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| Walter Trout received a trio of standing ovations when he performed at the Lead Belly Fest at London's Royal Albert Hall on June 15, 2015. Photo courtesy of CGFILM.TV |
Robert Kinsler: I know you have the show coming up at The Coach House (on July 10), but you recently performed at Royal Albert Hall in London (on June 15, 2015).
Walter Trout: I played Royal Albert Hall with Van Morrison and Eric Burdon and Eric Bibb and a whole bunch of others; it was awesome. I only did two songs - they have a house band there that backed everybody up - I did two songs on my own and I got three standing ovations. And then I got to play two songs backing up Van Morrison and Eric Burdon on guitar.
Robert: How was that, getting to back up Eric Burdon and Van Morrison? They are true legends.
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| Walter Trout, right, performing at Royal Albert Hall on June 15 during his comeback performance. Photo courtesy of CGFILM.TV |
Walter: Well, it was kind of like I was pinching myself. 'Wow.' Hey, a year ago I was close to death and now here I am standing on stage at Royal Albert Hall like three feet away from these two icons. It was really, 'This is pretty awesome. This is pretty cool.'
Robert: Obviously, your chops are coming back, and you're feeling pretty good about actually embarking on your own tour, right?
Walter: I think my chops are back, big time. I don't know if you saw the video from Albert Hall; there is a video on my Facebook page. You have to scroll down, it's called "Marie Trout introduces Walter Trout at RAH." Marie introduced me; they had her give a little talk and introduce me, and then my first song on there was a tribute to B.B. King. And that's on there. You can hear that my chops are back.
Robert: I remember when we talked last year, you told me all the notes and all the music was inside you, but you simply didn't have the strength yet to play. I imagine you have been undergoing some physical therapy and rehabilitation, right?
Walter: Yeah, I've been doing that (rehabilitation); as a matter of fact, the more it came back, and the more I was overjoyed I was with it there were days I would sit on my couch and play my Stratocaster for five or six hours, and you know, I ended up pulling out the tendons in the fingers on my left hand, and I had to go get hand therapy. Like, it's one thing or the other; I overdid, right? After having no muscles in my hand or my arm, you know because I lost all the muscles...but (now) I'm doing fine. But you know, of course, I would overdo it. That's sort of what I'm known for; so, but it was joyous to be able to do it again so I would sit there for hours and just revel, 'Wow, I can do this again.'
Robert: How does it feel to set out on a tour after this amount of time?
Walter: It feels awesome man. It's hard for me to even believe that I'm going to get to do this again. I didn't think I ever would (again), and as a matter of fact, I did my first unannounced warm-up gig last night (Sunday, June 28, 2015) at Malarkey's. It was just word-of-mouth. We didn't tell anybody I was going to be there. It was billed as Mike Leasure and Friends. Mike's my drummer. And I showed up; I didn't know if I would make it through 40 minutes. We had told the guy putting the show on, 'Look I don't know what is going to happen.' It was one thing to do two songs at Royal Albert Hall, but to get up and do a whole show. I don't know what's gonna happen. And, I may need to only do 40 minutes and if that's what it is, then so be it.' My son was keeping time and I thought we had been up there for about 40 minutes and we were just blazing away. My son came up and said, 'Dad, you've already been up here for 90 minutes.' We ended up playing over two hours. And it was - we were - indescribable how it felt. The band was blazing; the people were loving it and I was able to play. I didn't fall over; I didn't have to sit down. It was really joyous. Now that doesn't mean that is going to happen every night. But it did give me hope that, ''Hey, I can do this again, you know.'
Robert: That's great. You're going to continue to get stronger every day, I would imagine.
Walter: I would think so. When I go out on the tour and I'm playing every night. Because, I have to say when I got home last night (after the performance in Long Beach) my fingers started really hurting. This first I've played full board, digging in for over two hours. I was unchained. I could play anything I wanted. I was bending strings, and it was like the old me. When I got home the fingers on my left hand went 'What did you do to us?' I couldn't hold my phone. But I got up today and they're fine. It's like overworking a muscle. You get sore, of course.
Robert: After you play at The Coach House, you're going on a pretty substantial tour...
Walter: What we're doing. We start at The Coach House, and then do a U.S./Canada run. Our next gig after the Coach House is we play at the Ottawa Blues Fest. So we fly off to Canada, and we do three days in Canada, and then fly to Kansas City and that's where we start a U.S. tour that takes us all over the country. And that's going to be five weeks. I have a couple weeks off in September, and then I do the Huntington Beach Library. And that would be good to push that gig. Then I do the big blues bender in Las Vegas. We're going to play on the bill there with Buddy Guy. He's the big headliner. On the final night of the Blues Bender it's us and Buddy Guy. And then we take off and do five or six weeks in Europe.
And we have a brand new CD we just recorded that will come out the first of October. And I'm excited about it. It's really something I think.
Robert: Your publicist told me about it.
