mw02

10cc Radio Interview 1992

Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman & Nicky Campbell

When last we heard, Wonderland was playing...

Nicky : Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman here with me tonight, listening to some old stuff, and also to some new stuff. 10cc...meanwhile is the brand new album. Talking about that Strawberry Studio set-up. It came from the two of you. You were involved in this sort of assembly line song writing process. You first of all went to New York in the late sixties. Is it the Kasenatz Katz organisation?

Graham: Yeah, that was me, I'm afraid.

Nicky : It was you, was it?

Graham : Yes

Nicky : Was it literally sitting in a booth writing songs?

Graham : Well, it was something like that, and in retrospect, not maybe the best thing I ever did. However it was very good for Strawberry Studios, which Eric started off and then asked me to come in with him as I was working in New York for Kasenatz Katz and getting very fed up doing it.

Nicky : And getting a lot of money for doing it, no doubt?

Graham : Er no.

Nicky : Writing stuff for Ohio express and all those bubble gum...

Graham : No, no, but I didn't write any of the hits. I got fed up in New York and wanted to come back and record in the studio, in Strawberry Studios. It was the four of us actually doing stuff for the Kasenatz Katz label so it was business for the studio, so it worked out very well.

Nicky : Why did you get so fed up in New York? Was it, it wasn't just living in New York, was it actually just churning out crass material that was, er, intentionally crass material?

Graham : It wasn't, it was rather frustrating, it was one of those things you do in life that was a mistake, but it had good and positive effect in that it was work for the studio.

Nicky : It's when the song-writing art becomes, um, very sort of mundane when you have to do that.

Graham : You've got to try these things, you never know.

Nicky : Especially like jingle writing and things like that?

Graham : That I could never do personally, um, er, I don't know, it's just one of those things, I don't think that I could.

Nicky : It's like selling your soul, writing some of those songs.

Graham : I don't know. You're so confined in what you do. I think it would be too hard for me.

Nicky : And the Strawberry Studios set-up of course, the four of you got together and, er, legend has it, you recorded Neanderthal Man song. Hotlegs, Eric, the four of you with Lol and Kevin

Eric : No that was the three of us before Graham came back from New York

Graham : I was in New York

Nicky : Oh, you were in New York?

Graham : Yeah

Eric : The Hotlegs band. We'd just got a new Ampex 4 track recorder at the studio and we were experimenting with drum sounds, to see how many we could get on tape and at the same time, Dick Levy was in from Philips with a Mary Hopkin album, and he says 'What the hell's that you keep playing there?' I said 'It's a drum experiment'. He said 'Well it sounds like a smash'.

Nicky : It was actually recorded as an experiment?

Eric : Yes a pure experiment. 'What's it called?' 'Well Lol's been chanting "I'm a Neanderthal Man" behind it, so let's call it that and literally that's what happened and he bought it, and the rest is history.

Nicky : That was a very, very important development in the history of 10cc then.

Eric : Yeah

Nicky : So you saw that you could do it yourselves, not just as side men but as front men.

Eric : Yeah, and we were backing tons of people such as Neil Sedaka and all sorts of other acts, but you're right, that was the first thing we'd got together and written as a group - written - there were only 4 words in it or something. Yeah, but it was a good experiment and we found we could do something quite interesting and get a hit with it.

Nicky : Well, here is that experiment, zat famous experiment...

Neanderthal Man

Nicky : You mentioned a few minutes ago, your work with Neil Sedaka, I mean, but you worked with some dodgy people as well, er, I mean, I'm sure you don't want to mention any names

Graham : Go on, mention them

Nicky : Well, I did read about, Neil Sedaka, he's brilliant, but I did read about this guy. He thought he was a reincarnation of an Egyptian god.

Graham : That's right, Ramases and Sel. We did an album called Space Hymns, which was actually a good album. It had some good songs on it. He was rather eccentric and I'm afraid, he's no longer with us. He was actually a central heating salesman from Sheffield. But by night, he became the reincarnation of Ramases the 3rd. he was very cosmic in his music but I think we enjoyed working with him. He was so out of it.

Nicky : He was so wacky, wasn't he.

Graham : We'd sort of sit around with acoustic guitars and be very cosmic, man. Chant.

Nicky : Was he out of it all the time, was he on wacky baccy?

