Warner
Hodges Interview - Part
Two
October 19, 2002, Nashville, Tennessee
............ continued
from pg. 4 ............
Chris:
We’re going to start with some Scorchers questions from the eighties.
Warner: Okay.
Chris: Three or four people want to know
about this – and I’m interested in this myself: “I’m
still wondering why the single edit of “Golden Ball and Chain”
was used on the reissue. Seeing as it omits Warner’s solo he’s
probably pretty pissed off about it, so maybe it’s a sore subject.
I have a feeling that someone made a mistake and used the wrong master
tape, but I’m just kind of curious about it.”
Warner: I’m sure, knowing EMI –
I didn’t talk to anybody about the record – I know the original
reason it was added in in 1986 was to fit a radio format, because songs
were basically three-minute songs, not four minutes and ten seconds.
I threw a tantrum about it the first time, but it also went to number
37, and it was the best American radio we had, so I decided I’d
keep my mouth shut. Second time around, I think they most likely did
it for the same reason. Or you’re correct, they just used the wrong
goddamned mix. It wouldn’t surprise me.
But I had no say in the matter. It ain’t like anybody called me
to ask. They did the same thing with the video. The solo is edited out
of the video, I guess. It’s okay. Whatever. I don’t care.
[Deborah claps.] If they’d have asked, I’d have put my two
cents in, but they didn’t ask.
James: Another one from Jeff Baker. Jeff Baker
asked the most questions of anybody, actually. “It has often been
repeated that “Broken Whiskey Glass” was the first original
song the band worked up....what was the second?” I’d personally
love to know this.
Warner: I couldn’t tell you. I
want to say, and I could be wrong – Jason could answer this –
I want to say either “If You’ve Got the Love (I’ve Got
the Time)” or “Harvest Moon.” But I’d have to defer
to Jason on that one. I’m not real sure.
No, no, no. “Shot Down Again.” Yeah. “Shot Down Again”
from those days, yes. That would be it. It was the other original on
the original four-song EP of “Reckless Country Soul.” That’s
what it was. (chuckles.) Hey, I actually know the answer. Sorry. Hell,
I had went into “Fervor.” I was forgetting all about “Reckless
Country Soul.”
Chris: We’ve got another one from Jeff.
“John Denver’s ‘Country Roads’ dates back to this
time and eventually made it to a record, ‘Route 66’ and ‘It’s
All Over Now’ are other cover songs I have heard of from these
years that did not make it to record - are there any other lost covers
or originals that should have been heard more or made it to record?
”You’ve got “Too Much Too Young.”
Warner: What?
Chris:“Too Much Too Young” was
like, “Why wasn’t this on any of the albums?” When I
first heard it, I was just like, ‘Wow!’
Warner: “Route 66” is on the
new reissue, isn’t it?
James: Mmm-no. Oh, yeah, it is.
Warner: On the “Still Standing”
reissue. “It’s All Over Now,” I don’t think we ever
recorded. We had an okay version of that. Most of the covers that didn’t
make it was because they were okay covers, but they weren’t –
it wasn’t like anybody in the band was jumping up and down, screaming,
“God, we got to cut this song.” It wasn’t, “Ooh,
we don’t like this song.” If we left something out, most of
the time, in those days – we were always looking for material –
if we didn’t record it, it would have been because we just felt
our version was, at best, okay. So why bother wasting tape, and studio
time on it?
James: Chris brought up “Too Much Too
Young.” We’re doing this mostly chronologically, but since
he brought it up, I’d like to ask about that song. Because those
[“Thunder and Fire”] songs that made it onto “Wildfires”
are so strong. And I was just wondering – we’ve talked about
the demo phase of “Thunder and Fire” before –
Warner: We’re heading to the –
yeah, “Thunder and Fire,” when we did that record, we demoed
sixty-eight songs to get eleven. To me –
James Yeah. Well, I was just wondering how
many others might be out there.
Warner: I don’t know, because we
– I have to be honest, and we kind of kept our mouths shut about
it, but we’ve raided those sessions many a time since we’ve
been back together.
James“Walking a Vanishing Line.”
Warner: Yeah, yeah. We went back through
those sessions many a time. There’s probably a few more things
there, but we’ve probably got everything out of there that was
really there.
I did have a problem – the stuff that was is on the “Wildfires”
record was where I started getting pissed off, on doing “Thunder
and Fire.” Because I started feeling like we were throwing out
great Jason and the Scorchers songs, and we were passing on stuff that
we should stop passing on. But we didn’t. The record company was
looking for the eleven songs that they wanted, and we just kept writing.
And there were a couple of sessions where we’d demo seven, eight
songs, and they’d like one, or none.
And we did all forms of demos –
from a cassette deck in the middle of a rehearsal hall, to full-blown
24-track studios. The stuff that - “Too Much Too Young” and
“Break Open the Sky” were from 24-track sessions. That’s
why Jason was able to use them, because he actually had 24-track tape
to do it. He might have got it from Dan, but they were decent mixes.
There’s a lot of stuff that’s like a cassette sat down in
a practice room, that the quality’s so poor, you couldn’t
put it out.
