A Mark In Time
Mark Knopfler Discussion => News Articles and Interview Transcripts => Topic started by: Ar (aka Enlight) on August 04, 2013, 04:46:50 AM
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Interesting story by Tommy about his Dire Straits band membership back during the 1982/1983 Love Over Gold tour.
Original posted on Brunno Nunes Blog : http://universodirestraits.blogspot.nl/
Brunno contacted Tommy Mandel with some questions and he kindly responded.
Because Universo is a BlogSpot , there is not an exact link to give , especially not in the future, to this story ,(for the time being the link above will work , because it was posted on August 2nd 2013 when writing)
Thanks to Tommy Mandel and Brunno Nunes :thumbsup
Here the English part of Tommy's writing:
Tommy Mandel
Hi Brunno! I learned so much in Dire Straits, about dynamics and subtle playing. That was the first time, also, that I was lucky enough to go to Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. (Since then, I've been there many times, but not lately!)
John Ilsley was a great gentleman, very tall, and always concerned that the quality of Dire Straits be protected, and that everyone was happy and able to do their best job. As the bassist and 2nd singer, he was the only other original member of the Straits that was still in the group with Mark.
Terry Williams was the new drummer: we were the new guys, and we spent a lot of time together. His father had a band that Bonnie Tyler used to sing for, in the old days, in Wales! He loved to play simple "Rockpile" style drums, and was amazing whatever he played, but for this tour, Mark wanted him to play in a style that was more dramatic. He did it! He was a great guy too.
Hal Lindes had been an American before moving to England and joining the group two or three years before I did. When I joined with the group, Hal was married to Mary, a lovely lady, who used to be married to Peter Frampton. All the girls loved Hal, because he was so young and cute. He played very very well too, of course! Some years later, he called and we met up in NYC and did some music there.
Everyone could play great, but my favorite musician in the group would have to be Alan Clark, the keyboard player who had put so many parts on the Love Over Gold CD, that they needed a 2nd guy in the band, to make sure that all, or most of the parts could be played live, and that was ME! Alan has a really great touch on the piano, and the organ, and the synthesizer, everything he touches, actually. He's played with Eric Clapton too. He came to see our show when Bryan Adams played his hometown, Newcastle On Tyne, and it was great to see him. He was always superfriendly, in a big brotherly way to me, and I was happy to take directions from him, because, well he was so talented, and also so nice. Funny too. He was kind of like James Bond, but not quite as tall or dark. He was saving up for an Audi during that tour, and I know he got it afterwards, because DS was pretty generous.
Mel Collins played the sax on that tour, and he'd played with Tears for Fears, and had some good stories to tell about them. He's a really good sax player. He had to give Mark Knopfler sax lessons after soundchecks, because Mark really liked the saxophone - he thought it was such an expressive instrument.
Joop de Korte, another cool dude, played percussion. I ran into him in NYC a few years back. He's from Holland, but lives in the States now, I think.
Peter Granger, the front-of-house sound mixer, was an English gentleman, he almost sounded like a professor when he talked. He tragically passed away in a heart-breaking way. His tiny daughter strayed out into the street, and he dove after her, and pushed her back to safety, but he wasn't as lucky, and the car ended his life. He and his American born wife, Nancy made me a lovely dinner in November, when we were doing the many rehearsals in Greenwich, London, which were necessary to put such a large show together.
Pete Brewis was Mark's roadie. He had the saddest grey eyes, but he sure knew his guitars!
Steve Flood was the boffin - he knew all about the electrical magic that powered our instruments and lights. He always had a smile on his face, like he knew something that you didn't. Which was probably true!
Charles Herrington was the cool lighting designer (the lights were very important to Mark Knopfler that tour, probably always...but the atmosphere they created was a big part of that show, with long songs such as Telegraph Road, and mysterious ones like Private Investigation.) I think Charles moved to Hoboken, NJ, USA a while back.
Ron Eves was my keyboard tech (and Alan Clark's too) - he's a rocket scientist that pretended to be a comedian. Or maybe a comedian who was also a rocket scientist as a hobby. He had so much to do, with the Synclavier, 2 Prophets, a Yamaha GS-1, a Hammond B3 organ, a Korg CX3 clonewheel organ, and somehow, it always worked!
Paul Cummings was the Road Manager, or Tour Manager, I forget exactly what his title was, but he was friendly, civilized, efficient, effective and I liked him a lot!
We stayed at fine hotels, drank good wine, saw lovely and sometimes exotic sights, and played some pretty good music. I got to meet Lady Di and Prince Charles. I'll tell you about that some other time, but it was fun. Duran Duran was there that night, but I'm not a huge DD fan. Except the rhythm guitarist could really move cool while he played! AndyTaylor, i think he was.
The manager, Ed Bicknell, was super funny too. He started out drumming in Mark Knopfler's band before Dire Straits! One of the Promoter's Agents, Paul Crockford, later on, got me backstage at a Roger Waters show in NYC, and I got to meet Eric Clapton again there. Thanks, Paul!
