2010 Interview with Tom Petty; “I Wanted To Rough It Up”
Q: You’ve been doing this for 30-plus years without any embarrassing misfires, and a string of solid albums and tours. That’s harder to do than it sounds. Any tips?
A: We were really interested in the music most of all, and still are. We always played pretty head’s up ball with everybody. We weren’t attached to a fad. Maybe people felt there was an honesty to the trip. We always tried to make music that we felt had a timeless quality. More than anything it was just trying to adhere to keeping the bar as high as we could. I don’t think we noticed everyone around us to a great deal, because all our energy was going into what we’ve been doing. Then we’d look up occasionally and, yeah, we noticed a lot of tail lights going by (laughs).
Q: There were a few moments, though, where it could’ve easily come apart. Did you ever feel like it was over for you guys as a band?
A: The one moment I’m sure of is when Howie died. If (original Heartbreakers bassist) Ron Blair hadn’t been there to step back in, I personally would’ve called it a day as far as the Heartbreakers are concerned. I don’t know about them, but they probably would’ve too. I couldn’t have faced a new person filling that slot, it would’ve felt phony. I owe Ron a lot. From that point on the band got reinvigorated and got a new start.
Q: It wasn’t a game-changer when (original Heartbreakers drummer) Stan Lynch left the band in 1994?
A: It was very different with Stan. We were prepared for Stan to leave. That had been coming for a long time, and none of us was shocked when he did leave. It felt like we could do more with a new drummer. If it had been two of us gone, it would’ve violated the pact, the idea of having this group, having it stick together, to see what we could create out of this same group of people. It would’ve felt false.
Q: Yet you see so many bands down to one or two original members still touring behind the original name.
A: The thinking is usually financial, and it’s much easier to go on with a brand name rather than starting over. But that kind of thinking always lets me down.
Q: It’s rare for bands to hang together this long. What keeps you bonded to the Heartbreakers? And how do you keep it fresh after 30-plus years?
A: They’re my old friends, my brothers from way back, to when I was a young boy. They’re a talented group of guys, and we tend to complement one another. I don’t think there is something better I could be doing. I don’t long for a new band. On the contrary, I keep finding more in this group to work with. “Mojo” is a huge opening of a door for us. Every now and then you hit something where you find some new ground, and this is definitely one of those times.
Q: In the 2007 Peter Bogdanovich documentary, “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” keyboardist Benmont Tench says he never felt like a hired hand or the member of a backing band, even though you’re the only guy with individual billing. You’re first among equals, obviously, but how you do keep the Heartbreakers feeling invested?
A: I don’t think there’s ever been a relationship in the band where we’ve treated someone like a hired hand. We involve everyone in everything. I don’t stay in better hotels. I’m not treated any different than they are. We had very few times where we had a crisis in the voting about anything. At least the majority of us feel the same most of the time. Our trip has never been about becoming a celebrity or being in People magazine. Today it seems people want to start at the top, start at “American Idol” and go on to some form of instant fame from there. But ultimately that’s not a good way to go. Musically, there are not a lot of things like us around anymore. We came up playing live for our living, and then became a recording act after lots of trial and error. That served us really well.
Q: Why did you reunite with your old band Mudcrutch after all these years?
A: I felt there was unfinished business there. It was such a great band, but they never got their shot. That’s some of the most fun I’ve ever had doing that record. That was just absolutely self-indulgent fun. Those sessions went so well I wanted to involve the Heartbreakers in that sort of trip; we were going for a whole performance when we recorded rather than doing it piece by piece.
Q: Mudcrutch shares some personnel with the Heartbreakers, but did you see it as a detour from what you do with the Heartbreakers?
A: It’s definitely a detour, especially in the way we were applying what we did to country music, which we had huge education in the ‘70s. Mudcrutch is basically a West Coast rock band, the way it sounds. And for me, playing bass instead of guitar puts a different spin on things. It’s an entirely new rhythm section from the Heartbreakers. And it amazed me how easy it was, how quickly that sound returned. We made that Mudcrutch record in 10 days, with only four songs finished before we went in. Everyone got involved, threw in something, and afterward I thought, ‘Why in hell would I ever record any other way?” (laughs).
Q: So the Heartbreakers used a little bit of the Mudcrutch approach?
