In 2008, when I published the Ladies Of Rock feature in my publication Pickadoll (see earlier post from last week) there had been a huge paradigm shift in rock in that women were now establishing themselves in force into the scene. So part of this article (which also sported a history section and three major interviews) featured quotes from ladies in bands about this and I figured it could be fun to lift that segment out and to publish it here on the blog. Enjoy.
“To me it seems that women are taking care of business in many fields now. We are in politics, in the the world of business etc, and the rock angle is part of all this”. Metallic Kitty (Decadence, Sweden)
“It is about time that all this is happening, many of the women that made it in the past did it with their sex appeal, but people like Doro Pesch has been right on the money from day one and now we are here as equals. Sometimes we rock harder”. Jane Evil (USA)
“To me personally this is of no importance”. (Eilera, France)
“What has happened here is fantastic. There has been discussions about why men have been dominating this scene to such a large extent, but I do not feel that sexism had anything to do with it. On the other hand I can not really say what has been the reason for this. But I love women power and generally speaking it could not hurt to have a bigger female presence”. (Melissa Ferlak, ex-Visions Of Atlantis, USA)
“In my opinion women has always been a part of this and I think media has highlighted our presence in recent days”. Rachel Jones (The Reasoning, UK)
“I have to say that Vixen, and Jan Kuehnemund in particular, has played a major part in this shift. I know for a fact that it was very hard for female acts to get some backing when they released music. On the radio they would say “We are already playing this female act, we can not play another”. Can you imagine that? So I am very happy about this change but it would be nice if nobody made a big deal about it”. Jenna Sanz-Agero (Vixen, USA)
“I am really happy that this is going on because this really is a mans world. I seldom run into other women when we are out there playing”. Karin Axelsson (Sonic Syndicate, Sweden)
“It is easy to forget that there has always been women in this field, like Janis Joplin whom did this 40 years ago. And many appeared in the 1980s. Today it may be seen like a trend and that can be dangerous. On the other hand, it looks like this scene is opening up to a whole new audience and that is good”. Jenni Signorina (Interria, France)
“Yes, it is definitely true that more women are successful in hard rock today, but it also depends on which genre you are looking at. There has been wonderful singers like Pat Benatar and the front women in Heart, but it is true that most bands have had male singers, even if my favourites have been able to sing in a high register”. Olivia Sparrnen (Breathing Space, UK)
“I think it is wonderful! Women will add a whole new demension to the music and this can be hotter and more powerful. Even sensitive moments can bring a lot of power. So I am totally for this shift, as you call it, but I have been around long enough to know that everything goes around in cycles. It was just a matter of time”. Pamela Moore (USA)
“It is about time. Music is for everybody, men and women”. Lynn Louise Lowrey (Vixen, USA)
“I think it is wonderful that both men and women are opening up more and more on how they are ready to accept music. Hard rock has continued to spawn many genres and it is important that this is an ongoing thing so that it does not stagnate”. Francine Boucher (Echoes Of Eternity, USA)
“It is a good direction and this evolution is good for the scene”. Jessica Thierjung (Lyriel, Germany)
“Well done girls! I like it. There is still enough men in this business. Look at Doro Pesch, she has been a woman in a mans world, but they have always loved her. We can all meet and mingle in this scene. Look at bands like Evanescense, Nightwish… and Nikki Puppet! We are two women and two men and that is a good mix”. (Nikki Puppet, Germany)
“It is a good thing that we too can now express ourselves within this music that we love so much”. Monika Pedersen (Sirenia, Norway)
“It is about time, but there is still a long way to go”. Sinderella (Hysterica, Sweden)
“Most things change with time and music is not an exception. But there has always been women out there expressing themselves so this is a natural progression”. Ruby James (USA)
“It is very positive that females has discovered this scene and we have much more to offer than just our voices, we also bring in a brand new audience. We are also making it more attractive”. Heidi Parviainen (Amberian Dawn, Finland)
“Women rocks! Men smells, ha ha ha”. (Carina Lirola, UK)
“I can not agree. Maybe there are more options today. You will find women everywhere”. Alicia Marie (USA)
“It is about time. But the best always comes last”. Tara Teresa (Sweden)
“I think the interest in female singers has been very good. This has taken the music to a place that is more accessable for everybody. Progressive and symphonic bands are finding a new audience, particularly in Europe. The States is slowly waking up to this. I hope this continues because it is exciting to see female front figures giving it all on stage”. Lori Lewis (USA)
“This situation has given all the different genres in rock new opportunities to progress further. A moman may have her own way to communicate the melodies from within her soul. This has given rock a new audience and that can not be bad. And intellectually, rock has always been the ultimate force, it goes way beyond dancing”. Natalie Shcherbakova (Arcane Grail, Russia)
(My shot of spread of said article, my quotes from old interviews)
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CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: GLENN HUGHES 1993 (February 23 2023), JON LORD 1983 (June 26 2022), BLIND GOLEM 2022 (April 29 2022), PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 2, December 24 2021), MURASAKI 2021 (December 3 2021), PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 1, November 22 2021), CARINA LIROLA 2008 (November 9 2021), TOTO 1987 (September 17 2021), HEAVEN & EARTH 2001 (July 25 2021), STUART SMITH 1998 (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
This is an old interview from the Deep Purple Forever! archives. It was published in my fanzine Deep Purple Forever! (issue 8) in December 1993. It was a good trip. I went to Stockholm to see the final Deep Purple show with Ritchie Blackmore on November 13, and as a (big) bonus I got to see Glenn Hughes perform in a church on November 12 as a special guest to a famous Swedish singer called Carola Häggkvist, and I also got to interview the man at his hotel a few hours before the Purple show (that he went to as well, first time that he had seen them since 1976 – he got to meet all of them except for Ritchie). I remember giving him the jacket that you can see on this shot (a friend of mine was making them and I sent one to Joe Lynn Turner as well around the same time). He liked it and went to the Purple gig wearing it. In any case, this is the interview. I have skipped a couple of topics that might upset Glenn now if he saw it, there has been a lot of water under the bridge. Enjoy.
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Maybe we can start with what happened yesterday. I have seen a video with you singing in Black Sabbath and yesterday I saw you perform a gospel song with Carola. I have to say that this is more your thing.
– “I had never heard her sing before and she had never heard me”.
So was this Anders Tengner´s idea (tour manager and well known Swedish rock journalist)?
– “Yes, when she heard that I was in town, she suggested that I came to her show and performed a song with her. You know me, I can sing anything. It all depends on what I want to do. To sing gospel comes very natural to me, spiritually I am the closest to soul and gospel”.
What was the title of the song?
– “We Will Stand”, I think it is a fairly new song that she has recorded recently”.
So you had never heard it before?
– “No, I heard it for the first time yesterday at the church”.
She also interviewed you on stage about the problems that you have overcome after the song and it was a very special moment. Were you nervous?
– “Absolutely. I have nothing against talking to you or the press about all this, but to stand in front of 2,000 people like that, but afterwards I thought that maybe 500 of these people has had experienced similar problems of their own. If an addict are to succeed he needs God in his life”.
The audience loved it. How did that make you feel?
– “It was wonderful, but you know, even when you saw me a while back in Umeå when I had a cold, I can do it now. It is all about wanting to do it. You should have seen the last gig that I did a couple of weeks ago”.
It was only because I was broke that I missed out on that.
– ” We filmed it, you have got to see it”.
Do you think there will be a big tour for the new “From Now On” album?
– “What is happening now is that we have recorded the album, and next week Christer from the label is going to Europe to sell it there, and we already have a deal for America. I will talk with promotor Thomas Johansson (EMA) about a Swedish tour tonight. Looking at March for Japan. I think I will reach success as we did with Trapeze back in the day, from people seeing me perform. They will say “Good God, who is this guy?”. We just have to invest some time and I will have to work hard for two years for the success to come. It will be by word of mouth”.
Have you signed for two records?
– “No, for this one. And I know what I am doing. Every time that somebody from a record company checks me out, I know they are there because they want to sign me”.
Is the tour going to kick off here in Sweden?
– “Not sure yet Mike. I know we are going to Japan in March. After that I have 15 gigs in the States with Trapeze and that is the last thing I will ever do with them. Polygram are rereleasing “You Are The Music…” and “Medusa” so I will end that chapter with these gigs. Mic Michaeli will be on keyboards and Mel and Dave will be there. I would like to do Europe with my band in June and July. I think America is pretty dead right now. Maybe we could do a few showcase gigs. If Deep Purple can not tour over there…”.
One can only hope that the melodic rock will rise again some day.
– “I have said this for the last three months, the only thing that is needed is for a band like Journey to return with a hit album. I want to talk about this grunge thing, I like it personally but I can not identify myself with it because it is one generation after me and I do not think that people from my generation should be involved in it. You have to follow your heart. I feel now that I should make another rock album, but after that I really should be doing a “Play Me Out” kind of album again”.
That would be fantastic.
– “That is what I have to do”.
You know what, “Play Me Out” is the only record that I have listen to this last week and if you consider that I will see Deep Purple tonight that is interesting. “Play Me Out” is one of these records that you just want to play over and over again every now and then.
– “I listened to it last week at Tengner´s place, and I had not heard it in 10 years, and I am thinking “God, this is good”…”.
So you had not heard it in 10 years? So every time that somebody has told you how much they love that record you are almost ignorant to it compared to the fans?
– “Yes, because I never listen to my own music. But people have played me some of the old stuff in recent days and I have to admit that some of it is pretty good. I hope that the people that come to see me now approach it with open minds, because when we are talking about Glenn Hughes it could be way more than rock, it could be anything”.
The broader, the better. I think that a lot of people would love to hear something from “Play Me Out”, not necessarily a full song, but at least part of one, in the set.
– “Let me tell you about the problem we have here. “Play Me Out” was done in a mist, I was living on another planet (laughs), so to bring that back to life might be difficult. Maybe if we used some tapes, remixed it a bit, sampled stuff. Now that I think back I do recall that we did “Space High” a few times in Trapeze and it worked well. In a few years, when I have established myself a bit more again, maybe I can think about stuff like this. Right now I have to prove myself to a lot of people that are wondering if this old dude can still cut it. So I have to go out there and deliver the goods. I played at Melody recently and we did “Phoenix Rising” and some stuff from “Phenomena” and they seemed to accept stuff like “Coast To Coast” and “This Time Around”… People seem to enjoy listening to me singing these songs and that makes me feel good. I love to sing ballads”.
When I listened to “Play Me Out” this week it occured to me that you could use “Well” as an outro, the gig is over, it closes the set on a tape…
– “That was an interesting idea. I will think about that”.
Let us talk a bit about the album. Anders played it to me so I have only heard it in passing at the moment. But I can tell that it is a broad album, which is good, and I think that if you did a video for one of the more adventurous songs, like “Walk On Water”, that it could connect with a lot of people.
– “Have you seen the lyrics to that song?”.
Is it very serious?
– “Oh man, when I wrote that song… a friend of mine called Bruce wrote the music, and I almost fell into a trance when I worked on it. It is all about reaching out to people, to help them. Somewhere in America somebody wants a bit of their old land back and a stranger comes along. It is a good song and I think that the lyrics is among the best I have ever written”.
When I heard that song I thought that the spirit of Deep Purple MK4 lives on through it.
– “You know, there are songs on this album that reminds me about MK4, it may have something to do about the guys in the band loving that era so much. Anders played me “Stormbringer” last week and I had not heard it in 15 years and I was thinking “This is not so bad?”. Some of that stuff is pretty good, is it not?
You could probably do stuff like, say, “Hold On” live…
– “We have talked about it. The Purple fans of course wants to hear a lot of songs”.
One way to make everybody happy is to work out a 10 minute…
– “…Medley, yes, and we have already done some of that. But the next tour, I want to do at least five songs from the new album. The live set will have to be longer next time we go out. There is so much to choose from. But I will not do “Smoke On The Water” again, that is not my song. We will play “You Keep On Moving” and “Burn”…”.
If you recorded some of these old numbers for a live album, you would kind of reintroduce them for the 1990s again. An album like that could work as a bridge from the past…
– “People are telling me that”.
I have no idea of knowing if you like live albums.
– “Yes, I like live records. When the timing is right that will happen. As far as this band is concerned, there will be changes. I do not want to turn out as Ritchie, but I think you know that if stuff from, say, “Play Me Out” is to be considered, then I would need guys that knows how to handle it”.
I noticed that Mic stands out on this record if you compare how much space he gets on the Europe records.
– “Before we entered the studio, I decided to push Mic and if you listen to my music you will know that keyboards have an important part to play, I would rather sing to keyboards than guitar. So I wanted him to shine”.
He shines like a star on this album.
– “I agree”.
Do you think that you will work with Mic later on as well?
– “They all know their stuff but if you talk about stuff like “Play Me Out”, I will need musicians that live and breathe jazz and funk. It is another universe”.
But then those guys will have to understand hard rock as well…
– “I know guys that I would like to get involved with. The best thing about me being sober now is that I can now plan ahead for years, not just for tomorrow. People know now that I have been clean for two years. So I have to go out there and prove it now. When somebody has been sick for as long as I have been, it takes time to get back to normal. But I do not want to have overnight success, I want to work for it. I want it to feel special. And I want people to see that I can handle it this time”.
