By Paul Freeman [1994 Interview]

Dave Edmunds never forgot his roots. His records consistently draw upon the fervor of 50s and early 60s rock 'n' roll, while creating diverse and original music. Whether as a singer, guitarist, songwriter or producer, he has brought a rousing energy to his projects.

The native of Cardiff, Wales, who was born April 15, 1944, formed the band Love Sculpture in 1966. But it was when he went solo that Edmunds enjoyed a number one U.K. smash (number four in the U.S.), with "I Hear You Knocking," his irresistible cover of an old Smiley Lewis tune. More hits followed, including "Queen of Hearts," "I Knew The Bride" and Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk."

Edmunds had a huge impact in the late 70s and early 80s. He appeared in the movie "Stardust," which starred David Essex, as well as the Paul and Linda McCartney vehicle "Give My Regards to Broad Street."

Edmunds also achieved success as a producer, working with such artists as Shakin' Stevens, Flamin' Groovies, Brinsley Schwarz, Status Quo, Motorhead and Foghat.

In the late 70s, he and Nick Lowe teamed in the band Rockpile. But after the group's acclaimed debut album, 1980's "Seconds of Pleasure," they split up. Edmunds continued to create memorable music on his own. He was the musical director and band member of the TV special "Carl Perkins' Rockabilly Session," which also featured George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton. Edmunds was part of Ringo's All-Starr Band tours in 1992 and 2000.

We interviewed Edmunds after the release of his 1994 album "Plugged In."

POP CULTURE CLASSICS:
Why four years between albums?

DAVE EDMUNDS:
Has it been that long? It wasn't something I planned. It just took that time. I lost a deal with Capitol, along with a lot of other people. They had one of those change-arounds, like they do in the big companies every now and again, where everyone you know is gone. But this time I went, as well.

So I was looking for another deal. And I recorded the album myself. I built a studio in that four years at home. That sort of thing. Just life.

PCC:
Having a studio at home, was that something you had fantasized about for a while -- doing an album on your own?

EDMUNDS:
Yes. Well, when I was first recording, I used to do that. And I sort of flirted with it. I did some tracks completely on my own and some with help from other people. But for some reasons, I'm attracted to the idea of making the record all by myself, thereby having absolute control. It's only more recently that it's become feasible to do this, thanks to the technology, which has improved so much. So now I have a 24-track studio on the premises where I live. It's wonderful.

PCC:
Any disadvantages or pitfalls in doing it all yourself?

EDMUNDS:
Not for me. Other people, I think it would drive mad. There's certain traps you can fall into and you think you'll never get the record done. And there are certain precautions and tricks you've got to learn to make sure that you do. For instance, working on the same song, you'll go mad. If you don't know when to stop thinking, you get decision fatigue and things like that.

So you have keep taking a lot of breaks and keep going on to different songs -- and different things I've picked up and ways to do it. But no, for me, there are no drawbacks. I engineer myself and I do the whole thing. I sort of installed the studio and chose the equipment. It's a completely one-man job. I even mastered the record myself.

PCC:
So do you go into this with a clear picture of what you want to bring out, musically?

EDMUNDS:
No, that's really a bad way to do it. It's nice to have a kind of framework. But the thing is to leave room for accidents. Accidents are the best thing that happen in making any kind of art.

PCC:
And do they show up as guitar riffs? Choices of songs?

EDMUNDS:
All kinds of things. Unbelievable! Like you say, "I know what I want. I know what effect I want on the vocal on this." And as you're spinning through whatever you're using, the appliance, you'll come across something you never knew was in there... and it's perfect. It can be starting a take in the middle of a verse. And you hear something backwards, with the meter reversed, that kind of thing, and it gives you an idea. You have to be open to accidents happening at all points of time. Never think that you know completely what you're doing. That is certain death. It'll never work.

PCC:
The song "I Love Music," how did that one come to you?

EDMUNDS:
It was just a line that came to me. It was one of those songs that just writes itself in your head. You just pick up a pen and out it comes. And that took an hour-and-a-half to write the whole thing. And there's a lot of words in there. It just fell out of nowhere.

PCC:
Other times, is it a more painstaking process, the songwriting?

EDMUNDS:
Well, if it is, I stop doing it. If anything's painful, I tend to stop doing it. And I weed songs out. I tend to weed them out before I've written. In the process of getting an idea, I'll throw it out even before I've pursued it to its end.

PCC:
The "Chutes and Ladders" song, is that something that reflects your own life?

EDMUNDS:
Oh, absolutely. In fact, it was written by a very close friend of mine, who was on the first record I ever made, my bass player, a guy called John David. And, in fact, he's written it about me, things I've gone through in the last five or six years.

PCC:
What sort of up-and-down journey has it been?

EDMUNDS:
Oh, horrendous things... of a personal and professional nature. I got sued by someone else. And this and that. All kinds of things.

