PETER SCALLAN (Samson 1989/1990)
1- Hello Peter, thank you for being here on Samsonworld. What are your current projects? What about
your music today?
I am currently involved in two bands. I sing
for Moritz which is the band I was in before Samson. We have recently released
a new album called About Time Too and
have been playing in the UK including at Cambridge Rock Festival and
Rockingham. We have also just released a video for the single To The Moon and Back (link below). We
have recorded three albums in total (including Undivided in 2010 and SOS
in 2013). I also sing with Chris Glen & The Outfit. Chris is the current
bass player for Michael Schenker and was also part of the classic line-up on
the first five MSG albums. He was also the bass player for the Sensational Alex
Harvey Band (SAHB). Our set consists of MSG and SAHB songs. There is also a
possibility I will be involved in some other recording projects next year.
2- How did you first
get involved with Paul Samson and Samson?
Paul actually first approached me in 1987 to
join Paul Samson’s Empire. However, I said no at that time as I was playing with
Laurence Archer from Phil Lynott’s Grand Slam/Stampede/Wild Horses. We were
demoing an album which is why I said no to Paul. That came to nothing and I
joined Moritz. When Moritz finished, Paul asked me in January of 1989 if I
would join the band to finish the album which turned into Refugee. He sent me
some demo versions of four songs that he wanted me to write with him. I wrote
the vocal melodies and lyrics for the songs that turned into Look To The Future, Someone To Turn To, Love This
Time (which was from a Moritz song I wrote) and State Of Emergency. I came down to London in February and we
recorded the demo vocals for the four songs on Paul’s four track Portastudio
recorder at his house in Sidcup. He was pleased with the results so booked the
studio time for April for me to record all the vocals for the album.
3- You're the main
vocalist of Refugee, even if the
album was going to be called Ignition
and featuring David "Dave" Boyce as bassist. As you already know, in
December 1989 Paul re-recorded all bass tracks (except on one song). What is
your favourite version of the album and why? Refugee or Ignition?
I personally preferred the Ignition mix of the album which included three songs that didn’t
appear on Refugee. I still have the
cassette version that Paul gave me of the final mix. I preferred the Ignition mix as it was more contemporary
at that time. Not only did Paul remove Dave’s bass lines, he removed most of
the keyboards too! I do like the power of the Refugee album but some of the songs that had significant keyboard
arrangements sound a little empty and lack the texture that was intended. I
also don’t think the album needed two instrumentals.
4- Why aren't you
singing on Good to see you?
I have absolutely no idea why and it was a
surprise that when the album came out that song was on it. Paul and I had
discussions into early 1990 about the album. However, unbeknown to me Paul had
re-recorded the bass tracks, dumped most of the keyboards and added another
vocalist. Good To See You was part of
the Ignition recording session but
Paul didn’t want to use the song at that time. Consequently, I didn’t record a
vocal for it. I don’t know why he didn’t just ask me to do the extra vocal.
Having said that Paul was always a little bit secretive. We recorded 11 songs
for Ignition including re-recordings
of Foolin’, Losing My Grip and Tomorrow
but they didn’t get used on Refugee.
5- Which songs are
your personal favourites in the album? I think Can't live without your love and Don't tell me it's over are some of the most amazing Samson works
to date! You delivered very intense vocals on those, as well as many others. I
think the album is truly fantastic and your voice is terrific.
Well thank you – you are very kind to say so. My
favourite song on the album is Can’t Live
Without Your Love on both Refugee
and Ignition versions. The Ignition version has a superb keyboard
intro from Toby Sadler which was dumped for Refugee.
My other personal favourite is The Silver
Screen which has great guitar riff and chorus.
6- How would you
define the album, musically and stilistically?
Although Paul did a significant remix on Refugee compared with the Ignition version, the album
stylistically captured the harder edge of Samson but had a more melodic feel to
it that previous Samson albums. It was really a transitional album for Paul and
he clearly struggled with shifting the sound to one that was more accessible. I
guess that was the reason he remixed it.
7- At that point, was
"Samson" even a true entity or just Paul Samson and you guys as studio
musicians? Was the band cohering? Also, were you supposed to be the singer in
the "Refugee tour" that never happened? (in 1990 Paul toured with the
Rogues).
Samson was a band and as far as I knew was into
early 1990. I joined in January/February 1989 and up until about February 1990
Paul and I had still been talking about the album/gigs. We rehearsed during
July, recorded a Radio 1 Rock Show Session and played the Astoria (note: 14th
July and 21th July). The proposed tour was meant to be a European tour which I
believe was going to be a three band bill with Saxon and Anvil! I know that
Paul says in the liner notes for the BBC Sessions album that line-up had split
up by August 1989 but he didn’t tell anybody that! At least not me!
