Detritus
Mini-Issue #393.5 - December 15, 2006
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*** CAST OF CHARACTERS ***
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Patrick Brower, Editor
patrickbrower@...

Sean P. Gahgan, Editor
lof@...
http://www.lakeoffire.net/

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 we go with our final transmission of '06. After this we'll be
maintaining radio silence for a month or so. See ya! - Tim

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*** SPECIAL REPORT
*
by Neal Woodall (MysticX9@...)

-Interview w/ Reb Beach
December 1, 2006

Reb Beach is one busy musician. Since 1985 he has been in demand as a
session player and invaluable band member, appearing on a multitude of
albums from artists as diverse as Fiona, Chaka Khan and Twisted
Sister, while juggling stints in Winger, Alice Cooper, Dokken, and
Whitesnake. Reb recently reunited with Kip Winger to create Winger's
IV, their first studio album in 13 years, and continues as a full-time
member of Whitesnake. I was first introduced to Reb's amazing guitar
work in 1988 and through the years I've been a huge fan of his unique
approach to the instrument. During a short break before heading out on
tour once again, Reb took time to speak with me about his many
endeavors...

DETRITUS: The new Winger album is the first since 1993's PULL. Did it
feel like old times when you were writing and recording it?

REB BEACH: It sure did. It's just that Kip and I have a great rapport
together, we're kind of like Lennon and McCartney in that we are
opposites -- you know, I have things that Kip doesn't have and Kip has
a lot of things that I don't have, drive being one of them. (laughs)
He's just a composer-arranger genius, so when we get together, it's
always pretty magical. I think what sparked the whole thing was I
needed a producer for a project I did for Frontiers called The Mob,
and I called Kip to do it and we worked together closely on that, and
it was kind of my baby but working with Kip again really made us go
like "Wow, we should do a Winger record!"

D: I noticed you co-wrote most of the songs on the album.

RB: Yeah, the weird thing is The Mob thing was my baby, the Winger
thing is Kip's baby and you can tell. The Mob was just straight-ahead
three-chord rock songs and Winger is progressive rock from the mind of
a really complicated guy. (laughs) You can hear Kip's deal on the
record -- I only contribute guitar riffs you know.

D: Yeah, I was going to ask how you approach songwriting. Do you
usually bring in the riff and solo ideas and have Kip arrange them?

RB: He never uses the riffs that I bring in. (laughs). He never does!
I don't know why...

D: That's hard to believe!

RB: I've brought in some good stuff that I ended up using later and he
goes, "Wow, that's a good riff," and I'm like "Yeah, you turned it
down!" He really hears the whole album -- he's that kind of guy, like
Bach or something. He hears the entire album and knows exactly how he
wants it to sound, so usually my ideas that I bring to the table
aren't right. We end up sitting down with a drum machine just like we
did in 1988 -- just me and him sitting in a room drinking beer -- and
he'll just play the bass and start playing one chord, wailin' on an A
and I'll just come up with a cool riff in A and he'll know exactly
where to go from there. He'll say, "Now let's go to C," so he's kind
of the director.

D: Well there are some really good songs on the album: "Short Flight
To Mexico," "Can't Take It Back," "Right Up Ahead..."

RB: Yeah, I like the songs at the end of the album a lot better than
the songs at the beginning of the album! (laughs)

D: I think that last song is my favorite.

RB: Which one is that?

D: "Can't Take It Back."

RB: Oh, that's a good song!

D: Almost kind of "Whitesnake-y..."

RB: Yeah! (laughs)

D: "Your Great Escape" is another one.

RB: That's my favorite because it brings me back to the '80s thing. I
think the Winger fans who like the old stuff are really going to enjoy
that song, and there's a moment in that song at the end when it goes
to the next song, it cuts into double time and Kip does this
bloodcurdling scream... That's one of the great moments on the record
I think. Gives me little goosebumps every time I hear it, and I have
to turn it up there. I always crank it right there!

D: What do you like best as far as your solos on the album?

RB: I like all the solos; they're decent. It's always a different
performance for me when I'm working with Kip, because like I said, he
really hears the whole thing and he doesn't want me to "Steve Vai" out
and play from the get-go -- he wants something that has a lot of
emotion and a lot of soul. He erased a lot of solos that I thought
were killer, you know. I'd say, "Listen to that though!" and he'd say
"Nope, its going in the trash," because he wanted a certain thing. I
like listening to it because it wouldn't be my first choice, being the
speed demon that I am, to play in those ways, so I like listening to
it because it makes me sound like a mature player, which I'm not.
(laughs)

D: I think there are a lot of people who would disagree with you!

