Interview with Randy Holden

A huge welcome back to the heavyrock scene, it was just over a decade ago that you decided to get back what was the inspiration for you to make this great return?

Hey Gabriel, thanks for the warm reception - I did not intend to return to music, but I was pursued by a relentless fan who persisted that I must accept a guitar gift from him and begin playing again – after considerable No's, eventually I accepted the gift, and re-discovered how deeply, once again. the instrument moved me ...... I arrived at the conclusion the electric guitar was the greatest musical instrument ever created by the human hand and mind - having the ability to express a greater array of sound than any other instrument, and having the necessary element of the touch of the human fingers directly influencing the entire emotive.

Speaking of the second Guitargod album that you have recently released through your own label Guitar-God Music since I havent heard the 1996 album I dont know the progression but compare to the early days what is the biggest difference do you feel in the material and production standpoint?

I've allowed myself to be free, no longer following the self imposed restriction of courtesy of restraint for the sake of what others demanded for themselves - put another way, I play what I wish, and do not rely on what anyone else plays with me to do my work, and I allow the same essential freedom to others, virtually paying no attention to what they play, so long as their contribution lends to the context and does not disrupt context, although I will provide direction. Previously I paid too much attention to what everyone else played, demanding a perfection that caused too much sacrifice of my own personal interest, and progress ........ aside from that element, I became tremendously inspired ........ it was a long time coming .......

In your previous bands Other Half, Population II and Blue Cheer you invented in my opinion the acid guitar riff, after hearing the guitarwork on this new album I feel that you have both kept and progressed your sound since those early days what is your opinion about the progression from that period to the material you are doing now?

Oh, no question there has been an unequalled progression - I found myself nearly inexplicably able to play anything I imagine, and began imagining things that were further than I previously imagined - one muse led to another, I loved the invention ......

More on the new Guitargod album later. First of all I would like to go back to the early 1960s the first thing you did was a band called The Fender IV Sons Of Adam beside the 1996 album that is the only album I havent heard. Could you fill us in on that band the recordings you did and the following you had?

It was one and the same band with the exception of a change of drummers - we became very known on the west coast of the US, no other band could follow us - it was an exceptionally good band, but never able to become properly recorded. I licensed Captain Trip Records to release a compilation CD of the band, which was fittingly titled "Randy Holden - Early Works". The band had a great following, but never managed that proverbial hit record, that the struggle to survive created internal conflicts, that I was not satisfied simply playing night clubs for a livelihood, that I saw as a dead end road, when I needed to play at levels that created energy and excitement - when the band wanted me to turn the volume down, I issued a return ultimatum, and no one said hey our mistake, so I departed.

With the band Other Half you made an album in 1968 for the Acta label, one of the most devestating albums I have ever heard from the late 1960s where your guitarwork really shines. Any fine memories of the recordings of that album and fill us in on the following you had with Other Half?

Thanks for the kudos - I 'm happy to hear it is appreciated - it was pretty good band live. I upped the level considerably, but once again the proverbial hit record would not occur, and I became dissatisfied - I was searching for something, and I wasn't finding it with the band - I can't say I was that happy with our album, as I was having much difficulty with the sound, not really getting what I wanted, and not having the answer for it - but once again, it was a much better band live for the excitement it generated. I did begin doing a 20 minute or so guitar solo plugging in all the amps together, about a half dozen Fender Dual Showman's, and that was pretty far afield for the time - but the audience loved it, and I had a lot of fun doing it. I found myself not going in a direction I felt I needed to go.
Holden(center) with Blue Cheer

Later you joined Blue Cheer to record their last album New! Improved! in their most creative era. The b-side that you are responsible for is still one of the most classic moments in Blue Cheers career as a band. Any fine memories that you can fill us in on the recordings of New! Improved! and fill us on the time you had with the band.

