May 16, 2025 • 61 mins
Andy Bown has been Status Quo’s keyboard player for more than 45 years, and that alongside his other collaborations and solo albums makes him one insightful guest. In addition to insights there’s plenty of laughs as well – what more could you want? To listen / watch: Audio-only: click on the play button in the...
The post Andy Bown, Status Quo / The Herd / Peter Frampton / Pink Floyd appeared first on The Keyboard Chronicles.
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(00:00):
And I look around and he's playing a solo with his foot.
Hello and welcome to the keyboard Chronicles of podcasts for keyboard players.
I'm your host David Holloway and I'm thrilled as always to be here with you.
I've had a lovely evening this evening talking to Mr.
(00:22):
Andy Bowne who is the keyboard player in the iconic rock band status quo.
Now Andy's held that role for more than 40 years and that alone makes this interview worththe price of admission.
But on top of that, Andy's had an extensive solo career, worked with a whole range ofother artists.
and generally just has an amazing outlook on life and music.
(00:43):
So I highly recommend this one.
So yeah, I'll let you jump in and have a listen and I'll talk to you at the end of theshow.
Andy, I cannot thank you enough sir for joining us.
It's an honor and a privilege to be speaking with you.
(01:06):
Well, thanks for asking me.
Now look, it's going to be difficult to cover in an hour or so what we need to Andy, but Ithought I would start off with something.
are arguably one of the longest serving rock keyboardists in history.
Now, I'm not saying you're old, but what I mean is as far as longevity, you know, with anumber of bands and so on.
(01:28):
So if you had to sum up your career in three words to date, what would they be?
three words.
I'm not dead.
I mean, that's, that's the longevity answer, isn't it?
Really?
Oh, yeah.
(01:48):
That's okay.
Are you guys
That's not false modesty.
It's just a lot of it's luck and stuff.
So you could say sheer bloody luck.
I love it.
Either way, that's great.
so, I mean, going back to the start or even before your career started, tell us a littlebit about Andy Bowne and his musical upbringing.
(02:11):
So as a child into your early adulthood, were your musical upbringing, what was it likeand also what got you passionate about music?
My mother, we were very poor.
My mother struggled because she was very musical and she struggled to pay for pianolessons for me from, I think probably from the age of five or six.
(02:36):
And she got a good deal because I went to Mrs.
White, she had uh half a thumb, the rest of it was a ball of fat.
she couldn't charge the full amount.
So for half a crown, is nothing, half a crown, I got 40 minutes instead of half an hour.
(02:59):
So she got a good deal there.
And I kept these lessons up and entered competitions and stuff.
And I have to say, I quite a few certificates for my interpretation of classical stuff.
So at the age of...
(03:19):
nine, ten, eleven.
And then that was I peaked then I peaked in my technique.
Seriously, on keyboards.
That was it.
Because then I stopped lessons because I went to secondary grammar school and I didn'thave lessons anymore.
(03:39):
And then I just started tinkling around on the piano.
We always had pianos.
When I was about 12, 13, writing very
ridiculous songs, silly little songs.
Then a couple of years later, was helping this guy.
uh I met nice guy, Tony Chapman, the original drummer with the Stones.
(04:03):
he was, I helped him with his drum kit.
I used to go round, you know, groupie really.
I wasn't mad about groupies.
I just liked the drums and stuff.
So I helped him with his drums.
And then their bass player left.
He just left.
His girlfriend told him to leave, I think.
So the guitarist, Steve Carroll, lovely guy, a brilliant guitarist, brilliant, brilliantsinger and Chuck Berry guitarist.
(04:32):
He could do the lot.
was fabulous.
In five days, he taught me how to play the bass.
And I did the first gig at Westrom Village Hall five days later after picking up a bass.
covered in blisters.
I mean, it was awful.
It was really painful.
(04:53):
But that was how I started.
So I played bass for about five years, six years.
And did you, those early days, Andy, did you, what was it about the performing that hadyou hooked?
Well, everything really, being on stage, the music.
I I loved, I decided by that time that I actually did love the blues.
(05:17):
I mean, maybe because, you know, that's where the three chords come in, you know, all thisthree chords.
uh
No, no, no offense.
There are lots of other chords I like.
I'm just saying that the time and I'm big, big Chuck Berry fan, massive Chuck Berry fan.
I love playing them.
(05:38):
We played loads of it.
It was great.
Well, shortly after I'd started playing with the band, the Preachers, Steve, the guy whotaught me, he died.
Instant laceration of the brain.
went through the windscreen.
terrible crash.
um And he was actually in my seat.
(06:01):
I went in a different van that day.
So yeah, that was very, very sad, very sad and a great loss to the rock industry, I cantell you.
And just, I'm interested back in those days and I've spoken with other guests, obviouslyin the UK scene, you mentioned village halls and I also believe in some areas, working
(06:26):
man's clubs or whatever, were they the sort of gigs you were doing in those earlier days?
No, I don't remember ever doing work in men's clubs.
We did a few pubs.
They were, in the very early days, they were things like m public halls, assembly halls,Worthing, Stourbridge, Kidderminster, uh Wallington, places like that.
(06:55):
Justin Hall in Beckenham.
uh
Just all some of their local sort of promoter guy who usually just left university, youknow, thought he could make a few bob and indeed did.
just, you know, he'd go around and stick posters up and you'd turn up and get paidanything from 15 pounds to, you know, some massive 40 pounds, you know.
(07:26):
And how long were the gigs at that stage?
Andy, what sort of length of gigs would you be playing and how often would you be playing?
think the norm was at least two 45 minutes box.
And there were usually a couple of bands because nobody had all that much equipment.
know, people used to share equipment then.
(07:48):
So the changeovers weren't a big deal.
It was never slick, you know, but it was all very exciting because nobody really expectedtoo much.
So, yeah, two 45s or sometimes you would do two hours, two single hours.
they'd usually have break where another band came on or they'd play records.
(08:10):
Yep.
Now that makes sense.
Andy, when did the move come?
And I mentioned in the introduction to this show that you're obviously amulti-instrumentalist.
You're still very much a guitar player, et cetera.
But when did the move musically to introducing keyboards into your work?
that was with the herd, yeah.
uh
I was gonna ask you about the herd, so that's probably a good segue, yeah.
(08:33):
We had an organist, he had a Vox Continental and I can't remember his name, probably bestI don't.
Anyway, I thought I can play better than that.
That's ridiculous.
Because I just really, I really got into Jimmy Smith, Walk on the Wild Side and The Catand stuff like that.
(08:55):
And so I then taught my father into guaranteeing an L100 Hammond.
Wow.
Yeah, 800 pounds it was.
It's a fortune, yeah!
And it had the wrong vibrato on it.
I should have got an M100 for the Celeste.
(09:20):
Anyway, I got this and I was playing the organ then, so I thought that's pretty cool.
And that was...
So I played uh Hammond for a bit.
And um I sort of learned a bit about Hammond.
That's about the most technical I got working the draw bars.
(09:42):
I think I stopped back then learning.
oh
let's talk a little bit about The Hurt.
mean, they're obviously an extremely well respected band, it's sort of between 65 and 69.
Tell us about joining that and what you actually learned as a sort of young adult emergingmusician.
I think we changed our name to The Herd after Steve died in The Preachers.
(10:08):
It sort of morphed into another band and the line up changed ah so many people, it?
And then we ended up with the line up that we had and Howard and Blakely came along andsaid, ooh, I like these boys.
Let's use them as a vehicle for our songs.
(10:30):
And we didn't look back.
We followed in the giant footsteps of Dave D, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch.
And it sort of killed the band as it was.
We were building up a massive following, oh I mean, a big following.
uh Because we were a bit off the wall and this really normalized us and uh also made usfamous.
(11:01):
It was a bit of a cleft stick.
No, not a cleft, a double-edged fork, whatever, you know, thing.
oh
I went on and uh the herd fell apart.
went to, well, yeah, he actually wanted me, he really wanted me to go with him to joinSteve Marriott, but Steve didn't like me particularly.
(11:29):
I didn't like him either.
So that wouldn't have worked.
Well, Peter didn't like him either in the end.
So anyway, that's all.
And what was the sort of, um when the herd did break up, what was sort of the link in thenthat with joining Judas Jump and so on?
(11:51):
How did that sort of merge into that amazing outfit?
Where did you get your stuff from?
well I watched some videos, I loved some of the stuff, I thought it was great.
Videos of Judas Jump.
Yeah, there was uh one, well, sorry, when I say videos on YouTube, it was the albumrecording.
So there were a couple of songs I listened to.
(12:12):
I don't think they're actually videos of you playing.
Oh, no, I don't think they invented cameras then.
yeah, Judas Jump, it got together because Don Arden offered me quite a lot of money at thetime.
And
(12:34):
I took it.
It's like that kind of guy.
Along with Alan Jones from Aiming Corner.
And we sort of formed this band.
Luckily, Henry Spenetti came on board because he was the last drum of the herd.
And yeah, so it was a six piece band.
(12:56):
And Henry being the only one who could actually play his instrument.
That's the truth.
That is the
The rest of us were pretty rubbish.
And for some reason, I keep hearing all the time about people saying, Judith's town, yeah,fantastic.
(13:16):
They opened the Isle of Wight festival, which was apparently really a uh big point in somepeople's lives, the Isle of Wight festival.
I don't remember much about it, but...
Cause I wanted to talk about Island white.
Yeah.
I wanted to talk about Island white in 1970, Andy, because yeah, the lineup point in thatyear was pretty stellar.
(13:39):
So yeah, you don't have a lot of recollections of that.
No, no, I read the lineup the other day actually and it was fantastic.
All these big stars and then Judas Jumps.
was weird.
(14:00):
Well, look, I did look for video of you at Isla White 1970.
I don't think there's a lot of video full stop or if any, but yeah, sadly I wasn't able tofind any to prove you wrong or otherwise.
Thank you Andy, that's good recollection.
And before we get into status quo and subsequent work, I do want to talk about yoursession work.
(14:21):
So over the years and particularly back in that time, but ever since you've done a lot ofgreat session work.
And I want to ask you two specific.
One's Jerry Lee Lewis.
I'm fascinated by that, how that came about and what your thoughts were on.
I was sort of bundled into this studio with loads of people, head, hands and feet.
