23 f 12 shots from the fRoots Rocket Launcher a dozen leading questions to fire at Simon Nicol
If you were given the funds to organise a concert bill, who would the artists be?
Well, up to a point, I already enjoy the luxury of this choice-making malarkey to a greater or lesser degree since the begin- nings of the Cropredy Festival, firstly as a lowly ‘interested party’ (ie band member) and latterly as a director. It is a privilege, but with that comes awesome responsibili- ty for pleasing all the people all the time – plate-spinning! But you asked about a con- cert, which is a different project and in a way simpler to balance. For a single musical concert however, it would be James Taylor with his Squibnocket band, and a big pool of the regulars from the Beeb’s Transat- lantic Sessions…
Which totally obscure record do you most treasure and would like more people to know about?
I’d suggest a completely diverse pair here: Betjeman’s Banana Blush, and Stuff, Live from Budokan. So that’s ‘Up here for thinking, down there for dancin’!’
What was the best live gig you ever saw?
Stevie Wonder at the enormo-dome in Montreal in 1974. We took an evening off from making the only Cat Stevens album I was booked to play on (Numbers – coinci- dentally as I understand, his poorest-selling release!) and had VIP seats. Big band, big noise, swung like the clappers. He got- Steve up on stage to duet on Superstition. Just brilliant!
And what was the worst?
Hem hem… Well as you press me, one of the few gigs I ever walked out on was a Dylan/ Van Morrison doubleheader tour some years back. I’ve always had a blind spot about the Ulster Grump and we were dead lucky that the night we went to the NEC was one where His Bobness won the toss and got the opening turn. He was fab, and then after the interval, it suddenly seemed like the world was full of much better places to be.
(Oh and I walked out of a Janet Street- Porter one-woman show after 15 minutes, so angered was I by her pomposity and potty-mouth. I wasn’t prepared to be part of her own therapy by being dragged through the filth and sewage of her tragic introspection.)
What was your own best ever gig? Now come on – that’s not for me to
say. Modesty forbids!! And what was your worst?
A strong candidate would have to be the disaster that was the Krumlin (that’s near Halifax) Festival in summer 1970. The weather was so unbelievably awful the mountain rescue mob were called out to
deal with casualties! Chaos reigned, and we were about two hours late getting on stage, by which time I’d drunk a bottle of Courvoisier forced on me by Elton John – obvious- ly before he was a megastar – and therefore was not fit for purpose, along with some of the rest of the band. Swarb relieved himself through a gap in the tarpaulin backdrop on top of the backstage bar area on top of what remained of the press corps, and a certain bass player didn’t bother to leave the stage for another one of nature’s functions. I ended up sitting on the stage still playing. Richard leaned over and turned my amp off, against which I was leaning, and I failed to notice.
Still don’t care for cognac much. Or Elton…
What’s the professional achievement you’re most proud of?
Pride is a sin, as any fule kno, but I’m very pleased I called Simon Mayo on Radio Five Live when he was inter- viewing Roger Daltrey about his Teenage Charity Trust gig at the Albert Hall. Roger was bemoaning a wasted, ‘dark’ night in his sequence of con- certs at the Albert Hall, and I just said “Fairport’ll do it” without thinking any further. It ended up going very well and for an excellent cause.
What’s the most
embarrassing thing you ever did in public?
I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave earlier.
Which song or piece of music would you most like to have written yourself?
Bernadette, by Leonard Cohen. Or Claire De Lune, by Debussy.
Who was the first musician or singer you were inspired to emulate?
That’s not a question I really under- stand, being resolutely non-competitive. There’s clearly one of the bits missing from my psyche – for instance I’ve never had stage fright. I do my thing, they do theirs, and vive la difference! I could never dream of emulating what I call real guitarists but I call some of them friends.
Who was the last-but-one musician or singer you lusted after?
Well I met Linda Ronstadt several times back in the day…
If you had a rocket launcher, who or what would be the target, and why?
Like most of my ilk, I endeavour to espouse non-violence. Can I have the keys to Douglas Adams’ Total Perspective Vor- tex instead? In it, I’d put a collection of the egomaniacal self-important. So we need to get Janet S-P, Seb Coe, Piers Morgan, and a lot of career politicians, particularly those evangelical right-wing hypocrites who thrive in The States. No names, no pack drill though!
Simon Nicol will be joining the rest of Fairport Convention in celebrating their 45th Anniversary at Cropredy Festival from August 9th–11th.
www.fairportconvention.com
F
root salad
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