For Your Love, Heart Full of Soul, Evil Hearted You. Easily some of the greatest sounds to come out of 1960s/70s rock and written by a born and bred Salfordian. Now getting ready to embark on a new nationwide tour, Graham Gouldman reflects back on his early years, and discusses his latest tour and the late guitar legend, Jeff Beck.
“We’ve lost the world’s greatest guitarist, there was no one like him”, Graham Gouldman reflected. After the news of the death of one history’s greatest guitarists, Jeff Beck, last Tuesday (10 January), some of rock’s greatest icons have shared their condolences.
That’s no different for 10cc’s Graham Gouldman. The face behind some of the songs which powered Beck and the rest of The Yardbirds to fame, Graham said: “I’m lucky and honoured to be associated with him throughout the songs I wrote for The Yardbirds, and a song of mine called Tallyman that he recorded.
“There was no one like him. He could do anything and made the guitar sound like a voice. I met him a couple of times over the years, but like everybody else, we’ve all been trawling through YouTube to hear him play again. He’s absolutely fantastic. It’s a clique, but you don’t know how special someone is until you miss them. There was something very special about the way his playing touched people.”
Growing up on Broughton Park, Salford 7, Graham Gouldman was never the academic type. Attending North Salford Secondary Modern School for Boys (or for ‘yobs’ as Graham referred it to), he spent more time daydreaming about guitar riffs than geographical studies.
“I was never very good at School. I was always daydreaming about music. My parents recognised I had a gift and encouraged it. I found my musical inspiration in my head, rather than Salford. It travelled with me. But growing up in Salford and Manchester and seeing all the music venues, I’ve no doubt how important that was for me, as well as the music shops on the likes of Oxford Road.”
It wasn’t until he found the Jewish Lads Brigade, on Middleton Road, just outside Salford, that he began to seriously consider music. With rehearsal space courtesy of the club, and Greater Manchester’s community spirit, Graham now looks back with great appreciation for what the city offered him.
“The Jewish Lads Brigade (JLB) always played an important part of my musical life. I was part of various bands who played there. I knew Kevin Godley at school and met Lol Creme there, and that became 3/4 of 10cc.
“In and around Salford, there were other mates of mine who formed bands, or you’d go to someone’s garage and jam. The environment of Salford was very conducive for creativity. There was something in the air.”
Graham was the last of 10cc to leave the north for London, giving into resistance for practical reasons. Still living down South, he finds the northern spirit a crucial element for creativity, especially for his upcoming tour Heart Full of Soul.
Still touring as the ’10cc featuring Graham Gouldman and Friends’ up until last year, the spin-off collective Heart Full Of Soul arose from a desire to reproduce early singles acoustically. Graham lives by the motto ‘A good song can always be performed acoustically’, a mantra which inspires him to continue performing and creating.
“I’m very grateful that I can still perform these songs to this day. It allows me to talk about the songs more, and give more of how it came about. I’ll always enjoy playing music. I’ll never stop, but I’ll be stopped. I’ve no intention of retiring. As long as there’s a demand to do it, I’m happy to do it.
“If you’re an artist, performing is something you need to do. I enjoy doing it, and I can only do it if people want me to. The feeling you get when you play something they know, especially old ones, they go back to another time.”
Graham is particularly excited to round-off the upcoming tour at Salford’s The Lowry on March 23rd. He said: “I love coming back up to Manchester or Salford. I always love going back, its my home and its my routes. They have always been a fantastic place for the arts, music, theatre, literature, art galleries, it’s fantastic.”
For more information about Graham Goudlman’s upcoming tour, visit The Lowry website.
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