Rock and Roll Survivor, Rock and Roll Storyteller
Muirsical Conversation With Del Bromham
Muirsical Conversation With Del Bromham
Del Bromham, who continues to proudly fly the Stray flag, is not just a nifty songwriter and guitarist; he's also never short of a great story or clever bit of word play.
The latter trait is underlined by About Time, the title of Stray’s latest album, named for both the recent lockdowns and now unrestful times we live and, more cheekily, the lengthy gap between Stray studio albums.
Indeed, it has been thirteen long years since previous studio album Valhalla, and only now that the quality of the current Stray line-up – Del Bromham (lead vocals, guitars, songwriter), Bromham's old Stray mate of the later 70s Pete Dyer (guitars), drummer Karl Randall (who has been with Bromham & Stray for close to 20 years), bassist Colin Kempster and keyboardist Simon Rinaldo – get to show their chops on new material.
Additionally, Rinaldo (also part of highly individualistic rock band Pearl Handled Revolver) plays an important part in the classic meets modern sound of About Time; he not only produced and engineered the album, he created a discernible 70s vibe, intentionally nodding to the Stray of that decade.
Del Bromham sat in with FabricationsHQ to discuss the album and a number of its pivotal songs, his 'receptive' approach to songwriting, being a rock and roll survivor (also the title of his autobiography, first released in 2022) and the fun he and John Verity are having performing re-interpretated covers together as Verity / Bromham (heard to fine effect on their Live! – At Last! album, released earlier this year).
But the conversation started by discussing just how the seeds for the new, and long-awaited, Stray album were sown…
Ross Muir: About Time is a long awaited and welcome studio album return for Stray; it's also great to hear this particular line-up delivering all new material, given the quality of both band and the new songs.
What kick-started the return of Stray to the studio?
Del Bromham: Do you know what, Ross, I don’t honestly know! I think what happened was, with the three piece line-up that did Valhalla, we were always so busy touring and playing that we just didn’t get round to doing another album.
Then Stuart Uren, who was playing bass at the time, wasn’t sure what he wanted to do; he then took himself off to live in Spain, which left me without a Stray band, as such.
So I ended up concentrating on playing with my Blues Devils band and performing solo stuff around my Nine Yards and White Feather solo albums; so I didn’t give too much thought to a new Stray album.
But then we got a new Stray line-up together, back in 2019; we did a bunch of shows and, with the exception of a couple of gigs, the attendances were pretty good, so we organised a second tour.
That tour had bookings right up to the end of the year and into the spring of the following year – but that, unfortunately, was March 2020 when Covid hit!
So everything came to a standstill, and became a case of "well, what are we going to do now?"
And that was a shame, because we could have used that downtime to do an album together, but we couldn’t because of the lockdowns and social distancing.
But, Simon Rinaldo, our keyboard player, said to me "Look, I’ve got my own studio; you could come over on your own and play some new songs if you have any?" To which I said, "I’ve Always got songs!"
So, I went over and put a couple of songs down then, later, Karl our drummer went over and put a beat to them. Then gradually, as time went on and the restrictions lessened, more of us were able to go to the studio, two or three at a time, and start to layer the songs up.
It was a lengthy process, but that was a little bit like how White Feather was done; just getting people in to do a bit at a time.
RM: So it was clearly all about the songs, and the quality of those songs, first, and how to piece it all together second.
DB: I’ve always been a song person; it’s not all about riffs, although there are riffs on this new album, but the basis of what I do has always been the song; I don’ t ever sit down and think of a riff, as such.
That’s why I’ve always been able to do acoustic shows, because if you want to hear a Stray song among my solo stuff or covers I do, I can do that, because that’s how they were written.
But, as I said, because of Covid it was a lengthier process, and a different process, because with a band you usually like to get together and play off of each other – but fortunately we were all on the same page.
We all contributed our own parts and different pieces and it ended up being the album we have, which I’m very, very pleased with.
RM: As you should be. As I said in review, About Time holds up against any Stray album you care to mention.
And it’s not just the songs, it’s the arrangements; plus with Simon, you have a great production, which nods to the 70s rock sound of the original band, but with a modern production perspective.
It may have been put together in pieces, so to speak, but every piece fits.
DB: And that’s something you just can’t plan. Any journalist would love me to turn round and give them a wonderful, constructive answer as to how it all fell into place, but it doesn’t work like that!
We were all in the same headspace about wanting to do it, though, which helped, but what was really special for me was Simon, Karl and Colin, who weren’t in the original line-up or part of the later seventies band, told me they have the greatest respect for the original band and those original albums. That was a lovely compliment.
And the sound wasn’t contrived – Simon was very aware that while we all wanted it to sound like the new band, and everyone to take credit for what they each contributed, we didn’t want to detract from what Stray had always been about, in terms of songs and sound.
