I dont think he even knew when it happened. At one point, Dimitriades told Petty, You cant tour like that. The singer responded, Why not? I have a really good life, he says. I didnt need to be that way. Petty was our guy. Joe Jacksons Four Decade Tour Brings His Inimitable Quirks toL.A. Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about. Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. We had the amps up loud, Petty told me with a delighted chuckle. The drummer realized after some point that he didnt want to be in the band anymore due to the personal and musical differences he had with Tom Petty. That put me off when I wrote it, Petty said of the song in a 2009 Rolling Stone interview, one of many conversations I had with him over the past decade for the magazine and his SiriusXM channel, Tom Petty Radio. The musician revealed that he wishes he had handled the situation in the band in a more proper way regarding his departure. As it was once put to me by Mike Campbell, the unerringly crackerjack guitarist who together with master keyboardist Benmont Tench and Tom formed the irreducible center of the Heartbreakers, Tom calls the shots. Petty ran the complex brotherhood that abbreviates as TPATH as a generally benign dictatorship. Petty spent the downtime recording his . Propelled by Stan Lynch's rollicking drumming and the band's now-signature soaring guitars, this high-octane rave was a close-up of Petty's vocal prowess and persona: sweet then sour . He and I had incredibly good communication onstage; he could read the movement of my shoulder. But when he gets to the hook, slam, its there. For his part, Lynch felt that he had just begun to play well on the band's fourth and fifth albums, Hard Promises and Long After Dark. Not only did this prickly anthem propel the band into the US Billboard chart and help make them a household name . That was probably cut more around the time of Greatest Hits in 1993, but it fits in. I certainly dont have a chip on my shoulder, he told me in 2014. He was for real., The last time Campbell talked to Petty was after the bands September 17th concert in San Diego, aboard the flight to Los Angeles ahead of the Hollywood Bowl shows. via He reminded me sort of [like] Keith Moon in a way. If I look up and see Mike Campbells butt in front of my drum kit, its kind of like Im home., Opening night in Boulder was heavy on material from the two Dirty Knobs albums, but they also dipped into the Heartbreakers catalog with songs like Refugee, Runnin Down a Dream, Southern Accents, and You Wreck Me. As the days went by, they started sprinkling in additional oldies like Listen to Her Heart, When the Time Comes, and Casa Dega., Im still learning to be a singer, says Campbell. All rights reserved. I had been backstage in various rooms the road managers would open to journos and posers when the band played say, Fillmore East in the 70s or various rococo rock halls in other towns from Chicago to New Orleans. Zanes also coaxed Stan Lynch, the ex-drummer of Petty's longtime backing band, The Heartbreakers . Tom was a great classicist, Springsteen says, and the Heartbreakers were a real guitar band. Answer: Stanley Joseph Lynch (born May 21, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. We started around the same time and had a lot of the same influences. ', But when he went to speak, he found himself tentatively agreeing to the plan. They walked back out there and carried on playing., With Pettys death, three of the five Wilburys are gone (Orbison died in 1988), and the Heartbreakers have lost their voice and leader. "I got to know him over the years, really got to know him when he was in the [Traveling] Wilburys 'cause of George . "We got somethin', we both know, we don't talk too much about it Ain't no real big secret, all the same, somehow we get around it Listen, it don't really matter to me, baby He also has toured with the Eagles. "Tom told me, 'Look man, you can call anybody anything you wantbut you can't lay a hand on anyone in this band.' When we got back together for the Bridge School Benefit it was just misery. Ive thought about having different singers up there doing the songs, but why? I havent been a drummer since I was in my thirties. His hits have defined rock radio since the Seventies, and he never stopped writing great music. [4], Lynch was involved in a five-year relationship with actress Louise "Wish" Foley whom he met while he and the rest of the band were on set shooting a production for the Tom Petty song "Don't Come Around Here No More". He had a big smile, and he was putting a cough drop in his mouth, says Williams, an old friend who had just finished her opening set. A lot of the times Id just be focused on what I was doing, but then Id turn around and be like, My God, its Lynch and hes fuckin smoking it! They preferred the punkier numbers, like Even the Losers and Refugee, to the Byrds-ier T.P. He was scary and violent. He could have handled things better, and his mistakes were mainly related to miscommunication and immaturity. We were from the same generation of rock & rollers. As the jaunty acoustic guitar in his hands filled the room with a capoed, sonorous chime, he opened his mouth and started to sing. I was ashamed. Lynch started to work with various Florida bands, among them Styrophoam Soule and Road Turkey, and when