(14:42):
there were about 10 or 12 musicians coming and going, I think.
And I sat down at Fender Rhodes, which was next to the piano.
And Jerry Lee Lewis came and sat down next to me at the piano.
Shit.
(15:03):
And we did...
three or four tracks.
It was awesome.
I still have shivers thinking about it.
And I turned around once, I'm playing away there, everybody's making a noise.
I mean, it's a dreadful racket really.
(15:25):
And I look around and he's playing a solo with his foot in the studio.
Really, I couldn't believe it.
Anyway, we went in and hear the playbacks and it got to this bit.
And the solo sounded as though he was playing with his feet.
It was dreadful.
(15:48):
He didn't care.
He only ever did one take though.
It's like that was it.
no, no.
Him and Bob Dylan,
That's fascinating.
And look, I want to call back to your comments already in this interview Andy about howyou probably hadn't mastered your instrument that, you know, you're a bit of a rubbish
player.
The fact that, you know, you must have been bringing something substantial to the tablefor you to even be in those situations.
(16:14):
So it's a question I often ask, how bad is imposter syndrome with you?
And did you ever get over it?
Well, was quite good at copying Jimmy McGriff, if you like, and Jack McDuff, GrooveHolmes.
Quite good at that with The Herd.
When I got, I ended up with a split, I got an A100 at Concert Hammond.
(16:39):
um Split at great expense.
Anyway, I was quite good at that.
um And we did a lot of weird stuff.
And then before we met Howard and Blakely, before they came and took us in anotherdirection.
So I was reasonably good then.
(17:01):
In fact, yeah, I did.
Yeah, believe it or not, I did a couple of gigs, pub gigs with Dick Morrissey and TerrySmith.
Wow.
And I was playing the bass on the Hammond as well.
Yeah.
So I must've been reasonable at one point, but you know, it's all gone now.
(17:25):
Yeah, there comes the imposter syndrome again.
uh No, that's gold.
And um the other session piece I wanted to talk to you about is someone that I know isextremely easy to work with, and that's Roger Waters.
So I believe you had some involvement in the final cut, which just as an aside, I know itis very much underrated as a Pink Floyd album, but it's actually probably my second
(17:49):
favorite favorite album.
So just tell us about your recollections about that period.
Well, that came about because I did the wall.
Yeah, I was the surrogate Roger on the wall.
we did, I think we did two or three weeks rehearsal.
David was in charge.
And we were getting it together.
then, uh Roger's coming in.
(18:13):
ah Everybody's like that.
And Roger came in and em I thought, dear.
It was quite nerve wracking really.
And we're playing bass together.
This was his first or second day of rehearsal.
I'm really quite nervous because Roger hit this dreadful bum note, I mean, really bad.
(18:38):
And I said...
because I'm, don't know, I wasn't drunk, but I said to him, if you're going to play likethat, I want smaller billing.
And I got away with it.
um And for now.
Did Andy?
Did he laugh?
Yeah, well he did from that moment on we became quite firm friends and we were very closefor quite a long time.
(19:08):
We're not in touch anymore but at the time we went on holiday, he invited us to his placein France, we had a holiday there, spent Christmas together with the children.
I used to nip round and we'd play snooker all night.
That's amazing.
And I apologise, it's my poor research, but I hadn't picked up on the surrogate for thewall.
(19:30):
So you're talking about the amazing live tour.
Was it around 1979, 80 that there's the album?
Yeah.
Hey, look, look, I've still got this.
Oh wow.
Yeah, absolutely.
Wow.
That's amazing.
(19:50):
That's...
he's absolutely amazing.
um
Come to get down there.
Andy, I'll divert into that because that's again my poor research.
So tell us about, mean, that would have to have been your largest, 1979, that would havehad to have been your largest live shows you'd done to that date.
(20:14):
Would that be correct?
I don't think so.
did.
uh Quo did some very big ones.
I did.
Did some very big ones.
Well, I don't know if Nedworth was before that or after.
I can't remember.
That's okay.
Yeah, that's okay.
with the war, what are your recollections of that as a live show?
(20:36):
I I've seen video of I've played the album to death.
It's an amazing piece of work.
Obviously the music anyway, but the theatricality of it.
Any particular memories of playing those shows?
Yes, I have.
good.
most, far and away, the best, most satisfying work I've done, definitely.
(21:00):
It was really, it was perfect for me.
Bit of acting, bit of this, bit of that.
A few quick changes, fantastic, amazing staging.
I mean, even, you know, then it was just, it was awesome.
It was the whole thing was jaw dropping the wall, the way it all worked and the amount ofmoney spent.
(21:26):
I was standing at the back of the stadium in Culver City where we were rehearsing.
And Steve O'Rourke, the manager, Floyd's manager, lovely man.
We were just sort of humming and hollering and looking at the stage and it going on in thedistance.
(21:47):
And he said, Jesus, he said, I don't know, this better work.
And he used, he said, you he used swear words as well.
we're $2.8 million down on this so far.
(22:08):
Yeah.
which was an absolute fortune at the time.
It was 1979.
It was a lot of dough.
Absolutely.
And I thought, wow, this is just, this is amazing.
And then, and then, yeah, then ABBA walked in.
(22:28):
Well, I know, it was brilliant.
Yeah.
I digress, don't I?
Yeah.
all know this is the depression that's
It was very exciting.
The whole thing was really brilliant.
And so I need to ask you, even though it's not keyboard related, you said you were asurrogate for Roger.
(22:50):
Just because of the pure amount of movement and theatricality, you were literally playingthe bass or literally standing in for Roger in particular segments while he was perhaps
getting ready for others.
Like how did that actually work?
Well, I played the bass.
mean, Roger played a little bit, most of it, I don't think, went out front.
(23:13):
I had two guitars, my precision and his precision, which I took down to D, the E stringwas down to D for certain things.
And I would switch around for certain songs.
(23:33):
Wow.
I played the bass, too.
No, that's amazing.
And I do have to ask one keyboard related question.
During all that time, did you have any interactions with Rick Wright and any recollectionsabout his contribution?
Yeah, Rick contributed certainly to be a Volcar and Orange.
(23:57):
We had quite a lot of Volcar and Orange, which is nice.
He was a lovely man.
He really was lovely.
Yeah, shame.
Yeah, that was.
um
He threw a fantastic party after the war at his house near Cambridge.
(24:19):
It was awesome.
I ended up doing a double somersault over the handlebars of this track bike going roundthis.
And I lived.
Thankfully, thankfully.
No, thank you for that, Eddie.
That's not a digression at all, because that's such an iconic piece of music history thathold to us.
I really appreciate you sharing those parts.
(24:40):
So let's talk a little bit about Status Quo.
um obviously, know, please correct me if I'm wrong.
I know you did some recording work with them before then joining, obviously, as a fulltime member of the band.
Just tell us about the early days about what clicked and you ended up sort of integratingwith the full outfit.
We had the same management that was in the same offices above the Marquis at Water Streetin Soho in London.
(25:09):
And um we'd played gigs together, a lot of gigs together, in the very early days when we'dset up our own equipment and everything.
In fact, I remember one particular gig at the Dominion in Tottenham Court Road.
And em Francis remembers it as well.
(25:29):
Francis Rossi, he was really pissed off because we had a roadie and they didn't.
So that was good.
Anyway, we knew each other and out of nowhere, I got a call saying, can you come put somepiano on this?
I think it needs something else.
(25:50):
And I went along to the studio, I believe it was 4,500 times.
There was this...
in a terrible period of, it was seen like about three days on B, in the key of B, just hitsomething like that.
Yeah, do that.
(26:10):
Yeah.
Do that.
Yeah.
Keep going.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Where's the chord change?
That's good.
Good.
It was just went on and on.
And then the session, of course, I gotta go home now.
And then I got another call, you know, could you do this and do this?
(26:31):
So over the next two or three years, I played bits and pieces for the band.
And then I got a call saying, you cut, we're doing the next album in Sweden and can youcome over and join in because it's not going that well.
(26:57):
we have in trouble.
They wanted a bit of different color or something, or maybe just a different face, whoknows?
uh Well, I know, but I can't say.
And I went along and um we did um an album and em one of the songs, Pip Williams, theproducer, said, can you do a little bit intro on the front of this before we go there?
(27:27):
So I did this intro.
said, what about that?
He said, yeah, that's great.
Okay.
And that was Rockin' All Over the World.
uh that was the album.
so, you know, they wanted me in.
So that was it.
I thought, well, it's not really my kind of stuff.
don't really, you know, but I need the money.
I needed the money.
(27:48):
ah this won't last long.
I'll just take the job.
Be fine.
So basically I was a hard gun for a
a few years and in the end you know all right okay.
oh
And just some context there, Randy.
For our listeners and viewers, some context there too.
(28:10):
When you say this was initially in particular, not necessarily your cup of tea, it'sbecause from sort of 72 to 78, you'd release four albums that are incredibly diverse,
cover so many different...
Yeah.
I did get it.
I got it after a while.
And then I really got into it.
(28:31):
it's rock with sharp corners.
There are different bits to it.
It can be really good.
That's why people like it, I think.
Not quite sure why, but it does things that are sort of wrong.
(28:52):
But it works.
Most of the time it works.
And I do have to ask, I mean, from doing that session work to becoming a full-time memberof the band, my guess, and obviously I've not met any, you know, I've obviously not met
Rick or Francis or any of the guys who are sadly passed on, including Rick, but it appearsto me that sense of humour must have played a role in you fitting in, that it was as much
(29:19):
about the hangers, your chops.
Yeah, had to, one had to fit in and uh one did.
I mean, one didn't smoke much dope, but one fitted in.
Love it.
And so this is a hard question to keep sort of simple.
(29:42):
What was the approach you took over the time of Status Quo as far as keyboards as you youeveryone knows it's a very guitar driven band, but there's lots of great piano in
particular underneath and some organ and stuff as well.
How did you develop the sound over time where they were more amenable to having morekeyboards in and what was the sort of to and fro creatively there?
(30:06):
Well, Francis always wanted more, he wanted to move forward.
He was and is a massive Jeff Lynn fan and he's not content to just stay still.
He wants to try stuff.
mean, some of the time, yes, playing keyboards with a uh a guitar band, a rock guitar bandas loud as, well.
