Episode 942 - Joe Walsh

Episode 942 • Released August 15, 2018 • Speakers detected

00:00:00Marc:all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fucksters what's happening i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf welcome to it how's it going what's happening everybody okay you're hanging in you're doing the thing

00:00:25Guest:Joe Walsh is on the show today.

00:00:28Guest:Joe fucking Walsh.

00:00:31Guest:Right?

00:00:31Guest:Joe Walsh.

00:00:33Guest:James Gang.

00:00:33Guest:Joe Walsh.

00:00:34Guest:Joe Walsh.

00:00:35Guest:Solo Joe Walsh.

00:00:36Guest:Joe Walsh.

00:00:37Guest:Eagles Joe Walsh.

00:00:39Guest:Fucking Joe Walsh.

00:00:42Guest:Great American guitar player, folks.

00:00:45Marc:I was excited to talk to him, and I think it went pretty well.

00:00:50Marc:He's a deeply sober man, and he's been around a long time, and I've heard some stories about him, and I remember him from back in the day.

00:00:57Marc:He used to show up at the comedy store in the 80s.

00:01:02Marc:I tell him a story.

00:01:03Marc:I saw him.

00:01:06Marc:Before he got sober, he looked like a ghost, man.

00:01:09Marc:Just this long sort of horrible blonde hair that just looks beat.

00:01:17Marc:Not from swimming, but from drugs.

00:01:20Marc:Just like a shadow of a dude.

00:01:22Marc:I just remember he walked up an entire tray of greyhounds to Sam Kennison on stage.

00:01:30Marc:Either he sent it up or he walked it up.

00:01:32Marc:I don't know if he would have had the energy to walk it up.

00:01:35Marc:But I remember him being around and not looking great, folks.

00:01:39Marc:But he looks good now.

00:01:40Marc:He's solid.

00:01:41Marc:He's healthy.

00:01:42Marc:And he's drinking Diet Coke.

00:01:44Marc:So that's happening.

00:01:45Marc:Joe Walsh.

00:01:46Marc:Is happening.

00:01:48Marc:Do you remember, do you remember your first Joe Walsh records?

00:01:51Marc:Maybe you don't, maybe, I don't know, maybe this is a unique thing to me because how did I, you know, I was thinking about him and right now I'm thinking about it.

00:02:01Marc:Like what got me the records?

00:02:02Marc:I'm trying, here's what I'm trying to remember, folks.

00:02:06Marc:Rocky Mountain Way was the song when I was in junior high, high school.

00:02:10Marc:It was around, it was already, you know, in the pantheon.

00:02:14Marc:of uh great hard rock songs from the 70s and you it was it was in you know constant rotation spent the last year rocky mountain way at the live version of it was really the one you heard a lot this is pre-eagles joe walsh and i was trying to think you know what did that song make me do

00:02:37Marc:I know this sounds weird, but some of you my age remember the Columbia Record Club.

00:02:42Marc:All right, the Columbia Record Club, I believe is what it was, where you'd get like 10 to 12 albums or cassettes for like a dollar or something.

00:02:52Marc:But then you were in.

00:02:53Marc:Then, you know, you're going to be sent the record of the month every month.

00:02:56Marc:You're going to get these, you know, and usually, you know, either you took your parents' credit card number or you got some, you know, cash somehow.

00:03:04Marc:You got them to throw for it, you know, get those 12, I believe it was 12, you know, before CDs, cassettes or records.

00:03:15Marc:And that's where I track it.

00:03:18Marc:That's where I track it back to.

00:03:20Marc:Because that's where I got, and I believe the album was You Can't Argue With A Sick Mind.

00:03:25Marc:It had a mirror ball on it.

00:03:27Marc:And it had Rocky Mountain Way on it.

00:03:30Marc:Had Walk Away, which I think was a James Gang tune.

00:03:35Marc:The rest I didn't give a shit about.

00:03:37Marc:It was all about Rocky Mountain Way, really.

00:03:39Marc:So I remember ordering it.

00:03:41Marc:It was one of the cassettes, one of the 12.

00:03:42Marc:I can't, what I was trying to do was remember the 12th.

00:03:49Marc:And I must have been in junior high, man.

00:03:52Marc:Somewhere in there, that's when I got that Columbia Record Club package.

00:03:57Marc:I was just trying to remember what those fucking cassettes were.

00:04:00Marc:And I know it was that live Joe Walsh.

00:04:03Marc:I know...

00:04:04Marc:It was Aerosmith's first album.

00:04:06Marc:I know it may have been Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic as well.

00:04:11Marc:ELO's greatest hits.

00:04:13Marc:Probably for just their version of Roll Over Beethoven because I didn't care for ELO that much.

00:04:18Marc:I believe Skinner's second helping.

00:04:22Marc:And I think maybe The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get, the non-live version of Rocky Mountain Way.

00:04:28Marc:And then there was five other ones that I wish I could fucking remember.

00:04:31Marc:I feel like there was a Paul Simon in there.

00:04:34Marc:I just remember looking through that catalog and that day that shit came.

00:04:38Marc:It was so exciting.

00:04:39Marc:But then all of a sudden out of nowhere, a month later, you get another record and you're like, I didn't ask for this record.

00:04:44Marc:Oh, that's the record of the month that you pay for because of your deal.

00:04:47Marc:Now you got, you know, you're into us for a dozen records, fucker.

00:04:53Marc:And we're going to get them.

00:04:54Marc:Unless you, you know, tell your parents that you were underage and get them to write a letter or have an attorney friend write a letter.

00:05:01Marc:You know, I was like, I was 14, 13 years old.

00:05:04Marc:I think that's how I got out of it.

00:05:06Marc:I wonder how often that happened.

00:05:08Marc:Just having the folks call.

00:05:10Marc:My son was suckered by your... I think that's how it happened.

00:05:14Marc:I wouldn't call that cowardly.

00:05:17Marc:I was just sort of like, what do you want me to do?

00:05:18Marc:You got to pay for these records.

00:05:20Marc:I don't even want these records.

00:05:21Marc:The ones that came, the record of the month.

00:05:23Marc:Not always the, not the ones, they were not based on an algorithm back then.

00:05:28Marc:They were just sort of like, here you go.

00:05:30Marc:Here's your Andy Gibb record.

00:05:33Marc:Enjoy.

00:05:34Marc:Shadow dancing.

00:05:37Marc:Yeah, that's in there.

00:05:40Marc:That's in the catalog somehow.

00:05:42Marc:Just AM radio, right?

00:05:45Marc:AM radio, 7th, 8th grade, before I got baptized in FM, laid back, KRST, in Albuquerque.

00:05:54Marc:The Crest.

00:05:55Marc:Welcome to The Crest.

00:05:57Marc:Coming up now, we're going to do the entire side, too, of Jesse Collin Young's...

00:06:04Marc:Yeah, that was a Jesse Collin Young record.

00:06:07Marc:Do you know that record?

00:06:07Marc:How about, okay, we're going to play side one of Dan Fogelberg's.

00:06:13Marc:Yeah, yeah, I know, they sound similar, the Fogelberg and Jesse Collin Young records.

00:06:18Marc:As I said, Joe Walsh is coming.

00:06:20Marc:Joe Walsh is on the way.

00:06:23Marc:But I wanted to share with you something that I did.

00:06:26Marc:I did a recording session.

00:06:28Marc:Don't get crazy.

00:06:29Marc:I know a lot of you expect in the double album.

00:06:32Marc:Then after that, maybe the double live album of me just noodling by myself on stage in an arena.

00:06:40Marc:That image just made me incredibly nervous.

00:06:45Marc:As you know, I did this movie with Lynn Shelton called Sword of Trust.

00:06:49Marc:Now, in that movie, it's an improvised movie with Michaela Watkins, Toby Huss, John Bass, Jillian Bell.

00:06:58Marc:It's going to be good.

00:06:59Marc:Lynn locked picture.

00:07:00Marc:I have nothing to do with that part.

00:07:02Marc:But she did use and integrate some of the guitar stuff I do at the end of the show, which she was using as placeholders, I think, initially.

00:07:09Marc:And then she decided it sort of fit into it, to the movie.

00:07:13Marc:And she had Brendan, my producer, Brendan McDonald, send her a bunch of those.

00:07:16Marc:There are hundreds of them, of me just sitting here noodling by myself.

00:07:20Marc:And that became sort of the fabric of the soundtrack.

00:07:23Marc:And at the end, over the credits, under the credits, I should say, she wanted to have a song.

00:07:30Marc:something like Who Do You Love, but the John Hammond version of it.

00:07:35Marc:So we're going back into late 60s, maybe very early 70s, that tone, standard Louisiana jump groove.

00:07:44Marc:But we didn't know how much the song would cost or what it would take to license it.

00:07:47Marc:So I created with Tal Wilkenfeld,

00:07:51Marc:And you music nerds know who she is, but she's a comedy fan.

00:07:55Marc:I've played with her at these comedy jam things, and I've seen her at the club, the comedy store, hanging out, watching comedy.

00:08:02Marc:I didn't really know.

00:08:03Marc:I think when she first introduced herself to me, Tal Wilkenfeld, she was like, yeah, I sing, I play bass, and I was probably dismissive, as I was with Tiffany Haddish, who I didn't know when she said she wanted to do the podcast.

00:08:18Marc:She said she would come.

00:08:19Marc:Anyway, so Tal...

00:08:21Marc:So I just work with her and I know Lynn wanted to do this.

00:08:23Marc:So I said, look, I'll reach out to Tal.

00:08:25Marc:I kind of know her and she's the real deal.

00:08:27Marc:And maybe we'll try to get something together, record something for that, an original piece for that last bit.

00:08:35Marc:So we did.

00:08:35Marc:So I talked to Tal and her and I put together an arrangement.

00:08:40Marc:I didn't know the whole process.

00:08:41Marc:So I met her at her house, at her home studio, and we laid out a thing with changes.

00:08:47Marc:We got the form, she called it.

00:08:49Marc:We made some demos, okayed them with Lynn, and then she was going to set up a studio session with her people.

00:08:55Marc:And I thought, well, this is a lot bigger than we thought, but Lynn's like, let's do it.

00:08:59Marc:We got some money.

00:09:01Marc:Let's do it.

00:09:02Marc:So we end up going to a fucking studio after we made the demos.

00:09:07Marc:It turns out it's fucking, well, first of all, like Tal Wilkenfeld is this, she's like a prodigy.

00:09:16Marc:She's like a 31-year-old bass genius from Sydney, Australia, Jewish Australian woman.

00:09:23Marc:But she's like this wizard on bass.

00:09:25Marc:I mean, she's fucking played with Jeff Beck.

00:09:28Marc:She tours with Jeff Beck.

00:09:30Marc:She recorded with Herbie Hancock, Macy Gray, Jackson Brown, Lee Rentenauer, Ryan Adams, Todd Rundgren.

00:09:38Marc:I mean, she's a bass wizard and she's also a production wizard and she's a solo artist as well.

00:09:44Marc:She's like not only the real deal, she's like, you know, gifted.

00:09:48Marc:So we go to the studio, right?

00:09:50Marc:And as we're leading into it, I'm sort of like, you know, why don't you just get another guitar player to do this?

00:09:55Marc:I mean, you know all these people.

00:09:56Marc:And she's like, no, no, it's going to be great.

00:09:58Marc:You're going to do it.

00:09:59Marc:And I'm like, okay, okay.

00:10:00Marc:But then we get, you know, the day before, she's like, I think I'm going to call my friend Doyle Bramhall.

00:10:06Marc:Maybe he'll come down and, you know, just listen because I'm going to need a set of ears while I'm playing.

00:10:10Marc:And I'm like, why don't you just have Doyle play?

00:10:13Marc:He's like a fucking wizard.

00:10:14Marc:Plays with Clapton and fucking, I mean, just, you know.

00:10:20Marc:But she's like, no, it's going to be great.

00:10:21Marc:You'll do it.

00:10:21Marc:I'm like, oh, my God.

00:10:22Marc:And then she's, like, talking about, like, you know, maybe Ben Montage will come down and do some Oregon.

00:10:27Marc:I'm like, what?

00:10:27Marc:I just get just you guys just do it.

00:10:30Marc:You know, I don't need to be there.

00:10:31Marc:She's like, no, no, no.

00:10:33Marc:You're going to be great.

00:10:33Marc:So anyways.

00:10:36Marc:We're doing it, and she pulled together this group.

00:10:40Marc:She's got this drummer, Tamir Barzolay, who plays with her in her touring band.

00:10:46Marc:And apparently they were playing together when they opened for The Who just last year.

00:10:51Marc:So she brought in this piano player, this guy, Zach Ray, who's like Death Cab's piano player.

00:10:57Marc:He's also played on Leonard Cohen records and on Ringo records, Nora Jones.

00:11:02Marc:She's wizards.

00:11:03Marc:And then this harmonica dude.

00:11:05Marc:Named Jimmy Z. He was there.

00:11:07Marc:Fucking in the studio.

00:11:08Marc:Jackson Brown Studio.

00:11:09Marc:Where Dylan recorded.

00:11:11Marc:And we were there all fucking day.

00:11:13Marc:Everyone's fucking killing it.

00:11:14Marc:Geniuses.

