Pittsburgh: Part II Robin Trower Interview by Monica Yasher

"Albums don't get finished, they escape."

I played some serious mind games on myself with interviewing Robin Trower. I mean, what do I know about a guitar, when Robin knows everything about a guitar?! He has been on the cover of every major guitarist magazine in the USA and Europe. So, when I sought out some questions to ask Robin, I read all that I could about guitars, asked my friends about guitars, and I was prepping like it was a final exam and I was one point away from having an A. And I wanted that A bad!

As I said, my last interview was all about guitars for Robin. What am I? I am a songwriter. I try to write the best songs that I can. I love to talk about songs, the production, and anything and everything about THE SONG. Let’s face it. It all starts with a song! I also like to talk about the final product of the masterpiece-the making of an album. So at the end of my last interview with Robin, I asked Robin what else he would like to talk about. He said You didn’t talk about my CD! I felt incredibly bad because I would have loved to talk about THAT more than anything in the world! Why? Because it makes me a better songwriter hearing the stories of other songwriters. It creates ideas for me. You also realize the challenges every songwriter goes through, so when you hit that brick wall, you don’t give up because you realize it’s all part of the process.

Now Robin presented a Eureka moment for me, because during that interview I also asked Robin what it meant to be a professional. He told me, and all you readers, that you have to be true to yourself. Well I felt that I really let my readers down, Robin down, and myself down. I was not true to who I am with the last interview that Robin and I had. I asked him about a bunch of guitar stuff, when I am all about songs. So, I have to thank Robin Trower for keeping me grounded to who I am, which is a songwriter who likes to interview other artists to know about their songs and a would be performer who likes to know about the energy and excitement of putting on a show. So today, I am true to myself and did the interview I should have done the first time around But, I have to say, the first interview was pretty good too, huh? I mean did you really know about those six strings being different sizes? Oh com’n now! Tell the truth! Here is a bit about Robin’s new work of art!

Monica: Today we are going to talk about your CD, “What Lies Beneath”. Robin, I have to tell you, I love that you made a journal on creating your CD. And, it looks like this took a good deal of time to create. You appear to have worked on this from September to March. But, I know that the songwriting came so far ahead of March. So, let’s talk about the songwriting. How many songs did you write for this CD? How did the song selection come about?

Robin: The thing is..I suppose it really started when I started writing instrumentals. I came up with a few instrumentals and started to think about maybe doing an instrumental album. Then after I had about six or seven instrumentals, I thought…No…I’m going to do a mixture. I had some songs that I was writing at the same time. There are a couple of a songs that I have had a while. Three of the songs actually, I had for a very long time. I wanted to see if I could change them around enough to see if I could make them fit the overall vibe of what I was doing with the instrumentals. And, I wrote about three or four new songs as well. It was a combination of many things, really, but it all evolved around…I started to make some copies…just tape copies on this Sony recorder and I would just play ideas into it instrumentally or sing them myself. And, that is where it really started to all come together.

Monica: When I read the journal. It seems you were creating as you go. What do you go into the studio with. With the clips? Or, do you have some rough recordings of the whole song? I was curious…

Robin: I went in with the songs all completed. Apart from one that I wrote during that period, which was ‘Find a Place‘. To record…the process was…we would put down guitar, bass and drums. I would sing. I would sing the instrumental melody or sing the vocal while we were recording the guitar, bass and drums. That is where it starts in the studio.

Monica: Do you try out your songs in concert prior to recording them to see how they are received?

Robin: No. It takes so long to put it all together from the record process. Even once I’ve recorded them, you just keep refining them.

Monica: When I read your journal, I related your thoughts to a painter that wants to paint a landscape. Landscapes can take on many forms. As I read your journal, it seemed to me that you had a picture of what you wanted to create and you were doing bush strokes as you went along. Did you have the vision of your title, “What Lies Beneath” with your artwork and the whole package before you went in? Or did the ideas come a bit at a time as you created?


Robin: Oh No. Not at all. I just think that what the whole thing is about, if you want to sum it up, is this is where I’m at at this moment. This is what I am feeling music should be. This is what I feel lyrics should be. This is what my guitar playing should be. In those few months that’s where I was at then. Now having said that. I have since gone on and moved on. I’m writing stuff that is a little bit different now. That’s all part of the creative process. In other words, it’s an on going work. Albums don’t get finished, they escape. In other words you just go on working on it. But, you don’t stop you just have to put it out.

Monica: Did you give yourself a deadline?

Robin: No. Not really. It’s just that you don’t want to spend fortunes and fortunes on it cause you know it’s not going to sale that many. You have to come to the end of it. Plus by that time, I’m already working on the next album.

Monica: If you feel you’re not going to sale very many, how do you put your heart and soul into the effort? I think I read that your days were long and you noted a few times that you ran out of steam.

Robin: Yes. That’s right. I mean. We worked about nine hours a day in the studio. Sometimes more. You have to have a cutoff point or you come in below par the next day. So, yes. We worked hard during those nine hours and this is a lot of work to do an album. With me it is something I gotta do. You hope. You wish. You dream that it will be heard by a lot of people. In reality it won’t. You know that doesn’t change it. You still got to do it. As you said, it’s a canvas and the paints. You have to make the CD.


Monica: Looks like you brought on a new drummer for this effort, Sam VenEssen.

Robin: Somebody I worked with recommended him to me. So, I basically I tried him out and we used him on a few things. Getting drums right for the song is important. That’s why I was determined to sing. However badly, I was going to sing so the drummer was playing to the song and not the guitar part.

Monica: As a drummer did he have freedom to create or you really had the vision and had to articulate it?

Robin: Yeah. I would give him the feel that I wanted. He would go from there.

Monica: You said this was something you had to do. What is your family life like when you do the CD.

Robin: Obviously my wife doesn’t see much of me when I’m in the studio. In fact, I tend to stay away even though it’s not very far from where I live. I tend to book into a hotel so that I’m totally focused on what I’m doing.We only did a week here and there.

Monica: So when you leave the studio you haven’t really left the work?

Robin: No. I’d be thinking about…Wake up thinking about it. But that’s what you need to do. You need to be really focused.

Monica: You talked about one song in your writing and where that track sat on your CD. Can you tell me how you determine how to organize your tracks? Best practices based on keys? Telling a story?

Robin: First thing is keys. I try not to have two of the same keys following each other. Then you got tempos. That’s basically it, really. You know your track that you want to open up with. You probably think I want this one second. Your favorites tend to come out on top.

Monica: Do they?

Robin: Yeah. Then if you have other favorites, then you try to place them strategically as it where. My two favorites are the first and last songs.

Monica: Why?

Robin: It’s just that I think they are the two most successful that came off from what I had in my head when I wrote it to how it came out.

Monica: How much do they change when they are in head to the final product?

Robin: If….well…it should come out like it was in your head, basically. (He laughed.) It should have that feeling and be pretty close to your demo.

Monica: I always look at music as riding down a river and sometimes you never know where the music will take you.

Robin: Yes, that can be true. Over the years I’ve learned that if you are sitting and singing a song to yourself or playing an instrumental to yourself, that’s what it is. If you go away from it too far, you may end up with nothing at all. In other words, if you really love your song that you are singing to yourself, that’s what it’s going to be.

Monica: Is one easier for you to do than another? Is an instrumental easier for you?

Robin: No. I think instrumentals have to be doubly strong because they do not have words.

Monica: This was the first time you used strings. Would you do that again? It seems you liked the outcome.

Robin: It was right for the song. I spoke to Livingstone before we actually went in and recorded, and I said there was a couple of songs I’d like to try strings on. Of course, it gave Livingston a chance at that. He strived. He is absolutely amazing.

Monica: You do the mixing and final production too?

Robin: I was involved with the mixing to a certain point. Then Livingstone had days on his own where he did all the finalizing of the mixing, tidying up, and whatever he need to basically experiment with. I would have the final say on the final mixes.

