The Last Music Podcast
The Last Music Podcast
Last Music Podcast: Andy Fairweather Low ~ The Invisible Bluesman
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Andy Fairweather Low is the Invisible Bluesman.
His career has to an extent been defined by early pop successes, but every single one of Andy Fairweather Low’s performances has been shaped by his blues, gospel and soul influences.
It is ironic that although he first burst onto the scene in Britain in 1967 with a UK top twenty hit record of "Gin House Blues" which was inspired by Bessie Smith’s 1928 classic recording, the many hits he has enjoyed since then from his days fronting Amen Corner have gradually hidden his undeniable credentials as a great bluesman. However, this extraordinary talent hasn’t escaped the notice of some of the world’s finest artists who have drawn on his deep blue skills as a guitarist and singer.
Eric Clapton of course leads this impressive list of Andy’s discerning employers and collaborators which includes, BB King, Benmont Tench, Bill Wyman, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Charlie Dore, Charlie Watts, Chris Barber, Chris Rea, Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown, Dave Edmunds, David Crosby, David Gilmour, David Sanborn, Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, Edie Brickell, Elton John, Emmylou Harris, Garth Hudson, George Harrison, Georgie Fame, Gerry Rafferty, Helen Watson, Jackson Browne, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Joe Cocker, Joe Satriani, John Mayall, Kate Bush, Levon Helm, Linda Ronstadt, Lonnie Donegan, Mary J. Blige, Mick Hucknall, Otis Rush, Paul Weller, Paul Young, Pete Townshend, Phil Collins, Richard and Linda Thompson, Rick Danko, Ringo Starr, Roger Waters, Ronnie Lane, Sheryl Crow, Steve Gadd, Steve Winwood, Stevie Nicks, The Impressions, The Who, Van Morrison, Warren Zevon, and hundreds more.
Andy has largely missed the recognition he deserves in the blues world and that is probably because up until now, he has never released a blues album – and that’s the reason why I wanted to make a record that reveals the identity of the Invisible Bluesman to the world beyond his existing loyal fans.
So, meet Andy Fairweather Lowdown now that curtains have been opened on the Invisible Bluesman, and listen to him recount his experiences and his passion for the blues with Malcolm Mills in this living room style conversation.
Brought to you by The Last Music Company, an old school haven for fine music in this mad world.
Come visit us at https://www.lastmusic.co.uk to see what we're up to.
Flesh and flesh and bone. We watch the mighty ball. But who will pay the home with host enough to save us all?
SPEAKER_01This is Malcolm Mills with another podcast from The Last Music Company. As we kick off 2025, my guest today is Andy Fairweather Low. Hey! Hey, he's here.
SPEAKER_02He does live, he does exist. He's alive!
SPEAKER_01Well, with uh your new album due out in February, at the same time as an extensive tour gets underway, I wanted to take this opportunity to give our listeners an insight into how the blues has become such a big part of your repertoire these days. And uh, judging by the calibre of those who have called on your skills for touring and recording, your great talent for the blues certainly hasn't gone undetected. Now, I believe that because of your pop history as a solo artist, a lot of blues fans simply aren't aware of what they've been missing. And that's why I wanted to release this album and reveal Andy Fearweather Lowe, who has been the invisible blues man.
SPEAKER_02And I thank you for that, Malcolm, because uh uh this is the only album I've ever been involved with that I've had nothing to do with, not the concept, nothing about it. Everything else, album covers, tracks, lyrics, whatever, titles, name, everything I get involved. But this one was your idea, and I'm very grateful. The moment it was mentioned, and that phrase, the invisible blues man, I went, yeah, that's exactly as I feel. I mean, I I could quote too many occasions where that has fitted me the round peg in the round hole. And now you never know. I think the pop thing does, you know, it is it's it's a bit like Tom Jones with is he gonna play Delhi or is he gonna play It's Not Unusual? Is Chris Rear gonna play Will You Drive Me Home for Christmas? And and yeah, you do, you have to. But you know, you need to be for well, certainly for me, for who I am as as opposed to who I was. Not that I denigrate who I was.
SPEAKER_01Well, I didn't want to dress you up in white bandages and a trouvia and some sunglasses on the front, but uh that's not Mr.
SPEAKER_02Brady.
SPEAKER_01Peter Brady was the invisible man, that was the name of the invisible man. Well, you have definitely been the invisible blues man, and what I'm trying to do here is just pull the sheet off and let everybody get the full benefit of the floor. Oh, thank you, Malcolm. Thank you. So let's start off. Growing up in the late 50s and 60s in Wales, uh it seems like an unlikely place to have been able to hear the kind of soulful music that shaped your musical life. So let's go back over where you what would what put you on the path to the blues. And uh I I'd like to start with radio. Did you get the pirate radio station?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01What was it?
SPEAKER_02Kensham. What's Hatchelor? You know, everybody knows Hatch. Well, certainly would you be in bed with the transistor on late at night just checking out. Actually, in those days, it would have been Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo, those are the things you would have heard over the radio. And early, early Beatles stuff, you know. Used to come home from school, Pop Go The Beatles would be on on the radio. Um, but for me, it was football till about 1964. Everything was football with me. Um after school, all the weekends, uh, and certainly in school when we'd be playing matches either in the evening or on the weekends. And I got persuaded to see The Rolling Stones. Well, to go to a concert, Sapphire Gardens. And did you have any friend all your friends into music as well? Uh yeah, there were two. There was one guy called Philip Harrison who had a future no, he had a he had a Hoffner. I don't know what it was, but he had lots of buttons on it. Uh, and I went to his house one day after school and saw it. Thought no more about it. Um, and then some other kid who was in the class who was heavily in the blues. Um and I and that I didn't get at that at that particular stage I did not get it at all. But I went to the show at Savior Gardens, Mike Sarner, Billy Davis, I think they were top of the bill, Byrne Elliott and the Fenmen were on, uh the Leroy's, Jet Harris. Oh, what a moment, what a moment that was. Because it um Moer suit, blonde, he was blonde then. Uh I've told this story so many times. He walked on stage, I'll never forget it. He walked on stage, guitar in hand, had a fag in his mouth, spat it out, stepped on it, and then dong dong dong dung dun dun. Something happened that night, like a virus. There was no plan. The stones came on, and maybe they were the end of the first half or the beginning of the second. That I don't remember. But I do know that they started off with talking about you. Uh and I love their versions to this day. I love their versions of Berry songs, sometimes a bit more than Berry. But even though Berry was, you know, he cut his own groove and all of that. Um and I've and I know this because Bill Wyman, big coffee book on the Rolling Stones, because he kept everything and he notated everything. And in his book, it's got the set list from February the 28th, 1964, at Savia Gardens. And what did they start with? Talking about you. Yeah. Oh man, great. So that was it. From that moment on, I'd kind of got the bug. Be walking round Cardiff. Uh there was a guitar shop in one of the arcades, and in that window, on Futurama, an ice blue Futurama to pick up with a little gold grill. Um, which I now have, by the way. My my wife sort sourced it out one day, one Christmas for me, um, knowing that I loved it. It's not the same one, but that model, and that was my Christmas. That's my rosebud. That's that guitar is my and I have it in the house, and it's on a stand, but it's part of the furniture. How the hell did we play those things? They were shocking. I couldn't I couldn't play a song with that thing. Maybe I maybe she saw the bad one, but and obviously people did play him, but thank goodness for new guitars now, I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So that was the stone drum about 1964. Yeah. So w what sort of what other kind of music was coming through the airwaves to you?
