Peter Frampton with moe.‘s Chuck Garvey (also interviewed by Randy Ray this month) at the 2006 Jammys
The arc of any musician’s career eventually seeks to land in the upper stratospheres of artistic acceptance with either one’s peers, fans, or, preferably both. But what if a musician does, indeed, reach a peak, a commercial landmark position, selling the most copies of any album, and a live one at that, on the planet? What next? Well, if one is Peter Frampton, a musician’s musician who never could have duplicated the mind-blowing commercial success of Frampton Comes Alive! in the late 1970s, one just continues creating music. To produce good work, work that stands the test of time, is to live and breathe with meaning and depth, and the guitarist/singer/songwriter has done that.
However, it has certainly not been an easy road for the British journeyman guitarist. After the colossal chart-topping success of the Comes Alive! album, Frampton’s natural good looks, sunny disposition, and charm put him into an uncomfortable position of being a pop icon and sex symbol. The musician was cast in the theatrical film based on the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, along with the Bee Gees, as one of the Fab Four, and the film was a commercial, critical, and artistic flop. Further damaging Frampton’s reputation was a rushed studio album to capitalize on his new-found superstardom. The resulting I’m in You was a competent work, and sold three million copies, but also began the long slide into conflicted categorizations that plagued Frampton for many years thereafter: was he a cultural touchstone, a moment in time, a musician who created a fluke live album that sold platters in every suburb in America, or, worse, did he have his Warholian fifteen minutes of fame, and his sun had set?
To his credit, Frampton’s spirit, determination, technical chops, and pure will power endured, and the musician continued to create vital, yet not exactly popular work, for the following three decades after his 1970s heyday. In 2006, the guitarist released his first all-instrumental album, Fingerprints. The work, a remarkably vital and eclectic roundtable of styles, won the musician his first Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental Album. The irony was subtle, yet profound—Frampton had finally gained the artistic acceptance he had always aspired to, and he did it the old fashioned way: he let his guitar, along with a host of fine and seasoned musicians, do the talking, and the truth won out.
Frampton returns in 2010 with another phenomenal album, the autobiographical Thank You Mr. Churchill. It is a relief not to have to hype it in any backhanded way—memorable, mature, and magnificient hooks beguile the ear. This time, it is an album that has all of the hallmarks of his classic studio work: sweet, sincere, and charismatic vocals, strong and multi-layered guitar acrobatics, and a solid backing band, including a spot-on vocal from his 21-year old son, Julian Frampton on the boisterous, anthemic rocker, “Road to the Sun.” The album continues the path towards complete artistic redemption for the musician who time has somehow never forgotten. Again, through will and hard work, he has continued to innovate and surprise. Jambands.com sat down with Peter Frampton on the eve of his 60th birthday to discuss that sweet redemption, his current thought process regarding his art and work, and a brief glance back at a past that has not always been forgiving, and yet he has somehow remained steady, regaining his momentum, while continuing on the right track.
Part I – You Can Go Home Again
Well then, the seasons went rolling by, and when the year came, in which by the thread that fate spins for every man he was to return home…
- The Odyssey, Homer
RR: The second album I ever bought was Frampton back in 1975. However, it was the first album I heard which showed me rock music could have melody, hooks, be smart, and have a lot of balls to it. Frampton hit me at the right time as a kid.
PF: I have to say that would be in my…if I had to choose—not that I’m really 100% happy with any album whatsoever (laughs)—that would be there in the list of favorites that I’ve done. So thank you.
RR: I’m pleased that 35 years later, I’m hit with another great Peter Frampton album. Thank You Mr. Churchill is innovative, from a musician’s standpoint, but it is also conceptual in nature with its lyrical nod towards autobiographical material.
PF: I have to say that Fingerprints [Frampton’s first—and only, to date—all-instrumental album released in 2006], and the response to it, and being awarded my first Grammy, definitely let me know I was on the right track, creatively. It is when things happen sort of by accident that I suddenly realize, well, I’m going to continue happy accidents. I try not to make stuff pre-planned; just let it happen as far as trying to chase something.
