Greetings one and all...it has taken a lot longer than expected partly due to technical issues but here at last is the interview I had with Clive Bunker last month during the Tullianos 15th Spanish Jethro Tull Convention in Gava Barcelona.An Interview with Clive Bunker - Saturday June 10th 2017As the main special guest at this year's 15th Spanish Jethro Tull Convention in Barcelona and with Jethro Tull only months away from celebrating their 50th anniversary, the opportunity to catch up with Tull's original legendary drummer and all round good guy Clive Bunker was just too good to miss. Finding a quiet area in the Hotel Olympic in Gava near Barcelona, Spain - base camp for Tullianos this year - proved more elusive than first thought but in between background noise and occasional distractions, Clive answered a whole range of questions from the early days right through to the here and now with honesty, integrity and good humour. We began with a few references to the early days.
PR.What are your recollections of the John Evan Band prior to you and Mick getting involved with Ian and Glenn ?
CB: We went to see them at a local club in fact Mick went to see them first and then he said you should come along and see this band so the next time they came to the venue he said will you come and see this band - they're good so we went to see them and got to know them before they moved down to where we lived and didn't make it at that time which was when Mick spoke to Ian and Glenn about getting together and forming a blues band.
PR: Mick recognised that there was something appealing about the band.
CB: Oh yeah. They were a good band. A very good band.
PR: Were you familiar with the move away from blues type songs that Ian was writing from lets say mid 1968 onwards prior to Mick no longer being part of the band. These songs would eventually surface on the Stand Up album ?
CB: Yes. Mick just wanted to play blues. The songs that Mick was writing were just more blues songs and the songs that Ian was writing were getting more progressive I suppose you could say and we all preferred what Ian was writing and Mick just felt a bit out of it.
PR: Do you think the songs Mick was writing at that time resurfaced a few months later as Blodwyn Pig songs ?
CB: A couple of them did I think yeah but what I call the good songs of Blodwyn Pig were written by Mick with Jack Lancaster.
PR: As Ian's song writing developed, did his music present more challenges for you as the drummer in the band ?
CB: Yes. Yes it was a challenge and an interesting challenge because coming up with drum parts I had to actually get better and it had to be immediate. There were songs where I said to Ian that I could not think of a drum part.What do you want me to do ? One of the songs was definitely Song for Jeffrey and he just said ' just play dum didi dum didi dum and it will work ' which is exactly what I did - dum didi dum didi dum - but all the other stuff, it was a bit of a challenge and it worked out pretty good actually.
PR: Reading about the band during that early period you get the impression that the element of challenge was really appreciated by all the band members.
CB: Oh yes.
PR: Following your departure from Jethro Tull in 1971, how long did you stay away from music and what prompted you to once more get behind a drum kit ?
CB: I didn't actually...I mean that when I left Tull I never intended to ever play the drums. It was just that friends from school were forming a band and said you could be the drummer and then after that band split up, another band asked me to join and err after that things just kept on happening. I don't like the situation of being regarded as like a star. In Tull during the last year and a half it was pretty chaotic constantly touring and whilst in America, I met this lady and at the start of the last American tour in 1971, I said that after it was finished I would leave. If Barrie [ Barlow] can't do it or something, then give me a call and I will fill in until Barrie has got it together....and I never ever intended to play again. Then when Robin Trower phoned up about a year and a half later and said I've got this band together with Frankie Miller.
PR: That was Jude ?
CB: Yeah that was Jude and I thought - I've got to do this [laughs] and I picked up the sticks again.
PR: You once did an interview in Melody Maker, under the title' I'll never forget what's his name' One of the quotes you made in that interview referred to you watching Jethro Tull perform 'A Passion Play' at Wembley in '73 and you felt very proud of the band. Did a part of you feel that you shouldn't have left the band ?
CB: No...I never regretted leaving at all.The last album I did was Aqualung. Some of the songs Ian was getting together like ideas that came out later with Passion Play - well I like playing more rock n roll [ waves arms in the air] and 'dum dum dum' not so much the fiddly bits[ crosses arms with imagined drum stick hand movements]No I never regretted leaving.
PR : From 1971/72/73 onwards you played with a lot of major artists some of which I have been fortunate enough to see with you behind the drum kit. Which of these artists/ bands post Tull have you found the most interesting to work with ?
CB: [pause for concentration] Uli Jon Roth the German guitar player in the sense that he played classical stuff and not just the rock stuff that he did with The Scorpions.I got to play with him and other musicians and play lots of very different things so overall he was probably the best yeah.
Cue commercial break...PR:I'm now going to shock you[ producing a copy of Clive's solo album 'Awakening' to loud groans and acknowledgement from Clive]
CB :[composing himself with deep concentration] Martin Allcock who used to be with Fairport Convention , said that he liked the album - pity about the singer [ laughs all round]
PR: Everyone has heard of Clive Bunker the drummer but what about Clive Bunker the singer songwriter. Back in 1998 with the help of several of your music friends and the support of Dave Rees and his team at A NEW DAY you released your solo album 'Awakening'. What are your memories of that project ?
