POP MUSIC
INTERVIEW CONTINUES:
Pete Fornatale 1:03:42
Pete Fornatale back with you on mixed bag radio with my guest today. Peter Frampton. Peter, you mentioned earlier that that Steve Marriott was the prolific one and that you sometimes have difficulty pulling songs out. But there was one particular day where prolific was not a problem for Peter Frampton. You know what I'm talking about? Tell that.
Peter Frampton 1:04:06
Yeah, there was I went down to I had basically three weeks to write the album that was in going to end up being called just Frampton. The one where the cover is actually me wearing playing live wearing Steve Merritt t shirt. And so by this time, this was 74. The Humble Pie had become rich and famous. Not me. But and they bought some houses down in the Bahamas, in Nassau. And so Steve lent me his his little cottage on the beach. It was literally eight feet from the water, you know, and you had a piano down there, and an amp and I brought an acoustic and I went down there for three weeks and And for the first two weeks, I, you know, I, I've been on the road so I was like, the adrenaline was still going, I hadn't relaxed at all, you know, so I was getting panic stricken that I everything I wrote sounded like I you know, I've done that before that's awful, horrible, horrible. And then one day I, I woke up and about I guess, lunchtime ish or just just before lunch I think I went out and so I'll just have a swim, whatever. And then I came back and I picked up the guitar. And I, I started with this open tuning playing what was started and was going to be showing me the way and wrote very quickly, lyrically, one verse and a chorus, because I thought, I'll finish the rest later. I'm on to something here. This isn't bad, you know. So. So I was very excited. Now the adrenaline is definitely flowing in the right way. And so I went out, had a bite to eat I know everything because I've relived that day so many times trying to recreate it. And so after lunch, came back, nothing nothing nothing went for a walk came back as the sun was setting. I wrote baby I love you way. If there was a theme to the day, the way series I call it, I do say that I'm in you used to be called I'm in your way. But I it was the trilogy. But But and then that evening I picked up one of Steve's electrics and plugged it in to his amp there and started blasting and no one could hear you I was in no way for miles. And I started playing the opening chords to no where is too far, which was known as too far from my baby, which ended up being a third track on so I, I sort of had a good start on it. And I in eight days I wrote the rest,
Pete Fornatale 1:07:12
you know, not a bad days where no at all? No and not one like it since?
Peter Frampton 1:07:18
Unfortunately not No. So you know, that you cherish those days? I mean, any day that a song comes is a great day, you know, I mean, I'm not. I don't like writing things that sound like my last song. I can't do that. I can't repeat myself song wise, at all. At least for me, a style will will be the same. And people will say oh, well I can tell that it's a Frampton song, or that's a Frampton solo or whatever. But as far as I'm concerned, it has to be completely new ground.
Pete Fornatale 1:07:51
Alright, Peter, it's time to talk about the monster. Oh, okay, it's time to ask you some questions that you've probably been asked 1000s of times before. But all of a sudden, comes this live recording done in San Francisco in the mid 70s, the biggest selling live album in rock'n'roll history. And is it 16 million to date? Is that the latest figure
Peter Frampton 1:08:22
There's a few of the early figures that we're still trying to get because they weren't computers. So because the company's a&m was bought and sold so many times we we think it's more than that. But I'm saying yeah, it's pretty much we know it's more than that.
Pete Fornatale 1:08:39
So the herd is one level of success for Peter Frampton. Humble Pie is another level of success for Peter Frampton. But then comes this phenomenon. What was it like to be in the eye of the hurricane? And, Bob, if you want to join in on this, please do.
Bob Mayo 1:08:59
Well what did you mentioned Cameron's comment
Peter Frampton 1:09:01
Oh, yeah. Cameron. After the case, Cameron said this wonderful thing that they that he did for an interview thing for me, which was great. He said because he was there. He wrote the liner notes. You know, he was the first person apart from us to hear it. You know, he was the first critic or writer we ever played it to. And he was like, you know, it was very difficult not to get be affected by instantly. I don't know what and I don't know what that is. So he he basically, you know, I've lost the drift of what I was saying. Feed me what you just said, well, oh, I know. I know that you can edit that right? Sorry. Yeah, I'm a little tired. So basically, Cameron saw the whole thing happen, and we were very good friends and we went on when I had breaks we go on vacation together without respect. Ladies. And so when it came to sum it up, I think he put it the right way that it was like I was strapped to the nose cone of a rocket. And I went where no man had been before. And when I got there, there was nobody else to talk to. Wow. You know, and that's paraphrasing what he said very closely what, and it's so true, because I just looked to everybody else for advice, when the only person I should have been asking advice from was myself. And my gut instinct at that point was to go away. And, you know, do the comes a lot, do the tour, that was booked already. And to take advantage of that year, go round the world, and then pull back and just do nothing for a while because it was so big. And this country is so big, where it first started to take off, and then the world that it got to the point where people heard it too much, and they got sick of it, you know? And that that was not good. overexposure. Absolutely. And then the normal the old rules are, which I listened to everybody are to where you got to hype this now, because it's so big. That's the last thing we needed to do, you know, was hype, or do every interview that was asked of me, which I did. You know, because, you know, it's hard to say no, when no one wants to talk to you all these years, really, except radio was my friend, you know, and all of a sudden, everybody wants to talk to me, why should I do that one? Can I do this one? Oh, Rolling Stone. Yeah, you know, so. And then the ones that I shouldn't have done, you know, like, Women's Wear Daily and cooking weekly, I did everything. Popular Mechanics. There was no way you could turn without seeing me, you know, so that was wrong. And I felt it was wrong. But I couldn't be sure that it was wrong. I didn't know. But it was very soon. I was made to realize that I was very evident that you know, we've gone too far.
