Born Blue

Afternoon Despatch and Courier, February 14, 2000
He may not want to live on in erstwhile glory, but try as he might, it’s difficult to shrug off the Fleetwood Mac label. Jeremy Spencer was slide guitarist to blues band Fleetwood Mac long before Woodstock happened. Perhaps it was that spectacular music festival, or perhaps it was something else, but something saw to it that Fleetwood Mac was destined to live on in the public imagination long after their band members were past their prime.

After Spencer’s split with the band, which happened almost 20 years ago, the talented blues guitarist continues to hum along on a solo flight. In India on a three-week tour for a set of benefit concerts on behalf of the National Association for the Blind (NAB), Spencer has been acclaimed as the greatest white slide/blues guitarist in the world by Mick Fleetwood. Which means that if there was any acrimony with band members earlier, it isn’t showing.

Spencer is a tiny man and balding in his 50’s, but still packs a punch when it comes to his metier. Once long ago an accountant, he found the work of a nine to five job ‘rough’ before he discovered himself in Fleetwood Mac. Claiming that he doesn’t like overstuffed music, Spencer says he identifies with Dire Straits in the ‘80s and the wave of ‘unplugged’ music in the early ‘90s. "I like simple songs. I like simple chords, simple vocals and simple lead guitar. I just like simplicity. That’s just the way I like it."

Nothing lasts forever, believes Spencer, especially not musical togetherness. He left the band because he wasn’t fulfilled and felt like he was drying up inside. Fleetwood Mac got into a messy deal with the manager soon after and he was glad he left when he did. Looking back he has no regrets except perhaps that he could’ve pitched a little more into the band, been a little more serious without that take-it-or-leave-it attitude. "I’ve progressed from being a conceited brat during the early years—I was very rude to people when I think back on it."

He’s now in India working with Indian jazz and blues musicians including Roy Venkat and Alvira (Adrian) Fernandes. They are pretty ‘judicious’ in their output but all in all, the NAB concerts are going to be pretty much a Jeremy Spencer thing, he’s honest enough to admit.

His last album released by Atlantic, Flee was disastrous. The record company put the musicians on a shoe-string budget and then attempted to make them dance to its tune. "They gave us loads and loads of records and ‘suggested’ we produce a similar sound, which was absurd." Somebody gave him invaluable advice at this point: If they want hamburgers, give’em hamburgers, and so Spencer gave them a rancid one.

All these years in between he’s been doing some independent children’s stuff, not a whole lot of which has been published. The last two years he’s worked on an instrumental CD which should be out in the market soon. This is Spencer’s third visit to India and he thinks that Indian audiences are "deep."

"They tune into a part of the music the rest of the world doesn’t seem to notice, and it’s not always the big shebang song," he says. To musicians who say that Indians are ‘good for anything’ in music, he points out that some really big acts have flopped here.

The NAB is something he is helping out because he does things by gut instinct and he can thus make a connection with some of the blind jazz and blues players of the ‘20s and ‘30s. But wherever he is, whether in India or touring the world, he says he hopes to keep learning and also to continue doing what he’s been doing.

"I Like Music that Gives Me Goosebumps"

Sunday Times of India, February 06, 2000
Jeremy Spencer is not your archetypal rocker. Short and bald, with the teeniest gold earring, he even wears tweeds. The man who is known as the "greatest slide guitarist in the world" wears his bestness lightly.

The 51-year-old former Fleetwood Mac member is in Mumbai doing his favourite thing—playing for a cause. Actually, he's been here for quite a while now—he put in a cameo appearance at the recent All-Vocal Jazz Yatra and is now all set to rock Mumbai at two concerts in aid of the National Association for the Blind, followed by shows in Bangalore and Delhi. It's a routine he's done before, first in 1995 and then 1998. "It feels nice to know my music's doing some good, I like the association. But I don't like talking about such stuff," says the soft-spoken, reticent artiste who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two years ago.

So what makes a star like Spencer want to come here again and again? The ace guitarist loves India and its spicy food (stuffed parathas spring readily to his mind), but more than the land, it's the people who pack his concerts that gives him a rush. "I feel good playing for Indian audiences. I wouldn't be here if they didn't appreciate my kind of music," he says. "Indian audiences are more intelligent and more perceptive than Western audiences. I like their depth and the way they go beyond the surface," he adds, winking playfully and pausing before going on to bash his jaatwalas.

