Just speak directly

Cris Cohen: (Recording songs now that were written in 1985 for the Talas album "1985".) Was there any kind of internal struggle as you were laying down your parts, thinking, "Well, if I was doing this nowadays, I would probably play this, but back then I would probably play that"? Was it difficult to bounce back and forth mentally with that idea?

Billy Sheehan: I don't believe so.

There's not a lot of thought that goes into it, as funny as that sounds. A lot of journalists often question that, like what the plan was, or "How did you figure this out?" But it's just kind of “let nature take its course.” I rarely, if ever, think things through or plan ahead for me, personally, as a musician. And most of the musicians I work with… We're there. Here's the song. Let's do this. There's not a lot of pre-planning.

And like I said, we had played them live recently. So that (is something) I'm really glad about, because we had a real chance to get our sea legs back, get our footing back on those particular songs. And they were a blast to play back in the day. There's some chaotic, hilarious stuff in there, so we did enjoy that.

Yeah, I'm not a thinker. As a matter of fact, as far as playing live, there's a famous saying that I've spread around. I forgot who originated it. It was not me. But as far as musicians – "If you think, you stink." So, if you're thinking while you're playing… It's like with speaking. If you're stopping before every sentence and trying to plan out what you're going to say next, it's not from the heart. I'm sure you've spoken to people that are thinking about what they're saying prior. While you're talking, they're not listening. They're thinking about what they're going to say next. It's just not a real heart to heart. Or when somebody's reading off a teleprompter or reading from a sheet of paper… if you'd just do it, just speak directly. And if you know what you're talking about well enough, it'll come out great and people will understand it. And music being a language I think is a parallel there.

Cris Cohen: That is an interesting parallel. Because that is a pet peeve of mine. Luckily, I haven't had this too much, but there have been some occasions, where I've been interviewing someone and the person obviously has a rote answer that they give to things. And so they're not really listening to what the question is. They're just like firing in.

Billy Sheehan: I'm glad you've experienced that, so you know what I'm talking about.

Cris Cohen: Yeah. I've never looked at it that way, but that is a great comparison.
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Full interview