Guitar phenom Allan Holdsworth says he’s not impressed by flash

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 11, 1983

By Steve Newton

Eddie Van Halen calls him “fantastic”. Gary Moore says “he’s frightening. He’s definitely dangerous and getting better all the time.” Carlos Santana gives him “more credit than anyone for just pure expression in soloing.” Journey’s Neil Schon says: “If you play guitar and ever think you’re too good, just listen to that guy.” And Pat Thrall calls him “The most innovative guitarist to come to rock.”

So just who, you ask, are today’s finest rock guitarists throwing all these accolades to? Is he the next Jimi Hendrix–a wildman playing at intense volume who will form a supergroup, release a million-selling LP, and play before crowds of no less than 20,000?

Nope. Van Halen and colleagues are directing their praise to a self-critical, excruciatingly modest English bloke by the name of Allan Holdsworth. And Vancouver music lovers can thank their lucky stars that–with the exception of fellow musicians and well-informed music critics–very few people are really aware of Holdsworth’s remarkable talent.

Because this Sunday (November 13) they’ll be able to experience it within the intimate confines of the Soft Rock Cafe. He and his band I.O.U. will be playing two sets there, at 7 and 10 pm, and are also slated for those same times Tuesday night.

I called Holdsworth up in L.A. and we chatted about I.O.U., it’s new album Road Games, beer, and Eddie Van Halen.

Has the tour started yet for you?

Yeah, well we’ve been out on the road for about seven weeks already, and then we came back and we’ve had about three weeks off.

How’s it been going?

Great. Everything’s going fantastic. You know, we’ve had the same old problem because we haven’t had an agent, so we basically book things ourselves, and it’s really difficult to get club owners to take a chance because they don’t know who we are. 

But we were lucky so far, because every time we go somewhere, you know, like quite a lot of people showed up. And most of the shows sold out, so we’ve been really pleased.

You seem to have had a lot of trouble over the years as far as record deals and getting the business happening.

Yeah. Yeah, it’s been really difficult, especially if you want to do what you want to do. 

You’ve played with a lot of groups and artists over the years–U.K., Bruford, Soft Machine, Tony Williams. Are you happier playing with I.O.U. than you were with the others?

Yes, a lot happier. Because I was always the guitar player in someone else’s band, and I didn’t always like the music. In fact, quite a lot of it–especially U.K.–I just detested. I thought it was crap. I didn’t really even want to be involved in it. And it’s funny, ’cause a lot of people like the things that I hate the most. But that’s life, you know.

What about Tony Williams? I guess you didn’t mind playing with him.

No. I enjoyed playing with Tony. He was great.

Last August I.O.U. bassist Paul Carmichael and drummer Gary Husband were replaced by Jeff Berlin and Chad Wackerman. What brought about that change?

Um, well basically it was finances started it, because the two guys were English, and both of them went back to England. And Gary was having a lot of problems on the road; he couldn’t cope with being out on the road, especially, you know…he was tearing his hair out. So he went back home to England.

And I’d been seeing a little bit more of Jeff, and he expressed an interest in playing together.

How do you find the new rhythm section differs from the old one?

Well, it’s completely different. First of all, Gary was the original member–like besides myself. It was him and me basically who kinda got the thing going. We worked together a lot because we liked to work together, and we had a hard time finding a bass player in England. It was really hard to find somebody who played functional kind of bass playing but still knew what he was doing harmonically. We couldn’t find anybody. They were all like Jaco Pastorius clones, you know, and I don’t like clones. So I wanted to find somebody who had some sort of personality of his own. And I don’t like fretless basses either.

So that’s the difference. Like Chad and Gary play completely different, and Jeff and Paul play completely different. So it’s a completely different kind of sound.

Why did you record Road Games as a mini-album rather than a full-size one?

That was the record company’s idea.

Were you happy about that?

Some of it. I mean I was pushed around a lot by the record company, and they gave me a hard time, basically. It’s too long and complicated and involved to get into, but [producer] Ted Templeman kinda gave us the runaround. Because originally Eddie Van Halen and he were supposed to coproduce the album, but because of their schedules, you know Eddie’s always working, and Ted is a real pain to pin down. I would have been a hundred years old before I’d have done the album.

