Q: How have you been?
SS: Good! Busy as hell. We're leaving on Tuesday, we're playing at The Gods Festival in England. Things have been pretty hectic, I just did 2 photo shoots, 1 full page ad for Gemini. There's 2 ads coming out with them, one with Howard Leese and myself with this product we promote of theirs'. And I just got back from LA after shooting a Dean Markley ad, because i use their strings, so they're doing an ad to promote the album. It's all moving nicely.

Q: I'm not overly familiar with The Gods Festival - it's a British AOR type of festival?
SS: Yes it is. It's strictly an AOR festival. It's funny, it's a lot of bands that we don't really get to hear over here, like TEN, and all these guys, unless you're really into the AOR scene, and get these things from places like Buccaneer. But apparently it's really big in England. they've got this huge 2 day festival; there's about 7 or 8 bands on per day, and they're flying Kelly Hansen and myself, and my drummer out, and they're supplying us with a keyboard player and bass player when we get there.

Q: How's the promotional end of the album been going?
SS: As far as Frontiers in Europe - I'm very pleased with it. It's just gone to it's 3rd pressing. Frontiers signed me for Europe, and they've got a couple of companies - 1 in France, 1 in Germany, and they've got me and Kelly Hansen doing radio interviews; he's my singer for the touring. So I'm really happy with them. Pony Canyon are dealing with it in Japan, and I've got to try and find some way to get them moving a bit faster on the promotion side, but i think things will take off in the New Year with all these adverts coming out.

Q: I know the CD is available through the web site. Is there going to be a US or North American distribution deal at all?
SS: Yes, I'm working on that at the moment. There's a couple of companies I'm dealing with - 2 of them major, and we're trying to get that to happen. I don't want to rush things there because the main thing is to get the right deal. The album's doing great; the press love it - I haven't heard a bad review yet; everyone's really behind it, so i want a company that's really going to be behind it. Once people know about the album, it should take off nicely. So, I've got to be careful about the company i pick to do that.

Q: I'm on a few internet discussion lists, and it's [the album] got a lot of great reviews and comments. The only thing people write in about is that they can't find it over here, and because of import costs they haven't picked it up yet.
SS: On 'amazon.com', the Frontiers version is available with the 4 bonus tracks cheaper than it is on my web page. So, people can get it at amazon.com, and there are some Tower Records that hold it, and places like Buccaneer. It's just not got the wide distribution, and the sort of advertising 'push' behind it to let people know it's out there. But as i say, in the new year when i get these 2 adverts........I think the difficulty is people don't really know who i am. I've always been part of a band, as opposed to having my own thing, and all of a sudden it seems I've come out of nowhere.

Q: To take you back a bit to your earliest days. Is there a lot available prior to this?
SS: There is, but nothing I'm particularly knocked out about. Heaven & Earth is the first thing that I've done that I'm really proud of. Before that i did stuff with The Sidewinders, i don't know if there's anything available now, and The Sweet thing, which is more of a bootleg thing, but nothing that's where I'm actually featured like this.

Q: What year were you with The Sweet?
SS: That was 1986, I joined up with Steve Priest. We had a version together. There were 3 versions going at the time, Andy Scott had one, and Brian Connolly had Brian Connolly's Sweet. And then just before i teamed up with Keith Emerson to form The Aliens of Extraordinary Ability, we noticed Kiss were doing really well with this thing, so we talked about The Sweet reunion, and I got John Collactor [sp ?] involved - who was Deep Purple's old manager, and he brought in Joe Brown who used to own Casco [sp ?], and the guy spent the whole time going after old publishing money - which we told him not to do, and it had nothing to do with him anyway. He was going to take 5 years to finance a new album - a reformed Sweet album , and i was saying "no way - we can get a deal!". And basically they just didn't listen and so it fell a bit, and then suddenly Brian died, so that sweet reunion fell to bits completely. Then i was playing in The Aliens, and then Keith went on to do The ELP reunion, and i got the solo deal from Samsung.

Q: Richard Friederich - you've dedicated the album to his memory, and to Ritchie Blackmore. Can you tell me who Richard Friederich was?
SS: Rich was the head of A & R for Dean Markley. He was a really good friend of mine. He was overweight, and his heart gave out in the end. But he was a really close friend of mine, and he was always behind me for years, he always believed in me, and he told me "when i get the solo album done I'll get Dean Markley behind it", and then just as i got the deal is when he died, so i wanted to include him on the album.

