Richie/Tico Interview

This one has been making the rounds; here are some excerpts from a version published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 

Richie and Tico on the Hall of Fame pass:

"You know what?" he says during a recent teleconference. "Personally, I think it's a boys' club over there. I don't know what they're doing. And, you know, they're looking for ratings or, what are they doing? I have no idea ... It has nothing to do with our legitimacy because our legitimacy comes with the people and the fans. And, you know, you sell 125 million records and have the two biggest tours in the last three years, I'll take that. If I would complain, nobody would listen."

Kick the Hall of Fame question to the man behind the drum kit, Tico Torres, and you get a more measured response.

"You got to look at the bands that still haven't made it that are amazing and, really, it's hard to pick three or four bands or even five bands. The bands that were nominated this year and the ones that made it ... well deserved. And it's just, well, it's nice to be nominated. We have a long life ahead of us. And I think there's a lot of bands that we're included with that one day should be in the Hall of Fame and will be. There's only so much you can put in every year. So we just do what we do, play in front of people and have fun until then."

Tico on their success:

"From the first show we did in a big place, at Madison Square Garden with ZZ Top -- supporting them -- I mean, when you're a band you think you made it right there. When you hear your song on the radio for the first time you think you've made it. It's a journey and if you're in the present and you travel that journey and you enjoy it, you work harder for the next enlightening moment. I don't think any of us would ever, in our wildest dreams, be smart enough to think that we would be this far in our careers and been so successful as a group."

Richie on the interplay between the guys:

"We've been through so much together. We're a family. It's a different thing. You know, I don't think other bands are like that. I don't know if everybody cares about each other as much."

The flip side of that is, over all that time, a band easily can become static or bored. One of the remedies, according to the two musicians, is playing up to about 70 different songs on a tour and doing them a little bit differently every night.

"I can tell you one thing," the guitarist says. "Tico's got his drum right up my butt and he plays some different fills and he does some different things, and I smile and then I'll play something different. And it's an exchange of energy, not only between the band and the audience, but between the band."

"We play off each other," the drummer adds, "and that's what we have, that's what a band is ... It's something that you look forward to because, you know, you spend a lot of time in the hotel room away from home, and you're looking forward to those three hours on stage where you can actually just do your craft and enjoy yourself."

You can read the full article here.

~ Hath

Bon Jovi are at the Consol Energy Center this Friday and Saturday.
Tickets: $18.50-$132.75. 1-800-745-3000.