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Cozy Powell A Tribute to Cozy Powell 29 December 1947 - 5 April 1998 Introduction - Death Reports - In Memorian - Interviews - Quotes - Photos - Links Over The Rainbow With Cozy Powell 
Tranquility Base: What was it like for you personally to have toured, performed, played and recorded with Ritchie Blackmore?Cozy Powell: Well, I don't have a problem with Ritchie, I mean, Ritchie's got this fearsome reputation as being a complete idiot (laughs) and you have to remember that I've worked with quite a lot of guitar players who sort of. a were a little difficult shall we say Jeff Beck was the first real big player I'd worked with And I've done lots of session work for various people in England, so, Ritchie actually was not a problem with me I mean I always had good time working with him, and we shared the same sort of sense of humour, and I think if he appreciates you as a musician and he respects you then he's ok with you. TB: Was he pretty friendly toward newcomers? CP: Well, Pretty friendly towards me But I would say he gave Tony Carey a pretty rough ride, I have to say I'd have to be the first to admit that. TB: When did you actually meet Tony Carey? CP: I was trying to remember weather he was already in You see, I got the call from the Rainbow Management They'd already I was trying to remember. I think it was Ritchie, Jimmy Bain, and Ronnie, and I can't remember whether they had a keyboard player at that particular point but it was around the same time, 1975 I got a call from the offices, I went to Los Angeles and did an audition and I got the job and I think around that same time he auditioned keyboard players and he was auditioning keyboard players about the same time so, Tony Carey, I can't remember if he was there before me or after me to be honest, but it was around that same time. TB: What was it like when you first met him? CP: Pretty full of himself, but he was obviously very good And that's what his appeal was, that he was a very cocky but very confident player, the kind of guy Ritchie was looking for He wanted kind of a virtuoso keyboard player that could kinda get the same licks as Ritchie could but also have good chord sequence, structure, musicianship and the rest of it. TB: Would you say it was this attitude that rubbed Ritchie the wrong way? CP: I think once he realised he, Tony Carey, got the job, he started being a bit too big time And I think Ritchie figured that he's the big wig (meaning Ritchie) and anybody else is gonna have to be second best and Tony Carey was kind of carrying on as if it was the Tony Carey band and I think that pissed Ritchie off to be honest But you know the thing was, Ritchie was looking for someone was confident, but I think Tony Carey, unfortunately, overstepped the mark a few of times. TB: Can you think of anything specific? CP: Not particularly specific, just a general attitude At that time everyone was kind of getting to know each other anyway, and there were obviously, as it surfaced later on in the band's life, a lot of egos flying around particularly between Ronnie and Ritchie anyway, and I think to have another third party who was kind being a little bit big time You have to remember that rehearsals were conducted at one of the Hollywood sound stages and there were various liggers hanging around and goodness knows who else (laughs), so if you didn't have your feet on the ground it was easy to get carried away with it all And I think because Tony was a younger lad and kind of new kid on the block type thing, he kind of fell into the trap of believing it. TB: How would you compare Tony's playing between other Rainbow keyboardists like Don Airey and David Stone? 
