We Want Names! We Want Names!...

Having re-read my last post, I need to clarify something about those pesky reference cd's because I don't want to mislead anyone. After having listened to them to figure out what's going on with the monitors and room, these producers "might" put on a genre specific track. I usually do but more often than not they didn't. I can only remember twice during the middle of mixing albums the producers/engineers actually listened to some other track. And that was for only about 15 seconds.

Once these guys know what's going on with the system, they are concentrated on the music in front of them, not what somebody else has done. "But I read that CLA does...) Like I said, I have never worked with him or studied what he does. He might do it differently but I doubt it. I have just gotten into the habit of following what the people I worked with did. If it works for you, great. If it doesn't, that's great as well.

Then I got to the end of my post: Goodnight? Is that how this post ends? That doesn't seem right.

As I was packing away those old memories I noticed several laying around. Two here, two there, and one way over there. This is like herding cats and I really couldn't understand the meaning of it. Then it hit me. I can't mention names of the Producers or the artist I worked with them on those albums. They took me into their confidence and private conversations will always stay private. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

But what about people I worked with in a more direct way? A label or management company that had specifically hired me, not somebody I worked for to work on an album. Or maybe even a completely different situation entirely. That would be ok, right?

I could tell you stories about working with GNR or countless other bands. Remember, I am a rocker as Phil Lynott would say. I didn't always work on slick produced Pop/Rock albums with triple scale session musicians. I preferred working on rock n roll albums. Those were some of the first memories to be packed away though.

This business is crazy. You know it, I know it, everybody knows it. It can be overwhelming at times, frustrating at others and even depressing. That's the bad part of it. But you know what, there are actually a lot of good people in the industry as well and you don't always know when you will run into them.

There are some people in the business that are always know as good guys. People like Lemmy. Get past his gruff demeanor and he was great. That why everybody loved him. No, this is a different type of story.

Are these the most famous people I've worked with or had as friends? Hardly. Most young people on here won't recognize a single name. The older posters might recognize one or two. If you recognize all of them, you are old. That's besides the point. These are the people that might not have a great reputation but are really good people. It's a shame because in some small way all five touched my life for the better and they might not even have realize it.

We Want Names!!!

OK, here we go
#5 Riki Rachtman and #4 Taime Downe. Like I said, this is going to be a different type of story. Riki from MTV and Taime from Faster Pussycat. These guys had a horrible reputation in the industry. Still do I believe. Better known for having owned the Cathouse nightclub in LA. What is less well known about them is they also owned a nightclub called Camp Hollywood. While I would be there playing pool with the guys from Warrant, they would be preparing and giving free food to the literally starving musicians in LA. Giving something back to the community. They always treated me with utmost respect and they earned mine. After all these years, time to return the favor. Hats off to you guys!

#3 C.C. DeVille and #2 Chris Holmes. C.C. from Poison and Chris from W.A.S.P. Two names that will live in infamy. Chris is actually best known for the pool scene in The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years. Down to earth would never be used to describe these two but you know what would... Humble. They really are nice guys. They can tell you stories that just make you cry there so funny. Glad to see C.C. still successful and I believe he's probably the happiest he has ever been. Chris I hope takes care of his health.

And Finally:
#1 Dweezil Zappa.

What, you were expecting Van Halen? VH and DLR stories have been packed away already, sorry.

I got to work with Dweezil when he was relatively young, not a kid though. Even then he was a fine musician. I don't know what it was, but things just clicked. Liked the same music, same gear, I don't know. Never cared for his father's music. Respected yes, just not my cup of tea. Maybe that was part of it, I was one of the few people who didn't constantly ask about his father. I was more interested in how he was doing.

We were never BFF, but did become good friends. Later, his career would move in one direction, mine another, and we would see each other less and less. But when we did run into each other, it was always with a big smile on his face and an open hand in friendship. "Man, how are you doing?", "Come on up to the house", " I'm doing a TV show, comedown to the studio, then well go get lunch". Well, time marches on and before long we would never see each other again.

Every so often, I will read a magazine or go online to see how my old friend is doing. Who he is recording with or where he is touring. What never surprises me each time is how he has improved as a musician.

I have always said I don't regret anything in my career. Wouldn't have done a single thing different because I always chose the best option with the limited knowledge I had while events where happening. Now I don't know. Maybe I should have spent just a little more time fostering certain friendships and what is really important in life and a little less time always pursuing the brass ring. I just don't know.

I have been saddened to see the public fighting of the estate in the news in recent years and the harsh things said about Dweezil. You don't believe it for a minute. He is the still the same person I became friends with all those years ago. Bright smile on his face and open hand in friendship. Some things never change. Sure, he might look at life through more jaundiced eyes, he might even be more cynical. All I can say is Dweezil, your father would be proud!

