interviewsofrecordingartists.com
Billy Sheehan has devoted twenty years of his life to playing the electric bass guitar. Three times Guitar Player Magazine has awarded him number one rock bass player in the United States. He has played in Talas, with David Lee Roth and currently is in Mr. Big. He gives seminars on bass guitar instruction all across the country and builds his own bass amplifiers and is working on a new custom bass guitar. For Mr. Big, Sheehan has recruited Eric Martin (vocals), Paul Gilbert (guitar) and Pat Torpey (drums). With the debut album, 'Mr. Big', currently on the charts and an American tour underway, 'Song Hits' spoke with Mr. Sheehan about life in Hollywood and starting over.
Q:What motivates you to be so active in the bass guitar seminar field?
A:Well, I have seen some gigantic stars in the rock scene not care one bit about their fans. I cannot live like that. I have a nice car and a nice apartment that the fans who support me and buy my records helped me buy. The fans who stand in line to get tickets and buy my records are the ones that bought everything for me. That is why I like to do clinics, because that way I can give something back to my fans. I not only do clinics on bass, I try to tell everybody that I meet there what the pitfalls of the music business are. No one was there to help me out when I needed it. The only people that were there were the fans. So I enjoy giving back to them. After all, this business is a two-way street. If you stop flowing the other way it will back up eventually and kick you right in the head.
Q:What advice do you give your young fans?
A:Well, I am working with Yamaha guitars to design a bass guitar based on extreme practicality and long term usage. Most bass players starting out buy one guitar one year and whatever is popular the next year. The reason that I want to design a bass guitar is that it has helped me a great deal to have the same instrument in my hands for a long time. I think that young players should do the same. I have used the bass that I am currently playing for almost twenty years. We want to create instruments that will be practical and not just a flash in the pan. I feel that there is an important aspect that is often overlooked when beginners start out and that is the instrument that they practice on.
Q:What are your feelings on the current state of rock music in Hollywood?
A:It seems that every kid out there wants to get into a heavy metal band! It can be upsetting to see what goes on in Hollywood. I know of a very huge band that I have seen up on stage and they were not really playing their instruments! It is unfair to the musicians who can actually play their instruments. You can make it sound amazing with all the trickery. In spite of that, I feel that you have to have a good attitude that all is fair in love and war, so I give these people credit that they have even made one top forty hit single. Any band that makes the top twenty or top ten, my hat goes off to them. If they get enough people to believe in them and buy their record then I tip my hat to tem no matter how they did it. I have to have my personal integrity intact in order to be proud of my work. I have to look at myself in the mirror and be responsible to myself. I still take vocal lessons to improve my singing and practice our vocals on the tour bus when we can. That is how we get better and better; we practice. Look at Tracy Chapman. She sang songs that she believed in and enjoyed tremendous success. She did not really even do that record to become a huge star. People saw that she was for real. I think that people can see who is putting on a circus act and who is for real.
Q:You cannot fool the fans.
A:No, you cannot. You will be popular for a record or two and then you will be gone and forgotten. There were bands that I am pretty certain did not play their instruments that much. They relied mostly on electronic gadgets to make their music. I feel that many of them were cultural phenomenon instead of musicians.
Q:What is the difference between the two?
A:Cultural phenomenon have less longevity than do true musicians. That is the way that I see it. I am not at all bothered by the bands that are all pre-recorded when they play in concert. Some bands have more make-up people and clothes designers on tour with them than equipment personnel! Good for them. I do not blame them. For me, I would rather have success on my terms.
Q:Which is better for you, success or achieving your own goals?
A:Don't get me wrong. I would love to be as successful as humanly possible, but I have to do it on my own terms. I do not want to look at myself in the mirror and not be certain of my achievements. I have a real nice can and a nice apartment. I have to be true to myself. I will not have massive success at any cost. To me there is always a cost.
Q:How well do you get along with the other members of the band?