Mick Jones, from Foreigner, not my friend of the same name from Clash, has a brother Kevin, who went on to be the main Synthesizer Programmer for Nile Rogers. When we toured and recorded Alchemy, Kevin had some hard chores to do, but he always got em done, and never once blew his cool.
We had to stick to our parts - there wasn't one note that was spontaneous. That's what I kind of didn't understand about that group, but with 7 musicians, and really classy music to recreate, I guess that was Mark Knopfler's decision. As necessary as that must have been, it took some of the fun out of what was still, pretty much, a dream come true. But you know, when you're having the dream, when you're IN it, you don't always know it's a dream.
Hope this answers some of your questions, Brunno, take care, and thanks for stopping by! -
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Great stuff.
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Yes very interesting! But one person missing...?
LE
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Yes very interesting! But one person missing...?
LE
Yeah, the silence (other than hints at a dictatorship) about MK says a lot...
Didn't TM referred to MK as "herr K." Somewhere ?
Does anybody know if TM was fired from the band or just left by himself ?
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That was like loads of information in a zip file! Thanks Enlight.
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I asked Tommy Mandel about that "herr K" book chapter and he said that he decided not to release it as it was always clear that he was just hired for that tour, although he thought he was part of the band, he wasn't, and it was his fault to thought he was part of the band, not Mk's.
He looks like a nice chap.
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Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the quote from my Blog Universe-Dire Straits. Hopefully TM answer the other questions :lol
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The manager, Ed Bicknell, was super funny too. He started out drumming in Mark Knopfler's band before Dire Straits!
???? :hmm ???
I think he confused with NHBs here....
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The manager, Ed Bicknell, was super funny too. He started out drumming in Mark Knopfler's band before Dire Straits!
???? :hmm ???
I think he confused with NHBs here....
yeah, was thinking the same thing :-)
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The manager, Ed Bicknell, was super funny too. He started out drumming in Mark Knopfler's band before Dire Straits!
???? :hmm ???
I think he confused with NHBs here....
yeah, was thinking the same thing :-)
it says...BEFORE (sorry for the capitals :-[ ) Dire Straits! probably during rehearsals after the Charlie Gillett demo tape for the officially Dire Straits album release.
and are we forgotten who played ,long before the NHB, drums for The Acetones during "The Ceilidh: Louis's Favourite/Billy's Tune" on the Local Hero album ? ?
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it says...BEFORE (sorry for the capitals :-[ ) Dire Straits! probably during rehearsals after the Charlie Gillett demo tape for the officially Dire Straits album release.
DS met Ed in late 77, around late november or early december.
the demo was recorded in july 77.
Pick was in the band since spring 77 I guess, or at least since early summer.
So I can't see how Ed would have played with Mark BEFORE Dire Straits
and are we forgotten who played ,long before the NHB, drums for The Acetones during "The Ceilidh: Louis's Favourite/Billy's Tune" on the Local Hero album ? ?
of course we know that Ed is playing with the Acetones, but it was not BEFORE Dire Straits
(sorry for capitals again ;))
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Tommy missunderstood the fact that Ed Bicknell used to be a drummer long before managing DS with he was drumming in DS...
When Ed met DS for the first time, their drummer (their first and only drummer since DS started) was Pick.
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it says...BEFORE (sorry for the capitals :-[ ) Dire Straits! probably during rehearsals after the Charlie Gillett demo tape for the officially Dire Straits album release.
DS met Ed in late 77, around late november or early december.
the demo was recorded in july 77.
Pick was in the band since spring 77 I guess, or at least since early summer.
So I can't see how Ed would have played with Mark BEFORE Dire Straits
and are we forgotten who played ,long before the NHB, drums for The Acetones during "The Ceilidh: Louis's Favourite/Billy's Tune" on the Local Hero album ? ?
of course we know that Ed is playing with the Acetones, but it was not BEFORE Dire Straits
think he confused with NHBs here
(sorry for capitals again ;))
quote a: I meant during the orig. album rehearsals, just for fun or if Pick was away for a....pee? (not in any official way)
quote b: Was about the confusing Tommy must have had, which you mentioned, about Ed's drumming with the NHB.
If he was confused its more likely he was confused with Ed's drumming with the Acetones because that was more in Tommy Mandel's
straits period comparing to the later NHB stuff. :think
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Enlight your are right about Tommy's confusing.
It's more likely that he confused with the Acetones, then the NHBs.
as for Ed playing/jamming in studio with band, I doubt it, but you never know.
And I thought that pee breaks were allowed only during R&J, so impossible during the 1st album sessions.... ;D ;D ;D :lol :lol :lol
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Enlight your are right about Tommy's confusing.
It's more likely that he confused with the Acetones, then the NHBs.
as for Ed playing/jamming in studio with band, I doubt it, but you never know.