00:11:16Marc:And just the layers.

00:11:17Marc:And then going in once you got the take you want.

00:11:19Marc:And then working within that one.

00:11:21Marc:I don't know.

00:11:22Marc:I get it now.

00:11:23Marc:I understand the sort of like what it takes to make the magic that finally makes it into your head.

00:11:30Marc:On a recording.

00:11:31Yeah.

00:11:32Marc:But also this sort of weird timelessness of doing that work, laying down the track, chipping away at it, doing leads, doing pickup pieces.

00:11:41Marc:It was pretty fucking amazing, pretty fun.

00:11:47Marc:And I'm excited for you to hear it.

00:11:50Marc:And since I believe I co-wrote the piece,

00:11:54Marc:With Tall, I imagine we'll have, you know, once Lynn releases the movie, after that, I imagine I can play it for you.

00:12:00Marc:I will play you the cut, which I believe is now called New Boots.

00:12:05Marc:So look forward to hearing New Boots here sometime, you know, next year, I guess.

00:12:14Marc:But what an amazing experience.

00:12:16Marc:That's all I'm saying.

00:12:17Marc:Joe Walsh is here.

00:12:18Marc:He's currently on the Eagles 2018 North American Tour, now through the end of the year.

00:12:24Marc:He's also doing his second annual Vets Aid Benefits Show on Veterans Day, November 11th, at the Tacoma Dome in Washington State.

00:12:33Marc:Don Henley, James Taylor, Chris Stapleton, and Haim will be doing full sets along with Joe.

00:12:39Marc:That should go to that if you can.

00:12:41Marc:All right.

00:12:42Marc:So this is me.

00:12:44Marc:Chipping away at legendary guitar player Joe Walsh.

00:12:57Marc:What, are you drinking Diet Cokes?

00:12:58Marc:That's the thing?

00:12:59Marc:Yeah.

00:13:00Marc:I like Diet Cokes.

00:13:01Marc:Do you?

00:13:02Marc:Yeah, they help.

00:13:03Marc:Yeah.

00:13:04Guest:Yeah, they kind of do.

00:13:06Marc:It's funny.

00:13:07Marc:I think I met you once before, and you would never know where.

00:13:12Marc:Years ago...

00:13:14Marc:I was a doorman at the comedy store when I was 21 years old, 22 years old.

00:13:21Marc:And you were sort of like an apparition, a kind of a ghost-like presence that would come in.

00:13:28Marc:A phantom.

00:13:28Marc:Yeah, a phantom.

00:13:30Marc:And I remember one time you sent Kenison up an entire tray of greyhounds.

00:13:35Yeah.

00:13:35Marc:The waitress had about 20 drinks on it, and you're like, yep.

00:13:45Marc:That was back then.

00:13:46Guest:You remember that shit?

00:13:47Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:13:48Guest:Yeah, I do.

00:13:49Guest:I do.

00:13:50Guest:Sam was...

00:13:52Marc:what a good guy you spent some time oh yeah a lot of a lot of hours looking into each other's eyes talking yeah yeah that kind of stuff figuring out the universe yeah he was good at that yeah and it mostly revolved around him which was it it did didn't it which was a lucky coincidence yeah that uh yeah if he just talked about himself it just spread out from there yeah

00:14:13Marc:Yeah, man.

00:14:15Marc:Those days are kind of a haze for me, but I remember it pretty good.

00:14:20Marc:You were 21?

00:14:20Marc:22, 21.

00:14:21Marc:Yeah, and I was a doorman.

00:14:24Marc:I was hanging out with him.

00:14:25Marc:Were you doing improv?

00:14:28Marc:I was doing stand-up.

00:14:28Marc:I still do stand-up, but I was doing a lot of coke.

00:14:31Marc:That was the graduate work I was doing.

00:14:34Marc:A lot of blow up at the house.

00:14:35Guest:You majored in that.

00:14:36Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:14:38Marc:It's my second major.

00:14:39Marc:I know it well.

00:14:41Marc:Yeah.

00:14:42Marc:You've been sober a while, right?

00:14:43Marc:25.

00:14:45Marc:Better, right?

00:14:47Marc:It's better.

00:14:47Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:14:49Marc:I'm coming up on 19.

00:14:50Marc:Yeah, man.

00:14:51Marc:I mean, it's like I think about, because I was listening, what was I listening to today?

00:14:55Marc:The Confessor.

00:14:57Marc:And I remember the first time I heard that, I thought, man, Joe's got to be way underwater on this one.

00:15:03Marc:I mean, where were you?

00:15:05Marc:That song, I was like, this is what Bottom looks like.

00:15:09Marc:Was it?

00:15:11Guest:Yeah, and Stevie Nicks helped me a lot with that album.

00:15:17Guest:Oh, yeah?

00:15:17Guest:Yeah.

00:15:18Guest:How so?

00:15:19Guest:Well, we buddied up for about a year.

00:15:24Guest:She had some solo album hits.

00:15:27Guest:Yeah, right, yeah, yeah.

00:15:30Guest:And toured, and I opened for her.

00:15:35Guest:And in the process of that...

00:15:38Guest:We just ended up hanging out together more and more.

00:15:42Guest:Right.

00:15:43Marc:You guys were dating for a long time.

00:15:45Guest:Yeah.

00:15:45Marc:Yeah.

00:15:46Marc:Yeah.

00:15:46Marc:But like when you do something, because she's not on that record though, right?

00:15:50Guest:No, she's not on it, but she helped me write it.

00:15:53Guest:Yeah, process it.

00:15:55Guest:Confessor was a lot of her.

00:15:57Guest:And, you know, mostly encouragement.

00:15:59Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:16:00Marc:Yeah, because, well, she's got a mystical bent to her, right?

00:16:04Marc:Yeah.

00:16:04Marc:So you got that element.

00:16:05Marc:Yeah.

00:16:06Marc:Yeah, man.

00:16:07Marc:She's a good witch.

00:16:08Marc:Yeah, good witch.

00:16:08Marc:Yeah.

00:16:09Marc:Yeah, you know, it's weird when you meet the bad ones, right?

00:16:13Marc:Yeah.

00:16:14Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:16:15Marc:In Hollywood, there's no shortage of the bad witches, especially back then.

00:16:18Marc:The 80s seemed to be very full of bad witches.

00:16:21Marc:Yeah.

00:16:22Marc:Yeah.

00:16:22Marc:I mean, you just couldn't.

00:16:23Marc:You think they're good at first.

00:16:25Guest:Well, yeah.

00:16:25Guest:It's kind of like, you know, in the worst case scenario is that you marry one.

00:16:32Guest:Yeah.

00:16:34Guest:And then you find out.

00:16:37Guest:So do you remember, like, where'd you grow up?

00:16:40Guest:Oh, boy.

00:16:41Guest:Okay, I was born in Kansas.

00:16:44Guest:Yeah.

00:16:46Guest:I spent some time in Chicago, Illinois.

00:16:50Guest:Yeah.

00:16:52Guest:My family moved to Columbus, Ohio.

00:16:55Guest:Yeah.

00:16:55Guest:Spent about three years there.

00:16:57Guest:Yeah.

00:16:59Guest:We went to New York City.

00:17:02Guest:Why all the traveling?

00:17:03Guest:My father was in the legal end of...

00:17:07Guest:insurance uh-huh professional insurance like malpractice insurance for doctors and stuff yeah so chicago was continental casualty yeah uh he got a promotion to nationwide yeah that's columbus right and then he went to we went to new york city an independent firm uh-huh picked him up

00:17:34Guest:And then you ended up back in Ohio?

00:17:36Guest:Went to junior high school in New York City.

00:17:40Guest:That was a hoot.

00:17:41Guest:Yeah.

00:17:42Guest:And then high school in Montclair, New Jersey.

00:17:45Guest:Montclair?

00:17:46Guest:Yeah.

00:17:46Guest:So you're sort of a Midwest guy, but you end up in Jersey.

00:17:49Guest:Where did I grow up?

00:17:51Guest:I mean, I'm not done yet.

00:17:53Guest:And then...

00:17:55Guest:I got accepted at Kent State in Ohio.

00:17:59Guest:Yeah, right.

00:18:00Guest:So I went back there in 1965.

00:18:03Guest:Oh, right before the badness.

00:18:07Guest:And I left at the end of 1970 pretty much because of the shooting.

00:18:14Marc:So you were on campus when that happened?

00:18:16Marc:Yeah, I was right there.

00:18:17Marc:I talked to Mark Mothersbaugh.

00:18:19Marc:Yeah.

00:18:20Marc:Yeah, he was there too.

00:18:21Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:18:21Marc:Did you know him?

00:18:22Marc:Yeah.

00:18:23Marc:Back then?

00:18:24Marc:Yeah.

00:18:24Marc:Oh, really?

00:18:25Marc:Yeah.

00:18:25Marc:You were in sort of the same circles?

00:18:28Guest:There was the fraternity guys.

00:18:30Guest:Yeah.

00:18:31Guest:Right.

00:18:32Guest:And you weren't there.

00:18:33Marc:And then there was us.

00:18:36Marc:Right.

00:18:36Marc:The sides were drawn.

00:18:38Marc:Yeah.

00:18:39Marc:So I can't even imagine what it was like to have been there for that.

00:18:44Marc:No, you can't.

00:18:46Marc:It's just chaos.

00:18:47Marc:Yeah.

00:18:48Marc:Yeah.

00:18:49Guest:And it was a perfect storm of total dysfunction authority.

00:19:00Guest:Yeah.

00:19:02Guest:Not knowing what they were doing.

00:19:05Guest:Yeah.

00:19:05Guest:None of them versus a very naive, innocent person.

00:19:11Guest:student body.

00:19:12Guest:Yeah.

00:19:13Guest:And did you know any of the people that were killed?

00:19:15Guest:Yeah.

00:19:16Marc:Really?

00:19:17Marc:Jeffrey and Allison.

00:19:18Marc:Yeah.

00:19:19Marc:Holy shit.

00:19:20Marc:So at that point, did you feel a call to arms or you just wanted to get the fuck out?

00:19:28Guest:Well, Kent died.

00:19:32Guest:Yeah.

00:19:33Guest:Kent was a great place.

00:19:35Guest:Yeah.

00:19:35Guest:It was like Austin.

00:19:38Guest:Yeah.

00:19:39Guest:Texas is.

00:19:40Guest:Yeah.

00:19:41Guest:It was like Seattle when the grunge hit.

00:19:44Guest:Right, sure, yeah.

00:19:45Guest:It was like San Francisco.

00:19:49Guest:Right, yeah.

00:19:50Guest:Before that mutated.

00:19:52Guest:Yeah.

00:19:52Guest:It was just this little...

00:19:55Guest:island of us.

00:19:59Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:19:59Guest:Creativity.

00:20:00Guest:Kids who got accepted at college and were going to college and didn't really know what that was.

00:20:07Guest:Right.

00:20:07Marc:But they seemed like there was a lot of creative people there, too.

00:20:10Marc:Like it was kind of... Yeah.

00:20:11Guest:Yeah.

00:20:12Guest:Yeah.

00:20:13Guest:And Kent was great because...

00:20:15Guest:It was the second biggest school in Ohio, which was 20,000 people.

00:20:21Guest:Right, yeah.

00:20:23Guest:And five bars downtown.

00:20:25Guest:Yeah.

00:20:25Guest:And on any given night, you could go downtown and hear a band.

00:20:32Guest:Yeah.

00:20:35Guest:Kent was the place.

00:20:38Guest:That's where the girls were.

00:20:40Guest:So bikers would come up from Youngstown and people would come up from all of Ohio and down from Cleveland.

00:20:51Guest:Weekends, it was crazy when school was in.

00:20:53Marc:Right, so in the 60s were just starting to happen.

00:20:56Marc:So it was like the big change culturally was starting to happen.

00:21:01Marc:People were doing wild shit out in public.

00:21:04Guest:so and i remember when lsd was legal yeah before anyone knew better yeah and at any given time probably 15 of the student body was on acid you know yeah and uh and and we were good to go yeah and uh i got in a band and

00:21:26Guest:played downtown, and then school was out, and I stayed.

00:21:30Guest:Which band was that?

00:21:32Guest:Do I have to tell you?

00:21:34Marc:Sure.

00:21:34Marc:The Measles.

00:21:35Marc:Yeah, The Measles?

00:21:36Marc:Yeah.

00:21:37Marc:And how long have you been playing up to that point?

00:21:39Marc:When did you start playing the guitar?

00:21:40Marc:High school.

00:21:41Marc:Yeah?

00:21:41Marc:Yeah.

00:21:42Marc:And did you guys, you were pretty serious about it, The Measles?

00:21:46Guest:well yeah yeah yeah and uh and we learned cover songs yeah and that was all you needed to know yeah and and and but when when school was out yeah the first summer i stayed and became a resident of kent

00:22:07Guest:Yeah.

00:22:09Guest:After the shooting?

00:22:10Guest:No.

00:22:10Guest:Before.

00:22:11Guest:No, no, no.

00:22:12Guest:This is 1966.

00:22:13Guest:Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:22:13Guest:67.

00:22:14Guest:So you were just living there.

00:22:16Guest:Well, it was still Kent.

