My name is Steve Violetti, aka “VO” and I’m one of thousands of you who love to play and write original songs.
All of us songwriting hopefuls have dreamed the same dream and have a story to tell similar to the one I’m writing here for Vision 4 Music. I was asked to document it anyway as a favor, so don’t hesitate to send V4M your experience as a musician or songwriter trying to get your song heard and hopefully published.
Eddie Money Interview
His entertainment value combined with the "staying power" of his popular songs like "Shakin", "Two Tickets to Paradise" and "I Wanna Go Back" proves once again why Eddie Money deserves to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His fan base is more diverse than most of the bands and artists who have been honored by rock music's esteemed award. We at Vision4 Music are officially launching a petition to nominate Eddie into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so go to the link on our homepage and add your name!
Eddie spoke candidly with us before his fantastic show at House of Blues, Atlantic City last month. We can't wait for another opportunity to visit with him and his amazing and talented daughter Jesse, as well as the great Randy Forrester, the band's keyboard player/band manager. The entire band is gracious, musically on top of their game and truly entertaining.
V4M: Describe what it's like to be Eddie Money.
EM: Well, it takes a lot of hard work. You can't be knocking down a lot of drinks, you can't be smoking a million cigarettes. You're a little bit older. Back in the 70's I was the man with "no control" but now I've got my wife and I got the kids and I gotta set a good example for the children. Doing these shows is a lot easier now. People really get a lot more out of it. I'm having a pretty good year. We've been nominated for a Grammy for our new record which is really nice. I tell ya...being Eddie Money? There's a crazy Eddie Money and there's the guy you're talking to right now. We'll try to keep the other guy in the closet!
V4M: What size venues do you usually play and what is the band's preference?
EM: Well, this summer we did a lot of big venues. As a matter of fact, in Raleigh, NC, we played in front of 50,000 people, which is amazing. We do big shows with REO Speedwagon, Styx. I'll tell you the truth, being an old club guy like B. B. King or Buddy Guy...when I actually saw Cream....Eric Clapton...I saw them at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village in 1967. So, I like the intimacy of a small venue.
V4M: What's the band's favorite song to perform?
EM: I know the audiences love "Shakin". Everybody in the band has different songs that they like. I got a song "I'm Comin'" that's sort of a reggae. I just switched drummers so he hasn't learned it yet but you know I'm constantly changing. I think "two ticket to Paradise" is a great song and I like a lot of the stuff we did on the new record. "Higher and Higher" is a lot of fun, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a blast. My daughter comes out and kicks on that. "You Don't Know Me" by Ray Charles. It came out good.
V4M: What's the most "crowd-pleasing" song?
EM: I think everybody loves Two Tickets, Baby Hold On, Shakin, they like Take Me Home Tonight, but I guess everybody's favorite song is Shakin.
V4M: Who influenced your music the most?
EM: There's a lot. Paul Butterfield, The Vagrants, Leslie West, The Young Rascals, the Beatles...I really love the Beatles...the Stones, the Kinks, Jay and the Americans. There's all kinds. You know, I'm a greaseball from New York, so it wasn't all just hippie-rock, you know.
V4M: Playing live, do you change the arrangements of your songs to keep them interesting or do you play them the same as the recordings?
EM: By virtue, I find that the fans like them close to the original. When you get out there and start messing around...I saw Led Zeppelin doing a version of "Stairway to Heaven" I couldn't even recognize and everybody was running to the bathroom. So, I like to keep it close to the record. It keeps the memories fresh and vibrant. When I made the record, I made it to sound very very live. None of my records were done in three, four or five takes, you know.
V4M: What inspires you to be a songwriter?
EM: As I grew up in high school, I found out that the best way to get chicks if you weren't on the football team was to be in a rock and roll band.I started writing songs because actually... I was working with a guitar player named Dan Alexander who was the lead guitar player for the Johnny Hooker band back in the 70's. His girlfriend was Martha Davis and the Rotelles. She was breaking up with him and he was doing all these heartbreaking songs and I was just so sick of it I wrote out of being desperate rather than doing all these lonely heart songs that he was writin' about getting stiffed. I started writing songs like Baby Hold On, Take Me Home Tonight, Two Tickets to Paradise. I want to entertain people, I don't want to bring them down.
V4M: Do you think better songs are written when you're younger? If so, why would that be the case?
EM: I don't think so. I think that a lot of songwriters really develop their craft and actually become better writers with age. I'm working on a Broadway show right now called "Two Tickets to Paradise". It takes place in the late 60's when the war in Vietnam was goin' on and I was on the police department and my father was patrolman of the year. I was growin' my hair long and we had a big conflict at the house and I was moving to California because I had a record deal back in the 60's. It's a very interesting play and I wrote a bunch of new material for that and I think some of the material is really good. I'm pretty happy with my writing qualifications...I don't think I've lost anything.
V4M: What do you feel is the best recording you've ever done?
EM: To tell you the truth, the best recording I've ever done was a record I did with with Ron Nevison called "Playing For Keeps". It didn't have any singles on it but, but sonically speaking, it was a great sounding record.
"Trinidad" is on there and a bunch of great songs. Ron Nevison and Andy Johns both...they did a lot of things...they started off doing Led Zeppelin and they did Small Faces and they really captured it, you know. Sonically speaking I would have to say "Playing For Keeps is the best record.
V4M: How has modern technology changed the sound of your music?
EM: I really kinda like analog to tell you the truth. All this digital stuff to me loses a little bit of the warmth of it, so I'm an analog guy myself.
And nothing sounds better than vinyl if you ask me - not CD's, not tapes. I'm not really thrilled with the wonderful world of digital but then again a lot of great musicians are into in their own backyards. Studios are closing up all over the country, record stores are closing up all over the country. This is 2007...they're taking shortcuts.
V4M: How does performing on stage affect you? Do you ever get nervous?
EM: No, I never get nervous. To tell you the truth, I've been doing this since I was 15 or 16 years old and its always been the biggest rush you can have and it actually got better and better when I got on the radio and people knew my songs. It's a thrill to be up there and get the recognition the public gives you. It's not so much making the records and hanging them on the wall, it's getting out there and getting with the crowd.
V4M: What's your most memorable experience?
EM: I guess playing the Us Festival when it was 110 degrees out there and I did "Gimme Some Water" and Bill Graham hit them all with some hoses. It was amazing because everybody was so hot and in the middle of "Gimme Some Water", he's spraying 650,000 people down with water hoses. That was really a thrill!
V4M: What are Eddie Money's current and future goals?
EM: Well, actually, my daughter's got a promising career ahead of her. My lead guitar player just wrote a song we're doing tonight called "Right Now". I'm probably going to see if we can get a deal put together for her. I'm working on the new play and Randy and I might put together another "I Wanna Go Back" record.
V4M: For you individually, how would you sum up Eddie Money?
EM: Made a lot of mistakes, had a lot of fun, just trying to finally grow up, raise a family and do this for all the right reasons for a change. Not for the powder and the booze and the women. Now it's to lead a good example for my kids, keeping my voice sounding as good as possible, keeping my weight down, getting 8 hours of sleep a night, taking vitamins and just trying to live long enough to get into the Hall of Fame. They're probably going to put me in when I'm in an urn on my wife's fireplace, you know. And she's terrible at speeches.
V4M: What advice can you give aspiring songwriters and musicians today?
EM: Keep the car on the road...you know musicians today, they're knocking down a beverage like there's no tomorrow. I would have to say the same thing...become a copycat. When you're young and you're learning, try to sing like Otis Redding, Jr., try to sing like James Brown. Try to write like Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Just get out there and if you see something you like on stage, mimic it. When I saw Eddie Brigati from the Young Rascals do "Green Tambourine, I said WOW! Learn from people who impress you. Seeing Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in 1967 was like something else!
V4M: When did you realize you made it in the music business?
EM: When "Baby Hold On" came on the radio and I called my mother with tears in my eyes and she told me not to call her on Mahjohn night!
