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00:00I remember playing a big club in Detroit.
00:03It's all about Harpo's?
00:04Yeah, Harpo's!
00:04We stayed in this holiday inn with a pool.
00:07They used it as a toilet or something.
00:09Because we were looking at it like,
00:10holy shit, what is that in the pool?
00:12Don't look, it might be a body!
00:14Rock, metal, frog, and everything in between.
00:18Welcome to this episode of Talkin' Rock with Meltdown.
00:22Don't forget to follow the audio-only Talkin' Rock podcast on all podcast platforms.
00:26And now, it's time for today's conversation.
00:30Here's Meltdown.
00:31Hey, Kelly, good to see you.
00:33Meltdown.
00:34Yes, sir.
00:35I like that name.
00:36Yeah, that's right.
00:37I've had it for a minute or two, so.
00:39Yeah, you're the elder statesman at the station.
00:42That's right, yeah.
00:42People say to me sometimes,
00:44have you ever trademarked your name?
00:46And I'm like, no, because I'm afraid somebody else might have already done that.
00:48So I don't even want to say, you know what I'm saying?
00:50You get into this whole, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:54But anyways, no, I'm here in Detroit, as I was telling you,
00:56the home of not only, you know, a great rock and roll,
01:00but Chad Smith, who is also a Will Ferrell stunt double.
01:04So you got that going for you.
01:06See, all those guys, they were younger, so they look like me.
01:09That's right.
01:10I mean, they copied themselves after me.
01:12I'll never forget.
01:13I never get Chad told me one time,
01:15the first time you ever met Will Ferrell,
01:17he said he walked up to him and they were at some sort of red carpet event.
01:20And I guess Will Ferrell walked up to him,
01:21looked him up and down and said,
01:23you're a very handsome man.
01:26Have you ever met him?
01:27No, I haven't.
01:28I have not.
01:30You know, I've seen some of the routines and stuff.
01:32And I think the next time it should be the three of us.
01:35That's right.
01:36The battle of the drummers.
01:38God, that would be awesome.
01:40Yeah.
01:40Yeah.
01:40On TV, on one of those late night shows.
01:42So I'll tell you what,
01:43I was supposed to talk to Jack and then he had to,
01:46he had to cancel.
01:46So I, I sometimes I'll text all my friends and I'll ask them for questions.
01:50And this was one for Jack.
01:52Maybe you can answer it.
01:53It's from a guy named Ted Nugent.
01:55Ask him which band member his dog loved the most and which band member took
01:58care of the pesky squirrels for his wife.
02:00So I don't know if you can answer that at all.
02:03Was that Tommy Shaw?
02:05I witnessed it a couple of times, you know,
02:09he's like, let's go out in the back and shoot shit.
02:14Yeah.
02:14Last time you saw Ted, we were just talking about this was at that,
02:17uh, private gig in Jackson, man.
02:18How much fun was that that night?
02:20Oh my God.
02:21Especially having him come up on stage and play.
02:23But I, one thing I remember about that show is that we, you know,
02:28it was pretty much thrown together, having him, uh, play with us.
02:32And so his guitar wasn't in the monitor.
02:36So he's starting a song off and I'm looking around like,
02:40I don't know where one is on this thing.
02:42And come on, somebody leave me in, you know?
02:45So, so when we eventually fell in together, but, um,
02:49playing with Ted is fun, man.
02:50I, I tell you, it's like, you know,
02:53you never know what's going to happen.
02:54Yeah.
02:55Yeah.
02:56Is there other guys you've jammed with on stage outside of Ted?
02:59You know, um, there's, there's been a few times when I've done, uh,
03:03rock and roll fantasy camps out in LA, one in, you know,
03:07a bunch of New York and stuff, like, like 2005 or something like that.
03:12I did a bunch of them.
03:13And some of those guys that would come, man, like, you know,
03:16we had, uh, got it, you know, guitar player from, uh, you know,
03:23from a singer from yes.
03:25I'm sorry, John Anderson.
03:26John Anderson.
03:27Yeah.
03:27So we played songs, you know, from yes, we, you know, I mean,
03:31just, it was, it was so long ago.
