Where Eagles Dare

Comfortably slouched on a couch in a luxurious penthouse suite on the twelfth floor of Chicago’s Ritz Carlton Hotel, Eagles’ guitarist Joe Walsh is considering the strangeness of life on the road – and, indeed, life in general.

“Some philosopher once said that when you live your life it’s like a nuclear reaction going all the time. You know, random atoms smashing into other atoms – anarchy and chaos and confusion and nothing makes sense. And that’s how you live: a day at a time.”
Tall, broad and long-haired, the amiable 62-year-old – whose high-pitched stoner voice sounds comically like Family Guy’s Stewie – looks remarkably fresh for a man who played a three-hour show in front of 16,000 adoring baby-boomers in the city’s Sears Centre last night. Truth be told, if even half the stories of his legendary hedonism can be believed, he looks far better than he should. Walsh has seen more than his share of anarchy, chaos and confusion over the years, but it’s probably fair to say that some of the most anarchic, chaotic and confused of them all were those he spent with The Eagles back in their late ‘70s heyday.
On the flight over from Dublin yesterday, your Hot Press correspondent opened Jay Cowen’s new biography of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson and was surprised to see Walsh’s name mentioned in the opening chapter.
A smile crosses Walsh’s face as he examines the book: “Hunter? I hung out with him one time at the Jerome in Aspen, that bar he used to frequent. From what I remember, we talked for a while and... well, um he told me I had nice tits! (laughs) I didn’t mind, but that was the one profound thing, I think, that I remember from our meeting. And, he was out there, and wonderful, and brash, and opinionated, and all kinds of things all at once. Scary guy.”
It wasn’t all about the partying, though. The Kansas-born musician was already a successful solo artist when he joined the mega-selling California act as Bernie Leadon’s replacement in 1976. He’s credited with steering the band away from their early country-style work towards a harder-edged sound, and also with co-writing the FM classic ‘Life In The Fast Lane’ with Eagles’ founders Glenn Frey and Don Henley.
While Eagles enjoyed massive critical and commercial success, it’s no secret that they didn’t particularly enjoy each others company back then. “Oh yeah,” he chuckles. “We were the most dysfunctional band ever. We used to really go at each other.”
Following the band’s highly acrimonious break-up in 1980, caused by cocaine-fuelled “creative differences” between Frey and Henley, Walsh continued as a solo artist, recording several albums and touring and playing with everyone from Ringo Starr to Dr. John during the ‘80s. However, he maintains that solo careers bring a lot of added pressure: he was relieved when Eagles eventually reformed.
“A solo career’s great for the ego but after three years you’re kind of burned,” he says. “There’s lot of non-musical things come along with it. You know, you’re the boss. You’re in charge of hiring and firing. You have to write all the material. Everybody says, ‘Oh you’re absolutely right, Mr Walsh,’ because they don’t want to be fired! (laughs) And when you try and do it all yourself and try and write all the music yourself, you can get kind of stagnant.
“It’s a more creative environment to be in a group and do it together. And that’s what we’ve all come back to. It just feels better. And we’re kind of like Grumpy Old Men now, kind of like Jack Lemmon and Walther Matthau. We’d just rather be together because the chemistry is still there. And we’ve been through every trip a band can be through so we just put up with each other.”
After 14 years on hostile hiatus, the band finally reunited in 1994 for a hugely successful reunion tour and live album, Hell Freezes Over (so named because an aggrieved Glen Frey had publicly stated that they’d only get back together “when hell freezes over!”). Around the same time, Walsh finally checked into rehab, cleaned up his act and went on the wagon. He’s been clean and sober ever since.
“You know it hasn’t been that tough,” he reflects. “I took it as far as I could without life-threatening results. And my bottom was really low. And that makes it easier. When you have a high bottom, sometimes the drink will start to seem like a really good idea. But my last two-and-a-half years was horrible beyond my wildest dreams, and I couldn’t believe that it went into a downward spiral after just being a functioning drunk for all those years. It just got really horrible, so I was pretty much done and I have a new life and I learned how to do rock ’n’ roll sober, which I didn’t think was possible. So that’s good.”
But... is it better?
