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(from scrapbook 2, page 46)

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Status Quo Live
'The fans we meet are real followers... Quo's like a football team to them!' And this year, after 15 years of rocking around, Quo scored their first goal! They admit it would be easy to relax but it's not their style - they'll just go on scoring!

Which group has had three albums that shot straight to Number One in the LP charts? Whose concerts sell-out within hours of the tickets going on sale? Which band has the most dedicated following on the rock scene? Status Quo, that's who! From being under-rated, disregarded and laughed at by most rock critics, they've fought their way right to the very top. Earlier this year they were voted 'Number One Hard Rock Band' by Daily Mirror readers. Believe it or not, that was the very first award they've ever won!

'It's nice to win something,' said guitarist Rick Parfitt. 'Over the years we've been beaten in pop polls by other bands who don't sell as many records or concert tickets as we do, so now we've been voted Number One we feel we're up there where we deserve to be.'

No one deserves success more than Quo. This year they're celebrating 15 hard-rocking years together (I'm the new member, I've only been in the band 11 years!' joked Rick) and releasing their very first live album, recorded at a special concert in Glasgow a few months ago. Their tough, raunchy sound is instantly recognisable, and a Status Quo concert is something every rock fan should try! It's partly the group themselves - the driving guitars, the denims, the flying hair - but it's the fans, too - and the band are the first to admit it!

'A Quo audience is like nothing you've ever seen!' they told me enthusiastically. 'When we walk out onto that stage, the feeling they give us is just so amazing. It sends us all soaring sky-high before we've even started to play! You need to be wound up to play the kind of music we play, and hearing the audience winds us up! If the kids weren't up and shouting, we'd know there was something wrong.

At the end of the gig they sing 'You'll Never Rock Alone' to us as a kind of tribute - and also to tell us they're ready for the next time!'

It would be very easy for a band as successful as Quo to relax and start taking it all for granted, but this is something that Francis, Rick, Alan and John are determined will never happen. In spite of all the sneers about 'three-chord guitarists', they're total perfectionists about their music.

'It could be awkward', they agreed. 'We could start taking it for granted that we'd walk on stage and tear the place apart even if we didn't play well, but we won't look at it like that. We're so super-critical it's not true! We used to worry about other groups, especially if our support bands went down well! Then, about three years ago, we started to get this tremendous response from the people and we realised they'd come to see us.

"When we go back to the dressing-room after a concert, we immediately start picking the set to pieces, discussing how we can improve it. We sometimes wonder why, because we've been through it all before, but we'll never stop!'

The band's straightforward, no-nonsense approach to their music is a reflection of the way they think. They're just not superstar types, and however many records they sell you get the feeling, when you meet them, that they never will be! That's why fans from way back - when they were just another struggling rock band - still feel they can identify with them. Last year they played a gig at Cardiff Castle, and mingled cheerfully with the crowds of waiting fans before they were due on stage... instead of being whisked in and out by helicopter!

'We don't really get mobbed, we're not that kind of band,' said bass-player Alan Lancaster. 'The fans we meet are real followers; Quo's like a football team to them. All they want is to have a bit of a chat and find out about us. We couldn't do that helicopter bit. That's for 'yer pop stars' isn't it?! We're much too rough and ready for that kind of thing.'

Like most successful groups, Quo are constantly amazed by the dedication of some of the people who buy their records. Francis had his jeans, his toothbrushes and his vests pinched by souvenir-hunters the last time the band toured!

'I found these three girls hiding in my hotel bathroom,' he remembered. They gave me the fright of my life when walked in!'

'They write us letters and phone us up. Rick went on. I don't know how they get our numbers, but they do! Sometimes I think they know more about me than I do!

'It's not a problem, though. I never think, 'Oh, I've been recognised, I've got to get out of here!' We all live absolutely normal lives and wouldn't want it any other way. It would be awful to be cut off from ordinary life! I'd hate people to think I was a flash type.

'Of course, it's nice to think you're becoming a star in your own way. When people know your name and your face, you feel you've achieved something. But even if Quo became the biggest band in the world, I don't think we'd become untouchable, like Mick Jagger or Bowie.'

Just about the only thing that Status Quo haven't done, is make it in the States. I asked them why.

'We've had so much to do round the world, we haven't had time to concentrate on America,' Alan explained to me.

'Travelling's a bit of a hang-up sometimes,' Rick admitted. A 36-hour flight to Australia isn't much fun. It's worth it when we get to the gigs, though... But here's me, moaning when we travel in style, in planes or limousines! The people who come and see us have to hitch-hike or whatever - that's the really hard way!'

