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Darrin:
Andy, how are you this morning? You said you had a recording
session going on.
Andy: I have a new recording project starting up. I haven’t
really taken on any outside recording projects, as far as my
studio goes, I produce a lot in other studios. There was a
guy that approached me about a year ago. He writes mostly
country stuff, he is a retired guy that works a lot with the
Cooper Clinic that is a cardiac and health/fitness place.
Along story short, he was a really nice guy, we hit it off,
and he started showing me some of his stuff, and it was really
good. He has a buddy that is a music lawyer in
Nashville,
that may be able to hook him up if her gets some tunes
recorded. I have been so busy in the past few months, that I
am just starting to get around to doing it.
Darrin: What has been going on these past few weeks?
Andy: Well New Years Eve I did a gig with the Andy Timmons
Band, we did a bill with another guitar player named Monty
Montgomery. He is one of my favorite new, well not new but he
has been around for awhile, but new discoveries. We did a show
together last March. I kept hearing about him, he is one of
those guys that you keep hearing about. Someone showed me a
video of him playing Hendrix on an acoustic guitar. Monty’s
thing is so cool because he sings well, and he plays acoustic
guitar, but he has this virtuosity to him. But all of a
sudden he hits a distortion box, and sounds like Eric Johnson,
and just rips your head off with some shredding rock and roll
on an acoustic guitar.
We got together here on New Years Eve in a really cool venue
called the Granada Theater. It is one of the last really great
venues here in town. We hope it stays around for awhile. So
we played a double bill, and then played together at the end
of the night.
Last week was just a crazy week. Thursday night, I had a gig
in Fort Worth with a small Jazz Trio I work with, there’s a
woman named Cindy Horseman that plays jazz harp, like a
classic harpist that decided to play jazz later in her life.
So we play with electrified harp, bass and guitar, playing
mellow fusion jazz. The next morning I had to fly to New York
City for a show with Olivia Newton John, I have been her
guitar player and music director for about 7 years. We had a
one off fund raiser show, for the cancer research hospital she
has in Australia, for the Australian/American consulate, to
help raise money for the hospital. The next morning, I fly
back to California for the NAMM show, in time to sound check
with Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani for a big
celebration for the 20th or 25th
anniversary of the Jem guitar.
Darrin: No lack of talent on that stage.
Andy: No, at one point, at the end of night it is one of those
big jam things. I had played earlier in the night with Paul
Gilbert.
Darrin: Paul’s awesome….
Andy: He
has a great combination of pop sensibility and great rock and
roll and of course he can rip your head off with chops. But at
the end of the night, Steve’s band is playing and he brings us
all up.
Darrin: Was Dave Weiner playing?
Andy: Yeah, Dave Weiner was playing, the guy from Dragonforce,
Henry was playing, 2 other guys from a thrash band, that I can
not remember the name of, and of course Joe Satriani and Tony
MacAlpine or there. So I am playing after this whole chain of
guys, and I am playing Voodoo Chile everyone takes a solo…
Henry , these 2 shreddin guys, Joe, then Steve, then Tony,
then me, and Paul Gilbert is last, he has to bat cleanup. I am
watching all of these guys play, and they are all on fire, on
the top of their game, and I am thinking, “What am I doing up
here?...What am I supposed to play after that?” **laughs**..
Well you just have to be yourself and play your best. It
worked out really good, and it was one of the wildest jams I
have ever been involved in.
Darrin: I don’t know. I would not want to have to play
last no matter how good I was. If I was Paul I would be
saying, “ Ok, that does it. Out comes the drill….”
Andy: laughs…I watched Paul play, and I walked over after and
tap on his low E string I think on the Bflat, and told him he
hadn’t played that one yet.
Darrin:
Let’s go way back to the beginning. You played it pretty
smart right from a very young age, and educated yourself in
music and guitar in places like the University of Miami. This
led to session work, and gigs as a hired gun. Is there a
session or album that you look back on, that you remember the
most fondly?