Who knew [ Frampton ] Comes Alive! was going to do what it did? And that was just supposed to be an interim album for me! (laughter) And Fingerprints was the first delving-into instrumentals for me. Again, autobiographical, in a way, by getting Hank Marvin, and The Shadows to play with me. That was like a dream; it’s sort of surreal, for me, to do that, and have people from the Stones and Pearl Jam play with me. It all came together—all those sessions—and it wasn’t planned. It just happened that all those people were able to do it. So, with this new record, I wanted to continue letting things happen.
I had been writing songs while I was writing instrumentals for Fingerprints, so there were a lot of songs finished. We had a lot to choose from to even cut. Then, I was still writing at the very end. It was definitely very enjoyable. The enjoyment I got out of Fingerprints was immense, obviously, because each track was like a whole adventure, so I continued that way of working. Everything that I did on Churchill was something that I really enjoyed. I’m just very lucky to be in that position. I don’t have any grand pressure on me to follow up a huge selling album like I did once before. (laughs) It’s all…I try to make it new territory by just letting it happen.
RR: It’s interesting because I remember when you were put in a rather large role by the media, and then they pushed you aside. Yet, you’ve always been an excellent musician, and your influential work has endured. Last year, I did a feature with the young British guitarist Davy Knowles. Obviously, you produced his latest album [Davy Knowles & Back Door Slam’s 2009 release, Coming Up for Air ]. In a sense, you are the godfather of his scene, and helped him create a powerful work.
PF: I think the job of producing is, for me, I looked at it as giving as much experience as I’ve got, utilizing that, and giving Davy the benefit of it. First and foremost, he had to have some excellent players in the studio—people that were not frightened in the studio, and had done a lot of studio work, so they can relax. He had a lot of material already. We were going to write one song together, but then he asked me to do another, so we ended up with a couple on the record that we wrote together. Obviously, I didn’t do a lot of playing on it at all. It may be all him. I got the enjoyment of playing on a couple of tracks. But, I got the players, the room, the engineer, and all the stuff behind the scenes that are so important, and then, just let [Davy] be himself. [Author’s Note: Frampton plays rhythm and lead guitar and backing vocals on “Keep On Searching,” and acoustic, rhythm and lead guitars, and backing vocals on a cover of George Harrison’s “Hear Me Lord,” a track which appeared on the ex-Beatles’s debut solo album, the sprawling triple-LP All Things Must Pass, which featured Frampton. The producer also donned the bassist hat on “You Can’t Take This Back,” which, like “Keep On Searching,” he co-wrote along with Knowles.]
Nothing to influence him more. When he needed advice, he came to me for it, but the boy knows what he wants. He’s a real talent, a real big talent. He’s going to be around probably longer than I will. (laughs) He’s going to have a very long career. He’s so talented, and working with him was just a thrill. Being able to bring Benmont Tench in [keyboardist for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, as well as an esteemed studio musician], who is actually on my new record, as well (laughs), and bring in these great players, and see him smile from ear to ear because it was such a great experience for him, was also a great experience for all of us.
RR: Going to the other end of the temporal-relationship spectrum, you had a reunion with someone you had worked with long ago, including 1975’s Frampton album, producer/engineer/musician Chris Kimsey. How did that happen? How was the working relationship, after so many years, on Thank You Mr. Churchill?
PF: Well, first of all, the last question first—it goes to prove that you can go back. (laughter) And how. What a wonderful experience it was. We hooked up because I found him on Facebook. (laughs) We got phone numbers, and I got a hold of him. He just called up after a while, and said, “I’m producing this band, Very Emergency, and they need to do one more track for their album. They’re from Lexington, Kentucky. Can we come up, and use your studio? [Author’s Note: Frampton’s studio is in a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio]. I said, “Absolutely. Let’s do it.” There’s the connection right there.
So they come up, they cut this track, they get me to play and sing on it a bit, and then, I experienced working with Chris again, with me on guitar, and him behind the controls.
He tends to get stuff out of me that I would either go too far on—he stops me from doing that—knowing when I’m about over, when I’m finished with something, and he also knows when I haven’t reached my potential yet. He’s very intuitive like that, so to have someone push me just that little bit further than I would have gone, and then, I go, “WOW—this was just around the corner, and I had given up!” It was very obvious that we always had…it reminded me of what a phenomenal working relationship, as well as friends…to spend four months with just one other person, and it’s a guy. (laughter) There are very few people that you can do that with. It was wonderful. Chris is just tremendous. He’s got wonderful ideas; we have the same outlook on sound, so it’s great. He’s a great all around engineer/producer.
