Alex Harvey; He's not getting older...

Growing up in Glasgow, Scotland under extremely impoverished conditions, young Alex left school at age 15 and drifted about as an itinerant laborer for a number of years until, as fate would have it, he happened upon the 78s of artists like Jelly Roll Morton, Muddy Waters, and Hank Williams. It changed the nowhere course his life had taken.

Soon he was playing trumpet in jazz bands. He also picked up guitar, and in the mid-fifties, patterning himself after the likes of Elvis, Eddie Cochran, and Gene Vincent ["...very, very underestimated, both as a singer and as a performer. He was the real thing, a phenomenon."], he encountered success for the first time when he won a talent contest as "Scotland's Tommy Steele" [the Elvis of Britain].

From the jazz and blues-rock, Alex graduated to his own band in 1959, "Alex's Big Soul Band". A hearty group of troupers, their touring days lasted until their disbandment in 1966.

After a brief stint as a nightclub singer, Harvey was employed as the pit band guitarist in the London production of "Hair". It was during this period, from 1967-72, that Alex learned the finer points of theatre, as well as the possibilities of combining theatre with rock. In 1972, on a leave of absence from "Hair", Alex ventured back to Glasgow where he discovered a band called Tear Gas [David Batchelor, lead singer; Zal Cleminson, guitar; Ted McKenna, drums; Hugh McKenna, keyboards]. A merger was arranged, and the Sensational Alex Harvey Band was born.

Initially opening for Slade, the SAHB met with intense, even violent reaction. But gradually, as news of their raw, street-fightin' act spread, the SAHB became headliners on two continents. Now, after three years of touring and recording, Alex Harvey has maintained that fierce extravagance on stage, and it still evokes a rabid, fanatical response from many an audience, though the reaction is no longer so much negative as it is an aggressive exuberance on the part of his fans. The act hasn't changed; ony the audience's perception of it. But, back to reality. In real life, the sensational Alex Harvey is 180 degrees opposite what you would expect. Gone is the violence and audacity. What remains is a person whose trials, challenges, and insights over the years have produced a highly rational perspective of self and surroundings, unusual anywhere in rock. In this interview, Alex Harvey reveals some of his views, as well as some background on his stage act and personal history.

Scene: While observing your stage act, I was wondering if you ever studied acting technique, and if you consider yourself more actor or more musician.

Harvey: I love movies and all kinds of theatre, so I may have studied acting that way, but actually, I consider myself a kind of director. When we're on stage, I feel that we're making a movie - one that may only last once - but still a movie.

Scene: With the band as a whole, where does the emphasis lie, on the music or on the theatrics?

Harvey: The music. The theatrics is to sell the music. It's like wrapping the stage act in a bright ribbon to make it more attractive.

Scene: Where do the ideas for the act come from, and do those ideas require intense rehearsal?

Harvey: The ideas come from everything from the Battle of Waterloo to King Kong to Marlon Brando - everything I've ever seen or touched in real life.

We don't rehearse all that much. Of course, a certain amount of discipline is necessary, but I like there to be room for a lot of improvisation. I'm always looking for something to do (on stage), say, working off a prop. I can work better if something just happens. Thats what keeps the act fresh.

Scene: Since the act is so successful, do you ever consider major changes in the act?

Harvey: It changes all the time. It's a completely different act than the one we kicked off with three years ago. We've done about a half a dozen different acts, and we've got a library of about 100 different pieces we could do.

Scene: Then you never worry about getting stale as a performer or as a group of performers.

Harvey: Now that can happen, especially when you're on the road a lot and you don't get a chance to rehearse or see anything or get anything to feed from. You need something like that, whether it be reading a book or seeing a movie, speaking to somebody or just getting upset.

Scene: Going back a little, what was the most difficult period for you personally over the last 20 years?

Harvey: In 1966, I had this band called Alex's Big Soul Band. We'd been together for eight years, and then we broke up in early 1966. I couldn't get an offer then. Eventually I got myself a job as a cabaret singer, singin' out front in a tux and cufflinks.

