14 minute read
The Rolling Stones Part 2
No Stone Left Unturned Bernard Fowler over 25 years with The Rolling Stones
Interview by Kim Crain PART TWO
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A Quadranscentennial Silver Jubilee of excellence, Bernard Fowler has risen to the top of the music chain, back up singing, vocal arranging and performing percussion with a little band called the Rolling Stones: Fowler has worked alongside many Iconic bands such as: Herbie Hancock, Robert Plant,
AC/DC, Rod Stewart, Duran Duran, Farm Fur (with Steve Ferrone, Deleo Brothers, Alex Ligertwood),Tack Head, Michael Hutchence of INXS,
Ozzy Osbourne, The Peech Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers just to name a few. Recording fantastic solo albums with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Charlie Watts.
Fowler has recorded with the Stones on couple of albums you might have heard of : Steel wheels,
Flashpoint, Jump Back, Voodoo Lounge, Bridges to Babylon, No Security, Forty Licks, A bigger Bang, Rarities, Shine a light, Stripped, Light the Fuse,
Grrr!, Hyde Park Live, From the Vault, and my favorite Sticky Fingers Live.
Singer, songwriter, producer, Bernard Fowler is breaking barriers by gathering world renowned musicians in his own recordings. Fowler well known around the Globe for his inner beauty, electric stage presence, powerful vocals and wide vocal range.
Kim: Bernard your original music has the ability to speak to different age groups and different cultures. What is it about your work that allows you to cross over and make such an impact? Bernard Fowler & Keith Richards. photo credit : Jane Rose
before. He was looking for a studio, and I sent them to the studio that I work at. So I go there one day to see how he’s doing, how he’s making out. See how everything’s working out for him. He said, “Hey Bernard, ya everything is good, but there is someone in there that you need to go in and see.” I said I don’t understand. He said an old friend of yours. He said you probably have not seen him in a while, but go in the studio.
Bernard: Its just my love of music. I love music. I just don’t love one style of music. I like any kind of music that makes me feel good. Or makes me feel something. That’s what I love. When I’m making a record I call on all those things. All those things and all those places that I’ve been, and all those people that I’ve played with. I call up that energy to come together and put it in one project. “The Bura” is a perfect example of that. One track that makes me think of that is a track called, “See you Again”. I was with Robert Davis. I went to his house and he had this track. It was just piano and a drum loop. It hit me so hard, I started to sing right then. I don’t care what I was singing. I just needed to sing something.
My daughters Jr., high teacher is a musician. I had met him And I walk in, and who’s there? It was L. Shankar! He said, “Bernard its been so long.” I said OMG, I can’t believe this! I didn’t know my daughters’ teacher knew him! He plays the sitar.
And when I was doing that track and putting things together for “See You Again” Once I got Jeff Bova to do the string arrangement, and keyboard arrangement. The string arrangement turned out phenomenal. Then I thought about Shankar. He would be perfect. I called. He sent it back. Between Shankar and Jeff Bova, I was a mess. I sat there and cried there for five or ten minutes. Just the emotion of the track just killed me!
Another example of what your saying about bringing all
the different music is a song called, “Driving Home To You” which I wrote with Robert again. I was hearing things in my head, so I picked up the phone and called (english guitarist ) Albert Lee! I met him in Dublin maybe 20 years ago. I was there producing a record with Ronnie Wood and we went and saw Albert Lee play. When I got Albert Lee to complete the thought, then I called in Foday Musa Suso, the Cora player. I was on tour with Susa and Herbie for two or three years, so bringing those two guys together on that song is like the Eagles meet Fela Kuti!
Kim: What do you want your fans to feel when they listen to your music ?
Bernard: I want them to feel what they feel. I want them to feel what they are feeling other than what they were feeling when they put it on. I want them to be taken someplace. It doesn’t have to be what I felt when I recorded it. Songs mean different things to different people.
