" cashbox insight&sound Sparks: Coffee Shop Rock The Hollies — Not Just A Bunch of Pretty Faces For Ron Mael. the Chaplinesque keyboard player of Sparks, it had been a lonq morn- "I'd have to describe our music as middle of the road rock," said Bernie Calvert ing. bassist for the Hollies, as he explained why, after eleven years in the business, the First there was the trading off of stares with a Hyatt House hanger on, followed by Hollies are still around while many groups seem to have vanished off the face of the the frantic checking of a rumor that Robert Plant was in town and had taken a room earth to his like I next ("craziness that don't need"). Fortunately for Ron the rumor proved The Hollies came out of Manchester. England when the British boom first hit the false. shores of America The Beatles led the way along with the Stones. The Dave Clark These distractions out of the way, Ron, along with sibling counterpart Russell, set- Five, The Animals. Gerry and the Pacemakers, Herman's Hermits, Freddy and the tled down with Cash Box to talk about various aspects of their musical career. (A Dreamers, Billy J Kramer, the Searchers, the Bachelors and many more The Hollies career on the rise thanks to the success of “This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both survived the Mersey Beat boom, Peter Paul & Mary and the American folk craze, Of Us" and "Achoo ') Peter Fonda and the psychedelia, "Yummy, Yummy I've Got Bubblegum In My Tum- "The best way to describe our music is to call it coffee shop rock,” laughed Ron my, "and even today's loud electronic "2001 "space-rock period "Now that's not really a cop out; it's just that it's difficult to explain our music to other For the Hollies it has not been an easy road to keep their group intact As Bernie people because we haven't really figured out what to call it It just can't be slotted into emphasizes, "I came into the band in 1966 after Jack Bruce left, after cutting a single a particular area To us it's just a combination of things we like about rock and roll with the group called, After The Fox.” After that we were very fortunate to release music.” some very successful singles for a few years and then suddenly Graham Nash left." Russell continued the explanation of Sparks rock by stating that the entire concept Today the Hollies are composed of Allan Clarke (vocals); Tony Hicks (lead guitar/- of the band is contrary to what is going on in music today. vocals) Terry Sylvester (guitar/vocals); Bernie Calvert (bass guitar/keyboards); and “Our music is firmly entrenched in a song format as opposed to the format of long Bobby Elliot (drums). instrumental improvisation, which is quite popular today. We re into tightly structured In the beginning back in Manchester the Hollies (they weren't called the Hollies songs that are precisely worked out in the areas of lyrics, arrangement and things of then) began with a school-chum relationship between Allan Clarke and Graham Nash. that nature The things Ron and I have gotten off on are good singles and while we re First they were known asthe Two Teens, then the Guytones, later the Fourtones, and not a singles band only, we have gotten into creating music along the lines of good a few other names along the way When Tony Hicks joined the group a while later and singles." other members were added they finally got the name the Hollies. The Hollies then cut a few singles in England, "Ain't That Just Like Me,” and shortly thereafter, Sparks rock, is admittedly, not your average rock and roll music It's not predictable and, upon initial listen, not easily digestible; a point driven home, according to "Searchin' " and "Stay ” Says Calvert, "Those were crazy days, because English Russell, early in the band's career when, as Halfnelson, gigs were few and far groups were not writing their own material, but would wait for the American artists to between. have a hit Then the record would be released in England and they (the groups) would "When we were Halfnelson, our sound was a bit akin to what was philosophically rush down to the record stores to buy the record and then rush off to the studios to be " going on in music at that time But somehow, in our music, we misinterpreted the the first British group to record an American tune Bernie adds. "The American whole movement and it came out being something all together different; something music was very influential in all the Hollies early careers. "We were all into early rock that didn't represent what we were influenced by." & roll artists like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis "For Which brings about the question of style versus substance in pop music; a question the Hollies, according to Bernie, the biggest influences “were the Everly Brothers.” of balance that made the road to success for Sparks just that much longer When asked about Elvis and his influence in England Bernie said, "Elvis was very Ron explained it when he said "It took us longer to be recognized because we were big and sold millions of records, but I think why most early British groups never said putting too much of ourselves into our music. There are a lot of bands that can take a Elvis influenced them was because people took him for granted, mainly because he style of music and do it well without having any feel for it. In order for the music to was such an important recording star have more than style there's got to be meat on it which means involvement and a When Bernie joined the group the Hollies really began to cook. For three years the personal feel A good bit of Russell's and my personality is involved in our music At Hollies hits included, "Bus Stop,” "I Can't Let Go.” "Stop Stop Stop," and "Carrie first people couldn't get into what we were doing but now they're beginning to come Anne." Then, when all was going well. Graham Nash announced he was leaving the " around toourway of thinking group to join his American buddies David Crosby, and Stephen Stills and form Ah yes Thinking, which, in turn, becomes divine inspiration for story and, in another important group of the sixties, Crosby Stills & Nash Even though this was a Sparks' case, a song But who knows what questionable bent drives a Mael mind to in- major setback, because Graham had become main songwriter and spokesman for the vent fodder for the waiting airwaves of popdom? group, this was not the end of the group as most expected, because a young lad "I'm inspired by a lot of different things,” remarked Ron "I try to open myself up to named Terry Sylvester came into the group Soon the Hollies were back on the top of things that aren't related to rock and roll music It's this idea of not setting limitations the charts with probably their best single ever, "He Ain't Heavy — He's My Brother." on your thinking that keeps you from getting stale I've got bands and records that I Things went well for awhile, but Allan Clarke became restless and decided he wanted listen I to but don't get inspiration from other bands in the sense that I take ideas from to make a solo album The Hollies album at the time was "Distant Light," and con- their music." tained the enormous smash single, Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress." American The very nature of Sparks' eccentric approach to music has led critics in some tours were calling, so with Allan gone the Hollies picked up Mikael Rickfors, a 23 year quarters to state that the band is making it by not taking their music seriously The old Swedish youth, who took Allan's place However, two solo albums later. Allan de- Maels bristled at this point and, after feigning bodily harm on this writer's body, cided to return to the Hollies and the magic returned quickly and came alive with stated: "The Air That I Breathe," which went to #2 nationally on the American charts. "This "We are serious about our music but we're serious in an intent kind of way. Rock was a real shot in the arm for us," Bernie said, "because it gave us the confidence that music is really not a serious kind of thing but, as far as our efforts with the music are we could go on forever in the music business. We had all these disappointments and concerned, we're incredibly serious Our songs aren't one-liners with a bit of a giggle we still succeeded in maintaining ourgroup Our songs are a nebulous kind of thing; they're funny but there's also another side to Now re-rooted in the charts again with their successful Epic release, “Another " them that you'll discover if you listen closely Night," the Hollies are still coming out with hit singles like the title track, "Another Sparks, along with the likes of Suzi Quatro, hold the distinction of having to con- Night," Bruce Springsteen's "Sandy,” and many other fine selections that include, quer England before being able to lay claim to any kind of popularity in their "Time Machine Jive," "I'm Down," and "Give Me Time.” homeland; a success plurality not all bands have been able to enjoy Russell ex- Sunning themselves at a very pleasant low-key hotel in Westwood while they were plained their two country popularity this way.