Savoy Brown – Neon & Shadows
With a brand new album City Night out on Quarto Valley, Kim Simmonds brings the vibrant Savoy Brown trio to London for a special gig. Pete and Kim catch up backstage to discuss the new record and related matters…
JLTT: Welcome back to London, brother
KS: Thank you Pete, it feels great to be back!
This is a rather splendid looking Les Paul, what’s the history here?
It’s not particularly one of the old vintage ones ..I went back to playing it, there’s nothing like a Les Paul. It has an energy of its own. I used it for the forthcoming album. And I guess you’d say it’s just got bite, you know? I find that separates it from my other instruments.
But you have this mellow sound and it morphs into something more serpentine doesn’t it?
(Ponders) Perhaps it does, as a number develops, yes ! You’ve sussed that I guess but I can’t talk about my own playing…because like everything else, you look in the mirror and you don’t like what you see! With your playing, you don’t like what you hear… in fact I had a guy who played through my amp and this was after the show, one of the crew and for some reason I said – and he could play guitar – and so for the first time I could hear my guitar sound – although he had a different style from me – but you can never hear your own sound truly, because when you hear it you’re listening to the overall band.
Ah well I saw some footage of BB King playing a Strat..and he sounded exactly like BB King!
(Brightly) And that’s the other thing, it doesn’t matter what guitar you are playing, you are stuck with your own personal touch.
I advise young players to spend money on the best strings, it’s the only thing the audience hears! Now, I’ve been going through the new album and first off, this is quite a stable lineup now, after all these years..with Pat and Garnet
(Warmly) Yes, it is!
And what I like about this is they can slip off into almost hiphop beats here and there and funk AND the mellow stuff as well. So playing the record, it was a very familiar sound to me and thus you know the music chemistry is there SO it’s down to what the songs are like, their impact…
I’m with you there, it’s a cohesive unit..that we have all refined
Walking On Hot Coals, that’s a real stomper..what prompted that number?
Three of the songs came together about eighteen months before the album sessions. The follow up to Witchy Feeling. Then three of the songs came just two weeks before the recording. Brand new songs. I got lucky, in that respect. Walking, Neighbourhood and Payback arrived shortly before the sessions. It was a thrill to get that kind of inspiration. Walking, well I still don’t know quite what it’s about. I asked my daughter ‘what’s this all about ?’ What often happens, you’ll get a lyrical idea that you sense is working and you start playing with the lyric. Sometimes the title is somewhere in that lyric. Before you know it, the song starts to morph. So it is a very simple song. Three blues verses. Tonight’s only the third time we have played it live. I’m still trying to understand it!
What it is to me..there’s always been this Savoy penchant for voodoo, for mystery now and again.
(Laughing) Yeah OK! I go with that…
Do you ever read detective stories?
Oh I read them all the time!
Rory used to love them…
He did!! Absolutely! You can hear that in his lyrics. It’s obviously a staple at one end of the blues spectrum. You go back to the Thirties, I can’t remember names right now but there’s one particular female artist who draws on that…what’s her name? This is annoying me… ( a later email from Kim names Memphis Minnie – PS) Nothing’s much different now compared to then. The themes are there – John The Conqueroo, the mojo thing….all I’m drawing from is the stuff I grew up liking..
You know one of your biggest fans is George Thorogood?
I know he’s a Savoy Brown fan, yes..
I once bribed him to leave me alone when I was interviewing another act, by giving him a Savoy Brown album!
(Laughs) I met him and he’s a lovely guy…
And Blue Cheer – HUGE fans of Savoy
I didn’t know that!
Don’t Hang Me Out To Dry has a great edgy tempo
I’ve had the song for a long time..you write a lot of songs and some of them you don’t think you’re going to like ..that’s one that did last the course and make the programme. It’s a good title. A good groove.
My notes say : fluid guitar, fine bass tone
Well it was based around the bass, yes. That whole line drives the song along.
