Phil Manzanera Roxy Music: Memories from the Stage

In support of his recent memoir and its companion CD, Roxy Music guitarist and producer Phil Manzanera will bring his Evening of Words and Music program to the Rock Hall on Thursday, May 14. Manzanera will discuss his memoir, Revolución to Roxy, and play some tunes.

The memoir includes more than 100 color and black-and-white photographs and provides vivid details from the time Manzanera spent as a child in Cuba and Hawaii prior to joining Roxy Music.

Manzanera, who says he has fond memories of playing in Cleveland in the 1970s and staying at the now-shuttered Swingos hotel, recently spoke via Zoom from the second floor of his studio in England.

In your memoir, you say you were surprised that you weren’t asked about your Latin roots when you were doing interviews in the early days with Roxy Music. Do you get asked about your roots now that you’ve written about your time in Cuba in your memoir?

Not really. But that’s where I first started learning guitar. Most British rock guitarists from the ’60s have the same story. It’s basically, “I listened to Skiffle music, and I listened to the Shadows, and then, the Beatles came along and then, I started listening to blues music.” That wasn’t me. I was listening to Cuban folk songs and musicians who would become the Buena Vista Social Club. It’s a different trajectory. That’s why I put it in the book, just to put my marker down.

I try to keep up with Latin rock ’n’ roll and know you’ve produced several Spanish-speaking artists. What stands out from those ventures?

I’ve worked with Enrique Bunbury, the guy from Héroes del Silencio. He lives in L.A. He won the Lifetime Award at this year’s Latin Grammys, and I worked with Fito Paez. They are all legends. It’s in parallel to my experiences with Rock en English.

I’m impressed by the details you remember from your childhood. What was it like trying to put those chapters of the memoir together?

The book has 100 photos. Luckily, I have photos going back, and the moment I look at the photo, it takes me back. It helps me remember the bits and pieces. With time, you start remembering. There are a lot of people who took a lot of drugs and can’t remember a thing. When I talked to my fellow band members in Roxy Music and ask them about that time, they don’t remember. I realize my brain cells could potentially go. I just thought that before I go down, and the brain cells stop

You write in your book that you first did sound for a Roxy Music gig. Brian Eno was the one who instructed you. Looking back on it, how remarkable is that moment?

You know that they wouldn’t allow him on stage. He had to sit in the audience because he made everyone nervous. I felt sorry for him. I watched the band a few times before I was in the band. There he was, standing there. I actually have his mixing disc here. They kept asking him, “What does that do?” He would say, “I’m mixing the sound.” One of the crazy things he did, of course, was we had no amps on stage. We just tied into his mixer. It was annoying and frustrating. We soon got some amps because we couldn’t hear what we were doing. It was innovative but did not work quite yet.

Roxy Music sounded like no one else. How as the group able to create such a unique musical identity?

It was the sum of the parts of three different people. I was thinking about this the other day. We like to think bands were invented with the Beatles and then the Stones. It tended to be people who lived locally togther and were mates. Roxy Music wasn’t like that. It was totally different people who came together through ads in the newspapers. We had totally different backgrounds. We weren’t technically the best musicians in the world, but the bits fit together for a unique sound, and we had a guy with a weird voice. We had certain things in common like the Velvet Underground and Motown and Smokey Robinson and pop stuff. It was like cooking. It was a little bit of that and a little bit of that. That adds up to something. That was different. That’s why when Bowie saw us, he was scratching his head. He said, “How did this happen?”

The band had a great run through the ’70s and early ’80s before splitting up in 1983. What was it like to come back to the group to reunite after an 18-year hiatus?

It’s like a dysfunctional family. You think, “Oh, actually, they’re my cousins.” We had a lot of fun together and still can have fun together, but things change. The lifecycle of a band is pretty predictable. When you have families, the whole thing gets more complicated. It becomes super-duper complicated, and that’s the status quo for bands. Ultimately, there are things that brought you together that make you want to continue to work together. It’s because you respect the talent of the other people.

You reunited for your 50^th anniversary in 2022. Any plans for more touring in the future?

There are not any future plans for touring. We’re just putting the finishing touches to a deluxe version of our second album, For Your Pleasure. There are lots of things people never heard and things Eno did. I think people who are interested in that kind of thing will really like it.

How rewarding was it to finally be inducted into the Rock Hall? It took longer than it should have.

It was fantastic. We weren’t expecting it. When it happened, it was great. But we hadn’t played in five years. We needed to rehearse. We didn’t have a manager or anything. It was a fun event. It’s nerve wracking. You know you have to play in front of your peers. You have to deliver. You have to start practicing and be as good as you can. Otherwise, people will say, “Why did they get in? They’re rubbish!” [Duran Duran’s] Simon [LeBon] and John [Taylor] inducted us, and they were sweet and lovely. We have a little bit of history going back. They recorded “Is There Something I Show Know?” in my studio with an engineer I recommended. They are great guys.

The memoir comes with a companion piece that includes some new music from you. Talk about that.

Really, I just wanted to put some music at the same time. With certain versions of the book, you get the CD free. It shows different types of my music that’s never been on record.

What will the Rock Hall show be like?

The whole evening lasts about two hours. There’s a break in the middle. I play some tracks and talk. There’s an interval where I sign books. It’s words and music. It’s like listening in on a conversation. I have no idea what [Rock Hall Vice President of Education] Jason [Hanley] will ask me. I said, “Don’t tell me.” It could be about the state of the industry or the state of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I have no idea what kind of questions I will get, but it will be fun.

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