It has taken several decades to truly understand just exactly what it was that Iggy and The Stooges created back in 1973 on their third album, Raw Power. The first two albums – The Stooges and Fun House – had all but disappeared on the charts so when Iggy landed a record deal with Columbia Records, he gave a shout out to longtime guitar buddy James Williamson and the musicians retreated to London, England to record what would become the touchstone for all things punk.
James Williamson was just knocking around Michigan when he received that call from
Iggy. He packed up his Les Paul and flew to the UK and laid down the frenzied and undisciplined guitar riffs that all these years later have become the foundation for the unbridled six-string attacks of so many punk-influenced bands. But back then the musician didn’t really have a clue what he was doing and it was in this sort of innocent and unknowing frame of mind that the guitarist created his magic.
The world finally caught on to what The Stooges recorded so many years ago. Columbia Legacy has released a Deluxe Edition of Raw Power including 15 previously unreleased tracks recorded between 1972 and 1973. The album has been made available both digitally and on CD.
Additionally, Iggy and James have reunited for a tour and the entire band have been recognized for their achievements by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They will be amongst the 2010 inductees and performers.
To that end, Williamson was in a tremendously buoyant mood as he talked about the music he wrote and played on all those years ago.
UG: Nearly 37 years ago you record the Raw Power album. What are your most vivid memories of those sessions from back in 1973?
James Williamson: Well, um, just I was really, really excited about doing it because I never recorded an album before and it was my first time and everything was new. We all felt good about the material and we were ready to do it. The impression that I still have, that remains with me, is a kind of a really super positive environment. We were just layin’ stuff down and enjoyin’ it and comin’ to work and getting excited every day.
Really the key to that record was we didn’t have any adult supervision; we were just doin’ it. We had no producer; all we had was the engineer from CBS [the album was recorded at CBS Studios; London] and us. So we did whatever we wanted to and sure we made some mistakes but I think we also captured this sort of authenticity of the music that you can rarely hear on a record really.
"I was really, really excited about doing it because I never recorded an album before."
No idea; we just went in there and let it rip. And whatever ideas we had we put ‘em down there and if we liked ‘em, we kept ‘em and if we didn’t we let ‘em go. Actually some of that layering is coming back to haunt me now because I have to go out and play it live. But that’s OK; you can still put some signature licks in there and get it across to people.
So there was no game plan at all?
No, the best we could do was come up with the songs. And then we just did what we did in the studio until we were happy with it.
Did you write the songs in the studio while you were recording them?
No. All of that music was written in London and actual music part from my side of the equation was almost entirely written in my bedroom with an acoustic guitar.
There’s no way you wrote the Raw Power album on an acoustic guitar.
Yeah, a little-known fact and actually that guitar is now in the Hall of Fame museum so that other people can see it. I think that kinda really takes people aback when they hear that [laughs.] But the acoustic guitar is a good tool for writing songs because there is a clarity of the chording and of the sound that’s hard to get on electric guitar; there’s more blending on electric guitar. It’s good when you’re trying to write [and] trying to hear how chords interact with each other; the acoustic’s better in my opinion.
While you’re talking about acoustics, is this the same acoustic guitar that you played on “Gimme Danger?”
No. The guitar I wrote that stuff on is a Gibson B-25; a little guitar. And the guitar that I used in the studio was a Martin D-28; Dreadnought.
You could find your way around pretty comfortably on an acoustic?
Well, back in the day a little bit. But I liked the acoustic; it has a place. And so my little guitar didn’t have a big enough sound so we went out and rented a Dreadnought, a Martin, which had a great sound. But it was harder than hell to play it but anyway that’s what you hear on “Gimme Danger” and stuff. I have one now and I love those guitars. The Gibson was played on Kill City however so I did end up using it on something. But no, that’s the Martin on Raw Power.
Even though Raw Power was the Stooges third album, didn’t you first meet Iggy around the time the first album was recorded?
No, I knew those guys from back when I was in my mid-teens; maybe 17 years old. I had been in this band that I helped form with a singer called Scott Richardson called the Chosen Few. I ended up leaving the band and going to school in upstate New York. Later the band had a different lineup and Ron Asheton ended up playing bass in it. And so one time when I came back from school, I went up to a gig in Ann Arbor, a fraternity party thing they were playing, and met Ron and it turns out Iggy was there that night too. And I had known of him from the Prime Movers, the blues band that he played drums in, but I didn’t know him. And so I got to meet him and actually had my guitar with me that night and I actually played him a couple of my own songs and I think that kinda stuck him. But, yeah, I had known all those guys for a long time before they did the first Stooges album.
Did you have a sense of destiny that someday you would play with Iggy?
Umm, well, I don’t know what I had. Like I say, I knew ‘em all and I hung out with ‘em a lot. I was at their house that they lived together in when they created the band and I’d come over when I could from Detroit and listen to ‘em rehearsing in their basement and so on. So I really knew them quite well.
I didn’t know there was any openings for one thing. But it turned out later I lived in Ann Arbor and I lived with a couple of the guys in the band. And so we were really pretty close buddies. The Stooges is kinda like a gang you know. You’re either in or you’re out and so I was in but I wasn’t actually playing with the Stooges. Eventually when they wanted to have a two-guitar lineup they asked me to join and of course I did. And the rest is history.
What did you think of the two Stooges albums that were recorded before you joined: The Stooges and the Fun House records? Were you listening to Ron Asheton’s guitar playing at all?
I thought they were really good performers; live they were really second to nobody. And I thought the records sounded good. You know Ron is a really – was – a really great guitarist in his own right and he has a certain style. It’s a very simplistic style but he gets the tune over. In fact, I’d say a lot more people, young people when they first learn to play guitar, would try to imitate him versus me. Because I mean even regular musician guys have a hard time playing my style just because of the number of chord changes and all those kinds of things.
"Sure we made some mistakes but we also captured this sort of authenticity of the music that you can rarely hear on a record really."
I had a 1969 Les Paul Custom that I brought over with me from Ann Arbor and I picked up the B-25 in London. I started out Raw Power with a Marshall stack and I thought that was what I was gonna use but when we got in the studio it was just kind of overwhelming for recording. And so I experimented trial and error with different amps and eventually came upon a Vox AC30 Top Boost with Bottom Cut. That amp sounded fantastic. So the combination of the humbucker pickups and the AC30 was really powerful. I may have been one of the first guys to do that and it was just dumb luck; there was nothin’ else besides trial and error that got me there. But that’s what that sound is on the album.
That must have been a pretty special Les Paul.
The pickups on it are T-Top pickups and the bridge pickup in particular which is really what I almost exclusively use is very low DC resistance. It’s like about 7.27k which is low; they’re usually on the high end of 7’s or in the 8’s or even 9’s today. And so the sound of it is unique and that’s part of it too. And on top of that of course is the way I play. The whole chain is where that sound comes from.
The way you play is pretty ferocious – very aggressive picking and rhythm chops. Can you point to certain players you may have been listening to who might have contributed to your style?
No; I listened to all kinds of guys but I developed that style on my own because I’m self-taught. Early on when I first started playing, I realized very quickly that I could write my own stuff a lot easier than I could play other guy’s stuff [laughs.] And sort of, you know, it just eventually evolved naturally. And because I would write lots of chord changes in the material sometimes they’re difficult to do and in order to do ‘em, I developed this down-picking style. The right hand is equally important to the left one and so that’s what some people miss when they try to play my songs and it doesn’t sound right. That’s because of all the down-picking.
I like lots of guitar players but I don’t think I sound like any of ‘em. And that’s the beauty of the band reforming. I’ve often said, “No other band would have me.” I have a unique sound that’s exclusive to the Stooges. No other singer would be able to come up with lyrics to that crazy music. Right? It works for us though. When we play everybody goes, “Wow! That sounds just like the record,” and I go, “Yeah, ‘cause that’s me.”
