Tony Clarkin (Magnum) Interview

When Tony Clarkin formed Magnum in 1972 with singer Bob Catley, he never could’ve imagined it would lead to a 50 year journey of 22 studio albums, thousands of gigs, and millions of adoring fans. The English AOR masters forged their own path in the largely American dominated genre, eventually crafting a catalog that stands toe to toe with Styx, Kansas, Foreigner, Journey, or any other melodic rock stronghold. Fresh off the release of their brand new album, The Monster Roars, we sat down with Clarkin to discuss the past, present, and future of Magnum. Oh yeah, and Ozzy Osbourne too.

Greetings Tony and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?

Tony Clarkin: Pretty good!

I’d like to start by congratulating you on the release of the excellent new Magnum album, The Monster Roars.

TC: Great! Thanks a lot!

How soon after the release of The Serpent Rings did work get underway on this one?

TC: Pretty soon really, because of the pandemic thing. We rehearsed to go on tour for The Serpent Rings. I got a phone call when we were rehearsing that said it was all postponed, because they didn’t know when it would end. Of course it’s taken this long for it to subside slightly. It’s still a bit crazy over here, but things are loosening up a bit now. I had already started writing songs for a new album, just a few things. I got back into writing full pelt because there was nothing else to do really *laughs*. I just carried on writing really.

Do you continually write? I know Magnum tends to put an album out every other year these days.

TC: Yeah, I pretty much write all the time. I guess I’ve got used to doing that. Some of it’s complete rubbish *laughs*. I’ll never use it, but you go through these things. You think you’ve got something really great and then it sort of ends up being not as great as you thought *laughs*. I’ll write a lot of songs to make up an album. I’ll look all the time at which are the best ones and put an order together. Then I, one by one, get rid of the ones I think aren’t good, and end up with what I end up with *laughs*. 

When it comes to your songwriting, do you start with a set of lyrics and build the music from there, or vice versa?

TC: It’s both. Sometimes it’s not a set of lyrics, I would say. A lot of times it’s a title and then I can start writing lyrics when I think I know what I’m talking about. Sometimes I start from a music point of view, just to have it develop. Then obviously, you put the lyrics on afterwards, but there’s no set rules. Anything goes.

An observation I’ve made about this album is that while it carries on the Magnum tradition of grand, melodic rock epics, there’s also some pop oriented moments on here, reminiscent of the Vigilante and Wings of Heaven albums. Was this intentional on the band’s behalf?

TC: *laughs* No. I record all the songs in my home studio and I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I want to hear obviously. I program drums and I program the bass. I put rough guitars on. When I take them into the studio, I’m assured that they’ll all change at some point. There’s never an intent on “I must do it this way.” or “I must do it that way.” I think the song develops itself in a way to hopefully, although sometimes it’s complicated, still sound natural. That’s what I’m trying to do anyway. I don’t want to confuse people that are listening to something. That’s pretty much what I do.

How did the band decide on The Monster Roars as the title of the album?

TC: Well it was me again, I suppose. I said to Bob (Catley), “C’mon, let’s call it The Monster Roars. That seems like a great title to me.” Bob seemed a little resistant, but then he got used to it. Around two weeks later, I arranged to get the photograph done for the album. It was a girl called Kelly O’Dell who does all this prosthetic makeup. She made up my son, the photographer was there, and we took the photograph. No one else had seen it. Bob came into the studio and I said, “Bob, what do you think about this for the new album?” He went, “Woah!” *laughs* I think he was a bit scared *laughs*. 

Rodney Matthews normally does our album art. He’s a saint, Rodney, but he was really busy at the time. I said to him, “I’m gonna go back and take a  photograph of something that I want. Can you paint it?” That wasn’t done, so I just used the straight photograph. People have asked, “Have you fallen out with Rodney?” Absolutely not. He’s a good mate of mine. That’s the story about that really *laughs*.

I remember a few months ago when the cover was first posted on Facebook. A lot of people were shocked and thought it looked more like a Venom album cover than Magnum!

TC: *laughs* Yeah! The thing is, the song on the album, “The Monster Roars”, is about children being frightened in bed and going under the covers because they heard a noise. It’s that sort of thing when you’re a little kid and you start singing to get you through something, or you start whistling. The very strange thing was, after all this was done and everyone had seen the album cover. The girl who I work with as my engineer, Sheena, said, “Do you realize this is Krampus?” I went, “Krampus?! What’s that?!” You know who this is?

Of course!

TC: See, the Americans know *laughs*! I’d never heard of Krampus. I had just seen this quick video from Austria. It was scary! There were all these Krampus like figures walking down the street with huge gray horns coming out of their heads. Now I understand what people were saying. I had never, ever heard of it. I thought it was good. It was like an omen of good for me *laughs*.

There are so many great songs on this album, my favorite being one towards the end, “Come Holy Men”. What was the inspiration behind this song?

TC: It is what it says. Everyone needs someone to turn to when things don’t go right. For some people it works fantastically. For some people it doesn’t work at all. The idea of a holy man who is revered and can save everyone, it depends on what you believe of course. That’s generally what the song’s about. 

