In 2013 tennis hero Pat Cash revealed the gems of his extensive record collection to Prog. Explaining the powerful connection between sport and music, he said he’d been delighted to discover it flowed the other way too – and cited some big-name examples to prove his point.
“My music taste is unusual in my family… they’re opera singers and concert pianists! My brother had all the classic stuff – the Stones, Floyd – but I gravitated towards The Beatles. Some of the other stuff he had, I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on; I was drawn to keep trying Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, but I could only do two songs at a time.
Then ELO really did it for me with New World Record. That was probably the classical influence from my parents. But it wasn’t music we could share, oh no! My dad had a good voice and sang old Irish songs like Danny Boy, but he wouldn’t listen to ours!
When I was starting to play tennis and travelling around the world, Cheap Trick were my biggest influence – The Beatles with an edge – and I loved In Color and Heaven Tonight. That’s where I got my checkered headband from: Rick Nielsen and his guitars with the black and white checks. I also got into learning guitar.
Back then in Australia, variety was thin on the ground for music. Radio was crap; music press the same. There was one record store where I lived in Melbourne and it took me 45 minutes to get to. I discovered ZZ Top, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden there. I then met a shop owner called Greta – a legend in Melbourne – who’d recommend so much stuff to me. AC/DC were huge, but I wanted things beyond that. The new wave of British heavy metal was brilliant, but I also listened to Sabbath and Zep, and I got to meet bands like Maiden.
In fact, the reason I got into Saga is because I became good friends with Steve Harris. Steve likes his prog. I went to his place one day – he had a pub in his house where you could play pool and stuff – and he put on Saga’s Heads Or Tails. I thought, ‘Shit, this is good!’ The guitarist is unbelievable and the keyboards inspired me to listen to early Deep Purple.
I was flying around the world, spending three months travelling as a junior player, and a flight to Australia could be 40 hours. I listened so much to 24 Carat Purple – Child In Time is what Deep Purple are all about. Jon Lord and Saga started me thinking that keyboards are pretty cool and could make a song even more epic. We never thought the piano at home was cool!
Rush were my first prog rock band proper. In the US they were played a lot on the radio, so I got into Hemispheres and A Farewell To Kings. Cygnus X1 – I don’t know how many times I’ve played that section when it goes quiet and then it comes back in. It squeals! Rush were huge for me; it’s Geddy’s voice and the time changes.
I’ve spent a lot of money on bands over the years, hoping to hear stuff that would fit. I now get into a lot of bands through reviews – particularly in Classic Rock. I bought three Bigelf albums in a row starting with Hex. I like how the clear melodic solos and great keyboards fit in interestingly arranged songs, with a lot of Sabbath.
Tennis players like John McEnroe and Vitas Gerulaitis were into music and we’d all swap tips. Vitas was the leader ’cos he could really play guitar; he would know and party with these rock bands. In 1991 John and myself made a record for Rock Aid Armenia as The Full Metal Rackets. Many years later, we got invited to Armenia to present some awards.
We jumped on a plane and I was sitting with Tony Iommi. I had my Walkman and I said, ‘Who does this remind you of?’ I played him Bigelf’s Madhatter and Tony said, ‘They sound like a band I know!’ He listened to the whole thing and was really complimentary.
The first I knew of Porcupine Tree and Steven Wilson was when I was invited to the Classic Rock Awards in 2007. They won Album Of The Year for Fear Of A Blank Planet and I thought, ‘I’ll give that a listen.’ I bought that and Deadwing and became a fan. I like the weirdness, the darkness and their time changes.
Flying Colors’ Flying Colors was my favourite album of last year. I got into them by following Steve Morse from Deep Purple and reading that Mike Portnoy was in it too. It’s got The Beatles, Cheap Trick, ELO, a full-on metal song, some nice ballads; and Casey McPherson – wow, what a beautiful voice he’s got! He brings the pop to it. It’s simple enough so someone like me can understand it! But a muso would appreciate all the great playing.
Prog is more and more attractive to me as I get older. I want to hear a bit of everything
Then there’s Neal Morse: he plays and sings like an angel. I bought Momentum and that seemed very in the spirit of the Flying Colors project – go in the studio and see what happens. Paul Gilbert’s guitar playing on the main track is amazing, and the keyboard work brings it all together.
I listen to some music for meditation these days and that got me into Brian Eno. Apollo: Atmospheres And Soundtracks is on my playlist; I like that slightly dark, ambient music. I read about Blackfield having that vibe so I picked their albums up, and it led me to Anathema. We’re Here Because We’re Here is a superb album, and my favourite song is Thin Air. It’s beautiful, but not dark.
I’m a music snob! I find the variety in prog interesting and exciting – there’s only so much you can get out of a 3.15-long song. Take It Bites’ Eat Me In Saint Louis. Holy smoke! Guitar riffs, keyboards, melodies, angst; it was the soundtrack to the summer of 1989. I’m an old friend of Francis Dunnery now. I was in New York last year, flicking through what’s on and he popped up. His gig was cancelled but I went to his rehearsal. He did some classic stuff, and played me songs from Frankenstein Monster, which his brother had written at the age of 21. ‘I just had to do it,’ he said.
One song was classic hard jazzy prog, with more guitar work in that than all his albums combined! I always thought he was a good guitarist, but the shredding on this... It’s lightning fast. Four solos in a song. That’s why prog is more and more attractive to me as I get older. I want to hear a bit of everything – some beautiful ELO stuff, some Priest, some of my dad’s piano playing – that’s prog.
When playing sport, music gets you through; it focuses you. It’s fun to know it goes the other way too. The guys in Maiden are very good tennis players and Adrian Smith has a Wimbledon title for a celebrity tennis event. I’ve played with Ian Gillan and I gave Robert Plant his first hit in Sydney. He now plays two or three times a week!”
