Questlove Supreme: Steve Ferrone Pt. 2

For a special Questlove Supreme episode, Questlove interviews one of his heroes, Steve Ferrone. In part 2, Steve tells a great story about meeting Prince and recalls his time working with Average White Band, Duran Duran, Chaka Khan, Rick James, and Tom Petty.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
West Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Ladies and gentlemen, What's up with up with something? You know,
it's been a long time, but here it is the
long awaited part two of our special one on one
Due Less with my hero, my idol, Steve Roon. So
in part one Steve was talking about growing up in Brighton, England,
drumming influences and half dancer playing in Brownstone and that

(00:26):
conversation ended with him just joining the average White Man.
So let's start with part two right now. It's a
special one on one West Love Supreme with Steve Roon.
The great time. Alan Gory clearly is of the ilk
of Ray. Charles Hamish has a wonderful like falsetto and

(00:52):
you know they're they're extremely soulful. But how how much
of the marketing of these funky white boys are they
were lying on during this time period?

Speaker 3 (01:03):
So a lot of people actually thought average white band
was a black band and when and when we walked
out on stage, they did, what the hell is this?
You know? And there was a lot there was a
lot of okay, show us really that that went on yet,
I mean there was a lot of it. But the

(01:23):
band could play. The band was authentic. We weren't trying
to be anything else other than average white band and
play soul music. We love soul music. It was just
what we did. I mean, I've had guys, I've had
I've had bands with guys that I've been played in
with bands and we've been playing average white band stuff.
And I remember we played at Long Beach once and

(01:43):
average White Band were playing across the street, right, and
I think they were opening for Tara Power, and I
got hold of Onnie and Alan and they came over
and I had them sit in with my band and
show them how it was done, and it was that
they were there. They were like, oh, so that's what

(02:03):
it is. And I think I think that you'll find
that with bands when people come.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
And sit in with like you know, it's there's there's
two or three of us from from the Heartbreakers that
are playing together, right, you get that they get that
feeling of what that was like, and it's a powerful thing.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
I remember when I was playing with George Harrison mm hmm,
and and Ringo was set at the rehearsal. Ringo was
there and and Ray Cooper had another drum kit set
up because he played double drums with me sometimes and
some stuff back there. And I said to ring and
lit the ring on. Let's say so. Ringo came up
on the stage and started to play, and all of
a sudden it was like, Oh, this is what the

(02:44):
Beatles felt like. Yeah, right, there's a there's a way
of that's those people when those guys playing.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, let me ask you this much then, because I
know that as a drummer, the bass player and the
drummer are married to each other. Now you're in a
group with two interchangeable bass players and two interchangeable guitarists. Yes,
who do you prefer on bass? And who do you

(03:12):
prefer on guitar? Do you prefer Alan Goryard bass or
Hammi Stewart on bass?

Speaker 3 (03:16):
Well, they're both. They're both different that they both played.
They both played different different things. Alan Alan had like
a real nice round, round sound with the bass and Hamish.
Hamish had this sort of more more more aggressive, sort
of like school boy crashes. That's the way you're playing
playing the bass.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
He would playing with the pick correct, Uh yeah, okay, yeah,
but who had the better pocket? For you?

Speaker 3 (03:40):
At least we're both the same. I mean, they were
both both both great bass players. I mean, it was
it was, it was a joy. I mean when Alan
picked up the guitar and started to play play the
way that he played. They would play guitar, and then
how how Honye would would would fit these rhythm patterns
the to him Alan picking yeah, and how it was

(04:03):
it was it would look you know.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
Okay, A question I always wanted to ask on the
nineteen seventy six Person to Person Live album, which incidentally
is probably any any list I make of my favorite
albums of Walter, that's number one. So there's a moment
on TLC where you guys go absolutely ape shit in
the zone. And that's kind of the moment where I
assume that it's Tamas Stewart taking this harmonics bassilo, you know,

(04:33):
kind of like jack O Pistori's portrait of Tracy playing harmonics,
Like it sounds like a yeah, yeah right during that moment,
because even when I was looking up old photos, there's
five photos of that period between seventy five and seventy
eight in which both of them are playing bass at

(04:55):
the same time. So I assume that that was a
part of TLC. Every night at least for that tour.
Are they both playing bass at the same time, because
I've never seen I've seen guitarist play.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
There was one song that we had two basses. I
forget what it was.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
Now, probably Love your Life, it could be right, Yeah, yeah,
I was gonna say, because Hamis is like sort of
go to the like that's his go to rhythm reference,
and he kind of plays a bass like a guitarist.
But yeah, I always yeah, I mean.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, that's that's the thing is Hamish has gona he
has a way of playing. I mean, I can't say
one of them was better than than the other. I
mean they just had it would just it would they
figure it out which one, which one was going to
play bass on which song it was. It was never
really a fight over it who was going to play bass,

(05:47):
but it was maybe he said, what's you let me
play bass? Let me okay, and then let's playing guitar.
And it would always we'd always, we'd always work at
tracks until that thing just sort of fell in in
the place, into the into the into the into the pocket.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Okay. So that said, during Alan Gory's uh pick up
the piece of solo mm hm, you and him are
literally hitting these riffs at the same time. Now, is
this a result of listening kind of muscle memory? No, no,
I mean muscle muscle memory where you know what he's
going to do on a solo or.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
Let me tell you something about that album. Yes, we recorded.
I think maybe we recorded in Pittsburgh. We recorded in Philadelphia,
and we and we played, we played in Cleveland and
most of the most and there was another one too,
I think maybe maybe new But there's like four different
concerts over the course of a year that we recorded.

(06:46):
That solo section was always in there, okay, but everybody
liked the solo from a different place. Most of it,
the bulk of the album is taken from from Cleveland, Cleveland,
in Cleveland, but uh, there was this little little song here.
I don't even I can't remember which ones, but I remember,
but I remember this whole thing that we were sitting

(07:07):
there the solos and pick up the pieces. Okay, I
liked the one from there. I like the one from there,
I like and and so Ree said, well let's see
what happens.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh wow, oh man, Like in my mind, in my mind,
you guys are the tightest motherfuckers. That was like whoa,
they know exactly what's going to happen. Okay, well explain
to me listen how much how much how much sweetening
post sweetening has to happen after you get the tapes? Like,
do they go and sing some parts over? Are you

(07:44):
like I dropped a drumstick, let me hit the snare?