Graham : I think he was, I don't know about that, but he was permanently strange.

Eric : It wasn't chemically induced, he was just off his head.

Nicky : You got a laugh out of it, anyway?

Graham : Yes and it was good for the studio as well. We did loads of things like... football records.

Nicky : Oh, Leeds United, didn't you?

Graham : We did one for Manchester City. Yes, but it was like the studio needed the business, so lets make a football record but let's make a really good one, that kind of thing, you know.

Nicky : Well, we won't hear Manchester City, but lets have a little bit of Ramases and we can try and just discover just where exactly this man was or where is head was. What was the album called?

Graham : Space Hymns, naturally, what else?

Nicky : Space Hymns - I bet you haven't heard this for a while

Life Child

Nicky : A little bit of Space Hymns there, and er, well, I'm sure you had a lot of fun recording it but Neil Sedaka, a different proposition altogether - a major artist, a great song writer. Both of you being song writers would appreciate his talent and he was a total professional. You did two albums with him, didn't you?

Eric : Yes we did. The Tra La Days Are Over and Solitaire. We had a fantastic time recording with him. He'd just sit at the piano and sing his harmony vocal at the same time as doing the piano, which is what he used to do in New York, it's incredible, and he'd be bang on first time, and we'd be making mistakes saying 'Can we go again?'. He'd say 'Got to do the whole thing again, guys? Jeeeesus!' 'Yes, we got to do it twice, Neil' It was great.

Nicky : It must have been good working with songs of that quality albeit somebody else's, I mean songs like Solitaire

Graham : It was a real pleasure, his parts were absolutely spot on all the time and they were very nice songs to play as well. They were nice to sort of play acoustic guitar or bass. There was just something warm about them

Nicky : Yeah, nice chords and nice changes

Graham : Yeah nice chords

Nicky : 'Our last Song Together'

Graham : He's kind of a traditional song-writer, predictable in a very good, pleasing way

Nicky : Well, I mean, he's a man who's written songs like 'The Hungry Years', and 'Our Last Song Together' is one you played on

Graham : Yes, a great song

Nicky : I think it was the last song he actually wrote with Harry Greenfield

Graham : That's right, yes

Our Last Song Together

Nicky : 'Our Last Song Together', by Neil Sedaka, 10cc backing him in the early days at Strawberry Studios in Stockport. 20 years on to the new album, 10cc...meanwhile. Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman are with me. And you were mentioning Mr Porcaro, and is it Mr Pake, from Toto as well.

Eric : Paitch

Nicky : I always get that wrong, I always go for the wrong option on that one

Graham : They've got funny names, haven't they?

Nicky : They have, these Americans, haven't they?

Graham : Very strange

Nicky : Now, Stewart and Gouldman that's simple.

Graham : No, those are real names.

Nicky : But, er, you've got Dr. John on two of the tracks, indeed, a wonderful piano player. Great to be able to employ somebody with that idiosyncratic talent

Eric : Yeah, that's one of the wonderful things that happened with using Gary Katz as producer. He's got a tap on so many great musicians. When we sat down to play this song, sort of routine the thing, I was playing this piano bit and saying 'You know, I'd really wish I could play this bit just like Dr. John' and he said 'Well, why don't we get him in?'. I said 'You know him?'. He said 'Yeah, he lives round the corner', and he gets on the phone and says 'Hello, Mac, got some guys here over from England, they'd love to come and play on this track, come over and have a listen'. And he listened to the track and went 'Ehh, umm, err' and he went into the studio and after about 3 passes, he suddenly played what is on the record.

Nicky : A pass is being...

Graham : A take

Nicky : A muso's word for a take.

Eric : Yes, just listening...

Nicky : We haven't got subtitles on radio so we have to get these things clear.

Eric : And on the fourth take, he played what we have on the record there, and it's absolutely magic.

Nicky : So there's no question of sheet music or anything like that then?

Graham : No

Nicky : A little pun there, there's no question of that, it was just listening to it and doing it by ear.

Graham : Yes the feel

Eric : From the soul, and he sings on it too, later on in the record, beautiful, an octave below myself and Graham : , this great growling voice.

Something Special

Part 1

Part 3

Part 4

Copyright © 1999-2002 The Official 10cc Pages
All articles published for your personal enjoyment only.

Home | News | 10cc | This site| FAQ| Links| E-mail


10cc Radio Interview 1992 Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman & Nicky Campbell
When last we heard, Wonderland was playing...
Nicky : Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman here with me tonight, listening to some old stuff, and also to some new stuff. 10cc...meanwhile is the brand new album. Talking about that Strawberry Studio set-up. It came from the two of you. You were involved in this sort of assembly line song writing process. You first of all went to New York in the late sixties. Is it the Kasenatz Katz organisation?
Graham: Yeah, that was me, I'm afraid.
Nicky : It was you, was it?
Graham : Yes
Nicky : Was it literally sitting in a booth writing songs?
Graham : Well, it was something like that, and in retrospect, not maybe the best thing I ever did. However it was very good for Strawberry Studios, which Eric started off and then asked me to come in with him as I was working in New York for Kasenatz Katz and getting very fed up doing it.
Nicky : And getting a lot of money for doing it, no doubt?
Graham : Er no.
Nicky : Writing stuff for Ohio express and all those bubble gum...
Graham : No, no, but I didn't write any of the hits. I got fed up in New York and wanted to come back and record in the studio, in Strawberry Studios. It was the four of us actually doing stuff for the Kasenatz Katz label so it was business for the studio, so it worked out very well.
Nicky : Why did you get so fed up in New York? Was it, it wasn't just living in New York, was it actually just churning out crass material that was, er, intentionally crass material?
Graham : It wasn't, it was rather frustrating, it was one of those things you do in life that was a mistake, but it had good and positive effect in that it was work for the studio.
Nicky : It's when the song-writing art becomes, um, very sort of mundane when you have to do that.
Graham : You've got to try these things, you never know.
Nicky : Especially like jingle writing and things like that?
Graham : That I could never do personally, um, er, I don't know, it's just one of those things, I don't think that I could.
Nicky : It's like selling your soul, writing some of those songs.
Graham : I don't know. You're so confined in what you do. I think it would be too hard for me.
Nicky : And the Strawberry Studios set-up of course, the four of you got together and, er, legend has it, you recorded Neanderthal Man song. Hotlegs, Eric, the four of you with Lol and Kevin
Eric : No that was the three of us before Graham came back from New York
Graham : I was in New York
Nicky : Oh, you were in New York?
Graham : Yeah
Eric : The Hotlegs band. We'd just got a new Ampex 4 track recorder at the studio and we were experimenting with drum sounds, to see how many we could get on tape and at the same time, Dick Levy was in from Philips with a Mary Hopkin album, and he says 'What the hell's that you keep playing there?' I said 'It's a drum experiment'. He said 'Well it sounds like a smash'.
Nicky : It was actually recorded as an experiment?
Eric : Yes a pure experiment. 'What's it called?' 'Well Lol's been chanting "I'm a Neanderthal Man" behind it, so let's call it that and literally that's what happened and he bought it, and the rest is history.
Nicky : That was a very, very important development in the history of 10cc then.
Eric : Yeah
Nicky : So you saw that you could do it yourselves, not just as side men but as front men.
Eric : Yeah, and we were backing tons of people such as Neil Sedaka and all sorts of other acts, but you're right, that was the first thing we'd got together and written as a group - written - there were only 4 words in it or something. Yeah, but it was a good experiment and we found we could do something quite interesting and get a hit with it.
Nicky : Well, here is that experiment, zat famous experiment...
Neanderthal Man
Nicky : You mentioned a few minutes ago, your work with Neil Sedaka, I mean, but you worked with some dodgy people as well, er, I mean, I'm sure you don't want to mention any names
Graham : Go on, mention them
Nicky : Well, I did read about, Neil Sedaka, he's brilliant, but I did read about this guy. He thought he was a reincarnation of an Egyptian god.
Graham : That's right, Ramases and Sel. We did an album called Space Hymns, which was actually a good album. It had some good songs on it. He was rather eccentric and I'm afraid, he's no longer with us. He was actually a central heating salesman from Sheffield. But by night, he became the reincarnation of Ramases the 3rd. he was very cosmic in his music but I think we enjoyed working with him. He was so out of it.
Nicky : He was so wacky, wasn't he.
Graham : We'd sort of sit around with acoustic guitars and be very cosmic, man. Chant.