he was 15 he met Ron Blair, who was six years older than Lynch. Editors picks From his early work with Mudcrutch until his final performance with The Heartbreakers, Tom Petty considered himself more as a fellow band member than as the frontman dispensing commands. And then, with awful suddenness and scant days after a triumphant home stand in his adoptive Los Angeles for a 40th anniversary concert, he was gone. Ringo Starr on 'Good Friend' Tom Petty's Death: 'It Was a Shock'. The original Heartbreakers came back together for the song Mary Janes Last Dance, which became one of their biggest hits. It's what people like to think of as "swing". At the time that The Heartbreakers went full steam until the late 80s, Petty created a solo record because he needed a change of pace. I didnt want to stay too long. Longtime Petty manager Tony Dimitriades fired Lynch on the phone shortly after the show, and the drummer didnt say a word to Petty until the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. It was getting close to showtime. Early life. His last gig with the Heartbreakers was on October 2, 1994, at the Bridge School Benefit Concert in Mountain View, California. I learn from them.. And he said, This is really good. He sounded just like Tom Petty when he said it. It was magical, it was spiritual, Campbell affirms. He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994. Youve been up there like a soldier, man. We had a nice hug and said we loved each other. After that, at the Bowl, it was backstage, Hi, how you doing?, a little patter between songs.. When a Tom Petty . You see a . We connected instantly, like wed known each other already, the guitarist says. One and she said yes immediately was Norah Jones., Its so hard to believe its even happened, Dhani Harrison says of Pettys death. Thats when it fell apart with Stan., The tensions between Lynch and Petty had been building ever since the late 1980s when Petty recorded with the Traveling Wilburys and followed that up with his first solo album. Earlier this year, Stan Lynch reunited with his former bandmate, Mike Campbell, when Campbell asked him to join him on the road with the Dirty Knobs. And then, with awful suddenness and scant days after a triumphant home stand in his adoptive Los Angeles for a 40th anniversary concert, he was gone. That would have been smaller-scale, away from the hits, Campbell says. I got the phone call and told the folks in my house, Bruce Springsteen says, recalling the sudden, shocking impact of that news. Every one of them came to me. And whatever I was playing in didnt even feel like a band. 2023 Billboard Media, LLC. But I havent seen him again since then.. Stan had never heard me sing before, and he was the main harmony singer with Tom. / Youtube. Stan and I had some personal conflicts with family here and there, he says. I wouldnt want to let anyone down, says Lynch. 2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. "You belong among the wildflowers / You belong on a boat out at . Jimmy Iovine is known to have obsessed over the drum sound in Pettys 1979 album Damn the Torpedos, which Iovine produced, and Lynch became the object of his frustration. Lynch asked him: Am I fired? asked Lynch. I was a marginal student. Original Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch recently joined an interview with Rolling Stone. Id hear that he was auditioning for another group. And those meetings are really boring. But, he insisted, I wouldnt have hurt anybody., Mounting tensions within the Heartbreakers over Pettys creative grip culminated in Lynchs departure in 1994. He sang harmony. I knew that there was the capacity within that group to push boundaries, he says. We had great eye communication where I could turn around and look at him, and he knew just exactly what I wanted to do. Sandwiched between punk, the first moans of goth and the flagging first wave of New Wave, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers ' track Refugee took a defiant step in reasserting the dominance of guitar rock at the butt end of the 70s. Just a week before his death, Tom Petty completed which . I never sought these people out, Petty claimed when I asked him in 2009 about why he got along so well with legends. Among the acts that Tom Petty took with him on the tour for his 1987 album, Let Me Up (Ive Had Enough), was the Del Fuegos, a Boston-based roots-rock band with ties to the New York hardcore scene. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time He was a great performer, full of the light, a friend, Dylan said of Petty, and Ill never forget him.. When hes telling the story about how his father beat the shit out of him at age five, its hard not to feel something., I cant pretend to know everything that was going through his mind in telling me these things, Zanes added. And Petty highlighted strong recent work like the heavy-blues rave-up I Should Have Known It, from 2010s Mojo. Staying off the Internetdidnt do much good as dear and solicitous friends came in with queries during the purgatorial moments after the news struck, and one wrote, Did he have a bad heart? And the perhaps too glib thought was no, he had a great heart, a monster heart that could sit inside the barbwire words and music of a song like Straight into Darkness, quoted above, and still beat like crazy and make