This is your second album with Dennis Ward on bass. How has his inclusion impacted the band?

TC: He’s a great singer, sings great with Bob, and a great bass player. When I do the demo thing, I program the bass just to show Bob what the song’s like, but I don’t give orders and say, “It’s got to be like this.” I said to Dennis on the first album he did with us, “Just be as free as you want to be. Do what you feel is right.” That’s what he did and that’s what came out great. I think he’s done exactly the same on this album as well. There’s some really tasty bass playing, and he’s a great singer, so he fits perfectly. He’s absolutely great.

He fits perfectly into the Magnum mold. I know earlier we spoke about things starting to let up a bit. This March, Magnum is set to embark on their 50th anniversary tour. With this much time and 22 albums under your belt, how does the band go about deciding on a setlist?

TC: It’s impossible *laughs* absolutely impossible! I let Bob do it, all the donkeywork. I think I’ve come up with one change to the list of about 13 or 14 songs, or something like that. It must be a lot longer than that. Well, we play something like just over 90 minutes, so I think it’s 16 songs. I’m not really quite sure. Anyway, Bob put it all together. I can’t even remember which song I took out and put in instead *laughs*. Aside from that one change, the rest of it is as Bob had written it. 

Not only does this year mark the 50th anniversary of Magnum, but it’s also the 40th anniversary of your third album, Chase the Dragon. This was a largely transitional release, kicking off the band’s classic run of albums in the 80s. What was the band’s attitude going into the studio to record this album?

TC: We went in the studio with Jeff Glixman, an American guy, who I’m sure you’d be familiar with. He made a lot of records and I was a fan anyway, listening to those Kansas records. Kansas was always a great band. He came over and we recorded at the Town House. He was ill at one point through the recording. He’d lie on the seat in the back. He caught some bug and he actually had to go to hospital for two days, or something like that. But he’d be lying in the back saying, “Let’s do that again!” or “Change that!” He was really quite ill, but he still sat there, or lay there, and carried on doing it. Of course, we were with a record company called Jet Records at the time. They hung onto the record for two years before they released it. That was a real bummer, but I was really pleased with it when the whole thing came out in the end. It was a long time ago *laughs*.

Were you ever given an explanation from Jet as to why they held it for two years?

TC: I think there were a lot of political things happening at the time. I’m not really sure. I made umpteen phone calls like, “What’s happening?” I was friendly with a guy that worked there at Jet Records and he’d tell me, “Don’t believe anything they say. It’s not happening at the moment.” They went through a really bad patch and then finally just disintegrated in the end. We were never explained why it should take so long. I don’t think they even got the actual masters out of the Town House for probably, I don’t know, a year and a half. In the end, Jeff Glixman was recording us there and I went over to Atlanta, Georgia. Jeff had got a studio there, so we remixed it there. That was a good learning experience for me. When I got a copy back, everybody was loving it. I was really pleased with that. 

1982 also saw Magnum embark on their first and only tour of America thus far, opening for Ozzy Osbourne. What are your memories of that tour? How did the crowd take to you?

TC: *laughs* I suppose it was quite tough in a way, although at the time I didn’t think about it. We played in front of the curtain. People must’ve thought, “Oh, that’s weird.” *laughs* I can remember Ozzy actually introduced us, not visually, but he had made a tape saying, “This is a band from where I come from.” I had known Ozzy for a long time. We crossed paths over the period of time we had been playing in bands. So yeah, he introduced us. That was good of him to do that. 

He had these massive shows. He was phenomenal. I remember he had this dwarf that he’d hang halfway through the show *laughs*. He’d have this giant hand come out of the back, and he’d be sitting on a throne as he started. Actually, the throne was empty, and then there’d be a big bang and there he was sitting there. It was a really good show. I don’t think they knew what to make of us, quite truthfully *laughs*, but I enjoyed doing it.

It was a very special time for both you guys and Ozzy. I’m sure I’m speaking on behalf of legions of American fans when I ask this, but is there any chance Magnum will ever play America again?

TC: I would love to do it. I just wanna play again period at the moment *laughs*. I honestly don’t know. I surely would love to come to America and play there again. We go everywhere else except America, which is a bit of a drag I think. I don’t see why we can’t go there. I’ll ask our agent about that. 

Aside from a few years under the moniker of Hard Rain, Magnum has been consistently touring and recording for 50 years. What do you attribute the band’s longevity to?

TC: Well it’s really Bob and myself. We’ve been in the band since the beginning, so the 50 years really count for me and Bob. We get on well. I’m happy with what he does with the songs and I’ve heard him say he’s really happy with the songs I give him to sing. I guess that’s why it lasted all this time. We’ve got new guys in the band and they’re great blokes as well. We’re all really pleased that they’re in Magnum, so that’s good. I think it’s because me and Bob understand and know each other. We know our failures and successes. That’s that.

It’s always shown in your music. Whenever I listen to a Magnum album, I can’t imagine you without Bob and vice versa. You play off each other so well. It’s a perfect pairing.

TC: I agree!

The new Magnum album, The Monster Roars is out now on Steamhammer. For more information on Magnum, visit www.magnumonline.co.uk.