By Ryan Sparks
Guitarist / producer Rick Derringer has not only been on the
rock ‘n roll scene forever, but he’s also been a pivotal factor
and a driving force behind some of the most enduring classic
rock albums ever made.
The all American Midwestern boy spent his time growing up in
Ohio in the 50’s and by the close of the decade already had the
guitar (which he got for his 9th Birthday) firmly
placed in his hands. Like a sponge he absorbed everything he
could on the instrument and it didn’t take him long before he
was up onstage jamming with people a lot older than himself.
Barely out of his teens Rick’s band The McCoys found themselves
with a #1 hit song with “Hang On Sloopy” in the summer of 1965
and he hasn’t looked back since.
After the demise of the McCoys at the close of the 60’s
Derringer began a collaboration with two brothers who at the
time were just beginning to make a name for themselves, Johnny
and Edgar Winter. Derringer played an integral role both as a
musician and producer for both of the Winter’s, working almost
simultaneously with them well into the 70’s and delivering an
unparalleled handful of studio and live recordings in the
process. Rick’s debut solo record All American Boy also appeared
around this time and his song “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” would
go on to become one of the most requested rock anthems of the
70s.
While his star may have faded somewhat during the latter half of
the 80’s and into the 90’s Rick remains one of classic rock’s
most iconic figures. His soaring voice and searing guitar chops
are well intact, and over the course of over forty years in the
music business his love for music continues to burn as strong as
ever. There’s only one thing for him to do which is like the
song say’s and that’s to ‘Keep playing that rock & roll’. To be
honest I don’t think he’d have it any other way.
Ryan: Tell me a bit about what you’ve got planned for 2009. I
understand you have a couple of new projects in the works, one
of which is a new solo album?
Rick: Yeah if you go to
www.rickderringer.com today the first thing you’ll see and
hear is little snippet from my new one called Knighted By The
Blues. Also on the site you can see a brand new Christian CD
that my family has just put out as well which is called We
Live. We’re also working on a couple of other CD’s as we
speak which are both more mainstream rock projects which borders
on pop, but nonetheless it will be less Christian oriented and
more mainstream. Knighted By The Blues comes out on Blues
Bureau International which is a label that I’ve worked with
before and this will be my fifth release for them. They expect
to release worldwide towards the last week of April.
Ryan: I got a chance to hear the full version of the song that
you’re speaking of which is called “Sometimes” and I have to say
that’s a killer track. It has that classic Derringer feel
flowing through it.
Rick: Thank you. That’s great I’m glad you feel that way.
Ryan: Who do you have playing on this new record; did you handle
a lot of the instruments yourself?
Rick: Well when you get to hear the album its pretty much like a
band. I wanted it to represent- when you used to go into the
studio there used to be four tracks, eight tracks, twelve
tracks; you were limited in some ways. Nowadays with the modern
technology we’re not limited in any way so bands can go in and
just go crazy. They can overdub their parts like there’s no
tomorrow and in the end it’s not really anything like what you’d
hear a live band play. So what I wanted this record to represent
was what it would sound like and what you would hear if you went
into a good blues club. It’s pretty much just guitar, bass, a
real Hammond B3 organ and drums. I’m doing the guitar and bass
and I have two brothers that I work with a lot are doing the
organ and drums. Dave Reinhardt is the drummer and Ron is the
organist and they both play with a lot of other artists as well
and are pretty well known in the smooth jazz world.
Ryan: So when recording an album like this you’re not as
concerned with utilizing or taking advantage of all the
technology that’s available to you. You’re going for more of a
live off the floor approach.
Rick: Yeah especially with this one. That was really my main
objective.
Ryan: I think some of the best records that you’ve been involved
with over the years either as a performer or producer have been
recorded that way.
Rick: Well one of my favourites was the Roadwork album
with Edgar Winter’s White Trash. I loved that record which was a
flat out live album. Also the Live Johnny Winter And was
a huge record for him which featured my production as well. That
was another straight out live record. But in the past a lot of
times in the studio we’ve all done the same thing, we fell for
it just like everybody else [laughing]. I just felt like a new
day has come and we don’t have to do that just because it’s
there waiting and available.
Ryan: I know you were raised in a Catholic family but obviously
as you grew up and drifted into the life of a musician it’s
probably safe to say that you strayed off the path at times. You
returned to Christianity or were born again if you like in the
late 90’s. Was this a gradual process and just a culmination of
many different things over the years that led you back to God or
was there one specific thing or incident that changed your mind?
Rick: I’d always been into the intelligence surrounding
different religions and I had studied all kinds of different
approaches to that stuff. You know Buddhism, mediation and all
those other alternatives but as a catholic I still had retained
some feelings that I was a Christian. In the late 90’s I had a
personal experience, my wife started seeing someone else and we
ended up getting a divorce. I went back to church and started
praying for a little help [laughter]. The answers came so
quickly; the specific answers to those prayers came so quickly
that it really surprised me. One of those answers led me to
cross paths with the woman who is now my wife. She was a
Christian practicing a kind of Evangelical non-denominational
style of Christianity. She introduced me to that and I started
going to church with her and the next thing you know one day I
decided to get baptized in the river and the rest as they say is
history.
Ryan: I know you’ve been known to change the lyrics of some of
your songs to reflect your faith but has it been difficult at
all to reconcile any of the songs from your past with the person
you are today or does that not pose a problem for you?
Rick: Not too much. In fact what we found when we went back and
explored the older songs was that I had always been pursuing
what I’ll call a moral direction lyrically with positive and
uplifting lyrics rather than going that other route. The quick
answer is that in general I’m not bothered at all by the songs
from my past because there are very few of them that have
troublesome lyrics. Unless we’re in a Christian context I can
change just a couple of words here and there where things might
have been bothersome and the audience wont even really notice
the change, but it will make me feel better about the songs and
what I’m saying. Like you mentioned in the Christian records we
have changed whole lyrics in some cases. “Rock and Roll, Hoochie
Koo” we turned into a song called “Read The Word, Live it Too”
which to Christians is the answer and says exactly what we all
need to do. We not only need to read that bible and read the
word but we need to get out there and live it which is what I
try to do and that’s what that song talks about.
Ryan: When you look back at the past you must be thankful you
made it out alive because a lot of your contemporaries weren’t
so lucky. Randy Jo Hobbs who started out with you in the very
early days lost his battle with drugs and Richard Hughes took
his own life. A lot of your contemporaries ended up as
casualties of the road.
Rick: I do feel blessed. I look at all for the Lords purpose
because he plans our lives and knows what’s going to happen
before it happens. So my life was constructed to put me exactly
where I am today which is in a situation where I can talk from a
believable point about all those problems that people go
through, whether its problems in their marriage or problems with
drugs and alcohol or whatever it doesn’t matter. I’m able to
speak from a position of experience and I’ve spoken to some
pastors who tell me that they grew up in a Christian home where
their Father was a pastor, so it‘s hard for them to be
believable to the people that they talk to because they’ll tell
them that they don’t know what its like out in the real world.
The Lord has given me the opportunity to actually be that guy
who came from the real world, who experienced all those things.
I’m sort of living proof that the Lord will help you through all
those situations and can bring you out the other end as a better
person, happier, more fulfilled and looking forward to eternity.
Ryan: You grew up as an average middle class American kid who
originally got into rock ‘n roll because it was fun and not for
the fame. How did this whole crazy ride begin for you? I mean
what made you want to become a musician in the first place? You
started playing the guitar back in 1956.
Rick: That’s correct.
Ryan: Unlike a lot of musicians who came from the same
generation that credit the Beatles as the reason why they got
into rock ‘n roll your influences go back a little further than
that don’t they?
Rick: Oh yeah. My uncle played guitar and I never got to hear
him play too much at an early age but one day he came to our
house and he had a guitar and amplifier with him. I must have
been around eight at the time. We were sitting in our kitchen
and he plugged the guitar into the amp and started playing
music. I think that feeling you get from experiencing live
music, a man actually sitting there right in front of you
creating a whole other language that impacted me greatly and
made me really want to do the same thing. So around that time I
told my parents that I wanted a guitar for my birthday. They
were great about it and liked the idea so I got that guitar for
my 9th birthday and within a very, very short time I
was playing and making money. That’s when you’re hooked
[laughing].
Ryan: Did you take any lessons or were you self-taught?
