Entertainment
Peter Wolf on the J. Geils Band's Touring, Hanging with Van Morrison and Dylan, and Seeing Spianl Tap
In this episode of Behind the Setlist, Peter Wolf, the legendary frontman of the J. Geils Band, shares captivating stories from his illustrious career, including insights into touring, memorable encou...
Peter Wolf on the J. Geils Band's Touring, Hanging with Van Morrison and Dylan, and Seeing Spianl Tap
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The Yamagama Guma Luma, the senior's got to come out because that's a rock and roll
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is all about doing the tune and getting right through and having some fun until the midnight
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sun lets shake, rattle and roll, do the midnight stroll, I'm with you, do the to it, this is
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Wolf of Guma, Mama 2 of the same, see you soon out there in the highways and the bowels,
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shake, rattle and roll!
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Welcome to Behind the Settless, the podcast where artists tell the stories about the songs
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they perform live, I'm Jay Gilbert from Your Morning Coffee.
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And I'm going peoples from Billboard in this episode we're talking to Peter Wolf and
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you might know Peter as the front man or the former front man, because Jay Giles band,
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you might also know him as the author of a great memoir, Waiting on the Moon, Jay, I had
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such a great time reading this book, what did you think of it?
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I did too and you know you and I both have a stack of books on our nightstand and you read it first
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and told me how good it was and I was taking a trip so I read it and it's really interesting,
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Glenn, because it's not your typical rock and roll memoir, it's really a series of stories about
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super interesting people he's met and he's met more interesting people than anybody I know.
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Seriously, it's one humorous, fascinating anecdote and vignette after another and he's actually
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a very good writer. It turned out really, really well. So let's talk about Jay Giles band and I
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hope all of our listeners know the Giles band. They might know the 1980 album Love Stinks,
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that reached number 18 on the Billboard 200 chart and the title track went to number 38 on the hot
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100. I remember hearing that on on album oriented rock radio when I was young. The breakthrough
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came in 1981 with the album Freeze Frame, that reached number one on the Billboard 200. The title
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Centerfold spent six weeks atop the hot 100 in 1982 and the band probably benefited from timing.
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MTV launched in August 1981. They got a lot of play on MTV with Freeze Frame and Centerfold. I
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rewatched the Centerfold video the other day. It's like a time capsule of early 80s videos. Very
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well done. You could call it corny, you could call it cheesy, but it stands the test of time.
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And that's what videos look like at that time, right? Yeah, exactly.
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You saw him back when they were probably not known to most Americans,
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had a good touring business, were building up in the world on on Atlantic records, but had not
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broken through to radio yet. And they were opening for Peter Frampton. Peter Frampton. Right,
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that was a summer of 1977 and they were playing the King Dome. If you remember that venue up in
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Seattle. I went there once. Yes. Yeah, the Dome Stadium. And they lit it up. They were a great opening
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band, not a good opening band, a great opening band. Peter talks about, well, I won't give it away. He
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remembers that. He remembers a bar nearby as what he said. Maybe not the show itself. You know,
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talking to us, Peter is continuing his book tour, which has been going on for much of this year.
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And the book is waiting on the moon. And I've got to say, I absolutely loved that book.
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You know, I read a lot of books by musicians, a lot of books about music and probably more
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on the music business. A lot of them read like textbooks. Not that fun of a read. I won't
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single anything out. I'm reading a history of a well-known record label right now. And it's
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taking me forever. Because for all the good information in there, it is, tries a bone. And
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Peter's book is just one great story after another. And it's remarkable. It's a fun read. The
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most fun I've had reading the book in a while. Yeah, me too. And you just hit it on the head. It's
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a collection of stories, of little short stories about interesting people in his life. And it's very
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charming. It's an easy read. It's certainly not that textbook. And it's not that stereotypical book
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that starts when the artist is a child and moves into their family and sort of moves up.
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It's not that at all. And one of the stories that really cracked me up was he was talking about
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the movie Spinal Tap. And he went to see it in the theater. And he came out of the theater. And
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I believe it was Stephen Tyler from Arasmith that he ran into. And he said that they were,
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they were depressed. That they thought it was more of a dark portrayal of the real music industry.
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I thought that was funny. Yeah, it sounded like that movie hit a little too close to home.
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That story is not in the book. But since Spinal Tap 2 was just coming out and you and I had been
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talking about Spinal Tap, I thought I'd ask him, have you seen it? And what did you think when it
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came out? And boy, he remembered it vividly. Yeah, one of my favorites. And I can't stress enough how
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much we love that book. Waiting on the moon, artists, poets, drifters, grifters, and goddesses.
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It's a memoir. So now without further ado, here's Peter Wolfe behind the set list. Let her roll.
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Well, let's let's kick it off before we started talking today. I was telling Glenn that
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my second concert that I ever saw was Jay Guiles band opening for Peter Frampton. And I
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looked it up. It was June 27th, 1977 in the Kingdom. And what I remember about that show is that
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you guys came out and lit it up like for an opening act to have that sort of energy and their
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magic dick and you were bouncing all over the stage and the sound and that that was a kingdom.
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That was a pretty big room. And you took control of it. You I don't know if you remember back
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that far, individual gigs, but that must have been one of your first sort of larger gigs. No.
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No, you're talking about up in Seattle. Yes. And I remember going doing the show
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the night before, stayed up all night at the 13 coins restaurant, which was 20 or 7 at the airport.
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And then rolled into the kingdom, hit the stage, and rolled right back to the 13 coins bar
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in restaurant. So that sort of I remember the 13 coins bar in restaurant. I do remember the show.
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And because Peter had opened up for us for many, many years, we were both managed by a gentleman
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by the name of DeAnthony and who also managed spooky tooth and humble pie and Peter when he was
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in humble pie. And it was an exciting thing, but we had done the super dome and we've done many
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bigger play many, many years before that. And also we played with the stones on big tours. So that was
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just an exciting, an event, but it was one of many big tours. Yeah, it was amazing.
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You know, one thing I took away from your book is that you were getting big gigs and often
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as an opening act, but eventually as a headliner too. But at the same time, you wrote that you
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just the band hadn't broken through. And maybe that meant not getting radio play in as many
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album sales as you'd like. I mean, you always had to prove yourself to stay on a record label,
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right? And I think you wanted to do that. Was there a disconnect between kind of the live show
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and how popular we're at radio or with album sales? It's an interesting question. In regards to
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the present day, people really recordings are used to promote the live shows. And basically,
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their advertisements, hey, we're still here, come see us at blah, blah, blah. But in the days that
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you're talking about, the live shows were all really basically ways of promoting the record,
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because radio was king and the whole focus of recording artists and a rock and roller in those
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days was to get played on the radio, because that's where people would, you'd be able to obtain
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more exposure. And so when I say it took us so long, it just took us, we would tour endlessly and build
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up a loyal following. But to really be able to headline like many other groups,
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or able to groups that we played with the faces and humble pies, etc., etc., we play with so many,
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you know, it's interesting because the J. Giles band had us opening our opening acts,
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people like the Eagles, John Petty, you too, Billy Joel, Peter Frampton, I mean a long, long list,
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and it was almost like a void bill. If you did well, you'd get into the second position,
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and then if you did really well, you became a headliner. But that all really had to do back then
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with record play. So if you were playing, say like Seattle, we talked about it Philly, if you
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did well, and the DJs, the promotion people got you on the radio, that would generate and create
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a larger audience. So when I say 17 and a half years, it just took us a long time to achieve the
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play visibility with albums, once we left Atlantic, things grew a bit bigger with the album
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Sanctuary, an EMI America, then Love Stinks, and then of course Reesframe.
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Yeah. You know, Jay told me he paid $10 for that ticket when he saw you and Frampton play, and
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I don't know what that is adjusted for inflation, still not much compared to what tickets cost now.
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One thing I took away from the book is that it sounded like you were just always just above poverty,
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even though you had some touring success. Is that right? Did you were you not making much money?
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All throughout that time? We were just being able to get by, and by that I mean, you know, many of the
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guys, I always just lived in the apartment. I never lived in a house. So I just had my apartment
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that enabled me to represent the ban and travel from city to city or go to New York and do business.