Monica: So, he would give you some choices?

Robin: Well, you are actually mixing as you go along. You’re trying stuff and mixing as you go along.

Monica: Now that you created a CD, how hard is it to create on stage what you have done in the studio?



Robin: Well I actually play….there’s only one thing that I included in the set this time. That’s the instrumental and ‘Time and Emotion‘. I’ve actually got off ‘Find a Place‘. But, I can’t find a place for it in the set! So, it just…what you have to realize is that most people out in the audience have not heard that CD.

Monica: It’s really nice music and I wish they would.

Robin: You want to give them the songs that they come to hear basically which are the classics. The sets got to work in the terms of the CD running order. It’s got to work one after another. You just can’t plunk songs in there. It’s got to be an even flow.

Monica: You stated that this was fun yet you seem to have been challenge with this work. What was fun?

Robin: Well. Playing the guitar for me is fun. That’s all that it is. Fun. I pick up the guitar because I enjoy playing and it’s never work for me. I just love to play the guitar. That’s the engine that drives the whole thing.

Monica: As you said earlier, you eventually have to say that you are happy with the CD. Is there still something on your mind where you are saying, Gee I wish I would have?

Robin: I think there are always a few bits and pieces however long you work on something. But, no. I’m fine. I’m really happy about it. What I like is that it’s got an overall vibe.

Monica: Yes it does.

Robin: I don’t think that I have ever achieved before on a whole album. Part of that is that I think I am singing. In other words the vibe of the voice is the same as the vibe of the guitar so there is no conflict there.

Monica: I agree. You definitely set out and achieved what you wanted to do. Not that I want to compare you to other artists, but it reminded me of Pink Floyd and the Wall and how that CD had that movie flow going on where every song told a story to a bigger picture. I could hear that same vibe in your CD. I was surprised when you said that you worked on keys and tempos. I really thought you were going to tell me you wanted to tell a story and that’s how you selected the songs.

Robin: Right. Very Much. The lyrics all come from the same place and they were all connected from my psyche. They are all…that’s maybe what connects all the tracks. the fact that I believe my lyrics. I’m not just making up words that rhyme.

Monica: Why did you select your artwork on your cover? As I said earlier, I thought your music was very soothing yet you have a very dark picture on your cover.

Robin: Yeah. I just came across the artist, Bruer Tidman. There was a gallery near the studio. Livingston’s studio. Walking past I was waiting for Livingstone to come from somewhere and I looked in the window of this gallery. They had an exhibition of this guy’s work and I loved it. Immediately I said, that’s an album cover right there. In actual fact, the first one I chose is not the actual one on the album. There was another one that I liked a lot at first. But, when I found out what the title was, I thought no I can’t let it go with that. And, the other one that I liked as well IS the cover. But, you know, sometimes you can see a painting and you don’t know why and you just go yeah. Right. You are touched by it. I just loved this guys work. Everything there, and there were several paintings by him, that were huge. That painting is HUGE by the way. Big Big like five foot. I loved them all!

Monica: Thank you Robin. Well, anything you want to cover that I didn’t?

Robin: I think you got it.

Monica: Thank you for your time Robin.

Robin: It has been a pleasure.

Thank you for reading American Blues News!

If you enjoyed reading about Robin, who has a guitar developed with his name in mind, you may also like to read about GE Smith, who also has a guitar manufactured in his name. 

Copyright © 2009 Copyright Monica L. Yasher. All Rights Reserved.
Photograph Copyright © 2009 Maureen Ceidro. All Rights Reserved.

Pittsburgh: Roger Earl Interview by Monica L. Yasher

"This is the world’s musical cauldron, if you will. Everywhere in the world, American music is appreciated and I feel honored to be part of it."

When I got the word that I had an opportunity to interview Foghat, I was excited and not quite sure what to expect. I mean, my brother brought me up on bands like Foghat, Boston, and Styx. Now I was going to get to meet up with a rocker! Oh my! I was wondering are all those stories true? Are these guys really that wild?

As I met up with Roger Earl, he was practicing a bit on his drums. The guitarist, Bryan Bassett, is from Pittsburgh. As Maureen and I sat in the trailer with Roger, Roger was warming up a bit on his drums. The atmosphere was very family like. Bryan’s family was excited he was in town and wanted to hang out with him. I thought it was best that we leave, since it seemed that the band, along with the families, had some catching up to do. Bryan’s Grandma was there! I didn’t want to intrude. So, I got up and was going to give everyone time to do what they had to do and thought it best that I leave. Roger was such a gentlemen and suggested we stick around a bit and chat. I met Roger’s wife and the members of the band. I have to say, they are truly a great bunch of people and I am glad that I met them all.

Maureen and I left shortly after our meeting in order to take photos of the show. I do truly mean this when I say this band has the best stage performance I have seen all year. Charlie Huhn really uses the entire stage in his performance, and his vocals were right on. For those of you studying stage performance, in order to up your game, he would be a great person to take in and get ideas from. He wasn’t afraid to give of himself to touch the crowd and he would stand close to the end of the stage so the crowd could actually touch his guitar, and they did! Great rhythm section. Great slide guitar. Great show!



I met up with Roger a few weeks later and we talked about a lot of things. Roger is a lot of fun to talk to. He has a great sense of humor. When I listened back to the interview, I realized that we laughed more than I put in here. I had fun that day. Thanks Roger! Let me share it with you.

Roger: Hi!

Monica: Hi Roger! How are you doing?

Roger: I’m doing good. How are you doing Monica?

Monica: It’s a beautiful day in Pittsburgh. How about where you are at?

Roger: It’s overcast, cloudy, cool but it’s a beautiful day.

Monica: Those are good fishing days aren’t they?

Roger: That’s right. You got it. I just took the grandkids out the other day and we didn’t catch anything. But, it was still a beautiful day. I need to practice fishing a little bit more. (He laughs.)

Monica: I don’t think you can practice that. The only thing that makes me practice is patience!

Roger: I just like doing it. It is relaxing. Any day out on the water is a good day.

Monica: That’s true, Roger. Are you ready to get started?

Roger: Sure.

Monica: OK. Foghat has been around for a good many years. What do you attribute to the success of the band?

Roger: Free shows are always good. (We laughed.) I think the band always played well. We always put playing and performing at the top of the list. I think a number of bands don’t do that. We rehearse at the beginning of the year in January, February and March and decide what songs we will be playing. I think music is the prime reason I’m doing this. It wasn’t to earn a living or to make money, especially not to make money anyway.

I had a love for music. I happen to play in a band that has written a number of great rock and roll songs over the years. Now I have Craig Macgregor, he is a tremendous bass player and he lights up the stage as soon as he gets up there. Bryan Bassett, I think, is one of the best slide elite guitar players around. Charlie Huhn has some huge shoes to fill. In a lot of ways Charlie is very similar to lonesome Dave. He loves to play, no matter if he is tired or what he has going on. He is always up for playing. We are all there for the right reasons. We are there because we have a passion for music and playing. I have never lost that. I think if I didn’t enjoy playing, I wouldn’t do it. I don’t know what else I would do. I think that is why the band is doing as well as it has. Because when we play, we’re up there and meaning it.

You know, it is a privilege to get up there and do this stuff. There are people who can’t play. There are musicians that haven’t made it with career success, and there are some terrific players out there that don’t have the kind of success that we have. So it’s a privilege and we try not to let the folks down. We give it up at every show, every time we get up there. I think that is why the band has had such longevity. We lost our lead guitar player and we lost our lead singer. Dave was a huge print on this band. He was the driving musical force in the arrangements and playing. It wasn’t always reflected in the writing department. Everybody in the band co wrote just about all of the songs. The band plays so well. I think last year was probably the best year the band has had in probably over thirty years.

