 by Gary Boole
May 2003 |
Interview with Wild T
original article here: http://www.angelfire.com/rock2/rockinterviews/wildt.html
Wild T, who's real name is Tony Springer moved to Toronto, from the Caribbean
island of Trinidad when he was in his late teens. He has since recorded two
albums (Love Crazy 1991 and Givin' Blood 1995) with his group, Wild T and the
Spirit for Warner Brothers, as well as recording an album (Black Tie, White
Noise) with David Bowie. T has toured with Bon Jovi and Deep Purple throughout
North America and has performed thousands of club shows as well as keeping busy
playing a Jimi Hendrix tribute show in a band called Fire. I caught up with this
talented musician on a recent tour of Atlantic Canada for this exclusive
interview.
Fredericton 05/10/03
Photo by Gary Boole | |
GB- How is the current tour going?
WT - Great, we just came off a tour out west for couple of weeks. At so
many places we've played lately one of the best comments I hear is that its so good
to see real music again. Because its just to the bone, that's the way I know how
to do it and that's the way we do it. I haven't been on the road in about six
years with Wild T touring, as I've been so busy in Toronto. I'm working like 4,
6 nights a week here. Plus I'm a member of ACTRA. I do like commercials and
stuff. And I've been so busy I've got caught up in just living in Toronto and
making all this money and not touring. Until a few months ago and now we've got a
website and staring to get some interest and things just took off.
GB- Tell me a bit about your musical history...
WT - I'm from Trinidad. A small town called Tunapuna. There
everybody plays music. It's like the land of the steel drums. I grew up with
music all around. Playing ukelele, not taking any lessons, playing steel drums,
playing harmonica. At one point one of my aunts said there was a guy walking
around going from village to village for a month at a time giving guitar
lessons. She told me she would pay for my guitar lessons. I was about 13. I went
for one guitar lesson. I learned a open C and went home, analyzed it, figured
out I could play bar chords with it. I went back for the other lesson and he's
like lets do that open C and I gave him a big bar chord C. So I took that guitar
lesson. Around 1982, '83 I needed to get away.
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Fredericton 05/10/03
Photo by Gary Boole |
I'd always written out
applications to go to Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. Every time I'd get the reply,
something really good in music would come about in Trinidad and I wouldn't want
to leave. The third time I thought just go and I came up and went to the Royal
Conservatory. I kind of lost interest when I started seeing live bands and
started to play live and that just really blew my mind. So I thought I don't want
to be a music teacher. I came to Toronto I was about 18 or 19. A guy saw me playing
and told me if I learned 2 hours of Jimi Hendrix he would give me five grand a
week. So I learned some of his stuff. Meanwhile back in Trinidad I had never liked
Jimi Hendrix. I was more into James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, people like
that. I got this band called Fire and from the first gig we did people started
coming up to me going man you must have studied Jimi Hendrix when you were a kid
and I'm going "oh really...." (laughs). So I started getting into it like that
and we played 15 or 16 years ago, during the circuit and I started getting tired
of it you know. People would come up to me still liking Hendrix but still tell
me like hey do your own thing so then I had this name Wild T.
Fredericton 05/10/03
Photo by Gary Boole | |
GB- Ever try playing left handed like Hendrix?
WT - I play left handed if you bring mirrors (laughs).
GB - How did you get hooked up with David Bowie?
WT - He hooked up with me when I had Wild T and the Spirit.
Our first CD came out in '92 or so and I think it was the second single. A song
called Midnight Blues. David Bowie was touring Canada with a band called Tin
Machine. They were playing in Montreal one night and Toronto the following the
night. While he was in his hotel room looking at the TV he saw one of my videos
Midnight Blues and just freaked out. He got a hold of me through management and told
me he was leaving a couple of tickets at the Toronto show and would
like to meet me. So I went there with my manager and saw the show and it was
amazing. I went backstage and met him and he called me back about a month later
and asked me if I wanted to play on his next CD. Me, I was so shocked and numbed
by this call. I said I'd love to David, but me and my band we haven't toured yet
and we're going out west around that time. I slapping myself going what the hell
are you saying man (laughs). In the middle of that he said he would work around
my schedule so we went out and toured with Wild T. He then flew me from Calgary to
New York City. I played on his CD called Black Tie, White Noise. That was really
fun and really cool. After that I went and played with him on the Tonight Show,
David Letterman Show and Arsenio Hall with him. I was fun playing with him. I
was a real blast. To bad he was not touring the world. He just did the talk show
circuit.
GB - How did you get hooked up playing Hendrix in a the Monkees
movie?
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Opening for Bon Jovi
c. 1992 |
WT - It was a made for TV movie called Daydream Believers. The
Monkees Story. I friend of mine told me at the time there were making a Jimi
Hendrix movie in Toronto. I went and called them and the came out an saw me play
and started apologizing saying man we are so sorry we like what your doing but
we have a guy we've been teaching to play left handed for three months. I called
my buddy back to say thanks for recommending me for this movie. He is always in
movies. I said what you doing now and he said he was working on a Monkees movie.
