Stage Talk with Rick Koster
Where every show has something to say.
The beginning of the conversation
More conversation with Kurt Griffey from Revisiting Creedence
Occasionally, if the journalist is lucky, an interviewee might feel expansive or is perhaps genuinely friendly and is happy to chat about stuff beyond the designated promotional context. Other times, a topic might accidentally shift off course and meander pleasantly for a while in totally unexpected direction and the star is a willing participant.
And, if an interview is going particularly well, sometimes the writer feels confident enough to ask questions that satisfy personal curiosity.
All the above happened with lead guitarist Kurt Griffey of Revisiting Creedence. Hyper-generous with his time, Griffey talked a bit about some of the other artists he’s played with — and the direction of the discussion took on a wistful turn. Here are excerpts, edited for space and clarity.
The Garde: You worked a long time with Gregg Rolie (founding keyboardist/vocalist of Journey, keyboardist/vocalist for Santana).
Kurt: Oh yeah, yeah, for many years before Creedence. I played in his band and on several of his albums. In fact, last year I played on one of Gregg’s new projects.
Garde: This is ridiculous, but I’m one of those kooks — or maybe I’m not a kook — that thinks Journey was better with Gregg singing than Steve Perry. My favorite Journey song ever is the pre-Perry title song from Look into the Future, and I’m curious if y’all ever played that song.
Kurt: You know, back in my first years in the band, we didn’t. But after a while, we did start doing it. So, yeah, the last three times I played with Greg, we were doing “Look into the Future.”
Garde: That makes me happy. It’s such a great song.
Kurt: It is. And it’s funny and weird to admit, but the whole time I played with Gregg, I wasn’t really familiar with those early Journey songs. There was so much material across his career, and we understandably did a lot of Santana stuff.
Garde: By definition, that had to be a terrific band.
Kurt: It was fun, that’s for sure. From the original Santana we had percussionist Mike Carabello, you know, and oftentimes drummer Mike Shrieve played with us. Our timbale player was, uh, Chepito Areas’s son, and Chepito, the original Santana timbale player, also played with us a lot. So it was a bit of history playing all those original guys. Neil Schon even played with us and, at one show, Carlos Santana sat in. It was great being onstage with all those guys, but to play with Carlos Santana was one of those moments where I thought, you know, how did I get here?
Garde: You have an incredible and extensive resume but, as I was looking over the list of artists you’ve worked with, the words “Moody Blues” jumped out at me. That band means a lot to me. Those seven albums from Days of Future Passed to Seventh Sojourn are indelible in my brain. So of course I’ve got to ask…
Kurt (laughing): Well, ah, the, the person I worked with was Denny Lane from the original Moody Blues, so he wasn’t part of the era you’re talking about.
Garde (laughing): Ha! Okay. (Editor’s note: Laine was a founding member of the Moodys and wrote and sang their first hit, “Go Now.” He then left and guitarist/songwriter Justin Hayward — who played the Garde a few years ago — replaced Laine.) Nothing wrong with Denny Laine! He was terrific.
Kurt: Right! He was in Wings with Paul McCartney for years, and when I was in his solo band we certainly did “Go Now.” But, really, as far as the Moody Blues, that’s my only connection.
Garde: Perfectly legit. Plus, Laine was such a great artist. I heard he was a really fine person, too. (Laine passed in 2023.)
Kurt: Definitely. I worked with Denny for years and we became very close. We lived near one another, and our daughters had sleepovers and, you know. We’d carpool to the airport and stuff. We were very close friends for about seven years or so. We sorta lost touch, not because anything was wrong, but in this business you’re on the road a lot and time passes so fast.
One thing I did — and I wish I had done this with more people — I randomly emailed Denny one day. At the time, I don’t think he was even sick yet, and I, or if he was sick, I didn’t know it. But I just wanted to tell him that he was one of my favorite people that I ever worked with both professionally and personally.
Um, I loved that guy. He was … just a wonderful, wonderful guy, great sense of humor, very funny. And, I reached out just to tell him that and, you know, we kind of connected for a minute just through that email. But I’m so glad, looking back, that I that I took the time to do that because there’s a lot of people I didn’t reach out to, you know?
Garde: As you say, it’s hard and I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. I suppose we all believe there will be another opportunity.
Kurt: Exactly. I did reconnect with (founding and former Eagles bassist/vocalist) Randy Meisner, you know, because I played for years with Randy. I was very close to him, too, and my wife and his were very close. We traveled together a lot and spent Easters together.
Unfortunately, his wife Lana was accidentally killed and, several years later, Randy got ill and I’m glad we reconnected before he passed away in 2023. But it didn’t always happen that way.
You know, I played for years with Spencer Davis and Bruce Gary, who’d been in The Knack, was the drummer. He was another really great guy.
I was doing a gig in Las Vegas and, coincidentally enough, Denny Laine came to the show. And he said, “Hey, did you hear about Bruce? He has cancer. He’s in the hospital in LA.”
And I thought, “That’s terrible!” I was flying back to Los Angeles, so I thought, well, maybe on my way home from the airport I’ll stop and see Bruce. But I didn’t. I was pretty tired and decided I’d drive down to the hospital the next day.
And he died.
I was just kicking myself. I was, like, “Why didn’t I just stop then and do it?” I wasn’t that tired, you know? But you always think there’s more time.
In my business, there are a lot of guys who become like family. You work with them intensely, for years sometimes, but then you take another gig and you get busy and you don’t realize how much time has passed since you even spoke with these people who are good friends that you spent a lot of time with making music together and having all these experiences.
It’s not like there was any falling out with anyone. It’s just, you know, you get busy and you, you forget to talk, you know, so, um, you know. I think everyone’s heart is in the right place.
(Long pause) But, like I said, I’m really glad I at least reached out to Denny. We had a good moment. It’s something I learned from.