yours beat along with it. I think I have some Tom nuances in my voice. Zanes also coaxed Stan Lynch, the ex-drummer of Petty's longtime backing band, The Heartbreakers, to talk unflinchingly about his falling-out with Petty. And Petty was keen to work on the next album by his protgs the Shelters. "We have the same musical pulse we always had," says Campbell of hitting the road with his old Tom Petty bandmate after . I wont get into all that, but we were young and stupid and full of too much testosterone. In Lynchs mind, it was a Heartbreakers song. He. I said, Tom, the audience is rockin. He never wanted to be the bands lead singer. The entire band was displeased by those decisions, but Stan was the most vocal. Editor's note: Simone Biles Owens reveals $120 wedding dress and possible minimoon spot and shuts down her hair haters. Zanes, now fifty, was telling the tale the other day, while ducking out of the rain for coffee at Benvenuto Caf, in Tribeca. He formed the band known as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in 1976 along with Stan Lynch (drummer), Benmont Tech (keyboardist), Mike Campbell, . Thus, the rocker said he has tons of regrets regarding his time with the band. Petty then eventually felt that it wouldnt be a good idea for Lynch to perform on his next solo album, Wildflowers, so he hired session musician Steve Ferrone instead. You remember dozens of moments, including an interview for Billboardwhen he was 64 and you were sitting with him in a glassed-in studio booth while distracting activity swirled all around, and he took a beat and he could take a beat as well as any showman who has walked the stage with a six-string slung around his neck and smiled one of his complicated and almost furtive smiles and said, Were professionals, right?. I'm interested in rock music, literature, cinema, and doing research in Cultural Studies. Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. That was one of the great things about him. There were more eyes watching out for you.. Bob used to say, These guys communicate without talking. He liked that., Petty had a great bullshit detector he didnt suffer fools, just like my dad, says Dhani Harrison. Lynch took this chance to step off explaining there were just a handful of songs on that record that I just didnt like and left the band. The band loudly declared their love for Petty at their shows. Wasnt this already the day from hell? Probably best known for having been the longtime drummer and founding member of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Lynch has also toured the world with Bob Dylan, and written and produced songs for Don Henley, the Eagles, the Mavericks and many others. As a songwriter, he has co-written with or written for numerous acts, including Matraca Berg, Meredith Brooks, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Jeff Healey Band, James House, June Pointer, Eddie Money, Toto, Tora Tora, Sister Hazel, Ringo Starr and the Mavericks. [1], Lynch was born in Cincinnati,[2] Ohio, U.S., and moved to Gainesville, Florida, in the early 1960s. "I remember he accused me of stealing an amp from him. . Petty spent the downtime recording his solo album Wildflowers with producer Rick Rubin and every member of the Heartbreakers besides Stan Lynch, a decision that did not sit well with the drummer. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Petty didnt wander. "The coolest thing about this is that I get to put a bookend on a really, really long book of life," says Stan Lynch, second from left, of reuniting with Mike Campbell, third from left. What could be cooler in the entire world than for your target demographic to be Tom Petty?, Petty characterized his roots and ambition this way, in the title song of his 1985 album, Southern Accents: I got my own way of talkin/But everything gets done, with a Southern accent. He was born Thomas Earl Petty on October 20th, 1950, in Gainesville, Florida; a brother, Bruce, arrived in 1958. All rights reserved. But there is a story and sorrow that is brilliantly laid out.. Id rather hear the old songs with the real singer.. I didnt even speak to him at the Hall of Fame, says Lynch. But because he had the record deal already, after the break Petty went back into the studio and started his pitch. He was a real cat. When Petty sang a song by Jimmie Rodgers, Merle Haggard or the Searchers, Tench insists, he wasnt a dilettante, trying something on. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Despite that, his name was still being dragged when fans . It has a special vibe when its just the two of you. And so we started closing the show with it. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time His only encounter with Petty in the years that followed took place in 2002 at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and the only . Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. There sat the fantastic coffee. Follow me. That was the rehearsal. Then I heard him at a gig talking to a guy in another band. Tom Petty often served that need for me. And in five minutes or so, Tom Petty comes out. The tension that followed played a significant role in his ultimate departure from the band. He remembers, as a child, a Christmas in L.A. with the Petty and Harrison families Dhani and Adria playing Nintendo with their rock-god dads. By Andy Greene. When I heard from Mike, I almost said, Thats probably not a good fit, but I appreciate the offer. Drums, guitar, piano, vocals. Or the ninemonths from hell? The two finally met in Gainesville, where Campbell was supposed to go to college but instead ended up playing with Petty in Mudcrutch. Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday. Stanley Joseph "Stan" Lynch (born May 21, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. His perfectionism sometimes ran him and band both ragged, but he never let us see him sweat in public, even during the energetic if happily quirky stage shows, for which he(a great interpreter and helpmate to Bob Dylan and the Byrds)would be reliably garbed in the post-Rolling Thunder gear that would run to stovepipe hats and undertakers long coats. Michael and Tom were able to get through anything because they were the yin and yang of it. Petty was in some ways not the easiest person to get along with. In a 2008 interview with Modern Drummer , Lynch described how he felt after . The music was beautifully written, beautifully constructed. His last words to me where, I heard you, man. While they were taking a break Petty looked into the recording studio and thought to himself "this should be my band". He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994. See latest videos, charts and news. It also fucks with the legacy. 2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. He was just a lovely guy who loved rock & roll and came up the hard way.. He didnt settle for just being OK., Petty entered the last year of his life with confidence and pride. So it was no small surprise in late 2021 when Lynch picked up his phone one day and heard Campbells voice on the other end. But plans for that somehow evolved into Its the 40th year. Stevie Nicks reprised her duet with Petty, Stop Draggin My Heart Around, a Top Five hit in 1981. Warren became vice-president of educational programs for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He had ongoing tensions about his drumming, especially with producer Jimmy Iovine. "We all kind of thought Howie would get the job," says original Heartbreakers' drummer Stan Lynch. It was immediately following this gig that Lynch left the band due to musical and personal differences with Petty. I found out hes turned out to be quite a gentleman and a real brother to me., It also turned out they needed a lot less time than they anticipated to lock back in musically. As Lynch's ability increased, so did the offers to play with other artists, creating experience that covers a wide variety of musical territory. The 1993 edition of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers included, left to right: Mike Campbell, Tom Petty, Stan Lynch, Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein. In a dramatic acknowledgment of the grieving across America that week for Petty and the victims of the October 1st massacre at a music festival in Las Vegas, country singer Jason Aldean who was onstage there when the shooting began opened the October 7th episode of Saturday Night Live with I Wont Back Down, Pettys anthem of iron will and moral certainty. By the end of the evening, Lynch and the rest walked out as Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Also, I could never really close doors on people that were important in my past. It was their first face-to-face encounter in 20 years, and they had a chat before playing much music together. There was a lot of miscommunication and many immature sh*ts going down. Once they left the stage, it became clear that Lynch had to be fired. Its like fucking Disneyland out there. And Tom says to Bob, Youve never been to Disneyland. Bob just started laughing. Good records stay made. ', One night, they started warming up backstage by singing Stories We Could Tell, an obscure John Sebastianpenned song that Petty and the Heartbreakers often played in their early days. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any suggestions. The influences were obvious the Byrds, a lot of the Merseybeat stuff, Wolf says of Petty and the Heartbreakers 1977 sets opening for the J. Geils Band. I never knew how it got there, but it sure wasnt left over from the night before. This was unsettling for everyone in the group besides Campbell, who worked extensively on the album, but Lynch voiced his objections the loudest. I felt like all of the uniforms and emotional and metaphysical stuff about being a drummer, Id sort of outgrown. This summer, Wolf and his solo group did the honors for Petty. Wilco, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Fleet Foxes and the War on Drugs were among the bands that covered Pettys songs onstage. I wasnt a good story. As a teenager growing up near Gainesville, Lynch determined that he would find a way to make a living with music. Mike is a pivotal player in a previous life of mine. ', Editors picks "As a kid I had very little opportunity. He could go anywhere I wanted to go. Lynch reunited with his former bandmates in 2002 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, playing "American Girl" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance". Original Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch surprised himself when he agreed to the reunion with Mike Campbell that began earlier this year. Michael was able to be the calming factor.. I was just trying to do the best job I could. Still, Petty confirmed with relish a story about a meeting to renegotiate a contract during which he pulled a switchblade knife out of his boot and started cleaning his fingernails. We have the same musical pulse we always had, says Campbell. 