Mott The Hoople: 'We Thought It Was All Over'

[weslgarlic]

Mott The Hoople: 'We Thought It Was All Over'

1:18 PM GMT 05/07/2013

In 2009 Mott The Hoople reformed to play a five stand at London's Hammersmith Apollo. It was, for all intent and purposes, designed as a final bow.

Four years on, however, and the British bovver rockers have announced a further set of five UK shows, much to the surprise of all and sundry.

"I was totally convinced that was it," says Mott frontman Ian Hunter, recalling the band's Hammersmith run. "Now and again someone comes up with an offer and this time it got silly, so we thought why not?"

While Hunter is honest enough to admit that "it's always nice when you get a few bob", he's also keen to stress just how much he enjoyed playing with the band again.

"It was great and it felt like now. It didn't feel like on the pier at Butlins at all. So it was real good," he smiles.

Speaking to MOJO's Editor-In-Chief Phil Alexander on the MOJO Rocks radio show on Planet Rock, keyboard player Verden Allen also admits that the entire experience was "every emotional" the last time around. "We've got to keep up to the standards of the Apollo, if not get better than that," he says of the forthcoming shows.

"Last time we genuinely didn't know if we were going to work and it did," adds Hunter. "We were never that great a band but there was something weird with us. If that had gone then we would have known that it was all over but it was still there, you know. The madness was there."

Mott's 2013 UK tour dates run as follows:

11 November - Birmingham Symphony Hall
13 November - Glasgow, Clyde Auditorium
16 November - Newcastle, City Hall
17 November - Manchester, O2 Apollo
18 November - London, The O2

Mott's 2013 line-up features original members Ian Hunter (vocals/guitar / piano), Mick Ralphs (guitar/vocals), Verden Allen (keyboards/vocals), and Overend Watts (bass/vocals) with Martin Chambers replacing original drummer Dale Griffin who continues to battle health issues.

Hear Phil Alexander's interview with Ian Hunter and Verden Allen (all of whom are pictured above) on MOJO Rocks on Saturday July 6 from 7.00pm. The show will be repeated on Wednesday July 10 at 7.00pm

MOJO Rocks on Planet Rock can be heard on Digital Radio (Sky 0110, Virgin Media 924, Freesat 730), 105.2 FM West Midlands, planetrock.com and via iPhone & Android apps.

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2013/07/mott_the_hoople_we_thought_it.html

[kenog]

Wesl,

Thanks for posting this, and keeping this brilliant band in our psyche.

Mott The Hoople: 'We Thought It Was All Over'

1:18 PM GMT 05/07/2013

In 2009 Mott The Hoople reformed to play a five stand at London's Hammersmith Apollo. It was, for all intent and purposes, designed as a final bow.

Four years on, however, and the British bovver rockers have announced a further set of five UK shows, much to the surprise of all and sundry.

"I was totally convinced that was it," says Mott frontman Ian Hunter, recalling the band's Hammersmith run. "Now and again someone comes up with an offer and this time it got silly, so we thought why not?"

While Hunter is honest enough to admit that "it's always nice when you get a few bob", he's also keen to stress just how much he enjoyed playing with the band again.

"It was great and it felt like now. It didn't feel like on the pier at Butlins at all. So it was real good," he smiles.

Speaking to MOJO's Editor-In-Chief Phil Alexander on the MOJO Rocks radio show on Planet Rock, keyboard player Verden Allen also admits that the entire experience was "every emotional" the last time around. "We've got to keep up to the standards of the Apollo, if not get better than that," he says of the forthcoming shows.

"Last time we genuinely didn't know if we were going to work and it did," adds Hunter. "We were never that great a band but there was something weird with us. If that had gone then we would have known that it was all over but it was still there, you know. The madness was there."

Mott's 2013 UK tour dates run as follows:

11 November - Birmingham Symphony Hall
13 November - Glasgow, Clyde Auditorium
16 November - Newcastle, City Hall
17 November - Manchester, O2 Apollo
18 November - London, The O2

Mott's 2013 line-up features original members Ian Hunter (vocals/guitar / piano), Mick Ralphs (guitar/vocals), Verden Allen (keyboards/vocals), and Overend Watts (bass/vocals) with Martin Chambers replacing original drummer Dale Griffin who continues to battle health issues.

Hear Phil Alexander's interview with Ian Hunter and Verden Allen (all of whom are pictured above) on MOJO Rocks on Saturday July 6 from 7.00pm. The show will be repeated on Wednesday July 10 at 7.00pm

MOJO Rocks on Planet Rock can be heard on Digital Radio (Sky 0110, Virgin Media 924, Freesat 730), 105.2 FM West Midlands, planetrock.com and via iPhone & Android apps.

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2013/07/mott_the_hoople_we_thought_it.html

[ledded1]

I will be at the Manchester show.

[weslgarlic]

If they can do it .. Ian Hunter's 74 there always hope for a certain other band

[Deborah J]

I will be at the Manchester show.

Rub it in ledded1 Seriously I hope you have great time! Think I'll put All The Young Dudes album for a spin:-)

[Charles J. White]

The only tune by Mott The Hoople that I ever really got into was One of the Boys and its Pink Floyd sounding telephone call. It has a nice sounding guitar on it, and cool chorus. I tried a number of times to get into them because everyone in radio and music talks about them. "One of the Boys" needs a phone call, anyone have 25 cents?