00:22:17Guest:Yeah.

00:22:18Guest:Still everybody came.

00:22:20Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:22:20Guest:Even when school was out.

00:22:22Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:22:22Guest:There just weren't any students.

00:22:23Guest:Right.

00:22:24Guest:And that's where I put in my 10,000 hours.

00:22:28Marc:Playing.

00:22:29Guest:Playing.

00:22:30Guest:You know, three nights a week, four sets a night.

00:22:34Guest:Oh, wow.

00:22:34Guest:Yeah.

00:22:35Guest:And that's when I was good.

00:22:36Guest:Yeah.

00:22:37Guest:When it's still raw.

00:22:39Guest:Yeah.

00:22:40Guest:Yeah.

00:22:41Guest:And so it was this place.

00:22:43Guest:Well, when the shooting happened, they closed the university because the FBI was investigating and everybody went home and all of the places to play closed.

00:23:00Guest:Yeah.

00:23:01Guest:And the town people didn't like us anymore.

00:23:06Guest:Right.

00:23:08Guest:And Ohio didn't like us anymore.

00:23:12Guest:Right.

00:23:13Guest:Because Nixon represented us as dirty, hippie communists who are a danger to America.

00:23:23Guest:Right.

00:23:23Guest:That's how he justified the shooting.

00:23:25Marc:We weren't.

00:23:26Guest:We were just kids.

00:23:27Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:23:28Guest:Exactly.

00:23:28Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:23:29Marc:Yeah.

00:23:30Marc:Just doing what kids do.

00:23:31Guest:Yeah.

00:23:32Guest:And so there was nothing there.

00:23:34Marc:Yeah, really, it just felt awful.

00:23:36Guest:It was dead.

00:23:37Marc:Yeah.

00:23:37Guest:Yeah, literally, Kent died.

00:23:40Marc:Yeah.

00:23:41Guest:And I was on a roll.

00:23:46Guest:I had gotten myself in the James Gang.

00:23:49Guest:Yeah, great, great band.

00:23:50Guest:And in... That started in Ohio?

00:23:53Guest:Yeah, in Cleveland.

00:23:55Guest:Yeah.

00:23:55Guest:So I had worked my way up.

00:23:57Guest:And word of mouth in the Midwest is we were bitching.

00:24:03Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:24:04Guest:And we were.

00:24:05Guest:Yeah.

00:24:06Guest:And so, sadly, I left Kent.

00:24:11Guest:Right.

00:24:12Guest:But you went to Cleveland?

00:24:13Yeah.

00:24:13Guest:Well, yeah.

00:24:15Marc:Yeah.

00:24:16Marc:Yeah.

00:24:16Marc:And you did the first James Gang album.

00:24:20Guest:That was out by then.

00:24:22Guest:Yeah.

00:24:22Guest:But we did the second one.

00:24:23Guest:That was the big one, right?

00:24:24Guest:The second one?

00:24:25Guest:Yeah.

00:24:25Guest:That's what Funk 49 was.

00:24:27Guest:Yeah, that riff, man.

00:24:29Guest:Yeah.

00:24:30Guest:Yeah.

00:24:31Guest:James Gang rides again.

00:24:32Marc:Yeah.

00:24:33Marc:So when you started playing, who were the guys that you kind of modeled yourself after?

00:24:38Marc:Who were the cats that you thought were great?

00:24:40Guest:Oh, when I was really little, Les Paul.

00:24:43Marc:Oh, you used to listen to Les Paul and Boyd Moore Ford records.

00:24:46Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:24:47Marc:God, he can move around, right?

00:24:48Marc:Make it sound wild.

00:24:49Guest:He invented a lot of it.

00:24:52Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:24:53Guest:And I played some stuff in orchestra and that didn't work so good.

00:24:58Guest:With what instrument?

00:24:59Guest:Well, I ended up playing oboe.

00:25:02Guest:Wow.

00:25:02Guest:Yeah.

00:25:03Guest:It's tight.

00:25:03Guest:That seems difficult.

00:25:05Guest:Yeah.

00:25:06Guest:Yeah.

00:25:06Guest:Limiting.

00:25:07Guest:It was pretty cool.

00:25:08Guest:But oboe players don't get a lot of girls.

00:25:11Guest:I don't know if you knew that.

00:25:14Guest:They don't.

00:25:14Guest:I assumed.

00:25:16Marc:Yeah.

00:25:17Marc:But the ones you got, they'd stay, you know.

00:25:19Marc:Yeah.

00:25:20Marc:If you're an oboe player.

00:25:21Marc:Yeah.

00:25:21Marc:You're locked in.

00:25:22Marc:Yeah.

00:25:22Guest:So you two switched to guitar?

00:25:24Guest:Well, I just found on my own that I could figure songs on the radio out.

00:25:31Guest:On the guitar or the oboe?

00:25:31Guest:On the guitar.

00:25:32Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:25:33Guest:And I could also sing.

00:25:35Guest:Yeah.

00:25:35Guest:You can't sing if you play oboe.

00:25:37Guest:No.

00:25:38Guest:It doesn't work at all.

00:25:40Guest:That's true.

00:25:41Guest:Yeah.

00:25:41Guest:Yeah, you got to take kind of back and forth a lot.

00:25:43Guest:Yeah, so I...

00:25:45Guest:I, at that point, was figuring out all the stuff on the radio.

00:25:50Guest:And I grew up with all the 50s doo-wop and all of that.

00:25:54Guest:That's my influence.

00:25:57Guest:Yeah.

00:25:58Guest:It's good old rock and roll.

00:26:00Guest:And here come the English guitar players.

00:26:03Guest:Right.

00:26:04Guest:Which was back in Clapton.

00:26:07Guest:Peter Green?

00:26:07Guest:Peter Green.

00:26:08Guest:Yeah.

00:26:09Guest:Big time.

00:26:10Guest:Right.

00:26:10Yeah.

00:26:10Guest:page yeah yeah yeah and you know uh i was pretty dumb uh-huh uh most america was really dumb in the 50s uh-huh it was wonderfully wonderfully dumb yeah you know everything we knew everything we needed to know

00:26:28Guest:Yeah, it's enough.

00:26:30Guest:Yeah, it was plenty.

00:26:32Marc:We didn't even know enough to respect the guys that the English blues players actually took into their hearts.

00:26:37Guest:Well, they started talking about all these blues guys.

00:26:40Marc:Yeah, yeah.

00:26:42Marc:And they were just down at South and in Chicago.

00:26:45Marc:I had no idea.

00:26:47Guest:That was never on the radio where I live.

00:26:49Guest:Right.

00:26:50Guest:It took them to bring it back.

00:26:51Guest:50s doo-wop was.

00:26:53Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:26:54Guest:You know?

00:26:54Guest:Yeah.

00:26:54Guest:If it was blues, I would have learned it.

00:26:57Guest:Yeah.

00:26:58Guest:And so I studied the English guys and gradually got into their influences.

00:27:07Guest:Right.

00:27:08Guest:Go all the way back.

00:27:09Guest:Yeah.

00:27:09Marc:Like Freddie King, Albert King.

00:27:11Guest:The three Kings.

00:27:12Marc:Yeah.

00:27:13Marc:Albert, Freddie, and Bebe.

00:27:15Marc:And then you got to work with Bebe, right?

00:27:17Guest:I worked with them all.

00:27:18Marc:So when you started touring with the James Gang, you'd done your time and you're doing your own riffs, but you're meeting a lot of cats, right?

00:27:25Marc:You're on the road with a lot of guys.

00:27:27Guest:Yeah, I really started to meet people.

00:27:33Guest:We got really good in the Midwest.

00:27:35Guest:We were a big draw.

00:27:37Guest:Our first album got...

00:27:41Guest:Really good reviews.

00:27:42Guest:Yeah.

00:27:43Guest:It didn't sell a lot.

00:27:44Guest:Right.

00:27:45Guest:But people liked it.

00:27:46Guest:Yeah, word of mouth in the Midwest.

00:27:49Guest:We had a lot of people coming.

00:27:51Guest:Yeah.

00:27:51Guest:The headliners would come and they would get us as an opening act.

00:27:56Guest:Yeah.

00:27:57Guest:Because we would make the show sell out.

00:27:59Guest:Right.

00:27:59Guest:We couldn't headline by ourselves.

00:28:01Guest:Didn't have enough songs?

00:28:03Guest:Yeah.

00:28:03Guest:weren't that big.

00:28:04Guest:Right.

00:28:05Guest:But you could bring the locals in.

00:28:06Guest:In the Midwest, yeah.

00:28:08Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:28:09Guest:So that's how I met all the guys.

00:28:11Guest:Yeah.

00:28:12Guest:And I met Paige.

00:28:14Guest:We opened for The Cream in Detroit.

00:28:19Guest:Like the first time they were over here?

00:28:20Guest:At the Grandy Ballroom.

00:28:21Marc:Oh, yeah?

00:28:22Guest:And then you got to meet Clapton?

00:28:24Guest:He heard me.

00:28:25Guest:Yeah.

00:28:26Guest:Yeah.

00:28:26Guest:And I got to meet him briefly.

00:28:28Guest:And another one was we opened for The Who.

00:28:32Guest:Yeah.

00:28:33Guest:Yeah.

00:28:33Guest:And Peter Townsend came early that night.

00:28:36Marc:And he saw you.

00:28:37Marc:He saw me.

00:28:38Marc:And did they say anything that first time?

00:28:40Marc:Did you build a relationship with those guys?

00:28:42Guest:That was the beginning of a long-term relationship.

00:28:45Guest:With Pete?

00:28:46Guest:Yeah.

00:28:47Guest:We bonded really well.

00:28:50Guest:Keith Moon decided he liked me.

00:28:51Guest:Yeah.

00:28:52Guest:That was...

00:28:54Guest:The scariest thing that ever happened in my whole life.

00:28:58Guest:But they asked us to open for them in Europe.

00:29:04Guest:Oh, really?

00:29:05Guest:For the Tommy tour.

00:29:07Guest:Oh, so James Gang was opening for the Who in Europe.

00:29:09Guest:Yeah.

00:29:09Guest:Yeah, so you see how I just started meeting people.

00:29:13Marc:Right.

00:29:14Marc:Well, what was the relationship with Keith Moon?

00:29:16Marc:It wasn't good because he took to you?

00:29:18Marc:Because you've got to keep up with him, right?

00:29:20Marc:Yeah.

00:29:20Marc:He's pretty out of control?

00:29:21Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:29:22Guest:I mean, if he liked you.

00:29:24Guest:So it's a battle to the death?

00:29:27Guest:In 24 hours, we stayed up for a couple days.

00:29:30Guest:Yeah.

00:29:32Guest:Yeah.

00:29:32Guest:We stayed up for a week in two days.

00:29:35Guest:Yeah.

00:29:36Marc:Yeah.

00:29:37Marc:At that time, though, weren't they really the first band to really kind of be destructive offstage?

00:29:45Marc:Yeah.

00:29:45Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:29:46Marc:A lot of that was Keith.

00:29:48Marc:But you were friends with him a long time, right?

00:29:50Marc:I mean, until the end, probably?

00:29:52Marc:Yeah.

00:29:52Marc:Yeah?

00:29:53Marc:Yeah.

00:29:53Marc:Did you play with it?

00:29:54Guest:You played on one of his records, too.

00:29:55Guest:Yeah, I did.

00:29:57Guest:I think it got reviewed as the worst album ever made.

00:30:00Guest:Was it?

00:30:01Guest:I'm pretty sure.

00:30:04Guest:But was it fun making it?

00:30:05Marc:Yeah.

00:30:06Marc:So when you toured with The Who, like watching Townsend, because he's like a rhythm-based guy, too, really.

00:30:11Guest:He taught me how to play lead and rhythm at the same time.

00:30:16Guest:That's his style.

00:30:17Guest:Right.

00:30:17Guest:Three-piece band.

00:30:18Guest:Yeah, so you had to fill the gap.

00:30:20Guest:Basically, we were a three-piece band.

00:30:22Guest:And there's a style, because you're the only melodic instrument, there's a style called lead rhythm.

00:30:33Guest:And that's what Pete did.

00:30:35Guest:And I picked up on that.

00:30:37Guest:I was figuring it out.

00:30:41Guest:But he was like the main guy for that.

00:30:46Guest:Yeah.

00:30:46Guest:And of course, Paige.

00:30:48Guest:You were friends with Jimmy too?

00:30:50Guest:Yeah.

00:30:50Guest:Still?

00:30:51Guest:Yeah.

00:30:51Guest:We opened for Led Zeppelin in Cleveland.

00:30:55Guest:Yeah.

00:30:56Guest:Their first album had just come out.

00:30:59Guest:Oh, wow.

00:30:59Guest:Yeah.

00:31:00Guest:And they were over in the States maybe five weeks too early because everybody came expecting to hear...

00:31:09Guest:the art birds right because that's how they knew jimmy page right so they had no idea jimmy page's new band yeah and the audience had hadn't heard anything from the album right so and it's a whole different sound man right oh yeah holy shit and you nobody could grasp it and they were just like figuring out how to play live yeah you know that must have been insane so like how would the audience react

00:31:37Guest:Well, we got a really good, you know, Cleveland's hometown.

00:31:43Guest:Sure.

