Derek St. Holmes
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Detroit, Michigan has long been the heart and soul of American music. In the days before the hippy movement on the West coast, and prior to the British Invasion, Motown defined American music. And through its influence on a young generation of musicians, the Motor City helped to redefine the music of the Seventies, from MC5 and Iggy Pop to Alice Cooper and Bob Seger. One of the most powerful acts to emerge from Detroit was the Ted Nugent band, fronted by vocalist Derek St. Holmes.
In 1975 the Ted Nugent band released its debut album, a landmark slab of American rock and roll. In an era dominated by a new generation of British invaders, the record was just what the doctor ordered. A perennial staple of FM radio since its release, the album attained gold status on the strength of Derek St. Holmes hit single Hey Baby, as well as the mesmerizing guitar work of Nugents Stranglehold. The band followed up their debut with a grueling tour schedule before returning to the studio to record 1976s million-selling Free For All album. Nugent, however, apparently began to feel threatened by the success of his group, and began to assert himself. Vocalist St. Holmes wasnt having any of it, and temporarily left the band. He eventually returned, working around the groups inner turmoil. In 1977, the Ted Nugent group was sitting on yet another platinum album, Cat Scratch Fever. The subsequent tour was recorded for a live release, Double Live Gonzo, and in 1978 the band played before an audience of 250,000 at the California Jam II Festival. Despite their overwhelming success, relationships within the band had deteriorated to an all-time low, and at the end of the tour Derek St. Holmes left Ted Nugent.
Derek resurfaced in the band St. Paradise with ex-Nugent bassist Rob Grange. The band recorded an album for Warner Brothers, managed a European tour with Van Halen, and promptly folded. A single studio effort with Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford kept Derek St. Holmes busy throughout 1981, but by 1982 Aerosmith had come calling and Brad rejoined his comrades. With no immediate prospects, Derek made a relatively easy decision to rejoin Ted Nugent in 1982 for the Nugent album and tour. When old problems reemerged, St. Holmes left the group once more. He managed a short tenure with the Michael Schenker Group, also making an almost negligible contribution to Schenkers Built to Destroy album. Derek St. Holmes would not be heard from again until 1995, when he reunited with Ted Nugent for yet another album, the soulful, rocking Spirit of the Wild. In the years since, Derek has enjoyed making music and performing in his adopted home of Atlanta, Georgia. He recently released Then & Now, a collection of rock originals that combines elements of blues, soul and even country. The Fuze managed to get hold of Derek to find out what hes been up to, poke around the past a bit and find out why hes a magnet for trouble. This is Derek St. Holmes, then and now.
Tell me about Then & Now are these new songs, or ideas youve had stewing for a while?
Actually they were all new. I co-wrote them with a friend of mine out in Tucson, AZ. His name is Jim Curnutt. He writes a lot of lyrics. Hes not really a songwriter, but he is now with a little help from yours truly. He would write a lot, and I would just kinda help him rhyme them, and help him see where he needs to put chorus and verses. I wrote all the music and quite a few of the lines, but he wrote the bulk of the lyrics. Most of the ideas would be from he and I being on the road with [Ted] Nugent. None of its true (laughs). Ill deny it. (laughs)
Im hearing a little bit of country & a little bit of rock n roll (sorry, couldnt resist) on the album, especially in the songs Sunsets and Surrounded. Where does that country influence come from?
I think its from moving down here [Atlanta] in 1975being down here all that time. I lived in England for a short period, I lived in LA for a short period and I lived in Chicago for a short period, but I think that the melting pot down here is kinda where thats from. And my Detroit soul roots. I started playing soul music first - Temptations, Supremes - and learning how to play Chuck Berry. So that is why I think you hear that. When you say country, its because I put pedal steel on one of them. Then I put an acoustic on every track, which kinda softened every track I think.
The song Sometimes really strikes me as well, and it almost doesnt sound like you. You have more depth to your voice, and Im almost getting a Warren Zevon vibe somewhere in there. Have you discovered new facets and limitations to your voice over the years?
