Manu Katche speaks about working with MK

[Chris W]

You are always arguing...
But anyway, yes, obviously Van Morrison has a very bad reputation amongst musicians.
It's like saying if you don't like Jack the Ripper what do you say about Vlad The Impaler?
It's just silly....and of course reaching for the most fanciful excuses to explain bullying and bad behaviour.

[dustyvalentino]

We should come up with a top 10 list of musicians who have a reputation for being tossers and see if MK would get on it.

Van M
Ginger Baker
Chuck Berry
Lou Reed

(I've actually queued to get autographs from both Chuck and Lou after shows and they were both fine).

[qjamesfloyd]

Roger Waters.

[superval99]

Bob Dylan.

[Chris W]

Sure....but that isn't the point.
I don't really want to start a negative discussion as a thing in of itself.
When people say something didn't happen, or if it did it was justified, I often jump in to correct the facts.
When people claim Manu wasn't a good enough drummer, or was a having a bad day himself.....I have to defend the guy, not as an emotion, but based on the facts as experienced by more than one other drummer.

[quizzaciously]

You are always arguing...
But anyway, yes, obviously Van Morrison has a very bad reputation amongst musicians.
It's like saying if you don't like Jack the Ripper what do you say about Vlad The Impaler?
It's just silly....and of course reaching for the most fanciful excuses to explain bullying and bad behaviour.

Dear Chris, I'm not arguing, and somehow, you always find ways to stab me with your umbrella. Years go by, and I'm still waiting for the moment when Chris will finally say at least a single nice word about me Who's bullying?

But jokes aside, seriously, there are no winners on discussion forums, there are only survivors. There's no need to be so defensive of our opinions, I guess, let alone you can't "draw the line" under something, as you've said in the "grumpy artists" thread.

One of my favourite phrases that was used on one of the Soviet posters during WWII was something like "do your revenge on the workbench", meaning if you feel injustice, put the energy into your work instead of wasting it on something else. Let's drink to turn our negativity into something positive.

[dustyvalentino]

Cilla Black (big pop star in the 60s) was an awful person by multiple accounts.

Ed mentioned that Gerry Rafferty was difficult to work with but an alcoholic an undiagnosed bipolar.

[quizzaciously]

Cilla Black (big pop star in the 60s) was an awful person by multiple accounts.

Ed mentioned that Gerry Rafferty was difficult to work with but an alcoholic an undiagnosed bipolar.

I guess quite a ton of artists are difficult to work with, probably most of them, and that's actually to be expected. As many of you know, the average intelligence level of human beings is pretty low, so I wouldn't expect everybody to act as ladies and gentlemen, especially people with a lot of money and power. In fact, in most cases, money and fame will just show you what this person was all about, it doesn't change a person.

And in another act of defending Mark, you don't need to be Einstein to know it wasn't money or fame that turned Mark into a "bully", the guy just got haunted by bad luck.

[Chris W]

I see nearly ALL "bad" things that Mark did as reasonable.

I guess English isn't your first language.
You claim not to be dismissing 'the victims', you claim not to be arguing with the facts.

[quizzaciously]

I see nearly ALL "bad" things that Mark did as reasonable.

I guess English isn't your first language.
You claim not to be dismissing 'the victims', you claim not to be arguing with the facts.

I'm not claiming anything. I'm just having fun on a fan forum while enjoying some pineapple juice. There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who think words on a fan forum are set in stone and will reverberate for eternity. And those who think it's a platform for sharing opinions, digging for deeper meanings, finding hidden gems.

If you want to declare a 100% truth, no problem, write a book. But even so, it will only be like just your opinion, man. What is the truth, anyway? I've witnessed so many times people who WERE THERE straight up telling lies. Only because you were there doesn't mean your opinion is the only opinion in the world.

The human factor is still there. You can forget things, you can misinterpret things, you can dislike a person, but you can not stop people from having different opinions. And I never dismissed information from people who were there, I just expressed how I see the situation. My sincerest apologies for any errors in my speech and any misunderstandings that may arise as a result for I am no native English speaker.

[dustyvalentino]

And in another act of defending Mark, you don't need to be Einstein to know it wasn't money or fame that turned Mark into a "bully", the guy just got haunted by bad luck.

Eh? There's no doubt that MK had/has a huge amount of talent but I'm sure he would admit he had a huge amount of luck along the way as well.

[Chris W]

In my (actual) experience, many artists are pretty nice and reasonable. Of course they have their off days.
One thing that turns artists from humble to egotistical is selling millions of records and winning lots of accolades, but it doesn't always damage them.

[wakeywakey]

What is the point in dissing people decades after the event?
Manu didn't enjoy the session but got the job done,got paid and refused the tour.
Mark created a decent album and live show,continued to be unreasonable and didn't get what he wanted for dinner.
All the musicians got paid well and those he upset took that money and run.
Everyone "won."

[kempston_joystick]

Dear Chris, I'm not arguing, and somehow, you always find ways to stab me with your umbrella. Years go by, and I'm still waiting for the moment when Chris will finally say at least a single nice word about me Who's bullying?

Mate. Chris has spent his life working as a pro musician, has a ton of insight about the workings of top-tier bands, and lived through an era of the band that we could otherwise only speculate about. Yet you're constantly contradicting his posts!

Chris, Manu, Ed, and MK's dentist have all made it clear that he could be a very difficult person to deal with. A lot of very ambitions, high-achieving people are. Having that information (and accepting it) is what makes forums like this valuable and entertaining, otherwise they just become deluded circle jerks.

[mariosboss]

What is the point in dissing people decades after the event?
Manu didn't enjoy the session but got the job done,got paid and refused the tour.
Mark created a decent album and live show,continued to be unreasonable and didn't get what he wanted for dinner.
All the musicians got paid well and those he upset took that money and run.
Everyone "won."

Deary deary me. What a laughable post.
First of all do you expect Chris or Manu to just lie?
Secondly - taking the money and run? So I suppose you would stop in the middle of a tour and stand your ground, leave, not get paid your full
payment leaving you in limbo yet nothing changes going forward with regards to the tour environment or worst still you leave forcing the tour to be cancelled? Blame falls on you and I bet as a fan you wouldn't have been happy with that last scenario.

Deal with the facts. MK is one of my top 4 guitarists of all time and 2 of DS albums in my top 10. It doesn't mean i'm deluded. It doesn't make him a hero or a saint. In fact it all makes sense with regards to the ins and outs and comings and goings regarding DS.