INTERVIEW
Paul Carrack
playing the
Cliffs Pavilion
3rd March 2017
Paul Carrack
playing the
Cliffs Pavilion
3rd March 2017
Despite the fact that he has fronted bands such as Ace, whose song How Long was a huge hit; Mike and the Mechanics, best known for The Living Years and Over My Shoulder, penned songs for The Eagles as well as having been handpicked for his musical skills by everyone from the likes of Elton John to B.B. King, Roxy Music to Ringo Starr, the Pretenders to the Smiths, if you mention the name Paul Carrack to most people, the chances are that they’ll say, ‘who?’
I speak to Sheffield born Paul Carrack, 65, as he makes himself a cup of tea at home.
“That’s the story of my life,” the self-deprecating Carrack laughs, adding, “but you know, I’ve been at it for the last 20 years now. I’ve been concentrating on doing the solo thing and doings lots of gigs. Every year we gig and gig, and gig. We keep putting out new stuff and, thankfully, it has had pretty good support. It’s not a bad place, where we’re at now.”
It would seem that ‘word of mouth’ along with Carrack’s excellent reputation for being a musician’s musician, plus a lot of support from Radio 2 and its listeners, have been enough to keep Carrack touring year after year; with audiences returning to see him perform, with some venues already sold out.
“It’s amazing,” Carrack tells me, “On this tour we’re doing 25 shows and we’re doing some big old rooms! Some places we’re doing two nights. We’re doing Liverpool Philharmonic and Birmingham Symphony Hall and there’re both sold out!” “But it’s not ‘cos we’ve been on the telly.” he adds wryly.
This is certainly true, although Carrack did make an appearance as a contestant in Celebrity Mastermind in December. “It was for a good cause,” he says.
I suggest that he’s probably happier performing and making music than being a Mastermind contestant and he completely agrees, “Oh definitely, yes. The only thing I was bothered about was the fact that my chosen Specialist subject was Sheffield Wednesday, which is my team. It suddenly dawned on me that if I mucked that up, I would be in big trouble - I mean, I’d never be able to show my face!”
I speak to Sheffield born Paul Carrack, 65, as he makes himself a cup of tea at home.
“That’s the story of my life,” the self-deprecating Carrack laughs, adding, “but you know, I’ve been at it for the last 20 years now. I’ve been concentrating on doing the solo thing and doings lots of gigs. Every year we gig and gig, and gig. We keep putting out new stuff and, thankfully, it has had pretty good support. It’s not a bad place, where we’re at now.”
It would seem that ‘word of mouth’ along with Carrack’s excellent reputation for being a musician’s musician, plus a lot of support from Radio 2 and its listeners, have been enough to keep Carrack touring year after year; with audiences returning to see him perform, with some venues already sold out.
“It’s amazing,” Carrack tells me, “On this tour we’re doing 25 shows and we’re doing some big old rooms! Some places we’re doing two nights. We’re doing Liverpool Philharmonic and Birmingham Symphony Hall and there’re both sold out!” “But it’s not ‘cos we’ve been on the telly.” he adds wryly.
This is certainly true, although Carrack did make an appearance as a contestant in Celebrity Mastermind in December. “It was for a good cause,” he says.
I suggest that he’s probably happier performing and making music than being a Mastermind contestant and he completely agrees, “Oh definitely, yes. The only thing I was bothered about was the fact that my chosen Specialist subject was Sheffield Wednesday, which is my team. It suddenly dawned on me that if I mucked that up, I would be in big trouble - I mean, I’d never be able to show my face!”
Fortunately, Carrack got all his Specialist questions right, except one, and says he “was well pleased with that.”
He also fronted the London Hospice Choir’s charity single The Living Years recorded at Abbey Road and which, to their delight, became the number one selling CD single at Christmas.
“It created quite a buzz around the hospices,” Carrack informs me. “I did visit a couple of them and they were all quite excited. I wanted to get the message out that hospices aren’t dreadful places, you know, they are nice, positive places. The Hospices were delighted with the whole thing.”
With the Soul Shadows album being his latest offering, Carrack has over 17 albums to his name and I ask him how he keeps on coming up with new ideas for songs.
“Is it? Really?” is his slightly surprised first response, followed by a short pause before he replies.
“I don’t know. You know, I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s a pretty traditional style in that I write a couple of verses, a middle bit and a chorus!” he laughs. “I find tunes and melodies come quite easy. A title, or a good reason, or a story, is the tricky bit - the hardest bit, I find.”
He continues, “Other people are the opposite, they find that the easy bit. To me the music comes a lot easier than anything else.”
What about when he writes songs for other people - how does that work?
“That doesn’t happen very often - I usually write for myself. A lot of the covers I’ve had have been songs that I’ve already written for myself; but there’s been a few exceptions, for instance The Eagles where I wrote specifically for them. I quite enjoyed that actually, because, you know, you’ve got quite a good idea of what they might be looking for and I find that good.”
“I should probably be doing that anyway, just sitting at home writing for other people.” he laughs, “but the live thing’s going well for the moment, it just keeps on getting better and better!”
He also fronted the London Hospice Choir’s charity single The Living Years recorded at Abbey Road and which, to their delight, became the number one selling CD single at Christmas.
“It created quite a buzz around the hospices,” Carrack informs me. “I did visit a couple of them and they were all quite excited. I wanted to get the message out that hospices aren’t dreadful places, you know, they are nice, positive places. The Hospices were delighted with the whole thing.”
With the Soul Shadows album being his latest offering, Carrack has over 17 albums to his name and I ask him how he keeps on coming up with new ideas for songs.
“Is it? Really?” is his slightly surprised first response, followed by a short pause before he replies.
