"Hollywood Vampires" session

From Rolling Stone, March 5, 2015:

[…] A few years ago, McCartney briefly revived the song onstage with his band, but he’s rarely sung or played it since 1969. But according to Perry, little prep was necessary for the Vampires session. Showing up at the studio with his regular drummer, Abe Laboriel Jr., McCartney had not only already picked out the song — a tribute to Badfinger members Pete Ham and Tom Evans, who each committed suicide — but was ready to go. “I was joking with him and said, ‘You probably wrote this in 20 minutes,’” says Perry, who had met but never worked with McCartney before. “And he said, ‘Actually, I was in bed sleeping and I knew they needed a song for this band we signed, and I went downstairs and played it on the piano and then went to Abbey Road an hour before the rest of the [Beatles], played all the instruments, made the demo and gave [Badfinger, then called the Iveys] the song.’”

As Perry and the others watched, McCartney effortlessly revived his 46-year-old tune. “He knew all the chords, the lyrics, everything,” Perry says. “He didn’t have any cheat sheets. It was like he’d been playing it his whole life. Me and Alice and Johnny were standing there and looking at each other and I tell you — if there’s any ego-lever in a room, it’s Paul. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. If Paul’s in the room, he’s there. It was hard to focus on playing.” Cooper and McCartney wound up sharing the lead vocals on the song, Perry says. […]

From ABC News Radio, August 25th 2015:

[…] “We were really grateful to have him come in and cut the track,” he maintains. “I mean, for all of us, it was like, ‘Holy s***, we’re actually doing a session with Paul McCartney….I mean, talk about an ego leveler.“

Perry adds that during the session, which was done live in the studio, he, Depp and Cooper “were looking at each other like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’“

Joe tells ABC Radio that, like many other musicians who grew up during the 1960s, he credits The Beatles with inspiring his career path.

“I remember watching them on [The] Ed Sullivan [Show] when I was 14…I mean, that why I’m doing what I’m doing today,” he points out. “And to have [McCartney] just strolling in like any [of the] other cats that played on [the album] was really amazing. I still can’t believe it.“

Perry also says he always thought “Come and Get It” was “a really good tune,” but getting to “play it live with the guy who wrote it, and a Beatle was, like, stunning.” […]

From Blabbermouth.net, Joe Perry about recording with Paul McCartney:

It was fascinating to watch how he worked, that it was taken for granted that we would just play live in the studio, all of us as a group, as opposed to one guy playing and then another guy playing. The way he went about it , he was very friendly about the whole thing, very focused and very… I hate to say ‘old school,’ but the kind of recording I believe is the best recording, which is get it live in the studio. And I asked him about the left-handed/right-handed guitar-playing thing. And he said, ‘You know, that’s a good question.’ Because he plays left-handed. And I’m left-handed and I play right-handed. And I didn’t have any examples to go, ‘That guy plays left-handed, so that’s how you can do it.’ I just took the instruction from the little 45 that came with the student guitar, and it said, ‘Put the neck here, and put the pick here, the plectrum here, and go from there.’ And I didn’t know any guitar players, period, back then as an example. And he said that there are a number of pop stars that he was aware of that played left-handed, so he knew that that was an option.

Joe Perry

I did a (recording) session with Paul McCartney a month and a half ago for a private thing. I met him once or twice over the years to say hello. To spend six or eight hours in studio with him recording! He makes you feel like [you’re recording with just another guy]. He just happens to be a motherf*cking huge talent! Everyone’s in the room at once; you play until you get a good take.

Q. So what was it like jamming with Paul McCartney?

It’s the great ego leveler. I was in the studio with Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp, playing guitar, and the three of us are looking at each other like, hey, we’re sitting here with Paul McCartney! And we’re all looking at each other like open-mouthed kids. Paul was really nice. He’s all about business [when he’s recording]. At 72 he can still hit all those notes.

Q. So did this session yield a new single?

It’s a project that were keeping under wraps for now. There will be [an announcement when the time is right].

Joe Perry – interview for The Chicago Sun – Times, July 23, 2014

Paul McCartney just opened up an instrument case and there’s his Hofner, left-handed bass, the most famous guitar in the world. We were standing around it like Indiana Jones looking at it, like it’s got its own light source and our faces are melting over it.

Alice Cooper – From Alice Cooper and Joe Perry on Hollywood Vampires’ Drunk History – Rolling Stone

I asked him a question about it, and he said, ‘Here it is. It’s OK. Pick it up,’ I actually got a chance to hold it, and it was like the Holy Grail.

Steve Perry – From Alice Cooper and Joe Perry on Hollywood Vampires’ Drunk History – Rolling Stone

Paul says, ‘It’s just a piece of wood,’ and starts playing it and I said, ‘Holy crap!’ To us, that bass a symbol of how we started.

Alice Cooper – From Alice Cooper and Joe Perry on Hollywood Vampires’ Drunk History – Rolling Stone

From Alice Cooper and Joe Perry on Hollywood Vampires’ Drunk History – Rolling Stone, September 3, 2015:

Each guest came into the project for different reasons but in the case of McCartney, Cooper thinks the Beatle took an interest in the project because of its connection to Lennon. While working with him, the band treated McCartney to an old-school approach to recording. “Everybody was in the studio and we recorded live, the way they would have done in 1964,” Perry says. “Very few bands do that anymore. They’re always afraid that somebody is going to make a mistake. But Paul walked in and sat down at the piano. He ran through it maybe three four times at the piano, no notes, nothing, and the three of us [Vampires] were in a row watching. Alice, Johnny, me, we’ve all got our own claims to fame, our own journeys, but man, the three of us looked at each other and our chins were down here.” He gestures to his knees.

“You know what was great for me?” Cooper says, lifting his chin. “The second time through, he made a mistake. It’s like Tiger shanking a ball — that doesn’t happen. And he goes, ‘Wait, wait, wait, let me start that again.’ And I went, ‘Wow, I just saw Paul McCartney make a mistake.’ But when he got it, Bob Ezrin went, ‘That was on the money.’ Then Paul turns around and goes, ‘Do you want me to play bass on this?’ We all go, ‘No, Paul, we have a better bass player than you.’” Cooper laughs. “‘Of course, we want you to play bass on it!’” That’s when the bassist blew their minds.

Session activities

1. Come And Get It

   Written by Paul McCartney

   Recording

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.