When talking about Gods of bass guitar, one that has to be mentioned right away must be Tim Bogert.
Ever since coming to prominence with Vanilla Fudge back in 1967, this incredibly talented and influential player has been at the forefront of the art of the instrument. Along with Cream's Jack Bruce and The Who's John Entwistle, and The Jefferson Airplane's Jack Casady, he was one of the first to take the bass from mostly a time keeping role and moving it up front and prominent, inspiring countless musicians to go in that direction.
Others such as Chris Squire of Yes, Geddy Lee of Rush and Billy Sheehan took the ball and ran with it later, but make no mistake about it, Bogert was one of the first in heavy rock to take things to the next level, technique-wise.
It was Bogert's heavy bass that helped power the high powered boogie rock of Cactus and later on, Beck, Bogert & Appice, both of which also featured long time cohort, drum legend Carmine Appice.
Always in big demand, he's continued to work countless sessions throughout the years, playing on albums by Rod Stewart, Boxer, Bo Diddley, Rick Derringer, Leslie West and Michael Schenker, to name just several of the projects this super respected bassist has been involved with.
More recently, he's been involved with the successful Vanilla Fudge reunion, and this year, the return after 34 years of the aforementioned Cactus band, who recently have released a fantastic all new album, 'Cactus V' on Escapi Records.
A return to form, and one of the finest comeback albums in the recent history of heavy rock, this is a "must have" for fans of the original band, or for fans of blues based hard rock in general.
Recently I had the fantastic opportunity to catch up with Tim at his home in California to discuss not only the new album, but many of the various projects he's been a part of throughout the years. Come join us as we have a conversation with the one, the only, the legendary Mr. Tim Bogert.
Sadly, we lost Tim on January 13, 2021 at the age of 76 after a long fight with cancer. I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with Tim during the promo for the Cactus V reunion album in 2006. This is that conversation in full.
Interview and text © 2021 Keith Langerman
"Tim Bogert was a huge influence on me and a lot of other players. Vanilla Fudge were an amazing band. Their first album was all covers, and Tim was all over the place on the bass - but everything he did worked. It was such an inspiration to me, because it was an integral part of the arrangement of the song" - Billy Sheehan
Keith Langerman: Tim, we really appreciate you taking the time out to talk with us, especially since it's your birthday...
Tim Bogert : Not a problem, it's a quiet day here at the farm. (Laughs) I just do the excitement professionally now. Otherwise, virtually, I live a very quiet life. Carmine vicariously lives the madness for me. He's something, he's the energizer drummer. (Laughs) I've asked him how he has the energy, and he says he doesn't know either. I could've done that kind of stuff until I was in my 50's. Then that's about when I started mellowing out and slowing down, doing all those things that you do when you get older.
KL : On the new 'Cactus V' album, one thing that also impressed me was the fact that there were no concessions made to modern trends. You guys weren't trying to reinvent the wheel with this album...
TB : Well, we're Cactus. To be anything else than that would not BE Cactus. I mean, all of us, as we entered our 30's, what have you... all musicians who had been successful in their 20's, as trends and mindsets changed, fashions changed... we all pandered, and it didn't work .You have to, I suppose, because you're desperate to keep your job. Not knowing that the job simply isn't there anymore. (Laughs)
KL : Most of the time that doesn't work out too well...
TB : No, they usually go to drugs and sleazy women who they give houses to. It's a terrible story. They do movies on it all the time. (Laughs)
KL : What's the main difference for you being in Cactus this time around versus being in the band when you were still together over 30 years ago, in the early 70's?
TB : In the early 70's, I was a young man. I was half crazed, having more fun than anybody should be allowed to at any given time. Now, it is my birthday, I'm 62. I also got hurt really bad last year, so I tend to move even slower. But the hands still work, so I can still play. My mind still works. I still enjoy playing with the band very much, because it's the same rush. It's like making love. It feels as good at 20 as it does at 60. You do it different, but hey, it's okay. (Laughs)
KL : Speaking of that, Tim, I know that was a bad motorcycle accident you had last year. How are you feeling now?
