“THERE HAVE BEEN BAD MOMENTS”
When I arranged with Epic to interview Steve Vai
during the UK-leg of the 97 G3 tour, it was never made clear that I would also
get to talk to Mike Keneally (MK). Certainly I had asked about such a
possibility, but in all my dealings with the record company, only Steve’s name
was ever mentioned. I therefore did not prepare properly for a chat with the
cat in the hat. What follows therefore is a transcript of an off-the-cuff
chinwag with Mike after Steve excused hisself.
IB: The obvious question – why did you leave Z?
MK: It was mainly because, from my
perspective, in the last couple of years of the band there were huge periods
where there wasn’t very much going on. Which was kind of good in a way because
that allowed me time to do stuff like ‘Dust Speck’ and the Mistakes and just
whatever projects that I needed to do. But at the same time, because I was
still collecting cheques from them every week whether I worked for them or not,
they had to be my main priority. And for a while that was okay, but towards the
end when there was so little activity it started to feel a little strange. So I
proposed that they take me off retainer and we work out a schedule whereby for
a certain part of the year I would work for them. And in a certain part of the
year I would do my own projects. Which seemed to me a fairly logical and
professional way to go about dealing with the situation. And Dweezil was just
incensed by the idea that I would try to dictate policy that way and has
refused to speak to me ever since.
IB: Dweezil
is not exactly prolific - I mean, I think he writes and records a lot, but
actual albums coming out, actual tours…
MK:
He could easily release
four albums right this second of stuff that Z recorded. And God knows there’s still
the instrumental album – I don’t know whether he’s gonna even finish that. But
I have a feeling it was headed in a direction where Z was about to stop anyway
because he had the opportunity to replace Bryan and I – because Bryan Beller
left at the same time just to be with Beer For Dolphins – and he did actually
replace us: they did a couple of radio appearances; but since then there’s been
no real activity on that front. I’m confident that Dweezil will re-emerge
someday, but I have a feeling that me leaving was just a way of hastening the
inevitable. That band was gonna end anyway. And when I think about Z, I really
think that our legacy, the thing that we really had going for us, was as a live
band. In a way, we were never at our peak when we played the Marquee – there’s
something weird about the Marquee, the moment we set foot on that stage it was
like we weren’t allowed to do a really good show. But we had some unbelievably
good live performances. I think the shows in general were a lot more inspired
than the albums.
IB: Obviously
‘The Medley’ was a great focal point, I’d love to see that released but I don’t
think it’ll ever happen.
MK:
Besides the problems of
publishing, I contend that you need to see ‘The Medley’ in order for it to be
effective. If you just hear it on a tape, they might as well think that we’re
editing everything together. But I would be more than happy to re-establish
contact with Dweezil. I was a little miffed at the time, but its water under
the bridge - I really don’t hold anything against him. But I am pretty busy (laughs)!
IB: So BFD is on hold at the present?
MK: Yeah,
going with Steve was a pretty difficult decision, because leaving the Zappas
was my big independent step out and BFD did a tour of the States in April and
May of 96 which actually went quite well, and then I started making plans for
the next record and that’s when Steve called. It was not an automatic decision
because it was gonna be a lot of touring - and it’s ended up being almost twice
what was originally planned. So BFD of course has had to take a lengthy hiatus.
One thing that was nice was that at the end of last year we did a tour of the
States where Beer For Dolphins actually opened for the Vai band. So I’d come
out for 50 minutes and play with BFD and then go change my clothes and come
back out and play with Steve for two hours - that was a workout.
IB: I
read somewhere before you actually joined the band that Steve - impressed with
your work on Zappa’s Universe – was
thinking about asking you.
MK: What
happened was while I was on that April/May tour with BFD, I spoke to a friend
of Steve’s – a guy named Marty Schwartz from Western Vacation – and he said
that there was this tour that was being planned and at the time it was just Joe
Satriani and Steve and they didn’t know who the third guitarist on the bill was
gonna be – they wanted it to be Eric Johnson, but there was a question mark
over his availability – and he also mentioned that Steve was looking for a guy
who could play guitar and keyboards in his band. I jokingly said if they let me
be the third guy on the bill, I’d play in Steve’s band.
IB: I was wondering about the third G. Adrian
Legg, for this part of the tour, seems a strange choice – a totally different
style from Joe and Steve.
