The Australian Pink Floyd Show
have been echoing legends with virtuoso showmanship and mind-numbing
special effects, while steadily expanding a global fanbase who are
simply appreciative for keeping the Floyd spirit alive.
Dubbed as “The best tribute band in the world,” the Australian Pink Floyd
modestly lofted onto the music scene from Adelaide, South Australia in
1988, and was cofounded by longtime band members, keyboardist Jason Sawford and guitarist Steve Mac.
Although tribute bands
may be considered fun and entertaining, some may also say that they
shouldn’t be taken too seriously because they don’t write or perform any
of their own material. Then again, there are legendary rock
configurations with integrity issues, still touring with maybe one or
even no original members left in the band, and still performing under
the bands legacy trademark. So regarding today’s music standards,
tribute bands probably should be taken seriously.
So are tribute bands keeping rock alive or helping to phase it out?
Let’s face it, our rock and roll heroes won’t be around that much
longer, and tribute bands may be a way for mature enthusiasts to
recapture the days of their youth, while also enlightening the pristine
enthusiast. But it may also put an end to any chance for fostering
fresh new rock talent. With only a handful of the traditional record
companies remaining, the odds for a resurgence of rock and roll are
sadly slim. One can only hope that the old adage “history repeats
itself” comes true.
As for the real Pink Floyd … In 1994, guitarist David Gilmour attended the performance of Australian Pink Floyd
at Fairfield Halls in Croydon, South London. Gilmour invited Aussie
Floyd to an end of tour after-show party for The Division Bell tour at
Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London. In ‘96, Australian Pink Floyd
played for David Gilmour at his 50th birthday party. And over the years various band members of the real Floyd have performed onstage with Aussie Floyd.
Australian Pink Floyd ‘Exposed in the Light World Tour 2012’ will be performing at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater on Friday October 12th. It will be the productions’ fifth area appearance at the Hall. The Australian Pink Floyd Show
is a magnificent onstage production mechanized by amazing musicians.
But you also wonder what these virtuosos are capable of creating
musically when out of their realm.
This week, I had the opportunity to
chat with keyboardist Jason Sawford about the bands incredible journey
since its inception in 1988.
Here’s my interview with keyboardist and founding member of Australian Pink Floyd … JASON SAWFORD. Ray Shasho: Hello Jason! Thank you for being on the call today. How’s the tour going? Jason Sawford: “Really well, we’re in Austin, Texas at the moment and we’ve had some great gigs. Ray Shasho: I’ve always been amazed over the way they setup
these shows, especially a show of your size, and you’re doing back- to-
back performances each night. Jason Sawford: “There’s a lot of logistics involved …
I’ve finally figured out how they do it. They work really hard. They
get up really early in the morning and go to bed really late.” Ray Shasho:Then the soundcheck is still a very important part of the process. Jason Sawford: Soundchecks are still pretty
important, when you get into a schedule soundchecks get shorter. At the
beginning of the tour soundchecks are longer because you’re getting the
sound equipment right and all the settings. Once that’s all in place,
you get a schedule and the show goes ahead pretty smoothly.” Ray Shasho: Jason your accent sounds very English, are you from England? Jason Sawford: “I live in England and have lived
there for a number of years because it’s just easier to tour. We started
in Australia and moved to England in 1992, so we do have Australian
roots. That’s why we call it The Australian Pink Floyd Show. But we’re
based in England now and work with a lot of English people.” Ray Shasho: What were you doing before joining the band? Jason Sawford: “I was a student at University and
doing a science degree in biochemistry and genetics … that kind of
thing, and the Floyd thing was like a little band on the side that I
did. I also studied a bit of music but didn’t finish the music degree
because we decided to move to England. So we took all our equipment and
that’s when I concentrated on what I was doing and just made a career
out of it.” Ray Shasho: Are you surprised over the bands success? Jason Sawford: “Oh yea, I would have never of
imagined. Twenty four years ago when I started, I was just playing
around pubs; it was just something to do, just playing for fun …and it
changed my life.” Ray Shasho: At what age did you start playing Pink Floyd music? Jason Sawford: “I was in the early 20s and I’m 45 now, so it’s been a long time.” Ray Shasho: Were you primarily influenced by progressive rock music while growing up? Jason Sawford: “Yea, you could say that. When I was
in my teens I was actually into classical music. But it was actually
Pink Floyd that kind of got me into more of these other progressive
rockers as well. I’d listen to Atom Heart Mother that had this
orchestra opening and then the rock band would kick in and it works
together really well, and I really liked it. So I kind of got into it
from that angle.” Ray Shasho: So how many times have you seen the real Floyd in concert? Jason Sawford: “They Performed in Adelaide in 1988,
which was the year we actually formed, and I saw them at Earls Court in
1994, and saw them a couple of times there. Obviously, I didn’t see them
with Roger playing because this was the post Roger band when I saw them
play. But it was a fantastic concert and I was quite moved … it was an
emotional experience.” Ray Shasho: The first time I saw Floyd was
the Wish You Were Here tour … so I was fortunate to see Roger in the
band. It’s something to see the band transform itself from a simple
four-man setup with back-up singers to almost a mini orchestra. Why do
you think Floyd added so many additional musicians to the band … I
thought the original four sounded really tight musically. Jason Sawford: “Yea, they basically have two of
everything now, the more musicians you put in, the bigger the sound, and
maybe it looks more interesting …I don’t know. But the music became
more complex and required more musicians. Our basic band is just five
people; their albums are double- tracks so it was pretty hard to do with
just four … we’ve got two guitarists because you need two guitarists.
It’s just gotten more involved, so you need more people.” Ray Shasho:I’ve talked with a lot of
legendary artists who are concerned over touring with a large band.