TB : My knee's giving me a hard time today. Something usually gives me a hard time every day, but a couple of Excedrins, and either a nap or some fortitude will get me through the day one way or the other. They say another year or so. I'm working at it. I've got all the physical therapy machines at home, and I work at it every other day when I can.
KL : What was it like for you to be back onstage with Carmine and Jim McCarty for the first time at the first Cactus reunion show at B.B. King's in June?
TB : Oh God, it was fun. It truly was fun. We were all just hoping we didn't make any horrendous mistakes, because we only had a few days to rehearse and put it all together. That was my only real thought, "Geez God, don't let me screw up." (Laughs) Other than that, I had a wonderful time. It was a great gig. We sold the place out, I was thrilled, it was very good.
KL : You and Carmine together form one of the heaviest and finest rhythm sections ever in the history of rock. What is it about the combination of the two of you that allows you to interlock like you do? How does working with Carmine compare to any other drummer you've played with such as Billy Cobham and Ginger Baker?
RB : I am almost Carmine's complete opposite. So in that respect, we sort of whirl around each other. Carmine's of a mindset rather like a bulldog. As long as I can hold that leash and not fall down, we do really well. (Laughs)
KL : So it's sort of a Yin and Yang type of thing...
TB : Very much so, and it really does work. Almost everything about us is opposite, it seems to make a really nice combination. When we started, we got good at what we did very quickly, and we've spent the last 40 years polishing it. Some nights it really shines well if it's lit well.
KL : You and Carmine, along with Rusty Day and Jim McCarty, formed Cactus in early '70, shortly thereafter making your live debut in front of 40,000 people at Temple Stadium in Philadelphia. The band opened up on a bill that featured The Steve Miller Band, The Grateful Dead, and headlining, Jimi Hendrix. What do you recall about that first gig, and how do you feel the band went down that first time?c 
Cactus
TB : The adrenaline was pumping so hard that when we did "Parchman Farm," my right hand cramped up. So I was literally pounding quarter notes with the back of my hand. (Laughs) I've heard that tape. Randy Pratt in Long Island has a copy of it. All I could listen to was about 24 bars of it before I went, "Oh dear, turn that off." (Laughs) It was just so energetic. Groove? There wasn't a groove, there was a rocket going off. Which, when we finally mellowed that down, we became quite a hellacious band.
We had more energy that day than we knew yet how to control. Because Led Zeppelin was our opening act during their first two tours with The Fudge, I watched the same thing happen with them. They had so much energy they couldn't control on the first tour. On the second tour, they came back and were scary. So it was that same premise. I'm very grateful to have had that kind of energy, but we tripped all over ourselves that day.
KL : Back then, the band regularly played in front of large crowds, doing a lot of the big festivals, including the band's U.K. debut at the '70 Isle Of Wight Festival, which depending on what account you read, was in front of 400,000, 500,000 or even up to a million people during that weekend. What do you remember about that show?
TB : That was a big crowd. It rained like holy hell the evening we played along with Jimi Hendrix. I remember being on stage with the rain driving at my feet, being very concerned about 240 volts. They didn't have the grounding they have these days, it was primitive by comparison. I've been shot across a room more than once. I run wireless now, you can't get hit. (Laughs) We didn't have that back then either.
KL : That was somewhat of a strange festival, with the fans tearing down the fences and making it a free festival...
TB : They seemed to do a lot of that in Europe at the time. As a matter of fact, they're still doing it at football games, aren't they? Say no more. (Laughs)
KL: They've released several of the band performances from the festival such as The Who, Hendrix, Jethro Tull, etc., either on CD, DVD or both. Is there any chance of the Cactus set being released?
TB : I don't know who actually owns the rights to that. I know that Rhino bought all of the Atlantic stuff, which is why so much of it has been released. They're actually going to be releasing some more, from the Mar Y Sol Festival, and at Gilligan's, where we actually had a rhythm guitar player with us. I don't know if they own that. I know Randy Pratt has bought a video of it. It was a 5 or 7 camera shoot that night, and all the bands were filmed. He's bought the raw footage of it. What he's going to do with it, I don't know. I'd like to see it myself, I haven't seen it since we did it. That'd be fun, it was a great experience. We got to hang with some really nice people, caught a big time buzz, it was just a wonderful day.
