UFO

FEATURE

UFO Land In Chicago To Re-Conquor Their Old Turf

by Tom Lounges

Chicagoland music fans have been known to fear that UFO invasions of their toddlin’ town would not happen in the past.

UFO, the classic British hard rock band known for such hits as “Doctor, Doctor,” “Shoot, Shoot” and “Only You Can Rock Me” has been known to book tours, sell tons of tickets and then cancel their “landing” at the last minute.

“We are very much looking forward to playing America and we WILL be there,” promised UFO frontman/vocalist, Phil Moog, in a trans-Atlantic interview. “We are in America for a solid month of shows. I think we only have three or four days off during the whole month.”

“We’re shaking things up on the set list this time around,” promised the singer, who co-founded UFO in 1969. Along with four new songs and all the expected hits from various points of their 30-plus year career, this tour will include performances of some songs rarely or never before performed live.

“One we’ve never done before on stage is ‘Pack It Up And Go’, which should be fun,” he noted.

Moog is happy to be back in America, and in particular Chicago, where he said they have one of their strongest fan bases. It was after all, here at the Chicago International Amphitheater, that UFO recorded their landmark 1978 concert LP, Strangers In The Night.

“You’ve got those great beaches there on the lake,” he sighed, hoping to enjoy a little lakefront sun and sand during the group’s two day stay here.

Moog put to rest the popular rumor that UFO almost scrapped the classic Amphitheater performance tapes because some members felt the performances were sub-par.

“Not at all,” he said. “The Chicago tapes were the ones used for the majority of the album, along with a bit of one gig from St. Louie. We knew our performance was good [in Chicago]. There was one little bit we had to patch when a mic went out, but apart from that, the performance is as is as it was those nights. There was no fixing anything.”

Of the many UFO rumors and missed gigs over the years, Moog explained that “drama” has always played a big part of the group’s past and that most of the drama centered around the revolving door membership of their on again/off again lead guitarist, Michael Schenker.

The Schenker situation, he explained, caused a good deal of internal stress within the ranks, often causing other members to come and go due to the overall instability of the band.

“Thankfully, that’s all over now that we’ve got Vinnie Moore and Jason Bonham in the band. These lads are all about great music and not about drama. We’re having a great time again as a band!”

A one time guitarist in Alice Cooper’s band, Moore came on board full time with UFO three years ago after Schenker bailed a final time in 2002 after recording the album, Sharks.

“Radio is very difficult now. So if you don’t go out and tour, nobody hears the music,” sighed Moog. “I’ve been wanting very much to get out and tour, but it’s hard when everyone in the band is not committed to doing what needs to be done.”

Bonham became UFO’s permanent drummer just after Moore joined the band. Both Moore and Bonham were present during the recording of the latest UFO album, You Are Here.

The son of legendary Led Zeppelin drummer, John “Bonzo” Bonham, began beating the skins at age four. He has proven many times over, with his own self-named band and while sitting in for his late father during rare Led Zeppelin reunion shows, that the apple did not fall far from the tree when it comes to beat keeping.

Along with Moore, Bonham and Moog, the official UFO line-up still includes ‘70s survivors, Paul Raymond on keys/rhythm guitar and Pete Way on bass.

Although Way just completed the European leg of the tour, which included filming UFO’s first ever DVD [to be released in late 2005], the founding bass player will not be touring America with the group this summer, or for some time to come.

“Peter (Way) is has visa problems and they won’t let him in to see you all [here in America] for about another five years of so,” said Moog, declining to delve further into the whys and wherefores of Way’s predicament.

Slapping the bass for UFO on all U.S. concert dates is Jeff Coleman, a friend of Moog’s who has recorded with the singer during his solo and side projects over the years. “We’re very familiar, Jeff and I, so he’ll do a great job,” assured Moog.

Moog himself is no stranger to visa issues. He explained that the band’s unfortunate cancellation of their House Of Blues shows last year about this time were due to his own visa problems.

“We were all ready to come over and I went to the Embassy to get my passport and unbeknownst to me there was a problem,” he explained. “They asked if I’d ever been arrested and I said ‘No.’ They were asked – ‘Are you sure?’ – as they were looking at the computer monitor. It turns out that I’d been arrested in Lubbock, Texas twenty years ago during an Ozzy tour.

The incident happened while the group was packaged with Ozzy’s solo band while supporting their 1982 album, Mechanix, which included their last notable radio hit in American, “Back Into My Life”.

“The process of clearing that up took time,” continued Moog. “I had to get fingerprinted and have them sent to your FBI and all that. I was finally cleared four days AFTER the tour began, so we just wound up postponing all the U.S. dates. It was a real pain in the butt, but everything is cleared up now. So here we are at last!”

UFO perform on July 18 & July 19 @ House Of Blues in Chicago, IL

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