When’s your own  web site going live? I’m very interested to know what form it is going to take…

Well it’s taking more time than I thought, but I’m hoping for May or June of next year. It’s got to be right because it will be mainly for my work as a composer. However, I’m going to do a history kind of page which will include all my bands and stuff and work with other artistes - This covers 28 years – so I’m going through a lot of stuff.

It’s a pity whoever was involved with the design of the official Shadows web site didn’t take a similar view to yours about getting a web site right before it goes "live"…

Well I’ve no idea who put that together, anyway, it’s not that bad is it?! (Cazz – well, in my opinion it’s not a ‘thing of beauty’!!!)  I don’t really know what else they could do. It was obviously just set up for the “Life Story” CD and the final tour. Exclusive interview with Cliff, sound clips, pictures………  

Will your web site  include audio clips of your music perhaps? 

I plan to include audio clips of my film & TV work. I’m hoping that the page dedicated to my old bands and work with Hank will include some rare stuff never heard before.

Or may be even video clips? (something which I’m experimenting with at the moment on my own web site..)

Video clips might be good. I’ve obviously got all the film & TV clips, but I’ve got hours of stuff from the Hank Tours, Rehearsals and Backstage and lots from the ‘Hank Plays Cliff’ sessions - I’ve promised to send Hank this stuff as I think he might want to do some kind of ‘official bootleg’.

You have been involved with producing various CDs for Shadows style artistes Matilda, Brian Locking of course and the Shadows tribute band Legend - have you any plans to work with other artistes like this in the future?

I enjoyed all of those projects- David, Terry & Matilda all played great guitar, and Licorice was great too  - not sure about doing any more -  however on reflection  I’d love to work with The Rapiers and Jet Harris - but I don’t know if they’re making any more albums.

What are you up to with your music at the moment? 

I’m working on a couple of projects with dad, I’m writing two library music albums, I’m trying to finish my rock n roll project which has been on the go since 1995 – so I’m not sure whether it will ever get done!, I’m also thinking of taking some time to write some original songs – something I used to do a lot of but stopped doing when everything got hectic a few years back, I’ve recently updated all my studio gear so that’s taken a while to set up.

I saw a photo of your drum kit recently on one the message boards, do you still play?

Yes I still play.  I’m playing a lot at the moment whilst I try and finish my Rock n Roll project. Dad put together a kit for me, bits and bobs of his old ‘Ludwigs’ and it sounds great.

This rock and roll album you are working on - is the plan for it to be vocal or is it all instrumental?

All vocals - basically my favourite rock n roll tracks from the fifties – & best played at full volume!!   I mixed the first two last week and was pleased with them. I’ll wait until I’ve done them all and then make a decision on whether I want to release it.

Any TV things we should be looking out for? Film scores etc?

Nothing new this side of Christmas that will be shown on TV however I’ve met recently with a producer friend of mine, who has three TV shows and a film to complete next year - with a little luck I may do all of them, so next year will be busy.  I’ve worked with her before on Wuthering Heights, Ambassador and Staying Alive

Sorry to hear about the end (for now) of The Vibratos -perhaps you could consider your final “tour” performance at Shadowmania 2006 ?!

Well it was good fun whilst it lasted - a lot of work went into the three CDs we made and also the EPs and, as Dick and I are both pretty busy now, there is just no time to fit anything new in.   I thought we produced some good stuff, but to be honest,  I’m not sure what people are looking for anymore when it comes to guitar instrumentals, I’ve heard a lot of the stuff that gets voted ‘best CD’ etc… and I don’t really get it, we definitely won’t be doing any more gigs. It was always difficult because we were a two piece - the guys that played with us were great, and I’m very grateful for their enthusiasm and contributions to the band, but being realistic, it was a financial nightmare!  However if Bruce did decide to put on Shadowmania in 2006,  I’d like to think that, if he asked, maybe dad and I could put a band together for a special one-off;  having said all that, Dick and I could wear blindfolds, turn off the studio lights and make a ‘Los Jets’ album!

Did you enjoy touring with The Shadows? (There must have been some pressure to get things absolutely right….) Much of the feedback from Europe was extremely positive…

I loved the European tour with The Shadows. It was a thrill and a privilege from start to finish. There was definitely something special about playing with them. I’d not toured with dad since the 1994 tour, and I’d never toured with Bruce. I thought it was a good tight band on stage and I enjoyed the different challenges that songs like “Equinoxe, Geronimo, Summer Holiday and Going Home” gave me as a keyboard player.

