P h i l  M o g g

Phil Mogg has been one of the most influential vocalists in Rock N' Roll History, as well as being the anchor for the legendary band UFO. We caught up with Phil recently to discuss among other things, UFO's new CD Covenant, his Mogg-Way project and the complex entity known as Michael Schenker.

HOS: I don't want to delve back too far into the band's history because you're probably bored with that. There's a lot of people causing a lot of speculation about what happened with Michael's departure in '98 and if we could have you set the record straight, it would be nice to hear it from you.
Phil: What sort of departure do you mean? (laughs).

HOS: Well... particularly walking off stage in Japan.
Phil: Oh,... that. I've etched most of that out of my memory.

HOS: I'm sorry. I don't want to open a can of worms...
Phil: No, no. It's there... it's not really a can of worms. Basically, Michael was unhappy with something.

HOS: From a fan's perspective, why in the middle of a gig? Why not refuse to go out on stage? Why not be the consummate professional and finish the gig and then leave...?
Phil: I don't know.

HOS: In the middle of a gig is really... I know if I was at that show, that would've probably broken my heart! That's the part I don't understand as a fan.
Phil: It was a bit difficult standing there on your own wondering where the guitar player went!

HOS: Yeah, I guess! I've heard some speculation that he was ill and I don't know if there's any truth to that.
Phil: Well, ill in so much that he felt he couldn't go on and he had to smash the guitar up and go off. I guess ill in so much that he did get that far, it did get to that stage where he went on and we started the gig. I guess you could say he was a sick puppy. As for his deep down emotional reasons and the whys and wherefors, I don't really know. And I don't know why, as you say, that particular nasty aspect of it could've been avoided. I guess he felt when he went on, I guess he felt fine or confident enough and then the adrenaline got going, the blood's rushing 'round and it all goes haywire, so...

HOS: That's too bad.
Phil: It's not like a technical ill, I guess something must've been wrong, because we'd done a whole European tour before this. We'd even played in Russia.

HOS: Oh, really? How was that?
Phil: Cold!

HOS: (laughs)
Phil: We played in Estonia and we played all the fucking dives of Europe. Japan was like the icing on top of the cake, you know. We went back, we did a couple of gigs in The Edge to warm up and we went to Japan and Japan was going to be like, "Oh, this is wonderful!"

HOS: Right. Nicer venues and...
Phil: Yeah, the whole thing, so for him to... we did the whole European thing without a problem, so for him to have got there and then suddenly, I don't know, explode, I guess...

HOS: He has said something about the management not turning out to be what he had hoped for. Somebody was dropping the ball on a lot of things such as hotel reservations and stuff like that, but it's hard to tell from a fan's perspective.
Phil: Yeah, well particularly in Japan, most things are taken care of there.

HOS: Paul Raymond put something on the Chocolate Box album where he apologized to the Japanese fans for having to put up with all the "bullshit." Does that have anything to do with the fact that he's not on the new record? Is he really bent at Michael or something?
Phil: No. I think that Paul , because he's got a Japanese wife, feels that Tokyo is looking towards him as if , you know, if he doesn't play, the Dow index comes down. (Laughs). I never actually looked at that, but I remember it now and I guess that was a way of apologizing because his wife is Japanese.

HOS: I see. I didn't realize that.
Phil:Yeah, and the Japanese family members would come along and all that stuff.

HOS: Yeah, I thought he had a particular affinity for Japan because of the spoken tracks on the Japanese version of Walk On Water.
Phil: Yeah, he was there for five or six years.

HOS: Oh, really? So, he loved it so much he that he stayed there?
Phil: Well, he loved it so much, he moved back to England! (laughs) He's back in England now.

HOS:Oh, okay. Was he invited to play on the new album?
Phil: No. I think after Japan, a fax turned up where he didn't want any more of the hoo-hah and the playing, so we kind of left it like that. The other option was for us to go back to being a four piece.