Q: Ritchie Blackmore - big association there. How much of your playing did you learn from him as far as style wise and what you play now, and what other guitarists influenced your own sound?
SS: I classically trained from 7 years old, and at the same time i think i heard "Troublestar" [Sp ??] by The Tornadoes, and that turned me on to the electric guitar. At 14 i heard Deep Purple "In Rock", and that just blew me away. Although before that i liked The Beatles and everything, but In Rock is what really turned me on to rock n roll. Then i got into things like Cream, Jeff Beck, Zeppelin, and those kinds of things. I'd met Ritchie, he was sort of my hero as far as guitar playing, and we became best friends, and at his suggestion i actually moved out to the States. And then when i moved out to LA in '86, I'd always go back and spend every Christmas with Ritchie. And we started playing together, on acoustic guitars, just medieval stuff and that kind of thing. But as well as teaching me things like saying "lighten up on your right hand" or "show me various licks", a lot of what he taught me was his philosophy behind the instrument, teaching me that it's not so much speed that counts, but that you say something with the instrument in a solo - which is hard to actually make something cohesive. Ritchie's got a very good knack of playing all the song, and then at the end of it he'll stick in something really fast to let ya know he can, but he's not like a lot of these shred players. And i used to be trying to get from one end of it to the other very fast, and Ritchie would teach me to slow down; and just his philosophy on the instrument - of how to bring out emotion in playing.

Q: You also had an association with Ian Paice.
SS: Yes. When Deep Purple broke up after Tommy Bolin, he formed Paice-Ashton and Lord, and after that broke up, I wasn't doing anything, Ritchie gave me his number, I called him and said "I've always loved you as a drummer, how about getting a band together?", and we got together and sported a band, but then Ian got the offer from Whitesnake so that sort of fell to bits.

Q: How did you, being British, arrive in the States? And what's the difference between being the American scene and being in the British scene?
SS: Well, back in '83 I was very disillusioned with the English scene. In England, it's such a small country that if what you're doing isn't in fashion, and I've always played the rock-blues that is on Heaven & Earth -- I've always played that style, so when that fell out of favor when Punk came in and the 80s disco type of stuff like Duran Duran - in that time period, there was just absolutely no work, and i didn't want to play that type of music. Ritchie was over there with Rainbow, and had a hit with "I Surrender", and had just got Joe Lynn Turner in the band, and we were hanging out and he said "why don't you come to the States and give it a try, because the country's so big that no matter what you do there'll always be people that are in to your sort of music." And i was fed up with the weather as well, just getting soaked, and the cold, and taxes. So i took Ritchie up on the offer, went out there and stayed on Long Island, got my own place.

Q: I notice you don't do any vocals on the album. Is that because you consider yourself a singer, or because you have a number of great singers on the album?
SS: I used to have a great voice when i was a kid, but i never really developed it because i was so into the guitar. And, i guess the way i play it would be hard to sing at the same time. I was always very self-conscience about my voice, even going to the microphone. I'm OK as long as i got that 'wall' between myself and the audience - which is the guitar. And I've always been of the opinion 'if you can't do something really well - don't do it at all', especially when I've got people like Joe Lynn, Glenn Hughes, Richie Sambora, and Kelly, so it would be pretty scary having me sing on there next to these guys.

Q: How did you hook up with Howard Leese, because I'm familiar with Heart, but i didn't know he was into producing. So how did that all come about?
SS: Howard I've known for years, because he's been out here a lot we always run in to each other, and got along really well. When i was recording Heaven & Earth - the actual track with Joe Lynn singing, I ran in to him one night, and i told him about the album, and said "do you want to come back to the house and have a listen?" So he came back and he listened to it, and when he heard Heaven And Earth he said "Oh this is a hit!", and I said "would you like to do the guitar solo with me? we'll do a harmony guitar solo on this." And he said he'd love to. So he came in to do it, and Pat Regan - who was producing, was just so busy with other clients and running around, and Howard has been a producer for a long time - if you notice on the Heart albums he's credited with production as well. So this was something i knew he was good at. So he came in, and i think and Pat had a long phone call, so Howard ended up sort of producing me through the guitar parts that we did together. And it was such a pleasure to work with him, and I think Pat was tied up for the next 2 weeks, and i just said "I want to do the solos with Howard", and we went ahead and did them. It was such a pleasure working with him, that when it came time to do the bonus tracks for the Europe and Japan I said "Let's you and i do them again." And it's gone to the third pressing in Europe with Frontiers...

Q: How many copies is that?
SS: You know I don't know. [ha ha ....] But they want to pick me up for the next album, so Howard will be producing the next album. Howard is a really great producer. he gets the best out of you as a guitar player. As a guitar player for me it's harder in the studio because I'm more of a live player.

