Savoy Brown Interview
with Kim Simmonds

continued

TG- "Do you have kids?"

Simmonds- "I have three kids."

TG- "What are the ages?"

Simmonds- "I have a 33-year-old daughter. I have a 25-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter as well."

Me- "Wow! Are they following in dads foot steps in music?"

Simmonds- "No! No! My son doesn't really . I tried to get him involved. He didn't like the traveling (laughing). I don't blame him.

And my younger daughter, I've got playing the violin. So she's playing the violin. She enjoys that. But I think we make mistakes as parents. I was making a mistake with my daughter now, Eve. Because I was thinking well I'm a guitar player. There's guitars all around the house. She could play guitar. You assume, you know, and then when she wasn't doing that. It's like what's going on? Now I could have kept forcing the issue when she just would have just gone away.

So, one day I sat down and said, well, I wonder what she wants to do? I sat down with her. I said, well, I'd like you to get involved in something. I just don't want you to watch TV for the rest of your life. I said what do you want to do? And she said well I'd like to play the violin or the flute and of course that completely. It didn't occur to me that she might have ideas. It just occurred to me. It seemed natural to me that she should play guitar. But really what I was doing I was forcing on to her what I thought and when I asked her what she wanted to do. The last thing on my mind was that she wanted to play violin. She wanted to do that and she's having a blast playing it. I'm able to push her along. That was a revelation to me."

TG- "So, you taught her music?"

Simmonds- "No! No! She's learning the music from a teacher. But ,I just know how I learned to play the instrument and I just know how I can uh. I can tune the violin and you know I can do stuff. I'm not a parent substitute. I can sit down and I can cut corners with her and I can tell her how to practice properly. I can tell her how to move forward faster. Then, another parent that might not be a musician. At the same time, she's got to do it like, I say to her: 'You can't wait for me to tell you to practice. You've got to want to do it. If you really want to play the instrument.' "

TG- "That's great your able to do that for her."

Simmonds- "Yeah! I'm enjoying being able to help her. Like I say it was. I had been taking the wrong tackle. Not thinking what she wanted to do I have my own expectations."

TG- "What do you think of rock-n-roll blues of today?"

Simmonds- "I think it's very healthy and I think it's exactly the same as it was when I was growing up. Everybody's playing the same instruments, the same amplifiers, the same guitars. Starting off the same way. A garage somewhere. There's some great artist. Some young guys coming through playing some good stuff. I just hope more then that. More people come along. I hope more young guys come along. I don't know if the audience is still there anymore? You know, for it? But, that's the other thing it's all very well having. Good blues rock is out there. But there has to be an audience. When I started there was a huge college audience. They wanted to listen to that music. The college audiences think by at large want to hear something else now days."

TG- "Maybe it just depends on where you go?"

Simmonds- "Yeah! Probably different area's you mean? Yeah!"

TG- "Yeah!"

Simmonds- "But No, I think it's very healthy. And I'm waiting for the next Stevie Ray Vaughan to come along. You know what I mean? (laughs)"

TG- "Have you guys ever made a documentary film when you've gone on tour?"

Simmonds- "We made a couple of videos. I saw documentaries but never been completed. One of those things where it never got completed. So, that is something that I should made a thing to complete. But I just never had the energy to complete the stuff. But there is lot's of footage on the shelf.,"

TG- "Do you think you would want to complete it some time or another?"

Simmonds- "I think so. You know. It happens!"

TG- "I think it would be good. Especially since you have kids. Something to look back on."

Simmonds- "Yes! Maybe!"

TG- "Show the grandchildren."

Simmonds- "Maybe! Maybe! You know that's, I don't now. I got my two oldest kids. I think are pretty burnt out with living with crazy dad (laughs)."

TG- "What's your favorite food?"

Simmonds- "Indian curry."

TG- "Indian curry?"

Simmonds- "Yeah! I love Indian curry."

TG- "Is that the only thing?"

Simmonds- "Favorite food? We'll, let me think. I eat anything you know. I love donuts and coffee in the morning. Got to have that every morning of course. What else do I like? I don't know?"

TG-"To many to think of?"

Simmonds- "To much to think of. I like it all. My biggest problem is liking it all. You know. Try not to eat it all."

TG- "Do you feel that you've reached your goal as a musician? If not what is your goal?"

Simmonds- "Well, I thought I had. But I think that now I've started singing. I mean I was singing like a song here and there on a record. And for this record and this band. I took center stage and decided to sing completely and that kind of opened up a new vista for me. I think that many ways. Yeah! I've reached my goal as a guitar player. I've made a name for myself and I made some classic recordings- so they tell me.

But then I think here I am at 55, and all of a sudden, I see something new opened up for me. I'm not writing for a singer in the band. So all of a sudden it's like hey! Maybe there's something around the corner here that w'll grow for another ten years or something. So, this has been exciting for me as a musician to suddenly push myself and find that perhaps I can do something else as well."

TG-"That's great! Something new for fans to look forward to?"

Simmonds- "Yes! (laughs)"

TG- "Well, If you have a message? What message would you give you inspired fans. If they wanted to follow into your footsteps?"

Simmonds- "Words of wisdom? I've always got lot's of words of wisdom. To bore people with. But when I'm asked I don't know a thing (smiling). I would say that you know from the top of my head. Wow! I'm thinking. I was talking earlier on about some stuff. I'm trying to think wha's going on?"

Me- "Maybe to not give up and keep going for your dreams?"

Simmonds- "That's a little cliché. I think words of wisdom is that or lot's of fans out there. 'Cause a lot of them will be older fans really. For that matter young guys as well. There's perhaps there's a cliché here. But, when things go wrong in life or if your life takes a different turn, I think it's best to see if there's an opportunity there.

With my last group lineup, for instance. When the singer left. I had an immediate thing. 'Cause I thought, oh, just like that, to replace him. That's the worst thing you can do. You can't try to replace your life. You lose a boyfriend. You don't replace him with the same guy. You know what I mean? You just look for someone completely different. Your life has to. You have to use the change as an opportunity to go a different direction. Whether it's emotionally in your life. Whether it's musically. Don't try to repeat yourself all the time. 'Cause all it will do is not be as good as the last time you did it. Whatever it is you did. you've got to move ahead in life. When things go wrong, you take a different look at things.

I think that I proved that to myself this time with the band. Instead of just repeating myself again. I said hold on. Where is the challenge in this?

Let me take a completely different approach to this. It's a bit of a cliché. But use a negative as a positive. So in many ways. I think that's one of the answers. Is to not be afraid to, you know, take a different tack at life."
      

After our interview, Simmonds went on stage. He sang and played the guitar. One fan pointed out that he was playing with no guitar pick. Very cool! David, the rhythm guitar player, switched to different guitars for just about every song. People danced, listened, cheered and shouted out for the band members. They even played small parts of songs that Stevie Ray Vaughan had done. They did a great job of it! They even took time after the show to sign autographs for their fans. I think these guys will be rockin' the blues for a very long time.    

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