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But when I say in poverty, I mean, no, we were okay, but we just about broke even, or basically we
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would have to call up the trucking company or get loans, take loans out or just ask them,
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can you extend the billing until three months, things like that? We were always on the cutting edge
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of being able to have financial freedom. And it wasn't until really the Love Stinks and basically
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freeze-frame album that enabled us to have the freedom where we could, you know, do many of the things
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we wanted and start to actually have a stage production of, you know, of merit.
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I saw you play so many times in the Pacific Northwest, Portland, Seattle, that area. It seemed like
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you were always on the road. Is that the case? Well, we were constantly on the road. We just did, you know,
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one night or after another. And I looked at a list. I found a book that one of the John Damanian,
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who was one of the people that worked with the Anthony, kept his little book with the
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attendance numbers, the capacity, how much you got paid, who the support was. And it's just
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unbelievable. I don't know, looking at that calendar. I don't know how we did it, you know, going from
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Sue City, Iowa, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, here, they're, you know, down to Birmingham. And then
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over to, you know, somewhere in Houston, Texas, and then back up to Kansas. And it was just, we just
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never stopped. And a lot of the places when we first started were basically skating rinks and
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hockey rinks and places that rarely had rock shows. And so some of the stages were pretty flimsy.
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Some of the shows out of the delayed because the stages weren't built correctly. There was no
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stage. Lighting couldn't get in. It, I should show you the innocence of some of it from another
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perspective. When traffic first came to the United States and the Anthony was representing them
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for Chris Blackwell in the United States, who was the manager and also own the label they were on.
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So we were playing, opening up for traffic. And traffic set up. And what they realized
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is the organ couldn't work. There was Stevie Winwood's organ couldn't work. Why? Because they
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no one really told them or they just didn't think that the current was different. They were 220. We
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were 120. And, you know, they needed generators. And Stevie really wanted his organ. And we had
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an organ. They ended up barring hours. But, you know, that's how sort of the awareness and how things
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were just so innocent back then. People really had, they came all 3,000 miles to America. The first
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date was in Boston at the Boston Tea Party. And nobody thought about generators.
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Right. And that could have been treacherous for you because you move around quite a bit on stage.
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And if anybody's going to get hurt by a shoddy workmanship, it might be you.
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Well, no, I wasn't. Maybe I'm not making it clear. What it was is that their equipment
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was gauged to a different frequency. They needed a different voltage than the equipment here in
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the United States. So they, as I say, were 220 volts, I believe. And we were 120 volts, 115 to 120.
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So we just our voltage power couldn't even light up Steve's organ.
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I mean, those are things that just people figured out, you know, by, you know, trial and error.
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I'm going to go back to the book waiting on the moon and have to tell you, I love reading that book.
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It was, it was so fun and it was fascinating. And you're a great storyteller. And I like that
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the book is just filled with short vignettes. And sometimes you bounce around a bit. But
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you turned it into a page turner. Really, it's a fantastic read. And I was blown away
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by the situations that you found yourself in. And maybe that's
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be it credit in you as being too passive. The situations you got yourself in,
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befriending other musicians, the people who were in your life, the relationships, the friendships you had.
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You know, how did you do all that? Were you just charming as hell and outgoing as hell
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in your younger years? And you just gravitated toward people and they gravitated to you?
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And it became a mean sin of a bitch in my later years. No, it all happened by accident.
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You know, there's a chapter about Van Morrison, for instance. And I meet Van Morrison.
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I'm we're rehearsing and Van Morrison happens to come into this club. I didn't know
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it was Van Morrison. He didn't know I was a DJ that he was listening to every night. And
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by that just coincidence, we became friends. And sort of how I met so many of the different people
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in the book. Being a DJ seemed to have helped your early career, at least to friendships,
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because that was kind of a common thread or a way to introduce yourself.
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Well, with Van Morrison, you know, definitely. But with, you know, people like
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the Rolling Stones and stuff, we were just asked, you know, invited on. Nick came to see a couple
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of the early shows. I believe it was at the Philmore and Monothe Academy in Music in New York.
