Sam Hill interview, May 27th 2006

Discuss the interview here!

The day after we met up with Clive Burr, we met up with Sam Hill, original founding member of Cliveaid. Sam has created a movement out of nothing that is almost unmatched, and it was great to hear about the future of Cliveaid from the man who makes it all happen!

Maiden Norway: Can you tell us a bit about Cliveaid? Why did you start it, and how did you get going?

Sam Hill, Cliveaid

We had no idea what we were going to do. So we decided we had to look first for a venue. We need somewhere that’s slightly Iron Maiden-ish. So Ruskin Arms was the obvious choice. And the guys down there were good enough to give us the venue free. And then we got in touch with Sanctuary Music, who were really supportive from the first moment we approached them. Which was nice. So we got the backing of what was really Iron Maiden, and their management, you know. And they sent over a lot of stuff.

So then the bands turned up for the first one, which was pretty cool. There was a lot of London bands, we raised a lot of money that night. And that kind of stopped, after that gig it stopped. And we were like “Oh, shit, what are we going to do now?” And then Robin Guy thought, “Oh, I’ve seen Clive’s drum-kit in the garage with dust and spiders and cobwebs and stuff. What can we do?” Enter the Hardrock Café, a terrible night of alcohol poisoning and famous people hanging around, it was pretty cool. We invited Iron Maiden along and a few of them came, all of which was quite cool. Bruce came, Janick came and…. Oh, and Adrian came. Great night. Toni Iommi turned up, Ian Paice turned up… various other people, you know? People from Sex Pistols, Blondie… So it was pretty much a good old Rock’n Roll night in London, you know. And then we got ten grand for Clive’s drum-kit.

So yeah, that was all good. And then we all started to go “Oh we gotta try another one, somewhere”, and Adrian [Lodge] met Clive on the plane going to Florida for his holiday, and asked Clive if he could do a donation. And Clive said “Oh no, mate, you need to speak to Sam, he does all that.” Adrian was going to send us a check. So I said, “Listen, don’t send us a check. Let’s just do a show.” That’s why you’re here, and that’s why I’m here today. And that’s that part.

So it’s all good! The other things you know about, because you are going to be a part of it, you two. You Norwegian guys, you know where we’re going. We are going to Los Angeles next year. And obviously by the sound of it, we were told last night that we are going to New York. That’s just gonna be really spectacular. The idea of Cliveaid was for raising funds for Clive, initially. Now we’ve changed that, it’s gonna be… we are opening some daycare centres. Well not daycare centres, day venues, where we’ll be using music therapy to some, you know, kids who are a little bit slower. You know with learning disorders and all their bits. And at night they will all be rock venues, so we can carry on Cliveaid. So yeah, the old thing’s got a little bit silly, ‘cause initially it was just two men having a laugh with, uhm, Clive. And now it’s starting to get pretty frightening, really. To be truthful it’s getting quite scary. But it is also really exciting. And the days’ve been all getting messages, getting the word out there and getting people here and letting them know what we do.

The Iron Maiden thing, I mean obviously the guys, they do support us, they’ve sent signed stuff, which you guys saw last night. I mean, the auctions that we do at Cliveaid are pretty special. I mean, last night was, it was a bad one, Doncaster was rubbish, really. But, we still raised £350. In London we raised nearly £700. So they do send us fine stuff, they send us a lot of nice things, as well. We get a lot of comments from all over the world.

Maiden Norway: You get a lot of support from other bands as well, don’t you?

Sam Hill: Yeah. We get a lot of support. All the bands play free, most of the time. We cover their expenses like it needs to be. So yeah, we get a lot of comments from people on the Myspace. Which is the fastest growing Myspace site in Europe.

Maiden Norway: Actually in the world, yeah?

