“He was like, ‘No, I want the other position.’ That’s where it became so acrimonious between us”: Francis Rossi opens up on the internal tensions between Status Quo’s two guitar greats

Rick Parfitt [left] and Francis Rossi give their Telecasters a good thrashing during a 2010 live performance in Perth, Australia.

Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt were one of the greatest double acts in electric guitar. No one could thrash a Fender Telecaster like them. But as tight as they were as the four-legged riff machine behind British rock legends Status Quo, Rossi admits that the pair grew apart over the years.

In a new interview with Guitarist, Rossi reveals how they band just wasn’t big enough for the both of them. 10 years following Parfitt’s death, he spoke of the tension that ended up emerging between the two.