Review Fix Exclusive Q & A: Andy Fraser: Part Three

RF: Simon had just told me a story of, I think: Clapton was in the audience watching Kossof play and took him aside and said “I love your vibrato,” and it sort of blew him away. He was one of his idols.

AF: Absolutely true.

RF: Was that in New York?

AF: Yes, our first trip to New York – to the States – was opening for “Blind Faith,” and Island very wisely got us four or five nights at this little club to warm up and play with Dr. John, “the Night Tripper,” for four or five days, and Clapton had come by one night just to kind of check it out, and he did come by and say that to Paul, and I think they swapped guitars. I think he gave him a sunburst Les Paul, and Kossof was just over the moon.

RF: He did not realize how great he was. Did he have an underlying insecurity of some kind?

AF: His security was in the band, and when the band fell apart, there was no security, and I think all of us, the rest of us in our own strange ways, had to find our feet on our own, and I don’t think Kossof had that in him to do it.

RF: I was going to ask you: Was the dissolution of Free a painful time for you in any way? You quit before the end of it, right?

AF: Oh yeah, I quiet because it was so painful. It was so obviously over that it was dishonest to pretend that it wasn’t. To go onstage every night…and Kosoff was five minutes behind, and the audience is crying for you…At some time, we are saying we’ve got to be real here.  This is torture, so you’ve just got to be real at times, and it was so painful for all of us.

RF: You went on to a band called Toby and the Sharks. Is that true?

AF: The first one was Toby, which was funny enough…a nickname one of our roadies used to call me.  I think I reminded him of some Toby who he from New Zealand. I think it was also as a way of keeping me kind of not too dominating, because it’s kind of “Little Toby,” but I look back now and it was very important, because it was my first stepping out as a singer. And although I was really insecure – inexperienced – and it was very difficult for me, you know, you’ve got to get your feet wet, so it was important. And actually, now I think about the same time, Paul did “Peace,” where he played guitar and everyone was saying, “What’s going on here?”  But I think for exactly the same reason, he wanted to strengthen his guitar playing, and that was a good way of doing it. So I understand both of what we did, but neither had any more value than those two things.

RF: Was it a strange experience, sort of being on your own, away from what you are so used to?

AF: Yeah, but I decided because I was writing more and more songs, I needed to strengthen my voice. The songs were better than my singing, and so you’ve just got to dive in. It’s a long process, and that was the beginning.

RF: I look at your writing credits with Free, and there are a lot of songs like “I’m a Mover,” “I’ll be Creepin’,” “Fire and Water,” All Right Now,” “Heavy Load.” I actually saw the video of “Healing Hands” (solo song) and sort of saw concert clips of you, and you have a very good voice, actually.

AF: Over the years, my confidence has strengthened, and it has taken time and commitment, but it had to stop somewhere, and that was Toby.

RF: Your daughters were involved with making the video of “Healing Hands”?

AF: Yes.

RF: You must be really proud of them.

AF: I have the best daughters – incredible actually, because their mother and I divorced when they were fairly young, and so they moved to Australia, which is like the other side of the world, so we communicated by phone, and I would go to India, where they spent a lot of time, and it was only when they were, like, late teens and they wanted to meet their father and see him through an adult eye, and we caught up. And I recognized that moment for the same thing that happened to me when I sought out my father, and I was completely open with them about everything that happened, that I had deal with everything about being gay, and they said “So that’s what it was; we thought you didn’t like mom,” and from then on, with no secrets, we completely bonded, and we’re the best of friends, completely open. Before a gig, they would come up and say “Hey, lose the pants.” They were completely straight with me, and I thought because they are so artistically minded. I said “Hey, why don’t you make a video for me; you go figure it out,” and we did it in Australia, where they were living at the time, and it was a great experience. It’s great to completely give myself to them, let them direct me, and from the other side of the camera they sat pointing, going this way, that way.  It was just a great feeling.  They are so clever; they are so cool.  I’m so pleased not only to be friends with them, but they’re actually my daughters. It’s just one of the big thrills in life.

RF: It’s a wonderful relationship when a child could be a friend; that’s fantastic. You must be very proud.

AF: It’s great. Whenever we are together, “Oh, we got to go shopping,” which I usually hate, but they are so good at picking stuff they actually make it fun, and they are cool at what they pick. We have just the greatest time.

RF: You’ve written songs, is this true, for Robert Palmer? “Every Kinda People” is just a fantastic song.  And you’ve worked with Joe Cocker, Chaka Khan, Rod Stewart, Paul Young, Three Dog Night, Joan Jett, Etta James. That’s what I have here. I hope I’m correct.

AF: All of those are true, but you know, I have never actually written for anybody else, but everybody else asked the question, “Why?” But I always write songs for myself, other people get to hear them and want to do them, which is the highest compliment, but it’s not like you can call me up and say “Diana Ross needs a song by 11 tomorrow morning.” It’s not going to happen.