Sam Hill: Pretty much! Yeah, two weeks, a thousand people. So, you know, we’re pretty powerful already. Didn’t realize we had that many friends, but suddenly you’ve got lots of friends, you know, we got people going “Oooh, can I be your friend?” Yeah yeah, ten pounds… hahaha! But it is, it’s exciting stuff, so we’re moving it away from being completely for Clive. Which is something he wants us to do as well… to benefit other people, because they get the power of what we all like. The reason that you’re here, the reason I’m here, is because of the music. Even if it’s not Iron Maiden, it’s either Metal or Rock. And we need to realize how powerful this shit is that we have. Without going all “Oh, we’re gonna change the world” and be all silly about it, but we actually can make a hell of a difference, by even giving two pounds, one pound.

So that’s what we’re doing, that’s what we’re at. We’ve got shows coming up which you know about in Dublin. The details of that we’ve just done. We know when it is, we don’t know where it is. Well actually we do know where it is, Radio City. No, Radio City in Dublin, we’re playing. So there’s four hundred people. So the Dublin gig is all sorted, it’s December the 19th.

Maiden Norway: Which are the other two Irish bands?

Sam Hill: We don’t know. Bat’s gonna sort them out. He thinks it’s a good idea to have three Irish bands in Ireland, which is a good thing.

Maiden Norway: Obviously, yeah.

Sam Hill: So it’s Radio City, in Dublin, the day before Iron Maiden play. So, it should fill, it should be a good night anyway. There’s a band from Norway playing, that you probably know. But we don’t talk about them. And there’s a bad English band as well, which is my band. But then again we play every gig I put on because otherwise we would never ever get a gig! [laughs] So that’s the best thing, I just book lot’s of concerts and we always play, so that’s good.

We are hoping to take over, well obviously Glyder are going, they’re a new Irish band which you guys have seen. And we’re hoping to take over a band called GMT, which is Bernie Torme, John McCoy and Robin Guys band. Pretty, pretty hot stuff, to be honest. So if they could go over that would all be very, very cool. The Dublin stuff will be on the website I guess within the week, you know. That’ll be all done then. And the Los Angeles connection, we got a guy called Happening Harry, who knows all the rockstars. Which is a really, actually scary thing because he actually does. And ehm, he’s doing a show for us the next few weeks on his own, just to raise a few funds for next year. And then next year, the festival that we’re going to do in LA – which we will do in LA – is gonna by all accounts kick serious ass.

And then we’ve been told that we’ve got to do a show, which you guys were there last night when we were told, that we got to do a show in New York. Which came as a bit of a shock really because Clive Burr’s wife told us we got to do the show in New York because Dee Snider decided Twisted Sister would like to do the show in New York. Which we don’t want them to do because they’re shit, you know. [laughing] Don’t put that on! [laughs loudly]
But I mean, being told that Twisted Sister want to play for you is a really awesome thing, you know. It’s a pretty cool thing to have them play. That’s the shows for the year.

We’ve still got a few silly things that we’ve got to do, we’re going to try and get the biggest rock and in the world, which we’re gonna try at some festival somewhere, we need ten minutes. Everyone will be given a tambourine or something. That’s a part of it as well, just to create a bit of interest. But I guess really that’s the size of what it is and what it is. It’s all getting a little bit silly, which is fantastic, that’s the best thing.

Maiden Norway: Next year it’s going to be an open air festival?

Sam Hill: Yeah, there is, an open air festival in England, somewhere. We’ve got the choice of three venues – well, we’ve got the option of three venues. It all depends on the English councils, because the councils of England are renowned for being a bit, not very helpful, to say the least. But yeah, we’re hoping to do an open air show next summer. We’ve been in contact with a few bands. But it’s probably best to not write their names at this point, you know as well as I know that, you know, people go a bit funny when their names are put on something. Two stages, one of the stages is going to be for unsigned bands, and the other stage is going to be for bigger bands. Yeah, we’re moving away from just Clive, we’re gonna help as much as we can so, the open air is going to be awesome.

Maiden Norway: And also, you’ve been talking about a tribute CD?

