Speaking to “That Metal Show” co-host Eddie Trunk, Bass legend Billy Sheehan opens up about the ‘Eat ‘Em And Smile’ Band near-performance at Lucky Strike Live.
Blabbermouth reports:
“I had my bass out and was ready to go. And the fire marshal showed up and said, ‘We’re shutting it down.’ And there was a line… Already the place was overcrowded. It holds about five hundred people, five [hundred and] seventy legally. Sometimes they get six or seven [hundred] in there; they push it. There was about… They told me two thousand. I don’t know if there was two thousand in there or not, but it was just crazy. And it was dangerous, so I don’t think it was the wrong thing for the fire marshal to shut it down. They came in with the fire helmets, carrying gear, yelling at people to get out…”
Sheehan, Vai and Bissonette only found out “five to seven days” before the Lucky Strike Live date that Roth had agreed to join them on stage for what was supposed to be two songs: “Yankee Rose” and “Shyboy”. “We hadn’t heard back from [Dave] yet, so we had Ralph in there [ready to go], in case we we didn’t hear,” Billy said. “‘Cause we didn’t know if he would wanna do it at all; we hadn’t talked about it for a long time. So sure enough, finally out of nowhere, Dave says, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it. I’m in.’ [We went], ‘Great!’ So we thought, ‘Should we tell Ralph now? Because we don’t wanna stiff him.’ So we thought, ‘We hope he’ll understand.’ We waited for the night before and then explained to Chuck [Wright, QUIET RIOT bassist and founder of the Ultimate Jam Night free weekly show at Lucky Strike Live] what was going on. Nobody knew; nobody from the club knew Dave [was gonna show up at the venue].”
Billy continued: “So then all panic ensued. And I had to speak to somebody about it, ’cause we had to figure where to put Dave in the meantime, to surprise [the crowd by getting] him on stage. So we had to eventually talk with the people there, and then things started to slip out a little bit. But we wanted to do it in true Lucky Strike fashion — we just walk up on stage and play. No rehearsal, no soundcheck, no nothing. Just go up, plug in and go.”
Regarding the possibility of Roth and the “Eat ‘Em And Smile” band playing some concerts next year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the album’s release, Sheehan said: “We hope to do it. We don’t know if it will be just for one show. Maybe do… who knows? Rock In Rio, or do ten shows somewhere. And hoping to do it is not the same as planning to do it. We really hope it happens. And Dave was into it. And he was great [at Lucky Strike Live]. We had a great time [hanging out together]. It was just like the old days.”
Read the rest at Blabbermouth.
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