A:We have a basic foundation in sanity. Sanity is pretty simple for us to maintain. It means basically knowing who you are and what situation you are in. Nobody in the band does any drugs at all. I am not a person who tells others how to live their lives. It is a real important thing to keep our heads on straight. We like to keep a sanity level that makes it easier to function and all have a great deal of respect for each other. I have never worked with anyone as talented as these guys! We have an amazing overall package of talent and ability in this band. By having these people around me, I am constantly inspired to play better and try harder. When I'm up onstage in concert I want to please the audience as well as the band. If I do a solo I want the guys in the band to like it as well as the audience. We all want each other to enjoy what we are doing. You know, I've seen a good deal of big egos and jealousy in more bands that you can ever imagine. I've seen first hand, bands that go to gigs in separate limousines and never talk to each other.
Q:What do you think contributes to those situations?
A:I think sometimes the women involved with the band sometimes create bad situations. Often the women's husband or boyfriend is the number one guy in the band. They will tell him how much better he is than the others. Or tell him that he should quit and go solo. There are many elements that surround bands. Girlfriends can also be very supportive. Women have sometimes saved bands from breaking up. You do not hear about that too often. People tend to give women a bad name in this business. There are other things that surround bands that can contribute to a band's breaking up. Shady management can hurt an act and road crew guys can want to take a piece of the action. We have a lot of good people working for Mr. Big.
Q:In many situations rock stars have shady characters hanging around them. Why do you think that this happens?
A:Artists and musicians have always attracted an element of the population that is shady; it's automatic. They gravitate towards artists and musicians. It is part of our culture and people are attracted to those that are in the highest point of our culture. People that create art and music will find themselves surrounded by shady characters. If you look through history, every movement was started by artists. Once you have an element in society that wants to suppress art, the first target it artists and musicians. In Hollywood, I have seen some pretty slimy characters attach themselves onto young talent and beautiful women. Then the shady characters will proceed to ruin the career of whomever they are working with.
Q:Is Mr. Big a Billy Sheehan project or a group project?
A:I started the project, pure and simple. I collected the people to do it. However, the whole purpose of collecting the people was to have people who could share equally. We split all of our money and revenues equally. We all have an equal say. Some people consider me a leader of the band--I consider myself more of a coordinator. I don’t have the last say on matters concerning the band; everyone in this band has good opinions. The sign of a good leader is allowing people to do their job well. I was in a situation where I was not allowed to do mine well. Something that I have done for twenty years was made harder for me because I had no say in the matter. Someone else insisted on being the band's leader. It was a shame that I could not contribute more. You cannot let someone take over a band without all the others in the band agreeing on it first. Mr. Big is a group effort; we are not a one-album deal. We all want to stick with this for a long time.
Q:What band have you enjoyed playing in more that any other?
A:Mr. Big.
Q:Why?
A:This band is a new twist for me. The reason is that there is a lot of good input from everybody in the band. Everybody has put their ideas into the album. We worked very hard to make this album a good one that will stand the test of time. We work together for what is best for us all. I would not have it any other way. We let ideas rule our band, not people. If it is a good idea, then that idea will make it. It's not the person who came up with the idea that is most important; it's the idea that carries the weight.
Q:What did you learn from your days playing in the clubs?
A:Probably everything that I know! At the time, playing the clubs seemed like a dismal life. When you are in the clubs and you cannot get out, then it becomes tough. Life was not too uncomfortable for us because we always made money. We had a huge production that we put on every night. We made money but we also had a pretty big payroll to meet so there were times that we only made one hundred dollars a week to play five nights. Almost everything that I know now I learned in my club days. Playing clubs is an awful lot of fun. Now that Mr. Big can play clubs as well as open up for other bands in large arenas, I really enjoy myself. We are happy to play any type of situation. As a musician, you learn about things in clubs that you will never learn about in an arena. I have learned how to adapt to virtually any situation that a musician can face by playing clubs.
Q:What do you think about acts that have tremendous success on their first album?
A: To me it's like building a house. The stronger the foundation, the longer the roof of the house will stay on. Right now, every radio station and magazine that wants to talk to us we are happy to talk to. Some superstars only want to talk to certain magazines. After we are done with the show, we go outside and hang out with our fans. We want to meet and talk with them. We're real happy to lay some groundwork for the band and let people know that we are happy to be here.
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