Had it been possible to get to where you are now had you stayed in Los Angeles?
– “Through my spiritual journey I have now reached an understanding, that God has given me another chance. Maybe I had to go through all those years being so sick so that I could, when I found Christ, help other people”.
So it does not matter where you live these days?
– “No. I have not been tempted once in the last two years, nor drugs or alcohol”.
Of course I have never been to Los Angeles, but I can picture it…
– “When you use drugs, as I did when I was here back in 1988, I had no problem finding drugs. When you are sick you find others that are sick too. But now I only want to hang out with people that are clean. I can have people that are high around me at a hotel, and it does not bother me”
With your new life comes new responsibilities…
– “Yes, it is a bit strange to be the guy that is in charge now, because I used to get fired from other peoples bands. I was never fired bacause I could not sing, I was fired because I was sick”.
Can it be hard too to be in charge?
– “They all respect me. But you know what, everybody in Sweden is drunk when I go to a club. I tend to be the only person around that is sober here. I am the guy standing there with a Coca Cola (laughs)”.
Well the beer is so expensive in Sweden that people get half loaded before they even go out…
– “That is my theory as well”.
Sadly, we do not share the British pub culture…
– “No, but what I have done now for the last few months, I have spent three or four months in Sweden and I have used this time to establish a higher profile over here again. And if I can do the same elsewhere as well in the next couple of years, then I think I will be successful. I will be honest here, I will concentrate on Europe and Asia now and leave America alone. You have to be Pearl Jam or Michael Bolton to be heard in America now. I like Michael, but that stuff is too polished for me. Too much like Vegas. You have to be young and you have dress a certain way over there now. Just look at all the big bands that are dying on that market”.
It is a shame. It might change though. We just have to sit this out right now.
– “People cheered when they heard that Ozzy was back in Sabbath…”
Lets talk some more about the new album. How long did it take to write it and how much of it is original stuff?
– “Initially, I thought I would do 50% original material and 50% covers, but then Christer at the label said “Lets do a proper Glenn Hughes album”, so I wrote some stuff with Jean Beauvoir and I already had “Homeland”. Then I thought about the guys in the band and that I should involve them. So I wrote songs with Thomas and Mic, and then I got tapes sent to me from all over the country. In the end, we had 20 good songs to pick from. The 12 that we chose are perfect”.
Did you record “Burn” and “You Keep On Moving” for the Japanese market?
– “I did them more as B-sides and I really do not want to see them on the album itself”.
Who´s idea was it to rerecord these classics?
– “That was me. But I do not want the fans in Japan to think that I must do those songs. One possibility is to give these songs out for free with Burrn! magazine, which is a publication that is going to be important to me in Japan now. And they are really behind me. I think that the Japanese tour is going to be a big success”.
Have you been to Japan since the Purple days?
– “I was there with Hughes Thrall and did promotion and it was wonderful even then”.
But you only did interviews, no concerts?
– “I did about 100 interviews in one week and it was fantastic”.
So this will be the first shows in Japan since 1975. Then I have to believe that a lot of people are looking forward to this.
– “I have to be honest with you. I feel like a singer now. I do not feel a need to play bass anymore. It is almost a little scary. I will play bass in Trapeze but that will be it because I feel that I am a singer now. God decided that I would be a singer. You know that. God wanted me to sing and that it is my mission in life to sing and to help other people through this journey”.
Put it like this, people like me and my friends really get high on your voice, I can not even comprehend what life would be if it all went away.
– “It was kind of you to say that”.
The fact is, a member of the club sent me a tape recently and there is a song on it called “Flying” that is awesome.
– “Oh, then we are talking about the album that I did for Warner Brothers that were never released. They can still release that should they want to”.
That song, “Flying” touched my heart. You should release that, or rerecord it. It works so well with the female backing singers, I think it could be a hit. It has a lot of depth for a ballad.
– “I have done so much that you have never heard. Like this session that I did in London two years ago with Geoff Downes, that stuff is great”.
Is it a complete album?
– “It is 10 finished songs. I would love to work with Geoff again”.
But you wrote it thinking it would be released?
– “It is like a “Play Me Out” thing, but not mine alone. We opened up our souls when we did that and the atmosphere is really good. When I did the vocals it was all first takes. I think that “Play Me Out” is a fantastic album, but it is not a commercial album”.
That is true.
– “This one is a little more commercial. The fact is that if I ever do another “Play Me Out”, it will be more commercial. I do not want to compromise too much though. I do not want people to think that I have made it for the charts. But after having made quite a lot of music I know what I like the most and that is “Play Me Out”. It is so real. It is raw Glenn Hughes. It captured who I am”.
I have heard that you worked on the new George Lynch album.
– “I did not like that. It was like the Black Sabbath thing. The songs were recorded and I came in and sang on it. It was not something that I really wanted to do”.
So it was more of a session job?
– “Yes. I am more happy about a job that I did with Mark Bonilla, for Warners. It is called “American Mathador”. I sing on a cover of “Whiter Shade Of Pale” and it is a hit in Japan right now. So I would rather see that people checked that out”.
Who is Mark Bonilla?
– “He is a very talented guitarist. He reminds me of Tommy Bolin and he is a big fan of Tommy too. I will do the Mötley Crue album next week and it might take a couple of weeks to get that done”. (Glenn had told me earlier that the pay check was so big that he could not refuse)
I thought that they would have been done recording that by now…
– “Yes, it is taking them some time. I do not know what they want me to do. They obviously want some Glenn Hughes on it, but I do not think that it will be like the Whitesnake album I did, where you can not even hear me”.
I was disappointed when I heard that they had buried you in the mix on the “Slip Of The Tongue” album.
– “The thing is, he payed me an awful lot of money and he was very nice to me. So I did three songs. It was very high stuff and maybe he needed me to add some Glenn Hughes to it. It did not feel right and you can not really hear that I am there”.
I guess it might have been the first time that you saw David again after the Purple days, so how was it? Did you rekindle the old friendship again?
– “Yes we did. He was very nice to me and it was on his suggestion that I started to rid my body of poisons”.
Maybe he had done that too?
– “He had.”.
Might we see a collaboration again some day?
– “I doubt it very much. If you think about it, you know everything about the Purple sphere, David is definitely his own man. After Whitesnake and Coverdale/Page I think he may want to go back to the blues again. And that he calls it something else”. And Ian Gillan, and I am saying this because I know that you can take it, Ian is the only real deal in Deep Purple, down to earth and all that. I wrote a song with him a couple of years ago and we became really good friends. I am looking forward to seeing him again tonight”.
He did an excellent album with Roger Glover called “Accidentally On Purpose” that went out as a Gillan & Glover album. I guess you could do a Gillan & Hughes album, should you want to.
– “We have talked about it for three years. I liked that song he did with that Greek guy, that was really good. I hope that I get into the Swedish charts with the new album”.
Will you do a video?
– “We have already done one for “Picking Up The Pieces”, in 8mm over at Z-TV. I might do the gospel song with Carola too, not sure. I knew that she was a bit under the weather yesterday so I held back a little. I did not want to embarass her in front of her fans. Same thing with Purple tonight. They are on the the road now and they have to be good. And I have heard that it really is good. I want everybody to know that I love this band and I want them to be around forever. Because they are part of my past. I do not want anything bad to happen to them. But I do not believe for one minute that they would ask me to join them onstage for an encore. Ian Gillan would love it, but the guitarist… And I say this with the utmost respect, it would have been pretty cool if they had asked me to join them for the encore, would it not?”.
Absolutely.
– “Tengner will ask them, but I know these guys and I remember how it was. If they say no, then so be it. I think that God has given me this opportunity to see them again so that I can think “It is not so bad, we are all older and we are alive”. None of this is a problem for me today”.
It would be nice if it happened, especially if you consider the last two Purple shows in Stockholm, with Blackmore not doing the encore in 1987 and no encore at all in 1991.
– “I know how Ritchie works. I remember some shows that we did in England and if he feels that he has blown it he will pull out all the stops to make it work the following night. I know through Tengner that Ritchie remembers that night in 1991, and both him and Jon Lord has said that it was the worst ever Purple show. He used to like to scare people. He could say that he had found out something terrible that would happen but that he could not say what. I remember a seance in Clearwell Castle. Baz (our roadie) had this fit, went down shaking and waving on the floor, screaming like mad. I think he saw a cow fly through the room or something. Ritchie loved that”.
They did a good show in Gothenburg after that disaster in Stockholm.
– “That is Ritchie for you. I am sure he really wanted revenge. My focus is to move ahead, musically and spiritually, and to find out how I can help other people. I believe in Karma. I do not want to do or say something bad during the day that might result in something negative. Life can be so short, like Tommy, not long before he passed away somebody overheard him say “I want to die young so that I leave a good looking body for the burial”. I am fine now, I do not have to ask God for money or anything like that because he is taking care of me now. I could probably live an OK life with the money that is coming in from the Purple years, probably forever”.
That is almost like a pension is it not?
– “Yes, the only thing that I have to do in the morning is to wake up, take a shower, do my thing and walk past the fear. It was the anxiety that made me sick in Deep Purple. I joined when I was 22 and within a year I had this Cocain addiction. If I look back, we had The Starship, the big cars, the women, and we are talking about orgies. All these wild Purple stories, and it made me into a raving sex maniac drug addict. Jon Lord had his problems with alcohol. I had to go through 18 years of hell to get out of it all. For some people that try Cocaine, it is horrible. To me it was like candy. Everything that you have heard about my stints with Gary Moore and Black Sabbath, it happened because I was sick and out of control. It is like cancer, if you are not dealing with it it will kill you. If you have a toothache it will hurt, and I had a toothache for 18 years. I know that we have talked about this before but I am walking on a new path and if people are doubting me they are crazy. Some people do not want you to make it, they will say “I will see you drunk in a bar soon”. They are just evil. They would rather see you die than to make it”.
Lets talk about the movie business, do you have any interest at all on that side of things?
– “Yes and no. Right now it is too early for me. But a good friend of mine, James Newton Howard, he is writing the scores for a lot of the big Hollywood hits and he is only 42 or something like that. He is a big fan and he would like to work with me some day which is nice. Pat Thrall wrote a song that we had in “Dragnet” and I know that he got 30,000 dollars for it. Once I was offered 120,000 dollars if I did a beer commercial. Just one hours work. In the end somebody else did it. There are only a few guys that are doing all that stuff, Mark Free is one of them. He is a friend of a friend. But I am too young to do that. I like the theater though. When I was 14 I did a play called “Salad Days” in school. The director gave me two parts”.
(End of interview)
By Mike Eriksson (if quoted let me know about it) – Deep Purple Forever! 1993 / Trinkelbonker (2023)
(My shots of said publication)
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CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: JON LORD 1983 (June 26 2022), BLIND GOLEM 2022 (April 29 2022), PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 2, December 24 2021), MURASAKI 2021 (December 3 2021), PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 1, November 22 2021), CARINA LIROLA 2008 (November 9 2021), TOTO 1987 (September 17 2021), HEAVEN & EARTH 2001 (July 25 2021), STUART SMITH 1998 (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
I actually thought that I had added this interview to this blog years ago, but I was wrong. You can find chats from 1981 and 1984 in the archives though (see dates below). For this, I have to go back to an article I had in print in Jämtland County (Sweden) back in the day, in a newspaper called ÖP. I have decided to translate the article itself for this blog post. My good friend photographer Michael Johansson took the pictures that day (January 14 1983), both at the hotel in Stockholm and live later that night. It was his first meeting (of many) with Jon Lord. Enjoy.
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ÖP MET JON LORD: “I ENJOY LIFE MORE NOW THAN WITH DEEP PURPLE”
I am not quite sure how to describe Jon Lord to do him justice. Perhaps the best way is a quote that I got from Ian Gillan last year, when he said “Jon Lord is one of the last true gentlemen”. I have now met him twice and on both occasions I have witnessed an incredibly gracious personality. He is more than happy to sign records that fans bring along, even if it is 20 of them, and when he speaks he underlines his words with gestures. This is quite admirable if you look at his career.
The Super Group
In 1968, he teamed up with Ritchie Blackmore (now the leader of Rainbow) among others, and formed what would become the super group Deep Purple. Countless Gold and Platinum records later the band disbanded in 1976, but there are still records coming out (like “Live In London” from 1974) that is selling well. But it is with the group Whitesnake that he is now travelling the world, and although they have a handful of albums out by now he can never avoid the question on whether Deep Purple will come back or not some day.
– “I have not been asked. If Deep Purple were ever to return, we would have to be the best band in the world, not the second best. I am pretty happy in Whitesnake and I do not want to wallow in nostalgia. I do not want to play “Smoke On The Water” again, that is all history now. I also feel that Whitesnake is tighter and way more demanding than Purple ever was. Cozy Powell says that Whitesnake is the most demanding band he has ever worked with, and he can compare with Rainbow and other groups that he has been part of”.
