Simon Kirke Talks Bad Company Tribute Album, Rock Hall Induction

Bad Company, (L-R) Paul Rodgers, Boz Burrell, Boz Burrell and Simon Kirke during an interview at the Continental Hyatt House, West Hollywood, CA 1974. (Photo by Mark Sullivan/Getty Images)

Mark Sullivan

In 1999, the British band Bad Company — best known for such 1970s rock classics as “Can’t Get Enough,” “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” and “Shooting Star” — was eligible for nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. However, it would take about another 25 years for the group’s founding lineup of singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell to be finally selected for induction. Regardless of the long gap, Kirke is thrilled.

“I know that the musicians, for the most part, who had been inducted over the years, wanted us to be in,” he says recently. “I got the call, I believe, [last] October. My manager, David Spero, said, “It looks like you’re going to get nominated.” And then in February, he told me, ‘Don’t tell anyone, you’re in.’ And I was just over the moon.”

Ahead of Bad Company’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, whose ceremony is scheduled on Nov. 8 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, is the release of Can’t Get Enough: A Tribute to Bad Company, which came out Friday. The record features an eclectic cast of musicians paying homage to the band—among them are the Struts (“Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” ); Halestorm (“Shooting Star”); Charley Crockett (“Bad Company”); HARDY (“Ready for Love”); Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators (“Feel Like Makin’ Love”); and the Pretty Reckless (the Free track “All Right Now”). Kirke says he’s proud and honored by the treatment.

“The fact that relative youngsters — and anyone under 40 is a youngster to me – wants to cover our songs is a wonderful tribute,” says Kirke. “I’ve heard some of them, and I’m going, ‘Wow, yeah, they put their own spin on it.’ It’s wonderful that the younger generation has picked up the baton, as it were, and is now running with it. So great.”

Primary Wave Music, the music publishing company, previously acquired a stake in Bad Company’s catalog. “Larry Mestel [Primary Wave Music’s founder and CEO] approached me and Paul a couple of years ago and asked, ‘Would we be willing to, etc., etc.?’ We agreed, as did a lot of our contemporaries, because our touring career has pretty much come to an end, and we have to look at it for our families. So that’s what we did.

“Then a few months later, Robert Dippold [Primary Wave’s president of digital strategy] and Larry called me and said, ‘Look, would you be willing to have these artists, about 10 artists, lined up who really want to do a tribute album to you?’ And we said, ‘Yeah, of course. Absolutely.’”

The selection of the artists and the songs for Can’t Get Enough showcases Bad Company’s stylistic range in the genres of hard rock, blues and Americana. “Quite honestly, every generation will have its anti-establishment,” Kirke explains. “There’ll always be rock and roll. Because if your parents don’t like it, it’s great. It’s perfect. So that’s why rock and roll has been around since the ’50s. Now we have these ladies and guys who are in their 20s and 30s and they like our music enough. We have influenced them as the Beatles influenced me or Black music, soul music and the blues influenced me and Paul. It’s just another form of influence. I’m just so happy to be involved in this project.”

Kirke and Rodgers themselves participated in the tribute album by performing along with Def Leppard members Joe Elliott and Phil Collen on the folkish “Seagull,” which first appeared on Bad Company’s classic 1974 self-titled debut album.

Says Kirke: “Joe has always been a huge fan of the band, as well as] Rick Allen and the guys. It was Paul’s “Blackbird,” if you wish. He just played guitar and tambourine. He did all the vocals. So when I heard that Def Leppard, in particular Joe Elliott wanted to do it, I said, ‘Wow, that’s great.’ So I did like a John Bonham drum track, and it actually worked really well.”

Kirke says that the timing of both the tribute album and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nod is a coincidence. While he and Rodgers are elated by Bad Company’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a few weeks, the occasion is also bittersweet: Burrell died in 2006, then followed by Ralphs, Bad Company’s other chief songwriter, this past June at age 81.

“Mick was languishing before he passed away a few months ago,” Kirke recalls. “I always get a bit emotional talking about Mick because I really loved him. I know that he received the news [about the induction] that we had gotten in about a month or three weeks before he passed away. And his first line he managed to say — because he had a stroke — ‘Does that mean we get free hot dogs?’ Mick, funny to the end. It was lovely. He knew before he passed away that we were going to be in the Hall of Fame. So I was pleased for him.”

Regarded as one of the greatest rock and roll singers of all time, Rodgers himself had to deal with his own health issues over the last few years. “I understand he’s doing well,” Kirke says. “He just cannot stand the rigors of touring and particularly traveling. He kept his condition pretty much under wraps for quite a few years, even from us. We knew that something was wrong when we had our final recording session out in Palm Springs. He couldn’t remember certain lines to a song, and his pitching, which had always been spot on, was way off. And he said, ‘Guys, I don’t feel too good. We’re going to have to cancel this session.’ We didn’t know that would be the very last session.

“Looking back on it, it was very emotional,” Kirke continues. “He’s one of the all-time greats. I get this question in interviews: Who’s the best? There’s no such thing as the best in music. Some people are absolutely great. And Paul is one of the absolute greatest singers who ever graced the stage. He’s left quite a legacy.”

As for whether he and Rodgers as Bad Company’s surviving members will perform together at the induction ceremony on Nov. 8, Kirke is keeping mum. “My lips are sealed,” he says. “I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. So we’ll leave it at that. I miss the guy. I mean, I miss his singing. I miss playing in front of people. I just miss getting up on stage. I don’t miss the travel, but I do miss being bathed in that applause.”