Batttttty
takes the bull by the horns for an interview with |
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As
Forrest Gump so wisely said... |
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Jeff! Welcome to The UFO Experience! OK, well now that 'you are here', you'd better tell us how you got here. Most of the UFO fans will know you from your stunning guitarwork on Chocolate Box and on the $ign of 4 album and tour, but tell us about your bassplaying exploits - with Michael Schenker on the G3 tour, for example. Any other bass duties we should know about? I've been playing bass since 1983. Lately I've been doing alot of sessions on bass with different artists and also some film stuff. Who and what? Been playing bass recently with Tonal Theory, Eddie Cohn, and Crumb Bros., and I've done some bass sessions for TV. The film stuff includes Fantastic 4, Mr and Mrs. Smith, Rebound, a new Bon Jovi film coming out, Cloud 9 (Burt Reynolds,) lots of TV shiite, In A Fix, The Bachelor, blah blah... I'm only naming them cause you asked... It all sounds like name-droppin' to me... Blimey yeh. Robert Plant was always telling me never to name-drop. OK, so who were your main musical influences, and why? I started out with the 70's bands like Zeppelin and Van Halen, then on to Hendrix and the Beatles. I was a metal head as well, listening to Priest and Maiden and Sabbath. UFO was definitely one of my favorites. No one tells a story like Phil. I agree! Even the spaces between the words have a poetry all of their own. Feedback from the SITNners is that they felt Chocolate Box was UFO in just about everything other than name. What were your favourite songs from that album, and have you ever had the chance to play any of them at a live gig? Yeah, it should have been called UFO. What a shame. My favs are Jerusalem, Living And Dying, and Death In The Family. We've played Muddy's Gold and Jerusalem live. |
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$ign of 4 was also very well received by UFO fans - many of us feel that Dancing With St Peter and My Beautiful Friend are as worthy of being UFO classics as Love To Love is. How did that album and line-up come about? Phil and I always wanted to work together after Mogg/Way. I was setting out to produce a Mogg solo record. I called in Shane Gaalaas who's my favorite rock drummer and my old drinkin' buddy Jimmy Curtain for the bass duties. Once we started jammin' in the room, it was evident that it was more of a band vibe than a solo record so we went that way. I really dig that release. It's some of Phil's finest. It's comparable to the vintage stuff. Tell
us about the UK tour in 2002. What was your best moment from
that tour - apart from eating The setlist included a couple of UFO songs, but in July you get to play the full caboodle for 90+ minutes every night. How does that make you feeeeeeeeeel? Ooooorgasmic. |
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That's perfectly understandable... yeh... It feels f&%^in' fab. It's a full on concert then. I love playing the classics like Mother Mary. OK, what are your favorite UFO songs? Mother Mary, Love To Love, Let It Roll. I used to play that one and Lettin' Go in cover band at 13 years old. Tell us about that! My band was called "The Stain". The leader John Stainbrook has a lawsuit open right now against Fred Durst and Interscope against the band Stained with Trademark infringements. I guess they are settling. Funny biz. Anyway, it was a hardcore punk band on Mystic records. We did an EP, a full length album in 1983 "I Know The Scam" and a few compilations alongside Black Flag, The Misfits, Offspring... My absolute fav UFO song is "I'm A Loser". Yeh! I was at the rehearsals prior to the 2004 European tour and it was wonderful to hear them do that song for the first time in 3748375894573 years. It brought tears to this old girl's legs, I can tell ya. What's your favorite UFO era? The Obsession/Lights Out years. Your favorite UFO album? Obsession. Your favorite UFO guitarist? Herr Schenker. He's the melodic god. No one bends a note with as much expression. Gary Moore is a close second. And Gary's older brother Vinnie Moore of course, haha. How much are you looking forward to working with Vinnie? I first heard Mind's Eye and I was floored. I became a huge fan. I have about four of his releases. He's perhaps the technical winner in the chops dept. of electric guitarists. But he also plays with great taste and great melodic ideas. He sure does. And what about Jason? I met Jason last year when JKB opened the show. He's got a great sense of humor, a powerhouse groove. He doesn't overplay like many of today's drummers. I really dug the Bonham band in the 90s. They were great. I'm really looking forward to lockin' into his groove. OK, this might sound obvious, but it has to be said... you aint Pete Way. You don't look like him, you don't move like him, and you don't live like him. When Bazzle Sparkypants stood in for The Man last year, we got him to dip his hair in a bucket of Creosote every night before the gig, and we made him wear Pete's old spandex pants - and we even had a whip-round to buy him a Thunderbird, in order that the casual passer-by might actually think it was Pete up there on stage. I'm not sure, but I think we got away with it..... So... how do you think the hardcore UFO fans will adapt to you being there instead of The Blessed Lord Way Of Waystedshire? I'll drink Way under the f&%^ckin' table... He's a rock god. I need his attire. Sparks looked 'godlike'. Godzilla-like? No.... godlike..... I'm going punk. I'm gonna destroy the bass every night. Jagermiester, ho's and an eight ball oughta do it. That will get me in the right frame of mind. Err.... right.... I'm not sure that this is exakkkkerly what Phil wants to hear, but.... ok..... |