Scene: On to 1972 and the beginnings of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. I've heard and read accounts of the violent reactions you encountered in England on your first tours. Did you ever fear that the emotional charge you create in an audience might end up working against you?

Harvey: That's the ultimate art, isn't it?! When this band first started, we inspired a lot of that, almost hatred, in people. We were only a band up there working, and people took it like we were attacking them, but we had to do that because there was no being complacent. There was no being polite about it. You owe the audience stimulation.

Scene: Did you ever think about toning down the act after that initial reaction?

Harvey: Oh, we thought about it, but then immediately dismissed it. That would have been retreating. You know, why not wear collars and ties and play boogie, why not be a heavy metal band and just play that? There's already hundreds of bands doing that very well.

Scene: Ever since Pete Townshend turned 30 back in May, he's been lamenting, among other things, about how he feels strange playing for teens. Has that thought, at 40, ever bothered you?

Harvey: I'm surprised that Townshend's saying that. I don't feel that way because it's all show business. Rock'n'roll is not old enough to tell whether or not you can continue playing rock'n'roll after you're 25 even.

We're sitting here in a room, and you're asking me questions. Sometimes I think that there's a danger in that one could become a reflected image of onesself or a cardboard cut-out, and I think maybe that's what happens with Townshend or even Elvis. They sort of become a product of the whole phenomenon. And in the final analysis, it's only show business. Show business was there first - and then rock'n'roll. And I think it's healthy to always think about it along those lines. There are a lot of purists who will say, "No, you can't say that!" But rock'n'roll is all show business.

Scene: What about rock's progression? As someone who has observed rock right from the start, do you think it is progressing, or is everything a variation of what's gone on before?

Harvey: It's definitely progressing. It's got to to keep healthy. There's one band that's renewed my faith in it, and that's the Tubes. At first when we came to America, we were disappointed because they had a lot of great bands, great musicians, but it was all the same old riff. And a lot of soul bands, "chukka-chukka, chukka-chukka, yeah baby, I feel OK!" That was disappointing. You see, I think rock'n'roll has got to be about rebellion, about breakin' the rules.

Scene: How about the difference in the response of rock audiences, intellectually and emotionally, say, between 1958 - in the prime of early rock - and today?

Harvey: They're much more intellectual today. If that's good or bad, I don't know. There's a better understanding about music, which is a good thing. About the emotional response, I'd say that is about the same, which is healthy.

Scene: Getting back to what you said about rock'n'roll being about rebellion and breaking the rules. Does that sense of rebellion act a drive which keeps you going?

Harvey: I suppose so. I'm very against any kind of violence. I don't think that'll ever work. Men have been trying that for thousands of years, and it just doesn't work. I do feel rebellious about people who always blame everything on the system, because it's not the system - it's you.

Scene: Do you specifically aim yourself at younger kids who you feel are more rebellious?

Harvey: Not particularly, but in the not-too-distant future, I predict they'll have members of the government 12 years old. I really mean that, because the kids have got a certain freshness. I've seen a lot of people grow up in my experience, and, after a while, a kind of apathy sets in. But the big thing that kids have is honesty - yeah, that's what they've got - honesty. They're not old enough to be affected. They believe in just what they see, and they always question, "Why, why, why?" Rock'n'roll is a better form of communication that politics. You take kids from a school here and from a school in China and I'll bet they both get off on it at the same age. They wouldn't even need to understand the language.

Scene: Despite the difference between your age and the average age of your audiences, there still doesn't seem to be any separation between audience and performer. The rapport is still there.

Harvey: I never play down to them. Besides, they know more about the music than me. I have more experience in it, but they know more about what it's like to be 12-15 years old in 1975 than I do. I like it like that.

transcribed by Nils Odegard

photos borrowed from Peter Ball

©1996-2002 dwm