Rick: Everything, whatever was possible. My uncle obviously
showed me some stuff right away. We were from a little bitty
town so my Dad met a local guy who played guitar and he asked
him if he’d show me a few things. Right away he showed me a few
songs and I learned them pretty quickly. I would keep going back
to him or whoever would show me anything. I quickly became good
enough to go places and jam with the local bands. As a matter of
fact in the song “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” the lyrics go
‘There was a band called the Jokers they were layin’ it down’,
well that band The Jokers was a real band from my locale and
they were one of those bands that would let me get up and jam
with them as a little kid. Dickey Betts was the lead guitar
player in that band The Jokers.
It was something that I just loved to do. As you said I didn’t
necessarily pursue it to become a rock ‘n roll star because my
parents told me that I probably wouldn’t make it or even make
enough money to earn a living so I needed to have something else
in mind to fall back on. I had enrolled in my senior year to
the Dayton Art Institute and I was going to go ahead and become
a commercial artist. That was the plan and I was accepted. The
summer before I was to go away to school was the summer that
people kind of discovered us and we recorded “Hang On Sloopy”
which went on to become an instant overnight hit. Because of the
way that we got into that world without any kind of expectations
it really showed us that things didn’t change. Some people feel
that they want to become successful and they want to be a star
so badly, they look forward to it and they work and work and
work, which kind of builds up these unrealistic expectations
about what will happen. They feel that right away they’ll be
happier and all their problems will just disappear. What it
showed us coming at it from the other direction was that things
didn’t change. Certainly you had success in one area and were
liked by an audience. We had the adulation of the fans and the
notoriety that comes from that was great but you didn’t change
as far as happiness and things like that. If you’re not a happy
person to begin with you’re not going to be a happier person
after you become successful.
Ryan: Because of the way you achieved that initial success you
had no real expectations.
Rick: That’s absolutely correct. It was a great learning
experience for me and it did teach me that now that I was in
this area where people had told me that I’d probably never be,
once the success came I made sure to try to maintain it so it
could become my career. I became a very tenacious kind of
business guy and looked for every opportunity to stay in the
music business. Nowadays when people ask me what I want from
this record or what my expectations are I usually tell them that
all I’d really like is enough success that the record companies
and the audiences keep wanting me to do more. I really do enjoy
making records. I enjoy the whole process, the writing, the
production and all that, and the live performances as well
because I really enjoy playing out there in front of people.
Ryan: You certainly got that first taste of success at an early
age with The McCoys. You were what seventeen or something like
that?
Rick: Yeah I had just graduated from high school. I was eighteen
that August which was when we went to New York to record “Hang
On Sloopy”. I had just turned eighteen.
Ryan: Tell me about how you got involved with Steve Paul and
what a hotbed his club The Scene was.
Rick: We were all young kids in The McCoys living in New York
City and we started exploring the part of town where we lived
and we came across a little place called The Scene. It wasn’t a
big club or anything but after we had started going there we
quickly found out that it was a place where lots of other
musicians went. Steve Paul made it easy for people to get in, he
didn’t charge an outrageous admission or anything like that so
all the musicians started going there and it became a real music
oriented place. The McCoys because we were at least from a
surprise point of view, we all looked like young kids and we
sounded like a professional band which was kind of surprising
for some people, so we kind of became the house band there at
The Scene. We played there often and we got an opportunity to
jam with everybody in the business. I played with Jimi Hendrix
many times. Through meeting Steve Paul who was the owner of The
Scene, he eventually became my manager, introduced me to the
Winter brothers and really elevated our success to a whole other
level.
Ryan: I’ve heard it said that one of the great things about The
Scene was that it was a place where famous musicians could hang
out without being hassled for the most part. People like Hendrix
could woodshed onstage and really just let loose and be
themselves.
Rick: That’s right Jimi would do that specifically. In the times
that he was onstage he would try out riffs and things that he
was working on to see if they were things that he wanted to
pursue. That was great to kind of get to see his writing
process, to see how simple it was for him to just go out and jam
on a riff to see if it really worked and if the audience would
like it. We saw a lot of other people there too, we saw Janis
Joplin, we played with Buddy Miles and Billy Cox, and the list
goes on and on.
Ryan: You went from the ashes of the McCoys to working almost
simultaneously with both Edgar and Johnny Winter. In fact the
McCoys formed the nucleus of Johnny’s band And.
