Eric Clapton and his music

TQR: It’s hard to imagine when he pulls the Cream sound out, as he does on “White Room,” for example, that he’s not using any pedals at all other than the Wah.

Oh, no, it’s entirely Eric and the guitar. Whereas, if you look at Doyle Bramhall, who’s opening for this show, he’s got a huge pedal board and every song has a delay, or a flange, or grunge, a reverse Leslie, or backwards guitar. He doesn’t play straight much.

TQR: That’s a Texas thang, you know. Texans have always brought a lot of hardware to the party.

Oh, really?

TQR: Does Eric often play songs differently from one night to the next?

He does, yeah. Sometimes he’ll use the Wah for something where he hasn’t before. Some nights he’ll play a straight solo and the next he’ll play farther up the neck. Most of the time I’m here just watching and listening. This Leslie has been modified with a baffle on the sides, obviously, but it’s the one Eric has been using since 1975-76. We’ve changed the drivers out over the years, but now it has a JBL D-Series speaker.

TQR: Does Eric usually do a sound check?

No, he doesn’t like to do them at all. He’ll do them for the sound engineer if he wants to fiddle with the sound of the guitar, but the instances of that are very, very rare. Eric says that the performance is the ‘pie’ and doing a sound check is like taking out a slice. He’s a wonderful guy to work for, and he’s very understanding – a very humble man. He has put a lot of money back into various charity projects that don’t get publicized. He’s just an easy guy to work for with a great sense of humor, and although I’ve been with him for a long time, I’m always doing my thing on the fly, and as I said, we might go for weeks without actually speaking to each other. While I’m setting up, they’re back watching movies or playing foosball, and if I’m doing my job, that’s the way it should be. I’ll only hear from him if something is wrong.

TQR: Watching you work today, it was very apparent that it’s not all glitz and glamour – it’s a lot of just plain hard work.

Oh yeah, and when the tour is over, you have to check all the guitars, fix flight cases and check everything out before it’s stored away. It’s not all sequin guitar straps and the Royal Albert Hall, you know.

TQR: You’ve certainly been around long enough to have seen a lot of great artists perform with Eric. Who among them all do you regard as being the most memorable?

Have you got a couple of days? Obviously some of the blues players… John Lee Hooker, BB King, Albert Collins, Otis Rush, Robert Cray – it’s endless. And there are a lot of people that we’ve done charity shows with, like the shows we did with Elton for a couple of months in Europe. Then there’s George Harrison… so many of my heroes, really. But I never forget that it’s because of the job and who I work for – Eric is the star – he’s the guy.

TQR: How has the atmosphere on tour changed over the past twenty years? What’s different now than in the past, for better or worse?

It was just a lot more loose and fun twenty years ago. Nowadays, the tours are run by lawyers and accountants. There is all this corporate funding and sponsorship now that I really don’t understand. People were a lot looser with their habits – you know – the classic fantasy about sex, drugs and rock & roll. It’s like life – it just goes on and gets bigger. Everything has changed – twenty years ago there weren’t such massive stages and high end PA’s. I don’t see Eric as having been so much into all that, because we don’t carry massive numbers of trucks and double stages like the big tours do that really need sponsorship. In the past few years we’ve had sponsors like Volkswagen in Europe, and Lexus. But everyone is a lot healthier today and there’s a lot more responsibility and a lot more pressure. The shows are bigger and the expectations are greater for the band and the crew.

TQR: I noticed that there is a crescendo of intensity that builds during the afternoon of a show. You have a tight schedule to keep and the clock is constantly ticking.

Some days you walk into a gig and the riggers have had no problems. The PA is flown, the wings are all in place for the monitor engineer and the guitar techs, and it’s 2 o’ clock and we’re ready for a line check with an hour to spare. Other days, you’re working against the clock and battling things like union costs and crew that are kept on for line checks, and you have the production manager to answer to for those things. All the while you’re trying to get ready for the evening. Some days it works great, and other days you really have to haul ass.

