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00:00I remember playing a big club in Detroit.
00:03It's all about Harpo's?
00:04Yeah, Harpo's!
00:05We stayed in this holiday inn where the pool, they used it as a toilet or something.
00:09Because we were looking at it like, holy shit, what is that in the pool?
00:12Don't look, it might be a body!
00:14Rock, metal, prog, 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.
00:29And here'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, have 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, but Chad Smith, who is also a Will
01:02Farrell stunt double.
01:04So you got that going for you.
01:06See, all those guys, they were younger, so they looked 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 Farrell, he said he walked up to him and they were at
01:18some sort of red carpet event.
01:20And I guess Will Farrell walked up to him, looked him up and down and said, you're a very
01:23handsome 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.
01:41I'm one of those late night shows.
01:42So I'll tell you what, I was supposed to talk to Jack and then he had to, he had to
01:46cancel.
01:46So I, I, sometimes I'll text some of 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 care of the
01:59pesky 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, he's like, let's go out my back and shoot shit.
02:14Yeah, last time you saw it, Ted, we were just talking about this, was at that private gig
02:17in Jackson.
02:18I mean, how much fun was that that night?
02:20Oh my God.
02:21Especially having him come up on stage and play.
02:24But I, one thing I remember about that show is that we, you know, it was pretty much thrown
02:29together having him 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, I don't know.
02:41I don't know where one is on this thing.
02:43Come on, somebody lead me in, you know?
02:45So, so we eventually fell in together, but playing with Ted is fun, man.
02:50I tell you, it's like, you know, you 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, there's, there's been a few times when I've done a rock and roll fantasy camps
03:04out in LA, one in, you know, a bunch of New York and stuff, like, like 2005 or something
03:11like that.
03:12I did a bunch of them.
03:13And some of those guys that would come, man, like, you know, we had, uh, God, you know,
03:19a guitar player from, uh, you know, from a singer from, yes, I'm sorry, John Anderson.
03:26Oh, John Anderson.
03:27Yeah.
03:27So we played songs, you know, from, yes, we, you know, I mean, just, it was, it was so
03:32long ago.
03:33I can't remember actually, but, but, um, what, what it was is we would put together
03:39a counselor band.
03:41It was this huge band.
03:42We'd all play each other's songs and stuff like that.
03:45So we had, you know, we had Ace Freely, you know, when, you know, back in the day he'd
03:50come, um, who else did we have?
03:52We had, you know, Kip Winger.
03:54We had, you know, just, uh, you know, Neil Sean, you know, who'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, now when you're playing songs from, yes, I mean, that is, is that in your wheelhouse
04:12or is that a little bit like, is that, is that?
04:14Well, I mean, the, you know, the one song, you know, um, owner of a lonely heart, that
04:19was 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.
04:31Yeah.
04:32I hear you.
04:33So yeah, the best stuff comes out on August 28th.
04:36I'm just looking through this.
04:37Did, um, you know, some of them say a 2026 next to him.
04:39So I'm assuming you guys maybe re-recorded, did some, uh, did some different things with
04:43some 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, but we found alternate
04:55takes.
04:55So if you hear like in a vocal, you know, there might be a different performance.
04:59We found some extra shit in there and dug around and our good friend, Anthony Fox, who's
05:04been mixing and, uh, and, uh, and, and doing all the work for us for about 15 years, uh,
05:12engineer.
05:13Uh, so we gave him that task of taking the, taking the tracks and, and digging through
05:20them, 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 after,
05:32you know, these are your babies, obviously you've been playing them for 40 years.
05:35Yeah, 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.
05:42So that's why we didn't use that take, but, but it's, but it's interesting to see, you
05:47know, how it came out differently, you know, I mean, back in the day and it's like, you
05:52know, they have pro tools now, so 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, okay, we're going to do
06:00a take 20, you know?
06:02I mean, you know, so, so it was really great that, that we found some extra shit in there.
06:08Yeah, I didn't, yeah, I guess like if Brad's doing guitar solo or something, he could do
06:12six 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 and solo, you know, like
06:22overdub.
