The Wrecking Crew! Page #4

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I wasn't one of these guys that

you read about in the books.

You know, you read

these articles

in Guitar Player magazine,

the guy says,

"Well, when I was 12 years old,

I had the chops of a reindeer

and all this stuff, you know."

When I was 12 years old,

I was playing marbles myself,

I don't know, you know.

And when I was 24,

I was at Douglas Aircraft,

you know, moving boxes

and trying to play guitar.

I was 24, I was still into this.

"Wow, I'm in seventh position."

And I finally learned

one hip chord.

Whoa.

So I'm not one of them guys

you read about.

We went to the prom,

and Ralph Marterie

was playing the dance.

We found out

that their guitar player

was leaving that night.

And he tried out, auditioned,

and he was hired

right then and there.

It was on a Friday night,

and the Saturday night,

he left for New York city.

- Tell the truth.

- Okay, you got to let go.

Marterie was going to get

a guitar/singer,

so that he could only pay

for one guy.

He decided he knew

there was nothing there

in Niagara Falls for him.

He wanted to go

to California to play.

While my father struggled

to find work playing guitar,

he had to make ends meet

working in a warehouse.

He always said it was

the best job he ever had.

He hated it so much,

it made him practice every day.

I was told by two guys

before we left,

"He's never gonna make it."

So after seven months

of struggling here,

daddy wanted to go back,

and I said, "There's no way,"

because I wasn't giving in

to those two guys.

And that's why dad said,

"My stubborn Sicilian wife."

In fact,

my wife was behind me 100%,

like, all the time I work.

And she's... It was "You tour."

She was working,

she took the calls,

she didn't... never complained.

I would come in

at 11:
00 or 10:00,

I'd see my kids whenever.

My wife accepted it,

this was our living,

our whole family took it

exactly that way.

Every once in a while,

a musician's wife

would come and complain to her,

and she'd talk to them.

She'd say,

"Well, look,

that's his living."

Well, Carmie never talked

to Barbara the Barbarian.

Whoa-ho-ho-ho.

My father would say,

"There are only four reasons

to take a gig:

For the money,

for the connections,

for the experience,

or just for fun."

I got to tell you a story

about your dad.

We were in Western studio

three there,

and, uh, Jan Berry

of Jan and Dean,

he counted the song,

"Everybody ready? Yeah. Okay."

Tedesco started playing,

and Jan says, "Stop, wait."

And he went over and looked,

and he said, "Tedesco,

what are you doing?"

He... Tommy...

The music was upside down,

and Tommy was

reading it backwards.

Now, that's a true story,

but you talk about

getting a laugh out of it.

Tommy was a cut-up.

Hold it, cut it.

There was an energy

that Phillip would get.

I remember, Phillip would be

so excited about every session.

There was just a vitality

in the room that was...

would lift you off of your feet.

And also there'd be

so many players

and the sound would be so huge.

I mean, it was definitely...

That wall of sound was really...

It was really there.

I never was in the studio

that there were

any different guys.

it was the same guys always.

The "wall of sound" was

the Gold Star echo chambers,

- mainly.

- Well, it was wall-to-wall

- musicians first of all.

- Yeah, that's true.

Most people'd use

a four-piece rhythm section.

He had four guitars,

or six, or seven.

There were four pianos always,

one upright bass,

one fender bass.

I mean, it was only

one drums, usually.

Fifteen people playing

percussion instruments.

- In a very small room.

- Yeah.

Not a small room,

but an average room.

And a huge echo chamber

that Gold Star

was famous for,

that was the wall of sound.

Ceramic walls.

One, two, three.

- Good.

- The wall of sound

of Phil Spector's

more like a lost feeling.

it's heavy on You've Lost

That Lovin' Feelin',

and it was...

He used the echo so much,

and it was swimming

all the time.

In spite of the baffles,

we all leaked

into each other's mics,

just enough to give it

the combination of leakage

and echo, plus we were tired.

By the 30th take,

you're tired, you know.

So it had a real

relaxed feeling on his hits.

It's the most played song

of all time.

Oh, I believe it, yeah.

Most played record of all time.

They were the whole sound

that Phillip had.

Phillip was also

really, really superstitious,

and he didn't...

He wanted those guys,

and he always wanted

those guys, you know?

He felt only secure when

he was playing with those guys.

Same musicians,

same engineers, same studio,

same, probably, brand of tape.

- Yeah, probably.

- Um...

It was just a thing

that he figured if he didn't

do it that way,

it wouldn't be a hit.

- And he was probably right.

- He was probably right.

And we're grateful for that.

G-minor seventh.

You know, Phillip was walking

in a different universe

than everybody else. And so

in his mind, it was all him,

you know, and the guys

were just some sort of

an extension

of what he couldn't do.

Phil would never record anything

for the first three hours.

I mean, he worked these guys

so that they weren't playing

individualistic.

They were too tired.

And so they just

melded into this...

this wall of sound.

Phil leaned on Howard

very, very heavy

about how to play, and just kept

on it, and on it, and on it.

And wasn't satisfied

or something,

and made 'em kept playing over,

and over, and over,

and over again for hours

until Howard's hands

were just a mass of pain.

"No, no, no, no, this way."

Howard says, "Look, man,

"if I can't play it,

and you know what it is,

why don't you play it?"

Howard Robert's the only guy

that I ever saw

walk out of a session,

where he just

put everything down,

picked up his guitar

and his amp,

and he walked out. He said,

"I've had enough of this."

He was very demanding.

I had no problem with Phil.

I guess it's because

he knew that I always knew

that I wasn't

the original drummer,

'cause if I'd have had

a problem, I'd walked out.

Who was he gonna get?

He'd already, you know,

had his argument with Al,

maybe Al wouldn't have

came back.

So... So, we got along fine.

They made fun of him

all the time,

but they really liked him.

I think they really

respected him.

They thought he was nuts,

which, of course, he was,

but I think they always

looked forward to it

because it was always gonna be

something really cool.

It was like

a total thing friendship too,

'cause they would come in

and they would be talking about,

you know, "What'd you do

on the golf course?"

or, you know, that someone

had this car or so...

There was always

a Mad magazine too,

being passed around that

somebody brought, you know.

I was in awe of them

because of Phil Spector, that...

It took me a couple times

to get used to,

you know, being with the guys,

you know.

Any memories of Be My Baby

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