In a new snippet shared from one of Rock History Music interviews, former Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin recalled Mick Jones feeling threatened and explained why he did not want Rabin to play in Foreigner.
During the interview, the guitarist touched on his friendship with the producer Mutt Lange and working with him as a session player. Before his work with Yes, the rocker had been working solo and was looking for a band to play in. Apparently, Foreigner was looking for a keyboardist, and Lange suggested Rabin to Jones as their new keyboardist.
After the producer’s offer to the Foreigner guitarist, the two were eventually in touch. Rabin recalled showing his latest solo work before Yes and explained:
“Mick called me, and I went to New York and played with him. He was the sweetest guy in the world because I took in my previous solo album called ‘Wolf,’ the one with Jack Bruce and Simon [Phillips] and Manfred [Mann]. I said, ‘Look, here’s a previous album I’m playing. I’m not all the keyboards on this; Manfred Mann’s doing quite a bit. I’m the guitarist, but there’s some keyboards on there.'”
Why Mick Jones Did Not Want Rabin In The Band
After jamming with the band, the rocker’s thoughts were seemingly positive about the offer. Saying that all the songs sounded fine and it went well, he mentioned the phone call he got from Jones. Apparently, Jones did not want the rocker to play in the band because there could be only one guitarist. Recalling him feeling threatened, Rabin continued:
“Mick called me the next day, and he said, ‘If you need a producer, I’m your guy, but I’m the guitarist in Foreigner, and you’re not playing in this band.’ And it’s kind of a compliment, in a way. So many words I’m paraphrasing, but in so many words, he said, ‘If you want the gig, it’s fine, but you should be playing guitar.’ That’s kind of what happened, and I didn’t take the gig.”
The Aftermath
When the offer was out of the table, the guitarist went on to give his tapes away to the record companies for a possible deal. Earlier, the rocker revealed that he only got two offers for the tapes, one being from RCA’s Ron Fair, who thought ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’ was a ‘smash’ hit, and the latter from some other company.
Rabin eventually worked with RCA, and ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’ became one of Yes’ hits.
Below, you can watch the recent snippet.
