Bad Company was different. Although Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke had a difficult journey with their previous band, Free, it was one they felt they wouldn’t repeat with their new group.
“I think that the key person at that time was Mick Ralphs, because obviously I’d worked with Paul for five years,” Kirke tells the UCR Podcast in a new interview you can listen to below. “Our first couple of years were a slog, but we sort of climbed the mountain. We knew each other well and we always got on. We were like the hand in glove, it fit very well. But Mick, even though we had known him through Mott the Hoople and they were on Island Records…we’d met each other a few times, but I’d never worked with him.”
Humor, the great connector in many creative partnerships, was quick to lend a hand. “He is one of the funniest guys,” the drummer confirms. “He’s so light-hearted and he played great guitar. I’d been used to working with Paul Kossoff, who was a genius, but he was a tortured genius. He fell victim to drug addiction pretty quickly. The last couple of years with Kos were hard. So, along comes this guy who has these great songs. He plays really good lead guitar and is funny as hell. Me and Paul bonded with him pretty much out of the gate. That was the difference between Free and Bad Company. It was light-hearted and a liberation, in a way.”
Bassist Boz Burrell was the final piece of the puzzle, and as Kirke remembers, that took some doing, because of his ties to King Crimson, but the issue might surprise you. “He was at the bottom of the 16-member list of [potential] bassists, because we didn’t like King Crimson,” he explains. “That wasn’t our cup of tea at all — although I do love [the band name].” Ultimately and thankfully, it worked out. “Boz was the very last bass player to be auditioned and he was another light-hearted and easygoing guy. It was just a wonderful fit.”
The Birth of ‘Bad Company’
The band’s 1974 self-titled debut album features eight tracks, and they are regarded as classics and fan favorites today, more than 50 years later. Kirke helped Rodgers pen the iconic song that ended up starting the album’s second side. “Bad Company” is an example of the atmospheric and very visual songs that the English rock group would become known for. “I remember going down to Paul’s cottage down in Surrey, just south of London, and I heard this piano,” he says now. “I thought he had maybe an electric piano, but no, it was a grand piano that he had somehow shoehorned into his little cottage, and he was playing this riff.”
READ MORE: Top 10 Bad Company Songs
“For anyone out there who is musically minded, particularly keyboardists or pianists, it’s written in E flat minor, which is all of the black notes. [Kirke demonstrates the keyboard pattern] It’s kind of a haunting riff,” the drummer continues. “He said, ‘What do you think of this? ‘Company, always on the run.’ It came from all of the bounty hunters in the 1800s, the long plains drifters, who used to chase bandits — and we were the bandits, Bad Company. I just thought it was a wonderful vibe and the fact that it was done in this haunting way [was what made it work]. We’ve tried ‘Bad Company’ in other keys since and it just didn’t work. [After he shared the initial lyric with me], I said, ‘How about, ‘Destiny, is the rising sun,’ and it just kind of snowballed from there. I believe we finished it in about 20 minutes.”
Listen to Bad Company’s ‘Bad Company’
What’s Coming Up For Bad Company?
The rock legends will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November. They received their first nomination earlier this year after becoming eligible in 2000. Kirke admits it will be a poignant night in light of Ralphs’ health issues. “I hope I don’t get too emotional when I mention Mick, because we’re going to give him the big shout,” he said. “I spoke with him briefly [after the induction news was announced]. He can’t talk very well because he had a stroke. I just hope I can hold it together without sort of breaking down.”
Later this year, Bad Company will also be honored with a tribute album. Can’t Get Enough: A Tribute to Bad Company is set to arrive this fall. Fans got a preview of the upcoming set from the Struts, who shared their take on the group’s legendary single “Rock & Roll Fantasy” on a 7″ vinyl single for Record Store Day. Kirke tells UCR that he and Rodgers plan to collaborate with Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, a longtime fan, on a new version of “Seagull.”
Listen to Bad Company’s Simon Kirke on the ‘UCR Podcast’
19 Rock Guitars That Were Stolen or Lost (and Sometimes Found)
Some of these are still out there somewhere.
Gallery Credit: Allison Rapp
“
