Category: Behind the Album

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The Doobie Brothers’ Michael McDonald on Co-Writing Van Halen’s “I’ll Wait”: I probably made more money from that song than I made from all the Doobie songs – 2022 – INTERVIEW – Steely Dan

Dean Delray: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame singer/songwriter Michael McDonald stops by Let There Be Talk for a great conversation on his amazing career with The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan and his solo career.

You can listen to the entire interview via the embedded iTunes widget below. An excerpt from the conversation has been transcribed.

INTERVIEW EXCERPT (transcribed by full in bloom):

On Recording Keyboards w/ Engineer Donn Landee:

Michael McDonald:

I think some of the synth sounds that became popular later on in early rap music, which were really kind of squirrelly sounds, I think they actually sampled them off of early Doobie Brothers records. And at the time, they were considered some of the worst sounds ever developed for any record.

I remember our engineer, Donn Landee, whenever I would do keyboard overdubs – especially with synths – Ted (Templeman) would make up some excuse for why he had to leave, and poor Donn would be left alone with me. Donn, without reservation, would make it apparent to me that this was the last place on Earth that he felt like being right now. He would sit at the console and go, “Oh, jeez.” Ted would be out the door. So, I would be sitting there for hours, and we’d finally get an okay strings or brass sound, and I would go, “Ok, it just needs a little,” and Donn would go, “Don’t touch it.” I’d say, “Well, no, just a…” All of a sudden, this sound would go from lush to “Weeeeeee.” (laughs) It would be another two hours to get the sound back.

Actually, I knew one day he had it. I was working on some sound for way too long, and he was over working on a reverb unit. At one point, the frustration of listening to me and not being able to fix this unit, he just took it and hurled it across the room into the wall. (laughs) I realized it was probably time to call the session for the day.

On Producer Ted Templeman & Donn Landee:

Ted was kind of Renaissance producer to me, as were a lot of those guys in that era, Russ Titelman, Lenny Waronker. They had an amazing scope of what an artist had to offer. Ted always brought out the best in us. Whatever it is we thought we had going on with originals, we would rehearse for weeks maybe a month up at our house in San Francisco and come up with these, what we thought were great arrangements of the songs. Typically, we would go into the studio, and Ted would rip them apart and start from scratch, many times. The work we did was worth something, but Ted could really deconstruct things and put it back together to where the focus would be more on what the song really had to offer. I always marveled at that; we all did. We all felt very fortunate to have his input, and we all looked forward to it.

He did everything from play drums on some of the tracks to helping come up with some of the background parts, guitar parts. He was a real jack-of-all-trades. Even though he didn’t really play any of those instruments, he knew what worked musically.

Donn was an artistic and talented engineer. His ear went so far beyond just the technical part of it. We’d get a track to a certain point, and we’d leave it with him to mix. He would do a rough mix, and he would decide what went on certain versions of the mix. In a way, he would kind of arrange the song himself, omit certain parts that he thought were getting in the way of the record having something to offer sonically for radio. We were always amazed when we heard the mixes. We’d be like, “Wow, that’s something else.”

Then when they’d master, the mastering always made a big difference. Everything they did really brought the music to the next level in very noticeable ways for us.

On Co-Writing Van Halen’s “I’ll Wait”:

The track was done, and Eddie Van Halen did all the synths on that. The band had actually cut the track, but they didn’t have a melody or lyric. It was just kind of a track. Ted gave me a copy of it and said, “Don’t play this for anybody, but see if you can write a lyric.” Apparently, that became, “Well, you and David (Lee Roth) get together and come up with a lyric, so that he feels good with it.”

I got together with David in Ted’s office. My experience was, he seemed okay with it. We didn’t really make any real changes, just kind of ran it by him, and they went in and recorded it. And I put it down on cassette with their track, and I sang over it for him. So, he went away with that.

They cut the song, and the record came out. Low and behold, I wasn’t on the writing credits. (laughs) You would’ve never known (that I was a co-writer) had I not bitched and moaned about it. Eventually, we worked that out. Those guys sold so many records, for my 1/5 of the share of the record, I probably made more money from that song than I made from all the Doobie songs up to that point. They were selling crazy amounts of records. That was that new generation where, you know, “We just sold 100 million records on the last record, and we only sold 90 million units on this record, so they’re going to drop us.” Before that, if you sold platinum (1 million units), you were like the shit.

Anyway, it was great experience. I always loved Van Halen. I remember the first time we heard Van Halen; Pat (Simmons) and I were in the studio talking with Ted, and Ted came in and said, “You’ve got to listen to these kids.” He had their demo. It was “Pretty Woman,” which came out much later for them, but one of the first demos they turned in to Warner Brothers was “Pretty Woman.” Here’s Eddie playing a version of “Pretty Woman” that Roy Orbison never dreamed of…it was crazy. We were just like, “Oh, my God.” And I think it was “You Really Got Me” was the other song they did by The Kinks. We were blown away by Eddie’s playing. We had never heard anything like it. Of course, the rest is history.

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Jim Morrison – Laurel Canyon Country Store – “Love Street” – The Doors

Vintage Los Angeles:

A rare photo of the Laurel Canyon Country Store in 1958. Ten years later Jim Morrison and his girlfriend Pam lived briefly behind it. Jim wrote LOVE STREET after watching Pam walk back & forth from their apartment to the store. Lyrics include: “THERE’S A STORE WHERE THE CREATURES MEET.”

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Ex-KISS Guitarist Bruce Kulick Shares His Personal ‘Crazy Nights’ Story – Documentary – Short Film – 2022 – VIDEO

Bruce Kulick:

September 1987, 35 years ago was the release date of the KISS album Crazy Nights! I share my personal story as the lead guitarist in KISS with my celebration of the music, videos hits and World Tour!

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Mark Farner on How He Wrote Grand Funk Railroad’s “I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home)” – VIDEO – INTERVIEW

This is a full in bloom interview with Grand Funk Railroad co-founder Mark Farner.

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can access the video directly on YouTube.

DESCRIPTION:

Mark talks about how we wrote the Grand Funk Railroad classic “I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home).”

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Ozzy Osbourne: The Sabbath Connection Premiere – VIDEO – Patient Number 9 – 2022

Ozzy Osbourne:

Episode 2: The Sabbath Connection teaser premieres tomorrow at 8am PT / 11am ET.

Watch the video below starting @ 8am PT / 11am ET

EPISODE 2

EPISODE 1

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Geoff Tate Talks Queensrÿche’s ‘Operation Mindcrime,’ “The fact that so many people loved it took me by surprise” – 2022 Italy Tour Dates

Geoff Tate:

Recent interview with Geoff Tate by Francesco Sacco from CSI Magazine in Italy as we lead up to our upcoming live Italy shows in Rome, Venice and Bergamo starting on September 23rd.

You can read the entire interview @ this location. An excerpt has been provided below.

On coming up with the storyline for Queensrÿche’s Operation Mindcrime:

I lived in Montreal, where I assiduously frequented a certain bar. At that time, there was a lot of talk about political unrest there. I often sat down to listen to the locals, and there was this kind of somewhat sinister leader from whom I came up with the idea for Dr. X. So, I just sat down, ordered drinks, and made up the whole story while listening to their talks.

The character of Mary, on the other hand, came from a night club, also in Montreal, where I saw a woman dressed as a nun, dancing. It happened around the same time, so, at that point, I got to work on the story.

On the album’s commercial success:

In all honesty, I never asked myself the question of whether it could be a commercial success or not. I was so immersed in history, and so in love with the whole work, that I didn’t think about it in the slightest. The fact that so many people loved it took me by surprise. Obviously, however, at that moment I was very happy to have so many people next to me on that sort of emotional journey. I really loved Mindcrime and was happy to be able to share it.

Geoff Tate – Operation: Mindcrime and Greatest Hits Tour

23 Sep 2022: Stazione Birra, Rome
24 Sep 2022: Revolver Club, San Donà di Piave (VE)
25 Sep 2022: Druso, Ranica (BG)

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Megadeth Shoots Up – ‘Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?’ Released On This Day In History – September 19, 1986

Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying? is the second studio album by Megadeth, released on September 19, 1986, via Capitol Records.

Megadeth ‘Peace Sells,’ The Very 1st Recording Session w/ Producer Randy Burns

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A&R Legend Tom Zutaut on Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion 1 & 2: “Many of the songs were written before, during and just after Appetite” – 2022

Tom Zutaut:

31 YEARS AGO

Hard to believe this was 31 years ago today. Although many GnR purists have been critical of this duel release I feel like they have stood the test of time, were ahead of their time and are mind blowing in the context of where rock music is today! Many of the songs were written before, during and just after Appetite. A fact not widely known outside the inner circle. Maybe slightly over produced in the context of 1991 but mind-blowing and simply amazing production in the context of 2015. Listen again in the present day and enjoy their emotional escapade!!!

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Eddie Van Halen on the Recording of Van Halen I: “The album is very live. No overdubs.” – 1978 Guitar Player Magazine Interview

Jas Obrecht: Here’s the audio of Eddie Van Halen’s first interview, done backstage at Bill Graham’s Day on the Green in July 1978.

I was shooting basketball backstage at the July 1978 Day on the Green concert in Oakland, California, when a young guy came over asked if he could join me. After a spirited game of one-on-one, we sat down to cool off. He asked me what band I was in. When I told him I was an editor for Guitar Player magazine, he said, “Why don’t you interview me? Nobody ever wants to interview me.” I asked him who he was. “My name is Edward Van Halen.” Whoa! I turned on my tape recorder and Eddie gave me what he’d call “my first interview.” This excerpt is the beginning of that conversation. You can access the complete interview @ this location.

INTERVIEW EXCERPT (Transcribed by full in bloom)

How long did it take to cut the first album?

