If we rewind to the very start, what got you interested in music in the first place and how come you ended up playing the bass?
When I was very young, maybe about four or five years old, I remember my dad playing records for my older brother Michael and myself. It was, as I recall, a magical experience. It was something that we all did together as a family which, in retrospect, made it feel very sacred and special. At that time I recall feeling really tapped into the feeling and different moods and sounds that each record had. In a way, it was all a kind of “black magic” to me. I couldn’t identify the different instruments and how they interacted to make those incredible sounds, especially when there were big lush string arrangements. My uncle Larry worked at Billboard magazine, so he’d bring all kinds of 45s for us to collect and listen to. It seemed we had an inexhaustible supply of all kinds of new music. Around 1964, “Meet the Beatles” came out and Beatlemania was just kicking in. I was only five but very tuned into it and watching them on television made me aware of different instruments, their voices and how THAT sound was made. It wasn’t long after that, my father got little transistor radios for each of us. As soon as I received that, it was popular music almost 24/7 for me! The big radio stations in New York would play an incredibly diverse playlist back then, so one minute it could be Ray Charles or Frank Sinatra and the next The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones. This along with all kinds of popular music that followed really stoked my interest in all kinds of music.

Flash forward to my tenth birthday. I asked my folks for a snare drum to learn how to play the drums. They obliged me with a small but functional toy snare drum, by the way, I still have it. During that summer, I had contracted some kind of illness that kept me indoors, so I spent most of that time in my bedroom learning rudiments and working out on that drum. My folks suggested that I might prefer to play guitar (I imagine the sound of that drumming in our small house was probably driving them nuts) and I thought, “Yes, great!” So when Christmas arrived, there was a beautiful red electric guitar under the Christmas tree. I found a teacher and learned how to read music and how to play basic guitar. I soon discovered that I could sing pretty good and strum chords and play a bunch of those radio hits that I was digging for all those years, so I proceeded to enter talent shows and basically perform for just about anyone who’d listen. Later in the summer, I visited my older cousin in northern California and he was already playing guitar in a band. He was like, “Jimmy Hendrix, Jimmy Hendrix, …you gotta check out Jimmy Hendrix!” We went to see the Woodstock movie so that I could see that scene of Jimi playing “The Star Spangled Banner” into “Purple Haze” and I remember really being blown away, very intimidated and a little lost. If that’s where you’ve got to go on the guitar, how am I ever going to get there? I just didn’t understand it, how I’d ever get there.

The following year I was twelve years old and still feeling a bit haunted about my prospects of becoming a great guitar player. At the behest of my junior high school music teacher, I attended his music-and-arts summer camp “French Woods” in upstate New York. At the time I was just learning the French horn in school, so my plan was to play in the orchestra, perhaps act in the plays and start my own rock band. When I showed up at the camp in the first week, I was in a boat on the lake and I hear this amazing bellowing sound spreading all over the place, I rowed in and went to the small rehearsal room to find this fellow whom I recollect looking like “Keith Richards” kicked back in a chair plucking at what I’ve come to learn was a Gibson EBO. I was pretty fascinated by the sound of it, I’d not had any experience with a bass guitar before. The guy, let’s call him “Gene,” graciously said to me: “You want to check it out?” Of course I did and I really liked it – it seemed to me to be the perfect bridge between the rhythm of drums which I always loved and the harmonic compositional component that I’d always associated with music. Plus, it seemed that it could be so forward sonically! I asked if I could try it with the band I was constructing and, to my surprise and delight, he said “Sure, I’m just screwing around with it” He let me use it all that summer and I just found it so exciting, I was able to play it and sing pretty easily. There were some pretty bass-forward songs on the radio that I was already familiar with at the time. One of them ironically was Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Down On The Corner” (which is a song that I’ve been playing more in the present with John Fogerty himself for the past nine years!). As soon as I got home from that summer camp, I tore the high E & B String off my six string electric, turned down the treble on my amplifier and ape’d playing bass at home until I could finally get my own bass. I’ve been happily burrowing in that “rabbit hole” ever since!

