Original line-up ... (l-r) Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner and Glenn Frey
WHEN the Eagles crashed and burned in 1980, Don Henley famously described it as a “horrible relief”.
In a gripping new film about America’s biggest-selling band, founder member Henley says: “There was turmoil within the band. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves.
“As Glenn (Frey) used to say, ‘It made us and it ate us’.”
When I meet the thoughtful and gracious Henley in London this week, he also confesses: “I was devastated when we broke up.
“But the 14-year hiatus (that followed) was an absolutely essential thing.
“It gave us a chance to grow up, to have families, to get away from one another, to make solo albums and get things out of our systems.”
Current line-up ... (l-r) Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Timothy B Schmit, Don Henley
In the film, History Of The Eagles, Joe Walsh, guitar-toting hellraiser recruited in time for the seminal Hotel California, echoes the sentiment of one of that album’s best-known songs, Life In The Fast Lane. “It was going really fast and probably too fast.”
Frey, the other founder member in today’s line-up, remembers it this way: “Ninety per cent of the time, being in the Eagles was a f***ing blast. I was living the dream.
“It was a good time for me, a good time for Don. Everybody was really happy.” There’s a long pause and a wry chuckle. “Then... ”
“Then” led to the hiatus in which Henley enjoyed a hugely successful solo career (The Boys Of Summer, The End Of The Innocence) and Frey did rather well in the charts too (The Heat Is On, You Belong To The City).
The Eagles had been victims of their own success, blighted by the attendant unavoidable blizzard of drugs, booze, groupies and acrimony.
The boiling point is brilliantly captured with archive footage in the two-part documentary when it shows Frey unable to contain his anger at guitarist Don Felder.
Frey can be heard muttering: “Three more songs, asshole, and then I’m gonna kill you.”
He’s incensed at Felder’s response of, “You’re welcome... I guess” to Alan Cranston as the California senator thanked the band for doing a benefit.
The gig at Long Beach became infamously known as Long Night At Wrong Beach and Felder hastily departs the scene after smashing an acoustic guitar to smithereens.
And then virtually nothing until 1994, when the Eagles finally reunited for the Hell Freezes Over tour, named after Henley’s quip that the band would only get back together if... (you can guess the rest).
But what remained all those years were the timeless songs, the soaring vocal harmonies and the inventive melodies.
Their astonishing flurry of hits included Take It Easy, One Of These Nights, Lyin’ Eyes, Take It To The Limit and, of course, the epic Hotel California, which depicted the end of the American Dream.
The new film gives telling insights into the roles of the seven people who have been members of the Eagles — past and present.
It reveals why country-rock leaning guitarist Bernie Leadon left over musical differences and why Randy Meisner baulked at singing Take It To The Limit one more time.
It’s clear the power in the band lies with Henley and Frey but it’s also clear they’ve been keepers of the flame since the start and are responsible for most of the hits.
As Henley affirms to me: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. None of us is ever going to be as popular as the Eagles.”
HERE, exclusively for SFTW, Eagles founder member DON HENLEY (lead vocals, drums) and Timothy B Schmit (bass, vocals) give insights on the incredible highs – and occasional crashing lows – of a great American band.
Gripping ... new film
THE film is very frank. Was that the aim?
Henley: We wanted to make an honest film. We discussed that with the producer and director.
We didn’t want to make some glossy Valentine to the band. I think we accomplished that.
Obviously, there were things we left out because you can’t squeeze a 41-year career into three hours of film. But I think we got most of it.
Schmit: I think it was a chance for everybody to say what they wanted to say.
There were disagreements with some of the guys who left the band. Was it important to have them in the film?
Henley: It was very important for us to let them be in it.
Schmit: Well, you couldn’t call it a history of the Eagles without them could you? They were integral.
What makes the Eagles such an enduring band?
Henley: We really concentrated on the craft of song-writing. We learned from a lot of great people like Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, a lot of our peer group. You know, people who were in the southern California music scene at that time.
We were students of good songwriters, unlike some of the young stars of today, I’m afraid.
I think all of us grew up listening to records since we were little. We know the history of music going all the way back to the Thirties and Forties.
To some, you epitomised the West Coast sound but how do you regard the Eagles’ music?
Henley: I always sort of resented the “West Coast” label, We’re really an American band — Joe Walsh has lived all over the place. I mean, New Jersey claims him. Ohio claims him. Kansas claims him.
I know Grand Funk (Railroad) said it first but we’re an American band and we represent a lot of different kinds of music.
I’ve described us before as a musical mutt!
So you employed the great pillars of American music like soul, blues, country...
Henley: Yes and bluegrass, folk music, etc. You can hear all those things in our music and I think that’s one of the reasons that it’s enduring. Another reason was just the luck of the time we were born.
We were part of that large post-war baby boom generation.
We grew up in public and all those people grew up with us. Our music became part of their lives. It was just good fortune.
