INTERVIEW: MITCH RYDER
A few dsys ago, I was up in Ann Arbor to see Jeep Holland of A2. He was not in, so I went to see some friends—the Rationals. Whom should I find there but Mitch Ryder. I asked if he minded being interviewed. He didn’t, so we got into a rap, and here it is, I asked him where he’s been lately, and found that they’ve been doing weird gigs up in northern Canada.
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INTERVIEW: MITCH RYDER
Mick Jaggers
A few dsys ago, I was up in Ann Arbor to see Jeep Holland of A2. He was not in, so I went to see some friends—the Rationals. Whom should I find there but Mitch Ryder. I asked if he minded being interviewed. He didn’t, so we got into a rap, and here it is, I asked him where he’s been lately, and found that they’ve been doing weird gigs up in northern Canada. He told me about chicks coming up to the car waving hockey sticks—“It seems everyone up there wants to be a Maple Leaf or something.”
“When we went to Europe and England, our exchange group was the Pink Floyd. When we landed, we found we couldn’t play for some reason or other. We also got sidetracked to Spain' and Portugal.” They played a weird gig in Portugal—a stuffed shirt party where they wanted to cover the amps with curtains so you couldn’t see them. “But once they got spaced, they were like real people—trying to ball chicks on the floor, etc. Salvatore. Dali tried to rape some chick with his mustache.” While they were in Paris, he told me, they saw the Vietnamese contingent for the peace talks.
I asked why nothing had been heard of them lately , and found that theyVe been having contract hassles and producer hassles. It seems that “In a moment of passion (the producer) said in his own way, he was going to kill us. We have three albums that may never be released. I’m hot saying he’s a faggot or saying he’s weird in the studio, but that’s all.”
It seems Atcd is interested in them, if they can get off Dynavoice . We had a. jap about good and bad record 'Companies, Jeff Beck’s new group, guitarists, the MC-5, and the Beatles opening a lot of doors and starting something that they don’t understand any longer. He said he liked “Motor City’s Burning” because he himself was into a rhythm and blues thing, liked Big Pink (Music From), The Band, and liked Steve Winwood, and Ray Charles.
I asked what he thought of Dave Brubeck—“I don’t”; Teagarden and Vanwinkle—“Nice”, We both agreed Larry Benjamin is a good cat. We rapped about busts—did you know the Buckinghams got busted, and so did the Strawberry Alarm Clock? We talked about the new group—there’s been a personnel change and they’ve dropped the horn section because “We got stuck in a Wayne Cochran thing.” If they get on Atco, the new name might be Spirit Feel—look for it. Mitch Ryder has changed a lot—they’re really good. Go see them if you get the chance—for a change, they really sound great.
