I interviewed Vernon and Corey a few years back for a retrospective feature for Planet Rock. This was them on the Stones tour:
Mick Jagger had first met Living Colour founder Vernon Reid when Reid played guitar on Jagger’s 1987 solo album Primitive Cool. He took the fledgling group under his wing, making mix-tapes of obscure blues singers for frontman Corey Glover, and helping produce the group’s 1988 debut album Vivid, as well as lending backing vocals and harmonica.“Mick was one of the band’s early adopters, our champion,” remembers Glover. “The Stones were known for choosing support acts on the cusp of doing something interesting – Bob Marley, Prince.” This, then, was a golden opportunity – but also a mighty challenge. “The dressing rooms on the Stones tour were larger than the venues we’d previously been playing. The rooms were cavernous – with so many more people than we’d ever played to. I felt anxiety-ridden.”
“A lot of people just wanted to hear Jumping Jack Flash,” adds Vernon Reid. “But many were receptive. We had moments that were rough – but we had a lot more moments that were sublime.”
In addition to the onstage triumphs, one backstage encounter made a profound impact. Little Richard had toured with the Rolling Stones back in 1963, a support slot that helped revive his career following an unsuccessful detour into gospel. While visiting his old friends on the Steel Wheels tour, he crossed paths with their youthful support act, and met a new generation of black rock stars rising up to continue his mission.
“Little Richard is one of the architects of rock’n’roll, and the greatest vocalist,” says Reid. “In an era of dangerous people, he was perhaps the most dangerous. He really paid attention to who we were – he said we were the fulfilment of something he’d started.”
“He recognised there’d been no-one carrying the mantle of real people-of-colour in rock,” nods Glover. “And it felt like he was passing a torch onto us. Like, woah, we have a very big responsibility. Because he was saying, ‘We built rock’n’roll, so what you do is very important, too. Keep it up – you can’t stop.’”
― SDFG SDFG SDFG SDFG SDFG SDFG SF (stevie), Sunday, 10 January 2021 22:16 (three years ago) link