The following is a chat with Mickey Thomas from talkcity.com. It took place
on January 3, 2000.
Mickey Thomas Transcript
We are proud to present our special
guest for tonight,
.
~*~ Mickey Thomas ~*~
.
Best known for his soaring vocals on such Jefferson
Starship hits as "Sarah" and "We Built this City,"
Mickey Thomas has spent the last decade out of the
public eye. Now he's back and starting a whole
new career as a solo artist. Helped out by a
backup band that includes stellar musicians,
Mickey is touring the U.S.
.
Mickey is taking a short timeout to chat with fans
on Talk City. We'll spend an hour with Mickey
answering questions and finding out what he's
been up to.
.
And now, without further ado, please welcome
our guest for the evening . . . . Mickey Thomas !
.
Welcome Mickey! We are so happy you took time
out of your busy schedule to talk with us tonight.
Mickey: I'd like to say hello to everyone who is out there
listening and watching!
I'm happy to be with you tonight!
*
penguin says: After having a smash with Elvin Bishop, you
left the band a little later. What were you looking for?
Mickey: I left the Elvin Bishop band in 1978
to pursue a solo career.
I had already secured a solo recording contract
before the Jefferson Starship called in late 1978.
So, that changed my solo career drastically.
I think in the Elvin Bishop band,
I was a sideman more or less.
So, I felt that I couldn't really go much further in my career
in the context of the Elvin Bishop band,
so I left to pursue other things.
*
Yanks99 says: Your move from Bishop to Starship was
relatively quick. Did you have the new gig lined up? If not, how did you get it?
Mickey: No, I did not have it lined up.
The initial contact came in the form of a telephone call
out of the blue.
It took me by surprise when it happened.
I didn't know anyone in the Jefferson Starship.
They found out about me through one of their roadies.
It was basically just a phone call,
unexpected,
asking me if I would be interested in meeting the band,
and possibly joining Jefferson Starship as lead vocalist.
It took me by surprise, to say the least.
I guess I couldn't understand why they wanted me to be their
vocalist.
It seemed my musical background was so different
than what Jefferson Starship was.
*
CityBuilder says: What chances are there that there might be
a JS reunion?
Mickey: There's nothing planned right now.
I think it would be interesting.
If the opportunity arose,
I would definitely be interested in trying it.
*
Rock-Cowboy says: Are you keeping in touch with any of the
old Starship folks?
Mickey:
No, not that much.
I live up in Lake Tahoe now, up in the mountains.
So, I don't see the former members that much,
and we don't keep in touch via the phone or email.
I don't go out of my way to 'not' have contact
with any of the former members.
We're all just so busy with each of our careers
that we don't seem to have the time to catch up with one
another.
*
Hey-you says: I have to ask, Mickey, is there anything you
regret about your years in Jefferson Starship?
Mickey: Yes. A few things.
Number 1,
Not maturely handling some of the personal relationships.
My immaturity, I feel,
may have contributed to the demise of the band
sooner than it should have.
*
HuskyTCC says: have you noticed a termendous change in the
kind of music that is arround now as compared to the music in the 80s?
Mickey: Well, yea!
Music is always changing.
It's always growing, experimenting.
Quite often, it returns to familiar territory.
Right now, I get a sense of a lot of Pop Music
fragmented though it may be,
displaying a lot of sounds of the early and mid 80's.
Real "Pop" sounds, the bands that come to mind
SmashMouth, Sugar Ray and Blink 182.
*
thJollyMon says: Once at a show you did most of "Silly Love
Songs" a-capella--are you a Wings fan?
Mickey:
I am a Beatles Fan.
I'm interested in anything any ex-Beatles do.
*
drailfacx2 says are you going to play with Elvin again?and
who's the new girl in starship.has she played with anyone else famous
Mickey I don't have any plans to play with Elvin.
If the occasion arises, I wouldn't be adverse to it.
The new girl is Malisa Kary. She's a fantastic singer!
I don't think she has sung with anyone else that's famous.
She sings with us.
I do a series of concerts, called, Voices of Classic Rock,
also known as the VCR's and she performs on those concerts with me.
And she, in the context of those shows,
sings with Mike Reno from Loverboy,
and Benjamin Orr from the Cars,
John Cafferty from Beaver Brown Band,
and Jimi Jamison from Survivor.
Also, Dave Jenkins from Pablo Cruise.
Bobby Kimball from Toto, and Larry Hoppin of Orleans.
So, I guess she has sang with some other famous people! LOL
*
burleyman says: when I saw you last you did an interesting
version of the Beatles rockey racoon, how did that come about?
Mickey: It's one of the first songs that I learned to play
on the guitar back in High School.
It's always stuck with me.
It's always been an interesting quirky song to me.
And we did it just on a lark one night.
It went over very well.
So, I occasionally do it in the show,
although not every night.
*
ajsas says: What band performing now do you think is most
like what Starship was in the 80's?
Mickey: That's an interesting question!
hmm.. is most like Starship in the 80's...
I'd try to think of a band that has a male/female vocalist.
Hmm.. no one comes to mind really. I don't know.
I can't really answer that...
I'd say no one, I guess.
*
nattalie1 says: How do you write songs?
Mickey:
I usually write with other people when I write.
Maybe I have an idea, and they take the idea and run with it.
And, something they will do will trigger a response with me.
It's a very collaborative effort.
*
thJollyMon says: there's a great one--Cafferty! do you think
they got cheated by the "Eddie and the C." movie? kinda typecast?
Mickey: Yea, in a way it's a double-edged sword.
The soundtrack was very successful.
But, the movie was so popular, I'm sure it made it difficult
for my friend John Cafferty to be accepted as himself,
rather than Eddie.
*
Johnny-Come-Lately says: With so many different writers in
Starship, how did you as led singer manage to pull all the different
Styles together?
Mickey: lol
I don't know if I did! ;-)
Well, I think the voice can be the connecting thread.
for different musical styles.
I love all kinds of music!
And, I enjoy singing and performing many different songs.
that are stylistically varietal.
So, in essence, I never tried to limit my selection of a song
based on what musical style it was.
Rather, just whether or not it was a great song.
*
As usual I wish we could go on all evening! This has been so
interesting the time has just flown by. On behalf of TalkCity and our
audience I wish to thank you very much for being with us today. Do you
have any parting remarks for our audience?
Mickey: Thank you all for your interesting and varied questions!
I'm just thankful there are some people still interested
in hearing from me.
And, I hope to be bringing you some new music
very soon, via the internet..
and possibly some other avenues.
Thanks again!
*
And that concludes our @Music Chat!
We'd like to thank the audience and extend
a special thanks to our guest Mickey Thomas.
Please join us in @Music and continue
chatting about your favorite music.
@Music-Arena is Produced by Talk City.
All rights reserved. copyright 1999.
~~ Good Night and Thank you for Coming ~~
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