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Howard
Leese 1 / Howard
Leese 2 / Frank
Marino / Andy Powell /
Jake Shimabukuro / John Wetton / Graham Ferguson / Shawn Phillips
Howard Leese (photo: Carl
Dunn)
Heart And Solo:
The (Second) Howard Leese
Interviewby Scott "Dr. Music"
Itter
with additional
material contributed by Lizzy Evans
Howard Leese is about to unload a set of songs
that shall act as a personal adventure for this journeyman. After
spending almost half of his Earthly existence with Heart, and the
past 9 or 10 years as guitarist and musical director for The Paul
Rodgers Band, Leese is looking to share a piece of his soul with
this first solo effort. This is an album that is coming from a very
personal place; a place with roads that have not yet been traveled.
On August 24th, 2007, I talked with Leese
at length about his upcoming solo debut which, at the time of this
writing, had yet to be titled. But he told me what to look forward
to upon its release. After describing the way he mixed a beautiful
Classical acoustic guitar piece with a heavy Robin Trower-like
guitar explosion in his song “The South Summit,” he expressed his
desires to use “atypical song forms.” As he states, “I don’t want
everything to be verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus.” He went
on, “I’m not really looking for most of this stuff to be all that
radio friendly. I want it to be a little challenging to the
listener, and I don’t want to dilute it at all to make it easily
understandable.”
In the following text you’ll hear Leese talk about
everything from the step-by-step construction of the album to his
affection for videogames and mountain climbing. You will also hear
some great stories about many of the brilliant guest artists that
appear on the record.
We start off the conversation with a few leftover
questions from the first interview…..
Dr. Music: On the current Paul Rodgers tour, how is
the set list determined for each show? Is there generally input from
anyone other than Paul?
Howard Leese: “Well….yeah. Paul and I kinda discuss
it. He usually calls me before the weekend shows. He’ll call me at
home, like on Thursday or before we travel, and we’ll go over the
set list a little bit and ask me what I think. And, he’s always
throwing new stuff at us. We’re always learning new songs. That’s
one of the things that makes it cool and makes it real rock and roll
is that that’s very fluid. The set list changes. It even changes
once it’s already printed out and we’re on stage, it still changes.
So, that’s kinda cool. It keeps it breathing a little bit. You don’t
want to do the exact same show every single night. When we went to
Norway, we were at a Blues festival, we did an all Blues set. A lot
of that had never been played before, it was all first time. Things
everybody knew but we had never done them together, so that was
kinda fun. You never know. It changes from place to place. In
England we do more Free, in America we do a little bit more Bad
Company stuff.”
The Paul Rodgers Band - pictured l. to r.: Lynn
Sorensen, Jeff Kathan, Paul Rodgers, Howard Leese (photo: Paul
Kloiber)
DM: I gotta ask you….have you heard the Fergie cover
of Barracuda? What do you think?
HL: “Right, I read about it. I
guess it’s in “Shrek 3.” My kids saw it. They went to see the movie
and they come home and go, ‘Dad, your song’s in Shrek’ What?!
(laughs) I had heard about it, but that seemed an unlikely cover,
but God bless her. I haven’t heard it yet, I haven’t seen the movie,
but I’m sure I’ll see it when the DVD comes out.
The version that was good for me
was at the VH1 Rock Honors. Alice In Chains did it with Gretchen
Wilson. It was great because the week before the show I got a call
from Jerry Cantrell, and he said that Alice is gonna play Barracuda
at the show. Killer. So he wanted to come over and just get my take
on the song and play it with me and dink around with it a little
bit. So he came over one afternoon and we played Barracuda for a
couple of hours. I gave him a flanger so he could get the sound
right. And they did a great job, I thought. The tricky part is for
the drummer because there’s some real crazy math in that song; a lot
of bars of funny time signatures - 7...9...5..., light bars of 7, I
mean there’s a lot of math in there. So I just wanted to make sure
that Jerry knew all of the numbers so he could run it by his drummer
and make sure, because I’ve taught it to a number of drummers and
it’s fairly complicated. Michael Derosier, very creative guy, and
came up with a lot of odd beats for that.”
DM: “Barracuda” is going to be included in the Guitar
Hero III videogame. Have you ever played the game?
HL: (Laughs) “I’ve not played it, but I know what it
is. I’m a big videogamer and I have two sons, 6 and 7, and they’re
playing right this minute.”
DM: What do you think about "Barracuda" being on
there? Is that a fun thing for you?
HL: “Perfect, because how good is your right hand?
It’s not easy on the right hand. It’s a lot of notes there and you
gotta be pretty precise. That’s a cool little rhythm to get good at,
so I think it’ll be challenging for most guys. I think it’s great.”
DM: You mentioned that you will be marketing a flanger
in the near future. Is it done?
HL: “I just got the final artwork the other day, it’s
getting close. A lot of the components were already obsolete, they
just don’t make them anymore, but they used modern equivalents, so
it should sound the same just be a little bit quieter, which will be
good. Any minute now.”
It was now time to begin
talking about Leese’s upcoming solo debut. The following text has
been edited from the original conversation, but the complete audio
recording of the conversation is available here:
The following is the most
up-to-date track list available for the record. As it is still a
work in progress, please be aware that many details may change
upon final release.
"Alive Again" (guest vocalist: Joe Lynn
Turner)
"Hot To Cold" (guest vocalists: Joe Lynn
Turner & Deanna Johnston)
"The South Summit" (guest
vocalist: "Duke Fame")
"Heal The Broken Hearted" (guest vocalist:
Paul Rodgers)
"Vermilion Border" (Instrumental)
"Somewhere"
(Instrumental)
"I've Been Leavin' You" (guest vocalist: Andrew
Black -
and featuring Lynn Sorensen on bass
and Jeff Kathan on drums from The Paul Rodgers Band)
"The Vine"
(guest vocalist: Jimi Jamison)
"33 West Street" (guest guitarist:
Paul Reed Smith)
"The French Quarter" (Instrumental - guest
keyboardist: Keith Emerson)
"Rada's Theme" (Instrumental)
"In
These Eyes" (guest vocalist: Keith St. John)
As of this printing, there is a
track that will have guest vocalist Bobby Kimball, but it is
yet untitled.
DM: Let’s start with a question
that somewhat parallels the upcoming release of your first solo
record, and that is the release of Ann Wilson’s first solo
record.
First off, what are your thoughts about Ann doing a solo
record, and her approach of doing an album made entirely of cover
songs?
HL: “Well….I’m glad she’s doing
it, I mean, it’s long overdue. I thought that when we had the Ann
Wilson Band there for a while, we had the big Funk band with horns
and that whole solo thing we were doing, I thought that band
should’ve made a record. That would’ve been cool.
