Nov 1, 2000 - Issue #8

'ello,

I was going to do this a a couple of weeks ago, but I was working on lyrics and then England came up so I'm a little late. How are you all? Don't all answer at once.

Went to see Roy and Mike at Papillon in London. Caught my daughter, Tracie, and her band in the East End (rather spiffy his semi-accoustic thing they're doing. I think it brings out the strength of the songs and the lyrics).

Things are looking up in the Tracie department. My youngest, Jess, slaving away in the studio as we speak. Generations of Hunter-Pattersons inflicting their angst upon you!!! Must be in the genes. We had a Christening in the family. Friends were seen and meetings held and all in all my stomach is still turning cartwheels - a hectic week to say the last. Trudi's Birthday and our Anniversary - the house is full of flowers. Go back into the studio a week tomorrow. Papillon want it by Christmas for an April release.

And so to the mail. I can't remember when I did the Horse's Mouth last, but I think it was toward the end of September, so I'm starting to read this lot from 16th September. Here we go:

Grand Funk were OK to tour with in the U.S. but did a disappearing act on us in Europe. We only did a couple of gigs with them when they suddenly left. We thought we were going down a little too well, but I'm sure there was a much more mundane explanation for their pulling out.

Web Master, Todd, IS setting up a guest book, but I'm not sure when it will debut as of yet. It's is in the works though.

From Canada, was it "funky little boat race" in ATYD?

Yes. "At the Crossroads" was Guy Stevens idea. Nothing got bumped for it. It was in from the off as I remember.

Meyer Snow Plows Rock!

A lot of people ask me to do Storytellers on VH1. That's up to VH1. Maybe next year with the new album.

I always thought Rod Steward should have done "To Love A Woman". Happy 20th!

There's no studio versions of "Silver Needles" or "Man O' War". After "You're Never Alone..." I was empty and the decision was taken to do a live album with one side live of new material.

Was "Collateral Damage" taken from "Welcome to the Club" ? Not to my knowledge.

LA - here I come.

The old Pine Knob thing again. The show was canceled because it was never booked by me in the first place. I'm sure we'll wind up in Detroit next year - see you then.

Yes, I remember Razzleberry's in Katonah, NY. Judy was our babysitter and my strongest critic. We were in touch with the girls recently and all is well.

I get a fair amount of mail about the availability of various albums I've done. Where can you get them, etc. I really don't keep track of who puts out what - where and what's deleted. I don't really know about this stuff. There are other sites - Phil Holbrook, Justin Purington, Adrian Perkins, Sven......come to mind. I suggest you try there.

When am I coming home? Well I do come home - usually three or four times a year and quite honestly I don't like what I see. The people who run England stink, so I suppose my answer would be when England becomes England again. You might want to buy the next album due in April for further explanations.

Yeah, I liked that little gig in Leicester.

No snail mail address - this is it!

I can't remember who "Who Do You Love" was written about. I don't think it was about a DJ in Detroit though. In truth, I think it was "put together" as we liked the groove.

EBAY on the web. My mate Rick says he's seen concert footage for sale on EBAY. That's what I mean.

We did a lot with Aerosmith in the early days. Nice bunch of lads. Great front man. Kind of prefer their own stuff to Desmond Childe thought. "Walk This Way" - what a song - what a video!

Do we have anything on our site to sell. No, not yet. I thought it would be nice to show people we weren't selling anything. We'll get around to it if the demand presents itself. Right now I'm very busy and so is Trudi. When a bit of time opens up, we'll look at it.

I know YUIORTA is deleted. It was on Mercury records. It came out and then Dick Asher (the president and man who signed us)was fired. Polygram records had a huge turn around and this record disappeared along with all the others at that time. It is a shame as it is a good record, but I didn't have good management and you can't survive that kind of upheaval without strong management. Everytime I get a statement from them showing how much I am in the hole to them it annoys me. They are the record company. They made no effort to sell it or retrieve it later. To them it's gone; and with it five years of my life.

I loved Free. One of my all time favourites was "Catch A Train" - great Kossoff solo.

Tracie's cool. Watch out for her at Ronnie Scotts.

It was called the Felt Forum - and thanks? Bob Barnes - we need your!!! Yes, I was locked up in Indianapolis City Jail. The promoter was robbed in a hotel. I got mouthy with the management (one of whom was an off duty sergeant and the next thing I knew, I was in the old communal cage. We were doing 16 gigs in a row. This was our only night off and I spent it on a piss stained bench while the esteemed Ariel Bender lay in my bed drinking my finest wine. The funniest thing was in the cell beneath the courthouse at 6 AM the following morning people were discussing Mott's appearance locally that night. Suffice to say, me (minus shades) and looking about 90, went unrecognized.

