Nightwatcher's House Of Rock Interviews

From The Heart And Soul : An Exclusive Conversation With Beth Hart

2011-12-14T16:44:00.000-08:00

Born in Los Angeles, California in 1972, it's quite clear that Beth Hart was born to be a musician.

Beginning to play piano at age four, she later attended L.A.'s High School for the Performing Arts as a vocal and cello major.

From classic female vocalists such as Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, singer songwriters as Carole King to the heavy metal rumblings of Black Sabbath and Rush, Hart naturally soaked up all the musical influences around her.

Often compared to the late rock legend Janis Joplin, whom she portrayed in the theatrical production of 'Love Janis' in 1999, its more due to her ballsy, no holds barred approach to singing rather than being a copyist which draws such comparisons.

Signing to Atlantic's Lava imprint, Hart issued her debut album, 'Immortal', in 1996. Her sophomore album, 'Screamin' For My Supper' released in 1999, saw her influenced by a deep love for the blues stylings of the great Etta James. The album was also notable for spawning top 5 Adult Contemporary Chart hit in "L.A. Song(Out Of This Town)",the success of which spurred on by its inclusion in episode 17 of the final season of mega popular TV show Beverly Hills 90210.

Subsequent albums, such as 2003's 'Leave The Light On' and 2007's hard rockin' '37 Days' continued to exhibit a musical maturity lyrically informed by autobiographical tales.

The live CD/DVD 'Live at Paradiso', released in 2005 demonstrated firmly that not only was Hart an impressive singer/songwriter, but that she was able to deliver the goods live. A stunning example of rock showmanship, it ranked her among the elite of her craft, attracting such admirers as British guitar god Jeff Beck and ex Guns N Roses axeman Slash. Around this same time she also contributed a smoldering performance on the album 'Les Paul & Friends : American Made World Played' accompanied by Journey/Santana legend Neal Schon on "I Wanna Know You".

In 2010 she recorded and released her latest solo release to date, the thought provoking 'My California' . A showcase of vignettes gleaned once again from Hart's personal experiences, including the poignant "Sister Heroine", an ode to her sister whom she lost to drug addiction, it proved that 14 years into her career, at a time when many have peaked, she was just hitting her stride.

Earlier this year she worked for the first time with blues rock guitar titan Joe Bonamassa, providing the background vocals on the track "No Love On The Street", from the guitarist's latest solo album 'Dust Bowl'. Recorded during the same time as the sessions for the duo's brand new release of blues and soul classics,'Don't Explain'' which hopefully will be a catalyst for a long, fruitful working relationship for many years to come.

Releasing an album of cover versions is always a dicey proposition due to obvious comparisons to the originals, yet Hart and Bonamasssa, more than ably assisted by uber producer Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Black Crowes, Joe Bonamassa) have deftly conjured up a sound all their own.

Weaving their own sonic tapestry, Hart's sultry and seductive vocals combine with Bonamassa's mastery of blues rock guitar to breathe new life into such classics such as Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind", Ray Charles' "Sinner's Prayer" as well as unique interpretations of such material as Tom Waits' "Chocolate Jesus" and Delaney & Bonnie's "Well, Well", resulting in one of the finest releases to grace 2011. A testament of which being the fact that the album has just been nominated for 'Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year' at the 33rd Blues Music Awards, to be held May 10, 2012 in Memphis, TN.

Recently we were able to catch up with Beth at home in Los Angeles to discuss her thoughts on the album, her philosophy regarding her music, what she has in store for the future, and much, much more. Please join us as we have a candid conversation with one of rock's most talented vocalists, Ms. Beth Hart.

Special thanks go to Erin Cook at Jensen Communications for coordinating. and a BIG thanks to Beth Hart for doing this interview with Nightwatcher's House Of Rock... (Beth Hart 'My California photos : Copyright: Greg Watermann / BethHart.com)

Interview and text by Nightwatcher for Nightwatcher's House Of Rock © 2011

NHOR : First I'd like to get into talking about the new album that you've recorded with Joe Bonamassa, 'Don't Explain', which was recently released worldwide via J&R Adventures. Now that it's finished,how do you feel about how the album turned out?

Beth Hart : I feel so fantastic about it. Just as an example, in my past all the records that I've made, I listen to them as I'm recording, through the mixing process you're listening and listening, and might do a few listens after the songs are done, and that's it. But that's it. I don't go back to them after I'm done. But with this record, I've been listening and listening, and I've had it in my hands for several months. I think it's beautiful, and I'm really proud of it. I'm really grateful.

I think we pulled off iconic songs in a very respectful and beautiful manner. The process of making this album was so simple, easy and enjoyable to do this with them. It was only four days in the studio. It was so remarkable to be in the caliber of such incredible musicians. The whole experience for me was nothing but positive. Not to be cheesy, but it was like a dream come true.

From being a kid, listening to this music and never dreaming that I would ever sing this type of material. But I've loved listening to it my whole life. To have done it makes me feel really proud, and I have such a really, really good feeling.

NHOR : Seeing as the majority of the songs were originally performed by some very powerful vocalists, such as Etta James, Ray Charles, Bonnie Bramlett, Otis Redding...to name just several, did you feel any pressure to step up your game vocally knowing you ultimately would be compared to the original versions?

BH : Absolutely. Here's the thing. When they told me about this, and said, "Hey, go ahead and choose a bunch of songs that you love that are in a soul vein, whether they be jazzy, bluesy, whatever", I instantly knew what songs I wanted to do. I'm a huge Etta James fan, but not of her albums. Instead, I'm a big fan of all of her live recordings. That's the stuff I listen to from her. That's why I wanted to do a few of Etta's songs.

I knew I wanted to do a Billie Holiday song. I knew I wanted to do "Chocolate Jesus". I love the song, and love Tom Waits. I had those in mind, and I trusted, and knew that they would deliver some songs that would be fantastic as well. I was scared about that, because I knew that it would be stuff that I probably wouldn't be familiar with.

For instance I'd never heard "Sinner's Prayer" before. I'd never heard "For My Friend". Or a few others that they put over my way. So yes, it was intimidating more in the sense that could I do this with these great musicians? Because I knew that they were going to bring a game that was so far beyond. So that was the most intimidating.

But in terms of approaching the material, what gave me some solace was that I knew that each of these singers who originally did the recordings brought their own story to the song. Whether they wrote it or not is irrelevant. They brought some personal story. You can hear it. It's not just great vocals that deliver a performance, it's that truth. That feeling. They could be the greatest writer, but what really makes them the greatest writer is that they write about what they know. So I believe them, and believe their story when I hear it.

So I knew I had to find my own, to attach to each song. So once I made up my mind for that, I believed in myself. I said you can do this girl, but you've got to do it from your place, your story.

NHOR : There's obviously a lot of passion in your vocal delivery throughout all the tracks on this album. Where do you go to draw from in order to conjure up such powerful performances vocally?

BH : The first thing was that it was really important for me to really listen, like I was saying. To seek out where their truth was in each song, and really respect everything that they were doing. Every note, ever nuance, every phrasing, every rhythm. Then I had to go into my own place. I took the material into my piano room, played everything down and searched out what was my own personal thing.

Like for instance, on "I'd Rather Go Blind", I didn't think of it as being a boyfriend, or a man that I loved who was leaving me. I thought about my father. My mom and dad divorced when I was young, and he was gone for just years and years. So that's what I thought about. That was the biggest heartbreak of my life, my father leaving. That's what I drew from on that song.

On "Chocolate Jesus", I didn't take it from that drunken, "Fuck you" place...which I love that Tom Waits did. I took it from more of a sexual place. I thought it would be cool to be a kitty cat, cabaret French style type of thing. That's where I worked that from. And so on, throughout the tracks.

NHOR : The album is comprised entirely of cover versions of soul standards and soul inflected rock compositions, ranging from Ray Charles' "Sinner's Prayer", to Delaney & Bonnie's "Well Well", even Tom Waits' "Chocolate Jesus". How did you and Joe whittle down the songs included on the album?

BH : It was very easy. They made it so easy with me. The bottom line was they said that if you don't want to sing this stuff, you've gotta choose stuff that you want to sing. Then they happened to really love some of my choices, which I was really happy with. But like when Kevin sent me "Your Heart is as Black as Night", I instantly loved it. But when he sent me "I'll Take Care Of You", it wasn't that I didn't love it, it was that I didn't think I could sing it.

NHOR : You couldn't wrap your head around it...

BH : Right, I couldn't get my head around it. But I knew there was something in my gut that said, "Beth, you're gonna have to figure it out, because this is a great song. It would fit perfectly on this record". So that was the most challenging of the songs. Which is interesting, because it ended up being the first single.

But I flat out initially didn't like "Well, Well". I just didn't like the song. It wasn't until we recorded it together, when Joe was actually singing and I was singing with him...It was that moment that I fell in love with it. I love the song now, but at first I just didn't like it.

NHOR : So how did you approach doing the song if you didn't like it initially?

BH : I just said learn it and do it. I was thinking that I was just doing a background part anyway. But in the mix they ended up pushing up my background part more. Which was weird, ya know? But hey, who doesn't like that? (Laughs) Who doesn't like to be out front? I'm not going to call and argue with them. (Laughs)

NHOR : Well at least they didn't hear your part and decide to bring it down in the mix....

BH : Exactly. (Laughs) But that's when I really dug it. And who doesn't want to sing with Joe? He's just fucking great. So that was really cool.

NHOR : How did you hook up with Joe anyway? You were also on "No Love On The Street" from 'Dust Bowl'....

BH : Yeah, but I actually did that while we were doing this album. I just laid down a quick background vocal that day, which was the first day. How I met Joe was this : I was playing a small, and I emphasize small, show in London, and Joe was there. I didn't get to meet him afterwards. I remember thinking, "Wow, why did he come to the show?" My husband was saying, " He's got a radio show every Sunday in England, and he's been playing one of your songs every week. It's like the theme song of the show". A song called "Face Forward" off an old record I did, '37 Days'. I was like, "Oh wow! That's cool!"

Then a few months went by, and I met him briefly in a bar in a hotel I always stay at in Holland. I said hello, and he was really sweet. Then it was only a few months later that I got the call asking me if I wanted to do this record. Honest to God, the first thing out of my mouth was "Yes!", but I assumed I was doing background vocals. So, when they said, "No, we want you to sing vocals on the record", Oh my God, my stomach dropped. I got very nervous and excited at the same time.

NHOR : The album was produced by Kevin Shirley, who has been doing a lot of stellar work with Joe and other artists, including Led Zeppelin,Black Country Communion, The Black Crowes, Aerosmith and many others. What was it like working with Kevin?

BH : It was just really easy. There was no prep. I was on the road a lot, Joe was on the road a lot, so all the choices of songs was done over the phone. I had everything flown to me, so I was able to do a lot of listening at night, driving back from gigs. I got home, I think we were here for a week, we went to the Village , met up, everyone said hello, and we started tracking that day. We did three songs that day. We did three songs the next day.

Then about five weeks went by, and we didn't see each other, then we came in for two more days. We recorded two songs one of the days, and four songs the next day. And we were done. Everything went quickly because of the fact that everyone had so much respect for each other, and for the material. The only thing that took a moment to work out were the arrangements. But it happened so naturally.

For instance, it was like Go! Then it was just like a live show. I'm singing, they're playing, and we're going through the songs two or three times, then Kevin might say, "This time, take a round, and come back to the verse, instead of putting the verse there". We'd go in, play it through a few times, then Kevin would say, "You're done. Let's go on to the next song". So it just went really smooth. It was wonderful. There wasn't any dictatorship, or any of that kind of stuff that makes that inner child that wants to come out and play go away. Then you wonder why the act is so much better live on stage, because they get to be free.

I find that with Kevin, he trusts and believes that you're good enough to be yourself. He doesn't try to reign you in. Which is one of the things which always frustrated me so much with the Etta James albums. It always sounded like a producer was saying, "Oh, don't sound so black". Reign it in, so you can get on radio or something. I don't fucking know. But you listen to the live things, and it's extraordinary. Just extraordinary singing.

So I think one of the great gifts Kevin has, that more producers could learn from, is to back off. Let people be. Especially when they're young. So many young artists, they have so much talent, they get signed, then they make them into something else. You've got a miserable artist, who sounds cookie cutter like everybody else.

NHOR : Exactly...Since you mentioned that, you were involved in that type of competition, and even won 'Star Search'. With that in mind, what is your take on shows such as 'American Idol'?

BH : I don't like it. I did 'Star Search'. It's a long story, but I did it as a bet with a friend of mine. I was broke, I auditioned for it, and I got a call back right away. I said I didn't want to do it. Because I was getting $100 dollars to go and audition. Then they ended up going, "No, we want you to do the show". (Laughs) I was like, "Well, I don't want to do your show". The producer called me into his office, and he asked me, "What's it going to take to get you to do the show?" I was like "What the heck do you want me to do the show for?" They said, "You're young, you're doing something cool, and it might make our ratings go up. Because our ratings really suck, and we're considered a really cheesy show".

So I went on the show, thinking I'd do a couple of the shows, maybe win a couple of times and be out of there. But I ended up winning the whole time. I did some originals, and some covers, and I ended up winning the show. Which was great because I won a lot of money, but the show really hurt me. I couldn't get a record deal for a long time. It was almost like three years went by, and no one would touch me. Because it was considered a very uncool deal. You don't really become your own artist in that view. You become a 'Star Search' artist.

But then you look at 'American Idol' which is a whole different day and age, and people have had fantastic careers that they've gone on to have. That's wonderful. Whatever it takes. It's such a tough business right now, you've got to get yourself out there.

NHOR : What are your personal favorites on this album, and why?

BH : "Don't Explain". It reminds me of my mother. She always loved Billie Holiday. Her big thing was whenever I came home from school, she'd be taking a bubble bath, and that's when we'd sit together and listen to Dinah Washington, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and all that kind of music.So that really reminds me of my mother. When I first heard "Don't Explain"...the first time, I thought that the chord changes against the melody , which is such a supreme melody, it's just sick, isn't it?

NHOR : It's extremely sultry and sensual....

BH : Oh...It's incredible. Just as a song alone, it's one of the great songs. Even by Billie. She didn't write that many songs, she wrote "Don't Explain", "God Bless The Child"...I'm sure she wrote others that never were heard, but I just love it. I love her. It reminds me of my mother, so it's a big favorite, that song.

NHOR : So you had a background in this type of music obviously from an early age...

BH : Yes. I love it, and I'm very thankful that I got that.

NHOR : Would you say that may have been the catalyst for you wanting to become a vocalist?

BH : It was weird, because I started out as a pianist and a cellist. I really wanted to play classical music. I wanted to be an opera singer. That was the stuff that I was listening to when I was young, young, young. That's what I wanted to do. Then I discovered drugs, and Zeppelin, Rush and Black Sabbath. I'm a huge Sabbath fan. But what I really think shifted me as a songwriter was when I discovered people like Carole King, James Taylor and Rickie Lee Jones.

NHOR : The singer/songwriters....

BH : Yes. That really started me looking at the genius of a lyric. It's not just these incredible orchestras, Beethoven and all this great music and melodies, but it's these lyrics. Along with the Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and stuff like that were great lyrics. It being so based on the lyric.

But then, what really made me want to shake it, and get out there and perform was when I got into Otis Redding, and Janis Joplin. Bette Midler. Seeing these people perform their ass off. So much emotion, and that was it for me. Joe Turner. I'm a huge Joe Turner fan. And of how he would just get people to move. Then Cab Calloway. It was like they were taking people to church and making people inspired, you know? That's the stuff that really made me want to be a performer I think. It's all of it. There's such great music out there, man.

NHOR : What constitutes a great performance for you?

BH : To me, what really moves me the most is when you have an amazing band, a great vocalist, but they share personal stories. They make you laugh. They jump around with energy, then they'll break it way down to where it's quiet and you can hear a pin drop.

One of the greatest performers ever, to me, and we just did a show with him not too long ago, is Buddy Guy. I remember the first time I saw him live...It was in San Francisco, at the Fillmore, and I was 22, 23 years old. He was playing the upstairs room there. I came around the corner, because I was hearing this crazy singer and guitar player. I looked down on the stage, and I said, "How can that teenager play guitar and sing like that?" They said, "That's no teenager, he's in his mid 60's". (Laughs) I said, "No way!" They said, "That's Buddy Guy". That was the first time I'd ever seen him.

Recently we did a show opening for him in Norway, and I've gotta tell you man, here he is singing his ass off, jumping around onstage, playing his guitar with his teeth, going crazy...Then all of a sudden, all of the music comes way down, he drops the mic, and he starts singing to the audience. It was a festival, and you could hear him everywhere, even without a mic. That's the shit right there. All those dynamics, the energy, talking to them, getting them to know this is for y'all. This isn't about me. It's about moving you guys. I work for you. I love performers like that.

NHOR : A lot of times with Buddy's vocals they're so intense you can feel them deep within your soul....

BH : Yeah! He blows me away. He is absolutely incredible.

NHOR : The album has somewhat of a unique album cover. How did that come about and how do you feel that ties in to the album title, "Don''t Explain"?

BH : Yeah. It wouldn't have been with what I would go with. But Joe chose an artist. I think I look really weird on the record. (Laughs) But I don't care.Who cares. It's about the music. But I do think it kind of catches your eye. It's kind of different, ya know? Which is nice. Maybe that's why Joe went with that. He wanted something that would stand out a little bit.

NHOR : Throughout your career you have been compared to another blues and soul based vocalist, that being Janis Joplin. You even appeared in the theatrical version of "Love, Janis". Are there any particular elements of Janis' life that you personally identify with?

BH : Definitely the addiction. The part of feeling like a really unattractive woman. Kind of being made fun of in school. I learned a lot about her. I feel like I had a lot in common personally, more than anything. Not so much the music. I've always had people tell me how much I remind them of Janis. Personally I don't see it. But I guess when I'm rocking, and I'm singing harder, there is some of that maybe.

But I love her. I'm a huge fan of her. But definitely in her personal life. She had a dual personality. One, being very super confident to the point of being cocky, and also though being extraordinarily insecure. I definitely connect with that in my personality. I bounce back and forth between the two. Definitely the drugs and the feeling so unattractive that you say frick it, I'm not even going to wear makeup. I did that all throughout my 20's. I said fuck it, I'm not even going to care. I'm not even going to compete. I'd rather do this and pretend that I don't care. And every woman wants to be beautiful. So when they say they don't care? They do. (Laughs)

NHOR : I would say that the comparison between you and Janis stems from you both having balls, musically speaking. That real raw, aggressive, style.....

BH : Awww, thank you so much.

NHOR : You've recorded and performed with some really fantastic guitarists, from Jeff Beck, Slash, Neal Schon, and now this album with Joe. What is it about the dynamic between heavy rock guitar and blues based vocals which attracts you?

BH : The music is such great music because it came from people who were so suppressed and thrown out of the loop. I think that's why blues and gospel are so great, because people who were slaves, and people who were close to that whole thing had to find something that brought them up. That made them feel like survivors, like they could kick all that shit's ass and still hold their head up high. When they sing songs of loss and being broken down, you believe it. It's not I'm feeling sorry for myself, it's feeling sorry because I freakin' deserve it .(Laughs) I earned this song. How can you say no to that? It's like saying no to a Van Gogh painting. You believe it. It's absolutely believable. That tree looks nothing like a real tree, but somehow you believe more in his tree than you do the one out in front of your house.

So to be a part of that type of music, it makes you feel free. Free to express yourself in one of the highest regards. Also, with hard rock & roll, especially with growl, like death metal, black metal stuff, that stuff ...I just love it! They can just go off. The drummers, the bass players, they're out of their minds. The singers are just "Rawwwwwr", and there's just so much passion. I love it, it's great.

NHOR : I know you and Joe are definitely busy with your own separate projects. You recently did a date at the Echoplex where Joe joined you onstage for songs from the album. But has there been any discussion of doing any further live dates together, maybe even a brief tour to showcase the songs on the album?

BH : Oh God, I've been so much up his butt about that it's not funny. (Laughs) We're definitely going to be doing another record. It's already booked. It's booked a year from January. So not this coming January, but the following January we're making another one of these records.

So in the meantime, Joe is a workhorse, he's working all the time. I've got a new record that I'm doing with Kevin Shirley in May, and right now I'm still promoting my latest record. So we're both doing a lot of touring. But, I do think Joe and I will at least do some spot dates, maybe even a small tour.

But I have a feeling if there is a tour, like an eight week tour, like he just recently finished doing with Black Country Communion, we may do something like that in support of the next record. That's what I would assume would happen. I'm pushing this record, 'Don't Explain' actually on my next tour. I'm hiring a Hammond guy from Europe who's going to meet us out there to promote 'Don't Explain'. I'm going to do it on my own. Would I love to be promoting the shit out of it with Joe? Fuck yeah, but until he says "Yes", my hands are tied.

NHOR : A lot of vocalists have a ritual that they go through before they go onstage. Do you have anything that you do before you go onstage?

BH : Yeah I do. I kind of do an all day thing. I get a lot of sleep, so when I wake up I do some yoga, and some meditation. Then throughout the day I warm up really lightly. I've learned throughout the years that doing these huge 30 minute warmups before a set is totally unnecessary. So I lightly warm up throughout the day. A little here, a little there. I really believe in getting a good workout before the show. Because I think when you warm up your whole body, get your muscles and lungs really expanded, that's going to help a lot onstage. Obviously a lot of water, and tea is always a good thing. I try to avoid sugar or caffeine of any kind. Then just getting into a place of knowing what my job is. That's going out there and working for them. Hopefully make them laugh, have fun, dance, to make music and be part of the show. That's kind of it.

NHOR : What music inspires you to stretch yourself musically and vocally?

BH : All of it. The jazz, the blues, the rock, the hard rock, the singer/songwriters. Even country music. All of it. We play a lot of Hank Williams and Patsy Cline on the road. It just makes me feel good. It reminds me of the United States when I'm missing home. Edith Piaf and Nina Simone, I listen to a lot to when I'm on the plane. It's just all so inspirational, isn't it?

NHOR : One can draw inspiration from all genres of music, as long as it's good. One shouldn't shut themselves off from anything, as it really limits development as a musician....

BH : Yeah, and you know some of my favorite stuff to listen to in my car are all the Mexican stations. Any Mexican music. I just love it. It's so passionate, and they're always such great singers.

NHOR : In terms of songwriting, where do you draw your inspiration from, and has that changed at all throughout your years as an artist?

BH : It hasn't. It basically remains the same thing that it usually takes. And I'll tell ya, it's kind of bummer actually. I kind of have to be in a place where I'm so broken down. Which I kind of discovered later in life is a good thing, because it makes my ego go away. Because if my ego's up, then I'll go, "Oh, I'm going to go write a song today". I'll work on it for a couple of weeks, and it gets so involved to where it's no longer a song that anyone can relate to. So it never gets used.

When my ego's out of the way, and I'm in that broken, humbled place...maybe by a tragedy that I'll hear about on television, or some amazing survivor that I'll meet and talk to after the show, who's been through child abuse, or has just survived cancer. These are very inspirational, very humbling stories.

I've got bi-polar disorder. I've been on medication for the past three years, which has helped the fluctuation of my moods so much, but it also doesn't allow me to get to a dark place where I can write quickly. When I write quick, the song comes in a few minutes, and then I'll know it's a song that's going to end up on a record. Or end up in a show. Those usually mean that I need to be in that darker mood type of place.

So now what I do, and this is totally with the ok from my doctors, is that I'll slow down my medication, bring it a lot lower, so that I can bring on that type of mood swing. But I can't take it too far, because it's too dangerous.

NHOR : So do you feel that when you're happy that you don't write as well?

BH :To an extent. If I'm happy in the way of being really excited, almost like a nervous excited. For instance, I was getting ready to do the record with Joe, and that really lit some fires in terms of writing. It was a nervous energy of excitement. So some negative feeling of some kind has got to be there, whether it be excitement, nervousness or just that bottom end, bye bye I want to die type feeling. That's what it takes.

NHOR : So you have this thing then...Where you can sit there for hours trying to get inspiration for a song, nothing will come, then all of a sudden, bam! it hits, and you have it written in a matter of minutes...

BH : Totally and absolutely. And those are the songs that people end up liking the most. And I believe that it was because I didn't write them. I really do. I know it sounds weird...like I'm some spiritual weirdo. (Laughs)

NHOR : No, not at all, I understand completely....

BH : You know what I mean? Like something comes over and whispers in your ear, "This is the song", then all you have to do is quickly figure it out?

NHOR : Absolutely. From my own personal experience, I can sit for hours thinking I'm going to write something for hours, and it's like nothing will come, then it will strike and it's done in a matter of minutes, like it's not you that's writing it...

BH : No, it's not, is it! I am so glad you understand that. Let me ask you something. When you're trying, and nothing's coming, do you ever get that panic, that you're a total piece of shit writer, and that it will never come again?

NHOR : Absolutely, like I'm a hack or something...

BH : Yeah! Me too! And I think, "That's it. It's over!" I have dried my well, no longer will God visit the room, it's done. (Laughs)

NHOR : Like there is a finite amount of songs you're allocated, and you've tapped that, and there aren't any more...

BH : Totally. That's it. Yep. It's so depressing. (Laughs)

NHOR : What is the process that you go through when you compose? Do you come up with a melody first, then lyrics? Or is it the other way around?

BH : I usually get chords and melodies. That's usually what comes first. Then the lyric will usually mirror and reflect off what the chords and melodies are. Also, the lyric will bounce off what the rhythms are. When I say lyrics, I mean kind of gibberish, kind of talking in tongues. I'll hear different vowels, or consonants coming through, just as gibberish. Then I'll say, "Alright what story is this?" That's when I'll dive into the lyrics.

The lyric is by far the toughest thing for me, because to me it's the most important. It's kind of like the melody is some sexy woman you see from across the room. You really want to be with her. You go over, grab her, you have sex with her...But then, if she doesn't have anything to say, you probably won't call her back.

NHOR : There has to be substance there...

BH : Exactly. Something to keep you coming back. (Laughs)

NHOR : You also had your most recent studio album, 'My California' released in Europe in 2010. So far that album hasn't as yet been released here in the U.S. Are there any plans to release it here, and if so, when?

BH : You know, I haven't released '37 Days' here either. That was a really great rock record that I made with my band here in Los Angeles, and it did really well in Europe for us. But you know, I don't have a record deal in the United States. Maybe that will change one day.

But where all my support comes from is Europe, and now Brazil believe it or not. Japan looks like it may open up, some irons are in the fire there. But I so wish that I could be releasing and promoting things here in the States. I know I have a small base here. I do think it's enough where I could do a little bit of touring. I do spot dates here and there. But it's nothing really, and it makes me sad. Sometimes I wish I could just get myself some good promotion behind me here. But it's just not in the cards for me right now. We'll just see what happens.

NHOR : On your website, there is a veritable laundry list of unreleased tracks which have never appeared on any album obviously.These are fantastic songs. Do you have any plans to release any of those in any form anytime soon?

BH : Only if I were to get some kind of promotion, or deal here. I have talked to my manager here about us possibly doing our own thing. Where we put it out via the Internet or something. Doing something like that. But I'm just not sure, ya know?

NHOR : You' had a well publicized battle with various substances earlier in your career. To what do you attribute yourself being able to get clean, and how do you get through situations now, whereas before you might have turned to heroin, or a drink? How do reconcile the stressors in your life now?

BH : I think the number one thing is that I've done a lot of therapy work, both 12 Step and with private therapists. A lot of writing and discovering the part of my personality that caused me to be so self destructive. I became aware that there were certain childhood factors which rendered in that really weren't my fault. So I was able to have some forgiveness for myself there. Because addicts basically hate themselves, and feel they're the worst people on the planet.

But I was able to find some forgiveness there, as well as confront those people who I felt did damage me. Not just face to face, but internally find forgiveness and understanding for them. Actually that's probably the major first thing, learning how to face the stuff, forgive myself and others, and really forgive. Where you have compassion and understanding of why they do what they do. Instead of going, "Oh, I'm going to forgive, because that's a good thing to do". Really feeling it, and working on it, and learning how to do that. I can really thank 12 Step and good psychiatrists for that.

Another was realizing that I definitely am of an alcoholic mind. Meaning that I can't mess around with drugs and alcohol, because if I do I immediately want to abuse them to the point that I get sick again and I hurt other people.

NHOR : There's nothing in regards of moderation for you...

BH : There is none. Practicing meditation and praying to God everyday, thanking him so much for my sobriety, and all the lovely experiences in my life that I get to remember, and this beautiful day. Really saying that, even if I don't feel that way at the time. If I wake up in a place of anger or bitterness, saying those things anyway. Like a faking it until you make it type of thing.

Everyone around me knows that not only I'm an alcoholic, but I've got bi-polar disorder. I'm really open about that. Even at the risk of people twisting it, making fun of it, or even not wanting to work with me because of it. Knowing that it's worth all of those risks. Because I get to stay in a place of health and awareness of what a dangerous thing both of those disorders are. But that they are both completely manageable if I do the simple steps that I was taught to do to manage them. But there's no way I could have done them on my own. It's just way too involved.

NHOR : Do you feel a deep passion for helping people with the same disorders now that you've come through that yourself?

BH : It naturally does. Given that I've been given this small platform where I can write music, sing for people and be interviewed. So I always take those opportunities to be open about those things. Because I really believe that there are people who come across the writings, or an interview, or a television thing, and go, "Hey I've got alcoholism. She's doing good. Maybe I can do good". Or maybe it's someone whose child is bi-polar and has been in and out of psych wards, and they'll say, "Hey my kid has a possible future here". Unfortunately, with mental illness the big things are a) They don't think they have it, or b) They don't believe in taking medication. But if you find the right medication it can change, and give you your life.

NHOR : It can be a difficult thing, finding the right balance of medications which will work sometimes as well...

BH : Absolutely. The saddest thing for me with mental illness is that there are so many doctors prescribing drugs that are dangerous, and it's really not their fault because the medications that are available for this disease are still not good enough. You have to find a combination that will work. All these medications are poison, and are bad for your body, so you have to so much extra exercise, diet and sleep. Doing things that are good for you because you're putting in a poison every day.

NHOR : But it's the lesser of two evils....

BH : It's the lesser of two evils, exactly. But finding that right medication for you is nearly impossible. I had to go through every medication that they have out there. None of them worked for me. Then finally I found what worked for me. It's caused some problems. I have insulin resistance disease now because one of the meds I take can cause that. But I stopped eating all sugar, bread and stuff like that, and it helps to keep my blood sugar more even. If I didn't take that medication I wouldn't have this problem at all, but as you said it's the lesser of two evils.

NHOR : So do you feel like it's a constant battle at all times?

BH : I don't look at it as a battle. I look at it as a separate job. It's my job, number one, to let every record company guy, every promoter, every agent, my manager, everyone I work with know this is what I have, and it's first on my list of priorities. You can't overwork me. I won't let you. I need at least 10 hours of sleep a night. I can't do more than two or three shows in a row. I can be on the road for about six to seven weeks, then I need to come home and rest up for a minimum of two to three weeks.

A lot of great opportunities, the people who work with me have to be willing to say no for me, and I can't take them, because the next thing you know I'm manic even on medication. Things like that. But it's worth it, because otherwise I can't have a marriage, I can't do anything. I'm an impossible person to talk to.

NHOR : Where would you like to take your music in the future?

BH : I want to take it to exactly where it is. That is, just keep doing it. I'm aware of the fact that you can't do anything creative if you're expecting money or applause. You just can't do it for that. First of all, if those things happen it's not a reflection on whether the work is good or not.

I think so many people judge themselves on whether they're getting the money or the applause. It's like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So I've got to keep that in mind always when I work. I really love touring, I really love writing and I really love recording. That's what I've been doing for years, and I hope to God that I get to keep doing it for years. It's just fun, challenging and wonderful. Would I like to be able to tour the whole world? Yeah! That would be great. So maybe that dream will happen, maybe it won't. I think that every day it's important that I keep my eye on seeing that I'm still able to do what I love to do, and be able to pay my rent, and buy food. (Laughs)

NHOR : Are you satisfied with how your career has progressed thus far?

BH : I think at this age...I'm going to be 40 in January. So I think I'm at an age where you really have to start looking at all those things. All those demons start to come up in the 40's of, "Hey, how much of it all did I screw up? Where did I do good?" And you start looking back at all those things.

So the last few years I've had a chance going through so much therapy to go over all that stuff. If I could do it all over again and change my whole drug thing that happened. I blew a really great career for myself in the United States. Because it was going incredible. I was with Atlantic Records, I had a big hit, and my drugs just took all of that away. I scared the shit out of basically every label here. I threatened to kill one of the guys at the label.

NHOR : They tend to kind of not like that kind of stuff for some reason....

BH : Yeah, they tend to stay away from you after that. (Laughs) So I take responsibility for that. Sometimes it still comes up and it irritates me that it went down. But if that didn't go down, I wouldn't have gone to get well. I would have ended up dying if all those things didn't crash. So did my career go as I thought it would? No. Not like I dreamed of as a kid. But then other things did. My dream as a kid was to write, record and tour for the rest of my life. And so far that has happened consistently, thank God. So, yes and no to that answer. It's been a little bit of both.

NHOR : What advice would you have for someone who is just starting out in the business?

BH : To remember that it really is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Do not judge or question your abilities, and your creativity based on if someone's going to sign or publish you. Or put your painting up in a hotel or a museum. You can't do that.

You've got to do it because you love it. Know that it's a gift to make you happy, to challenge you, to take you through all the incredible things about being alive. It can't be about the money or the fame. If those things come, wonderful. Bathe in it, buy a big ass house for your mom. But you can't judge your worth based on that.

For more information on Beth Hart go to this location : www.bethhart.com/

"Sinner's Prayer" from Hart and Bonamassa 'Don't Explain' 2011

"Don't Explain from Hart and Bonamassa 'Don't Explain' 2011

Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa "I'll Take Care Of You" live at The Echoplex 2011

The Beth Hart Band "Am I The One" Live At The Paradiso 2005

Jeff Beck with Beth Hart "Going Down" U.S. Tour 2006

Neal Schon and Beth Hart "I Wanna Know You" Les Paul & Friends' 2005

Having A Riot With Winter : An Exclusive Interview With Mike DiMeo

2011-11-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

Ever since joining heavy metal legends Riot back in 1993, vocalist Mike DiMeo has been responsible for some of the most soulful vocals laid down in the modern metal scene. Beginning with 1994's 'Nightbreaker', DiMeo soon found his footing, contributing not only fantastic vocals, but also well thought out lyrics which are some of the most articulate in the melodic power metal genre. Before leaving in 2006, he ended up recording six studio albums and one live album with the group, consolidating his stature as one of the finest vocalists around.

Another testament to his considerable vocal talents is the fact that the Long Island native was tapped by then Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore to work on their 25th Anniversary album 'The Battle Rages On,' going as far as recording sessions for the album before record company pressures brought Ian Gillan back into the band, leaving DiMeo somewhat the odd man out at the time.

In 2004 the most versatile frontman joined up with ex Rainbow, B.O.C. and Sabbath drummer Bobby Rondinelli, guitarist Patrick Klein and bassist Randy Pratt in The Lizards for the excellent 'Cold Blooded Kings' album, eventually recording two further studio albums with the band, 'Against All Odds' (featuring several duets with Black Country Communion's Glenn Hughes), the covers album 'Archaeology' and the live DVD '4-2-11'. In 2006, he replaced vocalist Jorn Lande for the recording of power metallers Masterplan's 'Mk II'.

One facet of DiMeo's musical abilities many of his fans in the metal and hard rock scene might not be aware of is his impressive skills as a keyboardist. From supplying Jon Lord stylings on the Lizards' releases ,being part of Andy Aledort & The Groove Kings, to him being part of the touring bands of Tommy James and The Shondells and Bonnie Tyler, the vocalist is finding himself increasingly in demand as a session player. Evidenced by the fact that he was asked to contribute on all tracks of the brand new release 'Roots' by albino blues rock legend Johnny Winter, even appearing live as part of the band for the CD release party in New York City.

Recently we had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with Mike shortly after his appearance with Winter at the bluesman's album release party. Come read with us as we have an exclusive conversation with one of the finest vocalists on the hard rock/metal scene, Mike DiMeo....(photo credit for Johnny Winter photos courtesy Marion Amundsen)

Interview and text by Nightwatcher for Nightwatcher's House Of Rock © 2011

NHOR : Thank you for setting down and talking with us Mike. It's always a pleasure. You've been doing a lot of projects as of late. What have you been up to?

Mike DiMeo : I just recently did a week of dates with Creation's End. They have this guy, Marco Sfogli on guitar. It's really prog metal. The record is prog, but I'm singing kind of soulful, bluesy melodies over it. I've been doing a lot of session work with a lot of bands. I just finished a record with a band called Midas Fate. That's really proggy too. We're going to be touring Europe next year. I also did an album with Ilium, an Australian band. I did an album with a stoner rock band from New York, Tenpoint. That stuff is kind of cool too. We're looking for a label. We have interest from different labels to release that. That's going to come out relatively soon. We'll also be playing some dates too.

But the thing that I'm most excited about is this Johnny Winter record I just played on.

NHOR : How did it come about that you played on his new album?

MD : It's kind of one of those things where it was a little bit of luck, and a little bit of they dug what I was playing. I play with the guitar player from Dickie Betts' band, Andy Aledort. We have this guy Vito Luizzi in the band. He's Johnny Winter's drummer. Paul Nelson, Johnny's manager, asked Vito to ask me to track demos with the band, because they needed a piano player to put down piano tracks, because they were going to have Dr. John come later and play keyboards on the record. So I was like, "Sure that sounds great".

So I went to the studio in Connecticut, and I tracked with them for about four days. The tracks came out great. Basically what happened was Dr. John was busy, they really liked my tracks, so with a little bit of luck and a little bit of talent it got me on the record. It was really something that was good. I was really into it when they told me that they were going to use all my tracks on the album.

NHOR : So you're on the whole album?

MD : Pretty much. I think every song. I think there maybe one song that doesn't have piano on it. But it was great. It's got some of my favorite guitar players on it, like Vince Gill, who's a killer chicken picker Country player. I love his playing. Sonny Landreth is on it, Warren Haynes is on it. It's just a killer record.

