{"id":70404,"date":"2022-04-11T16:38:05","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T21:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=70404"},"modified":"2022-04-11T16:41:45","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T21:41:45","slug":"interview-with-pete-agnew-of-nazareth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2022\/interview-with-pete-agnew-of-nazareth\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Agnew of Nazareth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Alexandra Mrozowska
\u2014 Senior Columnist \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

After fifty-four years on stage and twenty five albums under one\u2019s belt, what\u2019s there left to prove? It might as well be the moment you rest on your laurels, relying heavily on your rich back catalog and \u2018legendary\u2019 status and consequently still selling a decent amount of concert tickets here and there. But it\u2019s much different with certain seasoned acts who keep on releasing new music every few years, including the Scottish heavyweights Nazareth whose impressive new album Surviving the Law <\/em>will see the light of day mid-April. Hardrock Haven had a privilege to catch up with the band\u2019s founding member, bassist and backing singer Pete Agnew. He chatted with Alexandra Mrozowska about writing the new music \u201cin jail\u201d of lockdown and recording it \u201con parole\u201d, the challenging moments in the group\u2019s history, the fifty years of changes within the music industry and also, whatever happened to our favorite record store down the corner…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Only a handful of bands survived over fifty years on stage, so have you ever expected Nazareth to continue for so long back in the late \u201860s, when you started out?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Absolutely not [laughs]. I mean, I think in that time you couldn\u2019t see yourself ten years in the future \u2013 never mind fifty years in the future… It\u2019s great to have done it, but we\u2019ve never ever thought this would [happen]. I\u2019ve never thought I\u2019d be making twenty five albums, you know. So it\u2019s great and I\u2019m loving it \u2013 and it\u2019s great to be able to do this my whole life, and not just a little part of it. It\u2019s been my entire life really, and I really loved that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Some of these legendary bands whose tenure might be equal with yours rely mostly on live concerts and their back catalog. Consequently, they don\u2019t release much new music. What is that then that keeps your creative juices flowing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: You know, when bands go out to play concerts, everyone wants to hear the old hits. Of course they do, because these were the things \u2013 the songs \u2013 that made you famous. But I think we\u2019ve always felt that you\u2019ve got to still be able to say to your fans that you\u2019re still being creative. We would get very bored if we only had the old records to look back to all the time and to play. So, it\u2019s nice to be able to let them see that you\u2019re still valid \u2013 that the band still is actually meaningful. And it is to make new music and not just rely on old hits. But it\u2019s not only that. I think that we\u2019ve made good albums [recently] \u2013 I mean, this album and the last album [Tattooed on My Brain<\/em>, 2018] are two of the best albums we\u2019ve ever made. It\u2019s not like we\u2019re doing something just to fill the time, you know. These are really, really good albums, so it\u2019s not like we\u2019re just filling in the spaces here. I think it\u2019s very important for a band to be still creative and that\u2019s what makes you want to keep playing. Not just to go out and play… it\u2019s lovely to go into the studio and create a whole new album. It\u2019s great and we love it. We love it for us, and we love it for the fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Absolutely! So what was the songwriting and recording process like, when it comes to the new Nazareth album, Surviving the Law<\/em>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Well, what happened here was that we had the lockdown because of the COVID thing, so everyone was at home \u2013 and stuck in the house. So, what happened is everybody wrote a lot of songs [laughs]. And that is within the first six months! I think when we were in lockdown for about four months, Jimmy [Murrison], our guitar player, sent us twelve songs… [laughs] So people were writing loads and loads of stuff, and that was great. That was good \u2013 and it wasn\u2019t as well, because sometimes it\u2019s nice to be your normal self. I like to be moving around a lot, I like to be travelling \u2013 and that\u2019s where I get a lot of the ideas. But this time, I was being in the house all the time, so it was a bit different. But it went to good \u2013 we\u2019ve had so many songs amongst those, so that was very difficult to choose what to put on the record [laughs]. You had to leave so many out… So I think we\u2019ve got the right mix of them on the album. But you know, there\u2019s always gonna be one or two [songs] when you thought, \u201cWell, maybe we should have put that one on…\u201d But what did happen is because people had so much time and did nothing else, they wrote songs more that they would normally. It\u2019s funny, because I feel we\u2019ve