Leaf Hound Nov 2007

Pete French, Luke Rayner, Jimmy Rowland and Ed Pearson
Interview by Claes Hassel at rockreads.com/rockprog.com

General Questions, Pete, Luke, Jimmy and Ed

How did you get into the music business?

Luke: Like everyone I suppose I had many bands as a teenager, one of these bands began to receive quite a lot of local recognition, this led to a recording deal with a small label, recording an E.P and because of the age of the band a few uk television appearances. After that I developed and interest in recording and began getting jobs in studios in order to learn how to record the bands I was playing in at the time.
Pete: I always loved music, and I started carrying my cousin Mick Halls' guitar and hear some guys that he had just started rehearsing with and reluctantly ended up becoming the singer of our first band which was called 'The Switch'. which led me onto semi professional bands, and eventually down the road to do professional recording.
Jimmy: I have been playing drums in bands since I was at school, and have played with many people over the years.
Ed: I first got into the music industry at the age of 17 I was spotted by a big band leader. He explained to me that he had developed arthritis and couldn?t play bass any more and asked if I wanted the job, so I took over. This then lead to working with several rock and pop bands and recording an album with a band called Friends.

What was your first music instrument?

Pete: diaphragm, and a good set of lungs, and being able to sing all the right notes in the right order.
Luke: The piano, my dad is a keen rag time piano player and there was always a piano in the house growing up.
Jimmy: Believe it or not it was the clarinet! My Dad was big on jazz and so hoped I would progress to the saxophone. As soon as I got into bands like AC/DC and Thin Lizzy, I knew it was the drums for me. My Dad very kindly traded in the clarinet for a drum kit!
Ed: My first instrument was piano. My dad is a pianist so I started on that at the age of seven.

Who has been your main influences?

Luke: I was influenced by a lot of things growing up, the grunge era with bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. I then began discovering the old classics like Led Zep, Hendrix, Free, Bad company and all the greatness of 70's rock. Then there were guitarists guitarists like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen and Richie Sambora. Since then I've really been into the the 60's and 70's country and Southern Rock.
Pete: My very earliest influence to vocal artists who had special kind of persona about them it started when I heard Elvis, He just blew me away, and P.J. Proby, Rod Stewart, and of course Paul Rodgers.
My musical influences however were, Cream, Jeff Beck Group, Hendrix, and Zeppelin.
Jimmy: As a drummer, John Bonham?s the main man for me. Also, Simon Kirke, Cozy Powell, Phil Rudd. I also used to listen to a lot of old 70?s funk, especially James Brown?s late 60?s/early 70?s stuff so that rubbed off on me as well.
Ed: Difficult question. Bands are probably Led Zeppelin, Bass players; they are many including James Jameson, Jaco Pastorius and Jack Bruce.

List five albums of the bands/artists that you like the most and why!

Luke:

1. Led Zeppelin - III
2. Van Halen - 1984
3. Free - Fire and Water
4. Earl Scruggs - The Earl Sruggs Review
5. Humble Pie - Humble Pie

Pete: I like them because they represented a great chunk of British rock.

1. Jeff Beck Group - Beck Ola
2. Humble Pie - Rocking at the Filmore
3. Led Zeppelin - II
4. The Faces - A Nods as Good as a Wink
5. The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street

Jimmy:

1. AC/DC - Powerage : no frills, high voltage rock?n?roll. One of the first bands I got into & still possibly my favourites.
2. Thin Lizzy - Black Rose : Phil Lynott had such a great voice. His writing was superb & he was a great frontman. Great guitar from Gary Moore on this album.
3. The Who - Live At Leeds : Keith Moon was the Hendrix of the drums, totally unique. The Who had so much energy and aggression & it really came out live.
4. New York Dolls - New York Dolls : great songs, raw, full of energy, loads of fun & Johnny Thunders? guitar!
5. Leaf Hound - Growers Of Mushroom : I got very exited when I first discovered this album in the late 90?s. It encapsulates everything I like about early 70?s music. It?s got groove, raw energy, power, soul, subtlety, variety. The songs are great & it?s always good to discover something a bit obscure. The singer?s pretty good too. Almost as good as their second album.

Ed:

1. Stravinsky - Rites of Spring : beautifully written eerie melodies and amazing orchestration.
2. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew : this album is experimental and full of energy and spirit.
3. Gong - You : this album is the most psychedelic record I know great songs and vibe.
4. Funkadelic - Maggot Brain : quality grooves from Clinton and Bootsy Collins.
5. Led Zeppelin - 4 : British Rock and Roll at its best so many textures and great tracks like black dog and when the levee breaks.
6. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon : a landmark album in production and songwriting.
7. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks : full of energy and yet again was an original sound when it came out.

Pete French related questions

- Pete, you played with your cousin Mick Halls in various rock/blues outfits like Switch, sort of music/influences?

Pete: My cousin Mick and I got along superbly musically together, we both had the same kind of ideas on what we wanted to do.
We both really liked Blues but with a rock edge to it.
We both liked doing original blues numbers but I guess we both wanted to stretch ourselves a bit and play more adventurous rock blues songs, we loved the early Jeff Beck stuff, and Cream and Hendrix, and I guess thats why we left the musical format of Black Cat Bones, and evolved it into a more rock orientated band and created Leaf Hound.

Brunning Sunflower Blues Band

- Before 'Black Cat Bones' and 'Leaf Hound' you formed 'Brunning Sunflower Band' together with Mick Hall and Bob Brunning back in 1968 and released the album "Bullen Street Blues", Bullen Street, was it the place where you grew up?

Pete: Number 49 Bullen Street in Battersea happened to be where I was born, but the Brunning Sunflower Band came about when Mick and I were attempting to put a new band together and were looking for a new bass player to join us, we advertised and Bob Brunning Ex Fleetwood Mac turned up, We got talking and Bob propositioned us by saying instead of me joining your band why don't you join me as The Brunning Sunflower Blues Band because I can get a recording done on Saga Records.
We at first were both mad keen to give it a try as it was going to be our first recording, I think I was about Nineteen years old at the time, but the music didn't deliver what Mick and I was expecting, it instead became quite boring and went in the direction where Bob wanted it to go. Consequently Mick and I didn't stick around and left as soon as it was finished.
But it was a good learning curve for both of us, and Mick and I managed to do our first recording.

Black Cat Bones to Leaf Hound

..and now over to the heavy stuff, 'Black Cat Bones', I bought the record "Barbed Wire Sandwich", released in November 1969, back in 1970 and it's still one of my favourite hardrockbluesalbum's, but sadly to say I don?t have the original vinyl left in my collection.
I also had the German release of Leaf Hound(with the poster) but thats another story, back to you Pete.
- You and your mate Mick joined 'Black Cat Bones'(Derek and Stu Brooks) in spring 1970?

Pete: I was later to join Black Cat Bones, a very good Blues Band with Rod Price on guitar who later left to join Foghat and to live in the States and I replaced him with my cousin Mick Halls, and so the team was back together again.
Mick and I started to write again getting bored playing traditional twelve bar blues over and over and eventually we wrote the album of songs for the first classic rock Leaf Hound Album "Growers of Mushroom" and formed the group Leaf Hound.
The Brook brothers left and we did a short tour of Germany as a four piece outfit.
We then heard that the Record company was not going to release as promised the Album so we broke the band up.

Big Bertha

Now we are going to move to another chapter: Big Bertha, the name of a L/14 model of heavy mortar-like howitzers built and used by Imperial Germany during World War I or a band with the following crew:

Pete French - vocals
Dave Ball - guitar
Denny Ball - bass
Pete Ball - keyboards
Cozy Powell - drums

- Tell us about this adventure, when did it began and why!

