Welcome to the show and thank you for listening. A couple of quick shout outs, I want to thank the band all or nothing for giving me this really cool t shirt that I'm wearing. If you're watching the video can see it. If you're listening on audio, you can't but those guys are great all or nothing great band, check out my episode with them, check out their music. Also, shout out to all the people who took the time to write me some really nice iTunes reviews. I see a few more on there. And I really
appreciate that. Now on to the show today, my guest is Adam Hamilton. He is a musician, producer extraordinaire. This guy has really done it all. He started out working with poison cc DeVille. And then he was in LA guns for like 10 years. But he's a producer and he's done music for movies and TV. So he's done a lot of cool stuff and has a lot of great stories. I had a blast listening to this. And I'll have to have him on again to hear more because I just felt
like there was so much stuff. He was telling me I was on the edge of my seat. I want to hear more and more. But didn't want to interrupt the stuff he was telling me. So what's happening, I'm on again and hear more stories. So this episode should definitely keep you on your toes. Check it out. And welcome to the show. Adam Hamilton. How are you?
Great, man. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so
I'm great. Yeah, this is busy this week, a lot of interviews. But this is fun. I like doing this stuff. So it's always fun to talk to you guys.
Yeah, man. I love doing it too.
You got a lot of stories, I'm sure. So let's start at the beginning. So tell me I'm gonna mispronounce this hometown. Is it Shreveport, Louisiana.
You got it.
Okay, so, yeah, so, Jared Leto is from there, Terry Bradshaw and this is the good one. Kenny Wayne shepherd.
Do you ever find a man? Yeah, no
way. Really?
Yeah, yeah, I see Kenny Wayne like once, once about once a week out here. We I used to play in bars. I'm a little older than him. But yeah, I knew his dad who was a big radio DJ, station manager there. And I my bands when I was in college, be playing bars, and he would bring Kenny literally in diapers to see all the bands and let him sit in and I literally literally saw him you know, play jam with his first band when
he's 14. So yeah, man tree ports got a lot of musicians, Kix, Brooks from Brooks and Dunn, the country artists. Oh,
I didn't know that one. Yeah. Very cool.
Who? James Burton guitars for Elvis Presley. Rick Carlson.
Was football big there in Louisiana when you're growing up?
Oh, yes. Football is very big.
And were you into it? Or did you? How do you avoid that? If you weren't?
There's no way to avoid it. Man. You know, you're an LSU Tigers fan or you're an outcast?
So you're into Are you still into it now or
not? So much. I mean, I like I love it when football comes on in the fall. And it gets a little cooler. And it's like, Alright, holidays are here. It's fun to have it on. But I don't follow anybody anymore. I you know, okay.
So you discovered music through your dad's records in the radio? Like what kind of music Were you listening to in those early years?
Well, I was I grew up literally spending summers on the Mississippi Delta in Greenwood, Mississippi, and my cousin is Mose Allison. He's a very famous blues jazz piano singer songwriter. He wrote a lot of classic blues songs like young man's blues and parchment farm blues that a lot of these famous blues artists covered. And it just kind of was in my blood. You know, I just grew up around at all I grew up everywhere you go, there's music
in Louisiana. It's part of the culture and just started beating on pots and pans when I was a kid, you know, when I was three, and my uncle said, I think you better get him a drum kit looks like he's gonna be a musician. Yeah, so
you because you play the guitar, the bass, the drums, the keyboards, but drums was your main instrument. So did you learn all that stuff as a kid? Or was some of that learn later,
you learned it all, you know, I kind of got it was a natural to the drums kind of took to it when I was three or four. And then eventually, as a drummer, usually you're like, well, I'm gonna write songs and I'm gonna play some melody, and I kind of gravitate toward learning other things. All the drummers that I know know a little bit of the others. Yeah, cuz How
do you can you write some songs on the drums like Metallica's drummer, he's always credited with like, co write of all the songs. Is he writing that stuff just with a beat? Or is he
Well, you know, probably not. He's probably saying, Hey, man, try this here and here, and I'm sure if if Lars picked up the guitar, he could probably play a couple of chords enough to, you know, be a contributor as a writer. I mean, he's so talented.
Yeah, for sure. So you started doing production? This is crazy at age 12 or 13. You got a four track and you're doing like the local bands. So did you have a lot of equipment? Was it mostly just a four track? And were you playing in the bands at this time too? Or are you just doing the production?
You know, I always I was always a band guy. That was my thing. And then when I got about 14 or 15 I love both sides of it so much. I loved playing music in a band and writing songs and creating music and recording. But I also loved the nuts and bolts and behind the scenes of recording other bands. So I was equally obsessed with both. And I knew that that I wanted to do both at some point in some way. And then later on, when I got a little older, I'd be watching movies on
the TV. And I'd be like turning the volume down, and I'd be playing the guitar going. Well, I have a good little piece of music for that. So I thought, I also want to add to the list. I want to like work on music for TV and film. And so thank God, I've been a wow. Yeah, what I do now my you know, was, besides touring, I don't tour too much anymore, right. But now I just stay in my studio all day and do and do that. You know, the other two? Yeah. So
when and then when you were writing, I think it was a must have been around time you graduate high school, you decided you're I'm going for it, I'm gonna go make it. But instead of moving to like LA or New York, or even Nashville, you decided on Austin, why Austin as opposed to one of those bigger markets?
Well, when I was younger, you know, the idea, the thought of moving to New York or LA seemed really overwhelming and scary because I come from a small town and I just wasn't ready to make that jump. And I really didn't know where to go. So I just kind of migrated to the closest near music town. And that was Nash was Austin. But it turned out that was a good move. And it was part of my plan, because that's kind of where I got my first big break was living in Austin.
