Tagged: interview
Apollo Papathanasio – in his own words
Finally – time to go live with the Apollo-interview that I did recently.
Read about Apollo’s visit here:
http://lita77777.blog.com/2013/04/07/if-all-interviews-were-like-this/ = [and photos from the set at www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror]
The “camera guy” Henrik has been working hard all week editing the video. He did a great job, thanks Henrik!
And a big thanks to Apollo for taking time off on a Saturday to drive down to Malmo for this interview eventhough he had to be at rehearsal with Spiritual Beggars the same day.
Below you will find the full transcript of the interview – including parts that had to be edited out of the actual video (cause it was too long).
I also made a list of topics discussed in the video to make it easier for the stressed, modern rocker to find exactly what he/she wants to hear more about – straight away. :)
So here it is – Apollo Papathanasio in his own words. Enjoy.
Leaving Firewind, what happened? 0,38
How did the band react? 2,06 Are you still friends? 4,13 The harsh reality of the music business 4,49 What's happening with Evil Masquerade? (and Spiritual Beggars) 5,25 Joining 3 different types of bands (Firewind, Evil Masquerade, Spiritual Beggars) How/why? 7,50 Feeling like a full member of the band, or a hired gun? 8,55 The new Spiritual Beggars video 10,42 The Spiritual Beggars tour 12,37 Loves the music teacher job/influencing kids 13,46 The plans for this year 16,35 Solo-project and collaboration with In Flames-Niclas 17,43 A message to the fans 19,00
COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT – INCLUDING BITS THAT WERE EDITED OUT OF THE VIDEO-VERSION
Hello Apollo, welcome to Malmoe. You had a good drive down here? Nice weather and all? It’s a nice day today.
Very nice, we should be outside!
Maybe next time! :)
You’re known for fronting many bands, but maybe mostly for fronting Firewind. A few months ago you quit the band and fell off the map. Nobody really knows what happened. This is your chance to give your version of what happened?!
It’s a long story. I felt that many times I couldn’t give 100% of myself and I felt that… I don’t wanna be the guy who pulls the breaks all the time because I cant take this gig or do that tour.
So, I started thinking about it and we talked about it many times. And in the end I decided to step down and give my place to somebody else.
You’ve been with Firewind for 10 years, did you think about this for a very long time or was it a specific moment that made you decide and feel that “this is it“…?
Yeah I felt that sometimes you can’t combine different things. I wanna do a lot of things… I also have my family and you have to make it economically. It’s not easy to play in a rock band. There are some duties… You have to be available all the time. I felt that I wanted to be able to do something else.
How did the band react when you told them that you were out?
Actually, they felt it. It wasn’t anything new, it’s been a process for a long time. We talked about it and there was no arguing. It was my own decision. I wish we could had played more shows, played 300 days a year, so that you could have made a living of it. Instead of playing in different bands – just play in only one band.
Then it would have worked. But the way it is today, people have to play in different bands… it’s not easy to combine all that stuff.
And sometimes I felt that eventhough I was there, I had my mind somewhere else sometimes. It has to be 100 per cent. 110 per cent.
Did you know that you were going to quit the band when you did the anniversary shows in Greece back in December?
Well…yeahh… Like I said, it’s been a process for maybe one, two years. I almost decided that I was about to leave, so the guys knew. We didn’t always talk about it, but I think they felt it. They knew that something was gonna happen. They were not shocked or whatever.
You never really made a “last show” or a farewell gig, you just somehow went “underground” and disappeared…
No, I can’t say I disappeared because I’m still gonna be a huge fan of Firewind and if they ever need anything I’m there for them. We have always been like brothers. I’m happy to have given my part in such a great band like Firewind.
So you guys are of course still friends…?
Of course, yes, yes! We don’t talk so much right now but after a while I think we’re gonna talk more. I mean, they are busy, I’m busy…. There’s no time for chats right now.
Are you at a point in your life where you realize that it’s not just about becoming a rock star – you’re experiencing the harsh reality of the music business?
