January 6, 2024 • 32 mins
You may know Terry Draper from his tenure with the classic Canadian band Klaatu. Did you know he has just released his 20th solo record? His new release "In the beginning" is a quirky prog pop collection featuring solid songwriting & solid performances throughout.
And this time Terry harkens back to the glory days of album packaging as inspired by the classic albums from the Beatles, Pink Floyd etc..
I reached him at his winter home in Florida to talk about In the beginning.
While we certainly do discuss his new album, Terry spent the better part of our chat praising the artists he's worked with both on this & previous projects.
All aboard for this inspired conversation!
Get In the beginning at this site: https://www.terrydraper.com/
And maybe buy me a coffee if you like my show?
Here's where you can support Tommy Solo's Famous Friends :
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tsolobandq
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tommy-solo-s-famous-friends--4318572/support.
And this time Terry harkens back to the glory days of album packaging as inspired by the classic albums from the Beatles, Pink Floyd etc..
I reached him at his winter home in Florida to talk about In the beginning.
While we certainly do discuss his new album, Terry spent the better part of our chat praising the artists he's worked with both on this & previous projects.
All aboard for this inspired conversation!
Get In the beginning at this site: https://www.terrydraper.com/
And maybe buy me a coffee if you like my show?
Here's where you can support Tommy Solo's Famous Friends :
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tsolobandq
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tommy-solo-s-famous-friends--4318572/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:17):
Welcome to Tommy Solo's Famous Friends.This is where I get to chat with
people I've connected with over the yearsin the world of arts and entertainment,
and today I'm very happy to havewith me Terry Draper, who has a
brand new album out called in theBeginning. Now, it's interesting that before
we hit record, we were talkingabout the fact that this is your twentieth
(00:38):
solo record, but it wasn't whereyou started out. You've been at this
since God like, weren't you onthe arc? My good grief. So
let's just have a little recap ofwhat got you into the business before you
started. Yeah, I have beendoing this a while, Tommy. Actually,
someone was saying to me the otherday that this new record it's really
(00:59):
good good. I said, well, you know, I've been doing this
for over fifty years. I'm startingto get the hang of it, you
know. But back in the sixtiesI played in a bunch of bar bands
with Virgil Scott and all sorts ofpeople and just had a grand old time.
Nineteen seventy, John Wallis Chuck andI put a band together, just
a recording act actually called White Male, and released a forty five that's a
(01:26):
very small record that you play atforty five revolutions per minute. I'm down
here in Florida, so people mightthink it's something other than a record,
you know. Anyway, that wason Cron Records a song that John wrote
called I'm Dream Dating. So thatwas my first foray into vinyl. And
(01:48):
then we formed the band mud Cowwith de Long, who I'd met back
in the sixties at a Battle ofthe bands. He was in a band
called the Polychromatic Experiment. What agreat name, and they were a really
good band. So when John andI were looking to form a band doing
sort of semi pseudo progressive rock,I actually call it progressive pop, I
(02:10):
remembered d and what a talent hewas and hunted him down through some friends
in the grapevine the music industry,and we formed a band called mud Coow.
Don't ask me why it was calledmud Coow. John had a dream
one night. We called it Mudcow. Well, that band did some recording
but never released anything, and itfell apart. I can remember the afternoon
(02:35):
it fell apart. We were playingat the Trenton Hotel and we were just
getting ready to do the Saturday afternoonMattinee. God, I hated those things.
And the manager called us into hisoffice because he wanted us to meet
Misty and she was going over ourset list, deciding on which songs she
(02:55):
was going to strip to, andyeah, it was Trenton. And when
the meeting was over and we werewalking back up the stairs to the fourth
floor to our dormitory, Dee turnedaround to all of us and said,
that's it. I'm done. Hesaid, I quit playing the bars years
ago because didn't want to do this, and we tried, and here we
(03:20):
are backing up strippers, playing ProudMary and jumping Jack Flash, you know,
and we're still doing our originals.In fact, that band used to
play Dear Christine Aklattoo song, andthere was another one or two, I
think Anus of Uranus we played abit. There was a few songs that
were you know. Anyway, thatband collapsed that night and everybody went their
(03:44):
separate ways, and then John hookedup with Terry Brown and him and Dee
did a record and they weren't thrilledwith the session drummers. They were getting.
Editors know. At this point inour conversation, Terry is about to
tell us how the influenced band Klatuwas formed. Now back to the show.
(04:05):
So John called me up to seeif I wanted to join a band,
and like an idiot, I saidyes. So we did a bunch
of singles. The first single cameout in seventy three. John and d
did sub Rosa Subway Back with Heinusof Uranus, and then I came along
and we put a California jam throughLife Hero and eventually, of course we
(04:30):
finished the album. That took threeyears, and we had a record out,
an actual LP in nineteen seventy six. Yeah, there was a secession
of records. We did five studioalbums. There's a couple of bestus and
collections and a rarities package at DoubleCD. And then we did a reunion
(04:51):
concert two thousand and five that's alsoon record and CD. And then while
back in ninety seven and I putout my first solo album Light years later,
and here we are in twenty twentythree with my twentieth solo album.
In the beginning, it's been aninteresting ride, no kidding. I just
(05:13):
want to touch on the fact thatfor quite a while people thought that Cloud
two was secretly the Beatles that hadto be quite the experience for you guys.
I know we've beaten that to deathover the years, but that's quite
the way to start your recording career, really to be mistaken for the Beatles.
And there were no photos of youguys on that album, so well,
that was part of our credo waslet the music speak for itself.
(05:39):
And this was the mid seventies.We're living in a world of hype and
glam rock. And you know,if Mick Jagger walked by your studio while
you were recording, he got acredit. And all the pictures of all
the bands, the fans were on, everybody's scarves and hair were blowing in
the wind, and it was Imean, it just was all so very
(06:01):
incidental, and we were very seriousabout what we were doing musically, and
when John suggested that we don't useany names or photos, we all jumped
on it. This is long beforethe first album came out back in seventy
four, I think, and soI took it upon myself to find us
(06:25):
an artist who could project the soundwe were attempting, and I looked at
dozens of artists and finally one dayI met Ted Jones, and I remember
going home that night, calling Johnup, I said, hey, John,
guess what. I found the guy? And then we had this lovely
relationship with Ted. Him and Ibecame best of friends up until he's passing
(06:49):
a year and a half ago.But and Ted's done over half my own
album covers. The twenty I've done, Ted's done over half of them because
he just kept painting and I keptrecording, and it was a beautiful thing.
Well, he certainly was a verygifted and talented artist. I mean
inspired falls short, that's for sure. We are here to talk about in
(07:13):
the beginning. And it's a brilliantrecord. And I have to think,
you know, last time I sawyou in person was at Al Mayer's Celebration
of Life at Roy Thompson Hall inToronto, and I said, oh,
I think I missed that, youknow, the timeline to talk to you
about your new album, And yousaid, well, I'll be starting another
one in a month whatever. Andso I just have to think, when
(07:35):
do you ever sleep? I mean, you've got so much going on and
on this record, there aren't verymany musicians. You do almost all of
it, like you eat and sleepand breathe the art and we'll be right
back after this. Since we boughta place down here near Clearwater, Florida,
(08:13):
seven years ago, we've now gotinto this routine of spending six months
here and then six months at home, plus traveling all over the place because
our sons live helter skelter ones inAustralia, the other ones in Turkey,
so we do a lot of boppingaround. But the way it's working out
(08:33):
now is that I get down hereand I feel like I'm on holiday.
But I have a little studio hereat a piano, and you know,
I spend a lot of time puttingaround in the water. That's when a
lot of the lyrics come together,you know, because it's just going through
my head earworms. Talk about anearworm. I'll start writing a song and
work on it for like weeks,and so it just it just it invades
(08:58):
my whole existence. So then Ido the sketches down here, and then
when we go home after six months, I got a bunch of new songs
that I've written and sketched, andI take the MIDI data and I plug
it into the big rig at homeinto the studio, and then use all
the fancy samples and get it allhappening, and then do the vocals and
(09:20):
ask this one to play guitar andthat one to do background vocals, and
I just pull it all together.So it's funny. I got back down
here a month ago and the album'sdone. I got the CDs manufactured,
and it's like, I realized Ihadn't written a song in three or four
months because I've been so busy pullingall the pieces together for this one.
(09:43):
And so I'm thinking, well,three or four months, that's a long
time. Maybe my muse has left. And a week later, I'd written
two new songs. So yeah,that's just the way it is. I
spend the summer recording and pulling itall together and the winter writing, so
it's working out well. I getan album out just in time for Christmas
(10:05):
every year. That certainly is something. How you maintain that pace away And
you mentioned how you get obsessed withthe songs. When I'm working on a
new record, I literally hear thesong that I'm working on a part.
I hear it in my sleep,you know. Yeah, you wake up
and go to the bathroom in themiddle of the night. Maybe you don't
(10:26):
tell me, but I do.And there it is, it's in my
head. I'm sitting there having awhiz and it's like the song, So
Jesus Christ, can I get somesleeper? The thing is that inspiration comes
from everywhere, the strangest places.I never sit down in the piano and
start writing. Well, I do, but I never use what I've written.
(10:50):
Melodies and lyrics don't mean anything.If I don't have the idea or
a lyric to start with, thenI don't know what I'm trying to do.
I don't know whether should I bein a minor mode? Should be
a happy song? Am I sad? What's going on? I have no
idea until I have a subject matter. Last year, I was watching this
(11:11):
TV program on Adventurers and Explorers andthey were talking about Magellan, the first
man to sail around the world.And so as I'm watching this show and
they're telling me the history of allthis, Ferdinand Magellan died in the Philippines.
His first captain, Sebastiano Altano,sailed his ship home back to Seville
(11:35):
in Spain, and King Charles grantedhim a coat of arms, and in
Latin, his coat of arms says, first to navigate the globe first to
encircle the globe. That's the wordthey use. And it's just like,
let's wait a minute, hold on, hold on. My grade five history
book, Pirates and Pathfinders said thatMagellan was the first man to go around
(11:58):
the world world, but he didn't. It was this other fellow. And
I said, well, this isgreat. I got to share this information
with everybody. And rather than runaround and retell the story, I sat
down with pen and paper at thepiano and I sing the song from the
first person. I am Sebastiano Welcano. You know me, not nor my
work, but I am first tocircumnavigate the earth. And so here it
(12:24):
is that I'm telling this. It'sonly three and a half minute long song,
but it tells this little story abouta fact I never knew. And
I've study this stuff. I lovehistory, so I had to share that.
So inspiration can come from absolutely anywhere. Right, Well, you know
that's interesting. I was going toask you about Sebastian Alcano. And you
know what's stuck in my head rightnow, there's a breeze. It's the
(12:48):
wind in the willows. So windin the willows, the children's stories?
What brought that to your Consciousness.I always loved that story. Kenneth Graham
was the author. I remember readingit when I was young. I remember
reading it to my kids when theywere little, and it's always just interested
(13:11):
me. I'm an avid reader.So I guess I started all Aboard,
I don't know, a long timeago, and I always loved mister Toad.