Monica: Why drums? You talk about passion and obviously your major role is playing the drums? Why did you choose drums to begin with?

Roger: I initially chose the piano. My father played piano and my older brother Colin, who is four years older than me, was playing piano. So when I was eight, nine, ten, eleven, around that time, I really started to get interested in music and buying records and listening to stuff. Piano was my first choice.

I went to see Jerry Lee Lewis in 1960. I already had all of his records up to that point. I was a big early Elvis fan and Little Richard especially had a great band. I went to see Jerry Lee Lewis and I think it was then that I didn’t want to play piano and decided drums would be the instrument that was louder than the piano. Naturally I aspired to it. I was about twelve or thirteen when I started taking drum lessons. My father encouraged me. He found my drum teacher. What was his name? Chris….Hayes….That’s it! Funny how I remember these things.

Monica: Wow!



Roger: Yeah how about it!? He was a jazz, big band drummer. I think he got me going on the right track. I didn’t get my first drum set until I was about fifteen. You go up and down with the playing. I probably practice now more than I ever did. I really enjoy playing. I happen to play in a great band with great players and terrific people. We are friends outside. I like what I do. Banging drums.

Monica: I know when I met you in Pittsburgh, there you were banging drums as we first talked.

Roger: I like my drums.


Monica: Cool. I went out there and looked around and I probably don’t have to tell you about your numerous mentions in TV, movies and such. Just curious, have you guys gotten a cameo yet in some of these things? I haven’t seen you out there yet.

Roger: No. Not yet.

Monica: We have to work on that for you!

Roger: That would be fine too if someone wanted to use my mug or my limited acting abilities. I would be up for that!

Monica: We’ll see if someone reads this and gets you going!

Roger: Yeah. That would be fun. Not yet though.

Monica: There are several musicians associated with Foghat. How did you keep the Foghat sound with new musicians coming into the band? Did you try to keep Foghat and at the same time let them have a sense of individuality? Or, how did you accomplish the Foghat sound?


Roger: We can get specific. I think I touched on that. Charlie Huhn was a big fan of Lonesome Dave. In fact he met Lonesome Dave back in 1996. We did a show, ironically, for the Kidney Cancer Foundation in Toledo, OH. The band that Charlie was singing in, which was Humble Pie, was at the same show as us. Charlie fit in real well. He has a different timbre to his voice than Dave’s. He has the same rock ‘n roll spirit that shines through everything. He just loves to get up and perform. Charlie in his ways is really quite shy when he’s off stage. It’s difficult. I don’t think I would want to be on the front line singing, playing guitar and talking to so many people all of the time. As I said, Brian also played with Lonesome Dave for a number of years and also played with Rod Price for about 9 months or so. It wasn’t that hard of a fit. As I said, they are all great players. There have been a couple of other players over the years. Like Craig left the band for a while. But, we always had really good players in the band.

Monica: I agree.

Roger: We hope to do this for as long as we can.

Monica: Cool. Would you like to talk about how two Foghats came about?

Roger: I don’t have a problem with that. What happened is, in 1984 we decided to take a break. We were on the road since 1971 and it was time to take a break. I didn’t know it at the time, but David already planned to move back to England. So about six months later, about the middle of 1985 or 1986, Dave moved back to England and I started to play in a band out of Boston called the Jam Band. So, I took about six months off the road. I mowed the lawn, fixed the car and probably drank too much. I need to be doing something. I can’t sit around for too long. A week or two is good. That’s about it. I was playing in this band called the New England Jam Band. I became good friends again with James Montgomery, a great harp player. Frank Sheehan the bass player of Boston. Just a terrific band that got me started playing again. So I put my band together which was ¾ of the previous Foghat, and we called ourselves the Knee Tremblers. We would go out and play Foghat tunes and I owned half the name. So I started to use the name Foghat. Then Dave moved back to the states sometime in 1991, somewhere around there. I was taking a break for a few months and going through a horrible divorce. I don’t think any divorce is good.

Monica: Probably not!

Roger: Then Dave went out on the road. Then I went out on the road about 9 months, 6 months later and then there were two Foghats out there. Fortunately around ‘93 Dave and I talked…the problem is a bunch of lawyers got involved…so it was taken out of our hands. Dave and I buried the hatchet. Probably the last few tours we did together, we were closer than we ever were. Dave and I got along fine anyway. We are two totally different people. I’m probably a bit more outgoing and noisy. Dave, off stage, was quieter and more reserved. I think we always had a mutual respect for each other and liked each other. We always got on well. We eventually got the original band back together and that was fun for a while…and certainly playing with Dave again…I think Rod Price had a hard time touring. He didn’t enjoy being on the road, where Dave and myself loved it. It was our life’s blood. It was sad when Dave passed. He was far too young. (He paused.) Anyway, we had two bands for a while, which was a pretty horrible time for both of us. We got that resolved and got back together and it was fine.

Monica: Not that I want to talk about hard times. Roger, when I was asked which member of Foghat I wanted to interview, I chose you because out there I read you were setting up the band. Reading between the lines I couldn’t imagine how tough it was to reorganize the band this successful and contemplate if you should reorganize. That gets me to my question, Foghat is listed as primarily as a blues band rather than a rock band. How would you say the band truly lived the blues, that makes them a true blues band rather than rock?

Roger: I don’t know if we lived the blues. I don’t know if I can actually answer that question honestly. Let’s say when I first started listening to rock and roll music, I started listening to Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis, obviously Elvis Presley. I was a big fan of Johnny Cash. I had all his early Sun records. When I was about sixteen, I was playing for a year or so. During that time, Chuck Barry made some fabulous records back in the late ’50’s early 60’s. I also discovered people like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolfe. That was my introduction to the blues. I wasn’t really sure ½ the time what they were singing about and some of the words I didn’t understand.

But, I still loved the music. It had an honesty about it. A real honesty. It clicked with me like a lot of kids on the other side of the pond. I think that was it. For actually living the blues, I’m not sure I ever lived it. In fact, I went to Clarksdale for the first time last year. Mississippi, which is generally talked about being the home of the blues, the crossroads. That was a lot of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We went to a local juke joint called, Reds, and jammed with some of the players there and a friend of ours, Lefty, plays harp. The following day we got up and went to the club that Morgan Freeman has, Ground Zero. We jammed in there, which was OK. We played a couple of songs and were going to leave the stage. The guitar player said, no no, you have to stay here.

Monica: Everybody had fun.

Roger: Yeah we had a great time. But living the blues…

Monica: You just love PLAYING the blues..

Roger: Yeah. It was something I grew up with and gravitated to. I don’t think I had the blues. Maybe a bit down a time or two. I just love the music, the players. I got to play with a lot of my musical heroes. Listen to bands like Bobby Blue Band sing and Muddy of course. It moves you.

Monica: Listening to you talk about the jam and watching you guys on stage, I don’t get the impression that you are jamming. It looks like you guys are really rehearsed. So, do you guys perform pretty rehearsed or are you letting loose and jamming?

Roger: You have a format to the songs. Most of the time if we have an open time we will play for an hour and a half or two hours. But usually they set time limits at an hour and 15 so you have to keep it within those parameters. Jam. Yeah we jam, Certain songs have a framework and there are certain things you have to play, otherwise you aren’t playing the song as is or was. We change the intro of 'Want to Make Love'. 'Slowride' can get interesting from time to time. '59 Boogie', there is stuff we change. That’s one of the things when you play with a band of musicians when you know each other. We can follow each other. Craig and I especially. I’ll do something and Craig will know it’s coming and vice versa. And, there are other times you are up on stage and can’t hear each other. Then you just press autopilot. You then hope all is going well. We have fun. There’s some stuff where we keep loose.

