|
|
I was born in London, England a short while ago, June 23rd at the age of 0. I grew up steadily until, after three years, I reached the age of 3, at which point I was whisked away to start kindergarden, and THAT is when all the problems started. Just as I was starting to feel good about myself...y'know ...no diapers, drinking out of a real glass, knowing real words instead of the "pointing language". Hell, I even had a new younger brother to beat up on in my spare time! Anyway... I got a little guitar on my third birthday from a sax playing older cousin by the name of Leon and took to it like a butcher to meat! I decided to try to play it like a violin using one of my dad's walking canes (into which I'd notched some strategically placed grooves!). This little musical excursion cost me about twelve years of violin lessons - which as it turned out was not a bad thing. I started playing the violin at 11, terminating a cacophonic seven years of melodicas, recorders and other cheap and annoying instruments. I took and passed all eight of my grade violin exams and, while I was at it, I studied classical music, composition and harmony; ......well I was good at it and I had and still have no concept of sports! Enter ze first band... One day someone came into class with an electric guitar and a small amp. OUT went the acoustic, OUT went the violin, OUT went just about anything that did not have anything to do with loud music! (Actually I did put a pick up into a violin at one time, but it was awful). Born was ..... well, we did not have a name! but we had Beatles songs, and four guitar players! That was when I decided to pick up the bass guitar: When I finally left college, deciding to abandon studies in career in medecine, I started with my first legit bands. I was now a PROFESSIONAL ! ...boy, what went wrong! I played London in a post punk band called Terminal Rescue, touring all over Europe too, and then I did brief stints with the Cuddly Toys and Reflex, all the while running live sound for other bands to pay my bills. In 1980 I got a call from someone asking me to come down and try out for a new band and it turned out to be Simon Kirke of Bad Co. He had put together a new band on Swan Song and was looking for a bass player. I got the gig, and with that I was into my first deal, with Led Zep's label no less ! I was thrilled. We released a self titled album in about 1981 and set off touring around Europe (again!). Unfortunately things did not work out between Swan Song and Atlantic and the whole thing eventually fizzled out, but not without some great acclaim from our peers as well as some great tales and some new friends. Of in search of something new... I teamed up with various bands including Robin George, played on his record and toured Europe (I was starting to like it there!) but he was an idiot and no one liked him. I wanted out! Out of the blue I got a call from Swan Song owner
Jimmy Page ! He wanted to know if I wanted to help him put a
band together ! For almost a year we ended up jamming and playing with various drummers; Chris Slade, Rat Scabies, Chris Slade again! and I was having the time of my life! Then I recieved a call after doing a live TV show with some band. Out of the blue this voice on the phone says "Hi...Phil, This is Ozzy...meet me at this f***ing bar " After some long auditions I decided to leave Jimmy and go to work with Ozzy. Jimmy had still no plans to tour and was still finding his feet after having been out of the scene for so long. We talked about it and he wished me luck; he is still a wonderful friend and human being. The greatest guy to be stuck in Soho with at 5 am after being thrown out of every bar and unable to get a cab! No one believes he is who he is !!! And so, enter to the realm of the Madman. I played on the Ultimate Sin album with my new bandmates - Randy Castillo and Jake E Lee and submitted a song I wrote a few years prior called "Shot in the Dark" We did the biggest tour of 1986, and I enjoyed giving Ozzy his first ever number one hit here (as well as in the UK). I ended up moving to Los Angeles as I loved it there. After
almost four years with Ozzy I decided to go seek my fortune
and move on. I ended up playing with Billy Idol - not what anyone
expected me to do, but I wanted to do something more diverse.
I played on Billy's Charmed Life album and when we weren't doing
that, we rode motorcycles all over the place! Then came Beggars and Thieves. A great band, once again on Atlantic, with RON MANCUSO, BOBBY BORG ands LOUIS MERLINO. One album - self titled and the workings of a second in progress....... and then VINCE NEIL gets fired from Motley Crue. I saw it on MTV. Vince, who is a very old friend of mine, calls me to see if I will do some writing with him for a possible solo album and I end up writing most of his record for Warner Bros. I also end up producing the demos that get the deal and that was really enjoyable. One thing leads to another and I end up leaving Vince due to some squabbling with Steve Stevens where he tries to lay claim to my work - I ended up having to sue them over it to get my rights back....blah, blah....Too bad, I HATE that kind of stuff. Next up, and we have an earthquake in Northridge during which I lose my home and have to walk away from it and so I am homeless! I decided to take a break and get my head straightened outand go work for five months for a friend restoring vintage motorcycles ( did I tell you I was a mechanic?) After this I went BACK to Europe; France to be exact. I had played on a record with the guys out of LITTLE FEAT for JOHNNY HALLYDAY; the French Elvis. This guy has been huge for 35 years and ONLY in French speaking countries! He is the fourth biggest selling artist in music history for the whole world!! Now THAT was a great gig. We did four albums, three tours playing to thousands every night and we flew around in helicopters, private jets as well as eating in the best restraurants in France for four years! "....St Tropez is nice this time of the year !" A wonderful band too - IAN WALLACE on drums, PHIL PALMER and ROBIN le MISERY on guitars, JIM PRIME and TIM (Taz) MOORE aka "The Beast of Exmoor" as well as The Rev KEWLEY on organs and keys and YOURS TRULY on wine, armagnac, vodka and Bass. One night
of a 20 night stint at Bercy Palais de Sports (the Paris gig
the size of the Forum) I run into my dear buddy, mate and mano de
leche, the Great Steve Lukather and I invited him up to play
on stage with us, and later that night in a very sweaty club - the
Bain Douche - was born the idea for us to work together. The writing of "LUKE" was so enjoyable that we decided to continue writing together for the following TOTO album, the result of which was the opening cut "After You've Gone" from the Mindfields album. And so here I am, a little further on down the line, doing a mixture of playing, writing and producing.. I have played around and out of town with bands that featuring GILBY CLARKE and ERIC SINGER and have appeared on Gilby's albums, I have toured extensively with JOHN WAITE and EDGAR WINTER and recently with RICHIE KOTZEN. - check out the production page for current events. Of course I have just released my solo album
entitled Vibrate and so a new adventure begins! ........to be continued!
|