Rick: That’s correct. The McCoys had come from a period in time
where even though we were very successful other bands that
followed us became characterized as bubblegum music, which
wasn’t looked at as a higher art form. Because The McCoys were
from a similar era we kind of got lumped in with that same group
called bubblegum musicians and we didn’t like that very much, so
were out there specifically looking for ways to get out of that
mould. Meeting Steve and his introducing us to the Winter
brothers gave us the opportunity to move on.
Ryan: It was around this time that you first began to get
involved with session work as well. Over the years this has
allowed you to work with a very diverse cross section of
artists. Of all the sessions you’ve done which ones stick out
the most?
Rick: I always enjoyed working on the Todd Rundgren records
because he always had something interesting going on. Steely Dan
because I played on so many of their things, so that is always
something I enjoy looking back on. In general the opportunity to
play with so many people on so many different records was a
really great thing.
Ryan: It must have been great to work with all these individuals
in person in the studio whereas nowadays musicians don’t even
have to be in the same place they can just mail their sound
files to each other.
Rick: That’s true. Sometimes it didn’t always happen that way. I
remember I did a couple of songs for Barbara Streisand that was
being produced by the guy who had all the success with Meatloaf
Jim Steinman. He had just produced Bonnie Tyler’s Faster Than
The Speed Of Night record and I played all of the guitars on
that. Based on the success of those projects I guess Barbara
reached out to him and wanted him to produce some stuff for her.
So I went into the studio and recorded a couple of songs for
that project. The funny thing about it was that he had a girl
who we thought sounded a lot like Barbara who would sing every
take. Even though Barbara wasn’t there this girl would sing
every take. Then later on when I finally heard the finished
product with Barbara on there I realized that the girl hadn’t
sounded a lot like Barbara, she sounded better than her
[laughing]. The takes that we were doing in the studio were
actually better sounding than the final product after she had
put her vocals on there. It was surprising.
Ryan: You were the perfect guitarist for Johnny’s band because
not only you were an accomplished rhythm player that could
support Johnny in that regard but you were a great sparring
partner and could trade off with him as well onstage.
Rick: That’s correct and I also helped him in the studio as a
producer. Right before we joined him The McCoys had done two
albums for Mercury Records and like I said we were trying to
break out of that bubblegum mould so Mercury allowed us to do
whatever we wanted. We went in and did our own albums and
produced them ourselves so I became pretty knowledgeable about
how to produce records. At that time it was even trickier than
it would be today because of the technology. You had to know all
the little tricks whereas today you can kind of just let the
computer do the walking. That knowledge really helped me when I
started working with Johnny because he was feeling a little
insecure about the people he was working with. He felt that just
being a guy from Texas that they didn’t take him too seriously
and weren’t necessarily doing what he asked in some cases. He
was never sure if people were being honest with him, so he asked
me to come and help him as a producer because he felt like he
could trust me and that I would follow his wishes, so I helped
him in that regard as well.
Ryan: I have to say you were involved in some of my favourite
records growing up so I’d be remiss if I didn’t’ task you about
them. First of all tell me about you role on Johnny’s comeback
record Still Alive and Well. You of course wrote the
title track along with “Cheap Tequila”. That whole album is a
real barnburner and the energy is electric. It has a very live
off the floor feel to it.
Rick: Was Richard Hughes on that one?
Ryan: Yes he was.
Rick: I thought so. I helped Johnny in that way as well. I found
Richard Hughes for him and Randy Jo Hobbs the bass player came
from The McCoys, so I was a lot more involved than just a writer
and producer. Basically the idea was just to make sure that
Johnny was simply still alive and well. He hadn’t gone away for
a year and come back a different guy, he was the same guy they
loved, maybe if anything more energetic than ever. So that was
really the whole point of that album and I think we did a good
job of getting that.
Ryan: Just prior to this you were involved in what I thought was
a very underrated band, one that you mentioned earlier Edgar
Winter’s White Trash.
Rick: Oh White Trash was one of the best bands I’ve ever played
in. I think Edgar was a little let down that the band wasn’t
more successful commercially, although it did very well. Those
are gold albums so it wasn’t like they weren’t successful
because they were very successful records but I think he was
looking for that really big success, so he eventually decided to
move on and start a smaller more rock oriented group. But when I
go back, I don’t play the albums too much but once and awhile
I’ll be in places where they’ll be playing them. Recently I was
somewhere and they were playing the Roadwork album and
it’s- if I hadn’t have been a part of that it would still be a
record that I would look upon it when I hear it and say ‘Wow who
are those guys? Who is that rhythm section? Those guys are
rocking’. That one is one of my all time favourites.
