Andy Fraser of Free (INTERVIEW)

Free’s legendary bass player Andy Fraser really doesn’t consider himself a bass player. He began his musical noodlings on a piano when he was around five, moved on to the guitar before his teens and ended up taking up the bass simply because no one else wanted to do it. He is one of those people who just do what is necessary. Whether in music, business or life, Fraser handles it. Not one to sit idle for very long, he has projects currently going in music and film. And his health is at the top of his daily regime. After coming so close to death he could feel the hand of the grim reaper on his shoulder, Fraser did what he needed to do and fought for his life.

Once the hip kid bass player for John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, playing alongside another young musical wonder by the name of Mick Taylor who would go on to the Rolling Stones, it wasn’t long before Fraser helped launch one of music’s best blues/rock bands: Free. With Paul Rodgers, Fraser helped write most of the band’s songs, including the iconic “All Right Now,” “The Stealer,” “I’m A Mover” and “Mr Big.” The band would split in 1971 but reconvene in an effort to save their talented guitar player Paul Kossoff from the dark drug highway he was traveling on. They would split for good in 1973, with Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke forming Bad Company. Fraser, who had already departed by the time of the official final bow, had moved on to forming Sharks and then his self-monikered Andy Fraser Band.

Fraser has walked a rocky trail ever since those heady days of the sixties and early seventies. Following a season of debauchery after realizing he was a gay man (after marrying and fathering two daughters), Fraser learned he was positive for the HIV virus. Down to one T-cell, he fought back from the painful physical and mental ailments that not only the virus can cause, but cancer and numerous surgeries on top of it. But his willpower and his connection with God is still what gives him his strength today. He is a happy man, a contented man, making music with a cool calypso beat that harkens back to his familial roots, producing a young guitar player called Tobi, working with his daughter Hannah, an aquatic dancer and marine activist, on film projects that highlight both the beauty of her interpretive water dance and the works of art that are the creatures of the sea. “Every day is a busy day,” Fraser said with a sigh of contentment. “I couldn’t stand sitting around.”

Not one to sit back and live in his past – “Today I can walk out and someone will lose their knickers over seeing me and then I can walk into a supermarket and nobody knows me from Adam. So you have to like play the game and realize that celebrity is so superficial, don’t take it serious, you know” – Fraser continues moving forward. His song, “This Is The Big One,” was used for the United Nations Environmental Day, he is involved with the child trafficking organization, he’s a producer and still has time to play gigs that interest him.

Last week Glide talked with the British-born bass player, who now also uses his voice to project his musical creations, about his music, his early days in a purple bedroom, his father-son relationship with Alexis Korner, playing with Mick Taylor and how he simply did what he needed to do.

You’ve been living in California since the mid-seventies. What does California give you that England can’t?

Well, England has lots of rain, high taxes and at that time lots of people OD’ing around me. It was time for a change and being a musician, it’s either New York, LA or Nashville. I’m not a country musician and the climate in New York is radical in both the winter and the summer, so California here I come (laughs)

What was it like growing up in your part of London?

Well, it was in the south of London in sort of what they call Council Estates, probably government projects is what they call them over here, and I was sort of the odd man out in the sense of like my brother and my friends were outside playing football or whatever. But from the age of five, I was studying Classical piano, which is sort of a deal I made with my mother cause I insisted on having one. She said, “You have to have lessons then.” Which I didn’t think I needed. But I have since come to realize how lucky I was to have all that Theory drilled in me. I just wish somebody had told me earlier that you’re supposed to express yourself, not type Beethoven like a typist. So everything worked out very well.

What is your first memory of music?

My parents were still together until I was about six and my father, who is from Guyana, a product of the Fraser clan going over starting sugar plantations and messing around with the slaves, so he is the color of about Colin Powell and I look like I have a pretty good tan. So he would play quite a lot of calypso, kettle drums, and one thing I always remember was the Beach Boys, songs like “God Only Knows” and “Good Vibrations” and all those really true classics and they really made an imprint on me. I think Brian Wilson’s writing was genius.

I understand you had this purple bedroom.

(laughs) Oh yes, I was still fifteen when Free started and I bought a house when I was maybe seventeen or eighteen years old. But in between that time, after touring, which was usually every night, I would go back to my mother’s house and in those days of Hendrix and what have you, I thought it would be appropriate if I painted my bedroom purple, which I did (laughs), dark purple indeed with candles and occasionally one of the road managers would sleep in the spare bed and we’d wake up, and it being the seventies, would light up a joint and enjoy the purple walls (laughs)

What got you interested in the guitar – was it the music you were listening to or was it that your friends were all picking up instruments at the time?

