Billy Sheehan - Bx3 Feature

Darrin: Billy! I have been trying to track you down for a bit here.  I was trying to get Kevin over at Favored Nations to get a message to you, and then I looked at the madness that is your schedule…. 

Billy: Wow…well, you have me now.

Darrin: So, how is the Bx3 tour going?

Billy: It has been a blast.  It has been very easy to do. A lot of people have been coming out, they have all been going nuts, at the end of the shows we have been signing some autographs and they have been 10-12 people deep. It is a riot! It’s great.

Darrin: This will be tough to keep to 10 minutes or so, so I will talk fast!! **laughs**

Billy: That’s ok, take your time.

Darrin: Thanks…I know you have a tough schedule. One thing I have noticed for years, is that you have a pretty well unmatched ability to touch people with your music, especially in your live performances, you always have such a magnetic hold on your audiences…

Billy: I started playing in clubs from the very get go.  I played live from the start, and not a lot of wood-shedding or playing in the bedroom. As soon as I got my first bass, I immediately got into a band. Some people just take years to get into a band, but I decided to start immediately. So, therefore I was stuck with people in an audience, really, right from the beginning. I started in clubs, playing cover tunes. But the point of being on stage, was to entertain folks, and really get in touch with them. If you didn’t, your band would not play. You had to be a one man public relations guy, and on the other hand, understand why they were there. Why would people come out to a club, pay money, to be there with a bunch of other people? I did not really think it through to that degree at the time. Instinctively, I knew that a great performance is what people dug, and why they would come watch me. I wanted to do something that I loved, and wanted to find the right people that loved it too. From the beginning, it was important to me to get a finger on the pulse of what was going on.

Darrin: You have also remained very accessible to your fans also, even with the psychotic schedule that you follow.

Billy: I spend an amazing amount of time on emails, and Myspace and all that. Not to sound arrogant, but I do not think there are many people that spend the amount of time that I do on email, answering questions from emails sent in by people. It is really important to me. See, I do not know anyone for anything, as I see it.  People buy a CD or a ticket to a show, they get something in return for that. It is a fair exchange. I do the emails, and stuff like that, because I WANT to. I really enjoy reaching people, and communicating with people. I must easily be at the 20,000 or 30,000 emails answered level by now. I enjoy it, and like staying in touch with people that way. I find out what they like, and what they don’t like, and if they have complaints, or see things differently, I respond to it the same way I reply to a positive one.  I tell them that I see their point, and I may not agree..but hey, it is all good. Not that there are many of those.  I swear there must only be 4 or 5 of them, so that is always a good thing.

Darrin: I found it VERY cool that back when I requested to be a friend on Myspace, that you did not use a cut and paste comment, but actually sent me a direct message, thanking me for requesting you to add me.  That blew me away a bit.

Billy: That will not be happening as much in the near future.  It is just getting to that point. It has become so difficult, and takes so much time that there has to be a point where I still read, and answer what I can, but get a hand in talking care of it. There will be a filter between myself and the answers. I will have to find other ways to answer it.  It has reached critical mass.

Darrin: It must be nuts!

Billy: Yeah, and sadly I know some has fallen through the cracks. I DO read it all, but sometimes I just do not have the time to answer.

Darrin: Cosmic Troubadour. Amazing solo album, and even though I knew you had pipes and could sing, I had no idea that you were as adept on the baritone and standard 6 strings. Do you practice your guitar playing a lot?

Billy: I have always played guitar, parallel with my bass playing.  Some people think that a guitar player and bass player are the same thing, but to me they are two totally different things. There is a definite line drawn between the two of them. I am a very chord type player on the guitar, rather than a linear player, whereas on bass, I am very linear. I have also loved being able to play guitar, and as a songwriting instrument, it is so much more helpful. It is a little bit more natural on guitar. It is hard to play bass and sing too. I remember speaking to Geddy Lee about that one time, and he said you really have to go to a rehearsal hall and practice a lot to be able to do that. I see his point.  It really is difficult to play bass and sing. When I am song writing, it is a little easier to pay less attention to that, and work on the lyrics.

