Chris Spedding – King Mob – Interview Exclusive
Written by Johnny H
Saturday, 12 November 2011 05:00
Chris Spedding has been a mainstay of the British session scene since the late sixties, playing with just about everyone from Jack Bruce, John Cale, Elton John, and Mike Batt, to Paul McCartney and The Bay City Rollers.
In 1976 he produced a series of three demos for a then fledging punk band going by the name of the Sex Pistols before in the late seventies he moved to America and worked with Robert Gordon, Jerry Harrison, Dick Rivers and Johnny Hallyday.
Most recently Chris has been playing live with Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry, Jeff Wayne’s The War Of The Worlds as well as popping up alongside Katie Melua from time to time.
Here in 2011, he had just released his twelfth original studio album as a solo artist ‘Pearls’ and the reason why I caught up with him recently, his new band King Mob that also features the talents of a few other musicians you may well have heard of before. Next week he heads out on the road with King Mob for some low key shows to promote their ‘Force 9 album’ so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to find out exactly what is going on in the world of the man who once encouraged us all to go ‘Motorbikin” .
Chris firstly many thanks for taking the time to talk with us at Uber Rock its really appreciated.
Before we start with the more usual questions about King Mob etc one of the things we normally ask people to do ahead of an interview is tell us about a Gig From Hell that you have done or maybe one you have witnessed. So as we didn’t really get the chance to do this beforehand I’d like to start this interview by asking you to reveal your very own tale of terror on the road.
I did a tour with my own trio in the early 90s, with Henry Spinetti on drums and Keith Lentin on bass. In Paris one night, Henry was playing rented drums, which fell apart in the middle of a song. Henry left the stage in disgust and the drum tech reassembled them. Then Henry came back on and we resumed the song were we’d left off. French singer Dick Rivers was in the audience and he liked Henry’s playing so much that he hired our trio as his backing band – he thought the drums falling apart was part of our act. (laughing)
Thanks for that Chris (laughing) okay so I’ve read the press blurb up on your websitebut how did the King Mob come into existence?
I’d known Steve since we were both in the 1970s band Sharks. After that band broke up we stayed in touch and worked on each other’s projects over the years. Glen, Martin & I go back almost as far, but it’s only recently that we actually played together. 16 is the new boy and Steve found him. He’s fitting in remarkably well – you’ll have to ask him what it’s like playing with a bunch of old geezers.
And why now, what do you guys hope to achieve with King Mob?
We want people to come and hear us play and go out and buy the record.
The sound clips I’ve heard for your album ‘Force 9’ sound very “authentic” and raw in their delivery how would you describe the King Mob sound to someone who has yet to hear you guys?
It’s a rock band with a singer and two lead guitars. We also have a drummer and a bass player. Apart from that there’s no particular formula and we don’t try to sound like anybody else.
And who are the main songwriters responsible the band’s sound? Is it all down to Mr Parsons or Snips as he likes to be known?
Well he’d prefer to be Steve Parsons, but he seems to be stuck with Snips. The first inspiration for the band was Steve’s songwriting but Steve is encouraging us all to write stuff. If I write something they don’t like I put it on one of my own albums! My latest is ‘Pearls’ out on Repertoire last month.
Where you ever tempted to get behind the desk at any time during the recording of ‘Force 9’ or was this album all about Snips being in control?
Steve wanted to take on the production this time so I was happy with that. I think it turned out very well. Steve and I may do some co-producing in future.
You’re just about to play your first live shows as a band. What can people catching these shows expect to see from King Mob? I mean will we be hearing ‘Pretty Vacant’ or ‘Motorbikin”?
I doubt it. One of the attractions of these new band projects is that it gives us a nice break from all that, and an opportunity to try out new stuff.
There seems to be a spiritual rebirth of real rock ‘n’ roll in London right now (with bands like Jim Jones Revue, The Bermondsey Joyriders and Urban Voodoo Machine leading the way) what do you think of these bands and what would you say to there being some sort of unofficial scene developing?
I’m all for it!
Your new single ‘Selene Selene’ is available now as a free download, as someone who grew up in the analogue age, what do you think of the digital world?
I use iTunes all the time. It’s great.
And what do you think of the state of the music industry right now?
Many years ago the music industry was full of people of great talent, but it was also full of idiots who didn’t know what they were doing. Some of the idiots had great talent and some of the very talented were idiots.
And now?
… Nothing’s changed.
You’ve personally been involved with many fantastic recording artistes during your 40 odd years in the industry, is there anything during that time you turned down that you now think…”Bollocks! why did I not do that?” And I’m not referring to “that” album when I ask that…honestly (laughing)
I rarely turned down anything that I was offered – unless I was already booked. There were lots of things that I wondered why I did them – later some of them turned out great. And things that I thought were great later turned out to be rubbish. A lot of it is luck.
And is there anyone you’d still like to work with? Or is the King Mob a dream come true for you? I mean with rhythm section like Chambers/Matlock behind you must look around and have a contented smile every now and then?
I’ve played with some of the best. There are still a couple of people on my “wish they’d call” list. I’ll let you know when they call.
And talking of Glen I’m a huge Pistols fan, so I hope you don’t mind me asking you just one question in amongst all the King Mob stuff and that is what did you really think of them when you worked with them at the time (and not with the wonders of hindsight)?
They were a great live band and when I got them in the studio they were even better than I thought they’d be.
Okay as we enter the home straight if we were to do the random five tracks on Chris Spedding’s I Pod/I Phone MP3 player right now what would come up? (No cheating OK !!!)
Do you mean shuffle play where it plays random tracks? I never used that option but I just went there & I’m getting
‘Trickatrack’ by Earl Hines,
‘Ghost Town by Katie Melua,
‘You Are Too Beautiful by Thelonius Monk,
‘Mr Wonderful’ by Peggy Lee
& ‘Main Stem’ by Duke Ellington.
And just to finish things off as I do with most interviews I do these days are there any messages you would like to share with your fans worldwide right now?
Listen to more Duke Ellington. (laughing)
And with that we’d like to thank you for taking the time to speak with us at Uber Rock, we’ll hopefully catch up with you guys some time soon on the road.
Thanks Chris, it really has been an honour.
King Mob play Carlisle Blues Festival on the 13th November, Bristol The Croft on the 15th November and then London 229 on the 17th November. You can find out all you need to know about these and more from the band’s website which you can access right here.
Photos courtesy of Shu Tomioka