Right? So let's talk about that. So you're playing? Are you playing drums at this club where you're discovered? Okay, so you're playing drums, and poison cc DeVille is in town on the flesh and blood or something. And he just happens to come into the club. And so is he kind of like starstruck by you in a way like he's like mesmerized by your drumming? or What was it? He
was, he wasn't he was watching a band at a bar downstairs where I was playing in the bar upstairs. And I saw him standing there. And I just said, This is my opportunity. I gotta go say hi to him. And at least just say, Hey, come here, my band. Uh huh. And I said, Hi. And he was really nice and gave me a big hug. It was almost like a metronome run. And this
is like in the peak of his popularity. This isn't like,
yeah, this was in 91 points. And we had the number one record in the country. And
was he being mobbed by a bunch of other people too, though, or
no, not at all. He was a couple of, you know, people that were he was hanging out with and they came upstairs. And he watched my band. And he just got tickled watch me because I was a show off and throwing drumsticks and just acting the fool. And then he got up and jam with us. And then after we played, he said, Hey, I want you to come see us. We're playing tomorrow night, and I didn't have a gig. So I went and saw him at the Erwin center the next night. Did
he give you like a backstage pass or something?
Yeah, he got he gave me back. And I went back there, and we hung out. And then he got me on the tour bus afterwards with me and my buddy. And he pulled me aside and he goes, Hey, give me your number. Because I'm really thinking about, you know, in the not too distant future leaving poisoned and starting my own band. And I want you to be the drummer. And
my head just exploded. Yeah. So I'm like it was it was one of those surreal moments for sure about in movies that you dream about happening, you lay in bed going, Oh, my God, this is, this would be great if this ever happened to me. And so we swapped numbers out. And then they continued on tour. And I got his number. He had my number, and I didn't hear from him for a year. And I called sometime within that year and got his answering machine and left a message. But I never got
a call back. And I was so disappointed. And I just was like, my life is over. That was my big break. Oh, no, it's all down the tubes. And, you know, you know, like you do when you're a kid, you place all your eggs in that one basket and you only wait.
So let's back up for a minute though here before we we move on to the story. Going back to the poisoned tour bus. Tell me about that because I saw the poison behind the music. And again, this wasn't their peak of their career was this one all the crazy stuff was happening when there's all the girls and they were doing the signals and you know, this girl, that girl on stage and stuff like that.
So all of that. Yeah, definitely. And unfortunately, all of that is true. But at that point, when I was hanging out with him, he was really segregated from the other guys. He was really unhappy and he was just not it just all you know, pretty much all the relationships had soured and he was on his way out. And you know, he was also going through a lot of of substance problems in it right like I'm I'm outing him or anything that's no
no.
No you himself that he was struggling with. Hey, listen, it was a nice man. And everybody party. Yeah, you'd important everybody in the audience party. Well, this is just a great party all the time.
And that's what's so amazing about your story is that like you said, had been a year, but eventually he does call you so I'm just curious, like how did he even find this is before cell phones or Facebook? Yeah. Like how did he You must have saved your number somewhere like
even in his drugged out state or whatever. He told me the story and it's probably miraculous. He said, he came off tour and managed to save my number and threw it in a box in a drawer at his mom's house, and then couldn't find it and scrambled. When he when he finally quit the band. He tried to find my number. And he tried calling all these people couldn't locate it, couldn't
figure it out. Finally, he went over to his mom's house and and, for some reason, went through that drawer and saw and it had my parents number because the number that I had, was no longer active. I had moved to San Antonio. That number you couldn't get me out. So we call my parents house and my mom up at three in the morning and my mother was tickled pink because she knew Oh, Korean. Oh, I hope that you would call one day and here's this new number, okay.
And he called me at 330 after he talked to my mom for like 20 minutes, and woke me up. And that's another one of those surreal moments where you're just like, Oh, my God, this is actually happening. I thought it wasn't gonna happen. And now it is. And wow. And and you really, I've realized that in my career now as somebody who's almost 51 years old, that you have many different opportunities and breaks. But that's the one that literally like pulled me in and got me to Hollywood and like,
got me started. And that was that was my big break. It really was. Yeah,
so he you actually moved in with him, right? And you're living at cc DeVille.
I came out audition literally flew out, flew out. He had somebody picked me up to the airport. And they literally drove from the airport, up to the top of the Hollywood Hills in this giant mansion that you see on the poison behind the music. And I literally was walking and going, Oh my god, this is this is surreal, you know. And he hadn't woken up yet. It was later in the day and he woke up and gave me a big hug. And we kind of talked for a few minutes and he said, hey, let's just go jam.
And he had all this equipment set up in literally like a bedroom of a mansion. And like enough equipment to play the forum. And we literally just played a zeppelin song and about halfway through he goes, you got to get you got to get let's let's go let's go hang out. And we literally just hung out for the weekend and jammed and just partied and it was great. It was
amazing. So I flew home we had Christmas and New Year's and then I flew back right out and lived with him for four months and we tried to get a band off to get off the ground but it never happened.
So yeah, the CC DeVille experiment I guess it didn't experiment with did not come to fruition but so those four months hanging out with cc developed living with him and and part was there like some guest stars in this party. Like, who else are you hanging out with? Or do you have to sign an NDA for this? Because
everybody you can think of came would come hang out at that house. I mean, I met everybody you can think of the first day I got there Stevie Rochelle from tough and his girlfriend were there and I got to meet all those guys. And then the bullet boys came over that weekend. And then over that week, wow. came over the next week and Sam Kinison came over one night and Sam canister. And I mean it was that was just that was his life. You know, that was
the life he was living. And he was living at the top of the hill. And it was a party house. And it was just, it was crazy. It was everything you ever imagined, you know? And it was the tail end of that. Yeah. But it was I got I got to live it for a little bit. And it was pretty crazy.
But so is that why the band didn't didn't happen because he was just partying too much. Or was it just
I think everyone was partying a lot. We were the timing was was terrible for this band, as great as the band was, it was really a great band and that we were writing great songs. But it was Nirvana was on TV and you were literally watching Nirvana going. We're a little too late for what we're trying to do right now. And I because like, I liked Nirvana and I liked Allison chains and all that stuff. I was young enough to really like get into all that. Although, that wasn't.
You know, I just I was at I was one of those people that when the times changed. I kind of was young enough to like, go Oh, yeah. Oh, I like some of that. Oh, that's cool. You know, I didn't throw myself and become a grunge person. I always love 80s metal, but I always love music in general. Yeah, you know, me too.
So yeah, so that band kind of morphed into what was it called Joey C. Jones and the glory hounds. And he gave you the songs and then some of those songs you guys wrote with the cheap trick people.