actually written the songs in jail [laughs] and then we recorded them when we were on parole [laughs]. And it was a different album to me, because with all of this \u2013 the quarantine and the lockdown and things like that \u2013 in the studio, we had Jimmy and Lee [Agnew, Nazareth\u2019s drummer and Pete\u2019s son] and myself, but Carl [Sentance, Nazareth\u2019s singer] was out in Vienna, Austria, so we were sending him the files and he was recording the vocals there and sending them back to us, and we sorta did the album like that. But it worked out fine. It worked out good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And what will happen with the songs you decided to leave out in the process? Will we hear them one day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Well, you know… you often think that you will [laughs]. But what happened was Carl, our singer, and Jimmy, our guitar player, they both made solo albums just before we made our new album [Carl Sentance released Electric Eye<\/em> back in the summer of 2021 and Jimmy Murrison followed his bandmate with Pocket Full Of Rye<\/em> in November 2021]. So, we\u2019ve chosen the songs we were gonna use and they put some other songs on their albums, songs that we weren\u2019t using, and a lot of the songs got used by the guys themselves doing their solo things. But the other thing is, when you write songs for an album and they don\u2019t go on that album, it\u2019s very unusual for them to go on the next album. Because what happens is, when you go to do the next album, everybody\u2019s got the new ideas and the ones that you\u2019ve had [before], you\u2019ve had them for three years and they start to feel old to you. Even though it\u2019s stupid actually [laughs], because these are still new and good songs. But most of the time, they don\u2019t really make it to the next album. We happened to have done it in the past \u2013 we\u2019ve had songs when we were like, \u201cWe should have done that one,\u201d but not usually. And not with this one, and the guys really used a lot [of the new material] on their solo projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: So looking back at the process of making the album again, would you say it\u2019s strange days now indeed, comparing the present with the past? I\u2019m referring to the fact that the album\u2019s opener, with no other title but \u201cStrange Days,\u201d was chosen as the first single…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Absolutely! With all that\u2019s going on now… I mean, the song \u201cStrange Days\u201d is our drummer Lee\u2019s \u2013 he wrote that one. And well, it fits perfectly to what\u2019s going on right now, actually! And what\u2019s been going on as well. That\u2019s been very strange days for the last two years, and I\u2019m thinking about the whole thing… having [Donald] Trump as a president [of the United States] and all these things… That song covers a lot of things [laughs]. It covers a lot of strange days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: That\u2019s right, absolutely! And overall, is there a coherent message or any kind of loose theme behind the lyrics of the songs on the new album? Or perhaps each of the song stands on its own and it\u2019s better to approach the album track by track?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: I think when they were writing the songs, all of the guys [were inspired by] what was going on, obviously, and that affected the writing a bit. I think every album that\u2019s gonna be done after the last two years is gonna have some kind of reference to the plague that we\u2019ve been going through [laughs]. I think there\u2019s a lot of that there, and not so much the subject being the plague, but the atmosphere of the album, I think, is what reflects a bit what was going on. And the lyrics as well… in a lot of cases. But there\u2019s a lot of lyrics about different things there. There\u2019s different songs and, for instance, \u201cLet the Whisky Flow\u201d \u2013 another one that Lee wrote \u2013 is very much a Scottish nationalist song, while Jimmy\u2019s \u201cWaiting for the World to End\u201d… well, that definitely fits with what\u2019s going on right now! There\u2019s a lot of different things involved and a lot of different subjects. [Musically], it\u2019s a bit heavier than Tattooed on My Brain<\/em>, and a little bit darker. But a lot of good subjects are in these lyrics. I couldn\u2019t have gone through each and every one of them for you, as I\u2019m not familiar with all the lyrics, but each of them is different from one another. And also, when somebody writes a song and it gets performed, sometimes you hear the lyrics through once and go, \u201cAhh, that\u2019s really good, that\u2019s great,\u201d but we don\u2019t go through the study of this lyric [laughs]. Especially me [laughs].