Yeah, it is a tough business. You can go for doing something 100% full time and live in a tent or whatever to make it – or, like in my case, just do several gigs and record records but not tour that much. And in my case, that’s what it is.
But you’re still in Evil Masquerade and Spiritual Beggars, if you had decided to quit those two bands and made more time for Firewind, would that have worked? Was that ever a solution?
No, actually it has nothing to do with that, it has to do with how to make a living. If there had been more time for one band, really a full-time job, of course it would have been Firewind.
So many people try to make it, I know many guys who are in seven, eight bands just to keep it up. But I don’t think it’s good to do that, because you put your energy in too many different things and sometimes you lose that energy because of it. It’s better to minimize and focus on less things. So, it was not about choosing, or whatever. It has to do with how big the job is.
But you are still in two bands. If we take Evil Masquerade to begin with. What’s happening with that right now?
Yeah, we recorded a great album, Pentagram, it’s fantastic. Kind of doom with Rainbow and Black Sabbath-elements. I really like Henrik [Flyman] because he’s very creative. He has new ideas, that nobody else dares to do. He doesn’t follow a manual. He does what he likes. And with Spiritual Beggars it’s more straight forward rock’n’roll, which I like. Everybody decides together if we’re gonna do a tour or do gigs, so it’s easy. It’s two different kinds of types of business or whatever you wanna call it.
With Evil Masquerade, Henrik wants to push the band forward and get out more, which is difficult. It’s a small band. ‘Beggars is more established – since ’92, and there are people who really love the band. So it’s easier to do some touring. It’s a struggle for Henrik, I try to help him as much as I can. He’s touring with the band Lacrimosa and he keeps busy, it helps him find new ways to push Evil Masquerade.
When I look at the musical styles of the 3 bands that we mentioned – Firewind, Evil Masquerade and Spiritual Beggars… those bands are all in totally different areas of the rock spectrum…
Yeah.
What makes you decide that “Yeah, I’m gonna join this seventies band and then I’m gonna join this heavy metal band”?
Firstly, it’s good to play in bands who have different directions. I don’t think it’s a good idea to play in Firewind and play in a similar band that plays the same… there’s no point. If you wanna play in different bands you have to develop yourself to play in different styles. So I think it makes sense. Cause I really love the seventies, I always liked ‘Beggars. Since ’92 I’ve always been listening to what they released. It was an honor to join the band in 2009, I think, when they asked me.
Since you are singing in different bands – is it difficult to feel that you are a full member of one of these bands…? Do you feel that you’re just stepping in like a hired gun? Or do you actually feel like a member?
Firewind was, I think, the only band that I felt I was a member of. Cause everybody would contribute to the band, sometimes the ideas were bad, but in many ways it was perfect.
Evil Masquerade is the same because we’ve already made three albums, They did two earlier, before I was in the band. After three albums you feel that you’re “in“… But I think, somehow, that it has to be a band that’s starting together. Putting a band together from the beginning. When you step into new bands and become the last guy in, it will always be that you’re not a hundred per cent a member of a band.
With Firewind it was like a restart somehow. We recorded the album together. We went to the studio together, did some songs, and that made me feel that it was truly my band.
[Firewind with Apollo]
Evil Masquerade made something called Let’s Unite in Rock. Can you tell me more about that?
It was a guy in Australia, I think, whose relative died of cancer and he wanted to do something. He got in touch with Henrik and Henrik made this song. The idea was to do like back in the eighties, you know “Stars“, with Dio and all those people…? The all star project? The idea was to do something like that because it’s very rare today. Nobody does that.
It was an eighties thing, everybody used to do that…
Yes. It has to be simple, it has to be great and in the vein of the eighties. So Henrik made that great song, I like it. He called some people and everybody wanted to contribute.
You also just released a video with Spiritual Beggars…
Mike [Michael Amott] likes seventies vintage style. He likes new stuff and old stuff, it’s good to have from different worlds, We just decided to make it as simple as possible, as much as we could. So we did the recordings in a rehearsal studio and some parts of the whole band outdoors, It was to show people that we ARE a band, and we’re gonna keep going. The idea was to just make it as simple as possible. It’s real, you don’t have to put any effects on it. We only used old effects, like in the seventies, with the colors and whatever… Very straight forward, yeah.
You’re going on tour next week…?
Yeah, it’s gonna be great! The tour is only two weeks, but I like that, because you can put your energy into those two weeks fully. I prefer when it’s only two weeks here and two weeks there. I don’t really like 7-week tours. It’s too much, because somehow a band loses their energy along the way. So I think that two or three weeks is good. You go home for a month and then you can go out again. It’s the best thing to do.
[Spiritual Beggars – on tour right now]
You’re also working as a music teacher. Does it give you some kind of satisfaction to give the legacy of music to very young children and inspire them?
Oooh, yeah, yeah! Of course. I love my job, very much. It would be very difficult for me to leave my job. It gives me a lot. And I’m happy to contribute to students with my experience and teach them how they can work with their music, teach them how to play.
What ages are the kids that you’re teaching?
They are from around ten to sixteen.
Do they know that you’re touring with bands and stuff?
Yeah…I try not to talk about it but you know…Kids always find out…!
So, no metalheads that think you’re the coolest teacher they ever had?
Naah, It’s cool with music, everybody loves music. In that sense you can say it’s cool… I try to teach them what reality is like, to do new recordings, to play in bands… I put them together in bands and sometimes it’s like in real life, some people can’t work together and you can see it pretty quickly.
Have you influenced any kids that might not have been interested in music before, to start listening to rock’n’roll?
Yeah, I think I’ve made many students interested. Sometimes after two months they tell me that they bought a guitar or they ask me “I wanna buy a Fender, how much should it cost?”. Sometimes even parents want to play in bands, haha…! It’s fantastic, music is fun, it’s business it’s everything. You make good contacts, meet great people…
So what are your plans for this year, as far as you know right now? It’s the Spiritual Beggars tour – what else is happening that you know of…?
I’m gonna work a bit with Evil Masquerade, and these are the 20th anniversary shows with Beggars, so that’s why we’re putting out a new record. We’re gonna do the tour and we’ll try to do some festivals, in France and whatever, I don’t remember. And then some more gigs later this year.
And then, when this year is over, I will try to work with my stuff, together with some other people.
Any plans of doing something solo?
Yeah, I don’t wanna call it “solo” but I wanna work with other people. It’s just music, doesn’t matter if it’s solo or something else. I wanna work with people who I appreciate.
I have done many songs with Niclas Engelin from In Flames. We have like fifty songs that we can start working with, if he has the time. We will see what happens after this year. When I’m free and don’t have so much to do.
[Niclas Engelin – In Flames]
It’s not gonna be so much for Spiritual Beggars cause Michael is with Arch Enemy. So I’m trying to keep it cool this year and then I’m gonna start preparing something [in 2014]…
[Michael Amott with Angela Gossow – Arch Enemy]
Seems like there’s gonna be a lot for you eventhough you left Firewind!
Yeah. It’s always like that.
Do you have any message you want to give to your fans?
Keep on listening to heavy metal, rock’n’roll, and thank you for supporting me. We’re gonna meet again, soon!
Totally BITCHIN’!!
Yesterday was the most entertaining day in a while! I slept about 2 hours and I’ve been a zombie all day – I could scare little children now, for sure, but it was all worth it.
Yep, yesterday was STEEL PANTHER day. Interview and gig. And let me just say this…
I’ve been interviewing bands since I was 18 years old, too many people/bands to count or even remember. Well, if you’re following this blog you probably have a pretty good idea by now. Point is… I’ve never in my life done an interview like the one yesterday. :-)
I knew it would be different, and frankly, I wasn’t even sure I had the balls (well – pun intended actually) to do it. But a friend talked me into it, and after that conversation I decided that “what the hell…”. Now I’m glad I didn’t chicken out. :-D
But the interview didn’t go quite as I had expected – as if you ever CAN expect ANYTHING with these guys other than the UNexpected! I didn’t get to finish too many sentences so I guess they have answered other questions than what was originally intended, but it was hilarious. :-) The ladies from Universal were trying so hard not to laugh, I imagine they were about to explode..! :)
Will take a while to edit the video interview but it will be up here when it’s done!
And by the way – I hear that Twitter “acquired” posterous (where this blog is located…), which means that there’s a risk that this blog disappears with short notice.
If you like this stuff and don’t want to miss when and if it moves – add / like me on either Twitter or Facebook:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/InTheRearviewMirror
Twitter: www.twitter.com/lita77777
Whatever happens usually goes out to either one of those two channels. :)
PHOTOS from the INTERVIEW and the SHOW are already up on Facebook!
Stick around for (almost) everything else this weekend!
(Here’s a little preview from one of the backup cams. :))
Who the f*** is PANTERA??
That was my first thought when I “had to” schedule an interview with Pantera in February 1991.
Judas Priest were coming to Sweden, kicked off their Europan tour in Scandinavia, and they were bringing two opening acts: Annihilator and Pantera. At the time, I was preoccupied with getting an interview with Rob Halford. I just wanted to get the interview with Pantera over with.
It’s funny when I listen to the interview with Rex now, and some of the things he says. “Cowboys From Hell“, which is pretty much considered a classic metal album now – especially after the re-release in 2012, had only been out ONE WEEK in Sweden when this interview was made. And as there was no internet in 1991, people didn’t know who the hell Pantera were.
It’s hard to imagine that now – 14 million albums sold…
It was one of the few tours at the time that didn’t get cancelled – many bands did because it was risky to fly overseas when the Gulf War was still being fought. It actually ended officially 26 days after this conversation.
But several bands from the States chose to cancel their scheduled tours and promotion-visits to Europe.
This interview was conducted in a small, boring, dirty little room backstage at the Ice hall in Stockholm, shortly before the show.
I’m yet to find the interview with Dimebag, it’s here somewhere….
I just thought it might be appropriate to dig this one out now that Rex is about to write his autobiography. Should be interesting reading:
“The guitar sleeps with me in the bed” (Steve Stevens)
Picture a cold and dusty backstage-area, no furniture – looks like an abandoned restaurant kitchen. A few steps behind us though, is the real dressing room, that in this particular moment has Sebastian Bach entertaining his guests from the band Nightranger, and some other people.
Steve Stevens has just finished his second set at the jazz club Iridium on Broadway, New York, and is ready to talk to me. I pull out an old, scruffy office-chair that looks a bit dusty, and Steve finds another one for himself. At least there’s nobody bugging us. I decide to make this short so he can go relax and hang with his band.
The whole idea of you and Sebastian was really interesting. Can you paint a picture of when and where this came about?
– Sure, yeah. I play with an All Star band in Los Angeles, called Camp Freddy.
Camp Freddy is Matt Sorum on drums, Dave Navarro is usually on guitar, but Dave’s been busy last year with Jane’s Addiction, and their new record, so I ended up playing the whole show, Billy Morrison on second guitar, who’s also in Billy Idol’s band now, and Chris Chaney, the bassplayer who’s also from Jane’s Addiction.
So the whole Camp Freddy thing is that we have guest singers. On any given night, we’ll have Corey Taylor from Slipknot, Billy Idol, and the last year Sebastian has been guesting us. So every time we were doing Camp Freddy I was going “We should do something together“, because we have SO many mutual friends and a lot of our fans are the same – we came through the same era, you know.
I came over to the Iridium last year to do the Les Paul night, which is on a Monday night, it’s a totally different thing. It’s the Les Paul Trio – we do traditional stuff. So they asked me to come back and do three nights of my own, and I said that’s great but I don’t sing and I’d like to bring a singer. They said: “Got anybody in mind?” And I said: “Yeeaaah, well it just so HAPPENS that I know this Sebastian Bach guy – he’ll sing ANYTHING!”
Which is true, the guy can sing absolutely anything.
