I can post two of the last two that you requested. I will give you sites that will have the answer to your request. I will give your request in the order that you gave me. Site #1
www.backonstage.halmstad.net/tk/fogindex.htm Site #2
www.creedencehispana.itgo.com click on the English version then click on "For Fans Only" section. Please let me know if you find these interviews ok. I hope you enjoy the ones I have listed below. I hope you have a nice day and ROCK ON!!!
John Fogerty
Ol’ Flannel Shirt is Back
By Willie G. Moseley
John Fogerty’s music has always been unique. As a singer, songwriter, and guitarist that has been in the international spotlight since the late ’60s (when his band’s cover of “Susie Q” thrust them into prominence), the veteran performer is almost without peer when it comes to his abilities, and the reasons his songs have always had such staying power (in bar bands and on radio) include their simple-but-irresistible hooks and riffs, as well as their singalong sensibility. There’s probably no way to determine how many combos are playing tunes like “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” or “Green River” every night in clubs across the U.S.
But Fogerty has been a solo artist for over two decades, and he recently contacted Vintage Guitar when his newest effort, Blue Moon Swamp, was about to be released. We’d crossed paths with the legendary musician at more than one California guitar show, and he’d promised us an interview when his new album was ready to go. In a preliminary conversation to set up the interview, Fogerty was amazed at the growth of the magazine (he’s been reading it for many years); when informed of the newest figures regarding VG’s circulation, he noted with a laugh: “I thought we were a cult!”
Once we were wired up for our on-the-record conversation, we figured that talking mainly about Fogerty’s love of old guitars as well as his new album would be appropriate as the main focal points of our dialogue, and as it turned out, he used a lot of old instruments on Blue Moon Swamp:
Vintage Guitar: You’ve been known to sing the praises of brands and models of guitars that aren’t as collectible as, say, custom-color Strats; examples of instruments you noted include Danelectros and Supros. Do you still feel that way about such guitars?
John Forgerty: Very much so! My first guitar was a Silvertone by Danelectro; the typical Masonite-and-lipstick-tube-pickup type. I got a Silvertone amp to go with it; they cost $88, including the interest over 10 months. That’s an American bargain! I played that outfit all through high school, and then I got a three-quarter scale Supro with one treble pickup. It was my first wood guitar, and I played it up until the time of the Golliwogs.
That Supro kind of “hooked” me into a 3/4-scale mode that I stayed in for six or seven years. I could really bend notes on the Supro, and it sounded so cool. I put light-gauge strings on it; I’d move all of the strings over and would put an E string in both the ‘E’ and ‘B’ positions; I’d throw away the biggest string. I could bend the heck out of everything, and it sounded real bluesy.
I was going to ask if you still had a predilection for shorter-scale guitars these days, or if it’s a nostalgia thing.
It’s a nostalgia thing. I stuck with that size because I could bend the strings so well, and somewhere along the line I must have gotten it into my mind that I had small hands, so I was thinking I’d never be able to play a full-scale guitar, but I also felt like I was cheating or cutting corners (chuckles).
When I was around 19 or 20, I became a Golliwog, and I got a 3/4-size Fender Mustang, then I got a Rickenbacker 3/4-size guitar; it’s a model 325, and it’s famous as the John Lennon model.
The first Les Paul I got was a Custom, and the first thing I recorded with it was “Bad Moon Rising,” in 1969. But later the same year, it got cracked by the airlines, so I got a luthier in Oakland, named Hideo Kamimoto, to repair it, and at the same time I got him to make it into a 3/4-scale instrument. That was the guitar that did the lead on “Up Around the Bend,” and it’s now in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. So all through the so-called “Creedence career,” I was into a 3/4-size mode.
Interestingly, I’m currently rehearsing for a tour, and I dug out my old Rickenbacker and my old Kustom amp, because I wanted to play “Suzie Q” and “I Put A Spell On You” on the exact equipment that got that kind of sound. And I’m having one heck of a time figuring out how my fingers ever fit into those frets. It feels like a mandolin! So I’m going to refurbish a “proper scale” Rickenbacker; the old Rickenbacker worked great in those days, but now it’s very constraining and limiting.
Many aspiring guitarists considered your guitar tone awesome on your first album, and even today it’s one of the most unique sounds in rock guitar history. Were you aware back then that your sound was that unique?
