MY FIRST QUESTION IS ONE THAT MANY OF THE TRUEST FANS HAVE BEEN ASKING THEMSELVES : HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SHADOWS' POLICY OF RECORDING COVERS MOST OF THE TIME AFTER CONDUCTING MARKET RESEARCH FOR THE SELECTION OF TRACKS ?

They do market research for every album. When you have a contract with a record company, the company have a very great interest and say in what you do. It's different to when we were 16 or 17, very young and very "hip". We did what we wanted to do! Times do change. So when the record company says "we would like you to make an album and we have researched these songs, we think they  will sell", it's very difficult to argue with the record company. You can argue with the record company, but you may not have a contract after you've finished arguing with them.  That's part - a big part - of it in a nutshell.  Every Shadows album is researched for TV. What the fans probably don't realize is the cost of TV advertising. So the record company says "we want mainly famous tunes to be put on our albums, not songs you've written yourselves. We choose tunes that the public know or a title they recognize, like the theme from 'Miami Vice'".  That, basically, is the situation. The record company basically call the shots - in conjunction with the band.

BUT WHEN YOU CHANGED TO POLYDOR, YOU EXPLAINED THAT YOU DID IT PARTLY TO HAVE MORE ARTISTIC SAY IN YOUR OUTPUT.

Yes, but that is 13 years ago, a long time in a recording artist's career ! There are very few people or groups of 50-year old people recording. It's a question of world economics.  50-year old men usually don't sell records ! You know, the big exception is Cliff Richard, you can't really put him in the same category.

WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO BE A BIT MORE ADVENTUROUS IN YOUR WORK FROM TIME TO TIME ?

Oh yes, I mean Hank has just made an album, his solo album, which he thinks is more adventurous. I've listened to it, I don't think it's more adventurous. "Everything I Do", "We Are The Champions" are famous tunes. There are 7 famous tunes on his album- which is exactly the same format as on a Shadows album. And he did that with the same people that we worked with, the Polydor TV people.  So may I say, Hank Marvin did famous tunes, as we did with The Shadows.

I ADMIT I DON'T LIKE THE COVERS VERY MUCH, WITH "MOONLIGHT SHADOWS" BEING A PRIME EXAMPLE, BUT I DO REALIZE THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SELLING X COPIES OF "TASTY" OR "GUARDIAN ANGEL" AND SELLING THE SAME NUMBER SEVERAL TIMES OVER WITH A COVER ALBUM.

I mean, the simple thing is that "Guardian Angel" maybe sold 70,000 and so did "Tasty". Any of the other albums sold over 300,000 - this is pure business.

"IN 1977 THE SHADOWS BECAME BUSINESSMEN FIRST AND FOREMOST" - THAT'S WHAT IT SAID IN "THE STORY OF THE SHADOWS", A SENTENCE THAT SHOCKED MANY FANS.

What I meant was that in January 1977 EMI put on TV "20 Golden Greats" and this album sold one and a quarter million in the UK. We couldn't believe it, and we weren't really doing The Shadows. We were messing around, and that's when EMI said, "Well, this is crazy. You should be working, you should be touring, you should do 'The Shadows' again." That's what I meant about the book.  So we decided to do one tour, one album per year, and that's the way it's been. Hank lives 12,000 miles away : we don't go to each other's houses every day of the week for supper or I don't play tennis with Cliff every day. The period 1958 to 1968, I'm sure, still makes fans think we still see each other every day, pop round for a drink, we play our guitars every day - we don't ! We're 51-year old men with other interests as well !

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WE, THE FANS, HAVE AGED ALONG WITH YOU. I USED TO THINK THAT WAY, TOO, ABOUT YOU BEING FOUR FRIENDS FOREVER, BUT FANS TODAY KNOW BETTER. YOU MUST HAVE SPENT MORE TIME TOGETHER THAN MOST MARRIED COUPLES EVER DO.

That's true! That's just it.

IS IT TRUE YOU HAD LITTLE OR NO KNOWLEDGE OF HANK'S SOLO VENTURE?

I had no knowledge.  In December 1990 The Shadows finished a 50-date tour, every day sold out. The album was a platinum album, which means more than 300,000 copies sold. In the first week of December 1990, we sat down after the end of the tour and Hank said, "I don't want to do anything in 1991", which is unusual, but not that unusual. Brian Bennett left the group in December 1990, Brian gave us 6 months notice. We knew that Brian Bennett would leave, didn't want to tour anymore and that's understandable. Brian's been on the road since he was 15 years old, that's 37 years. We knew he'd leave, so that left Hank Marvin and myself as the partners. We own The Shadows. But no, I knew nothing about the album, or his solo record deal. Some fans told me !

