WEBVTT - Interview With Steve Miller: Masters in Business (Audio) 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:07.560 This is Masters in Business with Barry Ridholds on Bloomberg Radio. 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:13.640 So I had an absolute blast on this week's podcast. Um, 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.840 Steve Miller, he literally is a rock and roll star. 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:22.080 When I was in high school, his albums were ubiquitous. Uh, 0:00:22.200 --> 0:00:25.800 Fly like an Eagle, Book of Dreams. Those were always 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.880 on the radio. I've been a fan of his for 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:33.879 a while. Uh, I wish we had more time. We 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.680 were talking for ninety minutes. I got to like a 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:43.040 third of my questions. Every single question led to a 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:47.360 another story of his. And when a guy like Steve 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.279 Miller is telling you stories, you sit there, you shut up, 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:55.280 you listen and enjoy the ride. It. It was really 0:00:55.320 --> 0:01:01.200 a blast. Uh. One other funny, little, funny little story. 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.240 So the show finishes, they have to go somewhere, and 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.600 I promised I would get them out of on time. 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.360 We're still a half hour late. Where we finish up, 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:12.720 he signs a couple of albums for me, which was 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.679 really nice. He didn't have to do that. He did 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.760 a little picture of of the Joker on one of 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.880 the albums. I thought that was super cool. Um, I'll 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.080 take a picture and post it on Twitter. But then 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:28.839 we're outside and I take we're taking photos in order 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:31.360 to you know, I take a photo of every guest, 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:33.280 and it's he and I taking a photo. And as 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:39.400 as as we're taking the picture, who walks by in 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:43.880 front of us, but none other than Mr Mike Bloomberg. 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:49.760 And generally the protocol at the Bloomberg building when anybody 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:54.320 famous is around, you know, it's a quiet nod. It's 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:58.240 very low key. Every time I'm there, there's some famous 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:04.520 hedge fun manager, musician, actor. I'm in and out of 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.240 the I'm in and out of the green room for 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:11.880 Charlie Rose. Because where Bloomberg Radio is is adjacent to that, 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:16.240 I always see all sorts of amazing guests there. But anyway, 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:21.280 we're standing there having our photos taken, and it was 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:25.280 cute to see Steve Miller sort of gush over a 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.600 celebrity to him, Hey, there's the mayor, Mr mayor, Hi, 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.680 nice to see you. It was. It was really very 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.760 amusing and very charming, and and the mayor just kind 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:39.840 of nodded and walked by. I can't imagine that he 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:43.640 had any idea who this was, um, but this was 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:47.640 just a charming and delightful interview. If you are at 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.639 all interested in the music industry, recording rock and roll, 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:56.639 anything along those lines. This was really a crazy educational experience. 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:01.359 All your worst expectations of of the record industry are 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:05.480 met with no further ado my conversation with Steve Miller. 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:13.120 This is Masters in Business with Berry Ridholts on Bloomberg Radio. 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:17.240 My special guest today has gone by a number of names. 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:21.200 You might know him as the Space Cowboy, the Gangster 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:25.880 of Love, or just Maurice. He's best known as Steve Miller, 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:30.799 an American singer, songwriter, guitarist. He first formed his band 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.960 in nineteen sixty six in San Francisco. His greatest hits 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:43.000 album V sold thirteen million copies. He has twelve albums 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.280 in the top forty in the United States, and all told, 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:51.520 he has sold over sixty million copies. Steve Miller, Welcome 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:55.000 to Bloomberg. Hi Berry, how are you great? I'm thrilled 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:58.560 to have you. I have a million questions for you. Um. 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:00.400 I've been a fan of yours for a long time. 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:04.440 I've seen you live several times, both with the Steve 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:09.720 Miller bands and when you were supporting Lawrence Jubert at 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.800 the cutting room. That was a wonderful evening. Um, let's 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:16.400 let's go way back. You grew up early in your 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:21.559 childhood in Wisconsin, and the rumor is you were taught 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.360 your first three chords by none other than Less Paul. 