Well that's it. The final five stories I can now put back in the memory box and put on the shelf. Remember, this is not the end of the Book, just the end of a chapter. I'm still not even sure how important a chapter it is.

Wish I could come up with one final eloquent statement to wrap things up but I think it will be better for you to do that. Yes these stories are true. They might seem "amazing" to some and "fantastical" to others. Well, the GNR ones are pretty good but... Not to me. It just is. It's part of my life. Like the color of my eyes. It just "Is" if you know what I mean.

I really appreciate people taking time to read this post and respond. I don't know who has gotten more out of it. You or me? Hopefully with both did equally.

 

Say goodnight, Gracie.

Thanks for sharing your memories. I guess we can go 50/50 partners on who benefited from your relating your experience this incarnation. I for one always enjoy listening to and telling a good story, maybe it's the Scot in me. Again, thanks, and please step in every once and a while to critique any music that you feel could benefit from your y(ears) of experience. Namaste.

 

superliquidsunshine, as always, thank you for the kind words. I had decided if just one person would get something out of this post, it was worth my time. There are some real universal truths there so I hope people will read it and pick up on them.

You exhibit all the signs of success. Not just in the music business but more importantly in life. Believe me, people notice! Another tip, always surround yourself with other successful people. What I can't tell is longevity and that part is completely up to you. Don't get discouraged. Take a deep breath and relax, it will come. Just keep working on your craft through the days, months and years ahead. Enjoy the journey. I would be happy to call you a friend.

Two more, and hopefully the last, things about those pesky reference cd's. I'm currently finishing building a small editing room. One of the reasons I've had the time to post. I think it will work out great for me. The large main tracking and mixing studio will only be used for that. So tracking, fly tracks over for editing, then fly them back for mixing. I'm excited and should make my life so much easier. Easier is always better haha.

Well, the room is not completed yet but since we had been discussing these "pesky reference tracks", I decided to fire the system up to listen. Put on "Start the Car". Fifteen seconds in and it's not sounding that good. I sure hope I didn't mislead anybody. After all, it has been a little while since I've listened to it but I know this track sounds great. Fifteen more seconds and then I'm thinking, no, there is a problem with the system. Three minutes later, I've isolated the issue. So within all of three minutes and thirty seconds (less time than the song) I was able to figure out the strength, weaknesses and even issues on a system I was unfamiliar with.

My problem was that I had started to second guess myself. We all make mistakes. Usually your first instinct is the correct one. Go with it.

And the second point: Whenever I get a cd, first thing I do is read the linear notes to find out who Produced and mixed it, who's playing on it and where it's been recorded at, with a grain of salt of course, please see my previous tip about linear notes. But I have owned "Start the Car" for so many years, the only things I could remember was that it was Produced by James Newton Howard and that it was all A list players but not which ones. So I went to re-read the credits: Pat Mastelotto, Tim Pierce, Jeff Porcaro, Leland Sklar, Lenny Castro ect... Over the years I have worked with almost everyone on the album. On a side note, Jack Blades and Tommy Shaw are great guys!!! And yes, they're on the album as well.

Then I get to a name on the credits: mixed by Chris Lord-Alge. Are you kidding me? How could I have forgotten that? I had almost written earlier in the post "play these drums for CLA and I bet he'll think there great". Well, I guess he would, he mixed them haha. It's even funnier because his name has come up in this post so often. I have always respected his work (even though I like Tom's better), but man, thanks again CLA, fantastic job!!!

superliquidsunshine, if you would like, I would gladly send you a wav file of "Start the Car". You can probably buy the cd for $1.00 off Amazon and the whole album is good but this is the best track. Let me know.

OK, back to the editing room.

 

This post seems to be like Dracula, it just won't die. I think I've run everybody off but since it's my post I can write anything I want to while I'm waiting for some new SSD's. This is one of the universal truths I had mentioned even though I got to it in such a circuitous manner.

Here we go... Famous Producer dude in LA. B level, he had some hits and owned his own studio, also B level. I had met him maybe twice. Typical handshake how are you doing type of thing. His specialty is Pop/Dance music so I'm never going to work with him but he brings by his new "discovery". He wants to introduce her to some other people in the industry and hopefully build up a little buzz about her.

She was a British singer and had several very minor hit singles in England. The Producer had gotten her a contract with a large American label and was going to break her big over here. Besides this time, I met her two more times in basically the same situation.

Let me get one thing out of the way. Was she good looking? Yes, very. Almost all the girls in that style of music are. But when I say girl, I was probably the exact age as she was at the time.

Well, to say the reception I received from her was cold would be the understatement of the year. "Maybe you were star stuck" I've never been into that and even if her name was Jimmy Page (which would be odd for a girl) I would treat her the same way. Nice and with respect. "Well maybe you were hitting on her". No again. That's not good in the business. If she hit on me, then yes, but she didn't so I didn't.

