For Pete's Sake: In this generation with Monkee Peter Tork
Jeremy Roberts
Pop Culture Examiner
November 24, 2011
On this Thanksgiving Day, Peter Tork is enjoying a bit of family time while gearing up for his latest gig with Shoe Suede Blues on Friday evening. After playing in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Tork will travel on Saturday to Bordentown, New Jersey, with his supremely talented blues-based band (Joe Boyle, the lead guitarist, is especially brilliant).
As a member of the popular '60s band The Monkees, Tork has had a busy year. The Monkees reunited (except Michael Nesmith) after a ten-year hiatus and played to record crowds in both the UK and USA this summer, singing for 2.5 hours and performing the beloved Head soundtrack in its entirety for the first time.
Furthermore, Tork is a serious musician who counts performing the compositions of Bach as a hobby. He was always the most talented musician in The Monkees, proficient on piano, organ, bass, guitar, and even French horn. His work is all over the group's best two albums – Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.
AdvertisementAs a songwriter, the veteran artist contributed one of the greatest anthems of the '60s peace generation, the lovely but driving "For Pete's Sake." And although never a great vocalist by any stretch, Tork still managed to leave his imprint on the band with such distinctive turns on songs like "Shades of Gray," "Words," and "Can You Dig It."
On Halloween day, I had an opportunity to interview Tork in anticipation of a show in Georgia. A massive storm had knocked the power out at his home in Connecticut, but the musician still decided to go forward with the interview.
Without a doubt, he is a relaxed, friendly, and articulate gentleman who doesn't take himself too seriously. Case in point: as the interview commenced, Tork kidded, "Tell me what you want me to say, word for word please, so that I don't have to think."
Later when we were nearing the end of our conversation, the songwriter's kind spirit was on full display as he asked me for one final question. Realizing I was experiencing a bit of anxiety, he remarked, "Just take your time, think, and relax."
To read part one of the interview, focusing on the origin of Shoe Suede Blues, as well as the remarkable story of the Cook High School Marching Hornets and how their love of The Monkees brought Tork to Georgia, visit this link: "Come On In: Peter Tork of The Monkees Is On His Way To South Georgia."
Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the conclusion of the conversation, as Tork discusses how relatively easy it was to learn bass, becoming the first Monkee to play on a session, meeting a Beatle, bootleg recordings, why Michael Nesmith rejoined the band in 1996, the legacy of Justus, the perfect day, a film that had a great impact on his comedy, and perhaps his greatest vocal performance.
The Peter Tork Interview, Part Two
Your first instrument was piano. So, were you comfortable when asked to play bass?
Yes, piano came first at age nine, and I think by age 13 came guitar. In the early 1960s, what you did as a guitar player was play folk music. One of the ways you played it was to perform a thing called Travis Picking.
A guy named Merle Travis pretty much created that alternating thumb with syncopated finger picking on top, which meant you had to know the location of your bass notes. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom bom, boom bom, boom bom, boom – that kind of thing you knew if you were playing guitar.
As it happens, the bass guitar is the bottom four strings of an acoustic guitar dropped an octave. My fingers pretty much fell into place picking up a guitar, and it was essentially the easiest transition in the world for me.
I hardly even noticed I was picking up a different instrument. So yeah, it’s always been pretty interesting and easy. I’ve always enjoyed playing bass.
You were actually the first Monkee to appear musically on the group’s self-titled debut album, released in October 1966. How did that happen?
There was a guitar section at that point – five guitar players. And I was like fourth out of the five guitars. I didn’t have a big contribution by any means. It was just actually Mike being nice to me.
He was in charge of his songs. There were four tracks produced by Michael on the first two albums, and I played guitar on three – “Papa Gene’s Blues,” “Sweet Young Thing,” and “Mary, Mary.”
No, I’ve never even bothered trying to listen and identify my guitar on any of those tracks. The only guitar playing you can really pick out is courtesy of James Burton and Glen Campbell. James’ playing always had that amazing high, high lonesome twang.
[Author’s Note: Michael produced five studio sessions in the summer of ’66, a year before the group took full production control on Headquarters. A number of the songs remained unreleased for a number of years, including “I Won’t Be The Same Without Her,” “So Goes Love,” “Of You,” “(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love”, and an early version of “You Just May Be The One.” Peter performs guitar on every one].
How did you meet George Harrison and become a participant on the Wonderwall soundtrack, which George produced?
When I first met George, I was dating Mama Cass’s sister, and she was staying at Cass’s. We heard George was coming over to visit Cass, so we looked at each other and Cass said, “Stay away!” We said, “Yeah, as if, not bloody likely!”
