We caught up with Bob Catley, formerly the lead singer with Magnum, during
his soundcheck on 18 December 2000 at Trillians Rockbar @ Newcastle upon
Tyne, UK. This is what he had to say to us:
MM - You are half way through your tour,
how has it been going so far and what have the crowds been like?
BC - It's been going terrific, the crowds have been brilliant, it just
gets better and better. We started off in Spain that was good, then we did
Stowbridge which was good, then Nottingham which was amazing and last
night at Glasgow which was good.
This is my own band now and it's the first time we have toured together
and it just keeps getting better and better. We are going through till
Christmas Eve, so I'll be able to go home on Christmas Eve which will be
nice.
We have a lot of good shows coming up and I've got Kip Winger on with me
which is brilliant. I think it's a good package, he's great. Two rock n'
roll heroes together! A couple of legends in our own lifetime.
MM - Who's actually in your band at the
moment?
BC - I have Paul Hodson on keyboards and Al Barrow on bass guitar both
from Hard Rain, Colin Alltree on drums, he used to be our drum tech but
now he's been demoted to our drummer, he's excellent, and I have a guy on
guitar Vince O' Reagan who I've known before, we all work together as well
as separately.
MM - This tour is to promote your album
Legends that came out last year, when will the new album be out?
BC - The new album will be out in April 2001, Legends is my second solo
album. I've just finished recording the new album which will be called
Middle Earth, and the songs are inspired by J R R Tolkein and Lord of the
Rings.
I will be doing the full British/European tour in April and May to promote
it with the same band.
Gary Hughes writes all the songs for me and he knew that I always wanted
to do a Lord of the Rings album. The songs are really beautiful and I'll
be playing one of those songs tonight.
MM - Just one?
BC - Yeh just one at the end of the show to give people a taste. I'm still
trying to get the words in my head, so if I get the words wrong no one
will know because nobody's heard it.
MM - Is this album going back to more
the Storytellers Night and the fable Legends then?
BC - Legends, each figure on there is either mythical or real, dead or
alive, from Greek mythology to Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley.
Phantom of the Opera is on there, Jason and the Argonauts are on.
Wuthering Heights is on with Cathy and Heathcliffe. They are all kinds of
Legends.
MM - Do you find it easier singing about
things like that as opposed to personal experiences?
BC - It's all the same to me, on The Tower there was a lot of personal
experience stuff on there, again written by Gary, and that was a similar
album I think to Storytellers Night, more so than Legends which is more of
a contemporary rock album.
Middle Earth is going to be a nice album, it's going to be a fantasy album
as Lord of the Rings is a fantasy tale.
MM
- I'm sure all the old Magnum fans will love it.
BC - Oh yeh, funny you should say that as me and Tony Clarkin have started
working together again. In the new year I'm going to start recording some
new songs with Tony towards a Magnum album which will be out later in the
year. So the Magnum fans are going love that!
MM - Does this mean Magnum are going to be reformed as a band?
BC - Yeh, well we will be touring. Who's going to be in the band apart
from myself and Tony I'm not sure yet. It will be a Magnum reunion in some
form.
MM - Do you think Magnum will stay
together or will it just be a one off?
BC - I don't know we'll have to see how it goes. Next year is our 25th
anniversary, so that's definitely going to happen. After that we'll see,
but I will still carry on working with Gary Hughes and do my own tours,
with my own career, I won't not stop that.
I consider myself very lucky to have both in the gang. Tony Clarkin is a
great song writer and so is Gary Hughes. I'm very privileged to be able to
work with both of them.
MM - Are you still a part of Hard Rain?
BC - Hard Rain doesn't exist, it hasn't existed for a year. I left Hard
Rain a year ago and that kind of knocked the whole thing on the head. It
was good while it lasted but it didn't work out for me, I had too much
going on with my own stuff and I had to just leave.
After that it pretty much folded. But it will be nice to work with Tony
again.
MM - Hard Rain was more like the last
Magnum album, the Rock Art album.
BC - Yes, well it was the follow up to the Rock Art album. The time is
right for some really good Magnum songs again now, so we are really into
it and it will be nothing like Hard Rain, not if I have anything to do
with it.
MM - You're not trying to put Magnum to rest are you?
BC - To rest! no no! I want to dig it all up again. Revive the corpse of
Magnum.
MM - I don't think the fans ever went
away.
BC - No the fans are brilliant, the fans never go away, you can't live
without them. We only did what we did with Magnum because of our fans and
we'll never forget that. They really are brilliant people.
MM - We have seen you as the lead singer
for many years now but do you actually play any instruments?
BC - No.
MM - Have you ever tried?
BC - No, I'm not interested thank you. I bought a guitar some years ago
and had a little go on it and thought forget it. I just couldn't be
bothered to learn properly and gave it away.
I'll leave it to other people who can play it properly. I'll just stick to
my singing as I can do that pretty well. I'll stick to what I know and
forget guitar playing.
I have a little dabble on the drums now and again at sound checks, but I'm
just a singer.
MM - What bands or artists are you
listening to at the moment?
BC - I don't get time, you're joking aren't you! I wish I did have time!