Yeah. Actually what I wanted to do over the years, and I didnt have the chance to do it until this CD, was to sing in a lower register. I can sing in most registers, but in the Nugent days everything was real high. I do it better now then I did then. It was fun to sing in all those different keys. Rick Emmett came up to me and said I used to listen to you sing all this stuff, man, and emulate some of it. I thought Well damn, I sure do appreciate it, but I can sing so many other things as well. There was a lot in me that has been stewing for quite a few years, but the songs were new. I just applied the idea of Not so frickin heavy. You could hear the guitar parts. Some of its crunchy, some of it isnt. I wanted to get through to the rhythm and blues. Im also thinking of doing a soul CD - just covers. I want to do Tears of A Clownyou know, a bunch of stuff that hasnt been covered. Everybodys done Aint Too Proud To Beg. Ive picked a whole bunch of different Four Tops and Temptations tunes that Id like to redo. Those are my roots. I learned to sing from David Ruffin, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross. I would stand up in my dads 55 Buick in the backseat and just sing at the top of my lungs. My mom and dad would be in the front laughing & giggling. I was just up there singing. Theyd finally go Derek, you gotta shut up now and sit down. Im thinking of doing something like that.
As any rock fan worth his salt should know, you were the voice of Ted Nugents coup de grace debut LP. I have to wonder, how did your relationship with Ted change after that album, and over the course of the next two, Free For All and Cat Scratch Fever?
All the animosity started early. Now, I didnt have any towards Ted. It became all about Ted Nugent, nothing about us. There were no pictures of us, there were no interviews with us. And here I am doing all the singing. I should have gotten my props from being lead singer. He and his producer told the press Dont talk to any of the band. No interviews with the band. We didnt realize that until the road manager started to hear about it. We started griping, and the album was going up the charts. I remember when we were cutting Hey Baby a producer coming over to me saying Derek, dont get too excited about that song cuz its probably not going to make the album. He was a prick from the first day. He wanted he and Ted to reap all the profits. He was trying to corral these three stallions. And Ted was a stallion - hopefully theyd act like mares by the time he had them all broke. About 2 weeks into the album being out, I finally got a call from management, which was David Krebs. He used to manage Aerosmith, Scorpions and AC/DC. He catches me in Texas somewhere. He said Derek, how do you feel? They picked your song to be the first or second single off the album. I didnt even know the album was out, Todd. Thats how in the dark we were. I said WHAT?! I hung the phone up and started grinning but I had to be quiet. It would just cause waves if I said anything. Ted never came up to me and said Congratulations - how about the good news? They picked your song to be the first single off the album. He never did that - ever - in my life. The animosity started.
Then Free For All comes up. We all write these cool songs. Were touring with Bad Company. Hes probably one of the greatest singers known to mankind, Paul Rodgers.
I learned ever Free song there is. I used to play them in high school. Im loving it. Staples were like Johnny Winter, Bad Company and Deep Purple and ZZ Top. Im thinking Gosh, weve got to compete with that kind of stuff. Teds playing some kind of goofy, psychedelic wacky guitar. Weve got to make sure we steer this thing to make some money. So we come up with some pretty cool tunes, but this producer wants to change all these things up and make them real poppy. Were kinda freaking out. Here we are coming on the scene, this bad-ass guitar player with this bad-ass band and now they want to make us sound sort of thin, shrill and poppy. So we started bucking that. I started bucking it. I thought I could try and throw my weight around because I was the singer, and then he got mad at me. He said Look, if you cant do it the way we want it maybe you need to think about something else. I said You know what? I think youre right, because this is not going the way I want to sound, and I thought this band can sound. Yeah, do it without me. He goes All right then, youre fired. I said Thats fine. He calls Meatloaf. Meatloaf comes on board. Now Meatloaf, God love him, is not a rock and roll singer. He may be a dramatic stage show singer, but thats not the kind of stuff we were doing. He came in, sang the songs, and they took them to all the reps at Epic. Theyre going What the fuck is this shit? Who is this? They said Its Meatloaf. The label went No, no, no, no, nothats not like the first record. They said This is better. The label said No, it isnt. Who was singing this other stuff? They said Derek St. Holmes. Well, we gotta get that. So then they have to call me up again. (laughs) Im feeling pretty good about myself. Theres only so much weight you can throw around. You know, at 23 years old youre trying to figure out heads from tails anyway. I go Yeah Ill come back. I sang a couple songs. To punish me they they left, I think, about three songs that he [Meatloaf] sang. That always stuck in my craw. It was never good from then on out. We were touring and bickering, arguing about singing and playing and who does what.