Speaker 3 (07:46):
No? No, I never, I never did anything. No, it
was basically what you heard is what you get.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
That is crazy.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
Maybe they'd be a vocal line or something that would
nest be necessary to but it was. It was spun.
I mean really, if there was like a little bit
they just changed to the vocal maybe, but it basically
what you heard was what you got. That was it.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
You're breaking my heart man, Yeah, it's badass bad That
band was bad ass.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Uh. And we didn't we didn't play with a click either.
That was the thing we'd where you get the end
we got we were at that. We were at all
at the same place every time.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
You're the packet king. Yeah, I've been. I've been stalking
the current President of Atlantic, Craig Calman, to let me
listen to all of the recorded live tapes of you guys,
because I yeah.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
You know, I know if you go in there, if
you go if you actually get access to all that stuff,
what they have, there's outtakes of stuff and different versions
of stuff that we did, right, It's I think part.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
Of it was, yeah, like if I ever lose This Heaven,
we all we all listened to that. I mean, I
remember when I was out here with Bloodstone and I
used to love to ride downtown and listen to that album.
It was it was just kind of like a soundtrack
for Downtown, you know, and if I ever lose This Heaven,
it was just a great what a great track. But

(09:20):
you know when when whenever we went into the studio,
they tried cutting that song a couple of times with
a couple of different people, and and everybody had got
sort of gone in there what I heard, and they
copied the same. It's very simplistic bass dump, but the
drum film that the Quincy had used for for for
the for the thing. When I went in and sat down,

(09:44):
I decided to play just to play that song, I mean,
and I just sat down and I remember and listened
to the first the first take of it. I don't
know even know if that was the one we used it,
but I remember Roger Ball coming over and kissing me
on the top of my head? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Was that song you recorded with him in the studio?

Speaker 3 (10:00):
No, I don't remember what the first song. I don't
remember what the first song was.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Were there were there any songs of Robbie on the
cut the Cake album? Or is that all you?

Speaker 3 (10:08):
No, it's all me? Where we just going?

Speaker 2 (10:11):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (10:12):
All right? So you know, because you joined Duran Duran
in eighty seven, I'm certain that you could tell the
difference between kind of the teen idol fandom of like
screaming girls and regular fans who just like into the
sound and into the band. What was you know again?

(10:33):
I know there was a novelty or curiosity of these
funky ass white boys or whatever, But at least between
seventy five and eighty seven, is there what are the
fans like?

Speaker 3 (10:50):
They were wherever Duran went there was thetis right and
the direction. The yeah they used to they used to
be they outside of the studio and they were all
very nice, you know. I mean, I remember when we
were in London and we were recording as there was
this school Michelle I'm still in touch with her, right,

(11:13):
I was there and I had my kids with me, okay,
and they were little. They go out and there was
there was like there was this gate, you know, and
they go out and they sort of talk to the
Durani's through the gate, and finally Michelle said, I said, Michelle,
you want to look after after the kids because I
was inside working, right, And they go out there and

(11:34):
they'd sit with the Durani's and they'd have chips and
candy and they were just hanging. They love. My kids
loved hanging out with these with these fans. And I
mean Michelle said to me, she said, wow, you wouldn't
do that now, would you? And I said, well, maybe not,
but but back then they they were they were so

(11:54):
nice that, I mean, they were just fans and they
all they wanted was another photograph.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Was it like that for a w B though, like
that level fandom?

Speaker 3 (12:05):
No? No, No, I think it was a totally different,
different thing that with the average White band. It was
sex basically it was. It was sex and dragon and
rock and roll with with with with average white Man.
But but I think I think it was it was
a different I mean, you know, I was I think
I was like thirty five or something. I think and

(12:27):
I think and I think that Duran Duran Duran also
started to mature as as as men. I mean, you know,
when when they first started, they were came straight straight
out of college to be the biggest band on the planet.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
Right.

Speaker 3 (12:41):
It was wild, you know, and that's why they had
that some wild boys.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Yeah, I see.

Speaker 3 (12:46):
So then by the time I joined them, I was
the I was the oldest teen idol and they were
they were they calmed down somewhat.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
You know, Okay, yeah, you guys were serious face.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
But you know what was funny was at one point
nobody really took Duran Durant and that seriously, you know,
I mean other than being like a team, they were
phenomenon a team phenomenon, you know, really and then a
good musicianship though, but they did. Yeah, eventually it was
like they were working on it. I mean, like they said,
they came out and then you know, and then they

(13:16):
were great producer. Man't now and you know that that
could put that together, Bernard Edwoods and they worked together
and in the power station and studios and all the
money and all the time to do a record and
make a song happen, you know, right, But they started
to they started to mature as as people are musicians,

(13:37):
and you know, now they've been around a long time
and they and they steam they still valid and still
make music and aren't just sort of resting on their laurels.
And you know, we were around around they just really
matured into the a bunch of really great players.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Well shout out to durand A. And they just got
a part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee.
So I'm very happy that they got inducted. Finally.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Absolutely, that's fantastic news. But but but yes, absolutely that
you can't say that they're not valid. They've been making records.
I mean, I remember, I remember, you know, I was
working with George Harrison and I go over to London
and I got I had an apartment on Sloan Street.
They get me an apartment on Soltie and I had

(14:23):
to drive out to the rehearsals at and Brace Studios.
I get there right there. Oh, I take a ride
down the King's Road. I get my cart. I'm driving
down the King's Road and I see this guy and
they say it's a little muscle muscle bound buffed and
they say that looks like Warren Cookrullo. But he's skinny,

(14:44):
skinny rock and roll guy, right, little skinny rock and
roll guitarist. And and then I look and it is Warren.
And I hadn't seen him in a couple of years,
and he'd been pumping iron and he buffed out, you know, Warren,
what the hell is it? You're in town? He said,
I need you to do a session for me. And
this is what. I'm still driving very slowly right, I'm
king so and I said, I got the window down

(15:06):
and say, well, I don't know what my schedule is.
He said, let me know, and he takes that, reaches
into his bag and takes a cassette and he throws
it through my car window and he said, that's the song.
Give me a call when you when you find out
where you're scheduled. So I drive off down the road
and I take this cassette and pop it in the
cassette player in the in the car and it's an

(15:27):
ordinary world.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
And I call up Warren and I say, you don't
need me to play on this. You know this. You
can just put out this demo right now. This is
a hit record. You know this is great. This is
a hit song. And he's like, no, no, no, we
want you to play with them. So they insisted I
play on it. I don't know if I bought anything
else to it, but boy, what a beautiful song and
what a great hit record that was for them young.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
So I have a question about your your studio sound.
So the thing that always attracted me to your sound
was your tone, particularly the snap of your snare, Like
I think like you really came alive on the Soul
Search and record, just your drumming technique, like I love
the fact that you know, we now live in the
age where and drummers hate when I start speaking down

(16:14):
on gospel chops, you know, But for me, I know,
but for me, gospel chops is if you're a chef,
you got to know how much garlic and salt and
pepper and spices to add to your meal. And sometimes
you can overdo it, but you always have these clean feels, so.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Really good piece of meat, really good cup of meat
with too much fusses.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
And sometimes you don't need spices, you know. So that said,
can you walk me through a typical session for AWB,
like you know, like do you have a say in
the tone of your drums? You know, like I know
that your signature gretch set kind of comes in at

(17:01):
the tail end of the tour, like are you allowed
to tune your drums or is it a thing where
like the engineer just don't touch my microphones, don't touch
my drums, just play.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
At that point in time, I did it. I did
it myself, you know, I was my own. I mean,
I can't say that I'm a really a great drum
tuner other than the fact that and I want to
dang thing. I want the dang thing to sound like
you know. The first cut the cake was was it
was the sonar kit that they had Indo Atlantic. It

(17:31):
was in a little box, right did you ever see
that to photographs of that drum kit. It's like in
a little box and the symbols were right there, and
it was and that was that was, That was that
was cut the cake. And then by the time but
the time he got around to soul searching, it was
I got. I wanted to always wanted a great drum kit,

(17:52):
and I could afford one, and I got That's when
I got.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
So there wasn't such a thing as we'll endorse you
here's a free kit.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
Well, the endorsement that I had with Gretch at that
point was they gave me a fifty percent discount.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Okay, now they give you away, but back then it
wasn't giving us Okay. I see, And I.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Got this drum kit and I set it up and
set it up in the studio, and there was something
that I wanted to try because I always felt that
there was you talk about the sound of the tone
of the snare, that there wasn't quite the pop that
I wanted to get at the crack that I wanted
to get out of the drum with the microphone just

(18:33):
on the top. So Jean Paul, who was Les Paul's son,
was their engineer, and I said, I said, Jen, could
we put the microphone like underneath the snare on facing
up so that we can and we can blend those
two things so that we can get the Christmas of
the snare underneath plus the poff on the top. And
he said, yeah, sure, we can do that. So they

(18:54):
they they that's when they started to do that, and
then I then in soul searching, I actually asked him
to put like a little delay or a little echo
on there as on the underneath as well, and that's
why it has that sort of roomy sort of Yeah,
and and and that was it was, it was. It

(19:14):
was such great fun to be able to experiment with
stuff like that back in those days. You know, a
Reef Mardin was very open to what's.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Going to say? How how is a Reef Martin as
a coach incredible? Are you guys writing in that studio?

Speaker 3 (19:32):
We're in there writing as we Sometimes we start we'd
have an idea of a groove and then we'd write
it in the studio. It was expensive, but not as
expensive as as would be to do that today.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
You're talking about the studio that's Atlantic Records. M hm, yes, okay,
so yeah, I worked when we did the Hamilton Broadly. Yeah.
We I worked on the Hamilton Cast album at that
particular studio. And I always wanted to know, Okay, one,
did they only have one studio? And how does time

(20:04):
get how does time get divided? Like do you have
just a week to get in the studio and then
we get out because of Reefa's coming or Bette Miller's
coming or.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
I know we used to just go in and start
recording and we were there. That was it was, That
was it we'd have like a couple of weeks or
something and we just work in there. Sometimes we got
That's how Bennie and Benny and us got recorded was
because we got stuck. We sort of got we weren't
going anywhere. So somebody suggested us doing an album with

(20:34):
Benny King, and then we did the Benny King album
and then went back to I think it was soul searching.
I think it was soul searching. Maybe no, it might.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Or maybe warmer communications.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
Woman communication. I think it was woman communications.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
So do you guys work out in sound check or like,
how is songwriting traditionally done?

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Well? We we always at a tape recorder running at
all times because what we discovered was that we jam
and out of the jam will come something that the
nucleus of the song. Yeah, but this is where a
reef was really good when we were in the studio,
was we go in and we start to play this song,

(21:13):
and we play and we played the song there, and
then the reef would say, everybody come in, and we
come in and he gets to a certain point in
the song that we'd be playing, still looking for this
groove right, still trying to find and he would say okay,
this two bars right and there it was, Oh okay, okay,

(21:39):
I get it. That's where we are with it. This
is this is where that the song is going to be.
This he spot a section of the song that was
where he wanted the thing to sit.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
And that's the magic.

Speaker 3 (21:52):
And then you, guys, there's the magic. Now, now go
and do that, you know, school boy, schoolboy crash. We try.
We must have done it about twenty twenty two, twenty
four times one, and it just would not hang together,
would not would not really, and so so we said, okay,
pack it up, go home, go out, come back tomorrow.

(22:15):
We'll do it. We'll do it tomorrow fresh when you
come in. We all went off to that stuff, went out,
came back, came back the next day. We walk in there. Okay,
let's run it down. So we run it down, and
he said, okay, let's do let's do a take. Let's
do a take. We did the take and then we
went in and listened and it just wouldn't no where
we go again, it's not just not hanging together. And

(22:37):
Jane Paul says, you want to listen to the run through.
He had the presence of mind to press that record
back for the first time.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
School Boy Crash and run Through is what you sat with?
Did he loop that? Nope, you just went the run
through wound up being the master version the run Through?
Was it? Wow? In seventy seven, especially on the Montro

(23:06):
and your second appearance on Soul Train, you guys had
a bongo player in the group. Who was that guy?

Speaker 3 (23:13):
SAMMI figure out?

Speaker 2 (23:14):
That was Sami? Figure out? Okay, Yeah, what was the
idea of letting him in the group?

Speaker 3 (23:19):
Well, Sammy was crazy Sammy. Sammy was a guy around town.
He used to play in a band called Racist from
Puerto Rico.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Wait what.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Racist? Yeah? Racist?

Speaker 2 (23:33):
Okay, Racist?

Speaker 3 (23:36):
And Sammy was the best Sammy Davis impersonator ever. Really well,
I should say it is because he's still alive, really yeah.
And he was a very funny guy. And we started
doing things like Queen and My Soul and everything, and
it was like, look at these cast is this Sammy?
Sammy keme with us.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
You didn't feel like it was in your way because
the thing is on the live I don't know if
you ever listened to the Montre seventy seven live album,
but his presence there really doesn't allow you to do
your peronisms. So in my mind it's like, oh, you
got to be more tape.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
It was. It was. It was a little different animal,
but it was it was cool. I love Sammy.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
You know.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
The only thing that you used to annoy he felt
savvy was he had this giant rainstick.

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, it was huge. I mean it was probably like
six foot tall. And he would we used to travel
on a legit and he would bring this thing in
the on the on the plane and lay it down
and right down in the middle of the leg. It's tiny, right,
so it would be right and take up most of
the thing. And as that as we would go to
take off, it would be like.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
It was just annoying, But he was a He's.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
A funny guy, Sammy. I love Sammy to I think
he was just really great to Hevin.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
How are banded decisions made? Like, is it is it
the idea that you all get to say, or who
are the alphas that say this is what we should do?

Speaker 3 (25:12):
We'd have a bad meeting.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Okay, are you guys by seventy nine, are you guys
still friends? Are you kind of phoning in from home?
Are you tired of each other? Yet or.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
Seventy nine. You're talking about the Aresta years.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Well, no, no field, no thread before you go to fret.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
Yeah, no, we were, we were, we were still opt in.
We're still how many on okay? Making make it read?

Speaker 2 (25:37):
Now? Why was there an exodus to Arista, because also
a Refa goes to Arista as well. Like I noticed
that there's there's at least four or five Atlantic acts
that get wooed away by Clyde Davis, and.

Speaker 3 (25:53):
That I think that's what that's what I have management management.
We're pushing heavily for us to move from Atlantic to
go to to Iris. I don't, I know, I wasn't
not sure about it because I love being Atlantic.

Speaker 2 (26:07):
Now without without ruffling, you know. And here's the thing,
I'm actually friends with Foster. I'm a fan of his work,
Like I love the New Birth Seth you know, all
that stuff. And you know, and I'll admit that maybe
younger in my twenties and thirties, you know, I might
side eye the fact that wow, like Chicago used to
sound some Wayne then they got with Foster. And then

(26:30):
Earth Wind and Fire used to sound some Wayne, then
they got with Foster. Now you know, Sean comes out
when I'm nine, so you know I'm not I'm not cynical,
so I will say the nine year old me, I
loved you know what You're gonna do for me? I
loved Into the Night. You know, I'd loved helpings on

(26:51):
it like I like those songs, like I listened to
Shine constantly. But clearly it's a more mature sound.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Yeah, I wasn't very I mean, there was a Working
with David is fun because he's a great musician, and
I think he's a great producer. But I don't think
that he was in a tune. I think he's more
attuned to artists than he is with a band. Okay,

(27:22):
because Average White Band was such such a special combination
of how the how the parts of everybody fit together
to make to make Average White Band. I understand that
the producer has got to do, you know, his job,
to come in make some changes. But I don't think
that you can actually lose the essence of a band

(27:46):
like Average White Band without havings having some some some problems.
And the problem that I found with it was when
we finished that album and we sat down and started
to play it. Six people the band one sounding right,
So we had.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
To don't have the elements of overproduction that you had
in the studio. It didn't trans it didn't translate live.

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Right, No, And we ended up getting we had to
get and we got another keyboard player to come in
and play with us, and we got the couple of
background vocalists to come in with us. And I found
myself sitting on stage playing those songs and saying, where
the hell did everage White band go?

Speaker 2 (28:31):
I see at the turn of the eighties, especially on
like songs like catch before I have to testify or whatever,
like this is sort of introduction of like, you know,
I can hear the sensonic drums or like sort of
drum machine, you know, and kind of the Filma and
Louise Car Jump for a lot of these bands who

(28:53):
were killing in the seventies. And this goes for the
Ohio players in the comedy everyone. They have a decision
to make to either sink or swim. How aware of
you of what technology is and your role in it?
Is it like Okay, this Roger Lynn box is might

(29:16):
replace me. Do I embrace it and learn how to
program it? Or the Simmons drums, like do I roll
with the punches or do I just fight the power
and be like, Nope, I'm not learning technology, I'm playing drums.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
Well, I like, I like the Simmons drums. I mean,
I used the must stay with Me tonight Jeffrey osmond
H and I had to fight George you do for
that because I said, I said to George, we cut
it with the real jumpt And I said, yeah, George,
I said, I think this thing could use I'd heard
that blinded me with science, and I thought, right, I like,
I like the sayd of that.

Speaker 2 (29:51):
So you you were all you were all for it?

Speaker 3 (29:53):
I was, I was all for that. I mean, drum
machines had never interested me really, the program or anything.
I mean, I mean even though I did program at there,
so misled on the durandur and things started off as
me programming something for them to play to. Right, they
were writing in the studio, so I programmed that, and
then I had to figure out how to play.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
So what were your opinions on like people that clearly
were going to define the era, I e. Princess music.
You know the fact that now deep snare sounds are
kind of the thing that's involved kind of the opposite
of what was your signature sound? Are you? Are you
with us or are you sort of fighting? No?

Speaker 3 (30:35):
I mean, I mean, look, I used to fight the click.
I mean when they first started saying, you know, we
got a cut with a click. I mean, I think
when you're talking about the songs you're talking about all
of a sudden, we were cutting stuff to a click
and just sort of walk in there and play it
to the click and that was that was it. Before
we used to go in and have to find the tempo, right,

(30:58):
the tempo would come from the song. Okay, this is
the song stempo, and this is what we're playing it
at okay, and you know, and it was it was
kind of uninvolved. Yeah, I had when you know, when
people started to play, I'd worked hard on my tempo
and and I remember a ref you know, so we're

(31:18):
going to cut this with a click, and I'm like,
come on, Areca.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
This is for the.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
Yeah, some of it, but not I mean even even
the early stuff with shackle the lovers falling on me
and the click just stars playing. But I'm every woman.
Cut with a click was played.

Speaker 2 (31:40):
That please entered this morning? Who is playing bass on
some Love? Is that her brother Mark.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
Anthony Jackson.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
That's Anthony Jackson playing some love and think, wow, it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (31:57):
That was the day we cut put aside the whole
day to cut Lover's Falling on Me, and we did
it in one take.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Yeah, I was gonna say, for a song to get cut,
how long when you're not working on your projects per se,
when you're working as a session musician, how long do
you guys have to get it right?

Speaker 3 (32:18):
Well, you know, Shacker with a Reef with Shaka was
like we go in and a Reef had a definite
idea about how this thing would would be right, and
we go in and we rehearse the parts and we
get everything and run it down, run it down. Shacker
would show up like you know, whenever she showed up,
like two o'clock in the afternoon or something. And when

(32:38):
she walked in there and she got in that booth
and she opened her mouth, everything went out the window.
Everything changed.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
Okay, so you have the vibe with her, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
It was like, oh okay, with all the stuff that
we've been sitting there rehearsing and rehearsing and rehearsing, it was.
It was all about it it was her and she
would it would change.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
One thing that I just found out your work with
the Burke Family. Yes, I wasn't aware that the Invisible
Man Band was basically the Five Steer Steps as another name. Yes,
and uh, a lot of hip hop fans are unaware
that that's you drumming on keep rising to the top

(33:20):
when you're when you're drumming with other acts.

Speaker 6 (33:23):
Again, my favorite, my favorite percussion part on All Night Thing. Dude,
you played the percussion on that the cow bell Yeah,
all I want to go added the.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Ding ding ding ding chick goom tink, don't.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Tink. I was gonna ask, did you guys track live?
Because even with you matching their ad libs at the
end with the drum fills or whatever, like, was that
song just cut at the same time with everyone or we.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
Cut it like yeah, and and and then I mean
basically we cut it live. The vocals are live as well.
And and then I guess they did were bits of
the ad libs and stuff. They loved it, so they
just either kept it or did another they redid it.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Did you have a relationship with the Five Steer Steps,
Like why you know, what was your relationship with the
Burke family.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
It was a guy called Alex Masucci who used to
work at Fanio Records. Okay, who was who had who
was a friend with it? I guess he signed Clarence
and and uh and and Alex. I met Alex to to.
I used to go and hang out with Ray Berretto
and all those people up there at the Corso and

(34:40):
and Alex asked me to play on this record, so
I just want to play. I wasn't even aware of
the Stairsteps things connection. It was just you realize that
the guys child No, I had no idea.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
Oh wow, matter.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Fact, this is all news to me right now.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
Wait seriously, yeah, seriously, you didn't know that the five
stairs and the invisible man man that did all night thing,
and well surely you know that. I mean, you know
Kenny Burke and yeah, oh yeah, I.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
Spoke to Kenny not so long ago. And you know
what's funny. It's in northern California, up near Carmel. There's
a radio station and they play all night thing all
the time.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
Dude, it's that was a black that was a black
radio staple in seventy nine eighty. You know, even in
my dad's band, like my the way that you know,
my dad would do like five sets at night, but
his band would have to do three dance sets of
like the songs of the day or whatever, and they

(35:39):
used to kill that song. I of course I should
have known that was you drumming, because you know, again
you have the perfect pocket. By this point, how do
you Are you your own manager? Are you your own negotiator?

Speaker 3 (35:55):
Yeah? I do on my own stuff. I've always done that.
I mean, there was a couple of people would come
in and say, you know, I'd really like to manage you,
and I'm like, well, you know.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
So you just keep your own dates, keep your own dates,
and you keep Now at that point, are you like,
are you a quadruple scale guy or are you like
whole album give me twenty thousand or whatever, double scoe,
double scoale. So you were still a scale guy, double
scale Yeah, and you could make a solid living just absolutely.

(36:29):
You never ran out of work. No, is there is
there a particular song that you were asked to play
on that got away that you weren't able to play
on because you had something else to do. No, John
Robinson miss a date on Thriller or off the wall
or something like can you do this gig real quick?
You can't do it?

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Like no, I don't think, I don't think.

Speaker 2 (36:51):
So okay, okay, So you know NB eighties. Of course
you know you'll you'll join Duran Durant. But could you
talk about the the Clapton period? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Yeah, it was great?

Speaker 2 (37:06):
How did you guys? Look up?

Speaker 3 (37:08):
I was with Deran Durant and we were in London
and we and we got invited to a Bob GOLDORFS
Snyder party which is at the hard Rock Cafe. And
I went there and I was hanging out there and
it's funny it suspanned out. Ballet were there and and
and and they had the little squabble going with with Duranduran.

(37:30):
It was like there was like rival rivers that this
rival thing between them and uh and so uh, I'm
at this party and Phil Collins comes up to me,
and I've met Phill a couple of times before and
feels like, hey, Steve, did you ever meet Eric Clapton?
And I said, well, no, I said, I met him once.

(37:52):
He came to an average white man show and I
just met him briefly just to say hello. That was
about it. He said, we come over, come over and
pie on over, come over and hang out with us.
So I go over and I sit down and I'm
there with Eric and we're just sitting there talking and
we talked for a bit and I remember what the
conversation was about, really, you know, and uh, and then
I said, well, I better get back over to my

(38:13):
crowd over there's a nice meeting you. That was it,
and did see you feel? And I went back over
and I hung out with my band and my lot
and that was it. Go back to New York and uh,
and I get this fun call and guy said, listen
that would you would you like to go and play
with Eric Clapton? I don't know, Well that sounds like fun. Yeah,
what's what's the gig? And they said, well, he's playing

(38:35):
a couple of clubs, one in Boston and one in
New York m and I said, well, yeah, great, he's
in the band Greg filling Gains in Nathan East.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
Ah. Okay, oh, my.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
Buddy's my man, right, Okay, yeah, fine, that sounds good.
And so we went up to Boston and we we
we rehearsed a bit. I think Eric had wound up
in the hospital after day one, I think you one
of these drinking periods. Okay, I see, And so we
we just rehearsed on our own, and then he showed

(39:07):
up for us last day or two rehearsal, and then
we went and played in this club, and then we
went down and played the club in New York, this
club in New York.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
When you're in this position, you know, when I drum
with other people, I tend to think like a shape shifter,
like I don't think I have a definitive sound. My
default sound, of course, is your sound, which, weird enough,
I never used, even though if I were to just
start drumming, I would basically say what would Faron do?

(39:39):
Right now? Even though my brand of drumming is kind
of way different than that. However, I do find myself
shape shifting a lot, like currently right now with DiAngelo,
I'm sort of somewhere in between Tiki Forwood of Funkadelic
and Jerome Braley, Uh, drumming in ways I haven't drum before.

(40:03):
But for you, if you're with Clapton, is how hard
is it to not channel Ginger Baker? Like, okay, should
I give him a cream moment? Or like or is
it just strictly like I'm gonna drum like I do.

Speaker 3 (40:19):
Yeah, I mean, I think, I think. I think I
always refer to okay, I defer to the song first
and play. I just go and play the song, and
I don't think about anything. But in listening to the song.
When I'm listening to the song, there's always bits that
sort of stand out to go like, oh, well, if
I don't play that, then I noticed it. It's big

(40:40):
enough for big enough moment for me. I should play.
I should do that. And sometimes there's stuff like that.
I don't notice some stuff until later. But I mean,
I never really I never really think too much about
I mean, I played a bit of a place, like
a lot of people in Bats. I mean, I remember

(41:01):
I did a I did a I played for this
band called the Pooh e Poo. It's a it's a
like WINNI the Poo. They're Italian band, and they've been
together for like over forty years, and they're sort of
like progressive rock band, and and they've been together forever
and and and their drummer Stephano retired and they asked

(41:26):
me to go and do this, do an album and
sort of to move them forward, not just one album
and a bit of a tour, just to keep them,
just to keep them going. And I went over and
did that, and and there was I had to listen
to a lot of their music, and I and and
that Stephano would recorded he sort of know, you give

(41:46):
it a nod. And but the rest of the time
I played it myself and try to bring something something
to the song. And then so I did this interview,
and this dis guy says me, I don't know if
you realize how big a thing this is that you're doing,
replacing Stefano in a band that's been together for that long.

(42:08):
And I said, well, I've done it before. I did it.
I did it with Duran Duran, I did it with
the average white band. I did it. I did it
with I did it with with Eric Clapp too, because
there was basically that introduction was Phil Collins saying, I
can't do this. I got my own gig to do.
Try Steve. So then I had to go. I had

(42:29):
to go do that with Phil Collins. There's been Stan
Lynch with the Heartbreakers. I've replaced. I've replaced so many people,
great drummers that have done at great moments that have
had iconic i'd say iconic moments, and I don't think

(42:52):
too many people have missed them, you know. I mean,
it's just that I've gone and done that and and
but I play the song, and I don't really think
too much about what everybody else plays when I listened.
When I listen to something, there's certain fields that it's like, well,
you know, that's that I can't not play that. That's
got to be there right right. But I listened more

(43:14):
to the song than I do to what the drummer's playing.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
So one of the most magical nights that I've ever seen.
One's the first time I ever seen you play live.
And two you're playing drums for another hero of mine,
which is Prince I was there in the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame. Yeah, then when you guys do
my guitar gently weeps? Was this at all sound checked

(43:38):
or rehearsed?

Speaker 3 (43:39):
Well, we rehearsed. We rehearse here with elements of the heart.
But Tom Scott Thurston was playing bass. When we got
to New York. There was Windwood, and there was Jim Cabbodi,
and Jim was a very funny guy, and and and
he was playing He's going to play percussion right and

(44:00):
h and Jeff Young was playing keyboards as well, and
and then Prince materialized over there and I'm like, I said,
what's Windwood was sitting around. I said, what's princenn I
don't know he's coming. He said, no, no, no, he's
I think he said, this is sort of like last
minute addition to the band. And there was a little

(44:21):
bit of an uneasiness because apparently what had happened was
Olivia wanted people that were connected with George to play.
Olivia Harrison wanted were connected with you, but the Grammy
people have persuaded them to let Prince come and play.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
Yeah. Right.

Speaker 3 (44:40):
So I said to Winwood, I said I'm going to
go over and say hello to him. So he said,
we say you're not and I said, yeah, I'm going
to go over. I'm not frightened of him.

Speaker 2 (44:49):
So I go over.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
I go on and I say, Hi, Prince, how are
you doing, Steve Ronnie, Nice to meet you. And he
says oh. He says, I know who you are and
as it, and I thought, I feel for you right right, yeah,
I played on a feel for it. And I said,
well we had a little bit of a chat, and
I said, Okay, well, I'm gonna go back over there,
but really nice to meet you. Yeah, And I go

(45:11):
back over and Women's like, what's what did he say?
And I said, he's really nice. Go over and say
alo to him. Don't introduce it. So all of a sudden,
I hear Schoolboy Crush being played. I hear something, and
I thought it was like somebody from the from the
Letterman band or something, just messing with me, you know.

(45:32):
And I look across the stage and Prince is looking
right at me, playing Schoolboy Crash, and I'm like, dang,
he does know who I am. You're god, but you know,
And so we we played a little bit and then
Tom sort of went up to Prince and said, listen,
just take that solo at the end. And you know,

(45:54):
did you guys, I had no idea, and he put
on a whole show. He put on a whole show.
When he fell into the audience, we had no idea.
We thought he'd fallen off the stage. The whole band
was we just killed Prince, you know.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
I think the guy Big Joy.

Speaker 3 (46:10):
Catches him and pushes him back up on the stage,
and then the guitar went up on the top and
then everybody was like, where did that go?

Speaker 2 (46:17):
You know?

Speaker 3 (46:18):
That was it was. It was a show for us,
It wasn't for them.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
It was a show. He told me that that was
I asked him, I said, was that a revenge solo?
Because you know Rolling Stone had comprised a one hundred
best guitarist lists. Yeah, and they never mentioned Prince, which
to me is like, dude, he's a monster on guitar.
How do you guys not? And you know he he

(46:43):
sort of, you know, it's kind of scoffed, like, well
they know now, you know that sort of, But I
you know, I instantly felt like that was his moment
to let them know that, you know, I'm a motherfucker
or guitar.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
It's an incredible solo. It's just incredible. It was just
just incredible.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
Of all the bands that you've been anchor members of,
what is the more favorable for you as far as
just experiences? Is it The Heartbreakers? Is it?

Speaker 3 (47:23):
I spent twenty five years with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers,
the longest that I'd ever ever associated myself with any band.
I loved that band, and I love the experience of
making music with that band. Constantly, always relevant, always fresh,
always doing something new. Tom's motto was, I may have

(47:44):
made a lot of money, but it's not going to
stop me from being an artist. What more could you want? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (47:51):
What was Do you remember the last show that you
did with him? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (47:54):
Hollywood Bowl?

Speaker 2 (47:56):
Was there anything particularly?

Speaker 3 (47:57):
I got inducted into the rock Walk in Brighton, in
my hometown in England. On the pier. They gave me
this black and they put a black up on the
pier and uh and Julia and my fiancee. She she
she decided that she was going to start off like
getting people to make one of those little films where
they say, oh, congratulations Steve. You know, all these people

(48:19):
leaving nice messages. Right, And she got older, she got
older Nathan and Nathan just went crazy and got like,
you know, Eric Clapton to say stuff and all these people.
And she was trying to get me to watch it
for the longest time, right, I know you. So, so
we're going over to England to do this thing, and

(48:42):
and we're sitting waiting for the plane and she says,
she pulls out a computer and she says, right, we're
going to look at this now, I said, okay, And
I sat there and I see all these people that
left beautiful messages for me, and I was just sitting there.
It's done. It was so nice everybody. All the stuff
that people were saying. It was like being at my
own funeral. People say the nicest stuff about something. And

(49:05):
it got it got to the very end, and she
put Tom introducing me at the Hollywood Bowl and he
used to and Tom saying one of the best musicians
I ever played with, and he said I was a
great person too. Did I help a lot of people?
I guess maybe because I did the stuff in AA
or something right. And I just lost it in the airport.

(49:29):
I just started blubbering. I just I just couldn't. It
was it was and she was like, I'm sorry, I'm
so sorry, Like no, this is this is good. Teas,
this is good.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
I think it's good too. That's that's kind of a
theme on the show. Like I I, for at least
five years, I hated when people bestowed praise on me.
And so I'm fighting tooth and nail and kind of
learning to accept love and appreciation, you know, because we listen, there's.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
There's something that the that that your that your people
who are going to watch this, they should they should
see that when we when you inducted me into the
rock walk down here in the in the in Los Angeles,
when we played Pick Up the Pieces, I think we
looked I think we looked that pretty good together.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
We absolutely did.

Speaker 4 (50:16):
You know.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
You know what I want to ask about that night?
How you know it's weird. The weirdest part about that
whole night was it wasn't until I left that I
realized that was Steve Perry I was playing with. He's
such a He's so mysterious. I thought Steve Perry is
like one of the I thought he was a roadie
or something. And he was so nice to us.

