Stan Lynch’s profession has had three acts: drummer with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, producer/songwriter for Don Henley, The Mavericks and extra. Now, at age 70, he’s a member of The Speaker Wars, whose hard-edged Americana sound provides the perfect of Lynch’s expertise and returns him to the package. “It’s good to have my previous job again,” he says.
We caught up with Lynch for a chat about every thing from studying the key of the groove to attending a Frank Sinatra live performance with Bob Dylan.
Was it in your plans, or did you ever count on, to be in one other band while you had been seventy?
I’ve had no plan my total life! The very last thing I keep in mind, I used to be enjoying at a topless bar and had a Volkswagen bus and 100 bucks. Then I keep in mind driving to Los Angeles once I was nineteen – similar Volkswagen bus, similar hundred bucks [laughs]. I simply permit myself to remain busy, and journey and fall into the following joyful factor. That’s what The Speaker Wars is.
How did you study concerning the all-important groove as a drummer?
Within the Heartbreakers, Tom at all times stated: “We gotta get the texture, Stan.” Our first producer, Denny Cordell, was the identical. He took me to a Bob Marley & The Wailers live performance, and Marley was hypnotising the room. Denny stated: “That’s what a groove is.” Denny additionally had a Ferrari Daytona. He’d say: “Get in and drive. Now, gun it! You’re feeling that? That’s the groove.”
Don Henley helped to launch your second act, as a producer-songwriter.
He invited me into his world of how he creates songs. He’s a poet, and a badass. He sees the world by way of a filter that’s actually divine. He stated: “Stan, a tune has to work from the neck up and the waist down.” Nice recommendation.
Are you able to inform us about while you and Bob Dylan went to see a Frank Sinatra present?
The Heartbreakers had been on tour with Bob, and I had tickets to see Frank and Sammy Davis. Nobody wished to go, besides Bob. There’s Bob within the second row, sporting his Unabomber sweatshirt, hiding as greatest he can. Through the break, somebody got here as much as me as a result of they figured I should be Bob’s bodyguard, and stated: “Come by the dressing room. Frank and Sammy need to say hello.” I requested Bob. He made the right face, and stated: “No, let’s get the fuck out of right here!” He was at all times this glorious contrarian, flying in his personal environment. Fearless and brave, the baddest rock star I ever had the pleasure of backing up.
When was the final time you noticed Tom Petty earlier than he died?
On the Corridor Of Fame induction. I used to be actually the odd man out at that time. However I wasn’t going to let that cease me telling Tom how a lot he meant to me, what a distinction all these cats made in my life. I needed to actually seize him by the again of the shirt to inform him I beloved him. Tom set me up for an entire life in music.
Do you’re feeling a way of function in preserving rock’n’roll music alive?
It’s the one music I do know. You set me behind the drums, I’ve a really slim lane. It’s going to sound just like the Heartbreakers or The Speaker Wars. I’m not likely frightened about being a flag bearer. I’m extra: “That is what I do. That is what’s enjoyable!”
The Speaker Wars is out now through Frontiers Information.
