Quo Kiss And Make Up With Former Bassist
Status Quo’s Francis Rossi and former bassist Alan Lancaster have been reconciled while the band were in Sydney on their latest Australian tour. The two met and buried the hatchet, with Lancaster even attending the show at Hordern Pavilion and signing autographs for fans.
Words: Tim Baker
Remaining tight-lipped, Rossi attempted to explain the situation: “We had a fuckwit of a manager and at some point I think Alan realised: ‘Hang on, I’ve been had here.’ It was just great seeing him and catching up.”
Lancaster, who left Quo in 1985, echoed the sentiment, insisting it was a “private and personal meeting” and like “we’d never parted company”.
“It was also the same with Rick (Parfitt), when he came over and chatted with us,” added Lancaster. “But as I say, although our get-together was extremely warm and amiable, it was, and is personal.”
While the three are back on friendly terms it’s unlikely we’ll see any future reunion, with Quo continuing as normal and Lancaster busy with charity events and overseeing the activities of his son’s band The Presence.
“I was thinking about that (collaborating with Lancaster) last night and I don’t know what it means for the band,” said Rossi.
“As far as the current band is concerned: it’s irrelevant,” added Lancaster. “Status Quo will, as they are, continue to do their thing. The most important thing is that our relationship has been reinstated, and we basically have the same camaraderie and spirit as was in the early days. There is no other ‘hidden meaning’ that should be construed. We are just pleased our personal relationship is back on track.”
Francis Rossi embarks on a solo tour in May. Go here for the dates.
That´s lovely !
Blimey!
Is it a few degrees colder in Hell(o!) today?
Nice to see though.
Very good news. Now bring on that reunion!
By the way, anyone knows what happened to Pete Kircher?
Get Nuff back in the band please, lads. You know it would make sense!
Great news, lets hope they realise how big a deal it would be for Quo fans to see Alan back in the line up!
Have seen Quo many times since and they have always been great but have never equalled the 1984 Milton Keynes Bowl gig which was the last one with Alan. He and the rest of the band were on fire that day which was supposed to be the ‘End Of The Road’. Can’t see a reunion ever happening but it’s good that they’ve buried the hatchet.
Great to hear they are friends again but Rhino is the better bassist.
Oh come on. Here we go with the ‘Quo should reunite with Lancaster’ crowd. Apart from being a blatant affront to Rhino and Matt,it’s a simple fact that that line up was a long time ago in a galaxy far,far away. The band has evolved into a different creature now and,like it or not,there’s no going back. Do these people really think that getting the old line up back together will somehow produce a Quo that look and sound like they did in the seventies? It wont! As for the ‘glory days’ of 1984,the guys themselves will admit that the Milton Keynes gig was rubbish and that they were so coked up they were like zombies on stage. Quo,at that time,was dead on its butt. It cant all be blamed on the drugs; some of it was down to the clashing of the personalities within the band,PARTICULARLY Alan Lancaster who was feeling increasingly isolated from the Rossi/Parfitt dynamic. John Coghlan was disillusioned and was often prone to sulks and violent outbursts. All in all,a far cry from todays harmonious line up and NOT,as the purists would have you believe,the recipe for the second coming of the holy Quo.
Great news ! but please no reunion ! Quo are a different animal now, but maybe a one off charity gig incuding john coglan
great great news! be nice to see alan on stage at least once in the remaining life of the quo,or maybe write a song or two for them. its nice to see grown men bury the hatchet, ozzy/iommi take note!
Thats superb, Alan played on all the classics, glad they have got it sorted
WOW
This is very good news and I like it, I like it…
Greetings from Jarmo/Status Quiz
http://www.myspace.com/statusquizmusic
This is indeed lovely, but you can’t expect them to just ditch Rhino Edwards (who is a brilliant musician). Let’s just be happy for them as fellow people.
Bring Alan back to the band… it is a dream all Quofans wants to come true !!!!!
LOVE QUO NOW,BUT WOULD LOVE TO SEE ALAN AND JOHN PLAY WITH THEM AGAIN…QUODAY2,,IRELANDS OFFICAL TRIBUTE DAY TO QUO SAT 27TH MARCH CLOISTERS BAR PORTLAOISE CO LAOIS..LIVE QUOMOTION
Please please a reunion concert with Alan and John should now be the best commercial plan !!
And I am willing to pay a lot of money to be there !!!!
a reunion would make quo a rock band again instead of a cabaret act!
This is awesome news, I can’t tell you how touched as a fan I am to hear this, I just hope it isn’t a sad rumour or something because rumours like this have been flying around the Quo camp for decades now. I actually feel quite emotional this is happening, hope we could see some kind of a reunion now, I’ve been praying for this moment since 1985.
Great news on the potential re-union!!!!!!!!! LOVE Alan’s energy and playing. Alan’s son’s band is great too. Googled them and had a listen to check them out. Anyone know if the presence are playing around Camden soon?
Personally I wasn’t that bothered. From everything Ive read so far, the ‘tiff’ was down to Nuff’s’ arrogance predominantly. Lets face it he even tried to take the Status Quo name in court and lost. Francis Rossi and Ricky Parfitt have always been Status Quo and Alan was just the bassist, the same as Rhino is The Bassist now. Personally I think Rhino has done more for the band than Alan ever did.
A lot more sense being spoken here than on the Quo site with all the Pre-84s
Mark Drury and Catherin Weverill – here here!
One word if this is true. WOW!!
It’s been said, ‘Quo was then’ and ‘Quo is now’ but listen, I grew up with the frantic four and would pay bloody good money to catch them live one more time. Over to you chaps, the rock world awaits . . . . well I do anyways . . . . . . . . . GOT ANY QUO !!
how i would [love] to see mr.lanaster back it would be gr8 .i remember them in the 70s.put it this way they they wll be remembered for the music back then not the crap they play now.
It is good to hear about the two fo them meeting, but the problems wouldn’t have happened in the first place if Lancaster wasn’t so arrogant as to dictate how the band should have gone before he “left”. If he had a more musical based mind he would have seen that. Quo wouldn’t be here if he was still in the band, they would have imploded years ago.
What is it that you lot think you’d see if there was a reunion gig? Energy? theres more energy at a quo gig now than there ever was. Rocking tunes? 40 years of practice means they rock like a child of indeterminate parentage now. ‘Big Fat Mama’ rocks harder now than it ever did. As for ‘the crap they play now’, half of that IS the stuff that was written 20 years ago and Lancaster was, and is, happy enough to live off it! OK, he got a bit sniffy over ‘Marguerita Time’, who didn’t? But i bet it didnt stop him spending the royalties from it. Where is your loyalty to rock NOW, Mr Lancaster?, said his bank manager. So what else are these purists carping after? I suspect its not so much that they want the old lline-up because it made for a better, truer sound, its more likely because they are trying to recapture the days when THEY THEMSELVES had energy,hair and could rock and they are all frustrated at the fact that theyve all now got mortgages and receding hairlines and think that somehow, reuniting the band will bring back their looks,their libido and their first girlfriend. I mean come on, wheres the sense? I wish i could eat the first roast dinner i ever had…all roast dinners now are vapid and tasteless. I should never have thrown the leftovers in the bin. If someone were to go to the tip and find the mould-ridden fetid slime that is whats left of my roast dinner, id put it on a plate and it would be the best roast dinner EVER. ITS GONE AND ITS NOT COMING BACK. GET OVER IT!!!