Haven't got a clue about ABC footage of Mott. Try ABC.

"Rose" was a real person.

I will play in the Newcastle area - if not Newcastle 2001.

"Rest In Peace" was a song I wrote after seeing someone very dear to me play Madison Square Garden. They survived the gig and the song!

"Where Do You All Come From" - yes, I will consider it live. (And somebody said I don't do twelve bars!)

No, I didn't know OBTS was the No. 1 selling album in Newcastle stores for three weeks after our gig at the Opera House. But we all know now don't we - Great!

I don't know about Overnight Angels. I'm sorry - I just don't. It wasn't "My name is Ian Hunter and this is my Way of Life" IT WAS, "My name is Ian Hunter and this is my f_ _ _ing life! (The shame).

Yes, I do have two keys to the city of Cleveland. Actually, I have one. I gave the other to Joe Elliott. Two different mayors gave them to me. One was the young guy.

The Kinks were great song smiths - still are. Ray's lyrics are the best.

My hat's off. On the road was another matters entirely. I remember telling an entire audience I was having a party - gave them the hotel and the room number. Only thing was - it wasn't my party, wasn't my hotel and it wasn't my room number.

WFPK Rocks!!!

The American label we are in negotiations with at the moment for the U.S. release want to call it "Death of A Nation".

Lots of Letterman letters. Thank you very much!

If the secret's not in the bicycle shed you haven't lived.

Keep selling them records in Lexington, Kentucky!!

"Diary of a Rock Star" is still in print in England. Perhaps Trudi will provide an address here for those of you who haven't read it or lost it. (I'll look into that today - TP)

"Sons and Lovers" is an odd subject. I believe I said what I wanted to say in the song and have nothing further to add. By the way, "The Hoople" is out again in England.

All new web sites are welcome. Good luck with it.

No, I don't live in Greenwich. That's a long way from where we are.

Relax! More Letterman. The chief moan (actually the only moan) was obviously the commercials, but I did get a letter from them asking me back soon!

88.1 Radio Free Brattleboro rocks - all 10 watts of it!!!

I will come to Australia if I'm asked and the money is OK.

The Park West in Chicago. That was the place I went on about the Red Sox (as opposed to the White Sox) wasn't it?

I'm getting stuff from Sweden and Norway. Again, it's too early to say, but I do like Scandinavia and we're looking at new ways to approach Europe at the moment. Ricky Byrd? Well Ricky does his thing and I do mine. Ricky is great. One of his things is producing - my son Jesse at the moment.

Ricky's a fine guitar player and /singer/songwriter. It's just at the moment I'm working with Andy York- and enjoying every minute of it.

No, I never did write another book, but I do think about having a go at a novel when I'm a bit older. Wait and see......

It's true the only MTH tribute album was done in Japan under the supervision of my old compadre in arms, Morgan Fisher. We'll see what comes up in the New Year. I've never been to Japan (or Australia), but then you've got to be asked, haven't you.

Yeah, Germany. Like I said, we'll look at it. I'm not going back like last time. It's got to be done right.

I got a few emails from Florida this time. The truth of the matter is that I'm weak in that part of the country, but we'll see. I seem to remember Tampa was good, but I didn't do much business elsewhere down there.

Yes, I'll probably do Philly sometime soon. It's always been good to me.

The other four guys in MTH were in a band called "Silence" before MTH was formed. Stan Tippens was the singer in that band but decided he didn't want to do it anymore. They went up to Island Records and auditioned for Guy Stevens minus a singer. Guy liked them and they went looking for a singer. I took Stan's place (he was an absolute gentleman about it, fortunately, as he has a wicked right hook) and Guy renamed the band Mott the Hoople.

Have I made a fortune from Drew Carey? A small one - yes!

Joanne - Queen opened for us both in England and in the U.S.

I get mail from Canada - hopefully we'll get there.

Lovely letter from Holland, thanks.

No, MTH never recorded "Silver Needles" It was written post MTH.

Mark Armstrong: You were great on that tour. I geared the solos to you and that's the only time I got to do things like "Wild East" and "All American Alien Boy". I talk to Pat about once a year. Haven't heard from Roy is a while. Last heard of him in Florida. Loved working with you too. All the best. Remember that guy that left us to join the circus!!!

No documentaries were ever done on Mott. Stuff does exist, but nobody ever put it together. The Beeb were doing it at one point. Buff was involved, I think, but nothing happened.

