By Alex Lloyd Gross
Andy Parker has been drumming for UFO for over 40 years. While he left the band in the mid 1980's to spend time with his family, he rejoined the band several years ago. After an awesome sold out show in 2009 at the Sellersville Theater, the Lower Bucks County area is becoming a hot bed for UFO activity. May 10 they will play Club Havana in New Hope. Back in the day, UFO put out an album just about every year."I think we did one a year for like seven or eight years", Parker said. This year's tour is in support of their new release titled Best of a Decade.
While this does feature some gems such as "Too Hot To Handle" and "Lights Out", it also features some material that fans that only remember them from the Michael Shenker/ Paul Chapman era's of the band might be unfamiliar with. Material from The Monkey Puzzle or The Visitor are worth listening to. "Especially now, people are hurting for money. If they want to buy ( those other releases), it's a lot of money, so if they get this little album which is kind of the best of, it's kind of a great way , on a low budget to listen to some of the newer stuff", Parker said.
This tour promises to be full of surprises. Some of which may be the inclusion of more songs from the Paul Capman era. " At this point in time, there is a real strong possibility that The Wild The Willing and the Innocent" will be in the set, Parker said, "Try Me" which is off of Lights Out also may get played live. "We're gonna shake some things up a bit", He spoke about the fans that want to hear songs from the Paul Chapman era, " The girl that monitors our website and takes care of our merchandise was getting emails asking why we did not play more material from that era. We actually added "Long Gone and "Letting Go" and after about a week and a half, we took them out as they were not going down that well. Then people kept asking for them, after we took them out", Parker laments.
At Havana , on May 10, fans will get to hear what they expect to hear. "There are certain songs that we have to play or we would be lynched", Parker joked. In fact, "We have an alternative set list where Phil (Mogg) will call out two songs and sometimes we will even ask the audience which do you want", Parker said. If that is the case, UFO should keep "Letting Go" or Long Gone in their stable, as they WILL get a positive reception, at least in New Hope.
Havana is an excellent place to see bands. It's intimate and not too crowded. When asked about playing smaller gigs as opposed to festivals, Parker was matter of fact about his response. "I cannot speak for the whole band, but as for me, I'm happy just to play anywhere. I mean after 40 odd years, there's people out there that wanna come see us, is mind blowing to me. I think small gigs are so much more personal."
Jason Bonham, son of the late John Bonham, used to drum for UFO, after Parker took a hiatus. Parker professes to be a fan of Jason's and of his father, but ironically, the two have never met. This could change later this year as UFO are scheduled to place a festival in Europe, and Jason's band is also playing that same day, "So I'm actually hoping I get to meet him", Parker said,
UFO are just about to embark on on a smaller tour of the east coast. The entire tour and info for UFO can be found here http://www.ufo-music.info/ Tickets are very reasonably priced and, a few remain available for their Havana show.
During our conversation, Andy Parker admitted something, "Just recently, I bought a record off of Amazon, The Wild, The Willing and The Innocent , " You read the correctly. He purchased a copy of his own record with UFO. With a little luck, let's hope that UFO plays some of that material live on this tour.
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