Summary

INTERVIEW CONTINUES: Pete Fornatale 36:08 That's Humble Pie and stone cold fever. At the time when my guest Peter Frampton was a member of the band. Peter, is it also true that your writing style changed during the Humble Pie years? Peter Frampton 36:24 Yes, I mean, we started off as a band being very overly democratic. And as much as anything anybody wrote, We all whether it was Jerry, Greg, Steve or myself, we just did it. And that was it. Because we'd all been in bands where there had been someone that was like the guy that said, You're doing my songs, and that's it. You know? So it was an and Steve was very, very much aware of that, you know, that he he didn't want to, he could have written everything at twice the speed of everybody else. He was Austin. He was he was really prolific, you know. And, but he didn't, and he wanted to write with the band and everything. So he we sort of did I think we belittled ourselves to start with, in as much as we didn't what Glyn John's was when we did our third record, Glyn John's was the person that took us aside and said, Look, I think what we should do for this album is you can all write the songs. That's not not a problem. He said. He pointed to Steve said, You're the singer. Greg, you're the bass player. Jerry, you're the drummer. And Peter's the lead guitarist. Why don't we approach it that way for this album, and it was the first one that made any noise and it sort of narrowed our direction. And it was the way it should have been to start with, you know, but we experimented until we found the way we should go, but he was absolutely 100%. Right. Pete Fornatale 37:52 But you were also hearing different influences at that point. Then the Buddy Holly Peter Frampton 37:57 Oh yeah, we were listening to Dr. John the night tripper, the band, Buffalo Springfield, you know, Pete Fornatale 38:06 Mary, it was a sponge for that stuff. Right? And, yes, pass it along to you. Peter Frampton 38:11 Absolutely. And country stuff as well. He was very much into into good country. Pete Fornatale 38:18 In one of those odd situations, Humble Pie had its biggest success with that live album recorded at our own Fillmore East here in New York. And you had already left the group ever have any second thoughts or regrets about that? Peter Frampton 38:35 Well? Well, I was obviously a part of that show and part of the record. And, in fact, we all make some of it but I mix most of it with Eddie Kramer, the, the great engineer in New York at Electric Lady, you know, Jimmy's Jimi Hendrix studio. And so then, when, when Dee Anthony came over to London to bring us the cover, to show us the cover, I said, Can I have a meeting with you alone first, and so I laid it out for him. I said, like, I'm, I think I'm gonna, well, I know I'm gonna leave, you know, before the album comes out, because I think now would be an easier time and he said, You're nuts. You're crazy. This is going to be a big album. I said, maybe it is and and I hope it is. And if it is, I'll probably think I've made the worst decision of my career already. But I say I gotta go do my own. I'm ready to do something else. And I, we then called Steve and he called me every name in the book, you know, I was hurt, you know, and I was, it was, it was not an easy decision for me because it was like I said, it was it was such a fantastic band to be a part of. And it wasn't because I didn't like humble pie at all. It was that I had to, I felt the need. I wasn't being as All filled as I figured I could be I was I'd come of age. And I needed to lead my own situation. Pete Fornatale 40:07 So it was in a sense, like starting all over again, constructing that, that solo career. One of the things you did in the interim was some session work with some very beloved musicians. You want to tell us a little bit about that? Peter Frampton 40:22 Yes, well, I started off doing some sessions, actually for a musical director called John Paul Jones, who was then going to be in Led Zeppelin, the bass player. I did some sessions for him, and became like his guitarist of choice for a couple of different things and, and then I bumped into a friend in Wardour Street, who worked for George Harrison. And he said, Do you want to come down and George is recording in, in in Trident studios down around the corner? So I said, Yes. So we went in, and I'll never forget it. We walked into the control room, and George was like, where that chair is over there. And he just looked up and he said, Hello Pete, you know, and I thought, oh, gosh, I look back. I thought Pete Townsend was behind me or something. But it was like, I guess he does know who I am, because I've been on the telly too, you know, so it was a very strong moment. And he said, Look, I'm producing this, this album for Doris Troy right now we're in the middle of cutting this, this track, would you like to play guitar, you know, and so he handed me his cherry, sunburst 1959 Les Paul and said, off you go sort of thing. And I walked down and there's Ringo, on drums. And Klaus Volman on bass and Nicky Hopkins on piano usual suspects. Yes. Just and I'm going you know, Chris Spedding was the the other guitar player. I mean, just, I thought, you know, I died and gone to have it. You know, it was unbelievable. Unbelievable. So then I very quietly started