Eddie Martinez Breaks Down his Iconic Parts for Robert Palmer, Steve Winwood, Run-DMC
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2023
Eddie Martinez is the most influential Hip Hop guitarist EVER. Having recorded guitar on RUN-D.M.C.'s hits "Rock Box" and "King of Rock", Eddie is responsible for introducing electric guitar into the hip hop scene in the mid 1980s. But Eddie's career didn't stop there. His guitar playing can also be heard on a multitude of platinum-selling records such as Robert Palmer's "Riptide", Steve Winwood's "Back in the High Life", Mick Jagger's' "She's The Boss", and David Lee Roth's "Crazy from the Heat" (to name just a few). Today, we're sitting down with Eddie to talk about his experience working with some of the world's biggest artists, what gear he used to get his signature sound, and much more!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:00 Intro Jam
00:28 Introducing Eddie Martinez
02:10 Eddie's Work with Robert Palmer
03:06 The Story Behind "Addicted to Love"
08:22 Eddie Plays "Addicted to Love"
09:35 The Story Behind "Simply Irresistible"
14:46 Eddie Plays "Simply Irresistible"
16:10 Recording on the "Back in the High Life" Album
18:39 The Story Behind "Higher Love"
21:46 Eddie Plays "Higher Love"
23:47 Eddie Plays "Freedom Overspill"
24:35 Eddie's Impact on Hip Hop Music
25:38 Eddie's Work with RUN-D.M.C.
29:24 Eddie Plays "Rock Box"
31:07 The Story Behind "King of Rock"
32:51 Eddie Plays "King of Rock"
33:48 Eddie Explains Iconic Photos from his Career
41:46 Thanks for Watching!
TRANSCRIPT
Introducing Eddie Martinez
thank you so much for having us today Portland Oregon at the Hallowed Halls and
it's such a treat to be in front of what Guitar Player Magazine 1987 readers
poll that was the top three session musicians right behind Steve Lukather and Larry Carlton
this is amazing thank you again for uh just inviting us to uh to talk to you
today about your career as a session musician as a touring musician and as a solo artist thank you it's great to be
good to see you man yeah it's been a minute it's been 10 years 10 years yeah it's been 10 years since we've seen each other yeah good to see you and thanks so
much for flying up man I'm so happy to be here actually you know it's really cool absolutely privileged
and you know gosh I mean when I think about just what you mentioned there being you know included with those two
cats man are just Giants in my book so well I think we're going to get to explain to people who are watching this
a whole lot more of of why you're in just such a distinguished group of people in in just your musical
accomplishments whether we're talking about your work with Run DMC Tina Turner
Robert Palmer, Joe Cocker, Mick Jagger, David Lee Roth like it's
just these icons after icons after icons and you've been a part of the music you've been a part of the the session
community in in sort of a dissimilar Community to a lot of the people that we normally interview which are more LA
based you are a New York based session musician primarily throughout your career and so we're gonna get to hear I
think a lot about how that worked your your work on a lot of these hit songs and I don't really want to waste any
time to getting to some of the amazing amazing guitar playing that you did I think we can probably safely say for
Eddie's Work with Robert Palmer
most people that are familiar with you in your work they probably most closely associate you with Robert Palmer would you would you characterize that as as
the artist you're most closely associated with yeah I think that's really accurate because
um I played on hit records before I work with Robert but I I believe that my work with Robert really kind of was the
moment for me that I kind of I created my identity within the context of his music yeah and I was too I was able to
like really apply things that I was hearing because working with Robert was just a wonderful collaboration with him
and Bernard Edwards on that first album and Jason Corsaro as well who
engineered that uh recorded everything and then subsequently E.T. (Eric Thorngren) that mixed it right and uh just a great it was a great
experience so the the two songs I want to focus on for Robert Palmer is addicted to love
and Simply Irresistible and I think we should start first with addicted to love going chronologically that was 1985 you
The Story Behind "Addicted to Love"
had recorded it yeah we've recorded that I think it was around November of '85 right around Thanksgiving okay because
we were in the Bahamas and Nassau that's where Robert lived okay and we went down there and uh I think a few days of like
pre-production and listening to the tracks and then we went in to Compass Point and recorded that and and it was
