace's idol was Colonel Tom Parker. But Flores was telling
you was Johnson was a diver's mona, and I think
(14:12):
that's what that's what Defrase wanted. And you want to
dive it to be Elvis too.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
You know, we're living in a divided society obviously, yet
I'm constantly amazed at how music is this one thing
people can generally agree upon. Do you agree with that
fact in the world today that that's really the one
thing people can agree on?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Football? There's a coom football. I see football, You know
what I mean? Two teams. Yep, somebody's gonna win, someone's
going to lose. I'm sixty thousand people who don't really
know that much about it, right, just waving about it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Yeah, But as we moved to talk about Defiance Part two,
what's your take on the rest of the world.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
We're in a bit of a mess, you know. I
try to avoid it on part one. I can't call
up with me on part two, however, you know, we're
living in a hysterical country, so hopefully it won't turn
out as bad as everybody predicts. I just have an
opinion like everybody else. I try to not be the
(15:26):
didactic and all that kind of stuff, but sometimes it leaks.
And this albs a bit dense, you know. It's a
bit dense something in the first one, and I think
the next one will be a a little lighter. This
one's pretty political.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Can you talk about some of the folks that you
collaborated with in both Defiance Part one and Part two?
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah? Sure, who?
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Well how about Jeff beck for starters?
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Well, you know, I was Johnny Depp. John was working
with Jeff Nor Johnston a little while now, and he
likes what I do, so he said, you know, I'm
over here with Jeffedy, woman and do something with Jeff.
And so he sent him two tracks and Jeff flighted
(16:15):
on both of them. You know, he played on the
third Rail on part two and it was Jeff. I
mean it was like for me, he was in the sixties. God,
you know, we came through in the seventies, so we
looked up to those guys, you know, like the Beatles
and the Stones and the whole you know, So to
abject back on your album for me is a personal win,
(16:37):
no matter what. Plus he played great, and plus sometimes
he would do things and then he would not let
him go because he didn't think his performance was good Enunfortunately,
on both tracks he was fired. He passed them, you know,
he okayed And his lawyer said, the third Rail, which
is on Part two, is the last thing he ever did.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Not this Wire's manager.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Yeah, how about Robin Xander, Well, I've known.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Them for a long time on them off Big here
and there, you know, Rake and Lobbin, so great guys
and the proper Block Wi Woe, you know, and it's
a privilege. But a lot of these baby, it's all privilege,
you know, what Stone Temple, those guys and such gentleman
you know, and intelligence, and you've got to send the
(17:26):
right kind of material to the right kind of people.
Is it in the area, you know what I mean?
Like Mike Campbell, you know, it was perfect for him
and ring Go on Bed of Roses on the first
you know you do that check was one seventeen and
I'm sitting there with Andy York I said necessary to
ring Go for fun, you know, and Ringo was like,
if I like the song, I'll do it. If if
(17:47):
I don't like the song, I WoT And then four
days later we got it back and it was done,
you know. And Mike Campbell then takes it and makes
it even better, you know, as he does with everything.
