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Editors Note: Starting with issue #43, the Horse's Mouth column is now posted two parts, about two weeks apart.
Issue #46, Part 1 - September 17, 2004
Morning Chaps!
A trifle late, but that's Rock 'n' Roll isn't it?
Amish Bob: His first letter to an artist. I'm flattered! Thank you.
Colin Tewkesbury: Have I done 'Keep on Burnin' live? If not, why not? It just doesn't spring to mind.
Lori Pannemann - a fan since 12 - now 43. Thanks Lori, hang in.
Hope Campbell moaning at me. No, I didn't know Ray had another stroke. Wasn't it his brother Dave? Your questions were answered.
Pat Williams: Twelve-year-old son in first band playing 'One of the Boys'. They're all twelve and Pat says they're not half bad.
Bob Stredney loves Rant (particularly 'Dead Man'), liked the tour I did with Todd Rundgren (I did too). 'Eight Days A Week' was on the web somewhere. My brother-in-law, Kevin, played it to me.
Andrew Paciocco wants a gig in south Florida. It's not down to me - it's down to South Florida promoters Andrew.
Ray Waters: Any chance of a gig next year on Mick's Memorial stage? Again, it's not down to me.
Bart: Glad to have been of service. Good luck!
David Hannah: Sorry, we don't send out autographs, David. Blame it on eBay.
John Knight: 'Still getting over Barcelona'. When are we coming back? Perhaps next spring if somebody asks us. I'm hearing Barcelona was quite the bees knees. I was so tired, I really can't remember much.
Pete Sharkey and his Dad are 'huge fans'. Usually dads and sons don't like the same music. 'Come to Ireland.' We'll try.
Seth: Just got 'YUI ORTA' from Cherry Records. Thinks it's great (it is quite good) any chance of more re-issues? We're working on them.
Bertil van Ertbruggen: Enjoyed Verriers, 'Do it again'. We might just do that. It would be nice to get there on time next time!
Ed says MTH's 'Ready For Love' is superior to Bad Company's. Who wrote the extra middle bit? Well, for starters - I prefer the Bad Co version. The thing was Ralpher wrote this great song and I wasn't that great vocally on it. It was tailor made for Rogers. Because I wasn't happy with the vocal, I wrote the middle bit because I could sing that bit better.
Steward Moffat: 'Glasgow phenomenal.' Converted three mates (That's what it's all about.) Hair stood on end at some of Andy's guitar licks. 1) When I compose is it with guitar or keyboard in mind? Varies. Simpler songs tend to be guitar based. 2) What's 'Rollerball' about? Global corporations who have no allegiance to people. The only thing corporations know anything about is money. Corporations are now bigger than some governments and as powerful. What they say goes. Corporations are to blame for the mess the world is in now. This is not lefty talk this is fact.
Ollie: 'C'mon Mick and Ian - tour as MTH.' NO!!!
Christer B. Jarlas: Are you doing the Hell Festival? Well, it was a bit off and on for a while, but I did it in the end. How was it?
Bobby Ballock says the web site is great (one for you, Justin!). Says Classic Rock and Mojo have also improved things. Has it improved record sales? Yes, I think it has.
Carl Burnard's girlfriend Kathy is into Sinatra, but says I do 'Nightingale' better! Well, that's made my morning!
Jeffrey: We were in England, Ireland, Scotland and Norway and the weather was great. Everywhere around 72 degrees. Not too hot - not too cold - not too humid. Very English.
Francis L.: Is John Kerry opening for the Rant band on the next tour? I'm just not totally into John. What a bloody choice - and at a time like this. See - this is what gets us into trouble.
Pete Stavrakoglou: Will we play NY circa Yuletide? Well it seems like a fun thing to do, doesn't it? Says I should have been 'bigger' and made 'tens of millions'. See a lot of people think that way and I can never understand it. What if I didn't want to? Says he saw Willie Nile on a benefit show - what are the chances of Willie opening for me? Willie's a pal and he's also mates with Andy. We've actually done this and will probably do it again at some point.
