Speaker 1: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Search Podcast.
Speaker 1: My guest today is the one and only Peter Freempton. Peter,
Speaker 1: give us a health update.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, So, for those who don't know, I have
Speaker 2: what is called IBM inclusion body myascientists, and that is
Speaker 2: a muscle disease and I'm losing basically, I'm losing strength
Speaker 2: and my muscles are depleting. Luckily, I've had this probably
Speaker 2: for about twelve years now, and it moves very very
Speaker 2: slowly for me. For other people it can be very quick.
Speaker 2: So I'm very very lucky. And therefore when people say, well,
Speaker 2: you did the finale too, now you're doing another, and
Speaker 2: now you're doing another too, well, I have to wait
Speaker 2: until I can see how my hands are going to be,
Speaker 2: and then we just have to guess that it'll be
Speaker 2: okay by the time we booked the tour. So that's
Speaker 2: the way it's been. So that's why I can't put
Speaker 2: together something too far ahead. But I'm doing good.
Speaker 1: Is it the type of thing where it's progressive or
Speaker 1: one day is better than the next.
Speaker 2: No, it's it's a steady It's either we get plateaus
Speaker 2: and then we get progression, and I've just come out
Speaker 2: of a progression and I'm now in a plateau, which
Speaker 2: is very nice for the tour.
Speaker 1: How my are the plateaus proximately how long?
Speaker 2: I couldn't tell you. I mean, it's I just know
Speaker 2: some some points. When I'm working I work out every day.
Speaker 2: I have a gym upstairs, and I have two trainers
Speaker 2: a weekend uh and and a week trainer, so that
Speaker 2: because I wear them out if I have just one.
Speaker 2: So but yes, so it's while working out is where
Speaker 2: I feel it. You know all, I can't do this
Speaker 2: today like I could last week or something like that.
Speaker 2: You know. So. But but as I'm very pleased to say,
Speaker 2: I feel like we're in a We're in a plateau
Speaker 2: right now, which is very handy.
Speaker 1: So you're obviously a guitarist you need a certain amount
Speaker 1: of dexterity. But assuming you weren't a musician, how much
Speaker 1: functionality have you lost at this point?
Speaker 2: Well, I think because I'm a musician, I haven't lost
Speaker 2: the dexterity. In my IBM is is each side is
Speaker 2: is a different speed. So my left side is is
Speaker 2: is weaker than my right side, but not my hands,
Speaker 2: not my left hand which I've been playing guitar since
Speaker 2: I was eight years old, so you know, there's sixty
Speaker 2: odd years worth of playing there. Whenever I sit down
Speaker 2: to I might drop a tea cup or something in
Speaker 2: my left hand, but I sit down, I pick up
Speaker 2: a guitar and it's there. So the problem that, the
Speaker 2: only problem I'm having is that the pressure to put
Speaker 2: push down on the strings and to bend notes. So
Speaker 2: I work on I practice that every day, obviously, and
Speaker 2: so far it's it's remarkably good. So I have to
Speaker 2: say that, even though if you see me walking with
Speaker 2: a cane and everything, oh my god, he's really you know,
Speaker 2: things have gone down south, you know, so, But then no,
Speaker 2: it looks bad. But when I when I sit down
Speaker 2: and I play, it's fine.
Speaker 1: And what is the long term prognosis? Uh?
Speaker 2: Well, I know the endgame. It's I won't I'll be
Speaker 2: in a wheelchair and and one day I won't be
Speaker 2: able to even pick up the TV remote. So uh,
Speaker 2: that's that's the endgame.
Speaker 1: Well, do you die from this or do you die
Speaker 1: know something else while you have this?
Speaker 2: No, hopefully not. No. This this is a life changer,
Speaker 2: it's not a life ender. So that if it was
Speaker 2: something else ALS, which is a similar uh uh pro
Speaker 2: diagnosis to diagon knows someone with ALS and someone with IBM.
Speaker 2: The only difference is when you first are checking for
Speaker 2: it is that IBM is unbalanced. It's either side is
Speaker 2: a different thing, and whereas ALS is absolutely the same
Speaker 2: either side. Keep spacing on the word. But anyway, and
Speaker 2: of course ALS. The doctor when he told me I
Speaker 2: had IBM but needed confirmation, he said, I'm glad to
Speaker 2: tell you that you have IBM and not what I
Speaker 2: thought you had, which was ALS. So that was a
Speaker 2: huge bonus, but still scary, you know, obviously, because I'm thinking, wow,
Speaker 2: I play guitar, you know, and that was not a
Speaker 2: good feeling when I first heard it. But I'm this
Speaker 2: eternal optimist. My kids say to me, Dad, how come everything,
Speaker 2: little tiny things really like that should be over there? This,
Speaker 2: why aren't you doing that? This is you know, the
Speaker 2: bike should be over there in the garage. But the
Speaker 2: big things don't bother.
Speaker 1: You at all.
Speaker 2: And I said, well, because the big things there's usually
Speaker 2: nothing I can do about them. They so why worry
Speaker 2: about it? You know. So therefore I'm the eternal optimist,
Speaker 2: and I think we're going to find a drug. We
Speaker 2: don't have one right now, but my Peter Frampton Research
Speaker 2: Fund at Johns Hopkins. Thank you everybody who keeps sending
Speaker 2: money in for this wonderful fund. It's it's a lot
Speaker 2: of money now and it enables Johns Hopkins and the
Speaker 2: Maya Sidis Clinic to be able to hire all the
Speaker 2: people necessary to do the next trial drug trial that
Speaker 2: comes along. So that is really really helping, and I
Speaker 2: have to thank everybody for doing that. I know a
Speaker 2: lot of people have donated because someone in their family
Speaker 2: has it, or you know, they know they they want
Speaker 2: to help me, which is unbelievable. But a lot of
Speaker 2: people who and it is a very boutique disease, boutique
Speaker 2: in this case meaning few of us compared to Parkinson's cancer, dementia.
Speaker 2: You know, this is a they say fifty to seventy
Speaker 2: five thousand people in America, whereas the others I've mentioned
Speaker 2: are exponentially larger. You know, So yes, it's just something that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay. You know, typically males, although everyone is different,
Speaker 1: are in denial of physical problems. They're the last people
Speaker 1: to go to the doctor. What was your experience in
Speaker 1: terms of symptoms, diagnosis, and obviously you're in a relatively
Speaker 1: positive space right now, but how did you cope emotionally?
Speaker 2: The biography of this disease is basically round about two
Speaker 2: thy and twelve, we were touring summer tour and I did.
Speaker 2: We were doing some outdoor dates, obviously most of them
Speaker 2: were amphitheaters and small stadiums and things like that, and
Speaker 2: we were playing backstage sound check off soundcheck, we were
Speaker 2: playing frisbee and I couldn't run as fast as I thought.
Speaker 2: And I'd been on a hike with my son up
Speaker 2: northern California and usually I would beat him, but I
Speaker 2: couldn't come anywhere they're close. So those two things sort
Speaker 2: of said something to me, and I said, I don't know,
Speaker 2: maybe I'm wearing my jeans too tight. It's stupid stuff,
Speaker 2: you know, and all the things you think because we're
Speaker 2: not a doctor, and I've never played one on TV either,
Speaker 2: so but I mean so anyway, Unfortunately, what happened on
Speaker 2: the tour was someone you know, as they do, kicked
Speaker 2: a huge, you know, three foot foot beach ball up
Speaker 2: on the stage, and as you do, you go over
Speaker 2: and you kick it back to them. You know, well,
Speaker 2: this one of these balls is like light as air,
Speaker 2: and I went to kick it with my right foot
Speaker 2: and I went I fell backwards, and so we all laughed.
Speaker 2: We all thought it was highly hilarious. He's fallen and
Speaker 2: he can't get up, you know, the whole the hole,
Speaker 2: where's the beef, the whole thing, you know. So uh,
Speaker 2: and so that was, you know, I thought, well, something's
Speaker 2: going on here. But then two or three weeks later,
Speaker 2: I bent down on stage and I still use a
Speaker 2: guitar chord. I hate wirelesses and doesn't sound good. And
Speaker 2: my cable got shorter as I got to the ground
Speaker 2: and I stepped on it and then I went to
Speaker 2: stand up, and of course it kept me and I
Speaker 2: just went back again. So there wasn't so much laughter
Speaker 2: this time. And we had a ten day break coming up,
Speaker 2: and I decided. My doctor said, you need to see
Speaker 2: a neurologist. Let's see what's going on here. And so
Speaker 2: I went see the neurologist on the break and he
Speaker 2: the initial diagnosis was IBM and he said, so I said, well, okay,
Speaker 2: what do I do now? And he said, you call
Speaker 2: up doctor Christopher Stein at Johns Hopkins make an appointment,
Speaker 2: and she's the head of the Myacidas clinic and in
Speaker 2: this country, well in Johns Hopkins, and so I did.
Speaker 2: I went up and had a painful test that they
Speaker 2: do with electrodes and stuff to find this the it's inclusions.
Speaker 2: They're looking for these little tiny round things that are
Speaker 2: inside my muscles, and so in order to prove it
Speaker 2: one hundred percent, I had to have a muscle biopsy
Speaker 2: and where they found the most inclusions was in my
Speaker 2: arm up here, so I have a little little scar there.
Speaker 2: And but I have to say, as an aside, someone
Speaker 2: knew that I must be a guitar player. Because as
Speaker 2: they wheeled me into the operating room, or as we
Speaker 2: say in England the operating theater, Django Reinhart was playing
Speaker 2: and I said, all right, then, who's read my bio?
Speaker 2: So and I they said that that the nurse said,
Speaker 2: as soon as you were unconscious, the doctor said, let's
Speaker 2: get this shit off and let's put on some conws.
Speaker 2: So anyway that might be not an untruthed but it's
Speaker 2: a good joke. But so anyway, yes, and of course
Speaker 2: the the the test came back and it was positive.
Speaker 2: So I continued, and I didn't say anything for about
Speaker 2: four years until I went on vacation with my daughter
Speaker 2: Mia and we went to Hawaii, went to Maui and
Speaker 2: some people took us out on their boat, which was
Speaker 2: very nice, and I fell on the boat and I
Speaker 2: I broke a bone in my back, and I said,
Speaker 2: I think I ought to slow down here. Now this
Speaker 2: is getting a little crazy. So I was the next week,
Speaker 2: I was going up to New York to meet with
Speaker 2: Ken Levitton, my manager, and we were shopping a book deal.
Speaker 2: We were looking for a publisher, which we found well
Speaker 2: in between in each cab, right between the publishers. We
Speaker 2: were talking and and I said, Ken, I think I
Speaker 2: think we You know, we were scheduled to do a tour,
Speaker 2: a co headline tour with Alice and a dear friend,
Speaker 2: wonderful man and friend for so long, and his lovely wife.
Speaker 2: And Ken said, I think we ought to cancel that
Speaker 2: and make this your finale tour, because if we don't
Speaker 2: know how long this, no one has any idea. That's
Speaker 2: the problem with this. So no one had any idea
Speaker 2: of how long I would be able to play. And
Speaker 2: I had always thought I don't want to be one
Speaker 2: of those guys that goes out and can play one note.
Speaker 2: And you know, I said, I want to quit while
Speaker 2: I'm doing well, and I'm playing well. And then when
Speaker 2: we did the after the Finale tour, we got shut
Speaker 2: down because it was twenty nineteen, we did American Canada
Speaker 2: and we were going to play the Albert Hall and
Speaker 2: the rest of England and Europe in May Well got
Speaker 2: shut down in March. Everybody got shut down. So I thought,
Speaker 2: I'm never going to get to England to you know,
Speaker 2: say goodbye to the old country, you know, Blighty. And
Speaker 2: it was a little disappointing, but I said, you know,
Speaker 2: everyone has the same situation right now as far as
Speaker 2: not being able to work, so I can't. That's it's
Speaker 2: something else I have that means so much to me, obviously.
Speaker 2: And so when COVID two and a half years later,
Speaker 2: my agent dangled a Royal Albert Hall date at me
Speaker 2: and I said, oh my god, well, I don't know,
Speaker 2: I don't know if I can do this, you know,
Speaker 2: so or by the time it was a few months before,
Speaker 2: you know, because you have you have to book it
Speaker 2: in advance. So that's always the problem, you know, I
Speaker 2: can book it now. But will I be okay? Then? Well,
Speaker 2: I made sure that I was okay because that's the
Speaker 2: way I am, and I don't let stuff get to
Speaker 2: me too much, and my moments don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2: But practicing and has my playing changed, I would say
Speaker 2: to myself, Yes, but what I'm playing now I think
Speaker 2: is almost better. It might not be as fast, but
Speaker 2: it's less notes, more soul. And I just we started
Speaker 2: rehearsing and I was just having the time of my life,
Speaker 2: you know, So I thought, well, because it it gives
Speaker 2: me so much enjoyment, I'm gonna whether I can play
Speaker 2: like I could before or not. If I like what
Speaker 2: I'm playing, it's okay. But when I get to the
Speaker 2: point where it's like Kim and Pete, that's that's not good,
Speaker 2: then I'll stay home. But right now, I still feel
Speaker 2: that I've got uh at least this tour, these four
Speaker 2: weeks in this in the spring, and I know it's
Speaker 2: going to be great.
Speaker 1: Okay, you live in Nashville. Do you live alone?
Speaker 2: I live with a big black dog who's sleeping over
Speaker 2: there right now, Bigsby. Yes, I do live alone.
Speaker 3: I have.
Speaker 2: Had a relationship recently that unfortunately broke up, but but
Speaker 2: we both have our own house. I think the way
Speaker 2: it used to be in relationships when you started to
Speaker 2: get a little wise, was okay, well, if you're going
Speaker 2: to live in the same house, at least two sinks
Speaker 2: in the barroom. And then it got to a point
Speaker 2: where at least two bathrooms, and now it's separate houses.
Speaker 2: In the relationship last a lot longer. So that's where
Speaker 2: I'm at. I don't think I could actually I'm not
Speaker 2: sure I could actually cohabitate with anybody anymore.
Speaker 1: But I.
Speaker 2: Look forward to a you know, a relationship in the
Speaker 2: near future.
Speaker 1: Well, I guess I'm asking, since you have a progressive
Speaker 1: disease and you might need aid help, do you feel
Speaker 1: that being single leaves you at a loss.
Speaker 2: I have a wonderful family and my daughter who lived
Speaker 2: in Manhattan with her husband Sat Jade and Sam. They
Speaker 2: got this wonderful small place up in Manhattan on the
Speaker 2: east Upper East Side, and they were in Seventh Heaven
Speaker 2: and then Jay got pregnant and she gave birth on
Speaker 2: April the sixth, twenty twenty, in the absolute peak of
Speaker 2: Manhattan's COVID, which, if you remember, it was the worst
Speaker 2: place in the country, and only that morning did the
Speaker 2: governor give partners or husbands or white whatever permission to
Speaker 2: actually be in the birthing room while so she was
Speaker 2: allowed to have her husband in there. Sam was allowed in,
Speaker 2: but as soon as el was born, he had to leave.
