My Encounter w/Dhani Harrison About George

I saw Dhani Harrison's new band, Thenewone2, at The Coachella Music & Arts Festival this weekend. Refreshing, is the best way I guess I'd describe his material. Anyway, there was a CD signing session for fans later in the day, and and got a chance to ask Dhani a few questions as he signed his CD for me. I brought up his father's catalogue and its current situation, and he got really defensive. At first, I felt badly that I brought up what was obvious a sore subject with him, but then I thought, "What the hell. He's already pi--ed off anyway, I might as well go for the juggler." So I asked about all the previously unreleased George Harrison stuff, and a potential boxed set to which he responded, "Hey, don't blame me and mom. We were ready to go five years ago and the son-of-a-bitches at EMI stopped it. It's not our fault. Blame those son-of-a-bitches at EMI. Ask them why they won't get it out. There's a movie and a greatest hits package coming out. I guess you'll have to just settle for that for now. But the other stuff will come out eventually." I tried to explain to him politely that we babyboomers aren't getting any younger, and that the bootleggers were having a field day with his dad's "rarities", some in really good quality to which he said, "Yeah, we know all about the bootleggers and we know who they are and we're in the process of putting a stop to all that rubbish. The bootleggers ain't got nothing...they ain't got nothing. You should hear all the stuff I have in the vault, you have no idea, you have no idea. The bootleggers ain't got nothin'--nothin'--and that's all I'll say." I asked him when the stuff does eventually get released, if he was locked-in to using EMI's house engineers for remastering to which he said, "No. We don't use anyone we don't want to use, and that includes the people at EMI." So, maybe there's hope yet that a)a George Harrison box set of previously unreleased material may see the light of day and, b)someone like Steve will get an opportunity to work on the remastering for CD. One can only dream..........

 

Well done.

Chip Madinger
www.lennonstrangedays.com

 

Nice, thank for that. It seems he does care about his father's legacy yet he was there to promote his record so I'm glad he didn't attack you, the guy seems classy.

 

I have to give credit where credit is due, in that Dhani did seem have a sense of wit about him, you know, like his dad could have, in some respects. When I asked my first question about his dad's back catalogue and when it would be upgraded, his first response was, "Well, when are YOU going to release YOUR dad's back catalogue?" That really took me off guard, and I totally lost my train of thought for a sec.

 

cdice,
Thanks for your perseverence in continuing with your line of questions with Dhani. It made the situation much clearer as a result. You also stood your ground. That's something to be admired.

 

I'm not sure if that was "witty" or "obnoxious." I understand he may not be thrilled to be answering for his dad's legacy all the time, but he needs to get used to the fact that he's the face of the family right now, and he's going to get asked questions. I hope you didn't ruin his day, but I'm sure glad you got some responses.

Interesting about the EMI angle -- some wounds never heal, eh?

 

So Dhani says that the stumbling block is EMI's bean-counters? Hopefully the success of the Beatles remasters later this year will help him and his mother grease the wheels there and get his father's unreleased material out to us a bit faster! Thanks for the update!

 

Yeah, he was pretty verbal about EMI. I have to say I was one of those guys who actually thought, wrongly, that it was Dhani and Olivia's "fault" that the stuff was not being released. Perhaps there's two sides to every story; it would be nice to hear from someone in-the-know at EMI. And, no, I don't think I "ruined" his day...lots of people were buying his CD, and there were lots of "little girls" oohing and aahing him and wanting their pictures taken with him. I'm sure my questions and comments rolled off like water on a duck's back after I left. Side note: One of the guys in Dhani's band was named John and, I swear to God, I had to do a double-take as the kid looked like Sean Lennon.

 

Very Significant

I will assume your post is true and that you recalled the conversation fairly well.

First off he says You have no idea whats in my dads archives, you have no idea! Well this makes the fan salivate! WHat the heck does he mean! Tons of tracks and tracks from the beatle era and tracks with Ringo and PAul and Clapton and Winwood and whoever probably. His versions of Ringo tunes, demos for beatle songs we have never heard , a whole brainwashed two!
WOW --he says we know what the bootleggers have they don't have nothin!
WOW WOW OWOW WOW

HEre's a rub---How can EMI Leverage and block the Harrisons from a box set----I was very very gratified to learn the Harrisons had been ready for five years--according to what you say DHani Harrison said--all these magnificent tracks--alternate versions, beatle demos for songs we never heard of BRainwashed tunes, all star recordings---EMI has the desire and power to nix this ? How ? and WHy ?

Yes its expensive to release, manufacture, master, promote a HArrison box set but George is a pretty big act, everybody else has one ? How can they have the power to deny the Harrisons ? I would think they just say no box set no signature next time you want to put out a beatle project ? No ?

SUppose in a worst case they lost a few hundred thousand dollars on a HArrison box set ? Worst case,,,wouldn't that be offset by the twenty or fifty million they make on a big Beatle project ?

SO whats the anaylsis on all this

this is pretty big news, the poster seems credible unless its just a cruel hoax


"You have no idea whats in the archives, you have no idea"

 

well done, thanks for reporting!

 

A single Beatle's influence in today's music industry

An INDIVIDUAL Beatle or his estate doesn't have nearly the influence or cache in the music industry as the combined forces of The Beatles LLP/Apple Corps...my opinion about all this is that it'll take the Remasters program selling really well to get EMI's bean-counters off their collective behinds and supporting a Harrison rarities box set!

 

can you only imagine being asked the same questions over and over, thousands of times from beatle fanatics, about your fathers 'legacy?'

there's probably no getting 'used to' that at all. the poor kid probably has a built in defense system in place where his mind goes on auto-pilot and words just fly out - sometimes harsh and abrasive, sometimes maybe witty and funny.

