Let's call the Quo-ettes, They are about 15 years old, their hair is scraggly, (So is your cub-reporter's by the way), and they wear half-open
mouthed expressions of pilgrims who just know Nirvana is close at hand-if only they knew what to do, they could be there.
The Quo-ettes are about 12 in number and they are drifting around the foyer of the Commodore Chateau in Sydney.  They should be at school some of them, some of them have taken the week off work, some of them have no jobs at all.
At the moment they are clustering around Francis Rossi, Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan - watching the three eat a very ordinary breakfast of bacon, sausages and eggs.  Rossi and Lancaster and Coghlan are good ol boys and they don't mind at all.
The strange thing is though, the Quo-etts are hanging onto every mouthful - from knife cut to fork lift and every chew and swallow from then on.

"Are you really going to speak to Status Quo" asks a combine of male and
female Quo-ettes.
"Uhha".
"I mean really speak to them ....."
"Well, yeah. I suppose so".
The Quo-ettes dissolve into near euphoria at the thought of someone really speaking to Quo.
"Can we have the tape afterwards ... can you ask them ...."
A very awkward pause here.
"But you're going to put down everything they say aren't you ... dont' leave a word out.  Every word is important!"

The truth is , the Quo-ettes are totally overwhelmed by Quo.  They are in some state approaching shell shock after the previous night's concert.  And Quo, to them, approach the near mystical - thus the ritual watching of Rossi and Co, atttack bacon and eggs, thus the half-open-mouthed expressions.  And definately it's the reason for insisting on THE TRUE WORD from Quo.  whatever that might be.  Quo themselves don't know what inspires this sort of near religious fevour.
Yet in RAM NO6, it was related that Quo Moosic did indeed save the soul of one Swiss maid, Ruth Siengenthaler.  And as Francis Rossi will relate later, the salvation of a 45 year old British matron is also credited to the band.  Quo don't understand any of this.
What they do understand, perhaps better than anything else, is 'aving a good time and sending up themselves (and everyone else) skyhigh.
The other thing they understand is working hard.  They still do 6 hour  sound checks for instance.  And a piece of malfunctioning equipment during  a concert will piss them off mightily for days afterwards.
Just the night before in fact, during their first Australian concert, Richard Parfitt's guitar amp had farted and distored throughout.  And after  the gig he went straight out of the stage door, into the limo, back to the  hotel where he brooded.  Come four o'clock in the a.m, the whole band was still brooding.

"It's Deff Row upere" explained Francis Rossi to a late night visitor.
"Which cell d'yer wanta viset?"
And it was too.  Four Quo rooms with occupants sitting on the edge of beds  nattering nasitly to themselves. Sally the PR lady for the tour worked hard on the angle that everyone in audience-land had, after all, got off on the concert - and after a while the lads cheered oop a bit.  This afternoon, some 14 hours after the gig, Richard Parfitt is almost back on form.
"Ere then, everyun's gotta look-alike.  You look like... like .... yeah, got it ...  you look like Dave Edmunds.
"Dave Edmunds, yeah saw him in Stardust.".
"Real ansome feller, dave Edmunds" ...
A pause.  Obviously there's a punch-line.  Ok, your cub-reporter'll be the straightman.
Uh gee thanks...
"Yeah, real ansome feller Dave Edmunds - what appened to you I wonder.
Haw Haw.
After that, there's the old shake-hands-scratch-the-head trick, which means Richard proffers his hand in a shake position then just as the victim brings his hand down to clsap the Parfitt palm - he scratches his head instead.  We can both play this one and the score ends up 2-all.  The Quo-ettes watch the ritual from a respectful distance.  Something very significant is going on, they are sure.
Richard then tra-ras off to buy guitar strings and look at jean shops.  And onto Francis Rossi.
"My God.......NO.... "back of hand pressed against forehead indicating great suffering - "The press.  I cannot give another interview ever again ....  it's all too much.... the .... the "Cor wot's the bloody word?"
He remembers the word.
"The pressure  ....the pressure is too much.  Not another word Tell em to put it on my grave that I said "not another ....."
Tough luck Francis.
"I stuided to be a tap dancer, " he remarked sagely.
But you kept falling off the tap, I replied - having read that one before.
A few jokeroos later and ....
"The next album?" says Francis.  "Is that the one we're goona do strait arfer the Australian tour? Oh, that un! Load of old rubbish that's gonna be ".
"Load a old rubbish." he repeats dreamily, making 'orrible faces at lensman Phil Morris to help pass the time.
"A well, it might not be that bad" he relents. And we chat about the Quo system for recording albums.
(Could this be THE word)
Much of the writing is done while Quo are on the road.  And the songs come together slowly.  After the basic toons are down, they then go into rehearsal.
"If it passes the test sort of" says Francis, "we word it ooop for the stoodio then,  But it goes through a lotta tests before it gets in th
stoodio - and once it's in the stoodio ....
"Well we try to do et in r'hearsal y'know, get it down to a recoding form. Obviously it's better if yer kin do et in yer own time - cause stoodios
cost money y'know.
"But sumtimes a song changes in the stoodio y'know and y'gotta get ta know et all over agin.  Lotta messin aroudn to get a good tape y'know...
And he shakes his head sadly.  Then makes a loud farting noise by blowing a raspberry against his elbow.
"Oi, stop that," he admonishes drummer John Coghlan who is sitting, perfectly innocent, keeping four/four time (with variations and fills), by bouncing hands against kneecaps.  Coghlan stares blankly at Rossi, refusing to rise to any sort of bait.
"We're not 'avin' that sort of fing on tape" warns Rossi.
"Disgustin' you are" He is prepared to develop this theme at some length, but is headed off by a few fast questions.

Have they got a title for the album? Any songs in a state of readiness to be talked about?
"Nah" says Rossi.  "We aven't got any titles for the songs yet.  "Ave we gotta title for the album yet?" - this is directed to John Coghlan, Quo drummer.
"Not unless you know something I don't" says John
'Sorry abaht that " ses Francis.  "We aven't gotta title for the album yet,
We were finking of callin it A Road Full of Cobras - but we're still finking abaht it.  Now it's your turn agin."
"Next question." sez John Coghlan.
"We're bin nasty now" explains Francis.  "Gotta keep oop the image for the puberick y'know.  We're all servents of the puberick ... we try to be a 'orrible as possible."
But I tell you, compared to Lou Reed, these guys are baa lambs. Hold yer tongue Rossi I tell him. And he does his best.  Really he does.  But his fingers keep slipping off and he damn near chokes himself. If they're really such loons, how come they managed such a polished studio
sound for their last albut On The Level"
"Yeah tha't the fing the album are gettin... agrees Rossi.
"Especially On The Level, the sound is ... well we figger it's good to appoint to get a good sound.  Arfta thet yer just goin for a teknikly betta
sound ... but we don wanna lose that early raw sound ... that's good - and 'opefuly it''ll progress.  But on the noo album we 'ope to get the rawness bak too.  Being too aware of the teknikal sound, yer start to lose the basis of wot the record's all abaht.  Like Alan (Lancaster, Quo bassit) ee's like thet, 'ees' got all this teknik'ly great equipment et 'ome y'know - bot arfter a while, yer just list'ning to the equipmeht, yer startin 'to lose th ' ole point of the records....
"I mean," eh explains very seriously.  "You start listening to the teknikalites of the record - which we're 100% agenst.
But teknikalities (damn! talking to Quo is doin 'nothin' good to mispelling, I assure you). ahem .... technicalities must be important to the
band.  Why else would they get so upset over Richards Parfitt's malfunctioning amplifier the night before?
"Yah, thet's different ennit," says Francis.  And he blows a loud fart noise to viva la difference.  "Wot I was talkin' abaht see, was gettin'
carried away and puttin fings into numbers, makin em incredible complicated like.  Real teknikal involved. Y'get so wrapped up in doin that, yer no long.... flowing.  It may be brilliant and rilly clevah, but fuck me ... where's the flow mate....
"Moosics from the eart' he sez, punching his left breast to show he knows where his heart is.  Its may sound corny ...
It does sound corny.
"Yah, I  know it sounds corny.  But it's true, it's in everyone, we arl gotit ....
"Like I saw a program recently ... an ' this band was doin' a march.  Then they took away certain frequencies, then a few more.  And the basic fing behind a march is ... it's the heartbeat ... just sped up ...."
At this very moment John Coghlan is hearbeating hands against knee cap in very speedy time.
Anyway, I happen to agree with the power of heartbeat and we take at some length about 4/4 time - heartbeat time - quoting Yoko Ono who pushed aside her years of avantgarde classical piano training after linking with John Lennon and discovering "hearbeat music"
"I really like it to cum aht freely" concludes Francis
"Like when we all sitown togever, that's the way it cums out  - an that's wot we like t'carry on stage y'know - the fing is't get across to
th'aduience, I get wif the audience... we can't elevate ourselves aboove enyun'  .... we don' reckon eyun shud say.  "Oh ain; they wunnerful!"  and put us on pedi-stalls or enyfing lik thet.  We can't work like thet.  It's not us - we need t' be in there, feelin' wot they're feelin' that's us"
In rock and roll terminology it's called being a People's Band.
But is has it puzzling moments, this business of being People's Band.  For to get in there and feel  wot the people are feelin' you gotta know wot the people are feelin, If yer know wot I mean. And on their fourth tour of Australia it took Quo a bit of time and some
headscratching to work out wot the People Were Feeling'
"Ole lotta new people this time" sez Francis, blowing a fart noise for emphasis. " Like we figgered the 'b awl be old people - people that knew
wot we're abhat from albums like - but no, ole lotta new faces there - a new feelin altogether.  I fink Roll Over lay Down (from the Hullo album) and Down Down (from the On The Level) gota ole lotta new people that 'adn't cum t'see oos befor'.  Like its totally noo fer us to be screamed et y'know - and that's wot was ' appening last nite.  All the front rows wer jest screaming and frowing streamers and brown rice - very unusual that, Took oos alf way fru th'gig to work oot where the feelin woz - get everfing in
line y'know.
"But that is such a buzz at the end of the gig t'realise they are noo people and you've won them over ... ooops sorry abaht that ... " he says as
he accidentally bashes shit out of the tape recorder while trying to reach an ashtray.
Suddenly he spots Sally, the PR lady.
"Not a woid abaht lest nigt now Sal," he winks.  "Stay stumm(quiet) girl, ah woint say a woid if yer dahnt .....
"Ohhh the fings she did wer er toof."  eh sez ludly, pointing to an ornamental shark's took pendant arounf the lady's neck...
" I never nu" he continues earnestly.  " Anyone could do such fings with a toof... stay stumm Sal, not a woid now.
"Only jokin', eh adds.  "Would'nt want yer to git the wrong idea now...
"But ooo-er .... that toof! th fings she can do wif thet toof!...
Two Quo-ettes peer round the corner, blink in amazement and keep staring Rossi laughs so hard he nearly falls off the chair and breaks his fool neck, Is this the man who saved the soul of Ruth Seingenthaler?
Sally, who has heard this particualr untruth all morning shrugs, doesn't even blush," sez Francis.
"Next question " obseves John Coghlan

