LESLIE WEST
(Q)-Please state your name place and date of birth.
(A)-Leslie West. I was born October 22, 1945. I was born in Queens, New York.
(Q)-Do you feel that you’ve been on a long journeyman’s walk, with your pursuit of the craft and art of playing blues and rock guitar? And, is that an ongoing work, one which you continue each time you venture into a new project?
(A)-I would go along with most of that.
(Q)-Does that journey continue to this day with the music on new, “Eruption” disc?
(A)-The “Eruption” disc…..the label (FUEL 2000) had gotten the show from the Ritz in New York and we’d been in Europe quite a bit in the last four years and somebody had given me the concert from Belgium, and I thought the playing was really good. To me, when I listen to live show, that’s the most important thing, besides the sound. When I listen to a (recording of) live show, I ask the question, “How’s the playing?”. And, I thought there was some really good stuff on there. There were some new songs from our “Mystic Fire” album on there as well. What I wanted above all was to make sure that all the songs worked. Somehow when it works, it is very easy. I have gotten to the point where I’m playing guitar more now, then when I was with Mountain.
(Q)-Why?
(A)-I don’t know if I’ve gotten better or if people are just now acknowledging it.
(Q)Any interesting recording projects you’ve been working on with recording artist’s you toured with in the Sixties?
(A)-Yeah. This summer (August 2004) when we were on tour and I got a call from Sharon Osbourne’s office. I was told that Ozzy was doing this album called, “Songs That I’d Wish I Wrote”. Ozzy wanted me to come to his house, he was recording this album with these songs and he wanted me to play (guitar) on, “Mississippi Queen”, while he sang it. Luckily we were on tour and the tour bus was in LA and when she called our office back in New York. We had the next day off in Hollywood. So I went out to the house and I did the (recording) session.
(Q)-How did the recording session for that particular song, turn out?
(A)-It’s a little bit different version then the original version of “Mississippi Queen”. It’s a little heavier, they dropped the key a little bit and it was quite an experience for me.
(Q)-Why?
(A)-Because on Black Sabbath’s first tour,(1969) they opened for Mountain. It’s funny. Our agent back then said, “Well we have this group that we’d like to have open for Mountain, they’re called Black Sabbath.” And I said, “What do they sound like?” and our agent said, “Well, they’re very dark.” Then when I saw them (live, in concert), I just fell in love with them. We must have done 100 and some odd shows with Black Sabbath as the support act for Mountain. Then we played so many dates with Black Sabbath as our opening act that they started to explode. By the time the tour got to Houston, Black Sabbath was selling as many tickets as we were.
(Q)- Did Ozzy recall that important USA (1969)tour opening for Mountain when you worked with him recently on the recording sessions for the new version of “”Mississippi Queen”?
(A)-Yes. He certainly did. When I talked to Ozzy about all of those dates after I did the session with him, he remembered everything. It’s amazing. The memory is still there. At one point on that tour, we were snowbound and we got stuck in Detroit for like four days. It was just them and us in a hotel for four days, wreaking the place. It was really a fun time. The thing about all of this is, for all of this time, we’ve really remained friends. Some people, I guess are on that (journeyman’s walk) walk too. Ozzy is one of them. Some people you cannot see for thirty years and then you do see them and it’s like you just saw them, only a month ago. Even though it was thirty years ago.
(Q)-So the years of work, as a guitarist and performer, have now become more fulfilling to you on a personal level?
(A)-Yes. I’m enjoying it more and I don’t think I need to prove anything anymore. So I can just play.
(Q)-You influenced a generation of guitarists, There is even a story that you even had your own school to teach others how to play guitar. Is that story true?
(A)-Yes. That is true. One of the editors at “Guitar Player” magazine said that I should start a school. All of a sudden I had 500 students and I didn’t know what to do with them! I had to give like 400 students away.
(Q)-Did the school for teaching guitar have an “official name”? Where and when did this take place?
(A)-It was called, “Leslie West Guitar”, in New York City in 1978 or 1979. I didn’t charge by the lesson, I think it was $1,000 for like ten half-hour sessions. So here I was, I started a school and all of a sudden, I had five hundred students! I didn’t know what to do with them. I had to give like 400 of them away. The trouble was, I had loads of students but it took them like two, maybe three sessions with me, before they’d get over this stage fright.
