Oregon Music News

Guitarist Leslie West

Mountain guitarist Leslie West has been on an emotional rollercoaster since June 20th, 2011. West lost his lower right leg due to  complications with diabetes. Thankful to have made it through the ordeal with his life, West has begun the long road to recovery.

Prior to West’s health scare he rolled out dates for a fall U.S. tour with former Scorpion guitarists Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth. They dubbed the tour the 3 Guitar Heroes tour, which would feature three full sets by the guitarists with a jam at the end of each night. A must-see show for guitar geeks. Unfortunately, they postponed the tour due to the lack of wheelchair-accessible tour buses within the United States. West is currently on the mend and is learning to use his prosthesis. He took a few minutes to talk to Oregon Music News about his new album, Unusual Suspects, the guests featured in the recording and his future of the 3 Guitar Heroes tour.

How are you doing?

Well, I’m in the process of learning how to use my prosthetic (leg). All things considered, I’m doing fine. I’m grateful that when this happened in June that the album was already done. I can’t imagine what would have happened to it if it wasn’t completed, you know.

The 3 Guitar Heroes tour, slated to take place this fall, was postponed a couple of weeks ago.

Let me tell you what happened: I couldn’t find a tour bus with a wheelchair lift. Can you imagine there are no tour buses in the United States with wheelchair lifts on them? That’s incredible! We had to cancel the tour. I feel really bad about it, but what are you gonna do?

So is this a postponement or has the tour been cancelled indefinitely?

Hopefully it remains postponed. Right now we’re looking at something around the first of the year. We’re looking at who will be on it; if Michael (Schenker) and Uli (Jon Roth) are available that would be great. If they aren’t available then we’ll be looking at other people. I’m not really sure right now.

It was exciting to hear that you and Michael Schenker were going to tour together. How far back do you go with Schenker?

I’ve known him a long time — about 30 years. I hadn’t played with him until about a couple of years ago when we played at a Dean (Guitars) show at NAMM in California. I’ve played with Rudolph, his (Schenker’s) brother, but never with Michael.

You made an appearance on the new Michael Schenker album, Temple of Rock, on the track “How Long.”  How did that come about?

He sent me the song and asked if I would play on it. He was in Germany at the time. I hit it on pro-tools and sent it back to him even though I don’t like doing that. I like being in the studio together. When I recorded Unusual Suspects I have Joe Bonamassa, Slash and the rest of the guys there in the studio.

What did you think of “How Long?”

I’ve never heard it! (laughs) I’ve just heard what I recorded. How did it come out by the way?

It turned out great. That would have been a great song to have heard on the tour.

Right. There would have been a jam at the end of the show, we talked about that.

How long have you known Uli Jon Roth?

Uli I’ve known for about six to seven years. I met him at the NAMM show and we’ve been friends ever since.

Luthaker, West and Wylde photo by Alex Solca

We’ll get to the new album, Unusual Suspects, in a moment. First, I’d like to say that I rediscovered Mountain’s release, Masters of War. You guys recorded cuts from the Bob Dylan catalog and it’s a great listening experience.

I loved doing that by the way. It took a while to get the arrangenments right to what I thought I could sing them.

You certainly didn’t do an exact version of the originals; you put your own stamp on those Dylan classics.

Yeah that was the whole idea. I didn’t want to release something that sounded like the original, you know.

Rock fans are familiar with Billy Gibbons, Slash, Steve Lukather and Zakk Wylde who all make guest appearances on Unusual Suspects. Someone that has landed on people’s radar is Joe Bonamassa. How did you hear about him?

I met him in 2000. I played on a song on his record (New Day Yesterday) called “If Heartaches Were Nickles.” It’s a Warren Haynes song. Gregg Allman is also on it. We play on it and we sing on it with Joe (Bonamassa). Joe and I are currently on the same label, so when it came time to do this album, I asked if he would guest on it. He said, “Yes,” and mentioned that one of his all-time favorite songs is “Third Degree” that I did in West, Bruce & Laing. He asked if I was interested in re-cutting it (and that) he’d love to play on it. I said, “Consider it done!”

A surprise to me was the inclusion of Steve Lukather, who is best known for his work in Toto.