Andy: There were a lot of things I would be fond of for
different reasons, stuff people would have never heard, local
projects, the first real record project. The one I think I am
really fond of, is the first album I did with Kip Winger. I
did 2 solo records of his, the first one was This Conversation
Seems like a Dream. Have you heard of it?
Darrin: I definitely have
Andy: So I think overall, that may be my favorite thing I have
ever been a part of, for a few different reasons. One is, Kip
is so maligned as far as his reputation. He got lambasted on
MTV courtesy of Beavis and Butthead and Lars Ulrich from
Metallica, ummm, as this pretty boy/poser. People say,
really? Kip Winger? Kip is probably the deepest musical soul
I have ever worked with. The guy is an amazing musician, and
unbelievable arranger, with strings and plays acoustic guitar.
Just really really heavy.
What is cool about most of those guitar parts is, they were
done without me even hearing the songs. He would say, ok, no
charts, no session notes, we are just going to roll tape, and
what do you feel? What is your inspiration? I would just jam
it out as the tape rolled. If an idea came up as we jammed,
we would work around on it. We also worked on it in different
time frames, I would be in town for a few days here and there.
I would then come back a month later, and he would have taken
the few lines I had laid down on tape, and written strings
over it, or a vocal harmony. It was pretty amazing the way he
was working. I was inspired by that, and proud o what the
results were. It was very fresh for that time period, which
would be the mid nineties.
Darrin: So nothing like the sessions where you walk in and
get handed a chart and told the studio is booked for 3 hours…
Andy: Not like the standard session for jingles etc, but I
like those too, there is a challenge to getting that work
done, and I love to go after different styles and sounds for
producers, because I love am a fan of all things guitar, in
all genres.
Darrin:
How about
a tour? You were out there with so many greats...Steve Morse,
The Nuge, The Beach Boys, as well as hooking up at times with
the G3 tour with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. Is there one
that sticks out as a highlight for you?
Some of those are tours, and some of those are one offs. The
thing with Ted was set up by a mutual friend, to make a long
story short, there was a guy in Abilene Texas, that is a
friend of Ted’s that is a huge guitar fan. His name is Gary,
and he is a roofing contractor, a big burly Grizzly Adams
looking sort of guy, sweetheart of a guy, there were no guitar
acts coming through
Abilene,
so he decided that he was going to start booking stuff in
himself.
He had heard of me in Dallas, so he got me to come down, he
knew I was a big Ted fan, so he said, you know what? I am a
good friend of Ted’s, so I am going to tape your show and send
it to Ted. Ted was a big big hero of mine, when that album
came out with Stranglehold and Stormtrooper came out I was
just learning to play. At the end of the night we decided to
play Stranglehold, even though we had not rehearsed it at all.
I thought what the heck, I will just throw the riffs out
there, and the guys can follow along and back me up.
So Gary calls Ted and says, Ted, this guy even played
Stranglehold. Ted says “I’ve heard a thousand mother fuckers
try to play Stranglehold. If I hear one person play
Stranglehold right, I will suck his dick!” So
Gary
sends the tape to Ted, and calls him to ask if he watched it.
And Ted responds “Yes, and Tell Andy we have a date!”
**laughs**
Darrin:
I am so going to quote you on that
Andy: **laughing** in a strange way, that is one of the best
compliments I ever got! Sorry Ted!!
Most
recently though, there was the G3 Tour, with Steve Vai, Joe
Satriani and Eric Johnson. Johnson has earphones, you know
like the ones the guys in the airport wear. I have known Eric
for some time, we have a very close mutual friend and the last
couple of times he has played here, he has asked me to come
play. And to me, sonically and integrity wise, he is the cream
of the crop, as far as my taste goes. Te fact that he invited
me to come out to play with him was a huge honor. He is
legendary here in Dallas, and the last guy he invited to come
play with him was Stevie Ray Vaughn. I was really honored that
he asked me, because he does not do that very often.