Monica: Roger I have to tell you that I went to an open mic, and the bass player wants me to learn Slow Ride. I’m thinking I’m not sure how we will pull that off with a bunch of people who don’t play together and just jamming. There’s some pretty good changes in that song. I’ll learn it for him, since someone asked me to learn it.

Roger is laughing. Listen. There is some clicky stuff in there!

Monica: I know. I know.

Roger: The bass solo. Nick Jameson of course was the bass player on that. I’m sort of still tight with him and we have remained good friends over the years. He, of course, was a tremendous musician. A great bass player. Yeah good luck with that!

Monica: Thanks Roger. What’s the best thing about being in the band and what’s the hardest thing about being on the road?

Roger: The best thing is we have a genuine camaraderie with everybody. We are all like brothers, especially myself and Craig. My brothers by different mothers. That is terrific. Foghat was always a band. When the four of us got up to play, it was never about one person, or the lead singer. It is still very much that now. We always rely on each other. You can’t have someone not up to it or not giving it their all or their best shot. If you only have an hour or an hour and a half each night, you have to give it everything you got, otherwise I think you wasted your day. That is the best part, playing with these guys and playing this music. I have a blast.

The hardest thing. Traveling. That’s the hardest part. You have to hurry up and wait. The airlines treat you like second and third class citizens now. They’ll take your money for extra baggage and the guitars won’t make it to the event. They will send them off to somewhere else. There are a couple of airlines that are just absolutely horrendous, and we have had some really tough times. And, there are a couple of airlines that genuinely work hard to pull it together, like Southwest airlines. I really have great luck with them. If they do go amiss, they get it to you right away. I really like the attitude they have. Sometimes the cattle call is a bit difficult.

USAir out of Philadelphia is an absolute horror show. It’s horrific. Always losing your bags. United will charge you fifty or a hundred for extra bags like our guitars and drum equipment and then lose it. I don’t know. That’s the hard part. I think most of the time they try hard. The crews, the pilots are fine. But the baggage handlers…I think they should look into it if they are going to charge you all this money for the service. Having said that, I think it is hard for a lot of traveling bands. The airlines obviously have to make money. But, they should take care of the people and not treat you…they do…they don’t welcome you anymore. You are a dollar bill. That’s the hard part.

Monica: What’s your favorite place to play?

Roger: I have fun just about everywhere. Detroit, New Orleans and the people are great. Midwest like Chicago, we play there two or three times a year usually. Boston.

Monica: What about going back to Europe?

Roger: We did the Swedish rock festival a few years ago and that was fantastic. Other than that, no one is making us offers that we can’t refuse. I would love to go to Europe and the whole band would love to go. But, we get so busy here, especially in the summer. The band isn’t that well known over there. We have a number of fans over there who requested stuff and I did an interview with one of the blues magazines over there. But, it doesn’t seem to work out.

Monica: Is that still home for you or is New York home?

Roger: New York’s home. I’m an American. I just talk funny. (We laughed.) This is home. I wanted to live here ever since I can remember. I even talked about…I was nine or ten years old…I talked about stowing away on a boat. Wouldn’t have been a good idea.

Monica: No it wouldn’t have been.

Roger: I always loved everything American, everything about it. America has given music to the world…the whole world…jazz, blues, big bands, rock n’ roll, rap, country and western. It came from here. This is the world’s musical cauldron, if you will. Everywhere in the world, American music is appreciated and I feel honored to be part of it.

Monica: We’re glad you are here with your music. Thank you.

Roger: I always wanted to be here. We first came here late ‘67, ‘68 with Savoy Brown. Then we started coming here in ‘72 with Foghat. In ‘73 I moved here and applied for my green card, and now this is home. I love it.

Monica: Roger, with so many accomplishments, what advice would you give to upcoming artists?

Roger: I think if you are playing music you have to have a love and a passion for what you do. You don’t do it for the money or possible financial rewards. They are married to the music. If you are going to do it, you just have to give it everything you got. Tomorrow may be too late.

Monica: That’s are great words Roger. Any artists you want to play with but haven’t yet?

Roger: It would be really nice to play with the Stones. But, I hear they have a really great drummer already. (We both laughed.)

Monica: I read where you met up with Willie Dixon. I was wondering how that meeting was?

Roger: Willie was a beautiful man. Musically he was a giant amongst men. He did the arrangements and production on the early chess records for Muddy and Chuck Barry. He co-wrote a lot of those songs. Obviously, he did ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You‘.

I have a story. ‘I Just Want to Make Love to You’ was a hit off of our first album. So Willie is getting all of this money from us. Unlike some bands, that I won’t mention, we would credit the writer. Then we did it on the "Live" album. The first record was ‘72 and ‘77 we re-released it. So Willie is getting all of this money from this band called Foghat. He doesn’t know WHO we are.

We were in Chicago for three nights and the first night he sent one of his daughters down. Her name is Shirley. I know his wife’s name is Shirley too. We treated her like a princess. The next night she came down with one of her brothers, Butch. He later became Willie’s road manager. We treated him like a prince that he was. He was a fabulous young man. And, the third night they brought their Dad down. What I think he did was he said to his kids, go see what these Foghat boys are up to. I guess we were OK, and he invited us to his house the next time we were in Chicago, which was about 6 or 7 months later, maybe a year.

We went to his house on the Southside and had dinner with him and his family and it was a fabulous evening. Dave was there. We played music all night long. Guitar, Piano. Throughout the evening Willie would send one of his sons upstairs to the attic to pick up records from artists from the thirties and forties. He had this huge record collection. It was just a fabulous evening. I’ll be eternally grateful to Willie. He was a great man. It’s really cool when you meet your musical heroes or idols. They turn out to be these really cool people as well. Willie Dixon was a giant in his field definitely. Willie was special.

Monica: You have a new album coming up-covers or originals? What would you like to tell me?

Roger: Well, we were writing originals. But, right now it’s all covers. We just haven’t gotten around to doing them yet. Right now we have a blues record in the works. Some tracks on there are Otis Rush’s, ‘So Many Roads‘. We did an old Savoy Brown Song. ‘Needle and Spoon‘…‘Feel so Bad‘. There are six studio tracks. One instrumental. We have four or five live songs from some shows. That should be out at the end of the year. Next year we will start to work on a new studio record down in Florida. Each year we do something. We have a DVD in the works of live performances we have done over the years. Yeah, we are going to keep doing it. How does it go? We’re going to rock ‘til we drop.

Monica: Who does most of your arrangements of the cover songs?

Roger: The band. It is always a band effort. I’ll give you an example, like 'Slow Ride'. That was myself and Rod. We used to have a house out here in Long Island and we turned the basement into a rehearsal room. Nick Jameson, our long time producer, joined the band on bass. This is probably 1974/1975 around there. We were just jamming. Virtually the whole song, 'Slow Ride', came out of that. But, it was just the four of us playing. Then Dave said I got some words. The arrangement, the musical arrangement, was done by all of us. It was a band effort. ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’ was a band effort. Myself and Dave would jam to that song in sound checks when I was in Savoy Brown. It’s a band thing. We have playing a long time and have a lot of experience, so everyone should use it, you know? Everyone has their say in this band.

Monica: Etta James did that song to. Did you ever meet up with her?

Roger: Once in a club in London, this was after our first album, she did a similar version. I thought it was really cool. She did our kind of version to the song with the guitar. You know, when you have a great artist like her want to do your version of a classic blues song, that’s really cool. In fact, a good friend of mine, who was at the Chicago Blues Festival, told me that most bands basically do our arrangement. That’s so gratifying when you hear something like that.

I met Etta, I bet she wouldn’t remember, but briefly. She has a fabulous voice. I met Koko Taylor at Willie’s house. Willie Dixon’s house. I’ve been privilege to play with some great players. John Lee Hooker and Muddy of course. It’s terrific.