Simon tried very hard to capture that plus, musically, although I didn’t think too much of it at the time, there are nods to days gone by – some of the fans from way back when won’t feel too alienated by thinking they are buying a new Stray album and it’s nothing like the old Stray.
I think this album has brought Stray up to date without running away from what we have done in the past, and what we were known for.
RM: Yes, it’s that ability to have a foot in both camps, or both eras, if you will.
The latter trait is underlined by About Time, the title of Stray’s latest album, named for both the recent lockdowns and now unrestful times we live and, more cheekily, the lengthy gap between Stray studio albums.
Indeed, it has been thirteen long years since previous studio album Valhalla, and only now that the quality of the current Stray line-up – Del Bromham (lead vocals, guitars, songwriter), Bromham's old Stray mate of the later 70s Pete Dyer (guitars), drummer Karl Randall (who has been with Bromham & Stray for close to 20 years), bassist Colin Kempster and keyboardist Simon Rinaldo – get to show their chops on new material.
Additionally, Rinaldo (also part of highly individualistic rock band Pearl Handled Revolver) plays an important part in the classic meets modern sound of About Time; he not only produced and engineered the album, he created a discernible 70s vibe, intentionally nodding to the Stray of that decade.
Del Bromham sat in with FabricationsHQ to discuss the album and a number of its pivotal songs, his 'receptive' approach to songwriting, being a rock and roll survivor (also the title of his autobiography, first released in 2022) and the fun he and John Verity are having performing re-interpretated covers together as Verity / Bromham (heard to fine effect on their Live! – At Last! album, released earlier this year).
But the conversation started by discussing just how the seeds for the new, and long-awaited, Stray album were sown…
Ross Muir: About Time is a long awaited and welcome studio album return for Stray; it's also great to hear this particular line-up delivering all new material, given the quality of both band and the new songs.
What kick-started the return of Stray to the studio?
Del Bromham: Do you know what, Ross, I don’t honestly know! I think what happened was, with the three piece line-up that did Valhalla, we were always so busy touring and playing that we just didn’t get round to doing another album.
Then Stuart Uren, who was playing bass at the time, wasn’t sure what he wanted to do; he then took himself off to live in Spain, which left me without a Stray band, as such.
So I ended up concentrating on playing with my Blues Devils band and performing solo stuff around my Nine Yards and White Feather solo albums; so I didn’t give too much thought to a new Stray album.
But then we got a new Stray line-up together, back in 2019; we did a bunch of shows and, with the exception of a couple of gigs, the attendances were pretty good, so we organised a second tour.
That tour had bookings right up to the end of the year and into the spring of the following year – but that, unfortunately, was March 2020 when Covid hit!
So everything came to a standstill, and became a case of "well, what are we going to do now?"
And that was a shame, because we could have used that downtime to do an album together, but we couldn’t because of the lockdowns and social distancing.
But, Simon Rinaldo, our keyboard player, said to me "Look, I’ve got my own studio; you could come over on your own and play some new songs if you have any?" To which I said, "I’ve Always got songs!"
So, I went over and put a couple of songs down then, later, Karl our drummer went over and put a beat to them. Then gradually, as time went on and the restrictions lessened, more of us were able to go to the studio, two or three at a time, and start to layer the songs up.
It was a lengthy process, but that was a little bit like how White Feather was done; just getting people in to do a bit at a time.
RM: So it was clearly all about the songs, and the quality of those songs, first, and how to piece it all together second.
DB: I’ve always been a song person; it’s not all about riffs, although there are riffs on this new album, but the basis of what I do has always been the song; I don’ t ever sit down and think of a riff, as such.
That’s why I’ve always been able to do acoustic shows, because if you want to hear a Stray song among my solo stuff or covers I do, I can do that, because that’s how they were written.
But, as I said, because of Covid it was a lengthier process, and a different process, because with a band you usually like to get together and play off of each other – but fortunately we were all on the same page.
We all contributed our own parts and different pieces and it ended up being the album we have, which I’m very, very pleased with.
RM: As you should be. As I said in review, About Time holds up against any Stray album you care to mention.
And it’s not just the songs, it’s the arrangements; plus with Simon, you have a great production, which nods to the 70s rock sound of the original band, but with a modern production perspective.
It may have been put together in pieces, so to speak, but every piece fits.
DB: And that’s something you just can’t plan. Any journalist would love me to turn round and give them a wonderful, constructive answer as to how it all fell into place, but it doesn’t work like that!
We were all in the same headspace about wanting to do it, though, which helped, but what was really special for me was Simon, Karl and Colin, who weren’t in the original line-up or part of the later seventies band, told me they have the greatest respect for the original band and those original albums. That was a lovely compliment.
And the sound wasn’t contrived – Simon was very aware that while we all wanted it to sound like the new band, and everyone to take credit for what they each contributed, we didn’t want to detract from what Stray had always been about, in terms of songs and sound.
Simon tried very hard to capture that plus, musically, although I didn’t think too much of it at the time, there are nods to days gone by – some of the fans from way back when won’t feel too alienated by thinking they are buying a new Stray album and it’s nothing like the old Stray.
I think this album has brought Stray up to date without running away from what we have done in the past, and what we were known for.
RM: Yes, it’s that ability to have a foot in both camps, or both eras, if you will.
RM: As you just made mention of, in connection with the album’s title, many of the songs reflect the times we now live in. Social injustice lyricism and topics such as climate change, are very much to the fore.
But then storytelling has always been part of your repertoire.
DB: Yes. I think, as I’ve said before, if I had lived in medieval times, I might have been one of those wandering minstrels or storytelling troubadours! [laughs]
I guess, sometimes, my own opinions do come out, but what I really try to do is write everything in the third person; then it’s up to the listener to guess if it’s me saying that or what someone else might be thinking.
And that’s something that can be referred right back to the title track from Stray’s second album, Suicide.
At the time, I remember, there were one or two people who thought I was being racist, but I was being anything but racist. The lyric, which was based on a couple of stories I had read around the time, was from the viewpoint of a black guy who felt his life was so worthless that if he committed suicide, nobody would miss him. That was the whole point of the song, to tell the story from that viewpoint.
RM: And very much one that needed telling. One song on About Time that is very much you, however, is opener, I Am. That song makes for both a very strong opening statement and a musical afterword to your autobiography Rock And Roll Survivor. Indeed, it includes that very line.
DB: I have to tell you though, that it’s a bit chicken or egg, because I can’t remember which one came first, the song or the book! Both were around the same time.
I Am was also one of the first songs I took to Simon, well before we started recording. I wanted to play it to him, and the band, because I honestly didn’t think they would like it.
We had started to have some discussion about what a new album should be like and I thought they would see and hear that song as being a bit too personal.
But I’m very flattered to be able to say that, when Simon and Karl heard it, they looked at each other and said "We wanna do that one – that’s a great song!" I was pleased and pleasantly surprised by that.
Yes, I Am is obviously about me, and how I feel, but it was also a bit tongue in cheek – calling myself "a rock and roll survivor" and all of that. But then I thought, in the bigger picture, with some of the other people that are still around – like Mick Box, who I know very well – we are all rock and roll survivors.
The stories I know about the musicians I’m aware of, or friends with, they go through such hell at times for their music and their art; yet after all these years guys like Mick, myself and whoever, are still here.
You have to be strong to maintain that over the years; to survive through all the knocks you take.
But then storytelling has always been part of your repertoire.
DB: Yes. I think, as I’ve said before, if I had lived in medieval times, I might have been one of those wandering minstrels or storytelling troubadours! [laughs]
I guess, sometimes, my own opinions do come out, but what I really try to do is write everything in the third person; then it’s up to the listener to guess if it’s me saying that or what someone else might be thinking.
And that’s something that can be referred right back to the title track from Stray’s second album, Suicide.
At the time, I remember, there were one or two people who thought I was being racist, but I was being anything but racist. The lyric, which was based on a couple of stories I had read around the time, was from the viewpoint of a black guy who felt his life was so worthless that if he committed suicide, nobody would miss him. That was the whole point of the song, to tell the story from that viewpoint.
RM: And very much one that needed telling. One song on About Time that is very much you, however, is opener, I Am. That song makes for both a very strong opening statement and a musical afterword to your autobiography Rock And Roll Survivor. Indeed, it includes that very line.
DB: I have to tell you though, that it’s a bit chicken or egg, because I can’t remember which one came first, the song or the book! Both were around the same time.
I Am was also one of the first songs I took to Simon, well before we started recording. I wanted to play it to him, and the band, because I honestly didn’t think they would like it.
We had started to have some discussion about what a new album should be like and I thought they would see and hear that song as being a bit too personal.
But I’m very flattered to be able to say that, when Simon and Karl heard it, they looked at each other and said "We wanna do that one – that’s a great song!" I was pleased and pleasantly surprised by that.
Yes, I Am is obviously about me, and how I feel, but it was also a bit tongue in cheek – calling myself "a rock and roll survivor" and all of that. But then I thought, in the bigger picture, with some of the other people that are still around – like Mick Box, who I know very well – we are all rock and roll survivors.
The stories I know about the musicians I’m aware of, or friends with, they go through such hell at times for their music and their art; yet after all these years guys like Mick, myself and whoever, are still here.
You have to be strong to maintain that over the years; to survive through all the knocks you take.
RM: I Am is but one of many strong musical and lyrical statements on the album – 'Black Sun' for example is a tour de force of progressively styled blues rock.
That song opens in fine, classic Stray style but makes a modern impact through its climate message chorus and a great Celtic jig C part. One of Stray’s best, of any era.
