In 1988 Ian Hunter & Mick Ronson Teamed Up For A US Tour & This Interview! Liz London Is Still Recuperating.

Originally published in Rave-Up #16 (1989)
Interview by Devorah Ostrov & Liz London

Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson

Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Like peanut butter and jelly, MTV and Bon Jovi, baseball and Sunday afternoons — Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson simply belong together. After assisting with Mott the Hoople's breakthrough album All The Young Dudes, Mick teamed up with Ian in the final weeks of the band's career. Since then, whenever they've combined forces it's been magical (although it's always far too long between their joint projects).

Ian Hunter

Photo: Devorah Ostrov

During a short US tour late last year, we were blessed with two back-to-back shows in the Bay Area. The first was at the Oasis in San Francisco on October 5, followed by New George's in San Rafael the next night — which is where our interview took place.

Mick was busy soundchecking, so we began by chatting with Ian.

Rave-Up: I'm so happy that you and Mick are back together again! I saw some of the shows you did with Mick in, I guess it was 1980/81. What brought you back together again?

Ian: I hadn't really done anything since then, and I was getting rather desperate. I'd been living in the country for about five years, with me own studio, and it was no good at all. So, in '86 I moved back into Manhattan. And then I just started working again. It seems as if that's all it was. So, I wrote some songs and I thought I should ring Mick. He liked the songs, and we decided to go out on the road again.

Rave-Up: Did you just jump right back into touring, or was it a gradual process?

Ian: We started out by doing a couple of weeks in Canada, just to see, y'know. And "it" wasn't really there for the first few days. But then, all of a sudden, the x-factor started kicking in.

My backstage pass for the show
at New George's in San Rafael
October 6, 1988

Rave-Up: Do you mean as far as audience response?

Ian: I mean the thing that me and him have between us. That's what was important to us. We weren't really concerned about who turned up to see us. We were more concerned about how we wanted to do it.

Rave-Up: Judging from last night's show at the Oasis, the magic between you and Mick is definitely still there.

Ian: Well, whatever "it" is, it wasn't there. And then "it" came, and I was real relieved. I don't know what "it" is, but I know when it ain't there!

Rave-Up: You said that you had written all this new material and then called Mick. Has he been able to collaborate with you at all? Or is the live set mostly up to you?

Ian: I don't know... We never really collaborate that much anyway. Usually how it works is, I'll bring the song in and he'll change it around. That's how we collaborate.

Rave-Up: You do quite a lot of Mott the Hoople songs in the set, but Mick only gets one song. Why aren't you doing more of his stuff?

Mick Ronson (left) and Ian Hunter (right)
Photos: Devorah Ostrov

Ian: Because... I'm aware of that and so is he. But for a start, he hates singing. People should know this: it's not my fault. It's not like I say, "We're going to do all my stuff." It's just the opposite. He just doesn't want to do it. But I consider this a 50/50 partnership, and the more he gets involved, the happier I'll be.

Rave-Up: How do you feel about playing Mott the Hoople songs after all these years?

Poster for the 1990 Hunter/Ronson concert

at the L'Elysee Montmartre, featuring the

cover art for the Y U I Orta album

Ian: I don't like it. I don't like doing "Memphis," but I do it 'cause people wanna hear it. It's as simple as that. "Memphis" is one of those songs... You can't really do much with it. It's done that way and you can't mess with it. "Dudes," we've messed with that over the years, and now it's basically back to where it was in the beginning. But that's a song you can mess with!

Rave-Up: You still get emotional when you perform "All the Young Dudes." The song still seems to mean a lot to you.

Ian: Well, if it wasn't for "All the Young Dudes," I wouldn't be sitting here. I'd probably be working in a factory or digging holes in the road. I'm very grateful for that song.

Mick Ronson enters the room and makes himself comfy on the couch — a very small couch — on which Liz is also seated. It was at this point that we lost Liz for the rest of the interview, as she became catatonic.