You'll rember in the first part of our afternoon with Quo and the Quo-ettes, it had largely been fun and games played in a cockney accent.
But now, suddenly, some straight talk emerges.

"Ah, touring"  sighs Francis Rossi,  "We love it, but it's real wearing too.   Like we all got families and all that ... but apart from all that,
yer got th' physical fing of building up .. buildin up , up, up  ... all the time. But we don ave a gig tanight so we're takin it a bit easy..

"A bit laid-bak too we are today, " sez John Coghlan.

"But on a gig day, yer can rilly feel it "  continues Francis.  "It's buildin up up all day.  We do a few fings t'get ready.... well. we dahnt do
a few fings rilly ... lik we don drink, don smoke ... always go on stage straight ... always ave a long sound check to warm up ... then wen we 'it'
that stage, it jus pours outa yer, y'know?
"Baht, ez soon es th' sho's over... it's not so much yet sweatin' n' tired ... it's gawd.. yer so drained yer know...
After 13 years, the strain of booogie-ing is starting to slow you down?
"Nah .. yer can always do it .. it jus builds automatic every time yer gotta gig... after a while yer ain't got no control over it... it's a bit
scarey sometimes when yer rilly tired at the end of a tour and yer fink ... well I wonder if tanigh's gonna be a bit  laid bak"  and then ... christ
these surges, start goin frew yer ... jus buildin up.  buildin up...

"Very 'ard workin' boys we are' observes John Coghlan sagely.
"Wen it rilly hits yer, is wen yer get 'ome" sez Francis.  "Yer jus moon aroun in a daze for a week or more  ... sleep a lot ... ave lotsa cup of
tea in bed ... yer aren't much company for yer family jus arfter yer git bak from tourin ... yer finished .. it's ridiculus ...
"It's a ard life alright" laughs John Coghlan.

Possible the aftermath tour blooze is the reason why Quo have given some interviews where they've said they'd like to make it in America, earn some rilly big money and then break-up.  It seemed a joke at the time, (see the
Quo article in RAM No6) but..
"Oo said that?" exclaims Francis
You said that, I point out.
"Nah, I nevah meant that" quoths Rossi
"Wot I woz on abaht see, it's such a drag bin on tour all th' time... well, not a drag... but the strain rilly catches up to yer"
"Wot'd be rilly great see, is ta be able to go 'ome every night.  I mean, we can't do it... but we don wanna be away from 'ome for months at a time either....
"We always wondered where these rumours abaht us breakin up came from" sez John Coghlan.  "Like I rang up m'old man from America las' month and 'ee kept on sayin' "Wot's this I 'ear about yer awl givin up?"
"We may muck abaht a bit" lays down Francis. "But if we say we're gonna break up, we nevah meant it"  And then,. onto the subject of America.

"Everyone seems to want us to make it in America" explains Francis "Like we built oop from nothin in England an the Continent an Australia. So Now, all the papers in England say "Well, yer gotta make it in America
before we start takin yer rilly seriously'. "But we got our own system fer America.  We go over there and we support
uvver bands.  Lik we could headline and fill stadium wif 2,000 - 5,000 people.  But wot we lik doin' see is getting wif sumone that goes inta
25,000 stadiums.  Believe me, we get th' same response from those 25,000 people as we do from our own 3.000 puntas."
"England, France, 'Olland, Australia, America we get the same response,"
agrees John Coghlan.
"Where the differecne cums in" sez Francis,  "Is we're not gonna say to our families - 'Ok luvs, we're off to break America, see ya in six months" "Cos it may sound rilly nice livin' outa suitcases, from the outside, but
in stinks inside...
"That's cos they're closed mosta th'time, explains John Coghlan. "We got this fing for customs, see," grins Rossi.  "We always put our dirty
stuff right on the top.  All the customs guards know us y'see an' everytime they see us they say, "Yeah, just cum this way please".
"Then they' ave to open the cases... when the smell its em, it don' af put 'em off, I cin tell yer.  They let us go real quick arfter they've ad a
wiff...
"A dirty pair of socks never let's yer down, heh, heh, ..
"Yeah, well ... meanwhile back in America.

"Well lik I sed," explains Francis.  "It's mostly other people 'oo pressure us abaht America.  Like we've proved ourselves in so many ways now .. I say that not cos I wanta be clever or flash, but cos it's th' trooth.  Like we're big in England, we're big in Australia, we're big right through Scandinavia and France and Japan...
"When it comes to the States most bands have to go out there for three-six months and shit or bust ... but we're not prepared to leave our families fer that long.  We could do it, but we won do it.  Most bands are prepared to do it for the money that comes after yer broken in the States ... that's all it is ...
"We jus do it slow" sez John Coghlan.  "It may be the wrong attitude, but we don care.   We do well in America when we go there, we sell albums every town we visit.  But we'll build it up in our own time, in our way... we've been firteen years comin to where we are now so we're not suddenly gonna go crazy or change the way we do fings ....
"Gawd", sez Rossi.  "Them words are gonna sound right defensive when they're down on paper ... there orta be a way ter show 'ow' we're saying 'emm...
And true,  the words about America do appear defensive - even though Coghlan and Rossi's attitude is not at all defensive.  Rossie quite sagely
develops the point...

