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Interviews |
TONY SARNO TODD SNIDER |
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Interviews |
TONY SARNO TODD SNIDER |
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Articles |
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A Conversation
with Tony Sarno
Q: When did you first
meet Eddy?
A: It was the fall of
1992, and I was living in Q: Are you kidding?
(laughs)
A: No, we were just having a ball. It was just like rock and roll was supposed to be. We did a bunch of ROLLING STONES and AC/DC and stuff like that and it was just spectacular! I was so thrilled! We went back to Keith’s place that night and the drummer Rick Donley was all excited. He was about Eddy’s age. Keith and I were the oldest of the four of us. Eddy was probably thirty and Rick was twenty-eight or twenty-nine. Rick was all excited, and so was I. Keith is always aloof and doesn’t appear to get excited about things, but I think he and Eddy were both excited because its just great to get together with people like that and have it click! So anyway, I went back to
I had some studio time in
I continued to champion
the cause while Keith and Eddy went out on tour with Billy Joe for
about a year and a half. (laughs) I was sitting on this tape
thinking, “God, we’ve got this great thing, and these guys are
gone.” One day I ran into someone at Twelfth and Porter who was a
great session drummer. He owned a studio in
It was my first record
deal, and it was a solo deal called, IT’S A BLUES THING. It was
issued by ICEHOUSE RECORDS on the ICEHOUSE/PRIORITY label. PRIORITY
is actually a rap label out of In February of 2000, I
get a call from Mark saying he’s starting another label with another
guy and could we finish the THUNDERHAWKS project? Mark wanted to use
the original three tracks that we cut in So I went on down to the
328 Club there in Q: How did you guys
come up with the name? A: Well, actually I don't
think Keith likes the name. When I lived in Q: I’ve heard the same thing about Eddy, that he had Apache and Cherokee relatives. A: Eddy really loved this
band. He kind of kept it close to the chest, but he really did. He
really enjoyed this band. The hope was that he could still play with
his dad and do this at the same time. I wouldn’t have wanted to take
him away from his dad because that was such a great partnership. I
was trying to gear down some then so I was not on the road all the
time anyway. I was hoping that we could tour a little bit, and they
could tour too, and we would just try to make it all work together.
That was my hope. Eddy and I talked that summer about possibly going
to
Q: So, it sounds like you handled the rhythm guitar parts in this project. A: Pretty much. I considered myself the singer in this band. Even though I’ve been playing guitar for thirty-six-years, there was something in Eddy Shaver that was just so special. When we did live gigs together back in 1993 and even during that first recording gig together, there was never any blatant competition between us. However, when two good players get together there is always a healthy amount of competition. I never minded. Eddy just came up with the greatest solos, and I’m of the opinion that when making a record, you use everybody’s strengths to the fullest. At that point it’s got nothing to do with ego, and so basically Eddy was the lead guitarist. Unfortunately, we never had the chance to really duke it out on stage. The few gigs that we did, it was just really fire because I could push him to heights that he might not have reached otherwise. That’s the way I feel. The same for one of Eddy’s mentors, Dickey Betts. The thing about the ALLMAN BROTHERS that was so great was that Duane just really pushed Dickey. Duane was more of a slide player, but the two of them together were just incredible! That’s what made them so good in the early days, I believe. And I think Eddy and I had the same kind of synergy. I love rhythm, and Eddy did too. The interesting thing too when we were going to rehearsals, we’d talk about players that we liked and disliked, and we just loved the same players. The old rock players like Leslie West (MOUNTAIN) and not the traditional guys that you hear when you talk to guitarists. It’s usually Hendrix and Clapton. Eddy and I would talk about Leslie West and one of my favorites at the time, Joe Walsh. And of course Keith Richards is probably the greatest rock and roll rhythm guitarist there is. I have huge respect for him. Eddy and I would talk about who we liked and disliked, and we were just always on the same page. I’m not going to get into it, cause there were quite a few people that we disliked too! (laughs) Actually most of the talk was about people we didn’t like. Q: I keep hearing that about him. (laughs) A: It wasn’t a negative thing. It was just straight-ahead. I mean you read articles about how great people are and stuff, but we just don’t always buy it. We know what the deal is and I guess it’s all subjective, but the funny thing was that we agreed on all that stuff. So I guess that makes us right! (laughs) But we really heard things the same in that respect, and that was great. I really loved that. I just loved the sound of our guitars together. It was just really, really great. With me chunking along and him playing, particularly slide. I mean he was just a phenomenal slide player. Really one of the best ever. Q: What kind of gear
did he use in the studio? A: When he came to
Q: It’s in the fingers. A: It really is. It’s in the soul. Q: Did you guys ever discuss the fact that you both began playing, performing and touring at such young ages? A: No we never did. Anytime we were hanging out, we talked about music. I didn’t know a lot about Eddy, or how he got his start, and I don’t think he knew a lot about me. Unfortunately the relationship never got to that point. It was kind of business. Although we were kindred spirits guitar-wise and music-wise. Q: What was important