I started on piano but when you went to school there were kids playing guitars and you know, piano is a pretty heavy instrument to carry around (laughs). I bought a guitar and quickly realized how to transpose all the notes and chords I’d learned on the piano onto the guitar. So guitar became my thing for a while, except the kids at school, they wanted to be the singer or the guitarist or the drummer; anything but the bass player (laughs). So Mr Diplomat here tuned his strings down an octave and I became the bass player. And I’ve never really thought of myself as a bass player. It’s just, okay, it needs that low end and I’ll do that part, that’s easy. But, you know, I would write a lot of the guitar riffs or lyrics, or if you needed me to play tambourine, I was just as happy. My job was to make it work, to bring unity. Okay, this space is yours to work in, do whatever you like in this space, this space is yours. Do anything you like in that space. And in such, I sort of become an arranger. And if it was appropriate for me not to play bass, say for example most of “All Right Now” doesn’t have any bass in it. The bass comes in the chorus a little bit but that was appropriate cause that was all that was needed. So my job was just to be appropriate and when people talk to me as a bass player, I find it strange because, well, actually it was one of the things I do, and luckily enough it’s one of the things I could do sort of in my sleep, and people have spoken of me as a bass player ever since.

andyfraserbookAt a very, very young age, you were playing in bands with other black musicians. You came to that music kind of differently than some of the other great British musicians who were absorbing from the records whereas you were absorbing from the musicians themselves.

That was sort of by accident. When I was about twelve I answered an ad in one of the music papers and they had a black singer and he sung lots of Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett and tried to dance like James Brown (laughs). So there was very much an R&B influence. Then I was in quite a few ska bands, which was quite hip at the time, which is basically calypso double time, and then my sister went out with this black guy who was an incredible bass player [Binky Mackenzie]. And when I say incredible, I mean incredible. He was like the next Jimi Hendrix on bass. But he had some kind of chip on his shoulder and drugs seemed to make it worse. I mean, I would listen to him from the other room and learn all I could, absorb every little thing. He was literally a genius and he was playing with people like Alexis Korner, taking over from Jack Bruce, and he was like, wow, this guy is something else. But he got so wound up, he literally killed four people with his bare hands and he’s spending the rest of his life in prison and there goes another genius. But literally, man, could this guy play. His younger brother played guitar and the both of them introduced me to lots of other musicians in their area, which was north London, so I got in with lots of R&B players, got introduced to a lot of blues music and was playing clubs, you know, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, all the Stax and Motown stuff, and that was a very strong influence on me.

So that’s really what’s in your blood.

Oh yes, that’s definitely my music and the more I got at peace with myself, I recognized the calypso/Latin influence that I got from my father. Now, I didn’t get many good things from my father but that was one of them and now I find a lot of my music has sort of a reggae kind of slant to it, which is like a modern day calypso, and that R&B/Stax/Motown thing was, oh, I took to that like a duck to water (laughs). Yeah, that was really my first love.

You can hear that in your more modern music definitely. So that musical evolution must have come very natural and very easy to you coming off a blues band.

Always in a blues or a rock band, I tried to introduce the groove kind of dancing without even thinking about it. And if I even think back now to Free, I think, wow, that would make a great reggae song. But now I’m more comfortable with myself as a person, I feel free to be more myself and I find that coming out naturally, whereas at one point it was hip to be a blues musician or a rock musician. I feel it’s hip now to be myself and have realized every personality is unique and one only needs to be yourself and you are an original. So the more honest you are with yourself about yourself and express your true feelings, the more unique you are. So there’s that great tie together of like looking inward and being honest with yourself, not trying to be one of the pack, and who and what you are is expressed naturally and you become an original. Every personality is unique.

Was it like a light bulb going off for you when you realized all this?

I wish but it took about two decades and it really started when I had to come to terms with being gay, after being married to a wonderful woman and having two incredible daughters. But I wasn’t being true to myself. I was shoving that truth in some back corner in the back of my brain. And coming to terms with it, first of all, coming out of self-denial and then coming to terms with it and the people you know, then on the world stage. You know, at one point it seemed like a mountain that I couldn’t see the other side of and you have to sort of build confidence. To get to the point of coming out that I don’t care what the rest of the world thinks. If you don’t like me as I am, get lost. I’m living my life for me, not for you. And if the whole world doesn’t like me, as long as I do, that’s how it’s supposed to be. And as it turns out, I have had no problems. I’ve seen the odd snide remark on the internet or something but no one dares come to my face with anything but positive stuff cause I ain’t the kind of guy that takes it lightly. So in your mind you have to be that strong and say, “This is me.” It’s like everything in life, if you don’t like something about you, change it; if you can’t change it, learn to like it. Be honest.

