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                                                                        ˜Music that stands the test of time

By Ryan Sparks 

Chances are you heard of Babe Ruth, the famed New York Yankees baseball player, from your grand parents who watched the beefy legend swat home runs like they were going out of style in the early part of the 20^th century. However if we’re talking about classic rock, the name Babe Ruth means something else entirely.  

Babe Ruth the band, (originally named Shacklock) was formed in the early 70’s by guitarist Alan Shacklock and their original lineup also included Dick Powell (drums), Dave Punshon (keyboards), Dave Hewitt (bass) and vocalist Janita Haan. The groups sound was a formidable blend of hard rock, R&B, with elements of soul and progressive rock thrown in. Their debut album, First Base issued in 1972 was a veritable blend of all of the aforementioned styles which over time has come to be regarded as underground classic, and is arguably the bands finest moment. Although they would issue four more albums before calling it a day in 1976, the bands sound according to vocalist Haan, lost its way after that first record, primarily due to the departure of Punshon who along with Shacklock played a large role in defining their signature sound. When Shacklock himself bailed in 1975, the band was all but done and after one album, Stealin’ Home with replacement guitarist Bernie Marsden, both Hewitt and Hann quit as well.   

Now some thirty years after first arriving on the scene, Babe Ruth have seemingly done the unthinkable, they’ve gotten back together with all of their original members (save for Dick Powell who was replaced by Ed Spevock for their 2^nd album) and issued a brand new recording in 2007 entitled Que Pasa. In many ways this new offering takes up where First Base left off and yet it also successfully brings their sound into the present day with a surprising amount of clarity. A funny thing happened while the band was away from the music scene, in that one of their most successful and noteworthy songs “The Mexican” (First Base) slipped it’s way into the break dance scene of the late 70’s and early 80’s and became a favorite number for the dancers to perform their routines to. Que Pasa proudly embraces elements of the very culture they influenced and at the same continues to deliver the musical diversity which made them so successful the first time around. I recently had the pleasure of discussing the bands storied history and promising future with vocalist Janita (Jenny to her friends) Haan.        

 Ryan: First of all I’ve got to say that not many bands are capable of coming back after a 30 year break, but Babe Ruth has done it with the new disc Que Pasa. How did this reunion, if you want call it that happen and who was the catalyst behind it? 

Janita: I think the catalyst behind it was (DJ) Hooch from the break dance championships. Alan had his ears to the ground and he’d heard that people like Grandmaster Flash were covering “The Mexican” as well as others like The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Sugar Ray and people like that. We were fairly oblivious to it. I mean I had done that remake of “The Mexican” with Jellybean in 1984 I think it was. It was just before that when the blue print for hip hop started in New York with the loft parties and people like (David) Mancuso, who were mixing James Brown and “The Mexican” together. They called it a merry go round, and this was where the whole hip hop thing with the mixing of the records and the beats and stuff started. Unbeknownst to Babe Ruth “The Mexican” became the classic hip hop track for breaking because it was long enough for them to have a really long routine if they wanted to. To make a long story short, Hooch got in touch with us and invited us to play at Brixton about 5 years ago. We had fun but we hadn’t played together in ages. We’d always sort of kept in contact with one another, so we said “Yeah”, and then we began to sort it out to see if it was viable for us to do it because we were all over the place. Alan and Dave Hewitt flew out and we met here in England and rehearsed for 4 days. It was a bit like riding a bike, because everyone has such high standards musically.  

We also got our beloved Dave Punshon back and if you’re familiar with the Babe Ruth history, after our first album Dave left the band for various reasons. Part of that was the result of a car crash, and also he got involved in some other stuff.  We were all thrilled to have him back because the Babe Ruth sound became the Babe Ruth sound once again. We played Brixton and it was so great. We were absolutely floored because these young breakers would come up to us and say “You have no idea what that song means to us” and I was going “No I haven’t a clue” [laughing]. Afterwards we had a meeting and we thought that we’d like to continue, if for no other reason than to honor these people who honored us for all these years. We felt that the sound lost its way after the first album really and we wanted to re-establish the Babe Ruth sound. So we suggested to Al that he should write the majority of the songs, because we felt that would create the movement better. So this is what we did. Al started writing and then we started recording. We did it all on our own backs, we had no financial support from anybody. It was a real labor of love on our part and with great love and joy we’ve done it. I flew out in January last year and put down the vocals in Nashville. 

Ryan: Which is where Alan lives right? 

Janita: Yes. We’re that much older now and we’re all quite professional in our own fields. Alan is a producer, Dave Punshon is not only a jazz pianist but he’s also a classical composer as well. Ed (Spevock) does a lot of drum work in London, he teaches children drums and he does quite a bit of work with a lot of people in London. Dave Hewitt is also in Nashville and he does a lot of carpentry, in fact he built Alan’s latest studio. As for myself I got involved with the retail side of music because I really felt that I needed to understand it when I was in Hereford. I did a ten year stint in a classical music shop so I learnt about the other side of the music world. Then I got my diploma in fashion design and got involved in creative embroidery, and machine embroidery became my love. I’ve also been studying natural perfumery now for the last nine years and I’ve become a member of the Natural Perfumers Guild. I got married and had a child and did all the motherly things.  

Ryan: So everyone has certainly been keeping busy for the past thirty years since Babe Ruth faded from the limelight. 

Janita: That’s right. I think people think that just because you’re out of the limelight, that you’ve faded away which is far from it [laughing].  

Ryan: I found it interesting that you mentioned the band meeting and agreeing that the bands sound lost its way after the first album. Babe Ruth was in the spotlight for a relatively short time, yet when you listen to the other records that came after First Base, the band was never tied down to any one particular style. 

Ryan:  First Base was a pretty eclectic album and looking back maybe ahead of it’s time. “Wells Fargo” had this giant intro riff and the performances on that track are just brilliant. Then you had “The Mexican” which was based on a composition by Italian composer Ennio Morricone. There was the Frank Zappa instrumental cover “King Kong” and “Black Dog” which was a bit of an obscure song originally written by Jesse Winchester. 

Janita: Yeah we just loved Jesse’s songs. First Base was an album of complete diversity. 

Ryan: It’s definitely stood the test of time. 

Janita: I think you’re right Ryan. It’s quite bizarre because Alan thought that at the time that First Base was way ahead of it’s time, like ten years ahead of it’s time. It seems to be a lot more than that really. Since we’ve put the downloads on our site, people stumble onto our site and  keep telling us that they cant believe we’re back, and that they still play our records and still love them. The music has stood the test of time and that is the true sign of good music or well played music I think; is that it’s timeless.  

Ryan: We talked about the song “The Mexican” being embraced by the break beat scene back in New York and here you are in 2007 returning the favor on Que Pasa. A lot of the songs still retain the classic sound but it’s also definitely a nod to the next generation of musicians who were influenced by you guys.  

Janita: I like that you said giving a nod because that’s exactly how we felt. We felt we had to embrace the culture that had embraced us. At the same time Hooch is a great guy in that he said “Just be yourself and do what you do because that’s what we love”. 

Ryan: As far as the classic rock sound goes, a track like “Sun Moon and Stars” definitely bears a pretty strong resemblance to “The Mexican”. 

Janita: It also has the powerhouse guitars of “Black Dog” I felt. Around Christmas of last year we wondered what song we should put on our MySpace site that people could listen to. I just felt the lyrical content was so strong that it had to be “Sun Moon and Stars”. My husband Dave who works on the website agreed, as it really does encompass the bands sound so well. Another song, “Break For The Border” is the follow up lyrically to “The Mexican”, with Chico again.   

Ryan: One of my favorite tracks lyrically has to be “The Blues” in which you recite all the names of these classic blues songs which weave together to tell a story. 

Janita: I’m so glad you liked that song because its one of my favorites.  

Ryan: Again I found it was sort of a departure for the band. 

Janita: Well it is and it isn’t. Everyone within the band always felt that I had a very strong, bluesy voice, so I guess they were honoring my voice a little bit by giving me something to sink my teeth into. I love that song and I’ll tell you a nice little story behind it. When I flew over to the States, my parents still live in California, so when I was over there (recording) I felt compelled to go out to see them. I had put down I think 4 vocal tracks, and so I flew out California and spent about 4 or 5 days with my folks. Then flying back I got to Chicago and the snow kicked in [laughing].

Ryan: So you were stuck in the snow in the home of the blues? 

Janita: Yeah exactly. While I was stuck there Alan was doing a partial mix of that song and I got delayed by about 6 hours. I crawled into Nashville at about 4 in the morning. Al picked me up and he said “You’ve got listen to this” and he put it on and it was just awesome. Even that sound at the beginning is so Chicago, it just sums it up for me, and of course the lyrics are so amazing really.  

