Billy Ritchie Interview: The Man Who Invented Prog (Part 2 of 3)

It’s an absolute honour to welcome into the Dukey Radio Show studio Billy Ritchie. The man who invented prog. And he really did.

Dukey first heard about our guest’s innovative music endeavours with the band 123 and later, Clouds, through recent guest Bruce Thomas’s book “Rough Notes”. And, in a recent prog-themed special on this very show, Dave Dawson and Dukey waxed lyrical about Billy Ritchie’s influence on the likes of Yes and Emerson Lake & Palmer.

In this second instalment of our three part interview with Billy, we chat in depth about our guest’s time with the band Clouds until the trio’s split in 1971 and investigate the group’s chemistry both off and on the stage. And explore the pros and cons of being ahead of their time on the music front further.

In addition we discuss the “American” problem where a band plays to tens of thousands on one side of the pond while largely entertaining hundreds back on home turf. 

And Billy also enlightens us about:

• Fixing David Bowie up with girls

• The control freakery of the legend that is Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull.

• Being mistaken for Francis Rossi after appearing on TOTP

• Signing and breaking away from Chrysalis Records

• Having a run-in with David Bowie and patching things up with the thin white duke four decades later

• Being “far out” in the states

• Discussing “good shit” with Paul Rodgers

• And how proving that the trio were “true Scotsman” in the kilt stakes proved to be beneficial for the band and a source of fear for parents everywhere the group roamed.

We also find out that our very own Irene wants to redeem her "Hall Pass" with our esteemed guest.

......................................

Click, Download, Listen & Enjoy to TDRS via:

iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-dukey-radio-show/id893561274?mt=2

or

Podbean:

http://thedukeyradioshow.podbean.com

-  

A