- 2 months ago
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Billy, do a lot of people DM you on Facebook and ask you to plan stuff?
00:03During the pandemic, people just from all over the world were writing to me to play bass.
00:07Facebook has brought this band about, so it's been a blessing in many ways.
00:13Rock, metal, prog, and everything in between.
00:16Welcome to this episode of Talkin' Rock with Meltdown.
00:20Don't forget to follow the audio-only Talkin' Rock podcast on all podcast platforms.
00:25And now, it's time for today's conversation.
00:28Here's Meltdown.
00:29Nice to see you guys.
00:30Billy, you just talked about, before we started here, playing on Peter Criss' record coming up.
00:35Today's the 50th anniversary of Kiss Alive.
00:39Yes.
00:41Peter contacted me out of nowhere.
00:43I'd never met him before, and he asked me to play bass, and I said, of course.
00:49And it was pretty cool.
00:50So it was coming up pretty soon.
00:52What a wonderful guy to work with.
00:53He was just great.
00:55His engineer was fantastic.
00:56And I'm good friends with Ray Lugier from Korn.
01:00We work a lot together.
01:02And so we were working on a track on Peter's record.
01:06And he didn't know who it was, but he walked into the room and just heard it and goes, and heard the drums.
01:12He goes, is that Peter Criss?
01:13So it was such an identifiable style, certainly to another drummer.
01:19So I thought it was noteworthy that he just heard a snippet of it, and he knew it was Peter Criss right away.
01:25It's pretty cool.
01:25So did you connect with Ray through your time in Nashville?
01:30No, I knew him in L.A. long ago.
01:33Yeah.
01:34Yeah, we've been friends for a long time.
01:37He played on two of my solo records, and we've done a million records and sessions together.
01:42So wonderful guy.
01:45Initially, I tried to talk him out of moving to Nashville.
01:47Then I ate my words, and I came back.
01:51Hey, Mike, where are you at?
01:53I'm in Toronto.
01:54I was in Nashville, but I'm a trader.
01:58I moved back to Canada.
01:59I got you, yeah.
02:00Speaking of Toronto, my friends from Coney Hatch are re-releasing their first record.
02:04Oh, yeah.
02:05Yeah.
02:06I love Coney Hatch.
02:07As Billy knows, growing up in Buffalo, it's like we heard a little bit of that bleeding over the border.
02:11Yeah, Monkey Bars.
02:12Yeah, Monkey Bars, that's right.
02:14Andy, what's Andy's last name?
02:16Andy Curran.
02:18Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:19Great guy.
02:20Great band.
02:21Yeah, he's a great guy.
02:22He sends me hockey memes every now and then.
02:24So, Mike, how do you hook up with a guy like Billy Sheehan, a legend like him?
02:29You reluctantly send a Facebook message and say, hey, man, you want to come and do a session?
02:37That's it, huh?
02:38They're set easy.
02:38Yeah, we were Facebook friends and I was tired of doing, I was producing a lot of pop records at the time and I was coming out of a band that I was playing with called Smash Mouth.
02:49And I just wanted to do something where my heart lays and something that's rock and organic and more soulful and what I am as a player.
03:01So, I thought, okay, I'm going to start putting these songs together of things that, you know, I don't care if it gets radio.
03:06I don't care if it does anything.
03:08It's just for what I want to do.
03:12And, like, if I'm going to do this, who's going to be my dream team?
03:14So, naturally, he's like, Billy Sheehan has to play bass.
03:19So, I send a Facebook message and they go, hey, Billy, can I hire you for a session?
03:24Do you want to come over to the studio?
03:25And, you know, what do you charge?
03:28So, he just says, look, I'm just going to grab my bass and I'm going to come over and I'll see you tomorrow, whatever.
03:34And then he got to the studio and I played him a bit of the first track.
03:39And I didn't get through the whole track.
03:42I remember I didn't get, and it was, like, you know, 30 seconds in and he's like, hey, stop it for, you know, whatever.
03:49So, I stop it.
03:50I'm like, oh, shit, he hates it.
03:52It's like, you know, maybe he hates this.
03:56And he's like, so, what are you doing with this?
03:58What do you want to do with it?
03:59And I said, I don't know, I could pay you to play on the session or, you know, but I want to put a band together with this.
04:07And it's like, okay, let's start a band.
04:09And I know this great singer, Toby, who's amazing, and let's do something.
04:16So, here we are, like, almost 10 years later now that it's actually coming to life.
04:21Wait, this has been 10 years in the making?
04:23I didn't realize that.
04:25Yeah, it's a weird story because we started off with a bang.
04:28We put out a single called Footprints.
04:31We went to Poland and shot this crazy video, put out a single and a video, and it got overwhelming response on the first day.
04:39And then our singer, unfortunately, had some other commitments that his management at the time wouldn't allow him to proceed with it.
04:45So, we had to pull it and scramble and get a guy in to do some dates.
04:51And then we kind of parked it.
04:52And last year, we were like, okay, let's do this.
04:56Let's make a go.
04:57We're all, you know, Billy's schedule is a lot different now.
05:00He's not out hardcore touring with 5 million bands at once.
05:04It's only about 1 million.
05:07So, we're like, hey, let's clear the schedule.
05:10We'll make time.
05:11We'll all make time.
05:12So, all of us have a million different projects, but we want to prioritize this and let it see the light of day.
05:18And I think it's really great.
05:19So, it's nice for me that it's finally coming to light.
05:24Yeah, the first single, Kill Switch, is out.
05:27And Face Out comes out in a couple months here.
05:31Billy, do a lot of people DM you on Facebook and ask you to plan stuff?
05:35Yeah.
05:36Well, during the pandemic, it worked out well because people just from all over the world were writing to me to play bass.
05:41We ended up doing about 600 tracks.
05:44Wow.
05:44And the entire map of genre and style from absolute beginners with a little drum machine to pro major guys and stuff like that.
05:57So, that was, Facebook has brought this band about.
06:03So, it's been a blessing in many ways, you know.
06:07Very cool.
06:08Yeah.
06:08Now, I was thinking about this on the way into work today, growing up in Buffalo myself.
06:11What would the young kid that was playing in TALUS think of the career that you've had?
06:18Wow.
06:18I never really thought about, you know, some kind of a mess.
06:24Huge.
06:25I mean, I wanted to be successful in some capacity, but I almost more wanted to be a player.
06:31I wanted to, you know, satisfy myself and say, you know, do things that I set out to accomplish as a player.
06:39And then the rest kind of came along, dragging along behind it as far as success goes.
06:45I think that's a good thing to do because I really wasn't looking for money or fame at all.
06:53But I just wanted to be a, you know, be the best player I could be.
06:57And I think that's why eventually there was some success.
07:00I think if you concentrate just on success and money and fame, I don't think you go anywhere.
07:06You know, you really got to concentrate on the product you're doing, on the thing you're doing, and be the best you can be at it.
07:12And then nature will take its course.
07:14Not everybody.
07:14So I am very grateful for the breaks I got from many, many people and all the help I got.
07:20But, yeah, I never thought it would be like that.
07:24I remember the first couple times I came back to Buffalo in, like, headliner bands and, you know, played places where I saw Jimi Hendrix play.
07:35And it was pretty amazing, pretty cool thing.
07:38And I'm very grateful.
07:39I think the first time I ever saw you play, if I remember correctly, was with David Lee Roth at Darien Lake.
07:46No, that wasn't me.
07:47I think he did a tour after me.
07:49Okay.
07:50And it's funny because Matt Bissonette doesn't look anything like me or play anything like me.
07:56Well, I was just a kid.
07:57I can't recall.
07:58Great guy and a great player.
08:01And Greg Bissonette's brother.
08:03And Greg is one of the – they're both brothers.
08:06They're fine human beings.
08:07I just love them very much.
08:08But I had a lot of people say that.