DB: I actually did that jig part for you, Ross, because you know I’m a patronising so and so! [loud laughter]
Thinking about the chorus of that song goes hand in hand with a very strange kind of experience I had.
I already had a lot of songs written, as I said before, but after having had the conversation with Simon about doing some recording – and I don't know whey I did this – I started to flick through TV channels one evening.
I came across BBC doing an evening of Glastonbury highlights of the last fifty years, because this was when Covid was around and there wasn’t going to be a Glastonbury that year.
The thing that struck me while watching a lot of the Glastonbury sets – and it’s not a million miles from what I endeavour to do anyway – was that even the less known acts featured on the highlights show, after a few lines, or a verse of two, or as soon as they hit the chorus, was that the crowd had their hands in the air and were really into the song. And this was with bands that the audience might not be that familiar with.
And I thought "this is exactly what I’ve always tried to do" – get to the hook and make an impact, whether that be musically or lyrically.
So I wrote a few more new songs with exactly that in mind, but they honestly weren’t contrived because although I wrote them and they are my songs – and I know this sounds a bit corny – as regards the inspiration behind them I don’t honestly know where they come from!
But I do think that was in the back of my mind; to make them catchy, to make them appeal to everybody.
I wanted to make them radio friendly as well, or at least songs that people would be prepared to play on radio, and get them.
Interestingly enough, one of the first songs I thought would be ideal for the band was Raise Your Hand, which we included as a bonus track, because that’s exactly what the Glastonbury audiences were doing – everyone was raising their hands. Every band on that show I watched, at some point, had the audience raising their hands, chanting along.
And that’s what I did with that song – If you agree with me, raise your hand. But then I guess I ended up making that song a little more political too [laughs] but that’s kinda how some of those songs, like the chorus for Black Sun, came about for the album; that catchy hook idea was always in my mind.
RM: Your mention of Raise Your Hand brings up another topic I wanted to discuss, the album sequencing.
About Time is a concise, seven songs and forty one minutes, but you included three bonus tracks, one of which is Raise Your Hand.
That sequencing works very well, because those three songs do sound like bonus tracks; they don’t quite catch the vibe, mood, or weight, if you will, of the album, but as individual tracks they are worthy of inclusion.
DB: Yeah, I know what you mean. Once we had recorded all the tracks – and there was one other we never completed – we just felt that those first seven songs flowed into each other; I don’t know why that was, but it just felt right.
Also, we were thinking about the vinyl edition and seven songs and forty-one minutes worked well for that, too, because after forty-five minutes you can get a bit of a problem with vinyl.
Of the other bonus tracks, That Is Not Enough is more like something people might think would be on my last solo album. Dust In Your Pocket could have been on an older Stray album, but it didn’t have the electricity, shall we say – but then it is primarily acoustic [laughs] – of those first seven songs.
Lyrically too, as you touched on, those first seven songs are, one way or another, linked to each other.
They are about life, what’s going on around us, and the times we are now living in. It really is about time!
RM: I do have to say however one of my favourite songs across all ten tracks is Dust In Your Pocket; it’s just such a delightful, lighter shaded song with some great harmonies.
DB: It’s funny you should say that because Peter Muir, who you know, and has since joined out merry throng having done PR for this album, loves all the tracks but particularly liked Dust In My Pocket.
Pete Feenstra too, who was one of the first to review the album, particularly liked a couple of the bonus tracks; but the overall point that both Peter and Pete made was that, as a product, this album really does have something on there for everybody.
A radio station could pick up the album and say "OK, we won’t play this one because it’s too long, but we will play that one" – like Dust In Your pocket.
That song opens in fine, classic Stray style but makes a modern impact through its climate message chorus and a great Celtic jig C part. One of Stray’s best, of any era.
DB: I actually did that jig part for you, Ross, because you know I’m a patronising so and so! [loud laughter]
Thinking about the chorus of that song goes hand in hand with a very strange kind of experience I had.
I already had a lot of songs written, as I said before, but after having had the conversation with Simon about doing some recording – and I don't know whey I did this – I started to flick through TV channels one evening.
I came across BBC doing an evening of Glastonbury highlights of the last fifty years, because this was when Covid was around and there wasn’t going to be a Glastonbury that year.
The thing that struck me while watching a lot of the Glastonbury sets – and it’s not a million miles from what I endeavour to do anyway – was that even the less known acts featured on the highlights show, after a few lines, or a verse of two, or as soon as they hit the chorus, was that the crowd had their hands in the air and were really into the song. And this was with bands that the audience might not be that familiar with.
And I thought "this is exactly what I’ve always tried to do" – get to the hook and make an impact, whether that be musically or lyrically.
So I wrote a few more new songs with exactly that in mind, but they honestly weren’t contrived because although I wrote them and they are my songs – and I know this sounds a bit corny – as regards the inspiration behind them I don’t honestly know where they come from!