By the time we got to Cat Scratch Fever, we started it here in Atlanta and finished it in London, England. We could hardly get three tracks without getting into an argument about how this should sound and how heavy that should be. This and that. It wasnt so much from Ted - Ted would speak through his producer. Basically the yelling back and forth was with the producer. So by the time we got done with Cat Scratch Fever I thought Well, the money is good. Im making six figures and its bigger than anything Ive ever been in, but I am not happy. I know how to play guitar and I know how to sing. If I have to go back to start, making ten or twenty grand a year, but doing my own thing, Id rather do that. So by the time Double Live Gonzo came around we were having fights left and right, especially Ted and I - probably the two biggest smart asses known to mankind. Of course were nice people now (laughs). I just remember, after the Double Live Gonzo record was pretty much all recorded, we played New Jersey. We always rehearsed. We made sure we were spot on, so he always had a kick ass band when he stepped out there. A lot of times he wouldnt rehearse or pick up his guitars. Hed spend a lot of time hunting - the whole hunting thing. We would scratch our heads and go Ok, we could be one of the biggest bands and he wants to take two or three months off and go hunting. We didnt get it. Why not take two weeks and get all of that out of your system then lets get back and get busy and deal with this thing? So we played in New Jersey. I remember coming off stage, and with twenty people around - from press to record company people to management to friends - he starts to cuss us out in front of them. I thought to myself What a dumb ass. If you want to do this stuff, do it in a room with the four of us. He starts off cussing at the bass player. By that time Id had about a fifth of Jack Daniels and about six Heinekens. Then he starts wearing out Cliff [Davies]. Then he thinks hes gonna start running me down in front of all these people from twenty-five feet away, sitting on a couch, holding court. So he starts shooting off his mouth. Nobody else would buck him ever. When he started telling me how bad I sang and how bad I played, I just started to rip into him. I said Listen, from a guy who never rehearses and, especially tonight, sounded like he was playing with his knuckles - who always thinks hes Jimmy Page, but doesnt do the rehearsals to back it up - we carried your ass tonight. He jumped up off that couch, came running across that room in front of everybody, tried to kick me in the balls and punch me in the face. He got close to me, slipped in some melted water and beer on the floor next to the food table, and fell face down in front of me. I grabbed a handful of his hair. I drew my right arm back. I was gonna drill that son of a bitch with everything I had for all the years he was a smart mouth. And when I drew back to just start pummeling him after he tried to sucker punch me, all of a sudden these two big arms come down around me. Its his brother Johnnie, twice Teds size. He gets me in a bear hug. Ted sees hes got me in the bear hug so he jumps up and starts kicking me in the balls and punching me in the face. That was the straw right there. Everybody saw it. Everybody jumped on him, grabbed him and pulled us apart. I said Take this band and shove it up your ass - I quit. He said Oh no, you dont quit - youre fired. (laughs) That was it. I walked out of the room. Everybody is looking around going OH SHIT! These guys are on the top of the charts, this is the band that got it there, and these guys have just quit. The agents are running around freaking out. The manager is freaking out. The label is freaking out. Press is picking it up and trying to get out of the room so they can write their article. People working around Ted are trying to stop them, going No, they do this every night - theyre just kidding. (laughs) So that was the night it ended, right there. The manager came in after about 30 minutes and goes Derek, you know Ive got this other record deal with you with Warner Bros. It doesnt kick in for a couple more months. Weve got to finish this tour. It all relies on finishing this tour. I said Fuck him. I am over it, Im done with it. I go out there and give 100% and the guy