Julie G. says she went to all those nights we did at the Roxy in LA as a scrawny 17 year old. Says she's moved to Austin and is hearing our contribution to Alejandro's 'Por Vida' on the radio. Great stuff.
Kevin: 'Come to New Orleans.' What! In this weather?
Willie fi Glasgow: Ah! So that was it - PC goosed. I was wondering where you were. Says he's been 'neglecting his managerial duties'. Willie goes on - 'as expected NWTR is No. 1 in Scotland, the Scotty MacHunter dolls have sold out and the new NWTR covered by various Scottish artists (The Proclaimers and the Krankies.) Willie has been able to retire on the proceeds and my cheque's in the mail. That's weird Willie, it hasn't arrived - despite repeated requests from my vast accounts department. To be continued
Glenn Williams bought NME 'Originals' book about Glam Rock and the only mention we get is a tiny review for the 'Dudes' single. Chicory Tip' got a whole page! Well, that's what you get when you buy NME's book of 'Originals', isn't it?
Matt Nojonen: Do Columbus! Actually, we are going to Ohio soon.
Mike Wagner: 'Ever think of doing a cover album of your favourite songs? Yes, but nobody has asked me as of yet.
Bruce Prokup says he got 'Standing In The Light' and says it sounds crappy. Nothing to do with me. Don't buy it - that is - anyone who might be thinking about it.
Lil Mike: How did I know of Alejandro's work? He covered a couple of my songs and I met him in Chicago. Lovely chap.
Pablo: 'How do I get the sound track to 'Fright Night'? I honestly don't know, Pablo. Try eBay. [ Justin's note - it's extremely rare, and the ones on eBay are pricey and almost always counterfeit. You can get Ian's song from that soundtrack - 'Good Man In a Bad Time' - on the Once Bitten, Twice Shy 2 CD compilation. ]
Gerald Lee Louis says he 'digs' my piano playing. 'Best this side of Ferriday, Louisiana.' Now there's a compliment! How did I take up piano? I bought one for thirty shillings (about $3.00) and stuck tin tacks in the hammers. I'm not that great a pianist, but I have the feel. I always preferred Gospel piano playing - Leon Russell - Richard Tee - they're great players (Richard's now sadly gone).
Willie says do Dylan's 'Spanish Boots of Spanish Leather' on a covers album.' Mmmmmm.
Keith Davies saw MTH on Top of the Pops 2 doing 'Roll Away the Stone'. His 19 year old son said, Thank God he's sorted his hair out.' Ah, that was then ...
David Fowler: Thank you, David.
Jason Rubin: Do I have unreleased tracks that may see the light of day at some point? Maybe.
Jan-Ivar Stene wondered if I'd be doing the whole Oslo set in Trondheim. Actually I did nine songs. They asked me for 45 minutes and I think we did 55. Because of the shortness of the set I geared it more to the orchestra. It took forever to get to actually rehearse as festivals are always a bit chaotic (especially with an orchestra) but I think it went off well. The Hell audience was fantastic. I'd like to thank everybody who was involved - especially Bjorn Nessjo who worked his ass off and Canute who was nice enough to ask me. The band were great and I know I messed with their schedules so I'd like to thank them too, for going out of their way. The orchestra were perfect (as usual)! We got a road tech at the last minute - Bobby - who's usually with Richard Thompson. Thanks, Bobby - painless!
Dirk says I'm a clue now in certain Crossword puzzles. Fame at last!!!
Jane T. says 'You're finally getting airplay in Austin. They're playing 'One More Time' a lot (KGSR).
Xan: Any chance of a gig in South London? Weird isn't it? We used to go down to Croyden. Perhaps they come to the Astoria?
Andrew Lazar saw us at the Tradewinds. Loves 'Rant'.
Jeffrey played 'All Is Forgiven' to his mother-in-law. She said, 'He's a lovely songwriter, but why doesn't he cut his hair?' She's never seen me with it short - I have.
