Photo credit: Henry Diltz
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
Vicki Peterson: We don’t have one yet, although if we are being local on the West Coast, it might be our RAV 4 hybrid!
I do have horrific break-down stories from my other bands (The first day of the Bangles’ first tour, the van breaks down in Blythe, California before we even get out of the state…Continental Drifters repairing an RV for the third time at a gas station in a god-forsaken part of east Texas…)
John Cowsill: We don’t have an official “tour vehicle”. lol
If we fly, either a promoter will arrange pick up or we’ll get a rental car. If it’s an actual on the ground run, we’ll probably rent a sprinter van.
Or a nice SUV. It’s just two of us and sometimes three. Minimal gear.
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
Peterson: I’ve been a vegetarian since the Reagan administration, and it hasn’t always been easy. In Europe it used to be bread-and-cheese tours (albeit, VERY good bread and excellent cheeses). Now, though, I find healthy options almost everywhere. Except maybe Arkansas…
Cowsill: It’s a lot easier in this century to eat healthy. Cheaply is relative. Like gas, you just pay the general going rate. Not a lot you can do about it other than go to the market and get a loaf of bread and peanut butter and jelly and move on.
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
Peterson: Funny. I haven’t broken a string in FOREVER!
Cowsill: One or two. A set of strings are 5-7 dollars so do the math. 6 strings. Unless you’re playing a 12 sting which would cost double for obvious reasons. lol
Where do you rehearse?
Peterson: Right now John and I rehearse pretty much anywhere there is a guitar in the house, which is everywhere except the bathrooms. I like to do the more “formal” rehearsals in our studio, but sometimes, like yesterday, we end up on the front porch, with neighbors stopping by to listen…
Cowsill: Our recording studio is our rehearsal space as is our living room and outside on our deck. Crazy stuff happens all the time!
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
Peterson: Oh dear Lord. It was called “I Think It’s Love” and that is the only lyric I remember from it. I was nine.
Cowsill: Find The Good
Sample lyric: …and if we had the insight to see the world thru multi-colored eyes…
Describe your first gig.
Peterson: In high school my two best friends and I played at a home “garden show” where ladies showed off their prized orchids and ferns. We didn’t have a bass guitar yet, so my friend played the bass lines on the one electric guitar we owned among us. Afterwards the three of us went to McDonalds to celebrate and a lady who had been at the Garden Show walked in and came over to our table. “You’re going to be famous!” she said. We could barely play, but boy—we believed her!
Cowsill: Maybe not the first but I remember 1965 at Kings Park with my family. It was a carnival with a flat-bed for a stage. I was playing an Emenee organ with the plug stuffed in the drawer. I had Raybans on and a red blazer. Best part was riding the rides.
Hey I was 8 years old…lol
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
Peterson: I worked at a film studio as the assistant to the Lot Superintendent (i.e. head janitor) — also my favorite non-music job.
Cowsill: I’m a finish Carpenter. Same.
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?
Peterson: I am lucky enough to receive royalties from my years with the Bangles…but i am determined that John and I will be earning big ShowBizDollars on the road soon!
Cowsill: I made great money with The Beach Boys the last 23 years. I’m hoping to continue that trend in whatever I do.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
Peterson: That I have the power to say no.
Cowsill: 3am lobby calls. Touring is a blue-collar job. It’s not for the overly sensitive! It can be grueling. You love it or ya don’t. I grew up doing it. I didn’t choose my job, it picked me!
And I’m so happy about that.