06:23So, so that'd probably alternate, you know, takes, but, but, you know, you couldn't like
06:28in pro tools, you can just have the session up there and you can do take after take and
06:34not have to go and do another, you know, have a, a different session, you know, when
06:40it's on tape, you have to like, you know, you have four or five different takes and then
06:45you punch in on those, if it's a solo or a vocal, and then you have five different,
06:49you know, masters basically.
06:52So, I mean, that's where you, you find that, you know, dig through it.
06:57Yeah.
06:57Yeah.
06:58You know, people ask me all the time, they're like, uh, what is it like when you hear yourself
07:01on the radio?
07:02I get that all the time, even after all these decades, but in the radio, but back
07:05in the day, when you guys dropped the video for don't tell me you love me, correct me
07:08if I'm wrong, MTV didn't have a big arsenal.
07:11So it was on all the time, correct?
07:12It was, it was, uh, 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
07:23beginning or something.
07:24And ours was one of them.
07:25It was like, you know, every couple of hours they'd play that thing, you know?
07:29And then we were like, you know, we got to do another one.
07:31You know, maybe they're going to have, you know, two, you know, I mean, it was, it was
07:34crazy.
07:35And, you know, we'd be in some little, just small town in the Midwest somewhere.
07:39And, you know, we'd be walking down the street with our laundry bag, you know, on the day
07:43off, you know, and, and people were like, Hey, that's you.
07:47And it was like, Holy crap.
07:49How do they know who I am?
07:50You know?
07:51I mean, it was, it was amazing.
07:53You know?
07:54Yeah.
07:54I mean, they were playing a bunch of songs too on the radio.
07:56Of course, they were playing two and three tracks from the, from the album.
08:01Yeah.
08:02So we were hearing a lot of, a lot of action.
08:04It was amazing.
08:05Yeah.
08:05And if I'm not mistaken, that was in 1982.
08:09What, what, what, what, what 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, somebody thought, well, you know, back in the day, okay.
08:21Talk about the Beatles, talk about those.
08:24They used to do those promo things where they were lip syncing and, you know, and doing it.
08:30And, and, and they would, I don't know where they got played though, but they, they would
08:34use it as an industry tool, you know, to say, Oh yeah.
08:38What do these guys look like?
08:39Oh, here it is.
08:40You know, so that's what we, we, we were thinking it was going to be a tool like that
08:44to, to send out to 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 came out,
08:57you know, boardwalk records, they were like talking about, yeah, there's this new format,
09:03you know, and they might be showing videos and you'll have to lip sync and you'll have to
09:06do this whole thing.
09:07So we were like, okay, let's do one, you know?
09:10And so we, um, what we did is we had a friend of ours that was teaching, um, uh, teaching,
09:17uh, you know, video at UCLA.
09:21And so on the day, you know, like on a weekend, he hired, you know, some of the students and
09:28checked out some of the gear and brought it over to a soundstage.
09:32And that's what we did.
09:33Don't tell me you love me.
09:34And they built the, like, you know, like they had the students like making these train tracks
09:39and, you know, and it was just, if you look at it, it's really corny, you know, but, but
09:44I mean, that's how, you know, that's how we did it.
09:46And we did it all in like, you know, probably like 10 hours, you know?
09:50Um, and then we did another video out of, you know, we, we were, uh, scheduled to play
09:55with Sammy Hagar out in, uh, out in Las Vegas, which is a couple of days later.
10:00So we went and shot another one, like sing me away, um, and got a couple before we actually
10:07hit the road and started playing shows with him.
10:10But that, yeah, that gear was like checked out of UCLA.
10:14I mean, it's probably like, you know, now they're going to, there's going to be a lawsuit,
10:18you know?
10:20So, so what it's like, you, you, you put the, you put that video on, like you said, people
10:23are going to recognize you walking down the street, but now you're playing gigs now with
10:26Sammy and whatnot.
10:27Uh, you know, you guys, you, I mean, you guys, you guys kind of broke pretty quick, didn't
10:32you?
10:33Well, I mean, you know, what we did is, um, we, we went right to where the radio stations
10:39were playing us in the first radio station, actually in the country that played us was
10:45WMMS in Cleveland.