Rave-Up: I was really impressed by the show last night. A lot of times, people just want to hear the old songs, but your new material is every bit as good as anything Mott the Hoople did. In fact, sometimes it was hard to tell where Mott's left off and the new songs came in!

Mick Ronson
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Mick: You couldn't tell? Good! Our new songs do have a sound to them and a style. And I do think that the old stuff sounds like the new stuff, and the new stuff sounds like... It's not that different.

Ian: I think the new songs are better than what I was writing with Mott the Hoople. I'll tell you how I know... It's because we have a weird feeling that we're onto something. I haven't had that feeling in a long, long time. It's horrible when you lose that feeling, and there's nothing you can do about it.
   I was watching the MTV Music Awards and I thought, "Fuck me, nothing's happening." These kids are going to gigs thinking that they're seeing rock 'n' roll bands. They're not rock 'n' roll bands! It's not exciting. It's boring. All these clean little people, going to their clean little gigs, doing their clean little encores.

Rave-Up: It doesn't sound like you're intimidated by all the new flashy bands.

Ian leans back in his chair, smiles and shakes his head, "No."

Ian: The only time I felt intimidated in me life was the first time I worked with Mick [during the recording of All the Young Dudes]. I was fucking terrified!

Rave-Up: Why?

Ian Hunter
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Ian: 'Cause he'd worked with David [Bowie, author of the album's title track and hit single], and now it was me. And I just thought, "I'm a fucking rock 'n' roller. And now I'm gonna get all this shit thrown at me!" It wasn't that bad, but I used to be very aware of that.

Rave-Up: Mick, I've heard that you've been producing some albums in Nashville over the last few years. But I haven't heard anything about your own musical projects. Have you been doing much in the way of playing?

Poster for the Hunter/Ronson gig at 
Manchester's Free Trade Hall
March 21, 1975

Mick: I was doing a bit of playing in England, but not that much. I wanted people in the industry to know me as more than just a guitar player, to know that I can do other things — like producing.
   Also, I'm not a very flashy player or particularly fast either. So, when I saw all these flash guitar players around, I thought, "I can't do this." I didn't even like it, y'know. I just didn't want to play it anymore, and I hung it up for several years.

Rave-Up: Until Ian asked you to join up with him again?

Mick: Yeah! And it's been great! For the first time in years, I really wanted to play guitar again. I love playing the guitar now. I never thought I would like playing the guitar again.

Rave-Up: Did it come back to you easily?

Mick: It didn't take too long.

Ian: It's like riding a bike.

Rave-Up: Mick, I interviewed you in 1982 when you were out here with T-Bone Burnett, and you said that you had been unhappy working with Ian because you didn't have any say as to what was played. Are you happier this time?

Ian Hunter
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Mick glances at Ian and laughs.

Mick: Yes, I am.

Ian: Have you been slagging me off?! Where is this fucking interview?

Mick: I wasn't slagging you off. We were together for quite a while, and it was time to move on.

Ian grabs Rave-Up #6 out of Mick's hand and reads through some of the interview.

Ian: Ah... I see it all now. Actually, I think that was pretty nice.

Mick: Well, the main thing with me, and I think with all of us, is I never wanted it to be like a job — where you go along and do your job and get your weekly pay. And when it ends up like that, you might as well get a regular job. It's got to mean a bit more than that to me.

Ian: It's just a question of keeping people occupied with new material all the time. If they're not occupied, if they're playing the same set night after night, that's what happens. And that's what happened to us before. And I'm not that prolific a songwriter either, which makes it difficult.

Rave-Up: What?!

Poster for the Ian Hunter Band featuring

Mick Ronson at the Capitol Theatre

October 21, 1979

Ian: I'm lucky if I can do five or six songs a year that I like. I write a lot of 'em, but I give 'em up halfway through 'cause they're not what I want. There were also a lot of people in that previous band [including a second guitarist], so doing anything seemed to be real difficult. I think it's easier with a smaller outfit.

