Author: Peter Podbrežnik, Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Gusswerk / Salzburg / Austria
Interview date: 19.12.2009
Guitarist and vocalist Mick Rogers is an original member of the legendary Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, and you simply can’t picture the output of this truly powerful, huge and wildly popular seventies group on European soil without him. Especially in the German-speaking countries. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band are those legendary stallions who pulled off a witty reworking of their material, full of attractive “twisting” and stretching of the basic motifs, especially in the interplay between keyboardist Manfred Mann’s signature use of the “moog” and Mick Rogers’ guitar playing, and turned it into a mature mix of perfectly balanced moments of experiment and punchy, infectious melody. It was precisely this walk down the middle between the two that won the band a core of fans who haven’t forgotten them to this very day. The RockLine crew saw that confirmed at their shows on 26.11.2009 in Munich and on 19.12.2009 in Salzburg, Austria, where Manfred Mann’s Earth band played to two jam-packed halls and thoroughly warmed up their loyal, seasoned crowd, who, judging by the reactions during the show, proved that they’ve stayed forever young at heart, just like the band, even in 2009.
On this day Manfred Mann’s Earth Band were at the closing European date of this year’s tour, which they’re sharing with Uriah Heep. Uriah Heep opened the Salzburg show too, ahead of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. Since it had been snowing happily all day long across Europe on 19.12.2009, the band was late arriving in Salzburg and at the Gusswerk hall there, a converted former church bell foundry. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band had just finished their soundcheck, and Mick Rogers tore off an express five minutes to have a quick chat with RockLine about the state of mind in the Manfred Mann’s Earth band camp for 2009, the band’s further plans, and the ambitions Mick currently has for music as a solo artist.
RockLine: How happy are you with how the current tour is going?
Mick: Very. We’re really glad to be back in Europe after a longer break, playing our songs for fans of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band music.
RockLine: What was your main motivation for hitting the road on this tour?
Mick: Well, basically the main thing driving us is that we just love to perform. We’re used to playing live, we crave it. It’s simply in you and you can’t escape it. You have to let it out, and in our case the way we express ourselves is by getting up on stage and playing our music live at gigs. What really interested me was how the audience would react. We still get loyal fans coming to see us who’ve kind of grown old together with us over all these years. And yet they still fill our shows, and that makes us really happy.
RockLine: What are the plans for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band after this tour wraps up?
Mick: A new album is on the horizon for next year. So we’re busy working on a new album, and we expect it to come out next year. I’m also recording my own solo project, since I plan to release a solo studio album. The brothers Matt and Greg Bissonette, known as former collaborators of guitarist Joe Satriani, will be playing on it. I’m really looking forward to it, honestly I can’t wait, because working with musicians who have such a wide outlook on music, who are unburdened and love trying new, different things, is always a big challenge. That’s usually the key to getting your music to hit with even more intensity, to touch the listener even more, or get even closer to them. And as a musician you come across even more convincingly that way, and it’s somehow easier to capture and present the point, the ideas, the vision, or if I can put it simply, the music that’s willing, at that given moment, to express itself through you as a performer. But that can hold true for any performer, really.
RockLine: Do you ever have trouble choosing the repertoire for your live shows?
Mick: Actually, our basic guiding principle is to play the material on stage that will satisfy the fans of our music the most. Our best-known songs, the hits, we’re pretty much always obliged to play, because our listeners come to our shows first and foremost to hear exactly those songs. That leaves us less room to maybe shake up the set lists any further, but on the other hand we make use of the room in our classic material by always playing the songs differently. Individual phrases often spill over into a new adventure between shows, completely unexpectedly. It’s enough for me and Manfred to just exchange a glance and we both know where we’re going to take a certain phrase, and that’s honestly phenomenal. That’s what keeps playing the songs you’ve been playing all these years a great pleasure, it gives you a kind of release, and that’s how the whole thing works for me personally, and for all the members of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, still immensely exciting today. It also gives us a sense of purpose that keeps us on the concert stages.
RockLine: What can you tell us about your new singer Peter Cox?
Mick: I didn’t know Peter before. He played with our drummer Jimmy Copley in Go West. Peter actually came into the band on Jimmy Copley’s recommendation. He clicked with us right away and we’re really happy he joined.
RockLine: If you had the chance to go back in time and change something in your musical career, would you?
Mick: Who? Me, personally?
RockLine: Yes.
Mick: Working with Frank Zappa. That’s a well-known story, by the way. I played with him once. Frank was very keen for me to join his crew, which I didn’t do. You often wonder about things like that when you look back, but I’m happy with the things I’ve done throughout my musical career and I wouldn’t change anything. Anyway, my basic drive even today is to try to be a better and better guitarist. To keep progressing, to work and work. All the time. Next year will be very important for me. Together with the lineup that will record my solo studio album, I’ll try to get out on the road with solo shows too. Next year. We’ll try to visit Europe as well. I really love playing here, because I like Europe a lot.
RockLine: Mick, thanks for your valuable time, we wish you a great night on stage here in Salzburg, and Merry Christmas.
Mick: Thanks guys! Same to you two, and I hope you enjoy our show tonight!
interview by: Peter Podbrežnik
text translated and edited by: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos by: Aleš Podbrežnik (soundcheck, interview) & Peter Podbrežnik (interview)
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