Two Questions With Michael Lardie

I recently interviewed Michael Lardie of Great White and Mark Slaughter of Slaughter for a piece in the Dayton City Paper. The bands are playing near me in a couple weeks, so I was advancing the show. I never use all my interview questions when writing a story. Usually my outtakes just end up in the trash bin. That said, the quotes below by Michael Lardie are just too good to not use. As context, Michael and I were talking about music today versus the 80s and how it seems like modern musicians just don't need to know how to play an instrument to have a hit single anymore. Pity. Here's what Michael had to say about it:

"The thing about being a musician growing up, part of the joy was learning the instrument, becoming proficient on it, learning songs and be good enough to have success with those songs. There is a pride that those of us share that really do play our instruments. Music is so cyclical. Hopefully it will come back around to that thing but I’m not sure. If I had to place some sort of opinion on it, I think it takes less talent to sample sounds from a computer."

And later, Michael told me how he still loved to learn new instruments, especially if he can fit the new sounds into Great White songs.

"Most often if I do have the chance to learn a new instrument, it’s because I’ve thought it might work in the framework of a song we’re doing. That’s part of the challenge – using our music as a forum for trying new things. It keeps it interesting for us and for the fans as well. We are pretty much a classic blues rock band, but within that framework, a lot of blues and country were mixed together to create rock n’ roll. There’s a great long lineage of so many instruments that have found their way into rock n’ roll. I like to push the envelope and try new things. If it works, great and if not, well, the worst case scenario is that I learned a new instrument!"

I'll be sure to post my full interview when the newspaper comes out later this month. Happy Friday! 

Comments

[Shawn]

That is a great conversation topic. Michael is dead on. I watched an interview with Joe Walsh who I believe is a great guitar player with a superb sense of humor, and Joe talked about 10,000 hours and how important it is to master a instrument. These days everything is computer generated for the most part or what is on the airwaves. I also saw an interview with Alice Cooper where he stated the same thing about learning and performing live. There are still great players out there but because the music industry has changed so much some may never get the notoriety.. hopefully as Michael stated music comes back around full circle in my lifetime.

[Gary]

You can tell Michael is from my era. Lol. I couldn't agree more with him. I've been playing a guitar for 41 years now (since I was 11 years old),and I learn new sh!t every time I pick it up. There's something cerebral about playing an instrument. There are times where you totally zone out and become one with it,and there's absolutely no drug that'll give you a better high than when that happens.( trust me,I've dabbles with almost all of them) I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you don't quite get that feeling sampling stuff on a computer and and slamming it through pro tools. Great question for him Ally....

[Bob]

Computers and digital technology are very easy scapegoats, but that is not the whole story. I can't speak for other countries, but here in America, arts programs including music education have been either severely cut, or eliminated all together from most public schools. So, kids don't get the chance to discover if they might have an aptitude for music unless they seek it out on their own. and even if they do seek it out, they haven't been taught even the basics of music such as rhythm, melody and harmony.

[anonymous]

Yay, Michael! :) On another note (no pun intended), GW and Slaughter is a super fun bill. I'm sad that I'm giving up a chance to see them next month, but I've had a good run with GW especially this year, and I found another show the same night that's even more necessary to see. Anyway, I'll look out for the interview!