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1 BRIAN KNIGHT's FORMER MANAGER REMEMBERS....
STEVE CARTER: “BRIAN KNIGHT WAS AN EXCELLENT SLIDE GUITARIST”
If the name Steve Carter (° 1962) rings a bell, it’s probably because you have a record by Alternative TV somewhere in your collection – one of the toughest and roughest punk bands at the time and still active. Guitarist Steve Carter is the owner of Lost Moments records, but for our article he is first and foremost the man who managed Brian Knights for eleven years, till Brian’s death actually, and who released three Brian Knight albums on his label. A testimonial
Q : Keys and Chords (K&C)
When slide guitarist and harmonica player Brian Knight rehearsed with the embryonic Stones, he had to compete with Brian Jones, equally a slide guitarist, and Mick Jagger who also played the harmonica. In other words: he didn’t stand a chance of ever becoming a Rolling Stone.
A : Steve Carter
It’s not that simple. Brian Jones certainly played the blues, but was equally interested in the sound of Chuck Berry whereas Brian Knight preferred the traditional blues sound. It was more a matter of musical direction.
K&C: How do you rate Brian Knight as a musician?
Carter: “When I knew him, he played the slide guitar a lot more than the harmonica. He was good at the harmonica, but he was excellent as a slide guitarist. He had this aggressive way of playing, almost like a rhythm guitarist, and he also played a lot of lead notes. That produced quite a ‘wall of sound’ I must say.
K&C: Was it like an attack?
Carter: “Well the word ‘attack’ describes it pretty well. It was aggressive, intens, attacking
K&C: Do you spot an evolution or development in his guitar work or would you say he stuck to a formula?
Carter: He certainly remained faithful to the traditional blues sound, he believed in the good cause called the blues, if you like. His way of playing hardly changed over the years, but he did adapt it somewhat for the modern audience, sending it more in a rock direction. But pop music was not his cup pf tea, he stayed true to his ideals. His latest record though (“1861”, issued just before his untimely death) does feature a few more personal songs. You could call that a progression, a style variation in the course of his evolution…”
K&C: Is there something like a typical Brian KNight band or Brian Knight concert?
Carter: In the early days, he used to play with “Blues by Six”, later he played solo or with a band to accompany him. He always recruited good musicians, but the line-up did change often. Musicians that were in the band on a more or less regular basis were Laurence Scott (keys), drummer Pick Withers (ex-Dire Straits), drummer Mick Avory (ex-Kinks), bass player Paul Martinez (Robert Plant) en guitarist Bob Taylor (e.g. Downliners Sect en Elmer Gantry Band). He knew many well-known musicians personally ; he loved playing with them and they loved playing with him. Ronnie Lane for instance, helped to launch the “Dark Horse” album and shared the stage with Brian on that occasion. Sometimes Brian would play solo or accompanied by Laurence Scott only in a pub, sometimes he would be asked to perform with a band at some important festival. At one time, he shared the stage with BB King. He always drew a fair moment of people.
K&C: How do you rate Brian’s role as a footnote to the Rolling Stones story? After all, it only lasted a number of weeks.
Carter: When I thanked the Record Collector journalist for having written a piece on Brian after his death, he said that Brian was irrevocably linked to the Stones story and the whole sixties scene. Music journalist Terry Rawlings rightly calls him an example for the Becks and Claptons who went to see Brian’s gigs in the beginning of the sixties? Many of his admirers became famous.
K&C: What kind of person was he?
Carter: He was a friendly person who worked hard and was very passionate about his music. On stage he was the front man, he decided the musical direction and others had to follow it. He had his moods, but who hasn’t? For me, he was a friendly person ands all of us wanted the best for him. He was a good musician and a good friend. We still miss him”.
