0:00:02 > 0:00:04MUSIC: "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice" by Amen Corner
0:00:08 > 0:00:11Most people remember Andy Fairweather Low
0:00:11 > 0:00:16as the baby-faced lead singer of '60s teeny-boppers Amen Corner.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18MUSIC: "Spider Jiving" by Andy Fairweather Low
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Some may recall his solo years in the 1970s.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24# My feelings depend on my thoughts... #
0:00:24 > 0:00:27By 1980, he'd dropped off the radar completely.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31But over the next 23 years,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34he was busy making a living as a session guitarist
0:00:34 > 0:00:38for the likes of Eric Clapton, Van Morrison,
0:00:38 > 0:00:43Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and George Harrison.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45Now he's back in front of his own band again,
0:00:45 > 0:00:46just like in the beginning.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48Good evening.
0:00:48 > 0:00:49AUDIENCE: Good evening.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52I'm on the road, I'm in Glasgow, this might have been not this year
0:00:52 > 0:00:53but last year.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56And we've gone out to have a bit of a coffee,
0:00:56 > 0:01:01come back in and as we're coming back in, the audience are coming back in.
0:01:01 > 0:01:02This happens all the time.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05I'm walking by and someone says, "That's Andy Fairweather Low."
0:01:05 > 0:01:06To which this woman says...
0:01:06 > 0:01:09GLASGOW ACCENT: "Is that him? Is that him?!"
0:01:10 > 0:01:14I pointed her out and said, "Which woman asked if it was him?
0:01:14 > 0:01:16"I'm telling you it is him.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20"I'm 65, and I'm playing, and I'm really enjoying it.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24"But I'm sorry I don't look like whatever your last memory was.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26"You should have followed me in between."
0:01:28 > 0:01:31This is the story of his extraordinary journey,
0:01:31 > 0:01:33told in his own words.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50Went round the world three times. Twice with Roger and once with Eric.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Endless amounts of dates across America.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59And round Europe. Played the Albert Hall 105 times.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02I mean, how does someone from Ystrad Mynach get to play the Albert Hall?
0:02:02 > 0:02:05I don't know. It baffles me that that journey...
0:02:05 > 0:02:10The reason I'm getting involved in this project is that, if I don't
0:02:10 > 0:02:14do this, the only time someone's going to say it is when I'm dead.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16And I just want to be around to hear it. That's all.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20I'm lucky enough to be a collector of things.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25Hotel keys, rooming lists, laminates.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28And I'm lucky enough to have worked with so many people.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Me and my mate Steve.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32Me and my mate Jeff.
0:02:32 > 0:02:33Me and my mate Pete.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35Me and my mate Roger.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Me and my mate Bill.
0:02:37 > 0:02:38Me and my mate Jerry Reed.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40Me and my mate Eric.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Me and my mate Rabbit.
0:02:42 > 0:02:48Me and my mates...Jimmy, Jeff, Ronnie, L and me.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50How did I get in there?
0:02:53 > 0:02:57Andy and his band The Lowriders are rehearsing for a tour to
0:02:57 > 0:03:00promote their new album Zone-O-Tone.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03# There's a shout out on the street
0:03:03 > 0:03:06# There's a promise in the air
0:03:06 > 0:03:09# When the sun goes down
0:03:09 > 0:03:12# I hear a whisper and a prayer
0:03:12 > 0:03:14# And we both don't give a damn
0:03:14 > 0:03:17# Go out and get it while you can... #
0:03:18 > 0:03:21All right. Hit them a little harder for me.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23INDISTINCT SPEECH Yeah.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Andy was born in Ystrad Mynach in the Rhymney Valley.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28One of three brothers.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30When he was still a child,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33the family moved to Llanrumney in Cardiff.
0:03:33 > 0:03:39I started off in school, and football was every waking moment.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43In school, at the break, home in the evenings
0:03:43 > 0:03:45and the weekend was football.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50I had a bit of an issue because I had a cyst on the back of my leg,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53so I couldn't run and I couldn't kick a ball.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57It's a bit of a problem, playing football. So I was the goalkeeper.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Sport was big and so was music.