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And we were invited on. As a matter of fact, it was, I think, it was at night. It was July 4th
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in Memphis. And I describe about, you know, Mick Wanda get on stage with elephants. But on the
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bill was Fari Lewis, the great bluesman, a very important bluesman who was, you know, well into his
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70s then, do it, opening up acoustic. And then came the meters, Charlie Daniels. I know I'm leaving
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out one other group and then the Rolling Stones. And so those were things. But in still my
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meeting with Mick and Keith just came, you know, by being in the right place at the right time,
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Tennessee Williams. So I write about happens to see some wine being dropped, you know,
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someone bumps into me at this, the 25th anniversary of his play, Street Cry, Our Name, Desire.
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And standing next to me is Tennessee Williams who watches this thing. And I end up sitting next to him
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at the play. So, or Julia Childs, the TV chef, I was invited to her house. So it's not that I
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pursued many of these people. But what I did want to do is pay homage to him because so many,
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and not that it's wrong, so many of the, I read almost every rock memoir there is in
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the greater percentage of them are about themselves, their life, how they got their guitar.
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And I just felt I didn't want to do that kind of book. And so I really made an attempt to just
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do it in vignette storytelling. And in the way that Patty Smith, us kids, just kids,
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wrote about her, of course, but her relationship with Maple Thaw. That was a great photographer.
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That's a great book. The East Village at that time. There's so much of that period. So it not only
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becomes about her, but she captures the whole landscape of the period that she's writing about.
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And I tried to do that in the sense I would read a book and they would talk about,
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oh, we ran into so and so, but we'd play to show with, or I remember Robbie Robinson's book,
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he talks about running into with Leavon Sonny Boy Williamson, who is a favorite of mine.
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But what was Sonny Boy like? He just describes, he just mentions a couple of sentences.
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But I, you know, I want to know for readers that I spend so much time as someone like
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say, like Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker, what was it like? You know, yeah. What were they like?
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Not me. I didn't want it to be about me. I wanted it to be about them. And tried to capture
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the nature of the music world at that time. And so Muddy would play the Apollo in one part of the
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chapter, and then he's playing a jazz club in another part of the chapter. And then he's playing
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for the first time a coffee house. So that gives, you know, the reader a historical sense of the
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music world at the time of many of these stories. You know, what stood out to me, Peter, was that
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the humor, when I was reading the book, I found myself laughing out loud at some of the things. And I,
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I wonder, well, there was one where you made some comment to a matrede, and I just about
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sped out my coffee when I was reading it, because I could almost hear the, the Russian accent that
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you were going for. Where did you get your sense of humor? Did you have funny parents?
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No, comedy depresses me. So I don't know where I got a sense of humor. Most, I don't even think of
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my sense of humor, and just recapturing these stories. One of the things that, you know, I tried to
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recapture was the things that I found so compelling about it. And I guess I think you're talking about
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me going into the Russian T-room. Yes. And the matrede looks at me and thinks I'm a street bum or
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something. Or a hippie that, you know, you have no, you don't belong here, sir. You're not going
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to be a customer and you can't even sit at the bar. Right. Little did he know I was meeting someone
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of high esteem, one of the, you know, biggest movie actresses of that day. And she comes and rescues me.
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And it's so funny, because I remember going back to the Russian T-room and not having any problem
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checking my coat to a very beautiful young lady who later became known as Madonna.
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Wow. Small world. Another luminary that you find yourself running into. Yeah, it's amazing.
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I really did love how you took the reader into your relationships and into your friendships.
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And really dug in there and just didn't describe it in a passing way. I mean, that's really what the
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book is about is the friendships, I think, that you've had over the years. You think that's a
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fair representation of what you're trying to do? No, totally. And it's the artist that I admired so
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much and respect and learned so much about. I mean, having muddy waters, you know, talked to me about
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putting together his band and, you know, how he started or having Johnny Hooker who traveled,
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pretty solo from town to town, like our old bluesman from the 20s. And just being around
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the Rolling Stones and watching their rehearsals, their sound checks, being around Bob Dylan
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and watching, you know, the rehearsals and sound checks and the performances. And you just
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absorb all that. And as I mentioned in the book, my high school was only 10, I was on 135th Street
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in Harlem. And the Apollo was on 125th Street. So every Wednesday I would go to the Apollo and see
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an amateur show and then the entire Apollo review. And so I saw every important solo artist almost.
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I mean, I'd every, but I saw everybody from the Motown review James Brown, Otis Redding,
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you know, Jackie Wilson, Dino Washington. I saw John Coltrane there, you know, the jazz shows,
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the symphony, the jazz shows, Ray Charles. And it's just having witnessing all that. And in the
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chapter I write about Don Covet, the songwriter, he explains that working when you're a real,
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the importance of being a performer that the audience becomes like in a church, the congregation.
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And you're like the minister and you got to rouse up that congregation. And that's why I think I
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always always attracted to the stones and artists that really were able to connect with the audience.
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In Van Morrison, who doesn't, you know, really moved much, neither did, you know, Bobby Blueblan,
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or a lot of the soul greats, but he was able to somehow transfix the audience and move them
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in a different kind of way, not necessarily dancing and jumping from left to right,
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but just somehow creating this very magical moment. And so all that was absorbed. And not saying
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that I do it, but I think certain artists like, for instance, Bruce Springsteen obviously absorbed a
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lot of that, you know, in his shows. And, you know, he and the E Street band definitely put on a show.
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And I think you two try to do the same. And, you know, the role of the performer is to perform.
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And not just recreate the record, though that's important too.
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You know, one thing that you could have written more about, but you didn't was, I mean, you
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wrote about kind of the EMI years and having a lot more success, but it was at the end of the book.
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You didn't focus on it. I mean, you could have written a book only about the successful years.
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It might not been as interesting of a book, but some people might have focused on the peak of the
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career and peak album sales and peak MTV. Was there any thought of giving the EMI years a little
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more, a little, some more ink in the book? Or was that just not something you wanted to focus on?
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To be actually quite interesting is when I was signed to Little Brown, I mentioned to the publishers,
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there's two things I'm not going to write about. I'm not going to write about my marriage.
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And I'm not going to write about the J. Giles band. And as I was handing in these stories,
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you know, the muddy story and the hooker and the thing about Bob and some of the early things,
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that'd be Bob Dylan for the list there.
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They felt, you know, a lot of people here at the company that they're, you know, fans and they just
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want to know about the Giles band. I said, well, I mentioned them throughout, you know, when we're
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playing with the stones and say, it's been, no, I mean, why did you guys break up after 17 years,
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just when you finally reached, you know, the place where you wanted to be, you know, the highest
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point of fame, you were number one throughout the country and throughout lots of places in the world.
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What happens? I want to know this is the editor talking. And so I decided, you know, he might be
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right and I wrote a chapter. I didn't want to go on and on to what you say to go into details
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about he and mine. We finally, you know, were successful and I mean, there are great stories where,
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for years, I would call up Lauren Michaels at Saturday Night Live and say, you know, can we be
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on Saturday Night Live? Believe me, we always got rejected and then a gene domain into Cobra
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Saturday Night Live and I knew Saturday Night Live. I go, wow, man, we can finally get on. Nope, you
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know, and then finally when Freeze Frame became such a hit album, Saturday Night Live calls and
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invites us on and I said, sorry, we're busy and we did this small little television show called the
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Only Plate in New York. It's out there on YouTube and it's quite funny and we eventually did
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Saturday Night Live, of course, but that was a funny turn of events. I'm glad you did include
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talking about EMI in the book. Can you recount how you got signed to EMI? It seemed to come together.
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You were looking for another label deal. EMI just seemed to be at the right place at the right time.
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How did that come together? Well, like I mentioned before, I was at by accident.
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The book details it. I was acting as the bands manager and spokesperson and our contract with
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the Atlantic Records. We had contracted for 10 records and I was very friendly with Ahmed Erdogan.
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It was who started the label and I mentioned to him that our contracts coming up, we should talk
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about resigning and he said, well, why don't you just see what other companies might want.
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It's a whole, I don't want to get too complex about it, but I had to go and I ended up meeting with
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the president of every major record company and was basically turned down by every major record company
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figuring we've had 10 albums out. We haven't had the success that they wanted.
