Kenny Wayne Shepherd talks New Album, Slash, and Van Halen | Ep. 464

The multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band is set to release "Dirt On My Diamonds, Volume 2" on September 20th. KWS joins to talk the new record, touring with Van Halen, relationship with Slash, and more!

More info: www.kennywayneshepherd.net
Our website: www.afdpod.com

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You know what. This is Appetitefor Distortion. Welcome to the podcast Appetite

(00:33):
for Distortion, Episode number four hundredand sixty four. My name is Brando.
Welcome to the podcast. Mister KennyWayne Shepherd. How are you,
sir? I'm good? How areyou? I am living the dream?
You know, I'm going to startoff with something really silly, but maybe
it sets the tone for my personality. You know, I said my name
is Brando, but I introduced myselfBrandon. That's my name, Brandon Weisler.

(00:57):
I changed really nothing legally, butlike just when they got into radio,
just thinking Brandon Weisler doesn't sound cool. I want to shorten it and
be like a one name axel slash. But how did you decide? Because
you're not Kenny you know, you'reKenny Wayne Sheppard. You're not Kenny W.

(01:17):
Shepherd like Samuel L. Jackson.It's is yeah, Kenny Shepherd.
What did you decide the three names? Because it does sounds cooler. I
think a lot more professional than injust the one name. Well, originally
it was gonna be Kenny Wayne.And then you know, and so like
when I first formed my band,it was Kenny Wayne. That was it.

(01:38):
And then there was a guy inTexas, this old dude that I
guess had, you know, beenperforming under the name Kenny Wayne for you
know, I don't know, afew years prior to me, and he
kind of came out of the woodworkand sent all these threatening letters, like
to my dad and stuff, andthreatened to sue us and saying I was

(01:59):
trying to see his identity and allthis stuff. It's kind of bizarre.
And then you know, we talkedto some lawyers and they're like, hey,
you know, you could be KennyWayne and forty nine out of the
fifty states, but possibly in thestate of Texas, because that's the one
state that this guy's actually been performing. It is that you know, he
may have a legitimate claim to thatname. So, you know, as

(02:23):
just to avoid any potential potential problems, you know, I just went ahead
and added Shepherd and which is mymom's maiden name, because my legal last
name is like a Dutch German ofDutch German descent. It's Brops and it's
like ninety percent of people can't pronounceit when they see it, and that's

(02:43):
not good for show business either.So I decided to use my mom's maiden
name, Shepherd, So really itwas going to be, you know,
my first and middle name, andthen we added on the last name.
I'm sorry if that's a silly question, but I appreciate that because I didn't
want to go by and Neil Weisler. It didn't flow off. It doesn't
I sound. I really do soundlike a Long Island son of a dentist,

(03:06):
like you know, Brandon Neil Weisler, you know, a little Jewish
boy. But Kenny Wayne Sheppard hasalways sounded great to me since I've just
been a fan for a while.And just congratulations on what number album?
Is this? Going to be?A dirty on my Diamonds Volume two,
which comes out in September twentieth,So what number is this for you?
Studio Records? That's a good question. I'm not sure. I haven't counted

(03:28):
them lately. I want to sayit's probably around maybe fourteen or something like
that. Could be more. I'dhave to have like pull them all up
and count for you. But Imean people also ask me pretty frequently how
many guitars do I own? ButI've never pulled those out and counted them
either, So okay, I don'tknow, but I know that it's a
good body of material that we've createdover the years, and I'm really proud.

(03:51):
I'm just as proud of the newstuff as I am of the older
stuff, and I feel like we'reputting out, you know, some of
our best music nowadays. And thisrecord is, you know, obviously exciting
for me because you know, it'sthe first time we've done a volume one
Volume two. Volume one came outin November, and you know, we're
out touring playing several songs. Morethan half that record has been put into

(04:14):
the set list that we're doing currently, and then Volume two is coming out
in September, and that's going toyou know, carry us into next year
where we'll be touring and playing thosesongs or songs from both of these records,
along with a whole slew of songsfrom our catalog and songs that people
have been listening to on the radiofor many years now. But it's always

(04:34):
great to have new material and infusesnew energy into the set, and especially
for the fans that have come tosee us many many times, it gives
them a new experience. It's I'mnot just saying this because the this because
I'm privy to and I know itcomes down in September, but I get
to the stream and when I interviewpeople earlier, you know, before the

(04:57):
record comes out. It's really good. It's really good. I'm eager for
people to hear this, you know, to hear this new record. And
it's quite a variety of you know, it's the Kennyway Shepherd Band, but
not every it's every song is different. I mean, while it has the
core, you might feel something,you know, a little zzy top and
one you might feel, you know, a little bit of country in another.

