Eddie Martinez Breaks Down his Iconic Parts

Mason Marangella: Mr. Eddie Martinez, thank you so much for having us today in Portland, Oregon at the Hallowed Halls. And uh, it's such a treat to be in front of what Guitar Player Magazine 1987 Reader's Pulse. It was the top three session musicians right behind Steve Lukather. And Larry Carlton, this is amazing. Thank you again for, uh, just inviting us to, uh, to talk to you today about your career as a session musician, as a touring musician, and as a solo artist.

Thank you. It's great to be, good to see you, man. Yeah. It's been a minute. It's been ten years. About ten years. Ten years, yeah. It's been ten years since we've

Eddie Martinez: seen each other. Yeah, good to see you and thanks so much for flying up, man. I'm so happy to be here, actually. You know, it's really cool. Absolutely.

Privileged and, you know, gosh, I mean, when I think about just what you mentioned there being, you know, included with those two cats, man, they're just giants in my book, so.

Mason Marangella: Well, I think we're going to get to explain to people who are watching this a whole lot more of why you're in just such a distinguished group of people in, in just your musical accomplishments, whether we're talking about your work with Run DMC.

Tina Turner, Robert Palmer, uh, just the, Joe Cocker, Mick Jagger, David Lee Roth. It's like, it's just these icons after icons after icons, and you've been a part of the music, you've been a part of the, the session community, and in sort of a dissimilar community to a lot of the people that we normally interview, which are more LA based, you are a New York primarily throughout your career.

And so we're going to get to hear, I think, a lot about how that worked, your work on a lot of these hit songs. And I don't really want to waste any time to get into some of the amazing guitar playing that you did. I think we can probably safely say for Most people that are familiar with you and your work, they probably most closely associate you with Robert Palmer.

Would you, would you characterize that as, as the artist that you're most closely associated with? Yeah,

Eddie Martinez: I, I think that's really accurate because, um, I played on hit records before I worked with Robert, but I, I believe that my work with Robert really kind of was the moment for me. That kind of, I created my identity within the context of his music.

Yeah. And I was to, I was able to like really apply things that I was hearing. Cause working with Robert was just a wonderful collaboration. Yeah. With him and Bernard, uh, Edwards on that first album. And Jason Corsaro as well who engineered that, uh, recorded everything. And then subsequently ET that mixed it.

And, uh, just a great, it was a great experience.

Mason Marangella: So the two songs I want to focus on for Robert Palmer is Addicted to Love and Simply Irresistible. And I think we should start first with Addicted to Love going chronologically. That was 1985 you had recorded it.

Eddie Martinez: Yeah, we recorded that, I think it was around November of 85, right around Thanksgiving.

Okay. Because we were in the Bahamas and that's where Robert lived.

Mason Marangella: Okay.

Eddie Martinez: And, uh, we went down there and, uh, I think a few days of, like, pre production and listening to the tracks. And then we went in to Compass Point and recorded that and, and it was, it was just awesome working with Robert and Bernard. It was really an interesting, uh, collaboration.

Mason Marangella: Anything about the Addicted to Love session? Uh, and that was on Riptide? It was the album, yeah. Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: Riptide.

Mason Marangella: What do you remember about that particular song? Like how evolved it was when you had gotten into the studio? Like what, what do you remember about it?

Eddie Martinez: Well, I remember Robert telling me that he dreamt the song number one,

Okay. Yeah. He woke up in the middle, middle of the night, you know, you know, just the lyrics popped out. Mm-Hmm. . And he had a rough demo of it. And we listen to that and then we put our, our, you know, our thing on it, you know, because I think part of being a session player is, is, um, is more than your proficiency on the instrument is what, what you hear.

And, uh, what you can contribute in

Mason Marangella: serving the song. And as far as your guitar sound, what were sort of the, the components of what made that up? Cause it's, it's a nice, you had a beautiful distortion sound, there's like a clean guitar in there. Yeah. Tell us about the, the gear that was used to create that sound.

Eddie Martinez: Well, that, I had my, uh, half of Had a 50 watt Marshall, uh, non master that I bought brand new in 1977. Holy shit. I was two at the time, you know, uh, so, um, Uh, I remember buying that at Manny's. Actually, it had Jim Marshall's name written in pencil on the inside of the, yeah. And I got a chance to tell him that.

But um, that, uh, single 4x12 with 25 watt greenbacks in it. And it was up in what was considered the live chamber at Compass Point, which was like up a flight. And it wasn't really a big chamber, it was a small, actually probably about the size of this room. Okay. But, uh, Jason had put a lot of close mics on it, and that was the fundamental sound for the rhythm thing.

And then for the solo thing, we did it, we cut it, Jason and I were in the studio alone, and we did it, at midnight, you know, cause we just worked on the sound and Jason had an idea. He liked, he liked, liked the width of the, of the Marshall, but he felt for the soul. It needed a bit of a point to it. So what he did, he out of these blankets, he created like almost like a volcano, you know, and he put a Fostex, uh, um, remember the Fostex things from way back in the eighties.

So he put one of those in there, right. And then he, I think he dropped the 57 right at At the, at the, at the, at the point, yeah, the apex of it, and, uh, that was the point for the solo. Wow. And, uh, so we, we had a, you know, he took a feed off of the Marshall, uh, and through that. So he combined both those elements together, and, and then I've had a Proko Rat that I, uh, I had one of the big box ones I bought in LA, like way back, and, uh, that was, Yeah, yeah, yeah, no LED, and that was the

Mason Marangella: fundamental for a lot of that Riptide album.

Uh huh. Wow, and then for the clean guitar, was that just like another layer that was just added after, like, there's a beautiful part in that song where, um, where you go to the, the F sharp?

Eddie Martinez: Yeah,

Mason Marangella: um,

Eddie Martinez: yeah, there was an interesting story with that. At that point, we had moved to the studio, Studio B, which had a really funky MCI board that was crosstalk and all sorts of funky stuff happening.

And Jason said, uh, guys, give me, you know, Give me a minute. I need to figure out how to record some of these clean sounds, especially like, uh, the middle section on, uh, on addicted and didn't mean to turn you on and all that stuff. So what he did was he bypassed the board. And at that time, Robert had a, um, a Sony, a beta F1, which was a digital recorder.

So he bypassed the board and used, uh, um, I think we had a DI, maybe there was a, I think it was a DI with a Tokai exciter pedal. Okay. Right? DI into the F1 on input and straight into the, the, the So there's no modulation

Mason Marangella: or anything on that?

Eddie Martinez: Uh, yeah, I, I think so. There's, I think there's um, there's a chorus pedal.

So it, there was a chorus as well as the exciter on that. Do you remember what chorus pedal it was? Was it a Blossom? Oh, the blue, the Blossom. The CE 2? Yeah, CE 2, yeah.

Mason Marangella: Old school. Wow. You know? That's amazing.

Eddie Martinez: And, um, you know, so the song's in the key of A, and then it goes to the sixth chord, and what I wanted to do is like, I, I just, I, I just felt that make playing a minor 11 there instead of just playing a stock, you know, go to the sixth chord was just like kind of boring and kind of like rudimentary and academic, you know, so I want to do something, you know, you know, off the beaten path.

I put the minor 11 with this, with the B and the Estring ringing out. Yeah. With a little bit of that chorus and, and it, and that shimmer. Oh man. And maybe some delays. And it just like, it just created a spread there that really, really worked. And in some ways I love that part so much. It's like, I love, I

Mason Marangella: love it too.

It it, it's the perfect setup for the chorus. It's like the perfect transition that brings it in is, I, I think I said this to you earlier, it's like a vignette around that little, and that just, that just brings your, your ears into what's about to happen in the chorus. Can we hear you play some of this stuff?

Will you play like those different parts for us? Yeah, you want to start out with the crunch thing? Yeah, let's let's start with the crunch thing and then maybe we can hear the the solo section and then also like the clean guitar section Sure, sure. Where it goes into the the chorus. You bet. All right, let's do it.

I'm absolutely astonished of like all the cool guitar parts on this like all the stuff that you played I want to continue with the Robert Palmer stuff and move on to Heavy Nova, which was 1988, 88. Yes. And that had Simply Irresistible, huge hit, which you also played on. Yep. What can you tell us about what is remarkable about that session?

Anything that you remember, any stories, anything that you could tell us about the gear? I'd love to hear that.

Eddie Martinez: The Riptide album was done on the Sony 24 digital machine. Okay. That they flew down to Compass Point. Okay. Uh, Heavy Nova was done, uh, Dolby SR. Okay. And, um, so it was, we're dealing more in the analog, uh, tape, the two inch stuff and, and stuff.

And it was cool. I, I didn't care for the SR Dolby, um, uh, uh, sound too much. Uh, but I think the body of work on that record is just incredible. And we've cut that in Italy, uh, you know, um, at Studio Logic in Milan. And, uh, it was, it was so much fun. Yeah. It was so much fun. It was a whole different thing for me.