There's an affinity I have for him. I think there's something similar about
our personalities. He's a little boisterous, a little full of himself, a
little humble on the other side.Here reminds me of Ralph Cramdon from The
(13:33):
Honeymooners, and I identify with Ralphtoo. You know, his old worst
enemy is himself. So this songall Aboard's been kicking around for ten years,
and every once in a while I'llpull it out and look at it,
whatever plots with it for a fewdays, and then go do something
else, you know. And thelast time I pulled it out was last
(13:56):
year or earlier this year, Iguess, and I said, you know
what, I'm going to finished thisone. And that beautiful voice that you
were imitating so nicely is Brenda Webb. Good friend of mine. She sang
on the last seven eight albums ofmine done the background vocals. She missed
one because of COVID. But it'sreally interesting story. I met Brenda ten
(14:18):
or twelve years ago. This oldfriend of mine I played in a band
with in nineteen sixty seven called theKingdom Show Band. Rick Hicks, the
bass player. He calls me upout of the blue forty years later and
he says, hey, I'm puttingtogether this tribute band. I want you
to be in it. I saidreally, He says, yeah, I
want you to play drums. Isaid, drums ring. I haven't played
(14:41):
drums in years. I have thisJapanese drummer does everything I tell him.
So he says, well, thisis what I want to do, and
I said okay. I said,well, let me take a listen.
My wife got the CD for Christmas. I'll get back to you. So
I went and listened to Adele eighteenand the music's not in my wheelhouse,
(15:01):
but it's really good. And soI called Rick the next day. I
said, Rick, you got agirl that can sing this shit? He
says, I do. I said, all right, I'm in and then
I went and sat down at thekit every day for an hour trying to
relearn how to play the drums.That's my first instrument that I started on
with the drums. So anyway,I ended up meeting this woman and we
(15:22):
called the band an evening with theDell and Brenda, who's fifty something and
kind of thin, would put ona red wig and garish makeup and a
foam suit and then affect your cockneyaccent. So this is albertole is he
and she would transform herself into aDell and then sing like that. She's
(15:45):
fabulous, and so I've been enlistingher services ever since. We've become very
close over the years. Yeah.Well, she certainly has a fine voice,
no doubt. One other musician that'son the record that caught my attention
is Fernando Perdomo. You know,I discovered him kind of by accident when
PR company. He sent me arelease from Carmine, a piece so it's
(16:10):
a piece for Dermo running up thatHill. And I listened to that and
I thought, okay, well,Carmine obviously is brilliant, but because it's
a guitar player, like, ohmy god, I got to talk to
this guy, because I do aseries Guitar Talk where it's just talking about
six strings and everything you can dowith them, and you know, he
immediately said, yeah, let's doit. He's such a humble and open
(16:32):
guy and brilliant guitar player. Andhe claims that he's not a shredder.
He certainly can shred it. Imean the fact that he doesn't tap or
whatever, the fact that he doesn'ttap, that doesn't mean he's not a
shredder, you know. But he'sa melodic player and plays on pigs Ears
from your new record. And thefirst thing I because I didn't know who
played on what. I'm just listeningin my truck and I thought, I'll
(16:53):
bet you that's Fernando because he's playingthe melody, you know, the pig
ears into person and then he putsa little flare onto it. But yeah,
brilliant player. I mean, howdid you connect with him? Initially
through the internet. Facebook, there'sa site called Platuo Rocks and I go
(17:15):
there frequently and see what's going on. And the first time I think I
saw Fernando, he had on ablack T shirt that said just relax,
chill out and then listen to orwhatever, and it's a plato on his
t shirt. Editor's note. Thetrendy phrase that neither Terry nor I could
remember in the heat of the conversationwas the whole stay calm and trend,
(17:40):
So Fernando's T shirt likely would havesaid stay calm and listened to Clatt two.
Now back to the show, andsomebody posted it on that site,
and I thought, oh, that'skind of cool. So we got talking,
and I've done a few things forhim over the years. I've played
on a couple of his songs.He actually got me to sing one.
(18:02):
He put out an album of allof his songs sung by other people,
and I did this song for him. Turned out really nice. I actually
played the drums as well and alittle mellotron on it because I was having
so much fun. And then lastyear I was doing Bread and Circus,
and the song bread and Circus inparticular, I wanted to have that Robert
(18:25):
Fripp ping Crimson wildness. I wantedthis to be right on the edge bread
and Circus. What I'm actually singingabout is an old Roman phrase that they
would say, you give the peasantsthe populace, give them bread and circus.
Make sure you feed them and givethem wine and entertain them the coliseum.
(18:45):
So when I look around me today, especially living down here in the
States, what do I see butbread and circus, you know, keep
the masses entertained, keep them fed. It's all smoking mirrors, it's all
showmanship. It's all so anyway,that's what it's about. And I wanted
the song to have a real edge. So I sent Fernando a message.
(19:06):
I said, hey, I'm workingon this song and I'm looking for a
little frippery. Are you interested?He said, fabulous, Send me the
song. So I sent him thesong. He sent me back the tracks
the next day, which you know, most people take a few weeks,
you know. Sometimes I got tocajole them a little. No, he
sent them right back the next dayand they were brilliant, and we'll be
(19:29):
right back after this, And Iasked him to play some guitar. And
then, because I grabbed these bitsand pieces that people send me and they
(19:53):
don't always end up where they playedthem, I'll grab this and put it
over here. I'll take it,reverse it, you know. I like
to play with audio and have somefun with it. And so it turned
out great. And when this onecame along, I sent him the song.
I said, here's a little threeminute ditty about songwriting, because that's
(20:14):
what I'm writing about. It's turninga pig's ear into a purse. And
this is what we do when wewrite songs, you know. We start
off with this little idea and it'snot too much, and then with a
couple of messy metaphors and some youknow, melodies, you turn this pig's
ear into a purse. And hesaid, what a great idea. I
(20:36):
love to play. He sent methe files the next day again, and
he played so differently. He's playinglike Paul McCartney, rand type melodies on
the guitar and sweet sweet pop.He gets it. He understands what I'm
trying to do and delivers. He'sbeen on two of my songs now and
(20:56):
I will go to that well again. Yeah, he's another one of those.
I said, I don't think it'sany sleep because I'm trying to keep
up with what he's doing is justinsane. I mean he's working with everybody.
