{"id":35920,"date":"2018-10-16T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-15T20:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=35920"},"modified":"2018-10-13T15:28:36","modified_gmt":"2018-10-13T04:28:36","slug":"john-steel-of-the-animals-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2018\/10\/john-steel-of-the-animals-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"John Steel of The Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI\u2019ve got to say this quite honestly, everything we\u2019ve done I\u2019ve thought there\u2019s nothing wrong with that, I still love to do it, I still love playing these songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Release: THE ANIMALS are one of the most influential and admired bands to emerge from the British Invasion. THE ANIMALS will return to Australian stages this November, bringing with them more than 50 years of iconic rhythm and blues rock. Founding member and drummer John Steel will be joined by Mick Gallagher, the bands original keyboardist, Danny Handley on guitar and vocals and Roberto Ruiz on bass and vocals, as they perform all the classic hits including We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, ranked #223 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time list, international fan-favourite Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood and Boom Boom, a stand out feature on the soundtrack from James Bond’s Skyfall. Over the course of their critically acclaimed career, The Animals celebrated 9 top 50 hits on the Australian charts, reaching #2 with their timeless classic ‘The House Of The Rising Sun’. The single, which featured on the groups Hall Of Fame-inducted debut album, topped the charts in the US, Canada and UK.<\/p>\n

At home in Northumberland we gave John Steel of The Animals a call to talk about the return of The Animals to Australia, their fifty year catalogue, the possibility of new music, being around with some of the biggest bands in the world, and more\u2026<\/p>\n

We\u2019re of course here because you\u2019re heading back to Australia, and with a catalogue spanning over fifty years is it tough putting a set list together for shows that aren\u2019t around four hours long?<\/strong>
\nFour hours? *laughs* I wish *laughs* We do around ninety minutes which is a fair old set, and we pack it out, we don\u2019t sort of stand around talking all the time so we get plenty of numbers in but yeah it\u2019s quite good doing a set because we obviously have to play the big hits but we\u2019ve got a nice catalogue of good stuff that we kind of circulate around at you know and keep the thing fresh. It\u2019s not a big problem putting a set together.<\/p>\n

Is it hard choosing the songs out of such a large catalogue though?<\/strong>
\nWell Danny our front man is a great singer and a hell of a guitarist but he\u2019s also a good judge of audiences and we get kind of different audiences so he has a good nose for putting songs in and leaving songs out that suit the kind of crowd we\u2019ve got you know.<\/p>\n

Over half a century have you seen your audiences become generational as your fans grow up with you and introduce their children to your music?<\/strong>
\nOh very much so, yeah, obviously we get the older fans from way back but we get a lot of young people, actually we get the sons and daughters of the people who were our fans *laughs* and then we get the next generation then as well you know *laughs* it\u2019s a really nice mix. I think one of the strengths of The Animals was the repertoire, the catalogue is strong and still stands up so well, there\u2019s some really, really good songs and they kind of have a resonance with any generation because \u2018We\u2019ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place\u2019, \u2018It\u2019s My Life\u2019, \u2018Don\u2019t Let Me Be Misunderstood\u2019 *laughs* they\u2019re all about they can reach any generation because the lyrics can mean something to everybody.<\/p>\n

I know you guys didn\u2019t write it but one of the first songs I learned on guitar over thirty years ago was your version of \u2018The House Of The Rising Sun\u2019 and it\u2019s stuck with me to this day and I still love it.<\/strong>
\nYeah that\u2019s a story that I\u2019ve heard so many times, it\u2019s just one of those things. The number of times some young guy comes up and says the first song I ever learned on the guitar was \u2018The House Of The Rising Sun\u2019 there must be millions out there *laughs*. It\u2019s really something to be proud of I think that that song means so much to so many people.<\/p>\n

Do you have a favourite memory from one of your previous Australian tours you can share with us?<\/strong>
\nWe just enjoy playing in Australia, everywhere we go everybody\u2019s really friendly to us and the food\u2019s great, the wine\u2019s great, the climate\u2019s really nice for us *laughs* especially when we get over there in November, and it\u2019s winter coming on here.<\/p>\n

Has there ever been discussion about new music from The Animals?<\/strong>
\nNew music, yeah sort of\u2026 we\u2019ve done a few things over the years but I don\u2019t know, we make CD\u2019s and sell them at gigs and things and people look through them and they always go for the ones that have got \u2018House Of The Rising Sun\u2019 or \u2018We\u2019ve Got To Get Out Of This Place\u2019 on them and it just seems like all the crowds whatever generation want to hear what we did back in the 60\u2019s. The Animals we were never a song writing band in any serious sense not like The Beatles or The Stones or The Kinks, so we always did good cover versions of other people\u2019s songs, the biggest hits were all covers, so we\u2019ve never had this need to be producing new material all the time so it\u2019s not a problem I worry about I\u2019m quite happy with the stuff we do.<\/p>\n

