This story was reported for San Diego News Network on April 22, 2009.
He wakes up at 6:30 a.m. to take in the day — not a trait I expect of a rock star.
Then again, I suppose I’m not the normal southern/swamp rock fan: I don’t think of Woodstock or the bitter breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival or anything else that a normal CCR fan would think of.
Instead, I think about a volunteer trip that friends and I took to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the only CD we had to play in our aged rental van was CCR’s greatest hits (and that’s only because my friend Erica broke her iPod before the trip and brought her Discman with the CD).
I think about singing the music as we gutted drab houses, learned how to insulate and drove through the bayous before stopping because a native told us to look out for the abnormally large rats that swim at super-MPH speeds. I think about some of the most amazing and influential moments of my life while jamming to one of the best rock bands in American history. In fact, I don’t even call them “Creedence” for short, but CCR – in case you haven’t noticed.
And unlike some, I’ve embraced the new CCR, Creedence Clearwater Revisited. The band, revisited by drummer Doug Clifford and bassist Stu Cook, was formed in 1995. To fill in the shoes of their former colleagues, John and Tom Fogerty, they recruited Steve Gunner making harmony on the harmonica, Tal Morris on guitar and John Tristao as the lead singer. All but Morris and Clifford sing.
Ready to relive those moments in my past, and accustomed to speaking to politicians and their secretaries all day, I was excited to interview Doug Clifford, of both the new and old CCR.
Question: What was it like growing up in San Fran in the 70s?
Answer: I can’t answer that because I haven’t grown up yet. It was an interesting time — one of the greatest times for modern music. The country was facing a lot of turmoil and we were discovering new freedoms.
Q: By the way, are you on the East Coast? This is an early interview.
A: No I’m in Arizona. I get up around 6:30 a.m. I like to get up early and enjoy the mornings and get to bed fairly early, so I can get my allotted sleep. And I’m a workout fanatic too. You don’t get to rest when you’re out on the road.
Q: How much of the original CCR music can you play?
A: All of it, there’s no restriction on who plays this music. If you play it in concert, then you have to pay a royalty to the songwriter and publisher. But there was never a restriction, a legal restriction from John Fogerty when he was going through his conflicts with the former label.
Q: Describe the original CCR in one word and the new CCR in one word.
A: Timeless, I suppose. The toughest test for a pop medium is the test of time and we’ve survived that really well. We still sell music, we still have a tremendous amount of airplay on the radio and we’re still one of the top catalog air bands. And, we have three generations of fans now instead of one.
Q: And, the new CCR?
A: Well, basically, that’s what we do. We’re kind of the Creedence of the new millennium and really, we’re pretty honest with the original music. And, with the new songs, we give license to the lead guitar player to take it to a few new spots. And he does that and we always come back to where we need to be in the songs. It makes it interesting and fun.
Q: Do you still talk John [Fogerty]?
A: No, he won’t talk to us except through a lawyer, so it makes for some expensive love letters. There’s no point in talking to him because there is no talking to him — you’re just putting money into the wallet of a lawyer, two lawyers actually, our lawyer and his lawyer. So, there’s really no point in talking to him. Whatever his problem is, is his problem. You waste a lot of energy looking in the rearview mirror. I have a lot of duct tape on my rear view mirror now. We got a great band and this is our 15th year with Revisited. We’re moving forward with the wagon.
Q: What is your favorite CCR song?
A: “Born on the Bayou.”
Q: Did people ever ask you what a bayou was?
A: No.
Q: Really? When I came back from my first trip in New Orleans and I kept referring to swamps as bayous — a lot of people in San Diego, anyway, asked me what a bayou was.
A: That’s interesting. We were a California band and that fooled a lot of people. Everyone thought we were from Louisiana or Mississippi or somewhere in the deep South. Which of course, we weren’t. We just liked the music. And that’s what we ended up sticking with instead of going through a psychedelic avenue like most of our peers with the exception of Santana, for sure, who had his own nice blend of Latin and rock and roll. We were different and we stuck to what we liked. We didn’t try to follow a fad that was happening.