03:33I can't remember actually, but, but, um, what,
03:36what it was is we would put together a counselor band.
03:41It was this huge band and we'd all play each other's songs and stuff like
03:44that.
03:45So we had, you know, we had Ace freely, you know, when, you know,
03:49back in the day he'd come, um, who else did we have?
03:52We had, you know, tip winger.
03:53We had, you know, just, uh, you know, Neil shown, you know,
03:59who's an old friend of ours.
04:00Cause we were from the Bay area too and stuff like that.
04:03And we would just, you know, it was, it was, it was really fun.
04:06We had a great time.
04:07Now, no, when you're playing songs from yes, I mean, that is,
04:10is that in your wheelhouse or is that a little bit like, is that,
04:13is that, well, I mean the, you know, the one song, you know, um,
04:18owner of a lonely heart, that was pretty easy.
04:20That was pretty easy.
04:21We didn't do anything, you know, too strenuous.
04:25That wouldn't be me.
04:27I'll be like two and four.
04:29That's it.
04:29I can't go any further than that.
04:32I hear you.
04:33So yeah, the best of comes out on August 28th.
04:36I'm just looking through this.
04:37Did, um, you know, some of them say a 20, 26 next to him.
04:39So I'm assuming you guys maybe re-recorded, did some, uh,
04:42did some different things with some of these classic songs.
04:44Um, what we did is we found alternate takes.
04:48Oh, okay.
04:49And, and that's why it sounds, you know, I mean, we re-remixed it,
04:53but we found alternate takes.
04:55So if you hear like in a vocal, you know,
04:58there might be a different performance.
04:59We found some extra shit in there and dug around and a good friend,
05:03Anthony Fox, who's been mixing and, and, uh, and, and doing all the work for us
05:09for about 15 years, uh, engineer.
05:13Uh, so we gave him that task of taking that, taking the tracks and, and digging
05:20through them, you know, and, and trying to find different shit.
05:23So it was really great that we, you know, we found some alternate takes and it was fun.
05:28You know, what is it, what is it like for you hearing some of these alternate takes
05:31after, you know, these are your babies, obviously you've been playing them for 40 years.
05:34Yeah, I know.
05:36I mean, it's hard to listen to sometimes, sometimes, you know, you go in there and go,
05:40God, no, I don't know.
05:42That's why we didn't use that tape.
05:44But, but it's, but it's interesting to see, you know, how it came out differently, you know?
05:50I mean, back in the day, and it's like, you know, they have pro tools now,
05:53so you can do one take and, you know, you're done.
05:56But back then, you know, we had to like, get it right, you know?
05:59Okay, we're going to do a take 20, you know?
06:02I mean, you know, so, so it was really great that, that we found some extra shit in there,
06:07you know?
06:08Yeah, I didn't, yeah, I guess like if Brad's doing guitar solo or something,
06:11he could do six or seven and take the best one.
06:13But back in the day, it was just like one take, huh?
06:16You know, I mean, a lot of times you'd stop, you could punch in solo, you know, like overdub.
06:23So, so that probably alternate, you know, takes, but, but, you know, you couldn't like in pro tools,
06:29you can just have the session up there and you can do take after take and not have to go
06:35and do another, you know, have a, a different session.
06:39You know, when it's on tape, you have to like, you know, you have four or five different takes
06:44and then you punch in on those if it's a solo or a vocal.
06:48And then you have five different, you know, masters basically.
06:52Yeah.
06:52So, I mean, that's where you find that, you know, dig through it.
06:57Yeah, yeah.
06:58And, you know, people ask me all the time, they're like, what is it like when you hear
07:01yourself on the radio?
07:02I get that all the time, even after all these decades I've been on the radio.
07:04But back in the day, when you guys dropped the video for Don't Tell Me You Love Me,
07:08correct me if I'm wrong, MTV didn't have a big arsenal.
07:10So it was on all the time, correct?
07:12It was.
07:13It was, you know, it was like probably, I don't know.
07:16I mean, who knows?
07:17We weren't watching it 24 or seven, but I think it was like they had 10 videos in the beginning
07:23or something, and ours was one of them.
07:25So it was like, you know, every couple hours they'd play that thing, you know?
07:29And then we were like, you know, we've got to do another one, you know?