Speaker 3 (50:37):
That was the funniest thing is because Steve, I'm really
good friends is Steve learn him for a long time, right,
And he's very much reclusive, but he in and I
was always trying to coverage. Man, you know, if I
had a voice like that, i'd be out there. Oh
but I don't have the range that I used to.
I said, man, you can sing. You know, what are
you gonna do? If I had that voice, I'd be
out there singing.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Now, just thinking that he can't sing anymore, or no,
he can still sing.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
He still makes records, but he's he has a lot
of a lot of insecurity about it, you know. But
it's just a wonderful singer and a wonderful human being.
He's just a great guy, you know. And and and
so he liked to go. He was sort of liking
to go to see people rehearse and sitting in rehearsals,
and he liked to be around that, you know. So

(51:25):
I told him that, you know, Hamish was in town
for this thing, and and and I said, we're gonna
we're gonna be rehearsing over the rehearsal studio and can
I come and say, yeah, sure of course. So we
get over there and we start playing I think it
was person to person and when we're playing it, I'm
I'm missing a harmony in a voval harmony. I'm like,

(51:49):
I'm missing a note, you know, And and and Hamry's like,
well what no, And we'll they're all singing and like, no,
there's a note missing. Not almouch one it is, but
it's missing. And they were trying to know and they're
really annoying that there's nothing missing. Steve, and I'm getting
more and more upped. Steve is sitting there and he
knows exactly what it is missing.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
Yea.

Speaker 3 (52:10):
So so Steve says, can I can I Yeah, come come.
So he sit there, boom and there it was right that. Yeah, there,
you see that was missing. And I said, you're in
the band. And what I said, you're in the band.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
Good, I'll get that moment like I thought he was.
And then he was playing percussion.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
Yeah, he's playing cabell. He said, he's right over the
But the funniest thing was was when I when I
introduced him, it was like all the audience is like
looking at me, right, and I said, let's start over
that side there on background vocals, we got Steve Perry
and everybody sort of went.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
I was on the drum set, like, wait a minute,
this is Steve Perry this whole time, like I did
not know. He needs to sing more, man, he needs please.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
Please, I'm going to tell you, you know, pointing to
this thing here, He's just he's got this voice that's
just so special. He's got an instrument that's so special.
And and I don't know, I don't know anybody now
from you know, that's in it from our era that
can sing in the in the same key as they
did back in the eighties or the or even the nineties.

(53:20):
But you know, you can drop a key as long
as you can sing, because you know, I mean, I
get I get annoyed, you know when you talk about
the gospel chops. Yes, I get annoyed. The people who
think they're on America's got talent, and they got like
thirty seconds to sing every dang note that they can
that's in the book. And I hear people singing those

(53:43):
songs like that, and it's like, just sing the dangs.
Make the word mean something, don't. It ain't about what
you can do with it. Just make that word.

Speaker 4 (53:52):
You know.

Speaker 3 (53:52):
I heard somebody singing somebody that the cover of a
average white band. Someone They sent me this singer that was.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
Well right singing all over. Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna
wrap this up momentarily. I just have a few more
questions left. Number One, of your career, as far as
your actual performance is concerned, what do you feel is
your most memorable satisfactory performance in terms of drumming, in

(54:23):
terms of tone, Like if I want to know what's
the definitive three Stephernes songs. What is it? And I
don't mean popular, I just mean in terms of yeah,
you you you locking it in the pocket?

Speaker 3 (54:43):
Well, I mean I have to say, I have to
say schoolboy crush.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Okay, and were you playing were you playing the bells
and drums at the same time?

Speaker 3 (54:53):
No. I added that as an after thought on the recording. Okay, cool, Yeah,
but every time you start you do it. Yeah, I
just hold the belt it. But but but I just
thought it just so kind of that that sort of
fit the song somehow, and then and then all the
rappers liked it, so that was good. Yes, exactly that Wildflowers,

(55:16):
the whole album with Tom Petty was that. That was
amazing experience. I love the album Secret Story. Pat Metheny,
I love so much.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
He's been on our show.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
I think that's one of the most beautiful albums.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
That I wanted to ask you about the Glow Sessions,
but I will just because you know, that was definitely
Rick James's craziest period in his career. But I'm in
the book, yeah, I know. I was going to say,
from one to ten, how crazy were the Rick James

(55:50):
Glow Sessions? Great? And that was a lot of reverb
on those sneers. Man, yeah, it was.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
It was crazy. But Rick Man, what he just had
such an energy that was really cool. I love these music.
I mean I just I went and saw bad. I
saw this little band playing in one of one of
the clubs in Los Angeles. I forget Peppermint or something
like that. That's cool and and it's that they were playing.
They were playing some Rick James and they were like, man,

(56:21):
that's a great what a great energy.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
That's yes, give it to me baby, yes, all right.
So I was going to say, what was the hardest
session you ever had in your your cannon?

Speaker 3 (56:35):
Oh hardest, like.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Take after take after take after take after take didn't
nail it got through by the skin of my teeth,
you know.

Speaker 3 (56:43):
It was a schoolboy crush. Was was was pretty hard.
But I think there was a song on Secret Story.
I forget what it's called now, but there's this and
it was it's in seven four and and Pat wanted
wanted to keep the bass drum beat, but he had
done something with the Sink Club and the sort of
busting over over this book. And I had to figure

(57:06):
out what what what how to play it. So I said, well, yeah,
I said, tell you what, just run the tape and
I'll play and and see if I can come up
with something. And I was trying to figure out how
to play this thing and just playing, and then finally
I got settled into this one sort of pattern with it,
and I tried to do something and I almost fell

(57:27):
off off the drum kit doing it, and so I
just abandoned it, and then I went and I went in,
and then I went in. I went back in there
and said, okay, was there anything in there in that
and he said, yes, you played it once to pose
my feet off of the ground at the same time,
It's just that I had to really sort of I
had to go in and sit down a woodshed a
little bit just to get comfortable with my balance and

(57:49):
as I played that. But it doesn't sound that much,
but it's just a little bit.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
It's just you're kind of going there with the especially
with the Brian Auger stuff, like you were doing a
lot of you know, was quasi prog rocketsh like I
meters and yeah, yeah, I was young.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
I was very useful with Brian Ogo is twenty three
years old. I listened to that stuff and it's like, wow,
it's so young.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
So I want to mention before going you have a
new project he functions and that's yeah, yeah, you and
drums and Jeff Babko and keys, and Willie Mankowski on vocals,
Ethan Farmer. Yeah, in Shape Areat That was fun to do.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
We did that in the lockdown in my studio and
they brought the songs over and and and a bass player.
They had mean, Jeff had done all the stuff with
the keyboards and they'd done most of our vocals and stuff.
And then they Ethan came over to the house and
my engineer, the end of the guy who engineered Eric Sorgoo.
He does the engineering for me and we'd.