0:03:59 > 0:04:06Mr Sillman, the music teacher, he got us somehow to do The Magic Flute.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08He'd audition everyone in the class.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12And somehow I'm sitting there and he's playing this
0:04:12 > 0:04:15song from The Magic Flute, and I somehow know the melody.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17And he said, "Have you heard this before?"
0:04:17 > 0:04:20And I said, "No, I've never heard it before."
0:04:20 > 0:04:21So I was in.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23MUSIC: "Not Fade Away" by The Rolling Stones
0:04:23 > 0:04:25And that stayed with me
0:04:25 > 0:04:29until someone persuaded me to go and see The Rolling Stones in Cardiff.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31February 28th, 1964.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33And that was it.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37That's what started me thinking, you know what, I've got to do this,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39I've got to learn to play.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43I would spend my days not in school but in the music shop.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45This is me in Barrett's.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50In the music shop. Wearing my green jumper. Height of fashion.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54I mean, the belief, the self belief I had. I don't have it now.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57I wish I did, but I don't.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00But then I got up and I played and I sang.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03I thought I could get away with it. Funny thing is, I did.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07In 1966 Andy formed Amen Corner.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11They were quickly spotted, signed and moved to London.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Soon Andy's face was on the front cover of every
0:05:14 > 0:05:16teen magazine in Britain.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20This was the first tour we ever did. The first night.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Jimi Hendrix, The Move, Pink Floyd, The Mice,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29The Outer Limits - they used to play one number.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Then us.
0:05:31 > 0:05:32What a night that was.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36For their first single,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Andy chose an old blues standard called Gin House.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46And the reason I grabbed it, it was very simple.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48# Stay away from me... #
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Yeah, open your mouth, Andrew. Well, I am.
0:05:51 > 0:05:52Play more.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55No, no. The thing is... The plot is...
0:05:55 > 0:05:58HE PLAYS GUITAR
0:05:58 > 0:06:01Can we all do that, lads? Yeah, can we change?
0:06:02 > 0:06:04Right, we've got a song.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07If you have a pop record played on the radio, you got to everybody.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10If you did Top Of The Pops on a Tuesday or whatever it is,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12anybody that had anything to do with music,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16and was interested in pop music, they heard it and saw it.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18The next day, it was that instant
0:06:18 > 0:06:22the impact of being on Top Of The Pops, if it worked.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26250,000 - 500,000 sales of your record the next day.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31Amen Corner's management moulded them into the perfect boy band.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36They also knew which palms to grease. And Gin House became a hit
0:06:36 > 0:06:39reaching number 12 in the charts in 1967.
0:06:39 > 0:06:44Dark forces were at work with the management.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46But without those dark forces
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Amen Corner would not have been successful.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52We were successful because they wanted us to be successful.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56And we weren't savvy in the music business.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01We were just enthusiastic and obsessed with being part of it.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Absolutely loving it.
0:07:03 > 0:07:04# We'll fly high in the sky
0:07:04 > 0:07:08# Where rainbows go by, leave troubles behind
0:07:11 > 0:07:12# We'll fly high in the sky
0:07:12 > 0:07:14# Girl, just you and I
0:07:14 > 0:07:16# We're two of a kind... #
0:07:16 > 0:07:21Kids, quick money, the potential of lots of money.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23I wanted this thing.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26I was a bit of a people pleaser.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29Certainly, you can tell it with the pictures.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32You know, "Put your hand on that." And I'd do that. I hated that shot.
0:07:32 > 0:07:33But we went with it.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38That's because we thought, well, these people know what they're doing.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40And they did. They were making more money for them.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44But what I got out of it, and what the band got out of it,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46was we became successful.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50One of their biggest successes was a cover of a song already
0:07:50 > 0:07:52a hit in America for another band.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57It wasn't my favourite record in that it was suggested by our manager,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59Ron King.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02And I thought, I'll tell you what, we're not doing that version.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07And I had a live album by Smokey Robinson. Live At The Whisky A Go-Go.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10And it had this piano riff.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16HE PLAYS RIFF
0:08:19 > 0:08:21So I thought, what we'll do...
0:08:23 > 0:08:26We'll take the melody, the verse, and we'll put that riff on it.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29# You're the only woman I need
0:08:29 > 0:08:32# And, baby, you know it... #
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Noel Walker, the producer, I'll never forget,
0:08:36 > 0:08:39he put the brass on it when we weren't there.
0:08:39 > 0:08:44And it was like Herb Alpert. Da-da-da-da-da-uh-uh.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48And I went, no. That's not soulful at all.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53If you release that, I'm off. You know, all of that business.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57And of course, I stormed out really annoyed at what had gone on.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02And it came out and that uh-uh became the selling point. And it took off.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04And I liked that.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07MUSIC: "Bend Me, Shape Me" by Amen Corner
0:09:07 > 0:09:12Bend Me, Shape Me reached number three in the charts in 1968.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14Amen Corner were living the dream.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17# I want you so badly... #
0:09:17 > 0:09:20My pink car. I had a Sony television in it.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24I had a record player in the glove compartment that would plays 45s.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26All the cities in the door,
0:09:26 > 0:09:31a little bit of a cooler for the Champagne in the back.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Fabulous.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37MUSIC: "(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice" by Amen Corner
0:09:38 > 0:09:42Andy was voted The Face Of 1969.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47In the same year, Amen Corner scored their only number one single.
0:09:49 > 0:09:55# If paradise was half as nice
0:09:55 > 0:09:58# As heaven that you take me to
0:09:58 > 0:10:02# Who needs paradise
0:10:02 > 0:10:04# I'd rather have you
0:10:06 > 0:10:11# They say paradise is up in the stars
0:10:11 > 0:10:15# I needn't sigh because it's so far
0:10:15 > 0:10:19# Cos I know it's worth a heaven on earth
0:10:19 > 0:10:22# For me where you are... #
0:10:22 > 0:10:27Amen Corner were making serious money. But for other people.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31The cars, the guitars - it was all on the never-never.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Everything was bought on HP. And the band were paying for it.
0:10:35 > 0:10:37# My heart always pounds
0:10:37 > 0:10:39# Just like a brass band... #
0:10:41 > 0:10:44We only made, even at the end with number one with
0:10:44 > 0:10:49Half As Nice, I think we gave ourselves a raise up to £35 a week.
0:10:49 > 0:10:55We never made it in America. Amen Corner were just big in the UK.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58And we were big on other people's songs.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02After three years together, Andy broke up the band.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06We'd had our 15 minutes, and I knew it.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11I instinctively knew...that that was over.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14MUSIC: "(If Paradise Is) Half As Nice" by Amen Corner
0:11:18 > 0:11:23Amen Corner was an empty thing in that I didn't do anything.
0:11:23 > 0:11:29I didn't do any vocal exercises, which is obvious. And I didn't play.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33I just turned up and became this personality.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36This Face Of '69 where, you know, it's like...no.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40I mean, yes. No! And that was going on all the time.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Couldn't get comfortable with it.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45And just...you've got to make a decision.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47And my decision was, I'm going there.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51There turned out to be a band called Fair Weather.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56Andy was now writing his own songs. And one became a top 20 hit.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59But Fair Weather's time together was fleeting.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02In 1971, burnt out and broke,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Andy returned to Cardiff to live with his mother.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08He spent the next three years hustling for a record deal,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11before eventually being signed by A&M.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15With his first solo album and single, he was back in the charts.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19# There was a time when I wanted so much more
0:12:21 > 0:12:25# But I only ended on a stairway to the floor... #
0:12:25 > 0:12:28It was the chance discovery of an old Gibson guitar which
0:12:28 > 0:12:31inspired Andy's biggest solo hit.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Friend of mine, Mickey Gee, no longer with us,
0:12:34 > 0:12:37guitar player, fantastic guitar player from Cardiff,
0:12:37 > 0:12:39found this guitar in a skip.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42It was sunburst, more than this, light sunburst,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44and it was rippled and burnt.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47No strings on it, no nothing.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50Mickey put it back together...
0:12:50 > 0:12:52And I fell in love with it straightaway.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55And I asked him if he'd sell it, cos he wasn't playing it.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58This is one of your parlour jazz guitars.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01So somehow a major-7th came in. So I wrote Wide Eyed and Legless.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04And it was just...
0:13:04 > 0:13:05PLAYS GUITAR
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Wide Eyed and Legless became a top ten hit,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16and an anthem for hard drinkers everywhere.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19MUSIC: "Wide Eyed and Legless" by Andy Fairweather Low
0:13:19 > 0:13:22# Wherever I go
0:13:22 > 0:13:26# And whatever I do
0:13:26 > 0:13:30# I seem to spend all of my time
0:13:30 > 0:13:35# Trying to turn my black nights blue
0:13:36 > 0:13:39# Well, I'm tired of it all
0:13:39 > 0:13:44# It's the same thing every night
0:13:44 > 0:13:46# But the rhythm of the glass
0:13:46 > 0:13:49# Is stronger than the rhythm of night
0:13:53 > 0:13:57# Wide eyed and legless
0:13:57 > 0:14:00# I've gone and done it again... #
0:14:01 > 0:14:03I wrote a song about drinking, is what I did.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Then maybe I started to live it.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08And then maybe I was expected to be it.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11# Again... #
0:14:13 > 0:14:16There's not many songs that will have been hits will have the line,
0:14:16 > 0:14:20"This world is full of my shame." I can pick the moments.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22I'm not going to mention them but, you know...
0:14:22 > 0:14:24I can remember a pilot once,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27with his arm out of that little window going,
0:14:27 > 0:14:29"Come on!" "There in a minute.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31"I'm a little delicate."
0:14:32 > 0:14:37Success in the singles chart was not converting into album sales.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41As Andy started work on his third solo album, Be Bop 'N' Holla,
0:14:41 > 0:14:45the pressure was on, and the mood in the camp was decidedly downbeat.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51# I'm a man of means...#
0:14:51 > 0:14:55I've got a band I'm on the road with that I can't pay enough money.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59They're unhappy. I'm not making any money.
0:14:59 > 0:15:00Nobody is...
0:15:00 > 0:15:03I'm struggling with how to live on the road.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05I've drunk my way, I've drugged my way,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08I've had a cup of tea and a biscuit through.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10None of them worked and made me happy.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13But Andy's problems were just beginning.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Because in the late '70s, he was swept aside,
0:15:16 > 0:15:22together with many of the old guard, by a musical tsunami called punk.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25It was needed. Music needed a big kick.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29The Pistols came along and went... Yeah, it changed.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Maybe I was done and dusted without the Pistols, who knows?
0:15:32 > 0:15:36But it's a fact. My last single was Travellin' Light.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39I liked it, I thought it was a good version
0:15:39 > 0:15:41but it was the wrong song at that time.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43From that moment on I couldn't get arrested,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45I couldn't beg to get a deal.
0:15:45 > 0:15:47I remember going to one record company
0:15:47 > 0:15:51and thankfully they never took me up. I said, "I'll sing anything."
0:15:51 > 0:15:53I needed money, I needed work.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57Dropped by his record company, Andy came back to Cardiff again.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00He was so hard up he was forced to sell his guitars,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03which had been with him since the early days.
0:16:03 > 0:16:08I just needed to sell things to get cash so I could live.
0:16:08 > 0:16:09So they all went.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13It was Andy's long-time friend and producer, Glyn Johns,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15who came to the rescue.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20He got Andy a gig with an all-star band doing a series of charity concerts.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24Andy shared the stage with some serious musical heavyweights.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26I had the greatest time.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31Could not believe it, that I was in that company.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34Andy's unassuming professionalism did not go unnoticed.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38Next came a phone call from Pink Floyd's Roger Waters,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41who was putting a band together for a world tour.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43The phone call went something like this.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45"Hello, Andy?" "Yes, who's this?"
0:16:45 > 0:16:49"Roger Waters." I'm thinking, Roger. Waters. "Pink Floyd?"
0:16:49 > 0:16:52"Yes." "Yes, I get it now."
0:16:52 > 0:16:54"Guitar player?"
0:16:54 > 0:16:57They liked it that way, that you didn't know,
0:16:57 > 0:16:58that they were anonymous.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02"Roger Waters, bass player, songwriter." "Oh, yeah."
0:17:02 > 0:17:04"I'd like you to come up during this tour,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07"I'd like you to come up to see whether we get on."
