Francis Rossi Interview - ITV-Teletext
ITV teletext page 142
Veteran rocker Francis Rossi is on
the road again with Status Quo, this
time playing a series of gigs in
British forests.
Rossi says: "It suits me. I used to
smoke dope all the time but I stopped
that earlier this year. I have the
occasional joint but I go to the gym a
lot and work out."
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Famous for his rock'n'roll lifestyle ¯
which saw him lose part of his nose to
cocaine abuse ¯ Francis Rossi has found
more conventional means of amusement.
Page 3:
Francis Rossi says Status Quo's current
tour of British forests are not the
most unusual concerts they have done.
Page 4:
Status Quo have sold 112m records and
spent 22 of the last 35 years on tour.
Founder-singer Francis Rossi says they
survived by being committed to music.
Page 5:
Status Quo's Francis Rossi says he does
not worry about being called too old
for rock'n'roll.
Page 6:
Status Quo were the first outsiders to
enter a Big Brother house during a
contest when they played for housemates
in the Norwegian show in 2001.
Page 7:
Status Quo's Francis Rossi says he
likes many of today's British guitar
bands such as Travis and Coldplay.
Page 8:
Francis Rossi of Status Quo enjoys a
quieter life than on his early tours
and is kept busy by his eight children
by three different women.
Famed for using cocaine during his wild
years, Rossi, 54, says he is now
teetotal and finished with hard drugs.
He says: "I do the crosswords in The
Times and Guardian every day. If we're
on tour, I get them faxed over. I don't
do the cryptic ones. I don't like
following someone else's thoughts.
"I like learning about the English
language. It keeps the brain awake. I
don't want to fall asleep."
He says: "We've played a quarry in
Germany and on the backs of trucks. We
played in a sandstorm in Malta and
we've played in snowstorms before.
"Today's acts never get a chance to do
that. As soon as they appear they are
thrown into arena gigs and never get a
chance to learn their trade. Pop is all
done to a formula today."
He says: "When we started out, we just
wanted to avoid being one-hit wonders.
Rick Parfitt and myself don't throw
strops. We carry on because we want to.
"Oasis got big quickly and they started
to believe all the hype written about
themselves. If you believe you're the
greatest, it leads to trouble."
He says: "I remember when I was 25,
some kid came up to me in the Marquee
Club and called me a boring old fart.
I'd like to know what he's doing now.
"Bands like us sell out tours but the
singles chart is nothing like it used
to be. Our last single made the charts
but sold less in its entire run than we
used to sell in a day in the 1970s."
Francis Rossi says: "We said no at
first as none of us likes Big Brother.
Then they said our album was at number
three in Norway and might go to number
one if we played."
So we said: 'What time do you want us
there?' We like to push on and keep
making new achievements."
He says: "I liked Radiohead but they've
disappeared up their own derrieres on
the last three albums.
"My other favourites are the Queens Of
The Stone Age. They remind me of things
we were doing in the '60s and '70s.
They throw little things into the
arrangements regardless of whether
it's cool or not."
He says: "I'm taking two of my younger
sons to the cinema to see X-Men 2. I've
not been for about 15 years. I'm only
going for the hot dogs. I love the hot
dogs they do."