Britain's legendary blues artists 'The Mick Clarke Band' premiered in India exclusively with Simply The Blues. Considered as one of the finest blues guitarists to come out of UK, Mick Clarke with his band, performed in India for the first time as part of the 3rd edition of Simply The Blues music festival, organized by StarKonnect Events and Promotions.

Blues enthusiasts had a gala night at the concerts as the Mick Clarke Band enthralled the audience with their electrifying performance on October 25th, 2014 at St. Andrews Auditorium, Mumbai, followed by a gig in Bangalore at the famous Toit brewpub on October 26th, 2014. The three piece band backed by Chris Sharley on the drums and Ed Masters on bass guitar and lead vocalist Mick Clarke, had the audience spellbound for almost 90 minutes as he belted out tracks from his albums with past bands Killing Floor and Salt. Clarke also played a few tracks from his most recent album “Crazy the Blues”.

As Anil Mehta, Partner, StarKonnect Events & Promotions who devotes his time and energy for his unending passion for promoting the Blues music to India each year and for promising us more shows in the near future rightly says "Blues is in the blood of every true music lover! As blues legend Willie Dixon so rightly summed up “The Blues is the Roots, the rest is the fruits”. Mick has paid his dues on the blues circuit and his style is raw-boned and straight from the gut. The evening was truly a rollicking affair that rocked our senses”.

At an exclusive Meet and Greet a day before his Mumbai gig, Savio Miranda met up with Mick Clarke and his band at the Furtados School of Music in Bandra to know more about his music and what makes the blues, the blues. The by invitation event also had Mick’s wife Linda, Anil Mehta of StarKonnect, the media and students of the School in attendance.

Excerpts from the interview:

How did you start playing with Freddy King? What were his idiosyncrasies so to say, his musical style?

I was part of Killing Floor which was part of the first wave of British blues bands. Bands like Free, a little younger than Led Zeppelin in those days, with Rory Gallagher, that age group. Blues was happening in England and we were bringing over musicians like Freddy King, Howling Wolf, John Lee Hooker and others. They needed bands to back them. I went to see Freddy, the first time he came was with Chicken Shack and believe me, it was great. The only other blues guitarist I had seen was Chester Arthur Burnett who was Howling Wolf. Freddy came bouncing all over the stage, beaming all over his face, wearing orange trousers and a green shirt, bouncing up and down and then launches into this dynamic rock blues. When I first started, I did the R n B kind of thing (plays a riff) then moved on to do the Chuck Berry Stuff (plays a Chuck Berry standard). Then there was Clapton, Jeff Beck and Peter Greene. Peter Greene was more refined in his playing (plays a riff). Freddy was straight ahead and he played with metal fingerpicks and he had very heavy strings. Maybe, I should go back a little bit when I got a record of B.B. King and I didn’t know what to expect. It was much cleaner (plays a B.B King lick), has swing and lovely little melodies in it and its sweet and its got space

Have you ever played with the Blues Breakers?

I saw them play when Clapton came to play with John Mayall. We did the opening set for Peter Greene, Fleetwood Mac. We played in between and I used his amplifiers. He complimented me on the steps. That was good he said (sighs). Freddy King was a Texas guitar player, playing swing style and he stalked up and down the stage playing the most outrageous, just a lot of aggression. He had four Marshall Stacks at the front of the stage so that was all you could hear. He wore a hole into his semi acoustic guitar under the strings with his aggressive playing. He said I’m going back to New York and I’ll buy a new guitar. I asked him what he’s going to do with the old one and he said you can buy it if you want. So I bought Freddy King’s guitar for 250 dollars about 150 pounds then which was good for him and me. I couldn’t play it. I tried and tried but I couldn’t, so I swapped it for this (points to his Gibson).

This is a 1963 Gibson SG. I got it in 1969. It used to be bright red, have chrome covers, big tremolo. It’s not an easy guitar to play, it goes out of tune often, the way they’ve attached the neck here.

Tell us about your albums?

The record companies liked what I did but there is always the pressure to conform. The last album I did was for a German record label Taxin. I understand what the German people want…. they are a great audience. They want hard, rocking stuff, so I felt some kind of pressure to perform that way. I experimented with different sounds. You can try what you want because the worst that could happen is that nobody will buy it. But you must try it, you might just invent tomorrows big thing.

What goes through your mind as you are playing? Are you playing a particular set of scales?

I just hear and feel the music. I don’t play in a fixed pattern. I am a guitarist not a musician in the strict sense. I feel and hear what the next step is and I go along with the flow, (plays a riff) and this leads to (plays another riff) and the next should be (plays a third riff) and so on and so forth.

Are your current band members involved in the composition of your music?

Not so much. They pretty much follow what I tell them to play.

Who are your favorite guitarists?

BB King, Robert Johnson, Django Reinhart, Eric Clapton, I admire Eric Clapton's work, especially the Cream days, ZZ Top is also a favorite.

You have moved around with two previous bands and this is your third band, why the shift and is it because you can also learn to improvise?

I really don’t think so, there were certain things that kept me from moving with new members and hence I had to make a shift with new musicians. As for learning anything new in each band, I really don’t think so, as every time you play a gig or every time you just play your guitar be it rehearsal or otherwise you keep learning something new every day.

Have you heard of Indian music?

Well not much really, but yes I have heard of Ravi Shankar and I may not have been to his concerts I have heard a lot of him and his music and how he has influence the west.

Have you heard any Indian blues musicians?

No I really have not heard any blues musicians from Indian, but I am sure at the gig, I will get a firsthand experience to understand how they take on the blues in their own way in the Indian style. That should be really interesting.

What memories will you take back from India?

A lot of it actually, your good hospitality and well let’s see as the days go by…. (Smiles)

Interviewed by Savio Miranda

Photographs by Verus Ferreira

MICK CLARKE DISCOGRAPHY

MICK CLARKE

Looking For Trouble Appaloosa (Italy) 1984

Rock Me Appaloosa (Italy) 1986

All These Blues Appaloosa (Italy) 1988

West Coast Connection Brambus 1989 (Switzerland) Nebula Circle (USA) BGO (UK)

Steel and Fire Line (Germany) 1990 Burnside (USA) BGO (UK)

Tell the Truth Taxim (Germany) 1991 Burnside (USA) BGO (UK)

No Compromise Taxim (Germany) 1993 Burnside (USA) BGO

Roll Again Taxim (Germany) 1995 BGO

Happy Home Burnside (USA) 1998 Allegro (USA)

New Mountain Burnside (USA) 2000 Allegro (USA)

Live in Luxembourg Taxim (Germany) 2003 BGO

Solid Ground Taxim (Germany) 2008

The Rambunctious Blues Experiment Rockfold (UK) 2011

Ramdango Rockfold (UK) 2013

Crazy Blues Rockfold (UK) 2014

KILLING FLOOR

Killing Floor Spark (UK) 1969 Sire Records (USA)

Out of Uranus Penny Farthing 1970 Repertoire (Germany), Akarma (Italy), Mailbox (Japan)

Zero Tolerance Appaloosa (Italy) 2004

Rock'n'Roll Gone Mad Rockfold (UK) 2012

SALT

The Cobra's Melodies Rockfold (UK) 2011