|
|
| Jaxx |
Halifax Herald
Wyman's roll of a lifetime
Bassist looks back at life with the Stones
By Brad Wheeler / Globe and Mail
Toronto - In the end, Bill Wyman is not so unlike the rest of us.
After leaving the Rolling Stones in 1992, following a three-decade stint as its bass player, Wyman, like so many of his fans, dreams of being a member of one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of all time.
"I'm on the road, I'm touring . . . gotta get to the show and I can't find my guitar, and me shoes are missing," says Wyman. "I go in the next room and they're all there partying. I get these dreams every three months or so."
Do not confuse dreams with aspirations, for Wyman aspires to much, and none of it has to do with rejoining his bandmates.
 Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman is shown in Toronto recently promoting his new book. What strikes one most about Wyman's person is his miniature frame. He is, like all of the Stones, rather slight.
He left the group, in part, because he felt the Stones had achieved all they could, and he didn't feel the need to carry on doing the songs he had been doing for 20 or 30 years for another 10.
As well, he wanted to settle down and start a second family. In 1993, he married his third wife, Suzanne Accosta. They live in London with their three young daughters.
He was in Toronto to talk about his new book, Rolling with the Stones - a weighty 503-page tome full of pictures (about 3,000 of them), maps and diagrams. It's billed as the definitive visual history of the band by the only man who remembers it all.
Memory serves him well, but Wyman's recall is bolstered by a massive archival hold of clippings and photographs that he began hoarding in 1962. He started it as a way to show his son, some day, what his father was up to - what Daddy did in the war, that kind of thing.
So originally, it was for his own personal use. Wyman had no expectations that his career as a pop star would continue for long.
"You never saw it as everlasting," he says, "because no bands had ever lasted that long."
Of course, the Stones are still here. And we well know now that rock'n'roll never dies, that it does not even fade away. With Hard Rock Cafes and halls of fame, the urge to preserve has never been stronger. And to those, add the coffee-table book - a bulky bit of cultural furniture that lately has been found to be the perfect repository for the memories of bands such as the Beatles, the Who and now, the Rolling Stones.
Wyman's collaborator on the project is Richard Havers, the same man who assisted on the last book, Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey. While Havers reclines on a hotel couch, Wyman sits, with legs crossed, on a simple armless chair. He holds a lit cigarette in his left hand, which he puffs only occasionally, while holding his other hand to the side of his face.
What strikes one most about Wyman's person is his miniature frame: He is, like all of the Stones, rather slight. In a recently cobbled-together Stones biography (Old Gods Almost Dead), author Stephen Davis contends that their small stature is the result of the Second World War and the food rationing in Britain that continued long after the war.
Wyman agrees. "All English bands were small - the Beatles weren't big guys, the Kinks weren't big. I think Americans and Canadians are probably not aware that although the war ended in 1945, we were still on rations until 1953."
He kept his rationing card, and a picture of it is included in the volume. Moreover, one of the more interesting sidebars in the book is a map of wartime Britain, complete with markings of areas subjected to bombing and principal evacuation areas. The young Wyman had nightmares about the war for decades after.
In addition to stashing posters and set lists, Wyman was meticulous in keeping newspaper articles concerning the Stones. A wealth of them, either in part or in full, are found in the book. One, from a 1966 edition of Disc, contains the opinions of the band members on each other - Keith on Charlie, Charlie on Brian, Brian on Bill, and so on.
For this interview, Wyman agrees to update the appraisals with his own current take on some of the men who counted themselves a Rolling Stone.
On Mick Jagger: "A great businessman, brilliant at gathering information from other people's brains. He can be quite cold. Sometimes you don't want to talk to him, he goes into this other Mick. But when the time comes and someone's got problems, he comes through."
On the late Brian Jones: "Without him, there'd be no Rolling Stones. Brian was the creator of the band and the music of the Stones. He was brilliant in the 1964 to 1966 period with all those other instruments, when he could pick up anything that he never touched before and just get a riff or a line out of it, and make that song totally different."
On Keith Richards: "For me, Keith is probably the best rhythm guitarist in rock and has been since the beginning. I'm not keen on his singing. (The songs that he sings on) always sound like demos to me, like he hasn't done the final take or something. He comes off as being a tough guy and all of that, but he's kind of shy. He covers it with all this aggression."
On Charlie Watts: "Very reliable. He's absent-minded, but in a lovely way. We have much in common; he's a joy to know. He's a real smart dresser, always, right from day one, and very proud of his clothes."
On Ronnie Wood: "The loon, the clown. He was always the link between me and Charlie on the quiet side, and (Richards and Jagger) on the flamboyant side. He's mad on stage, sometimes he pays less attention to what he's playing than where's he cavorting to. He's a great guy, he's got a heart of gold."
So then, mostly favourable judgments on his former bandmates and, according to Wyman, the feeling is mutual. On the occasion of his 66th birthday recently, the touring Stones called him from Miami, leaving a cheering chorus of Happy Birthday on his voice mail.
|
|
|
| gypsy |
Thanks for posting that, Jaxx. I just love Bill's descriptions of each Stone! |
|
|
| Lazy Bones |
Thanks, Jaxx - surf Queen! Just last weekend I watched the video of Bill and The RK's at last year's Bluesfest in London, Ontario. Nice video footage, however, not complete. |
|
|
| parmeda |
Yes, thank you Jaxx...
This review seems to be very accurate as to an explaination of Wyman's book. It truly is "a book"...quite large and very heavy. I am actually using a magnifying glass on almost every page...to see the articles and the photos that are collaged on the pages, you need one. Well, I do...
I'm taking my time with this one. I want to absorb everything he has to offer in it. It's very good so far and pieced together well.
If any of you don't have this book as of yet...accquire it, grab a glass of wine and enjoy them both! |
|
|
| sonicrock |
what can i add heuuuuuuuu thank you jaxx |
|
|
| jb |
thanks Jaxx..you want to spend a lot of money with me and buy a pair for MSG? |
|
CHAT ROOM aka THE FUN HOUSE] [
RESTROOMS]