KL : How was it for you playing to that many people?
TB : It's very similar to, if I can make an analogy, a big crowd being a very, very powerful car. A small club is a rather not powerful car, say a 1970 Volkswagen type of thing. You put your foot down in the Volkswagen, and it goes fast. But when you get into a Corvette, stomp your foot down, my God it goes. That's what a crowd does to a band. It's kind of like asking any football player who's ever played the Super Bowl what's that like, and they'll say "Larger." Just bigger, everything gets larger, it's really cool. You definitely feel the energy from the crowd. If they start moving with you, and you can motivate them, the circle of energy between you and them is uplifting to a point where you can play things that you can't play.
It's quite an amazing phenomenon. It's a wonderful thing to have happen. It's like when Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points. It's one of those experiences. You can do no wrong, you cannot miss the basket, let's go for it. It's tremendous. Let's do it tomorrow, shall we? (Laughs)
KL : Speaking of large festivals, in June, with Cactus, you played The Sweden Rock Festival...
TB : Oh, that was fun.
KL : I've heard the sound wasn't that great at times due to technical malfunctions?
TB : Well, the technical malfunction was pretty much the fact that my bass amp kept going on and off throughout the majority of the show. I would be playing in the monitors, then they would go out. McCarty would lose me, then he'd lose his place and go off to step B of the process, while we're in step A. So everybody got a little frustrated because the equipment is making our job that much more difficult. At one point, I guess for the first time in about 30 years, I kicked me an amp off stage. It does come back quickly, doesn't it? (Laughs) I got really frustrated with it. Other than that, though, we had a great time. The band got a chance to stretch its legs a little bit, because when you're in a rehearsal studio you don't know what works and what doesn't work yet.
With Jimmy Kunes, our new singer, it's really a new band. Musically we know what works, but we don't yet know what works in that aspect. It's like putting a new quarterback on a team. The old plays aren't going to work like they used to, nor should they. We have to figure out what works now under these circumstances. We were still learning. It was a fast learning curve. But it went fairly well. The audience seemed to like it, and that's really why we're there. If we give them a good time, then we've earned our paycheck.
KL : You began the sessions for the first 'Cactus' album in February of 1970, with the album being released in July of that year. That album has since become somewhat of a "lost" heavy rock classic. One that's been an inspiration to a lot of bands subsequently, such as Van Halen, King's X, Billy Sheehan, to name a few. What do you recall about the recording of that album, and how do you feel that the album holds up today?
TB : It was a lot of fun... long hours, it was hard work. We had a lot of ideas that were flowing constantly all the time. We were very high. (Laughs) It was a very nice experience. I think the album holds up darn well, which I'm very pleased about. It still rocks hard, the playing's good and Rusty's performance was always Rusty's performance. If you like it, it's phenomenal.
KL : I was just listening to it again this morning, and in my opinion it holds up very well. The production, and one thing I wanted to ask you is concerning that -- if you look at it, with the technology of today versus then, and the time that it took for you to put it out, which wasn't long at all -- bands these days spend years on albums, with all the advanced studio technology, and they don't sound as good as the albums recorded in that time period. Why do you think that is?
TB : You can micro-manage something to death. If it takes you a year and a half to do 6 weeks work, there's probably a neurosis going on there that's really self destructive, I would think. You can over analyze it I'm sure, then spend an awful lot of time and money losing the spark that initially made it good. There's a lot to be said for spontaneity.
KL: You look at the Cactus albums, and other albums of that time period, such as Zeppelin's albums -- those were recorded in relatively short periods of time, even days in some cases. You didn't have the technology in the studio that people these days have at home, studio-wise...
TB : Then we had to have heart and a whole lot of talent. Now, you just have to have a whole lot of equipment. That's okay, things change, times change, I think that's part of what makes the time that Cactus was around a golden moment. It's part of what makes it a golden moment.
It's also if you say it is often enough it becomes one. You know, "Yeah I must be a legend they keep calling me that." (Laughs) That and $2.50 will get me a Starbucks.
KL : Which album or songs would you say are the most representative of the Cactus sound?