Yeah, he gave us one song to use on the record, which was called Broadway. And we did that. But Joey had the singer had worked with Rick Nielsen and Robin Zander prior to meeting up with CC. And those guys had produced a couple of songs and given Joey an old unreleased cheap tricks on called wait all night. And you know, nothing ever happened with it. But they gave us the blessing and they said hey, put it on your album. So that's why that became our, our single,
okay, and that band that also just kind of fizzled out. Then you joined another band, right God's child, which changed their name to Joe 90. And then this was cool because you guys got signed by the Counting Crows singer, Adam Dershowitz. And he got you to open for Counting Crows. So talk about that experience, because that's, I mean, you've had some run ins with some big people. But now you're actually opening for Counting Crows and probably playing what stadiums are big theaters all East
theater. Yeah, we play big theaters and maybe an arena here or there on the air. I met Adam through some mutual mutual friends just out in Hollywood. And he just was a really sweet guy. And he would come see Jones, which was called God's child. But we had changed the band name to Joe 90 because God's child was signed to to Warner Brothers on Quincy Jones's label. And they had a hit before I was in the band, it went up to number 14 on the
alternative charts. And I liked the song, but I didn't know who sang it because this was, you know, pre online stream Wikipedia. I love this song. But I don't know who it is. You can't find out who it is right now. I got the gig as the drummer in that band, one of those songs I love. But Adam said, Hey, I heard you guys are are looking for a new deal. And I said, Yeah. And he goes, Well, I have a label. And then we're like, we're looking to sign a deal. And he goes, we'll assign
you. And it was literally that easy. That's how it happened. And he goes, I've seen your band. I love you guys. You know, give me a tape so I can take into the label. He had a smaller label that was through Geffen and it was under the Geffen tree. But Wow, it was still an indie label, you know, with only four or five artists and but the good thing about Adam is is Adam was so helpful to us. He immediately said, Come hang out at my house, we'll chill out. We'll we'll talk about this
whole thing. We'll make some plans. He said the Counting Crows are doing a new album, I want you guys to come up and be a guest on it. And we ended up coming up and playing on the album and getting to be on that song hanging around that big single.
Oh, you guys are on the order. No, that's
all a sing and doing the hand clap. And all that plus another a bunch of other friends of his Okay, all knew that we all had in common. And then Adam said, Hey, we're gonna do a video can be in the video. And then he said, we're gonna go do Conan O'Brien we're gonna do a single come be on stage with us. And so he did everything he possibly could to help us. And he took us on tour. And he said, Hey, come open for
us four months at a time. And, you know, it just wasn't in the cards for it for it to be you know, we had we had, we had some success in some areas, where every song off our label was licensed in TV and film, there wasn't one song that didn't make it into something which is pretty crazy. I don't know of another album out there that every song has been licensed for something. So that was that was a pretty cool success in itself.
But we were also unfortunately when you're on a label, like his you know, and you go to radio and radio can only add so many songs that alternative radio week you know, the only add a couple of records. Yeah, and it's never got priority. You know, we always are like, we just can't add you you know, we've got the new chili peppers single we can't add. Yeah, it was a bad it was it was a tough
time. Yeah. And we didn't have and we didn't have you know, I think Adam was also at a point where he was breaking his they were trying to break that record, which ended up getting getting a platinum record and having a hit and hanging around
with the number one. But at the same time, you know, man Listen, when you're when you're out there working a record and you're an artist and you're going on tour, and then you're trying to nurture another band and help you know, you've only got you've only got so many hours in a day and so much energy to and you can really only do so much after all in the end of the day, you know, right so so I will always appreciate him and everything he did for us he's been a great friend and and
all those guys those guys are couldn't couldn't be nicer guys and worse friends with them all still today.
So that's that's great. Yeah, cuz and then you had another band called needle Park. That was kind of a one off with a Joey see your sorry, Your Jesse Jones bandmate Craig, and that had some guests on it, Donnie V and the guitars from Buckcherry. But that's another one that fizzled out. So what do you think like up to this point? You've been through at least three bands I know you're in another alternative. You play drums for Brian Jones massacre.
But you've had three bands that record deals, you did this touring. You work with all these big names, but none of these bands quite pop like what did you learn from being in all these bands? Like why do you think they all fizzled out and why didn't you guys just keep going even though maybe like you said you weren't getting the radio radio airplay, but you didn't, but then you just kind of gave up or what what happened.
You know, it's just everything runs its course, but everything has its time. And a lot of times you don't even really in situations like that you really don't have to. And another thing is having a band is like like imagine trying to date four different women at the same time. Think about having manage all those relationships and those dynamics and keeping everybody happy and Somebody wants this. Somebody doesn't want this. It's the heart. It's
harder. I've been married for almost 15 years and being in a band is harder than being married. It's it's tough, man. Yeah, when you're in your 20s, you know, your frontal lobe is not even fully formed yet. So yeah, stupid things and you're writing really rational
decisions. It's tough man, you know, and, and having a success having a song, or an album, you know, a successful album, much less a platinum, or a gold or platinum, or a number one is millions to one, the odds of that happening, you know, it's just really it really is when you look at the odds that are stacked against you. And why somebody like vanilla ice will sell 16 million albums, and then somebody who's, you know, Miles
Davis will only sell one. I don't know who's to say, Man, it's all relative, you know, but it is what it is. Yeah, we'll just go on the journey and you know, a lot of things happening.
But what a fun journey it is for you, you're making all these connections and so one of these connections you made with the the bass player of La guns muddy start us, and he so he quits or he leaves or whatever reason he recommends you to be the bass player in LA guns. So I mean, this is this is not like joining the Rolling Stones. But this is like a pretty, you know, this band is established, you know, they're not going to be a one off and
done kind of thing. This is a band that's going to keep going into machine. So did that kind of feel like at that point, like Alright, I've kind of like made it in a way like I've got a steady gig. We're gonna have shows we're gonna tour we're gonna do the records. And you were in there for a while right?
Yeah, I played with him for like almost a decade. You know, it was I I had just gotten so exhausted. I kind of was burnt out on playing the drums, to be honest with you and touring around with a van and a trailer and not having a tour bus for decades. Just burn me out man, I would literally unload the drums every night and just go I hate this I hate this and my drum kit kept getting smaller and smaller and I'd be only bringing in certain things
you know. And like looking like the stray cats drummer with just
two drums over it. Yeah. And I literally came off the last tour that my band that Joe 90 did and we all just knew that it was the end of the road and our record deal had kind of that label had had literally been folded so Adams label they folded it up and we didn't have a deal and we just knew it's time for something different and muddy had is a great producer he produced one of those Brian Jonestown albums Okay, and that's how I got to play on it.
He called me in to play drums on one of the album's and that's a whole nother side to side story for later but muddy was going off to play with Slim Jim from the stray cats gilby Clarke and Teddy from from Guns and Roses. And so he just knew that it was time for him to to make you know, have a different a different path. And he said, Hey, man, I know you play bass, you do want to play with la guns and I'm like, all of a sudden, I'm like, Yeah, man, that sounds like a lot of fun. That would be
a blast. I loved la guns. didn't know any of the guys except for money. But I just just felt something out. So instead This is going to be fun. I think this is going to be great. And it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I got to go around the
world six or seven times. I had never gotten to you know, leave the states before you know now it's like I have friends in Turkey and in Greece and you know, England it's just it's been such a blessing and I'm still friends with those guys and working with them today but not in the band. You know my my home life is a lot more chilled and I don't do a lot of traveling these days. But it was one of the greatest things it still is to where it
was it did I thought I read something about you were jamming with Steel Panther at night and partying on the Sunset Strip was that that must have been in their infancy as a band
that was they weren't even called Steel Panther at the time. They were called metal shop metal
shop. Yeah,
play it every Monday night at the Viper Room. And wasn't even in the band. The drummer was actually raised from corn who was rude to him playing in corn he was in metal shop.
Okay.
Oh man, we had so much fun one night we were jamming and they would they would let me get up and play with them. And we were playing a Bon Jovi song and all of a sudden the crowds parted. And meatloaf literally came to the state. And Milos a big guy. Yeah. stage left up there and grab the mic. And they start doing do it and I'm like I'm on stage at the playing with Bon Jovi songs with meatloaf and metal shop. like wow are so much fun.
That sounds like a blast. Any other special guests on
our Monday night hang out was you go down see Dale Gloria because she was the Booker and the promoter. She's an old friend of mine. And hanging out with all my friends at the at the Viper Room and listen to some fun 80s and get up and jam it was just the best. Oh, that's right. And
then they moved to the Key Club, I think, right? Yeah, that's a bigger venue.
Yeah, as things got bigger and then move to Key Club and I think that's when they took on the name. Metal Steel Panther
Panther. Yeah, I used to go see him in Vegas. They play at the House of Blues and it used to be free. And they'd be every Saturday they'd be there. And I get my girlfriend gets so mad because every time we go to Vegas, I'm like, we have to see still Panthers. Like, again. I'm like, Yeah, because every time I see him, the show is totally different. It was like almost new songs. All the banter was
totally different. I don't know if they improvise that or what but every time I see him, it's different.
Yeah, I mean, I would see them from week to week and I swear to you, I they really had the chemistry of a great comedy team. Yeah, it was unbelievably funny and witty and smart. You know, but totally getting it. Yeah, it was great. Yeah.
So you're doing eleganz what of all the only gun songs that you like, played with and and wrote? Is there any that you're like, what are the ones that you're most proud of? Or that really stand out to you?
I mean, the first record I got to make with those guys work in the dead was was pretty cool. I had no, I had never really been in a situation where the band would just say, hey, let's all sit in a room and literally or go to soundcheck. Let's just get up and write a song. And I'm like, Wow, that's great. You know, usually had bands would like, Hey, I got this song, let's work on this. Or the songwriter for the band would allow me to co write with them. But this was just like,
Hey, what do you got? I'm like, man, I got a bunch of ideas when I hear them. And they'd be like, yeah, fire away. And it that, that that's a record. That's really really cool. And I think kind of stands the test of time for a rock metal album and, and getting to make a record with those guys. You know, I mean, I was literally in with the Oh, geez, I was the only one that wasn't. That was the newt was
wasn't original. So I mean, you can imagine the great stories, you know, that I got to got them to tell me and still do I still want to over the middle like, Hey, tell me about this. And this and you know,
would you tell me a story I want to hear Tell me a story. Is
there anything you remember making a record with Andy John's, you know, yeah, recording, Stairway to Heaven, you know? So, being that that Tracy guns favorite band is Led Zeppelin, I would say that it's in my top five. We're playing with the guy that records Led Zeppelin. So just getting to be to show up every day and walk in the studio and going, Oh, my God, like, I'm gonna make a record with la guns. And Andy Johns is producing it. You know, it was
just this blew my mind. I think there really wasn't a day and all those years that I wouldn't wake up and go. This is pretty cool, man. I am really think Yeah, from life today. I did not. There was no drudgery. There was no, oh, I got to go do this. I get to go do this. No,
that's amazing.
I get to go play with these guys that I was fans with that I had their albums that I had the pictures on my wall that were one of the coolest bands from that era, and still are. Yeah,
that's really cool. And then it gets better, because then you get to play drums and guitar for brides of destruction. Before they were called B they were called COC star. So that's Tracy guns and the Nikki six. Yeah, so that must have been I mean, you ended up leaving a for whatever reason, but like you, you were playing with them for a little bit. Right?