00:31:44Guest:So, you know, we just played to our people.

00:31:46Guest:Yeah.

00:31:47Guest:And they went crazy.

00:31:48Guest:Yeah.

00:31:49Guest:And I had met Jimmy.

00:31:52Guest:I worked my way backstage and met Jimmy at a Yardbirds show.

00:31:57Guest:I just went to hear the Yardbirds.

00:31:59Guest:And when they were in Cleveland?

00:32:00Guest:No.

00:32:01Guest:No.

00:32:01Guest:No, this was somewhere else.

00:32:02Guest:But he remembered me from that.

00:32:06Guest:Yeah.

00:32:07Yeah.

00:32:07Guest:And, yeah, we just kind of buddied up.

00:32:10Guest:Yeah.

00:32:11Guest:And, you know, he played a Fender Telecaster in the Yardbirds.

00:32:16Guest:Right.

00:32:18Marc:And then he changed to West Paul's at some point.

00:32:20Guest:When you get into a three-piece band, you can't use a single-coil guitar.

00:32:26Marc:Right.

00:32:27Guest:Too thin.

00:32:28Guest:Too thin.

00:32:28Guest:Yeah.

00:32:29Guest:You need...

00:32:30Guest:Power.

00:32:31Guest:You need a Les Paul.

00:32:32Guest:Yeah.

00:32:33Guest:Yeah.

00:32:33Guest:Well, I had one.

00:32:35Guest:Yeah.

00:32:35Guest:And he realized that he was in the process of realizing that a telecaster ain't going to make it for Led Zeppelin.

00:32:43Guest:Right.

00:32:44Guest:And so he said, do you know any way I could get a Les Paul?

00:32:50Guest:Yeah.

00:32:50Guest:weren't they available uh in england they were non-existent really in the late in england yeah yeah yeah and in the states yeah they were around and they they weren't expensive yeah they were around i mean everybody was getting new stuff everybody was getting like what the beatles played rickenbackers rickenbackers yeah yeah country gentlemen gretches epiphone

00:33:15Guest:Yeah.

00:33:16Guest:Yeah.

00:33:17Guest:And so Les Paul was like, that was, you know, that came out in the late 50s.

00:33:22Guest:And no one cared.

00:33:23Guest:Nobody had really bothered to plug one in.

00:33:28Guest:Yeah.

00:33:28Guest:And I happened to have two, because I found one from a guy in Akron, and I found another one in a music store.

00:33:37Guest:You know, there was no guitar center or anything.

00:33:40Guest:Yeah.

00:33:40Guest:Just a family-owned local music store.

00:33:43Guest:Yeah.

00:33:43Guest:They had one in the basement.

00:33:45Guest:Yeah.

00:33:45Guest:Les Paul that no one wanted.

00:33:47Guest:Yeah.

00:33:47Guest:It had been lying around since the 50s.

00:33:50Guest:Yeah.

00:33:51Guest:And so I had two of them.

00:33:53Guest:Yeah.

00:33:53Guest:And I gave Jimmy one of mine and I said, well, I have two.

00:34:00Guest:Yeah.

00:34:01Guest:I'll keep the one I like.

00:34:02Guest:You can have this one and see how you like it.

00:34:07Guest:Yeah.

00:34:07Guest:And that was it.

00:34:09Guest:And that is the bulk of...

00:34:13Guest:Led Zeppelin's work.

00:34:15Guest:Right.

00:34:15Guest:That guitar.

00:34:16Guest:He calls it number one.

00:34:18Guest:The one you gave him.

00:34:19Marc:Yeah.

00:34:20Marc:The magic guitar.

00:34:21Marc:Yeah.

00:34:22Marc:That's amazing.

00:34:23Marc:And you still play Les Paul's mostly or no?

00:34:26Guest:It depends what the other guitar players play in.

00:34:29Guest:Uh-huh.

00:34:30Guest:I have found that if...

00:34:32Guest:The other guy's playing a lesquois.

00:34:33Guest:You need to play a single coil.

00:34:36Marc:Okay.

00:34:36Guest:A strat.

00:34:37Marc:Yeah.

00:34:38Marc:Just to balance it out.

00:34:39Marc:Yeah.

00:34:40Marc:Get the high end going.

00:34:40Marc:You can hear both of them.

00:34:42Marc:Right.

00:34:42Marc:As opposed to just a mess, a humbucking mess.

00:34:45Guest:Yeah.

00:34:46Marc:Yeah.

00:34:47Marc:Yeah.

00:34:48Marc:Yeah.

00:34:50Marc:So when you start to, like, who else did you, like, where else did you pick up tricks?

00:34:54Marc:Because I did a little research on you, and it seems like just by virtue of touring with all these guys or opening for them.

00:34:59Marc:Because who would I talk to?

00:35:00Marc:I talked to Billy Gibbons about opening for Hendrix in Texas.

00:35:05Marc:Yeah.

00:35:06Marc:You guys must be friends, right?

00:35:07Marc:You and Billy?

00:35:07Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:35:08Marc:Yeah.

00:35:09Guest:He married us.

00:35:10Guest:Oh, he did?

00:35:11Guest:My wife, Marjorie.

00:35:12Guest:Hi, Marjorie.

00:35:12Guest:I love you.

00:35:14Guest:Yeah, he married us.

00:35:15Guest:He did?

00:35:15Guest:He's a, what am I?

00:35:17Guest:Yeah, Reverend Billy Gibbons.

00:35:19Guest:You bet.

00:35:22Marc:But he talked about, it was funny, he shared this story with me where he said he was opening for Hendrix and they were back at the hotel and Hendrix would have a whole stereo console delivered to the hotel and he said to Billy, he's like, let's go try and figure out what Jeff Beck is doing.

00:35:37Marc:Yeah.

00:35:38Marc:Like Jeff Beck was this towering guitar wizard that everybody was baffled by.

00:35:42Marc:He still is.

00:35:43Marc:Yeah.

00:35:43Guest:Jeff has mutated.

00:35:46Guest:To where he made the guitar into an instrument that is, yeah, he's playing the guitar, but that's not the instrument.

00:35:56Guest:Yeah.

00:35:57Guest:He figured out a way to make noises and a way to play, especially with the tremolo arm.

00:36:04Guest:Yeah.

00:36:05Guest:And the knobs.

00:36:06Guest:And the knobs, yeah.

00:36:08Guest:And nobody can figure out what the hell he's doing.

00:36:11Guest:Yeah.

00:36:11Guest:Never could.

00:36:12Guest:Yeah.

00:36:13Guest:And I met Jeff, too, of course.

00:36:15Marc:Yeah.

00:36:16Marc:So when did the life get large, after those first two James Gang hits?

00:36:22Guest:Well...

00:36:23Guest:Life got large when I joined the Eagles, I would say.

00:36:27Guest:Right.

00:36:28Marc:But when can you track?

00:36:31Marc:Because you write a lot of songs about the rock and roll lifestyle, and certainly you're sort of mythic in that.

00:36:37Marc:Because I guess in the late 60s, early 70s, it was just what everyone was doing.

00:36:41Marc:But at some point, you must have upped the game.

00:36:44Guest:Yeah, there was a lot of people doing it.

00:36:48Guest:The James Gang did really well.

00:36:51Guest:The second album was in the top 100 for a year.

00:36:56Guest:And the third album, Walk Away, was on that.

00:37:02Guest:But I started to get toasted.

00:37:04Guest:Yeah.

00:37:05Guest:I was hearing other singers than me, two vocals.

00:37:09Guest:Right.

00:37:10Guest:I was hearing like keyboard parts.

00:37:13Guest:Yeah.

00:37:13Guest:I was hearing like a rhythm guitar player.

00:37:16Guest:Yeah.

00:37:16Guest:And when I say that, I mean...

00:37:18Guest:I was writing that kind of music.

00:37:22Marc:Right.

00:37:23Marc:Bigger than a trio.

00:37:24Guest:Yeah.

00:37:25Marc:Yeah.

00:37:26Guest:Those songs were nice, but they weren't for the James Gang.

00:37:29Guest:Right.

00:37:29Guest:We couldn't go play those live.

00:37:31Guest:And I also thought I was kind of painting myself into the corner as a great, great grandfather of heavy metal.

00:37:40Guest:And I didn't want to do that.

00:37:43Right.

00:37:43Marc:You wanted to make more hits?

00:37:47Marc:What's the opposite of that?

00:37:49Guest:I was starting to really write original material.

00:37:53Marc:Yeah.

00:37:54Guest:That's all we did.

00:37:55Marc:Yeah.

00:37:56Marc:Just play.

00:37:57Marc:It was play.

00:37:58Guest:Yeah.

00:37:59Guest:That was my whole life, you know?

00:38:01Guest:It wasn't writing necessarily.

00:38:02Guest:It was just playing.

00:38:04Guest:No, it was playing.

00:38:04Guest:Yeah.

00:38:05Guest:And going to the next show and driving.

00:38:07Guest:Yeah.

00:38:09Guest:What'd you do in the car?

00:38:10Guest:And setting my own stuff up.

00:38:12Guest:Yeah.

00:38:13Guest:What'd I do in the car?

00:38:14Guest:Yeah.

00:38:15Guest:Listen to the radio.

00:38:17Guest:Right.

00:38:18Guest:No songwriting in the car?

00:38:19Guest:Or nothing.

00:38:20Marc:You're in there with two other dudes, right?

00:38:22Guest:Just talking at least?

00:38:23Guest:Well, I drove the equipment truck.

00:38:25Guest:Oh, okay.

00:38:26Guest:The other guys were in the car?

00:38:27Guest:I lived in the equipment truck.

00:38:29Guest:You did?

00:38:29Guest:On top of the PA columns, yeah.

00:38:33Guest:That was my best.

00:38:33Guest:Yeah, for a couple months.

00:38:36Guest:Anyway, I decided that I was going to try something else.

00:38:41Guest:Right.

00:38:42Guest:Which is terrifying and makes no sense because when you're in a big group,

00:38:47Guest:Yeah.

00:38:49Guest:And you're working.

00:38:50Guest:And you're working and you're filling the house.

00:38:52Guest:Why quit?

00:38:53Marc:Yeah.

00:38:54Guest:If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

00:38:55Guest:And you guys are getting along?

00:38:57Guest:Yeah.

00:38:58Guest:Yeah.

00:38:58Guest:But I was just fried, man.

00:38:59Guest:I was just fried.

00:39:01Guest:Playing the same songs over and over and over and over and over.

00:39:04Guest:Yeah.

00:39:06Guest:And having to get...

00:39:08Guest:a buzz to do it right yeah this was serious turn up right right marshall stacks and stuff right so when you decided to break away you just told the other dudes like how does that go i did yeah i did i said i'm gonna play out the existing shows and i gotta take a break and i gotta get out of out of ohio yeah

00:39:32Guest:And so I did.

00:39:34Guest:Where'd you go?

00:39:36Guest:I went to Colorado.

00:39:38Guest:That's nice.

00:39:39Guest:And I did that because Bill Simczyk.

00:39:42Guest:The producer?

00:39:43Guest:With the name that nobody can spell.

00:39:45Guest:I'm glad you said it before I brought him up.

00:39:47Guest:Bill Simczyk.

00:39:48Guest:Yeah.

00:39:49Guest:No vowels.

00:39:50Guest:Yeah.

00:39:52Guest:Polish.

00:39:56Guest:He found us in Ohio and

00:40:00Guest:He produced the first album.

00:40:02Guest:He produced our second album.

00:40:07Guest:He produced the B.B.

00:40:08Guest:King song album that The Thrill Is Gone was on.

00:40:14Guest:That's how I met B.B.

00:40:17Guest:What did you earn from BB?

00:40:19Guest:Anything?

00:40:20Guest:I went to see him about four months before he died.

00:40:25Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:40:26Guest:Actually, he opened for me at a casino.

00:40:29Guest:Uh-huh.

00:40:30Guest:And so I went in and sat down and we talked for a while because I'd known him since 69, something like that.

00:40:37Guest:And I asked him, what have you learned that you would pass on to me?

00:40:45Guest:Yeah.

00:40:45Yeah.

00:40:45Guest:Because I'm going to keep going because you did.

00:40:49Guest:You showed us all how.

00:40:52Guest:I'm going to keep going.

00:40:53Guest:What would you say?

00:40:55Guest:He says, Joe, get your money.

00:41:03Guest:Get the money.

00:41:05Guest:That's it.

00:41:06Guest:Yeah.

00:41:07Guest:I said, what?

00:41:11Guest:So that's what I learned from Baby King.

00:41:13Guest:And he was a perfect gentleman.

00:41:15Guest:He was just a real gentleman.

00:41:18Marc:So how long were you in Colorado?

00:41:19Marc:Is that where Rocky Mountain Way came from?

00:41:21Guest:Bill Simczyk quit the label.

00:41:25Marc:Yeah.

00:41:26Marc:Which label?

00:41:27Guest:ABC Dunhill.

00:41:30Guest:Uh-huh.

00:41:31Guest:So now he's freelance?

00:41:32Guest:He's just out in the world?

00:41:33Uh-huh.