Ryan: The first three tracks on the new disc, “For Dear Life”, “Que Pasa” and “Sun Moon and Stars” really embraces the classic Babe Ruth sound. 

Janita: A lot of that has to do with the fact that Alan had a very acrimonious divorce. If you read the lyrics on those songs, it’s all to do with the breakup of his 25 year marriage, which was very sad. He’s fine now and everybody has moved on since then, but he went through a pretty rough time. His Dad died and it felt like everything was slipping through his fingers, so there’s a lot going on in Que Pasa 

Ryan: You certainly haven’t lost anything as far as your voice goes. 

Janita: Thank you. 

Ryan: How much singing have you been doing all these years before the band got back together? 

Janita:  I have done some work with other artists over the years. I did some work with The Waterboys and The Pogues. It’s funny because I teach singing so that has kept my voice in shape and it’s great. I’m giving it back to these young kids and it’s fantastic. I’ve had the pleasure and honor to teach some really, really hot singers and they are just awesome. What it does for me is that it keeps me very fresh, and it’s also honed my technique. I’ve learned so much over the past thirty years singing because it’s been my real love. This along with perfumery and embroidery, as I’ve mentioned on my blog, they all weave together. In fact I was teaching this morning and its just honing your craft, but it’s also honing and developing the craft of these fourteen and fifteen year old girls. I’ve got one boy as well.  

Ryan: It’s just another example of how you can give back. 

Janita: Absolutely. I always say to them that my role is to make you as passionate about singing as I am. I don’t put what I think they should sing on them; all I ask of them is that they bring in something that they really, really love. I teach them classically because there might only be one recording of a certain piece. I teach them like a classical piece because when a classical person learns a classical piece of music they learn the whole thing, the notation part of it, and note for note, dynamics, color, phrasing and timing. It’s the same with this music, you can sing it or you can sing it. I teach them to really sing it so that they understand exactly what’s going on with the timing, and to really use their ears. I’ve had one fantastic singer named Lorna since she was year six and she’s now year eleven so she’s been with me five years and she’s pretty astonishing. It takes a good three or four years for them to really get it. I call it crossing over the line. Sometimes I’ll never know when it’s going to happen. They’ll walk in and we’ll be playing some of their music that they want to sing. We’ll be singing and adjusting, and all of a sudden I’ll be watching, I’ll get goose bumps and I’ll say “Do you realize you just stepped over the line?” It’s just so exciting when it happens. I also do a lot of demonstrations so that really keeps me on the cutting edge of my craft.  

Ryan:  First Base was recorded at the famed Abbey Road studios and Roger Dean created the now legendary artwork for that album cover. What was it like for you recording where The Beatles had cut some of their most famous songs? 

Janita: I’d only been in England for six months because I was schooled in California, although I was born and raised in England. I had come back for six months and ended up staying and joining the band. I’d gone around London trying to get into a band and finally I got into this band called Shacklock which became Babe Ruth. There was a period of very heavy, intensive rehearsals for about three or four weeks until we finally had to do a showcase. There were so few woman singers in a rock capacity at that time. There had been Janis Joplin of course and Grace Slick and I think at that time there was a female singer (Maggie Bell) from Stone The Crows as well. The band was a little unsure because they’d been used to male singers, so they rehearsed me really hard. Then we did this little showcase and the band was really happy with my voice. We went straight into the studio from there and it was awesome. We did it in real time. I used to get real excited because it was such a huge place, Tony Clark was there and Nick Mobs who went on to sign The Sex Pistols, he was our mentor. We’d do the backing tracks live, so I would be singing with the backing track, and that’s why it has that groove that it has, because we did that backing track in sort of real time so we’d all get that feel. We really wanted that feel, so then they would remove the vocal and the guitars and we would start the layering effect. The canteen was great; it was just a fantastic, amazing learning experience and learning curve for me. Pink Floyd were next door recording Dark Side of the Moon and one day something went wrong with one of our amplifiers and I wandered in and went up to Dave Gilmour and said “This isn’t working, can you come and help us?” He did come in and help us. Alan’s jaw almost dropped to the floor, he was like “What are you doing?” [laughing] 

Ryan: So you actually managed to get David Gilmour in to have a look at your amp? 

