BLUE CHEER – Interview with Richard ‘Dickie' Peterson

METAL HELL: How's everything with BLUE CHEER?

RICHARD ‘DICKIE' PETERSON: We're going on another tour starting November 5 th & that will go to New York & Washington & I think Baltimaore & Philadelphia are probably in there, and Charlotte & Atlanta, New Orleans & Memphis.

MH : Will you be changing songs around?

RDP : Yeah, we may add a couple songs from the newer albums, but people really wanna hear the old stuff so we'll probably drop a few songs & add a few.

MH : How did you end up putting BLUE CHEER back on the road this year?

RDP : Well we've been playing around Europe & Asia for a long time & the opportunity presented itself and Duck was over here & Duck's basically doing all the management for the band right now & he said Dickie why don't you come on over man, let's do it, so we just felt like it was the right time.

MH : Is there much improvisation in the set?

RDP : We've always been sort of open engines, on a lot of our songs, in that they could be 7 minutes one night & 20 minutes the next night but it's all very well arranged but we have what we call lateral movement like if Duck takes off on a guitar solo we know to back him up. Every night's a little bit different.

MH : You guys influenced a lot of stoner rock bands, do you listen to any of that stuff?

RDP : Oh yeah, I listen to quite a bit of it actually. Nebula is one of my favorites, Parchment Farm is one of my favorites. Drunk Horse is another band I really like, I also know Matt from High On Fire.

I go out to some of those shows but I don't go out to that many shows.

MH : Blue Cheer is sometimes credited as being one of the first metal bands, how do you respond to that?

RDP : Well, first & foremost all you've gotta do is put on a heavy metal album & put on ours & you can tell we're not a metal band, we're a power trio & that's what we always have been & that's what we still are. We're a power trio coming at you straight ahead. There's no illusions, no smoke, no mirrors, what you see is what you get. If the last tour is (anything) to go by, people really loved us cause there's no gimmicks.

MH : Were there lots diverse bills in the old days?

RDP : Oh yeah, we could be on a bill with Gomora Zabo, Muddy Waters & Blue Cheer. Back then the shows were structured so that the music was different.

MH : Black Sabbath says they were fed up with the flower power stuff, was Blue Cheer fed up with that stuff too?

RDP : Not really, we were just really aggressive young men. We weren't peace loving happiness hippies, although we ran with hippies & bikers.

MH : Some bands like MC5 were high- energy rock, but there weren't a lot back then.

RDP : It was just starting. There were other bands around that were power rock bands, they didn't sound like us, but there was Iggy, there was a band by the name of Savage Resurreciton, there was Grand Funk Railroad, other American trios that were coming out.

“We're A Power Trio Coming At You Straight Ahead. There's No Illusions, No Smoke, No Mirrors, What You See Is What You Get”

MH : Were they mainly Detroit based like the MC5?

RDP : The ones I know of personally were from San Francisco. Savage Resurrection & The Wedge were bands that were out of San Francisco that were basically doing the same kind of thing we were.

MH : Detroit gets a lot of credit for having some of the best crowds.

RDP : Oh yeah, Detroit is an R&R, rock & roll town man. You better believe it.

MH : Did it feel like you were pushing the boundaries towards harder rock at that time?

RDP : No, I don't think you think in those terms. You're just doing what you do because you're trying to create something, but I don't think you think in terms of making any profound changes in the landscape of the music world.

MH : What bands initially pushed you into the hard rock direction?

RDP : Well, really nobody cause nobody was doing it. We just knew that we wanted to have our music create a physical experience as well as an audio experience & that was our motive (&) our directive.

MH : How did the cover of “Summertime Blues” come about?

RDP : Well, we are a rock & roll band & I always loved Eddie Cochran & my brother, who was also a very good musician, he & I would do this song & we just threw it in as sort of a set filler, we never thought for a moment it would do what it did.

MH : How did that intro riff come about?

RDP : I just came up with it one day at a rehearsal. We had to get an intro on it & I said let's try this. We all tried it together & liked it.

MH : Rush covered your version of “Summertime Blues” recently. How does it feel for bands like Rush to cite Blue Cheer as an influence?

RDP : We are extremely honored. For me personally it's an over-whelming feeling that somebody pays us that kind of tribute. From musicians that I respect, it sort've makes me feel like I haven't really wasted my life at all.

MH : Is the story about the band being named after a kind of LSD true?

RDP : Well, it's sort of partly true cause there was a Blue Cheer acid, but it was also named Blue Cheer because our roots were basically in the blues, but they weren't sad blues, they were junk (?-jump?) blues.

MH : What are your favorite blues guys?

RDP : I like Howlin' Wolf, I like Jimmy Reed, I like Muddy Waters, then I cross over into R&B too because I love Wilson Pickett & Little Richard & most of of my influences come from those earlier days of R&B.

MH: What do you remember about doing The Beast Is Back in 1985 or so?

RDP: That record was done, (when) for a long time people kept trying to turn us into a heavy metal band & the reality is that we’re not & that is a result of that particular attitude. We only did that one album with them & then we moved on.