Ryan: Then of course there’s Edgar’s masterpiece They Only
Come Out At Night a record that also featured Ronnie
Montrose and Dan Hartman. “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride” are
classic rock anthems.
Rick: Yeah that was a good one. Edgar and I still do a lot of
concerts together and the songs that were successful on that
album are still just as successful now. “Free Ride” and
“Frankenstein” in particular, he plays them in every concert the
audiences just go wild.
Ryan: If all that wasn’t enough your first solo record All
American Boy came out the same year which of course features
your version of the song you wrote for Johnny “Rock and Roll,
Hoochie Koo”. Speaking of anthems this song is a true classic in
every sense of the word and is still heard on the radio from
coast to coast today. Did you have any idea that you had a
potential hit on your hands when you recorded it?
Rick: The truth is every time a songwriter writes a song he
wants it to be just as great as the last song he wrote. However,
in reality most often this isn’t the case because the only way
to know if a song is a hit is whether the audience really likes
it. Somebody told me there used to be a time in music where
people would say ‘Oh so and so bought that record’ or ‘They
bought that hit’. A guy with a lot of experience told me ‘Look
the truth is you can’t buy a hit. A hit is a song that you can’t
pay to stop’ and that’s the truth. You have no way of knowing
how big they’ll be. “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” is one of the
songs on Guitar Hero 2 which is a testament to how much people
like it. All I can say is the song that we sent over to you
“Sometimes”, once again I had no idea I just wrote a song. I had
no idea how well it was going to be received but everybody that
we’ve played that song for so far, not in the context of a
single but just ‘Here’s our album’, they pick that song out
instantly and say how much they love it. So it has all the
earmarks at this point of being a successful song but all we can
do at this point is watch it and wait and see. You can go out
there and market and promote your songs and all that stuff but a
song that is not a hit will not be a hit and a song that is a
hit will be a hit without much of that help.
Ryan: Ever the chameleon you ventured into different markets
over the years more recently of course both the Christian market
and into smooth Jazz in 2002 with your Free Ride album.
This ability to freely move around must be quite liberating for
you as an artist and for someone who has been in the business
for well over forty years now it must certainly keeps things
interesting for you doesn’t it?
Rick: Oh yeah I really enjoy it.
Ryan: I mean you even played in Cyndi Lauper’s live band for
many years.
Rick: I worked with Cyndi and I discovered her as a matter of
fact. She was with a band called Blue Angel and the record
company had pretty much given up on them having any kind of
success and she just didn’t want to give up on that band. So I
offered to go in and complete some demos of Blue Angel to see if
there was any life left in it. What happened was those demos
were then taken to Epic Records and once again they just liked
her performances so much that they finally convinced her to go
ahead and become a solo artist. So those demos were really the
start of her career as a solo artist.
Ryan: Last year you reunited with the original Derringer band
members, Kenny Aaronson, Danny Johnson and Vinny Appice. Are
there plans to continue that somewhere down the road?
Rick: Well we don’t have plans not to. But we don’t have any
specific plans right now to do any more touring. We all loved it
and had a good time playing together. The audiences seemed to
really like it a lot, but at this time we don’t have a Derringer
manager who is out there actively working to get shows together.
We might do something again is the easy answer.
Ryan: Last question for you. Considering all that you’ve
accomplished in you career is there anything left for you to do
that you haven’t done?
Rick: [laughing] I don’t know if there’s anything left that I
haven’t done but like I said before I just want to continue what
I’m doing because I really enjoy playing and the process of
making records. My wife is a very good writer, vocalist and
producer herself so she’s helped me maintain my interest in all
those things as well because she helps me a lot. The lyrics for
“Sometimes” are hers and she basically just brought in the lyric
and I turned it into a song. That’s one of the things that keeps
me going now too is that I have a constant source of things to
write because she’s always coming up with these new lyrics which
is great.
Ryan: So you’ve got a life partner and a song writing partner
all in one.
Rick: That’s right.
www.rickderringer.com
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