"Once you got the words ...l just the words ... and yer put em down wifout explaining the way they're said, yer maybe gittin' a wrong impression. Like I once read this interview wif Steve How of Yes and 'ee's reported to 'ave said... (puts a pukka emphasis on the wrods), 'When I die... when I die, I want by Gibson to be buried with me'   ...  ooo amazin! Wat a wonderful chap 'ee mus be... like do yer wannt be buried wif yer tape recorder? stupid ennit?
"Fair's fair, I dunno Steve Howe ... great guitarist, great band ... but wot use is 'is guitar to im wen 'ee's dead?  yer don need all that
bullshit.  Dunno if ee meant it or not ... but suddenly it woz a headline..."Steve How wants to be buried with His Guitar".
"I wanna ta be buried wif me drumkit right next ta President Kennedy" opines John.
A change of subject  here.  Did Quo  ever get any satisfaction from their seond Australian tour - the one where promoter Nick Adrian left them stranded in a hotel while he made a sudden exit with the proceeds.  (He hasn't been sighted since, incidentally)>
"I still remember that day" sez Coghlan,
"Arfter we'd found out he'd scarpered we were sitting in the lobby wondering wot the hell we were gonna do.  And suddenly abaht 200 reporters came in - all askin' the same question, 'Wot' appened?'  Wot deryer fink of Australia now?  Wot deryer fink of Nick Adrian? ..

"We tol em wot we fort of Mr Adrian but they never printed that part"
"$12,000, it cost us" observes Francis. "But it wasn't that bad rilly, yer gotta take fings lik that... no sense in goin crazy abaht it.. wot's the use.  Maybe 'ee ' really needed the money"
"But it woz pretty shortsighted" adds Coghlan.  "Cos we were just gettin' bit then, and if ee'd ung abaht' ee woulda made good bread next time we cum out"
By the way lads, have you saved any souls lately?
"Oh-er, yer on abhat that Ruth Siengethaler bit agin" sex Francis and blows a fart noise to announce the change of subject "Th' fing is see, the geezer ' oo wrote that story for yer... 'e' just happend to be there when this Ruth bird came in an told us how she'd bee on 'eavy drugs an' in a bad way til she eard our moosic... and she just wanted ta thank us ... an' well, if Tony (Tony Steward, the writer) adn't bin there, no one woulda known.... coz it's not th' sorta fing you go round sayin' 'I saved someone's mortal soul yestaday....
I tell them about the Quo-ettes I'd met earlier in the lobby and how they seemed to regard Status Quo as being possessors of life giving force, so fervent was their admiratioin.

"Wot, those kids? sez Francis.  "Nah, we've ad some rilly strange ones.
Like abaht a week arfter the Ruth fing there's  woz another one ... abaht 45 she woz...
"Oh" sez John Coghlan.  "That one"
"She waz a bit of a peanut. "continues Rossie, "definitely sumfing missing up there.  Apparently she used ta travel round wif her father and 'ee died, then the guy she woz gonna marry 'ee kicked the bucket.  And she woz definately finished y know.
"Then summon gave 'er as a present ... to try and perk 'er up... the Piledriver' album.  An' she sez from that day, she's bin fine.... no
problems at all...
"Really?"
"Gwad's trooth.  But when we say fings like that - or wen yer read 'em in print, it looks like a right load of bullshit.  Just like that bizness
'baht Steve Howe wantin' to be buried wif 'is guitar...(he leans down to the microphone)  that's OK Steve,... yer OK wif me mate, we'll chuck in yer amplifiers too.

