Keep your diaries open for February and March because The Animals 60th Anniversary and Farewell Tour of Australia! is on the way. The Animals were “one of the most important bands” in the British Invasion. The Beatles and Rolling Stones were the headliners, whilst The Animals were the backbone of blues! The Animals’ impact and influence is undeniable. They created some of the most iconic songs in popular music history including – We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place, The House of The Rising Sun, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, It’s My Life, Don’t Bring Me Down and Boom Boom and more all of which will be performed on this Greatest Hits Final Tour. I always like talking to John, as the call rings (none of this Zoom nonsense) there’s real anticipation. And when the phone picks up there’s a real sense that you’re talking to real Rock and Roll history…
John: Hello, John Steel here.
Mark: Mr. Steel it’s Mark from The Rockpit in Australia how are you?
John: I’m very good thank you Mark. Nice to talk again. How are you?
Mark: I’m pretty sad actually John this might be the last time we get to speak, we’ve chatted a good few times over the years and I’ve always enjoyed it but I see this tour is billed as The ‘Australian Farewell Tour’.
John: (laughs) Well I don’t know Mark (laughs) it’s been promoted as the last time, but I don’t know… (laughs) I don’t feel ready to quit you know! (laughs) Not while I’m playing well, no one is complaining yet!
Mark: (laughs) I read it as the ‘Last Greatest Hits Final Tour’, so there’s all kinds of loopholes in there I think you could slip through! (laughs)
John: (laughing) Well whatever is, one thing it definitely is, is the 60th anniversary of the recording of ‘The House of the Rising Sun’.
Mark: It is, and the first album – 60 years ago next year. There are few bands out there with that longevity but even fewer that can keep me coming back every time you visit us. It’s all wonderful music and so much of it recorded in what must have been a rather intense few years between ’64 and ’66? That must have been a crazy time for you?
John: Oh it certainly was. Really, I have got to say at the time I thought that was it, a couple of years of highs and then we’d be back to normally, but that wasn’t to be! (laughs) We certainly packed some good stuff into that period. Those songs recorded back then still stand up today and people still want to hear them be played live so it’s all good.
Mark: Absolutely and so many bands influenced by them as well. There were five albums in those three years and I’m glad you opened with telling me it may not be the last time…
John: (laughs)
Mark: We’re based over in the West though sadly so we miss out this time as all the dates are in the Esat – but so many dates John!
John: Yeah, including two in New Zealand this time there’s 21 dates all packed in very tightly. Sadly nothing in the West ‘cos it’s great over there, we love Perth. We saw you there last time.
Mark: You did, and one of the great things about The Animals music is that it spans the generations – I went to both of those shows with my father, who always reminds me that he saw you back in the 60’s!
John: That’s cool.
Mark: As it is a bit of a Greatest Hits tour and we thought at the time it might be the last, but at least is the 60th anniversary we asked our listeners to write in with a few questions that referenced the anniversary.
John: OK
Mark: Do you know how many countries you have played in over the years?
John: No idea! (laughs) I’ve never even thought of keeping tabs so my answer is “a lot!” (laughs) But there’s a lot of places we haven’t been too. One strange thing is I’ve never played anywhere South of the United States on that side of the world. Nowhere south of North America. We’ve played North Africa too, around the Mediterranean coastline but nothing sub-Sahara either. So there’s quite a chunk of territory that we never did reach, physically anyway. Which is a shame.
Mark: There’s always time John!
John: (laughs)
Mark: I thought that you would have played Mexico and places like that.
John: No we never did. I think Eric, when the original band broke up and Eric became Eric Burdon and The New Animals I think they covered some of the ground in the late 60’s that I wasn’t a part of. But there you go you can’t be everywhere at once!
Mark: You can’t but you can be down here with us for the majority of February and March at least! I’ve been to some memorable shows over the years and it’s always great to see a good crowd, but one of the most memorable things about last time I thought was the number of younger people in the audience. It seems to be music that easily passes through the generations.
John: Yeah. It does, that’s something I’m very much aware of. It’s great after a show to go out and sign some merch and do a meet and greet and there’s so many young people out there to meet us because they’ve heard this music all of their lives and they just want to see it played live. And you can tele that they’re really buzzing, it’s great fun!