Although an Englishman by birth, he admits, "I don't feel at home there, that's for sure." Probe further and he won't say why—it's just one of those things, you know. But Spencer's wanderlust has taken him all over the world and, at various times, 'home' has meant Italy, Greece, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Japan, and finally Brazil, where he has pitched his tent at present. Quite a gypsy king. But, why Brazil? "Well, I like Latin America," he replies expansively. Period.

Would Spencer's itchy feet exchange the 'carnival country' for India in the future? "You never know…If a place starts getting too comfortable, I want to move."
Home includes his wife, a German teacher. "She's my opposite. She's very focused and organised, the kind who plans things not for 3 o'clock but 3:02! And she loves classical music and is not at all into my kind of music," the Cancerian states matter-of-factly about his Capricornian other-half.

For somebody who has inspired many a rocker, the modest Spencer has simple tastes. "Give me anything that moves my heart, that gives me goosebumps," he says feelingly, clenching his fist across his chest. "The mental thing isn't fun."
He's not the kind of guy "to go searching" for music that appeals to him, rather, he is more likely to remember and appreciate a whiff of a number he heard in passing: in a store or on a flight. And it will only be much later that he will discover the singer. Neither will he follow a particular singer's album or career. But there are exceptions, Madonna's Like a Prayer and Spanish Eyes are "good"; he likes Alaskan singer Jewel, loves Dire Strait's biggie Mark Knopfler, there's Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Toni Braxton…"So you want to know about my favourite female stars?" he quizzes mischievously. He pauses briefly before adding, "with or without their looks?" Oh, well, well, Jeremy.

He makes no bones about the enduring influence of Elmore James, the legendary electric slide/blues guitarist whose music he sampled as a teenage art student. Spencer's first musical instrument was the family piano. The guitar followed only when he was 15. A year later, Spencer broke his leg and found a hero. Confined to a wheelchair, he acquired one of James' albums and began learning the songs and his slide guitar technique.

Fleetwood Mac happened in 1967 but Spencer parted ways with the great British group in 1971—"dissatisfied and uninspired". He remains friends with Mick Fleetwood, and even jammed with the group in Tokyo in 1995. "Mick's dream is to do a reunion of the original four (Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Jeremy Spencer) on stage. But there's a lot to that. I'm not sure how far it will go," observes Spencer, a bit unsure of going back in time.

Tugging at the Heart Strings for a Cause

Bombay Times, February 03, 2000
Slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer is back in India for a series of shows in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi in aid of the National Association for the Blind (NAB). It's his third trip to India, but Jeremy Spencer, co-founder of the 70's pop band, Fleetwood Mac, hasn't quite figured what keeps bringing him here. "It could be sheer coincidence; it could be the will of God," he says with that hint of mystery so typical of this shy, soft-spoken guitarist.

Jeremy is in Mumbai for yet another series of concerts (the more the merrier for the city's blues fans) in aid of the NAB. This time around, the concerts are scheduled for February 11th at St. Andrews and February 19th at Rang Bhavan. Jeremy will also perform at Bangalore on February 25th, and Delhi on March 5th.
As he walks into our office for a chat, apologetic for a delay in our appointment caused by Mumbai's chronic traffic jams, one is struck by the humility of this musician who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. In fact, Jeremy was in Mumbai for a concert when the news of his induction was released. Characteristically of Jeremy, he did away with all the hype the city tried to raise about having a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee amidst us by saying, "I wasn't even aware of the existence of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

On this trip, Jeremy is here to do what he likes most—"Play for a cause." "The previous two concert series, in 1995 and 1998, were well received," he understates, "so I suppose Kantilal Shah wanted us to do one more series. He recognises a certain kind of music and has faith in me and my music. So I'm here." Kantilal V. Shah is the chairman of the NAB.

The forthcoming concerts will feature Jeremy Spencer sans the multiethnic Bangkok-based band, Heart to Heart, and the dancers who accompanied him on the previous two concert series for NAB. Kantilal V Shah, while announcing the forthcoming concerts, said that the dancers have been done away with to give Jeremy a "bigger role" as people want to hear more of this celebrated guitarist. Also, unlike the concerts of 1998, in the forthcoming ones, Jeremy will not attempt fusion like Rahman's Vande Mataram. "I don't want to con the people. It requires a lot more time to put up a fusion piece like Vande Mataram. I don't want to do a piece that'd come out half-baked," he explains.

For this West-Hartlepool born guitarist who quit Fleetwood Mac in 1971 for want of a change in the inspirational level, the initiation into blues came from Elmore James and the first chords were struck while on a wheelchair with a cast around a fractured leg.

