Expat musicians reflect on rock ‘n’ roll past

By Kim Young-jin

When Neil Young sang that rock ‘n’ roll could never die, it was as much a plaintive warning against its excesses as an ode to the spirit of artistic survival it embodies.

But three foreign residents here with long histories in the genre are taking the lyric at face value, keeping their musical roots alive despite stepping out of the spotlight years ago.

Meet Gerard Mosiniak, a singer once the personal chef for rock’s elite; Tony Le Rhodes, who drummed for Australian hard rock band The Choirboys and Joe McCabe, former saxophonist for American group REO Speedwagon.

Each has experienced the thrilling highs and seen the frightening lows synonymous with rock, and, stronger for it, and are contributing to Korea with their work and music.

All that glitters

Mosiniak, a Frenchman, has seen the rock star life up close and personal. After all, he was the personal chef for one of the biggest ever: Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.

Once painfully shy, all that changed for Mosiniak in the early 1970s when he was asked to be the guitarist’s chef as the band recorded “Exile on Main Street” in southern France.

The sessions would go down in history not only for the marathon, all-night recording spurts, but for the revolving door of artistic legends including John Lennon and Eric Clapton who visited the compound.

“There was no barrier between them and us ― it was like family,” he recalled.

Mosiniak never used the drugs rampant at the time but nonetheless soaked the atmosphere. Soon he set off to London and became the singer in his own band, eventually sharing the stage with the likes of Iggy Pop.

Le Rhodes, meanwhile, may be best known for his stint drumming with The Choirboys, who penned the 1986 hit “Run to Paradise." Perhaps more impressive is that he avoided the most lethal of rock’s trappings while living out his dream.

“When there are 79,000 people out there and you walk out on stage alone and start beating the drums...there’s no amount of drugs can replace that adrenaline buzz,” he said in a rare interview.

Both eventually decided to move on from their respective scenes. For Mosiniak, it was the cutthroat nature of the music industry. He came close but never landed a record deal.

Fed up, he headed back to cooking and became a star in his own right cooking for almost 20 years with top hotel manager Accor.

Le Rhodes, who has buried seven close friends due to substance abuse, came here in 2001 at the invitation of FIFA, to drum in festivities for the World Cup.

Feeling a kinship with Seoul, he never looked back, leaving behind the lucrative niche he had carved out in the Australian music industry.

Keep on rockin’

Of the three, McCabe, now 64, underwent the greatest transformation from musician to professional.

Now branch president in Korea for a multinational aerospace firm, McCabe joined the band in 1968 and helped them tear up the college scene around their home state of Illinois.

Though he quit before they hit it big to pursue his studies, McCabe never regretted the move, a feeling reinforced after visiting the band backstage at the height of their fame.

“It was all champagne, music and hilarity,” he recalled. “But by that time I was happily married with kids. I just thought the continuity of a successful family was far more valuable than that of a riotous life.”

Now all three rockers have settled down into more stable lives but none have forgotten their roots.

Mosiniak is fusing, for the first time, his two great passions.

Plating sophisticated meals as the executive chef of the Novotel Ambassador hotel in Seoul and jamming with local musicians on the side, he has been embraced by the media as the “Rockin’ Chef.”

Le Rhodes has a thriving career playing sessions and gigs with some of Korea’s hottest musicians and is the owner/manager of Tony’s Aussie Bar and Bistro, a pub and live music venue in Itaewon, Seoul.

Some find it strange that Le Rhodes, who never drinks alchohol, is best known among expats as a bar owner. But he shrugs off the observation.

What’s more important, he believes, is that he can use his experiences ― the good and bad ― to show people here a good time.

The formula seems to work ― what began as a tiny kitchen has expanded into an uninhibited venue for performance, including the popular open jam sessions on Monday nights where Le Rhodes can be seen in his natural state behind the drum kit.

“My job here is to make people happy. I feel like I’m an archangel,” he said.

McCabe never put down his sax even as he rose through the ranks of BAE Systems, a job that now has him rubbing shoulders here with high-ranking officials and other VIPs.

With retirement on the horizon, he plans to get more involved in the jazz scene and hopes to introduce up-and-coming musicians to Korea. In September, he will host Stan Killian, one of the hottest saxophone players in New York in hopes he will catch on here.

Each seemed content to contribute their music, perhaps even relishing being able to do so out of the limelight.

“I’m 64 years old and still rocking, which is what I wanted to do all my life,” Mosiniak said. “So I’m very happy.”