I had a JCM 800 that was modified by Harry Colby and I did some slaving with that, you know, but that album really covered a lot of different styles for me as a guitarist. I mean, I was playing arch tops. I was playing flat tops. Uh, I was playing a 12 string. I mean, there's a 12 string on Simply Irresistible, believe it or not, but played through like acoustic.

No, no, uh, an electric through, through the rig. Wow. It was like massive. So it's all part of that whole big, you know, wall of sound thing, you know, and, uh, it was a lot of fun to do. Um, Riptide was done live ostensibly, there were a couple of things that they used sync clavier on. Okay. But, and, uh, um, Simply Resistible, the track was pretty much like the stem that we have.

Uh huh. You know, and, uh, and, uh, you know, with that, uh, sample guitar thing at the top. And I just went to, went to work on that and, uh, really happy with, you know, with the approach and how it came out. Um, I just heard the parts, man. It's like, it's, it's really something, you know, it's, I don't know what, you know, I mean, there's a certain antenna that you have when you hear something, you know, and it's all about hearing.

Absolutely. And, uh, you know, if, if you hear stuff and you, you can, you can put down what you hear, um, You know, uh, I think it's you really caught to the chase and, uh, there's so many schools of thought on that. You know, I've been to sessions. I've done sessions where, where I heard immediately. The part. Yeah.

And the producer says, no, no, let's try this, let's try that. So three hours later, four hours later, you play the first thing, that's it! The first thing that you played! And it just takes, sometimes the process is circuitous, you know? It's like, you know, it's

a big circle, you wind up where you're supposed to be.

Mason Marangella: Yeah.

Well I've always said, you know, in other interviews that I've done with other session greats like you, that, that, you know, you guys are, are, are such undercredited arrangers because you are essentially arranging on the spot. to make the song whatever it is. And a lot of times these chord charts or these songs are skeletons and what becomes part of the hook is invariably things that, you know, you've come up with.

And so I think that that is an amazing thing. I think for all these songs

Eddie Martinez: that

Mason Marangella: we're playing today,

Eddie Martinez: I don't think there were charts on anything.

Mason Marangella: Yeah, it was just, it was just the band feeling it in the context of, or in this case, the track that was already The track,

Eddie Martinez: and you know, you, you either, you learn it or you just write, you know, uh, like a, a flowchart.

Yeah. You know, in terms of where the kicks are and, and all that and, you know.

Mason Marangella: What was the gear on this song that you used, other than the, the Marshall? What was the guitar or pedals or rack gear?

Eddie Martinez: Uh, um, the gear was, uh, Grover Jackson gave me one, really, uh, um, A very early dinky soloist, and BMW Orange, and I think there were three of those guitars made, and Jeff Beck had one, I think they're single coils in his.

Okay. And a very good friend of mine, John McCurry, had one as well. Okay. And a great player in New York, studio musician. Okay. And then I had one with single single hum configuration with the Floyd Rose. I'd never had a guitar with a Floyd Rose before. Okay. And, uh, you know, the compound radius thing. It was like, it was like a Ferrari, right?

You know what I mean? So it was a real, it was a whole different learning curve. You know, it just made things so easy. It was like almost too easy. Cause you know, I'm playing strats ostensibly, you know, or an occasional Gibson. Yeah. But it was like, it was like a hot rod. Okay. And it was so much fun. It was really a lot of fun.

I bet.

Mason Marangella: I mean, having the Floyd Rose and, you know, once you got those dialed in, you could really go crazy. Yeah,

Eddie Martinez: yeah. The first track I used, uh, uh, it on was, um, a, a track on the Riptide album called Discipline of Love. Okay. And, which is a killer, funky ass track. And, uh, and then I used it on, on, uh, simply.

And, and did you use any pedals

Mason Marangella: or any processing stuff on that?

Eddie Martinez: Um, no. Uh, it was, I had, uh, um, JC M 800. modified by Harry and, uh, Harry Colby. And then it went into this box and he had to turn the speaker level to line level. Okay. And then we slaved some, uh, Yamaha power amp. I don't even know if it was tube or transistor.

I don't remember. And we had just a bevy of four by twelves in the room and it was just like so freaking enormous. Wow. You know, it was, it was so much fun. Wow. Well, what, what guitar

Mason Marangella: do you want to try this with? I want to hear what you were doing. Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: I've got something with single, single hum, uh, sur guitar that, uh, All right.

That I want to. All right,

Mason Marangella: let's hear it.

All right. So we did some great stuff with Robert Palmer here. You played amazing. It felt like I was in the S the original session with, uh, with, with you and Robert Palmer and the band, but I want to move on to, I think, Arguably one of Steve Wynwood's best records of all time. Uh, certainly one of my favorites back in the high life.