But I do think that was in the back of my mind; to make them catchy, to make them appeal to everybody.
I wanted to make them radio friendly as well, or at least songs that people would be prepared to play on radio, and get them.
Interestingly enough, one of the first songs I thought would be ideal for the band was Raise Your Hand, which we included as a bonus track, because that’s exactly what the Glastonbury audiences were doing – everyone was raising their hands. Every band on that show I watched, at some point, had the audience raising their hands, chanting along.
And that’s what I did with that song – If you agree with me, raise your hand. But then I guess I ended up making that song a little more political too [laughs] but that’s kinda how some of those songs, like the chorus for Black Sun, came about for the album; that catchy hook idea was always in my mind.
RM: Your mention of Raise Your Hand brings up another topic I wanted to discuss, the album sequencing.
About Time is a concise, seven songs and forty one minutes, but you included three bonus tracks, one of which is Raise Your Hand.
That sequencing works very well, because those three songs do sound like bonus tracks; they don’t quite catch the vibe, mood, or weight, if you will, of the album, but as individual tracks they are worthy of inclusion.
DB: Yeah, I know what you mean. Once we had recorded all the tracks – and there was one other we never completed – we just felt that those first seven songs flowed into each other; I don’t know why that was, but it just felt right.
Also, we were thinking about the vinyl edition and seven songs and forty-one minutes worked well for that, too, because after forty-five minutes you can get a bit of a problem with vinyl.
Of the other bonus tracks, That Is Not Enough is more like something people might think would be on my last solo album. Dust In Your Pocket could have been on an older Stray album, but it didn’t have the electricity, shall we say – but then it is primarily acoustic [laughs] – of those first seven songs.
Lyrically too, as you touched on, those first seven songs are, one way or another, linked to each other.
They are about life, what’s going on around us, and the times we are now living in. It really is about time!
RM: I do have to say however one of my favourite songs across all ten tracks is Dust In Your Pocket; it’s just such a delightful, lighter shaded song with some great harmonies.
DB: It’s funny you should say that because Peter Muir, who you know, and has since joined out merry throng having done PR for this album, loves all the tracks but particularly liked Dust In My Pocket.
Pete Feenstra too, who was one of the first to review the album, particularly liked a couple of the bonus tracks; but the overall point that both Peter and Pete made was that, as a product, this album really does have something on there for everybody.
A radio station could pick up the album and say "OK, we won’t play this one because it’s too long, but we will play that one" – like Dust In Your pocket.
DB: Going back to your own comment about Dust In Your Pocket being a favourite, I’ve had a number of people come to me after hearing the album and, although we are supposed to be a rock band, saying they love Dust In Your Pocket, and that it's one of their favourite songs.
But then that’s kinda the same as the albums we did in the seventies, and the songs I thought people might not like so much. But now, at gigs, or via emails, or messages, or whatever, I have people coming up to me saying "I wasn’t so sure about that song then, but I love it now!"
Now whether that’s an age thing, I don’t know, but some of our lighter, or poppier songs, have now become some of the favourites.
But then as you well know Ross, that was always the problem the music business had with Stray; they could never pigeonhole us; our albums were always full of different styles.
At the end of the day though I just write songs, from heavy rock to acoustic pop, and hope people like them!
RM: And therein lay, and lies, Stray’s greatest strength – and, as it turned out from an industry point of view, greatest weakness – musical diversity.
Labels and marketing suits just had to pigeonhole things and, sadly, it’s much the same now, and I would argue worse, because it seems to me that to make progress or get noticed, you have to sound a certain way, or be shaped a certain way, or be marketable a certain way. I find that quite depressing.
DB: Well, the thing for me – and you and I have spoken before about this – is that I was brought up on songwriting, and actual songs, no matter the genre.
All this thing about pigeonholing… I mean the Beatles weren’t exactly a band you could pigeonhole as they started to progress through their later albums. Each record was different, and in fact every song on any Beatles album is different! I thought "Well, if it’s good enough for them then it’s good enough for me! [laughs]
RM: Absolutely. One-dimensionality, no matter how popular, strangles creativity.
More power to the more multi-faceted fighting against that one-dimensionality.
DB: On that very topic, I was hoping that Sword Of Damocles, the last track that makes up the seven album songs, is the title of the next James Bond movie, because when I was writing that song I thought "This would make a great film theme!" [laughs]
RM: Oh it’s a big screen styled beast of a number, for sure; one that is quite subtle in arrangement before kicking in to that big, Zeppelin-esque section. In fact, the weight of that section, along with your lyric, beautifully complements the title and its meaning.
DB: The actual story of the sword of Damocles, and Dionysius, is fascinating in itself, but I can imagine being a politician is similar, like that old saying "spend a day in my shoes."
It’s that same kind of situation; you just can’t do right for doing wrong; there’s always someone somewhere going to try and take you down if you are in a position of authority.
