John Maslen: Interview with the Nottingham Guitarist

Can you tell me what Nottingham was like when you were growing up?
Before I was a teenager it was much simpler, much quieter, less complex. For instance, no Victoria or Broadmarsh Centre, less traffic but most city centre streets open to cars and buses. The span from age 12 to 19, 1957-64, covering my musical life before I left to study in Manchester, saw fairly rapid change - commercial impetus linked to popular culture, food, fashion and fun.

Initially beatnik coffee bars sprang up, then pubs and clubs started getting more modern and more hip record shops and late night clubs started up; everything gradually getting deeper into the mystic of modern culture. So much was shifting into a new gear.

On Hockley you bought Cuban heeled, pointed toe boots, Italian suits, button down collared shirts. Later came the hip fashion boutiques there and in the Bridlesmith Gate area.

An exciting venue of the earlier years was the Empire Theatre, replaced by the Concert Hall. I saw package tour groups play just two or three numbers each. It was like the music hall, you could see all the early skiffle groups, Joe Brown and the Bruvvers, and the Tornadoes playing Telstar. I went to the now demolished Odeon for Cliff and the Shadows and later Chuck Berry. By the end of the period you could see the Who play My Generation, go to the Dungeon Club to see The Kinks play their early hits, or the Beachcomber in the Lace Market for Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds.

A great place for blues and RnB was the Dancing Slipper, West Bridgford where, for example, you could watch an emerging Rod Stewart first just playing harmonica with a Birmingham blues band and latterly with Long John Baldry and the Hoochie Coochie Men, prior to his later flowering with Jeff Beck and as a solo artist.

Personally, through that span of years I went from playing local youth clubs on to a city centre pub residency and then one at the Brit, one of the three thriving RnB clubs at Trent Riverside.

What sort of music did you listen to as a child?
My family was a musical one and listening was really wide-ranging. I was the youngest of four - two brothers, a sister and me. School choral singing was common to the family. Simply because of school the two brothers played violin and the sister piano. The musical environment was a mixture of classical and popular genres. The twist was that my eldest brother, ten years my senior, was into modern jazz and started playing electric violin. So I heard a lot of swing and modern jazz. Later on I listened to lots country, blues rock, soul and RnB.

By a twist of fate, we moved from Aspley to West Bridgford just before I went to a secondary school and with the advent of skiffle and later rock and roll, I became a guitarist. My elder brother David (by three years) bought himself and me guitars and by the time I was about fifteen we were playing in a band together. By that time he was a bass player. That partnership lasted until I left Nottingham in 1964. David went to play professionally in France and Germany.

Who are your guitar heroes and inspirations?
Inspirations rather than heroes: jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, the Shadows’ Hank Marvin and rock/country players Chet Atkins, James Burton and Clarence White, also Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck. You don’t always get inspired by players of the same instrument, so from a singing and writing point of view Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell are a continuing inspiration, as are Jaco Pastorius and Wayne Shorter.

Who were the first bands / people you made music and performed with?
That was a family thing. School choir singing came first, then throughout my secondary school life I played guitar and sang with my elder brother David (bass), we’d regularly jam on blues for two hours solid many evenings. At times I played jazz guitar with my eldest brother Richard (electric violin). I got into local bands, as a lead guitarist through David. First in The Strangers, our whole repertoire was Cliff Richard songs and Shadows instrumentals. David got me into local blues legend Colin Staples’ band The Beacons. First it was as a pop band but ended up as The Beaconsville Rhythm and Blues All Stars playing purely RnB and blues. That progression took me to leaving school and going to Manchester in 1964.

How did you end up playing with Gaffa and what are your favourite memories of playing with the band before they originally split-up?
After studying in Manchester for four years (where I was again in bands) I went to London for a year to study and then worked in education in St Albans for four years. During that time I played in the house band at Pathway Music in Islington working on songs by owner Mike Finesilver and also doing demos for other artists. Mike, who I played with in Manchester, co-wrote the infamous hit Fire with Arthur Brown. “I am the God of Hellfire!”

I learnt all my studio craft there and met many pro musicians. By far the biggest influence was Max Middleton of the then Jeff Beck band who taught me so much about recording attitude and about understanding ‘time’.

I came to back here in 1973/4, saw Gaffa play on Nottingham Embankment. They had something unique. I met frontman/bass player Wayne and drummer Mick one day on Mansfield road. They were changing guitarists and invited me to rehearse. In Rolling Stones’ manner they didn’t turn up but we got together and I joined on guitar and electric piano. We became professional in around 1977.

Many memories: recording the Peel session at the huge Maida Vale Studios and hearing the broadcast while gigging at Aston University was satisfying. In Nottingham, having a packed out residency at the Imperial Hotel on St James’ St for over two years was great. I also liked gigs at the Marquee and Nashville in London, The Band On The Wall in Manchester, as well as just knocking around the country having a lot of often very amusing experiences.

