One of the most innovative bands in pop music, 10cc, will perform live on Saturday, September 13, 2025 at the Carteret Performing Arts and Events Center in Carteret, NJ. The British band's Ultimate, Ultimate Greatest Hits Tour 2025 is an extension of the group's first US tour in over three decades.
The 10cc live concert line-up features Graham Gouldman on bass, guitar, and vocals; Rick Fenn on lead guitar, bass, and vocals; Paul Burgess on drums, percussion, and keyboards; Andy Park on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion, mandolin, keyboards, and vocals; and Keith Hayman on keyboards, guitar, bass, and vocals.
Spotlight Central recently caught up with 10cc founding member Graham Gouldman and asked him about his musical background, his work as a songwriter and musician, and about 10cc’s upcoming September 13 performance at Carteret PAC.
You once said you came from “not a musical family, but an artistic family.” What did you mean by that?
I guess the musical gene came from my paternal grandmother. You know, quite often, I believe, it sort of skips a generation, so I got my musicality from her, I think. But my dad was a writer — he wrote plays, he directed plays, he wrote poetry, he wrote articles, he wrote stories — and he was really a massive help to me when I started writing songs in the ‘60s. He used to help me with lyrics, he came up with lyric ideas, he wrote lyrics, and we worked together on lots of the songs I wrote then, so he was very much an artist and when people say, “What did your dad do?” I don’t talk about what he did for a living but I describe him as an artist.
We understand that you originally wanted to be a drummer but you ended up learning guitar and, now, you play bass. How did that happen?
I’m a guitarist, actually, but I play bass as well; any guitarist can play bass — it’s just two strings less and with lower notes. But I started playing bass because, back in the day, I had a two-track tape recorder and I was making demos at home and needed to put bass on something so I bought a bass, started playing it, and fell in love with it. And it was at a time, really, when bass players were starting to get a lot more respect because they weren’t just in the background. It was people like Paul McCartney, Motown’s James Jamerson — very musical bass players who were coming to the fore — and I really got inspired by them and people like John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin, who I used to work with.
You were in several bands as a youngster including The Whirlwinds and The Mockingbirds. What kind of music did you play back then — covers or originals?
Covers of the hits of the day, mainly. And our manager at the time used to go to Italy every year and would bring back whatever was on the charts there, so we used to do those songs, as well. So it was mainly like a cabaret band playing in dinner clubs and working men’s clubs, as well — I don’t know if you’re familiar with them — they’re like big social clubs. So it was really a lot of covers and it was only later on that I started writing and performing songs I had actually written.
You just mentioned that you worked with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones — we believe, in groups like The High Society and The Manchester Mob. What was it like working with him?
Oh, working with John was great! I actually met him when I was living in Manchester writing songs but we needed to make proper demos of them so we’d go down to London to make them and I’d go down with him. He was working basically as a session player and we got on really well. I recorded a solo album in 1969 called The Graham Gouldman Thing and he and I and Eddie Kramer, the engineer, really made the album together — the three of us — where John did some amazing, really beautiful string and woodwind arrangements for the album.
You mentioned earlier that you wrote some of your early songs with your dad. We know that, as a teen, you wrote several big hits — “For Your Love,” by The Yardbirds, “Bus Stop” for The Hollies, and “No Milk Today” for Herman’s Hermits. Back then, as a youngster, did you think any of those songs would become a hit?
It’s always pretty much of a dangerous thing when you try to predict what’s gonna be a hit. I knew that “Bus Stop” was special when I’d written it; I mean, I wrote it especially for The Hollies. I was really pleased with it, but whether I thought it was a hit or not, I don’t know — I guess if The Hollies were gonna record it, it was almost guaranteed to be a hit. But I didn’t think in those terms, really. I never did and I never have; I just think about if something’s good. I mean, the classic example is when we’d recorded “I’m Not in Love.” None of us said, “Oh, that’s gonna be an international hit” — we just thought it was a great piece of work.
We know you went on to join The Mindbenders for a bit before coming to New York where you wrote songs for some well-known groups. What were some of the things you worked on there?
That was with the Kasenetz-Katz organization which was famous for bubblegum music. I think they wanted to move away from bubblegum a bit and they approached me to work with them. It was stuff for Ohio Express, and there was a track for Freddie and the Dreamers — “Susan’s Tuba” — which was the most unlikely hit; I mean, it was a hit in France and it’s almost impossible to get a hit in France but, you know, weird things happen.
I really did enjoy that time period, though — I liked Jerry and Jeff very much but I didn’t really like being expected to churn out so many songs per day, or whatever it was. But I brought back some of the songs I had written to Strawberry Studios, where I was a partner, and finished the records off with Kevin Godley, Lol Creme, and Eric Stewart — and of course, that was the group that became 10cc.
Weren’t the four of you working with Neil Sedaka when you decided to start 10cc?
Yeah, we did two albums with Neil — Solitaire and The Tra-La Days are Over — and after we’d done the first one, we would go into the studio and write and record things for our own amusement, really, or pleasure. We recorded one song called “Donna” that we thought would be a single and that was really a big turning point for us because it was our first single which was a hit that really cemented our relationship and enabled us to go on to do what we did.
You just mentioned the great 10cc song, “I’m Not in Love,” which you said you didn’t expect to be a hit but is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Yes, it’s its 50th birthday this year, which is amazing.
So what was the initial impetus — either lyrically and musically — for that song?
Not to write a love song! We’d never written a proper love song up to that point and Eric came up with the perfect title. The song wrote itself really quickly like all the good ones do. And we did one version of it which was like a bossa nova but that didn’t work and we came up with a different rhythm, slowed the tempo down, and Kevin came up with this idea of the “choir” — of course, this was before the days of sampling — but he came up with this idea to create this big vocal “wash,” and there it is.
Did you do that by layering track over track of vocals?
Yeah, we worked out a method of making loops of each note that had already been multi-tracked and then flying it back into the multi-track.
Amazing. And another great song you guys did was “The Things We Do For Love.” Is there a story behind the writing of that song?
Not really. It was just another song on the Deceptive Bends album, which was the first album we did after Kevin Godley and Lol Creme left the band. Since Eric Stewart and I decided to keep the name, 10cc, we felt quite a bit of pressure to come up with something really good, and I think we did with that one.
Absolutely. After 10cc, you worked with Andrew Gold in Wax, were inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, toured with Ringo Starr and his All Stars, and recorded with Queen’s Brian May, but you’re currently on tour in the US where you’ll be performing at the Carteret Performing Arts Center. What can music lovers expect from this show?
All the hits and more. I mean, you’ve got to do the hits. I’m still not sure how many of the songs were big hits — the audience might hear some songs they might not be as familiar with unless they’re, sort of, real 10cc aficionados — but all the hits we’ve had wherever will be performed, plus various album tracks and a couple of surprises.
Sounds great! Is there anything you’d like to say to folks in the NJ area who might be interested in checking out the show?
We’re looking forward to playing for you! What’s really great is we did an American tour last year and it was so successful that we’re able to come back twelve months later which is really brilliant, so we’re looking forward to playing in New Jersey!
10cc’s Ultimate, Ultimate Greatest Hits Tour 2025 comes to the Carteret PAC in Carteret, NJ on Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 7:00pm. Tickets range from $37-$57 and are available for purchase online. VIP Tour Package tickets are available as well.
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