Members of Eric Clapton’s family and his band have united to pay tribute to the blues-rock legend.
The Cream of Clapton Band takes some of the best Clapton tracks and re-creates them onstage. They mix faithful renditions of the classics with inspiring new jams that are Clapton-inspired—and they’ll be performing at Big Rock Pub in Indio on Thursday, March 13.
Clapton’s nephew Will Johns takes the helm at lead guitar and vocals. Other members of the band include former Clapton/Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Steve Ferrone; and Noah East, the son of longtime Clapton bassist Nathan East. (Noah East will not be performing during the Indio show.) During a recent phone interview with Johns, I asked him what makes for a successful tribute to Eric Clapton.
“A real passion and understanding of the music, and I guess for me, personally, having an emotional connection to what most of those songs are about,” Johns said. “Having grown up with Eric and my auntie Pattie (Boyd), who a lot of those songs were about, that makes me have quite a strong connection to what it is we’re singing about.”
During their Indio show, the Cream of Clapton Band will be performing cuts from the famous 24 Nights album, a collection of live versions of Clapton’s tunes recorded during his Royal Albert Hall residency in 1990 and 1991.
“That was the era when I was most tuned in to what Eric was doing, and also the Journeyman (released in 1989) era,” Johns said. “The songs were up-tempo and kind of poppy, and those concerts obviously featured music from the Cream days and then the contemporary songs as well. As a guitar player, Eric was probably on top of his game at that point, so it’s just a really exciting period from Eric’s career.”
The album 24 Nights features extended jams and arrangements different from the song’s studio recordings. Johns said he appreciated the leeway that comes with tackling a live album in concert.
“It does give us a little bit of freedom to experiment with some sounds,” he said. “We’re not the kind of band to try to dress up and look like what was going on, or even sound (like it). A lot of the time, I’ll be playing my Music Man, rather than a Strat, so there’s a bit of freedom there within the music for us to experiment and to play some new sounds while still remaining true to the vibe.”
Drummer Steve Ferrone, who is performing with the Cream of Clapton Band in Indio, was the drummer on the 24 Nights album.
“The thing that I get from Steve is just the biggest, deepest pocket that I’ve ever experienced,” Johns said. (“Pocket” means having perfect timing, in a groove with the other musicians.) “As a lead player and someone trying to improvise, it just affords you so much space and makes everything slot into place, which makes for really good music at the end of the day. There’s no other way to put it. It’s that wealth of experience and talent that he brings to the table that I appreciate, and hopefully, just a tiny little bit of it will rub off on me.”
The Cream of Clapton Band is endorsed by Clapton himself.
“If I was to be completely honest, I had that kind of … apprehension about what Eric’s going to think when he hears that I’m out on the road doing this stuff. I’m sure he would be thinking, ‘Well, why don’t you do your own songs?’ which, of course, I do anyway. We happened to go fishing not so long ago, and he said, ‘I hear you’re on the road doing my stuff.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, how do you feel about that?’ He said that he was honored, which took me by surprise and obviously made me feel very happy about it.”
Musical memories are a big theme behind each performance, and Johns said many Clapton fans approach him after shows to share their own memories.
“Generally, we get a lot of people come up after the shows and say what a great show it was, and how much they enjoyed it,” Johns said. “They tend to tell you the last time that they saw Eric, and they ask me to ask him things and tell him things. I’ve probably got 62,000 messages to pass on from his various fans around the world. ‘Hey, tell Eric I saw him that one time in 1972, and he was wearing that pink shirt.’”
Steve Ferrone performed alongside Clapton for six years, appearing on both the 24 Nights and Unplugged albums. During a recent Zoom interview, he recalled the beginning of his musical relationship with Clapton.
“Eric took me to one side and he said, ‘You have one job,’ and I said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘Make me play,’” Ferrone said. “He had to be Eric Clapton every night, and every once in a while, he’d need, let’s just say, a little bit of inspiration to get him kicked off. He never played the same solo twice, so he had to be inspired into playing. Sometimes I’d give a little lead in one direction, and he would take that direction, and other times, it would be like he needs something different, so I’d give him a little lead in another way. Sometimes I’d be kicking really loud, and then other times I’d start real loud and then suck it down real quiet, and then maybe just let him play loud.”
Ferrone said he equally enjoys performing with Will Johns.
“Will’s a great guitarist in his own right, and a little bit different from Eric,” Ferrone said. “He’s heavily influenced by Eric, but a really good guitarist. It’s fun to play with him.”
The Cream of Clapton Band recruited Ferrone after an impromptu jam resulted in much of Clapton’s touring band performing with the tribute act.
“Nathan East was playing with his son, who was playing in the Cream of Clapton Band, and he was going down to San Diego to go sit in,” Ferrone said. “I called (keyboardist) Greg Phillinganes, and we went down and surprised them down there. … We jammed a few songs with them, because even though it’s been years, we remember those arrangements.”
Ferrone insisted on having Clapton’s blessing before joining the group: “I called up Eric, and I said, ‘Your nephew Will wants me to go play some 24 Nights songs with him.’ And he said, ‘You really want to do that?’ I said, ‘I like playing those songs,’ and he said, ‘OK, you’ll probably raise the level of the music a little bit.’”
Ferrone shared an interesting anecdote to explain the musical magic the Cream of Clapton Band conjures by including Clapton’ family members and bandmates.
“When I was playing with George Harrison, we were doing a rehearsal once, and Ray Cooper had a drum kit, so … we played double drums on a couple of songs every once in a while,” Ferrone said. “We were sitting there playing in the rehearsal, and who walks in? Ringo Starr! I catch Ringo’s eye and I go, ‘Go over there to Ray Cooper’s drums, and play.’ He came up on the stage and sat behind Ray Cooper’s drum kit and started to play along. Sitting there on the stage with Ringo and George, I got some kind of a feeling of what it felt like to play with the Beatles.
“There’s a dynamic that happens when guys who have created that kind of music play together. They know each other very well, and you get to experience that feeling of playing with them. Some people have said that when they sit down and play with me and (guitarist) Mike Campbell, they get to feel what it felt like to play with the Heartbreakers. It’s been a pleasure for me, especially when Nathan East shows up to play. There’s a magic that happens that’s still there from those days of playing together.”
Ferrone promised that fans of Clapton tunes will leave the Cream of Clapton Band performance with a lasting musical memory.
“When we play, we try to create an event,” Ferrone said. “With Eric, with the Heartbreakers, even with Dire Straits, we’re trying to capture a moment. We’re trying to make a memorable moment. It’s not cookie-cutter every night. We’re not tied to any click tracks. There’s a rough outline of the arrangement, and even that can change at the drop of a hat. If somebody gets a great idea, you go with that. It’s what people call a jam band. It’s a jam within a structure that creates excitement, and that excitement that we make musically, the audience feels it—and they get a memorable evening, something that they never forget.”
The Cream of Clapton Band will perform at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 13, at Big Rock Pub, 79940 Westward Ho Drive, in Indio. Tickets are $81.88 on Eventbrite. For more information, visit thecreamofclaptonband.com.
