{"id":3340,"date":"2011-08-10T01:21:22","date_gmt":"2011-08-10T08:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3340"},"modified":"2011-08-10T01:23:12","modified_gmt":"2011-08-10T08:23:12","slug":"peter-frampton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/peter-frampton\/","title":{"rendered":"PETER FRAMPTON"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

PETER FRAMPTON<\/h1>\n

A charismatic guitar superstar comes alive once again<\/strong><\/h2>\n

for an unforgettable moment in the mid- to late-1970s, no artist was more ubiquitous than singer and guitar virtuoso Peter Frampton. His 1976 breakthrough solo album, Frampton Comes Alive!<\/em>, sold six million copies and elevated him to rock superstardom. It also raised expectations that no one could have met. \u201cIt was a blessing and a curse,\u201d he acknowledges. Beginning with an ill-advised co-starring role in the disastrous 1978 film interpretation of the Beatles\u2019 Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/em>, Frampton\u2019s star began to fade.<\/p>\n

Rather than surrender to self-pity or self-destruction, the Kent, England, native (he became a U.S. citizen in 2004) quietly put his head down and began rebuilding his career\u2014releasing solidly well-received new studio music while reliably rocking crowds, both on his own and as sideman to friends like Ringo Starr and David Bowie. \u201cI think I rise to the occasion live,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s probably the best arena for me\u2014excuse the pun.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the past decade he has enjoyed an artistic renaissance, releasing some of the most substantial music of a career that stretches back to his work with beloved British rock bands the Herd and Humble Pie in the 1960s. His comeback was sealed in 2007 when he won his first Grammy for the instrumental Fingerprints<\/em>\u2014a reminder that long before he was a pop idol, Peter Frampton was a prodigiously skilled guitarist. Now he returns with Thank You Mr. Churchill<\/em>, the most intimate and topical album of his career. From a suburb outside Cincinnati where he lives with his family\u2014and where he crafted much of the new album in his kitchen\u2014Frampton spoke candidly about his rocket ride to fame and his life and\u00a0music today.<\/p>\n

Thank You Mr. Churchill<\/em> is a very autobiographical record. Why make an album like that now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s the encroaching years (laughs<\/em>). Five days before the [April 27] release of the album I will be 60. That definitely has made me think about where I came from. Also the fact that I\u2019m working on my eighth year of sobriety. I feel like I have the inner fire of the 19-year-old in Humble Pie, but I have the wisdom that I\u2019ve gained along the way.<\/p>\n

One song on the album, \u201cVaudeville Nanna and the Banjolele,\u201d is about your first instrument.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a banjo-shaped ukulele. It was up in my grandmother\u2019s attic. I went up there when I was 7 to get some suitcases down and I saw it. My dad got it out and showed me a couple of songs like \u201cTom Dooley\u201d and \u201cMichael, Row the Boat Ashore,\u201d and that was it for me.<\/p>\n

What was it like becoming a rock idol nearly overnight?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was pretty cool! But on the other hand it plays havoc with any credibility as a musician. There are so many players who are much better than me, but I do think the fame overshadowed my guitar playing. Look, no matter what I do, Frampton Comes Alive!<\/em> is going to be the first thing that people say when I leave this planet: \u201cknown for\u2026\u201d I know that, and if there\u2019s ever a record album that I would want to be remembered for, I\u2019m thrilled it\u2019s that one, because it\u2019s a\u00a0great record.<\/p>\n

Why do you think that album resonated with record buyers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I still don\u2019t know. I have no idea except for the fact that things were building to a pitch. It was the best of six years of material, so it really was the best-of for people who had never heard me. It was just loaded with my favorites, and virtually the whole album became hits.<\/p>\n

How did you keep your head through all that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I definitely was affected intensely by the fame. I had my dabbles with all sorts of illicit substances and alcohol. After going through the atomic reaction to Frampton Comes Alive!<\/em>, an explosion of some enormity, I\u2019m very lucky that I\u2019m still as grounded as I am. My dear friend [writer and movie director] Cameron Crowe said, \u201cIt was like he was strapped to the nose cone of a rocket and broke through the ceiling of the sky, and when the rocket came to rest, he got off, looked around and he said, \u2018There\u2019s nobody else here.\u2019\u201d It\u2019s great but it can be devastatingly lonely. It\u2019s one thing to look at someone go through something like that, and it\u2019s another thing to be that person.<\/p>\n

Look at poor Michael Jackson. I can only compare us on one level and that\u2019s some\u00a0place that nobody\u2019s ever been to before. I\u00a0just preceded him on that. I was 25 when that album was recorded. My son Julian is 21 and he\u2019s still a kid. It\u2019s unbelievable that I was that age and went through that.<\/p>\n

Is there anything you would have done differently during that period? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t wear the satin pants! (laughs<\/em>) I know everyone was wearing them, but I wore them much too long!<\/p>\n

Why did you decide to become an American citizen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve reaped the benefits of the U.S. for so long, and it\u2019s my home. Sept. 11 registered with the whole world, but it made me want to become more aware of what was going on. I think it was great to see how we all pulled together for a very short period of time, but then went back to being just as greedy and a me-me-me society. That bothered me.<\/p>\n

How did it feel to win a Grammy <\/strong>at last?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve sort of started all over again in my mind and gone back to the guitar and\u00a0writing for myself. So receiving an award\u00a0for my guitar playing\u2014as opposed to a live record as a pop star\u2014was very gratifying.<\/p>\n

Do you have a large guitar collection?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not as many as you\u2019d think. I only have multiples of the ones I use on stage. I have a vintage Fender Jaguar, two vintage [Gibson] SGs, one of which I used in Humble Pie, and one vintage Les Paul Jr. \u201958. I also have a 1959 Gibson Jazz Box. I really choose carefully. When I\u2019m on the road I\u2019ve got three acoustics and three of the electric Peter Frampton model Gibsons. I probably buy more amplifiers than guitars.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve said that you\u2019re happier now than you\u2019ve ever been. Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think because the pressure is gone, I know myself much better. I\u2019m more successful\u2014not mercenarily, career-wise, but I feel like I\u2019m doing the right things in my life. My sobriety has really helped that. The last seven years have been a big wake-up for me and I\u2019m very thankful. I\u2019m definitely a survivor. I\u2019m still here and still doing what I love. Every day is a new day, and I\u2019m taking it as it comes and enjoying every moment of it.<\/p>\n

\u2013Jeff Tamarkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PETER FRAMPTON A charismatic guitar superstar comes alive once again for an unforgettable moment in the mid- to late-1970s, no artist was more ubiquitous than singer and guitar virtuoso Peter Frampton. His 1976 breakthrough solo album, Frampton Comes Alive!, sold six million copies and elevated him to rock superstardom. It also raised expectations that no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[49,2375,970],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3340"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3345,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3340\/revisions\/3345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}