RB: (laughs) Well, I have been playing a long time I guess...

D: Let's see, you've just finished a tour over in Europe right?

RB: Yep, I finished the Winger tour in Europe, and I had just been
there with Whitesnake. We toured Europe and we had a lot of problems,
it was really... (pauses) I don't have anything good to say about it!
(laughs) It was one of the worst experiences of my whole life!

D: Oh man!

RB: Honestly, the promoter skipped town with all the money.

D: That's never a good thing!

RB: Yeah, he didn't pay the bus company so the bus left us with all of
our gear on the side of the road in Finland...

D: Now this was with Whitesnake or Winger?

RB: No, that would never happen with Whitesnake. Whitesnake goes over
there and plays big venues. This was a small club tour and it was so
unfortunate because we all were looking forward to having a good vibe
and getting back together and we love each other so much -- we're all
just really close friends -- so that was just a drag that things
didn't go that well. But the shows went well once we got into the
swing of things. It took us a couple of shows to really know the songs
because the stuff is complicated. It's not easy playing those songs --
there are a lot of vocals involved while you're playing complicated
riffs -- and even "Seventeen" is not that easy. The thing I see is all
my friends are sending me these YouTube links to shows that people got
on their cellphones, and they're all the first shows when I was making
like a billion mistakes and it was all rental gear so it would be a
different amp every time, and one of my amps kept blowing up!

D: Loads of fun!

RB: Yeah, but as we progressed we started getting really tight, and
the shows got really, really good, so the playing aspect of it was a
lot of fun. Playing that stuff for me is such a joy because I wrote
the stuff -- it comes right out of me because it's my stuff.

D: What does the set list look like for the tour?

RB: We are playing all the hits -- there are six of them by the way.
(laughs) you know, one thing I liked about Winger is we had some
singles that were up-tempo rock songs; it wasn't all ballads. So we do
the six singles and we do three new songs: "Generica" -- which I think
sucks on the record but is amazing live... I mean, it doesn't suck on
the record but it's just not my favorite song -- but live, it's so
much cooler, and there's that big long jam at the end that's really
fun. And we do "Your Great Escape," and we do the really hard song at
the beginning of the album which escapes me right now... (pauses)
"Right Up Ahead?"

D: Yeah, "Right Up Ahead," that's it.

RB: Yeah, that was a bitch to learn man, it took me like five days
playing that over and over...

D: That one sounds like it would be killer live...

RB: It's good, it's just that you can't just do it without a couple of
rehearsals. (laughs) You really need to tighten it up because the
vocals -- the singing and playing at the same time on that is kind of
like patting your head and rubbing your stomach!

D: Are you doing anything like "Spell I'm Under" from PULL?

RB: That's a tough one, you know, we did it on the PULL tour but we
didn't do it this time because it was all rental gear and you need
good acoustic guitars, and it would be nice to have keyboards which we
don't.

D: Yeah, a lot of dynamics in that one.

RB: Yeah, we toured as a four-piece so there were some songs that just
wouldn't, ahh...

D: Translate?

RB: Yeah, without a keyboard player.

D: What else is in there? You've got a few from the new one, you've
got the hits...

RB: Yeah, we do "Rainbow In The Rose." That's a great one live.

D: How about "Hungry" from the first album?

RB: We can do that if you ask. (laughs) That's a kind of on-and-off
one, you know. If anyone says "Hungry!" then we'll just play it 'cause
we all know it. We do it sometimes.

D: I don't guess Kip lets you throw any of your solo stuff in there,
does he?

RB: No, umm... (pauses) He wouldn't be opposed to it, I don't think.
He's real cool about that stuff. He does not have a big head, and he's
open to things but you know, I didn't really sell a lot of records so
not that many people know those tunes, and familiarity is a big factor
for the audience diggin' what you do...

D: That's true, but I think "Dark Places" would sound good in there
anyway.

RB: "Dark Places!" I really dig that song, the only thing I don't
really like about that song is my vocal on that particular song.

D: You don't like your singing?

