We caught up with the on-and-off Animals frontman and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee via e-mail prior to his trip to town this week:
You play Las Vegas fairly often. What keeps you coming back?
More than anything, I love the drive up. Taking the back road from the Palm Springs area where I live and stopping off at Roy’s Cafe and stopping to shoot photographs at interesting points.
When did you first play Vegas?
1970. Strangely enough, it was with War and across the tracks, in a darkened rock club whose name I can’t remember, and I doubt if it still exists. I had visited Vegas even earlier than that and have fond memories of visiting the town during the old regime. I got to meet Sammy Davis Jr., which was a great occasion for me.
Not sure if you’re aware, but War will be in the midst of a 10-night run at the Flamingo while you’re here. Any chance we’ll see you pop in over there for a guest spot on “Spill the Wine”?
[We’re not in contact] on a personal level, but I follow their career, and I’m very happy for the success they’ve had. As for performing with them, catch me if you can.
Are you pleased with the stature of The Animals’ legacy in 2007?
I’m still amazed that people still show interest in The Animals’ music, since we were the second U.K. band to visit the U.S. in the shadow of The Beatles. It was tough to cut through all of that and find our own sense of identity. But I’m quite happy to be a footnote to history.
I understand you were among the first few people to learn that your friend Jimi Hendrix had passed away. What do you imagine he would have gone on to accomplish had he survived 1970?
He was way ahead of his time as a musician. As I knew him personally, he displayed talent as a great graphic artist, and I believe if he survived in today’s world, I have no doubt he would have been a great, perhaps comic graphic artist, developed into computerized cartoons, along with his further musical development.
You’ve been purported to be the “Eggman” of “I Am the Walrus” fame. Any truth to it, and if so, why the nickname?
Well, there’s lots of things you can do with an egg. I pride myself on cooking the perfect breakfast egg, hot-water boiled, of course. I tend to go for the four-and-a-half-minute as opposed to the standard three-minute egg, which tends to be a little runny.
January 11, 7 p.m., $20-$37.50. Green Valley Ranch’s Ovation Lounge. 547-5300.