Jeremy Canadian Interview & HOF

[michelej1]

Ex-Fleetwood Mac slide guitarist plays on

http://www.canada.com/entertainment/...191/story.html
By Ted Shaw, The Windsor StarJanuary 16, 2010

BOX OFFICE

Jeremy Spencer will perform and be inducted into the Canada South Blues Museum tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Oasis Lounge, Place Concorde, 7515 Forest Glade Dr. Also performing are Tomas Esparza and the Boa Constrictors. Tickets are $20 for non-members, $12 for members, and $40 for reserved tables of four. Call 519-977-9631.

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He was a founding member of Fleetwood Mac, but Jeremy Spencer never much liked the name.

"I hated it, in fact," said the 61-year-old guitarist, who will be inducted tonight into Canada South Blues Society's blues museum at Place Concorde.

"I thought we should be using the word blues to say what we were. But looking back on it, I'm glad we didn't because there were dozens of blues bands around at the time and it kind of separated us from the pack."

Fleetwood Mac was a clever use of the last names of drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, but neither of them came up with it.

That honour, according to Spencer, belongs to founding guitarist Peter Green.

"He was leaving John Mayall's band because Mayall was getting into free-form jazz and Peter couldn't stand it," Spencer said.

That summer of 1967, Green and producer Mike Vernon put an ad in the trade magazine, Melody Maker. A friend told Spencer about it, and an audition was arranged.

Spencer admitted to being intimidated by Green, who had established his credentials in Mayall's Bluesbreakers, along with Fleetwood and McVie.

"I told him I couldn't play very fast, but it didn't matter to him," Spencer said. "He told me it's not how many notes you play, it's how you play them."

Blues with feeling, in other words. The music had inspired Spencer from his first hearing Elmore James' The Sun Is Shining.

"I was 16 and I told myself by hook or by crook I was going to play that."

Later, before he turned 20, Spencer made a version of The Sun Is Shining, along with the better-known Dust My Broom, on early Fleetwood Mac sessions in 1967-68.

His time in the band was relatively brief. Even on the seminal Then Play On in 1970, Spencer had been eclipsed by Danny Kirwan as the band's chief songwriter along with Green.

"I have to say I was getting tired of playing the blues," he said.

During a U.S. tour in early 1971 in support of the last Mac album Spencer participated in -- Kiln House -- he abruptly left the band to join a Christian cult.

"It was something I had to do," he explained. "I was terribly confused."

As a result of Spencer's actions, Mac was forced to cancel a gig at L.A.'s Whiskey A Go Go.

"It's the only regret I have, the way I left the band. I should have told them I was thinking about quitting. They had every right to force me to come back legally, but they didn't, and I never forgot that."

Spencer's contributions to blues-rock effectively ended then until 27 years later, in 1998, when he was lured out of self-imposed exile to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of Fleetwood Mac. Later that year, he played at a blues festival in, of all places, India.

Six years later, at the behest of old friend Peter Green, Spencer was asked to play at the Notodden Blues Festival in Norway. He released a CD in 2006, Precious Little, using the players assembled for that gig.

Spencer hesitates to say he's back in the blues game. He returned to the Norway festival in 2007, and last year turned up at the Chicago Blues Festival.

His life is structured around the demands of the cult he joined in 1971, The Family International. Formerly known as Children of God, the group has been dogged by rumours its members engage in the ritual abuse of minors.

Spencer has vehemently denied it in interviews and on the Internet. But he admits the bad press has contributed to him avoiding the spotlight for many years. He and his current wife, Dorothea, remain active members of The Family International.

In the last few months, Spencer has returned to the recording studio and hopes to issue a followup to Precious Little this year.

"I guess it's time," he said. "It's been three years. But the years tend to shrink the older you get."

tshaw@thestar.canwest.com or 519-255-6849

[vivfox]

That was a good article and interview. Thank you Jeremy for doing the interview and Michele for posting the interview.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by vivfox

That was a good article and interview. Thank you Jeremy for doing the interview and Michele for posting the interview.

Well, the part about leaving FM did remind me of one of your earlier questions to Jeremy.

Michele

[chriskisn]

Originally Posted by michelej1

In the last few months, Spencer has returned to the recording studio and hopes to issue a followup to Precious Little this year.

Really?