I mean he's I think he's anengineer, producer first, but he's
a first class guitar player and sohe's playing in bands. He was in
the Marshall Crenshaw's band playing around live. So he does live stuff. He's
(21:22):
been on the Close to the Edgecruise ship that does the broad rock bands.
Yes, goes on it, andhe gets on those and plays with
his own friends and his own bandand then sits in with nectar and all
sorts of other stuff. Every timeI turn around, he's somewhere else doing
something else. He's a very busyguy. Absolutely, I want to get
(21:45):
back to the record. This isquite the package. I mean, you've
got some brilliant artwork and the stickersand posters that are included in this digital
package that you just put out inthe beginning. It's I mean, it's
a fabulous album. There are thirteensongs, including the reprise. It's recorded
well, it's brilliantly thought out.You get the music, you get the
(22:08):
posters, you get the stickers,you get the CD ball at Terry Draper
dot com. Just to give peoplean idea of what it's all about,
I think maybe we should just takea minute and check out the all Aboard
reprise. Good ideas. As agreed, it's it's as I said, that
(23:41):
is fabulous man. And the productionthat goes into this, you've got to
be working with some really talented videographersand who's directing this stuff and so on.
I met this fellow, Jamie Grant, quite a few years ago now.
He had a record coming out calledMcPherson Grant. He was working with
this fellow. Jamie lives in Ontario, in Queensboro, north of Kingston.
(24:06):
McPherson his partner, I think livesin Oregon or Washington State. Anyway,
they've been working together and they didthis silly little song all the something.
But anyway, they asked me toplay drums on it, and so I
sent them a drum track and itwas timpanie and backwards cymbals and it just
(24:27):
was right off the wall. Butso was their song. And so we
had a lovely time. And shortlythereafter I was putting out an album called
in My Garden, the only vinylI've done in my solo career, and
it was a retrospective. I calledit in my Garden because it contained some
of my favorite flowers and a coupleof new songs. One of the new
(24:51):
songs I'd written at that time wascalled Phish, And I called Jamie Grant
up and said, hey, Icould really use a video for this song.
Fit what do you charge? Andhe said, well, I won't
charge you anything, but I wouldlike some future considerations. I said,
okay, that's a good deal.So he did that song for me,
(25:11):
and then the next album came alongand he said, you need some videos.
I said yeah. So that wasfour or five albums ago, and
since then, he's done a videofor every song on every album. And
I don't interfere. It's his baby. I've done my thing. He goes
and does his thing. I'm notgoing to tell him what to do.
(25:33):
I just let him run with.Hopefully he understands what I'm doing. I
know. My favorite so far onthis new album is the end of In
the beginning, I'm at a Romanruin in Turkey called Perga, and it
was a very hot day and thereI am wandering across my wife's filming me
and I'm wandering across the arena withmy parasol because it was very hot.
(25:57):
And that's in the video the end. So I send stuff to Jamie.
I give him ideas, but mostlyhere's the song. Listen to the lyrics,
go do your thing. He wasthe guy that said to me you
should do some swag for this album. You remember the good old days when
you've got your Sergeant Pepper record andyou pulled out that cardboard thing and you
(26:18):
had the bass drum with the logoon it, and a little mustache you
could cut out and wear the Darkside of the Moon. You got that
picture of the pyramids all in green, and I remember those days fondly.
The package was all important. That'swhy I looked so hard for an artist.
When we had Platou going and foundTed Jones, he said, well,
(26:41):
do a poster and some stickers.Come on, I don't, I
say, And so he started sendingme some images and I'm thinking, wow,
this is great because he helped medo the last two album covers as
well, and he's done a brilliantjob. And now he's got all this
other stuff coming out. He's usingsome AI I know that. But then
(27:02):
he sends me a sticker this bigfat frog in a swamp in a spacesuit
with headphones off and his swamp manorstudio. That's perfect. That's just great.
And so when you order the CD, you get the twelve inch by
eighteen inch poster, you get thepostcard and on the postcard. One side
(27:23):
is this Emerald City kind of lookingbuilding from Wizard of Oz, and it
says in the beginning, and onthe back it's got the twenty CDs that
I recorded so far solo, andthen there's a couple of stickers in it,
and then you get the whole package. And I've been getting rave reviews.
(27:44):
People are really digging getting some stuffto hold on to and not just
a CD. Yeah. Well,after we finished recording this, I have
to talk to you about getting myphysical copies. I've been listening to the
digital files in my truck for thelast week and I just I love the
album. Yeah, brilliant job.You know all these things you're talking about.
Somebody years ago told me that theonly problem I had was that I
(28:08):
needed to surround myself with the bestpeople that I could, and it's made
a huge difference in my music andin my career in general. You know,
when you surround yourself with like mindedpeople who in my case, I
like to put myself in a situationwith people that I consider to be a
bit above me talent wise. Andyour work is evidence of not only your
(28:32):
brilliance, but the fact that yousurround yourself with brilliant people as well.
You know what, you don't wantto be the best guy in the band.
You want to work with people whowere going to drag you forward,
pull you up, and being thebest guy in the band is not how
you do it. You don't wantto be the smartest guy in the room
either. You want to learn fromthe people you associate with, at least
(28:55):
I do. And I hear whatyou're saying. That's the way I feel
about it too. I just wantto work with people that are better than
me and make me look good.And I say that to my friends all
the time. I say, wedid it again. I call it fda
fool them again. Well, itcertainly fooled me again. Yeah, yeah,
(29:17):
so I call it. I callit fool them again. They think
I'm brilliant. This album is great. I'm so glad that it's finally out.
We just need to go to TerryDraper dot com to get the complete
package. It's brilliant, Terry.I don't want to take up your whole
day. I know you've got somesun and surf to get into down there
in sunny Florida, so listen.Thanks so much, once again for doing
(29:40):
this with me, and until nexttime, cheers. Thanks Tommy, it's
always a pleasure talking about music withyou, and keep on rockin' brother.
