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Luthier Spotlight: Maurizio Caduto of Maurizio Über Basses

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Luthier Spotlight: Maurizio Caduto of Maurizio Über Basses

In this issue, I have the honor of interview pre-eminent luthier Maurizio Caduto of Maurizio Über Basses (MüB). 

His gorgeous original designs, exquisitely crafted and great playing basses came to my attention a couple of years ago. As a result, I have always been curious about both the man who builds these world-class basses, as well as the MüB brand.

Maurizio Caduto of Maurizio Uber Basses

Bass Musician Magazine (BMM):  Thank you so much for taking the time to talk about your basses and background.  I know you are very busy in the shop with new builds, so I will take as little of your time as I can.  

Maurizio Über Basses (MüB): My pleasure! It’s very kind of you to take an interest in what I do. Talking to you and to your readers it exciting and an honor.

BMM: Thank you.  You are an elite luthier who builds some amazing custom basses.  I have been fortunate enough to see and play one of your basses you built for Chicago bassist Jauqo III-X.  That bass was exquisite and the playability was phenomenal.  It is the reason I wanted to know more about you and your company, Maurizio Über Basses.  

Can you briefly talk about your philosophy as a bass builder?

MüB: Thank you!  We have been quite lucky actually, with professional bass players supporting us quite early on – Jauqo III-X obviously being one of them.  I am glad you liked Jauqo’s bass – the J5 Funk Machine. Working with Jauqo was fun. He’s a great bass player with an unusually deep understanding of the instrument. Some of the ideas we came up with have become an integral part of my building style. Jauqo and I are currently working together on his 8 string headless bass and a few other projects. He’s a good friend and a great guy. I was lucky to have met him.

Luthier Spotlight - Maurizio Caduto of Maurizio Uber Basses

MüB’s vision – I should say, mission – can be summed up by four words: Personal, Ergonomic, Surprising, Affordable.  As you might notice Tone is not one of them. To us, great tone is both a given and a personal thing. 

At its core, a MüB always sounds articulate and even across frequency range, with great attack, sustain. With that as a starting point, we then tweak the inherent voice of the bass to suit the owner’s preference. That, plus a unique look developed around the owner’s likes, dislikes is what Personal stands for. We want to build for you a bass that makes you want to pick it up and play every time you look at it. 

A MüB is always ergonomic. We take great pride in modifying the design to build a bass that fits its owner like a glove – weight, weight distribution, neck profile, angles at which the bass is most likely to be played. Little tweaks to facilitate whatever playing technique one uses, however unique. Countless details that make a bass feel right from the get-go.

Surprising: each MüB must have the Wow factor, otherwise, it’s not a MüB. It could just a simple detail, a little tweak no one has thought of, a very complex inlay. Sometimes it’s a detail only the owner is aware of. That’s true even for our entry-level bass, the MüB Classic.

Finally, Affordable. We are on a mission to make true custom basses available to real-world musicians. Not everyone can afford a bass that costs many thousands of dollars. We keep our prices as low as we can afford while still opening the shop in the morning. If one compares apples with apples it should be pretty evident that a MüB often costs 30% to 40% less than another bass at the same level. Many ask how do we do this. It’s actually deceptively simple: we make less profit. 

Maurizio Uber Basses

We honestly believe that, doing something that gives us so much pleasure every day is also profit. Some have suggested that building basses in Asia is cheaper. Actually, if one wants to build high-end instruments the opposite is true. Our hardware, pick-ups, electronics, finishes, many of our woods and most of our tools and machines are imported. Each bass costs us almost twice as much to build as it would if we were based in the USA or Europe. But the cost of living here is lower and that helps. We do not cut corners. We simply can’t afford it, And we would not build basses any other way.

BMM: Your mission or vision is admirable!  Bass players all over the world will be grateful to know that a luthier of your stature is working hard to build high-quality instruments that are well within reach of the working players.  Can you please talk a little bit about how you started as a luthier?   

MüB: My way into bass building has been perhaps a bit unorthodox. Typically, I suppose, builders come from either the repair or the woodworking end. Instead, I studied visual art, worked as an advertising creative director, then as a commercial film director. No wood, no power tools there. 

But I’ve been a bass player since I was a kid and that is an integral part of who I am. At some point, I started toying with the idea of building basses one day. I built my first bass many years ago, out of a broken Telecaster body a luthier in Milan gave me. I still have it: a barely playable piece of junk my band vetoed right away. But it was fun.

When one of my basses needed re-fretting I took it to a local shop. The owner turned out to be a very well known luthier – Jeffrey Yong, who makes phenomenal acoustic guitars.

I must have had a light-bulb moment when I asked him if I could instead pay him to teach me how to do replace the board, insert carbon fiber spars, glue on a new board, add an intricate inlay and fret it. To my surprise, he agreed. Jeffrey then became my mentor and today we’re good friends.

This first project was tough. I knew nothing! But had my introduction to tools, woods and leaned two things: that I liked it, and that I could do it. 

So I went back and built my own bass: a headless bass with a headstock filled with all my likes, dislikes, ideas and everything I had learned as a bass player and observed from a visual art, design angle. I took the Jazz Bass as a starting point, called my project ‘The Über-Jay’ and started a thread on the bass forum Talk Bass. To my surprise, the thread was quite successful. I received a lot of comments, constructive criticism, words of encouragement. It was wonderful and I am so grateful to all of those kind people.

Luthier Spotlight - Maurizio Caduto of Maurizio Uber Basses

It took me eighteen months to finish it! Well, I had a day job, I was new to tools, process, woods, and I had to design and prototype the string anchors which were not available. It took me forever. But it was fun and I learned a lot. That rather crude early string anchor design eventually evolved into what we use today on our Headless-Hybrid model.

The first Über-Jay looked OK and sounded fine. A few flaws here and there, mostly in the woodwork department. But the idea worked. So, I built a second bass. The Über-Jay Eldorado looked better and sounded great. It’s still my main gig bass.

While building the Eldorado, I received my first order: it felt amazing and terrifying at the same time. I put all the budget into woods, parts, third party cost. I probably lost money too. But I couldn’t care less. It was my first build for a paying customer and it had to be the best bass I could build. 