PCC:
So how do you pull through that and get things back on an even keel?

EDMUNDS:
Well, my life just is like that. It tends to go up and down, especially in this sort of business. You know, it's not renowned for job security. To stay in it for 20 or 25 years is an accomplishment in itself. But it will take you up and down. There are huge highs and deep troughs.

PCC:
And how do you get through the troughs?

EDMUNDS:
By just realizing that it's there. It's like when I'm making the record. Sometimes I think, "Boy, this was sounding fantastic 15 minutes ago. And now it sounds like shit." But it's just an illusion. It'll come back again.

PCC:
And "Sabre Dance" -- why did you decide to do a different version of that for the new album?

EDMUNDS:
Well, Rhino brought out this anthology thing with sort of all the embarrassing stuff I've done in my life... on two compact discs [chuckles]. Although some of it is okay. But they put "Sabre Dance" on it. And I was listening to it and I thought, "Boy, what a mess!" And I remember, when I did it, it was a terrible version, probably the worst version, we used to do it on stage and then we recorded it. And the recorded version was probably the worst one I ever did.

As I explained in the notes in the anthology, at that time, I didn't know you could do it again. I was that green and that naive. I just thought you went into the studio and what came out was it. Get the sound levels and then you get one shot -- I really thought that. And that's how it came out. So I thought I'd do it again.

PCC:
But these days, with the new technology, sometimes performers try to get things too smooth and perfect.

EDMUNDS:
Yup. That's one of the things to watch. You're given the opportunity to overthink everything with automated mixing -- that's the problem. People tend to misuse it and just think, "Well, do I need that a bit louder? Do I need it a bit softer?" And you start chasing it around the control room, in the end.

PCC:
In terms of adding polish, generally, do you think rock has gotten too far away from it's roots?

EDMUNDS:
Oooh. [Pause] I don't know. I don't know if anything can just stay. It would be great, if it could. I don't know if it's perhaps naive to say, "Oh, it should have stayed as it was." You can never generalize. Drum machines were frowned upon at one time. And there's a record that was out recently, that I loved, and it had the most obvious toy drum set on it. And it was fantastic. I loved it. It was, "If I Had No Loot" by Tony! Toni! Toné!

And I listened and thought, "Well, this record has restored my faith in black music, this thing." But I saw them doing it live on Letterman and they got this fantastic drummer. But it was no better than the record with the toy drum machine on it. So I've given up trying to say whether anything is generally contributing anything good or bad. It's a bit of a risky thing to do.

PCC:
On this album, were you conscious of all of the various influences? Some are more obvious than others, The Beach Boys, for one.

EDMUNDS:
Yup. I'm aware of them all. I like displaying my influences. It's my way of saying, "This is how I like to remember it." Although I can't expect everyone else to stay like that [laughs]. That's the question you just asked -- Has it moved too far from its roots? Well, if it has, I haven't. So that's okay.

PCC:
Who else would be some of the key touchstones for you? I guess Chuck Berry and Chet Atkins would be among them.

EDMUNDS:
Yeah, all the good guitar players, who don't just play fuzzy blues. I think there's too many fuzzy blues players about, where they just crank up the volume and the distortion. And it's real easy to be very impressive. But some people are very good at it as well. I mean, you get your Gary Moores and people like that. Beautiful. Beautiful to listen to.

But it's very much harder to play a clean guitar, in the style of say, an Albert Lee, Les Paul, Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed -- these guys. You know? That's another thing altogether. Eddie Van Halen had a record out a few years ago that had some very neat, nice guitar playing on it and I just went, "Yeah, there you go!"

PCC:
You were also a fan of one of my favorites, Ricky Nelson, who had the great James Burton on guitar for his early hits.

EDMUNDS:
Oh, yeah!

PCC:
He isn't always given the proper credit for the amount of influence he had.

EDMUNDS:
Oh, absolutely. And it's such a shame.

PCC:
Is it true that Joe Walsh heard your album and led you to the Pyramid label?

EDMUNDS:
Well, I had produced a Stray Cats record. And I got to meet the people there then. And I played it for Joe. And for some reason, I sent a copy to his manager. And I think it was between them both, they suggested me to Pyramid.

PCC:
Playing with Ringo's All-Starr Band, how was that experience for you?

EDMUNDS:
Uh.... It was okay. Different -- when you get seven guys who have never worked together before and you stick them on a little airplane for four months or six months, whatever it was.

PCC:
What was the toughest aspect of it?

EDMUNDS:
The toughest aspect? Traveling. The traveling -- the rushing off the stage, into a van, onto a plane, in wet clothes and all that stuff, I found a bit weird. The private jet -- it sound great. But I'm not sure it is, sometimes.

PCC:
One of the fun things about those shows is that Ringo gives everybody in the band a chance to take the spotlight briefly. Was that difficult to pull off?