Eddie Van Halen:

Three weeks. The album is very live. No overdubs, just imagine Ted Templeman. I’d say out of the ten songs on the record, I overdubbed the solo in two, “Running with the Devil” and “Ice Cream Man”…and “Jamie’s Cryin’,” three songs. All the rest are live.

I used the same equipment I use live, one guitar, solo during the rhythm track. Al just played on one set of drums (laughs), and Mike, you know, and Dave stood in the booth and sang along lead vocals at the same time. The only thing we did overdub was the backing vocals because you can’t play in the same room and sing because the amps would bleed through the mics.

But the music, I’d say, took a week, including “Jamie’s Cryin’,” which we wrote in the studio. I had the basic riff to the song; I was just dicking around. And my guitar solo, “Eruption,” wasn’t really planned to be on the record. Me and Al were dicking around rehearsing for a show at the Whisky, so I was warming up, practicing my solo. Ted walks in and goes, “Hey, what’s that?” I go, “That’s a little solo thing I do live,” and he goes, “Hey, it’s good, put it on the record.” Same with “Jamie’s Cryin’.” The music took about a week, and the singing took about two (weeks).

What’s the difference between the studio playing and your live playing?

Well, between that record and the shows we’re doing now, I’d say none. (laughs) Because you’re jumping around, drinking a beer, getting crazy in the studio, too. There’s a vibe on the record, I think. To me, a lot of bands keep hacking it out, doing so many overdubs, double-tracking, and shit like that. It starts to not sound real. Then a lot of bands can’t pull it off live because they overdubbed so much stuff in the studio that it either doesn’t sound the same or they’re standing there pushing buttons to get their tape machines working right or something. We kept it real live. The next record will be very much the same.

You already got plans for it?

Oh, for the first record, we went into the studio one day with Ted and laid down…we always played live, you know…we laid down like forty songs. And out of those forty, we picked nine and wrote one in the studio for the record. So, we got plenty of songs.

As a matter of fact, I’m going to get together with Ted on Wednesday and figure out which songs from that tape that we’re going to use for the next one. But we’ve been writing. We’ve got so many more songs since that tape, and we got like thirty songs left just on that tape. I think we’re going to use just that tape for the next album because Ted seemed pretty sure that we got some hit action, or whatever, just out of those songs. A little polishing here and there. The basic ideas are there.

You can access the complete interview @ this location.

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Michael Jackson Upon Hearing Eddie Van Halen’s “Beat It” Guitar Solo: “Thank you so much for having the passion…”

Michael Jackson (Official):

Upon hearing Eddie Van Halen record guitar work on “Beat It”, Eddie noted that Michael remarked “Wow, thank you so much for having the passion .. to actually care about the song and make it better.” Van Halen was initially uncredited, fans later became aware of the collaboration.

From a 2012 Eddie Van Halen Interview w/ CNN:

CNN: When Quincy Jones rang you up, you thought it was a crank call.

Eddie Van Halen:

I went off on him. I went, “What do you want, you f-ing so-and-so!” And he goes, “Is this Eddie?” I said, “Yeah, what the hell do you want?” “This is Quincy.” I’m thinking to myself, “I don’t know anyone named Quincy.” He goes, “Quincy Jones, man.” I went, “Ohhh, sorry!” (Laughs)

I asked, “What can I do for you?” And he said, “How would you like to come down and play on Michael Jackson’s new record?” And I’m thinking to myself, “OK, ‘ABC, 1, 2, 3’ and me. How’s that going to work?”

I still wasn’t 100% sure it was him. I said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll meet you at your studio tomorrow.” And lo and behold, when I get there, there’s Quincy, there’s Michael Jackson and there’s engineers. They’re makin’ records!

Did Quincy give you any direction about what he wanted you to do?

Michael left to go across the hall to do some children’s speaking record. I think it was “E.T.” or something. So I asked Quincy, “What do you want me to do?” And he goes, “Whatever you want to do.” And I go, “Be careful when you say that. If you know anything about me, be careful when you say, “Do anything you want!”

I listened to the song, and I immediately go, “Can I change some parts?” I turned to the engineer, and I go, “OK, from the breakdown, chop in this part, go to this piece, pre-chorus, to the chorus, out.” Took him maybe 10 minutes to put it together. And I proceeded to improvise two solos over it.

I was just finishing the second solo when Michael walked in. And you know artists are kind of crazy people. We’re all a little bit strange. I didn’t know how he would react to what I was doing. So I warned him before he listened. I said, “Look, I changed the middle section of your song.”

Now in my mind, he’s either going to have his bodyguards kick me out for butchering his song, or he’s going to like it. And so he gave it a listen, and he turned to me and went, “Wow, thank you so much for having the passion to not just come in and blaze a solo, but to actually care about the song, and make it better.”

He was this musical genius with this childlike innocence. He was such a professional, and such a sweetheart.

That collaboration surprised a lot of people.