MH: What initially made the original band break up?

RDP: Drugs & attitudes, so we split up. Paul & I did get back together & Paul & I are still together. Duck has been with us for about 20 years & they still call him the new guitar player, I think it’s very funny.

MH: Do you regret breaking the band up when there was momentum at the time? Do you feel that Blue Cheer should’ve gotten more credit?

RDP: Well, we should’ve gotten more credit but do I regret it, I don’t know. I don’t know if I regret it or not because the scenarios that could’ve developed If we would’ve went on are quite devastating, cause we were on a self destruct trip at one point.

MH: Was there ever pressure from labels to write more poppy material?

RDP: They always wanted us to do more commercial stuff & we always said this is what we do. Every young musician wants to become famous & then rich. We were young men. We wanted to appeal to everybody so if we got a good review this was really important to us. If we turned up on the charts this was really important to us, however, we didn’t aim for the charts.

MH: How do you feel about the element of manufactured trends that keep happening?

RDP: It’s corporate rock & we’re really down on corporate rock. The musicians, most of them don’t get what they’ve got coming. In the long run they get shafted. I heard Keith Richards describe the music business once as a place where pimps & whores, dealers, prostitutes & men that lie to one another meet, & then he prefaces by saying and then there’s a bad side to it.

MH: What do you think of the musical climate of 2006?

RDP: I think some new stuff will break out soon. I’ve heard some interesting bands that are around, you’ve just gotta take a little more time (to find them) I think.

MH: What do you think gave bands in the 60’s so much more personality?

RDP: I think a lot of that is because it wasn’t run on an assembly line.  Everything is digital now & it takes a lot of warmth out of stuff, everybody uses click tracks, these are things we try to avoid.

MH: Are there any plans for a live album from this tour?

RDP: I doubt it. There could be but I doubt that there will be. I know off of the last tour we did some live video feeds & there may be something that comes out from the last one on video format.

MH: Is there much pro shot footage from the early tours?

RDP: No, there’s really not very much cause back in those days that wasn’t a thing, it wasn’t like today where everybody has a camera. It was very rare.

MH: There was the one shown on MTV for “Summertime Blues.” Where was that?

RDP: From the Beat Club, that’s what it was. It wasn’t a video thing at a performance, this didn’t happen very often. You had to go do a TV show & then you’ve got to film.

MH: What TV shows did you do?

RDP: We did American Bandstand, we did teen shows, we did the Beat Club, we did the Rock Palace, & then every major town had its local afternoon TV teen show or fan club show.

MH: Did they ask you to lip synch a lot?

RDP: Oh yeah, some times it was lip-synching. We never did like this. One time at one show we sent the road crew up to do it & they didn’t know the difference. They just went up there. They didn’t say anything. They were instructed to say absolutely nothing. They just dressed like us & went on & did it.

MH: Were a lot of the old songs written from improvised jams?

RDP: Yeah, we still write a lot of our songs like that. We come together with an idea & then jam around with it & figure out a song. Duck & I will get together before the band starts rehearsing & figure out different ideas that we both have & then we’ll take it into the studio & work it out.

MH: How much of the back catalog is still available?

RDP: Now it’s Universal, they own ‘em & they release ‘em all the time. I think they’ve released the whole package.

MH: What was your favorite less-known album to do?

RDP: Highlights & Lowlives I think is a really good album, although they tried to make us heavy metal on it, but we have a mix of this that the reverb wash is absent on & it’s pretty good. We may do something with that one day.

MH: Who’ve been your favorite producers?

RDP: My old producer Eric Albronda, I liked working with him a lot. Jack Endino was a good producer. All in all producers are another animal. They work for the record company. I like producers that have ideas that are worthwhile. I don’t like to be told what to play, but I do like producers that come up with constructive ideas.

MH: What sorts of basses are you using lately?

RDP: I’ve built my basses myself, which basically look like a Fender Precision, but I use Seymour Duncan pick-ups, they’re re-wired so that there’s not very much solder in there. I use SVT’s, which I think are the best bass amps ever made.

MH: How do you view your role on bass within the band?

RDP: The style of bass I play, I play with a very deep tone, so I use my over-tones a lot. Sometimes it’s more important what I don’t play than what I play, so what I try & do is create a big full backing. I’ll draw you an analogy here, the bass & the low end of the drums is the canvas. The high end of the drums & the guitar & the voice are the paint. If you can look at it like what I’m saying, my job is to give that guitar player something to make you believe he is a genius.

MH: How would you compare touring now compared to the old days?

RDP: Touring today is pretty much the same man, you just get in & you go. I’m sure it’s not like that for a lot of bands but we do things the same way we’ve always done them. We get out & we just tear up the road, that’s what we do.

MH: Was there a lot more partying back then?

RDP: Yeah, we were a little younger then & we probably did a lot more partying, but even back then there’s not that much time for partying. When you finish a gig you’ve either gotta go to sleep or you’ve got to drive 700 miles to the next place. A lot of stuff takes place in that van. You become closer than family.

