Living legend, in a world that seems to be abundant in such a phrase, an expression of the way we perhaps look at celebrity in this modern age and where at times the word itself becomes obscured by overuse and sometime denigration, to be able to talk to a man who was, and remains, a pivotal figure in British Pop history, is to find that much vaunted idiom a true, humbling and heartening experience.
At the height of the Bay City Roller’s fame, to spend time with vocalist Les McKeown would have been a hard ask, not because of the man but because of the demands on his and the other members of the band’s time. When you are endeavouring to be personal, to remain in contact with the person you were before someone’s version of your reputation became the norm, before the constant recognition removed the look and the face which you always wore and in which the mask of celebrity, of fan mania, took hold.
Les McKeown is a legend, without even the title and moniker attached to his name ahead of him joining Suzi Quatro, David Essex and Smokie on the Echo Arena stage as part of the Living Legends tour in 2019.
Before the joint tour, Les McKeown has an extensive tour ahead with his band, and yet as I speak to him, the years seem to fall away, mindful as I am to not talk exclusively about the days in which “Rollermania” was the latest fashion on the streets of the youth of Britain, looking for the one band that could replace The Beatles in which their parents were never going to fall out of love with.
A living legend indeed but as the conversation rolls naturally on, you cannot help but feel the sense of the dynamic that once made the band the household name they were, and how much that human quality of beauty is retained, how much more he wishes to achieve, to celebrate, and it is the depth of the man’s soul and humility, his humour which makes for a truly memorable moment.
Thanks for taking the time out to talk to me – I won’t keep you long.
LMCK: “That’s alright Ian, all I have to do between 1pm and 1.25pm is you!”
I’ll still be as quick as I can as I know you’re a very busy man – you’ve got a huge amount of touring coming up in the next few months, haven’t you?
LMCK: “we’re touring until 2020 so I’m planning ahead – yeah!”
Is that something you’ve always preferred to do?
LMCK: “When I took over doing my own thing and looking after myself, the predictability of it means that I won’t have a situation where I’m panicking about anything and I know who’s contracted to do what and each person staying there or in this hotel because we’re driving there or we’re playing that place. We have to check on the publicity three months or two months before it’s all on the calendar and so the touring I’ve got – The Living Legends Tour is all arranged now and we’re just waiting for the dates to come around so I can just walk on with David and Suzi, Smokie or Showaddywaddy – whoever is booked that night. Liverpool has Smokie, I think. So we’re looking forward to catching up with them because we don’t really see other socially but we see other crossing paths – David might be doing a gig in the same place I am so we’ll have a bit of time to catch up – small talk and then everybody else is working and everyone’s doing well so there’s a lot of positivity going around.
Getting back to me getting organised, the big tour that I’m on now – if people want to find out the dates that I’m on www.Bay City Rollers.com which will take you to Les McKeown.com.”
You say that you’re looking forward to seeing David and Smokie again, I don’t think that you have toured with Suzi in Britain but have you toured with Suzi Quatro elsewhere before?
LMCK: “I’ve done some gigs in Germany with her four or five years ago, we were on the same things. She ended up marrying our promoter! I forget his name I wish I could remember it, that’s when those two got married. We worked together on our own T.V. shows and stuff, we’ve got a video page as well. She’s fantastic, she’s got a lot of energy, I don’t even want to know what age she is – she’s still well fit!”
I was fortunate to see her last year on The Legends thing again with David Essex and Hot Chocolate as well, I was very much in love with her as a lad as we all were probably, but after all she is the Godmother of Rock.
Obviously, I don’t want to dwell on the past because it’s the future that’s more important but with the period of time that The Legends tour is celebrating, shall we say, are there times when you look back at that period or era and you think, gosh – that was great?
LMCK: “Yeah, for sure, that’s what’s laid the foundation for now, you know? I never would have imagined that when I was 18 that I would one day be playing as a Legend – that stuff happens to other people in bands and the likes of Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole or someone like that. Here I am 45 years later – a Legend”
But you always were considered to be a Legend even at 18 – you might not have thought that you had that status, that sense of affirmation, but your fans must have certainly thought that?
LMCK: “As Rabbie Burns said, “It’s hard to us to see ourselves as others see us.” So I’m just doing my thing and I’ve always just done my thing whether that be what I’ve had some really bad times on the journey but I never forget the good times and I’ve been having a great time these past ten years – just going out and doing my thing, making the records as close the original as possible, putting all the iconic shirts on the band, getting the band to fall in love with the 70s music which is all just absolutely lovely. They’re the right kind of people in the band who like that sort of stuff, so there’s been lots of changes with people coming in and out but it’s all settled down now. For the last 31 years I’ve been with the same bass player, 15 people with the same people playing guitar, the only new person is Dan who played for a while with the Alvin Stardust Band and when Alvin unfortunately passed away we took him on and he’s been with me since then so we get on very well, we tour the world together, the great thing is that you’re working with people that you like, that’s what’s makes a big difference.”
Do you think that comes with age if you don’t think that’s too personal – that acceptance?
LMCK: “I don’t think you realise that you need it until it happens and then you suddenly go ‘Christ’, it’s so much easier when you don’t have some complete and utter aggro always coming from somewhere. When it’s pleasant to be with people, it takes on a whole new meaning and its great, we play jokes on each other, we have good banter, you only get animosity with the opposite. It’s great to be with people that you care about and that you can have a relationship with – go to birthdays, all that sort of stuff which you wouldn’t do if something wasn’t right.”
Again, putting aside the past for a moment, it seemed a long time since 1993 to 2016 when you released Lost Songs; have you got any more plans to release anything in a similar vein or strike out into something new?
LMCK: “Some of my songs from that album actually are going to be on my new album which is coming out probably in February next year and I mean, it’s almost finished already but I haven’t really got a title for it yet – we might just call it Lost Songs Two but we might come up with a catchier title – who knows! We’ve just put it to rest for a minute because we were going to finish it and release it before Christmas but we though we’ll wait as it was going to be one year old on January 1st so we thought we’d wait a few weeks then we’d have 2019 you know and we’ve also got a tour coming up that might help record sales, maybe bounce somethings off it, likewise get a bit of coverage. The good thing about this next album is there are major record companies interested in it and they would be interested in picking up Lost Songs as well. I would absolutely like big money behind us to promote something, it would make a big difference, so we live in hope and if we could get that exposure then there’s a good chance that people will get to listen to it and then they can make up their own minds about seeing us on tour.”
Going back to Suzi, David and Smokie, was there a hit of theirs that you wished you’d written?
LMCK: “I’d have loved to have written Alice by Smokie because everyone in the whole world knows that song and knows the other version! I mean, you’ve got people in India and China singing that tune. David Essex – let me see, Silver Dream Machine, Rock On but I don’t think I could be as cool as David to pull it off!”
There’s cool and there’s cool! Let’s be fair, you and the guys were the epitome of cool for a period of time, weren’t you? I’m not obviously denigrating the later period or anything like that but there was that moment in time when you were considered to be it!
LMCK: “1975, that would be – we’d started with the tartan, the first number one number one and that was the big year in the U.K. that changed all our lives. Everybody who was anybody was in a band and looking for anyone who looked like one of us.”
That’s the year the first album went to number one and also the follow-up release as well – Once Upon A Star.
Are you looking forward to coming to Liverpool?
LMCK: “Oh definitely, I was up there recently, I was going to Southport but there were problems with twigs on the line or something to do with bad weather and I got re-directed to Liverpool South Parkway then that was cancelled and the train was going to Southport but that didn’t work, so the chap had to take the train into Liverpool Lime Street and then I could get a train to Southport. When I got to Liverpool Lime Street they said I had to go to Liverpool Central so it wasn’t all that relaxing! I had go past the big corner advertising screen and go round there to Liverpool Central, got down there to only get on the wrong train which was going to Ormskirk and the Southport train was on another platform, up and down another escalator and then they told me that the train wasn’t going to Southport because there was a tree on the line at a station three stops from Southport so I got off the train and tried to get a taxi but there’s no taxis in the place where I was but then I met a girl from Liverpool who had her car at the station who said if you want I can give you a lift to Pontins at Southport- Ainsdale rather.
The same thing happened on the way back from there, I was coming out of the Harvester inn next to the Premier Inn and I’ve come out of there and a lady drove up in a Volkswagen Coupe and she said are you Les McKeown? She said she’d loved the show and it was brilliant. She said what are you doing here? I said I was at a party but I was bit the worse for wear, she said where are you going? I said the station and she gave me a lift back to Lime Street! So, I think Liverpool’s a really nice place to be around because of all the help!”
One last question as I’m very aware that you’ve got other things you need to do and other people to talk to, I wouldn’t want to pre-empt the set list but do you know what you might be playing?
LMCK: “There’ll be I Only Wanna Be With You, Give A Little Love, Bye, Bye Baby, Saturday Night, All Of Me Loves All Of You, there’s about 30 odd tracks -so it’s not just all the big ones you’re getting”
It’s going to be a night of big hits and love songs?
LMCK: “I don’t think there will be room for a novelty track!”
That’s a shame but I do understand that these things happen, where are you on the bill?
LMCK: “We’re second, I tried to get on first so I could go back to the hotel and get some sleep but no! (laughs.”
I know there will a lot of people there who will be thrilled to see you again on the night, thanks again for allowing me your valuable time, it has been a great pleasure.
Les McKeow’s Bay City Rollers will be performing at the Liverpool Echo Arena with Suzi Quatro, David Essex and Smokie on Saturday April 13th 2019. Tickets are available from the Echo Arena Box office. The band will also be performing at the Lyceum in Crewe on Sunday 25th November.
Ian D. Hall