WHAT: Creedence Clearwater Revisited
WHERE: Leach Amphitheater, Oshkosh
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11
COST: $25; $10 student admission with ID
INFO: ticketstaronline.com or 800-895-0071

CCR deja vu

During the late ’60s and early ’70’s, Creedence Clearwater Revival performed their intense brand of swamp rock-n-roll, consistently churning out hits like “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising” and “Born on the Bayou.” The group disbanded in 1972 over creative differences.

Lead singer/songwriter John Fogerty embarked on a solo career the following year and his guitarist brother Tom died from blood transfusion-contracted AIDS in 1990. The two remaining members, longtime buddies drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford and bassist Stu Cook, worked on various musical projects together. It was in 1995 that the two came up with the idea of resurrecting the music with a new band, Creedence Clearwater Revisited.
I received the details from Cosmo while the band was touring in Oregon in August.

Jane Spietz: What was the inspiration for getting back together, for you and Stu starting the group?

Dough Cosmo Clifford: We thought about it…Did we want to start off with a new band that literally comes from nowhere, at the bottom of the heap; or did we want to start at the top, playing the songs that we hadn’t played in over 25 years. We would hear every day; people would say that they’d either seen us or had never seen us live and that it would be great to be able to hear it live. So it was basically driven by the fans. We did it and this is our 14th year. I had no idea that it would last this long and be as much fun as it’s been. It’s great.

JS: It sounds like you’ve been getting rave reviews.

COSMO: We’re doing well. We’re having a lot of fun, which really shows. When you’re doing that, you’re going to play better. It’s just the way it is. When your job requirement has the word “play” in it, whether a sport or it’s music or something like that, that’s the beauty of it. You travel around and you have fans wherever you end up. They love what you do. It’s pretty cool. And now we have three generations of fans. It’s great having teenagers and early 20s out there, 30s and 40s. Then you jump into our neighborhood, a little bit older crowd but still plenty of energy left in the old generation and tons in the new generation. So we get an extra bonus there.

JS: That’s excellent. I’m so glad that you’re reaching out to a new generation because I grew up with your music, I love it, and now my children enjoy it as well.

COSMO: That’s pretty much where it comes from. It’s usually kids getting it through their parents or their siblings, so it’s sort of a family thing. We’re on classic rock radio everywhere. Some of the youngsters actually hear it because they like listening to classic rock. They hear us there and then pick up a CD. They say I’ve heard this song and that song; they have a lot of hits here. That’s what we do. We come to town with about 20 hits, we play ‘em, leave ‘em lathered up, and go to the next place.

JS: Tell us about the other members of Creedence Clearwater Revisited.

COSMO: Stu Cook is the other original, the bass player, from Creedence Clearwater Revival. I’ve known Stu for 50 years. We started the band when we were about 13 years of age. This year is the 40th anniversary of the release of our first hit, which was “Suzie Q” back in 1968.

John Tristao is our lead singer/comedian/entertainer/rhythm guitarist. He’s just a real funny guy and has fun on stage. That keeps us going. The audience loves it, too. He’s multi-talented.

We have Tal Morris on lead guitar. He’s the newest guy. He’s been with us for four years. We had Elliot Easton from the Cars on guitar when we started the band and he’s doing what we’re doing with a band called the New Cars.

Lastly, we have Steve Gunner who’s our multi-instrumentalist. He plays the overdub parts: keyboards, percussion, acoustic rhythm, harmonica, and sings high harmony as well. That rounds us off as a five-piece. We were originally a four-piece but we were unable to do all of those instruments at once with just four of us, so we made a five-piece out of it.

JS: How do you feel when people compare you to the old band?

COSMO: When we first started, we were considered to be bums and rats, and that was really mainly by the press. They had never heard us. In fact, one of the biggest booking agencies in the country took out an ad in Variety. Its senior vice-president said “Don’t hire these guys, it’s fake” and it’s this and it’s that. So we got in touch with this fellow and told him that it wasn’t very good journalism if you haven’t seen something to rip it as hard as you did. He came to a show and the first major agency that we signed with was his agency. So we’ve had to do it the hard way. We have to earn it every time but it’s been 14 years now and we have a reputation. People know about us, hear good things and come to see us. We have a lot of repeat fans as well. So most of the comparisons are excellent. That wasn’t the case when we first started.

JS: I don’t want to touch on any raw nerves, but do you ever have contact with John Fogerty?

COSMO: Not really. He won’t talk to us except through his lawyers. It makes for expensive love letters. We don’t hear directly from John.

JS: Was there ever any possibility along the line of reuniting with him?

COSMO: You have to communicate before you can do that and so far he hasn’t chosen to do that. From that standpoint, it doesn’t look really great. We have a band and we’re having fun with it.

JS: What can you tell us about Creedence Clearwater Revisited’s live double CD, “Recollection”?

