Bernie Torme Interview
He is about to release his first triple CD, Dublin Cowboy, and embark on a UK Tour, but Bernie Torme was generous enough to spend some time answering a few questions from rockgig.co.uk.
So here is our interview with guitar legend Bernie Torme
RG – Firstly congratulations on the release of your first triple CD, we understand that the physical copies will arrive in the post shortly to the people who supported the Pledge campaign. Will you have copies of the new CD available for sale at your UK tour, for people who weren’t involved in the on-line Pledge?
So here is our interview with guitar legend Bernie Torme
RG – Firstly congratulations on the release of your first triple CD, we understand that the physical copies will arrive in the post shortly to the people who supported the Pledge campaign. Will you have copies of the new CD available for sale at your UK tour, for people who weren’t involved in the on-line Pledge?
BT - Thanks very much for the congrats! Yes the CDs will start
winging their way to pledgers tomorrow, they were delayed by a manufacturing
fuck up but arrived today and look and sound really good!
We will definitely have the new triple Dublin Cowboy CD
available to buy at the shows on the UK tour.
RG – How much rehearsal time will you, Chris and Ian be
putting into the live set before you hit the road.
BT - Quite a lot! Mostly due to Chris not doing the tour! (he’s
off with The Quireboys), and new boy Sy Morton playing bass. So Sy has had to
take in a lot in a small space of time, and it is sounding really really
good.
Also sorting out a set and trying new numbers and new ‘old’
numbers too, takes a while. Probably 6 or 7 solid days in all, and that's whole
days. Its been pretty exhausting to be honest, both physical and mental.
RG – This collection of songs contains your first acoustic
CD, which I have to say I am really enjoying listening to.
Will the live shows contain an acoustic slot with “Val Doonican”
stools etc.?
BT - Glad you are liking the acoustic CD! I had no idea how that
would go down, but it seems to have worked really well, it was very much unknown
territory for me and I am really so delighted people like it! Its the first
shred free CD I’ve ever done!
Val Doonican? Delaney had a donkey and all that? Last tour
we did an acoustic set, but actually we are not doing that this time round, it
was quite difficult in smaller venues, people just like the loud in that
context! And then they talk over the not so loud! Hopefully next time round,
but quite honestly this time round I didn’t expect anyone to want it so its not
happening on this tour.
A lot of the acoustic stuff on the new album is also quite
gentle and moody, I’m not sure that would work in the context of a sweaty rock
club. I’d love to do it live but I’m not quite sure how at the moment!
RG – With all this new material is it going to make picking a
set list for the UK tour difficult, or do you have an idea as you write/record
a song what will fit into the live arena?
BT - Sorta kinda. But you never really know till you play it in a
set context whether its a possibility, and you never really know till you play
it live if it really actually works. Its difficult, because for the last year
or so our set has been pretty bulletproof, it worked in just about all
circumstances, but you change one thing and everything changes, so its a matter
of trying it out. It will probably change from gig to gig. But you do write
things for a live context that are sometimes not the best tracks to record, and
vice versa.
A lot of that basic knowledge came from the Gillan days, I
would write to fill a need, as I perceived it, in an album or for live. Colin
did that a lot less than me or McCoy I think, he just wrote good songs that
worked in almost any context, whereas I wrote, say, Unchain Your Brain or
Future Shock because we needed a certain type of track to open an album. That
was one reason I always felt slightly uncomfortable with my subsequent falling
off the cliff and starting my post Gillan career with the ‘Turn Out The Lights’
album.
While I really liked and wanted to record most of those
songs on 'Turn Out The Lights', they were definitely not written or recorded
with a live project in mind, it was just letting off steam in the context of
the Gillan band, and in no way intended as an album to build a live band on!
I’ve been very conscious of that since those days. Not being cynical here, just
realistic! Some songs are emptying your heart out, some are just to fit a
pragmatic need and may contain some amount of heart emptying, or none! It's not
a value judgement on the track, otherwise every single ever recorded would be
of no merit, all of them were written and recorded for a purpose, and thats
all!
RG - What are your plans for the rest of 2017 – any summer
festivals lined up?
BT - I want to have a long holiday this summer, I’ve been at this
just about everyday all day since last summer! I’m not thinking about anything
else. But we are looking at doing some more UK, European and Irish
shows end of the year.
Many thanks for your time Bernie.
You
can catch Bernie Torme on his UK tour at the following venues
1 April SOUTH SHIELDS The Unionist Club
2 April GLASGOW Nice n Sleazy
3 April EDINBURGH Bannermans
4 April GRIMSBY Yardbirds
5 April MANCHESTER FAC251
6 April WOLVERHAMPTON The Robin 2
7 April LONDON The Borderline
8 April BRIGHTON The Prince Albert
NH