00:41:33Guest:uh yeah it was the earthquake i think it was 1970 something he got out yeah oh he left the next day yeah yeah so he's in colorado freaked him right out yeah yeah he moved to colorado and started a label yeah and i said uh i don't know where to go but i'm gonna wrap it up and he said well come out to colorado yeah and so i did

00:42:00Guest:And out of that came the Barnstorm concept, which was my solo group.

00:42:06Guest:Yeah.

00:42:07Guest:And it was good.

00:42:09Guest:How many were you?

00:42:11Guest:First it was me and Joe Vitale, drummer.

00:42:14Guest:Yeah.

00:42:15Guest:Now, he's from Kent.

00:42:16Guest:So you knew him from back in the day?

00:42:18Guest:Yeah, but he was, you know when I said there's the fraternity guys?

00:42:22Guest:Yeah.

00:42:23Guest:He's one of them.

00:42:24Guest:Yeah, a good one.

00:42:25Guest:And so we didn't talk much.

00:42:27Guest:Right.

00:42:27Guest:So how'd you get, you just called him up?

00:42:29Guest:Yeah, I called him up and said, hey, I'm in Colorado and I don't know what I'm doing.

00:42:35Guest:What are you doing?

00:42:35Guest:He said, nothing.

00:42:37Guest:Yeah.

00:42:38Guest:You know how I'm doing.

00:42:39Guest:Kent's dead.

00:42:40Guest:Yeah.

00:42:41Guest:And so he came out.

00:42:44Guest:We made model airplanes for about four months because it was too cold to go outside and get his drums out of the car.

00:42:54Guest:It was awful.

00:42:55Guest:I had no idea.

00:42:58Guest:We lived in Nederland above Boulder.

00:43:02Guest:That's where Caribou Ranch was being built, which was James Garcia's studio.

00:43:11Guest:He was a producer of Chicago.

00:43:13Guest:That's a big band.

00:43:13Guest:Yeah, and Caribou Ranch became a famous studio, but... Not when you were there.

00:43:19Guest:No, they were still building it.

00:43:22Guest:So where'd you record?

00:43:23Guest:At Caribou Ranch.

00:43:24Guest:Oh, you waited.

00:43:24Guest:You built them out of airplanes?

00:43:26Guest:Yeah, and then we wrote some songs, and then we got a bass player, and we went and did that, and the first Barnstorm album got great reviews, and we played some shows, and we were really good...

00:43:43Guest:This just three of you again?

00:43:44Guest:No, there was four of us.

00:43:47Guest:There was a keyboard player.

00:43:48Guest:And that's when you did Rocky Mountain Way, the smoker you drink, the player you get?

00:43:52Guest:Well, the second Barnstorm album was just coming out and Rocky Mountain Way was on it.

00:44:02Guest:and i wrote that about i don't know what i'm doing yeah i moved yeah to colorado yeah and i'm starting to run out of money and my solo first solo album flopped and i'm scared yeah and maybe i really screwed up yeah and

00:44:23Guest:And that's what the words kind of say.

00:44:25Guest:Yeah.

00:44:26Guest:And then I looked up and saw the snow on the back range.

00:44:32Guest:Yeah.

00:44:34Guest:And I said, wait a minute.

00:44:36Guest:It's better than the way we had.

00:44:39Guest:Yeah, yeah, right.

00:44:40Guest:Which was Cleveland.

00:44:41Guest:Right, right.

00:44:42Guest:So that's the back story.

00:44:43Guest:So what happened then was Barnstorm, I was running out of money and we were playing for, I don't know,

00:44:52Guest:350 bucks a night or something.

00:44:56Marc:Like touring or just around Colorado in that Southwest?

00:44:58Marc:Whatever.

00:44:59Marc:Right.

00:44:59Marc:Whatever we could get.

00:45:00Marc:So you had no traction.

00:45:02Guest:And the record company was really not too excited.

00:45:05Guest:Except Rocky Mountain Way was on The Smoker You Drink to Play or You Get album.

00:45:11Guest:It's a huge record, man.

00:45:13Guest:And about the last show that Barnstorm was going to play was at the Roxy.

00:45:19Guest:The whiskey.

00:45:20Guest:The whiskey.

00:45:21Guest:Yeah.

00:45:21Guest:The whiskey-a-go-go.

00:45:23Guest:Yeah.

00:45:23Guest:And this guy came up to me, a little guy with a beard, and he said, I've been trying to find you, and I'm from the Midwest, and I'm an agent.

00:45:37Guest:I'm a booking agent.

00:45:40Guest:Mm-hmm.

00:45:41Guest:And you need some booking.

00:45:42Guest:Yeah.

00:45:44Guest:And I tell you what...

00:45:46Guest:I don't want a book, but I know how.

00:45:50Guest:But I want to be a manager.

00:45:52Guest:Yeah.

00:45:53Guest:And so why don't I manage you?

00:45:58Guest:And I had told him, my affairs are a mess.

00:46:02Guest:I don't know.

00:46:05Guest:I don't know.

00:46:06Guest:I don't have any direction.

00:46:07Guest:I'm not selling records.

00:46:11Guest:It's not going the way I had hoped.

00:46:14Guest:And he said, well, I tell you what, I'll manage you.

00:46:18Guest:We'll get your stuff all figured out.

00:46:22Guest:and you gotta keep going.

00:46:26Guest:And by the way, Rocky Mountain Way is a hit.

00:46:32Guest:And that was Irving Azoff.

00:46:36Guest:And that was pretty much the last gig Barnstrom was gonna play.

00:46:40Guest:So all of a sudden I had a huge single and a new manager.

00:46:46Marc:And he went on to become a huge manager.

00:46:48Marc:Yeah, still is.

00:46:50Marc:Are you still with him?

00:46:51Guest:yeah wow that's wild so you were there at the beginning were you his first client uh me and danny fogelberg dan fogelberg did he pass away or is he yeah danny died of uh prostate cancer oh i don't know 15 years ago yeah did you know dan before that

00:47:12Guest:no not before that yeah irving made me produce dan's album souvenirs souvenirs yeah yeah yeah that was a big record yeah and different definitely different style than you you know yeah well i just couldn't believe the songs that that this guy wrote he's sitting there with an acoustic playing me these incredible songs

00:47:37Guest:And Irving said, he needs to do an album.

00:47:41Guest:Why don't you do it?

00:47:42Marc:Yeah.

00:47:44Guest:And so I did.

00:47:44Marc:And it was a big record.

00:47:46Marc:Yeah.

00:47:47Marc:And so.

00:47:48Marc:That was the first time he produced, too?

00:47:49Marc:Yeah.

00:47:50Marc:So he helps you get Rocky Mountain Way on the charts, and that changed it.

00:47:54Marc:I mean, that song.

00:47:55Marc:That changed everybody's attitude.

00:47:57Marc:It changed the whole country's attitude.

00:47:59Marc:I remember hearing that song at least three times a day when I was a kid.

00:48:02Yeah.

00:48:02Marc:Yeah.

00:48:03Marc:In Albuquerque, New Mexico, driving around.

00:48:06Marc:And then the live version, that was a big record, too.

00:48:09Marc:Yeah.

00:48:10Marc:Yeah.

00:48:11Marc:And he must have been the first one to use that voice box thing.

00:48:14Marc:Yeah.

00:48:15Guest:Where'd you find that?

00:48:16Guest:I found that in Nashville.

00:48:19Guest:There was a country singer named Dottie West.

00:48:23Guest:Yeah.

00:48:23Guest:And she was...

00:48:25Guest:One of the grand old girls of Nashville.

00:48:28Guest:Yeah.

00:48:29Guest:Old time.

00:48:30Guest:I think she was married to Porter Wagner for a while.

00:48:34Guest:And her husband was Bill West.

00:48:39Guest:And he was a pedal steel player, but he was also a mad inventor.

00:48:44Guest:Yeah.

00:48:46Guest:And he had invented the talk box, which basically, it's not a speaker, it's the back end of a speaker.

00:48:54Guest:In a little cardboard box and a piece of surgical tubing.

00:49:01Guest:stuck in it.

00:49:03Guest:Yeah.

00:49:03Guest:So the sound comes up the tube.

00:49:06Guest:Right.

00:49:06Guest:But you don't really hear it.

00:49:08Guest:Yeah.

00:49:09Guest:Yeah.

00:49:09Guest:And Pete Drake is a legendary pedal steel player.

00:49:15Guest:He used it once.

00:49:17Guest:Did he play with George Jones?

00:49:18Guest:Yeah.

00:49:19Marc:Oh, he's so good, that guy.

00:49:20Guest:But Pete Drake had a hit where his pedal steel talked.

00:49:25Guest:But then the thing went back in Bill West's garage.

00:49:29Guest:And anytime the James Gang played Nashville, we'd go to Dottie's after the show, and she'd invite a bunch of friends over, and we'd all sit around and play guitar.

00:49:42Guest:And Bill West came in from the garage and said, here, take this.

00:49:49Guest:I made this a long time ago.

00:49:51Guest:Here's how you do it.

00:49:53Guest:Maybe you can use it for something.

00:49:55Guest:I'm cleaning out my garage.

00:50:00Guest:And he took it.

00:50:01Guest:And that's Rocky Mountain Way.

00:50:03Guest:And then, of course, someone manufactured it after.

00:50:06Guest:Well, Peter Frampton called me up and said, what the hell is that?

00:50:10Guest:So I told him that he got rich, too.

00:50:15Marc:With Frampton Comes to Live.

00:50:16Marc:Yeah.

00:50:17Marc:Yeah.

00:50:18Marc:Do you feel like I do?

00:50:20Marc:Yeah.

00:50:21Yeah.

00:50:21Marc:Yeah.

00:50:22Marc:It's such an odd piece of equipment because you don't hear it.

00:50:27Marc:Besides you guys, you two, you and Frampton, I don't... Who else did it?

00:50:34Marc:Jeff Beck a little bit.

00:50:35Marc:Oh, yeah?

00:50:36Marc:Yeah.

00:50:36Marc:So it's interesting because you can use your mouth and your throat as another riffing instrument.

00:50:43Marc:Yeah.

00:50:44Marc:Yeah, and make a completely bizarro sound.

00:50:47Marc:Yeah.

00:50:48Guest:You know the people who have...

00:50:50Guest:heavy smokers who have no larynx.

00:50:54Guest:They had their larynx removed.

00:50:56Guest:Tracheotomy.

00:50:57Guest:And they have this buzzer that they put in a dog like this.

00:51:03Guest:It's basically that.

00:51:04Guest:That's what it is.

00:51:06Guest:If you sit here and talk to me, but just move your mouth.

00:51:10Guest:Right.

00:51:11Guest:That's what you do.

00:51:13Guest:Right.

00:51:13Guest:And you put this tube in your mouth.

00:51:15Guest:And there you got it.

00:51:16Guest:And that's your sound.

00:51:18Marc:Yeah.

00:51:18Marc:Do you take it on the road with you?

00:51:20Marc:Yeah.

00:51:22Marc:I love that.

00:51:23Marc:That's where it came from.

00:51:25Marc:Bill West.

00:51:26Marc:Is that his name?

00:51:26Marc:Bill West.

00:51:27Marc:In his garage.

00:51:28Guest:He also invented the first fuzz tone.

00:51:30Guest:Did he really?

00:51:31Guest:Yeah, but he never got a patent on it.

00:51:33Marc:Oh.

00:51:34Marc:So you missed a boat on that one, huh?

00:51:35Marc:Missed a boat on that one, yeah.

00:51:37Marc:So, okay, so now you're with Azov.

00:51:40Marc:I'm with Azov.

00:51:40Marc:You produced Souvenirs.

00:51:41Marc:You got Rocky Mountain Way.

00:51:43Guest:Rocky Mountain Way came out.

00:51:44Guest:It's all happening.

00:51:46Guest:And I got out of Colorado.

00:51:49Marc:How long were you there?

00:51:52Marc:Three years.

00:51:53Marc:Yeah.

00:51:53Marc:So are you getting married?

00:51:54Marc:You turning through wives yet?

00:51:56Marc:Is that happening?

00:51:57Guest:Yeah.

00:51:57Marc:Yeah.

00:51:58Guest:Yeah, I got married and had a kid.

00:52:01Guest:And actually, my wife at the time...

00:52:05Guest:I had a car accident taking my kid to school.

00:52:09Guest:Somebody ran a stop sign and wiped him out.

00:52:14Guest:My wife's alive, but my kid got wiped out.

00:52:17Guest:And so... How old?

00:52:19Guest:Four.

00:52:19Guest:Oh, sorry, man.

00:52:20Guest:So that's a long time ago.

00:52:22Guest:Yeah.

00:52:25Guest:That was a great excuse to be mad at God and go on a 20-year...

00:52:33Guest:Trash myself.

00:52:35Guest:That's where it started?

00:52:38Guest:Yeah.

00:52:39Guest:Well, I was doing pretty good without that.

00:52:42Guest:Yeah.

00:52:44Guest:But, you know, and an album of mine called So What?

00:52:48Marc:Right, yeah.

00:52:49Yeah.

00:52:49Guest:That was a reaction.

00:52:51Marc:That could have been called Fuck You?

00:52:53Marc:Yeah.

00:52:54Marc:Right.

00:52:55Guest:Yeah.

00:52:55Guest:I get it.