SPEAKER_02Well, then I then I was I was in school, but in in in truth, I spent more time in Barrett's and Manchester, who had a shop in the Windham Arcade. Edmunds was working in the shop, and I just every weekly moment I could, mid-chal school, go in there and just sit in the shop. Watch these people come in, Chris Sanford and the Coronet, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, whatever, picking up stuff. Um, and then Edmonds left, and then Ray Grand, who was the manager at the time, says, Well, do you want a job? So I took over. Um, and Cardiff was a bay, bay pot, and music was coming in. Uh, the black guys, the the one thing they wanted to do was turn the white kids on to to marijuana, Ganja, then. Uh, and it was discatex, booker trees, seaberg speakers. You know, you see it, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave. Sam and Dave came to Cardiff. Otis Redding came to Cardiff. Well, that stack's vote tour. It did, yes, but Sam and Dave came before with um Lee Dorsey on the bill. In in saw that in the Capitol. Um, but the one in Cardiff, yeah, that was special because it was a top rank.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It wasn't a seated venue. I saw them in Finsbury Park, and that was kind of seated, but man, and I saw Otis in 60, could have been 66, in Bristol at the Colston Hall with a big band that ended up on Ready Steady Go. Um everything really fucked, you know, but oh God, fantastic time. And all of us at the end, I got his autograph as they were coming out at the Colston Hall. Uh, we can't call it the Colston Hall anymore, but I am calling it the Colston Hall. Um, and it just on a small card it said respect from what we spread it. Yeah. Uh I gave it to Laverne. I gave it to a guy in in Cardiff, a singer in Red Beans and Rice. Uh well, he was his own singer at the time. Uh so I gave it to him. But all we wanted to know was Booker T.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, well, no, they weren't none of them were there. Um, so that must have annoyed them slightly. So it was soul music. It came in and clubs wherever you went, the Kennard Rooms, um, bands, the Mayfair in Newport, you get Zoop Money and a big role band, you get Georgie Fame, you get Herbie Goynes, you get Alexis Corner uh and the Night Timers too. Um, Chris Fowlow and the Thunderbirds, Albert Lee. You know, in the Thunderbirds. At that time, he was he was on fives and a league of his own then. And with Zoop Money, uh it was uh uh Andy Summers. Andy Summers, really. Oh god, he was good. Those recordings, that's the good thing for me. Uh Zoot's album from that time, they do the cat, Jimmy Smith, and uh old old Andy Summers, he holds his head up really, you know. He yeah, it was it was a great time for music in lots of clubs, maybe not as many bands able to play them, that's all. That's why I mean corner trick off. Keeping in mind, I picked up the guitar in 1964, not before. Right, that's 1966. I'm in London. We got a residency at four clubs in London: Speakeasy, Blazes, Sabillas, and Tiles. I remember Tiles. Yeah, Tiles. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So um, how did that happen? Exactly. So so from picking up the guitar in 1964, when did you first start singing in a band?
SPEAKER_02Oh I would I would go along to um to a gig. Say it's the Kennard Rooms in Cardiff, which was a gig, and a band called The Sons of Adam would be there, Tommy Riley. They were a great band. Oh, yeah, Watkins talked about it. Yeah, no, they've Watkins was in Red Beans and Rice, too. So uh, and I go, can I get up and sing a song? And and and I'd have a monica, I can't even play the bloody thing. But I'd have it up, and and the my self-belief then was unbelievable. Yeah, I don't have it now. Um I wish I did. Um and I'd get up and then with Edmonds, the pound sticks they were called, uh, before after the Raiders. I saw the Raiders in in the Gourmont.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh sixpence it would cost you to get in on a Saturday.
SPEAKER_01Very reasonable.
SPEAKER_02Uh and well, you what you'd have is they'd be playing music, uh, then you'd have uh the shadows from Bristol, there'd be a live band playing, and then you'd have Geronimo or a film, you know, a cowboy film or whatever, uh, or a film about Hercules, uh, all for six months. And on one of those occasions I was in the Gorman upstairs, and the Raiders are on with Edmonds, with his little burns before he got the old 335. Um, yeah, I can remember it like it was yesterday. Because they the song that he played that I had no idea about, and the old audience was I'm Henry VIII. You know, so I'm there, and they're going, oh man, oh no, no, William Sam, no, Sam, what's going on? The audience participation. So it was it was an exciting time. Um, and generally I would mob in with other people and and just start believing. Because the whole thing is I'm just a guy who sings. There are singers. Yeah. You'll have Stevie Wonder's a singer, Rita Franklin's a singer, Rachel's a singer, Paul Carrick's a singer. I'm a guy who sings. And I did that then. I just got up there and and sort of believed. I mean, like I said, I went up with our Honor again, I can't even play the bloody thing.
SPEAKER_01All right, so you so what's a so what sort of songs were you singing there? Was it all the kind of the Oh yeah, no, it's got Chuck Berry, bit of Chuck Berry, Saul, yeah, can't turn you loose, stormy Monday.
SPEAKER_02That would be a good one with Edmonds after our bottless saturn and and a couple of chokes on the old pot. Um, and we go Abituellery, we go Mountain Ash, you know, we'd be in the back. Uh I'd actually entered a a competition, a pop competition in Bristol, Pop Opportunity Now, with the band I was in, called the Sack Maniacs. We came second in that competition. We came second in all the competitions we went in. Um, and the prize we got for that was a discotron. Transistor radio, you can put a 45 in. And what I would be in that van with Edmunds or even whoever it was, Sunday, I'd be there right up to my ear, playing whatever the single was that I had. When something's wrong with my baby or my lover's prayer or whatever it was, I'd be up there. Um we'd be we'd be living the dream, thinking this and in fact, no, there was no thinking. That's the truth. There wasn't a plan. It was just that's gonna happen. Um and I was told by everybody, don't do it. My both my brothers had apprenticeships, and that was the thing to do. Yeah. And I'm thinking, no, no, we're going. And we went to London. I had to persuade them, by the way.