It took me about eight months to finish The Über-Jay5 Ragnarök – which is still faster than the twelve months it took the Eldorado. And I was doing everything by hand in my spare time. The bass turned out pretty good actually. I was really proud.

More orders followed. I introduced a new design, the Über-Groove. Soon enough I had to make a choice. I loved film directing. But I loved building basses more. So I kissed advertising goodbye, started MüB and never looked back.

If I do look back though, I can’t believe how fast this whole thing went. I have been incredibly lucky and I am grateful to those who chose to trust a nobody with their dream bass and their hard-earned money. Thank you guys! You know who you are.

Luthier Spotlight - Maurizio Caduto of Maurizio Uber Basses

BMM:  Your story is nothing short of amazing!  Your woodworking skills must have grown exponentially because your workmanship is world-class.  It comes as no surprise that you are also a bass player.  Also, your strong design background shows in your gorgeous and original designs.  Who are some of the players that are playing your basses?

MüB: We work with a few high profile artists in Asia. One of them is Andy Peterson, rightfully considered a point of reference for bassists in the East Asia region. Andy was a first adopter of the MüB Airborne, a model we developed together to make his life easier – Andy is on the road most of the time with some of the biggest names in the Asia music industry.

In India, which as you probably know is big on music, we work with quite a few professionals. One of them is Sheldon D’Silva, who’s very well known and active in the Jazz scene. Sheldon is a fantastic musician who has played with the likes of John McLaughlin, Tony Banks and many more.

The MüB Sheldon D’Silva signature is the result of one year of collaboration, exchanging ideas, learning the way Sheldon plays. His technique is pretty unique and complex, both melodic and percussive. The SD’S had to be rethought from the group up. We are very proud of the result. Some extremely talented musicians we work with are becoming increasingly successful. The fact that there is a MüB in their gig bag makes us proud. 

Luthier Spotlight - Maurizio Caduto of Maurizio Uber Basses

Besides that, we stay in touch with most of our customers. You could call it, post-sale service. But we actually love doing that! We are all bass players, after all. And since our clientele is scattered all over, we get in return precious feedback from diverse environments, music cultures, industry standards and last but not the least, climates. You won’t believe how challenging humidity levels can be for a bass in some regions. All we learn finds its way in our R&D.

It is also interesting to note that, our clients play a rather broad range of music styles – jazz, metal, funk, gospel, pop, electronic, rock, Latino. And they are both touring and studio artists. A confirmations that each MüB is both fully tailored to the specific needs of our clients, and in itself a versatile instrument.

BMM:  Your “post-sale service” idea is wonderful!  I’m sure your customers feel like they belong to the MüB family.  Recently you added a new bass model – The Uber Compact.  It is a gorgeous headless compact bass that looks like it can fit into a backpack or messenger bag.  How did this new model come about?

David Foster

MüB: That’s the Miezo. Glad you like it! Basically, the Über-Compact series expands on our goal to create a MüB ecosystem, so to speak. The Ü-C family is made up of the Airborne and the Miezo, and it puts the accent on portability. I knew I wanted to do this since day one – I travel a lot and always wanted this kind of bass.

We did not invent the wheel though: the Ashbory De Armond in the 90s, the Kala bass, more recently the Wing Basses and a few other brands, each has come up with their unique take on a compact instrument. Even though we might have taken a different approach I wish to credit all of them for having inspired us.

The first Airborne for Andy was built in 2012: a 30” scale bolt-on, headless bass that is easy to disassemble and reassemble. It’s been a pretty successful model since inception. Shortly after we added the single-cut option which makes the Airborne even shorter once disassembled.

We have recently launched new options to complete the Ü-C family. The Airborne can now be ordered in a variety of scale lengths: 30”, 25.5”, 22.7”,  16”. The beauty of this is that each neck fits the same body and bold-on system with all parts being fully integrated. 

Luthier Spotlight - Maurizio Caduto

Say, you order your Airborne with a 30” and a 16” scale neck because you are a touring musician who spends long hours commuting to venues. On the bus, you could bolt the 16” scale neck onto the body and play while listening through your headphone, Then, at the venue, you replace the 16” scale neck with the 30” one and head to soundcheck. It really takes two minutes as both string and intonation are locked. You just have to tune the bass.

Now, all this addresses the practical side of things. But when you look at the impact it has on the instrument’s voice, then it really gets interesting. Different scale lengths sound and feel inherently different – which is a great thing!  When you throw at it variables such as open tuning, string type and gauge and – quite crucially – the native scale length of the string being used, then permutations become virtually infinite. Imagine what a studio artist could achieve with such a broad tone palette in just one instrument! 

It’s not over: based on our client’s preferences, we will fine-tune the wood choice of your Airborne so that, each body/neck combo complements or enhances a specific aspect of its scale length character. This is our approach to each MüB we build. On the Airborne, it really takes off.

Maurizio Caduto - Maurizio Uber Basses

As a bass player, the one thing I like the most of the Ü-C family is that it frees up creativity. In my mind, portability is a great by-product.

And then we have the Miezo – a16” scale instrument, like the Airborne, but carved out of a single body billet. It is very compact: a 6 stringer weighs about 5lbs, is 21 1/4” long, 11 1/2” wide, 1.57” thick including the knobs. 

One of MüB’s main design imperatives is ergonomics. A MüB must fit like a glove and feel right from the get-go. The Miezo recreates the feeling of our full-length basses – same body/instrument contact points, same playing position both sit and strapped on. Transitioning between Miezo 5 and, say, the 34” scale G5 feels pretty seamless.

Much like for the Airborne, with each string gauge, the Miezo gives you a different voice, tuning range and string tension which you can use creatively. I approach it as a different instrument because in a way, it is.

It is also a great way to let beginners into the world of bass playing and our entry-level Miezo is pretty affordable for a handmade instrument – which is an integral part of MüB’s vision.

That being said, each Miezo is crafted by the same people, with the same tools, care and custom approach we put in our high-end custom MüB – including all the bells and whistles one might desires. 

Luthier Spotlight - Maurizio Caduto of Maurizio Uber Basses

BMM: Wow!  What a fantastic idea!  Your interchangeable necks on the Airborne makes it an incredibly unique and versatile bass!  Traveling bassists all over the world will want to know about the AirBorne MüB.  One of the more challenging aspects for traveling musicians is having to deal with traveling with a bass through airports all over the world.  Your Airborne model solves this challenging problem.