RB: I'm OK. I try to listen to it like a guy who is not me. (laughs)
Step out of myself and listen to it like someone else, and what I come
up with is: "The guy is in tune, he does a fine job, but he ain't no
Steven Tyler!" (laughs) I mean, you can tell I'm not a singer, a real
singer, but I knew that I would do a sufficient job to make the stuff
rock and to get across what I wanted to get across. Getting a singer
on that album just would not have worked; singers are a pain in the
ass, they never sing what you want them to sing, they're always
changing stuff on you, Nah, I wanted MASQUERADE to be 100% me so I
have something that I can hand to other songwriters and say, "Look,
here's the kind of music that I write." Even though I write all
different kinds of other music -- it is pretty varied on that album --
which usually I don't like but on that album I like it, because it's
mine and it shows the different kinds of writing that I can do like
"Ghost," you know, "Ghost" sounds like Hootie And The Blowfish!
(laughs)

D: Yeah, that one is off the beaten path!

RB: Yeah, it is. All my friends made me put that song on there because
everyone likes that song.

D: So when you do your guitar solo live, do you just do it
unaccompanied or do you play something like "Black Magic?"

RB: Jam in A man, jam and just play, just me, unaccompanied. I just
riff out and launch into the next song.

D: Is it difficult to coordinate your involvement in Winger and
Whitesnake?

RB: Yeah, it is. It's becoming difficult now. Before it just kind of
worked out OK. Kip is really cognizant of that -- he doesn't want me
to lose my Whitesnake gig so he tries to book the stuff at a time when
Whitesnake isn't doing anything. For example, Winger's going out in
February and March and David [Coverdale] hasn't gone out in February
and March in the last five years since I've been in Whitesnake so I
think we're safe. But I'm sure there's going to be problems, like
David's talking about possibly doing a new studio album -- he's
talking about doing it in February and March and that's when I'm going
to be on the road, so it all depends on what David thinks of the ideas
that I'm going to send him. If he likes them, then I think I'm going
to be more involved in the recording and writing of the new Whitesnake
album if there is one, otherwise it'll just be Doug [Aldrich] and
David. We'll see what he thinks of these ideas that I have and I'll
work it out.

D: I hope so! Unfortunately it didn't work out for Doug and Dio.

RB: Oh yeah, I know!

D: That was too bad because he sounds really good in both.

RB: Yeah, it's kind of like, Whitesnake is a golden gig, it's just
such an honor to be in that band. I told David "Listen man, I'll play
behind the amps if I have to, I want to be in Whitesnake!" (laughs) It
has such a history of only the best musicians and I want to be a part
of it for as long as possible. I mean just being up there playing
"Still Of The Night" really is cool, and when David belts out that
stuff you just feel like you are in Led Zeppelin!

D: That Whitesnake live DVD is one of the best I've seen recently.

RB: A lot of people like that, it got rave reviews, won awards in
Europe and everything.

D: The new one LIVE IN THE SHADOW OF THE BLUES, I guess it's already
out?

RB: I don't know, I just received my copy.

D: Is that just a CD or is there a DVD with that too?

RB: Just CD, a double CD.

D: It has some new stuff on it doesn't it?

RB: It has four new songs. I played a solo on two of them. They just
sent me the stuff -- Doug told me where to play and I played.

D: Hopefully on the new studio album they'll cut you loose and let you
play more.

RB: (laughs) Yeah, I think, especially if David likes my ideas and I'm
more involved in the recording of it I think there will be more
opportunity... (pauses) You know, I ended up doing a lot more solos in
the band the more I was in the band. Last year it was really a 50/50
split on the solos whereas before I kind of wasn't playing much. It
just kind of ended up with me having more. I think I should play more
-- that's just the way it seems to be going anyway.

D: That's good!

RB: Like I said, I really don't care. (laughs) I don't have a big
head, you know, "Hey man, I need more solos!" Don't care, neither does
Doug. We've been doing this for so long, you just work it out. Doug is
so good doing all that John Sykes stuff -- his style is so much more
like Sykes than mine. I sound like more like Steve Vai when I play
because I have a real fluid tapping thing, and Steve Vai didn't really
play a lot of solos (laughs). I am good at the blues, though, so I get
to take some blues solos.

D: Contrast is what makes it good to have two guitarists, unique
styles...

RB: You know what, we're exactly opposite guitar players.

D: That was always my favorite type of band to listen to, when you had
two players complementing each other but totally different.

RB: Yeah, me too -- Aerosmith man!

D: Do you have plans for another The Mob release?

RB: Another Mob release... You know, everyone's asking me that
question and I say no; to my knowledge it wasn't that successful.

