Phil Campbell is the passionate voice of UK rock 'n' roll outfit the Temperance Movement, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's been the band's voice of reason in the past.
The animated Scottish singer-songwriter with an industrial-strength delivery, gift of salty gab, mischievous spirit and zest for life was on the phone from his hometown of Glasgow last month waxing romantic about the band's impending return to America, which includes a second visit to The Ride Festival in Telluride, Colorado.
They'll again play two sets -- this time at the Sheridan Opera House for a late NightRide show Saturday (11:30 p.m. July 9), then Sunday on the main stage (6:30 p.m.) just ahead of Cage the Elephant, the event's closing act.
In 2015, during their first tour across the pond, the States made quite an impression on most of them and vice versa.
"When we finally got to Telluride (near the end of the tour), the altitude, the weed, whatever, it was just an amazing experience," Campbell said. "I should add that my second trip to America in July, I should try and approach it a little bit differently.
"I'm gonna try and go straight-headed this time," he continued. "Try to stay alert and keep an eye on the schedule or whatever so I know where I am and don't annoy the rest of the guys by not having a clue what I'm doing because I'm just too busy getting high. It was a great experience to sort of be there. I feel as if we were in the Land of the Free, but we've got work to do." (laughs)
Rest assured, he and his four bandmates still plan to have a good time. With the U.S. release of their sophomore album White Bear just days away (July 15), the Temperance Movement invades America this month with a new set of rockin' tunes like "Modern Massacre" that are guaranteed to blow fans away. Along with bassist Nick Fyffe, guitarists Paul Sayer and Matt White, and drummer Damon Wilson, Campbell lights the match to a combustible combination.
Their vocal- and guitar-driven tunes are reminiscent of exhilarating, blues-infused British bands with charismatic frontmen such as the Faces with Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones with Mick Jagger, Cream with Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton sharing the mic and Led Zeppelin with a wailing Robert Plant. If their influences are obvious, their ambitions and intentions are honorable.
The Temperance Movement (from left): Drummer Damon Wilson, vocalist Phil Campbell, bassist Nick Fyffe and guitarist Paul Sayer.
(Not pictured: touring member Matt White.)
"In a world where music ... musicians are very controlled and digital recording has made everything kind of null and void, we were just wanting to try and record performances the way that Ronnie Wood used to," Campbell said of the longtime Faces and Stones guitarist. "In the early days of the band, we would listen to outtake tapes of the Faces. You know, they would start a take, 'Maybe I'm Amazed,' and they would stop it because somebody fucked up. ...
"If you didn't get it right the first time, then fuck it, you just had to do it again. And even though it's unnecessary now to do that, I think that whole concept of it being unnecessary is something that we balked at really as musicians. Because we just wanted to play and not have to stop and be told that it was gonna be pasted together later."
Old-school methods mean learning from the best, and Campbell, in his early 40s, reeled off names of some of his favorite singers like a proud student seeking a gold star from the School of Rock. His heroes -- "you could hear that they were overcoming their personal demons," he said -- included Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Chris Cornell, Van Morrison, Stewart and Jagger.
"I have no Plan B," said Campbell, who tinkered on the guitar and piano while starting a solo career. "Mick was somebody who maybe does have a Plan B, right? But he sang like an absolute Neanderthal man."
While making little money performing on his own, Campbell in 2011 found the right group of guys -- and his true calling.
"Sing as if it's your last fucking gig on Earth, every night, every time," he recalled his Temperance mates telling him. "And since I started the band, since we've been playing, my voice has become much stronger. I've sort of grown into it."
Long before that, as a "a fledgling kid" who was enthralled by the music from the film Highlander, it was the voice of Queen's Freddie Mercury that made Campbell decide that's what he wanted to do when he grew up.
"He had the ability to completely rouse an entire Wembley Stadium. ... His voice was authentic. It was rock 'n' roll," Campbell said. "He would prance around and he was very operatic but when it came to the crunch, he was a rock 'n' roll singer with a rock 'n' roll singer's voice. ... It's just a massive part of my childhood experience, getting into Queen and loving Queen because of Freddie's voice really and Brian May's guitar."
Though he never saw Queen perform, Campbell was thrilled to meet May after the Temperance Movement opened the Sunflower Jam charity event at Royal Albert Hall in 2012 -- with May, Alice Cooper and members of Deep Purple in attendance.
"I went up to him and I said, 'My God, you're Brian May. You played the guitar solo on "Killer Queen." That was one of the greatest things I've heard in my life," Campbell recalled. "And he had his arms folded and he just went, 'You guys are absolutely amazing.' ... He loved us. And he was so lovely and so sort of humble. ... He was not a star, just a great guy."
