Billy Squier returns to rock Hammerjacks and talk life and music in June 1991

Now almost eight years into his life as an #AlmostFamous music critic at The Evening Sun in Baltimore, rockers like Billy Squier would return to pick up where they left off…

Billy Squier discussed the challenges of his current tour, including logistical issues and the decision to replace Jimmy Crespo with Larry Mitchell. He highlighted the new setlist, which includes rearranged and previously unreleased songs, and a revamped version of “The Stroke.” Squier expressed satisfaction with his new band and material, noting that his personal and professional life have improved. He reflected on the label’s reorganization and his positive experience with them now. Squier also touched on the inspiration behind his songs, emphasizing their provocative and symbolic nature, and mentioned the importance of promoting his music despite the competitive industry.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

tour cancellation, new setlist, Larry Mitchell, personal pride, album release, label changes, promotional efforts, fan appreciation, career ups, song inspiration, Hollywood symbolism, business machinations, songwriting process, concert expectations, Billy Squier

SPEAKERS

Billy Squier, Nestor Aparicio

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Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Nestor, Billy, how are you pretty good? I feel like a real schmuck for the other day.

Billy Squier  00:06

Well, you deserve it. You hung me up.

00:09

I hung you up. I tied you up.

Billy Squier  00:13

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To be honest, I never really feel that bad about missing interviews. No disrespect intended, but it does get boring talking about oneself over and over again. That’s let me out of a little work that day. All right. Well, you

Nestor Aparicio  00:28

let me have some work too. So bad. I think it was a quote in in Rolling Stone a couple weeks ago about REM. They were sitting around the reporter saying about how tired they were talking about themselves. They said it’s like being a wet mop. And he said, Mike Mills said, as long as he can do it at his current salary, everything’s fine. So anyway, how is the tour shaping up? And when do you get out and stuff? I’m coming to Asbury Park tomorrow. I thought you’re playing. Well,

Billy Squier  00:52

we would like to have been playing, but there were a few factors that were involved in that made it impossible for us to do it. Unfortunately, I don’t want to get into the particulars. It just didn’t work out. We hoped that we were able to do it, but not to be so we’re going to Detroit.

Nestor Aparicio  01:08

You’re going to destroy what’s in the set. And how did you do it differently than last year, what’s

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Billy Squier  01:13

in the set. You have to come and see it. Come on. I

01:15

raised about you last time.

Billy Squier  01:17

We got a lot of surprises here we’re doing we’re doing some songs we’ve never done before, which we’re covering. We’re starting right from the beginning. We’re doing something from tail to tape and everything up to the present. But we’re doing a few songs we’ve never done before. We’ve rearranged a few songs. We have a we have a fabulous new version of the stroke, yeah, which will blow you away.

01:41

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I didn’t mind first version after

Billy Squier  01:43

you do a song for 10 years, and sometimes you want to change it. I just felt that it was time to bring it into the 90s. So that’s what we did, all right. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  01:52

we’re looking forward to that now. What? How much Jimmy Crespo? Why is he not

Billy Squier  01:56

with you? Or, first of all, he lives in California, so it doesn’t make it that easy to play with the guy, and you’re a New Yorker, yeah, with all banders in New York. So logistically, it wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t as as easy as it would be. And there’s just another guy here in New York. This guy got Larry Mitchell, who’s the premier guitar player in New York, who has really wanted to be in the band. And we actually he auditioned for the band The last tour, and I thought that he was too good, too talented to be, to be backing me up. And I told him that, but I ran to him again this year, and he still very much wanted to do it, and I felt, if he wants to do it that much, I’m a fool not to let him do it right, right? It just worked out that way. I’m very, I’m very happy with him. He’s a great player, and he’s a great attitude.

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Nestor Aparicio  02:44

So after listening to creatures of habits here, I I noticed no change in style in Billy squire. Is that correct? No change. No change, certainly, no

Billy Squier  02:53

basic change. You know? I mean, the fundamentals are still intact. I I think that, you know, I think that the songs are a bit better from a writing standpoint. I mean, I taken a lot of personal pride in a lot of these songs, but now the basics have changed,

Nestor Aparicio  03:12

right? Well, I mean, how long did it take you to put this baby together? Me. Were here last December. I mean, it’s a year and a half ago. You were you were on the road. I

Billy Squier  03:20

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started writing it last February. I wrote it, did the writing the spring, and we recorded it, started in June, and we were finished, I think,

03:29

in November. So you just laid it all down New York. Want to put it out in

Billy Squier  03:33

November, because it just Christmas isn’t a good time to put something out. So it’s actually been done, but it came out with April. Have been done for five months before it came out? Have

03:45

you been doing any gigs or No, no,

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Billy Squier  03:48

just hanging around.

03:50

So last time, actually, I

Billy Squier  03:52

was doing a lot of traveling. I did a lot of a lot of advanced work for this, going around to different cities and conventions and stations and stuff like that I did have the time, right?

