Remember Paul Gray?

No, me neither. Anyway, I recently caught up with him (thanks for signing that copy of the Big Issue you sold me, darlin) and over a nice cup of rocknroll tea he was good enough to answer some questions for our website.

Nice young man, but complete barmy.

Different organisations tender for the contract. I work freelance for Community Music Wales at the moment - pretty much full time - as a mentor for the whole of Southeast Wales. I treat it like managing a band on government dosh. I push for as much as I can get if I think the band's good, so the people I mentor love me! I try to teach 'em as much about the industry as possible, including the shit side. I help with pre-production and production (not too loudly!), help get gigs and festivals sorted, press ( I've just sent some stuff from one of my new bands to Dave Ling, the old UFO/Damned contacts prove well handy!), setting up labels, sound engineering training - you name it.
Even roped in Mick Glossop (Making Contact) to produce one of 'em in Abbey Road last year. I've helped and worked with Lee Gaze from the Lost Prophets - I had the wonderful experience of seeing employment service personel bringing in CD's for him to sign after being on TOTP - a year previously they were writing him off as a no-hoper. Psycho Squad (Phil Campbell from Motorheads son) is in 'em, The Kennedy Soundtrack, DJ's (aaaarrggghhh!!!), r'n'b singers...a couple of bands for this year I think will be Trip, a drum n bass metal band from Newport and Free Peace Sweet - crap name but 3 minute songs to die for. I'm taking 'em in the studio in 2 weeks for some serious quality recording. The girlies love 'em and thats good enuff for me. So, er, very rewarding!

Maybe tried to appeal to too wide a market - that's before people told me not to bother with the UFO crowd, they were only into Schenker.
That's not true now is it! What's it like? Buy it ya sods and find out!

Batttttty : It's a shit business, we all know that, but after all the tributes that were saying John Entwhistle was so great, I think if I was him I'd prefer to feel a bit indispensible - for a while at least. So, where do you think the line should be drawn? Was it cos the tour was so imminent that they had to go ahead, or do you think that a bassplayer really isn't as 'important' as the singer or the lead guitar. Loaded question, but truly interested in what you think.
Paul : WHADDAYA MEAN NOT AS IMPORTANT!!!! God yeah. The Who. Never bothered with newsgroups much before but have been fascinated to follow alt.binaries.who over the past week.
Entwistle was a mega influence on my good self. I used to use his bass rig with The Damned - we both rehearsed at Shepperton Studios. Shared a few brandies in the pub with him and Mooney. Tried his Alembics out. Lovely man. Ok, take the bass line off My Generation. Take it all off "Live At Leeds". Take the bass and backing vocals off Tommy. Whaddaya left with? Yeah, its good , but not that good. In fact its fucking empty.
Personally I'm amazed, disgusted and dissapointed in turn that they went ahead but hey, 25 million bucks at stake, let's not let some old bass player snuffing it bring us down!!
This is what Mr Townsend had to say about it - a man I used to have some respect for...
"For my part I am not attempting to deliberately establish any sense of memorial or tribute to John. Unlike others I entirely respect (including many of John's friends and family) I don't feel I know for certain that John would have wanted us to go on. I simply believe we have a duty to go on, to ourselves, ticket buyers, staff, promoters, big and little people. I also have a duty to myself and my dependent family and friends. I also want to help guide Roger and the rest of the band at this time, all of whom have been shaken by John's death." "I will try hard not to fall into any of my usual mini-depressions on this tour. Pino is determined to enjoy the music, and so am I". "We are musicians, entertainers. We can do it. We have the right tools. No worries."Course the tour was imminent. They'd have had tour insurance tho'. OK, it was their last chance to go out - they couldn't do it in the future. Not unless they were a complete bunch of c****.
Put it this way. If UFO were about to head out on a major tour and Pete partied just a little too hard and woke up dead the morning after, somehow I don't think me or anyone else would be getting a call from Phil, do you? And fuck - do you think we'd want to?

Batttttty : H-Bomb. Still feel the same about the "screw-brained jumped-up little Hitler"? ( "Objection, your honour, my learned friend is trying to lead the witness". "Bollocks, sit down and let her carry on, she's doing great" ). Paul : I presume you're referring to my one and only encounter with His Germanness. For those of you who haven't a clue wot we're on about you'll have to take a dekko at the FAQ page on my website. Met his brother - charming gentleman - and had the honour of guiding his sister's hands over my Juno 106 in deepest Edgbaston. But Michael.... marvellous guitarist and all that - but methinks a visit from Mr. Manners wouldn't go amiss... Batttttty : I want Love To Love played at my funeral. What choons would you like at yours? Paul : Bach's Toccatta and Fugue in D minor."He shall feed his flock" from Handel's Messiah, 'cos my mum sang it when she was an opera singer and it's a beautiful song. And "Do Anything You Wanna Do" by me and The Hot Rods, cos I did...

