Peter Frampton had heavyweights like David Bowie and Roger Daltrey in his corner for decades. But it was a long time before he felt like he was truly respected as a musician.
It took a while for the tide to turn, but particularly in the past two decades, it feels like the veteran singer-songwriter is finally getting his due on many levels, including his talents as a guitar player.
“It’s been very gratifying getting to this point, I have to say,” he tells UCR now. “You know, it might not have ever happened, if I’d given up. But that’s just not my character.”
Following his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2024, Frampton is visibly energized. It capped a year which found him playing concerts to rave reviews, while in his time away from the road, he has continued to work on new music. He spoke with UCR to look back on the year’s incredible sequence of events and his experience at the Rock Hall ceremonies.
I love that Roger Daltrey ended up being the one who gave the speech at the inductions in your honor. What did it mean to you to have Roger give that speech?My very first big show was opening for the Who, so it made perfect sense. He’s known me since the very beginning. He was around when all of that craziness went on because of Keith [Moon] and John [Entwistle]. Of course, it was like going to rock and roll college for me. So yeah, it was wonderful. He’s the nicest man and he’s never changed. He’s always been the same. I love Roger and I was so thrilled he could do it.
Peter Frampton Reacts to His Rock Hall Induction
To hear you describe it as rock and roll college makes me think of your early touring experiences overall. There’s no handbook for the job you do. What’s the moment where you felt like you were starting to find yourself and get a handle on it all?The Herd was a heady experience, because when we hit, we got three Top 10 hits. We were being screamed at all over, as this teenybopper band and we really weren’t that to start with. We just had some successful songs written for us. But I think when I really got a handle on it was Humble Pie, when I was definitely required to be, you know, my main job was the guitar player. It was a period where I found my own style. Because I was not a straight blues or rock player. I’d always enjoyed listening to jazz as well, the more melodic stuff. Wes Montgomery and then players I could never be like him and Django Reinhardt. You know, there was a completely different way of playing. I kind of combined the approach of jazz with the excitment of rock and blues. That was the most exciting period for me, in Humble Pie.
I hadn’t thought about you and Roger being doppelgangers of a sort. His story about being chased through the airport with fans thinking it was you, had you heard that before?Yeah, I’d heard another story. He was in a restaurant or bar and two girls came up and said, “Sign this for us.” It was just a piece of paper and it said Roger Daltrey on it. They said, “No, no, no, you’re Peter Frampton.” And he said, “I went straight to the barber and cut my hair off.” Because we were very similar, if you think about that picture of him in Tommy with the big hair. So I’d heard that story, but I hadn’t heard the other stories about him being chased. That was great.
READ MORE: Pete Townshend Asked Peter Frampton to Replace Him in the Who
The screaming teens, we’ve seen the footage of Beatlemania. How prepared were you when that kind of insanity came your way? Because between that and what followed later in the ’70s with Frampton Comes Alive, it was two different storms to weather and get used to.It was, because when we were the Herd, we were screamed at and the adulation was for us, because we were young and doing pop songs. Humble Pie, we didn’t want to be screamed at. In fact, I think we did one Top of the Pops TV show and the next gig, we got screamed at, so we said, “Let’s go to America, where no one knows us.” After I left Humble Pie and went solo, that fifth record just catapulted me. As Cameron Crowe says, I was strapped to the nose cone of a rocket and off I went. It was a combination of a musician’s adulation….but the majority, it went back to being like a teenybopper thing again. I got screamed at again, which is not what I wanted — because of the way I looked. The good thing is that now, I don’t look like that, so I never get screamed at. [Laughs]
But I think that was the disappointment for me, was that it was more of an adulation, as opposed to an appreciation of the musicianship. I’ll take it all, but it took me a while. It kind of was my undoing and the fall from grace, as I mentioned in my speech. But I think it was all necessary, as I said. I think a lesson was learned, yet again. We repeat ourselves, unfortunately. But building myself back up from the bottom of the ladder again was a slow but very, very sure footing. I made sure I didn’t make any mistakes up the ladder this time. You never know, but luckily, I’d been able to climb back, thanks to David Bowie and many, many other people. A lot of people came to my help. You know, I managed to get to the point where I’ve got the respect as a musician, which I’ve always craved, because that’s my passion.