07:31Maybe they're going to have two, you know?
07:33I mean, it was crazy.
07:35And, you know, we'd be in some little small town in the Midwest somewhere, and, you know,
07:40we'd be walking down the street with our laundry bag, you know, on the day off, you know?
07:44And people were like, hey, that's you.
07:47And it was like, holy crap.
07:49How do they know who I am, you know?
07:51I mean, it was amazing, you know?
07:54I mean, they were playing a bunch of songs, too, on the radio.
07:57Of course, they were playing two and three tracks from the album.
08:01So we were hearing a lot of action.
08:04It was amazing.
08:05Yeah, and if I'm not mistaken, that was in 1982.
08:09What precipitated you guys shooting a video?
08:13Because at that point, like, that wasn't really a thing.
08:16Well, I mean, I think somebody thought, well, you know, back in the day, okay,
08:21talking about the Beatles, talking about those, they used to do those promo things
08:27where they were lip syncing and, you know, and doing it.
08:30And they would, I don't know where they got played, though,
08:33but they would use it as an industry tool, you know, to say, oh, yeah,
08:38what do these guys look like?
08:39Oh, here it is, you know?
08:40So that's what we were thinking it was going to be a tool like that to send out
08:46to industry to, like, you know, what's the band look like?
08:49Oh, they look like this, you know?
08:50And then, you know, that we heard at least a couple of years before our album
08:55came out, you know, Boardwalk Records, they were, like, talking about, yeah,
09:01there's this new format, you know, and they might be showing videos
09:05and you'll have to lip sync and you'll have to do this whole thing.
09:07So we were, like, okay, let's do one, you know?
09:10And so what we did is we had a friend of ours that was teaching, you know,
09:19video at UCLA.
09:21And so on the day, you know, like on the weekend, he hired, you know,
09:26some of the students and checked out some of the gear and brought it over
09:31to a soundstage, and that's what we did Don't Tell Me You Love Me.
09:35And they built the, like, you know, like they had the students, like,
09:37making these train tracks and, you know, and it was just, if you look at it,
09:42it's really corny, you know?
09:43But, I mean, that's how, you know, that's how we did it.
09:46We did it all in, like, you know, probably, like, 10 hours, you know?
09:51And then we did another video out of, you know, we were scheduled to play
09:55with Sammy Hagar out in Las Vegas, which is a couple days later.
10:00So we went and shot another one, like, Sing Me Away,
10:05and got a couple before we actually hit the road and started playing shows
10:09with him.
10:10But that, yeah, that gear was, like, checked out of UCLA.
10:14I mean, it's probably, like, you know, now there's going to be a lawsuit,
10:18you know?
10:20So what it's like, you put that video on, like you said,
10:23people are recognizing you walking down the street,
10:24but now you're playing gigs now with Sammy and whatnot.
10:28You know, you guys, I mean, you guys kind of broke pretty quick,
10:32didn't you?
10:33Well, I mean, you know, what we did is we went right to where the radio
10:39stations were playing us.
10:41And the first radio station, actually, in the country that played us
10:44was WMMS in Cleveland.
10:46Oh, yeah.
10:47And so they started playing us.
10:51And so we went right there and played the Agora Ballrooms within Ohio
10:58and did all these, you know, I went to the radio station.
11:01We actually went to Cincinnati and recorded a live in the studio thing.
11:07And you know what?
11:08I mean, it's just like working like that.
11:11And, you know, you make friends really quick.
11:14And they were like, yeah, we'll play your thing.
11:15You know, we'll see what happens.
11:17And we were just lucky, you know, we did some good work, you know,
11:20and just kept slaving away out there, you know.
11:24You know, stayed on the road and didn't come home for weeks at a time
11:28and worked at, you know, and went to, you know,
11:31probably went to the radio station there in Detroit.
11:34I mean, of course, you know.
11:35I remember playing a big club in Detroit.
11:40It might still exist.
11:42It's a huge, big place.
11:44I think I know what you're talking about.
11:45You're talking about Harpo's?
11:47Yeah, Harpo's, of course.
11:48Of course, yep, yep.
11:49That was one of our first stops, you know.
11:50Yep, yep.