Mike Janas did a wonderful job with that record, resurrecting very old
tapes and cassettes and s**t that had been sitting on shelves for a
long time. That guy is a miracle worker. And Jason deserves a lot of
credit for that, because I had nothing to do with any of it. I told
him I’d gladly help him out. He said, “No, I’m going
to do it,” and he did it all. Him and Mike Janas. I got a copy
when everybody else did. He did a really good job with that.
James: Well, here’s another one from Al
Chambers in Lincoln. “What are some of Warner’s memories of
playing the Drumstick in Lincoln, Nebraska? How soon did they start
playing the ‘Stick? Was it one of the first venues they played
when they first went out on tour?”
Warner:: Yeah. It was one of the first
places. My main memory of the Drumstick, it’s Tim Lohmeier, the
guy that owned the Drumstick, who’s passed away. He was a hemophiliac,
and he died of AIDS. He had got tainted blood. But I remember –
Tim was wacky. And the Drumstick was like this family business. It was
like a restaurant in the daytime, a chicken type of restaurant in the
daytime. And at night it became this club.
And he had some pretty hot acts. He had Joan Jett when she was happening,
he got the Professionals, which was Steve Jones and Paul Cook’s
band after the Sex Pistols, in there, he had the Ramones in there. And
this place was smaller than the Exit/In, and was set up as a restaurant.
He had a pretty cool stage set up in the corner, and all that. He brought
a lot of cool music to Lincoln, Nebraska, where there wasn’t a
whole lot of venue for that kind of thing there.
And – I remember the first time we went there. We got $400 for
two nights, and the hotels were paid for, and all the liquor we could
drink. And me, Perry, and Jason, and Ronnie, our old tour manager, we
got paid $400, and we had a $1200 bar bill in two days. And Tim decided
the next time we came through, we were going to have to do things a
little differently. But Tim would get in there and drink with us, too.
Tim had a real good time hisself. He partied, and had a blast.
One of the times we went there, our van had broke down. He had stayed
up all night drinking with us, and we all went to bed, planning on fixing
it the next day. And we got up, and Tim’s up under the hood, putting
the damn breather thing back in. He just stayed up to fix the van while
we were asleep. He was that kind of guy. He was known as a screw-up,
but he was really a sweet, genuine great human being. A real good guy.
He came here and visited me a couple of times in the eighties. One night
– he was all the time saying, “I need to go to Nashville.”
And, it’s like, “Well, f**k, get in the van.” And he
did. He came back with us. Actually, this is kind of a bad liquor-type
story, but the last time I really drove when I shouldn’t have been
driving and drinking, Tim was here. And we went out, and just got s**tfaced.
And were heading back – I don’t know why, but Jason was out
of town. We were staying at Jason’s house. Probably because we
didn’t want to go back to my Mom’s house in the shape we were
in.
But, the cops get behind me, and it’s like, “Great, they nailed
me. I’m going to jail. I’m three sheets to the wind, he’s
four sheets to the wind.” And, God looking out for me. Right as
I was pulling to a stop, with the cop behind me, this idiot pulls out
the other way, fishtails his Camaro, or whatever, and s**ts and gets
up the street. And the cop just pulls out from behind me, and takes
off after him. And I said, “Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank
you, God.” We got to Jason’s, and I kind of quit driving and
drinking after that. And I probably deserved the DUI that I didn’t
get.
But, we had a lot of fun at the Drumstick. Lincoln, Nebraska was a real
fun place for us. And that family – Tim’s whole family, he
had a bunch of brothers and sisters. His sister – real sweet, but
she had to hate it when we came to town, ‘cause they knew that
Tim was going to get drunk as a dog, and have a blast, and the restaurant
was going to get torn up. But we always had a blast there. And they
were good people. It was a fun place to play.
Chris: Okay. Ah, yes. I’ve heard about
this one. I want to hear something about this one, too.
Warner: The Status Quo gig?
Chris: Tony Fryars, in Scotland: “What
are Warner’s memories of playing at Milton Keynes Bowl in the summer
of 1984? The Scorchers supported Status Quo in Quo’s supposedly
last ever live performance.”
Warner: They’ve done a whole bunch
of last performances.
Chris: Is this the same Status Quo that did
“Pictures of Matchstick Men?”
Warner: I guess so. Here’s the
deal. Are you guys familiar with Status Quo?
James: I’ve just heard about this show.
Jason talked about it in an interview – I have an interview Jason
did in WREK in Atlanta, where he talked about the show, and how they
were throwing stuff at you, because it was a heavy metal festival –
Warner: All right, here’s the deal.
I’d never heard of Status Quo. Now, I don’t know how it got
by me, because I listen to a whole lot of British rock. But I’d
never heard of them. I didn’t know what Milton Keynes was. And
we’re playing this gig – it was at Milton Keynes – it
was us, Gary Glitter, Marillion, and Status Quo.
And we figure out a few days before we play it, this is actually quite
a bit bigger gig than we thought it was. But we didn’t know s**t
about it. We get there, it’s seventy, eighty thousand people. It’s
a monster gig. First one of those we’d ever done. We’d never
played anything like that. We’d played a few ten-, fifteen-thousand
seaters, but not of soccer-stadium, ridiculous, Rolling Stones-type
of crowd. And these people are nuts over Status Quo, who I’ve never
even heard of. I knew about Marillion, I thought they were a joke. I
knew about Gary Glitter. I had actually heard some of Gary Glitter.