Tim Kearns: 1) Nobody in Mott used cover musicians on any of their albums. It was all us on our various instruments. We had guests, but we all played on the tracks. 2) It wasn't RTB's fault that I'm not particularly fond of 'Overnight Angels'. A lot of the songs weren't up to scratch. A few were. 3) Loves, 'Life After Death'. This lad's missing the U.S. dates as he's in North Korea! Good luck with that, Tim.
Peter Jordan: What is my motivation for writing? It just sort of comes - hangs around for a while in the subconscious and hopefully eventually breaks through into the conscious. There's no set pattern. You have to keep your antenna up. 'Rant' was quasi-politico, but that was how I was feeling. At the moment I'm in my digesting period, which is always frustrating. There's a lot to be said for just sitting down and going at it blindly. You never know what's going to fall out. Art? I don't know about art, but you see some painters who had weird vision - it's probably more of a chemical imbalance. The society we live in calls it 'art'. It's just something I can do. I'm not much good at anything else, so I'm lucky, I guess. I just wish I wasn't so lazy, but then it either comes or it doesn't. You can't force it. Or can you? Answers - don't know.
Art O wants GEETAR tabs to my Rant songs. Tune down a semi and remember some are in open G (also tuned down a semi). Listen to the record - it'll get easier. Open G tuning. You turn the top E and the bottom E down to D and you tune the A string down to G. Fun, isn't it! Thrilled we're doing Detroit.
Gregory Marincic: Going to Illinois from Georgia for Palantine. Why Nellies? I don't really know. I don't do that bit.
Krister Berntsson: Talking about Swedish bands. Apparently the band 'Gyllene Tider' are still enormous in Sweden and covered 'Golden Age' on their first album. The founder of that band, Per Gessle, later became famous with Roxette. 'Two other Swedish musicians, Magnus Uggla and Ulf Lundell (both about as popular as you can be in Sweden) are also great fans of yours.' We shall try to get to Sweden next spring.
Alan from Sante Fe: Am I a NASCAR fan now? Nope, I like x games. My eldest, Steve, is into NASCAR.
Stale Tonning: Make a TV story 'Hunter in Hell'. Hello, Stale!
Chuck: Thanks but I'm pretty much fixed up at the moment. Appreciated.
John LeConte: 'Why don't you sell your tour T-shirts on this site? I thought we did - with modifications. I'll have to have a chat.
Steve Baratta: Thanks for the Palatine gig in advance. See - now something's bound to go wrong!
Dave Hall: My memories of Guild Guitars are more to do with economics than ability.
Steve Abs loved the UK gigs. Could fans vote for tracks on the next UK tour? Nope. I always do what feels right at the time. Loves 'Dead Man Walkin'' Pretty much a complete song isn't it? I was playing 'No One', my finger slipped to the wrong note and 'Dead Man' was born and it gives me a lot of pleasure and I love doing it.
Hope Campbell: Go to the soundcheck and ask for Trudi she will have a good idea on how/if it can be done.
Pat: Do I have any demos of me or MTH I would considering releasing? The Mott stuff is so long ago I wouldn't know, but I have a few things that haven't seen the light of day as of yet.
Steve Baratta: Sends me chords and lyrics to the Outsider (by me). Could this be a subtle hint?
Johnny 99: 'Far be it from me to infer anything underhand going on with the Trivia contest, but last month's winner was Jim Patterson. Come on!!!' What a corrupt mind, Johnny. Go back to 27 immediately.
Dave Donner: Noted
Annica Lloyd: Try Chrysalis Records in London.
Owen Kelly: Go ahead.
Peejay: Actually, the Astoria DVD 2004 is now scheduled for February 2005. I've seen some of it. I think it's great.
Steve K.: I was there, but not on the M1.
Jeffrey and Kathy - Happy 14th Anniversary. Congrats.
Marty G: The point is missed about Mick and I touring as MTH. If you tour as MTH (which we wouldn't anyway) - then you're tied into MTH material. While it's OK to a point, we also prefer doing newer stuff as well. It's not all about making money; you have to be happy with yourself. If we're missing out on 'recognition and fame' as you put it - that's OK with us. We don't mind - honestly!
Horse's Mouth #46, Part 2 will follow shortly ...
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