After paying everyone and travel expenses –it’s just not cost effective. Jason Sawford: “It is difficult, our production is
pretty expensive. You’ve really got to have a handle on the budget to
make sure we don’t overspend here or there, because if things go wrong
and if you have to replace equipment or whatever …it just eats up the
funds.” Ray Shasho: Does Pink Floyd get their check from you guys every time you play a gig? Jason Sawford: “Yes, we do pay royalties to them; I’m not sure how that’s handled our management deals with that side of things.” Ray Shasho: Aussie Floyd actually played at David Gilmour’s birthday party? Jason Sawford: “Yes we did, we played for him in
person at his birthday party a few years ago. He came to one of our gigs
and we didn’t know he was there. He was just sitting in the balcony and
he turned up after our show … a head popped out from around the corner
and it was David Gilmour, and he shook our hand and asked if we’d play a
party or something. So a couple of years later we ended up playing his
birthday party. He actually saw us play at the Royal Albert Hall as well
and again didn’t tell us he was there in the balcony. (Laughing)” Ray Shasho: Did David Gilmour make any comments about the show? Jason Sawford: “He said it was a lot of fun, and I think he enjoyed it. I think his wife also bought a number of T-shirts. (All laughing)” Ray Shasho: You guys also had some Pink Floyd band members join you onstage? Jason Sawford: “On this particular tour we’re joined
with Lorelei McBroom who toured with Pink Floyd on The Delicate Sound
of Thunder tour. She’s the sister of Durga McBroom who used to work with
Pink Floyd. We’ve also played with Guy Pratt as well.” Ray Shasho: Did you ever get the opportunity to meet with Richard Wright? Jason Sawford: “I did at the birthday party. It was a
great memory of mine, we were doing the show and towards the end he
came to the front of the stage and asked me politely if he could play my
Hammond. He was very polite, came up on stage, and said you play the
synthesizer and I’ll play the Hammond. And I was next to him shoulder to
shoulder while playing “Comfortably Numb” together. And he was doing
all this crazy stuff on the Hammond …and it was great.” Ray Shasho: Obviously, Richard Wright was always one of your favorite keyboardists? Jason Sawford: “Oh yea … his playing was very
subtle, and used all these strange chords and things. He wasn’t someone
like Jon Lord… very fast playing. He was just very subtle and a great
player. And he was so important to the Floyd family. Pink Floyd would
not be Pink Floyd without Rick Wright.” Ray Shasho: Have you met Roger Waters? Jason Sawford: “I’ve never met Roger. I’d like to
but he’s the only one I haven’t met. And apart from Syd Barrett and of
course I’ll never meet him now.” Ray Shasho: Are there specific Pink Floyd tours, specific
years, or setlists that you perform each year, or do you create and mix
your own setlists? Jason Sawford: “We kind of design a setlist every
year basically; we might have one or two alternating sets. We’ve covered
albums in its entirety; we’ve done … Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall
has been done in its entirety. But of course if you do that you’re kind
of limited in what else you could put in. So we’re trying to do a more
well- balanced set that includes a little bit of everything. You’ve got
to have certain songs in there that all the Floyd fans want to here. But
we do like to put in some more unusual numbers like “Set the Controls
for the Heart of the Sun” and songs from the Animals album like “Sheep” or “Pigs on the Wing” and “The Fletcher Memorial Home” from The Final Cut. And we just have to put it together in a way that works, and I think we’ve got a really good setlist.” Ray Shasho: I think the Animals album was more popular than a lot of people thought. Jason Sawford: “It’s a great album. It’s probably my
favorite in a way; because I think it’s one of their purest albums
…it’s just the band Floyd. Just a lot of great instrumental parts as
well as cutting lyrics, and it’s a real rocking album. Anytime we play
songs from the album it goes down really well.” Ray Shasho: Jason, what’s your favorite piece to perform … I’m guessing “Echoes?” Jason Sawford: “Echoes” is great and one of my
favorites, but it’s such a long song and we can’t do it every time. I
love it and it’s a fantastic track. But I think one of my favorites is
“Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” For a keyboardist, it has great keyboard
parts … especially the mysterious opening and that little duet between
guitar and keyboards. It’s wonderful, I love playing that.” Ray Shasho:It’s amazing when you think how much of Pink Floyd’s sound was about keyboards and synthesizers. Jason Sawford: “I’m the only one who’s on the stage
all the time… they’ll be gaps when there’s no bass, no guitar, or no
drums on certain songs …but there’s always keyboards. And it’s always in
the background, people don’t always notice it. It just creates that
mood and atmosphere.” Ray Shasho: Any plans to record and release original material? Jason Sawford: “People do ask about it. We do have
ideas and they are in our archives. It’s just a matter of finding the
time to do it because we’re pretty busy touring all the time. And when
you’re off tour you think, do I really want to hang out with Steve after
finishing a long tour? (All laughing) I want a bit of a break.” Ray Shasho: Jason thank you so much for being on the call
today, we’re looking forward to the show at Ruth Eckerd Hall in
Clearwater on Friday, October 12th. Jason Sawford: “Thanks Ray!”
The Australian Pink Floyd official website www.aussiefloyd.com
Pink Floyd official website www.pinkfloyd.com
The Australian Pink Floyd Show Live at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Fl on Friday, October 12th, tickets available at www.rutheckerdhall.com or call 727-791-7400 for more information. Coming up … an interview with Maria Muldaur! Contact classic rock music journalist RAY SHASHO at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com Purchase Ray’s very special memoir called ‘Check the Gs’ -The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business … You’ll LIVE IT! Also available for download on NOOK or KINDLE edition for JUST .99 CENTS at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com-Support Ray so he can continue to bring you quality classic rock music reporting. ~~Pacific Book Review says Ray Shasho is a product
of the second half of the 20th century, made in the USA from parts
around the world, and within him is every trend in music, television,
politics and culture contributing to his philosophical and comically
analytical reflections collected in his fine book of memories. I found Check the Gs to
be pure entertainment, fantastic fun and a catalyst to igniting so many
memories of my own life, as I too am within a few years of Ray. So to
all, I say if you have a bit of grey hair (or no hair), buy this book!
It’s a great gift for your “over-the-hill” friends, or for their kids,
if they are the history buffs of younger generations trying to figure
out why we are the way we are.
An Interview with legendary Rare Earth drummer and lead singer Peter Rivera
By Ray Shasho
Peter Rivera is the original voice and beat of Rare Earth, a very hip band of musicians that played an incredible mix of music comprised of rock, funk, soul, and psychedelic fusion.
Rivera (stage name) aka Peter Hoorelbeke was born and raised in Detroit,
Michigan. At the age of eleven years old, Pete received his first drum
set and practiced to the likes of Glen Miller, Sammy Kaye, and Stan
Kenton. The first rock ‘n’ roll records that he purchased were “Tutti
Frutti” by Little Richard and “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins. It was
the charisma of Elvis Presley that inspired Pete into becoming a performer, but it was the Detroit music scene inspired by R&B and Soul music that would define Pete’s future.
The Sunliners were formed in 1960. The band had been playing “Get Ready”
for three years on the club circuit. The Sunliners became a smash in
Detroit, but also performed at the hippest nightclubs in New York City.
At the height of the bands success … Motown took notice and signed them to a recording contract. The Sunliners changed their name to Rare Earth and their song “Get Ready” (The
albums long version was reduced for radio airplay) caught fire at top
black radio stations in Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington
D.C. as a single. After gaining notoriety on the R&B charts, “Get
Ready” began to climb on the pop charts, finally reaching #4 on
Billboard’s Hot 100.
Peter Rivera and Rare Earth became superstars and a part of the Motown legacy.
Rivera became the undisputed leader of Rare Earth, the only white band to score hits with the Berry Gordy, Jr. Motown
Record label … “Get Ready,” “I’m Losing You,” “Born To Wander,” “Hey
Big Brother,” and “I Just Want To Celebrate” were all Top 40 hits. The
albums … Get Ready (1969), and the live double-album set Rare EarthIn Concert (1971) won double platinum. Ecology (1970) and One World(1971) achieved single platinum, Willie Remembers (1972) and Ma (composed and produced by Norman Whitfield -1973) went gold.
