Eddie, so how did you get in the business of making records?
As a kid I was always tweaking around with consumer recording gear that my dad had around the house. I loved music, and because of that my parents got me my first electric guitar — a Sears Silvertone. Later I was an English major at UCLA and did music on the side with an acoustic act. All through that time I was an obsessive record collector. I had always been intrigued by the prospect of making records and thought about what it would be like to record music.
How did you get your first studio job?
[laughs] Well, this is pretty much the most unorthodox way to go about it. I ripped out a piece of paper from my spiral notebook and handwrote my resume with a blue ballpoint pen. At that point my biggest qualification was that I had collected nearly 3,000 records. I went to every studio around and ended up at Larrabee Sound in West Hollywood. I walked in and the first person I saw was Sherry Klein talking on the phone in the office, who at the time was the queen bee of the second engineers at the studio. Turns out that very day they were losing one of their young engineers, and I was immediately ushered in to go meet the studio owner.
What did you say?
From there I went to meet the chief engineer, Bob Stone. He asked me if I'd been to recording school. I didn't know what to say. When I told him, "No," he just looked at me and said, "Good."
What were some of your favorite projects from that era?
The one that was really special was when John Stewart, formerly of the Kingston Trio came in. I loved all of his records from California Bloodlines on, and he was one of my first childhood heroes that I actually got to work with. It was also one of the first records where I had a role in the creative process. It was for the Bombs Away Dream Babies record, his one big chart success as a solo artist [with the single "Gold"]. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham came in to add some tracks. It was right on the heels of Rumours, so it was pretty surreal working with them.
What came after that?
Well, unfortunately this was all going on during the disco era and it took its toll on me. I didn't care much for disco or the 100-plus hour week, so I quit. I ended up living in New England a few years later. A friend with whom I had worked in a record store while I was an undergraduate contacted me. He knew I had studio experience and he asked if I wanted to work with him on a recording project he wanted to do.
How long off had it been?
About four years. We booked a place called Normandy Sound, south of Providence, Rhode Island — really cool studio with great gear and a small town, New England vibe. Suddenly it was like, "What did I quit doing this for?" I forgot how fun it was. From there I headed back to L.A. and tried to get gigs as an independent engineer. I spent about two years eking out a marginal existence. One of the studios that I poked my head into during that period was a place called Total Access in Redondo Beach. The studio owner, Wyn Davis, knew me because I was one of the first people to book time at Total Access with a gig I had then. One day I got a call from him and he wanted to meet with me. He told me that the studio was putting in a new console and asked if I could help oversee the installation. When I got down there I met a band called Great White. As I was helping with the console installation, I was asked if I would step in to help them work on their next record [Once Bitten...], which ended up being my first gold record. From there I went on to build an association with Total Access for about 15 years.
What was history of Total Access at that point?
In those days Total Access wasn't a well-known studio. Their claim to fame was that a lot of those legendary SST Records albums had been done there — bands like Hüsker Dü, Meat Puppets, Black Flag and The Minutemen. Wyn gave SST a great monthly rate and a lot of them ended up recording there.
What were the Great White sessions like?
They were super nice guys. At the time I was kind of embarrassed to tell my underground rock friends what I was working on. But the band treated my very well. I helped engineer their breakthrough albums, Once Bitten... and ...Twice Shy. That began a three-year stretch for me of working with hard rock and heavy metal. There was a lot of hairspray around at that time.
What were some of the other heavy metal albums that you worked on?
A couple with Dokken, both in the studio and a live album in Japan. I worked with Dio and also Bobby Blotzer from Ratt. I also began working with Japanese rock bands because heavy metal was all the rage over there. Japan was huge for me. I ended up going over there a total of seven times. Total Access became one of the major epicenters of hard rock music in the country, attracting an international clientele.
What was it like working with Dokken?
Well, when George [Lynch] came in he put up a sign that read: "Closed session. Especially other band members." Working with Dokken was kind of tense because there was a lot of friction in the band. I spent a lot of time with producer Neil Kernon recording George's guitar solos. He'd actually have other music, like classical or Racer X playing in his headphones while he was recording his guitar solos over the Dokken music. He'd do that for hours. He also insisted that we decorate the studio like hell.
With flames?
We had cardboard cutout flames on the meter bridge of the console and skeletons hanging from the ceiling. I had to go buy skulls and weird leather items. He was not an easy guy to work with.
How'd you get through that?
Well, I wasn't in a position to complain. You just got through it. They were big clients of the studio and my job was to keep them happy while they were there and to get the job done.
Talk about how you first got connected with Izzy Stradlin.
