2000.MM.DD - Creative Worx Motion Media - Interview with Gilby and Tracii

Transcript:

Someone: Tape is rolling.

Gilby: Roll tape.

Interviewer: So we want to ask you guys…

Gilby: We, ah, we only talk in Italian. So please [laughter]

Interviewer: Early influences? Guitar? Music?

Tracii: Gilby Clarke had the biggest impact on my early years guitar playing. You know when I was in England in the late sixties…

Gilby: Yeah well, you know, when I was touring about that time, you know. Of course I was minus six years old at the time.

Tracii: Of course.

Gilby: We don't want to give away our age you know.

Tracii: That's my earliest influences and then of course lately guys like that Rod Stewart.

Gilby: Right, he's a great guitar player.

Tracii: Robert Plant was always fantastic.

Gilby: And Sid Vicious.

Tracii: Ah, the best. He really was.

Gilby: He was the one who made me buy my first guitar, Sid.

Tracii: Really?

Gilby: Yeah.

Tracii: The Mercedes one?

Gilby: Yeah. 1957.

Tracii: Oh man. It's very important to have these influences. I mean, because it's not the typical ones. Because the typical ones in...

Gilby: One should always hone your songwriting, you know, and it's very important when you take from people, like, you know, Sid and stuff like that...

Tracii: Rod Stewart.

Gilby: Yeah, right, very good.

Interviewer: Barry Manilow?

Tracii: Barry Manilow! Wow. He's not only style but class.

Gilby: You should never interview two guitar players together cause we have no idea what we're doing.

[laughter]

Gilby: It's like when we play live we have no idea what the hell's going on. [cut] Okay, I'll tell you Traci's... your biggest influences is definitely Jimmy Page.

Tracii: [mock voice] No, it's not!

[laughter]

Gilby: Anybody ever see Tracy on his first tour when he wore his Jimmy Page outfit?

Tracii: [mock voice] I did not!

Gilby: Yeah, you did.

Tracii: I don't have a theremin! Or a bow or a Les Paul.

Gilby: A theremin, a Les Paul, a bow, Marshalls, and echoplex.

Tracii: I don't have any of those things.

Gilby: Who else besides Jimmy Page?

Tracii: Well, I think, especially when I was younger, yeah I think Joe Perry was pretty big, Ted Nugent. My guitar playing years were like 1975 through like 77-78 impact, so like all those guys, Nugent, Tommy Iommi, Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhodes, [?] but I know him [pointing at Gilby].

Gilby: I'm easy.

Tracii: [mock British accent] Keef and Ronnie! And George Harrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

Gilby: I like the Beatles and I like the Stones.

Tracii: And Rick Nielson?

Gilby: And Rick Nielsen and I like Cheap Trick. But I also like a lot of the glam stuff like Mick Ronson. Like when I first, you know, started playing stuff I learned a lot from those guys.

Tracii: Yeah, that's thing. Together we're a great guitar player.

[laughter]