Mick: Last time, a lot of people would say to me that they couldn't hear me play. They came to see me play guitar, and they would go away disappointed 'cause they couldn't hear it. That's why I didn't want another guitarist again. I feel better when it's just my guitar.

Rave-Up: It's not like you need another guitarist!

Ian: We didn't need one then. We just had one for some reason.

Rave-Up: As veterans of the '70s glam era, what do you guys think about the resurgence of interest in that scene?

Ian: I don't know if that's relevant to Mick and meself. I just write what I write, and I'll do that till the day I die, whether it's hip or it ain't. The only difference between what we did then and what we're doing now is that we're doing it for the right reason. Before, it was like... We knew we'd be digging holes in the road if we didn't make it!

* * *

Follow this link to read my previous interview with Mick Ronson: devorahostrov.blogspot.com/2017/12/mick-ronson

Mick Ronson: The Answer To The Question "What Do David Bowie, Ian Hunter, Bob Dylan & T-Bone Burnett Have In Common?"

Originally published in Rave-Up #6 (1983)

Interview by Devorah Ostrov

Slaughter On 10th Avenue

Mick Ronson's debut solo LP (RCA 1974)

A couple of days after they opened for The Who at the Oakland Coliseum, American roots-rocker T-Bone Burnett and his band played a much more intimate set at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco.

Joining T-Bone for these shows was legendary guitar hero Mick Ronson. Once David Bowie's dazzling cohort, Ronson most recently backed-up his old pal Ian Hunter on the You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic and Welcome To The Club LPs and tours.

In fact, it was only about a year ago that I last saw Ronson and Hunter at the Old Waldorf. (Actually, the very last time I saw Mick, he was slumped on the floor of an elevator drunkenly scrawling his name on my friend's Mott the Hoople records — which he did not play on.) This time, I found the soft-spoken (and thankfully sober) Yorkshireman backstage shortly before the club opened, and we began the interview by talking about another of his infamous outings.

Mick Ronson - Creem magazine pin-up

Rave-Up: I understand that you met up with T-Bone Burnett in 1975 during Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review.

Mick: Yes.

Rave-Up: The Rolling Thunder Review seemed like an unlikely tour for you to join.

Mick: It was pretty strange. It was... I dunno, it was all so busy. There were so many people around all the time. It was a pretty hectic tour.

Rave-Up: How did you become a part of it?

Mick: They just asked me to come along, and I said, "Yeah, I'd like to."

Rave-Up: Before this tour, had you kept in touch with T-Bone? Or did he call you out of the blue?

Mick: I last saw T-Bone about two years ago, but I hadn't spoken to him since then. He just called me up and asked if I'd like to come out and play with him. And I said, "Yes."

Rave-Up: Are you still technically part of the Ian Hunter Band?

Mick: No.

Mick Ronson joins Mott the Hoople (CBS publicity photo)

Rave-Up: Not at all?

Mick: No.

Rave-Up: The shows you did with Ian for You're Never Alone With A Schizophrenic and Welcome To The Club were so much fun!

Mick: It was good for what it was. I mean, me and Ian are really good friends. Me and Ian are best friends. And we always have been real good friends. But y'know... we can't... we do have our musical differences. I can't just play Ian's music all the time. I wanna do other things too, y'know. Ian's music is Ian's music.

Rave-Up: How long were you actually in Mott the Hoople?

Mick: A period of about three weeks. I only did one short tour with them in Europe. And that was it.

Rave-Up: Will you stay with T-Bone after these shows or are you going to do something else?

Mick: I don't know at this point. It's hard to say. I'd like to because it's something a bit different for me to do. I like that!

Rave-Up: The last time I saw you, you were passed out drunk in an elevator after the show. I've heard that you've cleaned up a lot lately, and you're healthier now.