Considering when you established your shop, you have come a long way in a very short time. As a luthier who is firmly in the upper echelon of bass builders, your exceptional designs, workmanship, and affordable pricing are amazing.  And your consistent innovation will always keep you among the bass builders that are moving the bass guitar forward.

Thank you so much for taking valuable time away from your shop to talk to our readers. 

Visit Maurizio Caduto online at mauriziouberbasses.com and follow on Facebook at @mauriziouberbasses

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Bass Videos

New Gear: Trickfish Introduces New Line of Pedals

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New Gear: Trickfish Introduces New Line of Pedals

Trickfish Introduces New Line of Pedals…

Trickfish is proud to announce the release of its new line of stompbox pedals, thoughtfully designed for discerning musicians. The VCA Compressor, Overdrive Preamp, External Preamp (EPA), and Signal Filter pedals are designed and manufactured by Trickfish in the USA and feature the highest-quality components and materials for long-term durability and pristine sound.

These pedals embody Trickfish’s commitment to delivering top-tier sound quality and dynamic musicality, providing smart and user-friendly tools to help bassists achieve their ideal sound on stage and in the studio. All of the Trickfish stompbox pedals feature a high-quality angled steel chassis, smooth taper knobs, top-mounted jacks, easy to read graphics and are powered by standard 9V DC pedalboard power supply-compatible jacks.

“The new pedals represent what I consider the “bass toolbox” that can enhance the experience of any bass player in a live situation”, says Ryan Owens, President of Trickfish. “We love how this first offering has turned out and there’s more to come!”

Click to view demo videos

Retail pricing: VCA Compressor: $249, Overdrive Preamp: $229,  Signal Filter: $219, and External Preamp: $219.

For more information about Trickfish Amplification and its innovative lineup of bass pedals, visit trickfishamps.com.

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Bass CDs

New Album: Christian de Mesones, You Only Live Twice

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New Album: Christian de Mesones, You Only Live Twice

Christian de Mesones, You Only Live Twice…

Reborn, Reimagined and Remixed: Jazz funk bassist Christian de Mesones returns with “You Only Live Twice,” a new album dropping April 12 that contains the Billboard No. 1 hit “Hispanica” featuring keyboard legend Bob James.

A lifetime ago, Christian de Mesones was a New York City cabbie and heavy metal bassist who had a voracious appetite for the seedy decadence the Big Apple’s music scene was known for in the 1980s. Determined to change his life, de Mesones did a complete one-eighty, got clean and changed his musical muse to jazz funk. Dedicating his “second life” to pursuing his newfound passion for contemporary jazz and deep soul grooves spiced with Latin rhythms, de Mesones will release his second album, “You Only Live Twice,” on April 12 on the That 555 Lyfe label. Christopher Valentine produced nine of the album’s ten tracks, all but one of which are original songs written or cowritten by de Mesones.

de Mesones’s turnaround began decades ago, but it wasn’t until March of 2020 that he finally assembled his solo debut album, “They Call Me Big New York,” just as Covid-19 put the world on lockdown. Three singles from the set, “Big Tall Wish,” “Spirit” and “Latin Jive Redux,” landed on three national charts. However, pandemic restrictions limited de Mesones’s opportunities to promote the project and grow his brand.

A year later, de Mesones released a sultry Latin-tinged cut titled “Hispanica.” A British DJ sent the song to two-time Grammy-winning keyboardist Bob James, who agreed to play piano on the track. The single went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart, de Mesones’s first.

“I have always believed in the power of composition. One song can change the world. In my case, one of my own compositions forever changed mine. Before releasing ‘Hispanica’ as a single, I felt it was my strongest composition to date. It was featured on my previous album as a vocal track, and on the advice of my radio promoter, it was reimagined as an instrumental. I immediately knew I wanted a piano for the melody. Having the legendary Bob James play on it was a fairytale come true. It has become one of the most meaningful experiences of my career,” said de Mesones.

de Mesones dropped the follow-up single, “In His Vision,” in 2022. He wrote the rousing tune on which his bass takes on lyrically expressive qualities and gets a boost from saxophonist Eddie Baccus Jr.’s impassioned play.

“This song written for and inspired by my father-in-law was a challenge for me. I wanted to play the melody and do it justice. It had to have that Wayman Tisdale vibe, so last minute before the recording, I changed to piccolo gauge strings, giving me the sound I envisioned. Eddie Baccus Jr.’s sax put the song over the top, giving it exactly what I thought it needed,” explained de Mesones.

A movie buff, de Mesones is a big James Bond fan and the secret agent’s presence is felt twice on the album, including on the title track, which was released as a single last year. The production and arrangements are sprawling on the track “You Only Live Twice,” layered with majestic horn section parts and a dreamy vocal chorus.

“The album’s title track holds multiple meanings for me. Putting aside my love for the classic James Bond film with this title, it perfectly represents my second album release as a solo artist as well as the album artwork featuring my custom double neck bass. This song was composed many years ago and has come to fruition at a time when I have found true love and real purpose in my life. I believe in second chances, and love is definitely sweeter the second time around,” said de Mesones who is married to his producer’s sister, Jennifer Valentine.

A fourth single prefaced the album with the release of “Don Pedro” last year. Written in memory of his late father, the contemplative ballad is as beautiful as it is emotional. Two-time Grammy-winning vocalist David Blamires provides a haunting wordless caress throughout the track led by Jaared Arosemena’s soprano sax.

“My personal favorite track on the album captures the essence of my father who was a larger-than-life figure to me when I was a child. As I grew older, we had our difficulties, as many sons and fathers do, but I was blessed to be able to mend our relationship in his later years. Through the completion and release of this song, which I toiled over for years, I found a way to keep his spirit alive and with me everywhere I go,” de Mesones shared.

For the other Bond-connected song on the album, de Mesones reinterprets five-time Academy Award winner John Barry’s “Capsule In Space,” setting it to a funky Latin modern-day groove. Michael “Arch” Thompson’s spiraling flute work adds a floating sensation.

“I love the orchestration and composing skills of John Barry and loved using this music to accompany the visuals for my live shows. This song is a bit sentimental, too, as it conjures memories of growing up in Brooklyn and my father and grandmother taking me to see James Bond movies. Creating an urban take on this masterpiece was a lot of fun,” de Mesones shared.

