Ian Hunters Making Music interview

Half Moon Bay thanks reader Andy Williamson who pointed us to this interview in the UK paper Making Music which, we are delighted to say, we have been able to reproduce in its entirety. We are pleased to do this because this paper is a musicians paper available free through music shops (where you buy guitars, strings and things, etc.) in the UK. Anyway, here it is...

Andy Basiere rolls away some stones with the former Mott The Hoople frontman

"Its a mighty long way down rock & roll" may be one of the more grammatically-challenged lines to have stumbled from the pen of Ian Hunter (singer songwriter, author and voice behind possibly the best rock & roll anthem of the last 25 years), but having seen his peers, co- travellers, and most recently close friends, fail to complete that long journey, Hunter may have since had cause to marvel at just how far the journey really was.

Last seen at the star-studded Freddie Mercury Tribute in 1992, Hunter hasn't exactly been prolific in the 1990s, but then, as he points out, he was otherwise engaged.

"Mick (Ronson, friend and colleague) called me in 1991, with incurable cancer, and that went on for two years, which wasn't much fun. And when he died...". He pauses. "See, we could both sit around all day and not touch a guitar, just have a good time, and when he died I simply stayed home. I was getting phone calls but I didn't want to do anything. Then, one day I just thought, 'fuck it - if anyone rings, I'm going'. And I got a phone call from this guy who wanted to do an album at Abbey Road, and that's where I met Bjom Nessjo (producer on brand new album 'Artful Dodger'), and I really liked the way he worked. So, for the first time in years, I put music first again."

The passing months have also left room for him to get a perspective on the death of his friend.

"Mick died from 1991 to 1993 - it took two years. He never accepted he was gonna go, wouldn't acknowledge it, never laid down until two days before he died. Always the optimist. I was with him when it happened; he was coming back to our house in the States... we knew the trip wasn't going to happen, but we had to go through with booking the seats on the plane." He pauses again. "One of the worst things was having to lie. So, when he finally died and everyone started getting upset, I just felt relief, like it was finally over."

Did he worry about writing something as ephemeral as a pop song ("Michael Picasso") about the death of a close friend?

"No, you lust approach it as a song. You know how corny it could be. I got this vision of Mickey Rooney going, "Judy, Judy, where are you Judy?" - some fucking song he wrote when Judy Garland died, so of course you've got to be careful. what I wanted was simplicity and truth, and I think that's what I got when you sing you don't think about it, you just try and get the words right."

The album also has a couple of incongruous, Chas-&-Dave-meets-Ian-Dury faux-cock-er-nee-songs, which don't really fit in. "That was the back-end of the Abbey Road sessions [the results of which, 'Dirty Laundry', should see the light of day sometime this year]. They sort of sneaked in there. Yeah, they do seem at odds. But it's a big step in the right direction - the next one will be a complete unit. I've got seven written already, which is good for me because with every other album I've stopped, and this time I kept writing. when I was working with the E Street Band, they said Springsteen was carrying five in his head all the time, and that astonished me - but now know it's possible."

Having already broached the possibly touchy subjects of Mick Ronson and the less impressive album tracks, I push my luck a bit too far.

Do you ever keep in touch with old collaborators like Bowie and Mick Jagger?

"No."

Is that because you don't want to, or they don't?

"Depends who you're talking about"

Well, have you heard the new Bowie album, for example?

"No, I haven't"

It's got a big drum & bass influence.

He gives a wry smile. "No comment"

OK...

"Don't get me wrong, I think the drum & bass thing is valid. I just have no comment to make about Bowie."

Oh well. Nowadays the man who spent all his free time chasing down guitar bargains in US pawnbrokers (check Hunter's still eminently readable Diary Of A Rock & Roll Star) likes to keep his gear simple.

"I'm basically a front man, I don't play lead. I've used most things over the years and I think a lot of it is bullshit, because guys like Lesley West pick up anything and just plug in and sound great. It's how you play 'em.

"At the moment, I'm really into 1970s' SGs - I love the neck, and it's a cheap guitar, although I don't think they will be for much longer. Most of my guitars are Fenders, though. I've got a couple of early Sixties' Strats, with both Fender and DiMarzio pickups. I do prefer valve amps, Fender again - I like the Twin, not the old Fender Twin, it's a new one. And I loved the sound of Mick though a Marshall 50 and a 2x2."

Mick must be a hard act to follow when you're looking for a guitarist? "You can't. I went through four guitarists on this album. I get tapes from people stuck back in the Seventies and that's no good to me. I prefer to work with writers. I don't really get on with guitar players; they tend to think, "Right, this is my bit", and that's not the way you do it You try and absorb the song, y'know? The Eighties was awful for all that."

Judging by the preponderance of re-unions doing the rounds, the nostalgia merchants must be queuing up to get Mott back on stage...

"I'm not interested. The money's serious, and it seems the more we say no, the more it goes up, but I don't think it'll ever happen. Then again, I suppose I should never say never."

Do you still play "Dudes"?

"It's a great song, why stop? I remember going to see Procol Harum, and laboured through the entire set waiting for "Whiter Shade Of Pale" and they didn't fucking do it Anyway, if I don't, who will? It never really worked for Bowie. Plus, I was a fan, I worked in factories and went to gigs. If I'd gone to see me and I didn't do it, I'd be pissed off."