Peter Scallan

PETER SCALLAN (Samson 1989/1990)

1- Hello Peter, thank you for being here on Samsonworld. What are your current projects? What about your music today?

  

I am currently involved in two bands. I sing for Moritz which is the band I was in before Samson. We have recently released a new album called About Time Too and have been playing in the UK including at Cambridge Rock Festival and Rockingham. We have also just released a video for the single To The Moon and Back (link below). We have recorded three albums in total (including Undivided in 2010 and SOS in 2013). I also sing with Chris Glen & The Outfit. Chris is the current bass player for Michael Schenker and was also part of the classic line-up on the first five MSG albums. He was also the bass player for the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (SAHB). Our set consists of MSG and SAHB songs. There is also a possibility I will be involved in some other recording projects next year.

 

 

 

2- How did you first get involved with Paul Samson and Samson?

Paul actually first approached me in 1987 to join Paul Samson’s Empire. However, I said no at that time as I was playing with Laurence Archer from Phil Lynott’s Grand Slam/Stampede/Wild Horses. We were demoing an album which is why I said no to Paul. That came to nothing and I joined Moritz. When Moritz finished, Paul asked me in January of 1989 if I would join the band to finish the album which turned into Refugee. He sent me some demo versions of four songs that he wanted me to write with him. I wrote the vocal melodies and lyrics for the songs that turned into Look To The Future, Someone To Turn To, Love This Time (which was from a Moritz song I wrote) and State Of Emergency. I came down to London in February and we recorded the demo vocals for the four songs on Paul’s four track Portastudio recorder at his house in Sidcup. He was pleased with the results so booked the studio time for April for me to record all the vocals for the album.

 

 

3- You're the main vocalist of Refugee, even if the album was going to be called Ignition and featuring David "Dave" Boyce as bassist. As you already know, in December 1989 Paul re-recorded all bass tracks (except on one song). What is your favourite version of the album and why? Refugee or Ignition?

I personally preferred the Ignition mix of the album which included three songs that didn’t appear on Refugee. I still have the cassette version that Paul gave me of the final mix. I preferred the Ignition mix as it was more contemporary at that time. Not only did Paul remove Dave’s bass lines, he removed most of the keyboards too! I do like the power of the Refugee album but some of the songs that had significant keyboard arrangements sound a little empty and lack the texture that was intended. I also don’t think the album needed two instrumentals.

4- Why aren't you singing on Good to see you?

 

I have absolutely no idea why and it was a surprise that when the album came out that song was on it. Paul and I had discussions into early 1990 about the album. However, unbeknown to me Paul had re-recorded the bass tracks, dumped most of the keyboards and added another vocalist. Good To See You was part of the Ignition recording session but Paul didn’t want to use the song at that time. Consequently, I didn’t record a vocal for it. I don’t know why he didn’t just ask me to do the extra vocal. Having said that Paul was always a little bit secretive. We recorded 11 songs for Ignition including re-recordings of Foolin’, Losing My Grip and Tomorrow but they didn’t get used on Refugee.

 

5- Which songs are your personal favourites in the album? I think Can't live without your love and Don't tell me it's over are some of the most amazing Samson works to date! You delivered very intense vocals on those, as well as many others. I think the album is truly fantastic and your voice is terrific.

 

Well thank you – you are very kind to say so. My favourite song on the album is Can’t Live Without Your Love on both Refugee and Ignition versions. The Ignition version has a superb keyboard intro from Toby Sadler which was dumped for Refugee. My other personal favourite is The Silver Screen which has great guitar riff and chorus.

 

6- How would you define the album, musically and stilistically?

 

Although Paul did a significant remix on Refugee compared with the Ignition version, the album stylistically captured the harder edge of Samson but had a more melodic feel to it that previous Samson albums. It was really a transitional album for Paul and he clearly struggled with shifting the sound to one that was more accessible. I guess that was the reason he remixed it.

 

 

7- At that point, was "Samson" even a true entity or just Paul Samson and you guys as studio musicians? Was the band cohering? Also, were you supposed to be the singer in the "Refugee tour" that never happened? (in 1990 Paul toured with the Rogues).

Samson was a band and as far as I knew was into early 1990. I joined in January/February 1989 and up until about February 1990 Paul and I had still been talking about the album/gigs. We rehearsed during July, recorded a Radio 1 Rock Show Session and played the Astoria (note: 14^th July and 21th July). The proposed tour was meant to be a European tour which I believe was going to be a three band bill with Saxon and Anvil! I know that Paul says in the liner notes for the BBC Sessions album that line-up had split up by August 1989 but he didn’t tell anybody that! At least not me!