treats you like shit. He goes Derek, here is where you are gonna have to be the best actor youve ever been in your life. I said I aint doing it. I told him about three more times. He brought in the publicist. She sat down. She said Youve gotta do it. I said All right. She said Go in there, tell him youre sorry. Tell him it was all your fault and you dont know what you were thinking. Lets finish up the next 3 months and by the end of 78/beginning of 79 Ill have your Warner Bros. deal. So I did exactly that. I walked in there sat down next to him. By that time the room was cleared. (laughs). Just the manager, Ted and I. Im sitting right next to Ted. You know I lived with him in the same room for years. Probably three years we roomed together, so its like two brothers fighting, but there was a lot of money at stake. And a lot of ego involved. I went in there and I said Ted, I want to apologize. I flew off the handle. Its all my fault. He said I appreciate you saying it. You know I love you like a brother. We shook hands. Maybe we can get this thing worked out. I said Yeah, Im sorry. It was just one of the worst things that could have happened because it made all the things he did to us ok. You know it just didnt matter. We went out for another three months and finished out the shows. California Jam 2 was the last show. That was the last time I saw him for quite a few years. In hindsight, we were hot - so they toured us to death. I think if we had been able to take a year off and not even have to play or see each other, and get acquainted with the amount of money we were making - get a handle on our life - it probably would have gone on longer. But it didnt.
I cant understand why Ted would risk ruining such a good thing, and not enjoy the camaraderie of such a successful band.
Yeah, its crazy. I tell ya, two people that I respect have come up and told me the same doggone thing. One of them is Gene Simmons and one is Steven Tyler. They have both come up to me, taken me aside and said Derek, I dont know why the guy cant figure out youre his singer, and hes your guitar player. You guys made the best music hes ever done. Why he cant continue that, I have no idea. Especially Tyler - it blows his mind that Ted is as dumb as he is. He cant figure. I said Well I dont know. I cant figure it. Those guys are smart. Look where they are. Look at how those guys have pulled it together. You think theres still some fighting going on and turmoil? Absolutely, but at the end of the day they go Now wait a minute. This fighting and bickering cant go past this point anymore, because this deal is working. I talk to Brad probably once a month. He has said Sometimes I just go through the motions but at the end of the day I am making all that money, and pretty soon Im gonna retire. And were still doing it. I said God Bless ya. Youre doing the right thing. I think we might do another record. Listen to me - record! We might do another CD. Hes got all these songs ready to go. We talked about it. Well probably get the same Whitford/St. Holmes lineup.
Was it a good idea to leave behind Whitford/St. Holmes to rejoin Ted so soon for the Nugent album in 1982?
Yeah, absolutely not. I think it was a mistake. It was the best deal available. Brad was asked to come back to Aerosmith, so what could you do? And they finally got [guitarist Joe] Perry back..
I saw you with Ted at Junefest here in Las Vegas on the Spirit of the Wild tour. Ted seemed to be glad to have you back after such a long absence. What happened, following that tour?
Well, you know again, its about dollars. Its about tour success. We went out and toured Spirit of the Wild, but not with the same band that we recorded it with. It was cutting costs. If you go out to play golf and youve got four killer players on your team, and just when the biggest tournament comes up you figure Well gosh, we can save a couple hundred bucks if we just take out this Joe Schmo as a third guy. Well play the tournament and well win it, well youre not gonna win it. So we didnt use Denny Carmassi who was the drummer from Heart who did the album. We used some young brand new kid. The enthusiasm just wasnt there.
What was the deal with Mothers Army? It boggles the mind to think of what a group with you, Carmine Appice, Bob Daisley and Jeff Watson would sound like.
