Bridge 7 – Jerry Amber on The We Talk Music Podcast

 

Morten: Hey Yo and here we go with another episode of We Talk Music, I’m Morten and I’m joined by my usual co-host the King of the Casters, Mr. Brett Podcast.

Morten: And Brett, we got a very special guest, why don’t you tell us who we have with us today.

Brett: Well, we’re joined by a legendary figure from one of my personal favorite bands. You know him from The Scene of course, and Hula Boys. We have Jerry Amber with us. Hello Jerry

Jerry: Hey guys, how’re you doing?

Brett: Great Jerry. Now we wanted to ask you of course about the reunion tour with The Scene because a lot of us, like myself, never thought it would happen.

Jerry: I didn’t think it was going to happen either. Especially for me. We are kind of fucking assholes sometimes… Oops, sorry guys. We can restart if you like.

Morten: No,it’s okay, say what you want. So, how did it come together? Were you involved very early in the process?

Jerry: Nah man. I just got the call and Nigel told me. It’s something that TK and Kyng had been working on. But I gotta tell you I was pretty fuckin’ excited to get the chance to be back with the boys. We left on some pretty shitty terms before.

Morten: Well, we weren’t going to go there right away but since it came up, from your perspective, how did it go down?

Jerry: I’m sure you all know, I’m hardly innocent. I did a lot of drugs back in the day, and drank a lot of booze. “My Friends” are what I liked to call my whiskey and pills.  But yeah, back in, I don’t know, I guess it was late 80’s, 88 or so I was in a really bad place. I had always had some screw ups but it was getting harder for me to learn my parts and I was having trouble just even getting out of my house you know? I would rather hang with my friends than play music, right? So yeah, I was real fucking low at that point and so Gil came to me and told me that things were too far gone and they were going to replace me with Rod for that album. That hurt you know? That really fucking hurt. But I did it to myself. It wasn’t until after that that I really started taking it all to heart and I went back to AA and started to take it seriously. I’ve been on and off for the last 25 odd years, but God’s will, I’m clean for 15 months right now and ready to rock. 

Brett: So, how does that affect the band though? Do you have to rebuild the trust?

Jerry: I’ve had to try and rebuild the trust with everyone in my life. I’ve wrecked relationships, and it’s been tough. The band is no different. I know there are guys who maybe didn’t want me involved, but I’m so blessed that they chose me and I can do what I love to do, get out and play live. With God behind me, I can really prove to everyone in the group that I’m past that shit and I can take responsibility for my actions and we can get out there and make the fans happy. I haven’t done a lot of things right in my life, especially over the last 15 years or so, so I really look at this as a second chance. God has given me a second chance and I won’t fuck it up.

Morten: So how about on stage? We’ve been looking you up and haven’t seen a lot of work from you lately. How confident are you about being on such a big stage?

Jerry: I’ve been working on my bass trying to relearn the songs. It’s amazing how much you lose some of that shit. I want to get in touch with Sticks and maybe try to work some shit out with him, try to get that rhythm back. The stage is just a stage man. I’ve been on stage in some form or another since I was in my teens, and I’m a lot fucking older than that now, hah! But I think the stage stuff is second nature, it just kind of falls back in place, you get that first rush of cheers and it kind of pushes you through the rest of the show. I’m more worried about playing the notes right and not having certain members of the band looking at me like I’m a fuck up. But we’re a team this time. We are all looking out to put on the best shows we can.

Brett: Now I…

Morten: Actually, I just want to ask something about that.

Brett: Okay.

Morten: The Scene used to have some pretty elaborate stage shows, I’m guessing that’ll be part of this. So have there been a lot of rehearsals for the music, or just kind of for your stage shows?

Jerry: Darnell has been trying to get us together. TK, Kyng, and Gil have been doing a lot of stuff together preparing for this and they pretty much have sent me the set list to learn and pictures of the stage. I’m doing some running right now to get myself ready for the stage, it is a lot bigger than I’ve played on in a while. The bass parts were never that hard for The Scene so the rehearsals are more for getting movement down and stuff. Figuring out solos and lighting and that kind of thing. I don’t have a lot to do. I figure the more that trust gets rebuilt like we talked about before then I can start adding more of my stuff to the show. But I’m letting those guys take the lead right now, I got my own shit to worry about at this point. 

Morten: Darnell, that’s the manager now?

Jerry: Yeah, Nigel has some health issues to sort out. Cancer is a fucker you know. God willing I never get that, but yeah, Nigel sent Darnell out to take care of us and make sure the tour happens. Lots of egos to take care of in this bunch. I’m trying to handle my shit and not be a distraction to anybody right now. So I haven’t talked to Darnell that much, but he seems like a good cat.

Morten: Yeah, okay. I was wondering what was up with your old manager Nigel Rodgers… Is it Rodgers?

Brett: Yeah, Rodgers

Morten: Okay, cool. Go ahead Brett.

Brett: Well, I just wanted to ask you about your old band the Hula Boys. Like, you said you were pretty young when you did that, did you think it was going to last?

Jerry: We didn’t care. We were just young fuckers out to have a good time. Get loaded smoke some shit you know. The fact that Sticky Situation was a hit actually made it worse. The pressure was on then to try and write another hit. I’m pretty fucking lucky overall, my co-writing credit on that song is the only thing that let me keep my house these last 15 years or so. But I think the pressure of writing hits constantly wears you down in the industry. We’re so lucky we have Gil in The Scene. That guy is just such a great writer, so many of his songs have that hit potential, that, uh, you know, thing… But man, Gil is just blessed with a God given talent to write these songs.\

Morten: So you never wanted to have more say in writing the songs?

Jerry: For pretty much every album I brought in about 5 or 6 songs. Gil looked at em and usually he took 2 or 3 and we worked em over a bit more. I have a few solo writing credits here and there, but I was more into my friends at the time. I got a lot of songs right now that if we made another album, then maybe I could put a bunch into the pot you know. It’s tough, I got a lot of ideas, but then I’d go and have a couple of drinks and the ideas just kind of fade away. I’d wake up and not really remember anything from where I started. It was sad really, but I fucked that stuff up a lot back then.

Actually, I remember a funny story…

Morten: Oh yeah?

Jerry. Yeah. I brought this song called “My Heart Got In the Way” to a session once, and Gil looked at it and said that it was too fucking pansy for us to play. So I was ready to just dump it, you know? And TK has a look at it and he’s really popular with the girls at the time, probably still is… and he says that this is the kind of thing that chicks will eat up. So he just starts singing it and riffing on it and Kyng starts playing some shit to go along with it and the next thing you know we’re all just playing this song without Gil. He was pissed, but what could he do, it just connected you know. It was a pretty good size hit too. Wound up on You Ain’t Scene Nothin’ with only a few changes from where we started that day. Fucking Gil’s face though. Priceless.

Morten: Is he pretty possessive about his writing?

Jerry: It’s because he’s a fucking genius you know. He wants to make sure everything is perfect and he has the track record to back it up. He’s proven that he can handle his shit so he kind of deserves to be a bit possessive of it. I know that it rubs some of the other guys the wrong way, but when the band was fuckin hot, it was because of Gil’s lyrics too. We sold a lot of records and he wrote a lot of hits. I’m really blessed to be a part of that and so Gil can have his shit. We all have our shit you know?

Morten: I guess that’s why we never heard the Scene play “Sticky Situation” even in concert, because I always thought you’d play a great version of that.

Brett: Oh yeah, for sure.

Jerry: That wasn’t Gil actually, That was TK. He never wanted to sing it. He only wants to sing songs that are the band’s own. It’s a fucking bitch trying to get him to do a cover of any song. I think maybe he’s worried because it isn’t in his vocal range right? I mean, TK can rock out, but yeah… TK is a great front man though. We wouldn’t be where we are without him.

Brett: Back to the Hula Boys for a second, because I really like that first, self titled album you played on.

Jerry: Thanks man, I really appreciate it. It was a fun album to do.

Brett: Yeah, it’s got a really good groove. Fast and fun but not too poppy.

Jerry: That was kind of before metal was a thing you know. We were just doing rock.

Morten: Yeah, and I know “Sticky Situation” was a hit but the song I always liked was “She Bops A Lot”. That’s a great song.

