Interview for Record Mirror

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THE reason we all went to see Denny Laine the other week was that he has a solo album coming out using the bassist and drummer from Stone the Crows. The tracks are two years old, although Denny has been dubbing things on it using vocals, guitar, piano, organ and harmonica.

Denny, like the rest of Wings, is fighting the problem that the band’s identity is difficult to get over to the public. They are still thought of as Paul McCartney and a backing band. But the band works like any other that has one member who does most of the writing.

Says Denny:

“He plays us a song and as he plays I’m into something already. He picks up on that and advises me as to what he sees in it. It’s even getting into that way songwriting now. I helped him with the words on Little Lamb Dragonfly and we will probably write a lot more songs together in the future.”

Denny started playing guitar when he was 12 on a cheap Spanish job which was used for everything.

“Since then I’ve had loads of guitars. More than anybody in the business. I don’t take a particular instrument that seriously but if I get a good guitar I like to hang onto it. I’m always trying something new. I seem to have a gift musically. I could get a tune out of that lampshade.”

Actually, the way in which Denny described he would get a tune out of the relevant lampshade sounded remarkable and would obviously do a lot for the stage act, but a description is too obscene to be printed.

Denny uses a Telecaster with Gibson pick-ups on it.

“I’ve never been able to make up my mind between the two so I’ve got this cross breed. It’s a semi-acoustic which is very rare, there are only 13 of them in the world.”

He won’t have a guitar that has nothing going for it.

“But It’s always got to be different and special although I’d never go to the trouble of having a guitar made for me. I play a Mustang bass as well, a short-scale Fender Precision and I like the Epiphone but I can’t play a very big bass guitar because it gives me a pain in the shoulder.”

Bass is more of a problem, because when Paul sits down at the keyboard Denny takes over bass and McCartney must be the worst person in the world to follow on his own instrument. Denny says he is a very sympathetic musician. 

“I don’t believe in trying to add anything to a song and I like his songs a lot. I just play what he plays in the bass line on keyboard.”

Denny fell into Wings. He has known Paul for 10 years. since the early Moody Blues days and Paul just thought of him as a bloke to ring up to stand in on a session.

“I always felt I was part of the Beatles. I had everything in common with them. I was in a similar type of group, Denny Laine and the Diplomats, playing the same sort of music and the same venues.”

But it was the Beatles that made it and Denny joined the Moody’s.

Amplification wise, Denny uses a Showman amp with Ampeg speakers. He did have an Ampeg amp that he liked but it blew up.

“I always use a Gibson acoustic with a pick-up on it which is Paul’s and Paul and Linda bought me a National Dobro last Christmas. I’ve got a pedal steel at home too, but I never seem to get time to work on it.”

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