An animated Frampton
Part II – The Torch is Passed
He remembered the smile of the candy seller, on his first day in Tangier, when he had nothing to eat and nowhere to go—that smile had also been like the old king’s smile.
- The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
RR: Another landmark relationship signpost which runs along with the autobiographical theme on Thank You Mr. Churchill is symbolized by the track you co-wrote with your son, Julian Frampton, who delivers vocals on “Road to the Sun.”
PF: Over the last few years, his talent has been blossoming and shining. He’s turned into this incredible songwriter, very prolific, great guitar playing, and he writes on guitar and, now, keyboards, too. [Author’s Note: Indeed, like his father who helped co-found The Herd at the age of 18, Julian Frampton got his start at a young age, and is now 21.] We had often jammed together over the years. That was a lot of fun, obviously, but then, we decided we’d sit down and write a couple songs, and see what it was like together. It doesn’t get any better than that. We had so much fun doing it, and I slipped one in that we had written together, when I was playing the potential songs for the album to Chris, and I didn’t say anything. Chris said, “Who’s that? That’s great? What’s that?” I said, “That’s my son.” He said, “Why it’s got to be on. We’ve got to do it.” That was it.
I let Chris choose, so it wasn’t Dad saying, “You’ve got to be on the album.” But…obviously, I would have…that was my idea. (laughter) But, I mean, I felt it was definitely a powerful song, one of the strongest rockers on the record. He just rose to the occasion. His vocal is the first take, live with the band, which was Julian’s dream to play with Matt Cameron [Pearl Jam drummer, who appears on six Mr. Churchill tracks]. And Craig [Young] is such a great bass player. We cut it as a trio, with a singer. What you hear is what he sang on the track while we were putting it down, so it’s pretty amazing.
RR: You co-wrote several tracks with Gordon Kennedy, a longtime collaborator. Let’s talk about that working relationship.
PF: Well, I think Gordon and I are in our eleventh year of working together. We just went out, the other day, flew out for a day to San Francisco, and did a couple of numbers for the iTunes people for their online content. It’s just acoustic, the two of us. I can’t imagine not writing with Gordon for long. (laughs) He’s like my brother. We’re very close, personally, and he’s just an amazing writer/guitar/singer—the whole bit. We’re just really—to use the Italian term—simpatico. He can morph himself into any style of music, and enjoys it. He’s an all-around phenomenal songwriter. Pretty amazing—the most gentle touch of Gordon Kennedy; beautiful guitar touch, he has, and style and everything, so it’s always a thrill to work with him.
RR: Your electric guitar playing on the album is very impressive, as well as the tasteful acoustic passages on several songs, such as “Black Ice.” What I also like is the lyrical content featured subject matter that, normally, could not be pondered at the age of 25. Did you want to talk about the evolution of that particular song?
PF: Basically, it’s about the journey I’ve been through, and, obviously, my new-found sobriety over the last seven years. Also, there’s the personal thing that there is always that one person who is there for you. It doesn’t matter how low it gets, you hope you’ve got that one person who you can always turn to, and, accepts you for what you really are, no matter what anybody else thinks.
We tried it various different ways. We tried it with the band, live, and it just wasn’t that kind of song. I sat down in my living room, and we ran some cables and mikes up to my den, actually, where I wrote the song. I sang it and played it with no click tracks, or anything, just solo, and, then, came downstairs, and started overdubbing on it myself.
There’s another track that I did like that, years ago, called “Just the Time of Year,” on the Frampton’s Camel record, and that’s all me playing on it. It was sort of like going back to that, really. I’ve really enjoyed layering the very subtle guitars towards the end. There are some Leslie guitars at the end, there, and there are the “Hank Marvin” Strat sounds, which comes in at the very end, which is a very special sound, and a very special guitar. After that session with The Shadows, I was allowed to play Hank’s guitar [Author’s Note: Fender Stratocaster, immortalized as the first Strat brought over into England, and played by Hank Marvin in The Shadows]. I got all the information on how to get one, just like that, and guess what? (laughter) Hank could pick mine up, and it would be exactly what he plays. I had the same people work on it that does all his stuff, so that’s a dream come true to have one of those.
