“I Fucking bet Elvis never did this!”
Jim cregan – Stewart’s co-writer and guitarist from 1976-1987 – on working with Rod
“Ifirst met rod in the Wrestlers pub in highgate. he’d seen me play in cockney rebel at the roxy in la, near where he lived. he liked my headgear – one of those corduroy poor boy caps, like John lennon used to wear. i got a message asking if i wanted to play with him. We arranged to meet back in the Wrestlers. We had a couple of pints and we got on really well. he’s easy to talk to. apart from the rare occasions when he wakes up in the morning and thinks he’s ‘rod stewart’, he’s just another nice bloke!
“our friendship is important. if there’s one thing that connects all his long-term collaborators – ron Wood, martin Quittenton, me, gary grainger, kevin savigar – we’re all friends as well. there’s a certain amount of getting naked in the room when you write and i think rod is slightly uncomfortable doing that with strangers. he’s quite private – i wouldn’t say shy, but he’s guarded from years and years of being at the top of his game.
“i was never aware of any pressure to follow-up the faces when we got the band together in 1976. We’d always have a bit of a drink while we were putting songs together. it was very relaxed. rod and Pete Buckland – the former faces tour manager – were the architects of the band and they both wanted to continue the spirit and camaraderie of the faces. they wanted people who knew how to have fun – you couldn’t be a crap musician but perfection wasn’t what we were looking for. it was a terrific band and we played so well.
“once, he came to live in my house in la when he was getting divorced from alana. he was a bit fed up and down in the mouth, so i told him he could have my spare room. he stayed for several months. i remember one morning, he got up before me and made a couple of mugs of tea. he put them on a tray, brought them into my bedroom, put one on my bedside table, took one himself and said, ‘i fucking bet elvis never did this!’”