The Lockdown Interviews
FEE
80 minute long free music compilations featuring intriguingly mixed rock and rock-based music . Satisfying musical appetites around the globe since 2005
20 illinoisentertainer . com march 2021
WAYBILL
Y
es , it ’ s true , sighs former Tubes frontman Fee Waybill . An artist should err on the side of caution in these current post-pandemic days , perhaps waiting until we ’ ve safely sailed through this storm to drop new-release anchor again finally . All his showbiz buddies thought so , at least , and they told him over and over , upon learning that he ’ d just finished recording his latest solo effort , Fee Waybill Rides Again , his first in 24 years , cut with his longtime chum and songwriting / production collaborator and Chicagoan Richard Marx . “ When the whole coronavirus thing came down in the middle of March , my friends were going , ‘ You shouldn ’ t release this record now — you should wait until the pandemic is over ,’” says the still-coliseum-throated vocalist , who was justifiably proud of new anthems like “ Faker ,” “ Promise Land ,” and “ Meant to Be Alone .” “ And I just went , ‘ No , man — I can ’ t do it . And I think it ’ s a good time because people are stuck at home with nothing to do . So why not give ‘ em some new music ? Give ‘ em a little joy to brighten their day . I saw it as something totally different , something that could really help with this monotony , with this whole quarantine we ’ re going through .”
But Waybill has an unusually strong work ethic , having started as a gear-lugging roadie for pre-Tubes outfit The Beans , long before the theatrical San Francisco ensemble issued its eponymous Al-Kooper produced debut on A & M in 1975 , introducing the world to campy classics like “ White Punks on Dope ” along with Waybill ’ s equally out-there stage persona Quay Lewd . By 1976 , the ensemble had followed it up with its definitive * Young and Rich , with its even droller flagship single “ Don ’ t Touch Me There .” Besides , he adds , what else did he have to do ? “ I live in L . A . now , in the Hollywood Hills with my wife , and I ’ m out in the back yard pulling weeds in my spare time !”
IE : Perhaps it ’ s quarantine cabin fever kicking in , but my Illinois Entertainer editor swears that the magazine staff actually played The Tubes in a softball game when they hit Chicago on an- ‘ 80s tour . FEE WAYBILL : We did ! It ’ s true ! I don ’ t know if other bands did things like that , but we did , back in the tours of the early ‘ 80s . And we actually had a Tubes softball team in San Francisco , The Tubesox . But everybody used to play softball back then . And I used to play fast-pitch softball — I ’ d been a ballplayer my whole life , and my dad started Little League in Scottsdale , Arizona , so I was playing ball when I was eight years old . And I played all the way through high school , and then I moved to San Francisco , and I started playing fastpitch softball there , and sometimes we ’ d play other bands in town . Bill Graham used to have a softball team , and we would play them just for the heck of it . And then we thought , “ Well , let ’ s do this as a promotional thing on Tubes tours !” And we used to have our own Tubesox uniforms , too . And the girls would play , and we ’ d play a kind of slow-pitch , easy , let- ‘ em-hit-the-ball kind of softball game . And we did it with radio stations and papers , and usually , if we were in town a day early , we ’ d set up a game and use it as a promotional tour for the show . We ’ d get a radio station to have a live remote from the softball field or something , or have the newspaper do a big story about us . It was a big thing for us .
IE : What other Bay Area bands had teams ? Your drummer Prairie Prince I could picture at-bat . But not Journey . FW : No . Journey wasn ’ t involved . And Bill ’ s softball team was all employees — it wasn ’ t other bands . But it wasn ’ t weird . We always let the girls play , and we would take pictures with all the radio stations . But I remember once , we were in Cleveland , Ohio , and we played a softball game against the Cleveland Indians , the actual baseball team . Yeah . That happened . But it was a lot of fun , and we had a great time . And we used to make tours fun , you know ? We would bring our golf clubs on tour and play golf on our days off , or have a softball game , or just go to the movies . We took our fun seriously .
By Tom Lanham
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