SPEAKER_01Was that with Edmonds or was that Amy Korner?
SPEAKER_02No, no, this is that's Amy Corner. When the the band of Sekmaniacs broke that up, and then there was a band called the Deckers and a band called Brother John and the Witnesses. The Deckers? Yeah, D D E K K A S. With Neil, my brother-in-law, was in that and Clive. I took those two from that band, and I took Blue Weaver and Dennis from Brother John and the Witnesses. I wasn't very well liked at that time. Um, and formed Amen Corner and uh realised I put a band together with a guitar player and a bass player, um, and there was no reason for me to play guitar, so I thought, well, I'll just sing. And I wouldn't have to worry about breaking a string, and I won't have to tune up, I can just I thought that would be a great idea.
SPEAKER_01That wore very thin. So in 1966, that's the band that came up to London. Yeah. And you didn't have a record contract around about you were just doing the residences and gigs in town.
SPEAKER_02But we'd come up, um, we did a gig in Bournemouth at the pavilion, and a band called the Lonely Ones were on that gig. Uh and we were playing Soul Numbers. If it was out, if it was on the Stax label, or the Atlantic label rather, not then, um, we were doing it if it was Jimmy Reed, because they're simple songs, you can play them. You know, it's like the tip of the iceberg. You're not, you know, you don't take the solos, but you you play the songs. And they recommended us to Ron King in Galaxy Entertainments. Um, and then we would then through Johnny Blaine, 24th Tresilian Terrace. He was our agent. Um, he got us a gig uh in Reading, and then on the the next gig was Ron King's gig at Romford. Now Ron was famous, there were letters in the back of the middle making nearly every week about Ron. Because Ron had maybe three dance halls Bollingwood, Finchley, and Romford. And he auditioned bands, but he'd charge people to come in. So it's like money for you don't even you don't even pay for the band. And we passed the audition, obviously. So he then um was on the phone saying, Right, come up to London, got you enough, you know, amazing amount of gigs. Um and we went, all right, then yeah. So seven of us in a room at the Madison Hotel, Sussex Gardens, in the basement. That was us. Then residency at the Speakees on a Wednesday, tiles, uh, blazes, Sibylla's. I mean, and anywhere else you went, there were a couple of all-nighters. They were hot clubs, the Speakeys and Blaze. Tiles was more of a disco, wasn't it? But I mean it was uh No, actually, no, it was a it was a place where great food and you go down, and it was full of famous people. Uh the door to get in was a coffin. Alfie O'Leary was on the door. Alfie used to work with with Eric, um, and Laurie was a friend of the craze. Um we kind of, yeah, no, we got on well there. Um, and you arrive at 12 o'clock, well, you play at 12 o'clock, and you play half an hour spot. So, right, Laurie go, right, boy, and you're in, you're not in the dressing room, you're in the cloakroom, which is about four feet wide. Just standing there, right? Half an hour, boys, you know. And I remember the one night he told us to turn up, you know, we weren't loud enough because you're trying to be polite. And they're all in there, McCartney's in there, Roger McGuinn's in there, and then uh the one night, again, I've told the story many times, Hendrix was there, and he said um, because you know, he likes he's a soul man. Where's this the speaker? Yeah, can I get up and play? So he took Clive's bass, flipped it upside down, and we did I Count Indians. And that went on, you know, and that was fine, and then maybe um a couple of months later he's down there again. Um can I get up? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's 2 30 in the morning or whatever. Yeah, yeah, okay. He got up with a lot of people, I might add, but he decided to play the guitar, so we got Neil's guitar there, and uh, and I again this decided I was gonna play bass because I knew Clive was not gonna. So it's Dennis drums, me on bass, Jimmy on guitar, and he starts, and I'm there. Keeping in mind we'd seen him at Diablo because we opened up for 19 dates on that tour or whatever it was, and wow, I haven't got a clue, what's going on? So I start thinking, well, I better move around a bit. So I move around a bit. And he did sidle over at some point and and and make it very clear to me that I was in the wrong key. But I'm going, I didn't have the art to tell him, I've got a clue what key you're in. I don't know what you're doing. I mean, up until then it was it was Hank. We'd me phone, then it was Hank, and then uh Steve Cropper, big fan of Steve Cropper. Um and that was it, and then and and and Eric and maybe Peter Green, but not this thing, this beast that I used to watch every night. Two shows a night, except for the Alba Hall. Um and certainly by the end of the night, because Hendrix would be on last. Sometimes Wild Thing was very wild, and that guitar could not cope. Yeah, was not built scientifically to cope with what he was doing with it. Let me just stop you there, Andy, and say, Oh, that tour you're talking about, who was on that uh big tour? Right, right. So you're the outer limits, yes, they'd come on and play one number.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, the nice, Floyd, the move, Jimi Hendrix, and Amy Corner. And on the first night at the Albert Hall, guess it went on before Hendrix. It didn't last for long. Yeah, no, we were the act that went on before Jimi Hendrix. They've had the Pink Floyd in there. They've had the nice. Oh, the dagger, you know, and the move. Oh man, they were so exciting. Um, Air Apparent, too. Eventually, Air Apparent got moved up to opening up before Jimmy because Chaz Chandler was Jimmy's man and Air Apparent. So that's where I met Henry for the first time, Harry McCullough, uh, and Ernie. Uh so it was very exciting, twice a night, uh and I all traveling in the same bus. Ah, yeah, well done. Good, good spot that. In that, yes, except the Floyd. The Floyd didn't. I'm not even sure that the Pink Floyd actually travelled together. Certainly Sid didn't, uh, and I'm not sure about the others, but and Hendrix, no matter what happened, he would go on. If we were in Nottingham and then we were playing Sheffield from that gig, he'd go to Sheffield after the gig. But everybody else was on a chatterback, and it was a you know, it was a it was a hell of a vibe. Um I'm not sure. Uh the one thing I do remember, only because Kathy Etchinham, Jimmy's girlfriend, um at the time, she was asked in an article, you know what did Jimmy think about what was going on on that tour, what about the music, uh, you know, about the other bands. And he went, she said, Well, no, he didn't he didn't really say much, but he did think the name and corner were alright. Now that I'm serious, that's yeah, good. Um once Donald Speaker, he said, and I'm saying this, be and I'm not making it up. But at the table is him and there's Roger, Roger McGuinn and myself, you know, in the club. Uh and he just mentioned that he liked my voice. You know, it's like I don't make it up. Like, oh really? Because he didn't like his. You know, it was an issue for him, his voice. Um, not for me. I mean, I'm you know, that's where character comes from. But so that was a compliment, so and I've kept that hidden for a while, but no, I'm out with it now. Right, yeah. Yeah, so at this stage you still didn't have the record deal, right? No, '66, we were playing, we had all these gigs, and then we had one gig in '67, uh, the Stratham Locarno.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And Ron King.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And Ron King is trying to uh get us a deal. So is that away with Decker? Uh yeah, they're coming down tonight, boys, all right? Again, I've told the story many times. We're coming down tonight, boys. Yeah, the record company, they're coming tonight, great. So we've done the gig and back. Did he come? Yeah, yeah, he comes once again in the studio on uh Monday morning. Great, where are we? Um I think it's Advision or somewhere before, been out before. Alright, let's get in there. We arrived, we've all set up before the producer comes, No Walker, his name was. Um and he he looks at us and he and he goes. Where's your trombone player? And of course he's gone, we don't have a trombone player. He said, Yes, we do. I saw you at Sletham Lakano. He saw Trendsetters Unlimited. Didn't see us at all. So he said, Well, while you're here, you're all set up, play something. And we played Ginho's. And the reason we played Ginho's was because all those bands that would come to Cardiff that I'd mentioned, Zoop Money, his bass player Paul Williams, that was his song in the set. No, it was more like Nina Simone's own. And the reason we we didn't do that tempo was that Kenny O'Jound, we never couldn't quite match that kind of speed at that time. So bong, dang, ding, something became a slow number. And we did it, and that was it. That's that's Jenos. Yeah. How unbelievable the way that circle has turned now. And I love the version on the that's on the album. Um because we did it a proper at your your your studio there, and uh and I just had Dennis Cornell build me uh uh an amp head that's similar to a Vibra King um and four tens, and I plugged it in, and that guitar sound is just it from there, and you go, it's never been that good again, I know that.
