# Met Don Felder, Ex-Eagles member last night.



## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Last night I went down to Chapters on John Street in downtown Toronto and saw Don Felder. He has a new book out now called "Heaven and He11: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001)" They had a question and answer session with him first before people would go up and get their books signed by him. Before I get to the details I did take a couple, and ONLY a couple of photographs of him at the end of the Q&A where he was signing peoples books and chatting with them. I didn't want to get "snap-happy" and risk annoying not only him but the people around me. We were told that photos were allowed so that was a relief for me. Regarding the people, there weren't really that many there which kind of surprised me, there were only 20 of us, including me. I saw that they had speakers set up and a microphone but at the last second Don says to the crowd, "I've been using microphones for a long time, I'll just speak without one." The only problem is Don's a very soft spoken guy and you had to be VERY quiet so you could hear what he was saying.

There were quite a few questions asked and the first one was "Why are you no longer with the Eagles?" And the answer to that is in the book and also in part 1 of this YouTube interview: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=CaY4nPMiGug I found out things about Don that I didn't know before, for example the fact that he always was into recording and he really enjoyed that aspect. He also mentioned that he thought the record and movie companies shot themselves in the foot regarding digital rights because as he says, the system for it got cracked and then people were downloading music and movies from the Internet. He also mentioned that record companies don't give new artists the time to develop anymore. They used to get a 3 or 4 album deal but now they want something right out of the box, so to speak. I asked him a question about guitars and about writing the music for "Hotel California". I asked if he had a favourite guitar and he mentioned that he uses all types of guitars for recording the same way a painter would use colours in a painting. He said he's got, get this, 300 (!) guitars and he regularly uses around 45 or so then he gets it down to 9 or 10. The funny thing when he was going to answer that question after the guitar question he laughed a bit and asked me why I asked about the song and I said I saw an interview with him on YouTube and I thought it was an interesting story. You'll see that interview when you click on the links before the photos.

He also talked about the reunion in 1994 and at first he didn't think they should do an acoustic version of "Hotel California" but Don Henley wanted to do it and of course at that time the whole " MTV Unplugged" thing was happening. He and Don worked out a sort of prelude to the main part just before the taping (The spanish sounding part.) He was also asked about his happiest moment with the Eagles and he mentioned the time they were playing a soccer stadium in London and how the crowds were stomping their feet and they could feel and hear the vibrations about a second after the crowd were stomping. He said that's when he knew they'd really made it. Once again I can't get over how soft spoken and how geniunely nice Don is. He also mentioned that his fiancee (I believe he said ex-fiancee) was Canadian, from Niagara on the Lake. Speaking of that, he also mentioned he'll be playing Fallsview Casino in Februrary with his new band as well. All in all, I have to say that I really see Don Henley and Glenn Frey in a different light now. It's too bad their greed cost them Don Felder. All he was doing was asking where the money was going. It's only natural to be curious about a thing like that. Oh well. Here are the photos of Don chatting with a couple of people after he signed their books. Part 2 of the interview from the YouTube website where he explains how he wrote the music for "Hotel California" is here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=SXATXDU7bBs and Part 3 is here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=tNhaksKPPHk&feature=related


----------



## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Intersting interview. Thanks for posting.


----------



## mario (Feb 18, 2006)

What a cool thread. I cannot say I am the biggest Eagles fan, but I always believed Don Felder is a truly underrated guitarist and he certainly contributed greatly to The Eagles. I recall Joe Walsh mentioning in a interview how important he was to their sound. Not too surprised to read about Don Henley and Glen Frey...they alway's seem to come off as a couple of greedy dicks.


----------



## 1PUTTS (Sep 8, 2007)

Fascinating story. It's too bad that a certain level of success brings out the best and the worst in people. Felder seems like a very interesting, talented and insightful person who just loves his music. It's too bad he got steamrolled by people who he thought were his friends (or brothers, as he referred to them in the interview).

Thanks for posting that!


----------



## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

GuitarsCanada said:


> Intersting interview. Thanks for posting.


You're welcome. I've found Don Felder to be a very soft spoken, modest and very humble person. I neglected to mention that he also said long before the Eagles came along he was working as a house guitarist playing various songs at a restaurant and if anybody had a request for a particular song he'd try to play it. He gave the example of a couple that was having their 20th wedding anniversary and they asked him to play he song he wasn't very familiar with. He told them he'd play it when he got back from break. Apparently he had a "Fake Book" in the back when he'd take breaks and if he didn't know the song he'd look through the book and play the song when he came back. He used to play for 5 hours every night at the restaurant. That'll build up your chops. :smile:


----------



## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

mario said:


> What a cool thread. I cannot say I am the biggest Eagles fan, but I always believed Don Felder is a truly underrated guitarist and he certainly contributed greatly to The Eagles. I recall Joe Walsh mentioning in a interview how important he was to their sound. Not too surprised to read about Don Henley and Glen Frey...they alway's seem to come off as a couple of greedy dicks.


Yeah I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan of theirs either but they did do about a dozen songs or so that I like and I agree that he's very underrated.


----------



## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

1PUTTS said:


> Fascinating story. It's too bad that a certain level of success brings out the best and the worst in people. Felder seems like a very interesting, talented and insightful person who just loves his music. It's too bad he got steamrolled by people who he thought were his friends (or brothers, as he referred to them in the interview).
> 
> Thanks for posting that!