10:46Oh yeah.
10:47And, and so they started playing us.
10:50Um, and so we went right there and played the, or Agora ballrooms within Ohio and did
10:59all these, you know, I went to the radio station.
11:01We actually went to Cincinnati and we recorded a live, uh, 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 and they were like, yeah, we'll play your thing.
11:15You know, we'll see what happens.
11:16And, and, and we were just lucky, you know, we did some good work, you know, and just
11:21kept slaving away out there, you know, um, you know, stayed on the road and, and didn't
11:26come home for weeks at a time and worked at, you know, and went to, you know, probably
11:31went to the radio station there in Detroit.
11:34I mean, of course, you know, I remember playing, playing, uh, a big club in Detroit.
11:40It might still exist.
11:42It's a huge, big place.
11:44And I think I know what you're talking about.
11:45You're talking about Harpo's?
11:46Yeah.
11:47Harpo's.
11:47Of course.
11:48Of course.
11:48Yep.
11:49Yep.
11:49Yep.
11:49One of our first stops, you know?
11:50Yep.
11:51And, oh my God.
11:52It was like, uh, we stayed in this like holiday inn where the pool, they use it as a
11:57toilet or something.
11:58Cause we were looking at it and like Jack and I were rooming together and looking out the
12:01window, like, holy shit.
12:03What is that in the pool?
12:05Don't look.
12:05It might be a body.
12:08I was like, all right, all right.
12:10Okay.
12:10We're going to the gig.
12:11You know, it was like, and then we would just get in the bus.
12:14We just lived on the bus too, you know, pretty much.
12:16But, um, yeah, you know, you know, talking about, you know, Cincinnati, Cleveland, you
12:20played here and whatnot.
12:21You know, I never asked this question because I think it's just kind of a hack question,
12:25but a lot of interviews I've done over the past 30 years here in Detroit, bands love
12:29playing the Midwest.
12:30And a lot of them will tell me that without even being prompted, but it sounds like, like what
12:35you'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 or the, you know,
12:40the West coast, East coast, but you 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, and, you know, those are like pivotal
12:56places that, that music gets broke, you know, bands get broken.
13:02They get the, they 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, but, but 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, you know, and
13:24you have, we had a great time.
13:26I mean, we get, you know,
13:28I think personally, since, you know, I grew up in Buffalo and now I lived here in Detroit
13:31for more than half my life.
13:32So it's not much of a, you know, change, but personally, I think that the, that, that comes
13:37from the fact that we're holed up for six months a year and people are hardened and they work
13:4240 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, you know, the music is happening.
13:49I mean, yeah.
13:50I mean, I, I have some great stories.
13:52I mean, you know, um, we were, we were in Nebraska one time and I had to drive the bus
13:57because the bus driver was passed out and we pulled the bus up to this club after we
14:05played a gig with Sammy and we went to this club and just had a raging time.
14:13We had a great old time, you know, and then we brought half the audience in the, in the
14:17bus and we, and it was like, where's the bus driver?
14:20You know, it's like, I'll drive this thing, you know, I hadn't really, you know, I hadn't
14:23been drinking, so I was, I was good.
14:26And I just said, I'll drive this thing.
14:30Grinding the gears all the way back to the hotel.
14:34I mean, you know, I mean, those, those things, those stories, those were, those were fun times,
14:41you know, and, and we get, we made friends then too.
14:44We still have some of those people that still come out from Kansas city, you know, people
14:49that we met back then, they come out, you know, and they're old buddies, you know?
14:53Yeah.
14:54And, you know, listen, when, when you guys are starting out, I suppose the, the, the feeling
14:57is you do whatever it takes to, to, 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, my dad was a truck driver and he taught me like the, you
15:14know, here's how you do the gear ones here.
15:16And then you go, go straight.
15:18Yeah.
15:19Yeah.
15:20It's like, it's like at fast times, rush about high.
15:21When the guy smashes his car, he's like, my dad's got an awesome set of tools.
15:24He's a TV repair man.
15:25It's the same type of thing.