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I was pretty feeling pretty defeated. I was out in LA. I didn't know how to drive. I'd have to take
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taxi cabs and taking taxi cabs in Los Angeles is a pretty strange phenomenon. I ended up with the
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Palm Steakhouse with this lawyer that's helping me out. I'm pretty down and he orders us both
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of Martini which seemed to be very, very much needed. The gentleman comes over. Young fellow comes
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over to the table and asks if I'm Peter Wolf. I said, yeah, I think, oh man, I'm such a big fan.
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I saw you eight times. I could come from Detroit. Long story short, he was starting a new label.
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That new label was called EMI America. There's a funny way of how we end up getting signed to EMI
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which is described in the book. I won't bore people with it because again, that was by accident.
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Because we had exhausted almost every major label. By chance, being at the right place, at the
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right time, we ended up at EMI. It became a very successful union for us and the label. It was a
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smaller label. It was an imprint of capital. We just had the greatest time. The band became so
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far achieved greater success because the company truly believed in the band as opposed to
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Atlantic where we were liked by people. But there was no real commitment to making us happen
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as there was with EMI America. I hear you talking about these greats and on the blue side,
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muddy waters, howlin' wolf, johnny hooker, etc. I love those stories. But at the end of the day,
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you're a musician, songwriter, but you're also a fan. You're also just like those people in the
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audience that come to see you. There are people that you are very impressed with and love seeing
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what were some of those comfort food kind of albums that you grew up on when you were in your teens.
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Oh, it started when I was, you know, I believe about six or seven. I started acquiring 45s. I had
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an older sister in 78s. I remember in 1954, 55, long tall Sally just rocked me. Then of course,
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I became a addictive Elvis Presley fan and then very much into duop. My first concert as a 10-year-old,
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my first rock and roll concert was on one show, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, screaming Jay Hawkins,
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Frankie Lyme and the teenagers, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Dion and the Belmont,
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boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Amazing. Maybe the churrells,
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because I saw several albums. Wow. That's incredible. You keep doing the don'ts. Ed Townsend, who's
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saying for your love, and ended up working a lot with Marvin Gaye, and there was more all on this
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one bill. And the heavily brothers included. And that was a review show. You're not talking like
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a festival. I mean, that's a huge lineup. So, short performances from everybody. Alan Fried,
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Cavalcade of Star. Yes. And some artists came out and did one number. Some artists came out and did
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two numbers. Chuck Berry did three or four. Jerry Lee did three or four. Scream and Jay Hawkins,
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I remember, you know, the stage growing very dark and out from stage left. These people
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wheeled out of coffin. And they, if we get the exact name of Alan Fried's band, it was, I
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should know Alan Fried and so on and so on. It'll come to me. And the band going, boom,
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boom. And this one spotlight is on the coffin. And the coffin slowly, the lid of the coffin
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slowly opens. And out comes this hand holding this long stick with a skull. And this person comes
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climbing out out of it. No, I had never heard the song he was about to sing. You know,
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I put a spell on you and he walks across the stage. Oh my God, the theatrics of it. It just
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was imprinted still to this day on my mind. Seeing Jerry Lee Lewis kick the piano of stool across
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the stage. Having Chuck Berry duck walk, having Frankie Lyman jump out from behind the
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teenage. I mean, these are just things that just blew my mind. There's a lot of showmanship on that.
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Oh yeah, they all were great show showmen and show ladies, I might add. Did you ever meet Elvis?
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I got to Graceland through some friends and got to speak to his uncle who guarded the gate
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and to Vernon, his dad. But I was told that Elvis was a way at the dentist, but he was probably asleep.
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And it was through a DJ, very popular DJ in Memphis at the time that arranged it all. And I was with
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Leslie West who had the huge hit Mississippi Queen. And there was played in Memphis constantly at that
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time down south. And yeah, that's about as close as I got. I got to Graceland once myself. Of course,
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that was 15 years ago when he was long dead, but it was even as a tourist. Graceland is an interesting
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place. Oh, I did it myself. We played a Memphis festival. And I definitely had to pay my respects
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to Graceland. And George Klein who was a DJ throughout Elvis's life and was part of the Elvis
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Mafia. He invited me to be on his show at Graceland, his radio show. And so that was quite a thrill
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for me because I knew Elvis and all his Mafia and all the casted characters, the Colonel and everybody.