08:10Yeah, I saw you on the Skyscraper tour.
08:11I go, that wasn't me.
08:13So did you play the Odd?
08:15Yeah.
08:16Okay.
08:17Yeah, we did that.
08:18All right.
08:18I might –
08:19That's what I saw in my director, so.
08:20Yeah.
08:20Oh, that's right.
08:21Yeah, that's probably right.
08:22Hey, so, Mike, tell me about the rest of this record and tell me what it's like to work with a guy like Billy Sheehan.
08:29Go easy on me, Mike.
08:30It's easy.
08:31I mean, you know, a lot of the times you have to give a lot of direction in the studio.
08:35And he just comes in and plays.
08:39It's just like – he just knows what to play.
08:41And he's been doing it so long.
08:43And he's so great that it's just a piece of cake.
08:46It's done.
08:47The album – so, actually, the single comes out this Friday, the next single face out this – tomorrow.
08:55Yeah.
08:56And then the EP is going to come out in October.
08:58And then we'll have a full-length come out in the new year.
09:01But, yeah, making the record was super fun.
09:05It's great to work with Billy because he gets it.
09:08He knows exactly what to play, when to play it.
09:12And his tone is incredible, and it brings everything to life.
09:17Like, the track jumps out.
09:19The right bass part, the right tone, and he's got this really great mid-range distortion with, like –
09:25but there's a ton of bottom end, and I love that.
09:28It, like, fills out the space.
09:29You don't have to do 200 guitar tracks.
09:32Yeah.
09:33Cool.
09:33Even though I try to sneak them in there sometimes, but, no.
09:37It doesn't need it.
09:38You can turn the bass up a little bit?
09:40Yeah, no.
09:40You know, it's – I have to – I have to – yeah.
09:46You have to ride the faders.
09:48But I love – I hear Mike's mixes, and I just love them.
09:53We have a little thing with all five of those songs, and I listened to them again the other night.
09:59It's just – even on my iPhone, it sounded really great.
10:01I'm really pleased with it.
10:03And that's a tough thing to find, a good mixer like that.
10:07And I'm pleased that the guy in our band can mix the songs.
10:12We had to go to somebody else.
10:13That's pretty cool.
10:14Yeah.
10:15So are you guys going to take this out on the road next year or what?
10:18Yes, sir.
10:20Oh, you are?
10:20Okay.
10:21I'm not sure when and how, but that's the plan.
10:23I live to play live, and I play live to live, and playing live in this band is going to be a riot because Toby's just a spectacular front man and a great voice and wonderful guy.
10:34Mike live, of course, is as much experienced as anybody, and he handles himself on stage and sounds great.
10:41And so I'm excited about playing it live.
10:45So we're not sure, you know, either – and I don't care where or how, you know, where we play, whether it's little things or medium things or very large things.
10:54But as long as we're playing, we don't really need a lot because we've got a guitar, bass, drums, lead, singer, and we don't need anything else, really.
11:03We don't need any tracks or any kind of – and we would go up on a stage with a bass amp, a guitar amp, and a set of drums and do a show.
11:12So I think that allows us to play almost anywhere.
11:16Now that I screwed up where I may have seen Billy first, Mike, maybe I saw you on the U2 Zoropa tour?
11:23I did play on a U2 – I did open for U2 with Nelly Furtado once.
11:28There we go.
11:29But that was the Elevation tour.
11:32Okay.
11:32When they had the big heart stage that came out, it was ridiculous.
11:37It was so cool.
11:38But, yeah.
11:40Yeah, that's awesome.
11:41Play that tour.
11:42And speaking of playing live, Bumblefoot's my buddy, Billy, and you just came back from Indonesia.
11:47Tell me about that gig.
11:48Well, that was wild.
11:51I ended up playing only about five or six songs.
11:54So the flight there, Nashville, Denver, Tokyo, Jakarta.
11:59And the flight back, Jakarta, Tokyo, Chicago, Nashville.
12:02I'm still – my head is still spinning from jet lag.
12:05But it was great.
12:06There was a band called Daywheel 19.
12:08It's an Indonesian band.
12:10They're huge there.
12:11So we played this big 60,000-seat play with these huge screens and lighting.
12:16And Bumblefoot is just a spectacular player.
12:19He's just so great.
12:20He's a wonderful guy.
12:21I worked with him on several things.
12:23And I'm glad he was there.
12:24Steve Vai joined us as well.
12:26That was really cool.
12:27Derek Sherinian, who else was with us, Eric Martin from Mr. Big, and Dino – I forgot his last name.
12:36It was the guy who was with Whitesnake with David Coverdell to kind of back him up in his vocals when he was having trouble.
12:43Great singer.
12:45Jezelnik?
12:46Yes.
12:47Yes.
12:47Great guy.
12:48Amazing singer.
12:49So Bumblefoot wanted me to ask you, when was the last time you played on stage with Steve Vai?
12:53Oh, man.
12:56It's been quite a while.
12:57It was quite a while.
12:59But we did For the Love of God, which is one of the songs we did live when I was touring with him.
13:04As a matter of fact, this was the bass I was using.
13:07It was just chrome-plated, and the chrome has since worn off.
13:11But I remember, just by chance today, I picked this one up.
13:15But we had a riot on tour with Steve's band, with Tony McAlpine and Virgil Donati on drums.
13:23And then Jeremy Colston.
13:25And we were a merry band of pranksters on that tour.
13:28We had a blast.
13:29So it was good to play with him again.
13:31Yeah, it's awesome.
13:31He sent me some footage from that show.
13:33My God.
13:34It's like you go from those big stadiums.
13:36Now, with the Fell, you might play, what, theaters or something?
13:39Or a little, who knows?
13:41Starbucks could be it.
13:44We're going to play it every weekend.
13:46I've done every kind of gig from the smallest to very large.
13:53And sometimes the smaller gigs actually are better, because you're close to people.
13:58People are, you know, right up front.
14:00And on some of the big gigs, I remember I did an opener for the Stones in Tokyo, at the Tokyo Dome.
14:11And the closest person was so far away, you couldn't recognize their face.
14:15And my eyes are pretty good.
14:17But it was just like 40 yards from the front of the stage was the first row.
14:22So for the baked potato in L.A., I had to put my beer on one of the audience's table.
14:29Can I put my beer?
14:30It's okay.
14:30Yeah, that's the place where Nick Menza played his last gig.
14:36Is that right?
14:36Is that the name of the place?
14:38I believe so.
14:39Yeah.
14:40If I remember he serves.
14:41Yeah.
14:42And I didn't know, but it was Don Menza's son.
14:46Yes, that's right.
14:47Yeah.
14:48Brilliant horn player.
14:50So, Bill, you got your bass there.
14:51I saw the other day on Jimmy Fallon, the guys from Spinal Tap, all of their basses out doing big bottoms.
14:56Are you looking forward to seeing that?
14:58Yeah, it should be pretty good.
15:01Well, the first time I saw Spinal Tap, I had just come home from a tour with UFO in Europe.
15:08And it was catastrophic to a large degree.
15:14So I remember sitting in the theater and looking at it and going, this isn't funny.
15:18I just lived there.
15:20So it wasn't until a few years later that I saw it that, okay, I get it now.
15:23I went through all that and more.
15:26So it was pretty funny.
15:27So were you playing with UFO or were you opening up, were you playing with them?
15:32Yeah, I replaced Pete Way for a European tour.
15:35Oh.
15:36It was pretty cool.
15:37Got to play Dr. Doctor and some great UFO tunes.
15:42But they're kind of the end and kind of falling apart a little bit.
15:45And so things were going haywire.
15:48But, man, I got some stories.
15:51Was this after Talos and before Diamond Dave?
15:55I was still in Talos.
15:56And I went and took a break for a month and went to this tour, came back, and we continued on.
