Detritus
Mini-Issue #329.5 - August 12, 2005
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*** CAST OF CHARACTERS ***
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Patrick Brower, Editor
patrickbrower@...

Sean P. Gahgan, Editor
lof@...

Tim Wadzinski, Owner
tsw512@...

Steve Shumake, Co-owner
vongoober@...
http://www.vongoober.com/

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*** LET IT BE KNOWN ***
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-Here ya go, as promised we have Neal's interview with axemeister
Steve Stevens. Have a great weekend! - Tim

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*** SPECIAL REPORT ***
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by Neal Woodall (MysticX10@...)

-Interview w/ Steve Stevens
July 29, 2005

Starting with his eponymous debut album in 1982 featuring the early
MTV hit "White Wedding" and continuing with 1983's double
platinum-selling REBEL YELL, Billy Idol made a name for himself as an
'80s rock icon, due in no small part to the contribution of versatile
guitarist and songwriting cohort Steve Stevens. Following the
celebrated reunion of Billy and Steve in 2001 for the VH1
"Storytellers" and "Behind The Music" specials, fans eagerly
anticipated new material from the duo. In March of this year their
hopes were realized as DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND was released and the band
embarked on a lengthy tour. I recently spoke with Steve Stevens about
the new album, tour and future plans...

DETRITUS: Hey Steve, how's the tour going?

STEVE STEVENS: Good man, good -- things have been a little bit
grueling, but overall really, really good.

D: You're in St. Louis tonight?

SS: Yeah.

D: That's a sold-out show, isn't it?

SS: Ahh, I guess so! (laughs)

D: I was looking on the Web site and it looks like tonight's show was
rescheduled, with the next three dates sold out.

SS: Right.

D: You have dates all the way until December 7 -- that's a lot of
shows!

SS: Yeah, I think so! Well, at the end of this week we have about a
two-week break, going to go off to Hawaii for vacation.

D: That will be fun.

SS: Yeah!

D: When you have a tour come to an end is that kind of a
disappointment or are you ready for a break?

SS: Ahh, yeah, I talk about it as being almost like postpartum
depression! (laughs)

D: I know you love to play live...

SS: Yeah, but I think we're going to be out next year for some touring
as well...

D: You broke your wrist a few months ago?

SS: Fractured it!

D: Are you OK now?

SS: Yeah, I'm still having some problems with it but by and large I'm
OK to play, that's the most important thing but it still nags at me a
bit, mobility is kind of an issue.

D: Well, the new album is called DEVIL'S PLAYGROUND and it's getting
some great reviews. Do you know how it's doing on the charts?

SS: Ehh, heh heh, not great! (laughs)

D: That's kind of par-for-the-course in the music scene these days!

SS: Yeah, I mean, I've never been one of those people who follows
charts and stuff. I mean I was pretty oblivious to what was going on
with REBEL YELL, all I knew was that we were starting to play bigger
and bigger places so I thought "Oh, I guess we're doing OK." But you
know things are pretty screwy in my business right now.

D: Well, the fans seem to like it a lot...

SS: Exactly, that's the most important thing.

D: You guys are sounding as good as ever.

SS: Right on!

D: There are some great songs on there. What all are you playing from
it live?

SS: Ahh, let's see, we do "Super Overdrive," we do "Rat Race," we do
"Sherrie," we do "World Coming Down." I think overall there are like
seven songs we play live...

D: I'm glad you put "Rat Race" in there, that's my favorite off the
new one.

SS: Right on, well I'd agree with you, it's my favorite as well.

D: "Body Snatcher" would probably be a good live one too.

SS: Right, exactly, I like "Body Snatcher" as well.

D: I know you only have so much time onstage to get everything in!

SS: Yeah, well, for every new one an old gem has to go, then you have
people saying "Hey, how come you're not playing 'Cradle Of Love'?
Well, we've been playing it for 12 years!" (laughs)

D: Do you kind of alternate what you close with? I noticed you were
doing some cover stuff like "Jump."

SS: A little bit, yeah. We have a couple of points in the set where we
can interchange different things.

D: DVD is real popular these days. Did you film any of the shows for a
possible DVD or Dual Disc release?

SS: There is some talk about doing that next year.

D: You did a video for "Scream," is that right?

SS: Uh huh.

D: Is it getting any airplay on MTV?

SS: Ahh, it did, I mean we did it quite a while ago and obviously we
knew VH1 was going to be our main market, they played it reasonably
often. We did that with Jeff Stein who was our director on "Rebel
Yell." It was kind of cool, good to have the same old team back
together.

D: Speaking of that, you have Keith Forsey back from the REBEL YELL
days producing, right?

SS: Yeah.

D: It's a great sounding record. What did you use to record it?

SS: Ahh.. (long pause)

D: Were you real involved with the engineering of it?

SS: I'm not, fortunately. (laughs) I mean I think we initially
recorded things on two-inch tape, then things were transferred over to
Pro-Tools which is usually the case.

