Hello again, my fellow OwlHeads! It’s my supreme pleasure to present Part Two of Brian Fairweather’s interview with me. If you heard Part One, you’ll know that you’re in for a strange, wild ride; whenever I get together with my songwriting partner of many, many years, it’s always a downright madhouse!
This second half of the show concentrates on our arrival in America, back in the 80s, when we invaded these shores as hopeful, naive “hit songwriters”. You’ll hear how we bludgeoned our way into US record companies armed with briefcases full of demo/cassettes; How we played our songs down the phone to Kim Carnes (of Betty Davis Eyes fame), and miraculously through this maneuver, achieved our first Stateside top-40 hit. And you’ll hear the actual demo we played Kim that fateful day. You’ll hear how you could be a mass murderer, but if you had a hit song up your sleeve … that’s OK! You’ll hear how Brian and I had a “close encounter of the third kind” deep in the San Fernando Valley while driving an LA “Rent-a-Wreck” to a session, and that our lives would be forever changed by this “extraterrestrial” experience.
We’ll tell you about the mind boggling experience of our first session in the studio singing and playing ‘live’ with Earth, Wind and Fire. We’ll jump forward to the 90s when Brian toured with me on my “House of Stone and Light” tour and tell you about a famous guitarist in our band (Neil Taylor), who fell asleep constantly at the drop of a hat ... even during sound checks! He often had to be carried-while-snoozing by the tour manager through airports to catch flights ! That’s how exciting my tour was.
Around these awe-inspiring revelations, we’ll spin original songs written by Brian (one co-written with Bernie Taupin), as well as other unheard demos and a totally, ridiculously rare 4-track Q-Feel cassette demo based on the death of an iconic comedian.
What more could you ask for? Well, there is more - A STUNNING WORLD SCOOP! We will be revealing - hold onto your hats - what really is underneath a Scottish man’s kilt. I warn you all here, it’s frankly disturbing, terrifying and not for the squeamish or children’s ears.
So prepare to be amazed, my family of OwlHeads. Lay back, tune in, and tune out with “Fairweather/Page”.
Martin X