Other tracks on the album are the seductive jazz funk prowl of “Sexy Beast”; the mighty five-bass attack “Throb!” on which de Mesones formed a brotherhood of bassists with Bill DickensBrendan RothwellAndrew Gouche and Vail Johnson on this revamped track that originally appeared on his debut disc; “Arrival,” an exciting, exuberant and explosive space jam that de Mesones plans to use to open his concerts; the sensual “Stay,” an R&B single illumined by Nes Powers’s distinctive voice; and “Sweetnight,” which de Mesones converted from a vocal tune into an instrumental.

“‘Sweetnight’ went through more changes than any other song in my entire repertoire. This instrumental version represents what I hear when I close my eyes and imagine a world where love rules all things,” de Mesones described.

Brooklyn-born and bred, de Mesones relocated to a sleepy town in Virginia as he rebuilt his life. He made his concert debut at the Capital Jazz Festival near Washington, DC in 2006 and has persevered ever since to get to the next level. “You Only Live Twice” is a big album on multiple levels. Valentine’s elaborate production and crafty arrangements give the project a grand sound design. de Mesones’s rubbery basslines, dynamic rhythms and equanimity when it comes to sharing the spotlight with an accomplished collective of first-call musicians in service to the song has equipped him with a next-level album meriting a major breakthrough.

“After my days of living a lifestyle of excess, now being surrounded by such loving, supportive friends, family, and fans feels like a rebirth. And my life is so much sweeter the second time around. From sex, drugs, and rock and roll to smooth grooves and funky Latin soul, my feet are now on solid ground. And I’m here to tell you, it’s true: your best life is not in the rear-view mirror.”

de Mesones’s “You Only Live Twice” album contains the following songs:

“You Only Live Twice”
“Sexy Beast” with Bill McGee and Rob Maletick
“Throb!” (Bass Godz Remix) featuring Bill Dickens, Brendan Rothwell, Andrew Gouche and Vail Johnson
“Arrival”
“Stay” (Big New York Remix) featuring Nes Powers
“Sweetnight”
“Capsule In Space”
“In His Vision” featuring Eddie Baccus Jr.
“Hispanica” featuring Bob James
“Don Pedro” featuring Jaared Arosemena

For more information, please visit bignybassworld.com.

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Bass Videos

Reviews: Phil Jones Bass Compact Plus 450 and Bass Engine 17

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Reviews Phil Jones Bass Compact Plus 450 and Bass Engine 17

Phil Jones Bass Compact Plus 450 and Bass Engine 17 Reviews…

In this issue, we take an in-depth look at two new amps from Phil Jones Bass, the Compact Plus 450 and Bass Engine 17.

For more information, visit online at pjbworld.com

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Gear News

BITE Serves up Tasty Vanilla Bass Series

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BITE Serves up Tasty Vanilla Bass Series

BITE Serves up Tasty Vanilla Bass Series

Looking at these Vanilla basses, one is tempted to give the term bass lick a somewhat different meaning. Austrian custom bass builder BITE Guitars calls this bass series Tasty Vanilla, quite understandably so. What makes them look yummy in the first place? The satinated off-white finish, the white pickups, the absence of a pickguard – BITE calls this ‘rear access’ – the light-colored natural maple & pearl blocks fretboard, and the 24-karat gold plated hardware to top it all off.

BITE shows us two variants, a 4-string 34″ and a 5-string 33″, one of the very few 5-string medium scales available. BITE writes, there’s no floppy B string at 33″, it plays and sounds just like the big guy.

Sound-wise, we’re looking at BITE’s own 1000-millivolt high-output passive pickups, this time in a Reverse PJ configuration, meaning the P has its DG coil closer to the neck. This reverse arrangement gives your plucking fingers more space across the D and G strings and it adds a bit more oomph to D and G. Finally, the wiring is a standard Jazz-type parallel circuit (Volume-Volume-Tone).

Price:

Jawbone Tashy Vanilla RPJ 4-string 34″
Full specs: bite.guitars/product/jawbone-tasty-vanilla-rpj/
New York 2,539 USD
Berlin 2.658 EUR incl. VAT
London 1.930 GBP

Jawbone Tashy Vanilla RPJ 5-string 33″
Full specs: bite.guitars/product/jawbone-rpj-5er-33/
New York 3,235 USD
Berlin 3.429 EUR incl. VAT
London 2.482 GBP

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Features

Billy The Kid: Tapping Into Sheehan’s Eternal Youth!

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Bassist Billy Sheehan

By David C. Gross & Tom Semioli 

BS: Billy Sheehan
DCG: David C. Gross
TS: Tom Semioli 

“When you find one door, open it up! It leads to another world…” 

William Roland Sheehan needs no introduction to bassists, nor hard rock aficionados – however such perfunctory salutations are required for the uninitiated. 

A virtuoso (tap, shred, effects maestro – you name it) who plies his craft in genres loosely termed as metal, prog-rock, and heavy-prog, Sheehan is actually a musical polymath. Though he’s most commonly associated with the numerous high-profile voltage enhanced ensembles he’s been an integral part of – namely Sons of Apollo, Talas, Winery Dogs, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Greg Howe, Niacin, and Tony MacAlpine to cite a very few – Billy digs everything from classical to jazz to synth-pop to electronic to flamenco to Tuvan throat singing – and then some. All of which is reflected in his work on stage and in the studio – which incidentally, has been going strong for six decades and counting.

With age comes wisdom. We caught Billy in the midst of Mr. Big’s farewell sojourn with his signature Yamaha Attitude bass in his lap. Note that while we were setting up the Zoom connection – Billy was working scales and warming up despite the reality that there was no show scheduled that evening! Sheehan explains why said collective is taking its final bow. Not to worry, the Buffalo-born bassist has much more work to do. In fact, you could say that Billy’s just getting started. 

TS: Someone once sang “I hope I die before I get old…” Yet when we take a look around us at a few of your peers and heroes such as Tony Levin and Ron Carter just to name two– they’re going stronger than ever. Reflect on the young Billy Sheehan and the 21st Century Billy Sheehan. What’s changed? What is the same? 

BS: As you grow you become more focused. I don’t want to say that I’m more mature, because that has other implications! 

