Episode 17 (Part 2) - Allan Clark

Part two of our ramble chat with Award winning Alan Clarke: DIRE STRAITS ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME MEMBER, MULTIPLE GRAMMY, BRITS & MTV AWARDS WINNER.

If you haven’t heard the first part of this chat I highly recommend you go back and start at the beginning  no cheating! to those that have - welcome back it’s good to see you… we pick things up, digging into the classic 1985 Dire Straits album: Brothers in Arms that spent 14 weeks at number one in UK, nine weeks at number one in the US & 34 weeks at number one on the Australian Albums Chart. 

I couldn’t wait to discover every detail about the recording, the writing, how the band created one of the most iconic and beloved albums of all time and Alan gives us some incredible stories about behind the scenes- even how Mark Kopher came up with that iconic Money for Nothing guitar sound - but I won’t ruin it - lets just get into it… This is Part 2 with Alan Clarke.

Todays two part chat features Award winning MUSICIAN/PRODUCER/COMPOSER Alan Clarke: DIRE STRAITS ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME MEMBER, MULTIPLE GRAMMY, BRITS & MTV AWARDS WINNER have sold an estimated 100 million units worldwide, including 51.4 million certified units, making them one of the best-selling music artists of the 20th century. 

Don’t forget to follow me everywhere @bradleymccawofficial and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!

Hosted by Bradley McCaw

Sound design by Matt Erskine & Cross Point Solutions

Assistant Engineering by Gilang Candraditya

Theme composed by James Ryan

ALAN CLARK:

If you have a child who shows interest in playing the piano, think carefully before you send him/her to piano lessons, because the wrong teacher can kill off a child's creativity. That's what happened to me when I was 6yrs old: I was sent to piano lessons after been seen plonking a few notes on the piano, and soon became bored because I was having to learn to read and play music I didn’t like. I stopped the lessons after a couple of years and might never have played again if I hadn't fallen ill with appendicitis when I was 11yrs old, and ended up  recovering from the operation while my father was also recovering from an illness, which meant we were housebound together. Back then, there was no daytime tv, and our only source of entertainment was the radio and the piano. Dad fancied himself as a crooner, a singer in the mould of Frank Sinatra (he loved Frank Sinatra, so do I) and he could knock out a few tunes on the piano, albeit in a very basic manner. But he played well enough to teach me how to play the song Blue Moon, using the only 4 chords he knew: C, A minor, F and G (he used those chords in that order, regardless of which tune he was attempting to play). That’s when I started playing "by ear", which was the beginning of a whole new thing. I took musical education, right through to A Level and Grade 8 piano and Grade 8 harmony, but little of it related to the music I played out of school.

Soon after that, a Hammond organ shop opened in nearby Chester-le-Street, which is where I went to school. I remember like it was yesterday, peering through misty windows at these fabulous instruments. A few days later, my dad arranged for me to do go into the shop and play, and from then on, I was in there on school lunchtimes, after school, all day Saturday, and within a few weeks I was playing better than the shop manager (according to my Dad). Fridays in Chester-le-Street was market day, which meant there were lots of shoppers around, and whenever I played on a Friday lunch time, crowds of people would gather in the doorway of the shop and spill onto the road to watch and listen and applaud this kid who cold barely reach the bass pedals, playing epic themes like the Dam Busters and 633 Squadron. It was good for the shop and it was good for me because I learned about something that motivates all musicians: Applause. I was hooked.

Birtley British Legion, Hammond A100, my parents Ellen and John.

Chester-le Street might strike you as an unlikely place to set up a shop selling expensive organs made in Chicago, USA, but workingman's clubs were springing up all over the North East of England, and they all wanted these high-tech instruments from America to replace the pianos in their new concert rooms, and Chester-le Street happened to be the best place for Hammond to distribute them from. They sold so quickly, there weren't enough organists around to play them ( a lot of the clubs'piano players struggled to make the transition to organs) and it wasn't long until the shop manager was asking my dad if I could join the rota of organists he'd compiled and was sending out to the clubs. That weekend, aged 13, I played my first professional gig, and it wasn't long until I was making more playing at weekends than my Dad made working an entire week as a supervisor in a cable factory.

My proud, wonderful father passed away when I was 16. By then, I was resident organist at one of the better clubs (Houghton-le-Spring "Big" Club) and I’d soon made enough to buy a car that waited in the street until my 17th birthday (although I admit to taking it for secret midnight trips occasionally before that).

A band I was in that fluctuated between being called Brass Alley and Geordie, featuring L to R: George Defty, Dave Ditchburn, Vic Malcolm, Franky Gibbon, me and Brian Johnson, circa 1975.

In my early 20's, after year long stint playing in a band on a cruise ship that sailed around the Caribbean, I decided it was time to take music a bit more seriously and I became involved with a few local bands around Newcastle, one of which included singer Brian Johnson (see above) who not long after joined AC/DC. That led me to playing with Splinter, who were signed to George Harrison's Dark Horse label. I met George when Splinter played the Hammersmith Odeon, and he would turn up quite often at shows when, 10 or so years later, I was later in Eric Clapton's band. after Splinter, I was recruited by Glallagher and Lyle, for a couple of tours and to record their final album, and then I joined Lindesfarne for a UK festival tour which included Knebworth and Glastonbury. Then I joined Dire Straits as their first keyboard player, and remained with them for the next 15 years until the band broke up in the early 90’s.  

One of the songs we recorded when we were making the Love over Gold record was Private Dancer, which didn't make the record because the lyrics are from the point of view of a female. But it was perfect for Tina Turner, and I arranged and recorded it with her which led to her asking me to join her on her forthcoming tour of the US. As Dire Straits was having a hiatus, I accepted her offer and while we were on tour in the US, her Private Dancer album went to number one there and around the world. The party that night at a Mexican restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, is one I won’t forget. I remained Tina’s musical director for several years.

I’ve recorded a solo piano version of Private Dancer, as a tribute to Tina, on my forthcoming solo piano album, Backstory.

One of the reasons I play music is because of hearing Tina’s River Deep, Mountain High record, on the radio. Playing that tune with Tina for the first time, in a rehearsal studio on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, was a special moment. I had a similar experience, a year or so later, when I heard Bob Dylan’s voice in my headphones when I was recording his Infidels and Empire Burlesque albums. I got on well with Bob. I met him for the first time at one of the first gigs I played with Dire Straits, the Roxy in Hollywood. He turned up at the show and came back to our hotel and played a few tunes with Mark.

But it was in Eric Clapton's band (1987 through 1990) that I had the most fun. Eric often came to see Dire Straits during the Brothers in Arms tour, and would often watch from my side of the stage, and when that tour was over, he invited me to join his band. And what a band it was: Steve Ferrone, Nathan East, Greg Phillingaines, Ray Cooper, Tessa Niles, Katy Kassoon, and Mark Knopfler on second guitar (Mark was later replaced by Phil Palmer). My first experience as his keyboard player was to fly to New York with him on Concorde, to record the song After Midnight, for a Michelob beer ad. It was a brilliant band - some say Eric's best ever - and a most enjoyable few years. Happily, Eric recently described the Journeyman album, which we made during my time with him, as his favourite of all his records. I also co-wrote, with Eric, some of the music for the movie Communion. I reluctantly left his amazing band in 1990 to co-produce Dire Straits’ On Every Street album, and play on the subsequent tour.

After that tour, I’d had enough of travelling the world, and I spent the next few years playing with my very young children (twins, born 1989), and working in my home studio making music for TV dramas and documentaries. Between then and now, I've played and recorded with lots of people, see below, produced records, made music for movies, directed a movie, and made TV ads music. More recently, I've co-written and co-produced an album for LEGACY ( 3 Chord Trick); and I’ve co-produced, played on and and written songs for Italian mega star Renato Zero’s last two albums, both of which went straight to number one in Italy. I’ve also worked and am working on several projects with ace producer Trevor Horn, and I’ve recently made my solo piano record, Backstory, which is due out in May. 

Here’s some of the talented people I’ve played and recorded with:

Dire Straits Trevor Horn Eric Clapton Bob Dylan Tina Turner Bee Gees Gerry Rafferty Splinter Prefab Sprout The Blessing Escape Club Ian Drury Bo Diddley Buddy Guy Billy Joel Lou Reed Dave Stewart David Knopfler Gallagher and Lyle Bill Wyman Joe Cocker Mary Hopkins Shakin Stevens Matt Monroe Mark Knopfler Rory Block Westernhagen Joan Armatrading Tim Healy Lindesfarne Geordie Brian Johnson Nils Lofgren Jimmy Nail Mike Brecker Sting Jamie Squire Robert Cray Renato Zero Al Green George Harrison Pacifico Legacy Robbie Williams Seal Beverly Knight Ronnie Wood The Pet Shop Boys Stuart Copeland Renato Zero Rod Stewart Clannad Tiromancino Steve Hogarth