If only it was like someone switching on a light. It took me a couple of decades of struggling through all of that, and ironically at the same time, the concept of God became a reality for me. Not really religion. I’m up to here with all your religious bullshit. People making all kinds of money by selling you this or that. But if you can separate religion from God then you get to the real thing. And I find it ironic that I found both those two things at the same time. In fact, I don’t know if you’ve heard the last album I just finished [On Assignment], there’s a song on there called “I Found God When I Found I Was Gay,” which is a bit of a sort of thumb in the eye. But it’s true. When you find truth and honesty, they sort of all come at once.

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When you were so sick, did you ever think, why me?

No, I didn’t. I think, actually, I’m quite proud of myself, and I don’t really like that word, of how very quickly I said, Okay, you’ve got way less time than you thought so you’d better cut out the bullshit. You don’t have time for it. It’s just the real stuff you got to go for. You don’t have time for the nonsense. And I took responsibility for not being as careful as we’ve all been told to be. It’s nobody else’s fault. As close I have been to the stage where I was one T-cell away from gone, where I’ve been in pain for like seven years and wanted to off myself every morning and had to struggle to find a reason not to, it’s taught me discipline. I have to be very disciplined about my nutrition, my sleep, my work ethic. If anything, I’d been a workaholic. I’d stay up for two or three days with a bunch of drugs, you know, that’s the kind of workaholic I am. I’m not wanting to escape. So I had to be very disciplined about that, no drugs and no overworking. You start here and you stop there. You get the right amount of sleep and you eat regularly and preferably healthily.

So in a way, as much of a pain as having AIDS and cancer and being sick as I’ve been, it’s been the same amount of, in a sense, a gift. For example, you don’t realize how incredibly wonderful just feeling normal is until you’ve felt terrible. Now that is really just a change of values in your mind. When you learn to see things from that perspective, everything changes. When no amount of fame, fortune, family, friends, even doctors, can change the physical condition you are, they cease to have value. So okay, if all of this is valueless, then there must be something of value. What is it? A ha, now this thing about God. Then you start reflecting on spiritual matters, and we definitely don’t have time in this interview for me to go into that (laughs), but I do believe we are at the beginning of a long journey and only things of spiritual consequence have any value.

You were very close to Alexis Korner. What do you think was the greatest thing that you learned from him?

Oh, quite a question. Well, first, let me tell you that I met him by going to college with his daughter Sappho. We became very close and I ended up nearly living in their house. They sort of took me in like one of their family and he would play me blues records and let me play his guitars and take me on gigs. He even told John Mayall, “You need a new bass player. This is the kid.” He did everything possible to get Free off the ground. He had us as his opening act. He introduced us to Island Records. I would say he was like a substitute father. But what did I learn from him? What is learned from like the perfect father? It’s all those little things – integrity, values, the magic in between the notes when you listen to a really good blues record. He sort of brought me into adulthood and that really is saying something. And he did that for so many people. I mean, he got the Stones going, Led Zeppelin going, Small Faces. There’s times when like Muddy Waters would climb through his kitchen window and sleep on the floor (laughs). It’s unbelievable what he’s done for so many people. And such an intelligent guy. So to model myself after anybody, it would have to be Alexis Korner.

You wrote in your autobiography, All Right Now, that one of your best shows with Free was early on in Wales playing to like twelve people. Why do you feel that was the best one?

I don’t know, maybe we just got lucky or something like that, or just didn’t care. You know, with a few people there we could do whatever we liked. But it just so happens that only twelve people were there and we were outstanding (laughs). And the twelve people in there, they were sort of like elevated on the magic carpet for like an hour and a half. I mean, none of us could believe it. It was just like one of those magic nights. I mean, when you’re playing to twelve people, and I don’t know if we were getting paid thirty pounds or a percentage of the gate, but we definitely weren’t playing for the money (laughs). It was for the love of it and it just happened to be one of those magic, magic nights. And there were only twelve people there to witness it.

