Hearty congratulations are in order with the announcement of The E Street Band being inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame on April 10, 2014. It’s a well-deserved recognition for the band and long overdue. Of course, part of the problem for the band not getting in sooner is the fact that the albums are listed under “Bruce Springsteen” as a solo artist. But I can tell you that as talented as Bruce is, he would not be where he is today without the E Street Band. That’s a fact!
When I first met bass player Garry Tallent, the band was recording The River with Bruce. The E Street Band was on retainer to Bruce. He paid them to always be on call despite the fact that he was still in the hole financially. That would finally be remedied after The River World Tour. Everyone in the band could do whatever outside projects they wanted to, but being on retainer to Bruce meant that they would have to drop everything at a moment’s notice if he called them to play with him. No wonder they call him “The Boss”! 🙂
The reason I say that Bruce would not be where he is without the E Street Band is simple—they’re great players. I saw in a number of the European reviews for Standing Still that the reviewers wondered if the album would be as good without the name players on it. In a word—NO! And there’s a reason for that. I had played in bands for over a dozen years and when it came to doing original music, there was always a problem trying to get the bass and drums together. That was until I worked with Garry Tallent and drummer Max Weinberg.
When I played in my bands I was always stressing about the grooves and all kinds of things I shouldn’t have been stressing about. I was never comfortable. When I played with Garry and Max, my eyes were opened–all I had to do was play my guitar—WOW! I didn’t have to worry about what the bass and drums were doing. What a feeling! After that experience I knew I could never go back to playing with anyone but the best that I could find.
If I wanted to be good, ok, get some decent players. But if I wanted to be great, I needed to play with great players. It’s really that simple. If anyone tells you differently, tell them to ask Tom Petty if he’d be as good without The Heartbreakers? I don’t think so. Great bands do not grow on trees and the E Street Band and The Heartbreakers are 2 of the best I’ve seen. We’re lucky to still have them around!
I’m often asked how I came to meet Garry Tallent and Max Weinberg. It’s not the way one might imagine…
There would be 2 highlights in my life that would occur within weeks of each other. The 1st was when famed DJ Vin Scelsa on legendary WNEW-FM in NYC played my record. This was the very 1st time I ever heard a song of mine played on the radio…this was a big deal! Made even more memorable when Scelsa played Side B of the single when he said he couldn’t find any music in the studio, so he flipped the record over and played my band’s cover of Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little 16.
The 2nd highlight came a few weeks later when the record that Scelsa was spinning that night, found its way into the hands and ears of E Street Band bassist Garry Tallent. I had printed up 45’s for my band and one night we were playing at JP’s, the infamous club on NYC’s upper Eastside, owned by the late Jimmy Pullis. I decided to give out free 45’s because many of JP’s clientele were in the music biz. The waitress came up to me and asked if she could have a record for her boyfriend. I handed her a 45, and out of curiosity, asked her who her boyfriend was. She said Garry Tallent, to which I incredulously asked—of the E Street Band??!! Yes, the very same, and she gave Garry the 45 because a few weeks later he came down to JP’s to check us out, and that was the start of a friendship…and I think I owe it all to Sweet Little 16. 🙂
Now I went to Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ with Max, but he’s a year older than me. We didn’t know each other back then but I had friends in his class who knew him. When Garry brought Max down to the studio, I started throwing out names to him that he recognized and before you knew it, we were back in high school…lol
When I released Standing Still in the US, it had 13 tracks. When it was released in Europe the following year, it had 14 songs. That’s because the German label wanted an extra song. The song I decided to give them was Hard Enough with Garry & Max on bass & drums. The reason I kept it off the US release was because I didn’t want to use their names to promote it. Anything that’s associated with them vis a vis Bruce Springsteen, naturally gets a good deal of attention. Also, it’s rare that Garry & Max play together on something outside of Bruce. So I didn’t want that to be the story instead of my music.
In Europe, I knew the label would actively promote the E Street connection and they did. They also added the other drummer & bass player to the mix—Steve Holley & Paul Page, the rhythm section in rocker Ian Hunter’s Rant Band, who played on the other 13 tracks, and 2 great musicians in their own right. Steve was also the last drummer in Paul McCartney’s Wings when Sir Paul was arrested in Japan. When I would read my press, even I had to wonder who the hell Robert Allen was?? LOL
In Europe, the reviewers liked mentioning the E Street/Bruce Springsteen connection, with some reviews comparing me to Bruce (makes total sense, right??). This was all based on the 1 song but that didn’t seem to matter. Thankfully, the majority of the reviews were very favorable. The best one I liked said that the 1 thing that Bruce and I shared was our passion for the music. I thought that was cool. The majority liked to emphasize the E Street connection, and in my view, you can never go wrong with that. 🙂
On the new DownTown Mystic release, Garry & Max play on the track Way To Know, which Garry did the arrangement on. I put it out as a single and had a spot in the Direct Current to promote the release of the CD. I think there were 8000 stations around the world playing Way To Know and I have to believe it was mostly due to Garry & Max playing on it. I will say it’s the 1 song of mine that does remind me a bit of Bruce. The 2 things I will always remember about recording the track with them is 1) Garry telling Max “to play like Charlie Watts” and 2) Garry’s signature bass run up the neck of his bass on the last line of the song. It always makes me smile. 🙂
I feel very lucky because not everyone can say they got to play and record with a Hall of Fame Rhythm Section. I know they’ve affected me in a big way, as well as the many people around the world who love them. Congrats Garry & Max and the rest of the great E Street Band! 🙂
Way To Know
Hard Enough