Date: October 18, 2002 Location: De Boerderij Place: Zoetermeer, Holland Interview by: Clemens Steenweg And there he is! Tour-manager Ian Tompson guides Manfred Mann into the "interview"-room. Manfred gives me his left (!) hand to shake, and plumps down in a chair. Is this man 62 years old? If you see him like this: No way!! A slender man, who could be 50 as well. I ask him if he had a good soundcheck, and he answers: "No problems, sounds good! Let's do the interview!"

CS: What gives you the energy to go on stage after all these years? MM: Mentally or physically? Mentally, well, making music is what I do best, so then it's easy to go on stage every night. It's what I like very much, people coming to the concerts, see them enjoying the show. That's where for me the physical energy comes from.

CS: After all those years with different MMEB-line-ups, what has become your best memory? MM: Difficult question. Frankly all the time I've spent with MMEB is one great memory.

CS: You have had a lot of musical successes, in spite of it is there still a musical wish for you? MM: A musical wish...... Yes, I had one: making the album Plains Music. An album of North-American Indian music. I always wanted to do that.

CS: How did you expierenced the gigs in countries like Russia and Hungary? MM: Not as special as other gigs. I've played in Russia in 2000, many many times in Hungary, even recorded a live-album over there, and in times these countries were marked as "countries behind the Iron Curtain", I could see and feel the fear of the people there. Armed soldiers in every street, it was a dark period, luckily that's over now.

CS: Have you ever played with MMEB in South-Africa? MM: No. CS: You always have had covers on your albums. Which one do you like most? MM: I don't like the word "cover", for me it has a negative sound. CS: Well, a song from another artist, interpreted and played by Manfred Mann then? MM: Yes, kinda like. No, I don't have a favourite one. I'm not a writer, so, long ago I decided to play songs from others in my own way. They got the Manfred Mann-sound, and that's what I'm still doing these days.

CS: Is there among your albums a favourite or special one? MM: As I said before, Plains Music.

CS: What is your favourite album Top-5 in general? MM: I can't say that I have favourite albums, but I often listen to jazz-music. At the end of the day I can't listen to pop and rock-albums, after a while it's like if you don't know them. That's not with jazz. For some reason or another, it's maybe the way I was brought up, it's a certain kind of jazz. It's not jazz as it's known in the 70's and 80's, that fancy-clever stuff, but music that's really exciting. Before jazz got too clever, so that's really what I play. And I like Jan Garberack as a modern artist, of modern jazz, or whatever you call it, new-age-artist. So for a while I play Jan Barberack, and I like quite a lot of American hip-hop.

CS: Although it took 4 years of recordingtime for the album "Soft Vengeance", do you have plans for a new studio-album? MM: Well, once in a while we take some time to do some recording in my studio, and we have recorded some material, but that's about it for the moment.

CS: How did the idea arise to share the vocals of Noel McCalla and Chris Thompson on the album "Soft Vengeance"? MM: I still have good contact with Chris and I thought it was a good idea to let him sing some songs on the album. Noel and he got different kind of voices, but that was O.K. for the songs they sang on the album.

CS: What keyboard-equipment do you use on stage these days? MM: Well, after many, many years I ditched the MiniMoog, because it has only one note at the time. I'm now using a Nord Lead 3, because it has got more possibilities, also to try and produce the sound of the MiniMoog. I'm still working on that synth, 'cause it takes time to program the right sounds.

CS: The MiniMoog played and still plays an important role in your songs. Why do you still use it? MM: Effectively, I'm not using it, but I'm still looking for that sound. It's a MiniMoog-sound and I'm trying to make it sound like a MiniMoog. Because it's the instrument that I play best, and it's the instrument that has my signature. If you hear me play, you know it's me. If you hear 20 players you'd still know it's me. I may not be the best player, but you know it's me.

CS: Your solotechnique on the Moog is quite impressive. Do these solo's come by improvisation or do you write them out on paper? MM: I never played a solo from paper for one second. They all come by improvisation, I never know before what I'm gonna play.

CS: Why don't you use the Hammond on stage anymore? MM: I never really do. I'm more a pianoplayer. Hammondplayers are specialists, and I'm not a good Hammondplayer, so I thought it was best for me to put it away.

CS: What are the further plans for Manfred Mann in the near future? MM: Just carry on with what we're doing.

CS: Which one would you choose from the following possibilities? - Analog or Digital? MM: Well, most certainly not digital! Comparing to analog it's very "cold". - Hammond or synthesized Hammond? MM: Well, obviously not synthesized Hammond. You can never produce the real sound of a Hammond from a synthesizer! - CD or Record? MM: CD for the ease, record for the past. - Recording on tour or in the studio? MM: Actually, I don't like recording on tour. I think "live" is when you are in the concert hall, and not play the "live-album" at home. You can't feel the atmosphere of a live-performance, that's so special. The sound, the crowd, the talks etc. - Jazz, jazz-rock or Classic Rock? MM: Well, for me it's jazz, but not jazzrock, and Classic Rock, I'm not sure what it means... CS: ...Well, people want to say: Classic Rock is music from the 70's, for example Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple... MM: ...I brought this into Miles Davis, that's the best in rock, but I think there are some great American rockbands, like Pearl Jam, these guys are great, wonderful. Generally speaking if you said American or British music: it's American music. Generally, there are exceptions like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, but generally speaking it's American music.

CS: You feel jazz is THE music? MM: Well, I don't wanna make a big deal out of it, it's a thing I listen to, but it's not jazz as clever music. To me, the kind of jazz I listen to is Lionel Hampton, Oscar Peterson, it's always early Oscar Peterson, it's always late 1950's. It's not when guys do ...dadumdadumdadum..., trying to be clever on drums and play a million miles an hour, and just try to impress each other, it's not that kind. And I don't like any of the modern jazztype rhythmsections, I far prefer the way people play with Ray Brown, simple bassplay, and a great, great musician but who chose to play simply. Where are the modern bassplayer and the modern drummer, seem to be trying to impress everybody how good they are? Where are the old guys who try to make the guy out front sound good? And I think there's a world of difference in music as much more exciting. I like exciting music and jazz used to be exciting!

CS: Is simple playing not just the most difficult part in music? MM: Well, I mean simple is difficult that you do need to be able to play well, you also need to be able to play fast. So all the players who play slow and simple, they can play fast. The simple is difficult, fast is complicated, just being good is bloody difficult. But I prefer jazz, always exciting, you know, it was melodic. As I said after the 1960's, it has just gone clever, but there are some great players, But I'm not really a jazzfan, I don't go around buying jazzalbums all the time. It's just certain things I listen to, that's what I enjoy.

CS: There's a possibility that you join Uriah Heep during the Classic Rock Festival in London, November 29th and 30th. Can you confirm that? MM: We're playing somewhere else that night, but I would have done that! CS: That's too bad. MM: Yeah, all too bad!

CS: If you could choose to do it all over again, what would you do? MM: If I could choose to do it all over again...? I would have toured less in the 60's and stayed home. But musically, I have to think about that, but there are things I would have done differently!