Wishbone Ash
Andy Powell launches a new tour with a rejigged line-up and a nostalgic 70s headspace.
As a fixture on the global rock scene since 1969, Wishbone Ash became pioneers of a now-ubiquitous twin-guitar sound. Guitarist/vocalist Andy Powell, their last remaining original member, previews their lengthy tour that keeps them in the UK until November 19.
Wishbone’s exit path from the Covid crisis was rockier than most, with the band’s return involving stand-in members and cancellations. We flew by the seat of our pants through a British tour but our regular drummer Joe Crabtree was unavailable so we brought in Mike Truscott, a former bandmate of our guitarist Mark Abrahams, who himself couldn’t make a few of the shows. So we used
Michael Sturgis, who had played with us in the early 90s, and also a gentleman called Windsor McGilvray, who plays with Hugh Cornwell.
Mike Truscott is now Wishbone’s full-time drummer. What happened to Joe Crabtree?
Joe got married, his wife had a baby and he decided to spend more time with his family. It’s all completely amicable. Mike is a great drummer who seems to be taking us into a heavier kind of direction, which is fine by me.
As one of the hardest-working rock bands on the circuit, how did being deprived of making music and earning a living affect your mental health?
I’m quite a linear guy, and when problems come along I’m motivated to find solutions. I realised quite early that Covid would be a five-year deal, which made me quite fatalistic. I started going for very long walks in the Connecticut countryside where I live. At one point I started to feel quite paranoid about it all. I’m not a huge fan of Mister Trump, but those walks and fishing trips managed to keep my feet on the ground. They really stabilised me.
As the financial situation bit deep, Wishbone launched a Patreon site…
We did a bit of broadcasting from our homes but it wasn’t easy with Mark [Abrahams] in England. I played from my kitchen, which was quite well
received. Patreon brought in a little bit of money to pay for the groceries, and it’s something that I still enjoy doing.
Do you think the politicians helped – on either side of the Atlantic?
Britain did a good job with the vaccinations, and so did America, but there should have been a lot more testing than there was. Like a lot of musicians, especially ones with fifty years of experience, I used common sense to carve my own way through it all.
Are things starting to feel ‘normal’ again? They’re still a bit wobbly with the war in Ukraine coming on top of Covid. Rock’n’roll is caught in the middle of that. I’m hoping for much more stability over the next six months.
In your Christmas message of 2020 you predicted that, culturally speaking, we would come out the other side “with a different attitude and perspective”. Has that happened? [Laughs nervously] Maybe, but there’s a lot more fear about. More paranoia. Our audience is community based, so it helps to see all those smiling faces night after night. Their warmth is very, very welcome.
Wishbone’s UK autumn tour includes more than thirty dates. How different is an audience at, say, the Coliseum Theatre in Aberdare, from a counterpart in London or Manchester?
They’ll be drinking more [in the smaller places], and they’ll be much more vociferous. Up in Scotland they party a bit more, which is fine with us.
Are audiences in big cities more standoffish? From the start we’ve been a band that goes where others fear to tread. I’m comfortable anywhere, but in some ways I prefer the smaller places because you can get in and out quicker and the hotels are cheaper. Things definitely vary from region to region, though.
You’ve been revisiting the band’s first concert release, Live Dates, in its entirety. Is that what ticket-buyers will hear in October?
We’ve done Live Dates in America. In Europe we’re still in the last knockings of our fiftieth anniversary, which includes the Argus album plus another hour.
As the group’s last-remaining original, how does it feel to revisit that headspace of 1973?
We were in a good phase when we made Live Dates, the band was playing Hammersmith Odeon and had consolidated a provincial audience. So when we play those songs again it beings back great memories.
Were you happy with the response to the fiftieth anniversary album, Coat Of Arms, in 2020 ? Critically it was well received, though sadly nobody sells too many physical copies anymore. We include several songs and I feel good about playing them.
How far down the line are you with a follow-up? New music will always come out of us, but right now it’s not my prime focus. Covid allowed us to become involved in some projects; we’re working on a coffee table book and there will be a boxed set of unreleased live material. With the changes in the band we could be a year or two away from another album.
Wishbone Ash’s U K tour begins in Leicester on October 15.