But we get ready to go out and play, and I look back. And all the bands
are set up – us first, and everybody’s set up in tiers. Everything
behind us is covered in plastic. Everything. And we still don’t
put anything together. We go out to play, and I mean, as we hit the
first note, we start getting pelted. They’re throwing bananas,
apples, drinks, all kinds of s**t. And thank God, I guess it was –
we were back in the redneck days, whatever – Jason started throwing
s**t back at them. And Jeff and I started throwing s**t back at ‘em,
kicking s**t back at ‘em. And they pelted us, but we played our
show. We stuck it out, we did the whole goddamned show. Which was only
thirty, forty minutes in those days, but we stuck it out. Gary Glitter
didn’t finish their show. Marillion didn’t finish their show.
Status Quo played, they were wonderful, everybody loved them.
The next day in the press, we were
troupers. We f**kin’ finished our show. Everybody else was little
girls and sissies. Guy had nothing to say about our music, but we were
troupers. And we played the big rock show, and we managed to get through
our whole show on a Status Quo bill, and none of the opening acts can
do their full show for Status Quo. And still I know nothing about Status
Quo. If you go anywhere else in Europe, nobody knows about Status Quo.
But in England, they’re monsters.
But that gig – we got all kinds of publicity in Great Britain.
And the gig turned out to be a really – a lot of people saw us
for the first time there. And that gig turned out to be a really good,
legendary gig for us. And it was a horrible experience playing the damned
thing. The whole time, it’s like, “Goddamn, 70,000 people
want to kill us.” They booed and threw s**t constantly, and we
just kept playing. We just did the best we could.
We came off, we were covered in bananas, and all kinds of s**t. But
we earned respect because we stayed. Everybody else tucked and ran –
we didn’t. We probably were just too damned young and stupid not
to. It just hit us the right way. When Jason started throwing s**t back,
it’s like, “Cool. We can all throw s**t back. And we got a
lot of notoriety out of that gig.
James:
Well, we talked a bit about Stevie Ray Vaughan, but Tony Fryars of Lauder,
Scotland asks: “What can Warner tell us about playing a gig with
SRV? Was Stevie nice to JATS, did they talk about guitars, did they
jam?”
Warner: Well, Stevie was a great guy.
Didn’t jam with him. Stevie knew I wasn’t really a blues guy.
The month that Stevie was on the Guitar Player cover, I was in that
issue, too. And we did a whole lot of autograph sessions together, and
that kind of s**t. Stevie was a really good guy, but it was also back
when Stevie was drinking still, and having a lot of fun. So was I. He
ain’t throwin’ any rocks at anybody. But Stevie was one of
those fun-loving drunks. He wasn’t a bad guy, he was just detrimental
to himself.
The first time – he remembered what it was like to be an opening
act. He soundchecked from six to seven. Whether he was done or not,
he made sure it happened. And we got from seven to eight o’clock
to get ready to play our show, at eight o’clock. And he made sure
that happened. And he’d jump his guys’ s**t if they didn’t
have him done at seven o’clock, but he gave us the stage. We weren’t
the doormat, we were the opening act, and he’d been one. He didn’t
treat us as if we were the doormat to the venue. He was a good dude.
And I lucked up – continuing the Stevie thing – I lucked up
and got to see him on that Jeff Beck tour after he’d sobered up.
And Stevie was monstrous. I mean, he was good when we were playing with
him, but he’d get so drunk, hell, his encores, he’d just play
instrumentals, because he couldn’t even talk. He’d be in a
stupor. I don’t know how he played the way he did. He couldn’t
remember words, but he could still play his ass off.
But on the Beck thing, the thing that was so impressive was he had a
voice. He actually could sing. And he was blistering hot, and he didn’t
do those four forty-minute long blues solos. He’d do his song,
he’d take a stab or two, and then he’d get on to the next
song. Which was cool. His show was like, ‘Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!’
So, it was cool to see Stevie get his s**t together. And it was great
to see Jeff Beck dust Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ass off at the end of
the night. (laughs.)
James:
Can we skip past the production questions, and go to…
Warner: If you’re worried about
time, James, I’m fine.
James No, that’s okay.
Warner: Okay.
James I think we’re good, I mean…some
of this stuff, I’m skipping over because I know you’ve already
answered the question.
Warner: Okay, okay.
James And it’s not on the website yet,
but it will be eventually. So, I’d rather ask you questions that,
at least, I’ve never seen in print.
Warner: Okay, that’s fine. Yeah.
James Can you ask him a videos question?
Chris: Videos, yeah. This is a good one,
too. From Jeff : “Although never much airplay, the Scorchers have
made a few videos. Any favorites or stories? Visually, the album covers
have been fairly similar group shots. Did the Scorchers spend a lot
of time in front of the lens for the covers, or were you in and out
pretty quick?”
©
2002-2003 James Benkard —
All Rights Reserved
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