I can’t say that I was. I thought what I was good at doing was playing real simple guitar licks, since I’d cut my teeth on what Duane Eddy was doing; licks that were simple but had staying power. Even though James Burton was my idol, I didn’t think I could carry his shoes back then. I went pretty much for one tone, and I knew at that time that I wanted to play a Rickenbacker. In those days, I didn’t know how guys like Clapton and Beck were getting that searing blues lead sound, so I developed my style to be rhythmic and chord-based, with simple lead lines that you could almost hum. I think that’s one of the secrets as to why some of the songs back then were memorable, and why every bar band or garage band in the world could play Creedence songs.
In his own interview with this magazine, James Burton said that the first time you two met, you treated him like God because of “Suzie Q.”
(laughs) Well, it’s true, and I still feel that way. James was only about 15 when he recorded that, and he was already bending strings all over the place. What a sound! I’d like to think I’ve gotten better in my playing, and I’ve been woodshedding for a few years, and I’m still amazed at how many times I cross over the footsteps of James Burton. I’ll realize that I’ve pulled off something that James did years ago, and I’ll just smile and shake my head.
Considering that his main instrument has always been a Telecaster – and I’m aware that you admired another Tele player, Don Rich, as well – have you ever gravitated towards that particular model?
Yeah, recently. Right now, my favorite guitar in the world is the Custom Telecaster; the 1959 or 1960 model that had binding on an alder body and a rosewood fretboard. I think the alder body gives it more of a subdued tone, compared to a run-of-the-mill Telecaster. The ones I have got great necks; of course, all of the Fenders from that era are incredible.
The Telecaster doesn’t really sound that good for the kind of rock and roll that a lot of people played. It sounds kind of thin and without balls; I don’t think it would sound good on songs like “Louie, Louie” or “Wipeout,” for example. But if you sit down with it for a few years, thinking about the shadow of James Burton, you realize that it’s a great guitar, but it makes you work. It doesn’t sustain too good, but when you get into things like chicken pickin’, there’s no finer model.
One of the first live performances you did for a long time was the first Farm Aid concert; it appeared you were playing a walnut-finish guitar.
That was actually an off-the-shelf Washburn I bought around 1982. It’s got a wonderful, funky, “swampy” sound, and it’s still with me. I used it on the opening and the middle solo of “Swamp River Days” on Blue Moon Swamp. About five years ago, I was planning on touring with that guitar, and I tried to find a backup model; I haunted vintage stores and pawn shops, and I even got the company to make me another one, but I never found another one that sounded the same.
Washburn’s an old American name, but this one was assembled overseas. In the last two years or so, I’ve made a conscious decision to play American guitars; I don’t know of a more subtle way to say it.
Was that the Mellencamp band backing you at Farm Aid?
It sure was; the band included Kenny Aronoff, who’s playing with me now.
Of your four previous solo albums, which ones were “one-man band” efforts?
The Blue Ridge Rangers, John Fogerty, which is the one I call “the Shep album” because my dog Shep was on the cover, and Centerfield. On Eye of the Zombie, I had so-called studio musicians. If you were to ask for a value judgement about my one-man band concept, I think I probably took it to its zenith on Centerfield, but ultimately it isn’t a good idea. You should play with real musicians; the best music comes from real people interacting with each other.
And that must have been your attitude about making Blue Moon Swamp, considering the caliber of studio musicians you used, including Aronoff.
That’s one of the reasons it took so long. On Eye of the Zombie, I just got some studio musicians who were competent, but some of them weren’t right for what I was trying to do. When I made Blue Moon Swamp, there was a lot of trial and error; I was trying to find people who would be simpatico with my style, and with what I had in mind for the album.
I understand that another way you prepared for the new album was to make several pilgrimages to Mississippi.
People have always asked me: “Why is your music so ‘Southern’?” I was at the first Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, and of the 10 people who were being honored, nine were from the South; I wasn’t sure about Sam Cooke. I rest my case! Those trips to that area were really inspiring.
On the cover of the advance CD of Blue Moon Swamp, you’re holding a Stratocaster, but at one time you had sort of an aversion to that model, didn’t you?
I now have an awesome amount of respect for Leo Fender, but at one time I identified Strats much too closely with