(30:11):
There's a bree it's snowing in thewillow. There's a free it's snowing the
willow. There's a breeze. It'ssnowy willow. There's a bree it's stowing
(30:45):
in a willow. Tommy Solo's FamousFriends is a one man production, meaning
(31:10):
that I've done all the work includingrecording, editing, guest acquisition, etc.
And hey, here's some news.We've just recently joined forces with five
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The theme song for Tommy Solo's FamousFriends is a clip from my original
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(31:34):
like to help us keep it going, why don't you click on the buy
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all that stuff. We really appreciateit. You can find me on Facebook
and Instagram, and until next time, cheers,
Welcome to Tommy Solo's Famous Friends.This is where I get to chat with
people I've connected with over the yearsin the world of arts and entertainment,
and today I'm very happy to havewith me Terry Draper, who has a
brand new album out called in theBeginning. Now, it's interesting that before
we hit record, we were talkingabout the fact that this is your twentieth
(00:38):
solo record, but it wasn't whereyou started out. You've been at this
since God like, weren't you onthe arc? My good grief. So
let's just have a little recap ofwhat got you into the business before you
started. Yeah, I have beendoing this a while, Tommy. Actually,
someone was saying to me the otherday that this new record it's really
(00:59):
good good. I said, well, you know, I've been doing this
for over fifty years. I'm startingto get the hang of it, you
know. But back in the sixtiesI played in a bunch of bar bands
with Virgil Scott and all sorts ofpeople and just had a grand old time.
Nineteen seventy, John Wallis Chuck andI put a band together, just
a recording act actually called White Male, and released a forty five that's a
(01:26):
very small record that you play atforty five revolutions per minute. I'm down
here in Florida, so people mightthink it's something other than a record,
you know. Anyway, that wason Cron Records a song that John wrote
called I'm Dream Dating. So thatwas my first foray into vinyl. And
(01:48):
then we formed the band mud Cowwith de Long, who I'd met back
in the sixties at a Battle ofthe bands. He was in a band
called the Polychromatic Experiment. What agreat name, and they were a really
good band. So when John andI were looking to form a band doing
sort of semi pseudo progressive rock,I actually call it progressive pop, I
(02:10):
remembered d and what a talent hewas and hunted him down through some friends
in the grapevine the music industry,and we formed a band called mud Coow.
Don't ask me why it was calledmud Coow. John had a dream
one night. We called it Mudcow. Well, that band did some recording
but never released anything, and itfell apart. I can remember the afternoon
(02:35):
it fell apart. We were playingat the Trenton Hotel and we were just
getting ready to do the Saturday afternoonMattinee. God, I hated those things.
And the manager called us into hisoffice because he wanted us to meet
Misty and she was going over ourset list, deciding on which songs she
(02:55):
was going to strip to, andyeah, it was Trenton. And when
the meeting was over and we werewalking back up the stairs to the fourth
floor to our dormitory, Dee turnedaround to all of us and said,
that's it. I'm done. Hesaid, I quit playing the bars years
ago because didn't want to do this, and we tried, and here we
(03:20):
are backing up strippers, playing ProudMary and jumping Jack Flash, you know,
and we're still doing our originals.In fact, that band used to
play Dear Christine Aklattoo song, andthere was another one or two, I
think Anus of Uranus we played abit. There was a few songs that
were you know. Anyway, thatband collapsed that night and everybody went their
(03:44):
separate ways, and then John hookedup with Terry Brown and him and Dee
did a record and they weren't thrilledwith the session drummers. They were getting.
Editors know. At this point inour conversation, Terry is about to
tell us how the influenced band Klatuwas formed. Now back to the show.
(04:05):
So John called me up to seeif I wanted to join a band,
and like an idiot, I saidyes. So we did a bunch
of singles. The first single cameout in seventy three. John and d
did sub Rosa Subway Back with Heinusof Uranus, and then I came along
and we put a California jam throughLife Hero and eventually, of course we
(04:30):
finished the album. That took threeyears, and we had a record out,
an actual LP in nineteen seventy six. Yeah, there was a secession
of records. We did five studioalbums. There's a couple of bestus and
collections and a rarities package at DoubleCD. And then we did a reunion
(04:51):
concert two thousand and five that's alsoon record and CD. And then while
back in ninety seven and I putout my first solo album Light years later,
and here we are in twenty twentythree with my twentieth solo album.
In the beginning, it's been aninteresting ride, no kidding. I just
(05:13):
want to touch on the fact thatfor quite a while people thought that Cloud
two was secretly the Beatles that hadto be quite the experience for you guys.
I know we've beaten that to deathover the years, but that's quite
the way to start your recording career, really to be mistaken for the Beatles.
And there were no photos of youguys on that album, so well,
that was part of our credo waslet the music speak for itself.
(05:39):
And this was the mid seventies.We're living in a world of hype and
glam rock. And you know,if Mick Jagger walked by your studio while
you were recording, he got acredit. And all the pictures of all
the bands, the fans were on, everybody's scarves and hair were blowing in
the wind, and it was Imean, it just was all so very
(06:01):
incidental, and we were very seriousabout what we were doing musically, and
when John suggested that we don't useany names or photos, we all jumped
on it. This is long beforethe first album came out back in seventy
four, I think, and soI took it upon myself to find us
(06:25):
an artist who could project the soundwe were attempting, and I looked at
dozens of artists and finally one dayI met Ted Jones, and I remember
going home that night, calling Johnup, I said, hey, John,
guess what. I found the guy? And then we had this lovely
relationship with Ted. Him and Ibecame best of friends up until he's passing
(06:49):
a year and a half ago.But and Ted's done over half my own
album covers. The twenty I've done, Ted's done over half of them because
he just kept painting and I keptrecording, and it was a beautiful thing.