SPEAKER_01But you get to. I'll tell you what, anybody who's got any doubts at all about your credentials as a blues guitarist, check out that solo because it is a monster. I remember sitting in there with bass man when it was all done, just my eyes goggling, and it was fantastic.
SPEAKER_02It's funny, I was with Eric once and and it was being played. And uh Wonderful said, Was that you? I said, Yeah, it was. Yeah, we got great sound, and it was a great, yeah, and that life is full of good memories, and that was that was a really good memory, and now the fact that you injected new life into this project, um, yeah, I'm I'm going with it.
SPEAKER_01Great, okay. Well, obviously, I you know I I it seems a bit of a shame to flip through Amen Corner as we're talking about it, but I think I'm the purpose of what we're doing here is to talk about the blues influences in your life and how we got to here. So um I'll leave that for other people to discuss with you in time. But you obviously had a very successful spell as a solo artist, and uh, since those days you've worked with many other very well-known artists who have asked you to play with them, and um that's occupied many years of your professional life. So that's undoubtedly because your own singing and guitar playering exactly what they want on their own project. So, how did that evolve? Right, so uh who was the first one that you really fell in with you know doing okay, so you've got to get me to the end of my solo period with AM.
SPEAKER_02So it's 1978, I've done Bebop and Holla. Uh, AM have also signed the Sex Pistols. Uh, also the musical world is changing. Um and it's time for a clear out of people like me. So I'm cleared out. Um they would and the whole industry in itself because there was so much waste. Um, and when you think of the pie, right? The record pie, the amount of money. My little slice of that pie wasn't even the width of a finger. Um but they did spend the money. I did get hoardings over you, and I did, you know, I'd get all the promotion I ever wanted. But um there there was a comment once about the state of the industry industry at that time saying you can actually go into a record company office, fire a shotgun, and you'd be very lucky if you hit anybody. Um because it was time to cut back. Punk had come along as well, it was time to to to declutter the artists. Whereas in the days in the beginning, I like him, I want to go with him. Do you? Yeah, I think we should go with him. Well, that's that went. It was committee. Everyone round on a Tuesday, certainly in Warner Brothers, when I got a deal with Warner Brothers, a seven-album deal, I might add, which went out the window after the first album. But um, and I and I signed it in America too, and I got all the money and everything, and um, and then it was there's just a meeting on the Tuesday with the art director, with the promoter people, the producers, or whatever. And if one person is not keen, you're gone. And that could be you could be any big name, it didn't matter. It just mattered I wasn't a big name, and I did go. Um, and so things had changed. Old business had changed. Uh, punk saw the end of me, couldn't get a job anywhere. I remember going around, speaking to people, saying, Help me in to get me into to speak to someone in record company, say, Well, I'll do, you know, I'll do whatever you name a song and I'll sing it, we'll record it. I'm glad they never took me up on it. Um and then my good friend, I'm staying with Glenn Johns, and that in in life, doesn't matter how good you are, uh, certainly as a musician or a singer or whatever, there are so many other elements you need. You need to be in the right place at the right time. Um know the right people and have a lot of luck. Well, I was with Glenn Johns, and uh I'm at I'm got a pool, I'm by the pool, and the phone call comes in from Ronnie Lane saying, Hey Glenn, can you help us out? We need to raise some money for these hyperbarrack units. Um do we do some concerts? Any chance? And literally Glenn went, You do be involved down. I said, Yeah, of course we will. Doing nothing I can't get any work anywhere. Um, next phone call is out. Next phone call is Jimmy Page, next phone call is Jeff Beck. So the arms store is put together. I'm on that. We do the English leg, we do the American leg. Um and from that, because Bill Wyman was on there as well.
SPEAKER_01I should just stop you there and say for anybody who doesn't know what the arms is, that was to do with multiple sclerosis.