A Little Strange
About Cozy Powell now being the drummer in Whitesnake. How does it feel not to have Ian Paice by your side anymore?
– “Ian Paice and I have worked together on and off for almost 14 years, ever since the early days of Purple, so it is true that it is a little strange not to have him in the band now. On the other hand, I always knew what he would play the next second, so it can feel fresh to have Cozy there instead from that point of view. It has been very difficult for Cozy to replace Ian, because he feels that he is not as good. That is a complex that we are trying to help him with and it should be pointed out that he is a fine drummer in his own right”.
On your latest solo album, “Before I Forget”, there is a song called “Bach On To This” that is unbelievably well executed, with tempo changes and performances that are out of this world. Would that song even work to play live?
The Old Man Can Still Cut It
– “It would be very difficult, even if I could, knowing how much it requires of all the musicians, not least from the perspective of the drummer and the guitar player. “Before I Forget” is my creation, 100%, I wanted to show everybody that there is still life in this old man. Overall, it is a relaxed album, with lyrics straight from my heart. Some for my wife whom I love more that words can say. “Bach On To This” was the song that I could take to the next level, the more demanding side”.
What are the plans for Whitesnake in the next year?
– “We will head back into the studio in March/April for the next album, and even I have a couple of ideas for that one. Before that, we conclude this tour with shows in Japan, we have already sold 36,000 tickets in Tokyo”.
Europe Again
– “In the fall we will be back in Europe again, and I think that Sweden is included in those plans. We have just bought the most expensive sound equipment that you can find on the market, so we are very keen to perform to as many people as we can. Right now we are warming up after the changes in the line-up, when we come back again we will be better than ever. We will also bring a film crew with us for some dates”.
We shake hands and exchange best wishes and within minutes Jon is on his way to the Johanneshov Arena with the rest of the lads of Whitesnake for a soundcheck.
Full Throttle
A few hours later the band just nails it in front of a very excited crowd in the sold out hall. (Swedish artist) Efva Attling is standing beside me as we both enjoy watching David Coverdale (also an ex-member of Deep Purple) work the crowd like the total professional that he is. It would not surprise me if Whitesnake will one day surpass Deep Purple as far as record sales goes. Their approach has so much more on offer than your average Metal band, from blues and pure happiness to God knows what – they are, to cite Jon Lord one last time, “the peoples band”.
(End of interview)
By Mike Eriksson (if quoted let me know about it) – ÖP 1983 / Trinkelbonker (2022)
(Top image and photos in said article by Michael Johansson, Jon Lord 1984 shot by Patrik Hökby)
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CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: BLIND GOLEM 2022 (April 29 2022), PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 2, December 24 2021), MURASAKI 2021 (December 3 2021), PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 1, November 22 2021), CARINA LIROLA 2008 (November 9 2021), TOTO 1987 (September 17 2021), HEAVEN & EARTH 2001 (July 25 2021), STUART SMITH 1998 (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
Blind Golem is an excellent band from Italy that released a very good debut album in 2021 called ”A Dream Of Fantasy”. Highly inspired by Uriah Heep, it is a selection of songs that sounds very much like them, but is originals. The band also got Ken Hensley, a founder member of Uriah Heep, to play on the album, and trainspotters will be happy to see that artist Rodney Matthews did the cover art. All in all, I highly recommend this to friends of old school rock and that you support them now. I asked Francesco Dalla Riva if he would be interested in being interviewed for the blog and the answer was very positive. So here it is, check them out today, they deserve it.
Before going into Blind Golem, lets get some background story to how you ended up where you are today. I know you are a big fan of Uriah Heep and Deep Purple. Which band did you discover first?
– This goes back in time quite a bit: I think it was Deep Purple first, back in 1987 when they played my hometown, Verona. I was 14 at the time, I heard the name before but was not familiar with their music. I fell in love with them. After that I started playing music with friends, and one day, must have been 1988, a guitar player passed me a tape of Heep’s second album “Salisbury”. I was amazed at how this music could be powerful, delicate, evocative, majestic and so “wide”, all in the space of 38 minutes. I started investigating their discographies, solo material included and… basically I am still doing it after 35 years!
Can you remember the first album you ever bought?
– Some of the first ones that I remember buying are Springsteen “Live 75/85”, Europe “The Final Countdown” when they came out. When I discovered hard rock, I bought Purple´s “Made In Japan”, on tape, first the vol.1 tape and after a few weeks the second part, because I could not afford it in one time!
If you could mention a few other artists that you grew up listening to, who would they be?
– After I discovered Purple and hard rock, the gates were open and I started listening to the whole Purple family obsessively, then the obvious ones like Zeppelin and Sabbath but also Rush, Magnum, UFO, Free, Jethro Tull, Bad Company, AC/DC, Blue Oyster Cult, Maiden, Yes, Saxon, Gentle Giant and countless others.
Why do you think that Uriah Heep and Deep Purple has stuck out for you? Is it the keyboard sound of these bands?
– I think it happened for different reasons, I would say, even though they obviously have several aspects of their music in common, like the sound of the Hammond organ, which by the way I think is one of the most beautiful sounds humans have ever produced! For Purple, I think it is the virtuoso element, how they were imagining the live approach, the jams, playing off each other, sometimes almost competing with each other’s playing. I never heard anybody before (or since) approach their music with such authority, competence, spontaneity, innocence and abandon. The fact that Ritchie Blackmore is the most expressive guitar player I ever heard contributes a lot. In the case of Uriah Heep, it is probably because of a more visionary songwriting, the fact that they were more of a team band, with harmonized vocals and so on. Ken Hensley was surely a unique songwriter and he gave a certain magic to Heep’s music which was unique. He was not afraid to incorporate dissonant chord changes, different sections or wordless choruses as long as it felt appropriate.
Here comes the desert island question, pick five albums that you would want to have with you always.
– Very hard to do and of course if you ask me tomorrow I would surely choose some different ones. Anyway, today’s choices are: Bad Company “Bad Co.”, Blue Oyster Cult “Secret Treaties”, Led Zeppelin “Houses Of The Holy”, Angel “Helluva Band”, Rush “Fly By Night”, Grand Funk Railroad “Grand Funk Railroad”. That is six, ah!
You have played in tribute bands for both Heep and Purple. Tell us about that experience.
– I play original material with my other band, Bullfrog. Through the years we released five albums of original songs but I also enjoy playing covers, of course. It is fun to alternate different situations. Covering Purple and Heep, I do not even try to replicate the original bass parts note for note, I rather try to replicate the groove, the feeling of the songs. This being said, Heep always had super bass players, like Gary Thain or Trevor Bolder and it is very inspiring to study their melodic approach to songs. Playing a full set of just Heep music for the first time was special, as it is something that I always wanted to do since I was a kid, and it is also rarer to find, compared to Purple tribute bands which are easier to find.
Are Blind Golem to be seen as an upscale tribute to Heep, with original tunes, or will you branch out a bit in time?
– It is hard to say, as of now. We started with the specific intention of trying to recapture that kind of sound on the first album but who knows about the future. I think it would be pointless to limit ourselves repeating what we already did, so I can see our music evolving but always retaining a very definite and clear musical imprint.
Amazingly, you got Ken Hensley involved in the album. How did that happen?
– That was an absolute dream come true for us! I first got to know him eleven years ago when, with Bullfrog, we got to open his first show in Italy as a solo artist. Later, after we started Forever Heep, we were approached by his italian agent with the possibility of being his backing band on a few occasions. So we got to play with him a few times, in Italy, Austria and Germany. The excitement of playing with him sparked the idea in me of writing some original material in that style. The last time that I played with Ken was in July 2019 and, after the show, I mentioned this project to him and he was very enthusiastic, he said “go on and when you have some rough mixes send them to me and I will see what I can do to help you”. So we got down to work and in the summer of 2020 we sent him four songs to choose from. We were not even sure if he would have chosen to play acoustic guitars, hammond or vocals or whatever. In the end he recorded a sublime slide guitar part and the Hammond for the song “The Day Is Gone”.
Did he get to see the finished product?
– Sadly, no. It is the only regret I have about the album. He heard the early mixes of four songs and his initial reaction was: “to me it all sounds great as it is and I do not really know what I could add to this”. And we were like “Ken, you do not get it, we want your presence on the album, your touch, whatever you feel like playing on this”. The day that he passed was the same day that we received the boxes from the printing factory with the finished product. It was the strangest day, such a contrasting mix of emotions, holding something so special to us, knowing that he was gone. I would like to think he would have been proud of his contribution, for an album that is a very humble tribute to a kind of rock music he helped creating so much. We sent a copy to his girlfriend Monica over in Spain and I know his brother Trevor is aware of it, so I hope they enjoy it. Ken’s part was recorded in late august 2020 so it could very easily be his last recorded performance.
This album really sounds great. What has the response been from the record buying public and in which territories is it available?
– The response has been amazing and it went beyond our expectations. Actually, we did not have any real expectations. This is something that we started for ourselves, to fulfill a wish that we felt. Even if it sold 1 copy, personally, I would have been happy. So to see that a lot of people was interested in it was very heartwarming. We know the world is not waiting for a new rock record and that the numbers nowadays barely justify the effort in making music but that was not the point for us. Then, Internet is a powerful tool, so through Facebook, YouTube and the rest, the record kinda found its audience, the ears that it was intended for. For this, we have to thank the various groups dedicated to Ken’s music and Uriah Heep online, but also the Hush – Deep Purple Appreciation Society in Spain, they have all been very supportive. It is available pretty much everywhere a postman can go, via our Facebook page, or via our label website, Andromeda Relix, via Amazon, or also via Bandcamp.
I think what you have done is a wonderful homage here, honoring one of the original bands of the 1970s. One of these days, there will be no more music coming from those bands and I guess we are getting closer by the day. Perhaps bands like Blind Golem, that presents original music, can keep the flame going. Any thoughts about that?
– Realistically speaking, and generalizing a bit, what I see happening, as time passes, is that heavy rock and rock in general are getting less and less in tune with what young people are getting out of music today. Kids do not live rock music with the same kind of intensity or passion that we used to have back then, it just does not speak to them in the same way. I am not saying this for the best or for the worse, it is just different. Rock music has been the voice of young people for almost 50 years, from Elvis to Kurt Cobain. Now it is changing, it is becoming a thing of the past. This being said, I do not think it will ever really disappear, but it will become a musical niche with a smaller group of people still interested in it. It is already happening and it is the same process that happened to blues, jazz, opera or classical music, for that matter. All this kind of music, for a moment in time, happened to be in perfect synch with society and expressed something unique. It is not like that anymore, but they still exist and there are still great and creative musicians keeping them alive, but they just speak to a smaller number of people. Some of them, like Blind Golem, will also try and write in that style and some people, but less than in 1975, will be interested in hearing it, buying it, maybe on vinyl, double gatefold, like it was still 1975. The popularity of cover bands and tribute acts in rock today confirms this, they treat rock music like a museum: if I am too young to see the Beatles, Pink Floyd or Zeppelin, I can go see one of those bands and get an idea of what it must have been like back in the right years. I could go on for hours on this and this is actually one of the usual endless topics we have after rehearsals!
It would be nice if Uriah Heep invited you guys to open a few shows for them, giving you a well deserved wink. Have you been in touch with them?
– Through the years I saw the band in concert numerous times, I got to interview Mick twice for an Italian classic rock magazine called Classix!, Bernie once and, with Bullfrog, I even got the luck to open one of their shows a few years ago. But to answer your question, no we are not in touch with them. I would love them to hear the album and have their opinion, who knows, maybe one of these days I will send a copy to their management.
I feel there is potential in Blind Golem. I can tell that old school fans of this music (like Pete Pardo, whom reacted to your album on YouTube) enjoy what they hear. There are a lot of us out there of course, and I hope that the band can find an ever increasing support. How is the festival scene in Italy and do you have gigs coming up?
– Pete is great, I wanted him to hear the album because I know he has very similar musical tastes to us and his love for Purple and Heep is well documented. The festival scene in Italy for rock music is smaller than it used to be but lively, especially for prog rock, with a small but dedicated audience. We are no professional musicians, so when we have dates coming up we have to accomodate them with our day jobs and also with the other bands that all of us play with so it is not always easy but last year we managed to play 3/4 good shows in Genova and around our hometown of Verona.
When you play live, will you include some Heep stuff in the set, to make a point?
– So far we always have included a few Heep songs in the set: ”Time To Live”, ”Circle Of Hands” (my favorite Heep tune), ”Bird Of Prey” and, the last time, we did ”One Way Or Another”. But of course the main set is composed of our original material. I would love to always keep one or two Heep songs in the set as it is always fun to play them but, who knows, we will see in the future, it also depends from the kind of stage you are playing on, how much time you have, etc.
”A Dream Of Fantasy” sports album cover art by the great Rodney Matthews, and it really looks awesome. How did that happen and how has the response been?