IS IT FAIR TO SAY THEN, THE SHADOWS ARE A NON-WORKING BAND AT PRESENT, WHO MAY, HOWEVER, RESUME WORK ONE DAY ?

Yes, if Hank Marvin feels like it. Remember, there are only two members left in the band now.

SO FOR THE TIME BEING YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS THE SHADOWS TO CONTINUE AS A WORKING BAND ?

Yes. There is no further contract for future Shadows albums, there is only a contract for three Hank Marvin albums ! I haven't seen Hank Marvin since December 1990. I just haven't seen him. I shook hands with him at the end of the tour. The tour was sold out, the album was platinum, fantastic. It was a long tour, it was very hard, we were tired, and Hank didn't want to work in 1991. What Hank Marvin didn't say to me, was "Bruce, I have signed a solo deal with Polydor." All of which means I can't record with The Shadows till 1994 at the earliest.

HAVE YOU EVER TOTTED UP THE TOTAL SALES OF THE SHADOWS ?

I've never ever asked, I've never done that exercise. I don't know how many millions of records, obviously it must be millions, we've sold. We have so many compilation albums, over 200 worldwide.

SEEING YOU ON STAGE, YOU STILL SEEM ENJOY WHAT YOU'RE DOING...

Oh yeah, yeah. We probably enjoy it most of the time. Something goes wrong, the audience is different every night, you get a laugh that wasn't there the night before, an amplifier blows up, Hank plays a wrong note or I play a wrong chord, and people will notice. Our fans know our songs note for note, they know the setting on the tape echo Hank used - which we don't !. The last time we were in Scandinavia, there were these groups telling Hank where he was wrong : it was not the right echo box, it was not the right timing. Hank wouldn't remember it, but they'd tell him the echo shouldn't go tick--tick--tick, it should go TICK-tick-tick. They know how many milliseconds the echo lasted; these guys listen to it, they must have stopwatches.  They know our songs much better than we do. And the fans, God bless them, will follow every move we make, every note we play and compare it to the way it was the last time. We made the records, but we don't know !  When we recorded those songs, we weren't such perfectionists. It was the little spoofs, the little mistakes that became famous. "Man of Mystery"'s solo is the best example, it's a fantastic mistake ! When we made those records, they'd put the red light on, we stood there and the adrenalin started to flow.  It's fantastic, they know our songs a lot better than we do. When we were creating it all, we were doing it very quickly. We didn't sit down and work on the echoes. In those days it was just a knob, there were no numbers. Hank has numbers now and can stop the effects in positions. We made records very quickly. Hits were made : the contracts said 'three songs in three hours'. That has changed a bit, it's 37 years ago. But we appreciate it, these fans are fantastic : they copy everything, note for note.

HOWEVER, WITH ALL THOSE RECORDING TECHNIQUES AVAILABLE TODAY, YOU'RE STILL ONE OF THE FEW WHO CAN RECREATE THEIR SOUND ON STAGE.

All that technology is not necessary. One of the secrets of The Shadows' success is that we sound like our records - is that fair? ("Very fair !")  I know I played acoustic on records and electric on stage, but in essence most people don't sound on stage like they do on record. They can't create it on stage, The Shadows can. Today there are technology records, you can't do them live. So people use tapes, Michael Jackson uses tapes, Prince uses tapes, Cliff has used tapes. Mind you, we have used tapes on "Mountains of the Moon", a superb record. It's impossible that Brian Bennett plays 16 instruments at the same time. It's part of the 1990s.  But if you're in a stadium, say with Michael Jackson and 100,000 people - you don't know whether he's using a tape or anything, and it doesn't really matter. You're there, he's there, you've got all the guitar players. It's the whole thing, the atmosphere. Because if you're a fan who sits there with binoculars and ask, "Is he miming ?", it's all gone, you know. The Shadows are there, warts and all. You get the wrong chords and all.  That's why I think a Shadows concert is something special. There's a warmth, a special rapport between the group and the audience. We've all grown up together, Hank will make a mistake, I will make a mistake, there's Hank and I having a go at each other and the fans love it. The people come and pay and love it.

HAVE YOU EVER FELT UNDERRATED IN YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE SHADOWS WITH ALL THE GLORY VIRTUALLY BEING HANK'S ?

