Interview by Jo Rishton

Over the years I’ve had the honour of interviewing some of the biggest names in music for a fanzine I used to compile ‘The Beat Goes On And On’ fanzine.

Thought I’d share some of my favourite’s interviews with you. Enjoy.

Interview with Simon Kirke


Our second world classic drummer is a living legend as well as being an International rock star. We proudly introduce to you legendary sticks man, Simon Kirke.

Simon Kirke was the man behind the beat in two off the greatest rhythm and blues bands on the planet. Free, (during the late 60’s) and Bad Company (during the 70’s early 80’s) both bands achieved international superstardom as well as international chart success.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Simon Kirke, for taking part in our World Classic Drummers, and for sharing a few tips of the trade as well as memories of working in Free, and Bad Company. It’s an honour for me to bring you this interview, and Biography written by Simon Kirke (curtsey of Simon Kirke.com).

Biography

“I was born in London 8-30 in the morning on the 28th of July 1949. My mother’s name was Olive May and my Dad’s was Vivian Percy. They named me Simon Fredrick St. George Kirke. The St. George has been in our family for centuries. The Kirkes go back a long way but the Gibson Craig’s (my parental grandmothers family) go back to before records were kept. My dad had a string of jobs and we were pretty poor most of the time. I spent my first few years in London and Watford before being moved to the wilds of the Welsh border when I was 7”.

Family

“I have 2 brothers: Nicholas who is 4 years older than me and Miles who is 18 months younger. They live in Prague, Czechoslovakia and Bristol respectively. We lived in this remote part of Shropshire until I was 17. For the first seven years we lived in a primitive cottage...no electricity and no running water. Our rent was one pound a week. I love telling my own kids that...with today’s modern conveniences and gadgets which are taken for granted I wonder how they would find life with out them.”


School, and beyond


“ I went to Bishops Castle Grammar School some 6 miles from our house…..if I missed the bus I was made to walk….this instilled in me an obsession with punctually. Music didn’t feature much in our family before me…..all my ancestors were either in the military or the Church. I sang in the choir at school and learned the recorder (a wind instrument sort of like a cousin to the flute).

Every Christmas I sang the lead verse in’ “Once in Royal David’s City’ solo until my voice broke and then I was out of the choir. I didn’t mind because by then I had discovered the Beatles and drumming……and I pretty well knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I got my first kit at the age of 15 and drummed alongside a guy who had a disco: playing all the hits of the day and yesterday. I guess it was from here that I got my sense of rhythm. From there I joined a band called the Maniacs. a real band. We played all over the area and won a talent contest. After I left that group I got a trio together called Heatwave in which I sung and played drums…way before Phil Collins……but this was not enough. I made a deal with my parents that if they gave me 2 years off between school and university then if I had not done anything by that time then I would abandon a career in music and knuckle down to college. So I caught a train to London and stayed with a distant relative.

Work

“But the big break of course, was seeing The Black Cat Bones at Nag’s Head in Battersea early in 1968. I was just a couple of months shy of the allotted time my parents had set. The clock was running out……I joined the Bones that week…..they were getting rid of their drummer the night that I saw them and collared Paul Kossoff at the bar. I was overjoyed at being in a real live professional Blues band. We did all the standards Rock me Baby, Killing Floor, Albert King’s, Cold Feet, Dust My Broom…and Koss was knocking me out every night. We had been together a few months when Koss took me aside and said he wanted to leave the Bones and team up with a great new singer he had found out about across town – Paul Rogers. We went to meet him but my heat dropped a bit when I saw that there was another drummer in the room and this guy was nuts hot…..Andy Borenius. Well, we all played and nothing was decided but I heard later that day that I was in…we were now 3.


“Alexis Korner was a great British/Greek blues man at that time. A great many people had passed through his band….Charlie and Mick from the Stones…a couple of Yardbirds…Long John Baldry and Alexis knew of this stunning young bass player named Andy Fraser who was just getting the elbow from John Mayalls Bluesbreakers. He was only 15 years old! We got together at the Nag’s Head (they should put a plaque on that place) and Free was born”……

Simon Kirke ©

The Interview

How long have you been performing the drums and what did you do to make your practice sessions as a child enjoyable?