I used the baritones, because I have a deep pitched voice. It was just such a great fit. I have never really been a solo record guy, I have always been a band guy. The baritone guitars really helped inspire me to do it.

Darrin: The Suspense Is Killing Me is an insane song.  Is that a single bass line, or a doubled track?

Billy: That is a single bass line. A lot of people think there are 2 bass lines there, but it is just one. I think in a place or two there might have been a couple extra things, but pretty well that is only one bass.

Darrin: Well you are a trooper for even coming up with that. 

Billy: **laughs** It was an odd piece that evolved from practicing.  It really does pay to be creative when you are practicing. As a writer. You have to think of what you are going to practice. And that song came up from a piece that happened during some practice. I wanted to make a line that ascended, while another line was peddle toning underneath it, and that is the musical piece that became The Suspense is Killing Me.

Darrin: How did Compression, then Cosmic Troubadour become Favored Nations releases? I know you have a long history with Steve, but who approached who about having you on the label?

Billy: I think we were looking for a US label, and Steve was just forming Favored Nations.  I think we actually did the deal, before I did the record. Steve played on it.  Cosmic Troubadour, we cut first, then sent over to see if it would go on the label. I may make a change after this record, because I understand they are cutting back a little bit. I have a lot of faith in Favored Nations and the concept of it. I think they had a small problem releasing so many albums so quickly. That really cuts into how much time you have to promote each individual and their album. So, I think that point has been made now, and may be able to have the next album go there. Overall, it has been a very positive experience with the label, and I am really happy that I released Compression and Cosmic Troubadour on Favored Nations. They are a great group of people, and I hope I can continue that relationship.

Darrin: Talas, in my opinion, the biggest, best band that was never signed. I saw that you have been maintaining contact with the guys, and had some gigs. 

Billy: Yeah, we have done a couple of reunion shows. The biggest one was in 1997, it was the big rock station in Buffalo, which was 97 Rock. They wanted to do a special thing, so they contacted me about putting Talas together for a reunion. I hadn’t talked to those guys in 14 years. Sure enough, a few phone calls were made, the guys showed up and we rehearsed, we had a blast, telling old stories and had a few beers. Then we went up on stage to play.  I was worried that there was not going to be very many people coming out for the show. The scene had changed, and I had been gone for many, many years. We wound up doing the show at the hall where we first played to release our first record. It sold out in about a day. They were scalping tickets for like 300 and 400 bucks each. I had no idea… We recorded it. You never know what you are going to get when you record live, but we got someone out there and rolled the dice. And it turned out to be a great night.  Everything fell where it was supposed to fall.

Darrin: You were a huge part in the solo success of David Lee Roth.

Billy: Thanks for noticing!! **laughs** 

Darrin: Yourself, and Steve, with the songwriting, bringing Shyboy to the table…your stage presence that we spoke about earlier…have you heard from Dave lately?  Have you heard that there is to be a Van Halen tour with Dave this summer?

Billy: Yeah, but, I have heard that it is postponed, and perhaps not going to happen at all now.

Darrin: Damn, these things change daily.

Billy: You are right, they do change daily.

Darrin: Have you spoken to Dave recently?

Billy: Umm, not too recently. His guys called me to come out to his 50^th birthday, but I was out on the road when that happened. I hang out with him once and awhile, and we are on really good terms. I love Dave.  I love all of the guys from Van Halen. It is just a goddamn shame that they can’t all get together, and go for it, but I have a ton of respect for all of them.

Darrin: Other reunions this summer.  The Police… 

Billy: Oh man, now there ya go… I saw the Police on their Station Wagon tour. I stood right in the front, because they played the club that we played all the time, back in Buffalo. I think there were about 100 people there, and I was right there up front. I absolutely love the Police. I have some amazing Police bootlegs, and they are just a great, great band. I am hunting down tickets for it now, right as we speak.

Darrin: I know you toured with them for awhile, but do you keep in touch with or listen to any Rush?