D: I liked it.

RB: You liked it?

D: Yeah, I thought it had some really good songs on it.

RB: Yeah, that was my baby, that was my thing and Winger is kind of
Kip's thing and you can tell -- one is a big huge production from the
mind of an arranging genius and the other one is some rock guitar guy
wrote some three-chord songs and that's what it sounds like. The Mob
is unique because of Dug [Pinnick]'s voice. I'm glad that I fought for
him to be on the record, because the label was not crazy about having
that progressive guy; they wanted a guy who sang up in the
stratosphere.

D: Are you working on a solo album?

RB: I had a bunch of ideas for my solo album but now I'm going to send
them to David, see what he thinks and if he doesn't like them it will
be on a solo album (laughs).

D: You've done two excellent instructional videos. Are you interested
in doing any more of those?

RB: I am, I actually filmed one, it didn't go that well so it's still
in the editing process. I think it might be awhile before that comes
out. I'm not really a teacher guy; I didn't study, I taught myself how
to play 25 years ago. (laughs) I kind of forget how I learned all that
stuff...

D: Yeah, you have to go back and relearn it to be able to teach it!

RB: That's what you've got to do, yeah. It will probably be on tapping
because that's what I'm most known for. It's funny there's these kids
on YouTube that were actually influenced by me -- I saw one guy and he
played, note-for-note, my riffs -- it was like watching myself play.
I'd never seen anything like it!

D: Isn't that weird?

RB: Yeah, and another guy, same thing -- he learned "Black Magic"
note-for-note. I was like "God, there's a guy playing my stuff!" It
makes you feel good.

D: Don't you hope they'll take it somewhere else and not just try to
sound like you?

RB: Yeah, I'm sure they will. You're not going to get very far tapping
these days, I'm sorry to say (laughs). You don't hear a lot of it.

D: Yeah, it's all sweep arpeggios now. That's like tapping was in the
'80s...

RB: Kinda, but no, it's the radio solo that is still kind of the "in"
thing, the messy radio solo. It used to be a radio solo was pulled off
technically well, but now all the solos in rock are kind of gnarly.

D: Oh yeah, the mainstream stuff is crap, it's a shame...

RB: Poorly done.

D: You've appeared on a number of tribute albums and special
compilations like GUITAR BATTLE; will you be doing any more of those?

RB: I haven't in awhile, but if someone approaches me I always do
those things, those are really fun. I worked really hard on those, I
think it's a great challenge. One of them was "Fat Bottom Girls," the
Queen one [STONE COLD QUEEN], and I just decided to just learn it
note-for-note, the guitar thing in the beginning... (pauses) And the
Randy Rhoads one, I learned that note-for-note too -- that was really
cool. [Note: He's talking about the cover of "I Don't Know" from
TRIBUTE TO OZZY - BAT HEAD SOUP. - Tim]

D: That was really good.

RB: Thanks, I liked that one. I thought that one came out really cool.
The Night Ranger guy, Jack Blades, sounds great on that.

D: Do you still get approached to do a lot of studio work?

RB: Never.

D: Never?

RB: I live in Pittsburgh; I'm not your typical L.A. guy or New York
guy. I moved away from that and so here in Pittsburgh, once in awhile
I'll have a friend call me up and say "Hey, can you blow a solo on
this for an artist I'm producing?" I'll go down and blow a solo for
$100, or for beer! (laughs)

D: Are you still using your custom made Suhr guitars exclusively or do
you pull out the old Ibenez and Kramers here and there?

RB: I sold those long ago.

D: Oh really?

RB: Had to. When you go from selling a million records to selling
50,000 records, something's gotta give, and that's how I survived for
that whole year. I sold a bunch of cabinets and guitars -- I mean I
sold like 20 guitars. It was really a bad time.

D: I guess so, man!

RB: The Suhrs, my main Suhr, I've been playing that ever since the
first Winger album. I never played my Ibenezes on any album, I always
played my Suhrs. They are like Mercedes.

D: Yeah, I'd love to have one but they are out of my price range right
now.

RB: Yeah, well they are ridiculously expensive. They stay in tune and
they are just well built and beautifully made.

D: You've played with some of my favorite bands and musicians over the
years. Who have you enjoyed working with the most?

