Eric Clapton recently sat down for an interview with Rolling Stone. Here are some highlights from that interview:
You saw the film [Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars] again yesterday. What is it like to walk through your life like that?
"It's not as bad as the first time I saw it. I was in an editing room. There was one scene that I was really uncertain about, which was the semi-racial thing that went down during my worst period. I made remarks onstage about foreigners [at a show in Birmingham, England in 1976]. Being the drunk that I was, I just went on a rant."
Did you ask [director] Lili [Fini Zanuck] to take it out?
"I just have to face the guy that I became when I was fueled on drugs and alcohol. It's incomprehensible to me, in a way, that I got so far out. And there was no one to challenge me. Because I may have become quite intimidating. People said they couldn't challenge me because I came back twice as strong.
The only guy who did was my manager [at the time], Roger Forrester. He said to me, "You've got a problem." When I decided he was right, he was the person I called. He packed me up and sent me off to [the rehab facility] Hazelden. When I got to Hazelden, I had to sign this thing saying who is your significant other. Anyone else would have put a family member – or my wife. I was married. But I put him. Because he was the only one who would stand up to me and call me out."
The first part of the film is about how you became a musician. The second is about how music saved you at every turn – from obsession, drugs, alcohol and even the death of your son. When things were at rock bottom, you always had the guitar.
"I would add one thing – listening to music became just as important as being able to play. During all of those periods of my life, I found new or old music that helped me, that got me through even when I wasn't playing well or I wasn't playing at all. It might be Maria Callas singing or the playing of [Delta bluesman] Tommy McClennan. I remember coming out of the smack period [in the early Seventies] – anything I heard would reduce me to tears, especially if it came from the heart. The music from Carousel still does bring me to tears."
How is your health? On the back cover of your last album, I Still Do, there is a photo of you playing guitar with a fingerless glove on your hand.
"I had eczema from head to foot. The palms of my hand were coming off, and I had just started making this record with [producer] Glyn Johns. It was a catastrophe. I had to wear mittens with Band-Aids around the hands and played a lot of slide [guitar] as a result."
Have you ever considered the possibility that, because of illness or age, you couldn't play guitar again?
"That would be alright. I would accept it. Because playing is difficult anyway. I have to get on the bottom of the ladder every time I play guitar, just to tune it. Then I have to go through the whole threshold of getting calluses [on the fingers] back, coordination."
Ed Sheeran has said that you were the reason he started playing guitar. What do you say to younger artists like him about navigating the perils of success?
"I don't think you say anything, to be honest [laughs]. He has asked my advice. And what I've said to him is, "Slow down. Don't burn it all up too fast." But he seems to be committed to go as far as he can. He wants to conquer the globe. But what do you do then? Where do you go from there? It can't always be up – for anybody."
We've talked before about the future of the guitar. Some people think the instrument has said what it needs to say in the culture, in music. Do you believe it still has a future as an expressive force? And what would you say to a young player looking for an original voice in there, especially going up against icons like yourself, B.B. and Jimi Hendrix?
"This is funny, because I've had a conversation about this phenomenon just a while ago. In the last few months, I've been talking to a guy who doesn't know where to go next. It was a conversation with a young musician who contacted me through some friends. I could see that he was genuine and I was interested in what he had to offer. Finally we had lunch and he said, "Do you want to listen to something?" It was esoteric and abstract, and I thought, "Where would this go?"
I wanted the guy to be taken somewhere. I could hear that he was in his own head too much, and that can be a cul de sac. There is always something to listen to, to aspire to, with the guitar. It is still the most flexible instrument. You can improvise on it. You have such freedom. I don't think there is a limit to it."
Read the full interview at Rolling Stone.
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