Bonus Episode: Guitar Great Earl Slick Recalls 'Station to Station" Sessions and His 40 Year Odyssey with David Bowie

which is pretty much all you need to know. The Duke makes his grand entrance on the title track to Bowie's landmark ninety six album Station to Station and today I'm thrilled to talk to a guy who's responsible for much of the searing guitar work, Mr Earl Slick. Now, in case you didn't know, Earl is a bona fide rock legend, and Bowie's just a part of his remarkable resume.

That's him playing on John Lennon and Yoko Owns Double Fantasy, and he's also played with David Coverdale, Robert Smith, Ian Hunter, and so many more, not to mention his own solo work until the Pandemic. He was about to mount a tour with Sex Pistols founding bassist Glenn Matlock. He was just twenty one when he got the gig to play with Bowie on Diamond Dugs Tour, filling the spot recently

vacated by Mick Ronson. He went on to become one of Bowie's go to guitarists and most frequent collaborators, playing on Young Americans Station to Station, Heathen Reality and also the Secret Sessions for the Next Day in He's also performed with them on stage for an untold number of gigs spanning thirty years. I was so happy to talk with him about Bowie and also another mutual favorite, the Beatles,

and also lots and lots of guitars. Andy gearheads out there need to check out his line of guitars on guitar Fetish dot com. I swear this is not a paid endorsement, but they're so damn cool. You may not be able to sound like Earl Slick, but at least you can kind of look like him. Oh yeah, while we're on the subject, I have a confession to make. In addition to being a guitar god, Earl Slick is

a pretty snazzy dresser. I didn't want to feel under dressed, so I wore a leather jacket for our zoom call, and I realized after the fact that it crinkled throughout. Rookie mistake. Apologies in advance. Let that be a lesson to any aspiring journalists out there. Don't try to be cool or at very least condition your leather jacket. Anyway,

I hope you enjoy. I guess I guess should say before diving into all the Bowie stuff, I guess the best place to begin is a one day in particular, and I'll say February nine, a very special day for for music lovers everywhere. It sounds like that's where it all started for you my generation and players probably, yeah, I mean for me definitely so a weird thing because we really weren't terribly aware of the Beatles up to

that point. You know, I was what twelve or thirteen years old something like that, you know, um, and I really hadn't gotten into I wasn't a music fan per se yet, you know. But after seeing that show that night, it was weird, man. I mean, it's hard to describe it. I mean you you see it, you know, like way second hand or you know, but if you were there, I mean, it was like something you've never seen before,

you know what I mean. And and it just and the and the weird thing about it was, is it hit everybody at the same time, the same way, like overnight, it happened. Literally, what was it? Was it just the the the exuberance, was it the sound? Was it all the above? Well? What was it that really spoke to you about? Just seeing them? You know, trying to put myself back in my head back then what we saw it hit a nerve, really hit a nerve. And the next day when we up to school, that's all anybody

was talking about. And you know, we all. I mean at the time, my hair was very short. I remember before I went to school, I got a comment I'm trying to brush down a little bit, you know, I had a really short air, and so did everybody else. And and then within days of us seeing that, we were all putting to nobody could play anything, but we were putting bands together. Okay, you'll be the bass player, you'll be the guitar player. This guy, you know what

I mean, we were we it was instantaneous. Uh. And then what also appam was is because that the way that they presented the band, especially on the TV show, you already had picked your favorite beatle, you know, that was a big thing. You're Paul Guy, or you are John Guy, You're Wringled Guy. Are you a George guy? You know that that? And um, yeah, you know, you know anything. It was too is that grown up and being in grade school in the fifties and into the

early sixties. Uh, it wasn't like there was anything of hours, you know, other than you know, kids playing Little League and ship like that. There wasn't anything that was really ours, you know, And and um, it was also very very

straight laced period of time. So even as much, if not more than the music, it was the clothes they were wearing, the haircut they had, the screaming, the whole thing, you know, And it was like, holy shit, who were some of your when you first picked up a guitar instead of playing who are some of your guitar guiding lights? The bow Didley's and the Chuck Berreys and the Likning Hopkins.