Not within myself. I didn't feel underrated by the fans. My job is my job, my job is the rhythm section with the bass and the drums, backing Hank. Hank is the voice of The Shadows. I'm a rhythm guitar player, we have to provide Hank with the correct backing. I have no complaints at all. If I had, I'd have done something about it, play lead guitar or something.

DO YOU HAVE ANY INTENTION OF RECORDING SOLO, VOCAL OR INSTRUMENTAL ?

Oh no, particularly not vocal. And I can't make an album of rhythm guitar solos, can I ?

YOU MIGHT PUBLISH ANOTHER GUITAR TUTOR LIKE HANK ?

I know how he plays guitar ! I haven't got a copy of Hank's "Guitar Tutor"; I have played with him a lot !

LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR BOOK....

If I can remember it... It's a very honest book !

I WAS ABOUT TO USE THE WORD SOUL-BARING. WHAT MADE YOU WRITE IT WITH A LITTLE HELP ?

 I'm not a writer, you know, I'm a guitar player. Penguin thought it would make a good story. Mainly because there aren't many acts who've been around and lasted so long. So we were unique.  Also because I had a more chequered history than the rest of the band, so I guess they thought it would sound more interesting.

IF YOU HAD TO WRITE THE SAME BOOK AGAIN, WOULD YOU BE EQUALLY FRANK ?

Yes, that is me. Some people call it frankness. I say what I think to anybody, and that includes Cliff Richard or Hank Marvin. I just don't have the time for bullshit, it's a waste of time. So you may as well tell people to their face what you think, rather than go away and talk behind their back. I've got no time for that. That is taken different ways, you know. They say, "Bruce is trouble, Bruce is outspoken." Bruce can be trouble, I have been!  But I wouldn't change, and I can't change what happened in my life. Therefore I can't hide it in my book. I couldn't write a book three years ago, when I was still married, and not write about Olivia Newton-John. It would be a lie. It's already in the press, the public know about it, it was well documented. So there was no way I could write a book and not put that incident in.

THAT DIFFERS LARGELY FROM MIKE READ'S POLICY IN "THE STORY OF THE SHADOWS", WHICH, TO ME, IT IS A VERY CLEVER ATTEMPT AT LEAVING THE SOUL-SEARCHING STUFF ...

... Out ! Yes !

IT'S LIKE SWISS CHEESE, FULL OF HOLES !

Then if you read mine, it must have been a shock. But the book wasn't there to shock. These things were already out, were in the press. I tend to be a truthful person, I tend to be truthful in a way people don't like. If I didn't like you, I'd tell you. That's what people have difficulty coming to terms with, that's why Bruce is difficult.

LET'S COME TO THE BOOK'S TITLE. ROCK 'N' ROLL GAVE YOU A LOT, FAME, MONEY, LIFESTYLE - BUT IT ALSO GAVE YOU PROBLEMS.

There were problems before. As I got older, the problems got bigger; and at times I couldn't handle them.

THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN CALLED "THE CHIP ON YOUR SHOULDER". DOES THAT STILL BOTHER YOU ?

I think what we're talking about is my illegitimacy. It's not my major problem - now ! I'm 51 years old, I've come to terms with it.  But I didn't know for 17, 18 years of my life, until I went to get a birth certificate. As I said in the book, there are some that aren't affected by it. In this society that we live in now, people are born 'out of wedlock', it's a lovely word. Now they are called love children, I was a bastard ! It gave me a chip, but it also gave a drive to do something.  Otherwise Hank and I would still be in Newcastle.  There would be no Shadows.  Mind you, I've had a fantastic life.  I've had ups and downs, but everybody has their ups and downs.

ROCK 'N' ROLL HAS GIVEN YOU A LOT. HAS ROCK 'N' ROLL TAKEN ANYTHING, SOMETHING YOU NEVER GOT AROUND TO DOING ?

No, I don't think so. I've done more as a Shadow, I've travelled more as one of The Shadows, I've been more successful than I could have been in any other job in my life. And there is nothing, in my opinion, nothing like travel to give you an education in life, seeing all the parts of the world and not reading about them. No, it gave me much more. The obvious is the material gains it gave me, it's a life that I couldn't have dreamed about otherwise. If I'd stayed in Newcastle, I would probably watch Coronation Street now, and soap operas, you know.

IN YOUR BOOK YOU SAID YOU WERE HOPING TO PERPETUATE THE NAME OF THE SHADOWS ? WOULD YOU AGREE THAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED?