Speaker 2: And there wasn't a lot of help for Jay because
Speaker 2: all the nurses were you nowhere in the hospital dealing
Speaker 2: with what was going on and anyway, So as soon
Speaker 2: as she got home and spent a couple of months
Speaker 2: home in the apartment during still during COVID, I get
Speaker 2: the call we're moving. I said, what, but you said
Speaker 2: you'd never leave Manhattan. You're just Sam group was born
Speaker 2: in Manhattan's yeah, now with the baby. I said, well,
Speaker 2: where can you be moving to? She said, Nashville. I said,
Speaker 2: oh my god, that's fantastic. I said, great, we'll get
Speaker 2: your place around the corner. And we did. We've got
Speaker 2: them a house around the corner. And so I see
Speaker 2: my granddaughter and my daughter and her husband, the family.
Speaker 2: I see them just about every day. And my daughter
Speaker 2: works for me. Now. She left her job in Manhattan
Speaker 2: and she's got a full time job with l obviously,
Speaker 2: but she works part time for me and comes over
Speaker 2: and helps me during the day. So I'm okay. At
Speaker 2: some point, I probably we will need a nurse or
Speaker 2: someone at night, you know, to to help me. But
Speaker 2: as of the moment, no, I've I've got the family here,
Speaker 2: so I'm I'm very lucky.
Speaker 1: Okay, you lived in Cincinnati. How did you ultimately decide
Speaker 1: to move to Nashville? And obviously you have physical issues
Speaker 1: at this point, but to what degree did you interact
Speaker 1: to the scene in Nashville as opposed to just being
Speaker 1: Peter Freempt that I happened to live in Nashville.
Speaker 2: Yes, we lived there because of family reasons. We were
Speaker 2: living that's my previous wife. We were living in Cincinnati
Speaker 2: during to due to family reasons. We'd lost granddad, so
Speaker 2: our daughter Mia and Tina wanted to be close. I
Speaker 2: knew it. I said, we're moving back. I got it.
Speaker 2: It's it's the right thing to do. And I met
Speaker 2: a lot of musicians in Cincinnati, went to clubs and
Speaker 2: stuff like that. There's great music up there, a lot
Speaker 2: of jazz and blues and R and B and stuff
Speaker 2: like that, which was right up my alley. So but
Speaker 2: and then at one point when we lost George Harrison,
Speaker 2: which was November. I forget exactly the year.
Speaker 1: I think it was two thousand and maybe nineteen ninety,
Speaker 1: and I think it was one of those.
Speaker 2: Right, And I had said that I wanted to do
Speaker 2: a concert to raise money for local venues and things
Speaker 2: like that for the community and do a free show
Speaker 2: and have every good local band on and I'd be
Speaker 2: the headliner. And so it was very very successful and
Speaker 2: we raised a lot of money and that that the
Speaker 2: night before I called the band members up and I said, look,
Speaker 2: I think I would like to do a tribute to
Speaker 2: George at this show and for the last number, can
Speaker 2: you all listen to while my guitar gently weeps, And
Speaker 2: we rehearsed it at the soundcheck, and we did it
Speaker 2: that night, and the audience didn't shut up. I mean,
Speaker 2: it went on and on and on and on and on.
Speaker 2: It was so emotional because we only a couple of months.
Speaker 2: This was in January, we'd lost George in November. I think,
Speaker 2: so very emotional. But we've played that number every night
Speaker 2: ever since as the last a kiss off, as it were,
Speaker 2: saying goodbye to everybody. And yes, so Cincinnati was very
Speaker 2: important in many ways. I mean, I had a wonderful
Speaker 2: studio in my house in my basement. I recorded three
Speaker 2: of my albums there. So yeah, it was. It was
Speaker 2: very instrumental in my career at that point. But when
Speaker 2: finally I we got divorced, I ended up with the
Speaker 2: house and there I am in this wonderful house with
Speaker 2: the studio in Cincinnati. But I'm living alone now, and
Speaker 2: I thought, well, I'm going to just move back to Nashville.
Speaker 2: So I said, we're all my museo friends are, and
Speaker 2: and so that that's why I moved back down here.
Speaker 2: And I didn't build a studio this time. Well this
Speaker 2: is my music room, but I bought a studio because
Speaker 2: at that time when I bought here, two thousand and
Speaker 2: eight wasn't too far in the distance, and things had
Speaker 2: plummeted obviously, so and studios, smaller studios were while they
Speaker 2: weren't getting so much work because everybody's got pro tools
Speaker 2: on their iPad, you know, in the bathroom, you know,
Speaker 2: let alone the garage. And so someone said to me,
Speaker 2: you should go. And I was looking for a place
Speaker 2: to just dump my recording stuff in a room somewhere
Speaker 2: in rent space, you know, And and so someone said
Speaker 2: we should go and look at the studio. So I said, well,
Speaker 2: I can't buy anything, you know, I just bought a
Speaker 2: condo and so anyway, I went there and fantastic place,
Speaker 2: you know, so and I thought, oh gosh, wouldn't this
Speaker 2: be amazing? So I said, so, who's your business manager
Speaker 2: to the owner and he said, Gary Haber. I said,
Speaker 2: that's my business manager too. Maybe we can work something out.
Speaker 2: So he needed something, I needed something, and I ended
Speaker 2: up with the studio for a very fair price. And
Speaker 2: I still have it now, and it's it's been improved,
Speaker 2: and lots of people recording there now so apart from me,
Speaker 2: so it's it's phenomenal. So I'm I'm a studio owner
Speaker 2: in Nashville.
Speaker 1: Okay, you talk about getting divorced A you're a rock star,
Speaker 1: be you've married three times. What can you tell us
Speaker 1: about relationships?
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, Well, I'm I'm a person who jumps into things,
Speaker 2: probably ahead of the time. I should and I should
Speaker 2: think more about certain things to do with a relationship.
Speaker 2: And I think for me, I had been living with
Speaker 2: my parents. I left when I was sixteen seventeen. I
Speaker 2: moved out with a lot of screaming going on from
Speaker 2: my dad and mom. I moved out with and moved
Speaker 2: into a flat in London with my girlfriend, who then
Speaker 2: became my wife, and we are still the best of
Speaker 2: friends and lifelong friends. Maybe we should have met later on,
Speaker 2: but I think that. And then yeah, my point is,
Speaker 2: so I go straight from living at home to living
Speaker 2: with my girlfriend get married. Then that ends. I moved
Speaker 2: straight in with another girlfriend. We don't get married, thank god,
Speaker 2: and then that ends viciously. And then I was alone
Speaker 2: for a while and let's see, yes, then met somebody
Speaker 2: else very quickly and moved in with them, and they
Speaker 2: moved in with me, and we started having children. And
Speaker 2: my wife, Barbara, who is the second one, we're still
Speaker 2: incredibly good friends. And she's moved to Nashville now too,
Speaker 2: so she's so. But as far as I needed, I
Speaker 2: never because I was so obsessed with music and I
Speaker 2: just needed a relationship to get into, to have ground,
Speaker 2: you know, to have a basis for living, I think,
Speaker 2: and and I didn't really I've never thought about is
Speaker 2: this right for me or if you know. It's weird
Speaker 2: to say, but it's it's like I took things. I
Speaker 2: didn't take things seriously enough, I think, and if i'd
Speaker 2: have played the field like most people do, most guys
Speaker 2: or girls do when they first leave home and get
Speaker 2: their they get their apartment on their own, and then
Speaker 2: they play the field. And then hopefully I didn't do that.
Speaker 2: I just I short circuited all that and just would
Speaker 2: just move straight in, you know. And I think that's
Speaker 2: where I made my mistakes other you know, I can't
Speaker 2: say for other people, you know, but that for me.
Speaker 2: Wash yeah, impulsive, Yes I am.
Speaker 1: How did these relationships end? Uh?
Speaker 2: Well, that's rather personal, Bob.
Speaker 1: Well, I guess I wasn't looking for it. Let me
Speaker 1: just go halfway. Everyone says it's equal, but it never is.
Speaker 1: You have multiple relationships. Are you the one who leaves?
Speaker 1: Are they the one who leaves? Or every relationship is different?
Speaker 2: Oh, every relationship is different. I think I've ended and
Speaker 2: I've been ended. Okay, I've played both sides of the fence,
Speaker 2: as it were, or the ending. So I've experienced both,
Speaker 2: and neither one is what I would call enjoyable.
Speaker 4: So okay, you have this incredible upbeat attitude, and I
Speaker 4: have only known you subsequent to your incredible success.
Speaker 1: Were you always this bright? Sunny guy.
Speaker 2: No, I was very introverted and insecure all that stuff. Well,
Speaker 2: I'm probably still insecure, but not to the group degree
Speaker 2: I was when I was seventeen eighteen. Yeah, I went
Speaker 2: from being as a child, you know, I was, I
Speaker 2: was a normal child, you know, crazy, and then when
Speaker 2: it got to twelve thirteen, that that time period where
Speaker 2: music was becoming all important to me, I kind of
Speaker 2: became antisocial. I think because I was I'd much prefer
Speaker 2: to be in my room learning another Eric Clapton solo.
Speaker 2: Then I would be to go out and see a
Speaker 2: movie with my friends or do whatever. So I kind
Speaker 2: of cut myself off from people that way. And the
Speaker 2: only person at that time that I saw well about
Speaker 2: when I was fifteen or sixteen was Mary, was my
Speaker 2: first ended up being my first wife, and she was
Speaker 2: very instrumental in helping me at that time in many ways,
Speaker 2: so with my career.
Speaker 1: And but yeah, well I guess I'm saying, when did
Speaker 1: things turn such that you became relative to someone as
Speaker 1: successful as yourself, very easy going, have a laugh at yourself.
Speaker 1: When did that happen?
Speaker 2: Well, I've always been a little bit like that, But
Speaker 2: I think when I think being successful with the first band,
Speaker 2: The Herd, gave me confidence in myself that I've achieved something,
Speaker 2: you know, and that it's not this a wonder. It's
Speaker 2: not a wonder anymore. It's I did. I did put
Speaker 2: a record out with this band, and and we've had
Speaker 2: three big hits. You know. I'm now in a successful band.
Speaker 2: This is I never imagined that. I never I never
Speaker 2: knew it would happen. I imagined it, but I never knew
Speaker 2: it would happen. And when it happened, I think it
Speaker 2: just opened me up and gave me that when you
Speaker 2: go out on stage and you get like so many
Speaker 2: thousand people clap in and shout shouting your name, it
Speaker 2: gives you a nice feeling, you know. And that started
Speaker 2: happening in The Herd and continued, you know, with Humble
Speaker 2: Pie and so and by the time I was a
Speaker 2: solo artist, I kind of went back. I had because
Speaker 2: I'd spent two to three years with Humble Pie, leaving
Speaker 2: before the live album Humble Pie's live album came out
Speaker 2: was everyone thought I was crazy, but it was the
Speaker 2: right time for me to leave. Then after mixing that
Speaker 2: album with Eddie Kramer, I left and then I knew
Speaker 2: it was going to be their first really successful album.
Speaker 2: We just knew it was. It was so evident that
Speaker 2: we were giving the audience what they wanted, which was
Speaker 2: our live show. And so yeah, I think then I
Speaker 2: got a little bit, went back into my shell a
Speaker 2: little bit, and and had to start at the bottom
Speaker 2: of the ladder again. Okay, I was a couple of
Speaker 2: rungs up, but only couple. And then you know, it
Speaker 2: wasn't for another four to five years before well four
Speaker 2: years and the Frampton album came out, which had shown
Speaker 2: me the way and Baby, I'll have your Way studio
Speaker 2: versions on it, and that all of a sudden took
Speaker 2: off regionally now you know, and I know what regional breakout,
Speaker 2: but nobody else does anymore. But we were huge. I
Speaker 2: was huge in San Francisco first and foremost. For some reason, Kasan,
Speaker 2: the aor top station in the Bay Area, took to
Speaker 2: the Frampton album like you wouldn't believe. And I was
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, I was on the air like
Speaker 2: twenty four to seven in San Francisco, a little bit
Speaker 2: less in New US and probably the same as New
Speaker 2: York in in Detroit. Those three places were I was
Speaker 2: having a regional breakout. It's not a disease, folks, It's
Speaker 2: it's the fact that all of a sudden, radio stations
Speaker 2: weren't programmed by one person for the whole country or
Speaker 2: a company, you know, they were each area, Each region
Speaker 2: was in charge of its own playlist, which meant that
Speaker 2: you could have a regional breakout in San Francisco and
Speaker 2: in New York. They wouldn't know anything about you, you know,
Speaker 2: but you could be huge and be headlining in San
Speaker 2: Francisco and opening the bill in in New York or
Speaker 2: Philadelphia wherever. And it was. It was very interesting that
Speaker 2: that whole thing. And I think when we went up
Speaker 2: to seventy five to play Winterland, which was to promote
Speaker 2: the Frampton album, it wasn't we decided that we would
Speaker 2: record and do possibly do a live album because I
Speaker 2: was following the template of Humble Pie. Humble Pie, we'd
Speaker 2: had four solo albums and then everyone said, Jerry Mors
Speaker 2: de'anthony the band, we also we should do a live album,
Speaker 2: so we did. And I always think of of Rock
Speaker 2: on the album before that as like my Frampton album,
Speaker 2: and it was that Rock on Album also was breaking
Speaker 2: out regionally, and so we knew that we could do
Speaker 2: a live album and it's good. There was a good
Speaker 2: chance it was going to be successful. How successful we
Speaker 2: didn't know. And uh So at that point, uh I've left,
Speaker 2: it becomes a huge hit and I'm on back on
Speaker 2: the back, on the bottom rung again. But it took me,
Speaker 2: uh the same amount of time it took uh two
Speaker 2: to write those songs that are on the live record
Speaker 2: was a six year period. One year of humble Pie
Speaker 2: for shine On and then the rest are all cherry
Speaker 2: picking from my four solo records and and then a
Speaker 2: cover of the Stones. And so at that point when
Speaker 2: I when we walked out on stage for the very
Speaker 2: first time headlining in a major city like San Francisco Interland,
Speaker 2: there's like eight thousand people there where you can hear
Speaker 2: on the album what it sounded like, you know, and
Speaker 2: we were taken aback by the reaction. And I think
Speaker 2: that through humble Pie, the herd, humble Pie and now
Speaker 2: this acceptance, I think it definitely gives you more confidence,
Speaker 2: but it also worries you, what are you going to
Speaker 2: do next? So but yeah, I think that I just
Speaker 2: grew up and got more confident along the way. And
Speaker 2: I actually think the downs, the pitfalls were more important
Speaker 2: than the successes, because I, you know, talking about comes
Speaker 2: Alive inasmuch as you go down to from being the
Speaker 2: bigiggest thing in the world for eighteen months two years
Speaker 2: to who wein, you know, by nineteen eighty one or something.
