{"id":496,"date":"2010-08-02T12:36:45","date_gmt":"2010-08-02T17:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/?p=496"},"modified":"2010-08-03T10:46:57","modified_gmt":"2010-08-03T15:46:57","slug":"rabbit-interview-with-angus-manwaring-about-paul-kossoff-july-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/rabbit-interview-with-angus-manwaring-about-paul-kossoff-july-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"RABBIT INTERVIEW with ANGUS MANWARING ABOUT PAUL KOSSOFF JULY 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

The Unforgotten, The Great.............Paul Kossoff<\/p><\/div>\n

\"rab-1-superbowl-alex-hough\"<\/a><\/p>\n

ANGUS…….
\nWe were talking about the Heartbreaker line-up of Free (KKTR plus some
\nsinger called Rodgers) and when I came to transcribe the interview from the
\naudio I was a bit confused about one of your answers. Here is the context:<\/p>\n

* * *
\nRABBIT: I’m sure somebody must have had words with Paul or someone, about “Okay,
\nwe got a unit now. Let’s get a real singer in and call it Free again. I mean
\nthat’s what I would have thought of it as. Instead of saying KKTR do another
\none, maybe get Jess Roden in or something like that, or a proper singer ‘cos
\nthe band’s good, instead of doing that they just got Paul in and called it
\nFree again. That’s what stopped KKTR in its tracks from becoming anything
\nand that’s why I’m glad he wasn’t in there then because it kind of gave us
\nthe chance to become a unit of musicians without Paul’s influence. Which was
\ngood, it was a good thing.
\nAM: And then when Paul Rodgers was involved again..
\nJB: Yup and when he got fed up with it, he busted it up again. So if we had
\nstayed as KKTR for example and possibly have Jess Roden sing or an
\nappropriate singer, then we might have become another version of Free who
\nwas successful, possibly.
\n* * *
\nANGUS……
\nMy understanding was that the KKTR\/Free sequence was something like this:
\nFree splits up mid ’71
\nKKTR album recorded late ’71
\nKossoff goes downhill over this period
\nFree reforms early ’72
\nFree tours US and records “Free at last” (Kossoff also works on solo
\nmaterial)
\nMid ’72 Fraser quits, Kossoff ill – RKTR (Free) do Japanese etc tour
\nLate ’72 Kossoff returns and KRKTR (Free) tour UK and record Heartbreaker.
\nEnd of `72 Kossoff quits Free!
\nEarly ’73 RKTR and Wendell (Free) tour US
\nFree splits.<\/p>\n

Okay, I love Paul Rodgers’ voice, but he isn’t my hero or anything, and I’m
\ngenuinely just trying to understand what happened. From the sequence of
\nevents it doesn’t seem on the face of it like he stopped KKTR in its tracks
\nor broke Free up later, given that Kossoff had walked out. I suspect I’m
\nmissing quite a lot here, can you clarify? And what was going on that caused
\nKossoff to leave a band with the two people he admired most in, you and Paul
\nRodgers?
\nOkay, I think that’s the tricky one out of the way, hopefully the rest are a
\nbit more straightforward.<\/p>\n

You were certainly a big factor in how his playing developed, did you talk
\nabout that, and what he was aiming at musically, his goals and aspirations?<\/p>\n

RABBIT – NOT REALLY, IT WAS MORE OF A WINK OF THE EYE, A REALIZATION
\nTHAT WE WERE BOTH AFTER THE SAME THING, AN ACKNOWLEGEMENT
\nFROM HEAD TO HEAD THAT WE WERE GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.<\/p>\n

NOTHING WAS EVER SAID, ME & KOSS WERE BOTH KINDRED SPIRITS,
\nAND WE RECOGNISED EACH OTHER FROM THE START AS JUST THAT,
\nBOTH CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH, SO WE HELPED EACH OTHER
\nMENTALLY, AND NEVER GOT IN EACH OTHERS WAY MUSICALLY.<\/p>\n

ANGUS…….Did you and Koss have shared interests outside of playing together, movies,
\nbooks, etc? Deep discussions about life the universe and everything?<\/p>\n

RABBIT – NOPE, JUST DOPE………AS I SAID, WE WERE INTELLECTUALLY CONNECTED..<\/p>\n

ANGUS…Did you talk about each other’s playing technique, or comment on specific
\nrecording either of you had made?<\/p>\n

RABBIT – YES, WHEN KOSS FIRST PLUGGED HIS GUITAR INTO MY LESLIE
\nSPEAKER, I YELLED OUT AT HIM, “WOW, THAT’S FANTASTIC!!!”.<\/p>\n

HE SMILED BACK AT ME AND NODDED HIS HEAD. KOSS WAS A QUIET
\nKIND OF GUY…<\/p>\n

ANGUS……In the interview with Stephen Rosen in January ’76, Kossoff comes across as
\nan intelligent, articulate and funny guy, did you see this side of his
\npersonality surface much when you were in Back Street Crawler?<\/p>\n

