The "Eve Of Destruction" man BARRY MCGUIRE has been singing for close to 50 years. He spoke at length to Mike Rimmer.

There are no shortage of nostalgia shows these days with tribute acts or versions of original bands getting back together as part of a package tour but McGuire doesn't see his show like that. "It may be nostalgia for some but not for me because, see I don't live in the past, I live in the present moment, you know. I think that if a song is not valid, if it's not valid in the present moment I won't sing the song because it's now, it's where we're living. There is no yesterday. There is no tomorrow. Yesterday is a figment of our memory; it doesn't exist in reality. And tomorrow is a figment of our imagination and it doesn't exist in reality. Most people are lost in their minds of living in yesterday or fantasising tomorrow, and I think when we get saved - the word 'saved' - when we get saved we get saved OUT of that fantasy of tomorrow and that memory of yesterday and we get saved INTO the present moment. THIS is our access to life - RIGHT NOW. And we're always living in the now. 'Today is the day of salvation.' I didn't get saved 40 years ago; I'm being saved right now! This is my moment of salvation - right now. Everything that's living is living NOW, you know. So I don't really think of things as nostalgia although some people do, but I try to use that to bring them into the present moment."

The show is obviously very entertaining with great songs and Barry is a compelling story teller. Does he also communicate some spiritual truths along the way? "Not really," he responds. "There is spiritual truth that is in the show but it's not an evangelistic Christian kind of thing. It's just family entertainment where everybody can come and sing along and have fun and enjoy themselves. And if people can't see Christ in my eyes, it doesn't matter what comes out of my mouth. Somebody told me that St Francis said, 'Go and preach the Gospel and if necessary, use words.' So if people can't see something in me that is attractive, attracting, that resonates within them then it doesn't matter what I say."

I have always classed Barry McGuire as one of the great pioneers of Christian music but it seems that he does not have any sense that he was doing anything special when combining Christian truth and music together all those years ago. He says, "I didn't know I was doing that, you know? I guess people, once again, if you want to look back into yesterday. . . History is good to remember, it's just that we shouldn't live there and long for the good ole' days. But I guess in looking back that's kind of what happened. I guess I was used by God as an instrument of establishing a new form of musical communication of the Gospel, yeah. That's kind of what happened with the Salvation Army. They did the same thing with music and then it got set in its ways and became very boring and staid because they didn't take the next step. They got stuck on the Salvation Army dot! And they're still doing it like they did it 150 years ago. But music is a growing, living thing that changes all the time. But yeah, I guess I was used in that capacity to help establish a new form of musical communication of the Gospel, yeah."

Thinking about the artists that were around in the late '60s and early '70s, not many of them got the recognition that they deserved and many people today aren't even familiar with pioneers like Larry Norman, Chuck Girard and Randy Stonehill. "No they didn't, and I don't think many of us did from those days." He pauses and reflects, "There were so many people from those days. It's like the music changed from what we experienced - from what I experienced, and still do experience music; as a sharing of my life. The Christian music industry changed from communicating the Gospel to an industry of praise and worship for the Church to sing. And Christian artists, instead of singing to reach the lost, started singing to the people that were going to buy their records, which were church goers. Then it became industry-driven by singing 'Hallelujah, praise the Lord! Jesus died for me!' kind of songs to the Church and the world doesn't want to hear them. So music changed. That's why I'm doing Trippin' The '60s; I want sing to people that don't know yet that they've been forgiven. I don't want to sing to the forgiven, I want to sing to the people that are lost and don't know they've been forgiven."

Barry McGuire now strikes me as a man who is one day simply going to keel over with a guitar strapped round his neck on stage! But it seems that it's already happened! "I died on stage about six years ago!" he says. "Yeah, my heart stopped beating. About a second into the last song! Down I went. I was working with Terry Talbot at the time and he was playing the guitar and he says, 'Are you okay?' I said, 'I don't think so.' And then I passed out. Then what happened was that a nerve wasn't getting the signals through to my heart for it to pump and so unless it gets the signal to pump it just sits there. So they rushed me off to the hospital and put a pacemaker in my chest, and I've been pumping at 60 beats a minute ever since!" And long may it continue!