15:29So, so let me ask you about this.
15:30I've talked to, I'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, when Brad goes off and plays with Ozzy, did you guys think he was coming back?
15:41Did you guys, you know, was this just a, what was, what were your thoughts?
15:45Do you recall that time period?
15:47Yeah.
15:47I mean, I, I was playing with Brad and, and 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.
16:04And Tommy, Tommy, all the others.
16:06Like, but he got the call and, and so when, when he went, it was kind of like, you know,
16:12we didn't know what was going 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 know,
16:23possible gig.
16:25We didn't really think it was much until we heard him play a live show on, on the radio.
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.
16:48I 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.
17:12So 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 the tour and we were trying to figure out, what
17:31are we 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?
17:45Um, and, you know, so the money wasn't even flowing, I think, I think, I think, uh, I
17:51think Brad came home with a paycheck and said, well, I'll put the money up for the studio
17:55to get started, you know, like five grand, you know, okay, 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, um, can't find me a thrill and play rough and some of the deeper
18:11tracks on there, you know?
18:13Um, and 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.
18:19You know, it's had enough of the tour and, you know, we've got to make another record
18:24down the road.
18:25And I actually came to the studio while we were actually making the first album with
18:30his head shaved.
18:31Oh yeah.
18:32Yeah.
18:33It 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, they put a wig and they cut it and they made it look like they put like, and he
18:54put
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 and he rips it off.
19:04And all this, you know, ketchup's going down and the audience is going, he ripped his skull.
19:15I didn't hear that story.
19:16I know Rudy told me that, um, when they were playing that Texas show, I think he said it
19:19was so hot out and Ozzy's wig only lasted a few songs cause he was just dripping in sweat,
19:24you know, and the whole thing, uh, but yeah, today's the one year anniversary of, uh, Ozzy's
19:29passing outside of that.
19:30Do you have any other Ozzy stories?
19:32I mean, uh, that's about it.
19:35I think, you know, that, 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.
19:49You know, I mean, uh, and then we, you know, we did play, uh, in Kalamazoo, Michigan with
19:55Ozzy back in the day.
19:57Um, and, uh, Ozzy was headlining.
20:00I think it was like, uh, you know, um, 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, um, just, you know,
20:22having just raging, we 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.
20:35You know, I was like, you know, I mean, and, and so there was this whole like, kind of like
20:41tension the next day when, when Kevin Dubrow showed up, he had like a couple of bodyguards,
20:48you know, you know, like we're worried that Ozzy is going to come out there and take a
20:53hit on him.
20:55Now, now is this all, are these all stories that might appear in an upcoming autobiography
20:59of yours or what?
21:00Not of mine so much, maybe perhaps, but, but, uh, I mean, these are stories that, you know,
21:05that we all remember together.
21:07Who knows, I mean, I'm, I'm thinking about doing that just because I, you know, um, I
21:13don't know, you know, it's, it's like that time, the age, you know, you're, you don't
21:18know how much longer, I mean, I'm, I'm going to be 74, you know?
21:22Oh my God.
21:22I didn't do that at all.
21:24I still, I still, you know, feel strong and everything like everything's good, but, but
21:29you know, it's like, how long can you travel like this, you know?
21:32So that's what that's about.
21:34I'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
21:41that story about fly stone, you know, I mean, it's a, it's a great story.
21:47I was like, he was an unknown, but, um, he got the jam with fly.
21:53That was like, Hey, Hey boy, you know, we, we hear you play bass guitar.
21:56And then they rolled an amp in there and they were in the studio and, you know, and all
22:01the fly and the family still, and they were all, they're like, you know, check out this
22:05white boy, see what he can do.
22:07I mean, it's a great story.
22:09He'll tell, he'll tell it sometime.
22:11And, and then you'll be like, Whoa, I would imagine, you know, listen, you want to, you
22:16know, tell your story, but I mean, you know, you got kids, grandkids, all thing that they
22:20want to hear what their dad and grandfather did.
22:22Right.
22:22It's like, but then again, I guess you got to, maybe you have to tame down some of the
22:26stories, right?