Despite his dashing presence onstage, Campbell obviously picked up on that humility, seeking out performance lessons from fellow entertainers such as Travis singer Fran Healy after meeting him in the pit when the Temperance Movement opened for the Rolling Stones in Berlin. Last year, Campbell struck up a friendship with Steve Gorman of the Black Crowes, going on the drummer's sports-talk radio show in Nashville, then reuniting at the Ride Festival when the Michigan native played with side project Trigger Happy.
"He really fell in love with us and our band and our music and became a real friend," Campbell said. "And he was somebody who was good to talk to" about problems the group experienced during their first American tour when one of their original guitarists, Luke Potashnick, decided to depart after suffering a bout of homesickness. He was replaced by White, who played on White Bear and became a touring member.
"I was always very aware that when you go to America for the first time, the thing to do is not go on moaning about how hard it is to be there," Campbell said, still sympathetic about Potashnick's situation. "Because it took me 20 years to get there. And I just wanted to embrace it with both arms."
By the sounds of it, the voice of the Temperance Movement definitely did. Just like when he uses his powerful pipes, Campbell made his point loud and clear.
See the Temperance Movement's video for "White Bear":
ON THE ROAD TO THE RIDE: THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT
In honor of their upcoming appearance, Phil Campbell of the Temperance Movement offered opinions about the Ride, the road and the southwest Colorado town known for peak performances.
First impressions of Telluride:
Phil Campbell: "We experienced a little bit of altitude weirdness. We played our first gig right on top there. ... the Mountain Village. And the second day we came down and we played (the Town Park stage). And we flew in, you know. It was a fucking amazing experience to see Colorado from the air in a tiny little private plane because somebody knew somebody. ... And our experience was just magical. Colorado is a great place ... You know, for boys just going to America for the first time, it stirs you up, it makes you feel all romantic about America and everything."
On performing at high altitude in the Mountain Village at Telluride:
Phil Campbell: "You know it was strange because I got quite a ... sort of a big voice, I scream a lot. ... You tend to get to a point after a month or two ... your voice, you've broken it. And then it begins to have sort of a life of its own. And I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to sing in Telluride. But it was actually really easy to sing. ... Kind of strange. ... I took a little (hit of oxygen) before going on. But I didn't feel the need for it as much as I thought I would."
Since this festival is called the Ride, what has been the ride of your life?
Phil Campbell: "It makes me think of my first roller-coaster ride, which was in Glasgow in 1990 or 1989 (at the age of 15 or 16). The Coca-Cola Rolla is what they called it. It was the first time I ever was on a roller-coaster ride. It was at the Glasgow Garden Festival. There's a picture of me after coming off of it. I was as white as a sheet. It was the most incredible ride of my life. But you could say -- this is a bit cheesy but you could say one of the biggest rides of my life was our first tour to America (in 2015). It was absolutely amazing. It was mind-blowing. I didn't want to come back home. We had our tough times, we had our ups and downs. And one of our guys left the band afterwards because he just kind of had come to the decision that America was a little bit too much for him. ... It created a massive change for us. It was definitely one of the biggest rides of my life."
Most memorable road trip with your band:
Phil Campbell: "If you're a first-timer (to America), going up from New Orleans and up around, it was just incredible. (laughs) Sometimes you'd look out the window and it's the same thing you would see for five hours. You'd stop on the side of the road and maybe just get out and have a cigarette or whatever, take a photo, enjoy the sunshine for a bit, see a rattlesnake, jump back in the van. These are great moments. Stop off at some little shit-hole Mexican place and get the best chili of your life. And then move on. ... I like the Midwest, I like the East Coast. I love the South as well. ... I like the Midwest because it was the first part of America that I actually saw. And I like going down the East Coast to Philadelphia. I like the sort of blue-collar America."
Rider you identify with the most -- Easy Rider, Rough Rider or Midnight Rider:
Phil Campbell: "Midnight Rider because we have the tune 'Midnight Black' (off their 2013 self-titled debut album). That's what it reminds me of."
Favorite road song:
Phil Campbell: "I don't think we had any one song. We played a lot of the War on Drugs. We played the War on Drugs album an awful lot. That's one of the biggest memories, a musical soundtrack in my head. We played that an awful lot, we played Kurt Vile. We listened to music as well that was completely uncool. Or music from our past growing up. We would play tunes like an Elton John song or a tune from a Scottish band that nobody in America would have known. Or like a Simple Minds song. But I don't know if there was one. I will get you one song from this next trip. Because like I say, I'm gonna be a little bit more aware. (laughs) Guaranteed."
Part 3 of the "High Hopes at The Ride" series. See Part 1 on Little Hurricane and Part 2 on the Band of Heathens. Publicity photo by Rob Blackham.