SPEAKER_02Action research and the multiple sclerosis for these hyperparic units, which definitely would help people that had multiple sclerosis. Um so we did that tour, raised the money for that, and then Bill did the Willie and the Poor Boys album, which was the beginning of my time for for being with Bill for 24 years, either with Willie and the Poor Boys or the Rhythm Kings. But from that tour, Aidy Cook was the lady handling the American side, she was English, but handling the kind of publicity side. And uh and I'd I'd done my bit, got on really well with everyone on the tour. Uh, Bill Graham was very, very complimentary about me. Um I get back, and Roger Waters um has been doing his pros and cons of hitchhiking tour with Eric on guitar and Andy Newmar, Mill Collins, a lot of people, Michael Kamen. But Eric's going and he's about to do a European and American tour. No, an American tour. And uh he's looking for someone, and A.D. Cook said you should check Andy Fair with a lawyer. So I get a phone call from Roger. No idea. Because my time with the Floyd was only from 67. I didn't follow the music. I was busy doing my solo stuff when they were doing their big stuff. I was wrapped up with me. Um and they were they sort of they went on the anonymous thing, you know. We just well no, we don't want that, we just we're making the music. Roger, Roger Walters, yeah, um, would you come up? I don't know, yeah. Yeah, um, just to see whether we get on. I whether I could play or anything, see if we get on. And I went, yeah, all right, I will do. And I did go up, and we we obviously we rigged over that whole 67th tour, which things weren't too hunky-dory then. And we yeah, we got to this day we get on really well. And for my 20-something four years working with him, um I got treated unbelievably well. Level of respect, companionship, good friendship, lots of laughs. I know people are not gonna believe that, but I'm telling you. And if it wasn't that way, I wouldn't have I wouldn't have stayed. Um you know, I'm I'm there for that long because it was completely right. But also, it wasn't just the arms tour. If there was a charity gig, I was around because I couldn't get any work. So I've done the lung foundation at the Natural History Museum and Chris Rea's on the bell. I end up doing Road to Hell. I do the war with Roger Waters, Van Morrison's on, so I do Van Morrison's tour. Because I was out of work and struggling with a career, I ended up through being in these places, meeting up with people, and most important of all, I had Clint Johns as a friend. And if the list of people, Crosby, Linda Ronsnard, Stevie Nix, uh Joe Satriani, you name it, they all came, and and Eric as well, they all came through that connection. It's also because you're very good at what you do, and lest we forget. Um I I am I am good. I've been I'm I'm you know, it's like I said, guitar player, I'm I class myself as good because I've been doing it for nearly 60 years. So I I am good. It's just I've seen great. I've witnessed it, and I know I'm not that, but I'm I'm very happy to have paid my bills, you know, with what with what I've got. And in the world now, certainly as guitar players, the standard is unbelievable. Um but a gig like I would do with different people, it's not just about the playing. The real gig is on the bus in the hotel or three months in somebody's company, and I'm not and you for you to be self-contained. That they're not worried about you, you do your job, that's fine. And I had the right attitude for me in that I wanted to work for someone, like I'd want someone to work for me, and that's all I ever did was apply that uh ethic to that kind of work. And I happen to be around at a time when a guitar player of my limited ability could fit in. It's it's like in a in a football. I've always said, I well, I used to be a goalkeeper, by the way, but and that's what I am in in a band. Every band you can't have two league, it's not gonna work, you know. So you need somebody to do the other part, and I was the one that could do the other part, but couldn't do the big part. But and I love doing the other part.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02That was me. I was the iceberg then, I was complete. If you took me over, even quite recently, 2004 May, we opened up for Eric Clapton on his UK tour. Uh, and he gets to the Albert Hall, and we're doing a couple of that, and it's always, you're gonna get up at the end, Andy. And I go, Oh no, and and I would say no, because I don't have that facility. Um I'm not gonna stand next to Eric Clapton and go, go on, Andy. Show us what you got. Uh now if it's Derek Trucks or uh even if it's Doyle or if it's Albert Lee, it's gonna work, but it's not gonna work for me because I like to know what I'm gonna do. Um and my facility of playing for all those 24 years was to know exactly what I was gonna play. Um, you know, my wheels, I I didn't take solos from 2007 when we went back on the road. That's when I started playing solos, and that's when the machinery and the cogs start, because that's what you do. Well, up until then I didn't. So where when did you actually start in Eric Clapton's band then? Uh well, first of all, we we definitely hooked up on the arms tour, but before then, because Glenn was producing Slow Hand and Backless, and on both occasions, I'm staying with Glenn. So I'm in a studio. I'm still when they're doing cocaine and all of that. Um I'm there just enjoying the vibe. They're doing backless, and I'm there. So we kind of knew each other. And at one point, my my world, certainly with AM, is all falling apart. Um everything's going wrong, punks come along, music is changing, and I'm having a bit of a dumb time, and Glenn persuaded Eric to send me a telegram. You know, you know, keep up the good work, blah blah. Um, is that realised? And I did meet him once coming out of a club. I'm going down and he's coming up. And hey, did you did you really send me a telegram? He said you he did, because he loved spider diving, which is why he played it at the um Crossroads Festival in 2013. He said, play spider drive. All right, yeah, yeah, well. So that was we met up at arms, and then Gary Brooker, I'm with Gary every for 20 years I'm playing at Duncefall Village Hall or Tridingfold, and then the Club Riga, and then not every time, but Eric would turn up loads of times and and and jam, and then we do the new year with Eric too, with Gary. So there's that connection going on, and I get a phone call from Roger Forrester. Um, you know, Eric, I know I know you I know he's Eric's manager, uh, blah blah blah. George Harrison tour Japan. That's when it all kicks off. 1990, 91. Um I think it was 90, end of 90. Um, George wants you to, you know, to join the band, to come out, be in a minor it's Eric's band. Uh back in George on a tour of Japan. Uh but George is likely to do all the slide parts, and I've gone big moment in my life. I knew I'm I knew what I was when I took, I went to the kitchen and I'm I'm going around with the chicken with no air, just going, what am I gonna do? I've been offered this gig with George Harrison and it's with Eric Clapton's band to play slide guitar, and I don't play slide guitar. I still don't to this day. Uh big Rikuda fan, I've met George, a couple of Rikuda concerts. Um and I thought, what am I gonna do? I'll go I'm gonna have to own up. Right, Raj, can you get me George's number? I'd like to speak to him. I should at least have a conversation. And I did, I spoke to him, got got through. Hello, I can't do his accent. Um and his very words were, Well, I've never heard you play, but everybody seems to like you. Why didn't you come up? And I did, and we didn't just get on, that's another one. We really, we really got on. And then he thought, well, let's play something. So um played Gimme Love after Living in the Material World. I knew that album inside out. My bass playing was based basically on the style of Klaus on that album, too. It's very melodic and flowing. It's my assessment, not other people's. And um I said, right, let's do that. So I could do it. I sang the harmony, I knew it, and I could sing the slide part. Little did I know. I was gonna have to bloody play it. Keeping in mind that George is a slide player. And even when we got to um My Sweet Lord, it he got me to play the slide, and I said, George, I'm the rhythm player. Um, you're the slide player. Not only that, once you've done that, you concentrate on the vocals. No. So I I did. I could never rest until that one was out of the way. You know, it's one of those songs that you can't mess around with with it. Everyone knows what it sounds like, and you better make sure. It's a bit like Layla or a bit of Tears in Heaven, or whatever they are, you better make sure you sound like it. Um so and What is Life? That was another one. There were always intros that I was always having to work on. So we did that tour, and it was it was fabulous. It was being on with the Beatles in Japan. He'd not been there since maybe could have been 67, might have been 64, but it was Mayhem, 50,000 on that first night told you dumb, Georgie, Georgie, Etika, Etika, and we're doing something, and we're doing piggies, and we're doing Cloud Nine, and we're you know, we're doing Gimme Love and all of that. And he was such great company, very funny. Open house after the gig, very, very generous. Um, loved the ukulele, and so did I. In fact, he introduced me to the because he almost travelled with two ukuleles. Come on, Andy. What'd you do, George? How do you play this thing? And then he showed me, and then we'd do a couple of Everly Brothers songs on a truck berry after the gig. That'd be fabulous. Then we came back to um uh to the UK, but while we were rehearsing on the very second well, first or second day, we're gonna go for lunch. And as we're going out, Eric came up to me and he said, Um, would you uh would you join us at the Albert Al in January, would you? And I well yeah. Are you sure? Yeah, need a handshake, she's gonna tell the wife when I tell the wife, that's it. It's gonna be written in stone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we will. Alright, great. That was that was the beginning.