Naz are back in town!

Gary Fitzpatrick • Published 6 Jan 2012 09:30

NAZARETH, looking forward to their first home-town concert since 2008, have declared, "We're still alive and kicking and playing to a million folk a year!"

The Dunfermline rockers are back at the Alhambra next Saturday for a gig for the Mary Leishman Foundation, having played the first concert at the re-opened venue in June 2008.

They are coming up to 44 years together and their legion of fans includes the likes of Guns 'n' Roses who covered 'Hair of the Dog'.

Having released a new album 'Big Dogz' last year, 2012 is shaping up to be another big one with plans for a TV documentary and DVD.

Pete Agnew called the Press last week from Prague where he was in the studios putting the final touches to both projects.

Pete laughed, "When you've been going for a good wee while people start to call you 'dinosaurs', so that was us in the '80s. Then when you keep going, they start calling you 'legends'. So I'm just happy we're legends now."

For over a year now there's been a top director in the Czech Republic making a film documentary about Nazareth.

"There were in Dunfermline last year going around shooting stuff, interviewing us and they've been out on the road with us, in the studio. It's for Czech television but they're having a cinema release as well," said Pete.

"It's going to be a worldwide thing. They're editing it at the moment so I've been sitting around here saying, 'I like that, no I don't like that'.

"We filmed a show at the end of the year in Prague and we're going to bring out a DVD of it. It was a wonderful gig so I'm just going through every track to make sure everything's okay.

"They've been filming this thing for over a year now and we can actually see ourselves getting older on the film. So I'm telling them to hurry up before I look 90!

"They're doing it for television throughout the world. It's just a matter of what countries want to take it. Knowing our luck it'll be out in every country in the world except our home. That's what usually happens."

Bassist and founder member Pete has been answering questions about the band's history for a presentation being made for the Alhambra gig.

"I was telling them 22 studios albums, five live albums - but there's about a thousand bootlegs, hundreds of compilations. The last time I checked we had sold about 20 million albums worldwide which is not bad for a wee band from Dunfermline.

"How many tours? I reckon over the forty years we've done about 800 tours. That's full tours, not just a couple of nights in Norway.

"How many people have we played to? These days we are playing to about a million people a year.

"The big, big countries for us are Canada, Brazil, Russia, Germany. They're our main touring markets. I hope we don't have to do Mongolia again this year but we've done that as well.

"We did a Russian tour at the end of the year and the guys were asking 'How many times have we played in Moscow?' It must be about a thousand times more than we've played Aberdeen.

"It's strange where your popularity is really. Brazil's huge for us - it always has been. We just came back from there in November and we do another tour early this year."

After playing away for so long, the band are delighted to be coming back home. "I'm really looking forward to the Alhambra because it's three years since we played in Dunfermline," said Pete.

"I love the Alhambra. It's the best theatre in Britain. When they opened it up people were saying 'They must be crazy trying this in Dunfermline'. But you see, it's worked and it's fantastic. That stage is one of the best stages you could ever play on anywhere in the world.

"It's a great theatre and for us coming home could be difficult. The Carnegie Hall is lovely but it's not like a rock venue - everybody's seated. Whereas the Alhambra is a real rock and roll venue.

"You could be anywhere in the world but the only difference is when we play there it's like playing at a big party because I know the first names of all the people's that's in the audience."

Fanatical Naz fans are travelling from Norway, Denmark, Germany, Romania, Russia, Canada and Australia to see the band play in their home town.

"It'll be like the United Nations. I feel very honoured that people travel all that distance to see us playing.

Naz have been keen to an event for the foundation. "Jim's been a pal of ours for over 30 years and Mary was a lovely person and a really great singer.

"I saw her singing a lot of times and she had a great voice. She was a great lass and we were all very sad so it's good to be able to do something towards the foundation.

"Playing the Alhambra is a great way to start the year. The album's been going great and we'll be doing some songs from it.

"We do three songs from the new album. We can't do more than that because everybody wants to hear the hits.

"In Britain if you don't play 'Bad Bad Boy', 'Broken Down Angel', 'My White Bicycle', 'Love Hurts', 'Razamanaz' people expect to hear them. If you don't play those songs they're going to ask for their money back."

Have Nazareth ever been approached to play 'T in the Park'?

"No, I think there can be a bit of the 'Ah kent his faither' thing when you're a home town band. Usually when they do 'T in the Park' we're in the States or Canada but we were never ever approached to play.

"It is mainly the young bands who play there anyway but I wouldn't have minded having a go at it. Who knows?

"I'd like to play 'T in the Park' because I could go home and sleep in my own bed. My house is just down the road."

Pete had a final message ahead of the Dunfermline gig, "We just wanted everyone to know that the band is alive and kicking and playing to a million folk a year."

Singer Dan McCafferty has also been speaking to the Press about the band's globe-trotting exploits.

"We could actually play seven nights a week if we wanted to these days but I'm not fit to do that, just with the huge amount of travelling involved.

"The last couple of years things have been going really well. I don't know if it's just that we've been going so long and people are saying 'We better go and see them this time because you never know..." Dan laughed.

"You could work all year in eastern Europe if you wanted to but you'd drive yourself up the wall. Russian, Ukraine, Romania all these places. They were never there before eastern Europe opened up in the 90s.

" You could play the odd festival once a year but you weren't made feel very welcome by the powers-that-be at the time.

"The people liked you back then but the gaffers, the commies, weren't very happy bunnies."

From the grey austerity behind the former Iron Curtain, Naz are nowadays regulars in colourful, flamboyant Brazil, thanks to the internet.

"We had hits in Brazil but we didn't used to go there very often. I think that's one of the advantages of the internet these days. People can see you and ask 'Why don't we get to see them?'

"The Brazilians are mental for it. They don't just like things, they're daft about them - whether it's football, their own music or rock music, they're daft for it.

"Once you hit the stage it could be anywhere in the world. Whether it's Germany, Brazil or the toon - except in the toon I'll know folk in the audience."

* Nazareth play the Alhambra on Saturday 14th January, supported by The Rezillos.

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This article appeared in Dunfermline Press 06 Jan 12

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