(Guitar Player 、以降GP)I recently interviewed Mick Ralphs, who talked about touring with you when he was with Mott the Hoople. He said you turned him on to a style of playing.
(GP)このあいだMick Ralphsをインタビューしたんだけど、Mott the Hoople時代にあなたと(Mountainと)ツアーした時のことを語っていましたよ。あなたのプレイスタイルに大きな影響を受けたって。
(Leslie West、以降LW) And Les Paul Juniors.
(LW) そして、(Mickはその後)Les Paul Juniorを弾くようになった。
(GP)Yeah, he said he never saw one until he saw you with it.
(GP)そうそう、あなたが弾いているのを見るまで一度も見たことすらなかったって言ってました。
(LW)You know, on 48th Street in New York there’s a place called We Buy Guitars. Well, Larry, it’s really funny. He used to sell all the Juniors to me. I bought the white Junior from him. And he had signs in his window, “Leslie West Les Paul Junior model.” It was funny seeing one up there. I’ll never forget it. It was a beat-up, battered piece of shit, and it didn’t look like it could be called anybody’s model. He owns three stores on that block, man. We Buy Music – it’s right across from Manny’s. Manny’s is the Corvette of music stores. Whatever Henry tells you not to get, you definitely should get, in that music store.
(LW)ニューヨークの48thストリートにWe Buy Guitarsって店が有るんだ。Larryっていう本当に面白い奴がやってる。あのころ、奴は全てのジュニアを俺に売ってたんだ。あの白いジュニアも奴から買った。そして店のウインドウに「Leslie West Les Paul Junior model」っていう看板を掲げたんだ。あの店でそれを見たときは、笑っちゃたぜ。忘れやしない。そいつは使い古されたくそボロのギターで、とてもじゃないが「誰々ののモデル」なんて呼べる代物じゃあなかった。奴はそのブロックに3軒も楽器店を持ってやがった。We Buy Music って店は丁度Manny’sの向かい側だ。Manny’sは最上級の楽器店。あそこで手に入らないものなど無かった。
(GP)That last album you put out, The Leslie West Band . . .
(GP)あなたが最も最近に出したアルバム、The Leslie West Bandについて聞かせてください。
(LW)With Mick Jones?
(LW)Mick Jonesとやったやつのこと?
(GP)An ass kicker.
(GP)最高のアルバム。
(LW)The trouble, though, with that album was my manager. He knew I was leaving, and he owned the label.
(LW)Yeah. He manages Foreigner, and he knew I was leaving. So he didn’t bother to promote it, since he owned the label, and he just let it die. But I thought we had some good songs. I mean, the songs on there was the beginning of what Mick took to Foreigner. Those roots.
(GP)That version of “Dear Prudence” was really nice.
(GP)あのバージョンのDear Prudenceは本当に素晴らしい。
(LW) The kids in the background, those were the kids from The Wiz, the original cast. Those kids are the premiere backup singers in New York. There trip is that if you pay ’em a hundred bucks, they’ll do the whole session – three hours, or whatever it’s for. And that’s how they made a lot of money.
(LW)Yeah, we’re working on that, man. There’s a lot of things going through my head, though, at this time, with doing a band, doing everything. It’s like I’ve got so many different ideas of what I’d really like to do. I swear to God, the last two days, I’ve lost all my interest to go and start touring and doing the whole thing. You know what is the most incredible thing that I would love to do? Join a fucking band and play guitar in a band, a band that I idolize. A band that I knew that I could add something to their music. I just don’t feel like starting a whole new band and calling it something else with my name on it or Steve’s name or something like that. My real dream would be to do something like that, or even in the studio, you know. I hear some of the shit now and think to myself, “If only Motown would have used a guitarist.” The roots changed, and all of a sudden guys I went to school with, like Waddy Wachtel and other guys, are right up there. It’s amazing. Eddie Money. He used to come see me when I was at the Action in Long Island – front row! Oh, man. There’s more people coming out of New York, making it now, and nobody realizes it.
