Col. Parker - Album

[Jason Gladu]

Just picked up Col. Parker's debut - What a great album! Solid rock n' roll and some of Gilby's best work. Any idea on why they didn't follow-up with sophomore release?

[Gilby Admirer]

I found some old interviews ~

From Slim Jim

Question: Hi Jim, I'm from Denmark, and I've got one question (maybe it's more a wish) that I hope you'll answer. I kinda like stumbled upon the Col. Parker album 2 years ago and still I can't get it out of my head. So of course my question to you is: Do you have plans with Gilby, Teddy and Muddy to do another Col. Parker album sometime in the (near) future? Or do you wish to, but do not have the time?
Mogens, Denmark
Jim answers: I'm glad you liked it, me too! The Col. Parker record turned out really good, I'm proud of it and would like to do another someday. The guys are my pals and part of the Thursday night jam scene that we have going on at my Cat Club [visit www.catclubonsunset.com for more details]. Muddy's band is playing tonight! We did tour the States and hopefully will do more stuff together.
www.slimjimphantom.com/BiographyQuestionandAnswer.htm

From Gilby

The Col. Parker record was really special, because that whole record was written within a month. That's one of those things where you get the right guys in the room. We just started writing a bunch of music, we recorded it and to me, it felt really good.
www.rocknworld.com/morley/07/GilbyClarke.shtml

[Jason Gladu]

Thanks for posting the interview. Let's hope that day comes soon for when Col. Parker regroups.

[moxy]

I'd love for those guys to get back together and do a follow up, seeing as it's probably my favorite Gilby album and I practically wore it out after buying it when I was 18 in 2002. However, I highly highly doubt they'll ever put out a second album, and I think that is mostly due to the fact that there was practically no promotion for it and the tour did not do well (which is sad because it was such a good album and was a great band). They did some dates opening up for Buddy Guy and did some headlining dates on their nights off from the Buddy Guy tour. I saw them at one of their headlining shows when they played The Magic Bag in Ferndale, MI back in '02. The Magic Bag holds about 500 people and their were maybe 20 people there...maybe. I couldn't believe it, but it made sense considering there was absolutely no promotion for the show, nothing in the local rock papers, nothing on the radio, etc. I actually remember reading a Gilby interview shortly after the Col. Parker tour where he said that V2 Records pretty much did nothing to promote the album or tour and that they should have tried to get them on tours with bands like Pearl Jam, The Black Crowes, or The Wallflowers rather than Buddy Guy because they didn't fit that audience. I will say, they played a great set even with the lack of a crowd that night. They played like 5-6 songs from the album and about 6-7 covers if I remember correctly. Teddy's keyboard blew a fuse and he ended up playing rhythm guitar for the last handful of songs. I remember they came out for an encore and joked how they couldn't believe we wanted them to keep playing. They were cool and all came out after the show and just hung at the bar and talked to everybody, signed, autographs, had a few beers, etc. Great band, great record, great show, but a bad time for music that sounded like Faces and Stones when rap metal and butt-rock filled the rock airways.

[Gilby Admirer]

Thanks for the insight on what happened. It's a shame that labels only seem to promote manufactured crap instead of real rock.

[moxy]

No prob. It was a fun night, and though it stunk that more people weren't there, it made it more personal and kinda cool in a way. I remember they played "Pills" and had Brian Smith (who wrote Gilby's biography for his website) from the Beat Angels (who Gilby produced) get up and sing some of the vocals. He was living in Detroit at the time and writing for either Real Detroit or Metrotimes...I can't remember. I also remember there was some guy who kept yelling out for "Zip Gun" and finally Gilby was like, "Umm...man...I don't even remember that one." I know they definitely did the first 6 songs from the album, Pills, Merceds Benz, Jail Guitar Doors (which was especially cool), Dead Flowers w/ Used To Lover Her in the middle, Can't Always Get What You Want, Muddy sang Squeeze Box as the encore, and there was maybe one other song I'm forgetting. They came out afterward and just kinda shot the shit with the 10 or so of us who stuck around at the bar. Gilby was telling us how each of them had gotten tattoos that day of the skull from the Col. Parker album somewhere on each of their bodies...his was on the bottom of his forearm and you can see it in a lotta pics since then. Some guy was trying to get Gilby to talk some shit about Axl, but he was really cool about it and kinda just blew it off as Axl has his own thing going on and he can do whatever he wants, but shouldn't use the GNR name. Muddy was really talkative (and seemed pretty high and drunk) and kept going on about how bummed he was because Buddy Guy was using digital amps and how he was hoping Buddy would have a bunch of old black blues guys in his band, but instead he had a bunch of young uptight white guys lol. All four guys were really cool and definitely deserved a better shot with that record.

[Jason Gladu]

Hey Moxy - thanks for posting these stories - especially the one about Muddy LOL. I'm still spinning the record - it never gets old, the guys were definitely on to something pretty damn special. Glad to hear how cool these guys were despite the crowd and you are right, even thought the turn out wasn't that great it would feel a whole lot more personal. The record would have done a little better if they toured with The Wallflowers - so brutal, why wouldn't the company do any promotion? What do they get from signing a band and not following up with their investment. Jeez!