Who who really, uh were the people that you really wanted to emulate when you're first starting when I first started, Um, because the Stones were not very far, you know, it was it was pretty be a few months and then the Stones hit. Uh with the Beatles, it got me inspired to pick up a guitar. But the Stones is what really did it. I mean, it started off with you know, Brian Jones, Keith Richards, and then in short order I found myself gravitating right to Chuck Berry Bo Diddley. Uh,

oh you know it went. I went there. That's where I net. But obviously think about it, I'm listening to the Stones, oh, the yard Birds to which came after that, the Ones I gravitated towards because the Beatles got my attention. But what really sort of drove it home or the British blues based bands, And because of them, I started to explore where they got it from. It was my

love from the blues came from that. So it's late sixties, early seventies and your plan ends out on Staten Island, bow Jack, And how did you go from playing Staten Island to playing with Bowie? Can you take me through that that journey? Uh? You know when we started off playing on Staten Island, Um, we did what all kids

then did anyway. You know, you you started off putting together these little bands, and you'd be playing at people's like parties in the basement, and then you start up playing high school dances, and then you know, you started uh thinking about playing in the bars, you know, uh, and it just progressed, and then at one point we

realized that there was life outside of Staten Island. So we started getting gigs in in the city, in the village, and I just started meeting people, you know, and um, one of the guys that was part of our little crew on Staten Island was a guy named Hank de Vito and he played um pedal Steel, which which was kind of odd, but he was he was in a different crowd of people, uh too. And and he was actually playing with Michael Caman, the you know, the big

film dude before he was a big film dude. And I met Michael threw him, and uh, I I got I got the gig with Bowie because I took a road to gig with somebody else. That's how I got the gig, because my instincts told me. And also I was getting bored with the whole Staten Island thing. I'm going man. Somehow I put together that, you know, if we're just gonna keep doing cover songs and I don't even like and playing in these bars, uh, we're gonna

get stuck here. I'm gonna get stuck here. So I started hanging out with with Hank more often, and then I met Michael threw him, and then Michael took a liking to me, so he would use me on sessions here and there, you know, when I was really young and UM. At one point I asked Hank because because they were doing UM, Mike had a band called the rock and Roll New York Rock and Roll Ensemble, right and and they had directed contract at one point. They were broken up by now, but but Michael was doing

solo gigs. But these were real gigs, like you know, you flew on the airplane to get there, and you stayed in the hotel, you know. And he had part of Paul Butterfield's rhythm section was in the band. Uh and UM. David Sanbor was a sax player, So I took the ROADI gig on and UM. At sound checks, I always worked my guitar with me, and at the sound checks, I started jamming with the band and and really hit it off jam and with Sandborn, and at one point Sandborn suggested to Michael that I should be,

you know, playing in the band. So Michael offered it to me, and so me and Michael became very close and we would do that and some other projects. So when the Bowie when he had met Bowie and seventy four, Uh, it's right when McK ronson had quit and David was looking for a guitar player and he mentioned it to Michael, and Michael threw my name in the hat. So that's how I got the gig. And the audition, it sounds

like the audition it was pretty unusual. It almost sounds like something out of like James Bond meeting Blowfeld or something. You go to the studio and it was just like an empty studio, right yeah. Yeah. Uh. I've never done an audition before, so I didn't really know what to expect. But what what I what I thought was that I'd show up and it'd be a band in there, and David Bowie would be in there, and it might be other people and I would get my chance to play.

That's what I thought. But that wasn't what happened. I got to r C A Studios, recording studios in New York City, and um, when I got there, David's personal assistant met me, and um, I didn't I didn't see anybody but her and and she shuffled me into the main recording room and there was an amp there and some headphones because oh, just put the headphones on. So I put the headphones on, and uh, I get instructions from this disembodied voice, which which was which was Tony Visconti.

