“I got together with Jeff a few years ago. The famous white Strat was sitting on the couch so I said, ‘Jeff, pick it up and play it!’” Rockabilly rover Mick Rogers on playing with Frank Zappa, touring with Kiss, and rootsy jams with Jeff Beck

Rockabilly rover Mick Rogers has a knack for being in the right place at the right time – usually. Best known as lead guitarist in Manfred Mann’s Earth Band between ’71 and ’75, he’s played alongside a host of rock icons.

His right-place-right-time good fortune, however, wasn’t operating when he left the Earth Band a year before their hit cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Blinded by the Light. He did, however, later reunite with them, and in the intervening years he led and played in many bands – most notably Aviator – and was even in consideration to replace Peter Gabriel in Genesis.

Can you recall your first emotional connection with the guitar?

“I had a musical family. My dad was a drummer, my auntie was a keyboard player, and my uncle, who lived with us, was a guitarist and double bass player. A big moment came when Elvis hit with Heartbreak Hotel. Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck especially – they’d say it was the turning moment in rock. I remember that day.

“One afternoon I took my uncle’s guitar – a Levin acoustic – to a talent contest on the coast at Dovercourt in Essex, and I played Mystery Train by Elvis. When the small applause came, I thought: ‘This is exactly what I want to do.’”

When did your career take off?

“I performed a lot throughout my teenage years, and eventually moved to London; there were more musical opportunities for me there. I got a tour with the Vision, the backing band for Adam Faith and Helen Shapiro. Then Normie Rowe – an enormous pop star in Australia – asked me to join his band, the Playboys.

“There was something about being an English musician, which meant something in Australia at the time. I don’t know what it means now. Probably not a lot! When touring in Australia, we had musicians ask us, ‘This Eric Clapton guy, are his sideburns still as long as they were?’ It wasn’t about the guitar – it was about how he looked!

“In 1967 Normie was called up for national service, so we formed the Procession from members of the Playboys.”

What was your go-to gear for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band?

“I’ve always been a Strat cat – I think a Strat can sound like a Les Paul, but it doesn’t necessarily work the other way round; in those days especially. I had a Gibson SG that I brought back from Australia, but it was falling apart. When the Earth Band played 10 consecutive shows in Rome to get us up and running, I saw this fantastic Les Paul and I said: ‘That’s the guitar for me.’”

You got one of your most-prized Les Pauls thanks to Frank Zappa. How did that happen?

“Years later when on an Earth Band tour, we supported Frank. His management said to our bass player, Colin Pattenden, ‘Frank was wondering if you could step in, because our bass player has to go back to LA.’ Colin said: ‘I’m not the guy you want. Mick is – he’s a bass player and he’s a big Zappa nut.’

“There I was, all of a sudden, at sound check with George Duke and Chester Thompson; all my heroes. Frank came over and said, ‘I’ve been told you’re a fan. The first tune we do is a tune called Pygmy Twylyte.’ I said, ‘Do you do it in the same key you recorded it in?’ Zappa went, ‘You really are a fan!’

“The Earth Band flew to Miami the next day to finish the Uriah Heep tour. I didn’t sleep that night. I was still pumped up. Zappa’s management insisted on paying me for the gig – and with that money I bought a Les Paul Deluxe.

“Years later, when Frank came to Australia, we had dinner. He didn’t eat much, though; he lived on black coffee and cigarettes. I never saw him eat anything.”

Can you recall the biggest audiences the Earth Band played to?

“It was Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, with Free and Deep Purple. That was one of the first big audiences. It was a very successful tour for us and we were able to go back and do our own tour. We did an extra gig with Deep Purple, but Free didn’t do it.

“Purple were really nice to us. We had a situation over there with a promoter, Sammy Lee, who was a bit of a mafia guy. He wanted us to do an extra concert but refused to pay us. It got really nasty, but Deep Purple were great supporters of ours. They could see that we were going through some strife there. Ritchie Blackmore was great… he’s another rockabilly guy.”

Kiss supported you shortly after the release of their first album. What was that like?

“I had to use the same microphone that Gene Simmons used with all the blood coming out of his mouth! I remember Simmons telling me, ‘We’re either going to be the next biggest thing, or we’re going to die on our ass!’

“When they went onstage with the makeup and stuff, people were quite silent because they just couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Nor could we! They were scary – Gene Simmons was a scary looking image. But he was lovely.”

In 1975 you split with the Earth Band. Was it a shock?

“I’d become a real pain. I wasn’t grown-up enough, although I should have been. But my head was taken by the Zappa thing. I went to the studio one time, to talk about new material, I thought, and they said, ‘Mick, I’m afraid you’ve been voted out.’

“I went back to Australia and performed with some great people over there. I got a lot of nonsense out of my head. Blinded by the Light entered the top 100; then it was 80; then it got to Number One. I remember thinking, ‘Maybe I should have hung around a bit!’” I rejoined Manfred Mann after 10 years away.

More recently, you had the pleasure of getting to know the late Jeff Beck.

“I got together with Jeff on Valentine’s Day a few years ago. His manager – a great friend of mine, Colin Newman – put us together. The famous white Strat was sitting on the couch so I said, ‘Jeff, pick it up and play it!’ He was very sheepish, but what a guy!

“We could empty a room because we were just talking about rockabilly and how he grew up. We were both Cliff Gallup fans. I believe I’ve got the last recording Jeff ever did in the studio; we got together with some rockabilly guys and did an album which hasn’t been released.”

Why not?

“Jeff was playing through a dodgy Marshall. We played Lucille by Little Richard, but Jeff didn’t like the sound. He said, ‘We’ll do it again later on.’ Of course, that didn’t happen, and he went on tour with Johnny Depp instead.

“When I listen to the track now, I think: ‘Jeff, there’s nothing wrong with your sound.’ He could have played through a paper cup and it would still have sounded like Jeff Beck! He was just wonderful.”

What’s your current guitar gear?

“In my solo work I use a red Stratocaster, plugged into a Kemper. I’ve got a ghost pickup on my Strat, which, with a flick of a switch, changes into an acoustic guitar. I use Rodenberg pedals – I introduced them to Steve Lukather, and he uses them to this day. They’re the business. All that and a Hughes & Kettner is everything I need.”

• Rogers’ current live schedule includes a solo tour and dates with the Earth Band.