And that was 80, 86? Yes,

Eddie Martinez: 86.

Mason Marangella: Although maybe the session was before that.

Eddie Martinez: It was before that. Um, it was either early 86 or late 85. Okay. It could have, you know, it could have been maybe around August of 85 or something like that. Okay. And, uh, it was a fast session, you know, and, um, and, uh, I remember that day I was also recording with a great Japanese artist by the name of Akiko

Yano.

Eddie Martinez: And, uh, so it was fun. Jason was, uh, engineering and working with, uh, Russ Teitelman, which is always a joy. And, uh, he's, he's a very meticulous kind of producer. He's a real song guy too. And, um, And, uh, you know, it's like, uh, I just know what he likes, you know, he likes that. kind of slinky stuff. It's like, I think there were certain, uh, producers that I work with, which some was just one of the big stuff, the big, big sounds.

Like when I work with Jim Steinman on Bad Outta Hell 2 and all that, you know, those were really enormous, big sounds and big productions. And when I work with Ross, it was kind of like more inside. It was more inside and it was kind of cool. I really loved wearing both of those hats. You know, it just made things interesting.

Yeah. You know, and, and, uh, Also, when you're playing stuff that's inside, it's, you get to understand composition a bit more. Yeah. You know, in terms of how you're applying your theory to what you're doing.

Mason Marangella: How did you get the call for that? Because there's, I mean, so many heavy hitter musicians on that. Joe Walsh is on one of the songs that you played on.

Nile Rodgers is on one. Of course, you have the great drummer, uh, J. R. Oh yeah, J. R. Just, just, just, you know, has some incredible drum sounds on, on, on this album. Um, yeah, how did, how did you get the call for this?

Eddie Martinez: Russ's office called me up, I forget who called, somebody from his office called up and asked me if I was available Uhhuh.

And, uh, I'd know my, I think I worked with him on a thing for Crush Groove. Okay. A track with Chaka. Okay. You know, and, um, and he called me up and, you know, just did what I did. Yeah. And I was Studio C at Power Station. Wow. There was a, on a, there was, they still have the SSL back in those days. Okay. You know?

And uh, so it was, it was cool.

Mason Marangella: And what was the, what was the gear? I guess we should start, we should, we should start first with Higher Love. Yeah. What, what was the, what was like the session like, what was the gear that you used on, on Higher Love? Higher Love was that red strat

Eddie Martinez: that I used on Addicted.

Okay, the one with the EMGs? Yeah, with the EMGs. Okay. And DI. DI. DI. No effects, no compression? Uh, I'm, I'm sure that maybe compression was, uh, used afterwards and stuff like that. Or maybe in the process of recording. Uh, but you know, when you're working with Jason Corsaro, and I think Roy, Roy Hendrickson was also, might have been engineering or assisting that day.

And he's, he's become an enormously successful, uh, uh, engineer. And, um, so I'm, I'm sure that stuff was done, you know, post. Yeah.

Mason Marangella: And was Steve

Eddie Martinez: in the room when this stuff is happening? Yeah, Steve was around and um, There were reference vocals and I'm saying, These

Mason Marangella: reference vocals? It was just so frickin great.

So like the lyrics maybe weren't fully sussed out at that point? Or was it

Eddie Martinez: I heard the lyrics. There was a lot of stuff. Joe Walsh's guitar wasn't on yet. On, uh, Freedom Overspill, and Niall's guitar wasn't, because on Higher Love it's, it's like 90 percent Niall, but I play in these different sections, you know, uh, which is so much fun, you know, and, um, and, and, so yeah, so Freedom Overspill, um, You know, it's really interesting thinking about, I don't know if you want to talk about freedom over spill now.

Well, let's, we can talk,

Mason Marangella: we can go between, we can go between both of them. Yeah, so tell us about the freedom over spill.

Eddie Martinez: My approach was, was minimal, you know, because I, I, at that stage of the recording wasn't fully realized. Yeah. So, my instinct was to really be precise and not to be too busy, you know, and kind of pick your, pick your spots.

Right. And, um, and for Freedom Overspill, I think what I played was really, you know, it's really funny hindsight, you know, and I think my instincts were right because I had no idea that, you know, Joe was going to play all this incredible slide guitar on that. Right. And so his, his presence is really strong there.

And my, my thing is like right in the center. And it's kind of like the, it's kind of like a part that, You know, you don't know it's there, but when it's not there, you realize that it needs to be there, right? And to me that's kind of like that's that inside the track kind of thing. Yeah, that's kind of magical You can't put your finger on it, right?