Q: Well this album's got the energy of a live performance. I love your version of "When A Blind Man Cries" -- How did you end up doing that track?
SS: What happened was I wanted to do 1 Deep Purple song on there, basically as a 'thanks' to Ritchie for teaching, and also to rest of the guys in the band as well because they were a very big influence on me when i was growing up. I didn't want to do one of the usual ones, I wanted something more obscure, and When A Blind Man Cries was recorded around the time that they did "Machine Head", and to be honest - and no disrespect to the band, but I never really thought because they'd done such a great job on Machine Head, that this was just a bit of a throwaway track, and it was only released as a B-side to "Never Before" - which was released as a single and never really did anything in England. And that was the only time i ever heard it, and I loved the song from the word 'go'! And it was so obscure that no one could believe it was Deep Purple when i played it to them.

Q: It's interesting because latter Deep Purple with Steve Morse plays that song quite a bit.
SS: It was really funny, I started recording it and I thought "I'll blow them away - no one will know anything about this song." and then Ritchie leaves Deep Purple, and they brought in Joe Satriani, and they decided to bring it in to the live set. So it was actually when Joe went to Japan to take over from Ritchie that they brought it in, so it wasn't quite the surprise it was meant to be.

Q: "Shadow Of The Tyburn Tree" is a really neat piece. What inspired that?
SS: Well, originally "Dreams Of Desire" starts off with a take on Bach's "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring", and I was going to do that piece all the way through, and i was going to just play that all the way through with a string quartet - as a classical piece, and Pat Regan said "why don't you rock it up a bit?" So we started doing this, and I'm thinking what to do in a classical sense, and my wife says "why don't you write your own classical piece?" So, i came up with the main part for it - the music and main chorus, then Joe Lynn and her got together and wrote the lyrics - which is based on an actual true story.

Q: "Dreams Of Desire" - that's got a bit of a Celtic flavor to it in the first part of the song. How did that one [instrumental] come about?
SS: Dreams Of Desire, I was going to do the actual piece - [Bach's "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring"]. And i did the intro - which is a standard 6 / 8 time, then to actually make it rock we had to make it 4 / 4, which means i had to actually add notes to it, so it actually did turn out like an Irish jig in a way. I'm very proud of that piece, i think it's probably about the best guitar playing i did in my life.

Q: What's your favorite tracks on the album?
SS: It moves with my moods. I don't listen to the album that much since I've done it, unless I'm trying to learn something to go out and play. Dreams Of Desire I'm very happy with just because of my guitar playing on that, "Don't Keep Me Waiting" is a very powerful song i think, and Heaven And Earth, and When A Blind Man Cries -- I love. I think i love them all equally.

Q: There's a great cross section of progressive, straight ahead rock stuff, the blues - so it's a great diverse album.
SS: That was main thing. I sort of set out deliberately to do that because even when i was growing up I'd buy albums by Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and Cream, and they'd have a rock song, a blues song, or a reggae song like Zeppelin's "D'yer Maker" to "Anyone's Daughter" by Deep Purple - which is like a country song, so I loved that diversity, and i wanted to do that. I'm a very diverse guitarist - I love playing classical, I love playing rock, I love playing blues, and I love playing a good commercial hit. So I consciously went out and thought 'these are the sides of me, and i want to show every side.' And at the time i was making it Pat Regan was going "No one's going to buy this - it's too diverse", and yet every review I've had of the album says "it's brilliant because it's so diverse!"

Q: What's the plans for touring?
SS: Well right now I've got into the band Kelly Hansen, Richie Onori, I've got a bass player called Bjorn Angland - who's a new guy out of Sweden who happens to be living in LA, and Ray Rodriguez. We've been out. We did the Rock Fest 99 with Def Leppard and Sammy Hagar, which was a lot of fun, and we came back and headlined The Key Club in Los Angeles.

Q: Are you looking at a full set of European dates and possibly North America in the future?
SS: As soon as possible. What i intend to do when i get back [from The Gods Festival] is work on the licensing for the States, and then in the New Year - get the band out to Europe and Japan, and then play some more shows in the States. It's just a matter of getting the right people behind it. At the moment i don't have a manager, and I've been searching for the right manager, so that may be a necessity because it's impossible for me to organize it.

Q: What do you have lined up for the next album?
SS: There's a lot of things that didn't get used on Heaven And Earth which I've had over the years - I've had so many songs. Also I've started doing rehearsals and started writing with the band, so we've got some interesting stuff there. And they want us to start recording it in January, but i think likely we'll be recording it in bits and pieces in between going out and playing. But I'd really like to go out and play on this album first, because certainly, myself - I do a lot of writing, because on sound checks you get an idea and start jamming on it and record, and then work it into the set as you go.

