Now my dog is roaming around the studio. Come back, Wolfgang, Come
Wolfgang, Wolfy. Peter Ripton is on the phone for your mommy. How
amazing is that? Oh my gosh, you were like my dog. My
dog is laying on me right now. What kind of dog do you have?
I have a black golden doodle. What's his name? Bigs b Bigsby,
Well, high Bigsby. Wolfgang is over here right now. He's a
big black German shepherd. Oh that's what I had earlier in my life,
had a big, big, long haired shepherd. Yeah. They're gorgeous.
Well, dogs are I feel like people who love animals are automatically amazing human
beings. Well, if you don't like animals, is something wrong with you?
I know, definitely especially dogs, you know, So any anyway,
I guess I guess we're here to talk about a little thing called music.
I think that's been a big part of your life. Now, we could
talk about animals all day long, if you like, sir. But first
and foremost, I have had the pleasure of interviewing you quite a few times
in my career. So I feel very lucky and blessed because, you know,
just my job puts me in this opportunity, and you have really been
a soundtrack for my life, as with others for so many years. To
play your music, to talk to you, and to see you still being
so passionate and out there is just a joy to listen to and to watch.
And you're gonna come to Connecticut on Thursday, March seventh at the Toyto
Oakdale Theater. All the tickets and information are online with that Oakdale Theater dot
com too for tickets and such. But Peter, please tell everybody about what
this tour means to you. And I think, is this like you?
You're not You're a new grandpa too, right, not like brand new?
But is this like yes, right, yes, right before right before Christmas,
second grandchild was born to Annie and Julian Frampton. And the baby's name
is rain So's. She's almost three months old now, I guess, yeah,
so yeah, lots of face FaceTime time, even on tour, right,
even on tour. Did you not say, did I hear that you
came up with Peter Grampton? No? I came up with Franpa Oh FRMPA
Okay, I couldn't remember which one it was. Frandpa Okay, there's I
like Peter Frampo, that's great. Yeah, no, no, but unfortunately
I'm actually pop up because the fruit is I don't think you can say f
R until you're about seventeen. So so anyway, yeah, well, very
very happy and blessed to have two beautiful grand grandchildren. So it's wonderful.
That is fantaxics and you can see Peter franpon never ever say never to our
Thursday March stuff. Tell us all about it because I know we're gonna have
a good time. It'll be so much fun. We're we've got a couple
extra different numbers in this set from last year. So yeah. So it's
we've been rehearsing already and we're about halfway through and yeah, it's going incredibly
well. So the band sounds amazing, so we can't wait to play.
Now. What goes into touring these days that separates from when you were touring,
you know, twenty years ago. Are you still out there partying every
night? Or do we have a bedtime now? Oh what did you say
party? And what is that? No? No, unfortunately it's it's back
to the it's either straight on the bus ontil the next show somewhere else,
or it's back to the hotel. And but I still can't go to sleep
until you at least a couple hours after a show, two or three hours,
because you're pumped up, you know. So it's the adrenaline is going
and uh so, but no, when I'm at when I'm at home with
with me and Bigsby, you know, we get up, you know,
early six thirty seven and see to day. And when you're on the road,
you you don't get up quite as early because you didn't get to bed
until like two or three in the morning. So yeah, it's it's the
same old stuff, you know, except no drinking drugs. Yeah, you
know, your voice, You're very lucky. And I mean, listen,
God bless everybody's out there playing and having fun, because that is what it's
all about. Music is just such a universally healing it's just so universally healing
to have out there, and especially when you've been doing it so long,
right and as long as you have, but you have one of those unique
voices that has stood the test of time. What do you do to take
care of your voice and to keep yourself sounding as you did it it's incredible
to hear how precise and exact you are. Well. I got to the
point in I think it was like the late eighties where I or very early
nineties when I started touring again and I was losing my voice, you know,
because I was over singing and I'd never had vocal exercises or vocal lessons,
and so I decided to go to Lovely Lady in New York, Katie
Agresta, and she's one of the top teachers, vocal teachers in Manhattan when
I was living there, and then I moved to Los Angeles and we've lost
him, unfortunately, the great Ron Anderson. I did quite a few lessons
with him and I still use his one of my You would tape every lesson,
you know, put it on a CD or something, and so before
every show, I don't I don't think about singing before I do those exercises.