to Eddy musically? A: When Eddy came to Nashville to record, I produced the record. He was playing and I was giving him some direction and he was like, “Come on man, don’t produce me, don’t produce me." I thought I’d learned my lesson before with a great keyboard player in town who had come in. I was trying to give him direction and got frustrated and finally I just laid back and thought, "Man, this guy is so great at what he does, I’m just going to let him do it." I don’t know what he was thinking, but when I listened back to the tracks I was like, “OK, now I get it.” And Eddy was the same way. He really understood what the track needed. It was a waste of breath for me to say anything about direction. He just played his butt off, he really did, with no direction from me. Q: Did he come up with his solos pretty quickly or did he go off and mull over them awhile? A: Oh, no, it just flowed from his soul. He loved the band and really understood it. He didn’t question it. We cut an old song called "Evil Woman" from a band called SPOOKY TOOTH, a band from the early Seventies or maybe the late Sixties. Eddy really enjoyed playing that song particularly. The last time I talked to him, I think he said that was the one he really loved. That was kind of an off-the-wall selection. We wanted to pick one cover and the engineer, George Tutko, was looking through my records and said, “Hey, why don’t you guys cut this?” So we did, and then Eddy just came in and rose to the occasion and it was just phenomenal! He came up with his stuff just amazingly. I’m not that fluid. I have to really almost agonize over a solo, but it just flowed from Eddy. Q: I’ve heard that he was an extremely sensitive person. It’s interesting because people saw him on a stage with his long rider coat and cigarette and assumed he was some tough badass. But I keep hearing that he was quite the opposite. A: Oh, absolutely! I mean, you cannot play like that without being hypersensitive. I think that’s another thing we noticed in each other too. Sometimes I can look scary on stage. (laughs) I’m just really into my music, and that’s what Eddy was doing too. I think he was ultra, ultra-sensitive. Q: He also sounds like a team player. A: Oh yeah! He really understood this band, and he was just as much a part of it as Keith and I were. Of course, Rick, the drummer, was kind of the young kid tagging along a lot, but really added a lot of great stuff. He’s a really great drummer, but he always said, “Man, I’m just… Q: …glad to be here!” (laughs) A: Yeah! (laughs) But at the same time Rick was a great champion of the band too. He helped keep it alive. He’d call up and say, “Man, what’s going on? Are we doing anything?” That helped to keep me motivated when Keith and Eddy were on the road with Billy Joe or whatever. Q: Did you know about
Eddy or Billy Joe Shaver before Keith hooked you guys up? A: No, it was just at that first (fraternity party) gig. Q: I wish you guys had that gig on video. That would have been classic. (laughs) A: Oh my God! (laughs) It was just unbelievable, and I will just never forget it! Basically, I hired this guy, it was my gig, and people were just going nuts! It was just really so much fun. We really only did a few gigs together, but I have just the greatest memories. We went down to my cousin’s club in Hilton Head, and we also did a couple of gigs in Atlanta. But not nearly enough and I don’t think any of them were videotaped. But then again, you never know. Stuff pops up sometimes. (laughs) Q: At this point, is
the future of the THUNDERHAWKS project in limbo? A: It’s in limbo, yeah. It’s a little bit complicated at this point. I’ve been in touch with another Shaver fan, and we are discussing some different possibilities about making sure that it does get out. Of course it’s very frustrating, but I don’t want it to just come out and kick around. I would like to see it really do something. I think it is a great testament to Eddy, and it shows a side of him that most people never saw. They saw him playing with his dad and in other situations, but he was so much a part of this thing and so much a part of the sound. It just kills me that we’re not going to be able to play. I hope we caught some of it on tape, but as you know usually the live stuff is so much better. And although we did catch some really killer stuff, I think the live thing would have been just…I don’t believe people have seen rock and roll like this in a long time, if ever. It was a great synergy. It’s tragic. Q: Did Eddy ever discuss his dream for the future? A: Yeah. The last time I saw him was during the recording of the record in May of 2000 and the last time I talked to him was August 2000, and supposedly he had a solo deal. He never really talked about his solo career that much, but the last time we talked we were trying to get some gigs together and he was saying, “Man, the two of us together, your voice and my guitar, are just so great. We need to do this thing.” I think the THUNDERHAWKS was something that he wanted to do, and he wanted to continue to work with his dad and probably do a solo thing too. I think he was just like all of us artists, and we want to do it all. As far as his dreams, I think he wanted to do it all. He played a song the first night he got here, played at the top of my stairs, just with his Strat. I was like “Yeah, yeah, let’s put that on the record,” but I think he was saving that for his solo record. That’s another tragic thing because I have one song on the record that I completely wrote, and Keith has one that he completely wrote, and it would have been really great if we had one that Eddy completely wrote. Maybe he has a demo of it somewhere, and maybe we can find eventually, and maybe we can eventually record it. But, it was a really cool song. Q: His death is still just unbelievable. A: Yeah, it really is. But there is really nothing you can say. It is just a tragedy. I think it’s great what you guys are doing because Eddy was a great artist, and unfortunately he will be more famous in death than he was in life. I hate to see that because I’d like to think that some artists can avoid living such a tortured life to only be celebrated when they’re gone. There are a lot of struggles to be able to keep doing your art, and that’s what we all do. Q: Did you see this
coming in any way?
