Being offered the chance to talk to someone who was a member of one of the biggest bands in the UK in the early 70's was something I couldn't pass by and, seeing as he is a fellow West Walian to boot and an absolutely charming guy, it was an absolute pleasure to hear first hand accounts from someone who's been there, done it and rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest names in the world of music. Just check out some of his distinctive and influential work on the early Mott The Hoople albums to get a flavour of his talent. Ladies and gentlemen I give you, Verden Allen.......

 
First things first, you've been playing some live dates, one supporting the Stranglers and one on Friday the 13th?

That's right. On Friday the 13th I'm playing the Night Owl in Cheltenham and the Stranglers one the week after.

 
You've got the solo album out at the moment?

Yes, that's right - 'My Masochistic Side'. I did it last year before the Mott The Hoople reunion. It was done in about three months but obviously I had to stop because the Mott The Hoople rehearsals came up.

 
I caught the first night at the Blake Theatre in Monmouth last year and must admit it was superb. The songs sounded fresh and it was a real highlight.

Well yeah, the first one is always a bit nervy because it could go either way but it was great. I think we held it together or I certainly felt good chord wise although people said it was really loud.

 
It's never too loud Verden, if it's too loud you're too old, ha ha!

The thing is we were a loud band. Mott The Hoople were always a loud rock band.

 
Did it take long for the reunion to come about?

Well yes I suppose it did take a few years to come together.
 

Who first mooted the idea of reforming the line up and playing some gigs?

Well I did. I sat in on a few gigs with Ian (Hunter); one was in Bilston another was The Point in Cardiff and Shepherds Bush Empire and the other was the Mick Jagger Centre. I didn't realise it was the 40th Anniversary to be honest. I just mentioned to Ian if we don't do it now it'll be too late. The next day he said, well if you sort out Pete and Buff, I'll have a word with Mick, but it took about 18 months after that.

 
So quite a run in then from the first talks.

After a bit of umming and ahhing, in the end we all wanted to do it and that was it really. There had been attempts by people to do it earlier but it never seemed right but last year it worked.

 
Have there been any talks about playing any other gigs with Mott The Hoople?

We did have a few nice gigs offered us this year like the High Voltage one that just took place - it was like sort of management problems which was silly and Ian rejected it so they put ZZ Top in on the bill. Ian went and done it then with Joe (Elliot).

 
I was just going to say Ian got up with the Down N Outz.

Silly really for what we were offered as Mott The Hoople but he did it and....oh well. We were also offered the Isle Of Wight festival and I think Glastonbury which would have been great as well as a festival in Kent with Bob Dylan and we all decided to do it and then management came in and we had two parties in conflict. Ian brought in his management and that was that as it was Ian in the end who didn't want to do it which is silly really because it would have been great to play with Dylan, sort of full circle and going right back to the beginning.

 
Did you find it difficult going back to something that was 40 years old both musically and with the personnel involved?

No, it was easy enough to be honest, no problem at all. The only problem I had was carting that Hammond around and using the old Lesley but we got one in the end. But that was the difficulty for me as all the new stuff is wired differently and my one is illegal now because it has six pins on it unlike all the new stuff but we got there in the end. Having used mine for 40 odd years and never having a problem with it I wasn't about to start changing it, you know. We began in Usk for about a month, the four of us before Ian got there. We were talking more than rehearsing to be honest, and then it moved onto Rockfield for a couple of weeks before going into the Blake and we were ready then for Ian to come in.

 
Ian's been playing Mott songs in his set since going solo so he was perhaps more ready than the rest of you?

No, to be fair a lot of the songs he hadn't done in his solo sets. Obviously tracks like 'All The Young Dudes', yes but 'Original Mixed-Up Kid' and 'The Moon Upstairs'....... but I suppose it's all pretty basic rock 'n' roll to be fair. But it has to come like second nature and by the end of those rehearsals we were there. To me it was all the early stuff from the band that was exciting. When we came to the hits at the end of the set I sort of felt.....you know, ha ha ha!!! It turned out great and there are some possibilities and I'm leaving it open, you know.
 

Were you surprised with the interest from the media and fans for a Mott The Hoople reunion?

Everybody enjoyed it and playing all the old rock 'n' roll stuff was great. The last show at the Apollo we actually did a DVD of which is sort of being decided on because the sound wasn't spot on but to me it sounds ok - it captured the moment, you know, and there is nothing else so I'd like it to come out. When we got to that last gig I was starting to really get into it and maybe had it gone on I think we were 30% better than the previous.
 

It's a shame it was only the two shows at The Blake and then the Hammersmith shows because it was such a good show I think it would have done really well?

Yeah, it would have been great to do some of the festivals, build it up and then one or two in the States would be nice.

 
Is that door still open then, playing the States? Was there interest?

Yes, I think there is interest there but it would be nice to build it up. With the management problems it's a bit all over the place.

 
Is that still the case with management then?

It is, yes.

 
Such a shame.....

It is ridiculous. It deprives so many and at our age we're not getting any younger. It's always the same sort of thing just like in the beginning. Unbelievable really.

 
Going back to the shows, you had Martin Chambers from The Pretenders sitting in for Buffin?

Yes, Martin is an old friend of mine. He played with me in The Cheeks before The Pretenders. Ariel Bender offered me a deal and Chrissie Hynde offered them The Pretenders and that was that.

