“I rock ‘n’ rolled out of bed, they tell me there's good money in it!”
This strong insight is from rock n’ roll veteran George Thorogood, who’s over 50 years deep into a storied and celebrated career.
Blasting his way into the upper echelons of US rock radio with hits such as “Bad To The Bone” and “I Drink Alone”, George Thorogood And The Destroyer’s signature high-octane Blues Rock sound quickly became the soundtrack to much general “badassery” throughout the remainder of the 1980s.
“Well it’s quite a long way to go and we are looking forward to going back. Going to Australia and New Zealand and playing with ZZ Top, are you kidding? An Australian band, an American band and us right in the middle, that’s a dream come true.”
“Except for playing the music and getting paid, touring in the 70s and 80s was pretty terrible.” he explains. “Bad equipment, bad PAs, and sometimes the rooms weren’t great. Things kept breaking down and it was always a disaster.”
“But we kept plugging on and things kept getting better and better. Food got better, transportation got better. Even in the ‘60s live rock bands were still in their infancy. It’s not the sophisticated industry it is now, I mean, The Beatles quit playing because they couldn’t hear themselves.”
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The conversation steamrolls into George’s expectations for the Elevation tour, the last time the George Thorogood and the Destroyers were out was in 2022, so the memories are fresh. Excitedly, George further elaborates on his experience.
“In 2020 we did festivals with Anastacia, Billy Idol, Creedence Clearwater Revisited and it was brilliant. I said ‘Man, I got a taste of this and I want more, lots more!’”
And behind him, George has had his long-time band The Destroyers blazing on all cylinders. When it comes to revealing what it takes to hold a lineup with such longevity, George doesn’t offer up much insight.
“I kept the same band for so long because I pay well, I don’t know about chemistry… I flunked that in school.”
“With my band, I question only two things: loyalty and sanity.”
The storied rocker continues to reflect on some of his personal studio highlights and aspirations, “I want to do just about everything, we put out a blues record on Chess [Records] as a tribute to the artists on Chess Records. We have various live records. I might even make a Country and Western record one day, I want to try everything I’m interested in as long as I’m qualified to pull it off.”
This is where I take an opportunity to dive into George Thorogood’s history with the blues. After all, here is a man who is responsible for introducing a generation of 80s kids to the long-time tradition of slide guitar.
George interjects, “What do Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and George Thorogood have in common?”
I don’t know …
“The first person we saw play slide guitar was Brian Jones.”
“I first got exposed to the blues through the Rolling Stones, I saw them on television and they brought Howling Wolf on there, who I had never heard at the time.”
“So when I got a Howling Wolf record I looked at the credits and I kept seeing names like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Butterfield Blues Band. I think still to this day if you want to play real Rock guitar you need to study the blues because that’s what rock is based on.”
I asked George to give some insight into how he developed his slide technique and whether he experimented with closed tunings or if it was open all the way, which he was happy to divulge.
“I was shocked how naturally it fell into place for me, I was listening to a lot of Robert Johnson, and I was fooling around with the slide guitar. Then I heard Elmore James and that was it. It blew me away.”
Gibson ES-125
We round out our early morning chat with a bit of gear talk, focusing first on the Gibson ES-125. A mainstay of George’s Career since the early days, with a story to back it up.
“I got my first 125 because our drummer booked a gig and I didn’t have an electric guitar so he said get one.”
Interestingly enough, George doesn’t know much about his current live rig simply stating “My amplifier we call it the mystery mutt, it’s the combination of about 1000 other amps. It’s a creation from our tech people, like taking a car and using 100 parts to make it.”
“I wanted something that didn’t break down all the time and the guitars and amps I use if you don’t put them on max, you don’t get the sound I need. We were playing different places and rewiring my amps so we said ‘Let’s just get an amp with a powerful sound that doesn’t need to be so loud.’”
George sums it all up with a simple ideology that is easy to appreciate in this age of technology and advanced stage rigs.
“Just give me the thing, make sure people hear me and make sure I’m in tune.”
Tickets for George Thorogood headline shows, as well as suppporting ZZ Top are on sale now. For more information head to livenation.com.au and livenation.co.nz.