When I'm at home I listen to all sorts, when I'm on the road and there's
so much going on we just watch videos more than listen to music. We watch
Bottom.
When I go home I have quite a varied record collection, and I'll listen to
anything that's good. If it's good music, and there's lots out there, I'm
easily pleased.
MM
- Are your music tastes more Rock orientated?
BC - I love heavy rock, soft rock, folk rock, any old rock. More the
classic rock, the older albums I suppose.
I like some classical music, the popular stuff. I don't like Jazz though,
I like the odd bit of dance stuff, a bit of everything really.
MM - Do you think it is easier or harder
for bands to get started these days?
BC - Easier or harder, I'm not sure, it's all hard, it always was, there's
nothing easy about it unless you touch dead lucky.
Sometimes it's who you know not what you know. You can be the best band in
the world but not get a record deal because you are not the kind of music
that's popular at that time. I really feel for bands.
Magnum had the same problems all those years ago, but we kind of touched
lucky. Jeff Lynn from ELO put us in touch with Jet Records and we got a
deal with them. So if you have a friend that can put a word in for you
then that's good but it's not always possible, and there's a lot of good
bands out there, but you struggle some times to get what you deserve.
It can be real hard work and can be really heart breaking.
MM - Have you any advice for bands
starting out?
BC - My god, don't do it! Yeh, go on you'll have a great time. I don't
know there's nothing I can tell anybody, just be true to yourself, enjoy
it and have a great gig. But don't always expect to get paid!
You have to get used to doing it for the love, the money will come later.
It's not so bad once you get going, it's often well worth doing, if you're
strong enough. It can be a bit horrendous some times and you can get
ripped off. Everybody gets ripped off, I have, I've been ripped off loads
of times. But it's ok, I still do it.
MM - Is there anything that you regret
of wish you'd done differently?
BC - No, not really if I'd done things differently then certain things
wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't have met my wife or have two lovely
girls. I have two grown up daughters now.
I wouldn't have met half the people I know now if I had done it different,
so I guess it's best to leave it the way it was.
There's certain things I would have liked to have changed but on the whole
it's been a pretty good life. I wouldn't change anything really, nothing
major. It's had it's ups and downs, rich one year and broke the next, it's
a helter-skelter.
MM - How's your mum keeping? Is she
still helping out with the information service?
BC - My mum, yeh she's fine, she still does that. She's 77 now, she
couldn't make it tonight but I'll see her at London tomorrow night. She
still helps out on the information service and I've got Annie Minnion
doing the internet and the website. She manages me now. She's also my
agent and she does the merchandise on the road. She also organises all my
interviews and everything, you know the woman's brilliant. Everybody is,
my mum does a great job for me, my family all support me and my band are
great. I've got the fans who all support me, what can I say, how can I be
so lucky?
MM - Years ago when people wrote to the
fan club your mum would write back by hand to each and every letter, it
was such a lovely touch.
BC - Yeh, well that's what she's there for, it's the personal touch isn't
it, direct access to somebody that they want to talk to, she's great. Now
we also have a great big website full of stuff. I'm very lucky.
MM - How have you found the internet?
BC - It's opened me up to more people. Yes, it's made a big difference.
Well it's instant access to information isn't it? you haven't got to wait
a week for the postman to deliver.
The internet is fantastic, we can't do without it now. What did we do
before it came along? I let Annie do all that stuff for me, I'm useless, I
can't type and send an email to save my life. I've got a mobile phone
which is switched off in my bag, I don't know why I've got one, I'm not
very high tech am I? I'm more kind of low tech.
MM - Do you ever see a time when you
want to pack it all in and won't want to tour any more?
BC - I don't think so I love it too much. You're joking, I love it far too
much. I just want to keep on doing what I do for as long as I'm physically
able to do it. For as long as people keep coming to see me in this form or
Magnum. Why not? Who wants to stop that life? It's a brilliant life and
I'm very lucky to be able to do all this and I see no reason to stop.
It doesn't matter how old you are as long as you have your health and you
can do it on stage. I don't run around so much as I used to as I can't be
bothered, but people still come for the music and that's enough. Long may
it reign, long may it rock n' roll. I don't see me packing it in, no way!
MM - Is there anything you'd like to say
to your fans out there?
BC - YEH! WAZZUP! Just keep enjoying the music please and I hope I've
managed to bring some good songs to you all and long may it be so, I'm not
finished yet. Try and come and see me on the road and have a lovely
Christmas.
I'll be on tour next year during next April and May so come and see me,
you know you are all welcome.
MM - How are you going to celebrate the New Year?
BC - We are having a big party, we are having a 2001 party! A sort of Star
Trek dressing up party where we all go mad, so I'll be doing that with all
my family and friends.
Then I'm back on my head working with Tony. I finish Christmas Eve then I
start work again on the 3rd January.
MM - Thank you for taking part in this
interview and we look forward to seeing you back on the road next year.
BC - It's been an absolute pleasure.
This interview is the first in a series of live interviews done for The
Mayfair Mall. We will be bringing you more
live interviews over the coming months! |