Speaker 2: We're talking about. Seventy six is when the album came out,
Speaker 2: So seventy nine eighty eighty one, it was deteriorating. The
Speaker 2: music I was putting out after that wasn't as good.
Speaker 2: I was being rushed into recording and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: And so I think that my character building time was
Speaker 2: mostly the time it took me from the early eighties
Speaker 2: to the two thousands to come back and to get
Speaker 2: a Grammy for doing for not singing, for playing guitar.
Speaker 2: You know, in two thousand and six I got the
Speaker 2: ground me for Best Pop Instrumental Album, not just the track,
Speaker 2: the whole album, which again stuff like that. I never
Speaker 2: thought that there was a possibility again after the Big
Speaker 2: four of anything like that. And I remember as I
Speaker 2: was walking out, numb with this big shit eating grin
Speaker 2: on my face, thinking what the hell just happened? I'm
Speaker 2: holding a Grammy and I see this guitar player. No,
Speaker 2: I didn't know it was guitar player. I saw these
Speaker 2: two people, this guy and this lady running towards me,
Speaker 2: and I suddenly realized it's Larry Carlton and his wife.
Speaker 2: And he just launches himself on me and gives me
Speaker 2: the biggest hug because I just beat him out in
Speaker 2: the category too. And it doesn't get any better or
Speaker 2: make you feel like King Kong when the guitarists guitarist
Speaker 2: who's played on all those Steely Dan records that we
Speaker 2: all love and wonder how he did those solos, comes
Speaker 2: and gives you a big hug that I think was
Speaker 2: almost more important to me than the Grammy. And from
Speaker 2: that moment on, I've always been this happy, go lucky guy.
Speaker 1: Just to stay on this one point for years now.
Speaker 1: You know you mentioned when you're on stage as part
Speaker 1: of a song, you change the lyric I've lost my hair.
Speaker 1: You poke fun at yourself, whereas your contemporary some household names.
Speaker 1: Some are wearing wigs even though people don't know it.
Speaker 2: I know it.
Speaker 1: Others have gotten plastic surgery. You were also known for
Speaker 1: your hair. Is that just your personality? To make fun
Speaker 1: of yourself or how did you own that?
Speaker 2: Oh? I think it comes from my parents and our family.
Speaker 2: We never took ourselves too seriously, and we were all
Speaker 2: always making fun of each other and of ourselves, you know.
Speaker 2: My father was like that, you know, he would he
Speaker 2: would make himself the butt of the joke, you know.
Speaker 2: And my mother too, So we had great humor in
Speaker 2: our household. And my mother is the of the two
Speaker 2: of them. My mother was the one that I think
Speaker 2: I got the eternal optimism from. And I remember I
Speaker 2: was being forced in to do this record I'm Innew
Speaker 2: which shouldn't have come out for another four years as
Speaker 2: far as I'm concerned. But anyway, and I said, oh,
Speaker 2: and they were. They were staying my parents were staying
Speaker 2: with me at the time in New York up in Westchester,
Speaker 2: and I was getting ready to do I was starting
Speaker 2: to record an Electric Lady, I'm in You. And I said, gosh,
Speaker 2: I wish I could get Stevie Wonder to, you know,
Speaker 2: play a harmonica solo for me and my mom just
Speaker 2: in SA call him up. I said, I can't. Just yes,
Speaker 2: you can, I said, well, how do I call? Call Motown?
Speaker 2: They'll know who you are now, Peter. So I called
Speaker 2: up Motown and lo and behold. A few minutes later,
Speaker 2: I get a call from Stevie Wonder and I'm I'm speechless,
Speaker 2: but I'm trying very hard to converse with him. And
Speaker 2: I said, he said, what can I do for you? Know?
Speaker 2: So congratulations, Oh thank you, Stevie wondered. And and so
Speaker 2: I said, do you think there's any possibility? I mean,
Speaker 2: I think you understand what a big fan I am
Speaker 2: and we all are of you. Would you ever think
Speaker 2: about coming and doing some harmonica for me? And he
Speaker 2: said when do you want me there?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Gosh? So and then there is there's a human story
Speaker 2: out of out of that. And my birthday was about
Speaker 2: after that. He came to the session played Mick Jagger
Speaker 2: was in the room while he was doing it. Was
Speaker 2: it was just very heavy stuff, you know, and I'm
Speaker 2: jumping up and down and it's just all my birthdays
Speaker 2: and Christmases came at once. Seeing Stevie Wonder playing harmonica
Speaker 2: out there in the studio for me, you know, it
Speaker 2: was wonderful. And so anyway, my birthday was a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks later, and some people brought me a cake
Speaker 2: and stuff, and then we're trying to record and then
Speaker 2: the door opens and I see Calvin Stevie's brother, and I, oh, no.
Speaker 2: Stevie came to my birthday party and brought me a Nakamichi,
Speaker 2: the high end cassette player, you know, stereo, big big thing.
Speaker 2: It was huge, but it was like really pro and
Speaker 2: these headphones that had microphones in them, so you could
Speaker 2: have the headphones plug it into the Nakamichi and you'd
Speaker 2: hear you you could record what you were playing, you know.
Speaker 2: So I couldn't believe that. And we had some champagne
Speaker 2: going around and I asked him, would you sing some backup?
Speaker 2: He said, I'm too drunk now, So that was I
Speaker 2: didn't get him to sing. But but anyway, and then
Speaker 2: the story is I had a horrible car crash in
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy seven. All right, I'm not sure now, wow,
Speaker 2: I usually know that right off. But it was July second,
Speaker 2: seventy seven or seventy eight, and I was in the
Speaker 2: Bahamas and I was broken. I was a broken mess.
Speaker 2: And they sent a plane down for me, my doctor
Speaker 2: from New York and my manager came put me in
Speaker 2: a lear jet took me back to Lennox Hill and
Speaker 2: they started to mend me, you know. And so it's
Speaker 2: I have a private nurse at night just in case,
Speaker 2: and two guards outside my door, who one of them
Speaker 2: used to take my mother. My mother stayed with me too,
Speaker 2: which was wonderful, and she was staying at the hotel
Speaker 2: right down the street, so he would take her home
Speaker 2: every night at night. And anyway, and so this nurse,
Speaker 2: my nurse comes in and said, mister Frampton, you have
Speaker 2: a phone call. I said, what time is it. She
Speaker 2: said it's three thirty am, mister Frampton. Uh, you don't
Speaker 2: want to take this to you. I said, well, who
Speaker 2: is it? And she said it's a mister wonder So
Speaker 2: he'd gone to all the trouble to find out what
Speaker 2: hospital I'm in and actually get to my floor where
Speaker 2: the nurses so they brought you know, they plugged me
Speaker 2: in and everything, and it's Stevie and he said, man,
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry to hear about Hey. I just called
Speaker 2: you up to cheer you up, man. And and what
Speaker 2: he then did was he was either in the studio
Speaker 2: or in his music room at home, and he said,
Speaker 2: I've just recorded these three tracks, but I haven't put
Speaker 2: the vocal on yet. You want to hear them? What
Speaker 2: are you going to say?
Speaker 1: Say no?
Speaker 2: So he's singing into the phone with these back in
Speaker 2: tracks going, and to this day I have never heard
Speaker 2: those three tracks. They are still in the archives, and
Speaker 2: they were, of course unbelievable, especially when you're getting a
Speaker 2: live vocal from from the West Coast at three point
Speaker 2: thirty in the morning in New York. And so it
Speaker 2: doesn't life doesn't get better than that. So it's very
Speaker 2: it's very hard for me to take things too seriously
Speaker 2: when stuff like that happens.
Speaker 1: You know, let's go back to the double live album
Speaker 1: seventy six. You know, there are a lot of rumors
Speaker 1: that not all the tracks were recorded where they said
Speaker 1: they were. That was an era, you know, in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty eight, Big Brother they record a live album, it's
Speaker 1: unusable and they ultimately create a live album of the studio,
Speaker 1: that double live album. To what degree was it's swedened
Speaker 1: in the studio changed? If it all?
Speaker 2: Okay? I made a rule that if it made it
Speaker 2: to the truck, we would not replace it. If it
Speaker 2: didn't make it to the truck for whatever reason, we
Speaker 2: would have to put it on because it wasn't there.
Speaker 2: So the piano on Go to the Sun was, you know, crackling.
Speaker 2: It was intermittent all the way through. So Bob Mayo
Speaker 2: had to go into Electric Lady, and I don't know
Speaker 2: how he did it, but he had to play exactly
Speaker 2: what he played live, you know, and redid that okay.
Speaker 2: On Show Me the Way is the only time I
Speaker 2: used a different amplifier for my guitar, and but they
Speaker 2: forgot to move the microphone to the other amplifier because
Speaker 2: they didn't have that many mics those days. So my
Speaker 2: rhythm guitar on Show Me the Way had to be
Speaker 2: replaced because it didn't exist. Same thing with the acoustic
Speaker 2: Baby Out of Your Way, it was intermittent again, crackling.
Speaker 2: So that's about it. Anything anything else. You can't replace
Speaker 2: lead vocals, even though I might have replaced a part
Speaker 2: of Something's Happening vocal the very beginning because I was
Speaker 2: the clemped, but that was it. But anything else that
Speaker 2: didn't make it to tape we left. You can't redoce
Speaker 2: solos because you wouldn't be able to have or vocals
Speaker 2: because you wouldn't be able to have the audience up
Speaker 2: that loud, you'd hear it, you'd hear the other track.
Speaker 2: So I would say ninety seven ninety eight percent of
Speaker 2: Frampton Comes Alive is absolutely live. And there are three
Speaker 2: places where I'm sorry, four places where stuff came from.
Speaker 2: The bulk of the show comes from Winterland, the acoustic
Speaker 2: section because it was a slightly better acoustics for the
Speaker 2: acoustics in Marine Civic Center. So those three songs, those
Speaker 2: three songs came from Marin. We went back mixed a
Speaker 2: single live album. Then Jerry Moss, the m of A
Speaker 2: and M came and listened to the single album and
Speaker 2: he just said, oh my god, he said, where's the rest?
Speaker 2: We said, what do you mean the rest? Said, well,
Speaker 2: we didn't want to do a double album because I
Speaker 2: haven't really earned you that much money. I was worried
Speaker 2: they were going to drop me, you know, and so
Speaker 2: he gave me the go ahead, go out and record
Speaker 2: some let's make it a double album. Oh gosh, okay.
Speaker 2: So the ones we redid or where they came from,
Speaker 2: we went out and did about six more shows Comac
Speaker 2: Long Island. The arena there that the hockey arena that
Speaker 2: doesn't exist anymore, is where show Me the Way it
Speaker 2: comes from and that was engineered by Eddie Kramer, and
Speaker 2: Baby I Love Your Way comes from and New York
Speaker 2: University Plattsburgh in Plattsburgh, and I think the ticket price
Speaker 2: then was like three twenty five and out of that,
Speaker 2: and Chris Kimsey was in the chart for that. So yes,
Speaker 2: So we came back and right before Christmas in seventy five,
Speaker 2: we mixed those and the other ones that we hadn't
Speaker 2: the acoustics said would have changed all that stuff. We
Speaker 2: recorded more. We mixed more stuff. And because they were
Speaker 2: only on the original live album, the single one there
Speaker 2: was only five tracks, and Show Me the Way and
Speaker 2: Baby I Love Your Way were not on it.
Speaker 1: Just to stay on the live album. My favorite cut
Speaker 1: of yours, though I love I Want to Go to
Speaker 1: the Sun, is the opening cut on the second side
Speaker 1: of the first album, All I Want to Be Is
Speaker 1: by your Side. The second half of that is a
Speaker 1: long electric instrumental. How did this become an acoustic number?
Speaker 2: Okay, there's a very good reason for them. You have
Speaker 2: to see this face here.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's Peter's dog. We're audio only, but very well
Speaker 1: behaved in uh, very hairy.
Speaker 2: Very hairy, he's a he's a black golden doodle.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Look at that love He's so lovely. Anyway, sorry about that,
Speaker 2: I forgot what we're talking about now.
Speaker 1: Which about all I want to be is by yourself, all.
Speaker 2: Right, right, right? So we didn't have we were we
Speaker 2: were not headlining, so we were doing forty five minutes
Speaker 2: to an hour, and then all of a sudden, in
Speaker 2: the middle of the tour, we have this headline gig
Speaker 2: at Winterland and we need at least an hour and
Speaker 2: a half. So that's when I said, well, I've got
Speaker 2: a penny few thoughts. I could do all I want
Speaker 2: to be acoustic, and I could do Wind of Change acoustic.
Speaker 2: So we got those three and then I think we
Speaker 2: added I'm not sure what other number we added, but
Speaker 2: an electric one as well. But that's how it became acoustic.
Speaker 2: And now we're back to doing it electric on stage,
Speaker 2: which is so good.
Speaker 1: So to what de we playing today? Do you feel
Speaker 1: that you have to deliver what the audience wants in
Speaker 1: terms of song choices and to what deg we? Is
Speaker 1: that fine with you? Or would you like to put
Speaker 1: other material in?
Speaker 2: It's up to me. It's I'm out there to enjoy myself.
Speaker 2: I'm lucky that they seem to like what I choose
Speaker 2: to play. But there's no way they're not going to
Speaker 2: hear songs that they really like. You know that they've
Speaker 2: known me for so I do it all. I don't
Speaker 2: hold back. I don't say I'm not doing my single.
Speaker 2: I can't stand that. Uh no, that's that's not me.
Speaker 2: I get do. I enjoy doing show Me the Way
Speaker 2: and Baby, I Love you Way, Yes, because I enjoy
Speaker 2: seeing the faces of the people and the couples looking
Speaker 2: at each other and going you know, and they've obviously
Speaker 2: either got married to it or I don't know what.
Speaker 2: But there's so many wonderful stories. This last tour, which
Speaker 2: was the never Say Never to, because I had said
Speaker 2: at the end of the finale tour, I'm gonna fight this,
Speaker 2: so never say never, and everybody went all right, you know,
Speaker 2: and so obviously I called it. They never say never
Speaker 2: to And this one is to never ever say never
Speaker 2: to her. We'll stop there. If I do more, it'll
Speaker 2: be different. But so anyway, yeah, he's not ill at
Speaker 2: all anymore to he so but so uh yes, so
Speaker 2: Rob my bandleader, and I robbed Rob Arthur and I
Speaker 2: got to got together and we listened to a bunch
Speaker 2: of my solo albums, which was painful for me, but
Speaker 2: just to find find a couple that we'd never done
Speaker 2: before ever, you know, so I decided we decided to
Speaker 2: do uh I Got My Eyes on You, which is
Speaker 2: the opening cut from Frampton's Camel and it's such a
Speaker 2: so great to play, never played it live before. And
Speaker 2: and also one from the Frampton record that's very low
Speaker 2: key jazzy, the crying clown and they go nuts for
Speaker 2: the crying clown. It's it's it's wild actually, how so
Speaker 2: I anyway, those are two I didn't really choose those
Speaker 2: because people had said to me, you know, we'd love
Speaker 2: to hear this, or love to hear It's what I
Speaker 2: want to do, you know. It's like this this album
Speaker 2: that I wrote you about that I'm working on now
Speaker 2: that when will you know it's very well, I'll know
Speaker 2: when it's ready, when I'm happy with it, And I
Speaker 2: really don't care if anybody else is happy with it
Speaker 2: at all. It's what I feel is what I need
Speaker 2: to be doing right now. Like I'm sitting in the
Speaker 2: room where I'm putting all these songs together over quite
Speaker 2: a few years already, but it took me a lot
Speaker 2: of years to do those write those songs Comes of Live.
Speaker 2: So I'm in no rush. Obviously. I have another an
Speaker 2: IBM clock as well that I'll be able to play.
Speaker 2: But I'm playing guitar on these demos as we as
Speaker 2: we go along, so I'm making sure that there's something
Speaker 2: there always. But it's I had so many people telling
Speaker 2: me what they thought was best for me in the
Speaker 2: seventies after the success of Comes Alive that and I
Speaker 2: listened to all of them, and I made terrible mistakes.
Speaker 2: So I I have an area of my stomach that
Speaker 2: lights up with a certain feeling when I know this
Speaker 2: is something I shouldn't be doing. And I hope we
Speaker 2: all go by our gut because and I went against
Speaker 2: it many times early on, and now I just do
Speaker 2: what I want to do when I want to do it.
Speaker 2: It's I'm lucky that I can. It's not like I'm
Speaker 2: making this album to have you know, a mega you know,
Speaker 2: and I'm selling out. No, No, I know that's not
Speaker 2: gonna happen. But it's it's gotta be what what I
Speaker 2: want it to be. My my level of perfection, and
Speaker 2: I'll throw a song out that I've been working on
Speaker 2: for three weeks if I get to a point where
Speaker 2: I say, well, I don't think it's cutting it now.
Speaker 2: I thought I liked it, but so I'll move on
Speaker 2: gone next. So I don't. I don't. I don't baby
Speaker 2: those songs anymore. It's either in or it's out. And
Speaker 2: and I tend to write the lyrics. I'll have a
Speaker 2: song title, but I tend to write the lyrics after
Speaker 2: I write the music. I'm that kind of way. And
Speaker 2: so I can have a great track and great melody,
Speaker 2: and I know I'm gonna write words to that, but
Speaker 2: I can if it's not a great track and a
Speaker 2: great melody and it's turning me on like crazy, I'm
Speaker 2: I'm not going to finish it, because why you know?
Speaker 1: How did you mean? The year.
Speaker 2: I knew he'd saved the good stuff for last de
Speaker 2: Anthony humble Pie were with Andrew Oldham. We had signed
Speaker 2: management and record label. I don't think we'd even signed anything. Actually,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure. Probably the record label and the publishing.
Speaker 2: I don't think we signed a management contract, but who knows.
Speaker 2: And he Unfortunately Immediate Records went broke and he uh,
Speaker 2: he led us out of our contract so that we
Speaker 2: could go and get We'd had two albums, the Safest
Speaker 2: Yesterday is in Town and Country. We'd had one big
Speaker 2: hit in England and Europe, natural Bornboogie. And so he
Speaker 2: he shouldn't have let us out of our contract because
Speaker 2: we were an asset to the company, but he did.
Speaker 2: But he couldn't let us have our publishing because he said,
Speaker 2: I got to give them something, so which we got
Speaker 2: back in the end, but it took a while. But
Speaker 2: what he did do and Andrew's a terrific friend and
Speaker 2: we text all the time. He's wonderful did dear lifelong
Speaker 2: friend and and uh so he said, okay, you're going
Speaker 2: to go and see all. You're going to see Warner Brothers,
Speaker 2: A and M Atlantic, Uh, this one, that one, and
Speaker 2: this is what you want to ask for? And so
Speaker 2: he said, you want, uh, you want to ask for
Speaker 2: three hundred thousand advance for four years, two albums a year.
Speaker 2: And I forget what the percentage was that at that point.
Speaker 2: So Steve Merritt and I went to see every record
Speaker 2: label in London, American or British and we gave the
Speaker 2: same story until we got to A and M. Jerry
Speaker 2: Greenberg and Armat Erdigon, who was one of my dearest
Speaker 2: I loved Armen and he was very very nice to me,
Speaker 2: phenomenal and as a friend and anyway, and they left
Speaker 2: and went back to to New York thinking they got.
Speaker 1: Us Atlantic records.
Speaker 2: Yes, and so the next day we go and see
Speaker 2: Larry Yaskell, the UK president of A and M Records.
Speaker 2: So we're given the spiel, what do you want? And
Speaker 2: to my surprise, you know, Andrews said three hundred thousand.
Speaker 2: Asked for three hundred thousand and so and I'm going, well,
Speaker 2: we'd like to and Steve goes four hundred thousand, and
Speaker 2: I didn't, you know, obviously I didn't flinch because I
Speaker 2: didn't want to give the game away, you know. And
Speaker 2: Larry said, well, I think let me. I think I
Speaker 2: should call Jerry right now and see if we've got
Speaker 2: a deal here. So he goes out of the room
Speaker 2: and I look step from oh my god, you just
Speaker 2: up to thee hundred grand and he said, well, all
Speaker 2: I could do is say now. So he was right,
Speaker 2: and that's bravado for you. And Larry comes back in
Speaker 2: ten minutes later we've got a deal. So we all
Speaker 2: got one hundred grand out of that each, you know,
Speaker 2: over four years. You know, well I didn't get the
Speaker 2: last years because I left, but but we all did
Speaker 2: extremely well out of that, and thanks to Andrew first
Speaker 2: of all, and then Steve for upping it. So and
Speaker 2: I've forgotten the question, but I know this was leading
Speaker 2: up to it. D Anthony all right, yeah, so there
Speaker 2: were going, okay, well, Andrew can't be our manager anymore. Okay,
Speaker 2: all right, So Greg Ridley, who was formerly with Spooky Tooth,
Speaker 2: had been to America and toured. They were an island
Speaker 2: act Chris Blackwell. But Chris Blackwell didn't want to be
Speaker 2: the manager in America. He needed a manager, a co
Speaker 2: manager and an agency. Well, he went straight to Frank Barcelona,
Speaker 2: Premier Talent, the biggest stages in the world at that
Speaker 2: at that time.
Speaker 1: And.
Speaker 2: He said, well, I'll manage Spooky Tooth Joe Corker, you
Speaker 2: know he did The Mad Dogs and Englishman to all that.
Speaker 1: Well a little bit slower. You mentioned Frank, but you
Speaker 1: didn't say how d came into it.
Speaker 2: Oh sorry, sorry, Okay, So therefore Frank Hauld ask D
Speaker 2: T can you manage these acts from Chris Blackwell over here?
Speaker 2: He doesn't want to handle that here, so D gets involved.
Speaker 2: Therefore he gets spooky tooth as well. And obviously they
Speaker 2: did very well. When they were over there with D
Speaker 2: and Greg said well, I know this. You know one
Speaker 2: America manager and he's he's really good, I think, you know.
Speaker 2: And so we said, well, let's call him up see Ifield.
Speaker 2: And so he came over to England and met with us,
Speaker 2: and you know, he kind of reminded me of a
Speaker 2: mob boss, you know, but but very funny, very amiable, uh,
Speaker 2: very on it music. And he was already working with
Speaker 2: Jay Giles and so and they were they'd already just
Speaker 2: had a hit with their live album, I think the
Speaker 2: first one single live album. So anyway, uh he then
Speaker 2: D then said well, I've called Frank Barcelona and he'll
Speaker 2: be your agent over there. So that's how the whole
Speaker 2: thing got set up. And then but in the in
Speaker 2: the same time we got all got the same lawyer
Speaker 2: and all got the same business manager. Mmm. So that
Speaker 2: was ominous. We didn't realize when you've got no money,
Speaker 2: no one can seal it from you. So everything went
Speaker 2: swimmingly for a long time until all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: rock On comes out and we start doing really well.
Speaker 2: You know, we're not opening the bill, we're middle spot
Speaker 2: and sometimes you know, small theater headline, you know, so uh,
Speaker 2: you know, everything everything started to happen at that point,
Speaker 2: and we all thought. We all thought D was a genius,
Speaker 2: you know, and Frank, and we were very thankful to
Speaker 2: be involved with them, you know, So yes, and that
Speaker 2: that's how it all started.
Speaker 1: Okay, D is the manager for Humble Pie. How does
Speaker 1: the end up becoming your personal manager when you go solo?
Speaker 1: And then what happens?
Speaker 2: Well, luckily Jerry Moss wanted to keep me as a
Speaker 2: solo artist, so I was. I was, I think, on
Speaker 2: the same contract as I was under Humble Pie, but
Speaker 2: just because I was signed individually as well. So that
Speaker 2: was okay, And then D said he'd still manage me.
Speaker 2: I said, great, Frank's still there. So I went back
Speaker 2: and started at the bottom again and opened the bill
Speaker 2: for as many people as I can remember, you know,
Speaker 2: or anybody can remember. If you name a band from
Speaker 2: that era, I've opened for them, you know. And I've
Speaker 2: never been I've never been afraid of hard work. And
Speaker 2: playing live is my love. So, you know, off I go,
Speaker 2: and every every year I take a little bit of time.
Speaker 2: Every year to eighteen months, I take a little bit
Speaker 2: of time off, not enough to write and record. The
Speaker 2: next album, Wind of Change, was done over quite a
Speaker 2: long period. Actually, in came out in seventy two. It
Speaker 2: was done in seventy one, and that was during my
Speaker 2: session period where I was part of the George Harrison
Speaker 2: kind of session team and you know, played with a
Speaker 2: lot of a lot of artists and and a lot
Speaker 2: with with George obviously. But so then having taken my
Speaker 2: time over Wind of Change, whether it was it wasn't
Speaker 2: loaded with hits, that's for sure, but it was loaded
Speaker 2: with what I wanted to be on the album, which
Speaker 2: is kind of where I'm at now, you know. So,
Speaker 2: and it came out and to a little fanfare. I
Speaker 2: think I toured a little late coming over because I
Speaker 2: had to get the band together and rehearse it and
Speaker 2: all that. But that's how it started out. And then
Speaker 2: every every now and again, time would be to write,
Speaker 2: do another time to do Frampton's Camel and then it
Speaker 2: was time to do something's happening and touring in between
Speaker 2: so tour album to an album to an album to
Speaker 2: a no no break, you know, except for the time
Speaker 2: allotted to writing, and it was usually a month so
Speaker 2: and then back on the road again month to right
Speaker 2: six weeks to do the album, back on tour.
Speaker 1: So that was it? Okay? If d Anthony had not
Speaker 1: been your manager, would you have had the same success?
Speaker 2: I will truthfully say I don't believe so, because because
Speaker 2: he was bombastic in his he would fight tooth and
Speaker 2: nail for his artist. And he would even even as
Speaker 2: well as Jerry Moss and Gil Frieson and Frank Barcelona
Speaker 2: and he got along. He would ruffle feathers along the
Speaker 2: way if he thought any of them weren't doing a
Speaker 2: good job. You know it was he could be ferocious
Speaker 2: to a fault, you know, and but he got the
Speaker 2: job done, you know. So what about the money, Well,
Speaker 2: as I said, first of all, there was no money,
Speaker 2: and A and M was giving me to a support.
Speaker 2: That means they were giving me the shortfall of so
Speaker 2: that I didn't I didn't lose money that we would
Speaker 2: break even because we're in those days. We were doing
Speaker 2: them a favor by going out to promote the album,
Speaker 2: by working I don't worry that way anymore. So then
Speaker 2: we get to the Frampton album and I've still got
Speaker 2: same business manager, same lawyer, And that's not good right there.
Speaker 2: And and I'm a novice when it comes to business.
Speaker 2: I've never I'm not really interested in never been interested
Speaker 2: in finance, unfortunately, you know, that's just the way I am.
Speaker 2: I am now, but no back then anyway, So I'm
Speaker 2: in you comes out and he's sending me. All the
Speaker 2: money went to d not to the business manager, but
Speaker 2: all moneys went to the manager. And then it's when
Speaker 2: you have it in front of you, it's very hard
Speaker 2: to go but I owe this person how much? Do I? Well,
Speaker 2: let's just give them this amount, you know, because I
Speaker 2: want to keep this for me. You know. It's it's
Speaker 2: very very hard when it's there on the table and
Speaker 2: virtually in cash, you know. And but you know I
Speaker 2: wouldn't be like that, you know, most people the team
Speaker 2: I have now, that would never happen, obviously, because what
Speaker 2: he did was you could have had He always used
Speaker 2: to say, a career. You got to think about longevity,
Speaker 2: You got to think about the road I had. You
Speaker 2: can't manage you for now, you know, Meanwhile, if you
Speaker 2: rip the artist off, now what does that say for
Speaker 2: the longevity because he's going to leave you when he
Speaker 2: finds out. So that's a conundrum right there, you know.
Speaker 2: So so anyway, I was waiting for my publishing money
Speaker 2: because obviously I did the publishing company through him. Fram
Speaker 2: D Music supposed to be fifty to fifty, but it
Speaker 2: was what I signed and my lawyer said it was fine,
Speaker 2: which was D's lawyer. Yeah, you get fifty to fifty
Speaker 2: on this of the company and you and your writers.
Speaker 2: I just got my writers. So anyway, even with that,
Speaker 2: I wondered where my publishing was for the last six
Speaker 2: months when we were I think I'd just done I'm
Speaker 2: in you, and it was in six months. It was
Speaker 2: seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars and which was a
Speaker 2: chunk of change back then. And so I called. I
Speaker 2: called my lawyer and I said, where's my money, where's
Speaker 2: my publishing money? He said, well, let me call D.
Speaker 2: So he calls D. God alone knows how they what
Speaker 2: they were into together, I don't know. But so D
Speaker 2: always used to say to me, you know, when you're
Speaker 2: owe some more money and they come to you and
Speaker 2: they say where's my money? You just say I don't
Speaker 2: have it. And so I said to D, I said, D,
Speaker 2: where's my money? And I know you have it and
Speaker 2: he said, I don't. I don't have it. I don't.
Speaker 2: And the sick thing was he didn't have it because
Speaker 2: we did forensic accountancy into his bank accounts and unless
Speaker 2: he'd hidden it so well, he not that ever. So
Speaker 2: he was just a the opposite of a spendthrift. He
Speaker 2: was a throwaway. He I mean in the Beverly Hills Hotel,
Speaker 2: if the two of us were staying there, from the
Speaker 2: suite to the car, he would tip everybody fifty bucks.
Speaker 2: They would come out of the woodwork. Oh, mister Anthony's
Speaker 2: checking out, okay. And he would have a role in
Speaker 2: his That was the old the mob thing, right, you'd
Speaker 2: have the big role. One hundreds and fifties, you know.
