Walsh Helps Eagles Soar Again
His muscular electric guitar-playing and scintillating slide work turned out to be exactly what the band needed
Author: Michael Miller
Publication: Ottawa Citizen
Date: June 5, 2003
Abstract: Joe talks about topics such as the new Eagles' audience and why he joined the Eagles.
Joe Walsh is one of rock 'n' roll's most unlikely stars.
An ordinary, average guy who was born in Kansas and reared in Ohio, he rode to fame in the late 1960s with a band called the James Gang and soared even higher after joining the Eagles in 1976.
Life's been good to Joe ... so far.
"It's full circle, you know," Walsh said by phone from San Diego earlier this week.
"I've been rich a couple of times and famous a couple of times. Lived through it all -- much to my amazement."
An extraordinary guitarist and songwriter, Walsh won a legion of fans in the '70s with his fascinating fretwork and wacky sense of humor. Hits such as Rocky Mountain Way and Turn to Stone were always balanced by goofy tracks such as All Night Laundromat Blues and Theme From Boat Weirdos.
A clown prince of rock 'n' roll, Walsh was a serious party animal who got tips in guitar-playing from The Who's Pete Townshend and lessons in hotel room destruction from the late Keith Moon.
Clean and sober since 1994, Walsh is back touring with Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit in the Eagles.
"We're getting along really good," Walsh said of his sometimes combustible bandmates. "And everybody sleeps. That's one big difference between now and the old days. We don't stay up all night partying and stuff. That makes it easier."
Walsh has never taken life too seriously, and yet his music often carries an impressive artistic weight. A guitarist with immaculate phrasing and imagination, he has stoked the fires of countless teenage wannabes and provided some of the most recognizable solos played by air guitarists around the world.
"A lot of guys have beautiful women in front of 'em (at concerts)," said Walsh, 55. "I mostly have teenage guitar players watching my left hand. And grandmothers."
After attending Kent State University in Ohio for a couple of years and playing in bar bands, Walsh replaced guitarist Glenn Schwartz in the James Gang in 1969. The band recorded three studio albums and a live disc, and sold more than a million records. The James Gang toured with The Who for a year and scored hit singles with tunes such as Funk 49, Walk Away and Midnight Man.
In 1971, Walsh embarked on a solo career that caught fire in 1973 with the hit Rocky Mountain Way from the zanily titled album The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get. His solo career hit a commercial zenith in 1978 with the No. 1 hit Life's Been Good from the But Seriously, Folks album.
Between those two milestones, Walsh joined the Eagles when one of that band's founding members, Bernie Leadon, left because of artistic differences. (Leadon wanted to keep things countrified, but The Eagles wanted to rock.)
Walsh was the man for the job. He had tired of the rigors of a solo career and wanted others to help "share the load."
"(As a solo artist) you're kind of in charge of the hiring and firing, and there's a lot of nonmusical stuff that has to be decided by the boss," he said. "I had to write everything by myself, and I was feeling lonely and wanted the energy of being in a band again. Plus, they needed a guitar player pretty bad."
Walsh joined the band in February 1976, just as it was beginning work on its fifth studio album. His muscular electric guitar-playing and scintillating slide work turned out to be exactly what the Eagles needed. Ten months later, Hotel California was released to critical acclaim, and the rejuvenated Eagles flew to the top of the charts with songs such as Life in the Fast Lane, Victim of Love and the album's title track.
Walsh's guitar playing wasn't the only thing that helped re-invent the Eagles. His rambunctious sense of humour was a perfect fit between the laid-back, surfer-dude attitude of Frey and the serious social consciousness of Henley.
The Eagles were one of rock's biggest draws until their split in 1980. Then they surprised everyone by regrouping in 1994 and embarking on one of the biggest comebacks in rock history, the Hell Freezes Over tour.
Now they're on the road again, and much to the rock world's surprise, they're working on a new studio album that might be ready for a fall release.
"Every time we finish a tour, we swear we'll never do another one," Walsh said. "Every time we finish an album, we swear that's it. Now here we are going out again, and we're in the middle of a new record."
Walsh said new Eagles songs have both familiar sounds and unexpected experiments. The band is headed "out into the great unknown," he said.
"We have no idea what we're doing. We're just having a good time," he said. "That's exactly what we did with Hotel California, and that worked out pretty well."
Walsh is looking forward to the tour and introducing classic Eagles songs to a new generation. He said the band will play about three hours, and the set will include songs from his solo career as well as Henley's and Frey's solo hits.
"You can't play 'em all, but it's a good cross-section of our careers so far," he said. "It's still really fun to play live with these guys. Hotel California is still a challenge to perform the way it should be done.
"The audience is with us from the first note, and that makes it easier when everybody knows the words better than you do."