I don’t know why she’s doing all covers. I have no
idea. You’d think they’d have a bunch of songs. I know they always
used to like to do their own songs, so, I have no idea. But, it’s
probably gonna be great. She’s a force to be reckoned with. One of
the great voices of all time. And she’ll probably pick cool songs,
so that could be kinda cool.”
DM: Do you feel that releasing your album around the
same time might possibly cause some friction, or possibly even some
friendly conversation with Ann?
HL: “Well….I mean, it might be great because they can
compare the work. And also, it will just bring more visibility to
the Heart legacy. I don’t think we’re going to be directly
competing. Mine’s more of a guitar record, although I do have eight
vocals on there. It’s probably gonna be pretty
different.”
DM: Do you feel that your release might gain in sales
and popularity if it is released in close proximity to Ann’s
record?
HL: “I doubt if it will have an effect one way or the
other, really. My thing has to stand on its own
merit.”
DM: Are sales and chart position of any importance to
you?
HL: “You know….I’ve had number one
records and platinum records and stuff like that, and that’s
fantastic and a great thing to aspire to. And we used to make the
records with the intent of making it number one. But now I feel like
I’m more like a painter, at home, in my studio, making my work to my
own satisfaction, to my own standards. And I’ll release it to the
public, but thinking about the chart, that never really entered my
mind. I just try to make the best work I can do.”
It was at this point in our
conversation that Leese started to emphasize some of the elements
that did matter to him while he was recording this solo effort. He
goes on to discuss the importance of performing all of the
instruments in only one pass, and the work ethic that he placed upon
the many great singers that will appear on the
record.
“The standards that I personally have when I work
alone here, are even higher than what I had in the studios “in the
days.” My personal ethic now is to record everything; to actually
record to document a performance. So I don’t punch in, I don’t do
half of a solo and then do another half and put it together. If I
can’t play it all the way through I keep practicing until I can. So
all my solos are one pass. All the performances on the record, the
piano part or whatever, it’s all one pass. There’s no editing, no
punching, no correcting, no fixing nothing, no trickery,
everything’s played by hand. And the singers - I even inflicted my
standards on them. I told them, ‘You’re gonna come over. You’re
gonna sing the song three times from start to finish, and then
you’re gonna leave.’ That’s what Ann Wilson did. If she couldn’t
find all the perfect pieces after three passes ……I mean, we always
had more than enough. Joe Lynn was the same. He came over, sang it
three times, and I could’ve made three different vocals that were
all good. So, I took the best little bits from all three vocals. And
that’s the only editing I did, was on some of the lead
vocals.”
DM: And let’s end the Heart-related questions right
here by asking you just one more...
Did you ever think about
asking Ann or Nancy to guest on the record?
How about any other
former members like Roger Fisher, Derosier, Andes or
Carmassi?
HL: “Yeah, absolutely! I had one
song that I wrote in kind of the 70’s Heart style. And I emailed it
to Ann, but I never got a response. I don’t know if she got it or
not. I ran into Nancy at the NAMM show and told her what I was
doing. She volunteered to play on it, but that was a couple of years
ago. I’ve been working this thing for a while. We just never got
around to it, but yeah, she volunteered to play on it. I ran into Roger (Fisher). I was gonna ask him to play
on something, but he just moved to Prague. There is no other
musicians on it but me and the drummer, the great Mark Schulman,
except one song is a Blues song that has The Paul Rodgers Band. We
cut that one in my house in Seattle, sort of as a live three piece.
It’s like a raw Blues….you can tell it’s live in my living
room.”
Leese went on to talk about
some other guest musicians that appear on the
record.
"(There’s) one song that Paul Reed
Smith plays guitar on. He’s a good friend of mine. Everybody knows
what amazing guitars he makes, but people don’t realize what a good
player he is. He’s a real good player.
And I have a little tiny interlude
in between songs. It’s just me on Hammond organ, and its got this
jazzy piano thing, and that’s Keith
Emerson.”
   
Keith
Emerson
Bobby
Kimball
Paul Reed
Smith
Paul Rodgers
DM: Do you have a title for the record
yet?
HL: “Well….I’m narrowing it down. What do you think of
‘Brainstorm?’”
DM: “Yeah. I do like it.”
HL: “My wife came up with that, because she goes,
‘You’re always into your brainstorming,’ and I thought ‘Wow. That’s
actually a pretty good name.’”
DM: What about ‘Secret Weapon?’”
HL: “‘Secret Weapon’ we like too. That’s the one
that’s been the working title for a little while here. Those two are
probably the top two. She likes that one too.”
DM: I really like that. There’s a story behind it and
it sums up the whole thing. I think it really does.
HL: “I’m glad to hear that. I like that one
too.”
DM: How many tracks will be on the
record?
HL: “I have twelve tracks; eleven of those are all
done. I have a bonus track for Japan. Which is like a Latin number;
like a nylon string instrumental. And then I have another track
that’s gonna be a hidden track. The title probably won’t even show
up on the artwork, but it’s this guitar solo that I did when I was
17; 1968, for a film soundtrack, and it’s really crazy. So really
there’s fourteen pieces that I have ready to go.”
DM: Tell me what’s happening with Black Star Records
at this point. There was talk of selling the label a while back.
Will the record be released through Black Star
Records?
HL: “We’re working on a really big deal right now, and
if the deal gets signed it won’t be on Black Star. We’re trying to
take over Sun Records, Elvis’s label. We’re working on a deal right
now, I don’t want to jinx it or talk too much about it, but we’re
trying to put that together. But if that happens, my record will be
on Sun; be the first release on the new Sun
Records.”
DM: On this record you have a number of great
vocalists. Do you see any disadvantages to having different singers
on the album, and did you ever consider having one person front the
band?
HL: “Well, you know, that’s something that I may wanna
do at some point, but for this project it worked out kind of
beautifully because my idea was to write the music and to have like
a pretty firm arrangement of how the music will be, and then I would
give that to the vocalist and require that he would write the words
and the melody to basically fit the template of the music as it
existed. And that worked out really good. And it was just like being
in a band, but with different people. Like when Joe Lynn and I
worked together, you know, it’s pretty natural, it was just like we
were both in Rainbow or whatever for a few weeks."
DM: On the current Paul Rodgers tour, the band
sometimes performs a song from the album called “The South Summit,”
which we’ll talk more about in a second, but why isn’t it “Heal The
Broken Hearted?” You have Paul right there. That would be the
obvious choice to do.
HL: “Yeah, but see, he likes to
have a little break there in the middle. When he first called me,
before the whole year started, he goes, ‘I want you to do a track
somewhere so I can take my little break.’ So we went over the ones
we could do, and that one did come up, and he goes, ‘Yeah, but then
I don’t get my break.’”