11:51And, oh, my God, it was like we stayed in this, like, holiday inn
11:55where the pool, they use it as a toilet or something.
11:58Because we were looking out and, like, Jack and I were rooming together
12:00and looking out the window like, holy shit, what is that in the pool?
12:05Don't look, it might be a body.
12:07I was like, all right, all right.
12:10Okay, we're going to the gig, you know.
12:12And then we would just get in the bus, and we just lived on the bus, too,
12:15you know, pretty much.
12:17Yeah, you know, talking about, you know, Cincinnati, Cleveland,
12:20you played here and whatnot.
12:21You know, I never ask this question because I think it's kind of a hack question,
12:25but a lot of interviews I've done over the past 30 years here in Detroit,
12:28bands love playing the Midwest, and a lot of them will tell me that
12:32without even being prompted.
12:33But it sounds like what you're saying is you guys kind of started from the Midwest.
12:37I mean, Gene Simmons told me, it's like, you can make it on the left
12:40or, you know, the West Coast, East Coast, but you've got to make it in the middle.
12:43Yeah.
12:44It's so true because I think they're true rock and roll fans in the Midwest.
12:49I don't know how that happened.
12:51I mean, look at, you know, stations like yours, and, you know,
12:55those are like pivotal places that music gets broken.
13:00You know, bands get broken.
13:02They get their first introduction to fans in the Midwest, Detroit, Cincinnati,
13:10Cleveland, you know, I mean, you know, Indianapolis.
13:12I mean, you know, why is that?
13:14I don't know.
13:15But I think the true rock and roll fans are there.
13:19And so you go out there, you know, and you play those clubs and you just,
13:23you know, you have, we had a great time.
13:26I mean, we get it, you know.
13:28I think personally, since, you know, I grew up in Buffalo
13:30and now I lived here in Detroit for more than half my life,
13:32so it's not much of a, you know, change.
13:35But personally, I think that comes from the fact that we're holed up for six
13:39months a year and people are hardened and they work 40 hours a week.
13:43And when it's time to cut loose, they cut loose.
13:45They cut loose.
13:46They go into the bars.
13:48You know, the music is happening.
13:49I mean, yeah, I mean, I have some great stories.
13:52I mean, you know, we were in Nebraska one time and I had to drive the bus
13:57because the bus driver was passed out.
14:01And we pulled the bus up to this club after we played a gig with Sammy.
14:07And we went to this club and just had a raging time.
14:13We had a great old time, you know.
14:15And then we brought half the audience in the bus and was like,
14:19where's the bus driver?
14:20You know, it's like, I'll drive this.
14:22I hadn't been drinking, so I was good.
14:25And I just said, I'll drive this.
14:30Grinding the gears all the way back to the hotel.
14:34I mean, you know, I mean, those things, those stories, those are fun times,
14:41you know.
14:42And we made friends then, too.
14:44We still have some of those people that still come out.
14:47But Kansas City, people that we met back then, they come out, you know,
14:52and they're old buddies, you know.
14:53Yeah, you know, listen, when you guys are starting out, I suppose the feeling is
14:58you do whatever it takes to make it.
15:00If it takes driving the bus, that's what you got to do.
15:05That's great.
15:06I know.
15:07I mean, it was like, it was like, well, who's going to do this?
15:09You know, well, I guess I can.
15:11My dad was a truck driver.
15:12And he taught me like, you know, here's how you do the gear.
15:15One's here.
15:16And then you go straight.
15:17It's like, yeah, it's like it's like it fast times rush about high when the guy smashes
15:22his car.
15:22He's like, my dad's got an awesome set of tools.
15:24He's a TV repairman.
15:25It's the same type of thing.
15:29So let me ask you about this.
15:30I've talked to Brad about this in the past.
15:33So you guys are just starting up and whatnot.
15:36Explain to me how this works.
15:37When Brad goes off and plays with Ozzie, did you guys think he was coming back?
15:41Did you guys, you know, was this just a, what were your thoughts?
15:45Do you recall that time period?
15:46Yeah.
15:47I mean, I was playing with Brad in some clubs.
15:51We were doing covers and stuff like that in Alameda, California.