They were mixing Diamond Dogs. So I put the headphones on and he said, We're just gonna play some tracks. Just play along. I didn't know what these tracks were. I don't know anything. So that's what I did for a little while. Twenty minutes maybe no key, no anything, just play, just just play nothing. Yeah, wow, yeah, And I don't know. Twenty minutes later, half our waiter, Uh, they go, wait a minute, and then Bowie walks in the room, said Hi, We sat down, he grabbed the guitar.

We just noodled around and shot the ship for a little while. And then I was done. And you know, they said, uh said, we'll give you a call in the next couple of weeks. Because we're auditioning more guys. I said, okay, whatever. Um. As it turns out, they did call me the next day, so I didn't have to wait. You know, they liked your right away. Yeah.

Well that must have been a strange tour to start on, just because I mean, you know, do you think the Diamond Dogs tore you think of the choreography, the staging, the just everything being almost like a Broadway production? How was that for you? Did you feel confined? Was it almost like, wait, this isn't the rock show, this is like a Broadwick style thing? Or was that was that fun?

We're both both, Um, the fun part was just the fact of the kind of guys I was working with, you know, the band, you know, because Sanborn was brought into that man, Mike Garson was already in the band. Uh oh, Tony Newman and Herbie Flowers were a rhythm section, you know, So these were guys, These were the top dudes. But as far as the gig, when it was fucking weird, because I wouldn't. I mean, first of all, rock bands didn't do those kind of shows back then. That was

something kind of new. There was no Pink Floyd Wall, nothing like that so um wrapping my head around being part of that. It felt like, first of all, uh, David had well you know what the Diamond Dogs tour was, you know, you know what the show was. So there was a set, they were costumes, it was all this stuff, and like right before rehearsals, I find myself if David Sweet in the city, where the where the address? And

getting all my hair cut off. I'm trying on these clothes that they had made, and it was all like I'm going, Wow, I finally got in this really famous big rock band and the first thing it does make me cut my hair and yours they did all backwards. Yeah. There was an interview you gave where somebody asked you, you know, what was your favorite on stage moment, and you just said, any show with Bowie, just pick a gig. What was it about being on stage with with with

with Bowie? I guess through the years that that was so special. What was it like to read him on stage and just that interplay, Like, you know, coming from where I was before I got to get with Bowie, I had some miles on me because you know, I've been playing live for a while before I got that gig. So I've done everything from a lot of bars too. With Caman, you know, we were doing maybe two thousand seaters, so I add a little bit of that, but not to the extent of that, I mean to be honest

with you. When I got in the Diamond Dogs tour, Uh, the atmosphere around Bowie what was it was definitely in the realm of the Beatlemania thing because that's when because he'd already finished Ziggy, right, the Ziggy thing had come and gone, and he was huge. That's when David was he really that was when he really broke through. So all of that was there and the size of the crowd, you know, twenty thousand seats, you know, and this huge organization of Rhodies and staff and the band and and

it was like wow, you know. So the excitement level was there twenty four hours a day, you know, and you know he um being the dynamic performer there that he was um, you know that that energy really just

permeated the whole thing. I was you're mentioning the band Earlier, I was lucky enough to speak to to Mr Ken Scott, co producer on all those great albums, uh, and he spoke a great deal about David's sort of his his skills, brilliance at putting people together and choosing people for what they were able to do and letting them do what they were good at and their skill set, and putting everybody together and having this sort of almost social alchemy in a way. Uh did you experience that with him?