It's really so simple You know higher love is a different thing that thing in the in the inside is really kind of like I don't know what I Was thinking but it's that sounds good.

Mason Marangella: Yeah,

Eddie Martinez: you know,

Mason Marangella: yeah And it was like, when you were playing this stuff, was like Steve giving you feedback? Like, I like this, or was it, was he kind of leaving that more to like the producers or the engineers to sort of guide that stuff?

Eddie Martinez: Steve was, Steve was cool. He, um, I don't recall him opining much. Okay. Um, uh, Russ would say, you know, Maybe some things, but he was, you know, I knew when Russ smiles, you know? Right. You know, it's, it's, he wants that smelly, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, and, uh, so, and that, that was it. That was the barometer.

Wow.

Mason Marangella: Well, I want to hear some of this stuff. Can we maybe start with higher love and then, and then we can go to freedom over spill? Yeah. And, and for this, would we, we be using your, your, uh, Strat or, yeah.

Eddie Martinez: Yeah. I've got a, a, a hard tail. Uh, okay. Wow,

Mason Marangella: that's uh, it, it actually is way more complicated than, than you think you're, you're in there, you're doing all these fills, you got Nile Rodgers also like, oh yeah, all these different layers. Yeah, trying to do the Nile rhythm thing, which is inimitable, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's, it's, it's a great DI tone, it cuts so well, and it's actually like a pretty funky, a funkier guitar part.

than you might think for a Steve Winwood song. You know, it's just like, Yeah,

Eddie Martinez: you know, it's like looking back on it. It's really funny. I'm trying to figure out what my mindset was that day. You know what I mean? But it's one of those things that just happens and, and just, I knew that Russ dug it, you know, and uh, so that's cool.

And here in Nile, cause I didn't, Nile didn't, hadn't played on it, you know, so he played on after I did, you know, and what he did was great. And it's one of my oldest friends. We went to high school together.

Mason Marangella: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: Yeah.

Mason Marangella: Yeah, I mean, it sounds incredible and I love the parts, I love just like, as you said earlier about kind of just like staying in the middle and it gives the space to be able to add on somebody like Anal Rogers.

Or in the case of, uh, Freedom Overspill, you have, you know, that space for Joe Walsh. And speaking of Freedom Overspill, I want to hear some of what you did on that one as well. So if we can move into that, are we gonna stick with the same guitar on this one? Yeah, same guitar. All right, let's hear a little bit of what you did on that one.

Yeah. Well,

we've spent some time on Robert Palmer. We've spent some time with Steve Winwood, but I want to move into, uh, something that is dissimilar to both of those artists. in Run DMC. Now, Guitar World had voted you the most influential guitar player in hip hop history based on the work that you've done with Run DMC.

And for those of you out there that don't know sort of the history, I think a lot of people, uh, tend to believe that maybe the, the, you know, the impetus or the, the emanating music that, that started sort of the crossover between rock and hip hop was with Run D. M. C. and Aerosmith. But actually there were two songs that were sort of precursors to that, which you both played on in King of rock and rock box that sort of they both happen I think what two in one year before there was ever any collaboration with Aerosmith.

Eddie Martinez: Yeah,

Mason Marangella: and these are super important songs They were the first people to really use rock and roll in hip hop. You're playing face melting solos really gritty rhythm guitar How did you come to get the call from Run DMC to start putting rock music? I mean, they could have called anybody at that point.

Why'd they choose you? How did you get to know them?

Eddie Martinez: Well, the composer and producer, Larry Smith, who's no longer with us, who's a dear friend of mine. We played in bands with. Denzel Miller and Omar Hakim when we were kids, starting out. And, you know, there comes a point where there's a juncture, there's a split in the road where, you know, you go one way and, you know, musicians are, they have their own kind of separate paths.

And when you, when you make good friends as musicians, it doesn't matter where those roads may lead you. When you see them again, it's like, man, you didn't miss a, miss a beat. Yeah. So Larry kind of really kind of gravitated towards what was happening. In the street. Yep. You know, relative to hip hop. Yep. And, uh, the Bronx, where I'm from.

Yep. You know, and he immersed himself in that, and, uh, and he was a bassist. Yep. And he was a good musician. And, uh, he applied what he did to what he learned. And so, you know, he called me up and says, Hey man, Eddie, you know, you know, uh, I want you to put some of this rock shit on these, on these tracks that I'm working on.

So I went down to Green Street Recorders, and, uh, Roddy Urie was the, uh, Was the, uh, the engineer and he was great. He did a great job on it. And I was just. Boss OD1 or whatever. OD1, so 2

Mason Marangella: knobs and the truth. 2 knobs and the

Eddie Martinez: truth and, you know, into a music man with 2 twelves. And got these big chewy sounds and we layered a lot of guitarists to get that tape compression going on.

Uh huh. And, uh, and, um, Uh, the harmonies that I did, kind of like, uh, you know, I was thinking Brian May, you know. Stack up like four tracks of the tonic and one of, you know, going up to the third or whatever it was and, and, uh, you know, get that thick, thick compression harmony, you know. Yeah,

Mason Marangella: it really does kind of have that, like, queen sort of solo tone, right?

Yeah, yeah. When he has the harmonies in there, absolutely. Uh, and that would, that would be on, on, uh, Rockbox. That was Rockbox, correct.

Eddie Martinez: Uh, for King of Rock, I think there was a Sound City amp or something or, or, uh, a head and a cabin and I think I used that. And that had kind of like more of a, um, uh, upper mid kind of crunch thing going on there.

I think that really served the track well. You know, there was a bit more bite. Maybe it's not as much gain as on the, on, on, uh, on Rockbox. But it was an appropriate kind of texture.

Mason Marangella: Yeah. Yeah. It almost sounded like Marshall y, but I mean, the sound city has some, some relationship, I guess. Yes. Yes, exactly.

Exactly. Uh, and, and on that one, was there any pedals or was it just strictly the, the amplifier?

Eddie Martinez: I think it was that same OD 1.

Mason Marangella: Okay. Into the front

Eddie Martinez: of it, you know, cause they're kind of like, with Marshalls, I like getting them just to the breakup point. Right. You know, it's kind of like clean, clean crunch, that little kind of flow.

Find space, that demilitarized zone, you know, of tone. And then you kick a pedal to push it up over the top and you have more flexibility and control. And, uh, that's what I was primarily doing,

Mason Marangella: you

Eddie Martinez: know?

Mason Marangella: I love it. So, in Guitar Wise, what were you using on those?

Eddie Martinez: That Red Hamer that I used on Addicted

Mason Marangella: to Love

Eddie Martinez: is what I was also

Mason Marangella: what was in the video, right?

Uh, yeah, in both of those videos. Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: Yeah, Iconic

Mason Marangella: videos with you on top of the Cadillac. That was Larry's Cadillac.

Eddie Martinez: We did that at Danceteria in New York. And it was just, I mean, I had no idea. I had no idea the significance. Where people coming up to you on the street

Mason Marangella: and being like, Hey, were you the guy?

Eddie Martinez: I remember Steve Stevens calling me up and leaving me a voicemail. He told me he was in London. And it was blowing up over there and he says, man, is that you? It's, you know, killing and stuff like that. And, you know, hearing that from a, you know, contemporary is just right. It's just

Mason Marangella: really cool. Yeah, absolutely.

You know, absolutely. Well, can we, can we do a guitar change here and maybe we'll start with, uh, with rock box and then, and then we'll move to a king of rock. Yep. All right. Those

harmonies are insanely good. Like I never put it together when I heard that song that it would be going for Brian May thing. But then when you say it and then I hear it, it completely makes sense. I wonder even if like Run DMC, like it was even aware of that connection of like what you were going for.

Were they in the studio with you?

Eddie Martinez: Um, Yes and no. At the beginning of the session, they were there, they split, they came back like, I don't know, four hours later, five hours later. And I'd put all these mammoth guitars on, and all the riffs, and it was just like, really kind of like, so basically I gave them so much stuff that, you know, Larry, whenever he was mixing, he's just like, okay, edit, mute, you know, so it became like a mosaic of him punching things in and out.

So when the guys came back, I think they were exp They didn't know what they were expecting. And, you know, I did a documentary about it and, you know, they alluded to the fact that, you know, they, they didn't get it, you know, but once that thing blew up, they got it right. Yeah. They, they got

Mason Marangella: it. All right. You know, so I'm happy about that,

Eddie Martinez: you know,

Mason Marangella: well, and, and they liked you enough that they, you know, offered for you to come back a year later in 1985 and you, and you did a king of rock.

So what did that session look like? Comparatively, was it. same sort of thing or were they there? Were they gone? I remember

Eddie Martinez: them more from the first time, but I, I, I do believe that they were there for the, for King of Rock when I put the guitars on and, and Rick Rubin was there too. I never met him before he was there.

He was in the studio, but I don't, I don't believe he was participating in production. I think it was just like really kind of like just hanging. Yeah. And, uh, I haven't seen him since then, all these years. All right. Incredible. And, um, and man, it was just, it was like magic again. Yeah, you know, it was just like, you know, Larry just, you know, when I got to the studio, it's like, uh, as with, uh, with a rock box, it was a DMX drum machine and that keyboard, you know, and Larry's bass.

