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Get Behind Fanny Podcast

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Get Behind Fanny: Episode 39

Episode 39! In this episode, it’s Part 2 of our hashtag #AskAlice! Fanny’s drummer answers fan’s questions as she talks about her drumming on a variety of Fanny tunes. We play the original vocal version of “Rock Bottom Blues” which is a bonus track on the “Fanny Hill” CD, and then we play Fanny’s only blues song “Lonesome Pine” which is a bonus track on the “Mothers Pride” CD.  We also play some shorter clips from other Fanny tunes!

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36 comments

  1. I’m so glad Fanny was finally able to make a record, knowing how f#cking hard it is…

    1. The phrase that gets a 16 year old in trouble with his uptight parents. 🙂

      And it is fucking hard. Just listening to the member’s experiences makes you wonder how anyone survives such a schedule.

  2. Thanks Alice 🙂

    Re: the floor tom question – after asking this I actually read somewhere else that a roadie forgot it…. but it’s better to get it from the horse’s mouth and it ended up being a more interesting answer anyway.

    I have to have two floor toms or it’s just not right.

    1. Hi Matt,

      I was the one who probably started that story about the roadies, but when I really thought back, I do think it was me trying out the second floor tom. I used it a LOT, and loved the sound!

      Best,

      Alice

    2. Thanks, Guy!

      With your support, it just helps make it easier and easier for the podcast to “flow!”

      Alice

  4. Just listening to episode 39……….. Blowing my mind as usual.. but i never heard Lonesome Pine… from the studio i think ISpot studio across the pond…. That man offering you guys the studio for free is awesome as he captured MAGIC !!!!! Barclay kicking ass all over the place. ….. Alice balls to the walls nobody like Jean on bass ever and June mastering the guitar ….and Kirsten i too get emotional with these women as they changed my Life Forever !!!!!!! Big Love to ALL….
    Colleen Stewart

    1. Hi, Colleen,

      And can you believe ( I KNOW you know), that as hungover as I was, I was the only one of the band who agreed (and wanted) to go back the next day and mix the tapes down. “Lonesome Pine” is one of my all-time favorite Fanny song!

      Thanks,

      Alice

      1. Thank God that is Everything so happy you have that …. A gem of reality of Nikey’s power when she was calling the shots you are a freight train … I put that track up to any record Jeff Beck Ruff and Ready any powerhouse driving kick ass band ….. Jean is a brick house June really did her part that was a BIG Moment !!!!!
        Love you guys,
        Colleen

  5. I could listen to Alice’s stories of that time all day. “Lonesome Pine” was on the box set so I’ve been lucky enough to hear it. Incredible! What’s the next hashtag feature? Could it be…maybe…hmmm…Kristen?! or maybe BYRON?! Psssst…I had a crush on Alice, too. Of course there are zillion of us guys that had a crush on Alice. (that’s a lotta crushes). I wish I could relay the feelings I had when I first heard FANNY. Instant fan…but there was so much more. Yeah they were girls, and babes all, but the music just sucks you in sort of slowly. By the time you get through listening to the first album you’re craving more! How can you NOT get hooked on this band? How can a label not promote them more? How could Richard Perry get away with…Mariachi Horns? Are you kidding? Anyway what really matters is how the music affected me emotionally. There is no doubt, at first, that you were listening to a very tight, technically near perfect. Once you’re hooked you see them as a band and not 4 “girls” trying to do what men do. With the dysfunction of bands in the 70’s a lot of those “clowns” wouldn’t know a good song if God sent it from heaven (or whoever, wherever). All this time these bands should have been listening a learning from FANNY, like a lot of the good 60s bands learned from The Beatles. I’m going to die, perplexed as to why FANNY never achieved well deserved “Super Star” status. and then the little smart ass voice in my head says…4 well behaved musicians or 4 Divas? Now THERE is something to ponder (he says with a slight grin and one raised eyebrow. You know, as I sit here and relay thoughts (yeah the grey matter pulsates now and then) Why have we NOT heard more stories from Kristen? She would be able to bring another perspective worth hearing. You know what? Do a video cast now and then…just we can see you laugh instead of just hearing it and missing it (wah) Bye now. Come back soon.

    1. Well, Steve, you probably won’t get your wish for the visuals…..but, I think sharing in our laughter might just be enough?? I love your comments!

      Alice

  6. Lonesome Pine. So raw. Alice falling down the stairs (musically). Too good!!! Fanny fan since two months ago (I was robbed!!! LOL), it just keeps getting better.

    Thank you, Alice, for keeping Fanny’s music alive and available to listeners young, old, and everywhere in-between!

    ❤?❤??❤

    1. You’re so welcome, Tracey!

      It has been my goal for the last 20 odd years to keep the Fanny name alive long enough for the rest of the world to catch up to what we created. While we haven’t hit the entire world yet, I do take great pleasure in connecting with our fans, both old and new.

      I am constantly amazed, when we’re listening, on a deep dive to a song, how magical our sound was and is. And, yes, “Lonesome Pine” is raw and perfect in that way. “falling down the stairs?” I stand behind, or upside down, or flat out at the bottom of said stairs!

      Best to you!

      Alice

  7. I’ve a question. Did Fanny at anytime consider doing a cover of “‘I’m a Man” by the Spencer Davis
    Group (Steve Winwood). It could have been done as a tribute to both roots RnR and to Chicago
    (whom Fanny had opened for on many occasions); and make a social statement at the same time. It’s not like Fanny hadn’t made a social statement before; they had changed the lyrics ever so slightly to “Badge.” Thems fighting words. In Fanny’s tradition of real RnR it makes sense.

