Tommy DeCarlo Audio Interview

From the way Tommy DeCarlo talks about his experience as the lead vocalist for legendary rock group Boston, the appreciation he has for the opportunity has not diminished at all. The former Home Depot employee recently talked to the folks at Melodicrockconcerts.com for about 36 minutes and shared some of his memories from the amazing journey has been on since he was discovered after posting some of his vocal performances on the internet.

You can tell that talking to DeCarlo is not like talking to a veteran rock star, and that’s kind of cool, since he sounds more like the guy next door than the guy on stage in front of screaming fans. Originally from Utica, New York, it’s easy to tell from his accent that he’s not native to the North Carolina home he shares with his wife and wife and two kids.

Although it’s not entirely clear what DeCarlo’s future with wind up being, he’s enormously grateful for the experience he had working with the band while touring with Styx last year. Spending time on the road with them evolved into a friendship with the guys from Styx that continues today. DeCarlo described his recent reunion with Styx at one of their shows as like seeing family.

Boston founder Tom Scholz is said to be working on new material, something DeCarlo would surely be interested in if he is invited to participate. Asked whether he would be willing to go on tour with Boston again, he jokingly says “Let me see. Let me think about that,” and then delivers a very decisive “Yes, I would love to.”

Despite the uncertainty of his future with Boston, DeCarlo is not sitting just around his house waiting for the phone to ring. He has involved himself in some of his own projects and reveals that he has been working with some writers and producers and doing jingles, which gives him some valuable experience in the studio. He describes it as a “great little gig,” and is something that probably allows him to continue to enjoy freedom from his old job at Home Depot.

Although I don’t know the exact details of Tommy DeCarlo’s employment status today and whether or not his musical endeavors earn him enough to pay the bills, I think the thought of returning to Home Depot after touring with Boston would be pretty tough on just about anyone. However, if it had to be done, DeCarlo strikes me as the kind of guy that has the humble, unassuming attitude that would allow him to put that orange apron right back on again and go back to helping customers navigate around the store.

I really kind of doubt that’s something he’s going to have to worry about though.

There’s a lot more in the interview which can be listened to at Melodicrockconcerts.com.

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Tags: Audio, Boston, interview, Tommy DeCarlo

Michael Anthony Talks Chickenfoot And Van Halen

Could any interview with any member of the new “supergroup” Chickenfoot be complete without some explanation regarding that crazy name? When the group’s bassist, Michael Anthony, talked with Detroit radio station WRIF recently, that was the first issue that came up, and much to everyone’s surprise, there actually is some logic behind the name choice.

Anthony admits that nobody seems to care for the name, but as he rightly points out, once you hear it you know who it is. It turns out the name was originally chosen when Anthony, Sammy Hagar and Chad Smith were jamming down at Hagar’s club. Since there were three of them, and a chicken’s foot has three prominent toes, the guys –- likely in the midst of a tequila-fueled evening – gave birth to the name that everyone seems to hate.

Anthony admits that they did spend some time researching other names and getting a bit frustrated when they plugged various selections into Google and discovered that another band was already using the name. When Google informed them that there were no results for any bands using the name "Chickenfoot,” Anthony goes ahead and admits that they “were just stupid enough to take it.”

Anthony also explains that the logo that they came up with for the band actually makes sense for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it kind of looks like a chicken foot and secondly, the peace sign, which closely resembles the logo, was referred to as “the footprint of the great American chicken” by some U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam era.

So, it appears that there is a little bit of history behind the choice of the name, although Anthony admits it was recognized only after the name had been chosen.

These days we also expect to hear something about the recent war of words that has been going on between Michael Anthony and Eddie Van Halen, and this interview did not disappoint. Anthony maintains that he never quit the band, despite Van Halen’s recent comments to Rolling Stone that he did. Don’t expect a lot of vitriol and insults directed towards Eddie however. Anthony doesn’t seem like that kind of guy and sounds like he would just like to move on and stop rehashing the past drama of his years with Van Halen.

Although he does not come right out and say it, Anthony does hint that life in Van Halen was a bit like living under a dictatorship. He seems quite happy with the way things work in his new band, and describes his later years in Van Halen as a more “choked,” indicating that he didn’t have the creative input that he may have liked and was more-or-less told what to play.

According to Anthony, the creative process at work inside Chickenfoot is much more democratic and each member is free to run with his own ideas and freely inject as much creative input as he wants.

There’s a lot more to listen to in this interview, including a little chat that the jocks have after they get off the line with Michael Anthony where they basically side with Anthony over the whole Van Halen thing. Going on my own gut feeling regarding that issue, I’d say that I have to agree with them.

Check out the full audio interview at WRIF.

Tags: Audio, Chickenfoot, Detroit, Eddie Van Halen, interview, Michael Anthony, WRIF Radio

ZZ Top: Still Surprising Each Other After All These Years

The current Aerosmith/ZZ Top tour seems to be favoring the bad boys from Boston when it comes to media coverage, but the enduring rock legends from Texas who are sharing the stage with them have the distinction of being together a bit longer than even Aerosmith’s nearly four decades as a group. In fact, this year marks ZZ Top’s 40th anniversary.

That fact is not lost on Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry who readily admits that, “They’ve been together longer than us.”

What makes that even more impressive is that ZZ Top is the same three guys that started out together all those years ago. And like those couples you hear about that stay married for 50 or 60 years who are asked what the secret of their enduring relationship is, Billy Gibbons was recently asked that very same question.