8- Tell us about the
Astoria gig... what about its resonance? Too bad there are no recordings of it
anywhere (which I know of). You even met your old Moritz members there...
It was all a little surreal as I had already
moved back to Glasgow. I stayed at Ian Edwards (Moritz/If Only) flat in
Battersea all week as Samson were rehearsing mid-week for the gig. If Only were
opening up and the band was basically Moritz with Jackie Bodimead singing and
they were excellent. We had some film director/producer at the gig, who was a
friend of Toby Sadler’s, who was coming to see us live as we were meant to be
doing a video for one song from the album, which I think was Can’t Live Without Your Love. I really
enjoyed the show as I was getting to play with a guy that I had watched as kid
and particularly Riding With The Angels,
Vice Versa and Losing My Grip. Bizarrely I ended up with Greg Hart and Andy
Elphick at Greg Hart’s house in Chiswick and it was a very late night indeed!
9- What was your
relationship with the other Samson members at the time you recorded the Ignition version? I mean Dave Boyce,
Charlie Mack and Toby Sadler?
I didn’t know Toby before I joined Samson.
However, I knew Dave and Charlie well from clubbing and gigging in London.
Certainly shared a few drunken nights with Dave! It was in fact Dave and
Charlie’s idea to ask me to join the band. Initially Paul refused on the basis
that I had already said no once before. However, they talked him into asking
me!
10- Basically, Refugee featured the very last line-up
of what I informally call “the third Samson era” (1987-1990). Why did the 1989’s
line-up disband anyway?
I was a fan before I joined and had saw Samson
three times as a teenager supporting bands at the Glasgow Apollo. The problem
for Paul with the Refugee line-up was
that none of the guys wanted to play any old stuff. When I turned up at
rehearsals they were gob-smacked when I asked about doing the likes of Losing My Grip, Riding With The Angels and Vice
Versa! In fact they told me to shut up!
11- Are you pleased
with the level of success that Refugee
achieved?
I have never really been sure about the level
of success the album achieved. I know it has been re-pressed a few times, but
other than that I can’t really say. Up until about 2013, nobody appeared to be
that interested. However, recently I have been asked more about my Samson time.
In fact, at the recent Rockingham festival, I was quite taken aback by the
number of people who asked me to sign copies of the Refugee album!
12- What are your best
memories of Paul Samson and your Samson era?
I will always remember my first day in the
studio doing the Refugee vocals. Paul
and I spent the first day in the studio mostly on our own. Dave and Charlie
were coming along later in the evening. Paul explained about them talking him
into asking me to join and wanted to play a joke on them. When Dave and Charlie
arrived, Paul switched the control room mic to mute and started shouting at
Dave and Charlie telling them I was useless and hadn’t managed to do finish
many vocals that day. Paul switched the mic back on and says, ‘Tell these guys
how much you have managed to do today!’ In on the joke, I apologetically tell
that I had been struggling today and only managed to get lead vocals for FIVE
of the songs! Needless to say they both gave me abuse as I had managed to do lead
vocals for half the album in the first day! The other bizarre memory was doing
our Radio 1 Rock Show session. We turned up at the BBC studios and there had
been a dispute with all the engineers walking out. We got left in the studio on
our own and Paul basically recorded the session himself with Tony Wilson mixing
it at a later date!
13- Thank you for this
fantastic interview, Peter. You’re a stellar vocalist and a very polite person.
Talk albout the last Moritz studio effort, which I’ve found compelling. I’m
glad to see many former Samson members are still out there doing great music.
We took quite some time to complete About Time Too. We had about 14/15 demos
for the album but it wasn’t really working out as Greg Hart wanted to continue
moving in the ‘70s direction we adopted for SOS.
However, none of the rest of us did. Greg left to form Cats In Space with the
songs and we decided to start again with a few of the songs left over. Most of
the songwriting was by Ian, Mike (Nolan) and myself. The album has a more of a
hard rock side than previous albums, while retaining the AOR material we are
known for. Songs like About Time Too/One More Beautiful Day and There’s Something About/Unwanted Man also move us into a slightly
more pomp area too.
We decided to produce the album ourselves, as
in Ian we have a great sound-recording engineer who gets what we are trying to
achieve. In fact, to be honest, if it wasn’t for Ian, I doubt we would have finished
the album! Nearly all the vocal melodies were mine with input from Ian and
Mike. Most of these were recorded at Ian’s studio. At least two of the vocals
that made it on to the album were actually guide vocals recorded at my friend
Hugh Mulgrew’s home studio. They were actually recorded in his bathroom as the
sound was so good in there and the quality of recording and performance was so
good, we decided not to redo them!
Interview by Tiziano Caliendo.
Interview by Tiziano Caliendo.
MORITZ: www.moritzband.com
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