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02Um and it was it was magical. We we did unplugged a couple of weeks in Bray playing a fabulous acoustic instrument, none of which were mine. Oh, but I did buy one in the end, but that's another story. Um and just not having to worry about an amplifier and tone, yeah, just play with the band and and play. Uh and I loved his choice of songs. Um, everything on that that unplugged album, yeah, they were his ideas. I only ever worked on one song, and that was the Robert Johnson Malted Milk. Everything else was was him. And I love his voice. We would play Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, and then you know, we do it a couple of times. And I'd actually go, Can we do it again? And he'd go, Andy wants us to do it again. I said, Yeah, I do. It's really, you know, it's fabulous. It's it's like therapy, it's beautiful. Um, and I've always thought that about the way he sings. Um, so that was the initial stage, and that went on for 12 to 13 years. Great. And uh every sound check, every album, every deep, whatever we were involved with. Um I learned I learned not by asking questions, but by looking and paying attention. Because he has an unbelievably wide scope taste in music. Bing Crosby. I mean, it might Jack Johnson, whatever he was, and no, I knew he was a boxer, but he was also a singer. Um it goes back, um it was endless, his taste in music. Um so I learned from that, and I learned how to play certain, and all the people I've worked with, certainly on the guitar level, each guitarist has a little particular trick that's about them. Pete's got one, Eric's got one. Um, certainly, and you go back to Lightning and all of those, but they all had a little trick. Uh and I learned, and I had to learn people's catalogue too. So as a songwriter, um Pete Seeger said that plagiarism is basic to Welsh Western culture. That was his big quote one time at a concert, and he went, Yeah, he's right. You know, we're all listening, we're all taking it in, and it and the the great way of getting it out is is that if you don't remember where it came from, because if you do that as a writer, you bug it. So yeah, of course, that's a dude, isn't it? All right, I'll start again. But if you can't, then then you've got the creative side. So I've learned from having to learn all their songs, and when I turned uh toward with Van, I learned a lot of his catalogue. I I doubt if I could play two songs now by him. But that's another story. Um and certainly we're peak too, and and and Eric, you learn the catalogue of their songs and how they write, and then bit by bit, sitting at home, um you've kind of introduced them into your own.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I read in an interview once that you really you really started listening to people like Blind Blake and Mississippi John Hurt. Is that because of uh your involvement with Clapton's band?
SPEAKER_02No, I I started with Mississippi John Hurt maybe in the 70s when uh when I was on AM. And I got a big shout out to Stefan Grossman. Um so important um with his books and cassettes that I would get. Um and I just love Mississippi, it's his his voice is is so beautiful, his style of playing. Uh yeah, I'm still working on that. Uh but but it is it it's it's fairly glorious, and it's typically he does stuff too. He's got more than a few tricks. Um lightning, but blind Blake, I'm still working on Blind Blake, but there it with Blind Blake, I play Southern Rag, and I'm I must only play at least a couple of times a week playing it, and it's it's getting better. Um, and there are other people that can do it better, but Blind Blake's in a in in a team with which you could put Lonnie Johnson to as virtuosos. Gary, Reverend Gary Davis, it's like and and try and explain uh and uh Joseph Spence who's who's got a he's invented a thing, it's like James Brown invented that soul, Marvin Gay invented that. Joseph Spence invented this thing too. But Gary Davis, because it's the 12-string, and it's slightly you know out of tune a bit. Uh I try and persuade people, some people, other guitar players, give me this out of tune, you're going, no, you're missing. He's up he's up, but I couldn't. Uh I spoke to Ralph Mattel about it, and Ralph, Ralph does a good got a bite on him. Uh I I can't get close. I I'm I'm working on the blind Blake. That's that's that's part of me, but Reverend Gary Davis is a it's another league all the game. Where did these guys get it from?
SPEAKER_01You know, it's just incredible that they had no terms of reference for it, did they? Just here we go, I'm gonna do this sitting on this.
SPEAKER_02That's what gets me, is that's fine. But I mean, lightning. He's got a couple of fabulous tricks. Um fabulous video from him in Austin, Texas. Uh, and he's very unhappy with the pace player. I think he's very unhappy with his wildbow pedal, too. goes crazy. Um they're not playing in the style of this this is lightning. This is where'd you get that from? Where did I can see with with Blind Blake in that that it's piano.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know he's he's he's a stride piano player on the guitar. But the level of that skill and that's 1928 or something maybe. It's to me all about Lonnie Johnson with 12 string virtue also I think he was then um I he became a fabulous well he was a fabulous singer and then he played more straightforward stuff. But how? Yeah well but there's no no internet there's no there's no record players that you can talk about it's mind you no distractions either.
SPEAKER_01No well I had a story to tell in that format it's all they knew and they had one guitar and they just they did it I mean no tuners.
SPEAKER_02Oh the hell I mean I'm d I'm I'm listening to blind bacon I'm going I can remember getting no if I get a guitar out I work with Bernie Leadden a lot of times and I'm I'm looking at my tuner thing but I'm playing with him and I'm going and he's going yeah that's a little and I said but it's saying it's saying it's in tune he said use your ear yeah you know oh all right and I did in his company but I find that really hard and and I listen to them and they're all perfectly in tune there was a level of playing whether it was certainly in the blues idiom you certainly with lightning and um and and blind blake but you also had Doc and Mill Watson and he uh then you had um Joe Mappis and then you had Mel Travis and it's like and chet it's what's going on thankfully that wasn't the yard that that wasn't the moment right you want to play guitar? Right there's your exam yeah oh it's but like bassie I'm jumping at the woodside on the way up now and you're going wow yeah man and they had to put up with well you know talk about having one chip on your shoulder they they had two and deservedly so um but that's that's rock and roll that's that I'd imagine going out for a night like that and that bad lucky you heard Jimmy Reed before any of that yeah and there's another thing put you off forever wouldn't it well it would and the thing about Jimmy Jimmy was a big key a big key and a door you can open it and you could go oh I can do that I can do this one too I can do that one. All about yeah and I still actually Bob Dylan did um uh on uh Rough and Rowdy Ways he did uh Goodbye Jimmy Reed yeah my god that's a great bloody sus on that particular thing the band are playing great I'm I'm I'm a big Bob Dylan fan anyway even just got uh jimmy vaunted to get up and play with him in Austin take it did he did it he did a blue set and he got Jimmy up there see because Bob likes a guitar player yeah he and he likes a guitar player of a certain kind um and and Jimmy yeah it was a blessing to all of us as was Chuck Berry uh and Bo Diddley you know we'll uh to have been around at that time where you could get that influence um and then you could play in a band I couldn't see myself now did you have those Chuck and Bo EPs that came out fantastic weren't they I remember Party International but but but Memphis Memphis just it just got to me and I'm I couldn't figure it out. I memphis on the record player now so I'm going what's going on that's that's unbelievable and lyrically it's a bit like Hank Williams too that you you you write a song and I'm having a conversation with him and he's and the way he's painted the picture the way he would be you know um no particular but whatever they are he was a fabulous lyricist but I'm very glad we never met him but you know what I mean that it there seems to be a side and again I think a lot of the black people have a right to their attitude and whatever goes on because but it's driven me crazy.