I'd love to tour with Dylan. Probably have to turn it down a bit though.

I can't remember what I did with the "H" guitar. Big heavy thing. Pete Watts has one as well. We could hardly pick them up. Suitable for encores only.

A slack? Sorry, I don't know. You sure you don't mean a slag?

"Keep Yourself Alive" probably (If I were to do a Queen song, that's what it would be).

Yeah, we'll be back in England in 2001. Watch this channel.

"All American Alien Boy" track 5 originally started with "Singing In The Rain". I believe the track is "Rape". Gene Kelly rang my manager, Fred Heller, and although he understood it was tasteful and appropriate, he didn't want to "tarnish his image." When the CD was reissued, Mr. Kelly had regretfully passed away, so I guess the chance was taken. Or perhaps it was a mistake.

"All of the Good Ones Are Taken" did have a video with it and was in fact, nominated, at the very first MTV awards. It was fun to do and the big guy in it coached me enthusiastically (he'd already been in a few movies). Can't remember his name, (was it Captain Hagerty?) but he was great. There's a scene in Central park that we did in a boat - me and the big man. The boat was actually sinking with his weight and our feet were covered in water and the cassette player got waterlogged and gave up.

I haven't talked to Matts Ronander in a while but we have each others numbers and I respect Matts a lot. Great harp player, guitarist, singer and songwriter, plus the added asset of being a total nut case!!

Cuddles. They're all the way up Holloway Road. I was getting them every day we rehearsed.

A few requests for the Artiful Dodger - try CD now or an online service if you can't order it from a shop.

Gary - I told Ed I've got no spare shades. Com as in Ian Hunter.com Tremolo bar already there. Never mess with guitars.

S.T. hello to little Ian and all the other little Ian's out there. (There's a few.) Gaelic for John - "Gift from God" Shut it!

The favourite song I ever wrote? I can't answer that. Songs are written for different reasons. The more organic songs stay with me longer and are easier to play live, but I'd have to say your songs are your babies. Hard to name a favourite. I can name my least favourites. There's a few duff tunes in there. Hey, make up your own mind. I just write them. I don't have to listen to them too.

Hey Jack Nicholson got in for nothing. He was a mate of the owners. I knew that!

Boston bound - that's me. Love them white sox!!!

Somebody says here "Resurrection Mary's" one of the best things I've ever written. I'm glad somebody figured it out. I agree.

Ellen Foley. yeah, Mick and I produced that record. It was great fun doing it because we both knew and liked Foley a lot, but I'm not too fond of production. I'd rather write and get up and show off now and again.

Roll Away the Stone. A lot of people don't know this, but s a single in England it sold three times more copies than "Dudes" did. So there!

What did I use to do when Mick was playing FBI? Watch and listen.

I don't read many books. Actually, that's not true. I read quite a bit, but I have a lousy memory so I forget what I read. Reading Richard Grant's diaries at the moment. Now here's an amazingly talented guy who's not afraid to wear his fear on his sleeve. Brilliant intellect. How about Ian Pattison's book. Ralp C. Nesbitt - great Orwellian Govan phiosophy. Read all Orwells stuff. British writers on the whole are more exotic. Not keen on Top ten stuff. Having said that the Grant and Pattison books are probably on the best seller list in England. Excellent. Graham Greene now and again. Ian McEwan darkly erotic. Anythings better than the tele, let's face it. Oh yes, and a big book of Bob Dylan lyrics Robbie Altar gave me which sits on the shelf and silently frowns at me at all times when I'm in the basement.

Lisa was 15, thanks for your letter.

I played Belfast in 1968 with Freddie Fingers Lee. I think the promoters name was Kennedy and he met us off the ferry at 6 AM and took us to seven pubs before we arrived at the bed and breakfast. He managed Rory Gallagher and Taste was (I think) the name of Rory's band. Rory had yet to leave Ireland. So I was there in Ô68. What are you moaning about! We did Dublin in Ô97 I think and I thoroughly enjoyed it. All the Leps were there.

Well that it for now. I don't know when the next one will be as I start recording a week on Monday. Moving into NY for November and December. Hopefully we'll be finished by Christmas. You'll appreciate I can't touch each and every email I get, and I do feel a little guilty not replying to some of the mail telling me I've helped them through difficult times, but really I read them all and sometimes I'm touched by them, but what can I say. I do what I do to the best of my ability. They say music is a great healer and so I guess that's it. I'm only too happy to have been of service all these years. Keep Ôem coming. I'll try not to let you lot down!

Kindest regards

IH