The other thing is…..like the
first half of the song he’s singing quite low, and then he jumps up
an octave and sings really high and he really tears it up. He said
the high part’s not that hard, he says live on stage the low stuff
is actually kinda harder because you have to sing soft. And then the
big stadium thing that we do, you know, that it’s hard to sing low.
But mainly, he just wants to take a break.”
"Duke Fame" (photo: Sherry Globman)
DM: Well, let’s talk about “The
South Summit.” I must tell you that I find the track to be my
favorite out of the seven that I have heard so far. Tell me about
the singer on this track. I know he has a “Spinal Tap”
connection!
HL: "Okay….(laughs)…that’s Duke Fame. You know the
scene where Spinal Tap, they get into the town, and they go to the
hotel, and their reservations have fallen through, then the manager
comes up and tells them the gig has been cancelled. Right when they
couldn’t get any lower, in through the lobby sweeps Duke Fame and
his entourage. He’s their former singer. He’s in town to play the
Enormodome. That guy." (laughs)
DM: Where did you come up with the title “The South
Summit?”
HL: “Duke Fame was just real good at that James Dewar;
that big, chesty voice. He was just riffing the words off the top of
his head, and he said, ‘The mountain is high,’ and that’s all he had
to say because I’m a big fan of the mountain climbing books and the
Mount Everest, and all those guys. I live near Mount Rainier in
Seattle, and I like to go up there a lot. So I thought, ‘Ahhh….I
gotta write a song about a guy stuck high up on Everest.’ So the
South Summit is that little ridge right before the real summit. I
lot of guys turn around there and live, a lot of guys don’t turn
around there because it looks like it’s so close, but it’s not that
close. (“The South Summit”) is based on Mount
Everest.”
DM: There is a large part of the song that has a Robin
Trower sound embedded into it. That was intentional?
HL: “Yeah….yeah. There’s a certain thing you can get
if you’re in the right key, if you’re in C# minor on the guitar.
Hendrix did it, and Trower did it some more, because he was a big
influence by Hendrix guy. So it’s just sort of that style; the big,
heavy 3-piece in C#. It’s sort of how you sound when you play in
that key and you put a flanger on."
DM: And Trower was an influence on you as a guitar
player?
HL: "Yeah, I saw him in Seattle at the Coliseum, and
besides being a nice, peaceful player, he had a great sound. The
start sounded really good. The Brigade opened some Trower shows when
we first got started, and he got mad at me because I had more
Marshalls than he did. (laughs) But yeah, Trower’s great, man. The
guy can really play, and he really defined a sound.”
DM: Is there a specific guitar that is used throughout
the entire album? I know you have the
Eagle....
HL: “I did use the Eagle. The
Golden Eagle is on there. (Editor Note: “The Golden Eagle” is a
vintage Paul Reed Smith guitar) The song that Paul Reed Smith plays
on is called ‘33 West Street’; that’s the address of his original
workshop where the Eagle was built. So that song is all PRS
guitars.
The bass on the entire record
is a real early handmade PRS bass that I got way back when that he
made for Mark Andes. I got it in a trade.
And, the other main guitar is a 1957 Les Paul Gold Top
with P.A.F.'s; that one I use for most of the rock stuff.
(Editor Note: “P.A.F.'s“ are a
type of guitar pickup. 1957 was the first year that this particular
pickup was made, and as Leese put it, “they‘re especially
stinky.”)
The clean stuff is a ‘61
Mary Kay Strat, and then my HML guitars that I build myself are on a
lot of it.”
The Golden Eagle meets its maker. Howard
Leese with Paul Reed Smith
DM: Now I know you love to use the
backward guitar effect. Can we expect to hear a lot of it on the
record?
HL: “Yeah…..probably too much. (Laughs) I used it a
lot. I love going backwards. I mean, the first sound you hear on the
first song on the first Heart album, the very first thing you hear,
intro to ‘Magic Man,’ that’s me being backwards. I just love
backwards, and there’s backwards on every record.”
DM: I also know that you love to work in the studio,
and you like to do it in more of an “old school” fashion. How much
of the latest technology did you use, or are you still flipping
analog tape over?
HL: “No….I’m not recording on tape, per se, so there’s
nothing to turn around, but I do have a machine that flips my guitar
around backwards. It’s digital, called the
‘Boomerang‘.”
DM: “Hot To Cold,” which pairs Joe Lynn Turner with
Deanna Johnston from the RockStar INXS show. Tell me how that
pairing happened.
HL: “The duet was funny because I had never even met
her. She had been working with Joe Lynn a little bit, and Stuart
(Smith) called me and said, ‘Do you have any tracks that you’re not
using? This girl is just a really good writer, and she’d like to
listen to a track and see if she can write something. And I really
didn’t have anything. I had this one track that I really didn’t
think was gonna make the cut. So I sent that to her in an email. And
when Joe Lynn came over the day to sing “Alive Again” he brought her
along and he goes, ‘Listen to this,’ and we put on the CD. She had
done a little demo at home over my track, and she had written that
whole song, and it was a great rock song. She just kinda got herself
a spot on the record by writing to one of my tracks.”
 
Joe Lynn
Turner (photo: Chris
Marksbury)
Deanna Johnston
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following questions were submitted by
Lizzy Evans, who is a loyal reader of the Dr. Music website, and a
great fan of Howard Leese.
DM: I was contacted by a huge fan of yours by the name
of Lizzy Evans in New York. She loved the review I wrote of the
Milwaukee show in April, and she mentioned coming down to Wisconsin
for the July 27th show, and I offered her a ride. She
said, “Sure.” Now I know she’s a big theater buff living close to
Broadway in New York, so I decided to get her opinion on
“Somewhere.” You do ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story, and I decided
to play it for her in the car on the way up to the show. She loved
it, and she had all of these questions about ‘Somewhere’ for
you.
HL: "Okay."
DM: How did you go about picking that particular song
– is there a personal memory attached to
“Somewhere?”
HL: “Well, I love the whole score
to ‘West Side Story.’ I think it’s the best writing of the
20th century. It’s a pretty amazing score. I grew up with
that music; I was like 10 years old when that came out. So we’ve
always loved it. Ann and Nancy as well - they love the score. We’ve
watched that movie together. They can sing quite a few of those
songs. Just always loved that. Kind of always played around with
it.
One day I was showing it, it was
on TV, and my kids were playing near the TV but they weren’t paying
any attention to the movie. But whenever a song would come on they
would stop playing and they’d watch the movie, then once the song
would be over they’d go back to playing. And when ‘Somewhere’ came
on, they really did, they stopped, and I went, ‘Man, I gotta do one
of these songs! Even children can tell it’s hip.’
