Chords for John Farnham - Little River Band Interview 1983 Glenn Wheatley

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[D] _ [G] _ [C] _ _ _ _ The father of sickness, _ the man who_ _ _
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_ Well, uh_ _ _
This is all sort of, uh_
It was all very exciting for us all in here.
I hope that the thing has reached through to you guys as well, you know?
Uh, well, it's a little nervous-racking for us, I'm afraid.
What were the things that you had to face up to here?
How did it affect the band?
You know, going with a new lead singer and, uh_
Especially someone of John's stature, I think,
because he is such an individualist,
but he seems to have melded in there quite well.
Well, I guess the nervous part about it for all of us, Don,
is the fact that we don't know yet.
I mean, this is officially our first engagement
since John has joined the band.
We've basically been in the studio.
And time will tell.
We're all very confident, of course.
We feel that it's going to work.
But no matter what the band does at the moment now,
I think that they're going to be coming under the biggest microscope in the world
because _ there's a lot of attention being put onto the thing.
And there's a lot of pressure on the guys as well now
to really go out and deliver with this whole thing.
I would think so.
What about your test areas?
You must have certain areas, you as a person.
I mean, you as the person that runs the business
and has some say in creative control,
or I would say a lot of say in the creative control.
Where's your test market?
What do you do?
Well, um_
The situation, I mean, someone has to be in control.
I mean, someone has to be the pivot point.
And we have had a great working relationship over the years.
And it's going to be a testing time now for the rest of the year.
We go out on the road for five weeks.
And we have to pull all that together.
And I have to make sure that's going to run smoothly.
You're going to be in Melbourne and Sydney and Brisbane
and then back to Melbourne and Sydney again.
That's right.
That's starting this Monday.
So this is the first part of the Australian tour.
The next thing, of course, is America.
We're actually going over to America for two weeks
or maybe three weeks at the most this year.
It's the shortest tour we've ever done.
The problem we've got is that we're running into the winter.
And we really don't like touring in America in the wintertime.
It's quite dangerous, actually, with all the road travel that we have to do.
I think we'd better make something clear here while we're at it.
The single is coming out tomorrow.
The album doesn't come out until early next year, right?
Yes, that's right.
We've delayed the album
because we want to be able to tour America to back it up.
And because we won't be able to go over there until the spring,
we've decided to put it out early in the new year.
We are, however, going to L.A. in November.
We've got three shows at the Universal Amphitheatre that we've already sold out.
So we're going to use that.
It's the Universal Studios Amphitheatre.
That's right.
That's a new one now.
They've just redone that whole thing.
What does it hold, about the_
About 7,000 people.
And someone_
They were mentioning about_
Are you close to being sold out for that now?
Three shows, yes.
Sold out?
Uh-huh.
You're going to work in America.
I can't believe it.
I really can't.
_ It's inconceivable to me.
Well, you went over there.
You remember when you went over and you stayed there.
And I know that_
I'm not going over to work.
It's not a holiday.
I know. Go away.
But nobody knew what you did over there.
When I came back and there were people that you had met
and I showed them tapes of him singing,
their mouths fell open.
They didn't believe it.
They said, that quiet guy walking around here,
he was the one that's doing all of that.
I think a couple of them thought I was a bad comedian.
Yeah. You know?
_ _ _ _ Thanks, guys.
A couple think so here, too.
_ _ Well, and so what about this now?
When you have to go and you do_
And you work something like this amphitheater,
is it necessary for you to do_
It's necessary for you to do all of the old Little River Band hits as well?
Well, of course.
I think we'll be doing an element of the new material.
And_
But, of course, John has to go over and sing the old material as well.
I mean, that's what Little River Band is famous for.
And it's a matter of singing what Glenn Shorrock did, of course.
And this is_
It also puts, at this particular time, a lot of strain and a lot of pressure on Glenn.
Because Glenn, of course, is still managed by our organization as well.
So we're all still very close in this whole situation.
Yeah.
And Glenn also has got an album coming out.
So the magnifying glass will be out on him very soon as well.
I want to get the rest of the boys out here.
I want to meet them.
Just one second before we do.
_ This guy being such an individualist,
was it difficult for you to meld him in?
Because it's no longer really_
It's not John Farnham and Little River Band, is it?
It's Little River Band now.
Yeah.
Well, that's the way it should be, I think.
I think the only reason that it had any sort of impact
was the mere fact that I was an entity in my own right here.
_ The rest of the world don't know who I am.
And _ it's not so important over there.
The thing that I do have to do elsewhere in the world is to fill Glenn Shorrock's boots.
And they're pretty big boots.
I mean, he's a black and white.
Shorrock is an amazing performer.
Very, very good, very talented man.
Yeah, and I've seen the band perform before, so I'm really, you know_
Let's get the rest of the boys out. Okay.
We'll get them all out here and you can bring them out.
You can introduce them individually to us.
Here's the rest of Little River Band. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ Drummers are always just_ _
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_ Okay, yeah. _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ I was just _ saying as they came out, the drummer comes out last.
I've never worked in show business all my life.
I never worked in one group where anybody said that the drummer wasn't different.
He's different all right.
Oh, he's a whack.
Don't point at that one over there.
_ They're as different as all the rest of them.
How's this?
Exciting for you guys now?
It's like a whole new restart, hey?
Yeah.
It feels good.
Yeah?
Feels great.
Were there ever any hesitations, Evy, any doubts all the time you were working?
I mean, rehearsing, recording, doing all of those things?
I think so.
There were a lot of rumors floating around beforehand that John and us were getting together.
It had been pre-made.
They were only rumors.
Yeah.
_ You mean, people thought that you had planned this whole thing? Yeah.
This one, yeah?
Was it always John that you were talking about, or was it a bunch of people you were thinking of?
There was only ever one person that we thought of that, and that was John.
Just John?
Uh-huh.
Well, I was the only one they knew. _ _ _