RB: Each band has its one factor that I really love. The thing I loved
about Dokken was there was no structure -- there were no rules. I
mean, you could show up drunk as a skunk as long as you showed. All
you had to do in Dokken was show up on time and it was just one big
solo from the beginning to the end, so it was just really fun, a big
party. Whitesnake is completely different. Whitesnake is very serious,
everyone has to know their parts, everyone has to be on time, everyone
has to be thin and look good. Winger, that's my band, so I can be fat
and I can wear jeans! (laughs) So it's a different thing.

D: Do you still keep in touch with the guys in Dokken and Alice
Cooper?

RB: I see Wild Mick [Brown] all the time on the road. He was out with
Ted Nugent playing drums, and he did a fantastic job -- I have never
heard Nugent sound better than that.

D: He's a great drummer.

RB: Yeah, he is, I think he's better in Nugent... (pauses) Well, no,
he's not better in Nugent than he is in Dokken -- he *is* Dokken. That
Dokken sound is Wild Mick, you gotta have that. So yeah, I saw him and
the Alice Cooper guys. I still keep in touch with Todd Jensen, my bud
in that band. Jimmy [DeGrasso] I talked to a couple of years ago. So
yeah, I still see 'em on the road, bump into them you know, we cross
paths all the time.

D: If I were to put together a "Best Of Reb Beach" compilation CD,
what would you recommend be on it?

RB: You mean of my songs?

D: Your songs or anything you've been on that you think is best
representative of your playing.

RB: Representative of my playing and not my songwriting?

D: It can be both, how about half songwriting and half monster guitar
playing? (laughs)

RB: Well, I think "Fanatic" and "Sorrow Stained Eyes" are my two best
songs on MASQUERADE. From PULL, "Junkyard Dog." "Headed For A
Heartbreak" if you want to know what my soloing technique is all
about, that's a good example. And I really like that Ozzy tribute that
I did, the Randy Rhoads one, "I Don't Know." What else... Definitely
no Alice Cooper! (laughs)

D: None of the Alice Cooper?

RB: Well no, because he recorded our first show -- that was the first
time we ever met and he recorded it for a live album [A FISTFUL OF
ALICE] and I was really embarrassed. Ahh, Dokken's "Erase The Slate,"
that song I did a good solo in because I knew with the first song on
the album, the title track, I knew I had to...

D: Make a good impression?

RB: (laughs) Make a good impression, so I wrote a good solo on that
one! The Dokken live DVD [LIVE FROM THE SUN] is kind of how I got the
Whitesnake gig -- if you want to see me play for a long time, get the
Dokken live DVD.

D: I've got it! That's another one of my favorites...

RB: Yeah, I think they caught a real cool moment in a song called "Too
High To Fly."

D: I love the solo part in that, it's just unbelievable!

RB: I got lucky on that one! (laughs)

D: There are a lot more questions I would love to ask but our time is
limited so I'm going to direct readers to your Web site. When I was
coming up with questions for the interview I went to your site and
there was every interview question known to man there and you had
already answered them! (laughs) How involved are you with the site?

RB: The guy who compiled all that stuff for me was really a genius.
It's a very good site. There is a lot of information on it and every
couple of days I go to the forum and respond to anybody who says
anything, although sometimes I space it if I'm out on the road. I like
it better than MySpace.

D: Well Reb, I'm really looking forward to seeing you live. Hopefully
I can come back, say hello and have a beer with you!

RB: That would be great! It's just going to be so laidback. We're just
going to be hanging out in the club. There are no hotels, we're just
going to pull up at the club at six in the morning, sleeping on the
bus, get off the bus, load in the gear and just sit there the rest of
the day. So I'll be there, sitting at a table with a beer! (laughs)

D: Thanks for your time Reb!

RB: Thank you!

-Thanks to Nancy Sayle and Reb Beach for the interview.

Relevant links:

Alice Cooper
http://www.alicecooper.com/

Reb Beach
http://www.rebbeach.com/
http://www.myspace.com/rebbeach

Dokken
http://www.dokken.net/
http://www.myspace.com/dokken1

The Mob
http://www.rebbeach.com/mob/reb_beach.htm
http://www.myspace.com/mobrocks

Suhr Guitars
http://www.suhrguitars.com/

Whitesnake
http://www.whitesnake.com/
http://www.myspace.com/whitesnake

Winger
http://www.wingertheband.com/
http://www.myspace.com/wingertheband
http://www.kipwinger.com/
http://www.myspace.com/kipwingermusic

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*** OUT ***
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