tribute by ulli eichblatt
carl in germany, july 2000
I
first met Carl on July 7th 2000 when my dear friend Arnim Kilgus and I organised
the very first Hollies concert with the new line-up (after Allan Clarke left)
for Daimler-Chrysler in Sindelfingen, Germany.
I
was completely shocked when the blonde guy in the back of my car suddenly
started talking to me - in German! Before that I’d tried to put my best
English together - which of course is not that perfect. From this moment on
there was an indescribable warmth between Carl and myself, although I told him
that I’d never liked The Move. He wasn't mad about that, instead he liked my
honesty.
Carl
was impressed when I told him that I am a guy of today’s music. I told him
that I included Allan Clarke in my Et Cetera project and founded "Et Cetera
feat. Allan Clarke". He was interested in what we did and what we achieved,
so I suggested we do something similar together. What could you expect from Carl
but a "yes"?
In
the end it was two years before we found ourselves in my little Blue Room Studio
in Heilbronn where I normally produce Dance and Trance music. But in the
meantime there were many nice conversations and meetings where we had some
really good laughs. It was like growing-up (in a way) together - but the most
important thing for me was that he became a dear close friend who even gave me
some brotherly advice when my girlfriend left me.
In
the past fifteen years I’ve recorded with many people, but swear I’ve never
never met a more professional singer than Carl. When I told him "Carl,
would you please try Soldier's Song because we have to find the right level on
the desk" I said to my engineer Mimmo T. "just press the
record-button". In the end Carl sang the song three times, but the very
first recording was and still is the most impressive and can be found on the
CD-single.
I
taught him how to sing the German chorus of "Soldier" - it was more
like fun than work. I couldn’t stop him, whether it was "White
Christmas" or "Blackberry Way" and he wanted to sing them in
German too. He WANTED to sing "When The Boys Come Home", he WANTED to
sing "He Ain't Heavy" and "Sorry Suzanne". Nothing could
stop him. Not even me! And while Tony was mixing and Arnim was doing the video,
Carl and I were like little boys, laughing about the stupidest things, behaving
like grown-up children. But from one second to the next, we were professionals,
recording a video-clip for "Soldier Song" or a "ready for TV”
interview.
We
talked about how we would release the songs and how we would present them. How
they should be mixed and re-mixed, always thinking forward, being part of
today's music industry. Though
it was business, all these experiences touched our lives more than we thought -
working and having a lot of fun together - and being close together in our
hearts and thoughts.
Though
Carl was unsure about releasing “Blackberry Way” he was happy when I told
him about our new entry at No. 26 in the Mallorca Charts. It was also great to
see that it climbed to No. 20, but unfortunately I could not inform him when it
reached No. 16, where it is now.
I will definitely achieve all the things that we planned and talked about, in a serious way but also in OUR "we will do it anyway" style. You’ve not heard the last of "Et Cetera feat. Carl Wayne" and our project will live on ... that’s a promise.