takes two to make one good one anything

with a tube yeah to those 70s guitar

players were great it's like they

started with the blues and stuff and

took it to the next level yeah everybody

else really after that is either doing

what they're doing maybe a little better

because it's more refined or guys are

just making noise you know I don't think

anybody really since Eddie Van Halen's

really done anything you know what about

that guy that invented the Chapman Stick

what about that that was pretty creative

musical you know and that's the problem

is you know writing a good song on the

guitar and being great you know man sir

that's a tall order it's you got guys

like Tom Morello and dime bag from

Pantera and stuff like that but I mean

it's just not it's not traditional you

know I mean any man Halen was still

traditional

you know what I mean you just expanded

the boundaries and stuff like that you

know I mean I would love to hear Tom

Morello play a guitar solo I bet it

would be phenomenal yeah but I think

guys are so scared these days

my first guitar let me see what was my

first guitar my first real guitar I mean

some of us started out having to buy

like a copy Les Paul or something

my first real at guitar was a 76 bc rich

Mockingbird and I saw Rick Derringer

play one and I gotta have one of those

that's a cool time and I got that and it

got stolen and then I bought after that

I bought my first real lizbo I haven't

gone back since

yeah oh you're good tell me I love

Telly's and yes funny I actually worked

at a music store when I first started

and so I used to like whenever somebody

was selling a guitar if the store didn't

want it you know I would buy it and I

used to get like Les Paul's for at that

time like to $300 in Telecasters like

$85 you know and of course at this point

now they're all worth a fortune

well you know when they came out and

knew like that in 59 and you know maybe

my first check this out might may

actually one of my main Les Paul's is

still played to this day I bought when I

worked at a gas station

some guy pulled in and goes hey you play

guitar and yeah he goes want to buy a

guitar and he's showing my black busboy

yeah he hasn't changed the strings of

course he broke three strings on it's

all about the tone Wow so what was your

first I think my first guitar was uh I

know it was it was a 57 harmony it a

little solid body I look like a Fender

Mustang I guess kind of looking thing I

had that I got that when I was six

played that so I was 12 or I saved up

and got a Les Paul I buy and they ripped

me off and West LA Music Man still mad

about that I was 12 years old I went in

I bought a Les Paul Custom seven hundred

twenty dollars plus tax got it home and

that's it second on it I didn't know

what I mean I thought it was like cooler

it said second I don't years later that

second means done bad pretty much stuck

the Les Paul yeah yeah that's it yeah I

don't have my first guitar Tracy has

owned more guitars than any guitar

player in the history of guitar yeah you

could go on my website I started taking

yeah pictures from day one and I'm

trying to show a picture of every guitar

that I've owned you know and some people

probably actually think that I still

it's kind of you know magic that doesn't

mean that you have all these rock bars

but oh nice I have owned I have owned

you pretty much go through about a

guitar a week if not to be far as a

weekend that's not an exaggeration

that's true it's true I get bored I

haven't fallen in love with do you get

to trade up trade down yeah well we have

we have lots of things going on but I've

been doing a lot of producing over the

last couple years and one of the things

that brought us together is I just

produced a new la gun trucker that's

coming out 2001 and we it's a great

record I personally believe it's the

best record that they've ever made it's

feel the sound everything's great songs

are awesome and I produced a band called

ball that's coming out in 2001 - that's

a very very hard hard rock record and

besides that we have a Thursday night

blues band

we called the star fuckers and we play

every Thursday nights it's it's a jam

band and the band's gonna go on to make

a record next year so that's something

that's new that's going on I won't

because it won't be called star-fuckers

though so they told me they're not

allowed to use that name Tracy said he

owns the name by I mean you know if he

quits LA Guns joins the Blues bandits

okay so he took his bass player and stud

I mean you know we we do everything

together

anyways I mean yeah we'd known each

other since early eighties when he moved

out to LA and we didn't really hook up

though after we do each other from back

there until a few years a couple years

ago and now we've done a lot of projects

together

you know playing a lot of shows together

you know I mean how we actually hooked

up is it says BAM came on toward la

drugs and for the end of the tour we

started jamming you know we could have

done it at the beginning exactly so at

the end and then it's a good team you

know it's a good guitar team you know

it's hard to find guitar players that

like to play together a lot of guitar

players like to be on their own and

stuff and we actually we enjoy it we

have fun it's like you know watch each

other play and and it's fun it's a lot a

lot of fun

yeah there's no weird hey you know I

mean and that's always a problem even

you know I played with guys that are are

terrible or great I don't want to play

just like shut up over there you're

making a racket you know and but when we

play together it's just like it's really

two different instruments playing and

it's great and you know I think that

that's a an important musical fine and

both of our lives because you know it's

how many other you know people play

together like that and you can do it

every week or go on tour together play

every night have a great time and not

get in each other's way and you know

it's kind of like violin players you

know you know and I'm really glad that

you know I think it's awesome yeah

that's pretty key for us it's it's in a

goo probably for cc - it's like we're LA

guys you know we started on the Sunset

Strip we started playing so it's kind of

cool to drive down Sunset Strip and see

your picture up there and a guitar

sooner well that's that's cool it means

a lot of times I mean it's not just like

so many other things you know that

glorify you know what you do or be on

MTV things like that but like you said

you won't be in your home yeah it's just

here as his ass besides that then

everybody can tell me yeah I saw your

picture on Sunset yeah yeah it's a good

thing it makes you feel you know because

it's so hard to get appreciation at home

and it's hard

get appreciation in LA you know so you

got a double whammy against you and and

it's nice you know I got finally

somebody like yeah oh you guys are

pretty cool you know like thanks Olivia

lithographer I mean literally there's an

alley and there used to be a little room

there this is our rectangle yeah so

familiar streets it's kind of like they

tore my house now my picture now we're

just gonna keep going keep going man

it's fun yeah have a good time well I

stuck burying around we'll be okay

Thursday night every Thursday that's

where we'll be

Kat Klub on the other side of Sunset

Strip the sandwich board exactly come

see us play Thursday Ron hey we don't

need any more people to come to