As a musician – and I think this is true with all artists – we maintain our 16-year-old sensibilities for life! It’s healthy to maintain a youthful exuberance.  I’m thankful that I still have it. Somehow that was built into me. 

I’m still excited about getting up in the morning and working on my bass playing every day. I’ll be driving in my car and a musical idea will suddenly hit me and I have to get home to pick up my instrument.

Perhaps it’s because we can devote more time to things at this point in our lives. Hopefully, we’re not running around trying to get our lives together and we have more stability. That can lead to a new personal Renaissance for the over 50s players. It’s a great time to be alive at my age. 

DCG: Do you think the snow in Buffalo helped you develop into a virtuoso player?

BS: Absolutely! (laughter) I remember the Blizzard of ’77! I couldn’t leave my house. The snow was up to my chest. I think we went something like 60 to 90 days with the temperature not getting above freezing. I had my little apartment, my little bass, my little heater – so what else could I do? 

I learned the Brandenburg Concertos on bass…well, not all of it, just chunks here and there. However, the adversity you get from your environment can be an advantage, like it was for me – I was isolated. I was on my own with no interruptions. Back then I was free – no kids, no girlfriend. I froze but I think it paid off! 

DCG: There is one bass tip you gave me – not personally, it was in an interview – regarding strap length. The advice was to simply grab a piece of leather, sit down the way you practice, put the leather on you, stand up, and that is the optimum position for your bass!  

BS: Of all the fancy stuff I’ve tried to show people I’ve received more response from the strap length than anything else. 

But it’s really important. I’m sitting here with my bass practicing. When I stand up to play live, I need it to be in the same place. You need to maintain the angles of your hands, fingers, and arms. If you get up to play and the bass is lower nothing seems to work. 

DCG: That’s because you’re not using the muscles you’ve developed during practice. However you do want to look cool on stage, and the low-slung bass is the ultimate rock star aesthetic.

BS: Right, which is why we should invent a strap with a button on it to instantly lower and raise the bass! (laughter)

Note: Billy proceeds to model different bass lengths – chest level for progressive rock, and under his chin for what Sheehan terms as ‘the jazz bowtie.” 

TS: You came to prominence in a decade known as the 1980s which to my ears was a golden era for bassists. Our instrument was able to adapt to the new technologies. The improvements in recording and pro audio allowed bass notes to be heard rather than a low rumble lost somewhere in the mix. 

BS: It was a great decade. There is a constant evolution going on. It goes from artist to artist. One artist hears somebody – let’s say Oscar Peterson hears Art Tatum – and suddenly we have this amazing confluence of both styles together. I learned from many of the players that came before me – it’s a long list – everybody imaginable – and some not. Consequently, I stood on their shoulders. 

Today there are people who are standing on my shoulders! There is a whole generation of players who are doing what we thought was impossible – or couldn’t even imagine. And that’s a great thing. We see that happen in all the arts.

In music, more than anything, we notice a significant ascension in skills. Some other art forms go off into abstractions whereas in music, there is a real technical, definable and quantifiable ability to play a string of notes in time, in tune, and righteously. That has gone way, way up to me. 

I have a huge collection of music. I often focus on one particular brand of music – for example: garage rock from the 1960s.  There is rarely a bass in tune! Not even close – sometimes a half step off! Why nobody noticed it, I’ll never know! 

As we progressed, it got much better – more in tune, in time. 

My first concert was Jimi Hendrix. I went to see him play and I got up close and took a few photos. That was as close as I ever got to him. Now on YouTube – you can see his fingerprints as he’s playing. You can see the iris in his eyes. You can watch and learn everything. I think that is a great advantage to a new generation of players. 

They are fortunate in ways that we never were in that there are amazing documents of the musicians that came before them. So now the shoulders are even wider to stand on! Before that the best we could do, as you guys know, is listen to a record and go ‘I think it’s this (Billy renders imaginary riff)! I’m not sure…’ We find out later that we were either right on the money or somewhere in between. 

TS: However, ‘getting it wrong’ sometimes develops your individual style. Even if I couldn’t get John Entwistle’s line perfectly, I came up with something else that is unique to me. 

BS: Very true! You had to improvise and try to figure out how they did it. As a result, we have the ability to play stylistically. And the mechanics can be wildly across the spectrum of innovation. 

I traveled to Japan years ago to participate in a huge bass clinic. There were 3000 people in the auditorium and about 10 players on stage. One bassist played this complicated piece that I had recorded. And he did it exactly, but his technique was nowhere near the way I played it. It was amazing and it taught me a lot. He took a left turn and still landed in the right place. Awesome! 

As you both know, there are a million factors that go into this.  There are many paths to express yourself, and to be the way you want to be. 

TS: Growing up in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s – we heard pop music on the radio with such extraordinary players as James Jamerson, Chuck Rainey, Louis Johnson, to name a few. Aside from metal, alternative, country, and funk – there hasn’t been a bass on hit tunes – even with such contemporary R&B artists such as Rhianna, Cardi B, and Beyonce – how do we get our instrument back into the mainstream? 

BS: I think it is cyclical. That sub-sonic, sub-harmonic pre-programmed thing – you know where they pump the bass line, or make a midi-file of it – is very popular now. And sonically – it is bassier! It’s more precise, and right on. 

That is the style that people’s ears are used to right now. They are also acclimated to auto-tune vocals. When they hear a natural vocal, which 99% of the time is not in perfect pitch, it throws them! Nowadays every note lands perfectly on that ProTools grid. The vocals are tuned to perfection, there is not a slightly flat or slightly sharp note to be found. 

I think the pendulum will swing back at some point. People are going to want to hear more humanity. They gravitate to something slightly out of time or out of tune which gives the music authenticity. Like taking a breath – we all do not inhale and exhale at the same rate. Our hearts do not beat at the same rate! I believe that there is an analogy there for music as well.

At present, we are in the perfection stage. There is beauty to that too. I don’t put it down. There’s not much about music that I do not like. Millions of love this type of music, and I acknowledge it. Who am I to say? There are a lot of cool things to think about. Especially in electronic music that was coming out in the 80s and 90s – artists such as Prodigy, Fat Boy Slim.

DCG: Yes, it was very experimental. 

