This Archive interview is another I originally wrote for Blues Matters Magazine.

Interview with Walter Trout and Danny Bryant @ The Life Café Manchester, 6 th October 2002 .

Steve Lally caught up with the hugely experienced American blues legend Walter Trout and his young British counterpart, Danny Bryant, at Manchester 's Life Café to find out exactly how their “Special Relationship” has developed. As the interviewer, I found it quite strange, as I have known these two incredible musicians for many years. I hope I can bring readers an insight of the mutual respect these musicians from totally different backgrounds and ages have for each other. I too have a great reverence for Walter and Danny, both as human beings and musicians. I think you will find the following text quite interesting.

Steve: May we start by asking you Danny, just how and when did you discover the music of Walter Trout?

Danny: When I was fourteen I had a school friend whose Dad was a drummer, they had once supported Walter and told my parents, because they knew they were into that sort of music, that he was a great guitarist. Mum bought ‘Prisoner of a Dream' and we all loved it. Sometime later we were shopping in Cambridge and saw a poster advertising the Walter Trout Band, so we decided to go and check it out and went to see the band at The Junction in Cambridge – it scared the shit out of me and made me want to be a guitarist!

Walter: If I could add to this. Jimmy Trapp and I were stood behind this little guy and his Dad while the support band was on! He kept turning round and looking at us and saying “that's them”!

Steve: Walter, You have always been an artist who makes himself available to the fans but I know you always make special time for your younger members of the audience. Did you realise when you met Danny as a youngster, he had a special quality?

Walter: Yeah, I saw him at the Cambridge gig but we didn't meet. Later I received a letter from Danny Bryant. I read the letter and figured it must be the same kid. This kid had a lotta soul so I called Danny by phone which I wouldn't normally do. I thanked Danny for the letter then we met. Danny do you remember when we first played together – it was at the Robin Hood in Birmingham , I came to the soundcheck (which I never normally do) we played a number together and it was the first time I had heard him through an amp, he was rippin', I knew he was really serious about his playing.

Danny: Yeah, I didn't expect a reply.

Walter: Danny showed a lot of natural ability on the guitar. I showed him a few licks and gave him some advice about the business. I saw a lot of myself in Danny. I know I could have a positive or negative influence like the time I met Buddy Rich as a kid. I said I was a fan and he abused me, made me feel like shit. If he had been the first person in the business that I had met, I don't think I would have gone into music. The guy was an asshole.

Steve: Danny, I saw a picture of you with Walter in the Walter Trout Band Fan Club magazine in 1996. You were a “little lad” at the time. What were your thoughts at that time? (Readers should bear in mind that Danny has in a very short time met and jammed with some of the “greats” of the Blues world)

Danny: That picture was in Holland at the Amsterdam Paradiso. Walter invited me to another gig so we drove all the way to Holland ! We met Walter and the band after the show, and Walter was just so nice, he really set me on the right track.

Steve: Only two and a half years later I travelled 130 miles to see you jam with Walter at Cambridge . I was knocked out by the experience. What was it like for you Danny, and Walter, I could see the delight in your eyes. Tell us about your feelings.

Danny: It was the best moment of my life. It was weird and unbelievable. That was the first time that I jammed with Walter in front of an audience. It was exactly four years since I had first seen him at that very same venue as a kid.

Walter: I could see his ability and that music was very important to Danny.

Steve: Walter has been a mentor and a guide in the music business. The song Lookin' For The Promised Land from Walter's Go The Distance CD, was written especially for you Danny. What was your reaction Danny, and what was the purpose of the song Walter?

Walter: Each verse is a different thing. It's about everybody is looking for something good in their life. I used Biblical characters. Daniel in the lion's den. As soon as I said Daniel I thought of Danny Bryant and how he must be careful of the sharks and people ripping him off, ‘cos the music business is like the Lion's Den in a certain sense and you have got to understand that I am a little protective of Danny being in this business [turns to Danny] and Danny you wrote me an answer on your album, was it called ‘Living in the lion's den'. That was cool; it's a great song.

Steve: Walter, in your introductory sleeve notes to Danny's highly acclaimed studio album, Watching You , there is a reference to the evening when, as a child, you met the great Duke Ellington who inspired you. Do you see a similarity here with Danny coming to you as a child and becoming the great musician that he is?

Walter: You can inspire or destroy. I had both experiences. The bad experience with Buddy Rich or the time I met Duke Ellington, I was inspired.

Steve: A short while ago Walter, you sustained an injury to your arm, which at the time you thought might end your career as a guitar player (God Forbid!) I read in your fan club magazine that you had considered bringing Danny over to the States to be principal guitar player while you sang vocals and convalesced your arm. Can you shed any light on this?

Walter: I hurt my arm. I was a fifty year old with a wife and three children and a mortgage. I went to Starbucks for a job. I was desperate. Marie thought she would have to go mopping floors to pay the bills. We had a tour booked and I couldn't do it and I would have to cancel it, and it was for good money, you know. This is going to sound kinda strange but one of the gigs was opening up for The Monkees, they were doing a reunion tour, and I found out one of the guys in The Monkees is a fan. Marie and I both thought of Danny, I could sing and play harmonica and Danny could play guitar. But I thought that in a certain sense that this would be prostituting myself as I have worked the last five years to get going in America . I called him [nods to Danny] and had a breakdown on the phone; it was a hard time in our house. In the end I basically had to sit down and relearn how to play the guitar. I spent seven hours a day doing exercises.