So I called him up, asked if he wanted to go to New York to this Iridium club and now we’re talking about continuing on doing something else and taking it a bit further…
Oh, you’re gonna do more together? Live or recording?
– Yeah, a little bit of both actually. I met him when his most recent record was just coming out. So I said; “Look, in the future, I’ve got this little studio, if you wanna write, or if you’re out in LA and you just wanna hang, let’s get together”.
So you guys met just recently?
– Yeah, within the last year.
Did you ever listen to Skid Row back in the day?
– Absolutely! The funny thing is… and this is a pretty funny story: When I left Billy Idol back in 1988, I did my own record for Warner Brothers, Atomic Playboys, and we were looking for a singer. He was in a band called Madam X, and I got this photo, he looked amazing, and then I heard the tracks, he’s really, really good. Really good singer. I had known the guitarplayer in that band, Maxine, and I said: “Heey, I’m doing a record, what’s your singer doing?”
She never gave him the message.
So potentially, we could have worked back in 1988. But it all worked out for the best cause right after that, I think it was literally 6 months later, he left and joined Skid Row.
Very interesting, because of all singers you could have worked with, this seems like an unusual choice…
– Yeah but at the same time, I like a lot of classic rock, and we’re talking about doing Zeppelin-stuff and some other stuff where the singer’s vocal range has got to be really good. So, I’m like a kid in a candy-store, cause he can sing anything. Most singers, if you say “do you wanna do “Dazed and Confused” by Led Zeppelin, most singers are gonna say “no fucking way, I can’t sing that!“. And he’s up to the challenge, it’s great.
The concept of doing two sets a night…?
– That’s the club’s thing. They always do that here, yeah.
How does that feel for you, as you’re used playing the world stages…?
– It’s a whole different headspace. It’s great, because your audience is…I think this place only holds like 200 people, so people are right there, you know they can hear every note that you play. But the two sets a night is a little strange, yeah. Cause you’ve gotta pace yourself. During the first set you’re thinking “Do I give it everything or will I be wasted for the next set?”
You’ve worked with many charismatic singers with strong personalities. And it’s often said that in order to be a good frontman, you need to have a big ego. What kind of personality do you need to have in order to be a guitarist playing with these big egos?
– Um, it’s funny cause from the time I was a little kid and I picked up the guitar, I naturally gravitated towards the guy behind the singer. Even seeing old footage of Elvis or something you know – I was like… who’s that guy?! And then obviously with Led Zeppelin, I identified with Jimmy Page because he was more quiet.He had the mystery thing.
You once said that you’ve got great respect for singers because they’re standing there, “naked” without an instrument to hide behind. Are there any singers in particular that you feel are like that…?
– I think ANY singer. It’s tough, it’s a lot of pressure. And obviously, the longer that you do it, if you’re really a ROCK-singer, it can take its toll on your voice. But Billy Idol takes care of his voice – we might have abused everything else but the voice is sacred.
You’ve been around for a long time and you seem to be curious to explore different areas all the time. Is that something that you do actively or you just happen to stumble upon stuff?
– I do actively look for new music. Yeah. And I’m fortunate enough to have friends that are…. There’s a band I work with that are called The Juno Reactor and it’s techno-music, right? They have six African percussionists and I’ve gone and toured with them in Japan and done shows with them in Los Angeles, and it’s cool for me because…
It’s a challenge, I mean, I’ve had a 30 year career now, and if I can’t challenge myself as a musician and just sit back and play the stuff that I already know, I’m gonna get stale as a musician.
So by working with Juno Reactor, it enabled me to learn how to do progamming and work on programs, get into the whole computer world and listen to things that I ordinarily wouldn’t be exposed to.
You’ve been in the business for such a long time… Do you still get your kicks or is it more “another day at the office”…?
– It’s never… I mean, if I felt like that, I’d really start to worry. I still love playing guitar, one of the first things I do in the morning is pick up a guitar. I have my coffee, answer my e-mail, put the guitar on and I’m still fascinated by the instrument. I don’t know why that is, but it’s still…
I’ve gotten things like… a new car or something, and I have no excitement about it. But getting a new guitar for me is like – I can’t wait to open the box, and the case and you know – the guitar sleeps with me in the bed.
