Orchestra legacy still a Livin' Thing

4:38pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

More than 20 years after influential singer-songwriter Jeff Lynne pulled the plug on the Electric Light Orchestra to become a Traveling Wilbury, the band is still lighting up concert halls.

Correction, that should read: the band in its latest manifestation, because the personnel has changed.

Take the band's projected 22-date UK tour this September and October. Three members of the original line-up - Louis Clark, Kelly Groucutt and Mik Kaminski - will be joined by ELO Part II founding members Eric Troyer, Phil Bates and Gordon Townsend, augmented by The Orchestra. At least that how it seemed from the press release.

Seeking illumination about what this means in terms of bodies on stage, I asked violinist Mik Kaminski to explain.

He said: "There's just the six of us. The line-up is broadly the same as it was for the 2006 tour although that was sold under the ELO banner.

"We had some problems with Mr Lynne. He gets a bit touchy about his ELO credentials, he doesn't approve of us using the name, so that's why we had to have some agreement.

"We are now known collectively as The Orchestra. This didn't cause any problem with Jeff."

Now that that's cleared up, what about the playlist for the tour, will it replicate the St George's Hall show two years ago?

"It will be a slightly longer show because we have done away with the support: we are supporting ourselves now. We still play the ELO hits but intersperse them with a few acoustic things of our own.

Those ELO hits include 10538 Overture, Livin' Thing, Rockaria, Telephone Line, Mr Blue Sky, Wild West Hero, Sweet Talkin' Woman, Shine A Little Love and Don't Bring Me Down.

Their top ten albums included A New World Record, Out Of The Blue, Discovery and Time.

"I found a strange Bulgarian piece that I have adapted, which offers a bit of a different landscape."

Sales of Electric Light Orchestra records - reportedly top 100 million worldwide. That's an awful lot of filthy lucre in any national currency you care to mention. Are Mik and his fellow musicians wealthy?

"Not really. Jeff wrote the songs, so the majority of the wealth ended up in his camp. We are happy to continue playing the songs as long as people want to hear them.

"We have just done 26 dates over here. Last year we travelled from Mexico to Siberia. Last week we spent a couple of days in Romania.

"This year is going to be very busy. We are popping into America, we're going back to Mexico I think. There are nine or ten shows with a full orchestra in Europe. We just work round it," he added.

If he sounds laid back about all the touring and playing, that's probably because Mik Kaminski is an old hand at it.

He was invited to join the band in 1973 after answering an advertisement in Melody Maker. The story goes that Jeff Lynne auditioned him and, after hearing a faultless bit of playing, offered him a job.

Thirty-five years later he's still on the road and is still a couple of years away from his 60th. Doesn't he miss his family?

"We have some fairly quiet time in the summer, when I catch up on everything, before all hell breaks loose at the end of the year.

"As if that wasn't enough, me and the guitarist Phil Bates are doing some gigs as a duo. The first one is at a big acoustic festival at Tamworth on May 26.

"We did some shows together about ten years ago and they were quite successful. So we've put together this show called Beatles, Blue and Blue Violin, which has an acoustic, jazzy feel," he added.

A couple of years ago the band evidently enjoyed themselves at St George's Hall.

"It was the first show of the British tour. The place was packed to the roof. We had a few technical things we hadn't ironed out, but the response was fantastic."

Needless to say, he's looking forward to more of the same in just under five months.

• The Orchestra with ELO members are at St George's Hall on October 1, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets from (01274) 432000.

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