Interview: Peter Frampton chats with Renee about his new tour!

Interview: Peter Frampton chats with Renee about his new tour, being a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominee and being a grandpa!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now my dog is roaming around thestudio. Come back, Wolfgang, Come
Wolfgang, Wolfy. Peter Ripton ison the phone for your mommy. How
amazing is that? Oh my gosh, you were like my dog. My
dog is laying on me right now. What kind of dog do you have?

(00:22):
I have a black golden doodle.What's his name? Bigs b Bigsby,
Well, high Bigsby. Wolfgang isover here right now. He's a
big black German shepherd. Oh that'swhat I had earlier in my life,
had a big, big, longhaired shepherd. Yeah. They're gorgeous.

(00:44):
Well, dogs are I feel likepeople who love animals are automatically amazing human
beings. Well, if you don'tlike animals, is something wrong with you?
I know, definitely especially dogs,you know, So any anyway,
I guess I guess we're here totalk about a little thing called music.
I think that's been a big partof your life. Now, we could

(01:06):
talk about animals all day long,if you like, sir. But first
and foremost, I have had thepleasure of interviewing you quite a few times
in my career. So I feelvery lucky and blessed because, you know,
just my job puts me in thisopportunity, and you have really been
a soundtrack for my life, aswith others for so many years. To

(01:30):
play your music, to talk toyou, and to see you still being
so passionate and out there is justa joy to listen to and to watch.
And you're gonna come to Connecticut onThursday, March seventh at the Toyto
Oakdale Theater. All the tickets andinformation are online with that Oakdale Theater dot

(01:51):
com too for tickets and such.But Peter, please tell everybody about what
this tour means to you. AndI think, is this like you?
You're not You're a new grandpa too, right, not like brand new?
But is this like yes, right, yes, right before right before Christmas,
second grandchild was born to Annie andJulian Frampton. And the baby's name

(02:15):
is rain So's. She's almost threemonths old now, I guess, yeah,
so yeah, lots of face FaceTimetime, even on tour, right,
even on tour. Did you notsay, did I hear that you
came up with Peter Grampton? No? I came up with Franpa Oh FRMPA

(02:37):
Okay, I couldn't remember which oneit was. Frandpa Okay, there's I
like Peter Frampo, that's great.Yeah, no, no, but unfortunately
I'm actually pop up because the fruitis I don't think you can say f
R until you're about seventeen. Soso anyway, yeah, well, very

(03:00):
very happy and blessed to have twobeautiful grand grandchildren. So it's wonderful.
That is fantaxics and you can seePeter franpon never ever say never to our
Thursday March stuff. Tell us allabout it because I know we're gonna have
a good time. It'll be somuch fun. We're we've got a couple
extra different numbers in this set fromlast year. So yeah. So it's

(03:25):
we've been rehearsing already and we're abouthalfway through and yeah, it's going incredibly
well. So the band sounds amazing, so we can't wait to play.
Now. What goes into touring thesedays that separates from when you were touring,
you know, twenty years ago.Are you still out there partying every

(03:46):
night? Or do we have abedtime now? Oh what did you say
party? And what is that?No? No, unfortunately it's it's back
to the it's either straight on thebus ontil the next show somewhere else,

(04:10):
or it's back to the hotel.And but I still can't go to sleep
until you at least a couple hoursafter a show, two or three hours,
because you're pumped up, you know. So it's the adrenaline is going
and uh so, but no,when I'm at when I'm at home with

(04:32):
with me and Bigsby, you know, we get up, you know,
early six thirty seven and see today. And when you're on the road,
you you don't get up quite asearly because you didn't get to bed
until like two or three in themorning. So yeah, it's it's the
same old stuff, you know,except no drinking drugs. Yeah, you

(04:57):
know, your voice, You're verylucky. And I mean, listen,
God bless everybody's out there playing andhaving fun, because that is what it's
all about. Music is just sucha universally healing it's just so universally healing
to have out there, and especiallywhen you've been doing it so long,
right and as long as you have, but you have one of those unique

(05:17):
voices that has stood the test oftime. What do you do to take
care of your voice and to keepyourself sounding as you did it it's incredible
to hear how precise and exact youare. Well. I got to the
point in I think it was likethe late eighties where I or very early

(05:45):
nineties when I started touring again andI was losing my voice, you know,
because I was over singing and I'dnever had vocal exercises or vocal lessons,
and so I decided to go toLovely Lady in New York, Katie

(06:05):
Agresta, and she's one of thetop teachers, vocal teachers in Manhattan when
I was living there, and thenI moved to Los Angeles and we've lost
him, unfortunately, the great RonAnderson. I did quite a few lessons

