The Last Interview With DUANE ALLMAN

When Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident late in 1971, his Allman Brothers Band was poised on the verge of a tremendous commercial breakthrough. Their third album, Live At The Fillmore East, had just been certified gold and was the first time they’d reached that plateau. In addition, the band’s practice of non-stop touring was finally beginning to pay off; their audiences seemed to grow larger and more enthusiastic with each successive show.

Following Duane’s death, the Allman Brothers Band made that breakthrough, and now stand as perhaps the premier American music band. We present this interview with Duane Allman, the man who formed and guided the Allman Brothers Band, because it will hopefully afford a basic perspective on the band’s much-deserved success of the past two years. It’s not so very different from the scores of interviews he gave in the course of his career but, recorded August 1, 1971 (when he was in New York for some sessions with Herbie Mann), it was the last interview Duane Allman ever gave. — B.E.

Are you pleased with the Herbie Mann sessions?

Hell, yeah. Herbie Mann’s a really talented guy. I felt real good when he asked me to play with him. These sessions are goin’ good because everybody’s free. Any session is as creative as you make it. You’ve got to feel free to. introduce your own ideas. Like, when I worked on the Wilson Pickett sessions in Muscle Shoals, I suggested he cut “Hey Jude.” It ended up that he used my arrangement and it worked out just fine. Everybody was happy.

You worked for Rick Hall in Muscle Shoals for quite awhile. Were those sessions freer than, say, L.A. sessions you did?

Yeah, they probably were. But that was really more because of the ^artists we worked with,. We did mostly R&B stuff and those cats were real loose. They just wanted everybody on the session to play their ass off; they never told you what to play. I guess they did tell you what not to play sometimes.

Seems like Bill Graham never told you what not to play. In fact, he gave the Allman Brothers more freedom than any other band, he booked, didn *t he? Yeah. Bill loved us. But we loved him just as much. I think Bill Graham is the best; he’s number one with me. I have more respect for that guy than just about anyone. Folks are always bitching about the way he treats them. I’ll tell you somethin’. He treats a band exactly the way the band treats him. You show up on time;1 you do a professional sound check; you don’t hassle him for bread — man, he’ll treat you like a prince. That’s the way he treats us and that’s the way we treat him. Anybody don’t respect Bill Graham got their head messed around.

When Graham closed the Fillmores, everyone said that rock was dead. What do you think?

Rock has never died and it ain’t never gonna die. This sayin’ it’s dead is nothin’ new. People been saying that since it started. And I’ll tell ya: as long as there’s someplace to go to see rock and someone who wants to go there, I’ll be there to play'it for them.

Don’t you think you might someday get tired of it?

Hell, no. Music’s what keeps me together. It’s the thing that keeps us all goin’ I’d never stop playin’. God, I got no idea what I’d do if 1 wasn’t playin’. I don’t know what would happen.

What do you think of the Live at the Fillmore East album?

I dig the shit out of it. The whole band does. I’m really proud of it. It’s as close as we’ve been able to come to a real portrayal of what we are. It just really sounds like the Brothers.

Now that the album’s out, what’s next for the Allman Brothers?

Well, we’re headin’ for Europe soon, I guess. London, Paris, Amsterdam. We just wanted to go over there and take a look. We sold some albums over there I know, but I don’t know how successful we’ll be.

Well, you ’re finally seeing some success here, probably due to a sound that’s all your own. Would you say there have been any specific influences on either you or the band as a whole?

I don’t know how much either musicians have influenced the sound of the band, but probably not very much. I think the guys in the band have influenced each other a lot. I know I have been influenced by other cats. Miles Davis, Roland Kirk, Muddy Waters, B.B. King. Those cats had a lot of influence on my music and on a lot of the music I know. J. Geils is our favorite band, but I can’t say that they’ve influenced us; they’re into a different thing from us.

Your music doesn’t sound like those people you’ve named at all.