TQR: What are some of your favorite venues of all?

The favorite of all must be LiveAid simply because it was just so intense. We’ve played the Budokan and Royal Albert Hall so many times over the past twenty years that they certainly stand out.

TQR: You must have been pretty excited about working in The Royal Albert Hall for the first time.

Oh yeah, sure, because that was the place where Cream did their last show, you know. I suppose it was strange too for Eric after all of those years.

TQR: Does he still play there every year?

We hadn’t done it for a few years, but we played five or six nights there to kick off the British tour this year.

TQR: Do you have a particular memory from your years of touring that you can share with us – a special moment that will always remain with you?

I suppose things like standing off stage in Japan when the band were doing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with George… it was one of those moments. Watching Eric play at LiveAid… and just tons of comic moments and mad things that happened of a personal nature. And, just gettin’ the gig, I suppose.


TQR: Did you do some celebrating that night?

I don’t know, man, I was on drugs at the time (laughs). Just kidding about that, but we were in Japan, so I may have gotten banged up on some Japanese beer. But that’s part of the change I was talking about. We can’t handle doing that stuff anymore – you have to look after yourself, because it’s a tough life on the road.

TQR: Are there any of Eric’s guitars that have been particularly temperamental or challenging in your memory?

Sometimes the gut string guitars were difficult to tune a couple of tours back. We would go from something like “She’s Gone” or “Stone Free” – something really mad – straight into “Tears In Heaven” with a guitar change. The gut string guitars always needed some last minute tweaking because they were so temperamental, especially in arenas. Tuning them up with the band pounding away was a bit difficult.

TQR: Do you have any distinct favorites among Eric’s past and current collection?

Well, I loved Brownie, the ’56 Strat. That was a great one, and lots of the guitars that went in the auction were favorites of mine, but I’ve never been under any illusions… I’m the caretaker. I take care of them and he knows that I respect them, but I never really play with them. When we put them away, we put them away until he’s ready for them, unless I need to check them out.

TQR: Does he still have the SG from Cream painted by The Fool?

No, there was a long story attached to that one that has become firmly nestled in the annals of rock history. Basically, Eric loaned it to a singer around that time – a guy from Liverpool – and somehow he vanished with the guitar, intentionally or unintentionally, I don’t really know – it was before my time. The guitar ended up in the hands of Todd Rundgren, and I understand that he’d changed a few things on it. I heard that he recently sold it at an auction on the Internet. I don’t know who owns it now.

TQR: Do you have any idea how many guitars Eric has given away since you’ve been with him?

To various charities or a musician friend, I know I’ve given away with his approval perhaps ten or so, but I know that tons of guitars have come through the office for him to sign to go to auction for charity.

TQR: How many guitars does he have remaining since the auction?

Just under half as many as he had before the auction (laughs).

TQR: With Eric cutting back on touring in the future, how will your life change?

I haven’t got a clue, really. I hope that he keeps working. Everybody has been going on about, “Oh, he’ll never tour again,” because of something he said in an interview or in the tour program about not wanting to do big tours anymore. He’s just had a baby with his girlfriend, and they’ll probably want to enjoy themselves and watch the baby grow up for a bit. He’s always been a busy guy with a lot on his plate all of the time, so I can’t blame him if he wants to take a year or so off. I don’t know what the recording commitments are or any of that, so I’ll just wait until I get a call from the office in America.

TQR: When Eric is recording, you’re always there, are you not?

Yeah, and sometimes it’s just doing a session for someone for a couple of days, and other times it’s when we do our own album. Then it’s busy, because I’m doing guitars and looking after any other musicians that come in, ordering lunch, parking a car, keeping an eye on the parking meters, making a few calls, and doing a bit of re-stringing in the evening. It can be a long day for me. You’re not just the guitar tech – you might go out and get some CD’s that are needed, keep change for the parking meter, book restaurants for dinner… I’m happy to do that, and it’s all part of the job. I love it all, really, and it’s been fantastic for me. I hope I can continue doing this for a long time to come.