What expectations did you have when you left Linda Ronstadt’s backing band to form the Eagles with Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon?
Henley: I don’t know if we had expectations, we certainly had aspirations. Both Glenn and I and all of us were very determined. In those days, we didn’t think of the business aspect. We just loved music.
We wanted to be a part of the music scene and we wanted to play music and perform music for people.
It was more about communication than anything. You know Richie Havens, who died this week (singer, who memorably opened Woodstock with his peace anthem Freedom)? He said a wonderful thing, something to the effect of, “I’m not in the music business, I’m in the communications business.”
What helped you become the biggest band in America by the time of 1975’s One Of These Nights album?
Henley: There were several factors. One was simply to keep on doing what we were doing, trying to improve on it and continuing to make albums. Groups don’t last very long as a whole.
But we stayed together, we made the necessary changes and we tried to improve our song-writing. We continued to tour.
And another very important factor was our collaborating with Irving Azoff (the Eagles’ legendary manager). That was very fortunate.
Azoff comes over in the film as very influential. Did he help steer the ship in the right direction?
Henley: He did, absolutely he did. Pivotal.
Do you think the world has become a better place since your beautiful, profound but bleak Hotel California song The Last Resort – which spoke of mankind destroying its environment?
Henley: We’ve made great strides in medicine, various kinds of science and certainly in the communication business.
But we’ve also gone backward on a number of fronts, including the environment. Now we have climate change, which a lot of people are still in denial about, including some of our legislators in America. That is appalling.
We’ve also got all these gun problems now and this violence going on.
Does the Don Henley who wrote the song feel the same in 2013?
Henley: I still care about those things a great deal.
I mean, we (the Eagles) all have children so obviously we’re concerned about where the world is going and what the future’s going to be like but you can only do so much.
You can’t lie awake every night and go, “Oh my God, what’s going to happen?” You have to try to remain optimistic.
You have to do what you can and you have to teach your children to do what they can.
Hopefully, mankind will snap out of it one of these days, or not. You have to enjoy your life.
People have accused me of writing songs that are morbid or negative and my response is, “If you’re laughing and happy all the time, then you don’t know what’s going on here.”
It sounds as if you appreciate your lives.
Henley: We’re lucky to be born and raised in the western world but, again, we all have children and we all enjoy our children.
We have good lives for which we’re very grateful.
F Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby author) said, “The best revenge is living well.”
And then there’s that other saying, “Eat, drink and be merry.” So you have to balance it with caring about what’s going on but not letting it put a dark cloud over your everyday existence. We’ve all learned how to carry on.
Schmit: The older I get, the more I lean towards that adage: “Wake up and smell the roses.”
There’s so much less time in front of me than behind me so it’s really important to actually live your life to the fullest, all that corny stuff, which includes everything. It’s really important to enjoy yourself.
Do you regret the Eagles’ split from 1980 to 1994?
Schmit: I was really humbled but I never stopped working on some level. Even though it was tough on me personally, it was totally essential.
We had never got away from each other for very long. Then we took a large break and we tried to get back together at one point in the early Nineties and that didn’t work out.
When everybody was ready to try it out (in 1994), it was at the right time but I don’t think it could have happened any sooner. The break had to happen and it’s why we’re still sitting here now doing this.
Are the four of you all great friends now?
Schmit: We don’t hang out a lot together. We come together to work but we know each other and respect each other.
Do you think your story was a bit like The Beatles? You had a decade of huge success and just couldn’t keep going at that level.
Henley: You couldn’t. I was like Timothy, I was devastated when we broke up.
But the 14-year hiatus was an absolutely essential thing. It gave us a chance to grow up, to have families, to get away from one another, to make solo albums and get things out of our systems.
There’s an old country song called How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away? It gave our fans a chance to miss us. So when we came back, we were welcomed.
Do you think you’ll ever get back in the studio for a new album?
Schmit: There are no plans for that right now but I don’t rule it out. It’s probably unlikely but it’s totally possible.
Henley: We haven’t ruled it out but we haven’t talked about it either. For the moment, this tour is in front of us and there’s a lot of work to do.
We’re going to redesign and revamp the whole show. We’ll use some of the album cuts that weren’t hit singles.
Is it right that Bernie Leadon (guitarist and founding member) will play with you?
Henley: It’s under consideration. Glenn and Bernie have talked. We can’t say 100 per cent at this point but we would like it to happen.
Can you elaborate on the idea explored in the film that no one’s bigger than the band itself?
Henley: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts and even though we’ve all had solo careers to one degree or another, none of us is ever going to be as popular as the group.
Schmit: Don had probably the most success as a solo artist after we split up and he did really well. He was all over the radio and had sold-out shows etc but it still wasn’t as big as the band as a whole.
Henley: People love a group. They love seeing people work together and choosing their favourite. It’s like The Beatles. We all had our favourite Beatle.
I’m not comparing us to them, that’s a whole different level!
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