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1978

Phil is back aboard
SAILOR - Rescued from their distress at sea

Bravo interview about the background

Bravo: During the last months there have been a lot of "horror- news" about you: SAILOR broke up, SAILOR out of money, SAILOR won´t be there much longer..... How is it possible that a band like you that has belonged to the top after many hits and a successful Europe- tour at the beginning of 1977 got into so much trouble?
Phil: This is basicly my fault. After the tour I have just told my friends that I wasn´t going to play with them any longer...
Bravo: Right at the climax of your success? This is difficult to understand.
Phil: I agree with you - especially because there has not even been trouble between the four of us. But having belonged to SAILOR for four years I somehow felt restricted in my musical possibilities. I was afraid that my talents might start to fade away and I also wanted to write my own songs for other people, but I did not have the time for this as a SAILOR. That´s why I thought I would have to leave SAILOR in order to find back my freedom as a songwriter.
Bravo: Now you have returned to SAILOR. Why?
Phil: Months later the band contacted me again. We thought about a possibility to satisfy both sides - SAILOR and myself. After a few nights of discussions we finally agreed that I am going to work with them at all future TV performances and tours. Maybe I will also work with them on the next album.
Bravo: And what have the other three SAILORs done without you?
Henry: We unfortunately had to cope with the fact that Phil was not with us any longer. A replacement was not there because SAILOR had been a unit. So the three of us got back to work and produced our new album "Checkpoint".
Bravo: But in spite of this you had a lot of trouble. People said that you had lost a lot of money and almost "starved"
Grant: It was not that serious. But we really lost some money during our tour throughout Europe. That was the fault of the super- expensive stage- designs and some other things. Our former manager put all this to our account.
Bravo: And that´s why you decided not to work with this manager any longer?
Grant: Yes, to get rid of this guy. - And this was not cheap, either!
Bravo: Henry, why is your new LP completely different than all the others that you released before?
Henry: SAILOR is a European band. Producer and former "Beach Boy" Bruce Johnston is from America. He included some own ideas and arrangements and tried to make the SAILOR sound fit also for American ears. I think that he and we succeeded in doing this.
Bravo: Georg, in spite of this you wrote the songs on the new album. Two songs are from Henry and Grant. That seems to be a typical SAILOR production!?
Georg: Sure, we stick to our style and we are open for new aspects as well. That can also be seen at our new single "Down By The Docks". We just told ourselves: "Let´s do a disco" and then recorded this song in disco- sound.
Bravo: When can we finally see you in Germany again?
Georg: We already want to come back to Germany at the beginning of 1978 with at least twelve or fifteen concerts!

Thanks to Andreas Boose (Germany) for this article!

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