In 1974, Rare Earth was the opening act for the California Jam
…sharing the stage with Earth Wind & Fire, The Eagles, Seals &
Crofts, Black Oak Arkansas, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Peter Rivera and drummers of his sort are an enigma, and part of a
very elite group. Rivera plays drums and sings lead vocals at the same
time. But Rivera is an exceptional drummer; I would rank Pete in the top
20 of all-time … that’s how good he is. But Rivera is also an
extraordinary and soulful lead singer. He’s also a songwriter and has
written two of the most underrated and heartfelt compositions in the
bands history … “The Seed” and “If I Die” (both from the One World album, released in 1971).
After several futile attempts to rejuvenate the band and tour, Peter Rivera left Rare Earth for good in 1983.
In 1992, Peter Rivera formed the Classic Rock All Stars. The core lineup became Jerry Corbetta (Sugarloaf), Mike Pinera (Blues Image, Iron Butterfly & Alice Cooper), and Dennis Noda (Cannibal
& the Headhunters). The band became very successful and toured
extensively until Dennis Noda’s death, and the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s
to Jerry Corbetta.
Although Rare Earth was at the height of its success between 1970 to
the mid 70s, a resurgence of their material has been spotlighted on
countless advertisements, television shows, movie trailers and motion
pictures. “I Just Want To Celebrate” was
featured on advertising campaigns for AT&T and the Ford Motor
Company, and the tune was highlighted in the motion pictures … Three Kings, Tropic Thunder, A Knights Tale, and most recently at the end of The Expendables 2 … to name just a few. “I Just Want To Celebrate” was penned by renowned songwriters Dino Fekaris and Nick Zesses. The song was released on the One World album in 1971 and was a #7 hit on the Top 40 charts.
Rare Earth’s version of “Get Ready” has also been widely exhibited on advertisements, TV, and film. The song was written by another Motown legend Smoky Robinson,
and became huge hits for both The Temptations (#29 hit in 1966) and
Rare Earth (#4 hit in 1970). Rare Earth’s 21:32 minute version on the
album Get Ready gained cult status, somewhat like the album
version of Iron Butterfly’s mesmerizing psychedelic rock masterpiece,
“In-A- Gadda-Da-Vida.”
Rare Earth continues to tour without original singer and drummer
Peter Rivera. The current Rare Earth features two longtime members …
Saxophonist Gil Bridges and guitarist Ray Monette.
Although those classic Rare Earth hits continue to inspire numerous
generations, there’s been a reluctant effort to report about the man
behind the music, or more specifically …behind the drum kit and
microphone.
Peter Rivera lives in Spokane, Washington. He’s co-written a book entitled “Born To Wander” his
Autobiography and story of Rare Earth. He’s currently touring with a
new band of talented musicians and has released an unplugged CD called, ‘Been There ...Doin’ This’ –that includes all of the Rare Earth classic hits.
Rivera recently wrote and released an emotional music video entitled, “Look What We’ve Done”
that sums up the collapsed Detroit economy in a song. It’s an
incredible composition sung to rare video footage of a barren city
captured by Pete’s son. The song also mirrors the economy for the rest
of the nation.
Here’s an in-depth interview with the original lead singer and drummer for Rare Earth and longtime member of the Classic Rock All Stars … PETER RIVERA. Ray Shasho: Hi Pete, I know you’ve been pouring concrete outside your home, what kind of project are you working on? Peter Rivera: “I have a driveway that comes
up from the street into a two car garage and its all asphalt except for
the porch. This was a very old house that was abandoned and I rehabbed
the whole house. It’s a small house for me and my wife, but just perfect
for us, and I have a studio in here. The driveway was all asphalt and
we have these big trees and everything was bumpy and water just sat on
it and just ridiculous. So, I finally bit the bullet and said it’s got
to be done, so they put in a whole walkway around the house, a driveway,
and the two car garage … and it’s all beautiful. It was a big job, we
got rained out two days ago and it poured yesterday. So, it’s finally
done, and I was out there powerwashing and cleaning all that crap up.” Ray Shasho: So, you’re living in Spokane, Washington now? Peter Rivera: “I was in
Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho which is about thirty miles from Spokane, and
lived there in the 90s for a few years raising the kids, but once they
took off and went to college, then we went back to LA in 2003, and then
came up here in 2009.” Ray Shasho: Are your children close by or scattered around the country?
“I’ve got one son in Vero Beach, Florida and he and his wife are
entrepreneurs in the medical billing world. My other son is a
professional photographer and has done all my video work, and loves
baseball so much that he goes off and plays every summer for these teams
that pay him really good. He’s the Independent league all-time homerun
hitter. He plays for the Somerset Patriots. My daughter is married and
teaches fastpitch softball. She played in Europe and Holland for four
years, and played on The Dutch National Team. When she came back, she
was the pitching coaching for The University of Tampa, and then left
Florida and came out here. She has her own academy now and teaches
fastpitch.” Ray Shasho: I’ve noticed on your website that you’ve started to pick up a bunch of new gigs around the country. Peter Rivera: “Next Thursday, I’m playing
at this show called ‘Pig Out in the Park’ in Spokane, Washington and the
whole city turns out for it. It’s a four-day event and we’re going to
be doing Thursday night which is the opening of the big stage, and it
should be a great crowd and a lot of fun. Then I’ll be going to Kansas
City for a private show and then a couple of other shows … but always
working on shows and never know when they’re exactly going to popup.” Ray Shasho: Back in the Rare Earth days, you guys were very popular here in Florida …especially Miami. Peter Rivera: “Yea, Miami
Marine Stadium, and in Ft Lauderdale, and we played Curtis Hixon Hall in
Tampa, Jacksonville a bunch of times … Florida was a great state for
us. It wasn’t too bad when you were leaving two feet of snow in Detroit
and headed down for Florida.” Ray Shasho: Your latest CD is a
collection of Rare Earth classic material performed unplugged. Are you
currently performing an unplugged setlist onstage? Peter Rivera: “I’ve got two configurations
of what I do … I go out there unplugged with Joe Brasch on the acoustic
guitar and Danny McCollim on keyboards, and I play percussion … you may
have seen that video on my website … and we do that show.”
“Then we also do a show where there’s seven of us, and we’re fully
plugged in, and I’ve got a couple of girls singing background, we’ve got
guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, percussions, and the nucleus of the
show is the Rare Earth hits.”
“So we do those in both configurations. The unplugged allows us the
opportunity to stretch out a bit, and it’s a very intimate kind of
situation where it kind of draws the crowd in. The crowd has commented
many times that they really have a nice chance to listen to us and hear
everything clear. And the big band … that’s the big band … here we go.
And some places want the big band, the problem is, they don’t want to
pay for the big band because we have seven airfares and seven hotel
rooms, and it’s just lots of money. That’s one of the reasons I went
with the trio.”
