Adrian Gurvitz - Interview

  by Eoghan Lyng

published: 29 / 10 / 2024

"In those days, we played with everybody," Adrian Gurvitz freely admits. "Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy, The Floyd; it was a conveyor belt. You went up the freeway, pull in and there was Black Sabbath. We'd exchange stories and all that stuff. We all played the same circuit: Rory Gallagher played in London clubs. We all played the circuit, and I thought Rory was a great guitarist." In those days Melody Maker voted Gurvitz "ninth best guitarist out of England," which tickles him. Like Gallagher, Gurvitz is unique in that he's also an accomplished singer: a vocalist with an angelic voice that matches the trembling hooks. "I was always a singer, even as a kid. I was always singing and humming. By the time I got professional, I found I had a voice. They were both pretty natural: the guitar became an extension of my arm. I never had to think how to play it." Indeed, he says he woke up a "guitarist": "They were both very natural." How lucky to have so many gifts! "I didn't have any other gifts, because my dad never both me nothing, and my mum was ill. So, I didn't have other gifts, but the ones I had myself." The guitarist apologises to hear that I'm doing this Zoom call from a wet Dublin. "I'm calling from California, and it's only 100 degrees!" Gurvitz has lived there since 1989, but knew it from years "going there." As pedigrees go, his is a long one, which makes sense considering he turned professional as an adolescent. "My father was tour manager for The Kinks, The Shadows, Gene Vincent," Gurvitz explains. "Tons of bands in the 1960s, and that's how I began, because my father left home when I was about eight. Somehow, he became tour manager with The Shadows." The father "fucked off to Blackpool" with the "babysitter". "He started to sell 8x10 pictures of rockstars," Gurvitz chuckles. "One night he was outside a show with Cliff, and they got to know him. One day, they came out from backstage:'Do you want a real job?' They gave him the job and became their tour manager. He had access to me at the weekends." Through his parent, Gurvitz got to see Eddie Cochran as a child ("I was only ten," he giggles,) which transformed him. "Probably very laughable [dreaming about becoming a rock star], because I was a little-fat-Jewish boy," Gurvitz says. "No chance at all, but I was pretty determined. So, that was the start when I saw Eddie Cochran." I'm guessing he inspired 10cc, a 1970s rock outfit fronted by three Jewish songwriters. Gurvitz doesn't see the connection himself: "I've inspired people, but I've no idea who they were, other than Liam Gallagher." That's a curveball! "He heard the B-side to 'Race For The Devil' ['Sunshine']; the guitar sound inspired him. He said in an interview that when he heard the guitar sound, it gave him an idea of what he wanted to sound like." The best British rock singer of his generation! "Yeah," Gurvitz laughs. He says he must have influenced others because he started "so young." "I used to play with my brother, local groups and all that stuff. When I was fifteen, I started going to the West End, and would sit in a café in Denmark Street called La Gioconda. I would sit there for about three hours with a cup of tea, because I couldn't afford two. People would walk in: 'We're looking for a guitarist.'" As it happens, Tony Dangerfield walked in. "He said he needed a guitar player, so I put my hand up," Gurvitz explains. Dangerfield asked the adolescent if he could play "twelve-bar blues", and when he received a confirmation, told Gurvitz to "get in the truck outside, [because] we're going to Scotland." Gurvitz was offered "five pounds for the gig", which turned out to be a stint with Screaming Lord Sutch. "I had no idea who he was," Gurvitz shrugs. Well, he was only a teenager! "I became the guitar player who replaced Ritchie Blackmore, so a good pair of shoes to fill," he beams. "After Sutch, there were various people. I came to Belfast with Crispian St. Peters when I was sixteen; he had that song 'The Pied Piper.' A great start." Gurvitz re-connected with his brother who had returned from Germany. "I sat in on a jam session, and I think I blew them away," he chortles. His brother, who had not heard his sibling's musical prowess in a year, was sufficiently impressed. "He said: 'We've got to put Adrian in the group!" Within "six months", they had signed to CBS and "had a big hit with 'Race with the Devil'". It's 2024, and Gurvitz is promoting his solo album Blood Sweat & Years. Was it inspired by the American jazz group? He says he loved Blood, Sweat & Tears "in the 1970s", but doesn't think they influenced him. "There might be some subliminal influence," he realises, "but it wasn't like, 'I'm going to rip them off.'" Rather, this is a solo album that takes the adjective literally. "The idea I had for this album was about what I've been through and what a lot go through. It's like a message album: do something real."The album took about nine months, from conception to the end," Gurvitz explains. He says he played all the instruments so it wasn't like "going in with a band." Was he following McCartney's lead a la McCartney II? "I guess he does that, or does it occasionally, but it's the first time I've ever done that. I just wanted it that way on this personal album to me; how I perceived it." "The first thing would be to write the song,” he continues. “Play acoustic; get the pattern and tempo that I liked. I may have done a rough track with drums, but once the production got going, I knew exactly what I wanted from it, I'd do the real drums." The creative endeavour was one of "tearing down, putting up." "I've made seventeen albums, and it was always superstar musicians, engineers and producers, custom built studios.." Nevertheless, Gurvitz loved working on his own, but is a little sheepish when I ask if it was his favourite album in his canon. "It's my favourite in that I really like it, but there's so many records that I'm proud of. I like Gun, and the ones I did with Ginger Baker, but this one was all about the blood, sweat and years I've been