– To tell you the truth, now that the album has been out for a whole year, it is hard for me to imagine it with any other cover art than that one but the decision actually came quite late in the game. We were not sure about a few things like the band’s name and the cover art until when the record was almost finished and we were considering other images. When we knew for sure that Ken would have been guesting, we started wondering, would it not be great to have an iconic fantasy image like Roger Dean and Rodney Matthews used to do for Yes, Magnum, Heep and many others. So I wrote an email to Rodney asking how it worked and he sent us a number of suitable images. So we talked to the label guys and they said “well, we have come so far, we might as well go the extra mile”. We also discovered that Max, the boss of Andromeda Relix records, his favorite album of all time is “Borrowed Time” by Diamond Head which also has a Rodney Matthews cover image, so Max was super excited about it! When you look at the double gatefold vinyl version, it is really fabulous, like a whole world unfolds before you as you put the record on the turntable!
Covid stopped you from promoting this album to a certain degree. Have you been writing material for a second album?
– Yes, quite a lot, actually! “A Dream Of Fantasy” has 14 tracks but as we were recording it I was already writing and organizing new material. Some songs got left out of the album because maybe the arrangement was not really finished and we had no shortage of material anyway. In particular, there is a song called “Golem!” which is like a mini suite which was finished just as the record was completed and I think it is great. We have almost 16/17 ideas that are being rehearsed in these months but, when we will get to record a second album, we are going to try and keep it shorter and straight to the point. The first album is stylistically very varied, rockers, ballads, acoustic stuff and this was a conscious decision but next time it’ will probably be a bit more focused, heavy rock old style with less mellower moments. Anyway, we will see. I hope we will get to enter the studio this summer.
Have you seen any concerts yet after Covid or do you have tickets for some upcoming show/s? I guess we all crave live shows now.
– Yes, these last couple of years have been very weird in so many aspects. I had tickets to see Yes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and they have all been moved to this next summer. In the coming weeks I am going to see Magnum, Diamond Head and Michael Schenker Group and then, in august, I am going to fly to London to see Angel, one of the bands I never thought I would live to see live on stage! Super excited about that!
Apart from the music that we have focused on here, name some artists that you enjoy these days.
– Well, I love most of the names you cover on your blog! I also try to discover bands I never heard of, both from decades ago or newer ones. For instance, I have just bought both the records from an old American band called Bullangus, which I was not familar with. In terms of newer bands, I love Gov’t Mule, Neal Morse, Anglagard, Bigelf, Thunder, Firebird, King’s X, Gotthard, Horisont, Mårran, The Mars Volta, Presto Ballet and I could go on quite a lot longer!
I understand that it is an uphill battle to be recognized but I do feel that you guys should carry on, you have a good thing going here. I hope that Trinkelbonker can help out in a small way. Can people order your album online if they do not find it where they live?
– Thank you Michael, for your kind words! I love your blog and I have been reading it for many years, so even though we never met, I feel like I am familiar with your musical tastes! I first heard about you when I was a member of the Deep Purple Appreciation Society back in the 1990s, before internet, when getting informations, pictures and stuff was quite different than it is today! Sure, getting our album is very easy: just go to our Facebook page and write us and we will ship it to you. You can pay via PayPal or via credit card. We also have t-shirts and albums from other bands that we play with, like Bullfrog or Forever Deep, which released a studio album featuring Ian Paice and Don Airey a few years ago. Check it out! If anybody is interested in the vinyl edition they can contact our label: Andromeda Relix or Maracash Records.
Would you like to add something to this interview?
– Well, thank you for your support and interest! We are amazed at the level of reaction that this album generated. For us, it has been a labour of love and passion and I hope it will come through to the listeners! Long live!
(End of interview)
By Mike Eriksson (if quoted let me know about it) – Trinkelbonker (2022)
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CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 2, December 24 2021), MURASAKI 2021 (December 3 2021), PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 1, November 22 2021), CARINA LIROLA 2008 (November 9 2021), TOTO 1987 (September 17 2021), HEAVEN & EARTH 2001 (July 25 2021), STUART SMITH 1998 (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
I interviewed legendary (German born) Swedish magazine publisher Hans Hatwig in 2015 for the final issue of Retrofuture (issue 8, March 2015). The magazine was launched at the Jane Doe Bar in Östersund on March 4 and we had Thomas Drevin (220 Volt) and Björn Höglund (Hoven Droven) as DJs playing Kiss and Deep Purple tunes all night long. This is Part 2 of the interview – Part 1 was posted on this blog on November 22 2021 – and it is a translation into English for obvious reasons. Copies of Retrofuture is available (see the Fanzine Newsdesk tag).
Old issues of POSTER has sold for very high prices on second hand outlets for a long time. This has to be the ultimate proof that people really loved what you did with that magazine.
– ”Yes, the kids in Sweden loved POSTER and the high value that is put to it now is proof that the old readers still appreciate it.”.
I understand that it was not easy for you to launch OKEJ. How long did it take and what happened there?
– ”When POSTER had reached the end of the line the publishers was not that keen on me having a go at another publication. I had to nag them about it for a year and they eventually gave me the chance to test the waters with three issues in pocket format. When these were published and sold really well, I was given the opportunity to make OKEJ into what I really wanted it to be, which was a weekly type of publication.
Once you had the chance, what exactly were you aiming for?
– ”I was hoping that it would become a weekly publication but I never got beyond the bi-weekly (every two weeks) format. The success was huge, we sold 156,000 copies every other week, which meant that for some time it really was the biggest pop magazine in the world, bigger than Bravo in Germany”.
How quick was the success, when did the publishing house realize that it was another winner?
– ”It happened pretty much right away”.
Except for a brief period, in which you were busy with a movie project, you successfully published OKEJ right through the 1980s until 1989. During this time, pretty much everybody was reading OKEJ. When did it peak?
– ”The mid 1980s, we reached an entire generation at that point, 500,000 youth read every issue”.
What made you decide to quit the job in the end?
– ”I was disapppointed in the owners in that they would not let me start up new publications. I felt betrayed so I left the company at that point”.
You created EN DING, DING, VÄRLD that was published in Scandinavia. How did you get the idea and where did you get the material? This was something completely new.
– ”I already had the idea for EN DING, DING, VÄRLD in my head when I still worked with OKEJ so it was a logical move to make once I had the chance to try. Several publishing houses turned me down before I could do it. The initial idea came from all my visits to the photo agencies, looking at pictures. I saw a lot of stuff that nobody was interested in and I just had this idea that it would be fun to get the craziest/funniest pictures and to create a magazine with them. I never had to regret the idea, it was an immediate success”.
How big was the circulation?
– ”The very first issue sold 54,000 copies and made a profit. It is very unusual for a publication to reach success that fast, it usually takes years. My publication became the exception to the rule”.
In 1998-1999 you created MÅNADENS DATE and GIRLPOWER. I have not seen these, can you describe them?
– ”MÅNADENS DATE was a small (103mm x 150mm) publication with two big foldouts. It was a calendar/diary kind of a publication that was published for about a year. It sold 24,000 copies every month but I had to end it since so many copies were stolen because of the size. GIRLPOWER was a hybrid publication in comic book format, with a long novel about the adventures of two teenage girls plus a section with the latest pop stars”.
Then you published SÅPA, which I though was better than OKEJ at the time. What was the idea behind that title?
– ”I did the SÅPA magazine for Jonas Bonnier at Bonnier Tidskrifter even though I was not really a believer. SÅPA failed, my first failiure”.
Then you went with VECKANS NU!, that kept you busy for eight years. You mention in your books that you had to fight to get that title published but that you were vindicated in the end. It is obvious to me that once you have an idea that you believe in you fight like crazy to make it happen.
– ”Well I offered the idea to both Allers Förlag and Bonnier but when these big publishers turned it down I went to Ove Jerselius at Frida Förlag whom was more than happy to publish the modern celebrity kind of publication that I had in mind. VECKANS NU! Became a huge success, over 100,000 copies sold twice a month. If I believe in an idea, I am willing to fight hard for it”.
You have also been involved in titles like SUDOKO, ROYAL and VÄRLDEN I BLICK. I mean, you have been busy since the early 1970s and been very successful for most of that time. Big books have been published about POSTER and OKEJ and a TV documentary has been made about the latter. Can you feel that you have reached the credit that you so clearly deserve?
– ”I never got much credit for what I did from my colleagues at the big publishing houses. However, there is a lot of love from old readers and that is good enough for me”.
The comic book industry is in trouble. How long do you think that titles like Agent X9, Fantomen etc will survive?
– ”I think the comics will come back, but maybe in a new, more modern, format. But that will only happen if the publishers catch on”.
How do you feel about people that read most of their stuff on computer screens now, rather than buying physical copies? Is that not the worst nightmare for a magazine publisher?
– ”It is better that people read them online than them not reading at all. I still believe in the physical magazines, but they have to move with the times, both content wise and technically”.
When you arrived in Sweden in the 1960s, the sexual revolution was in full swing and there was a decade when our freedoms were tested and when it was OK to push boundaries. I could sense a clear decline of this spirit in the 1980s that publications like OKEJ got to experience. Lately, this decline has catched on again but now it seems that even freedom of speech is in danger. How do you look at this?
– ”Yes, freedom of speech is in danger as far as magazine publishing is concerned in this country. New talents are not allowed to test the waters because of Tidsam (distributor), they want 500,000 kr (about 50,000£) for you to even publish your first issue. Then you can just forget about it. This alone would have stopped me back in the day had it existed then. It is sad. When freedom is curtailed the liberal ideas are always attacked. It has happened before and it will happen again”.
What can we learn from the 1960s and 1970s today? Have we lost something that we took for granted?
– ”What we can learn from those days are less anxiety, in everything. People dared to do things back then. You need more courage in Sweden. Not least in my business, publishing magazines. Without this spirit the printing machines will soon be silent. And this time, forever”.
Was there ever an idea that you never got to do?
– ”Yes, there was an idea that I never got around to do at Frida Förlag, since they were bought by Allers Förlag”.
Are you still checking out what is out there? I love keeping up with what is going on out there in the magazine world, I will buy copies just to see what they are up to.
– ”Yes, I still keep track on what is going on, but I can see the decline in the kiosks and the super markets. I do buy magazines every now and then to check them out and to see who had the balls to do it”.
Are you still in touch with any of the artists from the golden years or does one leave it behind and move on?
– ”No, I no longer have any contact with artists from the golden years, which would be 1974-1986”.
I noticed that you visited a KISS ARMY meeting recently, how often are you invited to things like this?
– ”Not very often, but I will be there if some organizer that is enthusiastic gets in touch”.
What do you think of the Swerdish magazine scene today?
– ”I can feel a certain admiration for the people that are trying to realize their goals in the media climate that exists today. I can not say that I envy them”.
One often hears that circulations is plummeting and that times are hard. Where is this going?
– ”I still believe in physical magazines, but the future will come from new places, not from the old dinosaurs, Allers, Bonniers. They are going nowhere”.
I saw an ad not long ago that said that 20% of the youth (up to 15) in Sweden could not read or understand comic books. What can we do to turn this around?
– ”First of all, the schools must ensure that the kids can read and write properly. If they can, things will look brighter for the magazine business. No illiterates will buy their product, physical or online. I myself came here and had to learn the language and I did it by reading magazines and books etc. Now I have written books about my journey. Is this not the best proof of all that we need more physical product, not less? The big companies are cancelling titles”.
(End of interview)
By Mike Eriksson (if quoted let me know about it) – Retrofuture 8 (2015) / Trinkelbonker (2021)
(My shots of Retrofuture spreads and Hatwig books)
…
CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: MURASAKI 2021 (December 3 2021), PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 1, November 22 2021), CARINA LIROLA 2008 (November 9 2021), TOTO 1987 (September 17 2021), HEAVEN & EARTH 2001 (July 25 2021), STUART SMITH 1998 (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
I rediscovered Murasaki a few months ago as a friend of mine (Hello Kalle!) played their classic live album in his car and I wondered what had happened to them. I did find some information, but not much. However, to my delight keyboard player George Murasaki had a Facebook page going and because of that I was able to get in touch. I basically asked if he would consider doing an interview for this blog and so the project was launched. George is a busy guy and I had sent over a whole bunch of questions – I figured he would get around to it when the timing was right on his end and here we are – the first interview with George made for an international audience in quite a while. I do feel that we get a lot of history here and that collectors might be interested to hear about the Murasaki catalogue in some detail (and that they have released new music in recent years). Also, fans will be delighted to know that they are recording a new album as we speak and that other current projects are in the works as well. I will tag this interview to the Deep Purple Family on this blog. Read on and you will know why. Enjoy.
Murasaki was formed in 1970 in Okinawa, so you must have been one of the first hard rock bands in Japan. Can you tell me a little bit about the music scene on Okinawa and in Japan and how it was back then? How old were you guys when you formed the band?
