Taking it To the Limit (Malaysia Star)
Sunday, August 29, 2004 at 3:55PM Excellent Glenn Interview:
Rock icons the Eagles look set to thrill the Asian masses soon, and the band’s Singapore concert stop on Oct 18 is bound to attract loads of Malaysian fans. BEVERLEY HON goes the distance and speaks to Glenn Frey, one of the Eagles’ founders.
THE Eagles once said that they would only get back together, “Oh, when hell freezes over.”
And when the band finally did put behind the years of bad blood for their first reunion in 1994, the result was the California rockers’ multi-platinum Hell Freezes Over album and a reunion tour which raked in a whopping US$75mil in ticket sales.
This year, the Eagles take flight again – charting new territories. Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit will be making their way to Asia in October for concerts in Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok as part of the band’s current Farewell I worldwide tour. Since Kuala Lumpur is not on the list, the band’s Malaysian following is expected to head across the causeway on Oct 18 when the Eagles play the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Now that we know how the Hell Freezes Over tour got its name, just how did Farewell I come about?
“Don Henley said that when we started touring again in 2001 and we just thought it was hilarious. He thought it was pretty funny to call it Farewell I because it’s sort of a joke,” revealed guitarist Glenn Frey during a phone interview from Brentwood, Los Angeles.
“We don’t know how long we’re going to continue, we sort of take it year by year. But God, in case this is supposed to end, we decided we should call it Farewell I and then if we change our minds, we’ll do Farewell II.”
Frey added that the moniker is just their way of poking fun at themselves and other acts that have retired but keep coming back and claiming to put on the final performance. On that note, can an artiste ever say never?
“Well, that’s hard to say. I’ve learnt with this band to never say never. There never ceases to be certain surprises in the lifespan of this strange bird,” laughed Frey.
Frey and drummer Henley formed the Eagles in 1971 and the band went on to sell millions of albums, scoring several hit songs in the process, including Best of My Love, One of These Nights, New Kid in Town, and the popular Hotel California.
The group’s line-up at the time of their disbandment in the early 1980s comprised Frey, Henley, Walsh, Schmit and guitarist Don Felder, whom they later booted out of the band in February 2001. The Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 1998.
The Farewell I tour in this region and dates in Japan and Australia will see the Eagles spending 50 days away from home, a relatively short period when you think about the kind of non-stop touring the band used to do in the 1970s.
“When you’re younger you can stay out on the road for a lot longer. You can do a lot of things for a lot longer when you’re younger. We’ve been out on the road for a long time but the difference now is that we take a lot better care of ourselves. We’re not party animals. We’ve had to retire that part of our life so it’s a little bit easier when you’re not outraging,” said the 56-year-old.
So does he miss the debauched days of booze, drugs, women and song?
“No, no. Glad I survived and glad to be moving on. But that’s the way we all are now,” Frey answered.
So having been there, done that and seen it all, is there anything the Eagles are or aren’t tired of hearing?
“We’re not tired of hearing applause,” Frey quipped.
“We never get tired of hearing people clap so it’ll be fun to come and play Singapore for the first time,” he said, adding that the band is excited about their Asian gig since they will be playing in places they have never been to before.
But what has happened to the new Eagles album? In 2001, the Eagles decided to work on a studio album and loaded their equipment into the studio on Sept 10 to start playing the next day – the very same infamous Sept 11 that changed America and the world.
“So we took a couple of days off just because no one really felt like anything that we were doing was very important. And then when we came back, one of the first tracks that we cut was Hole in the World and that song is sort of a lament about the sad fact that we can’t seem to get along,” recalled Detroit-born Frey. That tune was tacked on to the band’s The Complete Greatest Hits album released last year.
According to the guitarist-singer-songwriter, the band has recorded a few tracks, with some songs close to being finished. The group stopped recording for a while and then decided that they wanted to do this Asian tour. Frey thinks they may have a discussion early next year on how they want to proceed with the album.
And the fact that they don’t all live in the same town anymore makes recording this studio album even more difficult – Frey and Schmit live in Los Angeles while Walsh is in San Diego and Henley, in Texas. Recording the new album will mean time away from their families.
“Our lives are so much bigger now. We have so many other interests. First and foremost, everybody’s got a family and then also solo interests like charity work, playing private shows and acting. There’s a lot more to life these days than just the Eagles,” said Frey.
“(When) we were in our 20s, nobody was married. We were able to devote 24 hours a day to the Eagles. We all lived in LA and we were much more dedicated because we had the time. Now, it’s a little more difficult. Maybe some day, we’ll work it out, get enough material and complete it to put out a full CD. Or maybe we’ll try to work up a couple of new songs and play new material when we come to Asia,” he added.
The band’s Asian stint will also see them being away during their country’s crucial election month. Frey says that the group has thrown its support behind Democrat John Kerry and will “have to vote absentee ballot.”
Of late, American musicians and singers have been showing an increased interest in politics and have faced some kind of backlash for doing so. Linda Ronstadt was booed at then booted out of the Aladdin Hotel Casino in Las Vegas on July 18 after she praised Fahrenheit 9/11 director Michael Moore and dedicated the Eagles tune, Desperado, to him while Henley was recently booed for making political comments between songs during his concert at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Orange County, California.
Megastar Bruce Springsteen along with the Dixie Chicks, R.E.M., the Dave Matthews Band, Pearl Jam, James Taylor, John Mellencamp and Bonnie Raitt will be in the Vote for Change tour in an effort to unseat President George W. Bush in the upcoming election. Springsteen’s announcement to participate in the anti-Bush concert tour prompted a candidate for US Senate to come up with a “Boycott the Boss” television spot that shows her urging her supporters to not buy Springsteen’s music as a show of solidarity to Bush.
“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with exercising your democratic rights to say what you want to say. George W. Bush has polarised our country with his outrageous behaviour in domestic and foreign policy so everybody’s got an opinion now,” commented Frey.
“The people in power in our country own all the television stations and radio stations and we, as artistes, just have our little PA systems. So if Linda Ronstadt wants to say something and dedicate Desperado to Michael Moore, I think she’s got every right to do it and if people in the audience don’t like or want to hear it, they can get up and walk out.
“The Eagles support John Kerry and we hope that for everybody’s sake, we can have a new president. I have a lot of Republican friends and we have to live together but like Bruce said, this isn’t just about what party you’re in. This is where you think we’re going. I know it’s a big issue right now,” he added.
On the personal front, the guys in the Eagles do their fair share of charity work. Frey says that they like giving back because they have been very fortunate and very blessed. Frey personally prefers helping children as he feels they tend to be the victims most of the time.
“Once you have problems when you’re an adult, that’s another story but kids usually never create the problems they face. Somebody else did. So it’s always nice to help out. There are economically disadvantaged kids in America and we try to help them out as much as possible but not in a loud way. God likes a quiet giver. We all continue to try to do our part,” he explained.
Concert tickets for The Eagles in Singapore on Oct 18 range from S$99 (RM217.80), S$125 (RM275), S$225 (RM495), S$350 (RM770) to S$499 (RM1,097.80). Ticket sales available now through www.sistic.com or call hotline 02-6731 4810 for group bookings. The Singapore Indoor Stadium concert is presented by Lushington Entertainments (www.lushington.com). Malaysian fans can also contact newly appointed Sistic agent Holiday Tours & Travel Sdn Bhd, Lot 13, KL City Air Terminal, Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station, or call 03-2273 2200 for ticket bookings and collections here.
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