I mean just with with putting bands together, in groups of people together. Uh? Yeah, what was he like as a as a as a leader, Yeah, it was. It wasn't evident at the time because at that point I had didn't have enough experience to realize what was going on. But in hind stight and then all the years are after that, I think why David's bands and his records were the way they were is that everybody that was involved was there for a specific talent that they had,

you know what I mean. It wasn't like we were session guys. You know, I had my thing and this guy ad his thing, and and that's why you were there. You were not there to put on different hats. You were there to be I just wore the Earl Slick hat. Tony Numan wre the Tony Newman hat. We were there for specific and it wasn't just how he played, It

was the whole package. You know, there were certain things that that he wanted, that that he saw your personality, your the way you dressed, the way you carried yourself. You're playing he package. That's why you were there. Midway through the Diamond Dogs tour, go into the studio in Philadelphia and start cutting what would become Young Americans very very different sound, going from this kind of glam rock sound to you know, Philly soul and and and just R and B and and funk. How did you feel

about that at the time? Do you feel about that shift? Did it's a blindside you in a way? Or what was that like for you? Yeah, it kind of did because I was no stranger to R and B. Because I mean, you know, I played a lot of it. Uh, when we were doing a lot of the clubs in New York back before Bowie, when when I was doing all that, you played, you know these bar gigs, Um some bar gigs they expected you to do like the

top twenty hits whatever they were. But there were specific clubs in the city that um they really uh, their whole thing was about let's let's say, uh what you call soul, you know, so you would play James Brown stuff and then you do Memphis stuff like there would be Eddie Floyd and Sam and Day. So I played a lot of it, you know. Uh, but when we did David's think it was more more of the pop

kind of R and B stuff. And also it was such a departure from the rock and roll stuff that I was disappointed because it really didn't leave me much room to do much as a guitarist, mostly for people like Carlos Alamar and kind of getting that type of guitar playing in there that territory tho he shines. You know, Do you have any any favorite memories from that session, because well, but this one I wanted I was gonna ask you about because I know Fame is on that album.

I was gonna ask you about playing with with with John Lennon. But I was doing a little research and there's some debate about whether you actually played with John. Well, yes, I'm told I was there. The credits say I was there. John Lennon said I was there. I don't remember. Oh man, did he did? Did he? He bust your chops for that. Later when when you're playing double Fantasy, absolutely Yeah, Yeah, we had fun with that. You post have loved that,

because I'm sure that doesn't happen very often to him. No, And I think the fact that I had the balls to tell him that I didn't remember he liked. Oh. Man, I mean when you're when you're first starting to play with somebody of a Bowie or a Lennon caliber, when you first entered the room with him, how do you how do you connect with those guys initially? Because I imagine after you know, five ten years of that level of fame, they must have some degree of protection I'll

call it armor. How do you get through that and just just just get to hang with them on a on a personal level and kind of get them to upset that down? You know, everybody's a little different from the next guy. With David Um, oh well he would be well obviously the first person of that caliber that I was exposed to to work with and um on a personal level. Man, this is this is this is a funny one because it's hard to describe it in

a way. Uh, he was in his own world, you know, So it wasn't like you would get in a band with the guys and all of a sudden you're hanging out and doing that once you know. You know when we first started, you know, he called me out of the Blue Sea, I'm going to see Roxy music tonight. You want to go to the show? Yeah, stuff like that.

But that was by design in hindsight, because he liked elements of that, and so if if if he invited me to a show, a lot of times it had to do with him wanting me to see that show because it may relate to what we were doing, you know what I mean. But you know when you meet people, when you work with people like that, Um, like I said, they're all different. Uh. John Lennon was like being in

a band. Would wanted the dudes? You know, it was it was, it was, it hit, It hit a personal note right out of the gate, where with Bowie it didn't end as time went on. With David, Um, I didn't really pursue a friendship thing, you know what I mean. Um, My instincts told me that, and my instincts were right because one thing about David, Uh, I don't think you could you could be his friend. I don't think he

was capable of it. Whereas John was just with everything he had going on or just as a person just you think it was. Uh. In the later years, um, there were there were more occasions because we knew each other so long as the years went on and so well that we would have like personal conversations and it was and also in the later years, the drugs were gone from all of us, so it was you know what I mean, it lent u up more to having