0:17:07 > 0:17:09Not would I like to play. Whether we get on.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15I found out that we didn't just get on, we got on really well.
0:17:15 > 0:17:21HE STRUMS INTRO TO "THE WALL" BY PINK FLOYD
0:17:21 > 0:17:23# All in all
0:17:23 > 0:17:25# Another brick in the wall. #
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Once the front man, Andy was now one of the band and loving it.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36What's going to happen when I step out then?
0:17:36 > 0:17:38Great big set of balls going to be swinging in the wind?
0:17:38 > 0:17:40A big plate of cheese.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42Not having to worry about whether I could sing.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44Not having to worry about whether I was well.
0:17:44 > 0:17:49Not having to worry about whether I'd sold a ticket.
0:17:49 > 0:17:50The history was already there.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52All I was doing was walking in on someone else's life.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56For the next 23 years, Andy was a constant fixture with
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Roger Waters, on the road and in the studio.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04The fact that I was there for that length of time to me says volumes.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06It's because it was right.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Because I was treated unbelievably well by a very good man.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15Andy's reputation as a side man was growing,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18and pretty soon the phone was ringing nonstop.
0:18:20 > 0:18:241991. I get a phone call. "Hello, Andy."
0:18:24 > 0:18:27"Oh, yeah, just wondering
0:18:27 > 0:18:32"if you're available to do a George Harrison tour of Japan.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36"George wants you to do all the intricate slide bits."
0:18:36 > 0:18:41Oh, great, great. "Yeah, fabulous. Oh, great."
0:18:41 > 0:18:45I'm going round in circles in the kitchen thinking,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48"Oh, no! Intricate slide bits." I don't play slide.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51So I tried to persuade George,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55"Look, George, I'm a rhythm guitar player, that's what I do.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58"You're the slide player.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01"Why don't you play the slide and then you're free to sing the song
0:19:01 > 0:19:03"and I'll get on with it?"
0:19:03 > 0:19:06He kind of nodded and went away.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09The next day he acted as if we'd never had the conversation.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12That was another time that I didn't sleep for a while.
0:19:12 > 0:19:13The other guitarist
0:19:13 > 0:19:17in George Harrison's band was a certain Eric Clapton.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20He had gigs of his own coming up in London.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25He said, "Would you come and join us at the Albert Hall
0:19:25 > 0:19:28"for the next leg of the tour, after we finish Japan?"
0:19:28 > 0:19:31I went, "Are you serious?" He said, "Yeah."
0:19:31 > 0:19:33I said, "Are we going to shake on it?
0:19:33 > 0:19:34"And when we shake on it,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36"I'm going to go to the phone box and phone my wife.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39"And once I've done that we are done." He said, "Yeah."
0:19:39 > 0:19:45So I did, I shook hands and that was it. My life changed big-time.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48What do you feel about that, to go on with Barbecue?
0:19:48 > 0:19:52No-one knows it yet but it kicks it off nice.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54- They're going to go crazy.- Yeah.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57They're going to go so... I don't know how...
0:19:57 > 0:19:59That's why Barbecue Bob is quite good in a way
0:19:59 > 0:20:02- because there's a lot of hammering going on.- OK.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05See! I knew there was a reason for it.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09Would I doubt you, O Great One? Would I doubt you?
0:20:09 > 0:20:13Andy was Eric Clapton's right-hand man for the next 12 years.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18Playing on his albums and doing over 500 gigs all over the world.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22Layla was the hardest track to play.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25You knew it was coming at the end of the set
0:20:25 > 0:20:27and you knew you were going to have to do it
0:20:27 > 0:20:30and you knew you were chasing the Derek and the Dominos.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34I think every band he's ever had in any configuration
0:20:34 > 0:20:36chases Derek and the Dominos.
0:20:36 > 0:20:37So I would do this bit.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39STRUMS FAMOUS GUITAR RIFF
0:20:39 > 0:20:44Wouldn't have to do that, thankfully. PLAYS SLOWER RIFF
0:20:46 > 0:20:49"Andy, you're playing it too fast." Right.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54PLAYS RIFF EVEN SLOWER
0:20:57 > 0:20:58And then you'd go...
0:21:01 > 0:21:02So I'd be excused from any of the...