“I love the trio more than the big band because we have so much fun
together; it gives me more time to talk with the folks in the audience
and be intimate without the distraction of six other people standing
around on stage while I’m talking. It’s a different thing but still the
same material, and the same impact. The unplugged is real strong because
I play a bass drum too while I’m playing congas. We played to 3,500
people in Michigan a couple weeks ago and it was just awesome. Sometimes
buyers, they think in their mind, unplugged … aw man; it’s an acoustic
guitar and a bongo player. And I say it’s not a coffee house kind of
thing, it’s a full out show.” Ray Shasho:A very powerful music video that you wrote and performed most recently is “Look What We’ve Done.” Peter Rivera: “Look What We’ve Done” was
actually spurred onto me by my good friend in Detroit. He’s been in the
car business since we came out of high school, and of course I went
towards music and he went that way, and after all these years he’s a
pretty big time guy in Detroit. With all the problems that came … people
losing jobs, and the auto industry shutting down … he use to say to me,
“Man, look what we’ve done to ourselves, you’ve got to write a song
about that, I’m really upset about it.” I said Aw Rick I don’t know. So,
he’d talk to me and kept telling me to write a song about that.”
“So one day, I got this idea and wrote that song. Then I called Rick
back and said here it is. He said, “Okay where can we get video?” So I
got my son, who is a photographer, and he shot all the video and did all
the editing, and of course …we did the song. We went to Detroit for
about three or four days and shot all the video, he put it altogether
and we put it out there …“Look What We’ve Done.” On that video … it
shows three little houses in a row and the third house on the right was
the house I grew up in, that was our little brick cubicle.”
“I think it’s a pretty cool song and it’s still holding up right now.
It may have taken place in Detroit but really it’s widespread, it’s
like a tsunami wave over the country. It affected a lot of people when
Detroit shuts down … I mean the ripple effect is incredible. I’ve been
trying real hard to get that song more and more exposure, even to the
political arena. I had a guy come up to me in Michigan who is the
president of the UAW and he said, “Man, I want to use that song on our
website at our next convention,” and I said … be my guess, that’s what
it’s for. I think it’s just a good song for addressing that social
issue, and we do it at all our shows.” Ray Shasho: Pete, I also enjoyed your book “Born to Wander.” Peter Rivera: “I was going to do a sequel to it and just leave all the pages blank. (All laughing)”
“But I left off in the book with the Classic Rock All Stars … and
sadly, Jerry Corbetta has Alzheimer’s now, and Dennis Noda on bass …he
committed suicide, and I didn’t want to keep going with Mike Pinera,
I’ve been with him for sixteen years … I just want to be doing what I’m
doing now. I’m more peaceful now and can choose dates when I want to,
when they come in. It’s not like I want to be the big baseball bat
swinging boss, but I do like the fact that I can make the final
decision. And after sixteen years, it was a democracy of sometimes who
lobbied the most, and I don’t want to live that way in a band …so I’m
not.” Ray Shasho: So I’m assuming that you’re still not talking with Gil Bridges and Ray Monette? (Ex Rare Earth bandmates) Peter Rivera: “No we’re not. With Ray, a little bit through social media and Rare Earth forums …you sounded great on that … and I hope you’re doing well.
Just stuff like that …but with Gil, absolutely no contact at all. It
was in the book on how all that happened. A couple of booking agents
said, we could probably get you a bunch of dates if you’d only get back
together with Rare Earth, and I said, I don’t think it’s going to happen
because we’ve kind of washed each other out. So they went to Gil and he
said, “I’ll go to my deathbed before I reunite like that.” Ray Shasho:It’s amazing because you guys were together since The Sunliners. Peter Rivera: “Yea, but when you’re in a
group and there’s a particular person that you are not necessarily tight
with and you kind of pretend that you are for the sake of the group.
And if you peel back all the other group members and these two members
are standing there and you have no real reason to be buddies because you
are just totally different … that’s what happened. It sounds childish
and it probably is … but, it is what it is …which is a song that I’m
writing right now.” Ray Shasho: I had a similar
conversation with Mark Farner … but as music fans, we’re always hoping
for reunions from bands like Rare Earth or Grand Funk Railroad. It would
certainly be huge for today’s music scene, but just a shame that it’s
not going to happen. Peter Rivera: “I think what happens is when
you initially break off you say okay that’s it. Then somebody does
something, and somebody retaliates, and somebody retaliates again, and
then it gets out of hand and you look at it and say …wow, even if we
wanted to we couldn’t repair this because you did all this to me since
we broke up, and then the other person says you did all that to me since
we broke up, and it just gets worse and worse.”
“I know Mark Farner real well and know Don Brewer, and I’d never say
to Don Brewer … hey how’s Mark, or when are you guys going to get back
together, because I know the story, I worked with Mark. He told me;
every time I put down Mark Farner/Grand Funk … I get a letter. You know
Don Brewer is a lawyer. So if Mark Farner does one thing out of line
…boom, he gets a threatening letter. So it gets to the point, okay, I’ll
just do it on my own and won’t use the name and stuff like that, and
you go on with life.”
“An agent I was just talking with said …if Grand Funk Railroad were
to get together, they could get them six and seven times the money,
probably get up to $150,000 a night in certain places, maybe other
countries, if they were reunited … but they aren’t going to do it.” Ray Shasho: I was delightedly surprised to hear “I Just Want To Celebrate” at the end of The Expendables 2. I can’t believe how many times I’ve heard that tune on advertisements, TV and movies. Peter Rivera: “It’s amazing how much they use it. Recently, I heard Nicorette and Hershey’s S’mores using it as a re-record. But on The Expendables 2 my
daughter said it was our version that’s in there, so it’s time for me
to call the Screen Actors Guild and say, hey … where’s my little money?
And it aint much I tell you.” Ray Shasho: The ways it’s been played, you’d think you were making millions. Peter Rivera: “Well I
didn’t write the song … the writers are doing really well, but the only
time that I get paid is like when they did the AT&T commercial, and
the way you get paid on that is at the time we recorded the song. On
that particular night there was a union contract issued and we got scale
for the union contract. So all they’re required to do is pay you scale
again, the same amount as forty years ago, but because they play it in
so many markets you get scale here, and here, and here … and so it’s
pretty substantial when the AT &T commercial comes out. I got
several-several thousands of dollars for that one, when they do a movie
its several hundred dollars.” Ray Shasho: Two of my favorite Rare Earth tunes are Peter Rivera compositions … “The Seed” and “If I Die.” Peter Rivera: “It’s really great that you
picked out those two songs. I’ll listen to them once in awhile and say …
not bad! Not bad! I played a show a few years back for the Viet Nam
Vets, it was amazing, a couple thousand people there and they stood up
tents and everything, and it looked like the show MASH. They were
driving jeeps around and dressed in camouflage clothing, they do these
ceremonial tributes to the guys who have fallen, and have the portable
wall there. It’s really an emotional kind of gig. They insisted when
they hired us that we played “If I Die.” Ray Shasho: Is “If I Die” solely about the Viet Nam War? Peter Rivera: “It was just a song about guys going off to war, and it just happened to be in 1971 during the Viet Nam war.” Ray Shasho: Are you disappointed that you didn’t get to write more of the music with Rare Earth? Peter Rivera: “Motown was always trying to
find us writers, the only reason those songs came out is … Tony Clarke
was the producer of The Moody Blues and Motown brought him in to do an
album on us. Tony came in with his ideas from England and all that, and
Motown just didn’t understand it, but we were diggin’ it. So we were in
the studio and started writing. Everyone in the band started writing
ideas down and I did “If I Die” and “The Seed.” Tony was axed from the
project and they handed it over to Tom Baird. And Tom really liked the
songs, so we went in and completed them and it came out on the One World album. So that’s how those songs came out.”