“Yeah, I think for the last trimester of my life, I think it’s better. But I don’t have a whole lot of regrets. I had a great time (laughs). There was ten years in there when it was okay. We were all nuts. I’m really glad to have had those friends and those experiences. But I’m glad I’m done with it.”
Although The Eagles have made, and continue to make, a fortune playing their golden oldies for affluent stadium crowds (tickets for last night’s sold-out show cost $220), it wasn’t until 2007 that the band finally went back into studio and released a new album – the multi-platinum selling Long Road Out Of Eden. Featuring 30 new songs, some critics carped that it was somewhat overloaded.
“It could have been a single CD,” he admits. “In retrospect, maybe that might have been better. But after really working hard to get these songs written and finished, as we were about two-thirds done, all of a sudden we started writing more songs. They just started coming. And so we had to record those too ’cos we were excited about them, and then we ended up with too many songs for a single CD. And we really didn’t know which ones to pick and which ones not to pick.
“We worked on that for a long time. And we were too far into it to really have an overview of what the complete statement should be. Now, looking back, it could probably have been a single CD album, but I mean, we had a lot of songs and we really wanted people to get their money’s worth so we just threw it all on there and – play the ones you like!”
What are the creative dynamics of Eagles these days?
“It’s a democratic dictatorship!” he laughs. “If three heads are nodding ‘yes,’ that’s usually what happens. As far as I’m concerned, it’s Don and Glen’s band. They’re the original guys and I knew that going in. I really respect the decisions they’ve made in terms of musical content, and business. And they’ve always looked out for me, so I’m not in a hurry to jump in there and be in the middle of all the decisions. They’ll bounce stuff off me, ‘What do you think about this?’ or ‘Is that okay with you?’ But we don’t fight and argue trying to decide policy or music direction.”
Is Long Road... going to be the last-ever Eagles album, or are you tempted now to record another one? “Well every time I say ‘definitely this’, or ‘definitely that’, whatever that is it’s not that what happens,” he smiles. “So who knows?”

Last time Eagles played Ireland, rumour was that the band members weren’t speaking to each other. They flew on separate planes, travelled in different cars, stayed in different hotels. Today, at least, they’re all staying in the same building. Half an hour later, Hot Press is ushered into another penthouse suite two stories up to meet bassist Timothy B. Schmit.
Shockingly youthful, Schmit is the only member of Eagles who’s originally Californian (though, through his Derry-born wife, he recently became an Irish citizen). He’s feeling pretty tired. These days Eagles tend to tour month on/month off. “We’ve got two more shows to do on this tour and that’s it for another month,” he says. “We don’t normally do more than two shows in a row, either. We usually need a day off after that.”
Is that an age thing or did you always do it like that?
“Part of it is age, I’m not going to fool myself. But, you know, we put on a long, energetic show so we have to refuel and rest up so we can do it again.”
Do you have a healthy lifestyle?
“I would say so. I’m not a vegetarian but I really watch what I eat. I do my rituals, I’ve been doing yoga for years and I take long walks and I try to eat… you know I don’t eat a lot of fried foods and I’m non-dairy, and stuff like that.”
Do you hang out together much when you’re not touring?
“Us? Together? Not that much, no,” he shakes his head. “We’re all older and have families. My youngest is eighteen, but the other guys have young kids, you know, as well as teenagers. So we are all very busy. We’re not with them when we’re out here, so we have to be – and we want to be – with our families when we’re not touring. And we see enough of each other out here. We’re not young, mean, hungry musicians hanging out smoking cigarettes and drinking together anymore, you know. But that’s fine, that’s the way it should be. It would be kind of pitiful if we were that way, if you think about it.”
Although Schmit looks very much like a rock star, you’d be hard-pressed to tell which band he belonged to. Which is just the way he likes it.
“We’re kinda low key,” he admits. “Don and Glen never really did a lot of press even before I was in the band; they didn’t do any appearances that weren’t important in some ways. I was at a hotel once, for instance, where there was a ton of paparazzi outside. Now, they weren’t waiting for me. In fact, I walked right by them, no problem. They were waiting for somebody else, and when they spotted them they were like vultures. And I was really happy that I didn’t have to live that way.”
Did you ever have to live that way?