BS: I loved that right away. There was a Stacey Q song ‘Love of Hearts’ with the coolest synth bass part. I remember sitting down and my challenge to myself was to work that out on a bass guitar. I tried to play it as rock solid as the programmed track. Sometimes it’s good to go with ‘man vs. machine!’ and try to match up to that studio perfection. And that goes for any musician, not just a bass player. You have to push yourself in different directions. When you find one door, open it up! It leads to another world… 

DCG: The older we get the more we appreciate things, and even in new music -which may not speak to us per se – there is something to be learned. For example, Justin Timberlake commented that he commences the songwriting process with beats as opposed to traditional chord changes and melodies – which is how our generation hears music. 

BS: This is true. And when I was young, I remember the older generation saying ‘What is this Jimi Hendrix stuff you’re listening to, it’s not music!’ 

And now I see a lot of young folks at our shows – especially Winery Dogs and Sons of Apollo – so there is somewhat of a generational hand-off going on today. 

My mom was big into the standard singers of her era; Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin, and similar artists. I am big into Sinatra!

DCG: What is your favorite Sinatra record?

BS: That would be Live at The Sands! Of course!

DCG: Mine is Frank Sinatra Sings for Only The Lonely. 

BS: That’s a good one! Live at The Sands is a compilation of five shows. It is a collection of the best parts of five nights…

DCG: Quincy Jones did the arrangements! 

BS: Right! I found recordings of all the other shows! That’s the nature of my collection. I always search out the impossible. I also have the rehearsals for Jimi’s Band of Gypsys before they ever performed. It’s amazing to hear different versions of those songs. 

Getting back to your comment on the components of music from this generation to the previous ones– I think it’s harder to go from the standard verse-chorus-bridge to a flat beat and vocalizations without any real pitch. That is a big jump. 

Yesterday I was discussing the chord changes in Beatles songs with a colleague of mine. For me, the greatest song ever written is The Beatles ‘If I Fell.’ How elaborate they were. I remember learning Everly Brothers songs on guitar and then the Beatles came out and it changed everything. I recall thinking ‘How does this even work?’ That was a jump back then, now what is happening is an even bigger jump because there were still harmonic relations between new and older music. 

But that does not mean that the new way of doing things for some artists cannot be crossed over.  Again, I appreciated a lot of new stuff. The computer-generated stuff, I’m not crazy about it because many of my friends are musicians and I like to hear them playing instead of programming. Yet there is a real beauty to electronic music. 

I was way into Wendy Carlos (composer/recording artist who was a 1960s electronic music pioneer and worked with Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog Synthesizer) back in the day. There was a great record by Mark Hankinson entitled The Unusual Classical Synthesizer (1972). I love the work of Japanese synthesist (Isao) Tomita – he wasn’t doing rhythmic Bach and Beethoven – he was doing Debussy on synthesizer which was mind-blowing to me. His record of Debussy Snowflakes Are Dancing (1974) – is full of lilting, emotional pads and colors. Just incredible. 

I’m also a big fan of world music – though that is a title that is too often misused. Bulgarian choir music intrigues me.

DCG: How about the Tuvan throat singers…

BS: Oh yeah, that is not human! Unbelievable. And they’re all in a room singing… I am also a huge fan of Indian music especially violinist L. Shankar whom Frank Zappa referred to as the best musician he ever knew. 

And it’s all available now…

TS:  You bring up the topic of streaming music – and a question to all the artists David and I speak with. Given the nature of the platform, which is song-oriented, is the album format still relevant today? 

BS: To some of us, the format is still relevant. When I’m on tour we sell lots of vinyl. The 1985 Talas record came out on vinyl and we have a hard time keeping up with it. The pressing plants are backed up from six months to a year in some instances. 

I saw one columnist comment that he didn’t know if people were actually playing the records as much as they enjoyed holding them in their hands! 

Who knows, there may be a time when the grid goes down and everyone is going to have to get their bicycle out, or their generator and get a turntable going again! 

DCG: Tom, how do you make a musician complain? 

TS: Give him a gig!

(laughter) 

BS: That’s true! The internet has brought on the age of complaining…

TS: Musicians complained that the record labels were unfair gatekeepers. When MTV came along – a platform that gave massive exposure to scores of artists – yourself included; musicians once again complained that it favored only the visuals as opposed to the music. Now with digital technology, musicians can go directly to the consumer. 

BS: For lack of a better word, things are more ‘democratic’ now. You can accelerate your promotion. For example, I am on a laptop now and I can record an entire symphony orchestra and do the movie soundtrack along with it. Then I can go online and sell it. That has leveled the playing field quite a bit. Before, you could only do that if you had a big budget – you’d have to hire a studio, engineers – it was cost-prohibitive in many instances. You can even do it on an iPhone! 

So, to me, that’s a good thing. 

I’ve heard of this parallel with this, perhaps you will concur with me; when desktop publishing first came out the reaction was ‘Oh no, there will be so many amazing books we won’t know what to do anymore!’ However, the same number of books still made it to the top of the list – despite the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of people writing via desktop publishing. 

And I think the same situation exists with music. Despite the population of the world making music, there is still going to be stuff that gravitates to the top. So, I don’t think it is so wildly different from when there were gatekeepers as you say. 

So that’s a good thing. You can be one click away from a billion listeners. That is amazing. The bad thing is, so are a million other people! 

DCG: As I said to Tom yesterday, in 100 years, I don’t think people will be reading. 

BS: I agree, and that it sad to see. Because similar to music, you can use your imagination. There is a fantastic book entitled This Is Your Brain on Music (written by neuroscientist Daniel Joseph Levitin, first published in 2006) – and I had a conversation by email with the author. 

The creativity that you must have in your mind when you’re reading a book – if a passage reads ‘snow is falling, smoke is coming from the chimneys…’ you can see it and smell it in your mind. You create a cinematic scenario. Whereas in a movie, it’s all spoon-fed to you. 

TS: The latest kerfuffle in the music business in 2024 is the use of artificial intelligence. What say you of AI?

BS: I am a purist in a lot of ways. When people ask me for advice about getting into the music business I tell them three things: 

1. Get in a band. 

2. Get in a band with songs… 

3. Get in a band with songs that you sing!

Run the numbers of every bass player, every guitar player and so forth and those three steps are the most successful. AI does not necessarily fit in with that. I have yet to wrap my head around AI to have a solid opinion about it.  In general, I am leaning towards humans, humanity, and people thinking up things. 