Muddy was a great man too. He was special. In fact, I kept one of the lines from him. We did this show in NYC called, Foghat’s Tribute to the Blues, and we were back stage after the show. My parents were there and I introduced Muddy Waters to my parents, which was really cool because he was such a musical hero of mine. There was another guitar player there, a fantastic performer;guitar man, and I believe he played on John Lee Hooker’s early records. But, Muddy saw him from across the room. Muddy has the most beautiful face and wonderful way about him. He looked over and said, I know YOU! He couldn’t remember his name but knew him. And I thought, what a cool way to introduce yourself, if you can’t remember their name!

Monica: That works. I’ll use that. Roger, anything else you want to get out there?

Roger: One other thing. I’m working on a project with some friends out of Detroit. A guy called Daniel Wentworth, a guitar player. Derrick St. Holmes who used to sing with Ted Nugent, right? We are doing a blues project there. In fact, Daniel is a great player and sent me a song that he thought I should play. So, I had a couple of days off in Detroit so I did it on the first take. I knew the actual arrangement and then we ended up doing nine or ten tracks in the next three days. We had an album. Derrick listened and came on board as a the singer. That was a lot of fun. For this, I had a totally free hand. It was exciting to play with some other musicians. It was a blues album and it appealed to me.



Monica: Cool. Congratulations on that effort. Roger I won’t ask you if you really threw a TV out of a hotel window.

Roger: I don’t know where that came from. We never did stuff like that. (We laughed.)

*************************************************************************************

Just so you, the readers, know. I believe Roger never did anything like that. I truly do. He told me he glued chairs to the ceiling. Now, I don't believe that! Who has that kind of time to wait for glue to dry a chair on the ceiling? But, then again, Roger fishes!




If you enjoyed reading this article, perhaps you would enjoy reading other artists from the blues british invasion:

Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown, Robin Trower Part I Interview

Thank you for reading American Blues News!

Copyright © 2009 Copyright Monica L. Yasher. All Rights Reserved.
Photograph Copyright © 2009 Maureen Ceidro. All Rights Reserved

Pittsburgh: Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown by Monica Yasher

" You're not taking notes about life. You shouldn't be. You should be experiencing it."

I had the opportunity of meeting up with Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown. Kim is the only member of Savoy Brown that has had a place in the band from it's inception, forty three years ago, to today. I guess that goes with having the responsibility of forming and maintaing the band. Kim is an accomplished blues guitarist, having been donned on the cover of Guitar Magazine and having his music placed on the Billboard's top 40 charts. He has also become an accomplished acoustic guitarist and painter merging both challenges into one great show concept. But don't be fooled by Kim being placed on the pop charts and painting, Kim is a true bluesman sharing with me that one of his greatest accomplishments is bringing blues music to Britian in a time when blues was not known. Let's see what else Kim told me.

Monica: I read about all this cool stuff you are doing.

Kim: Right.

Monica: Traveling. It looks like you have an electric effort CD and an acoustic CD?

Kim: Yes, that's right. I'm doing both.

Monica: Do you have a favorite?

Kim: Well the electric thing is something that is very deep within me. You know what I mean? I have tried to make an art out of playing the guitar very well all my life . Sometimes I can reach sublime levels playing with that, and I even know that myself. Sometimes, I can't. It's like any kind of art. You really strive to express yourself on the guitar, and not just trying to recreate something that has gone before. I'm not trying to be a guitar God. I'm not trying to do any of those things. I'm really trying to express myself in a deep way. So electric guitar playing is a very deep thing with me and I can't discount that.

Playing the acoustic guitar is, I would probably think, a lot more fun, because I don't have the history of playing the acoustic guitar. When I play acoustic shows, I'm on my own, which I like. It's a challenge for me to play the acoustic and to do all of that, and I think I have a good show and I enjoy doing it.

But, with the electric guitar I put years and years of trying to play this instrument and trying to be the best at it. That's what I'm trying to be. And I'm not saying I AM the best at it. But, I'm trying to be the best at it. I think we should try to do that in anything we do in our life. That's my attitude. If I was building a table, I would build it to be the best table I could make. That's the kind of drive I have with the electric guitar. To be the best; and, when you got that drive, it's good. But because your driven like that, it's not a thing of fun so much. The drive can be fun and tonight when I play people will see me having a blast. But, underneath is all the angst that goes in it cause I'm actually trying to really play that instrument.

In many ways when I was seventeen, I was as good as I am now. I have all the technique in the world now. If you saw me now from then, you would say wow he's a better guitar player. But technique doesn't mean you're any better than when you started playing. These are the things that I am constantly battling with. If I play a slow blues, I'm not just playing a slow blues I've learned ten years ago. I'm playing a slow blues that I learned forty odd years ago when blues was much more current than it is now.

To play the guitar for me, as electric guitar, is often a battle. It flows out of me at nights and that's great. There are other times it doesn't come so easy. To the audience I hope they don't know the difference. To an audience every night is the same. For me trying to play, you just go through these things. I take it very seriously, and when you take something seriously, it isn't just a walk in the park when you are trying to express yourself. In any art type of thing where you are expressing yourself, it's a lot of fun and a lot of hard work at the same time. So, that's a long story but you asked. (he laughs)

Monica: I think that is a great answer. I hear that from more than one guitarist that I love it. It's part of me but it's work. It's work. It surprises me every time. I was so surprised to hear that for as many years as someone like you has been playing the answer I hear, and I will ask you, Do you practice?

Kim: Oh of course!

Monica: That amazes me. I would think you just come and pick up the guitar for shows. I can see from your website that you are still playing around with the equipment, because you want to play with your sound yet. By changing components you can make all new sounds.

Kim: Oh sure. What you are doing, what you are trying is to be the best that you can be. If you are not trying...to take it even further, you have to be the best in the world. I'm sure every guitar player is doing the same thing. You have to have that. That's the drive you have to have to even be good. If you don't have that ego that says I'm going to be the best, I'm going to be the best, you won't even be good.

Monica: Do you think there really can be a best? For instance, on American Idol you can love them all but someone has to win. They are all truly a best.

Kim: There can be a best in the sense of history and writers. For instance, BB King is the best because in the end you trace guitar playing and you have to pick some people. You can't say here is a hundred people that we developed through. In the end you have to take BB King as the man where modern guitar was filtered through. That's not to say someone may prefer Freddie King. Someone may prefer Albert King. Someone may prefer Stevie Ray Vaughn. But the fact of the matter is history brings certain people to the top and they are considered the best. There is such a thing as the best.

Monica: Is he your idol?

Kim: I think he has to be the best blues guitar...you have to say he probably influenced everybody..as a player in my generation. Yeah. I think BB is the top of the pile and we all learn from him of course. I'm still playing his licks on stage.


Monica: Have you played with him?

Kim: I have never played with him. Strange to say as much as I love BB King and as much as I think he is a total master AND the best. I mean there are people that I have listened to that nobody knows about. Even in this day and age there are guitar players that nobody has a clue that they are my favorite guitar players.

Every guitar player is an idol to someone and does not know it. I could go on and on with influences and they are not all BB King. What you do as a musician…it is extremely important to have the kind of taste that you can recognize the best. There is no point in being a blues guitarist if you don't recognize BB King as the best. If you think that somebody else is the best …you have to know where the tiers of playing exist, and you have to realize...when I started off playing these were the things I differentiated. I had all the right people telling me what to listen to. Those guys were terrific tastemakers. So you grow up and you are able to differentiate the different guitar players. You are able to then to apply them to yourself and what you want to be and how you want to be. It is pointless to try to be the greatest guitar player in the world or trying to be if you're listening to somebody not already there. If you want to be the greatest classical guitarist you got to listen to Segovia. If you haven't then you aren't going to get there because you haven't set your standards up there.