    1. Hi Paul,

      I don’t believe we ever considered that song, but I totally get your point!

      Thanks,

      Alice

      1. Hi Alice –
        Greetings from balmy NYC –
        Was beginning to think that was persona non grata due to the fact that my past couple of comments were unacknowledged. Asked June the same question on Facebook and she replied the same way but she said The Svelts had done it w/ Brie on lead vocals. She said she believed that there was no recording of the performance. C’est dommage.

        1. Hi Paul,
          No persona(s) non grata here! It’s just finding the time to do it all! Unless I carve out special time to respond (which I WANT to do), it gets pushed from one day into the next….and the next.
          I think I remember doing that song in the Svelts as well, but I don’t remember who sang lead, because Brie wasn’t in the band when I was….obviously. Maybe Wendy Haas sang it? I really am not sure!
          Best,
          Alice

          1. Greetings Alice from balmy NYC –
            Either your memory has gone to pot or there is a time traveler named Brie:
            file:///C:/Users/Paul.DESKTOP-FHP2B5Q/Downloads/Fanny%20with%20Brie%20-%20snapshot.jpg

  8. Thanks so much for including my questions! This podcast has become one of my routines and I’ve learned much and had a great time.

    1. Hi John,

      Thanks so much for asking the questions! The podcast is one of my routines as well!

      Best,

      Alice

  9. Let me preface this by saying that I am a drummer. Let me also say that Fanny is the most amazing band I have had the pleasure of hearing in a very long time. I feel ripped off that it took me 50 years to discover them. 🙂

    There is something that I notice Alice doing in a lot of videos. When the band is coming out of a solo section or chorus and going back into a verse, you do this thing where you seem to be leading your downstroke with the tip of your stick for one or two backbeats. Then you go right back to textbook Moeller method (Obscure drummer compliment). Is this something that you even recognize and does it serve a purpose or is it just my drum geek admiration?

    Thank you for your sharing your gift with the rest of the world.

    Fanny Forever!

    P.S. ( I too, developed an immediate crush on Alice the first time I saw the Beat Club video.)

    1. Hi Donovan,

      You’re going to have tell me specific video to watch, so I can better understand what you’re talking about. If I wanted to come back from a solo or chorus quietly, I might have not hit the snare with as much force, but I don’t remember just playing a few and then switching back. I played the match(ed) stick method – always, because of a weirdly set broken left arm/wrist. It was painful (after a bit of playing) to play using the traditional grip.

      Thanks so much for the question!

      Alice

  10. Yet another great posco! Love Alice. Such a great drummer. “Rock Bottom Blues” great song. It’s the only song i ever heard that has both the words ‘darn’ and ‘fucking’. ?
    Peace
    E

    1. Eric,

      THANK YOU for the chuckle that just escaped my throat! I’d never thought about “darn” and “fucking” both being in the song. THAT’S funny!

      Best,

      Alice

  11. Alice, I’ve always love your drumming in everything, and in the live version of Badge especially. Btw, there was a drummer in a NYC (all women) band called “The Bloods”, late 80s/ 90s with the singer Adele Bertei — and their drummer Kathleen (forget her last name) style reminds me of yours. #FannyFan

    1. Hi Frank,

      I hope this isn’t too deep a rabbit hole for me. I’ll try to find her!

      Thanks for tip!

      Alice

  12. That alternate version of “Rock Bottom Blues” is so superior. Although the tape does run too slow — it’s in the key of F#-and-a-half — the vocal is miles better, and the double-track a lot cleaner. The lack of the kitschy horns is a relief (what was with Richard Perry’s obsession with that sound?). And the sloppy doubled guitar solo at the end on the Fanny Hill version seems bizarre — it’s a great part, but tough to double, and anyway, why?

    1. Okay, Mr. Historian,

      You’ve given me some homework. I’ll have to listen to the end on the original (Apple) recording and then listen to the version that made it onto the LP.

      Also, I don’t remember Richard “slowing” the track down in London when I recorded the original vocals. I wonder if he might have been trying to “lower the key (?) for me…..We’ll never know.

      Thanks for the assignment!

      Alice

      1. About the pitch, maybe he slowed it down, but it’s more likely the original tape recorder ran at a different speed than whatever machine was used to digitize it, first for the box set, then the Real Gone CD. Whatever. I’m just grateful you guys still had it and put it out.

  13. Hope
    This is ok to leave a msg here. Alice, your drumming on these recordings are something else! Ive listened to Fanny for a long time but was always paying more attention to June’s guitar bc I was a guitarist. However, my first love was always drums. I’d stand by the side of whatever stage and just watch the drummer..beginning around 6yo with the timpani player Sean Lake. Then on to rock & r&b of the 60s 70s. But it didn’t help when i tried to play. Sounded like hitting trash cans. Years later after Id been playing guitar a while a couple drummers shower me something and i could play a bit…no more
    clashing! But I knew Id never become near your high caliber of
    your style of drumming. But what a pleasure to hear your fantastic skills and natural abilities on the skins. Blew
    Me away! Love
    all the tunes here, especially the first and Lonesome Pine. Really knocked me out! Thank you!

    1. What a great compliment and observation about Alice. She is, without doubt, one of the best drummers of the era and most unknown…which is a tragedy really. Keep listening and loving. BTW I was the same way when I started listening to FANNY…June’s guitar playing still blows me away. Alice should also be commended for keeping FANNY alive for old fans and new. The newest fans are the most fun because they are discovering this music for the first time and I can only imagine what that feels like anymore. They will be, without question, FANNY fans for life.

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