You're welcome 1PUTTS. As a song by Cyndi Lauper goes, "Money Changes Everything". For better or, unfortunately, worse in his case. Then again I'm sure he's not doing too badly with the royalties from the songs he co-wrote.


----------



## faracaster (Mar 9, 2006)

Hey Ken
thanks for posting....DAMN I wish I had known about that.
I'll go out on a limb here...I prefer Don Felder to Joe Walsh on the Eagles stuff.
While Joe has totally been a influence of mine almost all my life.....I think that Don turned a more tasteful phrase than Joe in the Eagles. 
I actually also prefer the Don Felder/Bernie Leadon duo to the Walsh/Felder duo.
Not to take anything away from Joe (love him) but when he joined they completely lost the country rock thing and became a rock band. 
I remember when Felder joined the Eagles, Glen Frey called him America's Eric Clapton.
As far being an Eagles fan....I'm 50/50 there. Some stuff is great, some is soppy fodder. Again live, I'm 50/50 there too. Amazing that they can sing and play just like the record and it's also soooo boring that they sing and play just like the record.
In the old days I used to love seeing the parade of vintage guitars that Frey, Felder and Walsh would whip out song after song. Now it's Carvins, PRS's, Gibson and Fender custom shop guitars and new Rickenbackers...... :zzz:

Anyway wish I'd been there with you Ken. Thanks for posting.
Cheers
pete


----------



## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

hey..Good interview. Always sucks when you see bands battle over money like that. But if you want to REALY be discuss, check KISS and what Gene Simmons did to Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.


----------



## Guest (Oct 18, 2008)

Wow! Thats 1 guy I have always wanted to meet. Ive been an Eagles fan since the days when 5 bucks bought enough gas to cruise around all night. I put on many miles listening to Hotel California on an old Craig Powerplay 8 track. Hows that for dating oneself.
Definately an underrated player.


----------



## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

faracaster said:


> Hey Ken
> thanks for posting....DAMN I wish I had known about that.
> I'll go out on a limb here...I prefer Don Felder to Joe Walsh on the Eagles stuff.
> While Joe has totally been a influence of mine almost all my life.....I think that Don turned a more tasteful phrase than Joe in the Eagles.
> ...


Hey Pete, I didn't know you were an Eagles fan and it would have been great if you had have been there with me. Yeah Joe Walsh can be a little overbearing at times, especially his personality. :smile: It's funny you mentioned about the Eagles becoming more of a rock band when Joe joined, Don was saying one of the reasons he joined was because Don and Glenn wanted to move in more of a rock direction at that time and even told him so while Bernie Leadon wanted to stick with country. That's one of the reasons why Bernie left and formed the Flying Burrito Brothers group. Don Felder also mentioned that Bernie was a very good bluegrass guitarist and banjo player. I didn't even know about Don being at Chapters until the day before he was to arrive in Toronto. I was really expecting there to be a lot more people but it was more intimate this way, like he was talking to some close friends in a sense.


----------



## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

al3d said:


> hey..Good interview. Always sucks when you see bands battle over money like that. But if you want to REALY be discuss, check KISS and what Gene Simmons did to Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.


Thanks, I agree it's a shame. From what I understand about Peter Criss he was getting tired of drumming for them and wanted to leave, or was he booted out?


----------



## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Wayward Son said:


> Wow! Thats 1 guy I have always wanted to meet. Ive been an Eagles fan since the days when 5 bucks bought enough gas to cruise around all night. I put on many miles listening to Hotel California on an old Craig Powerplay 8 track. Hows that for dating oneself.
> Definately an underrated player.



Yep, he's a very genuine guy. Very soft spoken and down to earth. No ego whatsoever. I remember 8 tracks very well. :smile:


----------



## Rick31797 (Apr 20, 2007)

*eagles*

Always been a Eagles fan,,

Hey !!!! old Craig Powerplay 8 track.>>> I still have mine , the one you unplug and put in the trunk..

It will going on ebay in another 20 yrs.. Vintage 8 track will be in..lol

Rick


----------



## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

Rick31797 said:


> Always been a Eagles fan,,
> 
> Hey !!!! old Craig Powerplay 8 track.>>> I still have mine , the one you unplug and put in the trunk..
> 
> ...


Glad to hear you're a fan Rick. Vintage 8 tracks? You never know. :smile:


----------



## bscott (Mar 3, 2008)

I am not a particularly big Eagles fan but am a BIG rock and roll fan. If I heard he would be in town (Ottawa) I definitely would have been there. Would be very cool to meet someone who has "been there" the big time in rock and roll.

Brian


----------



## Kenmac (Jan 24, 2007)

bscott said:


> I am not a particularly big Eagles fan but am a BIG rock and roll fan. If I heard he would be in town (Ottawa) I definitely would have been there. Would be very cool to meet someone who has "been there" the big time in rock and roll.
> 
> Brian


Yeah, like I said, I probably like about a dozen of their songs so I'm not a huge fan but those songs that I do like are pretty much classics. He's a very unassuming guy, no ego, no badmouthing Don or Glenn (but I wouldn't blame him if he did.) :smile: An ex-co-worker friend of mine is a huge fan of the Eagles and I told him that Don Felder would be playing Fallsview Casino in Februrary and he was saying he might go there to check his new band out. He ordered an autographed copy of the book and I mentioned to him that I wouldn't mind checking it out when he's finished reading it.


----------