Walter: Well, as a matter of fact, the CD is being mastered today as we speak. It will be sent off to Provo (his record label) tomorrow. The final step in doing the CD is doing the mastering. And that's being done right now up in L.A. at The Mastering Lab and I'm excited about this one Robert because what I've done is a concept album what is all about what I went through. The whole thing is the story of what happened set to music. It starts off where nobody thought I was going to make it and my wife would be standing over me in the bed holding my hand, telling me I need to fight but I could look in her eyes and I could see nobody thought I was going to survive. It's called 'Almost Gone' and the chorus goes 'I See It In Her Eyes / We both Know I'm Almost Gone.' And it goes through the whole story and it ends with an acoustic song called 'Gonna Live Again.' And it's me having a conversation with God asking him why he has kept me here and what it is I need to do now that I'm here.
Here is a re-posting of my article on Trout that ran in The Orange County Register on Sunday, July 5, 2015:
BACK IN ACTION
Orange County bluesman Walter Trout returns to the stage after battling illness
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| Walter Trout performing at Doheny Blues Festival in May 2011. Photo: Bob Steshetz |
Where: The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano
When: 8 p.m. on July 10
Tickets: $25
Information: thecoachhouse.com or waltertrout.com
Next: Walter Trout will perform at the Huntington Beach Library on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015
Like any bona fide bluesman, Walter Trout has experienced life's lofty heights and its darkest hours. His 50-year-career has included unbelievable highs performing at major festivals throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. Among his most memorable local sets was opening for John Fogerty at the Doheny Blues Fest in May 2011, and then opening for B.B. King at the Pacific Amphitheatre in August 2011. But the 64-year-old Huntington Beach resident has also experienced hopelessness, especially in the months leading up to May 26, 2014 when he underwent life-saving liver transplant surgery.
Just over a year later, on June 15, 2015, Trout made his highly-anticipated return to the stage when he performed at London's Royal Albert Hall, receiving a trio of standing ovations when he performed at the Lead Belly Fest on a bill with a number of legendary artists.
"I played Royal Albert Hall with Van Morrison and Eric Burdon and a whole bunch of others; it was awesome," Trout said in a recent phone interview.
"Well, it was kind of like I was pinching myself. Wow. Hey, a year ago I was close to death and now here I am standing on stage at Royal Albert Hall like three feet away from these two icons. It was really, 'This is pretty awesome. This is pretty cool.' "
Now local fans will get to see the 64-year-old singer-songwriter-guitarist when he headlines at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on July 10, or at Huntington Beach Library on Sept. 26.
Anyone who has seen Trout perform his powerful style of blues-rock may wonder if the guitarist's powers on lead guitar are intact. But daily five-to-six practice sessions and an otherworldly zeal to play his Fender Strat are likely just what the doctor ordered. He has relentlessly built back up strength in his arms, hands and fingers to play like he did before he grew ill with the disease.
"As a matter of fact, the more it came back (my strength), and the more I was overjoyed...I would sit on my couch and play my Stratocaster for five or six hours, and you know, I ended up pulling out the tendons in the fingers on my left hand, and I had to go get hand therapy. Like, it's one thing or the other; I overdid, right? After having no muscles in my hand or my arm, you know because I lost all the muscles...but (now) I'm doing fine. But you know, of course, I would overdo it. That's sort of what I'm known for; so, but it was joyous to be able to do it again so I would sit there for hours and just revel, 'Wow, I can do this again.'."
On the afternoon of June 28, 2015, Trout made an unannounced appearance at Malarkey's in Long Beach. Although he anticipated performing for about 40 minutes, his joy at being back on stage beckoned.
"My son was keeping time and I thought we had been up there for about 40 minutes and we were just blazing away. My son came up and said, 'Dad, you've already been up here for 90 minutes.' We ended up playing over two hours. And it was – we were – indescribable how it felt. The band was blazing; the people were loving it and I was able to play. I didn't fall over; I didn't have to sit down. It was really joyous. Now that doesn't mean that is going to happen every night. But it did give me hope that, ''Hey, I can do this again you know'."
When Trout worked on the recordings for his 2014 album "The Blues Came Callin' " between April 2013 and January 2014 during the midst of his battle with liver disease, he feared the album would like be his final set of recordings. But with the successful liver transplant and subsequent recovery, Trout has recorded a new as-of-yet untitled album set to be released on Oct. 1, 2015.
"I'm excited about this one Robert because what I've done is a concept album what is all about what I went through," Trout said. "The whole thing is the story of what happened set to music. It starts off where nobody thought I was going to make it and my wife would be standing over me in the bed holding my hand, telling me I need to fight but I could look in her eyes and I could see nobody thought I was going to survive. It's called 'Almost Gone' and the chorus goes 'I See It In Her Eyes / We both Know I'm Almost Gone.' And it goes through the whole story and it ends with an acoustic song called 'Gonna Live Again.' And it's me having a conversation with God asking him why he has kept me here and what it is I need to do now that I'm here."
Click here to read my Orange County Register article that ran in July 2014, where I interviewed Trout in connection with a special tribute show being held featuring his son Jon Trout and singer-guitarist Danny Bryant.
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