Q: Can you give me a few of your favorite guitarists? And who would you cite as the best guitarist out there today?
SS: Ritchie is certainly the best guitar player around. I think he's one of these guys that no one's going to really appreciate until after he's gone, like Mozart or something. His technique is frightening; he has so much feel and emotion on the guitar, and i think he's very underrated. But i think it's more sort of Ritchie's fault, and I think he says he's his own worst enemy when it comes to the press, where as people like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck have always been a lot more accessible. Ritchie's a very shy person, so he's shied away from interviews, where as the press have always read it as being moody, so he doesn't get the acclaim the other guys do. Jeff Beck I think is phenomenal. I know Jeff, we just had a drink recently in LA. His latest album, I think, is the best thing he's ever done. He's really incredible. Eric Clapton - I love his stuff! I know you're involved with Uriah Heep - I loved them around the time of "Salisbury" and "Look At Yourself" with Ken Hensley and David Byron. They were always one of my favorite bands.

Q: There's a lot of guitarists that don't get a lot of acclaim out there. Mick Box is one of them to me, Richie Sambora would be another one. Is there anything in the Uriah Heep catalogue, as far as guitar playing that stands out?
SS: Mick has always been a great player, and he's been what I call a "team player". I used to run in to Mick a lot in England, and he always such a great guy. In fact we used to rehearse in the same studio a lot. I don't know why he never got more acclaim than he did, because i think he was due a lot more. But i think it was more because he was "in the band", and I mean people like Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore, and Jeff Beck - they tended to be the leaders of the band and everyone knew that -it was where they were going. I think Mick is more of a team player, and consequently doesn't stand out in your face as much, but he is playing some brilliant stuff and coming up with some great riffs. The other thing is, and it's just a personal observation. Mick always played a Gibson SG. And I just have this theory that i think the Stratocaster brings out the individuality in a player. It's a very unforgiving instrument, the Gibson you can pick up and tend to get a great sound no matter what you plug it in to, where as by a Strat - it will fight you every inch of the way, and you have to really work it to get a sound out of a Strat, and i think what it does is it creates an individuality. You can put an unknown song on and have different people playing, and everyone would instantly go "that's Jeff Beck......that's Ritchie Blackmore.......that's Jimi Hendrix........that's Mark Knopfler......", where as if you put a bunch of Gibson players together, unless you knew the song, I'm not sure you could easily say "that's Mick Box......that's Jimmy Page....". No matter how good the playing is, I just don't think the Gibson - as an instrument, brings out the individuality in a player, And that's just a total personal observation, which I've always had. But I've always thought Mick was a great player, and a hell of a nice guy.

[Ed note: in past Mick has used a Gibson SG, as well as Les Pauls, Fender, and Yamaha Pacifica. thanks DW!]

Q: You mentioned doing some stuff with Ken [Hensley] as producer!?
SS: yeah, it was years ago! I got hooked up with a guy named Charlie McKuchan [Sp ?], and he was part of Ken Hensley's management team, and he was interested in my material and the band I had - which was called "Stallion" at the time, in England. They put us in to saum, with Ken producing - which was one of the first albums I ever did when i moved to London. He was great to work with.

Q: So Ken actually produced the whole album?
SS: Yes, what we got done of it. It didn't get finished unfortunately.

Q: Did he play on it?
SS: He played some piano on it, yes.

Q: What year was this?
SS: '79 - 80, something like that.

Q: What would your live set consist of?
SS: [looks for set list paper...] Don't Keep Me Waiting, It's Got To Be Love, See That My Grave Is Kept Clean, Memories - which is on the European version of Heaven & Earth, Trouble In Paradise, When A Blind Man Cries, Howling At The Moon - which is on the European release, Lazy - by Deep Purple, because it's a fun song to play, Where The Blues Catch Up With You -which is on the European release, Do You Ever Think Of Me, Eyes Of Man - which is on the Japanese release, and I Don't Need No Doctor - the old Humble Pie song.

Q: Great song!
SS: I love that. we close the show with it, then we come on for the encore and do Lose My Number and Speed King - by Deep Purple.

Q: What do you listen to these days? New or older stuff?
SS: Well, unfortunately you don't get to hear to much out here. The radio stations, a lot of them are moving to this 'classic rock' format which is good in a sense, but they're not playing any new stuff unless it's by someone like Bryan Adams or someone that's well known. Consequently a lot of these bands that I'm playing in England with [The Gods Festival], and there's some very good bands out there, but no one's heard of them here apart from the die-hard AOR fans, and simply because they're not given any radio play. The last album i bought and was completely knocked out with was Jeff Beck's "Who Else?" I bought that album, and i just felt like throwing all my guitars in the garbage! And i went and saw him play live, and that was even worse. He gave me seats 4 rows from the front, and i sat there with my mouth hanging open, and next to me is Richie Sambora with his mouth hanging open, and Howard Leese on my other side with his mouth hanging open. He was phenomenal. I'm hoping that when i do go to Europe I get to hear some of the bands we don't get to hear over here. I'm not into anything that's come out in the last 10 years, as far as the 'new music', it just doesn't do anything for me.

[chat, thanks, good-byes.....]

Interview by Kevin J. Julie, November '99. Copyright KJJ