Многоуважаемый SergeK, а вы случайно не в курсе, будет ли выпущен какой-нибудь "носитель звука" или "изображения" по итогам весенних концертов Cream в Альберт-холле?

2Alexander The King:
Это было много страниц назад...Будет CD и DVD...И конечно все шоу будут "забутлегованны"...

Клэптон в Музее Мадам Тюссо.

Несколько иллюстраций к ранее приведенной статье :
CLAPTON TURNED TO BOOZE TO COPE WITH HARRISON GUILT

+

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2 SergeK: Спасибо и пардон за то, что не поинтересовался этим на предыдущих страницах, их тут, к счастью, много.

2Alexander The King:
Да, спрашивайте, я всегда повторю! Это не проблема...

SergeK ***
Сережа,
что это за DVD?

2Alex Red:
Видеошкола для гитаристов...

СРОЧНО В НОМЕР!

http://wmg.jp/public/d001?id=2285&t=42088&m=1

Нажав эту ссылку, можно услышать новую песню Эрика...

LES PAUL TURNS 90 WITH MUSICAL PALS

Guitar great LES PAUL is to celebrate his upcoming 90th birthday by recording a new album with leading musicians including ERIC CLAPTON, BONO, STING and JEFF BECK.

The as-yet-untitled CD will also feature collaborations with soul sensation JOSS STONE, JOAN OSBOURNE and BON JOVI star RICHIE SAMBORA.

Paul will turn 90 on 9 June (05), when he'll also be presented with the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award at the SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME ceremony in New York.

К сказанному выше
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl...ORY=/www/story/04-04-2005/0003328823&EDATE=

Eric Clapton is the most important and influential guitar player that has ever lived, is still living or ever will live. Do yourself a favor, and don't debate me on this. Before Clapton, rock guitar was the Chuck Berry method, modernized by Keith Richards, and the rockabilly sound -- Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins, Cliff Gallup -- popularized by George Harrison. Clapton absorbed that, then introduced the essence of black electric blues -- the power and vocabulary of Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin and the three Kings, B.B., Albert and Freddy -- to create an attack that defined the fundamentals of rock & roll lead guitar.
Maybe most important of all, he turned the amp up -- to eleven. That alone blew everybody's mind in the mid-Sixties. In the studio, he moved the mike across the room from the amp, which added ambience; everybody else was still close-miking. Then he cranked the fucking thing. Sustain happened; feedback happened. The guitar player suddenly became the most important guy in the band.

Intellectually, Clapton was a purist, although there was little evidence of it in the beginning. He supercharged every riff he knew, even things I remember as note-for-note tributes, like Freddy King's "Hideaway," on John Mayall's Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton. When he soloed, he wrote wonderful symphonies from classic blues licks in that fantastic tone, with all of the resonance that comes from distortion. You could sing his solos like songs in themselves.

I first saw Clapton with Cream, at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York in 1967 -- sort of. I stood outside. It was sold out. I couldn't get in. But you could see them -- the band was right in the window. And it was loud, even outside. In those days, musically, Clapton was a total wild man. He stood there, not moving a muscle, while he issued the most savage assault you had ever experienced, unless you were at the debut of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" and your seat was in front of the cannon. And when his creativity, passion, frustration and anger all came together, it was frightening. His solo in "Crossroads" on Wheels of Fire is impossible: I don't know how he kept time while he played.

I've never said more than a casual hello to Eric, so none of this is inside information. But I believe that his guitar playing changed radically in the early Seventies because singing and songwriting became more important to him, and Robert Johnson had a lot to do with that. Clapton was so moved by Johnson's music that he wanted to write and sing with the same passion, clarity and truth. You hear the frustration -- of not being able to do that -- in his Sixties guitar work. The first time I heard real anger and aggressive sexuality expressed in guitar playing was on that Mayall record. If the solo in "Have You Heard" isn't the sound of a cock ripping through trousers on its way to the promised land, I don't know what is.

Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes and the Band's Music From Big Pink started a move back to American traditional music, and those recordings were a big influence on Clapton. Around the same time, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett were encouraging him to write and sing. You can hear how good he is at both on Eric Clapton, the album he made with them, as well as his change in tone from Gibson-dirty to Stratocaster-clean.

Layla was, for me, the last time everything -- the singing, songwriting and guitar playing -- were all at the same high intensity level. It's Clapton's most original interpretation of the blues, because the hellhounds on his trail had a face: unrequited love. But Clapton's guitar playing is still terrific. The thing is, he had seven years of the most extraordinary, historic guitar playing ever -- and thirty-five years of doing good work. Being the best has got to wear you out. So he pulled back, like Dylan and Lennon did. The sprint is cool -- the marathon is better. Clapton has followed in the footsteps of his mentors: He's become a journeyman.

Anyone who plays lead guitar owes him a debt of gratitude. He wrote the fundamental language, the binary code, that everyone uses to this day in every form of popular music.

The day may come, if you're a young rocker, when you'll hear one of Clapton's mellow, contemporary ballads on the radio and think, "What's the big deal?"

Put on "Steppin' Out." And bow down.

(From RS 972, April 21, 2005)
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7235468/ericclapton?pageid=rs.Ne

ERIC CLAPTON WON'T BE INTIMIDATED BY CRAZY FANS



Rocker ERIC CLAPTON refuses to allow obsessed fans scare him into hiring bodyguards, because he'd rather confront a terrifying situation himself.

The LAYLA star believes solving the problem is the key to dealing with crazy stalkers, even though his life was once in danger when a woman tried to smuggle a gun into one of his concerts.

Clapton says, "One of them is an American lady who's obsessed with the idea that I'm stealing ideas out of her head, album titles, song covers, stuff like that. She started showing up at the gate and I confronted her and threatened her.

"Finally she got caught trying to smuggle a gun into one of my American shows. But I won't keep myself hidden or use minders. I walk up to people and tell them what I think."

13/04/2004 17:59

CLAPTON CONFUSED BY FAME



Legendary guitarist ERIC CLAPTON finds fame confusing at the best of times - because he expects people to recognise him, although some have no idea who he is.

The SLOWHAND rocker, 58, is used to fans approaching him, but is now getting used to a new generation of music lovers not knowing about his legacy.

Clapton says, "Sometimes people come up to me. That's fine and I'm used to it now, but the problem is that I expect almost everyone to know my story.

"Then you bump into someone who doesn't know who the hell you are - and that happens quite a lot, especially when I meet young people - and my ego takes a severe beating.

"But then that's good, too."

03/03/2004 14:08

CLAPTON'S TORMENT OVER HARRISON DEATH



Rocker ERIC CLAPTON was stunned when his pal GEORGE HARRISON died of cancer in 2001, because he wasn't aware the former BEATLE was in such bad health.

The LAYLA singer regrets their friendship suffered after Harrison was stabbed by an intruder at his home in 1999, because the late star's fear of further attacks was so intense, he kept himself hidden away in his high-security Henley-On-Thames, Berkshire, England, abode.

But Clapton remains devastated he didn't discover his famous pal was terminally ill until it was too late.

He says, "I didn't attend to the relationship but it was still there. The saddest part was that I had no inkling how ill he was. I was actually in Japan when he died.

"The last time I saw him was after his place got broken into, and he was attacked. I said to him, 'If you spent more time cultivating the locals and less building security fences it wouldn't have happened.'

"George had become very reclusive, paranoid, and suspicious of everyday life, and I think that attracted trouble."

Кстати, очень интересная фотка, о существовании которой я не знал...
Маленький Дхани выходил на сцену во время тура 1991 года в Японии и играл ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN...