George Thorogood Interview: “Rock ‘N’ Roll Never Sleeps, It Just Passes Out”

By: Brady Lavin

You know George. He’s that gravely-voiced madman who sings about bein’ bad and drinkin’ alone. He would like, no, he demands one bourbon, one scotch, and a beer, and screw you if you don’t have it. He’s bad to the bone and has been since he started playing blues standards and his own dirty originals with his band The Destoyers in the mid ’70s.

2011 finds the blues rocker releasing a tribute to all the blues and rock ‘n’ roll greats that inspired him back when he was a kid, and it turns out that they still fuel him to stay on his horse. The album, entitled 2120 South Michigan Ave., includes Thorogood’s distinctive take on a host of tunes by guys like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, and others. The title comes from the old address of Chess Records in Chicago, who put out all the material by these legends that inspired so many musicians, including the Rolling Stones.

Although George has been incredibly busy with touring in support of 2120 South Michigan Ave., he found a slot of time to give us an interview that, although it was plagued by dropped calls (read: 3 times), gives us a glimpse into the mind of the hardest-working bluesman around.

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Brady Lavin: How’s the tour going so far?

George Thorogood: Oh man, where the other bands end, that’s where we begin.

Brady: I wish I could go see your show on the 20th in Chicago, where I’m from, but I’ll be out of town. What can people expect from your show when they see you guys on this tour?

George Thorogood: Last time we played at the House of Blues, oh my goodness gracious I thought the roof was gonna blow up on that place. It’s just an emotional display of humanity I’ve never seen before. Every time we play there it gets more intense. I didn’t think they’d ever have us back!

Brady: And especially with the Chicago, Chess Records themed new album, it’ll be a momentous occasion.

George Thorogood: We’re gonna be adding kerosene to the bonfire.

Brady: So are you gonna be playing a lot of the stuff off your new album?

George Thorogood: Some of it. Not a lot, but some of it, yeah. Some can’t be reproduced. It’s just not material that works in our live show.

Brady: I read that some of the tracks on 2120 South Michigan Ave. were recorded in one take, is that right?

George Thorogood: Yeah, that happens with every record, though. You get one that’s just working and you use that take.

Brady: So it wasn’t a conscious decision, it just happened? You’re like, “Well that’s the one right there”?

George Thorogood: [Laughs] Well it’s an economic, cash-effective approach to it. Get it done in one take. Everything’s really expensive these days, there’s no time for mistakes or dilly-dallying around. It’s an expensive process. Everything is these days.

Brady: It makes sense too, because I know a lot of the old blues guys, every time they would play a song it would be different. Did you take that approach to any of them or are they more arranged out?

George Thorogood: Well you know the arrangements are kind of… those blues classics are kind of etched in stone. Yeah there was an experimental time in the late ’60s with Cream and other bands, but there are some things you gotta really stick to the program on, like a Bo Diddley or a Chuck Berry tune.

Brady: With this new album, you’re covering a lot of the blues and rock ‘n’ roll greats, and you’ve said that all eyes and ears are on you. Has that been nerve-wracking or does that fuel you?

George Thorogood: Well it’s not too nerve-wracking; I’ve been playing some of this stuff for so long it kind of falls into place a lot quicker than I give myself credit for sometimes. I’ve been playing Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley since I was a kid. I’ve been doing this for so long; I’ve been doing it for over half my life. Capitol is just giving me this tribute.

I even found some songs that I didn’t even know were on Chess such as “Hi-Heel Sneakers.” I didn’t know that J.B. Lenoir was a Chess artist, we did a song by him. So it was more than just copying Johnny B Goode. I’d never done a Sonny Boy Williamson song, and I think we did one Little Walter song. You can’t do a tribute to Chess Records without something from Sonny Boy Williamson or Little Walter, now can you?

Brady: You said in an interview that “Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley are religion.” In this hypothetical religion, who is God, who is Jesus, and who are the saints?

George Thorogood: Let’s put it this way. I don’t think it’s a religion. I think its an addiction. One’s like morphine the other’s like heroin. [Laughs]

Brady: Who’s meth in this metaphor?

George Thorogood: Oh, that’s a tough one. Both are equally as addictive. Don’t get hooked on ’em, whatever you do.

Brady: What guitars did you use on this new album?

George Thorogood: I used my [Gibson ES] 125 and I had an acoustic 125. it’s a Gibson Dove; it has a pickup in it, a modern one. We used that for the Bo Diddley piece, because as you know in the old days these cats had acoustic guitars and they put a pickup in ’em. And the early electric guitars are more like semi electric ones. If you look at Bo Diddley’s instruments that he used in the early ’50s, the Gretsch guitars with the f-holes on the sides, not the square one he played later but that Gretsch he played. And my guitar, my electric guitar is semi electric, a semi-hollow body, you know what I mean?

Brady: What amps and any effects did you use?

George Thorogood: We used tremolo on the Bo Diddley… You have to ask my guitar tech about that stuff, I’m not even sure what kind of amp he was using. I think it was a Mesa Boogie.

Brady: So you kind of just know the sound you want and your tech helps you get it?

George Thorogood: I only have one sound, my sound. I’ve tried to sound like everybody else but it doesn’t work. It just comes out sounding like me. [Laughs] No matter what kind of soap I use, I always come out filthy dirty.

Brady: Do you have any favorite touring or recording moments?

George Thorogood: Recording moments, not many. I’m not exactly what you call dying to get into the studio. You know who was like that? Elmore James. He didn’t care for the studio much. He liked to play live, and I’m pretty much the same way. As far as touring goes, my fondest memory is probably touring with the Rolling Stones [in 1981-82]. We did just about every show they did in Europe and quite a few in the states as well.

Brady: You said you’re not to keen on recording, but over your career you’ve never taken longer than 4 years to come out with another studio album. How do you find the drive to keep playing when other bands get jaded or tired and call it quits?

George Thorogood: We usually find a new song. That’s what the lick does to you. You find a tune, or a couple tunes didn’t make it on the last record. We discovered the song “Get A Haircut” when we were in Australia, so we knew we had to go to the studio and cut it. And of course now you can record one song and put it on the computer and they can buy it.

And then sometimes you have a contract. You have an obligation to your record company that you have to fulfill, and that’ll make you go in there. So there are various reasons. And you gotta keep the momentum of your career going, whatever that momentum might be. It might be heavy or it might be something you gotta do to wake people up and let em know you’re still around. I’ve tried to get out of work every chance I have, but it doesn’t work. [Laughing] They keep finding me!

Brady: Why do you think some bands get burnt out? How have you avoided that?

George Thorogood: Well, I need the money for one thing. If I was in the financial situation of Paul McCartney or somebody like that I might be giving it some serious consideration not to do it at all or to do it a lot less. You still gotta go to work, don’t you?

Brady: Oh yeah.

George Thorogood: And the IRS…. when Uncle Sam comes knockin’ on my door, he knocks hard. [Laughs] And awesome!

Brady: So what’s the future hold for George Thorogood?

George Thorogood: Oh man, a good night’s sleep would be nice. The future… Gotta look around the next bend. Just try to get through the next couple of weeks and get to Chicago in one piece, baby!

Brady: Just one more question, have you changed your mind at all, or do you still like to be by yourself when you drink alone?

George Thorogood: Well, you know, as time goes on, as you get older, you really pick your company because you only have so much energy. You only have so much time to yourself. I enjoy talkin’ to you!

Brady: Thanks for giving me 15 minutes of your incredibly busy schedule, George.

George Thorogood: Remember, rock ‘n’ roll never sleeps, it just passes out.