Hang on, you just made me think, you would\u2019ve been kicking around with The Beatles and The Stones back in the day\u2026<\/strong>
\nOh yeah sure, I mean we all did, there was a lot of TV shows and radio shows in the UK at the time and every time you had a single out you\u2019d be in the same studio and bump into The Beatles, The Stones, Spencer David Band, everybody was plugging their latest single. There was a big circle of clubs in London at the time which almost exclusively catered to rock bands so any night of the week you could finish a gig out of town drive back into London and head into a club at two o\u2019clock in the morning and see masses of different guys from the bands. I remember one night we took an American PR man from our label in The States into The Scotch of St James club and he just looked around and there\u2019s like The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks all mingling together talking and drinking and having a good time and he looked and said *laughs* he said to me \u201cyou know if this club was in the middle of New York City the kids would be tearing at it brick by brick to get in here\u201d *laughs* he just couldn\u2019t believe it, it was just one of the things we had then.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve had an amazing career so far, but is there one thing you haven\u2019t had the opportunity to do, or a place you haven\u2019t toured that you still want to?<\/strong>
\nHmm\u2026 never been out in space *laughs* really I\u2019m a bit stumped with that one, I really can\u2019t bring anything to mind that I desperately want to do before I shuffle off the mortal coil, I\u2019ve had a very pleasant life and I feel very lucky to do what I do, I really just like getting out on the road and having a good time with the band because on the road with a\u00a0 band the band does good, we get on well together, we get up on stage we do a good show and we come off feeling good and what could be better than that?<\/p>\n

Over time it\u2019s easy to say what\u2019s changed but what would you say is the one thing that\u2019s stayed the same in your time in The Animals?
\n<\/strong>The material I think, the fortunate choice we had in the music we recorded it\u2019s really stood up well, really well,\u00a0 the songs we played I call the grown up songs like I say \u2018We\u2019ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place\u2019 and \u2018It\u2019s My Life\u2019 they all have a dark edge to them and there\u2019s nothing that we play that I think I wish we hadn\u2019t done that or there\u2019s nothing I feel embarrassed about when I hear it because I\u2019ve got to say this quite honestly, everything we\u2019ve done I\u2019ve thought there\u2019s nothing wrong with that, I still love to do it, I still love playing these songs.<\/p>\n

Music and the industry is a much, much different place than it was when you started making music, so what do you see as the best change and the worst change to happen to music you\u2019ve witnessed over the years?<\/strong>
\nI think the best change in some ways is\u00a0 that it\u2019s a tough game to break big in in some respect, for us back then it was easy once The Beatles\u2026 when we started out we were just fans and we were just playing stuff we liked and it was mostly American stuff, America ruled the charts and British hits were all just covers of American hits, but all of a sudden namely by The Beatles the whole thing was reversed around and suddenly the British bands were playing stuff and touring America and blowing the crowds away and that was a great time for us, and everybody want to sign a group up, the record companies were falling over themselves to sign up bands once The Beatles had shown everybody the way. So then it was kind of easy. Nowadays it\u2019s a lot more difficult, there\u2019s so many streams of music, but at the same time a young guy or girl can get some technical equipment, very sophisticated equipment in a bedroom and knock out an album, if it\u2019s good music they\u2019ve got a chance and they don\u2019t have to go via the record companies anymore they can do it streaming and all on the internet now, so if they\u2019ve got the right knowhow and the right savvy and some good songs, you\u2019ve gotta have the good music haven\u2019t you *laughs* but they\u2019ve got more ways of getting it out there and like I say they don\u2019t have to go to the record companies and say please can you make me a star *laughs*.<\/p>\n

Lastly, let\u2019s look ahead to the future, so finish this sentence for us, in 2019 The Animals will\u2026<\/strong>
\nStill be going I hope *laughs* the thing is, Troy I\u2019m 77 now and I can only look one year or so ahead at a time, you know touching my head here I\u2019m saying touch wood I feel great, I\u2019m fit and I can still do the thing, I play well. When I can\u2019t do it to my own satisfaction I\u2019ll give it up, but until that time come I\u2019ll just keep on playing but I can only look a year ahead at a time, so in 2019 I hope I\u2019m still doing it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Animals Australian Tour Dates:
\nOctober \/ November 2018<\/strong>
\nWednesday\u00a031st\u00a0\u2013 Wollongong \u2013 Centro CBD
\nThursday 1st\u00a0\u2013 Canberra \u2013 Southern Cross Club
\nFriday 2nd\u00a0\u2013 Miranda \u2013 Miranda Hotel
\nSaturday 3rd\u00a0\u2013 Revesby \u2013 Revesby Workers
\nSunday 4th\u00a0\u2013 Sydney \u2013 Factory Theatre
\nWednesday 7th\u00a0\u2013 Rozelle \u2013 The Bridge Hotel
\nThursday 8th\u00a0\u2013 Adelaide \u2013 The Gov
\nFriday 9th\u00a0\u2013 Adelaide \u2013 The Gov
\nSaturday 10th\u00a0\u2013 Melbourne \u2013 Memo Music Hall
\nSunday 11th\u00a0\u2013 Melbourne \u2013 Corner Hotel (Matinee)
\nTuesday 13th\u00a0\u2013 Shoalbay – Shoalbay Country Club
\nThursday 15th\u00a0\u2013 Sawtell \u2013 Sawtell RSL
\nFriday 16th\u00a0\u2013 Gold Coast \u2013 Twin Towns
\nSaturday 17th\u00a0\u2013 Brisbane \u2013 Hamilton Hotel<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tickets f<\/strong>rom:\u00a0<\/strong>https:\/\/metropolistouring.com\/tours\/the-animals-2018\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

From: <\/strong>London, England<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong>\u00a0 John Steel \u2013 Drums, Mick Gallagher – Keyboards, Danny Handley \u2013 Guitar \/ Vocals, Roberto Ruiz \u2013 Bass \/ Vocals<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> \u00a0http:\/\/www.theanimalswebsite.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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