"Nah, it wounds lik bullshit, but it really 'appened see. THose two people came up ter us and said, 'You've really changed my life, you've really made it worthwhile living agin"
"Well, gee ta luv, but... we never actually set out to change anyone's life yer know.. We're jus out ther trying to be honest and as basic as we can"
"That's right" ovserves John Coghlan. "Like I rilly fin it 'ard to believe anyone can find enlightenment from wot
we do" continues Rossie.  "Apparently a few people 'ave, but we don't wantta get a reputation fer it"
"On th' other and, last time we played in Germany at a big Festival there woz some Hells Angels rumble down tha back, and four people got 'nives in the froat an' snuffed it for they got to hospital"
The last time this band played boogie, four people died... does that qualify as a headline?
"Yeah" sez John Coglan, "that's a good headline"
"Its bullshit" sez Francis, "but it's a good headline.  Th' trouble is it ad fuckall ter do wif our moosic.  It woz a bikie's rumble."
Ah yes, the moosic.  Let's talk about that.
Fr'instance quite a few of the letters RAM has recieved about Status Quo ask about the band's 60's Hot Hitz sucha as Pictures of Matchstick Men and Ice in the Sun.  Very psychedelic that period was for Status Quo.  And they used to perform on Top Of the Pops in matching velvet suits and looked very clean lads.
"Matchstick Men, yah, well that was just a song ... rilly it woz.  We were pounced on by outside interests so to speak and tol "yer need a hit... yer need a hit... we didn' ave a lot ter do wif wot we were doin' We jus' put down th' songs and ovver people would add effects and strings... it wasnt wot yer'd call a basic sound, "explains Francis.  "Sometimes, someone will play us the old records, and we all say 'Ah common, take it off.  But sumtimes we listen to it and we don' mind at all.
"That's when you re-live wot yer were trying to do bak in those days, and it starts to make sense like that.
"But there were a lotta outside influences which we didn't need.  Like we rilly were moulded inta a pop group fing yer know.  An the crunch came wif a song Are your Growing Tired of My Life which woz a single and Richard (Parfitt) woz told ta sing it ... and they gave im Bee Gee records to mould his voice around.
"We're finking we might play Pictures of Matchstick Men again on stage sumtime.  adds John Coghlan. "It'd be a lot different to wot it used ta be though.  It's a strange tempo but, an' the problem is where ta put it".

"Ma Kelly's Greesy Spoon, is where we got pissed off wif wot woz appening ta us, "sez Francis Rossi.  (Who's definitely not one to be side-tracked from a rendition of Quo's musical career once started).  "You listen ta Ma Kelly and you'll find it very dry, very basic... no overdubs no strings... just the basci band sweatin' away in th' stoodio. "But it showed th' direction we wanted ta go... like it woz the start of
wot we're abaht... th' start of us cummin' aht and saying this is rillly us...

"Dog of Two Heads - that's where we started to take over arrangin' and producin' ... rilly taking charge of th 'ole fing...

And Piledriver wos where we swoz gettin a bit more confident abaht wot we could do.

"The Hello album... that's the one I like the most of all actu'lly ... dunno why, I jus do... it's gott nice feel to it I reckon :

"The Quo album woz more polished... like we learned a lott noo tricks on the road and they all cum in'andy when we were makin' Quo.

And On the Level... There's a pause here.  And you get the feeling both from that pause and from a few throw away comments during the talk, that On the Level is Rossi's least fave album.  On the other hand, it's definitely been their most successful.. So why the pause gov'nor?
"Well, it the best stuoodio album we've dun.. like it's gotta lotta nice guitar bits and melodies and the sound is clean.. and ther'es lotsa
variation... lotsa different feels... but "
"But"
Well lik I sed before... next album is gonna have all those little fings in the playing and melodies.  But wot we're lookin ' for is gettin' bak to
that roughness... we don' wanna be jus basic or anyfing... but we wanna get that dirty sorta chunka-chunk fru it...
"Yeah" sex John Coghlan, and pumps out an impromtu backing beat on the table.

