- 2 days ago
Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke talks about the band's upcoming Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction and more with Audacy's Remy Maxwell.
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00:00i'm and kirk obviously from finally we can say it rock and roll hall of famers
00:06bad company yes thank you brother long time coming man 26 years of eligibility
00:13with the uh the first release officially came out in 74 so that means 25 years prior to 99
00:19uh yeah what's the general consensus of the band i mean not this is the first year that
00:26you've been on the nomination list and you're being inducted is it a good bad feeling i know
00:31it's a great feeling obviously but it's a good feeling ultimately yeah it's a good feeling
00:35after years of disappointment and not making not even making the nomination because you know
00:42two-step process nomination and then induction my friend nico mcbrain from the iron maiden
00:48they've been nominated 11 times it's just unbelievable it's a travesty really yeah it is
00:55and they should really be they're a great band agreed um so i don't know uh i think it was
01:00i think it was a little bit political i i can't really go into any depth i don't honestly 100%
01:07know uh but we got the call last october we were going to be nominated oh great you know and then
01:16then in february we got the call don't tell anyone but we got the call that that we we were in and i'm
01:24glad on on obviously many levels i'm honored um but it was just before mick ralph's passed away
01:31yeah and we were able to tell him that you know we're in and he his first words were
01:38does that mean we get free hot dogs
01:40go figure priorities right
01:45so yeah he died knowing that that that you know bag company had made it
01:53bittersweet most definitely yes sir i mean it was three quarters of the band that first went into that
01:59rehearsal 52 years ago this month uh of course you and paul rogers came from free uh boz from king
02:06crimson and mick from montahoupal and then you had can't get enough right out of the gates
02:11and then a steady string of you know monstrous rock radio staples followed shortly thereafter
02:17i gotta ask you that obviously gained the attention of a legendary powerhouse figure
02:22i am peter grant yeah peter signed you guys to a management deal early on and then of course
02:27you were on zeppelin's swan song label you must have uh stories for days involving that figure
02:34yeah well i from the get-go you know he we sat around the table me and paul
02:41and mick uh didn't come on board for a few months and we said well look after our last
02:49bands you know free and uh king crimson and
02:52uh mott we we need a really really good manager who's the biggest band in the world of course it
02:59was led zeppelin sure the weird thing was our um our road manager for free was a new zealander
03:07who came over from new zealand with a mate of his who was the road manager with zeppelin
03:12and and he got peter grant's number and paul rogers called him and i was there on the call and uh
03:21you know he said peter hi we've we've got a new band together and peter said i know
03:25what what you know that he said anyway um i want to come and see you so we arranged to get together
03:35um and peter drove a long long way to uh to a little the village hall where we were rehearsing
03:43and had been rehearsing for weeks and he was very very late i mean like hours late and he finally
03:49walked in and we said oh welcome thank you for coming peter sit down i will play you the set he
03:56said it's all right i've already heard it what he said what's going on here i've been sitting in the
04:02car park with my window down listening to you guys ah he was clever because he knew we'd be a bit
04:09nervous you know okay you sound absolutely amazing by the way me and the boys zeppelin setting up our own
04:17record company do you want to be on it and we thought for about two seconds yes please yes the
04:25first signing to swan song wow man correct what a feather in your cap i mean seriously uh you're
04:31you're spoken of in the hushed tones of reverence and put in the drummer circle of people like john
04:36bottom obviously uh keith moon uh who are who are some of your influences coming up because you're you
04:42know to us you're you're one of the masters you're you're at the beginning well i'd have to say
04:47ringo okay and a lot of guys you know even um you know even the the prog rock drummers uh site
04:56uh ringo is a huge influence because the thing about ringo was that he played what the song required
05:03i mean he couldn't do a seven minute sure nine nine five times six no that's not his life no yeah
05:11no he said i can manage six eight that's about it and um so he played what the song required and he
05:17had a wonderful backbeat uh in that genre it would be charlie watts because charlie had one of the most
05:24wonderful backbeats and keith keith richards said years ago he said there's no way i could ever replace
05:30where would i find another drummer like charlie sure that that was back in you know in the 90s
05:36and then yeah tragically passed away yeah steve jordan yeah he's doing a great job great job i mean
05:43he's played with keith on his in his solo band for years too so they had that together to begin with
05:48yeah expensive winos you uh you mentioned ringo you were in ringo's all-star band for a year for a
05:54number of years uh i did four tours with ringo and the great thing about playing with him was
06:01obviously you know to play alongside one of my idols one of my influences was that um he had this
06:07wonderful array of musicians you know i got to play with jack bruce wow peter frampton todd rongren
06:15eric carman mark rivera uh dave edmonds it was just a never-ending just a revolving door of genius
06:23oh they were wonderful yeah did it did it make you a better player in the process no question
