With Superfloor we did some nice support shows.
And most of the time you get to meet the headlining artists. But you don't really get a chance to hang out with them much.
When we did support for
Mother's Finest I stood in line to fill my plate for dinner. In front of me was
Glenn Murdock. We talked some while we waited our turn. And at the table
Gary Moses Mo Moore sat across from me.
Mo is a nice warm person who shows a genuine interest in other people. And he's funny.
When we did support for
Michael Katon, he came up to the side of the stage to watch us. And afterward he came in our dressing room to thank us for the nice show and warming up his crowd.
A real down to earth straight forward kind of guy.
When we did a festival
Gov't Mule were headliners and we had a little chat with
Warren Haynes and their then bass player
Andy Hess. Warren asked us if we had a CD out. And he was polite enough to wait for me to go take it out of my car.
At the same festival Tasmanian guitarist
Rob Tognoni was on the bill to. He told our guitarist his playing was crap. With a huge smile. Yeah and you suck too, replied Frank. They got along brilliantly. We met Rob Tognoni again when we did support for him in a club af few years latter. And Frank and him just picked it up from there. You suck! Yeah you suck harder.
Did support for
Philip Sayce. A nice guy. Said he liked our show. And he liked my Rubber Soul Beatles shirt.
We opened the Arrow Rock festival on the main stage. And after us
Wishbone Ash were on. And
Status Quo,
Uriah Heep Lynyrd Skynyrd and
Deep Purple. Had a short chat with
Andy Powell. Met
Don Airey backstage. And met
Fin Costello. I don't remember too much because we got very drunk...
With Stonefly we did support for
Kingdom Come. When we got there the appeared to be another support act. Somehow the record company had demanded they should get a slot too. But their drummer had missed his plane. So they kept everybody waiting for like forever.
Lenny Wolf came to our dressing room to let off steam. He said, you guys go play as long as you wish. I'm not going to play tonight. f*** that other band. Kingdom Come did play eventually. They were ridiculously loud.
And with Stonefly we did support for
Whitesnake. Shook hands with
David Coverdale and took a pic with him. But that was it basically.
Adrian Vandenberg was there too. Shook hands. The singer of Stonefly is now working on a new album with Adrian!
And I met
Reb Beach backstage when Doug Aldrich was doing his solo spot. I complimented him on his playing. He shrugged and said, It's a job…
Met
John Waite when we did support with Stonefly. He did not seem at ease very much. Came across as a very nervous and insecure man. Great singer though.
Met
Popa Chubby at a Hells Angels party where we played. He just sat down and watched our entire show from the side of the stage.
Did an interview with
Glenn Hughes for a bass magazine. Strange man.
Auditioned for
Tony Spinner (ex Toto). Didn't get the job…
Met
Katrina Leskanich (from The Waves) and
Johnny Logan (what's another year) when they and Floor were singing with a huge choir. Katrina was very hyper and Logan was very relaxed.
Back in the Bittermoon days we recorded an album with ex-
Riverdogs singer
Rob Lamothe. We got along very well and we did several tours together as his band. He's stayed at our drummer's place and we had big fun on the road. Lots of drunken stories to tell. The music was great too. We are still friends and he comes over to The Netherlands every once in a while to get together, make some music and talk about the good old days
One of the best singers on the planet (IMHO)!!
Because we toured with Lamothe, the name of our band caught the attention of
Brian Robertson's manager. He asked if we would mind if
Robbo (ex Thin Lizzy, ex Motörhead, ex Frankie Miller) would come and join us. We didn't mind...
So Robbo came over from England and joined our tour.
Man, did we have some fun! There was a lot of alcohol involved. Especially on Robbo's part…
Met Robbo again when Floor and I went to the Vibe for Philo in Dublin. Met Philip's Mother
Pilomena Lynott.
And the day after the vibe Robbo insisted we joined him to Brian Downey's 50th birthday party.
So I got to meet
Brian Downey too. Felt kind of awkward to be sitting at his birthday party, drinking free drinks and watching Downey play drums with his friends.
About a year later Robbo came over again to join another band I was in called Original Sin.
I won't go into all the rock roll lifestyle details, but here one little anecdote that I can share:
We drove back from a gig in my 1968 old-timer Mercedes. Floor was behind the wheel. Robbo and his manager were in the back seat. It was freezing outside. The tarmac had turned into black ice. When we took an exit on the highway near Amsterdam the car began to slip and we got in a terrible spin.
The car came to a halt in the centre median strip. Just ten centimeters away from another car that had just made the exact same spin. The guy in the other car was looking at a traffic sign that was planted in his window shield…
We had to get out of the car to push it out of the soft bank that was covered in snow. So there was Robbo and his manager and myself trying to push the heavy Mercedes back on the road. The entire tour Robbo wore black glossy flip flops (we're talking mid winter!). So there he's was, freezing his toes off and swearing and cursing in his heavy Scottish accent. I couldn't push the car because I was laughing so hard…