Really, all that really that really amounted to was it. At the end of the tour, Tracy had connected with Nikki. And they both said, Hey, man, I want to do something, you want to do something. And Tracy's like, Yeah, let's do something. So what Tracy said was, hey, we're going to do is I'm going to do a side project, because Tracy was always known to do stuff like that, right? He needs to. He needs to to keep inspired. He needs to keep moving. He doesn't want to do
the same thing twice. And so he's like, Hey, man, will you help me with this? And I'm like, yeah, of course I will. So we got off rehearsal. He said, here's a bunch of ideas I've been sending back and forth to Nikki. We got to find a singer. So I said, Well, alright, I said, I, if I know of anybody, let me let me go through my
little mental Rolodex. And I literally was going to get my hair cut that Saturday, from a guy named London and I went down on Melrose to the salon, and London and I talked a little bit, he's cutting my hair, and I go, Hey, man, you sing, right? He goes, Yeah, I go. You used to you did something with George Lynch or something. And he sang something out loud. I'm like, Oh, my God, this guy can sing. So I went back to Tracy, I got I think I may have found your
singer. And it goes, really? And I and I said, I literally took a Polaroid picture of him. Yeah, get back to it. I showed him because if that and he sent it to Nikki and Nikki goes, I don't care. Like I could synchronize the coolest looking guy ever. He's in a band. So literally, we said, well, how do we get him an audition. So this was before Pro Tools and all the stuff. I literally got my whole studio, threw it in my car went over to Tracy's house, set it up in the living room. And Tracy and I
recorded an old sweet song. And we had London come over and sing it and it was incredible. And so about two hours later he called Nikki to come here and Nikki came over and put on the earphones and was literally sitting listening To him, and he goes, this guy's great. That's it. And that's how London got to be this the singer. And that's how we figured out that was his audition. That's why I got him a I hooked him up with a buddy of mine who had a rehearsal hall and they got in there and they
started jamming. And initially, it was supposed to be Chris Cole's on drums. And they had said, you know, maybe I don't play keys, or maybe he'll do something, maybe he'll be involved in some some way, shape or form. And I'm like, Yeah, whatever. So for about a month before Chris was on off tour with a deema, I was playing
drums with him. And we were just literally jamming Oh, like la guns and old motley songs and old Led Zeppelin, the three or four of us, just so they could kind of get, you know, like, feel each other out and just play some music. And then when Chris came back at one point, I was playing rhythm guitar, and I never really did officially was in the band. I'm drunk, Robbie really wasn't either it was just it went through so many stages. Maybe it's gonna be this, maybe we're gonna call it this, maybe
he's gonna be in it. So you know, I was actually really, I had I kind of had fun with all that because that was actually a dream come true. Because getting to meet Nicky play some music. He actually gave me my first g five Maxi five for my first Pro Tools rig. And help me get started with that, because he was off way into all that long before I was. But after that whole thing had kind of started to gel and I kind of like said, you know, elegans is getting
ready to go to Europe. And Tracy goes, will you you know, have them take out Brent Muscat, Carrie Kelly, or somebody filled fill in for me while I do this. So that was the whole idea. We were going to go to her Europe for a month and have fillant and I go I've never been to Europe, I'm ready to go to Europe. This is a chance I can't.
I see. Okay,
with everybody's blessing. You know, I went in and did that. Okay, eventually, it just it you know, everything kind of became what it became. But you know, Tracy really needed to do something different to get fired up about elegance again.
Yeah. So then you started getting into production, you reconnected with CC and C's, you helped out with some of the poison on the covers album, right. Like you did some of that production?
Yeah, I actually. It's funny. I had to make some amends to CC. You know, when you get sober you make amends to people like you did wrong. And cc had given me a guitar years ago, and I gotten rid of it because I wanted a different guitar or something. And he it was mine to do whatever I want. But I kind of felt like I needed to like, I don't know, I just felt like I needed to make amends and tell him what I done. So I got him on the phone hadn't talked to him a couple of years.
And he's like, bro, listen, come on. If that's the worst thing you you know, God, let me tell you what I did. Kitt actually got back over. Yeah, so we were sober guys, reconnecting, you know, going to meetings together. And he goes, listen, I'm getting ready to do this cover record when you come in and help me and just help me, I don't have I need some guitars and amps, and you can help me get sounds. So I literally just went in and did whatever they needed me to do, which was
great. I got to go learn the big room at a&m with Don was producing, I got to hang out with all those guys and really get to know the rest of the band, which I didn't know him well, and spend a month in the studio with him just just soaking up knowledge getting paid to hang out and make a record with him. So it was pretty cool.
Yeah, what did you learn? Because I mean, you know, you've worked with elegans and Nikki six and poison, what did you learn in terms of production? Because this is kind of before you started doing the production
side of it? You know, I could tell, I could tell, you know, it would take me all day to tell you all the lessons, but one of the great things I learned was to keep my mouth shut, and to listen more than speaking out. Okay, when you're when you're assisting people in the studio, you don't
need to give her an opinion. You don't need to, you know, unless they ask you what you think about something, you know, like, I'm a very opinionated person, and I would, you know, love to raise my hand and say, Oh, I got a great idea for that. But it's like, just knowing your place knowing you in the chain of command. And, and being a sponge, soaking it all up and
learning stuff. And also not not being afraid to ask questions like I would ask Don, when I knew it was an appropriate moment to ask Don was a question that I wasn't interfering. They weren't they didn't have a workflow going on. I was just chilling. And I would be like, Hey, I have a question. And he would be like, of course, well, not only did that turn out to be an amazing learning experience, Don was so kind, he like, started to say, hey, so I hear
you're into production. You know, let me play me some stuff you've done. I literally played some stuff. Don had had a producer manager for me, a meeting set up a week later, you know, I'm like, Oh, my God, you know, like, some things if you just let them happen, and you just get in the way the waters flowing downstream and you don't fight it and you don't try to swim upstream and do your own thing. You just let life carry you the way it's supposed to go.
All of a sudden it feels really easy and things just start happening you know?
Wow That happens for me now in production but other stuff but so Like what?
Like man Yeah, like in time you just have to let go and trust God that he's got yeah and like show me rice. So tell me where you want me not where I want myself to be or not okay,
maybe I should yeah maybe that's good advice maybe I'm doing the wrong thing maybe I'm swimming upstream too much but so when you see like these bands like Nikki Sixx and and Ella guns and poison like in the studio, I'm just curious, like at this point in their careers because they I mean, they could just retire if they want it I'm sure I'm sure they have enough money but are they still like go get it go getters? Are they still like putting in the really long hours in the studio time
and working super hard? Or is it kind of more just like Yeah, whatever. We're kind of more chill at this point.
Yeah, it's a little more chilled at that point. You know, you still have the big studio budget of $2,000 a day is looming over your head. So you can't chill that
Okay, yeah, where
they used to spend 200 $300,000 on an album, now capital might give them 50 grand, you know, best,
okay?
