Music of Cream is a special project that sees Malcolm (son of Jack) Bruce, Kofi (son of Ginger) Baker and Will Johns (Eric Clapton’s nephew via Patti Boyd) unite to play the music that formed a rich part of their upbringing. Following on from a wildly successful Antipodean tour, the band is set to embark upon a gargantuan trek taking in a huge number of dates in North America, not to mention four, very special evenings, here in the UK. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of one of the most beloved blues rock bands of all time, the trio will air a mix of live favourites and personal selections, but what makes the band particularly special is that, rather than slavishly copy the originals, these three family members inhabit the spirit of Cream, allowing the songs to stretch out and take new forms (as the original line up would), improvising against each other inside some of the most white-hot blues numbers ever put to tape.
We were lucky enough to talk to Malcolm Bruce about the impending tour – read on and rediscover the Music of Cream.
Hi, is that Malcolm?
Yes,
Hi, this is Phil Stiles, I’m calling from SonicAbuse, thank you so much for taking this time to speak to me. It’s really cool, and this is a very interesting project that we have to speak about.
The first thing that is interesting about the Music of Cream project is that it stands apart from what you’d term a ‘tribute’ band because having three family members producing this music is a remarkable meeting of minds. Was this something you formulated around the tribute you did in 2014 or was it longer in the offing?
I’ve known Kofi and Will, the other two guys in the band, I’ve known them for a long while. I’ve known Kofi since he was 14 and we’ve been in bands off and on over the years. So, we all knew each other and then, early last year a promoter in New Zealand got in touch and suggested that we put something together and do a tour down under, so we ended up doing a tour in Australia and New Zealand in June last year and it has just kind of grown from there – there’s been a lot of interest so we’re taking it out on the road.
For any musician, there’s a tension that exists between creativity and working on someone else’s materials but, for you, from what I’ve understood from previous interviews you’ve given, you’ve adopted the spirit of cream rather than the strict musical letter of the songs?
Absolutely, I mean that’s what the original band did themselves anyway. They weren’t a band that played the songs the same way twice, they would always improvise around the form and come up with something unique and in the moment and I think that’s the spirit and, as you say, that’s what we’re following. We’re not copying every single note in the solos or all of those kind of things – we’re just playing the music and that’s the main thing about Cream and what they achieved. The music is about improvisation. Obviously, there are famous songs and all sorts of stuff like that, but they were starting points for the guys to go off on a musical journey, so that’s really what we’re hoping we can honour in terms of the music.
Improvisational music is so challenging, and it requires a group of musicians who are comfortable with their own abilities but also with each other, so it’s especially remarkable that you three are able to have the same musical dialogue that your family members did – that’s quite exceptional I think…
Yeah – well, I think that’s something that we learnt by being around those people. That was at the heart of what they did and do. To actually just make stuff up, so it became very much second nature for all of us, so really, we’re carrying on something that’s part of our heritage. I’m a writer – I write music and actively pursue my own career, but this is just because we’re the kids. It’s the perfect opportunity to get out there and work and raise our profiles while we’re playing this amazing music. So, yeah, it’s all about the moment, this kind of thing, for sure.
In terms of your own musical upbringing, did you have a formalised education in music?
Yeah, yeah – to a large degree. I learned the piano at school and all of that kind of stuff and I actively pursued classical music and all of those kinds of things. I went to the Guildhall School of Music for a while, so yes, I’ve got a formal musical education. But that’s, it’s just an everyday process I think. Creativity is just delving deeper and deeper into the process and learning all the time.
As a young person growing up in a very musical family, did you find yourself attracted to the things your father liked, or were there lines you wanted to pursue on your own?
Well, I think I’m very similar to my dad in that he was very open to anything that was good, and genre was less important to him and I think that’s something I’ve very much learned by being around him and that crowd. There aren’t really many ‘no’s’ in music – it’s important to experience music in all its forms, whether it’s African music, rock songs or whether it’s Stravinsky or whatever – it’s all just music.
