Caravan currently have six UK shows confirmed. Will there be any more added this year? A few others are awaiting confirmation, including a festival in Canterbury in July. There’s also a chance of returning to America, and maybe a trip to Japan.
You’re playing the Hard Rock Hell Prog Festival, alongside Ian Anderson, Arthur Brown…
[Interrupting] The ‘Hell’ part might be right. Those things are like meat factories; one band after another playing at full blast always makes me think: “Turn it down and let’s have some fun”. But no… the bass is always too loud.
Will Caravan be an oasis of calm amid those groups?
Oh, I don’t know. Maybe we’ll send everyone to sleep [laughs].
This year marks the 45th anniversary of Caravan’s most successful album, In The Land Of Grey And Pink. Will that affect the set-list?
We’re not going to play it in its entirety, that’s for sure. There will be excerpts from it, and some tracks from a brand new album. We like to mix things up with every tour.
That new record hasn’t been released yet, but there will definitely be a follow-up to 2013’s Paradise Filter album?
There’s around 10 ideas that I’ve been working on. Next week
I will be meeting up with the rest of the band and we’ll see which of them we like. The ones that are approved of will be worked into the set bit by bit. Despite the prevailing climate, this is no time to stop releasing new music. I still don’t think I’ve written a song yet that’s good enough. I mean every word of that statement.
Caravan have now been in existence for 48 years. The big 50 looms ever closer.
Jim [Leverton, bassist] had to have a stent fitted last year but, health scares allowing, I think it’s quite feasible for us to reach that milestone. We’d have to do something pretty substantial for such an occasion, wouldn’t we?
The dates begin on March 12.
