2022’s ‘Backstage Pass – The Grit and the Glamour’ saw musician and author Phil Matera open the lid of the world of music in his own inimitable style – mixing personal experiences as a musician and a music writer come together to create a cracking read. This year sees him swim those waters again with more anecdotes, observations and tales from the road.
With a forward by Bryan Adams (there’s a great chapter dedicated to Bryan later) and a member of the Korgis (I must admit to only really having heard that one big hit) who Joe toured with the modus operandi is the same. As Joe says in the intro:
“I’ve interviewed and spent time with them in either, hotels, backstage areas and various other locations. And some, through the telling of their story, shed much light on the nuts and bolts on the workings of the music industry, as well as the qualities they inhabit, that shape their character and who they are both as human beings… This book is an attempt to not only give an insight into what lies behind the curtain of the music industry, and dispel some of the myth making, but to also give a front row seat to what life on the road is like, to the alchemical process of making music, both from an artist’s perspective and as merely an observer and music fan. In the process giving a little more substance to, and understanding of, life lived in the musical sphere.”
It’s also a book about why music is so important an it’s the personal side of those tales that we can all relate to – capturing as it does the magic of music to a young Italian Australian in his formative years.
The harest thing reviewing a book like this si not to give away the great stories within – and we start out with some great ones about the hard life on the road from artists as diverse as Mick Box (Uriah Heap) and an exhausted Corey Hart – as well as tales of Pink Floyd and beyond.
“…hours of waiting around, flights, travelling, cancellations, exhaustion, and more, are part and parcel of the touring life. Yet what outweighs all the negatives is that one hour or so on stage playing your music to an appreciative audience. The connection between musician and audience and the coming together of a community – nothing beats that. It’s one of the most amazing experiences and otherworldly experiences you can ever have.”
Part rock and roll tale, part travelogue there’s the hard life of touring and the ups and downs of travel – from scenic Austria to malfunctioning hotel plumbing. Joe’s personal asides are nicely interwoven with insights from interviews like Adrian Vandenberg’s hotel visitors, Bowie’s haunts in Berlin and Dokken and Loverboy’s varying experiences of hitting the tour trail in Europe. Then there’s personal moments with the late, great Steve Harley.
Deeper in Rock fans get a glimpse of a seemingly warring Canned Heat and a wonderful moment with The Animals and the always wonderful John Steel (a man I could talk to for hours) who when asked about being on the road playing the music of The Animals 60 years on noes that “I personally thought it would all be over in 2 or 3 years.” It’s funny how small glimpses reveal such a lot – Joe’s story talks of John selling drumsticks on tour for $35 – they were $60 this tour a few months ago!
The great thing about a book like this is the smorgasbord approach – that if you don’t like or relate to a certain band then often the insights are still to a degree universal. And for every tales of The Beach Boys or ABBA there’s a wonderful piece about learning to play guitar or the joy of tape cassettes! One thing that I hope is universal for everyone is the ability of music to bring back memories:
“‘A Horse with No Name’ is one of those easy songs you learn when starting out on guitar, as it’s simplicity at its best, using just two chords, an Em and a D6/9, which may look sophisticated and difficult, but is actually fairly simple, since it only uses two fingers, and it’s the same chord progression throughout the song.”
If America don’t float your boat then along come The Doobies, Foreigner, and 10cc,,, though I did always know that the words at the end of I’m Not In Love’ were “big boys don’t cry”… Another added bonus is that I was at some of the tours and actual shows that Joe talks about – I was there for Bruce Kulick at The Corner Hotel – one of my favourite venues in Australia. I was there for the Kiss Symphony in 2003.
One thing you might not appreciate is how big Billy Squier was in the 80’s and there’s a chapter on Billy here as there is a chapter on ABBA and guitarist Janne Schaffer. I was revived by tales of another show I was at: The Backyard Babies – again at The Corner Hotel. And if you’re like me and you love to read about things that had passed you by – not only did I check out ABBA’s guitarist but I also checked out the English group ‘Voyager’ after Joe waxed lyrical about a track called ‘Halfway Hotel’. Immediately I heard it I knew that I knew it instantly to the extent that the lyrics came back right away! That my friends is the magic of music. A long forgotten song just reemerged and now I can’t get it out of my head after what I guess must be at least a 30 year absence!
Conversely Joe also waxes lyrical about The Korgis ‘Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime’ a song I’m not sure I’ve ever heard before and as a consequence when I listened it didn’t have that same effect. I must admit I never got into the band back in the day though ‘If I had You’ is my Korgi’s masterpiece…
Matera isn’t afraid to put his opinions out there (and I love that) and makes some big bold calls:
“I view (Gerry Rafferty’s) City to City as one of the quintessential albums of all time, on an equal footing for me as The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon.”
I love the album myself (the sax on Baker Street is enough for me) but I’m not as much of a ‘Sgt. Peppers’ fan as I am of what followed, plus I never really jumped on The Beach Boys and found Pet Sounds rather disappointing (Though ‘God only Knows’ is magical). As for Pink Floyd? Maybe I didn’t smoke enough weed but they have always bored me to tears. So there you go three really unpopular statements from me that should see you siding with Joe! And that is the beauty of music to me – we all love what we love!
We close in grand style with a chapter on the importance of Bryan Adams – aptly titled ‘The kids wanna rock’. Doing a track by track on ‘Cuts like a Knife’ may be a little much but I love the passion it reveals! Either way it’s a great read as is the afterward that revels in the sounds of the 70’s and 80’s influence and ends with a little pessimism as to where this wonderful music we love is headed. As Nietzsche said “Whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” and it may well be true but personally I still avoid Rap and Jazz…
Like Joe’s last book that shares a similar title by the end you come away feeling for those that make the music we love, and the pressures that come with it. Matera has done another fine job in shining a light on the circus that is the music business. What still matters most though is that his love of music and the excitement it still holds for him whether as a player or an observer is still unquenched.