I think you’ve touched on something very important – genrefication is an issue and the internet, that should have opened so many doors, seems to have thrown up barriers as people try to find their own niche…
Its generational and successive. People grow up and they get exposure to certain kinds of things and, you know, we live in very interesting times because we essentially have access to everything, but does that mean that everybody has access to everything. You know, it might be Ed Sheeran and that kind of pop thing – which is great, I mean it’s incredibly well-crafted pop music – but it’s just one thing. Or hip hop even – I love great hip hop, but there’s a lot of other kinds of expression too… so we do live in an interesting time.
In terms of finding your own way in the world of music, you’ve made some extraordinary collaborations, because you’ve worked with Will on a few occasions, but you’ve also worked with (McCartney engineer) Steve Orchard and you’ve toured with Joe Satriani as well…
Yes, I did a sixty-date tour in the support act for Joe, which was good. Joe’s a great guy. Yeah, I’ve done all kinds of things, really, and I’m still learning as I go along. I’ve actually started work on my first opera, so I’ll be working on the next couple of years on that. So, yes, I’m exploring lots of avenues, definitely.
That’s really interesting that you’re doing an opera. That’s a form that few rock musicians are drawn to, obviously Roger Waters and The Who… what drew you to opera?
This, in particular, is more what’s called the contemporary classical tradition rather than musical. So, what has always interested me is concert music and orchestral music – that kind of wide palette, and also composition in terms of larger scale forms and being able to tell a story. I know opera in some ways, I think it gets a bad rap, but in many ways it’s still the ultimate art form. Within itself it’s progressing all the time and musical theatre, in terms of Broadway and West End, that’s still evolving all the time in terms of technology and other things. It’s really an incredible way to be able to express something in a multi-media form and I think that’s what really interested me.
I love the idea – there are bands in the metal realm who have drawn heavily from Opera and Therion are particularly good and they bridged the classical-metal divide really well. In terms of writing something like this – is it a case of you sitting at a manuscript, or is it more computer based?
I definitely use computers for scoring, but I’m still old school pencil and paper, at least initially, but again, improvisation… a lot of that process of writing something and, you know, trying things out in different ways is important, so I’m very much a sound-oriented person and not kind of too academic about it where it’s all in my head. I like to be able to hear things and score things and get feedback, so yeah, I use technology for sure.
So, that brings us back to the idea of Cream because the way that they explored music was so unique in the way that they dealt in forms which were, at that point, hitherto unheard.
Yeah, absolutely, I think when you look back at the band, it’s almost like they tried to be pop stars early on and they probably weren’t very good at it because, you know, they’re actually musicians who could play and improvise and they had a lot of experience already, even though they were still in their early twenties. They’d been on the road for ten years non-stop, so they’d really learned their craft, so it’s all good stuff. We’re really, really excited to be able to get out there and do this because I think we have got something quite special – that synergy between the three of us and the experience of how to approach that music. So, there you go.
Are there any particular songs within the canon which are absolute touchstones for you?
Well, I mean – we’re trying to do as much as we can in a two-and-a-half hour show and there’s a lot of material, so it’s always evolving; always changing. So, yeah, we’ll do the famous ones as it were – stuff like ‘sunshine…’, ‘white room’ all those kinds of things. But I like things like ‘we’re going wrong’… we might even throw in ‘anyone for tennis’ which were some of the lighter things that they did, so yeah, it’ll just be a balance of all the well-known songs and one or two slightly lesser-known songs as well.
You’ve already been with this to New Zealand and it went very well…
Yeah, Australia and New Zealand – we did a tour there last year and we actually had Glenn Hughes and Robben Ford with us on that tour and they were wonderful, but we just decided at the end of the tour that Cream is trio music, so having too many guests changed the direction of the sound, so we’re stripping it back to just the three of us from this point on. We’ll still have guests I think, we’ll have people get up during the show.
There’s something so powerful and primal about a three piece because when you’ve got more musicians, there’s a lot of space for people to fill, but when there’s three of you, the pressure is on for, not just the guitarist, but the bassist as well to become much more prominent in the mix.
