{"id":5345,"date":"2022-02-24T19:51:23","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T02:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theboisebeat.com\/?p=5345"},"modified":"2023-08-22T18:41:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T00:41:58","slug":"marlon-hoffman-interview-le-happy-la-paix-rock-n-roll-stories-wont-fade-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theboisebeat.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/24\/marlon-hoffman-interview-le-happy-la-paix-rock-n-roll-stories-wont-fade-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Marlon Hoffman Interview: Le Happy, La Paix, Rock N Roll Stories Won’t Fade Away"},"content":{"rendered":"
Marlon Hoffman has led a very interesting life, both in the music business as an artist and also as a fan. He’s presently recording a new album, with many friends of his that others would love to have on an album. Drummer, vocalist, guitarist and writer, he’s become one of that rare breed of musicians that the public may not know so well, but other musicians know him and his talents. They’re always willing to help a hand with one of Marlon Hoffman’s projects. And Marlon\u2019s projects are things that should be checked out end enjoyed by every one.<\/p>\n
Over the years, Marlon has acquired a great amount of stories. And unlike many who cannot articulate them, Marlon is one of those rare people who can tell them and keep your interest no matter how many stories he tells. He’s personable and keeps you riveted on the stories he tells. Marlon has recently released a pair of albums which are a great way to hear the depth of his artistry. Le Happy Vol. 1<\/em> and La Paix Vol. 2<\/em> were both recorded at Village Recorders<\/em>, the storied recording studio that has recorded artists such as Steve Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and B.B. King; to newer artists such as Coldplay, Lady Gaga and Kesha.<\/p>\n
Currently Marlon has a new project going on, with many of the people he mentioned about being involved in it. It’s being recorded now and promises to have some excellent music on it. With many people that The<\/em>\u00a0Boise Beat<\/em> has interviewed over the years, it’s better to just take bits and pieces and rewrite them. When it came to this Marlon Hoffman interview, it was apparent early on that it’s better to just leave Marlon’s interview as is. He’s like so few people these days—a true storyteller, talented performer and someone who’s had a lifelong love of music.<\/p>\n
Q: You started playing in bands at the age of 12. What appealed to you most about playing rock and roll?<\/strong><\/p>\n
A:<\/strong> I remember rock and roll really moved me. My father, who passed away a number of years ago, used to sing You Ain\u2019t Nothin\u2019 But A Hound Dog to me. He sang it to me with a lot of energy, so that was like going into my system very early. My mother was always dancing and listening to music. There was mucho rock in my life early on. And not just rock—blues; everything from Ella Fitzgerald, Mitch Mitchell, Burl Ives, Fess Parker. We\u2019re talking early 60s, late 50s, then of course Elvis. Chubby Checker and The Four Seasons. The Beach Boys and The Beatles; it was all there. I was sent away to boarding school very young in life; I was 9 years old. They were getting divorced, they thought it was better if I was \u2018away from the home\u2019.<\/p>\n
When I did that, it was 1963, Kennedy was just killed. I had already had a record player, a Masterworks record player back when those kinds of record players opened up with the speakers; and the turntable flipped down. My grandparents gave me one and I had a few records; the soundtrack to Leonard Bernstein\u2019s West Side Story<\/em>; The Greatest Hits of the Four Seasons<\/em>, The Beach Boys Little Deuce Coupe<\/em>. I had a handful of 45s; and when I went up to this boarding school on Long Island\u2014I\u2019m from St. Louis Missouri but I was sent away to this boarding school on Long Island\u2014it was a little boarding school. The Beatles came out and I was just\u2014I had an ear and my body just perceived it. I was waiting for the record to come out, Meet The Beatles<\/em>; but it was postponed because of Kennedy\u2019s assassination, so when it came out I was at the record store with my five dollars and ninety-five cents or whatever it cost. I forget. And I had the album!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There was a drummer at that school, he had a set of red Ludwigs; and I stood next to those drums\u2014I was infected! I had to have my own set of drums and I had to be a musician. When I got back to St. Louis, I said to my father, \u2018I\u2019d like to be a drummer\u2019. He bought me a blue set, a blue sparkle set of drums. It came out of the trunk of his car because he was visiting since they were divorced. I just started taking lessons from every drum teacher in St. Louis. The best drum teacher was named McClinton Rayford. He played at the Playboy Club<\/em> and he taught. He had played with Count Basie; he was like a Modern Jazz Quartet kind of guy; like Roy Haines or Joe Morello. He was a real drummer, like any of those drummers from the jazz days.<\/p>\n
He was a strict jazz teacher, so I became a pretty good drummer in elementary school. I played in the symphony and the orchestra and became a pretty proficient jazz drummer. But the Beatles came out and the Who; and I started playing all of that stuff very well. I was already in a band by the time I was 12. I think I was in a band when I was 11 with a banjo player down the street. But then I got with some guys who had electric guitars and bass guitars and a microphone PA. I was playing at parties as a drummer, playing all the different things that the Kinks did, the Beatles, the Yardbirds\u2014we did a lot of Yardbirds songs. So I was infected very early on with rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. I progressed to blues and jamming music later as a drummer.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until I was divorced and out of college that I traded my drums for a Telecaster guitar and a 1927 Epiphone f-hole guitar. I started carrying those around. So I pretty much took all my right-handed drum acumen to the guitar. I\u2019m doing a lot of leads now; for years I was a rhythm guitar player, but I was such a good drummer that a drummer had to be a good drummer to play with me. My band always had a lot of dancing and a lot of good rhythm. Once you\u2019re a good drummer people want you to play with them. I made friends with Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jew Boys. He was a buddy of mine, we knew Abbie Hoffman and a few other people. Kinky had me play at the Lone Star Cafe<\/em> with him. Abbie Hoffman, when he was in between his hiding places and jail, got up on stage and he did a pretty strong rendition of I\u2019m Proud to be an Asshole From El Paso<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Q: Who were some of the famous rockers you\u2019ve met over the years?<\/strong><\/p>\n
