INTERVIEW WITH ERIC CARMEN
Is He Dead? Play "Go All The Way" Backwards.
 
The success of a rock group in its hometown can often be measured by the amount of mindless graffiti scrawled on bathroom walls, band rooms and, other surfaces of local rock clubs by fans, scorned groupies or low-rent rock critics.
 
The name of Raspberries and its individual members has been the subject of more graffiti than just about anyone or anything.
 
Somehow this brings me to the twofold point of this interview: First, to dispel forever the rumor that Eric Carmen is dead and, secondly, to find out what is happening with The Raspberries after three hit singles, two albums which are approaching gold, and their third album which is about to be released.
 
Let's talk about Raspberries new stage show with the two Mellotrons. What's happening and why the change?
 
Well, from the time Raspberries first started we were looking for something that we could do on stage that Cyrus Erie didn't do on stage. Something that would make us as good as, and better than Cyrus Erie was. And to me, that would be quite a trick because I thought Cyrus Erie was a great band. I couldn't understand for the longest time why Raspberries didn't sound as good as Cyrus Erie. To my knowledge we should've sounded better…but we didn't. I could never quite understand it, but then I figured out that there were two reasons. One was that in Cyrus Erie I played more piano, which was a definite plus for the ballad type songs. The other reason was that we did nothing but Beatles, Stones, Small Faces and stuff like that. So obviously it was a lot easier to play the parts off of hit records and make them sound good. And that was primarily it.
 
So we determined it was time for a change…I mean, we were getting some questionable reviews at the dates we had played. We weren't really together on stage at all. In the studio we could do just fine, but the stage act was just lacking. Everybody knew it but we just didn't know what to do about it. The thing was that in '68, when Cyrus Erie was together, you could get on stage, play good and become famous... and we've just passed that point now with groups like Alice Cooper and David Bowie, and that sort of thing. So we decided that this was the point in our career where we'd better do it right or not do it…one of the two.
 
How did you get the idea for the Mellotrons?

Well I got the idea for the Mellotrons when we were in England. I ran into a guy named Martin Kitcat, who at that time happened to be Capitol Label's Manager at EMI. He also happened to have a double keyboard Mellotron and I'd been interested in Mellotrons for a while and I'd been thinking about getting one and using it with the group. A lot of places we were doing a straight rock 'n' roll act…no ballads. Carrying around the piano became very impractical. It was always out of tune from getting knocked around and the pickups would short out and it would sound like a fuzz-saxophone when I'd start to play "I Can Remember" and things like that.
 
So I went to Mellotronics and got a demonstration from the guy who actually invented the Mellotron. After I heard some of the things that could be done with it I thought, "Now if we had one of those we could do all the stuff on our albums"…all the ballads with strings. And with saxophone tapes we could do all the sax breaks on "I Wanna Be With You" or "Drivin' Around"…that would really be terrific. Then I thought, "Now if we had two of them, that would really be stupendous" because now I can visualize having one on each side of the stage. We can do two different things on any given tune…violins on one side and cellos on the other and make it sound like a big section.
 
What about the Mellotron players?
 
We've got one from New York and another from Atlanta. Both are excellent on keyboards…classical training and all that. And we've just worked them into the act.
 
How does this affect the stage presentation of the act?
 
We're planning to do a three part act. Open up with 15 or 20 minutes of pop rock 'n' roll and then do a middle section where I'm on piano with the two Mellotrons. That'll be like a medley of all the piano ballads from the albums, with strings and everything. Then the last section will be a very high-energy rock 'n' roll thing.
 
Are you going on the road?
 
We'll be off to Canada for the rest of July, 12 or 15 dates. It's kind of a rehearsal for our tour in September. This will be our first major tour of the U.S. as headliners. We'll be playing places across the country which are comparable to Music Hall in Cleveland.
 
Will you play Cleveland?
 
We'll be playing Music Hall in September. It'll be our first date in Cleveland in over a year. That'll be nice.
 
How did English audiences react to the group?
 
It was really an amazing phenomenon. In America what happened was that Capitol Records took our image and came to the conclusion that we were a great singles act, and therefore not a good album act. I guess they figured we couldn't be both. So they decided to create this teenybopper image for us, of which we had no particular part. So there we were in England at this press party with all these people from Melody Maker, Disc, and Musical Express…all the heavy magazines…like they were all very interested.
 
Why do you think this is?
 
Well it's because in England we haven't had any hit singles. I mean "Go All The Way" was banned by the BBC. They wouldn't play it because they thought it was too dirty. So we were like an underground thing over there. Over there Badfinger is considered a teeny-bop thing while over here they're looked at as being kind of heavies. It's really strange.
 
And in England they seemed to really get into what we were doing lyrically. Songs like, "Drivin' Around". I remember a lot of questions about "Drivin' Around". They were just really intrigued by the fact that we were wearing white suits on the cover of the second album…which everyone in the United States took totally serious. I mean they thought…Oh wow, the Raspberries go clean-cut" and that whole thing. It was amazing because the whole thing was kind of a semi-goof to begin with…but everyone looked and said, "That's exactly where the Raspberries are at—White suits, matching outfits and stuff like that"…to a certain extent it was but half the reason we were wearing suits was for the shock effect of people going—"WHAT are they doing?"
 
Has Raspberries' image changed then?
 
Yeah, our hair is longer. (laughter)
 
Has it been difficult getting away from that whole Beatles stereotype thing?
 