MK: On
last year’s tour,
IB: He went at exactly the same time?
MK: The
same day. He was ready to completely throw his lot in with me and did. It was
tantamount to betrayal for me to go off with Steve for so long. Obviously we’ve
had many long conversations about it and actually
IB: Have
you got a permanent drummer?
MK: Not
really. The drummer on the tour that we did in the spring of last year was a
guy named Frank Briggs. And then in December of last year, when we were on the
road with Steve, Toss Panos was the drummer - which was interesting because
Toss actually played with Steve.
IB: That’s
right, in 93. And Joe Travers I thought had played with BFD?
MK: Yeah,
Joe’s done gigs with us in
IB: I
know that XTC have had a big influence on your music, but live you do a cover
of ‘The Immigrant Song’, you’ve done some tracks for Yes and Genesis tribute
albums, and of course there’s ‘Faithful Axe’ on ‘Dust Speck’. Are you also
inspired by the music from that era - from the early 70s?
MK: Well, in the 60s, I was very young – I was
born in 61 - and I pretty much just listened to the Beatles. Then in the early
70s I got a good stereo in my room and I discovered FM radio. And as soon as
that happened my world just blew apart. I remember the day ‘Tarkus’ came out, I
thought ‘Okay, that’ll do’! So I have a real fondness for music of that era. It
doesn’t all sort of stack up over the years - some of it sounds a lot more
dated than others - but even the most ‘quaint’ of it I still like for nostalgic
reasons. There is a lot of music of that era that is really wonderful that I
still think has as much integrity now. I just did a track for a Gentle Giant
tribute album - they’re a band who I think has really stood the test of time.
Dave Gregory from XTC came to see us play 2 or 3 nights ago in
IB: Have
you actually recorded with them – down in
MK:
Yeah…I haven’t actually
recorded with them in
[Steve
Vai appears]
SV:
Sorry. Mike, this lovely young
lady would like to give you something.
[The
‘lovely young lady’ presents Mike with a hat of Dr Seuss-like proportions]
MK:
(to
LYL) That is really
beautiful. Thank you so much. I’m gonna put this on now. This will definitely
make it to the show this evening.
IB: I noticed in
the G3 video you’re wearing a hat like the one Frank wore in
MK: With the bells? No, I didn’t wear one of
Frank’s hats. (Goes to bag.) This
one?
IB: That’s
the fellow.
MK: No, I bought this some place where we
played in the
IB: So you have
a big collection?
MK: Yeah, most of them are...
LYL: …from friends (laughs)!
MK: You make an album called ‘hat’, and it’s
like opening the floodgates. I probably get a hat a week from somebody.
IB: I didn’t bring one. Sorry.
MK: That’s alright. I’ve got my requisite one
per day (laughs). (To LYL) It’s a
nice one. Thank you.
IB:
You recorded an album with
Shankar - has that ever been released?
MK: No, it hasn’t. They’ve been replacing
tracks, and doing overdubs and messing about with those tapes for years now.
Have you heard any of his pop records - like the Epidemics records? Shankar is
a magnificent violinist and I love it when he concentrates on his violin
playing, but when he does pop records, he concentrates more on very
straightforward pop songs. So what you might imagine of a collaboration between
him and I isn’t what this record is. I was nothing more than a session musician
playing very simple parts. Maybe it’ll come out someday. Maybe my parts will be
on there - they could very well have been replaced by now.
IB: Are
you keeping up with all the various posthumous FZ releases?
MK:
Yeah, I have them all.
IB:
…the ‘Signature Guitar
Compositions’?
MK:
I actually helped to make
that one. I’m credited with ‘Preliminary Research’. Basically that’s the album that
I helped them compile, except that they replaced one track: for the unreleased
version of ‘Black Napkins’ we had originally chosen the complete ‘Pink Napkins’
– that’s actually a 12 minute track. But after I was gone, Dweezil decided that
he wanted all the live versions to be the earliest ones they could find. So
they went for a different ‘Black Napkins’.
IB: I was
hoping they’d have one with Eddie Jobson.
MK:
Oh, with the violin solo?
IB: Yeah,
but it lasts about 20 minutes.
MK:
Might be a bit much for
some.
***
A fredited
version of this interview originally appeared in Issue 60 of T’Mershi Duween.
Photo of Mike at St Luke’s Hall,