it was just awesome working with Robert and Bernard who was really an interesting uh collaboration
uh anything about the Addicted to Love Session and that was on Riptide it was
the album yeah what do you remember about that particular song like how
evolved it was when you had gotten into the studio like what what do you remember about it well I remember Robert
telling me that he dreamed the song number one okay yeah he woke up in the middle middle of the night you know you
know and just the lyrics popped out and he had a rough demo of it and we listened to that and then we put our you
know our thing on it you know because I think part of being a session player is is um
is more than your proficiency on the instrument is what what you hear and what you can contribute in serving
the song and as far as your guitar sound what were sort of the the components of
what made that up because it's it's a nice beautiful Distortion sound there's like a clean guitar in there yeah tell
us about the the gear that was used to create that sound well that I had my uh
half of had a 50 watt Marshall okay a non-master that I bought brand new in
1977. oh I was two at the time you know uh so um
uh I remember buying that at Manny's actually it had Jim Marshall's name written in pencil on the inside of the
wow yeah and I got a chance to tell him that but um that uh single 4x12 with 25
watt Greenbacks in it okay and it was up in uh what was considered the the
live chamber at compass point was which was like up a flight okay and uh it
wasn't really a big chamber it was a small actually probably about the size of this room okay but uh Jason had put a
lot of close mics on it and that was the fundamental sound for the Rhythm thing and then for the solo thing we did it we
cut it Jason and I were in the studio alone and we did it at midnight you know because we just worked on the sound and
Jason had an idea he liked he liked liked the width of the of the Marshall but he fell for the solo it needed a bit
of a point to it so what he did he out of these blankets he created like almost like a volcano you know and he put a
fostex uh um remember the Fostex from way back in the 80s so you put one of
those in there right and then you think he dropped the SM57 right at at the at the
at the like at the point he had the Apex of it oh my God and uh that was the point for the solo wow and uh so we had
a com you know he took a feed off of the Marshall uh and through that so he combined both those elements together
and then I've had a Proco RAT that I had one of the big box ones I bought in LA yeah like way back and uh not LED
and that was the fundamental for a lot of that Riptide album wow and then for
the clean guitar was that just like another layer that was just added after like there's a beautiful part in that
song where um where you go to the the F sharp yeah um yeah there was an interesting story
with that at that point we moved to the studio Studio B which had a really funky
MCI board that was cross-talk and all sorts so it's a funky stuff happening and Jason said uh guys give me you know
give me a minute I need to figure out how to record some of these clean sounds especially like the middle section on
unaddicted and didn't mean to turn you on and all that stuff so what he did was he bypassed the board and at that time
Robert had a Sony Beta F1 which was a digital recorder so he bypassed the
board and used uh um I think we had a DI maybe it was a I
think it was a DI with a Tokai Exciter pedal right ino the DI into the F1 on
input and straight into the the modulation or anything on that uh yeah I think so there's I think there's um
there's a chorus pedal so if there was a chorus as well as the Exciter on that do you remember what chorus pedal was the
blue Boss CE2, yeah old school wow you know that's amazing and um you
know so the songs in the key of A and then it goes to the sixth chord and what I wanted to do is like I I just I I just
felt that make playing a minor 11 there instead of just playing a stock you know go to the sixth chord was just like kind
of boring yeah and kind of like rudimentary and academic you know so I want to do something you know you know
off the beaten path so I put the minor 11 with this with the B and the E string ringing out yeah with a little bit of
that chorus and and that Shimmer maybe some delays and it's just like it just created a spread there that really
really worked and in some ways I love that part so much I love it too it's the
perfect setup for the chorus it's like the perfect transition that brings it in as I I think I said this to you earlier
it's like a vignette around yeah that just brings your your ears into what's about to happen in the chorus can we
