UHAS Issue 18 December 1995
CLEM CLEMSON - AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Just over a year ago when Colosseum played a handful of gigs in the UK, Mark Clarke
invited the two of us along to one of the gigs to do an interview he'd promised us some 18
months earlier.The interview with Mark will appear in a future issue of the mag. The
evening also gave us an opportunity to meet with Clem Clempson, the "Colosseum"
guitarist who has cross,, path's with Heep on many occasions. The first was long before
the birth of Heep when Clem and Keith Baker, who was later to become Heep's drummer,
played together in a band called "Bakerloo " and released a highly collectable
album of the same name. "Colosseum" and Heep were both managed by Gerry Bron's
organization and Mark Clarke, the "Colosseum" bass player, replaced Paul Newton
in Heep. Clem was the guitarist in "Rough Diamond", David Byron's first project
after Heep and unknown Clem also had a brief spell with Ken Hensley's solo band in the
early eighties. to many,
Alan: Who were the early influences that made you want to be a
guitarist?
Clem: I started playing when I was about 16 because I
liked what "The Beaties" and "The
Stones" were doing, and I fancied doing it. I wasn't really that serious about the
guitar until
I started getting into the blues which was really through hearing Eric Clapton playing
with John Mayall.
Alan: Was "Bakerloo, the first band You were involved with?
Clem: Yeah, "Bakerloo was my first real band.
Alan: How did You get involved with David Byron and "Rough Diamond"? Had you known David prior to that project?
Clem: I'd bumped into David on occasions because when "Bakerloo" split up I joined "Colosseum" which had the same management. As you know, Keith Baker joined Uriah Heep and 1 went to see Keith playing with them and he came to see me in "Colosseum" from time to time. Our paths crossed although we never really met. The "Rough Diamond" thing came about through a guy called Steve Barnet who was working for Gerry Bron as an agent and he became David's manager when he split from Heep. When they were putting a band together they called me.
Alan: Was "Rough Diamond" seen as David's band or were you all equal partners?
Clem: As far as the People in the band were concerned we were all equal partners. David was very keen for it to be that way, although it was him who initiated it, he always very much wanted to be part of a band rather than it being David Byron and his group.
Alan: What was he like to work with when he had just split from Heep?
Clem: He was great! Very enthusiastic and hard working, there were no big egos at all.
Alan: "Rough Diamond" were billed as a super group in
the press, do you think that
worked against you?
Clem: That wasn,t our fault and yes, I do think it worked against us, we got really
upset about some of it. The trouble is that it's all taken out of your hands when you sign
a major record deal, they just want to do whatever they think is
right to launch the band in the best way Possible. It didn't really fit in with the way we
saw it and we really could have done without that sort of pressure.
Alan: "Rough Diamond" toured quite extensively in England and Europe but did you also play America?
Clem: Yes, we did a short tour of the States for about a month, it was quite good fun.
We
did a few gigs supporting Peter Frampton who was the biggest thing in the world at the
time. It was a bit strange because it was full of people screaming from beginning to end
and we didn't really know what they were screaming at.
Alan: Who would you say had the biggest influence in the musical direction of "Rough Diamond"?
Clem: We wanted to work together as a band, most of the music we came up with came from our rehearsals. There were lots of things that were individuals ideas to start with but they would get brought along to rehearsal and knocked around amongst the members of the band.
Alan: The style of the material was, quite different to what
David had done with Heep and
what you had done with "Colosseum".
Clem: That wasn't a conscious thing, it was just the way it developed. We knocked things round in rehearsal and what came out came out. There was never any concept or grand design.
Alan: There was a writing credit on a track called "Rock N'
Roll" to somebody called
"Rushent. Who was that?
Clem: As far as I remember that was a producer that David and Geoff Britton had worked
with.
Alan: What actually caused "Rough Diamond" to split up?
Clem: It was politics really and it was too complicated to go into. It's probably what
you
would like to know most of all but it really is impossible to go into as it was so
complicated
and I don't really want to talk about it.
Alan: Yourself and the rest of "Rough Diamond" recorded
an album as "Champion" after
David had left, what's the story behind that?
Clem: Most of the material for the "Champion" album came from the guy who was the band's singer. I actually met this guy who was a Canadian singer song writer and he was looking for a band. "Rough Diamond" had just split up and all of us wanted to do something else so we kind a got behind him.
Alan: You also worked with Ken Hensley in his solo band whilst
they toured in North
America in the early 80's, how did you become involved with Ken?
Clem: Ken was in the states and his guitarist left the band, he called me and said, "I've got a problem, can you help out?" I wasn't doing anything so I went over and did a few gigs. It was a complete disaster but that's another story. I was never really there as a permanent member of his band.
Alan: Do you feel when you look back on the "Rough
Diamond" period that there was
anything that you, or any of the other members of the band could have done to make it more
of a success than it was?
Clem: There's a lot of stuff to do with the politics and the management situation but
really it would have been nice to give it a bit more time. The whole thing was done at
such a high pressure level, even before I was involved in it. The way the whole thing was
set up between the management and the record company just Put so much pressure on us that
we
never really had the time to develop it and see what it would become.
Alan: Did you All have high hopes for it though, did You see it
as not. just a gap filler but as
something that would go a long way?
Clem: Yes, we wanted it to and I think it could have. We did have lots of problems, a lot of the Material was not very good, but there again, it was the pressure of getting an album done and getting the show on the road. It would have really been nice to have taken more time over the songs because a lot of the songs weren't that great.
Alan: Did you do any more recording work with David before the band split?
Clem: I don't think we did anything else after the album
but there might have been other stuff that we recorded when we did the album but didn't
use.
Interview by Alan Hartley.