And it's about forty five to fifty minutes. So everything is planned,
you know, when I'm on the road, my day is built around the
end result. So I will get up, you know, have breakfast or
whatever, but everything is an ex workout, do all that and then but
you know, two or three hours before the show, I do my vocal
exercises, and it made the world a difference, And I don't know how
I did it without before, but now it just gives you confidence. You
know you're going to be your voice is going to be in tiptop or as
good as you can make it by having by having these doing these vocal exercises,
which it's like, it's amazing how well they help. You know.
I've been playing your music and I've been singing along to you, and I'm
going to read something that I need to fact check if you don't mind,
Are you yes, truly celebrating you're sick ste a year of touring? Could
that possibly be a mistake? No, it's not. I mean, can
you just lie for me? Because that makes me have to recognize my age?
So can we just call you this your fortieth year? Could we do
that? Can we go back all right? Yes? Okay, So tell
me about your forty years of touring? No, because I started touring professionally
where it was semi professional because I was still at school. But when I
was fourteen. So now i'll be seventy four April twenty seconds, so it's
my sixtieth year. That is unbelievable and what a cool deal to be able
to do this for a living, right I you know, I've been talking
to other artists and how lucky we are to well I am, and others
that I know that are still doing really well, like we get to do
this for our entire lives. And like I always say, and even though
during his work, but I always say, I never I never worked today
in my life, you know, because I'm so passionate about the music that
it's like it's the best best thing to play live. It's just I can't
really describe put it into words, but there's something for me. I'm of
the I'm of the moment kind of person musically and and personally. I leave
things to the last minute. But but I've never played the same solo twice
and I don't plan it, plan on it, you know, So it's
everything is like a blank canvas when I walk on the stage. And as
far as what I'm going to play, obviously we have we know the form
of the song. Where when when I get to play a solo, it's
always a different one. Well, that also keeps it fresh and probably what
connects you, you know, with your audience, and do you reach back
into your career like for this, for this particular tree, do you reach
back into Humble Pie or do you reach back into some of the covers maybe
that you've done with Ringo Star and is All Star Band, Like do you
pull some fun stuff out out of that to to kind of mix it up?
And obviously the classics that we we've known to come and love us as
well, But how do you like plan out your playlist? Well, I
think that there's certain numbers obviously that have to be there, and we mix
it up the order and everything. But I think we the last last summer
we did in four weeks the summer and we pulled out two numbers that we'd
never done I'd never played live before, Crying Clown and I Got My Eyes
on You, one from the Frampton Camel record and one from the Frampton record.
And this this year, I'm pulling one from the Something's Happening album,
which is Golden Goose, and it's something I've never played live. We tried
it at rehearsals the first day and it blew us away, just because it's
one of those things I don't know why I've never done it live, but
it's so much fun for us to do, so yeah, we keep on
trying to make it a little different each year. Do you have a memory
of someone that you worked with that you had always wanted to that kind of
brought you back to your fan daze like that made you get a little excited
or giddy er, you know, when you're working with someone that you've looked
up to or wanted to work with? Say, can do you have any
special stories behind that? Yeah? Quite a few actually, but I would
I would have to say that my school chum I went to school with him,
to mister Bowie, David Bowie, that was wonderful when he he asked
me to play on the Glass Spider tour and also and has never let me
down record, so yes it was. It was very special. And David
and I had played on the same stage the same night, but never at
the same time before, so him asking me to be one of the guitar
players featured guitar players was that definitely brought me back. We toured stadiums and
then in the summer and in eighty seven and then and then arenas in the
winter. It was a long tour and he brought me back in front of
so many people as the guitar player, not the pop star, and for
that I've never stopped thanking him and I still do. So. Yeah,
that was very very special. I know it's hard. There are some artists
that I have a hard time with not being here even though I've never,
you know, had dinner with them or anything. But like David Bowie and
Tom Petty, for me, I still I'm like, man, that stinks
right now. I'm still not over those two as of quite yet. But
David Bowie, so I got a chance to see the Glass Spider tour,
which was incredible, and I saw it in Canada, I believe. But
in any event, I digress. Also, I probably should have opened with
this and congratulate you on being one of the fifteen artists who are nominated for
induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for twenty twenty four. Is
that exciting to you? Do awards make you excited in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame? I mean that's got to be pretty cool. I would
think, well, I'm nominated, which is incredible. I don't expect anything
in my life. I always wait for things to happen. I'm not as
upset as I think a lot of my fans are that I'm not in there
yet. So but it's one of those things that you know, if you
don't expect something and then it comes out of the blue, it's it's it's
very rewarding, you know. So yeah, I'm honored that I've been told
off to be nominated. Now we've just got to see how it goes.