(30:36):
is it can be a thankless task.
And on the other hand, you get things that obviously rock and roll all over the world wasnice, but we would never have done had big hits like Margarita Time without or Living on
an Island.
(30:56):
So certain things did change, but I guess all bands have to change a bit, don't they, asthey go through the years.
And we have.
been through some years.
Absolutely.
And still continuing.
a new boy and I've been with the band for 47 years.
It is just it is the absolutely incredible story.
(31:18):
And I bet you've been asked this a million times and I apologize in advance, Andy.
But obviously one of the things I'm proudest of as a keyboard player is that the veryfirst notes heard at Live Aid were both yours and on a piano.
So but just moving that out to more broadly, what are your recollections of Live Aid?
(31:39):
Well, I think about it all.
I've never actually watched these since then.
They're just, you know, these are, that's it.
What do you do?
it was very, it was very exciting.
what are my recollections?
It was, um, I've never seen so many people.
(31:59):
It was just, but, uh, we were, I didn't really, I wasn't really processing the fact.
I knew I had to count it in.
I knew I had to play the first few bars all by my own, but I wasn't really processing thefact.
that 150 million people would be listening.
(32:22):
So it all went quite well.
I was just sort of quiet.
And we just did it.
Or I just did it.
I think everybody was feeling different stuff.
But yeah, I just uh treated it like another session, another gig.
(32:43):
Yeah, which is probably an extremely sensible approach.
I got away with it, yeah.
I think some people were very, very nervous.
Very nervous.
Had you guys done, were you already on tour and this was just another gig or you had to dosome rehearsal in the lead up?
Well, the band had, we just, did the End of the Road tour in 1984.
(33:07):
A big, big, a lot of people were sniveling away.
Milton Keynes, he played to a very, very big audience and it was the last show that wasit, End of the Road.
And then sure enough, in true rock form, we reformed again.
(33:30):
without certain members, we reformed.
But yes, we decided, it was decided, it wasn't mine, just thought, I just went along withit.
Francis and Rick and Alan decided to do Live Aid.
So Alan came over from Australia and everybody got back together and hadn't seen eachother for years, or a year and a half, two years.
(33:57):
um
We had...
Oh.
think we had at least five or six days of rehearsing three numbers.
Because a lot of it with State Pro is it's physical as well.
I mean, especially a 19 minute set now, know, when we're we've got combined age of 2000 orwhatever it is.
(34:28):
You know, it's tough.
Look, it is indeed tough even as a 50 something that only plays a handful of gigs.
Yeah, I feel it the next day so I can only imagine.
do want to ask you Andy, just without going into specifics because I understand you won'tbe able to go into specifics, but you alluded to the fact that bands go through rough
(34:50):
patches.
What's the secret given that it's, you know, over 50 years aside from personnel changes?
What's kept things running relatively smoothly?
it?
you know, more tolerance for each other.
What tends to be your secret to getting on?
You have to, em you just have to get on with it a lot of the time.
(35:11):
I mean, there is the one thing, especially if you're touring on a bus, which one I like todo because I sleep well on a bus, but there is no privacy.
That's a difficult thing.
And you tend to hear the same jokes, you know, that's, I won't go to the gross bit, butit's,
(35:35):
It's quite, it gets quite earthy and you just have to get on with it.
However, at the end of the day, which is usually a gig day, because you can't waste money,at the end of the day, you get a payback.
You've done the gig.
It's great.
(35:55):
You've done the gig.
Hopefully they love you.
You had a great time or it's been good or not so good, but at least you've done your day'swork.
Then you can have a couple of drinks, go to bed or have some nice pasta or something whilewe're rushing away to the next town overnight and eating on the bus.
(36:20):
uh But you've done your job.
So that's good.
It's every day there's a reward.
So that does help a great lot, a great deal.
And I do need to ask you, just with your most recent tour, what is your standard keyboardrig now with status quo when you do go out on the road?
(36:42):
It's piano, RD, I'm still using the same RD, whatever it is, but okay.
And I've got the new digital Hammond.
Ah, Almond leg, but really good.
And very powerful, the digital Leslie that goes with it, which it's so loud.
(37:05):
It's awesome.
It's deafening.
And that's mic'd up, obviously.
And I play, I still play the same synth, just for little bits that we have.
But of course they have to sound the same.
So I don't, I don't really like synthesizers.
(37:27):
I like messing about, but I'm not, I'm not a synth player really.
I just do bits on it.
You know, basically it's piano and Hammond and
and what you yeah what was
Who's a rock hammer and rock piano?
Absolutely.
And do you remember that?
(37:48):
What is the synth if it comes to mind straight away, Andy?
What is the one that you've used for many years?
tell it, well, I can describe it.
It's got like white and black notes.
Do you know?
I can't.
don't, well the model numbers are so hard, I struggle to remember my own rig.
I'll take it.
(38:11):
It'll come to you at 3 a.m.
in the morning.
No, thank you for that Eddie, that's uh amazing insight.
And I do wanna cover off your solo work because I've been enjoying the hell out of it thelast few weeks and I've already mentioned about the four albums and then you've got the
fifth album, Unfinished Business that you came back to do.
around a decade or two ago, sorry.
(38:34):
Just tell us about what itch that continues to scratch for you because your output isamazing.
As I've already mentioned, so diverse.
you know, obviously you're keen to still contribute there.
Yeah, it's kind of you say it's diverse and it is diverse and that I think has been mygreat mistake over the years.
(38:55):
Seriously.
On solo stuff, I've always tried to do, or it's just come out as very varied.
And I think that's a bad idea, a really bad idea.
But...
Yeah, in fact, there's a couple of, there's one track on unfinished business that itshouldn't be there because it's just wrong.
(39:23):
The rest of it's great though, buy it, yeah.
I do love it.
In fact, there's a song uh on it called When the Lights Went On.
I was there when the lights went on.
And that tells the story of the wall and em the Jerry Lee Lewis session and other stuffand all my new best friends that I met.
(39:49):
No, we'll definitely be linking to that and also love the track, Ruby and Roy, the firsttrack, because you literally say you can't just stop because you've had enough.
And I think that's what a lot of us feel like in the music industry at different times.
Yeah, yes, that was Roy Wood and me drinking gin in Aberdeen.
(40:12):
It was a big night.
That's great.
And the other one that we'll be linking to is I absolutely love the Rubber Gloves song andthe video.
I think I must have watched that 20 times over the last last couple of weeks.
Just even to create a video clip of that quality, as you know, the money isn't in videoclips anymore.
And I'm sure you probably didn't make a lot of money on it, but it's amazing clip.
(40:36):
thank you.
No, didn't make any money.
no.
Well, it might do now, you know, if you going.
The riff has been taken up by Australian perm, a gas perm.
It's being used for some advertisements in Australia.
(40:58):
That's funny.
I'll be doing my research on that one.
That's great.
ah
gas can't hold.
There's a few, yeah.
It's got like AMG or something, but it isn't that.
AGL.
There's an AGL gas.
Anyway, don't worry, will do my research.
(41:19):
Now, I do want to ask you, and I promise this is asked of all guests, not just people thathave got uh longer standing careers.
And that's what advice would you give to an aspiring keyboard player in particular who maybe just starting out and trying to establish themselves?
If you had to provide any guidance, what would it be?
That is the perennial interesting question.
(41:40):
And it was answered by Buddy Rich on a coast to coast big chat show.
I think a six year old boy called in, telephoned in live and asked the same question.
And Buddy Rich leaned towards the mic and said, slit your wrists.
(42:08):
Well...
So my advice would be to either throw yourself in 25 hours a day or decide to do it parttime and have a decent job as well.
But basically it's hard work.
(42:29):
You've got to want to really, really want to.
You've got to be really, I mean, I'm lazy.
I'm so lazy.
It's just wrong.
It doesn't work.
It hasn't worked.
I don't think you think it has, but it has.
It's uh hard work.
You've got to work hard.
(42:49):
You've got to be prepared to really work hard and also take the knocks.
But then I guess anybody would say that, wouldn't they?
That's still valuable.
And I think the taking the knocks is an important thing.
And it does segue into uh one of our regular questions where an example of something wheresomething's gone spectacularly wrong for you on stage.
So you can look back and laugh now.
And I do, I do just want to say before you go in, you had the perfect opportunity to havethe best train wreck ever by mangling that intro to Rockin' Around the World at Live Aid.
(43:18):
If you'd mangled that, that would still be talked about today and be the best train wreckever.
That gives me...
That's really worrying.
That's terrible.
That's going to be a bad dream now.
Thanks.
uh I know you told me you were going to ask this question and I can't think of any realmangling train wrecks.
(43:42):
Except I do remember how I messed something up really badly.
It was a gig with The Herd.
In the fairly early days, you were a good band or you were lucky band, you would play gigsat universities.
(44:03):
And it was good money.
And it was a good crack.
We went to this university, I think it might have been Exeter, to do the gig.
And I'd been given by somebody three spliffs with...
cannabis in them, not grass.
(44:24):
And at the time I drank rum.
I had always had half a bottle of rum.
And before the show, we arrived early and set up and stuff and then we go off and andsteal something to eat, which I couldn't find.
Anyway, I smoked one of these things and nothing happened.
(44:46):
So I smoked another one and nothing happened.
And then I drank
loads of rum and then I'll smoke the other one and then the next thing I sort of woke upand I'm looking up and there's a lavatory here uh and the herd's playing on the stage and
(45:08):
I'm in this lavatory.
I've no idea what I'm doing and I can hear the band playing.
Anyway I staggered to the stage
and sort of walked on and they looked at me, uh and um luckily it was still playing organso I sat down.
(45:34):
I sat down at the organ for about the next two 45 minutes box and I did a lot of the leadsinging and I couldn't remember the words, I didn't know which verse I was in, I couldn't
make any announcements.
I was just a sniveling Rick.
(45:55):
So I guess that's a bit of a man.
uh
That's one of the best ones I've heard.
I love them waking up in the toilet.
That's brilliant.
Yeah, it was horrible.
I love it.
um And the other one Andy we quite often ask is we ask each guest to tag a keyboardplayer.
And what I mean by that is there's some keyboard player out there over the years you'veadmired or respected or and that if you had a choice, you'd like to hear more about their
(46:22):
life story in music.
um Bill Payne.