I think that's proved, you cannot escape what The Shadows have done.

WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY DESCRIBING YOUR WORK AS A "LABOUR OF LOVE"?

I've really enjoyed what The Shadows have been doing. If you enjoy what you're doing, it's not a job. I mean it's a job, but not a 9 to 5 in a factory. Mind you, there is no success without pain. We all have pain, and suffering pain should make you grow, you should learn from it. Hopefully. (Laughs)

AND WHAT ABOUT THIS QUOTATION : "I'VE GROWN LAZY IN MY OLD AGE" - IS THAT SIMPLY SELF-DEPRECATING HUMOUR ?

What I think I meant was that The Shadows are not hungry any longer for success like we were when we were 16. When you're very young and you want to make it, you have a hunger, yeah, let's do it ! 35 years later, you just don't have that hunger any longer. We have done what we have done, good or bad, and we are not hungry. The drive is no longer there. If I told the band, "Let's go on a 12-month tour, let's go to Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand ..." Well, I can't tell you what they'd be saying !

WHO'D BE YOUR PAST FAVOURITE MEMBER OF THE SHADOWS, DISREGARDING HANK AND BRIAN ?

John Rostill, a great bass player, a great talent. Again, looking back with hindsight, a man with problems. I had problems, he had problems. When you're young, you don't realize your friend has problems, that you could help. You don't have the experience. I was writing songs with him when he died. He was a talented man, and he was a guy who would do anything for you. He'd paint your house, he did once for me. He just told me, "I'll do it". He turned up just like that in his overalls, paint all over his hair and the next day he'd be back on stage, being a great bass player. I wasn't close to Jet and Tony. Licorice Locking was a lovely man. He was only with us for 18 months, and that was the start of the Jehovah's Witness thing. Brian Bennett : we've had  great times, and we still call him the new boy.

YOU'RE STILL BUSY DOING PRODUCTION WORK ?

As busy as I can be. I've produced a girl - a woman - named Kim Chriswell, American singer.  I did two tracks for an album with her. I've produced three tracks with Cliff a year ago, I think two of them are going to be on his album in April. I would like to do more, but I don't go knocking on doors asking, "Would you like to give me a job ?" I don't want to, no.

YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CLIFF HAS HAD ITS UPS AND DOWNS, FOLLOWING THE WORK ON "I'M NEARLY FAMOUS" AND THE NEXT TWO ALBUMS.

My relationship with anybody has had its ups and downs. You have to read the book to realize why. I saw Cliff not long ago and we cuddled each other, because I hadn't seen him for nine months. Nothing is forgotten, but it's not a day-to-day problem. That was in 1979. Otherwise we would never have spoken to each other again.

DO YOU FIND IT IRRITATING THAT PEOPLE KEEP PESTERING YOU ABOUT GETTING TOGETHER WITH CLIFF AGAIN ?

Oh no, I love it. You're talking to the man who loves doing it.  I love The Shadows, I love going on tour. Not 12 months a year, but I love touring when The Shadows tour, I love doing the albums, I love doing Cliff Richard songs, because I realize what Cliff Richard and The Shadows were : a unique pop music partnership. There haven't been any others who are still going.  We're separate and Cliff's on a planet of his own, but there's no one lasted this long. That's what's special about it. Elvis is dead, Buddy Holly is dead, the Everly Brothers are going but don't make records, Jerry Lee Lewis will be dead soon. I saw him a couple of weeks ago - terrible.

YOU MUST BE THE ONLY BAND IN THE WORLD WHO GET LOVE LETTERS FROM 50-YEAR OLD MEN.

Men usually ! The Shadows always was a man's band. Cliff had the girls, we had the guys. That's what made it even more unique.  The girlfriends came to see Cliff, screaming for him, and the guys came for Jet Harris, Tony Meehan, Hank or whoever. I don't get letters every day. You see, this is my little flat which I use as my office and mail address. I don't get fan mail every day, but letters come from all over Europe. Letters like "Oh, what are The Shadows doing ?" or I get messages on my answer phone.  Today there were three messages: "Bruce, a happy New Year, are we going to see you touring in 1993? I hope so, have you heard Hank's new album, say hello to Cliff." A lot of the time I actually ring them back and they get a shock. Kids come down from university and write about The Shadows.  Look, I've got a Shadows book here. A guy came and wrote his B.A.  thesis about us. Didn't use sheet music at all, but wrote many of our songs out and wrote about them.  He's a music student, he can read all this. I can't read music. He came to my office here and we talked about our music. Later he sent me the book. Does that happen to many other bands ?