Interview by Eddy Bonte for www.keysandchords.com
Steve Carter can be reached via lost.moment@btinternet.com
© Eddy Bonte
2 BRIAN KNIGHT DISCOGRAPHY
LP / CD
Hard Travellin’
LP, Black Lion, 1976, geen cd-heruitgave bekend
A Dark Horse
LP, PVK, 1980 (ook verschenen als “Peter Green and the Usual Suspects”)
CD, Citadel Records, 1998
Good Time Down The Road
LP, PRT, 1988
CD, Castle, CMRCD 657, 2003,
Boni: de vier nummers van het Alexis Korner Memorial Concert.
Blue-Eyed Slide
LP, Lost Moment records, LMLP 022, 1992
CD, Lost Moment Records, LMCD 022, 1992
(opgelet: de mix van sommige nummers is verschillend op LP en CD)
File under Blues
CD, Lost Moment Records, CDE CE3,1993
1861 (as Brian Knight’s Raw Blues Band)
CD, Lost Moment Records, BCD 002, 2001
V.A.: Alexis Korner Memorial Concert, (vier nummers van Brian Knight met Toni Vines: Honey Bee (vol. 1); K.C. Moan (vol. 2); Hard Travellin’, Meet Me At the Bottom (vol. 3); CD; de drie volumes op Indigo Records IGOCD 2050, 2051 en 2052, 1996.
V.A.: Roll and Tumble Blues: A History of Slide Guitar: Brian Knight (met Toni Vines) is op deze 3-cd vertegenwoordigd met “Meet Me in the Bottom” van de Korneconcerten, cf. supra; 3cd-box set, Indigo, IGOTCD2548, 2004.
Lauren Auerbach & Bert Jansch: After the long night / Playing the game: Brian knight speelt harmonica op “Weeping Willow Blues”; Christabel Records CDLA 001, 1986; Castle Records, CMRCD168, 2001.
DVD
Brian Knight zou voorkomen op een dvd met referenties: UK, 2003, wellicht een optreden in de 100 Club met Ronnie Wood en Charlie Watts.
SESSIONS & CONCERTS
Ronnie Lane's band
Brian speelde live in de groep van Ronnie Lane, juli 1980 in Londen
Wilfried Woigk
In de periode dat Mick Avory voor hem drumde, trad Brian Knight in Duitsland op met ene Wilfried Woigk (°1941), een concertorganisator en muzikant die in het Oost-Duitsland van de jaren zeventig de bluesgoep Blues-Vital oprichtte. Foto’s met Knight zijn te zien op www.eastsidepromotion.de
Brian Knight Band
Als “The Brian Knight Band”, trad Knight in februari 1989 op in de Station Tavern (London) en op 20 februari 1998 in de Troubadour Coffee House (London) > www.fridhammar.com
Real Feel
Volgens de website van Damien McCabe, die meespeelt op Brian Knights laatste cd, “1861”, zou Brian deel hebben uitgemaakt van McCabe’s groep Real Feel, opgericht in 1995. Andere leden waren Mick Avory (drums, die eveneens bij Brian speelde, o.m. op “1861”) en John Kaethner (bas) > www.damienmccabe.com
Brian Knight’s Raw Blues Band
“Raw Blues Band” is de naam van de begeleidingsgroep met wie Brian Knight in 1993 zijn laatste plaat opnam, “1861”. De studiobezetting vermeldt Mick Avory (drums), Rick Brown (bas) en Damien McCabe (gtr). Onder diezelfde benaming traden echter minstens twee verschillende live-bands aan: (1) Bob Taylor (lead gtr), Paul Martinez (bas), Laurence Scott (piano) en Mick Avory (drums); (2) Bob Taylor (lead gtr), Paul Martinez (bas) en Pick Withers (drums).
About Brian Knight
Op de “Brian Jones Fan Club cd” vertelt Paul Jones (die in april 1962 kort met Brian Jones speelde) over de begindagen van de Rolling Stones, incl. de herinneringen van Brian Knight. Info op www.brianjonesfanclub.com
John Pelgrim: rouwbericht in The Guardian van 6 december 2001, www.theguardian.co.uk .
Graham Vickery: “Brian Knight, Blues Survivor”, British Blues Review, no. 3 August 1988.