0:21:02 > 0:21:05STRUMS FAMOUS RIFF AGAIN
0:21:05 > 0:21:08And then one day, doing the Unplugged,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11I went to see him for a cup of tea in the morning before we went in.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14We were sitting in the kitchen and he said, "I think I'm going
0:21:14 > 0:21:17"to do Layla but like a waltz."
0:21:17 > 0:21:19I went, "Let's have a listen." He just went...
0:21:19 > 0:21:24PLAYS "LAYLA" IN SLOW WALTZ TIMING
0:21:29 > 0:21:34MUSIC: "Layla" by Eric Clapton
0:21:39 > 0:21:42One of the reasons why it lasted as long, I must have been one of
0:21:42 > 0:21:46the few people in the world that was happy being a rhythm guitar player.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47Because I'm sure when you pick up a guitar
0:21:47 > 0:21:50you want to be a lead guitar player.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55Even the first time you do it, it's a lead guitar you aspire to be,
0:21:55 > 0:21:57it's not the guy in the back.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01"What's he doing?" "He must be good on the bus."
0:22:01 > 0:22:05That was the Eric Clapton fanzine on me when I first joined.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08"Why? Why Andy Fairweather Low?"
0:22:08 > 0:22:11And then the line came out, and I've never forgotten it,
0:22:11 > 0:22:12"Well, he must be good on the bus."
0:22:12 > 0:22:15The truth is I'm very good on the bus.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19You've got to be low maintenance, you've got to learn when not to play,
0:22:19 > 0:22:24you've got to be grateful, you've got to be focused and respectful.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26You can add a few others to that.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28The gig is only a couple of hours.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31You spend a lot of time in the company of the people
0:22:31 > 0:22:35you're working with. It's very good to be self-contained.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40My time when I start working, whatever it is, that's all I do.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43I can come back to the hotel but I'll be working on whatever
0:22:43 > 0:22:46we did that day or whatever we're going to do the next day.
0:22:46 > 0:22:47I'm not out.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50I remember when I worked with Eric he said, "Don't you ever go out?"
0:22:50 > 0:22:52I said, "No." Because I was thinking, it's London.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56"But there is everything going on," he said. "Nah, nah. I go to the gym."
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Put the Walkman on and I do...
0:22:59 > 0:23:02I stay working for whom I'm working for.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05For me, I always knew the difference between standing out there
0:23:05 > 0:23:07and standing at the back.
0:23:07 > 0:23:12Standing at the back is easy compared to being up front and being the turn.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15It's further than you can see.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18It's a different gig altogether.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22I've made a living playing guitar.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26I live in this house because I've worked with playing guitar.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29I made a living, I made money playing the guitar.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33I didn't make any money, certainly with Amen Corner
0:23:33 > 0:23:35and very little with A&M,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37by the time I'd finished my third album with A&M,
0:23:37 > 0:23:42Be Bop 'N' Holla, I was still paying back the cost of Spider Jiving.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Life is hard.
0:23:46 > 0:23:47HE LAUGHS
0:23:47 > 0:23:52That's me in the Bahamas, staying with Roger. At Compass Point.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Life is hard.
0:23:54 > 0:23:55I mean, I just...
0:23:55 > 0:24:00I used to wake up, and there was a butler there making tea,
0:24:00 > 0:24:02come up in the morning, then we'd go and work
0:24:02 > 0:24:04and then we'd come back to this.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09And yet, after 23 years as a side man Andy decided he'd been
0:24:09 > 0:24:11playing second fiddle long enough.
0:24:11 > 0:24:12It had to stop.
0:24:12 > 0:24:17That's where the damage is done. In some hotel room in Chile.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20When you've been watching other people play and think,
0:24:20 > 0:24:21"I want to play."
0:24:21 > 0:24:26I realised I'm in the final third.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30If I don't start playing guitar now, I never will.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33I'm good. I say I'm good, not in a bragging sort of way.
0:24:33 > 0:24:38I've been doing it for 49 years. If I wasn't good at it it'd be shameful.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41The truth is I should have been this good when I was 27.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Now that would have been something. That would...