Billy: I haven’t talked to those guys in awhile. Me and Alex just missed each other last summer for a guitar thing they had up in Toronto. He said his hi’s and I said mine, but that was about it. Those guys are just a great bunch of people. We did a lot of touring with them in Mr Big.

Darrin: You got girls to start coming out to Rush shows… 

Billy: We always used to joke about that. They would thank us for getting girls up to the front row at their shows. They had to be some of the nicest people I ever toured with. It was an absolute joy just to be around them. They were inspiring to be around, and probably one of the best touring experiences of my life.

Darrin: It was a cool find, to hear that 14 minute jam you had with Alex and Neil when Geddy was late for soundcheck. 

Billy: That is still up on my website isn’t it?

Darrin: Yeah, it is great stuff. I have a couple more questions for you.  Seeing we have talked about David Lee Roth and Talas, have you ever thought of releasing a best of, or never heard before CD of Mr Big material?

Billy: Yeah, actually, in the past couple of years, I have been archiving everything I own. I have literally tons of cassettes and bootlegs, of Mr. Big and Talas. A lot of great Mr Big bootlegs, because we played a lot in Asia. The live shows would get bootlegged all the time. Great recordings, and tons of videos that no one has ever seen. So we have just tons of stuff. My goal, now that is it all on hard drive, is to start divvying it up, and putting it in the place that it is supposed to be. That is going to be the hard part I think. There are tons of things.  Talas had a whole album that was never released. We recorded it in Woodstock New York. Mr Big, has a whole album worth of material that was never released. We have tons of stuff. There is tons of video especially.  I have a friend going through all the VHS stuff to see what we have.

Darrin: Were you disheartened at all that Mr. Big did not finish the touring back here in North America? Your last show was in Hong Kong…

Billy: As a matter of fact, it was, yes. The band should have played more in America from the get go. It came down to management.  The guy that ended up inheriting the management of the band, really did not know what he was doing. I had promoters calling me at home begging us to do shows.  I would give them his number, and they would say that they never heard back from the guy. It was a shame, because I really wanted to play more here.

Then Steve came along and asked if I wanted to play, and of course I did.  I need to play to make a living. I can’t just play in Japan for one week of the year.

Darrin: Even though, you were gods in Japan.

Billy: It WAS great.  Japan was an amazing experience. And I just plaed some over there with Richie Kotzen. He is a great player.

Darrin: Have you talked to any of the other Mr Big guys lately?

Billy: Yeah… I just played with Paul a bunch lately, we jammed at a club in La, then we did the Ibanez party, recently I did the Who Tribute with him and Mike Portnay, and Gary Cherone and just a bunch of stuff with Paul. I speak with Pat regularly, I hear from Richie all the time.

Darrin: You are a long time member of the Breed.  How about a few words about each member of that band?

Billy:
Tony, is a genius. A REAL classical pianist, started at 5 years old and he is amazing. His ears are amazing.  Someone could drop a glass, and he would say, “That is a B flat”

Virgil was the first drummer in the band, and was spectacular. Tony, Virgil and I have done some tours in Europe, as the Devil’s Slingshot, that we put together just for the hell of it to go out and play. Virgil was one of the most amazing drum soloists, that I have ever encountered. He was replaced with Jeremy, who is a punk rock drummer, with the real flair for odd times and fusion. Jeremy is one of my best buddies in the world, and is a great player.

Dave Weiner…what a solid citizen. He was like the foundation. Everything went smooth when Dave was playing.  He was such an important part of the band. Such a great player, and can play whatever Steve throws at him. He is just a wonderful guy.

The whole Breed experience has just been amazing. I am not sure what Steve is doing right now, but I think it is more of an orchestral thing, so I am not sure when we will all get together to play again.  When the opportunity arises, I am sure we will all be excited to do it.

Darrin: Ok Billy, I know you are heading for a load in right now, so I am going to let you get back to Bx3 business. 

Billy: Thanks so much, hope to see you this summer in Vancouver…