COSMO: It has been out for awhile and it went platinum. It was another band-driven thing. People wanted to have something that they could pick up at the shows. We recorded it up in Canada. Our manager ran into a fellow that had an independent record company, one thing led to another and he picked it up. It was in the stores, people were buying it and it’s still selling. It’s a platinum record now. Another surprise, I’ll tell ya. Who’da thunk?

JS: That just goes to show you the popularity of the music early on and it’s just gonna last, it’s got staying power.

COSMO: They like it.

JS: Looking back to the beginning, elaborate on the history of the songwriting for Creedence Clearwater Revival.

COSMO: John Fogerty was the main songwriter. He wrote all of the hits that we did. We did some cover songs. We actually did 11 cover songs of other people’s material. It was more of a tipping of the hat to artists that we revered and songs that we had played in the bars while we were learning our craft.

JS: Which songs have had the most influence on you, have touched you the most throughout the years and why?

COSMO: My favorite song to play is “Born on the Bayou.” It’s very funky. It’s a quarter note thing which I came up with. It’s the same as “Suzie Q” in terms of that. It’s a quarter note feel. It stretches a little bit. It’s not one of our two minute, forty second singles. It’s just got a gritty, sloppy, oily feel to it. It’s awesome to me. I like all of them. I think the songs are wonderful. I do like playing, believe it or not, “Proud Mary” and “Down on the Corner,” with another sort of a different type of beat. People really seem to get going during those two songs. If they’re not already up, they’ll get up and boogie with them. That’s always fun.

JS: Yeah, they are definitely danceable!

COSMO: Yeah, most of them are. That’s the good news.

JS: I want to touch on the song “Fortunate Son,” because I think there are aspects of it that are as relevant now as they were during the Vietnam era. I would like you to talk about how you see it relating to what’s going on in today’s situations in Iraq and other areas.

COSMO: It is actually different because “Fortunate Son” was written about the draft. There was a draft during the Vietnam War. There is no draft now; it’s an all volunteer army. But back when we had Vietnam and the draft, you could go and not want to and be killed. We lost 58,000 American lives in the Vietnam War. We’re at 4,100 & some. I don’t mean to make light of the difference, but there is a huge difference in casualties and fatalities. A lot of people were getting killed and a lot of those people were draftees. Guys that didn’t want to be there in the first place. The inequities of the draft were that they didn’t seem to apply to the privileged class. The working class and the middle class did the dirty work. That’s what that song is about. So it does change it a little bit from today’s war to the Vietnam War. But war is war. It’s not good for people and cities…We’re right in the middle of another war that was based on lies, really. And Bin Laden’s still walking around on the planet. Pretty poor management, I have to say at the very least. It’s pretty disgusting.

JS: You had talked about the different classes, their level of involvement with conflicts. Even today you see the military targeting individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, appealing to them with the pitch that it offers a wonderful opportunity to escape from their present situation.

COSMO: That’s true.

JS: Are there any bands that you enjoy touring with?

COSMO: Yes, several. We’ve done shows with the Doobie Brothers over the years. They’re old friends, so it’s always fun to play with them. We’ve done things with the Beach Boys. The Little River Band, when we played down in New Zealand, they’re excellent. Mickey Thomas of Starship is an old buddy of mine, a golfing buddy. It’s always good to see him. Eddie Money, a great guy, a classic showman. There are a lot of fun bands that are out there working that are finding that the second time around is pretty darn good.

JS: I wanted to ask you about your work in the past with the American Indian Movement.

COSMO: We helped them to get onto Alcatraz Island way back then at a time when they were all but destroyed and had been destroyed by the federal government. Every treaty that was ever made with them has been broken. That’s still true today. Now they’ve got something new and it’s working quite well. They have financial independence through gaming. We’re at a Native American casino as we speak. It’s beautiful, right on the water at Coos Bay. It’s quite an interesting phenomenon where they took what basically was their downside and capitalized on it. Being independent on the reservation, they were able to put together the plan to have gaming and it’s really lucrative for them. The ones who are doing it right are putting money back into education, hospitals, schools, and things of that nature for their people instead of just cutting a big check at the end of the month for everybody. A lot of these tribes have alcohol problems, illiteracy, and other problems, so it’s nice to see them on their feet and independent and able to make a pretty darn good living through gaming.

JS: What about Creedence Clearwater Revisited – do you participate in any good works these days?

COSMO: Yes, we do. We found a charity called the Taylor Family Foundation. They deal with terminally ill children and children at risk. That’s in the Bay area. We’ve done concerts for them and also participated as people who go to their auctions and fundraisers and spent money. That’s been our charity of choice. It’s grown and we’ve actually helped them build a unique camp out in the country. Most of these kids are city kids who have never been out in the country in that environment. They go to this camp and meet other children who have the same problems that they have. They’re able to talk to them and counselors there. It’s a pretty neat thing. Yeah, we’re still in the game.

JS: Cosmo, is there anything that you’d like to add in advance of your appearance in Oshkosh on September 11?

COSMO: Hearing and seeing is believing. We’ve been doing this for 14 years all over
the world. We’ve got three generations that come to see us. Don’t miss out!