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Right [laughs]. And as you\u2019ve just mentioned \u2013 Surviving the Law<\/em> might be a bit heavier and darker but at the same time, is not a huge departure from Nazareth\u2019s previous album musically. So do you think that at this stage of your career, keeping the legacy is more important than channeling new influences and breaking new grounds music-wise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Every time we\u2019ve done an album, we made sure that doesn\u2019t sound exactly like the one that came out before. We\u2019ve always been very diverse in what we do and that\u2019s what the Nazareth fans liked a bit about us \u2013 that we\u2019ve never ever [been] hooked on to one genre and one thing. We\u2019ve always been quite happy to try out different kinds of things and different kinds of production of things… to keep it interesting for them and to keep it interesting for us. So I think that\u2019s always going to be a rock band, and there\u2019s always going to be rock [music] \u2013 but there\u2019s different ways and different parts of rock music that come into it. And albums you\u2019ve listened to, your influences, they still come out in your writing. Sometimes you\u2019re channeling the influence you haven\u2019t channeled before for a song \u2013 you always try that kind of thing. When people hear an new track and tell me \u2013 or write to me instead these days \u2013 \u201cThat doesn\u2019t sound like Nazareth,\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat is Nazareth simply? Does it sound like \u201cDream On,\u201d or does it sound like \u201cSunshine,\u201d or does it sound like \u201cHair of the Dog\u201d? I mean, we play different things. We\u2019ve found huge hits with ballads, but also with rock things… we\u2019ve found all sorts and different kinds of rock [music]. It\u2019s still rock, but different kinds of it. So we still carry on in that vein \u2013 with this album as well. There\u2019s things on this that we haven\u2019t played before, and lots of influences that haven\u2019t been [present] before, or so obvious before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Yeah. I believe it\u2019s Yann Rouiller again who produced the new album. What makes you continue working with Yann as opposed to trying out some other producers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: You see, if we weren\u2019t happy with what he\u2019s done, we would go to other producers, but we\u2019ve been elated with what he\u2019s done. Yann\u2019s become, like, a member of the band these days. He\u2019s that kind of guy who knows exactly what we do and how we think. He\u2019s very, very good in the studio, a lovely guy and a very good friend, so ever since we started making records with Yann, we\u2019ve never felt that we needed to get another producer. You know, the Beatles went with George Martin and didn\u2019t think this would change [laughs]. I think after all these years we\u2019ve found a producer that fits the band the best, because he\u2019s been on five albums now and they\u2019re all very, very different from one another. And he\u2019s been there through all those changes. And as I say, he\u2019s very, very good \u2013 he\u2019s excellent studio man, a great technician… I can\u2019t say enough of Yann [laughs]. I\u2019m a big fan of his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: But why a band as experienced as Nazareth decides to continue working with a producer in the first place? I mean, if it wasn\u2019t for Yann\u2019s skills, would you consider self-production at this stage of your career?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Nah. Self-production, I think, it doesn\u2019t really work. You need somebody that\u2019s got the vision for the thing and brings it all together. I mean, you get four guys in the studio and to get the four of them to see the same exactly… [laughs] Everyone\u2019s got their own approach and to get every band member to produce [the material], it just would be a mess [laughs]. I mean, you need a producer. Bands that don\u2019t have a producer or just self-produce \u2013 there\u2019s not that many that have been that successful actually… it doesn\u2019t work for them. You need to have somebody there that says, \u201cOkay, this is it. This is what it\u2019s going to sound like.\u201d And also, it\u2019s very, very difficult to please everyone all the time, as you know, with anything. So that would make it even more difficult if you were doing it yourself \u2013 self-produce \u2013 \u2018cause you\u2019d be there trying to please everyone, which is impossible. You\u2019ve got to get  somebody who\u2019s going to take the reins and say, \u201cThis is where we\u2019re going. This is what the track is gonna be.\u201d But I mean, we don\u2019t just sit there and say, \u201cWhat do we do, Sir…?\u201d [laughs] We actually play and we do it as we see it, and he\u2019s just making sure that works \u2013 that our ideas get on tape. So it\u2019s just that I wouldn\u2019t want to self-produce at all. Even with a solo album, it\u2019s good to have somebody else \u2013 somebody who\u2019s outside of the actual songwriting [process] who\u2019s putting all of it together and sees the ideas that you don\u2019t see, you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Now that it\u2019s eight years since the major line-up change in Nazareth, what was the approach of die-hard fans at the beginning of Linton Osborne and then Carl Sentance\u2019s respective tenures? And has it changed anyhow, especially that Carl\u2019s this kind of singer who doesn\u2019t try to emulate Dan McCafferty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Ahh, the Linton thing… I mean, he wasn\u2019t really in the band for longer than a few shows, and that didn\u2019t work. Now, when Carl joined, he was the real choice brought in to be the <\/em>man. We have always been nervous about it \u2013 I mean, somebody like Dan is very hard man to replace, because he\u2019s such an iconic voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Definitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: But the thing is, when Dan left \u2013 and he had to leave because of the health \u2013 and said we have to keep going, we knew we had to get someone who didn\u2019t sound like him. We didn\u2019t want somebody who\u2019s a Dan McCafferty sound-a-like, because then the fans wouldn\u2019t have really, really liked that. Whoever did it, they\u2019ve got hammered \u2013 so badly. And then the press and the reviewers wouldn\u2019t like that. So looking for the singer, I got a lot of people send their tapes \u2013 or rather, their files \u2013 to me to let me hear them singing. A lot of people wanted to do the job. And the most of them, or at least a lot of them, they come out and do a Dan McCafferty. They were a Dan McCafferty sound-a-like. I mean, some of them were very good, but I said, \u201cNo, no. We don\u2019t want that. We want a really good singer \u2013 somebody that can do the Nazareth stuff, but somebody who\u2019s got their own thing and brings something new to the band.\u201d So somebody told us about Carl, and we saw him on YouTube with a couple of things… We got him up to Scotland to do an audition \u2013 and halfway through the fourth song, we knew this was the guy. He sung the thing great, but he didn\u2019t sing it the way Dan would have sung it. So when we got him, we thought \u201cThis is great. This is exactly what we\u2019re looking for. Now let\u2019s see what the fans think…\u201d And obviously, you\u2019ll always get people \u2013 you\u2019ll always get a few at least \u2013 that go, \u201cOh, there\u2019s no Nazareth unless there was the original four guys…\u201d [laughs] That\u2019s just stupid. As I keep saying, Manchester United doesn\u2019t have the same team they had thirty years ago [laughs]. So what happens is when Carl came in and we went obviously to play live, it went on amazingly well. When people come along, they firstly don\u2019t know what to expect and don\u2019t know if they\u2019re gonna like it, but the guy was really great onstage and very, very good with the audience \u2013 and the audience did absolutely take to him, and they really did like him. And now that we did the Tattooed on My Brain <\/em>album, that really consolidated his position, because everybody loved that album. But that\u2019s funny, \u2018cause even now, when we\u2019re bringing the new [album] out and you see our Facebook [page] for instance, and the last song we\u2019ve released from the new album, you still get people going, \u201cI love Dan, blah, blah, blah… but this guy\u2019s really good. And I thought Dan was good, but this one\u2019s good too, and he\u2019s done a great job.\u201d So, what you were actually asking [about] \u2013 Carl has been accepted by, I would say, the ninety-five percent of our fans. And they\u2019re the real fans. So we\u2019re very, very happy and he\u2019s very happy, but it could\u2019ve been much, much more difficult for him. We were very… well, I won\u2019t say surprised, but we were very happy that he was accepted as well as he has been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Definitely. And obviously, another thing you must be asked about a lot is the fact of your son Lee playing in the band for more than twenty years now. So now that it\u2019s more than two decades, how do you think this father-and-son relationship within the band continues to change the overall dynamics of Nazareth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Exactly, Lee\u2019s been playing in the band for twenty-three years. He\u2019s one of the longest serving members of Nazareth, actually [laughs] But Lee and his brothers, they all are musicians and in fact, right now he\u2019s out there playing with his two brothers in another band… [laughs] So, when they were all younger, I would come back from tour and they all used to hang out in our studio at home… and I would jam with them. Every now and then I would jam with them, so I\u2019d actually play bass with Lee playing drums since he was about eleven years old. Him and I have played for that long and actually, he\u2019s been with Nazareth for twenty-three years, but I\u2019ve played with him for about forty years \u2013 on and off, just jamming with him at home. So we know each other very well when it comes to playing each other\u2019s style and yeah, we\u2019re the rhythm section of Nazareth and it\u2019s great. And when we\u2019re touring \u2013 okay, we know it\u2019s a father and a son, but that\u2019s not what it\u2019s like when we\u2019re on the stage. When we\u2019re on the stage, we\u2019re there as a drummer and a bass player, and that\u2019s the way it should be. And I love playing with Lee \u2013 and he\u2019s not just a great drummer, he\u2019s a really good singer and he\u2019s a great songwriter. The songs he\u2019s written for Nazareth are just fabulous. I mean, on this album [Surviving the Law<\/em>] he\u2019s got \u201cStrange Days,\u201d he\u2019s got \u201cMind Bomb,\u201d \u201cLet the Whisky Flow\u201d… a whole bunch of songs on this thing, and they\u2019re all really great songs. And the same on Tattooed on My Brain<\/em> \u2013 he wrote a lot of really great rock songs on there. So we\u2019ve not only found a very good drummer, we\u2019ve found a very, very good songwriter [laughs].