NHOR : Playing on this album should expose you to a whole different audience than what you're used to in the metal/hard rock genre....

MD : That's what I'm hoping. Johnny's singing on this album is just unbelievable.

NHOR : So he's in better shape then....

MD : To me, he's one of the most soulful singers in blues today. His voice is just killin'. He's amazing. I got to sit there and watch him sing. He does everything in one take. I was sitting there next to him, and it was really cool to watch him. He's amazing. I'm really psyched, because I'm really influenced by blues music. That's really where my heart lies as far as what I want to be doing.

NHOR : Since having heard the album, how do you feel your performance is?

MD : To be honest, I'm very, very happy to be part of the project. I was basically part of the rhythm section. I'm just trying to be a back up for Johnny. I'm not a featured soloist on the record. But I think what the goal was to provide a foundation for Johnny and the other artists who came in to solo, and the other singers. Just a foundation for them to work their magic over. I think that we did that amazingly well. I think the record is strong.

Paul Nelson, who's Johnny's manager, is also a fantastic guitar player. He's part of the rhythm section as well. He actually has a solo on the record as well which is amazing. The drummer, Vito Luizzi...we all did a great job, and the record sounds amazing. And Johnny's vocals are unbelievable. I got to watch him cut those tracks. At least most of them. He was just amazing to watch. I think that the goals we set out to achieve with the album, we did.

NHOR : How was the recording approached with this album? Were the tracks basically cut live?

MD : To be completely honest with you, that was another reason I was very happy to be involved with this project. It was a real learning experience for me. Compared to where I come from, which is the world of rock, where you do everything you can to make the song sound great. It's another school of thought. With Masterplan and Riot, I was doing tons of lead vocal tracks. I would do backing tracks. We would double, triple things...harmonies. That's a great way to record. I think for rock stuff it works really well.

But then I got to watch Johnny do his vocals. He sits in the control room, or in the live room, in front of an SM7 Shure mic, and he sits in front of two monitors, and he sings live to the track. He does everything once. That's it. It was amazing to watch, because in this day where ProTools and digital recording is so easy to do things again and again and again, it's really refreshing to watch someone come in and hit it and quit it. (Laughs) That's what he does. He wouldn't want to do it again. I asked him about it and he said, "If I can't get it the first time, I can't get it". I think he may have come in at a later date and gave some of the vocals a second shot once through, but that's how he does it man. He does it from the old school. This is the guy who produced Muddy Waters, so you're talking the foundation of one of my favorite artists ever. It was just really amazing to watch him. It sounded amazing, and it was killer.

NHOR : Working with Johnny and seeing his approach to recording... Do you feel that might influence your approach to recording in the future?

MD : Absolutely. Because with different projects, you do what's best for the project. If I do a metal record, if you don't hit something the first or second time, you still have to make sure that it's perfect. With blues it's different. But I can't just take that approach. In theory though, I would like to try to be more in that mindset of going for a more raw, emotional performance.

NHOR : You are quite well known in the metal and hard rock scene for your vocal work with Riot, Masterplan and The Lizards, but not as many know your keyboard work, which you are increasingly getting more into, doing a lot more sessions. Who are your influences, and what is your background as a keyboardist?

MD : I originally started out playing piano because we always had one around the house. I always played as a way to write. I needed an outlet to help me write, and develop the ideas I had musically. I always felt it was the best way for me to achieve that. I started to get more serious at keyboards in my late 20's when I started to gig with bands locally. Mainly blues, which I found was a great outlet for me.

I was always influenced by guys like Ray Charles and Dr.John. I would say my biggest influence as a keyboardist would be the jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. I'm definitely not a jazz player, but I do like to stretch into jazz . In my 30's I started to get more and more work. I was touring with The Lizards, and was playing Hammond organ. Then I started to tour with Tommy James & The Shondells and Bonnie Tyler, and more and more calls came in. Then now with some Country artists even.

The thing for me, music is music. I make my living strictly from music and I'm appreciative every day for that. The more instruments that you play as a musician, and the more understanding you have of music just makes you more valuable as a player, and the more you will work. I try to stretch out into as many forms of music as I like. I won't do things that I don't like. And that's mainly always soulful, bluesy type of stuff.

NHOR : You played live on stage with Johnny at the 'Roots' album release party in New York City. What was it like playing on stage with him?

MD : It was amazing man. The thing about Johnny Winter is that he's a legend. It's a total honor because he is such a legend. This is a guy who people like Clapton and The Allman Brothers look up to. To work with him has just been an honor in every way. I was extremely honored to be asked to play. It was really great. There were a such a lot of great players there, and to watch him sing and play was amazing. I'm really thrilled to have been part of it.

NHOR : Have you been approached at all about going on tour with Johnny?

MD : To be honest with you Johnny's really not used to playing with a piano player. So there may be a possibility in the future, but that's something I'm not really sure about. Obviously I would love to do it because all the guys in the band get along great. Paul Nelson, the guitar player, Vito Luizzi the drummer, Scott Spray, the bass player, they're a great band.

I would love to do it, but I don't know if it's in the cards. It could be. I hope so. If they were to ask me I'd do it in a heartbeat. To be honest with you, I probably will be playing with him again, I'm just not sure when. Paul Nelson has told me I will be working with them sometime in the future. But Johnny's a power trio guy. He likes his guitar, bass and drums. I'm not a member of the band, but if they do need me I'll be there. (Laughs)

NHOR : What are some of the blues albums which have influenced you?

MD : When I first started listening to blues music, I went to a lot of the Muddy Waters stuff. Any of his albums that you can pick up are the ones which set the precedent for me. As far as the emotion and the power that blues can convey. When some people listen to the blues, especially the metal guys, they think they can pull off these bluesy licks. They think that they're playing blues but it's not at all. If you listen to those early Muddy Waters albums it's really about the emotion in what they're playing. It's not about what they're saying technically.

As I stretched out into the blues I got into one of my favorite singers, who is Bobby "Blue" Bland. His album 'Dreamer' is probably one of my favorite records. Another one of my favorite singers is Freddie King. Any one of his records. The vocals are stunning. You don't hear people sing like that, have power in their vocals like that. Every time I listen to him he blows me away.

NHOR : The projects you are involved with are widely diverse. From blues based such as Johnny Winter and Andy Aledort, to prog/heavy metal with Tenpoint and Creation's End. Is there any adjustment you have to make before going into the studio in terms of how you are going to approach the recordings? Is there any difficulty in the transition?

MD : Everything I do comes basically from the same place. I'm inspired from a soulful aspect of music. I can't approach music in a mathematical way. A lot of bands that I hear, especially in Prog and Euro -Metal, the reason I can't relate to them is they're too mathematical for me.

NHOR : There's no blues base at all.

MD: No, there's no soulful aspect to it. So it's really hard for me to relate to. If I get hired by a band to do vocals or piano, it's always going to be coming from a place which inspires me. Which is blues, soul and that type of thing. So to answer your question it's not very hard, because I'm always treating things the same way. I'm coming at them from a soulful aspect.

NHOR : When a band approaches you to do vocals or play on a project, what is your criteria for agreeing to do it?

MD : If I have a real problem relating to the music, then I'll pass on it. If it's something that I don't think that I can add to, make it sound better, then I'll pass on it. If it's something that I can relate to, even if it's odd times and proggy, I can still hear soulful melodies over it. if I can't do that then it's something that's not for me.

NHOR : Even though you have made a name for yourself in metal/hard rock circles, you do have a blues based background. I know that Bobby "Blue" Bland and Muddy Waters are a couple of your favorites. How difficult is is to put something that's soulful into prog or metal, which is more structured?

MD : If you want to translate a blues feel to things, it's more in the delivery. The delivery that you put on a record...Especially being a singer, you can tell influences, and you can tell where someone's coming from just from the sound of his voice. It can be hard to show where you're coming from if it's really odd times, but I try to do my best. Because that's basically what I grew up listening to, blues and blues based music. If it's really difficult to do that I won't even take on the project.

NHOR : You've been involved in so many projects. Which ones have been your favorites?

MD : That's hard to say. I like them all. I like the Creation's End thing, because I think the songs are really strong. I really like Tenpoint, due to it being raw. I really like that. If I were to do a solo project..and I've been talking with several people about doing a solo project...It would be something really raw rock. Which I really like. Kind of a mixture of blues and metal.

Have you heard of a band called Red Fang? Something like that. Really raw. I was just down in Florida not long ago, and someone played that band for me and I was blown away. I thought they were really heavy. I was really impressed. They were really raw and new. Even though it's sort of an old idea. It's very Sabbath oriented, but it sounded really fresh to me. I like all the projects that I'm involved in. I just started working last year with Vinnie Moore. We did a nice tour of Europe. We did a nice show in New York City recently too.

NHOR : At The Iridium Club...

MD : Yeah, Vinnie and I have been toying around with the idea of making a record. That's going to come to fruition sometime. I would love to work with Vinnie more. He's such a great guitarist.

NHOR : Have you and Vinnie discussed when that's going to happen? What timeline that would be doing a record together?

NHOR : We keep talking about it, and I think eventually it will happen. But right now we're both busy doing other things. He's swamped right now with the new U.F.O record. He's really busy doing that. I think all the projects I've been doing I'm really happy with. I like to be as busy as I can. I also play piano for a lot of different artists, who are not metal. I play with Bonnie Tyler when she comes to the States. That's great. She's got such a soulful voice. We did a tour which kept me busy, and I think we're going to be doing another tour this year. She's looking at more dates in October. I'm looking to keep as busy as I can in the future.

NHOR : You mentioned earlier about working with Tenpoint. Apparently you're in the midst of recording a full album with the band. When is that due to be released?

MD : That's actually finished. I'm not sure if it's finished and being mastered, but it's relatively close. If not done. If it's mastered, we just have to find a label, or we may just release it ourselves. Either way it's going to be out very soon.

NHOR : Have you considered doing any touring with Tenpoint?

MD : Yeah. We're looking into that too. All of our schedules are pretty busy but we'd love to tour. We'd love to do some festivals in Europe. If we could get a decent label to put us out on the road that would be great.

NHOR : You mentioned previously that you're also working with Andy Aledort and the Groove Kings. How did you get together with Andy?

MD : I met Andy a long time ago. Back in the 90's. Just locally, we started working together. I met him through some mutual friends. We hit it off, get along great, and we just started working all the time together, playing as much as possible. He's been the main gig for me when I'm not on the road. He stays pretty busy. We play a couple times a month at least. If not more. It's great, because he's a great guitar player. He loves to play. We'll take as much work as we can. It's great music. It's blues based. A lot of straight blues stuff. He's semi busy with Dickie Betts. Dickie's really not working that much anymore. He's basically retired. So he has a lot of time when he's not touring. But he's Editor of Guitar World magazine, so he's busy.

NHOR : You also mentioned a little bit ago about possibly doing a solo album. What sort of vein would you want to have it in? Would it have a variety of music, given the various influences that you have?

MD : That's one of the things that I've been sort of procrastinating about for so long. That's one of the reasons I've never done my own thing. Because I'm not really sure. I'm into so many different styles of music. But I really like a mixture of raw rock style, like Red Fang style and blues. So if I could get the sound that I'm looking for it would be sort of a mixture of that. I really love that style. Sort of real raw, in your face bluesy based rock. That's what I'd be thinking about doing.

NHOR : What is your take on the state of metal and hard rock these days? Do you feel that the scene is getting healthier at all?

MD : I definitely do. I think there's a lot of great bands out there. One of the problems that we're facing is that the world economy is in such bad shape all over the world. The first thing people cut out of their budget is entertainment. People just don't go see bands as much. They'll put on YouTube instead. It's much cheaper for them to stay home.

NHOR : When you went out on tour with Creation's End, were there a lot of people who showed up at the shows? Did it live up to your expectations in that regard?

MD : Creation's End is a new band. We don't have a massive following. We've done one record. It sold pretty well. I think the reaction, and the response from people was great. But there are so many bands out there on the road now, everyone's fighting for every dollar that they get. We're going to do another record. We did this tour mainly because the band has never really worked together before. Marco, the guitarist lives in Italy, so it's not so easy to get together. We did maybe two gigs with him before this tour. We knew we weren't going to sell that many tickets because it's a new band. We don't have a large fanbase yet. We're hoping to build on that. The response was great where we went. The band sounded great. We mainly did the tour so we could get tight for ProgPower.

NHOR : Is Creation's End something you would like to continue with on a long term basis?

MD : We have material for a second record. I'm definitely psyched to do it. We're definitely going to tour more too. I'm definitely open to working as much as possible.

NHOR : You mentioned Red Fang earlier. Besides that band have there been any bands or artists which have caught your ear lately?

MD : I find myself really sort of attracted to that type of music these days. I think it's the mixture of rawness and bluesiness that does it for me. It's a huge departure from the Euro Metal and the Prog metal scene that I've been involved with for so long. I love that stuff, but if I were to do my own thing it would definitely be more raw like that. Like Down, Crowbar, and that type of stuff.

NHOR : There are rumors afoot that The Lizards, with whom you've recorded several albums with drummer Bobby Rondinelli of Black Sabbath, Rainbow and Blue Oyster Cult, and Randy Pratt of Cactus, are going to release another studio album. Is there any truth to those rumors?

MD : That's what they say (Laughs). The record's already recorded. They tell me they're going to mix it, but Randy's been telling me that for the last two years, and it hasn't happened yet. (Laughs)

NHOR : What's next on the horizon for you? You just did the Johnny Winter album, but what else do you have on tap?

MD : I'm going to be going to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to finish some writing with Midas Fate, with whom I've recorded an EP with. We're working on a full length album as we speak. I've had some one off dates with some artists who I work for playing piano. I'll be in Canada, out West, doing dates. I have a lot of recording situations on the horizon as well.

NHOR : What's the current situation with Riot? Do you ever foresee a time when you might get back together with the band for another album or a tour?

MD : I speak to Mark Reale a lot still. He's still a really good friend of mine. I wouldn't be opposed to it. But I think they're sort of involved in this reunion thing still. I think they have a new album that will be coming out, and doing some touring, from what Mark told me. So if they can ride that wave of the reunion that would be great for them. Because that was a good lineup. A lot of people love the 'Thundersteel' era, and people want to see it. I think Mark is going to see how far he can take that lineup. If they can tour and record, more power to them. I wish them the most success. I wouldn't be opposed to working with Mark again in the future. We talk about doing a project together, and maybe we will if we both have time.

NHOR : So it wouldn't necessarily need to be with Riot....

MD : I'm not opposed to it being Riot, but it wouldn't necessarily need to be that.

NHOR : You left Masterplan after recording the 'Mark II' album several years ago. What were the reasons behind you leaving the band after only recording one album?

MD : Basically, we did a really long tour. Six or seven months. We came home, and we had a really long stagnant period of doing nothing. I heard very little from them. I passed up some work waiting to see if we were going to work, and basically we didn't. I can't sit around and wait. I don't think they have toured again since we toured. The band wasn't really a working band. I need to stay working. I have a house I need to pay for. (Laughs) I can't sit at home and wait. The guys basically didn't want to tour, and I couldn't pass up other options. So in my opinion it was just time to move on.

NHOR : What role do you see the Internet as having on a musician such as yourself?

MD : It's a double edged sword. Of course the illegal downloading is killing revenue for artists. It's something which has become a real problem in terms of making a living through songwriting and releasing music. Because as soon as an album is released it can be had for free. It's a major problem. On the other hand, if you're making a living doing session work, it's fantastic. You don't have to travel all over the world anymore. I get files sent to me all the time. I go into a studio, I do my vocals, and I send them back. It's really easy that way. It has opened up a lot of doors for musicians in sending files all over the world. You can record back and forth. It's really brought the world closer together. So it is a double edged sword, because it hurts and it helps.

There has to be a way that we can put some sort of stamp on music where if you want that piece of music you have to pay for it. There's got to be a way, technologically speaking, where if you want that mp3, you have to get a code or something. I'm not a technical guy that way, but there's got to be a way. When you buy software, you have to put codes in, so why not music?

For more information on Mike DiMeo go to this location :

With Johnny Winter "Done Somebody Wrong"(featuring Warren Haynes) from 'Roots' 2011 :

With Vinnie Moore "Daydream" live at the Iridium Club, New York City July 25, 2011 :

Creation's End "Of Shadow And Flame" 2010

Tenpoint "Killing Me" music video 2010 :

With Masterplan "Lost and Gone" 2007 :

With The Lizards "Down", live Frankenthal 2005

With Riot "Cover Me", from 'Sons Of Society" 1999 :

Seeing It Through : An Exclusive Interview With Guitarist Matt Schofield

2011-08-31T11:37:00.000-07:00

Born in Manchester, England in 1977, raised on a steady diet of his father's Muddy Waters and B.B. King records, it perhaps should not come as no surprise that Matt Schofield would grow up to become a world class blues guitarist.

It was after seeing a video at the age of 16 of blues legends Albert King, Albert Collins and Stevie Ray Vaughan that the fledgling musician chose a path which during the course of four studio and two live albums has seen him garner many prestigious awards. Not least of which has been his being voted as the "Best British Blues Guitarist" at the inaugural 2010 British Blues Awards.

Now Schofield is back with what is being hailed as his most polished and accomplished effort yet with the release of 'Anything But Time'. Produced by the legendary John Porter, whose resume resembles a veritable who's who of rock and blues, having produced such legends as Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker among many others - it showcases the guitarist's quite impressive blues and jazz influenced guitar work framed by extremely strong songwriting, which very well may see him picking up even more awards by the time next year rolls around.

Recently we had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Matt in California during a break in the tour by the Matt Schofield Trio to talk about the new album, his influences and inspiration, what he envisions for his future and much, much more. Come join us as we have an exclusive conversation with one of the leading purveyors of modern blues rock guitar, Mr. Matt Schofield.....

Interview and text by Nightwatcher for Nightwatcher's House Of Rock

Nightwatcher's House Of Rock : First off I'd like to talk about the new album 'Anything But Time' which was released in June via Nugene Records. Now that it's come out, how satisfied are you with the results this time around?

Matt Schofield : It's always hard for me to say, because as soon as I've done one I'm already thinking about the next. That's the way it goes with these things. But what I can tell you is it's certainly the most enjoyable experience I've had making a record. In retrospect, I always look back at my records as towards how did it feel. Having John Porter produce this album this time was a huge difference for me, having produced all of my own before. That was really a great experience and made it a lot of fun. It took a lot of stress away. So in that regard it's certainly my happiest of records. (Laughs)

NHOR : The album, as you mentioned was produced by John Porter, who has worked with so many incredible blues and rock artists in the past such as Buddy Guy, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, John Mayall, Keb Mo'... Los Lonely Boys and so many more. How did you get hooked up with John, and what do you feel that he brought to this album which you hadn't previously had before in the studio?

MS : I got hooked up with John actually a long time ago. I was in a band with a singer from the U.K by the name of Dana Gillespie. She's known John since the late 60's. When I was in her band she would say, "Oh, you should work with John Porter one day". Of course I knew him from getting Buddy Guy's 'Damn Right I've Got The Blues', which was one of the first records I got for myself. Because it came out around the time I started playing. He gave me his phone number, but at the time I wasn't in a position to really make use of that for a very long time.

Then last year we were out at the NAMM show in Los Angeles, and went out to lunch with John. We hit it off. We had all the same reference points musically, even though we're a generation apart. He said, "I think we'd have a lot of fun making a record". That stayed with me. So when it came time to make the next one, it was, "Yeah, let's give John a call". It's the right time and we're in a situation where we can".

What John brings to it...Well, first of all some producers have a real sonic stamp that they put on everything. You can hear it. Like T Bone Burnette, who is the real go to guy for a lot of people. All the the records sound like T Bone Burnette records. John is the opposite of that. He makes you sound as much like you as he can. He doesn't insert himself on top of it, he's just there guiding it, so he's great. We worked on a lot of arrangements, trimming the fat really, going, "Well you don't need that really". He's also got a really great feel for knowing when you've got the right take.

Of course he's made something like 120 records. He's not even sure how many he's made. (Laughs) So I was just going to leave it to him this time. It was the most hands off I've ever been. My thought was if we were doing this, I was just playing guitar, singing and writing the songs. It was great. It was a lot of fun, with a lot of great conversations while making the record. It was all pleasure.

NHOR : So you felt it very liberating to be able to let go of the reigns a bit on this album.....

MS : Yeah. In a weird way having less control was more liberating. Exactly .Plus we were down in New Orleans. That was a real thrill. I'd never been there before. We love so much of the music from there. Just being there was a big part of it.

NHOR : What was it about the city of New Orleans that led you to want to record there, and how do you feel recording there contributed to the overall feel and vibe of the album?

MS : It's just its own place, New Orleans. It's not really like anywhere else in the U.S. Or like anywhere in Europe. It's its own thing. It's so, for a lack of a better term, a very soulful place. There's music everywhere. When you land at the airport there's a guy playing blues piano in the airport bar. It's so ingrained there. You walk down the street and there's music coming out of different places. The food is great, the people are really nice. It's just a very soulful place. We've always loved so much of the music that has come from there. I think the overall vibe of being there contributed to the relaxed feel that I had doing this record. I think that's reflected on it.

NHOR : Previously you have mentioned that coming into this record you had envisioned making an album somewhat along the lines of Albert King's late 60's albums which were on Stax Records. What was it about those albums which inspired you to feel you wanted to make a recording that way?

MS : In my mind it was. Of course it doesn't sound like that. (Laughs) What inspired me was because first of all, they're some of my most favorite recordings ever. There's a real strong sense of groove from the band, the MG's. Then Albert just kind of works his magic on top with his incredibly strong, unique sound of his guitar and great vocals. They're really groove based records. They aren't doing a lot of shuffles like a lot of blues bands do. They're well constructed grooves. They've got a certain feel that I find is different. I love so much other stuff just as much, but it's just very unique.

I had that in mind, plus with Kevin Hayes on drums, who has been with us for a year, who has always reminded me of coming from that Al Jackson school anyway...I used to go see Kevin all the time when he was playing with Robert Cray...it all came together in that way. It doesn't sound anything like that, but in my mind I was doing my version of it.

NHOR : Kinda funny how things can end up totally different than what you originally envisioned....

MS : Yeah. As a matter of fact, that's not what I even wanted it to sound like, but it was what I kept in mind. As a matter of fact, we did record the Albert King track "Wrapped Up In Love Again" from his 'As The Years Go Passing By' album that had those players on it. Also the title track, "Anything But Time" is very much an MG's type groove. The groove is stripping out any unnecessary notes, and kind of making strength out of simplicity. It's a big thing that those guys did back then. Each guy picked one note to play and they got rid of all the others. Stripped down like that makes it very strong.

NHOR : Do you feel that the longer you are a musician that you are increasingly subscribing to the "Less is More" theory in regards to your music?

MS : Absolutely. For me, getting better as a guitarist now is about getting rid of stuff, not learning more stuff. Not that I want to be a different kind of player than I am, but now it's about refining it down to the essence of sounding like me. That's the goal these days.That usually involves getting rid of things, unnecessary stuff, like Albert King, B.B. or any of those guys. It's so distilled, so strong. We always say, "When I grow up I want to play like those guys". (Laughs)

NHOR : Do you feel like you're getting closer to having your own definitive style or sound as a guitarist?

MS : I do actually. It's a hard thing to hear in yourself actually. But I hear it in other people now. Younger guys that I know come up to me, and mention that they've listened and learned. And you go, "Wow, that sounds like me!" It's easier to hear from afar. So that's about the coolest thing for me. Obviously I'll always have my influences in there. That's something I'm proud of, and want to share with people. If we do an Albert King number, I want people to know about Albert King. Particularly on "Wrapped Up In Love Again", it was like how much can I filter through Albert and still put myself into it.

The other side of that is more and more I can't play like someone else. Twenty years ago, when I was a teenager, trying to learn stuff, I never learned everything note for note. I'd always jam along with the guys and pick up the essence of it. Now I can only pretty much do what I feel if you see what I mean.

NHOR : How satisfied are you of your playing at this point?

MS : I am satisfied with it. I can play what I want to hear, really. So if it pleases me...I mean, obviously every night I'm reaching for something else. This whole band, when we go out to play, every night we reach for something more. It's the way all three of us are. So usually we're not satisfied. But if we loved every note that we played there'd be no point in keeping on doing it. Every night is always reaching for more. But at the same time I'm pretty much at the point where I play how I want to play. Just getting rid of stuff now, whittling it down to the bare essence.

NHOR : Is there any area of your playing that you'd like to improve upon?

MS : You know what? I don't hardly think of things in terms of guitar playing at all anymore. That takes care of itself. For me, it's all about the songwriting and singing. The guitar...And I don't mean this in a great kind of way, but it's just been easy for me, since I started playing. It always was. I was gigging within six months of picking it up. I was out playing and improvising solos. The rest of it ,and what is most important now is finding a context in which to put your guitar work into. What music I want out around it, so it's not just guitar playing for the sake of it. I want great guitar playing, in a great song, played by a great band, and sung well. (Laughs)

NHOR : So it's more a means to an end rather than the end itself...

MS : Absolutely. These days it's the whole package. That's my concern. Again, going back to my heroes, if you look at B.B. or Albert King, or even later guys that I listen to, they're the whole package. Where B.B.'s vocals and guitar playing end there's no difference. He sings, then he plays a line on Lucille, and it's all coming from the same place. That's really where it's at now, trying to build the complete package. I think that goes for all of us in the band as well.

NHOR : What would you say are your favorite tracks on the album, and why?

MS : I'm very fond of, and my very favorite thing to play is a slow blues. Certainly "See Me Through", the slow blues that's on this record, is kinda cool because it's the night John Cleary came down to play piano. We just showed him the chord changes, because it has some slightly different chord changes in it. That's the first thing for me. Every time we go in to make a record, we try to write a slow blues that isn't a straight one. Like a new way to do a slow blues, with it still being a slow blues.So that was kind of the idea with that song. We showed John the changes, he's playing a real grand piano, in the room with my amps blaring. We did two takes. I can't remember which one we used, but we just played it twice. A lot of the record's like that actually. Straight off the floor just how we played it. I'm very proud of it.

The other slow blues on the record, "Where Do I Have To Stand", all of the elements of what we do are in that. It's a blues, but it's not a 12 bar shuffle. It's got a slightly extended harmony. The changes are a bit different than what you'd normally find in blues. It's also a song in its own right, it's not just a blues. The dynamics on that are as close as you can get to when you see us live. There's a big dynamic range with this band, and that's hard to get in the studio the same way. But I think we've got some of it on there, and the feeling is there as well. I'm pretty pleased with that one as well.

NHOR : What was your inspiration for beginning to play guitar?

MS : The real moment...I'd been listening to my dad's records for as far back as I can remember...So there was always a lot of Muddy Waters and B.B. King being played around the house as a kid...He moved out to California 22 years ago, so I'd spend my summers here from the time when I was 11. So I'd been getting into B.B. a little bit, and other stuff on a serious level. He showed me a video that he'd recorded off tv, back when MTV played music stuff. (Laughs) It was B.B. King, Albert Collins, and Stevie Ray Vaughan jamming together in New Orleans at a festival. That was it for me, when I saw that. I just wanted to be up there with them. The fourth guy sitting in. They all had such distinctive sounds, such unique approaches, but they sounded amazing together. It was like three guys conversing with each other via the guitar. That was it for me.

So within six months of that I was doing gigs. I went back home to the U.K after that summer and started a band with friends from school. That's been it ever since. That was the real catalyst. Of course from there I went on to listen to all the blues greats. When I was a teenager I heard guys like Robben Ford and John Scofield, who kind of brought more of a jazz element into it. That was an important point, because I thought, where are they getting this stuff from? I'm not familiar with this, because up til that point I'd been a pretty steady blues guy. Then it was checking out jazz and saxophone players and figuring out some of that on guitar as well.

NHOR : In terms of your development as a player and an overall artist, which albums do you feel have made the biggest impact on you?

MS : That's a tough question, because there were so many. Still, that video I mentioned, I have it on DVD, and you can watch it on YouTube now, has got so much of what I love about Albert, B.B. and Stevie's playing in it. I used to listen to that track over and over. (Laughs)

NHOR : Kind of abusing the replay button there....

MS : Yeah. (Laughs) So then it was getting stuff, back in the day on cassettes..it was like, okay if you like Stevie Ray, you've got to listen to Albert King. So my dad sent me cassettes from his vinyl versions of Albert King, all that Stax stuff. I was like, "Wow, this is all the raw essence of where Stevie's coming from". I got way into that, and it's still the stuff that I listen to now, actually. (Laughs)

Albert Collins' live album 'Live 92-93', that they released after he died, that's one of my favorites. Hendrix is very important to me. Then there's one song by Robben Ford that when I heard the guitar solo in it, it was kind of a life changing moment. Because I'd never heard anybody play like that over a blues before. That's the song "Misdirected Blues" from the album 'Mystic Mile'. The guitar solo in that was just like, "What is he doing there?!".(Laughs) It was unlike anything I'd heard before but it was still blues.

NHOR : Huge tone on the solo....

MS : Massive tone, exactly. Which is pretty much the first thing that draws me to anyone anymore is the tone for me. That's always been a big part of my thing as well. Even though it's not my favorite Robben record, hearing that particular solo was like, "There's something else here". All the Hendrix records, I still go back to those. There's so much stuff though.

NHOR : I didn't meant to put you on the spot... (Laughs)

MS : No, no, I could be here all day just thinking of different records. There's other stuff, like Oscar Peterson's records. There's an album called 'The Trio Live' with Joe Pass, and Niels Pederson, on bass. That was life changing as well hearing that because I'd never heard anyone play piano like that before. The Donnie Hathaway live album, everybody in the band would probably put that in their Top 5 "Desert Island Discs". There's hardly any guitar playing on that at all, but it's still one of my go to records. The Meters albums as well.

NHOR : You are as of this interview, the reigning British Blues Guitarist of the year, having been voted that in the first British Blues Awards. You were also tabbed as being one of the 'Top 10 British Blues Guitarists Of All Time' in 2007 by Guitar & Bass Magazine. You're being hailed as one of the top up and coming blues rock guitar players in the world. How do you manage to remain being humble under those circumstances?

MS : Because I don't believe it. (Laughs) Like I say, we're never satisfied. The first thing that's important is that none of us got into the band got into it for those reasons. That stuff is great, especially the British Blues Awards, where it's voted for by the fans and listeners. It really means that you're getting across to people, and they're appreciating what you do. We also won the 'Blues Album Of The Year' award. That one meant more to me than the guitarist award, at this point as we talked about earlier. The guitar playing thing is great, and I'm kinda known as a guitar player, but the fact that people are loving the album as a whole that much as well meant the most to me.

NHOR : Because you're not just playing a whole album of just guitar solos....

MS : No, there's nine original tunes on that one. There's a whole band and songs. Most of that's great, but I'm never satisfied. We're always reaching, and it's almost making your own inspiration as well for yourself. Just to be better for yourself. If I can get it to where it sounds good to me in some way, hopefully it will sound good to other people as well. All that stuff is great, and very cool, but it's not why we do it, to win awards. We do it to make the music sound as good as we can and really reach people I suppose.

That stuff that we talked about when I first saw when I was a kid changed my life. I'm here now talking to you because that stuff moved me so deeply that I wanted to do it. It dictated the entire path that I've taken in the twenty years since then. In some ways it's trying to do a little bit of that, to contribute as well. That's what keeps us trying hard.

NHOR : You've been playing professionally for over a decade and a half, since you first came to London when you were 18. What changes have you seen in the blues rock scene during that time, for good or bad? How has it changed since you first arrived?

MS : In London, it's a lot weaker than it used to be. There was a pretty strong scene when I first went down there. I ended up in a band who were in a Monday night jam session, a pro jam, and all the touring artists who were in town would come to it. It was a great house band, great musicians. That kind of disintegrated after awhile. Unfortunately as people went off into different things there wasn't a central type of scene. It's kind of difficult there now. I think it's probably similar to a lot of the world, really.

It's hard with blues. This isn't a criticism of anyone for doing it because they love it. But there's a lot of bad blues being played in bars all over the world. Of course people if they love doing it should go out and play, but it kind of gives a preconceived idea of what blues is to a lot of younger people who haven't experienced B.B. King live, and the phenomenon that is. Or was, because obviously B.B.'s not the same as he was when I first got to see him. The kind of massiveness of the event. So I think a lot of people feel that they don't like it. Because they haven't heard it other than at a bar band level. That's definitely a tricky thing. Getting people to listen to newer bands that are contributing strongly to it. Getting people to come out and hear that.

NHOR : Going on with that...There is currently a very burgeoning blues rock scene brewing in the U.K at the moment.with young players forming bands left and right. Are there any players you're particularly impressed with?

MS : You know what? I've probably not heard anyone enough to comment correctly. We just did a show with Oli Brown, and he seems like he's a strong young player. But very rarely do I get to hear these people unless we do a festival together or something. Or I catch 10 minutes of their set. We're so busy doing our stuff. The young players, who are younger than me who I admire, are Derek Trucks, and guys like that. But I don't really know anyone enough.

But there are definitely some people coming through, and hope that it helps the whole thing. Maybe they can reach. I'm kind of in the middle area now in terms of age I suppose. You've got guys coming through now in their early 20's. So maybe they'll reach some younger kids. A lot of young folks I get at my shows, they're guys who have discovered guitar because they've heard John Mayer playing a pop song with a guitar solo in it, then discovered Stevie Ray and Hendrix, then somehow come upon me. That's kind of encouraging. There are guitar players who come out to the shows who are into real musicianship. So John Mayer's doing some good in getting guitar playing out in a public way.

NHOR : What's next on the horizon for you after this tour is finished? I know a lot of people are clamoring for a live DVD. Is that something which is in the works?

MS : We've been aiming for a live DVD for awhile. We've tried a couple of things, but the stars haven't aligned yet for that one. That would definitely be a big thing. I'd like to get one with the current lineup of the band. Because it's really strong at the moment. We're definitely shooting for that. Maybe we can work something out during the tour of U.K we have scheduled for November. That would be cool.

In the immediate future, we're just going to do a lot of sleeping. (Laughs) Not going anywhere every day. Because we've been out on the road since the middle of May. We did 5,000 miles in June, 5,000 miles in July with a trip to Europe in between. So yeah, it's probably been a bit too long in one go. (Laughs)

NHOR : Where would you like to take yourself musically? Where do you see yourself 5...10 years in the future in a musical sense?

MS : That's a good question. Because I still love playing occasionally straight down the line, traditional blues. I don't get to do that as often these days. I do it about twice a year with a good friend of mine in Holland, a great haromica player and singer. We just go out for 10 days out there and just do Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. (Laughs) But most of the time I've evolved away from that, which is good because I want my own thing. So there's going to be an element of me that's going to refine my own take on it. Just really trying to make it the most unique we can make it, yet keep it blues.

Also I'd like to do a straight up blues record. Just straight down the line, more for my own pleasure. Then there's the other side. I'd like to occasionally push it towards the jazzier side that I love as well. Maybe do an instrumental along those lines, kind of like what John Scofield does.

But those are kind of more on the wish list, rather than a priority. I think you have to get to the point in your career where you can pick and choose that kind of stuff. That might not be for 20 years for me. Which is fine. In the meantime it's just trying to get to a nice, stable point career-wise with what we do now. Refining that, and getting to the point where people are going to come out and enjoy it.

NHOR : What advice, if any would you have for a young player starting out in the business today?

MS : Listen deeply and long. Listen to stuff. Go all the way back, do your own studies. People seem to be so into guitar equipment today. On Internet forums and such. Yet that's all a distraction for me. I love nice guitars, amps, and such. I've got some very nice ones. I get folks coming out to gigs asking, "What kind of gear are you using?" It doesn't matter. It does matter, but what you're hearing is the music being played through it.

Listen to great music. Don't worry about what guitar you've got. Because if you can play it good, it'll sound good. That's the #1 thing these days. I love nice stuff, and of course if you can play well it'll sound even better through something nice, but your ears are your first instrument. That's the one for me. Listen to great music, listen to what you're playing, and try to make it sound good to your ears as opposed to tinkering about with guitars. (Laughs)

For more information on Matt Schofield go to www.mattschofield.net/

Still Mr. Nice Guy : An Archival Interview With Michael Bruce Of The Original Alice Cooper Group

2011-03-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm Eighteen,". "The Ballad Of Dwight Fry,"... "Under My Wheels,"... "Desperado,"..."School's Out,"... "Billion Dollar Babies,"... "No More Mr. Nice Guy." What do all these songs have in common, besides being some of the most popular songs recorded by the original Alice Cooper Group? What these songs also have in common is the fact that all these were either written, or co written by guitarist Michael Bruce.

While Alice was, and still is, one of the best frontmen ever to come along in the long history of Rock, one should remember that before there was "Alice Cooper" there was ALICE COOPER the band. It was this ensemble - which, besides Alice, consisted of guitarists Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton, bassist Dennis Dunaway and drummer Neal Smith - that rose to superstardom in the early 70's, influencing countless subsequent bands in both image and musical style in the process. Not to mention becoming the band your parents warned you about, as well as being the scourge of chickens everywhere. It was this configuration of musicians who, along with producer Bob Ezrin, recorded such classic albums as 'Love It To Death,' 'Killer', 'School's Out', 'Billion Dollar Babies' and 'Muscle Of Love.' Even to this very day, if one goes to an Alice Cooper show, a good share of the set will be comprised of songs written during this time period, a fact that three decades after the breakup of the original band goes a long way in showing just how timeless the music really is.

In 2005, I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down and talk with Michael over the course of two nights - a total of over seven hours. Not only about the Cooper days, but waht he's been up to since, in particular the wonderful album he had just then released at the time , 'The Second Coming Of Michael Bruce : Alive & Re-Cooperated.' So with his fresh induction into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame along with the rest of the original band March 14th, I present to you dear readers this in depth, exclusive archival interview with guitarist/songwriter Michael Bruce of Alice Cooper...

Special thanks go to Billy James of Glass Onyon PR for coordinating, Si Halley at Sick Things U.K. for his input, and a BILLION thanks to Michael for doing this interview!

Interview and text by Nightwatcher for Nightwatcher's House Of Rock

Nightwatcher's House Of Rock : You've just released a new album, 'The Second Coming Of Michael Bruce : Alive & Re-Cooperated.' What can you tell us about that?

Michael Bruce : That's the release in Iceland, and that's going to be a limited release at this time. I'm in the process of trying to decide what to do with it for the States, in terms of the title, the pictures and whatnot. For now, it's not being released, but it's going to be. The release that they have in Iceland is a limited edition, written in Icelandic, so you couldn't read it. (Laughs) I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do it. It's not really a big enough thing for a label to do, I don't really see Apple Records knocking at my door, or Capitol. And, I'm really bad at licking stamps and sending stuff out in the mail. I'll have some guy from Peoria going, "Where's my CD?"(Laughs) I have to find some situation where I have somebody do that, and pay them for it, so I don't have to worry about it.

NHOR : Is this the same recording as 'Halo Of Ice' with a few bonus tracks added onto it?

MB : Actually, 'Halo Of Ice' was from the first outing I did in Iceland. The second one, we did a videotape of, and this is the recording from that, a much better recording. A lot of the same songs, but we included some other things. There's a new version of "Eighteen" that's called "Forever Eighteen," that's really a trip. It's like "Rocky Mountain Way" and "Revolution" by The Beatles together as "Eighteen." It's really cool. Then, I've got one original song on there called "Left For Dead Meat," that's going to be on the studio CD that I've been working on for it seems like forever. (Laughs). That's called 'Dark Side Of Love.' It's got a lot of the same stuff as 'Halo Of Ice,' but it's got some extras. It's actually a different performance, so it's not the same one as 'Halo Of Ice.'

NHOR : On the 'Halo Of Ice' and also this album, you have a version of "Halo Of Flies" that features the original lyrics for the song?

MB : Yes, I did, because see, I never learned the lyrics, and by the time I got around to singing it, I just did the original lyrics, I didn't do the stuff off the album. On some shows I do the original lyrics to "No More Mr. Nice Guy." I wish I had changed it on one of them, but I think I sang the ones on the record for both shows.

NHOR : Why were the lyrics changed for the version that's on 'Killer'?

MB : Well, it's not so much that they were changed. Brian Nelson might argue this point with you, but basically I would write a lot of songs, and if we were working on something with the other guys, or there was some song that needed something, I would feel free to dip into the Michael Bruce stash and rip the heart right out of some song. (Laughs) Because it didn't make any difference back then. So, I ended up with a lot of song fragments. I used to spend time in the hotel room, or wherever we were before a gig warming up, and I'd start playing through a lot of these songs that I had taken other songs out of. And, a lot of that was the beginning of "Halo Of Flies." So, some of those had some rough lyric ideas. So, when we started working up these things, I just gave the whole thing lock, stock and barrel into the band kitty, showed Alice what I had, sang some of the melodies, then he would take what he liked. But, some things he wouldn't like. Like the "I like the ocean, you like the sea," that was one song. That was part of it, and we used the melody, and changed the lyric a little bit in there. That happened pretty frequently.

"No More Mr. Nice Guy" was one song that was completely done except I didn't have the second verse. He changed the whole song about himself and the press. The original lyric was, "I used to be such a sweet sweet thing, but that was just a burn. I used to break my back just to kiss your ass and got nothin' in return. All my friends told me man you're crazy for being such a fool, but I guess I was because being in love made me so uncool, Now I'm no more Mr. Nice Guy." So, he made it about himself and the press, rather than about a guy/girl thing. It worked, and who knows, the other might've worked as well, we'll never know. (Laughs)

NHOR : Is there a version of that in the vaults perhaps somewhere?

MB : Not of the Cooper band doing it, but I performed them somewhere. When I was in Texas, and I was really trying to get the career going, and looking back when the band disbanded after 'Battleaxe,' I got married and disappeared for awhile. It was really, really hard to come back. Alice is doing a good job, he's out there knocking them dead playing the old stuff, and I still get a thrill when I go see him play. Unfortunately, for me, he's using younger guys, and we're older. (Laughs) But, it works, and whether he's selling the new stuff or not he's certainly selling the old stuff. It's great, it's wonderful for me. So, it's a bittersweet sort of thing. Somewhere I have CD's of performances that I did, I think I did it at CBGB's before they closed in New York with the original lyrics on it.

NHOR : Now, on the new album there are three bonus tracks?

MB : Yeah, it's got "Forever Eighteen," which is a studio thing we did in Iceland with Ingo Geirdal and his brother Silli. Peter's the keyboard player. I have to say this, it's funny, there's a guy that does my website, Brad Cooper, and for some reason, him and his assistant, they took this picture, which I really like, but they put in somebody else's nose. Now, they never told me WHY they did, if they thought my nose was too big, or too small, but it kind of looks like Pinocchio's. (Laughs) Kind of pointy. They did all kinds of stuff to the picture, changed the guitar neck, just stuff that nobody would know. Why would you spend all this time on this? It just really bothers me to have somebody else's nose. (Laughs) So, you see this picture, I've got this white tuxedo on with this guitar, and it's somebody else's nose.(Laughs)

NHOR : A couple of years ago it was reported that you were working on a new studio album by the name of 'The Dark Side Of Love'. What's the status on that, and when can we see that released?

MB : Well, here's what happened. I've got pretty much most of it done. Neal called me up, and he was telling me a story about how Bob Ezrin got out of L.A.. He's from Toronto, so he wanted to be closer to his family, so Bob bought a place back there in Connecticut and they've been hanging out and whatnot. Bob had said to Neal, "We ought to get together and do one more album." And, that was kind of music to Neal's ears. We need to find some songs, so I guess the thing is potentially there, except I guess we have to sort of audition the songs. (Laughs) Rather than, it used to be, when the band was the BAND, and we had a record deal, those were our songs, and we had to make the best of them, and guess what, they turned out to be great hits. Now that there's no band anymore, and Alice is the guy, we submit songs to Bob Ezrin and Alice, and if they don't think they're good enough, then it doesn't happen. It's very strange to say the least. So I told Neal, "Well, I'm putting this album out, and I've got a bunch of tunes on it that could be Cooper tunes just like they were before." He said, "Why don't you send some, I'll let Bob hear them, and see what he thinks."

So, I kind of held off releasing the album, and I swore I wouldn't do this again, because that's what I did with 'In My Own Way.' I held off on that, and it never happened, then I went and did 'Battle Axe' with The Billion Dollar Babies. That almost happened, but it didn't. (Laughs) So, I said that I wasn't going to do it, but at this point in time if it could be the catalyst for us coming together again, even if it's just writing some songs, that'd be great. I'm not that much of an egomaniac that they've got to be MY songs on MY solo album. So, 'Dark Side Of Love' is sort of looming in the dark side waiting to see if the powers that be think that there's anything there that could develop into a Cooper thing. He keeps telling Neal and Alice that if there was a project, he would do it. He doesn't sit around and wait, he's booked up. It'd be interesting to see if we could get penciled in his day planner.

NHOR : Well, there's certainly a tremendous amount of interest in something like that happening..

MB : That's what I think. I just don't know if Alice knows that, or if he doesn't care, or if it would make things more complicated for him. But, everybody else does it. That's the only thing that's frustrating to me, is Ozzy's been able to do it, anybody in Led Zeppelin, well, they could pretty much do anything, but a lot of artists have done it. Why couldn't Alice? I think pretty much by now there's the Cooper camp from the old days, then there's the new Cooper people, and there's plenty of room in between I think. Anyway, I'm going to send off a few songs from that album to Bob Ezrin and Neal, and see if it amounts to anything, and if it doesn't then I'm just going to go ahead and release it. No particular time, before my death hopefully. (Laughs)

NHOR : Last year you formed a new Michael Bruce Group in Tucson?

MB : Yes, now basically it was a friend of mine, Bob Russell on guitar, he's from Ohio, and he came out,Jeff Harris on sax and piano,Thomas Dominick on keyboards and myself, and we played some shows out here. My kids live in Mesa, which is outside of Phoenix, so I thought I ought to move back from Texas, but I went to Phoenix, and it's like L.A., but it's not L.A. If I wanted to go through that, I'll live in L.A. rather than Phoenix. But, Tucson is really nice, I'm looking out the window at Mt. Lemon, and there's maybe one or two drive-by's, nothing serious. (Laughs) The University's here, and it's not as hot as Phoenix, it's four or five degrees cooler, it's near New Mexico, it's close to L.A.. So, I've been here a year and a half, I met this girl, we live together and it's great. The only other thing is, the guys that I played with, the drummer left, the bass player left, we got some other players and they wanted to go in kind of a different direction, so I just stepped out. I fired myself from the Michael Bruce Group. (Laughs) We did a couple of gigs, and we were just doing basically the old Cooper stuff, but I wanted to concentrate on finishing the 'Dark Side Of Love' and work on some new stuff, which I have.

NHOR : So I take it then that there aren't any plans for any touring at this point?

MB : Well, actually yes. A friend of mine, Paul Tomczak back in Philly, who when I was living in Texas and played at CBGB's a couple of times, a really good group there, Richie Scarlet from Ace Frehley's band is back there. So, if I did do something, I'd probably go back there and pull these guys together and do the live stuff to go out and tour. The thing is, that's been the hardest thing for me to overcome. Getting on some sort of tour and convincing somebody that I could be any kind of draw. There's just so much time that has passed. If Alice played somewhere, and had Neal's band open and my band open, a lot of people would come out of curiosity. I just don't know if Alice would, it might be too, too much for him. (Laughs)

NHOR : Let's go all the way back to the beginning if you don't mind, Michael. What was the defining moment for you when you decided to become a musician?

MB : Well, I was going to North High School, this was back in the 60's, I think it was when I was in the auditorium for some reason, and I heard "She Loves You" by The Beatles. Man, it just pushed all the buttons for me. I was off and running. I was a gymnast, played football and tennis, and I slowly degenerated into being a musician.(Laughs) I started taking guitar lessons, my mother played piano, so I already played a little piano. I started forming bands, and the rest is history. (Laughs) I had seen Elvis, and he had an influence on me, but I don't think... I was too immature to really formulate it into, "Okay I'm going to be a musician for my career." But by the time I got to high school, it was like, "Wow, I can get girls this way." (Laughs)

NHOR : Besides Elvis and The Beatles, who else were you drawn to in the early days?

MB : A lot of that English music, it was just wonderful. I did The Beach Boys, The Kinks, Gerry and The Pacemakers' "Ferry Cross The Mersey." I was a real English fanatic, I loved all of it. I really liked The Kinks, they were great. Most anything done well, with a good melody made my day.

NHOR : As a guitarist, who were your main influences when you were starting out?

MB : I suppose... well, George Harrison, I just loved him. The Kinks. But really, my mother's sister passed away, and her son, my cousin, came to live with us. There wasn't any room in the house, she didn't trust him living out back, we had a travel trailer, so I got moved out back to the travel trailer, which was great, I had my own little world. I just immersed myself in learning songs. I honed in on The Beatles, and a lot of other groups, but I learned how to write songs. I learned composition, intros, extros, guitar riffing. I gleaned everything I could from everybody. I was obviously influenced by The Beatles, there's a little Hendrix in there, not so much in the lead, but just in that kick back thing going on. The Doors were a big influence for me, and there's probably more to that than I care to admit. (Laughs) I try real hard not to emulate too much consciously from anybody, but if I can get something going that sounds Doors-ish, I do. (Laughs)

NHOR : What was the first record you ever bought?

MB : I remember seeing, what's the guy that did "Rawhide"? Frankie Laine. He did (Sings), "In The May Of 1941, the war had just begun, the Germans had the biggest ships, they had the biggest guns." "The Battle Of Bismarck" (Laughs) He was on Ed Sullivan, and I ran over and bought it. The English made great records, they were way ahead of us. We had a lot of the strong personalities, in the Nashville, Country & Western realm. It kind of amazes me, if the Alice Cooper Group had been English, we would've done a lot better. (Laughs) We would've been right up there with Bowie, and Marc Bolan from T Rex.

NHOR : Well Michael, you guys influenced a lot of those people too though...

MB : Yeah, but it just seems to me that we didn't have the staying power, unfortunately, that a lot of these groups did that were English. But I'm certainly not disappointed, we fared pretty well, all things considered.

NHOR : Your first band that you recorded with in Phoenix was The Wildflowers. What kind of music were you playing then?

MB : They were just some songs that we wrote. There's one recording that's called "More Than Me," it sounds like The Beatles. It's real catchy. I did a song that they played on the radio here called "Man Like Myself," with the harmony, real heady stuff. (Laughs) It was kind of uptempo, it wasn't anything bizarre like we later did with The Spiders. That's where I met Mick Mashbir, and I started taking lessons, he was the guitar player who did a lot of the stuff on 'Billion Dollar Babies' and 'Muscle Of Love.' He went to Camelback High, where Neal went, and I went to North High. He was in some rival bands in high school, and we were good friends. Some other players, Bill Spooner was around then. We didn't really play out, we just met this guy and he had a little recording place with a 4 track machine, and we went in there and made records. It was great.

NHOR : How did that lead up to you joining The Spiders?

MB : Well, speaking of Bill Spooner, I got together with Bill, this guy Michael Collins, Mike Tempturio and myself, we had a group called Our Gang. Bill's from The Tubes, an incredible guitar player, and I knew him from Little League ball when I was in grade school. They liked this guy John Tatum in The Spiders because he had long hair. See, I had long hair, but I decided to go play football for my senior year because I figured I could do music too. My coach kept pulling my hair out through the hole in my helmet.(Laughs) He told me if I didn't cut it he couldn't let me play. So, I cut it, and the guys in the band didn't like that. They all had long hair. So that shows you where the priorities were. John Tatum went over and played with them, I didn't realize that he was leaving The Spiders and I was kicked out of Our Gang. They said they were just going to jam. It turns out that The Spiders had kicked John Tatum out, and these friends of mine, Joel and Mark Rumerfield said, "Hey, they're auditioning guitar players why don't you go down?" So, I drove down there, and I had this Willies jeep, got up there and did everything like The Yardbirds' rave ups and all that stuff. I was a good rhythm guitar player but, I had this VAN that I could carry gear in, and guess what? I was in the band but they never really said, "You're in the band," they just said, "We've got a gig, come get the gear." So, that's how it started. (Laughs)

NHOR : In 1967, you guys moved out to L.A. for the first time. What do you recall about the L.A. scene at that time?

MB : It was bizarre. I remember the first time we went, we had this light show. The guy that worked with us had these flashing, colored, strobe lights and we had this big wheel that'd spin with black light colors painted on it and stuff. His name was Charlie Carnel, we all did some drugs and he either did more, or something, he was really getting out there. We walked back to the van and locked him in. (Laughs) Then we went ahead with our little parade down Sunset Boulevard, but it was really bizarre, people walking up and down the strip, it was like a zoo. You can imagine, you go to the state fair, the midway, all the carnies barking from all these games, rides on all sides, it was kind of like that. It was just bizarre, everybody of course is doing this and that, and the police are trying to hold it together. I remember when Bobby Kennedy got killed, and they tear gassed everybody there.

We went down there later to Hollywood Boulevard, and you could still smell the tear gas hanging in the air. Everything was so extreme. Nothing was done gradually, they just dealt with things in a different way, it was just outrageous. I remember they'd pull a van down, people coming out of the clubs, and they'd just put them right in the paddy wagon and haul them off and then just deal with them later. That's the way they've always done it, and look where it ended up, with the riots and that whole thing. It was really bizarre, and we'd come back from Arizona, we'd make little trips over.

I remember one trip, we and a gazillion other bands played there, with The Grateful Dead, and Pigpen was still alive and playing keyboards. It was at The Aquarius Theater, where the stage turned, they had a circle that turned around. We didn't get the gig, but we met a lot of people over there, and that's where we auditioned for Original Sound, the label that did "Talk Talk" by The Music Machine. We started doing "Talk Talk," the Music Machine song, and they pulled Glen Buxton and I aside and said, "Look, we'll sign you guys right now, just get rid of that Vince guy." (Laughs) We said, "No, we can't do that, we're a band." Funny how the tables turned later.

It was bizarre in a way, we wanted to be there, we finally moved over there, and we were dealing with this guy, we lived in his house because we were looking for a house for about $300. We were out of our minds with six people. (Laughs) He said, "Oh, I'll let you live in my house," so when he went to work, we moved all of his furniture to the wall, opened the van, brought all of our stuff in, rehearsed all day, before he got back moved it all back, put all his furniture back, then we slept. I remember two of us slept in the closet, and we camped out in his house. We did that for three or four months til we found a place. We must have REALLY liked music. (Laughs) We just wanted to get out of Arizona badly and out of our parent's houses.

NHOR : During the early days in L.A., you guys were pretty tight with The Doors. Did you ever hang around with Morrison much, and what were your impressions of him?

MB : We went down a couple of times when they were recording and watched them record. I was at another recording session for this band called The Clear Light, some guys that we knew from Arizona, and they were being produced by Paul Rothchild. Dallas Taylor, who later joined Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young and Taylor played with them, we grew up in the same neighborhood, the same block. So, they came up to our house in Topanga Canyon one time, it was Bruce Botnick, the engineer for Paul Rothchild, Arthur Lee, David Crosby and Jim Morrison. What a lineup. We sat in a circle and held hands, and chanted trying to bring some spirits or something, and Morrison leans over to me and says, "You guys do this often?" I said "No, we're just doing it because you're here." (Laughs) And he laughed.

We didn't see lots of them, but Glen would hitchhike into town and hang out with Robbie Krieger and his girlfriend, Lynn. I think they even mentioned Glen in The Doors book. We'd see them a lot, we were a struggling band, they were a local band, too, but yet they weren't a local band, you know what I mean? That's the trouble with L.A., all the local bands were famous, huge, and we couldn't get arrested. (Laughs) That's why we moved to Michigan, so we could sow our seeds out in the Midwest.

NHOR : Well, that certainly worked out great for you though..

MB : Yes, it did. Of all the stuff, and we worked with some talented people, Frank was very talented, but a jerk as a person, we worked with David Briggs, who produced Neil Young & Crazy Horse, but Bob Ezrin was the guy. He was the guy who was supposed to do our music. Our zany sort of ideas and music were fertile for his production techniques. This guy was incredibly talented, intelligent, and I feel very happy and proud that we were the first group he ever produced. He got on the map because of us.

Later, after we met Pink Floyd in L.A., we caught up with them again, first in Michigan, then later I believe they were doing 'Echoes' in Carnegie Hall and we hung out with them a lot. That was strange because we got to meet Syd Barrett out in L.A., they came down to Gazzari's to hear us play, and it was so funny because Alice, he didn't do anything, and he did something in Brownie form, all of a sudden he was like, "Oh, I feel faint," and he passed out, fell off the stage, just like one of those Morrison things, right in front of them. All four of them were sitting there right in front of us, because we were pretty obscure then, doing a lot of the 'Pretties For You' stuff, and they loved it (Laughs)

NHOR : Did you ever get a chance to meet and talk with Syd?

MB : He'd just kind of look at you with this glassy look, what do they call that? The Thorazine shuffle. He was very sweet, polite and charming. Very nice, he didn't really talk a lot, but they were all just happy to be over here, and we just loved 'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.' I listen back to it, and it's just so psychedelic that I can't believe it. "Interstellar Overdrive," the recording is just so crystal clear and clean, again light years ahead of the American recordings of that time. It's amazing that we won the war. (Laughs)

NHOR : Rock legend has that when you guys played the Cheetah Club in L.A. for a memorial concert for Lenny Bruce, you cleared the entire club of approximately 2000 people in a matter of just a few songs. What was the story there and how accurate is that?

MB : It seems that in the later years of my career a lot is commenting on how inaccurate that story is. (Laughs) That's two stories that kind of got melded together. What happened was, we opened for The Doors, got a standing ovation, and The Doors' manager wouldn't let us go back on for an encore. Now think about that, that's incredible. This was the second album that they had out, 'Strange Days,' and you could've knocked me over with a feather.

The other part of the story is, yes we cleared the room, Frank Zappa put on a benefit for Lenny Bruce at the P.O.P. Pier, where the Cheetah club is, in the daytime, and they had all kinds of bands there. It was the L.A. groove you know, "Kick back, catch some rays, smoke a doobie," then here comes The Alice Cooper Group on... I don't think so. (Laughs) A lot of people left. That's that story. They're two different things. We must've kicked some serious butt, because The Doors' fans loved us, they gave us a standing ovation, and intimidated the manager enough that he wouldn't let us play. I don't think Shep was there, I think Shep was at the Lenny Bruce thing, perhaps he was, but combined they make a better story. (Laughs) I guess the handwriting was on the wall there, a foreshadowing of the future.

NHOR : Speaking of Zappa, how was the band's relationship with Frank, and what do you feel that he brought to the table concerning the band?

MB: Well, I can sum it up by saying he was Adolf Hitler, and we were some of the guys that were around the table that wanted to blow him up. (Laughs) Frank was a genius, incredible, but he was just really, really hard. He knew what he wanted, he had a strong ego. What he brought to the table was the record deal, that's pretty much it. He put up with us as long as he could, for three days, then he said he was sick. On 'Pretties For You,' and it was either "Beautiful Flyaway" or "Titanic Overture," I made a mistake on one of those, and I wanted to do it over again, and he said, "No, that's fine." I had to have a little argument, but I finally got my way, though. (Laughs)

What happened was, and let me back up a little bit, Frank made all this money when 'Freak Out' became a huge hit. People thought he was talking about the establishment, but he was making fun of hippies. They made him, he made all this money, what is he going to do? He doesn't want to pay taxes..."I know, I will sign EVERY band in L.A. that sucks so big," and did you ever see the movie 'The Producers'? It's 'The Producers' but about rock and roll. He went and signed every band that he was for sure wouldn't make it. We were the band, we ran into Joe Greenburg and Shep Gordon, who used to manage The Left Banke, the day before, told them what was happening, and they said they'd be happy to represent us.

So, we didn't sign with Frank's manager, Herbie Cohen, that means we didn't get the dagger in the back. Because all the rest of the bands, they weren't supposed to make it, they were weird, of course we were weird too, but we're talking Wildman Fischer, Captain Beefheart, The G.T.O.'s. But we, because we weren't signed to Herbie Cohen, managed to slip through, Shep went to Warner Brothers and got us off Straight. It's actually a survival story. By the time we got off Straight, the first album was on Straight, the second was on Straight/Bizarre, then it went to Bizarre/Warner, then just Warner. By the time we got to just Warner for the third album, 'Love It To Death,' we met Bob Ezrin and we got out just in time. Shep went in there and just kicked some butt. I remember we were playing, people loving the show, we were getting some airplay, then the next week there were stand up cutouts of Alice with the whip in the record stores. (Laughs) He motivated those people, it all came together, and it was incredible. Now, the thing that really launched us, and do you know what the first bootleg album there ever was?

NHOR : That was Bob Dylan's 'The Great White Wonder'?

MB : Yeah, Joe and Shep, at the Landmark Hotel, met obviously somebody who worked at Columbia Records, they worked out some sordid deal, made them an offer they couldn't refuse. They went in, somebody got tapes, and to finance the Alice Cooper band, we schlepped 'The Great White Wonder' all around when we were touring in the Midwest. We had all of our gear in the truck behind us, our clothes in the station wagon, and piles of 'The Great White Wonder.' We'd unload them at night, the roadies would take them to the record stores, and $60,000 got us going and helped us get to the point where we were able to meet Bob Ezrin, got the whole ball rolling and convinced Warner Brothers. It was a juggling act, Shep was juggling five different things, and it was either going to happen or it was going to come crashing down... and it happened. But, thank you Bob Dylan, you helped us. (Laughs)

NHOR : Moving on a little bit here to the "Chicken Incident" at the Toronto Rock Revival in 1969. Now, that's become one of the most infamous incidents in all of rock history. What do you recall about what went down there, and was any of that staged?

MB : Well, I'm putting on my spoiler hat again. (Laughs) What happened is, we used to do, during our last song, when we did "Animal Pajamas" which was kind of a jam, it was the same song that when we were in Colorado playing with Steppenwolf, an outdoor concert, we were jamming away and when the vocals finished, Alice jumps off, starts running around the track, and everybody starts jumping up and down in the bleachers. He's running, the music's building, he runs up and grabs the microphone as Neal does the roll right into the vocal, and people just lost it. They started leaving the stadium because, and I can't explain it because it was just a moment. He was just running around the track, we were just playing the song and it came together. People were leaving, and Steppenwolf hadn't even gone on. That was one of a couple of incidents which was why John Kay didn't like us.

Well anyway, during that song, we broke open feather pillows. We did this all through the Midwest, courtesy thank you to the Holiday Inn. Well, times were catching up with us, not only when we'd come back to a club they were still picking feathers out of their butts, and everywhere else in the place, you just couldn't get them all. The Holiday Inn, in an effort to save money, probably because we were stealing all their pillows, changed to foam rubber. So, we figured out, well, the price of pillows is going up, the fun's not there anymore. We decided, we played at Detroit's Grande Ballroom, we opened for The Who, and we had chickens on the stage, because that's where the feathers came from for the pillow. You see the correlation there? (Laughs) We started taking... and in a couple of places we threw out chickens instead of feathers. We were just really campy that way. Call it stupid, call it whatever. Alice says, "I don't know where those chickens came from." Well Alice, turn around behind you, see that cage? In the back of the stage there? There's your chickens. (Laughs)

But who could've known, and what we didn't know was that when Alice was throwing these chickens out, people started grabbing them. He was throwing them right on top of the disabled area, where the handicapped folks were, in wheelchairs. They were getting mobbed, people crashing over the fence, ripping at these chickens trying to get them. People in Toronto were upset about that, that was the big deal after the show, that we were insensitive to the needs of the physically challenged. We just managed to push all these people's buttons. (Laughs)

Another one that happened, in Detroit, we were trying to find something to do for the feathers. Before we did the chicken thing, we lived in Detroit, so we got old used tires and painted them silver, and we were rolling them around on stage. It's the "Motor City" ya know? Keith Moon came out and he got a tire, was rolling it around onstage at that Who show, it was one of the things that we tried. We were willing to try anything, but it didn't catch on like the feathers and the chickens, then we gave up the chicken thing after awhile. (Laughs) One of the other things, and this was just at one show, my aunt was there, somewhere in Kansas, we went to this church and played where they had concerts. We were in the back, we'd been rummaging around all day, there was a big wooden cross, hollow but three dimensional, and like a prop during the last song Alice carried it like Christ going to the Crucifixion. Oh man, there was press about that. My aunt called up my mother and said, "What are they doing making fun of Jesus like that?" (Laughs) But, that was a one shot deal. We were poor, didn't have any money, so we'd take props where we could find them.

NHOR : By Neal's estimation, the first two albums 'Pretties For You' and 'Easy Action' sold a combined total of approximately 16,000 copies when they first came out. What kept you guys going? A lot of bands would've said "That's it" at that point. That shows a lot of perseverance....

MB : Really, what it was all about, we didn't want to move home. Here we signed with Frank Zappa, and even though as far as the industry was concerned they were two failed albums, we were stars in our hometown when we came back. We got laid, and we got to play clubs, we were living the good life. When we went back to L.A., we were starving.(Laughs) Then when we met Shep and Joe, they really pulled it together, and it continued to the point where we realized we had to get out of L.A. because we had to go sort of cut our teeth, get out on the road, and develop our thing. That was after David Briggs and the second album. Just try to pay our dues so to speak on the real circuit. We weren't just a local band anymore. We had to go out there and prove our stuff. That's where you make it or break it. We managed to make it.The money we got from the 'Great White Wonder' that Shep funded us with, they went back to New York.

They hadn't been back there, they got an apartment, started doing what they do, and they ended up living in Toronto, probably because people in New York wouldn't have much to do with them. They were going to get a Canadian producer, because then they'd play our records on the radio there due to Canadian content. It didn't have to be the greatest, but they'd play it because there's a stipulation that they have to play a certain amount of Canadian music. So, we qualified, that's another angle that Shep was working. When 'Love It To Death' came out, we must've had a $10,000 phone bill every month, calling "Hi, I'd like to hear that new "I'm Eighteen", that Alice Cooper song."(Laughs) We're calling from Detroit to Canada, that's long distance, but guess what? WCKW broke the song. That's where it started. The rest is history.

NHOR : After the first two albums, the band moved to Detroit, and that's where you signed with Nimbus 9 after they sent Bob Ezrin down to see you...

MB: Supposedly they heard the first two albums, and the joke around Nimbus 9 was whoever fucks up next has to produce the Alice Cooper Group. (Laughs) I don't know what Bob did. He had been doing April Wine, he heard the record and came down and saw a live show. I think he saw something there, and I still can't believe that he thought "I'm Eighteen" was "I'm Edgy." That sounds like a story. (Laughs) He came down and started working with us, and we worked really, really hard. We worked so hard, when we went in the studio, we got the songs in two or three takes. There's virtually no outtakes. We didn't jam or anything. When Bob started working, and everything started cooking I just loved him, everybody else did too. Glen though thought it was like being in school again, he had to learn all his parts and discipline. He loved him, but he really had to put his nose to the grindstone.

NHOR : What do you feel that Bob contributed to the band that wasn't there before?

MB : Well, he was a child prodigy at the piano, his father was a doctor in Toronto. He just knew music, classical music, and he had a good feel for how things should be, and he was a real perfectionist. There was no part that was vague, it was all nailed down. We took the unstructured parts, made them structured, and tried to make them sound unstructured. We knew what we were doing. It gave us a lot of confidence. I think it really helped us feel like we were musicians, that we could do the stuff, even though technically we weren't the best musicians. We were very effective musicians. I think that helped us a lot. In that early period we were writing fools, we were doing two albums a year. It's a shame Glen's demons got the best of him. It wasn't just that, but that was enough, and we needed some time off. When Alice decided he didn't want to work with the band anymore... there's a lot of stuff that I've been doing over the years that I think could easily have been Cooper songs. I wish we had an opportunity to do them with Bob, because I just hear them happening in the same way. I don't know if they'd be a hit or not, but I just know that they'd sound great. (Laughs)

NHOR : During the early days of the band you did a lot of touring in the South. Given your image, stage show and social climate at that time, how was the reaction to the band? Did you get any extreme reactions?

MB : I think we got mixed reviews. Some of the places, and I remember playing in Michigan, and one of the things that seemed to turn the corner for us, was when we were at this festival up in Ann Arbor. We'd been doing alright, but bikers had built this big bonfire in the middle, it was getting dark and cold. We were doing our thing, and Alice had this inflatable sex doll onstage, and he was beating it around and stuff. Not unlike he did later during "Only Women Bleed."(Laughs) This biker, they had a ramp up the stage, and he rode his Harley up the ramp. Alice got on back with this sex doll, rode down, rode round and round in circles around the fire. Again, this is just another of those "Happening" things. He threw the doll in the fire, the doll caught on fire, then he drove Alice back on stage. (Laughs) People just went nuts, and we cleared another hurdle.

There were other shows that I don't remember. We started getting less obscure and less psychedelic, and we got more musical. That was one thing, we got into double guitar harmonies, and I think they liked that in the South. (Laughs) Coming from where we did, we relatively had hardly any incidents. As a matter of fact, the incidents we did have were all here in Arizona when we started. This one guy came up and pulled a knife, shook it at us, then we got run out of town. It was the only thing that the Indians and the cowboys in Arizona could agree upon, was kill the longhairs. (Laughs) One time at a Catholic Youth Organization dance, we had to wait, they told us to stay in because there were guys out there who were going to beat us up. This was in high school, they were the Cowboy/Jocks, I guess. Once we got out of Arizona, we didn't really have any problems.

NHOR : You've mentioned before hanging out with Hendrix. Where was this at, and what were your impressions of Jimi as a person?

MB : When Pink Floyd came over, there was a roadie, Les Braden, who worked for them, he'd also been with Cream and worked with The Soft Machine. He stayed and lived with us, and was our roadie. He started showing us some neat things, and worked in some ideas like that. "What horrors must invade the mind, when the approaching death should find," that's the Catholic Rites Of The Dead or something... he was saying, "Hey Alice, why don't you read this?" and he got very into it.

Anyway, he worked with The Soft Machine, we went down there, they were opening for Hendrix, met the guys and stayed for the show when they played at Tempe University. We went up to a party, Dr. Dante, who married Lana Turner, he hypnotized a bunch of people, then we went down to Tucson, hung out in a hotel. Hendrix put this kilo of pot on the bed, was putting quarters in the Magic Fingers, and said "C'mon everybody, get on my rocket ship." (Laughs) Mitch and Noel were running around with this thing full of acid, they were like, "Hey, want some, man?" I'm surprised they didn't get busted. It was just anything goes.

Later, we met them over in L.A. when he opened up Electric Ladyland, which I used to call "Electric Landlady." We went down there, they had this expensive spread out there, we were eating all this rich food. I drank, and I went up to the bass player for Iron Butterfly, and I threw up all over. I got so sick from eating all that stuff, I threw up all over his table. (Laughs) That's where we know Jimi from. He was just a fun loving, easy going, nice man. He was just enjoying himself, partying, he seemed to be having a great time. Everybody around him did too. It was just really a trip watching him, everything he did seems very different.

I think going over after he got out of The Isley Brothers, and went over to England, and the story goes somebody phoned up Eric Clapton and Townshend, they went down and were blown away or intimidated. Chas Chandler was there, and he was the one who put Hendrix together with the Experience. I heard some of the original recordings, the jams that he did, and you hear him playing "Purple Haze" or whatever, he'd go into a solo, then it would just go awful wrong, a wrong note... a bad acid trip. (Laughs) So, he was still getting it together. I can really relate, when you're there, right in the pocket and the licks are happenin', then all of a sudden you stumble off, and it all falls apart. (Laughs) It's a bad train wreck but you're the only one living it and you've still got to play. I just thought, if we could've just got over to England, we could've done some incredible things. Not that we didn't, but just with a whole different twist on it.

NHOR : If you had to pick one song out of all that you've written that would say, "This is what Michael Bruce is all about," which one would that be?

MB : "No More Mr. Nice Guy" has got to be the pop/rocker song. But the hard rock guy in me just loves "Billion Dollar Babies." That song really turned out incredible in the way it moved, it just really cooked. Somewhere in between those. There's a song on every album, "You Drive Me Nervous" was one, "Halo Of Flies" was one, but if I had to choose, "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "Billion Dollar Babies."

NHOR : What is the process you go through, and where do you get your inspiration from when you're writing a song?

MB : Well, I don't have the guys around to bounce it off of. I pretty much just write, sort of muddle through it.(Laughs) I suppose just like any other player I fool around a lot, I play guitar, keyboards too, so I'll get something that feels good, play it, and it sounds good. I was always one of those kids, when I brought home my report card they had wrote "Michael needs to apply himself and quit daydreaming." I would always be off in my own little world in my head, and I suppose that, coupled with guitar riffs and stuff, that I'd have nights where I'd wake up in the middle of the night and come put something down. It's just letting yourself be comfortable with what you're doing to the point where you can just hang with it until you get it going.

A lot of players, I've seen them they'll jump around and have to change riffs every five seconds to compensate because nothing else seems to be going on. There's songs that I do that in intentionally, but I also like to see if I like to get the groove, and get some counterpoint things going. A lot of that has nothing to do with lyrics, as a lot of times I'll sit down, play some chords and the lyrics will just come. To me, that would be the ultimate, to sit down and have the lyrics just come out, and I've had that happen. It's great, but it doesn't usually happen all the time.(Laughs)

Alice, I always thought his lyrics were pretty interesting, the way he would write. I liked what he did with "No More Mr. Nice Guy", he's got a strong personality , so that's why I thought it was a good combination of his lyrics, my writing, and also Neal, Dennis's and Glen's. Now I think when he's on his own he doesn't have that interaction, there's nobody there to call him. The things that he has done, like what he did with Desmond Child and Ezrin, those are the things that I've liked that are better.

NHOR : Well, you guys were a very formidable writing team. Even Lester Bangs called you two "The Lennon and McCartney of hard rock"...

MB : Did he really? Wow, Lester Bangs, he used to hate us. I wonder how much that cost Shep.(Laughs) Maybe he meant Vladimir Lenin and Senator McCarthy.(Laughs)

NHOR : You either wrote, or had a hand in cowriting, some of the biggest hits during the original Cooper band's reign at the top of the charts - such as "I'm Eighteen," "The Ballad Of Dwight Fry," "Under My Wheels," "Desperado," "Billion Dollar Babies," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy," just to name a few. In your opinion, has Alice ever come up with anything as good as those songs since he went solo?

MB : Yeah, I mean, you could hear some of that stuff on 'Welcome To My Nightmare,' he had two great guitar players in Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner. So, it was happening, and they had the momentum of the band, and I think that after that dissipated and Wagner wanted his own album, he was having the same problems with those guys that he was with us. Musicians always want stuff. (Laughs) I think that his writing has always been good, and his lyrics, if you feed him like I always thought I fed him what he needed, a little bit of lyric, and idea, melody, something to write to then "boom," it would happen.

I know with "Eighteen," he came up with some good lyrics, he started singing them, and kind of as a band said, "That's good, those ideas are good, keep going." He went back, did it again, we encouraged him to do it again, and he must've been like, "Oh, those motherfuckers." He went back and BOOM, the third time we went, "Wow, right on." It was very obvious that they were good lyrics then. I didn't know if the song was going to be a hit. That started from a jam that was, "I Wish I was Eighteen Again, Be My High School Queen," or something like that. And with the right lyrics, and again Ezrin helping to put that together, it worked out really well.

There's a couple of songs that I've been working on, one's a ballad called "Man Without A Heart" that could be an Alice thing, maybe on the softer side. There's this other one called "Born Screamer" that, like a lot of the songs that I did, I just have a chorus, and I would have one verse, no second verse, or no verse at all, and it would give him a lot of elbow room. "Be My Lover" is one that I did that he didn't change any lyrics, he sang all the lyrics that I wrote. "Muscle Of Love," on the other hand, I didn't have any lyrics to and just gave him the music. It actually started out as "Respect For The Sleepers," which was a phrase that Glen used when he'd been up partying all night, you know, "Have some respect for the sleepers because we're sleepin' in."(Laughs) I think 'Welcome To My Nightmare' came the closest in quality to what we did. There was also 'Alice Cooper Goes To Hell,' that had a couple of great songs on it.