SPEAKER_01It's quite interesting because you know bringing the the conversation back round to Great Britain and the and the blues and things yeah Chris Barber if it hadn't been for Chris Barber arguably there wouldn't have been a Rolling Stones there wouldn't have been a dot dot dot dot dot dot dot because he brought over Sister Rosetta thought Louis Jordan yeah Louis Jordan endless bunch of people who couldn't get work over here if they tried and uh he's a remarkable man and I know you had a great time playing with him so tell us a bit about your time there Chris what an honour yeah I'm serious um what an honour um racing driver by the way Chris went to his house once it was in Wilkshire not far from here um two laws he had in the in the garage with the old running board um a talk of and bass player bass player trombone player uh Lonnie was his banjo player I remember once I said Chris's friend Lonnie and he said it wasn't actually my friend let's get that straight but uh because that's my part we did a concert uh Wintershore Gary Booker put this big concert on Bandulac by the lake lots of guests Eric and in fact Eric was all the always there with Gary um Mike Weatherford Phil Collins Stevie Winwood whoever and on this particular occasion Chris was on and I knew about Chris and I I knew about the connection because um also PA company was most probably his PA company that he was involved with at the Red In Jazz Festival in 1966.
SPEAKER_02He was indeed yeah so Harold Pendleton and uh the Marquee Club all right so this this is Chris uh and he's gone up and played because I'm doing um Will a circle be unbroken oh yeah I couldn't get up and play yeah so I'm playing that acoustically pretending my childlike Mississippi John and from that there came a conversation afterwards uh would you come and play with a band? It's 10-piece band. Yeah no that was great right so so I did and we we would go off and for the first half he'd start off doing some Ellington numbers and the one in particular that I really loved was Jubilee Stock. Oh I know because it's the blend and Webster years but it's banjo too it's strong banjo and I'd listen and I'd listen to Petite Fleur and uh Black Eyed Peas and Masses and uh and then I'd go on and I'd do Precious Lord and I I did Jinos with him as well a couple of gospel numbers and I'd sing or Wells at the end you know do all of that and I was completely in awe in the so there's there's ten of them a bit of a sound check all head arrangers wouldn't it not a piece of paper not a chart not a chart not in a chart and some of the solos for note too Ellington solos from the band nothing be going on and you'd hear this his heel would hit the floor and they're off man I loved I love listening to the band I love being in the band it was great to have a conversation with wasn't he oh well put it this way put it this way not before a key because if if he got you in the headlights that was it enthusiasm and they would stick behind sign everything. Yeah yeah till the thing it was a business and he drove everywhere. He did he drove we went to um Utrecht and that was one of the last shows I did with him I flew over there and we did fabulous concert in um um this fabulous theatre and he they were naming a a street after him in Utrecht I mean it's it's a bit like when I was coming through Marlborough and the hairdressers the Chris Balba show I mean that's uh that's on a small level but it's still fabulous. He was I remember speaking um to a few people about him and uh trying to explain that as you did then the weight of what this man did to get those people over um his backing with muddy too oh man and Sunny Terry and I got I was doing when things go wrong and the reason I sparked on that one because he does it with uh Ottily I loved Ottilie too that was a sad tale.
SPEAKER_01Joe I saw um I went to see him at the Hundra Club in the very early 70s just after the British blues boom had sort of spawned all those other kind of electric bands and there he was at the Hundra Club with his jazz and what the Christian barber jazz and blues John Slaughter on guitar. And they played the blues with a whole horn section and stuff in a way that I'd never seen I'm still playing numbers that he was playing then in the 50s.
SPEAKER_02Still doing I Shall Not Be Move Inside Out and Lonnie Johnson stuff um and precious stuff that he was doing then that was completely over my head you know if you look at my catalogue they crop up when things go wrong whatever they are they're all part of what he was doing then uh and what I loved about being the band was I was the loudest one in the band.
SPEAKER_01They're all acoustic we would play we we played some post school really big I mean seriously post school with a great big kind of uh gym arena you know they're setting up even in a crap all like that they sounded fabulous sometimes I'd play electric not always um uh and I remember on one song I started doing like an upstroke did did oh god no he didn't want that and I thought I thought it was kind of bluesy but he went no no no none of that it's a bit like yeah and once I worked with with Chris Rear on the road to Heltor um no before that I was going to do one gig with him in Italy and I turned up for the rehearsal and I I kind of went off for a solo and my first instinct was to go zoom to the old seventh and he went no seventh and I thought I don't know what to do I don't know I don't know what to do and this this was early days I'm I'm better than I was then well that's fantastic well I mean just we we need to sort of wrap this up pretty soon unfortunately but with with so many songs that people expect you to play at your live shows now bearing in mind your your hit career with Amy Corn on your own plus the stuff that you've introduced over the years since you've been back on the road again in your own right for the last 15 years or so how do you manage to fit in all these other blues things into that sort of set list?