Somehow or other Quo - and their fans, too - have landed themselves with a reputation for being not-very-bright scruffs.

'Because our music is pretty basic, people don't realise how much heart and feeling goes into it,' Alan explained. 'We aren't the lame-brains people seem to think. Actually we're very, very intelligent! I was brought up properly, too - I had a bath only last week!'

In fact, no one gets far in the music business if they're dim - and believe me, Status Quo know exactly what they're doing.

'I'm interested in anything and everything, that's why I'm always busy,' said Alan. 'Work takes up a lot of my time and I've got my own studio now, so I do a lot of writing and recording. I go swimming a lot too, play snooker and I'm interested in photography.'

Francis, Alan and Rick all live within easy reach of each other near London. At the end of last year, drummer John bought an old farmhouse in the Isle of Man. I'm completely isolated from every thing up there,' he said, 'and it's really relaxing after being on the road. My house is on a cliff and I've got 4½ acres of land and my own beach! I love to drive and a lot of my friends have motorbikes - though they keep losing them in the swamp at the back of my house and coming home covered in mud!

'Quite often, I drive myself to gigs in Britain and Europe. I get bored flying, and when we travel in limousines, I always seem to get in the one with the dodgy driver!'

Meanwhile, Rick is learning to fly. 'I'm nearly ready to go solo,' he told me proudly. 'At first, flying seemed easy. Anyone can hold a plane in the air, but the more you do of it, the harder it gets. There's a lot to learn about meteorology, navigation, air law, morse code and things like that, so it's brain-work, too. But it's fun and really exhilarating when you're up there! I'd like to do more, but last winter the VMC was bad, as we flyers say... that means we had a dodgy drop of weather!'

Francis' favourite relaxation, apart from locking himself in his music room with half a dozen guitars and a drum kit, is his prized collection of tropical fish!

'I'm a bit worried about my Yellow Tang at the moment,' he said seriously. 'It's gone all vicious and keeps backing into the puffer fish with its spines out. I've got baby sharks, too, they only grow to six or seven inches long - at least I hope they do!'

It seems an obvious step for Quo to release a live album... I'm surprised they haven't done so before.

'We hadn't thought much about it,' they explained, 'because we never thought live albums sounded all that good. It was the fans who gave us the idea and we're really pleased with the album! If you put it on and sit in front of the speakers, you feel as if you're there. You can even hear the balcony creaking and we can practically see ourselves up there on the stage!

We thought and thought about a title for it. Everyone kept coming up with these fantastic ideas, but then we decided they sounded a bit pretentious and super-cool, so we went right back to the beginning and called it Status Quo Live!'

Although the band are now successful enough not to have to worry much about competition from other groups, they believe the music scene is healthy enough at the moment to keep them on their toes!

'Standards are getting higher, so everyone has to get better,' said Rick. 'I'm sure every group strives to make a better album every time they go into the studio. We certainly do. I don't believe there's another band like Quo - we've been out in front for so long!'

'Yes, there are lots of good bands around,' agreed Alan. 'The Climax Blues Band have been favourites of mine for years, so I was really glad to see them in the charts. I also like Led Zeppelin, though they're a bit technical sometimes. I like a bit more feeling in my music.'

One of the biggest controversies on the music scene over the last few months has been the 'punk rock' sound. Groups like the Sex Pistols have been saying that rich old pop stars should give a new sound, straight from the streets, a chance! Since Quo are still as raw, tough, down-to-earth and exciting as they've always been, I just had to ask them what they thought!

'If punk bands really entertain people, that's fine,' said Rick. 'But I'm not sure that they're genuine. Punk Rock seems like a big gimmick to me, just like glitter and the so-called rock 'n' roll revival!'

'Anyone can be outrageous,' Alan pointed out. 'The Stones were outrageous when they started, but they were interested in making good music, too. The punk groups aren't genuinely interested in music. only in being shocking!'

When I spoke to Status Quo they were just off on a European tour, but are hoping to do some British dates in the early summer.

'We always like to go to the people rather than just booking in somewhere and saying come and see us,' said Francis.

That's Status Quo - our Number One home-grown rock band! They were presented with a very smart engraved, onyx cigarette lighter when they won their award.

'One between us,' said Rick, 'so we can't all smoke at once! But it's the thought that counts!'

It was John who took the award home with him after the presentation - and he doesn't smoke!

'It looks very nice on my mantlepiece,' he said proudly. 'After all, it is our first-ever award!'

I've a feeling it won't be their last!

JILL ECKERSLEY