Simon Kirke: I started playing the drums when I was 13 some 40- odd years ago. I was given a snare drum and a little splash cymbal on an arm coming from the stand. I can still see it clearly to this day….. I played along to the radio and then graduated to 45’s and LP’s as I got older. I still play along to the odd Stax song or James Brown….. anything with a good rhythm.

Do you need natural rhythm to become a drummer or does that come with practice?

Simon Kirke: I don’t think you need to be born with rhythm….. it can be acquired and nurtured. Practice just aids and speeds up the transition from decent to good to exceptional.

Can you talk us round your drum kit? And what equipment do you use?

Simon Kirke: I play a standard DW 4 drum setup. 22x14 bass drum, 12 x 10 rack and 16 x4 floor toms and a 14 x6 snare drum. Cymbals are by Paiste of Switzerland and sticks are American hickory by Pro Mark of Dallas.

What’s the secret of a perfect drum solo?

Simon Kirke: Involving the audience. There is nothing more annoying than a know-it-all drummer showing off his talent and leaving the people cold. Drums are meant to convey and inspire….I usually have a rhythmic pulse throughout the solo and start from a quiet place at the beginning to a crescendo…and always leave them wanting more.

I believe the drums are a noble art and sometimes feel as a fan of the drums that the drummers are often over-looked in bands in favour of say lead singers, guitarist, keyboardist do you feel this is true?

Simon Kirke: Drums are physically tiring and drummers have too often come over as thick-skinned yeomen who are a few strokes short of a Para-diddle…my take is this, everyone is equal in a band. I can’t do the job that the guitarist does, he can’t do mine, ditto the singer, ditto, the bass/keyboard player. by the way there are PLENTY of jokes about that lot anyway……’nuff said.

All drummers develop their own style and technique throughout the years, how do you know when you’ve reached that professional goal?

Simon Kirke: We all start of by copying from a group here, borrowing from a musician there….Keith Richards put it well: “we just pass it on”…..And that is what I did for a few years until the day comes when you emerge from the mass with a shiny new skin that is all your own. That happened to me around the time I was making Fire & Water with Free.

Describe what it’s like performing as a drummer of a professional rock band on stage? And what is the live experience like?

Simon Kirke: Well it’s quite incredible. There is no other feeling like it when all the band is playing as one and you are waving and interacting with each other. I think that happens every 3 or 4 gigs, the down side is that on a bad gig it’s truly an arduous experience….

Is a live performance more exciting for a drummer, rather than recording songs in the studio?

Simon Kirke: A live performance is generally more exciting than recording although that too can have its own unique rush in more subtle For starters there is always that huge roar when the lights go down and the roar goes up…and on a good night you can feel almost weightless, were you are actually flying, musically speaking. Recording is a much longer, protracted process but a good session can be just as rewarding… more so really as the finished song will live with you a lot longer than any gig……

Who in your opinion are the greatest drummers on the planet?

Simon Kirke: Living or dead? Dead: John Bonham, Keith Moon, Buddy Rich. Alive: Tico Torres, Adrian Young, Zach Alford, Nicko McBrain, Jim Capaldi.

How did you come about choosing the names for both bands: FREE/BADCOMPANY

How did you come about choosing the names for both bands: FREE/BADCOMPANY?

Simon Kirke: Alexis Korner had a band called Free at Last and when he saw us at the Nag’s head in Battersea after our first rehearsal he suggested that but we kind of whittled it down to Free. The name Bad Company was inspired from 2 angles…I remember Paul telling me a movie poster he had seen in Guilford about a Jeff Bridges western named Bad Company. Later Paul said in an interview that he had come up with the name from an old book from the Victorian era showing a bunch of Jack the Lads with the caption of Bad Company……

All Right Now (FREE) features one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll fiffs ever did you know the minute you recorded that song it was going to be an instant hit?

Simon Kirke: We knew that All Right Now was going to be a summer goodtime hit but not this mega classic monster that it eventually became……..

