Colin Staples interview

This was done for Left Lion and can be seen on this link http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/3522 . Or just read below

Colin Staples

If you are a fan of the blues, you have probably at some point come across the name Colin Staples. He is synonymous with Blues in Nottingham. As well as being a great band leader, singer, harmonica and guitar player, he has run blues jams in the area for the past thirty odd years, helping many start there fledgling blues careers and providing great live music every week. He was recently the recipient of a Lifetime achievement award from the Nottingham Blues Society. He can still be found running his popular blues jam at the Salutation (Maid Marian Way) every Wednesday. In his career as a bluesman he has also played with such blues legends as Champion Jack Dupree and Eddie Burns. With another resurgence in interest in things Blues related, it seemed a good time to speak with him……

JW: What are your views on your lifetime achievement award?

CS: Unexpected, I didn’t really understand what it was for. I suppose it was for running jam sessions for years and years. People playing at them and moving on and doing other things…

I was pleased about it, particularly after the event. It was nice to see friends and people who have supported the jam over the years.

There have always been a lot of people who have been coming to the blues jam for years and supporting it – if it wasn’t for them it wouldn’t exist. I couldn’t do it without all these people who have supported me for years.

JW: At the award ceremony, Ian Siegal stated that without Colin Staples there would be no Ian Siegal, what do you make of this?

CS: I’m glad you said that because it’s not true! I run jam sessions and people can come down and play; it may help people to get into what they want to do even if they are not that experienced. I’ve got nothing to do with the talent they’ve got. Its more to do with facilitating them to play with other people, sometimes they are playing with more experienced players, which helps them. Sometimes people are playing with people not as experienced as them, which also helps as you can learn from other people’s mistakes, as well as your own!

JW: Surely you could have just had your own career as a blues player, without running all the jam sessions. Why did you choose to go down this route?

CS: Well I’ve had various bands at the same time as, or inbetween, running the blues jam. I’ve also done solo and duo things as well.

I enjoy the idea of getting up with different people and playing in a local environment where people come that you know, it’s a social thing as well. Obviously I want to encourage the music, but I get as much of a kick out of playing a small venue where I’m close to the audience than I would in a big auditorium – more so in fact. I prefer the smaller venues.

As regards my own band, I don’t think of what I do or play as being all that commercial – not that I’m deliberately not being commercial, it’s just that I’m stubborn and only want to play what I want to play!

JW: What do you think is the biggest misconception about blues music?

CS: That it’s too simple, all the same and therefore easy to play. And its not… to make something work out of a simple structure is difficult. To put feel, dynamics and colour into it is not easy. You’ve got to put something of yourself into it.

JW: What are the difficulties in running a blues jam?

CS: You’ve got to have a suitable venue. Sympathetic management of the venue. The people who come really need to be into the thing themselves. You want people to be committed to watching the whole night, not just turning up and doing their own thing and going. If everyone did that it would soon disappear.

JW: What qualities do you enjoy from the musicians you see getting up at your jam session? And what can they learn from jamming?

CS: The main thing is being able to put something in to what’s going on, without destroying anything else. So what they put in is an addition, but it doesn’t get in the way of anyone. I think that is one of the greatest skills any musician can have, to be able to play with other people and contribute without forcing someone or something else out the way. Not everybody has that skill. That is one thing that I can say people learn from coming to a jam session regularly – how to play with people without being destructive.

JW: You are in a rare position among your peers, as you have played with legendary bluesman Champion Jack Dupree and many others. How did this experience affect you?

CS: Well, Jack Dupree, as well as being a great musician, was a real character. Every time he got on stage it was a big performance and show, but he was very good at playing with us as a pick-up band. But the band also had to be very good at playing with him. He would often stop in the middle and talk to the audience and then start again. Sometimes he would throw us, but even if something went wrong he would never blame us, he maintained a really warm atmosphere by encouraging the band. I think the reason he liked playing with us was that we were the kind of band that could listen, which is what we did when we jammed. I think that’s what Jack liked about us – that and being cheap!

Jack was a really funny, nice character; he was the same onstage as he was off – always cracking jokes and telling stories.

JW: What’s the first blues music you heard?

CS: Right from being a very young kid I liked music that had a bluesy feel to it, even though it wasn’t actually blues. I liked Josh White, he was always referred to as a folk singer; I didn’t even realise he was black.

Earlier on, I also liked Hoagy Carmichael, he had a song called Hong Kong Blues, it had something in it that just fascinated me, which I later realised was blues phrasing. I liked vocal groups like the Mills Brothers and The Inkpots for the same reason: that blues-like quality to their singing.

In 1959 I accidentally bought a Howlin Wolf record. I read the titles on the sleeve and thought they sounded like blues songs. When I put it on, the first thing I heard was Smokestack Lightnin – I couldn’t believe it, that was it, I was a Howlin Wolf fan from then on. Big Bill Broonzy was another early influence on me. These two were the biggest influences on me at first.

JW: You started your musical career during the heyday for blues in Britain in the 1960s, with the likes of John Mayall being popular. There have been many peaks and troughs of interest in blues since. At the moment there is a revived interest, with the likes of Seasick Steve and others introducing the music to younger audiences. Do you see this having an effect on you?

CS: Yes, it usually draws more people into the music. For some people it’s just a fashion thing, but others get more deeply into it. It’s all good.

The 60s blues boom was good as there was a lot of experimentation, mixes of blues and jazz with rock. A lot of these musicians were mainly playing club gigs. The first time I saw John Mayall , he was backing T Bone walker!

JW: Where did you get your records from in Nottingham in the late 50s early 60s? I assume it was difficult to get your hands on American blues at that time?

CS: There weren’t many places, to be honest. There was a place on Kings Walk, which mainly sold jazz, but sold blues stuff as well. I got my first blues album from ????. It was difficult. Some shops would have the odd popular blues artist, but what you couldn’t get was the pre-war blues artists from the 20s and 30s; someone may have had an old 78 as they weren’t re-released on albums. Not like now, when you can get everything blues-wise easily and cheaply.

JW: Recently you’ve been taking your music to a different audience at the Tilt Bar in Nottingham. What do feel about playing to these younger, cocktail-drinking audiences, who probably have never experienced your style of blues before?

CS: It’s fine. When you play to an audience that may not stay all night it’s a bit different.

Once you get used to the fact that they’re coming in and having a good time and then moving on to the next place, it’s great. I don’t really like a concert-type audience, that’s not my scene, I don’t put on a show, just play music. As long as I can play music on my terms I’m happy. I’m not saying that I’m not influenced by the mood of the audience, I might play a certain type of thing to suit their mood, but it’s not anything I wouldn’t normally play.

Im not the sort of person who would be on stage if I wasn’t playing music. In fact, I’d hate to be on stage if I wasn’t playing music! I only get up there because I want to play, I’m driven by the music, I would hate to get up there and tell jokes on stage. I don’t like the showbiz side of music at all.