Yeah, he happened to come into the studio by chance when I was recording with Zakk (Wylde). Steve works with my producer. I tried to do the acoustic part after the piano part on “One More Drink for the Road.” I asked him to do it, he agreed and he knocked it out of the park in 10 minutes — it was incredible. When I was in California recording, Slash was in the studio rehearsing with his band. I was in a studio in Hollywood so he didn’t have to drive very far after rehearsing all day. Sure enough Slash shows up ready to record after a day of rehearsal. If you can believe this, I didn’t know Slash before this. It was all done through Facebook. His tour manager ‘friended’ me and I got his contact information through him. We sent the song to Slash so he could hear it. He responded back (and) he said, “This a great song (‘Mud Flap Momma’). I don’t know that you need me?” I said to him, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll figure it out.” I think it turned out great.

How did you get Billy F. Gibbons on the record?

I go way back with Billy. ZZ Top opened up for Mountain in 1970. I’ve known Billy a longtime. Billy was working with my producer in California at the time. He had a song called “Standing on Higher Ground” that he hadn’t finished. Billy thought it would be a great song for me and he came into the studio. We started singing together and writing together. We finished it and it turned out great. When I listen to that I feel like I’m in ZZ Top! (laughs)

You also have Mr. Zakk Wylde featured on “Nothing’s Changed.”

He’s also on “Turn Out The Lights (The Party’s Over).” I’ve known Zakk for a while — we’ve got the same management. He calls me Dad if you can believe that. He thinks I’m his father — I think he needs to get his DNS checked! (laughs) He calls Ozzy (Osbourne) his old man too. Zakk’s a great dude; I love him to death. I don’t want to forget (drummer) Kenny Aronoff, who we pulled away from what he was doing. He came in and did a fantastic job on the record.

Bonamassa and West in the studio photo by Alex Solca

There are a number of great songs on Unusual Suspects including “One More Drink for the Road,” “Standing on Higher Ground” and “Turn Out the Lights (The Party’s Over),” but “Mud Flap Momma” is the most accessible to blues and rock fans alike. What’s the story behind “Mud Flap Momma?”

You know what a mud flap girl is?

Yeah, on the trucks?

Right. My wife happens to look like a mud flap girl. She has an incredible body! (laughs) Anyway, she wrote this incredible lyric, but I didn’t want to work with her. My first partner Felix Pappalardi worked with his wife and she wound up shooting him! (laughs) Then John Lennon worked with Yoko (Ono) and she broke up The Beatles! (laughs) So after that I had a bad taste in my mouth, you know. So anyway, she brought in the lyric and I said, “Wow! This is a really good.” I started playing some riffs on a slide guitar and I said, “You know what? This is gonna be great.” I finished the song and left a couple of spots where I would hopefully get Slash to play on. We got him later on and it turned out great.

I’m so fortunate to have been able to get all of these guys on my album. Things just lined up. Usually getting people to guest on an album is hard; people are touring, recording and just not available. The label wanted me to get Buddy Guy on the album. I don’t even know Buddy Guy! I know who he is, I know how good he is, but there’s no relationship there. I just didn’t want to get guests just for the sake of getting guests on the album. I had all the songs done before we confirmed guest appearances but I knew who I wanted on the album for sure.

There’s a bonus cut on the album that might leave people a bit confused.

Do you know who Beetle Juice is?

Yeah, I listen to the (Howard) Stern show. He’s a member of the whack pack.

I love him, he’s such a freak! There’s people that are so stupid they think it’s me signing it. I read a review the other day that said something like, “I love the album but on the last track Leslie’s voice sounds terrible!” Howard (Stern) asked me to play guitar over a track of Beetle Juice singing. To me just the thought that we were able to make a song out of that blows my mind.

”Turn Out the Lights (The Party’s Over)” is fantastic. Hearing you, Slash and Zakk trade licks is off the hook.

That was great. I got to play acoustic guitar with them on there as well as electric guitar on the solo. I used to fuck around on stage after we played “Nantucket Sleigh Ride” and “Mississippi Queen.” I used sing ”Turn Out the Lights (The Party’s Over).” I was fooling around in the studio and my producer suggested I lay that down. At the time I thought it would be great to get Slash or Zakk to play on it but you got all three of us.

Each artist or band has a signature song and with Mountain it leans heavily toward “Mississippi Queen.”

That may be but that’s not my favorite song. “Nantucket Sleigh Ride” — I hated it through the years; it’s a very complicated song. Felix (Pappalardi) showed me the chords. I’m not just saying this because he’s no longer with us, but it’s a great piece of music. It challenged me quite a bit. In England there was a show called Weekend World that was on the air for about 18 years. It was like their version of 60 Minutes. It was a political news show that was on Sundays. “Nantucket Sleigh Ride” was their theme for their 18-year run. When I met Zak Starkey he said, “Me and my dad used to watch that show just so we could hear your fucking song!” (laughs)