(photo by Ken K)
The "lost" interview! I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Cyril at his hotel the night before the Flamin' Groovies' triumphant return to NYC. Due to a technical error (and some human stupidity on my part), I hadn't had the opportunity to get it online until now. My apologies to Cyril, his "guy" Barry Simons, and all the Groovies fans out there. With the release of the first Cyril Jordan/Chris Wilson in 32 years last month, and this week's release of Chris's new solo album, it's gettin' pretty Groovy! Enjoy...
Hey man, thanks for
chatting with me – I am excited that the Groovies are back together! I understand that other than the drums, this
is the Sire line-up that’s together. How
did that come about?
Well I hadn’t seen Chris (Wilson) in about 32 years, and I
had gone to London a couple of years ago with Roy Loney to do a Flamin’
Groovies bash and Chris came backstage.
The instant we saw each other, we hugged and made up. That was it.
Word got out that we were back together and we just started getting
offers, starting in November of last year.
The offers were so good that we decided to put the band back together.
We’ve been back together now about 17 weeks.
You’ve toured Japan
and Australia together and now you are hitting the states.
Yeah, we went to Japan and Australia, and we hooked up with
my friends in Blue Oyster Cult in Australia.
That was a gas, I hadn’t seen those guys since 1978 in Paris.
Did you play the
Hoodoo Gurus’ fest down there?
Yeah, we did the Dig It Up festival. Dave Faulkner is an old, old friend. The Gurus requested us and their promoter
contacted me and then we added the Japanese dates. It was the best tour I ever did…they are
really organized down there.
And how has the vibe
been with the guys back on the road?
It’s a lot more fun for me.
I mean, I have Chris Wilson on guitar and I have always wanted
that. I had to kind of talk him into it
last year, but it’s really working out great.
That’s awesome. Are there plans for new music or is this
simply a tentative “dipping your toes in the water” to see if it works?
Well, we’re trying really hard not make it just a retro
thing. We went into the studio after
Australia and put down a couple tracks, and we’re going back into the studio
after this trek in a week or two and hope to finish about half an album.
Because I figured, if anyone from a label approaches us we better have
something new in the can.
And you’ll obviously
own the masters?
Oh yeah, it’s all paid for by me…as usual [laughs]
[Laughs] I bet!
Now is this new material or unreleased stuff from that period?
Well, right now we’re doing the catalog, which we’ve never
done. When we toured in the 70s, it was
all the material that we’re currently recording. For instance, by 1975 we didn’t have “Slow
Death” or “You Tore Me Down” or “Married Woman” in the set. This time around, we are doing our whole
catalog.
How about the new
stuff you’re working on?
I’m really excited about it!
It’s very close to the style that we’ve always been known for. In London, we hooked up with the keyboard
player from Procul Harem, Matthew Fisher, and he did two shows with us, and
that was just a gas, so we will probably feature him on the album.
Do you have a
production team in place for the album?
Yes, we do. I’m
working with my partner Joel Jaffe, who owns a studio in Sausalito called
Studio D. He’s on the road with us right
now doing our sound. We’ve known each other for 30 years and he begged me to
come along because he needed a vacation [laughter]
Very cool, man. Have you given thought to what happens after
this little run of the States is over?
It looks like we’ll probably be coming back to the East
Coast sometime in October and we’re probably going to do Europe again. This
thing just keeps snowballing. When we
were in Australia, we got an email from this guy from Live Nation in Europe and
he got us a slot opening for Bruce Springsteen at Olympic Park and he set up a
show where we headlined in London at The Scala, which used to be Brian
Epstein’s old theatre. It just seems to be running on its own steam. If it wasn’t for the Groovies fans….they
really got this thing off the ground.
When the Gurus called us up and wanted us for the Australian thing, I
mean, everything has just been falling into place and Groovies fans are coming
out of the woodwork. It’s really a
community effort.
How has the reaction
been by the fans so far?
It’s pretty exciting.
The band keeps getting better and better. Matthew Fisher actually pointed that out to
me after the third rehearsal. It’s
pretty strange – we’re evolving pretty quickly.
That’s great to hear!
So anything else going on in your life as a creative person right now, or is
the Groovies your main outlet for the time being?
I put my other band, Magic Christian, on the shelf for the
time being. I’m going to devote all of my time to the Groovies thing this year.
Thanks for chatting,
Cyril…best of luck!
No problem, Jason…glad we got to connect, man!
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