The music of Cream is about to live on again live in Australia. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the band Malcolm son of Jack Bruce and Kofi son of Ginger Baker along with Will Johns the nephew of Eric Clapton will playing the songs that made Cream iconic across Australia in May. We were lucky enough to catch up with Will Johns ahead of the tour as he shares his excitement to bring these songs to Australia.

SCENEzine
Firstly how’s 2017 treating you?

Will Johns
Pretty good. It’s getting more and more exciting as we get closer to this amazing tour that we have going on.

SCENEzine
It must be crazy to think it’s 50 years since Cream first started?

Will Johns
Yeah it’s a trip.

SCENEzine
When you were younger did you have a sense of how massive Cream were and how much they meant to so many people?

Will Johns
To be honest not really. I thought it was just a band that was kind of cool and didn’t last very long and some hippies liked it. As I got a little bit older I realised the influence. Then more recently hooking up with Malcolm and Kofi when we first did that the shock waves that sent around the world that gave me a bit of a wake up call. So many people are into the music of Cream.

SCENEzine
How young were you when you first started playing guitar?

Will Johns
I think I was about 13 or 14 when I got my first guitar. I lived in southern Ireland. I couldn’t play anything all I could sort of do was sort of take it apart. I took it all apart and put it back together in order to somehow find out how the thing worked. It wasn’t until I was about 15 I really started to play seriously. My dad who I hadn’t seen for quite a while he said if there was something I could get you what would it be. I was quite interested in a Fender Strat. So he gave me some jobs to do and said once you’ve done all of these jobs we will go down to the guitar shop. So we went down to Vintage Guitar Shop in Hollywood and I got my first real guitar which was a surf green Strat vintage re-issue.

SCENEzine
Do you have any particular influences in the style that you play and techniques you’ve learned along the way?

Will Johns
More recently if it isn’t BB King I don’t give a shit (laughs). I’ve been on a BB King trip pretty much for at least 3 years.

SCENEzine
Did you ever get any guitar playing advice from Eric Clapton?

Will Johns
No so much advice but when I first started playing je showed me the opening riff to “crossroads”. I took some time to get that down then I came back to him and was like ok what’s the next bit. He was like well that’s the bit you’ve got to figure out on your own. He was encouraging in that way.

SCENEzine
“Sunshine of your love” is such an massive song. What do you think it is about that song that has connected with so many people?

Will Johns
There’s something about it isn’t there (laughs). It’s rude, it’s sexy, it’s rhythmical. It’s so in the pocket, it’s driving. They just got it right. It was a moment in time captured. I don’t know if I can put my figure on it but all I know is that all these years later I teach kids guitar and still to this day one of the first riffs that everybody learns is “sunshine of your love”. It just has that something, it’s one of those perfect riffs.

 

SCENEzine
“White room” was another huge song for Cream. It has the ability to transport the listener. Do you sometimes get lost in the song when playing it live?

Will Johns
Oh yeah. That’s probably one of my favourite songs to play. It’s a little bit looser than “sunshine of your love”. “Sunshine of your love” is actually quite precise to play and I have to concentrate a lot. Whereas with “white room” it’s almost a bigger looser feel to it when you don’t have to be so strict with the rhythm.

 

SCENEzine
How did it come about getting Glen Hughes involved with the tour?

Will Johns
I think that was down to Malcolm. Malcolm put on a tribute concert for his dad at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire last year. He was in contact with a great number of musicians who wanted to pay tribute to Jack and play on that evening. A number of them couldn’t do it because of tour engagements I think Glenn was one of the musicians who expressed an interest but couldn’t make that concert then. As far as I know that’s how it happened.

SCENEzine
Have you had a chance to map out what the set list for Australia will look like?

Will Johns
Yeah we’ve been doing some work on that as we go along. I can’t say too much right now but we are working on making the most amazing show. We don’t take this lightly it’s going to be one hell of a show.

SCENEzine
Have you personally been to Australia much over the years?

Will Johns
I’ve never been to Australia but I have spent countless hours watching shows about Australia on the TV.

SCENEzine
Is there anything you’re excited to do in Australia besides play shows?

Will Johns
I want to go fishing. I’d like to see a Kangaroo. I heard Koalas are a bit vicious though.

SCENEzine
Have you been surprised when playing the Cream shows the varying ages in the audience?

Will Johns
Yeah there’s always a great cross section of ages. The one thing that always rings true is how much people enjoy the music.

SCENEzine
A musician I personally would of loved to have seen live is Joe Strummer. You got the chance to work with Joe what was that experience like?

Will Johns
Well that’s a funny story because I was involved in making some music for a video game back in the 90’s. I was invited into this session to do some writing and recording with this guy called Joe. Joe came in and we had some fun and tossed about some ideas and came up with something about an alien who’s coming down to earth but he was coming down really fast. Then we got into the vocal both and Joe started singing and I remember thinking my god who is this guy shouting all the lyrics. I didn’t actually know who he was. He was just a cool guy in the session with a nice telecaster. I actually didn’t find out that he was Joe Strummer from The Clash until after the session.
It’s quite funny when you work with people and you don’t actually take in aspects of who they really are. I had do idea at the time the huge star that Joe was.

SCENEzine
Will you be able to bring any of your own guitars to Australia?

Will Johns
I’m hoping to yeah. I’m hoping to bring the ernie ball which I desperately need to set up. I just got some new pickups sent over from California for that one. I’d like to bring my telecaster as well. I’ve got a 2000 California Corona which I’m particularly fond of. I might have to pick another telecaster up when I get there. There’s no way I can carry 3 guitars on the plane.

SCENEzine
Lastly can you leave us a message for the Aussie fans excited for the tour?

Will Johns
I’m really excited about coming over there and playing the music of Cream with Kofi and Malcolm. We are going to have a super show for you. Thank you for all of the support.

(Interview by Christian Ross)