something other than a cocaine fueled hangout. I guess I suppose on that topic, one of my favorite albums of all time bar none is Station the Station. And for that album, there's a lot of mythology that surrounds that album. Uh. You know, according to law Bowie around that time is almos like this Brian Wilson figure is kind of mysterious figure. What were those sessions actually like when when you were

in the room with him? Was because I imagine me it's it's such especially the title track, it's such a complicated track. I imagine that the planning that must have gone into that must have been immense. Funny, there was no planning going to that track that that that when we went to make that record. Uh, A lot of the stuff was the maturial was basically half written. It

was a work in progress to night. The title track was two if not three, separate pieces that he had floating around that we basically as we were going through it, he was just pulling like half finished things and we were going him together. And that's how that track happened. If you listen to what you could hear it, it's like a mini opera. It's like a quick one that he's away or something. It starts off with that real

dirty dirge at the beginning. Then it's all up temple at the end, and it's got that little weird thin like dude in there. It was. It was chunks glued together and somehow he managed to turn it into a a song. You know, huh. It's amazing how we could be that out there yet still not alienate people. Like it's still is so accessible and so just. I mean, you could say about everything anything he ever does. I mean, he definitely he brings you along for the ride, but

he never really alienates. I don't think no. I think you're right, um, you know, I think what you have to take into consideration is where our whole society was at the time, where the music business was at the time, where the fans were at the time, how how how young we were at the time. You know, it was a different world entirely. That world is not even remotely close to this world in terms of music and bands.

Different I mean not even different ballgame, different world. You know, there was no with him, which is one of the things I wanted. There was never some you didn't go in the studio when we started station. There wasn't some kind of big plan like this is the kind of record we're gonna make, and this is how we're gonna Nah. We just went in there and and it. I don't think this is funny about what I thought about Station, the station many times as I go, you know what,

we didn't really make a record. The record happened. We were just there. I mean, if that makes any sense, the spontaneity, just organics build up around you. Yea, what did you play on that was that you st jr Uh. Some of it's that, A lot of it is uh. I think it was this nineteen seventy or seventies. That was the early seventies um Less Paul black One and I had UH also in nineteen seventy for Less Paul Anniversary model A white one. Man, what was your ring

back then? I mean this that sound is just oh my god. I've playing at all by myself. I've been trying to figure out and I and I am completely lost. Simple as it gets. Man, it was just a one Marshall half stack and and you know before I don't know if we're gonna talk techie shot here, but it was before they were using the master volumes to drive the the distoration. So to make that and break up you had to crank it. And that was it. That was the rig. That and um my pedal board on

Diamond Dog's tour. My pedal board consisted of one n x R Phase ninety pedal. That was it. Wow. So it was it was straight into the amp. Wow, that is wild. Oh man. But I mean, yeah, I guess it was all. It was all in your fingers. Then at that point, it wasn't like well yeah yeah, I mean when you you know, you learn how to play guitar and you have the tools in front of you, your main tools. Right in that case, it was just a guitar and amp. It wasn't like we started off

with a pedal board. So basically you had to get what you wanted to get with a guitar amp and your fingers and your ears. I can't mention station a station without stay good lord. That is an absolutely incredible track. I mean, how did that that track build up around you? That track? Um, it's funny. Uh, you're probably you're you're a bowie dude. Um, you're familiar with John I'm Only dancing. Okay. He wanted to redo it. He wanted to get a

new arrangement for it and record it. And um we did. Actually, uh, we did some rehearsals for that album, not per se like uh, it was more of a loosen the band up, you know. We booked a rehearsal place and and and basically he brought these chunks of ideas and he just wanted to fool around with him to get a feel

to see what we were doing. And so we started messing around with John, and um, he wanted a new arrangement, So he said, can you come up with a lick or something and we could use that maybe in base a new arrangement of John I'm Only Dancing off that lick. So the lick was born and then instead of being John, it turned into stay if if you you play right a little bit, A little bit. Um, if you listen to John I'm only dancing and then listen to Stay back to back and listen to the chorus and listen

to the chords the same. I never put that together. Wow, do it? It's the same. It's the same. Bit. So what was gonna be a rearranged ghon IM only dancing turn into Stay? That is? I mean, that track is amazing. Is there a song that you did with David that that you're the most proud of? Yeah? I mean through the years, I wouldn't say this anyone, but, um, you know, like as far as albums go, because of the way it all went down and what I contributed to its