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Yeah, the one thing that stood out to me about Graceland is how modestly sized it is. By today's
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standards, it's a very small place to live for somebody of Elders' stature.
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Well, yes, you're right because now people have these Mac mansions. But it's not only the size of
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it which you're right. It is quite humbling. It looks like one thinks of it as being this huge palace.
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But it's not only just Elvis and Priscilla, but think of all the Memphis Mafia that was there 24-7.
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And constantly he had like always had four or five guys hanging out. And then there was the
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chefs, the cooks, you know, and you know, people coming and going and his dad and his dads,
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you know, we have to Elvis's wife died. His dad's girlfriend and they all lived and many of them
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lived on trailers on the land and some Charlie Hodge, the fellow who, you know, handed Elvis
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the scarf to give out. He lived in the basement underneath the kitchen in the little room. And so
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when you think of it, not just as you walk in, you're right. It's so small. And you see the piano room
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where, you know, Elvis would play and you could just envision all these people standing around singing
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with Elvis. But it's small and the dining room is small. And yeah, Elvis, you know, feeding everybody.
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It was, it's quite a revelation. Yeah. You know, when I was reading the book and I'm going through
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these relationships and I love how you sort of expound on some of these relationships.
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I couldn't help but think that a lot of these people that you're talking about had different
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definitions of what success meant to them. And I'm wondering what, what success is to you? Like,
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what is your definition of, you know, what does success mean to you? Well, I think success
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for me is as a performer and even with the book was that it feels like an event. And by that,
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I mean, if you're playing to a club of 400 people, you'd like to see it full and feel this energy.
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If you're playing to an arena of 18,000, you'd like to feel it full and feel like an event that people
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are excited to be there. And same with a book, if you, you know, write a book, you want it to be
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accepted. And it's not because of the monetary, it's not because of the ego. It's just that it
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gives you the momentum to continue. And so, for instance, I just got to see the Willie Nelson
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Outlaw tour in Willie's 92, I think. And, you know, just before him was Bob Dylan, who's what 82
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and then Cheryl Crow opened up. And, you know, but it had the feeling of, it didn't have a feeling
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of an oldies show. It didn't have, you know, the people were doing their hits. Cheryl played all her
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hits and Bob, well, Bob did an unusual assortment of things. And then Willie comes out. And the,
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but the place was full of, you know, people from all different kinds of ages. It was in them. You
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feel you felt like it was an event. And that to me was the success. Not, not money is, the money is
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helpful because it keeps you able to continue. It keeps you able to travel and be comfortable and
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continue performing and continue making records and continue if you choose to write a book. So, for me,
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it's feeling that what you do feels like an event. That would be the definition of success.
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Yes. Has the book released been that kind of event for you? I'm curious what impact it's had on you
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personally, what impact it's had on your career. I know that last time you talked to Billboard, you
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said you were 80% through with a new album. So, maybe some momentum from the book would help with that
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when that comes out. I would hope so. You know, we're talking here with Billboard. And I remember,
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you know, when Billboard was of course always the most important industry magazine, then there was
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cash box and record world. And, you know, your exposure in those magazines were just so important.
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If you had an article, if you had a bullet, you know, where you were entered on the charts, etc., etc.
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And, you know, with the book and this new album, new CD, I remember, you know, not too long ago,
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talking with Bruce Springsteen. And we were talking about the difference between books and records.
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And he said, you know, people come up to me and they, you know, tell me they loved so and so album.
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And, you know, when are we going to put out a new one? And I have to tell them, I put out three albums
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since that one. And the point of that story is that it's so easy these days for records to sort of
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just turn into ethos very quickly because they come out. There's no stores where people go and brows.