“When my son was about five years old and we were in the supermarket together, and somebody came up to me and asked me for my autograph, something clicked and he says, ‘Daddy, are you famous?’ and I said, ‘I’m famous to some people’. So when people ask me is it a hassle, you know, I’m not Paul McCartney or Elton John. I get recognised just enough to feed my ego and not enough to be a big hassle.”
Have the egos within the band fizzled out?
“Well, listen – the reason why I guess anyone gets on stage is really ‘Look at me!’ You know, right? Like a little kid who says ‘Daddy, Daddy, look at me. Look what I can do!’ That’s what it is, ultimately. But it has evolved into something bigger. It’s what we do. Sure it’s very lucrative and I’m not going to discount that. But it’s also what we do. I mean, what else are we going to do?”
When I mention former member Don Felder’s vitriolic memoir of his time with the band, Heaven And Hell, Schmit laughs it off. “I’ve never read Don Felder’s book. Actually, I skimmed some of it and thought it was like, ‘Who cares?’ You know, okay, fine.”
Would it be something you’d want to do yourself?
“Em, some people have said, ‘You know, you should write your memoirs’. I actually think it’s not that interesting. I don’t have anything that might turn heads, good or bad. I just have been working as a musician for many, many years – from high-school. And that’s what I do, and that’s what I love to do, and I have a fairly sane personal life.”
Indeed, Schmit is the one Eagle who seems to have fully embraced monogamy. “I celebrated my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary two nights ago,” he tells me proudly. “And it’s good. It’s still real tight. I try and read some of those books and they just make me yawn. I suppose there’s a small market for it, but in general it’s like, who cares?”
What’s been the most Spinal Tap-ish moment of the Eagles career?
“My wife was actually in Spinal Tap!” he laughs. “She was in the first five minutes. She’s the blonde groupie right in the front. That’s a Spinal Tap-ish moment! And I got to sing on their second album. That movie was so right-on in so many ways… I don’t even know if I should say this or not… at the beginning of this tour, of this leg, I’ll say it … Can you see, like a little red stain here? (Points to his mouth) I had a little sore on my mouth and I went like, ‘God, it’s going to look five feet across on the video screen,’ and then, when I got in the plane to see everybody, they said, ‘How are you doing?’ ‘Oh I’m good, except I got the Spinal Tap disease!’ Remember they all had these things on their mouths!”
Speaking of movies, it’s rumoured that Stillwater, the overblown rock band in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous, was modelled on Eagles.
“Yeah, I was actually Cameron’s first interview for Rolling Stone. I told him when I saw him, probably a year later – I’m not real close, I don’t keep in constant contact with him but we’re friendly – I told him that the movie was a mind-blower that it was really great, but I can’t ever watch it again! (laughs).”
Some of the other guys have appeared in TV shows and movies.
“I was in a movie, I think that went direct to video – it was a really bad movie about a rock band. I loved doing it. I discovered I’m not a natural actor. I’ve always felt I’d wanted to be in the movies but I would have had to study. But it was fun.”
Do you know a lot of actors?
“You live in Los Angeles you see them in the market, you know. Or old rock idols and stuff, you know. I see Frankie Valli! I see him in my market! You know, ‘Hey, Frankie.’ ‘Hey, how you doing?’ But, yeah, most of my friends are artistic people, but not necessarily musicians or actors.”
The Eagles were very much a common man’s band in their heyday, writing memorable songs about everyday concerns. Is that more difficult with a credit crunch going on and a lot of people experiencing stuff that you’re never going to experience?
“Em, I don’t know yet. My wife, who is my best companion and friend, she’s a really great inspiration for a lot. And I’m not just talking about love songs, she’s an interesting person. I get a lot from her. I think Henley’s the guy… he’s the Bono of the band, right. Not that he can’t write a great love song, he has written some of the best, but he takes the broader view – society, politics, climate, and he puts it together in a form that’s something to really think about. Glen said in the Rolling Stone magazine that if it weren’t for Henley we would be Air Supply. I thought that was a brave comment.”