Well, he certainly was a verygifted and talented artist. I mean
inspired falls short, that's for sure. We are here to talk about in
(07:13):
the beginning. And it's a brilliantrecord. And I have to think,
you know, last time I sawyou in person was at Al Mayer's Celebration
of Life at Roy Thompson Hall inToronto, and I said, oh,
I think I missed that, youknow, the timeline to talk to you
about your new album, And yousaid, well, I'll be starting another
one in a month whatever. Andso I just have to think, when
(07:35):
do you ever sleep? I mean, you've got so much going on and
on this record, there aren't verymany musicians. You do almost all of
it, like you eat and sleepand breathe the art and we'll be right
back after this. Since we boughta place down here near Clearwater, Florida,
(08:13):
seven years ago, we've now gotinto this routine of spending six months
here and then six months at home, plus traveling all over the place because
our sons live helter skelter ones inAustralia, the other ones in Turkey,
so we do a lot of boppingaround. But the way it's working out
(08:33):
now is that I get down hereand I feel like I'm on holiday.
But I have a little studio hereat a piano, and you know,
I spend a lot of time puttingaround in the water. That's when a
lot of the lyrics come together,you know, because it's just going through
my head earworms. Talk about anearworm. I'll start writing a song and
work on it for like weeks,and so it just it just it invades
(08:58):
my whole existence. So then Ido the sketches down here, and then
when we go home after six months, I got a bunch of new songs
that I've written and sketched, andI take the MIDI data and I plug
it into the big rig at homeinto the studio, and then use all
the fancy samples and get it allhappening, and then do the vocals and
(09:20):
ask this one to play guitar andthat one to do background vocals, and
I just pull it all together.So it's funny. I got back down
here a month ago and the album'sdone. I got the CDs manufactured,
and it's like, I realized Ihadn't written a song in three or four
months because I've been so busy pullingall the pieces together for this one.
(09:43):
And so I'm thinking, well,three or four months, that's a long
time. Maybe my muse has left. And a week later, I'd written
two new songs. So yeah,that's just the way it is. I
spend the summer recording and pulling itall together and the winter writing, so
it's working out well. I getan album out just in time for Christmas
(10:05):
every year. That certainly is something. How you maintain that pace away And
you mentioned how you get obsessed withthe songs. When I'm working on a
new record, I literally hear thesong that I'm working on a part.
I hear it in my sleep,you know. Yeah, you wake up
and go to the bathroom in themiddle of the night. Maybe you don't
(10:26):
tell me, but I do.And there it is, it's in my
head. I'm sitting there having awhiz and it's like the song, So
Jesus Christ, can I get somesleeper? The thing is that inspiration comes
from everywhere, the strangest places.I never sit down in the piano and
start writing. Well, I do, but I never use what I've written.
(10:50):
Melodies and lyrics don't mean anything.If I don't have the idea or
a lyric to start with, thenI don't know what I'm trying to do.
I don't know whether should I bein a minor mode? Should be
a happy song? Am I sad? What's going on? I have no
idea until I have a subject matter. Last year, I was watching this
(11:11):
TV program on Adventurers and Explorers andthey were talking about Magellan, the first
man to sail around the world.And so as I'm watching this show and
they're telling me the history of allthis, Ferdinand Magellan died in the Philippines.
His first captain, Sebastiano Altano,sailed his ship home back to Seville
(11:35):
in Spain, and King Charles grantedhim a coat of arms, and in
Latin, his coat of arms says, first to navigate the globe first to
encircle the globe. That's the wordthey use. And it's just like,
let's wait a minute, hold on, hold on. My grade five history
book, Pirates and Pathfinders said thatMagellan was the first man to go around
(11:58):
the world world, but he didn't. It was this other fellow. And
I said, well, this isgreat. I got to share this information
with everybody. And rather than runaround and retell the story, I sat
down with pen and paper at thepiano and I sing the song from the
first person. I am Sebastiano Welcano. You know me, not nor my
work, but I am first tocircumnavigate the earth. And so here it
(12:24):
is that I'm telling this. It'sonly three and a half minute long song,
but it tells this little story abouta fact I never knew. And
I've study this stuff. I lovehistory, so I had to share that.
So inspiration can come from absolutely anywhere. Right, Well, you know
that's interesting. I was going toask you about Sebastian Alcano. And you
know what's stuck in my head rightnow, there's a breeze. It's the
(12:48):
wind in the willows. So windin the willows, the children's stories?
What brought that to your Consciousness.I always loved that story. Kenneth Graham
was the author. I remember readingit when I was young. I remember
reading it to my kids when theywere little, and it's always just interested
(13:11):
me. I'm an avid reader.So I guess I started all Aboard,
I don't know, a long timeago, and I always loved mister Toad.
There's an affinity I have for him. I think there's something similar about
our personalities. He's a little boisterous, a little full of himself, a
little humble on the other side.Here reminds me of Ralph Cramdon from The
(13:33):
Honeymooners, and I identify with Ralphtoo. You know, his old worst
enemy is himself. So this songall Aboard's been kicking around for ten years,
and every once in a while I'llpull it out and look at it,
whatever plots with it for a fewdays, and then go do something
else, you know. And thelast time I pulled it out was last
(13:56):
year or earlier this year, Iguess, and I said, you know
what, I'm going to finished thisone. And that beautiful voice that you
were imitating so nicely is Brenda Webb. Good friend of mine. She sang
on the last seven eight albums ofmine done the background vocals. She missed
one because of COVID. But it'sreally interesting story. I met Brenda ten
(14:18):
or twelve years ago. This oldfriend of mine I played in a band
with in nineteen sixty seven called theKingdom Show Band. Rick Hicks, the
bass player. He calls me upout of the blue forty years later and
he says, hey, I'm puttingtogether this tribute band. I want you
to be in it. I saidreally, He says, yeah, I
want you to play drums. Isaid, drums ring. I haven't played
(14:41):
drums in years. I have thisJapanese drummer does everything I tell him.
So he says, well, thisis what I want to do, and
I said okay. I said,well, let me take a listen.
