Jack Bruce says Cream tour cancellation was down to Ginger Baker

Everybody had agreed about doing it, but then I think Ginger upset Eric. He said something or did something, so it’s not happening,’ claimed the bassist in a recent interview. Cream recently called off plans for a reunion tour because Ginger Baker “upset” Eric Clapton, according to Jack Bruce. In a recent conversation with Rolling Stone, Bruce revealed the band were all set to make their live return some time “last year or this year”. “Everybody had agreed about doing it,” the bassist said, “but then I think Ginger upset Eric. He said something or did something, so it’s not happening.”

Cream only really spent three years together, releasing four albums between 1966 and 1969. And although their records have sold more than 15m copies, the band members aren’t close: “It’s like I don’t have anything to do with them actually very much,” Bruce said. “Ginger, from what I’ve heard, is a bitter old man. And I’m quite a cheerful old chap.”

They have performed together only twice since: at their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 1993, and for a series of New York and London gigs in 2005. The strained relationships have “always been like that”. “That’s the way it goes,” Bruce admitted. “It’s fine. I think we said what we had to say at the time. And it was nice to have that little comeback. For me, that was just about right.”

Meanwhile, Clapton is Clapton and Baker nurses his reputation as rock’n’roll’s most fierce drummer. Bruce has just released his 14th solo album, the first in more than a decade. Silver Rails’s inspirations apparently include drone-metal by Earth and Om, the music of Olivier Messiaen and the death of Margaret Thatcher.

Source: The Guardian