– ”The music scene here has changed considerably since when we started out as a hard rock band. It’s probably like anywhere else – many of the younger musicians have been influenced by rap and hip-hop, and we hear a lot of local pop music with rap in the middle of an ordinary pop song. There still are some younger musicians trying to play rock/metal, etc, but many fall out, giving up, as they can’t draw much attention. In addition, popular music in Japan has become very diverse – so much that I wouldn’t be able to finish this interview if I went into details. Anyway, when we started out playing music in the early 1970s, Okinawa was still under US administration, and there were (and still are) many military bases in Okinawa. Many US servicemen at the time were into rock music, so there was great demand for rock bands. Not only local Okinawan bands, but also bands formed by the servicemen themselves, Filipino bands, and even South Korean bands played at on-base clubs as well as off-base local bars and clubs. The local economy was booming at the time because of the Vietnam war. The servicemen were paid very well, so they had a lot of money to spend when they came back to Okinawa from the frontlines in Vietnam. Probably because they were afraid they might not make it back to Okinawa from Vietnam, they would practically spend all their money drinking at bars and clubs, spending on women working at the bars, and spending on drugs, etc when they were in Okinawa. When I formed Murasaki, we were all around 20 years old”.
Was it difficult to get gigs on mainland Japan in the early days?
– ”In the early days, Okinawa was under US administration as I mentioned earlier, so it was not until after Okinawa’s reversion to Japanese administration in 1972 that traveling to mainland Japan became easier. That is when Japanese journalists, people from record companies, etc. started coming to Okinawa for scouting promising talent – singers, musicians, bands, etc. In our case, we had several record companies approaching us for a recording contract around 1973-1974. We landed a contract with Tokuma Music Industries, from where we released two studio albums, a 2-disc live album, and several singles. Once we got signed on, we simply took off and had a big break, touring from Okinawa in the south to Hokkaido in the north. Our albums sold very well for a rock band at the time, and apparently a Swedish record company contacted Tokuma for permission to release our music in Sweden”.
Was it controversial for men to have long hair in the early 1970s in Japan?
– ”I believe if a man had long hair back then, he would likely have been called a hippie.”
Did Okinawa ever get any visits from international acts or did you have to go to the mainland to catch shows?
– ”In the early days people like James Brown would perform at US military bases. Later on, American bands like Styx, Kansas, and a combination of musicians from various bands came to Okinawa to perform at the military bases. Before May 15, 1972 (date of Okinawa’s reversion to Japan), it was difficult to travel to mainland Japan from Okinawa, so I missed several big acts like Grand Funk Railroad, Led Zeppelin, ELP, etc. Deep Purple came to Japan in August 1972, so I was able to go to Osaka with my younger brother to see them in concert for two days at the Osaka Royal Festival Hall”.
You always had English lyrics, was that unique for a Japanese band back then?
– ”I wrote the lyrics for my songs in English, as I was educated at US military dependents schools in Okinawa, graduating from high school there and going on to UCLA (University of California in Los Angeles), where I majored in mathematics and minored in music, taking piano, voice, and pipe organ classes. The pipe organ lessons were held normally in rooms with small pipe organs, but once a month I received lessons on a very large pipe organ installed in the University’s Schoenberg Hall. Also, I was able to write lyrics better in English than in Japanese”.
How was the support from Japanese media for Murasaki? I know very little about the Japanese music magazine scene in the early 1970s, except for Music Life.
– ”Music Life was the most popular music magazine back then, but there were several other magazines. One of them was Ongaku Senka, which carried my interview with Jon Lord. Music Life had an annual readers’ popularity poll, where readers would vote for their favorite foreign band, guitarist, vocalist, bassist, drummer, keyboardist, composer, etc, as well as the similar categories for domestic (Japanese) bands. Murasaki first emerged #in 1976 and then # in 1977. I was voted #1 keyboardist in 1978. In the Japanese edition of Contemporary Keyboard magazine, I was voted #3 in the same year. Other than Music Life and Ongaku Senka, there emerged other magazines such as Rocking F, Rocking On, Young Guitar and Burrn (yes that’s correct, 2 r’s)”.
What bands did you see in the early 1970s and what did they mean to you?
– ”As I mentioned seeing Deep Purple for two nights in Osaka in 1972 (I also saw them in Osaka with the other members of Murasaki in 1973), I met Jon Lord and interviewed him when Deep Purple (with Tommy Bolin on guitar, Glenn Hughes on Bass & vocals, and David Coverdale on lead vocals, not to mention Ian Paice and Jon Lord) came to Tokyo in December 1975. He graciously accepted my request to meet and talk with him after I left a message for him with the hotel reception desk. Speaking with Jon about rock and classical music was the highlight at the time, as I questioned him about why and how he went on to compose the “Concerto for Group and Orchestra”. After the interview, he invited me to the soundcheck, and I met the rest of the members, with whom I took several photos. I gave a Murasaki sticker to Glenn Hughes. At first, he stuck it to the back pocket of his white overalls that he wore on stage. However, his girlfriend at the time (one of the twin sisters, who later became Jon’s wife Vicky) told Glenn to put the sticker on the front side (which you can see in pictures of Glenn performing at the Budokan in 1975). I’m sure you already know, but the other twin sister, Jacky, who became Ian Paice’s wife, was already dating him at the time.
What did you think of Deep Purple MK4 when you saw them? Was it controversial for Purple to visit Japan without Ritchie Blackmore at the time or do you feel that they had the support from the audience still with Tommy Bolin?
– ”Tommy was okay, but he reportedly injured his hand when they performed in Indonesia (?), so he wasn’t at his best. However, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes put on a splendid performance, as did Jon and Ian. After the show, I welcomed them backstage, telling them how great the show was. However, I noticed that nobody looked happy. I believe that they all felt that the performance that evening was far even from “satisfactory”.”
How did you get signed and when did it happen?
– ”After Okinawa’s reversion to Japanese administration in 1972, people could freely travel between Okinawa and mainland Japan. Journalists, record company scouts, etc. came searching for promising young musicians. We started getting a lot of exposure on a wide range of media, including weekly and monthly magazines covering not only music but also social, economic, and political topics, as well as radio and television. There was a lot of interest in Okinawa as a whole, since Okinawa was still relatively unknown to many mainland Japanese people. The island itself began attracting a lot of tourists as a tropical resort with its beautiful skies, ocean, and warm weather. Several record company scouts approached us, but we finally signed a recording contract with Tokuma in 1975 (this was at a time when disco was on the rise). Our first gig after signing the contract was on August 8, 1975 at the site of the Osaka World Expo. More than 6,000 fans turned out at this event, which actually was a contest for young bands just starting out. We were one of the guest bands for this event, but we were the headliner among the guest bands. When we went on stage, people who were watching the stage from way in the back started running toward the front of the stage. That was a very surprising scene for us, as we had never expected such a reaction from the audience on our very first appearance in mainland Japan. Our performance at this event was recorded and released in an omnibus album titled “8.8 Rock Day.” After this event, we went on to record our first studio album in Tokyo”.
The Deep Purple and Uriah Heep influence can be heard in your music, how did you approach the songwriting on the first album?
– ”Since we had two guitarists, we used to play some Allman Brothers songs when we performed in Okinawa. However, I had much influence from Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore, as you can easily tell from the songs I wrote back then. The record company asked us to include one Deep Purple song in the album, so I chose “Lazy”, which was my favorite song at the time. We also used to play Uriah Heep songs, so perhaps you might sense some influence from that band, too. However, contrary to what most people think, I believe Ritchie had a lot of influence on my songwriting, although Jon, of course, had a lot of influence on my Hammond organ playing”.
How was the response for the self-titled ”Murasaki” album in Japan and elsewhere?
– ”Our first album sold about 40,000 copies when most Japanese rock bands were striving to sell 10,000 copies, so it was quite successful from the record company’s perspective. What was interesting was that the album sold well not only in Okinawa (the southernmost part of Japan) but also in Hokkaido (the northernmost part of Japan). Of course, the album also sold well in Tokyo. We were not aware of this at the time, but a Swedish record company called Heavy Sound Records got permission to release our albums in Sweden. I was told about this after our band broke up the first time in late 1978. Perhaps, we could have continued without breaking up had we known about this”.
Some songs are almost tributes to classic Purple tunes etc. I quite enjoy that twist listening to some of your stuff now.
– ”Like I mentioned earlier, it’s probably the Ritchie Blackmore influence on my songwriting that you sense from some of the songs”.
It seems that you recorded the second album, ”Impact”, fairly soon after the debut. I have seen both late 1975 and early 1976 as release date, which was it?
– ”We recorded our first album from late 1975 to early 1976. It was released in April 1976. I think we started recording our second album in late 1976. I’m not quite sure, but “Impact” was released either in December 1976 or early 1977”.
How long did it take to record the first two albums?
– ”We were allowed about two weeks to record each of those albums”.
I remember the breakup of Purple in 1976 as a sad thing. Did you continue to follow the guys in Rainbow, Whitesnake, etc. over the years?
– ”Yes, I followed all of them. In fact, when Rainbow came to Japan for the first time in 1976, I had the opportunity to interview Ronnie James Dio and Cozy Powell for Music Life magazine. Ronnie was such a nice guy. He politely answered all the questions I had for him. What surprised me even more was when he even recognized me after all these years when I met him later when he came to Japan as a guest during DP’s tour featuring Jon’s “Concerto for Group and Orchestra” in 2001”.
In 1977 you played a major festival in Japan and you also released your first live album, ”Doin’ Our Thing at The Live House Murasaki.” How popular was Murasaki in Japan then and did you get to perform outside of Japan as well?
– ”The band was quite popular not only in Okinawa but also throughout mainland Japan, as I mentioned earlier that our albums sold very well in Hokkaido, and our concerts were packed there. We had a following consisting not only US servicemen in Okinawan but also young Okinawan fans as well as fans in mainland Japan”.
Back then I remember friends of mine here in Sweden (all fans of Purple) that bought your albums on import from classic record stores like Jannes Skivbar in Kungälv and Heavy Sound in Stockholm. Were you aware at that time that you had fans in Scandinavia?
– ”No, not until our Japanese record company told me that our albums were being released in Sweden. Actually, I started realizing we had some avid fans in Sweden when I first publicized by Facebook page several years ago, and the first message I received was from Sweden from a person named Erik Wahlström. He said he bought our albums when they came out in Sweden and had been listening to them on heavy rotation. I was pleasantly surprised at reading his comments. In fact, he showed me all his collections of Murasaki LPs, singles, and CDs, as well as various other albums on which I appeared, including two albums I recorded with my band George Murasaki & Mariner, which I formed after the first Murasaki split in 1978. This band was also short-lived due to immigration/visa problems playing in Japan, since I still had recording contract with Tokuma, and all the other members were Americans. Even the second person who sent a message on my FB page was another person born in Sweden who said he was living/working in Finland. So, I guess we could have possibly performed in Sweden if Murasaki hadn’t broken up”.
In 1979 you released a second live album, ”Live – Rock Power”. Can you please tell us about what was going on at the time? How was the 1980s for Murasaki?
– ”Actually, that album is a Swedish release. It is an edited version of our double-LP “Doin’ Our Thing at the Live House Murasaki”. I formed another band that I named George Murasaki & Okinawa after the Mariner breakup. Later, we just called ourselves Okinawa. This band became quite popular among US servicemen and local rock music fans. In 1983, avid rock fans and supporters wanted to see a Murasaki reunion, so we got back together for an outdoor concert titled “Murasaki! Why now? Peaceful Love Rock Concert.” It turned out to be quite successful, with a very large turnout for an outdoor concert by a single band. In fact, our promoters and we decided to put on another event the following year with several bands, so we changed “concert’ to “festival” and went on with the title “Peaceful Love Rock Festival.” This rock festival has continued for more than 30 years, with only one interruption due to a typhoon. However, due to COVID-19, the festival has been suspended for the last two years”.
You did a show with Ian Gillan´s band in 1992, what happened there?
– ”When the Ian Gillan Band toured Japan in February 1992, the local promoter in Okinawa managed to book them for one night in Okinawa before all other shows that were scheduled in mainland Japan. The promoter contacted me and asked me to put together the original members of Murasaki (we were all involved in different projects at the time) and open up for the Ian Gillan Band. I called the other members, and they all agreed to do this gig. To our surprise, the combination of Murasaki and the Ian Gillan Band had a very synergistic effect, resulting in a very large turnout. The venue (Okinawa Convention Center Theater) has a capacity of slightly more than 1,700, but it turned out that a couple of hundred fans that came late were turned back because the venue was completely sold out and packed with some people forced to stand at the back of the hall. Murasaki itself was inactive at the time, so our fans were apparently dying to see us get together again, since the band’s last reunion was nearly 10 years ago. Therefore, many of our old fans came to see us perform once again in front of them. In addition, they were being treated to a genuine hard rock band featuring Deep Purple MK II vocalist Ian Gillan. I think Ian felt very good starting off with a large turnout in the very first performance of his band during that tour. However, he must have been disappointed after he left Okinawa and performed in venues in mainland Japan because it reportedly turned out that the band drew only about 500-600 fans at each of those venues”.
In 1998 you released what I assume was a comeback album, ”Back to The Roots”. Have you been active ever since? I can see that you have released another couple of studio albums since then, ”Purplessence” in 2010 and ”Quasar” in 2016.