00:52:56Marc:Yeah.

00:52:57Marc:Yeah.

00:52:59Marc:How'd that album do?

00:53:01Guest:Oh, it did great.

00:53:02Guest:It did great.

00:53:02Guest:But right in there, right, I was in California more and more and made friends with the whole Southern California team.

00:53:12Guest:Who was it, like the... Group, community.

00:53:15Guest:And this was a lot like Kent.

00:53:16Guest:This was in L.A.

00:53:18Guest:There were tons of places to play.

00:53:21Guest:Like J.D.

00:53:21Guest:Southern and those guys?

00:53:22Guest:Yeah, lots of musicians, and everybody had come to California.

00:53:29Guest:Like, for example, me, Men Glenn and Henley.

00:53:35Guest:We knew that where we lived, which was...

00:53:39Guest:Ohio, Colorado for me.

00:53:41Guest:Yeah.

00:53:42Guest:Glenn was in Detroit.

00:53:43Guest:Yeah.

00:53:43Guest:Henley was in Texas.

00:53:45Guest:Right.

00:53:45Guest:Linden, Texas.

00:53:46Guest:Yeah, right.

00:53:48Guest:We knew that we'd gone as far as we were going to go.

00:53:51Guest:In those places.

00:53:52Guest:In those places.

00:53:52Guest:Yeah.

00:53:53Guest:And we didn't know if we would ever make it...

00:53:59Guest:But if we were gonna make it, it would be in Los Angeles.

00:54:05Guest:Right.

00:54:06Guest:Yeah.

00:54:06Guest:So yeah, everybody was here.

00:54:08Guest:And that was Laurel Canyon.

00:54:11Marc:In the 70s.

00:54:11Marc:Yeah.

00:54:12Marc:So after the 60s.

00:54:13Marc:So it's not Crosby and those guys.

00:54:15Marc:It's your generation.

00:54:16Guest:It's early, yeah, 70s.

00:54:19Marc:Two, three, four.

00:54:19Marc:So they were all still there too, right?

00:54:21Marc:The David Crosby, David Crosby.

00:54:23Marc:Jackson Brown, yeah, you know.

00:54:28Marc:You were up in Laurel Canyon?

00:54:30Guest:Me, I was a rocker, you know, but it was John and Glenn and...

00:54:39Guest:They were in Linda Ronstadt's band.

00:54:42Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:54:43Guest:Linda was having hits.

00:54:45Guest:Was Graham Parsons ever around?

00:54:46Guest:Graham Parsons and the Burrito Brothers.

00:54:49Guest:Yeah.

00:54:50Guest:Yeah, I mean, all kinds of people.

00:54:52Guest:Right.

00:54:52Guest:All kinds of people.

00:54:53Guest:So it felt like you're in a creative community again.

00:54:55Guest:You landed in the right place.

00:54:56Guest:Yeah, and none of us had made it yet.

00:54:59Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:54:59Guest:So if somebody played the troubadour, everybody else would go and hang.

00:55:05Guest:Right.

00:55:06Guest:And then...

00:55:07Guest:more often than not, we would kind of split off into groups and go sit up all night and play guitar for each other and help each other write songs and stuff.

00:55:20Guest:Yeah, that's great.

00:55:21Guest:Yeah.

00:55:22Guest:Well, out of that think tank, out of that community, a couple of the guys got focused, and that was Don and Glenn.

00:55:32Guest:Yeah.

00:55:33Guest:And out of that came the Eagles.

00:55:36Marc:But you're still doing solo at that point, right?

00:55:38Guest:Yeah, but I had a big hit.

00:55:40Guest:Yeah, with Rocky Mountain Way?

00:55:41Guest:The Eagles opened for me, and I opened for Elton John.

00:55:46Marc:Right, okay.

00:55:47Marc:That was the pecking order.

00:55:48Guest:Yeah.

00:55:50Guest:So I started hanging with them.

00:55:53Guest:And you were also doing a lot of studio work, right?

00:55:56Marc:Yeah, I was playing on people's records.

00:55:59Marc:Yeah, man.

00:56:00Marc:Yeah, a lot of people.

00:56:01Marc:And that must have felt great.

00:56:02Marc:So you're working, right?

00:56:04Marc:Yeah.

00:56:04Marc:You worked with a lot of guys.

00:56:06Marc:I just listened to Thunder Island the other day.

00:56:09Marc:Oh, Jay.

00:56:09Marc:Yeah.

00:56:10Marc:It's the weirdest thing, because I was going through songs that, for some reason, I felt guilty about liking when I was a kid.

00:56:16Marc:Yeah.

00:56:16Marc:Yeah, I know.

00:56:19Marc:And Thunder Island was one of them, and I listened to it, and I was like, it's good riff.

00:56:23Marc:Was that you on acoustic?

00:56:25Marc:What were you playing on that?

00:56:26Marc:Slide.

00:56:27Marc:Oh, you were slide on that?

00:56:27Marc:Yeah.

00:56:28Marc:Where'd you fucking pick that up?

00:56:30Marc:Dwayne Allman.

00:56:32Guest:You open for the Allman Brothers back then?

00:56:34Guest:Open for the Allman Brothers.

00:56:35Marc:For a while or just one or two dates?

00:56:37Marc:Oh, three or four dates over a summer.

00:56:40Marc:That must have been something to watch.

00:56:42Marc:Oh, yeah.

00:56:42Marc:Oh, man.

00:56:43Marc:With Dwayne, yeah.

00:56:44Marc:So you guys, so you're all doing it, but you're working.

00:56:46Marc:You're playing with Al Cooper.

00:56:48Marc:Yeah.

00:56:49Marc:Big Al.

00:56:50Marc:Yeah.

00:56:51Marc:I played for Zeevon.

00:56:53Marc:Andy Gibb.

00:56:54Marc:Wow.

00:56:55Marc:Wow.

00:56:55Marc:So you're in this mix.

00:56:58Marc:You're watching Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles guys.

00:57:00Guest:The Eagles, they're a guitar player, Bernie Ledin.

00:57:04Guest:Yeah.

00:57:05Guest:was a purist, guitar purist.

00:57:09Marc:Oh, right.

00:57:09Marc:I remember.

00:57:09Marc:I watched the doc, but it was like nine hours long.

00:57:13Guest:He only played acoustic.

00:57:16Guest:Country.

00:57:17Guest:Country.

00:57:18Marc:Bluegrass.

00:57:19Marc:Well, they were kind of doing the Burritos Brothers thing, right?

00:57:21Marc:They were purists.

00:57:23Guest:He played banjo and he played acoustic.

00:57:26Guest:And Don and Glenn wanted to go more towards rock and roll.

00:57:29Guest:they were worried about getting painted in the corner as a country rock band.

00:57:35Guest:But they had already done, like, what, four or five records, right?

00:57:38Guest:Yeah, yeah.

00:57:39Guest:So Bernie said, you know what, I'm not getting off.

00:57:43Guest:I can't play rock and roll.

00:57:44Guest:You guys go ahead.

00:57:46Guest:So who were they left with?

00:57:47Guest:And Felder wasn't in the band yet, right?

00:57:49Guest:Yeah, they had...

00:57:50Guest:They had Felder?

00:57:51Guest:They had Felder for about a year.

00:57:53Marc:And when Bernie left?

00:57:54Guest:Yeah.

00:57:55Guest:Yeah.

00:57:57Guest:Felder and they went a little more rock and roll and On the Border album.

00:58:03Guest:Oh, yeah.

00:58:03Guest:That's a good one.

00:58:04Guest:And Bernie looked at Felder and said, Felder's got it covered.

00:58:08Guest:You know.

00:58:09Guest:You don't need me anymore?

00:58:10Guest:I don't, yeah.

00:58:11Guest:I don't want to do this.

00:58:13Guest:Is he still around that guy?

00:58:14Guest:Yeah.

00:58:14Marc:Yeah.

00:58:14Guest:Yeah.

00:58:15Guest:And Irving said, what if we get Walsh?

00:58:20Yeah.

00:58:21Guest:And Glenn said, yeah.

00:58:25Guest:And Don said, no.

00:58:28Guest:What was Don's problem?

00:58:29Guest:No.

00:58:31Guest:Why didn't he want you?

00:58:32Marc:I don't know.

00:58:33Marc:I don't know what his problem was, but you know.

00:58:35Marc:So you'd already made, so you'd made so- I knew them all, yeah.

00:58:39Marc:You'd made so what already or not yet?

00:58:40Guest:Yeah.

00:58:41Marc:So that was out.

00:58:42Guest:Yeah.

00:58:43Marc:And that had a hit on it, didn't it?

00:58:44Marc:Yeah.

00:58:45Marc:So now what happens?

00:58:47Guest:Shortly before that was when my wife had the accident in Boulder, Colorado.

00:58:53Marc:Like in 73 or something?

00:58:55Marc:Four.

00:58:55Marc:Yeah.

00:58:56Marc:Yeah.

00:58:57Marc:So you were pretty fucked up, bad shape.

00:58:58Guest:Yeah, and I got out of Boulder.

00:59:01Guest:Right.

00:59:02Guest:Our marriage didn't stand a chance.

00:59:04Guest:Right.

00:59:04Marc:That's a lot of strain.

00:59:06Guest:Yeah, so I just went to LA because I didn't know what else to do.

00:59:12Guest:And I didn't feel that I had the strength to continue a solo career with getting over what I had to get over.

00:59:25Guest:So when I was asked to join a band,

00:59:31Guest:You know, it was great.

00:59:33Guest:James Gang was great.

00:59:34Guest:I got in my own band.

00:59:37Guest:I was the leader.

00:59:38Guest:I found out that the leader has to sing everything, has to decide everything, has to tell the other people what to play.

00:59:51Guest:I didn't do that in the James Gang.

00:59:54Guest:I didn't care what they played.

00:59:55Guest:Right.

00:59:57Guest:And in terms of writing, if you have to write everything, it gets lonely.

01:00:06Guest:There's nobody to bounce stuff off, nobody to... And also you're using a lot.

01:00:11Marc:Yeah.

01:00:12Marc:So you're going down.

01:00:13Marc:Yeah.

01:00:14Guest:Yeah.

01:00:16Guest:And so I was happy to get in a band.

01:00:19Marc:So what turned Henley around?

01:00:21Guest:He wasn't totally against it.

01:00:25Guest:I was crazy.

01:00:26Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:00:27Guest:They didn't want him to deal with it.

01:00:29Guest:Yeah, he didn't want me to bring in Matt.

01:00:33Marc:Yeah.

01:00:34Marc:So when you guys all hung out and stuff, you were the guy who was out of control and fucking wild.

01:00:39Marc:Yeah, funny.

01:00:40Marc:Yeah, Walsh is here.

01:00:41Guest:And nobody got hurt.

01:00:43Marc:Yeah, just coked up and clowning.

01:00:45Guest:Well, Keith Moon...

01:00:47Guest:was a bad influence.

01:00:50Guest:He taught me how to do it all.

01:00:53Guest:Here's how you glue shit.

01:00:56Guest:Glue shit.

01:00:57Guest:Yeah.

01:00:57Guest:Here's how you super glue somebody in their room.

01:01:00Guest:They won't get out for two days.

01:01:03Guest:All the important skills.

01:01:06Guest:Yeah.

01:01:07Marc:This is how you throw a television off.

01:01:08Marc:Yeah.

01:01:09Marc:Yeah.

01:01:09Guest:Yeah.

01:01:10Marc:So you're a full on drugged up prankster.

01:01:13Guest:Yeah.

01:01:14Marc:And Henley was like, fuck this.

01:01:15Guest:Yeah.

01:01:16Marc:Yeah.

01:01:16Guest:Yeah.

01:01:17Guest:I don't know about that.

01:01:19Guest:Yeah.

01:01:19Guest:I don't know that this is really intellectually sound.

01:01:24Guest:Right.

01:01:24Guest:Thinking.

01:01:25Guest:Yeah.

01:01:26Yeah.

01:01:26Guest:It doesn't seem like a responsible fella, this Walsh guy.

01:01:30Guest:Yeah.

01:01:30Guest:So we decided we'd try it.

01:01:33Guest:Yeah.

01:01:33Guest:And so I learned all of Bernie's parts.

01:01:37Guest:Yeah.

01:01:37Guest:And we rehearsed for, I don't know, a month.

01:01:42Guest:Yeah.

01:01:43Guest:And then we went to Japan and played...

01:01:48Guest:the Eagles catalog up to on the border.

01:01:52Guest:So many fucking hits, right?

01:01:53Guest:But we had Funk 49.

01:01:56Guest:From you, yeah.

01:01:57Guest:And Rocky Mountain Way.

01:01:58Guest:Yeah.

01:01:59Guest:I mean, I was the closer.

01:02:02Guest:And walk away, right?

01:02:03Guest:Yeah.

01:02:03Guest:You know, in baseball, they bring a guy in.

01:02:08Guest:Yeah.

01:02:09Guest:In the ninth.

01:02:10Guest:Yeah.

01:02:10Guest:You just got to get three people out.

01:02:12Guest:Yeah.

01:02:13Guest:Yeah.

01:02:13Guest:That's what I was for the Eagles.

01:02:16Guest:On the encore?