(Q)-The song, “Theme for an Imaginary Western”, is a Mountain classic. The new version, on the live album, captures the spark that carried the original song.
(A)-Michael Schenker just recorded “Theme for an Imaginary Western”, on his latest album and he played the solo. He wanted me to play the solo with him, so I didn’t want to play the same thing that I played the first time, so I played slide guitar. It really came out great.
(Q)-What band influenced you as a guitarist?
(A)- Cream was my group. It’s funny, now on this tour, I do a special part of the show, where we do a tribute to Cream, by doing three or four of their songs. That is the reason why I play like I do.
(Q)-What about your influence and friendship with Van Halen’s guitarist, Eddie Van Halen? Eddie has stated you were a major influence.
(A)-Van Halen used to do Mountain songs when they first started out. I think Eddie Van Halen is absolutely the greatest. When Eddie came along at the time, rock guitar was dead. And, all of a sudden with his sense of melody and his sheer talent, rock guitar was once again at the forefront. The first time I saw Eddie Van Halen play live, I was blown away. I believe that he’s responsible with the force that Michael Jackson had with the song, “Beat It”.
(Q)-Why?
(A)-Because Michael Jackson had a record that, all of a sudden, had a real guitar player on it. By Eddie Van Halen playing guitar on Michael Jackson’s song, “Beat It’, he (Eddie) changed everything.
(Q)-Back to Mountain. In the late Sixties into the early Seventies, Mountain was not heavily promoted as a singles band.
(A)-No. The record company wanted more singles, but we were not a singles band. We had album cuts, but we didn’t have a lot of singles.
(Q)-In one aspect, Mountain simply was about great live performances.
(A)-I think the first year we were together, we did, in the first year alone, 260 one-night shows. It was a lot of work. While we were only together for three, maybe four years, it seems like we were together for a lot longer then we actually were. We played the really great shows back then too. We were making the circuit and playing shows that really were important dates.
(Q)-So the formula for success was simple. After Mountain came to town and played live, the next day at the local record stores, albums by Mountain sold at a brisk pace.
(Q)-Yeah.
(Q)-All without elaborate radio promotions.
(A)-Word of mouth and playing all those really big shows, was what did it for Mountain. We played, “Big Shows”.
(Q)-Such as?
(A)-Woodstock. The Atlanta Pop Festival. Big shows in Memphis, Texas, Detroit and Chicago. I remember doing all of them. These were shows in front of tens of thousands of people. While the times were hectic, I remember seeing thousands and thousands of people at those really big shows. The venues themselves had every group you can think of on the show. The shows were all day and weekend shows. There are shows like that now but not as many groups are on the bill, like back then.
(Q)-Was there a sense of competitive spirit with the other acts Mountain shared the stage with during that era?
(A)-No. You just go out and do your thing man. If it came out good, then great. Some nights you were good. Some nights you were not so good. That’s the way it was when you play this kind of music. You don’t play the same way every night. You kind of roll the dice. Sometimes when it’s great, it’s incredible. Sometimes when it sucks, it really sucks. You could play a song too long or you wouldn’t stop the song when you should have, that’s the way that was. With Mountain today, we do more songs and less jamming. But back then, that’s the way it was.
(Q)-Is the experience somewhat like walking a tightrope each and every night?
(A)-Yes. Richie Blackmore(Deep Purple guitarist)calls it,”Doing the wobble”.
(Q)-What is Mountain working on for 2005?
(A)-We have a good touring schedule. In the last four years since we’ve got this back together, it’s been great.
(Q)-Are you seeing a younger generation of fans. as well as the loyal Mountain fans, coming out for your concert dates?
(A)-Yes.
(Q)-What is it like for you to see the two generations attending the shows?
(A)-We have a lot of young fans coming out to the shows and it is just great. I think a lot of it has to do with my relationship with (USA media personality.) Howard Stern. I was the Musical Director on one of his shows and he used to have a TV show and I did the show quite a bit. He has a pretty young audience so people got turned on to Mountain. I mean I think Richie Blackmore said that Mountain was, “The First American Heavy Metal Group”. Even though it was just hard rock to me. So, we have a good following around the world and that’s great.