I’ll never forget when Tower Records was still open over here in Sherman Oaks. I was buying something, and “Beat It” was playing over the store sound system. The solo comes on, and I hear these kids in front of me going, “Listen to this guy trying to sound like Eddie Van Halen.” I tapped him on the shoulder and said, “That IS me!” That was hilarious.

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Sharon Osbourne on Why ‘Diary of a Madman’ was Written & Recorded So Close to the Release of ‘Blizzard of Ozz’: “We had no money” – Ozzy, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake

The Immortal Randy Rhoads: SHARON ARDEN ON WHY SHE MADE THE DECISION TO HAVE THE GUYS WRITE AND RECORD DIARY OF A MADMAN SO CLOSE TO THE COMPLETION OF BLIZZARD OF OZZ…

Blizzard was recorded, and they went out and toured. Ozzy still could not get an American deal for the album release. Nobody wanted to know of Ozzy Osbourne in this country. They had done a tour of Europe and there was nothing for the guys to do. They were hanging out. We didn’t have any money 💰. The only way we could physically keep the band together was to keep working. The only thing we could do was to do another album 💿.

I said to them, “I’ll go to America 🇺🇸 and try to get something together, and you come up with another album 💿. It was a way of keeping them all together as a unit, because we didn’t have any money 💰. If they had just sat and did nothing, it would have drifted apart. They sat and wrote it. It was done in six weeks. Blizzard came out in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 in September 1980. They were in the studio writing Diary by that Christmas. It was that quick.

We had no money 💰 and the only way we could survive was to give Jet Records more product. So, when they worked, they got paid. If they didn’t work, there was no money 💰. – Sharon Arden (Osbourne)

Wikipedia: During the recording of Diary of a Madman, drummer Lee Kerslake says the band members were given no money to live on, prompting them to approach management. Shortly after, both Kerslake and bassist Bob Daisley were fired.

Lee Kerslake:

“Everything was working fine. It was only when Sharon (Osbourne) came in that we had a problem. When she started managing—taking over—she wasn’t the manager until Diary of a Madman. Before that was her brother, David. He didn’t really want to handle it. He had too much to do for Don (Arden) in the office. So, she came in and it started to get edgy. But we never suspected a thing until we went away on holiday. Next minute, they’re rehearsing with Tommy Aldridge and Rudy Sarzo, and going to America.”

According to Randy Rhoads’ brother Kelle Rhoads:

“Randy felt a bit rushed for Diary of a Madman. He wished he had a little bit more time; he was a perfectionist. Of course, what’s on there is pretty good, but he had a little more time to work on the first record.”

During an interview with The Metal Voice, bassist Rudy Sarzo said:

“I was on the bus when Ozzy got the mixed version of the record. I saw his expression and I heard how he felt about it. He thought it was crap, the mix.

“If you really look back at that record, it was the first album of the ’80s to be mixed with so much ambiance. It sounds like an ’80s record, and nobody had heard that before. It was completely different from the sound of Blizzard of Ozz, and Ozzy just had no idea that this was going to be the sound of the future.”

Photographer:
Watal Asanuma 📸

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Alice in Chains “Them Bones” Video Director, Rocky Schenck, Looks Back on the “Extraordinary Experience” – 30 – Behind the Scenes VIDEO – Making of – Outtakes – 2022

Alice in Chains:

Dirt30 | From longtime collaborator and creative director, Rocky Schenck:

“Thirty years ago… I had an extraordinary experience directing the video for Alice In Chains’ “Them Bones” – still one of my favorites! I worked with this great group of guys for many years, and together we created some interesting photographic and cinematic art… and had a lot of fun doing it! This band always encouraged me to push my imagination to the very edge, and occasionally over the edge. It was extremely hard work, but we had lots of laughs and like any creative collaboration, plenty of drama!

I sketched a crude drawing of the set I envisioned – a large dirt hole (or stylized ‘grave’) with dripping, broken sewer lines protruding from dirt walls surrounding the band, who performed amongst pools of toxic waste. A nuclear sky with blood red lighting would bathe the environment, with white spotlights on each band member and lightning and wind effects added. I realized that the environment I was imagining needed to be manufactured on a sound stage with a fantastical set, similar in vibe as the artificial world we created when I photographed the band’s Dirt album cover earlier in the year.

I wanted the camera moves to be strangely accelerated and aggressive – moving from extreme wide angles to tight closeups in seconds. To achieve this effect, I had the band members perform in slow-motion to the song played at half-speed, as the camera operator and crane moves were executed at full speed. When the film and music were transferred at normal speed, the camera movements became twice as fast, and the band’s performance appeared somewhat normal… but just a bit ‘off.’ The band was aware of the result I was aiming for with the quick camera moves, and deliberately added abrupt moves during their ‘slow-motion’ performance to great effect.

The crew was remarkable – from the cinematographer to the gaffers and grips to the art crew and the editor – all extraordinary!”