How does it feel all these years later to be reuniting with Iggy for a tour in 2010?
Well it feels great. I had to really give this some thought before I said I would do it but I felt like all of us go back a long way. And to be honest with ya, I have to say that if it wouldn’t have been for Iggy recognizing the beauty in this crazy noise that I could make, I don’t know where I’d be today. You know? Really, I was in Detroit; I had no prospects; living on my sister’s couch. Iggy gave me the phone call and said, “You know, we got a record deal; let’s go to London” so that didn’t take me too long to figure out what I was gonna do.
You’ve touched on the new tour. What do you think of the release of the Georgia Peaches – Live at Richards, Atlanta, GA CD that was recorded back in October 1973?
I think it’s great that they were able to find that and decided to put it out. That was a very special time during that tour for us. We did a week at Richard’s place. You know, the Atlanta crowds are funlovin’ people and they didn’t know us; most of ‘em didn’t know us much probably. I don’t know if you’ve been to Richard’s but it’s a kind of dinner/bar place with tablecloths and things. So havin’ us come on stage twice a night and havin’ Iggy come out and harass your date for the night, not everybody can put up with that. But anyway we had fun and I thought we sounded good. So that was good that they put that out.
All these years later, how do the Raw Power songs hold up for you? You’re now playing them on tour and the album has been re-released as a deluxe edition so the music is all over the place. How do you hear the songs now?
I think they’re fantastic. It’s fun to play ‘em; they’re very high-energy and I think everybody, the crowd gets into it, we get into it. It’s very strange because the music is oddly contemporary even today and probably a lot of that comes from the fact that so many people were influenced by it that they created a continuum of music. So this just sounds like it fits right in.
So you can hear the influence you and the Stooges had on modern music?
Oh, yeah; definitely.
"All of that music was written in London and actual music part from my side of the equation was almost entirely written in my bedroom with an acoustic guitar."
For the most part that was pretty brand new material. As a guitar player you try to be a little bit prepared so at least you’re in the right key and everything. Maybe I had played some stuff, I can’t really remember, but I pretty much was flying by the seat of my pants in there. We’d cut the stuff and then listen to it and when it was my turn I’d overdub stuff and we’d keep going until all the guys in the band were going, “Yeah, man, that was a great one. Stop please.” And that’s all we did.
The “Raw Power” track has a bit of a Stones feel to it? With that simple little piano part and the riff?
I don’t hear that personally. The piano thing comes more from “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” the single note keyboard thing. And the Stones? I can’t help but be influenced by the Stones because I listened to so much of it. I love the stuff they do but I don’t hear it myself.
Who is playing those piano parts on the record?
Oh, it’s probably Iggy. You know it’s just one key, I mean one note. So, it’s probably him.
You were joking a second ago about being in the right key. The solo in “Raw Power” has a very strange collection of notes as if it’s in some relative key.
Well, I play it today and man, it’s in the right key but I tried not to do anything that was too cliché. It’s in the right key but it’s just not your normal solo is the best way to say.
And finally you’re being inducted and will perform at the 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Awards. What does that feel like?
Oh, I’m delighted about it. It’s so gratifying to receive recognition for all that stuff that we did back in the day that we never were recognized for. And so it’s a real sort of amazing story and to finish it off like that, I think all of us feel really, really blessed that it happened. But if you want to know my honest opinion, I think that ABBA got us in! Because I’m sure there’s a committee that decides these things and I’m sure that these guys were sittin’ around going, “You know what? We’re gonna take a lot of crap for puttin’ ABBA in there so we oughta balance it with the Stooges.” That’s my personal thought. I’m just kiddin’. I don’t know.
Interview by Steven Rosen
Ultimate-Guitar.Com © 2010