Speaker 2: Take that, take that and that. No, no, you you
Speaker 2: were really good. So God alone knows how much of
Speaker 2: my money he gave people as we were going to
Speaker 2: the car, you know. So that's that shows you. So
Speaker 2: that's how he lived his life.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: He overspent all the time. My money.
Speaker 1: Okay, So when did you realize We're being ripped off,
Speaker 1: and what did you do?
Speaker 2: Not knowing that my lawyer was probably so much more
Speaker 2: involved in this than than I realized, I went to
Speaker 2: him and said, look, he says he doesn't have it.
Speaker 2: What can I do? And he said, well, you know,
Speaker 2: he should give you the deed to his house, you know,
Speaker 2: he should, you know. So basically I I got that,
Speaker 2: But the deed means nothing, you know. They were just
Speaker 2: placating me.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: And so then within a short period of time after that,
Speaker 2: I realized that everyone was in on this, not Frank.
Speaker 2: Frank was a great man. I loved Frank. Frank Barcelona
Speaker 2: was a was a one of a kind, really great agent,
Speaker 2: but a great person human being, And he was not
Speaker 2: part of that at all, and he probably knew about
Speaker 2: it and what and you know, he was he was
Speaker 2: very loyal to me and me to him. And but
Speaker 2: so then I sued him and I got a huge
Speaker 2: you know, price Waterhouse did the financial you know thing,
Speaker 2: looking into all and they found so much stuff that
Speaker 2: he'd taken unfortunately advances of mind that he signed over
Speaker 2: to himself and things like that. So to think I've
Speaker 2: asked a couple of different people over the years how
Speaker 2: much they think he took from me. And in nineteen
Speaker 2: seventy dollars it was probably six million, wow.
Speaker 1: Which is like sixty million today.
Speaker 2: Right, So it was totally demoralizing the whole situation, and
Speaker 2: I felt like an idiot for not They know you
Speaker 2: love the music and that's all you're interested in. They
Speaker 2: know it. They know it, so they take advantage those
Speaker 2: that those that are think that way, they take advantage
Speaker 2: of you. And that has happened over and over and
Speaker 2: over again, you know, even up to Mateoff. You know
Speaker 2: who thought about that. You know, he was the chairman
Speaker 2: of the board in the financial board in New York
Speaker 2: and everybody thought he was the Bee's knees. You know,
Speaker 2: no one knew. And then it was the cards failed,
Speaker 2: didn't they So and so many people lost multimillions in
Speaker 2: that situation. But I did too, I guess. But so
Speaker 2: it was basically like starting all over again.
Speaker 1: Okay, So when you were done with the accounting in
Speaker 1: the lawsuit, did you get any cash?
Speaker 2: No? I didn't go ahead with the lawsuit because they
Speaker 2: were going to stop me my lawyer and other lawyers.
Speaker 2: I got a separate lawyer. I got a separate lawyer,
Speaker 2: new company to do all this. I didn't use my
Speaker 2: old lawyer because I didn't trust him at this point
Speaker 2: at all. And when I went into the meeting with
Speaker 2: the guy that was going to come into court with me,
Speaker 2: he said, he's going to say your gay, he's going
Speaker 2: to say you've got this disease. He's gonna They're gonna
Speaker 2: say shit that you wouldn't believe about you. And and
Speaker 2: I thought, I don't think I want to go through
Speaker 2: I've been through so much already. And I said, if
Speaker 2: he had the money and he could pay me, it
Speaker 2: would be one thing. It would be worth not being
Speaker 2: able to work for four years. But he doesn't have it.
Speaker 2: You know, we knew that because the man still worked
Speaker 2: for the mob, because you never leave. So the more
Speaker 2: money I earned, the more money he had to pay them.
Speaker 2: And that's where his money went. I think a lot
Speaker 2: of it, but he was he enjoyed spending it too.
Speaker 2: So my money.
Speaker 1: What about the songs and the royalty interest? Did you
Speaker 1: end up with all that? Because theoretically he owned fifty
Speaker 1: percent of the.
Speaker 2: Songs that in the settlement, we did a settlement he
Speaker 2: gave that all came back to me out of management,
Speaker 2: out of publishing, and I was still with A and M,
Speaker 2: so that was pristine. So I was still there. But
Speaker 2: so many people knew so much more than I did,
Speaker 2: because no one wants to tell the king he's not
Speaker 2: wearing any clothes, you know. And that's happened with friends
Speaker 2: of mine who are big stars that I've worked for
Speaker 2: that say what, will come to me and say why
Speaker 2: didn't you tell me about this guy? I said, no
Speaker 2: one wants to tell the king he's not wearing any clothes.
Speaker 2: That's the same thing, you know, because they shoot the messenger.
Speaker 2: You know. Oh that comfy. That's not true, I said, Well,
Speaker 2: so I kept my mouth shut in those situations. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's yeah, okay.
Speaker 1: So you regained this decades later, very recently relative to
Speaker 1: your life. You sold all these assets, your publishing and
Speaker 1: your royalty stream to BMG. How did you decide to
Speaker 1: do that?
Speaker 2: Well, because the disease played a big part of it.
Speaker 2: That definitely was something I was thinking about and at
Speaker 2: the time that we would suggest suggested that I did it.
Speaker 2: The deals were very good. They're not as good anymore,
Speaker 2: but and I just I just thought that if I
Speaker 2: can get the amount they're talking about, which I'm not
Speaker 2: going to divulge, but if I can get that amount,
Speaker 2: I will be fine for the rest of my life,
Speaker 2: so will my family and anything I do. Knew from
Speaker 2: this point on touring New Record with new Record label, public,
Speaker 2: New Publishing, it's all come that that'll come to me too.
Speaker 2: Not that it will be a lot, I'm sure, but
Speaker 2: but it will be something that I will be assured
Speaker 2: of getting. You know. So it happened, and I got
Speaker 2: what I wanted, and it meant that if I handle
Speaker 2: things correctly with my management financial management team right now,
Speaker 2: who I wish as I said, I wish i'd had
Speaker 2: them in the seventies, I'll be fine. So I'm very
Speaker 2: very lucky.
Speaker 1: What did you do with the money?
Speaker 2: That's kind of personal too.
Speaker 1: No, let me let me be clear, because I don't
Speaker 1: need to know your an x amount of apple, but
Speaker 1: I do know people who've gotten tens of millions of
Speaker 1: dollars who've already blown through seventy five percent of it.
Speaker 1: Musicians are not great with their money. So the first
Speaker 1: question is you got the lump sum after taxes, did
Speaker 1: you treat yourself to any luxuries or desires?
Speaker 2: A couple of really nice vintage guitars. Oh that's about it.
Speaker 2: I haven't gone crazy, And basically I always live as
Speaker 2: if I because I've been up and I've been down,
Speaker 2: I mentally think that I don't have anything.
Speaker 1: Blackwell told me every musician thinks this is going to
Speaker 1: be the last payday.
Speaker 2: No they don't. I don't think so. No, you never
Speaker 2: think it's going to stop when you when you have
Speaker 2: that big success, you never think it's going to stop,
Speaker 2: and it does. It's you can't be the new success
Speaker 2: guy for more than it takes for another generation to
Speaker 2: come along. It's four to six years, you know, unless
Speaker 2: you are the Eagles, the Beatles, the store you know
Speaker 2: that that have managed to keep it going all these years,
Speaker 2: you know, and not had the the peaks and valleys
Speaker 2: I've had.
Speaker 1: So anyway, okay, let's go back to a little cleanup work.
Speaker 1: How did you decide to leave Humble Pie? How did
Speaker 1: you tell all the rest of the band and what
Speaker 1: did they say?
Speaker 2: Well, I can't actually say what they said on the radio,
Speaker 2: I don't think, but well, d Anthony came over to
Speaker 2: London with the mock up of rock in the film
Speaker 2: or cover. So the big sheets, you know, with the
Speaker 2: and the color code and all that, and I'm looking
Speaker 2: at it and it's fantastic cover, you know, love it
Speaker 2: And he said what do you think? I said, I
Speaker 2: love it. I love it. I've got something to tell you, though,
Speaker 2: He said, what I'm leaving? He said, you're not. I said,
Speaker 2: I am. You're crazy. Maybe I am, Maybe I'm not.
Speaker 2: We'll see. So he said, well, you better call him
Speaker 2: up right now and tell him. So I said I will.
Speaker 2: So Jerry and Steve uh at Steve's place as it happens,
Speaker 2: and called up, Hey, guys, how's it going. I've seen
Speaker 2: the cover. It's really good. You'll love it. But unfortunately,
Speaker 2: I have something to tell you, and I've decided to
Speaker 2: leave the band. And there was silence, and then there
Speaker 2: was screaming, and then there was profanity, which I expected.
Speaker 2: Why not. I would have been the same way too
Speaker 2: if it had been reversed and Steve had said he
Speaker 2: was leaving. So anyway, that's how it was. They weren't thrilled, obviously,
Speaker 2: But then when I got my band together, Frampton's Camel
Speaker 2: humble Pie did a tour of England and guess who
Speaker 2: opened for them? Just to show there was no you know,
Speaker 2: and they just was every night they stood on the
Speaker 2: side of the stage going throwing raspberries at me, so
Speaker 2: you know, it was all in jest, but they were hurt.
Speaker 2: I would be too, you know. But I didn't have
Speaker 2: any future whatsoever lined up, nothing, nothing except I was
Speaker 2: doing a lot of sessions and I was earning enough
Speaker 2: money to live without the advance from the next album
Speaker 2: from Humble Bye. So I was doing okay enough to
Speaker 2: get by, but I had no idea how I was
Speaker 2: going to live, you know. And I knew I wanted
Speaker 2: to record. I knew I wanted to form a band,
Speaker 2: but just went to d and said, look, will you
Speaker 2: still look after me? And Frank and I know Jerry
Speaker 2: said he'd stay with me, and so we started again.
Speaker 1: Okay, were you involved at all in finding your replacement?
Speaker 1: And then after rock in the film More Smoking comes out,
Speaker 1: which is a mega success, it's much more blue collar.
Speaker 1: Was any of that material worked up before you left
Speaker 1: the band?
Speaker 2: No? No, I had no hand in recruiting Clem. I
Speaker 2: thought he was a great choice because he's very good,
Speaker 2: but blues player not my style at all. But I
Speaker 2: thought for what they needed he was and still think
Speaker 2: he's a great player, but I guess it wasn't as
Speaker 2: unique sounding. The juxtaposition between me and Steve was more
Speaker 2: diverse than Clem and Steve. But and I think they
Speaker 2: cut most of Smoke in as a three piece and
Speaker 2: then brought in Clem to overdub on it because they
Speaker 2: were still looking for somebody. I could be wrong there,
Speaker 2: but I'm pretty sure. But uh yeah, And I say
Speaker 2: this all the time. Smoking is my favorite Humble Pie
Speaker 2: album and I'm not on it. It's a great, great album.
Speaker 2: And you know, because they always the crowd always shout
Speaker 2: out thirty Days in all and I have to go, Okay,
Speaker 2: let me just clear you in here, I had left
Speaker 2: the band. I would love to do thirty Days in
Speaker 2: a Hole for you, but I can't. So there you go.
Speaker 1: So okay, let's go back to AM and you. You
Speaker 1: have this unbelievable success, possibly the biggest success anyone has
Speaker 1: had in the seventies. Everyone knows you a have to
Speaker 1: make another album when you have that level of success.
Speaker 1: You had your hardcore fans who'd stuck with you the
Speaker 1: four solo albums, but there was a whole new audience
Speaker 1: of younger people you were had a teen idyl aspect,
Speaker 1: whether that was something you desired or not. The album
Speaker 1: that has ultimately comes out from a consumer standpoint, a
Speaker 1: fan standpoint, seems to play more to this younger Evans
Speaker 1: in demo than the traditional hardcore Frampton fan. On the cover,
Speaker 1: you're dressed in an appealing way to an audience that
Speaker 1: is not your traditional audience. What went on there?
Speaker 2: That was the little Lord funk Roy outfit. I call
Speaker 2: that one. Uh Okay. So when d made two phone
Speaker 2: calls to me that were uh one was totally I
Speaker 2: was totally ecstatic about and the second one scared the
Speaker 2: shit out of me. And that was the day it
Speaker 2: went to number one. The album was the first one,
Speaker 2: and then it seemed like the next day, but I'm
Speaker 2: sure it was a couple of months later. He called
Speaker 2: me again and said, you've just broken Carol King's Tapestry
Speaker 2: sales record. You're now the biggest record ever selling record
Speaker 2: in America and Canada. And the pit of my stomach
Speaker 2: just fell out. I didn't want to know that. I
Speaker 2: didn't want to be the biggest. I would have preferred
Speaker 2: it was at number two. I'd have preferred that it
Speaker 2: didn't sell as much as Tapestry because now the spotlight
Speaker 2: is on me. Like myself, I'm putting the spotlight on me.
Speaker 2: It's now made it so much more difficult to come
Speaker 2: up with another album. I did not want to. I
Speaker 2: wanted to. They say, you're as good as your last album. Well,
Speaker 2: until we released the next record, I'm as good as
Speaker 2: ram Who Comes Alive. So but well, everyone was saying, well,
Speaker 2: you don't want to leave it too long because you'll
Speaker 2: just get too scared and it'll And I said, well,
Speaker 2: I don't really have what I would call great songs.
Speaker 2: The material isn't up to pa. You know, I'm kind
Speaker 2: of writing it in the studio. It's I'm drinking, it's drugs,
Speaker 2: it's all this, all these distractions, and it was demoralizing.
Speaker 2: And I remember going into uh D's office with the
Speaker 2: two boxes A and the B side. I threw him
Speaker 2: at him. I said, they are I said, I don't
Speaker 2: want this out, but I know you guys are going
Speaker 2: to put it out. And then I should have been
Speaker 2: in jeans and a T shirt on the cover with
Speaker 2: a leather jacket or something, you know, but I was
Speaker 2: still in the lord front lay outfit with this with
Speaker 2: the satin pants, the white nurse's shoes and some god
Speaker 2: awful woman's top. You know, it's but they looked fine
Speaker 2: the year before, but now, you know, sex pistols are happening.
Speaker 2: Things have changed drastically overnight, you know. And and I'm
Speaker 2: behind the times already, you know, and out of sink.
Speaker 2: And that's that's what happened, basically, And I was just
Speaker 2: very disappointed that I couldn't have the time to spend
Speaker 2: another couple of years writing. You know, the Eagles don't
Speaker 2: dash into the studio every five minutes. They've had a
Speaker 2: handful of studio records as opposed to what you think
Speaker 2: they've had, but they don't go near the studio until
Speaker 2: they've got you know, ten number one hits because the
Speaker 2: reason is they can't stand each other, so they better
Speaker 2: have some good music to go in there. So I
Speaker 2: don't know if they love each other now, I don't know,
Speaker 2: but the documentary shot looked like they weren't thrilled with
Speaker 2: each other sometimes so but so I went against my
Speaker 2: gut and that was the beginning of the me learning
Speaker 2: to say no.