Pete: Next came my meeting with Cozy Powell and we immediately hit it off together as really good mates, this was when I had auditioned for a band he was in called Big Bertha.
I went to stay up in Birmingham for a while with the band to rehearse and put some songs together, it seemed to start quite well but then seemed to lose its direction.
It all seems quite surreal now, but Cozy used to disappear before rehearsals to go and borrow a Ludwig drum kit from a Mr Bonham who happened to be rehearsing down the road with a band which was later to become Led Zeppelin.
Cozy and I thought that Big Bertha was a bunch of great musicians but it didn't seem to appear to be going anywhere so I invited him to come and stay at my place down in London for a while and it was during his stay that,we both got offered gigs with major acts, Cozy went to off to join Jeff Beck, and I went to off to join Atomic Rooster.
I have the fond memory of going with Cozy down to Drum City in London to buy his first Red Ludwig drum kit to play with Jeff Becks band.
Sad to say he is no longer with us anymore after he suffered a fatal car crash.

Atomic Rooster

- After the Big Bertha adventure it was time to Jump on the Bandwagon, Atomic Rooster, how come?

Pete: I was asked to join Atomic Rooster by Vincent Crane, he auditioned me at his home after asking me to sing some of his songs while he accompanied me on his piano.
I later was to meet the rest of the band, John Cann, and Paul Hammond in Trident Studios in Wardour Street London to record The In Hearing Of Album.
Little was I to know what lay in store for me, because just after I had joined the band and finished recording the Album "In Hearing Of", Vincent decided to sack John Cann and Paul Hammond, I was gob smacked as that just left me and Vincent, later to be joined by Paul Hammond's replacement Rick Parnell "The exploding drummer in Spinal Tap"and John Canns replacement Steve Bolton on guitar, Vincent had to do quite a hatchet job on Johns Canns guitar on the final mixes as there was so much guitar overkill everywhere, but it worked, Vincent did a great job and in my opinion its still stands as great Album.
The Album went to reach number 12 in the British Melody Maker charts, the highest position ever attained by any Atomic Rooster Album.
My favorite songs were, Breakthrough, and Decision/ Indecision.

- Any anecdotes/special memories from your Concerts with Atomic Rooster?

Pete: I am proud to say that I was the only Vocalist to have toured the States and Canada with Atomic Rooster, I also recorded whilst in America "Devils Answer" in Electra`s Studio for the American version of the Album.
I liked , Death Walks Behind You, Breakthrough, and Tomorrow Night.

Cactus

- During the Atomic Rooster's American Tour you were asked by Tim Bogert to join Cactus?

Pete: We were to meet and play on the same bill at a concert in the States, I was blown away by the amazing rhythm section and energy of Tim and Carmine,they were phenomenal, the respect was mutual, they asked me several times to try to join them in Cactus, and I eventually accepted.
After my tour with Atomic Rooster and upon our return we did our return Concert in England, it was the Goodbye Summer Concert "London premier of Atomic Rooster", at the Oval , it was to be the last Concert with them before I told Vincent that I was going to be leaving.Vincent was to later replace me with Chris Farlow.

- It must have been, like: Back to Business, to join such an heavyweight band?