Payback time – sweet revenge! I always find if people let me down, fate catches up with them. Not always!
Ha! it happens. That was one that came late in the day. The lyric says it all.
Red Light Mama is a slide rocker. It put me in mind of Dave Peverett.
Did it really?? Might have sounded better if Dave sang it!
Ah not at all – but it’s the sort of song he did well
I’ve always wanted to…I know Roger Earl ( Ex SB drummer – PS) very well and I’ve never brought it up, but I’d love to write songs for Foghat… I’m sure if Dave was alive now..
He’d be in a record shop! Buying Atlantic label 45s!
Yes he would be but we were close, again ..and I imagine I would indeed be giving him some songs..his voice remains in my head, still today..
At this point I have a present for you…our edition with Robin Trower AND Roger Earl!
Oh wow! I shall be reading this later
Conjure Rhythm.
Now that’s got the touch of voodoo…
I like the insistent drumming on this
Oh cool….the guys do work very hard at finding the right parts that fit the mood of the song. They do a fantastic job. Garnet’s always thrilled when he locates the part that really fits.
Neighbourhood Blues – fantastic Albert King swagger to this
That deterioration thing..yes, it’s happened to me. And I have friends who complain to me about where they’re living. I lifted a lot of the conversations for the theme here. I’ve lived in bad areas myself and I know what the story is.
Selfish World – a most desolate sound
As we all get older we all have views of the world and what’s happening in it. You can be disappointed, in the world. The news can be depressing. I’ve recently completely reversed my way of thinking. Instead of dwelling on the negative I consider how beautiful the world is. How beautiful is it that we are sitting together, right here and now…that it’s all come together ? You have to look at The Big Picture..the small picture might be some poor kid being shot in a side street…The song is about the times you have lost that perspective.
Wearing Thin – a very robust tempo
I’m glad it made the album, because in the end it went in and it fits. I’m waiting for people’s reactions to it. You’re the first person I’ve spoken to that’s heard this stuff so it’s interesting.
City Night – a very jumpy tempo
New York City inspired it. All the images..they’re exactly what I’ve experienced in the Metropolis. I don’t live there, but I do spend a lot of time there. To this day, ever since my parents took me to Piccadilly Circus in the 50s ..the neon lights and the bustle..I’ve still got that image of wonderment in my mind. City Night brings all that to the fore. I’ve become a country person, a family man. But I could easily have been a city person. You’re half and half as a Londoner in the country…
Hang Tough – pure Bo Diddley
Of course! the very first thing I ever did, a guy in Wandsworth put together a band for a wedding. The only thing I could play well was the Bo Diddley beat. So we’re in 6/8 the whole night! I was 15 or 16. It’s in my bones !
Superstitious Woman – it’s shadowy
It’s about a woman I’d heard about third-hand that had some problems. I was thinking about her and the story. A poetic title and it all came together into what you hear.
This record…you seem to be using the music to deliver a set of stories..not trying to be showy players
You hit it right on the head, Pete, when you said in the beginning that the band works well, so it has to be the songs. You know how I play the guitar by now and how the group can lock in and invent around the songs… so this album if it’s going to mean anything is about the songs. You read it right! It continues my legacy, the band’s legacy..it’s not about the guitar playing. That’s incidental! I hope you’re both around for the show?
You bet!
Pete Sargeant
(Many thanks to Kim Simmonds)
Feature Image and Additional Photography Credit: Arnie Goodman
Savoy Brown’s new album ‘City Night’ is out now on Quarto Valley Records.
You can read our review of ‘City Night’ here: http://bit.ly/2ZKnlcs
For more information visit the band’s official website here: http://bit.ly/2P1sbxD
In addition, Savoy Brown will perform at The 100 Club, London, United Kingdom on Saturday 18th January 2019 as part of January Blues Festival 2020. Tickets are onsale now here: http://bit.ly/2ZzS9wI