Darrin: And then when things are looking really good, you are
approached by Danger Danger to finish up their debut album.
Also noted as on of the top 50 guitar albums of all time.
Andy: Really?
Darrin
Yes it was!!! Was the band already signed when you joined up,
or was there a roll of the dice there?
Andy: Yeah, everything was already down the pike as they put
it. Hey were signed on to Epic Records, by the guy that
discovered Boston and Cyndi Lauper, but Steven and Bruno were
the song writing team to start with, the bass player and
drummer, they formed the band, and they found Ted singing
behind a drum kit in a band named Prophet on the East Coast.
When I joined the band, the album was done, but they were not
happy with the mixes.
They hired Mike Stone (Journey, Queen) to remix the record. I
had auditioned and joined the band, and as a token of good
faith, they let me record a few solos. In the course of an
hour, I recorded the solos that I have on the first album. For
me, it would have been nice to do the whole album, but one of
my lifetime goals was to be on a major label record as a
session player or whatever, and this may have been my only
chance. So I was very pleased in how that came out.
Darrin: The 3rd album with Danger Danger was
held up by the label. It was around this time that you left
the band. Was this due to the status of the album? What
caused your departure form the band? Had you planned on
spending 4 years in a band?
Andy: That situation was the death nail of the band, as far as
the original lineup went. For me it was a multitude of
different reasons, yeah the album was not coming out was one
of them. There was no way to keep the band together
financially. I was fortunate to have had a very solid
background doing sessions and gigging, and a career going in
Dallas before Danger Danger. I decided to come back to
Dallas
where there was session work and my old band. Luckily there
was work waiting for me. I just gently snuck out the back door
in NY back to
Dallas.
It was a bit of a mess, as the original singer was suing the
band, the label. My saving grace was, I was never signatory
to any of those contracts, because I joined after everything
was signed.
Darrin:
Back in the early days, when you were in school, and just
started your session work, what were you using for gear?
Good question, it was always changing. I just recently dug
out my main guitar, funny you should mention Miami, I was
there from 83 to 85. then moved to
Texas.
My main guitar was an 81 Les Paul that I got after my Electra
Les Paul was stolen. My summer in Miami I joined a cover band,
everyone was doing that, playing top 40 stuff, and a Les Paul
was not going to cut it. Everything was clean Strat back at
that period of time. I could not afford much, but the Fender
Squire line just came out, so I bought one of those, and put
EMG’s in it, everyone like Steve Lukather was doing that. That
was my main guitar for 4 or 5 years. I played the crap out of
it. It got put in the case after awhile, as different
endorsements came along, and I played different types of
music.
But over the last few years, doing session work, having a good
Strat is essential to have in the arsenal. I have a few old
ones, and even got an Eric Johnson model Strat. So I pulled
this old Squire out a few months ago, it’s the best Strat that
I own. It is so solid, and bending, you do not even have to
think about it. I did some research, and those old Squires are
really sought after now. Even better than the American Fenders
of the 70’s. That was the main guitar for the longest time.
Rig wise, hmmm… back then I was running a Rockman through a
Music Man amp. I think I had a Seymour Duncan Convertible
after that, which was a great session amp. Me I would just use
anything and everything. Of course back then I did not have
any money, so I would use whatever was loaned to me,
Darrin: Or grab whatever old cabinet was sitting down at
the club…
Andy: Totally.
Darrin: You are currently running Mesa Boogie heads and
cabs live. I remember you being a big Laney guy a ways back.
Was there a reason that you changed up your amplification?
What is your main gear on tour these days, aside from the
Boogie amps and cabs?
Andy: Fast forward to now, I have a stereo Mesa Boogie thing
going on, a Lonestar head on one side, and a Stiletto head on
the other side. With the Lonestar slaved going through TC
effects into the effects return of the Stiletto, so I’m
getting the Lonestar tone through both sides, but 2 different
power sections.