Station would be my go to Bowie album for me. Um, and I I can always go by the ones I love to play. Those would be and off of that album. Uh. I love playing all of them. But I always loved doing Station live even more than Stay. I love doing Stay, but because Station is such a weird trip. Yeah. Uh. And then over the years, uh, when we when I started making records with him again in the two thousand's, the last album we did, last album he did band album that he did was the Next Day and I

love Valentine's stay on that. That's one of my favorites. And we never played that live because it wasn't written, but we were still playing. Oh that that solo on that, that that Dave Davies lick is so great. I love that picked up on that. Oh my god, Yeah, that's that's I think my favorite track on on the Next

Day that. I mean, that's such a funny period to have worked with him, from you know, seventy four to I Mean, something I love about David's music is that it just it evolved so rapidly, like the Beatles, you know, I mean the Beatles, you go eighteen months you got Rubber Solda, Sergeant Pepper. Same with David. How did he change? What changes did you pick up on when you started working with him again in the in the two thousands.

Had he has his approach to music changed dratstically or not? Really? No, Um, the way he recorded and did all that with us didn't change. The only thing that did change was the technical part of it, because with the new recording techniques, if we weren't always all in the same room at the same time recording those new records, like when I did UM the next day, I didn't play on I

played on I think two basic tracks. Uh, because I was I was in the room when he brought Valentine's Day in and played it on acoustic and left it to me to come up with what I came up with, you know, because he you know the way he would do it. A lot of times he would just come and playing an acous He goes, what are you hearing? You got any ideas off the cuff? I said, I hear kinks all over that fucking thing, and he's and you know, he lit up. And so that's what we did.

So it's like you had mentioned earlier that he brought people into the fold for specific reasons of what they did and and so to get the best out of somebody, you you you don't steer them in some kind of weird direction like or or a direction that you don't think that they can go in or you know, bottom line is is you know what the guy does and start there. So from that point of view, Uh, his

working methods with me, let's say, never changed. I spoke with a lucky enough to speak with Gail and Dorsey, and she was talking about how he would he would push but gently. He would push you right into outside your comfort zone, but in a way that helped you grow and not try to make you something that you weren't. Well, you know what he had, He had a really good understanding of what he could and couldn't get out of somebody.

He is instincts told him when we did Station to station that I could be pushed further in the direction we took that record, and he was absolutely right. You played with David off and on for nearly forty years. Did he ever articulate, either through words or actions, what it was that he loved about your playing, like why he kept coming back to you or was it really

just the whole package and feel? No, it was an understanding and uh and he did say things are remember when we um the first day uh in in the summer of two thousand and twelve, when we went in to do the next day, I hadn't seen him for a few years, and they walked in the studio and he said, oh, rock and roll is still here. So he liked that element of me, you know, because he would, you know, you would he would insinuate little Keith things with me. You know, you were the Keith to his

his mix. Yeah, you know, because if you look at all the guitar players over the years, I don't think there wasn't a David Bowie guitar type of a person. Yeah. I mean, if you want to take me and compare that to Fripp or Blue or even Mick, and me and Mick were more in the same page, but still the element was different. You know, on the serious Moonlight Tour and the Reality Tour, you were playing songs from throughout his discography some three years, and he obviously changed

to sound a great deal. Was it ever a challenge to play songs that spans so many different styles and genres and in many cases were played by different people, You know what, it would have been a challenge if I had to cover those guys bases. A matter of fact, I would have been screwed if I had to do that, because it's all it's a different ballgame, uh. And that's why we had two completely different kind of guitar players on the stage. You know, Jerry Leonard and myself don't

play it at all alike. And and he also, Jerry loves all that electronics stuff and all that, So you know, he covered that and I covered the other stuff, so you weren't being pulled in a direction where you were just gonna drown in the middle of all that ship. Is there a m a snapshot in your mind that you have that really just sums up or encapsulates, uh, your time with David, all your your years with him in the studio, around the stage. Wow, it's a hard question.