04:03

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Do you enjoy that?

Billy Squier  04:08

Yes and no, I think it’s a very, it’s a very valuable thing to do. You know, I think the people, people who are really involved in the business, that are sincere about it. Appreciate you making that sort of effort. And I think that’s very important, I think, to do what we can do in, you know, in our own behalf. It’s a very, very competitive business, and there are a lot of people out there who are trying to, you know, trying to make it. I think that if you believe what you’re doing, you owe it to yourself to do it. So in that sense, I get a lot of the satisfaction out of it. It’s not always the most fun. You know, I’d rather be playing than talking with all right. I

04:46

mean, I realize the

Billy Squier  04:47

value of it, so in that sense, I do, I do appreciate it. Did you

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Nestor Aparicio  04:50

really long to get back to that level where you were, you know, 810, years ago, where you were playing real big arenas and selling them

Billy Squier  04:56

out really? I mean, I would, I. I would always like to play bigger and bigger places and play more and more people. But the reality for me now is that I’ve got the band the best band I’ve ever had. I think I have the best material I’ve ever had. So what I’m actually getting out of the music is more than I was getting out of out of it. Then I think my situation, from a personal standpoint, is far better, you know, and so I’m not. I don’t sit at home and go, gee, I wish I were playing, you know, the capital center instead of this other place. It’s, it doesn’t really, it doesn’t, it doesn’t equate to me. I mean, someday, I hope that you know that that will will come, but it’s not really on my mind, right? Doesn’t bother me.

Nestor Aparicio  05:41

No, last time, last time we talked, you were a capital bashing. Is that still me? No, no, no, I’ve got evidence. Never must have been

Billy Squier  05:53

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talking to someone else. No, I’m very pleased with the label. I think there was, there was certainly a period that was, they were pretty down and out. I think that that’s pretty well known, you know, that’s a known fact throughout the industry. But they’ve, they’ve made a lot of changes. They’ve totally reorganized and brought in a lot of new people. And they’re, they’re really very together now, and I’m very pleased. I think it’s the best, the best the labels ever been. And all the time I’ve been with them, I’m quite happy with them. I

Nestor Aparicio  06:22

could, I could probably agree with you, just, you know, judging from what I’m hearing on the radio, what I’m seeing, I mean, I’ve already gotten four discs from creatures of habit, so me and all my friends have the new Billy squire album. So, I mean, you know, they’re really hitting me hard. I don’t know if they’re hitting anybody else hard.

Billy Squier  06:36

I’m sure they are. No, I’m very happy. They’re hot. And it’s a whole new ball game

Nestor Aparicio  06:42

over there, and this is just a year and a half ago. Is that? How quickly things can change around? They

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Billy Squier  06:47

were starting it then it was due to the change. The change over was taking place then. So at that point in time, it was too early to see, you know, the results of the change, but it’s, it’s been about two years in the making. Do you

Nestor Aparicio  07:02

feel like you got jobs on signs of life? I mean, I thought that album was a lot better an album than the public got to see you. Said that about the previous two albums as well. But

Billy Squier  07:15

I don’t think that I got singled out. I think everyone at the label suffered, you know, I don’t think it was a particular, you know, vendetta against me. I think that the label wasn’t, you know, wasn’t doing well by any other artists, really

Nestor Aparicio  07:28

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well. I think you mean you I think your exact quote to me was, I don’t want to make records anymore for people who don’t, you know, don’t want to promote them.

Billy Squier  07:34

I think that was, I think that’s a pretty valid, valid argument. You know, I care a lot about what I do, and I don’t want to spend my time by my blood, sweat and tears and money doing something and have some throw it away. I think that that’s fair to expect that other people who are being paid theoretically to do to do a job should do it at this point, as I said, that doesn’t seem to be a problem. Now, no

Nestor Aparicio  08:01

How many songs got released, even off the last that was, it was, don’t say you love me. And then there was another

Billy Squier  08:06

one, right? One more, tied up. And don’t let me go.

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Nestor Aparicio  08:09

Don’t let me go. Okay, we heard those two, but tied up, I never heard tied up was the best song maybe you’ve ever done. I still go to hammer Jackson. I’m buddies with the DJ there, and he, he cranks it up every now and

Billy Squier  08:21

then. They didn’t put out a video for which

08:26

did you shoot one or no, no. They

Billy Squier  08:27

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said they guaranteed that they would do that. And we weren’t going on tour for till the fall. We needed a video out. And they, they

08:37

pulled, they pulled the money on your tour was pretty short to begin with, right?

Billy Squier  08:41

Well, as I said, it was. It wasn’t a very good situation over there at that time.

