Bill Wyman took 23 years before he released a new album under his own name. In between he has: left the band he co-founded - the Rolling Stones after all; started the Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings project; composed film music; remarried; founded several restaurants; written books... What you do when you're a rock 'n' roll legend. And now the bass player and singer has just recorded a new solo album, "Back To Basics". And this one is once again dedicated to blues rock.
eclipsed: Your solo career doesn't seem to have been important to you for a long time, or why else have you waited so long with a new studio work under your own name?
Bill Wyman: I didn't think of myself as very important. But music has been the obsession of my life for over sixty years. But it's true, as a solo artist I didn't have the right ambition for a long time to bring something onto the market. But one day, I rummaged through my archives. I discovered sixty songs that I thought were exciting enough to re-record. I sank into a certain nostalgia. Just like the older gentleman with an eventful life story does from time to time. (laughs)
eclipsed: What is the meaning of the plattent title?
Wyman: Actually I go back to my deepest roots with the songs on this disc. It's the most existential music I've ever recorded. There's the blues, logical, and at the same time it's a review of who I am as an individual. "Back To Basics" is an inventory of my existence - with all its bright and dark sides.
eclipsed: You played bass in the Rolling Stones even though it would have been cooler to be a guitarist or singer in a rock'n'roll band. Why did you choose this instrument anyway?
Wyman: Especially in the 60s no young musician wanted to play the bass. So I took pity on him. This is also because every good soul and R&B group was and is left without a proper bass player. The guys on the four strings provide the crisp groove. And believe me: Even if it is always said that bassists and drummers don't get groupies - at least in my case that wasn't the case.
