Do 10cc deserve more recognition for their contribution to forward-thinking music in the 70s? In my mind, you were up there with Sparks and Roxy Music – and way ahead of Queen. Flashbleu
I agree, but Queen had two very identifiable things in Brian May’s guitar and Freddie Mercury’s vocals. In 10cc, we had three No 1s [Rubber Bullets, I’m Not in Love and Dreadlock Holiday] with three different singers! Also, we were never a showbiz kind of band, but Queen are still performing with Adam Lambert and I’m touring our catalogue, so it shows that we’ve both stood the test of time. The songs are the stars of the show, really.
How on earth did you write For Your Love, Heart Full of Soul and Evil Hearted You for the Yardbirds as a teenager? Deckard85
From the age of 11, when I got my first guitar, music was it for me. I wasn’t good at school and my parents didn’t force me to go to university, because they recognised that songwriting is a gift and I was lucky enough to have it. At that age, I was listening to Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, the Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and then guitar players like Hank Marvin with the Shadows. All my contemporaries have exactly the same influences. Then, of course, the Beatles. So you put it all together.
I was working near Salford docks when I wrote For Your Love. My dad was in the rag trade, but wrote poetry and plays and should have been a professional writer, so he helped me. I became his outlet. I’d write lyrics and he’d say: “I can make this better.” He got his royalties.
Songs often combine fantasy and real experiences. For last year’s solo album, I Have Notes, I rediscovered a song called I’m Lazy, which I’d written in 1982. I thought: this guy’s suffering from depression, which I didn’t remember at all, but I had been through a breakup, so maybe I was.
Can you provide us with the definitive answer of how 10cc got their name? 01mogsy
We got bored with giving the long-winded reason for how we got the name, then someone told us the average male ejaculation was 9cc [cubic centimetres]. Since we were 1cc more, we started saying it was the average male ejaculation. Is it a real fact? I have no idea! But it is now.
How did you come to write the terrace anthem Forever Everton? TommyCoopersCat
I’d started Strawberry Studios with [10cc’s] Eric Stewart and Peter Tattersall. Before we became 10cc, we were the house band – the Muscle Shoals of Stockport! So the Everton single was another piece of business for the studio. It was fun. We also did The Boys in Blue for Manchester City. Funnily enough, I’ve always been United, having been taken to Old Trafford by my dad.
What’s your favourite memory of recording at and running Strawberry Studios? theSpacedog
One of the moments was when we’d recorded Donna, the first 10cc single. It was originally intended to be a B-side to a song called Waterfall that Eric and I had written, so it seemed fair that Kevin [Godley] would write the B-side. We knew Donna was special even though it was odd, a real pastiche, but we just did what we liked and didn’t follow trends. When it went into the charts, initially not that high [it later reached No 2], it felt like validation. Without being arrogant, we knew we were right.
The thought of 10cc and Neil Sedaka making albums together in the early 1970s is mind-boggling. What was it like? Eddiechorepost
Neil was going through a low patch, playing Batley Variety Club near Leeds. So our manager suggested he come to Stockport, which wasn’t far, to do some recording. I went to the Queen’s Hotel in Leeds, where Neil had a room with a piano. He played me all these great songs. I recorded them on a cassette recorder and took them back. He was going to do two or three tracks, to see how it went, but we ended up doing a whole album, really quickly. Neil was very professional. On most tracks, he sang the lead vocal at the same time as he was playing the keyboard, then I’d overdub a bass and so on. Neil was lovely. He got very emotional about his own songs. After we recorded Solitaire – which became a massive hit – we played it back and he went: “Oh my God, did I write that?”
How come 10cc played as the backing band on the obscure cult prog album Space Hymns by Ramases in 1971? And what did you think of Kimberley Barrington Frost? eternalsceptic
He thought he was the reincarnation of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses, and his wife, Selket, was his queen. I remember us sitting down with him at my house as he played us some songs and talked about Egyptology. I think we were quite enchanted by him, actually. Then, in Strawberry, we were sitting on the floor playing. It was very hippy-ish. The album has become a collector’s item. I’ve got one. I should have got him to sign it.
When 10cc created I’m Not in Love, did you realise how astonishingly good it was? hhhhssss
When we recorded, we used to turn the lights out in the control room, lie on the floor and play the stuff back to ourselves, so we knew that song was great. We didn’t know what its commercial potential was, but we never thought in those terms. It wasn’t like today, where a synth or a sampler can make a sound immediately. We had to build up dozens of vocal parts and create tape loops, but hearing it evolve was just a joy.