There’s a major blizzard heading towards Kansas. Given that it means he’ll have to vacate his penthouse in about 20 minutes, Eagles founder Glen Frey is pretty pissed off (any chance of face-to-face time with Don Henley is also scuppered). “Today was supposed to be a day off,” he sighs, shaking my hand warmly. “I was supposed stay here in Chicago, go out for fabulous Italian food at one of my favourite restaurants. Now we gotta get into Kansas City before the weather for tomorrow’s show. So we’re all leaving after this interview.”
Before we get going, I fill Frey in on the details of the Sharon ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ Collins trial. “Wow!” he goes. “Did she actually off the guy? No? Well, that’s a new one on me. That’s funny though. As in strange. Oh jeez, I gotta tell Don.”
Small and silver-haired, Frey is probably the most recognisable member of the band – thanks to a moderately successful sideline in acting during the band’s ‘80s hiatus. Most notably, he starred in an episode of Miami Vice based around his song ‘Smuggler’s Blues’.
“I never really actively pursued any acting jobs. It’s all been a matter of timing. It was just fortuitous that ‘Smuggler’s Blues’ and my video was on MTV and the song was successful at the same time that Miami Vice was becoming successful on NBC.
“Michael Mann, the guy that produced Miami Vice, called up and said, ‘we’d like to do an episode based on your song. Would you come in for a meeting?’ So that’s how that happened. Then of course, I became friends with Don Johnson. You know, it’s funny then that years later he had his own series called Nash Bridges and he called up again and asked if I wanted to come up to San Francisco for four, five, six days and do an episode. And I said, ‘Sure. Sounds like fun’ But it’s always been, the phone rings and they say, ‘Hey, we want you’.”
You’re also the inspiration for the Russell character (played by Billy Crudup) in Almost Famous.
“Well, Cameron said that a lot of that character was based on me and things he knew about me, which is very flattering. I’m glad about that. That’s was nice.”
Have you mellowed out a lot?
“Oh certainly. Our lifestyles have changed dramatically since the crazy days of the seventies and eighties, Life in the Fast Lane. You know, that seemed… it was appropriate at the time in a lot of ways but not something you want to continue, not a road you want to stay on as you get older. I still enjoy a glass of red wine at dinner. That’s really about as radical as I go. I have a beer after a round of golf. But no, I’m not a partier by any means. And definitely no drugs.”
Frey is quite the comedian onstage. Last night in the Sears Centre he introduced several songs with quips (“I’d like to dedicate this song to my first wife... Plaintiff!”; “I’m originally from Detroit – a city where ‘mother’ is only half a word”).
“Well, I’ve developed a sort of a self-deprecating sense of humour onstage. I think it relaxes the audience for them to know that you’re not so serious about the show tonight. I mean, I’m serious when we’re playing the songs, I want the performances to be good, if I’m singing lead I want to give a good reading of the song that night. Emotion. In-tune. Heartfelt. But I think the fans enjoy a little bit of humour, a glimpse that we are something besides ‘those serious Eagles’.”
Are you thinking of doing another album?
“Well, we have 14-18 months of a cycle left. We’re coming to Europe; we haven’t played the Northwest in the United States; we haven’t played California and the Southwest yet; we haven’t played Japan, Asia, Australia, New Zealand. So it’ll probably last 14 to 18 months more and then we’ll get on the phone, me and Don and Irving (Azoff, Eagles manager) and say, ‘Well, what next? Should we go back in the studio? I’ve learned, every time I think that things are going to go a certain way, the Eagles surprise me. So it’ll all be about how Don and I feel about whether we want to go back in the studio and do the work or not.”
How do you feel about playing songs that you wrote twenty or twenty-five years ago?
“I always remind myself that there are people in the audience who have been waiting years to see me sing this song in person. So, even though ‘Take it Easy’ is a song from 1972, it’s important that I sing the song – first of all for myself, so I know that I just didn’t casually walk though it and didn’t give a shit. And then secondly, it’s really for the audience, they’re the ones that have been looking forward to seeing you play and sing this song.
“We want to be proud of our work. You know I think we’re gratified and somewhat satisfied now that we are actually able to go into the studio and make a good record. So that’s something that can’t be taken away from us. And the other thing is we are still performing at a very high level. It’s not like they’re bringing us out in wheelchairs and we can’t really hit the notes, and people are saying, ‘You should have seen them in the 70s’. We’re actually better now.”