HOS: Is that what you've done?
Phil: Well, it's virtually the same lineup except for Aynsley (Dunbar) instead of (Andy) Parker. So, we've kind of cut back, eased back into being a four piece for doing the album which has been quite enlightening.

HOS: When you tour, will you have a second guitarist and keyboard player?
Phil: We've got them at the moment, I believe.

HOS: Two guys?
Phil: Yeah, we've got, on drums, a guy called Jeff Martin. (Vocalist for Racer X, drummer for Badlands).

HOS: Okay, I know who that is.
Phil: And on keyboards and guitar, a guy called Luis Maldonado. He's on Chocolate Box. He does the backing vocals on that.

HOS: Incidentally, I really love Chocolate Box. That was my pick for best album of '99. It's killer all the way through and I don't know if I've ever heard you sound better. You just keep getting better and better, man... I don't know how you do it!
Phil: Oh, you smooth talker. (Laughs)

HOS: On Walk On Water, lyrically, it sounds like you were really expelling some demons on that album. Without prying into your personal life, can you give us some insight?
Phil: Well, Walk On Water was the first thing we'd played together for fifteen years and it was kind of like a first album, or that's how it seemed, that it would be easy. Lyric-wise, I guess it's just where you are at that time.

HOS: I've always assumed that, even on songs that you collaborated on with Pete (Way, bassist), that the lyrics were coming from you. Is that true?
Phil: Yeah.

HOS: I have to ask... you're the only guy who's been on every UFO record... I've always felt, though I'm a huge Michael Schenker fan, I've always looked at UFO as being your band. Now, something happened somewhere along the line and I wanted to ask you about the legal status of the UFO name.
Phil: When we got back together in '95, umm... (pauses)

HOS: Was it something Michael wanted?
Phil: Yeah, and that was part of the agreement, to cover anybody's asses or whatever that they wouldn't be fired or somebody else wouldn't come in. It was that Michael had to be in the band and I had to be in the band.

HOS: I had been hearing that Chocolate Box was going to come out as a UFO record and then it didn't.
Phil: No. I think at this stage in the game, with or without legal documentation, it's kind of set and sealed that Michael is in the band.

HOS: So, that's something you see eye to eye on?
Phil: I'm sorry?

HOS: That's something the two of you agree on even without the legal aspect of it?
Phil: Well, yeah.

HOS: Well, that's good because I think that's where the interest really lies in UFO. I mean, if you were to do an album with Atomic Tommy, I don't think the interest would be there.
Phil: Well, we've been down that avenue before and no... with Chocolate Box, it was a useful occasion to actually have the band and Jeff (Kollman, guitarist) came in to do it and to be working, you know, to be writing.

HOS: Writing some of your best material. I think.
Phil: I'm doing some stuff with Jeff at the moment.

HOS: Yeah, your solo album.
Phil: Well, that's... we're looking for a band name, actually, but fucked if you can find a band name, it's like one of the hardest things in the world.

HOS: That's the hardest part!
Phil:Yeah, it is.

HOS: I could bounce a few off you.
Phil: Yeah, if you have any ideas, e-mail them through to Jeff.

HOS: I was going to ask how you got hooked up with Jeff. Was that through Mike Varney?
Phil: Yes. What is it? The Guitar Exchange? (laughs). Mike had a load of tapes and I thought Jeff's stuff was a bit different.

HOS: Yeah, really. He can cover a lot of bases, that guy.
Phil: Yeah, which is a great advantage to us doing this sort of project.

HOS: There was something on Jeff's site where he mentioned that you were going to be exploring some styles that people haven't necessarily heard from you, or something along those lines. Is that true?
Phil: Yeah, I mean I'll probably sound exactly the same, but musically it's not etched in the UFO vein. It 's more kind of like some of the other stuff on Chocolate Box. It goes in that kind of direction.

HOS: That's cool. I can't wait to hear it. Do you have label interest or a label secured for that?
Phil:No, we're just actually recording at the moment, so the prime thing is to get the record done. We should be finished some time in August.

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