I own a series called 'Ready, Steady, Go!' that I bought in the Seventies. I purposely didn't do anything with it, and wouldn't sell off any clips. My accountant went crazy when I said I wanted to wait until the 20-year cycle, then put it out so the new generation could experience it.
Dave Clark
The '80s have been so much doom and gloom. We've become very pessimistic.
I always believed that the bubble could burst tomorrow. You're only as good as your last record.
You've got two sets of teenagers in England - the mods and the rockers. The rockers are motorcycle addicts. The mods dress like we do. We wear four-button jackets, cuban heel boots, shirts of our own design, with high collars and a tab underneath the collar.
Freddie Mercury said years later that he got the idea for 'We Will Rock You' from 'Bits and Pieces.' I never knew that.
Anyone can look good if you have 500-flash bulbs exploding in your face.
Classical music is for listening but rock and roll is to have fun with.
Elvis Presley invited me to Las Vegas for one night but we got on so well that I stayed for three.
When you're touring, you only see the auditorium and the hotel room. You can't go out because you get mobbed. You're tired, edgy and under pressure. The fun had gone out of it, so we decided to walk away from it all.
As for the way we play, we are as much like the Beatles as any American Jazz group is like any other.
We've got an electric organ, a sax, drums, guitar and bass guitar. We sound less like the Beatles than most of the groups.
Ready, Steady, Go!' was the show of the '60s in London, where the Beatles, the Stones and the DC5, and every other major act started.
They say if you remember the '60s, you weren't there. Well I remember the '60s, I was there and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
After two world tours where we played every state but Greenland, I only saw the inside of a hotel. I wouldn't have missed it for the world, but it did get tiring.
People annoy me when they say, 'Oh, you made a fortune.'
We got our grounding by playing live. You had to fall flat on your face, pay your dues and grow.
Nobody thought that the music boom of the Sixties was going to last.
The Dave Clark Five was basically a live band. During '63 we got the Gold Cup for being the best live band in Britain.
When we first went to L.A., Howard Koch, who was the head of Paramount Pictures and later President of the Oscars, threw a welcome lunch for us at his house. There were all these stars there - Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Lucille Ball, Natalie Wood, Henry Mancini.
I was at a party in Alexandra Palace tobogganing on the ski slope, got whiplashed at 40mph, put my hands out to balance myself, and three fingers got caught in the artificial snow. I broke four knuckles. I have not drummed since.
I never wanted to do a documentary or write a book.
We couldn't get enough of American rock 'n' roll. We'd hear it when we played American air bases in the U.K.
Not that we've got anything against America, mind. But let's face it, you make a lousy cup of tea over here.
Rick was a real gentleman. He was very kind and had an amazing sense of humour - he was the funny one in the group, and a very talented musician.
There will never be another Freddie Mercury, one of the greatest rock and roll singers.
We have our hair cut, but the idea is to look like we didn't.
I knew The Beatles before because we did our first television with them, 'Thank Your Lucky Stars.'
We'd play the American bases and found all these wonderful records by Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Sam Cooke. Without American music, there would not have been a British Invasion.
People make assumptions when you're not married. I've been best man at five weddings and I said I'd never do it again 'cos everyone got divorced.
My big thrill in life is my Jaguar XKE.
I bought the rights to 'Ready, Steady, Go!' several years ago because I didn't want the segments to be chopped up and sold off. I thought the shows should be left intact.
You can't go on being a 19-year-old rock-and-roller all your life.
It was always the singer that was the front man, but Mike stood there and played piano and keyboards. He had a great voice and he was the Sixties' Rod Stewart, and he contributed a tremendous amount to the Dave Clark Five.
I date fairly often, but my work is much more important.
You hear many things, take a little from each experience, and tune your imagination to create believable characters and situations.
We were a very popular live band in London, packing in 6,000 people a night, and the record companies that came after us wanted us to be the flavor of the month.
I wanted to stop while we were still getting big hits. The only thing I miss is the actual performing.
I was raised Church of England but I love the Buddhist philosophy, it's very powerful, non-violent.
I've always had a philosophy: it doesn't matter who you love or how you love, the most important thing in life is that you love.
I never professed to be a great drummer but I was a very heavy drummer.
What I couldn't have dreamed of is that the fame would last for the rest of our lives without me having to play another note.
One of the reasons I wanted a sax in the band was that I loved Fats Domino's 'Blueberry Hill.'
Our band was different. We were still playing rock 'n' roll, but we had an entirely different sound: just one guitar, but an organ and a saxophone.
That was the ultimate high, playing live. You feel like the Pied Piper, or a conductor, knowing how to take an audience up or bring them down.
Early CDs, I found, flattened out the sound - it took away all the highs.
You can't recreate the '60s.
We were the first group where the drummer was the front man.
I don't think you'd say we'd be rivals because we've got a completely different line-up to The Beatles.
To think I thought you could lose your place in history.
I enjoyed every moment, but we'd been everywhere, done everything. I wanted to get back to being just Dave Clark, not Dave Clark Celebrity.
