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Howard Leese 1 / Howard Leese 2 / Frank Marino / Andy Powell / Jake Shimabukuro / John Wetton / Graham Ferguson / Shawn Phillips

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Howard Leese (photo: Carl Dunn)
Heart And Solo:
The (Second) Howard Leese Interview

by 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.”

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                   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:

Listen 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.”

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Joe Lynn Turner (photo: Chris Marksbury)                                                       Deanna Johnston

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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.”

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                   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.

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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 crop.jpg
                                                                                  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.

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                                                                                             Howard Leese (photo: Rick Gould)

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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.

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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.
Howard Leese interview

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.

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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.”  

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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”

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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.”

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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:

  • Fame – “Britney Spears”