TB : "Parchman Farm" from 'Cactus' would be our signature tune. That's kind of the essence of what we did. We would take a feel, and literally just beat it to death as fast as humanly possible. When you're in your mid 20's, you can play pretty gosh darn fast. When you're in your 20's, you can do everything pretty gosh darn fast.
So we still do "Parchman Farm," but Jimmy's puffing by the end of it. (Laughs) Carmine and I have played that boogie groove our whole life, so it's funny, even as we got older it's still a natural process. McCarty stopped playing that kind of feel 30 years ago, so he's huffing and puffing. (Laughs) It's a lot of fun. He's doing really well, too, playing really well.
KL : Beginning with Vanilla Fudge through Cactus and Beck Bogert & Appice, you developed a very prominent role as a bassist. You were, and still are, an inspiration to countless bass players throughout the years. Basically from taking the bass from a time keeping role and using it as a lead instrument. What inspired you to take the instrument in that direction?
TB : It came from being a lead instrument player. A sax player who began doubling on bass, then stopped playing sax entirely. Then when The Fudge came along with all that sort of symphonic stuff... taking apart Paul McCartney's bass lines in The Beatles, Jack Bruce's bass lines in Cream, James Jamerson's Motown bass lines and putting in King Curtis, who was a heck of a sax player. That's me.
KL : You and Carmine split up Cactus the first time to form Beck, Bogert & Appice, with guitarist Jeff Beck. Looking back on things, do you have any regrets over doing that at the time?
Beck Bogert & Appice
TB : The Cactus band with Rusty and Jim had already broken up and we'd put a second Cactus band together, which was a lot of fun. We really enjoyed it. The regret I have with working with Jeff is that I couldn't, at the time, understand a lot of the difficulty that was going on, and the politics that were being played. Had I known then what I know now, it might've been a whole lot easier. It was a bit difficult. That's why the band only lasted almost 2 years I suppose.
There was a lot of stuff that went down which became more difficult to deal with than the joy of accomplishing the job properly, which was a real shame because it had great promise. When it worked it was amazing, when it didn't work it was like a bad high school date. Self conscious, knees together, feet crossed over, stumbling, sputtering... oh dear. When it worked, though, it was something to behold.
TB : 'Live In Japan' was medium. The Rainbow performance, that was a little better than medium. I wish we had captured a really good night, I've got some cassette tapes of really good nights. Unfortunately, the audio quality is that of a cassette tape. We did have some brilliant evenings with that band where you get to soar and play things that you didn't know you could.
I had more experiences like that with Jeff than with probably any other group, because he could take you higher. He could also drop you lower. It was that which eventually broke the band up. He was a young fellow too, and he couldn't control what was going on in his head, so we had a lot of problems.
KL : Carmine has told me that he'd consider working with Jeff again in some sort of Beck, Bogert & Appice reunion. What are your thoughts on that?
TB : In a heartbeat. I understand what's occurring now, it's business, but I would love to do business with the man. I would love to play with the man, I'd love to knock lots of people right off their feet. That would be terrific, it would be wonderful. You really could knock a 50,000 seat stadium to their knees when we were good. It was amazing to watch. There would be times when I'd be on stage, literally watching, almost like an out of body thing. Your hands are just pumping because they know how, you're just kind of lifted up a moment. You're just kind of a spectator watching this whole thing occur. It was amazing, I'd love to do it again. That's what I mean, "Let's do it tomorrow." (Laughs)
I'd love to do it again... Yeah! Whatever he'd like to do, fine. A show in L.A., one in New York, one in London, yeah let's go. I'm sure the payday would be wonderful, and the experience would be even better. So yeah, let's do that tomorrow!
KL: With Vanilla Fudge and Cactus, you developed a reputation during the late 60's, early 70's for routinely blowing bands that you supported off the stage on a regular basis, including The Who, Hendrix, pretty much any other band you appeared with during that time period. Do you attribute Cactus not achieving the status that you should've at that time due to bands, after awhile, not wanting to take you out on tour with them?