“I think first and foremost is the fact we still enjoy getting to do this more than anything we could imagine and somehow that translates into the nightly performance,” Gibbons says. “Those two hours on stage, that’s the real payoff. That’s when we get together and we may not know what each other is gonna do. Some of it is because we’re trying to outguess the next guy, trying to think of what he’s gonna do next.”

Now the fact that three guys who have been playing with each other for forty years can still surprise and challenge each other on stage says a lot about their dedication to their craft. ZZ Top obviously loves what they do and still they remain sharp and energetic enough to tour on a regular basis.

ZZ Top is currently on the road with Aerosmith until September.

Check out all of Gibbons’ comments on Spinner.

Tags: 40th Anniverssary, Aerosmith, Billy Gibbons, interview, tour, ZZ Top

Eddie Van Halen Counts His Blessings

The one word that might best summarize Eddie Van Halen’s outlook on life these days is ‘thankful.’ In a recent interview with Spinner, the guitar legend emphasizes just how grateful he is to be in a place where everything seems to have finally come together for him.

That may sound strange when we’re talking about a talented musician who truly made it, and has experienced the highs of living the life of an honest-to-God rock star, but like so many others who find themselves in the celebrity spotlight, the tremendous highs are often accompanied by devastating lows, and Eddie Van Halen has not been spared his share.

After enduring battles with cancer and addiction, Van Halen sounds like a man who has finally managed to gain the upper hand in his long battle with the demons that haunted him through the decades. Numerous references to ‘God’ reveal an Eddie Van Halen that sounds more humble than might be expected of someone who is considered by many to be the best rock guitarist of all time.

Even so, Van Halen does not hesitate to take credit where he believes it is due, mentioning three times during the interview that he writes all of the group’s music. He does acknowledge, however, that the group – at least in its current incarnation – is indeed a democracy, and as a result, he does sometimes get outvoted. “I’m not a tyrant, as a lot of people think,” he says. “I just expect other people, if you’re in this band, to work as hard as I do.”

Asked whether he has a different appreciation for where he is at with his life and music these days, he responds by saying: “Yeah, I thank God on my knees that I’m alive and obviously to be sober and to be working with my son. I’m so damn blessed it’s beyond words.”

To read the entire interview, visit Spinner.

Tags: Addiction, Eddie Van Halen, Health, interview, Sober

Def Leppard Interviews: Joe Elliot And Phil Collen

When it comes to album sales, British rockers Def Leppard are in good company. Very good company. They are, in fact, one of just five groups to have recorded two albums that have earned  the RIAA’s Diamond status. Yeah, that’s one level above Multi-Platinum. Who are the other four groups that share this distinction? That would be The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Van Halen.

With the U.S. leg of their tour with Poison and Cheap Trick a little over two weeks away, four Country Music Television award nominations (who would have thought?) and the re-release of two of their best-selling albums just days away, there’s plenty for the boys from Yorkshire to talk about these days.

Frontman Joe Elliott recently had a talk with In The News and shared his thoughts about the band’s success and some of the challenges they have faced over a career that has spanned three decades.

Elliott credits the groups success in North America – something that was more elusive in their native U.K. – to the birth of MTV. “In America, it had gone wall-to-wall MTV, everywhere from LA to New York, Toronto to Miami, everyone was watching it, because they’d never seen anything like it before,” he says.

That led to the exposure the group needed, which resulted in a deluge of requests for radio stations to play the group’s music that their new fans had discovered on MTV. It wasn’t long before Def Leppard was headlining tours, playing packed venues with 50,000-plus fans and breaking Led Zeppelin ticket sales records in some U.S. cities.

It’s hard to talk about Def Leppard without mentioning drummer Rick Allen, whose tragic car accident resulted in the loss of his left arm in 1984, a circumstance that, according to Elliott, actually made Allen a better drummer.

“He plays more to the song than the ego. If a drummer can do a complicated fill he will. But if he can’t, you can prove to yourself you don’t need it,” Elliot reports. Something that actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it. As an amateur drummer who has the odd distinction of being someone who was never into drum solos, I know exactly what Elliott is talking about.

When asked about whether going on the road again for a 40-city tour will be grueling or great, Elliott responds enthusiastically, saying the group can do “do 40 dates for breakfast!” A confident claim that should make for high expectations among fans who plan to be in the audience.

Guitarist Phil Collen also set aside a little time to talk to Independent News & Media about what he’s been up to and how he managed to survive the decadence of the band’s early years.

Now a vegan, Collen says  “I’ve felt weird about eating meat since I was a kid,” and proudly reports that he’s the “picture of health at 51.” Although he acknowledges that there was a time in his life when his health was not a top priority.

Asked about his former reputation as a boozer, Collen admits that his drinking eventually resulted in blackouts. Realizing that he didn’t like being out of control he decided to sober up.

Collen also talks a bit about the group’s disappointment with their record label, and how they do not get the kind of support from them that they think they should be getting. “…you pay a publishing company to protect you — and then everybody’s downloading your stuff and they don’t do anything about it,” he says.

Def Leppard’s summer tour with Poison and Cheap Trick gets underway on June 23rd in Camden, New Jersey.

For the full Joe Elliott interview, check out In The News, and for the Phil Collen Interview see Independent.ie.

Tags: 2009, Cheap Trick, Def Leppard, interview, Joe Elliott, Phil Collen, Poison, tour