Yeah. And that was, it was just built off of, of that. So it was Spartan when I would get there, you know, it was just beats in a, in a, in a baseline. All right. Which was great. You know, it's like, kind of like, Oh man, I've got all this room. I just felt like a mad scientist.

Mason Marangella: Yeah.

Eddie Martinez: You know?

Mason Marangella: I love it. Well, and, and those are some iconic guitar tones.

And again, as I said, they really paved the way for what, you know, came to be the, the collaboration with Aerosmith, which, you know, again, I think a lot of people maybe. Not realizing and don't understand that there was all these great rock tones that were in you know earlier DMC stuff because they just maybe weren't as into hip hop at the time or you know, whatever the reason may be but I can't wait to hear you play this.

This is a great riff too. Just so thick and meaty. And, you know, I, I always thought it was a Marshall. So I'm glad that now it's clarified. It's a sound city. Um, can you play a little bit of this for us? Yeah, sure. All right.

Eddie, that was. It's incredible. Now there's one last thing that I want to ask you about before we complete today. Okay. So there are some really cool old magazine advertisements and photos that I found of you back when you were in sort of the peak of your session and touring career. I want to show you a few of these photos and I want you to tell us a little bit of the story or the context behind them so that we can kind of hear it again from you about what was going on here.

Oh, sure. All right, Eddie. So first one. Is, uh, you sitting on top of. Two Marshall 4x12s with a, uh, a Marshall JMP head. Yep. Do you remember this? I

Eddie Martinez: do. I remember that photo session and the photographer, Ebet Roberts, who's a dear friend, very, you know, acclaimed, uh, rock, uh, photographer. That was done when I, I, you know, I signed up with, with Marshall.

And I was just so, I was so happy to be a part of that. you know, family, you know, and, uh, Mitch Colby was there, uh, in those days. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And, um, and we, you know, went to a studio and we shot those photographs and it was just great fun. It was great fun. It was a great association. Those amps really, they powered, you know, the Robert Palmer stuff.

It's just really, you know, really an incredible time, an incredible time. The eighties were crazy, but it was fun. And it was the culmination of a lot of, of hard work. You know, and, um, paying your dues as you're going up the ranks and all that stuff. And it was really kind of, if things came into fruition there, there was a really incredible time.

My daughter was born around that time. You know, just like, just, you know, all these incredible things and blessings, you know, were happening. And, uh, it was, it was, uh, You know, looking back on it, I, it's so funny. It's, I, I tell people that, you know, when you're in, you're, you're so focused on what you're doing, you're not thinking about, I wasn't thinking about the historical aspect of any of this stuff.

Yeah. I was just, you know, okay, It was like, okay, man, I just love doing this. Yeah. And I wanted to play on records. I didn't want to play in clubs endlessly. You know, that wasn't my thing. You know, being in a top 40 band, just doing covers and stuff like that. I wanted to play on records. And, you know, if I was lucky, I'd have, you know, of the guitar players playing what I played.

Yeah. And, um, that dream and that drive, you know, in Spanish there's a word called ganas. And that's kind of like, um, desire. You know, the desire to want to accomplish something. And, um, and, uh, you know, I just put my, I just, man, I had blindfold, blinders on. Blindfolders on. I was just like straight ahead. And, uh, so now I could, you know, as, as I was, you know, when we were in my, my, my music room, you know, and it's the first time that I've put those records up, you know, I, cause I wasn't thinking in that context, you know, and, uh, so.

Interesting.

Mason Marangella: Yeah. Are you ready for the next one? Yes. All right. Next one is, uh, here, here you are, Marshall Law, side by side, uh, Eric Johnson. And now, I presume that these are just superimposed photos. Yeah, they were superimposed. Now that Eric Johnson was on the other side of the Marshall stack.

Eddie Martinez: No, I mean, just sharing the cover with someone that is that iconic of a guitarist.

I mean, I, I first heard Eric. In 1976, a friend of mine, uh, played a cassette. Okay. Uh, uh, and I was, I was blown away in 76. Yeah. And then so like when, what, um, the Tones album came out and was that 85 or 86? Yeah. But even earlier

Mason Marangella: than that, like, I think the first big album he played on, which wasn't his, was Christopher Cross.

Oh yeah.

Eddie Martinez: Yeah.

Mason Marangella: Minstrel Gigolo is the name of

Eddie Martinez: the song. Yes, yes. And, uh, you know, so needless to say, you know, I'm, I've never had the chance. But I would, I look forward to the day that if I do meet him to shake his hand, because he's such an incredible contributor to, to what we do.