 

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Lamb of God Documentary ‘The Making of: Omens’ Livestream Short Film Event – LIVE STREAM – 2022 – Trailer

Lamb of God:
Introducing The Making Of: Omens, a short film + performance documenting the recording of our forthcoming album.

In February 2022, we entered Henson Studios in Los Angeles, CA to begin recording our 9th studio album, what would become Omens. We recorded this record the old-fashioned way… with five of us, in a room together, playing music. We filmed the entire process.

Beginning October 6th, we will be streaming The Making Of: Omens, a short film documenting the recording of our forthcoming album. The documentary will include four full song performances recorded in the live room at Henson Studios: “Nevermore”, “Omens”, “Vanishing” and “Gomorrah”.

Watch the The Making Of: Omens premiere live stream event on Thursday, October 6th or on-demand throughout October @ this location.

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Producer Max Norman on Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Blizzard’ & ‘Diary’ Inside the Albums, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake – 2022 Interview

This is a full in bloom interview with producer/engineer Max Norman.

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP BELOW. You can access the video directly on YouTube @ this location.

DESCRIPTION:

Max talks about how he recorded Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Blizzard of Ozz’ and ‘Diary of a Madman,’ and what it was like working with Ozzy, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, and Lee Kerslake.

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W.A.S.P. The Early Years 1982-1984 According to Blackie Lawless, Chris Holmes, Randy Piper, Tony Richards

The Classic W.A.S.P. Lineup Looks Back on the Early Days 1982-1984

The first W.A.S.P. gig took place on August 28th, 1982.

The first W.A.S.P. album was released on August 17, 1984.

Blackie Lawless

Blackie Lawless:

40 Years ago today my life changed. To change in ways I had dreamed, but also to end up different than I had imagined. It’s impossible for anyone to foresee the totality of ways life will change when those dreams become reality. It was 40 years ago today W.A.S.P. played its first show, Aug. 28th, 1982, at a long-gone club called the “Woodstock”.

The lineup at that time was Tony Richards on drums, Chris Holmes on lead guitar, myself on guitar and vocals and Don Costa on bass. This was our humble (if you wanna call it that) beginning. Many of you have heard me say that when we first started, we never had any intention of ever playing live shows. In Los Angeles at the time, it was mostly impossible to get a record deal from only playing live. Ironically, our true intention was only to make records and we knew from having lived in L.A. for such a long time that the only real way to get a record deal was to make the best demo tape you could make. So that’s what we did. We made a demo of songs that would end up being mostly our first album, but we had sent those tapes out to labels a couple of months earlier and we got no response from any of them. So, in our impatience, we said, well we think these songs are pretty good, why don’t we take them out and play them live a see what happens. So again, that’s what we did! A month later we would move up into Hollywood at the Troubadour.

For us that were part of this historic night, the importance of this show cannot be overstated. We were a group of musicians that had no idea of what or how we would look in a live show. All that would come later over the course of the next few weeks. I would like to personally thank the band and all the crew that were involved that night for that first show. All of our destinies would change that night.

I’ll explain more next month in a segment that I’ll do to mark the first show we did at the Troubadour. For what most of the world knows that’s really where the band began, but this show too is significant because it was the real beginning of the band in its 4-decade long journey. This show would be the first night anyone would hear, “Love Machine, “On Your Knees”, “Hellion” and “School Daze”. I remember taking the stage that night and thinking, nobody knows who we are and nobody knows these songs. From this night, almost 2 years to the date of the release of our first album, all that would change!

Randy Piper

full in bloom: What was the recording budget for W.A.S.P.’s 1984 self-titled album?

Randy Piper:

(laughs) It was a lot. I know we spent a lot. It was about time. I mean, we probably got one of the biggest deals that any of those bands had gotten. Everybody had gotten signed in Los Angeles. We were the last ones with like Motley Crue, Ratt, Dokken, Black ‘n Blue, Great White, all of us got signed pretty much at the same time, and we got one of the biggest deals. Our deal was like a two (album), plus four option. So, it was two guaranteed and our deal was for three million dollars. It was a huge deal. Of course, they don’t do that anymore. It’s a lot tougher now. Kind of miss the old days. The digital revolution changed everything. I don’t think it will ever be the same again.

full in bloom: So, you guys got a nice, fat signing bonus?

Randy:

Oh, yeah, big time. I remember Tony and I got new cars, and we were driving down the freeway and we were just slamming beers, looking at each other with our feet hanging out the window. I mean, it couldn’t have gotten any better than that, you know what I mean?

full in bloom: What was it like working with Mike Varney?

Randy:

He’s an awesome guitar player. He finds all the good guitar players. Actually, a couple of years ago, I found an album by Leslie West that Mike Varney produced. Yeah, Leslie is talking about him, he goes, “Mike Varney, that fat bastard” (laughs). It’s called “Blues to Die For” and it’s Leslie West playing all blues. I’m a big Leslie West fan.

full in bloom: Once the band officially becomes W.A.S.P., how soon after did you guys sign your record contract?