It’s been a moment with your career that’s been really fun to watch.Well, thank you. It’s been very gratifying getting to this point, I have to say. You know, it might not have ever happened, if I’d given up. But that’s just not my character. So it was humiliating to go from being the biggest star in the world for a couple of years to certain people — and I won’t say who — but certain artists, if I went to a club or something and paparazzi was taking a picture of me and that artist, people were jumping out of the photograph, not to be in the photograph with me. That’s where I got to and that was the humiliating part.
READ MORE: Top 10 Peter Frampton Songs
It was a true joy watching you rip it up with Keith Urban during your performance at the Rock Hall festivities. How did you first come to know Keith?I met him when I first moved to Nashville in the ’90s. I’d moved away for a few years after that, but we were managed by the same company at that point. We got put together, they said, “Would you like to work with Keith?” I said, “yeah, I’d love to.” I don’t think we ever finished a song, but we had a great time. We became friends and we’ve been friends ever since. I’ve watched him go from one level to another and he’s just a lovely guy. And he’s an incredibly talented player as well as singer, writer, everything. It was a joy that he was able to [play with me at the inductions] because I know we both have a mutual respect and I think it really showed in the performance. It wasn’t easy to make “Do You Feel Like We Do” go from the 18 minutes it is now [when we play it live] down to seven and a half minutes. It was the most difficult thing of the evening.
Watch Peter Frampton and Keith Urban Perform ‘Do You Feel Like We Do’
You mentioned David Bowie and you two obviously grew up together, so there was some cool history. From your perspective, how did your time playing with David feed back into your own work after you did that?Well, it just inspired me. I had been a bit lackluster up to that point. It was a hard slog in the ’80s for me. David gave me another starting gate and the starting gate was halfway up the ladder again. That’s what I think he knew he was doing, but I had no idea. I just thought it was great I was playing with David, finally, after all of these years, on stage — not offstage. For him to give me that gift of involving me in two projects, the record and the tour, he knew exactly what he was doing. I was wrongly identified for a while there and he always saw a very clear picture of me being the passionate guitar player. He could have had anybody he wanted, as proven by all of the guitarists he’d had up until that point. I mean, Stevie Ray Vaughan was the last one before me. It was very heady stuff for me that he chose me and I still thank him every day.
READ MORE: Peter Frampton Didn’t Know How Much David Bowie Helped Him
You have these wonderful moments in your career, like Glyn Johns asking you to play on a Small Faces track and you meet Steve Marriott. Crossover moments like that which lead to future moments in one’s career, it’s really something.I think in England too, before I moved over here, it was such a small but large scene. We were all in London at the same clubs. We were all in the same studios. It was a small circle and if you got into the circle, the collaborations and the new bands that were formed because of that…..the British scene, I think, happened, because it was like we were all in Seattle at the time [and the grunge movement that happened there]. But we were all in London. You couldn’t help but bump into all of these incredible players, writers and whatever. yeah, we were fermenting back then. [Laughs]
This is random, but I wondered if you have a good story from when you shared the stage with ZZ Top back in the day.We opened for ZZ Top and bison came on the stage. [Laughs]
The Worldwide Texas Tour!Yeah, I just remember that it was like, what, are we playing in a circus? I didn’t know what was happening. But I’ve always been a huge ZZ Top fan, so we loved playing with them. What a great outfit.
I know you’ve been working on new music. I’ve just done a vocal track in my music room on yet another new one. Yeah, it’s coming fast and furious now. If I’m not inspired by what’s happened in 2024, I’ll never be inspired. It’s given me a wonderful slap on the back and push. Every night, when everyone has gone to bed, I pick up the acoustic or electric and jam and record everything. In the morning, I listen to what I did and usually there’s a riff or a chord sequence or a title or something. It’s 24/7 here right now with creating.
2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Ozzy Osbourne, Cher, Peter Frampton and Foreigner highlight this year’s HOF class.
Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening
