If one enters the Ginger Pig, a seaside pub in Hove and Brighton, England, there’s a good chance a multi-platinum recording artist will serve them a lager. Robert Weston, or “Bob” has been the managing bartender at the Ginger Pig for ten years, which is nine years longer than his brief tenure in the world famous rock band Fleetwood Mac. For a year, Bob Weston was in a world renown band, not just as an unseen session player, but as a key participant in their development, but today he is serving drinks and seems mostly accepting, and yet there is no question, (and who could blame him) he harbors some disappointment as to how things turned out.
“It’s always a buzz, to talk with enthusiasts of the band while they’re getting their buzz on,” laughs Weston via Skype. It is not unusual for a fan or two to pop in a few times a week for an intimate discussion with the guitar virtuoso. Even though he doesn’t play while tending, Weston utilizes his time off with continuous practice of his prime instrument, a 30-year-old Gibson Les Paul that has been seen on TV programs such as Midnight Special and the Tonight Show. Weston had played on these late night circuits within the confines of 1973, the short year when he had been both hired and fired by Fleetwood Mac. “I don’t like to ask “what if?” That much because it will just upset me,” says Weston.
Bob was originally hired in late 1972 as a replacement for one of the original lead guitarists, Danny Kirwan. Weston remembers the first time he met Kirwan; Danny was angry at the band and very drunk. Kirwan sarcastically wished Weston the best of luck and whispered to him that he would really need it. “Yeah, Danny was interesting and incredibly talented, it’s tragic that he is still in a care center for his demons,” says Weston with a slightly concerned tone. Kirwan and Weston are among a handful musicians who have been heavily over-sighted in the build up to the 1975 Stevie Nicks led line up of the band.
“I guess I just got lost in the past, maybe more like thrown in the trash,” jokes Weston. Bob hadn’t been let go from the band because of an inadequacy in musicianship. The album, “Mystery to Me,” from 1973 had been completely co-arranged by Weston and has received critical acclaim from Billboard and Rolling Stone magazines. While the band had been touring throughout the year, Weston became friendly with drummer Mick Fleetwood’s wife Jenny Boyd.
“We shared the same birthday, we were born within an hour of each other, we really were just in love and there was nothing to stop us,” says Weston excitedly. Jenny and Weston continued their affair until the tour finished in Los Angles. “I woke up and the band pretty much dispersed and I pretty much figured it out at that point,” says Weston. After he had been fired Weston sparsely kept in touch with his former band mates.
Bob moved to Paris in 1974 and became a session guitarist for artists like Murray Head and ironically Danny Kirwan for his solo material. In 1981, he and several other former and current members of Fleetwood Mac assisted Bob Welch, Weston’s co-guitar payer during his year in the band, in a live performance at the Roxy Theatre. “I spent an hour with Stevie Nicks that night, we had some fun, she was shockingly down to earth,” says Weston. During the late 1980s, BBC had hired Weston as a composer for movies made for television. When the Fleetwood Mac Greatest hits box set came out in 1992, Weston was disappointed when he didn’t receive royalties for a song he arranged and co-wrote called, “Why.” “Everybody and their uncles were getting checks from that overpriced collection, except good old Bobby,” says Weston.
After Weston had finally accumulated enough money to promote, produce and tour with his solo album, “There’s a Heaven,” he was fired from BBC. As a result, for the first time in over 30 years, he was forced to take non-musical work. “I vowed I would never play in a bar, but I did love the scene in Brighton near the water and luckily I had a mate who owned a few pubs,” says Weston.
Even though it his not his permanent bank, music will never leave Weston’s life. In 2007 he started doing session work for a Dutch artists named Frank Baijens. Weston hopes to start recording another solo album in January. Bob encourages artists to pretend they have patience. “I’ve been working at the, “Pig” for a shade over a decade and I see these 20 year olds bitch about how are hard it is to make it. I made it when I was there age, they don’t know how hard it is to keep it,” laughs Weston.
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