Photo credit: Gilbert Trejo
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
We rent two vans. One for gear and crew and band and the other for band crew merch suitcases and that kind of stuff. Of course we have had breakdowns over the 40 plus years of touring.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
I don’t eat cheaply. I bring healthy snacks to keep in the van. We have a very small backstage hospitality rider, with organic fruit and wheat free crackers and some sandwiches. It’s so much easier now than it was in the early days to eat out! We can get Thai food, vegan food, salads, organic food just about anywhere. But we don’t eat in restaurants very much because we don’t have time.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
I don’t break any. Billy doesn’t either. John doesn’t break strings. DJ breaks sticks. I think some of our strings and picks and such are given to us by manufacturers, and we do get some endorsements.
Where do you rehearse?
We rehearse at Billy’s amp building shop. It’s a small comfortable room. We don’t play as loud when we rehearse as we do when we play live. There were some cool old places in the 80’s that we rehearsed at. And of course, we rehearsed at the original Masque for a brief time.
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
“I’m Coming Over” in 1976. When I sang it for John, he really loved it and it made me think I maybe had songwriting a little. I’d been a poet for a long time. “I’m Madonna in a mattress” is a good sample lyric.
Describe your first gig.
It was in the house John and I lived at. We were renting a room. We played in the living room to maybe twenty people. DJ wasn’t in the band yet. I think the first gig with DJ may have been Tony Alva’s birthday party on the beach in Malibu. But maybe we played the Masque before that?
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
I have had so many. I worked in a precision honing shop but had to stop when Covid happened. I loved that job. Aerospace, a very small shop working with incredible people. My job was mostly paperwork, office kinds of tasks. I worked for a friend.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
Hasn’t changed a lot. Been pretty steady. We aren’t rich. But we pay our bills.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
I could have taken it more seriously! I was such a wild girl. We always worked hard. John and I practiced endless hours on vocals. I was constantly writing. But I loved meeting people and adventuring. I don’t really have retreats. We did the best we could with the knowledge we had. I don’t think we had expectations; certainly not long term. We just wanted to be a great band and have fun and make people happy.