Pete: I Sang my arse off in this rough wild and exciting powerhouse of band, It was a roller coaster ride.
We did what I knew to be a great live and Studio Album with a title that I had suggested, `OT `N` SWEATY`.
It was a terrific powerhouse of an Album, I wrote most of the lyrics, we were to received top F.M airplay in Billboard, and Cashbox, never played a bad gig, and we appeared to blow everyone else off stage, and what with another tour being planed for San Fransisco and the west coast, the green light was definitely on, right up until until I started hearing the name Jeff Beck being mentioned. then it all appeared to go tits up.Carmine and Tim dropped Cactus like a stone, and this was barely a year after I had signed a five year contract with Cactus`s management.
Worse was to come after I had left America and returned back to England I realized that even though the Organization had allowed band to break up, I was still being held to my contract with the management and consequently could not now work for anyone else until my contract ran out in four years time. I left in disgust to return to England.
This was made all too apparent to me back in England when the Robert Stigwood Organization was attempting to put me back on the road with a new band with Jimmy McCullough on Guitar.but my Cactus contract meant "That I was in effect completely screwed."
However I did co-write two compositions for the Beck Bogart & Appice Album., "Lady" and "Lose myself with you".Which were to my delight picked out to be Melody Makers favorites tracks off the Album.
B.B.&Appice later invited me to write some more with them for what I presume was to be their next Album, and sent me some tapes to work on, but I didn`t like what I heard and consequently didn't bother.
~~~~Respect from the Main man~~~~
In spite of what happened to Cactus I do have the great privilege to know that Ahmet Ertigun chose the Cactus `OT `N `SWEATY`Album that I did as one of the 50 best Titles to commemorate Atlantic`s 50th Anniversary, on a re-issue.so if it was good enough for the boss its was good enough for me!

I was later asked some years later to help co write Carmines Appice`s Solo Album called Rockers, and co-wrote, such titles as "Have you heard", "Sweet senorita", "Am I loosing You".

Randy Pie

- Bogert and Appice went on to form 'Beck, Bogart and Appice' together with master guitarist Jeff Beck, you went back to England to join Randy Pie in Germany, must have been a kind of backlash or did you see it as new experience?

Pete: It was only after my Cactus contract had eventually expired that I felt I was free to take an invitation to audition with a German/French Band Called "Randy Pie" they told me that I managed to get the gig over 300 other Vocalists.
I realized that this was one hell of a challenge for me, I moved from London to live in Hamburg and started to write with the guys in the band some funk style tunes, It was a different experience for me doing a different style of music, but I really liked some of the songs we put down on the "Fast Forward" Album which we recorded in California. I also wrote all the Lyrics on the Album.
My favorite tracks being "The Name of the Game,", "Hijacked", "Hot Afternoon," and "Star Attraction" I like the lyrics and the mood. They were a great band and had so much potential. we played a couple of great tours in Germany.
Billboard wrote "Pie this good deserves more than just one bite" and called us another Foreigner.
But alas all too soon the band had folded up.

Pete French - Ducks in Flight

- Polydor offered you a solo album deal and in 1978 you released the album "Ducks in Flight" and a 45 in Germany, what was the story behind this?

Pete: The Record company Polydor decided to sack Randy Pie, this happened after Polydor had put so much effort and finance into Randy Pie only found out that instead of concentrating on Randy Pie, half of the band went off to play behind Udo Lindenberg, and the other half went off to play behind Peter Maffael, Polydor was pretty pissed off.
I was informed by Polydor what they were intending to sack the band, but I was then to find out to my complete surprise after being summoned to Polydor Records, that Polydor had so respected my efforts and contribution to Randy Pie that they had decided to offer me to do a solo album for them, well what can you do?
That was how it was that the Peter French, "Ducks in Flight" solo album came about.
I got right back in touch with my dear cousin Mick Halls once more and we started to write an Album again.
It was intended to be an under produced kind of raw sounding live` ish album rather than a too clean sounding production.
I had some great musicians, Brian Robertson and Kenny Jones, and Dave Markee, and Mickey Moody, Henry Spinnetti, etc, all laying it down very nicely indeed.
My favorite tracks were "Give me your Love", "Same old questions"and "Without You".
Unfortunately although Polydor had the offer and the opportunity to put us all together to make a great band, to my amazement they actually refused to sign Brian and Kenny and Dave who were all free of contract at the time insisting that I was a solo singer, so once again I was stumped as now I didn't have a band so I couldn't promote it! I did a couple of TV. shows and B.F.B.S. Shows etc,but that was it, eventually I decided to return back home to England to lick my wounds.

Many Thanks to Leaf Hound: Pete, Luke, Jimmy and Ed for this interview!

©2007 Claes Hassel and Harald Bjervamoen
rockreads.com/rockprog.com