D: Let me ask you some side project questions... Bozzio/Levin/Stevens,
I think I read in an interview a while back that you probably wouldn't
get to do anymore of those albums?

SS: Yeah, it's tough with three guys' schedules trying to put that
together. You know those records are really a labor of love -- we do
them when we can, when everyone can afford to do one.

D: That's some great stuff. What about Derek Sherinian's solo albums?

SS: Derek is doing another solo record; he's working on it, he's
always working on something. But he did mention to me the other day
that "if you have anything lying around..."

D: So you'll probably record with him again?

SS: Possibly, yeah.

D: What about another solo album like FLAMENCO A GO GO?

SS: Yeah, I mean I won't do an entirely acoustic record but I will
definitely be doing another solo record. I think I might interchange
it between acoustic and electric, have one on each side.

D: I'm looking forward to that! You are about as well known for you
excellent flamenco-style playing as you are for the electric stuff...

SS: Well good, that's all right with me!

D: Do you get to incorporate any of that in your live solo?

SS: I do, I do about a 10-minute solo where I get to show some nylon
string guitar.

D: I hope I get to catch you on this tour! What's next for you when
the tour is over?

SS: Another Billy Idol record.

D: Any hints on what it will sound like, stylistically?

SS: The only thing I would imagine is we have a bona fide band and I
would think the next record would incorporate more of a cohesive band
sound. On this record, you know, because it was the first record in 12
years for Billy and me, there were a lot of songs that were prepared
and written and demoed to the "T" before we even went into the studio;
I think there are certain things that you discover in the studio by
playing as a band that you don't otherwise, so more band interaction
is what I'm trying to get at.

D: I've read that you're interested in writing some movie soundtracks?

SS: Yeah, I have done some of that. I mean, by and large most of the
stuff I have done has been when someone calls you to license a song...
But every year it seems like I'm on some film, things are being used.

D: Have you seen anything captivating lately, as far as movies?

SS: I haven't really had a chance to. I'm waiting for "Sin City" to
come out on DVD...

D: Oh yeah, that was really good, you'll like that.

SS: Yeah, I just thought visually what I saw of it looked so great,
and when you're watching things on a bus you can't always hear that
great so you want something that's going to be visually really good...

D: So you've done movie soundtracks, what about instructional videos?

SS: No, I'm pretty much a self-taught musician so, I don't know... The
kids that are learning how to play guitar now have such access to the
Internet and stuff and I'm pretty illiterate musically... (laughs)

D: I think you should do one.

SS: I'll just lie. (laughs)

D: Just have somebody come in and talk about all the technical
nonsense...

SS: Yeah. (laughs)

D: "Flesh For Fantasy" is one of my favorite songs of the '80s, really
atmospheric.

SS: Oh, right on!

D: What do you remember about writing that one?

SS: Ahh, that was a tough one because that was a song that we had for
awhile and our A&R guy over at Chrysalis, Jeff Aldridge, kept coming
back to us telling us the chorus wasn't strong enough so we...
(pauses) You know that's a really tough thing when you have a song
that you already have an existing part for, to rewrite an entire
chorus is not easy. I mean it's easier to write a song from scratch
than it is to rewrite a chorus, because you keep hearing the previous
chorus in your head no matter what, so that was something that took
awhile and probably the thing people don't know is the bass line in
that song was very influenced by Hall & Oates' "Maneater." (laughs)

D: That's interesting! What do you think is the definitive Steve
Stevens performance?

SS: Probably "Rebel Yell" because it established everything that I
wanted to get out of my guitar style which was a great percussive,
rhythmic guitar and a solo that incorporated sounds that hopefully
people hadn't been hearing too much of, you know?

D: Do you still find time to listen to your old favorites like Jeff
Beck and Steve Howe?

SS: Absolutely, yeah, and now with records being reissued and
re-mastered it's just great...

D: Any newcomers impressing you on the scene?

SS: Ahh, I get asked this all the time and I always draw a blank. I
mean it's sad that there isn't a lot... I couldn't reel off a bunch of
stuff. I like Tom Morello, I like Audioslave but he's been around for
awhile. Newcomers, I don't know... Louis XIV we've been listening to
quite a bit, ahh, but as far as new guitar players...

D: Do you have anyone opening up for you?

SS: No, no opening act.

D: That's good, you get all the time!

SS: Yeah! (laughs)

D: Well this morning the clock radio was playing "Rebel Yell" when I
got up, I thought that was appropriate since I was going to be talking
to you.

SS: You didn't smash it? (laughs)

D: No! Are you surprised at the longevity of that album, still hearing
that song on the radio and in TV commercials?

SS: Yeah, you know it's more a case of now that classic rock is
embraced, you know it's '80s music...

D: Anything you want to add Steve?

SS: I think that's cool, man.

D: All right, well thanks for taking the time to answer these
questions, I hope to see you live soon!

SS: Great, thanks man!

Relevant links:

Billy Idol
http://www.billyidol.com/

Steve Stevens
http://www.stevestevens.com/

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*** OUT ***
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