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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 15, 2004 Eric Burdon keeps rockin' after 40 years of hits By Steve Zimmerman Ashland Daily Tidings Eric Burdon has had a long, stellar career in music. It continues with a current tour with his 60s band, The Animals, that hits Britt festivals at 7 p.m., July 16. The opening act is It's A Beautiful Day. Burdon is surprised by the fact that his music from the 60s is still as popular today as 40 years ago. "I am pleasantly surprised," he said. "I am not shocked but it is nice to know that I can still deliver stuff that is meaningful to people, especially the newer material I am presenting to younger kids." Burdon began his career as one of the world's preeminent popular singers in England when he and the Animals recorded and released their signature song "House of the Rising Sun," followed by "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," We Gotta Get Outta This Place" and "It's My Life." After several years of rockin' and rollin' throughout the world, Burdon settled in the United States and released the Sixties anthem "San Franciscan Nights" and other era defining songs such as "Monterey," "Sky Pilot," and "White House." Burdon said he never could have imagined the music he made in the 60s would still be around today. "I wasn't thinking the music I made would be viable but I knew the music I was listening to had been around 50 years before the advent of recording devices," he said. "I recently was a part of a show celebrating 50 years of rock. "What 50 years of rock. People have been rockin' and rollin' in one way or another since the end of the American Civil War when blacks picked up European instruments and started blowing their own spirituality through those instruments." Burdon recently released a CD, "My Secret Life," that was released as a vinyl CD. Burdon said he hadn't been in a studio for years. "I hadn't been in a recording studio for years because I really didn't have anything to say," he said. "There has always been a sort of musical journalist going on in my songs. There was nothing going on around me that interested me. Plus, I had computer fear. When you go in and see your registration of your voice on a computer which will tell you when you have made a mistake, that is a pretty frightening concept for a performer." Burdon said as long as he was not involved in the technical process that he was fine in the studio. When the Animals broke up, Burdon formed several groups and eventually teamed up with Lee Oskar to form War and recorded two albums including "Eric Burdon Declares War," which included the Eric Burdon super-hit "Spill the Wine." When that group disbanded, Burdon got back to his musical roots by getting together with the legendary Jimmy Witherspoon and recording Guilty and other true blue blues. He and The Animals got together to record their reunion album "Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted," after which Burdon ventured into new territory by appearing in several European films and eventually starred in and composed the soundtrack for the German film "Comeback." When asked if playing live and recording is more fun today, Burdon answered in a roundabout manner. "To be quite honest with you, it took me a long time to wind up to this trip, knowing I had a new album to put together," he said. "There is a lot of me than wants to stay home because I am building a new home in Southern California. I had done a lot of tours in the past and that got in the way of my enthusiasm to go back on the road with a rock band again. "The most dangerous thing any artist can become is a parody of yourself. So I was real nervous about going out on this tour and getting back to playing with a full-on rock ensemble. I found it was very physically demanding." Burdon has been playing with the same musicians for many years. He said they have to have special qualities to be able to play with him. "They have to be ready for anything," he said. "I am getting worse because of the readings I have been doing. I really want to talk with the audience and that is a real danger zone. The big job is knowing where to place new songs inside of the classic songs everyone wants to hear." Burdon said his experience with introducing new songs into his live shows has been an experience. "I make an announcement that the song is from a new album,' he said. "A couple of nights we have had absolute deadly silence during the period of moving from one song to another." Burdon said you can't please everyone with the song list in his shows. "With the advent of the Internet, I can now read how many people are pissed off," he said. "It usually comes down to one guy who says, 'Why didn't you play 'Sky Pilot.' I am like, 'oh man.' [But] if it is one guy, I can live with it." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams