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The Mandoki Soulmates are celebrating their Thirtieth Anniversary this year.  This is an all-star band that is led by Leslie Mandoki and has had several outstanding musicians in the group that have included Jack Bruce, Ian Anderson, Greg Lake, Peter Frampton and Chaka Kahn to name a few.

 

Two members of the group, Leslie Mandoki and Tony Carey (Rainbow, Planet P Project) will be making an appearance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on February 6.  Each person that purchases a ticket to the event will receive a Mandoki Soulmates book that both Leslie and Tony will autograph after their presentation.

 

We had the chance to do a Zoom call with both Leslie and Tony to talk about their new album, A Memory Of Our Future as well as their upcoming appearance in Cleveland.

 

Greg Drugan:  Hello guys!  Congratulations on your new album, A Memory Of Our Future.  I’ve been listening to it the past week or so and I really enjoy it.  I love the title of the album, where did you come up with the name?

 

Leslie Mandoki:  I am really an old style, hippie lyricist. English is not my mother tongue, so I was thinking in Hungarian and writing it in English.  So it comes out a little avant guard. It cuts pretty deep because our society is so divided and it feel like we are in crisis and it feels like we’ve lost compass.  I thought, A Memory Of Our Future, we should imagine that one day we’re going to look back today.  One day we’re going to get old and we’re going to talk to our grandchildren and they’re going to say, “What the hell were you doing that our society is so divided?  What have you done to bridge over it?”  Music is the greatest unifier, as we all know, and we live up to this old, Woodstock hippie idea that we have to do something good for a better world. 

 

GD:   Very good! You did something different with this album, which was to record it in analog. With all of this new technology, why did you want to go back to analog recording?

 

Tony Carey:  He owns the machines! That’s point number one.  They’re really, really rare. You can pick them up for a nickel and a dime but they won’t work.   To have one that actually works and are serviced, that was the big thing. 

 

LM:  The reality is that we have explored way down the line, how to build the best format for that kind of content. When you start to study music, the first thing that you learn is that you should create a great balance of content of format. The idea was, we owe our audience a hand-written love letter and not a text message.  Now a days, pop music is very much a text message. The idea was to keep it as it is.  Analog has a couple of beautiful aspects.  The sonic aspect of course because it sounds better but the more important aspect is we play together. You can not post-product anything.  We have to relearn that limitation can be great inspiration. 

 

TC:  You have to make decisions on the fly. Decisions that are irreparable, because you can’t go back and change your mind. Modern music is laid out rhythmically, pitch wise to a grid.  You can take your mouse and move the bass drum to the one beat of every grid and you’ll get basically is a drum machine. Even though a guy actually hit the drums.  You can take a vocal, that is as perfect as any robot, because robots don’t make mistakes, even though it was sung by a human.  I gotta say in today’s modern pop music and even rock music, people attach themselves to these grids.  Kids that have grown up listening to pop in the past fifteen years, if something’s not perfect it sounds wrong to them. That’s a scary thought.  The way to get it “perfect” is to get the best performance out of the artist in the moment. 

 

LM:  It’s really important that we play together.  Analog forces us to do so. I’m not a painter although I am painting.  I’m not a poet, although I write poems.  I’m a musician.  A musician means every and each song and production is a mutual work, meaning we work together.  The most stupid terminology in the music industry is “solo record.” A solo record means another drummer is playing and not your bandmate. It’s always a collaboration. Analog recording means not everyone is home and sending files back and forth.  It’s getting together, smelling each other and feeling each other. Looking at each other’s eyes, cooking together, talking about family life, politics, instruments and music lyrics. Analog recording serves more to the soul of music. 

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GD: I agree with you, feeding off eachother in the same room had a better feel than just sending files to each other. 

 

TC:  If you drop a two inch reel of tape on your foot, you’ll be walking in a cast for six months.  Those things are really, really heavy and rare! 

 

GD:  I’m sure they are.  Now, you have such a variety of musicians that played on this record just like you have for your whole career.  Why not keep the same core group together or do you like fresh ideas and experiences. 