– ”This album was the result of a concert the original members of Murasaki got together to pay tribute to a PA sound engineer who died in a traffic accident. It was an outdoor concert that drew a very large crowd. We gave about 3.5 million Japanese yen in proceeds to charity for families/victims of traffic accidents. Murasaki currently consists of four of the original members (me, the drummer, the two guitarist, and two newer members, one on vocals (who was the lead singer in Mariner) and a young bassist). This band was formed in 2007 and is still active. We released “Purplessence” in 2010, a mini-album titled “Eyes Wide Open” in 2013, and “Quasar” in 2016. We did a mini-tour of mainland Japan to promote those albums, performing in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Nagoya, Kobe, etc”.
”Purplessence” is a great title. Sounds like a tribute to Purple. I mean, they could have come up with that, it sounds cool.
– ”Yes, that’s a title I had kept in my mind for a very long time, hoping to release a song or album by that name. I gave that album to Ian Paice when he came to Japan to play in an event titled “Tribute to the artists fighting cancer ROCK SUMMIT 2014.” I also gave “Purplessence,” “Eyes Wide Open,” “Back to the Roots” and “Quasar” to both Ian Paice and Don Airey when they performed at the Osaka Festival Hall in 2018. Ian invited me backstage and also introduced me to Don”.
What do you think of Deep Purple with Steve Morse and Don Airey?
– ”Don and Steve are both very excellent musicians in their own right, and the band sounds very good with them, but I still prefer Deep Purple with Jon and Ritchie”.
Are you still residing in Okinawa?
– ”Yes, I still reside in Okinawa.
Did you have a say in what songs that was chosen for the 2005 compilation album ”Golden Best” or was that a record company project? Would you consider it a good representation of the early days?
– ”No, that was just a record company project. If I had a say in selecting the songs for this album, I would have left out the last song. It’s a song that our drummer wrote. The lyrics are in Japanese, and the song is not really hard rock, not even close to a rock ballad. It’s a song that was basically a filler in our double-LP live album”.
I really like that cover. Do you remember that photo-session?
– ”Yes, the photos were taken in the lawn/garden at a house that a fan (a US serviceman) was renting close to a beach in central Okinawa at the time”.
Are your albums all still available in Japan and how do people outside of Japan get a hold of them these days? Would you welcome labels outside of Japan to contact you so that we could get this stuff easier in the West?
– ”Our recent albums are still available in Japan, and I think it is still possible to get a hold of the older albums possibly on Yahoo, Amazon, etc. Your suggestion about having foreign labels contacting me about our albums to make it easier for foreigners to acquire them is a very good idea. If you can make that happen, you’re more than welcome”.
As we got in touch you mentioned that you always wanted to play in Sweden with Murasaki. My suggestion would be Sweden Rock Festival. Would you come if you were asked and if the deal was OK?
– ”Yes, we would definitely go to Sweden. In fact, Akira Takasaki (guitarist for Loudness), who is a very good friend of my son Ray (as well as myself) has told me that we would get a good reception in a country like Sweden. A few years ago, when Murasaki performed in Taiwan, I happened to watch a TV show where the MC was interviewing Takasaki and Loudness vocalist Niihara. I phoned Takasaki to tell him I was watching him on television. When he answered the phone, he told me he was in Sweden performing at the Sweden Rock Festival! That’s when he told me that Murasaki should play in Sweden at this rock festival. So, if we were asked and the deal was OK, we would definitely go to Sweden. Incidentally, Erik, the person who first posted a message on my FB page, also said that although he doesn’t know the promoters or anyone involved in it, he would like to see us play at the Sweden Rock Festival”.
How many concerts do you do these days? Has the concert scene opened up yet in Japan after the Covid-19 situation?
– ”We were very limited in trying to perform due to the COVID-19 situation for the past two years, however the situation has significantly improved in Japan due to some unknown reason. My two sons (one is a vocalist/guitarist named Ray and the other is a drummer named Leon) run a live music club called “7th Heaven Koza.” Murasaki performs there off and on. The club just commemorated its 21st anniversary with a two-day event on November 20th and 21st, featuring Murasaki, Akira Takasaki and Niihara of Loudness, Hironobu Kageyama (who formerly played with Takasaki in a pre-Loudness group called Lazy and is well known as an ani-son (anime song) singer for many ani-son hits such as “Cha-La-Head-Cha-La” (theme song for a Japanese anime (cartoon) titled “Dragon Ball Z” and is the leader of his ani-son group “Jam Project.”)”. Murasaki is scheduled to perform in our 50th anniversary event on December 4th (Japan time). It will be livestreamed worldwide”.
What have you done personally outside of Murasaki over the years? Did you ever record a solo album?
– ”Not a real solo album per se, but I have recorded a couple of albums of my own compositions featuring a famous 20-string koto player named Keiko Nosaka and titled “Nirai Kanai Requiem 1945” and a shakuhachi player named Kifu Mitsuhashi titled “Nirai Kanai Triangle,” as well as a tenor singer named Manabu Ooi (who has performed twice at the Carnegie Hall in New York in the early 1990s) titled “Aoi Kaze Okinawa”. I am planning to record a real solo album probably next year some time”.
As you said, you played with Ian Paice in 2014 at the “Tribute to the artists fighting cancer ROCK SUMMIT 2014 featuring IAN PAICE” show, of which parts was later released on DVD.
– ”In addition to many Japanese drummers summoned to this event in November 2014, the promoters also had other musicians (guitarists, bassists, and keyboardists) participate in the event. I happened to be invited along with another keyboardist and performed several Deep Purple tunes. I played on ”Lazy” and ”Highway Star” as well as ”Smoke on the Water” at the end of the show. A DVD titled “IAN PAICE THE LEGEND” was released in May 2016, but unfortunately, due to royalty issues, the Deep Purple songs that were performed during that event was not included in the DVD. In any case, I got to perform these Deep Purple songs with Ian on the drums, so it was quite an experience. Ian was also such a very nice person that when I asked him whether he would be willing to play drums if I could set up a concert at least in Okinawa and possibly other places in mainland Japan to perform Jon’s “Concerto for Group and Orchestra”, he said he would gladly do so, although spending time with his grandchildren was his top priority at the moment. If the COVID-19 situation ever improves, I’m hoping I can get Ian to come to Okinawa some time in the future and perform Jon’s Concerto with him on drums”.
We have talked about Purple and the old bands. Have you followed the rock scene over the years and have you found something that you enjoy recently?
– ”I like Yes and ELP, which are older bands, but among more recent bands, I like Dream Theater. In fact, when I was visiting my family in California many years ago, Deep Purple, ELP, and Dream Theater were performing on the same stage at Universal Studios. I also like Europe, Stratovarius, Nightwish, etc. Halestorm also sounds good. They came to play at a festival on a US military base in Okinawa in 2013, and we performed with them. More recently, Greta Van Fleet sounds good to me”.
How is the Japanese rock scene progressing in your opinion and do you feel that you have some respect for what you have achieved in the early days when you pioneered this music in Japan?
– ”As I mentioned earlier, the music scene in Japan has really diversified. There are so many groups playing different kinds of music nowadays. However, groups that really made a big break and have continued to put out good music are still active. Among them are Loudness, B’z, Galneryus, Anthem and Babymetal, to name a few. Current members of Loudness, B’z, and Anthem all came to watch us or listened to our records or performances when they were young school kids”.
Can you mention some Japanese artists that you enjoy?
– ”Currently, OBSESSION, a duo consisting of classical pianist Yuko Mifune and drummer Akira Horikoshi, is my most favorite group (?). They perform classical music, but the performances by just the two of them sound like a big orchestra. I heard them in Okinawa for the first time two years ago. I was so impressed that I wanted to play classical music in a style they had developed. Horikoshi-san apparently listened to Murasaki when he was very young, so when he found out I was coming to their concert, he was there to greet me right away. They are still relatively unknown, so they only had a small turn out at the concert I went to. Since they impressed me so much, I felt that I had to let as many people as possible know about their existence. In fact, I asked them if they would be willing to perform in Okinawa again, if I set up a concert for them. They immediately said they would like to do so. It ended up with a music store and a small local civic center promoting their concert scheduled for July last year. I received a call from Horikoshi-san asking me to perform as a guest at their concert. However, due to COVID-19, the concert got postponed twice. Finally, we got to perform together just last week (November 26). It was quite an experience. We performed two of my original instrumental pieces, one of my favorite songs by Debussy titled “The Sunken Cathedral” and Sibelius’ “Finlandia””.
I rediscovered Japanese rock through Babymetal, which is probably not that unusual in the West these days. I would say that the musicianship in Japan is quite incredible. There are so many skilled musicians and bands out there now. I feel that it is a wonderful thing that rock is still alive and that it is still growing. It may be underground in mainstream media but what we have now is magazines that exclusively supports hard rock and metal. I would say that this started for real in the 1980s and that all the pioneers of the 1970s forged the way. The festival scene in Europe is like family gatherings. You have two, three generations enjoying the same music. It is a wonderful thing. How is the festival scene in Japan these days?
– ”Yes, I agree that there are many skilled musicians in Japan. The only problem is that many of them get too involved in the technical aspect and fail to express the emotional/spiritual aspects of music. However, Isao, the guitarist that plays for Babymetal (KamiBand), is an excellent musician. Leon, the younger of my two sons who is a drummer, is friends with Isao. Isao came to Okinawa two years and we performed together at 7th Heaven Koza”.
What are you up to at the moment? Can we expect more music?
– ”A young movie director recently won a competition sponsored by a major film promoting company in Japan. He recently completed filming the movie initially scheduled to be completed last year but was postponed due to COVID-19. His movie consists of comedy/science fiction/time trip elements based on the music scene in Okinawa in the 1970s and the current situation. This movie has already been premiered at an international film festival in Hawaii last month. It is scheduled to be shown in Okinawa on January 21, followed by a nationwide release in early February. Some of the people involved in this movie have decided to shoot a documentary movie on Murasaki. They have started shooting since September, targeting completion by the end of the year. It is scheduled to be shown on May 15, 2022 (the date of the 50th anniversary of Okinawa to Japanese administration). Also, Murasaki will perform a 50th Anniversary show at the 7th Heaven Koza club in Okinawa on December 4 (Japan time) and it will be livestreamed (for ¥3,000) for fans that wants to see the show”.
Will there be another Murasaki album?
– ”Murasaki is working on a new album also scheduled for release on May 15, 2022”.
(End of interview)
By Mike Eriksson (if quoted let me know about it) – Trinkelbonker (2021)
(Pictures courtesy of George Murasaki, additional images of OBSESSION and Isao added to highlight said artists – Thank you Kalle Thelin for reintroducing me to Murasaki again)
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CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: PUBLISHER HANS HATWIG 2015 (Part 1, November 22 2021), CARINA LIROLA 2008 (November 9 2021), TOTO 1987 (September 17 2021), HEAVEN & EARTH 2001 (July 25 2021), STUART SMITH 1998 (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
I interviewed legendary (German born) Swedish magazine publisher Hans Hatwig in 2015 for the final issue of Retrofuture (issue 8, March 2015). The magazine was launched at the Jane Doe Bar in Östersund on March 4 and we had Thomas Drevin (220 Volt) and Björn Höglund (Hoven Droven) as DJs playing Kiss and Deep Purple tunes all night long. This is a translation into English for obvious reasons and the second part of this interview will be up on this blog on December 24 (2021). This first part takes us through his early life and into the successful years of Hatwig publishing Tiffany and POSTER in Sweden. The magazine also sports a full page about his two books but this is not featured here. Enjoy.
We have decided that this interview will deal with your career publishing magazines, so I would like to start this interview with you describing what you could read as a youth in West Germany. Did BRAVO exist back then?
– ”Yes, BRAVO did exist when I was a teenager, but I never read it. As a kid I read comic books like Sigurd, Akim, Tarzan and Donald Duck. There were also some German ones, Fix & Foxi, Lupo and Pit & Alf. The latter was my favourite as it had a young boy and a shepherd dog solving mysteries. As I had very little money I never bought these comics, I got them second hand or by trade”.
Could you get magazines on import back then?
– ”No, I do not think that that was going on in any real sense back then”.
Reading your books, one can understand that sexual content in magazines was still outlawed in West Germany when you arrived here in the mid-1960s. Are we talking about publications like PLAYBOY as well then?
– ”There was striptease and nudist publications, and we did have PLAYBOY with its long interviews (with famous people like Roman Polanski), that I loved as a teenager. The pictures of nude ladies were nice to see but what I really enjoyed the most in PLAYBOY was the interviews”.
What is your opinion on Hugh Hefner, the man that created PLAYBOY.
– ”I admired Hugh Hefner and thought that he was a pioneer of his trade and I thought he was cool, with the mansion and all that. He had this big bed and you saw him smoking a pipe in his pyjamas creating the magazines, drinking Pepsi Cola. It was a very exclusive magazine, thick with fantastic illustrations, knife sharp colour images, big foldouts and loooong interviews. This all made me want to be a publisher some day”.
What was your take on the Swedish magazine scene when you arrived in Sweden?
– ”In the early days I was not really aware of what was going on in Sweden. That came when I started to work for HSON. I was really not that interested in the Swedish weeklies, except for SE. I did like Berth Milton Seniors pornographic magazine PRIVATE though, that was sold in bags that you had to cut up back then. The print and the content was outstanding for the day”.
