Joe Walsh: A Conversation With An Ordinary Average Guy

“Hey how ya doin‘? Joe Walsh here.”
“Joe Walsh for President,“ I responded”
“Well I thought about running again this year,” said legendary guitarist Joe Walsh, “But nah I don’t want to be a Ralph Nader. Running for president is a good way to get the issues on the table though, but I don’t want to be a vote splitter, Bush sucks eggs as a president, and it would be a shame if he made it in again.”
Walsh did run for president in 1980 with a promise of “free gas for everyone” if he won. He didn’t win then, but with gas at $2 a gallon that promise might get him elected this time around.
But he wasn’t interested in talking about a possible presidential run. After all, Walsh and his bandmates The Eagles are coming to Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids May 12 as part of their Farewell I Tour.  The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and “The Eagles Greatest Hits Vol. 1” is the all-time number-one selling album in the United States. Plus, their album “Hotel California” ranks number 14 and collectively the group has sold more 125 million albums worldwide. Only The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Garth Brooks and Elvis have sold more albums than The Eagles, so Walsh must have news on a forthcoming Eagles album.
“No, nothing to report at this time.”
Okay, it must be a lot of fun touring with these guys, right?
“We have done all of the crazy stuff and got it out of our systems, we enjoy playing together and performing for the fans and they know all of the lyrics so it is nice,” said Walsh. “We are pretty normal, we all have families and probably our biggest discovery in recent years has been sleep. We sleep a lot more when we are out on the road then we use to. But nothing more to report.”


THE JAMES GANG
Okay this Eagle line of questioning isn’t going anywhere. Lets try the James Gang, the midwestern rock trio that launched Walsh‘s career back in the late ‘60s. Any chance of a reunion?
“I speak to the James Gang guys often and we have been talking about doing something, but nothing major,” said Walsh.  “Maybe spending about eight months together touring and recording. It won’t be something that changes the world but we were thinking about doing something.”
Any idea when?
“No, we are still talking about it.”
Hmm, I am sensing Walsh might be ticked at me for calling him “Joel“ Walsh in the article on I wrote on his friend rock photographer Tom Wright from Bellaire last fall (the Joel reference was a typo that wasn‘t Coates‘ fault -- ed.). After all, typos do happen and I am sure he has slid in a note or two that didn’t belong into a song. Cut me a break here Joe, what would you like to talk about?
“How about my friend Tom Wright?”
Sure, do you remember the first time you two met?
“Yeah it was at the Grande in 1968, I had just joined the James Gang and we were opening for Cream. We were a five piece band in those days and between Cleveland and Detroit two guys quit the band,” said Walsh. “Two things happened when we got to Detroit. First we knew we had to play because we didn’t have gas money between the three of us to get home. The second is by a process of elimination I became the lead singer. I couldn’t sing, but I sang better than the other two.”
How did you pull it off without rehearsing?
“What we decided was in the middle of a couple of songs that we would improvise and lengthen those songs so we would have fewer songs to do,” said Walsh. “That evening set the foundation of what the James Gang did in the future and I continued as the lead singer and lead guitar player. I had to learn how to do it and it was what developed my style. Had we continued with a lead singer, I wouldn’t have evolved musically the way that I did.”

EARLY DAYS
  How was that first set by the James Gang received?
“We got a standing ovation and did two encores,” said Walsh
What about meeting Tom Wright?
“Oh yeah, well Tom was the all-purpose manager guy at the Grande and we connected immediately and he became our ears and contact as to what was happening in Detroit musically.”
Wright recalls seeing Walsh that first night at the Grande:
“Walsh stood out for an American rock guitarist so I called Pete Townshend (of the Who),” said Wright. “Eventually I arranged for Pete and Joe to meet and jam together, it was one of the best nights of guitar playing I witnessed. Besides the guitar playing what I remember most about that night is the guy with the money at the Grande went home with the cash box so we didn’t have any money to pay the band; so I loaned them gas money to get back to Cleveland.”
Wright would go on to manage The James Gang. At a recent reunion of band members last fall, the group signed a group photo that Wright took: “Tom, the only honest manager we ever had.”
So, how did Tom come to join up with the James Gang?
“Tom after he left the Grande came on board with the James Gang and was our band guru. He was my sidekick advisor, said Walsh. “We ended up in this apartment where he was across the hall spending a lot of time in the bathroom developing film. I was in my room rehearsing all the time and listening to all kinds of blues and stealing licks, basically playing the guitar five hours a day. I would take breaks and go over and sneak in the darkroom and watch him work then he would take breaks and hang with me.”
Wright recalls the place as not just any apartment:
“It was the Kent Hotel and we were preparing the James Gang for a tour. The Kent was close to Kent State University and located right on the main drag,” said Wright. “When the National Guard killed the four student protestors (in 1970) we could hear the commotion. We were all messed up a mescaline. Well, Joe was standing at the window with his guitar and apparently the National Guard thought it was a gun. Next thing you know close to a hundred guardsman busted our door down. They were wielding guns with bayonets. Before we could figure it all out we were thrown up against the wall. It freaked us all out. I think that moment changed Joe forever.” 

TURN TO STONE
So right now The Eagles are just doing a 12-date tour in May. Will there be more dates added into the summer?
“No, but hey, I wrote the song “Turn To Stone,” on a visit to Tom’s house in Detroit,“ Walsh said. “It was in the basement and it was a memorable evening. A lot of stuff came out of me that night, stuff that ended up in a lot of songs later on. I just feel artistic when I am around Tom. I am also at my best with the guitar when Tom is around, he puts me at ease and I just play with no worries of trying to impress or show of my chops.”
So, like the song says, life has been pretty good to you?
There is a philosopher that speaks about when you are living your life it looks like one unconnected chaotic event smashing into the next, and you just don’t know what is going on and you just ride it out in hopes of making it another day,” said Walsh. “But then when you look back in retrospect on your life it looks like a very finely crafted novel that someone took a lot of care in putting together and that is how God works and that is basically what has happened to me. I didn’t have a clue and at the time we made ‘Hotel California,‘ we had no idea if it was good or not. We had no idea when we recorded it that it would affect as many people on the planet as it did. I know change is good and not to be afraid of change or taking chances. Looking back it all fell into place and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

  Joe Walsh joins Don Henley, Michigan native Glenn Frey and Timothy Schmidt it what might be one of the last Michigan performances by The Eagles, May 12 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. Expect Walsh to be at his guitar best, as he has invited Wright to spend the day with him and watch the show. For tickets call Ticketmaster at (616) 456-3333. For overnight accommodations in the Grand Rapids area contact Dianna Stampfler with the West Michigan Tourist Association (616) 245-2217.

 

 
View On Our Website