Kim: Out of all the singers in the world, how did you end up singing and recording with the Rolling Stones? Bernard Fowler, Waddy Wachtel Photo by : Henry Diltz
Bernard: God works in mysterious ways. Doesn’t he? I never thought I would have been with them as long as I have. I am so grateful! It’s been a blessing! Working with the Stones, well, it’s just been incredible. Let me answer your question. How I got there! How I got there was, I was singing with Herbie Hancock and Michael Binehorn and Bill Laswell, who produced Rocket. I ended up singing on that record for Herbie, Future Shock. I went on the road with Herbie. I was his vocalist for that Rocket period. doing Tack Head with Doug Wimbish and Keith Leblanc, Adrian Sherwood, and Skip McDonald. My wife had called and said hey, Mick Jagger has been looking for you! And I said well I’m here. She gives me a number and I call him. And I’m like, “Mick its Bernard.” And he said, “Bernard, I’ve been looking for you. Where are you?” I’m in England, I mean London. How long have you been there? Anyway he invites me to a studio, and he tells me the Stones are making a record for the first time in 8 or 9 years. So I go to give them a hand on some stuff, and all of a sudden the Stones started to walk in one by one. We kind of hit it off. I’ve been there pretty much ever since. Whenever they are ready to do something, I’m there!
During that tour I had a break, Bill Laswell told me to go to the airport and get on the plane. I arrived in London, he picked me up. He did not tell me what I was there for. He took me to a house. I followed him into a room and saw a guy on the floor with his guitar. I could only see his back. He said this is the guy. This is Bernard, this is Bernard Fowler, the guy I have been telling you about. And the guy turned around and it was Mick { Jagger }. And Mick invited me onto the floor and we were singing! The next day we went into the studio. Which was pretty surreal. I was walking to the room we were going to be actually working in and here a Beatle walks past me! Paul McCartney walks past me! And so I go into the room and Mick said let’s work on this. He gave me a cassette the night before. I had a four track cassette recorder that I put a vocal arrangement onto that machine. So when he said let’s go and work on this, I said, “wait. Before we do that listen to this?” And he listens and he says, “you did this after you left me?” And I said yes. And he said, “wow let’s do that!” That was my introduction to Mick. Kim: Fantastic, it could not have happened to a more wonderful guy.
A lot of people say their favorite live album is Sticky Fingers. What was it like singing songs live on that album? Bernard: It’s always good going into some Rolling Stones catalog, because a lot of times when they’re creating a show, a set list for a show, there are some songs they have to play. It’s not very often that you’ll go to a Rolling Stones Show and hear an album. You will hear Wild Horses, you’ll hear, Brown Sugar”. You might hear “Dead Flowers”. You might! You’ll probably hear “Bitch” You might hear Sister “Morphine”. Once in a blue moon you might hear, “I Got The Blues.”
I don’t think we have ever played the entire album. We’ve been in it. Out of it. In it. Out of it! It’s such a great record. There is so much from that record that they have to play. And they will play. But who knows, maybe the next time they will give everybody a treat and play that entire album. I think that would be great.
But, a few years after that I had moved to London and I was Kim : What is it like to walk into the studio with the Stones?
Bernard: Well the first time for me was intimidating. It was really intimidating. The first time, I was so new. It was a strange time in the Rolling Stone planet. The gravity pull in the Rolling Stone Planet is incredible. Once you’re in the planet you may be able to fly in the clouds, and up in the sky, but to get out of that gravitational pull and get to a whole other orbit is freaking hard! It got a little more comfortable when my relationships with them became tighter and we got a little closer. The only time it might have felt uncomfortable for me or for us is if Mick and Keith are bumping heads at all you don’t want to be around that. I’m sure it makes everyone a little uneasy so I just step out of it.
It’s so good that those days are over. Those bumping head days are over! Those bumping head days are behind them! The last few years have just been beautiful. On the tour before last...
One of the most memorable things I will never forget was… Bernard Fowler , Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Darryl Jones Photo Credit : Jini Sachse
Seeing Mick and Keith onstage looking at each other and having a laugh about what’s happening. They were looking at each other. It almost brought a tear to my eyes to see that. Up until that point I had never seen that. I had never seen that kind of affection shared between them. I have never seen them interact like they do now as a musical family.
This is why they are the greatest band in the world. They have been able to figure out, today I don’t like you, yesterday you didn’t like me, and vice versa. That shit happens, but they know that what they have created, this Rolling Stone world that they created, is bigger than either one of them. And they have been able to put the shit aside and get on with it. Even at their worst time, it may have been very fragile, but they were able to put their shit aside and get on with it. That’s why they are the greatest Rock n Roll Band in the world. Next year will be their 60th Anniversary. It’s never happened before. And it will never happen again!
