25 January 2019
Marco Gandolfi
Roxy Music star Andy Mackay is confident the band will regroup for its Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in April (19).
The saxophonist and his bandmates haven't performed together since splitting in 2011, but he's hoping they'll all agree to join frontman Bryan Ferry onstage for the big night.
"We’ve been in touch," he tells Rolling Stone. "We’re all very pleased. We’ve been looking into how we’re going to approach the actual induction, whether or not we’re going to play. I’m hopeful that we will.
"We’re friendly. I see (guitarist) Phil Manzanera a lot. I did a concert with him in November. I work a lot with him. Bryan and I talk. We see each other from time to time. (Drummer) Paul Thompson and I talk to from time to time. I haven’t seen him in some years, but I know he’s there. I played on an album of his about four years ago.
"Generally speaking, we are in contact. We are all feeling quite optimistic about it, but I wouldn’t like to say for sure what’s going to happen. It could be complicated to figure out... We're still talking about it. I'd be very happy to do it. It would be nice to see the others and I hope they feel the same way."
But recruiting Brian Eno for the gig might prove difficult, according to Mackay: "He’s shy sometimes, but I haven’t actually spoken to him about it. I’ve been very busy and I don’t know what he’s up to... The last time he played with Roxy was 1974. That was a difficult time."
In 2005, Tim de Lisle of The Guardian argued that Roxy Music are the second most influential British band after the Beatles. He wrote, "Somehow, in a landscape dominated by Led Zeppelin at one end and the Osmonds at the other, they managed to reach the Top 10 with a heady mixture of futurism, retro rock'n'roll, camp, funny noises, silly outfits, art techniques, film references and oboe solos. And although their popularity has ebbed and flowed, their influence has been strikingly consistent."
Roxy Music are an English rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry, who became the band's lead vocalist and chief songwriter, and bassist Graham Simpson. Alongside Ferry, the other longtime members were Phil Manzanera(guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone and oboe) and Paul Thompson (drums and percussion), and other former members include Brian Eno (synthesizer and "treatments"), Eddie Jobson (synthesizer and violin), and John Gustafson (bass).