 Mick autographed this photo for me! ❤  

Mick: Well... I don't do things like pass out all over the place anymore! That was basically out of frustration.

Rave-Up: Because you were playing as back-up to Ian Hunter?

Mick: That had a little bit to do with it, but that wasn't the whole thing. I felt I couldn't sort of say anything that I wanted to say, because it was all his music. It used to sort of bum me out. So, I used to get plastered!

Rave-Up: It's been a number of years since your two solo albums were released. Have you thought about putting out a third album?

The Rolling Thunder Review featuring Bob Dylan,

Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Roger McGuinn and

Mick Ronson (shown here on the left).

Mick: Oh, yeah! But nobody wants to put one out. [Laughs] They always say things like, "Well... y'know... I really like this stuff, but there's no vocals on it." And I say, "Yeah, you know why that is? It's because I'm a guitar player. I'm not a singer!" And they can't understand that. There's a lot of stuff that I'd like to put out. If a record company won't put out what I want to do, I'm just gonna put it out independently.

Rave-Up: Did it bother you when your voice was compared to Bowie's?

Mick: Yes.

Rave-Up: Is that why you're hesitant to be a lead vocalist?

Mick: Yeah. I mean, I sing the one or two songs that I really feel like singing. But I'm not one of those songwriters that can just go out and sing to people all the time. I'm just not that type of person. Now and again, I'll write a lyric... There'll be a lyric there that I'll think to meself, "I really like that, and I really feel confident in saying that." And that's the only time that I want to sing. Otherwise, I'd rather keep me mouth shut and play the guitar!

Rave-Up: Were you disappointed when your solo albums didn't take off?

RCA/Mainman advert for

Slaughter On 10th Avenue

Mick: No, not really. Y'know, when I first finished them I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if they were big albums!" Y'know... that didn't last for very long.

Rave-Up: As you've basically been a guitarist in other people's bands all these years, are you surprised that you have a dedicated fan base that follows everything you do?

Mick: Oh, yeah! A lot of the time, people don't know what I'm doing. But I'm always doing something. And it's nice. I sort of like it like that.

Rave-Up: Do you think that rock 'n' roll was more exciting ten years ago, during the early '70s?

Mick: No. Well, in some ways it was. It depends on how you look at it. It depends on how you play. I don't see why it couldn't be just as exciting now. It's just that a lot of people are playing and singing the same things, so it's not as exciting.

Rave-Up: It just seems like it was more glamorous back then.

Mick: Well, it was. It sort of went through that phase, didn't it?

Rave-Up: You don't sort of travel in limos and private jets anymore.

Mick: How do you think I got here today? You see that helicopter on the roof, there?

Play Don't Worry (RCA 1975)

Rave-Up: Haha! Is that yours?

Mick: That's mine, yeah. [Laughs] But that was all part of it then, y'know. It was good! It was really exciting, and it felt great! But I'm not with a big corporation now. I'm not with a big company that can afford to lay out all the money to do that stuff. I'm just meself. And if I wanna travel in a limousine, I'm the one who pays for it. And to be quite honest with you, I ain't got the money. I just do what I do, y'know. And I like it! I like it as much as I liked that other side of it. The other side is real exciting, but things can go wrong with it — especially afterwards. Especially when you turn around, and it's not there anymore. And then you suddenly look at yourself, and you think, "Wait a minute... I haven't got anywhere to live. I don't have any money. I don't have anything." I mean, luckily for me, I could go off and work with other people and do other things. But for some people who go through that whole trip, when it ends, it finishes them off completely. They get completely messed up, and they can't do anything ever again. They end up totally fucked up.

Rave-Up: What about the other Spiders From Mars? How are they?

