Steve Stevens: 2014 Interview

American guitarist Steve Stevens is best known for his long collaboration with Billy Idol as well as his guitar work on Michael Jackson's 'Dirty Diana' and the 'Top Gun' movie anthem. But Stevens also played extensively on Robert Palmer's 1990 album 'Don't Explain', co-wrote the US Top 30 hit 'You're Amazing' and appeared in its music video. Here are excerpts from an interview Stevens gave to Glide Magazine in 2014.

What is your earliest memory of music?

Steve Stevens: You know, no one in my family played an instrument but my mom and dad loved music and my dad had a really great record collection and as I mentioned, I have an older brother who also turned me on to music. But I think the first album that I bought as a kid was Tommy by the Who and that was the beginning of my record collection. So I think that’s a pretty good place to start. But music was always played by my family and fortunately it was something that was shared with my dad. It wasn’t like a rebellious thing because my dad was open to listening to rock & roll. I think the first concert I ever went to was a Jazz pianist named Dave Brubeck. My dad brought me to see him and I was nine or ten or something. Then my brother brought me to see great Jazz musicians like Miles Davis. I was really fortunate growing up, being like thirteen years old in 1972, it was the height of great English rock bands – Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. I loved a lot of early progressive rock bands like Yes and Genesis and all that kind of stuff. So I went to see all those bands when they came to New York. So I think I grew up at the right time for guitar players because you had Hendrix and Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. Man, those were the best examples of guitar players you could have.

They didn’t intimidate you when you started to play? Like, how in the world can I be that good?

SS: No, I think as a little kid I just wanted to be able to play a song, you know. When am I going to be able to be good enough to play a song and people will recognize it? I think for like tenth grade show and tell I went in and played “Pinball Wizard” or something and I remember the class cheering me on and hopefully it didn’t sound like a bunch of shit (laughs). It actually sounded something like the record. And I thought, Wow, this is great.

Early memories of music: Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, The Who and Led Zeppelin

You appear to have a very genuine love for the guitar, for the instrument, like it’s a living, breathing creature. What about this instrument makes you feel that way?

SS: It's the only portable instrument. I mean, you can’t really strap a piano on your back and drums, the same kind of thing. Guitar has a history of being played in Spain but really the guitar was adopted by America as an instrument of protest. You have Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan playing these songs, and then The Beatles. And I believe the guitar in many ways changes people’s lives. Then if you look at Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker and what those guys were able to express in American blues through the instrument and the struggles that people have had, it takes on a bigger purpose than just being six strings and some wood. The guitar has always been a positive force in my life and it still fascinates me because you’re never good enough on it, for me at least. I never feel that, Ok, I’ve mastered the instrument. I still wake up and have my cup of coffee and play guitar and still try to challenge myself.

You started off on acoustic guitar, is that right?

SS: Yeah, I started when I was seven and a half and I didn’t get an electric guitar till I was thirteen.

Keith Richards has said that the acoustic guitar is what makes a guitar player a real guitar player.

SS: I agree with that. There is something about an acoustic guitar which enables you to write songs and I think any decent song I’ve ever written has always been written on acoustic guitar. The acoustic guitar is almost like a small orchestra because you’re able to kind of arrange chords in a way that you can see the whole arrangement of a song on the acoustic guitar whereas with the electric guitar you’re basically refining your part down to one element. It’s just a different mindset. But acoustic guitar is just a great writing tool.

Steve Stevens (pictured in 1989) co-wrote Robert Palmer's US Top 30 hit 'You're Amazing'

When you first went into a recording studio, was that with Billy Idol?

SS: No, the first album I ever recorded was the band I was in previous to Billy, which we were signed to Island Records, although the album was never released. It was a band called the Fine Malibus and I think we were doomed by our name (laughs). Don’t know why we had that name but we were produced by Jimmy Miller who produced the classic Rolling Stones records. We went down to the studio in the Bahamas called the Compass Point. It was where Back In Black was recorded by AC/DC and we were actually the next artists in after Back In Black; but the album was kind of ill-fated, really didn’t have the best songs, and it kind of fell apart. But what happened was we got back to New York and we picked up management and that manager was Bill Aucoin who managed KISS and he mentioned to me that he had just started managing Billy Idol. And I said, “Look, I would love to meet Billy. I’ve taken this band that I was in as far as I can and I really need a musical partner that I can learn from and is going to be my foil.” So we met and continued to work ever since, pretty much.

Who was the first real rock star that you ever met?

SS: Robert Palmer. As I mentioned, I was recording that record down in the Bahamas and he lived down there and I met him. He came in the studio and we remained friends and he really helped me and would give me advice and years later I went to Italy to record a record with him, well after he had success with Addicted To Love and all that. He was one of the kindest, coolest, most musically literate people I’ve ever worked with. And so sad when he passed away because he really was an incredible guy.

What kind of advice did he give you?

SS: When he came into the studio with the band I was with, he said to the engineer, “Who is the guitar player?” He wanted to hear the whole record and he said, “Who is the guitar player?” And the engineer pointed to me, and then Robert said, “Would you come over to my house tomorrow?” He said he was working on some demos and I came over and sat down and he said, “I’m going to be really honest with you. I don’t think you’re going to have success with this band or this record but you have something really, really unique.” It was a bitter pill to swallow but I kind of knew what he was saying and I appreciated it, his honesty, and then he said, “If you ever need anything,” and he helped get me a guitar endorsement and then when I finally got the gig with Billy Idol, I called him and he said, “Don’t put your guitar playing before the song.” He said that was the most important thing; just don’t think that the song is always a vehicle for your guitar playing. Listen to what the singer is saying. That was very good advice.

Robert Palmer and Steve Stevens in 'You're Amazing' music video (1990)

What is the most interesting piece of memorabilia that you own from your career?

SS: I don’t know. I own a Grammy, I won a Grammy for Top Gun, so I guess that’s kind of interesting (laughs). There’s a flamenco guitar maker named Jose Ramirez and I saw a photograph of one of his guitars when I was thirteen years old and I always wanted one. So with my very first royalty check I bought a Ramirez flamenco guitar and that is my most prized guitar. It’s a beautiful instrument.

What makes a guitar solo into a great guitar solo?

SS: First of all, play something people can remember (laughs). That’s a thing a lot of guitar players don’t always remember when they do the solo. And a guitar solo is an opportunity for the guitar player to tell his side of the stories. It’s a way of breathing through your instrument when you play a solo. Just be expressive and don’t play too many notes (laughs).

Stevens won a Grammy for 'Best Pop Instrumental Performance' with the 'Top Gun Anthem'

(Glide Magazine - 2014)