Manfred Mann

IT takes most people five or six glances before they notice Manfred Mann.  In the Melbourne Room of the Southern Cross Hotel he sat quietly playing chess with an offsider.  He seemed slightly peeved that the press weren't utilizing this opportunity to ask their usual questions; he would've preferred an official press conference to handle the business of interrogation quickly and efficiently.
Manfred Mann is rather colourless to speak to, he's a musician not a flamboyant personality.  He doesn't accept any obligation to pretend he cares about you.  His music is a personal trip; he doesn't seem to mind if you don't like it; you may share in; it if you wish.  He'll never leap out and drag you in - you can come quietly and dig it if you like but that's entirely up to you.
He was a pop star once but that wasn't where he started, it's not where he is now and it's unlikely that he'll end there.  He doesn't find it odd to be inconspicuous; he has no crusades to lead; he has never seen himself in any particular social role. That's why he's still making music today.

Earth Band 1972.  Note the prototypic logo on Colin's T-shirt

What is your motivation?
I think the knowledge that I'm able to contribute something to what's happening in the music world.  I'm not conscious of a position.  It's just that I have yet to feel that I have nothing to contribute.  I haven't yet thought that I've done it all. I think what I'm doing now is better than I've ever done.

How does it feel to be virtually unknown these days?
I don't find it strange.  I accept the situation I'm in now.  I'm not interested in the 60's hysteria.  That to me was a load of crap.  It sort of happened by accident.  It was a bit of an ego trip for a short while, then it turned into a big drag.  I'm really into what's happening now, not what happened then.

Do you have an attitude towards your audience as you play?
It happens naturally; you don't think about anything, you just play. I don't think you have a conscious thought about it.  We tend very much not to play to audiences, as such.  We play, very much, in amongst ourselves.  We find that's a thing which communicates very well to an audience.  Although we're not playing out with "Gee baby, I'm singing to you in the front row" and we're playing almost entirely internally, it seems to communicate incredibly well.  The feeling between us gets through out there.  You see it at a gig. - it really happens.

Where do you get most of your material from?
I write almost all the original material we do, but we don't only do original material.  We do some outside material.

Like what?
Just stuff which comes up.  We do Mighty Quinn for example, which is a throw back, but we do it very differently.  We do Black and Blue which is by an Australian band.  Mick's (Rogers) spent a lot of time in Australia and we just picked it up.  We thought, well we can do that.  I don't think it sounds anything like it did when Chain did it - like the middle section is very weird and strange.  But why the hell not?

How do you feel about coming to Australia?
It's a long flight and that's a drag.  If we can fit it in and the money's right, we do it..  You know, we're not big stars in England, man.  This is just filling time before we go to the States, later in the year. 

What do you have planned for the US visit?
A tour.  Our last album did very well in America and that's where we're really going to happen.  This is good practice really.  I should think that we'll be touring with other people because I don't think that we're successful enough to do it on our own.  But I am really confident that it will happen for us in the States because it's a good band.

On your last tour to Australia you fled in mid-tour because of threats on your life.  Were there any repercussions?
You mean the heavy problems and so on?  It's really something I don't talk about, assume to be over and am not interested in.

It didn't give you a bad feeling about coming back here?
No, the last tour was very good for us; I think it was an important thing for us like, Deep Purple are a very big band, so were Free, and we had only been playing a short while.  We'd only played in Rome and this was our second group of gigs in a very short while.  I think it showed us that we really were good enough.
We hadn't reached anywhere near what we wanted to do and I though we came off very well.  And that was in a state which we were unhappy with. 
I think Australia was important in that it gave us a lot of confidence, even if there were other overtones I don't want to get into.  This confidence has kind of stayed with us Because we have improved a lot since then.  Improved out of all proportion.
The inclusion of a Moog onstage suggests to many people a type of music away from the mainstream of rock and roll.  Things like Emerson, Lake and Palmer.. .  I don't see it that way.  Keith Emerson can play it in the way he wants to.  I feel it's a very useful, functional instrument to play.  I don't see it as a gimmick instrument.  There's not much beyond that I can say.  I treat it as a normal, solo instrument.  I think in a way, that's where it's strength is.  Not in the gimmicks and freaks, although I do that as well.

Huh?
Cos' at certain places it's relevant to what we're doing.  You know, colouring. 

It's only the music, your music, that means much to you.  How do you approach it?
I try to approach it from a very natural, unselfconscious attitude.  I think that a lot of the music we're doing seems very, very weird to people - certainly to audiences out here.  I think they'll be very surprised by some of the stuff we're doing.  Not by all of it, but by some of it.  I never contrive to have that effect.  I never try to be freaky for the sake of being freaky.  I think that's a real trap.  Some people get into that trap and try to impress people by how clever they are, all the time.  What we try to do all the time is play exciting music; really lifting, exciting music!  We're not out to prove we're good musicians, which is what a lot of performers try to do.

Your music is entirely personally orientated?
Yeah, even when we do other peoples . We don't have an attitude towards it, we just play. I think that's the best way.

A close up of the prototypic MMEB logo, note the 'Band' appears on the outer rim.