22:27Just lie your ass off and make it like, you know, yeah, it was a junkie, you know?
22:33Hey, when, 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.
22:42Oh, you know, I was with, you know, a couple of, a couple of guys from the neighborhood
22:47and, you know, we were just like listening to Steppenwolf and, you know, and just like,
22:52you know, all the early sixties stuff.
22:55And, um, you know, and some of us, you know, could sing and I don't, I didn't even know
23:01if I could sing or not, but we kind of like would pass the mic around.
23:04I think I can do this one.
23:06And, you know, it was like those days where you're, you're all plugged into one amp, you
23:10know, including the microphone, you know, and you'd be like squealing and noisy and,
23:15and, 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.
23:23But I think, I think now I gravitated, gravitated towards singing more because, you know, when
23:29you're hearing songs and you're a kid, vocal, it'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,
23:44you know, and having, you know, some, you know, some of the guys that were better than
23:48me playing drums and let you play, 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
23:56months ago, but there's not many singing drummers that I could think of.
24:01Yeah.
24:01Dean Casanova comes to mind.
24:03Yeah.
24:03Dean.
24:04Yeah.
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
24:12up.
24:13And 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, um, that's where I met Dean when it was just an instrumental band, but, um, I never
24:35knew he could sing back then until I was doing a rock and roll fantasy camp in Columbus, Ohio.
24:42And we were in the parking lot and doing this whole thing.
24:45And then the, one of the bands that, you know, the bands that won the competition would open
24:51for, it was Journey and Def Leppard and Dean sang, at least for the first time that I ever
24:59remember saying from behind the drum set and he's saying like faithfully.
25:06And I was like, I was like, I was pissed because I knew I go, I go, you mother, how
25:16do you, you
25:18know, I was just, I just kidding.
25:19Of course, but it's like, fuck, man, where did you fucking learn how to, and he just like
25:25looked at me like, you know, like, I got you on that one.
25:29He was like, I'm going to trip you next time.
25:35So you just mentioned you're in your seventies.
25:37You know, I've talked to a lot of rockers and your age, a lot of them, uh, watching the
25:42Beatles on Ed Sullivan.
25:43Was that a, was that a, was that a time changing moment for you?
25:45Oh yeah, man.
25:46And I mean that, and other shows that they were on to hullabaloo, you know, I mean, different,
25:53different shows like that.
25:55Oh yeah.
25:56I mean, especially when they were playing live, you know, I mean, they weren't lip syncing
26:01on that show.
26:01And so it was like, you know, and then you hear, you hear all the squealing in the back
26:06and you were like, what the hell's going on?
26:09It's like all this excitement, geez, you know, it was great.
26:13And then how McCartney and, and, uh, 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 it, take, you
26:29know, take the middle eight and sing lead vocals.
26:31Like 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, cause I grew up in Los Angeles and
26:43when they, when the Beatles played the Hollywood bowl and I was listening on the radio live
26:48and Ringo sang and played a song.
26:52And that was like, it was like, who's singing, you know, and he did this song called boys and
26:58he was behind the drum set playing and singing.
27:00And I was like, I was like, Oh my God, this is like, these guys are so talented.
27:06I mean, I, I, I don't even know if Harrison was singing the song and they said, I think
27:10he probably was.
27:11So all of them said, Hey, I mean, and that was the attraction too, as in, you know, their
27:17vocal sounds, you know?
27:18Yeah.
27:19Yeah.
27:19It is kind of interesting.
27:19Like, you know, obviously I was just mentioned Gene Simmons.
27:21They kind of, they kind of use that Beatles template for their band.
27:25Isn't that amazing?
27:26I know.
27:27It's like, I remember hearing him saying like, uh, I love it loud, you know, on the
27:32creatures album.
27:33And it was like, it was like, Oh my God, that's like the epitome of metal right there.
27:38Right.
27:38That's right.
27:39Yeah.
27:39It was hard rock, man.
27:40Hard rock.
27:42Hey, a couple more things here for you.
27:43You know, you guys start out in the early eighties and stuff.
27:45And, um, and this just came up to my mind here.