NHOR : What was the songwriting process when the band wrote songs?

MB : A lot of times Neal and I, we'd get down there, I'd start playing the stuff that I'd written, we'd be warming up, and Alice would sometimes come down, Dennis, and of course Glen would usually be last. I was a fairly prolific writer, but I'd try to help Neal and Dennis have some songs. Like "Black Juju," I'd sit down and work with Dennis, "Teenage Lament," I worked with Neal on that, but generally I'd just just try to play and get something going, not saying, "Here, I have a song, let's learn it and let's play it." That the music would hopefully draw them in. But other than that, early on we'd sit down with an acoustic guitar, write songs and wish we were The Beatles, and put clues in that people would never get. (Laughs) All kinds of silly stuff, but it kept us entertained and it kept us on the job so to speak. It kept our heads into the whole thing, because when you're not living at home, you don't have any money, you're not playing any gigs, and you're not famous, it can be really a drag. (Laughs)

NHOR : What is your favorite Alice Cooper album?

MB : Probably 'Killer.' It's just God, when I hear 'Killer', the song, it just makes the hair, wherever I have hair stand on end. It's got a lot of good stuff on it. "Desperado" is a favorite song of mine, just the way it worked out with the strings and everything. I have a hard side and a soft side, so if I get to pick two songs it'd probably be "Desperado" and "Killer." It was a great album, because we were really writing as a band. We were really hitting on all eight cylinders, as they say. I could've wished for that to go on for a lot longer. But nothing lasts forever. (Laughs) It's almost like a marriage. When it was great, it was great, when it was bad it was really bad.We hung in there as long as we could, wanted to hang longer.

One of the last things that we did together was when Neal, Alice and myself went over to Glen's house and tried to reason with him, and get him to do some things, and he wouldn't do it. That was kind of the last straw. Then we decided to do some solo things in the meantime to stall for time, hoping that he would maybe change his mind, but by that time Alice didn't want to go back into it. I think it was not that interesting and he wanted to go do other things. I can understand that, because I did, too. But I never wanted to stop the Cooper stuff either. Shep always said, "I told you if you did a solo album that would be it," like opening Pandora's box. But to me it was like a lot of other people have done it, what's the deal? But I guess there could only be one Alice Cooper.(Laughs)

NHOR : How much of an impact do you think Glen's inability to play on the studio albums for awhile had on the breakup?

MB : Looking back, I think it had more to do with us than it did the public. Because they heard the cool riffs, whether they were his, mine, Wagner, Hunter's... Mick Mashbir... they were still there. The songs were still there, but it started affecting us individually. Like Alice, I think we just didn't want to deal with it anymore. When he got sick and was out in Arizona, we'd make him tapes and send them of 'Billion Dollar Babies.' Mick Mashbir came back, and was filling in for him. When he came back, he didn't know anything, and made us feel like why are we even bothering? Here he is, he's got a great job, people would die to do that, and he didn't care. I have to say that no matter whatever else Alice, Neal, Dennis and myself were into, the band was still the most important thing for us. It wasn't for Glen. It wasn't that important to him. He had better things to do.

NHOR : So, that affected the overall chemistry of the band?

MB : Yeah, absolutely. Because he was there from the beginning, John Speer, the original drummer, and Alice, so he was there early on. His sarcastic personality, he was one of a kind. It was time to move on, I think, after Glen. We couldn't replace him, we didn't want to deal with it. All of us had become more... everything seemed like it was a big deal, it wasn't as easy as it used to be. It just got tiring. I think the band felt that we were in the back seat, not that we weren't all stars then, we were, it wasn't that important, but the way it was handled. There was a chasm that developed, a separation between us and the band. Feeling excluded. It wouldn't have taken much to be felt included, because most of the time Dennis didn't want to go, or I didn't want to go and be part of a particular function. But when you read about it, see about it, hear about it, you didn't even know it happened. When you're that involved, and it's something you've worked on for so long and sacrificed for, it hurts. I think it was insensitive, either that or it was the master plan. (Laughs)

NHOR : Neal has said that he had a problem with it when it came down to where Alice had his own separate limo from the rest of the band...

MB : Yeah, talk about politically incorrect. (Laughs) I remember when Alice opened for the Scorpions, I went back and met Rudolf and Michael Schenker, they were going, "Oh, we used to play your songs when we were in high school." They were arguing about them and their girlfriends/ex wives about the limos, so... it happens.(Laughs)

NHOR : During the sessions for 'Billion Dollar Babies,' you had a lot of musicians come down and either visit or played on the album, such as Keith Moon, Harry Nilsson, Marc Bolan, Donovan, even John Lennon came down to the studio during the recording of "Elected." What are your memories of that time?

MB : Well, they're mixed, because Donovan was there, and he was a really neat guy, I was playing his custom made guitar. Harry Nilsson, on the other hand, was a drunk fuck up, and we almost went to blows a couple of times. I didn't really enjoy that much. Rick Grech was there, Marc Bolan... they were all fine. It was like the cake had been made, and this was the icing on it, so I kind of hung back, did some things on my own. I didn't really participate in it as much as Neal. He was down there a lot. I don't think I was down there at all. I don't know if Dennis was. I was down there when Donovan did "Billion Dollar Babies," we worked up that vocal, the "row row row your boat" thing, the counterpoint vocals. I threw in my two cents, but I kind of let them be. I just felt that I'd done it a lot, I didn't want to be a pig about it. (Laughs)

NHOR : Did you meet Lennon when he came down?

MB : I met Lennon, actually, back with the famous "Chicken Incident," when we did the Toronto Rock And Roll Festival. He was sitting back in the dressing room. It was just him and Yoko, their white suits on, and I just walked in to the dressing room, they were just sitting there, exhausted, they were in Canada, they probably just made it in through the backdoor because Nixon wouldn't let him into the States. Trudeau let him in. I just walked in and said, "Hello, I'm Michael Bruce, I just wanted to say 'Hello'." and I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I'll just stand here and feel stupid... and now, I'm leaving. (Laughs). I just kicked myself most of my young life, like why couldn't I have said something clever? It would've meant nothing to them, but to me it would've been everything. It was great watching him on stage, Clapton was there, Klaus Voormann, his whole band. Then Yoko comes out and ruins it all. (Laughs) They did "Cold Turkey," and they did a couple neat versions of Beatles songs, it was great.

NHOR : A lot of sources say that, during the 'Billion Dollar Babies' tour, Glen's guitar was either totally unplugged, or it was turned down way low in the mix so that it was barely audible, and that Mick Mashbir and you played Glen's parts. What's the real story on that?

MB : There were some songs that Glen did better than others. I don't recall which songs they were, but the ones with the sort of "sound effect" type leads, he could do whatever and get away with it. Whoever was mixing, I think it was Artie King at the time, he would know to push it up, then when we were doing something more intricate, Glen may or may not be present, he was down. He occasionally would bring him up to see what was going on, and if it seemed alright, he'd bring him in. If it wasn't he'd drop him out. It was the only way you could do it. Glen was not consistent. Which was unfortunate, because when he was good, he was really good. When he wasn't he was really bad. I've heard that about Robbie Krieger, too, that he had times when he was just God awful. Those guys hung out, and they reminded me of each other a lot, so it's interesting. Glen had a Fender amp, that's what he wanted, it was mic'd, and it was just turned down, but the mic was always on. It just may or may not be in the mix.

NHOR : So, he could hear himself in the monitors, so he didn't know that he wasn't in the mix...

MB : Oh yeah, he heard himself in the monitors. He had his own monitor, he could hear himself in it, most everybody else didn't have him. We had a big enough P.A. that we could do that. Because he wasn't playing a lot of the basic parts. If he was, between Bob Dolin, Dennis, Mick and myself, we had the lines down well enough so that Glen didn't need to be there. I mean even four pieces, a couple of guitars, it starts getting cluttered anyway.

NHOR : During that tour, it seemed like every member of the band was, at one point in time, injured by "fans" throwing objects up on stage. Was there ever a time when you actually feared for your life? They were throwing bottles, M-80's, all kinds of stuff, Neal was hit by a dart....

MB : It's funny, I found that dart after the show, the next gig we flew from Chicago to the middle of the Black Hills of South Dakota, I opened the door to the Holiday Inn, it's like "whooooooosh," just nothing, where are we? (Laughs) So, I was up, and I couldn't sleep, I went down to the lobby, got a newspaper, and started cutting out letters. I wrote sort of a note that said, "I'm not through with you yet - The Dart," and stuck the dart in Neal's door. I just waited to see if he'd say anything, Neal's playing it cool, he didn't say a thing. Later he goes, "I knew it was you all the time." (Laughs) No, I never really feared for my life. The people that night of the M-80 thing, they were just having a good time, I think they were just throwing them. They must've been out of their minds, because an M-80 is a bit much, it's not a firecracker. In a crowded room like that, it's not a good idea.

The only place that I felt like that was when we played in Brazil, there was 150,000 people indoors, and the guys come out on stage with machine guns telling everybody to sit down. By the third song, the stage was so high, 10-15 feet, bodies were piling up. This guy got up on stage, he was able to climb up on the bodies, so they stopped the show, we went offstage for about twenty minutes, came back on and everybody was quiet. It was pretty spooky, because they were all carrying automatic weapons. These guys came out with machine guns, a military looking gang, a guy in a suit came out, pulls a pistol out and shot it, told everybody to sit down in Portuguese. So, I sat down. (Laughs) That was pretty scary, that was just fear.

NHOR : You, Neal, Glen, and Alice reunited for one last time in October of '97 at Area 51 in Texas. What are your recollections of that night?

MB : We rehearsed for a couple of weeks. Glen had been living in Iowa, he hadn't been playing that much. He came out. I'd been playing a lot, Neal had been playing a lot, Richie Scarlet plays a lot, so Glen was trying to do the best he could. We showed him the chords he'd forgotten. He'd write them down, but then he'd leave them there. Again, he wasn't trying that hard. Finally, towards the end of the rehearsal, I started playing stuff that he was supposed to be playing. I'd been playing it all along, because I had a three piece for awhile, so I was playing everybody's parts. I'd just start playing, then he got mad, and he kind of pissed me off because I'd loaned him a couple of pedals, and he kicked the pedals with his foot, went out and threw a hissy fit. He told my manager, "Michael Bruce is stepping all over my parts." I was like, "That's the reason you're not playing? What about the five days before, when I wasn't playing, and you weren't playing?" So, it was that kind of thing.

He just did the best he could, and he kept turning his amp up, because he would do these little subtle things, he had the wrong guitar set up, he was using a semi-hollow body, and it was feeding back, so they'd turn him down in the monitor. The more he got turned down in the monitor, the more he'd crank the amp up. It was rough. It was a lot of fun, too, it was fun doing things together again. We did a live radio broadcast, a record signing thing. It was great... of course, not knowing that Glen wasn't going to be with us a week later.

NHOR : Were there any indications that he wasn't feeling well at the time?

MB : Well... it was pretty humid there, moist in Houston, and he'd come from a relatively dry climate, Iowa, in the middle of the country, where in the winter time it's cold and crisp and boring. (Laughs) He died of pneumonia in his heart. We later were told that his girlfriend, who was a registered nurse, said the doctor said that if he got pneumonia or the flu he'd probably die, because he didn't get a flu shot. And that's what happened, he got pneumonia, and it was too much for him.

NHOR : What's your favorite memory of Glen?

MB : There was this one time in San Francisco when we had our first two albums out, we were with Frank Zappa, everybody thought we were gay. This one guy was following Glen around like a puppy dog, everywhere. So Glen finally said, "C'mere." He goes in the bathroom, and this guy's like, "Oh boy! I'm so excited." (Laughs) Glen told him to get in the bathtub, he got in the bathtub and Glen turned on the water, walked out and closed the door. He turned on the shower with the guy in it. (Laughs) So that was Glen, he could do some amazing things.

On the other end of the spectrum, I remember one of the first times we went to New York, somebody broke in, they had these huge rooms with six plus beds in them, all of our guitars were stacked. Somebody came in the room and took his guitar. We check out of that hotel, went to another hotel, and when were in THAT hotel, they managed to steal JUST his suitcase. So now Glen has no sound, and no clothes. I don't think he ever recovered from it, frankly. He lost his sound, he lost his identity, it was rough. I don't know if it just happened that they stole his stuff, or he owed them money or something, but it was rough, really rough.

NHOR : So, things kind of went downhill for him from that point?

MB : Well, you know, he had a hard time. He had such a sound, he'd get that sustain from his Gretsch. He'd get feedback on it, he had a Fender pickup that he put in, and he just never recovered. Then he got this white Les Paul with the three pickups that you see in a lot of the pictures. I remember the high E string kept jumping out of the bridge saddle. So he said, "Just a minute," he went upstairs, came back down and he said, "I've got it fixed," He'd driven a nail down in right next to it. It worked, I guess.(Laughs) Prior to that he'd had that setup, he had quite a good sound. He'd get this feedback, sustain... like Jeff Beck. Jeff Beck was his hero, and he learned all that early Yardbirds stuff, played the triplets, you know, "Over Under Sideways Down." And it changed him, because he couldn't do it anymore.

NHOR : In 1975 you released your first solo album 'In My Own Way', and that's kind of a shock to people who were expecting the same type of music as on the Cooper records. It's more late Beatlesque in nature. Was that planned as a departure from the sound of the band?

MB : Yeah, I did that pretty much intentionally. That was my intention, to do something that was a departure from the Alice Cooper thing. I thought it would be a nice counter to it. I wasn't Alice, after all. I think it probably would've worked. Unfortunately, not only was I a bit immature, Shep was handling Alice, and it seemed kind of like a conflict of interest to me at the time. Shep did go to A&M, and of course they had Captain & Tennille, Peter Frampton, The Tubes, they had a lot going on, and they passed. But he did get me a deal with Polydor in Germany. I just didn't stick it out. Then when Neal said, "Hey let's get the band back together," after all that, it seemed like the right thing to do. I went back, and of course that's when Alice said he didn't want to work with us.

Then I asked Shep to release me from our management contract, which of course he did. Hindsight is 20/20, I wish I'd stuck with it a little more, and got it released in the States at that time, because I think it would've done well. We'll never know, but after all that hard work, I kind of threw in the towel. But see, I was always really a band member, a team player. I loved playing guitar in the band, keyboards and writing songs. It's just at the time there was so much going on, the situation with Glen... of course, we'd all spent a lot of time together, and it just got... we just got road weariness. I think we took it out on each other, and we really shouldn't have, because we were all trying to work for the same thing. It was disheartening after Alice said that he wanted to go it alone, because we felt that we still had a lot to offer, and I think we did.

NHOR : During that time, when you decided to take the year off, you did your solo album, Neal did his, and Alice did his as well...

MB : What happened was Shep submitted my solo album to Polydor, he submitted Alice's to Warner Brothers, and Warner passed on Alice's solo thing, my solo thing and Neal's, because they wanted the band back together. They didn't want to promote us trying to do anything individually. But we had a deal, and now it's the same as an escape clause, but what it was is a soundtrack album, if they passed on it, then we could place it with another label. So, they did 'Welcome To My Nightmare' as a soundtrack to the special. So he could get out of the Warner Brothers contract, which was really with US. So he got out of the contract with us. Plus, we didn't have an employment contract in our corporation unfortunately. With all these high powered lawyers that we had, we didn't have that. So we couldn't stop Alice from working until he'd fulfilled the commitment to us. That's a must have in any situation like this, because if one guy decides to walk, there's really nothing that you can do.

Well, there was something we could've done. We could've sued Shep and Alice, Warner Brothers and everybody. But we wanted to remain friends. I probably would've gone ahead if Neal and Dennis would've said yes. Then we probably would've gone for it, because I wanted to do it. But they didn't want to rupture the relationship with Shep or Alice. They just thought they'd take their chances, see what would happen down the road, and maybe there'd be a chance for a reunion. If we were stand up guys, and not do anything that would rock the boat so to speak. Dennis said that even after he'd done all this, still nothing, Alice still didn't seem to be coming forth to embrace that.

NHOR : So, you basically didn't want to burn any bridges?

MB : Well, I wanted to burn everything down. (Laughs) I wanted total saturation bombing. Because I felt we'd all created that name, and I thought it'd be easy. There were plenty of articles where it referred to the group. I thought we could've won. If we would've got a piece of the Alice Cooper pie. Of course, we never would've done a reunion, but we didn't anyway. (Laughs) You don't know that, so that's what that amounted to. It's just unfortunate that it didn't happen differently.

NHOR : What was your reaction when you found out that wasn't going to be the case, that you weren't going to go back and record another album?

MB : We had already had a concept, an idea, and we were working on 'Battleaxe.' We were going to do it with Alice. Did you know that there was a stage show to go with it? We only did four gigs before it went down. What it was, it was a futuristic event that combined what I like to call "Jock Rock." (Laughs) It was a sporting thing in a rock and roll musical environment, where competitors would sort of fight to the death, a duel in a musical arena. It's pretty neat, I wish we could've pulled it off. People were really awestruck. I think it'd still be really cool now if we went back and did it. It's funny because Alice used to say, "They got tired of theatrics, they just want to stand onstage in their jeans and play." That really wasn't the case.

We had a way hot show. We didn't have any dancing spiders, that's true, no dancing chickens, we didn't whip anybody, wives or otherwise. (Laughs) Unfortunately our manager, who was supposed to be giving us wisdom, was Leo Fenn, who helped Shep break the group in the Michigan area, and the Midwest. He was going to show everybody that it wasn't just Alice and Shep, he was carrying around like a two hundred pound chip on his shoulder. It took us down, he lost sight, we all did. I can't just blame him. Though it is ironic, and conspiracy theorists would wonder how our publicity manager, Toby Mamis, got to be Shep's partner. (Laughs)

NHOR : Speaking of 'Battleaxe,' you, Dennis, and Neal joined forces with Mike Marconi and Bob Dolin in Billion Dollar Babies for that album. Given your status and the pedigree of the musicians in the band, what do you feel the reason was that Polydor didn't promote the album as well as they could've?

MB : Well, it was a comedy of errors. One of the problems was the fact that everybody was having TOO good of a time. Lee DeCarlo was overindulging himself in extra party favor activities. I think we all were to some degree, but he went in and mastered it. You know a record groove is supposed to look like a nice, roundish "U" shape? It's not supposed to look like the letter "V". What happens when you have the letter "V" as a groove, the stylus doesn't sit very well, and it tends to fly out. So that's what we ended up with. We ended up with a flying record. (Laughs) Not only that, but when they shipped 60,000, we easily could've broken #155 with a bullet, we were supposed to do a whole tour with Concerts West. We were going to play small arenas, sell them out, look good to the promoter. One of the guys at Polydor who collected all the sales information, then took it to the trades, he was either fired or his boyfriend was fired and he quit. We didn't get any reports. Even though we were selling records, they didn't get reported.

That's a real shame because what happened is we came up at #199 with an anchor. We could never recover. The tour fell apart because the promoter saw that. And if that wasn't bad enough, the album started getting returned because of the mastering defect. Polydor had done a lot, we had regional breakouts, ads on TV, they'd done a lot actually. But they'd also paid $100,000 for a budget for the album and the stage show. It was falling apart, and we were trying to find someone else who didn't have a vendetta against Shep to replace Leo Fenn. Sid Bernstein said he'd come in and manage the group. Remember, too, this was disco time, so we were like an endangered species. Just too many anchors. I just decided to fold up my table and go home. After that, I'd just had enough of rock n roll for awhile. (Laughs) It was a shame, because we put a lot of hard work into it. I thought we came out with a good product. But, you know, that's not an unusual story in this business.

NHOR : Let's touch briefly on the Bob Greene book 'Billion Dollar Baby' if you don't mind. Do you think that book coming out had any effect on the break up of the band?

MB : No, not really. I think that it just reiterated the situation regarding the relationship with everybody. Everybody was just tired. During this thing there was the fuel embargo, it just got to be too much. We just waffled under it, people were feeling the strain of Alice being the center of attention. Neal tells the story of the the promoter saying, "That's Alice's limo,"... "No, that's MY fucking limo." (Laughs) Good for Neal. That's the kind of situation we had, and Glen was over there, "I'm over here drowning, hello?" (Laughs) We were too busy, you've got to take care of yourself. We'd already tried to help him musically. He was sick, his pancreas I think erupted or something and he almost died then. That was sort of a foretelling of future events.

It's just, this is a situation where this is an opportunity that we worked hard for, struggled really hard for, sacrificed for, and you should really realize that not a lot of people get to do this. A lot of people took it for granted. It was like when you went to the fair when you were a kid, and you got some cotton candy, and it was so cool that you didn't want to eat it. So you took it home and put it in your room, then when you woke up it was gone.(Laughs) That's what happened with our careers. They were just gone the next time we looked. We did make it, we just didn't hang very well. We didn't ride the storm very well, our ship wasn't that worthy. The thing was, Shep didn't want all the headaches either. So with Alice by himself he could just deal with one person, and manage a boatload of other people. Which he did.

NHOR : How do you think you came off in the book?

MB : You mean the devil incarnate? (Laughs) You know, it's been so long since I read it... a disgruntled musician? That didn't think he got enough credit?

NHOR : Well, to me, it just seemed like you were a smartass, which is cool, I loved it.

MB : Well, I am, I have a very sarcastic wit. So I probably was. (Laughs) I'm only human, and I calls 'em as I sees 'em. A lot of times it was because, "Ouch," they didn't like what I said because... what, did it hurt because it was right on? Keep in mind that this was OUR band, OUR corporation, we thought. We had every right to run it the way we wanted to. That stopped happening. In any other corporation people would've been fired. As it turns out, we didn't have the people that were involved with putting things together doing their jobs. We didn't have the real corporate structure that we thought we did, it was a sham. That enabled things to happen the way they did. We ended up being gutted, a powerless corporation. We didn't have any voting rights, as Neal says. Shep had all those. That certainly shouldn't have been the case, because we had sold him our publishing for the money he'd invested in the group. But he was our manager, after all. That's what we formed a corporation for. That's not what happened. I'd like somebody to explain that to me.

Another thing that I might as well mention here, and I'm sure I'll get some flack about it, but I've learned to live with all these things that have happened. I think I've been a good sport about it, I love seeing Shep, I love seeing Alice on stage, I love going to the concerts, I get along with Brian. I'm not trying to create trouble, but as I walk in to see him play, wherever he may be, there's vendors selling shirts and they're shirts licensed by Alice and Shep. Alive, I guess, I don't know exactly. But, they're selling 'School's Out,' and they're selling 'Love It To Death,' 'Billion Dollar Babies,' "Elected" just with Alice's image on it. And excuse me, but wasn't that from the period of the BAND? Alice didn't do THAT stuff by himself. So why is he entitled? I mean, we don't see any money. We never got a bit of merchandising. I guess their feeling is, well, he's "Alice Cooper."

That was the name of the group, and that's HIS name, so he gets ALL of it? All we get are the royalties for the songwriting that we did. I'm glad to get that, Shep makes sure we get it, he's great about it. Nobody's fucked with him, and he makes sure we got our money. But I think that we came up short in a lot of other areas because, hell, one thing that came out, the DVD 'Prime Cuts,' my name wasn't on one of the songs as writer. I don't know if we ever got paid for any of that. It's like we're not entitled to any of that. These are all my opinions about things, and I could very well be wrong about all of it. But I certainly know what hasn't happened, and I wonder why those things haven't happened.

NHOR : It's been put forth that it was much cheaper for Alice and Shep to just hire musicians, rather than to continue with the 20% split that he had with the band. Do you think that's accurate at all?

MB : Yeah, they split it I guess 50/50, then when Toby came aboard, Shep split his half when he got out of the business. But after Wagner was on the road, he wanted his own solo album, and they weren't happy being behind the screen. They pissed and moaned until they got in front of the screen, so he was having the same problems. You just can't treat good musicians like that. A lot of people just won't put up with it. After all this great relationship with Ezrin, what, Alice did a couple of albums with him, and he was done.

NHOR : Do you feel that there's been a certain downplaying of the importance of the original members of the band?

MB : Well all along, through this whole thing, like when I started getting back into music again, I'd never been on the Internet. Then I moved to Texas and my manager at the time owned a computer company, so I got thrust into it. They were calling Alice, on the website, "The Master," and Renfield was his assistant. I was just going, "What in the world is THIS?" He was like some sort of demigod. So we just naturally started in on him, because it seemed like the thing to do. (Laughs) Sort of like taking the magic out of the temple, it wasn't really magic anyway.

To the point where I was kind of an outcast, and Alice wouldn't see me in Texas, then I did a full circle and played with him a couple of times, various places all over. It was just that he was asked, "What happened to the original group?" and he goes, "Well, they don't want to play, I think one of them's a doctor or something... a real estate agent." It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. The more Neal, Dennis, and I got out there, the more they had to drop that sort of nonsense. Then we started doing things, like at Cooper's Town, then Neal and Dennis back east did a record signing thing back there with Alice. He couldn't ignore them anymore, the cat was out of the bag. What started it all was the 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' book. The whole thing that I thought was that everybody has heard Alice's opinion about everything all along, over and over. And wouldn't anybody like to hear ANOTHER side of the story? It's just MY opinion.

NHOR : Well, there's always different sides to every story...

MB : Absolutely. There's my side, your side, then the truth is somewhere in the middle. And they didn't like that at ALL. I think they had to change their attitude, they didn't want to do it at first, they just wouldn't see me. When Alice came to Texas, I sat up and argued with Toby for hours, then when I finally got in, I was mobbed at the front and I almost felt bad. Alice was playing and there was a whole bunch of people around me, which totally shocked and surprised me. It was like, if we'd been doing anything musically, Neal, Dennis and I, if we'd gotten back together and had really worked on it, we probably could've given Alice a run for his money. Even then, way after 'Battleaxe.'

But by then, Neal was tasting the fruit of his real estate, and he didn't want to do the uncertainty thing. He'd been there, done that. And, I don't blame him. Of course Neal's a character, too, and I like Brian Nelson, he's always been pretty good to me. Although there was this one little incident, when Billy James thought that somebody out in California would be interested in doing some outtakes of some stuff that I had. Next thing you know, they seized the tape because I was going to bootleg it. It was my own property anyway, I certainly couldn't have done that, I would've had to get licensing to put it out because I don't own the publishing. So that was kind of ridiculous. This was some Cooper stuff, some of it, like "Call It Evil" ended up on the coffin album, the "Life and Crimes" box set. Somebody asked me what I thought of that album, and I said I think that they did really well, they put together a good package, but there just wasn't enough pictures of Alice for me, I'm a big fan. (Laughs) But everybody's calmed down, and life goes on, the past is forgotten. Alice makes the music, and WE cash the checks. (Laughs)

NHOR : Have you ever thought about a movie about the band?

MB : Yeah, actually, I've thought of some great ideas for something like that. You know, have it like 'Almost Famous'. Where it's like what happens to the people, like when we left Phoenix, and we were like babes in the woods. All the stuff that goes on to the band, like the guy that took me to get chicken for the band when I was on acid, and ended up propositioning me to go spend time with him at his parent's summer house, he worked for Mercury Records. All this stuff that happened to all the members of the band, the rise up to that, and that would be kind of interesting. Another was kind of like 'The Doors' movie, the fame part, and at the end have a totally different ending, that doesn't end in reality, but goes on to be something really bizarre, like having it projected into the future, just get carried away with it. (Laughs) Have some new, young people playing the band as we go over to L.A. It'd be almost like 'That 70's Show' hits the road. (Laughs) The mind boggles, you can have a lot of fun with it. It just seems logical, Alice is a household word, an icon, he's up for defrocking. (Laughs) Oliver Stone would be good for that, but I'm sure he wouldn't be interested in doing another rock band.

NHOR : Who would you like to have play you in a movie about the band?

MB : God, I don't know. (Laughs) What's his name, the guy that married Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher? (Laughs) Yeah, why not.

NHOR : Since you and Glen were in the band, Alice has had numerous guitar players in his solo band. Have there been any that have particularly impressed you?
MB : Pete Friesen was great, and I love Ryan Roxie. You wouldn't even know he's short on stage. (Laughs) No, just kidding, he's a great guy, and he's always really warm to me. When I played Scotland, after Alice's show, they all came down, just hung out, drank with them. I'm just one of the guys, and we had a great time. I'm living vicariously through them. (Laughs)

NHOR : What's the performance that you're most proud of?

MB : You mean where I felt like so cool? (Laughs) Well, I've gotta say, I don't remember much of the show, but I remember when we were in the limos, and we were pulling down the limo ramp at The Forum, I think we sold out there, and they added a second night. I said, "What's that rumbling? Is there an earthquake or something?" It was the people, they were just going nuts. This was a half hour, an hour before we were even going to play. It was just too much, it was overwhelming. I felt real cool. (Laughs)

Like I said, I don't remember much of the show, I guess we were good. But the 'Billion Dollar Babies' had some great shows when we played. The only thing, and again, Shep brought in Joe Gannon, who worked with Neil Diamond, and developed this stage. Of course, we were the last ones to know about it. It was really awkward. They covered the stage with metal flakes, literally it was metal, not plastic. So watch out when you go by one of them. Your arm, your guitar, whatever, it'll slice and dice you. They put the poles where they had to be for what they made, not thinking about that people have to use this. Of course me, being Michael Bruce, the pain in the ass, I bitched and moaned because I got to talking with the guys, the roadies, how to set it up. I found out that all the problems that Dennis and I had were these two side cages that we were in, because of this one pole. Guess what? By just moving this one thing, and a couple of bolts, it can be supported on three sides. Because our cords would get wrapped around it and get ripped up. We weren't using wireless because they weren't invented yet. We had some real problems, getting scraped, cut. It could've been avoided. But who wants the opinion of the guys in the band? They're just playing on this stage. (Laughs)

So when it was presented to us, we're going, "Well, it looks interesting." Then we got up and it was like, "Hey Neal! What's it like over there?" We were so far apart, and there were these bars between us, so it was rough. About halfway through the tour, I remember on the plane, David Liebert stuffed a pillow in and did a chubby Michael Bruce, "I want this stage moved a half an inch," making fun of me. But they moved it, and it worked fine. But I had to complain and complain for the longest time to get it done. I guess it just pissed them off that I was right, and they did it. (Laughs)

NHOR : Speaking of the 'Billion Dollar Babies' tour, the film 'Good To See You Again Alice Cooper' is just being released on DVD. What are your recollections about making that?

MB : Oh, it's the Monkees reincarnated. That was part of the Bob Greene story, that we were out making this, here's this plot, we're on this camel, we're on this elephant, we're on this ostrich, being chased... and is this all there is? The most outrageous band in the world, we can't come up with anything better than this? You know what was really weird? The scene we did in the movie where Alice smashes a gravestone that says "Alice Cooper R.I.P."? It turns up on the 'Nightmare' special. So here I go, Mr. conspiracy theory... I think Shep, he got $100,000 from Penthouse to do 'Welcome To My Nightmare' for the movie. They just used a little of the money... the band being chased around outdoors, when actually what they were using it for was the filming of the special. Which was going on by the way, with the rehearsals, Ronnie Bolles, a roadie took me over there in the Warner Brothers soundstage. It was all hush hush, quiet quiet. I walked in there, and it was like you could've heard a pin drop. It was like, "Where's security?!" And the same thing happened to me, I was in New York, I was down at the Record Plant, and I heard, "Hey, do you know Alice is down there recording?" I said "No." "Well, it's not Alice, it's his band." This was all before we knew anything. I walked in, and there's Bob Ezrin, Hunter, Wagner, Prakash, Whitey, all these guys, and once again you could've heard a pin drop. Again, "Oh Oh, Hi.."

When we were up at Nimbus, we had written the stuff for 'Muscle Of Love,' we were going up to see Bob, and we'd had no idea that he'd had a nervous breakdown, and he was going through a divorce. When he came in, the first thing he said was, "No, No No, That's not how you want to do it." We were playing "Big Apple Dreaming." He started in, telling us how to play, we were like, "What, no hello?" He ended up leaving, and I wondered if that's what he was supposed to do. Shep took him in, played him all the Cooper albums, then played him 'Muscle Of Love,' and he gave him the budget for 'Nightmare.' Bob hadn't done 'The Wall," so he was not a legend yet. So, I guess he played ball for two albums.

NHOR : Were you consulted at all concerning the re-release of the DVD?

MB : Uh... no. Does that answer your question? (Laughs) Why would they want to talk to me? All I would do is point out that, "Excuse me, you're wrong." (Laughs) I mean Fred Smoot, the director, we'd get together and talk about the filming beforehand, the movie, the filming and all, read the script, and whenever he'd come into the room, he'd say, "Good to see you again Alice Cooper." Yet there was no name for the movie. And I said, "You know what, why don't we call the movie 'Good to see you again Alice Cooper?' " Everybody kind of went, "Yeah, okay." Fred was saying it, but I pointed it out, wouldn't that make a great title? So that's why nobody likes me. And all those cuts from the silent movie, you see there wasn't enough real stuff filmed. It was cheap to buy black & white copies of that stuff because the money went where? More smoke for 'Welcome To My Nightmare' (Laughs) And Dick Wagner needed a room with a king sized bed.

NHOR : Some of the performances on that are the same as the ones that were on the Deluxe remastered version of 'Billion Dollar Babies' that came out a few years ago. How do you rate your performance on that?

MB : That was a good night. I heard the recordings from it, and it was a really good night. It's probably just going to get better with the mix being digitally remastered. That's when Showco was doing the sound, and Artie King was mixing, and he did a good job. Glen is (a) turned down in the mix, (b) not mic'd or (c) other. (Laughs) Fill in your own blank. But the lighting was pretty dark, because most of the budget went to the "Welcome To My Nightmare" special, so they couldn't afford the lights. But anyway, it probably adds to the mystery of it. I thought it was a good show.

NHOR : Do you have any idea when Warner is going to release any of the remasters of the early albums?

MB: Maybe you can tell me. Brian told me awhile back that there was going to be the MEGA box set, that was going to have like 19-20 songs digitally remastered. Then I heard that heads changed at Warner Brothers, that there were some changes in the players there, and then that was not the case. It was just put on hold. Then I didn't know anything about this DVD thing until a few months ago. I had heard that there was going to be the mega box set, and they were looking for a name for it. Brian asked me to contribute, if I had any stuff, then I just chimed out. I did that thing for the 'Life and Crimes' box set, and like I said I thought it was great, but there wasn't enough pictures of Alice, so why am I going to submit pictures that will never get shown anyway? (Laughs) Although with the 'Billion Dollar Babies' album, they rose to the occasion with the perforated picture, that was great. I thought if they did the CD re-issue of 'School's Out,' they could put little panties on the CD. Wouldn't that be cool? Did I mention to you that the calendar for 'Killer' was the millenium? That was too much to be imagined. They should've came out with that on the millenium. That would've been a great heads up.

NHOR : There's so much on those early albums musically that would benefit from the newer technology since they were first put out. There's certainly a demand for them to be reissued Michael...

MB : I keep hearing that, and everybody tells me there's a huge Alice Cooper following. I don't see Alice selling a lot of records these days though. But I know that he's touring a lot, so what's going on? Is there a big chasm?

NHOR : What is your opinion on why either the original band, or Alice, haven't been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame?

MB : Well it was explained to me that there's kind of a PG type thing going on there now. They've gotten pretty much everybody they can before rock and roll started taking the turn that it did towards a darker side. They don't think that's going to be selling it as much as a family destination. So, they've held back. Alice has done everything but buy stock in the place. They've got a guillotine there... I'm surprised him and Shep haven't bought it. (Laughs) Well you know, Iggy isn't in yet, I don't think the Moody Blues are in, what's up with that? Whoever's doing the voting, evidently they're the wrong people. They must be from another country or something. I don't know quite how they do that in determining the nominees. I remember reading something, it was on the internet about the scam where one of the guys whose record company was on that got his artists into the Hall Of Fame. He was on the board of directors. Black Sabbath's not in there yet, right?

NHOR : No, not yet, they've finally been nominated this year but still not inducted...

MB : Well see, that's the dark side of rock and roll there, I guess they don't want to take it down that road. Alice, he wants to be in there, he wants to be immortalized. Like he isn't already? (Laughs) It's funny when you watch MTV, or listen to the radio, and you hear, "Today Dave Mustaine turns 40." We had all these hit records, but you'll never hear my birthday on there, or Neal's, or Dennis's. (Laughs) Well, I guess we missed that boat.

NHOR : If you'd come along 10 years later that'd be a different story...

MB : Yeah, but we were ahead of our time. We wouldn't have had the impact, I don't think, that we did. You can't shock anybody anymore, but we could because we did it when we did it. If we'd been any later, we would've just been part of the huddling masses. We would've been just another "Shock Rock" band. And at the time, it seemed like we weren't that controversial to ourselves. You had guys like Arthur Brown jumping around with fire on his head, Jimi Hendrix, and Morrison, we thought that was outrageous. We stepped it up a notch in our own unique showmanship way.

It's funny to see some that came after, some that cop to it, and there are others that don't. There was a guy who played in the original David Bowie band, before Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. He, David Bowie and another guy went to the thing that we did at Piccadilly Circus in '72, we had sort of a circus thing, they had the big naked girl with the large breasts and the cake. David Bowie was there, and his bass player said that when he left there, the next day, he was just a folk singer then, the next day he was Ziggy Stardust. But when asked about Alice Cooper he said, "Alice Who?"(Laughs)

NHOR : You guys were Glam before there was even the term "Glam Rock"...

MB : Yeah, we beat T Rex and all those, but we thought English bands coming over to Arizona in the 60's were pretty glam. But it wasn't quite the glam that we had, it wasn't the Grand glam. (Laughs) Which is not to be confused with the Grand Slam at Denny's. (Laughs) We did kick it up a notch, and then some.

NHOR : What has been your most "Spinal Tap" moment?

MB : Well, we were on stage, we were hanging Alice, I don't remember which night it was, or where in the tour it was, but it was relatively early in the 'Killer' tour. Glen was the hangman, Neal, Dennis and I had torches, we were dragging him up there, and we pulled the thing and Alice doesn't fall. He starts jumping up and down as hard as he can, and we're all standing around going, "What do we do now?" (Laughs) Looking at each other like, "Hey, I thought this guy was well hung?" Finally, he manages to break the thing through, and dropped down in there. It was quite funny. (Laughs) Alice was the last person to try the guillotine, he was very frightened of it. We all were like, "Look Alice, see?" Chuuunk...nothing to it. It was at this big, dramatic moment, and well, I guess not.

NHOR : In the current music scene, are there any bands or artists that have caught your interest?

MB : Yeah, but a lot of these they don't tell who they were, they'll play a bunch of stuff and you don't know who it was. I kind of like Jet, their single that came out. You know who I really liked, and it wasn't rock and roll, was Dirty Vegas. The three guys that went in, sort of disco music, they did a version of 'The Wall'. Their first album was pretty neat. What happened to Moby? Was he finally eaten by Venusians? (Laughs) They come and go so fast. And they thought it was going to be 15 minutes of fame?(Laughs)

NHOR : What advice if any, would you give to someone who's just starting out in the business?

MB : Get out. (Laughs) Man, I feel for people trying to do it now. Your decision, "Should I really learn to play an instrument?" Or should I just go with my natural talents and do a reality thing? Or pretend I have amnesia and pretend I'm lost like The "Piano Man" like what was on '60 Minutes.' Can I make it with true talent? I'd just say I'd chuck the whole thing. (Laughs) Get a regular job, like I have, and enjoy life. It's pretty daunting now. I mean, I see that INXS band sitting up there like "The Gods Of Rock And Roll." Their answers... and I'm watching them, and going, "You know what? You guys should all be taken out and shot." How many records have you had, and you're not even from this country, get outta here. (Laughs) You're so pathetic that your lead singer hung himself. (Laughs) And I don't even own any of your records, I don't even know what your hit was.

These people are trying to live up to the expectation of these guys, I can hardly watch that show. But more power to them, they pulled it off, they get a TV show. But I guess people who are songwriters today persevere right on through it. They're bulletproof, and they're going to do their thing, somebody's going to stumble over them. I have every respect for the journey that they're embarking on, and I wish them well. Practice, practice, practice. Location, location, location, I guess. (Laughs) Write songs that move you, and they'll move other people. Make sure there's melody and hooks in there.

Man Out Of Time : An Exclusive Inteview With Black Country Communion Keyboardist Derek Sherinian

2010-11-29T23:36:00.000-08:00

Keyboardist Derek Sherinian is a man out of time.

For if this were the 1970's, in the heyday of such titans of the keyboards such as Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman and Jon Jord, he would be among that elite circle of players whom were superstars - back in a time when such talent was not only appreciated, but celebrated in popular music.

Raised in Santa Cruz, California, the young Sherinian began playing piano at the age of five, then came under the spell of the music of Elton John, particularly his 1973 sprawling double album 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'. The album, along with the early influences of The Beatles and Bob Dylan - both mainstays of his parents' music collection- launched him on a music journey which continues to this day.

While still a junior in high school his musical talent was such that Sherinian was offered a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. After spending three semesters at the school, the keyboardist felt the time was right to test the waters of being a professional musician. Introduced to the ex drummer of Jimi Hendrix's Band Of Gypsys, Buddy Miles, who was in the process of putting together a touring band, he soon was invited to audition, ultimately impressing enough to earn a spot which saw him touring the so called "chitlin circuit" of the Southern United States.

After leaving Miles, he soon landed a gig with rock legend Alice Cooper through the efforts of good friend guitarist Al Pitrelli, now musical director of the hugely successful Trans -Siberian Orchestra, who at the time was holding down the same position for Cooper's band. It was during the time with Alice which saw him perform over 250 shows in support of his 'Trash' album, that he was bestowed with the nickname by the legendary shock rocker, "The Caligula Of The Keyboards". After completing another tour, in 1991 he became offstage keyboardist for hard rockers Kiss, at the suggestion of Eric Singer, who had been bandmates with Sherinian in the Cooper band, whom had also recently been hired as the band's drummer.

However, it was with him joining prog metal superstars Dream Theater that his profile began to rise. More technically challenging musically than anything he had previously been a part of apart from his studies at Berklee, nonetheless he rose to the challenge and in October 1994 he was named as the band's keyboardist just prior to the tour in support of the album 'Awake'. After spending four years with the band, during which time he recorded three albums and completed two world tours, the relationship ran its course, with Sherinian leaving in January 1999 due to the usual suspect i.e. "musical differences".

While being disappointed at the time, leaving the band allowed him the creative freedom to pursue a solo career which continues to the present day. First joining forces with Australian drummer Virgil Donati for his first offering in 1999, 'Planet X', it soon led to them forming the progressive rock-fusion group of the same name, releasing three albums, 2000's 'Universe', 2002's 'MoonBabies' and 2007's 'Quantum'. A live effort, 'Live From Oz', recorded in Melbourne, Australia was released in 2002. All feature technically advanced playing completely at odds of what is currently popular in the mainstream.

Aside from the albums recorded with Planet X, Sherinian has carved out a niche for himself in the progressive metal scene, assembling several fusion influenced solo projects which have seen him attract such guitar luminaries as Al DiMeola, Steve Lukather, Yngwie Malmsteen, Slash, John Petrucci. John Sykes and Zakk Wylde to record with him.

Favoring a guitar heavy rock based approach to fusion ala one of his musical heroes Jeff Beck, it allows an energy to come through the recordings, setting him apart from most jazz fusion in the process, making the music appeal to fans of technical heavy metal as well. In addition, In addition, touring with several well-known artists, including Billy Idol and the aforementioned Yngwie Malmsteen has reaffirmed his ability to adapt to ever changing musical genres with ease.

Earlier this year Sherinian was approached by Über producer Kevin Shirley, to join vocalist Glenn Hughes, drummer Jason Bonham, and blues guitar titan Joe Bonamassa in Anglo -Rock "Supergroup" Black Country Communion, recording the self titled debut album with the band, showcasing his talents in yet another setting - that of 70's influenced blues based hard rock, revealing another facet of his versatility once again.

Recently we had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Derek about the new Black Country Communion album, his inspiration and influences and much, much more. In part III of our exclusive Black Country Communion series, please join us as we have an exclusive conversation with the "Caligula Of The Keyboards", Mr. Derek Sherinian. (Editor's note : Since the time this interview was conducted, it has been announced that Black Country Communion will be playing two dates in the UK a show at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on December 29th, and a gig in Shepherd's Bush, London the following night December 30th.)

Interview and text by Nightwatcher © 2010 Nightwatcher's House Of Rock

Nightwatcher's House Of Rock : I'd like to talk just a bit about the new album 'Black Country Communion', featuring yourself, Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa and Jason Bonham, which has just come out via J&R Adventures. Now that it's out, what are your feelings regarding the record? Out of all the songs on the album, what are your favorites?

Derek Sherinian : I think the whole record is good. My favorites on the album are "Down Again" and "The Revolution In Me".

NHOR : The album in its first week of release reached #13 on the UK Top 40 Charts, #1 on the UK Rock Album Charts, and in the US #53 on Billboard Album Charts and #6 on the Indie Album Charts. Is the band satisfied with the way the album has charted?

DS : I cant speak for my bandmates, but I am very satisfied. It shows that this band really needs to tour and bring this music to the people live.

NHOR : There are some who would have liked your keyboards to be louder in the mix, ala Jon Lord in Deep Purple. While you are definitely audible, was there a deliberate decision to not have the keyboards more prominent?

DS : I think the keys should have been mixed louder. Now that BCC is a "band" and not a studio experiment, I will be more aggressive in the writing department, and will push for more and louder keyboards ala Jon Lord and John Paul Jones.

NHOR : What do you feel that your role in the band is?

DS : I just want to compliment the sound and fill the holes with killer classic keyboard textures, and occasionally come out front with some driving riffs,and solos.

NHOR : You, Glenn, Jason and Joe just played the first extended live performance of the band in September at John Henry's Rehearsal Studio in Islington, England which was broadcast on Planet Rock. What was that like for you?

DS : It felt very natural playing live with these guys. It will be even better once we get more shows under our belts.

NHOR : Glenn has already stated that he is already writing for a second Black Country Communion album. Have you heard any of the material yet?

DS : No, but we will all be writing over the next couple of months.

NHOR : Glenn, Joe and Jason have all expressed a very keen interest in taking the band out on the road sometime next year. Are you up for a tour with the band, and if so, has there been any discussion on when it will take place?

DS : I am for up for a tour with BCC, it will most likely take place in Europe the summer of 2011.

NHOR : There has been talk of some a show or two in the UK around Christmas time. Has there been anything definite planned concerning that at this time?

DS : I believe there is something in the works.

NHOR : I'm going to leave Joe out of this for obvious reasons, but throughout your career previously, you've played with a veritable "who's who" of rock and fusion guitar, from Slash, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Allan Holdsworth, Al Di Meola, Tony MacAlpine, John Sykes, Steve Stevens and Steve Lukather, John Petrucci...Out of all the players I've just mentioned, which one do you feel has meshed the best with your style?

DS : I don't know. It's hard to say, because each of them do things in their own way. That's why I've gone to all of them, because there's not one guy that I think meshes completely the best. I wish you could make a composite of all of them. That would be the ultimate guitar player. But each of the guys that you mentioned have something special going on in their playing that makes them great.

NHOR : Having been a part of his band, both on tour and on record, and had him also guest on your albums, do you think that Yngwie Malmsteen gets a bad rap as a guitarist these days?

DS : I think that he's an easy target. But I'll tell you now, after playing with him live and in the studio, that he's the real deal. He's insane. It's amazing how good the guy is. He's not the most versatile guy, I mean you're not going to hear him playing over jazz changes, but the style that he's created, and what he's known for...there's no one who does it better. He's really influenced a multitude of guitar players and bands in that neo classical sound.

There were bands doing it before him, such as Deep Purple and Uli Roth in the Scorpions was doing it a little bit before Yngwie, but he just took it to another level. The same way that Eddie Van Halen took it further after Jimmy Page. So Yngwie really needs to get his credit as an innovator as being one of the great metal players of our time.

NHOR : You've mentioned before that Jeff Beck is one guitarist whom you haven't worked with before whom you'd love to. With your background being a rock player who got into fusion, you're coming from a place in a lot of ways similar to Jeff. What is it about his music that has made him such an influence on your own music?

DS : It's because Jeff Beck has a love for jazz music, but he makes his records from being a rock player crossing over into the jazz realm by collaborating with guys that are more harmonically diverse than he is. I think that approach to fusion really resonated with me. I love jazz music, but I'm not a jazz cat. I can't sit down and do a jazz gig, playing jazz standards. That music was always a bit light and wimpy for me. But there are aspects of it that I really love. I like to approach my fusion in the same way that Jeff Beck does, as opposed to a lot of the jazz cats who get a distortion box, put it on their guitar, and think just because it's a distorted guitar sound that it's rocking.

NHOR : There's a big difference in approach in terms of energy and power...

DS : There is a big difference. It all comes down to who did you have on your wall when you were a kid? I always thought Eddie Van Halen was cooler than Lee Ritenour. (Laughs) I had a lot more Van Halen posters on my wall than Pat Metheny.

NHOR : You have to have it inside you, it can't be faked...

DS : It's in my blood. When I was a kid...I was 12 years old when Van Halen's first album came out, and I heard "Eruption". It was all over at that point. The obsessing over those records...Ozzy...Randy Rhoads...Yngwie, that stuff's in my blood.

NHOR : Would you say that was the main impetus for you becoming a musician?

DS : I would say Van Halen, just the whole concept of Van Halen. Even though there were no keyboards. I just thought it was amazing. Then I got into jazz fusion stuff...Allan Holdsworth, Jeff Beck. I got into Jan Hammer, and I always wanted to fuse the power of that first Van Halen record with the technical ability of DiMeola and Jeff Beck.

NHOR : In your solo work you've certainly achieved that goal....

DS : Thank you. I'm still working on it, but I stay true to my influences that I had when I was a kid. It's very authentic. I don't try to be something I'm not.

NHOR : Are you from a musical family?

DS : No, but my parents always had records playing. There was always music in the house. But I was the only musician.

NHOR : Do you remember what the first record or album that you bought was?

DS : It had to be Elton John's 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'. That had to be one of the first. My parents always had music playing though. They would be playing The Beatles and Dylan, things like that.

NHOR : You've played various different styles of music throughout your career. Do you feel that it's important for a young musician to embrace different styles of music?

DS : Yeah, every person has a style that's going to resonate with them, and inspire them. You need to have an open mind, and listen to things to figure out what you're going to like and don't like. There may be a style that you like certain aspects of. That's the great thing about music.

I had the pleasure in my career to play one gig, and spend a couple of days with Eddie Van Halen. One of the things that he said to me which I think is really important is there's only 12 notes. Do what you want with them. (Laughs) With that in mind, what he's saying is anything's possible. This isn't rocket science. You can do whatever you want. Just be creative and make sure you like what you're playing.

NHOR : Elton John was an early influence on you growing up. During your time with Dream Theater the band would play "Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" live, a version of which appears on the album 'A Change Of Seasons'. You've also stated that Jan Hammer, Keith Emerson and Rick Wakeman were big influences on you. For the most part, not only are those players very technical, they also have a theatrical slant to their presentation. Do you feel that theatrics are something that's missing from a vast majority of progressive and fusion live performances these days?

DS : I don't know. I guess anytime that you can make something visually more exciting on stage, that's a good thing. But as long as the music always comes first. The primary thing is just making sure the music is good, and everyone's playing great.

NHOR : You've mentioned Angus Young as being your first guitar hero. What was it about AC/DC and Angus's playing which attracted you?

DS : I think I just loved it. There was a certain simplicity to it. The songs were killer, and it was just a great sound.

NHOR : Do you remember what the first song you heard by AC/DC was?

DS : I think "Sin City" from the 'Powerage' album. Then the live 'If You Want Blood' album came out, then 'Back In Black' in 1980. My biggest things at that time were AC/DC, Ted Nugent, and then I was into Michael Schenker, and the UFO albums. That was in 1976...1977. But in 1978 when that first Van Halen came out, that was it. That was just the coolest thing ever. That killed everybody.

NHOR : You received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and after finishing there, your first professional gig was with the band of the late drummer Buddy Miles, formerly of Jimi Hendrix's Band Of Gypsys. What was that experience like working with him?

DS : It was great because he was the first big name artist that I got to work with. It was the first time I went on tour on a bus. We played the chitlin circuit throughout the southern part of the U.S. I was like the only white guy in the band. I was like Ralph Macchio in the movie 'Crossroads'. (Laughs) Just trying to get a bit of soul in my playing. But playing with Buddy was really awesome because he was so talented, and had such an amazing groove in his playing. His voice was amazing. I'm still whiter than Uncle Ben's rice, but a little bit of soul rubbed off on me during those years.

NHOR : What was Buddy like as a person?

DS : He was great. He was a little "jivey", but he was a great story teller, and overall he was a good person.

NHOR : After playing with Buddy you went on to play with Alice Cooper for a number of years. What was it like playing with Alice, and what was the main thing that you learned during your time with him?

DS : That was my first pro gig. That was the first time I put on the Yankee pinstripes, so to speak. I learned a lot about the music business, about being on a professional tour, about schedules and such. Just being exposed to something on that level was pretty amazing.

NHOR : You spent five years with Dream Theater, then you were fired for "creative differences". Listening to your solo albums it would still seem that you've been moving along that same path artistically - that of being a heavy, yet progressive style of music. What happened there?

DS : The relationship pretty much ran its course. You have to take into account that when their first keyboardist left, it came down to three of us that auditioned. It was Jordan Rudess, myself, and Jens Johansson. Both of them are great keyboard players. Their first choice was Jordan, but he was unable to commit to the tour, so they settled on me. I ended up doing six months as a sideman, then they hired me into the band full time. I did four years with them. Three records, a DVD and a bunch of touring.

But the relationship ran its course. We were different people. As I evolved into a band member, and wasn't a sideman anymore, I had my own vision of how I wanted to do things. The band had been established for years before I entered the picture. It was frustrating, because I wanted to have some control in what was going on. I didn't have any, so creatively we started butting heads. There was a lot of tension in the band. Even without me in the equation there was a lot of tension between the original members, between Portnoy and Petrucci, and it was very dysfunctional at the time.

After the second tour, they did the Liquid Tension Experiment album with Jordan, they felt a connection, and Jordan said he wanted to play in the band. So they made the change. At the time, no one likes to be fired, but it really was the best thing that happened for me, because I was pretty miserable being in the band. It opened me up to a situation to have my solo career, and also start Planet X. Sine then I've played with the best players in the world, not only recording with them, but producing them on my records. I don't think I would have been able to do that if I were still in Dream Theater.

NHOR : So it really opened new doors for you artistically speaking....

DS : It did. Life is too short, and you've got to be happy doing what you're doing. Unless you're getting paid huge Metallica money, it's not worth doing something that you're not happy with. But I'm still on great terms with everyone in that band. I'm proud to have been part of that band, and I really learned a lot.

NHOR : What is your take on the current progressive scene? Are there any bands or artists that you've heard who are pushing the envelope in your opinion?

DS : You know, I'm sure that there are, but I'm really out of the loop. I don't listen to a lot of new music, maybe to my discredit. But I'm sure there are some great bands out there. Meshuggah is the only one that's really popped out to me though.

NHOR : What has been your most 'Spinal Tap' moment?

DS : There was an incident when I was with Yngwie Malmsteen, right after 9/11. We played a gig down in Brazil, and this was like a week after 9/11. Yngwie, during his guitar solo, as he always does, broke into "The Star Spangled Banner". The crowd started yelling, "Fuck U.S.A!. They started yelling "Osama!". I was really fucking pissed off, so I flipped the crowd off, and they started throwing shit at me onstage. It turned out to be a real incident. Then I printed something on my website, and someone in Brazil took my website, and it ended up on the front page of the newspapers all over Brazil, where I made derogatory comments about Brazilians. Which was pretty fucked, because we had five shows left in Brazil. (Laughs)

It was a real unfortunate situation, and I apologized. It was a real shitty thing that I said. Because I love Brazil. I love playing down there, and the people are awesome. It was just a real sensitive time.

NHOR : You have a fairly large Internet presence, with tons of interviews and articles online for people to find out more about you and your music. You seem to use the technology to your advantage. How much of an effect do you feel however that illegal downloading has had on an artist such as yourself?

DS : It's killing me. It's to the point where the downloading is so bad, who knows if I'll be able to make solo records in the future. Because everyone's getting the music for free before it even gets out in the stores. An artist at my level needs to show that there's record sales for the record companies to justify giving me an advance. For my albums to have the quality, and the guest stars that I have on them it costs money. So in order for me to continue the quality, which I insist upon, I need a budget. And if there's no budget then there's no record. It's brutal. I'm really frustrated with the state of the record industry.

NHOR : Where do you feel that your solo albums fit into the music scene of today?

DS : I don't know man. I just do what I do and try to fit where I can. I just do my thing. I have my little niche, as small as it is, but it's mine.

NHOR : What advice, if any would you wish you had been given when you were beginning in your career that you would give to someone starting out in the business today?

DS : Just stay focused. If you're going to join a band, unless you're the main songwriter, and you own the name, you're never going to have equal control. Don't be disillusioned just because it's a band, and you're not a sideman, that it's an equal thing.

For more information on Black Country Communion go to this location : http://www.bccommunion.com/

For more information on Derek Sherinian go to his official website at this location.

Derek Sherinian keyboard solo with Planet X, Sofia, Bulgaria 2007 :

Behind The Thunder : An Exclusive Interview With Drummer Jason Bonham Of Black Country Communion

2010-09-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

The name Bonham has been synonymous with powerful heavy rock drumming for over four decades. Ever since John Bonham burst onto the scene when Led Zeppelin exploded with the release of their debut album in early 1969, the mold was cast. That of an explosive thunderous drummer who when needed, sounded like cannons being fired, yet still was capable of subtlety and grace when the occasion called for it.

It was that power which helped propel the British rock legends to massive fame and fortune,and into legend in the 1970's. That amazing talent led to him being generally recognized as one of, if not the best heavy rock drummer in history decades after his tragic passing at the age of 32 in 1980.

Born in 1966, the world at large got its first glimpse of a young Jason Bonham with the release of the Led Zeppelin film 'The Song Remains The Same' in 1976. Appearing alongside his father, drumming on a scaled-down kit, it was a foreshadowing of things to come.

By age 17 he joined his first band Airrace, and in 1985, he joined Virginia Wolf, recording two albums and touring the U.S. supporting The Firm. In 1988 the Bonham legacy came calling twice, as first he joined guitarist Jimmy Page for his 'Outrider' album and tour, then in May he took over the drum spot as the remaining three members of Led Zeppelin reunited for the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in New York City.

The next year saw him forming his next band Bonham, whose Zeppelin-inflected debut release 'The Disregard of Timekeeping' spawned the hit single "Wait For You", its attendant video being a mainstay on MTV during the period. Despite such success however, the band's next album 'Mad Hatter', released in 1992, failed to meet expectations, leading to their disbanding shortly thereafter.

The 90's also saw him hook up with legendary British blues rock belter Paul Rodgers, drumming on all tracks of the Grammy nominated 'Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters', leading to an appearance at 1994's Woodstock II with Rodgers and guitarist Slash. Two other solo projects transpired, 1997's 'In The Name Of My Father -The Zepset' and 'While You See The Sun', both of which having connections to his late father. The first featuring the songs of Led Zeppelin, the latter seeing Bonham once again appearing alongside his dad via sampling on several tracks.

In 1999 Bonham joined Indianapolis based blues rockers Healing Sixes, recording the Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Joe Bonamassa) produced 'Enormosound' which was released to critical acclaim in 2002. Leaving the band in 2003, he soon found himself invited to join English hard rock legends UFO. During his tenure with the band they released a studio album 'You Are Here' and a live DVD 'Showtime', both of which were very well received. During this time, from 2004 to 2007 and part of 2007 to 2008 he also found himself playing live as part of a reconfigured Foreigner.

In December 2007 his profile was heightened immensely when he once again filled in for his father at the historic Led Zeppelin reunion show at London's O2. Demonstrating that he is the only rightful heir to the drummer's stool, if and when that band might choose to reunite again, it was an affirmation of his ability to rise to the occasion and do justice to his father's legacy.

Recently we had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with Jason to discuss the powerful new album he has recorded with vocalist Glenn Hughes, blues guitar god Joe Bonamassa and keyboardist Derek Sherinian, collectively known as Black Country Communion. In a band filled with masters of their craft, his drumming on the record stands out as a robust example of classic British rock power, and is a performance which would surely make his dad proud.

In part two of our exclusive series of all the members of Black Country Communion, the topics covered include not only his thoughts on the new album, the tour he's embarking on his own next month, The Led Zeppelin Experience - a multimedia tribute to the band, and most of all his late father John, living with the legacy of being the son of one of rock's all time great drummers, and more. Read on as we have a chat with one of rock's true powerhouse drummers, Jason Bonham....

Interview and text © 2010 Nightwatcher's House Of Rock

Nightwatcher's House Of Rock : I'd like to first talk about the new album 'Black Country Communion' which is coming out on September 20/21, with you, Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes and Derek Sherinian, collectively known as Black Country Communion. Now that the album is finished, how are you feeling about the results? Are you pleased with how the album turned out?

Jason Bonham : I'm very pleased. I was listening to the songs on the way in, and it wasn't even finished yet and it sounded great. All the studio work was finished in the matter of about six days, from start to finish, then about two or three days to mix. It's definitely the fastest thing I've ever done. But listening back to it now, I'm very pleased with the performance. There's some really cool songs on it. One of my favorites would definitely be "A Song For Yesterday", but all of it I'm really pleased with.

NHOR : How do you feel about your performance on the album, compared to what you've done previously?

JB : On that side of it, I'm very pleased as well. I love on "Too Late For The Sun", the last track on the album, where we just recorded the live jam, had a bit of fun, and we just go for it, ya know? There was no editing of the performance, everything was left in there, as we say in England, "Warts and all" (Laughs) There were no overdubs, and even with the mistakes left in, it sounds great. It was a lot of fun recording that.

NHOR : Just from even a cursory listen to the album it's quite evident that there's a strong chemistry between the four of you. Was that something you felt right away?

JB : I've known Joe for a long time. I've played with him before, on his 'You & Me' album, and he's just a phenomenal musician. I'd never played with Glenn, or Derek before, but in the studio, we just started playing, and it sounded fantastic. I never really took the time to listen to anything played back. It was more like, "Okay, we're done with this one, next!" But as I said, I'm extremely pleased with how the final product came out, it really sounds great.

NHOR : You just mentioned the fast paced process of recording this album. Kevin Shirley is known for going in and getting things done in an efficient manner, very quickly. Which is the way many of the bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath did it in the late 60's, early 70's. You've mentioned that you've never really worked this way before. Now that you have, are you comfortable with this approach to recording?

JB : No. (Laughs) I mean, I just like to know the songs before I go into a studio to record to get the best performance. I feel on some of the songs I could've played better if I'd had more time. The ones I did feel very comfortable with, it shows on the album. On others, I just kind of went for it, and just did it how I felt it. If I could have had my way there are a couple songs that I wish we could have re recorded, but we didn't have time. But overall, I'm really, really pleased with it. I just thought that I could have done better on certain songs.

NHOR : Glenn has described this as being a big rock album. Another word I would use to describe it would be epic. With that in mind, where do you see the band fitting into the marketplace of today? Do you feel that people are starving, musically speaking for an album such as this?

JB : I don't know. I don't really take things very seriously like that these days. I look at it as a piece of music that I've played on that I'm very pleased with. I try not to expect too much from anything these days, because you'll just end up being disappointed, ya know? I just hope that people will at least like us individually, and hopefully collectively. That they hear that we're doing our best. I do think that if we do take this on the road, and people hear us live, it will be monumental.

NHOR : Do you foresee this as being a one off project, or based on the results, would you like to carry on with Black Country Communion for more than just a single album and tour?

JB : I haven't really spoken with anybody about that, so I don't know how everybody feels. But we will see. It may be difficult balancing out all our schedules. I would love to though.

NHOR : Ever since the Zeppelin reunion at the O2 in 2007, it seems that attention on your activities has been magnified it seems tenfold. Which means that along with Joe's increasing popularity and Glenn and Derek's pedigree that there are a lot of expectations for this album, which is being labeled as a "Supergroup". How comfortable are you with that tag?

JB : Yeah there is a lot of expectation.I only hope that people see it for what it is. Kevin has done a great job producing the album, and it's as much to Kevin's credit that it sounds as good as it does as it is any of us.

NHOR : As you stated earlier, you previously worked with Joe on a cover version of the Zeppelin song "Tea For One" on his You & Me" album in 2006. Joe and Glenn decided to begin the process of putting this band together after they performed together at the finals of the King Of The Blues competition at the House Of Blues in November 2009. How did you come to be involved in the band?

JB : Kevin Shirley rang me up, and asked me what I was doing in January. He told me that he had a project coming up, and would I like to play on it? I told him that I was going to be in L,A, at that time, so yeah, I'll come down to the studio. I never really gave it much thought afterwards, to be honest with you. I'd worked with Joe before, as you said on "Tea For One", and made $500. (Laughs)

So I never really thought of it as a big thing until I got down there, and started playing. Then they said, "Hey, let's call it Black Country". Then there was that whole thing about another band who had that name, so Glenn said, "Let's add Communion to the name". It actually became more of a band after we recorded the album.

NHOR : You've worked with some very illustrious guitarists in your career, from Jimmy Page, to Vinnie Moore, Neal Schon... Slash, and now, in this band - Joe Bonamassa. I'm going to put you on the spot here Jason and ask you how would you rate Joe among all the guitarists you've worked with?

JB : He's phenomenal. Definitely he's a phenomenon, a new entity who has to be reckoned with. He's such a sweet guy, and he's just going to keep getting better and better. There are parts on this album where he's just earth shatteringly brilliant. He's a fantastic guitarist.

NHOR : While you've been a member of UFO, Healing Sixes and Foreigner in the past decade, this is the first band that you've been part of the formation of since The Jason Bonham Band, with whom you recorded 'When You See The Sun', which was released in 1997. Does it feel good to you to be back in a band that you're a part of from the ground up?

JB : Well, I was in a band for a year after the reunion at the O2, with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones writing material, so this is actually not the first one. But it didn't come out. That was a very good time in my life as well, just jamming with them, and coming up with material. Even though nothing came out, that felt more like a band than this.

NHOR : You touched upon this a little while ago, and there was a bit of turmoil surrounding the band a little while back, with the legalities regarding the original name of the band Black Country. After that, there was some friction reported between members of management, which was said to even jeopardize the album's release. Did you ever have any doubts that this album would come out?

JB : Yes, very much so. Definitely there was some turmoil over legalities between managers. It was just a case of well, I've been managed by someone for many, many years, you've been managed by someone for many, many years type of thing. Where they all want the very best for their artist. So there was some turmoil to get through, but in the end we worked things through, and we came to an agreement. Then it was, "Okay, let's continue on".

But it was harsh. What was worst was there was some kind of bad talk , some trash talking being done on websites. I'm not into that. I don't believe you should air your dirty laundry on a website. I wasn't happy about that, but we got past that.

NHOR : What about a tour with this band? Are there any plans that you know of at this point?

JB : I haven't been told about any touring yet. I'm still waiting to hear about that. I know Joe's quite busy. But I'm willing to tour. If they want to tour, I'm willing to go out. I think this would be a great band to go out on the road with. But that's not up to me.

NHOR : In March the four of you made your first live appearance at the Riverside Municipal Auditorium, in Riverside California as the encore during Joe's show there. What was that experience like, performing together live for the first time?

JB : It was all very rushed. But it was pretty cool. It was what it was. I wish we could've just gone out and played a few complete shows, as the band would've really come alive then.

NHOR : Next month you'll be going on tour in North America with “Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience,” which reportedly is going to be a multimedia tribute to your father and the music of Led Zeppelin. This is set for 30 dates, in tribute of it being thirty years since your Dad's passing. How did that come about?

JB : I got the idea for doing this after the Zeppelin show. I went to see The Beatles tribute 'Rain', which is one of the shows that Annerin Productions deal with. I could see how I could do this. Of how Led Zeppelin has been a part of my life. So it's kind of my life, with the music of Led Zeppelin. The time line will be all the way from the late 60's all the way up to the O2 gig. The one thing I didn't want to do with it is go out there and just be a tribute act. I really wanted to spend some time and really make it something special. A lot of it's planned around the 30th anniversary of his passing.

NHOR : Are there any other details that have been solidified regarding the shows, in regards to musicians, what the presentation will be like?

JB : Yes, the band has been rehearsing in L.A. But the members of the band will not be announced until the night of the first show.

NHOR : In regards to this, you've said that you would love to have either Jimmy, Robert or John Paul Jones join you for an appearance or so during the dates. Have you made any calls to any of them? Will you make that call?

JB : Robert actually awhile back came on a radio station with me, and the DJ talked about it. He said, "Well, Jason's doing this tour with the music of Led Zeppelin". Robert said, "Jason, you don't need an excuse to do it. You can do it anytime you want, with my blessing. Nobody else can play the drums like you. The only guy that did is unfortunately not with us anymore. A lot of people say that they can play the drums like that, and they can't. So, as far as I'm concerned, you can go and enjoy yourself. You have my blessing". That was a wonderful thing for him to say.

First and foremost, we're going to do things right with this show. We're going to show respect to my Dad. It's going to be a lot of fun. There's going to be some sad moments, happy moments, but at the end of the day we're going to celebrate his life, not his death.

NHOR : Your father is quite rightly considered one of the best, if not the best drummer in rock history. How difficult has it been for you to establish your own identity as a drummer?. You've been living with that legacy over you since you've been born. Has that ever been a weight on you?

JB : I think it did. At a certain point of my life, it increased my drinking. I think you can get very bitter and twisted. In my sobriety though I've accepted it. You can't avoid it, you know? It's something that will always be there. Yes, it can be a hindrance, but it's also a blessing. In my sobriety though, the idea is that I just embrace it. You just become happy that you're associated with that kind of legacy.

NHOR : So you've come to terms with it, and made peace within yourself....

JB : Yes I have. Very much so. I'm very honored to play, and to be compared with him at any level. It's fantastic, thank you very much. (Laughs)

NHOR : I understand that your son Jager is also following in your footsteps, and is a drummer as well?

JB : Yeah, he plays a little bit. He doesn't play as much as I'd like him to. He's more into his games though at this point. (Laughs)

NHOR : Every band or artist has them. What has been your most "Spinal Tap" moment?

JB : My biggest Spinal Tap moment was a stupid one as well. When we were rehearsing for the Zeppelin 02 gig, I was having an argument with my drum pedals. I actually took them outside, and drove over them several times with the car. Shouting at them and telling them they'll never work again. That would have to be the stupidest one that I could think of. (Laughs) I don't know if anyone noticed at the 02 when I requested only the brown M&M's. (Laughs)

For more information on Black Country Communion go to this location.

For more information on Jason Bonham go to this location.

Black Country Communion "Song For Yesterday" live at John Henry's London, England 09/20/2010 :

Fate, Karma And Throwing Down That Rock and Roll Gauntlet : An Exclusive Interview with Glenn Hughes Of Black Country Communion

2010-09-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

To die hard rock n rollers, Glenn Hughes needs no introduction. From his first rise to prominence in the early 70's with Trapeze, through a three year stint with Deep Purple, later with Black Sabbath, Gary Moore and numerous solo releases, his vocal prowess has been such as to garner being called the "Voice Of Rock".

His story is also one of redemption. Overcoming a well publicized substance abuse addiction which very nearly cost him his life in the late 80's, over the past two decades he has rebuilt his career, gaining the respect of fans, musicians and critics along the way.

After primarily being a solo artist for the majority of his recent career, it would appear that finally, at the age of 58 Hughes has found a band in newly formed 'supergroup' Black Country Communion which may very well show the world once again that he is quite simply one of the finest vocalists to ever step behind the microphone.

Formed after the vocalist guested with blues guitar god Joe Bonamassa at the 2009 Guitar Center King Of The Blues Finals in Hollywood this past fall, Black Country Communion's debut self titled album, out September 20/21 world wide showcases Hughes' prodigious vocal talents in a classic way, as he delivers a powerhouse performance of a lifetime.

Reminiscent of Plant, Daltrey and Gillan in their prime, it would appear that the band has rejuvenated and pushed him past even the heights he has achieved previously, his chemistry with Bonamassa, drummer Jason Bonham and keyboardist Derek Sherinian shines through immediately, resulting in what amounts to quite possibly the classic hard rock album of the year.

Recently we had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with Hughes while in New York City for the first rehearsals of the band, in anticipation of a session for Eddie Trunk's XM/Sirius radio show on 'The Boneyard', and for an exclusive London premiere of Black Country Communion in London to coincide with the album's release.

In part one of our exclusive series of interviews with all members of the band, we discuss Hughes' thoughts on the new album, working with producer Kevin Shirley, his evolution as an artist and much more. Read on as we have an exclusive discussion with the "Voice Of Rock", Mr. Glenn Hughes.(Photo credit: Robert M. Knight)

Interview and text © Nightwatcher 2010

September 18, 2010

Nightwatcher's House Of Rock : You're currently in New York City for the first rehearsals of Black Country Communion. How are they going?

Glenn Hughes : We're super pumped. We've been rehearsing for a couple of days now. You have to choose your words carefully. We are a rock and roll band in the true sense of the word. We are making music for fun. It's serious, but it's so much fun. It's such an honor to play this kind of music with these guys. We're excited. Not arrogant, conceited, or out of our minds, but very in the moment excited right now. You have to be very careful though, because people will think that I'm being grandiose.

But personally, and professionally speaking I'd have to say in front of the whole world that the first rehearsal with this band was probably one of the greatest musical highlights of my life. Even in front of no audience. When you play with a bunch of guys who are so tuned in to what you do...and I'm stammering here because it was so insanely good...I've done everything, played with every major player you know...but this band is such a good band, such a good natured, free flowing rock band that it's just at the right time, at the right place.

NHOR : Is this in anticipation of a forthcoming tour for the band?

GH : We're playing a session today for Eddie Trunk's Boneyard show, which will be aired in a couple of weeks. Then Saturday we'll be playing at my dear friend, clothing designer John Varvatos' 10th Anniversary event. John is the Calvin Klein of today. He's having a party, and we're playing, also Alice Cooper, Ian Hunter and ZZ Top. That's here in New York City. We're premiering the band this week in New York, then we'll be premiering the band in London playing for a select group of press people. We're kind of doing that old school thing, like we did in the late 60's, early 70's, with premiering in London and New York. The rest will follow.

NHOR : I'd like to start into talking about the album, which is due out September 21st. Now that it's finished, are you happy with the results?

GH : Very happy. The album was conceived very quickly. I was the one who had to come up with the majority of the material because my schedule was a little bit looser than Joe's. The album was pretty much written by Joe and I. Simply because most bands have two guys, like Jimmy and Robert, Mick and Keith, Steven and Joe. The band was put together very quickly, and I'm a songwriter, that's what I do. I came up with the initial foundation, then Joe and I ran some stuff together.

The songs were written to be played live. When I make my own records I write songs which can be translated to a live setting. These songs definitely jump out at you. We rehearsed seven songs yesterday live, for the live show. I keep saying there's no mistakes in God's world. I told Joe ten months ago that there are certain things in life that are real special. And I'm telling you right now that this is going to be one of them. Don't take that as arrogance, but I just know. I've been around a bit, and I know when I'm going to work with somebody, I choose who I'm going to play with now. A) They have to be a nice person, and B) they have to have a good nature, and C) they have to be able to play. And of course Joe checks all those boxes. He's one of my best friends. And I've known Jason since he was two years old.