1 in early December 2004. My familys complaining that I dont take any time off. Earlier this year, Petty produced an album, Bidin My Time, for an idol: Chris Hillman, the singer-bassist in the Byrds and a founding member of the Flying Burrito Brothers. But once in LA the producers decided they were not keen on the rest of the band, so it broke up, leaving Petty basically a solo act something he was not happy about. He became stronger., No one could understand the pace Im running at, Petty said in our radio interview. We want to hear it. The album that first alienated Lynch was Southern Accents. He beat the living hell out of me.. Their father, Earl, was Jerry Lee Lewis if he didnt play the piano. When original Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch was let go from the group in 1995 or excommunicated, to use his own term he started a new chapter of his life in Florida as a producer-songwriter and rarely looked back. Much of the show was given to generous spins through the intricate balladry and pointed reflection on Pettys acclaimed solo outings, 1989s Full Moon Fever and 1994s Wildflowers, with profound glow and muscle from the Heartbreakers. All rights reserved. We apologized to each other for being assholes and young and stupid, says Campbell. Lynchs run ends after a June 26 show in Aspen, Colorado. Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Among his more pointed criticisms concern the song "Stop Draggin' My Heart . Id never learned anyone elses parts., He started going over the material at his home studio, and he turned to longtime drummer buddies Kenny Aronoff and Gregg Bissonette for advice. What people dont know is that Lynch and Pettys conflict started way back at the time of their legendary singles. In 1961, an uncle working on the local set of an Elvis Presley movie, Follow That Dream, arranged for Petty and some family members to watch the filming and meet the star. Tom Leadon, Tom Petty's Mudcrutch Bandmate, Dead at 70. It was also the climax of their 40th Anniversary Tour, a 53-show celebration of the singer-guitarists unbroken lifetime with his band as one of rock & rolls biggest, best and most committed live acts. It was a short walk, 20 steps, from his front door to his studio, Dimitriades says. 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On September 25th, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed the final concert of a three-night run at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Theyd kick your ass. The drummer looked back and opened up about his time with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during a recent appearance. But a lot of that has calmed down. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Bass guitarist Howie Epstein, who joined in 1982 when Blair decided to quit the road, was let go in 2002 over his addiction to heroin. Petty is a rock star who is also a member of a band that has been together since the mid-seventies, and it is difficult to be one without undermining the other. He never wanted to be the band's lead singer. Then you look at it now. Steve Ferrone joined the Heartbreakers in 1994 after original drummer Stan Lynch's departure. The one-two punch of The Wild One, Forever and Anything Thats Rock and Roll seemed to rise from a thoroughly singular new talent, blowing away rock musics post-punk irresolution to point a towards a sound both classic and original. Lynch contributed to albums by the following artists: Lynch left the group in 1994. Then, on February 10th, 2017, Petty was honored by MusiCares, the musicians health-care charity, as their Person of the Year at a dinner and tribute show. In 1981, Blair, weary of the touring lifestyle, departed the band. Their mother, Kitty, was a very kind, good person, Tom said in 2009. Before an encore on Ferrones first tour with Petty in 1995, the singer asked him if he knew Breakdown. The drummer said no; it wasnt on the list of songs he was supposed to learn. He was a powerhouse onstage. My parents didn't have money. You learn them. Ferrone recalls Pettys response: Tom says, OK, this is what you do. As you may recall, the lead singer and guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Tom Petty sadly passed away on October 2, 2017, at the age of 66. The next incarnation. Stevie Nicks on the Last Time She Saw Tom Petty I was just that kind of guy, he said. A series of writing projects followed, which lead to Petty asking Zanes to write the biography. Joe Jackson, Past, Present, and Fast Forward, Photograph by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns/Getty. Tom got up and made a little speech, the guitarist says, like, This has been the best tour. And when I lived in California, I got to know him quite well. In addition to academic papers on rock, he wrote the 33 and 1/3 book on Dusty Springfields album Dusty in Memphis. Around 2000, he stopped listening to new musicexcept for Tom Petty. I park and go to the lounge outside his studio. 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