by Jeb Wright
On Sunday, April 13th
the Berklee Performance Center will host a star studded
charity even to raise money for the drug and alcohol rehab
center Right Turn. The headline event will feature Chuck
Berry performing with an all-star band including Chad Smith,
Chuck Leavell, Simon Kirke and Ricky Byrd. Byrd, most famous
for his tenure with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, has also
shared the stage with Roger Daltrey, Ian Hunter and most
recently as a member of the Asbury Jukes.
The event is close to
Byrd’s heart as he has, one day at a time, recovered from
his own addiction for more than twenty consecutive years.
Now he is giving back to an event aimed at giving drug
treatment to creative people and their families.
In this interview Byrd
discusses his nervousness of sharing the stage with a legend
as well as recounting his own recovery. Be sure to check out
www.right-turn.org
to learn more about the gig and how you can make a donation
to the cause.
Jeb: You’re getting
ready to jam with Chuck Berry.
Ricky: That’s not too
shabby. First of all, the cause is great. It is for Right
Turn, which is a treatment center started by Woody Giessmann
from The Del Fuegos. He runs the treatment center for
musicians and artists that gives help to musicians and
artists who have addiction problems and provides help for
their families. He wants to start a center in New York,
Nashville and LA, where the artist communities are.
Jeb: How did you get
involved with Right Turn?
Ricky: He asked me to
be on the board of directors – Simon Kirke is on the board
as well. A few months went by and I had not heard from
anyone. Simon called me up and told me about the gig and
asked if I wanted to be the guitar player. The next thing
you know Skunk Baxter is on board as is Chuck Leavell, Tim
Reis, the Stones sax player. Chad Smith from the Red Hot
Chilli Peppers is also playing and then they got Chuck
Berry.
Jeb: Have you played
with Chuck before?
Ricky: I did back in
the Blackheart days. We played some gigs in the late ‘80's
and he was hanging out with Joan. I watched from the side of
the stage and I talked to him a few times but he was more
interested in Joan.
Jeb: I think it is
cool that Chuck is doing this at age 81.
Ricky: You know my
roots. My heart lies with the Stones and the Faces and
Humble Pie and also with Otis Redding and Al Green. My
guitar playing is totally Chuck Berry on one side and then
bluesy on the other side. I have been playing Chuck Berry
riffs since I was a little kid. The rhythm that he plays –
which we call mop ‘em in the guitar world because it goes
mop ‘em, mop ‘em mop ‘em, like in "Little Queenie." His
rhythm guitar is what made me want to play rock n’ roll. It
might have been the Faces doing "Stay with Me" but that
drove me back when I found out they liked Chuck.
Jeb: Does the kid in
you get excited to play with Chuck Berry?
Ricky: Are you
kidding? The backing band is amazing. Legend goes that Chuck
shows up to the gig right before he is about to go on and he
has an Eldorado waiting on him. He pulls up with one guitar,
says hi to the band, plays the gig and then leaves. His
legend proceeds him; you are nervous that halfway through
the show he is going to turn around and tell you to piss
off.
Jeb: He had no problem
doing that to Keith Richards.
Ricky: So what is he
going to do to me? He may tell me to sit down and let Skunk
play. You also don’t know what songs you are going to play.
I am going to take my iPod with me and listen to the
greatest hits on the road trip up there. You don’t know what
key he is going to play it in or how fast he is going to
play. He just kicks into the song. There is no set list.
Jeb: How long did it
take to sign up all the players?
Ricky: From the time
Simon called me it was like two months; it happened really
fast. There is going to be a comedian first and then some of
the guys from the original Boston are going to play and then
the all-star band comes on and plays for about 45-minutes. I
am going to sing a couple of songs and Simon is going to
play "All Right Now" and "Can’t Get Enough." I think Chuck
Leavell is going to do "Statesboro Blues" and "Honky Tonk
Woman." After we are done, Chuck is going to come on and we
are going to go through his set. The gig is on Sunday, April
13th at the Berklee Performance Center. One
hundred percent of the proceeds are going to the treatment
center.
Jeb: Do you feel
musicians have a need for a treatment center that’s focus is
on their addiction? Are they that different from the common
person?
Ricky: I think there
is a higher incident of musicians’ without health insurance.
Artists don’t have that on the top of their list. They need
to pay the rent and find the next gig. There are millions of
people without health insurance but I think the nature of
the beast of being a musician is unique. This is not for
just famous musicians’, it is for all who have problems with
alcohol and drugs. They don’t know where to turn and their
families don’t know how to handle it. It is an interesting
question. You have to think that musicians are up all night
playing in clubs and drugs are easy to get in the music
world. You hang out in clubs so it makes it a little more
difficult.
Jeb: Recovery places a
value on fellowship and being around other recovering
people. The musicians will have a strong bond with each
other.
Ricky: There will be
safe rooms in concerts in certain towns where everyone will
be totally sober. They can hang out in a safe environment.
When I was out with Joan Jett, before I got sober, it was
lunacy. When we went out with Aerosmith we were not even
allowed to have beer backstage.
Jeb: I am hoping this
will help a lot of people.
Ricky: There are a lot
of people out there who have still not seen the light. It is
amazing to me to see people my age and older who are still
out there rocking and are still drinking and doing blow
every night. Ike Turner just died from doing blow and he was
76 – that is ludicrous. The guy from Quiet Riot, Kevin
Dubrow, just died as well. He was only a little older than
me.
Jeb: What made you get
out of the party lifestyle?
Ricky: I was sick and
tired of being sick and tired. I had a moment of clarity. I
am a lucky guy because I didn’t go to rehab. I walked into
my first meeting on September 25, 1987 and have been sober
ever since. They were rough times. My main thing is boredom.
Every once and a while I miss not knowing where the night is
going to lead. It is not a matter of wanting to use but
sometimes you just get bored. It is a daily reprieve from
the illness that makes me want to do really bad things.
Jeb: You have to learn
that if you don’t want to be bored then you have to do
things that will lead to not being bored. You can’t live on
instant gratification anymore.
Ricky: You have to
entertain yourself. You have to be content with who you are
but you can’t be complacent. You have to find excitement in
your kid’s eyes – you have to learn where to look. Let’s
face it, nothing is going to be as large as playing Shea
Stadium and having a # 1 record. You have to be adult enough
to say, "That was then and things change." It is difficult
coming from that place. That is why we are looking at these
people like Britney Spears on TMZ every day. The Blackhearts
had their moment where we were playing these giant stadiums
and everyone was making a fuss over us. Once the gig is over
then you go back to this silent hotel room and your brain
doesn’t know how to take it. You start missing your family
but you know that you really want to be where you are at.
So, you start using to mask all your feelings and deal with
the reality of your situation. It is a terrible cycle.
Jeb: I would say you
were a better musician than you were in the Blackhearts.
Ricky: That is tough
one. I would say that I was a better guitar player than was
needed in that band. I am not taking anything away from them
because they are a great band but I think I do other things
that take me to other places. I love three-chord rock n’
roll but I wanted to do a lot of other things. When I would
play the blues then I would get some weird looks from them.
When I went into record the solo to "I Love Rock n’ Roll" I
kept recording solos and they kept chipping away at it until
I came up with that simple thing that is on the record. It
turned out to be a classic guitar break so where do you put
that one? I tore it down to the most minimal guitar break I
could do and it ended up becoming a classic guitar break.
Jeb: When your talent
level exceeds the music you are playing does that lead to
boredom?
Ricky: No, I was never
bored in that band. I had a great time. At the end when I
was ready to leave in order to do other things that I wanted
to do I would find myself standing on stage and start
daydreaming about other stuff. I knew it was time to leave
at that point because I knew it was not fair to Joan or the
band. My heart was not in it anymore. I got sober in 1987
and I left them in 1993. It changed at that time. I hated
being away from my family and things were a lot more clear.