01:02:17Guest:At the end of the show to get an encore.

01:02:20Guest:They could almost get an encore, but they had, you know.

01:02:27Guest:They all kind of went at the same tempo.

01:02:28Marc:So you had to like put it over the top.

01:02:31Guest:Yeah, put it over the top.

01:02:33Guest:Right, man.

01:02:34Guest:That's what made the most sense, especially to Irving.

01:02:37Guest:Yeah.

01:02:38Guest:And Irving said, John, it doesn't really matter if you like him or not.

01:02:45Guest:You want to do encores?

01:02:50Guest:So we went to Japan and it worked.

01:02:53Guest:The chemistry worked because I settled down.

01:02:56Guest:I did what I was supposed to do.

01:02:58Guest:I was happy to be in a band.

01:03:00Guest:I love those guys, their harmony.

01:03:03Guest:It's a dream to have vocals like that and be a guitar player and play to that.

01:03:10Guest:And Felder and I got along good.

01:03:12Guest:In the meantime, we didn't really play in the States that much.

01:03:16Guest:We went to Japan to try it out and we went to Australia, but we got Bill Simczyk.

01:03:22Guest:yeah your old producer friend yeah yeah and we did what became hotel california in the studio yeah took a while to put it together and it was just like kent we were a real band man yeah we played all together in the same room you know on a lot of tracks yeah yeah

01:03:45Guest:And then we'd put the vocals on, Don and Glenn would write the words, they'd put that on, and then Felder and I would put on guitar parts.

01:03:53Guest:And that was it.

01:03:54Marc:Felder must have upped your game a little.

01:03:56Marc:Oh, yeah.

01:03:57Marc:Oh, we were great together.

01:03:59Marc:Yeah, man.

01:03:59Marc:I mean, obviously, that Hotel California is like, that's the one, man.

01:04:04Guest:Yeah.

01:04:05Yeah.

01:04:05Guest:And so Hotel California came out, and there was no turning back.

01:04:11Marc:Here we go.

01:04:12Marc:Huge record.

01:04:13Marc:And I saw you in the documentary talking about that riff on Life in the Fast Lane.

01:04:16Marc:That was just some practicing you used to do?

01:04:20Marc:Just fucking around?

01:04:21Guest:Yeah, that was a warm-up exercise to get your right hand and your left hand talking.

01:04:28Marc:Yeah, that you came up with?

01:04:30Guest:Yeah, I would warm up with that.

01:04:33Marc:It's such a great riff.

01:04:34Guest:And Don and Glenn came here and said, what the hell is that?

01:04:38Guest:And I said, I don't know.

01:04:40Guest:Glenn said, that's an Eagles song.

01:04:43Marc:Oh, yeah.

01:04:46Marc:Yeah.

01:04:46Marc:So how long did it take you to put together that record, Hotel California?

01:04:50Guest:A year.

01:04:51Marc:Yeah?

01:04:52Marc:Is that about the average time?

01:04:55Guest:No.

01:04:56Marc:Longer or less?

01:04:58Guest:Should do it.

01:04:59Guest:The long run took two and a half years, but we toured while we were making it.

01:05:07Marc:So once Hotel California came out, I mean, that changed everything, right?

01:05:11Marc:Then you toured the States.

01:05:12Marc:You're the biggest band in the world.

01:05:13Marc:Yeah.

01:05:14Marc:Yeah.

01:05:15Marc:And then you just stuck with it through thick and thin.

01:05:18Marc:Yeah.

01:05:19Marc:So when does sobriety hit you, man?

01:05:21Marc:What happened?

01:05:26Guest:Uh...

01:05:28Guest:I was in really, really bad shape.

01:05:31Marc:When I saw you at the comedy store, you were very thin, and your hair was all fried.

01:05:35Marc:Yeah.

01:05:35Marc:Yeah, you look like a ghost.

01:05:38Guest:Yeah.

01:05:39Marc:Yeah.

01:05:40Guest:I was able to play rock and roll pretty effectively for a long time.

01:05:51Guest:Fucked up.

01:05:52Guest:Yeah.

01:05:53Guest:In retrospect,

01:05:58Guest:Most of the audience was fucked up.

01:06:00Guest:Yeah.

01:06:02Guest:And...

01:06:04Guest:A good 50% of the musicians weren't that far behind me.

01:06:11Guest:Right.

01:06:11Guest:And 15% of them were ahead of me.

01:06:15Guest:Yeah.

01:06:16Guest:In terms of getting trashed.

01:06:18Guest:But you were seeing guys drop, I imagine.

01:06:21Guest:Yeah.

01:06:21Guest:I had buddies.

01:06:22Guest:Yeah, I had buddies who didn't make it.

01:06:25Guest:Yeah.

01:06:26Guest:They OD'd first.

01:06:29Mm-hmm.

01:06:29Guest:They OD'd before they hit bottom.

01:06:31Guest:Yeah, right, right.

01:06:32Guest:And what happened to me was I hit bottom before I OD'd.

01:06:36Guest:Yeah.

01:06:36Guest:And it was pretty close.

01:06:38Marc:Do you remember where you were and what happened?

01:06:40Marc:I was in New Zealand.

01:06:42Marc:That's a pretty place.

01:06:43Guest:Yeah.

01:06:44Marc:Yeah.

01:06:45Marc:You were just hanging out?

01:06:46Guest:And I was at a place called Hawke's Bay.

01:06:48Guest:Yeah.

01:06:49Guest:Yeah.

01:06:49Guest:which was the Maori capital 3,000 years ago.

01:06:55Guest:And there's an old fort there where about, I don't know, 4,000 people had lived.

01:07:01Guest:And this is the ruins of it, but for the Maoris, that's a holy place.

01:07:07Guest:And I had gone to New Zealand and produced a band called the Herbs, H-E-R-B-S.

01:07:15Guest:Reggae band?

01:07:16Guest:New Zealand, yeah.

01:07:19Guest:Reggae is weird.

01:07:22Guest:New Zealand is Polynesia.

01:07:25Guest:It was Polynesia.

01:07:27Guest:It's like reggae, but it's not a Jamaican man.

01:07:33Guest:It's, you know.

01:07:35Marc:Different.

01:07:36Marc:Yeah.

01:07:36Marc:A little Polynesian flavor to it somehow?

01:07:39Marc:Is it a different rhythm?

01:07:40Marc:Yeah.

01:07:41Marc:Yeah, yeah.

01:07:41Guest:Yeah.

01:07:43Guest:And they were the biggest band in New Zealand, so I made an album for them.

01:07:48Guest:And so I got accepted into the Maori community.

01:07:55Guest:So these were Maori guys?

01:07:57Guest:Yeah.

01:07:57Guest:Yeah, okay.

01:07:58Guest:Anyway, they took me up to the fort.

01:08:01Guest:And I looked out and felt a lot of mojo from where I was and had a moment of clarity, shall we say.

01:08:10Guest:Yeah, I know the phrase.

01:08:11Guest:Yeah.

01:08:12Guest:Yeah.

01:08:12Guest:And that was, you're going to have to do something about this.

01:08:16Guest:Yeah.

01:08:17Guest:And it wasn't too long after that.

01:08:19Guest:I thought, look, I thought I would go in, do laundry, get some sleep, gain a little weight, get people off my back.

01:08:30Guest:That one, that part.

01:08:31Guest:Yeah, and then go out and pretend that I was only going to drink beer.

01:08:37Guest:Yeah.

01:08:38Guest:But I realized about a week into rehab that I can't say my life got worse.

01:08:48Guest:better but it stopped getting worse yeah yeah and that was huge you know i'll take it i'll take it and you're eating yeah so i stuck around yeah and i was done yeah it's a lot easier when you're done yeah and i saw

01:09:07Guest:In me, my health and my behavior, everything that my buddies who flamed out were doing.

01:09:19Guest:Yeah.

01:09:20Guest:Right.

01:09:20Guest:I knew it was inevitable.

01:09:22Guest:You're going to die.

01:09:24Guest:Yeah.

01:09:25Guest:Yeah.

01:09:25Guest:And I didn't want to.

01:09:26Guest:Yeah.

01:09:27Guest:Yeah.

01:09:27Guest:I didn't want to.

01:09:28Guest:So I decided that I would go ahead and.

01:09:34Guest:Get sober.

01:09:35Guest:Eagles, in the meantime, had broken up for 14 years, I think.

01:09:41Guest:So that was good timing for you, I guess.

01:09:43Guest:Well, Don and Glenn came to me out of a blue sky, a clear blue sky, and said, we're thinking about getting the Eagles together.

01:09:52Guest:We can't do it without you, and we can't do it unless you're sober.

01:09:58Guest:Do you think you could get sober?

01:10:02Guest:And I said...

01:10:06Guest:I don't fucking know.

01:10:09Guest:I'm pretty sure I can.

01:10:10Guest:And this is the best reason I can think of.

01:10:18Guest:That and not dying.

01:10:19Guest:Yeah.

01:10:20Guest:And you're going to get the Eagles back together.

01:10:23Guest:So I'll go in.

01:10:25Guest:Oh, that was the incentive, too.

01:10:27Guest:Yeah.

01:10:29Guest:Yeah.

01:10:30Guest:That was it.

01:10:31Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:10:32Guest:Between my moment of clarity and then when they did that.

01:10:37Marc:And then at that point, when he first gets over, as I remember, there's no coincidences.

01:10:43Marc:You had the clarity.

01:10:44Marc:Don and Glenn show up.

01:10:45Marc:You're like, duh.

01:10:46Marc:Yeah.

01:10:47Marc:It's time to do this.

01:10:48Marc:Yeah, duh.

01:10:48Marc:Yeah, exactly.

01:10:50Guest:And so in early sobriety,

01:10:54Guest:I became an outpatient.

01:10:59Guest:I was going to go in for a week and I stayed, you know, five weeks.

01:11:04Guest:Sure.

01:11:05Guest:And inked it in.

01:11:07Guest:Yeah.

01:11:07Guest:And then we started rehearsals for Hell Freezes Over.

01:11:14Guest:How was that for you?

01:11:16Guest:Really hard.

01:11:17Guest:Yeah.

01:11:18Guest:Really hard to play sober.

01:11:20Marc:After what, 20, 30 years?

01:11:22Guest:Really hard to do, yeah.

01:11:24Guest:Really hard to do anything sober.

01:11:26Guest:Right.

01:11:27Guest:Because you're self-conscious, right?

01:11:28Guest:Yeah, terrified.

01:11:30Guest:Yeah.

01:11:31Guest:So I drank in the first place.

01:11:33Guest:Yeah.

01:11:34Guest:Terrified to get up in front of people.

01:11:36Guest:Yeah.

01:11:37Guest:So what helped you out?

01:11:38Guest:I just stuck to the program.

01:11:40Guest:I mean, I bumped into these guys at men's meetings, guys older than me who have been sober 30 and 40 years, and I liked them.

01:11:52Guest:Yeah, yeah.

01:11:53Guest:They were.

01:11:54Guest:They made sense.

01:11:55Guest:And they had been where I was.

01:11:58Guest:And... Makes it seem possible.

01:12:02Guest:Yeah.

01:12:02Guest:And I realized, you know, I'm not unique and different and one of a kind like I always have thought I was.

01:12:12Guest:Right.

01:12:13Guest:You're the special user.

01:12:14Guest:There's me and then there's everybody else.

01:12:17Guest:No, I'm an alcoholic.

01:12:18Guest:Right.

01:12:20Guest:And I thought...

01:12:22Guest:geez it's a relief knowing who you are yeah i get it yeah i'm an alcoholic and and these guys i can tell them my worst nightmarish secrets yeah they can top it yeah and somebody knows what to do yeah right right

01:12:42Guest:So somebody knew what to do about, I'm terrified, what do I do?

01:12:46Guest:Yeah.

01:12:48Guest:And you got in the present and you dealt with it.

01:12:49Guest:Yeah.

01:12:50Guest:Yeah.

01:12:51Guest:And, and, uh, Hell Frees is Over came out and here we go.

01:12:58Guest:Yeah.

01:12:59Marc:A couple of big hits back out on the road.

01:13:01Guest:Yeah.

01:13:02Guest:so like and here i am yeah and you're going again yeah so this is the first tour in a while first tour uh after glenn passed that's right we uh that was sad huh wow yeah sorry buddy we thought he had more time than that yeah it was a it was a perfect storm of a couple things

01:13:23Guest:When you go in the hospital and you get an infection or you get pneumonia, I don't know exactly what happened, but that wasn't supposed to happen.

01:13:35Guest:Yeah.

01:13:37Guest:We thought that was it.

01:13:38Guest:I mean, Henley said, that's it.

01:13:41Guest:There's no way now we can keep going.

01:13:46Guest:And that's the way it was.

01:13:49Guest:And we were all sad for a long time, for a year.

01:13:52Yeah.

01:13:54Guest:And Irving and Donna and I kind of agreed, you know, we've got to at least try.

01:14:08Guest:Maybe we'll suck and then we'll know.

01:14:10Marc:Yeah.

01:14:12Guest:But we've got to at least try.

01:14:13Marc:And how are you, obviously he's irreplaceable, but how are they divvying up the songs?

01:14:20Marc:Who'd you bring in?