What was your proudest moment behind the drums whilst performing in FREE/Bad Company

Simon Kirke: God there were so many. With Free, breaking the house record set by Bob Marley and the Wailers at the Lyceum in the Strand, any gig in the North East around ’70-71. With Bad Company, our first gold album presentation before going onstage in Boston for the final gig of our 1st American tour. First sold out gig at Madison Square Garden and riding in our own plane for the first time.

What does the future hold for Bad Company and is their any chance of a tour?

Simon Kirke: I would love to do another album and tour but Paul is the man to convince.

Which were your favourite albums and songs from FREE/Bad Company.

Simon Kirke: Favourite songs from Free: Alright Now, Wishing Well, Mover, Walk in my Shadow, Be my friend, Soon I will be gone, Love you so, soldier Boy...most of them, actually! Bad Company: Can’t Get Enough of Your Love (proud of my drumming on that one), Shooting Star, Good Loving Gone Bad, Wildefire Woman, Honey Child, Pack Weep no more, Ready For Love.

What did the 60’s & 70’s mean to you?

Simon Kirke: Mmmm a huge question in a few words: The 60's for me were a time of liberation and acquisition of knowledge. I left school in 66 after getting pretty decent A level results. I enjoyed school but music was becoming my passion and university was on hold for a while. Musically this era from 64 through to 71 was the most fertile ever...so many innovative groups. There will never be another time like it. Also the Vietnam War was at its height, Civil Rights was in its infancy...there was a massive groundswell of change happening through ought the Western World-particularly in America. The beginning of the 70's were, for me, a musical extension of the 60's...but the innovative bands were dying down and becoming almost establishment (hard to believe but the Stones had a job selling out arenas then)...glam rock was rearing its hair sprayed head and punk was just around the corner. Bad
Company was an antithesis to glam rock (the only great artist to come out of that period was David Bowie ). We were a natural extension to Free but without the vulnerability, charm and hang-ups. Punk and disco dealt a couple of body blows to rock in the middle of the 70's. Drum machines and computers were all the rage and suddenly synthetic music flourished but did well. There was still a demand for out sort of rock and we steamed in. But after 1981-2 we had run out of steam.

How did you cope with Fame at such a young age?

Simon Kirke: Well the short answer was not very well...as evidenced by our break up just 18 months after Alright Now was a hit. The trappings that came with fame were all one would imagine and we were well looked after by Island Records but we still went a bit over board...you know, new cars, country cottages and new stereos and of course lots of partying...but hey we were young and for the most part we had a ball.

What did you make of the British press and did they treat you right?

Simon Kirke: The music press were good to us while we were on the rise but as is their habit, tended to knock us once we were up there. I didn’t mind so much...after all they thrive on stirring things up..That’s what sells papers...I loved Chris Welch and Billy Carr. Karl Dallas was a champion of us as well as dear Penny Valentine...Nick Kent was a wanker by the way ....hey its all water under the bridge now....

To me BAD COMPANY is one of the greatest rock/blues out fits in the business, you put rock music back were it belonged during the 70’s which bands do you think you’ve inspired along the way?

Simon Kirke: I think bands like Foreigner, Boston, Skynyrd, Reef, Fuel and a host of other bands were influenced by us...but,hey, we are just passing it on....

If you had to describe both bands in the rock ‘n’ roll history books, how would you word it:

[b]Simon Kirke: Free were full of balls charm and loaded with raw talent…but our inexperience was our downfall. We got big too quick and at a frighteningly young age. But we are remembered with a lot off affection in England. Bad Company was a louder more experienced version for Free…minus some of the charm. We still had the same bluesy thread running through the music but we were a lot tougher. I will say in closing that both bands, when we were running on all four cylinders, were the best in the land.

I'd like to thank Simon Kirke for taking the time to talk to us at The Beat Goes On And On Fanzine.

Jo Rishton
With Simon Kirke


This Interview has been approved by Simon Kirke.

Lots of thanks goes to Lucy Piller for arranging the interview.

Please note all articles are (C) The Beat Goes On And On Fanzine.