playing rhythm. Once George had shown me the chords and he stopped the band. He said, No, date. I want you to play lead. So that was it. I thought, Oh, dear. So, you know, that was, that was one that I'll never forget. And then through that, I got introduced to Harry Nelson. And the same old suspects. Were on that one and the son of Milson. We toured with the herd with the who, so the ox, John Entwistle was doing a solo album, and he asked me to play on that. So I played on that played on Nicky Hopkins, and then I go blank, but I did so many sessions, but those are the ones that really stand out. Pete Fornatale 43:03 I want to stick with George for a second for an obvious reason. But you played on the All Things must pass session to you does a specific track from that album that you were involved with come to mind? Peter Frampton 43:18 Well, it's more that I mean, I mean, a lot of things happen. I'm sitting in, in, in Abbey Road, the big studio where they did Sergeant Pepper, and I'm sitting next to George and the rest of band Badfinger. And we're all on acoustics. And he brought over Pete Drake, Bob Dylan recommended because they wrote if not for you together. And he recommended that he bring Pete Drake from Nashville who played on Nashville Skyline who was one of the top pedal steel session players in Nashville. And, and Pete in a slow moment, got out a homemade TalkBox and, and even had a hit in the 60s a country hit called I Am the guitar and he started doing it for me. And I I almost went myself. Yes. Oh, yeah, absolutely. That sound you know, it's like, Oh, my God. And so I said, where do you get those? He said, why I made my mon you know, so it was an Pete remained a friend until we've lost him now, but he was a fantastic person. So that's where I first saw that but I think the thing that I remember most was after we'd lay down the tracks, I think I played live with everybody on about six tracks, mostly the acoustic country type ones. And then George called me up and I live around the corner. I still say it's only because I live around the corner. He got me on the record. I was close by and he called up and said Uh, Phil, Phil Spector. Phil wants more acoustics. So I said, Oh God, um, I'll be right there. So, jumps in the car literally. And just 10 minutes later I'm back at Abbey Road with the old acoustic. And it's done. I realize it's just him and me, you know, and we're sitting in front of the glass, Phil Spector's in there complaining about his stomach ulcer, you know, and and we're going through every track that's got acoustics. And I, when people say how many tracks Did you plan? I don't know. But a lot, you know, anything that there's acoustic on? I'm probably somewhere in there. And between between reels. George started jamming and what do you do your join in? And then that is probably people say, well, what's the greatest moment in your career? And I say, well, it's not what you think it is. It's sitting next to George Harrison in front of Phil Spector and Abbey Road jamming. Pete Fornatale 46:08 Wow. You have paid lovely, lovely tribute to George on the new CD now by covering one of his most famous songs. Peter Frampton 46:19 Yeah. A bold move. But we we were doing a benefit in Cincinnati for 911. And I was trying to introduce reintroduce local Cincinnati talent, which is King Records was was there which Freddie Freddie King James Brown. All the kings recorded their blues. Yeah, it's so much so much history, and they don't really know you know, that. It's it. It was right off. 71 right there. So anyway. So we were doing we set up i i partnered with the local promotion there and team and we put on this benefit for 911. And then we when we would do as we were doing it, we lost George in the end of November in 2001. And so before we hit the soundcheck, I asked everybody to just freshen up on on While My Guitar Gently Weeps. And so we did it the soundcheck sounded pretty good. And I thought it would be a nice way to leave the audience with that one, too. It is our last number. And it will be a nice tribute, say goodbye salute to George Harrison. And we played it. And I felt like it was one of those really strange moments when you feel like you're miming to a record didn't feel like it was like, I think it was the emotion of the evening. And it sort of played itself. I felt like he was there with us. You know, it was really a wonderful feeling. And there was that, you know, when something affects an audience and they don't know, it's finished for a second or two, and there was this like, sort of Pin drop silence for a second, and then they just went nuts, you know, and it was, obviously, everyone got caught up in the emotion of everything. But I think that was the reason we all came off. And I think Bob and Chad John just said, we should try that. When we do the album. What don't you think? And I said, I got a little thing I'm a little worried about there. Eric Clapton played the solo on the original. And so that's a little bit of a stumbling block for me. So anyway, I, I sort of put that out of my mind. I quoted him but then I went off and did my own style. Pete Fornatale 48:50 Not that you need to hear it from me, but it's a beautiful, beautiful version. Peter Frampton 48:55 Well, thank you. Pete Fornatale 48:56 Let's listen on mixbag radio.