I've got to get the votes. You got to get the vote to vote
for I did the promise. I promise to vote for you. I promise,
and I have it up online and so I know in April those that
stuff goes down, so we will be we will definitely be voting for you
here in Connecticut and on my program. I also want to before we wrap
up, talk to you a little bit about a little bit more about your
personal life. I know, obviously Grandpa, Franpa whatever we whichever, we
would like to say that, and you obviously love your dogs, but you
also are you sed to I read somewhere that you were a vegetarian, and
I wasn't sure if that is something that you still practice. But obviously do
you have a special connection with animals or is there any because you you have
come to the right woman here. I'm like the dog Lady of Connecticut.
So yeah, I love all animals. I think we still have a lot
to learn from them. Well I know we do, but we're too wrapped
up in ourselves. But but you know, I mean I would like to
I I have fostered an element, an elephant, and I follow all the
reality I think is the is the place where they saved U where the elephants
go when they've they've been cut off from the herd and stuff like that,
babies and stuff. So yeah, I'm very much into all all animals and
uh you know you name it, dogs, especially of course. And I
think I'm going to be in the future near future getting much more involved in
working with shelters, foster foster dog owners. And also if it's possible,
I'd like to, you know, raise money so that we could we could
get some we could get some doctors vets that would donate their time and do
spay and neuter. But for that you need a truck that goes into the
different areas where where, and then the doctors offer it for we offer it
for free. That's my goal, because that's the problem with homeless dogs is
is that people don't get them spayed and newted because they're worried that, you
know, the their dogs are going to end up in a shelter and and
not live. You know, So there's there's ways around this. I mean,
it's a big job, but we can do it one dog at a
time, you know. You know, I agree with you and even our
cats. And in Connecticut here there's a rescue that I work with that I'm
a part of, and I won't keep you. I know you've got a
schedule, but like we I'm hosting an event this weekend four Protectors of Animals
and then one for Kenway's cause, and then it's going to be Marty Pause.
So that's going to be fun. But they have a vehicle that goes
around and does just that. But because it takes a lot of money,
it's not as act as we would like it. But it's called It's Hip
to Snip and it's a mobile neuter spade truck. It's called It's Hip to
Snip, which is that's what I want to do. I want to make
I'd like to be able to make more of those available so that that would
be my that's my goal, and I well, I think it's admirable.
I'm a huge fan of yours. Congratulations on an incredible career, an incredibly
just nice human being. I never hear, you know, horrible stories about
you and the media, so I love that. So I love that.
I love that that you're just like one of the great rock and roll artists
of all time. Thank you for being that. Yeah, well, so
far you haven't heard any really bad stuff about me. Well it's not too
late, but I'm just hoping it's more of like maybe maybe, maybe if
it's more rock and roll, Like I don't care if you throw a chair
out a window, Peter, I don't care if you do that. But
like, nothing too nothing too crazy though, No, no, no,
I think I think in the in the seventies, I was, you know,
just like every other traveling musician. So we abused, uh we were
abused than we abused, but it was all in fun, you know,
we we nothing was ever really that bad. You know, we might have
trashed a hotel room or something, but no one ever got heard or anything.
So that's the main thing. Yeah, and I think it was a
prerequisite to trash a hotel room I mean you had. I think it was
like illegal if you didn't. If you were a rock star at a certain
point in time, I think you had to do it. Yeah, yeah,
absolutely, But I just did one really well. Peter Frampton Never Ever
Say Never Tour is Thursday, March seventh, the Toyota Oakdale Theater. You
give your little fluffer over there, you give a big treat from Renee in
Connecticut, from Renee and Wolfe here in Connecticut, and we appreciate you very
much. Talk to my fluffer and my dog. Oh my god, Peter,
and that's how we'll end. And that is how we will end.
Thank you. Version Yes, absolutely all right, goodbye, by bye.