They really have to maximize that time in the studio. So, but you know, you can't change a band like poison that much. They they live the rock and roll excesses in the in the heyday. So you can't expect them to really do too much less than that. So right we're, how do we pull it off? You know, how do we pull it off? Because like Nikki
Sixx? Yeah, Nikki Sixx would always say, like, you know, like, okay, I don't do drugs anymore. But like, I still burn, like, I still have that like burning, like, you know, I got to do sine. I think that's what when he was younger, he was just like, have this like energy, and then he would use the drugs and then kind of use the dude do a channel at through that way. And so is he, and now I would assume he's kind of more channeling through the music and all these other projects that he has,
yes, photography. I mean, yeah. Right. Are you know, she's gonna find ways to be creative? Even if he's not, you know, I'm sure he's got a guitar up in Wyoming and a laptop, so he's probably doing something. Oh, yeah. And
he's living the life of there.
We get, ya know, once you hit 50, and you have families and you Your life is a little more chilled. You know, digging in the backyard in the flower bed, you know, which would be laughable when you're in your 20s. Like, kind of meditative about, you know, it's just you, you just want different things in life, your your priorities kind of align themselves a little different playing with the kids and the
dog. And, you know, all those things that you just thought were like, that's not my life when I write Hollywood guy in my 20s. Yeah, they are like, that's my life today. And that those are the things that I really love doing.
Yeah, it's totally different. Yeah, it's getting older. I know. I noticed that too. But okay, so George Lynch, you produce one of his albums now. People I've heard some stories about him. Some people say rubs him the wrong way. But others people tell me he just kind of has like a weird sense of humor. Like, what was your experience of working with him?
That's the funny thing is, is I had heard all that stuff, too. Yeah, it was a totally sweet guy. Totally great. But I also had spent three, four months on tour with Don dokken. So I met those guys telling me about George Lynch. And none of them said, The guy's an asshole. They said, He's just a really different kind of guy. And and so I got to see that he's just a he's just a really unique individual. He's not a very outgoing, gregarious, hey, got it. Oh, no, he's just very
introverted. And you know, that can be that can come off sometimes. Right? What's wrong with that? Guys? That's
what I see. That's what I think sometimes people if you're introverted, which I believe or not, I feel like I've kind of more of an introvert. But I think sometimes if you're quiet if you're kind of introverted people mistake that for you're being an asshole and you're not being friendly and outgoing enough, but it might just be because they're kind of uncomfortable around big groups of people. Exactly it
man, sometimes you the people that you think are you know, they're the most insecure people around, you know, and just quiet and shy and yeah, so I had an amazing time he drove up. He had literally, he's, he brought every amp you could possibly I literally stack them up to the ceiling like amps, and the funny thing is, is we audition to every single one of them. And we pick one and
so it's just for looks, then
what? No, he wanted to try him on and try Okay, well, he he's still from that old school like I'm gonna like let's let's bring in everything and then if we beat it down, that's fine, but I want to have all the options but it's just it was funny that we only ended up using one that's funny. So
then Vanilla Ice you got to work with him now. Before I got into rock I was a big Vanilla Ice fan. I mean I was in sixth grade. But like the behind the music on him was so fascinating. And I know he's done some TV and and movie stuff too. But is it all business with vanilla ice or did you like hanging out with him outside the studio? Like does he make you calm Vanilla Ice or do you
know you know, I I didn't even work with him in the studio. I did all he said they did his stuff when he was on tour in Dallas. It's okay. And and I did all this tracks and then I put it together and mixed it but I didn't even we weren't even in the same room unfortunately, like a lot of records are done these days
interesting. So you did was like more like mixing and stuff than you did produce it right?
Yeah, I did all I did all the music mixed it and he recorded his vocals and I literally flew him in the truck
interesting is that Yeah. What about Leif Garrett? What was he like? He that was another great piano music.
Yeah. laughs amazing man. He's, he's a total sweetheart. He's one of the smartest funniest guys you'll you'll meet. You know, he's, he's, you know, he's just been through a lot. And and I think when you're a child star, you know, nine times out of 10 it's it's hard to come out of that with and live any kind of normal life. And I think that's maybe what he struggles with is, you know, dealing with the other side of being a child star. But
He's incredible. I mean, he comes in, he sings in key, I never have to tune his vocals. He's old school. He knows how to sing double himself. And he's great. He's great. He's a blast to work with. It's a lot of fun.
And then you got to tell me about William Shatner. And this record is so cool because of all the guest stars Peter Frampton. Sheryl Crow, Mike Inez Michael Schenker, zakk. Wylde, Ritchie Blackmore, I mean, did you get to work with those guys were those people that came in and lay their tracks when you weren't there?
Most of the people I got to work with. Sheryl Crow came in Lyle Lovett came in we did zakk Wylde up at his place, and me and Shatner went Nick from the strokes who's a buddy of mine, he came here. But there was a couple like Richie Blackmore who wasn't here he How come he lives in in the woods of New York and pat Reagan will record in there and then he'll send his tracks. Okay. But uh, but yeah, man, I I ended up
getting to meet him. And the, the president of the label said, Hey, I'm gonna put out a really interesting record. And I think you might be great to do it. And we just hit it off. And he ended up saying, Listen, I Shatner would be like, I have no idea about music. I just know that I, I have a blast doing this. It's Yeah, people get a kick out of it. And I've been and it's a lot of fun. So let's see what we can
do. And we just ended up becoming friends strangely enough, and me and my wife go over and watch Monday Night Football at his house. Now what? I've ended up doing three records with him now and we still hang out. We go to his charity horse shows and we go hang out with us now. It's really weird, because like, out of everybody I've worked with Yeah, you know, becoming friends with you know, at the time. He was like, 85 years old. He's still the coolest guy in the room. He's still the guy that
just like he's hippies. Yeah, funny and smart. He's sweet. And he doesn't
he's not too cool or doesn't have too many friends. He's a Miller willing to take you on as a friend. And have you oversell at this point, his age.
And it's fantastic. Over there, and you'll see all of his friends over there. And his friends are a really great, colorful, eclectic group of people. I mean, ruin Fred dryer who used to play for the Rams. Henry Rollins will be their neighbor, Valerie Burton, Ellie will come over. It's just this room. And then, and then his family and his kids. And it's just this really great fun group of about 20 or 30 people and they have and he caters it. So there's food and it's fun. You barely
watch the game. You're just hanging out, having a great time. But he's an amazing guy.