Speaker 1: Okay. The album comes out sells immediately I'm in You
Speaker 1: is the success, the single and the whole enterprise. Crash
Speaker 1: is very shortly thereafter. M. What was it like for you?
Speaker 2: Oh it's horrible. I mean, I've got to be honest,
Speaker 2: you know. It's not as if I didn't know that
Speaker 2: was going to happen because I didn't like what I
Speaker 2: just put out, you know. And then the next the
Speaker 2: next album, we go out on tour. All of a sudden,
Speaker 2: I realize, uh, oh, we can't have the private plane anymore.
Speaker 2: Why is that? Well, because you're not selling as many tickets.
Speaker 2: And so now I've gone from arena's busting over sold
Speaker 2: to not filling arenas you know. And it was horrible, feeling,
Speaker 2: totally demoralizing, and so we're back on the bus again,
Speaker 2: you know, and that's oh gosh, And it was I
Speaker 2: think I was self medicating at that point to the
Speaker 2: to to to the point where it was not good.
Speaker 2: And and really the next thing, I did one more
Speaker 2: album where I should be for an M and uh,
Speaker 2: then breaking all the rules with David Koshimo that that
Speaker 2: that was a rock album, that was a good album,
Speaker 2: should have been the one off, the should have been
Speaker 2: the one instead of I'm in You, and then and
Speaker 2: then I did one more album, The Art of Control.
Speaker 2: I had no control, and and and A and M
Speaker 2: dropped me. You know, I'm sure Jerry Mortis must did
Speaker 2: it with moist eyes, but he had to let me go.
Speaker 2: You know, it was it was so obvious, you know. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: you know, A and M took up profit sharing after
Speaker 2: comes Alive and there's a building next to the Handsome
Speaker 2: Lock that's called the Frampton Building, which was Almo Irving
Speaker 2: Publishing building. And you know, so I've gone from a
Speaker 2: giant picture of me, you know, and then it all
Speaker 2: kind of faded into nothing. You know.
Speaker 1: Although on that album before the Kirshion Bomb album, you
Speaker 1: the opening track I Can't Stand It No More? That
Speaker 1: was classic for Hampton.
Speaker 2: Oh well, thank you, Yeah, I like that one.
Speaker 1: Tell me about Sergeant Pepper. Why well, the question becomes
Speaker 1: a why did you do it? B there's the beat
Speaker 1: is whether it was I'm in you or Sergeant Pepper
Speaker 1: put your career in the dumper?
Speaker 2: Both. I think they It was a tag team. I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna say too much about the movie except for
Speaker 2: the fact that I was told by Robert Stigwood that
Speaker 2: Paul McCartney was going to be the the savior of
Speaker 2: the hot Land and instead of.
Speaker 1: Billy Billy Shears, No, Billy Preston.
Speaker 2: Yes, Billy who I love dearly, and so I I
Speaker 2: when Stickwood said, as Paul is going to be in
Speaker 2: the movie, I said really, and I said, well, if
Speaker 2: a Beatle's going to be in the movie, he's sanctioned it,
Speaker 2: then it can't be bad. Well, I get to I
Speaker 2: fly out to Los Angeles, I go to the first
Speaker 2: meeting out there no Paul McCartney. So I was lied
Speaker 2: to and I did it because I'm how old am I?
Speaker 1: Then?
Speaker 2: I'm twenty seven now twenty six? When I got asked, probably,
Speaker 2: do you want to stir in a movie? I've got
Speaker 2: you this amount of money and it's about the Beatles,
Speaker 2: And I said, oh, it's about the Beatles really, And
Speaker 2: that was the only thing that worried me until Stickwood
Speaker 2: said Paul McCartney's going to be in it. So and
Speaker 2: then I realized from the first day of shooting, oh
Speaker 2: this was a disaster. You know. I didn't walk because
Speaker 2: I would have been sued to high hell, I guess,
Speaker 2: you know. But we all hated being in that movie.
Speaker 2: I mean the Beg's and I.
Speaker 1: Okay, Stickwood, for all his success, was somewhat of a mystery.
Speaker 1: What was your take on Stickwood?
Speaker 2: I didn't really I didn't really know him that well
Speaker 2: or no. I know that he was the manager and
Speaker 2: record label of Oh, record label for Cream, he was
Speaker 2: record label for the Beg's, he did Saturday Night Fever.
Speaker 2: I mean, he'd had a lot of successes, you know,
Speaker 2: so and Greece, you know, which hadn't which was being
Speaker 2: edited while we were doing Uh, Sergeant Pepper, I believe.
Speaker 3: And.
Speaker 2: So I just thought, well, he has to know what
Speaker 2: he's doing, you know, and everyone thought we couldn't fail
Speaker 2: and it would have been good. The only thing I'll
Speaker 2: say about it is there was no script and rest
Speaker 2: in peace. George Martin should not have been the guy
Speaker 2: to do the music because he imagine doing that with
Speaker 2: Jeff Emeric the Beatles, but you don't have the Beatles
Speaker 2: and you're trying to I would imagine they were not
Speaker 2: enjoying it. I never asked George that, but you know,
Speaker 2: nowadays Giles would have done it right. But anyway, Yes,
Speaker 2: another mistake of Frampton mistake there.
Speaker 1: Okay, you grew up in Bromley, David Bowie was on
Speaker 1: the scene. Was he that charismatic? Growing up? Did you
Speaker 1: feel this guy was going to be a star? I
Speaker 1: mean he was just another kid in the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Well, I didn't meet him until I went My father
Speaker 2: was the head of the art department in a technical
Speaker 2: high school, meaning it's not so much on academics, it's
Speaker 2: more on art. Would work design all sorts of stuff,
Speaker 2: you know. And my father took me to the school
Speaker 2: on a weekend before I went there. I went there
Speaker 2: about a year and a half later than this what happened.
Speaker 2: So we went on a weekend and they were having
Speaker 2: a garden fate, which like a fair fete, and it's
Speaker 2: raising money for the school, you know, and pencils and whatever.
Speaker 2: And and so myself, uh, my father, my mother and
Speaker 2: my brother we walk in to the grounds and there's
Speaker 2: a band playing on the steps of the entrance to
Speaker 2: the school. And of course I'm going, who the hell
Speaker 2: is that? That sounds really good? And and I knew
Speaker 2: it was the Conrads because I'd heard of them. They
Speaker 2: were a big local band. And I said, Dad, who's
Speaker 2: the guy on the end playing the sacks? He said, oh,
Speaker 2: that's Jones, very creative, and and so I just you
Speaker 2: looked at the band, but you couldn't help but you're
Speaker 2: he had the charisma right there, right from the off,
Speaker 2: you know. And so yeah, year and a half later,
Speaker 2: I go to the school. I'm in the first first year,
Speaker 2: and lunchtime I make a bee line for Dave. So
Speaker 2: I go and Dave's sitting next to George Underwood, who
Speaker 2: does is also in my father's class. And for three
Speaker 2: years they were both in the art class. And George
Speaker 2: did the Ziggy start Us cover and he's a fine
Speaker 2: fine artist. Now have some of his work, and he
Speaker 2: did He's done a lot and for David over the years.
Speaker 2: And they were they were Frick and Frank till till
Speaker 2: we David left us, you know. So while I was there,
Speaker 2: it was kind of like the there was three of us,
Speaker 2: you know, and I would I don't know whether they
Speaker 2: liked me bugging them, but I was. I was there
Speaker 2: art teachers son, so they had to be good to me.
Speaker 2: But anyway, my dad would say, uh, hey you guys.
Speaker 2: Why didn't he wouldn't have said hey you guys, He said, Pedra,
Speaker 2: I know you're all very musical, he said, but I
Speaker 2: think will be a good idea for lunchtimes. Wouldn't you
Speaker 2: want to get your guitars out and play? And we've
Speaker 2: got those beautiful steps on the the hot the stairway
Speaker 2: on the on the art block has got a lovely
Speaker 2: echo there. Wouldn't you like to sit there? So I said, yeah,
Speaker 2: He said, so, tell David to bring his guitar or
Speaker 2: George to bring his guitar. So all brought our guitars.
Speaker 2: He stored them in his office and then at lunchtime
Speaker 2: he left the door open for us. So we went
Speaker 2: in there, got our guitars, sat on the steps of
Speaker 2: this beautiful stone stairs stairway and sang Buddy, Holly, numbers
Speaker 2: and everly brother, what you name it? All American, of course,
Speaker 2: And they taught me stuff and taught me Buddy Holly,
Speaker 2: George loved may I baby no.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe baby whatever.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah whatever it is maybe baby yes, maybe baby yeah.
Speaker 2: And so anyway, that was it. So we became, you know,
Speaker 2: really close friends, and until we lost David. You know,
Speaker 2: I've been the three of us have been friends.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're a little younger than the first generation the Beatles,
Speaker 1: The Mercy bands. They were all born in the early forties.
Speaker 1: You're born almost ten years later. In addition, the scene
Speaker 1: is different in the UK. In America we have you know,
Speaker 1: Rocket Ada, Rock around the Clock, Elvis, then we had
Speaker 1: you know, Little Richard, then we have the teen Idols,
Speaker 1: then we have the Beach Boys. In the Four Seasons
Speaker 1: and sixty four the Beatles hit, whereas they talk about
Speaker 1: different acts in the UK Rory Storm, Cliff Richard, Beatles
Speaker 1: break in sixty two. What was it like in the
Speaker 1: music scene and were the Beatles this phenomenal force like
Speaker 1: they were in the US.
Speaker 2: Yes, they were. It didn't happen with the first single,
Speaker 2: which was Love Me Do here in America. In England,
Speaker 2: UK single first one Love Me Do, and the album
Speaker 2: was Please Please Me. But that didn't come out until
Speaker 2: In those days you had like bands would put a
Speaker 2: single out, if it was a hit, you'd put another
Speaker 2: single out, and if it was a hit, you'd put
Speaker 2: another record out and you'd be asked to do an album.
Speaker 2: None of those singles would be on the album. It
Speaker 2: was a completely separate entity, you know. So that's why
Speaker 2: I Love Me Do is not on Please Please Me.
Speaker 2: So the English I over here.
Speaker 1: No, yeah, yeah, yeah, but you're right. The English ones
Speaker 1: have become the standards at this point anyway.
Speaker 2: Right, right, So my band the True Beats, and yes
Speaker 2: I did think of the name, Sorry about that. I
Speaker 2: was twelve or twelve or thirteen, and the rest of
Speaker 2: them were all sixteen seventeen something like that. And so
Speaker 2: we were just doing every instrumental record you can think of,
Speaker 2: all the Shadows, all the Ventures, Nero and the Gladiators,
Speaker 2: all these names. We've probably never heard of, all these
Speaker 2: instrumental bands, but the Shadows and the Ventures were the
Speaker 2: two primo, and of course for me, as great as
Speaker 2: the Adventures are, I have to say I picked the
Speaker 2: Shadows because they're homegrown, and so we went from that,
Speaker 2: and then the Beatles came out. I remember of seeing
Speaker 2: them do Love Me Do on I forget what which
Speaker 2: which TV show it was, but in England, and I
Speaker 2: was mesmerized. It was such a different sound and the
Speaker 2: harmonica and obviously they've written it themselves and this was
Speaker 2: not the normal up until this point, you know. And
Speaker 2: then Please Please Me came out and went through the roof.
Speaker 2: So I don't know if that was still sixty two
Speaker 2: or whether it was sixty three, it was probably still
Speaker 2: sixty two. Please Please Me came out, and then it
Speaker 2: was an album. Then it was there, there's your album,
Speaker 2: Please Please Me album. And because they'd do like three
Speaker 2: or four singles a year, maybe more, you know, and
Speaker 2: they'd all be one, two, four and seven, you know
Speaker 2: in the British charts, we go, oh my god, I've
Speaker 2: never seen anything like well. I had seen Cliff at
Speaker 2: number one, Shadows at number two, Cliff at number three,
Speaker 2: Shadows at number four, had seen that, but this was
Speaker 2: going even further. This was like, oh my god, everything
Speaker 2: they do, so the true Beats had to start singing.
Speaker 2: So we did badly and so that was it. And
Speaker 2: then I didn't realize that when they went to America,
Speaker 2: the first single that came out was I Want to
Speaker 2: Hold Your Hand, because that when that came out in England,
Speaker 2: now we're we're above number one, we're like plus twenty
Speaker 2: the Beatles are, you know, in everybody's mind. It was
Speaker 2: phenomenon exactly like it it was here, you know. I mean,
Speaker 2: we loved them. They were ours and we loved them
Speaker 2: and we couldn't get enough of them.
Speaker 1: Okay, you've been living in the US for a long time.
Speaker 1: What's the difference between the UK and the US.
Speaker 2: Well, as you say I haven't lived in the UK
Speaker 2: for many years, I can't really answer that question. I
Speaker 2: don't know anymore because I haven't lived there.
Speaker 1: Well, let's change it. Did you move to the US
Speaker 1: for romance or did you want to live in the
Speaker 1: US both.
Speaker 2: I think I had my share of enjoyment touring with
Speaker 2: Humble Pie. It seemed like every time I went to America,
Speaker 2: I woke up, and every time I went back to
Speaker 2: England I went to sleep. It was like I was
Speaker 2: just waiting for the next tour or the next album
Speaker 2: or whatever. And there was something very exciting for us
Speaker 2: young English musicians. Look, we're coming to the country where
Speaker 2: you invented jazz, blues, gospel goes on, it goes on
Speaker 2: R and B. I mean it just, oh my god,
Speaker 2: you know, And we couldn't believe the radio stations. There's
Speaker 2: just just jazz on this one, and there's look, there's
Speaker 2: R and B just on this one, and there's you know,
Speaker 2: it was we couldn't believe it. So it was for
Speaker 2: a musician, I felt that they were much more involved.
Speaker 2: Music was much more important in America than it was
Speaker 2: in England, which is not true, but we just didn't
Speaker 2: have the outlets we had. We were used to the
Speaker 2: BBC having a playlist of five records a week, new record,
Speaker 2: five new records a week, and then luckily we had
Speaker 2: the pirate radio stations Caroline, London and all these guys
Speaker 2: throwing up on boats outside the three mile limit playing
Speaker 2: music until the GPO finally shut them down with the technicality.
Speaker 2: But that was like American radio absolutely and that we
Speaker 2: wouldn't have had the who I don't think the Stones
Speaker 2: would have been as big a small Faces Swinging Blue.
Speaker 2: So many bands that were part of the British Wave,
Speaker 2: the late latter British Wave wouldn't have made it had
Speaker 2: it not been for Radio Carolina, Radio London and all
Speaker 2: the others, because now you're in rotation, you know, and
Speaker 2: there's no BBC orchestra music, you know. So very that
Speaker 2: was a very, very important and it's this this year
Speaker 2: is the fiftieth year of Radio Caroline. Wow, it's yeah.
