By Dave Clark
DLR Army Communications Officer

    NASHVILLE - A country music maverick who cut his teeth playing Delta blues and rock n' roll, Monty Byrom's name might not immediately jump out at David Lee Roth fans, but chances are he wrote one of the songs you just couldn't stop listening to during Dave's later solo career.
     Byrom, and partner-in-crime David Neuhauser, are responsible for writing two Roth anthems; the super-charged "She's My Machine" and the cocky, hilarious "Don't Piss Me Off."
    Hailing from Bakersfield, California (better known as Buck Owens country), Byrom and Neuhauser grew up with country music on the radio and blues rock in their hearts. Over the years they've been able to explore all those avenues in rock bands featuring ace session players like Steve Hunter and Brett Tuggle, and in their hip shakin' country boogie band Big House, whose debut went platinum and set the stage for later Nashville success.
    After a run-in with the folks at MCA Nashville and a follow up that was sabotaged by record company interference, Byrom, Neuhauser and Big House dropped off the map for some career renovation. This month Big House is back, big time.
    With a new release titled "Woodstock Nation," (on Dead Reckoning Records) ready to hit stores in May, Byrom shot the bull with the DLR Army about working with Dave, the music industry and offered some advice to unsigned bands on how to make your own musical dreams a reality.

DLR ARMY: So Monty, bring us all up to speed on Big House. What are you guys are doing now? This new record sounds like you guys have gone back to the basics - blues rock, with a little twang for effect.

BYROM: "It's a potpourri of all the things we love. I'm really proud of what we were able to do on "Woodstock Nation," I have to say that I'm more proud of this music than anything else I've done in my career. I've finally made a record where I'm happy with every song on it. And you know what? It was easy to make. I kept thinking to myself, 'This is going way to good, something is just bound to happen...' But it never did. It was a joy to make.
    "The beauty of this band is that we didn't 'come up' with our sound. It just happened. We bring a lot of different influences and styles and mix them together. We've sounded like this from day one. Basically, we do what we like, what we would want to hear from a band."

DLR ARMY: Most of the rock folks out there probably aren't that familiar with what you've done, even though they've probably heard your playing on some of their favorite rock stations. Give us a run down of what you've done career-wise.

BYROM: "I lived in the Bay Area for a long time. The first big band that I was in was called Billy Satellite, which got signed by Capitol. It was a great band, we got pretty big overseas. We were a little ahead of our time though. I understand that the record company just re-released the two discs, some 17 years after they came out, so I guess there's some interest out there.
    "After that I was in a band with Don Felder, the guitar player for The Eagles. It wasn't really a band though, we never played out, it was just in the studio. Clive Davis heard us, gave us a deal and a bunch of money to do a record, but it was never released. I was a hungry young man who had the guitar player from the Eagles in his band, so I was pretty excited, but I think the only thing Don wanted was for the Eagles to get back together. I was happy for him when they finally did.
    "In around 1984 I hooked up with my partner David Neuhauser. We had always been in rival bands but never played together. We formed a rock band called New Frontier and did one record. We wrote our first single with Bernie Taupin (Elton John's songwriting partner) and were produced by Richie Zito, who did all of Eddie Money's records."

DLR ARMY: So what got you into country music if you were a rock guy?

BYROM: "It was always a part of my life. I was either the rock guy in the country band or the country guy in the rock band. When we got the chance to put Big House together we were excited, it was something different than what George Strait and Shania Twain were doing, though I don't personally have a problem with the stuff they do.
    "One of the nice things about doing that record is that we got to produce and mix it ourselves, Tony Brown (the head of MCA) said he didn't want to fuck with what we were doing and left us alone. On the second record we made the mistake of letting someone else mix it for us. I remember being at an award show and talking with David about firing our producer when the guy got 'Producer of the Year.' What he was doing was fine for other artists, but it didn't work for us. He took the character out of the band's sound."

DLR ARMY: In between the end of your rock career and the beginning of Big House you and David were approached by all kinds of folks concerning material and studio work. How did that happen?