(05:21):
You know, I even got likeSilverchair vibes from which is funny,
Like I don't know why I waslistening to one of the slower songs.
I think my guitars crying, andit just sounded like a slower Silverchair song.
Just like use a loose example ofjust a different sound. So how
do you approach that? I meanthere's there's a horn section, and how

(05:44):
do you pick the vocals? Iguess for each sound of which one you're
gonna sing? And you know whichone, which one's Noah's gonna sing?
So all of that, how doyou approach just like the whole sound of
this record, and I guess youcould call it a double record if you
want, right, Yeah, well, you know, going back to since
you you know, the whole Gunsand Roses thing, you know, obviously

(06:06):
with the name of your podcast andall of that. Like you know,
I remember use your illusion one intwo and that is actually one of the
things that made me want to dothis, which is, you know,
dirt on My Diamonds Volume one andVolume two, and we did a similar
kind of approach in the album artwork, you know, where it's like,
you know, we didn't use theexact same artwork for both volumes, but

(06:30):
it's similar enough, and we didyou know, did two different color schemes,
you know. But I mean it'sjust not something that's really been done
frequently. So I thought it wasa compelling idea to do a Volume one
and Volume two, and a lotof these songs were written at the same
time in the same writing session,so they are they do have kind of,
you know, a thread running throughthe entire body of material as far

(06:54):
as the horn session goes. Youknow. That's something that started back on
the Traveler record that came out intwenty nineteen, where I was doing that
record, and there was a lotof really kind of rocking songs on that
album, and I brought horns into play on a couple of songs,
and then I just thought, Iwas like, well, I wonder what
it would be like if I actuallyput them on every song. There was
really just kind of a curious experimentfor me, and then I had them

(07:16):
play, you know, song bysong on every song on that record,
and then ended up keeping them andgoing, Wow, this is actually pretty
cool. And there's not a lotof people doing horn sections nowadays, and
especially not in like blues rock orrock band type situation. So I felt
like it set us apart. Andnow I've just continued that, like into

(07:40):
the albums that have come since theTraveler record, and so they're on both
of these records. They're not onevery song, but almost every song,
and that's something that we do lastWe go in and I wrote, write
the songs, and we record thesongs, and we do it, you
know, as a band in thestudio. But the horn sections, you
don't track with the band. Youend up putting them on after the fact,

(08:00):
and those guys wrote their parts outthen they would bring them into the
studio and they play them and thenwe would, you know, either approve
what they had come up with becauseit was great, or maybe fine tune
or you know, massage a fewparts here and there, but the end
results is cool, man. Imean, you know those guys are those
guys played great parts, really kindof added something to the music, added

(08:20):
something different to it, and helpedelevate it. You know, you made
the reference before I did. Iknow it's the the quote unquote GNR elephant
in the room, but it isvery usual illusiony with the horn section and
mixing the blues rock with that,which obviously the sound that I love,
and it isn't very prevalent in today'smusic. So I think it's just amazing
that you're continuing to, you know, bring back what's I guess if you

(08:45):
want to call a classic sound,but it sounds very new. I mean,
they know it's literally new, butit sounds very modern at the same
time. Is that something that's presenceof mind too or do you always stick
to, hey, this is whatwe do, or do you look to
see what the current trend is tokind of maybe not guide you, but
just to be aware of it andmaybe think about you know, what else

(09:05):
could I do to be twenty twentyfour today, if that makes If that
makes sense now, I really justactually don't when, especially when I'm writing
songs and making new records, Idon't listen to any current music because I
don't want that like anything you listento has the ability to find its way
into what you're creating. Yeah,and I mean historically, Like I mean,

(09:30):
I think you hear it all thetime, like where people will write
a song and all that sounds somuch like this other song, and it's
like a lot of times people canwrite songs that will sound similar to other
songs and it's not even intentional,and they might not even realize it at
the time, but like you know, it's because they heard that song forty
years ago, and it's like youknow, back there, you know,
in their subconscience, you know,when it comes out at some point.