Eddie Plays "Addicted to Love"
hear you play some of this stuff will you play like those different parts for us yeah you want to start with the crunch thing yeah let's let's start with
the crunch thing and then maybe we can hear the the solo section and then also like the clean guitar
sections into the the chorus you bet all right let's do it
I'm absolutely astonished of like all the cool guitar parts on this like all
The Story Behind "Simply Irresistible"
the stuff you played I want to continue with the Robert Palmer stuff and move on
to Heavy Nova which was 1988 88 yes and that had Simply Irresistible huge hit
which you also played on yep what can you tell us about what is remarkable about that session anything that that
you remember any stories anything that you could tell us about the gear I'd love to do that the riptide album was
done on the Sony 24 digital machine okay that they flew down to a compass point okay uh heavy Nova was done Dolby SR
okay and um so it was we're dealing more in the analog of tape the two inch stuff
and stuff and it was cool I didn't care for the SR Dolby um uh sound too much but I think the
body of work on that record is just incredible and we've cut that in Italy uh you know at Studio Logic in Milan and
it was it was so much fun yeah it was so much fun it was a whole different thing for me I had a JCM800 that was modified
by Harry Kolbe and I did some slaving with that you know but that album really
covered a lot of different styles for me as a guitarist I mean I was playing Arch
tops I was playing flat tops I was playing uh 12 string I mean there's a 12 string on Simply Irresistible believe it
or not but played through acoustic no no uh an electric through through the rig it was like massive so it's all part of
that whole big you know wall of sound thing you know and it was a lot of fun
to do Riptide was done live ostensibly there were a couple of things that they used in clavia on but and uh um simply
resistible the track was pretty much like the stem that we have
you know and uh and uh you know with that sampled guitar thing at the top and
I just went to went to work on that and uh really happy with you know with the
approach and how it came out um I just heard the parts man it's like it's it's really something you know it's
I don't know what you know I mean there's a certain antenna that you have when you hear something you know and it's all about hearing absolutely you
know and uh you know if you hear stuff and you you can you can put down what you hear
um you know uh I I think it's you really cut to the Chase and uh there's so many
schools of thought on that yeah sure you know I've been to sessions I've done sessions where where
I heard immediately the part yeah and the producer says no
no let's try this let's try that so three hours later four hours later you play the first thing you that's it yeah
the first thing that you played and it just takes sometimes the process is circuitous you know it's like you know
it's a big circle you wind up where it's you're supposed to be yeah well I've always said you know in other interviews
I've done with other session greats like you that that you know you guys are are are such under credited arrangers
because you are essentially arranging on the spot to make the song Whatever It Is
and a lot of times these chord charts or these songs are skeletons and what
becomes part of the hook is invariably things that you know you've come up with and so I think that that I think for all
these songs that we're playing today I don't think there were charts on anything yeah it was just it was just the band feeling it in the context of
yeah or in this case a track that was already the track and you know you you either you learn it or you just write
you know like a a flow chart yeah you know in terms of where the kicks are and all that and you know what was the gear
on this song that you used other than the the Marshall what was the guitar or pedals or rack gear uh um the gear was
uh Grover Jackson gave me one really uh a very early dinky soloist in BMW
orange and I think there were three of those guitars made and Jeff Beck had one I think they're single coils in his okay
and a very good friend of mine John McCurry had one as well okay and a great player in New York Studio musician and
then I had one with single single home configuration with the Floyd Rose I'd never had a guitar with the Floyd Rose before okay and uh you know the compound
radius thing was like it was like a Ferrari right you know what I mean so it was a real it was a whole different learning curve you know it just made
things so easy it was like almost too easy because you know I'm playing strats ostensibly you know or an occasional