TB : Well there was that. There was also the fact that you either loved Rusty Day's voice or you hated it, there was no in between. It wasn't a radio sound at the time, which is why we didn't get a lot of AM or early FM play with it like The Fudge did. That put us on an opening band status to sell records. We sold a fair amount of records, but we had to tour to do it. Of course... and it's not that we were better than these artists at all, I mean, better than Hendrix? Please.
But what we would do, we were so energetic that we would come out and waste a crowd. We would just energetically waste them. So when the main act would come on you've got a spent person, and the artist isn't getting the reaction they're used to, because the audience is kind of like, "Wow, I'm tired, man." They've already peaked. So get these people the hell out of here, they're saying. That's kind of what it was. We were all our own worst enemy I suppose. (Laughs) The entertainment BUSINESS is a very tricky roulette game. There's an awful lot of luck, an awful amount of chance, and an awful lot of politics. So there you go. (Laughs)
Cactus Atco Promo Picture, 1970
KL : What is your favorite memory of Rusty Day?
TB : Oh geez, the things he could do with an audience, almost any given audience, any given night. The man was amazing. He was as good of a frontman as Jagger. No fooling. He was quite amazing. He got arrested several times for being that amazing. He'd get the crowd worked up to a fever pitch, the police would get skittish, because Rusty was, "Don't let the pigs keep you down!" type of rhetoric. And they would take it personally... Duh. (Laughs)
Then they'd cart his 6' 2" butt right off stage, which happened more than once. Rusty was quite an incredible frontman, he really was. And he could lay down one heck of a rhythm harp.
KL : Was there any indication that you saw that things would go down with him like they did?
TB : Back then I wasn't thinking in those terms, but in retrospect, the man lived a hard life. He really did practice what he preached. That's a pretty tough element you're dealing with there. There's always a bigger dog somewhere on the block. You piss that bigger dog off and you have a problem when you're working at that level. And he did.
Rusty was a real rebel. He wasn't a rebel onstage for 45 minutes, the man lived what he talked, which is probably why he was so convincing. He meant what he was saying.
KL : Cactus had a reputation at that time of being a fairly wild band. also during your tour with The Faces, you had a hand in laying several hotel rooms to waste in the fine rock n roll tradition. What was the wildest time you had on tour?
TB : We partied hard, yeah. The wildest time though? My mind is racing over about 50 experiences, and 40 of them are illegal now. The other 10 are immoral, so I'm not sure at my age I want to go there. (Laughs) Carmine will answer that question in a heartbeat. He revels in that. I'll tell you privately over a beer some night. (Laughs)
KL : After BB&A broke up you went on to play with Carmine on Jan Akkerman's 'Tabernakel,' and Bo Diddley's '20th Anniversary Of Rock & Roll,' then you went on to join the British band Boxer for their 'Absolutely' album, which came out in '77. Boxer was fronted by Mike Patto, who died in '79 from lymphatic cancer...
TB : Yeah, he got sick right in the middle of our first tour. It was really sad because the band showed some real promise. We did the first half of a tour that just smoked. Mike started having problems with his throat, eventually it was throat cancer, and he died from it. He was an excellent vocalist, and a pretty good piano player, too. Chris Stainton and he both played piano on some tracks. Mike played from the elbow, which is a piano style I quite like. You ever see guys where their whole arm's moving up and down? (Laughs)
Mike was one of those kind of piano players and Chris had the finesse. Together they made a nice noise. They were a bunch of fun people, I really enjoyed that band.
RNRU : Also, in '76 through '78, you formed a band with Steve Perry by the name of Pieces. What was that like, working with Steve?
TB : I love him. He is wonderful. Truly. He's a little neurotic, a little crazy, but so am I. We used that as a tool, we became good friends and we wrote some very nice tunes together. Unfortunately, what we were doing at the time, the business wasn't. So it wasn't bought. Steve went off and auditioned for Journey, and the rest of that is history.
RNRU : Have you and Steve ever discussed doing any further collaboration since?
TB : No, the last time I ran into him, it would've been in the early 90's, I guess. He had already started his solo career, was doing well with that, and was auditioning bass players one day. One of my students who I'd taught for 18 years, when I was on the faculty at the Musician's Institute from '79 to '97, was going down to audition. So I said "Oh take me down there I want to say hi." As it so happens, he didn't get the gig, but it was fun seeing Steve, sitting there chewing the fat and reminiscing. I like him, he's a good guy and one heck of a singer.