David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars

L-R: Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder, David Bowie, Mick Woodmansey

Mick: They're doing all right. Trevor [Bolder], the bass player, is with Wishbone Ash. And he's quite happy playing with them. He has a regular gig to do, and he's quite happy doing that. He does his gig year in and year out. He's a very steady person, is Trevor. A very steady bloke. But I'm not really like that. I wouldn't be able to do that. I couldn't have a steady gig. And then Woody's [drummer Mick Woodmansey] tried several times to get something together, but he's been very unsuccessful.

Rave-Up: Does Bowie keep in touch with you guys?

Mick: I haven't spoken to him in a couple of years. I don't see him.

Mick Ronson pin-up

(from: www.mickronson.co.uk)

Rave-Up: Do you still live in London, or are you over here now?

Mick: I live in New York. I have a place upstate.

Rave-Up: How long have you been living in the States?

Mick: Off and on since about 1975. I spent about a year... I spent most of 1977 in London.

Rave-Up: During the start of the punk explosion!

Mick: Yeah! I came back to the States in '78, and I've been here pretty much ever since. I've been back to England a couple of times, but only for like a month.

Rave-Up: Is there a reason you prefer to live over here?

Mick: Not really... I mean, the main thing was I got me green card. And it was like, "Do I give up the green card and stay in London? Or do I move to the States?" And it so happens that I know more people in the States. I have more friends in the States than I do in London. So I thought, "Well, I'll go to the States!" It wasn't sort of a big plan. It wasn't like I was waiting for the day I could live here. It just sort of happened by chance. I have lots of friends over here, and I just ended up being here.

Rave-Up: We mentioned the punk scene a minute ago... Were you surprised that the punks still respected you?

"Slaughter On 10th Avenue"

RCA French issue picture sleeve 45

Mick: Yeah, it was nice. It was flattering.

Rave-Up: You were one of the few people from the previous scene they weren't slagging off.

Mick: Yeah, I know! I was like... all right! I thought, "Whoa! How did I manage to get by that one?" It was really nice. It was a really nice thing for people to say. I was really flattered. I was really thankful. I was really glad that the younger people didn't just pass me up as being a Boring Old Guitar Player. I don't think I am, y'know.

Rave-Up: Do you think there will come a time when you'll want to sit back and retire?

Mick: No! I've done that enough! I mean, I've done that in between doing things. I sit around because I don't know what to do next, y'know. I don't want to go off and just play with any sort of Joe Bloke. So, in between, I tend to just sit around a lot. And that drives me up a bloody wall.

Rave-Up: Is there a band that you'd really like to play with right now?

Mick: These guys.

Rave-Up: Besides these guys!

Mick Ronson — Play Don't Worry
(RCA/Mainman publicity photo)

Mick: No, not really. I dunno... That's always a really difficult one. Sometimes you fall into things, and sometimes you like it and sometimes you don't. You can't sort of plan it. It doesn't work like that. Or that's not the way I work, anyway. A lot of it happens just by accident, which I sort of like. It has an element of surprise to it. One minute I'm thinking, "What the hell am I gonna do?" Like, I don't know what to do next. And then T-Bone calls me up and says, "Do you wanna come out next week?" And I said, "Great!" It was just what I needed to do — go and play! So, I put off all the stuff that I was going to be doing. I put it all off for another month and came out on the road. And that was a real nice surprise! Went out and got some champagne; took the guitar out of its box. That was really fun! I got a real good kick out of it! I like that sort of stuff.

Rave-Up: You're playing some big stadium dates during this tour. What's it been like opening for The Who?

Mick: It's not the best position to be in — supporting somebody. That's for sure, y'know. All the people are there to see The Who because they're the main act. But we've been going down really well. And let's face it, it's really good exposure. And it's good for these kids to see T-Bone. The only thing that bothers me about something like that is, we don't get long enough to play. That's the only thing, really.

Rave-Up: The audiences aren't shouting, "Get off the stage! We wanna see The Who!"

