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THE
BOB HARVEY INTERVIEW (founding member of Jefferson Airplane) by
Roy Harper (or - 'He was bumped from the flight just before the
plane left the runway')
Bob Harvey has come full circle. Now, with his new album, 'Idiot's
Vision', Bob has come out with the music he's been in preparation
for since 1963.
RH - In 1963, you formed the Slippery Rock String Band, playing
bass, and playing bluegrass. Why bluegrass ?
BH - In 1963, I was hosting open-mike nights (called a hootenanny)
at the Golden Lamp Coffeehouse in Burlingame, CA. I was looking
for people to play & sing with. Chuck McCabe played 5 string
banjo and Lee Cheney played guitar. They were doing bluegrass
amd had good harmony. I wanted to sing with them, but they were
lookng for an upright bass player. I bought a bass and we started
rehearsing and appearing at the Golden Lamp every Friday night.
Slowly we branched out to the hoots that were held at the Tangent
in Palo Alto, and The Shelter in San Jose. We finally got our
first paying gig at Coffee & Confusion In San Francisco in
the summer of 1964. Why Bluegrass ?........ because that was where
the opportunity was. The best players I knew were doing bluegrass
and it was a chance to sing and be a part of the folk music scene
in San Francisco.
RH - Then, you met Marty Balin and Paul Kantner at a SRSB gig
and asked them if you could play in a folk band they were forming.
Why did you want to make this musical transition, especially since
SRSB was having local success and record airplay ?
BH - Marty Balin was well known and respected in the music scene
and I felt that the new "folk-rock" music was the coming
thing. Folk-rock offered a chance for a much wider appeal and
greater success, whereas the chances for a bluegrass band were
limited on all levels. The record that SRSB had out was a local
success only and had zero chance outside the 'Bay area'.
RH - What impressed you most about Balin & Kantner when you
met them ?
BH - I believe that Marty Balin was not only a strong talent,
but also had a lot of connections in the music business. Kantner
was a good musician, but it was Marty I was drawn to.
RH - What was it in the 60s that made San Francisco a boom for
a new generation of music & philosophies ?
BH - San Francisco has a history of being a breeding ground for
new and different ideas like the beatnik era that preceded the
hippie scene. San Francisco didn't invent the hippie scene, but
they embraced it and made it their own.
RH - Jefferson Airplane was playing 'Midnight Hour' in a club
when Kantner's friend, David Crosby, came in and you froze in
'awe'. Crosby called out "get rid of the fucking bass player".
How did that make you feel ?..... and how did you end up getting
fired from the band ?
BH - David Crosby was with the Byrds in 1965. He was self-centered
and often quite pompous, but that was not not unusual in young
people who were successful in the music field. While I didn't
like the way he acted towards me, I know that I have been self
centered in many ways and caused pain in others, just as he did
with me. David Crosby's actions toward me left me hurt and full
of self-doubt. I immediately went back and reformed SRSB. In the
the years that followed the break-up of SRSB in 1967, my lack
of belief in myself and in my music that I was writing, made it
doubly difficult to make other people in the industry see the
value in what I was doing.
(As far as me being fired from the Airplane..) - Marty Balin called
me back into the back room of The Matrix, but it was Jorma who
told me I wasn't cutting it on electric bass and that he had to
have a bass player that was as good on bass as he himself was
on lead guitar.
RH - Any resentment still towards David Crosby ?
BH - I held resentment against David for a long time, but have
long since realized that it was 'meant to be'. I have been in
touch with him recently. He has mellowed a lot as he has gotten
older.
RH - You reformed SRSB for a year or so, and then gave up music.
As a journalist covering Desert Storm, you met songwriter Brian
Fowler whom you've been teamed up with since. What was the 'spark'
and new enthusiasm that brought you back to music ?
BH - The spark that brought me back was Brian Fowler's excitement
over my music. The real enthusiasm came when we found that we
had a natural compatibility between my lyrics and his music.
RH - Tell us about your new CD.
BH - 'Idiot's Vision' was a first tentative step out. It was done
while we were 2,000 miles apart. I would send lyrics to Brian
and he would write the music. Then, he would go into the studio
and use his musician friends to fill it out, plus he would do
a scratch vocal in my headset and record the vocal tracks. It
covers the total spectrum of my music written in the 60s-- all
the way to the lyrics and music that we have collaborated on in
the last 5 years of writing and recording together.
RH - What lies ahead in the future ?
BH - The band, San Francisco Blue, has expanded to four members
- Kerry Low on congas, John Joiner on electric bass, keyboard,
& flute , Brian on lead guitar, mandolin, & fiddle, and
myself on rhythm guitar, upright bass, auto harp, harmonica, &
vocals. We are ready to start on our second album called 'Children
Of The Wind'. It will be recorded live at The Loft.
This is what I've been waiting for all these years. We are producing
good music and we are in the right place and the right time. This
is the best time of my life.
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