RNRU : You also played on Rod Stewart's 'Foolish Behaviour' album that came out in 1980. What tracks did you play on that, and what was it like working with Rod?
TB : I played on 3 or 4 tracks. That's a long time ago. I like Rod he was fun. I know one was "Give Me Wings," I remember doing that one because I liked that tune. There were a few others, but I couldn't tell you exactly right now which ones they are.
So much stuff after a 40 year career tends to roll around in my head. (Laughs) I'm not sure if I did that over here... no, that was 10 years... hold on, no that was in Albuquerque... I'm sorry, I don't know .(Laughs)
Vanilla Fudge
KL : What was it like for you appearing with Vanilla Fudge on the 'Ed Sullivan' show in '68?
TB : That was wonderful. It was the adrenaline rush of my life up to that point. At that period in time, the Sullivan show was the top of the pyramid. That was as good as it got, and we got to do it twice. Yeah! My mom and dad had a limousine come to the house, there was a big bouquet of roses, and off they went. They were so proud I could barely stand it. It was a great night, all our folks were there. We were kids, between 20 and 22, 23. So it was like, "Hey mom look at this!" All your friends were going, "Whoa man!". (Laughs)
RNRU : The version you guys did of "You Keep Me Hanging' On" on Sullivan was intense...
TB : Well, we knew that it was going out live. This was completely live, no lip synching, no do-overs, no tape, no anything like that. This was live to 47 million people. Back then that was a lot of folks. That's like The World Cup in the 80's. That was big numbers. So yeah it gets your adrenaline pumping pretty good.
RNRU : Was there a sense to you at the time of the history and significance of being on the show? Before you there was The Beatles and before them there was Elvis...
TB : Oh yeah, I remember watching them on the telly when I was a kid. Heck yeah, I saw Elvis on there when I was a kid. So this show had big time history in my mind, because that's what you did on a Saturday night back in the 50's and early 60's. You'd sit and watch The Ed Sullivan Show with your folks, and then you went to bed because you had to go to school. So to appear on it, oh man. (Laughs)
That was a sense we'd really made it. If I never did anything again I'd be a happy man. Of course I changed my mind about a year later. (Laughs) At that time it was the most cool thing that had ever happened to me.
RNRU : Speaking of The Fudge, the band first reunited in '84 for the comeback album 'Mystery,'. Looking back, how do you feel that album turned out?
TB : With all the problems it encountered, it came out fairly well. The production was okay, the tunes were okay, the performances were okay. There was just a lot of politics going down again, which probably are still under the surface today with the reformed band. Because the same insanity that made the music what it is also causes great unrest between the 4 of us.
It's that unrest, channeled, that can become amazing arrangements. When it's let loose, though, it can be the tiger that eats you. It can create wonderful moments, but it can also create tremendous pain and aggravation.
KL : You see that in a lot of bands though. For instance with The Who, Townshend and Daltrey are constantly at each other's throats, but it's the friction that has made some excellent music...
TB : Well, I don't think I'm ever going to see Mark and Carmine kiss, but they work well together. We're older fellas, and we know that we've been given a golden opportunity. How many 60-year-old men are given the opportunity to go out and rock n roll? You can count them on 1 hand. So thank you Jesus! (Laughs) That's how I look at it, I'm gonna be cool. Like I say, "Let's go do it again tomorrow," because we all know, anyone that's been there, knows how good it feels. Many musicians try to get back to that and it's usually a lost journey. They wind up someplace in a bottle of something.
KL : That's the same reason why a band like The Stones keep on doing it...
TB : Yeah, once you hit that level, and God bless them, too. If they ever stopped they'd probably all drop dead, wouldn't they?
RNRU : It's an addiction...
TB : Exactly. You'd shrivel up and die if you didn't have that to fall back on. That's become habit, it's a lifetime habit. There isn't anything quite like being on stage. An awful lot of people want to try, because it is so wonderful if you do hit the top of the pyramid. You just have to remember that the top of the pyramid's a very small space, and there's 8 million people trying to knock you off. Eventually, somebody's going to.
