The Official 10cc Pages

"Steve Miller presents 10cc!"

The Dutch music magazine illustrated here is not particularly valuable or unique. It is not a remarkable 10cc item in itself at all. It is nevertheless very special to me because of the way I obtained it. I bought it at a record fair but I had no idea I was buying another 10cc item! OOR: Steve Miller

The record fair I am talking about was in Utrecht which is in the centre of the Netherlands. I came across this stand where they were selling lots of old music magazines. They weren't sorted in any way and you just had to find whatever it was that you were looking for by going through these huge piles magazine by magazine.

A big sign said: " 4 Guilders each, 3 for 10 Guilders" and that attracted a lot of people! I tried to find a spot between the people already there and started browsing for articles on 10cc and related bands.

I was lucky to find two magazines with an article on 10cc but couldn't find anything else. I decided to buy a third which I thought had nothing to do with 10cc. On the front page it said: "Steve Miller, interview of 7 pages." Miller is a namesake of mine (if you translate Molenaar to English) and one of my other favourite musicians. (I confess I sometimes do listen to music of the competition!). I don't really collect his stuff but I just thought it would be interesting to read that big interview.

After I had paid the man behind the stand, I decided to call it a day and walked back to the station. In the train I started to read the 10cc articles and left the extra magazine in my bag for later. That evening, I went through the magazines again and started reading the Miller interview. After turning one of the pages, I suddenly spotted the name "10cc!!!"

Maybe some of you also find that when "10cc" is written somewhere, the name never fails to attract your attention. The letters sort of jump up at you even before you have started reading the text. Like a dog happy to see you, you cannot ignore these four characters! It seems that you develop a sort of radar for words like "Mindbenders," "Godley," "Umbopo," "Rochdale" etc. etc.

I guess 10cc was flying in stealth mode this time and I have to admit my radar can't handle that sort of thing. So it was really a coincidence that this magazine found its way to my collection by such a detour!

The magazine in question is "Muziekkrant Oor" of 18th May, 1977. I have translated the relevant part of the interview for you.

EXTRACT STEVE MILLER INTERVIEW

I (the interviewer) have put a record of 10cc on the turntable and picked "I'm Mandy, Fly Me."
"Who are they? It sounds very good. 10cc? Yeah, I am beginning to get used to their sound. I have never heard this track before, but I do listen to their music quite often. When I was in London everybody told me to go and see those guys of 10cc. You will love that. Come on down to their studio."

They record their music in total isolation.
"Yeah. Everything recorded separately, very basic, and then later ..."

No, I mean: no one is allowed to be present when they are in the studio.
"Ah. With us, you cannot work that way. In the studio I record seventeen tracks in five days and afterwards no one knows who I was and what I did. It is a real non-event.
Ah, there's the phased guitar, the string machine with the digital delay ... you get to recognize those little tricks, don't you? I can easily make you a list of all their licks. I spend too much time in studios. I have to watch out that it doesn't numb my brain. I really have to be careful.
(...)
Disco records ... twenty minutes of disco and you've had enough for a whole day. The same goes for the blues. But if you diversify and mix things it won't get boring so soon.

Maybe your music is so successful because you embrace all the different styles. The way groups like Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles and 10cc are doing...
"I realized that myself recently. I really like what Fleetwood Mac is doing."