It’s something about that instrument that I just think I was born to be with. It’s a part of me now. It’s never betrayed me. Playing guitar has never done anything but helped me out and enriched my life.
If you look back on Steve Stevens in 1984 and Steve Stevens 2012 – what differences would you say there were?
– Hopefully I’m a better musician now, I’ve been doing what I do this long…
But have you changed your attitude…?
– I’m more humble. Back in 84 I think that Billy and I really felt like there was a lot of stale music around. When I first joined Billy Idol he had released “Dancing With Myself” and they wouldn’t put them on the cover because because radio stations wouldn’t play artists with spiky hair.
It’s crazy to think now, but anybody affiliated with punk rock or anything like that, couldn’t get on mainstream rock radio. And now, you hear Billy Idol next to Journey or Styx or any of those bands on Classic Rock or something. But when we started it certainly wasn’t like that.
I think we had this attitude like we were gonna do something different, we were utilizing … we were doing things like dance-remixes and used drum machines and technology and all this… So I think when we did “Rebel Yell” we were pretty militant about “we are the new rock heroes” or whatever.
But you’re not into the whole limousine glitter LA sort of lifestyle…?
– I don’t really care about that stuff. I was always uncomfortable about that kind of stuff. I was never that kind of guy… I’m from New York so it’s a bit different, I live in LA now but we were never really part of the scene, whereas the LA bands – the hairmetal bands that came out of LA all got kind of crazy with eachother, tried to top eachother.
“You wanna see how much coke I can snort?!” and all that. We were from New York so the musicians that we hung out with were the guys from Suicide, Alan Vega, you know…
I remember Duran Duran – Andy and John Taylor came to town to do that Power Station record, so we hung with a lot of those guys. I think because Billy and our producer Keith Forsey are English, I got to hang a lot more with the English musicians.
I noticed that you played Van Halen tonight. Are you gonna see them on this tour?
– Yeah, actually we just got invited to a friends and family rehearsal. I’ve known Eddie for years, and Pete Thorn, our other guitarplayer tonight, he’s friends with Eddie. So of course we’ll go and see Van Halen.
I got this interview through your wife Josie. When I spoke to Ozzy many years ago he said that he felt it was confusing because he never knew if Sharon was talking to him as his wife or manager. Do you feel the same way?
– It’s just naturally gravitated that she’s… You know, she’s really diligent with her internet stuff. She’s on Twitter all the time and Facebook and all that. She’s always on my case. “You gotta update your thing…” I’m okay if I just check my e-mails and move on, you know.
So, more and more people have been contacting her for business stuff, and she’s really good at it. I said, “look, if you’re comfortable doing it, by all means, go for it“. It’s been great, it’s been really cool. We enjoy working together.
She comes on tour with me, and I think from the time we did that TV-show, Married To Rock, it became stronger, the work thing. We’ve been together for 10 years, so we liked working together on that show. We have a good, natural chemistry. You know, it works.
People always say that you gotta give eachother space, be away from eachother and do other things. You never felt that way then?
– No, she’s a rocker. You know. She packed up her bags and moved to Los Angeles when she was 16 years old, she’s been on more tours than a lot of musicians that I know. She’s always been a rock chick. She loves it and she knows a lot about rock’n’roll. And I value her opinion. She’s got really good instincts.
You once said that you’re never 100% satisfied with any record that you’ve done. Does that go for live performances as well? Have you ever gotten to a point where you’ve said to yourself that “this was so fucking cool“?
– Yeah, I mean… You know when something is good. When we did “Rebel yell” it was no mystery to us. As the songs were taking shape, and as we started to record it, and got closer to completing them, we were like… “Wait a minute, this is really cool, this is not just another record. This is a really big step for all of us“.
So you know when something is good. I know when I’ve played a good show. But I’m really hard to please. I’m a picky fucker.
