INTERVIEWS
The guitarist/vocalist crosses the pond to play three shows.
As the much-travelled American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter prepares to play three British and Irish solo shows, he tells CR about his long career, which includes spells with Poison, Mr. Big and The Winery Dogs, plus a recent collaboration with Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith.
Wasn’t it seeing a poster of Kiss’s Gene Simmons breathing fire that made you want to become a musician when you were seven?
That’s completely true, it’s all Gene’s fault. I had been taking piano lessons, but I convinced my parents to buy me a guitar from a yard sale.
Decades later, while playing on Gene’s solo record Asshole, did you tell him about that?
We recorded that album at my studio, so there was a lot of down time, and I would definitely have told him the story. I don’t recall what he said, but probably something along the lines of: “Join the club.” He must hear it all the time.
While Gene set you out on this journey, thepatronage of Mike Varney at Guitar Playermagazine must have been a vital second stage.
You’re right. I was seventeen. After doing a write-up on me, Varney signed me to Shrapnel Records. I quickly realised that my heart wasn’t in instrumental music, so my second album [Fever Dream, 1990] had vocals. Mike convinced me that I could sing, which really led me on the path I’ve followed.
With hindsight, how do you now look back at your two-year spell in Poison?
The resulting album, Native Tongue, is sorely underrated. Being in Poison was a great thing for me, despite the fact that as a young man I don’t think I saw myself being in a band like that for too long. Now I can look back and realise it was an important time for me, and I agree that we made a great album. Bret [Michaels, vocalist] really encouraged me to sing, and that was cool for me.
Then you replaced P
