That time I was sipping champagne backstage with Supertramp’s Rick Davies–and 14 other hangers-on

By Steve Newton

Sad to hear that Supertramp singer, keyboardist, and co-songwriter Rick Davies had passed away on Saturday (September 6) at the age of 81. Like scores of other music-crazed teenagers in the seventies, I bought Supertramp’s breakthrough album Crime of the Century and played the devil out of it.

I never got the chance to interview Davies, unfortunately. I did chat with Supertramp drummer Bob Siebenberg back in June of ’85, and 13 years after that caught up with former member Roger Hodgson while he was doing his solo thing.

But I did get to hang out in the same room with Davies when the band played Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum on November 17, 1985.

Six months earlier Supertramp had released its eighth studio album–the first since Hodgson’s departure–Brother Where You Bound. Judging by the backstage photo I’ve kept squirreled away, the group had been awarded either gold or platinum albums by its label, A&M, and the assembled horde of record reps, radio weasels, band members, and media sluts like myself toasted Supertramp’s success.

Pictured in the front row, left to right, are saxophonist John Anthony Helliwell, Siebenberg, and Davies. That’s me at the very back on the far right, just behind bassist Dougie Thomson, wishing I had a Pilsner tallboy instead of that little splash of champagne.

Brother Where You Bound was the last Supertramp album to go platinum in Canada, where the band sold more LPs, per capita, than anywhere else, if my math is correct.

Here’s to Supertramp and Rick Davies. May he rest in peace.

To hear the full 26-minute audio of my 1985 interview with Supertramp’s Rob Siebenberg–and my 1998 interview with Roger Hodgson as well–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with the legends of rock since 1982.