Thankfully we've had him on and yeah, what an amazing guy.
that he can really play.
I met him once, he was lovely, really nice.
uh He's fantastic player and a great songwriter.
(46:43):
I mean, Atlanta.
Yeah.
Yeah, we had the privilege.
Bill talked for so long and I mean this in a positive way that we did a two part with BillPayne a couple of years back.
He was amazing.
Great guy.
uh No, thank you.
I could look that up, can't I?
Yeah, I'll send you the link.
he was great.
(47:06):
yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then we have the dreaded Desert Island Discs question.
Andy, so five albums, if you had to choose five albums to take to a Desert Island, whatwould they be?
Well, I've got no idea.
I had to write the list because I would.
(47:27):
You didn't say Desert Island when this, but the great influence was possibly the greatest.
I mean, really hard to condense, isn't it?
Then Dirty Blues by Cannibal Adderley.
Yeah, wow.
em And Natalie.
And that's how I got to hear it.
(47:47):
My brother played all these.
I was lucky.
We had a uh Bush record player and he played all this stuff.
And that's how I got to find Bobby Timmons, who really turned me on.
thought, yeah, this is it.
Great.
And moaning.
I thought it was fabulous.
(48:08):
That really blew me away.
And then
Other big songs, big albums, West Side Story, Oscar Peterson trio.
I play it all the time.
It's just brilliant.
I like the original West Side Story as well.
(48:28):
The original stuff with Bernstein.
I love it.
Yeah.
And I love the show as well.
Yeah, my first wife actually was in the original London cast.
Rosalie, yeah, that was exciting.
Let's see, um obviously, me and almost everybody else, the Nightfly.
(48:55):
Yes.
Yep.
It has come up three or four times, but deservedly so.
Yeah, Donald Fagan is obviously well renowned.
Yeah, I mean, it's easy to forget.
It's it's pre pro tools.
mean, it's awesome.
(49:16):
Just the separation.
What else have I got here?
Oh, yeah.
Famous Blue Raincoat, Jennifer Warns.
yeah.
Lenor Cohen songs.
Beautiful.
Fantastic.
I mean, that's the best voice, isn't it?
Really?
The best female voice.
Yes.
The best male voice being Ray Charles.
(49:39):
I don't know.
It's difficult, isn't it?
Well, that's another album I like.
Dedicated to you, Ray Charles.
Goes back a long way, along with the late late show, Dakota Stanton.
This is going back a long, long time.
Of course, a blue, Joni Mitchell, obviously.
I mean, this isn't, yeah, and the hissing of Summer Lawns.
(50:03):
The Beatles, with The Beatles, really impressive.
That's it.
James Taylor, American Standard.
I love it.
It's just, it's got everything.
Cause they are the best songs that have ever been written with the best baritone.
(50:24):
the best feel.
mean, the guitar work, I can't remember the name of the guy that he worked with.
It was obviously a great influence on him.
just, everything about it is beautiful.
Beautiful.
I made notes here.
Oh yeah, On the Road Again, I know, yeah, Canned Heat, fabulous.
(50:45):
These are big for me, years and years ago, and they've stayed with me.
um
Yeah, Dimples, John Lee Hooker.
What I'm going to do Andy is, um and you're not unique in that many people choose morethan five, I'll pick the five that haven't been chosen before and there are five in there
(51:08):
that haven't been chosen before across 140 episodes.
So that's amazing.
Thank you.
You mean you're not going to choose the Nightfly?
Is that what you're saying?
now I'll add it in as an honorable mention.
I will mention the others as honorable mentions.
uh
you've got to have a side story, dirty blues and famous blue raincoat.
(51:28):
Yes, absolutely.
They're all unique ones that haven't been chosen before, honestly.
They're great.
You just reminded me, I actually jammed with John Lee Hooker.
Alright, you've gotta go on now.
Keep going.
In my dressing room, yeah, he just, we were doing a gig, John Lee Hooker was, I think wewere supporting him and he walked in.
(51:59):
And that, I guess it was long time ago, it just sat down and we started playing.
then I said, no, you can't change there.
I'm telling you, if you can't, it's not, that's not 12 bar.
gotta, it's changed now.
I mean really.
temerity lovely man lovely man
(52:24):
I love that.
That's absolutely gold.
We do have our final question, Andy, and I know we've got to let you go, but we call itour quick fire 10.
So it's just 10 short answers to 10 fairly quick questions.
The first one being, do you recall what the first album was you heard that made an impacton you, whether it's as a child or a teenager?
(52:47):
Again, what's one that stands out to you?
ah Night on a Bear Mountain by Mieczorski.
My mother used to play it.
There you go.
Great.
Love it.
uh Before a gig, so let's use status quo as the example.
Before a gig, what is your most important pre-gig ritual so you feel settled before you goon stage?
(53:09):
a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
Nice, New Zealand make the best wines.
um If you hadn't been a musician, what do you think your career choice would have been?
Grave Digger.
advertising.
Yeah.
oh
I'd buy something from you.
(53:30):
um Favourite tour you've ever done, if that's at all possible across your whole career, isthere a tour that stood out for you as particularly special?
Maybe it's The Wall or whatever.
Yeah, the wall is oh the standout above all the other standouts, yeah.
Yeah.
Favorite city you've ever played if that's possible.
(53:51):
is so, I love Melbourne.
I like Bolzano in Italy.
I love Munich.
Have you ever counted up the countries you visited Andy?
Have you ever undertaken that exercise?
No, no, haven't.
But I've never been to India or China.
(54:11):
Okay.
So but I've been yeah, I've been lucky.
I have seen quite a lot.
Now this is an even harder question.
If you had to pick out one gig that is the favourite you've ever done, what would it be?
The...
a single gig?
Well, if I had to pick out one gig...
(54:33):
it wasn't The Wall, one of The Wall shows, would have been...
Standout, I suppose it has to be Live Aid or...
Nedworth...
Was Queen at Nedworth?
We did a show somewhere with Queen, a particular standout show.
(54:54):
I can't remember.
Nedworth was good, yeah.
Yeah, Nebworth's amazing.
And then a song that you used to love, but you've now played it to death, so probably nota favourite anymore.
I would say one of the first three or four Beatles hits.
Hold your hand.
I want to hold your hand.
(55:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I've had enough of that.
Yep, fair enough.
em Is there a music documentary or movie that you particularly have loved over the yearsthat you've watched and it's either represented your reality or you just liked it as a
music documentary or movie?
Absolutely it does, yeah.
(55:35):
very much.
All round.
Well, have you ever seen the documentary and I've looked for it the last few years andhaven't been found.
There was a lovely documentary about Bernstein and his work on West Side Story and theactual conducting of the orchestra.
I'm not sure it was for the original recording.
Yeah, I'm desperate to find that again, if anyone's aware of that.
(55:57):
Yes, he wasn't an easy man.
No, he looked...
However.
There's a remake, isn't there?
Yes, I've heard, yeah, I've heard, yes, I believe so, yeah.
That's pretty disgusting, isn't it?
Yeah, well, I don't know how you follow it up.
Yeah, that's right.
No, I agree.
Name one thing you'd like to see invented that would make your life as a keyboard playereasier.
(56:23):
This is very strange, David.
I mean, I'd never felt like a keyboard player.
Yeah, because you're well, that's true.
Yeah.
just don't something to make it easier.
I read, no, I didn't read.
I heard somewhere that Cole Porter used a capo sort of effect.
He had a piano made where I shift it, but he would always play and see.
(56:47):
And I only recently learned I bought a with all his every all his lyrics in it.
And I recently learned that that was bollocks.
But
Were it true, you could have everything in G, couldn't you?
Yeah.
(57:08):
If your status quo, could have the lovely stuff that was always Bs and F sharps.
That's right.
Yeah.
God, made me feel quite comfortable with some of it.
I love it, that's a great answer.
And last but not least, what keeps you sane outside of music, Andy?
So do you have a non-musical activity, a hobby that you enjoy doing?
(57:29):
keeps me sane.
I've never been actually certified sane.
like...
um
I've got a place in the country.
like it down there.
like...
What keeps me sane?
(57:50):
I think the thought that one day I'm going to get down to it and do some really somethinggood, maybe.
Pay attention, but you know, it's running out now.
mean, I've got to face reality.
I don't, just, like pottery.
I like cooking.
I like cooking.
(58:11):
um And look, I mean, contrary to your own opinion, I'd argue you've been cooking acrossmany instruments over many years.
I think you're an amazing musician and who also brings a heap of intelligence and wit tohis work.
um Cannot thank you enough uh for joining us, Andy.
We've barely scratched the surface, but I know we both need to dash, but yeah, cannotthank you enough.
(58:36):
It's been a pleasure.
can add that I wish I'd played the...
I wish I'd learned the sax.
Alto.
Alto sax.
Thanks, David.
I'm just in awe of his work.
mean, what a great musician on top of his keyboard, playing his guitar work, everythingelse he does.
(59:01):
Um, and you know, just even little things like being the first guy to play any musicalnotes at Live Aid, you know, that alone I could die happy with, but Andy's obviously done
so much more than that.
So yeah, cannot thank Andy enough for his time.
That was absolutely amazing.
Um, and I always appreciate you taking the time to listen or watch as well.
really do appreciate it.
(59:21):
A quick shout out to our gold and silver sponsors, Mr.
Dewey Evans from the Sunnyland of Wales.
Thank you, sir, for your ongoing support and also a lovely sunny land of that beingCanada, the lovely Tammy Katcher from Tammy's Musical Stew.
Thank you, Tammy, as always.
We also have Mr.
Mike Wilcox from Midnight Mastering.
Great guy and delivers great work if you're after someone to do a brilliant job of mixingand mastering your own creations or any other audio project you have, to be honest.
(59:51):
And last but definitely not least the team at themusicplayer.com forums and the keyboardcorner in particular.
Lots of great discussion in there.
I know I've been jumping in and out the last few days.
Again, it's one of my homes that I just love jumping in and talking keyboards.
cannot recommend it highly enough.
So if you'd like to keep in touch, we do love hearing from you.
(01:00:12):
Editor at keyboardchronicles.com is our email address.
We're on all the socials.
We love hearing from you on there as well.
If you are listening on audio, you'd like to check out our YouTube channel.