And I thought that pee breaks were allowed only during R&J, so impossible during the 1st album sessions.... ;D ;D ;D :lol :lol :lol
Maybe R&J was written for the first album, and Pick had a problem with it too , so Ed steps in during the rehearsals , while Pick took a................................ Ooh No :smack Pick drummed the song on the Making Movies album 8) ;D
Maybe Ed took place behind Picks drum kit once in a while fur fun , but I doubt if he played drums before Dire Straits........Though does anybody know when exactly!! the band name was created. Was the name Dire Straits already written on the July 1977 demo's e.g. ?
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Though does anybody know when exactly!! the band name was created. Was the name Dire Straits already written on the July 1977 demo's e.g. ?
well , I think noone knows "exactly", but here are some clues:
1) in the Oldifield book, it's said that their 1st gig on a punk festival behind Farra House in july 77 was under the cafe racers name.
2) next page :"their 2nd gig soon took place at Depford Alabany. And the band had a new name"
at this gig they were support act from Squeeze. I've search on the web a list with Squeeze live dates to find this particular date but didn't found anyone.
3) next next page of the Oldfield book : "the demo was recorded this summer".
4) When Charlie Gilett aired the sultans demo, he announced it as "Dire Straits". I guess it was from august-september 77 ?
5) on 19th july 1978, the gave an itw on radio and they say that the band was formed for "exactly one year this week"
so the name was changed during july 77 I guess, but of course it's just speculation.
maybe someone has more informations ?
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maybe someone has more informations ?
I'm quite sure that MK still knows the details, maybe we can put together some questions for him?
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maybe someone has more informations ?
I'm quite sure that MK still knows the details, maybe we can put together some questions for him?
I don't think that Mark wants to remember these things. He doesn't care about which week they choose the band name.
Of course, if you ask him, he would reply something like "it was around 77" or maybe "around summer 77" but that's all.
I don't thnik that he would say : "ah yes it was on DD//MM//YY"
maybe John Illsley is more interested in these kinds of souvenir. In the guitar stories doc, it's him who played the sultans demo, which Mark "hadn't heard since 30 years".
maybe David remember this more than his brother too. He made T-shirts with the cafe racers name for the 1st gig. So myabe he remember exactly when the name changed.
And endly, it's a friend of Pick who suggested the name. So maybe Pick remember as well ?
I think that the more accurate info would be to find this Squeeze gig date at Albany Depford (not the farrar house where they were too).
Even the Oldfield book is not 100% acuurate. It was maybe written in 82-83, so for example there is a pic with the cpation :" one on first DS gig in summer 77" But it's a gig from september 77 (exct date on Ingo's blog). So indeed 4 or 5 years later your memory "assimilates" september and summer. So I doubt thta we can know the eaxct date of the new name one day.
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Though does anybody know when exactly!! the band name was created. Was the name Dire Straits already written on the July 1977 demo's e.g. ?
well , I think noone knows "exactly", but here are some clues:
1) in the Oldifield book, it's said that their 1st gig on a punk festival behind Farra House in july 77 was under the cafe racers name.
2) next page :"their 2nd gig soon took place at Depford Alabany. And the band had a new name"
at this gig they were support act from Squeeze. I've search on the web a list with Squeeze live dates to find this particular date but didn't found anyone.
3) next next page of the Oldfield book : "the demo was recorded this summer".
4) When Charlie Gilett aired the sultans demo, he announced it as "Dire Straits". I guess it was from august-september 77 ?
5) on 19th july 1978, the gave an itw on radio and they say that the band was formed for "exactly one year this week"
so the name was changed during july 77 I guess, but of course it's just speculation.
maybe someone has more informations ?
Thanks for your detailed answers JF , appreciated!!!
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on every bootleg lists:02.08.1977 Tramshed Woolwich UK as the second show? (farrer House as the first)
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on every bootleg lists:02.08.1977 Tramshed Woolwich UK as the second show? (farrer House as the first)
good point Pottel, I didn't have the idea to search on jeroen's site.
so if it is this gig, they called DS then, according to oldfield's book. So the name changing could have been in mid july...
anyway, I'm quite sure that they already called DS for the demo session on 27th july (otherwise, how Gilett could have introduced the sultans demo as DS ?), so it seems to match...
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The manager, Ed Bicknell, was super funny too. He started out drumming in Mark Knopfler's band before Dire Straits!
I think the answer is right there on the original reply. In MK's band BEFORE DS. So maybe with a late recarnation of the Cafe racers or in a sort lived no-name group.
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Ed and Mk met later than that, in a Ds concert at Dingwalls, in Camden Lock.
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Yes Jabeant is right
vgonis, read all posts, we already point this out :)
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I had read them before my post! :) I just thought that maybe the story coming from tommy was more reliable than the other sources. And anyway, more than half the posts are saying the same thing, in pretty much the same words, and that is why I thought I mentioned it. ;D