I had already been cast for The Monkees television show, but we hadn’t started production yet. So I got to say hi to him. Later on, when The Monkees played England in the summer of ‘67, The Beatles had a party at a club, and we arranged to meet them.
George invited me and a member of our crew, Bill Chadwick, to go hang with him the next day. We went up to his place and spent the afternoon. We got to see Ringo again and came home after that.
I remember George asking me, “Why don’t you come back and play banjo on this session I’m producing in December?” I said, “I don’t have a banjo.” He said, “Well, Paul has one, so we’ll borrow his and restring it and give it back to him strung right-handed (chuckles).
Anyway, I got to play Paul’s five-string banjo strung right-handed. Apparently I’m not on the soundtrack album. I’m told that if you see the movie, you’ll hear me, although I haven’t seen the movie.
[Author’s Note: When I mention there are bootlegs featuring an alternate soundtrack with Peter’s performance included, he responds, “Oh wow, that’s interesting. I’ll have to talk to my favorite bootlegger and see what he has to say about that”].
Well, what is your stance on bootleg recordings?
I think they’re fine. I absolutely approve. Give me bootleggers. They’re filling a need. For example, if there are no recordings of The Monkees in Britain, a bootlegger can come up with an audience recording. Yes, give me that. I’ll pay you for that, sure thing. If I wanna hear that, and it isn’t available commercially, cut out the middle man. More power to the entrepreneurs.
What led Michael Nesmith to rejoin The Monkees in 1996 for the Justus album?
Mike had become boyfriend/girlfriend with this woman who listened to a cut of “Circle Sky” [written by Nesmith, it appeared on the Head soundtrack in December 1968]. She listened and exclaimed, “Who is playing bass on that?” Michael said, “Well, Peter.” She quickly replied, “Well, who wrote the part?” And he responded, “Well, Peter.”
Soon he was sort of enjoying what we had done before. He thought, God, these guys are pretty good. So he invited Micky and me, and we took over a rehearsal hall. The three of us banged away for a couple of hours, and danged if we didn’t sound just exactly the same as we did when we left off nearly 30 years previously.
And next thing we knew, Michael wanted to be back in the band for a little while. Michael is very much into, What’s the best you can get right now? He is kind of aggressive about getting the best studio, the best equipment, and the best approach to sound.
So we produced and recorded the Justus album on tape and transferred it to digital afterwards in an effort to keep it as warm as possible. I’m not so interested in the sound per se. If we had made it all digital, I couldn’t have told the difference myself. All I know is I hear the energy of the band. What’s interesting is for us to play together and make a record as best we know how.
I played all the bass parts on Justus, Michael played all the guitar parts, Micky played all the drums, and Davy played tambourine and some acoustic guitar. If you hear keyboards or piano on a track, that’s me, too. I would play one instrument and then overdub the other.
There are a couple of things I would have done differently, but all in all, I think it stands up pretty well. So there’s the Justus album for you.
Mike joined us in the UK for our 30th anniversary tour in 1997. I enjoyed that tour very much; it was a good time. Nevertheless, Mike never said anything to me when he decided to leave the band after the ’97 European tour, and I still don’t know why he left.
Besides Shoe Suede Blues, what are some of your other solo and collaborative projects?
I released my first and only solo, pure pop album in 1994 called Stranger Things Have Happened. It got great reviews, but I wish I’d been able to sell more. It’s always wonderful to get good reviews.
I’ve also done a folk acoustic duo act with my friend James Lee Stanley, but we don’t do that much now. However, we will see each other onstage coming up this month.
James produced Stranger Things, and since then, we have released Two Man Band (1996), Once Again (2001), A Beachwood Christmas (2003), and Live / Backstage @ The Coffee Gallery (2006).
The Christmas album was more of a various artists project. James’ sister, Pamala Stanley, is on it plus a few people he admired and worked with over the years, including legendary folk singer Tom Paxton. Pamala is a disco diva in her own world – she gets to go everywhere and do her own music.
What is your definition of the perfect day?
(chuckles) Well gosh, I don’t know. Wake up leisurely, do some stretches, coffee, check my email, read the news a little, breakfast, then play some piano. I enjoy playing Johann Sebastian Bach for a hobby, just to take my mind into different places.
If you’re asking me for a perfect day, I’m performing that night, which means I have vocal warm-ups to do. I should always do vocal warm-ups especially, but I make a particular point of it if I’m singing that night.
I usually take a nap and then amble over to the gig and play. Pack up and come home. Yawn and stretch and go to bed.