15:55And he got the call from, from Pat Thrall, who was a guitar player, played with Pat Travers
16:02back in the day and stuff like that.
16:03And Tommy, Tommy Allard.
16:06But he got the call.
16:08And, and so when, when he went, it was kind of like, you know, we didn't know what was
16:12going on.
16:13We really hadn't had our, you know, our ear to the, to the train rails, you know.
16:19But, but, you know, but he was playing with us and he was like, yeah, I got this, you
16:23know, possible gig.
16:25We didn't really think it was much until we heard him play a live show on, on the
16:32radio.
16:33And I think it was in Memphis where there was a show and Jack and I were listening and
16:40it was like, you know, Jack was at his house and we were listening on the radio and then
16:44we called each other and I go, I don't think he's coming back.
16:47I mean, because he sounded so good.
16:50He was playing at the top of his game, you know, I mean, big show, you know, and he was
16:57a star suddenly like thrust and he was like a big star.
17:01And we thought, Oh man, I think that's the end.
17:04And, you know, and we only had a handful of songs that were on the, on the first album.
17:09So, and they weren't even, they were just demos, you know?
17:11And so I don't know, we were kind of shopping the tape at the same time, you know, and it
17:17was months, months later, like when he came back for some reason, I think that, you know,
17:24we got an offer before he was done with a tour and we were trying to figure out, what are
17:31we going to do?
17:32But, you know, Brad said, I'm coming home, you know, the tour is over.
17:35I don't know what's happening, but if, you know, we're still in there, let's, let's go
17:41in the studio and, and finish this record, you know?
17:46And, you know, so the money wasn't even flowing.
17:49I think, I think, I think, I think Brad came home with a paycheck and said, well, I'll put
17:54the money up for the studio to get started, you know, like five grand, you know?
17:58Okay, let's go, you know?
18:00And we, we had four songs that were masters already and they weren't even the big hits.
18:06They were like, you know, can't find me a thrill and play rough and some of the deeper
18:11tracks on there, you know?
18:13And so, you know, that's how it happened.
18:16And then it just turned out that, yeah, I was just going to take a big break, you know,
18:19it's had enough of the tour and, you know, it got to make another record.
18:24Down the road.
18:25And Ozzy came to the studio while we were actually making the first album with his head
18:30shaved.
18:31Oh yeah.
18:32Yeah.
18:32It was like that.
18:34They did the Texas jam.
18:35Yeah.
18:36And that's when he shaved his head.
18:37He went AWOL for a couple of days and shaved his head.
18:40And everybody's like, did Brad tell that story about it?
18:43They put a wig on, they put a wig on Ozzy when they found him because the day of the
18:48show.
18:49Yeah.
18:49They put a wig and they cut it and they made it look like, they put like, and he put
18:54like ketchup underneath it and didn't tell anybody.
18:57And it was like, he went out there and it was like, and he's like pulling the wig
19:02out there and he rips it off and all his, you know, ketchup's going down and the audience
19:06is going, he ripped his skull.
19:15I didn't hear that story.
19:16I know Rudy told me that when they were playing that Texas show, I think he said it was so
19:20hot out and Ozzy's wig only lasted a few songs because he was just dripping in sweat, you
19:24know, and the whole thing.
19:26But yeah, today's the one year anniversary of Ozzy's passing.
19:29Outside of that, do you have any other Ozzy stories?
19:32I mean, that's about it.
19:35I think, you know, that was a close encounter with him, you know?
19:39I mean, it was great.
19:41He came down and kind of like, all right, you know, I bless you boys.
19:47Good luck with your album.
19:48You know, I mean, and then we, you know, we did play in Kalamazoo, Michigan with Ozzy
19:56back in the day and Ozzy was headlining.
20:00I think it was like, you know, Quiet Riot, you know, Rat, Us, bunch of, bunch of bands.
20:06And, you know, Rudy had quit Ozzy to go and be with Quiet Riot and do their first album.
20:14And so when we were in the hotel room that night before the show, just, you know, having, just raging.
20:23We were just like, all the bands were in there.
20:26It was wild.
20:27And Ozzy went over to Rudy and he tried to, you know, he tried to hit him.