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And would you say you and Lee influence each other as musicians or learn something from each other as you play together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Well, you see… The thing is, as far as we talk the musical taste, I probably influenced Lee more than anybody else, because he was listening to the people I was listening to. Since he was a kid \u2013 since he was very young \u2013 he\u2019s been listening to Little Feat, to people like Warren Zevon and this kind of things. He was listening to the music I was listening to, so he was influenced by my choice of music. Obviously, when he\u2019s got older, he\u2019s got into his own things, like hard rock and stuff, and then funk and jazz\/fusion and stuff like that. But when you\u2019re playing, you affect each other. Obviously, any drummer and any bass player affect each other. But I don\u2019t think we influence each other anymore than anybody else does \u2013 yet, Lee\u2019s influences growing up were definitely from the music than I liked and he grew up liking the same stuff as me. So that comes in handy when we\u2019re on stage, you know [laughs]. When we actually say, \u201cYou know, we can do a bit like…\u201d and this person is somebody he probably heard when he was fifteen [laughs]. So yeah, I think if anybody\u2019s influenced anybody, I influenced Lee more than he influenced me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: And now onto concerts, is there a Nazareth song you can\u2019t imagine a live band setlist without, but it\u2019s neither \u201cDream On\u201d nor \u201cLove Hurts\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Oh yeah! \u201cThis Flight Tonight\u201d in Europe, definitely… \u201cHair of the Dog\u201d \u2013 or \u201cSon of a Bitch,\u201d as we call it… another one you can\u2019t do a Nazareth set without. But it depends on the country we\u2019re playing in. We got different hits in different countries. You know, a lot of bands come out and have that one hit that is worldwide. We\u2019re not quite like that [laughs]. And in Brazil or something, we\u2019ve got a lot of things that went up to the top of the charts there but didn\u2019t anywhere else \u2013 and that kind of thing. I remember once we went to the Philippines to play and they said, \u201cCome to this TV station and lip-synch to your Number One hit.\u201d They played a song that we\u2019ve never ever played live, and it was \u201cWhere Are You Now.\u201d So that was weird, but they were like, \u201cThis was a hit\u201d and this was <\/em>a hit there, you know? [laughs] Different things have been hits in different countries, so when we do a live set and when we go somewhere… Like, when we go to Brazil, we stuck a bit more of the softer rock things and \u201cLove Leads to Madness\u201d would be a song that we do. Down there, it\u2019s like an anthem. When we play it there, we can\u2019t heard the band \u2018cause they sing louder than us [laughs]. And if we played it in England, well \u2013 people know it, but it\u2019s not that big. So we\u2019ve got a lot of different songs that mean a lot more in some places… For instance, when we go to Canada, \u201cTurn on Your Receiver\u201d is the one that was huge there, and there\u2019s a song called \u201cSunshine\u201d that was used on many weddings… a wedding song there really, so that\u2019s huge there as well, but means nothing, or very little, if we play it in Scotland [laughs]. Actually, that\u2019s a lot of fun for us, because we\u2019ve got the chance to play everything [laughs]. And here\u2019s another good example \u2013 actually, we should have been touring Russia right now. But obviously, we couldn\u2019t do that, so we had to cancel. But when we go to Russia and play there, there\u2019s a song called \u201cAnimals\u201d \u2013 \u201cwe are animals…\u201d, you know. It means absolutely nothing anywhere else in the world, but in Russia, it was a Number One Nazareth song. And when we do that, it brings the house down. Everybody sings along. And if we went to Russia, we could not even think about not doing \u201cAnimals,\u201d but anywhere else in the world we just don\u2019t play it… outside of say, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan \u2013 these places. But if we move over the border and come to, say, Germany or Czech Republic, or Poland \u2013 it doesn\u2019t mean a thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Well, the reason I\u2019m asking is because I remember seeing Nazareth in my homeland Poland back in 2009 and what struck me at the time was that the majority of the audience looked forward to \u201cLove Hurts\u201d and \u201cDream On\u201d the most. Sometimes artists say their biggest hits are basically both a blessing and a curse as they get pigeonholed eventually, and how is it in Nazareth\u2019s case?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: They\u2019re not a curse really. \u201cLove Hurts\u201d… thank God for it, because that was a huge hit for us worldwide \u2013 probably the biggest that we\u2019ve ever had. \u201cDream On\u201d in Europe, definitely. Especially in Germany… If you watch a German TV and all these soap operas that are on, you\u2019ll hear \u201cDream On\u201d at least once during the day, or maybe twice [laughs]. But no, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s really a curse. It\u2019s been a good thing for us… Well, we don\u2019t really plan that, but anywhere you go, you just see there are certain songs that have got to be in the set or people would ask for their money back. And those two definitely [are one of them]… as long as we play [continental] Europe, \u2018cause \u201cDream On\u201d doesn\u2019t really mean that much in Britain and in America, it means nothing at all. So basically we can drop it here and there and we don\u2019t play it all the time, but with \u201cLove Hurts\u201d, we do play it all the time. But so do we do with \u201cRazamanaz,\u201d so we do with \u201cHair of the Dog,\u201d so every band\u2019s got a really, really big hit that must do in every place. But I don\u2019t feel it\u2019s any hardship. It\u2019s a good thing. I\u2019ve never been sorry about doing them [laughs].