Interview by Michael Limnios. What do you learn about yourself from the blues and what does the blues mean to you? For me I guess the Blues has always been there. You see, The Blues is spiritual and we are spiritual beings because God our maker is a spirit and us writing and creating is all part of the process. How do you describe Larry Miller sound and progress, what characterize your music philosophy?
Going for those notes that do make grown men and women cry. Which is the most interesting period in your life? Which was the best and worst moment of your career? I honestly think NOW! The worst time was when everything in my life was falling apart and I had no hope. But then God came into my life and rescued me.
Why did you think that the Blues music continues to generate such a devoted following? In its essence, the blues is very very simple and very direct. Shakespeare can write his sonnets, but surely the best words you can ever hear are from those you love saying, I Love you. You also hear low down and dirty blues, delta, Chicago, traditional, heavy blues, rock blues it goes on and on …something for everyone.
What are some of the most memorable gigs and jams you've had? Which memory makes you smile? Which meetings have been the most important experiences for you?
What is the best advice ever given you? Him also knowing my name that really knocked me out. What do you miss most nowadays from the music of past? I grew up listening to the Beatles; I totally love them. But it was blues rock that really spoke to my heart and soul.
I learnt the violin from about the age of seven to about 15 when I just couldn't keep it up anymore. I was only doing it because my granny told me to keep playing it - don't give up. I never even practised during the week, so it must've been torture for my violin teacher.
When having switched to guitar the teenage Miller was determined to forge a career in the music industry.
I knew what I wanted to do. I knew my character, so going to the careers officer, if I say, 'I don't need any of these exams, thanks very much, because I'm going to be a rock star', you know what the reaction's going to be. My hero was Rory Gallagher. I noticed that I was really nervous about dedicating my whole life to doing something that just seemed to be a bunch of guys who just happened to get together to make a great sound and to get a deal - and then they split, the lead singer forming his own band.
But all his best stuff was written with that original band. I thought, if I bypass all of that, so all my songs are under my own name. If it's under your own name, if the guys fall away, then it's not the end of the world.
If I'm the only singer, you're not going to notice any difference. Larry describes his early years trying to keep a band together as "pure frustration. But you knew you had to have a band together - so it's rehearsing and rehearsing, and keeping a band together when there aren't any gigs, and finding somewhere to rehearse. In those days it was like, find yourself a hall somewhere.
It was a real struggle. By things seemed to be looking up for Larry and his band. But there were still plenty of difficulties. I thought, 'If you're going to make something happen, you've got to make it happen yourself'. I started looking at similar bands to myself, seeing where they were playing. I had an electric piano and I sold that - sold this, that and the other. I got myself a van; I phoned up every pub and club in the south of England.
That's when things started to really happen, when we were regularly going out, even playing small places. I said to the boys, 'If we just keep on, somewhere someone's going to spot us'.
They did. He was somebody starting out by himself, really, though he didn't, in all honesty, have a clue what he was doing. The combination of the two was a fairly disastrous LP. Now and then they crop up on eBay. It was a really good band, but the recording sucked the life out of what we were doing.
It just wrecked it, it really did. The album was called 'Right Chaps'. One reviewer said something like, 'Larry is guaranteed to make it big time however his first recording is basically rubbish. Larry and his band made a further recording, the EP 'Red Italian Boots' though it was never actually released.
He recounted, "That was a lot better but I was having trouble with the manager. It just wasn't working - they hated him, he hated them - it was a nightmare scenario. I had to knock it on the head with him. Everything was going wrong with the band. Then I saw this advert: 'Is music the most important thing in Cliff Richard's life? No, it's not, it's God. It spoke about having a power for living.
I didn't want to become a religious nutcase or anything like that - this was my thinking then - but I knew I needed something. This booklet had five or six different testimonies of guys who had reached rock-bottom and they called out, 'If you're there God, answer me'. This book really made sense. So I said this prayer at the back of this book. Connect your Spotify account to your Last. Connect to Spotify. A new version of Last. Larry Miller www.
He is putting the finishing touches to his new album Unfinished Business, which will be followed by a European tour.
Larry is lead guitarist and vocals, Simon Baker on drums. Simon played on Larry's first album Right Chaps but had to leave because he was starting a family, and the band was touring heavily. Re joining the band, Simon feels the title of the album Unfinished Business perfectly sums up how he feels. Derek White on bass. Derek is a very experienced musician who keeps his cool under pressure and has just recently joined the band.
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