“Motown had that machinery where a producer got an idea about an
artist, once he got the okay from the committee, he’d go in and do some
tracks on that artist and then the committee would say okay we like the
tracks now you can put the singer on them … they did it in steps like
that. The writers were all over the place trying to find songs for
their artists. So when we came, they kind of looked over our shoulders
and said we’ve got to get some songs for these guys from these writers.
We were sitting there going; well we want to write stuff too, we had
some ideas but it really wasn’t too approved of in the first couple of
albums.”
“We did Tom Baird songs, which were great, “Born To Wander” and some
of that, and then Norman Whitfield was brought in because they thought
the Ecology album wasn’t going to be that strong, and Whitfield
came in and did “I’m Losing You.” Between “I’m Losing You” and “Born to
Wander” there were two producers. Then when we did the One World album, it was back to Tom, and he was cool enough to like “If I Die” and “The Seed.” After that we did the Rare Earth In Concert album and then it was time to do another album.”
“We got in to do Willie Remembers with Tom Baird and I
remember the day we finished that album, we were loving it because we
had some songs on there. We were diggin’ the album and walked in, and
Suzanne de Passe who was Berry Gordy’s right hand man just looked at us
and said, “Now that you’ve got that out of your system, we ought to go
and do a real album.” When Willie Remembers came out it didn’t
get any promotion at all, and that’s when they said the only way to save
a dying ship was to bring Norman Whitfield in.”
“Motown thought the only redemption to our career was Norman
Whitfield because he had, “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone,” “Ball Of
Confusion,” “Just My Imagination” and he was Norman Whitfield of Motown.
Norman was a great guy, a great producer, and rest his soul, but the
political side of it back then was … they just didn’t trust anybody
except in their own stable of people. So Norman came in and we did the Ma
album. I always called it the Norman Whitfield album played by Rare
Earth. And you didn’t get the essence of Rare Earth. As a result, Ma
got just a little bit of attention but nothing serious, and we didn’t
have the hits, so things just started getting worse. So after Ma came out that was pretty much it man.” Ray Shasho: So do you think it was good decision to sign with Motown? Peter Rivera: “It was a great decision
because we had nothing else; we were a band in Detroit playing in the
clubs, and the whole Motown experience came about not because they were
out hunting for bands and they found us, and not because we had 4-
million hits on You Tube, because none of that existed, we were a hot
band in Detroit that’s true, but like I said in the book … Gil’s friend
wanted to manage us and he had a friend that was a hairdresser (salon
owner), he did Berry Gordy’s ex- wife’s hair. As soon as the manger got
Berry involved to get us into Motown, and we signed at Motown, he blew
off the hairdresser. The hairdresser guy became friends of mine and he
would later say that they would have meetings with him on how to divide
and conquer the band, because he wanted to split me and Gil up.”
“Was it a good decision to sign with Motown? …Yea, because you don’t
pass up an opportunity like that. And when they invited us down to the
studio, we packed up our stuff and went down there and played into the
wee hours of the morning for a week and did the, Get Ready
album, and well … what’s going to happen now? Well nothing happened for
two or three months, and all of a sudden somebody in Baltimore played
it, somebody in Washington D.C. played it, and something started from
that, and the whole rest of the story takes place.” Ray Shasho: Rare Earth was aligned
perfectly to be spotlighted on album rock FM radio stations in the 70s.
The band had some incredible jams on those albums that included hard
rock and psychedelic fusion. I think the turning point was the Norman
Whitfield era. Peter Rivera: “I think where Motown made a mistake, was
when they panicked and they brought in Norman Whitfield, and once
you’re not selling records with the company, it’s like nobody wants you
anymore. And then we were having internal problems with jealousy and
there were drugs involved and stuff like that, and everybody was acting
crazy and it just kind of went away.”
“But what should have happened …I believe the management should have
taken us all to some house somewhere and said, okay look guys, here’s
what’s happening … you need to put all this stuff aside …almost
sequestered us somewhere. Then leave us alone with Tom Baird in the
studio and give us a month to see what we can come up with, as well as
listen to some songs from other writers. Because it got to a point where
the writers didn’t want to give you anything from drawer A, they’ll
give you the drawer B stuff, but once you get a hit … here comes all the
stuff out of drawer A, once you stop selling records that drawer is
closed again, they’re looking around to give other people those songs to
because other people are happening and relative to what’s going on. So
it was harder for us to get songs.”
“But you look back at forty years ago and say … it is what it is …
Now, I’m sitting here trying to book a trio. But I’m real happy with
what’s happened. I’m 67 years old now and I look back on it now … and I
was just at dinner at my doctor’s house … and we’re riding our Harley’s
up to northern Canada tomorrow and gone four days. But we were talking
last night, and reminiscing about the past … I look back and it was just
great! I was just so thankful for having lived through it, and I’ll
never be able to explain it to everybody. How fortunate was I to live
through all that, and maybe it’s unfortunate that I can’t continue to do
that, but I don’t need all that notoriety anymore. My life is balanced
out, I’ve got family and I’m happy.”
“Mark Farner and I were talking … we believe that we’ve got another
hit in is, and we have to believe that always, because that’s what keeps
you going. It may never happen but once you lose that feeling …I think
that’s why guys commit suicide or turn to serious drugs or alcohol and
just give up. Sometimes it’s tough when you sit there and go … what good
am I anymore? You have to be careful because when you’ve had a run at
notoriety and fame and all that stuff, you have to be careful that it
doesn’t go to your head in a certain way, so when it’s not there … you
just can’t live with yourself. Or you have the risk of getting
hopeless.”
“Eddie Guzman (Longtime Rare Earth conga player) was a diabetic and
he was drinking, I went out to see him shortly before he passed and I
looked at him and said …Eddie, what are you doing man? But he just drank
himself to death. Mark Olsen (Longtime Rare Earth Keyboardist) wouldn’t
stop drinking either and he had all these problems …and I said Mark,
you’re a good looking guy, you have a beautiful wife, a daughter …
what’s going on here? He just couldn’t stop drinking. I get moments when
I’m just kind of down and I go … wow man, what I’m doing now is just a
futile attempt … but then the next day I go wait a minute … I’ll hear
something like … it is what it is and I’ll start writing that song.” Ray Shasho: Pete, what was the thought process when Motown created the Rare Earth record label? Peter Rivera: “Motown wanted to do this
white-rock-FM-label and they didn’t have a name for it. So we suggested,
why don’t you call it Rare Earth Records, and a friend of ours actually
drew the picture (that tree) on the record label. Nobody knew what they
were doing back then … there was Gordy Records, Motown Records, and
there was Tamla Records, and they’ve been in existence for years doing
things a certain way and all of a sudden we were coming out saying
things like posters and artwork on our album covers and they didn’t know
from all this. So they bought a lot of our suggestions and when we said
Rare Earth Records … they said we liked that. Then they bought several
masters from groups from England. They thought …anything from England
sells so let’s buy some English groups. It became a stepping stone for a
lot of well-known groups. (Some artists on the Rare Earth label …The
Pretty Things, UFO, Toe Fat (became Uriah Heep) and Stoney &
Meatloaf). So we were like the favorite baby of that group.” Ray Shasho: I watched Rare Earth
perform at the Baltimore Civic Center back in 1973 with Funkadelic and
the Ohio Players, to a sold out arena of 13,000 people. My friend and I
were the only white folk there. Being an all white band, did you ever
receive any kind of racial tension while headlining a predominately
black concert lineup or audience? Peter Rivera: “Never. As a matter of fact
for the first year after “Get Ready,” ninety percent of the audiences we
played were a black audience in the big cities. It was just phenomenal
and we had a great time man. Everybody was just so nice to us and there
was no racial crap at all, we were out there doing what we did and they
loved what we were doing. It was just a great time and I had a ball.
