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Doug 'Cosmo' Clifford Interview

A few more excerpts from Atlantic City Weekly's interview with one of the founding members of Creedence Clearwater Revival, now a member of CC Revisited.

By Ray Schweibert
Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jun. 2, 2010

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Below are more excerpts from our interview with Doug Clifford. Read the story here.

How well did you and Stu mesh musically with Steve, John and Tal in the beginning?
Tal didn’t start with us. He took Elliot Easton’s place, our original guitarist [and former lead guitarist for The Cars] in the project. [Easton] saw the success we were having with our project and wanted to do the same thing with The Cars [joining what would become The New Cars], and when he left Tal came in about six years ago.
But to answer your question, yes. The whole point of a band is, first of all, to be able to play with conviction, and this [Creedence] catalog means so much to millions of people, especially to us. So it has to be done right, and in order to do that you have to get along well and play well together.

Do you guys have any other recording projects in the works?

We’ve been involved in a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation CD. The local chapter of northern Nevada [where Clifford and his wife live most of the year, wintering in Scottsdale, Arizona) asked us to be a part of it. It has a lot of different artists on it. It’s a Christmas album and came out last year. We recorded Chuck Berry’s “Run Run Rudolph.” We didn’t have a lot of time and were on the road when we were asked to participate. We asked when do you need this and they said next week, and we were like “Whoa!” We didn’t have a lot of time, but we wanted to be a part of it because it’s a great charity and a hideous disease. We got on the stick, figured out what we wanted to do, recorded it a few times and said “We have a winner.”

How did you get the nickname ‘Cosmo’?
Cosmo happened in my college days [at San Jose State University]. They called me Clifford C. Clifford, and I’m not sure where that came from, but I was an amateur entomologist. I studies insects — mostly roaches and ants — and their habitats, and was into the environment and how things worked, and what man was doing to the environment long before it became sort of a popular trend to be “green” with the public. Stu and I went to college together and lived in the animal house and there were some characters. We had some great parties. We were having a toga party and someone yelled out “Hey Clifford C. Clifford, what does the C stand for?” Before I could respond, the first hippie in the house yelled out “It stands for Cosmo. He’s cosmic and a man of nature.” And it stuck.
 

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