You had not been here long before you got to work for HSON, that published erotic titles. Were the models Swedish or did you buy the pictures from abroad?
– ”When I did the layout for HSONs RAFF and PAFF most of the pictures came from France. Later, when I did layout for PARLEK and PRINCE in the early 1970s, the models were Swedish”.
Tell me about the formats that these publications had and what was positive or negative about it.
– ”The erotic publications RAFF and PAFF was made in pocket format, while MODELL NATURELL and PARLEK came out in the same format as comic books. But with thicker and better paper. It was all good, I never had a problem working with these formats”.
You also produced a publication for the German market called GEIL that you had to smuggle into the country. How many issues came out and how many did you print?
– ”The made for Germany publication was pocket sized and I did eight issues. I sold 4,000-8,000 copies of each issue, it used to differ. It was so small you could put it into a small envelope. But each issue still had two foldouts”.
What is the second hand value these days on auction sites?
– ”I have no idea, I have never checked it out. My old pop magazines are very expensive to collect these days though”.
After HSON you met your soon to be wife Marie-Louise in Umeå and after a while the two of you moved to Stockholm as the publishing business was what you wanted to be involved in. You worked for Prince Press and Träffen and then you was offered a job att Svenska serier that had the pop magazine TIFFANY going. Was it good to leave the sex field behind you for something new?
– ”Yes, that was a relief but I had only landed there by chance initially anyway. Most of all I wanted to create weekly publications but it took me years to reach that goal. That did not happen until I sold POSTER to Saxon & Lindströms. When I joined TIFFANY they would sell about 12,000 copies per issue on a monthly basis. When I remade it into a pop magazine sales increased to 98,000”.
You worked on TIFFANY for a few years and at that time you also launched POSTER. How did you get the idea for POSTER and was it easy to sell the idea to your publishing company?
– ”I got the idea for the POSTER magazine from the West German youth publication BRAVO-POSTER. I never went to a publishing company, I went to a printer – Universaltryck – that helped me publish it”.
POSTER was outstanding at the time, the quality of the paper and the print was superb. Did you have to fight for it?
– ”Not really, the printing company was in full agreement that a poster magazine had to have a very high quality”.
You worked with some of the best known photograpers of the day, which made POSTER even better. Back in those days pictures could not be mailed from a photographer in seconds. How was it done, was it sent by special delivery somehow?
– ”Sometimes we got pictures by mail but the photographers also used to drop by the office and showcase what they had”.
I have to assume that POSTER was a wonderful publication to create for somebody that loves layout and great pictures. I am looking at the book about POSTER now (”POSTER – Nordens största poptidning 1974-1980”, Premium Publishing 2008), and they showcase all the covers. To start with, I have to say that the logotype for POSTER was very successful. Do you recall coming up with that?
– ”I do not recall how that came about, other than creating it in my kitchen in Handen where I lived. It looked Rainbow like with the colours and I liked the stars”.
Most of the covers had famous people on the covers. Who was the semi-nude young girl at the third issue, 1 1975?
– ”I have no idea who the girl was, only that she was really pretty. I bought the image from one of these photo agencies, I do not recall which one”.
In the beginning you went with stars like Jane Seymour (3 1975), Brigitte Bardot (5 1975) and Raquel Welch (6 1975) on the covers, before switching to pop and rock stars.
– ”I was very influenced by BRAVO in the beginning, and since they had that sort of thing going I just followed them. But after a while I thought that BRAVO-POSTER had too many landscapes and not enough pop artists so I went my own way. At that point I think I created a better magazine than they did”.
Deep Purple were often part of POSTER, even after Ritchie Blackmore had left them and Tommy Bolin had joined. What did you think of them?
– ”I never had a lot of opinions about Deep Purple since I did not know a lot about that group. But they were hugely popular among the readers and so I made sure that they were part of the magazine. I do feel that Ritchie Blackmore was more interesting than Tommy Bolin though”.
KISS popped up in issue 3 1975 and then became part of basically every single issue. How did you discover them and how long did it take you to establish a working relationship with them?
– ”The American photographer Barry Levine showed me pictures of KISS on a rooftop in Los Angeles when he visited the office in Stockholm and I was immediately fascinated by their image and ordered more photo sessions from Barry. Later I would also ask Fin Costello and Andrej Csillag and others to take pictures and they all sent them to me. No other publication cared about KISS in Sweden at the time, it was just me and POSTER. KISS themselves thought it was cool that a Swedish publication showed such an interest in the group. The rest is history”.
For fans of KISS, POSTER was a huge source of joy and it has to be said that you made their success over here, at least it happened way faster than it would had you not done what you did. In the fall of 1977 you printed the first KISS Special and that must have been a bit of a risk since it was now down to only one band to sell the magazines. How did KISS react to the news?
– ”The KISS Special was made because the public demand was huge. The band loved it.”.
In 1978 you repeated the idea with an ABBA Special. According to your book, they had some ideas about that. So what happened?
– ”They had a bit of an issue with me using pictures from Barry Levine before they had had a chance to see them. Their manager Stikkan Andersson threatened to sue me but decided not to since POSTER was such a big publication. We became friends again and I did get to visit him in his home for an exclusive story”.
The cover with Agnetha Fältskog, on which she is licking a lollipop (2 1976) is awesome. How did you get her to do that? These images are very saucy. In my opinion, these images are among the best that has ever been taken.
– ”It was not a problem to ask Agnetha to do that, she was a true professional. She respected me as a photographer and a magazine publisher”.
You also gave The Runaways a lot of space. The first cover was for issue 3 1977. What was it like working with them?
– ”The manager Kim Fowley used to call me up in the middle of the night and play new songs from different artists that he wanted to hear my opinion on. I decided to publish The Runaways in POSTER after such a call”.
You also gave Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy) and Angus Young (AC/DC) covers (10 & 11 1977) at a time when hard rock was hated by Swedish media. You really were the one guy in this country then that defended our music.
– ”Yes, I was the first guy to support hard rock in Sweden. I was simply ahead of my time”.
Mats Olsson and other music journalists at the time had no problem hating both the artists and their audience in print. POSTER had a more positive attitude. It was quite a contrast.
– ”Mats Olsson discarded the hard rock bands until POSTER helped make them popular in Sweden. Then he changed his mind and pretended that he had always liked them”.
PLAYBOY model Barbi Benton had a huge hit in Sweden in 1977 after having been seen singing in the tv-show McCloud, and you gave her two covers (6 & 10 1977). Did you meet her?
– ”Yes, it was me that took those shots, both for the covers and the posters inside. I took them at Hotel Sheraton in Stockholm”.
You also published SUPER-POSTER in West Germany. Tell us a bit about that.
– ”I set up a deal with a magazine distributor in Hamburg and sent over 125,000 copies per month of SUPER-POSTER to my old country. It was the biggest export out of Sweden ever”.
The stars in the logo disappeared after issue 6 1979, was it at that point that the problems started?
– ”As soon as Saxon & Lindströms had bought the rights for POSTER from me it started to drop in circulation. The owners, Mats and Bosse Lindström just wanted to make money. At that point the fun went out of it. Also, I wanted to create a new magazine at the time, OKEJ.
To be continued…
By Mike Eriksson (if quoted let me know about it) – Retrofuture 8 (2015) / Trinkelbonker (2021)
(My shots of the POSTER book, Retrofuture 8 and bar flyer etc)
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CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: CARINA LIROLA 2008 (November 9 2021), TOTO 1987 (September 17 2021), HEAVEN & EARTH 2001 (July 25 2021), STUART SMITH 1998 (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
Here is another interview from the archives. It was made in early 2007, but with some additional questions answered by Carina in early March 2008, and then it saw print in SLICE 2008 (Global Edition) in May of that year. At the time, I considered Carina Lirola to be one of the most interesting ladies in rock and she had released a couple of videos (of which ”The Time Has Come” is really good). She was also moving in interesting circles, and had done some work with Bernie Torme from Gillan etc. It was all happening. I think it deserves to be highlighted again. Enjoy.
What is your full name and where do you currently reside?
– “Carina Lirola, I live in Liverpool (home of The Beatles, ha ha!!)”.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you discovered music.
– “My Dad is a guitarist and I grew up hearing a lot of rock records like AC/DC, The Who, Van Halen, around the house so it is in my blood”.
Can you mention a few people or artists that inspired you and what they meant to you?
– “Van Halen, Eddie and David Lee Roth are the classic duo of killer guitarist and dynamic front men, I love classic Van Halen – Metallica, they are great! I love the “Black” album, especially “Sad But True” and “Enter Sand Man”, Lars is one of my favourite drummers, and James is a great player. Ozzy Osbourne, I love Randy Rhoads, the first two Ozzy albums are amazing, “Crazy Train”, “I Don´t know”, “Mr Crowley” rock!”.
If you could pick three records to take with you to a desert island, which would they be?
– “Ozzy “Crazy Train”, Yngwie Malmsteen “Far Beyond The Sun”, Van Halen “Panama””.
When did you record music for the first time?
– “When I was three. My dad recorded me singing and that was my first time in a studio”.
If you have to pick out a few favourite tunes from your catalogue, which would they be?
– “”Tears Of Silence” because it was the first song I wrote, and I love it!! “Loaded” because it was my first video shoot, “Cinderella Is Dead”, Yngwies drummer Patrick Johansson is playing on this. “Broken” becuse I wrote this with Bernie Torme, he is an amazing guitarist and a great person to work with”.
Many seasoned artists still fear that moment right before showtime, how did you learn how to deal with that and how is it for you these days?
– “Vodka on the rocks!! I have done over 600 shows so the nerves have kind of gone now!”.
What is the best tour/s you have ever been involved in and why?
– “I did a nine month tour of the UK and it rocked!! What I can remember of it!! Ha ha!!”.
What is the situation for your type of music where you live right now?
– “There is a big rock scene here in the UK especially where I live, and we get a lot of great bands coming to Liverpool, Manchester. Billy Idol, Yngwie Malmsteen, Dio, Motley Crue, Evanesence, My Chemical Romance”.
What are you currently up to?
– “I am recording my new album with some great players, Bernie Torme, ex- Gillan and Ozzy guitarist, Billy Sheehan on bass, Patrick Johansson on drums (Yngwie Malmsteen). Jens Johansson is playing keys on a track for me and Reb Beach (Whitesnake, Winger), is playing guitar on a track for me. I am going to be working with Bobby Rondinelli of Rainbow and Black Sabbath, he is doing some drums for me. I am also playing live with my band at the moment”.
Tell us about the new record. Who is releasing it, how many songs are on it and how will you promote it in the months to come?
– “I am signed to Demolition Records UK, home of Hanoi Rocks, McQueen, David Lee Roth and Twisted Sister. My new album is called “Cinderella Is Dead” and it will be out June 2008. I am touring with WASP and Twisted Sister in Europe, there are some shows in Scandanavia!! Plus I just got confirmed for the Joey Belladonna UK tour in September! I am shooting two new videos for the new singles soon, so that will be fun! We are thinking of putting out “Loaded” as a single in Scandanavia soon as my label wants to get it out there and have a hit like they did with Hanoi Rocks!”.
Who wrote “Tears Of Silence”?, I think this track is one of the best that I have heard in years and I think your singing is exceptionally good.
– “I wrote “Tears Of Silence” with Andy, Pete and Dave of Love To Infinity my producers, we all sat round playing guitar and jammed it out!! Proper old school style, we kept going over and over sections until they sounded right! You know there are no rules and no schools in Rock´n´Roll, I just make it up as I go along, ha ha!! If it sounds good it is good! I do like the high vocal on the chorus, its great to sing live at gigs! I love to belt that one out!”.
Do you think the recording industry is out of touch and what would you change if you could?
– “The Majors are always slower than the Indie labels but at the moment the industry is going through a great change with downloads now counting for the charts in the UK, it will take a while for the industry to adjust and get used to this!! I think rock acts will benifit as they are more album orientated so it will be better”.
Do you have other major interests outside music?
– “SHOPPING!!!”.
What authors do you like and have you read anything good lately?
– “I have just finished reading “The Time Travellers Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger, that is a great book! I want to read it again now!”.
What favourite actors in film and television do you have, and what do you enjoy to watch?
– “Do not really get time to watch much television, but I do love going to the theatre when I can”.
I am sure you have heard many bad pickup lines, did you ever actually hear a good one that made you think that this person is perhaps interesting?
– “A total stranger once got down on one knee and asked me to marry him as I was about to start a show, I did not think he was interesting though I thought he needed professional help!”.
Do you have an interest in the paranormal, the unknown?
– “Yes, I think I may be a bit psychic! I always know if there is anything weird about a place!”.
How many gigs have you done in the last year or so?
– “I have done about 15 gigs in the past year, we have been supporting Bernie Torme and his band GMT. John McCoy is great, he is very funny, he keeps teasing me, ha ha! Robin is the most amazing drummer live I have ever seen. Animal from the Muppets anyone?, ha ha! And Bernie is just the closest thing to watching Jimi Hendrix live you can get! He is unbelievable, a true living guitar hero! Bernie has such a unique style you can instantly tell when he is playing, now there is not many players you can say that about!”.