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:27.720 How on earth did that come about? This? It was 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:31.880 really interesting. My um my family lived in Milwaukee, so 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:36.159 I was born in Milwaukee, and it was ninety three 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.120 when I was born, so World War two was still 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:46.520 on in nineteen fifty, nineteen fifty somewhere in there. It 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:48.680 was about five, so I guess it was forty eight. 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:53.839 Less Paul came to town and he and Mary Ford 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.440 were not married yet, and they were playing at a 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:01.000 nightclub around the corner from this funky downhouse we lived 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:05.919 in downtown Milwaukee. My dad had a Magna Order, which 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.599 was one of the first professional tape recorders in the 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:13.440 United States. It was like German technology stolen during World 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:17.839 War Two and now America had tape instead of wire recorders. 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.080 And the old man was really you know, he had 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.680 a Magna Order, and he went around the corner and 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:25.800 introduced himself to Less Paul and said, I got a 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:28.039 Magna order, and I'd like to come in and record you. 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:33.440 Unless said that'd be great, come on down. So my 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:38.640 father started taking me to a place called Jimmy Fazzio's 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:42.360 Supper Club was where this west and started taking me 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:45.440 into the nightclub. And I was watching Less Paul and 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.120 Mary Ford and what they were doing was they were rehearsing. 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:49.920 They were playing in front of an audience at a 0:05:50.040 --> 0:05:54.640 nightclub in Milwaukee off the beaten Path, right, putting their 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.000 show together for their television show where they were going 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:00.520 to come to New York into this tele vision show. 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:04.120 So we'll Wolfie Way off Broadway. Yeah, and you know 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:08.360 a little side tracking close to where less Less was 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:10.560 born and where his mother lived and stuff like it. 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:15.159 So we're watching Less Paul and Mary Ford perform, and 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:18.479 my father's recording it, and so less Paul is coming 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.520 over to the house and listening to it. And pretty 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:25.320 soon Less and Mary and Sonny and Bert, my mom 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:29.840 and dad were really good friends. A lot of drinking, smoking, carousing, 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:33.960 listening to music. And pretty soon, you know, Charles Mingus 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:37.760 and you know, tal Farlowe and Red Norvau and all 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.720 these people were hanging out at the house. And I 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:44.880 was like, yeah, boy, this this looks like fun. You know, 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:48.040 this this playing music is really great. I already had 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:53.200 a guitar. My uncle was a musician, and another uncle 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.600 who played in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. He's a hot 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.920 jazz violinist. So you have a lot of musical influences 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:04.120 in your family. And my mother is a great singer. Yeah, 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:09.320 and so uh. During the depression, all my relatives went 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:12.680 to medical school and became doctors. So my dad was 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.680 a doctor. He was a pathologist, So this was all 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:19.480 hobby stuff for them. I got my uncle's guitar, les 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:21.840 Paul shows up at the house, shows me my first 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.800 three chords. I'm in love with Mary Ford. She's the 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:31.560 most beautiful woman in the world. And knowingly I understand 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:34.320 that he's like speeding this tape recorder that we have 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:38.400 up and down. He's making his guitar solo sound faster, 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.120 and you know, he's records it slow, so you played back, Yeah, 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:45.000 he records faster, and it's got a baseline when he 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:47.800 plays it back at normal speed. And that Mary singing 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:54.920 multiple parts, well, you know, thirty five years later or 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:58.080 whatever it was. That's that's how I started making my living, 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:02.720 was playing multiple parts. Guitarists and doing multiple vocal tracks. 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:05.880 So that raises an interesting question. At what point did 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.360 you say to yourself, Hey, I can make a living 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:12.960 with this this music. Then well, I didn't really think 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:15.280 I could make a living in this music until about 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.040 nineteen sixty three, after I had gone to the University 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.920 Wisconsin for four years and the University Copenhagen for a year. 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:26.480 I never really thought i'd be a professional musician because 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:28.960 I came from this very middle class like, hey, you're 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:33.120 gonna have to get a job, and uh, as much 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.959 as everybody loved musicians, there weren't any good gigs. Being 0:08:36.960 --> 0:08:40.760 a musician wasn't a good gig. Yeah, working in a nightclub, 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.600 you know, basically with drug dealers and hookers and cops 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:46.240 and mafia people. So not a lot of money and 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:50.600 not great surround it. So after the after school, I 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:54.680 went down to Chicago and Paul Butterfield was playing Paul 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.480 Butterfield Blues blues band at a place called Big John's 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:05.640 and he had a record contract, and I went record contract, 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.280 Hey I could do this, Maybe I could make a 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:11.360 litting doing this, and said I moved to Chicago immediately 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:13.760 put a band together with a guy named Barry Goldberg, 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.199 a great keyboard player and writer. We immediately got our 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.960 record contract, had the worst manager in the world, and 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:23.000 I learned all the things not to do very quickly 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:25.760 got out of that and then ended up in San 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.680 Francisco and had a reset and was able to get 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.520 my own contract and do my own and you very 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:37.360 famously had a tremendous contract that was different from a 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:40.720 lot of standards. You know, it's it's funny, you know, 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:44.840 like it's what all I did was just common sense. 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.760 And um, I did a couple of things. I knew 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:53.040 a couple of things, and one was I needed to 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:57.040 own my publishing and I and I had had this 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.520 little taste of recording in Chicago with Barry for Epic 0:10:00.559 --> 0:10:03.120 Records I think or Mercury, I can't remember what it was, 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:05.880 and we had a little run. We were on Hullabaloo 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.040 with the Supremes and the Four Tops, and then it 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.560 was all over. And I learned that, like, I didn't 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:15.680 want anybody coming in and telling me what to play 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.080 or record, like, hey kid, you need to move more, 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.800 and you know, you have to change those trousers. You know. 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.840 There was a lot of that, and uh, you know, 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.480 I didn't want anyone to own any of my songwriting. 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:32.360 So when I got to San Francisco, I was in 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.440 the middle of a feeding frenzy. I had fourteen record 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:40.240 companies trying to sign me. Only three of them were important. 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:42.440 The rest of them were all like you know, fly 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:47.120 by night, independent, small, big promises, no delivery kind of guys. 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:51.760 And I had a friend who was a prosecuting attorney 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:53.440 and I went to him and I said, these guys 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:58.440 are thieves that this built in theft. Uh, they're they're 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:00.360 gonna want to do this, this, this, And what I 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:05.239 need is complete artistic control. I need to own my publishing, 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:08.080 in my songwriting, and I need enough money to make 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:12.840 five albums. It's gonna take that long. And as long 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.600 as they're here, I don't I'm not signing a deal 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:19.120 until I get those things. And everybody went, well, that's 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:23.920 unheard of. And you know, basically it was just common sense. 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:28.080 There wasn't anything. You know, sometimes big ideas like that 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.760 just seem so simple, like Les Paul was a genius, 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:34.839 but all the stuff he invented was really simple and straightforward. 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.400 And do you think about it later, forty years later, 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:42.040 of what he achieved. And you know, this multiple track 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:44.760 tape recorder your engineers fooling with, you know, is a 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.920 direct result of Less Paul's ideas in the forties. So 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.880 what's the what's the old expression? Uh? Common sense is 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:56.680 surprisingly uncommon. Yeah, I'm Barry Ridhults. You're listening to Masters 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:00.240 in Business on Bloomberg Radio. My special guest today is 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:03.040 Steve Miller, best known for the Steve Miller Band. He 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.960 is a singer, songwriter and guitarist and pretty much beloved 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:12.760 by musicians all over. We were talking earlier about the 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:17.880 feeding frenzy in San Francisco when you first went out there. Um, 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:22.559 you told an interesting story some time ago about how 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:28.520 Capital try to put you into their midnight recording slot. 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.360 If I'm remembering that correctly, and you would have nothing 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.600 of it, you ended up going to the UK. Well, 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.440 it was what happened was we were a San Francisco group. 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:42.040 There's a big dichotomy between l A and San Francisco, 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.679 and l A was like this horrible commercial group of sharks, 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.640 and San Francisco was this hippie peace, love and happiness 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:54.679 kind of community where all the bands shared information and everything. 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.839 So Alan Livingston the president of Capitol Records was the 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.600 guy who negotiated it with me for nine months and 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.320 finally said, okay, you can. We'll give you the contract 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:07.040 you want. We really want to sign you. So we 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:08.920 load up all our gear and we go down to 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.720 l A to do our first recording session. And I'm thinking, 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:17.120 I just signed with Capitol Records, less Paul's label, my 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.280 godfather's label. I can't believe this. This is so cool, 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:23.240 and now I've got all these great resources and it's 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.720 gonna be you know, I'm gonna make this great album. 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:28.320 They said, well, we don't have any studio time open 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:32.200 until midnight at midnight. And they said, yeah, we're just 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:34.680 booked and said, but we've got you booked at midnight. 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.640 So I come in at midnight and we spend a 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.400 couple hours unloading all our gear we just drove down 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:43.040 from set versus setting it up, and we start to 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.000 do a session. It's like four in the morning, and 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:46.840 I just said, I can't do anymore. I mean, I 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.000 can't sing. I'm I'm exhausted. I gotta go to bed. 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.240 So I said, all right, we'll come back tomorrow at midnight. 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.719 I come back the next night at midnight and they said, 0:13:56.720 --> 0:13:59.000 you gotta move all your equipment out of Studio B 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:00.959 and put it in stood d O A. And he said, well, 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.320 we just set it up. What's going on here? And 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:05.600 they said, I got somebody else coming into the studio. 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:11.200 You're gonna have to move it. So we moved it 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:15.160 to Studio A, got ready to record, and the engineering 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:19.200 staff walked out. So they didn't like us. They thought 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.680 we were hippies. They they thought we were anti war 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:27.440 demonstrating bad people. They really did not. And these were 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:31.800 a bunch of like crew cutted, ex Vietnam veteran kind 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:36.840 of union studio guys. And and this was a situation 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:39.880 where as a musician, I was not allowed to touch 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.560 a microphone or the console, and there was a guy 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.800 from the Musicians Union who sat in the control booth 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:50.120 to make sure nobody did it. It was the craziest 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:55.320 goofy ist, overly featherbedded, just everything that's wrong with unions 0:14:55.440 --> 0:15:01.520 was on display right there in l A. So second night, 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.640 I've had it, so I call up my my executive 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.440 producer at Capitol Records, John Palladino, an ex marine by 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:11.480 the way, It was a great guy. And I loved him, 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:13.560 and they said, John, you can have the money back, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.480 you can have your contract back. Nuts to you, guys, 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.720 I'm done, you know. And oh no, no, no, no, no, 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:21.800 God no no, Steve, no no no, no, no, no, 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:25.040 no no no, I'm gonna you know, listen, this just 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:29.600 isn't And so because I had all of this control, 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:34.520 I then started looking around for different studios and I 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:37.600 realized that like these guys in l A didn't like me, 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:39.920 and they weren't gonna help me. They're gonna sabotage me. 0:15:40.240 --> 0:15:43.360 And that this new deal I just made with Capitol Records, 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.000 where I thought I was going to get all his help, 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.720 I was one of like two hundred bands fighting for 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:52.920 limited resources with razor Blade men, you know, and management 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:55.360 and stuff. I mean, I just jumped into a world 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:58.440 that was like I was so naive about the politics 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:00.920 of the record company, of the corporate world. Those are 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.440 all the worst stories you've ever heard about the record 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.360 industry in Los Angeles and what it's like to a 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.320 major You lived it, Yeah, So, so what did you 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:14.120 do in response to no studio available? So I started 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:18.880 looking around in London and we found out about Olympic Studios, 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.160 talked to George Martin, who's the producer of the Beatles. 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.480 He was willing to do it, but he wanted to 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:27.760 have five percent or something and I wouldn't give it 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.160 to him. Well he's George Martin, Yeah, and I was 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.160 going no, no, no, no, no, it's way too much. 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.760 So I worked with Glenn John's and Glenn was an engineer. 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.480 So we pack up everything board the U s s 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:45.480 United States in January making Atlantic Crossing. That was I 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.400 was seasick for five days. When it's just oh my god, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:52.440 whatever you do. Get to London, go over to Olympic Studios, 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:57.000 set up and procol Harem's there, Peter Frampton's there, the 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.880 Rolling Stones are there, the who just left you know, 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:04.280 I mean just Jimmy Hendrix has been to town. Everything's 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.120 going on, you know, and we're right in the middle 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.080 of it, Walkington and you have yet to record your 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:12.000 first album, right, this is the first one. Yeah. We 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.119 land there and as soon as we started playing, it 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.320 was like we had brought manna from heaven. We were 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.879 the most juicy, live, ist, greatest sounding band in London 0:17:20.920 --> 0:17:23.879 at that particular time. Everybody else sounded real stiff and 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.600 you know, working real hard to make pop records and stuff, 0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:29.000 and they just loved us. So we had this great, 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:33.639 great period of sessions and we ended up making I 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:37.840 think the first four albums were actually you know, Wally 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.159 Hiders in San Francisco and then back to Olympic to 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.399 mix and back and forth. Nicky Hopkins was playing with us, 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:48.360 and we were just in the middle of this world 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:51.920 international scene. It was much better than being in l A. 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.640 And engineering was much hipper. And there was a guy 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.320 there named Dick Swettenham who invented a lot of the 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.800 digital equipment we all used today. He was one of 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:03.840 the inventors of it. I mean, he was talking about 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:06.840 the digital, the coming digital world, and we were going, 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:09.720 what it's gonna be on crystals? There's not gonna be 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:13.560 any tape what you know. We didn't know this nineteen seven, 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:17.240 and so that's how it all started and it was 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.000 really exciting. I read something I think it was with 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:25.439 Um Gibson guitar had a a series of interviews with you. 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.159 If I'm remembering correctly, and that may be wrong, but 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:32.359 you talked about the process that the Beatles had for recording, 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:35.640 where you would spend days on a song and they 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.000 would bang stuff out. Well. You know, later in nineteen 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:44.280 sixty nine, I got to meet the Beatles and um, 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.679 they were working in their last album and Glenn was 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:51.399 the engineer and I recorded with Paul and I was 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:58.720 hanging out with these guys for a few days, and um, 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:02.560 you know, it was so hard as a writer to 0:19:02.640 --> 0:19:05.520 get to our player to have rubber soul come out, 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:10.800 you know, and you're getting what you know, it's so great, 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:14.560 you know. They just were so in the moment and 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:18.960 so incredibly talented. If we had the book of the 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.600 four hundred songs at the Beatles recorded and we went 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:23.480 through it, you and I would both be going, oh 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.440 my god, I forgot about those I forgot about Oh 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.359 my god. Look look, look, look it's an astonishing It 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:35.720 is an astonishing catalog, all done under incredible pressure, horrible 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:39.320 situations of just you know, being followed by the press 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.879 of If we were the Beatles in nineteen nine and 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:44.480 we were doing this interview, there'd be fifty people right 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.240 outside that window, going, Steve just or Paul just scratched 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:50.960 his head, or they he just stood up, you know, 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.880 I mean, they'd be reporting on everything. These guys did. 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.840 And how they were creative I don't know. But what 0:19:57.000 --> 0:20:03.159 I found out was they had a language. Paul and 0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:07.399 John communicated at a level that was so funny and 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:11.960 so witty and so clever. I mean, Paul walked into 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:14.280 the studio and said, good morning everybody, and you kind 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:16.439 of went, wasn't that great? Did you get that on tape? 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.840 Did did you hear that? It was just that good? 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.760 You know? And their conversation back and forth and stuff, 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.720 and I just went, ah, I really am in the 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:33.080 presence of you know, Rogers and Hammersteiners, something believable writers 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:37.600 and this I I have limitations these guys don't and 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:41.000 I don't have I can't be as great as they are. 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:43.959 And then I found out that they just made they 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:46.560 It was like work. They got to the studio ten 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:49.440 thirty morning, they were done at three thirty in the afternoon. 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:51.879 They had their tea break, and they went home and 0:20:51.920 --> 0:20:54.640 they recorded four songs and if they needed something else, 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:56.520 he wrote, Hey Jude that night and had come in 0:20:56.560 --> 0:20:58.840 the next day and do it. It was like that. 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:03.400 And what I found out even that was even more 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.600 interesting was when I was there, I saw them record, 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:13.760 get back and uh, um, come Together, I think was 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:18.960 the other one. And uh, they had forty songs in 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:24.240 the can already waiting to come out. Yeah, and they yeah. 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:28.520 I mean it was an unbelievable lesson forty songs. They 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:32.000 were ahead of the game forty songs. Everybody else was like, well, 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:34.960 the boys are working on the album, and uh, they've 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:37.719 got a tour right now and it'll probably be you know, 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:41.119 two years until they come out with another record. What 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:43.320 what was the name of the band? You know, And 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:47.040 these guys were so far ahead of the game, um 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:49.320 that they did a couple of things and they just 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:51.680 pulled like eight other songs and they threw an album out. 0:21:51.720 --> 0:21:53.879 I went to Paris to go play a gig, and 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:56.359 when I came back three days later, that song and 0:21:56.440 --> 0:21:59.600 record was number one in Europe, was already recorded, released 0:21:59.600 --> 0:22:01.639 an out. I mean it was recorded the week before, 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:03.919 it was out in the next three days. And I 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:07.239 mean it was like totally different than America, where they 0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:10.800 go all right, to finish the album, now next January, 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:15.760 we're going to release it was fooling around, hot off 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:20.000 the press, number one, and and Paul liked those first takes. 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:22.320 He said that each subsequent take wasn't as good. I 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:25.520 recall you saying something that's right. It was always the 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:29.320 first take is the one that has the magic. So 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:33.080 if you're not really paying attention, you kind of going, oh, 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:35.040 wait a minute, I want to do that again. It's 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:37.520 not gonna be as good, and then I can make 0:22:37.560 --> 0:22:40.800 that better than it just goes down. The level of 0:22:41.280 --> 0:22:45.280 inspiration or presents gets duller and duller and duller. But 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:48.680 when you walk in and lay it down, you're done. 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:51.679 I'm Barry rid Halts. You're listening to Masters in Business 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:55.480 on Bloomberg Radio. My special guest this week is a 0:22:55.560 --> 0:22:57.680 rock and roll star. It's Steve Miller or the Steve 0:22:57.680 --> 0:23:03.240 Miller band, singer, songwriter, guitarist. Um has band dissold over 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:08.520 sixty million copies, and he was recently inducted into the 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:10.680 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which led to some 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:15.000 interesting controversy. So so let's talk a little bit about 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:17.720 the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Is this a 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:20.680 cultural institution or is this really just a tourist trap 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:24.520 in Cleveland. We know it's not a tourist trap in Cleveland. 0:23:24.520 --> 0:23:28.240 It's a beautiful museum in Cleveland and a beautiful site, 0:23:29.280 --> 0:23:33.160 and uh, it is a cultural institution and a lot 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:37.800 of great work has been laid down and put in place, 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:44.040 and the current leadership is exhausted, doesn't have a vision 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:51.400 and basically as just running it too to gather funds 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:55.040 for the future. And what they're doing right now is 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:59.520 very flimsy. You know, They've set up a lot of stuff, 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:02.760 but they're out following through very well. So the Rock 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:06.000 and Roll Hall of Fame, you know, when Ahmad Ergan 0:24:07.320 --> 0:24:10.840 put it together and Jan Winner was his little henchman, 0:24:10.920 --> 0:24:16.000 and Alan Grubman was their lawyer. He basically had a 0:24:16.040 --> 0:24:20.000 combination of three egos and the communicator was Ahmad Air 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:24.879 again and Jan Winner on snarky little tabloid magazines and 0:24:24.920 --> 0:24:28.679 that's the way he plays artists. So you have a 0:24:28.760 --> 0:24:33.960