Gibson yeah but it was like it was like a hot rod okay and it was so much fun it was really a lot of fun I bet I mean
having the Floyd Rose and you know once you got those dialed in you could really go crazy yeah the first track I used uh
uh it on was um a track on the riptide album called discipline of Love okay and which is a
killer funky ass track and uh and then I used it on on simply and and did you use
any pedals or any processing stuff on that um no I it was I had uh
um JCM800 Modified by Harry Kolbe and then it went into this box
that he had the turn speaker level to line level okay and then we slave some Yamaha power ramp I don't even know it
was tube or transistor I don't remember and we had just a bevy of four by twelves in the room and it was just like
so freaking enormous wow you know it was it was so much fun yeah well what what
Eddie Plays "Simply Irresistible"
guitar do you want to try this with I want to hear how what you were doing yeah I've got something with single single hum sir guitar that uh all right
that I want to use on this all right let's hear it
so we did some great stuff with Robert Palmer here you played amazing it felt
like I was in the the original session with with you and Robert Palmer in the
Recording on the "Back in the High Life" Album
band but I want to move on to I think arguably one of Steve Winwood's best
records of all time uh certainly one of my favorites back in the high life and
that was '86. yeah it was '86. the other session was before it was before
that um it was either early '86 or late '85. okay it could have you know it could have been maybe around August
of '85 or something like that okay and uh it was a fast fashion you know and um
and I remember that day I was also recording with a great Japanese artist by the name of Akiko Yano and uh so it
was fun Jason was uh engineering and working with Russ Titelman which is always a joy and uh he's a very
meticulous kind of producer he's a real song guy too and um and uh you know it's
like uh I just know what he likes yeah you know he likes that kind of Slinky
stuff it's like I think there were certain uh producers that I work with which some was just one of the big stuff
the big big sounds like when I work with Jim Steinman on Bat Out of Hell 2 and all that you know those were really
enormous big sounds and big Productions and when I work with Ross it was kind of like more inside yeah it was more inside
and it was kind of cool I really loved wearing both of those hats yeah you know it just made things interesting yeah you
know and then also when you when you're playing stuff that's inside it's you you
get to understand composition a bit more yeah you know in in terms of how you're
applying your theory to what you're doing how did you get the call for that because there's there's I mean so many
heavy-hitter musicians on that um Joe Walsh is on one of the songs you played on Nile Rogers is on yeah and of
course you have the the great drummer uh JR Robinson oh yeah JR just oh just just you know
it has some incredible drum sounds on on on this album
um yeah how did how did you get the call for this uh Russ's office called me up I
forgot who called somebody from his office called up and asked me if I was available and I know my I think I work
with him on a thing for Krush Groove okay a track with Chaka Khan okay you know and um and he called me up and you know
just did what I did yeah and that was Studio C at Power Station it was a on a
there was they still have the SSL back in those days you know and uh so it was cool and what was the what was the gear
The Story Behind "Higher Love"
I guess we should start we should we should start first with Higher Love yeah what what was the what was like the
session like what was the gear that you used on on Higher Love Higher Love was that Red Strat that I used on Addicted To Love
okay the one with the EMGs yeah with EMGs okay and DI, no effects, no compression, I'm
sure that maybe compression was uh used afterwards and stuff like that or maybe in the process of recording okay uh but
you know when you're working with Jason Crossaro and I think Roy Hendrickson was also might have been engineering or
assisting that day and he's he's become an enormously successful right yeah uh
engineer and um so I'm sure this stuff was done you know post yeah you know and
with Steve in the room when this stuff is is happening Steve was around and um there were reference vocals and I'm
saying these are reference vocals it was just so freaking great so like the lyrics maybe weren't fully assessed out
at that point or or was it I heard the lyrics there was a lot of stuff on Joe Walsh's guitar wasn't on yet on um
and Nile's guitar wasn't because on higher love it's it's like 90 Nile (Rodgers) but I
