Gary James' Interview With
Mark Andes



Mark Andes has played bass for Canned Heat, Jo Jo Gunne, Spirit, Firefall and Heart.

Q - Mark, how different would your life have been had you not left Canned Heat before they had a record deal?

A - Just as they were getting the record deal actually. It was Skip Taylor and John Hartman, and I just got cold feet. I was 18, still living with my dad. I felt conflicted in a weird way, so I just had a momentary lapse which I regretted for awhile until I came to accept it. Well, the reason Spirit came together as it ultimately did come together was because I did not continue on. So, it was reconciled many years ago. That's an interesting question. Way to go. Good. It's a good question Gary. (laughs)

Q - And we're just starting.

A - (laughs)

Q - You moved around a lot as a kid because your father was an actor. That was really great preparation for the career you chose in music as a touring musician. But then you went into military school. What did you get out of that?

A - Yeah. I'm sure that that was the component. We did get a lot of discipline just in our growing up, the father, the very authoritarian person. So, in a way that whole aspect of military school was second nature. That was a given. That was not like some big shock to my brother and I. But I think it was the structure of that whole experience. I have to differentiate how I reacted versus my brother, who was not quite a year younger than me, and he took some of those changes really a different way. But personally it was positive even though we were kind of dumped off there in a way. You could kind of interpret it that way. I got a lot out of it. I'm glad we got out when we did and didn't take it too far, but I got to go to school with a bunch of really interesting guys, two of which were Roy Rogers and Dale Evans' kids, Sandy and Dusty Rogers. Sandy was the biological son. Dusty was the adopted son.

Q - Did Roy Rogers ever come to the school to visit?

A - Yup, he did. We lived in the San Fernando Valley, the Spahn Ranch was right where we grew up. Dale and Roy had their ranch there. It was the happening spot to own a luxury ranch in the San Fernando Valley in the '50s. I'll be 72 in February (2020). We probably got to California in 1950, '51. We were in West L.A., but we wound up growing up in the West end of the San Fernando Valley. There were a lot of celebrities. We moved around a lot. My parents moved around. We stayed in schools, private schools when necessary. But the year of 1958, we all moved as a family to Europe and my father (Keith) did maybe three films that were based out of England, but we lived in the Southern part of Italy for about a year, which had a lot to do with my musical training 'cause I had this epiphany in Positano. We were staying there. All the street kids who were about my age just spontaneously started to break out into this rhythmic guitar groovy thing and it blew my mind. It really opened up to how kids my age in an undisciplined setting could spontaneously come up with something that is really infectious. So in a way, that was kind of my opening up moment for me that kids my age were making music that could be effective.

Q - I see your father made a movie with Marilyn Monroe. I don't suppose you ever met Marilyn Monroe, did you?

A - We actually were on the site when they did some of the beach scenes and you know we might have said hello. I was very young and so I have no memory of it. It would not have been unusual for the co-stars to be introduced to the other co-stars and family if there were no conflicts. But to be honest, I don't really remember. But my father and Marilyn were sort of getting asked to do social events. I remember my mom kind of getting a little burned out on how often that would happen 'cause they were getting asked to go out, not as a family, but my father and Marilyn, and that didn't go over too well at my house. (laughs)

Q - Did your father ever talk about Marilyn Monroe, what kind of person she was, what she was like to work with?

A - Nope. None of that was really shared by him. The memories I have are Lucille Ball, Debbie Reynolds, Eve Arden, all these amazing actors were from my own personal experience. A lot of the time it would be an introduction by my father, but whether I got just an acquaintanceship or whatever I got more deeply into that person was pretty much up to that person and me and the availability of the time. But he really didn't open up and share about Marilyn. He and Lucille Ball were quite close for a long time. They did a Broadway show together in the '60s and he was actually on her TV show quite a lot. I think that was more openly discussed. They were more kind of an item for a period of time.

Q - Were you in Europe when this whole British Invasion movement was about to break worldwide?

A - I got a feeling that whole Teddy Boy thing was breaking. We felt the vibe in Germany with the kids, but we didn't really pick up on any of that pre-British anticipation when we were there. It was pretty early on. I was ten and my brother was nine. So, we were just a little behind the curve there.