RR: Yes, you also layered bass, dulcimer, acoustic guitar, and piano, among other instruments on that track, and it doesn’t sound too overdone.
PF: No. It’s very sparse, but just for the different colors.
RR: You featured a variety of colors, and a different location on “Invisible Man,” which was recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville.
PF: Well, I wanted to do it just like the Funk Brothers would have recorded, so that even the tambourine was live, and there were two drum kits. I didn’t have room in my studio to do two drummers, and Blackbird in Nashville is an amazing studio. It is John McBride’s studio, Martina McBride’s husband, and it’s probably one of the nicest studios you could ever visit. He loves guitars and equipment, and collects a lot of it. Whatever you wanted was there. We had this beautiful room with a big API console, and we had the Funk Brothers come in from all over the place. I had inducted the Funk Brothers into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville a few years prior, and had asked them at the time “when I do my next record would you join me on a track?” They said, “Yes.” I also got to perform with them on the show when they were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
When I called all [the Funk Brothers] up, they came, and, in the meantime, Gordon Kennedy and I decided to write a song that was dedicated to them, being the “invisible men,” basically. [Author’s Note: the Funk Brothers was not the name of a band; rather they were session musicians who worked on many of the great Motown recordings in the 1960s. For further information on these musicians, see Allan Slutsky’s book Standing in the Shadows of Motown, or the documentary of the same name by Paul Justman.] It was Gordon’s idea to come up with lyrics that were all these Motown titles. So we went and picked out his Best of Motown —six CDs, or whatever it was (laughs—and wrote down all the titles, and put them into one song. I thought that was very interesting the way we put that together.
Part III – Colours of the Hidden Palette
...far from home, I often feel homesick for the land of pictures.
- The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh, selected and edited by Ronald de Leeuw
RR: “Suite: Liberté,” another track that was put together in an interesting fashion, actually contains two parts, “Megumi” and “Huria Watu.”
PF: Oh, right—the instrumental, yes. When I first got the Hank Strat—I have one of those little digital two-track recorders, and I turned it on in my studio—that intro that you hear is me playing that Strat with the Hank Marvin echo going through a Fender Tweed Deluxe [amp]. It’s just such a sweet sound that it inspired me to play that little piece, which is on-the-spot. That was being written as you hear it. From that—I thought that was just a demo of the thing—I decided to write a tune that went with it, and that would be just the intro. That was the second piece [“Huria Watu”], so I could have something with more of a bluesy feel for another instrumental, and I decided to link them all together, so we could have almost three pieces in one, but it’s actually two complete pieces hooked together.
I had continued the thought from “Asleep at the Wheel” [the track that precedes “Suite: Liberté” on the album], which is about children that are born into not as good as circumstances as we are, but it also goes into child kidnapping. This was all inspired by the Japanese girl, Megumi Yokota, who was kidnapped by the North Koreans from Japan. They were doing this quite frequently about 30 years ago. Some of them have been returned; she’s never been returned. The rumor is that she has been working with Kim Jong-il’s as first, the children’s nanny, and now, his assistant. I watched a program on Independent Lens on PBS. It was her parents, who are still dealing with the Japanese government, who are dealing with the North Korean government, who are just stonewalling them about it. I continued that because I thought the melody of what would become “Megumi” was so poignant that I dedicated that to her and her family.
The second part, the blues part is “Huria Watu,” which means “free, independent person.” It’s all about personal freedom for everybody. Really that’s what it’s all about. A little deeper. (laughs)
RR: The musical and lyrical themes seem to flow and connect with each other quite well on Thank You Mr. Churchill because then we have another song about current events, which is equally relevant with its Wall Street references, “Restraint.”
PF: Yeah. Yeah. I think what it was was that I came up with what seemed to be a very ominous couple of riffs that I put together. That lent itself to the ominous lyrics (laughs) being about these greedy pigs.
RR: And they have the opposite problem, as compared with Megumi, of having too much personal freedom.
PF: Exactly. (laughs) It was a pretty easy song to write once I got the lyrical content. I did bring Gordon in because I realized it was going to be a really powerful song, one of my favorites, and one of the latter songs that I wrote for the album, and I felt it was definitely on a different and more original direction than even some of the others. So, on the second verse and choruses, I brought Gordon in on the lyrics to help me. The first verse is definitely all me, and then, as it developed, I needed some help there because I wanted it to be right, to be as good as possible, so Gordon came in, and helped me finish that one.
Part IV – The Man and the Music
In the strong autumnal winds he rushed along ignoring the new dark knowledge he now half-understood—that to triumph was also to wreck havoc.
- The Town and the City, Jack Kerouac
RR: A really fine rocker, as well. I wanted to ask you about a song with another memorable hook, “I Want it Back.” What is the story behind the lyrics?
PF: It’s basically about when you make a wrong decision by not taking care of a relationship, and when it’s gone, you realize that was the one for you, and you want it back. There’s a little humor in the lyrics there: “sometimes I don’t listen when you talk, but when I look at you, baby…”—it’s that kind of thing (laughter), which we’re all guilty of. [Takes a harsh tone] “You’re not listening to me!” (laughter)
That one came from a riff I did as an intro to our last number [of the set], last year, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” I started doing this riff over the last 18 months, that opening riff, and when I would do it, and then pause, the audience would go: “YEAH!” It built up and up until I decided I had to make a song for that one, so it turned into a song.
RR: Staying with the catchy riff theme here, how about “I’m Due a You?”
PF: That was one of the very first tracks that I did in my studio, just me with a nice, clean Tele-y sound, thinking sort of Motownesque, that sort of feel to it. [Author’s Note: Frampton used a 1987 Fender “J.W. Black” Custom Shop Telecaster on the track, as well as two different Gibson Les Pauls—an LP Standard, and a Peter Frampton LP Custom.] It’s, again, tongue in cheek—we go through all of these terrible things, and then, basically, I’m due a you. At the end of the day, I know what would really be good, I’m due a you. I’m definitely due this very nice lady.
RR: Many textures, themes, colors, and influences are explored on the album, and you hit upon a recurring theme throughout—your roots. Let’s discuss the family ties to “Vaudeville Nanna and the Banjolele.”
PF: Right. Right. Right. Yeah, that one came from a loop that I found, and presented that to Gordon. We sat down one day, and came up with that. That morning, we had been talking about what made me start playing guitar. How did I start? What got me into all of this? It just sort of spiraled out of control. Each verse was about Mom and Dad, and then about the family. It really is the story of how I started in music, and it’s that banjolele.
RR: Yes, the song addresses your origins in music, but afterwards, in the midst of your career, and long afterwards, there was a dichotomy between your overall image and the importance of your work as an influential musician. I am sure you have thought about this from time to time in some way, but did you perceive this dichotomy between your image and your role as a musician?
PF: Absolutely, which has been very frustrating, but not anymore. I think, as I was talking to you about in the very beginning of the interview, I just feel that now that the pressure’s off and everything, which has been for a while, obviously, many years, being the musician that I am, and always have been, I’m now being accepted on that level, and it couldn’t be better for me. I do feel that my peers have always known, but to be accepted on that level, finally…
I think the audience is turning around. I still get people who say, “Grow your hair back. Where’s your golden locks?” But, those aren’t really the fans that I want anymore, or ever really did want as the musician. It was basically the fact that my parents are good-looking. (laughter) And I’m not going to blame them. It doesn’t matter what art form you’re in—whether it be music, acting, or a model, or whatever, but acting and a musician, mainly—if you’re too good-looking, people think that you’re not talented.
Laurence Olivier said this about Vivien Leigh, who was his wife for many years: she was an amazing, amazing actress, but because of how beautiful she was, a beautiful woman, people tended not to take her as seriously as good as she was. When I heard him say that, I translated that to myself. Maybe that was the perception that becomes that—if you’re all of sudden accepted for being a good-looking person, people think that you can’t be talented. You only got where you got because of the way you look, which is not true, but that is the perception. You can’t change it. It’s very hard to change.