For some odd reason we get a call that she's having problems with her amp and if somebody could look at it. She's using it to write songs and they couldn't find anybody on such short notice. Maybe we could help them out. They ask everybody else. Nope, they had met her as well. So I said Yeah, I'll do it. When and where.

My day was almost over so we agreed on 6:30 and luckily it was not too far out of my way. The record label was renting her a house off of Los Feliz near the Griffith Observatory. For those of you not familiar with this area of Los Angeles, these are basically two bedroom homes in this neighborhood built around the 1930's I believe. Maintained, nice and relatively safe but very modest. Go a little further south and bring a gun but this section's ok.

Get to the house and no car in the driveway. Oh good, she's not here. I'll knock on the door and nobody will answer and I can leave. At least I tried. So I knock.

She opens the door wearing nothing but black see-through lace lingerie. Did I wake everybody up? I wish that was all she was wearing. In reality she opens the door, looks at me and says something to the effect "Oh it's you". Little Miss Charming strikes again.

As I enter the house, there is one green lazy-boy type chair sitting in the middle of the living room, a guitar, amp, and a tape ghetto blaster to record ideas on. I don't think it even had a radio on it. I could see into the bedroom and a single mattress laying on the floor. No TV, radio, or another stick of furniture in the whole house. Nothing. Sure, the record company rented her a house to stay in, they just didn't rent any furniture or car for her. There is no reason for her to be living like this. I was not happy.

Well, let me fix this amp and get out of here. Plug it in. Microphonic V1 preamp tube, easy fix. I explained the problem and that I can switch it out with the V4 reverb tube and she would be good to go. She didn't even have a reverb tank plugged in to it anyway. I told her that had I know this was problem, I would have just given her some new tubes. I've got boxes of them.

"That was fast" she said and then she gave me this sort of puzzled look. She walked in the kitchen and pulled out a checkbook. "How much do I owe you?" In these situations, the record company will give you a small weekly per diem for food. Hope you don't eat a lot! If this girl had fifty dollars in that account I would be surprised. "You don't owe me anything. I never expected to be paid" I told her. And that's the truth. "This is on my time so I can do whatever I want to".

Funny thing is, I could describe in vivid detail the type of jeans and blouse she was wearing, color and style of kitchen and even the color of the checkbook (white). But probably couldn't tell you what I had for lunch two days ago. Some things just make an impression on you.

After thanking me she said "Well let me fix us some tea". Now I like a cup of strong English tea as much as the next fellow, but since I'm a rule breaker, "Put some sugar in mine please". She told me about some of the musicians she had played with and Producers she had worked with in England but had no idea what LA would be like. "Yeah, it's a different world. That's for sure".

See, this girl is just lonely. She's thousands of miles from home, doesn't have a single friend in LA and the only time she can leave the house is going to or returning from the studio. This sucks! This is a bad, bad situation!

"And then did she put on the black lingerie?" No, no, no. I told you it's not one of those stories. The only thing that changes was she started treating me like she always should have, nice. That's it. I know it's hard but also try not to be too judgmental of other people because you don't always know the situation they are in. And this girl was in a horrendous one.

"Well, what happened to her?" Last I heard, her album sank like the Titanic, the label dropped her and they shipped her back to England. I imagine she quit the business shortly thereafter. Hey, I didn't say this was a happy story.

To clarify a few things, I can't think of a single minute of my life when things such as money or fame ever mattered. The driving force has always been and still is music. And If you think I helped her out just because she was a pretty girl, We'll, I'm sorry you hold me in such low regard. The reason I helped her was because it was the right thing to do. Be kind brother.

I think I will leave it at that. I hope those drives show up tomorrow!

 

@julianbre .. I lived in Topanga for 12 years. Lots of great music, musicians and artists, and as a whole maybe the closest knit community for its size in the country. Every party we played guitars which would as the night slowly wore on make way for the inevitable drum jam then fade back to mellow slow songs after midnight. It was always great when those passing through The Canyon, travelers would add a new flavor in the way of songs or a sweet harmonic voice we has never heard. It was nights and days like that which for me made American music great again, players leaving space and not walking over everyone else with super fast runs or trying to be the loudest in the circle. Everyone would be trying their best to blend in to make a sweet moment come true.

 

Fantastic story superliquidsunshine. The Topanga/Malibu area really is where the "California Sound" originated, except for the Beach Boys further south of course. And it is a VERY tight knit community.

I bet you have a hard time explaining to people that, even though LA is a large city, the music industry in actually pretty small. You might have had the percussionist from CS&N sitting in with you one night, Elton John's guitarist the next and who knows the third. Very cool my friend.