Q - I just thought you might have seen something, watched something on TV.

A - Well, we did, but we did it from the States. We were as plugged in and maybe a little more receptive to the Europe thing just 'cause we'd spent some time there. My folks were really interested in artists, musical artists that came from there and actors and actresses. But, interesting stuff. We were very open to the whole British/European Invasion.

Q - Your best friend in high school was Jay Ferguson, who formed Jo Jo Gunne. You recorded only one album with them and then you quit the music business for awhile. Why was that? Was it because Jo Jo Gunne didn't enjoy more success?

A - No. We actually had a decent start. Actually I ended up getting fired. I guess you could say that we just didn't get along, I don't know, between Jay and my brother being in the band, we should have a conversation. It was really kind of a shocking, disturbing sort of thing and I took my girlfriend and her daughter and we moved to Colorado where I met some people. We were well into being hippies at that point. I networked my way into like a family and a cool, little, you could say church kind of thing in a way in Colorado. So, I found my way there and started to do music again and kind of discovered music in a different way. Navarro was started. We had a house together in a little hippie kind of commune sort of a thing, but based on music. We would go out and tour and bring home the money from the tour to sustain ourselves and buy stuff and keep the home fires burning so to speak. And that ultimately turned into Firefall when I left that situation and they went on to play with Dan Fogelberg and Chris Hillman. All those connections for me were made in Boulder. That's why I played with Hillman and Fogelberg for so long. The funny irony for me is I thought, "Fuck L.A. Fuck you for firing me from my own band. Fuck you. I'm leaving," and then I moved to Colorado and everybody in Hollywood also moved to Colorado. (laughs) That was the funny thing. So, the trick was on me.

Q - Speaking of Firefall, you said those guys were heavily involved in drugs, heroin, cocaine. That was a pretty successful group. I don't understand, why did they need drugs?

A - Oh, well you know the thing is that every band has got a thing with drugs. I mean, it's either a big thing or a little thing and every one of my bands, including Canned Heat, three of the guys overdosed in the same residence in Topanga, in Bob Hite's house. The same drug. That is crazy. So, everybody has a drug relationship coming from my era.

Q - And you know that in a hundred years someone will write about this era in music and question what drugs had to do with making music.

A - Well, of course it doesn't. But it opened up I think a very big, rapid evolution involved with psychedelic kind of drugs. That Aldous Huxley. It kind of all emerged there for awhile. It was a rapid fire set of changes socially, musically and artistically. We were living in a very expanded zip code kind of situation where people were taking big leaps in those areas and sometimes, not always, succeeding, but pretty remarkably spot on if you think about the wonderful music that came out of that era, The Beatles, The Stones, Ry Cooder, The Byrds, Love.

Q - Did you ever have the opportunity to see or meet Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix?

A - Oh, sure. Yeah, of course. Everybody in The Doors were U.C.L.A. guys. Two of the Spirit guys were U.C.L.A. guys, John Locke and Jay Ferguson. So they knew them. John Locke knew Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger, mainly the melodic side of The Doors. Of course Spirit and The Doors would play many shows together. We would hang. Jim not so much, but he was very approachable. I seemed to have found my groove with whoever I was finding my groove with. I never, ever spent a moment thinking, "Oh, there's Jim Morrison. I wish I could strike up a conversation with him." But I just remember meeting him socially and finding him to be very easy going. Maybe he wasn't totally shit faced yet or maybe I wasn't quite yet then. I don't know. (laughs) But there was a touching moment when Randy and Jimi were reunited at the Pop Festival close to where Jay and I went to school. But, we played right in front of or right in back of Jimi and Jimi and Randy visited. We were all numb. They just had a nice conversation. It was very intimate and he was very approachable. We all kind of hung out and he answered questions, but you could tell he wanted to be with Randy. We respected that and they had a very nice conversation. It was lovely. I remember Janis and Santana being down in Puerto Rico during a CBS convention. That was glorious stuff, I have to say. Janis comes down to the pool and everybody's just already partying like crazy and she comes down in this little bikini that had like hand prints on her tities and on her ass and every other area had a handprint on it. (laughs) It was pretty hilarious. It was fun. It was a rockin' time. In Canned Heat we played many of the early San Francisco shows, the Fillmore and the Avalon and playing Human Be-Ins and the big socially active events that would happen around L.A. and San Francisco. It was pretty interesting.

