| VOYAGER:
Tell us how you broke that arm. That's quite a story,
you're still out there getting on skateboards! STEVE
MORSE: (Laughs) Well, my boys are
into action things, and so they're into skateboards. We
went to this skate park that just opened, and I don't
want to just sit there and watch them for hours. Its not
as much fun as playing around with them. We went where
there was a concrete bowl, and there are ramps in the
bowl, and that's where I did it. When I slipped I put my
foot down but the board slipped out from underneath me,
and a lot of weight went on my wrist. I think the wetness
of the concrete had a lot to do with it. VOYAGER: Tell us about working with the other members of the Steve Morse Band, Dave LaRue (bass guitar) and Van Romaine (drums)? STEVE MORSE: We just played one day up in New Jersey where they live, and it was like we could have gone and played a gig that night. Its been great. |
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|
Dave just wrote down some songs, faxed it to Van, and Van just sits down and learns them and is prepared. And Dave is the most incredible guy you would ever want to have in a band. He is so organized. He's such an incredible bass player. | |||
| Dave is the most easygoing, funny guy, and totally professional. I don't see how you could ever find a better bass player, in terms of what this guy can do. He solos better than most sax players. | ||||
| VOYAGER:
Here is something I've wondered about. You were going to
the University of Miami back in 1970, and Pat Metheny,
Jaco Pastorius, Will Lee and Hiram Bullock were all there
at that same time. Now you're all the guys that everyone
reads about and looks up to. Now, the thing is there's
been 30 years of graduating classes since then and -- who
are those guys? I know its a big question and maybe I'm
putting you on the spot, but what was it about that
school in 1970? STEVE MORSE: Look at my case. I was 16. I had done really well in school, taken my SATs early. I was getting ready to decide what college I was going to go to, because by 16 I was pretty much through with high school. So what do I do? Well, I like electronics, I like music, and if I do electronics I'll probably use it to make some weird thing that I can use in music. So I applied in both majors. Because of the times, this was 1969, 1970, at that time it was totally acceptable for young men to pursue playing avant garde music with a unique voice, or to have a straight job in engineering. Now contrast that with today where a young man who's coming into college who's good at studying, you would either be a lawyer or a computer programmer. What else would you ever want to be? No one would ever encourage you to be artistic! It was acceptable to be that way. People used to go to concerts, people used to drive a long way to see a celebration of music. Now you see young kids driving a few miles to some place where they play a CD all night. And they pay money to get in (laughs)! |
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