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00:00I'd like to say Ozzy had swagger but he had his own kind of swagger and he kind of looked like us
00:05back in the day he looked like a guy that could kick the shit out of the guy who was beating me
00:09up or trying to bully me or something you know. Rock, metal, prog and everything in between.
00:16Welcome to this episode of Talkin' Rock with Meltdown. Don't forget to follow the audio
00:21only Talkin' Rock podcast on all podcast platforms. And now it's time for today's conversation.
00:26Here's Meltdown. There he is. Just got back from, you just got back from Brazil, didn't you? Not that
00:33long ago? Yeah, I was in Brazil with Jeff Scott Soto. Yeah. I played like some rock and roll gigs there
00:39and then I was in Europe with a rock opera called Aventasia and then I was in the UK playing acoustic
00:46tour and I'll be busking at a train station near you. No, anything and everything tour, that's pretty
00:54much what I've been doing. Yeah, well, I'm going from Sao Paulo to Ha-Pa, Michigan and Ludington.
00:59It's almost like in the... I know. It's been a while since I played in the USA. I've been
01:08traveling. I mean, it's been a while since I've done it solo. I mean, I did two and a half years
01:13with Mr. Big playing all over the world, but then yeah, we played in the United States, but I haven't
01:21done U.S. gigs in a long time. Actually, I just played in Monterey, California for a charity for
01:28homeless women, but I also did this kind of fun show for Java House Cold Brew. It was like a sponsored
01:38concert for the Indy race in Laguna Seca. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I got to go to the races for the
01:45first time. It was pretty cool. Anyway. You've never been to one of those races before? They're
01:49fun. Never. No, I've been to NASCAR, but Indy's incredible. I mean, it's so loud. It's like a heavy
01:58metal concert in a way in my ears. It's like, and even it was like, and so fast. And so, you know,
02:05when you see all those, like a tennis match and they're doing all this, like everybody in the
02:12stands in this one is like totally getting whiplash. So. No, that's great, man. By the way,
02:17how'd things go with Jeff Scott Soto? I'm sure that went awesome, huh? Jeff's cool. I've known him
02:23for years. I actually did a song on one of his duets album. You know, I didn't pay attention when he
02:33was in the band Talisman in Europe, but I've been like kind of a big fan of his for years and years.
02:40I can't remember exactly when I met him, but I, I remember meeting him at Paul Gilbert's wedding
02:47at Disneyland and he was playing like as a special guest playing, oh, you know, playing for Paul's
02:54wedding. So anyway, yeah, yeah. We've been friends for a hundred years at least.
02:59But yeah, it's funny. I've met both you guys, obviously, but I mean, the first time I met you
03:04and the first time I met Jeff Scott Soto, it's like, you guys just are just easy to talk to.
03:09And you're like, I think I even said, I want to do an interview. I didn't do an interview with you
03:12right away. I think the first one I did with you was last year or whatever it was, but you guys are
03:16so easy to talk to. And I can imagine both you guys meeting each other, being like, just like kind
03:20of fast friends. We are fast friends. And, uh, and we do have, you know, we both have a gift for
03:26Gab. We can just chat away forever, but, and a couple loud mouth soups, we can talk even longer.
03:33Yeah. It's funny. You say that you say that the tailsman, it just sounds like something out of
03:36spinal tap. It does a little bit, but like God, huge in Europe and like in the eighties and nineties
03:44and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Jeff and I, we shared the same South American rock and roll band. We played
03:50all over Brazil and, uh, we also opened to foreigner. We were lucky to open a foreigner
03:57with Lou Graham came, you know, cause he, he shows up once in a while, but he, he showed up to sing,
04:03um, I want to know what love is and dirty white boy and all this stuff. And when I, we were doing
04:09like kind of a, what they call a throw and go, you know, an opening act, throw and go sound
04:14check, throw your gear up there, check your microphone, check your mic, uh, your monitors
04:20and sing one song maybe. And I came off stage and Jeff was hanging with Lou and, and, uh,
04:25Lou goes, Hey Eric, how you doing? I'm like, you know me? Like I was just, yeah, I was blown
04:31away. I opened a foreigner like 40 years ago when I was, you know, when I was probably 30,
04:39no 40 years ago when I, uh, uh, I don't know how old I was, but I was a young man.
04:45And, uh, yeah, uh, idols. I mean, I could go on for days. Paul Rogers, Lou Graham, Frankie
04:53Miller, Ronnie James Dio, Ozzy Osbourne, you know, we'll, we'll talk about Ozzy in a second.