Batttttty : Which version of UFO did you personally enjoy more? The '83 or the 85-88? Paul : They were both very different.. The 83 tour was pretty daunting for me, learning a whole bunch of unfamiliar songs very quickly - we never actually rehearsed all together as far as I can recall (altho' we did all manage to meet in the pub next to Nomis studios )! By the time I felt comfortable onstage enuff to relax the bloody thing was over! Also it was then that I realised the shadow of Mr Way loomed large. Plus everyone kinda knew it was the end so it wasn't the most "up" of tours. But I loved playing with the band - great gigs, perfect sound, good company, and excellent crew. The 85 - 88 lineup was more comfortable as it was a "new start" for the band. I know Phil was hesistant about calling it UFO for a while. But I got on really well with Phil and we spent a lot of time knocking song ideas around together, and I had a quite a lot of input into the band. The tours were great, especially in the US, and I can't remember not actually enjoying every minute of it. I'd have loved it to have continued. Batttttty : Were you surprised / disappointed when it fell apart in '83? Or could you see it coming? Paul : After a few days travelling aroung Spain and France in the cars with them I realised that if they continued at the pace they were at something was gonna give sooner or later. Let's say the party started when we were turfed out of bed by tour manager John Knowles, and sometimes that was 7am. So not suprised, but disappointed, yeah - I'd left The Damned to do a world tour with UFO and managed one bleedin' gig in a windswept Greek stadium! Batttttty : Why did you play a Rickenbacker bass? Paul : Why not? I'd played 'em since 76. Marvellous racket they made - the older ones anyway. Loved the way they looked - as Lemmy once said to me, "whoever designed this must have been out of their fuckin' tree!" Batttttty : Are you still friends with the UFO guys? Paul : Met up with Tonka a few years back in a Cardiff studio - there's a photo of us on his website. He left a message at my place last year when he was back but unfortunately I missed him. I've a lot to thank Paul for - it was 'cos of him I was in the band. Plus he was always immense fun to be around! We email each other occasionally. Phil I last saw at Newport Center - must have been 97? Same time as I last saw Pete and Paul Raymond too. It was weird - the banter was exactly the same and it was almost like the last 10 years hadn't existed. The first thing Phil said to me was "have you seen page 3 today?" I almost felt like getting a few whiskies down me and asking where the tune-up room was! I haven't seen or spoken to them since - I guess you just kinda lose touch. Batttttty : How do you rate Tonka and Atomic Tommy as players? Paul : Both very gifted but very different. Paul's playing was more my cup of tea, more blues based, more raunchy, and he had a fantastic stage sound. He was an effortless player, even with a bottle of CC in him - made no difference, he always sounded bloody good. He just did it. Excellent bassist too. A consummate musician. And great fun to jam with. Tommy was a great American player, I guess. It's a personal thing, but my favourite players have always been rhythm based - Kossof, Townsend, Rick Nielsen, and yes Schenker - and I guess Tommy was more a part of that American guitarist thing in the 80's of what I call wibbley wobbley playing, and I didn't warm to it as much. But that's absolutely no reflection of his ability, just my personal preference. Batttttty : If a film was being made of the your life (assuming you had one), which actor - or actress - would you want to play the part of Paul Gray? Paul : Terry Thomas. Sid James for the older bits. And Wilfred Bramble for the very old bits, if I ever live that long. You'd have to dig 'em all up first tho'. And thank you very much Batttttty, I think I had more of a life between the ages of 16 - 21 than most people do in a lifetime. Anything after that was a bonus! Batttttty : Tattoos. If pain was no object, what would you have and where would you have it? And don't say Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. More like Rhyl, I bet. Paul : Gimme a call love, let's talk privately. Batttttty : Hah! Once a UFO bassplayer, always a UFO bassplayer!

Batttttty : What band most influenced you when you first started out, and do you still feel the same way about David Cassidy and the Partridge Family these days? Paul : T.Rex. Slade. Hawkwind. Deep Purple. Didn't David Cassidy have a single called "Wouldn't it be nice?" or something? I can hear it in me head - great single...always a sucker for a good pop song... (Paul starts singing at the top of his voice) Batttttty: Paul, stop it darlin, people are looking at us. Paul! Stop it! Oh blimey, looks like I'm gonna have to sit on his face. OK everyone, the show's over. Stand back, there's nothing to see. (Well, actually, there is a bit more to see ... HERE )