You produced Ramones’ album Pleasant Dreams. What was your brief, how did you find the dynamics of the band and who was your favourite Ramone? Mhannington
When I was asked by their manager to do it, my first question was: “Why me?” I think they liked songs that I’d written, like Bus Stop [for the Hollies] and For Your Love, and thought their songs could be like that, but I think they liked the British Invasion bands we were associated with, really. I’ve since heard they were at loggerheads when we were making the album, but I wasn’t aware of that when I was producing. I thought it was going to be chaotic, but it wasn’t at all. They were very punctual and professional. We did the backing tracks in New York, then brought Joey to Stockport to do the vocals. Joey was my favourite, no doubt. He was funny, charming and quite serious about what he was doing. He’d often ask me: “Can I do it again?” Sometimes I let him and sometimes I didn’t. But he was very conscientious. They didn’t like the album. Johnny hated it – maybe it was a bit too polished for them – but they never said anything while we were recording and we got on well. I’m glad it’s on my CV. I do some backing vocals and guitar on it, so I’m a cod Ramone.
How would you respond to accusations that Dreadlock Holiday perpetuated unfair, negative stereotypes? 11LFO11
The idea was to take the mickey out of a white person trying to emulate West Indian cool. Some bits of it are what happened to me, some bits happened to Eric and some of it is fantasy. I was on holiday in Jamaica, talking to a guy about sports, and I said: “Do you like cricket?” He said: “Oh no … I love it!” and just gave me the line. The song was all over the radio and was a massive hit. The BBC are still playing it. There wasn’t any negativity towards it at the time and every West Indian person I’ve spoken to about it has said they love it, but I don’t think we’d have written a line like: “I saw four faces, one mad, a brother from the gutter,” today. Definitely not.
Do you like reggae? Dogbertd
I love it. I always liked Desmond Dekker and back in the day I listened to a lot of reggae.
I saw Wax at Wembley Arena in 1989 – you and Andrew Gold were a songwriting partnership made in heaven. What are your memories of that partnership and do you miss him? Arranperson
I miss him terribly. I loved him. He was a jack of all trades and a master of all of them – a wonderful drummer, keyboard player, guitarist, singer, producer. He had the lot. It was one of my happiest musical and personal relationships as well. He was a funny guy. What a mind he had. I think we missed the boat of becoming bigger because we were just a bit too old for what was going on, but we talked about doing something together again not long before he passed away [in 2011]. I think the Wax stuff is some of the best I’ve done.
How did you set about making the different tracks work on the Animalympics soundtrack? Are you a fan of the film? Silas_Hamenegger
I am – and it didn’t get the attention it deserved. The American-led boycott of the [1980 Moscow] Olympics affected it badly. I was given a storyboard and the director said: “We need a song here, here and here.” I’d ask what kind of songs he envisaged in which bits and he might say like the Beach Boys or the Who or whatever. So I got clues. Working on the album was a joy.
What are your memories of playing the Knebworth festival in 1976? MissIdahoPotato
It was chaotic. One rumour was that the Rolling Stones wanted to go on when it was completely dark, so their lights would be more effective. I’ve no idea whether that’s true, but everything was delayed. Todd Rundgren played. Then a guy leapt on stage and started masturbating. Lynyrd Skynyrd were fantastic. It was a wonderful event, just frustrating. The thing I’ll never forget is that when 10cc finally got on stage, it wasn’t quite dark and you could see people right to the horizon – a sea of faces going on for ever. It must be the biggest gig we ever played.
Irrespective of any subsequent copyright issues, what did you think of J Dilla sampling 10cc’s The Worst Band in the World on his Donuts album? FergalKinney
I don’t mind, as long as they pay us royalties. People might hear that sample and think: wow, that’s really cool, I’m going to check out the original band.
What caused the split that resulted in Kevin Godley and Lol Creme leaving and you and Eric Stewart continuing as 10cc? AD2023
Kevin and I have talked about this. We should have let them go and finish what they were doing and then got back together in a year. What initially caused it was that Kevin and Lol had started working on an album featuring “the gizmo”, an attachment to the guitar which made the strings vibrate constantly. But even on [the 1976 10cc album] How Dare You!, clouds were gathering. I think they were fed up with the cycle of writing, recording, rehearsing, touring, whereas Eric and I loved it. Eric and I carried on for a while and when that fell to bits Andrew [Gold] was the first person I went to.
Without the split, there’d have been no Godley and Creme, or the stuff they did as video directors. But I think, had we stayed together, we’d have done fantastically well. I look at bands like the Stones or U2 or Coldplay and they’re so well organised, they get things done. We’ve had lots of offers to reform, but I think there would be problems.
If all of us clubbed together for your travel and accommodation, would the four of you reunite one year to replace Coldplay at Glastonbury? maiki
I like Coldplay! They’ve made some great records. Um … no.
Source: theguardian.com