NHOR : You've been involved in some really big rock albums throughout your career, Deep Purple's 'Burn', 'Stormbringer', and 'Come Taste The Band', and so many projects throughout your career. Have you ever been involved with a band or project which has generated the massive amount of buzz that this one has? There seems to be something very special happening here....

GH : I can't be flippant and say yes, and I can't go back to where I joined this band, or that band, but no, I haven't had this much buzz in America, and in Europe it's massive. Black Country Communion is going to be huge in Europe. The pre-sales in Europe are already quite astonishing. We're all super excited. The average person who hasn't heard the album yet, we're all anxious to see their faces when they hear it. Because we've come up with a great rock n roll album. I say that in the good sense of the word. We've come up with a great rock n roll album. We're fans of music, and now we want to give this album to the fans. It's theirs now. We've created it, and now it's yours. It's all yours to do what you want with it. I'm just watching the tide roll now.

NHOR : One thing which impresses about this album is the fact that in a very limited amount of time you've managed to come up with an album which captures the feel of a classic, yet at the same time still sounds very contemporary. But at the same time, you haven't added any modern touches in an attempt to fit in with what's currently popular. Do you feel that this will be an advantage? There's nothing quite like this album being released onto the market, at least in a mainstream sense....

GH : Here's the thing : We recorded this album with no playbacks. Kevin cut each song twice. The songs were rehearsed by the band directly before the cuts were recorded. I would show the guys the song and the chords...first I'd show Joe, we'd talk about it, then Jason and Derek would hear it. We'd talk about it for twenty minutes, perhaps put a chorus here and there, then the red light would go on to record it. Then twenty minutes later we'd have a completed song. That's the way the album was recorded. When you hear Joe or Derek's solos, there's no rhythm behind it. It's live. Even some of the vocals..."One Last Soul", "Medusa" and some of "Black Country" were all done live vocally.

This album was recorded in the true sense of the late 60's, early 70's vibe. Believe it or not, we didn't try to make a vintage album, to sound like that era. But we recorded with the organics on tape. We recorded just as we used to do it back in the day. What we have here is an album that fits in that slot perfectly. There's no high tempered Pro tools, no Auto Tune, no smoke and mirrors here. What you hear on this album is exactly how it was recorded. This is the greatest thing about this record. The songs came together very quickly at my house. Let's just say I had my muse with me. It was as if a tap turned on strong.

I am a fan of rock music, and if I wasn't in this band, I'd want to be in this band. You've got to understand, I've got Jason Bonham in this band, Derek Sherinian, who is an insane Hammond player, then you've got the newest...for all intents and purposes Joe Bonamassa is the #1 new guitar player on the planet at the moment.What I want people to know who are reading this, is that we all are very, very good friends. We really care about each other. Nobody's trying to outshine the other. It's a band. I'm the mouthpiece, if you will. Joe has made me the guy that goes out, as I'm the lead singer, and I love talking to the press. So I'm very honored to be part of that.

NHOR : A lot of attention thus far has been given to your vocals, on the tracks which have been previewed thus far, and quite rightly so, as they are top notch. But your bass playing is also incredible. You very much lock in with Jason on this album, and it's a hard driving groove which moves the songs in a very organic manner, which isn't forced, it feels very natural. What was it like working with Jason on this album, after knowing him pretty much all his life?

GH : Here's the thing. I've played with all the great rock drummers. I played with Jason's father. So here I am, 40 years later, playing with his son. I've known Jason from before he even remembers me. I've been his "Uncle Glenn" forever. Now I've been given the keys to take care of John's boy. I'm very protective of Jason. We have a very strong family thread because of his dad.

Locking in with Jason...The first song that we recorded was "Stand (At The Burning Tree) that first day. When we counted it off, and he came in playing 1/2 time, it was like "Okay, this is just supposed to be this way". He's a very musical boy. He challenges you absolutely. And I love a good challenge. I also love the fact that we can agree to disagree. (Laughs)

For instance, there's a song on the album called "No Time". I wrote that in half the time that you hear it. At the end of the session Jason just started playing, picked up the groove, and moved it 40 bps higher than what I had it. I was infuriated at first. I was like, "How can you do that?" But when you listen to the way he plays it, it's like, "Okay you've got a point". This is a band where we challenge each other. It's not all tea and biscuits. We're four fiery people. So that also shows.

NHOR : With his style of drumming being so close at times to his father's, was there ever a time when it was like the spirit of John was overseeing the recording?

GH : I said that his dad was in the room. Don't forget, I believe in the hands of fate, and karma, and the Buddhist aspects of things, about there being no mistakes in this world. Everything that happens was supposed to happen. I do believe John's spirit was with us. I have to believe in that, in those good things.

You see, I knew a different John Bonham than the one most people read about, the crazy John. I knew the family John. I knew the guy who was digging up the floor in his house and stuff. So that's the one we talk about. Jason's father was with us on this recording. He's with us every day. John's with us all the time, and that's the way we like to think. Jason and I spend a lot of private moments talking about those moments. It's a very beautiful thing, and I'm super protective of that boy.

NHOR : This was the first time that you've worked with Producer Kevin Shirley on a full album. What was it like for you to work with him, in that capacity?

GH : I've known Kevin since the 'By Your Side' album by The Black Crowes. I met him through my friend Chris Robinson. You need to know this about Kevin. He's a motivator. He's even more of a workaholic than I am. He is the greatest modern and classic rock producer. If you want to go into the studio and record live, Kevin Shirley's the guy. Kevin and I have been really good mates, for crikey, about 15 years now. There's no mistakes, I was supposed to work with Kevin.

NHOR : He's known for doing things very efficiently, with very positive results. Were you comfortable doing things that quickly?

GH : I had no choice. Kevin does things like ...1..2..3...Pop! Pop! Pop!...You have to be on your mettle with Kevin Shirley. Because he's quick. So, you'd better be good. (Laughs)

NHOR : How would you rank this album against your previous work?

GH : I've been on over 100 records, and I think this would be in my top three for me. Simply because it is an album where I allowed myself to be free, and I allowed myself to make a record for me and my fans. I'm not going to make a selfish record for me, or a certain market of people. Whether they be funk fans, rock fans or whatever. I made an album that would generate my soul into rock n roll. This is the album that a lot of my rock fans have been wanting me to make for twenty years. We all get to benefit from that. Like I said, if you like rock music, and you like rock music from The Who to Purple to AC/DC, then this is an album you probably will like. It ticks all those boxes.

NHOR : You're singing better than ever on this album. It would appear that you have found the fountain of youth, at least vocally speaking. Do you feel rejuvenated with this project?

GH : I do. It's crazy. Every year, or two years I make an album, and as you know I always keep pushing the boundaries. Some artists take five or six years to make a record, but I write and make records every year. I shelved an album last year, and didn't release it in order to release this one. I wanted to take a break from my solo music in order to do a focused rock album with Black Country Communion. I didn't want to confuse people. Because I have many different forms I like to swim in the ocean. I like to do many different kinds of rock.

This is a traditional, classic modern rock album. A lot of youngsters today, in their teens, are buying records that sound...I don't know the names of the bands, but they're aping the sounds of my period. So I am very privileged to have been born in the '50's, and to have come to make records in the late 60's, and have major success in the 70's. But if you look back in the annals of rock music, in the last 50 years, the time when I was privileged to have tremendous success in, was the golden era of rock. I've been in two of the biggest bands in the world. I've worked with every major rock artist.

Now, all these years later, I've formed a band at a point in my career where most people would be going, "Oh, surely he's retired by now", or "Isn't that man dead yet? Didn't he overdose on drugs?" Oh no, he didn't. Actually he's been working his ass off to get to this point, to throw down that rock n' roll gauntlet.

NHOR : Where would you say this album fits into the evolution of Glenn Hughes as an artist?

GH : It comes at a time for me where I needed to focus. I needed to go out. Let's just say that I've got ten more years to rock. After that I don't know what I'll do. I might be doing something different. But I do want to go out rock and rolling like I came in. I'm in great shape, spiritually, physically and mentally.So it's all good.

NHOR : Lyrically speaking, which songs on the album are you most proud of?

GH : "The Great Divide". I could tell you the whole record. Let's just talk about it. "Black Country", simply because I'm throwing down that, "I am the messenger, this is my prophecy...I'm going back to the Black Country". When I sing this, it means I'm going back to the core of my being, where I was born, in the Black Country.

The Black Country, for all intents and purposes, means the birthplace of hard rock. Purple, Zeppelin, Judas Priest, all these bands were born there. So I'm really.."I speak to the millions, from city to shire...We come from the heartland...We walk through the fire...We rise to the measure...A line in the sand...It's cold on the mountain...And this is our land..." I'm getting chill bumps, because I'm really standing up and planting the flag of a rock n' roll band. I've never wrote a lyric so forged in granite before. That is rock.

"One Last Soul" is a winning song. It's for winners. You know, "You're the one last soul, you can win it". Basically it's a song for winners. It's something I don't really write about all that much actually. Rock n' roll is supposed to be dark, and stark. But this is a shining beacon of light for people who want to win.

"The Great Divide" for me is probably the most spiritual song on the record, because I'm telling people that I'm back. That I've clawed my way back up to that mountain top, and I'm on the great divide. I'm looking out across America, and I'm looking at something that's beautiful. I'm here, I'm back, it's nice. I'm here with my friends. I'm saying I don't believe in superstition, and I'm going to let my conscience be my guide. Basically it's an in the moment song. It's a beautiful piece of music. It's everything that I wanted it to be.

NHOR : You talked to me before when we spoke about the need for you to make music which would paint a picture artistically. With that in mind, what type of picture were you trying to paint with the songs on this album?

GH : You know what I was trying to do? I was trying to paint a picture of what a rock fan would want to hear, as far as lyrically and dynamically. I wasn't making a record for a small aficionado group. Because you know me. I don't need money, power and fame anymore. Once you've witnessed that...I don't strive for those things. I strive for spiritual progression. I don't care about that other stuff.

If I have spiritual progression, then I have everything else in control. God will provide me with everything I need in my life if I am in spiritual progression. That's one thing I do have in my life. The rest will be taken care of. Whether it's material, or happiness. If I am spiritually intact, and I have a conscious contact, then I am set. So this album is the most free album that I've ever made, as far as I'm letting you know who I am now. I'm not afraid to let you know who I am now. Because I am who I am, and it's taken 58 years to show you this. Where other artists may have shown you 20, 30 years ago. Now I'm letting you know at the last third of my career.

NHOR : How far along in that process are you, in shedding your skin that way?

GH : I'm...and this is not a statement of silliness, but I am now starting to show people who I really am. I'm not frightened to show you anymore. Let's just say that I didn't want to show too much before. I always wanted it to be a bit of a mystery. But now, it's time. I'm that kind of person who's really private. But this album has changed that. Because this album is a big album, and it's time to let people in, and to show them who I really am.

NHOR : Is there anything else that you'd like to say to all the fans out there?

GH : I love my fans. I love new fans, old fans, and fans who haven't heard us. They may have heard Joe, they may have heard Jason, they may have heard me, they may have heard Derek, in another situation. Welcome to Black Country Communion. If you're a rock fan, then this is your band. We've made music for you, and we hope to see you on the road of happy destiny soon.

For more information on Black Country Communion go to this location.

For more information on Glenn Hughes go to this location.

Talking About That Blues Rock Salvation: An Exclusive Interview With Texas Blues Guitarist Lance Lopez

2010-08-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

There's no doubt about it, the state of Texas is well known world wide for its fiery blues guitar players.

Even just a cursory look will reveal the state's rich tradition, which easily rivals Chicago and Mississippi for producing players who have been both originators and contributors to the legacy of the guitar's significant role in the genre's history. Dating back to the 1920's with "Blind" Lemon Jefferson, continuing through the 1950's with such legends as Freddie King, T-Bone Walker and "Lightning" Hopkins, with the advent of the rock era of the 1960's the pressure cooker exploded.

Albino blues giant Johnny Winter, from Beaumont, in 1968 was signed to what was then the largest advance in the history of the recording industry---$600,000. Houston's ZZ Top, with the Reverend Willie G, i.e. Billy F. Gibbons - armed with a '59 Les Paul- during the 70's went from being "That little ol' band from Texas" to being world wide ambassadors with their unique brand of deep blues infused boogie rock.

Although disco and subsequently new wave lessened blues rock's influence in the late 70's, by 1983 it was another native Texan, Dallas born Stevie Ray Vaughan, whose combination of raw blues mixed with Hendrix styled pyrotechnics spearheaded yet another resurrection as the genre rose its evil head once again. A breath of much needed fresh air amongst the synth heavy offerings on MTV and radio airwaves of the time, the guitarist's massive influence has extended long beyond his untimely, tragic death twenty years ago.

One such player whom Vaughan touched the soul of was young, gifted blues/rock axeslinger Lance Lopez. Although born in Shreveport, Louisiana, at the age of 12, his family moved to Dallas, where with the exception of a spell back in New Orleans and Southwest Florida, the guitarist has called his home ever since.

A professional musician since the age of 14 when he began playing local bars in and around the New Orleans, Louisiana area, at 17 he was hired by soul great Johnnie Taylor, with whom he toured for six months. By 18 he was hired as the band leader of blues legend Lucky Peterson's band, spending three years touring throughout the world.

It was while with Peterson in Europe that he struck up a close friendship with the larger than life drummer Buddy Miles, subsequently becoming the guitarist for The Buddy Miles Express for a brief time. The former Band Of Gypsys legend would go on to mentor Lopez, leading to him co producing his debut album 'First Things First', along with Grammy winning producer Jay Newland (Norah Jones) which was released independently in 1998.

From 2003 to 2007 Lopez recorded, and released three studio and one live CD for a small independent label, Grooveyard Records - all of which were heavily influenced by another of the guitarist's main influences - Jimi Hendrix. Despite the hindrance of being released on such a label, the albums are all prime examples of post Hendrix heavy blues, filled to the brim with awe inspiring fretwork, which led to him garnering a cult following amongst guitar fanatics world wide.

Now after a three year break, Lopez is back with a brand new Jim Gaines (Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Santana) produced studio album 'Salvation From Sundown'. Intentionally conceived as a more traditional Texas blues styled offering, it's the guitarist's most mature recording to date, showcasing strong songwriting while still retaining the red-hot fretwork which has elicited none other than guitar god Jeff Beck to call him "A very exciting and intense blues guitarist". His first release on a major label (Sony/MIG) it shows him poised to take his rightful place as one of the finest blues players on the planet.

Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Lopez to discuss the new album, his philosophy regarding his music, memories of Buddy Miles and Dimebag Darrell and much more. Read on as we have an exclusive conversation with one of the leading purveyors of true Texas tone, Lance Lopez....

Interview and text © 2010 Nightwatcher for Nightwatcher's House Of Rock

August 31, 2010

Nightwatcher's House Of Rock : First off Lance, I'd like to get into talking about your new album 'Salvation From Sundown', which has just been released in Europe through Sony/Made In Germany Records. How do you feel about the album, and how would you say it stacks up against your earlier releases?

Lance Lopez : I feel really good about 'Salvation From Sundown'. Some of the songs I've had around for many years, and really wasn't able to record them due to the fact that some of them were ballads, and some were more of a straight forward blues thing. When I was with Grooveyard Records, I couldn't really do that kind of stuff. They were more into all the rock, funk, Robin Trower-ish type of stuff. Which is cool, but I had other songs that I wanted to do.

When we went in to do this album the thing was to go in and make a really good blues record. That's why I thought of Jim Gaines right off the bat, because of the work he's done with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins, and all those people. He produces great blues albums.That was the other side of it too. That if I was going to do this album, I was going to have a producer, be produced, and just go in and play guitar and sing. Not having to worry about anything else.

Because on all my other recordings I produced all of them, besides the one that Eric Gales and I produced together. But even on that one I was involved. So it was good to have a producer. And not just any producer, but one of the best. That really made a big difference in everything. Having that objectivity. Not only by having Jim there, but also having some great engineers onboard, like Chris Bell, Adam Hill and Pete Matthews. Those guys are great, and they've done lots of great records. So it was good to have a team where they knew what they were doing, and knew what they were talking about. So it wasn't like the weight of the world rested on me.

Because when I did those earlier recordings, like 'Wall Of Soul' and 'Simplify Your Vision', those were done in like three days. Cutting it all, mixing it and that was it. I can hear it in those recordings. I can hear them being rushed. So with this album I was able to take my time, be produced, come up with some songs which were musical, and I really was able to really think about my guitar solos, and be as tasteful and soulful as possible. So it was like let's actually say something this time versus just firing off a machine gun of notes.

NHOR : Did you feel a lot more freedom doing the album this way versus how you had recorded previously?

LL : Yeah it did. But at the same time I just really wanted to have some really good songs. There were some ideas that I'd come up with, and Jim would kind of reel me back in. He'd tell me, "Remember, we're doing a blues record"(Laughs). What was cool is that I had Jim to reel me back in when I'd want to start doing some crazy stuff. He also kept me in bounds in terms of remembering that I'd have to play all of this live. Whereas before, I'd get kind of crazy stacking guitars and doing a lot of stuff like that. That was good. It was kind of constrained, but it was a good kind of constraint to be under. I was able to think realistically about everything.

NHOR : So a lot of the songs on this album were put down with thoughts of how they were going to be able to be played live....

LL : Right. I actually want to go on my next album and get an even more live sound. Because I did do some overdubs and stuff like that on this one. We had discussed with Jim, and he was telling us how Stevie Ray used to do it. He used to go in, like when they cut 'In Step', the whole band would cut live, and he'd cut his solos live to get the vibe. That meant that everybody had to do take after take after take. We even discussed that possibility, but I said no, I was using my road band and we really didn't have that kind of time. So we were like let's just cut these basic tracks, and then I'll just come back and overdub.

But the next time around I think I definitely want to do a more live recording as opposed to going back and doing overdubs. At least some of it anyway. But yes, a lot of these were put together, being realistic , and to allow them to be reproduced live as close as we could get to the studio recordings.

NHOR : The album was recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis, which is the same studio that ZZ Top recorded 'Tres Hombres', 'Tejas', 'Deguello' and 'Eliminator', and Led Zeppelin recorded part of Led Zeppelin III. What was it like recording there? Do you feel like some of that magic is on this album?

LL : Absolutely. Ardent Studios was a dream come true. We had been recording in Dallas, at Luminous Sound, and that is a pop studio. Jessica Simpson, Justin Timberlake, Kenny Chesney, and a lot of these newer artists have recorded there. It was very sterile. A great studio, with great people, but I wasn't able to get my vibe across recording there. It really came out when I started to sing, and record leads and stuff. I started not being comfortable. The tracking was okay, but when I went to really put my soul into it I started feeling stifled.

So at the last day at Luminous, we were going to have to resume recording at a later date, I woke up, went to pick up Jim, and when I woke up that morning something just told me that I needed to go to Memphis and finish this record. It was like a really profound experience that I had. So I picked up Jim at the hotel to go back to the studio, and I told him, "Man, I think we need to go to Ardent". Jim, without even saying anything, just started dialing them on his phone, and he told me, "Man, I thought you'd never say that". (Laughs)

I walked into Ardent Studios, and I recorded six vocal tracks in about an hour and a half. I just started knocking them down, man. Most of those vocal tracks were just one take. I walked in, sang it, and that was it. That's the kind of stuff that Ardent brought out. There is magic in that room. We were back in Studio C, and that's a special, special room. That's where ZZ Top did 'Eliminator'. A lot of really great stuff was recorded in that room. There's definitely something in those walls. It's an unbelievable room.

NHOR : What type of gear did you use on this album?

LL : Basically, people lent me a lot of stuff. I've developed relationships with a lot of collectors, through the Dallas Guitar Show. A lot of people with huge collections have befriended me, and I have a lot of good friends who are guitar collectors. So they got wind of me recording this new CD, and my phone started ringing. Everybody wanted me to use this on the record, use that. They brought me down tons of great amps. I had Kendrick amplifiers, a lot of old Marshalls, and a lot of old Fenders. At the end of the day, what started sounding the best...Jim and I went through all of them, and he went through like 30 different amps with Stevie Ray on 'In Step', that was insane. So, he started having horrible flashbacks (Laughs). When the studio started filling up with amplifiers he was like, "Oh God".

But we went through them, and we went through some giant rigs, trying to capture this sound, and that sound. He was like, "No, that's not working". At the end of the day though, we just ended up going with my road rig. The other two amplifiers that I used were, a guy had brought in a Marshall 68 Super Lead Plexi, and an old original Bluesbreaker Combo, a real one. So we had two old original Marshalls,my 1970 Super Bass 100 and a reissue Fender Twin Reverb for a lot of the clean stuff. That was the crux of the sounds.

For a lot of the harder, heavier stuff I just plugged in a Les Paul into that old Super Lead and the Bluesbreaker and just turned them up. Jim was really against changing the sound with pedals. He was like, live that's okay, but in the studio he wanted to get that overdriven sound of the Marshalls turned up. So for a lot of the crunch, that's what it is. There's also a lot of Strats on the album, so it was kind of half and half, guitar wise. Half Gibsons and half Fenders. But a lot of the album was just recorded with my road rig, the Super Bass and the Twin.

NHOR : What are your favorite tracks on the album?

LL : I really love the title track, "Salvation From Sundown". It's a pretty simple little riff, which I've had around forever. I've tried previously working it up on several different things, but it finally came together on this song, kind of at the last minute. We just started jamming on it, while we were recording, and eventually it just turned out the way it did. I really enjoy that track a lot, and some of the lead tones on it are really, really nice. I really like the smoothness and the fatness of the lead tracks. On some of the overdubs Jim got pretty epic with some of the lines that I was playing. That's one where we did start doing some multi tracking on, some guitar overdubs. We kind of went for the big "Spaghetti Western" epic lines, that "Good, The Bad & The Ugly" type of sound. (Laughs) That's the track on this album that stands out in my mind the most.

NHOR : You also cover the Ray Charles song "It Should Have Been Me" on the album.....

LL : Yeah. I'd been out on the road, and somebody gave me a cassette of all of Ray Charles' first sessions. It was all the stuff he did with Jerry Wexler, his very first recordings. So I put it on, and we were riding around on the road listening to this old Ray Charles, and I was like, "Man, this stuff is so great!" I had a couple of them narrowed down that I wanted to do, so I ended up choosing that one. It really came out pretty good, I like it a lot. It swings really good.

NHOR : This is definitely a more traditional Texas blues album in the sense that you've tamed down some of the wilder aspects of your playing which were up front on your previous albums, and focused on a more earthy, organic type sound. Are you happy with the reception that the album has received thus far?

LL : Yes I am. I've had nothing but a lot of compliments on it. I have heard some things where some people were really wanting the real psychedelic, kind of over the top stuff. But the things was I was trying to be more musical on this album. Not so sporadic, just floor it and go type of jamming. If that's the case of what you want, you can just come out to the gig, and I'll do all that. That's the only thing negative that I've heard about it is that they were waiting on that stuff. On the majority , mass scale of things though I've heard nothing but good things, and everybody seems to really enjoy it because it is more musical. It's not just a bunch of jamming going on. Everybody can sort of relate to it because it's not so heavy and hard.

NHOR : What is your usual process when you write songs? Do you start with a riff and work from there?

LL : A lot of times I'll have a riff, or sometimes when I'm out driving or on the road, or just doing something in general, I'll hear a vocal line in my head, or a hook line, then I'll start singing that, and build around that. Or, I'll have multi riffs that I'll put stories to. It can go either way. Sometimes I'll come up with the lyrics, sometimes I'll come up with the music first. Nine times out of ten I'll come up with riffs out of jamming, at a live gig, perhaps from an extended part of another song. I'll do something and go, "Hey, that was nice. I need to come back and remember that." That's usually how I'll capture a riff sometimes, then I'll develop that riff, have it for awhile. I may have it a year or two before I even do anything with it. Then eventually I'll come up with a story, then I'll just go from there with it. Sometimes I'll wake up and say, "Hey, I'm going to write a song". Normally I'll let it naturally come to me, as opposed to saying, "Okay today we're going to write X, Y and Z. We're going to do this". It's more like I capture it as it comes to me.

NHOR : The album as initially released in Europe, comes with a bonus DVD of the Rockpalast show you did last year in Germany. When this is released in the States, will there be a limited edition here as well?

LL : I think MIG has said that they were going to reserve 500 discs for the U.S. market. I think there will be a limited run of 500 double disc sets released over here, and once those are gone, that'll be it. Then they will issue them separately. You'll have the 'Salvation From Sundown' CD, then the 'Lance Lopez Live at Rockpalast' DVD.

NHOR : Speaking of Europe, you've been doing a lot of touring overseas as of late. What would you say are the biggest differences between audiences in Europe versus the U.S for you?

LL : It's like in the States, it seems like the blues, and blues rock has always been kind of obscure, very underground, and a very small niche market. With the venues closing all over it's getting more difficult to maintain here in the U.S. In Europe, it's so accepted, and it's almost a mainstream music. Once they've accepted you in Europe, they've always accepted you. It's never a trend situation, where you're big today, then you're gone tomorrow. Once they've discovered you and loved you, they always do. That's one of the things about it. The loyalty of the European fans is amazing. They listen, and they know the history of the music. So many people are scholars of blues, and blues rock over there. That's what's so crazy about going overseas. You can sit down and talk with someone from Scandinavia who will know more about Mississippi musicians that from someone from Mississippi. (Laughs)

Billy Gibbons and I had that discussion not too long ago. He said, "Man, I come all the way over to Switzerland, and I'm talking with someone about Charlie Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson and all the Delta Blues players, and I couldn't go to Jackson, Mississippi and sit down and talk to someone about them. And they're right in their back yard". It's crazy to me how that works.

That's a big part of the history and archiving as a whole in Europe. They've always been that way. Ever since Freddie King, B.B. King and Muddy Waters were redelivered back to the United States by The Rolling Stones, Zeppelin and Cream. That's how I initially got it as a kid. I would read those album covers, look at "Crossroads" by Cream, and see Robert Johnson's name, and I thought I've got to go buy the original song. That's how I discovered those guys. I'd be reading the Zeppelin album covers and be going, "Okay, I need to check these guys out". It was redelivered to us from over there, and that's why it's always such a joy to go over there and play.

NHOR : You even see that today with the success of Joe Bonamassa, who toured for years here in the States, but went over to the UK and has been embraced over there even more so than he has been here, and has really opened up things over there in terms of blues and blues rock. With his success, do you see things opening up more for you now?

LL : I hope so. I've known Joe for many years, he's a good friend of mine, and seeing Joe on the rise as he has been, and everything good that's been happening lately for him is giving me some hope. Hopefully there's going to be a resurgence in the blues because of it. I think it's great what's happening with Joe. At one time we were going through it, working the trenches and doing a lot of shows together, so it's good to see him getting what he's getting. Hopefully one day soon I'll get that too.

NHOR : Joe has had a lot of battles with the so called "blues purists". As a lot of your music, although very based in the blues hasn't been what one could call traditional blues, have you encountered those same sort of battles throughout your career?

LL : Absolutely. Especially early on when I was young. Coming from Texas, that's like the land of the blues purist. But when I was a kid, I came up as a rock player. I was a rock player who discovered the blues through the rock guys like we discussed earlier, like Led Zeppelin and Cream. That's when I immersed myself into it, all styles, but I still maintained a really heavy rock background.

So when I was younger I'd come around, and there were a lot of blues jams around Dallas, and I was asked to not come back to a lot of them. They'd come up and turn my amplifier off. There was a lot of that kind of stuff going on. A lot of the guys who were forerunners of that kind of style, like Jimmie Vaughan, Anson Funderburgh and Derek O' Brian were very encouraging to me. Anson and I have a great relationship, Jimmie and I have a great relationship, and it seems a lot of the resistance that I've gotten was from guys who were trying to be those guys. I've had many conversations with Jimmie Vaughan where he would tell me about the days he was in The Chessmen, when he and Doyle Bramhall had their band, and they were opening for Hendrix. All during the time of The Chessmen, The Moving Sidewalks, and that whole thing.

Lo and behold, Billy Gibbons is one of the main purists of Texas blues, and he's always been very encouraging to me. He's told me to be creative, to create my own sound and not to worry about what they're talking about. But yeah there's been a lot. I remember going over to Billy's house when I was a kid. He had a loft in Deep Ellum, and he was over there playing all these electronic records. Ace Of Base and all this techno music. There were all these Howlin' Wolf records there, and I was like, "I want to listen to Howlin' Wolf's stuff". And Billy would tell me, "Man, you've got to stay in the future. You've got to keep your mind open to everything." That was really profound to me. But I've always dealt with that, the blues purist thing.

There's a lot of rooms we can't play because of that. I feel that's what it is. It's cool, and I love that style more than anybody. I love the old Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Guitar Slim, Otis Rush, Magic Sam and all that stuff. But why crystallize yourself frozen in time? I've developed my style with all of that, but I feel like it's being stuck if you're going to stay there. You're just frozen. If you're not trying to move forward and develop creatively. It doesn't have to be just rock, but any type of music. I draw off of every style of music there is. Billy taught me that early on, to not close your mind off, because there's so much stuff out there that you can use and take from. It's kind of sad, because a lot of cats kind of get stuck in that. They're kind of limited in their playing, so we're limited, so we're not going to accept this.

I can play that kind of stuff too. I love playing it. when I was a kid, that's what I did. I sat down with all those records I've just talked about, learned how to play that stuff early on, and developed from there, mixing the rock with it. So for me, those records and that style are part of my beginnings, so it'd be like staying in the second grade forever. (Laughs) But I need to graduate and get my doctorate. It's not like I've gotten to the second grade, this is all I need to know, and I'll just stay right here.

NHOR : What's ironic is that the same artists they are trying to preserve the sound of, such as Muddy Waters, encountered exactly the same type of blues purism. When Muddy went over to the UK in the late 50's with his electric blues they couldn't wrap their heads around it, they wanted them to play acoustic blues, like plantation songs, not amplified Chicago blues...

LL : Right. I don't even pay attention to it anymore. It's gotten a lot better as I've got older. When I was younger, man, it was really hard for me around that scene because it seemed that's all there was around Dallas at the time. The thing about it was, their idea of blues wasn't even blues, it was Rockabilly and Swing music. I went through all the early Muddy Waters, and I thought that's not the same thing. This is like Jump Blues and Swing music. It was not my idea of the blues, it was Swing, and everybody was in the 1950's. I felt that was kind of weird. But as I said before, the real guys in the scene have been really encouraging to me, it's the ones on the peripheral, the ones who want to be Ronnie Earl or Duke Robillard are the ones that I've had all the problems with.

But a lot of other guys, including Stevie Ray Vaughan went through that same thing in Texas. Johnny Winter, too. He left and went to New York. He didn't even come back. He just went to the East Coast and never came home. (Laughs) Stevie encountered a lot of resistance back then over the same things. He was too loud, too rock for a lot of the players around there. The thing about it is, I can play the way they would want me to, and that pisses them off even more.I can pick up a 50's Strat, plug into a Bassman and play all that early Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and that Ronnie Earl type of sound. That just seems to inflame the situation. (Laughs)

NHOR : What was the one album which changed your life musically?

LL : If I had to narrow it down to just one, it'd be Jimi Hendrix's 'Are You Experienced'. That record set the tone for what I did, and what I still try to strive for in my playing. My brother and his friends actually brought home an original copy of the vinyl album. They put it on, and I thought it was a new record. This was in 1987. I was just a little kid, and I had thought they had brought home a new album. The first track they put on was "Are You Experienced", and I thought Jimi was using turntables and all that. (Laughs) To achieve the sounds on that song. Because I came from the generation of the 80's and 'Purple Rain'. So when I looked at the album cover I thought this cat is trying to go for that 'Purple Rain', Prince look. Lo and behold, little did I know that's what Prince was going for. Jimi's look. (Laughs) I didn't know.

For me, everything else vanished. I remember sitting in that room with that album on the turntable, and everything else went away, everything else was secondary. Hearing that backwards guitar solo - I just had no idea where that came from. It sounded like it was from Saturn, completely from outer space. I'd never heard a guitar sound like that. I remember being so confused, thinking "Man, this is great. He's about to take over the world". Everybody was rolling on the floor laughing at me. They were like, "Man, this dude's been dead for about twenty years". So it was so profound and crushing all at once. I was like, don't joke around like that, it's not funny. Because listening to that album all the way through sounded like it was brand new, even in 1987.

I remember sitting with that album for the next couple of years, just trying to really dissect it and pick it apart. It had me judging a lot of guitar players. Because we had all of those bands in the 80's, back when everybody had a lead player and everybody played solos. This was the era of shred, and everybody was trying to be Randy Rhoads and Van Halen. I was needing to find someone who captured Jimi's sound. I went to see Van Halen and all of those people and I wasn't getting that type of feeling. It set a precedent by which I judged every other guitar player by. That's what made seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan so profound for me. I was like, "There it is". I was getting that same kind of intensity and power that I felt listening to Jimi's records. Stevie had captured not the exact duplication of his playing, but the sheer soul, energy and intensity. When I saw Stevie I felt the same way as when I first heard 'Are You Experienced'.

NHOR : Looking back on that era, it was a case many times of "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" in terms of guitar playing. There were a hell of a lot of notes being played, but not so much being said....

LL : Right, and even at a young age I couldn't identify with it. Even as a kid I knew this was not real. Hendrix was real. There were some players, like Angus Young, who were real. I was really into Angus when I was a kid. Little did I know at the time he was just playing blues. I was reading something awhile back where he mentioned his favorite players were B.B. King and Johnny Winter. That's why I was so into him. I was into all the blues based guys like Angus, Leslie West and Alvin Lee. Of course also Zeppelin. When I was a kid, Zeppelin were like my Beatles. There was just such a heavy blues influence from them.

I was just so into the blues based players, and everybody else that I would go see in those 80's bands, I'd plant myself in front of them, hone in on their lead player, check out their gear, and think, "C'mon let's go". (Laughs) I did learn a lot of licks though. Because we didn't have YouTube back then, and all the stuff that's available to kids these days. We had vinyl, cassettes, then you had to go to concerts and pray to God you could get up front. (Laughs) In the 80's it was like.. Oh you're a punk if you can't play the "Crazy Train" solo. Everybody in the neighborhood was trying to play "Eruption". Everybody. It was Randy Rhoads and Van Halen. Who were both big influences on me because of that time period. They were great, but I was drawn to just so much more depth and realness with the blues based playing.

I think that was one of the things about Hendrix is that he had taken the blues and developed it into this masterpiece, his own thing. Then after I saw Stevie, that's when I realized I had to immerse myself solely into the blues. If Stevie Ray didn't do anything else in this world, be brought this generation of guitar players back to discover all the previous blues stuff. Just like Zeppelin and Cream did. But even in my generation those bands were more obscure, because they were gone already.

NHOR : Do you feel that there will be a player who will come along again who will have the impact of Hendrix?

LL : I don't know man. I view Hendrix, and I've talked to a lot of people who feel the same way, especially in Europe, as being on the level of Mozart or Beethoven. Those individuals are a very rare breed of people who only come around every couple hundred years. I think the same thing will be happening with Hendrix. His music will be listened to for hundreds of years. He just came from that special place where those kind of people came from, who had that kind of mindset. They just had that kind of gift. Just to put Jimi in his context, and I wasn't alive then, but to hear everything else that was going on, what he was doing came from some different planet. For someone to come from that space, I've really yet to see it. It's one thing to see players, especially someone like Van Halen.You hear the Jan Hammer, the Allan Holdsworth, and a lot of the fusion stuff mixed with rock. You hear a lot of the tapping, and scientifically you can break it down, but to hear a blues player come from a completely different realm has yet to be seen, for me anyway.

NHOR : Speaking of Jimi, you were good friends with, and actually formed two bands with the late drummer Buddy Miles, who was part of the Band Of Gypsys. What was it like playing with Buddy? What was your fondest memory of him?

LL : Buddy was a handful, to say the least. (Laughs) He was an amazing performer, in all aspects of his life. He was always on, he was always performing whether he was on stage or just in a room full of people. Early on I remember...We met in Belgium, at the Belgian Rhythm & Blues Festival together. I was Lucky Peterson's guitar player at the time. We met and instantly connected. Not just because of Jimi or any music, but we connected as friends. Just hangin' having a good time, and whoopin' it up there. We had a pretty fun time over there. When I came back home he was moving to Texas. So we immediately hooked up, and began writing and jamming. A lot of my favorite memories of Buddy...Of course we had some great bands, one with Chuck Rainey on bass, and I just found some recordings recently, some basic tracks we were doing that were really cool, just some rough stuff. Also jamming with Buddy and Tommy Shannon on bass.

Those were great, and those were fun, but the most fun times were when we'd plug into a Fender Twin Reverb together. He'd take a Fender bass, flip it over, and play it with the low string on the bottom, and I'd play guitar. We'd both be plugged into the same amp. Buddy was a phenomenal bass player. We'd just sit there and jam for hours, plugged into that Twin, and come up with all these riffs. I wish I could remember so much of what we came up with. Rarely did we set up any type of recording equipment. But there were a couple of riffs, such as on the song "Romeo", which is on my new CD, that was one of the riffs we came up with. We actually wrote that song together. There have been a few others which have appeared on some of my earlier records that came from that time also.

Later on, he got a drum kit in his living room, and I'd go out and play either guitar or bass. Nobody else would be around. Those times were some of the greatest times, when it would be just the two of us, or with Buddy's old lady there too, just creating and jamming. Then the minute someone would come in the door, he'd become Buddy again, performing and being on, and all that would go to the wayside. But when it would be just the two of us there we'd have some amazing jams. Buddy had a lot of personal issues, as we all have had, but he taught me a lot man. I brought a lot of drummers to Buddy and he went out of his way to show them things, ones who were in my band at the time. He had a wild side, and had a lot of issues, but in the end he really went out of his way to share a lot of things with me and teach me things. He gave me a lot of warnings, about all the pitfalls of the business. A lot of the issues that he had, he really didn't enjoy those issues, and he'd really warn me about them.