So I just thought it was a great story, one that still holds true today – and Sword Of Damocles is also a great title, because it has an air of mysticism about it!
That’s another of those songs where I’m not sure where it came from; it came to me in about fifteen minutes.
I couldn’t get it off of the pen quick enough – it just kept coming!
RM: Some people, and other songwriters, see or sense what you are describing as a form of channelling.
DB: I honestly don’t know where they sometimes come from; I might not even be thinking about writing a song, but sometimes it will just come into my head, almost as if I’m an aerial to receive something.
That’s when I start writing stuff down and sometimes, as just mentioned, I just can’t write quick enough – it happens so quickly that I have to do it freehand!
If I had to sit down and actually think about writing something, I can almost guarantee you that it’s not going to sound as good as the one that came quickly; it’s just such a bizarre thing.
Some might get it, but there are others who won’t understand it at all, because there are some people, and other songwriters, who regard songwriting as almost like creating a mathematical equation – there has to be so many bars in this section, then so many bars in that section, and that word has to rhyme with this word…
I don’t really subscribe to that way of writing; it’s not creative as such, not for me.
RM: As regards the feeling you are an aerial receiving songs, or getting ideas from somewhere else, you are in very good company.
Francis Dunnery said to me some years back that the songs come from somewhere else, and usually all at the same time; ex YES singer Jon Anderson believes himself to be a conduit, with the music arriving from somewhere else. There’s many more like them.
DB: I also read that Paul McCartney thinks the same thing sometimes happens to him – [impersonates McCartney] "Sometimes I wrote with John, but others just come to me; I dunno where they come from!"
RM: [laughs] As I said, very good company. Talking of which, you’ve also been in the company of late of John Verity, playing live as Verity / Bromham on selected dates and a number of festivals.
You obviously know John from back in the day and the live circuit, but how did the Verity Bromham get-together come about?
DB: It was a weird thing really, because as you said John and I have known each other for years, but we had never worked together before – and we only live about twenty-five minutes away from each other!
Around the time we were just coming out of Covid, I got a call out of the blue from Peter Barton of Peter Barton Management. Peter is an ideas man; he keeps coming up with different things.
He said to me "I’ve had this idea. You know John Verity, and I think it would be great if you two got together and did a set of cover songs; ones you and John are familiar with from back in the day."
I said "But you can go down the pub and see any number of band doing classic covers any day of the week!"
He replied "No, you ‘re not getting it; l think people would be really interested to see what you and John would do with some of these songs, bringing your own interpretations."
So, long story short, John and I got together, decided what songs we would play, did a rehearsal, and it was like we had always played with each other – it was so natural!
The first show we did was the Colne Rock And Blues Festival and that was quite daunting because I hadn’t done anything like this for a long, long time – and having billed it as Verity Bromham I was now thinking this could go horribly wrong and sorry, I‘ll never darken your stage again! [laughter]
More to the point, we were on fairly early, at five o’clock in the afternoon, for our very first gig, and we were following The Animals and Friends who had just done an hour’s set of great Animals songs!
So, we walk on stage, and before we had so much as struck a note I get to the microphone and said "Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to imagine it’s actually about ten o’clock at night, you’ve all had a few beers, and if you want to join in on some of the songs we are about to play please do!"
I guess that was my psychological safety net [laughs] but, as it turned out, we went down great!
I remember coming off stage, followed John into the dressing room and, as we were standing there, said "What happened there? It went down a storm!"
But then Peter Barton reckoned we would go down great at some of these rock and blues festivals, and he was right!
But then that’s kinda the same as the albums we did in the seventies, and the songs I thought people might not like so much. But now, at gigs, or via emails, or messages, or whatever, I have people coming up to me saying "I wasn’t so sure about that song then, but I love it now!"
Now whether that’s an age thing, I don’t know, but some of our lighter, or poppier songs, have now become some of the favourites.
But then as you well know Ross, that was always the problem the music business had with Stray; they could never pigeonhole us; our albums were always full of different styles.
At the end of the day though I just write songs, from heavy rock to acoustic pop, and hope people like them!
RM: And therein lay, and lies, Stray’s greatest strength – and, as it turned out from an industry point of view, greatest weakness – musical diversity.
Labels and marketing suits just had to pigeonhole things and, sadly, it’s much the same now, and I would argue worse, because it seems to me that to make progress or get noticed, you have to sound a certain way, or be shaped a certain way, or be marketable a certain way. I find that quite depressing.
DB: Well, the thing for me – and you and I have spoken before about this – is that I was brought up on songwriting, and actual songs, no matter the genre.
All this thing about pigeonholing… I mean the Beatles weren’t exactly a band you could pigeonhole as they started to progress through their later albums. Each record was different, and in fact every song on any Beatles album is different! I thought "Well, if it’s good enough for them then it’s good enough for me! [laughs]
RM: Absolutely. One-dimensionality, no matter how popular, strangles creativity.