Pete Fornatale 1:12:17
Bob, what was your experience
Bob Mayo 1:12:19
I specifically remember, it taken off in January of 76. And the first break we had on that tour was in July. It was the first time I had gotten home and gotten back in touch with some friends. And I thought, frankly, that we were pretty much on top of the world. And they set me straight. They said, We're already sick of this thing. We've already heard it so much. It's everywhere. We don't need to hear it anymore. It
Peter Frampton 1:12:50
It was it was it was overkill.
Bob Mayo 1:12:51
Yeah. And the and the other part of the story was that we were constantly working. We were either on the road, or we were in the studio. And that lasted nearly five years. Yeah, that period of time. So you know, so it was definitely a grind.
Peter Frampton 1:13:07
There's no period there to pull back and think about what's just
Bob Mayo 1:13:12
charged, there was no time to recharge, no time to reassess, or to just give yourself some room to come up with some different ideas.
Peter Frampton 1:13:20
Exactly. And because we were just caught up in it, there was no reality at that point. We were just like,
Bob Mayo 1:13:26
now we're gonna start Shea Stadium experience every day. Yeah, sometimes twice a day,
Peter Frampton 1:13:31
and then being told how great you are by management. You know, just to feed your ego I go on. Yeah, exactly. I'm tired. I want to go home. Yes, but we got to play another Shea Stadium and another Shea Stadium. Let's go around the world. All right, then. You know, so it's it's very hard. You know, when you waited all that time, and you've never, you've not got a clue that this could ever possibly happen. And we became Rubik's Cube. Everybody had us. And then no one wants to play with us anymore.
Pete Fornatale 1:14:00
Wow. Yeah, that must have given you what do they call it? Whiplash? Yeah.
Bob Mayo 1:14:05
Well, you know, stadium gig in the early afternoon in Cleveland and then a stadium gig that evening somewhere in Arizona.
Peter Frampton 1:14:10
Yeah, we've done that, too. So we did that. Yes, we did.
Pete Fornatale 1:14:17
success success at that level has assets and liabilities can be one of each off the top of your head.
Peter Frampton 1:14:27
Oh obviously, I got out of debt.
Pete Fornatale 1:14:31
That's good. That's an asset.
Peter Frampton 1:14:32
That's definitely an asset but I mean, an emotional asset, which is more important is that it's sort of you've got the pat on the back from the world, which is hard to come to terms with and it's it's an it's a very great feeling
Pete Fornatale 1:14:50
As you said few people get it at that at that level. How about the downside?
Peter Frampton 1:14:57
The downside? I think for me per originally was, the perception of me before that record came out by the loyal, hardened fans that were there ever since I left humble pie was that Pete was this guitar player who happened to sing and write a few songs. And that's the way I've always perceived myself. And now I became a front cover of a magazine basically, and became this personality, as, as opposed to a musician. And because of the way I looked, it was I was in a really easy sell for people wanting me on the cover their magazines, because it sold magazines, then, you know, Rolling Stone, they both times I was on the cover. Well, the first two times I was on the cover, it was they were the biggest, you know, circulations they'd ever had. So, obviously, you know, people are going to want that. And it's very hard to turn it down. But that was the downside that, then it gets the point where I got to, I came out of a gig once in the 80s, early 80s, just just before I got got off the road, and this girl just came up to me and said, You know, I didn't know you play guitar as well. You know, which was that was the worst day of my, that was it. That was the bottom? Sure. You know, excuse me. You know, why didn't you do a new? Why did you cut your hair? You know? So, anyway,
Pete Fornatale 1:16:38
if you could wipe the slate clean, and redo the year or two, after Frampton comes alive? What would you do differently?