Nicky : Was he out of it all the time, was he on wacky baccy?
Graham : I think he was, I don't know about that, but he was permanently strange.
Eric : It wasn't chemically induced, he was just off his head.
Nicky : You got a laugh out of it, anyway?
Graham : Yes and it was good for the studio as well. We did loads of things like... football records.
Nicky : Oh, Leeds United, didn't you?
Graham : We did one for Manchester City. Yes, but it was like the studio needed the business, so lets make a football record but let's make a really good one, that kind of thing, you know.
Nicky : Well, we won't hear Manchester City, but lets have a little bit of Ramases and we can try and just discover just where exactly this man was or where is head was. What was the album called?
Graham : Space Hymns, naturally, what else?
Nicky : Space Hymns - I bet you haven't heard this for a while
Life Child
Nicky : A little bit of Space Hymns there, and er, well, I'm sure you had a lot of fun recording it but Neil Sedaka, a different proposition altogether - a major artist, a great song writer. Both of you being song writers would appreciate his talent and he was a total professional. You did two albums with him, didn't you?
Eric : Yes we did. The Tra La Days Are Over and Solitaire. We had a fantastic time recording with him. He'd just sit at the piano and sing his harmony vocal at the same time as doing the piano, which is what he used to do in New York, it's incredible, and he'd be bang on first time, and we'd be making mistakes saying 'Can we go again?'. He'd say 'Got to do the whole thing again, guys? Jeeeesus!' 'Yes, we got to do it twice, Neil' It was great.
Nicky : It must have been good working with songs of that quality albeit somebody else's, I mean songs like Solitaire
Graham : It was a real pleasure, his parts were absolutely spot on all the time and they were very nice songs to play as well. They were nice to sort of play acoustic guitar or bass. There was just something warm about them
Nicky : Yeah, nice chords and nice changes
Graham : Yeah nice chords
Nicky : 'Our last Song Together'
Graham : He's kind of a traditional song-writer, predictable in a very good, pleasing way
Nicky : Well, I mean, he's a man who's written songs like 'The Hungry Years', and 'Our Last Song Together' is one you played on
Graham : Yes, a great song
Nicky : I think it was the last song he actually wrote with Harry Greenfield
Graham : That's right, yes
Our Last Song Together
Nicky : 'Our Last Song Together', by Neil Sedaka, 10cc backing him in the early days at Strawberry Studios in Stockport. 20 years on to the new album, 10cc...meanwhile. Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman are with me. And you were mentioning Mr Porcaro, and is it Mr Pake, from Toto as well.
Eric : Paitch
Nicky : I always get that wrong, I always go for the wrong option on that one
Graham : They've got funny names, haven't they?
Nicky : They have, these Americans, haven't they?
Graham : Very strange
Nicky : Now, Stewart and Gouldman that's simple.
Graham : No, those are real names.
Nicky : But, er, you've got Dr. John on two of the tracks, indeed, a wonderful piano player. Great to be able to employ somebody with that idiosyncratic talent
Eric : Yeah, that's one of the wonderful things that happened with using Gary Katz as producer. He's got a tap on so many great musicians. When we sat down to play this song, sort of routine the thing, I was playing this piano bit and saying 'You know, I'd really wish I could play this bit just like Dr. John' and he said 'Well, why don't we get him in?'. I said 'You know him?'. He said 'Yeah, he lives round the corner', and he gets on the phone and says 'Hello, Mac, got some guys here over from England, they'd love to come and play on this track, come over and have a listen'. And he listened to the track and went 'Ehh, umm, err' and he went into the studio and after about 3 passes, he suddenly played what is on the record.
Nicky : A pass is being...
Graham : A take
Nicky : A muso's word for a take.
Eric : Yes, just listening...
Nicky : We haven't got subtitles on radio so we have to get these things clear.
Eric : And on the fourth take, he played what we have on the record there, and it's absolutely magic.
Nicky : So there's no question of sheet music or anything like that then?
Graham : No
Nicky : A little pun there, there's no question of that, it was just listening to it and doing it by ear.
Graham : Yes the feel
Eric : From the soul, and he sings on it too, later on in the record, beautiful, an octave below myself and Graham : , this great growling voice.
Something Special
Part 1	Part 3	Part 4
Copyright © 1999-2002 The Official 10cc Pages All articles published for your personal enjoyment only. Home \| News \| 10cc \| This site\| FAQ\| Links\| E-mail