What players did you look up to starting out and which players do you think stand out today (regardless of genre)?
Gosh, there are so many of the “usual suspects.” The mid ’60s into the ’70s was such a rich time for the bass, especially on recordings. It was the new “superstar” instrument. Producers used to really focus on bringing creative bass lines forward in the mix. I always say, “just listen to Chuck Rainey and Jerry Jermott on those Aretha Franklin records.” Those bass parts are the trifecta of creativity, rhythm and tone! These are the kinds of bassists that taught me how to approach bass without even knowing I would play the bass…”soundtrack of your life” kind of stuff. I had no idea who the bassists were when I started, but now I know they were people like Carol Kay and Glen Campbell. Into the ’70s, when I started to develop more facility in my playing, I started to really explore guys like Chris Squire, John Entwistle and Tim Bogart. These guys stretched the sonic pallet of the instrument and really inspired me to start thinking about having a sound. Later, in the late ’70s through the early ’80s, it was all about Stanley Clarke and even Mark King. I particularly liked Dee Murry who played on so many of those Elton John albums. That guy gave me the tools to find a sense of song support with the caveat of “driving” the song. These days, I think Thundercat, Mark Kerr, Tal Wilkenfield, Steve DiGiorgio, Billy Sheehan… There are so many great bassists out there these days, it’s getting hard for me to keep up.

You’ve been active in the rock scene since the late 1970s. If you’d quickly compare the scene growing up with how it is now, what’s different?
It was pretty cut and dry back when I started. You got into a band, start out playing local gigs, build it regionally, write original music, demo and try to get a label to support you till you either succeeded or failed. If it didn’t work, maybe onto the next band, if you still have the stomach for it. These days, it’s so much easier to be your own label. You practically have everything you need right on your laptop. In some cases, your band IS your laptop! I always say this to anyone who asks “how can I do what you do?” Well, it has all to do with your desire to succeed. It takes a lot of work to get to the point where you’re musically capable – let alone experienced enough in humanistic behavior: getting along with the people you play with, having a sense of place…are you “leader” or “subordinate?” Do you know how touring/recording works from a business point of view? These are just a few insights that only come to you as you experience the journey of a musician. I recommend that you learn as much as you can about the business of music, either through school, books or the internet. Know what you’re getting into monetarily, ‘cause if you don’t and come up short and owing, you’ll soon sour on music as a career. I think, from my point of view. It’s a bit tougher than it used to be in that there just isn’t as much income potentially available to you, even if you get to the point of having a moderately successful record. You have to be more of an entrepreneur these days than ever before. The good news is, there are so many vehicles online to promote your band’s music, merchandise and shows than at anytime in history! Publishing still has great value so try to get all those “eggs” in your basket before you’re ready to launch your music.

The list of bands and artists you’ve recorded and toured with over the years is like a who’s-who of rock and metal: White Lion, Lynch Mob, Ace Frehley, David Lee Roth, Ozzy, John Fogerty, Slash and now Megadeth (again)… If you look back on your career so far, what are some of the highlights that stand out to you personally? 
Of course, rejoining Megadeth has been a really big deal, I didn’t have that on my career scorecard, (laughs). The first time was amazing to me. Up until that time, I was not necessarily a “known” heavy metal musician so I considered it a great accomplishment to succeed at integrating into the band playing on two of Megadeth’s albums along with all the touring. Megadeth is such a huge band historically that to be a member of the band, even again is a great life honor. The band as it stands now with Dave, Kiko and Dirk is just a juggernaut. Of course looking back, White Lion was an incredible experience. That was a great example of the being in the right band at exactly the right time. I learned what recording and touring at high level was like and how to adapt in a band that musically and stylistically wasn’t exactly what I would have had in mind at that time in my life. We were wildly successful, millions of records right out of the gate. MTV was pivotal to that success. You’d expect me to say, “it made my career,” but honestly, after it was over and I started playing with Zakk Wylde in Pride & Glory, there was rarely a perceptual benefit professionally for all that success. A lot of bands from that era were so stylized into the ’80s “hair band” genre as they called it, that if you didn’t sneak out of the style of it, you’d be pigeon-holed musically and then have to wait about twenty years till people became interested in it again. I wasn’t willing to sit on those laurels. I could see that musical taste was moving on, so I just cut and run and made myself available to all kinds of musical acts and styles. I think another big band experience standout highlight for me was playing in David Lee Roth’s band. We did that dual Van Halen Lead singer tour in 2000 (“Sam and Dave tour”) with Sammy Hagar’s band. Playing with Dave on that was like being in the best Van Halen cover band you could imagine! Let’s see, what else? Spending a bit of time recording on “Ozzmosis” with Ozzy, that was really cool. I sang some backgrounds with Zakk on “No More Tears” prior to that. Getting back to the musical influence of my childhood, playing with John Fogerty with Kenny Aronoff on the drums…Oh, and we can’t forget Slash – that was an outstanding time!