Mason Marangella: And I noticed

Eddie Martinez: you got the checkered Vans on there.

Yeah, man. And it looks

Mason Marangella: like the same guitar that you're holding here. Yes,

Eddie Martinez: yes. Yeah. I got those kicks at Trash and Vaudeville. Wow. You know, on, uh, uh, it was on, in the village,

Mason Marangella: East Village. Yeah. Alright, the last photo that I have for you is you and Stevie Ray Vaughan, uh, both in red shirts. Thanks. Steve Ray Vaughan is sleeveless, of course, and it looks like he's talking to you about guitars.

Do you remember what he was talking to you about here? I

Eddie Martinez: do remember. The interesting story behind this is that I remember Chuck Pullen, who was a billboard photographer, legendary. And I, I, I got to know him from being at different gigs and stuff like that. And I'd lost touch with him, but I do remember him taking photographs.

And I called Yvette Roberts, the photographer I was just talking to you about in the previous photo. I says, You know, do you know Chuck Poland? He says, oh yeah, he's really one of my dearest friends. She gave me his number. I called him up and this has got to be around 84, maybe 85. And I called him up and he says, you know, Eddie, he was still in the analog world.

He didn't digitize any of his things, uh, back then. This is about maybe eight, nine years ago, you know? And he says, let me go into my, into my workroom and see. And he, he reached out to me. He says, Eddie, I found, I found a slide. of you and Stevie Ray. And, uh, it says, I'll send it to you, but please send it back to me.

You

Eddie Martinez: know? So he sent, sent it back. He sent it to me. I made copies of it and I sent it back to him and I was just, wow. That photo was taken at, at, uh, um, that uh, Stevie was performing, Buddy Guy was also performing, Clarence Clemens was performing amongst other people. And um, I knew some of the people that were playing, I was supposed to sit in, but I never got to sit in.

Um, and uh, I'd been to a rehearsal, man, it's like tripping, this rehearsal, it was like Geddy Lee was there, Alec Simons was there. Lifeson was there. Buddy Guy was there. I told you about, you know, Mac playing the, the, the Hamer guitar that was shaped like a tennis racket. Right. Because this

Mason Marangella: is, this is an event that was put on by Mac and

Eddie Martinez: Rowe.

Exactly. Exactly. So it was there. And so I brought my 58 Strat there. So, um, I was able to get in to say hello to him. So I showed him my white Strat and, and I thought there was a photograph of, uh, of us looking at that guitar, but, uh, there wasn't one, but there was one of, of him showing me his guitars in his rack.

And, uh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got to play his number one at a, at a Bowie rehearsal one time. Wow. And that was What was it like? It was It was like I was trying to bend railroad tracks, man. There was like thirteens on there, and uh Do you remember whether it was heavy or light or just normal or It seemed, it did, it wasn't extraordinarily light.

I wouldn't say it was heavy. I would say it was like right around the weight of my, my sixty five that I Yeah. You know, somewhere around seven ish. Mid sevens. Yeah, exactly. Okay. And um So, uh, and I'd gotten to know him at Power Station because I remember when the Bowie album was being made and all my friends played on it, Omar and Bernard, uh, and Bernard Edwards.

I can't even begin to tell you, you know, uh, his contribution to my career and my success. He was really a mentor and a great producer. Really just his instincts were so profound. And um, I think, you All my sense of pocket was, was because of him in terms of how he, he heard things and, and how things that felt good to him, I kind of understood where it's at.

Yeah. And so that was really cool working with him. Dear friend, so missed. Yeah. And so it was just an incredible time. Yeah. It was really amazing. So I, I, I'd known Stevie, met him a little bit, didn't really know him very well, but you know, he came in when I was making my, my, my first album, with Bernard. Um, uh, he came in to say hello and stuff and it was really Kind of really nice cat, kind of quite demure, I would say, you know, really nice person.

Mason Marangella: Yeah,

Eddie Martinez: awesome, man. Amazing guitarist.

Mason Marangella: Well, thank you for, for explaining those photos and again, just the time today and thank you to the Hallowed Halls for having us here in Portland, Oregon.

Eddie Martinez: Oh yeah, Justin, uh, Justin Justice

Phelps. Yeah.

That's going to be his nickname. That's all the music, Justice. Yes, exactly.

Mason Marangella: Yep. Yeah. So thank you again. And, and just what a pleasure, Eddie. And just everything you've done, man.

Eddie Martinez: My pleasure. Thank you. All right.