(06:29):
with him and I still use hisone of my You would tape every lesson,
you know, put it on aCD or something, and so before
every show, I don't I don'tthink about singing before I do those exercises.
And it's about forty five to fiftyminutes. So everything is planned,

(06:54):
you know, when I'm on theroad, my day is built around the
end result. So I will getup, you know, have breakfast or
whatever, but everything is an exworkout, do all that and then but
you know, two or three hoursbefore the show, I do my vocal

(07:14):
exercises, and it made the worlda difference, And I don't know how
I did it without before, butnow it just gives you confidence. You
know you're going to be your voiceis going to be in tiptop or as
good as you can make it byhaving by having these doing these vocal exercises,

(07:40):
which it's like, it's amazing howwell they help. You know.
I've been playing your music and I'vebeen singing along to you, and I'm
going to read something that I needto fact check if you don't mind,
Are you yes, truly celebrating you'resick ste a year of touring? Could

(08:01):
that possibly be a mistake? No, it's not. I mean, can
you just lie for me? Becausethat makes me have to recognize my age?
So can we just call you thisyour fortieth year? Could we do
that? Can we go back allright? Yes? Okay, So tell
me about your forty years of touring? No, because I started touring professionally

(08:24):
where it was semi professional because Iwas still at school. But when I
was fourteen. So now i'll beseventy four April twenty seconds, so it's
my sixtieth year. That is unbelievableand what a cool deal to be able
to do this for a living,right I you know, I've been talking

(08:46):
to other artists and how lucky weare to well I am, and others
that I know that are still doingreally well, like we get to do
this for our entire lives. Andlike I always say, and even though

(09:07):
during his work, but I alwayssay, I never I never worked today
in my life, you know,because I'm so passionate about the music that
it's like it's the best best thingto play live. It's just I can't
really describe put it into words,but there's something for me. I'm of

(09:30):
the I'm of the moment kind ofperson musically and and personally. I leave
things to the last minute. Butbut I've never played the same solo twice
and I don't plan it, planon it, you know, So it's
everything is like a blank canvas whenI walk on the stage. And as

(09:52):
far as what I'm going to play, obviously we have we know the form
of the song. Where when whenI get to play a solo, it's
always a different one. Well,that also keeps it fresh and probably what
connects you, you know, withyour audience, and do you reach back
into your career like for this,for this particular tree, do you reach

(10:13):
back into Humble Pie or do youreach back into some of the covers maybe
that you've done with Ringo Star andis All Star Band, Like do you
pull some fun stuff out out ofthat to to kind of mix it up?
And obviously the classics that we we'veknown to come and love us as
well, But how do you likeplan out your playlist? Well, I
think that there's certain numbers obviously thathave to be there, and we mix

(10:39):
it up the order and everything.But I think we the last last summer
we did in four weeks the summerand we pulled out two numbers that we'd
never done I'd never played live before, Crying Clown and I Got My Eyes
on You, one from the FramptonCamel record and one from the Frampton record.

(11:03):
And this this year, I'm pullingone from the Something's Happening album,
which is Golden Goose, and it'ssomething I've never played live. We tried
it at rehearsals the first day andit blew us away, just because it's
one of those things I don't knowwhy I've never done it live, but

(11:24):
it's so much fun for us todo, so yeah, we keep on
trying to make it a little differenteach year. Do you have a memory
of someone that you worked with thatyou had always wanted to that kind of
brought you back to your fan dazelike that made you get a little excited
or giddy er, you know,when you're working with someone that you've looked

(11:45):
up to or wanted to work with? Say, can do you have any
special stories behind that? Yeah?Quite a few actually, but I would
I would have to say that myschool chum I went to school with him,
to mister Bowie, David Bowie,that was wonderful when he he asked

(12:07):
me to play on the Glass Spidertour and also and has never let me
down record, so yes it was. It was very special. And David
and I had played on the samestage the same night, but never at
the same time before, so himasking me to be one of the guitar

(12:28):
players featured guitar players was that definitelybrought me back. We toured stadiums and
then in the summer and in eightyseven and then and then arenas in the
winter. It was a long tourand he brought me back in front of

(12:48):
so many people as the guitar player, not the pop star, and for
that I've never stopped thanking him andI still do. So. Yeah,
that was very very special. Iknow it's hard. There are some artists
that I have a hard time withnot being here even though I've never,
you know, had dinner with themor anything. But like David Bowie and

(13:11):
Tom Petty, for me, Istill I'm like, man, that stinks
right now. I'm still not overthose two as of quite yet. But
David Bowie, so I got achance to see the Glass Spider tour,
which was incredible, and I sawit in Canada, I believe. But
in any event, I digress.Also, I probably should have opened with
this and congratulate you on being oneof the fifteen artists who are nominated for

