VH1 Friday Rock Show broadcast 27/11/99 00:00-01:00 Interview with Phil Mogg by Tommy Vance: TV: ...however we do have time I'm really happy to say, to say g'day to this gentleman who's a legend in his own right and a legend in many hotel foyers and, er, many hotel registers as well... this is Mr Phil Mogg. Mr Mogg, pleasure, it's a serious pleasure to meet you... [Phil says a 'Hey'] Now before you do any history, and there's one hell of a history about UFO, new album here right [holds up copy of 'Chocolate Box'] which is basically, I mean, a UFO album in many ways. PM: It's the same line-up that we had on the last tour we did, but with a different guitarist, who was well at the time so, yeah, it's the same kind of line-up, yeah... TV: It's also, I mean, I've had it for a month or so, I've listened to it on headphones, I've listened to it on speakers low, speakers loud and it's very much in.. it's just so in the UFO tradition.. it could really be a follow-on that you might have actually made, say, about 1986 or wherever. It's just UFO to the max and the best album I think you've had out in years.... PM: It fits in to that, er, the same kind of vein, and we approached it in the same way that we used to which was more the kind of, erm, fun element, you know, let's see what we can come up with. And, er, I think it's preferable to the last section of UFO stuff we did... it's very much in that vein and the guitarist, Jeff Kollman, sits in there real well too. TV: There's an enormous amount of confidence in it... PM: Yeah, er, that mainly comes from working with these, if you work together for like for a year, or six months, you know, on the road blah blah blah, erm, you come to feel comfortable with the people, so it was an easy transition to go from being on the road to straight in and doing an album. TV: Why have you called it "Mogg/Way", and not UFO? PM: Well, there's a, er, one of those legal wranglings where with UFO either... if Michaels not in it and I'm not in it, it won't be UFO. There's a deal we did a long time ago, erm, so it couldn't be UFO without one or the other. TV: OK, but you're in it and he's not right? So therefore he's stopping you using the name.. is that the assumption? PM: Er, it could work either way, you know, so erm it's kind of like you're stuck with it so let's get on and do something in the interim, and erm, that was what we came up with.... TV: How many songs have you written, or co-written over the years? PM: Erm, good ones? [both laugh] TV: You've got a hell of a catalogue PM: No, there's like a couple of handfuls of good ones... but I mean, I guess it's ten albums which, I dunno, a lot... TV: A lot of songs, a lot of material... PM: But if you shave it down you probably come out with about a dozen good ones, out of the... you know, if you could have written the whole lot then, and made an album of the good ones we'd have been great, but... TV: What do you think of as, in your mind, as classics? PM: Erm, well I think the "Strangers in the Night" album was obviously the one that did it for us so the material off of that album would be, would say "oh this is real UFO stuff" but in between some of the albums we did, er, like, erm the Wild The Willing... there were bits and pieces off of different albums like "Profession of Violence", and errr.. different songs off of different albums which were real good but because the album sometimes is on the low side of, you know, song-writing, you haven't got the great songs but you've got a.. there's a few real good songs in between those.. TV: Are there any songs that you think that your public, your audience, have completely missed? PM: I think... erm.... no actually our fan base tends not to miss anything, erm, but the "Wild And The Willing..." I thought was a real good, a good UFO album and the material was really good off that and it waned slightly after that but, er, I thought that was a good... a good album that was missed... TV: How many line-ups have you had, I mean I tried to count them, and over the years, I mean, since going back to what 1969, over the years... he's in, he's out, he's back, he's gone, he's.. where is he, who's there now... PM: yeah, where is he! [laughs] TV: ...but you're always there. PM: It's kind of like a rota, a rostrum [sic] .... Pete's been in and out, and, erm, Michael we hadn't played together with for like fifteen years until we did, er, that tour again. But when we got back to playing that felt more the natural UFO, the original kind of line-up we had... so erm, but we, yeah, we've been through all those changes, different people... TV: Lots and lots of changes,,, PM: ...usually keyboard players, and erm drummers occasionally... but that's a general... actually when I first started off I couldn't believe it, I looked at these bands and thought "no, you can't keep changing members" you know, it would never happen but as you go through this thing you realise someone wants to go off there and do something else, someone's not interested in this, there's some, you know, it changes... TV: There's very little you haven't seen in the world of rock, or experienced... you are, I mean, legendary alcohol consumption for some period of years and everything else as well... written about, documented, a miracle the guys still alive, but I'm damned glad you are.. PM: [stutters] do you know I was never part of that, I watched it... [both laugh] I saw it going on, and I thought no I'm not going to get involved in that... erm... well it was like, I mean, er, I guess like everybody else, it was lively, erm, and.... I always found it the same as generally like everybody else does... you know, you go out Friday night, you have a good time, but hours got extended to the whole week which made it a bit difficult for some, you know, after a while, after three months, it becomes a bit sort of, woohhhayy... but erm I think it got under control and, er, it calmed down... TV: Did you make an effort, did you, was there a period in time when you went "I can't go on like this, because if I do I'm going to fall over and get out the business because they're going to carry me out in a box". PM: I think I fell over before, but, yeah, you come to the point where you say this can't, er, continue, you have to do something with it and... that's what... either you do that or you, er, you don't.... TV: In amongst all the gigs you've done, and my God you've, God knows how many you've done, is there a classic gig, or indeed a classic place to play over the years? PM: Winterland, er... TV: San Francisco? PM: Yeah, which Bill Graham was doing the, erm, that was brilliant... Fillmore East, Fillmore West, Hamersmith Odeon, Marquee Club... the old one... TV: Yeah, the original in Waldorf street... PM: Those are all gigs which, er, I remember.... the Marquee Club when we started becoming "popular", and er we actually started selling the club with no great amount of publicity, and that was good. Hamersmith was great... TV: Hamersmith was always a great gig I saw you there God knows... everytime you played there I saw you there... PM: ...and those gigs were very, you know, memorable, errr, the American ones with... the Bill Graham gigs were... because of how he was.. but erm no, that's in the collection... TV: What about a tour in the UK, do we get to see you play live? PM: We did one, er, with Michael, a year and a half ago, no, a year ago now, but it looks as if something's on the cards for next year so hopefully you will... TV: Excellent, and of course there you'll be performing this track which is "Lights Out".. Phil, thanks, nice, really.. PM: Thanks [Fade in to Lights Out......]