People in the big cities seemed to be a lot looser than out in the
outlying areas.”
“One time when we were just beginning and “Get Ready” came out, we
got this job offer to play a place in Washington, D.C. and it was a
downstairs club in a totally black community. We pulled in and it was
only twenty minutes from Georgetown, and a couple of the guys got really
nervous. We went back to the hotel after the soundcheck and they said,
man, I’m not playing there … they were scared. The owner of the club and
his assistant came to our hotel and said, “Look you guys, we know that
you may be feeling funny about this or that but we assure you that
nothing is going to happen to you, people are going to love the fact
that you are there, please come to the show, we promise they’ll be no
problems whatsoever. So we went over there and we did the first nights
show and I think we played there a week and had a phenomenal time. After
that, we never had a problem with our own anxiety and got out of that
judgmental attitude right away.” Ray Shasho: Who were some of your friends from the Motown days? Peter Rivera: “David Ruffin was a really
cool dude, he use to come into the club where we played. We’d get him up
on stage and he’d sing with the band. I’d been over his apartment a
couple of times and hung with him a bit, but kind of stayed away because
there was a little too much crazy stuff going on for me.”
“But we knew Marvin Gaye really well, he’d be in the next studio from
us and we’d talk to him in the hallway. I was in the studio when Stevie
Wonder was twelve years old, he was singing songs for the Fingertips album
and I was watching him. And Smokey Robinson was very nice to us, Levi
Stubbs was great … everybody we met was very nice and cordial to us.
They would come in the studio while we were recording …playing and
singing while some megastar is there watching through the glass was kind
of intimidating sometimes.”
“Berry Gordy didn’t want to have too much to do with us.” Ray Shasho: You wrote a letter to the Motown museum for not including Rare Earth anywhere inside the building? Peter Rivera: “I’m out there on the road …
this is years ago, and Motown was having a 25th anniversary and we
weren’t even invited. Then the 50th anniversary came and we weren’t on
that either. It was just a couple of years ago and I was back in Detroit
shooting for the “Look What We’ve Done” video and my son was there of
course, and we went over to Motown to take a picture and he said, “Huh,
Motown … it’s just like a house? I said, yea. So he took some video and
then I said let’s go on in. So we went in, and I had Joe Brasch with me
and my son, and I started pointing out … this is studio ‘A’ and it’s in
time capsule. I told them I use to set up my drums right over there and
we looked in the control room and my son says, “Wow this is amazing” …
because to see a studio like that now is like prehistoric. So we walked
around the hallways of the place where they have all the displays and
everything and kept looking and looking … and there was nothing there of
Rare Earth. My son looks to me and says, “Don’t you have any of your
stuff in here dad?” I said …well …I guess not son.”
“So I wrote that letter two years ago. The other day I came across
that letter and I thought …I’m going to post it on Facebook, and I got
about fifty replies from people who were just outraged by it. I just did
it to get it off my chest and get it out there. But you know what …it
is pretty bad; Mark Olson’s kids, Eddie Guzman’s kids, even John Persh …
these guys are all deceased. Just put one or two of our album covers in
there and say Rare Earth was here. It would be great if my grandson saw
it one day. I just thought that it was pretty flaky. I don’t want to
make too much of it because pride is one of the seven deadly sins, but I
just thought … legacy, legacy, legacy, and why not? So I wrote the
letter, I’m not sure what it’s going to do? To not acknowledge us
doesn’t take away from them, it just adds to them we think … but maybe
they don’t see it that way.” Ray Shasho: Pete ... final thoughts? Peter Rivera: “I put
thirteen new songs on CD Baby over the past year, and you can hear
previews on CD Baby. I’ll be putting one minute previews on my website
peterrivera.com and my other website www.peterriveramusic.com.
So I’m in the process of doing that and there are quite a few songs
that I feel really strong about. And we’ll see what comes out of my
little studio in the springtime, because the wintertime is when I’ll be
in there.” Ray Shasho: Thank you so much Pete
for spending time with me today and especially for all the fantastic
Rare Earth music over the years, and we’re looking forward to some great
new songs by Peter Rivera. Peter Rivera: Thanks buddy …take care!
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Paul Kantner is recognized worldwide for his innovations to the San Francisco music scene as the psychedelic captain for Jefferson Airplane.
After the Airplane disbanded, a savvy Kantner created a parallel rock
band, perhaps to mimic a parallel universe, but using a slight deviation
from the original trademark. Henceforth, Jefferson Starship is launched.
Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship are amazing stories, and
both bands have sustained one of the longest lasting relationships or
affiliations in rock history. Jefferson Airplane was formed in 1965, but the
group’s classic line-up would eventually evolve into Paul Kantner, Marty
Balin, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen, Spencer Dryden and Jack Casady.
In 1966, the Airplane was spotlighted in an article in Newsweek
Magazine regarding the booming San Francisco music scene, which
contributed to a mass convergence of young people into the city and the
birth of the hippie culture, which ultimately led to the Summer of Love
(1967).
Jefferson Airplane scored huge commercial success with their second album, Surrealistic Pillow (1967). It was the first album to feature their new singer Grace Slick
(The Great Society). The album spawned the proverbial Top 40 classics,
“Somebody to Love” (#5 Hit on Billboard’s Hot 100) and “White Rabbit”
(#8 Hit on Billboard’s Hot 100). Both songs were originally recorded by
Grace Slick and The Great Society. The Jefferson Airplane became one of the hottest rock groups in America.
In 1968, legendary music promoter Bill Graham was fired as the band’s manager.
Between 1967 and 1972, The Jefferson Airplane churned out eight consecutive Top 20 albums in the U.S. with Surrealistic Pillow and Crown of Creation landing in the Top 10.
Their controversial anti-war inspired release Volunteers (1969) featured, “Wooden Ships” a tune penned by Paul Kantner, Stephen Stills and David Crosby. (The song was also recorded by Crosby, Stills & Nash
on their debut album). It was supposedly written on David Crosby’s boat
while in Florida. Both versions of “Wooden Ships” were performed at
Woodstock.
The Jefferson Airplane became the only band to perform at The Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), and the Altamont Free Concert (Headlined by The Rolling Stones -1969) … three of the most recognized music festivals of all-time.
Paul Kantner and Grace Slick began a relationship in 1970.
Later that year, Kantner released his first solo effort, a concept album entitled, Blows Against the Empire. It was released as … by Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship. It would be the first studio album to use the Jefferson Starship trademark.
Paul Kantner and Grace Slick gave birth to their daughter China Wing Kantner in 1971. (China became an actress on television, cinema, and the stage).
In 1972, after recording Long John Silver, and followed with a series of concerts, Jefferson Airplanecalled it quits. After the break-up, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady continued their success with its spin-off band Hot Tuna. Jefferson Airplane briefly reunited in 1989 with all its original members except for Spencer Dryden. A self-titled album was followed with a successful concert tour.
Jefferson Starship officially launched in 1974. The
line-up included Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, David Freiberg, John
Barbata, Papa John Creach, Pete Sears and Craig Chaquico.
The band’s first album Dragon Fly landed at #11 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Marty Balin contributed his lyrics on “Caroline.” Balin officially joined Jefferson Starship in 1975.
Jefferson Starship’s subsequent release Red Octopus became
the bands bestselling album. The album reached #1 on the Billboard 200.
The album produced the hit single “Miracles” (#3 Hit on Billboard
Chart) penned by Marty Balin and “Play On Love” written by Grace Slick
(#49 Billboard Hot 100). Fiddler, Papa John Creach left the group in
1975.
Jefferson Starship continued their incredible string of commercial successes with the release of Spitfire in 1976. The album reached platinum and included the hit tune, “With Your Love” (#12 Hit on Billboard’s Hot 100).
In 1978, the bands next release Earth charted
at # 5 on the Billboard charts. “Count On Me” yet another hit single
peaked at #8 on the charts. Jefferson Starship became a mainstay on both
Top 40 and AOR radio stations.
By 1979, Paul Kantner’s uncanny ability to helm two independent and
commercially successful Mega-Groups became even more apparent after a
huge lineup change. Grace Slick and Marty Balin had left the band in
‘78. Kantner spotlighted a new lead singer Mickey Thomas
(Elvin Bishop Group –Mickey sang “Fooled Around and Fell in Love”).
John Barbata was in a serious car accident and was replaced with
legendary drummer Aynsley Dunbar (previously in Journey).
Even without key band members, Kantner and his Jefferson Starship produced yet another monstrous album entitled, Freedom at Point Zero. The album spawned the hard-driving rocker “Jane” (#14 Hit on Billboard’s Hot 100).
Grace Slick returned to Jefferson Starship in 1981 and contributed on their next three albums, Modern Times (1981) which generated the hit, “Find Your Way Back” (#29 Hit on Billboard’s Hot 100), Winds of Change (1982), and Nuclear Furniture (1984).
Jefferson Starship maintained their status as one of the most
commercially-successful rock groups over the airwaves and on the
worldwide concert circuit. And continuing to churn out added hits like …
“Winds of Change” (#38 Hit), “Be My Lady” (#28 Hit), and “No Way Out”
(#23 Hit).
Drummer Aynsley Dunbar left the band in 1982 and was replaced with Donny Baldwin (Elvin Bishop Group).
Paul Kantner left Jefferson Starship In 1984; a
lawsuit by Kantner was settled out of court over the use of the
Jefferson Starship name. An agreement was signed by all band members not
to use the names “Jefferson” or “Airplane” unless all members of
Jefferson Airplane, Inc. agreed.
Under the name “Starship” the lineup of Grace Slick, Mickey Thomas,
Donny Baldwin, Craig Chaquico, and Pete Sears released their platinum
debut album Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1985) which produced three
#1 Hits on Billboard’s Top 100 … “We Built This City,” “Sara,” and
“Nothing’s Going To Stop Us Now.” By the late 80’s, band members began
departing and the name would eventually be changed to ‘Starship’
featuring Mickey Thomas.
In 1985, Kantner formed KBC Band
with former Jefferson Airplane mates Marty Balin and Jack Casady. The
band released a self-titled album and toured between1985-1987. Kantner
then left to visit with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. (Kantner continues
to write about his exploits with the Sandinistas in a series of
novels).
In 1992, Paul Kantner re-launched Jefferson Starship as
‘Jefferson Starship -The Next Generation’ and the band grew stronger
than ever. (Kantner eventually dropped ‘The Next Generation’). Marty
Balin rejoined the band in 1993; he departed in 2003 but still
contributes from time to time. Grace Slick has also made contributions
to the group over the years.
In 2008, Jefferson Starship released their tenth studio album, Jefferson’s Tree of Liberty followed by a worldwide tour.
In 2009, Jefferson Starship headlined ‘The Heroes of Woodstock’
tour. Most of the concert dates featured … Jefferson Starship, Big
Brother and the Holding Company, Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Tom
Constanten (The Grateful Dead). Other dates included Melanie, Edgar
Winter, John Sebastian, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Mountain, Levon
Helm Band, and Country Joe McDonald.
Today … the current Jefferson Starship is Paul
Kantner (vocals/guitars), David Freiberg (vocals/guitar), Cathy
Richardson (vocals), Slick Aguilar (lead guitar), Chris Smith
(keyboards), and Donny Baldwin (drums). The band also invites past
members to perform occasionally. Jefferson Starship recently released a 4-CD set entitled, Tales From The Mothership. The
CD was recorded live at the ‘Roswell UFO Festival’ in Roswell, New
Mexico on July 3rd 2009. Jefferson Starship was dubbed “Grand Martians”
for that year’s parade. The setlist included many of their classic hits
plus material that has never been performed live.
I caught up with Paul Kantner recently while in between a lengthy
worldwide concert tour that will include Florida dates. Here’s my
interview with the legendary captain of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship … PAUL KANTNER. Ray Shasho: Hi Paul! This is a rather lengthy tour that you’re on …how’s it going out there so far? Paul Kantner: “Yea, we’re
gearing up for it, we’re everywhere from Tel Aviv to Scotland and
everywhere in between, so we’re looking forward to it. But it is a good
long tour actually.” Ray Shasho: Do you still enjoy doing the long tours? Paul Kantner: “This is the longest tour
we’ve done in the last twenty years. We just had the chance to go to
Europe a lot …and here we are. We’re going to Rome, several places in
Italy, and we’re going to Israel for the first time, all through
Scotland, the UK, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, and
we’ll be going to Japan later in the year.” Ray Shasho: Paul, I’d like to
personally commend you and the band for not continuing on with the
Airplane name after the group disbanded. Bands are continuing to use the
original band name without key band members involved. Paul Kantner: “It’s much
like when a good writer dies, they get some lesser author to recreate
his style and put out books under his name, and I always hate that.” Ray Shasho: Let’s talk about Jefferson Starship’s most recent release, Tales from the Mothership. Paul Kantner: “That’s also oddly enough the
name of the book that I’m writing about my ventures within the world,
and all my bands. But yea, that’s our 4- CD set; we did a special
concert down in Roswell, recorded it, finally got it together and put it
out.” Ray Shasho: Why Roswell, New Mexico? Paul Kantner: “I’m a science fiction freak
from way back. My mother died when I was young and I had to go to
Catholic military all-boy boarding school, and that was pretty much of a
shock for the second grade. Fortunately, I got left in the library one
day and down on the bottom shelf was C.S Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet.