 

8- Tell us about the Astoria gig... what about its resonance? Too bad there are no recordings of it anywhere (which I know of). You even met your old Moritz members there...

 

It was all a little surreal as I had already moved back to Glasgow. I stayed at Ian Edwards (Moritz/If Only) flat in Battersea all week as Samson were rehearsing mid-week for the gig. If Only were opening up and the band was basically Moritz with Jackie Bodimead singing and they were excellent. We had some film director/producer at the gig, who was a friend of Toby Sadler’s, who was coming to see us live as we were meant to be doing a video for one song from the album, which I think was Can’t Live Without Your Love. I really enjoyed the show as I was getting to play with a guy that I had watched as kid and particularly Riding With The Angels, Vice Versa and Losing My Grip. Bizarrely I ended up with Greg Hart and Andy Elphick at Greg Hart’s house in Chiswick and it was a very late night indeed!

 

9- What was your relationship with the other Samson members at the time you recorded the Ignition version? I mean Dave Boyce, Charlie Mack and Toby Sadler?

 

I didn’t know Toby before I joined Samson. However, I knew Dave and Charlie well from clubbing and gigging in London. Certainly shared a few drunken nights with Dave! It was in fact Dave and Charlie’s idea to ask me to join the band. Initially Paul refused on the basis that I had already said no once before. However, they talked him into asking me!

 

10- Basically, Refugee featured the very last line-up of what I informally call “the third Samson era” (1987-1990). Why did the 1989’s line-up disband anyway?

 

I was a fan before I joined and had saw Samson three times as a teenager supporting bands at the Glasgow Apollo. The problem for Paul with the Refugee line-up was that none of the guys wanted to play any old stuff. When I turned up at rehearsals they were gob-smacked when I asked about doing the likes of Losing My Grip, Riding With The Angels and Vice Versa! In fact they told me to shut up!

 

11- Are you pleased with the level of success that Refugee achieved?

 

I have never really been sure about the level of success the album achieved. I know it has been re-pressed a few times, but other than that I can’t really say. Up until about 2013, nobody appeared to be that interested. However, recently I have been asked more about my Samson time. In fact, at the recent Rockingham festival, I was quite taken aback by the number of people who asked me to sign copies of the Refugee album!

 

12- What are your best memories of Paul Samson and your Samson era?

I will always remember my first day in the studio doing the Refugee vocals. Paul and I spent the first day in the studio mostly on our own. Dave and Charlie were coming along later in the evening. Paul explained about them talking him into asking me to join and wanted to play a joke on them. When Dave and Charlie arrived, Paul switched the control room mic to mute and started shouting at Dave and Charlie telling them I was useless and hadn’t managed to do finish many vocals that day. Paul switched the mic back on and says, ‘Tell these guys how much you have managed to do today!’ In on the joke, I apologetically tell that I had been struggling today and only managed to get lead vocals for FIVE of the songs! Needless to say they both gave me abuse as I had managed to do lead vocals for half the album in the first day! The other bizarre memory was doing our Radio 1 Rock Show session. We turned up at the BBC studios and there had been a dispute with all the engineers walking out. We got left in the studio on our own and Paul basically recorded the session himself with Tony Wilson mixing it at a later date!

 

 

13- Thank you for this fantastic interview, Peter. You’re a stellar vocalist and a very polite person. Talk albout the last Moritz studio effort, which I’ve found compelling. I’m glad to see many former Samson members are still out there doing great music.

We took quite some time to complete About Time Too. We had about 14/15 demos for the album but it wasn’t really working out as Greg Hart wanted to continue moving in the ‘70s direction we adopted for SOS. However, none of the rest of us did. Greg left to form Cats In Space with the songs and we decided to start again with a few of the songs left over. Most of the songwriting was by Ian, Mike (Nolan) and myself. The album has a more of a hard rock side than previous albums, while retaining the AOR material we are known for. Songs like About Time Too/One More Beautiful Day and There’s Something About/Unwanted Man also move us into a slightly more pomp area too.

We decided to produce the album ourselves, as in Ian we have a great sound-recording engineer who gets what we are trying to achieve. In fact, to be honest, if it wasn’t for Ian, I doubt we would have finished the album! Nearly all the vocal melodies were mine with input from Ian and Mike. Most of these were recorded at Ian’s studio. At least two of the vocals that made it on to the album were actually guide vocals recorded at my friend Hugh Mulgrew’s home studio. They were actually recorded in his bathroom as the sound was so good in there and the quality of recording and performance was so good, we decided not to redo them!



Interview by Tiziano Caliendo.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORITZ: www.moritzband.com