As to my hobbies, I do some recording at home in a little digital studio, which can be hardly counted as more than a hobby. I like to keep it that way. Gosh, I don’t have many hobbies.
I like a couple of TV shows, including Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett (a classic BBC show that ran for ten years, beginning in 1984). I’m going through the complete series on DVD now. The period is great, costumes, setting, everything is really glorious.
Brett is the greatest ever as far as I’m concerned. He’s the only actor who approached Sherlock Holmes’ true insanity (hearty laugh). He brings a brand of his own insanity to the part, which to me makes all kinds of sense.
Everybody else played Sherlock Holmes like he was this amazingly, deductively, smart, slightly arrogant guy. Remember, Sherlock Holmes shot cocaine when he was bored, and he kept his tobacco in a slipper nailed to the fireplace mantle. Played violin, and did experiments in chemistry to foul up his room.
He was bonkers (laughs). Barely controlled insanity, like Dennis Hopper as a movie actor. Jack Nicholson is the same way. They managed to channel their barely controlled craziness (usually) into socially acceptable norms.
I got to meet them both while we were filming Head in 1968. They were pros on the set, and in Jack’s case, still are. You’d look at those guys and think, If I said the wrong thing, they might blow.
Can you name one of your comedy influences?
I just purchased The Court Jester (1956), a musical comedy starring Danny Kaye, because I loved that as a kid. It certainly stands up today. It’s just one of the greatest film comedies.
My girlfriend, Pam, saw that, and she remarked, “Ah, I see where you get all your stuff” (chuckles). She thinks all my comedic, goofy characters are all contained in that movie.
“Come On In” is an undiscovered Monkees gem that remained unreleased until 1990’s Missing Links, Volume Two. I consider it to be one of your best vocal performances, and the sublime instrumental track isn’t too shabby, either…
Aha… I used to sing it in Greenwich Village back in my folkie days. Actually, I first heard a lady named Alix Dobkin performing the song while I was living there. It just sounded so much like the kinds of things that I wanted to sing about, so I had to eventually record it in 1968.
I have no idea why it wasn’t originally released. I just made these things and put them out there. Other people made the decisions, and I didn’t think much to fight for things. It’s a shortcoming of mine, and I have to work on that. I’m still working on that.
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Pop Culture Examiner
November 24, 2011
On this Thanksgiving Day, Peter Tork is enjoying a bit of family time while gearing up for his latest gig with Shoe Suede Blues on Friday evening. After playing in New Hope, Pennsylvania, Tork will travel on Saturday to Bordentown, New Jersey, with his supremely talented blues-based band (Joe Boyle, the lead guitarist, is especially brilliant).
As a member of the popular '60s band The Monkees, Tork has had a busy year. The Monkees reunited (except Michael Nesmith) after a ten-year hiatus and played to record crowds in both the UK and USA this summer, singing for 2.5 hours and performing the beloved Head soundtrack in its entirety for the first time.
Furthermore, Tork is a serious musician who counts performing the compositions of Bach as a hobby. He was always the most talented musician in The Monkees, proficient on piano, organ, bass, guitar, and even French horn. His work is all over the group's best two albums – Headquarters and Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.
AdvertisementAs a songwriter, the veteran artist contributed one of the greatest anthems of the '60s peace generation, the lovely but driving "For Pete's Sake." And although never a great vocalist by any stretch, Tork still managed to leave his imprint on the band with such distinctive turns on songs like "Shades of Gray," "Words," and "Can You Dig It."
On Halloween day, I had an opportunity to interview Tork in anticipation of a show in Georgia. A massive storm had knocked the power out at his home in Connecticut, but the musician still decided to go forward with the interview.
Without a doubt, he is a relaxed, friendly, and articulate gentleman who doesn't take himself too seriously. Case in point: as the interview commenced, Tork kidded, "Tell me what you want me to say, word for word please, so that I don't have to think."
Later when we were nearing the end of our conversation, the songwriter's kind spirit was on full display as he asked me for one final question. Realizing I was experiencing a bit of anxiety, he remarked, "Just take your time, think, and relax."
To read part one of the interview, focusing on the origin of Shoe Suede Blues, as well as the remarkable story of the Cook High School Marching Hornets and how their love of The Monkees brought Tork to Georgia, visit this link: "Come On In: Peter Tork of The Monkees Is On His Way To South Georgia."
Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the conclusion of the conversation, as Tork discusses how relatively easy it was to learn bass, becoming the first Monkee to play on a session, meeting a Beatle, bootleg recordings, why Michael Nesmith rejoined the band in 1996, the legacy of Justus, the perfect day, a film that had a great impact on his comedy, and perhaps his greatest vocal performance.
