Everyone , by now, knows what Johnny Winter looks like, even if they've never heard the man's music (those who haven't will certainly be deemed fortunate by critics of Winter's recent albums). You'd have to be as short-sighted as Winter is himself not to recognize his distinctive albino features.
He's currently in Britain, preparing for the only British concert of his current European tour at the New Victoria Theatre in London. The band he's brought along includes regular Winter sidemen, Randy Hobbs and Richard Hughes, on bass and drums, respectively. They've been with Winter for some time and both appeared on his recent albums. A more recent addition to the band is second guitarist Floyd Radford. He joined just a few weeks ago, and the London concert will mark his first appearance with Winter.
"We'd been playing as a trio for some time," explains Winter, his eyes half-closed and permanently crossed. "And I really wanted somebody else to help with my writing. I was looking for another guitarist all the time I was finishing off my record, and it looked like we were going to come over here as a trio. Then Floyd came up from California. I'd known him for four or five years, and I'd jammed with him before a few times (Radford was a member of Edgar Winter's band), and luckily it worked out perfectly. We've only had four rehearsals, but it all fell together. We just got up and played."
Essentially, it will be a similar setup to the one that existed between Winter and Rick Derringer, with the two guitarists working off each other. "Y'know, I go through phases where I don't want to play with anyone else. Sometimes I feel like I want to do everything myself. I just don't want anybody on that stage with me. Then, sometimes, if it's the right person, I really enjoy it. I like to improvise a lot, so it's gotta be somebody who fits in naturally, the kind who knows my style and where I'm going. The trio went down really well in America, but I think that it excites me more than it does the audience. But it helps to have somebody to work off of, especially if you're having an off night. The other person can act as a kind of inspiration."
So, what about the new album, which you've recently completed, and which includes a new John Lennon song, Rock 'n' Roll People?
"I was really glad to get that song, because John's been one of my favourite people for a long time. And I've been hustling for a song from him for three or four albums. When I did the Still Alive and Well album, we called him up and asked if he had any extra rock 'n' roll songs. And he said that if he did have any, he was keeping them for himself because he was just as short of material. Then he was recording at the same studio as us and my producer talked to him, mentioned that I was recording there, and asked again if he had any songs we could use.
Rock 'n' Roll People was written for himself, and he'd done it, but it hadn't come together right, and he didn't like it for himself, so he gave me the tape and it was just perfect for me."
So, what about the rest of the album?
"It's a fairly strange record, actually. It's got about half of what you might call old Johnny Winter. It's got three blues songs I wrote, kinda traditional ones. It's more like the kind of thing I was doing back in '69. And then, it's also got some really radically different material. There's some blues, some rock 'n' roll, and some very heavily produced ballads that I wrote. And they're really out of character for me, and for what people expect from me. And then there's a country song called Love Song to Me, which is about how much I love myself."
Did the album, to some degree, return to the earlier days of the Winter bands?
"Well, I've always wanted to be accepted for whatever I do well. I don't really want to change direction at all; I want to go in any direction I feel like following. It's strange because when I was playing clubs down in Texas, variety was the main thing that people expected. You had to be able to play everything. Then, when I really made it, I tended to get categorized as either this or that. You could do whatever you wanted as long as it was what people wanted and expected to hear from you. Anything else they didn't want to know. What I've been doing ever since I made it is trying to get myself out of the categories that people were trying to place me in. It's a very difficult process. Audiences always want to hear something they know. If you play them a song they've never heard, they usually don't want to know, however well you play. I try to compromise and play half what the audience wants to hear and half what I want to play. If I played just what they wanted and I didn't like it, then people would be able to tell because I'm not a very good actor, and it would come across. And by the same token, if I played just for myself, then I should be doing that in my bedroom or somewhere. You have to remember that people have paid to see you, and they're going to be pretty disappointed if they don't hear certain songs. You tend to feel obligated, even if you've played a song a half a million times and have vowed never to do it again."
Winter's recent enforced absence from music, if nothing else, forced him to re-evaluate the way his career was developing. When he came back, he decided he wouldn't be trapped on any more grueling coast-to-coast tours that went on for weeks and weeks.
"I don't like being on the road so much anymore, so I just don't do it. One of the things that really split me up was that on tour you don't have any roots. It's like you're in a different dimension. It gets really weird. You get to feel not quite alive after the endless strain. We do, at most, six weeks on the road, then take a vacation so I can concentrate on other things like writing and producing. Music isn't what I want to get away from; I like working, just not on the road. I'm still as active."
I suggest that there has been some shift of emphasis from the essentially guitar-led bands that dominated rock when Winter was last here.
"Yeah, I guess that's true. I wanted to come over here a few days before we played the gig, so I could find out what people are into. You used to be a lot more blues-oriented here. Now, I don't know quite what to expect."
The concert has been a sell-out, according to reports. He looks a touch relieved.
"Yeah? That's fantastic. Y'know, I was kinda hoping there'd be a few people around who would still be interested in what I was doing."