That sounds like a lot of fun. And so then you you started doing this. So like you said earlier, the TV and the movie work. And I've heard I talked to Devin Bronson. Yesterday, I interviewed him and, and he's doing some of that too. And he said, that's kind of like that can be like a like a good gig for musicians, because it's kind of like the bread and butter. Because you know, Now obviously, album sales are not as much as they were, but this can pay a lot, right?
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's crazy. I had a song and a big movie years ago, it was the first Bourne Identity would
Yeah, the Bourne Identity.
So that was 20 years ago. And it's every time I turn on the TV, it's still on. And every time that that airs, I get paid. And every time it airs, on Showtime, I get paid, and every time it airs in Europe, so I get sheets, hundreds of pages of sheets of the Bourne Identity aired everywhere, all around the world. You know, it's
a whole sheet, they don't just give you like one check for the month or something.
Yeah, but you get a breakdown. Oh, you do get a breakdown there. It aired on this channel in this country at this time on this day. And and the cool thing is, is I've got about three or 400 songs out there that have been in hundreds of TV shows and dozens of commercials and dozens of movies. And that's always airing and and we call it mailbox money. You know, yeah, quarterly you'll see royalties from that. So that's been a great blessing, you know?
And so, and that's what you're that's kind of your main thing. You don't want to tour, no road plans, but it's mostly studio with Movies and TV, but then are you playing drums and you're doing some recording on the new eleganz album? Tell me about that.
Yeah, you know that that I ended up recording the their Christmas EP that they did two years ago. Okay. And we did it here. And Tracy actually was in Europe with his family over there. So he did his tracks there and send them to us. But we did everything else here. And that ended up going really great. So when they said, Hey, we're going to do a new la guns album. Let's do it at your place. And I said, Great. I'd
love to work on it with you. And so we started planning that, and then the pandemic hit, and then everybody had to shelter in place. But they continued writing and they said, Hey, we have a single I think we want to put a single out. And so I said, Well, I don't know how we're going to get a drummer in here. Because at the time, nobody was going anywhere. So by default, they just said, Hey, you play drums on it, and you can mix it and we'll call our tracks. And everybody did their tracks at
their place. And that was that single let you down.
That's a brilliant song. I love that. That's the latest one, right? Yeah.
I think the two I sounds
like it should be in a movie too. Or like a TV show.
That was one of those songs that that happened. And I said, I wish I had written that song. That song is incredible. Mm hmm.
Do you have an opinion? On the two versions of LA Guns- I interviewed Steve Riley nicest guy. But I know that there's this like Rift and there's, it's it's such a weird thing. I don't know how to fix it. I don't know, if you don't have an opinion or comment on that.
There will never probably be a solution to that.
Right? I know. That's what it seems like
I understand. I understand how it happened. Because I was there in the band with Tracii and Steve and all those guys. And I thought happened, and then I saw Tracii do he doesn't do his thing. And then there was two bands and it was just, it's a shame. It's a shame because it dilutes the brand. It's It's a shame people can't we can all get along. But that's life. And life is too
short. And friends or family. If if we can't find a way to get along, there's no sense in being miserable... wish you the best.
So do you think one of them should change the name then? Or do you think they should? Like I
definitely think it shouldn't be Tracii Gunns and Phil Lewis. I'll just put it like that. Yeah,
I mean, I just we I want it is confusing. But I get Steve's point too, because he's like, well, I helped build this brand up. So I don't want to just like not get and so I don't know. Yeah, I think there's just not a solution for that one. So is is Tracii doing? Are you producing another thing with Tracii and Michael Sweet? Are they doing a project together?
Yeah, they're doing a record. No, they called it Sunbalm... And Shane, who was playing drums in LA guns was going to play drums on it. But Shane ended up getting a gig working with Kanye West. And so he went off to do his thing. And Tracii said, Hey, why don't you play drums on a Sunblam record? And so it turned out, I ended up playing drums on it. And then Tracy said, you want to mix the record to? And I said yes. So we ended up doing a fun bomb record. And it's done. And it
sounds amazing. And it'll be out next year. And okay, really cool. I mean, it almost sounds like, you know, we were all such fans of like early Iron Maiden and stuff. It almost sounds like kind of like that with Michael sweet singing because that was something that both of those guys loved. And they jokingly said, hanging out one night, we should make like an old school metal record. And they both said, yeah, that's what happened.
That's so cool. When you're at that level, like you can just do this stuff. It's almost like for fun and like, obviously, Tracy likes to make music because he keeps doing he's keeps doing all these other projects. It's really cool. Do you have any other projects that are upcoming that either production or playing?
Right now I'm working on tons of music for TV and film because it just seems to come in waves for some reason. I don't know why that is. It's like anything feast or famine. But I'm just working on a lot of music stuff like that right now.
Do you? Was there any gigs like either plane or production gigs that you were in the running for that you didn't get?
Oh, man, I'm sure plenty. You know, when you're in Hollywood, and you go on auditions and stuff, you know. It's just like, it's like being an actor. Man. You're going to go on a lot of auditions that you're not going to get the gig for. I really can't even man there's just been so much so man, it
wasn't one that you really wanted that because I guess I talked to Devin, he was saying he he was in the running for Prince and he's like, Oh my god, that would have been amazing. Was there any big stars like that that you would have?
No.
The only kind of thing like that the Yeah, Prince that would have been great. I really can't think of anything because I've never auditioned for anybody on that level or anything like that. Yeah, that's that would definitely be disappointing, but understandable.
How do you get a production like to be a producer? How do you get those gigs like the William Shatner Vanilla Ice and They reach out to you or,
well, that's all through a record label, you know, president of Cleopatra records and he just will have a project and he'll be like, Okay, I think you'd be great for this. Would you be interested in it? You know? Yeah, that's that's kind of how you get it, you know, just from or somebody hears a record you did and say, Hey, we heard you. We like this record, and we're interested in working with you and, but most of it come through the label.
Okay, so it's and a lot of its connections, who you know, and stuff like that.
It's all who you know. Yeah, absolutely.