through. The lyrics have complete meaning to me now." Gurvitz is proud of his repertoire, but notes that children added another dimension, as did age. "This album was really about going over the steps of my life," he smiles. "In some ways, this is my favourite, but there's a lot of favourites. It's like asking which of my kids I love the most, because I love them all." It's almost a year since I interviewed Stephen Parsons, so naturally I ask Gurvitz what it was like to work with the singer on Baker Gurvitz Army.The line crackles: "He was a very nice boy, and I liked him. He was kind, respectful; a nice kid. It was a bit strange for me, because I never wanted a singer. When we did the first album, I sang it. I did love it, but for some reason Ginger said 'I think we need a singer to go out on the second album.'" Considering his involvement in writing the tracks, Gurvitz was right to be crestfallen (could you imagine Ringo Starr telling John Lennon 'I think we need a new singer for the Help! album'?!) The guitarist expressed his annoyance to management. "I think Ginger, god rest his soul, was a little bit jealous," Gurvitz says. "When we went out to perform the first album, I was out front blasting my guitar and getting a lot of attention.I don't think he liked that, so on the second album it was more like 'We're going to make this the Baker-Gurvitz band.' He added Snips [Parsons] and a keyboard player, which I never liked. By the third album, it was time for me to go. It wasn't my dream, or what I wanted, but my manager got killed." Gurvitz says his manager wanted to launch him on his own ("I was ready for it,"), but fate held a deadlier card. "He hit a mountain on his way back [on a flight], and he was gone," Gurvitz sighs. "He had dreams: 'Do this last album, and we'll launch you worldwide on your own.' I was ready for it, but then he was gone. All the dreams of that were out the window.." But he soldiered on, which is why we're talking about this solo project decades later. The guitarist's depiction of Baker scans with some of the stories I've heard about Cream. There were tensions between Baker and bassist Jack Bruce, over song arrangements and stage presence. Bruce, who died in 2014, is now remembered as Cream's frontman and chief songwriter, which can't have been easy on the drummer. "Exactly, and Eric Clapton didn't like it either," Gurvitz replies. "He didn't like Ginger, and the story goes that when Ginger started Blind Faith with Steve Winwood, Eric turned up and freaked out. He really didn't want to be with Ginger anymore, but there he was, so that's why we only got one album. Eric was like, 'I'll do the album, but then I'm out of here.'" "Ginger was a very strange character," Gurvitz laughs. "He was bitter: everyone turned their backs on him, and he turned his back on everyone. He was very angry all the time. Very rude: 'Who the fuck are you? I'm Ginger Baker.' We used to go to hotels, and one of his favourite lines was.." Gurvitz pauses to do an impersonation: "Do you know who I am? I'm Ginger Baker." Just as I point out the African cadence, the guitarist reveals that the drummer used to put on an accent. "He was really from Lewisham, but he used to do this African accent. I never had a cross word with him; not one. There was one night he came out in Switzerland, and we were all in the club, and I picked up a real stunner. I was leaving the club, and Ginger chased me upstairs." The drummer wanted to know where his bandmate was going. "Where do you think I'm going," Gurvitz laughs. "I was going back to the hotel!" Baker made his intentions clear: "I want her." Gurvitz likens the late drummer to "Henry the eighth, or something." Baker gave him an ultimatum: "Her, or I'm not playing tomorrow." Sensing that it "wasn't worth the trouble", the guitarist acquiesced: "Take her." That night aside, Gurvitz says they never argued, because there was so much respect for his "guitar playing and songwriting." "I liked Ginger, but he had this really bad character side to him," Gurvitz concedes. "[However] the greatest rock drummer I ever played with." Baker rivals Stewart Copeland in my list of uber-percussionists. "John Bonham ain't far behind [those two]," Gurvitz replies. Gurvitz has spent a quarter of a century producing acts, and proposed a tune to Ziggy Marley. "Mostly with me, I get an idea for a song. Someone might say something, or I'm feeling a certain way, and I hook onto it. Once I get an idea, I progress what the lyrics mean to me." He thinks songs need meaning or they "become hollow." "Build it up, tear it down," is a philosophy he follows. "Once I've got the idea, I work with the producer, and I want to make the record work," he says. "What sounds do I put, what do I want it to feel.." Once the song is "there", he doesn't take it any further. As he said before, Blood Sweat & Years is a particularly personal record, and one that examines the changes in his life. (Ballads 'Freedom' and 'Water Under The Bridge' expose a musician grateful of the trajectories he has crossed, making him a stronger and better person as a result.) "I worked with Charlie Midnight: an incredible lyricist. I always felt I needed a 'finisher'. I would write the verses, ideas and chorus. Then I'd ask Charlie to make it better. If the meaning didn't come out the way I wanted, he would change it. If the song was 70%, it would become 100% with Charlie." He credits Midnight with prompts: "Why don't you say it this way, or that way?" Midnight helped with the concepts, but Gurvitz can take pride in crafting the sonic design: rich in texture and tempo. Will he perform it live? "I'm performing the album on the ninth of October. I'm playing the Waterrats in London. We have a rehearsal for a week: a new band in England. I've designed the show, added a few different songs from over the years. 'Classic' is obviously one of them. I'll be doing 'The Gambler' from Baker Gurvitz Army. I'll do a song from The Bodyguard album, and 'Race with The Devil' will finish the gig." Sounds like a homecoming from one of England's finest guitar players!

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