CB : I built a studio in my garden and really it was to try and move away from the experiences I had had in the studio where engineers would be saying something but what I heard was my drums. So I thought I could get a good drum sound myself and then I started playing a bit of guitar and a bit of this and that and then I think it was in conversation with Dave Rees that I said I had some songs none of them really complete - more ideas really and he said we could fit them onto a cd. I thought yeah why not so I finished the songs off and then [pause] unfortunately I sang on it [ more laughter] which was the worst idea. A lot of the words were very personal and it is very difficult to get someone in to sing and convey the meaning. [at this point I couldn't resist singing the chorus to 'Swayo' the first tune on Clive's album - cue more laughter all round]
PR: Would you do another album ?
CB: Err..no no. [shakes head]
PR: You have performed at various Tull Conventions across Europe during the last few years. How do you feel about such events ?
CB: I quite like them actually. Its amazing to be remembered by people because I was only in the band for what - 4 years and the band has stayed together for nearly 150 years so for people to remember me all this time later is quite an honour - fantastic really.
PR: I guess these events have given you the opportunity of meeting new people leading to different things possibly outside of music.
CB: Oh yeah.
PR: Outside of music what keeps you busy ?
CB : Lots of things really. When I left Tull, I did have quite a few business interests so they kept me busy initially. Nowadays I like to go hiking and things like that to keep myself fit because without fitness the ability to play the drums would be difficult. You need to do something to keep yourself fit so we go to Canada quite often especially around September when the bears return to the mountain slopes so I do lots of hiking.Its brilliant and I love it.
PR: Although you were in Jethro Tull for 4 years, the band has carried on since then and you have played in various line ups featuring other members of Tull past and present. Do you still keep in contact with members / ex members of Jethro Tull ?
CB: Yes but mainly the drummers...Doane Perry, Barrie Barlow...I was there at Barrie's a couple of months ago and with Eric Brookes the Tull tour manager. Eric now lives in America but whenever he comes over to England we get together. I meet Martin every now and again. I was going over to see Glenn in Hawaii just before he died so thats a bad one really.
PR: Next year is the 50th anniversary of the release of 'This Was'. Along with many fans, I have been very impressed by the recently released Tull album booklet format remasters that Steven Wilson has been involved in. Whilst This Was has been remastered it has not yet had the booklet/Steven Wilson five star treatment. Are you aware of these new releases ?
CB:Yes.
PR: Have you got copies ?
CB: No.
PR: Err..I asked Martin[Barre] the same question last year and the answer he gave was the same.
CB :Hmm [ nodding head]
PR: Well...I think that it is the shared hope of a large number of Tull fans that, in recognition of 50 years of Jethro Tull that both This Was and Benefit would both receive the Steven Wilson remastered booklet form extended treatment. A fitting testament to those ground breaking albums.
CB: [nodding and smiling] That would be good..that would be good.
PR: We all know the value of Facebook in helping to sell, promote live music but having said that there are downsides to Facebook as well. In recent years there has been a problem that you have had to deal with of someone pretending to be you and causing you grief as a result. Can you comment on this problem ?
CB: Yeah its not just me. A lot of people I have spoken to in the music business have had similar problems. Martin Barre did. He had someone calling himself Martin Barre on facebook but they eventually stopped. I just can't seem to stop this guy. We have an idea of where he might be based but we are not fully sure. We know he speaks Spanish but is proving elusive. Facebook don't want to know about it. There's not a lot more we can do about it. We have all seen the government try to do something about facebook, twitter and all that but its all about money, money, money...but [shrugs]. I don't go on the computer so if anybody - a lot of people send me stuff which my friend has downloaded and many things are from people that I know but there appears to be very little I can do about it. There you go..when they started doing all this computer stuff they talked about the net or the web and it all seemed [waves arms around shaking his head] so I thought forget it I don't want to know.
PR: Lets finish off then on a positive note. Here we are in 2017 and another gig this evening doing a Tullianos show with Lincoln Quartet. I know you have worked with Lincoln before. Can you tell us a little about him, about the band and what can we expect from tonight's show.
CB: The band plays Tull tunes but they're not professionals playing the stuff all the time. It's just a good laugh and they are all very good friends of mine. One of the really good things, not here in Spain but when we play [in the same format] in Italy we stay together for a few days , have good meals and socialize. It's just good good good fun.
PR: And if it is not good fun then it's not worth doing.
CB: Exactly.
PR: Clive..it has been a real pleasure.
CB: And for me too.
With that, Clive left the Hotel to spend a few minutes rehearsing with Saori Jo having agreed a few hours earlier to join the band on one of their songs later that same evening at the Tullianos concert prior to his performance with the Lincoln Quartet. Throughout the weekend, Clive gave his time freely to fans despite the tight schedule. Never one to hog the limelight, nevertheless his attendance and participation both on and off stage was deeply appreciated by all and I think he really did quite enjoy himself and found the whole thing rather good fun. What a fitting testimony then for Clive and the rest of the original band members if EMI/ Universal do decide to bring out the definitive This Was collection in booklet form with the five star Steven Wilson treatment as a 50th Anniversary release. Oh yes and lets have Benefit as well please...
PR June 2017