The Peter Tork Interview, Part Two
Your first instrument was piano. So, were you comfortable when asked to play bass?
Yes, piano came first at age nine, and I think by age 13 came guitar. In the early 1960s, what you did as a guitar player was play folk music. One of the ways you played it was to perform a thing called Travis Picking.
A guy named Merle Travis pretty much created that alternating thumb with syncopated finger picking on top, which meant you had to know the location of your bass notes. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom bom, boom bom, boom bom, boom – that kind of thing you knew if you were playing guitar.
As it happens, the bass guitar is the bottom four strings of an acoustic guitar dropped an octave. My fingers pretty much fell into place picking up a guitar, and it was essentially the easiest transition in the world for me.
I hardly even noticed I was picking up a different instrument. So yeah, it’s always been pretty interesting and easy. I’ve always enjoyed playing bass.
You were actually the first Monkee to appear musically on the group’s self-titled debut album, released in October 1966. How did that happen?
There was a guitar section at that point – five guitar players. And I was like fourth out of the five guitars. I didn’t have a big contribution by any means. It was just actually Mike being nice to me.
He was in charge of his songs. There were four tracks produced by Michael on the first two albums, and I played guitar on three – “Papa Gene’s Blues,” “Sweet Young Thing,” and “Mary, Mary.”
No, I’ve never even bothered trying to listen and identify my guitar on any of those tracks. The only guitar playing you can really pick out is courtesy of James Burton and Glen Campbell. James’ playing always had that amazing high, high lonesome twang.
[Author’s Note: Michael produced five studio sessions in the summer of ’66, a year before the group took full production control on Headquarters. A number of the songs remained unreleased for a number of years, including “I Won’t Be The Same Without Her,” “So Goes Love,” “Of You,” “(I Prithee) Do Not Ask For Love”, and an early version of “You Just May Be The One.” Peter performs guitar on every one].
How did you meet George Harrison and become a participant on the Wonderwall soundtrack, which George produced?
When I first met George, I was dating Mama Cass’s sister, and she was staying at Cass’s. We heard George was coming over to visit Cass, so we looked at each other and Cass said, “Stay away!” We said, “Yeah, as if, not bloody likely!”
I had already been cast for The Monkees television show, but we hadn’t started production yet. So I got to say hi to him. Later on, when The Monkees played England in the summer of ‘67, The Beatles had a party at a club, and we arranged to meet them.
George invited me and a member of our crew, Bill Chadwick, to go hang with him the next day. We went up to his place and spent the afternoon. We got to see Ringo again and came home after that.
I remember George asking me, “Why don’t you come back and play banjo on this session I’m producing in December?” I said, “I don’t have a banjo.” He said, “Well, Paul has one, so we’ll borrow his and restring it and give it back to him strung right-handed (chuckles).
Anyway, I got to play Paul’s five-string banjo strung right-handed. Apparently I’m not on the soundtrack album. I’m told that if you see the movie, you’ll hear me, although I haven’t seen the movie.
[Author’s Note: When I mention there are bootlegs featuring an alternate soundtrack with Peter’s performance included, he responds, “Oh wow, that’s interesting. I’ll have to talk to my favorite bootlegger and see what he has to say about that”].
Well, what is your stance on bootleg recordings?
I think they’re fine. I absolutely approve. Give me bootleggers. They’re filling a need. For example, if there are no recordings of The Monkees in Britain, a bootlegger can come up with an audience recording. Yes, give me that. I’ll pay you for that, sure thing. If I wanna hear that, and it isn’t available commercially, cut out the middle man. More power to the entrepreneurs.
What led Michael Nesmith to rejoin The Monkees in 1996 for the Justus album?
Mike had become boyfriend/girlfriend with this woman who listened to a cut of “Circle Sky” [written by Nesmith, it appeared on the Head soundtrack in December 1968]. She listened and exclaimed, “Who is playing bass on that?” Michael said, “Well, Peter.” She quickly replied, “Well, who wrote the part?” And he responded, “Well, Peter.”
Soon he was sort of enjoying what we had done before. He thought, God, these guys are pretty good. So he invited Micky and me, and we took over a rehearsal hall. The three of us banged away for a couple of hours, and danged if we didn’t sound just exactly the same as we did when we left off nearly 30 years previously.
And next thing we knew, Michael wanted to be back in the band for a little while. Michael is very much into, What’s the best you can get right now? He is kind of aggressive about getting the best studio, the best equipment, and the best approach to sound.