Speaker 2: So I just did an interview about with them about
Speaker 2: that because that changed everything.
Speaker 1: To what degree are you a gear head? You finally
Speaker 1: got your black less Paul back in your possession after decades.
Speaker 1: But are you the type of person who homes one
Speaker 1: hundred guitars has to have the leadest pedal? What kind
Speaker 1: of person are you?
Speaker 2: I don't have as many guitars as a lot of
Speaker 2: players have because you can only play one at a time. Well,
Speaker 2: actually you can actually put two on them play too. No,
Speaker 2: but I lost in the Nashville flood forty four guitars,
Speaker 2: and a lot of them were backups for backups, for backups,
Speaker 2: guitars given to me by companies that I had used
Speaker 2: at one point. So it wasn't all great my most
Speaker 2: favorite guitars, but it kind of cleared me out, cleaned
Speaker 2: me out and of instruments. So I was very lucky
Speaker 2: that my team that I have now. I was one
Speaker 2: of the very few people that stored their equipment at
Speaker 2: Soundcheck in Nashville who was insured for flood. The building
Speaker 2: wasn't insured. Sound Check was not insured for flood, and
Speaker 2: they're on the river, so I got I mean, I
Speaker 2: had to replace the entire back line, drums, keyboards, everything
Speaker 2: for the band. They'd lost everything right that I did first.
Speaker 2: So when we got enough equipment back replaced, then we
Speaker 2: were good to play. But then what I did was,
Speaker 2: instead of going out and replacing every guitar, I just said, well,
Speaker 2: I've always wanted one of these. So I went and
Speaker 2: got a Burst, a nineteen sixty Gibson to pick up
Speaker 2: Burst and which is a collector's item. It's very expensive,
Speaker 2: but I bought it a few years and ago, and
Speaker 2: I just got one of everything that I really like.
Speaker 2: One decent telecaster, one baritone guitar, a bunch of acoustics
Speaker 2: because they all sound different, but you know, one fifty nine,
Speaker 2: three thirty five, you know, beautiful. So I was able
Speaker 2: to give my replace the band's equipment. Plus I was
Speaker 2: able to go out and get a nice one of
Speaker 2: each that I desired to have. I didn't go get
Speaker 2: a million guitar. No, and I don't do that now.
Speaker 2: You know, every now and again, something or just I'll
Speaker 2: get a bug And as they say, you don't need
Speaker 2: another guitar, do you oars room for one more? So?
Speaker 2: You know, but no, I'm not a Joe Bonamasa or
Speaker 2: cheap Trick.
Speaker 1: Rick Nielsen.
Speaker 2: I'm not a Rick Nielsen. I love Rick Nielsen and Joe,
Speaker 2: but Rick Rick is more of a businessman. When he
Speaker 2: comes to that because he's been doing it a long
Speaker 2: time and he's he's had some amazing guitars. I'm not
Speaker 2: as into the instrument for what it represents, its value
Speaker 2: or anything. I'm into an instrument because it's comfortable and
Speaker 2: it sounds good and it makes me play good. You know.
Speaker 2: There are guitars that are worth a lot of money
Speaker 2: that I can't really get my hand around the neck
Speaker 2: it's so big, you know. So yeah, it's moderation. I'm
Speaker 2: a I'm a collector with moderate collector.
Speaker 1: Okay. The question, obviously is where's all the equipment stored down?
Speaker 2: Not this? No, No, we have our own we have
Speaker 2: our own locker within a whole consortium that is owned
Speaker 2: by Dolly Parton.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: And we've rehearsed at her nose it's called and we
Speaker 2: rehearse at her rehearsal Hall too.
Speaker 1: Well, you ended up playing on two songs on a record.
Speaker 1: How did that come together?
Speaker 2: I was with a friend having lunch and he said, oh,
Speaker 2: I just he's a great singer and guitar player, but
Speaker 2: he gets a lot of session singing jobs. And he said, well,
Speaker 2: I said what you been doing? I said, well, I
Speaker 2: just got I just got out of a session sang
Speaker 2: background on this song first Steven Tyler and Dolly Parton.
Speaker 2: I said, that's right, she's doing the album right now,
Speaker 2: the rock and roll album. I said, okay, wow. So anyway,
Speaker 2: I called my manager. I said, Ken, do you have
Speaker 2: any connection over there. I'm sure they've got all the
Speaker 2: duets done by now, but I'd love to offer a
Speaker 2: guitar solo. It would be such a thrill to be
Speaker 2: on that record. And so he gets me Kent Wells,
Speaker 2: who is a lovely man, her guitar player and also
Speaker 2: her producer, and he's producing these thirty tracks. So anyway,
Speaker 2: he calls me up. He said, oh, hi, man, you
Speaker 2: just want to do a guitar solo. I said, well,
Speaker 2: I'm lowballing with a guitar solo, but I figured you'd
Speaker 2: done all the duets. And he said, hold on a minute,
Speaker 2: would you ever do one of your songs? I said,
Speaker 2: let me think about that. Yes, and so he said,
Speaker 2: hold on a second, I'll call you right back. Five
Speaker 2: minutes go by. If that he calls me back, Dolly's
Speaker 2: screaming she wants to do baby, I love your way
Speaker 2: with you? Will you do it? I said, let me
Speaker 2: think about that. Yes, So that's how it came about,
Speaker 2: and my band cut the track. I sang it all
Speaker 2: the way through, gave it to Kent and said, dip
Speaker 2: me wherever you want me and have us sing whatever
Speaker 2: she wants to sing on it. And then I got
Speaker 2: it back. I got her vocal back, and I got
Speaker 2: chilled because she'd taken it to another level. You know,
Speaker 2: this is Dolly's version, you know, even though it's my song,
Speaker 2: and that's right. So she starts ad libbing with me
Speaker 2: and singing three part harmony with me, blew me away.
Speaker 2: So I had to redo some of my ad libs
Speaker 2: because I was definitely lackluster competitor, you know. So I
Speaker 2: so enjoyed doing that, and she's like, she called me up.
Speaker 2: We never met throughout the I've met her once, but
Speaker 2: we never met throughout the whole process. But she called
Speaker 2: me up after she'd finished the vocal and she was
Speaker 2: just like guff thoring how much she enjoyed it and
Speaker 2: all that. She's a lovely lady. We all know that,
Speaker 2: and she does so much great stuff for so many people.
Speaker 2: I applaud her.
Speaker 1: Just to finish the equipment where you at on amps,
Speaker 1: and generally speaking, where are you at on effects? Are
Speaker 1: you into effect or you like to be cleaner and
Speaker 1: just have the guitar.
Speaker 2: In the studio. I tend to play. I tend to
Speaker 2: play through an amp, straight into an amp. Might have
Speaker 2: one fuzzy effect or something, but use the studio effects.
Speaker 2: I find that that's cleaner. But then when you when
Speaker 2: you mix the album, you got all these different sounds
Speaker 2: on these different tracks. So I have a guitar rig
Speaker 2: that can handle all the effects I do use. So, yes,
Speaker 2: I do use effects, and I've got a huge rig.
Speaker 2: And she said, but anyway, I can't go anyway. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's bigger than I'm trying to scale it down. But
Speaker 2: it sounds so good that I'm not downscaling for scaling
Speaker 2: it down for this tour. So but when we finish
Speaker 2: this one, I'm gonna build another rig just because I can,
Speaker 2: just in case.
Speaker 1: And are do you have a specific ant brand or
Speaker 1: you have one of different ones, just like you have
Speaker 1: guitars different ones.
Speaker 2: It's been Marshall for Marshall Fender. You know, John Suh
Speaker 2: makes a phenomenal amplifier and we've just we've just tuned
Speaker 2: one to me, So that'll be part of the rig.
Speaker 2: I'm hoping at some point soon. So yes, it's nice
Speaker 2: having It's like going having an amp tuned. It's like
Speaker 2: going for an eye test. It's like you're sitting there
Speaker 2: looking through the thing, or you're listening this right, and
Speaker 2: he's got the bottom off and he's got all these
Speaker 2: capacitors and he's going this one, uh yeah, or this one,
Speaker 2: go back, give me the other one. And then he
Speaker 2: unsolded that one and sold of this one. That one okay,
Speaker 2: number one or number two, number one, just like an
Speaker 2: eye exam. And he tuned this amp for this was
Speaker 2: only a month and a half ago, you know. And
Speaker 2: so yeah, I love all that. I'm so into sound.
Speaker 2: It's so important to me.
Speaker 1: And then you mentioned Dolly Parton. Tell me to pinch yourself.
Speaker 1: Moments where you've met people who were famous.
Speaker 3: Uh well, gosh, so many. But I mean, well, you
Speaker 3: can have more than two. I don't want to limit you.
Speaker 2: Well, but I have to. George Harrison has to be
Speaker 2: at the top of the list, you know, George and
Speaker 2: Ringo and Paul. But I never met John. But yeah,
Speaker 2: walking into a control room with my friend who worked
Speaker 2: for George, Terry, Dorian and rest in peace. And he said,
Speaker 2: you want to come and meet George. I said, George
Speaker 2: who he said, And they've all got they all had
Speaker 2: code names he would call him. I forget what he
Speaker 2: called him now, So anyway, I said, yeah, of course.
Speaker 2: So he said, well, they're recording it Trientent. So we
Speaker 2: walked down ward Oh Street. There's the little alleyway and
Speaker 2: Tried Studios is right there, and so we walk in
Speaker 2: and there's a little tiny office here. Then you walk
Speaker 2: straight ahead and the control room is door you open up.
Speaker 2: The control room is upstairs, and the studio is in
Speaker 2: the basement, so you look down into the studio. So
Speaker 2: as I walk in, I looked to my left and
Speaker 2: there's George Harrison Ade my first Beetle meeting. And he
Speaker 2: looks up and goes, hello, Pete. And I just couldn't
Speaker 2: Did he just say hello to me? How does he
Speaker 2: know why? Oh, I'm in a band, don't I? Yeah,
Speaker 2: he probably knows why. And all this is going through
Speaker 2: my head and I'm sweating profusely and shaking and wishing
Speaker 2: the floor would just open up. And I mean I
Speaker 2: didn't wipe my hand before I shook his hand and
Speaker 2: I'm sure.
Speaker 1: It was wet.
Speaker 2: With sweat, you know. And he just is so nice
Speaker 2: talks to me, and he said so nice for you
Speaker 2: to come on, and do you think you want to play?
Speaker 2: I said, what when on a session? Sometimes? He said no. Now,
Speaker 2: I said, but you're in the middle of a session.
Speaker 2: He said, well, we just I'm doing this album for
Speaker 2: Doris Troy and uh and we're we're Steve Stills and
Speaker 2: I have just and Doris have just finished this writing
Speaker 2: this song. I said, who, Steve Stills is down there?
Speaker 2: He said, yeah, Steven Steeles is down there. Doris and
Speaker 2: Doris had sang on shine On on the original version
Speaker 2: and as a background singer, and so I knew Doris.
Speaker 2: I'd met Steve once before, I think. And so he
Speaker 2: takes me down into the studio. I say hello to
Speaker 2: Stephen Stills, who's sitting there playing his gradge as I
Speaker 2: imagine he should. And there's a Princeton amp over here,
Speaker 2: and George hands me this sort of red looking les Paul,
Speaker 2: which is now we know is called Lucy, and it's
Speaker 2: the guitar that Eric gave to George but also played
Speaker 2: the solo for while my guitar gently weeps on this guitar.
Speaker 2: Thank god, I didn't know any of this at the time.
Speaker 2: So he gives me the guitar, plugs me in, and
Speaker 2: he starts. He's got a guitar and he's showing me
Speaker 2: the chords, and I'm a quick learner, so I picked
Speaker 2: it up really quick. So anyway, George goes over and
Speaker 2: we start we rehearse it, and and so I start
Speaker 2: playing very quiet rhythm. This is the Stephen Stills is
Speaker 2: right there like I could kick him if I moved
Speaker 2: my foot, and George, the Beatles lead guitarist, is over here,
Speaker 2: and I thought, play quiet rhythm, so I did so,
Speaker 2: and then halfway through George goes no, no, no, Pete,
Speaker 2: no no, I'm going to play rhythm. I want you
Speaker 2: to play lead. Another gut wrenching feeling. Oh my god.
Speaker 2: You know this is too much, too good to be true,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 2: The track is called Ain't That Cute? And it was
Speaker 2: the first single, and the first guitar you hear on
Speaker 2: it is me and George did a little slide solo
Speaker 2: in the middle afterwards, but all the lead licks in
Speaker 2: the whole song is me and I couldn't. I couldn't
Speaker 2: believe my luck, you know, what was going on. And
Speaker 2: then obviously I did pretty well for the audition and
Speaker 2: George comes over to me and says, at the end
Speaker 2: of the session, so we've got you know, we've got
Speaker 2: a few tracks to do left. Will you join us
Speaker 2: on the rest of the album? And I said, let
Speaker 2: me think about that, yes, you know, and ended up
Speaker 2: there's Ringos playing drums, Klaus Woman's on bass, Billy Presty,
Speaker 2: you know, Gary, right, but they're all They're all there.
Speaker 2: All the precursor to All Things Must Pass is right there,
Speaker 2: you know. And I don't think I slept that night.
Speaker 2: I was on such a high from not only meeting
Speaker 2: of Ethel and let's face it, you know, I was
Speaker 2: twelve when they came out, you know, and now I'm
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one maybe, and I'm still a huge Beatle
Speaker 2: obviously for the rest of my life, a huge Beatle fan.
Speaker 2: It shaped my music and everybody's music, you know, but
Speaker 2: in the form my formative years of playing music. So
Speaker 2: just and then I came back for all these other sessions,
Speaker 2: and then from that that's when that's when I get
Speaker 2: a call George has obviously given Harry Nielsen my phone number.
Speaker 2: I get a call from Harry Nielsen, you know, who's
Speaker 2: just had the huge, huge, huge hit and he's doing
Speaker 2: his next album, Son of Schmielsen, and I get to
Speaker 2: play on that whole album too, And meeting Harry was unbelievable.
Speaker 2: I just, you know, it's a it's hard to explain
Speaker 2: because I'm such a huge fan. I think that's why
Speaker 2: I'm part of my makeup that I don't think of
Speaker 2: myself as as being what these other people are. I
Speaker 2: think they're much better. They've got to be better than me.
Speaker 2: You know. It's like someone to look up to because
Speaker 2: they've done so much. And then I realize, gosh, actually
Speaker 2: people are looking up to me now for what I
Speaker 2: you know, and I realize now, and then I'll get
Speaker 2: young guitarists will come backstage, and I'll spend time with
Speaker 2: them because I know what it means. They say stuff
Speaker 2: like or the father or bring the young kid back. Literally,
Speaker 2: you know, this big he's he knows every solo you've
Speaker 2: ever played. I said, you're kidding me, and he will
Speaker 2: show me and he'll play one of myself, and it's like,
Speaker 2: oh my goodness, and the kids like shaking, sweating and
Speaker 2: wishing the floor would open up, just like me meeting
Speaker 2: George Harrison. So you pay it forwards, you know. And
Speaker 2: I've got so many I've had so many young players
Speaker 2: come up to me and the same way, and I've
Speaker 2: been through the same thing, and a lot of them
Speaker 2: I keep in touch with.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Now is it true that you wrote the
Speaker 1: legendary songs for the fourth album over a very short
Speaker 1: period of time in the Bahamas or the Caribbean whatever.
