Chas Cronk reflects on his 46 years with Strawbs with Aaron Badgley

Chas Cronk, composer, performer and bassist extraordinaire. He joined the band in 1973, providing that steady and melodic bass for Strawbs, playing on the incredible and successful Hero and Heroine (1974). He stayed with the band until 1980 and then rejoined in 2004, where he has remained since. Along the way he played bass for Phillip Goodhand-Tait band (prior to the Strawbs), Rick Wakeman, Cry No More, Steve Hackett and Dave Cousins solo. He also released one terrific album with Dave Lambert (Touch The Earth, 2007) and a solo album in 2002 (Mystic Mountain Music). As the Strawbs celebrate 50 years, I had the opportunity to ask Chas some questions.

 

You joined the Strawbs in 1973 and your first album with them was Hero and Heroine. How did you come to join the band?

 

The main point of connection was Rick Wakeman who I had known for a few years by then and had already worked with on recording sessions. In 1972, he asked me to play on some tracks for his first solo album The Six Wives of Henry VIII. One of these tracks also included contributions from Dave Lambert (who I already knew) and Dave Cousins. We all met in the recording studio & then again in early 1973 on the BBC’s ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ TV show when we all performed a preview of the album. A few months later, not long after having moved to Strawberry Hill, I had a call from Dave C asking if I would be interested in joining Strawbs. I spoke with Rick who had already told me of plans to form his own band (English Rock Ensemble). He strongly advised me to join Strawbs and he had, I believe, already put in a good word for me. I was delighted to do so.

 

What do you remember about recording Hero and Heroine?

 

We recorded ‘Shine On Silver Sun’ in London first as is was to be released as a single and then later in early winter, we went to Copenhagen where the rest of the album was recorded. It was snowy, icy and really cold there, but a warm studio.

 

You had a hand in writing on that album and subsequent albums. What is your process for writing?

 

The writing / development / arrangement and recording phases for Hero and Heroine were all interlocked in a fluid way. It was quite a collective effort in terms of creating new sounds and arrangements. Tracks like ‘Autumn’ were developed at rehearsals, at sound checks, live on tour and in the studio itself. The song I co-wrote on that album was ‘Midnight Sun’ and it was the last to be written and recorded. It came about, because late in the recording stage, the running order was being considered and it was felt that one more song was needed to balance the album. I played Dave the chords on acoustic guitar and he immediately set about writing the lyrics. It happened so fast, it was probably recorded the same day. We have had many enjoyable writing experiences like that since and I love the way that when you play something to Dave that grabs his imagination, he just runs with it and makes it happen.

 

How do you understand the growing popularity of Strawbs?

 

If the band is growing in popularity, that would be very pleasing, but it’s difficult to have a perspective on that as a band member. In the old vinyl days, a chart position would give a measure of popularity, but now with all the downloading, streaming and file sharing of music it is difficult to find such an indication. All I know is that Strawbs is still a real band playing real music and expressing real emotions, still striving to write and produce honest, original material and I truly hope that it is how it is perceived.

 

50 years, what does it mean to you?

 

I think it fair to say it is an amazing achievement. It is hard to believe that come the anniversary next April, it will be 46 years since I joined, and the front line of the band is the same today as then. Not only that, but Tony Fernandez joined just three years later. I admire everyone’s talents, but one of Strawbs biggest legacies must be the succession of amazing keyboard players that have played with the band and the wonderful Dave Bainbridge who currently occupies that position, has shown what a virtuoso he is, along with the natural instinct and knowledge to create exactly the right sounds and moods to complement the music. It is fabulous to be able to say that after all these years, it is more exciting than ever to play with this band.

 

What are some of your fondest memories over the years?

 

Too many to even start trying to list and of course there have been hard times as well as good times, but overall I would give thanks for all the great musicians I have worked with and all the great people that have supported the band over the years, many of whom have become dear friends.

 

You left the band in 1980, what happened? You returned in 2004, how did that come about?

 

Well, I didn’t unilaterally ‘leave’ the band in 1980, it was more the case that the band just went into ‘limbo’. The lead up to it was that in 1978, the band started recording Heartbreak Hill and during that process Dave Lambert left as he was offered the chance to make his own solo album. On completion of Heartbreak Hill, the relationship with our existing management & recording deal fell apart. We attempted to soldier on as we really believed in the new album & eventually, on the strength of it, we were offered a new recording deal by Elton John’s Rocket Records. It was at this point that Dave Cousins decided to step away from the music business and pursue a career in the emerging independent local radio sector. He had the idea that the band should carry on with a mutual friend of ours, Roy Hill, replacing him, but after a brief flirtation with this it was clear Strawbs without Dave was not going to work and so the band went into ‘limbo’ mode. A year or two later when I was on tour with Steve Hackett, an agent came to a gig to tell me that Strawbs were reforming to do the Cambridge Folk Festival – but I would not be required. Well, between Steve Hackett, Electric Ice and Rick Wakeman, I spent most of the 80’s and into the 90‘s as a freelancing bass player/ acoustic guitarist eventually going on to form ‘Cry No More’ with the aforementioned Roy Hill. Strawbs connections continued throughout this period – the Electric Ice band also featured Andy Richards on keyboards along with Chris Parren and of the two albums ‘Cry No More’ recorded for EMI, the first was mainly engineered & co-produced by Jeffrey Lesser (Deep Cuts, Burning For You, Deadlines) and the second was co-produced by Andy Richards who had gone on after Electric Ice to become one of the most in-demand session keyboard players/ programmers in the UK with countless hit records on his credit list. When Brian Willoughby left the band in 2004, I was asked to return to the fold.

 

Your solo album with Dave Lambert? How did that evolve?