You will find it quite easily just by typing in keyboard Chronicles and otherwise, yeah,just reach out in any way you see fit.
So again, thank you for listening.
(01:00:33):
We'll be back again in a week or two and until then keep on playing.
And I look around and he's playing a solo with his foot.
Hello and welcome to the keyboard Chronicles of podcasts for keyboard players.
I'm your host David Holloway and I'm thrilled as always to be here with you.
I've had a lovely evening this evening talking to Mr.
(00:22):
Andy Bowne who is the keyboard player in the iconic rock band status quo.
Now Andy's held that role for more than 40 years and that alone makes this interview worththe price of admission.
But on top of that, Andy's had an extensive solo career, worked with a whole range ofother artists.
and generally just has an amazing outlook on life and music.
(00:43):
So I highly recommend this one.
So yeah, I'll let you jump in and have a listen and I'll talk to you at the end of theshow.
Andy, I cannot thank you enough sir for joining us.
It's an honor and a privilege to be speaking with you.
(01:06):
Well, thanks for asking me.
Now look, it's going to be difficult to cover in an hour or so what we need to Andy, but Ithought I would start off with something.
are arguably one of the longest serving rock keyboardists in history.
Now, I'm not saying you're old, but what I mean is as far as longevity, you know, with anumber of bands and so on.
(01:28):
So if you had to sum up your career in three words to date, what would they be?
three words.
I'm not dead.
I mean, that's, that's the longevity answer, isn't it?
Really?
Oh, yeah.
(01:48):
That's okay.
Are you guys
That's not false modesty.
It's just a lot of it's luck and stuff.
So you could say sheer bloody luck.
I love it.
Either way, that's great.
so, I mean, going back to the start or even before your career started, tell us a littlebit about Andy Bowne and his musical upbringing.
(02:11):
So as a child into your early adulthood, were your musical upbringing, what was it likeand also what got you passionate about music?
My mother, we were very poor.
My mother struggled because she was very musical and she struggled to pay for pianolessons for me from, I think probably from the age of five or six.
(02:36):
And she got a good deal because I went to Mrs.
White, she had uh half a thumb, the rest of it was a ball of fat.
she couldn't charge the full amount.
So for half a crown, is nothing, half a crown, I got 40 minutes instead of half an hour.
(02:59):
So she got a good deal there.
And I kept these lessons up and entered competitions and stuff.
And I have to say, I quite a few certificates for my interpretation of classical stuff.
So at the age of...
(03:19):
nine, ten, eleven.
And then that was I peaked then I peaked in my technique.
Seriously, on keyboards.
That was it.
Because then I stopped lessons because I went to secondary grammar school and I didn'thave lessons anymore.
(03:39):
And then I just started tinkling around on the piano.
We always had pianos.
When I was about 12, 13, writing very
ridiculous songs, silly little songs.
Then a couple of years later, was helping this guy.
uh I met nice guy, Tony Chapman, the original drummer with the Stones.
(04:03):
he was, I helped him with his drum kit.
I used to go round, you know, groupie really.
I wasn't mad about groupies.
I just liked the drums and stuff.
So I helped him with his drums.
And then their bass player left.
He just left.
His girlfriend told him to leave, I think.
So the guitarist, Steve Carroll, lovely guy, a brilliant guitarist, brilliant, brilliantsinger and Chuck Berry guitarist.
(04:32):
He could do the lot.
was fabulous.
In five days, he taught me how to play the bass.
And I did the first gig at Westrom Village Hall five days later after picking up a bass.
covered in blisters.
I mean, it was awful.
It was really painful.
(04:53):
But that was how I started.
So I played bass for about five years, six years.
And did you, those early days, Andy, did you, what was it about the performing that hadyou hooked?
Well, everything really, being on stage, the music.
I I loved, I decided by that time that I actually did love the blues.
(05:17):
I mean, maybe because, you know, that's where the three chords come in, you know, all thisthree chords.
uh
No, no, no offense.
There are lots of other chords I like.
I'm just saying that the time and I'm big, big Chuck Berry fan, massive Chuck Berry fan.
I love playing them.
(05:38):
We played loads of it.
It was great.
Well, shortly after I'd started playing with the band, the Preachers, Steve, the guy whotaught me, he died.
Instant laceration of the brain.
went through the windscreen.
terrible crash.
um And he was actually in my seat.
(06:01):
I went in a different van that day.
So yeah, that was very, very sad, very sad and a great loss to the rock industry, I cantell you.
And just, I'm interested back in those days and I've spoken with other guests, obviouslyin the UK scene, you mentioned village halls and I also believe in some areas, working
(06:26):
man's clubs or whatever, were they the sort of gigs you were doing in those earlier days?
No, I don't remember ever doing work in men's clubs.
We did a few pubs.
They were, in the very early days, they were things like m public halls, assembly halls,Worthing, Stourbridge, Kidderminster, uh Wallington, places like that.
(06:55):
Justin Hall in Beckenham.
uh
Just all some of their local sort of promoter guy who usually just left university, youknow, thought he could make a few bob and indeed did.
just, you know, he'd go around and stick posters up and you'd turn up and get paidanything from 15 pounds to, you know, some massive 40 pounds, you know.
(07:26):
And how long were the gigs at that stage?
Andy, what sort of length of gigs would you be playing and how often would you be playing?
think the norm was at least two 45 minutes box.
And there were usually a couple of bands because nobody had all that much equipment.
know, people used to share equipment then.
(07:48):
So the changeovers weren't a big deal.
It was never slick, you know, but it was all very exciting because nobody really expectedtoo much.
So, yeah, two 45s or sometimes you would do two hours, two single hours.
they'd usually have break where another band came on or they'd play records.
(08:10):
Yep.
Now that makes sense.
Andy, when did the move come?
And I mentioned in the introduction to this show that you're obviously amulti-instrumentalist.
You're still very much a guitar player, et cetera.
But when did the move musically to introducing keyboards into your work?
that was with the herd, yeah.
uh
I was gonna ask you about the herd, so that's probably a good segue, yeah.
(08:33):
We had an organist, he had a Vox Continental and I can't remember his name, probably bestI don't.
Anyway, I thought I can play better than that.
That's ridiculous.
Because I just really, I really got into Jimmy Smith, Walk on the Wild Side and The Catand stuff like that.
(08:55):
And so I then taught my father into guaranteeing an L100 Hammond.
Wow.
Yeah, 800 pounds it was.
It's a fortune, yeah!
And it had the wrong vibrato on it.
I should have got an M100 for the Celeste.
(09:20):
Anyway, I got this and I was playing the organ then, so I thought that's pretty cool.
And that was...
So I played uh Hammond for a bit.
And um I sort of learned a bit about Hammond.
That's about the most technical I got working the draw bars.
(09:42):
I think I stopped back then learning.
oh
let's talk a little bit about The Hurt.
mean, they're obviously an extremely well respected band, it's sort of between 65 and 69.
Tell us about joining that and what you actually learned as a sort of young adult emergingmusician.
I think we changed our name to The Herd after Steve died in The Preachers.
(10:08):
It sort of morphed into another band and the line up changed ah so many people, it?
And then we ended up with the line up that we had and Howard and Blakely came along andsaid, ooh, I like these boys.
Let's use them as a vehicle for our songs.
(10:30):
And we didn't look back.
We followed in the giant footsteps of Dave D, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch.
And it sort of killed the band as it was.
We were building up a massive following, oh I mean, a big following.
uh Because we were a bit off the wall and this really normalized us and uh also made usfamous.
(11:01):
It was a bit of a cleft stick.
No, not a cleft, a double-edged fork, whatever, you know, thing.
oh
I went on and uh the herd fell apart.
went to, well, yeah, he actually wanted me, he really wanted me to go with him to joinSteve Marriott, but Steve didn't like me particularly.
(11:29):
I didn't like him either.
So that wouldn't have worked.
Well, Peter didn't like him either in the end.
So anyway, that's all.
And what was the sort of, um when the herd did break up, what was sort of the link in thenthat with joining Judas Jump and so on?
(11:51):
How did that sort of merge into that amazing outfit?
Where did you get your stuff from?
well I watched some videos, I loved some of the stuff, I thought it was great.
Videos of Judas Jump.
Yeah, there was uh one, well, sorry, when I say videos on YouTube, it was the albumrecording.
So there were a couple of songs I listened to.
(12:12):
I don't think they're actually videos of you playing.
Oh, no, I don't think they invented cameras then.
yeah, Judas Jump, it got together because Don Arden offered me quite a lot of money at thetime.
And
(12:34):
I took it.
It's like that kind of guy.
Along with Alan Jones from Aiming Corner.
And we sort of formed this band.
Luckily, Henry Spenetti came on board because he was the last drum of the herd.
And yeah, so it was a six piece band.
(12:56):
And Henry being the only one who could actually play his instrument.
That's the truth.
That is the
The rest of us were pretty rubbish.
And for some reason, I keep hearing all the time about people saying, Judith's town, yeah,fantastic.
(13:16):
They opened the Isle of Wight festival, which was apparently really a uh big point in somepeople's lives, the Isle of Wight festival.
I don't remember much about it, but...
Cause I wanted to talk about Island white.
Yeah.
I wanted to talk about Island white in 1970, Andy, because yeah, the lineup point in thatyear was pretty stellar.
(13:39):
So yeah, you don't have a lot of recollections of that.
No, no, I read the lineup the other day actually and it was fantastic.
All these big stars and then Judas Jumps.
was weird.
(14:00):
Well, look, I did look for video of you at Isla White 1970.
I don't think there's a lot of video full stop or if any, but yeah, sadly I wasn't able tofind any to prove you wrong or otherwise.
Thank you Andy, that's good recollection.
And before we get into status quo and subsequent work, I do want to talk about yoursession work.
(14:21):
So over the years and particularly back in that time, but ever since you've done a lot ofgreat session work.
And I want to ask you two specific.
One's Jerry Lee Lewis.
I'm fascinated by that, how that came about and what your thoughts were on.
I was sort of bundled into this studio with loads of people, head, hands and feet.
(14:42):
there were about 10 or 12 musicians coming and going, I think.
And I sat down at Fender Rhodes, which was next to the piano.
And Jerry Lee Lewis came and sat down next to me at the piano.
Shit.