Sam Hill: Yes. We’re in the process of getting in touch with a lot of Iron Maiden tribute bands around the world, to give us a track. It needs to be some of the old sort of stuff, you know, from the first couple of albums. Put it on a CD as a Cliveaid CD. Now, obviously we’re going to have a couple of double checks with Sanctuary and Sanctuary on copyrights and this and the other, but I can’t see there being a massive issue. So we’re hoping to get that released this year. At some point. And the end of what’s coming from that will help generate what we need to do. There’s new t-shirt being designed and printed, so they’ll be up and done as well. And I guess, ehm, that we are going to put a DVD out later in the year even if it’s going to be very raw. It’s going to be quite funny actually, we’re hoping to do the Dublin gig, to actually record the while thing so… your band and my band, will become world famous on a DVD! [laughs] That’s a good idea, yeah, it’s going to be really funny because again, we’re playing because we’re there and I booked it! So, we get three DVD’s extra, which is always a good thing [laughs].

So yeah, that’s… we’re going to get in touch with a couple of like, satellite television companies to see if they’ll come along, which I think they probably should. Because the day before Iron Maiden, anything can happen. We just don’t know. I don’t expect Iron Maiden to be in Ireland that night, but I don’t know. But we’re definitely going to put that DVD out. It’s uhm… interesting times, yeah. Interesting times. It is.

Last night you saw Clive, and he’s bad. He is bad. He is definitely not what a lot of people would expect.

Maiden Norway: Yeah, you could see him struggling when fans wanted things signed, it looked like he was in pain whilst he was writing.

Sam Hill: Yeah, he is in a lot of pain. I mean, I was putting him back in the car last night and he has got absolutely no leg control or movement in his legs. And it’s quite humbling when you sit at this Cliveaid thing, because before you put the show on you think “Oh God, not again! Why are we doing this shit?” you know. And then he turns up. And his wife turns up. And they both have MS, and they struggle like to get on with things. And you go and put this guy in the car who was an iconic rock legend drummer, and he can’t move his legs at all. And they are like literally picking up a lead weight.

Maiden Norway: Yeah, it took three people to get him in the car.

Sam Hill: Yeah, it is quite… it makes you feel a little bit sad. But then you know what you’ve all done as well. When he goes home, you saw the smile on his face. He’s had his cigarettes and he’s had his brandy and he’ll be okay. Now for three or four days now he will be on a high. So it’s good, it helps him a bit. So then it’s all good.

But really what we need to do is to spread the word. Yeah, that’s the thing, just sort of spread the word. We’re not asking for peoples money, which is a great thing. Not yet. We’re gonna come and get you for your money later, but for now, it’s just joining in. [smiles] And you know, people giving a little bit of their time if they can. We are going to go all over, we’re coming to Norway, soon! You know. The Norway thing will be interesting. We hope. It’ll be interesting. We’ll see if we can get some more bands. We’ve already got a few great bands. Oh, they’re fantastic bands. So my band is playing again [laughs]. And of course, Frode’s band will be playing agai, because they don’t get gigs either! [laughs] So this is how we can help eachother, you know. So we’ll all become famous to ourselves! [laughter]

That’s about it I reckon. Well I’ve got to thank you for coming over, really. It’s nice. That’s another great thing that’s really cool about this. You know, we get people who travel all over the world to come these little shows, and then they are small shows. On the last one we had people from Brazil who flew in for one night and went home the next morning.

Maiden Norway: That’s amazing!

Sam Hill: It’s scary. You know, you spend £500 on an airplane flight, just to come to a show in London and go straight home.

Maiden Norway: That’s awesome.

Sam Hill: It is awesome, and that’s the nature of it I guess. People will travel. We had people yesterday, three, there were three of you from Norway, wasn’t there? And I think there was a guy who’d come over from France last night as well, which was a bit strange. But he did, so that’s cool. So yeah. There we are.

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