Ringo Starr is in full promotional mode at the moment. The rocker is touring North America this spring and summer, and he’s pushing a new EP he just released. In a recent interview meant to help promote this new chapter, the musician spoke about his past and even used a choice word to describe one of his past bandmates…but don’t expect any bad blood between them.
In a new interview with AXS TV, Starr talked about the pace at which The Beatles wrote and recorded music. He explained that there likely would have been far fewer records from the band had it not been for the work ethic of one of the four musicians.
“Because of Paul, who was the workaholic of our band, we made a lot more records than John and I would’ve made,” Starr shared with Dan Rather, who conducted the interview. “Workaholic” can sometimes be used derogatorily, but here, the Beatles drummer isn’t looking to jab his friend and colleague. Instead, he seems to see it as a good thing.
He added that, “We liked to sit around,” referring to himself and John Lennon. Starr then said that whenever they were being lazy, “Paul would call ‘Alright lads,’ and we’d go in.”
The Beatles are remembered not only as one of the best and bestselling musical acts of all time but also as one of the most prolific. They released more music in a relatively short span of time than most bands will throughout their lifetime. Their success is made even more impressive considering the fact that they essentially didn’t drop anything that failed commercially, as each full-length contained songs that people are still listening to regularly to this day.
The Fab Four released their first album in America, Introducing… The Beatles, in early 1964. By the time they stopped working together in mid-1970, when their final album Let It Be came out, they’d shared 17 complete collections. That’s more than one per year, and nearly all of them went right to No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Starr is currently promoting his new EP Crooked Boy, which was released in April. The short set features songs written by Linda Perry, one of the most celebrated songwriters in the industry. He’s also touring, but he recently admitted that he won’t be performing new tunes during his sets, as he finds that audiences typically use those moments to leave and get a drink, buy merchandise, or use the restroom.