(13:33):
induction into the Rock and Roll Hallof Fame for twenty twenty four. Is
that exciting to you? Do awardsmake you excited in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame? I mean that'sgot to be pretty cool. I would
think, well, I'm nominated,which is incredible. I don't expect anything

(13:54):
in my life. I always waitfor things to happen. I'm not as
upset as I think a lot ofmy fans are that I'm not in there
yet. So but it's one ofthose things that you know, if you
don't expect something and then it comesout of the blue, it's it's it's

(14:18):
very rewarding, you know. Soyeah, I'm honored that I've been told
off to be nominated. Now we'vejust got to see how it goes.
I've got to get the votes.You got to get the vote to vote
for I did the promise. Ipromise to vote for you. I promise,
and I have it up online andso I know in April those that
stuff goes down, so we willbe we will definitely be voting for you

(14:41):
here in Connecticut and on my program. I also want to before we wrap
up, talk to you a littlebit about a little bit more about your
personal life. I know, obviouslyGrandpa, Franpa whatever we whichever, we
would like to say that, andyou obviously love your dogs, but you
also are you sed to I readsomewhere that you were a vegetarian, and
I wasn't sure if that is somethingthat you still practice. But obviously do

(15:03):
you have a special connection with animalsor is there any because you you have
come to the right woman here.I'm like the dog Lady of Connecticut.
So yeah, I love all animals. I think we still have a lot
to learn from them. Well Iknow we do, but we're too wrapped
up in ourselves. But but youknow, I mean I would like to

(15:28):
I I have fostered an element,an elephant, and I follow all the
reality I think is the is theplace where they saved U where the elephants
go when they've they've been cut offfrom the herd and stuff like that,

(15:50):
babies and stuff. So yeah,I'm very much into all all animals and
uh you know you name it,dogs, especially of course. And I
think I'm going to be in thefuture near future getting much more involved in

(16:12):
working with shelters, foster foster dogowners. And also if it's possible,
I'd like to, you know,raise money so that we could we could
get some we could get some doctorsvets that would donate their time and do

(16:34):
spay and neuter. But for thatyou need a truck that goes into the
different areas where where, and thenthe doctors offer it for we offer it
for free. That's my goal,because that's the problem with homeless dogs is
is that people don't get them spayedand newted because they're worried that, you

(16:56):
know, the their dogs are goingto end up in a shelter and and
not live. You know, Sothere's there's ways around this. I mean,
it's a big job, but wecan do it one dog at a
time, you know. You know, I agree with you and even our
cats. And in Connecticut here there'sa rescue that I work with that I'm

(17:18):
a part of, and I won'tkeep you. I know you've got a
schedule, but like we I'm hostingan event this weekend four Protectors of Animals
and then one for Kenway's cause,and then it's going to be Marty Pause.
So that's going to be fun.But they have a vehicle that goes
around and does just that. Butbecause it takes a lot of money,
it's not as act as we wouldlike it. But it's called It's Hip

(17:41):
to Snip and it's a mobile neuterspade truck. It's called It's Hip to
Snip, which is that's what Iwant to do. I want to make
I'd like to be able to makemore of those available so that that would
be my that's my goal, andI well, I think it's admirable.

(18:02):
I'm a huge fan of yours.Congratulations on an incredible career, an incredibly
just nice human being. I neverhear, you know, horrible stories about
you and the media, so Ilove that. So I love that.
I love that that you're just likeone of the great rock and roll artists
of all time. Thank you forbeing that. Yeah, well, so

(18:23):
far you haven't heard any really badstuff about me. Well it's not too
late, but I'm just hoping it'smore of like maybe maybe, maybe if
it's more rock and roll, LikeI don't care if you throw a chair
out a window, Peter, Idon't care if you do that. But
like, nothing too nothing too crazythough, No, no, no,
I think I think in the inthe seventies, I was, you know,

(18:47):
just like every other traveling musician.So we abused, uh we were
abused than we abused, but itwas all in fun, you know,
we we nothing was ever really thatbad. You know, we might have
trashed a hotel room or something,but no one ever got heard or anything.

(19:07):
So that's the main thing. Yeah, and I think it was a
prerequisite to trash a hotel room Imean you had. I think it was
like illegal if you didn't. Ifyou were a rock star at a certain
point in time, I think youhad to do it. Yeah, yeah,
absolutely, But I just did onereally well. Peter Frampton Never Ever

(19:29):
Say Never Tour is Thursday, Marchseventh, the Toyota Oakdale Theater. You
give your little fluffer over there,you give a big treat from Renee in
Connecticut, from Renee and Wolfe herein Connecticut, and we appreciate you very
much. Talk to my fluffer andmy dog. Oh my god, Peter,

(20:00):
and that's how we'll end. Andthat is how we will end.
Thank you. Version Yes, absolutelyall right, goodbye, by bye.