RNRU : The life expectancy of even most top bands is around 5 years. Anything more than that is the exception, not generally the rule...
TB : That's why most record contracts are 5 to 7 years. They doubt very sincerely they're going to last longer than that. And, for the most part, they're right.
RNRU : You've worked with and jammed with some pretty incredible guitarists throughout your career -- Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Rick Derringer, Michael Schenker, Leslie West, Jake E. Lee, Jim McCarty, and Jimmy Page when Zeppelin were opening for The Fudge. Which guitarist that you've worked with, or seen, have you been most impressed by?
TB : Subsequently, it would be Clapton. But in its own time frame it would've been Hendrix. Eric has gone on to do so many wonderful things, and I really like the blues, so I'm right there.
Jimi, had he not died, I'm sure would've also done wonderful things. I suppose, at the time, playing with Jimi would've been the biggest thrill. When he was on it was scary. I like tricks, as you can tell by my style. Jimi was as tricky as it comes. I was most impressed by that. I learned a lot from him because The Fudge opened for him and Cactus opened for him as well. Eric Barrett was his roadie, and he would literally let me sit behind Jimi's amp with my back up against the cabinet. My head stuck around the speaker right next to Mitch Mitchell. I'd just sit there copping stuff. "Oh how do you do that? That works good...yeah let's see if that works on bass."
I didn't include Jimi before in a lot of the names of who I am, but he would also be a big influence in what I do because I saw the power of tricks on an audience, and it taught me how to use that power standing behind him for those 3 years. It was like going to school, it was cool. The sort of tricks that he did, and the timing of those tricks made an audience go, "Whoa!" So I tried to learn that on a bass, and on a good night I can. It's the pacing. That's what Beck was brilliant at, his timing. Because we all play the same notes. There's only 12 of them. It's how you put them together, how you space them.
It's like making love. If you pound somebody you go numb. Or you can be all slow, not into it, languid. But if you go fast, then slow, then medium, then really fast, then slow and gentle... that's the kind of things that Hendrix and Beck did. Brilliant stuff.
RNRU : With The Fudge, you're recording a new album of Led Zeppelin covers. How do you feel that's turning out?
TB : It's done. I like about 4 or 5 of the tunes out of the 12 or 13, which for me is par for the course. My friends like it, the ones I've played it for. So as long as our audience likes it I'm a happy guy.
RNRU : You're also appearing on the upcoming Beatles tribute album, "Butchering The Beatles" due out in October, which also features performances by Alice Cooper, Steve Vai, Billy Gibbons and Lemmy to name several. The track you're on is a version of "Hey Jude," which has ex Judas Priest vocalist "Ripper" Owens on vocals, Dokken's George Lynch on guitar and ex-AC/DC drummer Chris Slade on drums. How do you feel that track came out?
TB : That rips, doesn't it? I'm pleased as punch. Again, thank you for including me, guys. (Laughs) That's how I feel every time I get to work, "Thanks for including me." I'm just so grateful I can barely stand it, because there's times in one's career when you can't get arrested. Then there's other times where you can do no wrong. It's the darndest thing, isn't it? So thanks for the opportunity. I can still play, and thanks for letting me show people that... I still can play. (Laughs)
RNRU : Speaking of tribute albums, you've done a considerable amount of work on various tribute albums throughout recent years, including tributes to Aerosmith, Van Halen, Cream. What attracts you to tribute albums?
TB : A phone call. (Laughs) Or an email. "Tim, would you be interested in doing so and so for X amount of dollars?" I will email them RIGHT back, "Yes I am interested".
RNRU : You mentioned earlier about being a member of the faculty and teaching at The Musician's Institute in Hollywood. You've released 5 instructional videos as well. What advice would you have for a musician just starting out in the industry?
TB : Learn to play well, learn to read music. Perseverance is the key to it all. There's going to be a lot of rejection, it's not like a real job. I joke quite often about musicians being so crazy, doing such whacky things, aberrant behavior and the like. I say, "Geez guys, if we were NORMAL, we'd have a proper job". And that's all I have to say about that. (Laughs)
For more info on Tim Bogert go to http://www.timbogert.com/
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