Janita: Yes, he was just lovely. It was an extraordinary and magical time. Then we went straight into ‘Sundown’ Edmonton with The Who and off we went really. What set Babe Ruth on its journey was really one chap and I think it was someone in Montreal or Toronto. He got hold of the album and started playing it and the rest is history. It may have been a chap from a record store, Alan would know for sure, but this man single-handedly got the buzz going just by playing the music. It was about nine months after the album came out that we started finding out that First Base was being very well received in Canada.  

Ryan: So it was around this time that the band first came over and did its first North American shows? 

Janita: Yes we flew in to Niagara Falls and came to Canada first I think. We’ve had a love affair with the country ever since really. I have just such great memories of Montréal and Québec. 

Ryan: On YouTube you can see some footage of a live show from the 70’s. What do you remember about that and where was that filmed? 

Janita: Oh you mean the one on Bobby Shred’s page? That was done at Expo something… (Ed note: Janita is referring to a show at Place Des Nations in Montréal). It was quite funny because there was one point during that show where I was supposed to throw my cloak off and I ended up throwing the microphone away instead [laughing]. That was the only television show we did and obviously we had to re-record it the right way [laughing].  

Ryan: There’s also a fabulous clip, and I don’t know if it’s from the same show, of you guys doing “The Mexican”.  

Janita: Oh yeah I’ve got that one. That’s the one where I’ve got that orange frock on. 

Ryan: I think so. The song is just super fast live.  

Janita: Oh I know! We absolutely raced through it big time. That’s nerves for you. It was a bit like the chipmunks [laughing]. 

Ryan: You mentioned earlier that on the second album Amar Caballero the band’s sound shifted somewhat. I always found that the band did interesting cover songs like “Cool Jerk” by the Capitols which was on that album and “We People Darker Than Blue” by Curtis Mayfield to name just a few.  

Janita: I absolutely love that song and I think our version turned out really good.  

Ryan: The self titled third album seemed to be a bit of a return to form. 

Janita: Yes but we still didn’t have Dave Punshon. I think the third album is very strong and the songs were very good, but what we were missing was the classical thirds and runs that we had on the first album, which was the signature sound really. Everything was there apart from that. Steve Gurl (keyboards) did a magnificent job of dealing with everything and he came on tour with us but I think Dave Punshon is a hard act to follow, just as Alan Shacklock is. 

Ryan: In 1975 Alan left the band. He played a major part in writing and arranging the group’s material. How did you feel personally carrying on without him on that last album Stealin’ Home? 

Janita: I was devastated. It was really horrible. I did sing through the whole next album (Kid’s Stuff) but they took my voice off and re-recorded it after I left. Alan is the founder of the band and I just love the man. I hated the family breaking up, I absolutely hated it. By that time there was a lot of stuff going on with management. There was a lot of acrimony and a lot of things that went unsaid. I was so green and didn’t know a lot about the industry at all. I was very protected by my brothers from everything that went on, so I never really had a say in anything that was going on because they didn’t want me to know some of it, the music business being what it is sometimes. Even as good as Bernie (Marsden) was, he was a good friend of Steve’s, that’s how he got the gig really. He wasn’t Alan. To me Babe Ruth is Alan, myself, Dave Punshon, Dave Hewitt and Ed. Of course Ed did come in after Dick Powell but Dick never toured with us. 

Ryan: Bernie was quoted recently as saying that when got the call from Steve Gurl he said “I’d never heard any of their music, but I went up to Hatfield one day to rehearse with them- and to be honest if I had heard their stuff I probably wouldn’t have gone”.  

Janita: Hmm…

 Ryan: How do you react to that? 

Janita: Well it’s probably because he couldn’t play it [laughing]. He was put in the hot seat really and he couldn’t play some of the things that Alan could play. I’m not trying to be spiteful or anything, it’s just a fact. Alan is a classically trained guitarist and a ferocious rock guitarist and Bernie is a very, very competent player but he’s not in the same league. They have different styles as well. That just wasn’t Babe Ruth for me anymore.  

Ryan: I thought that while Stealin’ Home was a bit of an uneven and unfocused record, it did feature two of what I think are your best vocal performances, “2000 Sunsets” and “Tomorrow” 

Janita: Thank you. I thought “Elusive” was very good too. That was Ed’s contribution which became a club hit in New York. I remember Elton John coming to Leeds or someplace and we got invited to the after show thing which was back at the hotel. He came over to me and said “Do you realize that I can’t go anywhere in New York without that song being played?” [laughing]. So “Elusive” had become this club hit after both Dave (Hewitt) and I had left. By that time I had left the band and was with Jenny Haan’s Lion or I’d just started it. They tried to get me to stay but when Dave left there wasn’t anybody left. 