Mark: One of my earliest memories of music and my Dad’s record collection is the first time I played ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ it’s one of those rare songs that bever leaves you. Every time I ever hear it brings back that memory of the wooden cabinet the record player was in and the carpet and the smell of that vinyl. Not many songs strike you like that and I know that you’re a big fan of that particular song too. What is it about that song? It’s almost soothing you can’t put your finger on?
John: Yeah, it is, you’re right, it has that effect on people. I have no idea how or why it does it but so many people over the years say ‘I remember exactly where I was when I first heard that song’ or ‘That’s the first song I ever learnt on guitar’ (laughs) It’s universal and that’s a really nice thing but I cant tell you what the magic is about it, I just now that it’s a very special song to a lot of people.
Mark: I think that’s a big part of the magic, that we can’t explain what it is! Otherwise we’d all be writing one!
John: (laughs)
Mark: Reflecting on a very long and fruitful career, from the point of view of a man who has been behind the kit for the best part of 6 decades, what are the best and worst parts of being in a band? It’s great, for example, to visit other countries but looking at the way you pack in the dates there must be very little time for looking around?
John: Well there is that. You’re basically travelling, at the airport, checking into the hotel or getting to the venue, doing soundcheck, playing the gig, then back to the hotel for a bit of sleep and the next day you’re off again. (laughs) Some think it’s a glamorous life but really it’s gritting your teeth and hitting the road. The upside of that all of course is getting on stage and playing to a live audience with a good band and playing a good set. You come off stage feeling on top of the world – that’s what it’s all about for me and that has never gone away. That makes it all worthwhile.
Mark: Can you name an album, especially one from around the time the band formed that stayed with you over the years – one that you have a real love of to this day?
John: One of my favourites, and it’s a bit of an odd one, is the recording of Ray Charles that they did in 1958 at the Newport Jazz Festival (Ray Charles at Newport). It’s where he performed ‘The Night Time is the Right Time’ which we do now as well. That was always a favourite of mine. But there was lots of good stuff around and I’ve always been a Jazz fan as well as being a Blues fan and a Rock fan so I have a lot of stuff to choose from, but that one came straight to my mind as soon as you said that, you know.
Mark: Well you do have a very Jazzy drumming style and I always marvel when I see you at how effortless you make drumming look. You and Charlie Watts have that style that just looks so cool, do you feel any similarities?
John: Well Charlie was always a Jazz aficionado. We were pretty much identical in what we were influenced by I think, and that comes through in the way we play. It has been said before. When I quit the band (in the ‘60’s) shortly before the whole thing fell apart and for a brief time I was replaced by a guy called Barry Jenkins, he’s a good drummer, a nice guy. But Chas went on record as saying “When Johnny left the band the swing went out of it. We just became another Rock band.” I loved that. (laughs)
Mark: Do you think one day you might ever consider retirement, and what would that look like for you?
John: Well Mark, I’m of an age now when I say to people I can only really think one year at a time because after that I don’t really know what is going to happen. But at the moment I’m still very fit and I’m still playing as well as I ever did as far as I can tell. So I think when my body gives up, that’s when I’ll give up You know? But until the I’m happy keeping on doing what I do now.
Mark: I’ll see you at the 70th then!
John: (laughs)
Mark: Are there any changes for the set? Any surprises this time?
John: Well we’ve recently got a new bass player attached to the band, a guy called Norm Hellum who is a bloody good player. We’re working on a new recording but that won’t be till after we get back home after the tour but we will have a live in Australia CD which we recorded live at The Gov in Adelaide, a great venue. So we’ll have that. Musically of course we have to play the hits, all those strong songs, but we’ll mix things up. Danny (singer/guitarist) as you know loves the music and he keeps ferreting about in the back catalogue and every now and the he’ll say “We haven’t done this one in ages” or “We’ve never done this one ever, come on let’s do it!” (laughs) So he keeps finding things in the archive to freshen up the cat and plus we’ve got a new bass player so playing a gig with a new man always makes you look at the arrangements again to see if you can freshen them up in a different way. So the same band but with a fresh twist to it, you know.
Mark: Fantastic and great that you’re recording at The Gov, I love that venue, it has a great room, lovely sound.
John: It is Mark, a great venue, one of our favourites.
Mark: Thank you so much John, you’re always so kind to us with your time. You have a great Christmas and a safe New Year and we will see you in 2024.
John: My pleasure Mark, all the best and nice talking to you again. And if you can get over to Adelaide we’ll catch up again.
Mark: Thanks John take care of yourself.
John: Thanks Mark, cheers.