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Talking about Barry, you've had a lot of experiences playing with El Sparko over the last few years. Cosmosquad is something very different to UFO. Tell us all about the Cosmosquad albums/gigs, and about your jazz-influences. Sparks rules as a rockin' bass player fusing out. That's the cool thing about Cosmosqaud. We're rock guys messing with the fusion thing. It's got more balls than those esoteric jazzers. We're so long overdue for a new record. One day when Sparks takes a few weeks off, we'll sneak one in. My jazz influences are the old heroin addicts like Chas Parker, Chet Baker, Coltrane, and Bill Evans. Django is the guitar monster. And if I were to come to the Baked Potato in Hollywood and shout 'Ace Of Spades!' during a Cosmic Squirts gig, would you have me thrown out of the building? No comment. Lemmy in the house???? (Message from Batttttty - This is a bit of a 'you had to be there' visual. Don't worry, Jeff will explain in full when he writes his memoirs) What have been your best rocknroll moments up to now? It would have to be some of the offstage moments in Middle America at an aftershow party in a basement turned into a disco and then @#$%^&*. I can't actually bust into the stories as I am a married man now with a mother in law and everything... @#$%^&* (I'll tell ya all the stories later. The 80s were fab!!!) What was it like to work with the legendary Glenn Hughes - first of all in Shape 68, and then on Songs In The Key Of Rock? Glenn is The Voice. He's a sick mofo. A true artist. I had many great times in the studio with him. We did two records back to back. It was great to be three feet away listening to him plough through songs and singin' his arse off. |
| OK, now the obligatory amps'n'valves questions... yawwwwwwwwn.... What have you got, and why, and where from, blahblahblah. And what will you be using on the UFO dates? I've got a P bass, a Carvin bass, and an Ibanez. I may have to go out and score a Thunderbird the Way way. We'll see. Phil doesn't care what notes I play, more to get the rock and roll shapes correct. Amps will be SVT Ampeg. There's no substitute. And will you make us suffer any bass solos? Ooops, I mean do you plan on giving the other bandmembers time to go to the bathroom by doing an extended bass-solo during any of the choons? They aint gettin any younger.... And Jason charges extra for doing drum solos.... I'm so down for a bass solo. How about as the encore. Ready go....! |
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As
well as being an innovative and exciting musician with diverse
and multiple talents - how'm I doing?!?! - you also have your
own production company studio thingy, yeh? Give us the low-down
on that. Crumb
Bros is myself and Mark Renk. The studio is called Crumb Studios
in North Hollywood. It's a Pro Tools room. Really great vibe.
We're doing many up-and-coming bands as well as the classic
rockers like Glenn and Joe Lynn Turner. Mark is the up-and-coming
vocal producer to the stars working with P.O.D., Ben Moody (Evenescence)
Bush, Helmet etc. |
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OK,
now on to Lola. I've only seen photos of her but already I love
that crazy baby. Tell the SITNners all about this little lady,
and some of the funny things she gets up to. Pugs
rule the earth. Lola is is the new addition and Buddy Jo is
old school with many executive production credits under his
fur. Try doing a google search on Buddy Jo Kolllman and see
what ya get! |
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What other projects do you have on the go at the mo? The Jeff Kollman Band? More tours of Europe? JKB is starting a new record at this time. Were are gonna do a JKB tour in Europe starting on October 20th. I think we're doing something in France as well as The Netherlands and something in Switzerland. Keep an eye on the JKB website (a little plug there). We also have another record coming out. The band is Crumb Bros, which is Shane Gaalaas, singer Mark Renk, and myself. The record has been done for a while but we have just remixed it for a summer release. It's a bit of classic rock vibe. There are some comparisons to Floyd, Zeppelin, Radiohead, STP. What ambitions do you have, musically and otherwise? What would you like to be doing in five years time? I want to set myself up to make money while I sleep, so that I can spend the day making the music I want. It's that simple. And then f%&^ off till I sleep again. We'll see. I don't even want to waste time shopping or paying bills. I want quality family time, outrageous party time, and then to spend the rest of my time making great music with people who have something to special to say. |
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That sounds like a pretty good plan, me old mate. Especially the outrageous party stuff. OK dear, off ya go, into the unknown, and I'll meet ya back here in five years and we'll see how it went! Good luck in America, my beautiful friend! Don't miss the bus!
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