Speaker 7 (58:51):
Figured out how to do it so he could engineer
me from Long Beach, right and so and so he
was in Long Beach and we were there in the
woman mastered up and you know, it really is something
I don't know if you've experienced this with your band,
but it really does give something when when you can actually.

Speaker 8 (59:09):
Even if you if you're over dubbing to a track
that's already there, if you if you put down bass
and drums at the same time, it just adds that
little feel of there's an interplay that happens between between
between a base place.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
It just makes the track field I think a lot warmer.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
So are you guys planning on like going out live
with it?

Speaker 3 (59:28):
And well, I'd like to go out and play. We
were we were doing this little gig of this this
uh uh Pastrami I think it's called Joe's Pastrami place.
We were playing on Friday nights. They were going there
and playing. I was playing with Jeff So it were
ther bunches on a cop of badies. Oh, I don't know,
I'm too busy, but I would, really, I would. I
would hope that we'd go and play a gig at least.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
One, you know, at some point or at least there's
one song I want to ask about that I forgot
to ask about. It's it's on Socca's fourth album. She
did an extremely ambitious medley called Bebop Medley. Yeah, yeah,
you know she's basically marrying all these old jazz song

(01:00:13):
that was a reef. Yeah did you piece that together?

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
Or yeah? We cut we cut a piece of it
every day.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
I felt y'all did that in one fell swoop And
I always wanted to know how did you guys get
that together? So you guys cut had to cut and
paste that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
Yeah, cut a reef would would would would recall it
that bit, and then he'd take it home and listen
to it, and then he'd write the next bit, and
then we come back in the next day and then
we play the next bit, and then he tag it
on and then we go take it away and then
write the next bit.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
There were times where I saw you play with SOAKA.
Have you guys ever attempted to do the Bebop Medley live?

Speaker 3 (01:00:47):
I think we have done it live. I think we've
done it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
Jesus Age Christ right exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:00:54):
Yeah, you know, yeah we did. I think yes we did.
We did it live. There's a there's a I think
we did it the concert. Maybe we did something that
the roxy.

Speaker 2 (01:01:05):
You did you did a I've seen only maybe like
four or five songs from that particular thing, but I
think I think.

Speaker 3 (01:01:13):
We may have done it there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
That was that was fun.

Speaker 3 (01:01:16):
But you know, it's really hard because I've played with
so many great musicians and someone had so much fun
playing in my career and continue to do so. Grateful
and grateful for that. But but it's hard to sort
of narrow it down to say. You know, I always
feel like I'm leaving somebody out right. I usually, I usually,

(01:01:36):
I usually when I do, when I do something like this,
I always make a big point of thanking, thanking the
School of La Local Edo too, and the School of
Local forty seven.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
You know, so you really are a union guy?

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
Yeah, man, I tell you. You know, they may be
they may be, they may be pay pay for a pension,
and I'm like, give me the money pension. You know,
I'm really happy that they did.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
Now, those guys are always on my case.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
I'm kind of in a different category where I don't
depend on that. But I also understand that musicians have
to make a living. Oh wait, speaking of which we
do have something in common. You were I didn't realize
that you were in eighty five the house drummer for SNL. Yes, yeah,

(01:02:26):
how was that gig for you? You just did it
for one year? Correct?

Speaker 3 (01:02:30):
I had the gig for three seasons, but in the
middle of the second season, I started to get really
busy with Eric Clapton and Duran Duran, and so I
was out of town a lot, and so funny. I
just said, now, I'm it's silly me keeping this gigars.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
You give it to someone, so you decided to let
someone Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
See. Yeah, So for you, Lauren has always been really
really nice with me. I mean he's always every time
I always introduced myself and he says, I know who
you are.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
So my final question is is there ever a thing
as stopping.

Speaker 3 (01:03:10):
You know, playing?

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
Yeah? No, so for you, drumming is still passion you
still have.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
I love doing it. I love playing the drums. Yeah,
I love making music.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
I have a dream. And I thought, you know, if
COVID wasn't here by the time I turned fifty, I said,
before I die, you know, And unfortunately Malcolm is no
longer here with us. But before I pass away, I
have to see the core five members of the group

(01:03:45):
play one more time. Are you guys at all? As
far as the average white band is concerned? Are you
is there an average white band thread on your phone?

Speaker 3 (01:03:55):
Now? You know, we took every once in a while
and I tried to get those GutsMan to my piece.

Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
You know, who's that, Who's who's that? Odds here?

Speaker 3 (01:04:06):
Well? Yeah, some it depends on the day. Sometimes odds
and sometimes the odds and sometimes you know, I mean,
you know, uh, Molly passed away with you. I mean
I tried to get something back together and and and you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
Don't easy pieces and yeah, all these projects with one
or two members.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
But you know, I mean, I mean you know, I
mean I was talking actually talking with Yes. I thought, man,
you know, would be great to have quest'll come producers,
the average white man. Now he enjoyed as much as
we would.

Speaker 2 (01:04:38):
I would. I would honestly say to you, I would
probably risk the ire of anybody I've worked with and
walk away in a heartbeat if I knew that I
could facilitate an average right white band reunion.

Speaker 3 (01:04:53):
Well, I get I'll tell you what I do. I'll
get your Allen Goury's telephone number, I send.

Speaker 2 (01:04:56):
It to you, so he's the missing piece and if
he agrees with it, and then you think everyone else.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
I think I can persuade Hamish. I think that could
be done.

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
Yeah, I just want a proper closing.

Speaker 3 (01:05:07):
Yeah, I think it would be a good thing to do, because,
like I say, everybody can still play. Yes, it would
it would be fun thing to see what would happen.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Your mouth of God's ears. Yeah, you know I in closing,
I just want to say yes, I really truly hope
that you know that literally, you know, you sparked a
revolution of where I am right now in my life,
like the starts with you.

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
I'm truly I'm truly grateful for that, because it's nice
to see if somebody walk up to you and say, man,
you've been a great inspiration and I can actually tell
around and say, man, that guy plays his ass off.

Speaker 2 (01:05:49):
So thank you. And also thank you for that snare drum.
I'm literally using it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
All over the I see the use, I saw you
do it. I say it on the TV.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
Is absolutely on the next Roots album.

Speaker 3 (01:06:07):
Wouldn't it be wonderful if all those instruments got used
that way? I mean that that people got them, didn't
just put them in glass cases and look at them
and think with a lot of.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
Man that that snare has a snap like no other.
But I thank you for the ladies and gentlemen, the
great Steve Roon, uh my my musical hero on West
Love Supreme. I thank you for taking the time out
to listen to this, and we will see you on
the next braund all right, see you'll.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
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