Richard Clapton Prepares For The 50th Anniversary of His Debut Album ‘Prussian Blue’ - Noise11.com
Richard Clapton at Bakehouse photo by Ros O'Gorman

Richard Clapton at Bakehouse photo by Ros O'Gorman

Richard Clapton Prepares For The 50th Anniversary of His Debut Album ‘Prussian Blue’

by Paul Cashmere on April 3, 2023

in News

Richard Clapton is marking the 50th anniversary of the release of his first album ‘Prussian Blue’ with two shows in Sydney and Melbourne.

Richard started his first band in the UK before relocating to Germany and then back to Melbourne. ‘Prussian Blue’ tells stories of the journey.

Richard tells Noise11.com, “The first two or three years of my career in Australia were quite odd really. I started out in bands in London and got deported because the American band I put together were importing pot into the UK. I had already made friends in Berlin so I headed there. I was in bands in Berlin and really believed we had a shot with the original Warners. That would have been ’69 or ’70. We were just hippy bums driving from Berlin to Munich and invested a lot of money we didn’t have to buy equipment. We had the same name as an American band called Sopwith Camel. We were sent a legal letter, a cease and desist. Regrettably the record company in Munich got cold feet and didn’t go ahead with the deal”.

The first songs started in German. “I began to write about being booted out of the UK. I was on a train, hence the song ‘Last Train To Marseilles’, which is probably the first serious song I ever wrote,” he says.

“I wrote ‘Southern Germany’. It virtually 50/50,” he said.

“‘I Wanna Be A Survivor’ was a Kings Cross, Sydney song when I was living in a rat infested dump in Kings Cross looking over the harbour.”

“I had been in the folky scene in Berlin and Munich. There were really great folk clubs in Sydney then and I was doing the rounds of them. I accepted an invitation from one of the folky guys to move in with him in Chippendale, which is Redfern. I came straight from Southern Germany to crashing out at a pad in Chippendale. The ‘Prussian Blue’ album is not a transition. It was straight out of Germany into Sydney. The album is 50% very German and 50% very Australian”.

Richard has two shows for Sydney on 15 April and Melbourne on 19 May to mark the milestone.

Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here

Be the first to see NOISE.com’s newest interviews and special features on YOUTUBE and updated regularly. See things first SUBSCRIBE here: Noise11 on YouTube SUBSCRIBE

Noise11.com

Follow Noise11 on Social Media

Noise11 on Instagram

You’ll discover music news first following Noise11 on Twitter

Comment on the news of the day, join Noise11 on Facebook

Related Posts

Jeff Lynne photo from Jefflynneselo website
Dhani Harrison Joins Jeff Lynne For Traveling Wilburys At ELO Concert Birmingham

While Black Sabbath was doing their final ever Back To The Beginning show in Villa Park, in their hometown Birmingham on Saturday night, across town four kilometres away Jeff Lynne was also performing at Utilita Arena in his hometown, Birmingham as well as Dhani Harrison joined Jeff.

4 days ago
Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath photo by Ros OGorman
Black Sabbath Return Back To The Beginning In Birmingham For The End

Black Sabbath played their final show in hometown Birmingham, UK on Saturday (5 July 2025) with a massive all-day festival featuring the world’s biggest rock acts.

4 days ago
The Doobie Brothers at Bluesfest Melbourne photo by Mary Boukouvalas
Tom Johnston Says He Nearly Died When He Left Doobie Brothers in 1977

When Tom Johnston left The Doobie Brothers in 1977, he says he nearly died.

5 days ago
Foreigner Premiere Previously Unreleased ‘4’ Track ‘Fool If You Love Him Ahead of Box Set Release

Foreigner have premiered the previously unreleased ‘Fool If You Love Him’, a song recorded but not used on the ‘4’ album.

6 days ago
Supertramp Crime of the Century
Two Supertramp Classics Remastered for 50th Anniversary

Supertramp’s 1974 classic ‘Crime of the Century’ and 1975 classic ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’ have been remastered to mark the 50th anniversary of the released.

6 days ago
Cold Chisel The Big Five O Live
Cold Chisel To Release Live DVD/Blu-Ray From Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl

Cold Chisel’s ‘The Big Five-O Live’ show, recently broadcast of television, will be available on CD, vinyl, DVD and Blu-Ray in August.

July 2, 2025
Phil Manning of Chain
Phil Manning and Warren Morgan Team Up For Exclusive Melbourne Show

Phil Manning of Chain and Warren Morgan of The Aztecs and also Chain will get together in Melbourne this Saturday night for a one-off performance.

July 1, 2025