"Yer've mad me dry up now" Complains Francis.  "I can't say anuver word... I've dried up .. I've said it all.  Not another word ... not another
fuckin' word..." "I didn't say that". He bends downs to the microphone and says, "Yer wouldn't catch me sayin' words like that. Me ol mum would be ashamed....."
"Gotta set a good example for the public" confides John Coghlan, his head also bending down to the microphone...
And well, talking of having heads down... y'see I have this fantasy. "You dirty bastard, do yer rillly? and Rossi does a mock horrified double
take.... Well I do, I have this fantasy that when Quo's collective head is down and somehow that dirty underlaying beat is getting dirtier and more low down and more itching under your skin every bar - that what is rilly happening up there is an energy transference.  The combination of body electricity and guitar electricity  scrubs up into an irresistible, near magnificient
contact high.

I mean you can judge them by the sum of their musical parts and resist being impressed.  But it's damn near impossible to stary seated and /or still when Quo play. If you do you're really resisting the prevailing atmosphere.

In other words, just about everyone who sees 'em ends up boogie-ing. "wel it awl started" explains Francis, "when we frew away the frilly
clothes and all that crap.  An' we stopped playin' in fronta the ballroom crowds... abaht 3,000 yusta pack inter those ballrooms - but most of'em
were there to pcik up a girl - it didn matter 'oo the band woz - as long asthey'd bin on telly.   So we stopped all that and went inta th' clubs
playing to abaht 40 ... 50 people, 'oo'd cum ta ear the moosic."
"Once we started that, we gotta chance ta lissen ta th' moosic ourselves, And our head would start nodding in time yer know.. and then we started to realise that the closer we got ta each ovver the more we could actually feel the moosic... and our 'ole bodies would start movin' ... you'd rilly start gettin' that vibe 'appening... and it would spread to th' people too.
Fuckin' incredible it was learnin all that.  The ' arder yer went, the more it developed.

"And when we started chasin' each ovver... that woz a buzz too... cos yer know if yer stop, you'll 'ave the ovver person over... it's awl real yer
see, yer can';t get it ' appening if yer just play footsies.

"Fuck me, it woz a change ter playin' in fronta 2,000 peopole ... 200 of 'em were up the front coz they'd seen yer on telly and th' rest were chattn amongst themselves.  Everyone 'appenin' wif the moosic... that's woz a real buzz.
"An it's just built from there rilly... Like on stage, yer see 5,000-6,000 people doing the jig durin' Roll Over Lay Down... it's incredible... mostamazin' sight you'd ever see... brings a lump to yer froat sumtimes it does...

You're an old softie Francis.
"No rilly, it's incredible... a real rush.  It's wot it's all abaht.. nuffin surer.

About half an hour later I'm walking trhough the lobby and the two Quo-ettes who'd come up before the interview come up again.
"You spoke to them for a long time, " the Quo-ette girl says, looking enviously at the tape recorder  containing the Word As Spoken by Status Quo.
"Can we hear it" says the Quo-ette.
So I flip the switch, run the tape back a few stops.  It starts playing at a part where Francis Rossi and John Coghlan are looining abhat, blowing fart noises in unision.  The Quo-ettes fail to bridge the credibility gap and look like pilgrims who've found a sideshow where they were sure Nirvana would be.  You've really to to hear the whole thing, I explain. Maybe they'll find the True Word in here somewhere.  But as Francis Rossi would tell them, feeling is more important enyway.

Anthony O'Grady

For 13 years Status Quo has been rocking the world with their tight, gutsy music.  Australia has seen the boy in action four times over the past three years - and they've never been better.
And now, to consolidate their position as one of the world's great rock bands, status Quo has released a new album - Blue for You.  The album had its world premiere release in Australia on February 20, two weeks before it was released in their home country, Britain.  Early reports say Blue for You is a boomer and already headed for a double gold in Australia.
Although struggling in the early days, Status Quo has been right there at the top since 1962, picking up dozens of gold records and thousands of fans along the way.  Why is the band such a success?  Colin Johnson, Quo's Manager since 1967, told Scream all about the formula of the group's raging success.
"Well, initially I think it stemmed from the excitement they generate as a live act, "he  said. "Quo had a scruffy image - they were a street band and they always had a rapport with their audience.  "The fans were paying their money to come in a be a part of something - and they weren't disappointed. "That's one of the big things that made Quo - loyalty.
And the fans a loyal because Quo always delivers the goods - raw thumping rock and roll.