I just started getting into that and fortunately it saved me from my
years in boarding school there and gave me a bit of an imagination to
work with … and I haven’t looked back since. So science fiction is sort
of the underlining reason for wanting to go to Roswell.” Ray Shasho: Your Sci-fi influence was certainly apparent on your solo album, Blows Against the Empire. Paul Kantner: “I had done some science
fiction songs earlier with Jefferson Airplane … Notably, “Wooden Ships,”
“Crown of Creation,” and a song called “Have You Seen the Saucers,” all
were sort of based in science fiction, but it came together on that
album in a particular unique way that turned out really good.” Ray Shasho: Blows Against the Empire was about a group of people “escaping” earth in a hijacked starship? Paul Kantner: “I debate with you on the
word “escaping.” For me it’s more “exploring,” An adventure within the
parameters that surround you and with the available tools that you have.
It had nothing to do with escape at all anymore than San Francisco did
in the 60s. We weren’t trying to escape, some reason being able to
fashion our own particular culture around ourselves. Not just ourselves
but around the whole city at the time. We were lucky enough to succeed
and not get arrested in the process …and here we are now.” Ray Shasho: So are you a UFO enthusiast? Paul Kantner: “I like the idea. Way back in
… I think 1947, George Adamski’s book about UFO’s, where it landed for
some reason onto my bookshelf shortly thereafter … it’s just part of my
science fiction heritage. I always keep an eye out for that sort of
thing … unfortunately I’ve not seen any and they’re probably wise enough
not to contact me. But I like the concept quite a lot.” Ray Shasho: What was Roswell like … was there heavy security guarding certain areas around town? Paul Kantner: “It’s just a funky little
town out in the desert and there’s really not much to do about it. But
there’s no big deal about the security, it’s pretty casual.” Ray Shasho: You didn’t try to get into Area 51? Paul Kantner: “No… I’ve done that before, even got
arrested for trying to sneak in with Carl Sagan one year; we were
protesting outside at one of the places out there.” Ray Shasho: I’ve chatted with Gregg Rolie (Santana), Johnny Winter and Henry McCullough (Joe Cocker) about Woodstock …now it’s your turn. Paul Kantner: “I had the best time myself. I got
plastered when the stage started to slip a little. I’m sitting there on
the stage and Chip Monck whose running everything says we’ve got to get
everyone off the stage its slipping a little, and I look up at him and
say … I can’t move. And I didn’t mean it as an arrogant rock star … I
mean I was glued to the stage with all of my being, and going through
the stage miles and miles into the earth. I was totally immobile and I
think he just thought I was an A-Hole and didn’t want to bother with me.
In any case, while the stage was slipping, I was just sitting there
flying … and I got away with it.”
“We came on just after sunup in the morning and it was interesting
haven been up all night and suppose to have gone on at ten o’clock the
previous night, so we were out there at ten in the morning at our most
vulnerable if you will. I didn’t know at the time how we played, but
have heard it since and it came off pretty well considering.”
“We were there several days before it even started just wondering
around aimlessly, figuring out what was what, and then hung around the
whole next day after our set. Then we did the Dick Cavett Show and did a
whole bunch of stuff there.”
“It was all quite a good adventure for me.” Ray Shasho: Was the ‘Heroes of Woodstock’ tour a lot of fun? Paul Kantner: “Every place we play is fun.
There’s a certain adventure of going out on stage, and we don’t quite
know what we’re going to be doing, and we play the songs different quite
a lot in many ways, so there’s a bit of adventure and exploration and
just the architecture of music, even to this day is something that I
don’t understand … why music works that way it does. After all these
years why this combination of notes, elements, and melodies, influences
people so emotionally, myself included, and that keeps me at the helm as
it were all the time.” Ray Shasho: I saw Jefferson
Starship headline for Jeff Beck and the Jan Hammer Group at a sold-out
Capitol Centre in Maryland … somewhere in the 70s. Paul Kantner: “I remember those guys
opening for us they were quite good. I’ve always liked the idea of
having really good people opening for us when we played and I do that to
this day. Some people like to have a crappy band open for them so
they’ll sound better, but for me, we really drive when a good band kicks
ass before us and it just makes us play better in the long run.” Ray Shasho: Red Octopus was a huge selling album … why do you thing that was? Paul Kantner: “I never have a clue. (All
laughing) We just put out albums and what we’re doing at the time, and
they go this way and that way… that one went a lot that way and turned
out quite good. We never plan anything and it just comes out when we’re
done with it. I’m working on a couple of albums right now … a rock ‘n’
roll album from Jefferson Starship and a sort of a half folk music kind
of an album … in the adventure mode of Tree of Liberty, sort of
like the way we started playing in the earlier days. I enjoyed
thoroughly going back to that approach; I love acoustic twelve string
guitars, banjos, grand pianos, and voices are probably my best area to
work in.” Ray Shasho: I play mostly electric guitar and have always thought that the banjo was a tough instrument to play. Paul Kantner: “The basics are quite simple
actually. I had the adventure of learning with Pete Seeger’s ‘How to
Play the Five-String Banjo’ book, which got me going right off and it’s a
very good book for that. I have two banjos and I’m looking at one right
now sitting at my home that someone made for me. It’s a fine instrument
and I’ve learned a certain way of playing that suits me quite well.” Ray Shasho: I chatted earlier this
year with Roger McGuinn about the old traditional folk songs and how
much we miss hearing them, but also about just keeping younger and
future generations aware of the genre. Do you talk with Roger? Paul Kantner: “We’ve been playing with
Roger since we both started … we did shows together when he was in The
Byrds and we were Jefferson Airplane and have continued to do shows with
him since. We both come out of folk music.”
“But that’s partly what I tried to do on Tree of Liberty,
the resurgence of that sort of feeling and we succeeded pretty well I
like to think. And Roger in his own way has succeeded pretty well. Both
of us ended up playing Rickenbacker 12-strings which I play to this day.
It’s one of my favorite instruments and almost all I play when we’re
playing electrically.”
“I’ve actually stole some chord changes from Tammy Faye Bakker’s band
in my day, and have found their way into our songs one way or another.
(Laughing)”
Purchase Ray’s very special memoir called ‘Check the Gs’ -The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business … You’ll LIVE IT! Also available for download on NOOK or KINDLE edition for JUST .99 CENTS at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com -Support Ray so he can continue to bring you quality classic rock music reporting.
~~Pacific Book Review says Ray Shasho is a product
of the second half of the 20th century, made in the USA from parts
around the world, and within him is every trend in music, television,
politics and culture contributing to his philosophical and comically
analytical reflections collected in his fine book of memories. I found Check the Gs to
be pure entertainment, fantastic fun and a catalyst to igniting so many
memories of my own life, as I too am within a few years of Ray. So to
all, I say if you have a bit of grey hair (or no hair), buy this book!
It’s a great gift for your “over-the-hill” friends, or for their kids,
if they are the history buffs of younger generations trying to figure
out why we are the way we are.
