Earl Slick

And, you know, it was just just a nightmare for well, especially for him, I think.

I had heard that, you know, from Earl Slick, who was playing on those sessions, that after they had finished Double Fantasy, they were going to go on tour.

But he wanted to get that other record done.

So when they came off the tour, it would have been out and they could have like kind of milked that whole thing for a few years.

um

okay i just wanted to bring up one amusing story in the book which we've actually heard before in a way because um earl slick has been a guest at the fest for beetle fans a few times and he has said that when it came time to work with john on double fantasy he didn't remember working with john on fame with David Bowie.

So apparently, well, according to your book, through these hours with Earl and John together in the studio, John kept saying to him, do you remember me now?

Yeah.

Heads up.

Great guys, and, and when you mentioned David Bowie, actually we had the great guitar player Earl Slick.

And he-

Yes.

yeah i think so i mean john's last five years are a little bit mysterious because yeah he went out of the public eye didn't release any music he was content to live quietly focusing on raising sean um and allegedly he gave up hard drugs and you know alcohol allegedly allegedly But I think he definitely did.

I heard an interview with Earl Slick, who played on the Double Fantasy album.

And Earl Slick said at that time, John wasn't doing any drugs, maybe a bit of marijuana, but no hard drugs.

And Earl Slick was, he was still involved in the kind of rock style, druggy lifestyle.

And there are some interesting testimonies.

In my book, I mention Peter Boyle, the American actor who was in Everybody Loves Raymond.

Rock is great," you know? He's like, "Man, you remind me of Earl Smith." And I was like, "I'm sorry.

I, I..." I, s- and my first thing I thought of is Earl Slick, who's David Bowie's guitar player.

Okay.

[laughs]

And I was like, "Are you talking about Earl Slick?" And he goes, "No, man, Earl Smith." I'm like, "Dude, I'm sorry.

I, I don't know who that is." And he goes, "Man, he had that song." I was like, "What song was it?" And he goes, "Well, oh man, it was with Run DMC." And I'm like, "Are you talking about Aerosmith?"

Yeah.

And then while you were still very young, something pretty extraordinary started, uh, happening.

You began getting these opportunities to play with and learn from some of the musicians who, uh, inhabited that world, such as members of The Heartbreakers, uh, Jim Keltner, Earl Slick.

When you're a young musician in a room with people who have spent their lives doing this at the highest level, what do you pay attention to? What did they teach you that you couldn't learn from the records?

Uh, for me, walking into a room like that, the biggest thing y- you know, in my younger years, I would learn the most from the stage.

And you grew up studying the music of people besides Tom Petty, obviously, and Bruce, Jackson Browne and John Hiatt, and then while you were still very young something pretty extraordinary started, uh, happening.

You began getting these opportunities to play with and learn from some of the musicians who, uh, inhabited that world, such as members of the Heartbreakers, uh, Jim Keltner, Earl Slick.

When you're a young musician in a room with people who have spent their lives doing this at the highest level, what do you pay attention to? What did they teach you that you couldn't learn from the records?

Uh, for me, walking into a room like that, the biggest thing y- you know, in my younger years I would learn the most from the stage.

That was, uh, uh, for Live Aid, a special thing where they recorded it in a day, and they sent me the tracks in New York to mix it.

And, uh, I listened to the tracks and I felt the guitars could be better, so I brought in Earl Slick.

For people who don't know who Earl Slick is, he played with Bowie and he played with every artist.

Great guitar player.

Loved Earl.

Yeah, exactly.

Uh, shall we talk about our guest? Earl Slick, I mean, he's been in my life a long time, you know.

Yes.

Going back really to Bowie, 'cause he was, he was really the sort of guy that, you know, we, we all knew after M- Mick Ronson really, wasn't it? You know, and Guy Bow- and Bowie's sort of sidekick guitar player, like, you know, Bolan and, and, and Ronson and, and Slick.