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: [laughs] And yet about \u201cLove Hurts\u201d, but not only, Nazareth has managed to release a handful of cover versions of other artists\u2019 songs throughout the band\u2019s career. Somehow, you managed to make them your own and put your own stamp all over it so few people actually recognize them as covers sometimes. What would you say is a secret formula behind releasing a good cover version?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Well, basically you\u2019ve got to take the song… But even though you do it because you liked the original record, you\u2019ve got to treat that original record as being like a demo, I\u2019d say. And we would say, \u201cThis is a song and we have to make it a Nazareth song.\u201d You\u2019ve got to make it yours, so it\u2019s absolutely nothing like the original. When we play, we try out different songs in the studio. We play a song and we say, \u201cWell, it sounds okay, but it sounds pretty much like…\u201d \u2013 you know, the original record. There\u2019s no point in doing that. I mean, that\u2019s like when you used to be a ballroom band, you know… you know, playing around when you were just like a human jukebox really and you were just playing all the hits from the Top 40. So you\u2019ve got to make it yours and really, really <\/em>make it yours and that\u2019s the only way this thing is gonna work. Like we did \u201cThis Flight Tonight\u201d by Joni Mitchell, when you hear Joni\u2019s song [version] and Nazareth\u2019s, that sounds like the two completely different songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Definitely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Absolutely. And I remember letting Joni Mitchell hear it. The day that we released it in Britain, we met her in the studio in L.A., in Hollywood. She was on A&M Records and we were just visiting them, our record company, which was her company too. She was recording in their studio on the record company\u2019s premises. So it was like, \u201cJoni\u2019s a studio, go and say hello,\u201d so we went to say \u201chello\u201d and we said, \u201cWe\u2019ve covered \u201cThis Flight Tonight and we\u2019re putting that out,\u201d so she went, \u201cThis Flight Tonight\u201d was a rock song…?\u201d [laughs] and we went, \u201cOh yeah, yeah.\u201d So we said, \u201cHang on a minute,\u201d we\u2019ve got the recording and we played it to her. And she was absolutely knocked out. She thought it was unbelievable [laughs]. And that was so funny because when she came to play in Britain, she came to England and she opened the tour in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London… she\u2019s coming to the stage and says, \u201cI\u2019d like to start with a Nazareth song\u201d [laughs] That was very nice of her, right? So yeah, you\u2019ve got to make it yours. You\u2019ve got to make that song so that it\u2019s not at all somebody else\u2019s song. And I mean, that\u2019s so funny \u2013 a lot of people, those who don\u2019t know the music business, think that we wrote \u201cLove Hurts.\u201d Ha, I wish I had! [laughs] I\u2019d be a multi-zillionaire by this time, from the mere number of people that have covered that song! But anyway, we got a very big hit with it, so I\u2019m very happy. And the thing is, when we did it, if you listen to all the other versions of \u201cLove Hurts,\u201d they sound pretty much the same. Too similar to the Everly [Brothers]. The one that we did stay. That\u2019s [because of] the vocals. Dan\u2019s vocal is just amazing. It\u2019s probably one of the best rock vocals that\u2019s ever been done, so that\u2019s what made that record definitive and it deserved to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Absolutely. Back to band\u2019s impressive longevity, you\u2019ve been able to witness the music industry changing since the late 60s. Would you say the major changes that happened throughout that time were for the better, or for worse?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Ah, that\u2019s definitely different ways to look at it. I mean, from the recording point of view, and from the way bands work now and how they earn their living, nobody really earns a living through making records anymore. That\u2019s because everybody just downloads or listens to the records for free. They can get all the music for free, whatever they want. When this album comes out on the 15th<\/sup> of April, that day you can listen to the whole album for free [laughs], while in the old days, you had to buy it. You don\u2019t have to do that anymore. So, what\u2019s changed is the way musicians earn their living. You\u2019ve got to be able to play concerts, \u2018cause none of us just makes a nice album and sits in the house. You\u2019ve got to get there and work. The record industry has changed a lot, so much since we started out… Back in those days, a band was given [the chance to record] three albums by the record company, and they would work with them to give them the chance to make it. If you don\u2019t make it after three albums, then they would drop you. But you got a chance and nowadays, there is absolutely no way for the record companies to be behind the bands, nurturing the bands and bringing them up… It\u2019s not like that anymore. It\u2019s like you create your record now and you take it to the record company, and they would put it out. But nobody really is involved with the bands like they used to be back in the \u201860s or \u201870s… well, especially the \u201870s. And the \u201880s as well. There\u2019s a real lack of involvement, so it makes it a different kind of industry. In the past, there was much more of a partnership between the record companies and bands. But also, the record companies were… well, I\u2019d better not say too much of it [laughs].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s hardly any record stores anymore \u2013 or no record stores anymore [laughs]. If you\u2019ve got a CD now, it\u2019s considered old-fashioned [laughs]. In the \u201870s, everyone used to go to the record store every month \u2013 or every week… And whatever money they had, they spent on music. Now they\u2019re gonna buy a new game to play on their computer, or they\u2019re gonna do this or they\u2019re gonna do that… There\u2019s hundreds of other ways of entertaining yourself and music isn\u2019t as big now as it was then. It\u2019s not as meaningful to everybody\u2019s life as it was then. Definitely it\u2019s not the size it was then… you know. You don\u2019t have another Beatles. You don\u2019t have another Led Zeppelin. You don\u2019t have anything in that size. What do we have instead…? Ed Sheeran? [laughs] Excuse me! [laughs] You think the Who, the Stones and Ed Sheeran…? Nah, I don\u2019t think so. So there\u2019s a different vibe, and the business is very much a business now. It\u2019s definitely changed, and we\u2019ve seen all that changes. But the thing is, that with all those changes, we\u2019ve come through them all. And some of them actually might be for the better as well. In those days, if you made an album, you had to get it on radio \u2013 you had to get it somewhere for people to hear that. You could go and play all the tours you would like, but you still needed to get some radio play to make your music heard. Now everybody can make an album and that\u2019s easy \u2013 they can do it in their house digitally. There\u2019s no problem, and the thing is that they have the Internet \u2013 I mean, you can be out there and put your product out there, and there\u2019s a very good chance of being heard and your local fans building up a follow-up for you between Facebook and this and that and the next thing… There\u2019s a lot of social good for the bands in the social media. A young band can make a record tonight and somebody can listen to it in Tokyo, because it goes around the world once they put it up in the Internet. Back in the \u201860s and the \u201870s you couldn\u2019t do that. So that\u2019s an improvement. But the downside is that the record business doesn\u2019t really exist. Try to find me a record store… [laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Right, almost all of these disappeared…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Yeah, there\u2019s absolutely nothing out there. When you go out to buy an album, where do you get it…? The Internet only! So, that\u2019s how it goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: On the other hand, if you were to give a piece of advice to a younger musician \u2013 especially that your children chose this profession \u2013 perhaps just starting out, what would it be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Well, if you\u2019re going to make a living in this business, the best thing you can do is to is to get a good lawyer [laughs] Make sure it\u2019s someone you can trust [laughs]. I\u2019d really say to anybody who\u2019s gonna be making new music to have faith in yourself. You play the music you like and if you like it, don\u2019t let anybody tell you how to play or how to write it. Don\u2019t listen to people \u2013 even the record companies \u2013 telling you to do it like this or do it like that. Don\u2019t listen to anybody. Just have faith in yourself and you\u2019ll feel better about yourself as well. But at the same time, having all that faith in yourself, still get a good lawyer [laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: [laughs] Well-said, absolutely! And as we talked the shift in the way record companies approach the bands now, obviously Surviving the Law <\/em>is another Nazareth album released on Frontiers Music SRL, so are you satisfied with the co-operation with Frontiers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Yeah, we\u2019ve done two albums with them and I don\u2019t really have any complaints. What the record companies know is that they depend as much on the Internet as anybody else. Again, it\u2019s a different way of advertising and getting what they usually call a product out to the world. So the good thing about that now is that every record company gets the same chance, you know… Before you could have a tiny, little label \u2013 a little private label \u2013 and you were up against maybe something like Warner Bros. or something, the big, big label… The Warner Bros. did all the advertising \u2013 they could do anything all