www.musicweek.com TRIBUTE 40YEARSOF 10CC
Let’s go all the way back to those pre-10cc times at Strawberry Studios. I’ve read you made the decision to form the band while sitting in a Chinese restaurant - is that true? Kind of ! I was in a band with Kevin Godley called The Mockingbirds. At the same time, I was writing songs for other people with some success, including The Yardbirds and The Hollies. But I always wanted to be in my own band. Kevin’s best mate was Lol Creme, and Lol was also in a band. We all used to rehearse at a place in North Manchester called the Jewish Lads’ Brigade. That established the connection. Eventually I met Eric Stewart. I was writing
songs in the same building as Kennedy Street Enterprises, a big agency up in Manchester that still exists. We got on very well. Eric started a studio in Stockport called Strawberry Studios with a guy called Peter Tattersall and asked if I’d be interested in putting some money into it. That’s when Strawberry became the womb of 10cc – the four of us ended up there. Eric was working there as an engineer, while myself, Lol and Kevin were playing on different records, doing backing vocals – we became like a house band. We were working on Neil Sedaka’s comeback
record when it occurred to us that we should really be a band. We were all musicians, we all sang and we all wrote songs.
When did you first think you could make it as your own outfit? Apple, the record company owned by The Beatles, were interested in a track that Eric and I had written called Waterfall. Because they were interested, we thought: “Just in case they do put it out, we should get a B-side ready.” Because Eric and I had written the A-side, it seemed fair to ask Kevin and Lol to write the B-side. That song was Donna, and we knew it was something special. It was Eric’s idea to go to Jonathan King.
“I missed playing live and started doing my own acoustic gigs. But then I started missing bass, drums and keyboards.
It morphed into what it is today: the band that plays the music of 10cc” GRAHAM GOULDMAN
What was Jonathan King’s response to you getting in touch, and how did it differ to what you encountered before? He immediately said: “I love the record, I want to come and see you.” He was very positive right from the off. We weren’t even really a proper entity at that point and didn’t have a name. He said: “I had a dream last night that I was standing in front of the Hammersmith Odeon, and on the hoarding it said: ‘10cc, the best band in the world.’ We thought: “Okay. That’ll do.” Later, someone told us the average male ejaculation was 9cc, so we thought: “Oh, that’s interesting. We can say that as well.”
So that bit of folklore is wrong: you weren’t named after anything to do with ejaculate? Yes. It can now be revealed – a world exclusive!
Rubber Bullets came soon after Donna, and then a string of hits arrived very quickly. Did you have trouble keeping up with events? No – we kept up with them all right! We were loving it. The fact we could all indulge our songwriting abilities, playing, singing, producing, everything. It was an ideal situation. And it was the most wonderful period, right up to the time when Kevin and Lol left in 1976.
It was creeping into the era of Bowie, Queen, Elton John and flamboyant performers. Were you aware of how different you were? Yes, it was patently obvious. We’d go into the studio and The Sweet would be there, teetering on high heels while we were wearing denim jeans and shirts. I think Tony Blackburn said to us: “That’s a good gimmick – just wearing plain clothes.” We weren’t performers per se, we were songwriters and studio musicians. It was always about the music first, rather than any kind of image.
Did you have to learn a bit of stagecraft as you went along? Did you become more outgoing? We became better live just by getting out there and doing it. I remember the first gig we ever did, which was on the Isle Of Man. It was absolutely mind- boggling when we walked out on stage. God, the screams! We were thinking: “What’s this all about? It’s ridiculous.” We thought we were just there to play live versions of the records, really - not to be seen as superstars or rock gods, or anything like that kind of nonsense.
There seemed to be two schools of songwriting within the band: straight-up pop and more artful, experimental numbers… That’s exactly right. As 10cc, we totally did what we wanted to do, we had no A&R man there, and no- one breathing down our necks. There was a side to us that loved pop music and there was a side that
THE AGENT ‘PEOPLE LEAVE 10CC SHOWS ON A HIGH’
10CC’S EXCLUSIVE WORLDWIDE AGENT, Steve Parker of Miracle Artists Ltd, on working with the current line-up: “Graham and I can’t remember how we
came in contact about 11 years ago, but he was performing live with a few mates for the pure pleasure – not under the 10cc banner, and I thought that was a waste of potential. “We share the same values when it
comes to working relationships: we believe all deals should be fair, we both put a high value on good promoters and we want
everyone to enjoy working with the band. “The beauty of this band is that you just
let the music and the performance do the work. All I have to do is persuade promoters, festivals or venues to take the band the first time, explain how we want them presented and how best to capture their audience. The show invariably does the rest and sets up the return visit. “Graham is an
utter professional and
expects the same from everyone else. He and the guys really enjoy playing the material live and that is one of the main reasons that audience numbers keep growing. People leave 10cc shows on a high that I haven’t seen anywhere else for years. “I’ve been an agent and a manager on-
and-off for over 35 years and I can honestly say that working with Graham for the past decade has been the most enjoyable experience of that whole period. “Everyone in this business wants to work
with music they love; the best musicians, great live performers and, the bit we often have to forsake, intelligent and respectful people. “With Graham’s 10cc, I get all of that. The
other vital ingredient with any great act is audiences that grow when they return to their city - and 10cc tends to get that in additional hundreds each time.”
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