I thought ‘Somewhere’ would be great because it’s so
melodic, it’ll be fine without the words. So I picked up the
guitar….started playing it…and it’s in E flat - hmm…E flat, pretty
tricky key. So I decided that I could play the entire melody with
harmonics, play the entire melody in harmonics, but I couldn’t do it
in E flat, there‘s no way. So, I learned it in D and I tuned my
guitar up a half step. So it’s in the right key as the score. The
right arrangement, the same arrangement as the score. It’s just done
with harmonics on the guitar.”
DM: What do you feel you brought to this song not
found in previous recordings?
HL: “Well, the original version is a waltz - it’s a
3/4 time; my version is in 4/4 time, so the feel of it is different.
The sound of it is different. Some people don’t even know exactly
what it is - they don’t know that it’s a guitar because of the way
it sounds.”
DM: Do you have any favorite theatrical composers -
like Sondheim, Rodgers & Hammerstein, etc.?
HM: “No. Basically I think most show music is junk.
And I don’t want to tell you all the guys that I think are horrible,
but Leonard Bernstein is another cat, that’s completely different.
He was a Classical guy. So, no, there‘s not a chance there‘ll be
another show tune on the next record, unless it‘s another piece from
‘West Side Story’.”
DM: Many Rock and Pop musicians have taken the leap
into musical theater - Duncan Sheik, Elton John, Phil Collins, Pete
Townshend. Have you thought about composing for musical theater, or
perhaps more soundtrack work?
HL: “Yeah. Probably more soundtrack work. I have an
offer to do a horror movie coming up here pretty soon that I might
want to do. I think I can be pretty scary. I’ve always been playing
for a band or been playing for some project, now I’m just recording
what I wanna do for me, so I think I’m just going to continue doing
that for a little while.”
Howard
Leese (photo: Carl
Dunn)
Howard Leese (photo: Carl Dunn)
DM: What do you find is the biggest challenge to your
sense of self expression - is it the writing, the performing, or the
producing?
HL: "No, those are no problem. I knew I could write
it. I knew I could play it. To produce it is just a matter of your
tastes. The thing I worried about was the engineering, because I’ve
never really been an engineer, we’ve always had great engineers. But
I think it’s come out great.”
DM: Were the songs for the solo CD written
specifically for the project, or were there any songs left over or
written for other projects, even Heart songs, that you had in mind
that never saw the light of day?
HL: “I wanted to write everything fresh because I
thought it’d be ‘hipper’ to take a snapshot of where I am exactly
right now. A couple of exceptions are the Classical part on ‘The
South Summit’ - I probably wrote that ten years ago, and the other
one is the little interlude - the Keith Emerson piano
piece."
DM: How do you feel writing for a solo project differs
from writing for a group, other than the fact that you have complete
autonomy?
HL: “Well…..I don’t know that it’s too different. My
technique is easy. I have a 1959 blonde Gibson 330 - little guitar,
kinda semi-hollow so you can hear it without plugging it in - I sit
on the porch…..with a strong cup of coffee….and I just start playing
until something sounds good.”
DM: Do you find it easier to write / produce tracks
for yourself or for others?
HL: “It is easier because I know what I want it to be
like, and I know that I can do it. Sometimes when you‘re producing
you have an idea but the artist is incapable of doing it, or doesn‘t
want to do it that way, or whatever. Where this is pretty much what
I think is good.”
DM: Is there a song in popular music that
you wish you would’ve written?
HL: “Oh man………sure, hundreds of them. Anything by
Peter Gabriel - great music, great words, everything all at once.
Umm….what’s that song that song that Sting sings where ’if I cannot
build a bridge then I’ll build a chasm?’ Any song with the word
‘chasm’ in it. That’s a literate cat right there. I like Sting. That
kind of thing, where the words are literate and the music is
sophisticated, but it still rocks. It‘s gotta rock.”
DM: What song on the album is closest to your heart,
musically or lyrically, and why?
HL: “I like the one you like, ‘The South Summit,’ a
lot because that’s a piece that’s been close to my heart for a
number of years, so I have a little nostalgia for that piece. I’m
glad it’s finally gonna get played.”
DM: What song on the album was the easiest to write
for you?
HL: “That’s an easy one; that
would be ‘The Vine.’ Jamie Kyle is a writer from Nashville. She
wrote the song 'Stranded' for Heart. One day she was out in L.A. and
she came over, and she said, ‘I have this poem.’ This song was
written completely different from all the rest of the record. She
had a poem of lyrics, and I just turned on the piano and started
playing it, and it just came right out of me. And so, I wrote that
in about 25 / 30 minutes.”
Special thanks to Lizzy Evans for her
wonderful contribution.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
Jeff Kathan (photo: Paul
Kloiber)
Mark
Schulman
Lynn Sorensen (photo: Paul
Kloiber)
DM: The song “Alive Again,” with the great Joe Lynn
Turner on vocals, has a great opening song feel to it. Will this, in
fact, be the first track on the album?
HL: “I think so. It just kinda puts you in the right
mood. It’s got those two big chords in the front, which I really
didn’t even intend to be part of the song, I just put those on so I
could tune. I put a chord to tune to, but by the time I layered all
the instruments on being in tune I went, ’Wow! That sounds kinda
great!’”
DM: Was breaking out on your own and doing the solo
album the inspiration for “Alive Again?”
HL: “Nah….those are Joe’s words. I don‘t mean any of
that stuff.” (Laughs)
DM: Oh, that’s right!
HL: “Actually, it ironically is pretty appropriate for
the whole project, because I’ve never done a solo project. This is
really the first time I’ve done something with my name on it,
besides my stamp musically on it. So, in a way, it’s
appropriate there.”
DM: The effect at the beginning of “Alive Again”……is
that a backward guitar effect?
HL: “Backwards.You know, that‘s how I walk in the door
these days. I turn around and walk in backwards.”
(Laughs)
At this point in our conversation, we
kind of strayed from the beaten path and started to discuss fans and
the effect that Leese’s past work has had on so many people. Leese
also informed me that former Queensryche guitarist Chris DeGarmo has
been previewing tracks from the solo album, and sending concise
commentary on each of them. He also spoke of revitalizing the Howard
Leese website (www.HowardLeese.com) and his plans on taking over his
MySpace page and being available to directly answering emails once
the album is completed.
DM: You mentioned that a singer by the name of Andrew
Black might appear on the album. Can we expect to hear him?