More power to the more multi-faceted fighting against that one-dimensionality.
DB: On that very topic, I was hoping that Sword Of Damocles, the last track that makes up the seven album songs, is the title of the next James Bond movie, because when I was writing that song I thought "This would make a great film theme!" [laughs]
RM: Oh it’s a big screen styled beast of a number, for sure; one that is quite subtle in arrangement before kicking in to that big, Zeppelin-esque section. In fact, the weight of that section, along with your lyric, beautifully complements the title and its meaning.
DB: The actual story of the sword of Damocles, and Dionysius, is fascinating in itself, but I can imagine being a politician is similar, like that old saying "spend a day in my shoes."
It’s that same kind of situation; you just can’t do right for doing wrong; there’s always someone somewhere going to try and take you down if you are in a position of authority.
So I just thought it was a great story, one that still holds true today – and Sword Of Damocles is also a great title, because it has an air of mysticism about it!
That’s another of those songs where I’m not sure where it came from; it came to me in about fifteen minutes.
I couldn’t get it off of the pen quick enough – it just kept coming!
RM: Some people, and other songwriters, see or sense what you are describing as a form of channelling.
DB: I honestly don’t know where they sometimes come from; I might not even be thinking about writing a song, but sometimes it will just come into my head, almost as if I’m an aerial to receive something.
That’s when I start writing stuff down and sometimes, as just mentioned, I just can’t write quick enough – it happens so quickly that I have to do it freehand!
If I had to sit down and actually think about writing something, I can almost guarantee you that it’s not going to sound as good as the one that came quickly; it’s just such a bizarre thing.
Some might get it, but there are others who won’t understand it at all, because there are some people, and other songwriters, who regard songwriting as almost like creating a mathematical equation – there has to be so many bars in this section, then so many bars in that section, and that word has to rhyme with this word…
I don’t really subscribe to that way of writing; it’s not creative as such, not for me.
RM: As regards the feeling you are an aerial receiving songs, or getting ideas from somewhere else, you are in very good company.
Francis Dunnery said to me some years back that the songs come from somewhere else, and usually all at the same time; ex YES singer Jon Anderson believes himself to be a conduit, with the music arriving from somewhere else. There’s many more like them.
DB: I also read that Paul McCartney thinks the same thing sometimes happens to him – [impersonates McCartney] "Sometimes I wrote with John, but others just come to me; I dunno where they come from!"
RM: [laughs] As I said, very good company. Talking of which, you’ve also been in the company of late of John Verity, playing live as Verity / Bromham on selected dates and a number of festivals.
You obviously know John from back in the day and the live circuit, but how did the Verity Bromham get-together come about?
DB: It was a weird thing really, because as you said John and I have known each other for years, but we had never worked together before – and we only live about twenty-five minutes away from each other!
Around the time we were just coming out of Covid, I got a call out of the blue from Peter Barton of Peter Barton Management. Peter is an ideas man; he keeps coming up with different things.
He said to me "I’ve had this idea. You know John Verity, and I think it would be great if you two got together and did a set of cover songs; ones you and John are familiar with from back in the day."
I said "But you can go down the pub and see any number of band doing classic covers any day of the week!"
He replied "No, you ‘re not getting it; l think people would be really interested to see what you and John would do with some of these songs, bringing your own interpretations."
So, long story short, John and I got together, decided what songs we would play, did a rehearsal, and it was like we had always played with each other – it was so natural!
The first show we did was the Colne Rock And Blues Festival and that was quite daunting because I hadn’t done anything like this for a long, long time – and having billed it as Verity Bromham I was now thinking this could go horribly wrong and sorry, I‘ll never darken your stage again! [laughter]
More to the point, we were on fairly early, at five o’clock in the afternoon, for our very first gig, and we were following The Animals and Friends who had just done an hour’s set of great Animals songs!
So, we walk on stage, and before we had so much as struck a note I get to the microphone and said "Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to imagine it’s actually about ten o’clock at night, you’ve all had a few beers, and if you want to join in on some of the songs we are about to play please do!"
I guess that was my psychological safety net [laughs] but, as it turned out, we went down great!
I remember coming off stage, followed John into the dressing room and, as we were standing there, said "What happened there? It went down a storm!"
But then Peter Barton reckoned we would go down great at some of these rock and blues festivals, and he was right!
We then did the Carlisle Blues Festival, and that went so well they booked us to play it again this year too, which we did – and that’s unusual because they usually don’t book the same people back two years running.
I’ve got a video film of that first Carlisle gig with people singing at the top of their voices, and we even had some of guys I know from other bands coming up and saying "That was great!"
I was a little bit embarrassed about that initially because I’ve been going on stages and appearing at festivals for so long with my own projects, with original material, and now there’s me banging out a load of covers!