So we produced and recorded the Justus album on tape and transferred it to digital afterwards in an effort to keep it as warm as possible. I’m not so interested in the sound per se. If we had made it all digital, I couldn’t have told the difference myself. All I know is I hear the energy of the band. What’s interesting is for us to play together and make a record as best we know how.
I played all the bass parts on Justus, Michael played all the guitar parts, Micky played all the drums, and Davy played tambourine and some acoustic guitar. If you hear keyboards or piano on a track, that’s me, too. I would play one instrument and then overdub the other.
There are a couple of things I would have done differently, but all in all, I think it stands up pretty well. So there’s the Justus album for you.
Mike joined us in the UK for our 30th anniversary tour in 1997. I enjoyed that tour very much; it was a good time. Nevertheless, Mike never said anything to me when he decided to leave the band after the ’97 European tour, and I still don’t know why he left.
Besides Shoe Suede Blues, what are some of your other solo and collaborative projects?
I released my first and only solo, pure pop album in 1994 called Stranger Things Have Happened. It got great reviews, but I wish I’d been able to sell more. It’s always wonderful to get good reviews.
I’ve also done a folk acoustic duo act with my friend James Lee Stanley, but we don’t do that much now. However, we will see each other onstage coming up this month.
James produced Stranger Things, and since then, we have released Two Man Band (1996), Once Again (2001), A Beachwood Christmas (2003), and Live / Backstage @ The Coffee Gallery (2006).
The Christmas album was more of a various artists project. James’ sister, Pamala Stanley, is on it plus a few people he admired and worked with over the years, including legendary folk singer Tom Paxton. Pamala is a disco diva in her own world – she gets to go everywhere and do her own music.
What is your definition of the perfect day?
(chuckles) Well gosh, I don’t know. Wake up leisurely, do some stretches, coffee, check my email, read the news a little, breakfast, then play some piano. I enjoy playing Johann Sebastian Bach for a hobby, just to take my mind into different places.
If you’re asking me for a perfect day, I’m performing that night, which means I have vocal warm-ups to do. I should always do vocal warm-ups especially, but I make a particular point of it if I’m singing that night.
I usually take a nap and then amble over to the gig and play. Pack up and come home. Yawn and stretch and go to bed.
As to my hobbies, I do some recording at home in a little digital studio, which can be hardly counted as more than a hobby. I like to keep it that way. Gosh, I don’t have many hobbies.
I like a couple of TV shows, including Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett (a classic BBC show that ran for ten years, beginning in 1984). I’m going through the complete series on DVD now. The period is great, costumes, setting, everything is really glorious.
Brett is the greatest ever as far as I’m concerned. He’s the only actor who approached Sherlock Holmes’ true insanity (hearty laugh). He brings a brand of his own insanity to the part, which to me makes all kinds of sense.
Everybody else played Sherlock Holmes like he was this amazingly, deductively, smart, slightly arrogant guy. Remember, Sherlock Holmes shot cocaine when he was bored, and he kept his tobacco in a slipper nailed to the fireplace mantle. Played violin, and did experiments in chemistry to foul up his room.
He was bonkers (laughs). Barely controlled insanity, like Dennis Hopper as a movie actor. Jack Nicholson is the same way. They managed to channel their barely controlled craziness (usually) into socially acceptable norms.
I got to meet them both while we were filming Head in 1968. They were pros on the set, and in Jack’s case, still are. You’d look at those guys and think, If I said the wrong thing, they might blow.
Can you name one of your comedy influences?
I just purchased The Court Jester (1956), a musical comedy starring Danny Kaye, because I loved that as a kid. It certainly stands up today. It’s just one of the greatest film comedies.
My girlfriend, Pam, saw that, and she remarked, “Ah, I see where you get all your stuff” (chuckles). She thinks all my comedic, goofy characters are all contained in that movie.
“Come On In” is an undiscovered Monkees gem that remained unreleased until 1990’s Missing Links, Volume Two. I consider it to be one of your best vocal performances, and the sublime instrumental track isn’t too shabby, either…
Aha… I used to sing it in Greenwich Village back in my folkie days. Actually, I first heard a lady named Alix Dobkin performing the song while I was living there. It just sounded so much like the kinds of things that I wanted to sing about, so I had to eventually record it in 1968.
I have no idea why it wasn’t originally released. I just made these things and put them out there. Other people made the decisions, and I didn’t think much to fight for things. It’s a shortcoming of mine, and I have to work on that. I’m still working on that.
Read More