Billy Sheehan Interview: Talks DLR

[chefcraig]

You can only be saigon kicked in the balls for so long before you stop buying the shit.

Uuugh. My band opened for those jugheads sometime in the late 1990s, and you'll never meet a group of more drugged out, overly ego-ed twits in the music business. For one thing, the drummer's kit was comprised of bits and pieces from three separate and mismatching sets, all held together with twine, duct tape and hope. The bastards refused to allow us a sound check, yet spent an additional 45 minutes or so getting further loaded in their caravan, which consisted of a Ford F150 pick up with a camper shell stapled to it and a beat up station wagon. These dorks wouldn't even allow us to put up our stage banner, yet spent the evening playing Black Sabbath and Zeppelin covers.

Reading the writing on the wall, I would soon quit the music business completely a short time later.

[DLR Bridge]

Exactly. It was the bands like Mr. Big that contributed to the late 80's demise of hard rock music. You can only be saigon kicked in the balls for so long before you stop buying the shit.

Reminds me of this trifecta:

Mr. Big
Extreme
Saigon Kick

3 bands that effectively tore my face off with their live performance (guitar-wise for the most part) that attained commercial success with sap! I still remember going to those shows and picking out of the crowd who was there to sing along with To Be With You, More Than Words and Love Is On The Way, then leave.

[sonrisa salvaje]

The problem I have with Sheehan is that he stated more than once that the album's final print was essentially over produced and wasn't raw and hard enough. That's fine, but Jesus, he was in Mr. Big and had no problem on slickly produced powerballad radio-whore songs later on...

Exactly. It was the bands like Mr. Big that contributed to the late 80's demise of hard rock music. You can only be saigon kicked in the balls for so long before you stop buying the shit.

[Nickdfresh]

My issue with Billy is that on one hand is talking about how he struggled all those years and then all of a sudden he is playing packed arenas with Dave and how great it was. Then on the very next album he doesn't agree with the direction, still plays on the record, and then splits? How about some loyalty Billy? So because he didn't agree with the direction he goes and forms Mr. Big to do what? Play sub par hard rock music in the style of the late 80's hair band craze. Wow. You really showed everyone Bill. Mr. Big opened for Rush for a while in 1990. I can't imagine any Rush fans giving 2 shits about them. Then they opened for the Scorpions for a while on triple bills beside the likes of White Lion, Aldo Nova and Great White. Thus, i ask did Billy win or lose?

The problem I have with Sheehan is that he stated more than once that the album's final print was essentially over produced and wasn't raw and hard enough. That's fine, but Jesus, he was in Mr. Big and had no problem on slickly produced powerballad radio-whore songs later on...

[Zing!]

Sadly the mix of the album hurts some of the other stuff for me. Like Bullethead. A favorite unreleased song of mine that finally see's the light of day and the mix is off. Still happy it's on there but some of the energy is lost.

Agreed. Ed seems buried on that one in particular (and Big River and Beats Workin', and Blood And Fire..) turn up the goddamn guitar!

[78/84 guy]

Well, YFLM has a lot of good stuff and some stuff I can take or leave ... but I'd say 'Big Train' kicks more ass than what I think is pretty cliched stuff like 'It's Showtime'. I not that interested in how technically good Becker was as a player, he just never did anything for me. By the time ALAE came out I thought "another gunslinger", cos after a while there's only so much post-Eddie Van Halen guitar playing that you can listen to if the songs aren't there.

There's plenty DLR solo stuff that I'd take over a coupla tracks on ADKOT - namely, 'As Is', 'Chinatown', and 'Honeybabysweetydoll' all of which might be great instrumentals workouts, and Ed kicks ass on them, but they fall short as songs, and for me CVH's big strength (and where they stand the test of time) is that they wrote better songs than all those other bands who followed them.

Wouldn't mind seeing VH play a few DLR tunes onstage, but of course it will never happen.

Funny the taste people have. I think those 3 songs are the best on the album. I think they rip ! They sound the best produced or mixed to me. And the rest are not even close in my book. Maybe Blood & Fire. But that is old music. Sadly the mix of the album hurts some of the other stuff for me. Like Bullethead. A favorite unreleased song of mine that finally see's the light of day and the mix is off. Still happy it's on there but some of the energy is lost.