It was a tragedy that we lost him, but I knew that he had been ill for awhile. I remember the conversation we had about six months before he passed away. He called me, and I was really upset about what was happening with him. He told me he was going to stop the treatments for his heart. He told me the doctors told him there wasn't anything more that they could do, and he only had so much time left to live. I was upset, and I remember him telling me that I needed to handle up, be a man about it, and go on. It was a real man to man talk. He was like, I'm gonna die and you've got to keep going. That's how it's got to be. But I was really upset.

So when he did finally pass away, it was good that he wasn't suffering anymore. I was upset, but I was more upset when we had that talk on the phone. He told me initially that he had six months to live, so when he did finally go it was at least he was out of pain, and wasn't in misery anymore. But that was the main message that he told me, was that you've got to keep on keeping on. We talked about the addictions and all the problems. He told me you've got to be careful. It was a forewarning, like "Look what happened to me". Buddy had a lot of issues, but he really taught me a lot.

NHOR : You were also a good friend of Dimebag Darrell of Pantera. How did you get hooked up with Dime?

LL : I met Dimebag early on, at the Tattoo Bar in Ft. Worth, Texas. Point Blank did a blues jam at the Tattoo Bar, it was a Thursday night jam. Rusty Burns was on guitar and Chuck Rainey was on bass. Chuck actually invited me down. So it was Rusty on guitar, Chuck on bass, and they had big John O' Daniel on vocals. It was basically Point Blank. All of a sudden Dime came in, and it was like busting through the front door. Point Blank was in the middle of a song, and it was like the carnival arrived, like a big marching band parade. (Laughs) That's what I remember it being like. They just busted in, Dime ran over to Rusty Burns, fell on his knees, and started worshiping him, like "Oh, I'm not worthy!". It was just crazy. Then he ran into the club, jumped on top of the bar, in between songs, and shouted "Hold up! Hold up! Hold up!". He made the band stop, and he yelled out, "Nobody else is paying for anymore drinks!". So they just started carrying around trays of drinks, everybody was doing shots and drinking.

I got up and sat in, Dime saw me play, and after that he just kind of hugged me up. After the jam we went out to the parking lot, and there were pieces of asphalt broken up, all the blacktop was broken into pieces. Dime grabbed a big chunk of it up and threw it at the street lamp, and it came crashing down on the hood of somebody's car.I was like, "Oh my God". The Dime said, "I'll give $200.00 to whoever can bust out these street lights with these rocks". Well then everybody was throwing asphalt into the sky. (Laughs) It was raining down on all these cars, and I was like, "Oh my God, we've gotta get outta here".(Laughs) That was my very first encounter with Dime.

There were many other times though. He would come out when me and Andy Timmons would play together. Whenever he was in town he would come out, see me and Andy, and he always had something funny to say. He was always joking. Dime would come up and he would always rag on you. Anybody else who would say the kind of stuff Dime would to me, I'd just knock them out. (Laughs) But Dimebag would come up, insult you, and you'd just fall out laughing with him. He was just that kind of guy. Anybody else I'd be like, "Hey, we've got to step outside". But that was just Dimebag. He was hilarious. He was always acting crazy. I never saw a moment when he wasn't being hilarious, playing jokes and taking the piss out of anybody who was around.

When that morning came, the day after he was killed, it was 5 a.m. when I heard he'd been shot, and it was unreal. I just remember during that whole time period asking myself, "Why? "Why?". Why does that have to happen to somebody that was just so much fun? Someone that was so good? There were many times when you'd go over to Dime's house and there'd be 15 musicians crashed all over the place. You could always go over to Dime's and crash. Of course there was always a lot of drinking going on over there too. (Laughs) But they really nurtured the Dallas scene. There's not a lot of people who do that. They really nurtured all the local musicians. They took care of, and supported everybody. From the blues guys to the rock guys to the metal guys. They went out to shows and supported them. Vinnie Paul still does. You'll go out and see a new band, and he'll be there. But they very much did it together. They were very supportive of the Dallas/Ft. Worth scene. They really encouraged everybody. It didn't matter who they were. If you were a brand new band, a bunch of little kids, they'd come out and tell them "Y'all keep going, keep practicing".

Dime was a great blues player too. Most people don't know that. But he could lean on it and play the blues, man. A lot of people know him for his screaming, shred stuff, but he could just plug in clean and play the blues. I was lucky enough to get that opportunity to see that.

NHOR : What effect did him being killed onstage that way have on you as a musician gigging in clubs?

LL : A lot of guys I knew started packing after that. We really got paranoid, and started carrying guns for awhile. Especially in Texas, everybody's got guns down there. I knew one guy who stopped gigging completely. There was a period of time where I wasn't gigging a whole lot because I was married at the time, and home with little kids. So I wasn't going out and playing a lot like I am now. But guys I did know started carrying, and everything got really weird. Security got really weird. It was a really weird time, man. You get these nuts, and you've just got to mind your P's and Q's.

It's a different generation, with the Columbine situation and kids going and shooting up their schools. The anger and the hatred is just unbelievable.I don't necessarily think it's about anything except there needs to be more love, man. The thing is, you can kind of see how Dime and Vinnie's music could bring that out in someone. It's very aggressive, very heavy and very angry. You could see how somebody who was mentally unstable could really take that and have it throw them over the edge. I'm not saying that the music did that, but you can see how some of these people could really cross the line, do something and hurt a performer.

I've had some threats against myself, and I've actually had to go to the FBI over them. Not only me, but a lot of friends from Texas who were musicians. This guy actually was threatening me in that same manner. So I had to go to the FBI and treat it as a serious matter. Because after Dimebag, we've got to really watch out. It's crazy man. Do we have to carry guns to our own gigs? Do we have to carry them onstage? Or have someone at the gig armed watching these people? It kind of makes one afraid to go out and play music. It's horrible. For this type of thing to cross over into rock & roll...I mean, you don't see anybody trying to rush on stage and shoot any rappers. Because they're all packing. (Laughs)

It's definitely put a whole new spin on the world of live music since then though. I went to see KISS not long ago, and there were tons of metal detectors, and people were getting wanded down. That's the first thing I thought about. KISS was the very first concert that I saw when I was a kid, and we didn't have to go through anything like that. Now, when I go see them today, I'm going through three metal detectors, someone's wanding me from head to toe, like I'm going into the courthouse or something. I thought this is great that this is happening for the band's safety, but at the same time, it was sad that it's come to this. That we would have to go through like a customs checkpoint just to go see our favorite band play. But us guys who are making our livings in the clubs, we're still really vulnerable, and it is what it is.

That's why a lot of that stuff, losing friends on that kind of level, all the tragedies, car wrecks, drugs and what have you, to me that's why you've got to keep your soul right man. Because you never know. But if something happens to me I know where I'm going. (Laughs) So you've got to live right and live everyday doing the right thing, and keep your soul in the right spot, because you never know. The opposite of fear is faith. I'm not going to be scared when it's my time to go because I know where I'm going. You've got to have your soul right because you never know when the big man's gonna call you home.

NHOR : To get a bit lighter here...What has been your most "Spinal Tap" moment?

LL : Oh man. (Laughs) I just had one yesterday trying to get out of the hotel. I went through the wrong door and ended up in the maintenance closet. (Laughs) That was the first thing I thought of, was Spinal Tap. I was trying to get out of the hotel, to get to the van to get to the gig, and I got lost in the hotel. There's just been so many man. Life on the road becomes Spinal Tap every day. You've just got to have fun with it, and be able to look at it all and laugh. Be grateful that at least you're out here playing music. It seems like there's at least one of those moments a week on the road. (Laughs)

NHOR : You've recently secured an endorsement with Gibson guitars. You've long been associated with a Strat sound, ala Jimi. Lately though you've been moving towards a Gibson sound anyway, using a Flying V. What brought about that change?

LL : Ever since I was a kid I've been into Gibsons. The early players I was into, like Angus Young, Jimmy Page, Leslie West, Alvin Lee and of course Billy Gibbons, they all had that Les Paul/Marshall sound. That was initially where I started. Then I gravitated towards a Strat mid- way through. Then I started going back and forth, and in between. But for years I was a Stratocaster player. I loved them, and they're great, and they are what they are. But recently, in the past several years, I've gone back and forth between a Flying V and the Strat. But I've always loved the sound of a good Les Paul. I actually started recording with one on the 'Higher Ground' record. Once I started recording with a Gibson it brought it all back, listening to that big, fat sound on tape. So on 'Higher Ground' I had a Les Paul Standard, and there was one that had P-90's in it.

B.B. King really pushed me in that direction. He wanted me to play Gibsons. He saw me playing Strats and he told me that I would sound a lot better playing Gibsons. I was like, "I don't know B.B.". But he was dead serious about it. He was actually kind of disappointed that I was a Fender guy. He really, really wanted me to play Gibsons. Then also Billy Gibbons, a couple of years ago when we were out on the road with ZZ Top, when I was playing my Flying V told me he liked how I sounded so much better when playing it. He was pushing me in that way too. So when B.B. King and Billy Gibbons tell you that you ought to do something, I think they know what they're talking about. (Laughs)

Gibsons have always been my favorites, I'd been steering towards that direction anyway, and I used a Flametop and a Goldtop on the title track to 'Salvation To Sundown'. Once Gibson heard that track,and saw me on the cover with the V, they immediately asked me to endorse them. It was an honor. And like we were talking about Joe Bonamassa earlier, he's been kind of leading the charge, making them popular again, and it was really cool to be asked to join the team.

The first thing I did was contact Billy Gibbons and told him, "Gibson's got me". He was so overjoyed and elated, and said, "Okay now we're going to start having fun".(Laughs) We're in the process of him helping me build a rig to really accommodate that sound. He was really overjoyed that I was capturing that sound and bringing back some of what he was doing in the early 70's. Billy was like you need to do the least amount of work possible, because you're already working hard enough out here doing what you're doing. But when you play these Gibsons and plug 'em in, you have to do a lot less work. They're just like a Cadillac, they play themselves. You plug in a Les Paul into a Marshall and you're there. Those three things are all you need - a Les Paul, a good cable and a Marshall amp, and you're good to go.

NHOR : Are you finding that you're using less effects since you've made the switch?

LL : Absolutely. I've actually pulled a lot of stuff off my pedal board. Recently I've just been using two drive boxes, just to sweeten the solos. I'm just letting the Les Paul work with the Marshalls to get that tried and true sound. Dimebag used to call it cheating. (Laughs) Because you know when you plug those two together, you know what's going to happen. It's going to sound great. It's not like having to go through 15 different stomp boxes, and pile up five amplifiers together. I'm letting that combo do what it does. God bless Eric Clapton for bringing those two together back in '66. (Laughs) That John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers album was profound in so many different ways, with that being one of the main ones. But I've really pulled back on the effects lately. Sometimes I'll still have to drive the front end still if I'm using my Super Bass to get more grit out of it, so I don't have to turn it up all the way.

NHOR : Have there been any discussions between you and Gibson about coming out with a Lance Lopez signature guitar?

LL : They definitely want me to spend some time with them before we get into that. They're wanting to associate a certain model with me. But first getting a bit more time, and a bit more exposure with using a particular guitar. Then we're definitely going to design a Standard. I talked with them about a Flying V as a signature guitar, and they thought it was a great idea, but that they've done them in the past, such as one for Lenny Kravitz and a couple different Hendrix models, and they haven't been as popular. Because the Flying V is kind of an awkward guitar, and not everybody plays them. They were telling me that's good, but it won't be as popular as if we did a Les Paul for you.

They're interested in pushing a newer model, such as the new Standards that they have. As for the finish I've been leaning towards the Desert Burst. It's a beautiful finish. But they want to get me out playing them for awhile before they design it.

NHOR : They're wanting you to become more associated with being a Les Paul player versus being a Strat player....

LL : Right. They're going to need a little time with it, perhaps a year and a half, two years. Let me become associated with that sound, and possibly a couple more recordings. But we've already picked out the model, discussed what would work the best, and what would be the most popular. I'm proud to be part of the Gibson team. It's a great company, and I'm looking forward to a nice long relationship with them.

NHOR : Concerning your playing, are you satisfied with your technique and tone at this point?

LL : I am. Especially shifting over to the Gibson/Les Paul combo, which is a tried and true classic, it's actually got me playing a lot more licks, and things which are a little different than what I've normally always played. I'm continuously experimenting and learning different licks. My thing is I try to take licks from different instruments and transpose them into guitar licks. I find that I get more stuff out of say horn lines, sitars and all kinds of other crazy stuff. Keyboards...Hammond organs...I listen to a lot of Jazz records and a lot of World music. I'll transpose it into a guitar lick and use it in the middle of a solo in a blues jam. I'll use it in blues, and mix that into a Pentatonic scale. There's so much stuff, especially in World music that are Pentatonic. So it's actually not that strange to transpose into something like that. I'm just continuously pulling things from other musics and adding them to my playing. I draw from everything.

Then there's the guitar players. I'm always checking out other players and other techniques, developing and using stuff from a lot of great players.With this instrument I feel you can never stop learning. If you stop learning you stop growing. It keeps my mind stimulated and keeps my playing exciting and progressing to the next level. That's the whole point, to keep expanding and broadening the vocabulary of the instrument. So for me that's what I'm continually trying to do. Then I'll also go back to the basics. I'll go back to early Freddie King. Albert and B.B. and try to mix it up into one big stew. I'm constantly learning.

That's what I love about YouTube. We never had that kind of stuff when I was a kid. All at a touch of a fingertip. If I was in my bedroom when I was nine years old and could've punched in "Led Zeppelin 1975", I could've been so much further because I could've seen what Jimmy Page was playing. As opposed to having to sit there with just the audio. It's just amazing what the younger generation has at their disposal concerning education. All the programs, like the School of Rock program, it's just so nurturing for all the kids who are coming up. I think it's a beautiful thing, and it's great. It's stuff that we didn't have. I take advantage of it too, in the sense of exploring other realms of music that I can add to my current style and technique. Anything that's musical I'm borrowing from and adding it to my playing.

NHOR : How important do you feel it is for a young player to listen to a diversity of music?

LL : It's extremely important. As we talked earlier about the whole blues purist thing, if you set your mind down into just one style of music, you limit yourself. You become limited, and that's all that you can do. In reality, having the ability to play different styles broadens your horizons in terms of a young musician working on a regular basis. Or doing sessions and that type of thing. I highly encourage all facets of music, not only for the work aspect, but for the expansion of your musical style.

NHOR : Are there any players whom you have heard recently that people should be checking out?

LL : There's a lot of players. There's my really good friend Wes Jeans. He's on the rise, and his style has really developed the past few years. He's another guy who has gone over to the Gibson Les Paul world. We've got a lot of players coming up in Texas. We have Wes, and Tyler Bryant. They're doing their thing and starting to grow. But as far as far as anybody undiscovered, I'm always learning from the greats, and keeping an eye out for them.

One thing that really gives me hope is this King Of The Blues thing. That's showing that there's a whole new generation of young blues players who are finally coming up. That's good news on the horizon that it's continuing. Years ago I was in the Jimi Hendrix electric guitar competition. And the only reason I got into that was to find kids who were bigger Hendrix freaks than me. (Laughs) With the King Of The Blues Competition there are kids going into that who are friends, and they're able to play, join up with one another, and it's a really cool thing happening. They're continuing the blues tradition. I think we'll see a lot of great players coming out of that.

There's a lot of guitar players out there, but the ones who grab me are the ones who are playing from the soul and are the most real with it. It's one thing to actually physically play the music, but it's another thing to actually feel it, play it from the heart, and put your own stamp on it. That's one of the things about the blues is that you can actually physically play it, but it's another to actually put emotion into it. One of my favorite quotes is from B.B. King who said, "You don't have to live hard times to play the blues. But it sure helps".That was one of the most profound things to me. And that takes time. It takes life experiences. You get the basics down, then when life starts happening, that's when it starts becoming reality. (Laughs)

NHOR : You've been putting out albums for over a decade now, and been a working musician for a lot longer. Is there anything that you wish you knew when you first started out, that you know now, that you feel any aspiring musician should know?

LL : A lot of mine was that when I was a kid I thought that I had to do a lot of things that I saw a lot of the older musicians doing. I felt that I had to develop a lot of the same habits. To be able to play and live life, like we were just talking about. Today, that's not true. That was one thing, through trial and hard times that I had to learn the hard way . I thought that if I wanted to play like Hendrix, or a lot of the old blues guys that I had to do the exact same things that they did. It wasn't that anyone was swaying me in that direction, it was my conception of it.

It's just like some guys think that if they want to sound like Eric Clapton they need to go get a '57 Strat and a Tweed Twin. Or if I want to sound like Jimi, or Jimmy Page, I need to go get this substance or that substance. That's not the case. You're just creating a whole lot of problems. That's one of the things about it, how it's around the industry, it's such a predominate part. I was just really lucky to find my way out of that and see the light. That's what I would say to the younger cats. Watch out for the pitfalls of alcohol and drugs, and trust your conscience. We know what's right and wrong, and that's the main thing to go with what you know is right and what's good. The other would be just practice, practice, practice. And when you get sick of practicing, practice some more. (Laughs) Keep working at it. Because it is a craft, and it is a trade. Work from your heart and you'll have it forever.

To order 'Salvation From Sundown' go to this location.

For more information on Lance Lopez go to this location.

Title track to 'Salvation From Sundown' 2010 :

Still Keeping The Blues Live & Loud : An Exclusive Interview With One Of Austin's Kings Of Tone, Blues Rock Guitar Legend Van Wilks

2009-11-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

In a career spanning over three decades Austin, Texas based guitarist Van Wilks has forged a blazing blues rock path filled with some of the most impressive playing to be found in the genre.

Lauded as one of the city's master players by both critics, fans and fellow musicians such as Eric Johnson and Billy Gibbons, the consistency of his work has made him stand out in a scene overfilled with hot guitarists year after year. While hot in - the - moment young axeslingers come and go, Wilks has earned the vast respect not only for his longevity, but for his commitment to his craft. Always learning a trick or two from newer players, he's succeeded in keeping his music fresh and vital in a genre characterized and bound in many ways by tradition.

Beginning his recording career with the hard rocking critically acclaimed Mercury Records release 'Bombay Tears' in 1980, an album hailed by the English rock mag Kerrang! as "a masterpiece",Wilks soon found himself out on the road touring the world with ZZ Top (with whom he shared management with at the time), Heart, Point Blank and others, showcasing in a live setting the taste and raw power which has seen him top both reader's and critics' polls in Austin as best guitarist time and time again. Declared "a perfect cross between Jimi Hendrix and Van Halen" by the Austin-American Statesman, his incendiary live performances have left many an audience stunned throughout the globe.

When more than deserving rock n roll success eluded him, Wilks turned towards a more bluesy direction after a long recording hiatus with 1995's 'Soul of a Man'. Still inspired by the English guitarists such as Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page,blues greats Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy alongside Jimi Hendrix, it was welcomed by both fans and critics warmly.

1999's 'Koko's Hideway', (which included a duet with Eric Johnson) 2002's 'Texas Jukin' and 2005's 'Running From Ghosts' continued the streak, with critics expousing platitudes in abundance at his outstanding instrumental and songwriting skills, once again establishing him as a unique force to be reckoned with in the highly competitive blues scene. Recently voted by the Austin Chronicle as both Best Acoustic Guitarist and Best Electric Guitarist 2009, its a testament to his enduring presence and talent.

Now Wilks is back with his first ever live album, 'Live & Loud From Austin, Texas'. Packaged as a combination CD/DVD package, for the first time those who have never had the opportunity to witness this exceptionally talented guitarist in a live setting will have the chance to do so. Although admittedly a bit short at 45 minutes due to it being recorded during an opening slot for Robin Trower, it still manages to convey the excitement of seeing and hearing the scorching hot blues rock attack which has been his stock in trade for many a year.

Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with Van at his home in Austin, where the topics of discussion ranged from the new live album, his thoughts on European versus American audiences, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the music scene in Austin, touring with ZZ Top, his musical influences and much, much more. Read on as we have an exclusive conversation with one of Austin's true kings of blues tone, Mr. Van Wilks.

Interview and text by Nightwatcher © 2009

Nightwatcher's House Of Rock : You have a brand new live album/DVD package out, 'Van Wilks Live & Loud from Austin, Texas'. You've been around a long time. Why did it take so long for you to release a DVD, and how do you feel that it turned out?

Van Wilks : I don't know. We're independent, and we would do something every now and then throughout the years, and it would turn out where I didn't like it. I'm not a perfectionist, but I wanted it to be where if somebody buys it, I want them to say, "Hey, this is okay". We'd just do things, and the guitar tone wasn't right, or something else. This one just really seemed to be us live, without any studio tricks or anything. It was just all right there. I was happy the way the show went down - the guitar sounded like I hoped that it would, and everything just seemed to click this time.

NHOR : You've wanted to release a live album for quite some time. What was it about this show which made it the one to record and film for a live release?

VW : We didn't really plan it. The guy came up and asked, "Hey, do you want me to come film this for you? We've got two cameras, and I can do it cheap". So, I said, Sure, why not". (Laughs) So, I got an engineer friend of mine, Chet Himes, who's done everybody in the world, like Eric Johnson, Ry Cooder, John Hiatt and many others, and he agreed to come record it. But that doesn't guarantee that it's going to be anything good. But I thought that what we were playing at the show was really smooth. We were opening for Robin Trower, and that's why it's only 45 minutes, because we didn't have a lot of time.

To me, that's the only drawback to the whole thing is the length. There's so much more stuff that I'd like to put on there. But that'll lead into another one I guess. It just seemed to flow really nice. We were in tune, nobody fell down, and nobody fell off the stage. (Laughs) It was just one of those nights that just felt right. You can strive all your life for perfection, never achieve it, and never put out anything. And I wanted to put out something that I'm proud of. But we'll do another one and it'll be longer. Right now I'm writing for another studio album and trying to get some new material for that as well.

NHOR : You recently completed a European tour of Germany, France and Switzerland. What was that like?

VW : It's always good over there. Sure, you have your nights where there's a football match going on, and people don't get out, but it's always very rewarding because, now that Bush is gone, they treat Texans really nice over there. (Laughs) They really respect the artist over there. Sometimes we'll play these towns that aren't even on the map, I'll wonder why we're there, you're in some guy's barn that night...I mean it's an official gig, but you're wondering, "Why aren't we in Paris or Berlin?"...but then it turns out to be the best gig of the tour. The place will be packed, the promoter's mother will cook the food, and you just get a sense of the culture. It's not just another gig in a club. It's the real deal, with real people, and you build this grassroots fan base that money can't buy. People that are just so happy that you came to their little town, and vice versa, I'm so happy I came to their little town.

We've never been a band who plays stadiums. We'll play Berlin or Paris, but there's something about these little towns that are scattered all over Germany and France. By little town I mean around 50,000, although there have been some places where I swear the town only had around 3,000 people in it. But it's kind of like Texas, where there's all these dancehalls in all these small towns, and people come from all over on a weekend, and the place is just packed. It's a different kind of experience, and I just love the fact that they love Texas blues rock. Getting radio airplay is next to impossible these days for bands like me, so it's heartening to know that you can go someplace and have an audience that's appreciative.

NHOR : Do you find that fans in Europe are in general more loyal than here in the States?

VW : Well, you've got your pockets of fans in little places everywhere. It seems like, because I've been getting a lot of CD orders...but I don't know. I had people in one German town, and in a French town, where people brought the vinyl album of 'Bombay Tears', from 1980 for me to sign. The guy said, "I've been following you for years". You can't beat that. You can't buy it, and you can't beat it. I love going over there. I like it over here too, but we toured over here for so long, and you get older and think, "Do I really want to do this?".

NHOR : You're from Austin, Texas, where it's said that you couldn't swing a cat and not hit someone who's a guitarist. Not that we'd do that, but what is it about Austin that makes it so conductive to producing so many fantastic players?

VW : It's always been a wide open music town, and it's been a melting pot. In the 70's when I started out here, there were clubs where you could play your own music. Like the Armadillo. They didn't say, "No, you've got to play Top 40 hits". They welcomed any type of creativity. Austin has long been a hotbed of creativity in all kinds of art and technology. Now Austin's gotten so big I think it's lost its charm. But there's still a lot of musicians. They come here expecting, because it's Austin, to be able to make a living playing music, but they learn really quick. It's tough. A lot of times it doesn't really matter how good you are, it's if you've got something to offer people, like a song that people can grab onto, not just a bunch of licks.

This town has produced some great players, but some of that is the city council going "Austin -The Live Music Capital Of The World". The musicians don't really feel that way. We're still trying to work here every day, and the noise ordinances are still shutting clubs down daily. Police are still giving you tickets for trying to load in your gear. Yet all the time the city council is going, "Live Music Capital Of The World!". So people hear that and they say, "Okay, let's go". It sounds negative, but that's the reality.

NHOR : There's always a public perception of how things are, then there's the reality...

VW : There are a lot of bars here, and way more musicians than there are places to play. There's a lot of cool towns though. Louisville, Kentucky...Chicago...New York, there's a lot of towns that could easily lay claim to that title. Of course Stevie put the place on the map. Speaking of that, when I toured with ZZ Top, I had Tommy Shannon on bass before he joined Stevie and Double Trouble, He was in my band Fools right after Johnny Winter and then a year or so after being with me he joined up with Stevie.

NHOR : You just touched on this...You came up in the same Austin scene of the 70's as Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan and Eric Johnson. What was that scene like at that time?

VW : There wasn't a whole lot of jamming going on. You had my blues rock scene, in 1976 we were band of the year, then later on in the 80's, then you had Eric, who was and is absolutely phenomenal, doing his fusion stuff. Then you had the blues, and the blues people were pretty clique-ish. I'm not saying Stevie or Jimmie were, it's just that this town bred a thought pattern of "Well, there's the Roman on a Monday night, and there's no rock n roll there, it's blues". And if you're not cool and tattoo'd, and not playing that, you're not playing. This was more from the fan base than from the musicians I think. We as musicians have always been pretty open to exchanges of ideas.

This town has always had these different facets of music. There's always been a really strong jazz presence here. So that's one clique. Then there was the Armadillo great "Cosmic Cowboy" scare of the 70's with Willie Nelson. That was huge. What I can readily say that I'm proud of if nothing else, is that I've survived all the fads in this town and haven't changed. Like punk rock came out in '78 or '79, then all of a sudden there were all these melodic rock musicians wearing skinny ties, they all ran over to that area. Then the next week they'd be playing with Jerry Jeff Walker. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but I feel it's important to stay true to what you do and try to make
the best of it.

NHOR : Speaking of Stevie, you used to see him all the way back when he was with Paul Ray and The Cobras. Did you ever hang around with Stevie, and if so, what was your impression of him as a person?

VW : We never sat around and played together but we had a lot of mutual friends. Tommy Shannon being one of them. I remember one time, I had a picture of Jimi Hendrix's grave in my wallet that I've always kept with me since we toured with Heart and were in the Seattle area, and they took me to Hendrix's grave in Renton, Washington.

So I showed it to Stevie and he got really quiet. I hadn't realized it, but he never saw Hendrix play live. I'm old enough to have seen Jimi four times, but Stevie never did. It sure didn't slow him down any from being able to channel him though. But he was really introspective and quiet. He wasn't a pushy, in your face type of person at all. Very humble. I'm not going to say I knew him well, but we didn't run in the same circles. He was always really accommodating. A really good guy.

NHOR : You got signed to former ZZ Top manager Bill Ham's Lone Wolf Productions through which you released your first album 'Bombay Tears' in 1980. How did you get hooked up with Bill?

VW : ZZ Top did their rompin' stompin' barbecue thing, that big gig here in Austin at Memorial Stadium with Bad Company and Santana. I didn't know any of them then, but I played a club that night and it just happened that Bill Ham came into the club, saw me play, then about a month later called and said, "Are you that guy that was playing?" So after that we hit the road, it was Tommy Shannon, Phil Ballinger and I, and we toured all over the place.

NHOR : It's been put forth in print that Bill Ham went around signing up all the hot Austin guitarists during that time to lessen the competition for his main act ZZ Top. It's been documented that Stevie Ray and Eric Johnson, to name two, had a hard time in their career because of it. In fact in Eric's case he had an album 'Seven Worlds' which sat on the shelf for over two decades before coming out due to his contractual obligations to Ham. Did you have any sort of problems regarding such legal issues?

VW : I've heard that. If he was smart enough to do that, okay. But I can't see that. I didn't feel it. I didn't feel like I was being held back. I finally did leave like everybody else did. But I don't feel like he did that. I mean Billy's a genius. He didn't need to lessen the competition for him.

NHOR : Your first album 'Bombay Tears' was released in 1980 on Mercury Records and you toured with ZZ Top and Point Blank among others to support the album. What was that experience like touring with ZZ Top?

VW : Nobody wants to open for ZZ. They're a hard act because the fans are so rabid, just fanatics. But we always did okay. They treated me all right. Billy and I are really close friends. Maybe back then we weren't as close as we are now, because we didn't know each other. But we got to know each other, and now we're really close. We've all had nightmare stories of being an opening act, no front lights, no sound check, lousy monitors...they just don't give a damn. But ZZ were fine. We didn't get any special favors just because we had the same management, but it did open a lot of doors, and got us in front of a lot of people. I don't know if it's such a good idea for an unknown three piece band to open for a well known three piece band, but we did it anyway. (Laughs)

NHOR : Seeing as you're long - time good friends with Billy Gibbons, have you ever talked about collaborating on a project together?

VW : Yeah, we have. He's let me use his studio in Houston. I've got some unreleased tracks that he didn't play on but he kind of arranged, and helped me change up some things. They're all on his Fairlight and drum machine and stuff, so they're more like demos. Hopefully...recently he's talked to me about it, asking if I had any ideas, he'd like to hear him. But we're more just friends who sit around and talk about things other than music a lot of times. I don't see him as being in ZZ Top, it's more like we're fraternity brothers or something. (Laughs)

NHOR : It's been nearly four years since your last studio album 'Running From Ghosts'. Have you done any recording towards a new studio album, and if so, is there a time frame when a new album might be released?

VW : Mostly I've just been doing little demos here and there. I haven't decided on any real direction yet. But hopefully I'll have a new album out in a year or so.

NHOR : Your 1980 debut album 'Bombay Tears' has been critically acclaimed, and the British hard rock magazine Kerrang! called it a masterpiece. How do you feel that the album holds up today?

VW : God, it's so old, and the songs are so ancient to me now, but every now and then I'll put it on, or somebody will talk about it. Let me say this. I'm still proud of it. Some of the stuff that I'll listen to I'll cringe a little bit, but that was a different era, and a different recording technique. It's not as heavy as I would like it to be. If we did it now it wouldn't sound so compressed. The guitar tones would be heavier. I was using more of a Stratocaster back then, and now I'm back into using a Paul Reed Smith and Les Pauls, so it's a much heavier sound. But I'm still proud of it and it was an incredible experience to be able to go to L.A. and do your first record.

The funny thing with people's first records is that you've had all those years to write it, then all of a sudden it's time for your second and you go, "Whoa! I've already used my good stuff".(Laughs) And I've never been really prolific. I've never been in a real hurry to put out stuff. There's guys who put out a record every six months, and I admire that. But for some reason I just can't. It just takes me longer.

NHOR : You went out to Los Angeles to record that album, which also features Flo & Eddie on background vocals. You've mentioned that was something you'll always remember. What was it about those sessions with Flo & Eddie that made it such a memorable experience?

VW : The producer, John Stronach, had worked with Joe Walsh, they had some ties, we needed some background singers, so that was quite a trip working with them. They'd been with Frank Zappa, The Turtles and many others, and I was wide eyed and star struck. Not so much by them, but I was in L.A. doing an album. Not doing anything but working on a record every day. It's a great experience to be able to do that. It was just kind of a magical time when I look back at it. I'm sure there were problems, and I'm sure we were griping about something. But all in all I look back and think, "Wow, that was pretty cool".

NHOR : That album has been out of print for years, and Mercury won't allow you to re release it. What are their reasons behind that, and have there been any further developments regarding being able to re issue the album?

VW : It's typical. They own the masters. I own the songs. So that's why I redid "1959" and "Travelin'" on the 'Running From Ghosts' album from a few years ago. So I could re record the whole thing, or if I had unlimited money I'm sure I could buy it back. If they even know where it is. But record companies are just like that. I'd just like the music out there. It never sold a lot of copies, but I'd love people to hear it, or at least have access to it. It's just a part of my history that I'm proud of. I think the guitar playing still holds up to anything else I've done.

I like songs. Even if it's a blues based, riff oriented rock song like most of mine are, I still like it to have something in there that gives it a little edge, rather than just another shuffle. Because there are people who can do that masterfully. I like to mix it up a bit. I've still got that British Invasion sensibility about me that I love. The English guitar players especially. The Beatles of course, then after that when everybody took American blues songs and put a heavier sound to it. Some flat out stole it, like Led Zeppelin and didn't give credit until later on, like "Whole Lotta Love".

But that's what got me to thinking. Actually, I didn't think, I just did it. These plain shuffle like, I - IV - V progressions, but you could put some echo on them, or something. I just loved that. It all changed, in 1968, 1969 with Cream, Jeff Beck, all those bands that everybody loves. We all got something from them. That's why I'm glad to see those guys still going strong.

NHOR : What was it about the English bands that caught your attention? What do you feel you picked up from them musically?

VW : I think a lot of the production values. I hate to use that term, but they'd have things like echo. There's be a spacy sound to it, but it'd still be a blues lick from Buddy Guy or someone. But I didn't know who Buddy Guy was back then. I heard it first, like a whole lot of my contemporaries through the English interpretations of the blues. It wasn't really until Billy Gibbons in the mid 70's made some tapes for me, some cassettes which I still have, that I became aware. I thought, man that's the same lick as Led Zeppelin! I didn't know "Whole Lotta Love" was "You Need Love". Willie Dixon wrote so many of those things, and on my Led Zeppelin vinyl it doesn't say that. It just says Page/Plant. Now it says Page/Plant/Dixon. Because Willie sued them and won.

It's amazing. I've become somewhat of an amateur musicologist. I'll play somebody a Led Zeppelin song, then I'll play them the original. Clapton always has seemed to give credit where it's due, but those first two Zeppelin albums, I don't know how they did that. "The Lemon Song", for example had lyrics right from Willie Dixon. Even The Rolling Stones always gave credit. They were just a cover band in the beginning covering American black music on their first couple albums.

Thank God for those people, because in Texas they weren't playing "race music", as they called it. Maybe Chuck Berry. But the first time I heard "Roll Over Beethoven" it was by George Harrison and The Beatles. I used to be embarrassed to admit that until I realized that in 1964, 1965, they were not playing Chuck Berry in Lubbock, Texas. Or anywhere in West Texas, no way. Or if they did, I didn't hear it anyway. It's good in a way, because it makes you go back. Then you start researching.

NHOR : Who were your biggest inspirations, guitar- wise when you were starting out?

VW : The Beatles, of course. That's what did it. I was around 13, and because of them everybody wanted to be in a band. Then it blossomed from there. There's hardly anybody I don't like. I'm very open, and I believe there's something to be learned from everybody. Even if it's what not to do. (Laughs)

I would also say the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards...there's no way to get around that. It was his rhythm playing that's so phenomenal. I don't think he's that great of a lead player at all compared to other lead players. But My God...things like the open G tuning, when I finally figured out that's what he was doing on a lot of that stuff, I do a lot of open tuning things probably because of him and his influence. Joni Mitchell is also one of my all time favorites. David Crosby is another. That came much later though.

In terms of early inspirations it'd have to be all those English guys. I like all that English stuff. I love Jethro Tull from back then. Martin Barre I think is an incredibly underrated guitar player. But the main ones would be Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and early Clapton. The Cream stuff, and The Yardbirds I still listen to all the time. I remember discovering 'Five Live Yardbirds', when Clapton was still with them, and it had a lot of hints of what was about to come with Led Zeppelin.

NHOR : What was it about the blues that attracted you?

VW : I think the simplicity on the surface of it. The holes. You don't always have to fill up every hole with a note. To me, it's always been about what you don't play. That can be as important as what you do play. Just leave some breathing room. When I first heard a blues song, I think it was The Carter Brothers' "Booze In The Bottle". I think I even have the 45 still. I don't know how I heard about them, or where they came from, but what I liked about it was that the singer would sing something, then the guitar would echo it. Call and response. That was just different for me. It just really struck me.

I was into The Beatles too, like most of my friends, but somehow I started gravitating towards the blues. I've never been a blues purist, like Jimmie Vaughan by any means. I like everything. So one day I'd be totally absorbed in Muddy Waters then the next day I'd be back to Led Zeppelin. I'm glad about that. I've got a healthy lack of direction because of it. (Laughs)

NHOR : Do you feel coming from a rock background as you did was a benefit to you in terms of playing the blues?

VW : I think so, in the fact that I could develop my own style from stealing from the best. You take a little bit of blues, take a little bit of this, little bit of that. There's only so many notes. We're going to eventually sound like somebody.

NHOR : You collaborated with Eric Johnson on a version of "What Child Is This" for the Texas Christmas Collection' album, which was actually recorded in 1981 and Eric made a guest appearance on your album 'Koko's Hideaway' which came out in 1999. Have there been any discussions between you and Eric towards doing another collaboration?

VW : Yes, and that was just our take on Jeff Beck's "Greensleeves" off of 'Truth'. All of that stuff's really spontaneous. It's just one day I called him and asked, "Hey, do you want to play on this?" And he said, "Okay". I'd love to collaborate more, it's just he's busy and we're all doing our thing. He sits in with me on occasion at gigs, or I'll go out to Eric's studio. We haven't really played together that much, unless he comes out to a gig or something. But he's a monster. Way past the monster stage as a guitarist actually.

NHOR : You recently won the Austin Chronicle's Best Electric and Acoustic Guitarist' awards at the Austin, Music Annual SXSW Music Awards. What was that like for you, being recognized in your hometown like that?

VW : You never know. It's an honor just to keep your name in the news, but you never know why you win them. I used to win those things in the 80's, and I hadn't won one in years. So it's good to still have a musical presence in the musical community where you live. It's an honor especially in this town. It's actually embarrassing to win that, because there are so many fantastic players here. You have Eric Johnson, David Grissom, Redd Volkaert....but I guess it was just my time this year. Next year it'll be somebody else.

NHOR : Live, what constitutes a great performance for you?