 

The seeds of that album were sown relatively soon after Strawbs had ‘retired’ (see previous answer). In 1981, the remaining lineup of myself, Andy Richards and Tony Fernandez got together again with Dave Lambert and wrote and recorded two songs ‘Touch The Earth’ and ‘The Night’. We had no band name, management or representation, so I hawked the tracks around record companies where they were well received despite punk being in full flow and we came within a whisker of being offered a deal by EMI. A good manager might have been able to push that deal across the line, but it never quite happened. Later that year, I joined Steve Hackett’s band who I played with for a couple of years. Steve’s brilliant keyboard player Nick Magnus subsequently helped Dave Lambert and I to record other songs we wrote together during the 80’s and drummer Ian Moseley who by then was with Marillion also lent a percussive hand. All these tracks lay dormant for some while, but after my return to Strawbs in 2004, it was suggested we compile them all together. Dave and I each wrote and recorded one new song and the album Touch The Earth was complete.

 

Your style of bass playing? Your influences?

 

I have always had broad musical influences starting from my childhood. Back in Clonmel, Ireland, my grandfather had been a church organist, choirmaster and composer and my mother was a trained classical pianist, so I was exposed to the ‘Classics’ from an early age. My sister was eight years older than me, so by the time I was eight or nine, she was a teenager playing her favourite rock & roll tracks around the house all the time including of course Elvis. Inevitably, I acquired an acoustic guitar and started out in teenage bands playing acoustic and electric guitars, but soon incorporated the bass guitar which I began to enjoy more and more. I was also writing and co-writing songs from an early age and this was just as important to me. West London where I grew up, was a hotbed of music in the early 60’s with bands like the Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones and many more all playing in nearby Richmond, Twickenham and Hounslow. Though this R&B scene was big and exciting, I probably preferred the more melodic bands breaking through nationally and internationally. Lucky enough to have the famous Hammersmith Odeon nearby, I saw the Beatles and the Beach Boys (several times) and loved the melodies, harmonies, arrangements and more pertinently, the bass parts they brought to their music. Likewise, I really loved the American soul scene of the day and was lucky to have seen the early Motown and Stax/Atlantic Revues when they passed through town. To have been able to see the whole roster of artists on those labels backed by the original house bands was exhilarating and inspiring. I sat in the cheap seats right behind James Jamerson playing bass for the Motown band at the Albert Hall and was blown away. Similarly, the Stax/ Atlantic house band was Booker T & the MG’s with Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn on bass. Outrageously good all of them. In my later teens, the school/college band I played with supported Cream, Steampacket and Brian Auger/Julie Driscoll and we were heading to venues like Middle Earth, the Roundhouse and the Marquee to follow bands like The Nice, Hendrix and Pink Floyd and experience the growing progressive elements. All very formative.

 

“The Promised Land”, amazing song…what can you say about it. By the way, one of my favourite Strawbs albums, Nomadness. Memories?

 

By the time I wrote the song, the band had already undertaken several extensive tours in North America which had been quite an influence on me. With ‘Promised land’, I imagined early explorers and settlers searching for a new and better way of life and of how idealistic dreams and aspirations can become corrupted or downtrodden by mankind’s greed and pursuit of power at any cost, usually with the use of violence. As for making Nomadness, it felt like we were being cajoled and rushed into making it too soon after Ghosts, when really the band needed a bit of time to rest from all the touring and take stock following John Hawken’s departure. Also, whereas Hero and Heroine and Ghosts had been made away from home in more residential recording environments with everyone on hand and where songs and ideas could be developed even when recording was over for the day, Nomadness was recorded in West London and when each day’s recording was finished, we all went our separate ways. I think all of us felt a little nomadic after the intensity of the touring then.

 

Late 1970’s after leaving A & M, Strawbs recorded Deep Cuts (1978) and Burning For You for Oyster and Deadlines for Arista. You contributed a great deal to those albums. What was going on at the time?

 

In preparation for the first album after leaving A&M, Deep Cuts, Dave Cousins suggested I join him in his cottage in Devon to knock a few ideas around. What followed was a bit of a whirlwind of songwriting and pretty much every idea I played him saw him picking up pen and paper and furiously writing lyrics. I think the first song finished was ‘Simple Visions’. It was a spontaneous and exhilarating few days and we even recorded demos of the songs on Dave’s Revox. We continue to enjoy writing sessions together. He is a great catalyst.

 

You are credited co-writing songs on Don’t Say Goodbye, but yet you do not play on it?

 

When that album was made, no one knew what the fate of Heartbreak Hill would be, because it was never released at the time of making and may never have come out. I suppose that was what Dave thought when choosing songs from it for a new album. I wasn’t in the band at the time, so can’t comment further. However, in all honesty, I truly love a lot of the original Heartbreak Hill album – the title track itself along with ‘Something For Nothing’ and ‘Starting Over’ are I think immense, majestic and moving, with incredible lyrics. Those three tracks alone were surely return to the big atmospheric sound of Strawbs and along with Tony Fernandez’ powerful drumming, Andy Richards created quite a spectacular soundscape with his keyboards.

 

“Everybody Knows”, another great song…what can you say about that?

 

My little attempt to celebrate the power of love.

 

Was it hard getting back with the band?

 

 No.

 

The celebration in April…what are your thoughts?

 

The 30th and 40th weekends were both fantastic events to be part of and the 50th in April promises to eclipse them. I am really looking forward to the experience. It is impossible to underestimate the amount of work that goes into the planning of an undertaking like this and I know how hard Dave has been working for many months now to make this happen, even during the tours of Canada and the UK this Autumn. It is an immense project to co-ordinate and I thank Dave and Ray and everyone who is working towards making it a success, for their sterling efforts.