Nestor Aparicio  08:46

Are you kind of disappointed with the way the tour turned out? Was it was great. I think the crowd the night I was there, Richie was kind of lame. You know, most of the shows

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Billy Squier  08:54

I thought were really good. I actually enjoyed it. I found, by and large, that the people who came were definitely, you know, big Billy squire fans. They made, made us feel, feel very much at home, right? Well,

Nestor Aparicio  09:07

I told you last time I thought you should have been playing hammer Jackson. Now you coming back and playing it. I mean, we’re doing the place you played there before was the concrete slab. Where do we find Richie Coliseum, College Park, Maryland. Oh, yeah. Oh, man, that was weird. Bathrooms with the doors ripped off and stuff, no toilet papers.

Billy Squier  09:22

I remember now,

09:22

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real nasty situation coming back. It

Billy Squier  09:25

was a miserable night, yeah, it

Nestor Aparicio  09:27

was a snowy night, yeah, that is, that’s exactly right. That’s exactly right.

Billy Squier  09:31

Interesting place, hopefully I’ll never see again. Tell

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Nestor Aparicio  09:35

me about she goes down. Where does the inspiration for these things come from? I

Billy Squier  09:39

don’t know where the inspiration, where that came from, to be totally honest. I mean, Were

09:43

you familiar with the Motley Crue song? No, never heard it. Never

Billy Squier  09:47

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heard I didn’t. I didn’t know about that until I finished the record and I was at Capitol again, a girl who works there told me that they had written a song called that. So I was, I was totally oblivious to it. I was. Never heard it actually. I don’t even know what it’s like. So

Nestor Aparicio  10:01

when did you write this one yours?

Billy Squier  10:03

I wrote it last year. I wrote all the songs last year, between February and April.

Nestor Aparicio  10:08

What inspired you to write such such a title

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Billy Squier  10:11

that’s not, I can’t answer. I honestly, I honestly don’t know that just popped into my head. It was not, it wasn’t something that I’ve been thinking about or some sort of theme that was rolling around in my head, just sexual. No, probably know me well enough by now, I’m happy for people to be, you know, to be provoked into thinking things like, kind of the fun of some songs like that, if you can, you know, people can make it whatever they want, like

Nestor Aparicio  10:41

the stroke. Exactly, what is the stroke? We ever, you know, we ever figured that out

Billy Squier  10:46

the stroke was the stroke, for me, was about, was about business. What people do? Machiavellian tendencies of people in business, you know, but obviously there’s sexual everyone else, sexual overtones. For me, that’s, that’s a good thing. I want, I want to be able to provoke people as much as I can. But, but I’m not, you know, I think, you know, I’m a pretty, pretty serious person in terms of my writing. And I wouldn’t, I would not, I don’t think ever slip into some writing, something which would be, as you know, mundane or frivolous, just writing trash. So generally, people always say what she goes down about, and I say, Well, I can tell you, it’s not about what you’re thinking right now. As far

Nestor Aparicio  11:30

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as one more song on the album and discuss with Hollywood, is that kind of a little personal experience kind of thing for you? Well, it’s certainly

Billy Squier  11:38

something that I’m aware of. It wasn’t, it was not written about a personal experience. Personal experience, but it’s something that I’m aware of, and what goes on again, that I used Hollywood to because I think that it from a poetic standpoint, it was the best metaphor to use, right? It’s

11:58

a symbolic right.

Billy Squier  11:59

It could be anywhere. It’s what people again, it’s me talking about what happens when you’re living in the world of Maple Leaf stardom and all that sort of thing, and the realities and unrealities of those situations, and Hollywood is the mecca of that so as a symbol, that’s why it worked to use that as the title of the song. But it wasn’t based, like, on any particular experience that I had in Hollywood or anything like

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Nestor Aparicio  12:24

that. Yeah? Well, yeah, I figured as much. I just thought that, you know, the ups and downs that you’ve had in your career, sort of now you’re sort of going back up right? Hopefully, hopefully

Billy Squier  12:34

for you, like it’s going maybe going up slowly. But I said, I feel it feels great.

Nestor Aparicio  12:38

Well, it should feel like it’s coming up. I think it is. I mean, you’re certainly a little more higher profile now than even more a year ago or two years ago, but I think you got job with both. Say, love me, that was a better song. Come back

Billy Squier  12:48

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to this one. Nothing is lost, like

Nestor Aparicio  12:52

a newspaper. Business is always tomorrow.

Billy Squier  12:56

The records are still there. They can still be consumed. You know, if this record is big or whatever, people go back and buy the other ones. You never lose anything, really. It just is lying dormant somewhat,

Nestor Aparicio  13:07

right? You gotta wake it up, yeah? Well, I think you’ve had enough of me so far, and I’m gonna go and look forward to seeing you on in June 11 and with the new version of the stroke. And I’ll count it as much more big, bigger than life. Yeah, beware of Baltimore. Nestor is only one of me. Take care, Billy. Have fun on the road. Sorry, missing you tomorrow. There. Okay. Take care. Bye.