Ricky Byrd – Ain’t no Rock without ‘da Roll

By: Robert Cavuoto

The former Blackhearts guitar slinger, Ricky Byrd, whose monstrous power chords helped define Joan Jett & The Blackhearts hit,  “I Love Rock & Roll”, released his solo debut CD earlier this year entitled; Lifer.

Lifer, features 11 original songs all inspired by what got him here in the first place; British rock and roll, soul, R&B, AM radio, FM radio, The Honeymooners, Groucho Marx and Dorothy Parker, to name a few things. You’ve got to understand: Ricky Byrd is a slave to what he loves, and we all reap the rewards with Lifer.

The early Rolling Stones are what gave him the original reason to believe, and their misfit awkwardness was something he related to. It’s what he felt and they were what he wanted to be.

The beauty of the CD is that Ricky never overplays, choosing instead to weave tasteful, tuneful solos that are as efficient as they are inspired; all bluesy, boozy and backroom.

I caught up with Ricky to talk about his CD and the heroes who inspired it!

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Robert Cavuoto: I really enjoyed the CD; it really came across as tasteful bluesy-infused rock ‘n roll…very reminiscent of early Stones.

Ricky Byrd: Yeaaaah, I love that. The intention was just to write a love letter to the music I grew up on! The Stones were just one of the bands. That and a lot of other things like Leslie West, The Faces, and Mott the Hoople. So, it’s all turned into me – just of a big stew.

Robert: I think your voice resembles a young Mick Jagger. Were you ever told that before?

Ricky Byrd: No, I haven’t. Paul Rodgers could sing the phone book and sound amazing. I can sing my songs really well, and I write around my throat. I write around my limitations and what I sing well. I know where that sweet spot is, where I get that good tone. If I got up onstage at a bar with somebody and tried to sing “Sympathy for the Devil”, I’d sound like an idiot.

Robert: Does keeping things simple with guitar, bass, and drums steer you down a certain creative path?

Ricky Byrd: I just wanted to make it so it was, A] simple in the way that it didn’t sound overproduced, and, B] if you close your eyes, you could kind of see a band. There’s a guy over here playing this guitar. There’s a guy over there, playing bass. The two guitars are obviously all me, because I didn’t have a band at this point.

Robert: Sometimes bands tend to overproduce and lose sight of a great riff, as well as a great song.

Ricky Byrd: Well, I’m one for throwing everything in but the kitchen sink and then you start to take things out. It’s good to try stuff, and then you go, “Nah, I don’t need that.” This is what was left, but I certainly wasn’t beyond sonically putting on things that I remember when I was a kid like a guitar solo going from the left, like left to the right speaker. Nobody does that stuff anymore. There’s no music business anyway, so let me make the guitar go from the left to the right. [Laughter]

I’m making this for me, and everybody who loves this kind of music.

Robert: Tell me more about your formidable influences growing up?

Ricky Byrd: I love people like John Hiatt, Dylan, Jagger, Richards, and Ian Hunter. Chuck Berry is one of the greatest lyric writers in rock and roll there ever was. He doesn’t get any appreciation for that. If you listen to his lyrics, it’s just poetic. Really great songs like the Motown writers, Smoky Robinson too. Those are the songs I really love.

And tell you the truth; I was living in the Bronx with my grandparents when my parents got divorced. My grandmother listened to a lot of the classics like Sinatra and Sammy Cahn. I got a lot of that. I just love anybody who can write a great rock and roll song. I could just listen to “Let It Bleed” or something like that. It’s straight-up rock and roll.

Robert: Is that where are you pulling inspiration from when writing the songs for Lifer?

Ricky Byrd: I definitely knew what kind of music I wanted it to be, which was rock n’ roll. Not Rock and not roll; there “Ain’t no Rock without ‘da Roll.”

Basically, the way I work is I sit down with the guitar, and I’m probably watching the Yankee game. I start fiddling about and all of a sudden, I get a riff. If it catches – and I’m horrible with recording stuff – I put the guitar down and come back tomorrow, and the riff is still there, I know it’s something to work on.

Then I just kind of start mumbling stuff over it. No words or anything; just melody. The guitar riff and the melody comes first. Then I sit down with a blank piece of paper and start writing the lyrics.

I have a bunch of guitars and whichever guitar I pick leads me down a different path. It’s a different piece of wood, different sound, and I didn’t want to edit.

Robert: Can you tell me a little bit about my two favorite tracks “Foolish Kind,” and “Let’s Get Gone.”

Ricky Byrd: I’m always fooling around with a capo on the guitar. I can’t remember how I was doing it. I just threw the capo up on the fourth fret and I started strumming, and it had this kind of sound – that ooh-la-la kind of sound. I was just strumming away and mumbling words and then before you know it I sang, “I’m in Love With a Brown-Eyed Girl.” It just comes.

I grew up on such great music. It’s very important to my story and anybody in my demographic that we grew up on AM radio. If you listen for half an hour, you’d hear every different style imaginable, anywhere from The Kinks, to Smokey Robinson to Dean Martin.

For “Let’s Get Gone”, was about the riff. I was sitting outside on my porch and just playing. I said, “That’s kind of cool. It’s kind of like Yardbird-y, you know? What I wrote about was, as you get older, you go out less. You may have a kid and you may not go out at all. I just wrote about getting out and having some fun.

I’ve been sober 26 years, so the deal is you get older, you’re sober, and you hardly ever go out. So, this is about going out.

The twist on it and the inside joke, which we call in the music business “playing to the band”. The spoken part at the end with the waitress asking; “Can I get you something?”, and I reply “Yeah, get me a shot of your finest ice water and a cranberry juice chaser!”

Robert: I read on your website that you didn’t find out about the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame nomination through Joan Jett. Do you still keep in touch?

Ricky Byrd: Nah, not really. She’s out on the road all the time, and I’ve got my own life. I saw her two years ago at Coney Island when they were playing. I brought my daughter to see it. In a word, “No.” No reason at all, just separate lives.

Robert: A lot of controversial things happen when bands get inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Since there were a lot of line-up changes, was there ever a concern about being excluded?

Ricky Byrd: No, it was the “I Love Rock and Roll,” band from 25-years ago. I’m like pals with the Rock Hall and I do things with them every year. So, I’d go even if they didn’t invite me. [Laughter] And I’d walk straight up onstage and say . . . I’m part of this. And I am.

I know for sure we’re the band that was nominated, leading into the Thommy Price era. If anything, she should think twice whether she was going to invite the new band.

Robert: What are your touring plans?

Ricky Byrd:   Right this minute we’re playing clubs, quietly, to work out the kinks. In Manhattan we’re going to play the first gig of the TV Festival, hopefully get some press and take it from there. There are no rules anymore. You kind of have to do what you have to do.