CP: Very difficult, `cause, all three of them are very, very good players in their own way Tony was probably more like the kind of gunslinger type if you like: he was very good at solos David Stone's chord work was probably a little more intricate if you like, obviously not as good a soloist Don Airey kind of had it all, you know, both of them covered: he could do soloing and chord work so you had a complete mixture really But they were all very good It certainly wasn't anything to do with their musicianship It was more down to people's attitudes with Ritchie, and if he didn't like you, you soon found out about it.TB: I read in an interview once that you said that Ritchie Blackmore hated keyboardists. CP: Well, I would say that .. that's not far wrong He seems to have gone through an awful lot! TB: Do you think Ritchie was threatened by them? CP: Possibly Keyboard players, certainly the ones he chose, were all very good players And perhaps he felt that musicianship wise they were better than him in some respects Although I fail to see, because Ritchie's obviously a very clever player and you know his theory of music is pretty extensive I don't know what it was You'd have to ask Ritchie that If you get an interview with him you'll be doing well (laughs) TB: If Ritchie knew that someone had built a web site for Tony Carey, he would probably laugh. CP: You'd be surprised Tony Carey obviously has a lot of fans all over the place and I think it's nice that somebody's doing something for him. TB: What was the actual story behind the practical jokes and the ultimate reason that Tony finally left Rainbow? CP: Unfortunately, Tony became the fall guy of the band to be honest I mean, at that particular time, he was going into his room.. spending 7 or 8 hours sitting in his room with a pair of cans on (headphones) play his keyboards, sort of thing And we're talking about the "Long Live Rock and Roll" album now We'd gone past the "Rainbow Rising" era, and I think by that point, he'd already worn out his welcome a little bit and started to get a bit distant from the band By this point, everybody in the band pretty much disliked him And unfortunately because of the practical jokes that Rainbow used to play on each other, and I have to say that I was probably one of the worst protagonists here (laughs), and unfortunately poor Tony came in for it from all sides Basically what happened toward the end - I mean we played all sorts of practical jokes, it would take me an hour to tell you all of them But the one that finally did it, was that he was in his room playing away one and we decided we would co-ordinate our watches to playing the practical joke What we'd done is we'd heated up the doorknob to about 50 degrees centigrade, we then decided at a certain point in time we would switch off all the lights, you know the breaker switch And at the same time Ritchie was gonna have a pole and smash the window of the room that Tony Carey was in so obviously his first reaction would be to run to the door, and grab the handle which of course would be red hot by this point Meanwhile we then also decided to brick the room up with some of bricks whilst he was in there playing his keyboards So, at a certain point, the lights went out We heard this crashing and banging inside the room, and this scream when he hit the door handle, and eventually he got the door open to be faced with a brick wall I mean it sounds funny now, it was pretty hilarious at the time If you're Tony Carey, obviously it wasn't very funny at all The last thing we'd heard is that he'd found his father And he said: "I have to get out of this place; they'retrying to kill me!" And he was last seen walking down the road from the Chateau towards the airport And that's where the song "LA Connection" came from And if you listen to the lyrics to "LA Connection" it's all about Tony Carey being thrown out or leaving the band And that's the last I'd heard from him for quite some time until he resurfaced again many years later in Munich, and he'd apparently got a solo career and he was doing very well in Munich and he'd had a couple of hit records That was the next time I'd heard from him I don't know what happened to him intervening years. TB: If you were asked, would you perform with Tony Carey again. CP: Oh absolutely, I'd perform with just about anybody pretty much I don't have a problem performing with people I don't get bothered with peoples' attitudes and egos On stage it's everybody for himself There are some people I would prefer not tour with And some people I don't think are up to it any more. TB: I understand Ronnie James Dio is one of those you might not like to tour with. CP: Ronnie James Dio and I have had a few run ins over the past few years probably a lot more than Tony Carey in fact I mean, Ronnie kind of came into a Sabbath situation that I was involved with, and I had a pretty bad accident; and instead of waiting for me to get better or letting me come back into the band, it was his idea to get me thrown out the band without any money and all the rest of it, at a time when I really needed to get playing again And I've never forgiven him for that And I think me and him just didn't get on that well at the end of day. TB: There have been a lot of rumours about a possible reunion of the Rainbow "Rising" lineup Have you been approached about it? CP: There's been a couple of phone calls made by Bob Daisley's manager And I think he was kind of looking to see what was going on and he's apparently spoken to Ronnie, and Ronnie was waiting to find out whether Ritchie was gonna do it And they kind of sounded me out about it But that was about six months ago and I've heard nothing since I know that Ritchie has got rid of his band and who knows what he'll do But I've heard nothing further since that quick phone call. TB: If there was going to be a reunion of that tour do you think there would be any chance of Tony Carey being a part of it. CP: I don't see why not I would depend really on.. I think the difficulty with something like that is it shouldn't be done just for the money I mean, it'd have to be done because people could play and they were up for doing it and you know you'd have to forget a lot of shit that went down in the past And if people were prepared to go: "Ok look, this has all gone down, it's water under the bridge, lets get together, lets have a play together and rehearsals and if it works out lets do it No fuckin' around lets just get on and do it." -then I'd be up to doing it But if was anything else other than that, and a lot of animosity and bad blood and just general bullshit then I wouldn't be up interested at all Because, quite honestly, I've got quite a lot of tours I could do this year and next year I've got a relatively successful session thing and I've worked with Yngwie, and I've got Brian May's album and various other people so I don't really need Rainbow And I think you'll find that possibly Ronnie Dio does need Rainbow a lot more than I do. TB: Speaking of which, what are you doing recently? Any tours or albums? CP: Yeah, I just did Yngwie Malmsteen's new record which is coming out in the States I think this month or next month, but it's done very, very well in Japan And we're due to tour there starting in.. well, I'm coming to the States next month to start rehearsals We're doing a few odd club dates in upstate New York right in that area for about a week to get warmed up Then we do a three-week Japanese tour, and then it just goes on through the world - Europe, the States, South America, it just goes everywhere I've also done Brian May's new record, which is due to release some around May And today I was working with, you may remember a band called The Zombies? 
