graham parker Archive
05 Nov 2021
Graham Parker: The Bonus Interview, Part Two
Continued from Part One… Graham Parker: Donna Summer…I have a Donna Summer record. It’s fantastic! I would much rather put that on a stereo than a punk record any day of the week. Having said that, there were some great talents. I just watched a documentary of X-Ray Spex featuring Poly Styrene. It’s a great
04 Nov 2021
Graham Parker: The Bonus Interview, Part One
I recently had the distinct pleasure of conversing with Graham Parker. My third time interviewing him (here’s the first, from 2014; here’s the second, from 2018), this time for a feature that was published by esteemed altweekly Metro Silicon Valley, I took a different approach than our previous chats. While the interview was in connection
03 Nov 2021
Graham Parker: Those ‘Soul Shoes’ Still Fit
Guitarist, singer and songwriter Graham Parker first came to the attention of American audiences during the punk and new wave era of the late 1970s and early ‘80s. As a result, he was sometimes mentioned in the same breath as acts like the Sex Pistols, but musically he had relatively little in common with the
12 Jun 2018
Graham Parker: Sticking to It (Part 2)
Continued from Part One… Parker was a mere 25 years old when Howlin’ Wind was released. Today he’s 67. Because of the straightforward, heart-on-the-sleeve quality of his lyrics, it’s fair to wonder if those early songs resonate with him. Or, when he sings “Soul Shoes,” does he feel that he’s a man in his sixties
11 Jun 2018
Graham Parker: Sticking to It (Part 1)
When Graham Parker came on the music scene in the mid 1970s, he was pegged as an angry young man of the new wave movement. And while that label always overstated the case, there was an acerbic and barbed quality to both Parker’s lyrics and his manner of delivery. Still, at his best Parker created
21 Apr 2014
Ask Me Some Questions: The Graham Parker Interview, Part 4
Continued from Part Three… Bill Kopp: As much as I love your songwriting, two of my favorite tunes of yours have always been “Hold Back the Night” and “I Want You Back,” both soul/r&b covers. How did you discover that sort of music when you were young, and – since it has clearly influenced your
18 Apr 2014
Ask Me Some Questions: The Graham Parker Interview, Part 3
Continued from Part Two… Bill Kopp: As the new Ask Me No Questions documentary points out, you parted ways with The Rumour after The Up Escalator (1980), but with the exception of Another Grey Area (1982), you pretty much continued to work with guitarist Brinsley Schwarz on many of your recordings. What was it about
17 Apr 2014
Ask Me Some Questions: The Graham Parker Interview, Part 2
Continued from Part One… Bill Kopp: In the new documentary film Don’t Ask Me Questions, you come off very authentically as a sensitive, soft-spoken individual. But back in the 80s, like many people, I think, I was convinced of your reputation as an angry, sort of perhaps even confrontational artist. How and why do you
16 Apr 2014
Ask Me Some Questions: The Graham Parker Interview, Part 1
Once pegged as one of rock’s angry young men, these days Graham Parker is neither angry nor young. And while his profile these last few decades has been lower than in his commercial heyday (1976 to the mid 80s, and even then only a modest commercial success), Parker has continued to release a remarkably consistent
10 Apr 2014
Preview: The Graham Parker Interview
I first discovered the music of Graham Parker in the early-early 80s, in the finale year of my high school career. This was before MTV; if I recall correctly – this was a looong time ago – I learned of him via his association with other British acts I enjoyed. People like Nick Lowe (who