It's still great. It's good. It's been a great fun.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
And you you were part of Ringo Star's all star
band at one point.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Right, Yeah, we went out, we did a tour.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Who was part of that.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Group at that time, The Color of the Lions, Sheila
Shila A was on the drums. Sheila started to make
him do a drum solo. That was fun.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Well, but I want to ask the question differently about that,
So tell me about your connection with Ringo Star and
ultimately playing with him in the All Star band.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I just got a phone. I came home from wherever
i'd been one day and it was on the answer
machine all the way to this Ringo you know, I
had your Fox are going on the tour and I
was like, whoa you get the chills one the Beatles
or your answering machine. And so I went and it
was great. It was good fun. Greg Like, I'll be
(18:52):
kind of fans with Greg Lake on that tour. He
was my mate. You know, he's a lovely blood. Greg Blake,
the great player, you know, King Crimson and then the LP,
the LP, I want to his keee on the Pink
Crimins were amazing. We are opened for them early on
and Martin, they were they were frightening.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Tell me about the period of time when Queen had
first come to the States and Queen and Mott toward
what are your memories of that early period.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Well, they was a great father because I became It
became one big band, you know, and Fred being Fred
was hilarious. He walk up and down back state going
why don't these city baskelets get it?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Fred, it's going to take a couple of times on
this is a big country, you know it it'd taken
that long. But they were characters, all of them.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
You know.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
I really like those guys. And I still talked of
Bride and Rodger, you know, but but Er we're got
our different continents, but I still talk to him and
they're still ruddling. It's normal chaps.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So I love it.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
It was like a nice band on the road when
they when they were opening for us, you know, and
then we got a Washington, Washington. Yeah, we were staying
in that Nixon hotel. What was the White I don't know, Oh,
water Gate, Yeah, we were starting at the Watergate. I
was Brian came down with something bad. They had to
(20:19):
get him on and playing quick, and so that was
the end of it. But we've done a British tour
and then we were halfway through the American tour and
that's when they.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Had to go.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
And I don't think about candles or somebody like that
came in and that for but they went through the
roof really quick.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
You know.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Tread was so out lageous something fun. But I have
to say they were they were watching us every night
because I don't think they'd quite got those stage thing together,
they got their music together. But well they'll tell you themselves.
They were watching something to night.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Are you considering going out on an acoustic tour?
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Oh, Mike, you know, no, No. Wheny of my age,
you know, things come up. You have to be careful
what you're doing. It's in the works, you know, to
cancel off once because of sickness in the family. And
I do have tonightiss, which a lot of people have
on car used to it, but there's no real cure
(21:17):
for it. And if I commit it and then can't
do it, and a lot of travelers get very upset
with you, you know, because it's expensive. Bad days you
get out of the plane. If I'm playing New York,
they'll come from England. I want them to put them
through that, you know, that's a hotel at the affairs
and then the gig itself. I want to make sure
(21:38):
that I'm absolutely fit before I go for it. Yeah,
and it would be acoustic, you know, Q and acoustic, and.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
There'd be one other mandatory aspect. I'm sure it would
have to be fun for you.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Oh, it would be fun. I got that figured. This
isn't going to be a serious play a bit inside
from nineteen forty eight. There's not going to be like
that at all. I want to have fun.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Do you have any advice that you'd give to aspiring
musicians looking to carve their own path out in the industry.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Well, Dylan said to me, you know what I like
about you? And I said what he said, you hang in,
And all these years later that would be my value.
You hang in. It's another business where success comes quickly
or easily, I guess, like a lot of other things,
you know, and there's a lot of ups, there's a
lot of downs, and you just have to keep going.
(22:31):
And that's what's inside you to that extent, you know,
you just have to hang in. And so the phone
a n.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Used to approach the days where you yearn to learn
something brand new.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Oh yeah, that's my whole time. Yeah, I mean, I'm
already on the next once it's started. Stumbach. That's it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Is there anything you'd like to learn that you haven't learned?
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Oh yeah, sure, I'm out of factories. I'm not a genius.
The stuff I don't know is enormous. But then again,
ye know, I'll join the club.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Are there some people that you'd like to collaborate with
that you have not collaborated with.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
You know, loads of people, my heroes like Chuck Berry
and Little Richard and Jerry Lee. I wouldn't want to
work with Jerry Day. It was difficult. I remember Hi
playing the Ritz in New York and his bound didn't
even go to the dressing room. They got off the
front of the stage and mingled with the audience. I
(23:34):
wouldn't have wanted to be part of loud.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
And how about any new music you've discovered by maybe
artists we haven't heard of that you'd like to bring
to our attention.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Oh, I'll do that, buzz I never did. I'll just write,
you know, stuff that comes into my hands. I've been
doing this for a world fifteen years or something. If
you're in a nice queen factory for fifty years, you
en up a nice green I mean, y'all, ye do it?
Sit out? I light wating songs and you know the
ex hopefully is going to be different. That's my flob.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Congratulations Ian on Defiance Part two, and it's so great
to have taken a walk down memory lane with you,
and thank you for all the great music that you
continue to give us sir oh yeah, very welcome buzz
and thanks for being on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Thanks for having me, body, thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
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