I said to those guys "Yeah, it did go down great but I still don’t get it!"
They said "No, you don’t, do you. People are genuinely interested to hear what you and John do with the songs because you don’t do them exactly as the originals; it’s not any sort of tribute, it’s your interpretations".
So, that has become an interesting little side project and one that’s a lot of fun, because it transpires that John has the same sort of warped sense of humour as me!
RM: Oh, he very much has [laughs]. The other thing you have in common, and I’m so glad this has become a reality, is autobiographies. I’ve been haranguing John for years to get a book out, because he has such fabulous stories, and quite the career.
DB: Yes, and that was my fault! [laughs]. When we get together for our gigs he’s always telling me his stories, so I said to him "You should write a book" to which he said "No-one would be interested!"
I told him people absolutely would be interested, so I spoke to Jerry Bloom of Wymer Publishing about the idea of John writing a book and, consequently, it came out earlier this month!
RM: Excellent. I also hope you will be back out on the road next year for selected dates as Verity / Bromham?
DB: We will, yes, and we will be coming north of the border too! Not all gigs are confirmed yet but we’re definitely looking to be playing up at Backstage in Kinross in the spring.
We’ve both played their separately, so it will be nice to be playing there together.
RM: Looking forward to it. Meantime, continued success in all you do and congratulations again on an excellent Stray album; it was, indeed, About Time!
DB: [laughs] Thank you so much for your time Ross, and thanks for all your support over the years – it’s greatly appreciated!
Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with Del Bromham
November 2023
Photo Credits: Rock And Roll Survivor book shoot image (top photo) by Lee Scriven; all other images press/ promotional stock.
Stray - About Time: http://www.straytheband.co.uk/stray-about-time/
Stray website: http://www.straytheband.co.uk/
Purchase Verity / Bromham - Live! – At Last! here:
https://www.johnverity.com/merchandise/393-verity-bromham-live-at-last-pre-release
Books:
Del Bromham - Rock And Roll Survivor
https://www.wymeruk.co.uk/webshop/books/rock/stray/rock-and-roll-survivor-paperback/
John Verity - This Rock 'n' Roll Won't Last You Know!
https://www.wymeruk.co.uk/webshop/books/rock/john-verity/this-rock-n-roll-won-t-last-you-know-by-john-verity/
I’ve got a video film of that first Carlisle gig with people singing at the top of their voices, and we even had some of guys I know from other bands coming up and saying "That was great!"
I was a little bit embarrassed about that initially because I’ve been going on stages and appearing at festivals for so long with my own projects, with original material, and now there’s me banging out a load of covers!
I said to those guys "Yeah, it did go down great but I still don’t get it!"
They said "No, you don’t, do you. People are genuinely interested to hear what you and John do with the songs because you don’t do them exactly as the originals; it’s not any sort of tribute, it’s your interpretations".
So, that has become an interesting little side project and one that’s a lot of fun, because it transpires that John has the same sort of warped sense of humour as me!
RM: Oh, he very much has [laughs]. The other thing you have in common, and I’m so glad this has become a reality, is autobiographies. I’ve been haranguing John for years to get a book out, because he has such fabulous stories, and quite the career.
DB: Yes, and that was my fault! [laughs]. When we get together for our gigs he’s always telling me his stories, so I said to him "You should write a book" to which he said "No-one would be interested!"
I told him people absolutely would be interested, so I spoke to Jerry Bloom of Wymer Publishing about the idea of John writing a book and, consequently, it came out earlier this month!
RM: Excellent. I also hope you will be back out on the road next year for selected dates as Verity / Bromham?
DB: We will, yes, and we will be coming north of the border too! Not all gigs are confirmed yet but we’re definitely looking to be playing up at Backstage in Kinross in the spring.
We’ve both played their separately, so it will be nice to be playing there together.
RM: Looking forward to it. Meantime, continued success in all you do and congratulations again on an excellent Stray album; it was, indeed, About Time!
DB: [laughs] Thank you so much for your time Ross, and thanks for all your support over the years – it’s greatly appreciated!
Ross Muir
Muirsical Conversation with Del Bromham
November 2023
Photo Credits: Rock And Roll Survivor book shoot image (top photo) by Lee Scriven; all other images press/ promotional stock.
Stray - About Time: http://www.straytheband.co.uk/stray-about-time/
Stray website: http://www.straytheband.co.uk/
Purchase Verity / Bromham - Live! – At Last! here:
https://www.johnverity.com/merchandise/393-verity-bromham-live-at-last-pre-release
Books:
Del Bromham - Rock And Roll Survivor
https://www.wymeruk.co.uk/webshop/books/rock/stray/rock-and-roll-survivor-paperback/
John Verity - This Rock 'n' Roll Won't Last You Know!
https://www.wymeruk.co.uk/webshop/books/rock/john-verity/this-rock-n-roll-won-t-last-you-know-by-john-verity/