20:33You're just like, yeah, quit my band, you know, like, you know, I mean, and so there was this whole,
20:40like, kind of, like, tension the next day when, when Kevin Dubrow showed up.
20:46He had, like, a couple bodyguards, you know, you know, like, we're worried that Ozzy is going to come out
20:51there and take a hit on him, you know?
20:55Now, now, is this all, are these all stories that might appear in an upcoming autobiography of yours or what?
21:00Not of mine so much, maybe Brad's, but, but, I mean, these are stories that we all remember, you know,
21:07together.
21:07Who knows?
21:08I mean, I'm, I'm thinking about doing that just because I, you know, I don't know, you know, it's like
21:15that time, the age, you know, you're, you don't know how much longer.
21:19I mean, I'm going to be 74, you know?
21:21Oh, my God, I didn't think that at all.
21:24I still, I still, you know, feel strong, you know, and everything, like, everything's good, but, but, you know, it's
21:29like, how long can you travel like this, you know?
21:32So that's what that's about.
21:33I'd love to tell a story.
21:35I'm sure all of us have great stories.
21:37I mean, I have a couple of stories that Jack tells, man, and I'll let him tell you that story
21:42about Fly Stone, you know?
21:45I mean, it's a, it's a great story.
21:47I was, like, he was an unknown, but he got the jam with Fly that was like, hey, hey, boy,
21:54you know, we hear you play bass guitar, and then they rolled an amp in there, and they were in
21:59the studio, and, you know, and all, you know, Fly and the family still, and they were all, they're like,
22:04you know, check out this white boy, see what he can do.
22:07I mean, it's a great story.
22:09He'll tell, he'll tell it sometime, and, and then you'll be like, whoa.
22:14I would imagine, you know, listen, you want to, you know, tell your story, but, I mean, you know, you
22:18got kids, grandkids, the whole thing, they want to hear what their dad and grandfather did, right?
22:22It's like, but then again, I guess you got to, maybe you have to tame down some of the stories,
22:26right?
22:27Just lie your ass off, man.
22:29Make it like, you know, yeah, I was a junkie, you know?
22:33Hey, when, when did you decide to sing?
22:36Did you sing first, or did you play drums first?
22:39You know, I was kind of learning both at the same time.
22:42You know, I was with, you know, a couple of, a couple of guys from the neighborhood, and, you know,
22:47we were just like listening to Steppenwolf, and, you know, and just like, you know, all the early 60s stuff.
22:56And, you know, and some of us, you know, could sing, and I don't, I didn't even know if I
23:01could sing or not, but we kind of like would pass the mic around, I think I can do this
23:05one, you know?
23:06And, you know, it was like those days where you're, you're all plugged into one amp, you know, including the
23:11microphone, you know?
23:12And you'd be like, squealing and noisy, and, you know, and, and, and that's how it happened.
23:19You know, I just started to figure out how to play and sing at the same time, but I think,
23:23I think, man, I gravitated towards singing more, because, you know, when you're hearing songs and you're a kid, vocal,
23:32it's the first thing you hear, you know?
23:34So, yeah, it was kind of like that, you know?
23:36And then I just, I kept doing it, you know?
23:39And then when I got in junior high and high school, I started stepping out front and playing, you know,
23:44and having, you know, some, you know, some of the guys that were better than me playing drums like you
23:50played, you know?
23:51So it was awesome.
23:52I was trying to think before I talked to you, I, I had Peter Criss here in the studio a
23:56few months ago, but there's not many singing drummers that I could think of.
24:01Yeah, Dean Casanova comes to mind.
24:03Yeah, Dean, yeah.
24:04Who could sing like crazy, like, sounds like Steve Perry.
24:09He always says that Steve Perry was his, one of his favorite singers as he was growing up.
24:13And, you know, I knew Dean way back when, before Journey, when he was playing with, he was straight out
24:21of Portland.
24:22He was out of Portland, Oregon, playing with Tony McAlpine, who was a guitar player.
24:28And that's where I met Dean, when it was just an instrumental band.
24:32But I never knew he could sing back then until I was doing a rock and roll fantasy camp in
24:40Columbus, Ohio.
24:42And we were in the parking lot and doing this whole thing.