Q - Sounds like even then you knew something special was going on around you.

A - Yes, an unmistakable something was going on and it was bigger than all of us. And we felt empowered by that. We could feel that. It was almost like you felt compelled to keep it going. To be honest, to have stayed in the music business all this time was kind of propelled by the goodness of making music and being part of a collection that is bigger than the individual. It's just a brutal business and not everybody can take it. I have the luxury of being able to take that kind of abuse and still find joy in playing music. It's remarkable, as we are speaking, and this has never occurred to me before as we are speaking, maybe that was the motivation that kept me involved in this whole endeavor this whole time. It's just the goodness of music in its most naive state. Whenever that can happen, it's a beautiful thing.

Q - You moved to Venice, California with your mother where you were working on boats in the marina to make money. Working on boats? What does that mean? What were you doing?

A - Okay. My mom of course had been in the Venice area for thirty years. We grew up in the San Fernando Valley, in Chatsworth out there by the Spahn Ranch. Then when my parents divorced, the ranch ultimately burned and 118 was plowed right through the ranch property now today. She went to Venice. When I left Firefall in 1980 I figured, "Let's pack up and take the four of us." Three of us went. Christy and Maureen to Mom, then Luke, my son, coming back. So, four of us moved to Playa Del Rey to be close to my mom and I just started doing whatever I could do. I did some recording projects. Played with Timmy Goodman. He had a killer, little band and I did work with a buddy of mine who had a top side business who put a lot of really good musicians to work. It was all cash. He was making really good money in Marina Del Rey. I was living right there in Playa Del Rey. So, it was so convenient. If I were willing to work hard and bust my ass I would make $25 to $50 on hour sometimes and it was worth my while. Then I could afford to play crap gigs in L.A. and get noticed. That's what led to me running into Howard Leese. Firefall and Heart used to do a bunch of shows together, Firefall opening up a lot of shows for Heart. So, I knew everybody in the band. So, I saw his (Howard Leese's) roadie taking his suitcase. I said, "I know Howard. I'm Mark from Firefall. Let me write a note to him. When you see him, give him the note." And that happened. About three months later Howard calls and says, "Hey, you wanna be in Heart?" "Hell, yeah!" (laughs) It involved more than that.

Q - It helps to know people and be in the right place at the right time.

A - Well, that is the truth, and being born to a person that was in show business and raised in Hollywood, this is not going un-noticed. It was just my stroke of luck being born at a time; in the '50s, the '60s and '70s when all this wonderful stuff was happening. Just the luck of the draw, and I'm kind of an example of what can happen when certain things go right occasionally. (laughs)

Q - Your mother was a model. Could she pursued a career as an actress or maybe as an agent in a modeling business?

A - You know, she was smart enough. She was sure smart. She was a nurse and wound up being a director of psychiatric nursing and hospitalization. There was a stigma attached to all that stuff, but that was really her thing. She loved nursing. She was really into therapy. She used therapy in her life. So, I think she had this desire to help people through mental health awareness. She went that direction, but she was a stunner. I have to say that both my parents were pretty amazing people and they were kind of show stoppers. When they made an appearance someplace socially, people really took notice. That was a lot of the fun part of growing up because we grew up in The Valley. It was more toned downed. Very, very casual dress. Jeans. We had horses. We had swimming pools. Lakes to fish in. We had kind of an idyllic childhood with other celebrities kids. It's like now only it was the '50s, '60s. The kids of stars, close to being stars or not quite making it to stardom, but wind up having a pretty good time of it for the most part. Some kids didn't and that's always been the rule too. Some people can't handle the fun part of it or the discipline or the hurtful parts of it. So, there is that.

Q - In one interview I talked about all the beautiful, backstage groupies you would encounter. Did it ever cross your mind that these girls were looking to get money out of you by screaming rape or assault?