EDMUNDS:
Well, that was egos, I think. I think Ringo's idea was to take a break. And he wanted Joe Walsh to do one, because Joe's always doing solo things. He can sit down at a piano anywhere and do "Pretty Maids All in a Row" or something. And then he said, "Maybe two people can do it, just so there's something going on in the break." Then of course, it was like, everyone wants to do it.

PCC:
Are you anxious to get back on the road?

EDMUNDS:
I'm never anxious to get on the road. But I sense a bit of panic at the thought of never going back on the road. Never say never. But I can't say I ever look forward to it. I look forward to going on stage. But the actual process of touring wears thin on me very quickly.

Sometimes you just don't feel like going on stage. You want to just curl up and stay home and watch a "Columbo" -- nothing too demanding. You just feel like that sometimes. You don't want to do anything. But no, you've got to go on stage. There's that kind of thing. It wears thin. After about two weeks, I start to getting slightly road cranky, a little disorientated and things like that.

There's a lot of people finding not much success, economically, touring these days. Mind you, with the price of tickets, I'm not surprised.

PCC:
If you got a band together, relying on other musicians, would you miss having all the control, as you did on the record?

EDMUNDS:
I would like to do it sort of with tapes, actually [laughs], tapes of everything I've recorded. But that would get lonely. Someone did that. Who was it? Howard Jones used to do that. I don't think I'd take it that far. I'd like a bit of camaraderie, when I'm on the road. I need a drummer, a bass player... someone I like. I like working with people I like. I don't like doing it just as a job, hiring a certain set of musicians just because that will work. I don't go at it that way.

PCC:
Do you ever plan things out, in terms of career?

EDMUNDS:
No. No, I've found it never works anyway. It's the accident theory. That looms large in my life. Everything good that's happened to me has come about by accident. Never something I've planned.

PCC:
So you just assume there's always another happy accident down the road?

EDMUNDS:
Yup. I'm banking on it.

PCC:
What about producing other artists -- is that something that gives you a lot of satisfaction?

EDMUNDS:
No, none whatsoever. Again, only if it's someone I like working with. I liked working with Kim Wilson and the T-Birds. That was great. Working with Stray Cats was okay. You could say I'm the spoiled brat of rock 'n' roll, really. I don't want to do anything unless it's something I enjoy.

If you can escape society's gravity and, if you're a musician, or a boxer or something, you can sort of choose your opponents and choose your projects. And that is the luxury that I like out of music -- not so much taking the financial rewards. It's just being able to do what you want. That's an amazing thing to be able to do.

PCC:
What about working with k.d. lang -- did you have any idea what was to come with her?

EDMUNDS:
No. In fact, I turned it down. I listened to it and I thought, "This is not for me." And then I was talked into it, after that. But actually, no, I didn't particularly enjoy it. I found the band was so well rehearsed, there was nothing for me to do.

There's this saying -- you've got your whole life to do your first album and 12 months to come up with your second. Well, this was their first album, strictly speaking. And they were so well rehearsed and they were such a good band. Ben Mink was the sort of musical director of the outfit, if you like. We -- me and him -- worked together very well. But I didn't find any particular enjoyment in working with Kathy. I'm just not the guy for it. She's better off with Owen Bradley probably.

PCC:
One of the albums that I really loved, that seemed to be overlooked, was "Born Yesterday." Was that a special experience for you, working with The Everly Brothers?

EDMUNDS:
Oh, yeah. l couldn't believe it, when that came up. I couldn't believe they got back together. And I couldn't believe I was the chosen producer. Either one would have blown me away. But both together was just amazing.

PCC:
They did such great work once they got back together. But people didn't seem willing to listen to new material from them.

EDMUNDS:
Well, it's a sad reflection on the state of the industry, the corporate aspect of the industry. You get to listen to what you're told to listen to... or what you're given to listen to, really. On the radio, you can't choose what you want to hear.

PCC:
This is the age of reunions. Any chance of another go-round for Rockpile?

EDMUNDS:
None whatsoever.

PCC:
Just because you've done it already?

EDMUNDS:
No, we hadn't done it. I actually had left the door open. And at the prompting of Billy Bremner, an ex-member, I tried to walk through the door and it slammed in my face. So I've nailed it up. It's boarded up. I've locked it and thrown away the key. And nothing will ever happen and I will never work with Nick Lowe again. I will work possibly with Terry [drummer Terry Williams] and Billy [vocals/guitar], but never with Nick.

PCC:
He did the slamming?

EDMUNDS:
Yeah.

PCC:
And the title of the new album, "Plugged In," does that reflect a bit of defiance, going against the trends?

EDMUNDS:
Yeah. Not that I'm against the concept of unplugged. It's just, I've never been happy with album covers and titles I've had. They've always been pretty unexciting, uninspired things. But I had quite a few for this one and I came up with the one "Plugged In" and the record company loved it.

PCC:
Well, it's a terrific album.

EDMUNDS:
Thank you very much.