VW : Playing good enough to where there's an audience response to the point you feel like they're really digging it, and they're not sitting there drinking and facing the opposite way. (Laughs) Austin's famous for people going to clubs and just talking about the band instead of sitting there and listening to them. I guess a lot of towns are like that. You've got your people who really come out to hear the music, then you have the people who just come out to hang out in the bar.

I think when the tone is right, and the guitar's just kind of playing itself, that's when I'm happiest playing live. Because we're always in a search for tone. It'll never end. It just seems that everytime you get up to play it sounds a little bit different. But you're always looking for consistency and that perfect tone. Always trying a new gadget or a new guitar. Then you realize that all those great sounds you heard...Hendrix didn't have all that stuff. He had a Crybaby wah, a Fuzz Face and a Marshall amp. That was it. A great guitarist, it's in their fingers. No matter what guitar Eric Johnson picks up it still sounds like him.

NHOR : He could play a cheap $50.00 guitar and it'd sound the same...

VW : Yeah, I've seen him do that. (Laughs) He still sounds just like him. It's all in the fingers.

NHOR : What has been the most memorable show in your career so far?

VW : That's impossible to say. There have been so many. After all these years there's just too many to count. I wouldn't know how to answer that. I've liked some of our overseas shows that we've done, like when we opened for ZZ Top in France. That went off really good. Billy sat on the side of the stage, and that made me feel really good. That was a couple of years ago. A lot of it's location. If you're standing on a stage in Corsica looking out over these mountains, you're going, "Man, I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I'm playing guitar".

I think you're blessed if you can do what you love most, perpetuate it,keep it going and make some sort of living. I've never had a hit, but I've always done what I've wanted to do, and survived the fads. I don't know if that was such a great idea now, perhaps I should've switched over whenever something new comes out. (Laughs) But an artist does assimilate things. Like Gibbons did with that drum machine in the 80's. Like The Stones did with "Miss You". They kind of took disco and made it into a Stones type of thing. Or when they did "Shattered", it was a punk song. So the smart ones know how to do that and stay current.

NHOR : But at the same time you can't just chase trends because people will see right through that...

VW : Oh do they ever. And let's hope they continue to do so.

NHOR : You also teach guitar. What is the most prevalent question you get asked by students who you give lessons to?

VW : Usually they want to know something by whoever their hero is of the day. That's what keeps me fresh. That's why I'm glad I teach. Tommy Shannon's teaching with me too in my little studio. A student will come in with some band that I've never heard of because it's a new Internet band or something, and I'll have to learn it. It keeps me fresh. What they ask most...well, I've got such a diversity of students...and before they can ask me anything I'll tell them, "Hey you've got to learn these basic chords before you can do anything". They want to come in and blast out Metallica or something right off the bat. Well, okay, but Metallica had to learn these bluesy things too. I try to teach them things like Jimmy Reed, a kind of shuffle at first. Even if they don't like blues. Sometimes I have to convince the metalheads that even the heaviest bands were doing this kind of stuff.

What I find so amazing at my age, is that we didn't like our parents' music and they didn't like ours. But now the kids today...I had one whose mother wanted her to learn "Stairway To Heaven", and the daughter loves it. What that means to me is it's a testament to our generation of music. It has withstood the test of time. Otherwise there would be no term such as "Classic Rock". Those songs are just as good today as they were back then if not better. All the Beatles stuff, and Led Zeppelin's as big as they ever were.

NHOR : To give a time reference that would have been like someone in the late 60's, early 70's listening to Big Band or Swing music and wanting to learn how to play it. I'm sure there were a few, but for the most part at that time it just simply wasn't done...

VW : But now I love Sinatra. But then, it just wasn't cool. My parents were pretty tolerant. But I remember my mother not knocking it, but I remember her sitting in the other room and Jimi's "Third Stone From The Sun" was on, and she was saying, "That sounds like cows". (Laughs) Now that I think about it, it did. He was taking his whammy bar and making these low rumbling up and down sounds. But there just was not a connection with parents and their kids' music. I think it might be happening today again with rap. There's no connection, at least I can't think of any parents I know that might like a rap tune like their kids might. But I really like the fact that music has brought together these disparate groups, the parent and the kid. They're both listening to Led Zeppelin now.

I have a lot of students that their parents will say, "God, I used to see him 25 years ago, and now my kid's taking lessons from him". It makes me feel good. A lot of the young kids that I teach are wanting to learn Classic Rock. I'd say 90 % of them. Ever since I've been teaching Led Zeppelin's always been a big staple, along with The Beatles. I think it's wonderful. A lot of the younger girls want country music here in this town.

As a musician it keeps me on my toes and if I ever complain about it to myself, I'll go, "God man, you've got a guitar in your hand all day long". It gives me the opportunity to pick and choose my gigs better. I don't have to drive to Lubbock, or somewhere I don't want to go just to make a living. Because I hear guys complaining about that all the time. At least they're still making a living playing music, but here I've got my own studio. It's a blessing. Tommy Shannon doesn't really want to tour that much anymore, so he's beginning to teach a little bit, and he's certainly got a lot to offer people from his career.

NHOR : Your playing has been described by The Austin - American Statesman as "The perfect cross between Jimi Hendrix and Van Halen". How would you personally rate your playing? Are you satisfied with your playing?

VW : No, never. And the day I am is the day I become complacent. I'm always wanting to learn some little lick or riff, and that's one of the benefits of teaching. I have to. It's flattering to be compared to people like that. I remember I was doing all that finger tapping before I even knew who Eddie Van Halen was. I don't know where I got it. Of course he took it to monstrous heights. When 'Bombay Tears' came out in 1980, people were saying, "Oh, that's what Eddie Van Halen does". So, I backed off on the tapping. (Laughs)

NHOR : Are there any guitarists that you have heard recently who have piqued your interest?

VW : There's always somebody. I like Redd Volkaert. He lives here now. He's one of those Country Swing players, like Danny Gatton, just monstrous. A guy named Oz Noy. I'm not completely familiar with all his music but I have a CD someone gave me of his. I was in Europe, and some friends of mine brought him to town. He had David Letterman's drummer Anton Fig and Roscoe Beck on bass. Eric Johnson sat in with them both nights that they played here. so the guy is a monster. I like innovative guys like that.

But I still keep going back to the classics. The older I get...it's not that I'm not receptive to new music, but I like what I like. (Laughs) There's so many good groups out there now though you can't keep up with them.

NHOR : What advice, if any would you give to a young player just starting out?

VW : Be as open minded as you can musically. Learn and play as many different styles as you can. But try and have your own. Try to assimilate it. Don't spend all your time just trying to sound like somebody, just spend enough time to where you get the feel of that person, then try to make it your own. Try to write songs instead of just licks. Most of all have fun with it. Don't get caught up in the business and the seriousness of it. I had one student, this girl who all she talked about is meetings and such. "Oh, I've got a meeting with an attorney etc". I thought if you'd just sit down, play your guitar and had fun with it I think you'd get to where you want to be faster. There's got to be a combination of all that stuff, but I think just playing as much as you can, having fun with it, and stretching yourself, learning new things, keep it moving and progress. We're all going to get into little ruts now and then.

For more info on Van Wilks, for live dates or to order any of his albums go to http://www.vanwilks.com/

Title track from Van Wilks' debut album 'Bombay Tears' 1980 :

"Without A Word" from Van Wilks 'Live & Loud From Austin, Texas' CD/DVD 2009 :

Of A Lifetime : An Exclusive Interview With Legendary Santana, Journey Vocalist Gregg Rolie

2009-07-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

As an original co -founder of supergroups Santana and Journey, keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Rolie disproved the old adage that lightning never strikes twice.

First off, as a founding member and important contributor and architect of the original Santana sound via his exemplary musicianship, vocals and songwriting abilities Rolie, along with master guitarist Carlos Santana, rhythm guitarist Tom Fraser, bassist Gus Rodriguez, drummer Rod Harper and percussionist Michael Carabello forged an original, unique sound which had never been heard before.

True, there had been Latin rock, all the way back to Ritchie Valens in the late 1950's, but it was the groundbreaking vision which melded the ethnic sounds with a British blues sensibility, jazz-like improv and heavy rock that captured the world's attention with the release of the band's debut self-titled album in 1969. Buoyed by the band's historic appearance at the Woodstock Festival in August, a performance immortalized by the inclusion of "Soul Sacrifice" in the 1970 award-winning documentary, it sent them on a stratospheric journey to stardom.

It was Rolie's vocals which were at the forefront of the band's early classics. With hits such as "Evil Ways", "Black Magic Woman", "Hope You're Feeling Better" and "No One To Depend On", it's safe to say his voice and stellar Hammond B-3 keyboard work are heard on a daily basis world - wide on Classic Rock radio to this very day.

Success of that magnitude would be more than enough for 99% of all musicians. For Rolie, though, his musical path was just beginning. After leaving Santana in 1972 after the 'Caravansarai' album, and subsequent to some time spent in his birthplace of Seattle, he rejoined former bandmate Neal Schon in San Francisco. and together they formed Journey, for whom his lead vocals graced the band's first three albums. Although they didn't sell enough at the time to preclude the acquisition of Steve Perry as frontman at the insistence of Columbia Records execs in the fall of 1977, the releases have over the course of the past three decades increased in stature as prime examples of progressive hard rock of the 70's.

After several more albums with Perry at the vocal helm, a shift to a more pop vocal sound saw the band shoot to mega superstardom, going multi - platinum and becoming the AOR icons they are today. Ultimately, following the release of the prophetically named 'Departure' album in 1980, Rolie, exhausted from extensive touring, left the band and recommended pianist Jonathan Cain of The Babys as his permanent replacement.

Post Journey he released two solo albums in the 80's before forming The Storm in 1991 with Steve Smith, Ross Valory, Josh Ramos and Kevin Chalfant. Hitting #3 on Billboard's Album Charts with their self-titled album, which spawned the Top Ten single "I've Got A Lot To Learn About Love" , the changing musical climate and the popularity of grunge caused their follow-up to be shelved until 1996. After reuniting with guitarist Neal Schon in Abraxas Pool for an album, he returned to solo work with the release of 'Roots' in 2001. In the midst of all the recording, Rolie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame as a member of Santana in 1998.

Now Rolie is back with a brand new live CD and DVD, 'Live From Sturgis'. A storming set recorded in 2007 at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, the hour plus show is chock full of early Santana classics. With a band featuring fellow original Santana band founding member Michael Carabello and another ex member in bassist Alphonso Johnson, the album is a must have for fans of the orginal sound. In fact, it's so close it's highly debatable that Carlos himself could do better these days.

Recently I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Rolie during a break in his touring schedule to discuss the new releases, the history of the early Santana and Journey bands, the Woodstock festival and much, much more. Read on as we have an exclusive conversation with one of rock's true legends - Gregg Rolie.....

Special Thanks to Billy James @Glass Onyon PR for coordinating, and a BIG thanks to Gregg Rolie for doing this interview with Nightwatcher's House Of Rock!

Interview and text by Nightwatcher © 2009

July 31, 2009

Nightwatcher's House Of Rock : First off, you have an upcoming DVD and limited edition CD release out which was recorded live in Sturgis in 2007. What can you tell us about that, and what material will be featured on the video?

Gregg Rolie : The material that I feature with this band is the stuff that I did in Santana, and about half new material. Even obscure songs that Santana did, such as "As The Years Go Passing By", the Albert King song. That arrangement was changed drastically when I was in Abraxas Pool. We did an arrangement that was off the wall. That's on this, and it's got a whole latin groove at the end of it. It ends up being about 12 minutes long, pretty extensive and totally different. But it's based on latin rock, for lack of a better description. It's an hour long, and the band plays tremendously. There were 17 cameras used, HD. We've done the audio, and the cuts are pretty extensive. With 17 cameras they'll be there for awhile. But it should be out the middle of the year.

NHOR : Will this be just a straight performance video or will there be bonus features also?

GR : I'm trying to also get some interviews together. One of them is with Herbie Herbert, who was my manager in Journey. Who knows more about my history than I do. (Laughs) He probably remembers it better, and he'll tell the truth.

NHOR : The DVD features your current band, which besides yourself includes founding Santana member Michael Carabello on Congas, Adrian Areas (son of original Santana percussionist Jose Chepito Areas) on Timbales, drummer Ron Wikso (who was also in The Storm), Kurt Griffey on guitars, Santana alumni bassist Alphonso Johnson and former Jean Luc Ponty keyboardist Wally Minko. How would you say this current band rates against any of the others you've played in?

GR : I've been telling people for a long time that it's the best band I've ever played in. That's for many reasons. First of all, this band may not have developed the music that we play, but we play it really well. Santana was a phenomenon, a melting pot of ideas and people from different walks of life when nobody else did it. That part I'm extremely proud of. We just played as hard as we could and created a music no one had done before. If you want to talk about crossing borders, we crossed so many of them. I'm Norwegian, Michael Schrieve's Irish, Carlos is from Mexico, and David Brown was a black guy from San Francisco. We created something that nobody had ever done. It never got in the way. The only thing that ever got in the way was the music. When we disagreed on the music, that's when it changed. As far as developing that style of music - that was done by the original six people.

In this band I've found players...Alphonso played with Santana, Adrian Areas is the son of the original Santana timbale player. Mike Carabello was in Santana, and of course, I played in the band as well. Wally gets it, and Ron Wikso has been with me for 15 years. He can play just about anything as well. So they really get and understand this music. So the new music I've heard from people, "Is that an old Santana song that I've never heard?" No, I just wrote it. It really comes across like it's supposed to. It's got all the fire and spit. What I'm getting at is that I don't know if this band would've created the music that we are playing, even though we're kind of doing it now.

But the stage was set by the original group, and I don't ever want to take away from that. Because it never would have been what it is today without that original band. It's a real feather in my cap, as they would say years ago. (Laughs) But the band I have today is phenomenal. The other part of it is being able to travel. It's about the hang. If you can hang with people, you can play with people. These guys, I enjoy seeing them every time I go to play. So it comes off onstage, and it's part of the entertainment. We usually hear from people, "You guys look like you're really happy up there." It's because we are. And, if it looks like we're having an even better time than the audience is even, it's because we are. (Laughs) It's great, and that's kind of it all in a nutshell, what this new band I have accomplishes. I look forward to playing every time we go out.

NHOR : The Gregg Rolie Band is also part of the PBS special Trini Lopez Presents The Legends of Latin Music, which was filmed at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles last November, and is scheduled to be aired in August. What was that like?

GR : On The Legends of Latin Music we're on there with El Chicano, Tierra, Little Willie G. & Thee Midniters and Trini Lopez, and it is based on the latin music that came out in the early 60's through the 70's. All the bands were really great, and it was recorded well. It sounds great. It's really good. We played "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen", "Oye Como Va", and I think they wanted "Evil Ways". We did two other songs, a new one, and "Soul Sacrifice" as well. They're going to post the others some other time.

NHOR : Going back to the beginning, what was the defining moment which was the catalyst for you becoming a musician?

GR : I hate to be simple, and I've heard other guys talk about this, but it was just so easy to get a date. (Laughs) I loved music, and I was tinkering around with the piano, and it was like, "Wow, I don't have to speak. This is great!" It kind of got me inspired. That's kind of the end of the story, but when I was a kid, there always was a piano in the house all the time. My older brother took piano lessons, and he's probably a better piano player than me. But I got into it because he did. It was sibling rivalry. Then I started taking lessons from this woman, and I still can smell her perfume. I hated doing it, and I would've rather been out playing baseball. (Laughs) I only took about six weeks of lessons. Everything else is self taught. But I loved Jimmy Smith, at 11 or 12, when I didn't even know what a Hammond organ even was.

When things evolved, as I got older, about four years, I knew more and more, and bands started developing. I had a bit of talent at it, and I just jumped in. That's kind of it, in a real brief nutshell. I bought a Hammond B-3 when I was in a band called William Penn and his Pals, where I had a Vox organ. It was a take off on Paul Revere and The Raiders, and we were pretty big around the Bay area in San Francisco. That kind of stuff died out pretty quickly, then everybody was into blues and other things. That's when I ended up with the Hammond B-3.

NHOR : Your first band was William Penn and his Pals, and with that band you gigged around the San Francisco area, opening for The Jefferson Airplane, Paul Revere & The Raiders and Them. The band reportedly also adopted Revolutionary War-era stage garb that included ruffled shirts and tri-cornered hats. What do you recall about being in that band?

GR : I think I have a poster of that gig with the Airplane somewhere. The main thing I recall being in the band is that I didn't play other people's music all that well. (Laughs) It was a struggle, so it was better that I played something of my own. We did that stuff well and I learned a lot of things through it, but I just didn't know enough at the time to play it as well as it should have been. But then again that would have been just mimicking what they did. I was more inventive, or less talented perhaps. (Laughs) I ended up creating my own music from that. When I met Carlos, all of that came together for me. It was what I wanted to do. It was based on jamming and playing. It was way cool, so that's the way I went.

NHOR : You were born in Seattle, but came to the San Francisco Bay area, forming the original Santana Blues Band in 1966. What led you to San Francisco, and what was the Bay area scene like for you when you got there?

GR : Well, I was born in Seattle, but I was really raised in Palo Alto. I came to California when I was about 7, when we moved here. But the whole scene there when I moved up from Palo Alto was quite an experience because it was a rougher edged place. I went up to San Francisco purely because of the music I moved into the city... this was the Summer of Love, and we were really into the music, and wanted to be an international band. It was our driving force. It was a great place to get that across.

San Francisco at that time, you could draw an equivalency to what Seattle became in the '90's. It was the same kind of ideal, when the music scene totally changed. It was a very experimental type of music that was based upon blues that all of a sudden was miraculously found by everyone from FM radio. That's kind of what happened. This whole society was created, this culture by this. Everybody was so into music, they'd buy albums, and couldn't wait for the bands to come. The Fillmore with Bill Graham would put these bands together, like Miles Davis, Santana and B.B. King. He would put things together that you would never think of, and people came. They listened, and they liked it, and they'd buy those records. They started a whole musical revolution. They were ready for that. That's what it was like. It was a very cool place to be 21, 22 years old.

NHOR : You first met Carlos Santana in the summer of 1966 at a jam session organized by Tom Fraser. What do you recall about that first meeting, and what was that first jam session like? Do you remember what was played?

GR : Not at all, we were just jamming and playing blues riffs, just goofing on stuff. I've often told this story, but I met Carlos in a tomato patch. What happened there was Tom Fraser found him up in San Francisco and brought him down to Mountain View. We went to this jam session in some garage which was in a farm house somewhere. We were playing, making all kinds of racket, smoking, and pretty soon the cops came. I looked around and said, "We've got to get out of here," because we heard the sirens. I looked over at Carlos and he was already about 50 yards down the road. (Laughs) He was way more hip than I was. We jumped and hid in a tomato patch, and that's where I met him. We just laid there until the cops left, then we went and got his stuff. That was the start of it.

NHOR : Carlos has said that it was Bill Graham who introduced the band to the latin sounds which would be incorporated quite successfully both artistically and commercially. What was it like for you when Bill brought in songs such as Willie Bobo's "Evil Ways" and Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va"? Did you take to the sounds right away?

GR : No. With "Evil Ways", it's a funny thing. Bill Graham gave us that song to play, and we actually played it for him. But at the time we were going, you've got t be kidding? Because we were playing things like "Soul Sacrifice". We were trying to be a jam band, with a lot of playing. We were saying, yeah, we can play this. It turned out to be our first hit song, so it shows how much we knew. (Laughs) We did it for Bill really. We did it really well, but Carlos didn't want to play that song forever. None of us really were digging on it at the time. I play it now and I love it, but back then we wanted to rock, or be jazz, or be something else.

With "Oye Como Va", when that got brought in, I didn't know what to do. I ended up having to assimilate the instruments that Tito Puente had with an organ. We just started doing it, and it turned out to be one of my favorite songs. I love playing it, and I ended up with a solo that I don't know where it came from. To this day I play it the same. I love it. That's how it happened though with those songs. I was kind of in a different place. I kind of came from the rock end of it, which was my contribution to it all, in terms of the arranging, the vocals and such. That was pretty much me.

NHOR : The band caught the attention of Bill Graham during afternoon auditions at The Fillmore in 1967, and made their first appearance at the venue as a last minute replacement....

GR : Yeah it was on a Tuesday night. Carlos played with Mike Carabello, Danny Haro and Gus Rodriguez, and that's where Tom Fraser saw him. Tom saw that group, then Carlos came down to Mountain View, and that's how that story is connected.

NHOR : When you were recording the debut Santana album, did you feel that the material you were coming up with was revolutionary? Before that album, there really hadn't been a meld of latin rock rhythms and heavy blues based rock....

GR : When we were recording that album, we did it in about 16 days. It was a ridiculous amount of time that we spent recording it. We worked on it for about 12 to 14 hours a day, and we just slammed it out. When I knew it was something was, #1, I played it for my mom, and she just cried. She told me, "This is real music." I was kind of dumbfounded. The same thing happened with a woman who worked in our office. She listened to it and started crying, and I thought, Wow! It didn't do that to me, but that's when I knew we were really striking a note with the music. Then of course Woodstock came upon us, right around the release date, which couldn't have been more perfect.

NHOR : Speaking of Woodstock, what are your recollections of playing the festival and what was it like for you?

GR : We flew in to Woodstock, and I remember Barry Imhoff, who worked for Bill Graham, was in there with us. He said, "Look at all those people down there!" I looked down, and it didn't really strike me, because it looked like ants on a hill, peas on mashed potatoes or something. It didn't really strike me at all. We had played in front of 10,000 people, but I had no consciousness of what 500,000 people looked like to know anything else. Especially from a helicopter... yeah, it looked like a lot of people. So we landed, as you couldn't drive in anymore, because they had parked on the highway and blocked everything.

We got there and played, and looking out, it didn't bother me too much because you could only see so far, and past that all you could see was brown, all the hair. So it wasn't frightening because it didn't gel. We'd played as I said to 10,000 before. Thank God it didn't, because I'd probably have been scared to death had I known what was going on. I remember staying to watch Sly & The Family Stone, because I wanted to see him play, then we left after that. They drove us out, and that's when it hit me of just how big this was, because it took forever to get through 500,000 people in a car. It was pretty amazing, but if you were there and you played, then got into the movie you had a career.

NHOR : Warner Home Video has just released the deluxe 40th anniversary box set of the 'Woodstock' movie which has extra footage of Santana's set. What can you tell us about that?

GR : "Evil Ways" is one that they added. "Persuasion" was supposed to be on it, but I believe there were some contractual issues between Sony and Warner Brothers. It doesn't matter, but "Evil Ways" is in it now, along with "Soul Sacrifice". They've done some other cuts and edits as well.

NHOR : Michael Lang has announced that there will be a Woodstock 40th anniversary show, and that he's trying to get as many of the original bands to appear. Have you been approached as a member of the original Santana band to be a part of that? Is that something you would even consider, either with Santana or with the Gregg Rolie Band?

GR : I would love to play. Although getting the original Santana band back together would be pretty impossible. It's a shame, but sometimes you just can't go back. We've done a couple of things, and the last thing we did was for the Voices Of Latin Rock, when Carlos came, and I was there, and Mike Schrieve and Mike Carabello. David Brown wasn't there of course because he's deceased. We played "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen" and "Oye Como Va". We hadn't been together in 20, 30 years? It was pretty phenomenal, but I think it would just be too hard, with the personality differences.

NHOR : People grow apart too many times after awhile too...

GR : Yes, that's true. It really was a thing in its time that I'm really proud of, and I'm so glad to have met these guys. But sometimes you just move on, and that's just the way it is.

NHOR : You left Santana in 1972 after four albums. What led you to leave at that time?

GR : It was mainly musical differences. We argued about everything, but mostly we argued about music. That was the one thing we really had in common, and when that fell apart, there was nothing there anymore. In fact, I don't think we knew each other well enough to get through an argument about that. It was that serious for everyone, the music itself. So it just kind of fell apart. It was too much, too soon. We all knew we were right, which would be one way of putting it. Everybody had a hand in why it all fell apart. I think also it was just how it was in time. It had its moment, and the band created something that nobody had ever done before, and it just kind of filtered out. It's kind of an amazing phenomenon.

NHOR : So, you don't see that happening again - joining back for a reunion?

GR : No I don't think so. I'd sure entertain the idea, but I don't see it happening. I'd love to try, but I don't think it'll happen.

NHOR : During your time in Santana was when you first met Neal Schon, who joined the band in 1971, when he was actually asked by Eric Clapton to join Derek & The Dominos, but because Carlos called first, he joined the Santana band instead. What was it about Neal's playing at age 17 that had attracted the band's attention?

GR : Actually the way it happened was I brought Neal around. I met him through a band called Old Davis, and jammed with him for hours in a club where he shouldn't even had been allowed in at the time. (Laughs) He was 15, or 16 years old. He was fantastic. I played with him for hours, then brought him around while we were recording 'Abraxas'. He actually played on some songs, did this and that, then Carlos came in and re-did things.

It was late at night and they jammed, but I couldn't very well say, "Carlos, I'd like to see another guitar player in here," although I loved the way Neal played. Carlos had to bring it up, and he did after playing with him. He asked me, "What do you think about having another guitar player in the band?" I told him I thought it was a great idea. We ended up having more harmony guitar lines and different solos, different ways of playing, which just added to the band's music.

NHOR : You left the music business for a year or so after leaving Santana to help run a family owned restaurant in Seattle. What was it that brought you back to San Francisco and into Journey in 1973?

GR : Well, it was Neal and Herbie Herbert. Herbie was the manager of Journey, and he was also the stage manager/equipment manager/roadie deluxe, who did everything in Santana. They got together, put something together, then called me up when I was up in Seattle and asked me, "Do you want to do this?" I said, "Okay, I'll try it." It was really set out to be The Golden Gate Rhythm Section, which was the original name. It was put together to back up solo artists that might come into town, at least that was the story. But they were dead serious about it and within two weeks it was a band. Then we were looking for drummers, and moving on and making records, trying to get a deal. I got a call very early on when they were just starting up, and I wasn't doing anything, so I figured, hey, I'll give it a go.

NHOR : What is your opinion of the first three Journey albums before Steve Perry was brought into the band? Those albums only sold moderately at the time, but have really developed a cult following in the years since....

GR : At that time the band sold more tickets than we did records. We could sell out throughout the country, small halls, so we had a career. But we were out to make records and sell them. At that time as a band, we played music for solos. There were songs, but they were based on solos. In that one regard, it was Santana-esque, but that's all. There was no latin percussion, or a latin feel to it. It was a fusion rock band, with a lot of soloing. It was based on the energy of that at the time. That's why the band always did well when we played live. People were blown away by it. There was some really good playing on those albums, some really good stuff. I've got a lot of compliments on those albums.

But finally we got to the point where it was the fact that, we're in the music business, we need to make a living doing this. The idea of having a lead singer, I thought, was tremendous. I'd never done it before, and it didn't bother me in the least to give up singing leads. Because I was always playing keybords, singing, writing... playing harmonica, and other various instruments. I was pretty well strapped anyway. Plus, it was the sign of the times, and I was encouraged by it.

NHOR : By the time after the third album, 'Next' reportedly the band was told to get a lead vocalist or face being dropped by Columbia. How desperate was the situation at that time for the band?

GR : Herbie Herbert held that back pretty well, but I found out that was exactly what was going on. We found one guy, Robert Fleischmann, and we liked him because he could really scream, and he wrote some good stuff, some of which is on the 'Infinity' album. Herbie had found Steve Perry, and he basically said, "This IS your new singer." So, that's how that went. Herbie just decided. We went, alright, I guess. Then, 80 million records later, he might have been right. (Laughs)

NHOR : Herbie Herbert has stated that Neal hated Steve, and he had to force him to bring him into the band. What was the situation behind that?

GR : Yeah, Neal and I both. We wanted somebody.... We wanted a Sammy Hagar type, and Steve was a crooner. We were just like, "What?!" Neal and Perry then did a lot of the writing. They came up with "Patiently." The first time I heard that song, I think we were in Colorado. They came out and played it, and they'd worked on it all night. I was going, "That's really good." (Laughs) Wow... it was totally different, and that was kind of ther start of that whole thing. Herbie was right about it, and Neal acquiesced, obviously. (Laughs)

NHOR : After the release of 'Departure' in 1980 and attendant tour, you left the band. Was it a case of being burnt out at the time? Herbie Herbert has put forth that there was tension between you and Steve Perry which contributed to your departure. Is there any truth to that?

GR : He added to it. The point was, though, I was fried. I'd had enough. I'd built two bands, been on the road for 14 years, wanted to start a family. That was my own personal decision. I really just didn't want to do that anymore. I didn't want to travel anymore. I disliked it. Steve... no one got along too well with Steve. (Laughs) I don't like to be pinpointed quite that way. But yeah, he made it an easier choice, that's for sure. It was time to go. For both our sakes, for the band and myself. It was just time. I made that choice, and started a family. I'm glad I made that choice. I have a great family. And now my family is kicking me out of the house and making me get out on the road again because they want to have parties and stuff. (Laughs)

NHOR : You actually brought your replacement, Jonathan Cain, who was with The Babys at the time, to the attention of the band. What did you see in Jonathan that made him in your opinion a good replacement for you?

GR : I just figured he could play what I was playing. He could sing what I was singing, and he played guitar, which Neal really wanted, somebody else who could play guitar as well. I just said, "This guy can cover anything I'm doing, so this might be a really good choice." I didn't know then that he was the writer that he was. He ended up penning some pretty big hits for the guys.

NHOR : Have you heard any of the band's recent albums? What is your opinion of Arnel Pineda, who was brought into the band via being found on YouTube for the latest studio album?

GR : Well, he nails the stuff really well. Perry, technically wise, you can find very little fault in what he did. He sang background and lead vocals for the four years that I was there, six to eight months out of the year, and did not falter. That's incredible. Because that singing is at the top of anybody's range. That's pretty good. So this guy Arnel hits that same stuff, and it's really hard to sing up there.

NHOR : And the inevitable question would be, given the hoopla around any major band reuniting these days, what do you feel are the chances of Journey, with you and Steve Perry, reuniting again?

GR : I doubt that would happen. Everybody's just kind of moved on, and that's okay. It shouldn't be a big deal. They do what they're doing, and they've got their singer now. Perry... I don't know what he's doing now as a matter of fact. So, I couldn't answer for him. But for me, I love what I'm doing right now, and I would find it very difficult to move away from it.

It's just like with us, everybody wants us to play all the Santana songs, or old Journey songs. I'm going, "Look, I'm doing as many old Santana tunes as I want to do. I want to play new music." Which we do, but it's based on that music. So it fits and makes sense. But it's really what I enjoy doing. When I went back to do this music, it kind of just came out. I did the 'Roots' CD in 2001, and in my writing I was trying to direct it towards being more of an acoustic album, and just really focusing on what it ought to be. But finally I felt that I'm just going to write stuff and see what comes out. Everything that came out was latin based, or something like it. So I figured this is what I'm really about. I guess it's because I was weaned on it. So I did it first, and everything that came out was in that style. When we recorded it, it started getting really good, and it just got better and better. Pretty soon I thought we'd better start a band, and here I am. It happened that quickly.

NHOR : What do you consider to be the recorded performances of yours which you're most pleased with, either as a musician or a vocalist?

GR : There are many, for many reasons. I think the best song I've ever written is "That's The Way It goes", which is on the 'Roots' CD. But that's a really hard question. I like so many of them, for so many different reasons. But as for penning a song all by myself, that one comes to mind. "Soul Sacrifice", with Carlos, David Brown and Marcus Malone would be another. There are a ton of them, for different reasons.

NHOR : Your last studio album 'Roots' was released in 2001. Are there any plans for releasing another in the not too distant future?

GR : We've got the live CD, with the stuff we did in Sturgis which is out, as well as the DVD. But I'm taking this band live. I love doing it now, the band's playing so well, and it's really a ton of fun. Hopefully more people will see it, and get the same enjoyment I do out of it. We mainly play live from spring until early winter, then take time off, which is probably why we like each other still. (Laughs)

I won't do the grind anymore. So we're pretty much a weekend band, and we try and do it that way. Everyone's older now and has families, and require other things in life. It should be enjoyable. Here's the way I've been putting it for awhile: Here's a group of guys who travel throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and various other countries who travel to steak houses, and coincidentally play music the following day. We just enjoy each other. It's almost like a boys club that has a lot of talent in it.

NHOR : You're doing it more towards a sense of just making music, rather than focusing on commercial concerns...

GR : Yeah, it's a pretty contemporary game these days. Trying to get anywhere these days, I think the record companies have pretty much imploded upon themselves, much like Congress. (Laughs)

NHOR : What is your take on the current music scene, and how has it changed since you first came up?

GR : My take on it might not be completely accurate, but what I do see is this. Back then, the record companies gave you time to create your music, and to have a career. They would build stars. Now they don't. You have to build yourself first, then they'll come and find you. It's almost impossible to do. That could be a nature of the business, where it costs them too much to do it the other way. I don't know their business completely. But in the product that they're putting out these days they've kind of destroyed that essence of it by just trying to be too fast. On top of that, the Internet came along, and they didn't embrace it, they fought it. They wanted to stop it. They finally got hip to it later.

I think iTunes is probably one of the most powerful record companies now on the planet. They're doing it legit. But the record companies should have worked out deals years ago and realized that this thing could explode. And it did. Everybody's got a computer, and you can connect to anyone now. It's kind of like FM radio was years ago, to expand the consciousness of music to other people, that's not so pigeonholed. It's the same kind of ideas, and now that it's gotten broad, it's almost gotten too broad. So it'll have to narrow itself down again in order for it to have any kind of power again, the industry itself.

NHOR : Do you feel that perhaps it's gotten too broad, that there are actually too many choices?

GR : Yeah, there's too many little tribes. Like I was telling you before, there was a real social structure and culture to music, but there was more mystique to it. You didn't get to see a band on TV 24/7, it was rare to see one. So when they came to town you went to go see them. And you had to be a good player. Well, not always. (Laughs) But the idea was that people went to see bands because that was the culture.

Now they can see them on TV, and if they see them live and they don't have all the bells and whistles that they had in a video, people are disappointed. There's no way to have all that without tremendous expense. So none of it makes sense. The real art of music, and going to see people play became more and more theatrical. It became less about the musical aspect than about, "Did you see this band?" Rather than, "Did you hear this band." I think that's a big, grave difference. It's a matter of seeing them instead of listening to them.

NHOR : Do you think that MTV had a lot to do with that situation?

GR : Yeah. Originally MTV was a tremendous idea. But now, even a lot of young people I know think that it's a total joke. It's become... there was a show called 'Shindig' when I was a kid, and it too became a joke. Pretty rapidly. It was, "Are you still watching that?" That's when FM radio popped out, and everybody changed who they were. It's the same kind of game. History repeats itself, I guess.
NHOR : The overall hipness factor is gone fairly quick, and that goes for anything, especially when it becomes popular....

GR : My wife and I talk about this often. There was a quote that was on TV. "Life's Fast... Be Faster", or something like that. That's ridiculous. Life is fast, slow down. (Laughs) Enjoy some of it.

NHOR : Do you think if Santana or Journey were a new young band coming up these days that they would have had the success?

GR : Probably, because of the things that are thrown down people's throats. It's not what they want. When we go play somewhere, I have young people coming up and telling me that they've never seen anything like it in their life. Because they haven't. There's nobody out there putting it out. It takes somebody like Phish or The Dave Matthews Band, who went out and made it happen. They sure didn't do it through CD sales. They created a niche for themselves going out and playing live, a lot like The Dead did.

NHOR : There's also a growing number of young artists who are increasingly being influenced by what was created by bands such as Santana, Led Zeppelin etc in the late 60's and early 70's....

GR : It's the same as me going back to blues. The music that Santana created was based upon blues, jazz and rock, and we created a music called Santana music, as far as I'm concerned. It was just totally different. But we based it off all the greats. That's where we went. I got my stuff from Jimmy Smith, Carlos got his stuff from B.B. King, Muddy Waters and all of that. We put it together and then threw in Gábor Szabó on the side. It was so eclectic. People pick up on that stuff, especially young people.

Most of the bands out today can go record something, fix everything in a studio, but when they go to play live, they can't play it. There's many that can obviously that are really good, but it's kind of a let down when they can't. So when somebody really gets out there and starts jamming away and is feeling something, it attracts attention.

NHOR : Unfortunately though, versus the scene of the late 60's, early 70's, it's not the mega -popular bands who are doing it...

GR : But the vibe is the same. It's like young people are looking for their niche, for their stuff, not something that's piped to them.

NHOR : Are there any new artists whom you've heard recently that you've been particularly impressed by?

GR : You know I've been kind of out of touch with that stuff for awhile. I've been listening to old jazz, and I listen to XM Blues all the time. I'm usually working out on my property, so I'll turn on the blues all the time.

NHOR : Every band and artist has one. What has been your most "Spinal Tap" moment?

GR : Well now, it all depends on how you mean that. They had a song called "Lick My Love Pump"... I've never done that. (Laughs)

Let's put it this way. When I first saw 'Spinal Tap', I didn't think it was funny. And there were a lot of musicians I know who lived through that nonsense who felt the same way. As the years went by and I look at it again, it was funny as hell. A lot of that stuff, the reason why it's so funny is because it's half way accurate. I lived through some of that nonsense, and probably created some as well.

NHOR : Hendrix was a big fan of the original Santana band. Did you ever meet Jimi?

GR : I have a great story about Hendrix. I never really met him, but when we went to go play Woodstock, I was in our truck, and I went swimming every day at this waterhole. I was coming back from it, in our truck, and I got behind somebody in a Corvette doing about 15 miles per hour. I couldn't believe it, and it was on a winding road in Upstate New York. I was honking my horn, and I was really angry. I went by, and looked over, and it was Hendrix. I'm honking and flipping him off, and I went, "Oh my God!" I just kept on going. I'll never forget that. I was like, "Man, he can't drive". (Laughs)

For more information on Gregg Rolie go to his official website.

"Soul Sacrifice" from the brand new limited edition release from the Gregg Rolie Band 'Rain Dance' :