The future? I’m, 67. I could be dead next week
Status Quo’s Francis Rossi has spent a lifetime rocking all over the world, but tells MARION McMULLEN it’s time to pull the plug on the electric guitars
THERE’S no doubt in Francis Rossi’s mind that it’s time to call it a day for Status Quo’s legendary electric guitar shows. “It’s going to seem a bit weird when the last concert ends and I go home and think ‘S**t, what now?’ he admits. ‘People say ‘You’ll miss it’ and, of course, I’m going to miss it. If I didn’t it would be like the last 30 to 40 years were a waste of time.
“But I’m sixty-um, erm 45, no I’m 67 now and with the tours I think this is madness. I’ve always thought I would reach 93, but if I live to 85, well, you know, people say what about your plans for the future and I laugh and say ‘What future?’ I’m 67. I could be dead next week.”
He and bandmate Rick Parfitt announced their Last Night Of The Electrics Tour earlier this year along with a string of high profile dates across Europe with plans for a spectacular send-off in the UK next month.
Then 67-year-old Rick suffered a heart attack in Turkey in June and was told by doctors he needed to take the rest of the year off to aid in his recovery.
Francis says: “It’s been hard with all the stuff happening with Rick, but it’s made everyone determined to pull together and go out there and put on a great show.
“We’d been talking about stopping the electric shows for a long time, but it’s like a carrot that’s always just out of reach. We’ve been trying to reach that carrot for as long as I can remember.”
He says he changed his own lifestyle round when he was 38 and meeting his second wife Eileen and having more children was instrumental in kicking the rock ‘n’ roll excesses.
“I’ve been going to the gym for a few years now and I do some type of work-out every day – biceps, pull-ups, crunches all that stuff. You do become obsessed somewhat, but I could do complete inertia. I’m quite a lazy guy and I can eat, gawd, can I eat. If I ate everything I wanted to I would be pear-shaped.
“I got into trouble recently for talking about fat women. You can’t call people fat now. I suppose you have to say large and I was on Loose Women and Coleen Nolan was giving me a hard time about it and said she liked men with a bit of meat on them and wouldn’t go out with someone as skinny as me. And I thought she can call me skinny but I can’t say fat? Huh! Anyway how on Earth did I get onto this subject? I’m going to get into trouble again.”
Status Quo have sold more than 118 million records during their 49 year career, have had 43 hit albums and have played more than 6,000 live shows to a total audience in excess of 25 million people. They have also spent more than seven and a half years (415 weeks) in the British singles chart.
The Last Night Of The Electrics tour will mark the end of an era for the iconic rock band, who hold the record for 106 appearances on Top Of The Pops – more than any other group.
But Francis says he still worries about money and providing for his family when the electric guitars are finally unplugged.
“I do think about how I am going to finance my life,” he admits. “People think I must have loads of money, but we did lots of drugs, alcohol, divorces, ridiculous lifestyles and got ripped off here, there and everywhere.
“I’ve got a family now and bills to pay and it does worry me. Ten years down the line I don’t want people having to do a gig for me to help me out. I’ve a terrible fear of failing. It was dreadful at school. I went to this Catholic school and I failed the 11 plus exam and was sent to a school were you aspired to knock a teacher through a window. I had
to work to make it, to get my own home and make money.”
There have been many memorable moments over the years. Quo famously opened Live Aid in 1985 with the song which was to become the event’s anthem – Rockin’ All Over The World, they were immortalised in wax by Madame Tussauds and they’ve appeared on Coronation Street.
“The wax work thing was weird,” remembers Francis. “I never look at photos or footage of myself or read anything about me and here I was face to face with myself.” He gives a wicked chuckle and admits: “I tweaked my own bum.”
And how was it walking the cobbles of Coronation Street? “You know I grew up with Coronation Street. I remember the first episode and I played the trumpet in the school orchestra before guitars came along and I used to play the theme tune.
“Coronation Street has just always been there, but I didn’t want to do it when the offer came along. I got frightened.
“Our manager was a big fan though and pushed me. He was just dribbling as we walked around. I remember we had fantastic fish cakes at the canteen. I only lost it when I saw the Rosamund Street sign. That did it for me. It was like ‘wow.’ The stunt double showed us how to throw a fake punch and make it look real and we filmed scenes at the Rover’s Return. Rick kept looking at the camera, well, he’s blond, he’s been told since he was little to look at the camera.
“We had one line to say ‘Anything to eat?’ and Betty Driver would say ‘Hotpot.’ Every time she said it we would start laughing. We couldn’t help ourselves. It was just the word ‘hotpot.’”
Meanwhile, Francis promises the sound of Quo will continue long after the electric guitars are unplugged and retired from live shows. The band’s Aquostic (Stripped Bare) album was the best selling indie UK album in 2014 and Aquostic II – That’s A Fact! was released last month. “A change is as good as a rest, isn’t it?” laughs Francis. “What am I looking forward to most at the end of the tour? Going home.”