Randy:

I don’t think it was that long. Things were really rolling at that time, but Blackie and I were together five years previous to that.

full in bloom: So, maybe a year after you guys named the band.

Randy:

I think less than that. We had already been recording. We just started going to better studios. We were in A&M and then in Capitol, we were all over the place. Baby-O, I think at the time. Then we were going to release the first single and Capitol said, “No.”

full in bloom: Which was F**k Like a Beast.

Randy:

Yeah, they said, “No, you can’t release that on Capitol Records,” so then they got us a deal with Restless Records overseas. They were going to print it in London, then the Queen’s Council got a hold of it and said you can’t do it here, either. I think they ended up pressing it in Belgium and importing it into England. Once it got into England, it was on the charts for like 110 weeks, which I think was a record at that time.

full in bloom: Any memories from that tour stand out?

Randy:

We went out and toured the first album. Then we’d come back two weeks, and then leave again for a couple of months. Then we’d come back for a couple of weeks, and then leave again for three months. It was pretty crazy then. When we did come back, we immediately went into rehearsals for the second album. Once the album was written, and we were halfway in the middle of recording it, we had to go out and support Maiden. So, we went out in the middle of recording “The Last Command” and had to put the first show back together. Even though the second show had already been put together, we’re out doing the first show again. We had to forget everything we had just learned and start playing the first show again. We did a bunch of festivals and shit like that and then we went back and finished the second album and then we were out on tour for that one.

Tony Richards

full in bloom: What was a typical day like for you during that time?

Tony Richards:

At first it was fun. Typical, you’d wake up, have some breakfast or whatever. I would make it down from Long Beach. Randy’s (rehearsal) studio was in between Blackie and I, so we would pretty much make it there at the same time. We would hang out there. Randy would block time out on other bands, so it would just be us. We would rehearse and write and spend hours in there. It was pretty fun. We would go get something to eat, or go shoot pool, or drive up to Hollywood to hang out. Pretty much, they were good times. When we were just getting to know each other and writing, it was kind of exciting. Then seeing the other up-and-coming bands in the clubs. It was a cool thing. Once the business end came into it, it was rush, rush, rush. Hurry here, hurry there, sign this, sign that, you have to be there yesterday. Things really started to roll fast after that.

full in bloom: What do you remember about recording Animal “F**k Like a Beast”?

Tony:

I remember the excitement of that song and being in a nice environment, being in that studio. Other people coming in and out from the studios next door. I think Quiet Riot was recording their album at the time. I just remember going from, sort of, I wouldn’t say rags to riches, but just having the respect and being in there working – putting something together that was very exciting. For me, it was just about being really excited about the whole thing. It was neat to be there and be included. And then you finish a good night’s work, getting some tracks down. Then step out on the streets, get something to eat, pick up some girls, and just hang out.

full in bloom: Any memories of Mike Varney?

Tony:

Not really. Like I said, I didn’t hang out a lot, and I think that used to bother Blackie. I just wasn’t the “hang out, play the rock star” musician. I would hang out for a little bit, have a drink, flirt a little bit, do whatever, and then BOOM, I was off to someone else’s house…private, you know? I don’t know, I think it might have rubbed him the wrong way. I think he wanted it to be more like the Crue. Hang out, go to strip clubs together, live and die together, so to speak. But Varney, I don’t think I ever got too close to him because I think he was more in Blackie’s ear.

full in bloom: I always thought he was a strange choice for a producer. You guys were signed to Capitol, and you chose a guy who hadn’t really proven himself.

Tony:

Yeah, I know, and I didn’t have any say. I remember hearing the mixed tracks. Well, first I remember hearing what we had laid down and the drums were just thunderous. They sounded great. Now, I know this is coming from a drummer, but it’s more than just that. The tracks that we laid down, the guitars, Randy’s guitars, they were out there, and everything was crisp and clean. I then remember this big WASH of disappointment when I heard the final mixes. They played it back, and the drums had been tweaked, to where they just sounded like shit. Randy’s guitar was buried. Everything had changed. And that was probably part of the reason I distanced myself from Varney because I had no say. I didn’t hang around, so I didn’t have a right to say anything.

It was a big circle, yet I knew things were fucked up. Something wasn’t right, and Varney is supposed to be behind the helm. So, I just had a feeling that’s Blackie calling the shots, wanting his man Varney in there, and it didn’t work out. And that was an important thing, that first album. That first album should have smoked more than it did. I mean, Capitol Records. Iron Maiden’s management. We had unlimited money, we had unlimited resources. There were a lot of bad decisions made, and Blackie made sure that he was in charge of a lot of shit and that was the beginning of the end. The rest of the guys in the band felt the same way.

full in bloom: In my opinion, that first lineup will always be the best W.A.S.P. lineup. I remember thinking, as a kid, that it was a big mistake to part ways with you.

