SickthingsUK

Ok I just rattled off about 40 or so questions to Mike Pinera. Hopefully he is not overwhelmed and we get some great insight into that period.

I purposely stayed away from Alice's drug problem with the exception of one Dick Wagner quote. That way Mike can address if he wants. While a bunch of you might want to know everything warts and all I am way more interested in the music.

Thanks for doing this this
Looking forward to reading his comments.

pitkin88 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 31, 2020 10:10 am

Ok I just rattled off about 40 or so questions to Mike Pinera. Hopefully he is not overwhelmed and we get some great insight into that period.

I purposely stayed away from Alice's drug problem with the exception of one Dick Wagner quote. That way Mike can address if he wants. While a bunch of you might want to know everything warts and all I am way more interested in the music.

That was a good idea. Over the years that was the main problem about getting info on this period.
I have wanted to know everything about the writing and recording of SF since 1981.
Thanks to you we all now might get our answers.
I owe you one of those Primanti Brothers submarine sandwiches!

I like Sandwhiches I can get my teeth into. Is there a Cooperstown near you?

It seems this is probably not going to happen. Been over a month and nothing back from Mike.

All you can do is politely follow it up, and just wait. In my experience sometimes these things can take a long time.

pitkin88 wrote: ↑

Mon May 04, 2020 1:59 pm

It seems this is probably not going to happen. Been over a month and nothing back from Mike.

I share your fear. Duane Hitchings went quiet after I sent him the questions.

I'll be dropping him a line tomorrow with a gentle reminder in the hope that the current world crisis (or anything else for that matter) hasn't caused him any problems.

There was such initial enthusiasm from his end, with a few emails exchanged, that I would be surprised if he'd suddenly gone cold on it. You never know though.

Fingers crossed.

Si wrote: ↑

Mon May 04, 2020 2:40 pm

All you can do is politely follow it up, and just wait. In my experience sometimes these things can take a long time.

I did follow up with a message. Let's hope you are right. I purposely avoided asking any sensitive stuff. I hope no one reached out to them to say don't answer anything. Maybe I'm being paranoid.

Let's hope he comes good. I am sure there is enough stuff to tell without crossing any boundaries.

Railwayman wrote: ↑

Tue May 05, 2020 6:58 pm

Let's hope he comes good. I am sure there is enough stuff to tell without crossing any boundaries.

Correct! We don't need the juicy stuff (gossip fodder). Just how the sessions went, who showed up & even equipment & technical details would satisfy us.

One thing I always wanted to know...(I know it's too late but not sure if it would have been one he would remember) Anyway, When I seen the show at Melody Fair in North Tonawanda, NY it was before Special Forces was released and I remember them opening with Who Do You Think we Are(which I never heard but thought it was super cool) but I don't remember them playing Seven & Seven is or Clones. It did seem to me like they really jammed Generation Landslide for a good 7 or 8 minutes that night but any other recordings I heard from that tour it wasn't an extended jam. I'm usually pretty good with my memory of things but maybe I'm wrong...That is one show I want to go back & revisit. I was 4th row & the stage was in the round rotating.

I'm betting he wouldn't remember. If he does get back to me I'll see if I can ask.

Remembering songs from shows is very hard. Especially from 40 odd years ago.

I can remember songs vividly from when I saw SAHB but not which years the tours were. Framed was amazing live and them singing Delilah and them singing Tomorrow Belongs To Me at the closing. Oddly enough SAHB is a slog on the live cds. Framed drags on and on. You had to be there!

Yeah, I figured that there's no way he'd remember that... I basically wrote that because that's just something that bugged me over the years & wondered if I was right. I know what you mean about SAHB live cd's even though I never seen them live. Framed seemed to drag a bit on that live record but I like it & I still love Zal's guitar on it. As I said I never seen Harvey but here in Buffalo we used to see a band from Cleveland that would come up here a few times a month & they would do Midnight Moses, Gang Bang, & Framed. They would act out Framed with the nylon stocking over the head so I had a good idea with what went on during Framed plus just looking at the photos on the live album(this was in the early 80's before I knew video existed of SAHB)Man, I wish I could have seen SAHB!!!!… Thanks !

Well I am calling the Pinera interview officially dead. After his initial enthusiasm he has gone as dark as the blackout albums which is a terrible shame. With Hitchings disappearing also I find it hard not to believe that someone in the Cooper camp didn't reach out and warn them off.

Oh well it's back to the pool house for me!

I seriously do not understand the issue,
as you noted we could give a rats about " the juicy gossip" we want info on the sessions, playing, writing, equipment etc.

i never understood all the secrecy in the first place. Why lie about drugs to begin with and now that the drug "revelation" has come out, why continue to subdue it. No one cares what drugs were done or who shoved what up whomevers' nose.

I was really looking forward to this interview, that is probably my fave Alice era and I'm always hungry for more info.
I'm sad that it did not turn out the way I was hoping for, anyway thanks for giving it a try.

A good interview but a seriously missed opportunity to ask questions about FTF. That album was a serious change in style for Davey Johnstone and he co wrote a lot of it. Ryan seems more interested in talking about Rock of the bleedin Westies!

Maybe he should ask fans for questions in advance.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=764x05E5quc