'I've known him since we were kids,' explains the blues guitar legend. The two ended up reconnecting as kindred spirits for Morrison's anti-lockdown song Stand And Deliver last year. I got the tip that Van was standing up to the measures and I thought, why isn't anyone else doing this?' 'At the point where I spoke out it had been almost 18 months since I'd kind of been forcibly retired. 'My career had almost gone anyway,' reveals Clapton. Though he doesn't mention the specifics of any personal fallings out with people as a result of some of his statement – like his guitar peer and former friend Robert Cray has alluded to. The interview is cut short due to a technical issue, but Clapton makes his motivations clear for becoming politically active in the last year. And a lot of strange stuff was going on, so it all seemed to be… a buildup. 'And that's when I started talking about that particular and not only that but for the last four years before that had been a really strange time where withdrew from the European Union. 'What it did was, it sort of exaggerated those symptoms I already had, the the point where I was really frightened. 'The second one just did me in,' Clapton explains. He previously revealed that he feared he'd never play guitar again. 'But on the whole, I'm pretty much the way I was, thank god, before.'Ĭlapton continued to explain that he believes the aftereffects of two AstraZeneca vaccines caused his existing health issues – he explains in the interview he's been treated for lower back problems and resulting nerve issues in his body – to become deliberating.

'I had a great time but I still have some stuff going on which is effected by the cold, or the weather or stress,' Clapton says.

He confirmed his September dates last year in the US were a 'trial' to see if he had recovered enough to return to the stage. 'It's been about nine months since I got sick from the and for a couple of months I wasn't sure if it was going to go away or if it was going to get worse.' Clapton began the chat by confirming he was 'feeling pretty good' with his health right now.

Clapton's