I said "hey Jimi opened for the Monkees but got kicked off the tour as he was
too vulgar." So the next day I went to audition for this and got it. And that's
what started Fire once again and since then my phones been still ringing. And
now I can approach it a little more lighthearted as I got my career pretty much
established as Wild T. So it's really fun when we do it now. I got a couple of
great guys Guenther Kapelle playing bass and Brian Lass playing drums. Never been on the
road before but he's coming out. I've been doing jams in Toronto even when Wild
T was touring I hosted a Jam session and I met all these guys. This young guy
playing drums he is amazing. He came to my jam and we recruited him.
GB - Any plans on recording another Wild T Album?
WT - Yes as we speak I was just going over a couple of new
songs that I just wrote in the last few months. That's going to be out in the
next four months or so (late summer 2003) . I've been so busy I've just had to
stop and go "hey what about the people, the fans. I got to go and see the world
again you know" (laughs).
GB - What was it like touring with Bon Jovi back in the early 90s?
Opening for Bon Jovi
c. 1992 | |
WT - It was amazing. The guys were so beautiful. They're real
musicians too. Every town we went to, they would do a soundcheck before us and
the opening act would always do the last soundcheck so the equipment stays on
stage. You don't have to move anything, so we would go and wait for three or
four hours and these guys they wouldn't take very long doing it. They just
wanted to play and jam and not even play original songs and play Beatles songs.
I respect them guys a lot. It was contrast but for me it was a pleasure playing
for a larger audience. For some weird reason you always want to win fans over
and we do it a lot and that's why we want to get out and do it again as there is
so many people who still haven't heard of Wild T.
GB- Best of luck with the tour and the upcoming album and thanks for taking
time out to talk to me!
WT - You're welcome, take care.
by Gary Boole
May 2003 |
Wild T to Perform in Fredericton
On Saturday, May 10 at the Chestnut Pub, fans of the late guitar icon Jimi
Hendrix will be in for a treat when the Hendrix tribute band Fire performs.
The three member band is fronted by recording artist "Wild T," who's real
name is Tony Springer who hails from the Caribbean Island of Trinidad, an
area where music makes up a big part of the local culture.
Springer first
started playing guitar at age 13 after taking a few lessons. By age 18 he
was getting restless and decided to broaden his horizons and move to Canada.
"I had written out applications to go to the Toronto Conservatory of Music,"
says Springer, who still retains much of his Caribbean accent." Every time
I got the reply, something really good in music would come about in Trinidad
and I wouldn't want to leave. The third time I thought, just go, and I came up
and went to the Royal Conservatory. I kind of lost interest in that when I
started seeing live bands and started to play live myself, and that just
really blew my mind. So I thought I don't want to be a music teacher
anymore."
It was during a performance at a local club where a promoter saw
Springer playing and asked him if he learned 2 hours of Jimi Hendrix music
he would give him $5,000 a week, an offer too good to pass up. "Back in
Trinidad I never liked Jimi Hendrix," says Springer. "I was more into James
Brown, Sly and the Family Stone people like that. From the first gig we did,
people started coming up to me going, man you must have studied Jimi
Hendrix when you were a kid and I'm going "Oh Really."
Eventually Springer
got tired of doing the circuit and wanted to do his own material. "People
would come up to me still liking Hendrix but tell me I should do my own
thing," he says. Springer recorded his first solo album titled "Love Crazy"
in 1991.
It was shortly after the release of that album where his fate
would take another unexpected twist. While in Montreal on a Cross-Canada
tour, legendary British rocker David Bowie happened to catch his video for
the song "Midnight Blues" on TV and was instantly struck by the guitarist's
talent. "He got a hold me though management and told me he was leaving a
couple of tickets at the Toronto show and told me he would like to meet me.
So I went there with my manager and saw the show and it was amazing. I went
backstage and met him and he called me back about a month later and asked me
if I wanted to play on his next CD. I was so shocked and numbed by this
call. I said I'd love to David but me and my band we haven't toured yet and
we're going out west around that time. In the middle of that he said he
would work around my schedule so we went out and toured as Wild T and the
Spirit and he flew me from Calgary to New York City."
Springer played guitar
on Bowie's CD called Black Tie, White Noise. "That was really fun and really
cool." Springer says. "After that I went and played with him on the Tonight
Show, David Letterman Show and Arsenio Hall. It was a real blast. Springer
also did a Canadian tour opening for New Jersey rockers Bon Joni and
recently got to do a bit of acting when he played Hendrix in a made for TV
movie on the 60's band The Monkees. For the current tour Wild T will be his
own opening act, performing his solo material as the first set, and then get
into their costumes for his Hendrix Tribute band Fire for the second set.
After the tour he will go back to working on a third Wild T and The Spirt
CD.
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