I remember writing songs for Mothers Army. Now - Mothers Army - that title wasnt decided until I was gone. I never heard of Mothers Army before. Carmine called me and said Derek, were carrying on and its Mothers Army. I said Great. When I was in it, it wasnt Mothers Army. I dont think we had come up with a name yet. I know Bob [Daisley] would go up to his room somewhere in Jeffs house and hed come back with these amazing lyrics - this amazing story - he just makes it up. And he goes Heres the lyrics, mate. (laughs) Id sing em like Id known em forever. Ive got that stuff on tape here someplace. Theres some killer, killer stuff that we did. I think we did like 6 or 7 songs.
I spoke to Bob Daisley and asked him about your time in the band.
Bob is amazing. Hes fantastic. Whos he with now?
Gary Moore.
Get out!
Yeah hes with Gary Moore, and they just recorded a new album. Its called Power Of The Blues.
Bob Daisley & Gary MooreI love it. Bob - hes a monster. People dont know he wrote Crazy Train. He wrote all that stuff. He is amazing.
Youre preaching to the choir. Anyway, he said about the Mothers Army thing It was a personality conflict with Jeff & Derek. I guess Jeff rubbed him the wrong way. But I got along fine with Derek. In fact, give him my regards.
Jeff is amazing. I saw him last year. We did a benefit in Maryland for a corporate party. It was a thing called KCs Kids, one of those Make-A-Wish, one of those foundations for kids that are terminally ill. We all got together for that. Ive done a lot of things with Jack Blades. So Jack says Im bringing Jeff with me. I said Great. It would be great to see him. So Jeff got up and played. Jeffs an amazing guitar player. There are very few people that play as well as he does. But his personality (laughs) use to precede him - now hes a much mellower dude. He had a studio in his loft upstairs and I used to just sit there. We spent a lot of time together just watching him run those tracks and play along with it. I just thought Oh my goodness, this guy is coming out of the woodwork, man. Hes quite talented, Ill give him that.
Are you drawn to volatile personalities? You went from working with Nugent to Michael Schenker, then a number of years later you almost had things worked out with Jeff Watson...
I think you may have something there. I didnt realize it until maybe just now, when you said it. I guess you always think you can fix something or you can add to the puzzle. I am a team player. I cant do it all by myself. I never thought I could. I take care of the people that are around me because I know what its like not to be taken care of. So every time I get into something, Ill go in as a team player - 110% and lets win. Theres enough money for everybody. This is about an art. Its not about money, but of course you cant just fly back and forth on a whim. Were artists. I like creating art and I like, as I say, painting pictures with other musicians. I guess at first you always think its going to be this beautiful collaboration, and I have a great capacity for collaborating because Ive worked under one of the greatest tyrants in the music industry. Its a lot of fun, then all of a sudden you may start to see some real weak points like they want to take charge. I dont care how many guys jump off the bridge - Im not going. The same kind of deal with the Jeff Watsons and the Michael Schenkers. I couldnt believe I got to England and within a week-and-a-half Michael goes (in a German accent) Derek, you are the boss. I like the way you are organizing. You are the boss. It was all because every night he would send me home with ten different songs to learn. That ten was the set, written in stone. Next day Id get there, hed do two lines of coke, drink a ½ bottle of vodka and say Were not doing any of those songs Derek. You dont know these? Were supposed to be doing these. So the third time I went back to this tiny little room in England to learn all these songs on a boom box, I came back and he changed them again. I said If you dont figure this set out today, Im flying home tomorrow. This is stupid. He probably never had anybody stand up to him, or say anything like that to him. He looked at me for a couple seconds, cocked his head and said From now on Derek, you are the boss. You make the schedule, you make the set up and you call the rehearsals. How long had this guy been a leader of his own band? Thats the way that went.
I guess I been a leader of my own band since 68 so it was easy. It was easy to take a backseat with Nugent because he was a leader himself and it was his deal. It was a lot of fun to slide behind him, but then when he just didnt want to give you any recognition at all, it started to get a little tough. With Whitford/St. Holmes we were equal partners. That was fun. St. Paradise, I ran the whole deal. There were many times I called Ted after St. Paradise, between 79 & 80. I said Ted, I gotta hand it to ya - its tough being the guy in charge. Youve gotta hire and fire everybody. He said I know.