 

Fair enough

But wouldn't you want the Harrison estates cooperation on future Beatle releases ? Second Say the Harrison Estate is worth between A quarter and a half a billion dollars. COuldn't they go in their own pocket for a few hundred thousand to help fund the deal against returns ? That would be the equivelant of the average person investing in a new Beatle game


DId you hear what he said ? You have no idea what I have in the vaults, you have no idea.

 

i really wanna know what's in that vault... oh god, can you imagine???

"New" George Harrison....

 

Rare.

 

The real question is, 'who has the rights to what?'
Does the Harrison family own George's name or does EMI or Apple Corp have a stake in it? To me, that seems to be the first question to ask. From there, if George has been recording & recording through out the years, chances are it isn't under the direction of a recording label, but rather himself. He likely sells the finished product to the Capitol. Anything that has been release, would be owned by the label, right?
For the Harrison estate to release a set of unreleased, demos & live on their own and fully fund it, would be chump change. The resulting return would no doubt make up for time & monies spent.

 

Right so ?

Right so whats the hold up ? Whats the big deal ? What is the most you
could possibly lose on something like this ? A million dollars ? in a worst case scenario ? Thats like my buying a few lotto tickets!

It doesn't make sense does it ?

Really there's no recording costs , no band to give advances to, I mean Dhani said he has had it ready for five years! All they have to do is manufacture, distribute promote, They have departments that do that
everyday..... The Harrisons wont put up a few hundred thousand of their
own money ? on what principal ?

Man I really want to hear those tracks, I would imagine they would make good money on the deal....Maybe someone else has a boxset thats supposed to come out first

On the bright side Dhani did say it would come out eventually, Hopefully the nursing home will have a stereo or headphones

 

Here is my guess of what the situation is: The Harrison estate is, indeed, in possession of a lot of cool material that would be releasable and saleable. EMI claims contractual rights to issuing the material, based on when it was recorded and Harrison's contracts, and is offering a royalty rate consistent with his original contracts. Harrison's estate rightly believes the material is worth a much greater royalty rate, or perhaps even a contractual reversion of ownership in order to allow EMI to license and release the material. So we have a stand-off.

There is absolutely no question or reason to believe that EMI wouldn't want the material released. HOWEVER, there is also no reason to believe that they would indulge a much improved royalty rate--of a reversion of ownership--to do so.

If we take Dhani at his word, then I'd bet big money that the above explains the problem. It isn't simply that EMI doesn't want the material released, or is blocking it on any sort of artistic (or spiteful) grounds.

 

You have to remember, you were there for HIS album release, not his DAD's album release. He was probably a little taken aback to be kind of attacked, for lack of a better word, about something that he wasn't there to deal with, and it also took him out of a moment where he was allowed to be the spotlight and put him back in dad's shadow again. I don't blame him for being more than a little defensive - he probably gets this all the time.

 

You're right, and I don't envy the position he's stuck in. He didn't ask to be George Harrison's son -- but at the same time, being George's son has given him a pretty sweet life overall. When I said he needed to "get used to it" I meant now that he's embarked on a public life of his own, he'll face a whole new level of exposure to Beatlemaniacs who want a piece of his dad. Plus, he's been very visible as an active participant in George's projects, so it's not like he's having a role foisted on him that he didn't ask for.

He'll just have to learn to balance the George stuff with his own career -- kind of like the former Beatles had to do with their solo careers. I wasn't trying to give him a "get over it, kid" smackdown; it was more a lament that this is his life now and the sooner he gets used to it the sooner he'll enjoy it.

 

Juggler? Balls, Chainsaws, Bowling Pins??????

The term is "jugular" if you are referring to a vein.

 

That would make sense.

I would think a compromise could be reached. Its been ready for five years he said. Five Years. Really the Harrisons are wealthy enough to wait forever.
EMI could get a piece of something, rather than nothing. I would think five years would have been enough time to find a solution if anybody was motivated.Its possible EMI would lose in court.

 

Well done CDice!! You straddled the line well and obviously got Dhani to open up some. Not so sure an actual "finished" boxset was compiled; more likely EMI wouldn't foot the bill to remix, remaster and release a multi-boxset so it never came to fruition. It would be utterly amazing if a finished set was indeed presented to EMI and they flat out refused to release it. No doubt George's archives contains a treasure trove of music. He supposedly recorded parties with his "friends" quite often and had a wonderful professional studio in his home too. EMI's thinking is exactly what soured George on the music business for much of his solo career. They have no regard for the enormity of the Beatles and often treated them shabbily in the 70's and 80's. At one point none of them were on EMI or Capitol. Just foolishness. I'd love for the Harrison's to give a big "FU" to EMI and have someh boutique label issue a lavish boxset. Bear Family anyone? Ron

 

WELL! I knew I had no idea what was in the vault...but I had no idea I have no idea...!

I wonder what kind of a dance Dhani has to do with Yoko and Paul on a year-to-year basis to insure the focus remains on the bloody mop tops, and not the trajectory of George's legacy, as I'm sure he'd prefer it. On one hand he wants to put his fathers' stuff out, but there's a constant ego-hissy-fit between EMI and Apple Corps that seems to demand walking a tightrope to get ANYthing done.

It's just like back in tha day: George gets shut out because "everybody" knows it's all about McCartney & Lennon, and they don't need any Harrisongs mucking around.

 

If George's masters are under some kind of EMI distribution contract, his estate would be legally obligated to give EMI right of first refusal...in other words EMI would automatically get first dibs on releasing George's vault material, regardless of Olivia and Dhani's wishes. That may be the hang-up here!