06:28no question because the thing about bad company you know we obviously we have to play the hits you
06:34know people pay a lot of money to come in here i'm shooting stuff feel like making love right with
06:40with ringo it was a chance to play other people's songs and um gary brooker from brokohama uh harem
06:48you know we we just had to learn different styles of playing and and it was it was a real education
06:54i have to say loved it that is awesome uh bad company going into the rock and roll hall of fame
07:00finally on november i think it's november 8 in la that's right uh you're uh you're being inducted with
07:05i want to know how you feel about good company probably right uh chubby checker cindy lopper
07:12outcast the white stripe sound garden uh to me chris cornell was a modern day musical genius
07:18killer vocalist yeah songwriter also joe cocker's going in you should have been in years ago of
07:24course i don't know who's going to represent him if it's some of his family or whatever but yeah
07:29joe should have been in years ago he was so good i mean going back to mad dogs and englishman
07:33with leon russell leon finally got to get in uh thanks to elton you know that was great oh i
07:39didn't know yeah elton kind of scooped leon said himself he's like elton john came and scooped me
07:44out of the ditch on the side of the road and they did that uh the union album together to kind of
07:49give leon the uh the attention that he deserved from the beginning i think i didn't know but leon
07:56was in and out of the wrecking crew yes you know that that wonderful souls gig yeah yeah that
08:02cadre of musicians in la and i see that carol k the bass player is getting inducted in the
08:09musicians musical excellence award yeah yeah she's you know she did the sonny and share
08:17song the beat goes on and it's really yes it's just in g the whole thing and how blaine the drummer
08:25they had a cigarette break in the car park what the how are we gonna what are we gonna do with
08:32this it's just g g g g g g sure she came up with the bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb oh wow he came
08:40up with that riff and saved the song uh she was the mark of a brilliant musician yeah yeah i'm glad
08:48she's in i saw you guys uh i mean you were the only continuous member of bad company since the
08:53beginning there was a break there in the early 80s you you you cranked it back up for a while i saw
08:58you in 2016 uh in minnesota with the winery dogs opening uh do you remember that show no okay the
09:06winery dogs has ricky cots and billy sheehan amazing bass player great and mike portnoy and i was front
09:13row for that show and the drummer mike portnoy yeah oh he's wonderful he's amazing he's back in dream
09:19theater the band that put him on the map back in 91 too yeah that was a great show and i'm so glad
09:25he probably arrived you know as they were coming off i would have remembered she and mike portnoy because
09:32yeah they are great great players are you amazing do you listen to any newer music these days i mean
09:39if so what gets you going not not really me neither
09:44you know it's we got that ogre of ai and yeah yeah no it's it's that's no excuse i i like the
09:55there's an italian band mansplain or mensplain or oh they have a girl bass player they're great
10:04looking all four of them right they've taken hard rock and kind of morphed it into this new new age
10:12i it i might have it wrong someone will tell me it's it's something splain okay you know or but
10:18check them out they are fantastic awesome yeah great tip thank you yeah and uh other than that no
10:25not really yeah well speaking of new stuff right out of the gate you were telling me about this new
10:29project that you've got going on right yeah what's going on me and uh two other guys woody
10:35geesman and tony tony viveros we're all in recovery i mean i make no secret of the fact that i'm an
10:42alcoholic and addict in recovery and um the other other two guys are in recovery too and we've we've
10:50written this uh rock opera about addiction about a couple who are you know uh enmeshed in okay
10:57addiction and we've written uh gosh 15 or 16 songs we got the script really finished and we had a
11:03fundraiser last night you know to to get some money together to get this thing off the ground
11:08which is why i'm a little horse you know okay and uh it was it's just a great night but that's what's
11:15been occupying me for the last three years really wow well when do we get to see the fruits of your
11:21labor with this we'll see you know we've got to get a bit more money we have to get a script writer
11:25and uh get rehearsals going i i think once it's up and running once we have all the elements together
11:33it's it's it'll be uh or rather won't be too long before we hit the stage that's awesome i would say
11:41in the next six to nine months killer something to look forward to yeah simon kirk of bad company you
11:47guys are obviously the marquee name on the class of 25 rock and roll hall of fame inductions there's
11:52always the big jam at the end uh do you know what's planned for that or what what is going to be
11:58your involvement in this everyone asks me of course what's that saying i could tell you but then i'd
12:05have to kill you i honestly don't know okay you know the pendulum is swinging one way then the next
12:13i i i really don't know if we will i sincerely hope we we can um and that's really all i can say
12:22about it i honestly don't see paul rogers on stage doing the twist with chubby checker i can
12:27definitely put that i don't see chubby checker on the stage doing twists good point
12:32well congratulations on all your success simon thank you brother finally we've been waiting and
12:40waiting and waiting for decades being inducted at the rock and roll hall of fame november 8th you can
12:44see it on disney plus streaming live from la bad company finally going in congratulations
12:49you
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