My tenure with Blue Cheer was marked by a continual getting better and better to the point that (as Paul Whaley just told me last week), we had become the best band in the world live on stage, and he reminded me of some of the shows we did, and I had to agree he was right. We had become very good on stage, Very tight, dynamic, explosive, complex, but the problems that existed kept raising it's head threatening what we were achieving. Problematic for the time was the lack of time together to write, and sound check, and a lack of communication that led me to once again find my heart still searching for something I really wanted, and not achieving it. I really had an image of sound I wanted, and to produce it I needed a great deal more amplification that I was allowed with Blue Cheer. Playing with the band was relatively easy, but there was severe financial problems, that failed to resolve, and became so severe I determined I could not proceed any further. There were some really great moments although, no question. I wished the difficulties could have found a resolution, but it couldn't so the rest is history.

Around this period Blue Cheer was constantly changing lineup only Dickie Peterson remained, he must have been a hard guy to work with in those days. Now after all these years going back to that situation for Blue Cheer around 1969-1971 what is your reflection to the lineupchanges that Blue Cheer went through?

I apologize, but I'm afraid I did not follow what happened to the band after I departed. I learned that Paul left shortly after I did, and that was he last I heard. I don't know if I understand much about Dick other than he and I seemed to always have extremely different views and ideas about music. For whatever reason Dick wanted to get into a mellow soft sound like one of the groups he adored was the Band and album Big Pink. I was never able to understand that, since that kind of soft laid back hippy style music never cut it for me. My interest was in, oh well you know what I do - give me a billion watts and maybe I'll get happy. In short there was no communication between Dick and I on music. I thought he liked hard driving powerful music, and minor key things, and all that, but I was really surprised to learn his tastes were soremote from mine that there was no relationship. Paul on the other hand would spend a lot of time with me talking about music theory and distinctions, creative concepts, and direction, and we agreed on nearly absolutely everything. but Dick never shared that interest with me. I think the reason for that alienation was an event that occurred the first few days out on tour and Dick became very enthusiastic to share his musical interest with me, how he terribly enjoyed the laid back music of "The Band", and "Otis Redding" ....... and although there may have been a number of people who enjoyed that music, it was a far distance for what I wanted to do. I simply could not comprehend Dick's aggressive interest in their music - in fact I became so disturbed that he and I appeared to be light years apart in the direction where we were going. I was simply unable to accept any idea that he would want me to turn down, or play some kind of prancing tittle tat thing that froze me with terror. At one point he was bent on driving some kind of gentler softer idea of BC down my throat, the exact 180 degree opposite of anything I could comprehend ...... I wound up unable to communicate on a music level with him. I found no inspiration for guitar driven hard rock heavy metal in "The Band, Big Pink" ........ I didn't get it, and more than that I didn't want to get it, and I didn't get Dick's passion for them ........ we lived on different planet's in a different universe. As an individual beyond musical non common interests, I got along with him ok - but I still never understood what his interest was in that direction. Oh well. Now if Dick would have written more riffs like Out of Focus, I could have taken an interest. Life on the road can be very stressed, and that rarely contributes to relieving any other confusion.

Around that time you formed Population II with drummer Chris Lockheed and released the very epic monumental album in 1970. Still one of my personal faves from the 1970s period. Going back to the recordings of that album any good memories from the studio sessions you did?

Glad to hear you enjoyed it - getting the sound was quite a challenge ...... the original mix was quite awesome, I thought I'd finally begun to move where I was aiming - I was quite satisfied with the result - it was exceptionally dynamic, and every nuance was on target, and the sound with all those amps was actually captured. But then when I received a press copy back, something was terribly wrong, I nearly went bezerk - something had been damaged, but I had no idea what happened. I began to think I had lost my mind. The entire thing was flattened. All the dynamic was gone. It was monotone, no highs no lows, and dulled. I truly began to believe I had lost my ability to perceive sound. There was no explanation, and I couldn't get an explanation. During the interim the record company began to fall apart, and finally collapsed, but refused to let me out of the contract, and prevented me from making a deal with another company, and the whole thing came crashing down in one hell of a gigantic crash and burn, ending in total bankruptcy. My whole life changed. What a mess. So there was no happy ending. I learned in 1991 the CD had been black marketed for years. I was sent a copy and it was horrid. I also learned the music had been destroyed in mastering and glass pressing. It was a problem Warren Beatty had with the sound track from Bonnie and Clyde. He mixed the sound track to have extreme dynamics, but the guys who did the mastering were from the old school, that when the meters went into the red, they cut everything back to fall within a certain narrow range. He said he thought he lost his mind too. When I heard his interview, it suddenly struck me like a glass breaking in a church, that's exactly what had happened to me. It was just amazing to find that out after all those years believing I lost my sensitivity's to sound. That was a large part of why I stopped playing music. I actually believed I no longer could trust what I believed in my own self senses. When I learned the truth ..... the truth set me free - the truth was I did know exactly what I was doing, and I did have an excellent piece of dynamic work complete, and I entrusted it to the care of others, while at the same time having a false conception to what mastering was. I thought mastering was nothing more than straight forward copy with no change, and only making it a permanent state. What a mistake. I even spoke with Les Brown last week after 35 years, and he said GRT destroyed the mix when they converted it to glass, and he was in a war with them to straighten out the problem. It is just amazing what you can learn after so many years. A key lesson is, let no one do anything without personally supervising the finest detail, and keeping control until the entire thing is complete from one end to the other. Nothing like being a day late and a dollar short. I had plans to build a 50 amp system that Sunn was going to put together for me – it would have been awesome....... oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men, and Icarius or Lucifer as the case may be ha ha ha ..........

