Recently been cathing up and chatting to Clapton's guitarist, Andy Fairweather Low. A genuinely lovely guy, here's what he had to say:
ANDY FAIRWEATHER LOW
Andy Fairweather Low is possibly one of
those recognized names that doesn't truly fully register with many. And yet, this guy from Wales is without
doubt one of the most important and significant musicians of a generation. Now
drifting towards receipt of his pension, he remains as important as ever,
touring, writing and generating excellent music on a near daily basis.
And although Fairweather Low has been at
the top of the musical tree for the better part of half a century now, he
somehow also manages to remain just below the popular radar, a largely
self-induced state of affairs from a guy who seems to thrive on diffidence and
unaffected charisma.
Since his days as frontman and writer with
sixties pop band Amen Corner, Fair-weather Low has continued to play and
compose near-instant hit music from his Welsh hideaway. Back then he wrote the smash hits 'If
Paradise Is Half As Nice' ,'Bend Me, Shape Me' and countless other winners, songs
that are still loved and sung by many. After a quiet period in the seventies and
into the eighties, he again burst onto the stage with another huge hit, an
unexpected smash in pre-Xmas UK, 1985, with the cleverly crafted lyrics still
heard being chorused by raucous holidaymakers in bars from Birmingham to
Benidorm, and amid Karaoke chaos the world over, 'Wide Eyed And Legless'.
For the past near twenty years, he has been
the guitarist sideman of choice for one of the world's acknowledged greatest
guitarists, Eric Clapton. Now Clapton's clearly a guy who knows a thing or two
about guitars and music in general. But interestingly, in particular, he
chooses Fairweather Low both on the road as tour sideman and in the studio. Indeed, he even goes as far as to partly
credit the Welshman with the success of one of his biggest selling albums, the
famed 'Unplugged' release which has now sold in excess of 14 million copies
worldwide. Fairweather Low, who
toured as a band member with Clapton on the promotional tours for the album,
also worked with Old Slowhand in creating the arrangements of many of the
tracks, including the wonderful version of 'Layla', a CD centerpiece in many
ways.
And Fairweather Low's career just doesn't
splutter to what would be a remarkable achievement and close here either. Apart
from his impressive and entirely enviable work with Clapton, he has also toured
, recorded and played with most of the world's leading music royalty: George
Harrison; Van Morrison - 'Playing with Van's a bit of a right of passage for
many musicians,' he quips tantalisingly; Sir Tom Jones; The Beegees; Roger
Waters' Pink Floyd; Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings; Pete Townshend and the Who;
Chris Rea; Paul Carrack; Brian Wilson. The list seems endless.
These days, he's also at home fronting his
own band once again with Andy Fairweather Low & The Low Riders, a sparkling
four-piece outfit with an effortless blend of R&B and Soul-rich material,
much of it straight from the pen of this instant Celtic hitmaker. Indeed, as he
confirms, he's currently out on the road in the UK with this pet project band supporting and promoting their excellent
album, 'Zone-O-Tone'. While, later
this year, as winter draws in, he will be once again out touring with Bill
Wyman and The Rhythm Kings on an international platform: 'I always enjoy going out, playing with
Bill and the guys,' he says, before adding:' It was the Stones that made me a
musician, really. On the 28th of Februuary, 1964, I went to see the Stones
play. At the time I was drifting a bit, a secondary-modern guy with no real
ambition or future. Then I saw the Stones and they were fabulous. I thought
that's what I want to do. I was hooked. I never looked back from that day on.
It genuinely changed my life.'
And, unlike most, he did indeed go out and
not just do it, but do it in spades, even to the extent of now playing with
their former bassist when the chance arises and his own touring schedules
permit. When Wyman produced his well-received, autobiographical coffee-table-cum-scrapbook of memories and
photographs etc., about his life and career a few years ago, Fairweather Low
was able to open it at the very page where Wyman displays the set-list and date
of this seminal event in Fairweather Low's life in 1964, a date, a set and a gig he has never forgotten.
But, strange to think with the benefit of
hindsight, it could all have gone so very differently, muses Fairweather Low: '
Punk finished me. I'd just recorded the old Cliff Richard hit, 'Travelling
Light' when The Sex Pistols released their original, infamous single, 'God Save
The Queen.' I had a seven-year contract/recording deal in its first year. But
when this happened, basically I was done and dusted. I even sold off my
equipment - needs must - for cash to keep going, including my Hillman Imp.'
But never one to say die, the Welshman kept
faith with the music, writing and playing locally while always practicing
guitar, as he still does on a daily basis today: 'I'm not a natural guitarist,
not like Eric (Clapton). I have to work on it every day. Eric doesn't.'
He acknowledges the change in his fortunes
came about when the late Beatle George Harrison made contact and asked if he
could play a bit of slide guitar on the 'Material World' project. 'I just said,
yea. Then I thought to myself. I don't play slide, though I knew with work I
probably could. Still, I didn’t want to turn up and look a fool so I decided to
come clean with George and phoned to tell him I didn't play slide. He said fine
but comeup to Friar's Park (Harrison's English home) for a cup of tea anyway.'
From there, doors , many gilt-edged, began opening for him, with offers from Roger Waters to join Pink Floyd,
where he played before a 400,000 crowd while being the first band-member to be
bricked behind The Wall at a live concert in Berlin, and many other top names.
'What was lovely about George Harrison,' he
adds,' is he was a great guy. Really decent and incredibly generous. I've never
met you and I've never seen you play but everyone seems to like you, he said. He
eventually told me I hadn't been the first choice for the slide guitar-work on 'Material
World'. I'd been the seventh choice, but he also said, I'd been the right
choice.'
Of course, it's impossible to chat to
Fairweather Low without raising the spectre, the elephant in the room, of his
work with Eric Clapton. Again,
chance or serendipity had a role to play in this development. 'I was in a
rehearsal room in London with Eric and a few others. We stopped for a short
break and Eric casually asked if I could join him at the Royal Albert Hall on
his next tour. Another life-changing moment, I knew at once.'
Clapton has often said he considers
Fairweather Low to have been the architect of the success of the
"unplugged' album, in particular.
This is a credit most musicians would virtually kill or die for. Not so,
Fairweather Low, who instead adopts his customary self-deprecating approach to
his life and career: 'Eric gives me too much credit for 'Unplugged'. In reality, I helped a bit but the
arrangements were something I just worked on. I worked at his home, doing it,
and we got on well together. The thing about Eric is he's an absolutely
fabulous electric guitar player. He was wary about acoustic to some extent but
he wanted a version of the old Robert Johnson song 'Malted Milk' included. It's
not an easy number and I asked if he really wanted to try it. He said yea, so I
put that together for him. I said,
okay, if you really must, I'll work on it. The rest is history, as they say. It
was a success and the album and tours were both great fun.'
And what about 'Layla'? I ask the veteran Welsh wizard: ' Oh,
Layla! Playing that every night was killing me at times. But, tell you what, I
can sit there on-stage with Eric and in reality I don't see what's going on.
That's because I'm too much a part of it. I don't have the perspective, the
audience's view, if you like. But one track I can sit and watch him play all
night, forever, is when he picks up the acoustic and plays 'Nobody Wants To
Know You When You're Down And Out.'
His picking and his voice are perfect, every time, for me. I always
enjoy that one.'
Andy's current album, a cracking bit of work with his immediate lyrical skill to the fore throughout:
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