People thought up AI, it didn’t think up itself. And it’s all on a computer which is made by humans! I see the urge to create a robot world where everything is done by robots. But unless somebody programs it…it ain’t gonna happen. So there is that human element that is still essential.

Until we get robots that can program, then they’ll be some self-replicating, and then we’ll wind up with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator of some sort!  That could happen. Science fiction has predicted many things that came to be! 

I prefer the Everly Brothers to AI. If and when the whole world goes to hell, we can still sit around a campfire with a guitar and sing songs. 

TS: Let’s talk bass for a change. David and I have a credo that states ‘it’s not a real bass until you drill holes in it.’ David now favors custom instruments, though he still loves to tear up a perfectly good bass and rebuild it in his own image every now and then. I prefer to modify my Fender basses. What was your original inspiration to create the legendary ‘wife’ and other basses? 

BS: For me, the Fender Precision bass is the bass. Ninety-nine percent of everything has been done on that instrument or some variation thereof. 

This (Billy holds aloft his Yamaha Attitude bass) is very P bass-ish. When Yamaha contacted me to make a bass and endorse their instrument – Fender was at a low point. They were changing ownership, there were shifts going on in the company, and their instruments weren’t that great. I’m going to say that was the mid-1980s.

Yamaha came along with quality control second to none in my opinion. I am glad went with them and I will always be with them. 

The P bass is undeniable. Before my first P bass came into the store – that was Art Kubera’s Music Store on Fillmore Avenue in Buffalo, New York – they let me take home an Epiphone Rivoli bass – or the Gibson version of that, which had the big, fat chrome pick-up right here beneath the base of the neck.  It had a super deep low-end resonance. 

I played for a few days, and when my bass came in I played it and it sounded great but it was missing that sound from the Rivoli. It was a super deep low sound like I’d heard on ‘Rain’ by The Beatles – which may have been Paul’s Rickenbacker or Hofner. 

Notes From An Artist Notes: Paul’s aforementioned instruments both featured pick-ups beneath the base of the neck and body! 

Paul Samwell-Smith of The Yardbirds, who used an Epiphone Rivoli – was a big inspiration to me and he had that deep sound.  

I loved the P bass but I wanted those sounds so I figured ‘Hey, I’ve got all this space right here, why don’t I dig a hole and put a pick-up in there!’ I didn’t know how to wire it, so I made two outputs and ran it into two channels of my amplifier. We’re talking 1970…1971. When dinosaurs roamed the earth!

Then I got a second amp – one was for all the harmonics and high-end content and then the super low deep end on the other. That really helped me in a three-piece band. We didn’t have a keyboard or rhythm guitar, so I had something that sounded guitar-ish and keyboard-ish but there was always bass underneath it. I never lost that low end. And that is basically the formula I stuck with. 

Then I found out later on – of course, I did not invent it, I came up with it on my own – all the others did too, that all the early Alembic basses had duel outputs for each pickup. Rickenbacker’s Rick-O-Sound had both pickups going to two places. 

I’d read that John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin took his Fender Jazz bass and split the pick-ups into two amps. John Entwistle did stuff like that as well. Chuck Burghofer,  who played the iconic bass part to the Barney Miller show theme song had a Gibson EB-0 pick-up on his Precision bass! A lot of players used that for the same solution to the same problem. 

If you really want to extend the low end – that neck pick-up is really where it is at. And that’s how I got to where I am on my Attitude bass. The Attitude neck is modeled after a 1968 Fender Telecaster bass – it’s a big fat baseball bat! It’s meaty with a lot of sustain. And that’s my story sad but true! (laughter)

TS: The great Mel Schacher of Grand Funk Railroad modded out his Fender Jazz with an EB-1 pickup at the neck – that’s how he attained his signature tone. 

BS: One of my favorite players!

TS: Since our show commenced three years ago as The Bass Guitar Channel David and I have debated the merits of the extended-range bass. You’ve always been a four-string guy. I last saw you with Sons of Apollo with a double neck bass – with both in four-string configurations. 

David and I spoke with Jerry Jemmott, the legendary bassist who, as you know, was a great influence on Jaco Pastorius. He maintains that Jaco would have continued with the four-string had he lived to see the advancements in extended-range five and six-string instruments. He also stresses that it was the limitations of the four-string that were a major factor in Jaco’s style – it prompted him to be more creative within those so-called restrictions.  Your thoughts?  

BS: I’ve already got enough death threats from five and six-string players! (laughter) 

I refer to the five-string bass as a ‘flinch.’ You have a guy sitting at home playing a four-string, it’s not really working out for him. He’s not playing in a good band… he’s not happening. So he thinks ‘I’ll go to five-strings!’ 

DCG: Oh Jesus!!!! C’mon Billy…

BS: Well, that’s really not a true blanket statement… (laughter)

Really, if you want to play five-string, God bless you, go for it! Go for however many strings you want.

When I posted my double-neck on social media, there was a ton of vitriol! Hostility! Attacks! I got feedback such as ‘You should play a five-string, that’s just wasteful!’ 

Hold on, I played a double-neck for a lot of different reasons. First of all, they are tuned differently. On the Mr. Big tour, we had to lower the keys on many songs. We’re not like we used to be vocally. Some of our songs are a whole step lower – so I’d have to switch basses, which would interrupt the flow of the performance. With the double-neck, I have every tuning I need right here. 

It seems like nobody could figure that out, especially the five-string. The double-neck is a fantastic instrument, it feels good, and it’s perfectly balanced for me. Standard tuning on the top neck, BEAD on the bottom. All my notes are where I want them to be. 

I agree with Jerry, I think Jaco would have stuck with the four-string. Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen played four strings. Monk Montgomery… There really is no limitation on a four-string. 

I can bend my Attitude on the G string to a high G. I can go really low with my de-tuner. I can bend the low D to a low B! So I have almost the same range as a lot of extended ranges basses right here.

I remember being in a band with Steve Vai and I had one low B note in one song, so I simply hit the de-tuner! Where there is a will there is a way! 

If you want to play a 90-string bass, I’m with you! The insistence that we all have to play the same bass with the same tone with the same everything – and if you don’t – you’re out of the club! I can’t hang with that. 