Jeremy finally settled down in Rio after wandering halfway around the world—including Italy, Greece, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Japan—in search of a place that went down well with his heart. But now, on this third trip to India, Jeremy says India could well be the country where he'll finally settle down.
As for what to expect at his forthcoming concerts in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, "Lots of blues based stuff." That comes from the horse's mouth. We couldn't ask for more.

More Than a Fleeting Concern

Indian Express, January 29, 2000 "When I have sat at home with this God-given talent for music for a long time, somebody approaches me out of the blue and asks me to play for them. It's almost as though there's a force somewhere which is saying 'no sittin' around, out you go!" says Jeremy Spencer, ex-guitarist of the seventies sensation, Fleetwood Mac. Spencer is in Mumbai to raise funds, through a series of concerts, for the National Association of the Blind, India. He will perform at St. Andrews on February 11th and Rang Bhavan on February 19th. Having faced Indian audiences on his previous tours in 1995 and 1998, he has chosen to present a mix of blues, rock-n-roll and some original compositions. "I like to be able to say something through my music--make it more than just boogie," he explains. Psychic Waste, a song he will be presenting, "is a semi-funny slam at the trash that Hollywood pours into our living room," he says. "It's refreshing to play my music to an Indian audience because unlike others they actually listen to the words," he observes. "Their response to what I play has brought me back for the third time," he says. Kantilal Shah, chairperson of the NAB says they chose Spencer because he's the best. "Out of the 4 billion people on the planet, Jeremy is one of the few with magic in his fingers. He is truly gifted," he says. Self-consciously pink, Jeremy agrees but qualifies, "Each one of us have been given a gift--and it's not pride when you say you have been blessed," he explains. And will he put up a good show? "Inshallah," comes the humble reply. Fleetwood Guitarist to Play Again in City Bombay Times, January 08, 2000 Slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer, one of the three founding members of the 70’s pop band Fleetwood Mac, will be back in town for three concerts in aid of the National Association for the Blind (NAB). For Jeremy, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, this is his third concert tour to India; the first in 1995, the second in 1998. Tentatively, the three concerts have been scheduled for February 11th at St. Andrew’s, February 16th at Sophia and February 19th at Rang Bhavan. In 1998 Jeremy’s tour was with a Bangkok-based multiethnic band called Heart to Heart that has been touring Asian countries extensively for the last eight years, proceeds of the concerts going to various charitable trusts. "This year, Jeremy will be accompanied by some members of the Heart to Heart band," Kantilal V Shah, chairman of the NAB informed Bombay Times. He also revealed, that this time around, unlike last year, the dancers for Jeremy’s troupe have been done away with to give Jeremy a "bigger role" as people want to hear more of the highly acclaimed slide guitarist. "I like to play for a cause," the reticent guitarist was quoted as saying on his previous visit to town. Another aspect of Jeremy that was much reported about was his keen interest in sun signs. Now settled in Brazil, Jeremy was born in West Hartlepool, England. His dream as a boy, in his own words, were "to learn to play the guitar and sing like Cliff Richards." When in his late teens, he heard Elmore James, a 50’s electric slide guitarist who deeply influenced Jeremy. "Elmore James was the first to electrify it, before that it was a microphone type pickup and very rustic," he spoke of his inspiration. The opportunity to learn how his idol played came when Jeremy was grounded with a broken leg when he was 17. It was his desire to play a more pure form of blues which was less jazz oriented that prompted him to leave Fleetwood Mac after recording six albums with them. "I left basically to get a different perspective on life. I wasn’t satisfied with myself or the type of music I was doing. I just felt I’d dried up," he was quoted saying.

Soul Chord

Mumbai Newsline, January 07, 2000
This string will truly touch a chord—in the right place. The National Association for the Blind is bringing to the city the world-famous slide guitarist, Jeremy Spencer and his group of international artistes. Formerly with the band Fleetwood Mac, Spencer and his group are playing to raise funds for the Association. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, this event is a real treat for music enthusiasts—specially those who were weaned on Fleetwood Mac’s particular brand of soft rock. So grab this chance to listen to some wonderful slide guitaring—and feel good about yourself.

Ex-Fleetwood Mac Guitarist to perform

Afternoon Despatch and Courier
Ex-Fleetwood Mac slide guitarist, Jeremy Spencer, will tour India with his group "Heart to Heart" to raise funds for the National Association for the Blind. The musical performances are scheduled for February / March.

There will be three shows, one each at St. Andrew’s, Sophia’s and Rang Bhavan. Shows will also be held in New Delhi and Bangalore.