(15:03):
And we did...
three or four tracks.
It was awesome.
I still have shivers thinking about it.
And I turned around once, I'm playing away there, everybody's making a noise.
I mean, it's a dreadful racket really.
(15:25):
And I look around and he's playing a solo with his foot in the studio.
Really, I couldn't believe it.
Anyway, we went in and hear the playbacks and it got to this bit.
And the solo sounded as though he was playing with his feet.
It was dreadful.
(15:48):
He didn't care.
He only ever did one take though.
It's like that was it.
no, no.
Him and Bob Dylan,
That's fascinating.
And look, I want to call back to your comments already in this interview Andy about howyou probably hadn't mastered your instrument that, you know, you're a bit of a rubbish
player.
The fact that, you know, you must have been bringing something substantial to the tablefor you to even be in those situations.
(16:14):
So it's a question I often ask, how bad is imposter syndrome with you?
And did you ever get over it?
Well, was quite good at copying Jimmy McGriff, if you like, and Jack McDuff, GrooveHolmes.
Quite good at that with The Herd.
When I got, I ended up with a split, I got an A100 at Concert Hammond.
(16:39):
um Split at great expense.
Anyway, I was quite good at that.
um And we did a lot of weird stuff.
And then before we met Howard and Blakely, before they came and took us in anotherdirection.
So I was reasonably good then.
(17:01):
In fact, yeah, I did.
Yeah, believe it or not, I did a couple of gigs, pub gigs with Dick Morrissey and TerrySmith.
Wow.
And I was playing the bass on the Hammond as well.
Yeah.
So I must've been reasonable at one point, but you know, it's all gone now.
(17:25):
Yeah, there comes the imposter syndrome again.
uh No, that's gold.
And um the other session piece I wanted to talk to you about is someone that I know isextremely easy to work with, and that's Roger Waters.
So I believe you had some involvement in the final cut, which just as an aside, I know itis very much underrated as a Pink Floyd album, but it's actually probably my second
(17:49):
favorite favorite album.
So just tell us about your recollections about that period.
Well, that came about because I did the wall.
Yeah, I was the surrogate Roger on the wall.
we did, I think we did two or three weeks rehearsal.
David was in charge.
And we were getting it together.
then, uh Roger's coming in.
(18:13):
ah Everybody's like that.
And Roger came in and em I thought, dear.
It was quite nerve wracking really.
And we're playing bass together.
This was his first or second day of rehearsal.
I'm really quite nervous because Roger hit this dreadful bum note, I mean, really bad.
(18:38):
And I said...
because I'm, don't know, I wasn't drunk, but I said to him, if you're going to play likethat, I want smaller billing.
And I got away with it.
um And for now.
Did Andy?
Did he laugh?
Yeah, well he did from that moment on we became quite firm friends and we were very closefor quite a long time.
(19:08):
We're not in touch anymore but at the time we went on holiday, he invited us to his placein France, we had a holiday there, spent Christmas together with the children.
I used to nip round and we'd play snooker all night.
That's amazing.
And I apologise, it's my poor research, but I hadn't picked up on the surrogate for thewall.
(19:30):
So you're talking about the amazing live tour.
Was it around 1979, 80 that there's the album?
Yeah.
Hey, look, look, I've still got this.
Oh wow.
Yeah, absolutely.
Wow.
That's amazing.
(19:50):
That's...
he's absolutely amazing.
um
Come to get down there.
Andy, I'll divert into that because that's again my poor research.
So tell us about, mean, that would have to have been your largest, 1979, that would havehad to have been your largest live shows you'd done to that date.
(20:14):
Would that be correct?
I don't think so.
did.
uh Quo did some very big ones.
I did.
Did some very big ones.
Well, I don't know if Nedworth was before that or after.
I can't remember.
That's okay.
Yeah, that's okay.
with the war, what are your recollections of that as a live show?
(20:36):
I I've seen video of I've played the album to death.
It's an amazing piece of work.
Obviously the music anyway, but the theatricality of it.
Any particular memories of playing those shows?
Yes, I have.
good.
most, far and away, the best, most satisfying work I've done, definitely.
(21:00):
It was really, it was perfect for me.
Bit of acting, bit of this, bit of that.
A few quick changes, fantastic, amazing staging.
I mean, even, you know, then it was just, it was awesome.
It was the whole thing was jaw dropping the wall, the way it all worked and the amount ofmoney spent.
(21:26):
I was standing at the back of the stadium in Culver City where we were rehearsing.
And Steve O'Rourke, the manager, Floyd's manager, lovely man.
We were just sort of humming and hollering and looking at the stage and it going on in thedistance.
(21:47):
And he said, Jesus, he said, I don't know, this better work.
And he used, he said, you he used swear words as well.
we're $2.8 million down on this so far.
(22:08):
Yeah.
which was an absolute fortune at the time.
It was 1979.
It was a lot of dough.
Absolutely.
And I thought, wow, this is just, this is amazing.
And then, and then, yeah, then ABBA walked in.
(22:28):
Well, I know, it was brilliant.
Yeah.
I digress, don't I?
Yeah.
all know this is the depression that's
It was very exciting.
The whole thing was really brilliant.
And so I need to ask you, even though it's not keyboard related, you said you were asurrogate for Roger.
(22:50):
Just because of the pure amount of movement and theatricality, you were literally playingthe bass or literally standing in for Roger in particular segments while he was perhaps
getting ready for others.
Like how did that actually work?
Well, I played the bass.
mean, Roger played a little bit, most of it, I don't think, went out front.
(23:13):
I had two guitars, my precision and his precision, which I took down to D, the E stringwas down to D for certain things.
And I would switch around for certain songs.
(23:33):
Wow.
I played the bass, too.
No, that's amazing.
And I do have to ask one keyboard related question.
During all that time, did you have any interactions with Rick Wright and any recollectionsabout his contribution?
Yeah, Rick contributed certainly to be a Volcar and Orange.
(23:57):
We had quite a lot of Volcar and Orange, which is nice.
He was a lovely man.
He really was lovely.
Yeah, shame.
Yeah, that was.
um
He threw a fantastic party after the war at his house near Cambridge.
(24:19):
It was awesome.
I ended up doing a double somersault over the handlebars of this track bike going roundthis.
And I lived.
Thankfully, thankfully.
No, thank you for that, Eddie.
That's not a digression at all, because that's such an iconic piece of music history thathold to us.
I really appreciate you sharing those parts.
(24:40):
So let's talk a little bit about Status Quo.
um obviously, know, please correct me if I'm wrong.
I know you did some recording work with them before then joining, obviously, as a fulltime member of the band.
Just tell us about the early days about what clicked and you ended up sort of integratingwith the full outfit.
We had the same management that was in the same offices above the Marquis at Water Streetin Soho in London.
(25:09):
And um we'd played gigs together, a lot of gigs together, in the very early days when we'dset up our own equipment and everything.
In fact, I remember one particular gig at the Dominion in Tottenham Court Road.
And em Francis remembers it as well.
(25:29):
Francis Rossi, he was really pissed off because we had a roadie and they didn't.
So that was good.
Anyway, we knew each other and out of nowhere, I got a call saying, can you come put somepiano on this?
I think it needs something else.
(25:50):
And I went along to the studio, I believe it was 4,500 times.
There was this...
in a terrible period of, it was seen like about three days on B, in the key of B, just hitsomething like that.
Yeah, do that.
(26:10):
Yeah.
Do that.
Yeah.
Keep going.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Where's the chord change?
That's good.
Good.
It was just went on and on.
And then the session, of course, I gotta go home now.
And then I got another call, you know, could you do this and do this?
(26:31):
So over the next two or three years, I played bits and pieces for the band.
And then I got a call saying, you cut, we're doing the next album in Sweden and can youcome over and join in because it's not going that well.
(26:57):
we have in trouble.
They wanted a bit of different color or something, or maybe just a different face, whoknows?
uh Well, I know, but I can't say.
And I went along and um we did um an album and em one of the songs, Pip Williams, theproducer, said, can you do a little bit intro on the front of this before we go there?
(27:27):
So I did this intro.
said, what about that?
He said, yeah, that's great.
Okay.
And that was Rockin' All Over the World.
uh that was the album.
so, you know, they wanted me in.
So that was it.
I thought, well, it's not really my kind of stuff.
don't really, you know, but I need the money.
I needed the money.
(27:48):
ah this won't last long.
I'll just take the job.
Be fine.
So basically I was a hard gun for a
a few years and in the end you know all right okay.
oh
And just some context there, Randy.
For our listeners and viewers, some context there too.
(28:10):
When you say this was initially in particular, not necessarily your cup of tea, it'sbecause from sort of 72 to 78, you'd release four albums that are incredibly diverse,
cover so many different...
Yeah.
I did get it.
I got it after a while.
And then I really got into it.
(28:31):
it's rock with sharp corners.
There are different bits to it.
It can be really good.
That's why people like it, I think.
Not quite sure why, but it does things that are sort of wrong.
(28:52):
But it works.
Most of the time it works.
And I do have to ask, I mean, from doing that session work to becoming a full-time memberof the band, my guess, and obviously I've not met any, you know, I've obviously not met
Rick or Francis or any of the guys who are sadly passed on, including Rick, but it appearsto me that sense of humour must have played a role in you fitting in, that it was as much
(29:19):
about the hangers, your chops.
Yeah, had to, one had to fit in and uh one did.
I mean, one didn't smoke much dope, but one fitted in.
Love it.
And so this is a hard question to keep sort of simple.
(29:42):
What was the approach you took over the time of Status Quo as far as keyboards as you youeveryone knows it's a very guitar driven band, but there's lots of great piano in
particular underneath and some organ and stuff as well.
How did you develop the sound over time where they were more amenable to having morekeyboards in and what was the sort of to and fro creatively there?
(30:06):
Well, Francis always wanted more, he wanted to move forward.
He was and is a massive Jeff Lynn fan and he's not content to just stay still.
He wants to try stuff.
mean, some of the time, yes, playing keyboards with a uh a guitar band, a rock guitar bandas loud as, well.
(30:36):
is it can be a thankless task.
And on the other hand, you get things that obviously rock and roll all over the world wasnice, but we would never have done had big hits like Margarita Time without or Living on
an Island.
