But if they do like it, they will do everything to make it work. The tape I sent over was drastically different then the music that was popular at the time. In order to make it all work you have to have someone at the label that really gets what you’re all about, and truly cares for and believes in your music. Now, you can’t blame a record company for a situation like this. Later we got a call from Business Affairs who said not only do they want to change the deal and give me only half of what the contract advance should have been, but they were just going to put this record out and not promote it. We called and they said they lost the tape or never received it, so we sent another. Now, you could literally almost see Capitol Records from my house so I sent Pam (my sister and secretary at the time) over with a cassette and she put it right on their desk. He not only didn’t know I was signed to the label, but he didn’t even know who I was. I was introduced to Simon Potts over the phone. Coming and going, going and coming, fired and hired and always expected to do a better job than the previous person. The A&R person is usually the liaison between the artist and the label, the one that works with the artist giving creative and and emotional support.īy the way, it’s really quite amusing how people are always moving from one company to the another so swiftly in the record industry. A&R stands for, among other things, Artist Relations. The A&R guy assigned to me was Simon Potts. I called Capitol Records to tell them I was ready to turn in the record and finally get paid but the entire staff had turned around again and now Joe Smith was no longer the President. The record was finished between completing the guitar parts for the Whitesnake record and doing the Whitesnake tour. I was reaching into that secret part of the brain that we all go to for inspiration, and was curious as to if I could make those visions an audible reality.Īfter parting ways with Roth, I was determined to finish this record. I enjoyed the music I was doing with Dave but he and I started moving in different directions and I felt like there was a larger, other world of music to explore. The concepts were bubbling over and driving me crazy. He rewrote the deal for a substantially better offer. He seemed very enthusiastic about getting a record from me but also understood the DLR situation. I went back to Capitol Records to inform them of the additional delay but by then their entire staff had changed and the President of Capitol was now Joe Smith. I was thrilled at the idea of having a label push my record and I started to work on it, but shortly after that I joined the David Lee Roth band and the solo record was put on hold.Īfter many delays, I would sneak a few hours in here and there on the recording but I was losing focus so I shelved it and concentrated on the Roth band.
Most of the record company was at the gig and after the show the President of the label, Don Grearson, asked me if I would like to make a solo record for Capitol. We were signed to Capitol Records at the time.
As fate would have it, I was touring with Alcatrazz and we were doing this gig at the Country Club in Reseda, California. Sketches and concepts for the overview started as early as 1982. This album was summed up pretty well in Guitar Player magazine as “the mother load.” It took many years to make, considering that I started before even joining David Lee Roth.
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