play in these different sections uh you know uh which is so much fun yeah you know and um and and so yeah so Freedom
over spill uh you know it's really interesting thinking about I don't know if you want to talk about Freedom over spill now well let's we can talk we can
go between we can go between both of them yeah tell us about the freedom over spill my Approach was is was minimal you
know because I I at that stage of the recording wasn't fully realized yeah so
uh my instinct was to really be precise and not to be too busy yeah you know and
kind of pick your pick your spots right and um and for freedom overspill I think what I played was really you know it's
really funny hindsight you know and I think my instincts were right because I had no idea that you know Joe was going
to play all this incredible slide guitar on that right and so his his presence is really strong there and my my thing is
like right in the center and it's kind of like the it's kind of like a part that you know you don't know it's there
but when it's not there you realize that it needs to be there right and to me that's kind of like that's that inside
the track kind of thing that's kind of magical you can't put your finger on it right it's really so simple you know
Higher Love is a different thing that thing in the in the inside is really kind of like I don't know what I was thinking but it sounds good yeah you
know yeah and it was like when you were playing this stuff was like Steve giving you feedback like I like this or was it
was he kind of leaving that more to like the producers or the engineers to sort of guide that stuff Steve was Steve was
cool he um I don't recall him opining much okay
um uh Russ would say you know maybe some things but he was you know I knew when
Russ smiles you know right you know it's it's he wants that smelly you know yes yeah yeah so you know and uh so and that
that was it that was the barometer wow well I want to hear some of this stuff can we maybe start with Higher Love and
Eddie Plays "Higher Love"
then and then we can go to Freedom over and and for this would we would be using your your uh Strat or yeah yeah I've got
a a hard tail okay non-trem Strat
wow that's uh it actually is way more complicated than than you think you're
you're in there you're doing all these fills you got Nile Rodgers also like oh yeah we're trying to do the Nile Rhythm
thing which is inimitable you know what I mean yeah yeah but it's it's it's a great DI Tone It Cuts so well and it is
actually like a pretty funky a funkier guitar part than you might think for a Steve Winwood song you know it's just
like yeah you know it's like looking back on it it's really funny I'm trying to figure out what my mindset was that day yeah you know what I mean but it's
one of those things that just happens and and just I knew that Russ dug it
yeah you know yeah and uh so that's cool and here I didn't Nile didn't I
hadn't played on it right you know so he played on after I did you know and what he did was great one of my oldest
friends yeah we went to high school together yeah yeah yeah I mean it's it sounds incredible and and I love the
parts I love just like as you said earlier about kind of just like staying in the middle and and it gives the space
to be able to add on somebody like Nile Rodgers or in the case of Freedom Overspill you have you know that space
Eddie Plays "Freedom Overspill"
for yeah Joe Walsh and speaking of freedom overspill I want to hear some of what you did on that one as well so oh
yeah sure move into that are we gonna stick with the same guitar on this one yeah same guitar all right let's hear a little bit of what you did on that one
wow well we've spent some time on Robert Palmer we spend some time with Steve
Eddie's Impact on Hip Hop Music
Winwood but I want to move in to uh something that is dissimilar to both of
those artists in Run DMC now Guitar World had voted you the most influential
guitar player in hip-hop history based on the work that you've done with Run
DMC and for those of you out there that don't know sort of the history I think a lot of people uh tend to believe that
maybe the the you know the impetus or the the emanating music that that
started sort of the crossover between Rock and Hip-Hop was with Run DMC and Aerosmith but actually there were two
songs that were sort of precursors to that which you both played on in king of rock and rock box that sort of they both
happen I think what two in one year before there was ever any collaboration with Aerosmith yeah and these are super
important songs they were the first people to really use rock and roll in hip-hop you're playing face melting
solos really gritty rhythm guitar how did you come to get the call from
Eddie's Work with RUN-D.M.C.