SPEAKER_02Do you change it up every night or do you just want to stick with no we'll we'll stick with the seat once we've got the set sorted we'll stick with it. But it's not the good thing about my past was Amy Connell's three years. I could pick a couple from there. Yeah and I do I picked um I picked Ginos and I picked Half as nice we have done HoloSusie and we've done uh High in the Sky High in the Sky is a good record yeah yeah and it's a band playing too you know we played actually I didn't but but they did you know it's a good record um so they're in and I slot them in and I usually keep Ginos to the second half and I'll leave half as nice to the end because you know well not only that it's the only time the bloody phones come out you know I've been out there giving it giving it me all on on TV mama you know for my Joe Turner bit and it's nothing. You get up with half as nice and um so we smatter it in but I've got a load of new instrumentals that I'm gonna be doing too um wham let there be drums and new arts I'm gonna because I can stick we did Pete Petite Fleur because of Nick we've done Stranger on the Shore I do Skiffle you know with with Lonnie we'll do a bit of rockabilly do a bit of rock and roll um it's great that I can do and that was the release for me from all of those years of playing other people's songs and being very well paid I might add and travelling well and eating well and being treated well but not being able to play whatever I wanted to play well and to do that I had to give it all up and I did I left Eric and I left um Roger 2004 for Eric and 2007 Dark Side of the Moon was the last tour I did with Roger and 2004 with Eric because I wanted to play yeah I wanted to be a guitar player and I realized I was 65 at the time and I thought the only way I'm gonna be guitar player if I start playing guitar. For all those gigs where people go and oh yeah saw him with Roger Waters Eric Clapton they don't buy my record you know the Roger I remember Sweet Soulful I know we remember when we did that yeah so and he said look and I said no I can't do it I've got an album coming out I want to say well look I'll tell you what come on the tour and we'll sell it for you on the tour. No exactly it's a disaster they tried Mr. Mark Rogers manager he tried so hard and what I do is before a gig I go out front to have a look at the old merchandise see what's going on and I'm I'm like an ashtray in the corner there and even if they did buy it they sold it on because it's not if you're going to see Roger Waters you want Roger Waters and a Pink Floyd and if it's Eric I I have picked up a small amount of fans from Eric you know that I'm real good friendly diehard fans that are fair with a low fans too but nothing when you consider the millions of people I play to you'd think well one little percentage of them we've got to hit album no no we you've got to make your own way and the only way I was going to do that was if I did stop doing that and play and thankfully the band I love the band got a great band Paul Beavis Rich Milner now on organ uh Nick Pentlow and Pete Cook and Ian Jennings on bass and uh and the deal is I'm Georgie Fame and the blue fame and now I'm finally that circle in so many ways whether it's Jinhouse um to now it's the bands that I went to see that setup was you know that's what I loved and now yeah now I'm getting to play and we luckily because we don't play arenas don't get me wrong you want to play arenas because it's where you want to go and it's money but musically no it's a bloody nightmare. Get there for the soundtrack you know but it's what it is you know the people that's what they accept well not that but later on it's kind of warms up and it's it's a bit of a show and it's those events are about people's lives and their history with whoever that person is on stage. And I'm just so that you play if he's playing sheriff yeah you get in sheriff but usually they're on a lot of them are on the iPad you know but back to the stage from he's playing sheriff you know um so there's that link but I get to play in places where the dynamic is fabulous. So your UK tour starts in February same time as the album The Invisible Blues man game yeah it's the whole of the whole of February March in the UK and then you're going out with Eric Clapton again we're gonna yeah he um gosh it's his it's kind of lovely and uh yeah yeah we got offered to open up again so we're doing that for for his gigs in May in the UK there's not that many and then we're gonna do Italy and France too which I didn't do last time because we finished at the Albert All and the next day was going to be in Paris on 76 well 75 then I was thinking you mean I've got to finish there get in the bus get in the channel drive all the way to Paris wait at the gig to do the 30 40 minute slot nah nah I'm too old for that but this one we're getting a bus.
SPEAKER_01We're getting a bus and there's a day off so you know so I can enjoy myself at the last night of the Alpha get in the bus and gently make our way to Italy I think is the first gig and then so later on in the year John Taylor your manager was telling me that you're already penciling in dates for September, October. That's usually because of public demand I gather you know 95% sold out of these dates already.
SPEAKER_02Yeah we are but it's been a while yeah well it's been it's been a while and we are we are where we are you know we yeah we can slot those two and we can slot those two at the front and the back. What we can't do is fill the year up. Yeah yeah um that kind of commitment we we need a not a a larger level of success to keep everyone happy yeah because our band is a is a cooperative and it yeah well on a good day we all get a good payday on a bad day you've got to bite your lip and get on with it. Well you can't afford to take a day off can you that's true when you're on the road bites into the hotel it's a funny thing you you know there is a game seven in a room never no never again that was that was interesting that's when you start to eat the colour of people's socks simple as that bloody red socks um how long are you gonna be in front of that mirror stuff like that um so we're yeah we're we're we're gonna we're gonna enjoy it uh it's it's it's two months and then gap um yeah we'd like to fill a bit in the middle but at some point great well andy it's been an absolute delight sitting here listening to you talking about all that stuff for the benefit of people out there who have never heard it all joined up like this before so uh congratulations for spending the time doing that no my my thanks goes completely to you in that uh I'm I'm enjoying this uh invisible blues man thing it's um yeah it's it's interesting because it's exactly as I feel in one little short story about in the beginning with Eric we're playing Seattle and it it's a great gig a great gig and Steve Ferroni's got his guests there and we're in the bar afterwards I'm having a drink afterwards sitting down with Steve and his his guests you know oh fabulous gig it was oh seat right down the front absolutely unbelievable and they looked at me and said and what do you do? And I went yeah yeah I said I'll tell you what I'm I'm I'm going off I'm going to bed and one other short one about playing with the big town playboys because I did maybe eight ten months with the playboys where I learned so much with Sanchez just a dream no matter what state I was in ill or whatever the moment he started I'm off you know you so we're playing the Reynolds club and and we've done the gig it's been a really good gig and I'm in the in the toilet and I'm washing my hands and one of their big all-time fans has popped his head in to go fabulous gig how am I going to tell him I like Andy Fever the Lowe and he goes yeah I get it I get it that that's so and it's not like I'm yeah I'm I'm grateful for it but Jules Holland when we did New Year's Eve what did they write in the Radio Times or whatever it is Andy Fever the Lowe lead singer with Amy Corner and we're going I'm 70 God's sake I play guitar and it's yeah and lead singer with Amy Corner.
SPEAKER_01Well there you go how about so the next time we do anything you'll no longer be the invisible blues man no you will be the very visible blues man that everybody finally gets to dig and uh you know you already get plenty of coverage on the blues radio stations and the blues magazines around the country and hoping to get you on the in the press over in America as well and on some blues radio over there. So you know baby steps 70 plus years still going strong and better than ever in my view. Yeah me too Andy thanks very much for joining us and uh we'll find a track to play you out with off the new album which is the blues track that you wrote yourself oh yes good because guess what it is it's been my pleasure thank you thank you Malcolm very much a flesh and boom we watch the mighty bow but who will pay the hungry ghost enough to save us a silent life an ocean a blanket made of sand the angel of the Lord looks down behold the problem life is good life is good Famine war disease we sleep with angels for two thousand years of children state the good old loves us life is good life is good standing in the shadows hiding from the light a suitcase full of yesterday cries out to say I'll smoke the wood on the good then lay my song to rest a witness to a losing