Well to us that whole thing was something that was created by other people, not by us. We never sat down and said, "Oh, we'd like to be a Beatles stereotype." As a matter of fact, some of the songs were so un-Beatles-like it was ridiculous. Like "Go All The Way,"…when I wrote that song and brought it into the group I explained to them that it was a concept song. It was supposed to sound like the Who open it up, and when it goes into the verse the Beach Boys are playing back-up and the Left Banke are singing back-up with Brian Wilson singing the lead. When it goes into the bridge, the Who come back on guitars but Steve Marriott's doing the vocal. I mean, the Beatles didn't enter into that song at all.
 
And that little "C'mon" section—which everyone chalked-off as being "Please Please Me" or something…I got the idea for that progression from a Bread song. I thought "Gee, that's nice, I can change this and that around"…I mean it's just like any normal person writes songs.
 
But here we released "Go All the Way" which, as far as I was concerned, was the least Beatley thing on the whole album—in terms of our instrumental and vocal approach to it—and everybody jumped on the bandwagon and said "Oh, they sound just like the Beatles." It just freaked me out because I thought "Go All The Way" aside from the rock parts sounded more like the Beach Boys than it did the Beatles.
 
After listening to the new album I can state that I heard nothing which sounded like a Beatles song or a copped-part from a Beatles song, or whatever. It's straight Raspberries.
 
Right…That is true. And on that note I'd just like to say that we were never progressing toward a Beatles' sound or image to begin with. I mean, the Beatles got the optimum sound out of any given piece of equipment, therefore, anyone who was going for that sound or reached anywhere near it immediately became the target for comparisons. Now if you want to really freak-out listen to the new single by the Stealers Wheel which sounds exactly like Raspberries. I mean, I freaked-out…lyrically, musically and harmony-wise. I listened to it and said, "Oh my God, it's us" you know?
 
Okay, what about your audience? Are you still aiming at the younger crowd?
 
Well right now the tour that we're putting together will hopefully appeal to everyone from the age of 12 and up. We found that whether we were playing for college crowds or for 12-14 year olds, that our material went over well. So, we're not going to gear it to any particular group at this point.
 
What about your so-called "Teeny-bop" image?
 
We've completely stopped with the whole teen magazine thing because we were being built into something that we really weren't. And, that's like a bad rut to get stuck in.
 
What's it like working for your producer, Jimmy Ienner?
 
Working with Jimmy Ienner…hmmm…well, he's just the best. Nothing short of the best producer ever. That's all.
 
How do you feel about Cleveland's support, or lack of it, which ever the case may be?
 
Well it's like this…Cleveland is our third or fourth biggest market. When you think about it, it ought to be our biggest market, being that it's our home town. It's like we're really "rock-stars" in places like Florida, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Minnesota. There are just various markets all over where we're bigger than we are in Cleveland. It's very strange. It's like David Bowie becoming the Cleveland rave, well after Rolling Stone, Phonograph Record, and everybody else had been on the David Bowie bandwagon for 3 or 4 months. And now, Cleveland is David Bowie's biggest city in America. Do you believe that? And like everybody thought, "Oh that's hip"—David Bowie. And I'm sure there will be other people like Bowie that will capture the public consciousness with some sort of super-progressive image or whatever. Like we're not into being transvestites or transsexuals or bisexuals or anything else. So if that's what it takes to be a rave in Cleveland... well we're really sorry about that folks.
 
At this point in your career, what would you like to see Raspberries do?
 
In my opinion I'd like' to see Raspberries bring back solid AM radio. AM radio that's not bullshit. I remember when you could turn on the radio and hear the Beatles, the Stones and the Byrds…and when you heard black music it was the Supremes, the Temptations, the Four Tops and Wilson Pickett…I mean it was the cream of the crop.
 
I don't say "AM radio" with a sneer. I think at one time it was a great thing and that it has the continued potential to be a great thing again if someone would do something with it.
 
What are you trying to do with it?
 
Well there's very few groups left that are "music groups." There are a lot of fad groups, noise groups and commercial hit record groups, but not too many "music groups." Raspberries is just trying to be a music group. What we're offering is a legitimate "rock group" that in addition to writing and cutting good songs and trying to put out good albums, is also trying to put some sort of representation of what they're doing on the AM market, amidst the Osmonds and "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" and all that kind of stuff. And it's a very hard thing to do.
 
Let's get back to the new album. Would you say that it's more hard-rock oriented?
 
Yeah definitely…it's the application of the "music group" concept we were talking about. It's more of what Raspberries was like at, let's say, J.B.'s as opposed to the studio thing of the first album.
 
I'm going to let you do something you've probably never done, review your own album. Sort of an illegitimate review.
 
Okay…here it is.
 
Side One: (1) "Tonight" (written by Eric) – A rocker with AM overtones; (2) "Last Dance" (by Wally) – Eric's favorite of Wally's featuring roadie Neil Gilpin on country fiddle; (3) Making it Easy" (by Dave) – Dave rocks out on a tune about a chick who says he got her pregged and he says B.S.; (4) "On The Beach" (by Eric) – Surf noises and seagulls preface an exciting number about getting it on after the prom, or the like; (5) "Hard to Get Over A Heartbreak" (by Dave) – Dave rocks out again, truer words were never spoken.
 
Side Two: (1) "I'm A Rocker," (by Eric) – Autobiographical hard-rock, a cross between T-Rex, the Stones, and McDonald's; (2) "Should I Wait" (by Dave) – Touching countryish ballad of unrequited love; (3) "Ecstasy" (by Eric) – Self-explanatory; (4) "Money Down" (by Wally) – Funky rocker glorifying male chauvinism.
 
Well have we covered it all?
 
I think so.
 
Thank you.
 
My pleasure.

Cleveland Scene / June 28, 1973