Tony:

That was the problem. Blackie. I keep saying Blackie and I shouldn’t, but mainly it was. Him and whoever else he had involved with him in the band decisions, they all jumped the gun too soon. The best thing for a new band to do with that kind of money and resources behind them is to handle whatever fucking problems everyone has and keep it between the group. Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas in other words. What happens here, stays here and you do everything you can to glue this together. Do the first world tour and come back, then you start hashing out problems. That’s the time to work on it, but they made changes way too soon and that’s what ultimately killed the band. Greed fucked this band up. It was greed. Blackie was looking out for number one.

full in bloom: Do you remember doing the two videos for LOVE MACHINE & I WANNA BE SOMEBODY?

Tony:

Yeah. Those ended up being kind of corny looking. Shit like that used to bug me. The make-up, the corny videos and shit. I wanted to be cooler. I thought we were going to be cooler, more like the Crue, bad boys, but we weren’t that. Even if we were more Alice Cooper or partly KISS or something, but we were kind of in between and nowhere on any of that.

full in bloom: I didn’t even realize, before my Randy Piper interview, that you didn’t do the tour for the first album.

Tony:

NOPE. I got screwed out of it all, royalties, too. And they continue to sell t-shirts, posters and buttons and all that shit with my likeness on it.

full in bloom: Why were you kicked out of W.A.S.P.?

Tony:

I think I scared Blackie. I really lived the rock n’ roll lifestyle. I lived up in Hollywood. I was a madman. I was high every other night, every night. But I was always there, always on time, always did great shows. I just scared him; he was not that way. His was more of an act, mine was too real, and I think I was just too scary for him. I think he thought I was going to be trouble down the line, so he thought he was doing the right thing by nipping it in the bud.

full in bloom: How were you told you were out of the band?

Tony:

They called a meeting at Rod Smallwood’s house up in Beverly Hills. We all sat around a big table and talked about a few things. All of a sudden, that came up and before I knew it, it was like BOOM – the fingers were pointing at me and I just kind of stood up and said, “Whoa, ok.” I think I was in shock, and I just kind of walked away, walked down the driveway and got in my rental car, which I totally trashed. It was a brand new ’84 Cutlass with glass T-tops. Man, that thing was on one wheel when I brought it back. No glass left in it. I didn’t sit there with an axe and bust it up on purpose, I was just reckless in it. I fucked it up because I didn’t care.

Somebody had taken something away from me that I had worked my whole life for, and I was on a roll. I was on a binge. I was pissed. But yeah, I was devastated. I couldn’t tell you exactly what had happened or how, but I was the first to go. He used me as an example and had to put the fear back into Randy again because Randy had come and gone a couple of times. One by one, that’s what he was working on, he wanted control. It’s greed, man. The guy is a greedy, lonely person. The last few shows that I have gone to see him, he will not send his road crew down to escort me up, he won’t come down to see me or nothing. I haven’t seen him in years.

Chris Holmes

Chris Holmes:

When I joined the band W.A.S.P., before I joined, Randy was in the band and there was a bass player named Don Costa. When I joined W.A.S.P., it was Don on bass, Blackie on rhythm and Tony on drums. Randy was in the band, but they threw him out to get me in the band. Don was an outrageous player. He played with his fingers.

What happened was, we played the first show and Don was playing his bass out of tune on the last two songs. I flipped out. It really pissed me off. If you’re out of tune, you shut your guitar off or your amp, whatever. You don’t play out of tune. But I told him: “Don, if you ever play out of tune again, I’m going to chew your balls off and spit them in your face. Don’t you ever, ever do that with me again.” He quit. So, we had some shows lined up and Blackie freaked out and blamed me for it. He goes, “Well, we can bring Randy back in, he knows the songs, and I’ll just switch over to the bass.” That’s what happened. That’s how Blackie went to bass because Randy could sing, and he already knew the songs. Plus, I told Blackie that I was only going to be in the band for seven months to a year, and I was going to be gone because I didn’t want to be in a band like Sister. I didn’t want to work like that where I wasn’t happy. I didn’t want to play music and be unhappy. I wanted to do what Van Halen had done and be like them.

full in bloom: What was it like working with Mike Varney as a producer?

Chris:

Mike was enjoyable. He was a great guy to get along with. He used to play in a band called The Nuns. He was just starting to produce things. I love Mike. I saw him about ten years ago at some show in Vegas. It was cool seeing him again. I appreciated the guy.

Then, of course, Blackie got into a fight with him halfway through doing the record. So, Mike’s gone, and Blackie produces it. But Mike’s name had to go on it.

full in bloom: Oh, shit. I didn’t know that. I didn’t know they got into a fight at some point. I thought he was there through the whole thing.

Chris:

Well, he was there for the whole thing, but doesn’t it say that Blackie mixed and produced it.

full in bloom: I think it has both of them listed as producers.

Chris:

Right, not just Mike Varney. It had to be the narcissist himself. It should be that on every record – Blackie Lawless, the producer.

full in bloom: I think it is, pretty much. I guess Spencer Proffer produced the next one and then, from then on, it’s Blackie, right?

Chris:

Yeah. The Headless Children, Max Norman started doing the album, but halfway through, Blackie got into a fight with him and made Max leave.

full in bloom: How long did it take to record the first W.A.S.P. album?

Chris:

Two and half weeks. Two to three tracks a day, so the drums were probably done in three days. We were at the Record Plant. I went in and busted ass and laid down the rhythms, Blackie did the bass, and Randy came in and did a few solos. I did a few solos. He was singing in one studio while we were tracking the guitars in another.

full in bloom: And at this point you guys think that “F**k Like a Beast” is going to be on the record, right?

Chris:

No. We signed the record deal and before we found Mike Varney…We couldn’t put “F**k Like a Beast” on the record because Capitol wasn’t going to let it be on the record. Even if we called it “Animal” because it said “F**k Like a Beast.” That was released by an independent label in Europe. It was recorded at Cherokee, and it was done for Music for Nations. That’s the name of the record company. They put it out in England.

Some guy had commented on my YouTube channel, he said that Tony was kicked out because the record company made you guys kick him out. Is that true?

Chris:

No, Tony was kicked out because of Blackie and Blackie alone. That was it. You’ve got to remember that we were with Rod Smallwood, our manager. Rod had just moved to L.A. and Iron Maiden had just gotten rid of Clive Burr and changed singers, Bruce Dickinson. Tony liked to get high. They threw him out because they didn’t want someone who was addicted to drugs on the road. That was the only reason.

I always thought that once we got Tony on the road, he’d stop doing drugs. When you’re in L.A. and you ain’t got nothing to do, you go get high (laughs). You get drunk or fucked up in those days. When Tony was kicked out, it was like losing my left arm, man.

Out of everybody, you got along best with him?

Chris:

Yeah, Tony was great. I’ve got nothing but respect for the guy. I love the guy, he’s a great person, man.

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David Ellefson Looks Back (PART 3) on Megadeth’s ‘So Far, So Good…So What!’ Final Installment – Episode 3

David Ellefson: The final installment today of the So Far, So Good…So What’s the Story?! webisodes, providing a behind the scenes narrative and reminiscing on moments which made the So Far, So Good…So What! album one the most pivotal Thrash records to close out the decade of the ’80s.

Get your KINGS OF THRASH tickets now at these outlets:

10/12— San Diego — Brick by Brick – TICKETS
10/13 — Phoenix — Crescent Ballroom – TICKETS
10/14 — Las Vegas —The Space – TICKETS
10/15 — West Hollywood — The Whisky a Go-Go – TICKETS

READ MORE:
So Far, So Good…So What’s the Story? – PART 1
So Far, So Good…So What’s the Story? – PART 2
Killing is My Business….and Business is Good PARTS 1-4

So Far, So Good…So What’s the Story?

Webisode 3: Songwriting Collaborations & Movie Time

The SFSGSW album was the first Megadeth record I had songwriting credits & collaborations. Down to just me and Dave following the Peace Sells… tour (along with drummer Chuck Behler coming into the ranks) I picked up my guitar and began chugging out riffs to add to the songwriting process. These included the main riff to ‘Hook in Mouth’, the rap/bridge riff of ‘Liar’, and lyrics to ‘Mary Jane’ and ‘In My Darkest Hour’.

‘Mary Jane’ was inspired when Dave and I went back to my family’s farm in Minnesota in 1986 after completing the Peace Sells… album. Greg Handevidt and I took Dave down to the Loon Lake Cemetery south of Jackson, MN where the legend of Mary Jane Terwilliger lived and her tombstone still resided. Mary Jane was rumored to be a teenage witch, was buried alive by her father and the story took on hauntingly epic proportions from there. Her tombstone epitaph read “Beware my friends as you pass by, as you are now so once was I, as I am now so you must be, prepare my friends to follow me” which made its way to the bridge section of ‘Mary Jane’ and it seemed fitting for the song to appear on SFSGSW album.

In fact, the music was written during the Peace Sells… tour where we would compose daily during soundchecks. One afternoon in Washington DC during that tour, Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson didn’t show up to sound check so me and Dave had then-drum tech Chuck Behler sit in behind the kit so we could continue composing. Ironically, that became Chuck’s audition for the band as he seemed to know the new songs we were writing from watching behind Gar. From that point onward, Dave and I knew Chuck would be the one to man the drum kit for the next album.

A highlight during the making of the album came when movie director Penelope Spheeris approached us about appearing in her next film THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION “THE METAL YEARS” which would feature the track ‘In My Darkest Hour’ as a single from SFSGSW LP. Earlier in 1987, Penelope had invited us to participate on the soundtrack to her punk rock film DUDES, which featured Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men), Flea (The Red Hot Chili Peppers) & Lee Ving (FEAR) with a re-record of our KIMB cover song ‘These Boots (Are Made For Walking)’. Ironically, SFSGSW producer Paul Lani would record and mix that track which made for a seamless transition for him to work on the SFSGSW album with us just a few months later in 1987.