Interview with founding member
Andy Powell
Wishbone Ash formed in 1969 and shortly thereafter, exploded on to the underground FM radio airwaves. Armed with a two axe attack, Ash produced many top notch albums and toured Europe and the US extensively in the 70's. They appeared on bills with Deep Purple, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Fleetwood Mac, T Rex, Steppenwolf and many others. Their signature two guitar sound propelled the band through all the different fads in music and are still going strong today. As original founding guitarist Andy Powell states, "We were and we are still, leaders in our signature twin lead guitar sound."
Wishbone Ash will be out on the "Open Road Tour" of the Southern and Western States in the US, starting in April of 2018. At the same time, they will be releasing a massive 30-disc deluxe box set titled "Wishbone Ash: The Vintage Years." The current members include: Andy Powell (guitar/vocals), Bob Skeat (bass), Joe Crabtree (drums) and Mark Abrahams (guitar). I recently interviewed original guitarist Andy Powell about the bands storied past and their latest plans.
R.V.B. - England was a hotbed breeding ground for folk, skiffle, blues and rock bands. Did you emulate these styles when you began to play the guitar, before you chose to be a more progressive rock style guitarist?
A.P. - Naturally, I tried everything that I could before becoming the guitarist I am today. I did a kind of apprenticeship in bands playing rhythm guitar al lot in what we called soul bands. Lonnie Donegan, Hank B. Marvin, Chuck Berry and then Steve Cropper, Pete Townsend (there's a switch) - they all came into my sights. I ended up with a fully formed style by the time I was 20 and this can be said to be a kind of folk-blues style with progressive leanings. The big development in my style came in 1967/68 when I was exposed to the styles of Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention and Peter Green from the early incarnation of Fleetwood Mac.
R.V.B. - Did you take any lessons or were you self taught?
A.P. - No lessons. I gleaned what I could from friends or by listening to snatches of music here and there. I didn't even start collecting albums until I was about 17. I'd see a lot of bands playing live and I developed a great ear for music helped partially by working out horn arrangements in the soul bands I worked in. This stood me in good stead for working out twin lead guitar lines in Wishbone Ash much later on. I developed a great musical ear this way.
R.V.B. - What was your guitar gear at first before eventually switching to the Flying V.
A.P. - I'd made a couple of home-made guitars in my teens and even during the first year of Wishbone Ash and I used one of those (I still have it), plus anything I could beg borrow and steal. I had a Burns Jazz guitar and use to borrow a Höfner Coronado electric. I did have my own combo amps - originally a Watkins Dominator and then a Selmer Zodiac amp. Then I went on to Laney before working exclusively with Orange Ampification in Wishbone Ash.
R.V.B. - Do you remember your first paying gig? How did it go?
A.P. - My first paying gig was probably at a works social club event at the Ovaltine Factory in Kings Langley England. We played Shadows instrumental songs and oh yes, a song called Rockin' Robin, later recorded by the Jackson Five.
R,V.B. - When Wishbone Ash formed, how did the songwriting process go? Did you, Ted and the others come up with a basic idea for the song at first and then work the double guitar attack in afterwards?
A.P. - It would come about in all kinds of different ways. Individually, we were all very supportive and would encourage each and every and any idea that someone came up, with whether it was a lyrical idea - usually form Martin - or a guitar riff from Ted or myself, like on one of the first songs we wrote collectively, Blind Eye. We also put in a LOT of hours jamming - simply throwing ideas at the wall and seeing if we could make songs out of them. Necessity is the Mother of Invention as they say. I can attest to that. We were literally starving and desperately needed food, a musical direction, a booking agent and a record label in that order. We luckily already had a great manager - although he didn't know that at the time - Miles Axe Copeland III was his name and his input was crucial. He had a plan beyond the idea of basic survival that we were focused on. All of this formative stuff led to my crazy work ethic. I never forget those days and how hard we worked for our dreams.
R.V.B. - Were some of the first album songs road tested before you recorded them?
A.P. - Sure - my song Errors of My Way and Blind Eye and the song Queen of Torture from Martin plus the mini epic jam Handy, were all played in the clubs. In fact, the first two albums were really us going into the studio and playing our songs live with minimal overdubs. The third album Argus, was different inasmuch as we were writing for those songs together, to be performed in big auditoriums, festivals and stadiums, so we were imaging those situations when we were constructing the music and actually recording in the new 16 track medium, instead of the old 8 track method.