BYROM: "When New Frontier broke up, all of a sudden David and I were getting approached by people like the Stray Cats and David Lee Roth. They wanted us to write songs for them. I was put in touch with Eddie Money and I toured with him and made some real money from the first time in my career! That was pretty nice!"
    "I played on and produced two records for Eddie Money; 'Right Here' and 'Unplug It In.' Right around that time David Lee called up and asked if we had any songs for one of his solo records."

DLR ARMY: So how did DLR come into the picture? How was it that he heard about you and David and the songs you guys were working on?

BYROM: "The first time we met, we didn't actually meet. My manager at the time was at this stuffed shirt industry party and he happened to see Dave there. Well apparently David Lee wasn't having any fun so he decided to sneak out. My manager was also looking to take a break so he headed into the men's room, where he found David lighting up a joint. Dave introduced himself and offered him a hit and in the middle of all that my manager said, 'You know, you've got to hear my boys,' and gave him a tape."

DLR ARMY: So obviously Dave liked the song?

BYROM: "He called up and told me he was looking for stuff for his latest record and asked me if I had anything so we sent him some songs. He loved it. We waited a long time for that one. You know, the Nile Rogers song is actually my least favorite version."

DLR ARMY: That's not the original?

BYROM: "He must have spent $200,000 recording that song. He actually recorded it three times. First with Bob Rock, another time with Bob Ezrin, I think, and then with Nile. Personally, I love the Bob Rock version. I thought Nile did a good job, but Bob's version blew me away."

DLR ARMY: Tell us about "She's My Machine." What inspired you, besides the obvious, and how did the song come together?

BYROM: "David and I wrote that song in the car and finished it before we even got to the studio. It was just that simple. I really liked 'She's My Machine.' We demoed it but never actually put it on a record or anything. It's a good tune."

DLR ARMY: What about the other song Dave recorded, "Don't Piss Me Off." How did that come about?

BYROM: "I was in a band called The Shifters when we wrote that song. We did a couple of records but never got signed by a major. I wanted to do blues and the rest of the band wanted to do rock, like Aerosmith or someone like that. I wanted to do straight blues. That was a great band though. Brett Tuggle was in there, Steve Hunter, Freebo (the bass player in Bonnie Raitt's band). I remember one night we opened up for Pat Benetar and did nothing but pure blues songs. The crowd was loving it, and it was one of my favorite nights onstage.
    "When David Lee called up and asked for another song I suggested that one. Hell, most of his band had already played it anyway. David said that he had to study my vocal for 3 months before he was able to pull it off like that. I got to hand it to him, he nailed it."

DLR ARMY: You were happy with the way it turned out?

BYROM: "I thought it was great. I always liked his voice, we like a lot of the same people so we've been influenced by some of the same stuff. We were on the phone one day talking and I heard some music in the background. I said 'Who is that you've got playing?' He said it was Ray Charles, 'Daddy Ray.' I told him that Ray Charles was just about my favorite singer and he said 'Monty, I only listen to three singers; Ray Charles, the guy from ZZ Top - and you. That was quite a compliment."

DLR ARMY: Dave seemed to really dig what he was doing around the "YFLM" period, although the records didn't sell as well as previous efforts.

BYROM: "I was on the road with Eddie when David Lee called me up one night. Man was he excited, I tell you what, he doesn't need anyone to speak for him. He said, 'Monty, I have just changed the face of rock n' roll as we know it. I have just taken it to another level...' and continued to go on like that for quite a while. He was really excited about working with Nile and liked what he was doing. I said, 'David you don't need a publicist man, you just sold me brother!'"

DLR ARMY: What was your first impression of Dave?

BYROM: "I really liked him, I thought he was a really nice guy. The first time we met we were sitting in some fancy bar in New York City having a couple of drinks and he let loose with two hours of the most amazing rock n' roll stories you have ever heard. I tell you what, that man has lived several lives. It was just amazing stuff. I mean he made me blush. I think he heard all the stories about the life when he was growing up and he really wanted to live the life that some of his heroes like Jimi and Janis and the rest lived. And he did it."
    "He turned to me after we first met and said 'You know all those stories you heard about me when I was in Van Halen? They're not true - I'm twice as bad!"