27:47Um, when spinal tap comes out, do you guys watch it right away or what happened?
27:51Oh yeah, absolutely.
27:53Yeah, absolutely.
27:54And, and, and, and some of us, I won't mention who, but some of us are like, man, I took
27:59it
27:59so 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.
28:20There's that famous scene, obviously with Stonehenge and, you know, and, and that might've come right
28:24from the, uh, right from the early 1980s Black Sabbath when they were trying to get the, the,
28:29the stone things out of the, Oh my God.
28:31We, we played a week with them with that.
28:35And, uh, and, you know, we came in to do a sound check.
28:38We didn't know about this.
28:40They had them all covered up.
28:42Right.
28:42So we're set up in front of them and it was like, what are these big things?
28:47And I looked behind him and was like, it's Stonehenge.
28:52And then we see that movie later.
28:56They're like, they shrunk it.
29:00Man.
29:01It'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.
29:08They put right on the screen.
29:09I wonder, I wonder if somebody, I wonder if somebody that wrote the movie.
29:12Knew about this.
29:13You know, I heard that they, the research was like,
29:16they were out there on the road with some bands.
29:19Okay.
29:19And I thought it was like Iron Maiden or somebody like that.
29:22But the Stonehenge thing,
29:24it makes so much sense that they might've seen that.
29:26And I think, uh, 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, uh, monitors,
29:38floor monitors that went from one side of the stage to the other.
29:42And 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.
29:49This is like, you know, like, Oh, this is the lyrics.
29:52You know, you know, paranoid, you know?
29:56And, and so that's, you know, he, he would work the stage and he,
29:59you know, and he was doing this and then he'd move to the next one.
30:02And he'd be able to hear me.
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.
30:12He 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 he?
30:19Yeah.
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,
30:25about Night Ranger?
30:27Oh my God.
30:29I mean, I don't think there's any, I mean,
30:31we're lucky that there wasn't anybody recording back in the day.
30:36I mean, there was shit that went on, but,
30:38but nobody found out about it or nobody,
30:41nobody took picture.
30:43There was no phones.
30:44I don't know.
30:45You know, that's a good question.
30:47I mean, the rumors about, you know,
30:51probably just stuff that everybody knows about how we came up with songs and,
30:55you know, and all that kind of stuff.
30:57That whole thing,
30:58everybody probably told that story about how,
31:01when we were writing Sister Christian and, you know,
31:04and, and, and you can still rock an American.
31:06It was like, you know,
31:07where are these stories coming from and stuff like that?
31:10You know, the thing was Sister Christian was about my sister and I had no
31:13lyrics.
31:14Yeah.
31:14So there's that story.
31:16I mean, yeah.
31:18I mean, I don't know.
31:20God.
31:20By the way.
31:21Like some bad things.
31:23Oh, really?
31:24And by the way,
31:25Sister died one night on stage.
31:29Yeah.
31:30Jack Blade says all the lyrics were not all the songs.
31:32No, Sister Christian was used in some commercials too.
31:35Right.
31:36Yeah.
31:37Yeah.
31:38Some of them, you know, which, which were pretty questionable.
31:42There was one about chicken clucking.
31:45You know, it's like, we don't, we didn't own the right, you know,
31:48like 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 and, you know,
31:57at 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,
32:03like 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,
32:15you know, for, for chicken, you know,
32:17for like foster farms or chicken.
32:20And it was like, they were going,
32:23and I was like, I was like, Oh my God.
32:30And you weren't even getting any mailbox money from that.
32:33If you sold it to your rights, right?
32:34No.
32:35A little bit, maybe.
32:36Yeah.
32:37A little bit.
32:38They 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,
32:45that's at a soundboard where I saw you guys last year before that gig in
32:48Jackson.
32:49That's a cool place to play.
32:50Great.
32:51Yeah.
32:51We love that place.
32:52That was, that was like the first time we played there.
32:54I think, um, I think, yeah, but, um, anyway, yeah.
32:58I look forward to seeing you, man.
33:00Check out talking rock with meltdown on all podcast platforms and
33:05WRIF.com.
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