A: No, I had no idea. We were planning stuff last August, about going to Australia and doing some gigs around Texas. Then I got busy just trying to live, to survive. We mastered the record in November of 2000 down in Atlanta. Then in December I had a gig New Year’s Eve in Key Largo. Rick called me on the road and told me what had happened. No, it blindsided me completely. It was just one of those things that you don’t expect. I just can’t believe it’s now a year later, and the record is not out, and Eddy is dead. It’s just unbelievable the turn of events. The disappointment of not being able to do this band is so depressing. It’s still sinking in. There is no replacing Eddy Shaver. He was totally unique. The two of us together were probably the loudest guitar players on the planet and we loved it! And usually singers are always telling guitar players to turn down, but I’m also a guitar player. So I’m like, “Hey, I don’t care, let’s rock!” (laughs) Q: And you have the kind of voice that can carry over a band. A: It’s kind of like Bon Scott of AC/DC, and I don’t try to do that, but people accuse me of that. I think Bon Scott and I were probably kindred spirits. We probably loved the same kind of music. I toured Australia twice, and I met one of Bon’s girlfriends over there, and she gave me a picture of him and it was great. That’s me. I have a voice like a guitar, just balls to the wall and there is plenty of that on this record. Q: I hope to hear it.
Has Billy Joe heard it? A: Oh, it’s so sad. I sent him a couple of copies because I thought maybe he could send them to Willie (Nelson) and maybe Willie could put it out on his label or something. Billy Joe said he didn’t have the heart to listen to it. God, how can you blame him? I talked to him maybe six weeks ago and there is nothing you can say to him, except to be a friend for him. I know it must be hard for him to tour without Eddy. He said it was impossible to replace him. Interview conducted by LA Kranz =============================================================== Tony Sarno Bio Tony Sarno was born on the road. His father was an officer in the United States Navy, and the family moved frequently. Tony started playing guitar at age eight and learned quickly. By the time he was fifteen, the seedy bars in Port Chester, New York provided gainful employment and a fast education in the entertainment business. It was around this time that Tony first saw Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Sly & The Family Stone in concert. These experiences were a major influence on the developing guitarist/singer’s style. After attending Ithaca College in upstate New York, Tony became a full-time musician. He played with his own roots/rock band, ALL AMERICAN. He opened for BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS, B.B. KING, STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN, HALL & OATES, JAMES COTTON, and N.R.B.Q. He also played lead guitar for The PETER TORK BAND, DEE ARCHER, HOLLANDER, and David Clayton-Thomas' BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS. Relocating to Atlanta, Tony formed THE ATLANTA UNDERGROUND and performed in concert with B.B.King, Johnny Winter, LITTLE FEAT, and Leon Russell & Edgar Winter. Tony signed with Memphis’ Icehouse Records and released the critically acclaimed "IT'S A BLUES THING" in 1995. Tony's second album “TONY SARNO” was self-produced and released on Marconi Records in 1998. In late 1999, Tony released a Christmas single, "Silent Night", also on Marconi Records. The new millennium
brought the completion of the long-awaited THUNDERHAWKS recording
for Meta4 Records. Musicians include Tony on vocals and guitar, Eddy
Shaver on lead guitar, Keith Christopher on bass, and Rick Donley on
drums. Interview conducted by LAK
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