Paul Spreads Those Wings
No writer listed
Beat Instrumental
June 1973
Has McCartney lost his magic touch? That's the question being asked time and again as Paul and his "new" band Wings undertake their first major British tour. It's a question that has been asked ever since the days of the Beatles' split. The one which only time and audiences can decide.
The other Beatles have been accepted in their new roles: George as a solo artist and guitarist, John for his work with Yoko and Elephant's Memory, and Ringo as a filmmaker and actor. The public doesn't seem to have decided about Paul; however, few can understand how the man who wrote standards such as "Yesterday" and "Fool on the Hill" can turn his back on 10 years of success and start from scratch all over again.
Those who have heard the singles from Wings: "Mary Had a Little Lamb," "Give Ireland Back to the Irish,"and "Hi Hi Hi". Still don't know what to expect from the group, and have been disappointed with the band's publicity that has happened.
It probably started with Paul's lawsuit against the other Beatles, which wasn't helped by the appearance of wife, Linda, on the scene, and was capped by two drug cases, which could well mean that the band won't be allowed to perform in America.
Now that manager Alan Klein has parted company with the other three Beatles, the way is open for the fabulous foursome to work together again. And it was with all this in mind that Beat Instrumental spoke to Wings' American drummer, Denny Seiwell.
We asked him about the effects of all the controversy and how much it prevented Wings from relaxing and making music. "Well, it affected us quite a bit," he said. "We are a new band, and we have our normal growing pains, but we can't be just another new band in the sense that we can't go playing in little nightclubs where we can gig five nights a week and get it together as a new band would.
"In that respect, we've had a completely different scene, and we've had to learn how to deal with that simply because Paul McCartney is in the group, not to mention Denny Laine and Henry McCullough. Everything we do is under a microscope and compared by the audience to the last time that they saw the Beatles live."
Such a comparison may be unfair, although Denny claims that none of the group resents it, but it will no longer be necessary to view Wings' new LP, Red Rose Speedway, and their current tour. "Yeah, I kind of feel that we've come through all that," said Denny. "And now people are just starting to accept us as a band. Anyway, this new album that we've just done really reflects that. If I was listening to it as someone who had nothing to do with it, I would say it was a group. It wasn't just some musicians who were thrown together in a session scene.
"It's obvious that we all been together, and we've had as many problems as anybody that has been living together. It's like a marriage, you know, and over the years, we go through our hassles and our scenes, and that's how we got to know each other. That's how you really form a love between everybody in the band."
Much of Wings' "getting to know you" time was spent on and around Paul's farm in Scotland. Denny recalls, "It was nice when we were up there in the spring of last year. We were rehearsing for the European tour, and it was great to be doing it out in the country, that relaxed. We got to know each other a lot better, and the music started to happen; we found out what every member of the band really had to offer. And that's the thing that really takes time, you put all the offerings together and make one little bit of magic."
Can Wings' magic ever be as great as the Beatles' magic? Few would care to say, but at this stage, it's still obvious that the rest of the band are overshadowed by Paul's Beatle past. Is it something they want to be free of? "No, not at all." said Denny. "I mean, who are we to say anything like that? That we don't want the shadow of the Beatles? They were the most fantastic group that ever hit the world, of course. And anyway, it's not really a problem. It's just that sometimes you go to a concert and people are expecting something, Beatle-ish, they don't necessarily get it, but they're not disappointed with Wings either.
"On the European and the college tour of this country that we did, the audiences went away really happy. They loved it. You don't get any people shouting up about the Beatles. We never get any of that. Every now and then, we get someone shout up for us to play one of the songs that Paul wrote in those days. But that's very rare. We haven't done any of those songs up until this TV show that we've just done, in which we've done a little medley of some songs, songs that Paul wrote and that he's proud of writing."
Wings material Denny describes as "a mince" because the band have so many songs that they could do that they never know which ones to put together into a stage act. "But we're all rock and rollers at heart," said Denny. "We would like the next album to be a rock and roll one, you know, get everybody rocking. We love bands like Slade, for example.
With Red Rose Speedway, however, we had enough of Paul's material alone to do a double album. He has an amazing imagination and is still writing as many songs as he ever used to."
Paul also uses his imagination when it comes to choosing the members of Wings, and has pulled together some fine musicians. Lead Guitarist Henry McCullough worked with the Grease Band of Joe Cocker fame. Denny Laine, who handles vocals, piano, and guitar, comes from the Moody Blues, and drummer Denny Seiwell has worked with top jazz and session bands all over the world.
He told us the story of how he joined Wings. "I was living in New York when Paul came to town looking for musicians to make Ram. He found out who all the top session guys were and had them drop around to the studio, which was a rundown, old basement in a real heavy district. A friend called me up and asked me to do a demo. I had no idea it would be an audition, so I showed up at the studio, which I'd never heard of before. Anyway, I just went in, and there was Paul and his old lady just standing there, which kind of took me by surprise. So we just had a chat, and he told me what he was looking for and asked me if I mind playing a bit for him."
It's taken some time for Wings to settle in. Was Denny worried about the prospect of The Beatles getting together again? "No, I think it's amazing," he said. "I'd love to put another Beatles record on my turntable. I don't know if they'll get together again as a band, and I'm sure that what we've all got going together now with Wings is going to continue anyway. Just because Klein is out of the scene now, it doesn't mean that Wings is going to fold, because we've just devoted so much of ourselves to making the band work. We've gone through changes that no other band in the world has had to go through, and we really want to make it work."
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