And that's an awful long time and an awful lot of memories, I'm sure. Um. The only thing I could say out of all those years was as compatible as we were as guys on and off stage, it was

one thing that will stand out. It's a good question, by the way, Um, one thing that will stand out is how locked in and connected we were at times on stage and in the studio, and how maybe from the outside looking in people would perceive things that air differently, were as as close as we could get at those times. We were that far away most of the time. That

makes sense, existing in the same orbit. But never Yeah, once in a while though, that that really direct connection would happen and some magical ship would come out of that, you know, especially you know, and and more on stage than in the studio, but even in the studio would happen. But you know, we were we we were by no means uh operated the same way, but we did have

some similarities. And when it came to uh, personal level stuff, neither one of us And I'm still like this, we we we're not the easiest people to get close to, Let's put it that way, which is probably why after all the little years, me and David never had a personal problem ever. And I'm not going to mention any names, but boy, there was a couple of situations over the years where that went wrong for some people. And it

wasn't by design from my end. I just my instincts were, don't get too close to this motherfucker is it can go wrong. A lot of heat there, I guess. Yeah. I mean it sounds like you had an understanding it was, and that's probably something he appreciated about you. It probably had so many people that were trying to get to him. You know what, You're absolutely right, and that was never stated verbally, but I know, damn well that was appreciated.

And what I appreciated was the fact that he never hid the fact that he could be the most inconsistent person on the planet. Uh, whereas you know, you'll come off a tour, like serious moonlight tour. And he says, oh, because we finished that in the end of the year. It was like December or something like that of eighty three and and um, so we're getting ready to jump into and he goes, hey, it's slicky here. We're gonna go.

I'm back in the studio in January. So you got like a month off and we're back in never heard from him, and you just and that was okay. And you know what, man, it wasn't really okay okay, but it was no surprise. It wasn't like I went, wow, man, what happened? Then I go up there he goes again. So I would move on and do something else, knowing that if and when we ever connected again, we'd be right back to that good spot that we always had.

And that's exactly what happened. Yeah. I was gonna ask if you just fall right back into place after all those years, like a you know, like a coffy par of shoes or something. Yeah, because you know, and I've seen this and you've seen this too in life. Is um when things like that happened? Right? Um? For instance, you know, I don't. I'm I'm told we're going in the studio in a month, and I don't hear anything

from him. Sure, I was a little piste off, you know, But thinking about it when we did reconnect again, First of all, nothing was said about it. There was no reason to say anything about it. And it's like it never happened. And it was like when we did the next day, I hadn't heard from him for a while, and unbeknownst to me, he'd been in the studio on and off for a year before he called me to do that record. And this is how weird this ship is.

I ended up on that record by a complete twist of faith because you know, I had been in touch with the other band members because we were all friends, and they've been in recording, like Jerry Lennon was doing the guitars and Sterling was playing and uh, because they had to sign an agreement and shut up, they couldn't tell me they were doing it. And these are my buddies, right, Uh. And you know, you don't get piste off about it.

