Rock's Backpages: Search Results

Elliott Murphy (2009)

Interview by Archie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, 23 December 2009

The man who bore the weight of being the "New Dylan" in the mid-'70s looks back at his early days, his move to Europe, and brings us up to date with where he's at in the 21st century

File format: mp3; file size: 20.9mb; Interview length: 22' 52"; sound quality: ***

Johnnie Taylor (1989)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages Audio, 8 July 1989

Soul legend Johnnie Taylor tells Barney Hoskyns about his background in gospel with the Highway QCs and the Soul Stirrers, Sam Cooke, Stax Records, having hits in the disco era, and finding a new home at Malaco.

File format: mp3 File size: 20.8mb Interview length: 22 minutes 45 seconds Sound quality: ****

Beatles, The, Paul McCartney: Paul McCartney (2003)

Interview by Johnny Black, Rock's Backpages Audio, 14 March 2003

A long, free-flowing conversation, during which Paul talks about Phil Spector and Let It Be, on his relationship with Yoko and the "whose name first" saga, and the deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison, plus much more.

File format: mp3; file size: 75.8mb, total interview length: 1h 22' 44" sound quality: ****

Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath: Ozzy Osbourne (1997)

Interview by David Stubbs, Rock's Backpages Audio, October 1997

The Ozzmeister effs and blinds his way through subjects ranging from the death of Princess Diana to the myth of Sabbath's Satanism and the US religious backlash, via a detailed description of his substance abuse and much more.

File format: mp3; file size: 62.6mb, interview length: 1h 08' 22" sound quality: ****

Gun Club, The: The Gun Club's Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Jim Duckworth (1983)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages Audio, 18 April 1983

Jeffrey Lee Pierce talks about writing for Slash magazine; tells possible lies about his "Texas upbringing"; forming the band in Los Angeles; on people like Phast Phreddie Patterson, Alex Chilton, and the Panther Burns; running the Blondie fan club; Geoff Travis editing Duckworth off the Panther Burns album; why the band keeps changing personel; bass player Patricia Morrison, and on being produced by Chris Stein.

File format: mp3; total file size: 29.2mb, total interview length: 30' 22" sound quality: *****

Tony Joe White (1977)

Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages Audio, June 1977

The Louisiana Swamp God on having his best stuff rejected by Warner Bros.; selling songs to others, and his pleasure at some of their versions; Elvis doing 'Polk Salad Annie'; on songwriting; on being compared to Barry White; on going fishing with his mom, and eating catfish; his new album, Eyes, and looking back at how he got started.

File format: mp3; file size: 21.9mb, interview length: 22' 47" sound quality: *****

War (1976)

Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages Audio, Summer 1976

Howard E. Scott and Harold Ray Brown of the funk formation War on their two-year recording hiatus; collaboration with harmonica player Lee Oskar; commercial success versus be-your-natural-self approach; the American economic ethos: investment versus bank savings, capitalist society and its effect on War, and the dreams and myths it triggers; the necessity of cooling your mind on tour, and Baptism and salvation.

File format: mp3; file size: 79.5mb, interview length: 1h 22' 47" sound quality: ***

Living Colour's Vernon Reid (1988)

Interview by Mark Sinker, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1988

Vernon Reid talks about Living Colour signing to Epic Records; about his other projects and producing other acts; the state of Black music in America; the life and death of disco; the importance of Prince; his early days with Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society and Defunkt; the Black Rock Coalition; negative energy, drugs and racism; and the clichéd perceptions of African-Americans.

File format: mp3; file size: 78.9mb, interview length: 1h 22' 12" sound quality: ***

Marshall Jefferson (1999)

Interview by Frank Broughton, Rock's Backpages audio, 22 February 1999

The House music pioneer on the founding fathers of the music; DJs like Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles; the clubs — the Music Box, the Warehouse, the Power Plant; starting making tracks; key songs like 'I've Lost Control' and 'Move Your Body'; the Trax Records rip-offs, and Marshall's own definition of House.

File format: mp3; file size: 75.2mb, interview length: 1h 22' 08" sound quality: ****

Shirley Collins (1991)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 17 May 1991

Brit-folk doyenne Shirley Collins revisists her 1971 No Roses album track by track and discusses how the songs were chosen – and the move away from folk tradition. Collins also talks about 10,000 Maniacs' cover of 'Just as the Tide was a-Flowing'; working with Maddy Prior and Fairport Convention; the Albion Country Band... and about the state of folk today.

File format: mp3; file size: 55.1mb, interview length: 57' 22" sound quality: *****

Jan & Dean: Dean Torrence (1973)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages Audio, 12 November 1973

From high school in the late '50s to Kittyhawk Graphics in the '70s, Dean Torrence looks back at his partnership with Jan Berry: early hits such as 'Baby Talk'; being managed by Lou Adler, with Herb Alpert; the L.A. indie labels Dore and Challenge; the evolution of surf music, and collaborations with the Beach Boys from 'Surf City' to 'Barbara Ann'; surf boards, cars and fashions; Jan's accident, and going back to school to become a graphic designer; recording Brian Wilson's 'Vegetables', and the Legendary Masked Surfers album with Terry Melcher and Bruce Johnston.

File format: mp3; file size: 81mb, interview length: 1h 24' 22" sound quality: ****

Black Flag, Henry Rollins: Henry Rollins (1994)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, May 1994

Henry reflects on Kurt Cobain's recent death; Black Flag's influence on the new bands; his disapproval of slackers and his ascetic lifestyle; his disciplinarian father; violence in America; what he likes and loathes about England; his youthful fondness for Ted Nugent, and '70s hard rock in general; the difference between Black Flag and his Rollins Band; music vs. spoken word; his literary influences, including Nietzsche; his mother's record collection; being knocked out by punk rock; his gym work... and his relationship with his fans.

File format: mp3; file size: 79.5mb, interview length: 1h 22' 46" sound quality: ****

The Webb Brothers

Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2001

'I'll make it through the show!' ...

Rickie Lee Jones, Chuck E. Weiss: Chuck E. Weiss: Hanger-Out Is Moving Up

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 1979

CHUCK E.'S IN business. Thanks to Rickie Lee Jones' hit single 'Chuck E.'s in Love', one of L.A.'s perennial hangers-out is emerging from the shadows ...

Patti Smith: Patti Cracks Noggin, Raps On Regardless

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 5 February 1977

Patti sounds plaintive, fragile, over the transatlantic wire. If you can imagine a voice sounding wan, you're near the mark. Reason being — "A swan ...

Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel: Paul Simon: 'I Thought I Was a Has-Been at 19'

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 30 April 1966

PAUL SIMON is the composer of 21 songs, most of which have been put to work for him very profitably. ...

Horace Silver: Just Quit While You're Ahead

Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 1 October 1966

ALREADY, AND in spite of the excessively rough luck of having his place of employment burned down on the opening night of his first British ...

Why does everyone ignore "Jump Up" jungle?

Interview by Bethan Cole, Mixmag, January 1997

Even Goldie has been dissing "jump up". But wasn't it the ragga stuff that put jungle back in the frame in the first place? ...

Charlatans, The (UK): The Charlatans

Interview by John Robb, Sounds, 1990

NOTE: This was the band’s first interview in the national music press. ...