24:45And then one of the bands that, you know, the bands that won the competition would open for, it was
24:52Journey and Def Leppard.
24:56And Dean sang, at least for the first time that I ever remember, sang from behind the drum set.
25:03And he sang, like, faithfully.
25:06And I was like, I was like, I was pissed.
25:11Because I knew, I go, I go, you motherfucker, you know, how do you, you know, I was just kidding,
25:19of course.
25:20But it's like, fuck, man.
25:22Where did you fucking learn how to, and he just, like, looked at me, like, you know, like, I got
25:28you on that one.
25:29He was like, I'm going to trip you next time.
25:35So, you just mentioned you're in your 70s.
25:37You know, I've talked to a lot of rockers at your age, a lot of them watching the Beatles on
25:42Ed Sullivan.
25:43Was that a time-changing moment for you?
25:45Oh, yeah, man.
25:47I mean, that and other shows that they were on, too.
25:50Hullabaloo, what the hell is that one?
25:52You know, I mean, different shows like that.
25:55Oh, yeah.
25:56I mean, especially when they were playing live, you know.
25:59I mean, they weren't lip syncing on that show.
26:01And so, it was like, you know, and then you hear all the squealing in the background.
26:06You were like, what the hell is going on?
26:09It's like, all this excitement.
26:11Jeez, you know.
26:12It was great.
26:13And then how McCartney and Lennon were trading vocals.
26:19So, it was like, that was an exciting thing to see, you know, one guy singing.
26:24And then when they got to the middle eight, you know, McCartney would take the middle eight and sing lead
26:31vocals.
26:31I was like, shit, this is insane.
26:34Yeah.
26:35No, I'm not.
26:36Go ahead.
26:37I was going to say the first time I heard them play, because I grew up in Los Angeles when
26:43the Beatles played the Hollywood Bowl.
26:45And I was listening on the radio, live.
26:48And Ringo sang and played a song.
26:52And that was like, who's singing?
26:55And he did this song called Boys.
26:57And he was behind the drum set playing and singing.
27:00And I was like, oh, my God.
27:03This is like, these guys are so talented.
27:06I mean, I don't even know if Harrison was singing a song in the set.
27:10But I think he probably was.
27:11So, all of them sang.
27:13I mean, and that was the attraction, too, is, you know, their vocal sounds, you know.
27:18Yeah.
27:18Yeah, it is kind of interesting.
27:19Like, you know, obviously, I was just mentioning Gene Simmons.
27:21They kind of used that Beatles template for their band.
27:25Isn't that amazing?
27:26Yeah.
27:27I know.
27:27It's like, I remember hearing him sing, like, I love it loud, you know, on the Creatures album.
27:33And it was like, oh, my God.
27:36That's like the epitome of metal right there, right?
27:38That's right, yeah.
27:39Hard rock, man.
27:40Hard rock.
27:41Hey, a couple more things here for you.
27:43You know, you guys start out in the early 80s and stuff.
27:45And this just came up to my mind here.
27:47When Spinal Tap comes out, do you guys watch it right away?
27:50Or what happens?
27:51Oh, yeah.
27:52Absolutely.
27:53Yeah.
27:53Absolutely.
27:54And some of us, I won't mention who, but some of us are like, man, I took it so seriously.
28:01You know, they're like, man, they're fucking making fun of us, man.
28:06I can't believe it.
28:08And we're just like, dude, take it easy.
28:13It's supposed to be funny.
28:17All right, dude.
28:20There's that famous scene, obviously, with Stonehenge.
28:22And, you know, and that might have come right from the early 1980s Black Sabbath when they
28:28were trying to get the stone things out of the...
28:31Oh, my God.
28:32We played a week with them with that.
28:35Wow.
28:36And, you know, we came in to do a sound check.
28:38We didn't know about this.
28:40They had them all covered up, right?
28:42So we're set up in front of them.
28:45And it's like, what are these big things?
28:47And I looked behind and was like, it's Stonehenge.
28:52And then we see that movie later.
28:54We're like, they shrunk it.
29:00Man, it's so funny.
29:01I just read Tony's book, and I've heard about that before, too.
29:04And I'm like, man, just completely ripped from the pages of Black Sabbath and put right
29:08on the screen.
