Interview for Calico Skies Radio

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This interview was conducted by Julio Eduardo Martínez, host of the Calico Skies Radio Puro McCartney podcast. Originally published in his 2021 book “McCartney – Surviving the Perfect Song“, it is reproduced below with his courtesy.

How did you meet Paul?

Roy Kerr: My manager at the time, who was the same guy from Youth, told me that McCartney was looking for a DJ for a tour. I knew a lot about The Beatles because my dad and brother listened to their records a lot, they were hooked on that universe, but I didn’t know much about his solo career. I knew the hits like The Frog Chorus (We All Stand Together) and those that were big hits in the UK, but I didn’t really pay attention to his solo work. One day I discovered McCartney II, around that time, I loved Temporary Secretary, I thought it was a bit ahead of its time. It’s his electronic side. James Ford, another producer, introduced me to it, he used to be a DJ and he was the one who introduced me to McCartney II. 

Did you prepare anything special for Paul?

I did a short mix, five minutes, and I knew other DJs did theirs longer. Ten minutes, half an hour, even an hour. And I don’t think he was ever going to listen to that. There was no chance I was going to listen to something an hour and a half long, so I made a short mix that was easy to listen to and I think that helped me. I was invited to MPL at their London offices in Soho Square. Paul called me first. I got a call from his office and they said, “You’re going to get a call from Paul McCartney in ten minutes.” And that’s when I said, “Wow!”. He called me back and said, “Hey, Paul here.” We had a good chat for 20 minutes, talked about music and kids and he invited me to MPL. His tour manager, Brian Marshall, was there and a couple of other people. It was a nice, very informal chat. On the tours I would play music in the lead up to the shows, with songs by The Fireman, and he was looking for something more active with a DJ. He had a 20-minute or so performance with some of his catalog. Paul told me I could have full access to his catalog, I could pick and choose what I wanted and the only requirement was not to add new music. It all happened very quickly.

Does McCartney play any instruments on the record?

He didn’t play any instruments and it all came from the original tapes. One day, during rehearsals, he showed up with a megaphone and I recorded him screaming into the megaphone to include it among the various effects. I wanted his voice to sound very much in the style of Helter Skelter, which was an inspiration for me. And around that time, on the 2005 tour, he played Helter Skelter for the first time. For me it was like he let me produce it, it was how I liked to do things, with some experimentation. 

That period of McCartney’s time was very fruitful with the subsequent release of Chaos And Creation In The Backyard…

One of the reasons Twin Freaks didn’t come out on CD and didn’t have much of a marketing campaign was because they didn’t want it to be put together with Chaos And Creation In The Backyard with Nigel Godrich as producer. Actually, the Twin Freaks project was never going to happen. One night we played in Russia, it was a great night, and while I had access to private flights and was within his work circle, it was hard to have a moment with him. Even with my manager there, it was hard to get close to him. The night in Russia he celebrated his birthday in St. Petersburg, we went out to celebrate and I was DJing, Heather (Mills) asked me to DJ. And we got pretty drunk on vodka. We were very euphoric and we talked about soundchecks, pre-concerts and the idea of making a record came up. There was a festive mood, we danced, he had his arm over my shoulder and he said, “Let’s make a record, we’re going to have a good time, we’re going to love it!” and I said, “Yeah man, of course we are!”. And the next day, I woke up and I thought, “Oh no, what did I do, I blew it, what an idiot!”. And at sound check, he was always going back and forth on stage, he crossed me and said, “Yeah man, let’s do that record, that’s a great idea.” Then I got several calls from Parlophone and his manager. We didn’t have a name for the project. He looked at a page in his book of paintings and one of them is called Twin Freaks. I presume those two faces are him and John Lennon. After the meeting at MPL they sent me a box of the material. I was listening and listening and listening and choosing. They also sent me DVDs and that’s when I started recording clips of people.

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