Do you think that Ted ever thought to himself That Derek guy is just so Goddamn hard to work with?
Oh I think so. You tell somebody everyday I need the best you got. We gotta be the best there is. Its like a football game. We are the best team. I dont care who it is - we go out and we kill them. After its over and youve given the best, he never once comes up and pats you on the back, never once shakes your hand and never once says you did a good job. Out of five years, after a while you go Im tired of working with this guy. After a while youre beating your head against the wall. Thats when I just quit. Most every time I went back, I thought it was gonna be better and he was no more giving, monetarily or creatively.
Tell me about Big People. Since the death of Benjamin Orr in 2000, has the band continued?
We have. Honestly its been about three shows a year. I mean, something will come up and well get together and do it. But when Ben went, that was it. He did tell us on his death bed You guys have got to keep going. This is one of the coolest things Ive been in. Youve gotta keep going. So we did. He said I want to keep playing til I pass away - I want to play. We literally picked him up and carried him on the stage for the last seven shows, and he played every one he could. Hed sing his songs like a trooper and sit down. We had an extra bass player just in case. But you know when that thing was rolling we had Pat Travers, Benjamin Orr [The Cars], Jeff Carlisi [38 Special], Liberty DeVitto [Billy Joel band], & myself. We were rockin. We were out with Styx, and every night theyd come up and say You guys are kicking our ass. We said Were just having fun.
Were you doing the original material.
Actually, we were a jukebox. We were doing all our hits.
Was that ever meant to evolve into something?
Yes. We had a bunch of tunes written - we probably had about seven songs for a new record - I mean CD. When Bens health started to fail, we just kinda slowed up on it and concentrated on getting him medical assistance. When we found out it was pancreatic cancer and his chances were three months, we just went Oh God. Talk about a sweet guy. I think because of our Midwestern upbringing, we just bonded. Hes from Cleveland and Im from Detroit. Somebody said Why dont you get together with all these different guys? I could probably get you a lot of corporate work. He said I know that Benjamin Orr is looking for something. I called Ben Orr up out of the clear blue. He answers Hello. I said Ben Orr?. He says Yeah. I said This is Derek St. Holmes from Ted Nugent. He just started laughing. He was just chuckling. He said I cant believe Derek St. Holmes from Ted Nugent is calling me on the phone. We talked for a little bit. Id never met him before. I told him what we were thinking of doing. I gave him like a ten minute prepared speech of what we were doing. At the end of it I go So what are you thinking? He goes Count me in. Thats all he says. (laughs). Pat Travers name came up so we got him involved. Jeff & I were buddies down here in Atlanta. Jeff lives here, so we were always buddies. Liberty got involved through Pat Travers - he was down there in Orlando. Thats how that kinda came together. For awhile we had a riot. The first guy to start causing friction was Pat. We just kinda credited it to him always being in charge of his own band. Then when he got in this one there were five leaders. All everybody had to do was add their 10% and lets just try to politically - and democratically - put it together, but no. Something werent good enough and this and that. He left after about three months. We just carried on with ourselves. We hired a keyboard player to play. Then when Ben passed we just shut it down for the longest time. Then we kicked it up a couple of times. We were thinking about getting Ed King, guitar player for Skynyrd.
So on a couple of these things, if they come up again - which I hear they might - Ed said hed like to come out. Were gonna do a 4th of July gig without him, cause its one isolated date. But if a couple of more come in Ed said he wanted in. He thought it was the coolest thing. He heard a couple of tapes and thought What a cool deal. So you know, basically you find a couple of guys to bring a couple of songs. And what does he bring to the table? Sweet Home Alabama.
Yeah, and Strawberry Alarm Clock.
Isnt that the truth! Incense and Peppermint, Gimme Three Steps
There you go - you have three Ed King songs in your set right there.
Whats that other big oneumFreebird. He wrote them all, and what a great guy.
Thatll get your guitar chops up to speed, for sure.
(laughs) I dont know, that might be fun. We may just try to keep that going.