I have never had so many compliments on my tone, especially in
the studio. The other night when I was playing, with all those
guys on stage, after the show was over, it was like, “Dude,
when you played, your tone stood out.” I was just playing
through the Lonestar head.
It also depends on what you’re playing and how you are setting
it up. I can get a killer variety of tones through it.
I endorsed Laney for a long time, don’t think the VH100 isn’t
a great head, at the end of the day, I think I was trying to
pull more out of it than it had to give me is the best way I
can put it. It was good for certain things, but not as
versatile as I need to play my music.
Darrin: Your first Favored Nations release was in 2001,
That Was Then, This Is Now, and just recently in 2006 you
released your first full album of new material under the
Favored Nations label named Resolution. Why the 5 year span
between albums?
Andy: It was mainly lack of inspiration. Umm, we started the
tracks for the Resolution album as early as 2002, and a lot
of the songs, about half of them, we just jammed out to get a
sound, and wrote together, and that was really new for the
band. That let to some real cool grooves. But at that point
in time, my son was born, maybe a year later or something, so
a lot of things were going on in my life, and the thought of
making another instrumental record, just really didn’t
interest me to be honest. I didn’t see what I could do to make
it different or anything. Things had just been done, and
overdone. I thought the genre was a little tired. And so it
just kinda sat in the can. We tracked live in the studio and I
played some kind of rhythm parts, and soloed through parts of
it. Then I listened to it, and I did not really like it, and I
knew I would have to re-record parts of it, and it just sat
there.
The more I thought about it, it reminded me of something Steve
Vai had said. When the That Was Then record came out, that he
really liked the 4 new recorded tracks on the album, which
were al trio tracks just one guitar, bass and drums. He said
“I really like those sections, where it’s the three of you,
and the volume is backed down, and I really hear the fingers
on the frets you know?” SO that really struck me one day, and
I thought, I wonder if I could pull off an entire album like
that? I wonder if I could do it with no rhythm guitars,
keyboards, doubling. Just one guitar on the whole record. And
then I got excited. A) I could not think of any record that
had been done that way, and B) This is just going to kick my
ass. **laughs** This is going to be really hard. I’ll be
having to play a lot of chord melody, tones will have to be
really strong if there is only one guitar. You get away with
a lot when you are stacking guitars. Tuning became a huge
issue. Realizing that the guitar is an imperfect instrument,
it became this huge tone quest and educational experience.
Darrin: Resolution boasts a very stripped down or if I may
non-over-produced sound to it. Was that intended in the
writing of the material, to keep it very simple and pure? It
is very full sounding, but on some instrumental guitar albums,
can hear the layered guitar tracks a lot of the time. I swear
I only hear one guitar track in all of the tunes.
Andy: Even in the writing, we knew we wanted more of a
stripped down, 70’s kind of rock and roll sound. Luckily,
the tunes lent themselves to that. You know what I mean? Like
we are not going to need all of these layers. It could have
went that way if we wanted to, but luckily from the start we
wanted to do as much analog as possible, 70’s rock pure sound.
Thanks to my co-producer and bass player Mike, the kind of the
credo was that we did not want to EQ anything. If we did not
like the tone, we would move the mic. Pretty much we wanted as
little in the signal chain to get as pure of a tone as
possible. I think in the end, that really helped keep the
integrity to the sound, even though at that point we were
recording the guitars digitally, I think they still came out
sounding pretty natural. That was a great process to go
through. Luckily, Mike had the patience and the same drive I
did to really take the time with this. If it took a month to
find the guitar sound for the song, don’t put it past us. We
had so many funny things happen and so many discoveries.
Everybody talks about Eric Johnson and his quirkiness, but it
is true man. Sounds from different batteries, down to his Tube
Driver, that sits off the ground on a wooden platform.
Darrin: What?