Absolutely, yeah, it’s that magic number, three. It means that musicians become a lot more equal in generating ideas and playing off of each other… You’re right, I think you add that fourth person on tambourine or whatever it might be, and it changes the whole thing – suddenly there’s a fourth person there – that doesn’t make sense! So, I think, again, that’s the magic about the trio – having that equality of expression and the space to leave space as well as fill it. So, yes, three is the magic number!
In terms of the way you approach the sound of cream, obviously some of what you hear from the music is informed by the technology that was available at the time – have you gone out of your way to recreate that sound with vintage amps and so on, or have you gone with the gear that you like?
I use Warwick basses and Hartke amps at the moment, which is a great combination, and I am considering maybe playing a Gibson bass at some point. But, it’s a bit like saying we shouldn’t play Bach on the piano. I mean the piano, I think Bach might have seen one toward the end of his life but apparently, he didn’t really like it, so the precursor to the piano – the piano forte and all of those things were the instruments they used. But in the same way, this is music, you know, and so, whatever instruments we play, it’s not going to make that much difference unless you’re an absolute purist and you require a Gibson EB3 on this song with strings slightly detuned or whatever it is… we’re not too concerned about that, although we might introduce elements for sure.
I’m sure there are forums dedicated to such purism…
Oh, yeah! People need to get a life! I need to get a life. Marshall stacks and Gibson guitars… I know that!
Obviously, this is almost moonlighting form your own musical endeavours – have you got plans around this tour?
Yeah, I’m currently writing for my next album. You mentioned Steve Orchard – he mixed the last record I did on Pledge Music last year, so I’m working on the next one which will hopefully be out sometime early next year, and I’ll be touring with my own band for that as well, so that’s all in the works. Yes, it’s interesting when you’re the kid of somebody who’s had that level of success. You either hide form it or run away from it, or you, to some degree, embrace that legacy. So, it’s difficult for me, because if I go out as an individual artist, people are immediately going to say “so, what was it like growing up with your dad?” or whatever, and fair enough… but for me, and I think for the three of us, it’s about embracing our history and embracing our legacy in order to, perhaps, learn something about ourselves which then informs what we do as individuals. So, I think it’s a really wonderful opportunity, it’s almost like psychotherapy.
So, because of the way you’re approaching this music and taking some of what your family members did but also injecting some of yourself into it – how do you feel that has had, or will have, a knock-on effect on your own writing?
I don’t know – I think that there’s an incredible amount to learn from Cream’s body of work in terms of the writing and the possibilities within the music and the simplicity and directness of it. So, me actually going out and playing this – we’ve got a fourteen date, US tour before we come to the UK, so we’ll really learn a lot form that process. I think everything you do informs creativity, whether it’s making a cup of tea…. This is going to sound a bit profound now… but I thin it’s hard to delineate what influences you and what doesn’t whether it’s musical or non-musical really, so I think, for me, it’s just exciting to be able to play this incredible music and grow from it and grow from the experience each time we do it.
It’s a great opportunity – I was born in the early 80s, so I never got a chance to hear it live…
Oh, I’ve got ten years on you!
So, to see this music performed and, like a lot of people I guess, the first Cream song I heard was Sunshine of your love (I think my mum played it to me) and I was blown away by the power of that riff, so this is a great opportunity for so many people and it’s really exciting.
Yeah! As I said, it’s a great opportunity to be able to do it and we’ll see how it goes, but when we’ve done it in the past it’s been really successful, and we really find something quite special on stage together, so that’s what it’s all about. There’ll be lights and videos, so it’ll be a complete show, but when it comes down to it, it’s about the music and connecting with ourselves on stage and then connecting with the audience – it’s a group experience for sure.
“The Music Of Cream – 50th Anniversary Tour” with Malcolm Bruce (bass, vocals), Kofi Baker (drums) and Will Johns (guitar, vocals) includes Glasgow O2 Academy (Nov 23), Leamington Spa Assembly (Nov 24), London O2 Forum Kentish Town (Nov 25) and Manchester O2 Ritz (Nov 26). Tickets are available from www.musicofcream.com
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