Look what happened to Mick Taylor for replacing me - look what happened to the Rolling Stones.". Gary Moore on Peter Green – "He was absolutely fantastic, everything about him was so graceful" When you were with Mayall, you and Clapton were at the cutting edge. Peter Green: The Supernatural Retrospective and Interview by Harry Shapiro, MOJO, May 1994 PETE MOODY Former bass player with The Grebbels – "We were support band to The Yardbirds at the Crawdaddy and Peter used to come along... Gary Moore on Peter Green And 'FBI', and a lot of other Shadows' tunes. "... And stripped back," he meanders on, each word pronounced carefully and very clearly. It’s hard to reconcile this unassuming person with the legendary guitarist who led such an astonishing career with Fleetwood Mac. I was a tremolo arm kid – I’d never had a guitar with one, but I was trying to get that same bendy effect. 'Peace Pipe' is beautiful, that's one of the all-time greats to me...". “I was expecting Eric,” Vernon freely admits, “But from the moment that Peter plugged in, I never had any doubts that he was going to be as good as Clapton within the Bluesbreakers framework. Once, Peter Green said that, in his opinion, people can’t really play the blues unless they’d actually experienced them. Too soon for me to comment. Did that just come naturally? To honour his life and the electrifying music he created, we're revisiting Andy Darlington's 1997 Hot Press interview with Peter, conducted when he was launching Peter Green's Splinter Group. Then, when I got a job as a bass-guitarist, I found I could make a little bit of money. ", So, switching from bass to lead, Peter Green followed Eric Clapton into John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. One final question before we go. And Paul Samwell-Smith, the group's bass player, what he played I enjoyed too. The religious torments that had him appearing on stage in a long white robe and crucifix. ", Mitch that is, Michelle Reynolds, former wife of Fleetwood Mac's former manager Clifford Davis, and now Peter's long-time companion adds "Cozy's part Red Indian, isn't he? "I want to get that glossy production look on it. I couldn't play it to you now, without making a mistake. “Everyone gets the blues, whether they’re rich or poor,” he points out. "People who have spent time alone. He wants to be respected, if at all, for what he's doing now. “When he joined we used to share the singing half and half, but because he couldn’t play on my songs, I only had bass and drums behind me. "I fancy his drummer, actually. Thank you for signing up to Musicradar. Going to school, getting up in the morning and rushing, doing everything, I just hated all those things that I had to do. ", Don't miss the latest deals, news, reviews, features and tutorials. I took to the style of the thing. Because it's a physical thing, pressure, isn't it? He plays quite interesting notes. “I always preferred to play the tune. According to one of his biggest hits, he's a 'Man Of The World'. And that's what I first took to. Equipped with his trusty Harmony, Peter then joined Peter B’s Looners, an instrumental outfit led by organist Peter Bardens, and soon he was playing legendary Mod hangouts like the Flamingo club in Wardour Street and the Ram Jam Club in Brixton. If I had my time again I wouldn't sell my Harmony Meteor, I'd progress on that because the sound was so lovely at the Mayall audition. I was being sick sometimes. © His antipathy to touring and the trappings of success combined with the effects of too many acid trips left him paranoid and withdrawn. “I still didn’t ever make any conscious decision to play blues guitar, but I’d seen Eric Clapton playing with John Mayall so much,” Green recalls.