OK folks - heres another vintage article I just posted on the LinkWray website. Its from 1975 - MISSING LINK FOUND! Youll notice a few flat out wrong things in this article (like the Polydor LP was recorded in an hour. Not a song on the Polydor LP, the ENTIRE Polydor LP!). And, I can find nothing that says Link ever played a gig with Elvis. BUT there are a few new found gems Id never heard - be sure and check out the Lee Marvin story - and the opening riff to The Beatles I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND is just RUMBLE, speeded up?!!? I have several other articles you can find at LinkWray - click on ARCHIVES and look for LINK IN PRINT. Here goes.... MISSING LINK FOUND! Todd Tolces BELMONT CALIFORNIA - Link Wray sat back on the plush couch of his ultra suburban home and mused over a strange incident that took place many years ago. He was doing a show back East with Ronnie Dove (when he was producing) and famed American Actor Lee Marvin. At one point in the set Link was tearing off a breakneck chicken riff on his guitar and for no apparent reason, Marvin came running up on stage screaming gimme that guitar, gimme that guitar. Link, in the middle of a pretty heavy number himself, and rather bewildered in the face of the wild-eyed Marvin, reluctantly handed over his guitar. After some five or ten minutes of what looked like a very thorough guitar inspection - in front of the audience mind you - Lee Marvin looked from the guitar and irrefutably charged, Boy, aint no chicken in here! At 45, Link Wray has unquestionably faced, weathered and conquered more bizarre trips in the music industry than perhaps anyone. Hes seen it all. And some of this has stuck permanently. One day at the New York Record Plant, Link walked in to do some sessions and bumped into The Who, who, unbeknownst to him, pretty much considered him their spiritual godfather. So it was quite a shock to see Pete Townshend practically fall to his knees in reverence while Keith Moon carried Link around the studio screaming, thats him, thats him! This is the guy, RUMBLE, RUMBLE!! RUMBLE was the biggest hit of 1958. It sold more than 4,000,000 copies and received one of the three awards BMI gave out that year to outstanding artists. The other two went to Elvis. Still, perhaps the biggest award was knowing that Elvis wasnt invincible. Link received that coveted award for knowing that his record bounced Elvis off the charts. For $59, which was the recording cost. It was a small price to pay. Elvis used to be a great lead guitarist, Link attested. We did a lot of shows together back in the old days. I fact, if Colonel Parker didnt grab ahold of him when he did, Elvis would probably still be wearing black leather and shades, just like me! He shook the world, man. He was so powerful, but I guess I knew him pretty well. Hes just a nice ol country boy like me. Nice RICH country boy. Links next hit was RAWHIDE. It wasnt as big as RUMBLE, but easily as much fun. JACK THE RIPPER followed third down the line in 63 on the Swan label. At this point, we find Lord Sutch drooling at the seams. Frustrated with the music scene, shams, rip offs and the basic ugliness of musical bureaucracy Link quit the biz after JACK THE RIPPER was released. He didnt record again for another eight years. In the meantime he gigged solidly throughout the mid Atlantic states in Maryland, and in Washington DC. While he was gigging through DC, Link was living on his brothers farm in Accokeek, Maryland. It was a neat little place with chickens running around and Link tinkering with super street machines in his spare time. A small studio had been set up on the farm known as THE SHACK and Links first Polydor album, finally released in 1971, was recorded entirely in its confines. It took him all of one hour to record the entire LP. It is safe to say that Link spent a bit more time on is subsequent two LPs from Polydor. The most recent one called LINK WRAY RUMBLE features an updated and overwhelmingly powerful version of RUMBLE as well at a battery of other Link Wray greats including SHES THAT KIND OF WOMAN, which brought the entire Kings Castle down in Lake Tahoe a few weeks ago. The new album features San Frnaciscos best session men; Rick Steiger on drums, Mark Jordan on piano, Tom Rudley on bass, the Tower of Power horns, the percussion section from Azteca, Dorothy Morrison from Van Morrisons old Caledonia Should Express, doing backup voices and Boz Scaggs on 2nd lead guitar and backup voices. For those who cant remember as far back as 1958, an interesting faces of Link Wray would be the acknowledgements he has received, either verbal or musical, for his contribution to music in general. For instance the intro to the Beatles classic I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND is merely the identical intro to RUMBLE, though much quicker. And then, the Bob Dylan incident. Bob came to see me at the Gaslight in New York not too long ago, Link cracked a familiar ear to ear grin and re-adjusted his pillows, and he said to me, Link I was sitting in the front row when you and Buddy Holly were at Duluth Minnesota and youre as great now as you were then. And I said shit man, youre a giant compared to me. Why, Im just a pebble on the beach compared to you. He said dont say that Link, why youre a giant like me. The Who have openly given praise to Link time and time again. Pete Townshend credits Link with the birth of electrical feedback guitar playing. The sustained feedback chord clusters, as much of The Whos sound as anything, has been credited to Link, that chicken style of guitar playing which Lee Marvin found so confusion. Pete even penned the liner notes of Links recent RUMBLE album with nothing but the highest praise. I really love Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and The Stones. An I dont care if they say Im responsible for that tune or not. Just knowing that they did make it makes me feel real good. Of course Pete Townshend and John Lennon always gave me credit for what I did, Pete just took some of my sounds actually and went wit his own style. He took that heavy breathing on the string and the violent sound and just wrote his tunes around it. He made it so much greater that what Ive ever done with it. I cant help but feel proud. Its like havin a baby, man! Links current touring band consists of Link on guitar, Les Lizama on bass and David Weber (formerly with John Cipollinas Copperhead) on drums. Music is like food because theres all different kinds. You get ham or beef, meat and potatoes, salad, dessert and lots more. But music is an art too, and tis all beautiful, each in its own way.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 19:59:12 +0000
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