Paying His Dues

Seasoned gig-goers will have fond memories of The Rhythm Kings but would surely be horrified to discover that one of the combo who blazed a trail around the bars and ballrooms of Ireland during the early 80s will celebrate his 64TH year on the planet in October. Relax kids, I speak of the mainman behind the other Rhythm Kings, former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman, who is still content to tread the boards with his all-star outfit of veterans.

On the band's latest album Groovin' Wyman has assembled a stellar cast of players, including Georgie Fame, former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, Andy Fairweather Low, Albert Lee, percussionsist Ray Cooper, ex-Procol Harum keyboardist Gary Brooker and the superb vocalist Beverley Skeete on a pleasant collection of goodtime tunes, including the Lovin' Spoonful classic of the title and Screamin' Jay Hawkins' immortal 'I Put A Spell On You'.

"The album is the third part of a trilogy dedicated to music that inspired me when I was young," says the deadpan Wyman, "which is R'n'B, jazz and blues. It was initially supposed to be a one-off but the response to Struttin' Their Stuff was so positive that we just kept going. Having said that, it's not totally ongoing as we're really just a group of friends who get together between proper jobs, so major touring is out of the question."

Having spent most of his working life playing to slavering, hysterical fans until he finally baled out of the Stones in 1993, Wyman readily admits that life as a Rhythm King is rather different.

"Actually being able to make out the faces of people in the audience was a bit of a jolt at first," he says. "For most of the band it was a good reminder of how we all started out, playing in tiny clubs and seeing the whites of the crowd's eyes. Actually, in Europe we're in 2000-to-3000 seaters, but after a couple of decades of doing arenas and stadiums they feel like clubs."

Despite a clear hint from the PR person beforehand that Wyman would only reluctantly answer questions about his former band, the question as to whether he regretted leaving the Stones was an inevitable one.

"I've no regrets about that whatsoever," comes the immediate reply. "I'd originally intended leaving once we'd been together for twenty years - which is enough for anyone - but ended up sticking around for another ten or eleven years. I'd always done other things, being the first Stone to release a solo album with Monkey Grip back in 1974, for example, and once my restaurant business took off I just didn't feel like hauling myself around the world on a regular basis, especially as I don't fly anymore. Not wanting to fly wasn't as a result of a near-miss or anything like that, just that one day in the early nineties I was sitting on a plane and thought 'This isn't natural, how many times have I been up here?' and decided 'Never again'."

Admitting that contemporary musical trends hold no interest for him whatsoever (well, he is 63 years old, after all), Wyman also points out that reading about events in which he featured - even if only on the sidelines - matters little to him. So, he wouldn't have cast an eye over the recent piece on the infamous Stones documentary Cocksucker Blues in Mojo (the only magazine he admits to taking) or had a chortle at the Mick Jagger revelations in Keith Altham's recently-published No More Mr. Nice Guy ?

"Why should I? I was there and I know what happened, so why waste my time reading other people's views on those events? A couple of people mentioned to me that Keith's book is a good read, so I might get around to having a look at that sometime, but in general I don't bother with that sort of thing.

"I'm very happy with my life at the moment," adds Bill. "I've got a fantastic band, all of whom are mates and we're having a ball playing stuff we love for a few weeks at a time a couple of times a year. I've got no complaints."

Groovin' by Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings is currently available on Papillon Records.