Godfather of British blues

John Mayall's band became almost like a training ground for the greatest blues rock talent of the 60s. Photo / Supplied by Lisa Paris

Ask John Mayall about the blues and he likes to keep it simple. "The stories blues singers have traditionally talked about are things that have happened in their own life. Their experiences. That's what I've always believed in," explains the 76-year-old British bluesman and multi-instrumentalist.

"So," he continues in his distinguished yet almost wry way, "if you're going to write a song it must be something that's been on your mind and an experience you've had that is distinct from someone else".

Take his excellent 1968 album Blues From Laurel Canyon, which documents a short three-week stint he spent discovering Los Angeles, the city that would become his adopted home town.

During this time - his "1968 summer vacation" - he spent a while living in eccentric musician Frank Zappa's famous Laurel Canyon house at 2401 Laurel Canyon Blvd. With a constant "parade of eccentric hangers-on" through the house, he came up with songs such as the swagger and wail of 2401.

America was where Mayall wanted to be. He says he had always had a fascination with "the general romance of America", from the jazz and blues he used to listen to in Britain, through to the literature and the films.

"I had a love affair with America. I never thought in the early years [of his career] I'd get over there, and music allowed me to do it, and the climate in Los Angeles was the deciding factor - I felt very much at home there," he reflects on the phone from his LA home.

Writing songs about his life still applies these days, even if they are taken from far less heady experiences. Mayall's latest album, Tough, his 57th, is made up of a majority of covers but includes three originals - one about the economy (the sprawling seven-minute Tough Times Ahead), another on his hatred of rap (That Good Old Rockin' Blues), and best of all, the moochy Slow Train To Nowhere about his years of hard drinking.

It turns out the only reason he wrote the songs was because after recording the album "I counted up the minutes and found we were short three songs".

"So I just went home and said, 'Think of some themes, John'," he says and laughs.

These days he's sober - and hasn't touched a drop in 25 years, which is one of the reasons he reckons he's still touring aged 76.

In recent years he's lightened his touring load. Not that you'd know it, since in New Zealand this month he's doing nine dates, starting at the Civic in Auckland on Thursday.

"It [not drinking] has a lot to do with it, and to keep up with what you intend to do you must be at the peak of health, and fortunately I am in that condition. The energy is there, the excitement generated from the guys I work with is pretty terrific - that's the shot in the arm," he says.

Mayall has been around. Born in a small village called Macclesfield, near Manchester, in 1933, it was there his love of music started.

"My father had a jazz record collection, and there was very little blues in it, but I found my own way, really. When I went to art school at 14, I found out about all these boogie-woogie things from a record club - and that took me off in a totally different direction.

"I was just playing blues for my own, I wouldn't say amusement, but as an outlet, and something that I understood from listening to records. But I never expected it to be something for mass consumption."

In the first part of the 60s, Mayall's beloved style of music was about to blow up when the great British blues boom hit, driven by London-based musicians Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies who led a rag-tag band of musicians under the name Blues Incorporated.

"It caused such a stir," remembers Mayall, "and for me, who understood the music and played it all along, it gave me the opportunity to come down to London and join in. It was exciting times, with this explosion of a new type of music on the scene."

He formed John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and when guitarist Eric Clapton joined the band in 1965 (later leaving to form Cream) the pair became two of the main movers and shakers on the British blues rock scene.

By this stage, Mayall was already in his 30s and was a late starter on the music scene since many of the other rising stars - such as Clapton, and soon-to-be Cream bass player Jack Bruce - were all 10 years younger.

Not that Mayall minded, because with seniority he got to call the shots - and not get into as much trouble as the younger players.

As well as the Bluesbreakers producing the classic 1966 album, Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton, Mayall's band became almost like a training ground for the decade's top blues rock talent, with the likes of Bruce, future Fleetwood Mac members Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Peter Green, and Rolling Stones member Mick Taylor all doing time in the group.

As Clapton has said: "John Mayall has actually run an incredibly great school for musicians."

He has fond memories of the early years of the blues rock explosion, and is still mates with the likes of Clapton, Fleetwood and even shock rocker Alice Cooper.

"They are good friendships, and as years go by, if you don't see each other, you can instantly find a rapport that's just there. Musicians are a family. That's very much the way it always is and, basically, we all belong to the same club."

LOWDOWN

Who: John Mayall
What: Legendary British bluesman and influence on everyone from Eric Clapton to Fleetwood Mac.
Where & when: Civic Theatre, Auckland, April 15; Municipal Theatre, Napier, April 16; The Regent, Palmerston North, April 17; TSB Theatre, New Plymouth, April 18; Founders Theatre, Hamilton, April 24.