MH: Do you think it would’ve helped the band if you had more controversial moments like Ozzy or Jim Morrison did?

RDP: You couldn’t have got any more controversial than us. We were putting out records like Dr. Fleece.

We were living with Stanley Augustus Owsley, the guy that made LSD. We were hanging out with the Merry Pranksters & Ken Kesey & Timothy Leary. I don’t know how much more controversial you could get. We didn’t just fight with the straight world, we fought with the hippies too.

MH: What do you remember about Owsley the most?

RDP: That he kept us high.

MH: How did he introduce himself to the band?

RDP: It wasn’t a matter of meeting somebody, it was just like one enormous party & people would show up & say this is Owsley, hi man, how ya doin’ & the next thing you know you’re involved. He was involved with The Grateful Dead a lot & he was involved with a lot of the San Francisco bands.

MH: What were your drugs of choice?

RDP: We did an awful lot of LSD & Marijuana. That was our basic drug of choice. Later on we got into harder drugs but that was a mistake.

MH: Do you think weed & acid can enhance your creativity?

RDP: I definitely do, but I don’t think LSD is something that you can go out & take today like you could when I was younger because you don’t know what you’re getting anymore. You don’t know what you’re getting, you don’t know where it’s coming from, it’s simply too dangerous. Believe me, we abused this. I don’t advocate drug abuse. We abused it & why I’m alive & why Paul is alive, I don’t know. We should be dead cause we abused the hell out of stuff. Maybe we survived it so that we could tell people you didn’t have to do that, I don’t know. But I’m a very big advocate for the legalization of marijuana. As far as LSD goes, I don’t think LSD is something that everybody should take but I don’t think an LSD trip, when you’re with somebody who knows what it is & what you’re going through is necessarily a bad thing. It opened up my consciousness a lot. It made me very aware of the world around me, whereas before I wasn’t.

MH: What bands were the biggest partiers back then?

RDP: We did a lot of gigs with Big Brother & Janis. Paul was Janis’ lover so we had a friendship with them. We really liked Quicksilver. We had a good time with him. Jack Cassidy & Yarma from the Airplane, we always had a good time with those guys, I liked them a lot. We did a stint of gigs where we were playing with Traffic a lot & I admire Stevie Winwood so much.

MH: Do you ever play with Hendrix or Cream?

RDP: We did quite a few gigs with Hendrix & a few with Cream too. We never hung out with them, no. We got to meet but we never hung out.

MH: Did you ever think you’d be playing n 2006?

RDP: Actually I didn’t think I’d be alive. Since I was a young boy I never thought of being anything else other than a musician, but I didn’t think I would be alive now.

MH: What do you think is the secret to the bands longetivity?

RDP: Perseverance & attitude. A lot of it is in the attitude & we definitely have a rock & roll attitude. We’ve grown up in it. It’s been our whole lives.

MH: Do you think attitude is as important as musicianship?

RDP: Yes, it’s at least AS important. In some instances maybe even more important. You can be the best player in the world & if you don’t have a good delivery it doesn’t matter & your delivery is your attitude so you’ve gotta have the right attitude to deliver what you do. With Blue Cheer our attitude is not pretentious, it’s real, we’re not a pretentious band. What you see is what you get & we deliver.

MH: What do you recall about “Parchment Farm”?

RDP: That was written by Mose Allison, you get a song, somebody brings you a song or you hear a song & you say wow I really like that & you work with it a little bit & then at some point it doesn’t matter whether you wrote the song or whether you didn’t write the song, it becomes you. Anybody who gets up & does a song, it doesn’t matter who wrote it, when you’re doing that song you own it, that’s you. It doesn’t matter who wrote it. It’s somebody that wrote something that gave you a vehicle to express your attitude.

MH: Do you recall writing “Out Of Focus”?

RDP: I wrote that when I was sick. I was ill on hepatitis & that’s what I remember about it. I wrote it & we went in & we just did it. Sometimes I have some songs that don’t come together for 20 years. It’s always different, there’s no formula plot for me. I know that there are guys that sit down & write songs & they write 3 songs a night, I don’t do that. I don’t write a song thinking I’m writing this for Blue Cheer, I sit down & I write a song & if it works, it works. It comes in all different ways. A lot of times I’ll write songs about things that happened to friends of mine. It didn’t happen to me but I was there & I could see it.

MH: What do you recall about “Ride With Me”?

RDP: “Ride With Me” was really a brainchild of Tony Rainier & we put that together at a rehearsal one day.

MH: Is there any chance of a new album?

RDP: Yeah, we’re working on new stuff all the time. We hope to be in the studio by spring. There’s talk about us doing a new album, I don’t know when yet.

MH: Any chance of another live album?

RDP: We’ve done several of ‘em. That’s actually the way I prefer to record. I hate the studio.

MH: Any other future plans?

RDP: We’re gonna be out there playing & performing & recording, that’s our plan. It’s all we know how to do man. We’ve been doing it all our lives man. It’s all we know.

 

 

* Interviews by Joe Degraffenreid / Metal Hell Int'l 2006 (c)