 
What about the present?

Well, I've got this band together now, Soft Ground, and Martin will come and guest on the track 'Soft Ground' which is nice and we'll see if he wants to do a bit more.

 
You played all the instruments on the album 'My Masochistic Self'

I did, yes. It started out like a little home recording. I do a few number from the album and there are some numbers on the album I'd love to do with a band which would work well on and sound good. I put some acoustic guitar on but I'm known for the Hammond but there's always something when recording you could put on.
 

Do you think that with today's technology and the fact anyone can have pro tools at home and turn their house into a studio recording is easier nowadays or totally different from, say, the 70's?

It's easier but when it comes to mixing you can do it as many times as you like which can become a bit of a drag - it's knowing when to stop. Even when mixing you find yourself going "if I put that in there" or whatever, you know? In a studio you know your timed, it's against the clock and you're perhaps not so much involved. I went for four days without sleep when finishing off this album. I had to post it off to the record company and when I got to the post office I didn't know where I was, ha ha. Next time if given the choice I think I'd like to do it with a band rather than on my own.

 
Would you involve any members of Mott on any future projects?

Not so much Mott The Hoople but I'd like Martin to play on it. I think he's off with The Pretenders until September, but after that. It was I who got in touch with him to do the Mott The Hoople gigs because, as you know, Buffin is suffering from Altzimers but I do think he could have done more at the gigs than he did. It's just that his drumming was fine but when a song finished he'd forget something but when we started he'd be ok. A great shame really but it's timing

 
You said the latest album was a home recording which you played all the instruments on -  did you produce and master it yourself then, everything?

Yes, I think I'm finally getting the hang of it getting better, but we always say that perhaps another few months I'd have added a few things and done things differently but we always say that, ha ha, always tinkering.
 

So you ready for these gigs then?

Yes, I think so. We'll have a knock through Wednesday and Thursday and we'll be as ready as we can be.

 
Who's in the band then, Verden?

Graham Masters is someone I've played with before, Rob Hankins on bass and the drummer is Tim Price from Hereford...and myself and that's it. 

 
Will these be the first dates for this line up?

Yes, the first one is sort of a warm up for the Stranglers gig and we've been rehearsing in a few places in Hereford to keep things fresh and I think we're just about ready now. Really looking forward to it.

 
Going back to Mott The Hoople briefly: When you left was it because your songs were being overlooked for, what you considered, inferior songs?

Um....in a way it was one of the reasons but there was a lot going on and I wasn't really aware of what was happening. Things would go on and I was being left in the dark a bit which was part of the reason as well, whereas this time being instrumental in a way to get it back together I was aware of what was going on but then saying that a bit of the old ways were creeping back into it, sort of history repeating, and I think Mick felt the same.

 
History repeating?

Well when 'All The Young Dudes' came in, which was a little late in the day really, Mick and Ian were writing and I'd just started and it was sort of "well, we've cracked it now" and I felt a bit overlooked really but I did feel that I had some numbers that would have really worked with the band at the time. A few I've done since and I'll do again. I suppose doing all those old numbers to us is maybe stale but a lot of people in the audience had never the chance to hear them so it's a balance really. To me doing the early numbers was what interested me most.

 
I think there were a lot of people at those shows who were too young to see the band first time around like myself and others in their early 40's. It was a real treat to see and hear those songs, both older album tracks and the hits.

That's right, it was part of the approach we had in our mind. You know, we obviously had to play some songs but there were some up for grabs which is the exciting part, for me anyway.

 
The most famous song is obviously 'All The Young Dudes' but didn't you turn down a few songs Bowie offered you?

Yes. Well, it was one of them we turned down. I remember going to a meeting with the main man in London and he said he had this song for us and played it on the acoustic guitar and we liked it straight away so we went in the studio and did it.

 
Did he play on it?

Not really, he did a guide vocal for it and I seem to remember keeping his backing vocals on the "oooohs", ha ha!

 
Did he get up and play it with you at all?

Never keyboards but he did play some sax on the album.

 
It seems these days there are releases all the time of alternative tracks and forgotten songs. Was there much material left on the cutting room floor?

Angel Air are doing stuff with us but there are only so many versions you can have and I think we've reached the end of that now. They did a CD of the Apollo shows that was available after the shows which sounded great and the DVD I mentioned but I'm not sure if or when that'll come out.

 
That would be such a shame if it never saw the light of day. I think fans would love to have a visual record of the reunion.

If it doesn't come out it'll be a crying shame. I've seen it and some of the boys in the band and we think it's fine. You know, it's of the moment and, as a document of that time, it's fine.

 
Have you heard any of Joe Elliott's Down N Outz work?

Yes, a lot of that is of the Mott songs and others. I think they did a good job on the studio work but a lot of it isn't really from my time in the band.

 
He's always championed the band though, to be fair to Mr Elliott.

Ha ha, everywhere you turn he's there ha ha! He's around more times than half the band ha ha ha! Enough said, only teasing.

 
So, to wrap this up, the solo album is available in all good record shops and some bad ones but what about iTunes etc etc?

I'm not sure about iTunes, not sure if the Mott The Hoople stuff is on there anymore but you should be able to pick it up from the internet.

Thanks for your time Verden and the best of luck for the shows and we'll hopefully see you playing with Mott The Hoople again in the near future.