22 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com October, 2017R&R
&A
F
or his 19th solo album,
Ringo Starr planned to record
his first country album since
1970’s Beaucoups of Blues. But
when his touring schedule made an
extended trip to Nashville impossi-
ble, Ringo decided to simply work in
his living room, inviting old friends
like Peter Frampton, Dave Stewart,
his brother-in-law Joe Walsh and Paul
McCartney to collaborate. “It ended up
like a regular Ringo album with a bal-
lad, a country song, a rock song,” says
the drummer, whose new album, Give
More Love, is out September 15th. “It’s
always very casual. With Pro Tools, you
don’t need all that space like we had
in Abbey Road. Sometimes the dog
will bark, and it ends up on the track.”
Ringo, 77, is approaching his 30th year
leading his All-Starr Band, whose long-
running lineup includes Steve Lukath-
er (Toto) and Todd Rundgren. The
band’s upcoming tour includes a Las
Vegas residency in October.How did Paul wind up taking part in ses-
sions for the new album?
Well, I just called him up and said, “I
got this song called ‘Show Me the Way’,
and I want you to play on it.” Because
he is a really good friend of mine, he
said he’d come to L.A. for it. It’s about
[my wife] Barbara. She shows me the
way. I wanted it to be very personal.
While he was there, he also played on
“We’re on the Road Again”. That was
very kind of him.
You two still sound great together.
He’s an incredible musician. He’s in-
credible at singing too and as a writer,
but for me, as a bass player, he is the
finest and the most melodic. It’s always
fun when we’re playing together. I’ve
played on several of his records, main-
ly in the Nineties. People keep saying,
“Oh, it’s been so long.” It’s not been that
long. We did the Grammys, we did that
Beat les show three years ago. So we
are still pals, but we don’t live in each
other’s pocket.
There are a couple of country songs on
the album that remind me of Beaucoups
of Blues. What are your memories of
that time in your life?
I went down to Nashville, and we
did it in two days. Pete Drake [who
played pedal steel on All Things Must
Pass] was talking to me about coming
to Nashville to make a record. I didn’t
want to spend months there. He said,
“What are you talking about? Nashville
Skyline took two days.” So I went to
Nashville, and I got there on Monday.
We did the record Tuesday, Wednesday,
and I left Thursday. And that’s how we
did it. Five songs a day!Your drums sound louder than ever on
the new Sgt. Pepper box set.
They are! Giles [Martin, son of
George Martin] has turned me up. I
love it! We couldn’t do that in the Six-
ties. If anything, when we were mas-
tering, we were taking off the bottom
all the time, and the bottom was my
bass drum. You should go to the Love
show [in Las Vegas]. It’s like drum
boogie. It’s so far-out.
On “Electricity”, you give a shout-out
to Johnny Guitar, from your pre-Beatles
band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
When I changed my name to Ringo,
he changed his to Johnny Guitar. I
had left [my job at] the factory, and
this was the first real job as a musi-
cian. I have great memories of being
in that band. If you look back at my re-
cent solo records, there’s always some
mention of Rory and the Hurricanes
in it. I don’t wanna write the book – I
write it in songs. If you want to read
my book, you’ll have to buy 15 CDs and
put it all together.
What role did you take in putting to-
gether the Sgt. Pepper box set?
Giles remastered it, they sent it to
me, and I said I loved it. There’s anoth-
er bonus CD with different bits – the
big piano that we all played for that one
chord [on “A Day in the Life”]. That is
so interesting, even for me, who’s on
the damn thing. I just love it. It’s a bit
like the Eight Days a Week [documen-
tary] that Ron Howard did. I was so
moved emotionally by looking at that,
and I’m in it, for God’s sake.
It was interesting to see a Beatles film
that focused only on your touring career.
It just showed us as four lads. We
were always being ordered to play sta-
diums since we couldn’t play regular
gigs. We stopped touring because we
all felt we weren’t playing that well.
I couldn’t hear what the other three
were doing. I’d have to look at their ac-
tions and go, “Oh, yeah, we went into
that part now.” Then we split up, of
course. But I think [touring] is part of
the four of us – that’s what we always
liked to do.
Are you going to release deluxe editions
of the other albums?
I hope they do the White Album and
Abbey Road.
How about Revolver and Rubber Soul?
I don’t know. Let’s say yes! [Laughs]
If we don’t, forgive me.
You’re heading out with the All-Starr
Band soon. Do you still want to be doing
this in three years when you enter your
eighties?
Yeah, I love it. It’s what I do. As long
as I can hold the sticks, we can go for a
long time.Ringo
Starr
The former Beatle on
why he’ll never write
a memoir and why he still
has a blast recording
with Paul McCartneyBY ANDY GREENE