Note: I can verify that Walter is now back to a hundred percent and playing better than ever .

Steve: You must have been very flattered by this revelation Danny?

Danny: I would've gone straight away, but I wouldn't have wanted this to happen, -for Walter to stop playing. If he had rung me and asked me to do it I would have done, but if he had phoned me later and said that I did not need to do it, I would have been very glad, because I always want Walter out there playing. It would have been good for my career of course, but I would rather things stay as they are. Of course Walter, with a voice like yours you could have carried on singing and song-writing.

Walter: I couldn't have written songs without playing the guitar.

Danny: Oh yeah, scary.

Steve: The “Special Relationship” you have with each other bridges a 30-year age gap and I know for a fact that you are best buddies. Do you think there is a stronger bond than just the music?

Walter: I love the guy.

Danny: I feel the same way, I'm the luckiest person in the world, because I earn a living doing what I love, I'm just so lucky and it's thanks to Walter for inspiring and guiding me.

Steve: There are some less than charitable folk who say Danny has ripped off Walter's style of playing. Even John Mayall, mentioned Danny's similarity to Walter's playing. I personally could tell who was playing after a couple of bars, Danny or Walter. What are your thoughts, after all, you are the main men here.

Walter: This Mayall thing is nothing new. Mayall says there's nothing new in this music, it's evolution. When I started off people would say I am imitating Michael Bloomfield. I wanted to play in that style and I also like Roy Buchanan and I wanted to play in that style. You try desperately in this music to find your own voice. Everything in this music is passed on generation to generation and each generation makes it their own.

Danny: I'd like to say first of all, I've never ripped off Walter's riffs. I love hundreds of guitar players and I always come back to Walter cause he's my favourite. I feel it's just never been done better. I might play something like another guitarist. I might play some Walter stuff but I'm never going to be able to play like him, he's one of a kind. If I'm listening to some Buddy Guy, that might connect with a lick I've borrowed from Walter and the bit in the middle would be mine.

Walter: Yeah, it's like how you put it together. I play regularly at Buddy Guys and Buddy will be sat at the bar watching. I find myself becoming Buddy Guy, I can't help it. I turn into Buddy Guy. He's the guy who first blew my mind! I find myself paying tribute; I'm not ripping him off.

Steve: Looking towards the future, if contractual commitments allow, could either or both of you see a collaboration musically, other than the fantastic jams we are privileged to see on rare occasions?

Walter: Maybe some day, yeah why not?

Danny: That would be amazing for me! Who knows – maybe in the future?

Steve: In a gig review of Danny's RedEyeBand, I excitedly pronounced that had Danny have been born 30 years earlier, John Mayall might have recruited him for the Bluesbreakers. Would you go along with my bold statement Walter, speaking as an ex- member of the Bluesbreakers yourself?

Walter: That's,…..God I don't know. He's a great player and what John Mayall would have done 30 years earlier, I just don't know. I think we're getting a little hypothetical here. That's like if I'd have been born in the twenties, I'd have stuck to the trumpet cause I dug Louis Armstrong.

Steve: That's a fair comment Walter; the question was hypothetical - fantasy based reasoning. So as we wind up this short interview, have either of you any thoughts for the future and do you wish to extend any messages to your fans through the medium of the most- read blues magazine in Britain today?

Walter: My message to the fans is God Bless Ya for likin' what I'm doing. My message to Danny is, keep doing what you're doing and be a bulldog and don't let any asshole getcha down, cause it's not worth it. I can't stress that enough. I've gotten reviews where they've destroyed me. I'm at the point where I don't believe the good stuff and I don't believe the bad stuff. Bob Harris, in his book, calls me the greatest rock guitarist alive. I don't believe that, just like I don't believe the review I got three weeks ago said I was complete shit. So just be strong in yourself. That's my message to Danny, hang in there, don't let the idiots get you down or negatively influence you.

BM: How about you Danny, any thoughts for the future?

Danny: Just gonna keep playing and hope people will come to a gig and check us out. Things are moving along nicely, I'm just going to keep working hard and giving the best I can.

This interview was held after a fantastic Walter Trout and the Radicals gig at the Life Café Manchester. Danny got up to jam with Walter midway through the gig. These two virtuosos burned the place down with an extended blues jam which was as good as any you will ever see in a whole lifetime. As I fiddled with my camera I simply couldn't distinguish who was playing what, without actually looking. This contradicts one of my questions where I reckoned I could tell the difference between the players after a couple of bars! If anything at all was different, it was only due to the sound of the individual amps. These two simply traded lick for lick. During the interview, I was entertained by Walter and Danny's interaction and I found it to be a very fulfilling and worthwhile exercise, revealing some inside views of the music business. Some of the comments were left out for reasons of good taste even though Walter would have liked all the cuss words to be left in!

Steve Lally ©