Speaker 2: Yes, I was there for three weeks to write. I
Speaker 2: had an acoustic and an electric. Steve's cottage was where
Speaker 2: I stayed, Steve Merrick's cottage, and he had an amplifier
Speaker 2: and upright piano, so I had everything I needed to write.
Speaker 2: And a boom box Sony five point fifty A, the
Speaker 2: one with those great mics and the limitter in it
Speaker 2: and everything you put down on acoustics sounded fantastic. So
Speaker 2: and I still have one. So yeah. So at the
Speaker 2: airport when I when I came in, I realized that
Speaker 2: Alvin Lee from ten years after was on the other
Speaker 2: side of baggage claim. So hey, you know, I vote
Speaker 2: with them many times and and with Humble Pie and
Speaker 2: with me, and so I said, uh, hey, Alvin, it's me,
Speaker 2: you know. So my three weeks ended up being the
Speaker 2: last eight days when they left town. We were we
Speaker 2: were partying and and I was procrastinating. So I had
Speaker 2: eight days before I had to go back, and I
Speaker 2: hadn't written anything, not that well, not what I would
Speaker 2: call up to standard. So I got up that first
Speaker 2: day of the last eight and picked up my acoustic
Speaker 2: and I thought, well, let's tune it to openg, just
Speaker 2: for something different, inspiring. And then I played played a chord,
Speaker 2: and I played another chord, and then I played another chord,
Speaker 2: and I went back to the first chord, dang ding
Speaker 2: getting ding ding, getting ding ding ding d ding. It's
Speaker 2: the beginning. It's the intro to show me the way.
Speaker 2: And so I thought, oh, this is good. This is
Speaker 2: better than anything I've written so far, and so got
Speaker 2: out the pad. Uh, first of all, put it down
Speaker 2: on the on the boombox so I didn't forget it.
Speaker 2: And then I got out my notepad and started writing
Speaker 2: the first verse and and the first chorus, and then
Speaker 2: I said, well, I'm into something here. Let me move on.
Speaker 2: So I had lunch. I was right on the beach.
Speaker 2: It's just me, nobody else on this wonderful beach, and
Speaker 2: I had a little table outside umbrella and I took
Speaker 2: my boombox about four o'clock after lunch in a swim,
Speaker 2: really hard writing session, and I brought the I brought
Speaker 2: the guitar out, sat down, I put it back to
Speaker 2: normal tuning. I thought, well, I don't want to write
Speaker 2: the same thing again, okay, So within another twenty minutes,
Speaker 2: I'd written the beginning of the intro to Baby, I
Speaker 2: Love Your Way, and I said, well that it's a
Speaker 2: bit like kind of the Blackbird chords there, Paul's Blackbird Chords,
Speaker 2: and they are a different order, and so I knew
Speaker 2: that I felt this is this is good. So ran
Speaker 2: back in, got the pad, pencil, and it's the sun
Speaker 2: is just about to set. And that's when I looked
Speaker 2: around and I went, shadows gross along before my eyes
Speaker 2: and they're moving across the page and go. So I
Speaker 2: knew I had another one. And then I went back
Speaker 2: in that night, same night, same same day, within a
Speaker 2: twenty four hour period, I went back and I picked
Speaker 2: up the electric and I said, well, let's try this.
Speaker 2: I plugged into Steve's am boombox again started jamming, and
Speaker 2: I came up with the chords for No Where's Too
Speaker 2: Far from My Baby, which is on Frampton too. And
Speaker 2: I didn't have a melody or anything, but I loved
Speaker 2: I had the I had the whole song in chords,
Speaker 2: no melody yet. And there's another person I met that
Speaker 2: I got chills. Eddie van Halen. You know, another guy
Speaker 2: who reinvented guitar, the nicest guy in the world. He
Speaker 2: was so sweet. And I got invited by the engineer
Speaker 2: to go to one of their sessions, and so I
Speaker 2: went in there and they're all over me. How did
Speaker 2: you do? What did you do? Want?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 2: I thought? So? Uh, Eddie goes, come out, come out
Speaker 2: in the steert ive. Got to show you something, You've
Speaker 2: got to show you something. And so he picks up
Speaker 2: the guitar of his and he said this is Nowhere's
Speaker 2: too far right, And then he played me a Van
Speaker 2: Halen number that they were just recording. That's that backwards.
Speaker 2: I got it. So I was so inspired by the
Speaker 2: Frampton album. He said, I love what you play on that.
Speaker 2: He said, this is so cool man, And I forget
Speaker 2: which number it is, but I was just blown away
Speaker 2: that And then he's he's playing his guitar, you know,
Speaker 2: he's got the big rig in the studio, you know,
Speaker 2: and he goes, hey, try this. I go, okay, not
Speaker 2: wanting to play it all, and nothing comes out. You know,
Speaker 2: It's like, I am totally this isn't this isn't happening
Speaker 2: right now, is it? He's asking me to play his guitar.
Speaker 2: I can't do it. So I just played a couple
Speaker 2: of chords and gave it back to him straight away.
Speaker 2: It was very intimidating, but rightly so, because he was
Speaker 2: so good.
Speaker 1: Okay, you write these legendary songs in a brief period
Speaker 1: of time, and you talk about having like a month
Speaker 1: off to write songs when you're in your tour recording
Speaker 1: cycle generally speaking, is it like the ri for Satisfaction
Speaker 1: came to Keith Richards and you know when he was asleep,
Speaker 1: he woke up he recorded it. Has your process been
Speaker 1: there's a bolt, there's an inspiration or can you literally
Speaker 1: say I have to write, I'm gonna sit here and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna write something.
Speaker 2: I have to be in the right mood, I have
Speaker 2: to feel something coming.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: Recently, I've had this real creative streak. That's why I
Speaker 2: think that I'm going to be able to start to
Speaker 2: finish this album in the summer after this tour. Uh,
Speaker 2: And I pick up an acoustic or an electric, you know,
Speaker 2: and just jam on chords or riffs or whatever, and
Speaker 2: something will they either come to me or it won't.
Speaker 2: I either put it down I don't. I'm not a
Speaker 2: fighter for for I don't fight for a song. It's
Speaker 2: gonna come easy or it's not right. So finishing a
Speaker 2: song is difficult, no matter how easy it is to
Speaker 2: come up with the initial ideas. But lyrically is it's
Speaker 2: always harder for me. Getting much easier actually, because I'm
Speaker 2: just writing. I'm writing from my heart and I'm not
Speaker 2: trying to write a hit song. I'm just trying to
Speaker 2: write a great piece of music that I like. You
Speaker 2: might not think it's great, but I do. And that's
Speaker 2: that's it. I cannot force myself to write. It's not
Speaker 2: going to happen. But there is something that I was
Speaker 2: felt very pleased about when I wrote. When I read
Speaker 2: Chronicles one by Bob Dylan and which I loved, I
Speaker 2: thought it was great and he said, which I was
Speaker 2: thrilled to hear. He said he had a like an
Speaker 2: eighteen month two year period we couldn't write. And he said,
Speaker 2: that's it. I'm done for you know, you always think that,
Speaker 2: right when, oh god, I got write it. And then
Speaker 2: there came this time. I don't know how long it
Speaker 2: was total, and he said, I sat down in the
Speaker 2: dining room, I got out this pad and I wrote
Speaker 2: and wrote and wrote for ten days, two weeks straight,
Speaker 2: he said. And I opened the drawer in the dining room,
Speaker 2: I put the pad in there, and I said to
Speaker 2: my wife, that's my next album. And I thought, wow,
Speaker 2: that's pretty cool. And then he said it made him
Speaker 2: think about why now and why not for those two years?
Speaker 2: And he said, you don't have writer's block. There's no
Speaker 2: such thing as writer's block. And this is the best part.
Speaker 2: He said. You're either on input or you're on output,
Speaker 2: and you can't have output if you don't have input first.
Speaker 2: So those two years, he said, I was writing, But
Speaker 2: the culmination of those two years came two and a
Speaker 2: half years later. In those ten ten days to fourteenth
Speaker 2: two weeks. You know, so don't he said, I don't
Speaker 2: worry now if I can't write, because I know that
Speaker 2: there's a reason for that, that I don't have anything
Speaker 2: to say. Therefore I need to live a little, you know.
Speaker 2: And I thought that was that made all the difference
Speaker 2: in the world. And our poet Lauriate couldn't write for
Speaker 2: two years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, Don Henley. I heard here him talking at
Speaker 1: Glen Fry's memorial service where he was somewhere in Asia.
Speaker 1: He went deep back into the bush and some person said,
Speaker 1: point it out. I said, Hotel California. What is your
Speaker 1: situation traveling the globe? If you're all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you know, in Bozeman, Montana, and you're standing by the carousel,
Speaker 1: someone to say, Peter Frampton or can you be relatively anonymous?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 2: You mean just out and about. Yeah. Uh. If I'm
Speaker 2: in the city, we're playing, I'm going to get recognized
Speaker 2: because people are thinking about me. Sometimes I get recognized
Speaker 2: a lot, you know, But then sometimes I don't get recognized,
Speaker 2: And it's good because I can do I don't. I'm anonymous,
Speaker 2: and I found that out. I went from being the
Speaker 2: most recognizable person with the hair and you know, the
Speaker 2: perm and all that and too when I cut my
Speaker 2: hair and everything went into a ditch, and nobody recognized me,
Speaker 2: and nobody was thinking about me either. I was I
Speaker 2: was gone. I was a hasben, you know. And and
Speaker 2: there was a part of that. I really enjoyed being anonymous.
Speaker 2: But there's that other that that's this side and then
Speaker 2: the other side of the broad say, oh, but nobody's
Speaker 2: recognizes you. Yeah, but no, I uh I. It's something
Speaker 2: that I've grown used to. And my daughter will say,
Speaker 2: you know, everyone's looking at you, don't you are they?
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, So you know, it's it's
Speaker 2: part of my life now, and it's something that happens,
Speaker 2: and sometimes it doesn't, you know, but it's h I
Speaker 2: tell you. I I went to I went to a
Speaker 2: party after an award show in the late seventies, and
Speaker 2: the party after the show was at Chasin's. Was the
Speaker 2: big place where everybody went, you know, the big restaurant.
Speaker 2: I'm not even sure if it's still there.
Speaker 1: No, it's not.
Speaker 2: No, Well there you go. So that dates me right there.
Speaker 2: So anyway, so we go to Chasin's and I got
Speaker 2: to think of his name. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm old. Okay,
Speaker 2: what was the name of his TV show. He was
Speaker 2: a private eye, lived in a in a caravan on
Speaker 2: the beach.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. What was his name? Tom Selleck?
Speaker 2: No, not Tom Selleck the Oxford Files. Yes, okay, wrote him.
Speaker 2: Who's he?
Speaker 1: I'll look it up because I I'm aware of the show,
Speaker 1: but actually I didn't watch it, Jim. What's his name?
Speaker 2: James Garner? Right, okay, So out of I walk up
Speaker 2: the steps to Chasen's and and I'm out of the
Speaker 2: corner of my eye I see this relatively tall, thin
Speaker 2: guy coming over to me and it's it's James Garner.
Speaker 2: And he said, I don't wish to bother you, Peter,
Speaker 2: but would you mind signing this for my daughter? I said, yeah,
Speaker 2: what's her name? And I gave him and he was gone.
Speaker 2: He didn't he knew what it was like. He didn't
Speaker 2: hang around, and it's He's one of the only people
Speaker 2: I've ever wished would have stayed around a little bit.
Speaker 2: So that kind of stuff, it's kind of really neat.
Speaker 2: You know, this guy was asking for my autograph when
Speaker 2: I would like to ask for his autograph, you know,
Speaker 2: And because we're all fans, let's face it, well, I
Speaker 2: know there are some musicians that don't think of other
Speaker 2: artists and the way that I do. But I just
Speaker 2: know that for the artists that i'm whichever one I'm
Speaker 2: thinking about, that's had this illustrious career, they have been
Speaker 2: through the ringer, they have so much talent and they've
Speaker 2: done things right and they've had a wonderful career and
Speaker 2: I know they've you know, it didn't come easy to them. Therefore,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't want to bug them, you know sometimes,
Speaker 2: And there's some people that I have bugged that I
Speaker 2: wish I hadn't, you know, and have been rude, you know.
Speaker 2: So I prefer to think of myself as the James
Speaker 2: Ghana than the.
Speaker 1: So to what degree do you think about are you
Speaker 1: concerned with legacy?
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I haven't really thought about that. I have
Speaker 2: no idea. I have to think that the one thing
Speaker 2: I will be I mean, it's lasted this long and
Speaker 2: it's it's still people's one of people's favorite albums of
Speaker 2: all time. So I'm going to be known for Comes Live,
Speaker 2: whether I like it or not, and I'm very proud
Speaker 2: of that. I'm known as a guitar player, which I
Speaker 2: hope you know. I'm always in the books for that,
Speaker 2: you know, and that's it. Really, I'm a singer, but
Speaker 2: another great singer. I'm not thrilled with my voice, but
Speaker 2: but I get by with it. And people when I
Speaker 2: say that, people say, oh, will you can about yourself now?
Speaker 2: I do you know? Hey, I'm honest. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: a great guitar player and I'm a great writer when
Speaker 2: I get to write, but my voice is okay.
Speaker 1: So one hundred years from now, do you care whether
Speaker 1: anybody knows who you are and your music or you
Speaker 1: don't care?
Speaker 2: I don't care. I don't.
Speaker 1: Well, we care, Peter, and I want to thank you
Speaker 1: so much for taking this time to be so revealing
Speaker 1: and go so deep from my audience.
Speaker 2: Well, you're very welcome and I've enjoyed this and I'm
Speaker 2: sure I'll regret it, but that's okay.
Speaker 5: Actually, I don't think you said you know. Sometimes people say,
Speaker 5: you know whatever. I think you were very straightforward. I
Speaker 5: mean it's interesting. I talk to a lot of people,
Speaker 5: and yes, you're self effacing nature and your humorous element,
Speaker 5: but also an intelligence radiates through, which is not something
Speaker 5: you always find with musicians, whether they're intelligent or not.
Speaker 5: They can't verbalize it, and I'm sure that that's somewhat
Speaker 5: frustrating to be in this world, which is not always
Speaker 5: such an intellectual world, but you're definitely a thinker.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. I try. This has been great, Thank
Speaker 2: you very much.
Speaker 1: Absolutely till next time. This is Bob left sets