FAIRPORT CONVENTION
Dave Pegg & Ric Sanders
Interviewed by Andy Bassett at Downtown Convention Centre, Auckland, 18 April 1996
When I heard Fairport were coming to NZ, I got onto promoter Kevin Byrt straight away. I had to interview them. It's been 22 years since Fairport last came here, in a vastly different incarnation with the Rising For The Moon line-up.
As I walk in on their Auckland soundcheck, the various members are scattered around. Maartin Allcock sits on the stage, playing Led Zeppelin runs. Ric Sanders is running through a song with support artist Kristina Olsen. Dave Pegg sits at a table, placidly changing his bass strings. He's expecting me. He introduces me to Simon Nicol, who gives me a brisk handshake before resuming pacing up and down, very much on edge, waiting for his equipment to arrive. The only remaining founding member of Fairport, I had hoped to talk to Simon but, under the circumstances, I let him go. "You might have noticed some tension in the air," he remarks later.
Meanwhile, Peggy is keen to talk.
AB: First up, where's Dave Mattacks?
Pegg: We've made an acoustic CD, which is called Old New Borrowed Blue, which is coming out on May 13 in England. We've been doing acoustic gigs sporadically for the last couple of years and we always said we'd try and do a proper tour. The reason it's worked out that Dave's not with us is that he's very busy in his own right this year. He's playing in the Richard Thompson Band and he's also been in Nashville playing with Mary-Chapin Carpenter. But rather than sit at home doing nothing, we thought we'd take advantage of the fact that we enjoy playing acoustic music and, because we've got the CD coming out, we'd do a tour. It also means we can afford to tour in Australia and New Zealand, which we wouldn't be able to do with the full band because it wouldn't be feasible. We couldn't afford to bring a road person or to fly any more equipment out. So it's a way of us getting to tour and do some places that we enjoy playing and still represent Fairport.
It's called Fairport Acoustic Convention. A lot of the music we're playing is obviously taken from Fairport's past history. That's why the CD's called Old New Borrowed Blue. There are seven new studio tracks on it. Then there's some borrowed stuff, like we've nicked a couple of Loudon Wainwright songs and we've borrowed a James Taylor song. And the reason it's blue is because that's the colour of the CD!
Dave Swarbrick now lives in Australia. Did you catch up with him?
We did the first two weeks of our tour with Swarb as the opening act. So that was great and we were able to do a couple of numbers together at the end.
This line-up of Fairport has lasted for over ten years. If you compare that with the first ten years of Fairport, it's quite an achievement. What do you think's the secret of this line-up?
Well obviously when bands start up and you're much younger, people want to do different things. And it's not unusual for bands, when they're in their late teens or early twenties, to have a lot of line-up changes. Fairport's had 26 members in the band over 29 years.
We never fell out with each other when people have come and gone in the band. It's always been basically that those people wanted to do their own music. Especially in the case of people like Sandy Denny or Richard Thompson, who were fantastic songwriters. A group is not necessarily the best means of getting your songs put out because it's very much a democratic thing. If you write a lot of songs you want to do them your way, or at least not have other people's feelings to upset. Not that there was much of that going on but that's certainly why people like Richard and Sandy left the band, to do their own thing.
And it has had this stability for the last ten years. The main reason is, there was a period when we didn't exist, from 1979 up until 1985. Because we hadn't worked together as a band for six years, when we started off again we were all doing other things. I was playing with Jethro Tull, Simon was involved in the Albion Band. Ric and Maartin, everybody does lots of different things. So Fairport wasn't a full-time occupation for us all and indeed still isn't now.
There are times when we only play 25 dates in a year. Other years - like this year - because I'm no longer with Jethro Tull, we're able to do a lot more dates. In fact this is our third tour this year. We did 19 shows with Dave Mattacks in England, had a day off, went to Germany and did 13 consecutive nights with the acoustic line-up, had a couple of weeks off and we've done month in Australia and New Zealand. Then we go back and we've got about a week off, then it all starts up again. We're doing about 40 dates in England with this line-up and some festivals with Dave. Also, the record's being put out by Green Linnet in America, so we're touring there in October and November. We're up to our necks in it this year!
We've had our ups and downs because we have worked very hard but basically, we all get on well and we're very much a democratic band. There's not anyone in charge.
You were in New Plymouth a couple of years ago with Jethro Tull.
Yeah, we went up to the volcano and we flew over it, it was a beautiful clear day. I really enjoyed that and I wish I was coming next time.
When you were with Jethro Tull, your son Matt occasionally deputised for you. Is he playing with them now?
He's been playing with Procol Harum. In fact, last month they did a really good show at the Barbican in London, which they did with the London Symphony Orchestra and a 60-piece choir. He really likes it. They don't do much work, the Procols, but they're a great band.