Andy: We showed up at a gig of Eric’s back in the mid to late
90’s, when he was in Alien Love Child, we got there early, and
notice his tech is up and messing with his pedals up at the
front of the stage, and there is the old Tube Driver sitting
up on this little wooden platform. We were like…”What is going
on, what is Eric up to?” to the tech and he told us that Eric
was playing in sound check one day, and I picked his Tube
Driver up off the floor to move a cable, and Eric said” What
did you do? That sounds better! It sounds amazing”.
So. They built a wood platform. Fast forward to me Mike and
Mitch recording in the studio, and I am using a newer version
of the Tube Driver, and it’s sitting on the floor, we were
just recording, and there wasn’t even a cable going to it, but
there was signal coming through it, this was a weird
phenomenon going on, So we thought, Let’s put this on a block
of wood. And sure enough, and it makes total sense, because it
is a tube, if it is on the ground it is picking up a whole
different series of vibrations, you lift it up… and that is
how we recorded the rest of the record. Up on a couple pieces
of 2x4.
So it all became a series of “What would Eric do?” It is
obvious the guy did his homework. Because for me, it was
always about the playing, and of course I would want a good
sound. I would plug in, and let the engineers do what they
wanted. It sounds like I didn’t care, but I just never
considered it. This time though, we just wanted to take our
time and learn, and come up with the best product possible.
Darrin: How did you hook up with Mike and Mitch? How
instrumental was Mike in the co-production of the new album?
Andy: We met in
Denton
Texas,
when I moved from Miami in 1985, I moved to Denton with a bass
player named Steve Bailey and a drummer named Ray Brinker, to
form a heavy metal trio. Those guys were well known in the
jazz circuit Steve was playing with Dizzy Gillespie, Ray was
playing with Maynard Ferguson, but they both wanted to be rock
and roll guys. So they found me in Miami, Steve was actually
finishing his undergrad but they had both gone to school in
North Texas, so, met with those guys and formed a band. Moved
to Denton where there is a pretty good jazz school there at
North Texas University, and that thing lasted a couple of
years, and that fell apart, at that point I wanted to step out
and do my own thing, Rob, the engineer I have worked with for
like 20 years now, and he is a really cool electric violinist,
and was always putting on jams, and he was very cool at
putting people together.
He drew me into that scene, and started putting me with
different people, and Mitch and Mike came through those
sessions. We instantly hit it off, and decided to start
booking some gigs. And out first gigs were kins like, doing
Hendrix, and the Attitude song, Satriani, because Surfing with
the Alien had just come out, basically, just guitar covers.
Just whatever we felt like doing. During that process I
started writing more instrumental kinds of songs. Some of the
demos from that band had tunes that went to Ear X-Tasy and
also to Danger Danger. So once that band formed, things
happened quite quickly. I am happy the Danger Danger thing
came around but thinking back, I wish I had stayed and stuck
it out with the band. I thought this may be my only shot.
After sending tapes out there were a lot of people that felt
there was already a Vai and a Satriani, there is no need for
another guy like this.
Darrin: Is there a particular track that you love the most
on Resolution?
Andy: Ummm, it’s kind of tough to just pick one, I think that
the song Gone that came out well and touches people if they
realize the subject matter.
Darrin: It was in reference to 9/11 and the World Trade
Center coming down?
Andy: Yeah, it was written on 9/11 and it was one of those
things that I was hesitant to put it on the record, because I
didn’t want it to be a “Here’s another guy paying tribute ..”
but it was a heartfelt thing, that was written on that day on
the tour bus. I just felt that enough time had passed that I
could let people know what it is about. There are people in
New York, and firemen, and we can all relate to the song. I
just think it came out good, and connected well. I tend to
like the ballads. I think Resolution turned out pretty cool,
the intro to the prayer and the answer is one of my favorite
things that I have done. The spirituality of it. This is the
first record I can say I am proud of everything on it.
