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michelej1 07-04-2009 02:05 PM

Stan Webb Disappointed
 
[This is an old interview with Webb that I just saw wherein he wishes Christine would acknowledge Chicken Shack]


Sixties guitar hero back in the limelight Performance Arts
By Trevor Hodgett
14/01/06

Stan Webb, leader of Chicken Shack, who are still best known for their remarkable 1968 hit I’d Rather Go Blind, was a guitar hero in the late sixties British blues boom, alongside the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck.

But whereas those contemporaries became rock gods Webb still, decades later, finds himself gigging around the same old clubs and small theatres he always did. Inevitably, watching his peers becoming squillionaires has been frustrating for Webb, whose first four Chicken Shack albums have just been reissued on a triple CD.

“It does frustrate me, yeah,” he admits. “All the opportunities were there: it was just that they were not exploited fully.

“At the time of I’d Rather Go Blind we were still doing blues clubs but we should have been doing the Albert Hall. That’s where my frustration lies.”

Webb also feels mismanagement sabotaged his chances of cracking America. “We toured with Deep Purple playing Madison Square Garden and all the biggest gigs. But at the end of that seven week tour they stuck another seven weeks on it which just burnt the band out. It was greed on the part of management.

“Then I was told that money had been lost. And that’s when a little light went on on top of my head!”

Still, unlike so many of his more successful contemporaries – Clapton and Page spring to mind – Webb did at least manage to avoid damaging his health through addiction to Class A drugs.

“For a start I’m needle phobic – I have an actual phobia about needles,” he explains.

“And also I never wanted to get into any sort of physical damage like that. I used to think that if I’ve had a drink and got my head down a toilet at least I know why!

“So I never did drugs. I didn’t fancy the idea of getting into anything like that.”

Chicken Shack’s greatest hit – well, OK, only hit – I’d Rather Go Blind was of course sung by Christine McVie who later became a bonafide megastar with Fleetwood Mac. Webb, sadly, feels let down by his erstwhile partner.

“She’s never acknowledged Chicken Shack at all which is ridiculous because we were the whole stepping stone for her,” he sighs.

“I’m afraid it’s a trait in the entertainment world: people forget where they came from and the people who help kick them off.”


Nearly 40 years into his career, Webb feels he is playing better than ever.

“I like what I play now. It’s more fluent, more creative and more individualistic.

“I was a late developer. I never liked much of what I did in the sixties and through the seventies and eighties but from the nineties onwards I started to enjoy much more what I was doing.”

aleuzzi 07-04-2009 02:10 PM

I'm not sure this is true. Christine never tires of mentioning her first legitimate band when she discusses her origins. Perhaps Stan was saying he wished she credited them more with her development than she has? In truth, neither Christine nor Stan has ever really talked about her then burgeoning songwriting abilities: some of her self-penned tunes with that group stand up right alongside the FM ones.

becca 07-04-2009 02:35 PM

I've never understood it but Christine's dislike for her early work in general (not just with Chicken Shack) is probably behind any lack of dwelling/mentioning such things.

I read in that recent Pattie Boyd book that Eric Clapton also had a needle phobia but found ways around that.

Ulpian 07-04-2009 07:49 PM

Nonsense. We all know that she mentioned Chicken Shack plenty of times, though clearly not enough to get Stan Webb's royalty cheques to whatever level he wants. Someone is clearly not satisfied with his pension...

wetcamelfood 07-04-2009 08:54 PM

Just my guess but I think (based on other tidbits I've read on Stan over the years, not pointed as directly as this seems to be at Christine but just regarding CS in general) Stan tends to get like this from time to time where he's sick of talking about "those days" and wants people to be interested in what he's doing at the moment and as a result things like this get blurted out.

John

PenguinHead 07-13-2009 08:30 PM

I'm not that familiar with Chicken Shack's music, but I am aware of them -- because Christine has mentioned them in interviews. In early shows with Lindsey and Stevie, she opened with 'Get Like You Used to Be.' Is that a Chicken Shack song?

nicepace 07-17-2009 03:35 PM

Quote:

In early shows with Lindsey and Stevie, she opened with 'Get Like You Used to Be.' Is that a Chicken Shack song?
Yes.

Chicken Shack were a '60s British blues band along the lines of Fleetwood Mac at the time, except not as good. Stan Webb, their lead guy, is no Peter Green. I really like that British blues style of music, but in the case of Chicken Shack I only listen because of Christine.

However, it's definitely worth hearing the two albums they cut with her (or the recent Blue Horizon anthology) for her contributions. Her singing and songwriting were starting to develop to the level of excellence we associate with her, and her blues piano playing was fantastic.

I like the fact that Christine, who in the course of her career developed into the best female vocalist of the rock era (in my opinion), actually started out as a support player in a band. How many other women in pop music (blues or rock) were a musician first, and a songwriter and singer second? It gives her a unique place in the history of rock, in my opinion.

SteveMacD 07-17-2009 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicepace (Post 831288)
I like the fact that Christine, who in the course of her career developed into the best female vocalist of the rock era (in my opinion), actually started out as a support player in a band. How many other women in pop music (blues or rock) were a musician first, and a songwriter and singer second? It gives her a unique place in the history of rock, in my opinion.

Kim Deal (Pixies/Breeders) comes to mind.


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