(09:52):
But I don't really listen to anythingcurrent when I'm writing trying to write new
music because I want to. Iwant what I'm doing to be as authentic
and as new and original for whatwe're doing as possible, you know,
And I just feel like it's goingto sound current because of My formula for
my music has always been to takesomething old school, like blues music is

(10:16):
the foundation of the music, andthen try and bring it into something new
and different by mixing it with differentgenres and influences that I've had over the
years. And you know, Imean in the early days, it was
going to sound young and different andcurrent because I was young and different and
current. And now I guess I'mstill young, maybe by blues standards,

(10:37):
but I'm getting older, you know, But like my approach to music is
still kind of remain the same overthe years, and so I feel like
what we're doing sounds just, youknow, for the genre, sounds fresh
and sounds different, and sounds excitingand energetic, and it's also just kind
of the energy that we put intoit. And actually, going back to
one of your previous questions, whichI kind of didn't answer completely, like

(11:00):
as far as the vocals go,because I've evolved into this. Early in
the early days of my career,I was the guitar player. The band
was my band, and it wasall about the guitar playing a La Santana,
Jeff Beck, people like that,Eddie Van Halen. But you know,
as the years went by, Istarted singing, and I started singing
lead vocals more and more, andnow it's evolved into a situation where we
have two lead singers where I'm singinglead vocals and Noah sings lead vocals.

(11:24):
And so when we go in thestudio to make new music, it's not
always predetermined. I can kind oftell when we write a song who it's
probably going to be best for bestsuited for their voice, you know,
whether it's me or Noah, Butit's subject to change in the studio and
we just kind of take it onetrack at a time. But when we're

(11:45):
recording the songs, Noah initially singsall the vocals because we play live as
a band in the studio, becauseI want to capture that live sound that's
the essence of what we do best, and so I'm really focusing on the
guitar parts. So Noah will singthe vocals, the scratch vocal or the
guide vocal, whatever you want tocall it, for every song, and

(12:05):
then we'll go back and I'll go, you know, I think I could
really deliver this song, or Ithink I might be good on that song,
or and then I'll give it ashot. If it doesn't work,
then you know, we throw itback to know if it does work.
Sometimes I think Noah's going to bethe one to sing a song and then
I go, you know, man, I don't know the way. You
should see what my voice sounds likeon that, and then I'll give it
a shot and maybe that is moreappropriate for that particular song. But it's

(12:28):
great to have two lead singers withtwo really different voices in the band because
it broadens the amount of material thatwe're able to do. It really does.
I mean that's why every track,while you know what the core is
of the sound like, you're kindof guessing and it's kind of the excitement
of what an album used to be. You know, what's what's the come,

(12:50):
What's what's next? So that's thatis cool, and it's you know,
it's you say, the young earlydays, So like when did you
start, like thirteen fourteen? Yeah, I mean I got on stage and
you know for the first time whenI was thirteen years old. I did
my first demo recordings at age fourteen, and I formed my own band at
age fifteen and started to do it, started doing shows under my own name

(13:15):
at age fifteen, and then Isigned my record deal at sixteen and then
started writing songs and recorded my firstalbum when I was seventeen and I graduated
high school, turned to eighteen,hit the road and never looked back.
So, you know, I'm fortyseven years old now, so I've been
doing it a while. That's cool. You know, I'm forty, So

(13:35):
I mean, I'm a little youngerthan you, but I mean I've gotten
to see you kind of grow up. You know, You're always someone that
was more tangible as a rock startto me growing up because you were so
young, like saying, oh,he's just not that much older than my
cousin or something like that. It'sjust it's just very cool to see.
Yeah, what would you say?Obviously there's so many different things, but

(13:58):
like, is there a big difference. Is it just the technology in social
media that's changed from when you startedto know? No, everything's changed everything.
I mean, it's crazy. Myfirst album we made, my first
album, Led Better Heights, beforepro tools existed. There's no such thing
as recording on computers when I didmy first record, and by the time

(14:20):
that record came out, and thenwe did the tour for that record and
went in to do the second album. Pro tools had hit the scene,
and that was new technology and itwas like cutting edge and we're all just
kind of exploring it at that point. That was in ninety seven, So
you know, everything's changed, fromhow records are made, to how records

(14:43):
are consumed, to how people discovermusic, to how artists promote themselves and
do their I mean, just likethere's everything has changed. I mean,
and you know, some maybe forthe better and some not. You know,
I the days and maybe I'm adinosaur you know because of it.
But like I miss the days ofpeople, you know, being able to

(15:05):
go and put a record out andyou know, get it, service it
to radio stations and watch your singlerun up the charts and watch people the
first week's sales of an album.You know, where people would literally go
out and buy your record and youcould see the numbers come in of how
many people bought your record that week. You know, It's like none of

(15:26):
that stuff happens anymore. It's likethe day I have I have gold and
platinum albums hanging on my wall,and I think the days of platinum records
for artists doing music, Like likewhat I do is is over because you
know, the formula is just sodifferent and it's just so much harder.
Like if you look up the numbersof what it actually takes in the streaming

(15:48):
world for you to actually be consideredto have have a gold record, like
five hundred thousand album sales, likefive hundred thousand people, or you know,
if one guy buys two copies whateverit is, that would equal a
gold album. But now I thinkin order for you to to reach five
hundred thousand sales based on streaming,you have to have like seven hundred and

(16:11):
fifty million streams of your record orsomething. You know, it's just ridiculous.
So that whole thing is weird.But you know, the power has
been kind of put into the handsof the artists in ways that it never
was before because you had to signa record deal before, because you didn't
have a marketing team, you didn'thave connections with you know, radio stations

(16:34):
to get music on the radio.A lot of people didn't have the money
to you know, be able toafford to go into studio and make an
album, so you needed record companiesmore than than you actually do now.
So like now you can record Imean every laptop that every computer that's made
has some form of recording software onit. People make records in their in

(16:56):
their bedroom. Now you know,it doesn't hardly cost them anything, So
that's cool. That's power to theartists. Then you have social media platforms
that doesn't you know, generally doesn'tcost you anything at least not in the
beginning to start building an audience andgetting your music out there, and maybe
something goes viral and then you getdiscovered because of that. So there's a
lot of different ways that and toolsthat the artists have now that that you

(17:21):
know it can work to their benefit. But I missed kind of the old
school, the golden era of themusic industry as I kind of see it
now. I'm with you. That'swhy I don't accept the label again.
I'm forty as millennial because I'm notwhatever, no what chart tells me.
Because I'm with you because I remembereven when I started in college with radio,

(17:42):
it wasn't automation. Yet I'm stillplaying records and CDs and you know,
it's all about being at the radiostation, like you said, where
it's all about playing the new song. And then now I mean, yes,
why I still work at iheartens a. You know, there's a studio
a midtown Manhattan. I'm right nowat home recording with my laptops and mixer

(18:03):
and stuff, and with my equipmentthat's right in my my PC or my
laptop rather. So yeah, there'sa you know, I miss the old.
It's it is interesting to be ableto see what you were able to
do now. And you know,anybody could podcast, anybody can make a
record, but I think the creamrises to the top. And again,
it's very cool that you started whenyou were thirteen fourteen and you're still doing

(18:29):
it today, because that may notthat's not always the path for people.
You know, it's just like,okay, here's this cute little kid playing
guitar and then Lord knows what happensto him. The fact that you're doing
it today, new record is asgreat, new music as great as ever
is. I don't know. It'slike a testament to just you as a
person who could have been swallowed upwhole by the industry that young. Yeah,

(18:52):
well I really stacked ast me ifyou think about it. I mean
when I signed my record, Iwas a teenager with an unknown artist.
You know, people in my regionreally had a clue who I was.
I was a guitar player that didn'tsing right doing blues music as a kid,
and so and blues music never reallywas the most popular genre, right,
So, I mean, the oddswere certainly stacked against me as far

(19:15):
as success went. But you know, for some reason, the music that
I wrote and recorded and put outthere, you know, there was an
audience that connected with it. Andthe great thing about this kind of music
is that you know a lot ofpeople who become blues fans or fans of
you know, blues rock or justrock in general. I mean, just
like this is a timeless genre andpeople kind of become fans for life.