Population II
Population II along with Other Half is not only very psychedelic it is also enourmously heavy especially the Population II my question since it was only you and Chris that play on the album how on earth could you make it so heavy?

If you thought what you heard was heavy, I'm working on a re-record / re-master with the specific intent of manipulating frequency response to simulate the three thousand two hundred watts of guitar amps - it's pretty crazy - mind altering is what I discovered the effect is.

After Population II I have tried to locate your solo album that was supposed to come out but so far no luck and after I have checked your website your first album after Population came out in 1996 what really happened with your career after the period with Population II?

If you are referring to "Guitar God" recorded in November 1994 and a small release on Capt Trip label in 1995 that sold out - I now have it released on my own label, and available through my web site www.guitargod.com ........ for what happened after Pop II refer to the above - what I did during that period is an entire multitude of other stories......

This new album is 3 vocal tracks and one instrumental a dynamic number titled Prayer To Paradise that clocks in over 22 + minutes, after been listening to it lots of times it is so much that happens here its heavyrock, folkmusic tripping psyched out stuff and a lot more, the vocal tracks are also excellent. How pleased are you with the outcome of this one?

Very ..... I even have two hour versions - I may record an entire CD of the single song - it has more elements in it that anyone concieves, not being accustomed to such a concept - I've had some rare moments with that piece ...... it has more theory, and flavors than any piece I've ever heard, but that was my intent - remove the labels, and limitations .......

Speaking of influences ever since I first heard your guitar talents I have compared you with Frank Marino,Leslie West,Hendrix, John Cann (Andromeda,Hardstuff) to name a few. Is it any guitarists that have meant something for you in your progression as a player or has it been other musical visionaries that have influenced you?

I grew up in the era of the invention of the electric guitar. I owned my first electric only 5 years after Fender invented it's first Broadcaster, so your question would have to be a bit different than asking it today. I think I always listened to everything everyone did. Some of the early guys like Dave Yorko were amazing back then. His solo in Red River Rock was so over the top for the time, it's hard compare it with anything except that parts of his riffs are still used by guitarists in these times, and they won't even know where it came from. If you listen to Bill Haley's guitarist on "Rock around the Clock", that guy was off the wall for his time. It wasn't until the late sixties that guys were beginning to even catch up with him, and where he was at in 1955. Pretty amazing. But I was influenced by Francesco Terraga and I didn't even know it until recently. Others who are my contemporaries, I would have to say the only one light years ahead was Hendrix. He actually unfolded new music theories no one had completed until then, and many of them have become common place use regardless of how used, or song differences, the essential theory concept is what he added to. At the same time he was at a juncture of elements that all came together in technology and time. Had Marshall never invented their amp, you would have never heard of Hendrix. Meanwhile Marshall became the standard. Before that Fender had set the standard for technology in electric guitar. One is never without the other. In this day, time, and place, and for the first time since the Marshall established the last standard, there is a new technology that is extreme, as the ability exists to personalize it. But it's far more complex, and interfaces with other technologies. I'm exploring it's possibilities on my new albums. In essence it allows me to take what I really liked, and multiply the elements I like. Kind of like taking the 3200 watts and increasing to to 40,000 it's pretty fascinating. Not decided how it is translatable live. Still working on those theories. Have several options I've been considering the logistics of.