[kenog]

I found a very recent interview on YouTube with the ageless and priceless Ian Hunter at the end of his US tour. Mott's UK gigs are in a month's time. Here's the link:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=MaQzW8PvC_g

After completing the last night of his most recent US tour, Ian Hunter hung out in the green room at The Kent Stage with Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready and some of his Cleveland area friends, including Weird & Gilly.

Ian talks frankly about life on the road, the upcoming Mott The Hoople British gigs (including the massive O2 Arena on 11/18), his old friend Buffin, and whether he's writing new material for an up-and-coming Mott The Hoople record, or if it would be more appropriate to record with The Rant Band, his touring outfit featuring bandleaders James Mastro on guitar and Steve Holly on drums, with Andy Burton on keys, Paul Page on bass and Mark Bosch on lead guitar.

Courtesy of www.CoolCleveland.com

[weslgarlic]

Wish they were playing somewhere in Yorkshire

[Strider]

I guess it's too much to hope they tour the U.S.

[weslgarlic]

Mott The Hoople Under Review {Full Movie}

[kenog]

Fantastic. Thanks.

Mott The Hoople Under Review {Full Movie}

[Strider]

Fantastic. Thanks.

Is it really, kenog? I tried watching one of those "Under Review" things on Led Zeppelin...or maybe it was Pink Floyd...and it was like pulling teeth. Painful.

I'll get into this in a future post, but thinking back to 1973 (how did 40 years pass so quickly? ), while Led Zeppelin was no question #1 in my heart, their music was getting varied and attaining nuances that were broadening their scope. You could party to them, sure, but they were also mystical and cerebral and just plain weird sometimes.

For purely 'party rock' purposes, there were three bands in 1973 that were the kings of boozy & bawdy no muss-no fuss rock and roll: The Faces, The Alice Cooper Band, and Mott the Hoople.

[Disco Duck]

I remember reading a long ago interview with Ian Hunter. I think it was in Rolling Stone. He mentioned that he was 33 years old when Mott the Hoople took off. He had been singing with bands since the late 1950's, often had to work day jobs in order to pay the bills. As a result, he didn't take his success with Mott the Hoople for granted. He also didn't have any illusions about the music industry.

[weslgarlic]

I remember reading a long ago interview with Ian Hunter. I think it was in Rolling Stone. He mentioned that he was 33 years old when Mott the Hoople took off. He had been singing with bands since the late 1950's, often had to work day jobs in order to pay the bills. As a result, he didn't take his success with Mott the Hoople for granted. He also didn't have any illusions about the music industry.

Brian Johnson was a similar age when joined AC/DC although he had experienced a reasonable amount of success in Geordie

[Charles J. White]

You think? My understanding is that Brian Johnson was installing windows in cars when he got the call to join AC/DC and that Geordie did indeed have a following but it wasn’t paying the bills of blue collar working man.

Back to the topic at hand, does anyone really believe that a Mott the Hoople tour would be a financial success in North America? Although I hear them from time to time on classic radio, I have a hard time believing they could sell out 3000 seat theaters across America in particular. What do our American friends think?

[weslgarlic]

You think? My understanding is that Brian Johnson was installing windows in cars when he got the call to join AC/DC and that Geordie did indeed have a following but it wasn’t paying the bills of blue collar working man.

Back to the topic at hand, does anyone really believe that a Mott the Hoople tour would be a financial success in North America? Although I hear them from time to time on classic radio, I have a hard time believing they could sell out 3000 seat theaters across America in particular. What do our American friends think?

He might have still been fitting car windows had AC/DC got their reported first choice Slade Vocalist Noddy Holder

Brian Johnson maybe could then have done Norman Collier style car window comedy act

I thought Mott The Hoople were big in the USA , well i suppose that was 40 years ago

[Strider]

You think? My understanding is that Brian Johnson was installing windows in cars when he got the call to join AC/DC and that Geordie did indeed have a following but it wasnt paying the bills of blue collar working man.

Back to the topic at hand, does anyone really believe that a Mott the Hoople tour would be a financial success in North America? Although I hear them from time to time on classic radio, I have a hard time believing they could sell out 3000 seat theaters across America in particular. What do our American friends think?

I should hope so! I guess it all depends upon the region of the U.S. A Mott reunion tour might have a tough go of it in places like Arkansas, Missouri and Nebraska, but they would absolutely pack 'em in on the coasts...Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Boston, and New York. Throw in Austin, Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago as some of the other music-loving cities that would support a Mott tour.

Mott the Hoople did indeed have sizable success in the U.S. back in the '70s. Their 1973 tour even beat out Led Zeppelin's in some music polls.

Considering some of the wretched bands that do reunite and tour the U.S., it would be criminal if

the Motts didn't at least give it a go!

[Charles J. White]

Does anyone have any footage of the Hoople gig? Did they play "One of the Boys"?

[Juliet]

Since I have an interest in Alzheimer's Disease (it claimed my father) I search for Facebook pages so I can read about research, services etc...I have the FB from the UK Alzheimer's Society since our family has British roots..Mott the Hoople is helping with a fund raiser...Bravo!!!!

Juliet