When we started playing in England, we wanted to do all BB King. Now a days it might be incredibly pretentious that you will never be as good as BB King. Well, we all played pretty good you know what I mean, trying to get to that goal. If we didn't have that goal, I know people of my generation before me would never have the audacity to say that we can do that, you know what I mean? Because these players thought we could never be like that. I was young enough to come along and say, Hey I'll pick up the guitar and play that! Everybody around me said I was crazy and I will never play like a blues guy. And, of course I did! So it's my generation that had the audacity to dream and say we can do that. So you have to have those kinds of dreams.

Like today you have to be able say, for some kid that's sixteen, that I will be better than Eric Clapton. I'm going to be the best guitar player in the world. When you got that drive you can get there because it's that kind of drive that sets musicians apart. Some have it. Some don't have it. Some musicians are great because they have the drive to think they can get to the top. Maybe most of them do. I don't know. there's an old joke that every guitar player in the world thinks that he is the best which is of course ridiculous (he laughs!) It's ridiculous! Just ridiculous cause I'm the best! (he laughs even more!)

Monica: Yeah yeah yeah I know! (we both laugh-love his sense of humor!)

Kim: But it is a question of...

Monica: and talent. Even if you have drive you still have to have the core talent, don't you think?

Kim: Well yes I think so. You have to have talent. That can be a confusing as well. Too much talent doesn't mean anything. You have to have a certain amount of talent and then it is what you do with it. You may have an abundance of talent and it is just too much. I wouldn't say so much talent.

You have to have a calling to do it. You just can't say I want to play guitar. You have to have something calling you to play guitar. Now I have many abilities. But, when I started playing I envied certain guitar players because I knew I didn't have qualities that they had. I was never good at swinging. I couldn't swing that much. I may have had an abundance of emotion in playing. But, I couldn't swing too well. I had a problem with my timing. But, I had other things that were good enough to get me going. But, I didn't have the talent that encompassed everything. I had to learn all that as I went along. I was gifted enough in a certain area to be able to turn that into something. I certainly was not as talented as other people around.


I think the most important thing in guitar playing is touch. It is like any artistic thing. You have to have touch. It's almost the same as everything you do. Think about grabbing a pencil. It is all about touch. I can tell immediately if a player can play well. It's how he touches the guitar. It's how he touches the strings. A lot of people have no finesse when they play because they don't have any touch. That's really the most important thing in an instrument,is touch. Can you finesse those strings? Can you make them do what you want? Yes. Touch is the most important thing. You can't teach touch. That is something that you have or you haven't.

A lot of younger musicians can appear to be very very good. You can hide a lot of your faults as a musician. You can hide it. But, you can't hide it forever. So sometimes when a musician gets older, people wonder why they can't play when they get older. It's because they never quite had the touch in the beginning. If you have it, it never leaves you.

Also important is how you listen in your mind. How you hear the sound. And, you can teach yourself to hear the sound. You have to hear the sound very wide and broad. My daughter plays violin. When she was playing at a young age it was a very thin sound. I said to her think of these notes being round and big and warm and solid. As soon as I put those thoughts in her mind those notes came out differently from her violin. So I realize you can think the notes. You can think warm, soothing, big, and those notes will come out. You can teach a lot of that stuff. I don't think you can teach touch. There are a lot of people with technique. It doesn't mean that they have touch. Touch is something where you bring in your feelings.

Monica: Thank you. Let's talk about your career. It looks like you have a star at Hollywood’s Rock Hall of Fame and you will be inducted into the Canadian Blues Hall of Fame this year. What do you think your greatest accomplishment is?

Kim: My greatest accomplishment? I haven't gotten to the point yet...I'm always looking forward so much in my life and things, I have never looked back....That's a very difficult one. (He pauses and contemplates.) I can say that I have been part of a British blues movement that helped transform blues. That certainly is probably one of my musical accomplishments-being part of that scene that helped change the face of music.

Monica: How hard is it to be a musician today?

Kim: For me it's not harder. I am older now and have done it for so long. I have to stay motivated and really talk myself into really doing this, because you've done it all. I think it is really important for someone as myself to keep playing, more so to keep people inspired. People come along and get inspired whether they are musicians or just regular people. They thing if that guy can keep going on, then I can to at something. That's what I got from other musicians. That's what I got from John Lee Hooker. That's what I still get from Buddy Guy.

These are people that I was playing their records when I was thirteen and now I'm sixtyone. You get inspired by people. And, you aren't going to quit or give up. You are going to keep going. That is important to me, because my idols never let me down. I don't think that I should let other people down either. Music is extremely important to us. My idols don't let me down. Never did. I hope to walk in their shoes sometime and do the same thing. The music business has been changed. But, I've never been part of the music business. It was quite an accident that I became successful.

Monica: Why was it an accident?

Kim: Because I just wanted to play blues and play guitar. There was no future in it when I started. It was all Motown. The Rolling Stones became pop stars. There was no blues scene around at all. So when I started, other musicians told me not to do it because I couldn't make a living at it. So, I started a blues band because I loved the music and I wanted to play guitar.

Before I knew it, we were suddenly successful and suddenly part of this big blues scene. That was wonderful. And then the seventies came along. Before you know it, it kept growing and growing and you were a rock star and all this kind of thing. That was all and well and I embraced it. It was a blast and a lot of fun.

But, I have been able to come back to square one and this is the reason I am in this...to play guitar and play music and be serious about what I do. There is no difference now to me then there was back when I was nineteen. When I was nineteen, I was working seven nights a week in a big music scene. But, I don't want to work seven nights a week anymore. I'm sixty one. I've done it already. Where I'm at right now, it is perfectly good. For someone else it would be a different experience. This feels good to me right now. I did it all and I don't want to do it all again. So, I'm very happy and it's a good scene for me.

I certainly know it is difficult for musicians today. The economy is hard. Times are tough. I managed my own interests for many years. I have always managed my life and music to accommodate changes in life. Maybe that's why I am able to keep going. I don't expect anybody to give me a living. I'm not chasing after carrots or anything. I try to draw back from public relations and exposure.

Monica: Well thanks for talking to me! (We laughed)

Kim: This is fantastic. But it's my way of surviving in the business.
So the economic downturn and the music business collapsing, with the young people doing all the ipod stuff now, is not affecting me. I never plugged into the business. It doesn't affect what I do. When I play tonight, I will be playing to a couple of hundred people who are not interested in mainstream music. They are interested in musicians as myself. That's who I cater to, because that's who I am. Really the events around me don't affect my music.

Monica: I hear in Europe they are a more attentive audience than the American audiences. What are your thoughts on that?

Kim: I enjoy playing for American audiences. I understand American audiences. It's my experience. Every musician has a different experience. You have to make people listen to you. You have to get up there. I started playing to a dance crowd playing the blues. I was one of the first people to go into a club where no one ever heard of the blues. Somehow you have to get your music across to people. And, we were playing heavy blues. It went from that, to all of a sudden that audiences were riveted. You'd play and they would clap. (He claps.)

Monica: Did you like that?

Kim: You don't like or dislike it, because you're doing it. My experience, you can't do it and take notes at the same time. You can only look back years later. It's a living experience. You're not taking notes about life. You shouldn't be. You should be experiencing it. Looking back you can say that happened or this happened. You should be so engrossed in what you are doing. You are playing and performing and taking it all in. And, again, this isn't an ego thing. You are doing this for something else driving you. If you have an ego, you will never last forty odd years. You got to be doing this for something way beyond your ego.

Monica: Do you think your acoustic audience is the same as your electric audience?

Kim: The acoustic audience is a different animal altogether. Somewhat the same. I don't think the Savoy Brown crowd would come to my acoustic performances. A lot of people don't like acoustic. It's a bit softer for them. It's a different animal altogether. I understand that. Again, the acoustic thing, I get a lot out of it. It's a great way to express yourself. But, you are playing to a smaller audience, because it only appeals to a certain kind of audience.

Monica: You just didn't pick up an acoustic guitar twelve years ago? Right? You have been playing that all along with your electric?