Copenhagen 2005 -  my live set-up on tour with The Shadows

I spent a long time prior to rehearsals learning the material and programming the right sounds, and playing along with the DVD! We had a run through at Honeyhill Studios with Bruce, Mark and dad before joining up with Hank for a few days in London. I was aware of the responsibility of getting it right, and on hearing some of the live tapes since, I’m pleased with how it turned out. I must admit that after the last night in Birmingham, I walked off stage and found a quiet corner

I was there at the end in Birmingham and witnessed the ‘group hug’ on stage  & saw how emotional everyone looked - This can’t be “the end”, can it?

I hope not - but of course who knows. I’ve heard about the possibility of a Far East & Australian tour - but as at this minute, nothing is confirmed.  I’m sure there will be some kind of Cliff & The Shadows Tour though. I went to Cliff’s for dinner in Portugal recently, and he seemed very keen for this to happen.

On the spot now…in your opinion what venue on recent Shads tour was the best for atmosphere?

Very hard question - I loved Paris, Reykjavik where there was screaming!, the festival in Finland & Copenhagen was great but I can’t pick just one, sorry.

Bruce has a reputation for being a bit of perfectionist,  were you nervous about working with him? – (incidentally he does however speak very highly of your contribution to this years Shads tour  in an interview he’s which was published in “Pipeline” recently)…  .

I was slightly nervous full-stop  & there was a lot of new material for me to learn, material I’d never played on the Hank tours.  With regards to Bruce I don’t think I’d spent as much time with him since I was very young when Dwayne (Bruce’s son) & I used to spend a lot of time together. Bruce is a lovely man, and if you have him as a friend you’re a lucky person indeed – and he comes out with some great one-liners which I will never forget ! For us all though The Shadows Tour was a very happy one.

Getting back to the Tour though,  I’m a completely different player from Cliff Hall. In my opinion Cliff is a fantastic piano player, whereas I’m a keyboard player. There is a distinct difference - I’m more into the synths than Cliff -  I don’t think he’ll mind me saying that.  On the Tour I did take  a different approach to some of the tracks eg.  “Equinoxe” and “Riders in the Sky”.   When these tracks were originally recorded in the studio, the keyboards were sequenced, which is why they sound so good.   Nowadays you can use sequencing live, without click-tracks, so that’s what I did – I played live sequencers! I learnt it both ways, but the way I chose was much better, and also a little harder to play.    There was some ‘speculation’ that I mimed but this was not the case at all!

Cazz: I’ve reproduced here Warren’s words in answer to a query on the Fans des Shadows message board as what he says is also relevant in this interview.   

Talking of feedback do you all take a peep at the feedback on the Net about the concerts when you’re on tour?

I kept an eye on the Net when I could on the Tour - either in hotels or in airport lounges and all the guys were interested to see how it was getting reported, but in the end, you just do what you do, and have to realise that 99.9% of the audience don’t know that these fan Message Boards exist, so you take the reaction of the audience itself as to whether things are going well & I’d say judging from audience reaction that it went very well!!

What do you think of various Fan Web Sites and the various Shadows Message Boards?  

I think the fan Web Sites are great, the Message Boards however are another thing entirely! the constant moaning about guitar sounds etc. is boring - there are people that post stuff as if it’s fact and set in stone, when they are as far away from the truth as it is possible to be  - making statements like - ’Hank did this’, ‘Hank played that’, ’He played on this record’, ’They’ve given up’; then you get the ‘clique’ who just piss everyone else off…  mind you - thinking about it further all this stuff would make a great comedy show for TV, based on a room of 50 Hank wannabes!!! – as I said before it just makes me laugh!  But, ever since the pathetic behaviour in response to a message I was asked to post on the Shadow Music Message Board by Bruce regarding Shadowmania 2005, I’ve stopped posting there.  

I wondered if you all get very cross (as I do on occasion!...) when some ‘so called fans’ make (what I think) are very misguided comments on the various Shadows Message Boards....?

I can’t speak for anyone else, but personally I’m not bothered, just amused by the majority of what’s written - especially when it comes down to technical stuff - I’m not aware of anyone on those Message Boards who’s played a Tour to an average of 3,000 to 5,000 people a night, or been a Sound Engineer on a big Tour, or who has ever made a record etc. -  but some of the discussions that take place are, I have say, quite frankly absurd.