A:<\/strong> I took a lot of left turns to get where I am now. Within those left turns I got to meet a lot of different people. One guy that I keep bumping into for many years and he\u2019s still a friend of mine, I\u2019ve been to his house, is John McEuen, from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. He\u2019s a good friend of mine. I was working First Aid backstage for the promoter, in Denver, Barry Fey. I was part of a group, hippie first aiders that that had the Haight Ashbury kind of Free Clinic deal in Denver. It\u2019s called the University of Denver Open Clinic. We were backstage at all the rock concerts taking care of people that were overdosing. We got to meet all the musicians. A guy came up and rubbed my back during the Bangladesh concert. He said he needed a chiropractor. I looked down and it was George Harrison. He was only rubbing my back because it was too loud for him talk; \u2018I need a chiropractor \u2018her was telling me! I froze, and I almost fainted, and I told him I couldn\u2019t help him but one of my friends could. And asked him \u2018could you sign my shirt\u2019. (laughs). Which he very generously did!<\/p>\n
Another rocker I met when I was 14. My father gads taken me to Miami Beach, Florida for a vacation. We were at the Beau Rivage Hotel<\/em> on Ocean Drive. My little sister came up to me and said there was a Yardbird out in back on the sand, laying down. I said, \u2018NO WAY!\u2019. So I went out–this was 1968. I went out to the back and I had a crewcut; I looked like I was with the Beach Boys band. I had paid shorts and a white t-shirt on. Number One, you had to dress like that. I looked down at this skinny little guy, with white skin and long black hair, looking like an angel. I said, \u2018Are you a Yardbird?\u2019. He said, \u2018Yeah\u2019, I said, \u2018What\u2019s your name?\u2019. He said, \u2018Jimmy Page\u2019. I hadn\u2019t heard of him at that time yet, I knew of Jeff Back and Eric Clapton. He had replaced those guys. So I told him I was in a band and we played a lot of Yardbirds songs. We talked about For Your Love<\/em>, Heart Full of Soul, Over Under Sideways Down<\/em>\u2014I\u2019d played all those songs by then.<\/p>\n
He was very impressed and said, \u2018Let me talk to your father\u2019. My dad was up there of course, and they talked. He borrowed me to be his band boy for two days. I got to carry his guitar to the concert at a place called the Blues Image. It was owned by the guy that wrote Ride, Captain Ride, upon your mystery ship<\/em>. The place was the Image and the Yardbirds had played a couple of tours there. This was the last tour of the Yardbirds before Led Zeppelin started. Jimmy told me then that they had a band and a deal with a record company. He wouldn\u2019t tell me the name, but just that they were breaking up and starting a new band. But Richard Cole and Peter Grant were with him; and I took them all\u2014because I had a Red Cross Card for canoeing from summer camp\u2014they wanted to know how to do a boat. So I took them out in a dinghy in the ocean when I was 14! That was very exciting.<\/p>\n
Three years later, I looked more like a hippie. And I had a paisley shirt and bell bottom pants. I was in St. Louis when Led Zeppelin came to town. I went to the side security guards and said I was friends with Jimmy Page, could you go get him? He came out and I tried to tell him the story but I think he was a little under the influence and didn\u2019t remember me; and he broke my heart (big laughs). And so I said to myself, \u2018I\u2019m never going to work for somebody like that again!\u2019.<\/p>\n
![\"Marlon](\"https:\/\/theboisebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_2666-copy-e1645755345938.jpeg\")
Marlon Hoffman has led a very interesting life, both in the music business as an artist and also as a fan. He’s presently recording a new album, with many friends of his that others would love to have on an album. Drummer, vocalist, guitarist and writer, he’s become one of that rare breed of musicians that the public may not know so well, but other musicians know him and his talents. They’re always willing to help a hand with one of Marlon Hoffman’s projects. And Marlon\u2019s projects are things that should be checked out end enjoyed by every one.<\/p>\n![\"Marlon](\"https:\/\/theboisebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_1350-copy-300x212.jpg\")
Over the years, Marlon has acquired a great amount of stories. And unlike many who cannot articulate them, Marlon is one of those rare people who can tell them and keep your interest no matter how many stories he tells. He’s personable and keeps you riveted on the stories he tells. Marlon has recently released a pair of albums which are a great way to hear the depth of his artistry. Le Happy Vol. 1<\/em> and La Paix Vol. 2<\/em> were both recorded at Village Recorders<\/em>, the storied recording studio that has recorded artists such as Steve Nicks and Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and B.B. King; to newer artists such as Coldplay, Lady Gaga and Kesha.<\/p>\n![\"Marlon](\"https:\/\/theboisebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_0585-copy-225x300.jpeg\")
I\u2019m a member of an organization now called ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/a\/a2\/Phil_Volk_Amarillo_Texas_1966-vi.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theboisebeat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/IMG_3567-copy-300x225.jpeg\")