Do you have funny tour memory that you can share with us?
– “All my tours have been fun, its one big party!! I have been known to shampoo the bands hotel beds when they are out!! They do not like that, ha ha, so they threw my suitcase out the tour bus on the motorway! So I put fish in all their bags before we got to the airport!! Boy! did they smell real bad at check in!! Ha ha!!”.
Bernie Torme has been deeply involved in your record, any chance that he will also do some shows with you?
– “We have been doing live shows together, but I have still to get him on stage with me for an encore! Bernie and I wrote “Surrender” and “Broken” off the new album together and he did some smoking guitar on them too! You know all that whammy bar – harmonic stuff, he makes it look so easy!”.
How did you hook up with him?
– “Andy Lee my producer knows him, and he gave Bernie a CD to listen to, next thing I know I am in Kent in England writing with him for the new album! I got to play his white strat and the blue/green one Ozzy gave him on the “Diary Of A Madman” tour, they are real relics, truely unique stratocasters!! And completely battered!!”.
If you could give a piece of advice a younger sister that would like to follow in your footsteps, what would that be?
– “Be prapared to live on very little sleep! He he!”.
(End of interview)
By Mike Eriksson (if quoted let me know about it) – SLICE 2008 (Global Edition) / Trinkelbonker (2021)
(My shot of said magazine)
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CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: TOTO 1987 (September 17 2021), HEAVEN & EARTH 2001 (July 25 2021), STUART SMITH 1998 (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
Found another interview with Toto from the good old days that I had in print in Swedish newspaper Folket on February 6 1987. I met the band in Stockholm on the “Fahrenheit” tour on January 24 and this was one of the outlets at the time. I met them on on a fairly regular basis for years but it is all a bit of a blur now. What I will do here today is that I will simply translate the article such as it was. So here we go. Enjoy.
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TOTO – BRIDGE BUILDERS OF MODERN ROCK
“Sweden is fantastic”, says Toto´s legendary drummer Jeff Porcaro. “It is quite possible that we will record our first official live album here in Scandinavia some day”. Five years has passed since Toto delivered their most successful record “Toto “4”. That album includes one of the most played songs on radio ever, “Rosanna”. Since then, we have not heard too much from Toto, except for the album “Isolation” in 1984. The band has written film scores, had problems finding a new vocalist and spent time doing other things. Yet, as they come here they fill the three largest halls in the country (Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm), which is a far better welcome than what they recieve on home turf. Toto now have to work hard to climb up that ladder again and they are aware of it. In Stockholm they met the press. Except for Jeff Porcaro, David Paich had the most to say. The 25 year old new singer Joseph Williams did not have too many chances to speak up and once Steve Lukather walked into the room (with the quiet Mike Porcaro in tow) about 20 minutes into proceedings, things deteriorated fast. He likes to crack a few jokes.
Where do you have your musical roots?
(Jeff) – “I guess we have grown up with everything except for opera. It was jazz and rock that meant the most to us in the early days”.
How has the audiences in Sweden been so far?
(David) – “Very good. I think that European audiences understands what Toto is all about on a greater level than what we get at home. You have a deeper cultural understanding over here. Some of our music has classical influences in it and you can appreciate it easier here I think”.
(Jeff) – “For us, “Isolation” was a bit of a disappointment. We listened too much to people that told us what Toto should be. Then we made a pure rock album which was a mistake. On the new LP you can hear what we are all about again, we wanted to get rid of the straightjacket. Joseph came in with a lot of ideas that represented different styles. We knew then that we had found a guy that shared our mindset. When we jammed it was great. It was nice to finally find a guy like that”.
(David) – “Joseph has a voice that can handle a lot of styles. He has the feeling and the inspiration that we need and I believe this version of Toto will be around for a long time”.
Many Toto fans are musicians. Why do you think that is the case?
(David) – “I think that is a correct observation up to a point. Maybe it is because we include so much in what we do? People that enjoy hard rock hear “Hold The Line” and like it. Others may hear “Africa” or “Rosanna” and get into us from that angle”.
(Jeff) – “It is funny now to look back on our thoughts when we got signed in 1977. We were not quite sure what we should be doing, so we entered the studio and recorded a very broad album with few limitations, funk, hard rock, rhythm & blues etc. When we took it on the road and met our audience we realized what we had done. The rockers had heard “Hold The Line” and found a great deal of infuences, including classical, in our music. And then we had the black kids that came up to us and told us that we had changed the way they perceived music. They bought the album because of some funky song and was shocked by some of the other stuff. We built musical bridges and that makes me very happy”.
What do you think about the group Europe?
(Everybody) – “We love Europe. They seem to be taking off in the States right now”.
Do you have any idea what the next album is going to be like now?
(Steve) “I have no idea. We have five or six songs in the can right now but it is hard to say what is going to make it on the next LP. If you only knew how much stuff we have already recorded that has never been heard. Loads of stuff”.
(Jeff) – “I think our goal is to write better and better songs and with Joseph I think we can achieve this. We write 20 or 30 songs for every album and you guys only get to hear 10”.
We have seen some moral panic regarding the music scene in the States in recent times. Has Toto been implicated in any way in all this?
(David) – “No, that was a media thing that got blown out of all proportions. It was not as bad as you might think. Some people have always misunderstood the music scene. When Tjernobyl happened our media painted a picture that made a lot of people believe that half of Sweden was melting. And there it is”.
The concert at the Stockholm Isstadion (arena) was exactly as good as you would expect from six highly talented musicians. The lights were not over the top, as Jeff Porcaro had said earlier the music is where they want the focus to be rather than image. Toto presented a set that gave the audience many thrills and if you talk about magic it was there in spades. 8,000 fans sang along in “Hold The Line” and the band did several encores. I think Toto were delighted to see this response and I think they were honest when they thanked their audience with big smiles on their faces, promising to be back soon”.
(End of interview)
By Mike Eriksson (if quoted let me know about it) – Folket 1987 / Trinkelbonker (2021)
(My shot of said article – Folket February 6 1987)
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CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: HEAVEN & EARTH 2001 (July 25 2021), STUART SMITH (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
Earlier this month I presented an interview with Stuart Smith that was made in 1998 when he released his solo album “Heaven & Earth”. This project eventually morphed into a band and they released the fifth album “V” about a week ago as I write this. This interview was made in 2001 and was featured in the very first issue of Sweden Rock Magazine. In this interview Stuart promotes the “Windows To The World” album, the debut from his new band. Enjoy.
You still hold on to a style that was popular in the 1970s.
– “Yes, the best music was made in the 1970s and the early 1980s. It was all about the music then and the image was not that important. Then you had that alternative trend and people could sell records without being able to play properly. That was sad to see and I wanted to avoid it if I could. I like melodies and I like a bit of blues and folk music in there as well”.
The renaissance stuff and the acoustic stuff sounds great on this album, I have to say that.
– “Thank you. The record company had a problem about those songs and I really had to fight to get them on the album. They said “We do not want this” so I had to threaten them with not giving them the record at all and they eventually gave in. Heaven & Earth has a certain concept and I do not want to compromise with that”.
So Frontiers was not easy to work with?
– “Not really, but it ended up OK. We are good friends now. They have understood what this is and the boss is a friend now. Initially I remember him say “We do not want any instrumentals” but then he heard “Years Gone By” and he thought that it was the best song on the album”.
The last song, the happy folk tune is good. Why is it not mentioned on the album cover?
– “To get it on there I had to compromise. It is called “Gone By Morning” and Frontiers did not want it. So it is a secret bonus song now. They are Italians so what can you do…”.
Your first solo album was a project but I assume it is a band at this point?
– “Yes and that feels good. The first one had my name on it because I did not have a band at the time. I had good friends come and play on it. But Heaven & Earth is a band now and it feels good to be working with motivated people”.
I thought that maybe Dougie White would sing a bit on this album.
– “I wanted him to sing on my solo album but he was in Rainbow then and Ritchie would not let him do it. And now that it is a band things have changed. But I like Dougie and we keep in touch”.
Ritchie Blackmore is listed as a songwriter on “Prisoner”.
– “Yes, this goes way back to 1983. I was living on the East Coast near Long Island at the time. I was sitting in his kitchen one day playing and I had this idea for a song and Ritchie said “That is a good, but why not add this to it?” and his idea was just brilliant. So now that I have recorded it I wanted to be honest and give him credit for his part in it. “Prisoner” has been rewritten a few times over the years but I like the way it is now”.
Your wife Colleen has also written some lyrics.
– “She has some really good ideas. She was there when we did “Dogs Of War” and “Through Your Eyes”. If I hear something good I will use it. The song that Joe Lynn Turner co-wrote, “Through Your Eyes” can be seen as a love song but it also have a double meaning about racial injustice in it”.
How well did your first album do?
– “It was put out by Samsung Music and it happened just as the Japanese market took a big dive. So in spite of people like Joe Lynn Turner, Glenn Hughes and Richie Sambora being on it, it still did not sell that well. The Japanese market for this kind of music has gone down. They listen to pop and dance music now rather than rock music. The best market has been Europe. I sent out 400 cassettes of the first album and this resulted in good feedback and also in that Frontiers got interested”.
What about America? How is the market over there right now?
– “The radio is opening up a bit but the trend seems to be that they pick classic tunes by classic bands. You hear a lot of Boston, Bad Company and Rush. They need to let in the new bands in there as well. Heaven & Earth has not got a deal for America today but this is one of our priorities now. That and to get a management to work with us”.
Howard Leese produced “Windows To The World”.
– “Yes, he used to play guitar in Heart. He was also involved on the first album, that was produced by Pat Regan. Pat is good but he tends to want you to play the same part 30 times and I have a hard time with that. Howard did a good job so I asked him if he wanted to produce this album. And here we are. I am very happy with it”.
Will there be concerts?
– “We have rehearsed and we really want to get out there. Clubs to start with, but we hope to be able to go out with a bigger band. I think you need 10-15 club gigs before going out in bigger venues though. Then you have that feeling that you are comfortable playing and it starts to sound really good. With any luck, I hope that we can play in Europe too. I so want to come over there with this band. A few weeks ago I did 18 interviews for European media. And I absolutely want to play in Sweden, I hear good things about Sweden Rock Festival”.
(End of interview)
By Mike Eriksson (if quoted let me know about it) – Sweden Rock Magazine 1 2001 / Trinkelbonker (2021)
(My shot of the article in Sweden Rock Magazine with promoshot of Stuart inserted)
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CLASSIC ROCK INTERVIEWS ON TRINKELBONKER: STUART SMITH 1998 (July 4 2021), RAINBOW 1997 (June 28 2021), MARINA AMMOURI 2021 (February 12 2021), VISIONS OF ATLANTIS 2007 (November 10 2020), RITCHIE BLACKMORE & CANDICE NIGHT 2001 (October 27 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (October 18 2020), ACCEPT 1986 (July 17 2020), DEEP PURPLE 1996 (June 27 2020), EUROPE 1986 (June 16 2020), DEEP PURPLE PODCAST 2020 (April 6 2020), KIMBERLY GOSS/SINERGY 2002 (March 31 2020), RAINBOW 1997 (March 9 2020), RAINBOW 1996 (March 6 2020), MICHAEL BRADFORD 2003/MAKING OF DEEP PURPLE´S “BANANAS” (March 2 2020), URIAH HEEP 1988 (February 18 2020), ANNE-LIE RYDÉ 1984 (January 21 2020), CRYSTAL VIPER 2020 (January 16 2020), JOHN NORUM 1988 (January 12 2020), ARTOMUS FRIENDSHIP 2019 (November 10 2019), NAZARETH 1989 (August 26 2019), VELVET INSANE 2018 (September 11 2018), JON LORD 1981 (December 15 2015), DAVID COVERDALE 1981 (November 13 2015), GLENN HUGHES 1996 (May 12 2015), TOTO 1988 (March 31 2015), YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 1990 (March 1 2015), MARTINA EDOFF 2009 (December 4 2014), MICHAEL MOJO NILSSON 2014 (January 21 2014), THE HUGHES TURNER PROJECT 2001 (December 29 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1996-1998 (October 9 2013), GLENN HUGHES & JOHN NORUM 1988 (September 21 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1994-1995 (September 9 2013), JOE LYNN TURNER 1993 (September 7 2013), STEVE LUKATHER 1989 (September 4 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1983 (August 22 2013), RAINBOW 1995 (July 19 2013), MICK UNDERWOOD/GILLAN 1982 (June 11 2013), DEEP PURPLE 2002 (May 2 2013), DEEP PURPLE 1998 ( February 25 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1986 (February 12 2013), BLACK SABBATH 1987-1989 (December 31 2012), JOHNNIE BOLIN 2012 (December 24 2012), MARTIN POPOFF & RICH GALBRAITH 2009 (November 12 2012), DAVID COVERDALE 2000 (October 14 2012), JON LORD 1984 (September 7 2012), JOE LYNN TURNER 1992 (August 31 2012), JUDAS PRIEST 1986 (August 22 2012), RONNIE JAMES DIO 2001 (August 20 2012), NIGHTWISH 2002 (August 14 2012).
trinkelbonker 