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Catching Up with Billy J. Kramer

Editor’s Note: Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas was a key figure in the Merseybeat scene, coming up alongside the Beatles and other groups. He’s just released a new album, Are You With Me? which is something of a love letter to those heady days in Liverpool. We had a chance to touch base.

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Billy J. Kramer recently made a discovery: “I didn’t think I had Irish blood, but recently I was talking to my sister, and she assured me that I do,” he says. “Liverpool is known as the capital of Ireland, so I guess I must have a bit of the blood there.”

Kramer’s trajectory spans decades, having performed all over Liverpool at a time when rock and roll was becoming the lexicon of the young. “The Cavern was a great place to play, wonderful atmosphere. We all played venues like Cavern, The Iron Door, The Majestic Ballroom. We all played a lot of the same gigs, so I was very familiar with a lot of the same bands. We all did a lot of shows together. I saw The Beatles many times with Pete Best.” I try to draw Kramer into the “Best Vs Starr” debate, but Kramer politely declines the question. (“Maybe you should ask Paul McCartney,” is his only comment.)

“Brian Epstein gave me a tape with John Lennon singing ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret?’, so I did an arrangement with The Dakotas live on stage. That was before we recorded it, and that’s how we came up with the idea of doing it. We played it at the Star-Club in Hamburg. The record was how we played it live.”

 He promises Beatle fans that McCartney’s ditty “From A Window” will make his setlist. “Always will,” he confirms. “One never knows who wrote what in a Lennon-McCartney song, but I think ‘From A Window’ was more Paul. If he wouldn’t have come to the session, I wouldn’t have learned the song. We learned it in the studio then and there and recorded it. It was the same with ‘Bad To Me’: John Lennon came to Abbey Road, and set up the piano.”

He sounds emotive talking about the late songwriter. “I did ‘Jealous Guy’ as a tribute to John Lennon on this album [Are You With Me?]. I perform it at all my shows. I think I do it differently: it’s mostly piano-driven, but John has the strings and other vocals with it. [My version] is less produced.”

Turning back to the Lennon-McCartney songs that made him famous, Kramer says: “I was very lucky, and really appreciate that they wrote such great songs for me. The success of The Beatles opened a lot of doors for everybody, especially in the United States. I was in America prior to The Beatles going there. America was a very hard market: Cliff Richard had been there and didn’t do anything. To me, The Beatles opened the doors to me, Gerry & The Pacemakers; everybody. Even today, a lot of the people owe it to the success of The Beatles.”

Laurence Juber of Paul McCartney & Wings fame co-produced Are You With Me? with Jeff Perholtz. “Laurence plays guitar all over the album,” Kramer explains. “Before he was in Wings, Laurence was a top session guy. He played on some tracks of mine from 1978: Laurence played on ‘San Diego’, ‘Warm Summer Rain’, and ‘Is There Anymore At Home Like You’, which was written by Billy Kinsley from The Merseybeats. Great tracks, and Laurence did a great job on them.” “Laurence is a classical player,” Kramer continues, “a rock player, a great guitar player. He can play blues, classic: a very rounded musician. Steve Holley, who played drums with Wings, will play drums with me at the shows.” (Indeed, Holley and Juber both contributed to Back To The Egg in 1979.)

Kramer still has the voice of an English gentleman, despite his long American residency (“I moved here thirty-six, thirty-seven years ago,” he mutters, amazed at the length.) He remains friendly with Badfinger guitarist Joey Molland, who also lives in the States (“Joey is the ultimate Scouser,” Kramer chuckles.)

He doesn’t distinguish between audiences in his home country or the fans who congregate at the Beatlefest. “I don’t think there’s a lot of difference between [British and American audiences]. It’s the kind of audience 1960s people attract. I think the audiences are big into the music, and I think Americans show a bit more enthusiasm. Maybe English people are a bit quieter?” He’s clearly looking forward to the festival, stating “I have a lot of friends” there, and considers the environment to be “very family-oriented.”

I’m interested to hear about ‘”Peace Of Mind”, one of the highlights of Are You With Me? and one Kramer penned himself. “I wrote the song years ago,” he says, “just before going out on a tour, and it was where my mind was. It was where I was I had found peace of mind.’ I felt like I was in a good place.”

There’s a lot of wistful melancholy on the record, which pleases the singer when I tell him. “Oh, thank you very much,” he grins. “I just hope audiences enjoy the album. My take is there are that people like it, and that pleases me. Now, it’s all digital, so it’s a whole different process. When we started recording, it was four-track, and now you can have as many tracks as you like. A whole different ball game.”

He remembers producer George Martin as a “class act” and “professional.” “‘Trains and Boats and Planes’ came from me seeing Burt Bacharach do a TV special in the U.K., and he did a choral version of ‘Trains and Boats and Planes’. I was at [Dakotas guitarist] Mick Green’s apartment, and we were sat around the television. We heard the song, he taped it, and we heard it back. We decided we’d have a go of making a record of it. Simple as that: We went up to George Martin and recorded it.”

It sounds to me that Kramer likes to work quickly and without fuss: “It all depends on the song. Some songs come off very quickly, and others coax along. When I recorded ‘Bad To Me’, it just wasn’t coming together, and we recorded the B-side [‘I Call Your Name’] in about twenty minutes. We were going to put out ‘I Call Your Name’ as the A-side, and find another B-side, but we worked on ‘Bad To Me’, coaxed it along. And that was it, you know. ‘Bad To Me’ is a great song, and I feel very honored to have recorded it.”

When I interviewed Denny Laine, the Wings pianist admitted that he always preferred stagecraft to the studio – is it the same for Kramer? “They’re two different things; worlds apart. I try to get as relaxed as I can, but no matter what you do, there’s always adrenaline and edge when you’re doing a live show. But I find enjoyment in both of them. The studio is similar to painting a picture, I guess. You add things and enhance.”

“I’ll be doing ‘My Sweet Rose’, ‘I Couldn’t Have Done It Without You’,” he murmurs, counting the songs he expects to perform live; “and ‘From A Window’ is done at all my shows. Obviously, I don’t sing as high as I used to. I think I have more timbre to my voice.”

What can fans expect from the new album? “Two of the songs came from Tom Hambridge, who is a friend of mine. Tom produces Buddy Guy and Susan Tedeschi, and we’ve been friends for many years. There’s a song called ‘Dancing Shoes’ by a great Irish [sic] writer called J.J. Gilmour which is his tribute to [soccer player] George Best. Then there are songs I wrote: ‘Be Kind To Emma’, ‘Peace of Mind.’ ‘I Couldn’t Have Done It Without You’ was written by Mark Hudson who used to produce Ringo.”

Sounds to me like Kramer is as important to The Beatles flame as McCartney!

-Eoghan Lyng

Fair use image from Billy J. Kramer’s Are You With Me?

4 comments on “Catching Up with Billy J. Kramer

  1. Gary Lopez

    Billy J, eh?

  2. Steve Valvano

    Eoghan, wonderful entertaining piece, as usual… Loved his reverence for George Martin. Billy J is also a class act!

  3. Mac Intosh

    Did you speak to him from a Windows computer?

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