It is what it is. But so, and I've told this story before, you might I might be repeating myself up, I am, you can stop me. But in July. No, actually it was around April or so, maybe April or May of two thousand and twelve. I was in New Jersey sitting in at this blues club and I went, I have a friend. He said, the doctor. And uh. He also, this guy does everything. He's a surgeon. But he built his own airplane. Okay, he does this kind of ship and he flies it. I've been in the

plane with him. And he built a Cobra. Yeah, Shelby, yes man. So it was a really nice day. You know, it must have been around the spring, because I remembered that it was. The trees were already and and he said, let's hey, let's drive to the to the to the gig in this. I said, fuck, yeah, cool. We get in the car. Something had been done wrong with the fuel system. Long story short. We're driving the car and I start seeing smoke come up the hood and cars not running very well. We get out of the car

and within sixty seconds the car has gone. It went up in plane and so. And this is in the middle of the air afternoon in Montclair, New Jersey. Right, it was a very It's all of doctors and lawyers houses, right, and you know there's a fire department, the cops, and there were some pressed people there and one of them pinned me because, you know, figured out who is this guy figured it out? So it the incident hit the

internet within an hour. You know. It's not like you have to wait for newspapers to be printed anymore, you know. He tweeted it right out and David saw it. Uh. And I got an email from David the next morning is hey, man, I saw the news when happened you okay, yeah, it's fine, nobody got hurt. Blah blah blah. Oh cool, all right, great calculator. You know, within a few hours I got another email, so how are you doing? What are you up to? Right? I'm getting these over a

period of about a day or two. I'm going, okay, he's fishing. Finally, I said, okay, is there anything you want to talk about on the This is all through email, no phone calls, and and then he drops the bomb on me about making the record. So had I not blown this fucking car up, likely would not have been on that record. And that that's not me exaggerating opportunities coming in strange shapes and size as I guess that

is so Bowie. You know. That's why after all those years when things would he didn't work out where he said they were going to, I didn't. I never took it personally. One thing about being around that guy. If you had thin skin, you were in the wrong band. And it wasn't like he. It wasn't like a vindictive, mean guy. It's just, you know, if you were gonna get your feelings hurt because you were asked to play on a record and and and nobody botted to call

you that you're in the wrong place. It was the wrong industry too, when you were in the wrong industry. Yeah, but you know it was it was all the time, you know. Uh you know, why the hell did you know? Because we had a blowout in seventy at the end of seventy five early seventies six, after we did the station. That's why I'm not on that. That's why I disappeared. But it had nothing to do with him. It was business. It was our managers and it exploded. So it wasn't

a personal thing. I mean, it did get personal, but that wasn't the root of the problem. Uh So why after that whole explosion. Does he call me back in to cover the basis for the series Moonlight Tour? You know, there's a reason. Maybe it's the same reason he didn't call me for the other album. Who knows. But you know, it's the kind of thing that I never really put any thought into, because why you just trusted. Yeah. Do you remember the the last time that you you made

music together with him? Yeah? It was on the next day, and um, the last This is funny because it was a funny day. The last track I did we had cut, I don't know. We we did some basic tracks. Oh you could set the world on fire, or we will set the world on fire. And we'd cut the basic track a few days earlier, and we needed to do

the solo. I said to do my solo. And I was distracted by some tech stuff that was going on, and I wasn't locking in that well, you know, and I knew it, you know, And so he started to get uh, he started getting impatient and the way that was not normal for him, right, and it piste me off. So I blew up at him, and so we had

this little blow up. I was in the studio in the main room with my headphones on, and he's in the control room and we were I really went off, and there was VISCONTI was in the room and a couple of the texts were in the room. The text frozen, terrified, froze they I don't I think they were afraid to to breathe. And um. So after that, David just threw his hands up, right, and so I go to viscontry. Okay, Tony's try it again. All right, try it again. I nailed one time through, right, So as I played a

last note, here's David popping up. I can see through the glass and he's waving his arms and he HiT's the key, HiT's the intercom going slicky. That was incendiary, and that was fucking great. That's done. Come on here, So I come in. I talked to myself, you know what, this fucking guy pissed me off on purpose? Did you do that on purpose? And he just looked at me with this kind of like you will never know. So that was my last memory of the last day that

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