TS: You’ve collaborated with so many virtuoso guitarists – Steve Vai, Tony MacAlpine, Ritchie Kotzen, Paul Gilbert, and Michael Schenker to select a scant few. Who are the players, past or present, whom you would like to work with the most? 

PS: Sadly we lost that guitar player, and I don’t think I am qualified either: Paco de Lucia! He was tops on my list. Also I have to add John McLaughlin to the list. I am a huge Mahavishnu Orchestra fan. I am a big Billy Cobham fan too.

You mention guitar players, but I am more of a ‘drummer’ guy! I got to see Cobham in Dreams before the Mahavishnu Orchestra with the Brecker Brothers on horns for $1.50 at the University of Buffalo. He blew my mind! 

I love Dennis Chambers. Playing with him changed my life. 

DCG: Tell us how you approach working with guitar heroes.

BS: I like to work ‘with’ guitarists. I do what they need to have done. In the past when I played with Steve Vai, I removed myself from the equation. My approach was ‘What does Steve want? What does he need?’ In some ways, it takes the burden off me to be continuously creative. I strive to play accurately and righteously and make him happy. I don’t want him to even think of the bass while he is doing his thing. 

He is free and I am providing that big foundation – think of it as 18 inches of steel-reinforced concrete! With Paul Gilbert in Mr. Big, I always make sure there are big fat notes underneath him while he is soloing and I get the heck out of his way! I want to hear him too!

Bass is primarily a supportive instrument. Most anybody will agree to that I believe. The instrument does its own things too; sometimes its really woven into improvisation, sometimes it’s the foundation.

The problem I have with some guitarists is that if I move harmonically – they get thrown off because they cannot play over changes. Even if I am in the key of E minor, if I do some movement in the key other than the root, they are completely lost. I tell them not to worry, we are still in the same key! 

If you listen to Bach, what he does in the left-hand affects the sound of the right hand. The moving notes create intriguing counterpoint which are essential components of music and harmony. 

Depending on the guitarist, I’ll move around all over the place. Within reason of course! I give them the option to go where they want to go, and not to work because I’ll follow you! I will instinctively get out of the way when you need me to. Lock in with the drummer and I’ll jump in when it’s time. This way we create an interchange – an improvisation. Again, think Bach with the left hand and the right hand. You hit one note, you hit another, and something changes! That is harmony. It creates a third tone in a way.

When you can do that as a bass player it leads to more harmonic complexity in a good way. 

That’s not to say that Cliff Williams in AC/DC isn’t a genius. He’s pounding that beautiful open E string while Angus is doing his thing and it is glorious. Amazing. Same thing with Ian Hill of Judas Priest – he holds the whole band together. 

TS: And on the topic of drummers, Michael Portnoy and you have two remarkable bands that are completely different: the prog-rock collective of Sons of Apollo, and the blues-based Winery Dogs. 

BS: Winery Dogs is straight-up rock with a lot of improvisational stuff. Sons of Apollo is more of a progressive arranged style – the parts are the same – they are written into the song, much like classical music. As you can hear, there is not as much free form moving in Sons of Apollo. 

Sometimes I have this ESP thing going on with drummers. I remember one time I was setting up in a little club to do a jam and drummer Ray Luzier of Korn – we are dear friends and have a production company together – I had my back to him and I was plugging in my little amp. The lights were down and while we were playing Ray just hit his bass drum – boom!  at the exact moment when I hit my E string – boom! We spun around and looked at each other and said to each other ‘how did you know!’ (laughter)

When a drummer goes chicka-ta-ba-ba-do-bop, I play chicka-ta-ba-ba-do-bop! You can really incorporate motion in the bass into a useable, uncluttered thing if you are really locked in with the drummer. That’s something I tell young players all the time. 

Start on the bass drum – when the drummer hits the kick – the bass player hits a note. Same with the accents. Then later on if you want to do it you can play lower and higher octaves with the bass and snare drum – ala The Knack on their hit ‘My Sharona.’ There are so many hits constructed on that way of doing things: ‘Gimmie Some Lovin’ by Spencer Davis – there are many examples.

If you want to get adventurous you play along with the tom-tom fills! That’s my thing. I build my basslines more on drums than guitars. 

TS: Moving from Sons of Apollo to Winery Dogs is just another day at the office for you…

BS: Fortunately, I grew up in a time where my bands’ setlists were wild. Like everyone else, I started off in copy bands. My groups played everything from The Tubes –‘White Punks on Dope,’ to King Crimson’s ‘21st Century Schizoid Man,’ to Three Dog Night’s ‘Joy to the World,’ to Grand Funk Railroad…all this diverse stuff. A broad array of styles. 

When you’re playing in a bar band, you never know who is coming through the door. Some audiences like to hear complex music, other audiences want to sing along with ‘Jeremiah was a bullfrog… was a good friend of mine!’ 

It was good training for me to get in a situation where I could jump from genre to genre – somewhat convincingly I hope – and still manage to stay on my feet.

TS: Playing Top-40 was a boot camp experience for me as well. We had our disco set, slow dance set, dinner standards set… how is Mr. Big doing on your 2024 farewell tour.

BS: We’re doing great, we’re selling out venues, the feedback has been fantastic. We’re having a ball. And it’s a real farewell tour too – not a fake farewell tour! (laughter)

We want to cross over the finish line standing up rather than crawl over it with a walker and an oxygen mask with backup singers and running tracks! We are still actually singing and playing! I’ll be 71 next month (March 2024) – I am the oldest in the band. Not everyone ages the same, it can be difficult to get up there for a two-hour show. 

DCG: Doesn’t it strike you as funny when you go from being the youngest member of the band to being the oldest?  (laughter) 

BS: My timeline has shifted! I feel great. I still feel like I’m 16. I recall that after the pandemic when I first went out with the Winery Dogs, I felt like an MMA fighter! Get me in the octagon, let’s go! I was dying to play, and we hit it hard. Then I went back to Mr. Big, then back to Winery Dogs again… twice to Japan…two or three times to South America… all within the span of a year. 

I’m still ready to go, it’s all good!   

Note: Our complete conversation with Billy Sheehan will be available in an upcoming book: Good Question! Notes From An Artist Interviews… by David C. Gross & Tom Semioli www.NotesFromAnArtist.com 

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