Q: OK, I’m going to ask you a political question. How would you compare the Vietnam War years to today?
A: One big difference, in one word: draft. There was a draft for that war and there were 58,000 Americans killed and 500,000 wounded. And, in this day and age, even though I don’t agree with the war in Iraq, it’s an all-volunteer army. There are far, far, fewer casualties. So, there’s no draft and it makes for a huge difference. The problem was the politicians who put us in that situation, based it on lies and said it was information they had received from our intelligence sources. I think it was something used, basically, to get in there and get the oil. If anyone made up the story, it was the Bush administration. Again, it was the wrong thing to do and the American people got swindled into a story that wasn’t true based on greed. I’ll leave it at that.
Q: What’s the biggest misconception of CCR?
A: That we were from the South. People still think we’re from the South, today. We were able to listen to country and real rhythm and blues in the Bay Area because of World War II — they got a lot of people out there to build ships and (help with) the war effort. So a lot of people came from the South and with them came the music and we were able to have access to that music via the radio. We were very fortunate in that way, that we had a really diverse mix of radio stations in and around the Bay.
Q: What’s your most memorable onstage moment?
A: There are a couple. But I would have to say playing Woodstock – it was absolutely unique — just an amazing time. It was something that (could) actually make the hair on our arms stand up. You can just hear the energy and it was truly all about peace and love. There were deplorable situations, it was muddy and rainy. There was not enough food and not enough bottled water but people just shared with other people and complete strangers. And, in most cases, what little they had to give. It was just sort of a remarkable experience.
We will be in the 40th anniversary movie for the first time. We weren’t in the original movie and we weren’t in the 25-year-reunion. So, at long last, we’re finally going to be in the 40th anniversary, so people will know that we were actually there — most people don’t know that.
Q: The deputy managing editor would like to know how you got your nickname, “Cosmo”?
A: Well, in college people called me Clifford-C-Clifford and I don’t know the origin of that but…I was an amateur entomologist as a kid and we lived in the animal house on the San Jose State campus — Stu [Cook] and I went to college there. There was, of course, a horrendous bug problem and nobody knew what to do about it. So they were killing the wrong bugs and the bugs that would kill other bugs, so I gave them a brief explanation about what was good and what wasn’t. I told them I would get rid of the ants and roaches but they would have to clean up after themselves and not just leave garbage in the room. It was kind of wild.
So I did that and we were at a party and somebody yelled “Clifford-C-Clifford, what does the ‘C’ stand for?” A guy named Phil, who ended up being a college professor and a way-out liberal guy and who was also in the stage of being a hippie back in 1965, said “It stands for ‘Cosmo’ because he’s so cosmic, he’s a man of nature.” And so that name stuck.
Stu Cook still calls me “Cos” or “Cosmo.” So does everybody in the organization. Nobody calls me “Doug.”
Q: Do you like it, though?
A: I love it. It’s my nickname and it’s a fun story and I still love sharing it. I still have an interest in the habitat and things that are green and so it’s pretty cool.
Q: What’s one thing you want for all listeners to get out of CCR’s music?
A: Enjoyment. That’s really what it’s all about. (Music) is a form of communication. We’re doing two things: we’re making people feel good and we’re also sending pretty intense political messages by sort of making the music upbeat and pleasant. And we’re able to slip in a few other bits of advice, to basically educate the masses.
The first thing we want people to do is enjoy themselves, especially in these times. It’s tough out there and people really do need some R and R and if we can do that for them and bring them some joy and memories and create some memories for the younger generation — then we’re doing our jobs.
You know, Stu and I put this band together 15 years ago and we had no idea people would embrace us as they have and now young people are embracing it. We’re just out there doing what we do, keeping it alive.
Throughout the interview, I contemplated whether to ask him to send me a signed copy of the CD or sing me an a cappella version of the bayou song — but I opted out, for the sake of journalism ethics.
Hoa Quach is the political editor for the San Diego News Network.