Run DMC to start putting rock music I mean they could have called anybody at that point why'd they choose you how did
you get to know them well the composer and producer Larry Smith who's no longer with us who's a dear friend of mine we
played in bands with Denzel Miller and Omar Hakim when we were kids starting out and you know there comes a point
where there's a juncture there's a split in the road where you know you go one way and you know you know musicians are they they have their own kind of
separate paths and when you when you make good friends as musicians it doesn't matter where those roads may
lead you when you see them again it's like man you didn't miss a miss a beat yeah so Larry kind of really kind of
gravitated towards what was happening in the street yeah you know relative to hip-hop yep and the Bronx where I'm from
you know and he immersed himself in that and uh and he was a bassist and he's a
good musician and he applied what he did to what he learned and so you know he
called me up and say hey man you know you know uh I want you to put some of this rock yeah
on these on these tracks that I'm working on so went down to Green Street recorders and uh Rod Hui was the uh
was the uh the engineer and he was great he did a great job on it and I was just
a Boss OD1 or whatever it's the two knobs and the truth two knobs and the
truth and yeah you know into a music man with two twelves and got these big chewy
sounds and we layered a lot of guitars to get that tape compression going on and uh and um uh the harmonies that I
did kind of like uh you know I was thinking Brian May you know let's stack up like four tracks of the tonic and one
of you know going up to the third or whatever it was and and uh you know get that thick yeah compression harm and
yeah you know it really does kind of have that like that Queen sort of solo tone right yeah when he has the harmonies in there absolutely uh and
that was that would be on on uh rock box that was Rock Box correct uh for king of rock I think there was a Sound City
Amp or something or or a head in a cab and I think I used that and that had
kind of like more of a uh upper mid kind of crunch thing going
on but I think that really served the track well you know it was a bit more bite maybe it's not as much gain as on
the on on rock box but it was an appropriate kind of texture yeah yeah it
almost sounded like marshally but I mean the sound city has some some relationship I guess yes yes exactly exactly uh and and on that one was there
any petals or was it just strictly the the amplifier I think it was that same OD1 okay you know because I kind of like
what Marshall's I like getting them just to the breakup point right you know it's kind of like clean clean crunch that
little kind of fine space that demilitarized zone right right you know
of tone right and then you kick a pedal to push it up over the top and you have more flexibility and control and uh
that's that's what I was primarily doing yeah you know I love it so in in Guitar
wise what we're using on those that that red hammer that I used on addicted okay to love is yeah that was also it was in
the video right uh yeah in both of those videos yeah yeah iconic videos with you on top of the Cadillac
Cadillac yeah we did that at dancetaria in New York and it was just I mean I had no idea
I had no idea of the significance where people come up the street and being like hey were you the guy
I mean Steve Stevens calling me up and leaving me a voicemail he told me he was in London
and it was blowing up over there and he says man is that you it's you know killing and stuff like that and you know
hearing that from a you know contemporary assistant right it's just really cool yeah absolutely yeah
Eddie Plays "Rock Box"
absolutely well can we can we do a guitar change here and maybe we'll start with uh with rock Box yeah and then and
then we'll move to uh king of rock yep all right you bet thanks
those harmonies are insanely good like I never put it together when I heard that
song that it would be going for Brian May thing but then when you say it and then I hear it it completely makes sense
I wonder even if like Run DMC like is even aware of that connection of like what you were going for were they in the
studio with you um yes and no at the beginning of the session they were there okay they split
they came back like I don't know four hours later five hours later and I'd put all these Mammoth guitars on and all the
riffs and was just like really kind of like so basically I gave them so much stuff that you know Larry whatever he was mixing it's just like okay edit mute
you know so this could be it became like a um a mosaic with him punching things in and out so when the guys came back I
think they were they didn't know what they're expecting it and you know I did a documentary about it and you know they
alluded to the fact that you know they they didn't get it you know but once that thing blew up they got it right
