WEBVTT - MicK Jones 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.160 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bobble Left Sets podcast. 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:18.600 Truly a treat to have my guest today, Bick Jones, producer, songwriter, 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:22.079 Mr Foreigner Mick So glad to have you. Hey, good 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:23.880 to be here, Bob. Okay, how did you end up 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:30.360 producing Van Halen? Did I do that? Yes? Okay, yeah, 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:35.760 unforgettable by the way, But really I believe it was 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:43.160 sort of put together by John Kalodner. Of course you've 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.640 been familiar with him, of course, of course, but Kladner 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:49.200 at the time was working a Geffen. Oh that Sammy 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:54.440 Hagar was with Jeff. Yeah, so I go a long 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.440 way back with Sammy to the days when he was 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:02.280 in a bank called Montrose of course, Ronnie Montrose. And 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:06.600 how did you know him then? Because I we toured 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:08.920 with him. I was in a band called Spooky Tooth 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.199 of course. Uh. And I came to the States basically 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:18.000 around seventy three, seventy four. I've been before, but to 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:23.080 to settle down here right way. And I remember on 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:30.240 the drive up to the studio he said, Mike, he said, 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:34.240 you and I have been through some pretty wild times, 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.640 you know, they said, but not like this. He said 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:41.240 to get ready, and that was his kind of warning 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:45.080 that I was about to enter into this different kind 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:49.000 of world. It was it as different as he built it. Um, 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:54.200 not really, but you know, I've had I've had quite 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.520 a lot of experience in the in studios, you know, 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:03.480 so I was kind of ready for anything. And it 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:09.360 was just I mean, they they had their their repertoire 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.040 down the songs really, so when you went in there, 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:15.400 they had all the songs. Um. Yeah, there were a 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:20.280 couple of a couple of like dream dreams, and I 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:26.120 worked very intensely with Sammy on that. Vocal performances are 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.920 my sort of specialty. I can get seemed to be 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.720 able to get the best out of people and okay, 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.320 a couple of things. So was it a clotner? Of 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:41.080 course Sammy was on Geffen, whose literal idea was to 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:45.720 get you involved. Um. Well, I think Sammy was something 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:50.800 to do with it. Um. I can't recall having an 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:56.080 explanation for it, but it was I think, Um, he 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:00.200 felt that I was a good choice as far as 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:07.400 you know, um, the vocal performances on the songs, and 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:11.680 he I believed in me, I guess as as Okay, well, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.800 I guess Ted Templeman had done the David Lee Roth records. 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.640 This was the first record with Sammy Hagar, so it 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:21.160 was a whole new thing. So what was it like? 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:26.280 How much input did they let you have? Um? Pretty much, 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:29.920 I could say what I wanted. I wasn't restricted or 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:35.320 intimidated by anything. Um, it was for me. It was 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.680 branching out the first kind of major project I've done 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:46.400 outside of a foreigner, you know. And there was you know, 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:50.440 they had just gone through the departure of David Lee Roth, 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.920 so there was an air about it that said, we're 0:03:55.920 --> 0:04:00.040 going to show him kind of thing, you know, and 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:05.160 and I picked up on that. Uh. And I've I've 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.920 met David before, you know, and always got on quite 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:16.080 well with him. But uh, Sammy had to fill We'll 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.400 not fill those shoes. But it had to be you know, 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:24.600 pretty rock into you know, to do that first album 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:33.160 with him, and I settled in pretty quickly. Again. Um, 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:37.039 there was an engineer, Don Landy, who had done most 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:40.200 of their hed, done all the engineering with Ted Templement 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:45.880 and so I was I realized what I a little 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.080 bit about what I was, what I was getting into, 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:55.000 you know, And there was a little animosity there because 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.680 they hadn't they were breaking away from Ted, and I 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:02.640 believe Don Landy was sort of assumed that he was 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:05.599 going to take over the mantel. So that was a 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:11.840 tricky little period. But ah, as the project went on, 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:16.279 I think we started to develop a respect for each 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.479 other and we ended up being the best of friends. 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:24.039 Wonderful engineer. I was so happy to work with him. 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:28.599 You know, he did some classic stuff and he knew 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.279 what he was doing, and you know, it was very 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:38.160 much an analog type album in the studio up at Eddie's, 0:05:38.560 --> 0:05:49.760 and uh, it was it was I'd say, I heard 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:52.040 about their father. I don't want to go too much 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:58.760 into the family roots, and he came up to the 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:04.640 studio one day and the brothers were kind of fooling 0:06:04.680 --> 0:06:09.120 around and it turned into a bit more than that, 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:14.640 and their father was kind of geeing them on to 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:19.560 kind of fetified with each other and kind of like 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:23.520 cheering them on and say get him and all that 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:29.480 kind of stuff. Really yeah, I mean he seemed to 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:31.760 be a perfectly nice guy, you know, I know he 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.840 was apparently a good musician too. You know, my favorite 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.400 song on that album and you may not have stories 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:42.080 about every song is best of both worlds with the dynamics. 0:06:42.440 --> 0:06:46.479 Can he tell us anything about that? Um well? Actually, 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:50.440 one of my main thing areas I thought could be 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:57.039 improved upon was the drum sound, which I had to 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:59.680 be careful because I didn't want to change it right, 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:04.280 but I wanted to get a better sound that would 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:09.000 kind of a nucleus for the others to the playoff. 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:15.040 Slightly different approach, you know, I you know, not to 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:17.520 concentrate on the on the drums, but they are the 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.680 foundation of everything, and I felt that I could bring 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:27.720 something a little bit extra in that department. And but 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:33.960 working with Alex, it was it was an experience. You know, 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:40.400 he's a fun, crazy guy really, and I hear he's 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.120 doing well these days, you know. You know, I know Eddie, 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:46.520 I don't know Alex, but I know that Alex is 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:48.560 really more of the business guy. I hear he's doing 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:52.120 pretty well, but I I don't encounter him. Yeah, but 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.480 were you talking about making the drums differently or having 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.560 him played differently, No, not play differently, more more of 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:03.600 sound wise, you know, And was he amenable to that 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.040 or was he like, hey, don't mess with me. Um Well, 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:10.440 he didn't hear it, you know, completed until the album 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:15.560 was almost complete and the mixing was that was really 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:20.119 the moment of truth and he said what he said, 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:31.239 drum sounded great, man, Okay, thanks okay, And uh, what's 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:40.040 your favorite foreigner song? Mm hmm, Well it sounds corny, 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.400 but it feels like the first time was the one 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.520 that started it out. You know. It was the first 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.760 song I wrote for for for a band which I 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:54.280 didn't know anything about, and I when I kind of 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:57.040 put the band together, I still didn't know what we 0:08:57.040 --> 0:09:01.120 were gonna do. Were we gonna do it as you 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:06.000 know where We're gonna form a band that was respectable 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:10.040 and good and could maybe sell a few, you know, records, 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:18.720 And so that was very uh that that I was 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:24.040 listening to an album that Lou had done with a 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:30.000 bank called Black Sheep back then, and I was listening 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.000 to the little demo I Don't Have feels like the 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:40.679 first time, and I suddenly heard the band. The instrumental 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:47.080 track was through you know, channeling him somehow, and I thought, well, 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.720 he might be the voice that I'm looking for. Okay, 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:52.800 so he wasn't in the band when you've written the song, 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:58.520 no well, all I remember is I remember hearing that 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:00.800 song on the red This is you know, people talk 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:05.280 about certain things, one about hearing a record in a radio, 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:07.920 record record in a record store and then buying I 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:12.240 had that happened once with Genesis, Wind and Wathering in 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.800 terms of hearing a song on the radio and literally 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:19.040 driving to the record store buying the album because I 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:20.840 had to hear it over the mead. It only happened 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.240 with me once, and it was feels like the first time, 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:25.240 the first one. I mean I remember where I bought it. 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.559 I'm music honesty and will sure, but it's now a uh, 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.320 you know, workout equipment store. But I literally was up 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.719 on the wall. I had to buy it. And at 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:36.080 that point the only people we knew were, you know, 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:37.840 the people who ended up not being in the band 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:40.160 after a period of time, so it was all new. 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:42.560 But the sound of that record, I had a good 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.040 stereo at that particular time, you could crank it up 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:49.280 on the j b LS. You know, I was just unbelievable. 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.559 I mean this type of did you know it would 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:56.679 explode like that? Well? I had an experience. Um I 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:02.280 was doing an interview with Scott Muni and um, he said, 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:06.679 I'm driving over the tribe of Bridge and I hear 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:11.199 this song a man, he said, that's music to roll 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:15.800 the window down and floor it. And and there was 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:20.240 a there's a big hit on the Tom Toms in 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:24.080 the beginning, and it takes the signal at a radio 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:29.120 station and it disappears for five seconds ten seconds. But 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:32.240 you know, it sounded good, sounded great, and just that 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:37.640 moment with Scott, you know, was like, wow, this must 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:42.920 have could this be something? You know? And up till 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:48.400 then I figured we try and put a band together 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:54.040 that wasn't comprised of of journeymen, you know. It was 0:11:55.080 --> 0:12:00.680 three young Americans, pretty green, and then of course Ian 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:05.560 McDonald and Denniss Eliot who did have experience, you know, 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:10.920 and and then Lou and then we were off to 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.920 the races. Okay, let's go back to the beginning. You're 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:17.560 from where in the UK? I was born in the 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.920 West Country. Are you familiar with Let's put this way, 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:23.960 I'm familiar, probably a little bit more than most Americans, 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:26.280 but that is not much an Americans. We only focus 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.600 on America, so give us some reference points. It's in 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:33.839 the West Country, the kind of the toe down there 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.920 right underneath Wales. Yeah, so what what would what town 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:43.360 was this? Uh? Where I where I was born was Glastonbury, 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:46.560 Glastonbury where they at the festival. And then where were 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:56.080 you raised? I was raised in moved several times and 0:12:56.120 --> 0:13:00.720 I was raised basically in South London sorry, which is 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:06.040 a a county kind of about ten miles from the 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:14.920 center of London. Um. I later found out that Eric 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:20.720 Clapton came from town five miles away from me, which 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.920 I didn't know about at the time. I had a band. 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:28.360 I had a little band. But what we did do 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:31.480 was open for the stones a few times. It was 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.560 a place called the Wooden Bridge. It was a pub, 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:38.320 I mean, but the stones before they were the Stones okay, 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:42.520 the wooden Bridge. And that was in Surrey. In Surry, Okay, 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:44.560 what was that? Did you say, oh, this biond has 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:46.200 got a future and to say, oh, they're never going 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.679 to make it. Well, the band that I had was 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.120 it was kind of a bluesy band with a bit 0:13:53.120 --> 0:13:57.080 of R and B. It was called hog Snort Rupert. 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:04.680 I didn't come over that name, but good musicians and 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:10.520 you know, gradually started to feel that hopefully I wasn't 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.120 just going to do a regular job. You know, I 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.120 was how were the stones that night? Those two nights 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:20.520 they were They were sensational. Long John Bouldry was was 0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:25.360 in the on the bill. Really, yeah, that's quite a bill. Okay. 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:28.000 So you grow up, let's you know. And how many 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:32.160 kids in the family? Now there are seven? Now the 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:35.000 kids in your family in English? Just my brother? Does 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:38.440 your brother older or younger? Younger? And where's he today? 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:42.120 He is in New York. He lives actually he lives 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:46.240 in Miami. Okay. And you became a musician. What did 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:51.720 he do? Um? He he was a great guitar player, 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.440 but I don't know what it was. I couldn't quite 0:14:55.480 --> 0:15:01.160 get him out of his shell. He was. He loved music, 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:03.240 you know, he had a great taste in music. Used 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.960 to turn me onto things that I hadn't heard. And 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:13.200 very very cool guy working with me on the road 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:20.360 quite a lot. And so I up until the age 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:24.240 of eleven, I was an only child. Oh he's eleven 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.760 years younger. So what'd your father do for a living? 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:34.680 He was a what he'd call now a but not 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:41.760 public relations um. A guy that would interview people for 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:47.360 jobs HR, human relations, human resource and what did he 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:51.120 do that for what kind of company? The company that's 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:59.360 supplied England during the wars with food and beverage, anything 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:04.040 to do with that area. So it was renowned for 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:09.200 its tea. It was the worst teas worth tea in England. 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.600 What was the brand name, Oh gosh, back then it 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.160 may have been PG chips or something. It was home brewed, 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:21.720 I think really, and it was my you know, just undrinkable. 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:25.640 So you're we're sort of a middle class family, I 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:30.480 would say, sort of yeah, okay, and you grow up. 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:32.560 Parents have a lot of involvement in your life where 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:36.600 you're running around the streets doing whatever. Um. Yeah, to 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:41.680 a certain extent, Uh, I lived in this little hamlet, 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:46.840 you know, five miles from Glastonbury, so it was really 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:50.240 steeped in history where you know, I lived in a 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:57.760 little village that was you know, years old, and it 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:03.040 was it was pretty desolate. It was you know, on Sunday, 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.520 I was in the choir so we did that and 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:10.480 then um, the rest of the day. It's kind of 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.480 foggy for me what I used to do. But um, 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.560 there will be nobody in the streets and I'd be 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:21.040 walking around and saying when am I going to get 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:23.960 out of here? And I used to go and see 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:28.840 my more of you know, my family. They lived in Hampshire, 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:34.000 which is down south too, and we used to have 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:38.760 all our celebrations Christmas and everything down there with the 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:42.560 big family. And I used to I used to get 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:45.200 so down and we had to get in that car 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:49.240 and drive back to you know, this little place in 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:53.280 the middle of nowhere. And did your parents play music 0:17:53.280 --> 0:18:01.400 in the home. My father was a pianist and he 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:06.080 he loved he loved jazz, right. He was a huge 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:10.280 Errol Garner fan, so he used to hear a lot 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:17.600 of that in the in the house. Um. Otherwise, Um, 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:21.240 they were, they were very musical. They were music fans. 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:27.159 But Dad had a secret inkling that he wanted to 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:28.919 sort of try, and he had a friend who was 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:36.680 a professional musician. Um, and I think he he would 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.440 have taken that shot, you know, if it was just him. 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:45.600 But he'd just come back from the war and there 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:48.040 was a lot to do to get a life back 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:50.960 together at that point. What did he do during the war, 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:55.480 same thing, but he was then he joined the Marines, 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:59.960 which is kind of like the American Marines a bit 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:05.719 tough guys. Yeah, usually they're out there getting killed easily frontline. 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:09.720 Did he see action? Yeah. Do you think that affected 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.600 his life thereafter PTSD that kind of stuff, Yeah, I 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:18.600 think so, I think. Um. I mean he was well 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:25.879 respected within our family. He was the best educated. Um. 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:29.840 He wanted them to give us a life that was 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:37.000 comfortable and wanted me to have, you know, a a 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:43.479 good education. So he was he was a wise man, 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.320 you know. So he said he was educated. He went 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:51.639 to what you would call university. Um. Yeah, he he 0:19:51.760 --> 0:19:58.320 went to university and in a city called Portsmouth. And 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:02.400 how about yourself? No, I skipped that. So what did 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:06.119 he say, the wise man who wanted to provide a 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:10.480 better life for his family. Well, he and my mother 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:14.280 sat me down one night. They'd seen a couple of 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.560 gigs I've done with this band. They said, Michael, we 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:21.919 have to Michael. They called, uh, we have to have 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:25.240 a little chat. You know. We know you love this 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:28.760 music and the rock was just coming in, you know 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:34.199 and everything, but we don't feel it's a career that 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:40.600 has very much lifespan to it. And I thought, oh god, no, 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:44.480 they don't believe that I can do it. And I 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:49.879 started to believe. I don't know what, but it I 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:57.120 took a serious hit too, you know, feeling that they 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:02.960 didn't believe in me. But that all changed later. Okay, 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:06.760 So when did you start playing a musical instrument when 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:09.560 I was the first time was probably when I was 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:16.720 about six or seven. My grandparents had a piano um 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:19.879 which I used to play every time I went to 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:24.840 see them, and I just learned what I My father 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:30.800 started me off on anchors away that military background and 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:34.720 the holes of Montezuma right right, because you know I 0:21:34.760 --> 0:21:37.520 had I had an EP that was in second grade 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:40.000 that had all four of the military anthem so I 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:46.600 know those pretty well. Yeah, that's funny, um. And I 0:21:46.720 --> 0:21:51.360 just you know, I found my way around the piano 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:55.680 a bit, all on the black keys, and that made 0:21:55.840 --> 0:22:01.359 that made it easier for me. But I remember, and 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:03.840 I carried on on those black keys all the way 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:10.760 through my my piano career. And I remember when I 0:22:10.800 --> 0:22:15.560 was working with Billy Billy Joel, he said, how the 0:22:15.600 --> 0:22:20.959 hell do you play cold as ice in those positions 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:24.600 on the black keys? I said, I don't know. That's 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:28.639 just the way I started started, and it stuck, you know, 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:33.640 what was it like working with Billy Um great. I mean, 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:41.200 have a tremendous respect for him. He's consummate musician. He's 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:47.560 um very creative. You know, we got on very I 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:50.600 had a few little confrontrations with him. From were the 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:59.480 confrontations about um, just a couple of songs um what 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:03.600 became aim We Didn't Start the Fire started out as 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:08.520 a song called Joe Lene, and I thought, just a minute, 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:12.440 I know that song and it was a similar kind 0:23:12.480 --> 0:23:17.960 of feel on it, and I felt it. I had 0:23:18.000 --> 0:23:21.480 to tell Billy, you know, said I'm scared that this 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:27.280 is going to be controversial and you know, plagiaristic. And 0:23:28.119 --> 0:23:32.639 he looked at me and walked out of the room. 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:36.240 And the next thing I know, he's ordered that all 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:40.880 the time Life magazine is from nineteen when he was born, 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:45.080 which was must have been He's a few years younger 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:50.199 than me, I think. And he sat down, set himself 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:54.640 in a room, and came out basically three days later 0:23:55.480 --> 0:23:59.680 with all the lyrics too. We Didn't Start the Fire, 0:23:59.760 --> 0:24:05.480 which is a chronological order, in chronological order of you know, 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:11.159 the events, major events that happened in the world, And 0:24:11.320 --> 0:24:13.560 did you think that was going to be a monster hit? 0:24:14.840 --> 0:24:17.040 I knew it was going to be different. He wanted 0:24:17.080 --> 0:24:19.840 to rock rock up a bit, you know, he wanted 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:24.280 to let loose a bit, and that was one of 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:27.880 the reasons I think he wanted to work with me, 0:24:28.840 --> 0:24:35.119 and also the fact that I was a songwriter too. 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:41.520 He respected what I had done, and again I had 0:24:41.560 --> 0:24:46.280 to go into a situation where Phil Ramon had done 0:24:46.280 --> 0:24:49.520 all his You know, I knew Phil, So how did 0:24:49.600 --> 0:24:53.639 what was Billy's decision not to use Phil? Um It 0:24:53.760 --> 0:24:58.000 wasn't really anything to do with me. It was just 0:24:58.119 --> 0:25:04.680 a choice. We we met up in a Itsunian restaurant, 0:25:05.240 --> 0:25:09.720 just like the song, and we hit it off of me. 0:25:10.000 --> 0:25:12.440 We'd we'd seen each other around. You know, I kind 0:25:12.440 --> 0:25:17.639 of knew him a little bit, but um, yeah, I 0:25:18.080 --> 0:25:24.560 I I got a few um outside musicians to come in. 0:25:25.560 --> 0:25:29.879 I think he wanted to break the it's not formula 0:25:30.000 --> 0:25:35.080 but the style, just as I said to, you know, 0:25:35.200 --> 0:25:39.000 to make it a bit rock rockier. Okay, let's go 0:25:39.080 --> 0:25:42.080 back to growing up. So you play on the black keys, 0:25:42.840 --> 0:25:44.959 and when do you you ever have any piano lessons? 0:25:46.280 --> 0:25:47.800 And when do you pick up the guitar or is 0:25:47.840 --> 0:25:52.400 there another instrument in between? Uku lele Uku Lately now 0:25:52.640 --> 0:25:57.600 ukul lately, Okay, we're I realized radio was different then 0:25:57.640 --> 0:25:59.680 because you have the BBC and there was a limited 0:26:00.080 --> 0:26:03.879 amount of stuff, But it wasn't you know skiffle was 0:26:03.960 --> 0:26:09.080 big then, was it? Were you always into the popular music? Yeah, 0:26:09.240 --> 0:26:14.600 I am. I played a little skiffle band for a while. 0:26:16.560 --> 0:26:20.880 Lonnie Donegan songs it was it was actually they were 0:26:20.920 --> 0:26:24.480 big here too, Does your chewing gum lose its flavor? 0:26:24.520 --> 0:26:30.040 And wonderful hits they had. So how did you learn 0:26:30.040 --> 0:26:34.520 how to play the ukulele? My dad taught me. Taught 0:26:34.560 --> 0:26:41.359 me three chords and that was it. Immediately he taught 0:26:41.400 --> 0:26:45.679 me to play. I remember one of them was Anti sweet, 0:26:46.480 --> 0:26:52.360 just walking down the street and it got me and 0:26:54.560 --> 0:26:56.639 I learned those chords and I played them over and 0:26:56.720 --> 0:27:02.919 over again. I discovered about how the instrument worked, you know, 0:27:04.160 --> 0:27:09.280 and that was actually a very important move he made 0:27:09.400 --> 0:27:11.600 to give me that and to give me a couple 0:27:11.640 --> 0:27:17.439 of lessons, and that was the first time I felt 0:27:17.640 --> 0:27:27.720 music really, especially like Buddy Holly Ah, who was my idol. 0:27:27.920 --> 0:27:32.320 Completely like a lot of English guitar players. I'm sure 0:27:32.320 --> 0:27:41.600 you've interviewed, he was, you know, it was it was 0:27:41.760 --> 0:27:45.879 like I'd seen a light, you know, there the awakening 0:27:45.920 --> 0:27:53.119 of it. And I went from there to to playing 0:27:53.160 --> 0:27:55.680 in a couple of local bands. As I said, you 0:27:55.760 --> 0:27:59.000 play the ukulele. You were playing ukulele in those people. 0:27:59.000 --> 0:28:02.680 Oh no, No, like a Spanish guitar. Okay. So you 0:28:02.760 --> 0:28:06.359 have the ukulele. What's the next guitar you get? It 0:28:06.600 --> 0:28:16.560 was a believe it's called a Hofner Senator. Okay. And 0:28:16.640 --> 0:28:20.760 you know, I had had a a friend at school 0:28:21.520 --> 0:28:27.000 who was a great guitar player. He played with Georgie Fame, 0:28:28.680 --> 0:28:31.720 and he kind of took me under his wing a 0:28:31.760 --> 0:28:35.880 bit and gave me a few pointers and lessons and stuff. 0:28:36.920 --> 0:28:42.080 And he played with Buddy not with Buddy Holly, well 0:28:42.160 --> 0:28:48.960 he did, actually, but he played with Jerry Lewis, h 0:28:49.360 --> 0:28:54.920 Eddie Cochrane legends. And he used to take me up 0:28:54.960 --> 0:28:58.400 to London when a tour was starting so I could 0:28:58.480 --> 0:29:01.800 hang out by the bus and see all my idols 0:29:01.800 --> 0:29:04.320 getting on the bus. Hey, listen, that's a thrill when 0:29:04.360 --> 0:29:07.960 you're that age. Oh man, it's a killer. Okay. So 0:29:08.400 --> 0:29:11.360 you had you had the Hofner and then you say 0:29:11.400 --> 0:29:16.080 you're playing Spanish guitar in bands? You know, acoustic guitar. Yeah, 0:29:16.200 --> 0:29:18.880 at that point it was more rhythm stuff, you know, 0:29:19.960 --> 0:29:25.160 because you can't really I you can't really play for 0:29:25.280 --> 0:29:31.960 me right on an acoustic It's difficult. But um, so 0:29:34.280 --> 0:29:38.480 where were we? Okay, so you're playing in uh, you're 0:29:38.520 --> 0:29:40.760 playing you're in high school or whatever the equivalent what 0:29:40.760 --> 0:29:42.640 they're calling that in England. You start in the bands 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:54.080 with Spanish guitar. When did you get an electrical um? 0:29:54.280 --> 0:29:58.280 Once I had formed a little nucleus of a band, 0:29:59.720 --> 0:30:03.520 which was pretty pretty cool little band actually, and I 0:30:03.600 --> 0:30:10.280 got a burns which looked a little bit like a 0:30:10.360 --> 0:30:15.120 les Paul. Wasn't anywhere near right as good as a spoil, 0:30:15.880 --> 0:30:20.800 but it looked good and it was cut away, and 0:30:20.880 --> 0:30:26.280 so I the first few months I I I played 0:30:26.320 --> 0:30:34.880 with that, and eventually my father bought me a s 0:30:34.960 --> 0:30:39.840 G les Paul s G and that was the beginning 0:30:40.720 --> 0:30:43.880 of hey, this is this is a ship. You know, 0:30:45.680 --> 0:30:49.720 I had the treasure it. My father was playing credit 0:30:49.800 --> 0:30:56.160