My wife got the CD for Christmas. I'll get back to you. So
I went and listened to Adele eighteenand the music's not in my wheelhouse,
(15:01):
but it's really good. And soI called Rick the next day. I
said, Rick, you got agirl that can sing this shit? He
says, I do. I said, all right, I'm in and then
I went and sat down at thekit every day for an hour trying to
relearn how to play the drums.That's my first instrument that I started on
with the drums. So anyway,I ended up meeting this woman and we
(15:22):
called the band an evening with theDell and Brenda, who's fifty something and
kind of thin, would put ona red wig and garish makeup and a
foam suit and then affect your cockneyaccent. So this is albertole is he
and she would transform herself into aDell and then sing like that. She's
(15:45):
fabulous, and so I've been enlistingher services ever since. We've become very
close over the years. Yeah.Well, she certainly has a fine voice,
no doubt. One other musician that'son the record that caught my attention
is Fernando Perdomo. You know,I discovered him kind of by accident when
PR company. He sent me arelease from Carmine, a piece so it's
(16:10):
a piece for Dermo running up thatHill. And I listened to that and
I thought, okay, well,Carmine obviously is brilliant, but because it's
a guitar player, like, ohmy god, I got to talk to
this guy, because I do aseries Guitar Talk where it's just talking about
six strings and everything you can dowith them, and you know, he
immediately said, yeah, let's doit. He's such a humble and open
(16:32):
guy and brilliant guitar player. Andhe claims that he's not a shredder.
He certainly can shred it. Imean the fact that he doesn't tap or
whatever, the fact that he doesn'ttap, that doesn't mean he's not a
shredder, you know. But he'sa melodic player and plays on pigs Ears
from your new record. And thefirst thing I because I didn't know who
played on what. I'm just listeningin my truck and I thought, I'll
(16:53):
bet you that's Fernando because he's playingthe melody, you know, the pig
ears into person and then he putsa little flare onto it. But yeah,
brilliant player. I mean, howdid you connect with him? Initially
through the internet. Facebook, there'sa site called Platuo Rocks and I go
(17:15):
there frequently and see what's going on. And the first time I think I
saw Fernando, he had on ablack T shirt that said just relax,
chill out and then listen to orwhatever, and it's a plato on his
t shirt. Editor's note. Thetrendy phrase that neither Terry nor I could
remember in the heat of the conversationwas the whole stay calm and trend,
(17:40):
So Fernando's T shirt likely would havesaid stay calm and listened to Clatt two.
Now back to the show, andsomebody posted it on that site,
and I thought, oh, that'skind of cool. So we got talking,
and I've done a few things forhim over the years. I've played
on a couple of his songs.He actually got me to sing one.
(18:02):
He put out an album of allof his songs sung by other people,
and I did this song for him. Turned out really nice. I actually
played the drums as well and alittle mellotron on it because I was having
so much fun. And then lastyear I was doing Bread and Circus,
and the song bread and Circus inparticular, I wanted to have that Robert
(18:25):
Fripp ping Crimson wildness. I wantedthis to be right on the edge bread
and Circus. What I'm actually singingabout is an old Roman phrase that they
would say, you give the peasantsthe populace, give them bread and circus.
Make sure you feed them and givethem wine and entertain them the coliseum.
(18:45):
So when I look around me today, especially living down here in the
States, what do I see butbread and circus, you know, keep
the masses entertained, keep them fed. It's all smoking mirrors, it's all
showmanship. It's all so anyway,that's what it's about. And I wanted
the song to have a real edge. So I sent Fernando a message.
(19:06):
I said, hey, I'm workingon this song and I'm looking for a
little frippery. Are you interested?He said, fabulous, Send me the
song. So I sent him thesong. He sent me back the tracks
the next day, which you know, most people take a few weeks,
you know. Sometimes I got tocajole them a little. No, he
sent them right back the next dayand they were brilliant, and we'll be
(19:29):
right back after this, And Iasked him to play some guitar. And
then, because I grabbed these bitsand pieces that people send me and they
(19:53):
don't always end up where they playedthem, I'll grab this and put it
over here. I'll take it,reverse it, you know. I like
to play with audio and have somefun with it. And so it turned
out great. And when this onecame along, I sent him the song.
I said, here's a little threeminute ditty about songwriting, because that's
(20:14):
what I'm writing about. It's turninga pig's ear into a purse. And
this is what we do when wewrite songs, you know. We start
off with this little idea and it'snot too much, and then with a
couple of messy metaphors and some youknow, melodies, you turn this pig's
ear into a purse. And hesaid, what a great idea. I
(20:36):
love to play. He sent methe files the next day again, and
he played so differently. He's playinglike Paul McCartney, rand type melodies on
the guitar and sweet sweet pop.He gets it. He understands what I'm
trying to do and delivers. He'sbeen on two of my songs now and
(20:56):
I will go to that well again. Yeah, he's another one of those.
I said, I don't think it'sany sleep because I'm trying to keep
up with what he's doing is justinsane. I mean he's working with everybody.
I mean he's I think he's anengineer, producer first, but he's
a first class guitar player and sohe's playing in bands. He was in
the Marshall Crenshaw's band playing around live. So he does live stuff. He's
(21:22):
been on the Close to the Edgecruise ship that does the broad rock bands.
Yes, goes on it, andhe gets on those and plays with
his own friends and his own bandand then sits in with nectar and all
sorts of other stuff. Every timeI turn around, he's somewhere else doing
something else. He's a very busyguy. Absolutely, I want to get
(21:45):
back to the record. This isquite the package. I mean, you've
got some brilliant artwork and the stickersand posters that are included in this digital
package that you just put out inthe beginning. It's I mean, it's
a fabulous album. There are thirteensongs, including the reprise. It's recorded
well, it's brilliantly thought out.You get the music, you get the
(22:08):
posters, you get the stickers,you get the CD ball at Terry Draper
dot com. Just to give peoplean idea of what it's all about,
I think maybe we should just takea minute and check out the all Aboard
reprise. Good ideas. As agreed, it's it's as I said, that
(23:41):
is fabulous man. And the productionthat goes into this, you've got to
be working with some really talented videographersand who's directing this stuff and so on.