Kim: Kind of. A little bit. I am an electric player. For promotional things you would have to play acoustic and I wasn't happy with my performance on those promo things. So that started me to think I should get better at this. It's a real challenge to play on your own on stage acoustically. It's not easy to get up there with an acoustic guitar. It's like being a comedian.

Monica: There's no one to cover up? With the band someone can have your back?

Kim: It's great. I like to engage the audience. It's a whole fantastic thing.

Monica: I read you create instrumentals. As a songwriter do you pick up the acoustic guitar and start to write? What do you do?

Kim: I do different things. Piano, acoustic, harmonica. After all these years I think I realize the song resides in the lyrics. I think the lyrics are more important. I think the average person relates to the lyric more than anything else. Now a days I concentrate on the lyric. I know a lot of my nonmusical friends will say that's a good song. I've come to realize they related to the lyrics. If the lyrics speak to them, it can be almost any kind of music behind it to a degree. If you write a good lyric, a country artist, pop artist or blues artist can sing it. A good lyric can be melted into any kind of musical format That's my thing now, the lyric. I think Bob Dylan, from what I hear, plays completely different chords to songs on stage.

Monica: He does.

Kim: Completely different chords. Now a days a lyric is very, very important. If I can get a good lyric, it is fairly easy to put it into a music format.

Monica: You tried acoustic, which was new for you. What else do you want to try?

Kim: I have a new career now. Painting. My new acoustic CD has one of my paintings. That's what I do every day now. Right now on the road, I'm missing painting. I paint everyday.

Maureen: Acrylics, oils?

Kim: Both actually, I've done watercolors in the past. Now there is so much. When you paint you realize how little time is left. Because there is so much to do. At my stage in life, it's giving me what should I say, understanding of my age and what I have left to do. There is such a lot to learn in painting and so little time. The summer goes by now and I can't paint in the summer. I can paint in the fall. But, it goes just like that. Now into winter. You constantly, even the change in weather, is a constant reminder of how little time there is left. So that's my new thing. I'm doing some art shows with my acoustic playing. That's my new career.

Maureen: What brings you to this?

Kim: Certainly the older I got the slower my career has gotten, like anything else in life. When you are younger and you are on the scene, you are working all the time. Careers slow down for everybody. It's during those slow points, when you play a couple of nights a week, you ask yourself what are you going to do with your free time?

If you are a restless type artist person, you have to find something else to do to express yourself. And, so I would start writing, painting, other artistic things to express myself. At this stage, playing the guitar in my front room doesn't do the trick. I have to have people to play to. Where with painting, you can do that in your front room. You can paint in a solid environment. You don't need an audience to watch you paint. So the painting and the writing became a way of me to fill in those gaps.

At some time, I may retire. Not planning to. But, I am artistically driven and I have to fill it in with something. That's how it started, by trying to fill in some gaps that came about as I grew older. I think if I didn't feel it with something, I would have an empty feeling.

Maureen: The one you titled, Invitation, how did you come to that?

Kim: Is that an abstract?

Maureen: Yes.

Kim: That's very odd that people like the abstracts, because I started to do the abstracts...you're not quite sure if you're faking it, 'cause everyone can slap paint on it. So someone like myself, you do have certain doubts, but you are driven to do it because you like to do it and you think you can do it. All of a sudden you are doing this abstract and the most important thing is pleasing yourself and producing a quality professional product. You don't want to create something that is amateurish and dullish. What is a professional quality abstract? Who is to say what that is? But in your mind you say to yourself that looks good to me.

This is a big surprise to me, because my guitar paintings I thought would communicate to people. They are guitars. It is an expressive piece recognized that it is a guitar. What surprised me when we started to show the paintings to people in the art world, just to get some feedback, people started picking on the abstracts. That really surprised me. It was like WOW. People like these.

People discussed with me expressive lines and balance. I was trying to make it a balanced visual thing. It was still a surprise to me that people liked them. It is so exciting when you can do something abstract and people like it. It is not unlike a guitar solo. A guitar solo is completely an abstract thing that you put together and people enjoy it.

So, it's...now I'm doing landscapes which is a real challenge because there is much more technique involved. You have to dry the paint in a certain way. I'm working from sketches I draw and bring back to the house and then paint. It's like the acoustic guitar. It's a challenge. Yeah I can paint a guitar. A very simple guitar. I'm not saying that I am any good. But, they come very easy because I know a guitar. I'm not painting Les Paul's photorealistic. I'm painting a guitar with a feeling. It's part of who I am. They come fairly simply. Some of them bad. Some of them good. They do come simply. With anything that comes simply, you put it to the side. You want a challenge. So you ask what I can't do. That's the landscape. The next thing will be portraits. I'm starting to want to do that and that will be an enormous challenge!

Monica: You are at a different place. When we started this interview you said you wanted to be the best guitarist to be heard. When you talk about painting, you are doing it for you.

Kim: I didn't pick up on that. It's nice you're firing it back at me because I'm learning a bit about myself.

Monica: Different place. It's for you. I love that concept of your paintings behind you as you do your acoustic sets. What a cool idea to tour with.

Kim: Yeah I know. I have a great back drop. The art thing I don't pursue as hard as my music. My main focus is touring and inspiring people.

Monica: One last question, who would you thank for your musical career?

Kim: My brother. My older brother. One of those guys that brought me up on music. He was always...made me listen to the best music. Focused me on the real good stuff. Then he became my manager and managed me for years. There was good and bad, believe me it wasn't all roses, like any family. But, in the end, I would have to thank him.

Monica: Thank you Kim for a great interview.

Kim: Thank you.



If you enjoyed reading this article, you may enjoy these ones too!

Roger Earl of Foghat
Robin Trower Part I


Copyright © 2009 Copyright Monica L. Yasher. All Rights Reserved.
Photograph Copyright © 2009 Maureen Ceidro. All Rights Reserved

Pittsburgh: Robin Trower Interview Part I by Monica Yasher

Playing. This is truly your passion?
"I have dedicated my life to it, and I still do."

This is part one of a two part series. When I spoke with Robin, he was traveling to a show in the North East part of the United States. Let me share some of the things we talked about.

Robin: Hello Monica

Monica: Hi, How are you?

Robin: I’m good..

Monica: That’s great Robin. Should we get started?

Robin: Yeah, sure.

Monica: OK. I’ve broken down the interview into some subcategories so that we could focus on some key parts. You’ve done so much.

Robin: Yes.

Monica: Some things I thought we could talk about are your guitar style, your guitar, your band, your songwriting. I don’t see a lot out there on your songwriting, and I know you are a songwriter. Equipment, your CD, and some fun points maybe no one has asked you about yet. OK?

Robin: Sure.

Monica: The first question I would like to ask you is that Jimmy Hendrix had a profound effect on you. I would like to know how did he effect you specifically? That statement is very generalized. Could we go a bit deeper and have you share what he did.

Robin: Well the thing is when Jimi came along he did for rock n’ roll what James Brown did for rhythm and blues. He changed it. He changed things. You had to sort of take it on board if you were going to move forward really.

Monica: If Jimi would be alive today would you have continued with the sound that you have created?

Robin: I think so yeah. Really the fundamental of what I do is in my writing. You know, the music that I create is really what the whole thing is based around. I think you got the music in you of whatever you are going to write. Regardless of whatever happens.

Monica: Well…how does the music come out from you? Is it typically a great lyric, is it a great melody, a great chord progression? How do you go about developing a song?

Robin: Well I’ve done it every which way. I’ve written the lyrics first. Mostly it comes from a guitar idea. Yeah.

Monica: Has anyone else impacted you as Jimmy Hendrix did?

Robin: Yeah. I mean as I said James Brown. Howlin’ Wolfe. You know Sun House. People like this have had a huge huge influence on me. I mean James Brown Live at the Apollo completely turned my head around. A complete 360.