RABBIT – HIS DAD WAS AN ACTOR, AND WHEN YOU REALLY NEW KOSS WELL,
\nYOU COULD TELL THAT HE HAD ALL THE MAKINGS OF AN INTELLIGENT
\nPERSON. NOT BRASH, BUT RESERVED, QUIET, AND CONFIDENT IN HIS
\nMIND. BUT WHEN THE DRUGS TOOK HOLD, HE WAS OBVIOUSLY NOT HIMSELF,
\nAND HIS INTELLIGENCE WAS DULLED BY THE DRUGS. YOU COULD TELL
\nWHEN KOSS WAS “NOT AT HOME”.<\/p>\n

ANGUS….Is there a particular song where the interplay between the two of you is
\ndisplayed best, a personal favourite?<\/p>\n

RABBIT- YEP, MY FAVORITE TRACK I EVER GOT TO PLAY WITH KOSS
\nIS “COLOURS”…..ABSOULTELY BRILLIANT RECORDING THAT TRACK
\nTOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME, ABSOLUTELY STUNNING MAGIC.<\/p>\n

ANGUS…….Are there any technical musical things Kossoff did (I’ve heard people talk
\nabout his chord inversions for example) that you can throw any light on?<\/p>\n

RABBIT -KOSSOFF IS THE GUY THAT TAUGHT ME HOW TO BECOME
\nA GUITARISTS ‘KEYBOARDIST’ OF CHOICE.
\nPAUL NEVER USED THE 3rd IN A TRIAD. JUST THE ROOT NOTE, THE 5th NOTE, AND THE OCTAVE
\nOF THE ROOT NOTE. EXAMPLE, SAY WE’RE IN THE KEY OF D.
\nKOSS WOULD PHRASE HIS CHORDAL INVERSION USING D(root note), A(5th note),
\nand D(octave above the root note). WHEN I FINALLY FIGURED OUT THAT’S WHAT HE WAS DOING,
\nI GRADUALLY ADJUSTED MY PLAYING STYLE ON THE KEYBOARDS TO HIS TYPE OF INVERSIONS.
\nLEAVING OUT THE 3rd OF THE TRIAD GIVES YOU AN “OPEN” TUNING, WHICH OPENS
\nUP ALL THE HARMONICS BETWEEN THE ROOT AND 5th, THUS ENABLING GUITARISTS TO
\nPLAY WHATEVER NOTES THEY WANT IN BETWEEN THOSE 2 NOTES WITHOUT
\nANY CLASHING GOING ON BETWEEN A 3RD ON KEYBOARDS, OR ANY INSTRUMENT
\nTHAT IS USING THE 3rd NOTE.<\/p>\n

IF YOU INCLUDE THE 3rd IN YOUR KEYBOARD PLAYING, THEN YOU ARE USING WHAT IS CALLED,
\nA “CLOSED” CHORDAL INVERSION, WHICH IS WHAT CAUSES THE CLASHES.<\/p>\n

THIS CHORD INVERSION IS MAINLY AN ENGLISH THING, AND AMERICAN GUITARISTS
\nDON’T USE IT VERY OFTEN, HENCE THEIR MUSIC IS FULL FROM THE BOTTOM, MIDDLE,
\nAND HIGHER RANGES OF THE HARMONIC SPECTRUM.<\/p>\n

THE ENGLISH LIKE THAT ‘OPEN’ SPACE SO IT IS EASIER TO BE MORE EXPRESSIVE
\nWITH YOUR GUITAR PLAYING.<\/p>\n

AS IT HAPPENS, THANKS TO KOSS, MY ADJUSTMENT TO PLAYING THE ‘ENGLISH’ WAY IS
\nEXACTLY WHAT LANDED ME WITH THE ‘WHO’ GIG. PETE LOVES IT THAT I ACTUALLY
\nKNOW HOW ENGLISH GUITARISTS WORK, AND WHEN I AUDITIONED FOR THE WHO,
\nTHAT KNOWLEDGE & MY ‘JAMMING’ PEDIGREE IS WHAT GOT ME THE JOB.<\/p>\n

THANK YOU KOSS………..<\/p>\n

ANGUS……\u00a0Regarding his playing is there a lesson or some wisdom aspiring players
\ncan take from his approach, do you think?<\/p>\n

RABBIT -READ THE ABOVE, AND BE SIMPLE, TASTEFUL, AND SOULFUL.<\/p>\n

ANGUS……What are your happiest memories from your time with Koss?<\/p>\n

RABBIT – WORKING WITH KOSS IN THE STUDIO ON KKTR, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT.<\/p>\n

ANGUS…..Okay Rabbit, those are all my questions – thanks for your patience and time.
\nAnd again, thank you so much for the wonderful music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANGUS……. We were talking about the Heartbreaker line-up of Free (KKTR plus some singer called Rodgers) and when I came to transcribe the interview from the audio I was a bit confused about one of your answers. Here is the context: * * * RABBIT: I’m sure somebody must have had words with Paul or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rabbitwho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}