So I just said, “No, I’m not gonna wait,” and they said, “Okay, go ahead and do it on your own.” But they didn’t really want me to do that, and they just harassed me the whole time. It made it very difficult.

I’ve noticed on the back cover of Road Games there’s a “special thanks” to Eddie Van Halen.

Well like I said he was going to coproduce the album, and he was there when the first demos of the songs that we were going to record for Warner Brothers were done. And also he brought Ted Templeman to see I.O.U. in the first place.

He’s quoted as saying, “Holdsworth is the best in my books.” What do you think of his playing?

Oh, he’s great! He’s great.

Are there any other rockers that impress you?

No, not really, ’cause I’m not really that impressed by flash. A lot of rock guitar players are just kind of flash, but Eddie’s thing seems to have evolved completely naturally, on its own. And I respect anybody who can do that. It’s great.

How did you come to get Jack Bruce to sing on “Was There?” and “Material Real” on Road Games?

Oh that was at the request of the record company. They didn’t want me to use Paul, the original singer, ’cause they said they didn’t like him. And they wanted me to use a couple of other guys that they mentioned that I did’t like at all, so I said “no”. And they weren’t going to let me put the album out at all if I didn’t use a famous singer. So I said that I wanted to use Jack, ’cause he was the only famous singer that I liked out of the guys that they were talking about.

Who were they suggesting? Do you remember?

Yeah but I don’t want to mention any of them because I’ve already said I don’t like them. They were kinda high, chirpy kinda singers.

What music do you most enjoy listening to in your spare time?

Um, I listen to Keith Jarrett, and I like Michael Brecker, and I listen to a lot of classical music. And I’m always made aware of new players ’cause being surrounded by musicians, they’re always saying, “Hey, check this out, check that out.”

It also says on the back of Road Games “special thanks to Coors beer”. You drink that on the road?

No. It’s just that…I probably shouldn’t get into it now, because if you start me on this subject I won’t stop, but the thing is I’m a real beer freak. And unfortunately real beer doesn’t exist in America; Coors is one of the only beers that not full of chemicals and also not pasteurized. 

You’ll have to try the Canadian beer when you get up here.

I have, but it’s all pasteurized. And I can’t handle pasteurized beer. I don’t know, it’s like the difference between a real piece of camembert and processed cheese to me. Just two different worlds.

Road Games is dedicated to Pat Smythe and Robert Cornford. Who are they?

Well they’re, like it says, two incredible musicians and friends of mine, who both died just recently. Pat Smyth was a fantastic pianist, and he had cancer, and he died quite quickly. And then Robert Cornford died just a few almost weeks later. He just had a heart attack, and it was completely unexpected. He was an unbelievable arranger and composer.

Where will your tour take you after Vancouver?

Um, I don’t know. I don’t know, actually. Oh let me see. It’s very sketchy at the moment. I think we’re going to Oregon on the way up, and then we’ve got Victoria and Seattle.

I’ve got one last question for you. What would you like the future to hold for Allan Holdsworth?

I’d just like to make a record that I was really happy with, that didn’t have problems. So far I haven’t been able to achieve that. The I.O.U. record was a good record, but it had problems in as much as it was recorded cheap, and it was done very fast. There’s nothing wrong with that, that’s great, but I would have liked to have spent more time mixing.

And the new Road Games album was the opposite. We had plenty of time to record it, but we just got shoved around so much by the record company. Which is why it says “produced by circumstance”, because for three of the tracks I was forced to mix at a studio that stinks in my opinion. They had a Harrison console in there, and I just don’t like the way they sound. Some people like them and some people don’t, and I don’t.

Warner Brothers wouldn’t let me mix it anywhere else, so I had to spend my own I.O.U money in order to remix three tracks and make it liveable with. But there is some good playing on it; Chad and Jeff play great on it.

Well I hope you get your way, eventually, with making an album.

Well, I mean if the record company wants to try and infiltrate and fuck up the music, then I’m just gonna leave. I don’t want to do it. It’s not that important to me; a record deal doesn’t matter because you can survive without it. It’s really difficult, and I thought it was gonna be really good, you know, going with a major label and everything, but if it’s gonna be serious interfering them I really don’t want to do it.

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