Andrew Black (photo: Pete
Waddell)
HL: “Introducing Andrew Black! I wanted to do a
straight Blues song, and Lucy Piller, head of the Paul Rodgers Fan
Club, goes ‘You gotta hear this guy, this local guy, he’s got a
great voice.’ And she knows. She’s a big Paul Rodgers fan. She sent
me a couple tracks of this guy and it’s like, ‘Oh my God! Why have I
never even heard of this guy before?!’ The guy’s phenomenal! So I
sent him the Blues track that we cut up in Seattle, and he comes
back with a killer vocal. This guy’s a great singer, and I
wanted to have a couple of guys on here who were unknowns. Everybody
expected there would be a few name singers, but I want to kinda
introduce a couple guys too. So Andrew is one of those, and he‘s a
really good Blues singer. I played it for Paul Rodgers, he says,
‘Man! He reminds me of me!’
DM: Wow! That’s the ultimate compliment there!
Jimi
Jamison
DM: Let’s wind up with “The Vine.” You have a song
called “The Vine” recorded with Jimi Jamison doing the vocal parts.
I feel that this is the most radio friendly of all the songs that
I’ve heard. You mentioned trying to get Steve Perry to sing it for
the final recording. Will we hear Steve Perry on this
track?
HL: He (Jimi Jamison) heard the demo of it and he
really loved the song. I said, 'Well, I want to send this song to
Steve Perry. That's who I have in mind to do this. But I don't know
if he'll do it, and I don't know if I can get a hold of him. But go
ahead and try it. Here's the money for the studio time. Go ahead and
throw a vocal on there if you love it so much, and grab yourself a
spot. Kick my ass enough and you can sing it.' So, that's what he
did. He sang it great! I haven't sent it to Steve Perry. If the guy
loves it this much, and did this good of a job on it, it'd kind of
be funky now for me to take it away from him. He pretty much claimed
it. So, that's probably how that's gonna go."
DM: Let’s talk hypothetically.….
The solo album sells very well. “The Vine” is a number
one hit. The sales reach double platinum status and there’s pressure
to tour. Is a tour something that you might consider in an extreme
case?
HL:
"Doing this music, I wasn't thinking about doing it live when I did
it, or I wouldn't have made it quite so complicated. So, in order
for me to do it would require a pretty good size band and maybe a
little bit of an orchestra, or at least a couple of real good
keyboard players. So I could do it live, but it would take a bit of
a production to do the music properly. If it went double
platinum and there was that kind of budget to do something like
that, that would be fun to do, but I'm not really planning on doing
it live."
DM:
Paul and Brian are doing the Queen thing and they ask you to open a
few shows.....
Is that
an option?
HL:
"Well........aah.......(long
pause)........(laughs) ......I'll have my people call your
people."
Doing this lengthy interview once again
confirmed my thought that Howard Leese is one of the most special
people that inhabits our planet. I informed Howard about a fan
that I encountered on a MySpace page that just adores him. She has
things like "Howard Leese ROCKS" on her page, and has his
name as the person she would most like to meet. His response to
this was one of complete jubilation and heartfelt thanks. He said,
"Isn't that nice? It's just such great validation. Just makes
you feel so good that people enjoy your work." He went on to say,
"It's just so nice to know that what you do has a positive impact
and makes the world a little bit of a better place. It's nice that
you can go out there and people feel better for it. It's
awesome."
As we hung up
the phone, he told me how touching it was to meet my kids and see
the excitement on their faces at a recent Paul Rodgers gig. He said,
"For me, that's one of the biggest rewards." Yeah, a rock star
that has been playing commercially for over 40 years told me
how it was a reward for him to meet my kids!
It's abundantly clear to me that Howard Leese is a
fountain of rewards for all of those that he touches in his daily
life, both musically and emotionally. This solo album is the most
recent gift that he's giving, and its one that's sure to touch the
Heart of everyone who hears it.
Howard
Leese (photo: Rick Gould)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Special thanks to Lucy Piller for
her kindness and dedication, Lizzy Evans for her friendship and
insightful questions, and Kristy at Black Star for making it
all happen.
And, Extra Special Thanks to Howard Leese for being
more than a great musician and a timeless rock legend. Thank you
for being a friend, and being endlessly dedicated to
your fans and your family. The world truly is a better place because
of you.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Secret
Weapon:
The (First) Howard Leese
Interview
Dr. Music
talks with the guitarist and musical director of The Paul
Rodgers Band about guitars, Heart, the best guitar player that ever
lived, and being a dad
by Scott "Dr. Music" Itter
The name might only ring
a bell to the classic rock “passerby,” but the name Howard Leese is
as sacred as the Vatican bells to the educated classic rocker.
You’ll almost always hear or see his name followed by the words “of
Heart,” due in part to his 22+ years stint with the Wilson sisters,
but that isn’t something this ego-free guitar master is bothered by.
As he puts it, “Being famous is overrated. People who know the
music, know who I am.”
Having the chance to sit
down with Howard Leese was a dream come true for me. Ann and Nancy
Wilson are always at the forefront of all things Heart related
whenever mainstream media covers the band, and this is something
that is truly disturbing to me on many levels. Being a student of
the School of Liner Notes, I always see Leese credited with
everything from mandolin and keyboards to string arrangements. These
were elements that acted as the driving force behind so many great
Heart songs, and it was the less attractive of the two blonde guitar
players (no offense Howard) that was piloting the ship. I’ve always
felt like Leese was the brains of the outfit; the glue that held it
all together, if you will. And after sitting down with this highly
intelligent and extremely inventive man, it turns out my intuition
was right on target. We discussed the Heart years. We discussed
guitars and the creativity of his unique sound. We talked about
working with Paul Rodgers, details of his personal life, and his
upcoming solo project (a subject that will be covered exclusively
in the second interview) - all in all, there wasn’t much
we didn’t talk about.
Having
grown up with Heart music and having Leese engrave so many
memorable melodies onto my soul, meeting him was an honor. I hold
him in very high regard - a musical hero. And for someone you admire
so much to be even more than you could ask for as a person, as well
as a musician, is something very special. So please, sit down with
me as I talk with Howard Leese, and enjoy the many facts and stories
this great man has to tell.
The following conversation took place
on April 18th, 2007 before a Paul Rodgers Band concert in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin and has been edited. You can hear the interview in its
entirety by clicking on the icon below.
Dr. Music: I’m here with Howard Leese, guitarist
and “musical director” for The Paul Rodgers Band.
Howard Leese: "Correct."
DM: What exactly does that entail, “musical
director?”
HL: "Paul wants to do something he tells me and
I work it out with the band. I prepare the band and make sure
everybody knows everything, what we‘re doing, so he doesn‘t have to
go to every single person, he just goes to me and I make sure the
band knows what‘s going on. I’m basically in charge of making sure
the band is ready."
DM: Something we never hear about is your
personal life. We never hear about your marriage or family. Do you
have a wife and kids?