I met this fellow, Jamie Grant, quite a few years ago now.
He had a record coming out calledMcPherson Grant. He was working with
this fellow. Jamie lives in Ontario, in Queensboro, north of Kingston.
(24:06):
McPherson his partner, I think livesin Oregon or Washington State. Anyway,
they've been working together and they didthis silly little song all the something.
But anyway, they asked me toplay drums on it, and so I
sent them a drum track and itwas timpanie and backwards cymbals and it just
(24:27):
was right off the wall. Butso was their song. And so we
had a lovely time. And shortlythereafter I was putting out an album called
in My Garden, the only vinylI've done in my solo career, and
it was a retrospective. I calledit in my Garden because it contained some
of my favorite flowers and a coupleof new songs. One of the new
(24:51):
songs I'd written at that time wascalled Phish, And I called Jamie Grant
up and said, hey, Icould really use a video for this song.
Fit what do you charge? Andhe said, well, I won't
charge you anything, but I wouldlike some future considerations. I said,
okay, that's a good deal.So he did that song for me,
(25:11):
and then the next album came alongand he said, you need some videos.
I said yeah. So that wasfour or five albums ago, and
since then, he's done a videofor every song on every album. And
I don't interfere. It's his baby. I've done my thing. He goes
and does his thing. I'm notgoing to tell him what to do.
(25:33):
I just let him run with.Hopefully he understands what I'm doing. I
know. My favorite so far onthis new album is the end of In
the beginning, I'm at a Romanruin in Turkey called Perga, and it
was a very hot day and thereI am wandering across my wife's filming me
and I'm wandering across the arena withmy parasol because it was very hot.
(25:57):
And that's in the video the end. So I send stuff to Jamie.
I give him ideas, but mostlyhere's the song. Listen to the lyrics,
go do your thing. He wasthe guy that said to me you
should do some swag for this album. You remember the good old days when
you've got your Sergeant Pepper record andyou pulled out that cardboard thing and you
(26:18):
had the bass drum with the logoon it, and a little mustache you
could cut out and wear the Darkside of the Moon. You got that
picture of the pyramids all in green, and I remember those days fondly.
The package was all important. That'swhy I looked so hard for an artist.
When we had Platou going and foundTed Jones, he said, well,
(26:41):
do a poster and some stickers.Come on, I don't, I
say, And so he started sendingme some images and I'm thinking, wow,
this is great because he helped medo the last two album covers as
well, and he's done a brilliantjob. And now he's got all this
other stuff coming out. He's usingsome AI I know that. But then
(27:02):
he sends me a sticker this bigfat frog in a swamp in a spacesuit
with headphones off and his swamp manorstudio. That's perfect. That's just great.
And so when you order the CD, you get the twelve inch by
eighteen inch poster, you get thepostcard and on the postcard. One side
(27:23):
is this Emerald City kind of lookingbuilding from Wizard of Oz, and it
says in the beginning, and onthe back it's got the twenty CDs that
I recorded so far solo, andthen there's a couple of stickers in it,
and then you get the whole package. And I've been getting rave reviews.
(27:44):
People are really digging getting some stuffto hold on to and not just
a CD. Yeah. Well,after we finished recording this, I have
to talk to you about getting myphysical copies. I've been listening to the
digital files in my truck for thelast week and I just I love the
album. Yeah, brilliant job.You know all these things you're talking about.
Somebody years ago told me that theonly problem I had was that I
(28:08):
needed to surround myself with the bestpeople that I could, and it's made
a huge difference in my music andin my career in general. You know,
when you surround yourself with like mindedpeople who in my case, I
like to put myself in a situationwith people that I consider to be a
bit above me talent wise. Andyour work is evidence of not only your
(28:32):
brilliance, but the fact that yousurround yourself with brilliant people as well.
You know what, you don't wantto be the best guy in the band.
You want to work with people whowere going to drag you forward,
pull you up, and being thebest guy in the band is not how
you do it. You don't wantto be the smartest guy in the room
either. You want to learn fromthe people you associate with, at least
(28:55):
I do. And I hear whatyou're saying. That's the way I feel
about it too. I just wantto work with people that are better than
me and make me look good.And I say that to my friends all
the time. I say, wedid it again. I call it fda
fool them again. Well, itcertainly fooled me again. Yeah, yeah,
(29:17):
so I call it. I callit fool them again. They think
I'm brilliant. This album is great. I'm so glad that it's finally out.
We just need to go to TerryDraper dot com to get the complete
package. It's brilliant, Terry.I don't want to take up your whole
day. I know you've got somesun and surf to get into down there
in sunny Florida, so listen.Thanks so much, once again for doing
(29:40):
this with me, and until nexttime, cheers. Thanks Tommy, it's
always a pleasure talking about music withyou, and keep on rockin' brother.
(30:11):
There's a bree it's snowing in thewillow. There's a free it's snowing the
willow. There's a breeze. It'ssnowy willow. There's a bree it's stowing
(30:45):
in a willow. Tommy Solo's FamousFriends is a one man production, meaning
(31:10):
that I've done all the work includingrecording, editing, guest acquisition, etc.
And hey, here's some news.We've just recently joined forces with five
to one nine magazine, so youcan check out my interviews there as well.
The theme song for Tommy Solo's FamousFriends is a clip from my original
composition The Burn. All rights reserved. If you enjoy the show and you'd
(31:34):
like to help us keep it going, why don't you click on the buy
me a coffee link in the shownotes, hit the like button, subscribe
all that stuff. We really appreciateit. You can find me on Facebook
and Instagram, and until next time, cheers,
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