16:02And then that was that.
16:05Yeah.
16:05Mike, you looking forward to seeing this Spinal Tap after 40 years or what?
16:09Oh, yeah.
16:10Oh, yeah.
16:11I remember seeing them at Molson Park.
16:13Like, I must have been 15 years old or something, Molson Park in Toronto, outside of Toronto.
16:20And thinking, wow, what a great band.
16:23But how many of their drummers have died?
16:27Never auditioned for that band.
16:28I love when they're distracting me, jazz music.
16:33It's kind of like, you know, mistakes.
16:37It's a music built on fear.
16:39They're afraid to play hard.
16:42It was hilarious.
16:44Hey, Billy, one more thing here for you.
16:45Jesse Galante, I texted her saying, like, give me a question.
16:48And she gave me something interesting.
16:50I don't know if I've ever asked anyone this before.
16:52She said, she goes, ask me if he remembers the first song you played live in front of a crowd and how it made you feel.
16:58Live in front of what?
17:00A crowd.
17:01Oh, well, I never really, it never really hit me because I started off in tiny little clubs and gradually worked my way up.
17:10So it wasn't like some big shock.
17:13And usually on big shows, the people are far away.
17:16So it's like you're up there by yourself sometimes looking around.
17:19And so it never had a huge, there's never any fear about it or anything or apprehension.
17:24But, you know, but we're going to do a Christmas show in Buffalo, December 13th.
17:29It'll be our 10th year.
17:31And we got a huge horn section and backup singers, a lot of great songs and a lot of incredible guests.
17:37And it's going to be a blast December 13th at Babeland, which is the Andy DeFranco's initially owned.
17:46But it was an old church that converted into a studios and a live performance venue.
17:53So it's going to be great.
17:54Yeah, every year you do that, it's a little bit before I can get back.
17:57But one of these years, I get back there and check it out.
18:00Mike, you should come and maybe play.
18:03Yeah, it's around the corner from here, pretty much.
18:06Yeah, right down the street.
18:08Right down the 401.
18:09Yeah, Mike, what kind of Canadian rockers do you hang out with up there?
18:15Oh, man.
18:17All of them.
18:20So I have a label, too.
18:22So our band's coming out on our label.
18:24And on our label, I have a band that's been around for a while called Honeymoon Suite, which is a Canadian act.
18:31You know, Kim Mitchell is one of my favorite Canadian artists.
18:38I don't really hang out with Rush.
18:41You know, everyone thinks you're Canadian, you must hang out with Rush.
18:43But no, I wish I would hang with Getty.
18:48Lots of stuff.
18:49I'm producing tons of Canadian artists, so I'm always seeing those guys come through the studio.
18:54And we distribute a lot of that stuff, too, through our Sony deal.
18:58So, yeah, there's a long list of musicians and people that are always through the studio or coming through the label.
19:06Yeah, like I was talking about on the radio the other day, it's cool to see Triumph get this honor for the Songwriters Award.
19:11It would be really cool if it was 1995.
19:13I don't know what took them so long to give Triumph an award.
19:17I know.
19:18I know.
19:18They are like the definition of Canadian rock.
19:22Yeah, right.
19:24So, well, listen, I'll let you guys fly.
19:26The new singles out, Killswitch, Face Out, like you said, comes out tomorrow on September 12th in the EP in October.
19:32And you said the full length comes out in 2026?
19:35Yeah.
19:36Yeah, we're not sure of the date with that yet.
19:39But I'm thinking probably January, February might push it to March.
19:43Depending on, you know, we want to see how this thing's taking off, too.
19:49I got you.
19:50All right, well, Mike, great to see you.
19:51Billy, good to see you as well.
19:53Thanks so much for your time.
19:54Pleasure.
19:55Pleasure having us.
Recommended
24:46
|
Up next
35:44
18:04
10:19
29:05
31:32
1:21
1:08
1:16
1:23
21:01
24:37
3:58
8:53
15:12
1:13
Be the first to comment