Have you played live yet with this new project if so how did it go? And looking back back what has been the best gig/ worst gig you have made so far any fine memories?

Haven't done any live gigs with the new music, but who knows what the future will offer. As far as best gig / worst gig / fine memories - I've had many many great gigs, I made it my personal commitment to have every show be better than the last. That was the motto in my bands. If any show was less than all it could have been it was time to go on a self inflicted rage. Of the shows I may have personally enjoyed the most, it's a difficult selection as there have been many with every band I had. If I were to single out a few, I'd say on of the best was Sons of Adam at the Long Beach Civic Auditorium, we had second bill to the Rolling Stones on their first gig in California in the US. We tore it up that afternoon, but SoA was known for doing that. BC gigs I enjoyed the most were just about all of the European tour. By the time we reached Europe we had tightened up smooth as silk, and polish brass, and the European audiences were fabulous. They let you know you were appreciated, which made you all the more energized to really turn it on. We did shows in England, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden that were some of the best the band ever did, or any band for that matter.

Recently there was an Italian label Black Widow Records that released a Blue Cheer tribute with various bands, 2 numbers from New! Improved! is included Peace Of Mind and Fruit&Iceburgs. Are you familiar with this tribute if you are what is your opinion about it?

I was under the impression the recording was just another direct copy of the original sound recordings pirates have been doing through the years.  I didn't catch the idea it's a new version by other musician's.  So, No I haven't heard anything about it, but I'm thrilled to hear other musician's are playing the material - it's said to be the highest form of a compliment anyone can receive is when someone else does what you do.  I'd like to hear it.    There are still obligations upon the record company.  Anytime you or I use anyone else's music it comes with requirements.  Blue Cheer paid the copyright owner of Summertime Blues a Compulsory Mechanical royalty for every copy sold.  Black Widow has the same obligation, but I've seen nothing.  Maybe you can put us in contact with each other.

Speaking of distribution for your label, do you only sell the records through the internet only or have you some distribution for them? Fill us in on that.

My CDs are available through my record company Only. Either through Mail Order, or through the Online Store. Every copy has it's own Serial Number, and every buyer is recorded in a permanent data base, so every fan will be part of whatever happens. So far it's been really great having the personal contact with fans, and the control over the distribution. My music is Not available anywhere else. So if you find any of my music anywhere, it's not authorized. Any other location that I may issue copies to for sale will be listed on my web site, so everyone can verify whether or not they are looking at a legitimate copy.

Beside the albums you have made with Other Half, Blue Cheer etc. Have you made any other things guest appearances on other albums projects etc.? if so please fill us in

If I have I've forgotten it.

Talking of your next plans after this album, are you planning to release something new soon through Guitar-God Music and are you planning to piece together a tour to support the album. Fill us in on your next plans.

Sure, I'll be doing more recording on my own label, and releasing more new CDs, but I'm taking my time and doing it right. I've been doing some recording at home, and working on several pieces at the same time, but taking my time. I'm pretty busy with many things. May be doing some recording with Michael Stewart, and Paul Whaley at some point in the future. I've been talking with them both lately seeing what out mutual schedules may allow.

Thank you very much for the interview, excellent to have you back again. Hope you will remain on the scene now and not get back into hiding. Thanks also for the brilliant album, I hope you are able to get over europe someday to support your records, that would be brilliant.

Thanks very much Gabriel and I would love to do some shows in Europe some day, so if and when that time arrives I'll be sure and keep you posted. Some of my former band mates would love to do it to, so we'll see what happens .......

By Gabriel Lilliehook

Ordering Information for Randy Holdens past and present releases :

You can order via mail to: Guitar God Music P.O. Box 6962 Laguna Niguel, California 92677 USA

or through web site store : www.guitargod.com or www.guitargod.net or www.guitargod.org
or www.randyholden.com That should cover most of the bases ha ha ha .....