A: Yes. We got into a comfortable space in our rehearsal room (in north Hollywood, Calif.), which we call our clubhouse. We don’t have headphones. We sit in a semi circle, and recording doesn’t feel much different than a rehearsal would feel. One odd thing about the Heartbreakers, they have never rehearsed for an album. Each album has been created on the studio floor. That’s what we did this time to an even greater degree. I didn’t have demo tracks. I’d come in and teach them a song on guitar, just the skeleton structure, and then we’d work it up. As soon as we had something working as group, there was a recording of that event, and that became the record.
Q: So you basically recorded the band live?
A: Yeah, we’d never done it to this extent on a Heartbreakers record. We rarely went for a guitar solo or finished vocals as we were recording the basic track. We were more in record-making mode on past albums. We threw that idea out the window this time. We weren’t trying to construct something for the pop-music market. We’re really playing for ourselves. This is a record we couldn’t have made in the ‘70s and ‘80s because we weren’t really good enough as musicians. We’re using our age as a plus in this sense, in that we’ve become better musicians. For the last 10, 11 years, I’ve been immersed in blues. That’s what I listen to all the time and we got caught up in that vibe on this record.
Q: When do remember first becoming aware of the blues?
A: I feel like I was always aware of it. Most garage bands were playing blues in crude form during the ‘60s. I think about groups like the Animals or the Rolling Stones in the ‘60s, and all those singles you’d hear on the radio. But growing up, we didn’t have any radio station that was playing original blues. I had to learn about it from the Rolling Stones. They singlehandedly saved that music for my generation. We have to thank them for that. We’d scan the credits on albums from English artists, and be introduced to people like Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, Slim Harpo. And then we’d find the great beauty of that music. People think it’s simple, but it’s very tricky to play. I knew the structure of the blues when I was 14, 15, but I didn’t really know the music. I learned as I went along. As I listened to it more and more, there was a purity to it that I didn’t feel pop music had. I don’t think “Mojo” is really a blues record. It’s our version of it, but it’s leaning toward that side of record-making. It fits us very well right now.
Q: So in studying that music, how did that change your approach as a band leader?
A: I wanted to push (guitarist) Mike (Campbell) on this record especially. He’s by nature very tasteful and doesn’t overplay, but I wanted to create stuff where he could play a lot. I wanted him to be another voice on the record. On the “Highway Companion” album (2006), I put him on slide guitar. When we did Mudcrutch, we put him on B Bender Telecaster, which creates a very particular sound (similar to a pedal-steel guitar). On “Mojo,” he had a ‘58 Les Paul and we got a great sound on it right away and I said, “Let’s just stay with that guitar for the whole album.”
Q: Was there a particular feel you were going for?
A: I intentionally wanted the album to be rougher, not polish it up or make it a production piece. Let the space make the sound, and leave as much air in the arrangements as possible. Let ‘em breathe. I gave the engineer a bunch of records to listen to, early Jeff Beck Group, Traffic, Jimi Hendrix, the first Led Zeppelin record, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and I said, “This is the kind of sound I want to get.” I also had him listen to Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.
Q: What do you like about those records?
A: Well, I like Traffic a lot because of the way they use these traditional song structures, but they could be very improvisational within that structure. Of course, what we do isn’t going to come out sounding like any of those records, but it allows us to get our version of that kind of music. It inspired our band, created a whole new power to work with. This band plays American music, and we play all types. This is another chapter.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about being in a rock band – playing shows or making records?
A: I love to make records more than anything. The idea of making something out of nothing. It’s more than a hard time for the music business and expectations for sales have gone down. But the music still reaches a lot of people. Even if it didn’t I’d still make the record. I don’t think people are going to stop making them. I’m old fashioned in that I try to make an album that’s a complete statement. I try to make records with a beginning, a middle and an end, and say something with that form. I feel right now that recording is more important than anything we’re doing. I was convinced to tour this year, and I’m gonna do it. But I could’ve just as easily gone back in and done another record. We were hot when we quit.
Q: Will there be another Mudcrutch record?
A: I certainly do see myself doing another Mudcrutch record, and I would be interested in getting Mudcrutch on the road. We did two weeks on the West Coast the first time, and we were just playing new stuff. And the audience knew it.
Q: You’ve been known for playing new stuff on your tours at the expense of some of your better-known hits.
A: Yeah, well, we’ve had enough looking back now. We’ve been through all the 30th anniversary stuff and the movie. OK, we’ve summed that up. Now it’s time to move forward, play some new stuff, show people we’re still creating. We will not turn into a jukebox.
