Saturday, January 15, 2022

Love That Album Podcast Episode 153 - Interviews with Tristan Fry, Steve Gray and John Williams of Sky (recorded 1984)

 


As a kid, I was always told to “reach for the sky”.....I think what they meant was “reach out to Sky”....or something like that.


Welcome to episode 153 of Love That Album.


First of all, thanks for your patience. I didn't get to put out the planned Joni Mitchell episode in December 2021, so that was deferred to January 2022. That then got deferred due to the bastard bug hitting one of my co hosts.


I still really wanted to put something out this month, so a chance encounter with a couple of old tapes from 1984 ended up being my solution. At that time, I was attending RMIT in Melbourne, and spending valuable study time doing campus radio programs. Whenever I heard Australian / British supergroup Sky was touring Australia, I would get the station management to arrange for me to get to speak to the band. The fact that a band as hugely popular in Australia and Europe such as Sky would speak to a young shmuck like me speaks volumes as to how lovely they were.


In March 1984, Sky toured Australia for the first time without founding member and classical guitar maestro John Williams. He'd left a few weeks earlier to get back to other projects he felt he'd neglected over the course of playing in a band.


On this episode of LTA, I'm presenting two interviews. The first is the interview I did with drummer Tristan Fry and pianist Steve Gray on that tour. The second was recorded either later that year or sometime the next (I can't be 100% sure) with John Williams on his first tour after leaving the band. Bear in mind that both of these interviews were recorded when I was pretty young and had no real experience in writing interview questions. Regardless of what I asked, Tristan, Steve and John always answered with great detail and professionalism.


My thanks go out to David Green, my manager at 3ST for arranging these interviews (you can hear him on the one with Tristan and Steve). I also want to thank my long time friend Pete Anzo for loaning me his cassette deck to rip these interviews from tape to my laptop.


If you want to hear an early episode of the podcast where Michael Pursche (of Sitting In a Bar In Adelaide fame) and I speak in depth about Sky, and I speak with Tristan Fry for the first time in a little under 30 years, go to https://lovethatalbumpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/11/love-that-album-episode-33-music-of-sky.html


Download this episode of LTA from Spotify, Stitcher or iTunes (search for “Love That Album podcast”)....or wherever you prefer getting your podcasts.


Love That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.


You can send me feedback at rrrkitchen@yahoo.com.au (written or mp3 voicemail) or join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum


If you’d consider writing an iTunes review I’d be immensely grateful. However, it’d be even better if you told a friend about the podcast and Pantheon – at a barbecue, over coffee, on social media….whatever way you choose, consider me grateful. 


Proudly Pantheon.


Download episode 153 from here.