Darrin: That is a tough thing to do
Andy: It really is, I have never been able to say that. So,
there are little bits that you think, I wish I could have
gotten to that.
Darrin: What is next for Andy Timmons? Do you have a lot
of work to do with Ibanez this year? A lot of clinic dates?
Andy: It is a possibility. They will book me for as many as I
give them time to do. The first thing on the books is heading
over to Europe in late February, early March to France and
Italy for a few tour dates with my trio, and some clinics.
Kind of a combination of the two. There will definitely be
some Ibanez and Mesa clinics throughout the year. Once I get
my schedule together, and find out who I am touring with and
what, I will fit them in as I can.
Darrin: What are some of the things you like to in your
time off that are non music related? Any specific hobbies or
interests?
Andy: Pretty much guitar and record collecting. It’s pretty
sad, with the exception of my wife and son which are a huge
part of my life, It is all music related somehow. If it’s not
working, it is still my hobby. 60’s pop is my big thing. I am
always reading things, or seeking out stuff from that era.
Rare recordings. It has been my life’s passion, and I am just
lucky that my job is my life’s passion as well.
Darrin: Before we finish up, what is it like to be part of
a label that has such an artist friendly philosophy, that
encourages an artist to develop the highest technical skill
possible and support that creative edge, instead of a label
that encourages an artist to write commercial hits?
Andy: Obviously for any musician or artist, it is the ultimate
situation. With my years in Danger Danger I learned a lot
about the label industry. After that was said and done, I was
in no hurry to want to work with a record label again. I did
not want to be in a situation to where someone owned my music
and dictated what I did. I had a horrible experience in that
way. It was one valuable lesson to learn. Thinking of that
third record, everyone worked their butts off, and put their
hear and soul into it, the label not only decided not to
release it, but they made it impossible for the band to get
their masters back. There was nothing anybody could do, they
owned that work. It wasn’t yours.
From that point on, I decided I was always going to own my
masters, and if I find a label to license it, that is great.
When I finally finished the Ear X-Tasy record in the mid 90’s,
I had a friend in Japan that had worked for Sony that had
released Danger Danger, and he wanted to release the record,
which was great. I did not send the album to anyone in
America,
because I did not think anyone would want to handle that type
of a record. I did not really care.
I made the the music I wanted to make, and people that wanted
it would find it if it was good. And that is where I was when
I met Steve. In the early 2000’s I went almost did not go to
G3 with Vai, Satriani and Petrucci when they invited me to
play in Texas with them, I didn’t feel that great, I almost
did not make it out to the show. Something told me I really
should go. I am really glad I did, because that is when Steve
really started talking about his label. He said, “Look I am
forming this new label, and you would be perfect for the
label, would you consider releasing some of your music? You
could release a best of, of your first 2 records.” And so it
went, and when I saw the structure of the label, how it was
more of a partnership between the artist and the label,
basically, if the record is successful, you are sharing on the
profits of the record.
Long story short it seemed Steve had been on both sides of the
coin at that point, and had seen how many ways there really is
for an artist to get screwed, and then became time for him to
start a label. He knew how to look over both sides of the
fence to make it fair for everybody. I thought it was great,
and it has been a great relationship this far. Having Steve’s
name behind the label has definitely helped give my career a
bit of support and credibility. I think it has helped widen
the fan base.
Darrin: Andy, thank you so much for taking the time to talk
to me. I hope to see you get up to Canada to support the
album.
Andy: My
pleasure, talk to you later!
-------------------------------------------------------------
January
26th, 2007
Darrin B |
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Releases
click for more info and purchasing
Resolution
That
Was Then..This Is Now
The
Spoken and the Unspoken
And-Thology
Parts 1&2 (2CD's)
Ear
X-Tasy 2
Ear
X-Tasy
Orange Swirl
Pawn
Kings Live
Pawn Kings
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Andy
Timmons' Gear
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Andy
Timmons' Label
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