(30:56):
So certain things did change, but I guess all bands have to change a bit, don't they, asthey go through the years.
And we have.
been through some years.
Absolutely.
And still continuing.
a new boy and I've been with the band for 47 years.
It is just it is the absolutely incredible story.
(31:18):
And I bet you've been asked this a million times and I apologize in advance, Andy.
But obviously one of the things I'm proudest of as a keyboard player is that the veryfirst notes heard at Live Aid were both yours and on a piano.
So but just moving that out to more broadly, what are your recollections of Live Aid?
(31:39):
Well, I think about it all.
I've never actually watched these since then.
They're just, you know, these are, that's it.
What do you do?
it was very, it was very exciting.
what are my recollections?
It was, um, I've never seen so many people.
(31:59):
It was just, but, uh, we were, I didn't really, I wasn't really processing the fact.
I knew I had to count it in.
I knew I had to play the first few bars all by my own, but I wasn't really processing thefact.
that 150 million people would be listening.
(32:22):
So it all went quite well.
I was just sort of quiet.
And we just did it.
Or I just did it.
I think everybody was feeling different stuff.
But yeah, I just uh treated it like another session, another gig.
(32:43):
Yeah, which is probably an extremely sensible approach.
I got away with it, yeah.
I think some people were very, very nervous.
Very nervous.
Had you guys done, were you already on tour and this was just another gig or you had to dosome rehearsal in the lead up?
Well, the band had, we just, did the End of the Road tour in 1984.
(33:07):
A big, big, a lot of people were sniveling away.
Milton Keynes, he played to a very, very big audience and it was the last show that wasit, End of the Road.
And then sure enough, in true rock form, we reformed again.
(33:30):
without certain members, we reformed.
But yes, we decided, it was decided, it wasn't mine, just thought, I just went along withit.
Francis and Rick and Alan decided to do Live Aid.
So Alan came over from Australia and everybody got back together and hadn't seen eachother for years, or a year and a half, two years.
(33:57):
um
We had...
Oh.
think we had at least five or six days of rehearsing three numbers.
Because a lot of it with State Pro is it's physical as well.
I mean, especially a 19 minute set now, know, when we're we've got combined age of 2000 orwhatever it is.
(34:28):
You know, it's tough.
Look, it is indeed tough even as a 50 something that only plays a handful of gigs.
Yeah, I feel it the next day so I can only imagine.
do want to ask you Andy, just without going into specifics because I understand you won'tbe able to go into specifics, but you alluded to the fact that bands go through rough
(34:50):
patches.
What's the secret given that it's, you know, over 50 years aside from personnel changes?
What's kept things running relatively smoothly?
it?
you know, more tolerance for each other.
What tends to be your secret to getting on?
You have to, em you just have to get on with it a lot of the time.
(35:11):
I mean, there is the one thing, especially if you're touring on a bus, which one I like todo because I sleep well on a bus, but there is no privacy.
That's a difficult thing.
And you tend to hear the same jokes, you know, that's, I won't go to the gross bit, butit's,
(35:35):
It's quite, it gets quite earthy and you just have to get on with it.
However, at the end of the day, which is usually a gig day, because you can't waste money,at the end of the day, you get a payback.
You've done the gig.
It's great.
(35:55):
You've done the gig.
Hopefully they love you.
You had a great time or it's been good or not so good, but at least you've done your day'swork.
Then you can have a couple of drinks, go to bed or have some nice pasta or something whilewe're rushing away to the next town overnight and eating on the bus.
(36:20):
uh But you've done your job.
So that's good.
It's every day there's a reward.
So that does help a great lot, a great deal.
And I do need to ask you, just with your most recent tour, what is your standard keyboardrig now with status quo when you do go out on the road?
(36:42):
It's piano, RD, I'm still using the same RD, whatever it is, but okay.
And I've got the new digital Hammond.
Ah, Almond leg, but really good.
And very powerful, the digital Leslie that goes with it, which it's so loud.
(37:05):
It's awesome.
It's deafening.
And that's mic'd up, obviously.
And I play, I still play the same synth, just for little bits that we have.
But of course they have to sound the same.
So I don't, I don't really like synthesizers.
(37:27):
I like messing about, but I'm not, I'm not a synth player really.
I just do bits on it.
You know, basically it's piano and Hammond and
and what you yeah what was
Who's a rock hammer and rock piano?
Absolutely.
And do you remember that?
(37:48):
What is the synth if it comes to mind straight away, Andy?
What is the one that you've used for many years?
tell it, well, I can describe it.
It's got like white and black notes.
Do you know?
I can't.
don't, well the model numbers are so hard, I struggle to remember my own rig.
I'll take it.
(38:11):
It'll come to you at 3 a.m.
in the morning.
No, thank you for that Eddie, that's uh amazing insight.
And I do wanna cover off your solo work because I've been enjoying the hell out of it thelast few weeks and I've already mentioned about the four albums and then you've got the
fifth album, Unfinished Business that you came back to do.
around a decade or two ago, sorry.
(38:34):
Just tell us about what itch that continues to scratch for you because your output isamazing.
As I've already mentioned, so diverse.
you know, obviously you're keen to still contribute there.
Yeah, it's kind of you say it's diverse and it is diverse and that I think has been mygreat mistake over the years.
(38:55):
Seriously.
On solo stuff, I've always tried to do, or it's just come out as very varied.
And I think that's a bad idea, a really bad idea.
But...
Yeah, in fact, there's a couple of, there's one track on unfinished business that itshouldn't be there because it's just wrong.
(39:23):
The rest of it's great though, buy it, yeah.
I do love it.
In fact, there's a song uh on it called When the Lights Went On.
I was there when the lights went on.
And that tells the story of the wall and em the Jerry Lee Lewis session and other stuffand all my new best friends that I met.
(39:49):
No, we'll definitely be linking to that and also love the track, Ruby and Roy, the firsttrack, because you literally say you can't just stop because you've had enough.
And I think that's what a lot of us feel like in the music industry at different times.
Yeah, yes, that was Roy Wood and me drinking gin in Aberdeen.
(40:12):
It was a big night.
That's great.
And the other one that we'll be linking to is I absolutely love the Rubber Gloves song andthe video.
I think I must have watched that 20 times over the last last couple of weeks.
Just even to create a video clip of that quality, as you know, the money isn't in videoclips anymore.
And I'm sure you probably didn't make a lot of money on it, but it's amazing clip.
(40:36):
thank you.
No, didn't make any money.
no.
Well, it might do now, you know, if you going.
The riff has been taken up by Australian perm, a gas perm.
It's being used for some advertisements in Australia.
(40:58):
That's funny.
I'll be doing my research on that one.
That's great.
ah
gas can't hold.
There's a few, yeah.
It's got like AMG or something, but it isn't that.
AGL.
There's an AGL gas.
Anyway, don't worry, will do my research.
(41:19):
Now, I do want to ask you, and I promise this is asked of all guests, not just people thathave got uh longer standing careers.
And that's what advice would you give to an aspiring keyboard player in particular who maybe just starting out and trying to establish themselves?
If you had to provide any guidance, what would it be?
That is the perennial interesting question.
(41:40):
And it was answered by Buddy Rich on a coast to coast big chat show.
I think a six year old boy called in, telephoned in live and asked the same question.
And Buddy Rich leaned towards the mic and said, slit your wrists.
(42:08):
Well...
So my advice would be to either throw yourself in 25 hours a day or decide to do it parttime and have a decent job as well.
But basically it's hard work.
(42:29):
You've got to want to really, really want to.
You've got to be really, I mean, I'm lazy.
I'm so lazy.
It's just wrong.
It doesn't work.
It hasn't worked.
I don't think you think it has, but it has.
It's uh hard work.
You've got to work hard.
(42:49):
You've got to be prepared to really work hard and also take the knocks.
But then I guess anybody would say that, wouldn't they?
That's still valuable.
And I think the taking the knocks is an important thing.
And it does segue into uh one of our regular questions where an example of something wheresomething's gone spectacularly wrong for you on stage.
So you can look back and laugh now.
And I do, I do just want to say before you go in, you had the perfect opportunity to havethe best train wreck ever by mangling that intro to Rockin' Around the World at Live Aid.
(43:18):
If you'd mangled that, that would still be talked about today and be the best train wreckever.
That gives me...
That's really worrying.
That's terrible.
That's going to be a bad dream now.
Thanks.
uh I know you told me you were going to ask this question and I can't think of any realmangling train wrecks.
(43:42):
Except I do remember how I messed something up really badly.
It was a gig with The Herd.
In the fairly early days, you were a good band or you were lucky band, you would play gigsat universities.
(44:03):
And it was good money.
And it was a good crack.
We went to this university, I think it might have been Exeter, to do the gig.
And I'd been given by somebody three spliffs with...
cannabis in them, not grass.
(44:24):
And at the time I drank rum.
I had always had half a bottle of rum.
And before the show, we arrived early and set up and stuff and then we go off and andsteal something to eat, which I couldn't find.
Anyway, I smoked one of these things and nothing happened.
(44:46):
So I smoked another one and nothing happened.
And then I drank
loads of rum and then I'll smoke the other one and then the next thing I sort of woke upand I'm looking up and there's a lavatory here uh and the herd's playing on the stage and
(45:08):
I'm in this lavatory.
I've no idea what I'm doing and I can hear the band playing.
Anyway I staggered to the stage
and sort of walked on and they looked at me, uh and um luckily it was still playing organso I sat down.
(45:34):
I sat down at the organ for about the next two 45 minutes box and I did a lot of the leadsinging and I couldn't remember the words, I didn't know which verse I was in, I couldn't
make any announcements.
I was just a sniveling Rick.
(45:55):
So I guess that's a bit of a man.
uh
That's one of the best ones I've heard.
I love them waking up in the toilet.
That's brilliant.
Yeah, it was horrible.
I love it.
um And the other one Andy we quite often ask is we ask each guest to tag a keyboardplayer.
And what I mean by that is there's some keyboard player out there over the years you'veadmired or respected or and that if you had a choice, you'd like to hear more about their
(46:22):
life story in music.
um Bill Payne.
Thankfully we've had him on and yeah, what an amazing guy.
that he can really play.
I met him once, he was lovely, really nice.
uh He's fantastic player and a great songwriter.
(46:43):
I mean, Atlanta.