0:24:44 > 0:24:45Then I'd have made a mark.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49MUSIC: "One More Rocket" by Andy Fairweather Low
0:24:51 > 0:24:53# Fire in the blood
0:24:53 > 0:24:56# The blood red dragon won't be dragged through the mud... #
0:25:01 > 0:25:05In 2006, Andy swapped the five-star lifestyle
0:25:05 > 0:25:08of the side man for a transit van.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Setting off on tour to promote his first solo album for 26 years.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14# One more rocket
0:25:14 > 0:25:16# You give him one more rocket to go... #
0:25:16 > 0:25:22I was naive enough to think at some point that when I did go on my own...
0:25:22 > 0:25:26that if I could take a bit of those fans and a bit of those fans,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29that, hey, we could do all right here.
0:25:29 > 0:25:30But that didn't work out at all.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34The last but one tour of Germany that I did.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36One of the promoters, this lady promoter.
0:25:36 > 0:25:39When I get there and there's not many people there, I'm a bit tense
0:25:39 > 0:25:42because I've got three gigs in a row.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Actually, it was the first time we went to Germany,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46about five years ago.
0:25:46 > 0:25:47And she said,
0:25:47 > 0:25:49IN GERMAN ACCENT: "Vat you have to realise, Andy,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52"is that you're starting from the bottom again."
0:25:52 > 0:25:54I've just spent 13 hours in a van.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57I know I'm bloody starting from the bottom!
0:25:57 > 0:26:01I'm not expecting anything, I'll take whatever's in front of me.
0:26:01 > 0:26:02And I am tense
0:26:02 > 0:26:06because I'm not sure I'm going to be able to sing tomorrow.
0:26:08 > 0:26:09I went to Vienna.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13On the last tour we drove God knows how many hours to get to Vienna,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16there's no-one there. We do it, it's great to play.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20I think, "What a waste of time but never mind, we won't do it again."
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Some guy was in the audience and he filmed the whole gig.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27He put it up on YouTube. You go, "It was worth it."
0:26:27 > 0:26:31And it doesn't... Great gigs are not about how many people.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33It's whether it's a great gig.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36# There's a shout out on the street.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39# There's a promise in the air... #
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Now Andy and the Low Riders are setting out again with a new
0:26:43 > 0:26:46album and gigs in Europe and Japan.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48We are at the beginning of this thing.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52So there's optimism, there is everything going on.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54There is an expectation level.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58We'll get to reality later, but at the moment we're feeling all right.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01It's nothing big, just a couple of hundred people but, yeah,
0:27:01 > 0:27:03that's what we'll keep doing.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06I can play and I can make a living, I can pay the bills.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08I won't get the Bentley but I can make a living.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10And that's what I want to do.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13Family is extremely important.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17I've been married for 41 years, and there's a reason. It's my wife.
0:27:17 > 0:27:23It was important that I just spent a bit more time enjoying this
0:27:23 > 0:27:27bit of it and basically moving into my life as opposed to hanging on
0:27:27 > 0:27:33the shirt-tails of someone else, which I did gratefully for many years.
0:27:33 > 0:27:39They say, "Why Cardiff?" You go, "That's home, that's why." Yeah.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42I don't mind going places.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Sometimes I've been to Japan for a couple of months,
0:27:45 > 0:27:47two and a half, three months, we come home.
0:27:47 > 0:27:53You do a European tour, Paris, Amsterdam, Switzerland
0:27:53 > 0:27:55and then you come home.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58When I'm home for too long I want to be away.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01I need to play. I just need to play.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03It's all I've ever done and it's all I ever want to do, too.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09# I saw myself today
0:28:09 > 0:28:11# I look good, yeah, I have to say
0:28:11 > 0:28:14# Polished and a good shine no more
0:28:14 > 0:28:17# Flying dragons around my door
0:28:17 > 0:28:21# If I want to go crazy to my own self I'll be true
0:28:21 > 0:28:24# Ain't nobody's business what I do
0:28:27 > 0:28:30# Sing a hymn for my soul
0:28:32 > 0:28:36# Stand by me as I go on
0:28:36 > 0:28:42# I'm just tryin' to climb up nine hills in seven short days
0:28:44 > 0:28:48# Sing a hymn for my soul. #