(LW)My partner and manager has a men and women’s beauty salon there. It’s called the Hair Company. And the West Company is right across the hall. We had our offices moved out there because New York was so crazy. I want to get out of New York – the drug scene, the whole music scene, everything.
(GP)Many of the guitarists we interview talk about your style.
(GP)私達がインタビューしたギタリストの数多くがあなたのプレースタイルのことを語ってましたよ。
(LW)Hey, man, that’s the greatest thrill in the world, because I was wondering when I was going to get all the accolades! [Laughs.] I’ll tell you the truth.
(LW)It’s incredible. The American people, not so, because they are so hung up on their damn selves. And I’ll tell you, there’s not too many guitarists in America that I really dig.
(LW)Yeah, and the funny thing is at the music show [NAMM show], somebody was making copies of Edward’s guitar and selling them. Yeah. They were Japanese copies of his ax.
(LW)Yeah, he’s happy. He can’t believe it! He’s just so thrilled. See, the most important thing to me is vibrato, and he’s got it. You know, it’s funny. You were talking about Mick Ralphs – you know that me and Corky [Laing] were almost in Bad Company? When West, Bruce & Laing was formed, the night before Jack started playing with us, he had to go to Germany. So we went to Island Studios, Corky and I, and Paul Rodgers and Mick came down, and we were making tapes. They wanted to start a group, and we said, “Well, we just asked Jack last night.” They started Bad Company. So yeah, I’ve had a lot of influence. Mott the Hoople – when they first came over, they were Mountain’s publicity directors. Another of the English groups – Jethro Tull – said, “Man, when you come to Europe, we’ll do all the promoting in the world for you.” They were our fans, and it was incredible because they were scared coming over here. We were working with them and showing them everything and taking them around. We formed very tight relationships with the English groups.
(LW)ああ、ハッピーな奴だ。奴は起こっている事が信じられないんだ!ワクワクしてる。でな、俺にとって最も大事なのはビブラート、で奴は完璧。 面白い事なんだが。君はさっきMick Ralphsの話をしたよな、、、で、俺とCorky(Laing)がBad Companyに入ることになりかけてたって知ってる? West, Bruce & Laingが結成された時、Jackが俺達と演奏を始める正に1日前、彼はドイツへ行かなければならなかったんだ。で、Corkyと俺はIsland Studiosに出かけたんだけど、そこにPaul RodgersとMickがやってきて一緒に録音したんだ。奴らは(その編成で)グループを組みたいと言った、で、俺たちは「悪いが、昨夜Jackに声をかけちまったばかりなんだ」って答えざるを得なかった。で、奴らはBad Companyを(あのメンバーで)始めたって訳だ。確かに、俺は多くの影響を与えてきた。Mott the Hoople、奴らが初めてやってきた時、奴らはMountainの広報部員みたいなもんだった。もう一つのイギリスのグループ、Jethro Tullは俺たちに「君達がヨーロッパに来たら、我々が全てのプロモーションを君達のためにしてあげる」って言うんだぜ。奴らは皆俺達のファンになった。こっち(アメリカ)に来るのにビクビクしてたってのに凄いことだぜ。俺達は彼らと共に取り組み、全てを教え、色んな事を伝えた。俺達はイギリスのグループ達と強固なリレーションシップを作り上げたんだ。
(GP)What did it mean for an English group to tour America the first time?
(GP)イギリスのグループにとって、初めてアメリカをツアーするのはどういうものなんですか?
(LW)It was like, “Wow! Conquering America!” Think about it.
(LW)それは「ワォ、アメリカ征服だ!」って感じ。想像してみろよ。
(GP)How were the bucks for them?
(GP)彼等は稼げたのですか?
(LW)Oh, the first time around, in those days? You don’t do it for the bucks. You do it to be able to come to America. It’s like you don’t go to England to make money. You can’t make money touring London or even all of England. It takes you six days to tour all of England. And you walk out of there with shit. So you don’t do that for money. But they sure like to come here.