Features & Interviews
Andy man of rock
Andy Fairweather Low talks to Viv Hardwick about
his incredible career with artists like George Harrison
and Eric Clapton and discusses his decision to bring a
solo tour to Darlington and South Shields
HE'S known as the
quiet man of rock,
but Welshman Andy
Fairweather Low is
delighted to be the
centre of attention
as he prepares for a national solo
tour which reflects a career
stretching from 60s pop fame to
playing alongside George Harrison,
Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd guitarist
Roger Waters and Bill Wyman.
As he approaches 60, the former
frontman of Amen Corner is
looking forward to gigs in
Darlington and South Shields and
next month's release of album, The
Very Best Of Andy Fairweather
Low - The Low Rider.
Asked about the many years of
touring he says: "I was working for
other people to do what they
wanted me to do. And, by the way,
nearly all of them became good
friends and I got paid very well, I
travelled well and slept well and ate
well. All of which is not going to
happen from this point on."
Fairweather Low admits there's a
big difference between organising
your own tours and "The Pros and
Cons of Hitchhiking tour with
Roger Waters, who've I've just
finished working with after twentysomething
years. This will the first
time he'll have played England and
I won't be there. He's doing the O2
and Liverpool and that will be very
strange. I got on stage playing Pink
Floyd numbers and got paid for it. I
couldn't believe it. I thought this is
not a bad thing'."
Among the many famous
musicians who have recruited
Fairweather Low's guitar and voice
- he spent 24 years touring with
Wyman - are Eric Clapton and the
late George Harrison.
He recalls getting a 1991 phone
call at his bungalow in Cardiff.
"It was a Sunday about four or
five o'clock and it was Roger
Forrester, Eric Clapton's manager,
saying he'd just had a word with
George Harrison and would I be
interested in a tour of Japan and I
realised that this was a lifechanging
moment. I knew it there
and then. But then came the words
George wants you to do all the
slide bits' and it was at that
moment I thought what do I do
here, say I play slide and play it
well or do I own up and maybe lose
the gig?'. Well I had to own up," he
recalls and told the ex-Beatles'
representative that Harrison had
made a mistake. Thinking quickly,
he persuaded Forrester to contact
Harrison and arrange a chat
between the two guitarists then
went out and bought a book on
playing the slide guitar.
"I waited and I did get a phone
call from George and he invited me
to pay a visit. I went up to Friar
Park (Harrison's estate in Henley)
and parked my polo right outside
the front door and he came out and
said do you have to drive that?' and
I said that's my car'," jokes
Fairweather Low who found the
world famous artist easy to talk to.
"In my mind he's a Beatle and
always was and I couldn't for one
second shake it and pretend it was
the George I knew playing the
guitar. Somehow he made me feel
better about being in his company.
He was unbelievably generous. In
Japan, his door was always open
after the gig and on days off,
because he always had a complete
floor. You could order whatever you
wanted."
He also recalls Harrison's love of
the ukulele which included the
Beatle carrying at least two of the
instruments with him.
"We were in first class flying over
and, all of a sudden, when I was
trying to get my head down and
couldn't believe the people I was
with (Clapton and Harrison). All of
a sudden I hear plink-plinky-plink
and look over to see what was going
and then George said come over
and have a go' and there we are
playing Everly Brothers' and Chuck
Berry songs, while I'm learning the
fundamentals of the ukulele. I was
a big fan straight away. He could
also play the banjo and he was a
serious player."
Later, Fairweather Low was
twice invited up to the Albert Hall
to play numbers with Harrison and
once found himself watching a
VHS of the George Formby Society
where the audience plays along
with the entertainment hero up on
screen. "It was bizarre," he admits.
"The final one was a sad but
fantastic concert for George that
Eric Clapton put together with
Olivia (Harison's wife) at The
Albert Hall. That was something
else, as much for the rehearsals as
for the show itself. Everybody was
there with Tom Petty flying in a
couple of days before, but every day
was just fabulous. Nobody wanted
to take a weekend off."
FAIRWEATHER Low continued
to work with Clapton for 13
years and admits it was all a
bit of a blur until around 2003-4.
"Since I've taken on this thing of
wanting to be solo again, I'm going
back to just being me, complete.
There's stuff from the 60s, 70s and
what I do now plus being able to
chuck in a bit of blues and gospel
because that's what I love, " he says
of the album due out on June 2
"There was a period when that
whole Amen Corner thing was a
total and utter disaster because of
the people we were involved with. It
was very successful but financially
and business-wise it was
unbearable," he says and recalls the
band's contract being sold to new
manager Don Arden without their
knowledge.
"It worked in our favour when
this kind of people pulled a few
deals. I was going to say they
twisted a few arms, but they may
have twisted a few legs as well. But
on another level being involved
with those people wasn't fun. In
1969 with Half As Nice at number
one there was a bunch of guys
staying in your house who were
keeping an eye on you as well. I
thought I don't want this any
more'. So I managed to get out, but
that involved having to break the
band up. Amen Corner wouldn't
have gone on for too much longer. I
think we'd had our 15 minutes of
fame. The band's name came by
virtue of a club, where we played,
which lasted one night before being
raided by the police. It was a matter
of being at the right place at the
wrong time."
The same applies to Amen
Corner's record deal.
"The guy from Decca didn't see
us, but did see the support act. We
were told to be in the studio for
Monday morning and when we
turned up the guy said where's the
trombone player?'. We told him we
hadn't got one and then it became
clear it wasn't us. But all the gear
was set up and we'd turned up early
and they said well, play something'
and the result was Gin House Blues
(which ended up at No 12 in the
charts)."
* Andy Fairweather Low plays
Darlington Arts Centre on June 25.
Box Office: 01325-486-555 and the
Customs House, South Shields, on
August 24. 0191-454-1234
The Best of Andy Fairweather Low
- The Low Rider is out on June 2
10:55am Thursday 15th May 2008
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