 

LM:  No one ever left that band. Part of the tragical moments when people change from Soulmates to Jimmi Hendrix in heaven. So we have not lost anyone. It’s just a tragedy that someone like Jack Bruce or Greg Lake or Michael Brecker that we’ve lost these wonderful players.

 

TC:  Bobby Kimble. 

 

LM:  Yeah, Bobby.  Some of us, like Chris Thompson are not in good shape or not in good condition anymore. 

 

TC:  You only leave the Soulmates in a box. 

 

GD:  Ok, that’s good to know.  The first track on the record  “Blood in the Water,” I really enjoy it. Once you hear the flute, you know it’s Ian Anderson.  Ian has been a part of your group for quite a long time, right?

 

LM:  He was a founding member. He is a great friend and I’m very close to him. 

 

GD:  Was this recorded in Germany?

 

LM:  Yes, in my studio. I have a very modern, but old style studio. 

 

GD:  Another track I really like is “We Stay Loud” it reminds me a bit of Peter Gabriel.  Tony, do you have a favorite track on the record?

 

TC:  “We Stay Loud” is one of my favorites and it absolutely murders live!  It’s better than the record live. Somehow it has more energy, if that’s possible. I really like “Enigma of Reason” which is I think track two. It features the amazing Richard Bona, that’s his angelic voice singing.  He learned that as a child in Cameroon.  He grew up in Africa, he was self-taught and he learned it in a Catholic church in the sound of a big stone building with a natural reverb.  When he plays live, he sings along to what he’s playing and he’s playing like Jacko Pastarious.  He’s playing super, super clean and fast and singing every note and that just knocks me out.  That’s a high spot for me. 

 

GD:  Leslie, how about you?  I know some people say, every song is like a child and I can’t pick a favorite one, but do you have a track that stands out on this record for you?

 

LM:  Not at all.  I enjoy the eighty minutes in one piece, actually as a concept album and ending up with improvisation. Someone said, “if we do a double album and one single CD, we have a couple  of minutes left.  Do you have another song?”  I said no, but we just made a free improvisation and that’s rock and roll! 

 

GD:  Both of you are going to be leaving Germany at the beginning of February and will be coming to my hometown of Cleveland and will be making an appearance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Everyone that buys a ticket will receive a copy of 30 Years of Mandoki Soulmates book.  How did this book come about?

 

LM:  Everyone was asking me a million questions, so we thought, (we should) make for all the fans and all the people that support us, like you do right now, the easiest thing would be to put it in a book. (Something) you can see and the quotes.  You see us playing and see us in the studio and we can tell the story this way and bring it closer to you.  

 

GD:  I’ve read the evening is going to be some stories and there’s going to be a little live performance.  Can you tell me a little bit more about what's going to happen that night? 

 

LM:  We’re going to show a little movie that’s about a half an hour.  It’s behind the scenes so that you can have an impression of how it really works. Then we’re going to talk a little bit and tell some stories, like we’re doing with you.  Then if there’s a piano and some percussion then we’ll play maybe two ore three songs, maybe four.  Just to give a little insight to what we do.

 

TC:  This will be the campfire version.  We won’t have twenty-two people on stage like we normally do. 
 

GD:  Tony, do you have any memories of playing in Cleveland from your career?  

 

TC:  Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus, Toledo and three more.  I’ve toured Ohio extensively. This was forty years ago.  What stood out about Ohio is Ohio and Texas and maybe Florida, have the most rock joints. I couldn’t believe what rabid fans Cleveland had in these noisy, drunk rock and roll clubs. I was a kid, but I was also pretty noisy and drunk but everything worked out well.  
 

LM:  Cleveland is a very special place, even though I’ve never been there.  In 1956 when there was the great uprising against Russian oppression, about a million Hungarians had to leave the country after the Russians came back and many of them went to Cleveland.  So there is a huge Hungarian community there, as you know. It’s going to be fun because we are going to reach out to them.  As a kid, I always heard the fourth or fifth largest Hungarian town is Cleveland.  We have Bratislava, Budapest and three or four more (big cities) and the next is Cleveland and number nine is Los Angeles.
 