Kim: That is incredible! It goes to show, if you can keep your band together, that’s what creates the magic.
Bernard: That’s right. That’s right! career playing with the Stones?
Bernard: There are quite a few, but if I had to pick one the most memorable would be…If I had to pick just one of the most memorable it would be Brazil. Cuba was big. Cuba was big, and I’ll never forget that either.
But if I have to pick one it would be Brazil. 1.5 Million people as far as the eye can see! I could not see the end of the people. The streets those few days were so crowded that they had to build a bridge from the hotel over the street to the stage. That is the only way we were able to get on the Stage. If they had not built that bridge there was no way! There were that many people!
Kim: Was this in São Paulo, Brazil ? Bernard: No, it wasn’t São Paulo, it was Rio de Janeiro! Lots of Hotels there. The audience as far as the eyes could see! Millions of people. I have never seen people like that. The ocean! The amount on ships out on boats! It was breath taking.
Kim: Bernard you have played in front of millions of fans. What is the feeling when you get onstage in front of that many people ?
Bernard: Well, right before I get out there I’m hit with a bit of nerve. Maybe it’s just nervous energy. But once I get out there and open my mouth and I sing that first note it all starts to settle, and now I’m home. If the band is cooking, cause I’m only as good as who I’m with. If the band is cooking, oh, now the band is made perfectly. Now I can just lay in it! Every New Years people gather at that site. That’s part of a ritual that they do. But a concert? To bring that many people out?
One act? One act? This was not Rocking Rio. This was a Rolling Stones show! I don’t think they get that many people at Rocking Rio! That Rolling Stones Show - 1.5 million people. As far as the eye could see! And I am gob smacked!
Kim: I just have to ask one little question about Cuba: Was that an emotional experience knowing that most Cubans have never seen The Rolling Stones in their entire lives.
Kim: That’s Awesome!!! That’s Awesome!!!
What are some other most memorable highlights of your Bernard: Yes, but I have to say that the year before that my self and Darryl Jones were there. We were playing in an outfit called the Dead Daisies and it was just the year before. We
had an idea of what that was going to be like. If I’m not mistaken, Darryl and I were the only ones who had ever been to Cuba before. Again, that was just a year before, from what I was told. Just the “Stones “who had been able to pull that off. They had the date set. Then the date had to be changed. Then Obama was going there. Nobody flies over Cuba when Obama is there! Then the Pope got involved and asked them not to do the show because it was Good Friday. Something like that. They respectfully told the Pope no! If I’m not mistaken you know the Stones do a lot of stuff they would not even talk about. I did hear that they donated all the equipment and hundreds of other instruments they donated to the people of Cuba. All the sound system and everything they donated to Cuba!
Kim: With the Pandemic and live music and touring at a stand still, are you working on any new music at this time?
Rolling Stones : Curtain Call Photo Credit : Jimmy Steinfeldt
Bernard: Yes, I am working on some new music. The drag is that I can’t be with my friends and make this music. I have to do it here, and then go there. I can’t be together with them. That’s been hard. I have been able to work on some new music. I am working on a really cool project. I would love to tell you about it, but if I tell you I would have to kill you! When you hear about it call me and we will talk.
Kim: Ahhhh! That would be wonderful!
Bernard: This new project I am working on is going to be historical. I think it’s going to blow a lot of my friends away that think Bernard’s a little off! Bernard can be a little crazy! For instance, when I did the spoken word, somebody said, “Only you Bernard! Only you would think of something like that. Only you would think to do something like that.”
So this new project I’ll be working on through the year. Like I said when you hear about it, “call me and well talk about it.” I’ll tell you all about it! Some friends of mine they thought it was a great idea. I actually got two songs under my belt.
Kim: Bernard Fowler you are an extraordinary artist unlike any other. It is a pleasure and an honor to be able to talk with you today. And I am so grateful! Thank you Bernard for joining me here today for this interview. I look forward to talking to you about your new music. I look forward in the near future to Celebrate the 60th Anniversary of The Rolling Stones in 2022.
Bernard: Yes, Yes, Honor for me too Kim: Thank you so much! Thank you so much! Lets do it again sometime!
Check out: Bernardfowler.com For more info about Bernard Fowler
Bernard Fowler & Kim Crain