Monica: Did you ever meet him?

Robin: No I never did. I have to say out of all the people I really admire he is my number one musical hero.

Monica: As a performer?

Robin: As a musician and a singer.

Monica: If you had an opportunity to meet up with any artist and chat for an hour, would he have been your pick?

Robin: Oh! Without a doubt! Without a doubt! He is just a monster with that kind of thing.

Monica: Do you play anything else besides guitar?

Robin: No. I don’t. I’m still struggling trying to perfect what I do on the guitar (he chuckled).

Monica: So, do you still practice?

Robin: Yeah. Yeah. Everyday.

Monica: Do you really? How long everyday?

Robin: I would say ½ hour is a minimum. But, if I am writing I can be on it for hours.

Monica: I understand that. I believe you are known to play loud. So when you practice do you practice loud too?

Robin: No. No. Not at all. I’m very quiet.

Monica: Do you really?

Robin: Yeah.

Monica: How does that affect your sound when you go to the stage? It has to be different?

Robin: Yeah. That’s right. But, I’m good at both.



Monica: Are you? Cool, (we laughed). I see that you did a switch in your amps. My question to you is when you want to do a change in your equipment, who is your subject matter expert or peer that you really respect to bounce ideas off of?

Robin: I don’t really have anybody. I do it by struggling with it and playing with it and playing with it until I get what I want.

Monica: That’s amazing.

Robin: Well, I sorta mess around with amps all the time. This new album I got I used these little Cornell amps for the studio. At the moment on tour, I’m using these vintage modern Marshalls, which are really great.

Monica: Why did you do the switch?

Robin: I’m experimenting all the time. I’m in search of an allusive greatest sound. I used so many different Marshall Fenders, I’m always switching. I never get the right sound because every room you go into changes what the amp can do. You know what I mean? You're always looking for one, that whatever the acoustic, it will be pretty constant. Very hard.

Monica: I’ve interviewed a few guitarists, and I have to say that your sound goes beyond the guitar. The equipment that you use with the guitar is extremely important. So your work and achieving it is all new territory for me. As a matter of fact your personal signature guitar came with accessories for the 100 guitars that were made for the name of Robin Trower.

Robin: Fender did an anniversary Strat and it had the effects with it. A deja vibe. The signature model, which is what that guitar was, is a Strat that they make with my name on it that’s built to my spec.

Monica: How long did it take you to develop that guitar, and how did you go about building that guitar?

Robin: I must admit a guy called Todd at Fender custom shop...I just talked it all through with him. I looked at all the available different kinds of things I could put on it from Fender’s manufacturing list. I chose different era vintage reissued pick ups. Each one a different one of the three. The basic guitar is really close to a vintage reissued Strat. But I chose some different details that make it particular to my own spec as it were.

Monica: And, why would someone choose your guitar over another guitar? What does your guitar offer for that artist?

Robin: I think maybe trying to get what I get out of it. You know. Trying to get that sound.

Monica: I know there are a lot of tribute bands trying to get your sound. What three pieces of advice could you offer these bands in order to re-achieve your sound? What is the most difficult thing to get to, and what could be some key elements for them to consider?

Robin: I think the big part of the sound that I get out of the Strat is I have quite a high action and use quite heavy strings on the top two. and I tune down a whole step. So that makes the sound of the guitar quite neat. And using the heavier strings as well. All that you get more resonance. That was the idea of having the bigger headstop on the guitar with a bit more wood on the neck and headstop, you get a bit more resonance. All these things add up to how the sound is made.

Monica: You really have worked hard at it. Years.

Robin: Well the thing is you learn a lot over the years. And, you still are learning what can help you and what not. I think I have put it together in that Strat in order to get the best sound out of it that suits me.

Monica: Thank you. What is your favorite part of being a musician? Recording, writing, playing, being on stage? Do you produce as well? I didn’t read anywhere that you did that.

Robin: Yes. I have co-produced a couple of albums with Brian Ferry. And, obviously a few of mine as well. What I love to do is play the guitar. So weather in the studio or live, I just love it.

Monica: Playing. This is truly your passion?

Robin: I have dedicated my life to it and I still do.

Monica: In your free time what do you do?

Robin: I’m a very big soccer fan. If there is a game playing on TV that’s my big relaxation really. I watch baseball in America.

Monica: Do you have a favorite team?

Robin: I don’t have a favorite. I just like watching the game.

Monica: Thank you. If you had the opportunity to thank someone for your career is there anyone you would like to thank.

Robin: I think Derek Sutton, my manager, has a lot to do with it. But, really I think why my music was so commercial in the 70’s was due to the singer. I had at the time James Dewar. I think he made it possible for the music that I was writing to cross over. Normally that kind of stuff wouldn’t be a commercial hit. I think his vocals made it so.



Monica: Anything you would do over again or differently?

Robin: I wouldn’t have made the albums I made that I made in the 80’s. I wouldn’t make them if I could do it over again?

Monica: Why?

Robin: I don’t like them.

Monica: That was a different question I had for you . As an artist do you look back at your earlier works and think why did I put that out there?

Robin: I think everybody has some of that.

Monica: You just grew as an artist. It’s all about growth.

Robin: Yeah I think you’re right. It’s just…I love everything I did in the 70’s The eighties I just lost the plot.

Monica: Well, I’m not sure people would agree with you. But, OK. Thank you. What does it mean to be a professional to you? What is your code of ethics?

Robin: If you can, you got to be true to yourself. I mean you got to be looking to from within to find the music that you got inside. You have to avoid trying to imitate or copying. You got to find the music that you got inside you and work hard to develop it.

Monica: Thank you.. One question, getting back to Jimi Hendrix. In your bio, I read that Jimi Hendrix allowed yourself greater creative freedom. My question is why didn’t you have that before Jimi Hendrix?

Robin: After Jimi died I wrote with Keith Reed in Procol Harum a tribute piece of music to Jimi. And it opened up…there was a song called, Song for a Dreamer, and it opened avenues for writing for the guitar which I didn’t realize before. I then started to get into more and more creating music for the guitar. I eventually had to leave Proco because I had so many song ideas to start my own thing.

Monica: Let’s talk about your new initiative how did that come about? Your tour with Jack Bruce?

Robin: We made a couple of albums in the 80’s, but never toured live and we were talking about doing a remix of those two albums and putting them out again. And Jack had the idea of writing some new material and adding it to the remixes, but when we started writing we got a whole lot of songs going so decided to make a new album. And we did eventually...this year...get to play live together.

Monica: So you’re having fun.

Robin: Yeah. It’s great!

Monica: That’s what it’s about. Do you have a favorite song on that album?

Robin: Probably on that album it’s probably, Distant Places of the Heart.

Monica: And why?

Robin: Why? I just think it’s a potent piece.

Monica: Is there anything you want to share that I didn’t ask you yet?

Robin: You didn’t ask me about my new album.

Monica: How IS your new album? That’s why you tour, right?

Robin: It’s called What Lies Beneath. I’m very proud of it. Very proud of it. But, anyway, maybe we can talk about that when you have a listen to it.

Monica: I would love to talk about your new CD. Absolutely! I’d be ecstatic to talk to you again.

Robin: Let’s speak again.

Monica: That would be great! Thanks Robin! I’ll set it up with your manager. I would love to talk about your CD and the writing and inspiration behind it.

Robin: OK then. Bye for now.

Monica: Bye Robin!

We did meet up and talk about his new CD. That interview will be posted on Friday, November 27.



If you enjoyed reading this article, you may like to sit back and read part II of the Robin Trower Series

Thank you for reading American Blues News!

Copyright © 2009 Monica L. Yasher. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2009 Maureen Ciedro. All Rights Reserved.

To purchase the rights to reprint this article, please email info@americanbluesnews.com.