yeah they got it all right yeah so I'm happy about that you know well and and they liked you enough that they you know
The Story Behind "King of Rock"
offered for you to come back a year later in 1985 yeah and you and you did uh king of rock so what did that session
look like comparatively was it same sort of thing or were they there were they gone I remember them more from the first
time but I I do believe that they were there for the for king of rock when I put the guitars on and and Rick Rubin
was there too I I never met him before he was there he was in the studio but I don't I don't believe he was
participating in production I think it was just like really kind of like just hanging yeah and uh I haven't seen him
since then all these years incredible and um and man it was just it was like magic
again yeah you know it was just like you know Larry just you know when I got to
the studio it's like as with uh with a Rock Box it was a DMX drum machine and
that keyboard you know and Larry's bass yeah and that was it was just built off
of of that yes it was Spartan when I would get there you know it was just beats in a in a in a bass line all right
which was great you know it's like kind of like oh man I've got all this room I just felt like a mad scientist yeah you
know I love it well and and those are some iconic guitar tones and again as I said they really paved the way for what
you know came to be the the collaboration with Aerosmith which you know again I think a lot of people maybe
uh not realizing and don't understand that there was all these great Rock tones that were in you know earlier DMC
stuff because they just maybe weren't as into hip-hop at the time or you know whatever the reason may be but I can't
wait to hear you play this this is a great riff too just so thick and and yeah I I always thought it was a
marshall so I'm glad yeah now it's clarifying it's a sound city um can you play a little bit of this for us yeah sure all right
Eddie Plays "King of Rock"
Eddie Explains Iconic Photos from his Career
Eddie that was incredible now there's one last thing that I want to ask you about before we complete today okay so
there are some really cool old magazine advertisements and photos that I found
of you back when you were in sort of the peak of your session and touring career I want to show you a few of these photos
and I want you to tell us a little bit of the story or the context behind them so that we can kind of hear it again
from you about what was going on here oh sure all right Eddie so first one is uh
you sitting on top of uh two Marshall four by twelves with a a marshall JMP
head yep do you remember this I do I remember that photo session and the photographer Ebet Roberts is a dear
friend very you know acclaimed Rock uh photographer that was done when I I you
know I signed up with with Marshall and I was just so I was so happy to be a part of that you know family uh you know
and Mitch Colby was there uh in those days oh yeah yeah yeah and um and we you
know went to a studio and we shot those photographs and it was just great fun it was great fun it was a great Association
those amps really they powered you know the Robert Palmer stuff is just really
you know really an incredible time an incredible time the 80s were crazy if it
was fun and it was the the culmination of a lot of of hard work you know and um
paying your dues as your cone up the ranks and all that stuff and it was really kind of if things came into
fruition there there was a really incredible time my daughter was born around that time you know just like just
you know all these incredible things yeah and blessings you know were happening and uh it was it was uh
you know looking back on it I it's so funny it's I I tell people that you know
when you're in you're so focused on what you're doing you're not thinking about I wasn't
thinking about the historical aspect of any of this stuff yeah I was just you know okay it was like okay man I I just
love doing this yeah and I wanted to play on records I didn't want to play in clubs endlessly you know that wasn't my
thing you know being in the top 40 band just doing covers and stuff like that I wanted to play on records and you know
if I was lucky I'd have other guitar players playing what I played yeah and um that dream and that drive you know in
Spanish is a word called us and that's kind of like um desire you know uh getting the desire
to want to accomplish something and um and uh you know I just put my I just man
I had blindfold blind design blindfolded I was just like straight ahead yeah and
um so now I can you know as as I was you know when my my music room you know and
it's the first time that I've put those records up you know I had because I wasn't thinking in that context yeah you
know and uh so uh interesting yeah are you ready for the next one yes all
right next one is uh here here you are martial law yes side by side uh Eric
Johnson uh now I presume that these are just superimposed photos yeah they were superimposed and Eric Johnson was on the