(19:37):
And so that's really it's the fanbase that's enabled me to have a career
that's lasted this long, because radiois what launched my career. Like we
had massive success at radio, andyou know, so many top ten rock
singles. I mean, you know, Blue on Black when it was number
one, it was setting records atthe time, you know, for how

(19:57):
many weeks it was at number one. It was Rock Song of the Year
at the Billboard Music Awards. Imean all this stuff. But after you
know, things started changing and youknow, album sales started declining and terrestrial
radio starts to kind of take abackseat to streaming platforms and stuff. It's
like a lot of people could getlost in the shuffle with that. But

(20:18):
having the support of the fan basethat we have is really, you know,
what's what's given me the opportunity tohave a career that you know,
it's going on thirty years now,and you couldn't ask for more than that,
really with as an artist, tohave a fan base that kind of
has backed you up for three decades, and no matter what kind of records
we make, you know, Imean some records, you know, one

(20:40):
fan's going to like one better thanthe other. But I think ultimately they
want to see an artist pursue whatevermusic they're inspired to write and record,
instead of just trying to stick toa certain pattern that might have been successful
for them in the past, becausethen everything becomes predictable. So you know,
they've enabled me to to follow myinspiration and to continue entertaining them going

(21:03):
on thirty years now, and Imean, that's really what it's all about.
And speaking of the fans, wedon't mind. I want to ask
a couple of questions via the fanthat I got to relate to me.
This is from Mark Lamb from CentralIndiana. You know, he remembers you
that you were the opening act ofVan Halen's very last tour. What memories

(21:26):
of interacting with Eddie van Halen doyou have in perhaps any memories of the
last concert or any or just thetour in general, perhaps, Oh man,
I mean we toured with them backin the nineties when it was van
Halen three and the head Gary Sharonsinging in the band for a brief moment,
and then we toured again with themon the very last tour in twenty
fifteen. You know, Ed andI've become well, you have become friends

(21:49):
on that first tour in the nineties, and our family had history going back,
you know, like when I wasa little kid, my dad knew
the Burtonelli family, and you know, my dad was kind of there the
evening and somewhat involved in Valerie Burtonelliand eddievan Halen meeting for the first time

(22:11):
at a concert in my hometown atShreveport, Louisiana. So we all is
interesting history that goes way back.But he and I became friends on the
tour that we did together in thenineties and stayed friendly for all those years
in between, and then I gotto do that last tour with them,
and you know, every single day, man he came and found me wherever

(22:32):
I was at when he was onsite, he would come looking for me
and he would come give me ahug, and we would sit down and
we would talk and just you know, you know, shoot the breeze and
whatever. And he was just alwaysvery very outgoing when it came to me,
you know. And I mean there'slike what I've learned in my life.

(22:52):
You hear stories like about people,and a lot of times people only
tell the stories that the bad storiesbecause it kind of makes for good headline
or whatever. But you know,I've always found that, like when I
had somebody tell me that I hadthis horrible experience with this person, if
I met that same person, generallymy experience wasn't the same. And so
I've learned not to judge people basedon other people's experiences. And I had

(23:15):
nothing but great experiences with Eddie.He was always just couldn't have been a
nicer guy to me. And that'swhat I try to do here. That's
why I call other than the cleverpunt, but distortion. I don't like
the negative press. I try toavoid that at all costs because that's not
what I'm about. I don't likeputting the interviewee in that position. So
is there a misconception about Eddie thatI guess that you already answered that.

(23:41):
This is a misconception about like whatkind of person he was, that he
was stand offfish, but he wasvery friendly to you. And why I
think people mistake being I think peoplecan often mistake dyness with being standoffish.
Yeah, you know, I thinkhe was not. I don't think he
was a big crowd person, andI don't think he was a I mean,
a lot of really famous people arenot very social people. And it's

(24:07):
not it doesn't make them an asshole, you know. It just means that
they're not just not very social people. A lot of people like keeps them
themselves. A lot of them arenot very outgoing people in private settings,
but on stage they're larger than lives, you know. I mean, I
can relate to a lot of thatstuff. So I think there's just a
lot of misconceptions, and then peopleexpect, you know, there's these expectations

(24:30):
that are thrown on celebrities, justlike you know, you expect them to
be a certain way, and whenthey're not that way, then people will
judge them. And it's like,but why do they have to be that
way in order for you to beokay with it? You know what I
mean? Yeah, so I thinkI mean, And also you know,

(24:51):
I mean a lot. He's obviouslyvery convicted in his music and stuff like
that, and then within his band, I don't know, I mean,
maybe he was very assertive. Idon't know. I was never involved in
in any of that kind of stuffwith them. All I know is the
man that I knew was like,couldn't have been nicer to me, and
uh it was a really seemed likea very kind hearted guy, an incredibly

(25:12):
talented individual. And you know,like I said, I mean, media
outlets just often want to they justare looking for the opportunity, you know,
for somebody to say something that theymight be able to plaster as clickbait,
you know, just to get peopleto read their stories and stuff,
and just to get people to starttrash talking each other. But like he

(25:34):
never trashed anybody like you know,to me, he never uh, he
never was talking trash about anybody.All those guys were nice to me.
I mean, on the first tour, Mike Anthony, Alex van Halen,
Betdy, Gary Scharon was fine too. On this last tour, I saw

(25:55):
Wolfgang all the time. I sawAlex frequently, I saw Ed every day.
The one guy I'd never saw,never said hello to me or anything
like that, was David Lee Ross. So I can't speak to him because
I never met him, like,you know, his guys were always trying
to Like he entered the building,it was like he's entered the building,
everybody cleared the room. You knowthat. There was definitely a difference between

(26:18):
my interactions with Eddie and then theway that David Lee Roth seemed to approach
things. You know. But I'mnot gonna judge that guy because because I'd
never actually had an interaction with him. Fair enough, fair enough. Another
to completely shift Gears fan question fromJeff Beers from Michigan. He wants to

(26:38):
know about the music you did forBatman beyond Return of the Joker movie,
and as a you know, comicbook and cartoon kind of guy, you
know, I'm interested as well.How did that happen. You know.
They just approached me about that theywere doing it, and I don't remember
who it came through. It camethrough the record company or the publishing company
or whatever. But you know,when you're when you're an artist, you

(27:02):
often get a lot of propositions ora lot of things sent your way.
And they asked me if if I'dgo in the studio and record the theme
song for that thing, and soit was cool. I went into the
studio at the Columbia. Yeah wasit. I'm sure to remember now off
the top of my well. Anyways, it was in Los Angeles and it

(27:22):
was just like a one day recordingsession, man, And I went in
and cut that thing. I meanI didn't write the music. The music
had already been written, so Ijust had to play on it. But
it was really cool. It's oneof those things that when you do something,
you go, yeah, sure,man, I mean I like that,
man, I mean that I likecomic book stuff. But so why
not. But it's one of thosethings like you never know you do something

(27:45):
and then you never realized. Butthat thing has been brought up so many
times over the course of my career. You just never when I did it.
I never thought that maybe, youknow, twenty five years later people
would still be asking me about it, you know, But it's just one
of those things that's stuck. Yeah, this is a cool, random thing
that I didn't know, so Jeffbrought to my attention, so I didn't
even I heard it, you know, all those years ago. Didn't put

(28:07):
two and two it together. Soit's one of those things. It's just
pretty cool that you to find outthat you did you did that one last
one, I guess for my end, the appetite for this stortion end.
So obviously you can tell with thename of the podcast my paraphernalia behind me
if you're looking Guns n' Roses themedpodcast where I use six degrees of GNR

(28:30):
bacon to kind of make connections toall my guests to the band. Let
me know if you have more.But the one that was obvious was this
was back in twenty sixty. Itwas like ten years ago that there was
an icon the Life and Legacy ofbb King. It was you, it

(28:51):
was Slash and a lot of otherincredible guitarists were up there as well.
Susan Tedesky. You know, ifyou can talk, talk about that performance
and perhaps any other six Degrees ofGuns and Roses Bacon you may have.
Well, yeah, well that thing, I mean, that was a I
think that was an event that wasput on by the Grammy organization. And

(29:15):
yeah, it was just all ofus. I mean, but all every
person that was there that night hada connection to BB King, had toured
with him, had played with himat some point, including Slash right.
So, I mean, there's alot of actually pretty well known videos out
there online of Slash jamming with BBand stuff. But I mean Slash and
I've known slash Man for a longtime. Like the first time I came

