BIRDS OF PRAY
50 years on, members of Paul’s band Wings want Hall enshrinement
It wasn’t all Paul. Former Wings musicians Denny Seiwell and Laurence Juber say Paul McCartney’s post Beatles band — formed 50 years ago — is overdue for induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Just don’t expect them to perform as Wings without the late Linda McCartney.
Seiwell and Juber spoke to the Daily News via Zoom from their respective West Coast homes Friday, where they agreed Wings should be honored as its own thing.
“It was not Paul’s band — it was ‘a’ band called Wings,” Seiwell said. “That’s exactly what Paul wanted of us. We were in on everything.”
Guitar player Juber, a Wings member from 1978 to 1981, also said Sir Paul regarded the band’s successes as a collective effort.
“We were encouraged to think of it as a band,” he said. “It wasn’t just Paul McCartney’s backing group.”
According to Seiwell, who formed Wings with McCartney in 1970 and left the group in 1973, he’d love to drum with Sir Paul again and has told him so. But he said McCartney has made clear that Wings can’t exist without his keyboard-playing wife, who died 23 years ago Saturday of breast cancer at 56.
“Right after Linda passed away, I went over to see Paul in England and we talked about a Wings reunion and he had me get together with some of the guys, get their contact information, [and] see if anybody was interested,” Seiwell recalled. “When I called him back and said ‘Yeah, it’s a go, let’s see what we can do here,’ he said, ‘On second thought, having a reunion without Linda in the band would be like having a Beatles reunion without John [Lennon].’ ”
Seiwell recalls critics being harsh on Linda after The Beatles split and she went on the road to become a “very important” piece of her husband’s new band.
“She was scared to death before the first big European show,” he said. “She literally cried on my shoulder on the bus going there. It was awful. But she gave a really brilliant effort to learn.”
Juber said that McCartney also told him there could be no Wings shows without Linda when the greatest hits album “Wingspan: Hits and History” was released in 2001.
“She was integral to the band,” Juber said. “As much as all the flack she got, she was the core of it — at least in my experience.”
Seiwell and Juber will join Q104.3 on-air personality Ken Dashow on Saturday at noon to chat about the golden anniversary. They will also discuss their work with the New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud’s fundraising for the National Independent Venue Association, which aids live music venues impacted by the pandemic.
Dashow told the Daily News that McCartney could have played with anyone he wanted after the Beatles split-up, but formed Wings, which he “100%” believes should be in the Hall of Fame. McCartney, like his fellow Fab Four mates, is in the hall as a Beatle and a solo act.
Seiwell and Juber joked that if invited, they’ll gladly head to Cleveland for induction.
“Why not? It’s a free trip to Ohio,” Seiwell joked. “Are you kidding me?”
Juber suggested they should “Probably get some tips from Steve Miller before we go.”
The Steve Miller Band founder infamously ripped the hall of fame over its nomination process at his 2016 induction ceremony. The Hall’s 2021 class will be inducted on Oct. 30 in Cleveland.