HL: "Yeah…yeah, I have a wife. I have two young
sons, 6 and 7, Michael and Daniel. We live in Malibu. I have an
18-year old daughter, Bonnie, who’s a guitar player as well. She
went to Musicians Institute in Hollywood for a couple of years and
studied there. Yeah, so when I’m not working that’s what I do, I’m
mainly a dad."
DM: Now I’ve seen you in front of your house
with your guitars, the infamous picture. How many you got now?
HL: "Oh, I don’t know. That picture was fifty;
fifty vintage pieces."
DM: If you could keep one?
HL: "The best guitar I have is here with me
tonight. It’s on its way to Dallas for the guitar show. It’s a real
early Paul Reed Smith guitar; first one with the Maple top, it’s
called the Golden Eagle.
DM: We were talking about the Paul
Reed Smith/Dean differential. Early on in your career when you
hooked up with Dean Zelinsky.
HL: "Right, yeah. (I) played Deans in the 70’s,
right."
DM: He made a lot of guitars for you, didn’t
he?
HL: "Uh-huh, some of those are like in the Hard
Rock’s. Dean’s from Chicago so I had to put a Dean in the Chicago
Hard Rock. It’s still there. My Dean in Chicago’s cool because it’s
in between Eric Clapton and Bo Diddley. That’s pretty good. Pretty
good spot."
DM: The proverbial desert island disc. What is
it for you?
HL: "Wow…….desert island disc……(carefully
thinking)
I would
probably take the first Hendrix album, because it’s got heavy stuff,
it’s got beautiful stuff, it’s good all around. “Third Stone From
the Sun” - if I had only one track I’d probably take that, that’s a
good song. That’s a tough one though because some classical music
would be good, a good blues record would be great. But hopefully
that situation won’t arise (laughs) - picking just one record
for the rest of your life - because whatever you pick would make you
sick after awhile."
DM: Would only one guitar get irritating?
HL: "No, one guitar’s all you need. You can only
play one at a time."
DM: Is there any new talent you see coming
up?
HL: "We saw a band in England that we like
called The Black Keys, pretty cool band. My favorite guy I would
mention would probably be Eric Johnson. Not enough people know him,
and he’s the best guitar player that ever lived. Oh my God, what a
great player. Well rounded, can play anything - he’s fantastic."
DM: What is your most memorable moment with
Heart?
HL: "The time the stage collapsed on us in Kyoto
from the rain and we almost got killed. That was very memorable. My
parents heard on the radio that we were killed. They didn’t hear
from me for another day or so, so for a day they thought we were
done. Because it looked like we were dead from the audience. But,
yeah, your first number one - when they call and say your record’s
number one, that’s a big day."
Leese and the other
members of Heart received one of those calls when their 1985
self-titled record reached #1 on the Billboard charts. But prior to
the release of that record, Leese and the band were experiencing
very lean times. The two records prior to ’85’s self-titled record,
“Private Audition” and “Passionworks,” failed to live up to sales
expectations. “Private Audition” saw the original lineup dissolve,
while “Passionworks” was released before the new lineup had time to
gel. Leese and I began to talk about this crucial time in the band’s
history.
HL: "The girls called me one day and said the
band is broken, fix it. They gave me complete control over hiring
the two new guys." (Denny Carmassi, Mark Andes)
DM: The “musical director” thing!
(laughs)
HL: "The “musical director” thing….yep. One of
my things I’m most proud of is putting that particular band
together, because that band was bigger than the original band. We
were very successful, and I felt that choosing those guys was real
key to how that band sounded and how we did."
DM: Did you know that you were back on track
during the recording process?
HL: "Well, I thought musically we were back on
track, but career wise we were at pretty much our lowest point. And
what was great about that record was, it was a do or die thing. It
was like, this record’s not a hit the label’s gonna drop us, we
won’t have a deal, we’ll be back to playing clubs. A lot of things
changed. Our style of recording changed, and our modus operandi
changed, and I think having the new enthusiasm of the people that we
brought in really helped. We just entered like a new phase and sort
of reinvented ourselves."
DM: It worked out pretty well.
HL: "Our biggest record ever, yeah."
DM: Is there any particular song that you always
love to play live?
HL: "Yeah, “Barracuda” is fun. Because it’s
physically fun to play. And all the funny math."
DM: Heart’s being honored at the VH1 Rock
Honors. You’ll be there?
HL: "No. Don’t think so."
DM: That’s a crime.
HL: "I know. It stinks, doesn’t it? They’re
having their current road band play, none of which had anything to
do with any of those records. So all the fans are crying foul, they
think it stinks. I think it stinks. I’m disappointed. I’m not
surprised, but I’m disappointed. The VH1 thing this is fine, but
they dare not try that to get in the Hall of Fame…..then I’m gonna
bitch. But yeah, it stinks, and so does their new band. So….there
you have it."
DM: You’re always Howard Leese of Heart.
Did you ever wish you had more of the spotlight?
HL: "One of my potential album titles for my
record’s called “Secret Weapon,” because that’s what they always
used to call me in the press. The thing with that, I never really
did personally. We were so famous, that it was plenty. I’m plenty
famous. But Ann & Nancy really never gave the band much credit.
You never heard them speak about the band members, they were always
talking about something they were doing. They never really
appreciated or gave the band its due, I thought. They never
really promoted us at all. All the press and stuff was always
focused on them, which is fine because it worked. But it was a
little bit funky, especially in the 80’s when the band was really
the driving force behind it and the girls really weren‘t the
leadership at that time. We had a lot to do with how successful we
were then, (we) really kind of guided the whole thing for a while
there. So yeah, it irks me a little bit. Personally I don’t really
care. I think being famous is overrated. But, on a musical level, it
kind of bothered me that the band never got the credit; how
important the band was to the whole overall thing. Let’s just say I
had a bigger percentage of the money than I had of the spotlight - I
was fine with that."
 
We talked
about the beginnings and the early Heart years as well. Seeing Leese
smile with joy when I mentioned The Zoo, his first band formed with
early Heart producer Mike Flicker, was something very special. Our
discussion of the relationships between the Wilson sisters and the
Fisher brothers brought us to questions about Leese’s thoughts
through all of that inner turmoil.
DM: The early Fisher-Wilson relationships, did
that ever threaten the future of the band?
HL: "Well yeah, sure. Yeah, that definitely just
about destroyed the band. That’s when that whole support system fell
apart and that’s when the girls came to me and said reinvent the
band, let’s get a new band, let’s not give up, let’s not stop now,
let’s move forward and see if we can regain our former glory."
DM: You never thought about leaving at that
point?
HL: "No….I never did."
DM: Any point? After “Private Audition” or
“Passionworks?”
HL: "Nah. Nah, because we had been so successful
that even when we were doing shitty we were still doing better than
most bands. So, we still had it going on pretty well. And I always
believe in the talent of the band; the Wilson girls are very
talented, and Ann’s one of the best singers ever. And, you know, all
we needed was the right songs and the right kind of
approach."