You’re involved in so many different projects – could you give a quick summary of what you’ve been doing in 2011 and what your plans are for 2012?
– On the Billy Idol front it was a little bit quiet in 2011, because Billy is writing his autobiography. So we only did a brief tour in November. I kept busy with my Camp Freddy stuff – with those guys it’s a CRAZY schedule. Because you don’t exactly know who the guest singer is, so two days before you find out “oh it’s gonna be Ozzy” or whoever. So that kept me on my toes.
And then Josie launched a clothing line this year so that gave me an opportunity to plan a clothing line launch party. Billy Idol played, all the Camp Freddy guys…
And in 2012 – Billy and I have tourdates planned, we’ll be in Europe in July, and then November and December we’ll be in South America.
And we’re writing material for a new a new record. We’ll be out this year cause they want to hold the record until the autobiography comes out. We’re not just writing songs, we’re writing songs that are gonna coexist with the autobiography. So it’s a whole different thing.
At this point it’s time to wrap up the interview, as Sebastian is getting louder in the background :-). The Iridium-cat has been strutting around during the whole interview, trying to get some attention, so photographer Beatrice asks Steve if he would mind being photographed with the cat.
I just loved his response, delivered with a smile:
– I’m not taking a picture with the cat…! I can just just imagine the comments: “Oh, look at the pussy! And the cat!”
Bizarre backstage night at the Iridium
A few minutes before the show ended, the waitor brought us the check. We didn’t have time to wait to pay with our credit cards, so we just dug deep into our wallets for the last cash. Then, after the last song, we grabbed all our stuff and went straight to the door on the left side of the stage where Josie (Stevens, Steve’s wife) had said she would pick us up to escort us backstage.
Funny enough, before she showed up, another guy came over and asked “You’re here for the interview – right?”
“THE Interview”? It wasn’t “You’re here for an interview, right?” So, apparently, people knew we were coming. That’s nice, makes things a lot more easier than when you have to deal with people who are trying to throw you out because they think you’re some fan sniffing around the backstage door.
Anyway. Josie came out to pick us up, just like she had said. She had already warned me that it would be a small dressing room, but when I saw it, I still couldn’t believe how super-mini-small it actually was…! You walked through a short hallway, then right in front was this tiny little area with a table and two chairs, most guests had to stand up. The hall/corridor continued to the left and around the “dressing room” then out to something that looked like a restaurant kitchen.
– It’s a little crowded, friends and family is here. He’ll be with you guys in a few minutes, ok? said Josie and walked off.
Man, it was really packed back there, to say the least. The family and friends-meet-and-greet didn’t take long, probably because there were fans waiting outside for the “official” meet and greet where Steve was to sign stuff and have his picture taken with people.
One of the guests backstage was an older gentleman with grey hair that might have been Steve’s father or some other close relative, they had very similar features. Who knows. I didn’t ask. :-)
When there’s friends and family, I’d rather stay out of the way until the timing is better. I just feel that when musicians get to meet their closest friends and family members, the last thing they want to have around in that particular moment, is some reporter wanting to do an interview. :-)
Sebastian’s cousin was there, she was talking with Beatrice, I just overheard the conversation being something about museums, but don’t ask me what, I didn’t pry. :)
Sebastian was talking somewhere in there, you can never miss Baz, he’s not exactly the quiet type. :) He looked happy to see me. “Daniela! You’re fucking WILD! I knew that if anybody was gonna sing Youth Gone Wild with me, it’d be you!”
Well – me and the other big fan from Jersey who had been freezing his ass off outside the Iridium since 4 in the afternoon. :)
He was complaining about his hair being messed up and asked Josie if she had a dryer, but she only had a flattening iron – so he went for that. He plugged it in, and then had to go get something, so he gave the iron to Beatrice, to hold til he got back.
You’d have to smile a little at the absurd situation. Backstage in a jazz club on Broadway, with Steve Stevens and Sebastian Bach – and the photographer ends up holding a flattening iron for no apparent reason. When the guitarplayer, Pete, walked in, he found her standing there with the iron and no Sebastian was in sight.