over the place. And the little label could not afford it. Well, it\u2019s not like that now. Every record company has got the same access to the Internet and it\u2019s enough if they know how to use it \u2013 and they do, all the good ones anyway… So Frontiers may not be the biggest label in the world, but they do just the same job as, say, BMG which is probably the biggest label out there. [Frontiers] is a good label and they\u2019ve never disappointed us. They\u2019ve been very good with us and I don\u2019t have any complaints at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Good. And we\u2019ve mentioned concerts, so does Nazareth have any plans for the upcoming months when it comes to touring? You\u2019ve mentioned this Russian tour cancelled for obvious reasons, and probably the changing circumstances of the pandemic also don\u2019t make it easier…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: [sighing heavily] We\u2019ve got a whole bunch of stuff. I\u2019ve got that in front of me here. But it doesn\u2019t get anywhere because of the cancellations. Everybody was nervous about doing shows [recently] and they\u2019re still cancelling things in Europe. Just two days ago I saw they were cancelling [concerts] in Germany until the end of April \u2013 not us, somebody else. It\u2019s just because there are still numbers that only so many people can get in and limits because of the COVID… I don\u2019t know why, because they shouldn\u2019t be doing that anymore, but they are. So we don\u2019t really start before the beginning of June, when we have some real dates, and then, once we start, we\u2019re booked solid all the way through the end of the year… if it happens. It was the same last year and the year before. At the end of 2020, we thought we\u2019d be out playing, didn\u2019t we? But then no, it didn\u2019t happen. And then we thought we\u2019d be out playing in 2021 and that didn\u2019t happen too… All those dates were booked throughout the year and we had to cancel them all \u2013 then we had all those dates booked all through the beginning of this year, and they were all cancelled at the end of last year. So I think the first show that we\u2019ve got is Malta or something on a festival and then we\u2019ve got a whole bunch of stuff \u2013 in June all the way through July it\u2019s the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway… some dates in Canada and back to the whole bunch of dates in Sweden on various festivals, and then we\u2019ve got the European tour again through December. It\u2019s mainly Germany again, and Austria and Switzerland. So we\u2019re pretty heavily booked, but all I can say is what I said last year. As long as it gets to go on, then we\u2019re fine. And since it [the COVID pandemic] started, we only did seven shows only. I did only the two little festival things in England in January, and that\u2019s all we played this year. So I\u2019m getting rusty [laughs]. I\u2019m gonna have to start practicing again [laughs]. And the funniest thing, Alexa, is that I\u2019ve got this bass guitar \u2013 the Alembic bass guitar \u2013 and it\u2019s one of the heaviest guitars on the planet. I don\u2019t know why I have it, but it\u2019s my favorite bass guitar and I\u2019ve been playing it for thirty years… And now I want to pick it up and it feels like a bag of coal [laughs] because of the weight it has. So I\u2019m just hoping I\u2019m just fit enough to carry this thing around for the ninety minutes of the gig [laughs]. I need to get to the gym [laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: Keeping my fingers crossed for the dates not to be cancelled, then!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Absolutely! And it\u2019s funny, but you\u2019re talking to me from Poland and I\u2019ve just got something I\u2019m looking at while talking to you \u2013 somebody asking about a concert in Poland. So who knows, I may see you over very soon! So please get in touch, so you may come along and say hello and meet us \u2013 I mean it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardrock Haven: It\u2019d be an honor! Thank you so much for this interview, and is there anything you\u2019d like to add in the end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Agnew: Actually, you know… I\u2019m going to tell you this because it\u2019s been a very, very, very good interview! You\u2019ve asked a lot of interesting questions… You know, I\u2019ve been doing three to four interviews every day, and today I had one at four o\u2019clock, one at five o\u2019clock and one at seven o\u2019clock… And actually I get very tired during the interviews, being asked and answering the same questions. But you\u2019ve been very, very good and very, very interested and it\u2019s been so nice talking to you \u2013 and a lot of good questions! So I hope that you\u2019ve got enough waffly answers from me to keep you going, and I have to say it\u2019s been a pleasure talking to Hardrock Haven!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo credits: Lewis Milne<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Visit Nazareth online: Official Site<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Check out new songs off Nazareth’s upcoming album Surviving the Law<\/em>, out April the 15th, 2022 on Frontiers Music SRL:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strange Days<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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