His white hair spiked and his glasses framed with rainbow-coloured rims, Animals front man Eric Burdon still looks every bit the rocker he was when he helped lead the “British Invasion” alongside bands like the Beatles, The Who and the Rolling Stones in the 1960s. Though the original version of The Animals broke up by 1968, Burdon’s distinctly aggressive, raw vocals on hits such as “House of the Rising Sun” and “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” helped land the band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Still writing and touring, Burdon, now 71 and living in southern California, pulls no punches when talking music, aging or his candid reactions to the untimely passing of friends like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin. With a new album, ‘Til Your River Runs Dry, in stores, a show to play tonight at Casino Rama and a third autobiography in the works, Burdon recently sat down withZoomer’s Mike Crisolago.
PART ONE: The Invasion, Drugs and the Death of Jimi Hendrix
MIKE CRISOLAGO: The British invasion proved one of the most monumental cultural shifts in modern music history. Was there competition between you and other bands like the Beatles or was everyone just happy to grab a piece of the pie?
ERIC BURDON: Well, when it started out, we were like brothers in arms. We were all friends and we’d get together and have a drink after a show. It was a real tight knit club of people. But then the big money started coming in, and the big agents and managers got their hands on the dough, and then there was a need for competition and so the camaraderie was lost by about ’67. I hated the expression British invasion. But we were young, we were from Britain and we were in America playing their music to them. That was a big thing to be able to pull off.
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