04:59It's funny. You know, um, a lot, you know, you know, you know, who told, who taught me
05:03about Frankie Miller. You're probably going to find this, uh, funny, but kid rock. You're
05:08kidding me. Rock loves Frankie Miller. And I don't know if you know it or not, but Frankie
05:13Miller, well, I should say the other way around, Bob Seger stole some of Frankie Miller stuff.
05:18Either stole or is it borrowed? Maybe. Hey, I love Bob Seger too. Um, uh, yeah. Frankie
05:28Miller, uh, just such a huge fan of this guy for years, great, great gravel kind of voice,
05:35but what an incredible songwriter. Your audience should check them out. He's, I mean, if you
05:40loved all the singers, you know, they always say Paul Rogers, including me. Um, but Frankie
05:46Miller was kind of like the, one of the, you know, the first, um, he was a huge, he had
05:52a lot of influence with Stax Volt and Motown and all that. But, uh, I actually did one of
05:58his songs on my first record. It was, uh, in 1983, band called Eric Martin Band. Great
06:06name. Awesome name. Yeah, great. Nice ring to it. Um, I was telling you, I was playing
06:11in Monterey the other day and I played with the old guys in Eric Martin Band. We used to
06:17have another band called 415 and we kind of did a little reunion at this charity and some
06:24of the guys in YNT as well. Anyway. Yeah. We did a song called Don't Stop, uh, by Frankie
06:31Miller. Oh yeah. Kid rock. That blows my mind actually. That could be like some sort
06:36of, uh, seven, six degrees of Kevin Bacon or I don't know what that was. He's told me
06:43many things about Frankie Miller. And one day we're at his, when I'm at his house, he's
06:47like, he's like, Hey, meltdown, check this out. And he played a song and it was, it was
06:51Bob Seger before Bob Seger. I can't remember if it was like beautiful loser or something
06:55like that. But if you Google Bob Seger, Frankie Miller, it will come up and it's, it's yeah,
06:59he, he, I'm not going to say Bob stole it from him, but let's just say lightly borrowed
07:03or paid homage to, or I don't know. I can't, I don't speak French, but yeah, tribute or something
07:12like that. But yeah, Bob Seger. Yeah. I love Bob Seger too. He's, he's one of your, I think
07:19he's a hometown boy, isn't he? He is. Yeah. He's from Michigan. Yeah. From Detroit rock
07:23and the whole bit. Uh, and actually there's a guy that's playing with me now. Um, we've
07:30been playing together for a couple of years. His name is Jason Hartless is a drummer for
07:35Ted Nugent. Another guy. Yeah. Right. They're popping some of my Michigan pals. It's all, it's
07:41all coming together. Yeah. Um, yeah, I, so yeah, I got this, like I was saying, playing
07:49in the United States and I, I'd be playing with a lot of different people in Europe and
07:53South America and, and in Asia, but yeah, in America, I have a pretty tight solo band
08:02now. Um, PJ Farley, an old friend of mine from trickster and Fozzy and a bunch of groups
08:09that he's in Jason Hartless on drums from Ted Nugent and a, and a new shit, hot guitar
08:17player. Um, Julio Menendez from Brazil on guitar. Yeah. And yeah, no, no, it was funny. Cause
08:26I was going to say, uh, um, the, the zoom call, I don't know if you saw it. I put in a, I put
08:30there, Eric PJ's friend. So that's okay. I put meltdown PJ's friend too. So you just brought
08:36up Ozzy. Obviously it's an obvious question. Uh, as far as Ozzy's concerned, you did, you
08:41did mention him. So did you have a chance to meet with, ever meet him? Briefly. Um, I
08:48played, uh, give her the day in the green was a very famous concert in Oakland, California
08:54back in the 70s, late seventies. And, uh, it was Hart, Pat Travers, lover, lover boy, special
09:06guest, Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhodes and, uh, 415, which was my band. And we played at
09:1410 o'clock in the morning. It, first of all, it was like 80,000 people sold out. We played
09:19a 10 o'clock in the morning for that, you know, who knows 5,000 sleeping bags. I don't know. And,
09:25uh, but we made it the, the full 25 minutes that we played and we got a couple of fireworks
09:33thrown at us, you know, like it's a rite of passage, I guess, you know, when you're a young
09:38band playing with all these heavyweights and, uh, the famous promoter, Bill Graham had a little
09:46Easter basket and all the fireworks in it and a bottle of Cristal. I, I tell the, I, I,
09:51when I tell the story, it's Cristal, but it was probably like, uh, you know, it's probably
09:57like some really bad Ost, Osti Svamanti or whatever it was. But, um, I came backstage and
10:05I, and I saw Ozzy and I, God, I hadn't seen him for, for years. I mean, like since I would,
10:12I was in high school watching Don Kirshner's rock concert with, with Black Sabbath or something,
10:19you know, but yeah, I just said hello. And, and he was, you know, he didn't have glassy eyes back
10:26then. You know, he was like, he was, he was like, Hey, he was like, Sue, first of all, I mean,
10:31when he got a little older and everything, it was just kind of reserved, but he was hyper as hell
10:37backstage. I remember that. Yeah. So, so that was now if Don, correct me if I'm wrong. Did he play
10:43like early that day, like noon? Because he just left Black Sabbath, not mistaken. And he wasn't
10:48yet Ozzy Osbourne, like a huge solo superstar, correct? Uh, I, I, I couldn't tell you. I mean,
10:55the, the crowd was just like freaking out when he came out, it was, it was me. And I think Ozzy played
11:01after me. Yeah. So we were still dragging our stuff off the stage and they were like,
11:06like I said, it was like a throw and go, but he was still, you know, he's, you know, the, you know,
11:12the, the, the icon that he was, it didn't matter, you know, if he just left Black Sabbath, I mean,
11:18it was still Ozzy Osbourne, but yeah, throw and go just like the rest of us. But yeah, that's a first
11:24part. Actually. And I met, um, Randy Rhodes, uh, a couple of, few years before that, maybe
11:32I w I was at the Starwood in Los Angeles. It was like this club on, uh, Santa Monica and
11:40Crescent Heights. It was like in the corner and all the bands used to play there, you know? And,
11:44um, I had really long hair and I remember this lady came up to me and she goes, you know,
11:51I'm Randy Rhodes. I'm, I'm, I'm that guitar player's wife or girlfriend or something like
11:56that. I'm a hairdresser and I, and I could do something for you with hair. I'm like,
12:00and, and she goes, yeah, that's my man up there playing. And he was, he was amazing then, you know,
12:05so. That was a Quiet Riot maybe? It was, it was Quiet Riot and a band called the Womblies played.
12:12And I think that was Randy Castillo on drums. Amazing. Uh, yeah, I think it was Quiet Riot.
12:19Wow. It had to be cause that's where he came from, you know?
12:23Yeah. So then, so then Mr. Big hits it big in the late eighties and stuff. And you never
12:27got a chance to meet Ozzy again. I didn't, uh, I ran it to Zach Wild, a bunch of, to all
12:35the people that affiliated with Ozzy, um, Mike Borden, Mike Inez, you know, like a bunch of people,
12:43but no, I never got to run into Ozzy again. I, yeah. Yeah. I, I was, I was riveted to the TV set,
12:51you know, watching the, the, I didn't go to the festival, the last, you know, the last concert
12:57and everything, but I was, I was just eyeball, eyeballing the whole concert, you know?
13:03Yeah. And, uh, what did you think, like, uh, from a vocal standpoint about a guy like that?
13:08About Ozzy? It was a, he had a character voice, you know, how for, for me, I mean, there was
13:14actually, he, uh, Diary of a Madman had some great melody and all that kind of stuff, but
13:21he was kind of a shouter and more of like a, you know, heavy metals cheerleader or something
13:26like that. I, Hey, look, don't, don't, don't strike me down, but I thought he had, it was more
13:34of a character kind of voice to me. Okay. Fair enough. Yeah. I'm just, yeah, no, I mean, I mean,
13:41he had a energy and a spark and he like great entertainer just by, you know, just, I don't know,
13:50just, I mean, I like to say Ozzy had swagger, but he had his own kind of swagger. You know,
13:57he, there was no like puffed up chest, uh, rubber plant rock and roll star, Paul Rogers kind of
14:03thing. It was like a different kind of rock and roll star, like an every, every man's rock and roll
14:07star, you know what I mean? He kind of looked like us back in the day, you know, just kind of like
14:13fucking, you know, if, if Ozzy wasn't a rock and roll star, I, I definitely want to know him
14:20back in the day. Cause he looked like a guy that could kick the shit out of the guy who was beating
14:24me up or trying to bully me or something, you know? Yeah, that's true. Hey, what was last time?
14:29Like, what, what was the time that you can remember as a kid, or maybe even as an adult,
14:32when you're, when you were like blown away by a vocalist, who could, who could that have been?
14:37Well, like I said, Paul Rogers, um, you saw him live and you're just like, it's a bad company.
14:43I mean, I love free, you know, I, when, um, when I first heard, I could have been like
14:51wishing well, something like that. You know, I, I knew I, I, I tried to emulate Paul Rogers and,
14:58and, you know, pretty much sing every song that he did. And like in my day in the seventies,
15:06cover bands were, or, uh, top 40 bands, it was like Zeppelin on the radio. And, you know, it is,
15:14it's kind of like what you're doing right now. Uh, but yeah, I, I like Robert Plant a little bit,
15:22but I liked a little bit more of the, um, the rock and soul guys like Lou Graham and, and Dio to me,
15:29even it was, it was heavy metal. Dio was like, um, a derivative of Paul Rogers. Any, any Frankie
15:37Miller, Paul Rogers, Lou Graham. God, there's so many, I love Rod Stewart, um, Jagger too. I love
15:46the lyrics of the Rolling Stones. Um, Steven Tyler is another huge. I was waiting for you to say that
15:53name. Yeah, sure. Oh no. I love Steven Tyler. I like as a person, I think he's fun.
15:59The funniest, uh, guy in the world. Uh, and I love his entertainment aspects. And I, I just think
16:06he's just a cool ass singer and I, and watching him at that Aussie concert thing that blew my mind.
16:13I'm so glad that he came out there with all those great players. Yeah, it was really cool. Um,
16:21there's, there's many, but those guys are the core right there.
16:26Yeah. So what else you got going on, uh, with, with yourself besides these, uh, solo gigs and
16:31the stuff? I mean, Mr. Big is correct. Yeah. Oh, Mr. Big is done February 25th, 2025. We played,
16:40so we did all over the world and then we, uh, and it was, we kind of quit in 2024 at the end of 2024
16:51and Romania. And then they, every time we wanted to quit, they keep bringing us back. But just
16:56one last time we played, uh, two shows in India and then we played in Japan. What a shock. We played
17:06in Japan and we played Osaka and, uh, Budokan was our last show. Oh yes. Yeah. We had our families and
17:14our friends and everything and just, you know, did it right. And then that was over. And then 11 days
17:21later, that's when I went on the road with my rock opera that I'm a part of Avantasia. Jeff Scott
17:28Soto in Brazil. Then I went to UK playing acoustic and then I'm in home for a month and a half. And,
17:36um, um, I got, you know, the, the few shows here in Michigan. And then after this, actually,
17:44I am playing with Billie Jean again. I'm going to Indonesia and I'm, there's a really famous band
17:51in Indonesia called Dewa 19. D-E-W-A 19. How do I know they're famous? It says so in Wikipedia.
18:00No, I, I, I, they are. And I met them. Uh, we did a press conference at the Rainbow in LA,
18:06but we're playing this big, huge stadium show. And it's, uh, Eric Martin and Billy Sheehan from
18:13Mr. Big Nuno Betancourt and Gary Sharon from, um, extreme Ron Bumblefoot doll.
18:22I say Bumblefoot's got to be in there somewhere in Indonesia.
18:25Oh, man. And got hands down besides you, man.
18:32Nicest guy in the world. Um, um,
18:36Derek Shrinian from, uh, you know, Sons of Apollo dream theater, everybody. Uh, uh, a new
18:42guy that's been on the scene for a while. His name is Dino Jalusik, great singer. And we're the
18:49all-stars that are playing with day one 19. And we're all playing our hits and maybe some
18:55selected cuts. I don't know, but at the stadium. And then those guys go home and I, I got a, um,
19:02a 10 city, uh, Asian tour playing China, Hong Kong, or that is not good right now. I guess. Yeah.
19:11China, Malaysia, Singapore, uh, a bunch of, it's like, yeah, 10 shows, acoustic shows.
19:18Wow. That's so cool, man. Yeah. And then when I come back, uh, maybe, I think going out
19:25again to Europe with Aventasia and then solo kind of stuff in Japan and then 2026, you know,
19:35I don't know what to try to keep. I have a new agent now. And so, yeah, try to get more
19:41shows in the United States, but as far, um, as it goes, um, yeah, the two, two big Michigan
19:50shows and, uh, and I'm playing, uh, in Illinois. Oh, no. Yeah. You know, the date of that show.
19:58I didn't have that one on here. 22nd. Yeah. Mark had a theater in, uh, St. Charles, Illinois.
20:04And then Michigan is, um, August 7th. Yep. Papa and August 8th in, uh, Luddington.
20:15Luddington. You say Luddington. Luddington. Yep. There you go. Yeah. And Warner vineyards
20:22and then the other, uh, sticks. I've never been to it and, and it's going to be, it's
20:28going to be great because again, I haven't played in the USA in a long time. Be nice to,
20:32uh, speak my own language. Well, I'll tell you what, Eric, I'll cut you loose on that. Uh,
20:38we'll give a good plug to these, uh, shows here. Of course, uh, give PJ and Heartless my best. And
20:43we'll see you down the road somewhere, maybe, uh, back here in Detroit before too long.
20:47I hope so. Meltdown. Thank you, bro. I appreciate it. Keep the, keep, keep up the good fight.
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