And so back in those party days when you weren't sober, like and there was all these parties. What were some of it? Was there any like a one party that really stands out where you're like, you just couldn't believe the the people that were there like these a list celebrities or rock stars or movie stars or
I when I, when I moved out in 94, I ended up meeting a girl named Julie McCullough. And she was Yeah, she was late. And she was on growing pains. And Julie and I ended up becoming really good friends. And Drew, I realized that once she and I became friends, we we just had a group of mutual friends of about 20 or 30 people, because Hollywood is just such a tight knit. And
everybody knows everybody. And so we would play down at this club, me and a bunch of friends, just a cover band, and Julie would come down and bring all her playmate friends and Hugh Hefner, and all his girlfriend at the time. And this became a weekly thing on Wednesday night, you know, we'd reserve a table for them. And we would just have the Wednesday night party at once called the opium den in Hollywood. And then eventually, they took that party and we started doing it at the Playboy
Mansion. And it just became this legendary party. And then we would go out there and hang out from New Year's and Halloween. And so I I was three years I was at a lot of those parties. And you know, you can imagine the people you will you would see and meet and the things you would experience out there. It was, it was a fun decade.
Do you have to sign the NDA is I'm really curious about this NDA.
I never I don't ever remember anything about signing anything like that. But But I'm really old school so maybe that was before my time maybe that they're doing that all that stuff?
Yeah, cuz now it seems like they don't want those stories. But nothing stands out that a story that you want to tell here is
Oh, man, I mean, I, I literally remember like walking around, like, in the back of the Playboy Mansion. And there's flamingos walking like this, and you're just going, where am I? Where's my life? And then I look over and you see jack nicholson going. And this is a lie. And you're like, You're telling me? That's crazy, some great experiences to some crazy stuff. I remember going up and my girlfriend at the time
and I were out. We're out there and I said, Wait, Hey, man, I used to love that guy, Robert Blake. He was on that show Beretta. Yeah. Or the Robert Blake murder case. And I went over and talked to him and he was nice. And we had a little chat, but he had a dark, dark aura about him. And I left that that moment going. Whoa, that was creepy man. He had a creepy vibe. And my girlfriend said the same thing. And then years later, that happens. Big Big
surprise. But Wow. Yeah, man, you know, live when you live in Hollywood long enough, you you're going to end up coming across or getting to know or, hopefully, you know, even best becoming friends with some people that you really love. And, you know, I've gotten to meet or work with or play with all of my heroes, you know, Beatle from the Beatles, to the stones to the you know, it's crazy. Wait, The Beatles. So you live a very blessed life. Do whatever actions you have with
the Beatles. I got to know Ringo from being around and having connections and mutual friends. And so I'd see him about once a week and it's crazy. Did you play with him ever? No. I never
never played with him. But we've had a lot, a lot of long chats and I might have a daughter who has cerebral palsy and he has a stepson who has, and so when my daughter was born and she was diagnosed with that he was very helpful in giving me some big hugs and saying, hey, it's gonna be alright, my stepsons been through it and he's 20 years old now he dates girls and he's the life of the party and
everything's gonna be okay. And he was one of those guys that when he tells you everything's gonna be okay you listen to you know?
Oh, absolutely. He's very while I do like to end with a charity is that is there a charity related to that or something else that you want to highlight here?
There you go. You know, I think my wife would probably be the one to talk to about best charity but I asked her last night which she likes the best in the cerebral palsy foundation is the one that she thinks is the one
Okay, I'll put that in the mouth nine
year old girl that we love so much deals with all that, you know, we just try to be as helpful and support as we can. Yeah, great avenue to do it.
Okay, great. Well, people can check that out if they want to donate any other anything else that I missed any anything else? You want to highlight here,
man? I don't know. We'll talk another time. Yeah. David Hasselhoff saga saga and stuff like
wait, Hasselhoff. What? Not a whole nother episode,
I produced his his album a year or two ago called Open your eyes. And that was quite an experience. He was filling with stuff for the travel channel. And literally I'll have to send you a he would have camera crews coming in here and filming and say, Hey, I'm gonna film today Is it alright, so we wouldn't get much work done. But one day, he literally said, Hey, I said, Are you coming? It's one o'clock. He goes, I got a film crew with me. Is that okay? And I said, Yeah.
And he goes, I'll be here in 10 minutes. He goes, stand outside with your camera. And I said, What do you mean? He goes stand inside of your camera. So I he goes, I'll be there in 10 minutes. So I literally stood outside and filmed. And all of a sudden the caravan of cars came around the block right from my house. And he was literally driving the nightrider that is awesome. Hold on with it. And it goes, Hey, I think I'll send you the video. I got to show my little girl and we got to sit in
the night. Right? That's
awesome.
He literally brought it by. So I mean, the perks of what I do. That is amazing.
You got some great stories pretty funny. Did you ever see him do the cheeseburger? Do you ever have the drunken cheeseburger moment with you though? or?
Yeah, we never had that. He's been so good. Unfortunately, God bless him that, you know, because of the internet that that will be there to haunt him the rest of his life. sadly enough, we've all
had that. Let's just people shouldn't shame him for it. Because we've all we've all had those moments. So
yeah, All our moments aren't shared on the internet now.
Is that the thing that made him go get sober?
Well, you know, to be quite honest, what he's told me, you know, the reason that that got filmed was because his daughter loved him a lot. Yeah, I want you to sober up, and I'm going to show you what you look like when you're drunk. And so she filmed that. And then unfortunately, it got leaked out to the to the for the world to see, but that that was actually filmed to try to help him. You know, get his life together.
Yeah, good. That's good. All right. Well, thank you so much out and this was a blast chatting with you. We'll don't have to do this again sometime.
Awesome, man. Thank you. Okay. Take care. All right. Bye.
So there you have it, Adam Hamilton. He's got some cool projects coming up new la guns, that should be fun. I really think he needs to maybe write a book and get all these stories down. I've read that for sure. Such a nice guy. I want to thank him for coming on. Make sure to follow us social media keep up with what he's doing. He just posted a great picture of him with cc DeVille from back in the day. Good stuff. You can
follow me on social media too. I don't have pics with cc DeVille yet, but you can keep up with all my podcast episodes and other adventures. And if you want to support the show, if you could share the episode on your social media, or if you want to go out you can write me an iTunes review. Both those things help. I want to thank you so much for listening. And remember to shoot for the moon.