A - No, 'cause I never was into that. There's almost a role playing, a sexual thing that some people are into where it involves some dangerous activity for them to get off. My whole thing was being so nice and so not aggressive. In fact, I kind of got off when the girls were a little more aggressive with me (laughs) and approached me. And my first marriage really ended in a bad way and I had a vasectomy when I was really young. I think I was 26. So, I was free and clear. I knew I had a hall pass for all that stuff. I knew I could get sick from fooling around, but I knew I wasn't going to make more babies or be up for some litigation there. I had that going, but I was one of the nice guys. I knew I wasn't going to get in trouble unless somebody made up something really stupid, but then I would have all the people that know me and know me really well. Even the people I'd just been with could have been witnesses for me and they would have said, "Whoever went on a date with Mark was treated very well."

Q - When Elvis performed, one of the rules was nobody was backstage who wasn't directly affiliated with the show. That being said, could the management of whatever group you were in have have swept the backstage clean? Who was letting these girls in backstage?

A - Everybody wanted pretty girls to look at, the road crew, even the truck drivers. If there were pretty girls there at load-in, they had kind of an audience. So, it was good for everybody. Everybody seemed to enjoy it. Nobody seemed to be really put off. If you played Brigham Young University in Utah, the kids were so suppressed that the girls wound up being really aggressive and loved to party. But the promoters of the show made Ann and Nancy (of Heart) tape their nipples. They thought their costumes were a little suggestive. I always thought that was a little sadistic to make everybody tape their nipples. (laughs) Was a guy getting off at the discomfort afterwards. You have to rip off the tape of your nipple. C'mon. I've told this story many times and I swear to God I'm not making it up. I don't know if they had various promoters or the school only promotes their own shows, but whoever it was, the edict from on high said, "You can't wear that outfit." The the thing is, I used to love to go up to Utah even in the '60s just because the kids were so repressed they were just party animals. They were the greatest fans ever, believe me.

Q - I was looking at this situation from a different perspective. The girls had an ulterior motive, money.

A - Well, some of 'em were probably working girls that were maybe getting paid. Maybe some of 'em had designs on snagging somebody with a lot of money.

Q - And you see, Brian Epstein would employ ex-F.B.I. guys on the elevators of the hotels The Beatles were staying in to keep out girls, particularly underage girls from screaming rape or this one or that one got me pregnant.

A - Well, and that is a good point because I do remember an occasional alert would go out where an underage would be out and our security guys would be in touch with other touring bands. When an underage was on the loose, stalking bands, just being crazy and acting out, typically we would hear of that occasionally. Occasionally I would see this really young girl asleep in the hallway and I'd step around. But yeah, there is that possibility. People could get in trouble for that kind of behavior for sure, especially if the adult in the room is aware of how underage the girl is.

Q - In 1992 you toured with Stevie Nicks. What was she like to work with?

A - She was wonderful. It was really kind of a crazy time, all of the people involved in that project. It was kind of Stevie's first solo thing. I was fresh out of Heart. Les Dudek was playing, but he got into this motorcycle wreck. It was an odd time. We wound up touring behind Stevie's record before it was even released, before there was even copies in radio stations. So, nobody was aware of this music. It was one of the more ass backwards sort of business kind of deals. But it was a killer band. I loved it and she is a princess and I would work with her in a second, forever. But, it was just kind of an odd mix match. The business guys didn't have their end together and the creative guys had something really good going on, but it just didn't get coordinated with the business guys. The creative touring thing got ahead of the business guys. When the big splash was made with Stevie out on the road there was no product to promote and it kind of threw the whole thing (off). I think it probably will be remembered as not necessarily her most successful endeavor.

Q - You're living in Texas now. Doing what?

A - I've pretty much connected with the Firefall guys to be honest. About four or five years ago Jock asked me if I would be interested in doing some shows with him and three of the original guys. They would like to have me come back as an original guy. I thought that could be fun. I've been doing it and really enjoying it. In fact, we're doing a new record and re-cut "Nature's Way". Firefall has a version of "Nature's Way" out that Timothy Schmitt did with me and John McFee. It's been out awhile, but the new record we're just about to wrap up will be released, I don't know, the end of the month, (January 2020) first couple of months of this year.

Official Website: www.MarkAndesMusic.com

© Gary James. All rights reserved.

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