DLR ARMY: Dave always said that rock n' roll was a full contact sport!

BYROM: "... in every sense of the word!"

DLR ARMY: So what were some of those stories?

BYROM:  "Sorry. Can't go there. They're not mine to share. Some of them would blow your mind though..."

DLR ARMY: Billy Sheehan said he had some pretty good stories too. But he wouldn't share either. Nobody wants to give up the goods!

BYROM:  "Billy is in a band with one of my best friends in the world, Eric Martin."

DLR ARMY: Mr. Big?

BYROM:  "Yeah, I've known Eric for a long, long time. We never played in the same band together but our bands played a lot of the same gigs. That boy can sing! He's also a hell of a nice guy."


DLR ARMY: You've told me before that you were destined to be a musician since you were a little boy.

BYROM:  "I used to stand outside on my grandma's porch when I was 5 years-old and sing 'Tiger By the Tail' (a Buck Owens classic. Music is just something I've always done, something I've always been into. My father was a musician and absolutely influenced me. I knew every Hank Williams song by the time I was 8."

DLR ARMY: You guys were able to actually play with Buck awhile back right?

BYROM:  "We just recorded one of his songs called 'Big in Vegas' at the Crystal Palace with Buck. We grew up under the shadow of Buck-a very big shadow. To actually work with him, to have him validate us means everything."

DLR ARMY: What is the Big House sound? Do you guys consider yourselves country?

BYROM:  "Well, we are a lot different than what most bands in Nashville are doing. There's blues, there's soul. Part of our problem on a label was that no one could slap a label on what we are doing. The best thing about not being on a major is that we get to do things our way now. Part of the problem is that at a major you always have somebody trying to tell you what you have to do, they always want to give you some 'help.' They don't have anything to do so they have to stick their nose in what you're doing. You know what? I'm 40-years-old and I can't have people sticking their nose in what I'm doing so we can be the flavor of the month. Now we're doing things like producing this record by ourselves. We're making sure we're happy with what we put out."

DLR ARMY: You guys had about three hugely popular country singles like "Cold Outside" and "Faith," but like another cool country band I dig, The Mavericks, country radio and some of the fans just couldn't get what you were doing.
    Now you guys are trying to expand your audience and get more of the rock n' roll crowd involved. Is that a stretch or where those the people you wanted to be playing to all along?

BYROM:  "The music industry has always been like that. If you look at all the performers that really changed country like, Hank Williams, or Merle Haggard -some of them got run out of Nashville on a rail. So did we. We were easily categorized and didn't want to be. That hurt us because the people who were supposed to be getting us on the radio didn't know what the hell they were supposed to do with us."
    "There's a little of everybody in our audience, we can't point to a 'demographic.' It's college students, cowboys, rockers and hippies, and they all seem to get along. Our audiences are the best kinds of crowds, they come for the music."

DLR ARMY: So after "Woodstock Nation" comes out in May it's back on the road.

BYROM:  "It's what we love to do. We like to play, that's why we got into this business in the first place. The best part of the gig, besides playing, is getting to meet a lot of great, interesting people that we normally wouldn't get a chance to. We also get to eat a lot of great food and go to a lot of really wonderful places."


On Thursday March 23, Big House performed at the Exit/In in Nashville in support of "Woodstock Nation." It was taped for "Western Beat," with Billy Brock, for CMT.

On March 25, Big House performed in Dallas, TX at the "Tooblue Rhythm and
Blues Festival" with Wilson Pickett,  Dr. John, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Irma Thomas, C. J. Chennier, Bernard Allison, The Blind Boys of Alabama and local choirs.
  For an update on Big House concert dates, check the tour schedule on this website, www.bighouse-fanclub.com.

Special thanks to the WebQueen  at bighouse-fanclub.com for providing the images and sounds for this interview.