[ELVIS]

Bump and Grind would be good, but Dave couldn't sing it...

[DLR Bridge]

And I'd like to hear a Van Halenized Big Train live...

I always thought that tune sounded like something Dave had been carrying around, lyrically at least, since his first VH stint. Just something about it.

I'd love to hear this version of VH do Flex. Don't know that I'd ever want to hear Ed playing a Vai tune. That would just get all weird.

[ELVIS]

Well, YFLM has a lot of good stuff and some stuff I can take or leave ... but I'd say 'Big Train' kicks more ass than what I think is pretty cliched stuff like 'It's Showtime'. I not that interested in how technically good Becker was as a player, he just never did anything for me. By the time ALAE came out I thought "another gunslinger", cos after a while there's only so much post-Eddie Van Halen guitar playing that you can listen to if the songs aren't there.

There's plenty DLR solo stuff that I'd take over a coupla tracks on ADKOT - namely, 'As Is', 'Chinatown', and 'Honeybabysweetydoll' all of which might be great instrumentals workouts, and Ed kicks ass on them, but they fall short as songs, and for me CVH's big strength (and where they stand the test of time) is that they wrote better songs than all those other bands who followed them.

Wouldn't mind seeing VH play a few DLR tunes onstage, but of course it will never happen.

I agree with everything, except As Is kicks ass in every way possible...

And I'd like to hear a Van Halenized Big Train live...

Too bad MA is MIA...

[DLR Bridge]

... 'As Is', 'Chinatown', and 'Honeybabysweetydoll' all of which might be great instrumentals workouts, and Ed kicks ass on them, but they fall short as songs, and for me CVH's big strength (and where they stand the test of time) is that they wrote better songs than all those other bands who followed.

Very true, plus, even though the majority of us didn't have all of the club days bootlegs when the 6 pack came out, you can listen to the songs from the first 3 albums and just tell these were crafted by a foursome that played them hundreds of times in clubs before they were recorded. All of the interplay of Dave's vocal flourishes within the rhythms of the songs tells that these songs were on the stove for some time before they were recorded. While the 3 ADKOT songs you mentioned stand as great and enjoyable tunage, they lack that characteristic of being "wood shed" created, to use Dave's term, by the rhythm section and the singer all at once.

[Zing!]

Best solo album Dave did after EEAS was DLR Band in my book. I'd take that over ALAE any day of the week.

[VHscraps]

Well, YFLM has a lot of good stuff and some stuff I can take or leave ... but I'd say 'Big Train' kicks more ass than what I think is pretty cliched stuff like 'It's Showtime'. I not that interested in how technically good Becker was as a player, he just never did anything for me. By the time ALAE came out I thought "another gunslinger", cos after a while there's only so much post-Eddie Van Halen guitar playing that you can listen to if the songs aren't there.

There's plenty DLR solo stuff that I'd take over a coupla tracks on ADKOT - namely, 'As Is', 'Chinatown', and 'Honeybabysweetydoll' all of which might be great instrumentals workouts, and Ed kicks ass on them, but they fall short as songs, and for me CVH's big strength (and where they stand the test of time) is that they wrote better songs than all those other bands who followed them.

Wouldn't mind seeing VH play a few DLR tunes onstage, but of course it will never happen.

[chefcraig]

very true. sometimes i hear those 80's bands today and it's pretty disgusting how watered down and bad they got after 1986 or so.

I hear ya. As much as I loved Cinderella, listening to that stuff today reveals how much they sounded like AC/DC with Zeppelin-like production values. So essentially, I liked what I thought they sounded like, as opposed to the band's own inerrant qualities. And when they ran out of ideas about halfway through their second album, I pretty much gave up and moved on, sending me back to The Replacements and Husker Du.

[thismusicsux]

Nah. Change was due. Lots of weak bands riding the coat tails of bands that were already riding coat tails. Watered down hair bands had to die when they did.

very true. sometimes i hear those 80's bands today and it's pretty disgusting how watered down and bad they got after 1986 or so.

[thismusicsux]

The best way to solve it is to take 3 blank c.d.s and make a your own best of from all his albums. Worked for me !

ah..ha. now that is a great idea.