“I came very close to becoming one of David Bowie’s Spiders From Mars,” English journeyman guitarist Tim Renwick reveals to Guitar Player. “After playing on his Space Oddity album in 1969, I was in line to join him on his Man Who Sold the World album, but it didn’t work out.”
Instead, Bowie hired Mick Ronson, who had been in a rock band from Hull called the Rats. Together, they would record six albums that brought Bowie fame as glam-rock’s defining artist.
“I think the fact that David got together with Mick suited him better,” Renwick says. “They were very much a unit and good friends.”
Instead, Renwick — who recently told us about his experiences with Pink Floyd — became a prominent session guitarist, playing with artists like Elton John, Mike Oldfield, Alan Parsons and many others, including Al Stewart and Eric Clapton, whom he discusses here.
David Bowie
“We made Space Oddity at Trident Studios in London. David was very easy to work with, but rather nervous in the studio. At that point, I was in a band called Junior’s Eyes, and the main guitar player and leader of the band was Mick Wayne, who had been called up to do the guitar work on the ‘Space Oddity’ track.
“After a period of not performing, David was planning to try out some live shows and see what it was like to actually tread the boards again. He asked Mick whether Junior’s Eyes could back him on a tour of Scotland, and he agreed. We went out and did about six or seven dates in Scotland, miles from anywhere, in places like Dunfermline.
“It was quite an odd thing because the Scottish punters didn’t really know what to make of David. They only really knew him as a pop singer, but there was a lot more to him obviously than people realized at the time. We did several other things together too, including recordings for the BBC and a show on London’s South Bank, where he was incredibly nervous. I’d never seen anyone have such bad stage fright.”
Al Stewart
“I began working with Al in 1972 and spent the rest of the ’70s with him. Al was a very nice chap, very easy going and was interested in all kinds of stuff.
“He used to have this rather unfortunate habit of losing his voice on the road. And when he was losing his voice, he’d hit a note and he would just turn into a kind of high squeak, which was actually quite amusing. But obviously we didn’t tell him that.
“It resulted in us having like three or four days off till he got his voice back, so it made it quite a pleasant tour of America. We took a mobile home and drove around most of America while we played with him all over the place.
“When we did his big hit, ‘The Year of the Cat,’ I played both the acoustic and electric guitar solos. Al was very open to me and what I wanted to do, so he allowed me quite a lot of leeway with things like that solo.
“We spent a bit of time on it and put together the section where the acoustic guitar solo switched to the electric guitar solo, and then the sax played the final bit. It was about building an intensity. On the original album cut, the guitar solo was much longer than the single. I used Al‘s Guild acoustic for the lead and rhythm part then when it switched to the electric I used my old faithful ’62 Fender Strat.
“Al moved to Los Angeles after Year of the Cat. I did Time Passages with him in 1978 but then I felt it was time to move on. He wanted me to move to America to permanently join his band, which I sort of considered but never really fancied. But I did do another album with him in 1988, Last Days of the Century.”
Eric Clapton
“Eric and I played guitar together on Roger Waters’ Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking tour in 1984. We got along quite well, and Eric hired me for the tour for his 1985 album, Behind the Sun.
“What happened was, Eric started the tour with J. Peter Robinson on keyboards instead of having a second guitarist, but they didn’t get on. Peter was a great player, but a bit too jazzy for Eric. So I got called in on that and did about two thirds of the world tour with Eric.
“Our rehearsals basically consisted of just running one number twice, as Eric wouldn’t play a number more than twice. And if you asked him any questions about the technical side of things, he would shrug and say, ‘Well just play what you feel like playing, mate.’ He said, ‘I wouldn’t have hired you if I wanted you to play what I wanted,’ which was great. It was the same with all the guys in the band, so it was very relaxed.
“The tour was great fun, and a tremendous experience, though Eric was struggling at the time. He was still drinking a bit, and that was sort of taking its toll. Obviously, you’d notice if Eric had a few drinks, as the next day he’d be looking grey around the gills. And the thing was, on those occasions, he played better than he did when he was sober.
“He was very determined to prove a point that he could still do it, although that album is probably not the best example. But he was a very strong character, and a great player. People sort of criticize him, but he’s done some amazing stuff.”
