Originally published by Liverpool Live. Monday 1st October 2012.
GREG LAKE is one of the real superstars of rock music, a member of some of the most influential bands of the genre and a quality lyricist and virtuoso musician whose records have sold millions. He’s back on the road this coming autumn and this part of the tour sees him perform his exceptional Songs of a Lifetime at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.
From King Crimson to E.L.P. to his own highly regarded solo records, Greg Lake is the epitome of progressive rock and a man whose honest opinions and views are still much sought after 45 years since he first recorded his first single.
Preparing for a tour is time consuming for any artist but Ian D. Hall was fortunate enough to talk to the man involved with such classic albums as Brain Salad Surgery, In the Court of the Crimson King andTarkus ahead of the up-coming shows.
“Well I am looking forward to it a lot, I love Liverpool. It holds a lot of treasures for me. Well I don’t have to tell you this, so much great music came out of there; it is a very special place. The people are special you know and I have always felt welcome there and I have always felt at home there. I relate to it as a sanctuary of art, Liverpool as being a sanctuary of great music.”
The show you are going to be touring, almost all over the place, what can the audiences expect to see and hear on stage?
“The show is called Songs of a Lifetime and it really is the journey that the audience and I have shared over these years and it represented in music, it’s not only my songs, it is the songs that affected me and influenced me throughout my career. This really happened when I was writing my autobiography, these songs kept popping up and at the end of it I had this whole collection and I realised what they represented was this journey we had shared together and with every song there is a bit of a story and of course the audience have got stories attached to these songs too.
I came up with the idea of having a concert based on these songs and exchanging some of these stories and you know at first I wasn’t sure it would work but after the first few shows it was absolutely clear that it was an absolute unique thing and people love it and I love it. It’s rather like walking into a family room after you have been away for a long time, you come back home to see all the family there. Having said that it’s not one of those boring story teller shows, I do tell stories but it’s not me sitting on a stool strumming a guitar. It is a full experience. It is not a quiet show”
You have been involved in so many albums, so many recordings over the years, is there specific album that you are most proud of?
“Oh golly, in different ways different albums…every record I ever make, I put everything I can to it and in that regard I don’t have a favourite really. There are periods in time, the first four or five albums by E.L.P. made were really extraordinary and they are special records to me, more special perhaps than the later albums but you know as an artist I just give a 100 percent to everything I do and after I have done it, it exists and then I don’t judge it anymore, it is for other people to judge it, you know I have done my best and given it my all. I have accepted it for being what it is I suppose. My opinion is you can’t really be creative and judicial at the same time. You are either creative or standing on the side lines judging it, it is very hard to be creative and be objective about it because the two are totally separate really.”
This tour sees you doing a lot of travelling, when E.L.P. were on the road and spending so much time in America, did you miss Great Britain at that time?
“Yes I did. Any touring artist does, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and when you are at home you wish you were touring and when you are out there touring you wish you were home but I always miss England. I have lived in a lot of different countries, in fact in the early 70’s the tax in England was at 83%.
To be honest we were forced to leave. I wish we could have stayed and we went to live in these various countries In Switzerland, we lived in Canada and all these countries are very nice, there are a lot of nice thing about them but you always miss where you came from. I have seen a lot of the world and it really is one of the greatest places on Earth, it is a peaceful place by and large, the climate’s moderate, the people are really great actually. The Brits sometimes are a bit self-effacing but you know we are a pretty good lot as you just saw during the Olympic Games, when the Brits are allowed to do something then they are good at it.”
With you coming back to one of the cultural hubs of Britain, is there anything you are specifically looking forward to seeing whilst you are in Liverpool?
“The main thing about Liverpool is inescapably The Beatles, they changed the world; really changed the world and I don’t mean just the musical world. So certainly as a musician it was the great, Earth changing music that come from there. I was lucky, I did a tour with Ringo [Starr} a few years back as part of the All-Starr Band which was a lovely experience, a wonderful guy and he talks a lot about Liverpool and as much as he jokes about it he really loves it. His great life started there and Liverpool made him what he is and he knows that.So for me Liverpool is largely that, I just like the people to be honest, being amongst the extraordinary people.
On one hand they are very genuine and with that great sense of humour of course, then of course is their appreciation of music, they are a soulful people, they remind me of the people of the more soulful cities in the United States like Chicago. There is a heart to Liverpool, you can feel it.”
You can catch Greg Lake’s performance at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on November 20th. Tickets for this show are priced at £26.50/£31.50. Tickets are available from the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall Box office.
Ian D. Hall