Sunday 21 April 2013

SXSW Interview: Michael Des Barres

Rock and roll, some numpty once said, is a young man’s game. Whoever they were, they’d clearly never heard of Lord Michael Des Barres.

He’s been in more bands than most of us have had hot dinners. He’s shared stages (and groupies) with everyone from Steve Marriott to Steve Van Zandt. He’s had 65 years on this Earth, and he doesn’t seem to have wasted a single day thus far.

From his days in Silverhead warming up for Deep Purple and Fleetwood Mac, through recording on Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song label, launching his ‘Rock Against Drugs’ campaign and fronting Power Station at Live Aid, Michael Des Barres is the name that fills the gaps in rock history. There’s no false modesty to Des Barres; he’s led a fascinating life and he knows it. What’s more, the man certainly doesn’t shy from sharing his thoughts with an assemblage of Live4ever crew members at SXSW, waxing lyrical on musical contemporaries and successors. “Technology,” he says, “has dictated that you don’t need human beings…People don’t understand it anymore. Five guys – or girls – in a room, looking at each other and making a record in six hours is all I give a shit about.”

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