Jerry: The Hula Boys always stayed true to their roots. And a lot of our roots were in the 50s and 60s right? We loved that early rock n’ roll and She Bops really just fit that. I had actually written that one when I was like 15 or something. It was an early one that I brought to the band and we found it just fit the groove of the album. I’m totally glad you guys like it. I always wanted to get the Hula Boys back together, but after Fontaine died about 10 years ago, there was pretty much no chance. We kind of talked about it after I was out of The Scene because I had some time. I had cleaned up at that point and we got talking about it, but Fontaine just couldn’t take the rest of the shit that happened to him and ended it, you know. It was a fucking shame.

Morten: Yeah, he was a talented guy.

Jerry: He was a great singer, he had the pipes man. But he had depression too, and it was hard for him. Between him with depression, me with the drugs, and Lazy Bob… that’s Bob Ritter. He always had some shit going wrong all the time. Unluckiest bastard ever. But we were kind of destined to fail as a band.

Morten: So then after Hula Boys broke up you kind of bounced around for a while. I know you did Steppchild and a project with Chad Velmont of Skool called Sin-Gers but we couldn’t find it.

Jerry: And you shouldn’t find it. It was a piece of shit. Velmont had a big ego and small talent. He really liked drugs though, so we got along at the time. I’m glad that album is buried. One thing I learned from back then is that I am not a guitarist. I play bass. It’s pretty much the only thing I do well except for drink, and one of those things is bad for me.

Morten: But it’s fun, right?

Jerry: Sorry, what’s fun? Playing bass? Yeah, I love playing bass.

Brett: So how did you actually join The Scene?

Jerry: Well, they had Rod and he had some family shit going on. I think he struggled with the touring part of being in a rock band, it’s not for everyone you know. So I was just kind of out there floating and Nigel had known me from listening to the Hula Boys and we kind of ran into each other at this party off the strip, and got to talking. I think he was looking for pussy, but he found me instead ha! He brought me in to meet Gil, and we got on okay at that point. TK was cool, he was still pretty fresh in the band at that point so we bonded over that a bit. I could do the parts and I looked like I belonged at that point. I had really long hair then, dressed in lots of leather you know.

Morten: So you replaced Rod and then Rod replaced you? Were there any hard feelings between you guys? Did you ever run into each other?

Jerry: When Rod left the first time it was because of family, so he didn’t have any issues with me joining the band. When he came back I was in a bad fuckin place and wasn’t really in any kind of position to come back to performing at that point. He was at a good point in his life where he was ready to perform live. It’s kind of odd the way it’s happened, the way God has kind of moved our lives sort of in sync. Rod’s a good dude though, plays well. I’ve really never had any problems with him. We run into each other every now and then but we don’t really have the same circles now. He has a family and I don’t go out to bars or anything very much now. But yeah, we just kind of keep swapping the role.

Morten: It could be weird now though, right? You both are in position to be able to do this tour but it’s you not him.

Jerry: TK and I have been talking a lot lately, and I know he kind of pushed for me to get the role you know. I was in the band during the biggest point, with the highest selling record. This band that is playing the reunion tour is the lineup that sold the most and is probably the most well recognized of The Scene’s history. God has given me a good support group and a chance to come out and play for all our great fans again and I truly appreciate that. Rod, bless him, didn’t get this opportunity, but something will come along for him at some point. God has a plan for him too. But yeah, the fans wanted to see this lineup again and so that’s the reason I’m here, ready to rock

Brett: Okay, well on that note we shouldn’t keep you any longer.

Jerry: Hey, you know I really appreciated talking with you guys, bless you for having me on.

Morten: Yeah, so we’re We Talk Music on We Talk Podcasts, and we can be heard or seen in all the usual places.

Brett: But yeah, Jerry, we just wanted to give you the chance to plug what you want to end the show.

Jerry: Yeah, thanks guys. I’m not really on the internet much. You know I have people who say I should get a website or get on social media or some shit, but I just can’t be bothered right. But yeah, The Scene has all of that shit. And yeah, the tour is kicking off in a few weeks in LA, and we’re doing a big North American loop and finishing again in LA, then we’ll head off and do some dates overseas. It’s going to be a great time and I think there will be something for everyone, from the older fans to the new ones. I’m totally looking forward to the experience.

Brett: Thanks Jerry

Jerry: Yeah, thanks guys. God bless, and hope to see you on the road!