GD:  I didn’t realize that.  It will be just like coming home when you get here next month.

 

LM:  Hopefully we will find some good Hungarian kitchens there!

 

GD:  For sure. 

 

TC: It’s pretty cold there now, huh?

 

GD:  Yeah, it’s very cold.  It’s going to be -25 next week.

 

TC:  You’re the fourth person who’s warned us how cold.  We don’t have winters here in Europe anymore. I’ve been here almost fifty years and we haven’t had a winter in almost twenty.  There’s no snow and it’s in the forties.  I’ll bring my long underwear! 

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GD:  Please do!  Speaking of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who were some of your influences growing up that I’m sure are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? 

 

LM:  It’s countless because we are living in this musical kingdom of Rock and Roll.  For us musicians, there are only two types of music either good or bad.  You say Tony Carey and many people think this is a hard rock keyboard genius and Hammond player.  But he is a wonderful songwriter.  He could be a country songwriter. 

 

TC:  I am a country songwriter.  

 

LM:  When I was nineteen, I thought I was going to be a young Tony Williams who was a drummer for Miles Davis. He came out with a solo record and Joe McLaughin was playing on that album and I thought, “wow!”  Then I heard the Weather Report and I thought I was going to go that way.  Then poetry was catching me. So the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you are there with the greats. 

 

TC:  The thing to remember is that there is a lot of stuff that’s good.  But good is actually the enemy of great. It’s like the judge that famously said about pornography, “I can’t define it but I know it when I see it.” Good is the enemy of great.  My influences would be anything that’s great. I know what I’m talking about and I don’t expect anyone else to. Actual, physical influences would be Rick Wakeman, James Taylor.  A lot of country, I’m from California in the Central Valley, a lot of Buck Owens country. 

 

GD:  An eclectic group of people.  If you’ve never been to the museum itself, it is fantastic.  They are actually expanding it so make sure you take some time and check it out.  

 

TC:  Cool, no I haven’t seen it. 

 

GD:  It’s definitely worth your time.  I love it, I’m a Charter Member and I’ve been going since ‘95 and the updates that have been made, it’s just fantastic. I think you really will enjoy it. 

 

It definitely sounds like a great evening.  I know I’m going to be there for sure and personally, I’m looking forward to the night.  I’m going to let all the fans in Cleveland know that you are going to be there and they should be there too!  Any parting words for the fans that are coming out to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on February 6th?

 

LM:  We are happy to see you all and thank you for having us there. It’s a great honor and privilege to be there.  It sounds silly, but maybe you will like the little movie that we are going to show you too.  As much as we’re going to talk and play or whatever.  This is a very special thing because you will a very intimate musical moments backstage, on stage and in the studio.  I’m looking forward to seeing you all. 

 

TC:  Two things.  One, you get a free book!  Two, I do know where you live and if you don’t come, I will be at your house and we’ll have a talk! 

 

GD:  Fair enough!  I also read that you guys will be signing books and albums after the talk.  Will albums be made available for everyone as well?

 

TC:  Not for free! 

 

GD:  Of course not but they will be there for purchase. 

 

LM:  Absolutely!

 

GD:  Guys, thank you so much for spending a little bit of time with me today. I will see you guys in a couple of weeks here in Cleveland, Ohio!

 

TC:  Cool!  Looking forward to it.  I’ll be the guy in the four pairs of pants.

 

GD:  You won’t be alone!  See ya! 

 

TC:  See ya! 

 

Make sure you come to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at 7pm on February 6 for an evening of stories, music and a short film presented by two members of the Mandoki Soulmates, Leslie Mandoki and Tony Carey.  Tickets are $10 for non members and $5 for members.  Each patron will get a book titled Thirty Years of the Mandoki Soulmates.  Tony and Leslie will be signing those books as well as their new album, A Memory of Our Future, which will be available for purchase after their performance. 

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You can watch the full Zoom call below with Leslie and Tony. 

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