Mick Ronson (RCA publicity photo)

Mick: Oh, no. No, they don't do that. Which is great because it could be like that. It could easily be like that. It's like that for a lot of bands.

(Mick starts tuning up.)

Rave-Up: That's an interesting guitar.

Mick: This is a guitar synthesizer. It comes with a special unit that you plug it into.

Rave-Up: Did you have it specially made?

Mick: No, it comes like that. But I don't use it very much with T-Bone. I only use it on a couple of things.

(A woman walks in and picks up a drink from the table.)

Mick: Is that mine?

Woman: What?

Mick: Is that mine?

Woman: I don't understand what you're saying to me.

Rave-Up: Allow me to translate. Is that his drink?

Advert for Ian Hunter's debut solo LP and

1975 UK tour dates featuring Mick Ronson

Woman: No!

Mick: All right. Just thought I'd ask.

Woman: I wouldn't drink your drink.

Mick: I don't mind if you do. Just thought I'd ask.

Rave-Up: You haven't lost your accent.

Mick: No, I haven't lost me accent at all. A lot of people don't when they move to other places. I dunno, mine's just stuck. When I was a kid, and I'd be someplace where they didn't speak Yorkshire, I'd feel really embarrassed. Every time I opened me mouth, I'd feel like a fool.

Rave-Up: At what point did you move from Hull to London?

Mick: Well... I was with David, y'know.

Rave-Up: You didn't move to London until you'd joined David Bowie's band?

Mick: I'd spent time in London before that. I'd moved down to London... lived in London... moved back... moved across to France... moved back... moved to London again... All that stuff is a part of everyone's early career. You hitchhike about and hang about music shops and coffee bars.

Rave-Up: Were you in other groups before you hooked up with Bowie?

Mick: I was in a band in Yorkshire — the Rats!

Rave-Up: What kind of music did they play?

Mott the Hoople with Mick Ronson

"Saturday Gig(s)" - CBS Netherlands picture sleeve 45

Mick: Blues music. Raw blues music.

Rave-Up: Did you audition for Bowie?

Mick: No, I was just sitting in his house one afternoon. He was playing, and I picked up a guitar and started playing with him. He said, "Do you want to come and do a radio show with me tonight?" And I said, "Yeah, all right." So, I went down and played on the radio show. And that was it.

Rave-Up: What songs did you play?

Mick: We did... Oh, we did a whole selection of them. I don't know! I didn't know any of his songs when I joined him.

Rave-Up: So, you just faked it?

Mick: Oh, yeah. I just watched him play and played along. That's how the Rolling Thunder thing got started too. It was like, just get up there and play and hope for the best.

Rave-Up: How could you tell what was going on with that many people onstage?

Mick: Well, by the time it got to that stage at least everybody was familiar with the songs. But at first, we just played the songs like... "All right, this is in the key of B. Ready? One, two, three, four... Here we go!" And that was it. You had to play it, y'know. It was fun! You just had to have your wits about you. Do you want to ask me any other stuff?

Turn & Face The Strange - The Story Of

Mick Ronson: The Spider From Hull

Rave-Up: Do you still have the clothes you wore when you were in the Spiders From Mars?

Mick: Some of them, I do. They're all in London.

(Noticing that everything in the vicinity is blue...)

Rave-Up: What's your favorite color?

Mick: It looks like blue, doesn't it! But it's not. It's green.

(The doors have opened, and the crowd is starting to filter in for the show. More than a few are middle-aged, and many are dressed in office attire.)

Mick: This audience seems...

Rave-Up: ...kind of old and straight.

Mick: It's a bit like a cabaret, isn't it?

Rave-Up: To get a seat at the front, you have to buy dinner and two drinks plus your ticket.

Mick: Well, when I get up there, I'm gonna crank it up! Blast them outta their seats! I don't care.

* * *

Follow this link to read my 1988 interview with Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson: devorahostrov.blogspot.com/2018/11/1988-ian-hunter-mick-ronson