He was the small face peering out from behind the B-3. But as the keyboardist for the Small Faces and the Faces, Ian McLagan made some big noise, writing “You’re So Rude” and contributing his signature sound to Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May” and “You Wear It Well.” McLagan played on the Stones’ Some Girls and led Bonnie Raitt’s touring band for four years. Dylan and Springsteen have borrowed his keyboard talents. A Middlesex native, McLagan now runs his own Bump Band out of his adopted hometown of Austin, Texas.
When he was last in Raleigh, tearing up The Pour House, he croaked out a window-rattling version of “You’re So Rude” that would have had Stewart running for the exits. He and his mates in the Faces set the standard high for rock ‘n’ roll and, unlike Roddy, he still keeps that bar up there. He’s kicking off his tour in Raleigh, promoting his latest release, Spiritual Boy: An Apprecation of Ronnie Lane.
“I bump into bands all the time who say the Faces were their inspiration,” he said recently from his Austin home. The Black Crowes and the Georgia Satellites make that list, but–as McLagan will prove in person–there’s nothing like the original.
Ian McLagan and the Bump Band play Tir Na Nog Saturday, Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10.