At this point we are loudly interrupted by Maartin Allcock's vocal soundcheck, which goes something like this:-
"Oh my fishbone, fishbone, fishbone
It is my pride and sorrow
Oh fishbone, fishbone, fishbone
I think I'll fuck off tomorrow"
AB: Is Maartin doing some lead vocals?
Pegg: No.
Jewel In The Crown was very well received. To me, it sounds like the best album this line-up has done.
We think so as well. The other albums were enjoyable but the songs were more compatible on this one. It's just the luck of the draw really, getting a good bunch of songs together. The great thing about not having a songwriter in the band is it gives you loads of options - although most of the tunes come from Ric or Maartin. But we like it, it was a fun record to make. And it did well, it got good reviews and it sold very well in England.
At this point, Pegg is called away to soundcheck his bass. Later, he introduces me to Ric Sanders. Ric and I wander around the backstage corridor looking for the dressing room, like Spinal Tap in reverse. Once we realise that the corridor is the dressing room, we sit down for a chat.
Sanders: I've had a good time here. It's my first visit to New Zealand. We played last night at Christchurch Cathedral, which was beautiful. So I was able to go out and buy a postcard of the gig this morning, to take home to my folks.
When you and Maart joined the band, you had some big shoes to fill. Did it cause some apprehension?
Yeah. I would be a liar to say I wasn't apprehensive. Dave Swarbrick was a great hero of mine and my inspiration to take up the fiddle, along with a few other early influences like David LaFlame, Sugarcane Harris, Jean-Luc Ponty. So it was a little daunting. Also the very simple worry about how Fairport audiences would take to a Fairport without Swarb in it. As a fan, I'd have been worried if he wasn't there. But on the other hand, it was such a great opportunity.
I'm basically a jazz musician with a great affection for folk music. I could never play like Swarb. A lot of people ask me what it was like replcing Swarb but in my opinion, I never replaced him, because you can't replace the irreplaceable. I don't sing, I don't play in his style, so this Fairport was a new thing, a new chapter. I like to think he's there in a way every night, because I'm representing him, much the same as Vikki Clayton [who joins Fairport at Cropredy each year] is representing Sandy Denny when she sings those songs. I'm happy to play that great stuff that he was instrumental in putting together. The other thing that made it fine was that from the word go, the audience was on my side.
You had a bit of an accident with a plate glass window, didn't you?
Yeah. To slightly misquote Hazel O'Connor [Actually, it was Nick Lowe] I hate the sound of breaking glass. I rather foolishly fell through a plate glass window. I'd been having a bad time in my life and it suddenly dramatically got worse.
How close did it come to ending your fiddle-playing career?
A couple of millimetres. I cut all the extensor tendons in the top of my arm. My fist was clenched and I couldn't open it. What I did have on my side was an absolutely brilliant surgeon called David Coleman, at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. He did two operations over the course of seven months and he was determined to get me better. I had to have the second operation following one of the repairs snapping, which was scarier than the accident. If I wanted to make it to the next Fairport tour, I had to get that fixed instantly. And he hustled me in because he was on my case. I owe him everything.
The other thing I had going for me was that I didn't damage any nerves. If I'd done that, it would have been over.
So you had to go through Cropredy unable to play the fiddle.
Yeah. Chris Leslie, my dear friend and a wonderful fiddle player, did a fantastic job but I have to admit it was hard standing at the side of the stage. But I played keyboards with my good hand. I occasionally hit some low notes with the corner of my splint, which was a technique I developed for a while. [Note: Chris Leslie went on to join Fairport in 1997, replacing Maartin Allcock.]
Cropredy is a major event now. Dave Pegg was saying before, whenever people have left Fairport, there's never been a big rift. And at Cropredy, they keep coming back.
Yeah, it's great! I'm sure Maartin would concur with me when I say it's been fabulous to be on stage with Swarb, Richard Thompson, Jerry Donahue... people who have a past association with the band. That's the good thing about it.
Did you catch up with Jay Turner in Australia?
Yes, we caught up with him in Melbourne, at the Continental Cafe. It was great to see him. I met Catherine, she's lovely. But I haven't heard them together. I played on two of Jay's albums - Movements in Architecture and Atmavictu. I wish him all success. He's a powerful performer and he writes some emotionally charged songs. I'm looking forward to seeing him in duo with Catherine. I hope they come to England so I can see them. Here's to you Jay!
There's a new book out, The Woodworm Years.
Yes. It's the story of this Fairport, since 1985. It's not very in-depth but it's well put together. I'm personally quite happy with the section of the book dealing with me. They got me nailed.
I'd better go off and rehearse this number. Do you know what time it starts tonight?