Setting up our independent label Gaffa n Products around 1977 and releasing an album and three singles through our own efforts wasn’t bad along with getting very good national airplay, record and live gig reviews in all the music majors of the time. The records, now sought after by new wave completists are now more expensive. And we have just got a request from a label in europe to use Attitude Dancing on an electro/dance compilation.

Whose decision was it for Gaffa to reform and what has it been like performing with the band again after a break of almost 30 years?
I believe I instigated this by adding a footnote to a Christmas card to Wayne. The message was simply something like: “I think the songs are very contemporary still, do you feel like doing a few?” This gave rise to successful gigs at the Nottingham Contemporary and a continuation of our writing partnership. So, since then, we’ve written and recorded three albums of new material, one of which has been already released through Yetiboy and two of which we’ll be releasing in due course.

As far as our personal relationships go, along with new members, it’s just as it always was: we get on. The core thing is a Beatle-like mix of strong individuals with unspoken but understood roles and the freedom to interpret differently at every gig within the framework of the songs.

What have been your favourite venues to perform at in Nottingham, both past and present?
The Contemporary gigs have been good when we’ve really controlled the sound. The Imperial Hotel residency, St James’ Street, was, when a real pub, a really good gig. We built up a massive link with a huge, consistent audience and we always tried out lots of new material on willing ears. Many from that audience came to the first Nottingham Contemporary gig, some travelling from Europe and America to do so.

In my earlier years I liked playing the Fox Inn on Parliament St with Colin Staples – I was so young. Sometimes fights broke out - we always kept playing.

As leader of my own band Nth Degree I liked playing the Running Horse.

Can you tell me a bit about your recent album, Footnote? You have a few guest musicians on it…
Footnote was an idea to bring four mature quality players I had got to know over the years together to produce a ‘diary entry‘ of the times, featuring their playing; hence, a footnote to this period. Strangely, as I was walking through the Lace Market after a session at ROFL Studios I saw an old poster stuck on a wall with ‘footnote’ written on it. I took a photo and that is the album emblem you see on the Yeti Boy and LeftLion sites.

Every period of music in town brings out some notable players: Jon Coales, Phil Jackson, Clive ‘Eddie’ Smith (Myph) and Tony Foster were my guests, they are all personality players.

The band was myself as songwriter and singer and Wayne Evans (bass), Richard Kensington (percussion) and Simon Bowhill (drums) all current members of Gaffa.

I used quality studios: ROFL with the excellent Dave Stanley producing was an immediate choice when I found it. The other studio was Tony Foster’s Mouse House: ditto for musical quality, expertise and inspiration. It was a totally non-commercial idea, only a few hard copies were produced for the band members but the album was put on the Yeti Boy Records site for free downloading.

How long were you writing and recording the album? 
I planned to finish the album one year after conceiving it and it pretty much came in on time. A year was needed to co-ordinate the players, rehearse, record, edit, mix and master and produce the hard copy artwork.

We rehearsed our backline band pretty well and so the recording comprised mainly first takes, including the initial singing. I did some singing again to improve tracks, then got the guitarists in on separate days and they played pretty much first takes as well. The approach gave the album a very warm, natural unforced feel, I thought.

As for writing, I just chose songs of my own through the years which suited the guitar players’ styles, I thought. I wrote one new song, One Thing (Leads To Another), to sum up the whole guitar/band thing.

A great help in the process was Andy Avison at Nottingham City Guitars; not only a unique shop in Nottingham but with a little practice room he let me use for initial rehearsals and the vintage guitar strewn shop itself for the photo shoot.

Will you be doing another solo record?
I don’t intend to. I’ve recorded my own albums over the years when I feel in the mood - there has to be inspiration.

Do you still take an interest in what is happening locally and can you recommend any other Notts musicians and bands to us?

Yes. I know there’s a lot of great music happening. Sometimes I catch something, read about it or somebody tells me something but I couldn’t name much. I rarely go out to gigs.

Where can we next see you performing?
At present I am sometimes depping for absent musicians in one or two bands like The Last Pedestrians and I am playing with unique Nottingham songwriter Ben every first friday of the month at the Newcastle on the edge of Sneinton.

Recording is a main activity though: I’ve been at Tony Foster’s studio pretty often these last two years recording with Gaffa and Wayne separately and guested on a couple of tracks for songwriter Bill Fay’s new album (albeit that was in London).

I’m also doing regular rehearsals with songwriter singer, Barbara Kell and bass guitarist, F Frances Heron. I’ve no idea what that will lead to gig wise. There are undercurrents of another Gaffa appearance.

Footnote by John Maslen is available to download for free. Click here to download from the Yeti Boy Records website. 

Further information about John Maslen