Status Quo’s Francis Rossi Marketing comes first, then the music

Just like a Status Quo song, Francis Rossi’s conversation style is honest and straight to the point.

Too long in the tooth to toe the party line and too established to care what the bosses think, the veteran rocker says what he wants.

We’re deep in discussion about the band’s packed schedule in the last couple of years. Rossi and long-time bandmate Rick Parfitt reunited with the classic Quo line-up of Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan, under the banner of the Frantic Four and have embarked on two sold-out tours.

The current Quo line-up has also been out on the road, made their first feature film and released a highly-acclaimed acoustic album which is still riding high in the charts.

“Things have come about in the last couple of years and I’m not sure that it’s not too much, to be honest,” Francis said, speaking backstage before another gig in Dresden, Germany.

“I get really tired with it. There’s something in me that wants to stop and just be at home, but there’s another part of me that always wants a bit more.

“No matter what I do, like this new album that’s done better than we expected, I still want more. When the album got to No. 5 in the charts, I wanted it to go to three.

“I’m very obsessive. I’m just waiting for the moment when someone comes along and says, ‘that’s you son, you’re done’.”

That doesn’t look like happening anytime soon. The acoustic album, Aquostic (Stripped Bare), has been the band’s highest-charting release in 18 years, adding to their 120 million album sales. But Francis took a bit of persuading to record it.

“I didn’t want to do it. It had been suggested to us before, but then we did television adverts in Australia where we were doing acoustic versions of our songs in the round.

“We did Paper Plane, which I didn’t think would work, but I realised I liked it and that it sounded like a different song. When we started recording, something just happened.

“It was the best time I’ve ever had making an album. You would expect me to say that, but it’s the truth. Each day we would come up with new things, adding an accordion or a string section, and it ended up being four-and-a-half months of intense work. It wasn’t like the old days, there was no messing around.

“It was such a great vibe I would even consider doing another one. We could also take the album out on the road next year.

“I hope people who previously didn’t like Quo will like the melodies and enjoy it. On the other hand, some people may hate that we decided to go down the acoustic route.”

The 65-year-old continued: “I thought Aquostic was a dreadful name. It should have been Acoustic Quo.

“And then there was the album cover, with me and Rick in the nude, apart from our guitars. I bet people would have looked at the billboards and pictures and said, ‘look at these two clowns’.

“But it got the album noticed. Just like the fact it was Bryan Adams who took the pictures. No one has ever asked me before about the person who shot the album cover, but it’s all about marketing these days, and I suppose it’s worked.

“Marketing comes first, and then the music. That’s the world we live in today.”

In August, Parfitt missed his first gig since joining the band in 1967, after being told by doctors to rest. It followed an operation he had to correct a problem with his 1997 quadruple heart bypass.

“Rick has always been renowned for burning the candle at both ends, but he carries a spare candle that he puts in the middle!” Francis laughed. “I think this time really scared him.

“He doesn’t do things by halves other than work, of course. We all freaked out when we heard but let’s face it, it was self-inflicted.”

Francis was also well known for his hedonistic lifestyle but has long been clean of drugs and booze.

“I don’t believe in the rock and roll lifestyle. It should be about music.”

So don’t bet against Quo rocking all over the world for a few more years, including at Glasgow’s Hydro tonight.

In typical fashion, Francis commented: “We played it last year and I was sort of disappointed. It’s quite clinical. But it might get better once it feels like home.

“It’s the people who make the room and we’ve always been loved by the Scots.”