R.V.B. - Who were some of the groups that you were teamed up with on tours? Were they usually a good match musically because I know in the early 70's, promoters tended to experiment with lineups?
A.P. - We were booked alongside everyone and anyone. The line-ups in those days were eclectic to say the least. Early on in London, we'd be on with hippie bands like Quintessence or Tyranosaurus Rex (T Rex) then Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac, Colliseum and then when we got to America some agents thought we were a Southern rock band and we'd be on bills with Wet Willie, The Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, the Atlanta Rhythm Section. Then in stadiums with Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf, Alice Cooper, The Who. In the end we had everyone open for us like ZZ, Bob Seeger, Aerosmith, Kiss and even Bruce Springsteen.
R.V.B - Tell me some experiences of touring America for the first time. How did you enjoy it?
A.P. - Totally loved it! America was great then - a land of possibilities especially if you were young. There were $2.4 US dollars to every £1 sterling so it was like having Monopoly money. There was the youth movement and it was post - Vietnam. FM radio ruled the airwaves and they'd put up billboards on Sunset Blvd featuring our band (viewable from our hotel window (the Hyatt House or 'Riot House') . You felt as if you owned America and everyone was so welcoming and hospitable. Being British was a total passport to all things. This was real rock & roll - an alternative culture - groupies, drugs, drink, limos, partying, sunshine, the beach - mayhem. Much later, when I wrote my book recounting it all (Eyes Wide Open - True Tales of a Wishbone Ash Warrior), I had to reconstruct that whole decade of the 70s because it was all such a blur. Every month was a new experience.
R.V.B. - Do you think that your song writing matured through the years or is the newer material just an extension of the original concept?
A.P. - Both. It's definitely matured and also I'm a much better singer. Initially, my voice was my guitar. However, I've come back to the original blue print that we laid down back then, as a writer. I've found that our original instincts were particularly good and that whenever we strayed away from the course as writers, things would get wobbly. I find great inspiration now, in some of our early work - not to say that I'm not finding new influences all over the place these days, but I tend to view them through the prism of the band's true style and how these influences can be melded. This is what we always did anyway, in the first place. The playing, recording and writing standard is very high but there is a real quirky and authentic vibe to those early creative explorations.
R.V.B. - What are you proud about with Wishbone Ash's legacy?
A.P. - Our guitar playing and our longevity. Oh and for sure, the amazing supportive fan community we've nurtured.
See, I was born in 1950 and so each decade of my life has coincided with the development and popularity of rock music. I was very fortunate at age 20, in 1970 to ride in on that wave of British progressive rock/stadium rock/classic rock - call it what you will. We experienced the BEST years for sure. Many young artists tell me so these days and I've become more and more aware of that as time moves forward. There was also the counter-culture thing. Rock was a secret world back then whereas that attitude of bravery and rebellion has moved elsewhere - social media or fashion or hip-hop. I mean the Kardashians were rock & roll for a while, Paris Hilton, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, The Voice - is this the legacy of all of what we went through? Don't make me laugh.
We were and we are still, leaders in our signature twin lead guitar sound and I don't think I'm overstating it when I say that there's not another band who has done more with this concept than Wishbone Ash. Some of the best guitar players have been through the ranks of this band back in the day in recent years so it's hard to top us there. I'm very proud and comfortable with what we achieved and don't forget; I'm the sole original member who stuck with the plan and never gave up on it. I'm coming up for 50 years in the band. That to me, is unfathomable but great at the same time. Very proud of that.
R.V.B. - What are the latest plans for Wishbone Ash?
A.P. - Well, the big project which is about to come to fruition in April, after three and half years of work, is the Vintage Years Deluxe Box Set. It's a thirty CD release plus coffee table book and memorabilia etc. Helluva project - sorta like a black hole that has consumed everyone's energy of late, but the end is now in sight and no doubt during the summer months, I'll be thinking creatively once again. New songs, new projects in the studio and future tours to be booked. We're already fully booked through the fall and into the winter so busy, busy busy - just the way I like it.
Interview conducted by Robert von Bernewitz
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For more information on Andy Powell and Wishbone Ash visit their website. wishboneash.com
Special thanks to Billy James at Glass Onyon PR
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