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There's no merchandise where people could see or in the store where they, you know, walk into a store and
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see these big stacks of, you know, Bruce Springsteen records or Eagle records or whomever. And, uh,
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so it's all online. It's all streaming. It's also very different. And so to find
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your place with a recording is a lot harder. And so the records, you know, basically
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needs to be mixed, but it's all pretty much recorded. And it's very interesting. Today, most people
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write and make records as a sort of, again, uh, and awareness so people know that they're out there
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on the road to promote the road. Not, you know, and, you know, oh, got a new record and the
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helps promote the tour. Uh, that's so different than when we first started with the guy.
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Yeah. Yeah. You know, there's a through line from that concert I told you about in 77 in Seattle
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through J. Giles, through your solo work, through your book. You just seem to be having
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a lot of fun. Are you still having fun? No, I enjoy what I'm doing. And again, I enjoy it if it
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feels like an event. That's the, you know, that's the momentum. Uh, that if you feel it's pertinent,
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if you feel what you're doing, people feel it's still relevant, then that gives you the enthusiasm
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to want to, you know, keep going. Um, so right now, I mean, just, you know, the two of you wanting
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to chat with me is important to me. Uh, and hopefully the audience out there is still there and
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maybe the book will enlarge it. I hope it does. That, that's really the reason I wrote it.
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I want to veer off into something completely different. You know, Jay and I, before we hopped on
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the call with you, we're talking about spinal tap and the new movie that's out, the part two movie.
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And I'm wondering what your thoughts on spinal tap are as a musician and somebody has been on the road a
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lot and has been running to a lot of different experiences. And what did you think when you saw that
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movie? Did you do you think it was kind of an accurate reflection of being a musician, anything off?
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That was just nothing like your lived experience. I'll tell you a funny story.
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I went to see spinal tap. It was in a late afternoon screening near my apartment where I lived in
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Boston. After the film was over, I was walking out and I noticed a, in the crowd walking out
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with Stephen Tyler. Both of us shook our heads and said, holy crap. You know, it's really that. I
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mean, we were just so depressed by seeing it because it was just so, it was like uncovered so much of
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the, for us it wasn't a comedy. For us it was real life. For us it was totally depressing.
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The names, the fighting, the group fighting, the girlfriends, the wives.
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We saw it as a real life documentary. And I remember we both were like shell shocked when we walked out.
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Yeah, that was quite an experience.
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That great, great, great Carl Reina movie. Oh my God. You're robber-line, I'm sorry.
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Yeah. It feels like you could write multiple books. That's something tells me there's a lot more
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stories to uncover. Well, thank you. You think you have another one in you?
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Well, there's a lot of stories that I've gotten left out for sure. But as Christopher Hitchens,
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he was a great writer and a political analyst said, everybody has a book in them.
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But it doesn't mean anybody wants to read it. So my challenge would be, you know, if there's a second one,
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how could I make it interesting? And before we go, I have to comment. Peaches, Georgia.
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Peaches, records and tapes. Yeah, I remember being in peaches with the J. Giles band.
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It was, we were somewhere I'd believe in Atlanta. And they had a board cement. And we put our handprints
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and signed and foolishly. And I say foolishly, the manager of this door said, you know, Pete,
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you can choose, you know, go and choose whatever you want. And I brought back maybe 50 to 60
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of the greatest blues records I can get my hands on because they had them all.
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Sort of the southern aspect of tower records. 100%.
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Yeah. And it's such a joy seeing that t-shirt.
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That's great. Yeah. I went to the one in Seattle and the U District.
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There. And remember the crates, the wooden crates. Oh, yeah.
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Sal, yeah. Yeah. You fill them up. Yeah, you would. Yeah. I should.
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Peter's been such a pleasure talking with you. I loved your book. You've been in the soundtrack of
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my growing up. And I'm just honored to talk to you. Thank you so much for taking the time today.
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No, thank you so much for inviting me again. I appreciate it. Remember,
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love stinks, but we all graved the smell. So with that, I do.
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The Yamagama Guma Luma. If it's in you, it's got to come out because that's a rocker role is all
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about doing the tune and getting right through and having some fun until the midnight sun. Let's
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shake, rattle and roll. Do the midnight stroll. I'm with you. Do the tour. This is Wolf of
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Google. Mom and two of us saying, see you soon out there in the highways and the byways.
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Shake, rattle and roll. Thank you, gentlemen.