Yeah.
Yeah, we had the privilege.
Bill talked for so long and I mean this in a positive way that we did a two part with BillPayne a couple of years back.
He was amazing.
Great guy.
uh No, thank you.
I could look that up, can't I?
Yeah, I'll send you the link.
he was great.
(47:06):
yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then we have the dreaded Desert Island Discs question.
Andy, so five albums, if you had to choose five albums to take to a Desert Island, whatwould they be?
Well, I've got no idea.
I had to write the list because I would.
(47:27):
You didn't say Desert Island when this, but the great influence was possibly the greatest.
I mean, really hard to condense, isn't it?
Then Dirty Blues by Cannibal Adderley.
Yeah, wow.
em And Natalie.
And that's how I got to hear it.
(47:47):
My brother played all these.
I was lucky.
We had a uh Bush record player and he played all this stuff.
And that's how I got to find Bobby Timmons, who really turned me on.
thought, yeah, this is it.
Great.
And moaning.
I thought it was fabulous.
(48:08):
That really blew me away.
And then
Other big songs, big albums, West Side Story, Oscar Peterson trio.
I play it all the time.
It's just brilliant.
I like the original West Side Story as well.
(48:28):
The original stuff with Bernstein.
I love it.
Yeah.
And I love the show as well.
Yeah, my first wife actually was in the original London cast.
Rosalie, yeah, that was exciting.
Let's see, um obviously, me and almost everybody else, the Nightfly.
(48:55):
Yes.
Yep.
It has come up three or four times, but deservedly so.
Yeah, Donald Fagan is obviously well renowned.
Yeah, I mean, it's easy to forget.
It's it's pre pro tools.
mean, it's awesome.
(49:16):
Just the separation.
What else have I got here?
Oh, yeah.
Famous Blue Raincoat, Jennifer Warns.
yeah.
Lenor Cohen songs.
Beautiful.
Fantastic.
I mean, that's the best voice, isn't it?
Really?
The best female voice.
Yes.
The best male voice being Ray Charles.
(49:39):
I don't know.
It's difficult, isn't it?
Well, that's another album I like.
Dedicated to you, Ray Charles.
Goes back a long way, along with the late late show, Dakota Stanton.
This is going back a long, long time.
Of course, a blue, Joni Mitchell, obviously.
I mean, this isn't, yeah, and the hissing of Summer Lawns.
(50:03):
The Beatles, with The Beatles, really impressive.
That's it.
James Taylor, American Standard.
I love it.
It's just, it's got everything.
Cause they are the best songs that have ever been written with the best baritone.
(50:24):
the best feel.
mean, the guitar work, I can't remember the name of the guy that he worked with.
It was obviously a great influence on him.
just, everything about it is beautiful.
Beautiful.
I made notes here.
Oh yeah, On the Road Again, I know, yeah, Canned Heat, fabulous.
(50:45):
These are big for me, years and years ago, and they've stayed with me.
um
Yeah, Dimples, John Lee Hooker.
What I'm going to do Andy is, um and you're not unique in that many people choose morethan five, I'll pick the five that haven't been chosen before and there are five in there
(51:08):
that haven't been chosen before across 140 episodes.
So that's amazing.
Thank you.
You mean you're not going to choose the Nightfly?
Is that what you're saying?
now I'll add it in as an honorable mention.
I will mention the others as honorable mentions.
uh
you've got to have a side story, dirty blues and famous blue raincoat.
(51:28):
Yes, absolutely.
They're all unique ones that haven't been chosen before, honestly.
They're great.
You just reminded me, I actually jammed with John Lee Hooker.
Alright, you've gotta go on now.
Keep going.
In my dressing room, yeah, he just, we were doing a gig, John Lee Hooker was, I think wewere supporting him and he walked in.
(51:59):
And that, I guess it was long time ago, it just sat down and we started playing.
then I said, no, you can't change there.
I'm telling you, if you can't, it's not, that's not 12 bar.
gotta, it's changed now.
I mean really.
temerity lovely man lovely man
(52:24):
I love that.
That's absolutely gold.
We do have our final question, Andy, and I know we've got to let you go, but we call itour quick fire 10.
So it's just 10 short answers to 10 fairly quick questions.
The first one being, do you recall what the first album was you heard that made an impacton you, whether it's as a child or a teenager?
(52:47):
Again, what's one that stands out to you?
ah Night on a Bear Mountain by Mieczorski.
My mother used to play it.
There you go.
Great.
Love it.
uh Before a gig, so let's use status quo as the example.
Before a gig, what is your most important pre-gig ritual so you feel settled before you goon stage?
(53:09):
a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
Nice, New Zealand make the best wines.
um If you hadn't been a musician, what do you think your career choice would have been?
Grave Digger.
advertising.
Yeah.
oh
I'd buy something from you.
(53:30):
um Favourite tour you've ever done, if that's at all possible across your whole career, isthere a tour that stood out for you as particularly special?
Maybe it's The Wall or whatever.
Yeah, the wall is oh the standout above all the other standouts, yeah.
Yeah.
Favorite city you've ever played if that's possible.
(53:51):
is so, I love Melbourne.
I like Bolzano in Italy.
I love Munich.
Have you ever counted up the countries you visited Andy?
Have you ever undertaken that exercise?
No, no, haven't.
But I've never been to India or China.
(54:11):
Okay.
So but I've been yeah, I've been lucky.
I have seen quite a lot.
Now this is an even harder question.
If you had to pick out one gig that is the favourite you've ever done, what would it be?
The...
a single gig?
Well, if I had to pick out one gig...
(54:33):
it wasn't The Wall, one of The Wall shows, would have been...
Standout, I suppose it has to be Live Aid or...
Nedworth...
Was Queen at Nedworth?
We did a show somewhere with Queen, a particular standout show.
(54:54):
I can't remember.
Nedworth was good, yeah.
Yeah, Nebworth's amazing.
And then a song that you used to love, but you've now played it to death, so probably nota favourite anymore.
I would say one of the first three or four Beatles hits.
Hold your hand.
I want to hold your hand.
(55:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I've had enough of that.
Yep, fair enough.
em Is there a music documentary or movie that you particularly have loved over the yearsthat you've watched and it's either represented your reality or you just liked it as a
music documentary or movie?
Absolutely it does, yeah.
(55:35):
very much.
All round.
Well, have you ever seen the documentary and I've looked for it the last few years andhaven't been found.
There was a lovely documentary about Bernstein and his work on West Side Story and theactual conducting of the orchestra.
I'm not sure it was for the original recording.
Yeah, I'm desperate to find that again, if anyone's aware of that.
(55:57):
Yes, he wasn't an easy man.
No, he looked...
However.
There's a remake, isn't there?
Yes, I've heard, yeah, I've heard, yes, I believe so, yeah.
That's pretty disgusting, isn't it?
Yeah, well, I don't know how you follow it up.
Yeah, that's right.
No, I agree.
Name one thing you'd like to see invented that would make your life as a keyboard playereasier.
(56:23):
This is very strange, David.
I mean, I'd never felt like a keyboard player.
Yeah, because you're well, that's true.
Yeah.
just don't something to make it easier.
I read, no, I didn't read.
I heard somewhere that Cole Porter used a capo sort of effect.
He had a piano made where I shift it, but he would always play and see.
(56:47):
And I only recently learned I bought a with all his every all his lyrics in it.
And I recently learned that that was bollocks.
But
Were it true, you could have everything in G, couldn't you?
Yeah.
(57:08):
If your status quo, could have the lovely stuff that was always Bs and F sharps.
That's right.
Yeah.
God, made me feel quite comfortable with some of it.
I love it, that's a great answer.
And last but not least, what keeps you sane outside of music, Andy?
So do you have a non-musical activity, a hobby that you enjoy doing?
(57:29):
keeps me sane.
I've never been actually certified sane.
like...
um
I've got a place in the country.
like it down there.
like...
What keeps me sane?
(57:50):
I think the thought that one day I'm going to get down to it and do some really somethinggood, maybe.
Pay attention, but you know, it's running out now.
mean, I've got to face reality.
I don't, just, like pottery.
I like cooking.
I like cooking.
(58:11):
um And look, I mean, contrary to your own opinion, I'd argue you've been cooking acrossmany instruments over many years.
I think you're an amazing musician and who also brings a heap of intelligence and wit tohis work.
um Cannot thank you enough uh for joining us, Andy.
We've barely scratched the surface, but I know we both need to dash, but yeah, cannotthank you enough.
(58:36):
It's been a pleasure.
can add that I wish I'd played the...
I wish I'd learned the sax.
Alto.
Alto sax.
Thanks, David.
I'm just in awe of his work.
mean, what a great musician on top of his keyboard, playing his guitar work, everythingelse he does.
(59:01):
Um, and you know, just even little things like being the first guy to play any musicalnotes at Live Aid, you know, that alone I could die happy with, but Andy's obviously done
so much more than that.
So yeah, cannot thank Andy enough for his time.
That was absolutely amazing.
Um, and I always appreciate you taking the time to listen or watch as well.
really do appreciate it.
(59:21):
A quick shout out to our gold and silver sponsors, Mr.
Dewey Evans from the Sunnyland of Wales.
Thank you, sir, for your ongoing support and also a lovely sunny land of that beingCanada, the lovely Tammy Katcher from Tammy's Musical Stew.
Thank you, Tammy, as always.
We also have Mr.
Mike Wilcox from Midnight Mastering.
Great guy and delivers great work if you're after someone to do a brilliant job of mixingand mastering your own creations or any other audio project you have, to be honest.
(59:51):
And last but definitely not least the team at themusicplayer.com forums and the keyboardcorner in particular.
Lots of great discussion in there.
I know I've been jumping in and out the last few days.
Again, it's one of my homes that I just love jumping in and talking keyboards.
cannot recommend it highly enough.
So if you'd like to keep in touch, we do love hearing from you.
(01:00:12):
Editor at keyboardchronicles.com is our email address.
We're on all the socials.
We love hearing from you on there as well.
If you are listening on audio, you'd like to check out our YouTube channel.
You will find it quite easily just by typing in keyboard Chronicles and otherwise, yeah,just reach out in any way you see fit.
So again, thank you for listening.
(01:00:33):
We'll be back again in a week or two and until then keep on playing.
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