DESPITE ALL THAT AND THOSE INCREDIBLY FAITHFUL FANS, YOU HAVE NEVER WANTED AN OFFICIAL FAN CLUB. WHY ?

Because we didn't want the kind of club that you know, writing about what size shirt you wear, telling people to be at Sainsbury's at 9 a.m., because they could see Bruce Welch pushing his trolley around. We didn't want people asking what kind of cereal we liked, that kind of stuff.

BUT THEN IAN KERSHAW'S SCOFA HAS WORKED WELL, I'D SAY.

Oh yes, that's different. Ian's done a great job without any real help, remember to say hello when you speak to him. And say hello to Otto Kasper and thank him again for the book he has edited.  (Note : The book in question is "Cliff Richard and The Shadows: Yesterday - Today", edited by Otto Kasper, texts in English and German by the author of this article. It is a 239-page volume with hundreds of photos, many previously unpublished, and a complete discography up to the end of 1991. The book is only available from Dieter Boek, Oerather Weg 16, 5140 Erkelenz, Germany. Price : ca. œ 20 + p/p)

LET'S GET BACK TO YOUR MUSIC. I HAVE HEARD MANY COMPLAINTS IN RECENT YEARS THAT YOUR RHYTHM GUITAR IS OFTEN INAUDIBLE ON THE TRACKS. WHY THAT, CONSIDERING YOU DO MUCH OF THE PRODUCTION WORK AND MIXING YOURSELF?

I am not needed the way I was. In the early days we had no keyboards, no effects. The rhythm guitar was essential as part of the backing. Now there is so much going on, it is just not as necessary. When we started out, we did it all together, one take, one track. Now there are 24 or even 48 tracks. The instruments are overdubbed many times, you have so many effects that my chords are not as important as in the early days.

THE SHADOWS' SINGLES HAVE LONG BEEN A SOURCE OF FRUSTRATION TO FANS. WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO PUT OLD LP-TRACKS ON THE B-SIDES OF YOUR SINGLES, RATHER THAN ADD SPARKLE TO THE 45S BY USING SELF-PENNED TUNES, WHICH VERY OFTEN WERE MUCH BETTER THAN THE SONGS ON THE ALBUMS - I'M THINKING OF TRACKS LIKE "ELEVENIS" OR THE OLD GEMS.

It's like this : we don't record more tracks than we need for the albums nowadays. Polydor select 16 tracks, we record them and that's that. Earlier on we'd do maybe 14 tracks for a 12-track album, the remaining two were used as B-sides. So there was always some material available, now there isn't. That's all there is to it.

I AM REALLY SURPRISED ABOUT THE TIME AND EFFORT YOU INVEST IN TAKING CARE OF FANS AND FAN MAIL. HANK IS QUITE DIFFERENT IN THAT, EVEN WHEN I SENT HIM A TAPE OF HIS OWN LIVE SONGS THAT HE HAD ASKED ME TO PROVIDE, HE NEVER EVEN WROTE BACK TO SAY THANKS.

He never writes back, just don't expect him to.  Perhaps that's why people contact me nowadays.  Hank's far away in Australia, I'm accessible. My address is listed in music books, you can reach me on the phone.  Fans will call me, ask questions, and I don't mind.

DO YOU OFTEN GET IMPERTINENT REQUESTS OR LETTERS ?

No, the fans are great, most of the time. Some can get annoying, let me give you one example. There were four after a concert, asking us to sign programmes, demanding time. I didn't feel like spending time there, I was tired after the concert. When I told them, they shouted they were the ones who had put us up there after all. I got really angry and told them it had been millions of others who'd put us where we were - everybody except the four of them.  Things like handling our mail can be a problem. There is this guy, John Friesen, who's made a good job of it. But even he could feel the strain after a while, and his own business got in the way. It's not easy to deal with all those requests from all over the world.

YOU'VE BEEN MORE THAN GENEROUS WITH YOUR TIME AND I THANK YOU VERY MUCH. SO, IF I DON'T HEAR FROM YOUR LAWYERS AFTER THE PUBLICATION OF EXCERPTS FROM THIS INTERVIEW, I'LL ASSUME IT'S  ALL GONE WELL.....!

Finally, whatever the future holds, I would like to thank all our faithful fans from all over the world, who have supported us through thick and thin all these years. We couldn't have survived for so long without you.