DM: Here’s my favorite question, and one of the last. Put
yourself in Paul Rodgers shoes. Brian May passes away, Freddie
Mercury is alive and asks you to take Brian’s spot. Do you take that
job?
HL: (long pause) "Brian’s got such a
unique sound, a unique style, it would be challenging."
DM: …..like Freddie.
HL: (in agreement) ".....like
Freddie.
But, yeah, I could
do it because I like the music. I love the songs, some really good
songs. So, if you like the music then…..
But I love Brian. I’ve
known Brian since ‘76, so I can’t even imagine that. But, that would
be a tough one to do, he’s got such a unique sound. But I had to get
my Kossoff thing together to do this gig. Free is my favorite band
of all time and so I had a pretty good grip on it, but when I found
out I was gonna work with Paul I specifically went back and went
through all the songs, and learned a lot of stuff that I didn’t
know, so it’s been great for me because I love that band."
WORD
ASSOCIATION:
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - “We’re comin’. The thing is
for me, who gets there first - me or Paul? (laughs) He’s way
overdue. We’re comin’, I know we’ll get in, but Paul’s more overdue
than I am."
Fans - "Lifeblood of the whole thing. Without the fans you’re
just playing in your garage. Can’t do it without the fans."
Dick Dale - "Dick Dale! Good friend of mine. The first guy I
saw live that killed me. Came out with that Metal Flake Strat upside
down and went ‘grrrrr’ on the low string, and you go oh
oh….something’s tingling! (laughs) Yeah, a big influence on
me."
Retirement - "When I got finished playing with Heart and I
did a couple of tours with Ann Wilson and we stopped doing that, I
thought, ‘Cool, I’m done!’; I never wanted to play live much anyway,
I was always a studio guy. I was gonna retire then, then I got this
call. Jeff (current drummer for the Paul Rodgers band) goes,
‘If you could play with anybody in the world, who would you want to
play with?’ And I go, ‘Paul Rodgers.” He goes, ‘BINGO!’ So, anybody
else than Paul I would’ve said no…..anybody else. Elton John
Band, I don’t care. But Paul asked me to do it. And I’ve told him
many times, when he’s done I’m done. This is my last gig, I’m not
gonna play after this."
I would like to
send an extra special thanks to Howard Leese for his time and
candidness, as well as his kindness and hospitality. It was an honor
to be in his presence.
I would also like to
thank Kristy at Black Star Records for her hard work and kind
consideration, without it this interview would not have been
possible.
And finally, a huge
thank you to Paul Rodgers; not only for his extraordinary musical
talents, but for keeping a classic rock icon like Howard Leese
out of retirement. And, although it will be a devastating blow
to the music world when Paul and Howard decide to step
down, it is a comfort to know that millions of fans around
the world will always have Paul Rodgers to Free them and Howard
Leese burning in their Heart.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Walking Through the Fields: The Shawn Phillips
Interview
by Scott "Dr. Music"
Itter
Shawn
Phillips may not be a name that rings bells for the casual music
fan, but it is a name that can be tied to some of the greatest
moments in music history. Whether it's Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman”
or The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,”
singer/songwriter Shawn Phillips is someone that was there. The Fab
Four had Phillips lend his vocals to “Lovely Rita,” and Donovan
and Phillips used to sit in a room and write songs together. But
this is only the beginning of the Shawn Phillips story.
This is a man that
studied sitar with Ravi Shankar and gave George Harrison some basic
lessons before the famed Beatle later found Shankar himself. He
is also, through his work with Donovan, the first artist to
introduce the sitar to popular music. Phillips also gave guitar
lessons to Joni Mitchell while she was working as a waitress in
Saskatchewan. Mitchell was interested in learning Phillips’
12-string technique. Some of the musicians that can be found on
Phillips’ albums are iconic names like Rick Wakeman, Michael Kamen,
Steve Winwood, and Eric Clapton. Other world famous artists that
Phillips has had relationships with are Delbert McClinton, The Moody
Blues, Bill Cosby, Bob Ezrin, Jerry Moss, ZZ Top, Cass Elliot, Paul
Buckmaster, Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Steve Morse, John Denver,
Paul Simon, and more.
So, surrounded by
names that are giving every bell tower in the neighborhood fits of
ringing, and playing such legendary concerts as The Isle of Wight,
Shawn Phillips has remained a name that renders only an occasional
chime. Even though he has released around 20 records and sold
millions of them, I was intrigued by how many folks in the world
still don’t know the name Shawn Phillips. Recently given the
opportunity to ask Phillips about some of these things, I came
to find a confident and educated gentleman that had all the
answers.
Dr.
Music:
The late great Bill Graham once called you "the best kept
secret in the music business." Now, after almost 20 albums and
millions sold, you still seem to be a "secret" to many people. Why
do you think that is, and would you prefer to have more fame and
popularity?
Shawn
Phillips: “I'm
not that interested in the fame, and popularity, but I would like to
have the money that comes with it. I suppose the two have to go hand
in hand. My "secrecy", is simply because none of the companies I
have ever been affiliated with have cared enough to hire a national
PR firm on an annual basis as part of the machine that creates the
fame and popularity. Also, if you use a word like xenophobia in a
song, or any word that the general public has to look up, they tend
to shy away from any semblance of intelligence in popular
music.”
Dr.
Music:
In the early 60's you were asked to play the lead in the
original production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" but declined the
offer because of your heavy recording and touring schedules at the
time. Do you ever look back and wish you had accepted that
role?
Shawn
Phillips:
“I didn't decline the role. Robert
Stigwood discovered
that he couldn't get a finger into my business pie, as it were, (or
anything else for that matter), so he fired me. In retrospect, Ted
Neeley can't get
arrested today, because he IS Jesus Christ Superstar,
and cannot be seen in any other light. So I'm quite happy the way
things turned out.”
Dr. Music: Not too many
folks are aware that you sang backing vocals on "Lovely Rita"
from The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's" album, which is sometimes called
the greatest record of all-time. What was that recording session
like? Was it as "magical" as one might
think?
Shawn Phillips: “Nope. It was just another
recording session, just like any other. However, it got quite
amusing watching Paul play the end chord on that song, (can't
remember the name, but it starts off with, "I read the news today oh
boy"), as they had 5 different pianos brought in just for that
chord. I heard later they used 24 pianos for
it.”
It's at this point in the interview that
I really begin to see just how special this man is. The fact
that Phillips forgets the title to one of the most famous songs
in the Beatles catalog, "A Day In The Life," tells me that he
is an artist that has spent his entire life immersed in his own
work. You have to remember, while Phillips was singing backing
vocals in the studio with his close friends John, Paul, George, and
Ringo, he was crafting his own captivating body of
work. Discussing this recording session doesn't feel like
"sacred ground" to Phillips. He is simply remembering an
ordinary day in the studio with a few close
friends.
