ROBIN TROWER –

ROBIN TROWER – Gamma Gamma Hey!

By Martin Popoff

Legendary GAMMA vocalist DAVEY PATTISON has worked with guitar hero ROBIN TROWER for years, and Gamma bassist Glenn Letsch has also, briefly, been part of that fold. Well now Letsch is back, and a tour of America is set to Trower-power up in early ’08.

“That is correct,” begins the MONTROSE, RONNIE MONTROSE and Gamma bass wiz. “You may or may not know that I played with Davey Pattison, from Gamma, years ago, and I also played with Robin and Davey, I guess in about 1989 to ‘91 or ‘92. And then Robin went back to England and took a few years off, and when he came back, he used some British musicians to play with him. And I’m not really quite sure what went down. But the gentleman who had been playing bass for him for the last several years, was, I guess, unavailable for next year, for what reason, I’m not sure. And Robin called Davey, who lives over here not very far from me, and they set out to see if Glenn was interested in playing with us again. So they asked me, and if I needed to think about it. I said, ‘No, I don’t need to think about it; I’ll do it. It’ll be great.’ The drummer is Pete Thompson; he’s another Englishman. Davey is from Scotland, so it’s three Brits and a Yank.”

And what do you like about playing with Robin? What do you think of his guitar work?

“Well, first of all, I consider him in the elite guitarists of all time. I mean, I don’t like Top 10 lists, but if I had one, he would be in the top five list of all time. He’s a very, very deep, deep player. And there’s a lot of room as a bass player to paint a soundscape behind his soloing. And the other thing is, he’s a first class gentleman. So touring with him, and just hanging out and going out for dinner, is just a great experience. He’s well read, so on the drives, we have nice things to talk about. He’s classy, very classy.”

And how about a little psychological profile of Davey?

“Davey is, in my book, one of the greatest blue-eyed soul singers in the world. He’s amazing. And aside from having this incredibly soulful voice, he’s one of the most down-to-earth people in the world. He’s the kind of guy that when you meet him, you feel like you’ve known him your whole life. So we’ve been close friends for well over 30 years. He’s just awesome.”

Lestch closes with a look into his day gig… “Well, I’ve got a new book I’m writing. I write bass textbooks for Hal Leonard Publishing, and I’m on my eighth book right now. And my latest is part of a series they put out on each instrument. And they asked me to write this sort of definitive bass bible. And it’s called Good Stuff: Things All Bass Players Must Know. It’s pretty comprehensive. It’s like 150 pages, two hours of musical examples, and it’ll be in all the Borders and Barnes & Nobles-type bookstores. It should be out by the end of the year. Right now I’m writing James Brown bass, solo. I’m analyzing all the great JAMES BROWN grooves, and recording them in my home studio.”

See www.glennletsch.com
for more.