Page 16 - Phonebox Magazine October 2015

An Interview with Andy Powell Jasmin Peppiatt Wishbone Ash’s Andy Powell talks touring, memories and autobiographies
At the age of 11, Andy Powell, guitarist for Wishbone Ash, picked up a guitar and has never put it down since. The band
released its self-titled album in 1970 and has recorded and toured for a further 46 years! If you haven’t heard of Wishbone Ash, I asked Andy how he would describe the music: “Twin harmony guitar – driven, classic rock, based in blue and English folk. Our music has progressive elements and is melodic in nature. How’s that?”
In 1969, Andy replied to an advert in Melody Maker magazine and ended up as one of Wishbone Ash’s original guitar players, along with band mate Ted Turner, but could he really imagine just how much it would change his life? “No. I gave it about five years because none of us knew that the roots laid down by bands at that time would produce music so influential on future generations of musicians, and that this music would resonate for a half a century in the way that it has done with rock music fans.”
By 1995, Powell was the only original member of Wishbone Ash, still touring in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States, but did he expect to be the last original member? “No, absolutely not. I was just a band member who took up, very seriously, the creed of positive thinking, as espoused by my older band partners. I really took this idea to heart as a youngster. Then I simply continued to apply it, long after they gave up on it all. I stay with things, I guess. I have a strong self- belief.”
“Those risks are on my shoulders. That’s for sure.”
Andy has now managed the band for two decades and produced many of their albums: “There are other aspects of being in a band that I could not have predicted would be inspirational to me – the business side of things – music and tour production. I had a need to formalise this side of things. I simply stayed the course and pledged to myself that I would finish what I started. I found that I get a lot more out of the whole music experience that way.
One becomes a producer in every sense of the word – making records absolutely, producing tours, and thereby getting tangible results! Responsibilities too – self discipline – all of that. The buck stops with me, you could say. I take on the risks of running a band. 16 Phonebox Magazine
Those risks are on my shoulders. That’s for sure. That’s also management and it can be quite exciting. That’s why I’m not big on playing parlour games, poker, Monopoly and so on. It’s what I do every day in real life.” But which role does Andy prefer the most? “I enjoy it all and it’s inspiring. I think one thing feeds the other. When you get overloaded with business, it’s great to pick up a guitar and vice versa. It’s an extremely varied existence, involving international travel, interpersonal relationships, intense periods of creativity and inspiration, and as I say, a lot of self- discipline. I’m a big list maker!”
Wishbone Ash tour worldwide and have done for many years, but what is it like touring from one country to another? Andy says, “it’s a source of great pride that we’ve created this global community of friends and fans – like an extended family. Even the band itself is multi-national. We meet up with familiar faces on the road; some of these folks travel great distances and enjoy the whole aspect of the journey as we do, making friends in foreign countries or distant states as well as getting to see this band perform in unusual locales to what they might be used to.
As far as differences in the audiences, there are not so many these days as there used to be because rock music has become universal. It has it’s own language and customs. Modern culture generally is more ubiquitous due to the impact of the internet, I guess. However we do enjoy the general cultural differences say between the US and Europe of Japan and India for example, outside of music but rock used to signify rebellion. That’s not the case so much these days. I mean the Food Network is the new rock and roll, or the fashion world is where people get their rocks off – or runway models, or Taylor Swift... I’m serious! Recently, though, we were in South
Africa and that was very interesting – a break from all the above.”
“I’m very familiar with the area, having grown up in Hemel Hempstead.”
In October, Wishbone Ash are performing at The Stables in a very intimate gig. Andy says of the locality, “I used to live in the area – Great Brickhill actually. The original band line-up even recorded at a studio that I owned there, called Ivy Lane Farm. I’m very familiar with the area, having grown up in Hemel Hempstead. The Stables is a firm favourite of the band and we played it back in the day when it literally was stables! Before the multi- million pound upgrade!”
“It was daunting to lay out the intimate details of a career and a life like this.”
Andy recently completed his autobiography, ‘Eyes Wide Open: True Tales of a Wishbone Ash Warrior’. He says, “I had to wait until I felt the time was right – many people were urging metodoitbutitwasonlywhenImetup with my co-writer, Colin Harper, that it really took off. He gave me the impetus. I had been looking for a co-writer for quite some time. It was daunting to lay out the intimate details of a career and a life like this – warts and all! But ultimately it was hugely liberating for me. I’ve always enjoyed literature, reading books, and I’ve written blogs for the band’s website for many years. However, it’s quite a different thing to manage three to four hundred pages of text and get it all chronologically and factually as correct as possible!”