Chords for What Was It Like Working With Peter Gabriel? Jerry Marotta Looks Back

What was it like working with Peter Gabriel?
We asked his longtime drummer Jerry Murata.
I'm John Bowden from Rock History Music
_ _ Jerry Murata started with Peter Gabriel too, and he was with him right till so his big breakthrough album
I have interviewed a few people who have worked with Peter Gabriel
First off Philip Auberg when I used to do New Age music Philip Auberg was on the Wyndham Hill label
And I interviewed him a few times and we talked about his early days of touring with Peter Gabriel
Legendary drummer Steve Gadd a few years ago Tony Levin a few times Steve Hackett Anthony Phillips and now Jerry Murata
Peter in a lot of ways Peter is like the director of a movie
_ _ That he may also be acting it
because Peter I
Honestly don't ever remember
_ Peter coming into the studio with a song written. _
I don't ever remember that
_ _ and you know, there's the famous story of
_ When they were making so after nine months, you know, Dan Landau was producing that record and he was getting
[N] Peter hadn't written any lyrics and so one day in there working in Peters barn where we had worked
You know what?
He rented this place for years.
We stayed there in rehearse there
They decided to do a raised record there.
We did we did more than one record there, but
[G] Peter went into the studio and [N] Dan nailed the door to the studio show _
Peter apparently freaked out
_ Because he and Dan was like you're not coming out to you write some fucking lyrics.
I'm not letting you out and
He literally
Trapped him in the studio
Which I don't know how [B] how Peter ended up getting out what the outcome of that was but the point is, you know, Peter
Takes it.
Here's a process
So he I don't ever remember him [N] coming in with a written song he had some ideas
you know some chords and we would jam Tony Larry Peter me and
If there was a guitar player, yes different John Ellis
_ You know, he was one of the guys that played a Peter guitar David Rhodes obviously once he was in you know
that was it for guitar players and
We would just jam on stuff, you know and and and then Peter would
Kind of listen to it and sculpt it then we come back in and we do like dude
Let's do more of this, you know, you hear this.
Let's do [E] that
Let's let's just play that and that's [B] the way he was and a lot of times [Ab] he might have had a
Vague idea like our there's a song.
I [Gb] can't remember which song it is, but the working [N] title was flat moon
You know, he just called the flat moon, but it didn't end up being flat.
I don't know what it was.
But well, yeah Peter
he
he
You know, he had all the right people, you know, he liked me Tony Larry
David, you know and got us together trusted us loved us and we became we know we toured together
We were together a lot blah blah blah, you know, we were like a band
We were like we were like a band we didn't get paid like a band but we were like a band in every other way so
_ Like for instance of the one thing I remember only because I really remember is
_ Family snapshot.
Yeah was this, you know
You know, we have been jamming on it and jamming on it
And I think John Giblin was that record with John Giblin was the bass player because Tony 11 was I think I'm tour with
Paul Simon for like a year.
So John did the record.
I think John toured with us.
So but and
Steve Lillywhite was producing it.
We were I think it was Steve.
We were we're jamming on it jamming on it.
We had the elements _
And then I sat and wasn't quite there and I and I set to sit
I'm gonna Peter at the piano and I said look let's try this
Do this section here
Then let's do this section and then do this section and then back to this section and this is like I kind of I basically
[Eb] Arranged the song, you know, I the pieces [B] were there.
They just weren't they weren't they weren't flowing
Yeah, but in my mind I heard it.
I really heard I heard it the way it is
This is what I heard and I didn't write anything
I didn't write anything but but I I kind of put the song together in the way it ended up being in way it worked and
And Peter gave me a little bit of publishing for that.
He was he was impressed and he [N] was very happy, you know, and
So that was a that was kind of the way we would do things
And I'm not taking anything away from Peter, but but he come in with you know
but even when you know when I When
the thing that happened
Peter was good
We were gonna do so the record that would became so and then after that
I was gonna do an album with Paul McCartney and like in England like, you know
Why do like one March Peter April?
Paul Peter Paul again the divine intervention.
Yeah, Peter Paul
[E] you [G] know and
[N] So but then at the last minute Peter changed his schedule and it was right at the same time as the McCartney record and I
Was I couldn't really back out of it, you know, but you worked with McCartney though.
You ended up working with her
I did an album with him Yeah
so the point is I couldn't back out of the Paul record because you know Hugh pageant was producing it and
You know
It was only it was Paul [B] Eric Stewart from 10cc [N] who wrote and sang and produced and me just the three of us
I mean, I it was an honor for me to be like the third guy there, you know and
And just the three of us and I couldn't back out of that.
I didn't you know
There's no way I was gonna back out of that.
So that's how Peter ended up
Bringing in [Bm] other drummers different people and I would go there.
I
Would go to bath from Sussex where Paul was we're working with Paul, you know a couple of hour drive
To bath where Peter was and I and I would do whatever I could when I could
Like one time the first time I got there
Stewart Copeland had just been there for like two days [N] and and he was just leaving and I was coming in
So if you know it's like [B] it got into it got like that
But [N] we did the point of this is we did a version of _
_ big time
That was like security the next step was like I had goosebumps
For like a day and a half.
It was so deep
It certainly didn't end up being but you know, the one that was on the record and you know
The one the one that's on the record is you know, it's a pop hit.
There's a it's a hit song
The one that we did
Is more like the deep?
Heavy Gabriel, you know, it's all it's just it was just awesome.
Is that out there someplace?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I've heard people say that he put out some
Kind of box set of outtakes and this and that yeah stuff
I don't know.
I have to maybe get a look at that and see and maybe it's on there
There's a new go fund me page that's set up to save dreamland studio, which is Jerry's main hang.
It's in an old church
It's a gorgeous studio and they're trying to save it right now.
Do you want to help out?
There'll be links at the very top of the description of this video more from Jerry Murata coming up next week
I'm John Bowden.
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