Yeah, thanks. It shouldn’t. Being influenced shouldn’t mean soundin’ like or copying anyone else. You gotta strive to play a pure form of music; a kind of music that’s honest to yourself. If you got that attitude and feelin’ about what you play, you’ll be a lot better off. That’s the kind of attitude that makes a great performing band. Ya know, a great record is easy to make. I ain’t impressed by great records. But a great performance ain’t so easy. That’s why we like J. Geils so much; they know how to perform their stuff; they don’t need no studio gimmicks.

Are there any other musicians around now that the band especially likes?

Ya know, when you’re workin’ this hard, you don’t get much time to listen. You don’t really get much time to think about it, much less worry about it. I love Cat Stevens, ’though. I feel a lot of affinity for him. We got a lot of mutual friends. In fact, I just sent him a note through a friend tellin’ him I wanted to play on his next record. I don’t know if he ever got it.

Other bands often name yours as their favorite. You’ve been working up to that for a long time. How has the band managed to stay together without the usual ego hassles that destroy so much music? These six guys have always worked for one sound, one direction. But everyone plays like he wants to play. He just keeps that goal in mind. If you know what you can do and you’re satisfied in your heart that you’re doin’ it, you ain’t gonna have no problems.

You speak as though the band has no real leader. Is that true?

Not really. When we need a leader, I’m it. Everybody understands that. It’s just that we don’t usually need a leader because we all got that goal, that attitude I told you about. But there is one thing. You were talkin’ about bands breakin’ up. Drugs is one thing that will do it.and do it quick. I don’t allow no shootin’ up in this band. One time, I walked into the bathroom and saw a set of works in one of the roadie’s shaving kits. I went and I grabbed him; I took those works and smashed ’em under my heel. And I told him, “If I ever see that shit again, man, you’re out of a job.” And that goes for anyone in the band. I ain’t puttin’ up with none of that shit. I’m not gonna sit back and watch this whole thing go down the tubes. I don’t hold drugs against.no one; I just ain’t havin’ no one shootin’ up in this band.

When someone mentions the Allman Brothers, people always think of Duane first. Does that bother you?

Folks that ain’t musicians can’t be expected to understand what goes into putting one sound out. They may think it’s my guitar that’s doin it. It ain’t, but it don’t bother me that folks think that ’cause there’s nothing I can do about it.

Do you think other guitar players are jealous of you?

I know they are. There’s all these guitar banditos out there tryin’ to outshoot me. I know I’ve got my stuff together, so I see no sense in trying to fight against them. I’m with the other guitarists, not against them. I know there’s always gonna be somebody better anyway, so why fight that?

Do you think the other Allman Brothers ever get jealous of the attention directed toward you?

Hell, no. There’s no petty shit in this band. We are allies, working together. There’s a mutual love we share. We was hungry together for a long time. We may be makin’ plenty of bread now, but it doji’t really make that much difference to anybody.

That shows in the way the band dresses at concerts.

Right. A cat comes to my band to pick, not to show off his fancy clothes. We want to share our music with the audience. But, there ain’t no stage show. This ain’t no ballet. We want people to listen with their eyes closed, to just let the music come inside them and forget their worldly cares.

It sounds like you’re saying that there’s no reason to go and see the band.

There ain’t. There’s nothin’ to see. Nobody gonna get dressed up real fine to satisfy someone’s vicarious need to be a rock star. We just want to make music that makes the people feel it’s easier to go on than they did before they heard us.

So far, you’ve done, very little writing. Do you plan to do more?

My writing’s in the formative Stages right now. I’ve been writin’ some music but no words. I gotta feelin’ it’s all been said already.

By whom?

Dylan, Jimmy Webb, Stills, those three mostly.

What about Neil Young?

I don’t much like that cat’s stuff, especially his guitar playin’. He should stick to rhythm work. Maybe it’s the guitar playin’ that makes me not like the songs. But, seems like he just uses the guitar for a vehicle for his songs. It’s just a craft. For me, it’s an art.

What advice would you give a guitarist trying to make it today?

I’d tell him to remember that you can’t never play just like anyone else so you ought not to try. You gotta utilize what’s inside you to create what you want to create. You gotta sort yourself out and sort the music you hear out. Then find something to hang your notes on. You hang your notes on your attitude and on yourself. If itSgdon’t come out pure, it don’t come out good. I never took no lessons, but I got that attitude.