– You need to fix your hair? he asked her.
– Oh well you know… After all that headbanging and all, I felt I had to straighten it out…! she joked.
Not sure if he believed that though. :) Sebastian came back and started fixing his hair, when I suddenly spotted a black CAT! I guess it wasn’t weird enough already. Let’s throw a cat into the equation as well. The kittie was very friendly, wanted to be petted so I didn’t mind things were taking a while.
[Black cat in the dressing room at the Iridium – checking out the gear..! :-)]
Beatrice pointed out that it was already 10.20 PM,
20 minutes past the start of the second gig actually. It didn’t look like the interview was going to happen right there and then. So when Josie and Steve came back, I suggested we’d give it a try after the second set.
– Yeah, I think that would be a lot better, I’ll be more relaxed, said Steve.
Josie took off to see how she could arrange for us to stay and see the second set too. It took her five minutes tops, and she got back to show us to our seats. She apologised that we “had to” see the second show as well. I for one couldn’t be happier because I LOVED the concept and the show, this was a bonus and a treat. Never mind the table was right next to the ladies room, and people kept running back and forth all the time. Apart from that – perfect seats! In only a few minutes…!
Once again a waitor approached us and went: “You were here for the interview, right?” There we go again – “THE interview”…… We didn’t have to spend another 10 bucks which was the minimum, so that was a relief at least.
Second show was even better than the first. Relaxed, yet energetic, fun and inspiring. Loved it.
After the second set, we went to the stage door again. Sebastian was entertaining in the “dressing room” again and Josie pointed at Steve who was way in the back, in that “kitchen” talking to somebody. I figured we’d wait until he was done.
There were some old, dusty chairs back there, no table, no nothing, very humble to say the least. This is the kind of place that any local band knows only too well. It’s cool to see that Steve doesnt have a problem with this stuff, no snobby attitude whatsoever.
The cat was purring during the interview, buffing and puffing, wanting more attention. Steve was superduper-nice, very down to earth, very easy to talk to. Very likeable person. He seemed to be enjoying the interview, cause when I said I was done – when I heard Baz yelling in the background, probably getting the party started – I didn’t want to keep Steve from joinig them.
But Steve was comfortable with the situation. “Noo, no it’s no problem, keep going!”
I knew there would be very little time so I had picked only the most important questions, I was done. In the meantime, Josie came in to let Steve know there was a LONG line of people outside waiting for him. He asked what my plans were for my New York stay. I said that I was leaving next morning, I was only here to see this gig.
He stopped, put his hand on his chest and with a small little bow he went: “I’m honored….”
Another nice gesture. No bigshot attitude to be found anywhere. Just a humble and nice guy. Same thing with Josie, she looks like this glamour girl you would expect to be stuck up and full of herself. She definitely wasn’t. Some people you just automatically like – and I spontaneously liked Steve and Josie. They left and Sebastian was out there talking to the guys of Nightranger who had dropped by.
– Hey Daniela! I sang for you! Did you hear it!? Fuck I can’t remember which song, but did you hear it? he asked.
I honestly hadn’t. I thought he meant that he sang it “for me”, as in dedicating to by looking or something like that. But Beatrice explained to me later that he had changed the lyrics in one of the songs to contain “Daniela”. I never heard that.
When we had packed our stuff, I just stuck my nose through the crowd to say bye to Sebastian.
– Bye Baz – see you at Sweden Rock!
It wasn’t easy plowing through the crowd outside. Josie wasn’t exaggerating when she said there were a LOT of people waiting for Steve. They were both posing with fans, so they were busy to say the least when we left. I just said thank you and waved to them as we left the building.
I feel that this was one of those evenings I’ll never forget. It was just so unique, had a great vibe on- and offstage, cool people everywhere, great show – unusual venue…. I loved everything about it.
And I got a great interview too. It was a pleasure talking to Steve – planning on having the interview done this weekend. :)
But just as a little “teaser” – here’s Steve telling the story about how Sebastian and him COULD, potentially, have been working together already back in 1988……!
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 