Hired Gun

I could go out on tour, actually, and play by myself as far as...

you know, most people know, but, uh...

It works like an orchestra on-stage.

I happen to write the songs.

And I kind of conduct the band,

and we work as an orchestra.

I don't go out and...

do a Tom Jones thing with a bunch of sidemen.

A hired gun is an assassin.

The best available musician that gets hired to go on tour,

to deliver that music for that artist.

Nobody will know who he is.

But he gets the gig because he is the elite player.

It seems like there's about twenty musicians we're talking about

that have made every single record that everybody owns.

There's always somebody standing by ready to take your place

if things aren't going well.

That's for sure.

My job security was my awesomeness.

You had to be even more focused than somebody who's permanently in a band.

Because, what you're doing today

reflects on what you are going to be doing tomorrow.

You have to play great all the time because you're entertaining the name.

And if you're not great tonight,

you may lose your gig tomorrow.

We know the riffs that they played on guitar, or piano, or saxophone,

but we don't know their face or their name.

Being a hired gun,

you're sitting in the front row,

to a very glamorous, high profile, exciting lifestyle.

But it has nothing to do with you.

My mother was always into music.

We used to cut school to go see Frank Sinatra and stuff like that...

My father was a bit of a square.

But, they bought me a set of drums when I was, maybe,

twelve, eleven years old...

Because, my father says, "Because they didn't make Prozac back then."

When I was 19 years old

I was playing with a guy named Richie Supa.

And Doug Stegmeyer and Russell Javors

are in the audience watching me play.

There was just something about Lib that was very, very special.

And I would go there as a kid and I'd say,

"I'm going to start a band with this guy.

That's the drummer I want to play with."

And it just evolved.

Eventually we started a band called Topper.

Doug Stegmeyer got the gig with Billy first.

He went on the Streetlife Serenader tour with Billy Joel

when Billy told Doug that he wanted to move from California

back to New York,

and he wanted a New York

So, Doug said, "Well...

We got the guy. I know the guy!"

First one Doug brought in

cause he was looking for a rhythm section was Liberty.

So they really started doing Turnstiles together with the three of them.

We got in the studio. The three of us started to record,

me, Doug and Billy, just bass, drums and piano.

And when we listened back, Billy would say, "Well...

You know, I could use some guitar on this."

And we said, "Well, we know guitar players."

So, eventually,

Topper became Billy Joel's band.

And that was the band that went on and toured the Turnstiles album.

The rest is history.

As a hired gun you have to be on point all the time.

Are you gonna be prepared and ready to go?

The one most important thing that'll make it good

is your attitude.

Be damn sure you know,

what the artist needs.

That's the key.

And then provide it.

Being able to sing is always a plus. If you can sing good, and play,

you're gonna get the gig before the guy that just plays good!

You gotta be able to memorize stuff... fast.

We get good at zeroing in on exactly what we need to hit

very quickly.

There's no room for a B-game here.

You gotta always bring A,

and just knock teeth out.

That's what you gotta do.

I didn't really start playing metal or rock

until I became part of Quiet Riot.

And I'm talking about the Quiet Riot version with Randy Rhoads

which I was a member of in the 70s.

That version of Quiet Riot was more of a glam rock band.

But the music scene at that time

was very much centric on...

New Wave and Punk.

And bands like Quiet Riot...

We were considered dinosaurs.

There was word around town that the singer from Black Sabbath

was looking for new musicians, you know, to put a band together.

So, I was trying to get a hold of anybody.

Meanwhile,

Ozzy's management, his people, you know,

were trying to get a hold of Randy

to come and audition.

He went out there, you know, met with Ozzy,

and as he was tuning up and just doodling around the guitar,

he got the gig.

And early 1981,

I get the phone call from Ozzy,

"Randy keeps telling me that you're the one"

and I met with Ozzy that night, and Sharon,

and I guess I passed the test.

"You want the gig?"

I said...

"Yeah!"

So, I went from sleeping on a floor,

just a sheet,

to all of a sudden... I'm, not only am a member of Ozzy's band,

but, I'm living with him and Sharon,

up in a mansion in Beverly Hills.

It's been an incredible ride ever since, you know.

Good people don't stay undiscovered for very long.

That's what I always tell people that think the business is so vast.

It's not.

Because if you're good you stand out quick.

Everybody in the business from...

From Marilyn Manson to Rob Zombie,

to Ozzy Osbourne, to myself, who are lead singers...

All know who...

where the carrel... The A carrel is.

So, you, of course, go for those guys first.

All right. I broke two strings!

Whoo!

Two strings!

I remember getting the paper,

and opening it up.

And I remember my tears hitting the newspaper...

And, like, snot hitting the newspaper.

Man, it's like, "Fuck, what? Fuck!"

Anybody, especially at that time they were into metal.

He was our hero.

He was Jimi Hendrix of the bass, man.

I've told that to anybody, straight up.

I don't care who you are, playing bass.

You're not as good as Cliff, sorry.

And, I had only seen him in concert, man.

I'm standing right in front of Cliff, like...

And spent my last 14 bucks on my Metallica shirt, you know.

The talk started happening.

They were talking about auditions.

"Okay, who's the bass player, man? We gotta get somebody

because we have to continue this tour."

They have a big, big hit on her hands, need to Rock n Roll.

They've gotta push through. There's momentum,

and you're never gonna get that momentum again.

They call out 45 to 50 people from around the world.

And I got an early flight, borrowed money from all of my friends.

Twenty from that person, ten from that person,

seven, nine from that guy.

Whatever they could give me. "Dude, you got... "What?"

An audition with Metallica? Are you..."

Everybody's flipping the fuck out!

And so, I was ready and I got there early and I was there the first one.

I was there before the band got there on audition day.

I look over and I poke my head in,

"What have I got myself into?

Like I'm actually going to step in and play with..."

It hit me, like, "Metallica, dude!"

Eleven days after that we were touring japan.

Metallica touring Japan for the first time and I was the bass player.

And at that time,

I was a hired gun,

for $500 a week.

"Okay."

I mean, I would have done it for a sandwich.

I mean, it wouldn't have mattered then.

I would have paid you guys five bucks to let me go. Shit, you know!

So that was it. Five hundred dollars a week

until April the next year,

when I joined Metallica...

And I was a full member for 14, 15 years.

I was not gonna pass this up or take this for granted

that I was given this opportunity by these guys.

"Now you're in it, dude.

You signed to be in this thing.

You can't take that lightly.

This is big responsibility now."

Everybody's got their role in this band

and nobody wants to be the weak link.

That's why that band is still around.

Finding the right person for your band is almost impossible

because you're looking for, to me, three things.

You got to find somebody who...

is an excellent musician

which, that's the easiest thing to find.

There's a million excellent musicians.

Then you gotta find somebody who's really cool...

who can stand on stage

in front of you know 15... a 100,000 people,

and be amazing.

Then, it whittles it down to a smaller group,

and then you gotta find somebody you can stand to be around 24/7.

Because, you know, you live with them, day in and day out.

Then it shrinks down to about...