What can you tell us about the Free song “I’m A Mover”?

That originated from Paul and the lyrics are quite traditional. You’ll find quite a few songs that start off with, “I was born by a river and just like a river I’ve been moving ever since.” That sort of traditional, in a sense, blues/gospel/soul lyrics. That “I’m a mover” part, I mean, he wanted to throw it in your face (laughs) and that gave him a good excuse.

What about recording “The Stealer”?

That was a magical night. Now, believe it or not, Paul Kossoff was one of the greatest blues solo players you could imagine. It was all feel. He cried every note and when he played a solo, he was free, he would just go off. But when it came to playing chords, he actually had a problem. But when we arrived at the studio and he played that guitar riff, everyone looked at each other and went, whoa. I stuck a bass riff to it, we started off a groove, Paul threw down some lyrics. That very same evening we recorded it, mixed it and finished it in one single session.

How did you do that?

Because we were flying (laughs). It was Island Studios and Chris Blackwell, the owner and founder of Island, had built an apartment at the top of the building and Andy Johns, who engineered it, called him up in the middle of the night, and said, “You got to get down here now.” (laughs) And he came down and said, “That’s a hit.”

You played alongside Mick Taylor in the Bluesbreakers. What is the biggest difference you see between Paul Kossoff and Mick Taylor having stood beside both of them?

You know something, when there was a thought of replacing Koss when he died or reforming and what guitarist would we get, I always thought of Mick Taylor, because they were so similar in many ways. Mick was nineteen when I played with him and he was always like this kid who sat in the corner with his guitar constantly. He just had such a feel. I’ll tell you a funny story. Alexis said one Saturday that John Mayall was looking for a new bass player. So Sunday I go around to John Mayall’s place for an audition. We played two blues songs and he says, “You’ve got the gig.” On Monday, I go tell college, “I’m out of here,” and I meet John Mayall downtown London. He buys me a new bass, amplifier, stereo system and then we had to go to court where he swore up and down to the magistrate, me being fifteen, that I would be in bed by eight o’clock and everything would be good. Tuesday, we’re in Amsterdam. We didn’t even go onstage till about nine o’clock.

Afterwards, me and Mick Taylor, the only ones who’d imbibe in such things as smoking a joint, had some of Amsterdam’s finest. And I went back to my room and I lay there on the bed and I became aware of all the blood running through all the veins up from my feet to my knees to my legs, down my arms, all to the center of my body. Literally, I could feel all the veins. I mean, this must go on all the time in all of us and we’re not aware of it and it ended up right in this raging hard on. And I thought, wow, that’s how it works (laughs). I was amazed. It was like a couple of aliens had knocked on my door and said, “We bring you knowledge from across the universe.” So I run into Mick Taylor’s room and say, “I’ve got to tell you about this,” and he’s looking at me like, “Kid, you’re stoned.” (laughs) As it happens, last year me and Mick played a blues festival in England together with an artist I work with called Tobi. And Mick was just about to tune his guitar so I knew I had a few minutes. So I related this story to the audience (laughs) and Mick said, “I don’t remember that.” And I’m saying, “Mick, you don’t remember most of the eighties or the nineties.” (laughs) So basically, we get on very well. I love him dearly. He still plays great. He’s singing very well now. You know, he learned like Eric Clapton that you’ve got to sing, like I learned, if you’re going to make a difference. And he sings good now. And the deal was, I would sing “All Right Now” if he sang “Honky Tonk Women” and it went down just fine.

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Who was the first real rock star you ever met?

That is a tricky one. There’s quite a few who thought they were rock stars (laughs) and even the audiences did too but I had a differing opinion. Better not mention them (laughs). Let’s see. I mean, you could say people like Pete Townshend or Steve Marriott or Eric Clapton. I’m trying to put an order on things, which is difficult to do. I don’t actually remember the very first. It was probably during my time with John Mayall because we played with lots of other bands but I’m not sure if I can remember who it was.

Did you ever meet Brian Jones? He was close to Alexis.

All the Stones were but no, I didn’t, but he had to be a troubled individual, was really the kind of image of the Stones, really. He sort of caught your eye before the rest of them did. But no, I never met him.

When all the money started coming in, what was your first big splurge?

I bought a house, cash. Oh no, I think I bought a car first. A couple of Mercedes in Germany. Then I bought a house and then a house for my mother. And then I went through that phase of like having to have fancy antiques and all that stuff everywhere. And now I’ve completely gotten over it. The fact that I’m still walking around, I can get up, that I’m 62 years old and could probably beat you running around the block, I’m well happy enough with.