Out of everything that comes with being a professional musician – writing, recording, jamming, touring, traveling (the list goes on)…what is your favorite part and why?
For me, It’s just about the live show. That’s communion, that’s church in the most magical, surreal and profound way. Creating the music, writing and recording, that’s of course amazing…when you get it right, you make history. But the live show, that’s where you provide the most essential communal experience. The job is literally to bring people happiness, to bring their music to life and to share that immediate joy with them.

Out of all the different styles you’ve played over the years, is there one you’d say you’re the most “at home” with?
I think I started out as a blues-basher…always liked the wide sounding stuff, I think that’s a bass player thing. But, actually I’ve discovered that it’s all the same thing. Fast, syncopated or slow, It’s music! There’s always more difficult music for me to play, but I’ve discovered that once I take the time to break it down and invest some time learning and perfecting it, it becomes just another dialect to play and make that glorious communication I was talking about. Some people are naturally deeper at it, so it comes a bit more natural but if you’re musically aware and it’s what you love, I’ve found, in my case that I can feel at home with any style I put my mind to.

Where does Toontrack come into your creative process and which products do you use?
I bought Superior Drummer years ago to help with my song writing sketches. As it improved over the years, I’ve found it to be essential to my process – especially when I can’t book a drummer right away. Now, I use it in so many ways. I love to practice my bass with it by finding a groove, creating a quick sequence and just ripping over it, a lot of times a new song sketch will come out of that. It’s really inspiring and so much more fun than sitting with a stiff metronome. As the MIDI packs expanded, I was delighted to find Kenny Aronoff’s style in the American Rock MIDI pack. He actually recorded them, and having played beside him for over ten years, I really get a kick at how much it feels exactly like him. When I have to create an Americana rock track, that’s always my go to! I also used Superior Drummer to replace and enhance poorly recorded drums that find their way on my timeline when I’m mixing. EZkeys is another essential software that I use all the time. I don’t have great stylistic facility on the piano, so if I need that real honky tonk, country or classic rock feel, I generally go for one of its MIDI files along with its excellent samples and choose a track that gets close to what I’m looking for and then edit down the notes that fit best with what I’m working on. I really love the Retro Electrics samples, which I just play myself for backing tracks on my clinics. The Mellotoon is amazing!

Walk us through a regular day “in the life of” – on and off the road!
A day on the road may start with a dark bunk on a bus at a venue that I’ve probably been to ten times before. I’ll usually grab a cup of coffee, walk around and try and guess who I was with the last time I played there, lol. Next will be lunch with Dirk or Kiko or Dave, whoever’s de-coma-tized first. We’ll usually have some stuff to sign for our fan VIP experience. Next we’ll generally do a sound check, on this tour it’s usually about 2 pm. That brings us to the VIP experience where we answer fans’ questions, much like what I’m doing right here. Those are great, we get to get close and personal to our fans and I think we really get as much a charge out of it as the people who come do. That brings us to early dinner and then depending on who’s feeling it, we’ll jam on all kinds of stuff. Kiko’s got some videos of that stuff online, sometimes it’s off the hook. That brings us to the show, meet some friends after then off to the bus to start all over again!

When I get to stay at a hotel, it’s different – I’ll call my wife and have breakfast coffee with her on the phone, then grab my camera and go on a photo walkabout! I used to carry a full camera rig back in the ’80s, when I had to also carry around rolls and rolls of film, but a lot of those photos were not as great as I’d hoped so now, I’m happy to say, I’m taking more time to indulge in it as art. By evening we try as a band to have dinner together all of us, or whosoever up for it, and if we’re in a cool city like New York or Memphis, we go to a jazz, blues or rock club depending on who’s in town that night.

At home, It’s breakfast with my wife Angie, then maybe a walk at our local park. We’ll get back and get to whatever business we have at home. She’s about to release her book “Wisdom of Wildly Creative Women.” I worked with her and photographed the portraits for the book, so we’re both real excited for its release. Right now she’s working on her promotion for it and I’ll be doing my recordings for hire, work on new Megadeth music and, of course – practice, practice, practice. Since I’ve been touring for a lot of the last two years, I’m putting up the “Gone Fishing” sign and Angie and I are gonna do some quality travel time together.

What’s next on your agenda?
“Gone Fishing!”…but then, more Megadeth stuff! See what’s coming up at Megadeth.com