other side of the Marshall stack no I mean just sharing the cover with someone that is that iconic of a guitarist I
mean I I first heard Eric in 1976 a friend of mine uh played a
cassette okay uh uh and I was I was blown away in 76 yeah and then so like
when what um the tones album came out and is that 85 or 86 yeah but even
earlier than that like I think the first big album he played on which wasn't his was Christopher Cross oh yeah yeah
Minstrel Gigolo is the name of this yes yes and uh you know so needless to say
you know I'm I've never had the chance to meet him but I I look forward to the
day that if I do meet him to shake his hand because such an incredible contributor to to what we do and I
noticed she got the checkered vans on there yeah man and it looks like the same guitar that you're holding here yes yes yeah I got those kicks at the Trash
and Vaudeville you know on uh I was on in the Village East Village yeah all right
the last photo that I have for you is you and Stevie Ray Vaughan uh both in
red shirts yeah Stevie Ray Vaughan is sleeveless of course yes and looks like he's talking to you about guitars do you
do you remember he was talking to you about here I do remember the interesting uh story behind this is that I remember
Chuck Pullen who was a billboard photographer legendary right and I I I I
got to know him from being at different gigs and stuff like that and I lost touch with him but I do remember him
taking photographs and I called you bet Roberts the photographer and I was just talking to you about in the previous
photo it's just you know do you know Chuck Pullen he says oh yeah he's really one of my dearest friends she gave me
his number I called him up and this has got to be around '84 Maybe '85. and I
called him up and he says you know Eddie he was still in the analog world he didn't digitize any of his things uh
back then this is but maybe eight nine years ago okay you know and he says let me go into my into my work room and see
and and he he reached out to me is Eddie I found I found a slide
of you and Stevie Ray and uh this is I'll send it to you but please send it
back to me you know so he sent sent it back he sent it to me I made copies of it and sent it back to him and I was
just wow that photo was taken out at a um a show that uh Stevie was performing
Buddy Guy was also performing Clarence Clements was performing amongst other people and um I knew some of the people
that were playing I was supposed to sit in but I never got to sit in uh um and uh I'd been to a rehearsal man
it's like trippy this rehearsal it was like Getty Lee was there Alex Lifeson was there buddy guy was there I told you
about you know Mac (John McEnroe) playing the the Hamer guitar that was shaped like a tennis racket right because this is an event
that was put on by Mcenroe exactly exactly so it was there and so I brought my 58 Strat there so um I was able to
get in to say hello to him so I showed him my white Strat uh and and I thought there was a photograph of us looking at
that guitar but uh there wasn't one but there was one of of him showing me his guitars and his ride yeah I got to play
his number one at a Bowie rehearsal one time wow and that was what was it like it was it was I was trying to bend
railroad tracks man there was like 13s on there and uh do you remember whether it was heavy or light or just normal or
it seemed it did it wasn't extraordinarily light I wouldn't say it was Heavy I would say it was like right
around the weight of my my 65 that I yeah you know yeah exactly okay and um so uh and I'd gotten
to know him at Power Station because I remember when the Bowie album was being made and all my friends played on it
Omar and Bernard man Bernard Edwards I couldn't begin to tell you you know his contribution to my
career yeah and my success he was really a mentor and a great producer really
just his instincts were so profound and um I think all my sense of pocket was
was because of him in terms of how he heard things and and how
things that felt good to him I kind of understood where it sat yeah and so that
was really cool working with him dear friend so missed yeah and so it was just an incredible time yeah it was really
amazing so I I I'd known Stevie met him a little bit didn't really know him very well but you know he came in when I was
making my my first album with Bernard um uh he came in to say hello and stuff
it was really kind of really nice cat yeah kind of quiet demure I would say you know a really nice person yeah
Thanks for Watching!
awesome man amazing guitars well thank you for for explaining those photos and
again just the time today and and thank you to the Hallowed Halls for having us
here oh yeah Justin "Justice" Phelps
that's gonna be his name is all the music Justice yes exactly yeah yeah so
thank you again and and just what a pleasure Eddie I appreciate your friends
you've done man my pleasure thank you all right!