(29:36):
to Los Angeles and played the Houseof Blues on Sunsets on the Sunset strips,
we were I don't remember if itwas before the show or like during
the show, but it's like somebodycame up to me. It was like,
dude, Slash in the house,he wants to get up and jam
And I was like really, andand he got up and played with us
that like I didn't even I don'teven know if we were introduced, and

(29:57):
I was like, hey, Slashesin the building, and he hopped on
stage and we we jammed out webecame friends, you know, from that
point forward. And then he andI ran into one another. We played
James Brown birthday celebration concerts down inAugusta, Georgia a couple of times together,
and sat in with James and wentout. And that was back when

(30:18):
I was partying and drinking, andso you know, we went out and
hit the town together down there inGeorgia. And then we've just kind of
maintained a friendship, you know,from that point forward, like for many
many years, even to this day. I still call him a friend and
and still run into him and talkto him from time to time. And

(30:40):
and I've run into several of thoseguys, like I've run into Duff a
couple of times over the years.And then Matt Storm, you know,
who was their drummer there for awhile, was a good friend of mine,
but never met Izzy or never metAxel. But I mean I grew
up rocking out to their stuff.I mean, dude, when those guys
hit the scene, I mean tome, it was like Guns and Roses

(31:04):
was his mind blowing as Nirvana.You know, when that band came out
and you heard that sound, itwas like, whoa dude? Who is
this? You know, it's likekind of the same thing when when Nirvana
hit the scene and the whole grungething just exploded and people are like,
what is who is this? Whatis this sound? And it's just so

(31:25):
interesting to see those guys like feudingfor so many years and like for Relegiently,
I mean, how many records didthey make before they before it all
just blew up? Right? Theydidn't make a whole Yeah, what was
it? Like four albums or something. I mean, if you if you
want to count, I'll skip theep I mean, you got Appetite,
you got Lies, which counts asthe EP I mean, then you got

(31:48):
the Illusions one and two, andthen you got the Spagheti incident and then
they broke up now was it?Yeah? Yeah dude, and then all
that time nothing and then and thenyou know, somehow they mended it and
then look at him. It's likemassive freaking tour and their music is timeless,
bro. I mean, it's justthis timeless rock and roll. So

(32:10):
yeah, but you know, Idon't have any really crazy GNR stories to
tell other than you know, myfirst meetings with Slash and getting to know
him, and you know, reallyjust like being able to call him a
friend, you know, for decadesnow, and he's a great dude,
and he's one of those guys.He's not a one trick pony. I
mean, he'll get up on stagewith BB King, he'll get up on

(32:30):
stage and jam with Kenny Wayne Shephardand then he'll get up there and and
you know they welcome to the Jungleand write songs like that. You know,
it's like he's a well versed musician, without a doubt. There's a
lot of depth to what he does. And speaking of that well versed,
I'll just piggyback on that before Ilet you go, because Slash, of

(32:51):
course the blues bass guitar rock,which you know obviously my willhouse is.
While I love the Kenny Wayne Shepherdband, but he's now, I mean
he's put out a record, ablues record, Orgy of the Damned,
and yeah, going out on thisSerpent tour which I'm going to go to
in New York City. When theyplayed Peer seventeen in August, why didn't

(33:12):
he call you? No? Theydid, actually they did. I think
there was like a conflict or whateverwith their dates versus things that I have
going on, but we definitely gota phone call about that tour and there
was some talk about it, butI think at the end of the day,
it just didn't it logistically didn't workout. But I think it's awesome,

(33:36):
man. I mean again, youknow, guys like him, he
has an audience. There's probably alot of people that did what he what
he does and the music he's madeover the years that maybe haven't been turned
on to blues music yet. Soit's always great when you get a guy
like that who has a real appreciationfor the genre, that does something like
this that brings more attention to it, you know, because you know that

(33:59):
just keeps the louse music relevant andkeeps it moving forward. Completely agree,
and that's exactly what you're you're doingas well. So I mean, I
hope it's the first of many ifSlash does another tour or a record you're
involved, because you know, it'swhen you mentioned blues rock and you're one
of the first names. I mean, I'm talking obviously, we're not talking