Ryan: You both left at the same time? 

Janita: Yeah well… we were an item for quite a few years. 

Ryan: Sort of a Fleetwood Mac thing happening there then. 

Janita: Definitely.  

Ryan: Considering your talent and what you did with Babe Ruth, did you ever get any other serious offers from any big name bands? 

Janita: Well by that time I’d disappeared up into Yorkshire. I’m very good at disappearing and I do love the countryside. I live half way up a mountain now. It’s not all about razzmatazz for me. I love getting to know people and I really love music and to get to play again, I try to keep it real that way. I’ve never been one for razzmatazz and self promotion. 

Ryan: What kind of reaction have you been getting regarding the new album? 
Janita: The feedback has been awesome. We put a lot of time, energy and money into it just to record it, and then David (Janita’s husband) put a lot of hours into the website, so we were all pretty burnt out by the time we were done. We’re sort of gearing ourselves up for the next stage at this point. When we started this project it was very simple, we just wanted to return the honor, that’s all. Now we just have to get it out there because people are jumping on the site and saying “I had no idea you were here”. We don’t have the push of the record companies behind us anymore. 

Ryan: It’s funny because I kind of stumbled upon the new music myself by accident. I was checking out your MySpace site around the same time I heard “Sun Moon and Stars” on the radio. I had no idea Babe Ruth had new music out. 

Janita: I know. In some ways we wanted to keep it fairly low key because we wanted to keep it real, certainly in the early going because our intention was not to just jump on this (sound) because that’s not where we came from. We proved that, because it took an enormous effort to do it on our behalf. All the recording was done by ourselves at Al’s studio, and we put all our money together or any money that came in. So we feel that people can’t come back to us with any sort of criticism in that respect anyway. I think we can now move on to the next level and we’d love for more people to be able to listen to it because everyone that has heard it loves it.   

Ryan: I don’t know what the state of radio is like over in the U.K. but is there a chance that people will hear these songs on the radio?

Janita: I don’t know. Even when I went on your radio station in Montréal (CHOM FM) – I was having this discourse with Donald K. Donald (promoter) and he was saying how hard it is to get tracks played on the radio because everyone has a spot and whatever, so the fact that CHOM honored us in that way and got it played, was just awesome. I don’t know what’s going to happen to be honest; to me everything that has happened so far has been a bonus.  

Ryan: Now that the album is available for download, do you see a time where it will be out in conventional CD format as well? 

Janita: It just might. I can’t say anything more than that at the moment though.   

Ryan: Where does the band take it from here? I mean is there a chance you’ll hop on stage again to at least do some shows? 

Janita:  I hope so. We’d definitely love to come back to Canada. We’d love to get together and play again, because we’re a live band. Obviously everybody leads busy lives but if the opportunity arises for a series of dates where we could come together and rehearse it would definitely be an option.  

Ryan: So there is a possibility of something happening in the future? 

Janita:  Yeah. All of us are of the same heart and we’d love to play together again and do a few dates, to just play and say thanks to everybody really.  

Ryan: I think that would be great and something for the fans to see.  

Janita: Well I certainly won’t be running around the stage like I used to [laughing]. 

Ryan: No? 

Janita: No, no. No more cat suits [laughing]. I’ll have to do it with dignity and style. The important thing will be to just close your eyes and listen to the music.  

Ryan: So the fan is supposed to go there for the whole experience and you want them to close their eyes? 

Janita: [laughing] Ok no, you don’t have to close your eyes.  

Ryan: Good.  

Janita: There is one thing we haven’t covered that I’d like to mention if you don’t mind. 

Ryan: Sure go ahead. 

Janita: The cover artwork for Que Pasa was done by a chap in Hawaii called EASTthree. He’s a wonderful guy and I think it was last year when we were putting it together, I spent 6 weeks on summer holidays, he was in Hawaii and I was over here. We coordinated what the band wanted for an album sleeve and stuff like that. I think he did an awesome job. I like the chromatic look to it. 

Ryan: Last question. How on earth did you guys ever get banned from the BBC while recording the famed John Peel show in 1974? 

Janita: [laughing] Alan being a smart ass. I can’t remember exactly what it was; only that it had something to do with Alan being a smart ass [laughing]. He’s a different man now, but in those days he didn’t suffer fools very well [laughing].

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