29:09I wonder if somebody that wrote the movie knew about this.
29:13You know, I heard that the research was like they were out there on the road with some
29:18bands, but I thought it was like Iron Maiden or somebody like that.
29:22But the Stonehenge thing, it makes so much sense that they might have seen that.
29:27And I think, wasn't it Ian Gillen was singing with them back then?
29:30It was, yeah, it was right around that time.
29:32Yeah.
29:33Yeah.
29:33And I remember, I remember they had like monitors, floor monitors that went from one
29:40side of the stage to the other.
29:41And the lyrics, they had lyrics on every single one.
29:46And I was like, oh, man.
29:47I look over and I was like, holy shit, this is like, you know, like, oh, this is the lyrics
29:52that, you know, you know, paranoid.
29:55But, you know, and so that's, you know, he would work the stage and he, you know, and
30:00he was doing this and then he'd move to the next one and he'd be over here.
30:03It was like, this is awesome, man.
30:06I can't believe I'm witnessing this.
30:08This is, this is like history.
30:10That's great.
30:11Yeah.
30:11Because I think they did write, they did, he did talk about that in his book.
30:14Yeah.
30:14Ian didn't know any of the words.
30:16So they had to, yeah, they had to.
30:17I mean, how could it?
30:18Yeah.
30:19Right.
30:19Exactly.
30:20Hey, a final thing here for you.
30:21What's the biggest like rumor or non-truth you've heard about, about Night Ranger?
30:27Oh my God.
30:29I mean, I don't think there's any, I mean, we're lucky that there were, there wasn't anybody
30:33recording back in the day, but I mean, there was shit that went on, but, but nobody found
30:39out about it or nobody, nobody took picture.
30:43There was no phones.
30:44I don't know.
30:45You know, that's a good question.
30:46And I mean, the rumors about, you know, probably just stuff that everybody knows about how
30:53we came up with songs and, you know, and all that kind of stuff there, that whole thing,
30:58everybody probably told that story about how, when we were writing Sister Christian and, you
31:03know, and, and, and you can still rock an American and it was like, who, you know, where
31:08are these stories coming from and stuff like that?
31:10You know, the thing was Sister Christian was about my sister and I had no lyrics.
31:14So there's that story.
31:16I mean, yeah, I mean, I don't know, John, I wish I could tell like some bad things.
31:22Some people would go, oh, really?
31:24And by the way, Sister died one night on stage.
31:29Yeah.
31:30Jack Blade says all the lyrics written out to all the songs.
31:32No, Sister Christian was used in some commercials too, right?
31:36Yeah.
31:37Yeah.
31:38Some of them, you know, which, which were pretty questionable.
31:42There was one about chicken clucking, you know, it's like, we don't, we didn't own the right,
31:48you know, like the full rights.
31:49So we couldn't like protest like, no, we're not going to use that.
31:53You know, we had to sign away our publishing, you know, at least half of it.
31:58Wow.
31:58When we first signed our first thing.
32:00So it was like, we had no rights at all.
32:02They could use it for whatever, you know, like depository.
32:05And I mean, you know what I'm saying?
32:07It's like, they could use it for anything.
32:09And I remember they sold it and it was like a chicken commercial, you know, for, for chicken,
32:17you know, for like foster farms or chicken.
32:20And it was like, they were going, and I was like, I was like, oh my God.
32:30And you weren't even going to get any mailbox money from that.
32:33If you sold it to your rights, right?
32:34I don't know.
32:35A little bit, maybe.
32:36Yeah.
32:37A little bit.
32:37They all got it over there.
32:39Yeah.
32:40Well, Kelly, really great to talk with you.
32:42We'll see you Sunday.
32:43I'm going to be at the show with Scott.
32:45And of course, that's at Soundboard where I saw you guys last year before that gig in Jackson.
32:49That's a cool place to play.
32:50Great.
32:51Yeah.
32:51We love that place.
32:52That was like the first time we played there, I think.
32:55I think.
32:57Yeah.
32:57But anyway, yeah, I look forward to seeing you, man.
33:00Check out Talking Rock with Meltdown on all podcast platforms and WRIF.com.
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