01:14:21Guest:We got Glenn's son, Deacon, who's really good, 25.

01:14:27Guest:He doesn't have a clue what's going on, and it's great.

01:14:33Guest:It's great standing next to him.

01:14:35Guest:And he's singing his dad's parts?

01:14:36Guest:He's singing his dad's parts.

01:14:38Guest:Does he sound like him?

01:14:40Guest:Enough.

01:14:42Guest:Looks like him.

01:14:43Guest:Sounds like him.

01:14:45Guest:But he's deacon.

01:14:46Guest:I mean, he's doing it his way.

01:14:48Guest:But, I mean, that, to me, makes it spiritually...

01:14:58Guest:okay yeah i can see that yeah yeah right yeah yeah it's it's almost like uh the next generation is the next step it's an evolution it's respectful it's not like you know yeah it's not like journey i mean we couldn't just audition people that sound like glenn that would be weird it wouldn't work in the fans glenn was a lot more than that yeah right exactly and we asked vince gill

01:15:24Guest:to come and play.

01:15:26Guest:He's on the tour?

01:15:27Guest:Yeah.

01:15:28Guest:No shit?

01:15:28Guest:He's in the band now.

01:15:29Guest:Holy fuck.

01:15:31Guest:So we got Deacon Fry and Vince Gill.

01:15:34Guest:We rehearsed.

01:15:36Guest:Vince had wanted to be in the Eagles since he was 11.

01:15:41Guest:So now he is.

01:15:42Guest:That must be a whole other thing.

01:15:45Marc:And now you're playing with Vince.

01:15:47Marc:Yeah.

01:15:47Marc:He's a fucking monster on that guitar.

01:15:49Guest:Yeah.

01:15:50Guest:Jeez.

01:15:50Guest:And he's the...

01:15:54Guest:the vocal part of backgrounds and harmonies.

01:15:59Guest:He's real good at it.

01:16:00Guest:That were needed.

01:16:01Guest:Yeah.

01:16:02Guest:That's a hell of a band, man.

01:16:04Guest:So we had to at least try.

01:16:07Guest:Yeah.

01:16:08Guest:And we did.

01:16:09Guest:Last year we played, I think, four shows.

01:16:13Guest:Oh, he did the big thing with Fleetwood Mac and all them, right, yeah.

01:16:15Guest:Yeah.

01:16:16Guest:And it worked.

01:16:18Guest:Yeah.

01:16:19Guest:And so then we decided we were going to tour, and so far it's been great.

01:16:26Marc:Great, man.

01:16:27Marc:And everyone's getting along, and...

01:16:29Marc:Yeah.

01:16:30Marc:That's great.

01:16:31Marc:And Don's happy.

01:16:32Marc:Don's happy.

01:16:33Marc:How often does that happen?

01:16:34Guest:Well, I spent the first three years of being in the Eagles just trying to figure out if he liked me or not.

01:16:41Guest:And then I realized, yeah, he likes me.

01:16:44Guest:He's just hard on himself.

01:16:45Guest:It's the way he is.

01:16:46Guest:Yeah.

01:16:46Marc:Yeah.

01:16:47Marc:Well, it's like, and now do you find that, I mean, maybe it's an offbeat question.

01:16:52Marc:I mean, it doesn't seem like you guys need the bread.

01:16:54Marc:You like doing it, right?

01:16:56Marc:We're doing it.

01:16:56Marc:Yeah.

01:16:57Marc:Yeah.

01:16:57Guest:Well, it was a bitch after Glenn passed.

01:17:02Guest:Yeah.

01:17:04Guest:We all dealt with it this way and that way.

01:17:07Guest:Yeah.

01:17:08Guest:But we had to at least try.

01:17:11Guest:Yeah.

01:17:11Guest:Because, boy, you know, we broke up a lot of times for a couple weeks.

01:17:18Guest:Right.

01:17:18Guest:And then everybody said, geez, do you miss playing?

01:17:21Guest:Yeah.

01:17:22Guest:You love playing?

01:17:23Guest:What were we mad about?

01:17:24Guest:Well, I don't know.

01:17:25Yeah.

01:17:25Guest:Okay, let's go play.

01:17:28Guest:And you love playing.

01:17:29Guest:Yeah.

01:17:30Guest:I love playing.

01:17:31Guest:I don't know what else I would do.

01:17:33Guest:And neither did Don.

01:17:35Marc:Yeah.

01:17:36Marc:And do you find that like now that you've got all that sobriety, I mean, what is the primary difference between playing as sober as you are now and playing as good as you were of high?

01:17:47Marc:Yeah.

01:17:48Marc:Yeah.

01:17:49Marc:What's the difference?

01:17:50Marc:I learned how to do it.

01:17:52Marc:But does it feel different?

01:17:54Marc:I mean, do you appreciate it more?

01:17:56Marc:Do you get off on it more?

01:17:57Guest:Well, in terms of self-esteem, I can do it, not drunk.

01:18:03Guest:Right.

01:18:04Guest:I never thought that I could do it.

01:18:06Guest:Yeah.

01:18:07Guest:How can you be crazy, rock and roll, and do it sober?

01:18:11Guest:Yeah.

01:18:12Guest:Yeah.

01:18:12Guest:I never thought I'd be funny again.

01:18:14Guest:Yeah.

01:18:15Guest:I thought I was, you know, I didn't know what sober was.

01:18:18Guest:I thought I was going to just have a job and wear a tie, you know, and come home and read the paper.

01:18:25Guest:You thought that was what was going to happen?

01:18:28Yeah.

01:18:28Marc:But when you play, like you said before, you got to the point when you were using that, it's almost like you serviced the using.

01:18:36Marc:You could get away with playing and be as fucked up as you were.

01:18:39Marc:Yeah.

01:18:39Marc:Right.

01:18:40Marc:So now that you're clear-headed, I have to assume that playing takes a different dimension.

01:18:46Guest:Playing is so much fun.

01:18:48Guest:Yeah.

01:18:49Guest:I mean, I got it as good as it gets.

01:18:52Guest:Yeah.

01:18:53Guest:Oh, yeah, absolutely.

01:18:54Guest:We all do.

01:18:54Guest:Do you find that you learn new things?

01:18:56Guest:We're in a band that's loved.

01:18:57Guest:Yeah.

01:18:57Guest:audience knows all the songs and you know i could be moving pianos right but do you surprise yourself on guitar i mean i imagine working with vince now you're sort of like what the you know just to get in it with him yeah it's got to make you go like holy fuck this is something new well i learned how to do it yeah uh it took a while yeah and uh to not suck we really have to take care of ourselves and i hate that

01:19:25Guest:you know well we're all you know you know if we were drinking yeah we wouldn't have to do this stupid show no no we'd be sleeping we'd be drinking yeah yeah but uh no one's getting any younger to play yeah and to do eagle songs yeah right gotta go to the gym yeah i don't like that yeah i

01:19:50Guest:I play better if I go to the gym.

01:19:53Guest:Do you?

01:19:54Guest:Oh, yeah.

01:19:55Guest:Yeah.

01:19:56Guest:And eat and take care of myself.

01:19:59Guest:And discovering sleep was huge.

01:20:02Guest:Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:20:03Guest:Sure, man.

01:20:04Guest:Yeah.

01:20:05Marc:Can you do it, the sleep?

01:20:07Marc:Can you do it all right?

01:20:08Marc:Yeah.

01:20:09Marc:I don't sleep as much as I used to.

01:20:10Marc:I like to.

01:20:11Marc:Yeah.

01:20:11Marc:I sleep.

01:20:12Guest:Yeah.

01:20:12Guest:And it's just, it's a bitch getting to the shows now.

01:20:17Marc:Yeah.

01:20:18Guest:It's a whole different world.

01:20:19Guest:The big scale.

01:20:21Marc:Yeah.

01:20:21Guest:Production and all that.

01:20:23Marc:You're traveling first class.

01:20:24Marc:It's comfortable now.

01:20:25Guest:Yeah.

01:20:26Marc:It's just a lot of hauling around, I guess.

01:20:27Marc:Yeah.

01:20:28Marc:Yeah.

01:20:28Guest:But it's worth it.

01:20:32Guest:For those two hours, two and a half hours on stage.

01:20:36Guest:Great.

01:20:36Guest:It just is.

01:20:37Guest:For every night.

01:20:38Guest:Come and hear us.

01:20:39Marc:I'd love to, man.

01:20:41Marc:So I know that you guys, you've done a lot of good work philanthropically, I read.

01:20:49Marc:So, yeah, what are you doing to help, man?

01:20:52Guest:I started a...

01:20:58Guest:A foundation, I don't know, a tax-free deal.

01:21:03Guest:Yeah.

01:21:04Guest:A benefit cause called Vets Aid.

01:21:09Guest:I have a lot of buddies that went to Vietnam.

01:21:13Guest:Yeah.

01:21:14Guest:And they didn't get a very good deal starting when they got home.

01:21:19Guest:Right.

01:21:21Guest:It's a forgotten war, but we're still at war.

01:21:24Guest:Yeah.

01:21:24Guest:We are.

01:21:25Guest:We're at war.

01:21:26Guest:Yeah.

01:21:27Guest:The guys that are coming home are shattered.

01:21:31Guest:There's been more vet suicides than people that have been killed over there.

01:21:39Guest:Wow.

01:21:41Guest:And I noticed between the coasts

01:21:46Guest:There's this vast wasteland in the middle of the country that's different than L.A.

01:21:55Guest:and New York.

01:21:56Guest:And if you're a vet there, you're all alone.

01:22:00Guest:And there are these little communities, little groups of vet-run people

01:22:09Guest:places that you go to, you know?

01:22:11Guest:And they work without a budget.

01:22:14Guest:I decided to follow Willie Nelson's lead and start VetsAid.

01:22:21Guest:And this is to help the people I described.

01:22:25Guest:Right, in the communities that don't get help.

01:22:27Guest:In the communities, in the counties.

01:22:32Guest:And how does it work?

01:22:34Guest:Well, last year we did a concert.

01:22:38Mm-hmm.

01:22:40Guest:And Keith Urban came and Zach Brown and Gary Clark Jr.

01:22:45Guest:I asked them and they came and I played and we raised about a half a million dollars.

01:22:53Guest:Yeah.

01:22:53Guest:And that money...

01:22:55Guest:went to keep all of these organizations going oh that's great yeah yeah so you're gonna there's a and we don't have a budget right so you got a uh i got another one coming up this is the second year we're gonna play in tacoma

01:23:14Guest:Washington because last year was Virginia uh-huh there's a huge military base there and it's November 11th who's playing Chris Stapleton and James Taylor and me so far uh-huh we we help gold star families

01:23:37Guest:Those are families where a family member didn't come back.

01:23:44Guest:Special ops families don't come back.

01:23:48Guest:And so we started scholarships for the children to go to school.

01:23:56Guest:And there's prosthetic people still waiting for limbs.

01:24:01Guest:Yeah.

01:24:01Guest:We help them and we have job training for them because it's hard to get a job if you're missing a limb.

01:24:11Guest:Right, right.

01:24:13Guest:But if you have training and you can do something.

01:24:16Guest:That's great.

01:24:17Guest:And on and on and on.

01:24:18Guest:And the suicide prevention is the big thing.

01:24:21Guest:Yeah.

01:24:22Guest:Yeah, because...

01:24:24Guest:It's like when I came into AA.

01:24:28Guest:I'm not all unique and individual and alone.

01:24:31Guest:I'm an alcoholic.

01:24:32Guest:Well, they got to think I'm not unique and individual and alone.

01:24:37Guest:I'm a vet.

01:24:37Guest:Yeah.

01:24:39Marc:Let's get them together.

01:24:39Guest:Yeah.

01:24:40Guest:Yeah.

01:24:41Guest:And we invite families.

01:24:44Guest:to the concert and give them seats.

01:24:47Guest:And we invite veterans and handicapped there and give them seats.

01:24:53Guest:And all the families get to meet each other and bond.

01:24:57Guest:It's a really good thing.

01:24:58Guest:That's great, man.

01:24:59Guest:So that's November 11th.

01:25:01Guest:Is there a website?

01:25:02Guest:Yeah, vetsaid.org.

01:25:05Marc:Great, man.

01:25:06Marc:That's good.

01:25:06Marc:That's great you're doing that, Joe.

01:25:08Marc:Yeah.

01:25:08Marc:And it was great talking to you.

01:25:09Marc:It was a real honor to meet you.

01:25:10Marc:I loved it.

01:25:11Marc:Thanks for coming.

01:25:11Marc:You're welcome.

01:25:13Marc:Thanks.

01:25:18Marc:We made some headway, didn't we?

01:25:20Marc:That was Joe Walsh.

01:25:21Marc:If you somehow turned it on and you entered the middle of the conversation, it was great to meet him and talk to him.

01:25:27Marc:It was nice.

01:25:29Marc:And right when we walked out, he apologized for something, but I can't fucking remember what it was, so I guess it didn't bother me that much.

01:25:36Marc:But it was nice.

01:25:37Marc:It was a sober thing.

01:25:40Marc:Man, I'm still stuffed up.

01:25:42Marc:I'll try to play a little something.

01:26:36Guest:Boomer lives.