The corporate stuff, theres plenty of it, but you cant get to it. If these corporate people knew how to find yawe probably need to spend a lot more money on promotion, is probably what we need to do.
Well Glenn Hughes, Pat Travers & Larry Hoppen from Orleans - all these guys were with the Voices of Classic Rock. Jimi Jamison from Survivor, Mike Reno from Loverboy...
Ben was in that.
Yeah, I guess youre right.
He stepped out of that, to do that thing with us.
You know then theres more towards your neck of the woods out there at least more eastward is out of Memphis the Southern Rock All-Stars. It has all the refugees from Molly Hatchet basically. Molly Hatchet and Blackfoot.
Right. I dont know. Just the sales alone of the setlist that we do is just amazing. We either wrote it or were apart of it. Thats what we tell people.
Koko Taylor recorded your song Hey Baby on her 1990 Jump for Joy album how did that happen?
Isnt that somethin? First off, she thought it was Teds song. So she thought she was covering a Ted Nugent song, so she did Hey Baby. But when I heard that she did it, I was so pleased. I thought I could die and go to heaven. I got the Queen of the blues doing my song on her album!
Did that spark an interest in writing songs for other artists?
Nah.
More of an interest in other artists doing your songs though? (laughs)
Yeah and making me money! I think if somebody called and said Will you write a song for so and so?, absolutely I would do it. Its that easy to me. To sit around and come up with a bunch of songs of my own, thats more difficult. Ive got quite a few songs for Ted Nugent - he just isnt listening. He doesnt want to hear it. I was going to do another CD where I did a whole CD of basically Ted Nugents stuff - Derek St. Holmes/Ted Nugent stuff - put it on digital, send it out to Rob Grange and let him play the bass, send it to Cliff Davies, let him play the drums, and Ted already said that hed play the solos on some of the stuff. Id have the Ted Nugent band back together! Id love to hear what that sounds like. Everytime I talk to Rob, he always says Is this the call, Derek? Is this the call? He lives in San Diego, and he was in real estate for twenty years. Hes retired now.
That would really be something.
But well see. Ive got three in the closet Id like to do. A new Derek St. Holmes, much heavier, like we started out. Id like to do the Motown cover stuff. Id like to do the project getting all the same guys together on the same CD, but they dont have to be in the same room together.
Good idea. Thatll help everyone cool their jets.
Cliff [Davies, drummer] lives here in Dallas, GA. I talk to him occasionally. Trying to get Ted and Cliff in the same room might be tough, but they dont have to.
Thank god for modern technology.
Yes.
So whats a Derek St. Holmes set list like these days?
I usually do just about everything off of Then & Now. Ill do Cat Scratch Fever, Free For All, Live It Up, Hey Baby, Stranglehold, Snakeskin Cowboys, Just What The Dr. Orderedum thats about all I do from him. Baby Please Dont Go, Wango Tangosometimes if we get real silly well do that. Occasionally I do Dog Eat Dog. I do a lot of covers. Ill do a lot of Creedence Clearwater Revival, some Doors, and Ill do some Hendrix. Mainly the staple is my CD and some of the Ted Nugent stuff.
Any plans for another album to follow Then & Nowperhaps Then Again?
Thats where I think Im gonna get more hard rock on. Everybody would say How come youre not slammin on this? Well, I think I will on this next one.
Of course, the best way to find out what youre up to is to check out www.derekstholmes.com.
Yeah. If that looks like its gonna come together, it will definitely be on there.
Well then, Ill leave you with a question we ask everyone we talk to. Whats your drink of choice?
Whats my drink of choice? God thats funny. I stopped drinking for like 16 years or something and just started back. My favorite drink of choice (pause) My wifes going to say Boddingtons Pub Ale.
She has to tell you your favorite drink?
Well, that stuffs hard to come by. Normally I drink Bud Light. I stick to beers, cause I know this wild Indian cant be drinking no fire water. There would be all kinds of shit going on.
(photos courtesy of www.derekstholmes.com)