Peter Frampton 1:16:49
Well, I mean, I'm not moaning I'm not whining. It sounds like I'm whining here. But I'm really not because I'm, I've had a wonderful career, and I've had some ups and downs. But, you know, I'm still doing what I love to do so but I think what I would, what I would do differently is I would have taken we'd have done the one that year, we'd have toured 76, we'd have probably gone to Europe, and Japan and Australia, as we did, right. But a little later, we did done that in 77. But I'm in New wouldn't have come out until 1980. You know, I mean, I would have tried to if I could have, if I knew now. Now, if I knew then what I know now, I would have become I would just sort of thought the same way as the Eagles. We the Eagles have had very few albums out, but they've just all been incredibly large records and great records, you know, everyone's a masterpiece, you know, and I think that there was no chance of me coming up with anything to compete with comes alive within the next 18 months to two years.
Pete Fornatale 1:18:03
The business was so different than as you pointed out. I mean, that was an era where the Beatles would put out two records a year with Dylan put out bringing it all back home and highway 61 Revisited. In the same year. The Beach Boys contract with capital was for three albums a year. You wonder how anybody could come through that alive and or sane. Nowadays, or as things progressed, it obviously changed Billy Joel put out a record every three or four years, Bruce Springsteen every three or four years? I think you're absolutely right, you would have profited from that lesser pace than what was demanded of you.
Peter Frampton 1:18:48
The argument made was that the longer you wait, the harder it will be. And I see I don't see that at all. That was that one that started me thinking, oh, you know, so maybe I should go in and do another one now. But I remember when I finished I'm in you. And there's some good tracks on there. I mean, great playing from the band. But I remember coming in to the management office and taking the two, Side A and Side B throwing them on the couch and saying that's as good as I can do right now. I'm going to bed that's it, you know, and I wasn't pleased with it at all, but it was there was so much pressure to get it out there you know?
Pete Fornatale 1:19:33
Yeah, yep, yep. When you've grabbed the brass ring in some way, are you always chasing it after that? Or do you come to terms with it, then not chase it anymore?
Peter Frampton 1:19:50
You've come to terms with it and you don't chase it because you realize it's like the book catch 22 It's like we've said I've said it before a Rubik's Cube. It's like, thriller. It's like tapestry for Carole King. It, it's never gonna happen again, like that, you know, you can't expect that to happen. That is a phenomenon, you know. And as a solo artist, I sometimes think if it had been, if I'd have been a band, and not singled out, and I chose that I chose to be a solo artist. But if it had been humble pie that had done that, there would have been, it would have been a committee and someone would have said, No, we shouldn't do this, like the Beatles. Exactly, yeah. And argue with management. Whereas in the record company, whereas I'm looking for advice, because I'm scared stiff of this next record, obviously, at that point, I'm thinking this is great. Now I have to do another one, you know, so yes.
Pete Fornatale 1:21:04
Do you remember where and when you made your peace with all of that?
Peter Frampton 1:21:13
Oh it was sometime in the 80s I took time off the first time I actually came off the road was 82 and 82 to 85 was when I started to come to terms with that and that's when having a family having a family having my my first two children that that brings reality right back you know, because now you're responsible for to other human beings and your wife you know, obviously, but these people these new people on this planet depend on you and it completely changes the way you think. Obviously, it did for me and then then one's priorities change and I didn't really feel like I wanted to I didn't have to do luckily I haven't hadn't been ripped off of all my money. And I didn't have to tour and I didn't really want to I wanted to spend some time with my children and see them grow up. And I think that was really the biggest thing that helped me come to terms with everything that had happened
Pete Fornatale 1:22:33
Let's play one of the non obvious tracks from comes alive. The one that actually was given life on the Frampton album and then taken into the next project as well. You picked it tell me
Peter Frampton 1:22:48
I'll give you money and that's what I give a lot of people oh, you should have been called you take my money but yeah, it's that was in we're clear well castle we were on location with Ronnie lanes mobile recording truck and John CYO Miss was in fact I wrote that song at the ice rink in Central Park Wow at a soundcheck and there were a few people of the audience that were there and we just did this sort of jam of that riff you know.....that's what we had you know, from the soundcheck and so I took that and turned it into I'll give you money and finished it and then I just remember having John Sam is in this huge huge room wood stone fireplace like a castle It was what was the cost play well castle, and that's what they call them Pete and and he does that does that wonderful intro and you can hear the wooden stone, it's just we would do in a Led Zeppelin, you know, let's face it. Everybody wanted to do that sound you know. And that's it. That's the opening of it.
Pete Fornatale 1:24:15
Here it is in all its glory on mixed bag radio.