John Illsley - Dire Straits - A formidable adventure

The first autobiography of Dire Straits, titled “My Life in Dire Straits“, has been released simultaneously in England and Italy, written by John Illsley, founding member, bassist and backbone of the British rock band (with a foreword by frontman Mark Knopfler). We took the opportunity to have a chat with Illsley over the phone from London. With great warmth and openness, the English musician, who has recently added painting to his main activity, tells us his story, letting a hint of emotion slip through his typically British composure. You can sense that this book (translated by Grazia Brundu for the Italian edition published by Epc Editore) springs from a tangle of memories and feelings that have shaped a life.

So many years after the band broke up, you decided to write its story: why now?

It all came about from a series of circumstances. I found myself talking to a literary agent at one of my shows, and she suggested I tell the band's story in a book. Looking back on those years, I reflected on just how unusual our story was. What we did was incredible, crazy really. A group of friends who, within a few years, went from playing gigs around the corner to Live Aid and touring arenas in front of 6 million spectators... We were very lucky to survive all that! I wanted to tell this story to show everyone how life can sometimes take you by surprise. There's always a chance to chase your dreams and change your life - that's the message of the book, in a way.

In the book you say that in the beginning things were tough. So the choice of the name "Dire Straits" wasn't accidental, after all.

Yes, we lived in a small, very modest flat, but it was the most we could afford at the time. The Dire Straits sound was really born in that tiny room. I think those humble beginnings taught us something about real life, and helped us stay grounded.

And your first live show was right outside your home, in Deptford, your neighborhood in London, plugged into an electrical cable from your flat...

Yes, we'd hooked everything up to the socket at home. It was very windy and a lot of the sound ended up blowing away behind us, but we were so thrilled to be playing together for the first time that we barely noticed. It was a punk festival, we were playing among all these punk bands, which was a bit of a strange thing...

...for a band that was at the opposite end of the spectrum: why did you choose to focus on classic rock right in the middle of the punk explosion?

It wasn't really a choice, it's just what came out when we started playing together. We didn't want to follow a trend like punk, we just wanted to play the music we loved. But it was hard to get gigs back then, because everyone wanted punk bands, even though our name, Dire Straits, made it sound like we were a punk band ourselves!

Then again, in the book you mention that the first 45 you ever bought was "Please Please Me" by the Beatles.

We'd all grown up listening to pretty classic stuff: the British Sixties – Beatles, Who, Kinks, Rolling Stones – but also a lot of American rock we used to listen to on Radio Luxembourg: Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan. That was the music that excited us, we wanted to be part of all that. And I understood that bass was the right instrument for me.

How did your special partnership with Mark Knopfler come about?

Sometimes you meet someone and immediately know they'll be your friend for a long time. We met in April 1977, when Mark moved into the flat his brother David was sharing with me. We knew right away we'd end up being friends for a long time. We had the same tastes, the same outlook on life, the same sense of humour… basically, we got on well together (and still do). There was an immediate, spontaneous chemistry between us, we were always playing together, even though at the time we were in two different bands. So we decided to join forces. Mark started writing a huge amount, and that's how Dire Straits came about. He's really a great musician and songwriter.

When did you realize you were going to be successful?

The first time we realized something unusual was happening was when the record label told us we'd sold 25,000 copies of the first album in Holland: it felt strange, we weren't just a small British phenomenon anymore, it meant something big was happening. And right after that we started to see that people were following us in Germany, France, Italy too…

And from Holland you went on to tour the whole world… A hundred million copies sold, tours in every corner of the planet.

Maybe because Dire Straits' music speaks a universal language: it works in Israel just as it does in Greece, in America as in New Zealand, in Italy as in Spain… everywhere. We created a unique sound, very distinctive and instantly recognizable. Maybe that also helped people fall for us and follow us the way they did.

Your favourite tour?

The first one in the United States, with 58 shows in 38 days, between San Francisco and New York. We discovered the taste of America for the first time and it was fantastic. Then, of course, Live Aid at Wembley in 1985 was extraordinary. There must have been a billion people watching, and you don't get to play in front of an audience like that every day. Up on stage we couldn't believe our eyes, luckily we were already deep into a tour and well drilled: that helped us get past the nerves.

And the album?

They're all unique, all equally special to me. But of course "Making Movies" was an extraordinary piece of work.

My favourites, on the other hand, are the debut and "Brothers In Arms"…

Oh sure, those are great too!

What do you think of the Dire Straits Legacy project, the cover band with Phil Palmer and Alan Clark?

It doesn't bother me that they're taking our songs on the road, if they do a good job, I don't see anything wrong with it. But I think a musician should do something of their own rather than just repeating something that's already been done by others.

These days reunions of legendary bands are popping up everywhere… what about Dire Straits?

No, there's no talk of that. I make my solo records, Mark makes his. But we're still friends. We'll be talking tonight, too!

(Extended version of an interview published in the newspaper Leggo)

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