TB: Oh Yeah!CP: Well Colin Blunstone, the singer, he's making a new record and I've been doing that today So I keep pretty busy. TB: I didn't realise, I mean I have listened to all kinds of music, I'm 26 years old so I'm kind of a younger fan But I remember when I was growing up all of the Cinderella records and Roger Daltrey's "Under A Raging Moon" - I have all of those records - and I never knew it was you who performed on those What was it like to work with some of those guys? CP: Well it was great! I enjoy almost all the stuff I've done I've enjoyed working with it You have to remember that I started off as a session man So my gig was just playing on all these different records Some were more welcome than others, I mean I've worked with some of the best people in the business and it's great to keep playing, I just enjoy playing really and I don't care what it is within reason I mean, today, you couldn't get much more different: the tracks I did today for example, then Malmsteen which is like out and out heavy metal rock and roll and total lunacy, and then today we're doing quiet stuff You know, it's just music I just love playing Brian May's was different again I've done all sorts of different things really. TB: What was your best musical experience? If there was one time period or one person which you had your best, most satisfying musical experience who and what was it? CP: That's really tough I'm not trying to be conceited, but there's been so many different kind of events whether it's me playing with the Jeff Beck group which was my first time in America, that was in the early '70s When I first came to the States before that I worked at the old Motown Studios in Detroit with Jeff and the Motown.. James Jamison the original bass player who was on all the hit records and eventually ended up working with Stevie Wonder, and Tony Joe White and all these people in the soul thing Then I moved on to the rock and roll and sort of played with some of the greatest guitar players like Blackmore, and Black Sabbath and ELP I remember playing Madison Square Garden with ELP I'd seen ELP play there when I was with Rainbow oddly enough, I went along to see them and I thought how great there were with the orchestra And here I am some 5 or 6 years later playing in the band (laughs) at Madison Square Garden That was pretty magical for me There's been so many, it's difficult to single one thing out Real tough! TB: In recent years, there's been a real resurgence in 1970s music in terms of rock and roll and even disco... CP: Well, yeah Europe is pretty terrible right now; the biggest acts we've got right now are Oasis and the Spice Girls Gives you some idea doesn't it! That is really what England is all about right now, which doesn't give people like myself much hope! (laughs) They're very popular and I'm sure they give a lot people a lot of pleasure but some of these bands that come out these days, they've been in the game 10 minutes and they think they know it all Makes you sick really! TB: And you've been doing it how long? CP: Its' pretty much like 35 years getting on for, it's quite long now That doesn't mean to say that I'm any good! (laughs) But I've been there and done that. TB: I have to admit that although I've not always known who you were until I really dug deeper into my heavy metal roots in the past year and a half, and I just wanted to say what a pleasure it has been to talk with you You're a total gentleman and I appreciate the time you've taken to talk with me today. CP: No problem I've enjoyed it, and it's brought back a few memories! Perhaps I'll catch up with you on the road. TB: If you come to Nashville look me up! CP: I'll do that! Take care. Michael R Bagnall for Tranquility Base LTD (The old Tony Carey Official Website), January 1998 © Mystic Writings Publishing  |