(34:21):
like BB King and Muddy Waters.We're talking about today. Who's playing is
Kenny Wayne Sheppard? So that wasone of the questions I wanted to ask
you today, so that that iscool to know that he did call you,
and yeah, you're you're out ontour. I was hoping you would
play closer to me here in Queens, but you're playing the part of New
York that's basically Canada. So Igot to hope for I got to hope

(34:45):
for you to add more dates.But I gotta imagine you'll make your way
back to New York or Long Islandsoon enough. Yeah. Well, we
just played the Beacon Theater back inMarch, I think it was, and
then I think we're planning on comingback to the Beacon again. I don't
think it's gonna be. I thinkit's gonna be not next year because next
spring we're gonna be doing possibly anotherrun of the Hendrix tour, but I

(35:08):
think maybe the following year. Sojust be on the lookout. We'll be
returning to the Beacon Theater for surein the near future. Maybe you have
advice. I didn't look this up. Are you a parent, do you
have any Yeah? Okay, soI have a one year old. He's
fourteen months now, and this yearI was I've been convinced not to bring
him to the Blues Festival, we'rekind of maybe up closed. And even

(35:30):
though he would add headphones, doyou have advice of like when, because
maybe it's good that I have towait to see Kenny Wayne Sheppard because I
want to start taking him to allthese concerts. Like when did you start
taking your kids? Did they startgoing to your shows right away with the
headphones? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, my kids have been. You know,
they would come out on tours withme and stuff, and yeah,
we'd put the headphones in their earsand earplugs and stuff like that. But

(35:52):
you know, my dad was takingme to concerts, supposedly. I don't
have a real memory of it,but my dad tells me that the first
my first concert was to see MuddyWaters and John Lee Hooker when I was
three years old, Okay, andso you know, look at me,
I played blues music. So it'slike, you know that I think very
much believed that that planet a seedthat played itself out in my musical life,

(36:14):
you know. And so I don'tthink it's ever too early. I
mean, you look at a babyjust play music around the house. You
watch them start moving their bodies andstuff. I have six kids. I've
seen it Okay, they don't evenknow how to talk, but they hear
music and their body starts moving tothe music. So music, really it
affects all people. And I don'tthink it's ever too early to expose your

(36:34):
children to music. But if it'sloud music, you just want to make
sure you got to protect their hearingfor sure. Actually, no, you're
you're completely right because we started becausewe've had so much blues clues in Sesame
Street, so we started playing likeeven just the ramones and it'll start like
moving his butt up and down.It's kind of great. And I knew
about that about the kids because youhave your your your wife, your your

(36:58):
father in law is Mel GiB andI know you have kids. So that's
what that's the one last thing.Do you ever hear that? That must
be very intimidating, you know,like they have Mel Gibson as your father
in law. No, my wifeand I we've been together. We started
dating twenty one years ago. Sonow, but at the beginning, it's
just like the guy, the guyfrom No I know. But but you

(37:22):
know, you got to understand,like I grew up around a lot of
really famous faces, like you know, I was I mean, like James
Brown is one of the most iconicyou know, people like his. Everybody
you see that guy, you knowthat's changed Brown, bb King, I
mean whoever it is, these thetop Billy Gibbons, like all these people.
Like even before I was doing music, I was going to these shows

(37:43):
with my dad, and my dadalways had backstage passes and meet and greet
passes because he was the general managerof the radio station in town, and
so like I was behind the scenesand meeting all these famous people at a
very young age. So I,at a very young age, realized that
famous people are still just people.And it kind of like, you know,

(38:04):
took the the uh, I don'tknow, the shock out of it
all a very age. Okay,No, that's that's a very well thought
out answer. And you were maturefrom a young age. She's when I
was thirteen, I was nervous togive my bar Mitzvah speech. You were
me. If you read celebrities,go ahead and stay. It's so true.
It's uh Kenny Wayne Shepherd, thankyou so much to Kenny Wayne Shepherd

(38:28):
band uh dird of My Diamonds Volumetwo comes out in September. Volume one
is out now, So thank youso much for your time today. I
hope you got me. I appreciateit. I hope you get to do
this again. So that does itfor this episode of Appetite for Distortion?
When will we see the next one? In the words of Axel Rose concerning
Chinese democracy, I don't know assoon as the word, but you'll see

(38:49):
it. Thanks to the lame asssecurity, I'm going home.