“I don’t know. You know, I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s a pretty traditional style in that I write a couple of verses, a middle bit and a chorus!” he laughs. “I find tunes and melodies come quite easy. A title, or a good reason, or a story, is the tricky bit - the hardest bit, I find.”
He continues, “Other people are the opposite, they find that the easy bit. To me the music comes a lot easier than anything else.”
What about when he writes songs for other people - how does that work?
“That doesn’t happen very often - I usually write for myself. A lot of the covers I’ve had have been songs that I’ve already written for myself; but there’s been a few exceptions, for instance The Eagles where I wrote specifically for them. I quite enjoyed that actually, because, you know, you’ve got quite a good idea of what they might be looking for and I find that good.”
“I should probably be doing that anyway, just sitting at home writing for other people.” he laughs, “but the live thing’s going well for the moment, it just keeps on getting better and better!”
With Mike & the Mechanics also touring this year, I cheekily ask Carrack whether they might have asked him to re-join them, to which his response is a rather abrupt, “No. They didn’t.”
Would you have done, if they did?
“No.”
“Oh dear…so there’s no love lost then?” I ask.
“Well, it’s not so much that - I mean, there’s a number of ways of looking at it,” he replies diplomatically. “I don’t have the time, because I want to concentrate on my stuff. You know, it takes a lot of effort to keep on the road and to be honest, the final kind of thing that made me realise that I needed to build my own career or brand or whatever you want to call it, was that I didn’t really have any rights to some of those big hits that I sang.”
By way of explanation, he says, “I wanted to do a little compilation to release, you know, ‘The Story of…’ and they wouldn’t let me have them!” he laughs incredulously. “They wouldn't let me have The Living Years! They let me have everything else! So I thought, you know what, I want to be my own boss. Basically, that’s what it boils down to.”
Would you have done, if they did?
“No.”
“Oh dear…so there’s no love lost then?” I ask.
“Well, it’s not so much that - I mean, there’s a number of ways of looking at it,” he replies diplomatically. “I don’t have the time, because I want to concentrate on my stuff. You know, it takes a lot of effort to keep on the road and to be honest, the final kind of thing that made me realise that I needed to build my own career or brand or whatever you want to call it, was that I didn’t really have any rights to some of those big hits that I sang.”
By way of explanation, he says, “I wanted to do a little compilation to release, you know, ‘The Story of…’ and they wouldn’t let me have them!” he laughs incredulously. “They wouldn't let me have The Living Years! They let me have everything else! So I thought, you know what, I want to be my own boss. Basically, that’s what it boils down to.”
Having spent a bit of money on his home studio, Carrack tells me, “I’ve tarted it up quite a bit and it’s the best place to work. I’ve done it all my life so I can’t imagine what else I’d do to be honest.”
Never having had a singing or musical lesson, Carrack is completely self-taught and I ask him what he thinks he might have done had he not had such a passion for music.
“Oh, there was no hope for me, I don’t think. Thank goodness I managed to make it work. I wasn’t any good at anything else basically. I was absolutely useless with my hands and not very academic. So that’s another reason why I had to make it work, I had to keep going at it you know?”
Down to earth Carrack seems to be very happy with his lot and he endorses this by saying modestly, “It’s very hard to stand still in this business but I’ve got a great band, people are still coming to see us - touch wood - and we’re getting a bit of air play. We sell a few records - it’s not too shabby.”
When I ask him what he’d like to be remembered for, he tells me in soft tones that it would be for being a good dad.
“The important thing to me, is being a good parent. I hope that they (his children, Joni-Rae and Jack) will think that when I’m gone.”
“Probably depends on how much I leave them in my will I suppose.” he chuckles.
It would seem that despite his years and wealth of musical experience, Carrack is only now just starting to become recognised as a solo artiste. I joke with him that perhaps life begins at 65 these days.
He laughs, “It’s the new 55!”
“I never wanted to be famous or anything like that. I’m just happy to be out there working, earning a decent crust and enjoying myself.”
Never having had a singing or musical lesson, Carrack is completely self-taught and I ask him what he thinks he might have done had he not had such a passion for music.
“Oh, there was no hope for me, I don’t think. Thank goodness I managed to make it work. I wasn’t any good at anything else basically. I was absolutely useless with my hands and not very academic. So that’s another reason why I had to make it work, I had to keep going at it you know?”
Down to earth Carrack seems to be very happy with his lot and he endorses this by saying modestly, “It’s very hard to stand still in this business but I’ve got a great band, people are still coming to see us - touch wood - and we’re getting a bit of air play. We sell a few records - it’s not too shabby.”
When I ask him what he’d like to be remembered for, he tells me in soft tones that it would be for being a good dad.
“The important thing to me, is being a good parent. I hope that they (his children, Joni-Rae and Jack) will think that when I’m gone.”
“Probably depends on how much I leave them in my will I suppose.” he chuckles.
It would seem that despite his years and wealth of musical experience, Carrack is only now just starting to become recognised as a solo artiste. I joke with him that perhaps life begins at 65 these days.
He laughs, “It’s the new 55!”
“I never wanted to be famous or anything like that. I’m just happy to be out there working, earning a decent crust and enjoying myself.”
To see Paul Carrack at Southend’s Cliffs Pavilion on 3rd March go online to www.southendtheatres.org.uk or call the box office on 01702 351135
For more information about Paul Carrack and the many stars that he has worked with, click here
For our interview with Paul Carrack from last year click here
For our Review of Paul Carrack's last gig at Southend's Cliffs Pavilion click here
For our interview with Paul Carrack from last year click here
For our Review of Paul Carrack's last gig at Southend's Cliffs Pavilion click here