Dr. Music: You have
lived in many places around the world - Tahiti, San Francisco's
Haight-Ashbury district, Greenwich Village in New York , London ,
Paris , Italy , South Africa , etc. Do you feel that each area
inspires your music in a different way? Is there any one
place in particular that gives you certain musical
inspiration that you don't get from any of the
others?
Shawn Phillips: “I
must dispel the myth that I lived in Haight-Ashbury. I never lived there, and only
visited momentarily. The only thing that inspires me musically is
life itself, both inner, and outer. However, that being said, I find
that I become more prolific if I can see the drama of the
ocean.”
Dr. Music: You've worked with, and/or have
been associated with, some of the biggest names in music history:
Paul Buckmaster, Steve Winwood, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Donovan,
The Beatles, etc. Is there anyone that you have not worked with but
would like to?
Shawn Phillips: “Yes. Yo Yo
Ma”
Dr. Music:
Are there any up-and-coming artists from today's music scene
that have made an impression on
you?
Shawn
Phillips:
“No.”
Phillips'
simple answer of "No" when asked if any
up-and-coming artists have impressed him is something that I view as
"par for the course." Again, Phillips makes the heartfelt and
poignant music he does because he envelopes himself in every note.
I don't picture Shawn Phillips listening to anything other
than his own creations. Phillips is about as focused as an
artist can possibly be. Anything outside of the circle that he uses
to create his art seems insignificant. Phillips has always
remained focused and confident with his own talents as a songwriter,
and his past and current catalog of great music is solid proof of
that.
Dr. Music: Your professional
relationship with Donovan has always been a bit clouded by
controversy. You only ever received one co-author credit (for
"Little Tin Soldier" on the Fairytale album). It is
believed that you contributed a great deal more to Donovan's music,
especially to the "Sunshine Superman" album. How would
you sum up your role in Donovan's
music?
Shawn
Phillips: “We
would sit in a room, and I would play guitar, and he would make up
words, for many of his songs. Who would you say wrote the music? By
the way, for publishing purposes, his real name is Donovan Phillips
Leitch. I think you can figure the rest
out as to who got the money.”
The following video clip is from the
mid-60's television show Rainbow Quest with host Pete Seeger. It
features Donovan and Shawn Phillips
as well as Rev. Gary
Davis.
Dr. Music: You mentioned
in an interview back in January of 1999 that your manager was
searching for video footage from your performance at The Isle Of
Wight. Did he ever locate anything? If so, when might it become
available?
Shawn Phillips: “I
don't think I was, or am, important enough for somebody to drag
their ass through all that footage. Maybe one
day.”
Dr. Music: "The Ballad of Casy
Deiss" is one of my favorite songs by you, or anyone else for
that matter. I do know that Casy was a close friend of
yours that got struck by lightning while walking through
the woods with an axe. At the time this happened, Casy’s wife,
Diana, was still pregnant with their third child. It
is rumored that many years later you got in touch with
that youngest daughter, and you added new lyrics to the
song to mention this daughter. Is this true? And, if so, is the
re-worked version of the song available on
CD?
Shawn
Phillips: “I never changed a word of the
song, but Diana and her daughter Ila lived with me in Italy for a
couple years after Casy died. Diana lives in San Miguel D'Allende,
and Ila is a Federal Prosecutor in San Francisco. She puts the bad
guys away. Good for
her.”
Dr. Music: How do you feel about the
internet, song downloads, and the digital age in general
coming into the music industry?
Shawn Phillips: “Well, it takes away control from
the bean counters at least. Maybe creative music will become
available to all.”
Dr. Music: You are a trained firefighter, a certified emergency medical
technician, and a full seagoing crew
member of the National
Sea Rescue Institute.
Do you still work/volunteer in these fields; and what effect,
if any, have the experiences had on your
music?
Shawn Phillips: “Yes, I am currently a Navigator
with the National Sea Rescue Institute in Port Elizabeth South
Africa, where I live. I also do Firefighting, and EMS work with them
as part of the job. I have only written one song about my public
service work; "The Man", on "No Category." Otherwise, it's a
completely different part of my
life.”
Dr. Music: In the past you have used a much
wider range of instruments than most artists of the
singer/songwriter genre, including double-necked six- and
12-string guitars, standard electric and acoustic 6- and 12-string
guitars, and the sitar. Can we still expect to see you using this
wide variety of instruments on
stage?
Shawn Phillips: “Yes, but not the Sitar. I don't
have one right now, I have a Surbahar, (which I don't carry with me),
and the film composer J. Peter Robinson has my Gibson 12 string. I
still use my Gibson/Fender doubleneck, Gibson Dove,
Washburn 6 string,
Fender Strat, and
Robert Godin
Multiac Nylon
string, which I use to trigger MOTU's "Symphonic" plug-in, during the
gigs. I like to surprise new
listeners.”
Dr. Music:
Out
of all the wonderful experiences in your career, is there any
one particular moment that is more memorable than any other?
Shawn Phillips: “Yes, the standing ovation at the
Isle Of Wight.”
Dr. Music: Some people might ask me who Shawn Phillips is,
what should I tell
them?
Shawn
Phillips: “Tell them he's a composer of
original music, and just another human being trying to support a
wife and two year old
child.”
The following
comment/question is from one of my readers who has been a huge fan
of Shawn Phillip’s music for many years. I thought his insightful
question below was definitely worth
mentioning:
Joe S.
(Dr. Music reader): You were most popular at a time of transition in
this country [U.S.], with the youth asserting themselves in a way
that really had never been done before. Much of this youthful
"awakening" was centered on opposition to the Vietnam War, anything
valued by the 'Establishment,' and the
expanded consciousness of mind-expanding drugs. You
were there and a part of all this as an observer, participant, and
to some extent even a leader. I always sensed an underlying
theme in some of your older music which supported the popular themes
of the day such as love and peace, which of course, was a very easy
thing to do.
So ….how are these themes a part
of your life today? Through the world-wisdom you have gained over
the last four decades, do you think that you were ever misguided by
idealism (however noble), and do you share any of the
'Establishment' values today? Last, is there an important
life-lesson that you could impart to us that you haven't yet put to
song?"
Shawn Phillips: “There are 3 to 4 thousand extremely wealthy people
who run the world. They don't care about humanity. The last thing
they want is peace. I simply try to say that if the individual finds
peace, then the world finds peace. That's the way we neutralize
them.”
And
finally, I asked Phillips to give me the first thought that popped
into his head when I said the following words:
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