Ian McLagan knows a thing or two about this rock and roll business. For over 50 years, the legendary sideman has been either out on the road or in a studio somewhere, his distinctive keyboard flourishes adding body and texture to some of the greatest records ever made.
Starting out with the legendary Small Faces, who had hits with ‘Itchycoo Park’ and ‘Lazy Sunday’ among others, he went on to become a founding member of The Faces along with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, playing on classics like ‘Maggie May’ , ‘Stay With Me’ and co-writing their hit, ‘Cindy Incidentally’. Since then he has played live, and in the studio, with the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and Billy Bragg, to name just a handful. Allied to his session work he has enjoyed a steady solo career, usually with his own band in tow, playing good-time rock and roll. His latest album United States has just been released and he’s heading out on the road to promote it, including landing in Dublin for a date. Does he still enjoy playing after all these years?
“I fucking love it,” he says, on the blower from his home in Austin, Texas. “It’s a total joy - I really enjoy playing live. I love to talk to the audience and I want to entertain them.
“Flying these days is not much fun,” he adds. “Planes are like cattle trucks. But I have a big wagon, a big van that I drive everywhere in America and I’ll be renting something similar in the UK and Ireland. I’m either driving or in the passenger seat meeting people wherever I go.”
An old-school rocker at heart (and author of one of the best rock biogs in All The Rage) McLagan or “Mac” as he is known, remains a true music fan at heart and was recently impressed by Cavan’s finest, The Strypes.
“I saw them on TV and I screamed, ‘fantastic, they get it’,” he enthuses. “Their energy, that’s what I love most about them. They’re young but when I joined the Small Faces I was only twenty and I was still the old guy in the band. I’m glad they can buy some decent clothes too ‘cause I can’t get any anywhere.”
Mac has lent his Hammond B3 organ and Wurlitzer electric piano to so many hits (including the Stones’ 1978 classic, ‘Miss You’) that hardly a day goes by when he doesn’t hear himself on the airwaves.
“It’s always nice but sometimes when I hear two or three songs on the radio that aren’t related in any way, apart from the fact that I’ve played on them, I check to see if I’m still breathing, just in case it might be an obituary.”
The Faces in their day were notorious for their partying, hard-drinking and general carousing. Does he still indulge in the odd liquid refreshment, or has he left those days behind?
“Oh, I still have a drink every night. I enjoy a drink but I don’t drink before the shows. When I’m in Ireland, my first pint of Guinness will arrive during the last two or three songs. I watch my diet but I enjoy a fine pork breakfast and I like my tequila. I enjoy a drink with people when I’m off duty too. It’s getting harder to find a decent place to go and a lot of my favourite pubs in New York have closed or been turned into sports bars. It’s all fucking HDTV and really fucking loud music – it’s sad. You don’t want basketball when you’re having a pint.”
Speaking of loud music, Mac made the headlines recently when he was reported as saying he would have “shot” Green Day, describing them as “horrifyingly loud and bad,” at the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
“Yeah it’s true, I did say that. I had a terrible migraine that day and I was 15 feet from the stage. I’m sorry that was the headline – it was the last thing I said to the journalist. I don’t hate them and I don’t have a gun. But if I’d had one that night I might have used it.”
Finally, the question of a Faces reunion has long been rumoured - any chances of it happening?
“The answer is ‘yes’” he says, definitively. “It’s happening. Sometime soon – that’s all I can say.”

Ian McLagan plays Whelan’s, Dublin on July 19. His United States album is out now on Yep Roc