“Life Story” has recently been released as part of a backing track CD which you’ve done in collaboration with Dave Robinson. I wondered what your opinion of the backing tracks that are available? Which are the best ones?   Guitarists I know are divided…

Well, this is a subject I have strong opinions on, & some, on reading this may well be offended, but as Dennis Rodman would say “I don’t give a f….”  In my opinion, backing tracks are a very useful tool for practise and home use for improving technique etc. but I don’t really think there is any purpose served by posting on the various Shadows Message Boards your version of anything when playing to a backing track - countless versions of  ‘The Savage’, ’Atlantis’ etc. are just pointless.   To be honest, playing with a live band is what a lot of these posters would benefit from, but of course using the various backing tracks to hone your skills is a good way of preparing for this. I see people post stuff on the various Message Boards using ‘The Vibratos’  backing tracks and there is no credit given to the backing tracks at all! – and then when all the replies come in from various contributors saying things like – “great

 sound”, ”brilliant version of Galveston”, ”What a great idea to do White Horses” etc. and you think, what’s going on here -  the reason it sounds good is because the backing track is good & not necessarily the guitarist playing!!  I do feel you know, that these people should get a band together, or record it all themselves if they want to be judged as individuals.   I’m sorry if this may sound a bit strong, but it is my opinion;  so,  use backing tracks for practise & technique, but, if you must post sound files of tracks,  then be brave and do it all yourself.   I was speaking with Colin Pryce-Jones of The Rapiers recently about this very subject, and we both had similar thoughts

Cliff Richard fans have been well served with DVD releases of his performances I do think us Shads fans have had a bit of a raw deal with the lack of stuff is available for us (hence why there’s a lot of stuff ‘floating’ around on various bootleg releases) …  We are long overdue for a Shadows anthology!? ….you’re a great music fan as well – you know what the fans would like so …..work on Hank and Co!

I agree - it’s a shame that a lot of the tours over the years weren’t recorded. A lot of bands these days regularly record shows for future use; Paul McCartney for example puts a DVD out of all his tours - however, it is expensive to do it right, and, I guess you have to weigh up the pros and cons etc; then of course when The Shadows do put a DVD out (tongue firmly in cheek here…), certain sections of the fan base pick holes in it!  Cazz: there were exceptions (the sensible ones knew it were good....:) – click here

However, I think there are far too many compilations of The Shadows music out there and for this reason,  it’s always going to be hard to do a really good anthology.  If however the re-releases were stopped for five years, then I think you could approach it really well.  I’d like to see such a project combined with proper sleeve notes taken from interviews with the band instead of random guessing by journalists and pictures from personal collections.   Some of the guys that write the sleeve notes don’t know what the hell they’re talking about - the Cliff Richard Rock n Roll box set is a prime example – the sleeve notes on that release state that Tony Meehan played on “Do You Wanna Dance” when in fact Dad did!,  one release even states that Cliff Richard wrote ‘Summer Holiday’! - honestly, do your homework you lazy gits!  One thing I would like to see released is the two shows recorded and filmed during the 1994 Hank and Brian tour (Birmingham and Nottingham) I have rough mixes and they sound very good & do contain lots of different tracks like ‘Sylvia’,’ Mrs Robinson’.

Talking of bootlegs what’s your opinion on this?

Well, I’ve got a few opinions!! Now I’ve also bought a few in my time of artistes which I like - Bob  Dylan, The Beatles, Lennon, McCartney, Oasis, Lloyd Cole etc.  and some of them are good, some bad. Most of it is live stuff, some demos – but I try and hear it first before I buy it. However, I can see the other side as well  – I can understand why people don’t want everything they’ve ever recorded, or alternate versions being released.   Keeping with The Shadows, there seems to be a clamour for everything to be released – outtakes, discarded stuff, BBC sessions etc. well if any of the band feel that it’s not good enough to put out, then that’s fair enough.   You know,  I like the Dan Brown books - but I don’t want his notebook full of lost sentences and alternate endings!

Let’s face it, I see stuff on the web where people say ‘I’ve never heard of that Shadows tune’, and in the next breath they want the alternative mix to ‘Gonzales’ with a bum note! There’s enough material out there to last a lifetime and if one wants the dodgy stuff – one knows where to find it - you just need to go North Of The Border – which may or may not be an outtake of ‘South Of The Border’! Incidentally did you know you can get a bootleg of the Shadows last tour that actually says on it ‘Directed by………..’ (I won’t mention the name), but the guy calling himself ‘the Director’ was just sat in the audience with a hand held camcorder - now that is funny….