“It became a very expensive hobby – we were getting barred from hotels we liked to stay in”: Inside the raucous touring world of the Eagles in the ’70s
Following the departure of founding guitarist Bernie Leadon in 1975 – which followed a period of creative tension and ultimately a confrontation with Glenn Frey where Leadon poured a beer over Frey’s head – the Eagles were imbued with a new rock streak with the entry of Joe Walsh.
But as Don Henley explains in the latest issue of Guitar World, the introduction of Walsh meant the raucous rock ‘n’ roll antics soon followed.
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Henley explains how the addition of Walsh into the fold helped spring the band – and guitarist Don Felder – forward.
“Joe, being a bona fide rock ‘n’ roll guitar slinger, was the perfect foil for Don Felder,” he says. “They propelled one another in a friendly-but-competitive sort of way. We had upped our horsepower. This is not to take anything away from Bernie, who was – and still is – a highly-skilled musician.”
Joe Walsh also kicked the unruliness up a notch, as Henley continues: “Keith Moon [The Who drummer] and Joe were good buddies, and that, of course, led to some mischief.
“It was amusing for a little while, but it eventually became a very expensive hobby, and we were beginning to get barred from some of the hotels we liked to stay in. So after a while, the chainsaws got locked away in storage and other kinds of dramas replaced the ‘remodelling’ of rooms and hallways… But, at least Joe got a hit song out of it! [1978’s Life’s Been Good].”
Last year, Don Felder re-recorded his 1981 solo cut Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride) for his latest album The Vault – Fifty Years of Music. The song has roots in the Eagles’ late-’70s heyday, and was originally written as the ultimate guitar showdown between he and Joe Walsh.
The song was written in the wake of the band’s career-defining album and smash hit track Hotel California.
“It had a real kind of heavy hand to it and I wrote it so that Joe and I could play even harder than we did – or edgier than we did – on Hotel California, against each other,” he said. “It had harmony parts, trading-off solos and a much harder rock edge.”
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