It just didn’t do anything for my like it did when I was
using. I was grateful for it and I did some great gigs sober
but I was ready to go. I would find myself in the middle of
the set thinking, "I wonder what I am going to eat tonight."
It was time to go.
Jeb: Did you play
under the influence?
Ricky: I played
loaded. I smoked a lot of pot. Most of the other stuff was
left for before and after the shows. I got into the routine
of smoking a little pot before the show and after the show I
would drink a couple of Heineken’s and get on the bus and do
a bunch of blow and I would be up all night. I would not get
to sleep until two in the afternoon and then it was time to
get ready to go to the gig. Even when I was not loaded I was
loaded. I think only once or twice did I ever do blow right
before the show. It was horrible. I am a cocaine user who
needs more five minutes after he finishes so that was hard
to do. I only did that twice in twelve years.
Jeb: Did it bother you
to get up in front of a crowd sober?
Ricky: No, I don’t
have any problem with that at all. There is no doubt that
some amazing music was written when people were drunk and
high. A lot of books were written the same way. After a
while though it wears you out and it starts using you. A lot
of the music from the sixties was great and you have to ask
yourself if that music could have been written while sober.
The music really opens your mind. Just look at Hendrix’s
music. I know I am way better at everything now then when I
was using but that might be because I have been playing so
much longer. I am funny on stage and I am solid. We are all
still drunken sailors but we just don’t drink. The
personality is still there but I just don’t use.
Jeb: Is the charity
for Right Turn a way for you to give back?
Ricky: It is a way to
give back but it is also a good gig. I did a thing a year
ago in Washington, D.C. with Liberty Devitto and Nils
Lofgren and it was great. It is always a lot of fun.
Jeb: I want to end the
interview with one of your favorite subjects: Baseball. What
is up with Roger Clemens?
Ricky: I don’t really
give a shit about that. I never really thought much of him
other than the fact that he is an incredible pitcher. I have
never thought of him as a wonderful man. Derek Jeter is an
upstanding citizen. I think Andy Pettite made a couple of
mistakes.
The whole premise of
rock n’ roll was to be slightly on the illegal side and
slightly on the swashbuckling, pirate side. You expect rock
n’ rollers to be morons but these guys are supposed to be
role models – whether they think so or not. Baseball is
America’s pastime and they are supposed to be healthy and
live a certain lifestyle. They are also making a lot of
money to be role models.
It starts really early
when they are being scouted. Your peers are doing steroids
and they are getting bigger and stronger and performing
better. It is probably the same reason you smoked your first
joint. The kids have a lot of peer pressure and then they
have the pressure to get to the next level. The guys in the
majors are huge. Mickey Mantle used to go out and hit a home
run after being out all night with Billy Martin getting
drunk. They were all out of shape too.
I have a weird take on
baseball right now. It is not my business how much money
these guys make – I don’t have a dog in that race. I just
love going out to the stadium and watching them play. I even
love watching it on TV. It makes me feel like a
twelve-year-old and I need to feel like that. It brings back
memories of my dad or my grandparents taking me out to the
game. I don’t give a shit about the luxury box seats or any
of that. I mean, they are tearing down my stadium. They are
tearing down Yankee Stadium and that is ludicrous. Am I
going to watch it? Yes. I am not going to go there on the
last day and cry like the people did when the Dodgers left
Brooklyn.
Change is good and it
happens. We have more important things going on in this
world than Yankee Stadium getting torn down but it is like
that expression, "that’s going to leave a mark." A piece of
my heart is going to be broken because I grew up there. I
can close my eyes and remember walking along between the
concrete and concrete wall and it was really cool. It may be
ninety degrees outside but it is cool by that wall. And then
you come out and walk up that ramp and see that beautiful
green grass – nothing beats that shit.
