THOMAS PUGGARD-MÜLLER - 2008 Q & A

February 16th, 2008 – www.panrobertlelievre.com 'Q & A' with Thomas Puggaard-Müller

Here is another new Q & A piece, this time with Pan's lead guitarist: Thomas Puggaard-Müller. Thomas kindly agreed to answer my list of eight questions, which were conducted via email, about a week ago. Many thanks to Thomas, like Arne and Henning, for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer such questions regarding Pan and Robert Lelievre – it is, like the rest of the help so far, very much appreciated. The fact that everyone has replied in English, instead of their native Danish, is also much appreciated. To learn more about Thomas's musical career, visit the "Thomas Puggaard-Müller" page here on this site. Thomas, along with brother Michael, Henning Verner, Jens Rugsted (Savage Rose), and Roy Richards are currently playing shows here and there as the group – Survivors. I wish him and the rest of the group all the best with any upcoming shows.

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: What did the band Pan mean to you as a musician, and what are your thoughts on the lack of success the band eventually ended with. From what I gather, Pan were well received by the press and on several occasions were featured on successful radio programmes such as "Dansk Beat" and "Radio Beat", so why then did the self-titled Pan record not sell too well?

THOMAS: "I think first of all, that the music was too original... so to speak, not commercial in Danish ears. Robert had some contacts in London who were interested, but somehow he was not keen enough, going after the ball, so to speak. To me his music was a great chance to play other things than blues and to play some very original music, which did not sound like anybody else. Robert himself WAS the music and he WAS his lyrics, it could not get closer to the core of origin than this. That was my inspiration. Also the record company did a very poor job of promoting the band. I think they had a lot of personal difficulties among themselves at that time."

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: What was your honest opinion of Pan's singer Robert Lelievre? And do you have any particular stories or memories of Robert to share with the site?

THOMAS: "I think he was a great singer. Full of passion and expression. Like I said before: "He was living the text and he was the music that he wrote".

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: I have acquired the following information about your music career from the web, can you please elaborate on any other facts that I have no doubt missed. Here is what I have found out so far: - You were initially in a mid-60's folk duo with Troels Jensen, and performed at the famous ViseVersHus in Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens. In 1968, you formed the Delta Blues Band with your bother Michael, Bent Hesselman, and Soren Engel, and made one of the first Danish multi-track recorded rock albums, which was released by Parlophone in 1969.

THOMAS: "Bent Hesselman was not a member of the band but played flute on one of the numbers on the record. He was playing in the band "Burnin Red Ivanhoe". Along with Arne Wurgler. "The Delta Blues and Boogie Band" was: Troels Jensen, myself, my brother Michael and Søren Engel." (edit. PAN fan Claus Rasmussen remembers differently: "Thomas remembers wrong. Bent Hesselman never played with Burnin Red Ivanhoe. At the time of the Delta Blues Band record, he was in The Maxwells, and later in 1970 he formed Rainbow Band (to become Midnight Sun). He also played occasionally with Young Flowers and Alrune Rod, but never Burnin. Another session musician was Jens Jørn Gjedsted on that album.")

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: - In late 1969, you joined Pan with brother Michael, and after the band's split in 1971, you then worked with Johnny Morch of Denmark's Morch Guitars for several years, where you designed Morch's "curl" model guitar.

THOMAS: "After Pan's split I played again with Delta Blues Band until I joined Culpeper's Orchard in '74."

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: - From 1974 onwards, you played guitar in Culpeper's Orchard.

THOMAS: "About one year before the split of Culpeper in 82, my brother Michael joined the group to replace Tom McÉwan. Along with this I also joined the band that was formed by my brother Michael: Survivors. After this I started my own Guitar repair shop and later I also started a P.A. rental company that worked with numerous bands and artists untill 1992 when I started to work in the Concert and Congresshouse Falkoner Center in Copenhagen as a sound technician. This job ends now in a couple of months. Then my plan is to start playing along with starting my guitar repair workshop again."

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: - Recently in February 2007, you played guitar on Peter Hard's début album "Levende Billeder".

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: Do you remember playing on an unreleased Robert Lelievre solo album for Sonet in 1971? Apparently Robert, you, and your brother Michael played on this album, though it never got released for some reason.

THOMAS: "This recording was a private project of the Director of Sonet Records. I was playing bass and guitar and the guitar player from Savage Rose - Niels Tuxen - played pedal steel and guitars. For some strange reason the album was never released. I shall try to look into the matter at a later date, and try to contact some people who might know what happened to the recording."

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: Somewhere in 1971, Pan recorded music for a Swedish/Danish film directed by Stellan Olsson called "Sidste Frist" aka "Deadline". Did Pan record music specifically for this film, or did Stellan Olsson simply use songs off the 1970 Pan LP?

THOMAS: "The music I think was recorded only for the film."

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: After the demise of Pan in 1971, did you keep in contact with Robert Lelievre, and also, what were your thoughts upon hearing the tragic news about his death?

THOMAS: "I made this recording with Robert for his solo album that I mentioned before. I also kept contact with him for a year or so. When I heard of his death I was very touched and sorry, because I knew that he had a lot of very hard difficulties in his life. I had heard about him trying to take his life some times earlier, but still it was quite a shock to me. I am not aware of how it happened."

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: Pan's self-titled debut has been re-released by at least three different music-reissuing labels, the last being a 2005 reissue with 7 bonus tracks by the label Karma Music. What are your thoughts regarding these reissues?

THOMAS: "I do not like these bonus tracks. The recordings are made in the Danish Radio and the sound is strange and I don't think that we are playing up to the standard of the original album. I for my part am NOT proud of my own guitar playing on these tracks."

PANROBERTLELIEVRE.COM: Lastly, if there is anything else you wish to say about your time in Pan, or about the Danish music scene of the time, please do so as I would very much like to hear any thoughts you may have regarding these things.

THOMAS: "PAN was a great experience for me. I somehow grew from just being a blues guitar player (don´t get me wrong: I love to play blues and music related to that, but the music world is just so much bigger and I would love to be a part of that too)."