After all these years, how do you feel about the Free Live album? The one that was rush-released because you guys had broken up.

Actually, I think it’s pretty good. A lot of times we were better live than in the studio because there was an atmosphere there. We were intimidated by the studio, the silence, the lack of atmosphere. It‘s like going into like a silent cubicle and you can hear yourself breathe and it’s a bit intimidating. It’s nice to hear an audience murmur and shout and react. Really, our albums were like, we’d take two weeks off touring, just throw down the songs we’d written in between, and then go back touring.

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But that was normal for the day

Yes it was

Have you ever written a song that was so personal that you thought twice about releasing it?

Yes (laughs) That one, “I Found God When I Found Out I Was Gay,” I thought was pushing the boundaries because, you know, one of the golden rules is no God, no guns and no gays, no religion, no politics. But I sort of got over that. Now that I have my own label, I sort of do what I want and if you don’t like it, screw you. I’m here to enjoy myself. I’m working on one at the moment that is semi-, well, it’s kind of tied in with this child slavery issue and it’s called “Sex Slavery,” like a life of misery, you know, and I don’t want it to be too much of a downer. I want to be able to put across the message in a digestible way. There is a song I’ve never released called “Armenian Boy,” which is very personal.

You mentioned the child slavery issue which a lot of musicians are supporting, Rock Against Trafficking. What more can you tell us about that?

I’m working with Gary Miller, who is an incredible producer. He’s produced George Michael, all the big disco hits, Donna Summer. You know, I like to think of myself as a decent producer but he’s a great one. And his mission in life is to save the kids from this child trafficking, which is so abundant that it’s beyond belief. We think that it’s something that happens on the other side of the world but it happens in every local town. And we’re in the middle of a project where we’ve got about twenty artists, which includes artists like Santana, Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa, Joss Stone, Steven Tyler, myself, Paul Cook; you know, twenty major artists and we’re all doing an interpretation of a Sting song and the album will be called Set Them Free and the idea is for it to raise money to donate to the International Justice Mission, cause they’re the largest most successful organization that is combating this evil. And put it in people’s faces that something needs to be done about this. We’re anticipating doing a concert at Dodger Stadium and this is just the first of many albums. It’s an ongoing commitment to raise awareness, raise funds and force governments to pay attention and do something about it. It’s like, Okay, you have to put everything aside to make this work. It’s one of those things that has to be done. It’s like a mission that you can’t dismiss. Once you know about it, you can’t pretend you don’t know about it and just go on like it’s Disneyland. That is a major, major project that we’re all involved in and I believe it’s going to prove to be very fruitful. We’re going to get governments involved. We’re going to push it in your face, you know. You’ve got to join the club.

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You’re also working on another one of your albums right now, correct?

Yes, the last one was On Assignment and the next one, which is almost finished, is called Privilege, which is how I feel.

When do you think we will get to hear it?

It may be like a year, mainly because there is other stuff to come in between.

Do you have any things coming up with Tobi?

He’s already recorded another album with some great songs. Actually, two albums. One is completely finished and one he’s just recorded and about to be worked on. He’s a very talented kid.

Your company, McTrax, is also working on videos that feature your daughter doing these interpretive dances amongst sharks and whales.

Isn’t she incredible. That’s her passion, saving the fish, and I don’t know if you’ve seen a section of a movie we’re making called Tigress. Have you seen that?

The one with the tiger sharks?

Yes, that’s her passion, to show that we’re the predators. They love affection. If they bite us it’s by accident. When I see a deer on my lawn or a mountain lion, I might be a bit scared by the lion but I feel privileged. There’s a golden eagle that gave birth in one of my trees and it loves sitting on a branch on a tree on the next property and when I go walking every morning, I see it quite often and I feel privileged. And that’s how she feels about these fish and about saving them and that’s what it’s about and that’s why I’m calling the album Privilege. Cause I am.

Is there any significance in the handprint as your company’s logo?

I wrote a song called “Healing Hands” and I asked Hannah and her sister to make a video. And they said, “We don’t know how to make a video.” And I went over to Australia and she put a whole team together, about thirty-five people, and she ran it like an army. And that’s her handprint and she was going to do one scene with lots of pieces of paper with these hands around and we filmed it but we didn’t think it looked any good but I thought it was a great logo so I nicked it off her (laughs).

 

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